CORVETTE RACING IN CANADA: Aiming for Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Repeat
Team seeking fourth straight GT Le Mans victory in TUDOR Championship

·        Gavin, Milner enter as defending race winners
·        Garcia, Magnussen lead GTLM driver championship
·        Watkins Glen victory moved Chevrolet into manufacturer points lead

DETROIT (July 9, 2014) – After winning a round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship at an unfamiliar venue, Corvette Racing heads this weekend to more recognizable surroundings. Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) plays host to the TUDOR Championship as Corvette Racing goes for an 11th victory at the storied road course just outside Toronto.

Following a victory in the last round at Watkins Glen International, Corvette Racing will arrive at the circuit formerly known as Mosport International Raceway with championship leads in the TUDOR Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) driver, team and manufacturer standings. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen rank first in points after their third straight series victory but teammates Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner are the defending race winners.

Last season, Milner held on in a pressure-packed final stint to win by 0.267 seconds in the final year of the Corvette C6.R. This year’s race sees the Canadian debut of the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, which has proven itself as a front-runner at each TUDOR Championship round to date.

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is one of the most daunting on the schedule. The 2.459-mile, 10-turn layout is known for high speeds and high risks. The first three turns, drivers say, are among the biggest challenges on any track in North America.

The circuit has been like a second home to Corvette Racing since its first race there in 2000. Its 10 victories there are the most at any circuit – a tie with Road Atlanta – and the team has won two of the last three races there. Three of those wins were by Corvette Racing star and Canadian legend Ron Fellows, now a co-owner of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The character of the track hasn’t changed much since its first race in 1961. Through the years, CTMP has played host to Can-Am, Formula 5000, USAC stock cars, IndyCar, Trans-Am, Formula Atlantic, and of course the American Le Mans Series and IMSA. Most notably, the circuit was the site of the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix eight times between 1967-77.

Live television coverage of the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance starts at 2 p.m. ET, Sunday on FOX Sports 1.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is similar to Watkins Glen in that it is a track where you need good momentum over the lap. They are both classic circuits with a very old-school feel and very fast. For a driver, it is a big thrill to race there because of the speed and history. Corvette Racing has a strong history there with a number of wins and I hope Jan and I can continue that. It would be great to get my first victory there. Winning three races in the TUDOR Championship in the first year of the Corvette C7.R is remarkable. We knew we had a great team behind us and a good car that is being developed all the time. Even while we are racing, we continue to test new things.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“I do enjoy going to Mosport every year and I am glad it is part of the TUDOR Championship. It’s very fast and incredibly challenging especially on the first part of the lap – Turn 1 and Turn 2. You have to be fully committed each lap. It’s where I won my first sports car race in a prototype in the ALMS. So the track has been a good place for me and of course for Corvette Racing. We go there with a lot of momentum – more than I think we could have expected when the year started, I have to say. Three straight wins is a great feeling with the new Corvette C7.R. First in the driver, team and manufacturer championship is a good place to be.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“In a funny way, Watkins Glen should be a pretty good barometer for how things will go at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. You need downforce there to be quick, but you also have that very long backstraight where you need decent straight-line speed. It’s always a little bit of a toss-up between how you much downforce you run and how much drag you run. You have to decide before the start of the race which strategy you’re going to go with, particularly with where you are on the grid and whether you’re going to have pass cars or whether you feel you have the pace to drive away and fight from the front. There is plenty to think about going into the event and while we are there in order to maximize the performance of the Corvette C7.R. So it should be a fun weekend, as it always is.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“It was a great race last year – one of the races I feel was one of my best. To have that much pressure from a car that was quicker than us in the Viper… pushing me hard and running qualifying laps for an hour. The last couple of laps were definitely exciting. I had a disabled car that slowed me up into Turn 1 and that allowed the gap I had built up to go back to basically zero. So over the last two laps I had to defend in a lot of places. I used every bit of road and every car I could on the last lap to try and stay ahead and was just barely able to. I don’t think I was able to breathe until after the checkered flag. It was definitely a great feeling. It came at a time where we had a couple of bad races, but Oliver and I had been pushing hard to get some points and it reinvigorated our championship challenge. We’re hoping for the same this coming weekend.”

DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER
“When it comes to testing a driver’s mettle, there is no more demanding track in North America than Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. It is super quick and may very well be the fastest track we visit all season…and, from my perspective, Turn Two is one of the most challenging corners in all of road racing. We have had some serious success there and this week’s race should be a real shootout. I would encourage everyone to come out and see some great racing and all the improvements to Canada’s best professional racing circuit.”

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
POCONO INDYCAR 500 FUELED BY SUNOCO
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING RELEASE AND TRANSCRIPT
JULY 6, 2014

Juan Pablo Montoya Puts Chevrolet IndyCar V6 in Victory Lane at Pocono
Team Penske Teammate Helio Castroneves Finishes Second to Give Team Chevy Top-Two Spots on Podium

LONG POND, Pa. (July 6, 2014) – Juan Pablo Montoya crowned his return to Verizon IndyCar Series competition by driving his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet to the victory in the Pocono IndyCar 500. It is the sixth 2014 win by a Chevrolet driver and extended the Bowtie brand’s lead in the Series’ manufacturer championship battle with seven races remaining in 2014.

Montoya’s Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Chevrolet, was second to give Team Chevy the top-two rungs on the podium of the 200-lap/500-mile race on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, also known as the “Tricky Triangle”.

“Congratulations to Juan Pablo Montoya and Team Penske for making such a strong statement by winning this 500 mile race from the pole,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, Verizon IndyCar Series. “Juan Pablo and his crew managed their fuel mileage and track position over the numerous pit stops even with a missing front wing endplate. Congrats to Helio and his crew for taking P2 on the podium, along with Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon in 4th and 5th respectively to round out a Team Chevy 4 out of the top 5 positions. This result comes with a substantial tally of points from this double points event and raises the Team Chevy momentum heading into Iowa next weekend.”

Starting from the pole, the win is the 11th IndyCar victory for Montoya, who last competed in the Series in 2000 before moving to Formula One and then to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He was credited with leading six times for a total of 45 laps in the race that went caution-free for 159 laps, before being slowed for the only yellow-flag of the race that lasted until lap 164.

The win moved Montoya from fifth to fourth in the point standings.

Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Ryan Briscoe, No. 8 NTT Data Chevrolet and Scott Dixon, No. 9 Target Chevrolet, finished fourth and fifth respectively to give the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 engine four of the top-five finishing positions in the 11th race of the 18-race season.

Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, was the point leader coming into the race. Power started in the middle of the front row alongside his Team Penske teammate Montoya and jumped to the lead at the start of the race. He led four times for a total of 69 laps before serving a drive-through penalty that put him back in the field.  As a result of the penalty he was relegated to a 10th-place finish.  As a result, Power and Castroneves are now tied atop the standings with 446 points apiece.

Tony Kanaan, No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, led a race-high four times for a total of 78 laps and looked poised to capture his first victory of 2014, but fuel strategy forced him down pit lane with only four laps remaining for splash of fuel and had to settle for the 11th finishing position.

Carlos Munoz (Honda) completed the podium finishing third.

Next on the schedule is the Iowa Corn Indy 300 on Saturday, July 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network. Live radio coverage will be on IMS Radio broadcast on XM Radio Channel 209 and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 213. In addition, IndyCar live timing and scoring with the radio broadcast can be found at www.indy.car.com..
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

AN INTERVIEW WITH:
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND

THE MODERATOR:  We’ll continue with our Verizon IndyCar Series post‑race press conference.  Before we begin with our race winner I would like to announce that this is the fastest 500‑mile race in IndyCar history with an average speed of 202.402 miles per hour.  The previous fastest race was Fontana in 2002 with a speed of 197.995 miles per hour.
Juan, we’ll start with you.  You have led laps in all three oval races this season.  You’re third 500‑mile race win with other wins at Indianapolis in 2000 and Michigan in 2000.  A big win here at Pocono Raceway.  Tell us about your race today.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think it was a really good race.  I felt a did a good jump on the start and for some reason you’re kind of a sitting duck.  I was kind of surprised how much of a sitting duck I was.  When I got into Turn 1 I was like four wide.  From as soon as I started winning the back straight and changed my feel, make sure and turn down the engine and just started saving fuel from that moment, I felt that’s what we needed to do early, make sure we opened the race and opened the windows, and I felt we did a really good job with that.
From there on, I mean, it’s a matter of being in the right strategy, just making the right calls and hoping things go your way.
THE MODERATOR:  I know you noticed a big band of Colombian fans in the audience today.  What did you say to them when you went over and embraced them after the race?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  It was more about signing autographs and saying thanks for coming.  They’re really cool fans.  I’ll tell you the truth, I was amazed how many people were in the grandstands today for an oval race.  It’s unbelievable.  It’s pretty cool.

Q.  I have a technical question.  When you lost the front plate at lap 165, you said after the race you had a little bit of understeer.  In principle can you drive the car without?  Is it absolutely necessary?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, I think they just generate more downforce, not only front wing but overall downforce, but it is what it is.  My pace, it slowed down a little bit.  I could run 217s, 218s by myself and I lost about a mile an hour when we did it.  But I mean, track position is everything, and that was the only shot I had at passing Will and I had to take it.  It was either there or there or there, and we did it, you know.  It was fun.

Q.  Can you just take me through that incident with Will or at least the contact?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  The contact, we did the restart, and we went side by side.  When I went into Turn 2 I said I think I can hold him, and I said, there’s no point.  We’re teammates, let’s be a little smarter, and we went into Turn 3, and he lifted a little bit, and I felt like I said, I’m just going to go in wide open, hopefully ‑‑ you know what I mean, go in really, really low and make sure I can run wide open.  I’m going to run wide open behind him, I’m pretty close.  I got a hold of the toe at the corner and he started going left and more left and more left, so I got to a point I finally got to him, and he like ‑‑ at that point I had to either hope he went right or I went right, and I went right at the same time he did, and I had to lift.  I actually got out of the gas.  If you look at my trace, I got off the gas and as soon as I cleared him I went wide open again.  I think he thought it was because he went through so much dirt, he went so shallow into Turn 1, he lifted.  He lifted too early and I held it wide open, and I said until I don’t clear him, I’m not lifting.
I knew from going around people like they were pitting you could run the second groove you would get a little more understeer, but like I said, run wide open, get ahead of him and then downshift and get out of the corner, and that was it.

Q.  For last week you said you’re almost there.  I guess today you can say that you are here.  Talk about the comeback, first victory since 2000.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  It’s been a long road.  It’s a lot harder than people realize because as I said the other day, driving open wheels is so different than what I’ve been driving the last few years, and it’s just ‑‑ it was going to take time.  I don’t like jinxing it and saying, oh, it’s coming, it’s coming.  I’d rather be let’s just keep working on it.  I feel at this point we’ve got to step it up and work a little bit harder because I think we’re in a position now to win the championship.  So we’ve really got to step it up.
You know, we’ve been having really good finishes and everything, but if we want to win the championship, we’ve got to make sure we perform a little better on the street courses and stuff like that.  We haven’t run on short ovals so I have no idea what to expect.  Hopefully it’s as good as this.

Q.  Juan, on the TV show, Paul Tracy said when you first came here you drove like a wild man back in the kart days.  You drove like a wild man, flat stick all the time, and then you had all this experience in Formula 1 and NASCAR, and he said particularly today all that experience you had in NASCAR came to the fore and you drove a really smart race.  Did you see it a similar way?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, I think he’s right.  The good thing with who I am and my character, it’s I can kind of unplug myself and go at it.  I still don’t care.  But you can run a lot smarter races.  You can look at the bigger picture.  NASCAR really showed me to look at the bigger picture that you never did, and I think 90 percent of the open wheel guys never look at the bigger picture, and I probably lost formula championships and everything by not looking at the bigger picture.  Now that you do, you go, oh ‑‑ you know what I mean?  It’s a shame you can’t turn back to be 20 again with this experience, but it’s what it is.

Q.  You just mentioned NASCAR.  Was your NASCAR experience at this track any advantage or any help for you?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Not really.  The cars are so different.  We go over 10 seconds a lap quicker, so no.  I mean, I wish it would.  The only thing that helped was I knew where the corners were when we came here and tested.  But we run ‑‑ even there were laps in the race you could run wide open all the way around, even in race trim.  It was pretty hectic.

Q.  Are you surprised to be talking about the championship at this point because a few months ago that didn’t seem to be on your radar at all?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  It wasn’t.  I was, I don’t know, nearly 200 points out or something, and now I’m within 50.  I’m still a ways away, but hey, I think people know that I’m coming, and it’s good.  It’s definitely a plus.  I think it’s something that is helping and I’ve got to keep that in mind is I got to here because I’ve been really smart about it, and it’s got to be that way.  With Hawksworth in Houston, I could have been stupid or braver or whatever you want to call it and ended up in tires with him and prove a point, and what’s the point.  The point is that would have gave away 20 or 30 points, and then you get to the end of the year, and you go, oh, I shouldn’t be fighting with that dude, you know?

Q.  What did you think when you saw TK pit?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Big relief because like when he pitted, like I looked ‑‑ we have a little display with the laps, and I knew there was no way he was going to make it from here.  I mean, there is no, no way.  So I thought, okay, so there’s two ways.  One for him to make it is he’s got to run really slow, and if he runs really slow, we’ll get to him.  And if he runs a little bit hard, he’s going to run out of gas.  So they were planning on a caution.  If you get a caution with four or five laps to go, he wins the race.  But it’s what it is, you know?

Q.  Juan, first of all, great race today.  You had a really smart race.  Two questions for you.  One:  Did you ever have any doubt in your mind that you can come back after so many years and win in IndyCar again?  Was there ever a doubt?  And number two, you’re going to be running one or more NASCAR races for Roger.  Do you expect that transition back and forth to be difficult?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think now I’m really settled on the IndyCar.  Honestly I believed from how well I performed back in the day and how well I always ran in Formula 1 and like when I ran the Daytona Prototype and anything with grip, I could perform.  I knew it was going to take a little bit of time, but I mean, having the opportunity to run for Roger, it’s unbelievable.  I’ve worked really hard physically and mentally to get here, and I feel in a really good place right now.  I’m really happy.
I think adjusting back to the Cup car, that was a bit of a shock in Michigan, but by the time the race started, it was good.  It was just a matter of what I want from the car is very different than what they want.  I think going to Indy, it’s a really good racetrack for me.  I have really good knowledge of what I need to do, mental knowledge of like I could tell you exactly where I need to brake, where I need to turn, where I need to position the car, every frigging corner now.  I’m going to go there and do that, and I know if I do that, I’m going to be pretty close already.
And something that is going to happen in Indy is that qualifying is after two practices.  It’s between the practices and the race.  So we’re going to be in a little bit better shape.  Last time we had ran, I believe, six laps in Michigan and straight into qualifying.  It was like, oh, what?  I mean, it was kind of shocking.

Q.  You never did much leading today; however, you always seemed to be going a lot farther with the fuel on your stints.  Did you feel like even though you were not leading you were still in control of the race because you could go so much longer on fuel?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I didn’t want to lead.  Like I told Will, if I can lead the first lap, I’ll lead the first lap and I’m going to back off and let you go, and he joked, I’m going to back off.  I said, believe me, when I’m telling you I’m going to back off you’d better run because if not they’re going to freight train us, so I was kind of happy I wasn’t leading.
You know what I mean, it’s about making fuel, learning how you can make more fuel and running smart and controlling the situation and the gap.  I don’t know, I feel like I do a really good job at that.  I used to do a really good job back in the day, as well, with fuel.  It’s pretty cool.  It’s pretty cool when you can make fuel like that.  I think it’s the Chevy, not me.

Q.  You’re now one of a select few drivers who have won a race in IndyCar and NASCAR.  Does that mean anything to you to be with some other noteworthy names or anything?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I did that years ago.  I don’t know, it’s fun to do it again.  I’ll be honest with you.  I never race for the history of it.  I’ve never been a history buff.  You know what I mean?  If you look at everything I did, I’ve accomplished so far in racing, people, I’m probably going to ‑‑ 20 years from now they’re going to go, oh, my God, this guy did this.  Right now I don’t really care.  Now I’m thinking about what are we going to do for Iowa.  Tomorrow we’ll have fun with the team and plan how we’re going to run the weekend and what we did right this weekend, what we did wrong, just ‑‑ I think we’ve been doing a really good job of learning from every situation, you know, taking advantage of every situation and learning from it.

Q.  I’m curious about how you feel about this track, IndyCar, coming back here, the fans, et cetera, because I asked your podium and they were really enthusiastic, and I’m wondering about you.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  It’s exciting.  It’s a cool place because it’s so close to New York and there’s so many Latinos there, New Jersey and all that area.  I mean, I think the crowd was really good.  One thing that is hard is the overtaking is really hard.  Overtaking is really hard.  It makes for a hard race to watch, but I felt at the end of the race when everybody was like opening up the engines and went full ridge and full timing and everything, it was like, here we go, you know, man up.

Q.  You kind of touched on it a couple minutes ago, talking about the Chevy engines.  How key was that in your fuel strategy today.  If you remember four of the top 5 were Chevy engines.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think Chevy has been doing a really amazing job this year.  I remember last year if you look at last year’s race they were getting really beat out of the pits and stuff, and we did a lot of work with that.  We came here and tested a did a lot of work with that, and today our out laps and in laps were amazing.  It’s pretty amazing, the tires were the same.  You could run out of the pits and run wide open all the way around out of the pits.  It was not easy but you could hold it wide open.  By the time you get to Turn 3 you’re already at full speed with cold tires, low pressure, but what the heck.

Q.  How good would IndyCar racing be if you’d had all the fuel you wanted to use?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, you can use as much fuel as you want.  Are you going to have like a side tank next to you or something?  (Laughter.)
I mean, it’s about strategy, you know what I mean?  Because the way the race is, if you could do ‑‑ I mean, I’ll give you ‑‑ you could do, I don’t know, like four and a half, a little more, miles ‑‑ that’s what they were telling me, about four and a half miles per gallon with like five laps of yellow, you could do it in like five stops.  If you run full ridge, you definitely had to run six stops.  You had to make sure you covered that basics.  It’s something we talked about is make sure our pace, we can make the fuel, but our pace is fast enough so nobody can make it in five.  If you force people to pick up the pace, you know what I mean, if you can get 20 seconds on them and you will get 20 seconds from them if they are saving too much fuel, then their strategy is out the window.  So you’ve got to push people for that.
I don’t know, some people say maybe a Push‑to‑Pass in the ovals like here would be good.  I don’t know, I think it’s a lot of strategy.  I think it’s always been a hard race to pass even in a Cup car and anything you come here.  It’s the nature of the track.

Q.  I know that when you made the decision to come back to IndyCar, you weren’t really putting a timetable on getting a victory, but did you kind of feel at your own pace that this was pretty much ‑‑ seeing what these cars are like, having a half a season, that this is about right for you to get back to victory lane?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, things were going good, but you never know when you’re going to get the win.  As the move today with Will, I was lucky the front wing didn’t break more.  It could have been worse and both of us could have been out of the race, and it could have taken six more months to get a win.  You never know.  But we did the right things.  We got the win, and I think it’s ‑‑ I mean, we’re in a good place at this point of the season; put it that way.

Q.  Juan, I know you said about history and that sort of thing, but how impressed are you and what should we think about Roger Penske?  Decades ago he won the first 500‑mile race here with Mark Donahue and here you are decades later.  Sort of talk about that a little bit.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think Roger is the man.  I mean, it’s unbelievable everything he does.  He’s head and shoulders above anybody else.  That’s why everybody wants to be like him.  He’s an example to anybody, and for me to be honest with you ‑‑ I’m not saying this because I run for him.  I mean, I knew Roger a little bit, but now that I work with him, it’s unbelievable.  He knows everybody’s names.  The way he does things, you’re not surprised why you’re kicking everybody’s ass; put it that way.

Q.  You came up through the open wheel ranks as a youngster.  You’ve always done well in open wheel racing.  You did okay in NASCAR but you didn’t win as many races as you did in open wheel racing.  Now that you’re back in open wheel, do you feel like you’re here to stay?  Is this what you want to do?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Oh, yeah, absolutely.  I told Roger, if you want me to run some Cup races I will, and I think I can do a good job because of all my experience, but I really wanted to be here in IndyCar, so I’ll probably be here next year for sure, as well.

THE MODERATOR:  We’ll begin with our Verizon IndyCar Series post‑race press conference.  We are pleased to be joined by our second‑place finisher, Helio Castroneves.  With this second‑place finish Helio moves into a tie for the points lead with his teammate Will Power.  This is his fifth top‑5 and eighth top‑10 finish of the season and also his 80th career top‑3 finish.  Helio, a great finish for you and for Team Penske.  Tell us about your race.
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Yeah, first, I want to thank Hitachi, Shell‑Pennzoil, AAA, Verizon, SKF, and Chevy, of course, for giving me a great engine and keeping me up there.  Yeah, it was tough.  Yesterday because of the incident that we had in Houston, we decided to start with a car setup a little bit different from my teammates so I wouldn’t have any issue because I know the track gets a lot of grip, so I didn’t want to do anything to aggravate the injury, and today I said we’ve got 500‑miles, so I need to get used to it, and we changed it back.
I still don’t think I had the speed of the other guys.  They were much faster than me and we’ve got to sit down and figure out why.
But in the end I was just getting better and better and the car was getting better, and we just were waiting there.  It’s a tough race because the last year was winning by fuel mileage and this year the plan changed in the middle, but Roger had great strategies and put us in a great spot.
Yeah, finishing second no question is great.  I want to win bad, but like I said, I did not have the speed that Juan Pablo had, and now tied for the championship, what a great deal.  This is just absolutely awesome, and we’ve got to keep moving forward and not thinking back.

Q.  Last week the Houston race was totally different racing.  Is there any advice from the engine manufacturer to trim the engine, what to do to save fuel, or it’s up to the team to make the strategy?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  No, you have your mapping through the whole season and you are the one using your strategy, and I think with the Chevy people, they have the same thing most of every one, and you just decide when to save fuel or not.

Q.  Helio, end of the race you’re racing Will Power.  He got penalized for blocking.  What was it from your point of view?  What did you think when it happened?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Well, we were racing hard.  That’s the beauty of Team Penske.  There is no team order.  I don’t think many teams are able to apply that rule.  Obviously the only rule is do not take each other out, but race hard, and especially both of us in the championship.  I wasn’t expecting anything different to be honest.
I’m not the one to make the call, but in the end, like I said, we are racing very aggressive.

Q.  Carlos, what was your view on the last restart that IndyCar gave you a warning on?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  I didn’t know I have a warning really.  For what?

Q.  They gave you a warning on the last restart for ‑‑ I assume you nearly passed someone or things got wild in the back.
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Yeah, I think ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I wondered, he was right beside me.
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  It was close because I said, oh, man, I’m going to jump this turn so I lifted, also, and that’s why I think I didn’t get any penalty because in the end passing him on the finish line was really close, but the guys behind me, I think it was Aleshin and Dixon, for sure they did the same thing as me.  It was a close one.  I didn’t really know I have a warning.  I knew it was really close, but I lifted to don’t overtake him on the finish line, and I think it worked out.

Q.  Helio, seven races to go, you’ve won a lot of races in the series, you’ve won a lot of Indy 500s but never a championship, correct?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Correct.

Q.  How bad do you want it?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Thanks for reminding me.  Nice guy.
Big time.  I want it as much as anybody probably because we’ve been here for a long time, and now a great opportunity.  Houston was very disappointing for me because it was one of those opportunities that you don’t want to miss, and today for us it was great because we ended up collecting a lot of points, and that’s the way we’re going for it.  So now we’re looking for the next ones and continuing with the same pace.

Q.  Guys, on the last pit stop when new garden and Kanaan went for the fuel strategy, were either of your teams feeling at that point that maybe you had gotten outfoxed in the fuel strategy department?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  I just remember at one point which I was already tennis to that plan.  I said, come on, guys, we’ve got to keep going.  I can see they’re moving forward, but I don’t know their strategy to be honest.  I knew they were pitting very early than us, but I remember them saying let’s change the plan.  That was the only thing I heard but I cannot confirm in terms of where they were and what they were doing to be honest.
CARLOS MUÑOZ:  They just said to me, follow the leader, and that’s what I did.

Q.  Helio, you talked about racing hard, no team orders at Penske or anything, but how tough is it when that happens and it’s a teammate as opposed to just another driver, and have you had a chance to talk to Will?  Have you guys discussed it, discussed what happened?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  No, I have not had a chance to talk to Will, and the good news is we try to ‑‑ what happens on the track stays on the track, and like I said, we were racing hard.  I had a lot of teammates in the past, and we always try to keep that kind of way.  Outside the track we can discuss or in the truck, if there was a problem, personal problem or something, but at the end of the day, we continue ‑‑ I have no hard feelings.  I would have done something different probably, but I don’t think there is hard feelings for us in terms of what you do or not.  And I think Juan Pablo also applies that same motto.  Well, today he’s in the victory circle, so it does work.  It’s not about us, it’s about Team Penske, and we want to get this championship no matter what, but obviously we need to be smart, as well.

Q.  I’m just curious, how do you like Pocono Raceway?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Well, it’s always good when you finish up here.  That means you had a good day.  It is 500 miles.  I believe it was actually great.  It’s a difficult track for any type of cars to pass because of the way it’s designed in the corners, and it’s fun.  I felt the fans were incredible from yesterday.  Not only today but from yesterday.  I mean, I don’t understand what these rumors regarding not coming back here because I feel that everybody enjoys it, everybody had fun, and hopefully we will continue coming back.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 6 2014

CHEVROLET SS DRIVERS COLLECT THREE OF TOP FIVE FINISHING POSITIONS AT DAYTONA
Kurt Busch Leads the Charge for Team Chevy Finishing Third

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – July 6, 2014 – Team Chevy’s Kurt Busch was looking for his second win of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and first restrictor plate win at the rain delayed Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday when the skies opened up again and dashed his hopes.  The wet and wild race was postponed due to inclement weather on Saturday and continued to be plagued throughout the day Sunday with showers and two major multi-car crashes. Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, had to settle for a third place finish when the race was finally called at lap 112 of 160 originally scheduled laps.

“We led a lot of laps today with our Haas Automation Chevy, it’s a tough pill to swallow because we want to go back out there and race,” said Busch following the race.  “There is still plenty of daylight left and there are lights here at this track.  I’m disappointed because we want to go for the win.  At the same time this team has turned a good corner it’s been about five weeks in a row now that we have been in the top 15.  We cashed in on a top-five finish today.”

Casey Mears came home with his first top-five finish of the 2014 season by bringing his No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS home in fourth place.   It was also his first top 10 finish since the season-opening Daytona 500.  Like Mears, Austin Dillon notched his first top-five finish in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/NRA Museum Chevrolet SS in fifth place, giving him the honor of being the highest finishing rookie of the year contender.

Danica Patrick, No. 10 Florida Lottery/GoDaddy Chevorlet SS, earned her second best finish of the season by coming home eighth.  It was also her second top 10 finish of 2014.  Patrick moved up one spot to 27th in the standings.

Series point leader Jeff Gordon rebounded from an early incident to finish 12th in his No. 24 Pepsi Real Sugar Chevrolet SS. Gordon maintained the lead with a 27 point advantage over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who gained one spot in the standings by bringing his No. 88 National Guard Chevy SS home in 14th place. Jimmie Johnson, who was sidelined by an early multi-car crash in his No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet SS, dropped to third in the point standings with his 42nd place finish.

Aric Almirola (Ford) was the race winner and Brian Vickers (Toyota) was second to round out the top five finishers.

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series will head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  The Camping World RV Sales 301 will begin Sunday, July 13th at 1 pm, ET.

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 5TH (TOP FINISHING ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CONTENDER)

KERRY THARP:  We’re now joined by our second place finisher in today’s race, and that’s Brian Vickers, and he drove the No. 55 Aaron’s FSU National Champions Toyota, and our top finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, coming in fifth place, is Austin Dillon.  He drove the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet.

KERRY THARP:  Austin Dillon, talk about your run out there today, a strong top‑5 showing for sure.

AUSTIN DILLON:  Yeah, it was a good run for our Bass Pro Shops Chevy.  We just made it through the wrecks.  Seeing it like Brian and everybody up front at the beginning was swapping ends and didn’t look good, and we made it through the first one, and then the second one hanging out there down the backstretch, and my teammate was in front of me, and he checked up, and I checked up, I kind of just shot the middle and they went left and got lucky.  I saw Jamie flying through there.  That was crazy.  Made it through that, and sitting pretty good there.  I think me, Brian and a bunch of the guys right there would have loved to seen it go back, but it’s racing.  It’s part of it.  We’ve been here for a while and would love to go back, but that rain has been tough to deal with all weekend.  I’m ready to go to my dirt race, which is in Indiana.  I’m trying to get out of here.
Q.  Guys, this is obviously one less kind of wild card race off the books, and that means with Almirola winning there’s one less spot in the Chase for points.  It’s been so much talk about wins this year, but now that there’s even less spots for points, does this sort of accelerate what you’ll be looking at every week as far as the standings and trying to have good points days as well as a win?
AUSTIN DILLON:  Yeah, same.  We jumped from 18th to 13th in points.  There’s less positions now, but just got to stay consistent.  We had a test at New Hampshire this past week.  I felt like it was a good test for us, and we go on and try and keep these runs going for us as a rookie, and I think it’ll close up the rookie points now, too.  We’ve gained a lot the last couple weeks, and this will definitely help.
Q.  Austin, how bad did you need this performance today after the strong season that Kyle Larson has had?
AUSTIN DILLON:  It’s huge for us getting a top 10, a top 5; it definitely can change the rookie race.  We’ve got some momentum now.  We’ve got the last four races, I think, in the rookie race, and just stay consistent and hopefully we can come out with this thing.  Our cars have been really fast all year, and we’re getting better each week.  I feel like we’re gaining a little bit, and I’m excited about that.
Q.  Austin, after all the attention you got down here in February, you’ve still been hanging around, so just where would you assess your team halfway through the season and what do you think is the biggest thing you have to work on going forward?
AUSTIN DILLON:  Well, Kyle has had a great season and I’m kind of putting our season against his because we’re racing for the rookie of the year.  That was our main goal going into this year.  Any other year the last couple years it would be a great season, but the way they’ve run we’ve put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

You know, we’re hanging in there.  Just want to find some more speed at these mile‑and‑a‑halfs, get more consistent.  Kentucky was a good race for us, just didn’t make a good adjustment at the end.  Experience will come with that, I hope, and like I said, I feel like our cars are getting better and we’ve been really harping on that as a group at RCR to make our cars better, and I think we’re starting to show.  Ryan had a good run at Kentucky, and hopefully we can carry that on at New Hampshire.  We still saved a test or two, I think, as a group, so maybe those tests will help us out.
Q.  Austin, as far as the rookie part of it, are there some learning curves that you had to overcome in the Cup level you’d like to share with other rookies and fans out there?
AUSTIN DILLON:  Oh, for sure.  Each week you learn a little bit here and there and what it takes to compete at this level.  I mean, it takes a full weekend from the start of the weekend when you unload off the trailer, and learning that is just ‑‑ it’s the hardest level of racing in the world in my opinion, because I’ve never done anything past this.  But for us, just progressing each and every week and being smart throughout runs and trying to make our cars better throughout a race instead of maintaining, that’s one tough spot.  You’ve got to be able to gain through a race and you can’t just maintain, where in a Nationwide race or a truck race it’s shorter and you can get your car decent in track position and you can kind of maintain that way.
Q.  How odd is it to be racing not knowing is this going to be the last lap?  Is this the last ‑‑ because you know that the bad weather is coming and you’re just uncertain like do I have two more laps to make it move or do I have to get it done now?
AUSTIN DILLON:  For me, it’s tough because I thought we were racing to 80 there for a while, and when we got ‑‑ I hang around in the back for quite a while just trying to miss some of the stuff that looked like was going to happen up there.  It was pretty wild.  It is tough not knowing if you’re going to get to 160 because you’ve got guys saying, oh, it’s going to rain out, it’s going to do this, and there’s so many opinions and you just have to trust yours, I guess, when it comes down to it and get there when it counts at the end.

KERRY THARP:  Austin and Brian, thank you for being here today, and good luck next weekend.
Joining us now is our third place finisher in today’s Coke Zero 400, and that’s Kurt Busch.  He drove the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Stewart‑Haas Racing, and Kurt, certainly you had a strong car up there, and we heard you on a couple of the TV interviews during the rain delays that this might have been one of the strongest cars you’ve had down here at Daytona.  Just talk about how the race unfolded for you and how things went today for the 41 team.

KURT BUSCH:  I thought we had a good finish today.  You know, I’d love to be out there racing and competing for the win, and the car ran strong.  We dominated, led most laps, and the Haas Automation Chevy was a good car right from the time it was completed and shoved into the wind tunnel, and those guys really did a good job back at the shop to prepare the No. 41 for all the speed that you need here at Daytona.

We executed well on pit road.  Again, we led a lot of laps today and thought we were in good position, and when you’re racing knowing that there’s weather in the area, it’s best to be in that lead position because that gives you the best shot at when the rain does come and if they do call the race, that you’re the leader.

Most importantly, though, we’ve made a good turn on the 41 car the last month with good solid finishes.  Today it’s disappointing to finish third after leading the most laps, but all in all, looking at the long‑term projection, it’s been solid on the 41 car, and it was great to run good Daytona weekend, July 4th with a patriotic paint scheme with America’s Machine Tool with Haas Automation as well as the symbolization for our Armed Forces, so it’s great to have the race dedication that we had on the race this weekend from the Armed Forces Foundation.
Q.  Is it difficult to set up a strategy when you don’t know when the end is coming?
KURT BUSCH:  I thought we did well.  Daniel, my crew chief, was on top of when we needed fuel and when we were playing the halfway game as well as when we were playing the pit the last time to make it all the way to lap 160, and it seemed like it was putting us in a good position to lead laps, which we did.  We were leading at the time, and that’s what you want if the rain is going to come out.

So the race was a bit uneasy.  I think the competitors were looking to jockey harder for positions towards the front, and we saw a couple big wrecks today because we didn’t know if we were going to get much past lap 80.
Q.  Just your thoughts, were you surprised the race was called at this point because there’s still so much time left in the day?  And you talked about the building of your team.  You guys are doing it at a variety of tracks, it’s not like you’re having one type of success, so what’s helped turn things around for you guys at this point?
KURT BUSCH:  It seems early to call a race.  It is Sunday already, and the majority of our fans that showed up were going to use this day to travel back home.  On average how far are the fans here locally traveling to get back home?  Is it four hours?  Maybe we could have run later on today and still finished and everybody could have back home and to work on Monday.

You know, the network TV side of it versus the safety of the fans, as well, with thunder and lightning in the area, it’s a tough call to make.  I didn’t do my job to be the leader.  We didn’t quite have a couple solid restarts at the end to be the leader for when the race was going to get called.

As far as our team developing and moving forward, you know, it’s nice that we’ve shown speed on all different types of tracks, and I can’t really pinpoint one thing other than just working through some of the aerodynamic balance changes we’ve made to our car since around the Charlotte race as well as we built up enough notes on what we were doing wrong to steer a different direction, and we did that at the first Pocono.  So the 1st of June we’ve been running a lot better with two different balance changes.
Q.  Are you and Daniel (inaudible) new relationship?
KURT BUSCH:  Yeah, the relationship with Daniel, you know, there’s some times when a driver and a crew chief hit it off and they’re off to the races right away.  Daniel and I have been slower to mature together in our relationship, and so we’re 18 races into our first date.  Now we’re going into the second half of the season, and all of our first dates are done.  We’ll go to New Hampshire next week, and that’ll be the last new track that we see together, and then from there on out, all the tracks that we’ve been to we have notes and we have test sessions planned, and that’s where we have to make the 41 team stronger.
Q.  As far as your team members and you, when you get rain delays, especially when it’s delayed to the next day, is it harder on a driver?  Is it harder on those team members that have to go to work?
KURT BUSCH:  It’s tough on everybody.  Are you going to go back to green?  Are you not?  You’ve got to pack the stuff up while it’s in a torrential downpour.  I told the spotter as I got out of the car, be sharp, be focused, stay upbeat, keep this good attitude about this right now because we have a shot to win this if it goes back green.  Instead the race is called.  We were almost ready to start kicking the tires because we were third.  But it’s a general good feel when you’re running up front, and we led most laps today.  That’s what we’ll take away from today.
Q.  You’ve been really successful at this sort of weird form of racing without popping through for a win.  Does it frustrate you or do you like it?  Do you anticipate coming here because the stats are good but no trophy yet?
KURT BUSCH:  No, you’re right.  I haven’t won a points paying restrictor plate race.  It’s been tough over the years.  15 years into it, I’ve won IROC races and won a Shootout, won a qualifying race; even Nationwide, I’ve won a Nationwide race here but haven’t broke through for a points paying Cup win yet.  I’ve got to go to the videotape.  I’ve got to go back and study more.  When I’m the leader, I have to advance my game.  I have to be better at blocking and strategically managing the race as a leader.  I’ve been really good at seconds and thirds, top 5s, just got to break through for that win, and I believe I need to do more work to get better at it.
Q. (Inaudible).
KURT BUSCH:  Well, there’s the film study, then there’s the – you have to be in position to make mistakes or you have to be running up front more often to learn from it.  You can’t learn by dragging around in the back waiting for wrecks to happen.  You learn by leading and getting shuffled out of the lead, and then trying a different approach to stay in the lead and to be able to make your car as wide as you can at certain spots and to make others have to rethink their strategy. The chess game definitely comes into play more so when you’re the leader than anything else.

KERRY THARP:  Thank you for putting on a good show this weekend.  We’ll see you at New Hampshire.

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
POCONO INDYCAR 500 FUELED BY SUNOCO
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 6, 2014

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: WHAT A RACE: “First off all, I want to thank Verizon, IndyCar, PPG and everyone who supports this car and Team Penske. I want thank Roger for believing in me after how many years out of open-wheel, coming back and believing I could do it. Here we are. It’s awesome that we could do it.”

TALK ABOUT YOUR MOMENT WITH YOU AND WILL POWER WHEN YOU GOT YOUR WING CLIPPED. DID IT MAKE THE CAR MORE DIFFICULT TO DRIVE? “There was a little more understeer. I had to do it. It was one of those moves where you do it or you don’t. That was the winning move and I had to do it.”

WAS PATIENCE THE KEY? “Yeah, that’s what we’ve been saying. You have to be patient and you have to be smart. On days like this, if you do everything right the opportunity will come.”

BACK IN INDYCAR AND IN VICTORY LANE AT POCONO… HOW EXCITING IS THIS FOR YOU? “It’s huge. I want to thank the fans for coming out… Verizon, IndyCar, PPG, Hawk Performance and everyone who believes in Team Penske and myself. It’s huge. I was overly excited coming to the line, I can tell you that.”

HOW WILD WAS IT AT TIMES? “It was only wild going for the lead with Will (Power). Everything else was more strategy and saving fuel. You have to run a smart race all day and we did that.”

ROGER PENSKE, OWNER, TEAM PENSKE: ON THE RACE:  “It’s great for Juan. What a great job he did. All three cars ran well. Sorry about Will there and Helio getting together. For Team Penske and Chevrolet, our sponsors PPG, Verizon and Hitachi… what a great day here. We just need to continue this. It’s a great points day for us. With Hunter-Reay having a problem, that gave us a real boost in our points. It’s up to the team and they did it with great drivers. Congratulations to Juan Montoya. Certainly a great day.”

ON THE PENALTY TO WILL POWER: “That’s up to the officials. Obviously it’s a shame for him (Power). These guys are racers. What tell them to keep each other on the track but it looked a little tight there for us.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: ON THE RACE: “We made some changes and copied my teammate’s setup. Congratulations to Montoya! Are you kidding? This guy is unbelievable. Coming back after 15 years and winning a race. He did a great job. As soon as he signed, I knew he would be an asset and a headache for us. I’m glad. It’s good with a 1-2 finish and I can’t believe we are now tied in the championship. It’s really unbelievable.
“What else can I say? It’s great news (to be tied for the championship). It was a tough race. You have to be really patient, and that’s what we did.”

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: “Things are really looking up for NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing and I’m just glad we finally were able to get a finish that mirrored our efforts.  We just keep looking better and better as the season progresses and I think we have a lot to look forward to in the second half of this season.  This track is awesome and it’s been really fun to race on all weekend.”

SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5TH: ““It wasn’t a great day for us maybe overall speed-wise, but we had made our way to the top five there at the end of the race and to get a top-five finish after where we started isn’t that bad.  The Target team worked hard today and you know anything can happen in these long 500-mile races.  We kept the car in one piece and I was happy to bring it home for the guys.  Hopefully this builds us some momentum for the next few races.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: ON THE PENALTY “I actually let him go and went wide on the brakes and touched the brakes. I move, I move, I move… I was heading that way, heading over, over and over. I mean, he is my teammate. So it was another penalty and other drive-through and another really good opportunity lost. I’m sure all the commentators up there gave me a pretty good rub. The drive-through at the end of the race… painful. It was a double-move. But time after time it happens to me and no penalty. Anyway, it wasn’t a good day. The drive-through penalty… I’ve got to stop it. I’ve gotta stop getting drive-throughs.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 TARGET CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH ““There’s two ways to look at today really. First, we had a very strong Target car and I think that shows a lot about what this team and I are capable of when we get the setup right.  Secondly, it’s obviously frustrating to dominate a race like that and not win.  We just missed going to full 500-mile distance by a few laps and it heartbreaking when those things happen but that is racing as they say and we will focus on Iowa now and put it behind us.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 13TH: “It was a long race and I kind of knew it would be that way when we didn’t qualify well.  We really had some issues with the car all weekend.  We ran with Scott (Dixon) most of the day and the car was better later in the race.  Unfortunately, it was a tire sensor that came apart immediately when they put the car down off the jacks on the next to last stop (lap 155).  The car was vibrating some badly that the steering wheel almost flew out of my hands.  So I had to pit again on the next lap and we got down a lap.  I’m not pleased how our team’s weekend went here.  We have been so good this year and today just wasn’t our day.  Now we’ll move onto Iowa and I like that track a lot.  Plus I loved night racing.  It should be a great show.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLERS, INC. – KV AFS RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH: “It was a really long day out there and a pretty scary start when we thought we had the same mechanical issue as last weekend. I brought the Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc. – KV AFS Racing car back into the pits, recycled everything and managed to get back out before the green flag and without losing a lap, which was a great job by the whole crew. From then on we just battled….everyone is extremely strong, it’s not like there are big differences between the cars anymore, but by starting the race so far back hampered us big time. We had a strong car, and managed to get some good points for the championship but still have a long way to go.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 No. 11 Team HYDROXYCUT – KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16TH:    “It was a pretty good day. We made progress from Saturday in qualifying. The car was competitive in racing traffic. We were marching forward and fighting with the top-10 guys. Once we got into the top-10 it was looking pretty good. Then unfortunately in a typical example of racing…winning together and losing together…we had a bad pit stop. I have thrown a couple of races away this year, today it was the crew. We just have to keep digging and see what happens. For sure it is disappointing for everyone because it looked like we were going to have a good result, but, that is racing. We are headed in the right direction, so we just have to keep at it, keep building and see what happens next weekend in Iowa.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. . 83 LEVEMIR® FLEXTOUCH® CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH: “It was a pretty disappointing day for the No. 83 Levemir® FlexTouch® Chevrolet and I feel really bad for the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew.  The car was really good all weekend and then we developed a mechanical problem early in the race and then we just fought that all day.  We’re looking forward to heading to Iowa and doing some short-track racing on Saturday night.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES
JULY 6, 2014

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/DUCKS UNLIMITED CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 20:
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“The No. 17 car (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) got sideways on the lap that we’re all getting a competition caution. I don’t know. I guess Ricky thought it paid something to get to lap 20. I don’t know. It didn’t make much sense to me, but I’m not that smart either; so I don’t know. I don’t know that I’m the right person to ask.

“I guess is was just Stenhouse being an idiot. It didn’t make much sense when we’re coming to the caution, we’re like a quarter of a lap from getting to the caution and he does something stupid. It tore up a lot of people’s cars and a lot of people’s days. To get here on Wednesday night and sit here all day and run 19 and three-quarter laps and get wrecked by somebody who’s doing something stupid.”

WAS IT THE WEATHER COMING THAT HAD EVERYBODY UP?
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask him and what he’s doing. Every week it’s something kind of with him. I love him like a little brother, but it makes me nervous to be around him on the race track.

“We’re a quarter lap away from getting a competition caution and Stenhouse is going to be a hero. I don’t know what happened to him there, but he took out a bunch of good cars. I don’t know what it is. No matter what I say right now, somebody is going to be mad and somebody is going to disagree with it. But, I think it’s a pretty dumb excuse to have the caution come out 500 yards too early.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S PATRIOTIC CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 20
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I don’t know. There were just cars spinning. I just feel so bad for my crew. They worked so hard to get a car ready to come down here and have a fast car. And then we make 15 laps four days later, or something like that? I’m certainly disappointed in that. But we’ll go get it fixed and go out and try to collect some points.

“I was kind of busy with my environment of three-wide and I just saw cars moving around and smoke in front of us. So I don’t know what triggered it or what happened. But I’m just thoroughly disappointed for everybody on the Lowe’s team. Those guys have been down here for four days in this heat, working on the car; not to mention all the time and effort put into this, to go 15 or 20 laps is just a really big bummer.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER FOLDS OF HONOR CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 20
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR VIEWPOINT?
“It’ looked like the No. 17 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) got squirrelly up there and then they all started wrecking. I had the wreck cleared but unfortunately with the splitters and everything out in front, the grass is what tears all the cars up. It was unfortunate for our Budweiser Chevy; but maybe one day they’ll make grass that’s not eight inches tall.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 98
AT TIMES TODAY, YOU HAD THE BEST CAR.  WHAT CAUSED ALL THAT?
“I don’t know.  I knew I was going to walk out here and you guys were going to ask me what happened, but from my seat I didn’t see anything.  Kasey (Kahne) came over and said that maybe Greg (Biffle) bumped him a couple times and got him squirrelly and he said he couldn’t catch it.  When you have a car spin out at the front of the field, there is just nowhere to go.  I ran into the guy who was directly in front of me and the guy behind me clobbered me.

“I will tell you I have never had a car that’s off the ground and it’s a crazy feeling, and it’s a helpless feeling to have the car do that.  I was really lucky that it set back down.   You see these big wrecks and those are probably the easiest hits you take all year long because everyone is going the same speed and for the most part, those don’t hurt near as bad as if you have a tire issue or something.”

YOU SAID YOU WERE SURPRISED AT THE SWING OF THE HANDLING OF THE CAR FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE RUN TO THE END
“It wasn’t necessarily run to run, but at the beginning of the race I could tell our car drove better and I could tell a lot of guys were having to lift.   And I wasn’t.  Our car was really stable and right at the end of the green flag pit stop run I got a little bit tight and I just assumed that when we put tires on that it would feel fine.  But from the very first lap it was tight.  I don’t know if it was a tight set of tires or if the track was just changing that much.”

FROM YOUR SEAT WHAT HAPPENED? 
“I didn’t see anything. I really didn’t even get to see a replay in the infield care center.  They had a wreck in front of us and you are kind of along for the ride after that.  I was more concerned when I got out about Kyle (Busch).  I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t getting out with his car being upside down on the track.

“It’s kind of scary I think my car got airborne.  I have never had that happen before it’s a helpless feeling when you are getting hit as you are in the air.  It was kind of scary, but glad it looks like everyone is okay.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE/GI CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 98
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE: 
“Just got hit from behind and started spinning.  I don’t know how it all… I’m not exactly sure what went on there or how it all happened other than I was hit and started spinning.  Then everybody else was wrecking with me.”

WHAT STARTED IT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“Yeah, I felt like I was about sixth or so and I was getting hit from behind and I just started spinning.  It’s kind of a tough spot to be in there because everybody is trying to get going and I just got hit, started going left to right and spun around.   I knew it was going to be big as far up as I was.”

WAS IT A MATTER OF THESE GUYS BEING TOO AGGRESSIVE OR THESE CARS BEING HARD TO HANDLE LATE IN A RUN?
“No, the cars are hard to handle when they get pushed and are close together like that.  If you are getting hit in the corners of your bumper.  And that is what I felt like was that the corners got hit a couple times and it went left and right and started spinning. I am not sure exactly how it all happened.  We avoided the first wreck, and we didn’t avoid the second one so, it’s too bad.

JUSTIN ALLGAIER, NO. 51 ACCUDOC SOLUTIONS CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 98
WHAT HAPPENED? 
“Unfortunately I’m probably the same as most of the guys that were back there with me.  I didn’t really see a whole lot as to what started it.  I saw a white car I think get turned up in the front and it’s just so hard here.  You are running so fast and you are trying to stop right now.  I thought we had it missed.  I was following along with Denny Hamlin there. I thought we had it missed and whoever was behind me started to spin and got into the back of us.

“I don’t know; then it was a pile on from there.  Hit the grass, tore the splitter up, not going to be the finish we wanted for our Accudoc Solutions Chevy for sure.  We had a strong car and I think we can get it fixed.  We have to put a radiator in it and do a couple of other things, but hopefully go out there and gain some of those valuable points.”

REED SORENSON, NO. 36 GOLDEN CORRAL CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 98
ON WHAT HAPPENED:
“I saw absolutely nothing.  I just saw a car maybe two or three rows in front of me start spinning and then I think I got hit from behind.  It was on from there.  I couldn’t see anything.  It just tore the car up.  It looks like there are a lot (of cars) in here in the garage so it looks like it tore a bunch of.  I will just have to look at the replay, but that is part of racing here.  It is bound to happen.”

LANDON CASSILL, NO. 40 NEWTON BUILDING SUPPLIES CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 98
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“I’m really proud of my team they built a really nice car, ECR engines, we go all out for these races and we have had the results to prove it.  I’m really proud that we led some laps today, but there was nothing I could do at that point.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
“We led a lot of laps in the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet. It’s a tough pill to swallow. We want to go back out there and race. There is still plenty of daylight left. There are lights at this track. I’m disappointed because we want to go for the win. But at the same time, this team has turned a good corner. It’s been about five weeks in a row now we’ve been in the top 15 and we cashed in on a top 5 finish today. So that’s the good news. The bad news is that the No. 43 (Aric Almirola) won. That makes him Chase eligible. That might bump us back a spot. That’s the big picture; but also the big picture is us. We’re running better with the No. 41 car. So, I’m happy to drive a patriotic paint scheme to a top 5 finish and give a shout out to the men and women who serve.”

CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 4TH
“The GEICO Chevrolet is fast.  It’s nice to be inside the top-five right now. I sure hope the rain goes away because I would like to have an opportunity to get in the Chase.  The car is fast.  Anything can happen, but with an opportunity to win and then possible get in the Chase we are sitting in a good spot.  Hopefully it will blow through I don’t know what is going to happen, but either way if it does come we will have a good day.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 5TH
YOU RAN NINTH AT THE DAYTONA 500 SO YOU ARE REALLY BACKING UP A GOOD FINISH THERE: 
“We just got lucky and got through a bunch of it and the guys have been smart and we don’t have too much damage or anything.  A little hole in the grille, but that was from the really big wreck.  Somehow we skidded right through the middle.  I’m proud of this Bass Pro Shops Chevy team.  I’ve got to thank all of our partners with Dow.  We’ve had a solid run today.  I would like to get it back going though.  I think we have a shot here.  Obviously there is a lot of attrition that has taken place, but it would be fun to see if we could work with our ECR teammate Casey Mears and see if we could have a shot at it.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 FLORIDA LOTTERY/GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 8th
ON HER DAY: 
“The car is fast.  It has just been a matter of attrition and getting a little lucky and making it through things.  We have been in two crashes and the car has been okay to keep going which is hard to do here at Daytona because the splitter height is so critical because if it’s a little too low you can’t go the speed you need to because it will just hit the track.  We have been really fortunate from that perspective getting a yellow in the middle when I made the mistake on pit road of missing my pit box.  Here we are with less than 50 laps to go and there are only now 13 or 14 cars on the lead lap. There is a lot less to lose than normal.  On a normal speedway weekend you would say eighth is pretty good lets just go home with a car that is not too badly banged up, but there is a lot less to lose than normal so it would be fun to go back at it.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH
YOU’VE HAD AN EVENTFUL DAY: 
“We are just trying to get out there and see if we can get a good finish.  Anybody can still win this race.  My car is pretty tore up.  The left-front splitter looks a little high and I think the balance of the car is real tight.  When I get into the pack and get behind guys real close I’ve got to use up a lot of race track on the exit of the corner.  We’ve got to figure out what we can do to get better there.  Hopefully the rain goes away and we get going.”

EVEN WITH THE DAMAGE YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CAR GOOD ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO WIN? 
“It’s going to be… anybody can still win it.  Anything can happen there can still be another big wreck, but I just don’t know.  I don’t know how it’s going to stack up.  Our car is at a pretty rough spot as far as speed and handling.  If it thins out even more it’s going to handle better.”

YOU DID A GOOD JOB OF AVOIDING THAT LAST WRECK: 
“It’s easy to just come to a stop as long as nobody runs into you.  We were going to be fine on that first wreck, but we got run over.  I can’t believe all of the cars we have wrecked today.  It’s kind of uncharacteristic, but it’s just how it works sometimes.”

WHY HAS IT BEEN THAT WAY? 
“Daytime race, it’s a little bit slicker.  The cars are moving around a little bit more and guys are being a bit more aggressive here.  You don’t see us all lined up on the top running around there trying not to go to the back.  Guys are running side-by-side the way the cars are drafting.  The package is really keeping the pack pretty tight and guys are running side-by-side from the lead on back.  If you are going to run tight like that you are going to have mistakes or cars just get moved around by the air.  Heck a guy could just be holding the wheel and the car will move three foot depending on what is happening around him without him moving the steering wheel.  Sometimes you just get yourself in a bad spot.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 WIX FILTERS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 24TH
YOU HAVE HAD A ROUGH DAY TELL US ABOUT IT: 
“Really spent a lot of time just kind of managing and avoiding and staying in the back.  Keeping a good idea where the leaders were going to be staying out an extra lap to pit by ourselves so we could have clean fenders, clean race car with our WIX Filters Chevrolet.  Just got caught up there in that I guess it was two or three crashes ago now. Just unfortunate that fans have been sitting around here for an extra day now and we are fighting Mother Nature.  I hate seeing these race cars get torn up like this. Especially flying through the air everybody knows how I feel about that.”

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY WAS THE REASON FOR ALL THIS? 
“It’s the product of being here an extra day, kind of racing the rain.  A lot of guys are racing for a win pulling out crazy stuff.  Just the product of the way the cars race together.  It is what it is.  It’s really not much fun.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR. NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 15th:
“It was a roller coaster day. We never could get going. I didn’t like what I was seeing early in the race and I hung back. That turned out to be a good move as we missed being collected in the first wreck. Then we had a vibration in the car, and later we needed to make a battery change. As I was exiting pit road after the battery change, the second big wreck happened. We most likely would have been in that wreck had we not been on pit road changing the battery.  We eventually got back on the lead lap and we were ready to move forward. But we never got that opportunity because of the race being declared official following more rain. It’s been one of those weekends you want to forget about and move on.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES
JULY 6, 2014

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 98
AT TIMES TODAY, YOU HAD THE BEST CAR.  WHAT CAUSED ALL THAT?
“I don’t know.  I knew I was going to walk out here and you guys were going to ask me what happened, but from my seat I didn’t see anything.  Kasey (Kahne) came over and said that maybe Greg (Biffle) bumped him a couple times and got him squirrelly and he said he couldn’t catch it.  When you have a car spin out at the front of the field, there is just nowhere to go.  I ran into the guy who was directly in front of me and the guy behind me clobbered me.

“I will tell you I have never had a car that’s off the ground and it’s a crazy feeling, and it’s a helpless feeling to have the car do that.  I was really lucky that it set back down.   You see these big wrecks and those are probably the easiest hits you take all year long because everyone is going the same speed and for the most part, those don’t hurt near as bad as if you have a tire issue or something.”

YOU SAID YOU WERE SURPRISED AT THE SWING OF THE HANDLING OF THE CAR FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE RUN TO THE END
“It wasn’t necessarily run to run, but at the beginning of the race I could tell our car drove better and I could tell a lot of guys were having to lift.   And I wasn’t.  Our car was really stable and right at the end of the green flag pit stop run I got a little bit tight and I just assumed that when we put tires on that it would feel fine.  But from the very first lap it was tight.  I don’t know if it was a tight set of tires or if the track was just changing that much.”

FROM YOUR SEAT WHAT HAPPENED? 
“I didn’t see anything. I really didn’t even get to see a replay in the infield care center.  They had a wreck in front of us and you are kind of along for the ride after that.  I was more concerned when I got out about Kyle (Busch).  I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t getting out with his car being upside down on the track.  It’s kind of scary I think my car got airborne.  I have never had that happen before it’s a helpless feeling when you are getting hit as you are in the air.  It was kind of scary, but glad it looks like everyone is okay.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 98
WHAT STARTED IT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“Yeah, I felt like I was about sixth or so and I was getting hit from behind and I just started spinning.  It’s kind of a tough spot to be in there because everybody is trying to get going and I just got hit, started going left to right and spun around.   I knew it was going to be big as far up as I was.”

WAS IT A MATTER OF THESE GUYS BEING TOO AGGRESSIVE OR THESE CARS BEING HARD TO HANDLE LATE IN A RUN?
“No, the cars are hard to handle when they get pushed and are close together like that.  If you are getting hit in the corners of your bumper.  And that is what I felt like was that the corners got hit a couple times and it went left and right and started spinning. I am not sure exactly how it all happened.  We avoided the first wreck, and we didn’t avoid the second one so, it’s too bad.

FROM YOUR SEAT WHAT HAPPENED? 
“I didn’t see anything. I really didn’t even get to see a replay in the infield care center.  They had a wreck in front of us and you are kind of along for the ride after that.  I was more concerned when I got out about Kyle (Busch).  I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t getting out with his car being upside down on the track.  It’s kind of scary I think my car got airborne.  I have never had that happen before it’s a helpless feeling when you are getting hit as you are in the air.  It was kind of scary, but glad it looks like everyone is okay.”

JUSTIN ALLGAIER, NO. 51 ACCUDOC SOLUTIONS CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 98
WHAT HAPPENED? 
“Unfortunately I’m probably the same as most of the guys that were back there with me.  I didn’t really see a whole lot as to what started it.  I saw a white car I think get turned up in the front and it’s just so hard here.  You are running so fast and you are trying to stop right now.  I thought we had it missed.  I was following along with Denny Hamlin there. I thought we had it missed and whoever was behind me started to spin and got into the back of us.

“I don’t know; then it was a pile on from there.  Hit the grass, tore the splitter up, not going to be the finish we wanted for our Accudoc Solutions Chevy for sure.  We had a strong car and I think we can get it fixed.  We have to put a radiator in it and do a couple of other things, but hopefully go out there and gain some of those valuable points.”

REED SORENSON, NO. 36 GOLDEN CORRAL CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 98
ON WHAT HAPPENED:
“I saw absolutely nothing.  I just saw a car maybe two or three rows in front of me start spinning and then I think I got hit from behind.  It was on from there.  I couldn’t see anything.  It just tore the car up.  It looks like there are a lot (of cars) in here in the garage so it looks like it tore a bunch of.  I will just have to look at the replay, but that is part of racing here.  It is bound to happen.”

LANDON CASSILL, NO. 40 NEWTON BUILDING SUPPLIES CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 98
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“I’m really proud of my team they built a really nice car, ECR engines, we go all out for these races and we have had the results to prove it.  I’m really proud that we led some laps today, but there was nothing I could do at that point.”