TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
TICKETGUARDIAN 500
ISM RACEWAY
AVONDALE, ARIZONA
MARCH 10, 2019

BOWTIE BULLETS

LEADER OF THE PACK: Chevrolet leads all other manufacturers with 23 victories at ISM Raceway. Chevrolet has taken six different name plates (Lumina, Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo SS, Impala SS, Impala and SS) to Winner’s Circle in the Arizona Desert. Continue reading Chevy Racing—NASCAR–Phoenix Advance →

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 3, 2019

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
5th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Star Nursery Camaro ZL1
9th Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Camaro ZL1
11th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1
12th Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1
16th William Byron, No. 24 Hertz Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Joey Logano (Ford)
2nd Brad Keselowski (Ford)
3rd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
4th Kevin Harvick (Ford)
5th Kurt Busch (Chevrolet) Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas–Post Race →

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY POST FINAL PRACTICE PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 2, 2019

DANNY STOCKMAN, CREW CHIEF, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media following the final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session where the No. 3 Camaro ZL1 was fastest on the speed charts. Full Transcript:

YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN REALLY FAST THIS WEEKEND:
“Yeah the car is pretty good. We had a good test here a month ago. There are a lot of other good, fast cars. It’s just so tough this Cup Series with all these great drivers and all these really good teams. It’s so close and getting the balance right is super important and that is what we worked on right here in Happy Hour. I think we are close. We need to be a little bit better. The speed is definitely there. We need to be a little bit better drive ability, but me and my engineers will work on it and we will get it right.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR TEAMMATE GOING TO BE THIS WEEKEND WITH DRAFTING COMING INTO PLAY?
“You know, I don’t know… nobody knows. I think what is going to be really important is how good your car drives and if you have a teammate there at the end you might be able to utilize him, but I feel like you better have a good driving car and if you don’t you are going to be in a world of hurt like we were last week at Atlanta. You are just going to have to have a good car and have speed to go along with it and be there at the end.”

DOES IT COME DOWN TO A DECISION ON QUALIFYING WELL OR RACING WELL OR CAN YOU FIND THAT BALANCE?
“No, I think everybody comes here in qualifying trim and really works on trimming speed out and all that stuff. You can walk through the garage area and definitely notice that. I think there is a balance between speed in qualifying and race trim and you’ve got to hit both. I feel like we are close on that this weekend.”

ON THE OPTIONS WITH THIS NEW PACKAGE:
“There is definitely an option. It’s important to have a really good driving car and it’s important to have a fast car when you only have 550 horsepower. There is a balance you’ve got to hit that balance and whoever hits that balance will be in Victory Lane on Sunday I feel.”

SO, YOU THINK ADAM STEVENS IS GOING TO HAVE HIS CAR TRIMMED OUT (DANNY STOCKMAN AND ADAM STEVENS (CREW CHIEF FOR KYLE BUSCH) DID POST PRACTICE MEDIA AVAILABILITY IN TANDEM):
“I don’t think he is trimmed out. I think he has a really good driving car, I think he’s got a really good driver and a bad ass team. Same goes with us. We’ve got a really good car this weekend. The Dow Chevrolet is fast, it drives pretty darn good and we’ve just got to hit the balance right.”

DO YOU HAVE TO THROW SPEEDS OUT THE WINDOW LIKE AT A RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACK?
“I’d like to add that it’s not as easy as it looks. These cars are so aero dependent right now that you get on somebody’s bumper, they get tighter than they ever have. It is super important for the driver to position himself right on corner exit to make sure that he doesn’t shove the nose. Your balance and your car have to suit that. It’s definitely not easy. There is a lot of thought process going into all this stuff this year. Rule changes make a lot of work for everybody, but it’s fun in the same sense.”

ON TIGHT QUARTERS IN PRACTICE:
“Yeah, I mean I think we are all learning. Every time we hit the race track, we are learning and as the weather changes things are going to change. The biggest thing in this sport that we can’t necessarily predict perfectly is the weather. It’s going to be tough. It’s not easy.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 1, 2019

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
4th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Silastic Silicone Elastomers Camaro ZL1
5th Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Caterpillar Camaro ZL1
7th Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1
9th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
11th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Kevin Harvick (Ford)
2nd Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
3rd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
4th Austin Dillon (Chevrolet)
5th Daniel Hemric (Chevrolet)

The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 3 at 3:30 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 4th
YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN FAST ALL WEEKEND. TALK ABOUT QUALIFYING:
“Yeah, I figured we had the fastest car. I hate that we couldn’t stick to our plan that we had beforehand. We knew we had the fastest cars and we gave up a pole because of it. We just didn’t work together as a team as good as we needed to. I hate that, but we will hopefully learn from it because I’m really proud of these guys. It sucks when you have the two fastest cars and you qualifying fourth and fifth with them. We had the pole we thought that whoever was the fastest in the second round was going to run second and we were just going to go. I didn’t think anybody had anything for us, but plans changed right before the end.”

DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th
“It is to a point especially with how fast of race cars RCR gave myself and Austin Dillon. The good thing is though for the No. 8 team it’s a way better starting position than we have had the first two weeks and we are going to try to roll off there and give it a good run, but really proud of everybody in this Caterpillar Camaro ZL1 for giving us that much speed. We just figured out a way to mess it up. This is crazy. That qualifying deal is absolutely nuts. I know it probably put on a good show for the fans, but I kind of made single car runs the first two runs by myself. I didn’t really know what was going to happen there in traffic and just didn’t quite time it exactly right. For sure, I think if Austin and I could have executed our plan, we had enough speed to do it, but just didn’t work out.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 7th
THOUGHTS ON THIS QUALIFYING FORMAT:
“Yeah, it’s crazy. I got to do a little bit of it, that style, in Xfinity a few years ago. Yeah, we did it in Xfinity until we started crashing and then NASCAR made it single car qualifying at a lot of those tracks. So, I don’t know what to think about it. I’m glad it worked out for us throughout each round, but it’s definitely crazy. Just leaving pit road is intense. Me and (Kevin) Harvick were close to squeezing each other and getting damage. Yeah, that was wild, but we will do whatever they tell us to do.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 9th
WAS THAT CRAZY OR WHAT? IT LOOKED ENTERTAINING FROM OUR SEAT, BUT STRESSFUL FROM YOURS:
“It is stressful. We had qualifying like this I think on a restrictor plate track years ago. And I think it was great entertainment, but we were all afraid of how many cars we were going to tear up. So far, no cars are torn up, but I think that opportunity really exists. It is entertaining there is much more going on for the driver than a single car qualifying lap especially with this rules package, but the draft is everything. Being the first car is such a disadvantage and you try to figure out what games you can play to leave a nice game and be fifth on back.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 11th
DID YOU THINK YOU HAD THE POLE?
“TV said we did, the flag said we did, their timer said we did, all of it said we did. So, it’s their sandbox and we play in it. It’s wrong. They don’t give us an official clock to look at because the official clock that they gave us, our lap counted.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 12th
“I’m not exactly sure where the right place to be is. Obviously, Kevin (Harvick) did a good job at timing it up and being in the right spot. Try to replicate that I guess.”

DO YOU ENJOY THIS TYPE OF THING?
“I thought it was actually pretty entertaining. I enjoyed it. We might look silly sitting down there waiting until the last second, but it’s pretty fun kind of playing chicken with everybody and seeing who is going to go and who is not and all the decisions you are going to make. So, yeah, whatever I enjoyed it. It’s the rules and we’ve got ‘em so might as well like them.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified
“I don’t know if any of us knew really what to do there. But, you adapt round to round. I thought it was fun and I still think that handling mattered because there were cars in front of me that were really loose and didn’t qualify well. I think what made us keep being able to go out and rerun our second time is we just kept working on getting the car handling so I could hold it more wide-open. So, good speed and good handling still matter. It’s still racing and I’m just glad that we are taking this new package with excitement and really trying to make the most of it.”

RYAN PREECE, NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 24th
“That was something different. It’s just very draft dependent and it validates some certain thoughts on what I thought about. I am not quite sure if some of these guys… I might be wrong, but if they are going to be able to keep that speed in the race when they get in traffic. I know we trimmed our car out a lot there at the end or before we went into this even more just to try and chase that speed and it made it pretty undriveable. So, I think we are going to be in pretty good shape when it comes to race time.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 20th
“Yeah, I think we honestly didn’t have the best draw for where we were on pit road and ultimately that kind of screwed us because we couldn’t get out where we needed to for the first round. We were back in the pack and everybody was kind of handling terrible, so, I did what I could, but my foot was to the floor.

“In the second round we were all waiting at the end of pit road to make one more drafting run. Time was counting down and it was going to be close on if we could make two laps before time ran out, so we went and unfortunately ended up the lead car of the pack which hurt us.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 TRANSPORTATION IMPACT CAMARO ZL1- Qualified 21st
“I felt like we look back at practice we ran a .16 or .17 in the pack. The fastest we went was a .14 here. So, I told them I think we are at our peak speed with our car and I don’t know if maybe we were a little bit too free all of qualifying, but I don’t know if being perfect would have maybe put us at a .13. So, part of it. That was kind of fun because it brought me back to the Truck days and it was an absolute soup sandwich when we were doing that, so these guys kind of got it more organized, but hey we made the second round, we have something to work out, we are not totally out to lunch. So, I’m excited about it.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 NATURAL LIGHT NATURDAY’S CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 27th
WHAT HAPPENED?
“It was just a disaster. It was exactly what we expected it to be like with this style. That is a bummer, we have really good speed in our Naturday’s Camaro ZL1. I think we were ninth or something in practice. We’ve got speed it’s just… had a decent first run and then everybody goes at the end trying to jump each other. We were in a good spot and had someone jump right in front of us that could not get going to save their life. Pretty much ruined our qualifying effort and now we get to scratch and claw our way all day.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 STAR NURSERY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 28th
WAS THAT WHAT YOU EXPECTED WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?
“We didn’t expect to be as loose as we were, so I had to check-up out of the throttle and as soon as you check-up you lose too much momentum, so we didn’t advance.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 1, 2019

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and discussed the new rules package, his expectations for qualifying, thoughts on the team thus far this season and many other topics. Partial Transcript: Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas–Ty Dillon →

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 1, 2019

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 met with media and discussed his expectations and unknowns of the new rules package for Sunday’s race, his approach to qualifying, the upcoming races at Phoenix and Fontana, and more. Partial Transcript:

DID YOU DO ANY FENCE-MENDING WITH ANY HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS PEOPLE TODAY OR TEXTING WITH ANY OF THOSE GUYS IN THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS?
“No, not today. I spoke with Mr. Hendrick and just talked that over and apologized and let him know there was no harm meant behind it. It just came across wrong on my part. So, yeah, I felt bad about that but we’re both moving on and are here this weekend to race and hopefully have the same speed we had last week.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas–Kyle Larson →

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 1, 2019

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW SILASTIC SILICONE ELASTOMERS CAMARO ZL1 met with media and discussed the current speed in his race car, his approach to qualifying, the unknowns about the new rules package for Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, the upcoming race at Phoenix, and more. Full Transcript: Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas–Austin Dillon →

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 1, 2019

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 STAR NURSERY CAMARO ZL1 and Craig Keough, President of Star Nursery, met with members of the media at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and discussed Kurt coming up through the ranks, this week’s aero package, the expectations for qualifying and the race and many other topics. Full Transcript: Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas–Kurt Busch →

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2019

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 STAR NURSERY CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway to preview this weekend’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Full Transcript:

HOW CAN A GOOD FINISH AND A GOOD WEEKEND IN ATLANTA CAN PROPEL YOU TO A GOOD FINISH AT LAS VEGAS?
“So, for us it was nice to have speed right away with the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevy here at Atlanta the surface chews up the tires a bit quicker than what we will see in Las Vegas and so for the 1.5-mile package there is going to be still some more work to sort out once we get into tomorrow’s race sessions. But, right now looking forward to qualifying tonight. I spent a lot of time on the simulator for Atlanta and for Las Vegas going back and forth double checking mainly because they might look the same, but the surface definitely does a lot of different things to the car and so we will have to figure out more the tire wear side here and then probably look to more of a fuel mileage situation in Vegas.”

TALK ABOUT THE NEW CAR, THE NEW TEAM, THE EXCITEMENT FOR THE SEASON AND OVERALL GOALS FOR THIS YEAR?
“Yeah, I feel like I’ve got a competitive team to win races with, go out for poles and to be a teammate with a guy like Kyle Larson, that is going to be a nice hat for me to wear being a mentor or somebody that can help him find a little bit more speed in the car and help him mature and materialize into the racer and champion that I believe all of us thinks he can be.”

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO GET A VICTORY AT ATLANTA?
“Each and every week you want to have a shot at it and Ganassi and Chevrolet, everybody knows we’ve got to push hard and we can’t expect anything to happen just off of good vibes or good feelings, we have to go and apply all of the knowledge we can to the set-up of the car with the speed from the engine, the aerodynamics, pit crew is way more important now this year going into the way we are going to have these races where you are just going to have to call audibles and change around your pit sequence and the guys have to be ready to be able to adjust to that. Again, there are just so many moving parts that you’ve got to try to simplify it as best you can.”

ON HIS TIME SPENT WITH THE LAS VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS:
“That was insane to be there behind the ice or behind the glass and I’m right there on the ice commentating in the second period. Unbelievable the speed of the players and the intensity and how hard they go after things. The line changes, the way those guys are going after each other in the faceoffs, the contact, I never really have experienced up close and personal like that before. What a professional group of guys put on a good show.”

DID YOU EVER IMAGINE THE SUCCESS A PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY TEAM WOULD HAVE IN VEGAS?
“Yeah that has been incredible to watch the Stanley Cup Finals in the first year for the Las Vegas Golden Knights and everything that is going on in the city of Las Vegas with the sports world. The Raiders will be there in a couple of years. I think the AAA baseball team is building a new stadium, the way you see all the different… UFC, Rodeo, Boxing, and then I think even on Vegas weekend, next week is a Rugby tournament. You are just always finding sports games and something going on there and then like with the PAC 12 and college basketball, I think they do their tournament there. Bigger, better things are happening and that new stadium will be beyond belief for what sporting events will be hosted there.”

HOW IMPORTANT WOULD IT BE FOR YOU TO GET A VICTORY AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY?
“I would love to win there. I have always put too much pressure on myself at Vegas. Now with the second date in the Playoffs that helps with the routine and getting that track to feel like all the others when we are out on the tour. So, I’m hoping so. In 2005, I did finish third, the two guys in front of me were illegal afterwards, so with the new rules, I would have won it. So, maybe we will just be in position again, be right there.”

DOES SEEING THE SUCCESS OF TOM BRADY AT 41 YEARS OLD, NOW THAT YOU ARE 40, MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE SOME MORE LONGEVITY?
“Yeah, I’m not or as sharp or as quick and might not react in thousandths of a second anymore, but maybe my tenths of a second of reaction time are enough to hang with all these young guys. I feel like I’ve got a few more good years left of being competitive, having fun, but ultimately, just want to be up front and with a great sponsor like Monster Energy, they are a great brand to represent and age is just a number.”

HOW MUCH WILL WEATHER BE A FACTOR ON SUNDAY?
“Yeah, Vegas has the two largest extremes on their dates. The one in March, which the weather looks good so far, looks like 60 and sunny and that is ideal for the month of March and helps draw in ticket sales week of. And then the Vegas race in September, I think it was 99 degrees when we started the race and this next year, they are going to push back the start date to be more of an evening race and I think that helps with putting people in the grandstands and not having to use so much sunscreen in the summer months. Vegas is definitely a good challenge with the weather.”

WHEN YOU GET THOSE EXTREME CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE HOW MUCH DOES IT EFFECT THE TIRES, ETC.?
“Yeah, the September race was much tougher with it being hotter, the tires don’t grab the asphalt as good. You’ve got to try to start on lower pressures so they don’t build up so high and that changes the way the car drives early in the run versus later in the run. Whereas in March, we are going to see a bit more wide-open. We are going to see that especially with this rules package and you are going to see the draft come into play pretty heavy at the 1.5-miles this year. So, Vegas and Atlanta these next two weeks will be a good challenge.”

IT SEEMS LIKE WE ARE SEEING AN INFLUX OF YOUNG DRIVERS COMING OUT OF LAS VEGAS?
“Yeah, it’s amazing to see that motivation and that push come out of a bunch of young drivers and the way that their families are getting them out to the race track at an early age. Kyle (Busch) and I had a great, wonderful opportunity from our father and our mom. They never really pushed it to be full-time racing, it was always meant to be a hobby, but when we went to the track it was serious business and I’m really thankful to have had the chance to have broken through, made it to the big’s and created a trend there in Vegas for some of those fathers that want to get their sons and daughters into the cars.”

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THIS NEXT WEEK DIFFERENTLY AND NOT PUT SO MUCH PRESSURE ON YOURSELF COMING TO VEGAS?
“Just go with the flow a little bit better. Just stick with the team, learn all the little in’s and outs of the new rules package, try to figure out the draft quicker than the others at the 1.5-miles and apply what it takes to have the right strategy to either pit for tires or to stay out. Also, a little bit of lady luck. That is something that has been missing in my time out there.”

HOW DIFFERENT WILL THE RACE LOOK AT LAS VEGAS VERSUS ATLANTA?
“The biggest thing right now, we have only had one practice session, but we are talking about drafting next week in qualifying. So, we might unload on Friday in drafting sessions just to see how the cars handle and that is where you are going to have to have more teamwork and collaboration for a program like us with only two cars. We’ve got to call up the other Chevrolet’s and see what their plan of attack is. That is really my first thought of it. Today, we will probably see single car. You might see a couple of guys go in the first round to see if they can’t crack the top 24, but I think from like 4th to 18th was only a tenth of a second in practice. The cars, everybody, has got basically the same piece now.”

IS DRAFTING A RESULT OF THE DRAG DUCTS?
“It’s the asphalt here (in Atlanta) it chews up the tires so you can’t quite hold it wide-open if you don’t have the air pushing down on the car.”

YOU SEEM TO HAVE MORE OF A CONNECTION WITH LAS VEGAS THAN YOUR BROTHER. DID YOU SPEND MORE TIME IN VEGAS?
“Just older, wiser, more appreciative, no I’m kidding. It just seems like things happen easily, whether it’s sporting events, media hits, even like the Maverick Helicopter guy asked me to come out and do a charity event with him to help sell more chopper rides and that goes to a lot of different VIP’s up and down the strip. So, for me, I spent 22 years there and then moved out. I guess that is the right timing to get out of there before you can get into too much trouble at the casinos and then for Kyle, he was out racing in the Truck Series at age 16. Moved to Ohio to race ASA at age 17, so I guess he has just been out on the road longer per say than the time he spent in Vegas.”

WHEN YOU GO TO VEGAS WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO FINDING OUT?
“I can’t remember if on the roulette wheel number 1 is red or black (laughs). I’m kidding. On race weekends I bring the motorhome out there and focus in just like every normal Friday, Saturday, Sunday and with this new package with the air ducts in the front, how aggressive is the draft going to be and how are we going to make the passes to work our way up towards the front.”

YOU WILL FIGURE THAT OUT IN PRACTICE?
“Yeah, there are still so many unknowns. In the simulator they can’t throw 40 cars out there and you go and chase around dirty air. That is how big the dirty air is going to be this weekend here at Atlanta and Vegas.”

YOU ARE KNOWN TO BE SUCH A TECHNICAL GUY. THE CAMARO HAD ITS STRUGGLES LAST YEAR. I KNOW YOU HAVEN’T BEEN BACK IN A CHEVY LONG, BUT DO YOU THINK YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ASSIST AND GET THAT CAR IN THE PLACE IT NEEDS TO BE?
“I can definitely point out where I might have seen some strengths or weaknesses, but things have happened already. I think it was a good trend to watch the Hendrick guys in the Playoffs last September/October and the way that they were changing the direction. I saw right away some numbers and it just showed that the Chevy’s were off on front downforce and with this whole new rule package that changed it a lot already. But, yes, that will be the trend. It always seems tougher to get the balance shift right when you build a new car and then when a rules package gets thrown in, a lot of things move around.”

HOW IS IT THAT YOU ARE ONE OF THE FEW DRIVERS THAT STILL KNOWS ABOUT CARS?
“When I got asked the question of what is your favorite era in NASCAR racing, I always said the 80’s, that is when the driver would get out and start wrenching on the car. You would see guys like Rusty Wallace or Mark Martin, Bobby Allison, not afraid to get their hands dirty and for me, in the early 2000’s jumping out of the car and jumping right in there with the guys ‘they were like, hey we are professionals, we know where this needs to be nut and bolted and safety wired and we are going to take care of this work.’ But, like a trend a few years ago, I asked Ray Evernham, how he helped Jeff Gordon in the latter part of his career and it was as simple as ‘we just tell Jeff to tell us what the car is doing wrong or right. He doesn’t really need to know the suspension and the numbers on things.’

“So, I have done that as well. You’ve got to look around to the wise people in this garage and for me, I still give that detailed feedback and what I believe is the right thing with the set-up, but at the same time, like today you’ve just got to go and wing it. I held it wide-open my first lap around the race track, which I have never gone to a race track and held it wide-open before other than my first trip to Talladega. So, sometimes it’s just that feel you have from the car and just let it rip and then there are the other times where you try to dissect it and analyze it and go about it that way.”

YOU HAVE TO TRY NOT TO DO THAT? BECAUSE I REMEMBER TIMES WHERE YOU WOULD BE IN THE HAULER LOOKING AT STICKY NOTES ON TIRES AND YOU WOULD HAVE NOTES ALL OVER THE PLACE.
“I just look back at all the numbers that I can find. Whether it’s suspension travel, temperature of the tires, the camber, wear on certain things, just got to keep track of all of it a little bit and that just helps me digest the car when I’m out there driving.”