Category Archives: Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Richmond–Kevin Harvick

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 27, 2013

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BELL HELICOPTER CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
WALK US THROUGH THOSE FINAL LAPS AND THE PASSES YOU MADE TO GO FROM SEVENTH TO FIRST:
“That was a heck of a first lap of the restart. I thought that the outside line might have the advantage because it had a couple of guys with new tires in the second row, and lined up on the outside. But the two tires – these cars drive a lot off the left rear – and we only took two tires, and they didn’t get that great of restart but my car launched, and I was able to drive it in the first corner and hope for the best down there. I figured four, eight, 12…how many ever tires that were on the outside of me would be better than none. It all worked out, and here we are.”
 
WHEN THE CAUTION CAME OUT, YOU WERE CATCHING JUAN PABLO MONTOYA FOR THE LEAD, WHAT DID YOU THINK AND WHAT WAS YOUR DISCUSSION WITH GIL MARTIN?
“Just about how few laps there was left. But, when the tires fall off almost two seconds, you’ve got to come in and get tires. There’s not very many guys that stayed out. It all worked out tonight. We’ve been on the other side of it this year, so to be in Victory Lane is great.”
 
WHEN YOU CAME OUT SEVENTH, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE SAID IF YOU WERE TOLD THEN YOU WERE GOING TO WIN?
“I knew we had a chance because we were the second car on four tires. You never know what two tires is going to do on a high tire-wear track like this. So, it all just opened up.”
 
ON THE WIN:
“Well, I just want to thank everybody. It’s been a tough start to the season. Our cars have been really fast. I’ve got to thank Bell Helicopter, Budweiser, Jimmy John’s, and Chevrolet and everybody who participates in this car. Richard Childress, you know, a lot of people have thought we might lay down this year and there ain’t no lame in that game, is there? It was a great night.”
 
THE PHRASE ‘LAME DUCK’ HAS BEEN USED BEFORE, BUT THERE WAS CERTAINLY NOTHING LAYING DOWN TONIGHT. YOU HAD TO MAKE A DECISION THERE WHEN THAT CAUTION CAME OUT, WHETHER TO STAY OUT OR COME IN FOR TIRES. I GUESS YOU GUYS MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE
“It all worked out. Sprint Cup racing is something that you’ve got to take chances and they guys that stayed out took chances and we had to take chances. But we’ve gotten beat a couple times this year and I thought it was the right thing to do and (crew chief) Gil (Martin) made the right call and it worked out.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 DEPEND CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
YOUR THOUGHTS AS YOU SAW THAT LATE CAUTION COME OUT WHILE YOU WERE LEADING:
“Pissed off.  Everybody on the Depend Chevy this week did an amazing job. We had a great car. Same as last week, we had a great car. The pit crew redeemed themselves tonight. They did a great job all day, no mistakes. That is what we needed. We needed to come out of here and do with everybody smart, as he did. It is the luck of the draw. We restarted on the outside, and we were screwed.”
 
GREAT MOMENTUM FOR NEXT WEEK:
“I felt like last week we had a top-five car as well, but not quite a car to win. I think this weekend…we came here and tested, and the guys did an amazing job, and we had a good car all weekend.”
 
I GUESS ALL YOU CAN DO IS LAUGH. IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS YOUR RACE TO WIN
“Yeah, we made the right calls when we pitted and when we stayed out and everything, but we got that caution at the end and it was a no-brainer to take tires. And I think what hurt us is we restarted on the outside and when you restart on the outside and people got really bad tires, everything packs up. And when you’re on the outside, you can’t; you know, where are you going to jump? When you are on the inside, you can just jump to the guys. And when (Kevin) Harvick went by I tried to get to the bottom and then the No. 22 (Joey Logano) was there and I said we’ve just got to get a finish. Remember, before this we had six really bad weeks. I thought everybody on the Depend Chevy did a really good job and I’m just really proud of the guys.”
 
WHEN THE CAUTION FLAG CAME OUT, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
“I said, ‘Really? Really?’ (laughs).”
 
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AIRGAS/BULWARK CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
ON HIS RACE:
“We were seventh there; thought I had the No. 22 (Joey Logano) beat before the caution came out. The caution came out and what the heck, we might as well try something. Luke (Lambert) made a good call there, and obviously new tires a lot better. But, worth a shot. We were going to maybe finish sixth without the caution so to pick up a spot from it was worth a shot.”
 
HOW MUCH DID THE RACE TRACK CHANGE TONIGHT?
“I thought it changed a lot. I thought Kevin (Harvick) and I both got better at the end of the race. I thought some other cars got worse as the race went on. But Kevin got good at the end of the race. He was his best at the end; we were our best at the end. I think all of that was the track changing and kind of going to our setups a little bit.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SEALY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED NINTH
TALK US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED IN THOSE FINAL MOMENTS OF THIS RACE:
“It was an awesome run just to be in the top-five all night. Just nice and steady, waiting for the race to come to us. We didn’t make many adjustments on the Furniture Row car. We were hoping to be on the right sequence at the end. Some guys had older tires. Some guys had newer tires. We were in the mixed. A green-white-checkered at the end, it is just chaos. Cars are everywhere. People are beating and banging and shoving each other out of the way. It’s pretty wild.”
 
WHAT WAS SAID BETWEEN YOU AND TONY STEWART:
“Why don’t you be a good reporter and talk about the racing. Tony and I talked it over; it’s a free-for-all at the end.”
 
WHAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN YOU AND TONY STEWART?
“We’ll get to that in a minute. For us, this was a solid run with our Furniture Row car. We were there. We were top 5 all night. Some guys cycled ahead of us. Some guys we were able to get back by on long runs. So all in all, it was a great night for us to be in the top 5, have restarts up front, and lead some laps. And then, you could just tell. Green-white-checkered; everybody is going to put on tires. Some guys are going to do two. Some guys stayed out. And it’s just a free for all. There is rubber build-up in the outside groove. There are cars sliding up with old tires. So, I don’t know what the No. 14 (Tony Stewart) was upset about. I got hit from behind. I got hit every which-way. So did he. (Matt) Kenseth moved us up out of the way at the end, so that’s why I was upset with him, but hey; everybody is a free-for-all. We got a top 10. But the biggest thing here is ten laps ago, this car didn’t have a scratch on it and now it’s destroyed.”
 
WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS RACE TODAY, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE-AWAY AS YOU CONTINUE TO BUILD WITH THIS ENTIRE OPERATION?
“Just being able to work together through sequences of the race. And today, we didn’t quite have the best handling car, but we worked with it in the top 5 and we hoped that the race would come to us. Today, it just didn’t pan out. But today was a great day to be in the top 5; we posted a top 10. And we’ve got to go for wins. That’s where we’re going to be able to make the Chase and be in the top 20 in points.”
 

Chevy Racing–Richmond–Team Press Conference

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 26, 2013
 
 
JEFF GORDON LEADS TEAM CHEVY WITH A THIRD PLACE QUALIFYING RUN AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
 
RICHMOND, Va. (APRIL 26, 2013)  – Behind the wheel of his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS, Jeff Gordon posted a quick lap time of 20.729 to qualify third for tomorrow’s Toyota Owners 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. This marks his 31st top-10 start of the 2013 season, and his sixth in 15 races on the three-quarter mile D-shaped oval.
 
Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kasey Kahne qualified his No. 5 Quaker State Chevy SS, fourth quickest, and will start on the outside next to Gordon in the second row. Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Depend Chevrolet SS qualified sixth; giving Team Chevy three of the top six starting spots.
 
Jamie McMurray will roll off the line from the 13th position in his No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS, Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row Chevy SS was 14th, Ryan Newman, No. 39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet SS qualified 15th, and Jeff Burton, No. 31 Airgas/Bulwark Chevy SS posted the 16th fastest qualifying time.
 
A total of 17 Chevrolet SS drivers will take the green flag for the eighth race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
 
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was the pole winner, Brian Vickers (Toyota) – second, and Clint Bowyer (Toyota) – third to round out the top-five qualifiers.
 
Live coverage of the Toyota Owners 400 will be provided by FOX TV, MRN Radio and Sirius XM Channel 90 and coverage will begin at 7:30 pm ET.
 
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, QUALIFIED 3RD:  ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT: “It was a really solid day for us. We went through so much the last time we were here. I think we learned a lot through that experience. We’ve qualified well here the last several times; have come close to being on the pole, also losing by a one-hundredth I think. We ran a great lap in practice there to close out practice. I was a little nervous at that time. I was like ‘this is too early to be that fast, and have that good of a car’.  Then it is just a guessing game. How are you drive it. How to make adjustments to the car; what the guys are going to do that. All-in-all, I am very pleased to be within one-hundredths, two hundredths and be third. Great place to start this race. Good pit stall selection. I feel like our car is going to be good in the race as well.”
 
IS THERE A FEELING AMONG YOU DRIVERS THAT IT IS KIND OF YOU AGAINST NASCAR? AFTER THE WEEK THAT MATT (KENSETH) HAS BEEN THROUGH, IS THERE KIND OF A “YEAH MATT” FEELING IN THE GARAGE? “I was kind of thinking of my weekend last week in Kansas, and I was thinking how I deserved to get the pole after starting 43rd last week. But, I guess after his week, maybe he deserved it a little bit more. (LAUGHS)  You know, I don’t think so. I think that you go through the ups and downs of this sport if you’ve been in it long enough. Sometimes mistakes are going to be made, or things are going to happen. I’ve been on both sides. We had manifold issues here one time where it was made out of the wrong material, and it was a GM part that was sent to us. It was a mistake, but ultimately the team takes that responsibility and pays the price. You feel for everybody on the team. You feel for everybody on the team. You feel for others when that happens. But, it is just kind of the way it works.”
 
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR HIS (MATT KENSETH) TEAM CAN BE MORE MOTIVATED BECAUSE OF THIS, AND HAVE BETTER PERFORMANCE? “If being angry, and wanting to have revenge makes you better, then yes. That’s kind of maybe going back to your question as well is that when things like this happen, and you don’t feel like it’s unjust that you kind of take it upon yourself as a team to just push a little harder; just do a little bit more. Sometimes you don’t know that you have that in you, but it is amazing how in that moment you can find a little bit more. I think we’ve seen it in Brad as well with the No. 2 team and that fight. Sometimes it tears you apart, or tears you down. And, sometimes it lifts you up and makes your stronger, and makes you fight harder. The thing is that Matt and his team, they are a rock solid team. They have been showing it this whole year, and continue to. To me, whatever happened this past weekend is not going to affect how those guys perform going forward.”
 
DOES THE MANUFACTURER HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO THE TEAMS TO DO THE BEST THEY CAN TO COVER THE FINANCIAL END OF WHAT NASCAR HANDS DOWN AGAINST THAT TEAM?  “There is an argument for that. Again, the team is ultimately responsible because they are the one that signs off on everything and take that car. So, if there is a part or piece, doesn’t matter who delivered it to them, where it was manufactured, it is still their responsibility to put it on the car, and make sure that it passes inspection. But as an insider on the team, you are pretty upset when you feel like ‘ok, this is not a part or piece that we need to go through and check the medal…’.  We weigh every rod I know when we get them. Know there’s not a single…and we actually have them heavy. Ours are too the heavy side just to be safe. That’s just what I’m hearing that we do. So, you just assume that is what ever team does. I don’t know if that is the case in this scenario.”
 

Chevy Racing–Richmond–Qualifying Notes

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
APRIL 26, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN:
“I knew I was close.  I came across the line and I said ‘man please tell me that is it’ because I knew we were talking hundredths at this place.  The first lap I went to get in the gas off of (turn) four and the back end jumps out that was pretty much it for that lap.  I tried to feel the car out and see what it was doing it felt like it was doing the things it wanted to do the second lap.  I drove into (turn) one really deep and just didn’t quite turn as good as I needed it to.  I knew that was a good corner, but not a great corner so I tried to make up for it down here.  I actually got through there really good.  Came up a little bit short, but still all-in-all a great day for the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FOURTH
ARE YOU SEEING THE SAME PICK UP THAT A LOT OF THESE OTHER GUYS ARE SEEING?
“We picked up a good bit more.  Our qualifying run in practice we were off a little bit.  They changed the car around and felt really good there. I was just a touch tight, but really close and happy with the Quaker State Chevrolet.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 15THON HIS LAP“Well, the track picks up a good bit. It’s kind of tough to gauge that speed when your are the first of a couple of cars out. But I’m proud of the guys on the Outback Chevrolet. They did a good job working through some adjustments today and I feel like we have a better handle on our race package than we do on our qualifying package.”
 
HOW IS THIS TRACK GOING TO CHANGE FROM TODAY TO TOMORROW NIGHT WHEN YOU GO GREEN UNDER THE LIGHTS?
“I don’t know if it matters as much as is anticipated. It’s going to change, but it all depends on where you start and what issues you have to deal with. It definitely picks up a good bit of grip. But just like you see right there, hat was sis-tenths quicker than our practice speed.”
 
DANICA PATRCK NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED
“It’s a lot faster now than it was. It’s cooled off and it turned pretty well. Getting into the center it just felt like I was chasing the rear. So, that was a decent run. I think we had a decent pick-up and we’ll just see how that translates into the rest of the qualifying.”
 
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AIRGAS/BULWARK CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED: 16RG
WAS THAT A GOOD RUN?
“Not particularly. We went through (Turns) 1 and 2 really good on the second lap but I overdrove the entrance into (Turn) 3 and got up the track, and not being on the bottom when the exit got me loose coming to get the checkered. So, I let my guys down a little bit. The grip level is so much more than it was in practice but I just pushed it a little too hard.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH
IS IT A DISADVANTAGE TO GO OUT EARLY?
“Yeah, I think it’s an advantage to go out when the track is cooler and has a lot more grip. But I thought we would still be able to run pretty well. We qualified really well last year, so I wasn’t really too worried. I thought we’d still get a pretty decent spot and I don’t really know where I was going to end up. I don’t know that we ran as well as we thought we would and even against the competition we were around even in the beginning of the order. So, we’ll just have to see.”
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT
“I expected a little bit more. I thought we practiced a little bit better in qualifying trim that probably where we were going to end up. But our McDonald’s Chevy was really good in race trim. We did, I think as many long runs as anybody and the car was really comfortable; which I think was a big deal here. And it had pretty good speed. So, we learned some stuff in qualifying trim that I hope we can apply to our race package. So yeah, everything is going good for us.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 DEPEND CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 6TH:
WAS THIS THE LAP YOU WERE LOOKING FOR?
“Our Depend Chevy did pretty good. But in qualifying trim we never really got the car to my liking. But I’m pretty happy with the result but I wanted a little more.”

Chevy Racing–Richmond–Kasey Kahne

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 26, 2013
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Richmond International Raceway and discussed racing at Richmond, penalties for the Matt Kenseth No. 20 team, his equipment at Hendrick Motorsports, what he has done to improve, and more.  Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOU AND THE TEAM’S MOMENTUM COMING INTO RICHMOND:  “Things have been going really well. We didn’t feel quite right today. There were times when we felt pretty good. Race trim got to where I was pretty happy; a couple of small adjustments for tomorrow’s race, and I think we’ll be in a good spot compared to other cars. That’s good. We made one mock run right at the end, and just didn’t go very fast. So, we’re trying to figure out how to do a better job qualifying this afternoon. It should be interesting. The bottom seems really good here, which it has the last couple of times we have raced here. I remember there was a day that you would just keep moving higher and higher. That seemed like the spot to be two or three years ago, and now it is just how low can you go. The track has changed a lot over the last couple of years, but I feel pretty good with our Quaker State Chevrolet.”
 
DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE WIN LAST WEEK CONSIDERING MATT’S (KENSETH) PENALTY? “I don’t know. I thought about that this week. In sprint car racing, you know you win the Knoxville Nationals and then something is illegal, then the guy in second would win. But, I just think the way NASCAR…to me – it has always been a lot different than that. There have been plenty of penalties after the fact, you know, when the car goes through tech and things. In Matt’s case I would say that as far as what happened with them is to me, from what I’ve read, it seems like a mistake, and it also seems like something that would make zero factor in speed. I think there are a lot of things you can do to gain speed, and go faster, and be more competitive. But, as far as what happened to them and to Matt, because I don’t think that gave them anything at all, maybe less. Who knows? It’s hard to see all that. Matt’s a good guy, and that was a pretty big deal for those guys.”
 
WAS KYLE LARSON ON YOUR RADAR AT ALL BEFORE HE GOT INTO NASCAR? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIM AND HIS ABILITY? “He actually has been because he did some stuff…we get a lot of our sprint car parts through Kaeding Performance out in California. He had a deal with them.  He drove one of their sprint cars. So with our relationship out there, we knew a lot about him. My cousin Willie knew a lot about him. I would always hear really good things about him. Then I started paying attention before he got to the Nationwide Series or the Truck Series, or maybe even a year prior to that. He has been pretty impressive since he started. Always has since he’s been on four wheels. I think he is going to stay that way. He is talented. He enjoys racing. That is all he wants to do. He has a lot of drive and passion for it, so I think he’ll be a guy that is going to win NASCAR races for sure.”
 
YOU ARE OFF TO A GREAT START, WHAT IS IT? IS IT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? IS THERE SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN YOUR CAREER? WHAT IS IT? “I would say it definitely starts with Hendrick Motorsports. From the car; the preparation at the shop; building the car; building the chassis; the body; the aero side of things. Then the engines run great. Everything from Chevrolet and our engine shop. And then just the relationship – myself, Kenny (Francis, crew chief) and Keith (Rodden, engineer), and our whole team. We have built some of it with the guys from last year, and other parts of it have been going for a long time. So for me, just putting all that stuff together, and being really relaxed and confident. I just feel like we have a shot every week. I really think that we have. We’ve been kind of in the hunt whether it was practice or the race – especially in the race; every race this year.”
 
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE GENUINELY A CONTENDER FOR THE CHASE? “I hope to be. I hope as this season goes on we keep getting stronger. There are so many things that go into that in those final 10 races. I think I’ve felt pretty good the last two or three years in those final 10 races – two years – whether we were in the Chase or not, I ran pretty well. So, if we can keep building our team, hopefully we can be one of those guys when that time of the season comes. But, hard to say right now, there is still a lot of racing to go.”
 
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN THE FEELING WHEN YOU COME TO THE TRACK WHEN THINGS ARE GOING SO WELL? “I really feel like Monday, whether when we won at Bristol, or Monday after last weekend, or after Phoenix, or whenever it may have been; Monday or Tuesday I am already ready for the following race, and I am excited for it.  Can’t wait to get there.  I get to look forward to it all week long. It is nice to have that. I’ve had that before, and I think a lot of people do with what we get to do as far as racing each weekend; something that we love to do. You are always looking forward to three or four days from now. I’ve had that all season and I’ve had it a lot. I think it goes to…just a lot of it’s just to show that I feel that we can win, and I want to win. It’s exciting for me each week. Other than that, I would say a lot of things are the same…similar to last year. Just trying to find where my trailer is parked, where the car is parked…all that stuff. It’s always different. It’s places I’ve never been. To be second in points…I don’t know if I’ve been second before. I don’t recall being second. It feels good.”
 
DO YOU THINK TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, YOU CAN CONTINUE AS YOU ARE NOW? OR DO YOU HAVE TO BE A DIFFERENT, MORE AGGRESSIVE KIND OF DRIVER? “I think one of my biggest downfalls since I have been in this Series is being consistent. That is something I’ve worked on.  I have really wanted to get better for awhile. Last year I thought we did after the first seven or eight races and carried that through to this year. To me the reason we are where we are at is because we are way more consistent because I have been, and the team has. In order to win the championship, I think you need to win a little bit more. We’ve won one so far. But, consistency is the only way to do it. You can’t fall out of races, and get in wrecks and things like that. I feel like that we are making gains in the right areas. You just have to peak at the right time. You never know which team is going to do that. There are going to be 12 teams that definitely have a shot to do that when that time of the season comes. But right now, it is just about being consistent, figuring out each track and these cars; the tires and the things that they throw at us.”
 
‘YOU CHASED MATT KENSETH TO THE FINISH LINE AT LAS VEGAS AND AGAIN LAST WEEK AT KANSAS. JGR HAS WON FOUR OF THE FIRST EIGHT RACES. WHEN YOU SEE AN INFRACTION WITH PENALTIES LIKE THIS AS A COMPETITOR, DOES THAT PUT A QUESTION MARK OVER THE TEAM.
“It does not, to me. Not at all. I feel like we’ve always known you don’t mess with engines at any type of racing. It’s a big deal and not a good thing at all. But as far as them and their team and their speed and how they get it each week, I feel like their going to be there all season long. Especially Matt (Kenseth) and Kyle (Busch), and when Denny (Hamlin) comes back and those are three great drivers and three great teams and a great owner. So I don’t see them going anywhere. To me, I don’t feel like they’re cheating in any way. I don’t think that’s what you can even call it. To me it’s more like it was a mistake. You get in trouble for it because it’s a big deal and they’re taking the consequences for it. But to me, they didn’t cheat as far as I
look at it in my head.”
 
YOU TALK ABOUT WORKING TO BE MORE CONSISTENT. AT TIMES YOU CAN’T CONTROL CERTAIN THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO THE CAR. WHEN YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT BEING MORE CONSISTENT, HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED OR WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO AT LEAST CONTROL THE THINGS THAT YOU CAN?
“Over my career there have been plenty of times when things happen that I can’t control or that even the team can’t control. It’s just situations. There have also been plenty of times when I’ve done a bad job in practice with communication or something to where we get the car to where say it’s too loose and we can’t get it back throughout the whole race. So, I take that on myself. I just didn’t get the car right. So for me, a big part is our final two practices of the weekend to be much better there and get the car more consistent to where I feel comfortable and I’m kind of looking ahead into the race and how those races change the feeling of the car and how that changes in the races. That’s where I feel like I need to be more consistent and I think we’ve done a really good job of that for the last year and a half. And there have been other times in my career where I wear myself out and (crew chief) Kenny (Francis) out too. I’ve tried to step-up my side of it and I know that Kenny is always up on his. I think it’s just little things that I’ve seen over the years that I could do a better job of and I feel like I have.”
 
YOUR EQUIPMENT IS PROBABLY MUCH BETTER THAN WHAT YOU’VE HAD IN YOUR CAREER.  IS EQUIPMENT HELPING YOU OR HAVE YOU RISEN TO THE EQUIPMENT, IN THAT SENSE?
“I’d say a little bit of both. Definitely the equipment is great every week. And I agree, and I feel like the equipment is great every week that gives me confidence and we have teammates that you can look at and go ahhh; and see what they did and that helps so we can try some of that stuff. Personally, I’ve had cars that are as good in the past. Some of those race cars were some of the nicest cars I’ve driven.
 
“Early on, with Ray Evernham, those were some of the nicest cars on the track and had some of the most speed. Back in my rookie year, if I had known what I was doing like I do now, I probably would have won 10 races that year. Not the first year with Evernham. The cars were better than anything out there, or at least as good as probably the Hendrick cars or the Roush cars at the time. Personally, I think I’ve come a long ways and then it’s great to have some of the best equipment and engines every single weekend.”

Chevy Racing–Richmond–Jeff Gordon

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 26, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Richmond International Raceway and discussed being fastest in the final practice session, the penalties levied this week against Joe Gibbs Racing, the new qualifying format NASCAR announced this week for Sonoma and Watkins Glen and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
YOU WERE FASTEST IN THE FINAL PRACTICE SESSION TELL US ABOUT IT:
“The last qualifying run went really well.  It makes you nervous when you are practicing during the day and you are going to qualify at night and you are fastest in your qualifying run.  Because you know the track is going to change.  We are going to try to do our best using previous experience and notes to make sure that we adjust it right for when the sun goes down.  We drew a really late number as well so we have been good here qualifying in the past.  I think we could have a shot at it today.  That is certainly good.  We have seen here as well where qualifying doesn’t really mean that much if you don’t get that car working really well in race trim.  So we really are working hard on that aspect of it.”
 
TALKING ABOUT QUALIFYING NASCAR MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT THIS WEEK THAT THE QUALIFYING SESSIONS WOULD BE CHANGED FOR THE ROAD COURSES WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
“It’s cool.  I’m a big fan of Formula 1 and I love knock out qualifying.  I kind of was hoping that we would go more towards the knock out qualifying session because I think in road racing that gives you that opportunity to do that.  But we have 45/50 cars that we have to get qualified in so it’s a little bit more challenging to do that.  You are obviously going to have that clock and the ability to kind of make a second lap if you need to.  Which at Sonoma I think that is the biggest thing is trying to get heat in the tires and make that lap the way we do it on single lap qualifying is very challenging.  I think what I’m looking forward to most guys are is being able to go out there and really plan your lap and get heat in the tires as you cross that line and then lay down that lap.  It will be very interesting to see how that goes.  I’m certainly anxious to try a new format.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THE PENALTIES THIS WEEK AGAINST JOE GIBBS RACING?
“We have always known that engine related incidences get very severe penalties.  It just seems to me like in that instance it’s not worth not only what intentions could be, but also not double checking and making sure that you do all your checks and balances.  To make sure that those parts and pieces, even if it’s a mistake, doesn’t get in that engine, which is something that I know Hendrick Motorsports works extremely hard on, because we know how severe those types of penalties can be.  It’s unfortunate they are having a great year and when you look at who is responsible for it I don’t know if they are getting penalized as much as the team is. But we also know ultimately the crew chief and the car owner on that team is who NASCAR holds responsible.  Somebody has got to be responsible for it.”
 
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE AT TALLADEGA NEXT WEEK?
“I’m certainly very anxious to see because bigger wider race track compared to Daytona.  In Daytona I feel like we learned a lot about being very patient and picking and choosing your moments to try to make passes.  I certainly tried to make some that didn’t work out and cost us a lot of positions.  We saw single file through the middle section of the race, but yet still be extremely exciting in the closing laps.  I think that you are going to see certainly that at the end.  The unknown is with this bigger, wider track are we going to be able to complete those passes that we weren’t able to at Daytona.  We did see handling be a bigger issue at Daytona when you were around other cars on the longer runs.  That doesn’t normally seem to be the case at Talladega, so we won’t know until we get there, get in practice, start drafting and run our race.”
 
YOU ARE IN THE SAME SHOP WITH KASEY KAHNE HOW GOOD ARE THEY RIGHT NOW?
“Kasey (Kahne) and Kenny (Francis, crew chief) were going through a lot of changes.  That whole shop was last year being new to Hendrick.  I think that is tough for anybody to come into a new environment and just get into the rhythm and flow and get started off by being very competitive, winning races and not having issues.  We saw how strong they were this second half of the season and it looks like this year they have been able to kind of pick up where they left off and get off to a much better start this season.  So that is great.”
 
ARE YOU IMPRESSED WITH KYLE LARSON’S TRANSITION SO FAR FROM DIRT TO ASPHALT?
“I’m impressed with Kyle Larson for a lot of reason and a lot of different series.  I raced sprint cars.  I raced midgets and of course the last 20 plus years been racing in NASCAR.  To me non-winged sprint car on dirt is probably one of the hardest race cars there is to drive.  He makes it look pretty easy.  He can jump back and forth and be competitive in just about everything that he gets into.  I think he has impressed a lot of people.”

Chevy Racing–Richmond– Danica Patrick

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 26, 2013
                 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Richmond International Raceway and discussed racing at Richmond, frustration with another driver at Kansas, being on The Colbert Report and other topics.  Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WEEKEND: “I’ve always enjoyed coming to Richmond. I was just talking about that…had fun racing Indy cars here. I liked driving the Nationwide car here. We didn’t have the greatest result, but it was still fun. Even in the Nationwide car, Ricky (Stenhouse) and I were talking about it; we struggle with getting the power down off the corner after 20 or 30 laps. So, I can’t imagine how much fun this is going to be in a Cup car. We’ll have to see. There seems to be some similarities between Martinsville and here. We’re hoping that that translates.”
 
YOUR DIVORCE WAS FINAL LAST WEEK, ANY COMMENTS ON THAT? “No. It is just the end.”
 
AFTER THE RACE LAST WEEK, WERE YOU REALLY MAD AT (DAVID) GILLILAND, OR WAS THAT JUST VENTING ON THE RADIO? “Yes, I was mad. I’ve felt like he drives very aggressively against me from Darlington last year on. There was just a lot more of it last weekend, and I was frustrated. But, I think in general it was a frustrating race, and that was just one of the elements.”
 
HOW MUCH OF A CHANCE DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE OF WINNING AT TALLADEGA CONSIDERING HOW WELL YOU RAN AT DAYTONA? “I feel like I’ve learned some lessons from Daytona about the draft, and that unfolds at the end if you are in the right place at the right time. I think that when we talk speedway racing, there’s a lot of luck involved. Like I said, right place at the right time…there are a lot of people that have a good chance of winning Talladega I think. Hopefully we are one of them at the end of the race. But, we won’t know that until end of the race.”
 
HOW MUCH WAS THE COLBERT REPORT EXPERIENCE? WHAT’S IT LIKE CARRYING HIS LIKENESS ON YOUR CAR THIS WEEKEND? “I have always liked The Colbert Report. I think it is a great show. It is really funny. I love his (Stephen Colbert) sense of humor. That was the first time I have been on his show. I was excited. He’s a cool guy. Obviously he plays a character. He said before I went out there.  So my character is incredibly ignorant and stupid. Just bear with me; have fun with it. It was cool. When we got done, he came back and said good job; that was fun; sorry I went a little bit long, but I was having a good time. So that’s a very nice thing for him to say. I had a good time. I felt like he went kind of easy on me. I’m glad I’ve watched the show because I was prepared for anything. I feel like I watch his show and I see some people that go on and I don’t think they have any idea what that show is all about, and what he does on it. I’m glad I had some knowledge. It was a lot of fun. It’s always fun to do those kinds of things that are a little different and outside the box.
 
“I’ll take the Colbert bump, sure. He has a big following. I guess, really, I’m one of them. It was nice of GoDaddy to let that go on the car. I didn’t make the joke on TV, but we would have gone about it, I would have said I will try and keep his face off the wall. We’ll have to see.”
 
HOW ARE YOU ADJUSTING TO THE GEN SIX CUP CAR? WHAT CHARACTERISTICS HAVE YOU NOTICED ON THIS TRACK THAN IT WAS LAST YEAR WITH THE PREVIOUS CAR? “We haven’t been out on the track yet, and I wasn’t on the track last year in the Cup Series to know what that would have even been like to tell you what the difference is. I feel later today you’ll probably have a better answer from someone who’s been here in a Cup car. The new Gen Six is fine. We are all just adapting. I feel like we are running okay on certain kinds of tracks as a team, but struggling at some others. We will work that out; sooner than later hopefully.”
 
DID GILLILAND’S “SHUT-UP AND DRIVE” COMMENT BOTHER YOU, OR DID YOU SORT OF FEEL LIKE HE IS TREATING YOU LIKE EVERYONE ELSE? “No, I don’t think he races me like everyone else. I watched him move over, and let someone by, so no, I don’t think he does. And, that is what makes me mad. He is just getting more attention for this than he deserves.  I think he was just driving in a way that I didn’t think was appropriate, and I haven’t thought was appropriate for a long time, but it was just too much that time.”
 
A LOT OF PENALTIES HAVE BEEN LEVIED BY NASCAR THIS YEAR.  DO YOU THINK NASCAR HAS BEEN PARTICULARLY TOUGH THIS YEAR?  HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE MOST RECENTLY MATT KENSETH? “It’s tough for me to know what the things that teams, cars, drivers, owners have been penalized for and to know how bad that is.  I think that penalties happen more in (Sprint) Cup than anywhere it seems like, and I haven’t been around that long, and I don’t know how much of these things are performance gains or oversights or blatant or something they just got caught for.  I just don’t know.  I don’t know if it has to do with the new car, I really don’t.  So I would say that NASCAR is definitely sending a message that if something is found that they don’t like, that there will be penalties for it.  That’s pretty clear.”
 
WITH THE NEW GENERATION 6 CAR IT SEEMS LIKE THEY ARE TURNING RECORD LAPS AT THESE TRACKS.  DOES THAT MAKE YOU NERVOUS AT ALL HAVING TO GO OUT AND RACE IN A NEW CAR THAT YOU HAVE NEVER USED ON A CERTAIN TRACK AND ITS GOING TO BE RUNNING AT RECORD SPEEDS? “We are talking tenths of a second or a mile-an-hour.  I mean we are not talking about going from 100 to 200 miles-an-hour, so no.   You are not nearly going to feel it.  There is probably a bigger difference going from qualifying trim to race trim, so we are talking small amounts here.  So I think it’s a talking point, but the car is similar, and I think that is what we can see….that it’s similar.  So, maybe it’s a little bit faster, maybe it could be a little bit slower.”
 
IN YOUR HISTORY OF RACING; INDYCAR, ETC, AND EVERYTHING – DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE DRIVER SHOULD ALWAYS BE RESPONSIBLE IN A PENALTY SITUATION WHETHER IT WAS THE ENGINE BUILDER, CHASSIS, OR WHATEVER, WHO BROKE THE RULE? “Oh gosh, I hope not because I have absolutely no idea what goes on other than when I am driving the car.  If you are asking if it’s just the driver that should be held responsible, then I don’t.   If you are asking if they should get a penalty then it’s the team that puts the car out there that gets that result so it all kind of goes hand-in-hand but I definitely don’t think it should be all the driver’s penalty.  But you are driving for a team where NASCAR found something they didn’t like so the biggest penalty is the car that is out there running for the championship points, so that is where they get them.  That is what hurts the most, you know?” 

Chevy Racing–Five Team Chevy Drivers Finish in Top-10; Helio Castroneves Retains Points Lead

Five Team Chevy Drivers Finish in Top-10; Helio Castroneves Retains Points Lead
 
LONG BEACH, Calif.  (April 21, 2013) – With a fifth-place finish, JR Hildebrand, No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet, led a contingent of five Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers in the top-10 finishing positions of the Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy. Hildebrand scored his best finish of the season after starting the 80-lap, 157.4-mile race in 12th on the 27-car grid.
 
“I’m really proud of the run we had and the pit crew guys did such an awesome job,” said Hildebrand. “We made up three or four of those spots in the pits on our last stop. We struggled in the first stint and were going backwards, but we had a great strategy and ended up on the sticker reds in the end and I was able to pass several guys there at the end just using the overtake.”
 
Oriol Servia, No. 22 Charter Panther Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet, finished in sixth place, followed by Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, in the seventh finishing position. Simona de Silvestro brought the No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KV Racing Technology Chevrolet to the checkered flag in ninth place.
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Team Penske Chevrolet, retained the lead in the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings with a 10th-place finish in today’s race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary course on the Streets of Long Beach.
 
“At the end of the day the lemon became the lemonade with our finish,” said Castroneves. “We are very happy to come out of here still leading the points, and now we have focus on what we need to do to improve.”
 
After three races in the record books of the 19-race 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season, Chevrolet has six drivers in the top-10 in the standings. Joining Castroneves in the top-five is Andretti who sits fourth in points.  Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, is sixth in the standings after contact relegated him to the 24th finishing position today.
 
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, sits eighth in the standings with his 16th place finish in the race.  Sitting ninth in the standings is de Silvestro, and James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy.com Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, is in 10th position after a multi-car incident early in the race landed him in the 26th finishing position.

Chevy Racing–Grand Prix of Long Beach Post Race

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH INDY
STREETS OF LONG BEACH
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES
APRIL 21, 2013
 
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5th: ON HIS RACE:  “I’m really proud of the run we had and the pit crew guys did such an awesome job, because we made up three or four of those spots in the pits on our last stop. We struggled in the first stint and were going backwards, but we had a great strategy and ended up on the sticker reds in the end and I was able to pass several guys there at the end just using the overtake. I didn’t see (the incident between Oriol Servia and Tony Kanaan) because I’d let those guys go a little bit while we were saving to make sure we had enough fuel. I saw some tire smoke as I approached Turn One and was able to split through the middle. Really happy to get another Top Five here for the second year in a row, but we’ll make sure we put the work in to make sure we’re ready to rock-n-roll next week. If we continue to make gains like we have we’ll be running up front with the big boys a lot more often.”
 
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 PANTHER DRYER & REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH:  ON THE RACE: “I had the best car probably of the whole season in the race. It was awesome. On one restart, I don’t know what happened to Simon [Pagenaud] but he slowed down in the straight and I broke the front wing but even with that we were one of the fastest cars on track. I was saving fuel but I was flying. I was so happy!”
 
ON THE INCIDENT WITH TONY KANAAN: “With two laps to go, I had a run on Tony [Kanaan]. I was on the push to pass, I don’t think he saw me coming. I got in his inside and he closed the door. I was there – I cannot disappear! There’s no way I should get a penalty – neither should he – it was one of those deals where you both want the same space in the corner so you crash. I’m angry with him, he’s angry with me. That’s what happens in racing. But I shouldn’t get a penalty.” NOTE: Upon Further Review, IndyCar Officials Rescinded Penalty
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: ON HIS RACE:  “Going into this, I knew that this would be about the best we would finish. I am definitely pleased with how we climbed our way through the field and how we stayed consistent throughout the day.  We knew that if we just stayed in the race and didn’t make any mistakes, we would be good. I had some front wing damage and a lot of understeer the whole race.”
 
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH: ON HER RACE:  “I think it was a good recovery from where we started. The car was really fast and the guys did a really awesome job in the pits. When we had clean laps we could move forward and made up some positions, so I think P9 is really good for us. Hopefully next time we can start a little more up front and make life a little bit easier. But, I think it was a great weekend for us.”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AUTO CLUB TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: ON HIS RACE:  “Tough day for the Auto Club Chevrolet, but my team did a great job getting me back out after our incident with the nose. I was trying to be careful but got bunched up and broke the front wing. At the end of the day the lemon became the lemonade with our finish. We are very happy to come out of here still leading the points and now we have focus on what we need to do to improve.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH: ON HIS RACE: “Well a lot of things happened today. We started in the middle of the pack and that ended up being our result. The yellows didn’t fall at the right time for us and we struggled with two of our pit stops. The last restart I couldn’t stay in front of Helio, and that was terminal for us at that point. I am disappointed because the team worked so hard to give me a good car, and should have been in the Top-10.”
 
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16TH: ON HIS RACE: “Frustrating day out there for the Verizon car, we had a car that we thought was good enough to win today. Sato was very strong and he really dominated out there. Obviously we didn’t have the start out there that we wanted and broke traction which hurt us. We didn’t lose much in the points which is a good thing but certainly we could have had a much better day.”
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED  18TH: ON HIS RACE: “I think we should have had a better finish today.  We had a 10, 11 or 12th place car today.  We had a tough first stop, but the car was very good in the middle stint and I did get up to P12.  Then later I tried to make a pass on (Sebastien) Bourdais and broke too hard and locked up the right front.  The tire was junk after that.  So I didn’t have the race car that we had in the middle.  We are making progress with the Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevy but we aren’t getting the results right now.  The team working well together and I feel good going to Brazil.”
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY SH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20TH:  INVOLVED IN SINGLE-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 79 OF THE RACE – ON WHAT HAPPENED:  “We had a good race going and I was set for a fifth-place finish until (Oriol) Servia took me out with half a lap to go. It’s really frustrating… I was the leading Chevy car out there and it was looking like a good points race for us. I’m really disappointed on how it turned out.”
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22ND: NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 35 – ON WHAT HAPPENED:  “A very tough weekend for the team. It was looking like a good weekend for me after our very difficult beginning. It was a very tough Friday, a bit better Saturday in qualifying – we were able to qualify in the top 10 – and then in the race I really had a good, good recovery with some changes for the race which were in the right direction. The team gave me a car that was very competitive with new and old tires. I was able to have a very good rhythm and good pace with fuel. I believe we had a car that was able to win this race. I feel bad for the outcome of the team: one driver took three Andretti cars out – it’s a shame. Now to Brazil.”
 
A.J. ALLMENDINGER, NO. 2 PENSKE AUTOMOTIVE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 23RD: ON HIS RACE: “I thought today was going to be a good day for the Penske Automotive Chevrolet, we were posting lap times that were consistent with those up front. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get the track position we needed and having the gear box break in Turn 5 ended the day. But it’s another step in the learning process and should make us better for Indy.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24TH: NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN A SINGLE CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 50 – ON WHAT HAPPENED:  “We just weren’t going anywhere sitting in traffic like that. We missed it today – just didn’t have any grip and the corners that were my best over the weekend, were now my worst. I just had to start trying things and we were just sitting in the back of the pack. I started going and I couldn’t get around anywhere else and dove down to the inside. Got inside but there was no grip in there and just got into the tires. Completely my fault, but at that point we were just trying to make a bad day a little bit better.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 26TH : NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 35 – ON WHAT HAPPENED: “Two in a row (not finishing due to contact) – what a kick in the pants. It’s really unfortunate because I think the Go Daddy team had done a good job giving us a great race car. If you look at the first stint we performed pretty well; we
picked up spots on the start and the first restart. We thought we were taking a bit of a gamble on the black tires there, but I think that might have been a really good strategy call seeing the way that the reds were falling off. We knew we had to protect them the second stint – I was excited to see how that was going to play out for us. A few guys jump us there with pitting a bit early but we were comfortable with the pace of our car. And on the restart… I didn’t get the best restart and Tony (Kanaan) had a smokin’ one and I was trying to keep, I think it was (Simon) Pagenaud, behind me on the inside and as we got down to Turn 1. I haven’t seen a replay so I don’t know if Tony was trying to do a last minute pass or if he was getting squeezed by someone else, but he moved in the brake zone and I just had nowhere to go and day done. So really tough break for the GoDaddy guys because I genuinely think we were podium contenders today and it was going to be a good comeback from not the strongest of weekends. But one thing I love about this team is they pull out on Sundays – they do Sunday as well as anybody, and often better, and I think today was going to be one of those days. But we’ll get our momentum back and move on to Brazil.”
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO.  6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED  27TH: NOTE: INVOLVED IN A SINGLE CAR INCIDENT ON LAP THREE OF THE RACE: ON THE WEEKEND:  “It’s been a weekend to forget as a whole. We struggled from the beginning of the weekend and our result today wasn’t where we wanted to end up with the #6 TrueCar. We really were looking for a good finish because we had the car figured out. We knew there were going to be a lot of yellows today and we were going to do our best to stay out of them, which unfortunately did not happen. I am really sorry for my team because they have worked so hard all weekend and we leave today with a disappointing result.”

Chevy Racing–Kansas Speedway Post Race

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES
APRIL 21, 2013
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/PITTSBURG PAINTS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH:
ANOTHER TOP-10 FINISH FOR YOU AND THE TEAM. TALK ABOUT THE DAY
“It was okay. It was really hard to pass. We’ve got some of the best pit stops in the business. My guys do a really good job on pit road. So, we gained a lot there. The pace slowed down, which really caught us off guard from yesterday a lot more than we thought. So, we missed it a little bit but you’ve just got to look back and utilize the tools and do a better job of starting the race because we always end pretty good.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 16TH
IF NOT FOR THAT FINAL CAUTION COMING OUT WHEN IT DID, HOW GOOD OF SHAPE WERE YOU TO GO THE WHOLE WAY?
“We were fine. We were running in the top five. We had good speed. I think we would have finished in the top five. We had a shot at it. The No. 17 had gotten his car really, really good; so (Ricky) Stenhouse was probably the strongest car that I saw at the end of the race. The No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) was pretty good too.”
 
WHAT POSITIVES CAN YOU TAKE OUT OF THIS AFTER HAVING THREE TOUGH RACES?
“Well, we’ve ran good in all of them. It’s just tough times. We’ve had poor luck; you can’t do much about that.  We’ll just have to keep working. But the cars are fast. We know we can run well. I’m really happy about how the cars have been driving and the work we’ve been doing. I’m extremely happy with the engines today. The power in the car was just incredible.”
 
HOW WORRIED WERE YOU WHEN THE CAUTION CAME OUT AFTER YOU PITTED?
“I was real worried. I was a lap down. I just had an idea there that we was in big trouble and were going to have a hard time finishing as well as we were running.”
 
THERE WAS A LITTLE BIT OF CONFUSION ABOUT WHETHER YOU WERE GOING TO BE THE LUCKY DOG OR NOT
“Yeah, we were the Lucky Dog because we were ahead of the No. 17 (Stenhouse), a lap down; but NASCAR has a way of scoring it and they scored it the way they scored it. That’s the rules. It’s not a real big deal. If we were the Lucky Dog, we would have been able to have the advantage of coming down pit road and work on the car a little bit and take some tires. But we weren’t.”
 
AND SO YOU ENDED UP HAVING TO TAKE A WAVE AROUND?
“We took a wave around. We were still in the same position we were in, whether we were the Lucky Dog of not, but didn’t get a chance to work on the car a little bit. But I don’t know if we would have done anything to it. I’m just real happy with the speed. The car had a great engine. The car handled good. We did a good strategy. We just got bit by a caution there.”
 
ON THE PAST FEW WEEKS
“We’ve been doing that every week; running real good and not getting a good finish. But it’ll come around. We’ve just got to keep working and stay positive. You can’t really get down about it because it can affect how you can perform when things do get turned around. So we’re going to stay positive. The cars have been real fast. What we’re doing is working on the set-ups. It just seems like we’ve got a good idea of what we need to be doing. The cars are real competitive.”
 
WHAT DID YOU GET BURNED BY TODAY?
“We got bit by a caution that came out just as we had pitted for our last stop. We were good to go to the end. We were running in the top three there. So, we had lined-up a top-five finish for ourselves and the tail piece on the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) came off and the caution came out and trapped us a lap down. We had to take the wave by and we were in 20th at that point.”
 
HOW DISAPPOINTED WERE YOU WHEN THAT CAUTION CAME OUT?
“As disappointed as you can be. We were a lap down and had tp take the wave by and that put us to the back behind a whole bunch of lead-lap cars. There was just no time left. It’s real hard to pass here. It’s a good race track though. This thing is widening out. But it was real tough to pass today. So, we’re going to have a hard time getting back to where we were. Chances weren’t very good.”
 
IS IT DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF THE HARD TIRES?
“Hard tires, yeah. The hard tires make the track really fast. Everybody runs about the same speed. You can’t really charge on people and get close to people because when the tires are hard, you just start slipping around in dirty air. But as the track ages, they’ll soften the tire up a little bit and we’ll be able to race a little bit closer and the racing will get a little bit better. This place has got a great future.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE 85TH ANNIVERSARY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND:
DID YOU NEED ANOTHER LAP OR DID YOU NEED A CLOUD TO COME OUT?
“I needed clouds.  We tightened up a little bit on that final run and putting two on, and zero, I knew we were going to be a little loose but didn’t think it would be quite that bad.  Matt (Kenseth) was fast and I just did everything I could and he would go to those spots and I couldn’t make any ground.   It was still a good race and I want to thank Farmers Insurance and 85 years of Farmers Insurance, Chevrolet, Time Warner Cable, Quaker State and everybody on my team.   The team has done an awesome job and we fought back after a little bit of a disappointment with last week of 11th and came back this week.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD:
FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, A LOT OF PEOPLE SAID ALL WEEK ‘WHERE ARE THEY’, BUT HERE YOU GUYS ARE WITH TWO OF YOU IN THE TOP 5
“Yeah, Friday and Saturday weren’t fun.  There wasn’t a lot of smiles around our group but everybody worked real hard to get the cars right and we had a great race car today.  At times I felt like I had a shot to win with my Kobalt Tools Chevrolet and we just didn’t have enough for Matt and Kasey there at the end, but a very solid performance for our Kobalt Tools Chevrolet SS.”
 
AN UP AND DOWN DAY BUT YOU GUYS SEEMED TO GET THE CAR CLOSER TO THE FRONT THE MORE YOU COULD ADJUST ON IT
 “We had a vibration at the start of the race and we had to come in and put four tires on and we lost…..well we didn’t have the best starting spot to begin with, but we lost more time.   But from there on, I drove right up through the field and got to the front and at times felt like my Kobalt Tools Chevrolet to win.  The last two runs we were a little too tight but other than that, a really strong performance with a car that drove through traffic, which is hard to do in today’s world of racing.  So happy to be able to do that.”
 
DID THE SECOND LANE EVER REALLY COME INTO PLAY TODAY?
“Oh yeah, that second lane was there for sure.  A lot of guys would get to it maybe 10-15 laps into a run, but the third lane wasn’t there yet.  There wasn’t anything that high, but the second lane was working real nice.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH:
We struggled a little bit today with our Code 3 Associates Chevrolet. The guys  made good adjustments, and we used pit strategy to get some track position  towards the end of the race, but we didn’t have the speed we needed to keep it  up there. A good effort by everyone on this No. 39 team. We learned a lot today.  We’ll head to Richmond next week and see what we can do there.
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 15TH:
“From the start of the race we never could get the handling right. The car was loose then it was tight then it chattered — we just never had any consistency to work off of. We also had a loose wheel early in the race to deal with and that knocked us to the back. After our practice sessions we were looking for a better finish than 15th.”
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JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SEVENTH
YOU HAD QUITE A MOMENT TODAY THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO COME BACK FROM.  I SAW ALL THE GUYS CONGRATULATING YOU, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“We just started off way too loose.  I honestly thought we had one of the better cars in happy hour.  From the drop of the green flag it was just extremely loose.  We had to actually come in twice and lower the trackbar and make some adjustments.  Then I thought we finally had some track position and I got turned sideways on the restart and went all the way to the back again, but it was a good recovery.  We just had a fast car all weekend so really happy with that.  Good job by our team.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH
HOW BADLY WERE YOU HURT WHEN THAT FINAL CAUTION CAME OUT WHEN IT DID?
“It cost us probably a good six positions I think.  We weren’t the best car, but we made some great improvements throughout the weekend.  The race pace just kind of came to us and the conditions in the race.  Really kind of brought us to life compared to the competition.  We are still lacking a few things, but all in all I thought it was a great effort.  We just cannot catch a break.  That last caution that definitely hurt us being on pit road when the caution comes out it’s never a good thing unless you are on a road course (laughs). We were looking pretty good up until that point, but we weren’t the only ones that it hurt.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE RACE FINISHING 13TH WITH HAVING TO START LAST?
“Well, I mean if you would have asked me when the race started or before the race started ‘hey you are going to finish 13th today’, I would say ‘hey that is not bad’.  When you find yourself where you are a sixth or seventh place car and you think you can finish there then 13th is a little disappointing.  You are constantly changing your expectations throughout a race.  That is kind of how it was for us today.  Starting 43rd I was not looking forward to that.  It actually went a little bit better than I anticipated.  We were able to make our way up through there and actually had some cautions fall our way at the beginning of the race.  That last one just didn’t fall the way we needed it to.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 25TH:
“We started out pretty good, but we just got tight in the second half of the race. We had a tire rub at one point and issues with the splitter from some contact we made. The trash on the grille was what really hurt us today. The temps went way high and we had to pit to pull it off. That put us two laps down. It’s disappointing because I think we could have had a much better finish with the Go Daddy car, but it’s one of those things that’s out of our control. The pit crew was awesome, I think they did a 12.1 (second stop), which I didn’t even think was possible. They did great today.”
 
TONY GIBSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS:
“We got in the back of somebody and knocked the splitter into the ground. From that point on, it was just too tight taking off until the tire pressures came up. Up until then it was good, the changes we made overnight were good. We had a good racecar, it was balanced good. She did a great job and it was definitely a top-15 car. We made improvement and the pit stops were good, but you can’t do anything about the trash on the grille. It’s just one of those things we just can’t control. That’s just part of it. But, the bright side is that we finished again and got a lot of laps in and we made some improvements and made a lot of gains. I felt like today was a positive day.”
 

CORVETTE RACING FINISHES 4TH AND 5TH AT LONG BEACH

CORVETTE RACING FINISHES 4TH AND 5TH AT LONG BEACH
Tied for Manufacturer Lead After 2 Rounds
 
(LONG BEACH, Calif., April 20, 2013) – Corvette Racing scored two top-five finishes at Long Beach to maintain a share of the lead in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Manufacturer Standings through the first two races of the season.
 
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin, drove the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R to a fourth-place finish in the GT class in the two-hour Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished fifth in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R.
 
“As we saw in qualifying, the cars are just so close in performance,” Milner said. “We were in a good spot, but just a little unlucky there.”
 
Milner, who earned his first career ALMS race at this event last year, qualified sixth and had driven up to fourth when the team pitted with just over an hour remaining, and changed drivers. During the exchange, the team had a difficult time securing the steering wheel.
 
“Pretty much our race was so dictated by that pit stop where I got in and really just struggled to get the wheel on,” Gavin said. During the stop the team also experienced some trouble with one of the tires, and “the wheel got spun around and I was then trying to find the point where it had to slot on, and it wasn’t so easy to see. By the time I got it on, everybody else had finished up their pit stops and we came out pretty much at the back.”
 
Garcia, meanwhile, started fourth and quickly moved toward the front.
 
“Everything went to plan, basically,” Garcia said. “We knew how usually the first lap works here. I basically put pressure on, and the two cars in front of me both went off so I kind of made myself a little bit of a gap and made a pass on both.”
 
But, a series cautions slowed the No. 3 Corvette C6.R’s momentum, and brought pit strategy into play.
 
“All of those yellows – especially that first one, it was like flipping a coin,” Garcia said. “I think it was the right call to stay out, but then with all of these yellows coming after is where being in the lead wasn’t such an advantage anymore.”
 
The No. 3 Corvette C6.R was running second when the driver change was made.
 
“It started off pretty well,” Magnussen said. “I think the way the strategy and the pit stops worked out really hurt us. It seemed like everybody else was trying to salvage something and kind of went out of sequence and gained really well on it, and we lost on it, unfortunately. We were struggling a little bit too much right there at the end with grip.”
 
With less than 15 minutes remaining, Gavin passed Magnussen for fourth place.
 
“It was another learning lesson for us,” said Gavin, who teamed with Milner and Richard Westbrook last month to win the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. “It was good just to score the points in the championship, to get fourth place, I’ll take that every day with how rough that race was. It was pretty nasty at times, and difficult, and traffic was hard. There was plenty of bumping and banging, and you just have to try and keep the car clean. There were a number of times where I thought, ‘Oh, this could get pretty messy here. We’re going to lose a corner off the car.’ Or, it was just sliding and sliding and you were just hoping that it was going to stop sliding before we ended up hitting the wall, and fortunately it did.”
 
The No. 55 BMW Z4 GTE won the race, followed by the No. 56 BMW Z4 GTE, the No. 91 SRT Viper GTS-R, and the two Corvettes.
 
Unofficially, Chevrolet and BMW share the Manufacturers Standings with 34 points apiece.
 
“Those guys battled the whole race,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “I would say tires were a factor throughout the race. It was tricky out there. I commend the whole Corvette Racing team for really staying focused and driving toward the front. You know, a couple of cars in front of us were a little tight on gas. We didn’t get them today, but it was a good points day and momentum in the season continues. So, on to Monterrey.”
 
The ALMS season resumes with Round 3 on May 9-11 with the American Le Mans Series Monterey (Calif.) at Laguna Seca, where Gavin and Milner won last year.
 

John Edwards and Robin Liddell Take Chevrolet Camaro GT.R to Top Podium Spot in GT for Second Consecutive Race

John Edwards and Robin Liddell Take Chevrolet Camaro GT.R to Top Podium Spot in GT for Second Consecutive Race
With GS Win Earlier in the Day, Edwards Becomes Only Fourth GRAND-AM Driver to Win Two Races in One Day
 
BRASELTON, Ga. (April 20, 2013) – Continuing their winning ways, the Stevenson Motorsports duo of John Edwards and Robin Liddell led the field at Road Atlanta to the checkered flag, and brought their No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R to Victory Lane for a second-consecutive week. The pair started sixth when qualifying was rained out, and the starting grid was set on team point standings for the Video Studio Ultimate Grand Prix of Atlanta, Round 4 on the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series 2013 schedule.
 
With strong driving skills and good pit strategy, they were able to keep their Camaro in the front of the field at the conclusion of the 2.75-hour race.  The victory marks Liddell’s 20th career win in the GT division and Edward’s sixth.
 
Earlier in the day, Edwards won the PricewaterhouseCoopers 250 for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R, to join Michael Valiante, Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana (twice) as GRAND-AM’s only drivers to win two races in one day. Matt Bell shared the driving duties with Edwards in getting the Grand Sport class win. The run moves the team up to third (unofficially) in the team point standings with eight races remaining in 2013.
 
“Congratulations to Stevenson Motorsports on the team’s win in both Rolex Series GT, and Continental Tire Challenge GS,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, GRAND-AM Road Racing. “Both classes are very competitive, so to get one victory a weekend is an accomplishment, but to win in both classes is a remarkable feat.  The teams and the drivers executed perfectly, putting together great race strategies for both cars.
 
“In addition, congratulations to John Edwards for scoring the “double” win.  He and his co-drivers, Robin Liddell in GT and Matt Bell in GS, drove very smart races to get to the top of the podium in both classes.”
 
 In the Daytona Prototype (DP) class the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP, with drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty behind the wheel, finished third in the inaugural race for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series at Road Atlanta to score the team’s third-consecutive 2013 season podium finish. The No. 90 Spirit of Daytona team of Richard Westbrook and Ricky Taylor brought home a fifth-place finish.
 
Other Team Chevy finishers in the 2.5-hour Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race were Lawson Aschenbach and Eric Curran who brought the No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R to the checkered flag in seventh-place; and, Ashley McCalmont and Bob Michaelian who finished 14th in-class driving the No. 00 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R.
 
The next event for Team Chevy in GRAND-AM Road Racing Rolex Sports Car Series will be the Chevrolet GRAND-AM Detroit 200 at Belle Isle Park, in Detroit, Michigan, May 31 – June 1.  The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race can be seen live on SPEED, Saturday, June 1, at 5:00 p.m. EDT. The Continental Tire Sports Car Series’ next race will be at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, June 15th at 12:00 a.m., with television coverage set for broadcast on June 23, 4:00 p.m. EDT on SPEED.
 
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES:
ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES RACE:
 
ROBIN LIDDELL, NO. 57 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GT.R – WINNER
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT TODAY THAT JUST CLICKED FOR YOUR STEVENSON TEAM?
“Well we have got a super crew and obviously Mike (??) and the guys from Pratt and Miller on the perch supporting us with strategy and what they do collectively.  John (Edwards, co-driver) obviously did a great opening stint.  We are not that high in the points so it was always going to be tough for him.  We knew we didn’t have a car that was very strong on the back straight which is what a lot of it is all about here.  Over a stint we felt we had a decent car.  A lot of it was unknown for everybody because we haven’t raced here before with these cars on these tires, so we didn’t know what the degradation was going to be like. We did struggle a bit on old tires.  It really came down to thinking on our feet.  The guys made a good call to pit early, take the tires and try and establish a gap with some quick laps when everybody else was falling off.  Essentially that is what we were able to do.  Really happy, again, we have won today like two weeks ago in Barber (Motorsports Park) with ultimately not the quickest car out there but some great team work, some great pit work from the guys.”
ROUGH START TO THE SEASON FOR YOU GUYS DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT IS BEHIND YOU?
“You never know if it’s behind you.  It’s pretty bad to have two poor finishes right in the first two races, but this is a team that always fights hard and we never give up.  We always look to improve and we have some super people, great engineering support and great crew guys.  We are usually a team for the last five years we have always been a team that on any given weekend we are always threatening for a win.  I don’t think this year is going to be any different.”

JOHN EDWARDS, NO. 57 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GT.R – WINNER
YOU WON THE GS RACE EARLIER TODAY GET IN THE GT CAR AND YOU WIN AGAIN.  WAS THERE ANY CHALLENGE TO YOU AT THIS TRACK?  OR WAS IT SOMETHING THAT YOU JUST QUICKLY ADAPTED TO?
“I think if you were watching the races it was always a big challenge.  In the GS race Andy Lally was pressuring me at the end and I was really thankful for that yellow to take the pressure off of me.  My stint in this race was relatively uneventful.  We had to work through a little bit of traffic in the beginning starting sixth based on where we were in points.  Then Andrew (Davis) was running well in the Porsche and they were getting a good run off the No. 7 so I never really had a chance to get by him except with some traffic and never really made it work.  We came out of the pits in second when Robin (Liddell, co-driver) got in the car and the team made a great call to pit early, got Robin in the lead, had fresh rubber at the end and he made a hell of a pass on Alessandro (Balzan) to take the lead.”

CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE RACE:

MATT BELL, NO. 9 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GS.R – WINNER
GREAT POINTS WEEKEND FOR YOU GUYS:
“It’s pretty surprising. I don’t think we have ever been in this position before.  Really the team is working better than they ever have before.  The pit stops, I think we gained something like 10 seconds on pit stops today.  Everyone is just working overtime.  The engineering stand they figured out this car without too much testing time.  Obviously we were rained out yesterday so I am just completely impressed with everything.  The car is exactly what we needed of it.  John (Edwards, co-driver) had an incredible drive.  So far we are looking pretty good in this championship.”

JOHN EDWARDS, NO. 9 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GS.R – WINNER
PRETTY INCREDIBLE BACK-TO-BACK THERE SECOND LAST WEEK AND A WIN THIS WEEK:
“I think last week we were leading and I was a little bitter with a missed shift to lose it.  I think we had a better car today. (Andy) Lally was there at the end I think we were pretty equal on lap time, but he was a little quicker down the straights but not as good in the brake zones. I think over one lap we were about even, but that made it stressful when his speed was coming from the straightaway and mine was coming from the brake zone because I had to work really hard there at the end. Awesome running with him I think we stayed clean.  I didn’t think there was a scratch on the car, but I see some rubber so I know I got super sideways when I was next to Lally so I might
have rubbed him there a little bit but other than that a really clean race.” 

Team Chevy Drivers Capture Three of Firestone Fast Six Qualifying Positions for Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy

Team Chevy Drivers Capture Three of Firestone Fast Six Qualifying Positions for Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy
 
LONG BEACH, Calif.  (April 20, 2013) – Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified the No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet second in the Firestone Fast Six for the Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy to lead three Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers in the battle for the pole. Hunter-Reay is the defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion, and the most recent winner on the circuit, capturing the win at Barber Motorsports Park.
 
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, the defending winner of the race on the Streets of Long Beach (Calif.), secured the third fastest qualifying time for the 80-lap race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street course.
 
Current Series’ point leader, Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Team Penske Chevrolet, was the sixth fastest qualifier for the third race of the 2013 season.
 
Other Team Chevy drivers posting top-10 qualifying Times Were: James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 Godaddy.Com Andretti Autosport Chevrolet – 7th’; Tony Kanaan, No. 11 Hydroxycut KV Racing Technology SH Racing Chevrolet – 8th and E.J. Viso, Team Venezuela Andretti Autosport HVM Chevrolet – 10th.
 
In addition to the on-track competition, Chevrolet debuted its all-new 2013 Chevrolet Racing Display in the Lifestyle Expo at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.  In addition to a number of Chevrolet vehicles for fans to see, there will be games and other interactive activities for fans of all ages. The display will be at 8:00 a.m. PDT on  Sunday.
 
The highlight of the display activities for the fans will be several Question and Answer sessions with many of the Chevrolet IZOD IndyCar Series drivers. Scheduled to appear are: KV Racing Technology drivers Tony Kanaan and Simona de Silvestro on Sunday at 10:30 a.m., and the “Champ”, Ryan Hunter-Reay from Andretti Autosport, will meet the fans at 10:45 a.m. All times are Pacific Times.
 
The Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy is scheduled to start Sunday, April 21, 2013 at 1:00  p.m. PT (3:15 p.m. ET) with live television coverage on NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com. Race timing and scoring can also be found on

Chevy Racing–Grand Prix of Long Beach– Michael Andretti

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH INDY
STREETS OF LONG BEACH
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 20, 2013
 
MICHAEL ANDRETTI, OWNER OF ANDRETT AUTOSPORT THAT FIELDS FOUR CARS IN IZOD INDYCAR SERIES FOR DRIVERS RYAN HUNTER-REAY, MARCO ANDRETTI, JAMES HINCHCLIFFE AND E.J. VISO, met with members of the media at Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy.  Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT THE MOMENTUM BEHIND THE TEAM RIGHT NOW: “It’s really doing great. We really focused on building on the momentum that we were able to get last year with the championship.  At the end of the year, when we sat down and looked at it, we were pretty excited because we felt that there was still a lot of room for improvement within the team. I think we’ve made a lot of great changes over the winter affecting the results we are getting now. We’re pretty excited about it. I think one of the goals was to get all four cars competitive, more competitive. Ryan (Hunter-Reay) was the guy that seemed to stand out the most last year. So, we wanted to get more consistency with the other guys. I think we’ve improved there, and hopefully we can continue to improve that.”
 
TALK ABOUT THE PROGRESS YOU HAVE SEEN WITH YOUR INDY LIGHTS DRIVERS: “I’m really excited about them. They are doing a great job, both of them. Carlos (Munoz) if you watched him throughout the year last year he just got better and better and better.  You just knew it at the end of the year that he is going to be a major title contender for this year.  He is not letting us down, he has been quickest everywhere.  Really should have won the first race.  He had a problem with getting that penalty, but dominated the last race.  We are excited about it.  I think he has got a good shot at it.  We had our first test with him in an Indy car at Texas and did an awesome job.  I think he is going to turn a lot of heads when we get to Indianapolis this year.  Zach (Veach) I’m really proud of.  That kid just keeps getting better and better as well.  He doesn’t have a ton of experience, but he just keeps working at it and getting better and better.  I think our goal is to try to get him in the top three this year and hopefully win the championship with him next year and get him in an Indy car as well.  Sort of do the same program that we are doing with Carlos.  That is our goal if we can get it done.”
 
BACK AT BARBER IT ULTIMATELY DOESN’T MATTER BECAUSE THERE WERE NO MORE YELLOWS, BUT I’M WONDERING HOW YOU FELT ABOUT JAMES HINCHCLIFFE JUST GETTING LEFT OUT THERE ON THE TRACK?
“Unfortunately, it’s just part of it.  There is no way that they should throw a yellow just because a car is stuck on the track.  That is just bad luck.  He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Unfortunately you know what they say that is racing right?”
 
INAUDIBLE:
“I don’t know it may have taken more than one more lap. Just to help one guy, you have to worry about the big picture of the show.  I don’t blame them for what they did.”
 
YOU HAVE A FOUR CAR TEAM PLUS YOUR INDY LIGHTS TEAMS.  IN THIS ECONOMY A LOT OF TEAMS ARE HURTING TO GET SPONSORSHIP WHAT IS YOUR SECRET TO GETTING ALL THE SPONSORS AND GROWING YOU TEAM IN THIS ENVIRONMENT?
“Honestly, it’s just hard work.  It’s not easy.  It’s really difficult out there right now.  One thing we haven’t let up on whatever we do if we are cutting budgets or whatever we are not cutting it on the R&D side.  You have to be winning races.  If you win race that helps a lot.  That is one thing.  Also, I think you have to look at the people we have within the team that are out there doing a job of selling and stuff.  I think we have the best people in the business.  We are very creative in everything we do.  Not one sponsor is the same the way we do their program.  You have to really listen to them and see if you can detail a program for them.  It’s a tough complicated thing to do, but I think we do a pretty good job with it.”
 
SO MUCH OF THIS RACE ALWAYS SEEMS TO HINGE ON TURN ONE ON THE START AND THE RESTARTS.  DO YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT THAT IN TERMS OF HOW YOU APPROACH IT OR IS EVERY DRIVER JUST DEAL WITH IT DEPENDING ON WHERE HE IS AT ON HIS OWN?
“Yeah, pretty much.  Every track has got some things like that.  You have to be careful.  You know that it’s important to get a good start and get that pass in turn one because it is difficult to pass here.  But then again, you don’t want to throw your race away taking too much of a risk.  It’s a bit of a balance and it’s something that you just do as a driver spur of the moment.  You just take it the way you feel it is.  Some guys are more aggressive than others and they get away with it or they don’t.  It’s just part of it.  We try to tell our guys big picture.  It’s all about points, but also I don’t want to say don’t go for it either because you have to go for it if you are going to win this championship.  There is no sitting back and letting it come to you either.”
 
YOU TALKED ABOUT GETTING ALL FOUR CARS COMPETITIVE AGAIN MARCO (ANDRETTI) I THINK IS HAVING THE BEST START OF HIS CAREER.  I KNOW IT’S ONLY BEEN TWO RACES BUT HE IS COMING PRETTY FAR IN THE FIELD EACH WEEK.  WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET HIM ALL THE WAY THERE TO VICTORY LANE?
“I think he has just got to continue to do what he is doing.  He is really focused.  He is really working hard.  He is in the truck just studying all the data between all the cars and all the drivers.  Just trying to see where he is weak and trying to improve that area and that is how you are going to do it.  That is how all these guys do it.  It’s no secret.  It’s just a lot of hard work especially now because you are talking about hundredths of a second not even tenths of a second anymore.  He is doing a good job.  I think you can just see the progression. He knows he is not there yet, but I think he has definitely improved a lot.  He has gotten himself halfway there.  I think as the year goes on if he continues to work on it the way he is working on it I think he is going to be winning some races.”
 
I THINK YOU WERE LOOKING AT THE FT. LAUDERDALE RACE AS A PROMOTER IF YOU WERE CAN YOU GIVE US AN UPDATE ON THAT?  
“We are looking at a lot of different things.  We did do some searching down there.  It’s still a long way off if it were to happen.  We are not giving up on it, but there is still a lot of work to be done there.  We are also looking at some other deals that I can’t talk about, but hopefully if they were to come about it would be really pretty exciting things.  We are always out there looking for new venues.”
 
MARK MILES MADE A COMMENT THIS WEEK IT WAS BASED ON THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP RECOMMENDATION OF STARTING THE SEASON EARLY AND POSSIBLY ENDING IT AT INDY ON THE ROAD COURSE. WHAT IS YOUR FEELINGS ON THAT?
“It’s a tough one.  I think they have done some research and they think it could be fairly successful.  They know better than me.  If they feel that you know I’m there to support whatever we think we can do to make the series better.  I’m okay with it.  I think if you talk about tradition I think there has been a lot of tradition broken there anyway.  I think we cannot forget that our core fans are in that area.  If we can draw say 100,000 for that race that would be huge. That could end up being our second biggest race of the year. If those sort of things are possible then why not do it.  As for starting the season earlier I think that is smart because there are so many nice areas that you can start.  I think you can start the season in February.  I think in terms of
competition on TV I think it is a lot better.  You are not up against football.  I think also though, we always talk about football.  I think that is a bit of a cop out in some ways because I can’t say that some of our ratings are any better this time of year than they are later in the year.  I don’t know if I agree with that 100 percent.  I do think having a six month off season is not good, but I mean say if they were able to do a mini-series in that six months, say an international series I would be all for that.  I think that would be awesome, which I know they have been talking about things like that. That to me would be something that I think all the teams would get behind.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE LONG BEACH MEMORY?
“That is a tough one because I have had great memories here.  It probably has to be my first win.  The first win is always special.  The way we won it was great.  Al (Unser) Jr. made us work for that really hard there.  We just went at it good old fashion racing.  I would say probably the first one.”
 
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES THAT WE WILL EVER SEE ROAD AMERICA ON THE SCHEDULE AGAIN?
“I don’t know. I’m not the one to ask.  I love Road America.  I’m all for it if it can make sense financially for everybody including Road America.  I think it would be great.  It’s just one of the nicest race tracks not only in the United States, but in the world.  I know there is not a driver out there that wouldn’t love to be racing there.  There is not a team owner that wouldn’t want to be up there.  We are all for it if it could make sense financially.”
 
CAN YOU GIVE US A SNEAK PEAK AT SOME PLANS THAT ARE IN THE WORKS FOR THE MILWAUKEE INDYFEST?
“It’s going really well.  We are going to be adding another race.  We are going to have the Mazda’s there, the Pro Mazda Series, which I think is going to be great.  They always do a nice job on the ovals.  We are going to really focus again like we did last year on the festival atmosphere so the infield is going to hopefully be jumping like it was last year.  We are going to be adding hopefully some more new things and exciting things for people to do.  We are working on the band situation which I think we will be announcing in a couple of weeks and some other exciting things.  We are excited about it.  It’s nice to have a little time to prepare and hopefully we will be a little bit better prepared than we were last year.”      
 

Chevy Racing–Kansas Speedway Qualifying Notes

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
APRIL 19, 2013
 
RYAN NEWMAN LEADS TEAM CHEVY IN QUALIFYING AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY
 
KANSAS CITY, KS (APRIL 19, 2013)  – Ryan Newman, Code 3 Associates Chevrolet SS, led all Team Chevy drivers in qualifying at Kansas Speedway on Friday in posting the ninth-fastest lap for Sunday’s STP 400.   This is Newman’s third top-10 start of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
 
Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Pittsburgh Paints Chevrolet SS, qualified 12th; Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS, was 13th and Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonalds Chevrolet SS will start 14th.
 
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS, spun during his first qualifying lap and made contact with the outside wall. He will start at the rear of the field in a backup car.
 
A total of 17 Chevrolet SS drivers will take the green flag for the eighth race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
 
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was the pole winner. Carl Edwards (Ford) – second, Ricky Stenhouse (Ford) –third, Sam Hornish (Ford) – fourth and Kyle Busch (Toyota) – fifth, complete the top-five qualifiers.
 
Live coverage of the STP 400 will be provided by FOX TV, PRN Radio and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and coverage will begin at 1:00 pm ET.
 
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED NINTH
HOW WAS IT ON YOUR QUALIFYING RUN OUT THERE?
“It was good it was fast.  This place is so fast.  There is so many grip up until the point that you lose grip then you better hang on because it’s going to slide.  We take the cars to the limit, but a good run for our Code 3 Associates Chevrolet.  Matt (Borland, crew chief) and the guys did a good job off the truck the car was really good.  Even though we are not on the pole I’m much happier qualifying that lap than I have on a lot of the intermediate tracks we have qualified on this year.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 14TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:
“So not a bad lap my balance was too tight.  I kind of told them the wrong adjustments after practice so all on me.  The car still seems to have good speed even though the balance wasn’t good.  Just looking forward to tomorrow.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 21ST
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?  DID THE WIND AFFECT YOUR LAP AT ALL?
“Yeah, that is definitely part of it.  We have lacked a little speed today in Q (qualifying) trim.  That is certainly frustrating at times.  The wind it is a little higher, but it’s been there all day.  I didn’t feel like it was a big contributing factor in what I had going on.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 23RD
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“I was pretty disappointed.  I think only three out of four of us have gone right now, but as a company we are not showing a lot of speed today.  The car doesn’t have glaring issues handling wise.  It’s not really a deal…the car should just go right around here rather easily when it’s good.  My car is not very easy to drive in qualifying trim.  We ran some race trim in practice though and I was really pleased with that.  I thought the laps were great.  I thought the way the car drove was really good.  We just maybe way off on something with air pressure who knows something odd.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 25TH
ON HER QUALIFYING LAP:
“We improved from practice, which was good. Qualifying has been a struggle for us this year, except for Daytona obviously, so this was a good gain for us. We would have liked to have been top-20 with the Go Daddy Chevrolet, but we’ll take the small gain. It’s just a matter of improving each week.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 27TH
YOU ARE A CONTENDER EVERY TIME YOU COME TO A PLACE LIKE THIS.  HOW DOES YOU QUALIFYING LAP EQUATE TO SUNDAY?
“Not as good as what we would have liked.  We have a great car this weekend with the 85 years of Farmers Insured and Chevrolet and we just didn’t get a very good lap.  I was tight wasn’t turning so I wasn’t able to push the throttle down.”
 
WITH THE EVER CHANGING WEATHER TODAY DID YOU GET WHAT YOU WANTED WHEN YOU WERE QUALIFYING?
“I think the track conditions were fine.  We had one end in sun and one end was cloudy and it was windy everywhere so I think we had as good as anybody.  We just got a different set of tires there just didn’t feel near the same as the other ones.  Just need to work on that and get a little better prepared for Sunday.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – HIT THE WALL DURING HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT AND WILL GO TO A BACK-UP CAR AND ENGINE – WILL START 43RD

I BELIEVE THE WORD YOU USED WAS COMMITTED:
“I was committed.   We have been tight, and I wasn’t tight.  It felt great coming to the green and I was pretty happy with it through (turns) three and four and I got down into (turns) one and two and I arced it in there just the way I wanted to and got to the yellow line and started picking up the throttle and it just slowly came around. For a second I thought I was going to save it.  I lit the tires up to keep it from hitting too hard and now we have a car and an engine that are pretty much done and it’s been a while since I wrecked qualifying.  So you know what?  I really meant what I said about the commitment. I felt these guys deserved a better lap than what we put down in practice and I thought the car was better than that and it felt so good coming through (turns) three and four that I wanted to get back to that gas early and hard down there and run some of the lap times that some of these guys are running, but obviously it didn’t sti

Chevy Racing–CORVETTE RACING QUALIFIES 4TH AND 6TH AT LONG BEACH

CORVETTE RACING QUALIFIES 4TH AND 6TH AT LONG BEACH
 
(LONG BEACH, Calif., April 19, 2013) – Jan Magnussen, driver of the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R, qualified fourth (1:19.047 secs.) in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT Class at Long Beach. Tommy Milner, who won his first ALMS race at this event last year, qualified sixth (1:19.083) in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn Long Beach Street Circuit.
 
“We definitely made some good improvements between practice and qualifying,” Magnussen said. “It’s always hard here because there’s such a long time between the two sessions, so you really have to think about how the track is going to develop, so I think we made some good choices. We’ll go back and look at some old data and fine-tune a little bit, but overall, I’d be happy to race this car.”
 
Magnussen added that the No. Corvette C6.R experienced a minor problem during practice, but it was fixed before qualifying.
 
“We had a small issue shifting this morning. Fixed. All gone,” Magnussen said. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”
 
Magnussen will team with Antonio Garcia for tomorrow’s race.
 
Milner will again team with Oliver Gavin. The two won the 2012 ALMS drivers’ championship, and opened the 2013 season with a victory at Sebring last month.
 
“Obviously, it’s super, super close, as it always is in GT,” Milner said. “So, the position doesn’t sound great; sixth is not what I was hoping for, but it was only two-tenths off the pole. That’s pretty close.
 
“Obviously, I’d love to get a win here again, like I did last year, my first win in ALMS, but at the end of the day is the championship and finishing the race and keeping the nose of the car clean, give it to Oliver and let him work his magic like he did last year.”
 

Chevy Racing–Long Beach Grand Prix–Marco Andretti

ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET INDYCAR V6 DRIVERS met with members of the media at the Streets of Long Beach.  Full transcript of the press conference:
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET:
ON SEASON SO FAR: “I really worked on consistency in the off season so it’s a decent start to that. But when I look at two of my teammates who have won the first two races , I need to be consistently better. I think if we keep knocking on the door like we have been…like even last weekend, we had another good shot at another podium, but we lost a lot of time coming out behind another car. We’ve been driving good, so we have to keep doing that.”
 
ON HISTORICAL SIGNIFGANCE OF LONG BEACH RACE: “To echo my teammates. It’s just the history and the tradition. It is the same reason why Indy (Indianapolis 500) is so important to us as drivers as well. My family alone has a lot of history here. A lot of wins between them (Michael, his Dad, and Mario, his grandfather). I think my dad won his first and last race here if I’m not mistaken. For the family it means a lot as well.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET:
ON RETURNING TO LONG BEACH: “This race has been fantastic in the past. There are a lot of positives here for me. This week I am really looking forward to continuing that roll that Andretti Autosport has had for the good part of the last half a year. There is no atmosphere like Long Beach. It is going to be incredibly tough again.
 
“It is sort of a home race for me having lived here for 8 years in Southern California  My wife’s whole family is from here. I have family out here so this feels like the second home race of the season for me. Long Beach is a race I have been watching for a long time. Came here as a kid and as an INDYCAR fan. The whole Southern California really embraces this race which is what makes a difference. Everybody wants to come to this race. It’s an event; it’s a happening every year. We’re just honored to be here putting on the show.”
 
ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW CAR: “We are constantly tweaking it; we are constantly developing it. For instance, last year at Barber for myself at least – our team, we struggled there. And, we developed the car to be a lot better there (this year). We are constantly making it better. We are pushing the aero side of it; the mechanical grip side of it. In those areas, you give engineers a lot of time, and we’ll find some speed.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NHO. 27 GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET:
ON LONG BEACH RACE: “This race is so awesome. The atmosphere, I think It is the second longest running race we have next to the [Indy] 500. There is a reason it has gone on for 40 years. It is a hell of an event. Great city. They do a great job. It’s always treated me pretty well. Had some success here in Indy Lights. My first IZOD IndyCar top-five; first IndyCar podium. It would be nice to keep that streak alive.
 
“The fact that the race has been around for so long.  There is one thing you can’t buy, and that is history. You can build the biggest, fanciest, most expensive race track in the world if you want; but year one is still year one. And there is not history to it. This place used to host a Formula One race. It has hosted IndyCar for years and year.  All the legends have raced here. All the legends have won here. You add that on to the atmosphere, the environment, the fans, it being right here near the boats, the setting. The combination is what makes it so special.”
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET:
ON LONG BEACH RACE: “This is an amazing track to come to already and I keep having great performances here on qualifying days. I think I have been two or three times in the top-six.  This year I’m not thinking too much about qualifying but thinking of the race. Hopefully we can make it happen this weekend.
 
“As Marco said with two teammates who have very proudly won the first two races and the championship which I feel like gives me a lot of confidence that we have a very strong and stable platform that is going to allow us to do the same. We really work hard as a team, and I really like the energy that is always put into the team. Not only the racing aspect, but in every other single department, which is important. Hopefully Long Beach is going to be the one for me.
 
“It is just a great track for a street course. It is very fast; probably faster than any other street course. It has a great combination of different kinds of surfaces which gives you different grip levels. So you really need to understand the car in every part of the track which behaves completely different. There are curbs you normally don’t take in during the first part of the weekend, but you end up eating them during the race. It is a track that really makes you think hard, and I love it.”

Chevy Racing–Ryan Hunter-Reay Tops Speed Charts in Practice for Sunday’s Long Beach Grand Prix

Ryan Hunter-Reay Tops Speed Charts in Practice for Sunday’s Long Beach Grand Prix
 
LONG BEACH, Calif.  (April 10, 2013) – At the conclusion of today’s two practice sessions for the Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy, defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion, Ryan Hunter-Reay turned in the fastest time of the combined sessions behind the wheel of his No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet. 
 
Other Team Chevy drivers turning in times that landed them in the top-10 were: Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet – 3rd; Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Team Penske Chevrolet – 5th and James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy.com Andretti Autosport Chevrolet – 9th.
 
The IZOD IndyCar Series will return to the track for a 35-minute practice session at 10:00 a.m. PDT Saturday morning in preparation for qualifying that is slated to start at 2:00 p.m. PDT.
 
In addition to the on-track competition, Chevrolet will debut its all-new 2013 Chevrolet Racing Display in the Lifestyle Expo at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.  In addition to a number of Chevrolet vehicles for fans to see, there will be games and other interactive activities for fans of all ages. The display will open at 8:00 a.m. PDT Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
 
The highlight of the display activities for the fans will be several Question and Answer sessions with many of the Chevrolet IZOD IndyCar Series drivers. Scheduled to appear are: Team Penske’s Will Power, Helio Castroneves and A.J. Allmendinger at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday; KV Racing Technology drivers Tony Kanaan and Simona de Silvestro on Sunday at 10:30 a.m., and the “Champ”, Ryan Hunter-Reay from Andretti Autosport, will meet the fans at 10:45 a.m. All times are Pacific Times.
 
The Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy is scheduled to start Sunday, April 21, 2013 at 1:00  p.m. PT (3:15 p.m. ET) with live television coverage on NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com. Race timing and scoring can also be found on

Chevy Racing–Kansas Speedway–Kasey Kahne

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 19, 2013
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE 85TH ANNIVERSARY CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed the connection between the Boston tragedy and Hendrick Motorsports, the speed of the Gen-6 car at Kansas compared to last season and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
HOW ARE THINGS GOING FOR YOU THUS FAR THIS WEEKEND IN KANSAS?
“So far pretty good it’s a little different with this car.  I think the track has aged a touch too and so it’s a little grayer than what I expected.  The car has a lot of speed like it has at every track that we have been to.  I don’t know.  I’m interested to see how qualifying goes.  I think we have been fairly close so far.”
 
WE ALL LEARNED OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND THE TRAGEDY IN BOSTON TODAY WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
“I think all week for myself it’s been sad to pay attention to and to watch.  You try to think about what those people, the people that have been involved, the people that are working to fix it, just so much going on up there.  It’s hard to imagine what everybody is going through as an outsider, but I’ve paid really close attention to it and it’s sad.  I just want it to get over with.  Definitely thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved and Andrew (Collier) from Hendrick Motorsports his brother was the police officer last night that got shot.  It’s sad and hopefully they get it taken care of and figured out soon.”
 
DO YOU KNOW HIM (ANDREW COLLIER)?
“I know I have met him because I have met everybody there.  I can’t picture him so I don’t know him well, but I definitely have met him.”
 
WHAT’S IT LIKE WHEN THE BIGGEST STORY IN THE WORLD HITS THIS CLOSE TO HOME?
“I feel like regardless of where everything is at I mean you sit here and we are trying to race, but last night I was up until 2 something in the morning just watching the news seeing how things were going.  Watching Twitter following what was going on.  It’s been really crazy.  It’s sad that it has come to this.  I just pray that it gets over with soon.”
 
YOU MENTIONED THE SPEEDS IN PRACTICE JUST COMPARATIVELY HOW FAST IS THE CAR HERE AT KANSAS TO HOW IT WAS LAST YEAR?
“I think speed wise it’s probably pretty close to last year because I think the track got a little more grip in it than what it does this year.  The car itself is a little faster so maybe it’s a wash or maybe we will go a touch quicker in qualifying today.  I think race pace will be very similar to what it was last year just with the Gen-6 car being a little faster.”
 
WHAT IS THE KEY TO GETTING AROUND KANSAS?
“I think just making the right pit calls, staying up front, trying to keep that track position and making sure your car keeps turning.  Last year there I fought turn three a little bit with some things and then I think you can get tighter as a run goes.  So, just making sure you have speed built into your car for the long runs I think we will see long green flag runs and some green flag pit stops Sunday.  Just trying to be prepared for all that.”
 
YOUR TEAMMATE DALE EARNHARDT, JR. DIDN’T HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RACE ON THE PAVEMENT LAST FALL.  HOW MUCH HAS HE LEANED ON YOU AND THE OTHER TEAMMATES AT HENDRICK MAYBE TO KIND OF GET UP TO SPEED ON WHAT IS GOING ON HERE THIS WEEKEND?
“Well, we have talked a little bit during practice and he was just surprised how fast the track was, how smooth it was and basically how well his car drove around for just his first few laps.  I think qualifying is a different story. The cars react a little different so you have to figure that out.  I think he was happy with it.  I think he will be really good on Sunday.”
 
FAIR TO SAY HE (DALE EARNHARDT, JR.) LEANED ON YOU GUYS?
“He didn’t really lean on me.  We just talked kind of about what he felt and what I felt and where our cars were which is similar to every race weekend I would say.”

Chevy Racing–Road Atlanta

Rain Cancels Qualifying; No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP to Start on Front Row
 
BRASELTON, Ga. (April 19, 2013) – Friday’s scheduled qualifying sessions for both the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge were cancelled due to steady rain at Road Atlanta. The GRAND-AM rulebook states that the starting lineup is set by team point standings when qualifying is cancelled. Jon Fogarty will start second over-all in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP). He and co-driver Alex Gurney are second in the DP standings.
 
Other Team Chevy Corvette DP teams will start as follows:  No. 10 Velocity Worldwide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP – 3rd: No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP -5th; No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Corvette DP – 6th; No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – 7th and No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – 10th.
 
In the Rolex Series Grand Touring (GT) class, the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R will start sixth in-class, and the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette will roll off ninth in-class.
 
The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing DP (BMW) will start of the over-all pole, and No. 44 Magnus Racing (Porsche) will lead the GT cars to the green flag.
 
In the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R will start second on the Grand Sport (GS) grid.  The No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R will roll off 11th, and the No. 00 CKS Camaro GS.R will start in the 14th position.  The No. 13 Rum Bum Racing (Porsche) will start on the GS pole.
 

Chevy Racing–Kansas Speedway–Danica Patrick

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 19, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed qualifying at Kansas and at other tracks, the fast speeds at Kansas, on meeting other drivers’ daughters, her influence, and more. Full Transcript:
 
DANICA PATRICK:
“I’d like to lead-off with everything that’s been in the news with Boston and Texas and all over the place. It seems like there’s a lot of really scary stuff going on. And it creates a lot of pride to see the country rally together and be strong. So anyway, I’m feeling for all those people out there who are suffering.”
 
WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU HEARD THAT STORY IN BOSTON ACTUALLY HAD A NASCAR CONNECTION WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORT5?
“Well, obviously the Boston Marathon is an incredibly bit marathon. But when it hits close to home and you realize that somebody who is connected with this sport was hurt, it’s a small world. I think it makes you just be more aware. We are a big sporting event too. Security has been a lot tighter around here (Kansas City) from the get-go, and there’s good reason.”
 
DOES THIS MAKE IT HARDER TO RACE THIS WEEKEND?
“No. You get in the car and do your job. That’s what we do. But it’s just a time to let people know to be careful and sow some compassion.”
 
ON QUALIFYING AND HOW IT IMPACTS HER WEEKENDS
“I was over talking to Tony (Stewart) after practice and said, ‘Look, I’ve got to figure out how to qualify better.’ And you know a lot of the runs there have been obvious issues, whether it be really loose or really tight or having a moment at the end of the first lap which leads into the next lap, so it kills both of them. You know there have been reasons. But all in all, it’s not necessarily my strong area and I know that. I was saying that in the Nationwide Series, it was kind of the same thing. And once I really got comfortable in the car and understood it and what it did when you pushed it, and obviously developed a set-up that I am comfortable with, things really changed. And all of a sudden it was like a light switch and I was like all right,
 
“I’m actually not so bad at qualifying these things anymore. But it took time. And so, I’m sure that it does happen like that with me. All of a sudden something happens and I’ll feel more comfortable and there’s more speed there. But it doesn’t stop me from pushing and trying to figure out how to get better at it. I think the best thing that we can do at this point in time is to try and get a car underneath me that I feel comfortable with and try and develop a good platform that we can go each and every weekend to these 1.5-mile tracks and to the short tracks too, and just know what I have, as well. There’s something to be said for coming to the green, and yeah, you’ve got to be fast through (Turns) 3 and 4 coming to the green. So, just knowing what you’ve got underneath you so that you know what it’s going to do when you push it.”
 
ON THE FAST KANSAS SPEEDWAY
“The cooler temperatures; the track holds the grip better when it get’s hot and it gets a little bit more slippery. And also it’s better performance for the engines to have this cool air. All in all, it’s fast out there. So they asked me, ‘Is it lateral low that’s making it step-out or making it move, or is it the throttle actually?’ And I’m like I don’t know. I can’t separate them. You’re carrying so much speed that it’s hard to separate throttle from lateral. But I like it. I don’t mind it whatsoever. We started out with a much better platform right off the bat. We were respectable in speed on the first run so it was just a matter of; and then on the second run I hit the wall on entry to (Turn) 1. Unfortunately we did all our qualifying runs with a bent track bar and truck arm.  We’ll be trying to get it right for qualifying having done all those runs with it bent. But we definitely got better  off this weekend than a lot of others.”
 
THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TRACKS THAT YOU ALSO RACED AT LAST YEAR. ARE YOU REAPING THE BENEFITS OF THAT THIS WEEK?
“Yeah, anytime you have track time in that car, I think it’s helpful. I have notes from last year; my own notes. The team has notes from what we did. It is helpful. But at the end of the day, you can be really good one year and not the next, based on the car and what the set-up is like and if it has potential in it and if you’re comfortable with it.  So things can change very quickly based on the balance.”
 
ON DARRELL WALLACE, JR., THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN DRIVER IN THE TRUCK SERIES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE HIM?
“You’re just another driver out there. You have to go out there and push hard and prove yourself with your on-track activity just like anybody else does. I know that from my position, I’ve had a lot of opportunities through sponsorship and with my unique situation that I am in being a girl in this sport. But your staying power relies on you performing, so take the opportunities, but then you have to make the most of them.”
 
WOULD IT BE TOUGHER FOR A BLACK MAN TO MAKE IT IN THIS SPORT THAN A FEMALE?
“No.”
 
DO YOU REALIZE IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE YOU WON IN JAPAN?
“Is it really? Oh, that makes me feel bad (laughs). You know, I felt like there were a lot of years in IndyCar that were really strong and then there were some that weren’t and I felt like the ones that weren’t were toward the end. So, just like in this series, as it is in IndyCar, you have to have the right situation going on and you have to have a fast car. But yeah, five years ago; it’s time to do it again!”
 
OTHER DRIVERS HAVE BROUGHT THEIR DAUGHTERS OVER TO MEET YOU. DO YOU FEEL THAT YOUNG GIRLS WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY NOW BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU’VE DONE? MAYBE YOU’VE INSPIRED SOME OF THEM TO GET INVOLVED
“Maybe just from the perspective of that they would think about racing. It’s not a normal sport for a kid to try because it’s not something you go play in school, right? In school, you play basketball, volleyball, all those kinds of sports like baseball. Racing is not one of those. So, your family has to have the means to be able to do it and then you have to have even the scope of knowledge to be able to run a car. I think it might just make people a little bit more interested and maybe they want to become race car drivers. But what I always tell little girls or little boys is that anybody who wants to become a race car driver has to work really hard and it has to be your passion and if you find that it is, so be it. But if not, then follow that because I think you can make a career out of anything.”
 
HAS THE THRILL OF WINNING AT JAPAN FIVE YEARS AGO JUST WORN OFF BECAUSE IT’S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME SINCE THEN?
“It’s sill a happy memory. It’s still my one win in IndyCar. But you know, it was a long time ago and it was a good feeling and I’d like to get that feeling back.”
 
FOR THE KANSAS TRACK, IS THERE A PARTICULAR CORNER OR AREA OF THE TRACK THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON?
“Not necessarily. I think it’s just a matter of making the car comfortable enough and also the car; let’s just say, I went out, I wasn’t driving hard enough, I wasn’t on the stops right, and then I go out and I do it and all of a sudden it’s better. So we make a change and then I go in a little bit harder and all of a sudden we hit the splitter and the front takes off. So then you make another change. You go back out and I go in even harder and then I get loose. So the harder you go, the more things you unveil about the cars. For me and my comfort level, I’m so methodical of a build-up driver that you kind of keep uncovering issues with the car the harder you go. So it’s both ends. And it’s just a matter of going in deeper, using less brake and getting on it harder. It’s that simple.”
 WITH TV RATINGS UP A LITTLE BIT THIS YEAR, DO YOU LIKE TO THINK THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR A LITTLE PIECE OF THAT?
“I always say it takes all of us out there to make an entertaining race. If it was just me out there it would be really, really boring. I understand your question. I think that when I’m running, let’s say at Daytona, and qualifying on the pole, there are a lot of stories written and so it drums up a lot of attention and interest and pure curiosity like how’s this going to work out? Is she going to be good? Is she going to hang on? Is she doing to drop back? So that curiosity might lead to viewership. I’m flattered by that. But again, I think we’ve seen throughout the races this year that there has been a record number or at least a new record number of lead changes at race tracks and that’s the kind of stuff that keeps fans coming back.”