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.”

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
POCONO INDYCAR 500 FUELED BY SUNOCO
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING RELEASE AND TRANSCRIPT
JULY 5, 2014

Juan Pablo Montoya Grabs the Pole; Sets New Track Record with Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Power; Will Power Gives Chevrolet a Pair of Front Row Starters for Pocono IndyCar 500

LONG POND, Penn (July 5, 2014) – Juan Pablo Montoya was the last car to make a qualifying attempt for Sunday’s Pocono IndyCar 500, and the driver of the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet made it count. With a new track record of 223.871 m.p.h. two-lap average, Montoya won his first Verizon P1 Pole Award since returning to Verizon IndyCar Series competition this season.

Montoya’s Team Penske teammate and current Series’ points leader Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, was second fastest, also breaking the old track record with a two-lap average of 223.725 m.p.h. to give Chevrolet IndyCar V6 power two of the three front row starters for Sunday’s 200-lap/500-mile race on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, also known as the “Tricky Triangle”.

“Chevrolet extends a proud congratulations to Juan Pablo Montoya and Team Penske for putting up a pair of stunningly fast laps at Pocono Raceway today, besting last year’s pole by 2.598 mph, and winning his first pole position since returning to IndyCar racing,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager for Verizon IndyCar Series. “Next to Juan Pablo on the front row will be his teammate Will Power who also beat last year’s pole by 2.452 mph.  The innovation and skills that exist in the Verizon IndyCar Series today are made visible by results like these.  We are looking forward to the Pocono INDYCAR 500 mile race tomorrow where Team Chevy and our technical partners will have the opportunity to demonstrate innovation and preparation under race conditions.”

The third Team Penske driver, Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Chevrolet, turned in a two-lap average that also broke the existing track record set in 2013 and will start seventh tomorrow in race No. 11 of the 18-race season.

Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Tony Kanaan, No. 10 Target Chevrolet, and Ryan Briscoe, No. 8 NTT Data Chevrolet, will start eighth and 10th respectively to give the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 five of the top-10 starters in the race.

Carlos Munoz (Honda) will complete the front row of three.
Live television coverage of the Pocono 500 is set to start on Sunday, July 6 at NOON ET on NBC Sports Network. The command to start engines is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET.
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 QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

AN INTERVIEW WITH:
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND

THE MODERATOR:  We’ll get started with today’s Verizon IndyCar Series post‑qualifying press conference.  We have joined by Will Power.  Will will be starting second in tomorrow afternoon’s race.  He started fourth and finished fourth last year.  Will, tell us about qualifying and the conditions out there today.
WILL POWER:  Yeah, it was a pretty good run.  I had probably too big of a lift on my first lap, too much understeer, but apart from that, Juan ran a bit more downforce, so I thought if he can be flat or have less of a lift, he’s going to be very tough to beat.  But still very good for Penske to have a one‑two.
Q.  Will, how important is qualifying for a 500‑mile race?  I know it’s a long race.  Does it really have much implication?
WILL POWER:  No, I mean, it’s always good to start at the front.  You’ve got less of a chance of getting caught up in something at the start of the race and probably on restarts, as well.
But you know, apart from that, you look at Dixon who won it last year, all the Ganassi cars last year came from quite a ways back.  Strategy is going to be a big deal, fuel, windows and so on.  Yeah, it’s not a ‑‑ if you qualify last, you can win from last.  You know, it’s not something to worry about, but it is good to be in the front.

Q.  There is no difference like red and black tires here and there’s no Push‑to‑Pass, so how difficult is it going to be to pass here, and which part of the track can you pass on?
WILL POWER:  It’s tough to pass, yeah.  I mean, really when it all sorts out, man, it’s going to be difficult to get by.

Q.  It sounds like a lot of teams went conservative on setups.  Was that based off of the wind from the earlier practice sessions?  Did that factor into maybe toning things back a little bit?
WILL POWER:  Yeah, and also lack of practice.  You don’t get much mileage going into a 500‑mile race, so I think it’s a place you’ve got to really creep up on, so if you go over the top, you know, it can be pretty bad to get caught out.  Yeah, you didn’t have time to really do good qualifying sims.

Q.  Will, this question is for you being atop the points standings, second half of the season here and it’s a short season, so is it great to be in that point position or is it a little bit scary because there’s only one place to go?  What is the strategy?  I don’t mean to be negative, but that’s really ‑‑
WILL POWER:  You look at it black and white, you have more points than anyone accumulated right now, so it’s obviously a good thing.  You would rather have that than not.  So you’ve just got to look forward and just focus on your job.  I mean, that’s all you can do.  You can’t sit there trying to points race.  You’ve just got to go and race.

Q.  Helio said during the session after his run that he felt the track was improving as the session went on.  How much of an advantage was it to run late?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  It always helps a little bit, but it’s the luck of the draw.  Some weeks are good for you, some weeks are bad.  I think the big thing for us was balance and we had a hell of a balance.  I know Helio struggled a little bit with the balance during qualifying, and in a way of running late when you’ve got good teammates is you can see how much they struggle and you can adjust the car so you always get a little more information.  It’s like I know like what Will did, they came in ready straight away and he did this and he did this and he helped, so I already knew before I started where to go, so you’re already in a better place.  But they were a little more trimmed than me.  I’m like, I was faster and I was right.
WILL POWER:  You were, you (expletive deleted).  It was only a couple hundredths, too.  Man, why did I lift?  Damn.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  You were good through 3 or not?
WILL POWER:  I was flat through three, but 1 I was like ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I had a small lifts in 1, tiny little lifts.
THE MODERATOR:  Carlos, good luck in tomorrow’s race.  Juan, I have some history for you.  Last pole in an IndyCar, Gateway 2000 ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  No, Surfer’s Paradise.
THE MODERATOR:  15th career pole, obviously 2012 won pole here in NASCAR.  Now that you’re back here in an IndyCar, tell us about your qualifying run.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I had no idea what to expect because this morning I felt like we had a really good car in race trim and really struggled.  Started trimming the car down, and every time we trimmed it, it was just balance‑wise it was awful, had a lot of understeer in the car.  Made quite a bit of changes for qualifying and it was really, really good.  You had a little bit understeer and stuff on the front bar, took a little crossweight out here or is it crossweight we did here?  Yeah, we don’t say wedge, it’s crossweight.  Took a little bit of crossweight out, and as soon as we did that, the car started hooking really nice, and it was good.  I mean, it was a bit of a handful through 3, but it was good through 1.  The big thing here is if you can hold it wide open in 1.  As trim as you are, if you can hold it wide open, it pays off because it’s just all momentum.

Q.  I think you never raced here in open wheel racing, only in NASCAR.  How do you approach this in event?  Did you ask for advice or information from your teammates?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  No, you watch ‑‑ I watched last year’s race, a little bit how the race developed and how everything went, and that’s all you can do, be as prepared as you can be and take it as it comes.  That’s all you can do.
It seems like I run really well on ovals this year, so it’s fun.  It’s nice to have a good track position.  For the next race we have pit good stop, as well, so that pays off big time.

Q.  Last Friday at Houston you said we’re getting there, and then you had a pretty good run at Houston on Saturday.  Now you’ve won a pole.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  We’re getting there.

Q.  I think getting there, you’re almost here.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  No, I feel I’m still lacking a little bit.  I’m getting a lot better.  I feel a lot more comfortable in the car.  Like I feel at home in the car now.  But I need to be a little more proactive with the car, understand it a little better, help the engineers a little more.  Like I can tell them what the car is doing, but the more I learn the more I can tell them which direction we need to go with the car to make ourselves better because the series is so close and we’ve got two really good teammates between Will and Helio, and we help each other and everything, but I feel to be able to get an edge on them I’ve got to do a better job of understanding the cars so I can get ahead of them.  It’s the only way.

Q.  I know you guys have the new right sides this time around.  Now that you’ve had more laps on the track, more laps on them, do you like the balance with them?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Tires‑wise?  Tires are fine.  They’re not dropping that much.  I mean, if anything it’s going to be a hard race because it seems if you do a really good job through Turn 3 and you suck up in there and you get close enough into Turn 1 then you’ve got a big understeer in 1, and if you miss Turn 3 then it takes you all the way around to get back into Turn 3 and it’s like a vicious circle.  It’s really hard to pass here, so I think track position is important.  Also I think fuel mileage is key, as well.  We’ll see.  I mean, we just ‑‑ we’ve got to plan the race and see what it brings.  That’s all you can do.  Whatever it gives you, you’ve got to be smart, you’ve got to run all day.  It’s double points, and you’ve got to take that into consideration and you’ve got to be there at the end.
THE MODERATOR:  Will, do you have any comments on tire usage here at Pocono?
WILL POWER:  Yeah, they’re very consistent really.  It’s one of the few tracks we go to where they don’t really degrade at all.  I think the speed over the whole stint we stayed the same.  If anything get a bit quicker as the car gets lighter from fuel.  It’s not going to be a tire game tomorrow, it’ll be strategy versus fuel, depending on where a yellow may fall and trying to make it one less stop than everyone else.  If it happened to be green, yeah, it’s that type of race I feel.

Q.  Getting back to the ‑‑ am I getting here, is he here now?
WILL POWER:  He is.  He’s definitely ‑‑ I mean, he’s brought a lot of good stuff to the team from the very beginning actually even when he was coming up to speed.  Definitely good ideas, and I think just the experience of the three of us I think is really helping like push the car in a good direction, the development.  Because at the end of the day ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Make sure you mention that to Roger.
WILL POWER:  At the end of the day the drivers push the development in a certain direction, and the beauty of driving for Penske is you’ve got the resources to develop what you want, so it’s good having experienced drivers in the team to push you in the right direction.

Q.  Juan, is it my imagination, it seems like when you’ve taken steps, you haven’t reacted like the veteran that you are.  You’ve kind of looked like a new guy doing something new every race, but you do a little better.  Do you feel like you’re kind of getting into new they are try all the time?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  It feels like new territory because I haven’t done it for such a long time.  I know how to do it, but knowing how to do it and actually getting to do it is two different things.  It takes time.  It’s all about believing in what you can do and believing how far like in street courses how far you can actually go before you actually really hit the wall, before you actually bounce off the wall, and that’s one of the things ‑‑ like in street courses I’m still missing.  I’m getting better but I’m still missing in qualifying especially I’m terrible ‑‑
WILL POWER:  So am I.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, you learned from me there.
WILL POWER:  That’s one bad thing you taught me, qualify badly.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Exactly.  Yeah, it was funny because we were in Long Beach and I think I qualified like 14th and he’s like this is our worst qualifying ever, it’s embarrassing, and he’s like, boom, boom, it’s getting worse.
WILL POWER:  Now it’s like 19th, 18th every week.  But it’s fun in the races, man.  You start back there, it’s great fun.  It’s boring from the front.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Really?  It’s amazing it doesn’t matter where you qualify, if you’ve got a good car and you make a couple of good calls you’re there.  You’re always going to get a couple opportunities in the race to do something different, and if you do it right it’s going to pay off and you’re going to get a good finish.  So qualifying is important but it’s not crucial.  It’s good for the pit stop, for the race, for the next race and for the pit stall, and it’s great for the team.  This week we’ve got the PPG Chevy car and it seems to be really good, and Verizon has supported us a lot, so we have the two Verizon cars, the drivers in the front row.  It’s pretty cool.

Q.  We keep hearing it’s really hard to pass here, it’s really hard to pass here.  What is it about this track that makes it hard to pass and how do you overcome that?
WILL POWER:  Straight through the corners, they come back on themselves.  It’s not like Indy has got four corners so they’re at a 90‑degree.  These get passed.  It’s very difficult to make it stick when you rely on aerodynamics to stay close to someone.  I think it’s the same for NASCAR.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, NASCAR it’s pretty hard to pass, same thing, because the last time I had the same thing.  The corner is so long and there’s really only one groove that is the bottom groove.  I think Turn 1 is a little wider, especially because people coming out of the pits should run a little high to go around them, but I’ll be honest with you, if I’m running wide open and somebody comes out of the pits, I ain’t going to run wide open around the outside of them just for the sake of it.  Hell no.  I’m going to make sure I pass them, but I’ll be cautious about it.  But it’s like Turn 3, for example, you’ve got to be on the bottom the way the corner is, especially being so flat, it makes it pretty hard.  If you could run two grooves, then it would make life a lot easier because the cars are very aero sensitive.  That’s where they are.

Q.  Because of the difficulty with passing, how crazy do you expect the start to be just because everyone is going to be right on top of each other?
WILL POWER:  500 miles.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, it’s a long race.  I mean, it’s all about making sure you work on your car all day long and get a good balance for when it really matters.  It’s all about strategizing and putting yourself in a good position to have a shot at the end.  That’s all you can do.

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
POCONO INDYCAR 500 FUELED BY SUNOCO
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 5, 2014
PAGE 8

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER: WALK US THROUGH THAT RUN.“Our PPG car was really good with the Chevy engine. It’s fun to be in the Verizon IndyCar Series. We have great cars and great partners. I’m just so proud to be at Team Penske. Being able to get this is huge.”
THE TEAM WAS CELEBRATING. ARE YOU JUST AS HAPPY? “I’m excited. It’s the first time we’ve gotten here together. It’s great to be on the pole. Now we need to start getting some wins.”
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO WIN THE RACE? “I think we have a good car. Let’s see what it brings.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND:  “Yeah, it was good. I probably lifted a little too much into Turn 1. I knew Montoya was going to be tough to beat. They ran a little more downforce. Since I wasn’t flat, I think he probably went wide-open on that run.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH:  A LOT OF DRIVERS ARE USING A SLOW WARMUP LAP. ARE YOU EXERCISING TIRE MANAGEMENT SO YOU CAN SAVE YOUR TIRES FOR THE TWO HOT LAPS? “No, I was just trying to make sure the wind wasn’t bothering me. Even though there is just a slight wind out there, I wanted to make sure that the controls and tools in the car were set up because we stalled a little bit going out. So yeah, I thought everything is under control but wanted to make sure the car was ready to go. And it was.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 TARGET CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 8TH: ““I’m pretty confident in the Target car and it’s obviously a very long race with 500 miles so you have to let it play out.  I think we went a bit conservative on the setup and the No. 10 car had more in it for sure.  We have a good race car under us and today is a decent start to the job we’ll have to do tomorrow. I’m confident in my race car. The No. 10 Target car is hooked up for the race. It’s a 500-mile race and it doesn’t matter where you start.”

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 10TH: We had a good run today in qualifying.  The No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet was the best it’s been all day.  I think the conditions are just really good right now and we maybe could have been a bit greedier with the downforce but it was a good solid run. The car was the best it’s been this week. The conditions are really good right now. We could have been a bit more greedy with the downforce, but it was a good solid run. The gears were right. The car felt solid so hopefully it gets us in good position for tomorrow.”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 13TH: WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT WILL PUT YOU? HOW IS THE BALANCE OF THE CAR? “Probably 10th or 12th. We left a lot on the table and missed on the balance. We’ve been off today and it’s been frustrating. We will have to get things together for tomorrow and come back strong.  I’m not sure what happened on those two laps.  This place is important for track position so I didn’t want to qualify too far back. I feel like our race car is pretty good, and it is a 500-mile race so you can make certain changes on pit stops and from the cockpit.”

SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: ““Today we spent both practice sessions working on the balance of Target car.  I think we’ll be okay for the race but you just have very limited time here at Pocono. Each of the three turns here is distinctively different so you really have to be able to compromise the setup to get things right.  Last year we showed you never know what can happen here after starting back in the pack and finishing 1-2-3.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. . 83 LEVEMIR® FLEXTOUCH® CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17TH: “I’m not too worried about our qualifying position right now. We qualified mid-pack last year and then we ended up finishing strong in the race.  Tonight we’ll take some time to look at what our teammates did and compare notes and see what kind of data they have.  I think the No. 83 Levemir® FlexTouch® Chevrolet looks really good and I’m excited for the 500 miles tomorrow. We qualified mid-pack last year and ended up running strong in the race. We spent all day today running on one set of tires and working on the race car. Really focused on tomorrow’s 500 miles. I think the car is pretty good. We will look at what our teammates did, see what the 10 does and learn from it for next year.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 No. 11 Team HYDROXYCUT – KVSH RACING CHEVROLET   QUALIFIED 18TH: “I’m obviously not happy with qualifying. It’s not where we want to be. The car seems to be a little better in race trim, but we still have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, we can figure something out and have a decent result in the Shatter car tomorrow

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLERS, INC. – KV AFS RACING CHEVROLET QUALIFIED 19TH: “Of course we wanted to be a little more up front, but not being able to test at ovals as much as we want, is showing and starting to hurt us. Our main focus this morning was to just mileage out the car, which we managed. My Automatic Fire Sprinkler guys were then super impressive to change my Chevrolet engine in an hour and a half! In qualifying, I bottomed very hard in turn one on my first green lap and that killed everything because I had to lift and that lost me speed. My second lap was much quicker but by then I had lost the momentum. On a positive note though I think we have a good race car so we will just have to see how the race plays out tomorrow.”

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
POCONO INDYCAR 500 FUELED BY SUNOCO
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 5, 2014
PAGE 8

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER: WALK US THROUGH THAT RUN.“Our PPG car was really good with the Chevy engine. It’s fun to be in the Verizon IndyCar Series. We have great cars and great partners. I’m just so proud to be at Team Penske. Being able to get this is huge.”
THE TEAM WAS CELEBRATING. ARE YOU JUST AS HAPPY? “I’m excited. It’s the first time we’ve gotten here together. It’s great to be on the pole. Now we need to start getting some wins.”
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO WIN THE RACE? “I think we have a good car. Let’s see what it brings.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND:  “Yeah, it was good. I probably lifted a little too much into Turn 1. I knew Montoya was going to be tough to beat. They ran a little more downforce. Since I wasn’t flat, I think he probably went wide-open on that run.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH:  A LOT OF DRIVERS ARE USING A SLOW WARMUP LAP. ARE YOU EXERCISING TIRE MANAGEMENT SO YOU CAN SAVE YOUR TIRES FOR THE TWO HOT LAPS? “No, I was just trying to make sure the wind wasn’t bothering me. Even though there is just a slight wind out there, I wanted to make sure that the controls and tools in the car were set up because we stalled a little bit going out. So yeah, I thought everything is under control but wanted to make sure the car was ready to go. And it was.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 TARGET CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 8TH: ““I’m pretty confident in the Target car and it’s obviously a very long race with 500 miles so you have to let it play out.  I think we went a bit conservative on the setup and the No. 10 car had more in it for sure.  We have a good race car under us and today is a decent start to the job we’ll have to do tomorrow. I’m confident in my race car. The No. 10 Target car is hooked up for the race. It’s a 500-mile race and it doesn’t matter where you start.”

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 10TH: We had a good run today in qualifying.  The No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet was the best it’s been all day.  I think the conditions are just really good right now and we maybe could have been a bit greedier with the downforce but it was a good solid run. The car was the best it’s been this week. The conditions are really good right now. We could have been a bit more greedy with the downforce, but it was a good solid run. The gears were right. The car felt solid so hopefully it gets us in good position for tomorrow.”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 13TH: WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT WILL PUT YOU? HOW IS THE BALANCE OF THE CAR? “Probably 10th or 12th. We left a lot on the table and missed on the balance. We’ve been off today and it’s been frustrating. We will have to get things together for tomorrow and come back strong.  I’m not sure what happened on those two laps.  This place is important for track position so I didn’t want to qualify too far back. I feel like our race car is pretty good, and it is a 500-mile race so you can make certain changes on pit stops and from the cockpit.”

SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: ““Today we spent both practice sessions working on the balance of Target car.  I think we’ll be okay for the race but you just have very limited time here at Pocono. Each of the three turns here is distinctively different so you really have to be able to compromise the setup to get things right.  Last year we showed you never know what can happen here after starting back in the pack and finishing 1-2-3.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. . 83 LEVEMIR® FLEXTOUCH® CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17TH: “I’m not too worried about our qualifying position right now. We qualified mid-pack last year and then we ended up finishing strong in the race.  Tonight we’ll take some time to look at what our teammates did and compare notes and see what kind of data they have.  I think the No. 83 Levemir® FlexTouch® Chevrolet looks really good and I’m excited for the 500 miles tomorrow. We qualified mid-pack last year and ended up running strong in the race. We spent all day today running on one set of tires and working on the race car. Really focused on tomorrow’s 500 miles. I think the car is pretty good. We will look at what our teammates did, see what the 10 does and learn from it for next year.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 No. 11 Team HYDROXYCUT – KVSH RACING CHEVROLET   QUALIFIED 18TH: “I’m obviously not happy with qualifying. It’s not where we want to be. The car seems to be a little better in race trim, but we still have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, we can figure something out and have a decent result in the Shatter car tomorrow

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLERS, INC. – KV AFS RACING CHEVROLET QUALIFIED 19TH: “Of course we wanted to be a little more up front, but not being able to test at ovals as much as we want, is showing and starting to hurt us. Our main focus this morning was to just mileage out the car, which we managed. My Automatic Fire Sprinkler guys were then super impressive to change my Chevrolet engine in an hour and a half! In qualifying, I bottomed very hard in turn one on my first green lap and that killed everything because I had to lift and that lost me speed. My second lap was much quicker but by then I had lost the momentum. On a positive note though I think we have a good race car so we will just have to see how the race plays out tomorrow.”

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
POCONO INDYCAR 500 FUELED BY SUNOCO
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 5, 2014

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 No. 83 LEVEMIR® FLEXTOUCH® CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed racing at Pocono, his season to date, outlook for rest of season and other topics.  Full transcript:

ON BEING BACK AFTER PODIUM FINISH HERE AT POCONO IN 2013:  “It is always race; at least it was last year for us.  The track itself is pretty challenging, at least from my perspective. All three corners are very different. You have to balance the setup of the three corners very differently. But overall, it’s great to be back. It’s nice to need a sweatshirt in the morning after last weekend in Houston.   I’ll admit, not complaining, after last weekend, I’m not going to complain about the coolness. It is nice to be up here in the Poconos. It is such a beautiful setting. I really enjoyed the drive over from the airport yesterday. It’s nice to be able to enjoy the July 4th weekend in such a beautiful setting.”

ON THE REST OF THE SEASON: “I think the first half (of the season) has been kind of a tale of two stories.  When we’ve finished, we’ve been inside the top-10; you mentioned those three top-fives.  We had a really good battle to claim a top-five in the second race at Houston last weekend. And, the second race in Detroit to get that podium. But we’ve also fought a few DNFs. A couple of mechanical challenges, and then getting caught-up in incidents both during the 500, as well as race one at Houston. For the second half of the season, I think we are trying to solidify that consistency, and continue to get to the end of races, and keep our streak going of getting to the end, and finishing well when we do.”

ANY ILL EFFECTS FROM THE HEAT LAST WEEK? “We all knew in the off-season it was going to be tough physically. As a result, we trained for it. I did a lot of work; pulled a lot of resources from different exercises physiologists, and some of the science side to learn as much as I could during the cold winter months in Indianapolis. Overall, I felt really good. I got out of the car, and yes, I was tired on Monday, but no more than I was after the doubleheader at Detroit. No more than I will be Sunday night here after 500 miles tomorrow. No ill effects. Re-hydrating was as important as pre-hydrating. As I said, it’s nice to the ambient temperature down a little bit. It is nice because I think because the drivers have a better opportunity to interact with the fans on race weekend. All last weekend we spent going from air conditioning to pit lane; pit lane back to air conditioning trying to stay cool and save as much energy for when it counted. So at least here, it’s nice to be able to be able to enjoy the time outside, and interact and thank the fans for coming out. Because I think that is an important part.”

CAN YOUR POSITIVE RESULT HERE LAST YEAR ADD TO YOUR CONFIDENCE FOR SUCCESS HERE THIS YEAR? “I think that the confidence for us as a team having had that podium sweep here last year, and myself with that second place finish, you come in with a good understanding of where the car was, and what direction….Firestone made a small adjustment to the right front tire for this year. We were pretty happy in first practice. We had a small mechanical issue so we didn’t get to finish the fast five, or 10 minutes, and keep up with the track as it sped up at the end there. The conditions are quite a bit different than last year. It is 15 to 20 degrees cooler, and the wind is a little bit stronger…but other than that, we have a lot of confidence heading into the weekend. It changes the strategy a little bit with it being 500 miles versus 400 miles. Last year I think I would have taken a 500 mile race. Hopefully when we get done with 500 miles tomorrow, I would be happy to have 550 or 600 miles. We’ll see how it goes. It does change the strategy and as a team you’re looking towards those extra 100 miles from lap one. Even today in race trim, we’re working towards that direction. It makes some adjustments, but having that great result it meant that the two weeks off testing wise we could go focus on some areas we needed to improve rather than feeling we had to come here, and run at Pocono. Overall I think this morning has gone well. I feel like we have picked up pretty close to where we left off. As a team, we have a lot of confidence heading into the rest of today, and tomorrow.”

ON EASE OF CHANGE FROM HONDA ENGINE TO CHEVROLET: “The biggest thing from my side is the sticker on the engine cover climbing in the cockpit. In as far as the car or the engines drive, they are very similar. You see a little bigger differences I think, or at least from the engine I ran last year being a single turbo to the twin turbo DI (direct injection) Chevy this year more on the road and street circuits where you are at a higher boost level and it’s more dynamic as far as the throttle applications and lifting, and braking and downshifting and cornering especially here at Pocono. You are pretty close to flat, or flat all the way around. It’s a big challenge to feel much difference within the cockpit. Overall it’s been a lot of fun this year working with Team Chevy guys. It was really nice to get that podium in Detroit in their backyard for them. That always helps when the management is there to go out and sweep a podium. Hopefully we can get a good result for them here. I know they have struggled a little bit on the big ovals. Didn’t get the win that they really wanted at Indy, so hopefully we can do it in the two last 500 mile races for the Triple Crown.”

ON THE WEATHER FORCING CHANGES TO THE CAR: “I think it is very similar to how we started last year, how we started today. The car’s not as sensitive as you might imagine. It changes a little bit what we do in the cockpit based on looking at the flag and seeing how hard it is gusting, and how hard it is blowing especially in turn three when you don’t have the banking kind of shading the line from the wind. Overall you start very similar, and you do have to make some adjustments both in the cockpit with my tools, as well as the line driving throughout the corner. We’ve made a couple adjustments set-up wise to compensate for the wind and the temperature, but overall, it is very, very similar.”

AT WHAT POINT IN LAST YEAR’S RACE DID YOU REALIZE THE GANASSI STRATEGY WAS GOING TO WORK? “How many laps did we do last year? 160? About 159! You never know how it is going to play out. Even last week in the street circuit race at Houston and the Indy road course, because of a late yellow the strategy flipped on its head. Some guys were able to go the distance on fuel, and some guys had full fuel and were just trying to get as much of a gap at some point to try to get that stop it late. I think it was probably about half way through that last stint when everyone started to peel in for a splash of fuel at the end and we’d done our last stop, and thought okay, we were good to go. I guess maybe earlier when people were starting to save fuel and play back strategy from the end of the race. We knew it could come to us. Front lap 20, we knew we had a good car. We just had to keep it under us and be smart with it. Make it better the whole race rather than dialing it out, and we were able to do that. And, we had four really good, clean pit stops. I know the No. 9 (Scott Dixon) and the No. 10 (Dario Franchitti) were right there as well.  I didn’t realize that Dario had gotten past Will (Power) for third until maybe a lap to go. Dario got a run on me, but wasn’t able to make anything happen, but my spotter was saying ‘The No. 10 car coming’, and I was thinking it was the No. 12 car, how did that happen?  I didn’t know it was going to be that good until a few laps from the end.”

I SAW A SPECIAL PIECE ON A NASCAR DRIVER WITH DIABETES AND DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISM – A SPOT ON HIS UNIFORM THAT LOOKED LIKE A BULLSEYE – THEY USE TO MONITOR HIM, CAN YOU EXPLAIN DIFFERENCES? “I talked to Ryann (Reed) this week. We were both down at a Children with Diabetes conference in Orlando. It is an annual event. They bring young children with diabetes; their friends; their families. They do specific sessions of parents, grandparents, friends; all sorts of activities. There are patient ambassadors; Ironman Jake Hewitt; football player Kendal Simmons; cross country skier Chris Freeman. In the past they have had the Jonas brother that has diabetes come down and speak. I was there doing a couple of different events on Wednesday, and I was talking with Ryan a little bit about it.  He wears a similar system to me in that he wears a continuous monitor so he can keep track of his blood glucose level, a lot like I do. His is a little different because it is mounted on the cockpit dash because they (NASCAR) don’t allow any telemetry or computing during races. Where with mine, it is integrated with the telemetry. So not only can I see it on my electronic dash, but the engineers are able to keep track of it. I think him what they were talking about with his suit is. If the sugars got out of control, and he needed an insulin injection that would be the area in which he would be able to metabolize it, and make an impact so it wouldn’t hold him back. Fortunately, knock on wood, everything I have had in the last five years of racing with diabetes, I have never needed insulin during the race. I’m set up in case my sugars go the other way,  and my blood glucose goes the other way and goes lower, I’m set-up with a drink bottle with orange juice in it so I can get some carbohydrates back into my  system and bring my sugars up so I don’t have to stop. But again, I’ve never needed the orange juice during a race to treat a low blood sugar. The idea is that if you keep it within that range, then you don’t need either carbohydrates or insulin.”

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
POCONO INDYCAR 500 FUELED BY SUNOCO
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 5, 2014

TEAM PENSKE’S HELIO CASTRONEVES, JUAN PABLO MONTOYA AND VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES LEADER WILL POWER met with the media at Pocono Raceway following today’s opening practice to talk about track conditions, being back at Pocono, contact on street races and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:

HELIO CASTRONEVES
HOW DID IT GO OUT THERE THIS MORNING?
“Pretty good. The wind conditions hit us and threw a little curveball. At the end of the day, it’s the same for everyone. The Chevy engine is working good. We were able to try a race setup, which is what we wanted. Hopefully now in the second session we will be able to work a little bit on qualifying.”

WHAT DOES THE WIND DO TO THE CAR?
“It makes it a little tough to set up, especially when you are going from one corner to another, even though it is an oval. When it’s a constant wind, it’s not a problem. When it’s a gust of wind, that’s when it’s a problem. On one lap, the car is one way and the next one is, ‘Whoa, what happened?’ The inconsistency is what makes it difficult for us.”

LOOKING BACK AT LAST WEEKEND, THE STREET RACES ARE BECOMING MORE OF A CONTACT SPORT. IT SEEMS THE ONLY WAY MOST PEOPLE FEEL THAT CAN GET AROUND IS TO PUSH SOMEONE OUT OF THE WAY. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?
“Certainly I don’t like it, and I don’t think anyone likes it especially if you are the one getting the contact. For one thing, the car is too strong. It gives opportunities for guys not to be careful. If there is a small opening, they are just ‘eh, whatever happened happened’ and not thinking of the consequences. But it became a good show with the contact like that. Unfortunately it hurts when you do have contact like that. It’s not going to change any time soon.”

JUAN PABLO SAID THERE ARE STILL GUYS YOU CAN RACE AGAINST. HOW DIFFERENT IS IT FROM BACK IN THE OLD CART DAYS? IS THERE STILL THE SAME ETTIQUITE OR IS IT A LITTLE MORE AGGRESSIVE NOW?
“In the past, there was more power so it was more difficult to get out of the corner. The close racing was a little different, and the approaching speed was a little different. Now because everyone is so close to each other… the braking marks are so close to each other. In the past, if you touched it used to break you more. It was a little different game. But the competition has adapted and I have to say this field is very close, probably because of the way the equipment is. We don’t have as much torque as we did in the past. Saying that, you see the younger generation driving a little different. Some of the new rookies have very huge respect – some not so much. But it’s never going to change. But it’s always fun to race like in the Indy 500 with Hunter-Reay when we are pushing each other to the limit. It was a great show with lots of respect.”

WITH A DOUBLE-POINTS RACE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS WEEKEND IS A CHANCE TO GAIN GROUND IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“Absolutely. Those are the races where we need to focus. But we can’t just focus on the championship. We have to focus on having good performances. Whatever comes out will sort things out.”

DOES IT MATTER TO YOU THAT YOUR TEAMMATES ARE THE ONES YOU ARE FIGHTING OFF?
“No. It’s a good problem for a team to have and that’s what we are looking for. It’s great to be battling with Will. I think the biggest one is how to manage that so we can bring both guys in and at the end of the day we will accomplish our goal – give the championship to Roger (Penske). We still have that mentality of wanting to make that happen.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE THINGS ARE STARTING TO COME TO JUAN?
“I never doubted him. You have to give credit to the guy who jumped back in after seven years in NASCAR. He’s doing extremely well. I was never thinking anything different. I’m glad he’s adapting fast, and I think that’s his biggest strength.”

WHICH TURN HERE REQUIRES THE MOST CONFIDENCE FOR YOU?
“I think Turn 3 is the toughest one because of the circumstances of the angle of the corner and how you approach behind from someone. In front, it’s not so much (difficult). Where the laptime is is at Turn 1. Put those together, that’s the toughest part for the engineers and drivers.”

DO YOU ENJOY RACING AT A TRACK THAT YOU KNOW IS ONE OF THOSE GREAT TRACKS FROM 30 YEARS AGO WHERE SOME OF THE GREATEST NAMES IN INDYCAR RACING HAVE WON?
“Oh yeah. The tradition is always great to keep adding to the series – Milwaukee, here. Unfortunately we don’t have Nazareth. Phoenix is another place we used to race. Laguna Seca is another place. But we gotta go where we are welcome. And I think the series is doing a great job of going places where we are welcome.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
HAVE YOU STARTED LOOKING AT THE STANDINGS A LITTLE BIT MORE LATELY?
“It’s good now. I was looking at them at the beginning when I was 12th or 14th in points, and I was like, ‘I don’t really wanna look at this. It’s embarrassing!’ But I think where experience pays off is you don’t put yourself in bad positions and you finish more races. I feel I’ve been doing a good job for Team Penske, Verizon, PPG, Chevrolet and everyone who supports us. As long as the man (Penske) is happy, then I’ll be happy.”

DO YOU ENJOY THAT IT’S YOUR TEAMMATES THAT YOU’RE CHASING DOWN?
“In a way, yes. But in another way, it’s nice that they are running 1-2 at the moment. Neither of them have a championship yet, and I think both of them deserve one. So we will see how their interaction continues.”

HOW DID IT GO THIS MORNING?
“Good. It’s amazing how fast this place is. Even though you test here and you know what you have to do, it’s hard. To commit yourself into Turn 1 or Turn 3 to hold it down, it takes a lot of self-confidence.”

YOUR RESULTS HAVE PICKED UP A LOT IN THE LAST FEW RACES, AND YOU HAD A HUGE WEEKEND LAST WEEKEND. ARE YOU FEELING MORE COMFORTABLE?
“I’m starting to figure it out. If you’re not comfortable, you’re not confident. Now I know I can outbrake anybody. I get there and I can throw the car in and I’m still going to stop. So the confidence level is starting to go back up. It wasn’t going to happen overnight. You have to go racing to really understand. You test and you push until you think you’re comfortable. Then you go into a race and when you push you’re a second off, you have to get out of that comfort zone and figure it out. That’s what we’ve been doing.”

THE STREET RACES ARE BECOMING MORE OF A CONTACT SPORT. DO YOU REMEMBER IT BEING THAT WAY IN THE CART DAYS?
“It’s a contact sport with some people. It depends on who you are racing. If you’re running with guys that are experienced, you don’t have any problems. You’re running with Kanaan, Power or people like that, if you get out inside of them they will give you the room. They are smart enough. But then there are kids who would rather end up in the tires that give up a position.”

WAS IT THAT WAY IN CART?
“Michael (Andretti) was a guy you could race against always. He was a fair guy. Then you had other people who were desperate. When you’re desperate for results, you’ll do anything.”

WILL YOU WATCH THE SPRINT CUP RACE TONIGHT JUST TO WATCH IT?
“I will be in my hotel room. Last night I was watching the Nationwide race last night and fell asleep. But not in a mean way; I really wanted to watch it with 30 laps to go. It woke me up, the screaming at the line. That’s the thing with restrictor plate racing. We should do 10 five-lap races. That would make it so much more fun.”

YOU HAVE SO MUCH MORE EXPERIENCE HERE THAN ANY OTHER DRIVER. DO YOU FIND THAT IT HELPS?
“No. In a stock car here, you brake and downshift. You downshift in these cars here but it is very different. There is no technique and you press a button. It’s completely different. The IndyCars are very sensitive to the aero. Any gust of wind changes how the car behaves. But they are fun to drive.”

IS THE TRACK DIFFICULT TO DRIVE IN THE SAME PLACES DRIVING A STOCK CAR THAN AN INDYCAR?
“No. In a stock car, if the car was bad it doesn’t matter how good you are. When the car is good, it doesn’t matter how bad you are.”

HOW IS THE WIND HERE?
“It changes the balance and makes it hard because every corner drives different. You go into Turn One and you have tons to understeer. You go through Two – it shouldn’t be a corner in these cars it’s so easy. You turn in and you’re saying ‘please don’t snap, please don’t snap!’ You get into Three, and you have a ton of instability in the entry and feel like the front gives up. You think you’re going crash and you turn the wheel, the car doesn’t turn.”

THE RESULTS HAVE BEEN GREAT LATELY. HAS THE TEAM FOUND SOMETHING OR IS IT MORE OF A PROGRESSION IN YOUR RETURN?
“It’s a progression. I always said it would take time. If you thought it wasn’t, you were dreaming. I hadn’t been in an open-wheel car in six years and not in an IndyCar in 10 or 12. I feel like I’m getting there. I can feel it start to click, and the more it starts to click the more confident you get in the car and the more you can push it.”

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PENSKE AND GANASSI?
“They are very different organizations. They are both great organizations, and I’ve been lucky enough to run for both of them. But the way Chip and Roger wants their things are completely different.”

WILL POWER
HOW DID IT GO FOR YOUR THIS MORNING?
“Good. In the first session, we were trying to work on stuff to try and get the car better. It seems quite difficult to follow. We have to work on that.”

THE STREET RACES ARE BECOMING MORE OF A CONTACT SPORT. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THAT OR WOULD YOU PREFER MORE PLACES TO PASS SO IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A CONTACT SPORT?
“I mean, you can’t hit someone hard but the good thing about these cars is that you can rub. So it has become a little more push-and-shove. Obviously if you go too far you’re going to get a penalty. That’s street racing and how it is right now. You play to the rules at the time. That’s how we are playing right now.”

HOW DAUNTING IS IT TO GO FROM A DOUBLEHEADER WEEKEND TO A 500-MILE RACE?
“I don’t know about daunting. One thing that is daunting is this place. But it’s fine. The temperature will make the race more comfortable. That and the lack of humidity. But it’s great – racing every weekend and having fun.”

YOU’VE SAID YOU’RE NOT LOOKING AT POINTS…
“You have to focus on the actual weekend. It can be a big swing one way or the other. You have to focus on your job and do everything you can to have a good day.”

TALK MORE ABOUT THE HUMIDITY AND HOW THE WIND IS AFFECTING THINGS?
“We’re running out of gear on the frontstraight a lot. So the wind is pushing us along pretty good. It’s actually pretty fast now, the track. The wind always affects these cars. It’s not too bad right now – the direction of the wind. Sometimes when you get a bad direction, it can really upset the car. This isn’t too bad.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 4, 2014

CHEVROLET DRIVERS CAPTURE FOUR OF TOP FIVE STARTING POSITIONS
IN RAIN-SHORTENED QUALIFYING SESSION AT DAYTONA

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – July 4, 2014 – After a bizarre and rain-shortened qualifying session for the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Daytona International Speedway, there were a few uncommon names at the top of the final time sheet, but another solid contingent of Chevrolets at the front.   Reed Sorensen led the way for Team Chevy with his first top-10 start of the 2014 season by qualifying on the outside of the front row in his No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet SS with a lap of 45.176 seconds, 199.322 mph.

During the first 20-minute session a number of strategies were unfolding between the 44 teams vying for transfer spots.  At times there were packs of cars on track but running considerably slower speeds on purpose and cars jockeying for partners on pit lane and on track.  Just as the session came to an end, steady rain began to fall and eliminated any further qualifying rounds.  NASCAR set the field based on speeds from the first and lone session.

Landon Cassill, No. 40 Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet SS, earned the best start of his NSCS career by qualifying third with a time of 45.182 seconds,199.194 mph.  Bobby Labonte, making just his second NSCS start of 2014, scored a top-five start by qualifying his No. 33 Thunder Coal Chevrolet SS in fourth position.  Jimmie Johnson notched his seventh top-five start of the season by posting the fifth fastest time in his No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet SS.

In Saturday night’s 43-car field, Team Chevy will occupy nine of the top 15 starting positions for race No. 18 of the season.  Daytona 500 winner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., will start his quest for a Daytona sweep from the seventh starting position in his No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS while Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate and NSCS point leader, Jeff Gordon, qualified ninth in his No. 24 Pepsi Real Sugar Chevrolet SS.   Stewart Haas Racing teammates Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevrolet SS and Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet SS will start 12th and 13th respectively.  Kasey Kahne, in the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS, qualified in the 14th position.

David Gilliland (Ford) won the pole for the race to round out the top-five.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
JULY 4, 2014

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 7th
ON DESCRIBING THE FLOW OF THE FIRST QUALIFYING SESSION TO HIS TEAM
“I gave up trying to describe it to them. But I sure they want to know what’s going on. It’s a mess. You have to be in the very back and try to get a big tow. I ain’t ever seen anything like it. It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 36TH:
CAN YOU DESCRIBE QUALIFYING TODAY?
“Well, it’s just about being lucky as to who can make it through and who gets the right run. It’s just so crazy that everyone pulls out and doesn’t go and then stops. It is what it is. Everyone has the same conditions. It just doesn’t feel like racing I think is the way to put it because half the time people are running 40 mph. I don’t even really know what to say because it’s so messed up that I can’t explain it.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER FOLDS OF HONOR CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH:
Qualifying was a better spot for us than it would have been if we had gone on practice speeds. The new qualifying format is great. It is probably not 100% refined for Superspeedway racing yet. It was a definitely a chess game.  It worked out okay because our car is still rolling.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH:
DESCRIBE WHAT THAT WAS LIKE? THAT SEEMED MORE DIFFERENT AND WILDER THAN TALLADEGA?
“It was definitely interesting. Everyone knew what everyone else was trying to do. There was no way to get a small line of cars behind a big line of cars. Everybody was trying to do the same thing so it was kind of interesting. I don’t know… I think they need to look at doing something a little bit different here for next time. I wish we could get another round in because we made the top-24 and we were hoping to get a good starting spot out front and good pit spot.”

WHEN THE RCR ALLIANCE GOT TOGETHER TOWARD THE END, YOU WERE TRYING TO PACE YOURSELF TO GET THAT ONE LAST LAP. WAS THAT THE CASE? IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS HARD TO DO THAT WITH SO MANY OTHER PACKS OUT THERE.
“Yeah, it was hard to get in the right position. Again, everyone was trying to do the same thing. Everyone was trying to get behind a big pack of cars so they could get that big run, but no one wanted to go and be that big pack of cars.”

HOW GOOD IS THIS CAR?
“It’s the one we ended up racing in the 500, and it was awesome in the race. It didn’t last very long. But I don’t know. It’s hard to say. We didn’t do much drafting yesterday. We kind of did what we were doing today… we got in line, put in a lap and parked it. It’s driving good. I know it will have good speed so looking forward to tomorrow night, getting in the right spot and hopefully be there in the end to win this thing.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 WIX FILTERS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 20TH:
YOU WERE QUICK HERE IN FEBRUARY AND AT TALLADEGA IN MAY. I KNOW THE ENGINES ARE GOOD BUT WHAT IS THAT HAS MADE THESE CARS SO GOOD AT THESE (RESTRICTOR) PLATE TRACKS?
“It’s a combination of everything. It takes a little bit of everything on top of keeping your foot off that middle pedal, which is an important part of this as well. Qualifying went kind of the way we wanted it to but we just didn’t have control of the weather. We made the top-24 cut but in the end, our Wix Filters Chevrolet isn’t going to be on the pole so we will get ready for tomorrow night.”

IN THE RACE, WE TALK ABOUT HOW THE TRACK IS DIFFERENT HERE NOW THAN HOW IT IS IN FEBRUARY.
“It used to be 10 times different just because of the slickness of the track before it was repaved, which has been the big differential. The new asphalt kind of narrowed that gap between the February race and the July race. Overall, it’s somewhat the same; it’s just so much hotter inside the race car. You still have to deal with the track position side of it and you still can’t afford to make mistakes on pit road. A speeding penalty can end your night really easily. There don’t seem to be a whole lot of cautions here no matter what the race is, but in the end just keeping your head above water will keep you there to the end.”