NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed racing at Kansas, the new tire, engine wear, keeping an eye on the competition, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
ON RACING AT KANSAS THIS WEEKEND
“It’s always nice to come back to the race track after a good win (Dover, last week). Our 1.5-mile stuff has been good to the No. 48 team. I wish we would have closed a few more wins during the regular season on the 1.5-miles, but we’ve had good speed. Yesterday, after working through the new tire, we had the car more comfortable and got some speed out of it. But I still think there is a lot of learning to do; and truthfully, a lot of evolving for all the teams through today’s practice and then in tomorrow’s practice. The tire acts different. I think its achieving what Goodyear wants to have happen. So, directionally, it’s a good move. But it’s just different. I think it’s going to take us time to get all the speed out of it that we want to have and understanding the tire exactly like we need to. But, I thought yestereday was good. I’m very thankful that NASCAR gave us extra time and gave us a nice headstart on the weekend.”
 
WITH EVERY POINT MAGNIFIED DURING THE CHASE, HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING? IS IT MORE IMPORTANT THAN DURING THE REGULAR SEASON?
“Track position is so important. So yeah, because things are condensed. It makes your day so much eaiser when you qualify well and have a good pit stall and start up front. At this track, there’s a very good chance there will be fuel strategy and tire strategy coming into play, and that jumbles things up. So, at some tracks you expect it to be a big issue for qualifying to play out and it kind of goes back and forth. But at the end of the day, we all know the importance of it and you want that on your side. It just makes a big difference. If you start deep in the field and you get to the top five and if you have a chance at clean air, it usually takes you a stop or two to get your car dialed-in. Anymore, it takes so long to get to the front that you don’t have a stop or two left at the end to really challenge for the lead from an adjustment standpoint. So, qualifying really important.”
 
AFTER THE TIRE TEST YESTERDAY, MATT KENSETH SAID HE WISHED THEY WOULD HAVE KEPT THE ORIGINAL TIRE. BUT JEFF GORDON SAID HE REALLY LIKES IT. HOW MUCH OF A GAME-CHANGER FOR THE TEAMS RUNNING IN THE CHASE IS THIS TIRE SITUATION EVEN AFTER A THURSDAY TEST PLUS PRACTICE IF SOMEBODY IS STRUGGLING?
“I think we have enough time to sort it out. From the Hendrick side, when we started, we were kind of split in different areas. I think the No. 24 came off the truck real good. We weren’t very good but we were able to get there at the end. So, I think in time, especially the No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) team and the Gibbs cars, if they’re not happy, I’m pretty confident they’ll get there by race time. It’s just different. And the things that we do and what we expect out of the old tire and what it’s capable of, it’s just different with this tire. And it’s a matter of finding what it likes.”
 
JAMES HILTON IS RACING IN HIS LAST RACE TONIGHT IN THE ARCA RACE. HE IS 79 YEARS OLD. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO BE DOING WHEN YOU ARE 79?
“Breathing!” (laughter). It’s so awesome. I think Earl is even spotting for him tonight. So, I’m excited for him. Every time I see him out there in that No. 48 it puts a big smile on my face. So, he got the number off to a good start and he’s going to run it well tonight, I’m sure. But, at 79, it’s amazing. He’s truly passionate and loves our sport. It’s nice to see him out there one last time.”
 
YOU’VE WON 5 CHAMPIONSHIPS AND YOU STILL COME OUT HERE AS COMPETITIVE AS EVERY, MAYBE MORESO. WHERE DOES THE MOTIVATION COME FROM ON A WEEKLY BASIS?
“I think a lot of it is just in my DNA and the type of person I am and the family I grew up in. My parents and grandparents and great grantparents were just all hard-working people. So I think I grew up in that environment and around it. Now, married with kids, I’m much more mature than when I started. There is an element in that that is bringing more focus and more drive. Granted there is less time. I have more things on my plate. But the time that I do a lot to train. The time that I do a lot for working with the team and coming to the track, it’s just much more focused. I think the structure of family and kids and all that plays some kind of role in that, too. It mixes with the work ethic I was raised with. So somewhere in the mixture of those things is where it comes from. But I am happy when I accomplish things. I make lists all the time and I scratch things off my list whether it’s a honey-do list or goals I make for myself. I just have that mindset where I like to work through things and accomplish things.”
 
LONG AGO, DALE EARNHARDT SR. TALKED ABOUT HOW THE TIRES ALWAYS TALKED TO HIM, AND THAT HE ALWAYS RAN BEST WHEN THE TIRE TALKED TO HIM. THERE WAS A TIME PERIOD WHEN IT DIDN’T. JEFF GORDON AGREED WITH THAT WHEN ASKED ABOUT IT YESTERDAY.  WHEN YOU WERE IN THE CAR YESTERDAY, WAS THAT TIRE TALKING TO YOU AS GOOD AS ANY OTHER TIRE BEFORE? OR, HAS THAT BEEN PART OF YOUR STRUGGLE OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS?
“At the start of your question, I was thinking more about the bias ply era. I ran on bias plys in ASA for two years and from then on I’ve been on radials. And on bias ply, there is a big window of grip that you can feel and adjust the car. The sidewall is very flexible. So once you slip the tire, literally the sidewall on a radial is so stiff that once it slips, it stands up. And then the tire has to start over and grip again and let the sidewall fold. That aspect I think challenges all drivers. The radial era, I love watching some old footage and think there is something in my mind of of Sr. at Charlotte smoking the right rear tire all the way through Turns 1 and 2. You cannot do that with a radial tire. That just doesn’t happen (laughs). So, I might not have the best opinion of all that because I didn’t really drive in that era on these tracks. The radial, you feel a lot of grip, but you know right behind that real nice grip level you have, there’s a cliff on the other side.
 
“So, we all generally drive a little more on edge now and are a little more concerned with what’s on the back side of this. I’m being really greedy right now, what’s next? And that’s just the world of radial tires that we live in. The tire, in my opinion, has a lot less grip that what we had here before and what we’ve been on on 1.5-miles. And that inside edge is a lot harder compound and then it’s softer on the way out. So, where we make our money through the corner, it is a slower tire right now. And that’s the part that I felt yesterday, was just the lack of grip that it had. It was very friendly; it didn’t have that sharp drop-off. But it just didn’t have a ton of grip.”
 
WAS IT TALKING TO YOU?
“They’re always talking to you. Sometimes you are arguing with them. But when things are hooked-up and rolling; and I think what you’re aluding to, you can feel on a very soft compound. And the tire will really tell you where its grip level is and what you feel. And anymore, the only time you feel that is in a tire test when they try something soft.
 
“We ususally end up on a much harder compound where, you’re guessing. You think it’s talking to you but you just don’t know. The downside to it is the penalty once you lose control and once you cross that line, it’s really severe.”
 
KNOWING IT IS STILL EARLY IN THE CHASE, BUT CAN THEY CATCH YOU GUYS?
“I think there is enough racing left. If somebody gets hot and the others cool off. It’s 30-something points back to fourth (now); the numbers change a little when you’re chasing three people instead of one. But if we a
ll start running seventh or eighth and somebody gets hot, they can make up points. I still think it’s possible; largely because there are seven races left. It start shifting dramatically as we get deeper into the season, but with seven left there are still a lot of opportunities for those guys.”
 
SINCE THE RECONFIGURATION OF THIS TRACK, ARE THE ENGINES WORKING HARDER? ARE YOU TURNING MORE RPMS? IF SO, DOES THAT BECOME A WORRY FOR YOU ABOUT ENGINE WEAR AND DURABILITY?
“Yep, for sure. And NASCAR changed the rear-end gear ratio to help everybody coming here. I think that we could have the other gear with this tire, and the tire doesn’t have the grip that we anticipated. And our max rpm yesterday was quite a bit lower than anyone thought it would be. When we get in the draft, we suck-up pretty hard down the front straightaway to the car in front of us. You just might catch the chip in a race environment, for a lap or two, but in general the rpm is pretty low based on the rule change. And that will help all the engine shops breathe a little easier through the course of the race (laughs).”
 
WITH JUST FOUR RACES IN, IS IT TOO EARLY FOR YOU TO BE WORRIED ABOUT WHERE THE OTHER TOP CHASE CONTENDERS ARE DURING THE RACE?
“Yeah, you pay attention, for sure. And in the first couple of races, it was real easy to see where the No. 20 (Kenseth) and the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) were because I was chasing them. They were up front. Last week I didn’t find myself too worried about it. I knew they were going to have a great day and they both finished in the top 10. But I guess it’s not that point of the year yet where you’re totally worried. When you get to Homestead and Phoenix, you are looking at the scoring pylon whenever you can and are really focused on where they are. Not so much just yet because there is a lot of racing left.”
 
 

Chevrolet and Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Partner in IndyCar Series
 
·        Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Has Nine IndyCar Series Championships since 1990
·        Powered by Chevrolet Beginning in 2014

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
HOUSTON—One of the most successful race teams in IndyCar Series history will be powered by Chevrolet starting in 2014.
 
Chevrolet has entered into an agreement with Chip Ganassi Racing Teams to compete in IndyCar Series competition beginning next season. Chip Ganassi Racing Teams has won 93 races, including four in the Indianapolis 500, and nine championships since its founding in 1990.
 
“Chip’s teams have been a dominant force in open wheel racing for a long time, and we are looking forward to working together in IndyCar,” said Jim Campbell, Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “In addition, it will be great to be partnered with Chip and his organization in both open-wheel and stock-car racing.”
 
Chevrolet and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates have been partners in stock-car racing since 2009.
 
“This decision makes a lot of sense for us for a number of reasons,” said Chip Ganassi, Owner of Chip Ganassi Racing Teams.  “We feel Chevrolet has done a great job in their return to the IndyCar Series and because of our existing relationship with them in NASCAR.  There are a lot of synergies that we will be able to realize in working with the same manufacturer across the two series.  We are thrilled.”
 
Chip Ganassi Racing Teams drivers Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball have combined to win four races and two poles so far in 2013. Franchitti is a three-time IndyCar Series champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner; Dixon is a two-time IndyCar champ and the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.
 
Tony Kanaan will join Chip Ganassi Racing Teams starting in 2014. Kanaan’s IndyCar career includes 16 wins, 11 poles, the 2004 Series’ championship, and he is the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion.
 
Chevrolet returned to IndyCar racing as an engine manufacturer in 2012 with a new program focusing on the Chevrolet 2.2 liter direct-injected, twin turbo IndyCar V6, and won 11 of 15 races, and won the IZOD IndyCar Series Manufacturers’ Championship, the overall Driver’s Championship (Ryan Hunter-Reay), Driver’s Oval Track Championship (Hunter-Reay) and Driver’s Road-Course Championship (Will Power).
 
Chevrolet has nine poles and eight wins through the first 16 races of the 2013 IndyCar season.
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
THE SHELL AND PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON
RELIANT PARK
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 SHELL PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston and discussed his outlook for the races this weekend, his mindset entering the final three races and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF THE RACE TRACK?:  “We didn’t have a chance yet to go around.  Certainly, they did a great job after the NFL game here in putting everything together in such a short notice.  Big credit to the city for organization and everyone.  Right now the only way I was able to learn the track was through YouTube videos and things like that.  Excited, excited to be here.  It’s a big one and very busy for us for Shell — it’s going to be the colors on our car this weekend so we’re looking forward to a great result.  Looks like the weather is going to hold up pretty well so that’s another good thing.”
 
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE SHELL ON YOUR CAR AND REPRESENT THEM IN HOUSTON?:  “It’s great to be here in the backyard of the Shell/Pennzoil home basically.  Sounds like everyone is really looking forward to it I believe.  I remember when I came here a long time ago; the Latin community seemed to be very supportive, which is great.  I’m excited to have that kind of support to be back again at a place where they welcome us here.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET ENTERING THESE FINAL RACES?:  “It’s pretty much the same as what we’ve been doing.  At this point we have to go with the flow, depends on the setup how the car is going to be and we feel like the car is hopefully out of the box going to be in great shape.  Right now, just go with the flow.  I want to have a very good car so we can attack, but at the same time if we don’t then we just have to see where we are.  At this point, we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT HAS RESILIENCE BEEN TO YOUR SEASON?:  “I give the credit not only for the team, but I think sometimes when it’s your day it’s your day and there’s not much that can go against that.  I give the credit to the team to keep not only good equipment and reliable equipment of also Chevy so when you put all those things together it’s a perfect fit.”
 
IS THERE SOMETHING THAT HAS CLICKED THIS YEAR TO ALLOW YOU THE CONSISTENCY ACROSS THE WHOLE SEASON?:  “I don’t think we changed anything to be honest.  Last year we were up to the last race of the season, we were third in the championship and past years was pretty much like that.  We have always been very consistent and I believe this year it’s more about how tight this series is and how competitive the series is and the way the rules are.  They make the smaller teams or other teams able to catch up with the bigger teams.  All of the sudden the key was to be consistent, but I don’t think it was anything that I changed or anything I planned or my driving style.  To be honest, it was just the same thing that’s been happening.  Finding the key of the season and it seems to be the consistency.”
 
IS THERE A SPOT ON THIS COURSE THAT SEEMS A HOT SPOT FOR PASSING OR FOR TROUBLE?:  “Yeah, I believe the front straightaway, I just ran out over there and was looking at the cars running and it sounds like it’s very bumpy.  It’s no different than a lot of street courses that we go to so it’s just the same old thing.  I believe the front straightaway and turn four or five I think seem to be the points for you to pass.  Also they changed from the YouTube video, they changed, it used to be much wide and somehow they were able to put the curves or make the corner tight.  It’s a little bit different, but I think the layout is good, it’s fun or seems to be fun so I’m excited to try it and go out there and have fun.”
 
DID GETTING BACK IN THE CAR AT FONTANA HELP YOU GET BACK IN THE RHYTHM?:  “It did.  It was not very fun to be like four weeks away from the car, but it’s the same for everyone and everybody is trying to find things to get back in the rhythm.  The good news is you recharge the battery from everyone.”
 
DO YOU LIKE BEING IN THE POINTS LEAD AND DO YOU HAVE TO BE MORE CONSERVATIVE?:  “As long as the car gives me the opportunity to be competitive.  I have a good car and most of the time I do then I just go for it.  But I think in this position with previous experience of my teammates and things like that, I feel that it’s more for us to lose than actually to gain.  The people that are in the attack mode are the guys behind us.  At the same time we’re not going to drive like just an old lady out there trying to finish the race, that’s not the case for us.  We have to be rough when we have to be rough.  We’ve got to be smart when we’ve got to be smart and that’s the way I am approaching right now.  Plus you have to go according to what the car is given to you to do and that’s the way I’m approaching this weekend.”
 
ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT THIS COULD BE ANOTHER BIG WEEKEND FOR SCOTT DIXON?:  “I’m not looking at what Scott (Dixon) or anyone is thinking to do; I’m not looking at all of them.  I am looking at what I can do.  Whatever happens during the race, we have two races now, which is a big, big deal.  At the same time we can lose a lot of points and at the same time you can win or make things happen here.  Just have to be on the conservative side, but we’re not too conservative or on the side where we can just show up.  We still have to do our job and have great pit stops and you have to still push it because as you said they are not going to go easy on us.”
 
DO YOU FEEL THIS IS ONE OF YOUR BEST SEASONS OR DO YOU THINK YOU CAN BE A CHAMPION THIS YEAR AND THIS NOT BE ONE OF YOUR BEST SEASONS OVERALL?:  “No, I don’t think that.  I feel this has been an amazing comeback season to be honest.  Especially after a few years and especially the way the series are going.  As I said, if you analyze how many winners they have this year, previous winners and previous champions — if you start putting all of the things together and we still are doing what we’re doing then it shows that I feel that I’m getting better and better.  For me, it’s finally been everything that’s been accomplished, but no question many wins and things like that yes you might end up winning a lot of races in one season, but not getting what you want.  This year I feel that as a complete driver I am much better.”
 
DO YOU FEEL AS A COMPLETE DRIVER THINGS HAVE REALLY CHANGED FOR YOU?:  “Absolutely, I learn along the way with all my teammates and obviously the people alongside me.  I think things happen for a reason.  Since we were apart ways, it was good that I was with him because I was able to understand a lot of the techniques and today I have a lot of knowledge from it and I have to thank all the other teammates that are able to make my driving style better, updating my ways to come up to approaching some of the weekends.  That’s why maybe you think at the end of the results in terms of many wins and breaking the records and things like that, but I’m not thinking that way.  I think as a complete driver, I feel much better.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE DRIVER ADDITIONS FOR NEXT YEAR?:  “Very happy for Tony (Kanaan) to be honest.  He deserved that.  That kind of soap opera between Ganassi and him finally it can end or it’s the beginning and I’m extremely happy for him.  He deserves and that shows again what I’m talking about as experienced drivers as myself, Tony, Dario (Franchitti), Scott (Dixon)
and now (Juan Pablo) Montoya coming back to the series, it shows that this is not about being aggressive or being sporadic.  You have a strategy and I’m excited as well for next year.  At this point, to start next year we have to finish this year and that’s the way I’m looking.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed racing at Kansas, recent success and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT BEING IN KANSAS THIS WEEKEND:  “It’s always fun to come back here.  My mom and dad actually flew out here with me this weekend.  My mom has been down in Joplin with some of her friends.  My dad and I, we actually went fishing over at Bass Pro Shops farm over in Calhoun, Missouri the last couple of days and then I think he’s maybe off to the go-kart races today in Topeka.  It’s been a really fun weekend so far and it’s certainly nice to have my family with me.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL LOOK FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK AFTER YESTERDAY’S TEST SESSION?:  “I did the tire test at Atlanta, which used the multi-compound tire.  I did the tire test at Phoenix, same thing and then obviously yesterday.  The balance of the car is a little bit tighter and seems to have a little less grip with this tire, but I think the one thing that we’ve noticed is that camber doesn’t seem to be as sensitive and I say that in that most of the time we come to these fast tracks and the more camber you can run, the faster you can go.  At the same time, the more you run the bigger threat you have of blowing the tire out.  There’s a fine line of how much you want to run versus the speed versus the risk.  This tire doesn’t seem to be sensitive.
 
“We did fairly large sweeps yesterday and didn’t see a big speed difference from having a lot of camber and we were doing large, large adjustments.  I think that’s good in that it’s a safer tire than what we’ve had in the past and I think when you put that responsibility in the teams’ hands of more camber will go quicker then that’s what we’re all going to do and try to figure out a way of cooling the tire better or making it live.  You try to do something.  I think that’s good and I think that’s probably the future of our sport is to have this.  Just all around, I don’t see any issue with it.  It’s a little bit slower, but it’s the same for everybody.”
 
IS THERE A REASON WHY YOU ARE COMPETITIVE IN CHASE RACES, BUT NOT IN THE CHASE?:  “No, I don’t know I just give the same effort every week and I don’t know if there’s some guys that get deflated when they don’t make the Chase and it seems like maybe some of those teams start trying other off the wall ideas because they’re not in the Chase.  I look at this year for most of the teams, there’s not really anything to gain by doing things off the wall because the rules are going to change so much next year with the ground zero car and not having the ride height rules afterwards that I don’t really see a big advantage in experimenting because until we get to test that car in the off season and we find out exactly what the rules are, I think for the rest of the year you just do what works best, but I can’t give you a reason.  It sure does seem odd that we’ve been a really good car not in the Chase.”
 
DOES YOUR RECENT SUCCESS JUSTIFY YOUR ROLE AS A LEADER WITH THE TEAM HEADING INTO NEXT YEAR?:  “Racing goes in streaks and it seems that you get on a streak and everything you do works and then you get to have the opposite as well where the stuff that’s always worked in the past doesn’t.  Right now we just have had a few really good races and our cars have been good.  I feel like our mile-and-a-half program has been good so I expect to run well this weekend.  As far as Kyle (Larson) coming in and Juan (Pablo Montoya) leaving, I haven’t paid a lot of attention to that because until Juan’s out of that car and you start working with Kyle every week, it’s not any different right now for us.  Kyle did a test at Charlotte and I think he had a really good test there.
 
“Like I said earlier about the setup stuff, what we’re learning right now I don’t think is going to apply to next year as much as it would if the rules were staying the same.  Just kind of is what it is.”
 
WILL IT BE DIFFERENT NEXT YEAR?:  “I think it will be different for our whole organization next year.  I think the meetings will be different.  I think we’re going to have more meetings with the teams and the drivers and they’re structuring that right now trying to get everything setup and get a little more organized for next season.”
 
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING WITH KYLE LARSON?:  “Absolutely.  Kyle (Larson) is a really easy guy to get along with.  He’s a good person, he’s been racing for a long time and racing is all he wants to do.  I think he’ll be a really good listener.  I’m not one to push my opinion over, but if he’s to ask my opinion then I’ll be very honest with him and like I said when they announced that Kyle was going to be my teammate, I think there will be a little bit that I can help him with on the track.  Maybe going to tracks he’s never been to — Martinsville, Pocono and some of those places and explain how restarts work or just little nuances that happen at each track.  I think my role with Kyle is going to be much larger off the track with sponsor commitments, coming into more money, a lot of things that I don’t know that we pay attention to when someone gets a Cup ride versus being in the Trucks or the Nationwide.”
 
HOW BENEFICIAL WILL IT BE TO HAVE A TEAMMATE THAT LIVES IN TOWN AND WHERE DO YOU SEE THE GAINS?:  “Having Kyle (Larson) in the Charlotte area is going to be beneficial.  At the same time, Juan (Pablo Montoya) and I really don’t have a relationship away from the race track.  I don’t know that’s that important, but the fact that Kyle and I are both into karting and can go out and do that and just hang out and goof off.  We’re definitely at different stages in our life where I’m married with kids and he has neither.  That is a big difference in our life, but when you have a common hobby and something you can go do together and hang out and maybe become little better friends along with teammates, I think that’s going to be good.  Him being in Charlotte is going to be much more beneficial to the team than what it will be to me.
 
“Just the team moral, getting to go into the shop and see the guys.  It’s hard for Juan because he lives so far away and normally when he would come to the shop it’s for a reason.  You don’t always have time to hang out and just kind of goof off.  Normally when you’re there it’s when you have a photo shoot or because they needed him for something.  That’s a little bit tough with Juan living so far away, but Kyle is one of those guys I think that will be at the shop a lot.  That will be kind of his hangout throughout the day.  The speed in the cars, our cars and I said it earlier in the year, but I feel that our cars are actually better now than they were in 2010.  We haven’t won the races that we did in 2010, but the cars have been really good.  A lot of the speed has just come from making good decisions in the race and getting ourselves in a better position.  The 42 (Montoya) has been in a position to win a few races.  I feel like we certainly at Kentucky were in a position to win a race so I don’t know that we have more speed, I think we’re just doing a better job at finishing maybe where the car should.”
 
HOW SPECIAL IS IT TO COME TO KANSAS SPEEDWAY AFTER GROWING UP RACING IN THE AREA?:  “I just really enjoy coming back to this part of the country.  My dad, I talked to him last night and I asked him what he did yesterday and he went and saw a couple of our old friends that we raced with at I-7
0 and Lakeside, not necessarily guys that raced, but guys that worked on the cars and had race shops here.  It was really cool to hear him tell me kind of what they were talking about and what they are doing now.  Just being back here, I’ve got a lot of really good memories of this part of the country and Charlotte is my home now even though I was raised just south of here.  Charlotte is my home, but I really enjoy coming back here and running into people I haven’t seen in a long time.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING WITH THE RULES NEXT YEAR YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE?:  “I like the idea of the ground zero car.  I think it’s going to be easier to get the car to the attitude that you want without and (John) Darby kind of mentioned this without having to put a trick spring in the car, it’s going to be simpler for the teams and I’m actually part of the test that they have a couple of wickers that they’re going to put on the car and they have a much larger spoiler that they’re going to try.  I haven’t seen everything, but until you go try the stuff on the track, it’s hard to give your opinion.  As a driver, we all have ideas, but 99 percent of them aren’t any good, they’re just our opinion.  After the test I would probably have a much better idea of what I think they should implement and what would make the racing better.  I don’t really think the racing is that bad right now.  Certainly track position is key.  It has always been important and when you watch any form of racing on TV whether it’s open wheel or stock cars, anything or even motorcycle racing on the super cross, if the guy gets a good start then it’s hard to catch him.  Track position is always going to be important.  I don’t think they’re ever going to get any type of a race car that to be in the back is going to benefit you.  I like the idea that they’re trying and they’re trying some I would say off the wall ideas and stuff that you would think would never happen in NASCAR so it will be interesting after that test to see how that works out and try all the ideas that they have.”

Chevrolet and Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Partner in IndyCar Series
 
·        Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Has Nine IndyCar Series Championships since 1990
·        Powered by Chevrolet Beginning in 2014

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
HOUSTON—One of the most successful race teams in IndyCar Series history will be powered by Chevrolet starting in 2014.
 
Chevrolet has entered into an agreement with Chip Ganassi Racing Teams to compete in IndyCar Series competition beginning next season. Chip Ganassi Racing Teams has won 93 races, including four in the Indianapolis 500, and nine championships since its founding in 1990.
 
“Chip’s teams have been a dominant force in open wheel racing for a long time, and we are looking forward to working together in IndyCar,” said Jim Campbell, Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “In addition, it will be great to be partnered with Chip and his organization in both open-wheel and stock-car racing.”
 
Chevrolet and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates have been partners in stock-car racing since 2009.
 
“This decision makes a lot of sense for us for a number of reasons,” said Chip Ganassi, Owner of Chip Ganassi Racing Teams.  “We feel Chevrolet has done a great job in their return to the IndyCar Series and because of our existing relationship with them in NASCAR.  There are a lot of synergies that we will be able to realize in working with the same manufacturer across the two series.  We are thrilled.”
 
Chip Ganassi Racing Teams drivers Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball have combined to win four races and two poles so far in 2013. Franchitti is a three-time IndyCar Series champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner; Dixon is a two-time IndyCar champ and the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.
 
Tony Kanaan will join Chip Ganassi Racing Teams starting in 2014. Kanaan’s IndyCar career includes 16 wins, 11 poles, the 2004 Series’ championship, and he is the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion.
 
Chevrolet returned to IndyCar racing as an engine manufacturer in 2012 with a new program focusing on the Chevrolet 2.2 liter direct-injected, twin turbo IndyCar V6, and won 11 of 15 races, and won the IZOD IndyCar Series Manufacturers’ Championship, the overall Driver’s Championship (Ryan Hunter-Reay), Driver’s Oval Track Championship (Hunter-Reay) and Driver’s Road-Course Championship (Will Power).
 
Chevrolet has nine poles and eight wins through the first 16 races of the 2013 IndyCar season.
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 3, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway after the open test day on Thursday where competitors tested a new tire.  He discussed his opinion of the new tire, the status of his team in the Chase and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
HOW DID IT GO FOR YOU OUT THERE TODAY?
“Pretty good.  I thought the track had good grip when we first started and lost a little bit probably due to the track temp there towards the end of the day.  Certainly hoping to lay some rubber down, but I’m not so sure that this tire is going to do that.  Other than just being real real tight I thought the tire reacted pretty similar to what we’ve dealt with in the past here.”
 
IN EVERYTHING YOU DID TODAY IS ANY OF IT A DIRECTION FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND OR WAS THIS JUST REALLY ALL TESTING?
“No, everything that we did today was in direction for this weekend.  To me this is just an extension of our race weekend.  We had data on the car, data acquisition to gather more detailed information.  In some ways we wish we had this every weekend.  Not necessarily an extra day at the track, but data acquisition to gather that data.  Then the engineers will sort through that overnight and come up with what we think we are going to need to do for the weekend.  Of course it’s going to be cool on Sunday so that is going to change things quite a bit with the grip level and the balance.  No, to me testing is always trying to find something to make the car go faster.  Not everything can relate to every other track and this track being as smooth as it is and sort of a repave.  Still kind of acts like a repave even though it has lost a little bit of grip.  The tire kind of makes it that too because it’s a pretty hard tire that we are basically sitting on.  I’m not so sure that anything else really applies to other tracks. We are all about what is happening this weekend.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAMS PERFORMANCE THUS FAR IN THE CHASE SAYS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR TEAM?
“It’s just we don’t ever quit.  I think it shows that we’ve made improvements performance wise we’ve gotten a lot better not just since the Chase started, but prior to the Chase we were performing better.  Which to me is what helped us get into a position to even have a shot at being in it.  We had sporadic good performances earlier in the year, but for the most part we just didn’t have the speed and that has really come together in the last six weeks.  I’m really proud of them for that because I’ve been going to the race track and had a lot of fun.  We have been leading laps and running up front.  At times in position to win races and there is nothing better than doing that and it couldn’t happen at a better time than right now.”
 
IN LAYMEN’S TERMS WHAT DOES THIS ZONE TREAD MEAN?  HOW DO YOU FEEL THE DIFFERENCE IN THESE TIRES HERE NOW?
“Unless you A, B, A the tire that we had here before against this tire and then back to the other tire it’s really hard to say what the gain is.  I really give Goodyear a lot of credit for bringing this tire here and trying to give us something to lean on these smooth race tracks like this where they have to build a very durable tire.  We build a lot of shoulder heat in the tire because of the high speeds. So when we say durable we mainly mean really rock hard.  So to put some softer compound in there to try to give the car a little bit more forgiveness and grip I love it.  It worked really well at Atlanta.  That is the first time we ever raced this.  I really liked it there.  I’m not seeing anything that is odd or off today other than just really tight.  We are seeing some tire wear which is a good thing.  That is what Goodyear likes to see to dissipate that heat is to see a little wear.  We will monitor that throughout the weekend.  If we saw more rubber being laid down on the track then typically you would say ‘okay that will get better as the weekend goes on’.  This is one of those tires that we have seen this year where it just doesn’t lay much rubber.”
 
IS IT A BETTER TIRE IN YOUR OPINION OR IS IT TOO EARLY TO SAY UNTIL YOU GET INTO THE RACE?
“Right now I would say it’s a better tire.  I don’t think any of us like the box that Goodyear is put in when we come to a newly surfaced track and have to put a rock hard tire on there for durability.  It’s not because that is the best performance tire it’s because they have to play it safe because of the high heat and the speeds that we are running.  Right now what I’m feeling it feels good.  It concerns me that just the No. 24 that we are as tight as we are.  We can’t seem to get it fixed.  That makes it tough to maneuver through traffic and tough to get the speed out of the car that we want to have.  We are just trying to find more tools to get the front to hook up. It seems like unhooking the back doesn’t seem to be the answer and so right now it’s probably too early to really judge the tire, but with everything I’m seeing I’m liking, I’m not disappointed with it in anyway.”
 
WITH EVERYTHING THAT GOES INTO THE SET-UP OF THE CAR AND EVERYTHING IS THIS THE TIRE A MAJOR CHANGE OR A MINOR CHANGE?
“I think it’s a very minor change.”
 
JAMES HILTON IS ACTUALLY RETIRING AFTER HIS RACE TOMORROW.  I THINK YOUR ROOKIE YEAR WAS KIND OF THE LAST YEAR HE WAS RUNNING SOME CUP RACES.  I WAS CURIOUS IF YOU EVER RAN INTO HIM?  HE WAS 59…
“I hope I never ran into him (laughs).”
 
NOT LITERALLY WITH THE CAR.  I WAS CURIOUS IF BACK THEN YOU SAW HIM AND THOUGHT ‘MAN HE’S RACING AT 59 I HOPE I’M RACING AT 59.’ NOW HE’S 79 AND STILL RACING:
“Well I admire anybody that is out on the track whether they are at full speed or whatever minimal speed is.  I think it says a lot about somebody that wants to go out there and has a passion, desire to do that.  Especially now working with AARP I have an even greater appreciation for folks that do that.  I don’t have any real stories racing with James other than he just seems like he has been around forever.  Every time I turn on a race James Hilton is out there and that is pretty cool.”
 
YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE DOING IT INTO YOUR SEVENTIES?
“I don’t think I will be doing it until I’m 50 so no, but I said I wouldn’t be doing it when I’m 40 and here I am at 42.  So you never know.”
 
MATT KENSETH SAID HE WISHES THEY WOULD NEVER CHANGE THE TIRE.  YOU SAID YOU LIKE IT.  WITH THIS TEST TODAY AND SOME OF THE TEAMS ARE USING THE CARS THAT THEY TESTED TODAY, SOME AREN’T.  THE THING IS I WONDER HOW EVERYBODY ADAPTS TO IT AND HOW IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE RACE THIS WEEKEND?
“Well of course whoever won the race the last time they are not going to want anything to change.  Things went well for them and they would like to come back with everything being the same, especially when the championship is on the line.  For us even though we had just not a very good weekend but it wasn’t because we didn’t have speed or didn’t like the tire, I thought we actually had a pretty good race car, but we got caught on pit road when the caution came out.  And we crashed in qualifying and had to come from the back.  We weren’t going to be in the top 10 so I wasn’t asking for a big tire change or anything, but I always am asking Goodyear to find ways on this type of tire, it’s the Michigan, here, any newly paved race track.  One of the things I struggle with the most on those types of tracks is there is very little forgiveness.  It just seems like you can get to the peak of the
performance of the tire, but it’s like a razors edge and you get to it and you can jump right over it very quickly and you lose the front or the back.  That is what happened to me the last time here in qualifying it was just very much of a surprise.  So I applaud Goodyear anytime that they are going to try to add something to that tire to give it a little bit more forgiveness because I don’t think I’m the only one that is making those comments.  That is what I see them attempting to do and they wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t feel confident in it.  I know that there is limited testing that they did and it was in July, but to my knowledge this is one of the first days that we have had this whole combination of both left-sides and right-sides on the car.  Other than a little bit of extra wear which is typical that you see especially after the rain and everything I would say that it’s a positive not a negative.”
 
WHAT DOES FORGIVENESS IN A TIRE MEAN IN A RACE?
“It’s just when the car slides around that you can recover from it.  You can just ease out of the throttle and the car straightens up and then you don’t just lose the back of the car like that.  Or even the front of the car where you can feel where you are getting to the edge of the grip and you know when you are about to go over it and if you go over it you can recover quickly and get the car to cut with the front same thing with the rear.  When the tire is real hard it needs temperature but even when you get it to that temperature and you load it up it just only has so much grip because it’s just harder.  Then it doesn’t wear so it last forever.  That is why you see so many two tire stops.  Where guys want track position instead of new tires and I think most of us would agree that the best races that we see are tracks where there is fall off.  There are four tire changes, yeah, it’s nice to have somebody try to chance it and maybe take right-sides, but you want to see passing.  The way you do that is by having fall off in the tire and the abrasiveness of the track and the multiple grooves.  I think that is what they are at least trying to achieve with this tire.”
 
KNOWING THAT IT IS STILL EARLY IN THE CHASE DO YOU RUN THROUGH IN YOUR MIND WHAT YOU THINK CERTAIN THINGS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO HAPPEN FOR YOU TO REEL IN THAT GROUP IN FRONT OF YOU?
“I think all we can do is our best to get the best out of our car and our team.  We can’t control what our competitors do.  We can only control what we do and to me it’s just living up to our full potential.  Then just kind of let the chips fall the way they are supposed to or the way they will.  We can’t play those scenarios out in our mind because you just don’t know how that is going to happen.  You just go out and race as hard as you can and I’m very proud of the effort that we’ve put out.  I made a mistake at New Hampshire that cost us. Other than that we have gained on everybody in the Chase except for the top three guys.  Those guys have been performing very well. If they don’t have some issues or have a really bad day then nobody is going to catch them.  We are not wishing that upon them it’s just we just got to go out and do our jobs and hope that the tracks, like I look at this as one of our weaker tracks.  If we can perform well here I think it really puts us in great position to go gain some points at a few other tracks.  That is what we are looking at doing right now.  We are way ahead of the game right now.  We were four weeks ago not in it.  Now we are in it and we are up to fifth or tied for fourth.  We are pleased with where we are at. We are not going to complain about being where we are at, at all.”
 
HOW MUCH EASIER IS IT TO COME TO THE RACE TRACK WHEN YOU ARE RUNNING WELL AND HAVING FUN RATHER THAN THE STRUGGLES FROM THE PAST?
“This has been a very frustrating year for us.  We’ve tested ourselves, me personally, Alan (Gustafson, crew chief), the engineers, the pit crew, everybody on this team because we’ve gone to race tracks where we felt like we should have performed and we didn’t.  We have gone to race tracks where we were performing and made mistakes or had failures and that tests your patients, it tests your frustration in the car and off the track your relationship with the people on the team.  When you can fight through that it makes you stronger.  We thought we fought through enough last years, but we actually I think needed a little bit more of that.  It’s been a struggle.  Knowing what struggles we have been through to have things going well it is exciting because we can appreciate it so much more because we know what those tough times were really like.”
 
I WANT TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ‘KICK IT FOR CANCER’.  I KNOW THAT YOU WENT TO KNOXVILLE THIS YEAR.  WAS THAT YOUR FIRST TRIP TO THE DINGUS?
“I think it was my first trip to dingus.  Very good time.”
 
TALK ABOUT ‘KICK IT FOR CANCER’ AND THE SPRINT CAR COMMUNITY AND HOW THEY HAVE SUPPORTED YOU:
“They have been extremely supportive.  I am and I’m not surprised you know they are just a great group of racers that work very hard.  We have supported a team and I think that they just appreciate our involvement in looking at the World of Outlaws and sprint cars and that fan base as a group of people that we wanted to be involved with and put on these kickball tournaments.  Kendra Jacobs and Shane Stewart so many people that have… the promoters at all these tracks they have just gotten behind it.  So yeah in that sense I am surprised.  I didn’t expect it to take off the way it has.  They have been tremendous to bring more awareness to pediatric cancer through the ‘kick it’ tournaments.  We have raised a tremendous amount of money as well as overseas.  One of our biggest games we have had to date was over in Australia because all the sprint car racers go over there during the winter.  It’s been phenomenal and it continues to grow and we are having a lot of fun.  We had a ‘kick it’ tournament in Charlotte or outside of Charlotte with NASCAR.  We don’t raise near as much money with them as we do with sprint car racing.  That is the type of community that there is.  Everybody wants to be a part of it and they are also maybe not as scared about getting hurt out there doing the kickball tournament.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, SR. USED TO TALK ABOUT HOW THE MOST IMPORTANT CONVERSATION FOR HIM IN EVERY RACE WAS THE CONVERSATION HE HAD WITH HIS TIRES. WHAT HIS TIRES TOLD HIM ON A CONSTANT BASIS. DOES THIS TIRE THAT YOU ALL TESTED TODAY SPEAK TO YOU AS WELL AS ANY TIRE THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER HAS EVER TALKED TO YOU AND IS IT AS EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO YOU?
“That must be why I struggle on these repaves (laughs).  Because I feel like they are speaking French and I don’t know French.  No, I mean they don’t.  That is what I was getting at about these harder tires on these newly, recently paved race tracks.  It’s a box that we are in and we understand why we are in it because of the durability as I mentioned and trying to get the best performance as well as we are carrying a lot of speed.  This car has got a lot of downforce and the track has got a lot of grip in it.  You are either stuck to the race track or you are not stuck to the race track there is no in-between. I understand what you are saying.  To me you can say it’s the tire, you can just say it’s the grip level; you can just say through the seat of your pants of what the car is doing it’s just feeding information.  It does start at the tire because the tire and the contact to the pavement is the first thing that you are reacting to.  Then it’s sent up through the springs and the shocks and the whole chassis and aerodynamics and everything bef
ore it finally gets to you and your hands on the steering wheel and your butt in the seat.  I kind of like to talk to everything.  Sometimes that is why I confuse myself in those conversations. I never heard Dale (Earnhardt, Sr.) say that so that’s interesting, but it’s also true.”
         
 

ANTONIO GARCIA: Inside Track at VIR
 
Last year may have been the first race for the American Le Mans Series at VIR, but it wasn’t the first visit there for Antonio Garcia. Corvette Racing’s speedy Spaniard raced there twice in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports car Series’ Daytona Prototype class, and he parlayed that experience into the fastest GT race lap in the ALMS’ debut last season – 1:47.389 (109.620 mph).
 
Garcia, who leads the ALMS GT championship with Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, tells you what he looks for during a lap at VIR.
 
“VIR is a race track that I’ve always liked since I went there for the first time in 2010. Overall, the track has a lot of momentum and flow. The backstraight is the only place where you are not turning and are just going straight. Everywhere else, you need to place the car well – especially in the first bit where there is a little combination of some slow-speed corners. As you go toward the Oak Tree Corner, which sadly is missing the Oak Tree now – and the other side of the track, you have a section of very, very fast corners. The first time you go through there can be a little scary. No matter what car you are driving, you are flat or just breathing a little on the throttle at the last corner. The track is very challenging and very narrow with no room for even little mistakes.
 
“Braking is very important into Turn 1 and also at the end of the backstraight. You need to be able to brake very late because both of the entries are rather bumpy. You really need to nail the curbing where you shift just to make the line smooth. Through the esses, drivers – like Jan! – run over all the curbing. The esses give you the chance to do that although I’m not really keen on working on the curbs. I have a line through there where I don’t use a lot of curbing. But going through there really is the moment of your lap. Everyone tries to take a line to get through there as flat as possible until the last right-hander before the downhill toward Oak Tree. I don’t think there is much to be gained by going flat versus breathing a little bit. Another point is the Oak Tree corner. In the past, the Oak Tree would not really let you see the apex because it would be right behind the tree. I don’t know how it will be now, but for sure the corner is one where you need to give away the entry a little in order to go back on power early because the backstraight is so long. From Turn 4 up until Oak Tree are the key points of the race track.
 
“If you’re running in a group or in traffic, for sure the most difficult section would be the esses. Really it’s Turn 3 up until Oak Tree is the most important. If you are in a group, chasing traffic or traffic is catching you, that does give you a chance to make up time on your competition if you get through there cleanly. It’s important that if someone is coming on you that you let him know where you are going to go and where you want to be passed. Otherwise there can be a misunderstanding between drivers and that’s when big crashes happen.”

Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Teams and Drivers Head to Houston in Tight Championship Battle
 
DETROIT (October 2, 2013) – With just three races left in the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season, this weekend’s doubleheader event at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas is pivotal in the battle for both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.
 
Team Penske Chevrolet IndyCar V6 driver Helio Castroneves holds a 49-point advantage in the battle for the championship crown heading into the two-race Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston on the 1.683-mile/10-turn temporary street circuit. Two other Chevrolet drivers’, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay, remain within striking distance of the championship leaders sitting fourth and fifth respectively in the championship fight.
 
“After a month long break in the action, Team Chevy is ready to race this weekend on the streets of Houston”, said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “There is a lot on the line and our preparation is top notch.  Our teams and technical partners arrive in Houston with the insights from prior street circuit results applied for the entire race weekend.  This is a pivotal event for the championships and this venue is new to the DW12.  Rolling off the transporter with a near proper setup for the surface and dialing it in quickly during the single practice session will be quite important.   We are confident the power, drivability and reliability of the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 will put our drivers in a position to win this weekend.”
 
As Chevrolet drivers and teams work to perfect set-ups and make a run at the driver’s championship title, another championship is also on the line for Chevrolet, the coveted manufacturers’ crown. A clean sweep of victories this weekend at Reliant Park would solidify the championship for the Bowtie Brand, but only one trip to Winner’s Circle will take the decision all the way to the final lap in the IZOD IndyCar Season finale at Auto Club Speedway set for October 19, 2013.
 

 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference with Kasey Kahne.  Kasey has two wins and eight top‑five finishes this season and has scored four consecutive top‑10 finishes at Kansas. With two of your best tracks coming up at Kansas and Charlotte, is this a time when you think you can make a comeback in the championship hunt?
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  I think it’s a stretch where we can run well.  They’re a couple tracks that we’ve been able to run up front at every time we go to them. Looking forward to that.  Just trying to get back on track, finishing up the season strong.
 
 
I feel like the leaders in the points, they’re kind of in their own race.  We’ll just do what we can to finish off our year, and hopefully we can get a win or two at some of our best racetracks.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll now go to the media for questions for Kasey Kahne.
 
 
Q.  With this new tire at Kansas, what is your prediction on how it’s going to perform on a newer racing surface?
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  I guess that’s why we’re going Thursday for some laps, try to see how it performs, how it holds up.  It will be interesting.  I thought it worked fine at Atlanta.  Hopefully here it will work good, too.
 
 
That tire we were on at the start of the year was just really hard and didn’t wear out a lot.  There were a lot of two‑tire stops you would do.  I would imagine this would be similar just with the fresh surface, a lot of load in the tires.  You know the right side is going to be really hard.
 
 
I would think it would be pretty close to what we raced.  Hopefully it wears out more.  We’ll have to slow down on runs, like what they’re trying to shoot for.  I don’t know if it will or not.  I would think it will be real similar to what we had.
 

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Sunday morning, October 13th, at 10 a.m., right after the Charlotte race, two weeks from now, we’re looking forward to having our fourth 5K, starting at the Hall of Fame, ending at the Hall of Fame, running 3.1 miles.  It’s been growing each year.  It’s been cool to watch it grow, watch the people come out and really enjoy themselves, get a good run in in the morning, hang out.  We have Great Clips there cutting hair.  There’s different prizes.  There’s a kids’ race after the 5K is over.  It’s a cool day.  I enjoy it.  I hope a lot of people come out and enjoy it again.  You can go to www.KaseyKahneFoundation.org and sign up. Sunday morning after Charlotte weekend, October 13th, it’s going to be a good time.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thanks, Kasey.  That’s all the questions we have today.  Best of luck this weekend at Kansas.
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  Thanks.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you to the media for joining us, as well.

CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: GT Championships in Sight
ALMS manufacturer, team titles within reach in next-to-last round
 
DETROIT (Oct. 1, 2013) – Twelve months ago, Corvette Racing and Chevrolet celebrated a championship weekend at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). Now let’s fast-forward to the present day – Chevrolet and Corvette Racing are on the verge of securing a repeat championship titles in the American Le Mans Series… once again at VIR.
 
The Oak Tree Grand Prix on Saturday, Oct. 5 could see the ALMS GT team and manufacturer championships wrapped up. The two yellow Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs have five victories between them: three for the No. 3 of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen – Laguna Seca, Baltimore and Circuit of The Americas – and two for Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette – Sebring and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
 
All Corvette Racing needs to win its 10th ALMS team championship is for either of the two cars to finish sixth or better in class at VIR. A victory for either Corvette would secure Chevrolet’s 10th manufacturer title with one race left in the season. That’s what happened in 2012 – Gavin and Milner’s triumph landed them the drivers’ championship, Chevrolet clinched the manufacturers’ crown and Corvette Racing wrapped up the team title.
 
In the drivers’ standings, Garcia and Magnussen are in the midst of a remarkable run of three wins and two podium finishes in the last six races. That streak places them in the lead of the championship despite coming away from the season’s first race at Sebring with no points.
 
Saturday’s race is set for 2:15 p.m. ET with live coverage on ESPN3 beginning at 2 p.m. ESPN2’s coverage airs at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
 
VIR, which opened in 1957, has been a happy hunting ground for Corvette’s stable of four drivers. In addition to his GT victory last year with Gavin, Milner also won in GRAND-AM competition in 2005. The Virginia native made his professional debut in GT racing a year earlier and claimed pole position.
 
Magnussen also is a past winner at VIR in Rolex Series competition having taken a Daytona Prototype victory in 2007. This will mark Garcia’s fourth straight year competing at the venue, and he posted the fastest GT lap of the race in 2012. He and Magnussen placed eighth in class last season.
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2013
 
 
Jimmie Johnson Becomes All-Time Winner at Dover with Victory in AAA 400
Johnson’s Third Straight Top-Five Finish in Chase Moves Him to Second Overall
 
DOVER, Del. – (September 29, 2013)  – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet SS, won the 44th Annual AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway today and further etched his name in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) history books.  The win was his eighth at the one-mile speedway, which broke a tie he held with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison at seven.   It was also the five-time champion’s 65th career NSCS victory, fifth win of 2013, and his third consecutive top-five finish in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. With the win, Johnson moves up to second place in the standings, just eight points behind the leader after three Chase races.
 
“Two (tires) worked good for us in practice,” said Johnson. “And believe me, I wanted to see four tires line-up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off. It’s good to get this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet in Victory Lane. I’m very excited.
 
“To do anything that Bobby (Allison) or Richard (Petty) has done, is quite an accomplishment. We’ve had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just so happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day.”
 
Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., posted his sixth top-10 finish in 28 races at Dover.  The driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS moved up one position in the point standings to 10th with his 16th top-10 finish of 2013.    Jeff Gordon had another strong finish in his No. 24 Axalta Chevy SS, bringing home a fourth –place finish to give Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports three of four of the top five finishers.   The finish moves Gordon up three positions to fifth in the Chase. 
 
Two other Chevrolet Chase contenders had top-10 finishes as well at Dover.  Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS, came home in sixth place, his 15th NSCS top-10 finish of 2013.  Harvick moved up two spots in the standings to fourth.   Ryan Newman started third and led twice for six laps before finishing eighth in his No. 39 State Water Heaters Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing.  He also moved up two positions in the standings with his 14th NSCS top-10 finish of the year.
 
Other Chevrolet SS drivers in the Chase championship battle finished as follows:  Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS – 13th (13th in points), Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS finished 21st after experiencing a loose wheel early in the race, and fell two spots to ninth in the Chase standings.
 
Joey Logano (Ford) finished third and Kyle Busch (Toyota) was fifth to complete the top-five finishers.
 
The Series moves next to Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas on Sunday, October 6th, 2013 for Chase Race Number Four.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
 
CHAD KNAUS, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – WINNING CREW CHIEF
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll continue our post‑race media availability.  We welcome race winner Jimmie Johnson.  This is Jimmie’s 65th victory, fifth victory of 2013, eighth victory at Dover which breaks a record with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.
 
Talk about the moment, Jimmie.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It’s really cool.  I’m not sure I’ve ever done what Richard Petty hasn’t.  To get this eighth win here is very, very special.  Truthfully it was the first thought that went through my mind when I crossed the finish line.  It wasn’t long after I thought of the impact of winning in the Chase, wondering where the 20 was.
 
Big day.  I came so close in the spring to getting this eighth win here and had that slip away, it was nice to get it done today.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Also joining us is crew chief Chad Knaus.  Talk a little bit about being here with Jimmie, this win, only eight points behind Matt now.  Shaping up to be a bit of a battle.
 
CHAD KNAUS:  Yeah, this is obviously a great racetrack for us.  Jimmie has really taken to this place starting back in 2002 when we first came.
 
It’s pretty spectacular every time I hear Jimmie’s name mentioned in the same sentence as guys like Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., all the guys that have done so well throughout the history of our sport.  To be able to one‑up those guys right now is pretty spectacular.
 
Very proud to be part of the 48 team.  Had a great racecar.  Wasn’t the easiest weekend for us.  We had to work hard.  Jimmie used a lot of his knowledge and veteran knowledge to get us to where we are today.
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll start with questions.
Q.  Chad, this is the first time in seven races that you guys have outscored Kenseth in a race.  I know you have both said, Look, it’s about how you’ve run at times, it’s not about all the finishes.  At the end of the day, what kind of significance is there in the sense that you’ve actually beaten him in a race head‑to‑head for the first time in over a month?
CHAD KNAUS:  What are you talking about again?  Just kidding (smiling).
 
No, it’s good.  The fact of the matter is this:  I feel like in Chicago if we hadn’t had a botched‑up little pit stop there at the first part of the race ‑ some of our doing, a little of assistance ‑ I feel like we could have won the race in Chicago, which we’re hoping to do at some point before I retire.
 
I feel like last week in Loudon if we could have ever gotten control of the event, which we had great opportunity.  Got jumbled up on some restarts, couldn’t get to where we needed to, we could have beaten him there.
I feel we had cars capable of winning the first two races, like the 20 and 18.  Coming into this event we felt we had a good racecar.  Brought the same racecar we had in the spring.  We obviously ran really well in the spring.
 
Being able to come in here, qualify respectably, go out and lead the most laps, win this race, speaks volumes about this team.
 
What we’re doing right now is we are just trying to establish a foundation and set ourselves up for the second half of the Chase.  As long as we do that, we’re going to be where we need to be.
Q.  Chad, when you realized behind you was somebody on four tires, I assume you were thinking there was going to be a bigger buffer, did you feel like you had enough laps that they wouldn’t factor in?  Did you think, We’re screwed?
CHAD KNAUS:  Second part (laughter).
 
No, here is the situation.  If you look back over the history of this race, we even saw at the beginning of the event today, the 18 car was able to go out there on two tires, establish a lead on two tires versus the guys on four, took 27 laps for somebody to catch the 18 car and pass them.  We felt like with 20 something laps to go in this race, we would probably be okay if we could make it happen.
 
Now, fortunately enough for the 88, they were able to get broken free of the guys who were on two tires pretty quickly.  But we did a lot of due diligence yesterday trying to understand where our car was, what we needed to do with the KOBALT Chevrolet to make it fast for Jimmie if we did get ourselves in a position where we needed to do two tire
s.  We understood what we needed to do.  We made those changes.  Jimmie told me after the race, he felt like that was the best the car was on the short run.
 
We ran our fastest laps right there at the end of the race, on two tires.  We ran some twenty‑three fifties which was really fast.  We worked hard and tried to understand what we needed to do for strategy, and fortunately it paid off for us.
 Q.  Are you surprised more people didn’t go with that?
CHAD KNAUS:  I was surprised.  I thought more people would have taken two tires towards the end of the race.  We saw guys early in the race take two tires, get track position, maintain that without having clean air.  So I expected a little bit more of a buffer.
 
I’ll be honest, when Stevie and those guys took four tires, I felt like, Damn, that was a missed opportunity, we should have taken four.  But it definitely paid off for us.
Q.  Jimmie, a similar question, but if you could talk about what was going through your mind knowing that Junior had the four tires, said this is one of the best cars he’s had all season.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, he was fast.  I’m not sure how much pit road early in the race, that couldn’t have helped their overall cause.  He worked his way back around, up into the mix of things there.
 
What I saw of his car on four tires earlier in the race, he was pretty quick.  That was really our weakest point, was the first five to ten laps, then our car would come in and was incredibly fast at that point.
 
I didn’t want to lose control at the end of the race with 20 some to go and all that.  So the pressure was on.
 
I ran my guts out to stay ahead of him.  Any switch I could flip in the car that was a fan that might help the car turn my brake bias, everything and anything I could twist, turn, pull, push, I did, then just drove the shit out of that thing.  Was able to keep him at bay for 10, 12 laps.  At that point I was able to stretch a little bit and get back to running a smart race.
 
That opening 10, 12 laps was a pressure‑packed situation.
Q.  Not only is Jimmie the all‑time winner here, he’s the all‑time winner at seven tracks.  Can you talk about what that speaks to?
CHAD KNAUS:  The man’s got a lot of skills. It’s been an honor to be able to work with Jimmie over the course of the years.  I think he’s able to pull out some things that are pretty spectacular.  He’s able to dig deeper, pull out his cape, make things happen in winning moments of these races that other people cannot do.  It’s pretty spectacular.
 
I’ve seen a lot of great drivers, worked with a lot of great drivers.  Knowing what we’ve got sitting behind the seat is always a little bit of confidence, knowing if you get close, if you make the right call at the right time, he’s going to be able to carry the ball.
 
Once again, I think Jimmie is probably the most underrated champion we have in this industry.  He is by far and above the most powerful driver over the course of the last 25, 35 years in this sport.  It’s pretty fun being able to work with him.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Thanks, man (laughter).
Q.  Jimmie, for a while you, Kyle and Matt were top three.  For most of the race y’all were somewhere in the top five.  Either part of that motivational, give you more drive to do better?  Was any part of that a cool factor?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I was thinking about it when I was in the car.  My whole thought process was just how tough this championship’s going to be.  They’re bringing their best and doing their best.  You’ve got to deliver.  That was my mindset when I was racing with both of those guys for three‑quarters of the race.
 
It didn’t surprise me.  It just confirmed what I think we’ve all been kind of feeling and thinking about, is that those guys, they’re both in a great position, and in it for the long haul.
 
For myself, from a mental standpoint, that’s the area where I thrive, when we get into long runs, a tough, demanding track.  It’s not easy to get around this place.  A long, tough championship.  I really feel like I operate better.  The more painful it is, the harder it is, that’s where I seem to do my best work.
 
I don’t like it.  I don’t enjoy that experience.  But I’ve always done a better job and have surprised myself through those moments.  It was like that in this race today.  I think it’s going to be more so of that into the coming races to the checkered flag in Homestead.
Q.  In that light, how important was it for you to win on a day it appeared you had a little better car than both of them?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I mean you’ve got to win when you’re at your best track.  That being said, we had to win here today.  I think any points on the 18 or the 20 would have been a very good day.  Max points, it’s an awesome day.
 
Again, it’s just relative.  It’s a little early to play that game too much right now.  There’s a point in the season where you just worry about who’s leading, who’s behind you if you’re the leader, beating them.  So that mindset would have been there if we ran second to Junior today.  Still would have been happy to outrun the 20 or the 18.  We need to win at our best tracks, and we did that.
Q.  About the mistake Junior had on pit road, he said that might have been the difference of him having the clean air and being up front at the end.  Do you think that was really significant?  Did you feel also you pissed off a lot of people today by beating Junior?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It doesn’t matter, I piss them off regardless.  Just me breathing pisses some of them off (laughter).
 
It certainly affected his day.  To lose track position like that, without a doubt it affected his day.  I’m not sure at the end with strategy how things would have played out.  I think he was second behind us on that run.
 
It’s hard to say if it really would have made a difference, but it didn’t help him, help his cause at all.
Q.  The fact that you guys share a shop with the 88, Junior says these were the best his cars have ever been.  Do you feel the same way, your cars are right at the top right now?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Bristol, no.  Richmond, no.  Dover, yes.
 
It’s funny, because each track has its own demands.  I feel like here, the way we performed at Martinsville earlier in the year, we’ve been able to refine and hone in on specific tracks.  The bigger, faster tracks, I feel really good about our equipment.
 
The way we ran in New Hampshire, as Chad pointed out, we had an awesome pit stop, came off pit road in third, the 9 and the 15 stayed out, put us in a position of having control of the front row.
 
I think we could have won is what I’m getting at.  If we even lined up fourth, had a bad stop, I think we would have gotten through those guys and had a chance to win.
 
The short tracks, Loudon, Phoenix, have been a concern for us.  The way we ran in Loudon, we honestly feel we had a shot to win there.  That will carry over to Phoenix.  We have a good lineup of races ahead.
Q.  Jimmie, I don’t know if this makes up for what happened in the spring, but does it make it feel a little bit better just to come back to the same place where you were so disappointed and pissed?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It doesn’t change that too much.  It’s nice to win, not have something like that take it away.  I’m just happy there’s been a rule change to the restarts.  It was a long time coming and needed to happen.
 
That situation can’t happen again.  I’m happy about that.
 
But it still stings.  I can remember the major
ity of the races we should have won.  I think drivers are like that.  You just hate little stupid things that keep you from getting to Victory Lane.
Q.  You both have competed against Matt in previous Chases.  This is the first time you’ve competed against him with him at Gibbs.  Can you talk about what you see, if anything, different about him this season and how that is shaping up in this championship battle.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  He’s always been incredible at scoring points and getting the most out of his racecar on a given weekend.  It doesn’t let emotions rattle him much.  That part of Matt has always been a consistent thing.
In his previous life at Roush, there were certain tracks you went to, you wouldn’t think about him.  Martinsville would be one.  I would tease and harass him about how he looked on the track.  We were there testing one time, had some good laughs about it all.  I say that, we go there this spring, I think he ran top five or something.
 
The change has been good for him.  Is it equipment?  Is it a personnel thing, working with someone new and different, that relationship?  I don’t know where it lies.  But I think the bottom side, the tracks Matt struggled at, for whatever reason, that has risen, and he’s more competitive on those tracks than he was at the Roush side of life.
 
CHAD KNAUS:  Matt’s good.  He is.  He’s good.  There’s no doubt about it.  I really enjoy racing with Matt.  He’s a good driver.  He’s a clean driver.  He understands where he’s at on the racetrack.  At different points today we were faster than him, he understood.  He really gets it.  He gets it more than most of the drivers out there.  He knows when to get the hell out of the way.  He knows when he has the best car.  He needs to take advantage of that.  He knows what to do.
 
I had a lot of respect for Matt when we finished second in the championship to him a few years ago.  His father and Matt both came up to me and said, Man, we wanted to win, but you definitely were the best.  Matt is a good dude.  I like racing against Matt.
 
I think going to Gibbs has given him better equipment.  I think the Roush equipment isn’t as good as what they’ve got at Gibbs.  It’s going to be interesting to see that dynamic between Kyle and Matt further down the road.  If Matt keeps beating Kyle, it will be fun to see.
 
And write something positive, Jim.  Don’t write about how the ratings are down, all that kind of stuff.  Let’s see something positive from Jim this week.
 
THE MODERATOR:  On that note, congratulations on your win today, guys.
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll get started with our post‑race press conference.  We welcome our second‑place finisher Dale Earnhardt, Jr., currently 10th in points.
 
Talk a little bit about the race out there starting from the pole, finishing second.
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Yeah, we had an awesome car.  Two weeks in a row we’ve had two fantastic racecars.  We’re proud of Steve and Ken, my engineer, all the guys for bringing such good cars to the racetrack.  It certainly makes my job easier, gives us opportunities to win like this.
 
Trying to look on the bright side.  A little disappointed we didn’t pull off the win.  Felt like we had the perfect strategy.  Had maybe the best car, arguably the best car, today.  With those four tires I thought we could get it done.
 
We left everybody in the mirror.  We were clicking off some laps, but just not fast enough to get to Jimmie.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll open it up to questions for Dale.
Q.  Can you talk about the two pit stops, the one where you blew past the commitment line, then the last one where you got caught up in traffic?  Are you glad neither of those cost you?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Yeah.  If you really look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely.  We had the lead, gave up the lead.  Jimmie had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.
 
If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race.  It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was to get by Jimmie.
 
I think missing the commitment cone was a big factor in us not finishing one spot ahead of where we are.  But the other pit stop wasn’t that big a deal.  I came on pit road about as hard as I could.  The 14, Mark, was running maybe 5, 10 miles an hour slow in the first couple segments.  I don’t know that cost us a ton of time.
Q.  Dale, do you have any sense for how long it would have taken for your tires to produce more of an advantage?  Did you feel like you were starting to track him down?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Yeah, definitely.  I knew for sure over the entire run, if we could run 80 laps, four tires are definitely going to be better than two.  We were guessing around 35, 40 laps the difference would start to show.
 
I felt like as we got the traffic, Jimmie was starting to struggle a little bit in the last couple of laps.  My car actually got better the longer I ran and drove better, did what I needed it to do in the corner as we ran.  It wasn’t quite clicking just yet.  Our car was starting to come around.
 
I think the difference in the tires between our two cars was about to show.  But the race is 400 laps.  That’s the way it is.  They did a good job.  Real proud of the company.  We were going to have a helluva party if we could get to him.
Q.  Dale, Jimmie said you drove a whale of a race.  Second place, when you’re going up against Kenseth, talk about hitting your head against the wall.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Well, I think we won’t do that.  I feel like in the last couple of weeks, we’ve been able to really show what our team’s capable of.  We’ve been really quick on the sheet every day, fast in practice.  The changes we’re making, everything seems to be working right, going in the direction you want.  I feel like when we get it right, we can compete and we can win.
 
We came really close today.  I don’t feel like today was a highlight for us.  I think this is how it’s supposed to be every week.  I know that competition’s difficult and tough, Jimmie being one of the best drivers the sport has ever seen.  Running at one of his better racetracks, it was going to be a challenge.  But I felt like we had enough car and tires for sure to beat him.
Q.  Coming off the last restart, you were with Jimmie for a little bit, then seemed like you moved up on the high side, he got away from you.  Would that not have mattered?  Did you give up more time than you necessarily wanted to at that point?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  I was just trying some different lines, seeing what might work.  I ran the high line, gave up about four car lengths to him.  Realized I needed to be back on the bottom.  Went back down there and focused again.
 
His car was good.  I mean, I had to run perfect laps to maintain the pace that he had, just to not let the lead get any bigger, just hope that he’d start coming back to me there at the end.  It was just a little bit too late.
Q.  Dale, even though he’s your teammate, does it still kind of suck to lose to Jimmie because he always wins everything?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  I’ll be honest with you, it sucks to lose regardless of who wins (smiling).  It’s probably harder to run second th
an it is fifth or tenth.  When you have a car like we had today, you don’t get good cars every week, you like to capitalize.
 
It doesn’t bother me that it was Jimmie.  I know Jimmie is going to be good here.  Plus he’s my teammate.  I want to see him do well.  When he does well, it indirectly affects us and benefits us.
 
I wasn’t hoping he was going to blow a tire or anything there at the end; I was just trying to catch him.  If I could get to him, I thought I would be able to get by him.  We just couldn’t do it.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Dale, thank you for your time this afternoon.  Congratulations.
 
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 29, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
IT’S YOUR EIGHTH VICTORY AT DOVER TODAY. TALK ABOUT THE LAST RUN. I’VE HAD CREW CHIEFS TELL ME THAT TWO TIRES WILL NOT BEAT FOUR TIRES. HOW DID YOU HOLD OFF YOUR TEAMMATE, DALE EARNHARDT, JR.?
“Two (tires) worked good for us in practice. And believe me; I wanted to see four tires line-up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off. It’s good to get this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet in Victory Lane. I’m very excited. I’m very happy to have Mr. Hendrick here. I wish that I had my family here. I want to say hi to my girls at home. Thank you to all the fans and to Sprint. This is just an awesome day and awfully timely in the scheme of things.”
 
YOU ARE ONLY EIGHT POINTS BEHIND MATT KENSETH NOW. HOW STRONG IS THIS TEAM, GOING FORWARD, FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“It’s good. All these things are great. When you put the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) up there, it’s going to make it a very difficult deal. And I think it’s going to be fun for the fans to watch. We came to a good track and we got what we needed to, done. I know that No. 20 is going to be awfully strong for the rest of the stretch, and I look forward to racing with him.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR PLACE IN THE RECORD BOOKS NOW. IT USED TO BE YOU AND RICHARD PETTY AND BOBBY ALLISON TIED FOR THE MOST WINS AT DOVER. NOW IT’S JUST YOU:
“It’s incredible. To do anything that Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment. We’ve had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just so happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day.”
 
TALK US THROUGH YOUR DAY AND THIS DOMINATE RUN THAT YOU HAD:
“Just a very fast race car.  I think we were a little vulnerable on stickers and new tires to get going for five to eight laps.  Then after that this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet was really strong.  I was fearing cautions at the end.  Of course we had one.  I felt like two (tires) was good for us.  We knew that it was going to work well for us.  I wish that four (tires) was going to start further back.  When I saw four was the car right behind me I knew I was going to be in trouble.  (Dale Earnhardt) Junior drove a whale of a race.  He kept me super honest there at the end.  So a very strong day.”
 
GIVEN THAT YOU WEREN’T AS GOOD ON THE SHORT RUNS AND YOU HAD TWO TIRES WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND DALE EARNHARDT, JR. RIGHT THERE AT THE END OF THE RACE?
“I think really just track position.  He had a great race car all day long.  I think really between the No. 88, the No. 20 and the No. 48 we seemed to have all the speed to be the three fastest cars.  I saw him miss pit road early in the race.  I’m sure that was tough to rebound from.  He finally got back up to the front there and was awfully strong.  It has just been a track that I’ve adapted to since the beginning and I’ve really enjoyed running at.  The longer the run the better I perform here.  This track isn’t easy to drive.  You’ve got to be up on the wheel for four hundred laps around here and I enjoy that aspect too.”
 
10 POINTS THAT YOU KNOCKED OFF OF MATT KENSETH’S LEAD IS THIS THE POINT THAT JIMMIE JOHNSON AND THE LOWE’S TEAM STARTS TO MAKE THEIR MOVE?
“I still think it’s too early to say somebody can make a move.  You just don’t want to give points up.  Today we got max points so we didn’t leave any on the table and we will go to Kansas next week and see what we can do.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
YOU CAME UP ONE SPOT SHORT WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE AT THE END?
“Well, Jimmie (Johnson) was just that good.  I thought that four tires were going to be enough to get to him and get him out of the way, but he is just that fast around here.  That track position is really important and I gave that up early in the race with that mistake coming onto pit road.  And it cost us a shot at the win there.  We still had it.  My crew gave me a good enough car to get us back into it, so I’ve got to thank them, National Guard, Diet Mountain Dew, Time Warner Cable and all of our partners.”
 
HOW DID THE RACE TRACK CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE DAY TODAY?
“The balance moved around a little bit not quite as much as we have seen here in the past, but I think we just brought a better race car this time.  That is why we had a better time of it.”
 
YOU WERE THE FIRST CAR WITH FOUR TIRES ON THAT LAST RUN. DID YOU THINK THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH TO GET IT DONE?
“Yeah, I did. That’s real disappointing there; but Jimmie (Johnson) is really that fast. He’s that good around this place. I thought we might be able to get to him and I was definitely going to do whatever I could to win if I could get within reach. But I just couldn’t get to him. So, I’m just real disappointed. We’ve had a couple of good weekends. These are two of the best cars I’ve had all year. I’ve got to thank the team. But, running second is no better than running 10th. I’d like to get a trophy here soon.”
 
YOU HAD A COUPLE OF ISSUES ON PIT LANE TODAY. DO YOU THINK ULTIMATELY THAT HAD ANY AFFECT ON WHERE YOU FINISHED?
“Yeah, I take responsibility for getting a little too eager coming onto pit road for that green flag stop. We’re lucky we didn’t have more trouble through that whole deal.  I didn’t know what the heck the rules are for that, so I was figuring we got off pretty light. But I had a fast enough car to get back to the leaders, but you’ve got to be the leader on that last start. You see most of these races are won by the guy leading it at the last restart or after the last round of pit stops. That wasn’t us today. I’ll take responsibility for that mess-up coming on pit road for sure.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
DESCRIBE THE WAY THINGS WENT THIS AFTERNOON FOR YOU ON THIS TOUGH RACE TRACK:
“It was definitely tough.  Our Axalta Cromax Pro Chevrolet was very good.  We had moments where I felt like we had the best car and there were moments where I felt like we were one of the worst cars.  Man, I did not want to see that last caution. I felt like we were really in the perfect position fuel mileage wise, tires, speed of the car, we were just sitting there riding trying to get to the end.  Then we had to make a decision on two tires, four tires.  I felt like two was going to be the right thing.  It worked out for Jimmie (Johnson) to win it.  Congrats to him, but just didn’t work out for us.  Our car just didn’t take off very good there.”
 
YOU HAD A GREAT CAR AT TIMES. IF THIS RACE HAD STAYED GREEN THE REST OF THE WAY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAD FOR THEM? YOU WERE ALSO SAVING FUEL FOR A WHILE:
“I think we definitely had that strategy nailed. We came in; stretched it as far as we could and the team did an excellent job getting it full of fuel. I was saving (fuel) most of that run. So, we were four short. But it doesn’t matter. The caution came out and we just did not have a short run car. We took two (tires) to get track position, which won the race. But it just didn’t work for our car. All in all, it was a great day for the Axalta Chevrolet. I was very happy with just the overall performance of everybody. And I was having fun. Congrats to Jimmie (Johnson). He’s so tough here. It’s no surprise that he won. It was a great job by (Dale Earnhardt) Junior, too; that was fun to watch.”
 
YOU
GAINED IN THE POINTS AND TECHNICALLY TIED FOR FOURTH, BUT YOU ARE IN FIFTH. LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE AND MOVING ON TO KANSAS, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR CHANCES?
“Oh, well, if we keep performing the way we’ve been performing; a driver can’t slide into the pit stall too far, and we’ve just got to keep knocking out good pit stops and having good race cars like we’ve had. I’m very excited and motivated by how well this team has stepped-up ever since the Chase has come around. I can’t wait to get to the next race.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SIXTH
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RACE:
“That was a long day.  All in all, all the guys on our Budweiser Chevy did a good job of just kind of keep pounding away.  That is what you have to do here at Dover as you get towards halfway it just kind of seems like you can make up positions by just staying in the game.  We just kept ourself in the game today.  We didn’t have a great car, but we still have some work to do to get the performance a little bit better.  We have got to fix pit road.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHERE YOU STAND AT IN THE CHASE RIGHT NOW?
“We beat the points leader so we probably didn’t gain any points, but we didn’t lose any either.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 STATE WATER HEATERS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
“Our day started out really well, the car was great for the first 100 laps or so. It got tight after that and we never could make the right adjustment to get it handling like I needed it to. I think we finished eighth, but I know a lot of the guys we’re in the chase with finished ahead of us. All in all, it wasn’t a bad day for the State Water Heaters Chevrolet. We got another top-10 finish, which means everyone can go to Outback Steakhouse and get a free Bloomin’ Onion, and we paid 10 mortgages with Quicken Loans’ “Bring it Home” promotion.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH
HOW WAS YOUR CAR TODAY AND WERE YOU GUYS HAVING A MECHANICAL ISSUE?
“We don’t know yet.  Something was wrong and we lost a lot of power.  Didn’t seem like the engine, maybe it was something else like tail pipes or something. We are not real sure.   We just salvaged a good finish and we didn’t pit there and got a top-15.  So that was good for what we had and what we were dealt with.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 21ST
ON HIS RACE:
“A loose wheel did us in. We were way off at the start, but after the first pit stop we made some good changes and started to make a move. But once again we had an issue with a loose wheel (right rear, Lap 156) and that put us a couple of laps down. And with the lack of cautions we couldn’t make it up. This is the Chase and you can’t afford to have these problems. We need to regroup and get it together for Kansas next week.”

Chevrolet Wins 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Engine Manufacturers’ Championship for the Second Consecutive Year
 
LAKEVILLE, Conn. – September 28, 2013 – For the second consecutive year, Chevrolet has won the GRAND-AM Rolex Series Daytona Prototype (DP) Engine Manufacturers’ Championship. Today’s win by Wayne Taylor Racing in the season finale at Lime Rock Park capped the championship-winning effort by the seven Corvette DP teams.
 
“Winning the GRAND-AM Rolex Series Engine Manufacturers’ Championship for the second consecutive year is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the Corvette DP teams and drivers,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicle and Motorsports. “Our partners at Earnhardt-Childress Racing along with our Powertrain team worked each and every week to deliver the right combination of power, fuel economy and durability. It was truly a team effort. “
 
On the way to winning the coveted title, Chevrolet’s Corvette DP teams and drivers won eight of the 12 races held during 2013 season.
 
“With the efforts of Earnhardt-Childress Racing, the technical support Pratt and Miller provides, as well at the expertise from GM Racing Powertrains, Chevrolet Racing in the Rolex Series has accomplished a great deal this season,” said Mark Kent, Director of Chevrolet Racing.  “As a new chapter is set to begin with the debut of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship in January, 2014 at Daytona International Speedway, we are honored to leave the final event of the GRAND-AM Rolex Series as a champion.”
 
The Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype team and driver roster that contributed to Chevrolet capturing the Manufacturers’ title are: Wayne Taylor Racing – Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor. GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing – Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney; Spirit of Daytona Racing – Richard Westbrook and Ricky Taylor;  Action Express Racing (two cars) – Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa, Brian Frisselle, and Burt Frisselle and 8 Star Motorsports (two cars) Enzo Potolicchio, Stephane Sarrazin, Michael Valiante, Sebastien Bourdais and Emilio DiGuida.
 
“Congratulations to our Chevrolet teams and all of our technical partners on winning the 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Series DP Engine Manufacturers’ Championship,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. “The level of cooperation and dedication among our Corvette Daytona Prototype teams, in addition to the tremendous support from our technical partner were the key components of this championship-winning effort. I am very proud of the contributions made by everyone involved in this program, and celebrate this achievement for Chevrolet as we move to the Tudor United SportsCar Championship in 2014.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
 
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR. WINS POLE AT THE MONSTER MILE FOR CHEVROLET
FIVE TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS QUALIFY IN TOP 10
 
 
DOVER, DEL. – September 27, 2013 –  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. powered his No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS into the pole position with a track-record lap of 161.849 mph in 22.243 seconds for Sunday’s AAA 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway. It was his 13th career pole win, his second of the 2013 Cup season, and first on the mile-long, high-banked concrete race track for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contender.
 
“The car had really good speed and a really good balance right off the trailer, and it felt like we were really competitive, more so than we’ve been here in the past, especially in practice,” said Earnhardt, Jr.
 
“I think I did a good job driving it, but most of the credit goes to (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) and the guys for preparing the car throughout the week. I thought they did a really good job giving me a great chance to go out and trust that the car is going to be right there, and run a good lap.”
 
Ryan Newman, also a Team Chevy Chase contender, posted the third quickest qualifying lap in his No. 39 State Water Heaters Chevy SS, giving Chevrolet two of the top five starting spots.
 
Jamie McMurray, aboard his No. 1 LiftMaster Chevrolet SS qualified in the seventh position, seven-time Dover winner, Jimmie Johnson, qualified eighth in his No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevy SS and Kurt Busch qualified ninth behind the wheel of his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevy SS; to give the Bowtie Brigade five of the top 10 starting spots.
 
Chase contenders Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS and Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Axalta Chevy SS will roll off from the 12th and 16th positions, respectively, in the 400-mile race.
 
Rounding out the top five qualifiers were Matt Kenseth (Toyota) – second, Carl Edwards (Ford) – fourth, and Aric Almirola (Ford) – fifth.
 
The third event in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will take the green flag on Sunday, September 29th at 2:00 p.m. EDT and aired on ESPN and MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
 
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
 
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR RUN OUT THERE TODAY:
“Yeah, the car had really good speed and a really good balance right off the trailer.  Felt like we were really competitive, more so than we had been here in the past, especially in practice.  When we put the car into qualifying trim, made a couple of mock runs, the car showed again really good speed.  It wasn’t quite the fastest car, but the way the car drove was really relatively easy and to make the runs we were making wasn’t very challenging and the grip in the car was just really over the top.  I was expecting to put a good lap down.  I thought we would be competitive enough to get inside the top 10 pretty easily.  We just made a couple of changes that we typically make in between practice and qualifying and went off to run the lap.
 
“Made a couple of just small errors driving the car, but you never drive every lap perfectly.  Always kind of wish you could have done things a little differently.  I think the car had maybe another half a tenth or a tenth in it.  It was really just a really good car.  I think I did a good job driving it, but most of the credit goes to Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and Kevin (Meendering, engineer) and all the guys just for preparing a car throughout the week that unloaded so close.  That makes everything so easy when the car is close especially for practice before qualifying.  You are going out there and you are making these laps right on the edge and when you are not really moving the balance a whole lot or making a ton of changes the driver can narrow down what he needs to do and minimize the errors that he is going to make and I thought that they did a good job giving me a great chance to just go out there and trust the car is going to be right there and run a good lap.” 
 
TO MAKE UP GROUND IN THE LAST EIGHT RACES YOU PUT YOURSELF IN AN EXCELLENT POSITION.  IS IT AT ALL A LITTLE DISHEARTENING TO KNOW THAT THE GUY YOU ARE CHASING WILL BE STARTING ALONG SIDE YOU ON THE FRONT ROW?
“Yeah, not really.  I expect our competition to be tough every week.  Nothing really surprises me when they perform well.  We are not really going to count points and I’m not going to sit here and figure out how far I’m behind and come up with some equation that I need to perfect to gain points each week.  I’m not going to sit here and do that.  We are just going to show up and try to run hard and be smart.  If we can unload great cars like this it makes that all easier.  We are going to try to win some races before the year is out.  I would be really disappointed if we don’t win a race this season because I think we are a better team than we were last year.  I felt we’ve came so close so many times so we would just like to get out there and get some trophies.  The points will take care of themselves when you are doing that.”
 
WHEN YOU GOT OUT OF THE CAR IT SOUNDED LIKE YOU FELT YOU HAD LEFT A LITTLE BIT OUT THERE.  WERE YOU SURPRISED THE LAP HELD UP?
“Yeah I was.  I watched the tracker on a couple of guys.  The No. 99 they were a tenth and a half better than us by the time they got into turn three or the middle of (turns) three and four.  Yeah, I think there was a good amount of time left out there for a lot of guys myself included.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT TIRES WERE? I KNOW YOU GUYS WERE CHANGING TIRES A LOT AT THE END OF PRACTICE:
“Well we practiced and used our tires how we typically do every week.  We ran the beginning of practice on a set of tires. We ran a couple of race runs to get ourselves a good idea of where we were for tomorrow to try to anticipate improving the car. That saves us a little bit of time tomorrow.  If we waited until tomorrow to find out what we could learn today you know it’s just saving us a little time doing that.  Then we have two sets of tires left to go out there and make one mock run and make another mock run.  We thought scuffs weren’t too bad actually and we have rolled the lefts in here before.  We put the qualifiers on and rolled the lefts in a little bit, left the rights off the car and then we made our last run on the last set of tires.  It was just what we normally do every week aside from the scuff for the lefts which you do on occasion depending on the track.”
 
ANY SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE TO SETTING A TRACK RECORD AND KNOCKING SOMEONE LIKE JEREMY MAYFIELD OUT OF THE RECORD BOOK?
“Well this car has been faster everywhere we have been this year so I anticipate seeing the lap records kind of fall throughout the season.  I don’t know how many that we have broken this year, but it has to be a significant amount compared to past years.  This car has got a lot more downforce and has been a good bit quicker everywhere we have been with it this year.  But it’s a good feeling you know we have won two poles this year.  If we don’t get one at Daytona or Talladega we usually don’t get one at all.  This feels pretty good.”
 
YOU JUST MENTIONED TWO POLES THIS YEAR THAT IS THE FIRST TIME YOU HAVE HAD MORE THAN ONE IN A SEASON SINCE 2002.  IS THAT A REFLECTION OF WHERE THE PROGRAM IS?  IS THAT A REFLECTION OF COMFORT IN THIS NEW CAR?  HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THAT?
“I would say it’s a reflection of where the program is.  Just how Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and I since we first started working together we have
gotten better each year.  One of the things we started focusing on last year was qualifying and I think that has rolled over into this season.  We continue to put importance on that and try to improve on that.  The racing and the cars and the speed the cars have in the races has also improved.  We really focused on qualifying last year and even more so this year.  He and I are working better together.  The longer we work together the better we get at it and the more we understand each other and the more he understands what I need in the car.  We have also kept the majority of the team intact from the beginning.  That is so important to keep that together if you can because everybody sort of learns what they can about each other.  Steve is really good… he has made me a better race car driver.  He makes his engineers better.  I mean he is really good at his job.  So he deserves a lot of credit for us improving and being able to get these poles and just qualifying better.”
 
STEVE (LETARTE) SAID HE HAS NEVER SEEN AN UNHAPPY RACE CAR DRIVER IN A FAST CAR IS THAT ACCURATE?
“That is true.  When the car is fast usually the driver is not talking or complaining.  I mean I know that even the guy leading the race has got something he would like to fix on his car.  Or something about the car it could do better.  Yeah, when you run well you definitely are a happier guy.  I mean just look at how we were after last week’s qualifying effort compared to this week.  I thought we had a good car last week.  I don’t know we just didn’t get the job done in qualifying and I was so disappointed.  When you’ve got the car and you know the potential and you go out there and realize it like we did today it makes it a lot easier.”
 
HAVE YOU TALKED TO MATT (KENSETH) AT ALL?  IS HE KIND OF HAVING ONE OF THOSE ‘PINCH ME’ TYPE OF SEASONS?  OR IS HE HAVING ONE OF THOSE THAT HE KIND OF EXPECTED EVERYTHING TO FALL INTO PLACE SEASON?
“Matt (Kenseth) never would expect things to go this well.  I’m always having to pump him up, tell him how good things are going to be.  He’s always a worry wart I guess is the best way to describe him.  I’m sure he is enjoying the success and knows how talented his team is around him.  Every time I see him even when his car is fast in practice he might say his car is not that good.  He is one of those guys, but he’s having a great year.  Hopefully we can beat him.  We want to get up there and regain our ground and get back into this thing if we can.”
 
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 STATE WATER HEATERS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
 
A GREAT RUN FOR YOUR TEAM HERE AT DOVER:
“Yeah, we came off the truck really good and we were in qualifying trim and basically stayed real close to where we were.   I just sharpened up the pencil as far as driving the race track and it all kind of stayed the same for us.  It was obviously close and I think we were fifteen-thousandths off of the pole – which is always close here.  But nevertheless a good start for our State Water Heaters Chevrolet and good pit selection.  No matter what though, it’s still a tough pit road here and we will see how it all works out.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR HUNTING TRIP THIS WEEK, DID YOU GET ANYTHING AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE HANGING OUT WITH CLINT (BOWYER) IN THE WILD?
“Yeah, he only went to the hospital once.  It wasn’t that big of a wound, and I didn’t hit him quite where I wanted to.   But nevertheless, we had a lot of fun and I want to thank Bill Jordan and everybody at Realtree for giving us the opportunity to just get away and relax.  Obviously that takes and understanding wife and couple kids at home that got sick and had to get through all that stuff.   In the end, he killed an elk and I didn’t.  I was close and had a questionable shot and used better judgment.  I will go back when gun season comes in and I am able to fit that into my schedule.
 
“I had a blast and it’s beautiful country.  I have been under the weather since Monday and was fighting some flu symptoms with fever, aches and pains, and stuff.  In the end we had a lot of fun and I am thankful for the people that gave at least Clint and I the opportunity to do that.”
 
WHY WOULD THE QUALIFYING TIME BE ALMOST FOUR MILES AN HOUR FASTER HERE TODAY THAN IN JUNE?
“We are just trying harder (laughs).  No, I think a lot of it has to do with the temperature.  A lot of it also has to do with us getting a better package with the car for a track that is this sensitive let’s say.  With the bumps in turn three and that everybody has sharpened up on the aero side of this track.  The track is super-fast and I think everybody is making more downforce.  I think everybody has gotten things a little more fine-tuned and that makes a big difference. 
 
“You see how close everything is here.  It’s not like one team is four-tenths quicker.   We are all a good bit quicker.  I think a big part of it is the conditions and it definitely wasn’t as hot here today as it was in the spring.  And then obviously just the race cars.”
 
THE TRACK RECORD IS LIKE NINE YEARS OLD BEFORE BEING BROKEN TODAY.  ANY PARTICULAR REASON IN GOING BACK THAT FAR?
“I don’t know. We could change the tire and break the track record by six miles an hour tomorrow and that is not so much the deal.  We used to have tires that would fall off a lot and now the tires don’t fall off that much and the cars are faster.   I think that it is what it is, and it’s a coincidence. That’s my answer.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – POLE SITTER
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“The car has been excellent all day and I just overdrove (Turn) 1 a little bit and didn’t really trust the car as much as I should have off of (Turn) 4. The car is a lot faster than that. But hopefully it will be a good qualifying run.”
 
THAT WAS A GOOD LAP:
“I think we could have done a few things different and had a better lap.  I over drove the entrance to turn one a little bit and should have trusted the right rear a little bit more off of four.   The car has been great all day so you have to give Steve (Letarte), Kevin (Meendering, engineer), and all the guys all the credit.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 STATE WATER HEATERS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
TRACK IS GETTING QUICKER?
“No, I just tried harder (laughs)”
 
OH, I’M SURE YOU DID. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT?
“Actually I was 118 percent that time. The State Water Heaters Chevrolet was good off the truck. The car is very similar; the track was actually very similar to how we practiced. I just kind of had to capitalize on everything. Obviously it wasn’t quite good enough, but it’s a good place to start here in Dover.”
 
YOUR EXPECTATIONS BEFORE THE LAP AND HOW THE LAP ACTUALLY TURNED OUT?
“Good and good.  I thought we had a shot at it.   I think during the last fifteen laps in practice the track got a good bit faster.  We had the car basically how we unloaded it, other than one small change.  The State Water Heaters Chevrolet SS was good and Matt (Borland) and the guys did a good job.   Especially off the truck and we only made a small change all practice.  Hopefully we will stay in the top five.  The 20 and the 22 are going to be stout as well, but happy to be where we are at after 34 cars.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
YOU ARE JUST AHEAD OF KURT BUSCH RIGHT NOW. DO YOU THINK THERE’S ENOUGH FOR THE POLE HERE TODAY?
“We’ll see. It’s so early it’s hard to tell. And if you can outrun the No. 78 in Q-trim, you’re doing a good job. So, I feel that’s a good marker. Inside the car, it felt pretty good. (Turns) 1 and 2, I was off a little bit, but I really nailed (Turns) 3 and 4. We’ll just see. Hopefully it’s in the top three or four so we can get a nice pit stall on pit road. But it’s a good start for this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet.”
 
HOW WAS YOUR RACE CAR ON THAT LAP?
“Pretty good.  I am real happy with our KOBALT Tools Chevrolet and it wasn’t so bad really.  We will see how things go and I think from the temperature standpoint it’s going to be pretty equal through the field.  So we stand a good chance of having our time hold up.   There is a lot more rubber down from the Nationwide practice, and that is going to throw some guys a challenge. So I think we did a good job, and we’ll see if we can stay on top.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED NINTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
 “The track has changed a little bit and it just seems like it’s tougher to get the grip out of the front tires, but the rears are right on edge too.  It was a decent lap, and I don’t think we will miss the top 10 with a lap like that but we will see where it stacks up and keep track of the changing track conditions.  The track will continuously get darker and darker and get rubbered-in more and more so we will try and stay on top of it.”
 
YOU HAD AN EARLY DRAW, BUT THIS CLOUD COVER…..DID IT HELP?
“It helped us and we will see how it balances out throughout the session, but our Chevy is fast and we just need to keep up with the track conditions.” 
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 12TH
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“It wasn’t bad.  We were a touch too tight right there, but we had been edgy throughout the whole day and we improved on our practice time.  A lot of guys are slowing down so I think that it will be a decent starting spot.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“It was okay.  We were a little too loose through the middle so I couldn’t get to the throttle the way I needed to, but it was okay.  I wanted a little more, but sometimes here you try to get a little more and you end up screwing up.  So for what we had, it’s pretty good.”
 
JEFF GORDON, AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 16TH
SOME DRIVERS WERE SAYING THE TRACK WAS A BIT DIFFERENT FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING.  DID YOU FEEL THAT AT ALL?
“Well its felt a lot worse here in the past and the last time we were here the conditions changed dramatically.  So things change a little bit, and you get cloud cover and I am hoping that sun comes out and saves us.  It wasn’t our best lap and the balance just wasn’t quite there and we didn’t make a very good lap in my opinion.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 20TH
AFTER THE NATIONWIDE CARS HAVE BEEN OUT HERE, DOES THE TRACK FEEL THE SAME AS IT WAS IN PRACTICE?
‘I felt a little bit looser than what I had in practice earlier. I felt like the track was freer because tightened up and I was still pretty similar. So I don’t know; it’s hard to say how that will be. We beat a couple of cars that were in front of us, but I would think you’re going to need to go a little quicker than that if you’re going to qualify first today.”
 
HOW WAS YOUR LAP AND HAS THE RACE TRACK CHANGED FROM PRACTICE?
“We tightened our car up quite a bit and it still felt kind of similar to what it was.  Maybe a little bit.  Still seemed a little loose and it still seemed like an alright lap and we will see kind of where that goes.  I don’t know.  Not sure how it was.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 31ST
DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE TIME WAS LOST?
“Looking back at qualifying here, it doesn’t usually go faster. And on average, it was a tenth slower last time. So, I didn’t expect to go a lot faster but I also didn’t expect to go three-tenths slower. So, it was really loose and I can definitely attribute some of the time lost to being loose. There is a lot of rubber out there, but it feels slippery. And/or, we just freed it up too much for qualifying. I can’t blame the boys for trying, though.  I might maybe be just fine for the race, but at this point in time we’re definitely disappointed that we went so much slower. But hopefully that’s a trend here.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
                                                       
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Dover International Speedway and discussed racing this weekend at Dover, his current position in the Chase, the new restart rule and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT COMING INTO DOVER THIS WEEKEND:
“Excited to be here it’s obviously a great race track for the No. 48 team.  Good time in the year for us to come to a strong track.  We will just kind of see what happens.  I know it’s a good track for the No. 18 and historically Matt (Kenseth) has been strong here when I think back to some of the Roush days years ago, they are not too far back.  I think with how he has been running this year he’s going to be tough to beat and we will just get out there and race hard and get every point we can.”
 
AT THE END OF THE RACE LAST WEEK YOU SAID THAT YOU LEFT A LITTLE BIT ON THE TABLE.  IT JUST DIDN’T SEEM LIKE YOU TO BE SAYING THAT LIKE NORMALLY THE NO. 48 AND YOU DON’T DO THAT. IS THERE ANYTHING REALLY SORT OF UNUSUAL ABOUT HOW THINGS ARE GOING RIGHT NOW OR DO YOU FEEL THAT IT’S JUST PAR FOR THE COURSE AND YOU JUST HAVE TO ADAPT TO THE RACES THAT AREN’T SO GOOD?
“I think that is really the requirement for a Cup team, Cup driver is you have to be able to adapt to situations.  At the end of the race (last week) we had that inside lane on two occasions and that is where our opportunity slipped away.  We had a great pit stop and came out and thought we were going to be the leader and the No. 15 and the No. 9 stayed out so that put us in third position on the inside.  On that particular start Matt (Kenseth) started fourth and with that outside lane was able to get by the No. 9 right away and by the No. 15 and take control of the race at that point.  I really feel like if we would have had a slow stop and came out fourth we would have been in that position ourselves or if those two hadn’t pitted.  So that was really the opportunity in the race for us to take control and not by our own circumstances or design it just didn’t happen.  Then the next restart we were on the inside again and rallied our way back to fourth I guess it was.  Each one of those restarts you kind of lose a little ground and then have to work my way through and that is where opportunity missed us.”
 
HOW DO YOU VIEW THE STANDINGS AT THIS POINT?  HAVE YOU LOOKED AT IT AND DO YOU THINK IT’S A THREE MAN RACE AT THIS POINT LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE SAYING?
“I mean it’s easy to look at it that way, but I’m not putting my guard down.  We still have Talladega and a lot of these tracks can take out multiple cars.  You have that risk here if something happens you usually take a car or two with you.  I don’t know.  I’m certainly looking forward and there are only two guys that I’m paying attention to right now, so in that mindset, sure you can call it a three man race.  It’s still way too early to count many out yet.”
 
DO YOU HAVE ANY LESS OF A MENTAL HURDLE COMING IN HERE KNOWING THE RESTARTS RULES HAVE CHANGED AND DO YOU HAVE ANY FEEL OF WHAT HAPPENED HERE IN JUNE MAYBE PLAYED A ROLE IN NASCAR CHANGINGS THE RULES?
“Oh yeah, it definitely had a role in that.  I think it was three or four restarts I was a part of that helped shaped the rule that we have now.  I think it’s a good fix.  I think it’s a good compromise between protecting second on a lot of these mile and a half’s where we have an apron that drivers can shoot down onto and make a pass.  I think it’s protecting second place from that situation.  At other race tracks and like what happened to me here, where the leader doesn’t go, it takes that away from the leader.  So I think it’s good.  I think it’s a good compromise for what the drivers and the front row have to manage.  I’m glad that it’s in place.  I hate that it took so long, but I think it’s a good change.”
 
IT’S ONE THING FOR THE FIVE-TIME CHAMPION TO HAVE ONE CAR AHEAD OF HIM IN THE POINT STANDINGS IN THE CHASE, BUT ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT THERE ARE TWO JOE GIBBS RACING CARS AHEAD OF YOU AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HAS TURNED THE TIDE FOR THAT ORGANIZATION?
“We have known for years and years and years that they are strong organization.  When you peak is very important in our season and I think that the No. 20 and the No. 18 are really coming to the top of their game right now at this point of the year which is good for them.  Arguably and there is still racing left so I hope this is wrong, but so far our peak was probably about the third mark of the year, third to three eighths mark of the year.  I feel like we are trending back up with our two top fives and heading in the right direction, but time will tell how high we rise and where we get to.  They have always had good equipment and they have always had fast cars. I really feel like Matt (Kenseth) and the relationship that he and his crew chief have and what they have been able to bring to the table has helped elevate them to Joe Gibbs the next level.  The experience that Matt brings in, the smarts, the knowledge, the consistent driving that is a nice kind of rock within that organization that without a doubt has helped them.”
 
ON KYLE BUSCH, HE’S GOTTEN OFF TO TERRIBLE CHASE STARTS AND HASN’T PUT TOGETHER A CHASE. NOW THAT HE’S GOTTEN OFF TO THIS TYPE OF START, HOW FORMIDABLE OF A CONTENDER DO YOU THINK HE WILL BE FOR THE LONG HAUL IN THE CHASE?
“He has the ability. We’ve all seen it week in and week out. We’ll see if he can keep it together over the course of 10 weeks. We all have something out there that media, fans, and competitors hold against you and make you think about from time to time and they always bring up a question. His question is can you hold it together for 10 weeks. And we’ll see. I believe that he has the ability to do it. He’s shown at different points in time, he wins in anything and everything he drives at all types of tracks.  So, it’s in there. It’s just finding it; and finding it at the right time amongst all the pressure that it put on a team and driver in the Chase. But, he’s definitely on his game this year.”
 
YOU HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE TO BE DRAMA-FREE IN YOUR CAREER. BUT REGARDING PEOPLE LIKE CLINT BOWYER OR PERHAPS JEFF GORDON WHO GOT THRUST INTO THE CHASE AT THE LAST MINUTE, HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE MENTALITY OF THE TEAM? CAN THAT WEAR YOU DOWN AS OPPOSED TO JUST BEING ABLE TO STAY THE COURSE THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE CHAMPIONSHIP RUN?
“I think Gordon’s situation is helpful. There is a lot of positive behind that. I don’t see that wearing on him or his team. They feel like they have a second shot in some ways in their opportunity to win a championship. I feel like they have, on their own merit, earned their way in to win the championship and circumstances kind of changed that. So, they’re in the right spot, mentally. For Clint, that whole situation is really tough. And we all know him well and know how positive of a person he is and the charisma he has and that outward excitement he has. To carry around the load and burden of what’s gone on, I don’t know for sure. But I have to imagine it’s tough on him. It’s got to take a toll to some degree, and test him and his team more than I’m going through in the Chase. I’m just focused on going out and running well. They’ve got an extra force out there weighing on them. Without a doubt, I bel
ieve it’s weighing on them.”
 
INAUDIBLE:
“We’ll see how far he can fight back, but it’s only going to make him stronger. And I’ve lived through it under my own circumstance with (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) being thrown out of the 500 that year and how we came back and were able to win races and the championship and be a stronger team as a result. If you look at the current point in time, it’s tough. It’s hard on you. But you fast-forward six months to a year from now, Clint Bowyer and his team are stronger, for sure.”
 
YOU MENTIONED THAT EVERY DRIVER HAS A LINGERING QUESTION THAT FANS BRING UP. WHAT IS YOURS? WHAT DO PEOPLE BRING UP TO YOU?
“For me, it’s the two-year dry spell. Like it’s been an eternity since I’ve won a championship. So, that’s the question that I seem to get.
 
 

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND – IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS
CHEVROLET DRIVERS AND TEAMS RACE FOR CHAMPIONSHIP HARDWARE AT LIME ROCK PARK
 
DETROIT – (September 25, 2013) – The 2013 GRAND-AM Road Racing season finale at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut will play host to tight championship battles.  Chevrolet drivers and teams in both the Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype (DP) and Grand Touring (GT) classes will take on the challenge of the 1.53-mile, seven-turn road course in pursuit of the season’s ultimate goal – a championship.   During the two hour and 45 minute Rolex race to decide who is crowned this year’s champions, each of the Team Chevy drivers knows that not only are the team accolades on the line, but also the coveted Manufacturers’ Championships for Chevrolet.
 
“Lime Rock is a shorter track with tight corners followed by rather long straightaways,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Program Manager, Rolex Sports Car Series. “It is always a question of give and take in getting the right balance for the corners and the speed needed on the straights. Our Team Chevy crews and drivers will be well prepared for the battle.
 
“This weekend’s race will be intense for the Chevrolet teams and drivers, especially in Daytona Prototype.  There is a very tight point’s battle for both driver and team championships with three of our Corvette DP teams and drivers in the thick of it.  Excellent performance and perfect execution is what the teams will strive to attain in order to bring home the championship for their team, drivers’ and the Manufacturers’ Championship for Chevrolet.
 
“In GT, Stevenson Motorsports GTR Camaro is within striking distance of driver and team championships if racing luck falls their way. The No. 57 team has worked hard on preparations for this critical race.”
 
The pairing of Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli lead the pack for the 2013 DP drivers’ title as the Series rolls into Lime Rock Park. Taylor and Angelelli won the two most recent races in Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP and enter the finale with an eight-point lead. The duo can clinch the title with a fourth-place finish at Lime Rock Park.
 
History is on the side of Taylor and Angelelli at Lime Rock. Wayne Taylor Racing has been undefeated since DPs began racing at the circuit in 2010. But two other Corvette DP teams are also in the hunt for the drivers’ championship. Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP, are only 11 points back while co-drivers of the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa are still within striking distance sitting 13 and 15 point’s out of the lead position.
 
Another title on the line at Lime Rock is the DP team championship. Wayne Taylor Racing currently sits 11 points behind the leaders.  A strong finish at Lime Rock could mean a double victory for the team.
 
Chevrolet heads into the final Rolex race of the year leading the Rolex Daytona Prototype Engine Manufacturers’ standings by 32 points.
Not only are the Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype drivers and teams in a tight championship battle, but co-drivers John Edwards and Robin Liddell have a GT class-high four victories in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro, and enter the finale 11 points behind the leaders in both the driver and team championship standings.
 
Liddell and Edwards know a bit about winning at Lime Rock Park – they’ve each won two races on the 1.53-mile course, and at least one of them has been atop the GT podium for the past three years.
 
The duo will defend their 2012 Lime Rock victory this weekend and will be joined by teammates in the No. 75 Chevrolet Camaro Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia. The Corvette Racing drivers won last weekend’s GT class in the ALMS race at Circuit of The Americas, taking the lead in the championship in the process.
 
Chevrolet sits third in the Manufacturers’ standings, but a strong run can substantially change the final standings.
 
This weekend at Lime Rock Park also marks the last race of the season for the Camaro GS.R drivers and teams in the Continental Tire Sports Care Challenge series.  Matt Bell and John Edwards led the way for Team Chevy on the strength of two wins in 2013 at Road Atlanta and Kansas Speedway.  Headed into the weekend’s race the driving duo are 34 points out of the lead in both the driver and team standings, but a misstep by the leaders could mean a big day for the No. 9 Stevenson Camaro GS.R drivers.
 
The first race of championship weekend at Lime Rock Park will be the Lime Rock Grand Sport Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge two hour and 30 minute contest which is scheduled to take the green flag at 9:50 a.m. ET on Saturday September 28th followed by the start of the Rolex Sports Car Series championship deciding two hour and 45 minute race at 1:00 p.m., ET.
 

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
 
JENNIE LONG:  Good afternoon, everyone.  We are joined by Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  Harvick is currently 6th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with two wins and seven top 5 finishes this season.  He has scored top 10 finishes in four of the last five races at Dover, the site of Sunday’s AAA 400.  This weekend seems like the perfect time to make a charge towards the top of the standings.  What’s your outlook heading into Sunday?
 
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, it’s been a good racetrack for us as we’ve gone to Dover the last few years, so obviously we’re looking forward to going back, and hopefully matching that success this weekend.  We didn’t run so well at Loudon last weekend, so we need a good weekend going to Dover this week.
 
Q.  I actually kind of had a big‑picture question for you.  I wondered if you could just talk a little bit about Richard Childress Racing today as you are getting ready to leave versus when you came in, how the team will be structured beginning next year?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, I think as you look at how I started at RCR, obviously I came in in the year 2000, actually at the end of 1999 to run some ARCA races and started off with a brand new Nationwide program that we put together and won the Rookie of the Year, won the championship in the next two years, and that Nationwide program has gone on to have a lot of success.
 
 
I think the Cup side of it came in under obviously distressed circumstances with everything that had happened to Dale, and for us we had already laid out a plan of what we were going to do for the next four years, and obviously that changed.  So the first few years at RCR were a little bit confusing just for the fact that we were basically just running the 29 car, which was the 3, to keep the company going and try to establish some groundwork as to what we were going to do in the future.
 
 
Luckily that all played out, and for me it was an opportunity to come in and race as a young racer from the west coast who was just looking for an opportunity, and Richard gave me that, and now the sport is a lot different than what it was in those days with multi‑car teams and the state of our economy has changed the way that the sport operates and functions.
 
 
A lot of things are different now than what they were then.  There was a lot of sponsorship and a lot of things were a little more fly by the seat of your pants then than they are now.  It’s definitely a different landscape than what it used to be.
 
Q.  If I recall correctly, 2006 New York, when they used to bring the Chase drivers there before the Chase began, talking to you in one of the press sessions, and I think I asked you what your approach would be in the Chase, and this was your first Chase, and you said you just thought you would do things as you normally would and then you kind of smiled and said, well, maybe I’ll be surprised.  I’m just curious, you’ve had several Chases since then.  What have you learned?  Can you just race the way you normally do or do you have to change your approach?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  We just do things the same way, and obviously that hasn’t exactly won us a championship, but I don’t know of anybody else who does it any differently.  You just have to go out and drive your car as fast as it’ll go, and the guys on the team are going to try to change the tires and make the right decisions just as they would every other week.
 
 
A lot of people think that we change our strategy, but our strategy is to try to win every week, and obviously you can’t do that every week, and you have to try to pull the best finish that you can from that particular weekend.
 
 
Really that’s our strategy is to go out and try to perform the best that you can, and if you’re having a good day, capitalize on it.  If you’re having a bad day, try to figure out how to create a decent finish for it and gain maximum points.  It’s really the same strategy, Chase or no Chase.
 
Q.  Considering where you’re at in the points and the season that you’ve had, how feasible do you see being able to put together a string of some wins and top 5s to kind of get back into this thing?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, you know, right now I honestly hadn’t even really looked and seen the points deficit and paid attention to it.  For us it’s really about just going out and doing what you can week in and week out, and where you fall is where you fall, and that’s the cards that you were dealt.
 
 
At one point we strung together nine weeks in a row there with top 10 finishes and some wins, and I think that’s what you need to do anyway to have a chance at winning the championship.
 
 
But if Matt keeps doing the things that he’s doing and winning every race, it’s going to be hard for anybody to make up points, and those guys have run well this year, and for us we ran well at Chicago and overcame a lot of mistakes.  Last week we weren’t able to overcome an ill‑handling car and make something out of it.
 
 
I think at Dover, obviously you have to go up there and get your car handling well and do the things that you would normally do to try to have a good day.  I think the capability is there for us as a team to string some finishes together, but it’s just a matter of putting the next eight weeks together, and we’ve done it before this season, so we’ve just got to do it quick.
 
Q.  Ever since you announced that you were moving on, you haven’t exactly let up, obviously, and done really well.  Could you talk a little bit about being able to have your sponsors go with you, what that means to you and how that’s going to help you going into next year?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, for me it was an interesting period, for me to transition through this year and into next year.  And part of the intrigue of the Stewart‑Haas situation was for me when I signed my contract, we had no sponsor, no team, no number, nothing, and from a contractual side, I couldn’t really be involved in any of the sponsorship stuff that was going on so that I could focus on the racing at hand this year.
 
 
It’s been an interesting time for me because in the past we have been so involved in the things that are going on.  But to see Budweiser and Jimmy John’s and to have Outback come on board next year is pretty satisfying for me, and just for the fact that the sponsors have enough value in the things that we’ve done on and off the racetrack from the past to carry that forward, and to be able to represent the brands Budweiser and Jimmy John’s that we’ve represented in the past is obviously something that I’m used to and I’ll be able to see familiar faces and brands going forward as I go into my new position at Stewart‑Haas Racing.
 
 
I’m excited about that.  Everybody over there has obviously done a good job.  It’s going to be great getting to finally know those guys once I’m done with my work at RCR.  It’s been an interesting transition, and obviously things seem to be working out well.
 
Q.  This is kind of a follow‑up.  Heading into the Chase was there a certain number, whether it’s top 10s, top 5s, average finish, or number of points that you couldn’t allow yourself to fall behind as we go into the Chase?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  You know, honestly we don’t sit and figure those things out.  We just try to go out and do the best job that we can.  I’ve been involved in this Chase and had high single‑digit average finis
hes through the whole Chase and not won.  You can go through these Chase races and you see Carl lost it with I think a high‑five average, to Tony who won five races.  So you just never know who’s going to be on a hot streak and who’s not, and it’s really a one‑week‑at‑a‑time battle to put yourself in the best position that you can, and if you make a mistake and don’t run well like we did last week, you have to be able to rebound the next week or your gap gets a little bit further and further apart every week.
 
 
It’s just a matter of overcoming a bad day this week with a good finish, and that’s really what it all boils down to.  There’s no magic number.  There’s no thought process.  There’s no average finish.  There’s really no rhyme or reason to how the 10 races are going to work out, so you just have to go out and do your thing.  It’s something that for me works well is to shut off the media and the fans to a certain extent and what their opinions are, and you go out as a team and try to do the best you can.
 
Q.  And on a similar note, does the fast start that Matt has got off to change the way that you approach the final eight races?
KEVIN HARVICK:  No.  I mean, there is no different approach.  You go out and run your car as fast as it’ll go and you try to put yourself in a position to win every week, and when you can’t win you try to take the best finish that you can out of every week.  If you’re in a position to do that, then that’s what you do every week.  It’s all about capitalizing on the moments and making a bad day into a better day and trying to make as few mistakes as possible.  There’s really no change.  Everybody thinks that you change the way that you race; well, that’s really not possible because you have to race as hard as you can to get through the first 26 weeks and then you’ve got to do the same thing in the last 10.  There’s no change of what you do.
 
Q.  Once a driver makes the Chase, what are some of the basic ideas that you bring up to a crew chief or a crew on how to improve in the last 10 races of the season?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, really everything has to get better.  You have to have a little bit better in each department.  It’s really not one particular thing.  It’s really not a conversation that you have to sit down and have.  I think everybody on our team has been around it long enough to know that in order to do better than what we’ve done in the past, we have to get better in every spot, whether it’s the driver, the crew chief, the pit crew, and everything that goes with it.
 
 
With the experienced teams, I don’t think there’s a conversation that needs to be had.  I think everybody just knows they have to get better, and you have to minimize the mistakes that you make in all positions and try to capitalize on the things that you’re doing well and get results out of them.
 
Q.  Do you almost have to kind of roll your eyes and shake your head because it seems like it happens all the time when you hear these are the only guys that are going to win or stand a chance to win?  How do you go about that?  Surely you’re looking ahead and you’re seeing Talladega, what could happen there, but do you just not let that get to you at all?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, I mean, from a media standpoint or a fan’s perspective, if you look and read and listen to the things that they said at the beginning of the year, we wouldn’t even be sitting in this chair right now in the Chase because everybody had kind of written us off at the beginning of the year waiting for our team to implode from within and not even having a chance to race for the championship.
 
 
For me it’s really something that I don’t even pay attention to.  I know a lot of people say that, but you really just turn the media and the opinions of the fans, you have to turn those away to stay focused on your team and the things that you do.  It’s really a simple process and how you do that.  It’s hard to make yourself do that, but through the years you learn that it’s way easier just to focus on the guys around you and not get caught up in the mixture of opinions and how things are going to work out because nobody really knows how it’s going to work out until we run the race and all the circumstances and different racetracks and things play out through the end.
 
 
JENNIE LONG:  Kevin, thanks for joining us, and best of luck this weekend at Dover.
 

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
 
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, and welcome to today’s NASCAR CAM teleconference.  We are joined by Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  Earnhardt is currently 11th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.  He has one win and five top 5 finishes at Dover International Speedway, the site of Sunday’s AAA 400.
 
 
Dale, your crew chief, Steve Letarte, said you need wins to get back into the championship hunt.  What do you think your chances are starting your run this Sunday at Dover?
 
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Well, just going to have to work hard.  Our chances aren’t looking that great because the guys ahead of us are winning races.  They’ve had a pretty strong couple weeks to chase off.
 
 
But don’t give up, keep working.  If we can win a couple races, no matter what happens in the championship, that will improve the results of our season and give us a lot to be happy about.
 
 
So it would be great to go ahead and go to Dover and get that done.  But we’re trying every week.  I thought we were pretty aggressive this weekend trying to get ourselves in position to win.  Ended up with a pretty good result.  Couple things go a little bit different, and I think we get a shot at Matt and give ourselves a better opportunity to get the win.
 
 
It’s good to be able to look back on Sunday and feel like we had potential.  If we can be as aggressive as we were this past Sunday on pit strategy and many different things, just going after the set‑up of the car and working real hard on Saturday trying to prepare the car for the race, I think we can put ourselves in position more often with just a few races left.
 Q.  What would wins here over the last eight races mean for you as far as momentum going into next year?  Are you a big believer in the way you finish one year has a big impact on how you start the next?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Well, not really.  There are so many changes in the off‑season.  We’re always looking with the new car, you’re looking at higher potential that there will be changes in the off‑season and lot of new things to learn, lot of new things to sort of science out.  Really, if we just win races, it just vindicates the work we do and gives yourself confidence that you can do the job.  Helps you understand where your team is and what things you can fix and change to get better before the next year.
 
 
So I think as far as it carrying over to next year, I think we’re going to really see some changes in the off‑season on how the rules are with the car, maybe some things might happen ‑‑ I think enough is going to change in the off‑season that it will be almost like kind of having to start over a little bit next year as far as learning what works and what doesn’t work.
 
 
Either way I feel pretty good with that.  We have a good organization that can start from scratch and make some things happen.
Q.  Do you feel like ‑‑ I know you talked earlier in the year about feeling that you were close to being a winning team and competing for wins.  Do you feel like you’re at that same spot?  Do you feel like you’re any better?  Do you feel like you’ve fallen behind at all?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Yeah, we started the year out strong.  I mean, if we could have beaten Carl Edwards out in that last pit stop in Phoenix, we thought we could have won that race.  We had a string of good finishes and we were leading the points in the first five or six races of the year.  I feel like we really applied ourselves and adapted to the new car pretty quickly.
 
 
Now that everybody else has sort of caught up, and even surged ahead in some areas ‑‑ you’re seeing Matt have an awesome year, and it looks like Gibbs is having a better year performance‑wise all around.  Some teams at Roush are starting to find some competitiveness just as the season has gone on things have evened out a whole lot more.
 
 
So I think we’ll have to work in the off‑season to try to put ‑‑ all the teams are working in the off‑season to try to start the year off with an advantage over everybody, and we’ll just have to do that.  Work really hard in the off‑season to see what we can learn.
Q.  You kind of hit on the fact that you guys can kind of go all out with the front and the top three running so strong already in the Chase, does that kind of change your strategy a little bit?  Like maybe the rest of the field feels like, hey, we’ll just go for all we can get because we just hope that they don’t?  Does that change your strategy?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I guess.  I wouldn’t say it changes the strategy.  You know, I think it just changes the way you appreciate.  You look at your position in the Chase and you see, all right, we’re way behind.  We’ve got ourselves off to a terrible start in Chicago.  So we don’t really need to try to string together decent finishes.  That’s not going to do much for us.  We’re behind so far that trying to be consistent and just rattle off top 10s if we can, there is no moral victory there.  We can gamble on tire strategy and get off sequence in the race and try to make it work for you and get to victory lane.
 
 
Now we do that all year long, really.  The regular season is long enough to where you can be pretty risky and have a couple go your way and couple go against you and still be okay points‑wise and not really work your way out of the Chase by getting too crazy on the strategy.
 
 
But in the Chase, you know, obviously you want to win all the races like Matt’s doing.  But if you just run smart and run as hard as you can, obviously, and try to finish as good as you can, like Kyle, for example.  He’s hanging around, and that’s going to pay off.  If Matt makes a mistake or has trouble similar to the way me and the 22 had in Chicago, Kyle’s consistency and Jimmie’s as well will bode well for them and that will put them in position to take advantage of Matt’s bad luck.
 
 
So you want to be consistent if you can, but if you start off like we did, you just kind of throw it all out the window and try to get a trophy or two before the season’s out.
Q.  Dale, do you know, a lot of crew chiefs are starting to talk about, like you did, feeling that changes are coming and pretty widespread.  Do you know anything about that area that you feel like will be changed?  We heard about the Fords maybe.  Have you heard anything about what part of the cars will be changed or what they’re looking at?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I don’t.  I don’t really know.  I know there are always ongoing discussions to improve the sport, improve how the cars race each other.  We’ve been working really much harder, I think, in the past five to ten years on trying to put a better product and better race car on the track than they ever have, but that’s just something that’s happened in the sport every year.  It’s always been a process that’s ongoing in the sport and it will happen again through this off‑season.
 
 
With more information, more technology, more ways to gather data, understand data and understand what the cars are doing and how the cars are talking back to us about what’s working and what’s not working, I think you’ll see more of that.  More conversation, more ideas moving around on what can improve things.
 
 
So, yeah.  I don’t know what changes we’ll see in the of
f‑season.  I don’t think that it’s uncharacteristic that there is conversation, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see something happening.  It happens every year.  I don’t think it’s something that’s new or unique.
 
 
Usually, it’s aerodynamics, involves aerodynamics or involves the way ‑‑ they’re always trying to improve, obviously, on how much air and down force the guys in second and so forth get as opposed to the lead car.  That’s an area we’ve always wanted to work in and wanted to improve, and I think that’s probably going to be ongoing.
Q.  On the analyst side of it, you’re talking about what might happen in the Chase.  Obviously, Matt Kenseth has been so strong, but Greg Biffle said he too has come out strong at the front of the Chase and then dropped off the face of the earth.  Do you expect it to shift a lot?  Do you think the points will shift around quite a bit yet for some?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Oh, absolutely.  There is a lot of racing left.  There are eight races ‑‑ that’s a lot of racing and a lot of potential for good luck and bad luck to be shared by everybody.  I’m certain Matt and his team are going to try real hard to be smart and continue on the success that they’ve had.  But nobody’s immune to someone else’s mistake or something reaching out and altering the way the race is going for them.
 
 
Even Matt, as strong as they’ve been, something could happen to those guys and it may not be something of their own doing.  That’s why everybody in the series just continues to work hard because you don’t know what’s going to happen.  Fortune or misfortune could be around the corner.
Q.  With the way the first couple of races have gone and Gibbs being up there and Jimmie, Dale, is there anybody that you think people might be overlooking?  Somebody that you think might be hanging back there four, five, six, seven that shouldn’t be overlooked yet, as you mentioned, with so much racing to go?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Well, I don’t really know anybody in particular, but anything could happen.  There is a lot of racing left.  Just as Matt won a couple races, any one of us could hit on a streak, get real competitive and launch themselves right back into the heat of the battle.  Just as easily as someone can get behind, someone can rebound and win a race or two and have a couple great finishes and the competition have some difficulty and things can be reversed rather quickly.
 
 
We’re only two races into this thing and a lot of tough competition in the Chase, and nobody’s going to make it very easy on Matt.  I think the more ‑‑ especially the larger his lead gets, I think more of a bullseye the guy gets on him, and the tougher competition tends to race you.  He can expect things to be pretty competitive going forward. He’s been in this situation before.  He’s obviously got a strong competitor, one of the strongest competitors in Kyle and Jimmie both right on his heels and Carl Edwards and a couple guys lurking back there in the shadows.
          

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 22, 2013
 
Jimmie Johnson Leads Team Chevy Finishers at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
 
LOUDON, N.H. (September 22, 2013)  Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, finished fourth in the Sylvania 300 to lead four Team Chevy drivers to top-10 finishes.  Today’s run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion’s second consecutive top-five finish in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.  With two of 10 races in the books, Johnson is third in points, just 18 points down to the leader.
 
Jamie McMurray recovered from a lap 38 spin to bring the No. 1 Linksys Chevrolet SS to the checkered flag in fifth place to give the Bowtie Brand two of the top-five in the final finishing order.
 
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet SS, finished sixth and now sits 11th in the Chase standings. 
 
Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet SS, was the fourth Chevrolet SS driver in the top-10, crossing the finish line in eighth place.
 
Other Chevrolet SS drivers in the Chase championship battle finished as follows:  Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS – 13th (7th in points); Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS – 15th (8th in points); Ryan Newman, No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS – 16th (9th in points); Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS – 20th (6th in points) and Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS – 37th (13th in points) after contact on lap 253 sent him to the garage for repairs.
 
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was the race winner. Kyle Busch (Toyota) and Greg Biffle (Ford) complete the top-five finishers.
 
The Series moves next to Dover International Speedway, Dover, Delaware on Sunday, September 29, 2013 for Chase Race Number Three.
 
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
ON HIS RACE: 
“It was better than we thought it would be. I felt like we were really going to have to scrap for a top-10, maybe a top-five. I truthfully feel like we had a shot to win this race, if not run second or third. Those last couple of restarts lining up on the inside lane just didn’t work for anyone. I’d lose a couple of spots and have to get them back. Strong, strong performance. And, again my crew has worked so hard over the last three or four weeks getting ready for Richmond, which didn’t go well. Then getting ready for here which went really well. It took a lot of hard work to get the end result, but we’ve got a nice race car for these flat tracks. I’m looking forward to Phoenix now. It’s good to have a good run here knowing we can go to Phoenix and be competitive too.”
 
IS THIS A SENSE OF RELIEF HEADING TO DOVER?
“Yes, to open (the Chase) with a five, four (finishing positions) is great. One, one like Matt (Kenseth) has is a lot better, but we’re in a good spot. We haven’t given up to many points, and we’re going to one of my best race tracks next week in Dover. So I certainly hope to have this Lowe’s Chevrolet in Victory Lane over there.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“Definitely wanted more.  I think we had a great race car.  There are the end I was in the inside lane on those restarts and I would lose two or three (spots) each time.  Just part of it one of those things, but a great performance.  Great start to the Chase you know our five, four isn’t too bad.  It’s hard to beat a one, one that Matt (Kenseth) has right now, but we will keep plugging along.  We are getting into the meat of the Chase and where there are some great tracks for this Chevrolet that I am driving and all these Lowe’s guys working so hard to make it fast.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 LINKSYS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
YOU CAME BACK AND YOU CAME BACK BIG.  EARLY SPIN, THE BACK OF THE CAR KNOCKED OFF AND YOU STILL CAME BACK WITH A TOP FIVE:
“Yeah, are car was really good even after the crash.  I told you before the race that if we had good track position at the end I thought we could finish good.  It was a really good day for our Linksys car.  Just a fun day racing.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 TIME WARNER CABLE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SIXTH
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY AND THE BATTLE WITH (JAMIE) MCMURRAY AT THE END:
“Yeah, I run out of rear tires trying to hold him off.  Couldn’t get the power down just off the corner and he was a pretty fast car to begin with.  I knew it was going to be difficult to hold him off, but we had a good car yesterday.  Almost as good as it was today.  Just real happy to be able to rebound from earlier on pit road and get a good finish.  The car was fast as heck yesterday, one of the top three cars I thought.  Glad we were able to get a decent finish out of it.  Just want to win one, I’m trying hard.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH
ON HIS RACE:
“We didn’t hit it right on the adjustments today. It was nobody’s fault, we all agreed what adjustments to make and it just didn’t work out. We struggled with the handling and couldn’t make a move to the front with our Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet. While we aren’t pleased with where we finished (13th), we fought for every position and gave it our best effort. There’s still a long ways to go in this Chase.  When you’re off the way we were today and still finish 13th I guess it’s not all that bad. But we know we can do much better and we’ll keep on plugging away.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 15TH
YOU LED 36 LAPS AND THEN THERE WAS THAT PIT STOP. TAKE US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED
“I’m highly disappointed in myself. The team put me in a great position. We had a decent car and then track position made it into a great car. So it was obviously important to maintain that. I just came in and slid through. I hadn’t come close to sliding through all day and I guess just leading, I carried a little bit more speed in there and crossed the splitter over the line by an inch and that’s all it takes to make a difference between a chance at winning and finishing 15th.”
 
YOU WERE ABLE TO SALVAGE A 15TH PLACE FINISH. IT’S STILL EARLY IN THE CHASE. WHAT’S YOUR MINDSET HEADED TO DOVER?
“Well, I’m excited with the way we’re performing. Chicago was great and this weekend was great and we just keep that up; we’re not far out of fourth. We lost quite a bit of ground to those guys up front but not too much as far as getting in the top 5 in points. I think we are very capable of doing it but the driver can’t make mistakes. Today was one of the days. This is a short race. Track position is so important. You can’t make mistakes. I made a crucial one and I can’t allow that to happen if we’re going to get ourselves in the top 5 in points this year.”
 
HOW DO YOU CLEAR YOUR HEAD AFTER A DAY LIKE TODAY?
“Oh, I’ve been doing this for 20-some years, man. It’s not like I’ve never made mistakes before but you just hate to make them at a crucial time like that. So I’m very disappointed. And I’ll be disappointed until we get to Dover and start working on Dover.”

YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE OVER THE LINE?
“I knew it was close. When I got in there, the front started to slide. And I knew I was carrying a little bit more speed. I knew it was going to be close but I was hoping it would stop just at the line. I saw the official react and I knew we were in trouble.”
 
FROM WHERE YOU WERE ON THE TRACK THEN, IN 22ND, WHERE DID YOU THINK YOU COULD POSSIBLY FINISH?
“Oh, a top 10. That caution hurt us in general. We didn’t need that caution to come when it did. So, that was taking us out of sync for what was going to work best for our pit strategy anyway. So, we were already go
ing to be behind but there is a big difference between starting say 12th and 22nd. We lost a lot of spots to the other guys that took four tires and who knows how much that made a difference, but it was a bunch.”
 
WHEN A MOMENT LIKE THAT HAPPENS AND YOU HAVE THAT GOOD OF A CAR, WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR HEAD? WAS IT OH, DAMN, I MIGHT HAVE JUST GIVEN ONE AWAY?
“Well, I knew just from the way that the race was going, that passing was near impossible. And my car was a good race car, but it wasn’t a good passing car; not to mention the absolute chaos that goes on. The guys were four and five-wide running all over one another. Just being in the mix of that and trying to battle your way through each position was difficult enough. But our car, being back there, just different have the handling characteristics that we needed to pass cars. We had the handling characteristics of a car that needed good track position and we had it until I messed up.”
 
HOW DO SIZE UP THE FIELD NOW?
“Well, I mean if (Matt) Kenseth keeps doing what he’s doing, it’s not going to matter what anybody else does. For us, we have to be realistic and look at our points position and outcome and right now we’re not that far out of fourth, so that’s a realistic goal for us right now. But anything is possible. We go to these next several races and go on a tear, who knows? But we’re higher in points than where we started this thing, so we’ll just keep that going.”
 
DID YOU EXPECT MATT KENSETH TO BE THIS STRONG?
“I knew they would be strong, but I thought this would be one track that we might have a little bit of an advantage on him. But then I saw the times that he was running yesterday in practice and I was like uh, oh; they’ve got their act together pretty good. And he was strong today. I thought he was beatable, but they didn’t make any mistakes and were really good. Hat’s off to them. That was a great job and they’re on a roll. Like I said, now we’re going to Dover and that’s a great track for him. So, yeah, they’re definitely the team to beat right now.”
 
HOW MUCH BETTER DO YOU FEEL AFTER THIS RACE COMPARED TO LAST WEEK AND HEADED TOWARD DOVER?
“Last week stung it still stings pretty good.  If we would have won today it might of helped a little bit, but we dug a pretty deep hole.  When Matt (Kenseth) and the No. 48 and No. 18 are running like they are I’m not going to catch them running sixth.  So, we’ve got to do better.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 37TH AFTER SUSTAINING HEAVY CONTACT FROM AN ON-TRACK INCIDENT ON LAP 253
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I really don’t know what happened.  Just racing and I’m not sure if there was contact or if I just spun.  I seriously don’t really remember how it happened.”

WAS THERE CONTACT?
“I’m not sure. I hit the inside wall, but I’m not sure how I got there.”