NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
KOBALT TOOLS 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 8, 2013
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY ORANGE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and discussed racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, consistency in finishes and other topics. Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT THE PAINT SCHEME ON YOUR RACE CAR THIS WEEKEND AND HOW THE TEST WENT YESTERDAY AND YOU’RE OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND AT LAS VEGAS:
“The day went pretty good. We had pretty good speed right off the trailer and just worked with a lot of things. Everybody had a lot of time yesterday to really kind of get up to speed. By the end of the day, everybody was running about the same times. We had more than enough practice really this weekend so I’m not too worried about what we didn’t get to do today because yesterday was way more than we needed to be honest. Feeling good, just hope we get a little time just to make sure everything is working right and get a couple laps Saturday just to make sure everything is cool and we’ll be ready to go.”
 
CAN YOU CARRY OVER YOUR GOOD RUN FROM LAST YEAR TO THIS RACE WITH THE NEW CAR?
“The car is really the same chassis, it’s still got the splitter. It’s just a little different, the body is different and the spoiler’s different, the aero is way different. It didn’t make a lot of rule changes to the back of the car, the way we were using the rear-end housing and stuff. We were ready to race in two hours of yesterday. Everybody knows what they’re doing and the cars aren’t really a mystery so just getting out on the track and making sure it don’t hit the ground and get the balance where you want and you’re ready to go.”
 
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN GAMBLE FOR THE WIN NOW THAT YOU ARE CONSISTENTLY IN THE TOP-10?
“I don’t know what we could have done to really gamble to win any differently. I mean it’s not like there is some window of opportunity in every race where everybody could just take a wild gamble. We’re running as hard as we can run every lap and that’s all you can do.”
 
WILL YOU CURTAIL YOUR COMMENTS AFTER DENNY HAMLIN’S FINE OR WILL YOU JUST BE YOURSELF?
“I think we were told a couple years ago to just sort of watch all the negative comments and tones when we were — I think after Talladega was a good example several years ago, but I don’t recall which year it was. I thought it was clear to all of us to be careful how we said what was on our mind. I don’t think they mind you coming up in the hauler and talking about what you think about the racing and how you think things could improve or what might improve things. I think that they’re open to listening to that kind of stuff. We always want to get better and always want to strive to be better as a sport. I think we’re going in a good direction, I like the new car. Obviously, I’ve had a couple good runs with it so I’m excited about what we have going on and things are only going to get better from here as we learn more and more about tires and the tire is changing quite a bit with the way they’re trying to make tires and trying to go green on the tires and stuff like that. That’s really going to change the way the cars react. Everybody has to understand that the tire has a lot to do with how these cars drive. That’s what connects them to the race track. I think Goodyear is doing a good job trying to improve things there and we’re learning a ton so it involves more than just the vehicle itself. It’s all kinds of things and NASCAR is doing a lot of good things. There’s a lot of good ideas moving around, a lot of good conversations happening that I’m happy to hear and happy to see going on that I think we’re going in a good direction.”
 
WILL THINGS DEVELOP WEEK TO WEEK WITH THE NEW CAR THAT WILL MAKE THE RACING DIFFERENT?:  “The track and the surface of the track has a lot to do with it, the particular tire and the compound of the tire, the side wall, the softness of the compound. All those things really play a big role. Look at the variety of race tracks we have on the circuit, every one of them is completely different. We joke about how the mile-and-a-halves are all the same and all that stuff, but every one of them is different in their own way. You’re not going to go to every race track and see the exact same race. The surfaces are different, the tires are different and the way you set the cars up and the setups that you run in the cars are different. The geometry that you might run in one place versus another is different. Everything about the whole race weekend and the process is different so you’re going to see a different race everywhere you go. I think as we learn more and more about these cars and what makes them work and drive better, things can only get better as far as the product we put out there every week. It’s a new car, there’s a lot of things to learn and that’s what everybody in the garage is trying to do is trying to get an advantage on the rest of competitors out there. We had a good opportunity yesterday with 12 hours of practice. I was kind of glad to see it rain today because I practiced enough, I was ready to race.”
 
HOW TELLING WILL THIS RACE BE TO HOW YOU WILL BE ON INTERMEDIATE TRACKS THIS YEAR?:  “It can. This place has got a lot of bumps going into turn one. They are something else, I’m impressed each time I come here how much rougher it is. That really challenges you to set the car up to be able to get through them bumps and you might run a little different style shock package to do that where at Michigan or Charlotte or somewhere that doesn’t have bumps like, you don’t have to run that style of package so the setups are getting further apart I guess as far as most mile-and-a-halves and we run at Vegas. It does set the tone. Confidence is everything and when you go to Vegas and you run well, you expect to go to the next mile-and-a-half at Texas or wherever it may be and run well.”
 
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY?:  “At Fontana? I like the way the track has gotten really wide and you can run at the bottom or you can run at the top or the middle. I just love tracks like that. They put on really good races and there’s opportunities to pass when you run a guy down, you can change the line you’re running and get some clean air on your car and you feel confident that if you do the right thing and drive the car well that you can make a pass. I love that about that race track. The surface has got a good age on it and we even run on the apron some down there in turn three and four, which  is a lot of fun when you can get your car to do that. It’s a wide track, I think the racing there is a lot of fun for a driver.”
 
DO YOU THINK MEETINGS BETWEEN THE MAJOR DRIVERS IN THE SPORT STILL TAKE PLACE LIKE THEY DID YEARS AGO?:  “Who’s to say those meetings don’t happen today? I think they do and I think that those meetings are very productive and it’s a great way to get a lot of good ideas moving across the table and I think that a lot of the innovation that you’ve seen in the sport in the last probably five or six years have come from those discussions. There’s a lot of good dialogue and I think those style of meetings are still prevalent.”
 
HAVE YOU INSPIRED OTHER PEOPLE WITH YOUR CLEANSE DIET?:  “I don’t know. I wouldn’t recommend what I did to anybody. I really did it on a dare plus I was alright that if I lost 10 pounds then that was going to be a bonus. A buddy of mine just dared me to do it. He told me about it and I was a little jealous so I went for it, but it only lasted 15 days. It was no problem.”
 
ARE YOU BACK TO EATING CHEESEBURGERS?:  “No. I like a good steak, but I haven’t ate a cheeseburger in I can’t remember how long. Once I got about 34 or 35 I kind of had to start watching the cheeseburgers and chicken wings and the pizzas be
cause I swear I would probably eat two or three pizzas a week around that time. Those were the good days.”
 
WAS THERE A SPECIFIC REASON YOU ARE RUNNING THE NATIONWIDE RACE THIS WEEKEND OTHER THAN SPONSOR WANTING YOU TO RUN?:  “It had probably a lot to do with the financial side of it, but I was looking forward to doing a little more racing. I do enjoy racing at the plate tracks, but I think to truly benefit me in any way on Sunday, I think it would be better to run at one or two more mile-and-a-halves. I’m excited to have the opportunity to run this weekend to hopefully learn a little bit about maybe the tire or something or how the track changed or what condition the track is in as far as Sunday goes. Even though we didn’t run very well last week, I think Jimmie (Johnson) and Chad (Knaus) feel like they learned a lot about the tire and the track and just a little about the strategy stuff because the tire wasn’t wearing out that much. Taking two tires and alternating left to right, things like that really started to show themselves Saturday so they learned quite a bit. We want to definitely use that race on Saturday to help us if we can in any way and I haven’t been in the Nationwide car so I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of speed we’ve got.  Hopefully we’ll get out there for a couple hours.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
KOBALT TOOLS 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 8, 2013
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1 RACING/BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) and discussed winning at LVMS last season, competing at the Bullring and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT WINNING HERE LAST YEAR; THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A RACE TRACK THAT YOU HAVE LOOKED FORWARD TO COMING TO:
“I think everybody does.  It’s probably one of the most fun places you can go to all year and have so many things to do.  We are all getting a chance to do that a little earlier today because of Mother Nature.  I think we are all excited about being here. Excited about coming back after a year that we won and a year before where we were a dominate car and ended up second.  This place has been pretty good to us.”
 
HOW LONG IS IT GOING TO BE REALISTICALLY TO GET THE CAR DEVELOPED TO THE POTENTIAL WHERE THE RACING IS AS GOOD AS EVERYBODY HOPES IT IS GOING TO BE?
“I said it last week and I said it the week before.  The one thing you guys have got to understand when we all built these new cars not one of them came with an instruction manual.  That is the easiest way to describe it.  You literally have to figure it out as you go.  It’s impossible to give you an answer, an accurate answer.  It is literally a work in progress. I thought last week for a new car I thought last week was a really good debut for it.  I personally think it’s off to a great start and it’s got a lot of potential.  We had good racing, we had a good finish and everybody is going to keep learning.  Everybody has their piece of the equation that they will figure out.  You have to start somewhere and for it to debut the way that it has I think has been a very positive start.”
 
IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE DRIVERS WHO HAS CHASE HOPES AND YOU ARE 30TH OR LOWER IN POINTS RIGHT NOW WHEN DO YOU START TO GET A LITTLE CONCERNED?
“I honestly don’t know.  It’s so early right now; there are so many things that can happen that I think it’s way too early to be thinking about that.  I think if you are a team that is worrying about it right now you were probably worried about just making it in to begin with.  I think the teams that have confidence that they are going to be in or should be in the Chase probably aren’t that concerned about it at this point.”
 
WHAT MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE AND WHAT WAS THE IMPORTANCE OF WHEN YOU USED TO RUN USAC OUT AT THE BULLRING HERE? WHAT DID THAT MEAN TO YOUR CAREER?  YOU RAN THE (WORLD OF) OUTLAW RACES THE PAST COUPLE OF NIGHTS WHAT KIND OF FUN DO YOU GET OUT OF THAT?
“I don’t have a wife and kids to go home to so I get to go race without getting yelled at.  I have only ran the Bullring actually one weekend out there.  It was a doubleheader with the midgets and sprint cars.  We got lucky enough to win both races that night.  We’ve got a pretty good memory of that place.  It was fun.  It’s a fun track.  This facility has got four or five…actually flying in they’ve got an awesome go kart track.  This facility has got so much acreage in it and the ability to do so many things.  To have a drag strip, a dirt track, a great 1.5-mile oval, the go kart track, an off-road track, the Bullring, they’ve got a road course out there.  This place has it all.  That is something that is pretty cool. There were four or five different divisions that ran the last two nights before we even ran anything over here.  To see how many different types of cars they can accommodate here is a pretty neat deal.”
 
HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TIRES LAST WEEK ON THE CARS OF RYAN NEWMAN AND DANICA PATRICK? AND IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO MAKE SURE IT DOESN’T HAPPEN AGAIN?
“They lost air (laughter). Why they lost air, I have no idea. It’s a work in progress and I’m sure that the crew chiefs and the engineers are working hard this week to figure it out all out. It’s kind of hard sometimes when it happens because with the wreck that happens after that can sometimes take away the evidence of what actually caused it. But I think the second one on Ryan’s car was definitely heat-related for sure because it had knocked the cooling ducts out. So, we’re speculating that it’s heat-related.
 
YOU ALSO WON AT FONTANA. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT RETURNING TO THAT TRACK IN THE NEW CAR?
“Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s on the schedule (laughter). I don’t know that there is any big super-thing about it. We’re all going back everywhere this year with a new car. We’re going with a new car. So it’s kind of like starting from scratch. It’s nice knowing that we had a good run there last year and we have a pretty good feel for the track and where we think we need to be on it.”
 
YOU SAID AT THE START OF THE YEAR YOUR GOAL WAS TO RUN 100 RACES THIS YEAR. HOW MANY OUTSIDE OF NASCAR HAVE YOU RUN? HOW HAVE YOU DONE SO FAR?
“We’ve run six outside of NASCAR so far. I think our highest finish was third at Ocala. I think our worst finish was actually over here two nights ago when we finished 22nd.  We’re definitely going to hit 100 this year. We’re actually going to be at between 65 and 70 Sprint Car races right now with the schedule the way it is. That’s not counting three rainouts that we already had. So we have a pretty ambitious schedule this year and it will put us almost at 110 races total for the year if we get to run them all.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
KOBALT TOOLS 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 8, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and discussed testing at Las Vegas, the handling of the new cars and other topics. Full transcript:
 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN YESTERDAY THAT NOW THE RAIN IS GOING TO UNDO?
“Not sure the rain will undo a ton. I’m glad we got on track yesterday. That was a good move by NASCAR to give us some extra time on top of the fact that if we did have rain or some issues, we would all have on track activity. I feel good. We worked on race trim and qualifying trim so I don’t know if they would, but if they say, ‘Hey, you guys got your practice yesterday and we’re going to put qualifying into effect this afternoon and that’s all we get,’ then I feel like we have our bases covered. Our car was fast. It took us a few runs to sort out things down in one and two over the bumps, but once we got that under control then we had a lot of speed in our Chevy.”
 
WERE YOU SURPRISED BY THE FINE TO DENNY HAMLIN AND DOES THAT CHANGE HOW YOU APPROACH ANYTHING GOING FORWARD?
“I think we’re all watching and learning as things unfold and we do know that NASCAR is sensitive to some things and that line is becoming more defined right now as to where that is and what type of criticism is allowed and what is not.”
 
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR PROFESSIONALISM WILL HELP YOU TO ADAPT TO ANY CHANGES OR ANY MOVEMENT THAT NASCAR MAKES IN THIS AREA?
“I think we’re all learning and we’ve all been encouraged to have an opinion and speak our minds about each other as drivers and on certain topics. The old phrase ‘actions detrimental to stock car racing,’ that’s something that I am going to try to keep top of mind and as my opinions come about if it’s something that’s going to hurt our sport and I think about it and it enters my mind then I probably need to keep my mouth shut and head over to the truck and talk it out in there rather than through microphones.”
 
HOW MUCH WILL THE NEW CAR IMPACT A SHORT TRACK RACE LIKE BRISTOL COMPARED TO A TRACK LIKE LAS VEGAS?
“I think short track racing is going to be short track racing. The bumpers aren’t as square so the bump-and-run can be far more effective. It was really tough to get somebody out of the way with the COT or Gen-5 car so we might see a little difference there. I think the crash damage is going to be different. There is some glass on the nose of these cars that we can fold up pretty easily and we might have to cut noses off the cars even from not being part of a crash, but just the stack up on the restart might cave in noses. We might have some modified looking vehicles out there running around. There will be a learning process. I don’t think the aero balance and implications there will come through, but we’ll be talking a lot more about less weight, the type of camber we’re allowed to run this year and things like that.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT WAS YOUR FIRST ROAD COURSE WIN AT SONOMA?
“It was huge to get that first win out there. I hope to get another. I’ve been competitive since that day and that’s something I’m very proud of. That track is tough for me to get a hold of and especially with the big Cup car. I just melt the tires of the car and could be fast for a few laps and that was the end of me. Thankful I got my win and I hope to get back to victory lane again out there. It’s such a cool race track.”
 
IS STARTING THE SEASON WITH A FIRST AND SECOND PLACE FINISH COMPETITIVE OR DOMINANT?
“One, one would be dominant, one-two is competitive. We’re around the front throughout the Phoenix race, but didn’t have a chance to lead and take control so I would even put that more in a competitive mindset, but we’re still learning. Daytona is its own animal. Phoenix was a very good sign that we have speed in our cars and I think by the time we get to California Speedway we’ll have a much better idea of which organizations and which makes have the speed.”
 
HOW MUCH OF WHAT YOU LEARNED YESTERDAY TRANSFERS TO THIS WEEKEND AND HOW MUCH TRANSFERS TO THE FUTURE RACES?
“A lot, we’re learning a ton. Phoenix, things changed quite a bit and I can use Kasey Kahne and myself as an example, they’re thought and setup was very, very fast there last year. They came back this year and had to work pretty hard to get it. We showed up at Phoenix and was fast right off the truck. Coming here, running a very similar package to what we thought worked here last time, it didn’t exactly work. The front end didn’t ride like it should and we had to go to work and get the front end to stay down on the car and not bounce up and down so bad through the bumps. Some of that is probably due to the fact that the splitter is a much more solid structure now where before you had some give in the front end of the car and stuff would move. NASCAR added a bunch of bars up there to stiffen that and splitter contact has a big impact on how the race car drives now and we were feeling that yesterday.”
 
HOW MUCH DO THINGS CHANGE TO IMPACT THE HANDLING OF A CAR COMPARED TO YOUR TEAM’S SIMULATION PROGRAMS?
“The structure of the nose is one and the other part is the data that we have for race tracks to run in our sim (simulation) program and all the machines we have at home, it’s so old. That’s the biggest reason every team is excited for testing this year so that we can go out and get some current data files. As tracks evolve every winter and every summer, we haven’t had a chance to pull data here in a long, long time so we’re just working on old data and a lot has changed out there.”
 
DO YOU THINK THE LIGHTER CAR WILL MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE AT BRISTOL?
“I think the mechanical aspects will help the cars at Bristol. The last time there we were very curious about the grinding and what would happen and what wouldn’t. The track just changed in some ways and we will just go back and get in a rhythm and see what happens. For the longest time we were not competitive at that track and now we’re in the mix and I’m really happy about that.”
 
WILL YOU LEARN  A LOT SUNDAY ABOUT HOW THE CARS RACE WITH EACH OTHER?
“Yeah, we’re still learning a lot, even by ourselves in trying to understand the race tracks and how the car wants to be setup. Then at these higher speeds, downforce-wise, this will be our first exposure to it. I tried to get around some cars yesterday, things seem stable at least catching one car, but when you get all 43 in a big pack and the air is really swirling around then the cars drive a lot different. There will be a lot of learning going on come Sunday.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
KOBALT TOOLS 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 8, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and discussed his thoughts on racing this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his thoughts on Denny Hamlin’s fine and other topics.  FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
WHAT COMES TO YOUR MIND FIRST WHEN YOU COME OUT TO LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY?
“I think of a fast high banked 1.5-mile race track with some real challenges.  That is what competitors love. They love a good challenge.  The competition brings that in itself and that seems to always come out here.  There are some pretty significant bumps going into turn one at this track.  You are always battling with getting the grip, getting the balance, but also trying to figure out how to get over these bumps.  That was what we struggled with the most yesterday during testing.  We anticipated that coming in.  It was evident yesterday and so it’s something that we definitely worked on overnight to try to improve for today.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON SPEAKING UP?  YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY IN THE RIGHT WAY.  IT’S KIND OF A DOUBLE EDGED SWORD FOR DRIVERS.  WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
“My first initial thoughts are that I think we brought more light to the situation by the fine.  I question that, but at the same time we are all in this together to grow this sport.  You learn from your failures as well as the things that you did well.  I think that when I look back on… I guess we are calling it Gen-5, when did Gen-5 come?  Somebody is going to have to explain to me Gen-5 exactly because I don’t remember one through four.  Anyway, I think that we all learn through that experience that while that car didn’t drive great, it didn’t look great, but it actually didn’t race bad.  Yet, we were very critical of that car.  Now we have a car that looks great, drives good, and we have done two races.  I think it is a little early to be really gauging where we are at from how it races. I think that we have to understand that we all play a role in growing this sport. When we say and do things that negatively could affect the sport, while sometimes it doesn’t need to be said because other people are paying attention to what is happening and making their own opinions you don’t need to say that.  I think that it was obviously pretty evident to me that NASCAR decided that was taking it too far.”
 
FROM WHAT YOU KNOW OF DENNY (HAMLIN) ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT HE IS CHOOSING TO STAND HIS GROUND AT ALL?  WHAT DO YOU THINK HIS CHANCES OF SUCCESS ARE GOING HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH NASCAR?
“We are in (Las) Vegas so we can try to count the odds of when the apology is going to be coming and when the ‘we are all in this together to grow this sport’ tweet is going to be coming.  You guess is as good as mine.  Listen, I think it’s been an interesting story for somebody to challenge that authority.  That is fine, but at the end of the day I know whose sand box I’m playing in.  I like the sandbox.  I like to play in it and I want to have the best opportunity to have the most fun in that sandbox.  Sometimes while you don’t always like it you have to bite your tongue and just go out there and race.  I have been there before where I have wanted to challenge that and say those things.  If he chooses to do that, that is his prerogative.  I think in his mind he is just being honest with himself and didn’t see anything wrong with it.  Again, look bigger picture.  That is the way I look at it.  There are times when I feel like ‘hey, this is my place to speak my mind and say what is there.’ But, as Claire (B. Lang) said sometimes I just choose to do it a little bit less harsh.”
 
WHEN YOU DO CHOOSE TO SPEAK YOUR MIND DO YOU THINK YOU WILL THINK ABOUT THE WAY THAT YOU ARE GOING TO SPEAK YOUR MIND, THE COMMENTS THAT YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE BASED ON THIS MOST RECENT PENALTY AND THE WAY THAT (DENNY) HAMLIN APPROACHED IT?
“No, I’m going to go about it the same way that I always do.  I feel like I try to think before I say anything.  I try to think if this is going to be something that is going to negatively affect the sport, negatively affect my sponsors or myself, my team and is it worth it.  I try to do that when I am doing interviews and when I’m talking about things that are going on.  It’s hard to kind of do that in the heat of the moment over the radio during a race, but when I get  out of the car I’m usually pretty good at being able to do that and think about that.  I won’t be doing anything any different than I ever have before.”
 
HOW DO DRIVERS PREPARE DIFFERENTLY IF YOU HAVE CURVED PIT ROADS VERSUS STRAIGHT ONES?
“The thought process is usually more as you talk to your crew chief depending on where you qualifying there are certain… I think of Richmond as one that has a pretty good curve to it.  Like Phoenix last week down in (turns) one and two you make those decisions based on where you qualify and where you would like to pit and the advantages and disadvantages of those types of pit roads.  The curves are usually less of a concern as the grip level of a pit road or an opening on pit road.  Usually, you are trying to qualify better to get either that number one stall so you just have to roll across the line to beat other cars out under caution. Or you are looking for an opening to where it is just clean in, clean out.  This particular pit road has the concrete pads that we see a lot.  But, they are all different textures in how they finish them.  This one is extremely slick.  So you have to be very careful coming in.  You don’t get much grip leaving as well, so you spin the tires a lot so you are trying to minimize that.  You really can over shoot this pit road, the pit boxes very easily.  Now, the transition from the track onto pit road is extremely I don’t know extreme I guess is the only way I can say the transition is a significant one.  You have to definitely manage that risk versus reward entering the pit road as well.”
 
IS THAT WHY A LOT OF THE PIT CREW GUYS PUT DOWN COCA-COLA FOR GRIP?
“Pepsi in my pit box, but yes.  We do whatever NASCAR will allow us to do.  Because of the, like I mentioned, the slippery… that stuff really doesn’t help me until I lay rubber down on it and slide the tires across it.  Then when that rubber gets laid into that syrup or whatever it is that they are putting on there.  Then it gives me more grip, but for them it is instantly more grip.  It’s more for them.  You don’t want those guys slipping and sliding around, especially the ones carrying tires and the jack.  Then there are some safety issues as well, but most of the time we do it for speed.”
 
AS A GUY WHO SPENT ALL OF LAST SEASON BATTLING BACK FROM A POOR START.  WHAT DOES THAT TAKE OUT OF A TEAM?  DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS WERE SPENT BY THE TIME YOU FINISHED THAT CLIMB AND GOT INTO THE CHASE?
“We were, it can either tear you completely a part or make you stronger.  I think in our case it made us stronger.  I think that is just a sign of how strong knit of a team that we are, how we communicate because we were challenged every weekend with good race cars and bad results.  We just kept fighting through it.  In this sport, in this day and age, it’s so competitive, so far back that it is hard to find your way out of that type of a hole if you get into one early in the season.  You’ve got to perform extremely well, really go on a streak in order to get out of it.  I think it is the best thing that happened to us even though I don’t like the way we ended up the sea
son.  I think that coming into this season and the way we ended the final race of last year going through all those tougher times certainly made my communication and relationship with Alan Gustafson (crew chief) and our engineers much stronger.  Even just yesterday we struggled.  We weren’t very good during the test.  Yet, at the end of the day we weren’t pointing fingers at one another, we were just working to get through it and to make sure that today we made improvements or at least by Sunday.”
 
IS THERE TOO MUCH TRANSPARENCY IN THE SPORT TODAY?
“I think that is some of NASCAR’s response to this is that they like to be given the opportunity to discuss it and work on it more privately.  I have mentioned this many times in here the schedule, the competitiveness, now all these debriefs that we do with our teams and how we don’t practice after the Nationwide race like we used to.  We find ourselves doing more for sponsors as well.  There is just not that opportunity that there used to be to see three, four, five, six guys up in the NASCAR hauler discussing the sport and discussing the rules and discussing the racing.  Whether or not that… and I’ve always told NASCAR, that wasn’t because we thought we were actually being heard or we actually thought we were making a difference it was just we felt like we were getting it off our chests and that they might be listening.  I think that we lose some of that now.  I’m a big fan or true drivers meetings. I’m not talking about on Sunday morning.  I’m talking about get the group of drivers together with NASCAR and just have some open discussions about what is happening.  We got to a test to develop this car and we are working on developing the car and what is happening with the car.  We are not really openly discussing things as much as I think we would all like to.  You go down certain paths based on what you see on the track and a little bit of conversation.  I think that sometimes it would be good to get back to some of that and see a little bit more of that.  It’s going to have to be scheduled.  It’s not something that is just going to happen the way it used to happen.
 
“To elaborate on that, I know for me when I came in Ray Evernham would say ‘I just saw Dale (Earnhardt) Sr.  going to the NASCAR hauler you better go over there and see what is going on.’ It was one of those things where you knew that Dale had their ear.  If you weren’t up there giving your side of it there could be a result that came out of it that might affect you.  Half of the reason I was even up there was just to see what was going on to make sure I could get my 10 cents.  There were usually others that followed as well because everybody kind of saw when Dale moved in there.”
 
GOING BACK TO YOUR INITIAL COMMENT ABOUT DENNY HAMLIN’S SITUATION HERE THIS WEEKEND. THE GENERAL CONSENSUS ABOUT THE GEN-6 CAR WITH THE TEAMS AND THE FANS HAS BEEN VERY POSITIVE TO START THE YEAR.  DO YOU THINK THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN HANDLED INTERNALLY SO AS NOT TO SPOTLIGHT ANY DISAGREEMENT WITH THE CAR?
“I’m not saying how it should have been handled.  I’m just saying that I didn’t even know about his comments until yesterday.  I don’t know how much it was written about, maybe it was just because I was completely out of touch.  I was out in the sand dunes Monday and Tuesday just having a blast.  I didn’t know any media that was going on.  Maybe it’s just me, but certainly this thing has blown up after yesterday and has drawn a lot more attention to it than I think had there not been a fine.  I don’t know if that really justified a fine in my opinion. I don’t think it was right the things that Denny (Hamlin) said and how he went about it. It probably needed to be handled in some way.  I just feel like I wouldn’t be getting asked these questions had they went and just talked to him about it.”
 

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and discussed racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, last week’s race at Phoenix International Raceway and other topics. Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT COMING TO LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WEEKEND:
“This is a fun track. I feel like it is definitely the kind of track where I feel the most comfortable at. High bank; high grip. Fourth in the Nationwide car a couple of years ago was fun, and I feel like every time I’ve been here, we run pretty decent. It was nice to have a test day yesterday in the Cup car, just to get up to speed there; also for me to work on some qualifying the last half of the day. I’m not sure any of that is going to happen today (referencing the rain currently falling at the track). But, it was good for us to have some extra running, and get to grips a little bit more with this new Gen 6 Chevy and see what it needs to handle well.”
 
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO SEE THE LITTLE KIDS WHO WANT TO GET AUTOGRAPHS, HUGS OR SMILES?
“It is very cool. Nothing can brighten up your day like seeing a three year-old who knows your names and wants to meet you, or be too shy to meet you. That is also equally adorable. That is sometimes amazing. I don’t know how they know my name, or how they know what is going on. Sometimes the parents don’t know. Kids are just very impressionable. The fact that they have a good impression of me, and like me is really neat. I also love hearing stories about coming out to the track because now everyone has someone to cheer for. The wife comes; or the daughter comes; or the son; or whatever the reason may be to get a whole family out to the track, it is nice that they do. It is nice that they can do that together as a family, and kind of create that tradition, or that culture within to all come out. Very cool. I always try to make time for them. If I don’t have time for anything else, I try to sign autographs for little kids, or just say hi to them. It makes me feel good. I feel like it makes me feel better than it makes them probably.”
 
ARE YOU WORRIED OR NERVOUS AT ALL ABOUT QUALIFYING WITH 44 CARS ENTERED HERE? “I’m pretty sure we’re in because we bought points right?”
 
YOU ARE IN BECAUSE AFTER TOP-36 FROM LAST YEAR, IT GOES TO THIS YEAR’S POINTS, AND THAT’S HOW YOU GET IN:
“I don’t know how in the hell it works. I am so confused. I don’t know about you guys. I’m sure this is not the best talking point for anybody who is trying to inform me, or who has. But look, you have to go like hell and you just have to qualify as well as you can.  That’s all you can do.  Of course I don’t want to have to worry about that so I’m not going to.  We’re just going to plan on being better than that.  The reason for doing qualifying for the last half of yesterday was to not only try to do a good job for here, but everywhere else we go because there’s a certain sort of offset that the car needs going from race to qualifying runs.  I really hope that we don’t ever feel like we need to worry about that and weekends like last weekend in Phoenix we were definitely not good, but we feel like we will quickly get to grips with what we need to do.  Tony Gibson is talented, the team is talented and has good equipment so that is really not a concern moving forward and that we are really only going to get better at that and I’m only going to get more comfortable.  If it rains I feel like I’m still in the race, but I start in the back or something like that.  Again, another situation and either way it’s part of the learning process.”
 
WOULD TRACK POSITION CONCERN YOU IF YOU HAD TO START IN THE BACK?
“It’s always important. Everybody is so good in Cup that it takes a lot to pass cars. You kind of settle into a pace and you kind of lose momentum at times and it’s just challenging. Our equipment stays so consistent out there and that’s what makes it difficult. You just have to get creative sometimes with your pit stops. I know pit stops played a big role last weekend. Whether it’s strategy or not, but I mean I feel like if you have a good car you will be able to pass and that makes restarts even more important too.”
 
HOW ARE YOU FEELING AFTER YOUR WRECK LAST WEEK?
“I feel like I have a concussion from last night. I got hit by a rock at the dirt track and I took it to the ground. I feel like this is really sore. It hit me straight in the head.  Good thing I had a hat on or I’m feeling like there would have been blood. The safety crew does a great job. The cars are safer than they’ve ever been and the tracks are. I said after last weekend that I’m glad that I didn’t race in the era of the lack of SAFER barriers out there because I don’t know what it’s like without them. I know that the hits feel hard and my neck was sore after last weekend for sure, which it never has been before after a wreck. Either my training program is off or it was just that big of a hit or maybe the fact that it was both sides. That’s something that you as a driver make those decisions and the safety crew helps you make them.”
 
DID YOU HAVE TO GO GET A SCAN AFTER THE INCIDENT?
“No, I was able to say my name and where I was born.  They take your blood pressure, they do like vitals and they ask how you’re feeling and I really felt fine. It’s understandable that my neck would be sore. The medical staff always does a checkup the next day, they either call or send you a text to ask how you’re doing. They’re thorough, but it’s based on your information too. If I was to say, ‘I don’t feel so great or I’m feeling sick or I don’t think I can remember anything.’  It’s up to you to be honest about it and it’s your decision. You can say, ‘I’m fine,’ and go along with your day. If you’re not, it’s your risk. They can’t read your mind, they can’t tell if you’re not well if you don’t tell them. Other than my neck being sore, which I told them, I felt fine. I said I had a headache on Sunday night and on Monday my neck was sore. They said it sounded like it could have been worse so we’re glad you’re okay. That’s what my situation was last week. As far as the source of it being the beads melting, not really sure if it was a melting. Goodyear came to the hauler yesterday and chatted with Greg Zipadelli in the hauler with me and Tony Gibson, they basically are looking at how they can fix the problem and there were obviously seven situations where they were exactly the same problem. I think they’re looking at things moving forward and they try to make the tire better coming back around this time at Phoenix with a softer tire. Obviously that didn’t work. I hope we have a different tire and I told them I would do the testing for you. Maybe that’s what we’ll do moving forward, but I know they are evaluating their options because they feel bad about the situation.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE STYLE OF RACING AT BRISTOL?
“I’ve liked Bristol since the first time. For me, I respond to the banking which translates to grip and it’s definitely there. We were having a decent run in the Cup car, we were lead lap and top-20 after 440 laps and unfortunately were taken out, but I think that all those events lead us to more potential the next time around with a better baseline setup. I feel like for us and for me, my strong suit is the race or at least at this point. We just need to work on qualifying and get a decent qualifying spot so we can work from there. I feel like it’s not very common to drop back for me so if we can just start further up then we can continue to make progress and be smart and take care of our equipment. Whether you pass people at the beginning or pass them on the run, they are both passes. I look forward to going back there, I like the banked tracks. It was fun.”
 
WOULD YOU BET ON YOURSELF THIS WEEKEND?
“
Yeah, I would bet on myself. I was running up there last year when I had less of an idea what was going on and didn’t have a full time effort, it was only a partial schedule obviously. I would, but I think that even the best of us can have bad weekends and that they happen. Whether it’s from bad luck or whether it’s just from missing it, it can happen.  I think we’ll be better than that and I would think that the test day would help that just to get us up to speed better and make us feel more comfortable and have a better baseline setup for the race.”

 
Team Chevy Captures Two of the Top-Five Finishes at Phoenix
Jimmie Johnson Follows Daytona 500 Win with Runner Up Spot in Subway Fresh Fit 500
 
AVONDALE, Ariz. (March 3, 2013) – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, remained hot today as he vied for a second consecutive win in Round 2 of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at Phoenix International Raceway.   With the finish, Johnson extended his series lead to eight points ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS, who finished fifth.
 
Johnson’s hard-fought battle came up slightly short when the race was settled by a green/white/checkered finish. Although he couldn’t make the pass for the win, Johnson was able to hold off a challenge by Denny Hamlin (Toyota) who finished third.
 
Earnhardt led the 316-lap race for 47 circuits, but rallied late to score his second straight top-five finish. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, started sixth and finished eighth in a solid run after being involved in an early crash in the season-opener last week at Daytona.  After two events, Stewart sits 23rd in the point standings.  
 
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Pepsi MAX Chevrolet SS was ninth, and Richard Childress Racing driver Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet SS was 10th, giving Team Chevy five of the top 10 in the final order.
 
Three other Chevrolet drivers finished just outside the top-10.  AJ Allmendinger, No. 51 Guy Roofing Chevrolet SS was 11th, Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS was 12th, and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS was 13th.
 
Carl Edwards (Ford) was the race winner and Brad Keselowski (Ford) finished fourth, to round out the top five.
 
The series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week for the Kobalt Tools 400 on Sunday, March 10th.  
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND:
 
KRISTI KING: We welcome our second‑place finisher Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet.  Jimmie is currently our points leader by eight points over Dale Jr.  Talk about your run out there today and those last few laps specifically.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, definitely a good performance.  First pit stop we went with four and nobody else did, and we lost a lot of track position and realized then that the game here, it was going to be a little bit different than what we had expected.  That was our last four‑tire stop that we made.  That was really key to keep track position.
            I think we made the car better as the day went on and I know we made it a lot better from yesterday’s practice to today.  We are still learning this Gen‑6 car and made some good improvements to it.  At the end it got a little crazy, especially that last lap.  Denny got a huge run, cut the corner down there and cleared us both, but I felt like I still had a chance if I just hung on, on the outside around turns 3 and 4 and I was able to do that and just kind of beat him back to the finish.
 
            Q.  Did you expect the Fords to gang up on you there at the end?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I didn’t even notice the make situation at all, no.  I felt like Carl didn’t follow the restart protocol and was slower than the pace car on his last two restarts, and it gives the leader a huge advantage when that happens.  You’re supposed to wait until you get between the two lines and take off and this was all going on before it.  Outside of that, yeah, that was the only issue that I saw.
 
            Q.  How close were you on fuel at the end, and for the last part of that green‑flag run before the caution, were you and Carl ‑‑ it looked like you were running all out but I couldn’t tell.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I started at the beginning, Carl got a comfortable lead and I knew how hard it was to pass the leaders so I went into fuel‑save mode then and felt like I did a good job early.  I’m not sure the 99 did because I’m not sure they were concerned, at least what was being relayed on the radio to me.  So I’d say just inside 40 to go, I started trying again and brought the pace up and using more fuel and that kind of stuff, and I got within three car lengths but that’s as close as I could really get to him.
 
            Q.  Were you kind of shocked to see Denny suddenly start to appear there beside you or were you keeping up with what he was trying to do dropping low?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  My spotter was all over it.  I didn’t expect Denny to get up in front of us like he did.  I thought we were going to enter three wide, and I was going to be in the worst spot.  The clean line turns away from me, so I was looking out my window, and I could see a lot of the 11.  I thought, well, I’m not sure really what’s going to happen here, sure not going to let off, and the 2, gave him some room, and we all rolled in there without wrecking.  When I first heard that we were three wide I was pretty concerned that I wasn’t going to have a clean lane to race in.
 
            Q.  (Inaudible).
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, we’ll take it one week at a time.  That’s a cool stat and I want to keep it alive, keep it going.
 
            Q.  Yesterday in Nationwide qualifying I heard Brad Keselowski say on the radio that he would like to beat you to everything including the race to the bathroom, and seeing how you guys raced out there today in the closing laps, coming off of the championship battle last year, do you think that this is going to be an ongoing rivalry between you and Brad for the 2013 season?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Without a doubt, and it’s not just Brad-related.  I’m sure Brad has a few others on his radar, and whoever is ahead of him on the track or in the points.  But I’m well aware that with the success that I’ve had over the last eight or 10 years that there’s a lot of bull’s eyes on me.  I’m kind of afraid to sleep at night sometimes.  I know those guys are all gunning for me, and that’s a huge honor, it really is, to have the garage and then the reigning champion thinking that way about me.
 
            Q.  It looked really hard to pass the leader out there today.  Is that more a factor of this track still being relatively new pavement or is there still some kinks to work out on the new car or a little of both?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It didn’t seem a lot different than other races here to me since the reconfiguration.  I don’t think the Gen‑6 car has anything to do with it at this point.  I think next week in Vegas we have a track that has multiple lanes and we’ll see some great side‑by‑side racing.  The garage area and the teams and owners and the competition side of NASCAR have worked so hard to make these cars equal and we keep changing and jumping through hoops, new chassis, new bodies, new this, new that.  The cars are equal and when they’re equal you’re
going to have a situation like this.  What we need now is the racetracks to consider the asphalt they’re putting down and even reconfigure the lanes so that we have somewhere to race.
 
            Q.  The final restart, it looked like you had a little bit of problem on the final restart.  Did you, or did it just seem to appear that way?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  No, you’re supposed to maintain the speed of the pace car, so I maintained the speed of the pace car and the 99 is dropping back.  At some point you can’t see the guy to know when he’s going to accelerate, and that’s the goal of the leader.  If he can get you looking and get out of your sight and punch it, you never have a chance to recover and that is why the rule states that you’re supposed to maintain pace car speed.
            You have the double red and the single red to work whatever you want to inside of there and to go when you want to still give the advantage to the leader of the race.  So this was all happening before that, and that’s why I mentioned he didn’t follow the protocol.
 
            Q.  This kind of relates to one of the other questions, but in general, what did you think of the Gen‑6 car racing today, and do you have any ideas of how it could be improved?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I think we have a great product.  It’s going to continue to get better.  One of the things that we’ve all recognized over the years is the faster we go the narrower track gets the harder it is to pass.  Speeds will be up, especially when we get to the mile‑and‑a‑half’s, so with all that being said, I think we need to leave the cars alone for a good 10, 20 years.  Let the teams be.  Right here on this blacktop there’s a lot of work that can be done to help create better racing and keep the fans in the grandstands.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SUBWAY FRESH FIT 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 3, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
ON HIS DAY:
“Racing-wise, it was tough to pass all day long. Track position, and strategy on pit road really seemed to be the big deal. We went four early, and it cost us a lot of track position. We never made that mistake the rest of the day, and stayed up front. Very exciting finish there. To come across the line like that with Denny (Hamlin) was exciting. I didn’t think Carl (Edwards) followed restart protocol and slowed us down before we took off. But, outside of that, it was pretty much a perfect day. Very good start to the season. Leading the points. Up here running well on downforce tracks and superspeedway tracks.  Life is good.”
 
YOU WERE FIRST AT DAYTONA, AND SECOND AT THE RACE TODAY AT PHOENIX.  TALK ABOUT THAT FINISH
“Oh, I’m just very proud of this whole Hendrick team and everybody on this Lowe’s car and Chad Knaus (crew chief) and his leadership. It was a tough year for everybody in our shop during the off-season. Everybody worked hard to get us ready. And to open like this with great qualifying efforts, great speed in the race car, and great pit stops. Across the board, I’m very proud of this Lowe’s team.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
ON HIS DAY:
“Well, I hate to be frustrated at Phoenix, but I think we are.  We had a real good car. We feel like we could have finished better than fifth, maybe won the race. Just didn’t get the breaks on pit road. We kind of got boxed in, and picked on beating the No. 99 (Carl Edwards) off pit road. I think we could have beat him off pit road, but somebody was pulling in their stall in front of us, and just had to lift and give the spot to the No. 99. That was the race in my opinion, and we almost had it won right there. Real good race car. Tough in traffic; tough to get to people. But, we made our car good enough to actually make some passes and gain on some guys.”
 
ON THE RACE
“Well, I think we used strategy to get up front, on pit road, to get ourselves track position. We had a pretty good car. On that pit stop the No. 99 (Carl Edwards) got the lead. I was on the inside of him on pit road and I think I could have beat him off, but the No. 13 was trying to get in his stall and I had to lift for that. And I knew right then that was my opportunity to win the race was right there. It’s difficult to pass with the big spoiler. But our car was good enough to actually run up on some guys and make some passes. I want to thank (crew chief) Steve (Letarte). He made a lot of good changes and did some good stops on pit road. I’ve got to thank National Guard and Diet Mountain Dew and all our partners. But we haven’t been good here. So that was a good run for us. I was a little disappointed because I think we could have won. And you hate to give away them points. And I’d love to get to Victory Lane. This is a good sign for us though that we’ve improved this much at Phoenix. Hopefully it’s a sign for the rest of the season and that we’re going to be all right.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
ON HIS DAY:
“I think it was just a matter of where you cycled on the pit stops as far as when everybody figured out you had to take two tires than four.  It was just a matter of figuring out where in the cycle you were and whether you could get back the track position.  When we got up to the top three or four there we had good speed, but when you got hemmed up in the back there it was hard to make that ground.”
 
TRACK POSITION WAS EVERYTHING TODAY?
“Unfortunately, it was.  You could still pass.  It was harder to pass the further back you were.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED TO THOSE RIGHT FRONT TIRES ON DANICA (PATRICK) AND RYAN’S (NEWMAN) CARS?
“I don’t know yet.  I honestly don’t know what happened.  I saw Ryan’s the first time I think.  I knew it was a tire, but I didn’t know what happened the second time. I will find out when I get a chance to talk with those guys.”
 
THOUGHTS ON THE NEW GEN-6 CAR ON A MILE TRACK UNDER RACE CONDITIONS?
“It will change, but I think for the first race it is pretty sporty so far I think.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED NINTH
TALK ABOUT THE RACE TODAY:
“It was a solid top-10.  We had a better car than that.  We just made some choices that lost us track position.  Sometimes the cautions fall your way and sometimes they don’t.  Today most of them didn’t, but we had a couple there at the end that did.  That got us a little bit of that track position back.  We were able to come home ninth, so all-in-all that was pretty solid.”
 
HOW WAS THE NEW CAR ON THIS TRACK?
“It drove good.  It was definitely challenging this is probably not the best track to judge by.  This track is tough, flat and doesn’t lend itself to the best racing that we have on the series.  Yet, I thought on the long run when the tires gave up a little bit you could start searching around, making some moves.  Track position was key.  We knew that coming in.”
 
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS DAY:
“Over the last 60 or so laps we consistently had the fastest car in the field. It was great to top it off with a top-10 finish. Especially after all the adversity the team faced early in the day when Luke (Lambert, crew chief) flew home to be with his wife who is pregnant. Ernie (Cope) stepped in and made great calls all day. I appreciate the entire Cheerios team pullin
g together and working hard. It paid off in the end with a solid finish and we hope to build on that momentum next weekend.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN AN ON-TRACK ACCIDENT ON LAP 184
 
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
“Obviously I blew a right front. No real warning. I wasn’t that tight either; I was sliding a little bit. I felt like most of the day I was chasing the rear. It was a little unexpected. I took a hard hit to the right, and then on the left. I’m fine. The cars and the tracks are so safe. As a driver that’s a nice feeling. It doesn’t change the fact that we aren’t going to get any points really coming out of today, and it would have been nice. I was just saying that there isn’t enough garage space for all of the cars, so unfortunately we’re parked in the dirt this weekend. It would have been nice to get these points here, and then…especially off of our eighth last weekend (in the Daytona 500), and then have a decent run in (Las) Vegas. Then when they re-establish the pits and the garage area, we would have been in better shape. But, these points in the beginning of the year are so important. We were making progress, but unfortunately, our day ended early.”
 
THAT WAS A REALLY HARD HIT.  WAS THAT THE HARDEST YOU’VE EVER HIT?
“Oh, probably Daytona was a little bit bigger. And it was on the right and the left. So whenever those right-fronts go, they always hit hard because you don’t broadside. You kind of hit more straight on. But I took a hard hit on both side, but I’m fine. NASCAR is doing a good job with safety, but yeah, no real good warning. The car wasn’t all that tight and I was mostly chasing the rear. And there was no vibration that told me in the lap before that told me it was going to happen. So, for me, it just sucks to lose the points. Everybody works hard and after last weekend we really just wanted to get to these three races and get some solid points so that when they re-establish the garage area we could; we worked in the dirt this weekend (laughed), so I really wanted my guys to get in the garage area. So, we’ll just have to come at ‘em at Vegas. I really, really like Vegas so it should suit me well. But yeah, we were having a steady day. Not great, but we were making progress.”

Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney Win the Inaugural GRAND-AM Race at Circuit of The Americas
Three Corvette Daytona Prototypes Take the Checkered Flag in the Top-Five
 
AUSTIN, Tex. (March 2, 2013) – The No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing  “Red Dragon” Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) with pole winner Jon Fogarty behind the wheel, led the field to the green flag of the inaugural GRAND-AM of The Americas. And, 2.75 hours later, Alex Gurney finished the race by leading the Rolex Sports Car Series (Rolex) field to the checkered flag at the Circuit of The Americas.
 
“That was a hard battle, but a lot of fun,” said Gurney from Victory Lane. “Always great racing with those guys up front. Look at this, we have all the GAINSCO guys here. It’s our home race. We won it! We all dug deep – we wanted this one really bad. Just so stoked we pulled it off.”
 
“Alex did a really good job, man,” said Fogarty. “It was a nail-biter, and he held on and fought, and that is what it takes to win these races. It is great to do it in front of the GAINSCO crowd.”
 
Today’s victory on the home track for both the team (headquartered in Lewisville, Texas), and their sponsor GAINSCO, is the 16th time the driver combo of Fogarty and Gurney have won in Rolex competition.
 
“Congratulations to Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney as well as team owner Bob Stallings on a hard-fought victory today,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, GRAND-AM Road Racing. “The last few laps were very tense, but Alex did exactly what he had to do to hold off the competition for the win. Winning here at Circuit of The Americas is very special for the Texas-based team and their sponsor, and going to Victory Lane at the inaugural event at any venue is always memorable.

“Having a Corvette DP take the checkered flag is very rewarding for everyone involved in Chevrolet’s effort in GRAND-AM Road Racing.  This success is the result of the teamwork & dedication by our technical partners, race teams and drivers.”
 
The two-time Daytona Prototype champions led one time for eight laps around the 3.4-mile, 20-turn road course on the way to victory lane.
 
“Alex did a heck of a job,” said Stallings. “He didn’t quite have the car that second-place car had, but he ran a heck of a race. He was great – awesome. The last lap especially was very nerve-wracking, but Alex did a great job. He gave that car everything it could do.”
 
Today’s win moved both the team and drivers to second in the standings with two of 12 races on the 2013 schedule in the record books.
 
Giving Team Chevy three of the top-five finishers in today’s race were: No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Corvette DP (drivers Enzo Potolicchio and Stephane Sarrazin) – 4th, and No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP (drivers Brian Frisselle and Christian Fittipaldi) – 5th.
 
Other Corvette DP finishers were:  No. 10 Velocity World Wide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP – 10th; No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP – 11th and No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP -14th in-class.
 
In Rolex Grand Touring (GT), it was a tough day for both the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette GT.R No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R. Each suffered issues throughout the race that relegated them to the 13th and 15th in-class finishing positions respectively.
 
In the GRAND-AM of the Americas – Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R piloted by Matt Bell and John Edwards brought home a 10th place finish in round two of the 2013 season.  The No. 00 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R finished 15th on the lead lap, and team car, the No. 01 was scored 24th in-class after being sidelined with a mechanical issue.
 
Next on the Chevrolet GRAND-AM Road Racing schedule for both Rolex and CTSCC will be April 3-6, 2013 at Barber Motorsports Park just outside Birmingham, Alabama.
 

KAHNE GRABS OUTSIDE FRONT ROW FOR TEAM CHEVY
AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
SIX CHEVROLET SS RACE CARS WILL START IN THE TOP 10
 
AVONDALE, Ariz. – (March 1, 2013) – Kasey Kahne led the way for Team Chevy in qualifying by piloting his No. 5 Quaker State Chevrolet SS to a second-place effort for Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR), Round 2 of 36 on the 2013 tour.  Kahne missed collecting the pole by four hundredths of a second.  This will be the highest Kahne has ever started at the 1.0-mile track. 
 
Following Kahne in the line-up, six Chevy SS drivers will start the 312-mile race in the top 10:  Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner, Jimmie Johnson, will start third in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS.  Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, behind the wheel of the No. 24 Pepxi MAX Chevrolet SS, will start fifth. They are followed by Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Racing Chevrolet SS in sixth and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS in seventh.  Ryan Newman in the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS rounds out the top-10 for the Bowtie brigade with a tenth place starting slot.
 
Other Chevrolets in Sunday’s 43-car line-up include: Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Serta Chevrolet SS who qualified 16th; Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS will start 19th, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cheerios Chevy SS qualified 20th, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS qualified 21st.
 
Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy SS qualified 25th, but will go to a back-up car following contact with the outside retaining wall during his qualifying run.  Dave Blaney, No. 7 Sany Chevrolet SS will start 26th; JJ Yeley, No. 36 Accell Construction Chevrolet SS qualified 27th; Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevy SS will start 29th, and Danica Patrick earned a 40th place starting position in her No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS.
 
Mark Martin (Toyota) won the pole position and Kyle Busch (Toyota) qualified fourth to round out the top five starting spots.
 
Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 takes the green flag on Sunday, March 3rd at 1:00 p.m. MST (3:00 p.m. EST) and will be aired live on FOX.
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified SECOND:
 
GREAT LAP OUT THERE. TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR LAP AND BEING HERE AT PHOENIX
“It was a really good lap. In practice we fought loose-in a little bit in both corners, so that was our main goal for qualifying was to work on that. We got it a lot better for when we went out. I thought it was a really good lap. The sun was still out across a lot of (Turns) 1 and 2 and all of the rest of the track. So, it was good. The team has done a nice job. Preparation has been there. We’ve run pretty good with Quaker State on the car in the past, so hopefully this will be a good start for us. It’s definitely going to be a good start, and a great start to our weekend.
 
DO YOU LOOK AT MARK MARTIN (POLE WINNER) AT AGE 54 AND SHAKE YOUR HEAD? IT SEEMS KIND OF CRAZY THAT HE’S ABLE TO KEEP DOING IT
“It is. But I think we all know going into it that he can. I watch everybody qualify when he goes out, he’s probably the guy more than anyone else that’s probably going to beat me. It’s just the way it is with Mark right now. Last year it was the same way. I think he has a really good connection with the situation he’s in and they’re fast when it comes to qualifying every week.”
 
CAN YOU GIVE US YOUR EARLY IMPRESSION ON THE NEW TIRE? DO YOU LIKE IT?
“Well, I definitely feel the difference. The only spot that I really felt is from the time that you turn off the wall until you get to the white line, or get to your lowest point in the corners, through that load area. I felt that tire a lot. It moves more, to me. And I’ve been trying to figure out which tire. Left front, right front; which one it is that I’m kind of feeling the most there. But left-sides or right-sides. But there is definitely a difference and a feeling that I haven’t had in the past. We also have so many differences with the car this year compared to what we were last year when we were here in November. So, there are some variables. But I think the tire is a big part of that and something that I feel. Hopefully tomorrow we learn more about it when the car is in practice. And the Sunday for sure, it will be interesting how it races. I look forward to Sunday’s race. I want it to be from the bottom to three-quarters up the track, and can pass and all that. Hopefully the tire allows us to do that.”
 
WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED YOUR CAREER IN PHOENIX, IT SEEMS LIKE THIS IS ONE OF THE TRACKS YOU STRUGGLED AT.  AND NOW, THREE OF THE LAST FOUR RACES HAVE BEEN TOP TENS. WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR YOU?
“This was always a tough track. And when I was racing open-wheel cars, I loved it. It was like my favorite track. And then I came here in a stock car, and it was one of my most difficult tracks to figure out. We got it a little bit better, right before they repaved it; and then since they repaved it and changed the banking a little bit and the way the track races, I’ve been way better here and felt really good every time I come. So I personally like the new track way more than I like the old track, which I think is different than someone else who was in here (Media Center) earlier. That’s my opinion on it. This track is perfect.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD:
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“I’m just really pleased. We’ve been working in the right areas. Granted there is still a race to run here, but what we saw today, we know that our downforce stuff is close. That’s good, and that’s all we can really ask for. So, Daytona-plate racing-a different animal as we all know. But here, we had a very good showing from the first lap on-track, qualified well. I’m running the Nationwide race to try to get some more reps around here to sort this place out. I think the combination between the new car, and the new tire is playing into the No. 48’s hands a little bit. We seem to be closer than we were here last time. I will certainly have fun in the No. 5 (Nationwide) car tomorrow, but the big focus has been trying to get right in the Cup car, so when we come back in the fall, we can race here like we need to.”
 
WHAT IS IT ABOUT MARK MARTIN THAT HE KEEPS PEELING OFF POLES?
“He’s not afraid to stand on the gas for starters. I just deeply admire him, and his passion for the sport. He’s tried to walk away a few times, and I think we had a farewell tour for him one year, and he couldn’t do it. He came back. He just loves driving for his team. Loves driving his car, and is an inspiration to any team he works for. He walks into a room and everybody has been having a bad day, and Mark will bring the spirit up. Then also get in the car and tell you how to make it faster. I really enjoyed my time working with him, and I know he is a big asset to MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing). Today he showed it once again.”
 
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE ISSUE WAS WITH THE LASER PLATFORM IN TECH?
“I don’t. But, I noticed that we were one of quite a few over there dealing with it. It is really different now, because the machine runs its course. I got there so late, I don’t know what happened. Everybody stands around waiting, and the lasers are doing what they do, and you get a pass or go. Evidently we got a couple of no’s to start, then it was right. I think it was something in the back of the car from what the guys were saying.”
 
IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE TARGETING THIS TRACK SPECIFICALLY WITH THE NNS CAR. IS THAT ACCURATE OR IS THAT MAKING TOO MUCH OF IT?
“No, that is absolutely it for sure. The tracks in the Chase we’re very strong at. We feel like with the testing policy that is in place now, we can prepare for some of the other tracks that are within the Chase if we want. We have that fl
exibility. But what we couldn’t do is test here. All four teams have to go, and then the tire has to have raced at that track before, before you can go. We couldn’t come before. Then our teammates didn’t think this track was all that important to test at, so my only way to get more experience, and to try to get a better handle on this track is to run the NNS car. That’s really the bottom line. I’m still trying to learn the two cars, and figure out what can carry over from one to the other, because they are pretty different. I’m not sure I will figure it all out this weekend, but my first time on the track in the Cup car, I knew we were better off than we’ve been here in a long time. It should be a good week for us.”
 
THIS CAR HAS BEEN REALLY FAST EVERYWHERE YOU’VE BEEN WITH IT. A LOT OF EXPECTATIONS THIS YEAR ABOUT QUALIFYING RECORDS, ETC. WHY DO YOU THINK THERE WAS NOT A RECORD HERE TODAY?
“Did we go faster than the pole last time? The fall pole? I don’t know. I expected it to fall. Maybe when the track was brand-new, was when that record stood, and I had a good comeback for you on that front. I don’t know to be honest. One small thing, the speeds aren’t as high here as you see at like Las Vegas coming up, so the effects on the downforce aren’t as impactful. We’re still going pretty quick here. So I’m trying to get off on a limb to try and help you out with your story here. There could be a little something with that.”
 
HOW DID YOU KEEP CALM WAITING FOR THE LENGTHY TECH TIME BEFORE QUALIFYING?
“Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have been in that position before. I knew just to stay calm. You’ve got that long push down pit road, so I can get all of my gear on. I also knew, I asked how many cars before we were on the clock, so I had two to three cars, and six to eight minutes, plus the five minute clock. So, being in that position in the past, helped me ask the right questions. Manage it in my mind, and just get in and take my time. We do have some new guys on the car, and Ron (Malec, car chief) was communicating these things as well to guys as we were pushing down, because they were kind of panicked, so Ron stepped in and said ‘Hey guys, we’re not even on the clock yet. Just slow down and get it right.”
 

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SECOND
TAKE US THROUGH YOUR LAP
“I thought on the first lap I just slid, probably the front tires more than anything; the second lap I had more grip and was able to push a little bit harder. It felt pretty good from where we came from in practice. We made some good adjustments there. They’ve done a nice job with our Quaker State Chevrolet. I think that’s a pretty good lap for right now and hopefully it will stay somewhere in the top 10. I would imagine we’ll get quicker as we go, but you never know.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
DESCRIBE YOUR LAP:
“Not bad.  The first lap had me a little concerned.  I knew it wasn’t very fast.  I got a nice second lap in and have a spot in the top-three.  It’s a great way to get started on our first downforce track.  All the guys on my Lowe’s Chevy team have been working real hard just to be up to speed and ready to go for the start of the season.  Opened up at Daytona with the strong finish there and off to a quick start here too.”
 
A BIT OF A RELIEF RIGHT NOW?  KIND OF DESCRIBE YOUR NERVES IN THE LAST 20 MINUTES BEING ON PIT ROAD HAVING TO GO BACK TO THE GARAGE THEN BACK TO THE PIT LANE TO JUMP IN THE CAR?
“Yeah, that is never fun, but luckily I’ve been through it before.  I was able to get strapped in and get all my gear on before I got down to the end.  I’m not even sure we were on the clock yet.  It always gets your attention when you are standing there, it’s almost your turn and your car isn’t there.  Everybody starts asking what is up, so glad there was nothing up and we got it all dialed in and just got down there a little late.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED  FIFTH
ON HIS LAP
“It was a decent lap. I certainly felt like there were some areas that we could have been better. Looking at Kasey Kahne’s lap, I think that’s about what the track has in it right now. I think conditions are going to keep getting better. There are a lot of cars that were good in practice. So, we’ll see where we end up. I thought we did a nice job in improving from practice. But we definitely need a little bit more than that.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SIXTH
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LAP? YOU ARE EARLY IN THIS QUALIFYING SESSION:
“Yeah, it wasn’t bad. We had a pretty reasonable run there. I thought we were a little bit tight, but the track seems pretty fast right now. So, we felt pretty good about our lap. Hopefully it will stay there.”
 
HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
“Oh, well; we’ll be in good shape. A lot of people have been sick between Daytona and last week in Charlotte; but we’re just fighting the same thing everybody else has had. It’s just going through the cycle, I guess.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“My lap was a lot better than it was in practice, for sure. We had a lot of trouble in qualifying trim. We’re really happy with our Jimmy John’s Chevrolet in race trim, but in qualifying we were just extremely loose in. So, they got that fixed. We were a little bit too tight, but that’s better than too loose in qualifying.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH
YOU LOOKED A LITTLE LOOSE ON YOUR QUALIFYING LAP.  HOW WAS IT OUT THERE?
“I was loose with our Quicken Loans Chevrolet.  We had been loose in practice and qualifying.  We made some big changes, but they weren’t quite enough.  I think the track changed a little bit too.  I don’t know if it was a benefit going out late with the speed because I couldn’t see.  Or if I would have been better off being able to see and going out with less grip.  Either way the guys did a good job and we will get it all switched over into race trim and see what we can do tomorrow.”
 
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 51 GUY ROOFING CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 23RD
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“It was all right. The Guy Roofing Chevy. We struggled in qualifying trim a little bit. I felt in race trim we were pretty decent. I had a little bit of a brake issue there. We were struggling. The pedal was really soft. When you’re going down there, and trying to throw down a lap, it’s tough to do when the brake pedal is soft. But it’s just part of the new car blues. Everybody at Phoenix Racing is doing a great job to make these cars fast and I thank everybody at Phoenix and especially everybody at Hendrick for helping this program, and everybody at Chevy. I’m excited to be a part of it and excited to be back and hopefully we’ll work on the race car tomorrow and that probably won’t be a great starting spot, but we’ll work on it tomorrow. And I’ll be ready to go for Sunday.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 40TH
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“It just wasn’t great. We kind of had a similar issue in practice as well. Just couldn’t get the back end to settle down. The first qualifying run, we felt okay. It was just a little tight. The second run, it was just moving around too much. And had the same problem in the qualifying run. So, we just have to take a look at why it’s doing that and fix it. We thought we had fixed it from practice to qualifying, but the same kind of situation happened. So, I was way wide on (Turns) 1 and 2 on my first lap; and on my second lap, I about got in the fence too wide in (Turns) 3 and 4. So, it’s just not as good a qualifying effort. It’s not what I was looking for. I know how important it is on these short tracks to qualify well. So we’re just going to have to come out of it like a bat out of hell at the beginning.

Jon Fogarty Wins the Pole for Inaugural Rolex Sports Car Series Race at Circuit of the Americas: Jordan Taylor Makes it All Corvette DP Front Row
 
AUSTIN, Tex. (March 1, 2013) – Jon Fogarty thrilled his team owner, his sponsor and the team’s hometown crowd by winning the pole for Saturday’s inaugural GRAND-AM of the Americas presented by GAINSCO and TOTAL.  Fogarty set the pace around the Circuit of the Americas in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) with a lap of 2:00.179 at an average speed of 101.848 m.p.h.  Both the team, and GAINSCO are headquartered in Texas.
 
Today’s effort marked Fogarty’s 24th career Rolex Sports Car Series pole in Daytona Prototype competition.
 
Jordan Taylor made it an all-Corvette DP front row by posting the second quickest time behind the wheel of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP.
 
“Congratulations to Jon Fogarty and the entire No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP team on winning the pole in their home state of Texas for the inaugural Rolex Sports Car Series race at the Circuit of the Americas,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager for GRAND-AM Road Racing. “In addition, congratulations to Jordan Taylor for making it an all-Corvette DP front row with his efforts in the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP. Our Corvette DP teams have been strong throughout practice, and then in qualifying since they unloaded.  We are looking forward to an exciting and competitive race tomorrow.”
 
Other Corvette DP qualifiers were:  Burt Frisselle, No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – 4th; Ricky Taylor, No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP – 5th; Brian Frisselle, No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – 8th and Enzo Potolicchio, No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Corvette DP – 9th.  A total of 16 Daytona Prototype entries will start the 2.75-hour race.
 
In the Rolex Grand Touring (GT) class, John Edwards turned in a fourth-in-class qualifying effort in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R.  Boris Said, No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette, was fifth-in-class in  the final order.
 
The Camaro GS.Rs had a strong showing in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) qualifying.  Lawson Aschenbach, No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R, was the second fastest qualifier for Saturday’s 2.5-hour race. Edwards put the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R, in the third spot on the grid.  Ashley McCalmont was 12th in-class in the No. 00 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R.
 
“Our Camaro teams in both GT and GS have been solid as well,” Lutz concluded.  “And their qualifying efforts reflect the hard work being done by the teams.”
 
Race number two of the 12-race 2013 Rolex Sports Car Series season is schedule to start Saturday, March 2, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. CT (4:00 p.m. ET).  The 2.75-hour GRAND-AM of the Americas Presented by GAINSCO and TOTAL – Rolex Sports Car Series will be same-day (Saturday, March 2, 2013), tape-delay broadcast on SPEED TV, beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.  Live coverage will be provided on GRAND-AM.com Timing and Scoring that includes live MRN Radio coverage.

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed learning the new race car, the softer Goodyear tire, Danica Patrick’s performance at Daytona, an extra day of testing in Las Veqas, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
WHAT ARE YOU LEARNING ABOUT THE NEW RACE CAR?
“The car’s got good grip and I think the tire and the car combination is a good one. It feels good out there. We’re proud to have Pepxi MAX aboard our Chevy SS this weekend.  We’re looking forward to getting more laps in the car and we just shook it down in race trim and then did some qualifying runs. The car had good speed and we didn’t draw the best of (qualifying) numbers, so we’re going to try to make the most of our qualifying effort here and then get prepared tomorrow.”
 
TONY STEWART SAID YOU’LL BE SPENDING THE NEXT FEW WEEKS LEARNING ABOUT THE CAR. AT DAYTONA, IT SEEMED LIKE YOU PRACTICED FOREVER. DO YOU FEEL LIKE MAYBE YOU NEED MORE PRACTICE TIME WHEN YOU GO TO THESE NEXT FEW TRACKS?
“Absolutely; any time things change with as drastic of a change that we’ve had for this year with the new car, you want as much time on the track as you can. In Daytona, those of us who were in the Sprint Unlimited felt like we got a good amount of track time in real race conditions to get the idea of what the car was going to draft like out of our system in enough laps there. Here, we want to go fast. We want to qualify good. That’s going to be a huge key to the race this weekend. And once we get through qualifying, then we’re going to want to try to get as many laps as we can.
 
“I was a little surprised we didn’t have an extra day here, where we do have an extra day next week at Vegas because I think this track can be just as tricky to figure out as Vegas. But we’re just going to make the most of the time that we have. You’re certainly not going to see us sitting out any practices (here) like you did at Daytona.”
 
IS THIS TRACK DIFFICULT TO PASS ON?
“Yes and no. It seems to be like that last couple of times we’ve been here that the groove has widened out and the cars on the longer run have gotten tricky to get into certain sections of the corner. Like in Turn 1 under braking, it’s hard to be consistent with that entry as the air pressure builds up and the heat builds up in the tires. So, sometimes that opens it up for opportunities. But other than that, yeah, this is typically a tough place to pass on, especially since they repaved it.”
 
ON THE TRACK SURFACE AND THE TIRES AND THE WEATHER
“I was very pleased with everything I felt out there. I thought the tire and the track conditions were not as edgy and unpredictable as what we’ve seen in the past here, which tells me that the pavement is aging, which is a good thing. The tire, luckily Goodyear came and did some testing here and found that now we’ve lost a little grip in this track and now we can soften this tire up and maybe we can have some falloff over a longer run. So, everything I think has come together pretty nicely.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS TESTING FOR YOU NEXT WEEK?
“It’s very important. If they’d give us an extra day going into every race track, we’d take advantage of it. When you have telemetry on the car, especially on a race weekend, and you can gather that much information and learn more about the loads and the bumps and what the car is going through; ride heights of the front splitter and all those things, it’s valuable information that we will utilize and try to make the most of it for Sunday.”
 
DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME?
“Well, not until you just brought it up. It’s hard to get away from it. They’re still using it to advertise for the race and it was a big story. We’re really focused on this new car. Luckily we’ve got enough things going on that it takes your mind off of it once you get out there on the track. We’re just focused on getting the most out of the car and having a good, solid, and fast race car and a good weekend. So, at this point, I’m not thinking about it.”
 
ON HOW HE WILL RACE CLINT BOWYER
“You know, I’m going to race him the way that I’ve always raced him. We’ll race hard. We’ll race hard for position and hopefully we don’t have any incidents. I can’t run every lap worrying about every guy I’ve ever had an incident with.”
 
NOW THAT YOU’VE PRACTICED AT PIR, HOW DOES THE NEW CAR COMPARE TO LAST YEAR’S CAR?
“Well, ask me that question after next week.  I can tell you the difference between here with the older car. Again, the tire is different and that changes things. But it feels great. It’s got good grip and the car drives really well. But that pushes you to be more aggressive with it and then you start finding the limitations. And that’s what a race car is supposed to do. And so far, I’m enjoying the characteristics. You’ve got to understand too, it’s not just the body and the aerodynamics; it’s some of the things that NASCAR changed for this year (like) the bushings and the splitter structure. It’s just a lot of things that they’ve implemented (like) no rear sway bars that we’re trying to learn and understand and then a lot of downforce in this car. So, far, everything that I can feel in making runs by myself is very positive.  But I’d really like to see what happens once we get out there with more cars and in a race and understand what kind of characteristics we’re going to be dealing with and how important is track position. With this car, are we going to be able to dive to the outside and make some moves? Or how close are you going to be to be able to get up to the guy to turn underneath him? All those types of things we won’t really know until we go through a race.”
 
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE JERRY CLEMENTS DECISION BY NASCAR?
“I think that it’s very clear to me that NASCAR has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to things that are detrimental to the sport and that could have a negative impact on the sport. Obviously I don’t know all the details, but obviously whatever was said drew them to that conclusion that it was something that really could impact the sport negatively.”
 
THIRTEEN (13) DRIVERS HAVE LED THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 AND THE DAYTONA 500 AND DANICA PATRICK JOINED THAT LIST LAST WEEKEND. WHAT SORT OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IS THAT FOR HER?
“That’s a big deal. That’s huge. I’ve never run in an Indy 500, but I don’t feel like it’s really easy to lead an Indy 500 and I watched Indy 500’s where she led and it wasn’t like it was just under caution or anything like that. She got herself in position. I saw her have some great runs at Indy.
 
“And Daytona, typically I would say it’s not the hardest place to lead at, but this particular Daytona 500 was very difficult to lead at. So, I think that it’s quite an accomplishment and I thought she did a great job all day to keep herself in position. I know she probably feels like she made a little mistake there at the end, and lost some positions, but to come out of there with a solid run like she did was a great way to get the season started.”
 
THERE SEEMS TO BE A PRETTY GOOD FIELD OF YOUNG DRIVERS. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE YOUNG DRIVERS?
“Give me some names.”
 
BRAD KESELOWSKI
“He’s a young driver? (laughter) I’m thinking (in their) twenties. Ah, that’s a young driver to me. I think Ricky (Stenhouse) is a great talent. I love his background with dirt track and the way he’s brought himself up through to this level. He’s got a lot of talent. Keselowski has impressed me. He’s not a guy that I think a lot of people had on their radar as being able to come into the sport and take an organization that has never won a championship and get them to a championship. It is talent, but it’s also just willing to work just as hard as you can and do whatever it takes and he’s got that great work ethic. So, as far as those two guys, those are pretty high on my
list.”
 
CONSIDERING THE POPULARITY OF THE RAINBOW WARRIORS BACK IN THE DAY, DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAN COME TO YOU AND SAY HE BECAME A FAN OF YOURS BECAUSE OF THE BRIGHT COLORS OF THE CAR?
“Absolutely; primarily with kids, it just seemed like the neon colors just stood out so much. And it’s funny now. And actually, this just happened this past weekend in Daytona. I met a young lady who was 30 years old and she shows me a picture of when she was 10, and she was this big and now she’s this big and she was saying how big of a fan she was because of the bright colors of the car.
 
“So just recently I had an experience where; I think a lot of young new fans, when they watch for the first time whether they’re at the track or at home, they go okay, who am I going to pull for? And they either do it based on the driver in an interview, or they do it on the car. And we had a lot of people that became new fans of mine because of the rainbow-colored car.”
 
ON THE JEREMY CLEMENTS ISSUE, DO YOU THINK YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT HE SAID? DOES THAT MATTER?
“Personally, I’d like to know. I don’t think it’s anything that I ever would worry about myself saying or getting in that situation, but I’d like to understand the situation and the environment that it was in. That’s obviously a pretty severe penalty; and I think whatever his actions were, must have been pretty severe. But just out of curiosity, I’d like to know. From what I understand if I asked the proper person, I might be able to get that information.”
 
ON THE NEW TRACK-DRYING TECHNOLOGY, WE HAVEN’T SEEN IT IN ACTION YET, BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT?
“Oh, I was so hoping to see that last week at Daytona (laughs). I thought it was going to rain Sunday morning and I thought it would clear out just in time for them to get that thing out there and see how fast it could dry.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK IT IS JUST TO KEEP FANS ENGAGED IN THE RACE TO HAVE THAT TECHNOLOGY?
“Oh, I think it’s important. I think it’s been a long-time coming. Obviously it’s not perfect and it needs some work, but it’s a great step. These fans, if you had the opportunity to get a race in and keep the fans engaged at home as well as here at the track, for all that they go through to get here and potentially either keep them from having to leave because it’s just getting late and they have to go home for work the next day, or to prevent it (the race) from having to go to the next day, I think that’s huge. I’d like to see more tracks have it available.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed the performance of the new car on track at Phoenix, what he is looking forward to next week at Las Vegas and other topics.  FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW CAR HERE IN PHOENIX?
“We fought a little bit of problems we didn’t think we would fight.  We have been loose and that just wasn’t in our mindset.  We thought we would come here and fight tight.  We have fought loose most of the day.  A little bit of surprise, but a surprise shouldn’t be a surprise with a new car and all new stuff.  We are trying to adjust a little bit with it.”
 
HOW ARE LAST YEAR’S CAR AND THIS YEAR’S CAR DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU’VE SEEN SO FAR?
“Honestly, I think it is too early to say.  I think we really need more time, more racing that kind of thing.  Right now I think that they drive good.  It’s not like they drive bad.  No matter what the car is, no matter what the rules are, the people that do the better job with it, drive it better, set it up better, do better pit stops they are the ones that are going to win races. No matter what the car is that is what the focus has got to be.  We are just a touch behind right now, but we feel like we can see where we need to be.”
 
WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU LAST WEEK?
“I was catching David Reutimann at a pretty high rate of speed and I went to go underneath him and he blocked me to the left.  Then I went to go above him and he blocked me to the right.  On that one it didn’t work out very well for us.  We hit exceptionally hard.  Blocking is part of plate racing.  David reached out to me, apologized to me and said ‘I’m sorry it was my fault, I certainly didn’t mean to put you in that position.’  I know David didn’t.  Plate racing puts you in a position to do things you wouldn’t normally do.  That is kind of what it was.  We just came out on the short end of the stick of it.”
 
NOT THE FINISH THAT YOU WANTED LAST WEEK.  HOW DO YOU BOUNCE BACK FROM THAT?
“If in this sport every bad finish you have that is disaster then you are going to have a terribly long life.  Jimmie Johnson wrecked the third or fourth lap last year. Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, a lot of big names wrecked early in the race. You can’t have your tail tucked between your legs coming to Phoenix you have just got to go race.  I think the biggest thing you could do is worry about where you finish and you need to focus on what you need to do to finish well.  If you focus on that you don’t have enough time to worry about all the other crap.  Daytona is Daytona and next week Phoenix will be Phoenix and we will be on to (Las) Vegas.  Obviously, you’ve got to have good finishes you can’t just keep writing them off, but the only way to do that is move forward and focus on what’s next.”
 
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE JEREMY CLEMENTS DECISION BY NASCAR?
“It’s really difficult to comment on it because I don’t have a lot of facts.  One thing for sure that I don’t like to do is I don’t like to talk without being educated about something.  There are a lot of what if’s and a lot of stuff that is out there that you are having to make it up.  You don’t have enough facts.  Certainly, I don’t think NASCAR would suspend someone for something small.  I don’t think they would.  I don’t know what was said.  I don’t know how it was said because we don’t have that information.  Until I have that information it’s really hard to make a comment on it. I do want to get a little more information because I want to make sure I don’t do something wrong.  It’s just hard to have an opinion because there is not enough information to have an opinion.”
 
DO YOU FEEL FOR THESE NEXT COUPLE OF TRACKS COMING UP YOU GUYS SHOULD HAVE SOME MORE PRACTICE WITH THE NEW CAR? 
“I think (Las) Vegas we have a whole day.  We’ve got a whole day of practice.  I think that is good.  I think having a little extra time out here would have been a cool thing.  I think (Las) Vegas is good.  They are giving us some more time at Texas I believe than they normally would.  We do have a few more tests this year.  Yeah, I think a little more time this week would have been a good thing.  (Las) Vegas is a good idea.  A little more time at California wouldn’t hurt anybody’s feelings.  Giving more time at Bristol or Martinsville, those tracks are so unique to themselves I don’t think that necessarily is needed.”
 
IT’S THE 5OTH YEAR OF RACING HERE AT PIR.  WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY AND BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT?
“My favorite memory is me winning here twice.  My biggest disappointment was the year it rained.  I was sitting there running third or fourth and we pitted along with everybody else on the lead lap.  It rained during that caution, we had weather radar, but you are in the desert you are thinking surely to God it’s not going to rain it out.  Rusty Wallace I believe won the race in the rain.  Everybody pitted under that caution for rain (laughs).  That was probably the dumbest move that every race team in NASCAR made on that day. The last guy on the lead lap didn’t stay out. That was probably the most disappointing day.”
 
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE DONE AFTER LAST SATURDAY’S ACCIDENT IN DAYTONA?
“I think there has to be a thorough investigation.  I think the degree in which obviously people were injured that was a fluke accident. A car getting in the fence I don’t think at this point we can necessarily call it a fluke accident because we have seen over the last little bit of time we have seen several cars get airborne.  (Brad) Keselowski and Carl Edwards at Talladega then you go back… Keselowski and Carl (Edwards) at Atlanta that car got up in the air.  So I don’t want to say that getting in the air is a fluke.  I think we need to work harder on keeping the cars on the ground, which this car, honestly, has a lot more work done on that. As far as the fencing you have to stop and do research and understand how to do it better.  Everybody wants to fix it today, but the right way to fix it is through a thorough analysis.  Do a thorough analysis, get all the information then make a decision.  I think everybody, meaning well, wants to try to say here is what you need to do, but until you really understand it, it is hard to know what to do. I think it also reminds us that, and I’ve said this for years, safety is not a goal.  It’s not something you can reach.  It’s a continuing effort.  It’s a continuing mind set, it’s a continuing desire to be better at it.  You can’t say ‘okay we are here’ and move on.  By no means am I saying NASCAR has done that.  I think NASCAR deserves a tremendous amount of credit.  I think they have led motorsports as it relates to safety over the last 10 years there is no question about that.  In no way am I saying NASCAR has been not being aggressive, but it is a reminder that we have to continue to be.  It’s a reminder that we have to always be looking to be better.  We can never get to the point where we say ‘okay we are there, now we get to relax’.  You can’t have that mindset when it comes to safety.”
 
DOES IT GO BEYOND JUST BUILDING THE CARS TO THE SPECIFICATIONS NASCAR GIVES YOU? “I said it a long time ago, that I believe this is a community activity. When NASCAR wasn’t as proactive as they are today, I was standing up saying that we as a community need to do a better job. Meaning the teams, the drivers, NASCAR, the sponsors, the manufacturers…we collectively need to do a better job. I said that years ago, and got told I was crazy, and had a lot of press g
iven to me. But, that is still true today.  We as drivers can’t look around the industry and say ‘Well, y’all are supposed to take care of us. We’ve got to be proactive. We’ve got to be pushing the ball.  Car owners have to be pushing the ball. Team members have to be pushing the ball. NASCAR…it takes all of us. We can’t just give. We have to be willing to give of our time. We have to be willing to give money. We have to be willing to give effort to try to make a continuing effort if we want racing to be safer. I think we all do. I’ve heard some people say racing isn’t exciting because it is safer. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life. We as a community have to make sure we stay together and work, and don’t just put it on NASCAR’s shoulder. I think that is unfair to put it on the tracks and NASCAR. I think that is unfair. I think we have to do it together.”
 
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING BACK TO LAS VEGAS? “I think the day of testing is going to be real cool. I think having an opportunity working on this car on a race weekend rather than a test is going to be really good for everybody. And then seeing how they race. Seeing how they respond in the race. We’re going to try to jump to conclusions based on Thursday’s practice. But the fact of the matter is, until Sunday is over, we’re really not going to know. Going to through that process to me is going to be a good time. It’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to that getting started. The mile-and-a-half tracks is the place where this car I think will excel.”
 
THIS NEW AIR TITAN TRACK DRYING TECHNOLOGY WE’VE YET TO SEE IN ACTION. ASSUMING WE DO AT SOME POINT, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT JUST TO KEEP FANS ENGAGED, AND I GUESS EVEN THE TV AUDIENCE? “I’ll be honest, I would never have thought of that, but we need to dry the tracks quicker. But when you do, and they went out and did that, then it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. That’s part of my point about doing things as a community. If all of us ban together, we come up with better ideas. I do know that the Daytona 500 last year through Twitter talking to fans, the impact that had on them, not being able to stay, that’s a big deal. That’s bad for our sport. Anything we can do to lessen that opportunity is the right thing. Having said that, I wouldn’t have thought about it. I wouldn’t have thought well hell, we need to find a better way. I just wouldn’t have. There’s no question that’s a positive. No question.”

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 RACING CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed the learning process for the new race cars, Danica Patrick’s performance at Daytona, his opinion of the Phoenix International Raceway track, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
HOW IS THE NEW CAR HANDLING?
“So far, so good.  We are just a little bit tight, balance-wise; but other than that it drives really good.”
 
WERE YOU EXPECTING WHAT YOU FELT?
“I didn’t know what to expect.  It’s a new car and I don’t know how anybody knows what to expect until you get out and run it. So, you guys (media) are going to have the same questions for the next four weeks and we’re still going to be learning for the next four weeks. So, give us about four or five more weeks and we’ll be able to give you a lot more answers than what we’ve got today, so far, on what it feels like.”
 
LAST WEEK WAS NOT THE WAY YOU WANTED TO START THE SEASON. HOW DO YOU GO FORWARD OR BOUNCE-BACK FROM IT?
“Easy. We’ve left there (Daytona) 43rd (in points) and won a championship in ’02. So, you just put it behind you and it’s no different than if you get in a wreck on any other week. You can’t change it. So, you’ve got to focus on what you can change and that’s the week ahead.”
 
ON HIS HOSPTAL VISIT WITH THE FANS AT DAYTONA
“It was good. It was a good visit.”
 
YOU ARE ONE OF 13 ON THE LIST OF DRIVERS WHO HAVE LED AT THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 AND THE DAYTONA 500. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?
“It’s pretty cool. To be honest, as a race car driver, it’s an honor to just be able to compete in both, let alone lead laps. So, the good thing is we’ve got you guys (media) to tell us the cool stats because we don’t know that stuff until you tell us. But, that’s a pretty cool honor to be in a group of 13 people.”
 
ON DANICA PATRICK’S PERFORMANCE AT DAYTONA
“I thought she did a great job last week. She played a very, very smart race because it’s very easy to get over-anxious and want to do better than where you’re at; and cause yourself to have a worse day. And I thought she displayed a lot of patience and that’s really hard to do sometimes. So, I thought she did a great job.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY? WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE MEMORY AT PIR?          
“My favorite memory is oh man; probably the first Copper Classic I ran. The worst memory was the first time they started changing it; and the very worst memory is the second time they changed this track. Every time they change it they keep screwing it up and making it worse. It was really good the way it was. It was a lot of fun back then.”
 
HOW CLOSE ARE YOU WITH THE CAR RIGHT NOW? HOW MUCH WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE?
“I just answered that when you asked the first question about it. We don’t know. We’re in a learning process right now. We’ve got an hour and a half of practice. We’ve got a whole day tomorrow to get ready for the race. Every time we go on the track we’re going to keep learning right now. I just don’t honestly have an answer to that. We just don’t have a lot of time and we’re not going to have for four or five weeks. It’s going to take some time for us to learn these cars and you’re not going to learn it in an hour and a half. If anybody tells you they’ve got it all figured out after an hour and a half of practice, they’re lying to you. You can pretty much write down in stone for the next five weeks that people are going to be learning a lot going to different race tracks and trying to get a handle on what this car is actually going to be.”
 
YOU TALK ABOUT NOT HAVING ENOUGH TIME AND YET DAYTONA SEEMED LIKE A MILLION PRACTICE SESSIONS.
“Well we had all the practice time we wanted at Daytona. Nobody wanted to use that. This is a little different deal here where you’re running by yourself. This is the first time that we’ve all had a new car, guys. We’re not reinventing the wheel. It’s the same thing that we did with we had the CoT car and the same thing that we’ve had every time a new manufacturer had a new body style. So we’re not totally starting from scratch or reinventing the wheel. You’re just going to have to have the time that you do have to learn and everybody has the same amount of time. So, it doesn’t really matter how much time you’ve got.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed her success at Daytona, expectations for weekend at Phoenix, comparison of her first Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 and other topics.  Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR PHOENIX THIS WEEKEND:
“It was nice to come here at the end of the season, and race in the Cup race. It was also nice to have Tony Gibson as my crew chief.  I feel like it will give us a good baseline of where we need to start setup-wise for the weekend, so we can kind of pickup where we left off. I feel like we were pretty decent at the end of the race. Is qualifying on the pole, and leading laps what we should be thinking based on last weekend? No. I think we need to…I need to keep realistic expectations, and I think everybody else does too. Daytona is a very unique place, and this is kind of where the bulk of the season really starts. Things like being able to get up-to-speed quickly; knowing what I want in the car; how to push it to its limit and what its limit is are things that are going to begin to be tested now. That’s something that you don’t really face at Daytona.”
 
CAN I TAKE YOU BACK TO INDIANAPOLIS IN ’05 VERSUS AFTER THE RACE AT DAYTONA? OBVIOUS DISAPPOINTMENT FOR WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN; BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT HOW YOU HAVE IMPROVED AS A DRIVER IN BOTH SERIES, WHAT DO YOU TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR PROGRESS? “They really are very similar in a sense with my first Indy 500 and my first…wasn’t my first Daytona 500, but my first year full-time in the Series with the whole pole position potential. And with leading in the race, and being fast, and being a contender then kind of losing it a little bit at the very, very end. Very similar. I feel like now days having the experience that I had in IndyCar, and understanding how media works. What it is like to be busy, and do a lot of interviews and a lot of things outside of the car. And also building a great team helps me manage and tolerate all of that is very different than it was back in 2005. I kind of feel like it is another weekend now. Last weekend was what it was. But we’re moving on, and maybe perhaps in 2005 it was kind of a little bit of an ongoing excitement level, and hope for me. But I think I’m a little more mature now to know that these things come; they go. We’re going to have great weekends like maybe last weekend. And we’re going to have bad ones. I don’t know where they are going to pop up, but I don’t doubt that they will. I just feel more mature to be able to handle all of it.”
 
THERE ARE 13 NAMES ON THE LIST OF DRIVERS WHO HAVE LED THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 AND THE DAYTONA 500. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE ON THAT LIST? “When I heard that statistic. Joe (Crowley, public relations) is a wealth of knowledge, and knew that when we were walking back from pit lane after the race. He then sent me more information about who had led more than five laps, and things like that. So, I got more information beyond that. He’s going to have to become one of the historians of IndyCar and of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and maybe of NASCAR as well. But anyway, enough about Joe (LAUGHS). It is a statistic like that, that I personally I felt was the biggest one from the weekend. To look at the list of names, and to fall under them; while I’m honored to be a first woman to do something; those are great. You can’t take those away. A first is always wonderful. But, to fall into a historical statistic that is small, that is a small group, along with other drivers, and have it not be about being a male or a female, that is something that I aspire to as a driver. I hope that when I am done racing that people remember me as a great driver. And, if they remember me as a great girl driver, that’s fine too. But, I hope they remember as a great driver, and a list of others. I feel like that is one of those statistics that’s just genderless, and that’s pretty neat for me.”
 
THIS WILL BE YOUR SECOND TIME IN THE CUP CAR HERE AT PHOENIX. IN THE NATIONWIDE CAR, DID YOU NOTICE THE TRACK’S CHANGING A LOT FROM THE FIRST TIME TO THE SECOND TIME YOU WERE THERE, AND SO ON? HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EXPECT THAT BECAUSE YOU RAN WELL HERE IN NOVEMBER? “I would say that tended to happen wherever I went.  I felt like it was a little bit more about being a new track to me more than anything. The first to the second time is still going to show a steeper incline in performance, than perhaps the sixth to the seventh time. But Phoenix is one of those places that, man, even in the Nationwide car, I just couldn’t get the hang of it. I came here many times, and continued to kind of suck. I feel like at the end of the year was more of a breakthrough in the Nationwide car, and also in the Cup car, it was a good weekend. The best weekend I’d had in a Cup car. I really think that is what led me to want to do more double duty weekends this year. Haven’t been able to work that out yet. But, I think that driving both of the cars really just keeps you sharp. I feel like I have practiced the Cup car, it helped in the Nationwide car. Then when I had done the Nationwide race, I really felt like it led to helping in the Cup race. I think that was probably also a big contributor to why last year at the end of the year it was a good weekend.”
 
WHAT WAS YOUR DEBRIEF LIKE WITH TONY STEWART (CAR OWNER) AFTER DAYTONA 500, WHEN YOU WERE PERHAPS KICKING YOURSELF OVER THE FINISH OF THE RACE? WHAT IS HE TELLING YOU ABOUT PHOENIX? “I was. I was disappointed at the end of the race that I just didn’t have a better grasp as to what I needed to do to shoot for a better finish than where I was. Although….if they had just thrown that yellow, you know?  Third.  But you have to finish the race, I understand. That’s good for the sport when we finish under green. It makes it exciting. It really helped teach me. I feel like what happens at the end of the race and how to set them up. (Dale Earnhardt) Junior is really good at those big speedway races and knowing how to set things up. But, I just felt like…I was just frustrated that I didn’t have a better plan. Tony told me that he really thought that…he said ‘I really feel like you had more to lose in your position, than you had to gain by trying something. So I think that you did the right thing’. So that made me feel better – a little bit. Was I still mad that I went from third to eighth on the lap? No, I was still disappointed in it. But to have somebody like Tony Stewart say something to me like that was very kind, and it put it in perspective. I also Jimmie (Johnson) he did a nice job. We had a little conversation, and I said to him…he told me I did a nice job too. And I said I had wished I had a better plan, but thank you and I have a lot to learn. He said that the two wins he had, he didn’t have a plan, and sometimes you just have to take it on the fly and work with what happens in the moment. He very kindly later that day, at the end of the day said he’d seen the end of the race, and said, in his opinion, the only thing I could have done was back up to Junior when he backed up, but as far as what happened on the back straight when Junior went low, in his opinion, he thought I did the right thing. So to have somebody like Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson tell me that on some level I made good decisions out there at the very end, was a really nice thing for them to say. It makes me feel a little bit better. I still feel like I want to have a better plan in the future, but in that moment that I had made some good decisions. So, it was appreciated.
 
“When we had our competition meeting about the race, and we all kind of talked about what we were thinking going into Phoenix, and the track, and what issues we’d had from the year before. I feel like collaboratively we all had similar feelings. It’s always nice when we have the same opinion on what is about to happen the next weekend based on what we felt the year before.
Hopefully we’ll be…we just want to be better in qualifying. That is my personal goal for the weekend is to be able to improve from last year in the qualifying. Have a better run and feel good about it instead of being sideways in three and four (turns) and not qualifying very well. That’s what I’ll be working towards in this one session we have.”
 
COMPARE THE IMPORTANCE OF WHERE YOU ACTUALLY FINISH ON SUNDAY, VERSUS HOW MUCH YOU LEARN AND GROW ON FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND THROUGHOUT THE RACE ON SUNDAY? “I feel like the both lead to good things. If you learn and grow, you are going to finish better. That learning curve is different for everyone, which is why it is difficult to say where I should be at a certain point in time because you just don’t know at what point in time that an athlete or driver something is going to click and make sense, and you figure something out, and get more comfortable. I guess I would say the most important thing overall, if you look at the big picture, is to learn and grow. Good races and good finishes can just happen, and sometimes you don’t know why. Sometimes it’s because of other people’s misfortunes, your luck – which is a big part of the sport. But, learning is something that is going to pay off over time far more than being lucky one weekend.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR MINDSET AND CONFIDENCE COMING OUT OF DAYTONA IS THIS YEAR COMPARED TO WHAT YOU DEALT WITH LAST YEAR? “Completely different. It was a very difficult year last year at Daytona. It had the high of qualifying on the pole in the Nationwide race to having an accident with my teammate in the race. Then falling out of the Duel and the 500 at the worst possible times. It’s a nice reminder. I was hoping going into Daytona that I would be due a good weekend in Daytona, and sure enough it was. I feel like last year, maybe that frustration and exhaustion kind of spilled over into a couple of days of work during Phoenix week that I had to do to the weekend. Coming here again in the Nationwide car for the third or fourth time and being like 20th, and just feeling really kind of bad about myself, and storming off from all of you from pit lane, and deciding that I didn’t finish well enough to answer any questions. It is a different perspective. I feel just a little more mature. I feel like even if it would have been a weekend, I was more prepared to handle it. But, at this point in time, understanding that it is a whole new race, completely different track, and this is when the real season starts. Maybe I guess coming away feeling a little bit more calm; or humble; or understanding the ebb and flow of racing. I think that comes from having a good team around me that helps me understand that we are going to have good and back weekends, and we are going to stay together no matter what happens.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) and discussed racing at Phoenix, lessons learned from Daytona and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING ON THE TRACK HERE IN PHOENIX?
“We’re just looking forward to getting out on the track and seeing the difference in the tire and how that might be something I like better.  Hopefully, the car comes off the trailer pretty fast.  Just a lot of anticipation and nerves right now.  Just ready to see what kind of work we need to do and how close we are to being competitive.  We’re going to run a couple race runs and then we’ll go right into qualifying and get ready for qualifying later this afternoon.”
 
HOW MUCH OF TODAY’S PRACTICE IS MORE OF A TEST SESSION?
“It’s pretty time limited as far as practice goes, but the car shouldn’t be too different.  The chassis is really the same chassis and the splitter and everything is still there so the same fundamentals should work as far as nuts and bolts, springs and shocks and bump stops and stuff like that.  The body on the car is quite different so just how that aero is going to affect the setup and what adjustments you might need to make due to that  The tire is going to probably the biggest or I’m hoping the tires a big change because I haven’t ran good here since they repaved the place.  I’m hoping a change to the tire might be a move in a good direction for just me personally.  We’ll just have to see.”
 
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT WITH THE NEW CARS AT THIS RACE?
“I really don’t know what to expect.  I don’t think I would expect anything really different from what we saw last year.  This surface is very new.  For us to be able to put on the best race we can put on, the older surfaces, the surfaces that have a few more years on them tend to do better.  Tend to widen out and give us more grooves to run in the corners.  The tire change might help us in that direction in that regard.  The track being out here in the desert helps us.  This place should age pretty quickly, much like the beach — Daytona Beach.  It’s just a matter of time.  This thing will better and this track will get better and better.  I like the car.  Some places it’s going to look similar to what we had in the past and other places it might put on a pretty exciting show or a better show.  I think it will keep getting better.  I say it may put on a similar show at some places and that’s due to the surface really.  A lot of tracks have been repaved and they are just not widening out right off the bat.  When you put down a new surface its pretty single file for a couple years at least three or four races before we really start moving up the race track and changing lanes and running different grooves.”
 
HOW DID YOU FEEL AFTER TAKING A HARD HIT ON SATURDAY?
“I didn’t know how hard it was.  I was pretty good until we got into the fence.  I knew I was going to hit the fence because when I hit whoever, the 7 (Regan Smith) or whoever tore the right-front off, I couldn’t steer the car anymore so I knew I was going to hit the wall, but I wanted to stay in the gas long enough to cross the start-finish line and get whatever position I could.  The 99 (Alex Bowman) come from the infield up in front of us and we both hit the wall a good bit.  I was concerned just how my body was going to react to that and I was glad to be able — I felt pretty good after the wreck and that evening and the next day felt awesome and was able to get in the car and everything came naturally and was able to put together a good race.  I was real happy that I was able to pass a personal test I guess.  When you have concussions sometimes they’re easier to get the second, third, fourth time around so we survived that one.  We’ll move on and try not to get in anymore wrecks.”
 
WHY DID YOU START DRINKING CARROT JUICE?
“A buddy of mine was talking about this detox diet, it’s like a 15 day deal and for the first eight days you drink prune juice and then the last half of it you drink carrot juice so they were just picking on me, somebody that was talking in that podcast, I guess it was Mike Davis.  Just misinformed, I’m not drinking it all the time, but just during that little detox thing.  It was pretty tough too.  I was surprised I was able to make it.  It was like just fish, chicken and raw, steamed vegetables and then there was like two days where you just ate vegetables and fruit.  That was pretty tough for me to not have any meat.  I think the older you get the more you have to do to kind of maintain a healthy weight.  That’s really what it’s about for me is just trying to maintain my weight so I don’t have to keep getting my driver suits altered throughout the season.  Last year I was like, ‘Man, they’re shrinking, something is wrong with the washer.’  This off-season I lost a lot of weight, lost about 15 or 20 pounds and just trying to do a better job of managing my calories and stuff like that.  I never really worried about it before.  Just eat all kinds of stuff like pizza and wings and stuff every day and not really watching portion controls and stuff like that.  Just getting out of control so reining all that back in, not getting too crazy about it though.  I’m no health freak by no means.”
 
DOES THAT MEAN NO MORE HELLMAN’S FOR YOU?
“Well, you have to mix it in there every once in a while.  It’s part of the recipes.  Like I said, I’m not really a health freak or anything, but I am counting calories, I will say that.”
 
DO YOU APPROACH THIS RACE LIKE A MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACK OR A SHORT TRACK AND HOW MUCH TIME AND EFFORT HAS GONE INTO THE CAR FOR PHOENIX?
“We just can only test at certain tracks, we can’t test at tracks that are perfectly relative to Phoenix, but we can go to Nashville, which is as unnatural compared to Phoenix as you can get I guess.  We go out there and run around in circles and try to learn something.  It’s a tight box that we’re in as far as the testing goes and that’s got its pluses and minuses.  When we go test we’ll go to Gresham and Nashville and places like that and learn the limited amount of information you can learn.”
 
HOW MUCH VALUE IS THERE TO RUNNING THE NATIONWIDE CAR TO GET YOURSELF READY FOR SUNDAY?
“When the track is so unique such as Phoenix, I think it’s very valuable.  When it’s Daytona or Talladega where the drafting is completely different between the two cars and there’s not really anything to learn about the tire or about a setup or anything like that, there’s no real benefit other than just doing it for fun.  When you come to a technical race track that’s still relatively, the surface is new, the tire is new, everybody is still trying to find out a few secrets and gain some information on the competition then it’s a great opportunity.”
 
WHAT DID YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THE DAYTONA 500?
“We got off to a good start just like we did last year.  I really think that if you put yourself in a hole early, no matter how good of a team you are, you’re going to be one of those guys that are sitting there at Richmond or the last couple races before the Chase really digging and worried about your opportunities and position and worried about the guys that you have to beat.  You’ll be sitting in that 10th to 14th place position sweating it out.  It’s a distraction that I’d rather not have to put the team through or have to go through myself.  If we can put together a solid 10 races and get a good foundation of points together then we should be able to steadily maintain that throughout the rest of the regular season and go into the Chase comfortable and not have to really sweat
it out and start thinking that you can mentally prepare yourself for the Chase better I believe when you don’t have to worry about those last few races.  Mentally, it’s just easier and emotionally it’s easier.  That’s what I took away from that.  We certainly had a unique race.  Learned a lot about the drafting and how it’s different and hope to be able to take some of that stuff to Talladega and run well or do well.  Really it was about, I told one of my guys on my team that I’ll think about what I should have done different for the next 11 months until we get to go back to Daytona and try it again.  I should have went earlier to try to get to second sooner to have that lap or two that I needed to make a run on Jimmie (Johnson), but I was worried about getting freight-trained and going to the back like we had seen so many guys do throughout the race.  I was a little apprehensive and that’s why that move didn’t come sooner.  You learn a lot and learned a few lessons there that I can take and try to utilize at Talladega.  Other than that, it’s more about trying to get those points.  They are so important.”
 
DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR NASCAR TO COME AWAY FROM THE NATIONWIDE WRECK STRONGER FOR FANS WHERE THAT WAS THEIR ONLY EXPOSURE TO THE SPORT? “Absolutely and I think NASCAR is actively seeking solutions and alternatives to always make the sport safer, especially, we’ve done so much with the physical car itself.  There’s always opportunities and other areas where we can become a safer sport.  I’m sure that unfortunately incidents like that will draw attention, but in the long term a lot of positive things will come out of it.  That’s what I’m hoping anyways that we’re better off down the road because of what we experienced and it was a terrible experience for everyone that went through it.  It was difficult to watch and difficult to be a witness to, but I’m glad that no one was killed or anything like that.  That was my biggest fear was that we had lost a life or maybe multiple lives and that was going to be really difficult and it would have been really difficult to race the next day.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT NASCAR MEXICO RACING AT PHOENIX?
“I know that we’ve got more and more people from that country and from that region showing more interest in the sport.  There’s obviously a lot of involvement from NASCAR in Mexico and it’s growing with the series and everything.  Just a lot of interest as far as the drivers coming up here and trying to compete.  I think it’s exciting and just looking forward to seeing some of that result in good runs on the race track.  Some of them guys to come up here and run well and see what kind of talent they have to bring to the table and compete with.  I think the opportunities NASCAR can provide them down in Mexico will give them that avenue to be able to do that and to be able to come up here in some decent equipment and show what they can do.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHAT HAPPENED WITH JEREMY CLEMENTS?
“It’s really unfortunate.  It’s just really unfortunate that he chose to make that decision at that time to use that language.  I don’t like it and there’s no room for that in my life.  It’s just unfortunate that had to happen to him.  I hope he can get that sorted out and it just looks bad on the sport.  One person’s mistake looks bad on a lot of people and looks bad on the sport.  It’s just unfortunate.”
 
HOW DID THE DAYTONA 500 CHANGE WITH THE COMMUNICATION RESTRICTIONS?
“That’s kind of been the case for a little while now.  It seems like it was several years ago when we were able to do that when it’s really only been a few.  I really never liked that.  I never liked to have that much access to all the other drivers.  I didn’t like having to switch the panel on the dashboard with different guys I could go talk to and I rarely used it.  I didn’t run well in those races either.  It just wasn’t natural.  It didn’t feel natural.  I didn’t want to be in the middle of their conversations and I didn’t want to have that access.  I’m a bit old school in that regard where it just didn’t seem like something that we should be doing.  It didn’t seem like it was a comfortable practice for me.  I never was really fond of it and was glad when it was taken away.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SUBWAY FRESH FIT 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 1, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) and discussed his busy week following his second Daytona 500 win, his favorite and least favorite PIR memories and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
YOU’VE HAD A REALLY BUSY WEEK THROUGH ALL THE MEDIA STUFF, HOW NICE IS IT TO BE BACK TO A NORMAL SCHEDULE?
“I’m excited to be at the track and get back to something, just to be back to normalcy and get a good night’s rest last night. I got a lot of sleep, but I still think I need another night to catch up. I can feel it in my eyes and my face that I’m no quite back to normal.  What an experience.  (I) won the Daytona 500 in ’06 and then championships after. Maybe I just wasn’t aware of how much range the 500 had or maybe things have changed between ’06 and now. We certainly came off a very popular Daytona 500, but the reception, the reach of this win, it felt like I was on a champions tour, and it was for the Daytona 500.  Very special week for me, very tiring week, and I’m ready to get back in the car.”
 
WHY DO YOU FEEL THAT WAY, WHAT STANDS OUT?
“Everywhere we went, the fans that gathered to be a part of whatever show, the shows I was on, it just had a feel that it was really one of the biggest things that I’ve ever done in my career. It was just eye opening to me how big this race is and really the popularity of NASCAR right now, I think we’re off to a really strong start this year from a fan viewing situation, you know, from attendance hopefully will rally and follow. The impressions the eyeballs you know everybody that’s watching right now it was noticeable from my perspective.”
 
WHY DO YOU THINK THAT’S HAPPENING?
“I think it’s a lot of things.  I think the new car has brought a lot of excitement; Danica’s success in Daytona brought a ton of excitement. We can’t count out the personalities emerging in our sport. I think of Clint Bowyer and his fan base and the excitement that he brings, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, mine, Danica’s, I know that I’m leaving guys out, but I really think that the sports in a good spot. We’ve been growing over the last few years and a lot of it I put a lot of credit towards the personalities of the drivers coming out. It kind of goes back to the point a few years back when NASCAR said they were going to take the gloves off and let us have at it and that’s led to some exciting things on track, but also the emersion of personality and I think that’s been helpful.”
 
YOU NOTED WHAT DANICA’S (PATRICK) DOING; THIRTEEN PEOPLE HAVE EVER LED THE INDY 500 AND THE DAYTONA 500 IN THEIR CAREER, SHE’S ONE OF THEM NOW. WHAT’S YOUR REACTION THAT THAT, WHAT KIND OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IS THAT?
“It’s huge, I mean for her to lead both races that’s no small feat that’s big time stuff. I’m happy that she performed like she did on Sunday. It could have set her up for some criticism if she had a poor race and fell to the back and didn’t run right but she didn’t. She stayed up front all day long and raced for the win and I think on plate tracks she’s convinced me that she’s capable of winning the race.”
 
WHEN YOU WON THE 500 AND YOU REALIZED YOU WERE DOING DOUBLE DUTY THIS WEEKEND WERE YOU LIKE WHY DID I COMMIT TO THAT RACE OR WERE YOU EXCITED TO HAVE THAT MUCH TIME IN THE CAR?
“A little bit of both, I knew this week was going to be busy anyway. We had our national sales meeting for Lowes in Las Vegas, responsibilities for both cars and all of that. A busy week got much busier. I’m excited to get in the Nationwide car and get a feel for the track.  As things went by I was happy to see the media side slowing down and know that I was going to get back to driving race cars again.”
 
WHY DID YOU COMMIT TO THE NATIONWIDE RACE?
“Just truthfully to get better here at this track it’s tough to get laps on this track. We considered coming out and testing, but with the tire change and with them changing the testing policy for Cup it just wasn’t going to work for a couple reasons.  The next best thing was to run the Nationwide series race.  I have no clue what I’m going to learn from those cars to carry over, but reps on the track can’t hurt and ultimately that’s what I think I need.”
 
YOU HAVE BEEN SO GOOD HERE; CAN YOU EXPECT THAT TO TRANSLATE TO THE NEW CAR?  DOES YOUR PAST HISTORY HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT?
“The track here is so different than what it was before.  I just need to do something to try and improve this track and we were probably going to run top-10 if I didn’t blow a tire (in the 2012 fall race), but the way the Chase is settled anymore, you don’t need top-10’s, you need top-5s and wins.  We need to make sure we are covering our bases and we are ready for the race this fall.”
 
REGARDING LOWE’S RENEWING WITH THE NO. 48 TEAM AND HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS:
“It’s great to have it buttoned up and with the economy the way it has been the last few years, of course there has been some concern.  You know, I was confident as far as what the team provides for Lowe’s and the success we’ve had.  I felt like the partnership would carry on and we were able to get it done really early in a contract year. All those signs show how important this race team is for Lowe’s and how great the partnership is so happy to have it behind us.  If we got into the late summer months and didn’t have something locked in, far more concern would set in then. To get it done really after the first race of the year is a great sign of Lowe’s strength and the belief they have for this race program for marketing.”
 
YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500 TO GET IT DONE RIGHT?
“Oh no, as you can imagine with a big corporation and lawyers, and documents that this stuff has been well underway for a long, long time to get this thing done.   It’s just a great time to announce it following the 500.”
 
CHAD KNAUS NOTED AFTER THE DAYTONA 500 THAT HE WORKED 38 STRAIGHT HOURS ON THAT RACE CAR.  WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THAT AND HOW NORMAL IS THAT FOR HIM TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?
“It’s not surprising.  I mean the guy works tireless hours and truthfully, I think his work ethic over the last 12 years in this sport has forced the garage area to do the same.  There have always been some guys that have been willing to put in the time but now it’s so close, if you don’t put in that kind of time in, you are not going to have the kind of race you want to have.  So I say it, and I think every driver says it when they get out of their race car; they have to thank the guys in the shop.   It’s for good reason because they work countless hours.”
 
DID HE CONTACT YOU DURING THAT TIME PERIOD?
“He was sending me text messages that day and when 6:48 came around and at the end, he said he saw 6:48 three times.  I think I was all cozy in bed and relaxing when the text came in. I try not to make him mad too often, but at that time I had to.  I said, ‘thanks man for doing it, but I am laying here in bed relaxing’.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE WHOLE JEREMY CLEMENTS SITUATION? DO YOU THINK NASCAR HAD TO DO WHAT THEY DID THERE?
“I don’t know much about it because we have been so occupied with what has been going on from the Daytona 500 win.  I did hear about it.  It’s a huge statement that NASCAR is making and they don’t react this way for the heck of it.  So something big must have happened.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY HERE AND WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE?
“Favorite memory would be the fall wins.  Because the fall wins here have put us in position to….well I would actually say my best memory would be
my final championship.  We had a great race and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) had something work against them in pit strategy and that was the springboard that led to our fifth championship.  Worst memory…..first one that comes to mind would be last year and blowing a tire, and hammering the wall, and that leading to us not winning the championship.”
 
DID YOU SEE IN THE PAPER TODAY THAT DARRELL WALTRIP AND RUSTY WALLACE SAID YOU HAVE THE BEST BRAIN IN NASCAR?
“Really?  A brain, like between my ears?  (laughs).  I am just dumb enough that I am smart, I guess. I don’t know.”

 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference.  We are joined by Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet.  Johnson won Sunday’s 55th running of the Daytona 500, his second career victory in the Great American Race.
 
Jimmie, on Sunday you talked about the differences between winning the two.  What were some of the things that were different on Sunday?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Just savoring the moment.  It just seemed to go by so quickly in ’06.  I maybe didn’t savor the moments in ’06 as I did this time.  I didn’t have my daughter at that time either.  To watch her soak it up, it was very special for me.
 
Also to see Rick.  I’ve seen Rick Hendrick happy before in Victory Lane.  He had a glow to him like I haven’t seen in a long, long time.  So I was very pleased to do that.  The whole team is fired up from it.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you, Jimmie.
 
We will now go to the media for questions.
Q.  You talk about the differences between 2006 and now.  It’s been seven years.  Chad wasn’t there then.  This had to feel like a totally different experience and a much bigger accomplishment.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah.  I think there was a big push to be the team and driver to win this first Gen‑6 race.  We also felt like we were riding a great wave from the conclusion of last year’s season.  There was just a buzz in the air, a feeling prerace.  We just felt it was going to be a race that was highly viewed.  It kind of all played into it.
 
Chad did not experience those things in ’06, experience the victory celebration.  So to have him there, see the smile on his face, soak it in, it’s something that all racers dream of.  They want to win the Indy 500 or the Daytona 500.  To be able to pull that off a second time, to have Chad there, really share those emotions, experience those emotions, was key.
Q.  I’m curious the difference now and the last time you won it.  I’ve been seeing the tweets about Good Morning America, Letterman, all that. Can you describe what that rush is like after winning the Daytona 500?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It really reminds me of a championship.  I won in ’06.  It was my first experience to the media tour that follows.  I didn’t have that again until championships.
 
Rick and I were talking this morning on the phone.  This is just like winning a championship.  This single event is that big.  It’s been a while.  I’ve been super busy.  I’ve learned to just relax, smile, talk about our sport, enjoy the moment.  It gets a little redundant, as you can imagine, answering the same questions over and over.
 
The opportunity I have to represent our sport, talk about the things going on in our sport is a big honor.
Q.  There’s been a lot of hype about the Gen‑6 car, including your new car smell commercial.  During your time at Speedweeks, maybe after, have you gotten any feedback from fans that they’re buying into the change?  Also, how different is it driving this car from the COT?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  All the traffic I have seen, talk to people about, it’s all been about the aesthetics of the car, how good it looks.
 
Plate racing, I kind of look at it this way.  Our fans really know our sport and plate racing is its own animal.  We lost the tandem and are back to pack racing.  I think everybody is holding tight to see how the car races at Phoenix, Vegas, Bristol, Fontana, to get back into the type of racing we see on a regular basis.
 
Driving the car, there’s so much grip in it, it’s going to promote aggressive driving and aggressive racing.  Phoenix is a newly repaved racetrack. The groove might be a little narrow to see the side‑by‑side racing.  I feel when we get to Vegas, we will have a downforce track under our belts, we’ll have a chance to see an amazing race at Vegas, great side‑by‑side racing that everybody will want to see.
Q.  Did it ever cross your mind during Speedweeks that maybe you should try to draft in practice since it’s the new Gen‑6 car?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  The drafting topic. We did.  We did in the Unlimited and also in the Duels.  We knew that there was going to be a learning process for all the drivers on the track. Our car inventory is low.  We’re trying to be prepared for the rest of the season.
 
I know it was a hot topic at different times.  But I’ve been doing this a long time and don’t need the experience in the draft on the track.  Just wanted to preserve our car, have a smart approach about refining our car and making adjustments to it.  Really running by ourselves a lot, look at the stopwatch, determine whether we made the car faster or not.
 
We stuck to our routine, it worked, and we got the win.
Q.  Since the repave at Daytona, how much closer is the racetrack back to the way most drivers like it?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It has a ways to go, to be honest.  The repave was awesome.  It’s a very smooth racetrack.  They did a nice job with it. But it’s not the old, rough racetrack.  It’s funny because the old, rough racetrack led to a lot of single‑file racing due to the handling that was needed to run well there.  Now I feel like the track is getting into its sweet spot where you need to handle, but at the same time all the lanes are smooth where we can run smoothly and safely by one another, get some good two‑ or three‑wide racing.
 
As we understand the Gen‑6 car, understand the properties around the car, I think we can fine tune it more.  I’m sure people wanted to see three‑wide and 10‑deep on the field and I think we can get back to that point soon.
Q.  I know you’re not a structural engineer or track designer or anything, but going back to the Nationwide crash on Saturday, do you believe any changes are required to try to prevent what happened, including any responsibility on the part of the drivers, pack racing, at least at the restrictor plate tracks?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I think it’s crazy to ask the drivers to do anything different.  It’s just impossible.  When the plates were put on the car, it requires a different type of racing.  Your speed comes from the car behind you.  So the pushing, not necessarily physical contact, but that bubble between the two cars, that bubble is what speeds things along the most and makes things happen within the draft.
 
You’re going to block.  You have to defend.  You have to do things on plate tracks that drivers just don’t like to do and it’s not what we’re used to doing, not what we’re used to doing.  But that’s the game, that’s the element.
 
To leave the rules the same and try to impose something on the drivers in how you perform out there, that’s unfair.  I mean, it’s absolutely unfair. But we need to learn from this.  There are things that we can do, eventually that we can do, to create a safer environment for the fans.  When you look at the evolution of safety, if you go back far enough, you look at the restrictor plate put in place after Bobby Allison’s crash.  We continue to make changes.  What we saw in Talladega with the crash that happened with Paul and Brad, there were some ideas about the fence posts, the gap between them, what needed to change.  Daytona implemented that into their track.  When you look at the proximity of where fans sit near the racetrack, there’s certain elements of our sport that are dangerous.
 
We don’t need them directed at the fans, but we need to look at all things right now.  Unfortunately, it’s just a fluke accident t
o kind of open everyone’s mind to have them look at this again. Thankfully everybody is okay.  We’re going to learn from it and move forward.  But there is technology out there.  We just have to find the right approach, methodical, smart approach, apply that to our sport, and not create another issue.
 
I know people have an idea of Plexiglas.  I don’t disagree with that concept, but the last thing you want to do is create another safety hazard.  If that wall was to shatter and send chards off into the stands, that’s a whole other issue we have to deal with. We have to be careful in how we approach this and I know that NASCAR and the tracks will be.
Q.  There was even some talk on Sunday morning if NASCAR would implement some sort of no‑blocking rule for the plate tracks.  Is that feasible or would it be almost like the yellow line where everybody is going to kind of test it, you’re just kind of racing in the moment no matter what?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It’s so tough.  I know that everybody is concerned for the fans.  That’s where our priority needs to be. But as competitors on the track, I mean, it’s so tough for us to figure out what to do right, what the right thing to do is.  Everybody wants pack racing.  Pack racing leads to cars crashing and new risks for the fans, risks for the fans.
 
So here we are back to pack racing which everybody wants to see, a car crash happens, and the knee‑jerk reaction is:  Let’s eliminate blocking. That’s plate racing.  You cannot as the leader survive on your own.  You have to look in the mirror, spend 80%, 90% of your time driving the rearview mirror blocking the lead.  That’s what you do.
 
To take away the leader’s ability to defend his position, I mean, it’s just a crazy concept for me.  It’s not like open‑wheel racing where you go into a hairpin turn and you’re allowed one move to defend.  That’s what plate racing is:  you defend and you keep people attached to your rear bumper.
 
If that requirement is put on the drivers, I say break out the bulldozers and knockdown the banking.  Let’s take the plates off, make the track flatter where you have to lift, and let’s get rid of the draft altogether.
Q.  Speaking about the racing on Sunday, you were able to make the lower line work.  Any idea why you were able to?  Do you feel drivers were not making a lot of moves because they knew they were not going to be successful or were they just worried about wrecking too early?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, I think the middle part of the race, it was more about crashing.  Then as the race wore on, everybody favored the top, especially in our cars.  I’m not sure the Nationwide race was exactly that.  But everybody favored the top.
 
You didn’t want to lose track position during the race.  So it became kind of a defensive move to hop up there and stay in line and the only way you’d advance is if somebody got aggressive and pulled down. I had a good car, fast car, had a lot of speed in it, handled well all day.  With that and the aggressive side drafting I did, I was able to hang on the inside and make some stuff happen. When the 20 was in the race, we made some cool things happen on the bottom that others didn’t do.  When he was out and I was on my own late in the race, worked the side draft and fortunately caught a caution as I was ahead of the 2 and I was able to have lane choice at that point.
 
The right lane to be in migrates around (indiscernible) at the bottom, and with this package kind of smart driving, defensive driving from the drivers, it’s migrated back to the top.
Q.  Could you talk a little bit about the differences between your Speedweeks this year, not tearing up many cars, and winning the 500, compared to last year with all the penalties that came along with that, how having a good Speedweeks could help you as you move on to the upcoming races this season.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  The issues last year definitely impacted Speedweeks, but it impacted the first quarter of the year for us, defending our position with the supposed violation.  Over a period of time we were able to get that all behind us and prove our case.
 
It’s such a distraction, I can’t even tell you.  Yes, it had a little impact on Speedweeks, but it carried on through the other races more so because it took time for our group to be prepared, sitting in front of NASCAR, all these committees.  That was time away from the shop and setups that we could devote to the 48 car.
 
So happy to not have any of that take place.  It will help the 48 get off to a quick start this year.
Q.  Yesterday morning you mentioned that you really enjoyed not having to start off with a DNQ.  At the same time your team, whenever you get in a hole, you seem to get together and work your way out of it.  Is there a difference in the attitude of yourself and your team when you do that?  You just seem to bounce back no matter what the adversity.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Our team has been very good at that over the years.  I’m not sure if we have that in us or if we kind of discovered it along the way.  We hope it was in there. Each year we were faced with adversity, no matter what it was, we rally back.  We’ve had opportunities to lead the points, race for championships, win a bunch of championships and races along the way. It’s a very good trait to have for the 48 team.  We’re very proud to have it.  It’s been our saving grace in a lot of situations.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Jimmie, thank you for joining us today.  We know you have a very busy schedule the next few days.  Best of luck this weekend in Phoenix.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Thank you.

 
CHEVROLET SS WINS IN ITS NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES DEBUT
Jimmie Johnson Wins Season-Opening Daytona 500 for 2nd Time
 
DAYTONA, Fla. (Feb. 24, 2013) – Five-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, won the 55th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday. It also marked the first victory for the recently introduced Chevrolet SS, which was making its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut.
 
“I’m very happy to win the first race in the Gen-6 car for Chevrolet in their SS,” said Johnson, who led 16 laps and took the lead for good shortly after the final restart. “Awesome day.”
 
Johnson, who also won Daytona 500 in 2006, now has 61 victories in 400 career starts.
 
“Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus and Rick Hendrick on their victory in The Great American Race,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “And for the Chevrolet SS to win its first points race is incredible. This is a culmination of a tremendous effort by our engineers, owners, drivers, crew chiefs and teams who worked together to develop the Chevrolet SS race car. So much hard work went into preparing the Chevrolet SS for competition in the Sprint Cup series. We waited a long time for this race, and the performance of the No. 48 team made that wait worthwhile.”
 
Johnson finished 0.129 seconds ahead of teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS). It’s the third time in the last four years that Earnhardt Jr. has been the Daytona 500 runner-up. Ryan Newman (fifth, No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS), Regan Smith (seventh, No. 51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet), pole-sitter Danica Patrick (eighth, No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS) and J.J. Yeley (10th, No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet SS) also finished in the top 10 for Team Chevy.
 
It was the seventh Daytona 500 victory for owner Rick Hendrick.
 
Chevrolet now has 22 Daytona 500 victories, more than any other manufacturer. A Team Chevy driver has won seven of the last 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series openers at the 2.5-mile track.
 
PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
JIMMIE JOHNSON AND CREW CHIEF, CHAD KNAUS, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – WINNERS
RICK HENDRICK, WINNING TEAM OWNER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS
 
KERRY THARP: Let’s go ahead and start with our post race for the 55th annual Daytona 500 championship team. Our winning crew chief is here, Chad Knaus.
Chad, congratulations. I know this has got to be one of the biggest wins of your career.
 
CHAD KNAUS: Most definitely. Again, we can’t be blinded by the effects of what we had yesterday during the Nationwide race. I hope those fans are okay. I know many of them were planning to be here today and rooted the 48 car onto Victory Lane.
An awful lot of effort, from everybody’s part, from NASCAR, to all the teams, to get prepared for the Daytona 500 this year with the Gen‑6 car, a lot of work and huge, huge effort by the racing community as a whole. I think it was a great race, a lot of fun. Man, it’s pretty awesome to have been able to won it.
 
KERRY THARP: We’ll take questions for Chad.
 
Q. Jimmie has mentioned how one of the few things that the team would like to accomplish is to win a Daytona 500 with you here.
 
CHAD KNAUS: I knew that was coming out of you. Just knew it (smiling).
 
Q. Was that something that meant as much to you as it did to Jimmie and the other guys?
 
CHAD KNAUS: Yeah, it really is. As you guys know, I eat, sleep and breathe 48. Anytime that I’m taken away from that racecar, I’m pretty sad. But when those guys were able to come down here and win the Daytona 500 in 2006 in my absence, I think that really solidified the strength of the 48 car.
Was I here? No. Was I here in spirit? Most definitely. I couldn’t have been prouder of the group of guys we had there. To finally be able to come down here and win and be a part of this is definitely a huge dream come true, mostly so David Newton doesn’t keep asking me about it.
It’s great. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a great experience. I just couldn’t be prouder of everybody involved.
 
KERRY THARP: We are now joined by team owner Rick Hendrick and our championship driver Jimmie Johnson. He becomes the 10th driver to win multiple Daytona 500s. He wins his second Daytona 500 in his 400th career start. 61st victory in the Sprint Cup Series.
How does it feel, Jimmie, to win the 55th annual Daytona 500.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: It is just awesome. There’s no other way to describe it. 400 starts, every one of those starts with Lowe’s and Hendrick Motorsports. To be the first to win in a Gen‑6 car, and that car is a Chevy SS, just a very proud moment.
Plate racing has been tough on the 48 as we all know for the last few years. Happy to get through it all. Just a strong racecar. I feel like the speed our car had in it allowed me to really have control of the race there late. I felt like I was sitting on something all day and was just ready to have some fun when it counted, and it did.
 
KERRY THARP: Rick Hendrick, congratulations on this win. As a team owner, your entire organization, talk about what it means to win a race of this significance.
 
RICK HENDRICK: Well, this is the Super Bowl of all of racing. I remember the first one. Every one of them has been special. But we had a dry spell down here. I think it was it ’06, and this is our seventh one now. You can be in front going into three and you never make it back to the line.
I was really happy today to see our cars be able to run 1‑2. It’s a great feeling. It gives you a lot of momentum to start the year.
 
KERRY THARP: We’ll continue with questions.
 
Q. Chad, when we talked on the media tour, you very clearly hinted that you felt you had something that was going to give you the best opportunity to be in Victory Lane at the end of that race. Back then you didn’t want to talk about exactly what it was. What do you think you had today that really gave you all this victory?
 
CHAD KNAUS: I think it was Jimmie Johnson, quite honestly. Jimmie did a great job today.
You know, we work really hard at Hendrick Motorsports to prepare for the Superspeedway races. We put a great product out there. I’m telling you, I know we worked at least 35 days straight on the car that we raced in the Daytona 500. I know I put in personally one day of 38 hours straight. I actually sent Jimmie a text, saying I’ve seen 6:48 three times today and haven’t been to bed yet.
I think what we have above everybody else is the desire to go out and win races. We’ve got 500‑plus employees at Hendrick Motorsports. When they all want to go out and win races, you put guys like this behind the seat, you’re going to see magic happen.
 
Q. Jimmie, were you surprised at the end as you started taking that inside line up through there, I kept waiting for somebody, Biffle, Danica, people running second, third or fourth, to drop down in front and let you push them along, were you surprised nobody jumped down in front of you and made you push?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: The last restart?
 
Q. Towards the end, second to the last.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: You know, when I was stuck on the inside lane down there?
Yeah, everybody was just playing the odds. The majority of the competitors wanted to run the top. The draft really works in numbers. There’s more there than the bottom. With the side drafting being as effective right now, you could really choke down the bottom lane and pin a guy against the line and slow him down and then get away and have that long line of cars to surge you past.
The game’s changed a little bit. It used to be defend the bottom, now it’s defend the top.
In the closing laps, we were all single file, I was leading, I wanted to see what would go on with the middle or bottom and not allow guys to set me up based on my lines. I ran the bottom
and no one had a run or did anything. It was an interesting race.
Learned a lot through the course of the race with the new Gen‑6 car. At the end when it was time to go, I knew we had a straight racecar with no scratches on it. We worked real hard, we had a game plan down here every time. Even though we were in single‑car drafts, we had an agenda and things we worked on and made the car a little bit better each day, kept perfecting it. I had one heck of a racecar today.
 
Q. Jimmie, I want to ask you about a side‑bar story that comes out of this race. Danica Patrick made history today being the first woman to ever lead a lap in the Daytona 500. What impressed you most about the way she ran this race and what do you think this does for the sport?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Well, she’s really comfortable in the car. Being close to other competitors, door‑to‑door, whatever environment takes place on the racetrack, at these speeds, she was very comfortable. Held a great wheel. Was smooth and predictable. Took advantage of runs when she had them. She did a really good job.
It was just another car on the track. I didn’t think about it being Danica in the car. It was just another car on the track that was fast. That’s a credit to her and the job she’s doing.
I think the style of racetrack really suits her. When we get to the other tracks, she has a tall learning curve ahead of her. She continues to show her ability to drive racecars. She made history today, and in fine fashion, too.
 
Q. Jimmie, with Danica and with Harvick dominating early, do you feel maybe you flew under the radar well into it than you have in some years? If so, did you like that?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I didn’t really think too much about it. In other years I’ve been down here so focused on the pole, caught up in the media, the buzz that surrounds that, being in the top five. As time goes on, it’s a nice week to enjoy after you win the pole, but it just doesn’t mean much for the race.
In my mind, I didn’t feel like I was under the radar. I felt like we were working hard to put the best product on the track. I had a good run in the Unlimited until we crashed. The Duel, I thought we were very competitive there. It was a sign of things to come.
I guess I was quiet in the overall spectrum of things from the media side. I think people in the garage, people knew we were sitting on a lot of speed and had a very good racecar.
 
Q. Motorsports has been known for streaks, dominance. I know you’re hoping to repeating the five years of championships. After two years of struggling here, I was wondering, any little bit of a doubt saying, Can we regain that? Aiming at a championship, any doubts creep in?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Doubts on the championship or plate racing?
 
Q. The championship.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Plate racing, no. Man, it’s like playing the lottery. Everybody’s got a ticket. When the 83 car is up there running fifth or sixth in the closing laps, it just shows you how equal the cars are and what the draft does. I’ve struck out a lot at these tracks, left with torn‑up racecars. Today we had a clean day.
I didn’t doubt our ability to win; I was just frustrated with circumstances and plate racing. This will buy me a smile for I’m sure the rest of the year on the plate tracks.
 
Q. Thirty-five more races to go. Good start. How do you look at this now looking ahead to the rest of the season?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Definitely a great start for the team. When we were sitting discussing things before the season started, we felt good about the 500, but we’re really excited for everything after the 500.
So very hopeful and excited that our 48 car will be really fast in Phoenix, Vegas, moving forward. I think it’s going to be a very strong year for us.
 
Q. Jimmie, can you try to explain, you said on the last lap you backed up to the people behind you, Junior said he backed up, Greg said he backed up. I thought the whole idea was to try to go forward.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Well, the way our cars work, there’s more help from someone pushing you than somebody towing you along. Been mentioned and talked a little bit about this week, the spring, some guys call it the beach ball effect. When the front bumper gets close to the rear bumper, there’s bubble effect that shoots the car ahead. We learned over the years, if you ride the brake and help the car catching you break through that little bubble and make contact with you, there’s more energy in that than the bubble effect.
Usually why we wreck is drag the brake, wait for contact, sometimes it’s not in the right spot, maybe it’s too hard, starts a wreck. But that’s the game everybody plays.
I didn’t pull back on the 16 at all. It seemed to me that everybody that’s won down here, the leader was in pretty good shape. I was looking closely at the 16, waiting for him to come with a run. Then Earl said the 88 had the run. Last I looked, he was fourth or fifth. I thought that was great because he’s probably going to stall out next to the 16, I was going to be up there all by myself in the lead and make it back.
He did have a big enough run to get by the 16, but I knew he didn’t have enough closing rate to get by my side and do anything. I felt kind of good about things coming off of four.
 
Q. Jimmie, about being under the radar. Usually in the old style of restrictor plate racing, there would be a harrowing moment or defining moment when you knew a guy was going to win or somebody had a dominant car leading into the weekend. It seemed like this weekend with the eradication of tandem drafting, everything in practice was limited. Today the racing seemed so different. Did you have a defining moment over the last week, or a time when you knew you could win this race, from 10 days ago to now?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: The rules package has the cars so close that it is tough to tell, even inside the racecars on the track. It was the Duel, I climbed out of the car, Chad and I debriefed afterward. I told him we didn’t have much speed. He said, Man, from what I saw, you looked as good as anyone if not better. Chad and I in our relationship, I couldn’t tell.
The same for yourself, you’ve been watching the sport a long time. The rules have the cars very close on speed. Throughout the week what I looked for was cars that could hang on to the draft. If they’re the last car in line, didn’t lose the draft, that was a fast car. That was one of the only indications I could consistently say was key. We found ourselves in that position a lot and never lost the draft.
For me the defining moment in the race was the caution coming out and the 48 being ahead of the 2. That gave me lane choice and really control of the race in the closing laps.
 
Q. Jimmie, maybe I’m reaching on this, but there at the end of the race you’re lining up against Brad. You lose the championship to him last year. Any extra motivation to go and get the 500 and beat him? Also, after going two years without winning a championship, to start a year with a Daytona 500 victory, are you able to take any ability to stick it to everybody and say, Hey, I’m back, I’m here, I’m coming back?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, I don’t think we went anywhere anybody in the garage area, they’re wise to all that. We had great pace last year, championship form, had two bad races at the end.
You know, I’m just enjoying this moment. This is a one of a kind race. In the rush that follows, the notoriety that follows, it’s great for all of us. Chad, Rick, the company, Lowe’s, Chevrolet. It’s just time to sit back and enjoy.
When we pull into the gates at Phoenix next weekend, it’s a totally different game as we all know. We’ll enjoy this rush. If there’s some down points through the year, we’ll look back on this race and smile again.
As far as racing with Brad out there, you really lose sight of who is in what car. It’s just somebody between you and the trophy. It could have been anybody. I knew the 2 had damage and wasn’t going to b
e really fast. That’s the only thing I thought about regarding the 2, was he had some damage and hopefully I could get by him with the clean racecar I had.
 
Q. Jimmie, you just said you were aware the 2 had front end damage. It seemed like it took you a long time to get by him. Were you just sort of biding your time or were you surprised he was as fast as he was with that nose so torn up?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, I was desperately wanting to get by him or in the inside lane. There were far more cars lined up on the outside lane than the inside. Who was behind us?
 
CHAD KNAUS: Denny.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think the 9 was there at one point.
It was just so hard to make up time on the bottom because there were fewer cars. I was hanging on side drafting, doing all I could to hang onto the 2 when I was close to him and the 16. The caution truthfully fell at a good time for us. Right when we surged ahead, that allowed me to get ahead for the driver’s choice for which lane he wanted.
 
Q. Seemed like you were laying low for half the race. Was that the way things went?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, I ran second to fifth all day really. But you had such a small opportunity of time to get something done, you had a restart, and that would shuffle around for three laps, then we’re all in line. Coming to pit road, Chad’s strategy on when we pitted, the guys, what they did on pit road, was great. We always got the lead as the result of one.
Once that single file, it would be foolish to pull out. You get back in line in 35th or something, so you just kind of hold your spot.
 
Q. Jimmie, I know it’s awfully early, but the last time a new racecar was introduced in ’07, Hendrick and you were strong right away. I look at this and I wonder are you maybe a little bit ahead of the rest? Is this a sign or is it too early to say that maybe you have something?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: It is a little early yet. Once we get a downforce race or two behind us, we’ll have a better understanding. I have confidence because I know how hard Chad works, I know the tools and commitment that Rick has and gives us, how hard everybody works at our shop. We’ve had great test sessions.
Again, we felt like we had a shot at this race, but we’re really excited for the races to come.
But it is a little early. Maybe after Vegas, Bristol, we can see which team has the upper hand.
 
Q. Obviously it feels fantastic to do this. What does it mean to you that so many of your competitors come into Victory Lane to congratulate you in a moment like that? What does it mean to you to spend those types of moments with your family?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: It means a lot. I mean, that hits me deep. We race against one another, do some awful things to each other out on the track as competitors. But it’s the ultimate nod for another guy to come in, if he’s a Hendrick driver or not.
Brad came by, Ryan came by, Mears came by, Gordon, Junior, Kahne. It’s really cool. It means a lot to me. I’m one of the few racers out there that’s concerned about friendships and relationships. I have a lot of friends out there on that track and I’m proud of that.
I’m also proud to have my family here. Chani and Evie mean the world to me. Chani has been by my side and supporting me and letting me focus on my job and do all that I need to to be a part of this race team.
I win, our family wins. To have that moment in Victory Lane is very special, too.
 
Q. You’re about to go through an entire gauntlet of publicity that will have nothing to do with racing. How much room are you going to give Jimmie to enjoy this before you haul back in to get ready for Phoenix?
 
CHAD KNAUS: Well, I already know he has appearances tomorrow morning, then he’s got to go to New York and do stuff there, stopping in Charlotte on the way. Tuesday, we’ll have a debrief. Thursday, we’re on track with the Nationwide car. He’s going to be pretty busy.
That’s the thing that’s difficult about our sport. You’ve got to move on relatively quickly and put the good things and the bad things behind you. So that goes both ways. Jimmie does a very good job of balancing that out. He’s going to have some serious obligations with all of you from a media standpoint. But he’ll be on point when it comes time for Phoenix.
 
Q. I’m not sure what we thought we were going to see down here, but after hearing all about the Gen‑6 car, how it was going to do this, that and the other thing, for much of the day it was just single file, parade style until the very end. Is this race so different that this car eventually will be very good at other places and may not be good here or are we expecting too much?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, I think the cars are sensitive to side drafting, and that is some of what we saw. When we’re running single file, we’re just trying to get to the finish. We’ve all crashed so many times and have torn up so much stuff that a lot of that falls on the driver’s shoulders.
I feel for NASCAR, they’re trying to create a very competitive car. They want a side‑by‑side. The fans want a side‑by‑side. There’s a few guys willing to race. The spotters were all talking. I’d get word that three or four guys wanted to jump out of line, they were tired of riding. I thought they better get some friends.
I just believe a lot of the competitors just wanted to get to that last pit stop and race for it.
 
CHAD KNAUS: On that point, I’d like to add, there were a lot of stories going on other than the racing on the track. Racing is more than side‑by‑side and crashing. If you go back and look, there were different pit strategies, ways guys took the lead on pit road, two tire or four tire strategy. The racing was pretty good if you go back and look at the nuts and bolts of it. Just because you’re not running side‑by‑side doesn’t mean it’s a bad race.
 
Q. Jimmie, in the best laymen’s terms, because maybe the casual fans don’t understand how difficult it is to do what you guys do out there, is it particularly hard to win here at Daytona? If so, why?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, it’s about as tough as it gets here. The draft and the way you race here and at Talladega is much different than anywhere else. It takes vehicles around you to create opportunities to pass. You can’t do it alone. So it’s far different than any other racing we do.
When you put us here at the biggest race, the Daytona 500, everybody brings their A game. It’s the most difficult race to win.
 
Q. Jimmie, put this in some kind of historical perspective. I don’t know if you’re able to do this at this moment. Winning in your 400th career start, you joined a great list of people that have done that, Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Richard Pearson, Dale Earnhardt. What does that mean to you having accomplished that?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I had no clue about that. Just to hear those names and my name in that sentence is pretty awesome. The history side is hard for me because, one, I don’t know these stats. Happy to hear about them, though. I’m still in the sport competing, not in that mental space to reflect back all that much.
I am so proud to be in that same category with those guys, feel I have a lot of years left. I certainly hope to make more history and do other cool things within the sport.
It’s a huge honor. There’s no other way to put it. Any time you’re mentioned with those greats, it’s a huge honor.
 
Q. Switching to a new car, how long does it take you to discover the setups that you think are going to work? Some people mentioned it’s a lot like it was eight to 10 years ago. Are you finding any numbers that you have useful to this year?
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON: We never stop learning. Something’s always evolving and changing. Just when you think whatever mindset has become extinct, whatever setup is never going to be in a racecar again, a guy finds a way to make it work once again. We see this happen all the time.
This car is introducing some very old school th
ought, tools to be used on the racecar. So nothing’s really ever gone. It always seems to find its way back into the sport. We’ll learn all year and even past that.
 
KERRY THARP: Jimmie Johnson, Rick Hendrick, Chad Knaus, congratulations on putting on a great show here during Speedweeks, culminating with today’s victory in the 55th winning of the Daytona 500. Certainly a championship effort. We wish you the best of luck the rest of the accept. Thank you.
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS FINISHED SECOND

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS FINISHED EIGHTH AND WAS THE TOP FINISHING ROOKIE-OF-THE-YEAR CONTENDER

KERRY THARP: Let’s roll right into our post race for today’s 55th annual Daytona 500. What a great event it was out there today.
Our race runner‑up is Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Dale, really made a good move on that last white flag lap, coming on strong. Talk about the performance today of the 88 team.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I couldn’t have done much without Mark (Martin) helping me here at the end. I was hoping he was thinking what I was thinking as we come off of turn two on that last lap. I felt like we needed to make the move a little earlier than off of four.
I kept backing up, backing up, trying not to let guys get racing behind us too much. If somebody ducked out of line a couple rows behind Mark. I was going to have a gap, me and Mark could take off, not get hung up with those guys. Once we come off of two, mashed the gas, got a run on Danica, side‑drafted her a little bit. I don’t know why them guys didn’t pull down in front of me besides Jimmie, but we got through three and four with a pretty good run.
Once we come to turn four, we kind of run out of steam, didn’t have enough to get a run on Jimmie.
But real happy with the way the car run all day. You couldn’t pass much. But when I was able to really see what my car could do, it was plenty capable of winning the race. The guys did a good job all winter trying to prepare for running well. We got 1‑2 out of our shop. Really happy with Hendrick and all our effort.
KERRY THARP: We’ll take questions now.
Q. Dale, you touched upon the fact it was hard to pass. Reflect on the performance of the new Gen‑6 models and was it frustrating as it seemed for us looking that you weren’t able to pass that much?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I got to agree with Mark. I thought the car put on a really good show all week. We had a really exciting Shootout, the 125’s were pretty racy. The car proved at the end of this Daytona 500 that it will race well and put on a good show.
That first 150 miles, everybody commits to the top, there’s not enough guys to organize on the bottom, you get freight‑trained. There’s too much risk. You work all day on track position because you got to be toward the front to have a shot at it. You hate to give up any track position.
I saw guys like Gordon pull out, go to the back. Too much of a risk. If I could find a car with a gap in front of it, I had a run, I might have been able to side draft. But you have to be patient with that.
It was a great show. A couple adjustments with this car, the track is going to age a little bit more, the tire will change as the track ages. It’s going to turn into an even better race. I think no adjustments needed.
KERRY THARP: We’re also joined now by Danica Patrick. She is the highest finishing Sonoco Rookie of the Year. She came in eighth today.
Danica, talk about your run out there today. You were always running up front. Congratulations.
DANICA PATRICK: Thanks. You know, it was a solid day, steady day. Got off to a nice start. Wish I would have led at the very beginning. I thought I was going to. So it was nice to lead later on in the race, just to have done that, to lead laps.
But it was steady. I mean, I spent most of the day half throttle running behind people. So, you know, when you get in that line, that nice outside line where it’s just single file, I didn’t feel like it was a wise idea to drop low and try to figure out how to pass. You were going to probably find yourself much further back.
I suppose that’s the only downside to running in that front group all day is that I never got any practice passing, I never tried really anything. The only thing we really did was on those starts, the inside line had a lot of momentum for the first couple of laps. That was the most action that happened until the very end there.
Once that inside line at the end of the race had dedicated followers, it was strong. But once Jimmie got in the outside line, I think it showed that he was fast.
So congrats to Jimmie. It was nice to get a Chevy to win the race.
But, you know, overall steady day, steady day for me, nice day for Go Daddy, and the crew did a nice job in the pits. So really nothing super‑duper eventful.
KERRY THARP: We’ll continue with questions.
Q. Danica made more history today by becoming the first woman to lead a Daytona 500. Want to get your thoughts on that. What impressed you with the way she ran today and what this means for the sport.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: She’s going to make a lot of history all year long. It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch her progress. I think she’s done her best work in the Cup car myself. I think for whatever reason she seems to get a lot more out of that car.
Every time I’ve seen her in a pretty hectic situation, she always really remained calm. She’s got a great level head. She’s a racer. She knows what’s coming. She’s smart about her decisions. She knew what to do today as far as track position and not taking risks, like she said.
I enjoy racing with her. Look forward to more all year long. It’s just going to be a lot of fun having her in the series.
DANICA PATRICK: Thank you. Those are all really nice things and I appreciate that.
Q. Danica, will you ultimately view this day as a success or will you be kicking yourself over would have, could have because you were third with a lap to go?

DANICA PATRICK: I would imagine that pretty much anyone would kick themselves and say what could I have, should I have done to give myself that opportunity to win.
I think that’s what I was feeling today, was uncertainty as to how I was going to accomplish that. There was plenty of time while you were cruising along. I was talking to Tony and my spotter on the radio, What do you see people doing, what’s working, what is not. I was thinking in the car, How am I going to do this? I didn’t know what to do exactly.
So I feel like maybe that’s just my inexperience. Maybe that’s me not thinking hard enough. I don’t know. Getting creative enough. I’m not sure. I definitely was a little uncertain how I was going to be able to do it. I think Dale did a nice job and shows what happens when you plan it out, you drop back, get that momentum and you’re able to go to the front.
You know, I think he taught me something and I’m sure I’ll watch the race and there will be other scenarios out there that I’ll see that can teach me, too.
Q. Dale, late in the race, I think Danica had gotten by herself a little bit. You were one of the first guys that went up and worked with her a little bit. No hesitation on your part? When you ditched her there at the end, did you have any regret or remorse?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I was just trying to get the best finish I could. I wanted to get in the media center to thank my crew and everything. Was just trying to get on the podium.
Danica has done so good all week and her car has been great and she’s pretty tenacious out there, so I didn’t have any problem getting up there and drafting with her.
I went where I thought I needed to go to move forward. I’m sure on some occasions she was in that situation, involved in that situation, sometimes not.
I just went to where I needed to go all day long. You had to really pick and choose your battles and really be decisive on whether to go or not go on certain runs.
I really don’t remember much, except for the last lap, of the rest of the race, anything we did, who we
raced with even. It was a lot of fun. I had a good time.
Q. Did you like the rules package today? This looked like old school, like ’90s plate racing. How does this one compare?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I liked it. I think that the package is really good. The surface is still relatively new, which provides tons of grip. If we had the old surface with this car, it would have been an incredible race, people sliding around, wearing tires out, just trying to dig as hard as they could. We’ll get to that as the track ages. I’d hate to see them messing with the car to get a better package, because the track is in good shape. It’s down here next to the beach. It will wear out and age quite rapidly compared to Charlotte or some other tracks that have been repaved.
As the track changes, the tire will ultimately change and be able to wear and you’ll see guys moving around, different things happening.
I think it’s a great way to start the season. The car is doing everything we hoped it would do. I think it will just get better. It’s still a brand‑new car. We have a whole season and the future to improve it and learn how to make it tick. Looking forward to that.
Q. Dale, after finishing second, you had one of the best years ever in your career last year. How does this portend for the future?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I think it’s important to get a good start points‑wise. It’s important to put a good foundation of points together. If you get behind early, it seems like you’re still chasing that Chase spot at Richmond. It’s good to get a good start, get a couple points on some guys.
We’re a good team. Hopefully we can keep the pressure on them and stay up in the top five in the points and win some races. I want to really try to win some more races this year. That’s our focus.
Q. Danica, you had a great run going at Phoenix right to the very end. After such a great run here, you have to be excited going to Phoenix.

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah. It was nice to run like we did at the end of the year last year with Texas and especially with Phoenix.
I feel like it will give us a good baseline idea of how we need to set the car up. But it also is a new car, so we’ll have to adapt to that.
Tony and I are still figuring out how we get the most out of me with new tires in a qualifying situation, things like that. We still have a lot of stuff to work on.
But it was nice to have that race in Phoenix at the end of last year. While it might not be so much about Phoenix, I think it’s about Tony Gibson and everybody that works around him.
Q. Dale, following up on what Mark said about the sick feeling. You were on track when that horrible wreck happened. How did you feel to be able to race today versus how you felt 24 hours ago after the Nationwide race? How was the vibe different in the garage versus what it might have been last night?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Me personally, I was just really waiting to get the news on how everybody was, how all the fans were overnight, just hoping that things were going to improve, especially for the two critically injured. Just waiting for word on how everybody was, not really ready to proceed until you had some confirmation that things were looking more positive.
There’s so much going on at the prerace, so many distractions, once you got in the car and the race started, felt like business as usual. But like Mark said, I know there’s a lot of people still recovering, may have a lot of recovery in the future. Hopefully they’re doing well today and we welcome them back as soon as they get well, hope that they will come back.
Q. Dale, you didn’t have radio communication like you used to in the past. Wondering how you hooked up. Why couldn’t you catch Jimmie if you were hooked up?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I mean, I got the same equipment Jimmie does, so we were up against a pretty steep climb trying to get by him, getting a run on him. Mark and I did a good job as doing all we could from as far back as we were. I was surprised that the guys up front didn’t put up a better plan or laid back, or put themselves in a better position. Everybody is out there trying to do what they need to do. We just happened to make a choice. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.
Q. Danica, when you look at what you accomplished here and what you did do at Phoenix and Texas, do you now reset your expectations for what you might be able to accomplish as a rookie this year?

DANICA PATRICK: No. I mean, I think that would be unwise to sort of start telling myself that top ten is where we need to be every week. I think that’s setting up if failure. The list of drivers in the Cup Series is deep. This is a unique track. These tracks are different and unique. A lot about the car. I mean, you have to be smart enough to do the right thing at the right time. But it’s very much about the car.
I feel like I’m still sticking to let’s see how these first five races go where we go to a bunch of different kinds of tracks, see where we settle in, start to establish goals from there on out.
The only thing we can go off of is at the end of last year and running solid inside that top 20, hopefully get inside that top 15. That’s really all I can think right now. That’s all I can think. It might change after five races. It might be better. Who knows. It might be worse. We’re going to kind of pick up where we left off.
Q. Danica, by the time you got to your car before the race, seemed like the national anthem was starting and you had to hop in right away. I could be wrong. Was that at all difficult, the lack of time you had to unwind from everything?

DANICA PATRICK: You know, I feel like when there are pressure situations, tensions are high, I don’t get too flustered and I seem to be okay with them. So, you know, I was walking while the invocation was going on. By the time I got to the car, we did the anthem. There were a list of photos with people that we were meant to get and I didn’t do any.
I just got in the car. As soon as the anthem is done, I get in the car. Everything else has to take a backseat, because that’s what I’m there to do, is drive.
Q. Dale, you said on pit road you feel like with a few changes to the package, it could be great racing. What sort of changes do you recommend?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Seeing how the track changes. I had a really bad push in the Duel, just terrible, and I couldn’t believe the right front tire lived as well as it did. I was able to maintain with the pack. When the racetrack was a lot more worn out, I would have probably blown the tire out if I hadn’t come in the pits and fixed it.
Just the tire is very good. I don’t want to give people the wrong impression. As this track ages, they’ll be able to tune the tire, much like they are coming up with Phoenix. I think it will challenge the cars and challenge the drivers a little bit. It’s just a little easy to stay in the pack. I think it will get harder as the surface gets slicker.
Q. Danica, what was it like leading the field to the pole? Was there any time to look around or absorb the moment?

DANICA PATRICK: There were quite a few people out there when we walked out there for intros. I thought that was a hefty amount of people. That was pretty cool. You definitely got the feeling you were in a sea of people. Hopefully the fans enjoyed that.
That’s access to us that no other sport really gets that. I mean, the fans can really get to us. I hope they appreciate that.
And to be ‘on the field,’ that’s a cool thing for the fans to be able to do. But I got a feeling there, once you’re out in the car, I’ve been in these situations before, I felt really calm leading the field to the green. The front was the calmest place to be, so I thought as anything would go, I’m sure there were people behind me that were more nervous because up front is nice on these speedways.
Q. Danica, the owner of Red Bull has offered you, if you finish in the top 10 at the Daytona 500, the opportunity to test a Formula One car. Is that something you would be interested in, as a demonstration, not anything
serious?

DANICA PATRICK: I didn’t hear about that. That’s nice. I have been in that situation before, where someone has offered for me to test the car. It was a long time ago, quite a few years ago. Where do they test, in South Africa or something in the winter.
Anyway, for me, if I’m not serious about driving a Formula One car, I’m not a car geek. I don’t feel like I have to drive a Formula One car to make my life complete. Unless it was something I was serious about doing, my schedule is rather full anyway. Then it just opens you up for criticism. If it doesn’t go well, what are people going to say? That’s something that I don’t like to put myself in.
But it’s a very kind offer.
Q. Danica, as you became the first female to lead laps at Indy, you did here. I know you don’t like to think of your career in gender terms, but I was hoping you could describe what that means to you.

DANICA PATRICK: You know, honestly when I say that I wanted to lead at some point, it was just because I was disappointed I didn’t do it off the bat like I thought I should have. So it didn’t really have to do with being a girl and leading.
I think a stat that I found more interesting is only 13 people, including me now, have led Indy and Daytona. I thought that was a much cooler stat for me.
I’m honored. But, again, these are things that just happen along the way. I’m on the quest to be the best driver, run up front, get to Victory Lane. These things happen and I’m proud, but they’re not the ultimate goal.
Q. Danica, before the start of the race, making your way through the crowd, I think Tony found you and drew you close to say something. What words did he impart? What kind of calming effect did that have for you?

DANICA PATRICK: Well, he grabbed me first and I was about ready to unleash on someone (laughter). That happened first.
He just said, Block all this out. You go do it. It’s your time now. Focus. You’ll do a great job.
I’d love to be able to talk to somebody like Tony Stewart and just get the rundown on how it’s going to go, but you have to experience it for yourself. For me I also have to have experience to ask and figure out how to do them better next time. It’s not so easy as to talk to Tony and get the scope of it.
What he said was simple, but calming, and it probably was what also drove me to just, as soon as the anthem was over with, to get in the car. People are trying to make decisions around me. Are you going to do it? Are you not going to do it? I’m putting my ear piece in, if you want a picture with my back to you, that’s fine, but I’m getting in the car because it’s time to work.
Q. Danica, I think when you won the pole, there was a little bit of, She won the pole, she has a fast car, but how is she going to race when it comes down to it. Do you feel like in the bigger picture what you were able to do today perhaps showed and won some respect from the Sprint Cup guys?

DANICA PATRICK: Again, I think that’s a question better to those guys, better to guys like Dale and everyone else that I was around all day. I feel like they would be able to answer that question for you.
But I think it was better to have run up in the top 10 all day today. The pole was wonderful. Tony Gibson and those guys are the ones that should be really proud of that one, and I know they are. But today being able to stay up front, get to the lead at one point, just run up in the top 10, for me that was more of an accomplishment.
Guy on my team, Jay, was joking around before qualifying. He said, These two days are about us, next week is about you. He’s joking around, but he’s right. It’s about the potential of the car, Hendrick engines and chassis, and having that pub for Go Daddy, because there’s a whole week of media. That was for them, and today is the day that I can look at and be happy for certain things and learn from others.
Q. Danica, a couple times on pit road with that first pit stall, it was tough getting out of the pits. Wheel spinning, a couple times getting passed. Can you talk about the idiosyncrasies of pit road.

DANICA PATRICK: First pit box is the one you take when you qualify on pole. That’s just what you do. It was definitely different pulling out because everyone has momentum next to you. I mean, I think it’s a benefit under yellow because you’re just crossing the line, but after that, the momentum takes over.
It was different. I mean, I definitely felt like I had a lot of wheel spin. I don’t know if that’s the fact that there’s no rubber in front of me really, being in that first pit stall or not. I’m sure there’s great reason why you pull into that first pit stall.
It was nice to be there all day. It wasn’t until the end with the 9 that I had to worry about anyone pulling into the pit box behind me. We were in that and it was nice to have it. And I can’t miss my pit box either. Can’t miss it.
Q. Dale, you came really close to a second victory in the Daytona 500. How would you feel if you managed to get that second one, given how long it took your dad to get one?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, it’s like a drug, I assume. It’s such a high. You just don’t know when you’ll ever get that opportunity again, or if you’ll ever get that opportunity again. I knew before I won in 2004, I was reserved to the idea I may be trying to win this race my entire career, because I knew all too well how that was for my father.
I felt so much relief when I did win it. I’m ready to do it again. It’s been too long. Running second over and over is great and all for our team, a good start to the season, but I would love, even having to go through all the hassle that Jimmie is about to go through this week, it’s worth it.
Just before I take off, I just wanted to say that I noticed something last night coming out of the track for dinner, just seemed to be a different vibe inside the infield. People seemed more excited about what was getting ready to happen today. Even today, there seemed to be a whole lot more people here. Seemed to be a lot more excitement about the race.
That really was the biggest motivator for me today. I think we’re headed in the right direction. We may not be consistently each week. But I thought today for some reason it just felt like we’re on the right track as a sport. That’s got me really excited. So I’ll take off and see you guys next week.
DANICA PATRICK: I agree (laughter).

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 24, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – WINNER OF THE 55TH DAYTONA 500
 
THIS IS THE SECOND TIME YOU’VE WON THE DAYTONA 500, BUT IT’S BEEN A BIT OF A DROUGHT SINCE 2006.
“It has. Plate racing is awfully tough racing form of racing and there’s a lot of luck involved. Pack racing is a little different. You can’t ride and kind of wait for things to happen. You have to race all day long and fight for track position. And this race car, this Lowe’s Chevrolet, was so good. Chad Knaus and all of Hendrick Motorsports gave me a fast car and I could really stay up front all day long. I had a lot of confidence those final few laps leading the train because I knew just how fast this car was. It’s a big credit for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.”
 
IT SEEMS LIKE YOU HAD A SPECIFIC GAME PLAN FROM THE MOMENT YOU UNPACKED HERE IN DAYTONA
“We did. We wanted to get this car to the 500. We knew it was the best car for us and I’m very happy to have it in the 500 and it certainly did its job for us. I just want to give a big shout-out to all the fans and I also want to send my thoughts and prayers out to everybody yesterday that were injured in the grandstands. Go to Lowe’s. Buy some stuff. Spring is coming. Go buy a Chevrolet. I’m very happy to win the first Gen-6 car race by racing the Gen-6 car for Chevrolet and their Chevrolet SS. It’s been an awesome day.”
TELL US WHAT YOU HAD TO DO TO KEEP IT OUT FRONT ON THOSE LAST COUPLE OF LAPS?
“I think it goes all the way back to when the caution came out and the fact that we were in the lead and gave me lane choice. The outside lane worked in most situations. The inside would rally from time to time. When I had lane choice I knew that we were set up to win the race and it was up to me to not make a mistake and blow it. This Lowe’s Chevrolet was so fast. Chad (Knaus) did an amazing job. We stuck to our plan all week long, kept the car straight through the practice sessions and the duel. We knew it was a very fast race car and it would race well. We got that done here today.”

YOU MENTIONED THE OUTSIDE LANE BEING THE STRONGEST. WHAT WAS IT THAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE THAT ENABLED YOU TO MAKE THAT PASS DOWN ON THE LOW LANE?
“Things just worked out well for me coming to the caution. The No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) got a big push and was way out and kind of falling back to the No. 16 (Greg Biffle). My lane was bunched up tight and helped me surge by the No. 2 at the start/finish (line) when the caution came out. That was really the move that set things up for us. At the end it got exciting. I was waiting for the run and it came further back than I expected. The No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) got a big shove and was coming up the inside. I moved down to defend that and we were able to get a one-two (finish) for Hendrick Motorsports. For the 48/8 shop so very happy there are a lot of people put a lot of effort into these cars, I want to thank all them.”

WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE ON THAT LAST LAP?
“Making sure I got down to get in front of the No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.), but honestly once I had control of the race, I knew I was sitting on a lot of speed with this car. It was so fast. I give it to my shop and my guys. They gave me a great race car.”

YOU’VE WON THIS RACE BEFORE, BUT THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS IT JUST HASN’T SMILED ON YOU. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE MOMENTUM GOING INTO THE 2013 SEASON?
“There is no other way to start the season than to win the Daytona 500. I’m a very lucky man to have won it twice. I’m very honored to be on that trophy with all the greats that have ever been in our sport. Amazing day for myself, for this team, as the year goes we are excited. But next week is a whole different game. We will have to make sure we are buttoned up and ready to go there. Before I go I just want to send my thoughts and prayers out to everyone that was injured yesterday and I hope they are healing up and doing well.”

RICK HENDRICK – WINNING TEAM OWNER
CONGRATULATIONS JIMMIE JOHNSON DOES IT HERE FOR YOU TODAY:
“We have a hard time finishing these races, boy, to run one-two man what a day. I’m so proud of Jimmie (Johnson), Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) what a great move by Dale there at the end. (Sigh of relief) I’m glad.”

CHAD KNAUS, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – WINNING CREW CHIEF
CONGRATULATIONS YOUR DRIVER BROUGHT YOU THE TROPHY HERE TODAY AT THE 55TH RUNNING OF THE DAYTONA 500:
“Jimmie (Johnson) did a fantastic job today. It’s been a tough week and a half down here in Daytona. Everybody needed to work together, NASCAR, all the teams to get these Gen-6 cars where we needed them so they go out there and put on a good show. I think it was a heck of a show and Jimmie did a fantastic job. The guys back in the shop they had to put in a lot of extra effort to get these cars built. I just can’t say enough about them. Man, thank God for Lowe’s.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
YOU GOT BEHIND YOUR TEAMMATE JIMMIE JOHNSON, BUT WASN’T ABLE TO GET BY. HOW WAS THE END OF THAT RACE AND THE MOVE YOU WERE TRYING TO MAKE?
“Well, we just had a lot of help from Mark Martin at the end. We were able to lay back until the last lap on the backstretch there to get enough of a run. We got by a couple of them, but I looked up in the mirror off of (turn) four and Mark (Martin) was back there racing those guys and I lost my help. So when we got to Jimmie (Johnson) we didn’t have enough steam. I want to thank Hendrick and all the guys that work there. The engine was great. The car was real fast. You had to be real patient and if you tried to pull out you would go to the back of the field. We had to really be patient on them green runs to try to hold our track position and try to do things on pit road to get us up front. But at the end I knew the racing was going to get mixed up and it sure did. It was a lot of fun, just a great package, a couple of adjustments and man this is going to be awesome.”

YOU SAID YOU HAD THE RIGHT GUY PUSHING YOU
“Yeah, me and Mark (Martin) were just kind of sitting there and I was hoping he was thinking what I was thinking. So I was going to wait and back-up pretty hard to him and then get a run off of (Turn) 2 and then see what we could do in those last three-quarters of a lap. I just kind of ran out of steam off of (Turn) 4 and Mark didn’t get back to us. It just didn’t work out just perfectly. But we made a good move; just not enough race track. It’s real hard to pass the leader. Jimmie (Johnson) did a lot of good things there early or late in the race to stay up front. I was real happy with the HMS engines and all the guys in the shop did a good job all off-season working really hard trying to get these cars ready. It was a great finish for us and we’re going to be strong this year. I’m really excited about getting the season kicked-off with such a good finish.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO, 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS, FINISHED 5TH:
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THIS FINAL COUPLE LAPS?
“Not as eventful as I thought it was going to be. I thought there was going to be another yellow. Congratulations to Jimmie (Johnson – race winner) and his guys. It was a great finish it looked like from my standpoint. We mixed it up pretty good. Great day for Quicken Loans. Go online, QL.com. Five people will get their mortgage paid for a month. On top of that, we’ve got the Bloomin’ Onion. Great day.”
 
AS CRAZY AS YOU THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE?
“It was crazy no doubt, but I’ve been under the weather. And, we went through a lot of things on pit road. My guys did an awesome job to get my car back and contend in the Duels like we did. My best position all day was the last lap in fifth. I can’t say we are entirely satisfied with that, but after our day we’ll take that.”
 
ON LACK OF P
ASSING:
“You have 42 guys that are content with getting to the end. I mean this is a 500 mile race. We don’t race for the win at the 200-mile mark. It’s just the bottom line of it. We’ve gotten smarter as drivers because of the situations we’ve been put in. That is the way we are going to be; as smart as we can be. Not everybody is as smart. But, I made it to the end.”
 
ON HOW DIFFICULT HIS DAY WAS EARLY:
“Matt (Borland, crew chief) and the guys did a good job of fixing the car without losing a lap. We really didn’t have any damage. We shouldn’t have had any damage. We just had some actual body failures. The cars, as you saw in practice, were buffeting around so much, just didn’t have a couple of things reinforced as good as we should of. This is the best my week as been, so we should probably leave. (LAUGHS).”
 
YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT DANICA ACCOMPLISHED TODAY:
“I see her as a teammate, I see her as a driver. I know she is a girl. I know she is a female. We’re all drivers out there. I know it was big for her. If I was a girl, I’d probably be more competitive about it. But, I know it is big for her, and her sponsors. And everybody at Stewart-Haas. Proud of her. It is a good way to start the season. We won the pole. We got a top-five for the organization. Obviously (Tony) Stewart has a rough day.”
 
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN AND WHAT YOU LEARNED ABOUT THE NOSE OF THESE CARS BECAUSE IT CERTAINLY WAS AN ISSUE FOR YOU GUYS DURING THE DAY:
“We basically just had a body issue. The nose caved in, the hood caved in a little bit, but the guys did an awesome job with the Quicken Loans Chevrolet to get it fixed. You are right we did a lot of pit stops and I kind of lost track of what was going on. I had to worry more about my position than watching the race and educating myself. First of all congratulations to Jimmie (Johnson) those guys did an awesome job, put themselves in position and a good way to start the season for us with our Quicken Loans No. 39 team.”
 
REGAN SMITH, NO. 51 PHOENIX CONSTRUCTION CHEVROLET SS, FINISHED 7TH:
ON HIS DAY:
“It was a really good run for all the guys at Phoenix Racing and the Guy Roofing Chevy. We didn’t have the best car. We had a backup, but we knew that. We learned where our car worked, and didn’t work. Found out what the good parts, and bad parts were about it, and put it in the position it needed to be at the right times. That is the big boost that this team needs going forward this year. I think I am going to run like 10 races for them, so looking forward to the rest of them. We have a lot of speedways coming up. We’ll massage on this car and see if we can’t make it a little faster for Talladega and beyond.”
 
TONY GIBSON, CREW CHIEF NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS, FINISHED 8TH:
ON THE RACE FOR DANICA PATRICK AND THE TEAM:
“I’m jacked up man, that was awesome. We definitely had a shot to win it there, and that’s all you can ask for. Can’t do nothing about those guys getting runs on you. It is just the way it is. But, I am so proud of Danica and everybody on the GoDaddy Chevy SS. It has been a great week-and-a-half. I couldn’t ask for it to go any better. She impressed the heck out of me the whole day long.  Getting on and off pit road. The pit crew did a fantastic job. I’m just looking forward to every week. Every week we are going to get better and better and better. There’s going to be some bumps in the road, but we’re willing to suck those on, and get us some high notes. I’m just jacked up. I’m so proud of her. She kept her head for a week-and-a-half. We wouldn’t let her race in the 150 (Budweiser Duel Qualifying Race). We wouldn’t let her practice hard. She came out here and ran up front all day long. To be the first woman to sit on the pole of the Daytona 500, and the first woman to lead a lap in the Daytona 500 is pretty damn impression. And the highest finish ever. What else you going to get from that.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 8TH:
YOU DIDN’T GET MUCH OF A RUN IN THE DAYTONA 500 LAST YEAR TELL US ABOUT YOUR AFTERNOON HERE AS YOU GOT TO RUN UP FRONT ALL DAY LONG:
“I think you said it right there. Ran up front all day long and we led a little. We stayed in the top-10 all day pretty much. Had nice pit stops by the GoDaddy crew, the car was fast and it’s always a little frustrating when you come through and your top three on that last lap. I will learn more for next time. I really didn’t feel like I had a great grasp as to ‘how do you go win this race’. I hadn’t wrapped my head around exactly how that was going to happen. I kept thinking about it out there because for the most part I was running half throttle for most of the race running in the line. I will know better for next time and for Talladega. I mean the same stuff will probably apply. Good job Jimmie (Johnson) we got a Chevy to win so that is good.”
 
YOU LED LAPS AND SCORED A TOP 10-FINISH. WHAT WAS YOUR GAMEPLAN FOR THE END WHEN YOU WERE SITTING IN THIRD?
“I kept thinking about it the whole time. There was plenty of time. I spent most of the day running half-throttle in the line. So I spent a lot of time thinking about what you’re going to do when that opportunity comes. And I it’s just tough to tell. I kept asking up above what it looked like and what was working. You needed a hole. You needed people to help you out. I had a little bit of help here today here and there. But I felt like if I were to dive low, I had a feeling I was going to get freight-trained. It was tough to tell. Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) did a good job of backing it up because it did look like we were getting away and it felt like it too because we were flat. We were not lifting those laps. And when you’re second and third and so on, you do. And so we weren’t. So I thought we were just pulling away a little bit. At the end of the day, it was a solid day for the GoDaddy car and the GoDaddy crew. They did a nice job in the pits and we stayed basically in the top 10 all day long. So I can’t really complain about that. It was nice. It was calm most of the time but it was fun when it got a little exciting.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 20TH
NOT THE FINISH YOU WANTED. TALK ABOUT TODAY’S RACE:
“It’s tough, really tough race. I love the start that we got and we were up front there and in great shape. We lost track position and it didn’t seem like we were ever going to get it back. Then we finally did and those last two restarts just didn’t go very well.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 30TH
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
“I’m not really happy right now. We had a CAT Chevrolet that was pretty good today. We lost track position because we had that tire cut. We were going around one of those cars and he just hung a right on me on the straightaway, just hung a right. I had to turn right to keep from hitting him and the thing hung a right, head-on into the wall. It’s pathetic to race like that. You’ve got to be smarter than that. I understand it is plate racing, you’ve got to try to block, but you can’t block somebody that is coming 20 mile an hour faster than you are. It’s just completely uncalled for.”

YOU ARE ALRIGHT?
“I think so. That thing hit really hard. I haven’t hit that hard in a long time. Broke the block in the car. It hit really hard. Like I said you have wrecks on plate races that are going to happen, but that is the kind of wreck that shouldn’t have happened.”