Chevy Racing–Kansas Speedway–Jeff Gordon

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 3, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway after the open test day on Thursday where competitors tested a new tire.  He discussed his opinion of the new tire, the status of his team in the Chase and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
HOW DID IT GO FOR YOU OUT THERE TODAY?
“Pretty good.  I thought the track had good grip when we first started and lost a little bit probably due to the track temp there towards the end of the day.  Certainly hoping to lay some rubber down, but I’m not so sure that this tire is going to do that.  Other than just being real real tight I thought the tire reacted pretty similar to what we’ve dealt with in the past here.”
 
IN EVERYTHING YOU DID TODAY IS ANY OF IT A DIRECTION FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND OR WAS THIS JUST REALLY ALL TESTING?
“No, everything that we did today was in direction for this weekend.  To me this is just an extension of our race weekend.  We had data on the car, data acquisition to gather more detailed information.  In some ways we wish we had this every weekend.  Not necessarily an extra day at the track, but data acquisition to gather that data.  Then the engineers will sort through that overnight and come up with what we think we are going to need to do for the weekend.  Of course it’s going to be cool on Sunday so that is going to change things quite a bit with the grip level and the balance.  No, to me testing is always trying to find something to make the car go faster.  Not everything can relate to every other track and this track being as smooth as it is and sort of a repave.  Still kind of acts like a repave even though it has lost a little bit of grip.  The tire kind of makes it that too because it’s a pretty hard tire that we are basically sitting on.  I’m not so sure that anything else really applies to other tracks. We are all about what is happening this weekend.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAMS PERFORMANCE THUS FAR IN THE CHASE SAYS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR TEAM?
“It’s just we don’t ever quit.  I think it shows that we’ve made improvements performance wise we’ve gotten a lot better not just since the Chase started, but prior to the Chase we were performing better.  Which to me is what helped us get into a position to even have a shot at being in it.  We had sporadic good performances earlier in the year, but for the most part we just didn’t have the speed and that has really come together in the last six weeks.  I’m really proud of them for that because I’ve been going to the race track and had a lot of fun.  We have been leading laps and running up front.  At times in position to win races and there is nothing better than doing that and it couldn’t happen at a better time than right now.”
 
IN LAYMEN’S TERMS WHAT DOES THIS ZONE TREAD MEAN?  HOW DO YOU FEEL THE DIFFERENCE IN THESE TIRES HERE NOW?
“Unless you A, B, A the tire that we had here before against this tire and then back to the other tire it’s really hard to say what the gain is.  I really give Goodyear a lot of credit for bringing this tire here and trying to give us something to lean on these smooth race tracks like this where they have to build a very durable tire.  We build a lot of shoulder heat in the tire because of the high speeds. So when we say durable we mainly mean really rock hard.  So to put some softer compound in there to try to give the car a little bit more forgiveness and grip I love it.  It worked really well at Atlanta.  That is the first time we ever raced this.  I really liked it there.  I’m not seeing anything that is odd or off today other than just really tight.  We are seeing some tire wear which is a good thing.  That is what Goodyear likes to see to dissipate that heat is to see a little wear.  We will monitor that throughout the weekend.  If we saw more rubber being laid down on the track then typically you would say ‘okay that will get better as the weekend goes on’.  This is one of those tires that we have seen this year where it just doesn’t lay much rubber.”
 
IS IT A BETTER TIRE IN YOUR OPINION OR IS IT TOO EARLY TO SAY UNTIL YOU GET INTO THE RACE?
“Right now I would say it’s a better tire.  I don’t think any of us like the box that Goodyear is put in when we come to a newly surfaced track and have to put a rock hard tire on there for durability.  It’s not because that is the best performance tire it’s because they have to play it safe because of the high heat and the speeds that we are running.  Right now what I’m feeling it feels good.  It concerns me that just the No. 24 that we are as tight as we are.  We can’t seem to get it fixed.  That makes it tough to maneuver through traffic and tough to get the speed out of the car that we want to have.  We are just trying to find more tools to get the front to hook up. It seems like unhooking the back doesn’t seem to be the answer and so right now it’s probably too early to really judge the tire, but with everything I’m seeing I’m liking, I’m not disappointed with it in anyway.”
 
WITH EVERYTHING THAT GOES INTO THE SET-UP OF THE CAR AND EVERYTHING IS THIS THE TIRE A MAJOR CHANGE OR A MINOR CHANGE?
“I think it’s a very minor change.”
 
JAMES HILTON IS ACTUALLY RETIRING AFTER HIS RACE TOMORROW.  I THINK YOUR ROOKIE YEAR WAS KIND OF THE LAST YEAR HE WAS RUNNING SOME CUP RACES.  I WAS CURIOUS IF YOU EVER RAN INTO HIM?  HE WAS 59…
“I hope I never ran into him (laughs).”
 
NOT LITERALLY WITH THE CAR.  I WAS CURIOUS IF BACK THEN YOU SAW HIM AND THOUGHT ‘MAN HE’S RACING AT 59 I HOPE I’M RACING AT 59.’ NOW HE’S 79 AND STILL RACING:
“Well I admire anybody that is out on the track whether they are at full speed or whatever minimal speed is.  I think it says a lot about somebody that wants to go out there and has a passion, desire to do that.  Especially now working with AARP I have an even greater appreciation for folks that do that.  I don’t have any real stories racing with James other than he just seems like he has been around forever.  Every time I turn on a race James Hilton is out there and that is pretty cool.”
 
YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE DOING IT INTO YOUR SEVENTIES?
“I don’t think I will be doing it until I’m 50 so no, but I said I wouldn’t be doing it when I’m 40 and here I am at 42.  So you never know.”
 
MATT KENSETH SAID HE WISHES THEY WOULD NEVER CHANGE THE TIRE.  YOU SAID YOU LIKE IT.  WITH THIS TEST TODAY AND SOME OF THE TEAMS ARE USING THE CARS THAT THEY TESTED TODAY, SOME AREN’T.  THE THING IS I WONDER HOW EVERYBODY ADAPTS TO IT AND HOW IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE RACE THIS WEEKEND?
“Well of course whoever won the race the last time they are not going to want anything to change.  Things went well for them and they would like to come back with everything being the same, especially when the championship is on the line.  For us even though we had just not a very good weekend but it wasn’t because we didn’t have speed or didn’t like the tire, I thought we actually had a pretty good race car, but we got caught on pit road when the caution came out.  And we crashed in qualifying and had to come from the back.  We weren’t going to be in the top 10 so I wasn’t asking for a big tire change or anything, but I always am asking Goodyear to find ways on this type of tire, it’s the Michigan, here, any newly paved race track.  One of the things I struggle with the most on those types of tracks is there is very little forgiveness.  It just seems like you can get to the peak of the
performance of the tire, but it’s like a razors edge and you get to it and you can jump right over it very quickly and you lose the front or the back.  That is what happened to me the last time here in qualifying it was just very much of a surprise.  So I applaud Goodyear anytime that they are going to try to add something to that tire to give it a little bit more forgiveness because I don’t think I’m the only one that is making those comments.  That is what I see them attempting to do and they wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t feel confident in it.  I know that there is limited testing that they did and it was in July, but to my knowledge this is one of the first days that we have had this whole combination of both left-sides and right-sides on the car.  Other than a little bit of extra wear which is typical that you see especially after the rain and everything I would say that it’s a positive not a negative.”
 
WHAT DOES FORGIVENESS IN A TIRE MEAN IN A RACE?
“It’s just when the car slides around that you can recover from it.  You can just ease out of the throttle and the car straightens up and then you don’t just lose the back of the car like that.  Or even the front of the car where you can feel where you are getting to the edge of the grip and you know when you are about to go over it and if you go over it you can recover quickly and get the car to cut with the front same thing with the rear.  When the tire is real hard it needs temperature but even when you get it to that temperature and you load it up it just only has so much grip because it’s just harder.  Then it doesn’t wear so it last forever.  That is why you see so many two tire stops.  Where guys want track position instead of new tires and I think most of us would agree that the best races that we see are tracks where there is fall off.  There are four tire changes, yeah, it’s nice to have somebody try to chance it and maybe take right-sides, but you want to see passing.  The way you do that is by having fall off in the tire and the abrasiveness of the track and the multiple grooves.  I think that is what they are at least trying to achieve with this tire.”
 
KNOWING THAT IT IS STILL EARLY IN THE CHASE DO YOU RUN THROUGH IN YOUR MIND WHAT YOU THINK CERTAIN THINGS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO HAPPEN FOR YOU TO REEL IN THAT GROUP IN FRONT OF YOU?
“I think all we can do is our best to get the best out of our car and our team.  We can’t control what our competitors do.  We can only control what we do and to me it’s just living up to our full potential.  Then just kind of let the chips fall the way they are supposed to or the way they will.  We can’t play those scenarios out in our mind because you just don’t know how that is going to happen.  You just go out and race as hard as you can and I’m very proud of the effort that we’ve put out.  I made a mistake at New Hampshire that cost us. Other than that we have gained on everybody in the Chase except for the top three guys.  Those guys have been performing very well. If they don’t have some issues or have a really bad day then nobody is going to catch them.  We are not wishing that upon them it’s just we just got to go out and do our jobs and hope that the tracks, like I look at this as one of our weaker tracks.  If we can perform well here I think it really puts us in great position to go gain some points at a few other tracks.  That is what we are looking at doing right now.  We are way ahead of the game right now.  We were four weeks ago not in it.  Now we are in it and we are up to fifth or tied for fourth.  We are pleased with where we are at. We are not going to complain about being where we are at, at all.”
 
HOW MUCH EASIER IS IT TO COME TO THE RACE TRACK WHEN YOU ARE RUNNING WELL AND HAVING FUN RATHER THAN THE STRUGGLES FROM THE PAST?
“This has been a very frustrating year for us.  We’ve tested ourselves, me personally, Alan (Gustafson, crew chief), the engineers, the pit crew, everybody on this team because we’ve gone to race tracks where we felt like we should have performed and we didn’t.  We have gone to race tracks where we were performing and made mistakes or had failures and that tests your patients, it tests your frustration in the car and off the track your relationship with the people on the team.  When you can fight through that it makes you stronger.  We thought we fought through enough last years, but we actually I think needed a little bit more of that.  It’s been a struggle.  Knowing what struggles we have been through to have things going well it is exciting because we can appreciate it so much more because we know what those tough times were really like.”
 
I WANT TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ‘KICK IT FOR CANCER’.  I KNOW THAT YOU WENT TO KNOXVILLE THIS YEAR.  WAS THAT YOUR FIRST TRIP TO THE DINGUS?
“I think it was my first trip to dingus.  Very good time.”
 
TALK ABOUT ‘KICK IT FOR CANCER’ AND THE SPRINT CAR COMMUNITY AND HOW THEY HAVE SUPPORTED YOU:
“They have been extremely supportive.  I am and I’m not surprised you know they are just a great group of racers that work very hard.  We have supported a team and I think that they just appreciate our involvement in looking at the World of Outlaws and sprint cars and that fan base as a group of people that we wanted to be involved with and put on these kickball tournaments.  Kendra Jacobs and Shane Stewart so many people that have… the promoters at all these tracks they have just gotten behind it.  So yeah in that sense I am surprised.  I didn’t expect it to take off the way it has.  They have been tremendous to bring more awareness to pediatric cancer through the ‘kick it’ tournaments.  We have raised a tremendous amount of money as well as overseas.  One of our biggest games we have had to date was over in Australia because all the sprint car racers go over there during the winter.  It’s been phenomenal and it continues to grow and we are having a lot of fun.  We had a ‘kick it’ tournament in Charlotte or outside of Charlotte with NASCAR.  We don’t raise near as much money with them as we do with sprint car racing.  That is the type of community that there is.  Everybody wants to be a part of it and they are also maybe not as scared about getting hurt out there doing the kickball tournament.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, SR. USED TO TALK ABOUT HOW THE MOST IMPORTANT CONVERSATION FOR HIM IN EVERY RACE WAS THE CONVERSATION HE HAD WITH HIS TIRES. WHAT HIS TIRES TOLD HIM ON A CONSTANT BASIS. DOES THIS TIRE THAT YOU ALL TESTED TODAY SPEAK TO YOU AS WELL AS ANY TIRE THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER HAS EVER TALKED TO YOU AND IS IT AS EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO YOU?
“That must be why I struggle on these repaves (laughs).  Because I feel like they are speaking French and I don’t know French.  No, I mean they don’t.  That is what I was getting at about these harder tires on these newly, recently paved race tracks.  It’s a box that we are in and we understand why we are in it because of the durability as I mentioned and trying to get the best performance as well as we are carrying a lot of speed.  This car has got a lot of downforce and the track has got a lot of grip in it.  You are either stuck to the race track or you are not stuck to the race track there is no in-between. I understand what you are saying.  To me you can say it’s the tire, you can just say it’s the grip level; you can just say through the seat of your pants of what the car is doing it’s just feeding information.  It does start at the tire because the tire and the contact to the pavement is the first thing that you are reacting to.  Then it’s sent up through the springs and the shocks and the whole chassis and aerodynamics and everything bef
ore it finally gets to you and your hands on the steering wheel and your butt in the seat.  I kind of like to talk to everything.  Sometimes that is why I confuse myself in those conversations. I never heard Dale (Earnhardt, Sr.) say that so that’s interesting, but it’s also true.”
         
 

Follow A Dream Racing– Maple Grove Raceway

Marstons Mills, MA -October 3, 2013-Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team heads to Maple Grove Raceway in eastern Pennsylvania this weekend for the final event of the 2013 season, the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals. “It’s my favorite race every year because it’s where, 15 years ago, I made the decision to start my own team,” Blake said. “Maple Grove is always sentimental for me but especially this year because this is the last time we’ll run this car before we bring out a brand-new one in 2014.”
Maple Grove also is the track where the Permatex/Follow A Dream team made its quickest and fastest run of the season – 5.56 at 259 mph at the Lucas Oil Series event in May – and where driver Todd Veney twice established career bests, at this event in 2010 (5.549) and 2011 (5.548).
“Maple Grove can be really fast, and with one more good outing we can lock down another top 10 finish,” he said. The team currently is ranked eighth in the national standings, with one victory, three final-round appearances, and 464 points – the exact same total it finished with last year.

Chevy Racing–Inside Track at VIR

ANTONIO GARCIA: Inside Track at VIR
 
Last year may have been the first race for the American Le Mans Series at VIR, but it wasn’t the first visit there for Antonio Garcia. Corvette Racing’s speedy Spaniard raced there twice in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports car Series’ Daytona Prototype class, and he parlayed that experience into the fastest GT race lap in the ALMS’ debut last season – 1:47.389 (109.620 mph).
 
Garcia, who leads the ALMS GT championship with Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, tells you what he looks for during a lap at VIR.
 
“VIR is a race track that I’ve always liked since I went there for the first time in 2010. Overall, the track has a lot of momentum and flow. The backstraight is the only place where you are not turning and are just going straight. Everywhere else, you need to place the car well – especially in the first bit where there is a little combination of some slow-speed corners. As you go toward the Oak Tree Corner, which sadly is missing the Oak Tree now – and the other side of the track, you have a section of very, very fast corners. The first time you go through there can be a little scary. No matter what car you are driving, you are flat or just breathing a little on the throttle at the last corner. The track is very challenging and very narrow with no room for even little mistakes.
 
“Braking is very important into Turn 1 and also at the end of the backstraight. You need to be able to brake very late because both of the entries are rather bumpy. You really need to nail the curbing where you shift just to make the line smooth. Through the esses, drivers – like Jan! – run over all the curbing. The esses give you the chance to do that although I’m not really keen on working on the curbs. I have a line through there where I don’t use a lot of curbing. But going through there really is the moment of your lap. Everyone tries to take a line to get through there as flat as possible until the last right-hander before the downhill toward Oak Tree. I don’t think there is much to be gained by going flat versus breathing a little bit. Another point is the Oak Tree corner. In the past, the Oak Tree would not really let you see the apex because it would be right behind the tree. I don’t know how it will be now, but for sure the corner is one where you need to give away the entry a little in order to go back on power early because the backstraight is so long. From Turn 4 up until Oak Tree are the key points of the race track.
 
“If you’re running in a group or in traffic, for sure the most difficult section would be the esses. Really it’s Turn 3 up until Oak Tree is the most important. If you are in a group, chasing traffic or traffic is catching you, that does give you a chance to make up time on your competition if you get through there cleanly. It’s important that if someone is coming on you that you let him know where you are going to go and where you want to be passed. Otherwise there can be a misunderstanding between drivers and that’s when big crashes happen.”

John Force Racing–AT COUNTDOWN MIDPOINT HIGHT POISED FOR RUN TO CHAMPIONSHIP

AT COUNTDOWN MIDPOINT HIGHT POISED FOR RUN TO CHAMPIONSHIP

READING, PA (October 2, 2013) — Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team entered the Countdown to the Championship in 9th place but with the momentum of a win at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. They made huge strides in Charlotte winning again and jumping to 3rd in the Mello Yello point standings. The past two races only one thing has stood between the 2009 Funny Car champion and four consecutive finals. John Force.

Hight and the 15-time Funny Car champion have met the past two races in the semi-final round with Force getting wins and advancing to the final. The winningest driver in NHRA history has a runner-up (Dallas) and a win (St. Louis) to show for his efforts and with three races to go Hight who now sits on 4th place knows he has a great car and some stiff competition.

“We won Charlotte and the past two races we have run up against John Force in the semi-finals. We are qualifying great and running really well on race day. No one in the Auto Club pits is hanging their head. We are doing what we need to do. Every race we have made up points on Matt Hagan so we are focused on that,” said Hight.

Heading into Reading, Pennsylvania for the 29th annual Auto Plus NHRA Nationals the Auto Club Mustang has been one of the strongest Funny Cars in the class. Each week Hight’s team has been ranked in Mike Dunn’s Power Rankings as a Top Five Funny Car. The praise is well deserved.

“If you count qualifying, Hight has the best car based on performance,” said Mike Dunn, ESPN analyst, in his latest Power Rankings report.

In the past two years the combination of Robert Hight and his crew chief Mike Neff have each claimed victory at Maple Grove Raceway. With tremendous conditions the track has seen record times during qualifying but for the Auto Club team the focus has always been on race day success.

“When I won in 2011 and Neff won last year neither one of our cars were putting up record numbers but on race day we were consistent. That is what Neff does as a crew chief which is great. He gets the most out of the race track on race day. I give him my best as a driver and we are working really well together,” said Hight.

Prior to the Western Swing John Force executed a driver switch between the Auto Club and his Castrol GTX team. Force went over to the Jimmy Prock led team and Hight was matched up with Mike Neff. It took a few races to get acclimated but now with two cars in the top four and both cars consistently in the finals the past four races the switch has proved to be good for both teams.

“I am really confident with Neff over here and I know John and Jimmy are rolling. We have two great driver/crew chief combinations right now. It was great to see John get the win last week and we want to close out this four in a row to start the Countdown with another win,” said Hight.

For Immediate Release

BRITTANY HOPES TO PLAY SPOILER AT READING

Rookie Sends Hot Pink Version of Castrol EDGE Dragster into Auto-Plus Nationals

 

          READING, Pa. – After recording personal bests in three of her last four starts, Brittany Force finds herself in the pink, both figuratively and literally, this week as she resumes her 11th hour bid for the Auto Club’s Road to the Future Award at Maple Grove Raceway, site of the 29th annual Auto-Plus Nationals.

 

          Figuratively, the 25-year-old rookie’s stock has never been higher after a No. 4 start in drag racing’s biggest event, the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind., and a No. 5 qualifying effort in last week’s AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals at Madison, Ill.

 

          In fact, in the last four races, the graduate of Cal State-Fullerton has stopped the 1,000 foot timers in 3.820, 3.812, 3.832 and 3.795 seconds, performance numbers that place her strongly into position to play a major spoiler role in the Countdown to the Championship.

 

          Literally, she and sister Courtney, drag racing icon John Force’s two youngest daughters, will race in special pink paint to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  As a result, the usual black-and-gold of Brittany’s Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster will give way to a paint scheme that is pink and pinker.

 

          “I’m really looking forward to this promotion,” Brittany said.  “Courtney did it last year and she’s doing it again this year.  It’s for an awesome cause and it’s something I think the fans will really enjoy.  Being able to be a part of a team that’s going to help bring awareness to breast cancer and breast cancer research is such a great thing.”

 

          A credentialed California schoolteacher who put that career on hold to follow her sisters into the family business, Brittany is hoping her performance this week transforms basic pink into hot pink.      

 

          “I’m excited going into Reading,” she said.  “Top Fuel dragsters tend to do really well there because of the weather conditions.  I remember (that) Antron Brown ran awesome there last year (lowering the national record at 1,000 feet to 3.701 seconds while Shawn Langdon was raising the speed record to 334.15 miles per hour).”

 

          Now that she’s winning rounds and running numbers comparable to anyone else in the category, Brittany actually wishes the season wasn’t so close to conclusion.

          “Each weekend we learn a little bit more about our car (to) get it moving in the right direction,” she said.  “The temperatures in Reading usually are cool and those are good conditions for these dragsters.  I’m anxious to get there.”

 

          The driver isn’t the only team member excited about recent performance.

 

          Although the Top Fuel learning curve may have been a little steeper than anticipated, crew chiefs Dean “Guido” Antonelli and Eric Lane, whose previous experience was entirely in the Funny Car class, have begun to get a handle on the “long car” tune-up thanks to help from Jimmy Prock and John Medlen, both of whom have had previous dragster experience.

 

          “It’s starting to come more naturally,” Antonelli admitted.  “Finally, it’s not like every run is going to be a new adventure.  We’ve got good data and we’ve got great support from what John calls ‘the brain trust,’ especially from John Medlen who worked with Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhomme on their dragsters.

 

          “We’re all learning the Top Fuel business together.  Hopefully, we can do some good this weekend.”

 

For Immediate Release

FORCE CLOSES IN ON POINTS LEADER HAGAN

15-Time Champion On a Roll After AAA Midwest Nationals Victory

 

          READING, Pa. – For a man who admittedly has had his problems on the track while adapting to a new chassis and a new crew chief and who, off the track, has absorbed two of the biggest body blows imaginable with the announced departure of long-time sponsors Ford and Castrol at the conclusion of the 2014 season, John Force is having a pretty good year.

 

 &nbsp
;        By the time it’s over, it might even be a great year.

 

          That’s because from somewhere deep inside his competitive soul, the 64-year-old racing icon has summoned the wherewithal to mount yet another championship run, one that brings him to Maple Grove Raceway for this week’s 29th annual Auto-Plus Nationals as the hottest driver in the Funny Car category.

 

          After consecutive final round appearances and a Countdown victory last week at St. Louis, drag racing’s all-time winner this week tops ESPN analyst Mike Dunn’s Power Rankings having moved to within six points of Matt Hagan in the battle for the $500,000 Mello Yello Championship.

 

          “I promise you, I can win this championship,” Force proclaimed.  “There are a lot of fast hot rods out there and Hagan, he’s one of the best of the young guns, but this ol’ Ford, it’s pretty fast, too.”

 

          It’s an unlikely scenario – even for a man who for the last 30 years has put his name on virtually every notable record in the sport.  To be in contention, serious contention, for a major championship this close to qualifying for his first Social Security check is, well, a little mind-boggling.

 

          For his part, Force understands the historic implications.  He knows this could be his last shot at a title –  with heavy emphasis on the “could be.”  After all, he won the NHRA championship just three years ago, becoming at age 61 the oldest champion ever to win, not just in a major auto racing series, but in any kind of series that mixes 20-somethings with everyone else.

 

          Force is the champion of “everyone else” and when he drove his Castrol GTX Ford past reigning series champ Jack Beckman’s Dodge in the final round of last week’s AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals, it re-energized an entire generation for whom he continues to defy the odds.

 

          After struggling the last two seasons, winning just one time each year, the 136-time tour winner (no one else has won even 100 times) started the current campaign in similar fashion.  Halfway through the 16-event regular season, he was only 10th in points and battling with Bob Tasca III for the final transfer position into the Countdown.

 

          Then, he and crew chief Mike Neff got hot, just like they did in 2010.  Force won at Bristol, Tenn., and took his Ford to the final round in the next two events.  One race later, he announced that he and his son-in-law, Robert Hight, would be swapping rides for the remainder of the season – Robert coming over to drive for Neff and Force going over to drive for Jimmy Prock.

 

          It was one of those moves that had even those within his inner circle wondering if he was beginning to suffer the maladies of old age.  Apparently, he wasn’t.  Coming into Maple Grove, where Force has won six times in his career (but not since 2001), both drivers are in position to win an 18th championship for John Force Racing, Inc.

 

          Force, though, is more than just the sentimental favorite. 

 

          “Jimmy Prock always swings for the fences,” Force said.  “The car owner in me used to complain about that, but now that we’re together, I love it.  I was struggling a little bit with my leave times (reaction times).  I had to go back to basics but it’s like Jimmy said, ‘Force, you’re learning how to drive all over again and I’m learning how to tune.  We’re gonna make a good team.’‘

 

          Maybe even a great one.

Summit Racing–Anderson Unfazed by Four in a Row, Eager to Race in Reading

Anderson Unfazed by Four in a Row, Eager to Race in Reading
 
Mooresville, N.C., October 2, 2013 – The 2013 season of NHRA’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is winding down, and this weekend as the tour settles in at Maple Grove Raceway for the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals – the 22nd race of 24 on the schedule – Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson is anything but exhausted.
 
“I just enjoy racing as much as I possibly can,” said Anderson prior to the final race in a quick string of four in a row. “I would like to have an off-weekend to go and test, but with how much we have been racing lately, we should have more than enough chances to fix anything that we possibly need to with our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros. The more time you get on the racetrack, whether it’s a test or a race, the more chances you have to learn. I’m fine with racing four in a row, and as far as attitude and stamina, the KB Racing team is fresh. We’re not complaining at all; we’re excited. May the strongest team win.”
 
Last weekend in St. Louis, Anderson was seriously on task and powered through eliminations before he was halted just one round short of the final, and for his efforts he was rewarded with a jump up two spots in the points. Currently seventh in the series standings, Anderson believes that his main focus at this point in the season should be on helping Summit Racing teammate Jason Line advance towards a championship. Line is currently ranked third in the Pro Stock points.
 
“This is a team effort here, and right now, Jason has a better chance at winning the championship for Summit Racing,” said Anderson, a four-time titlist in NHRA’s elite Pro Stock class. “Hopefully, any success that I have this weekend and in the last three races of the year will help him, and we’ll be able to bring home another big trophy for our team owners Ken and Judy Black and the folks at Summit Racing. We’re going to Maple Grove with guns blazing.”
 
Team Summit has an extraordinary track record in Reading. In 2004, Anderson made his way to the final at Maple Grove Raceway for the first time, and it was his teammate who beat him for the title. Between them, the Summit Racing duo own four Reading titles, and the team has seven times been on the pole on raceday (Anderson has four low qualifier awards at the venerable facility while Line has three). Anderson’s career best elapsed time was recorded there in 2012 (6.487), and Line currently holds the national record for speed at 214.35, set there last year.
 
“We’ve had a lot of success in Reading, and we love racing there,” said Mooresville, N.C.-based Anderson. “You always get good atmospheric conditions at Maple Grove, and the Pro Stock cars are able to run very well. That seems to fall into the hands of KB Racing a little more than it does for other teams, and hopefully we can get those good conditions again this year. There are several very good cars out there right now, and this could come down to the very last race. It’s going to be a battle, and no one has any earthly idea at this point who will win it – but I sure want to help my guy as much as I can.”
 

Chevy Racing–Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Teams and Drivers Head to Houston in Tight Championship Battle

Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Teams and Drivers Head to Houston in Tight Championship Battle
 
DETROIT (October 2, 2013) – With just three races left in the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season, this weekend’s doubleheader event at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas is pivotal in the battle for both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.
 
Team Penske Chevrolet IndyCar V6 driver Helio Castroneves holds a 49-point advantage in the battle for the championship crown heading into the two-race Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston on the 1.683-mile/10-turn temporary street circuit. Two other Chevrolet drivers’, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay, remain within striking distance of the championship leaders sitting fourth and fifth respectively in the championship fight.
 
“After a month long break in the action, Team Chevy is ready to race this weekend on the streets of Houston”, said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “There is a lot on the line and our preparation is top notch.  Our teams and technical partners arrive in Houston with the insights from prior street circuit results applied for the entire race weekend.  This is a pivotal event for the championships and this venue is new to the DW12.  Rolling off the transporter with a near proper setup for the surface and dialing it in quickly during the single practice session will be quite important.   We are confident the power, drivability and reliability of the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 will put our drivers in a position to win this weekend.”
 
As Chevrolet drivers and teams work to perfect set-ups and make a run at the driver’s championship title, another championship is also on the line for Chevrolet, the coveted manufacturers’ crown. A clean sweep of victories this weekend at Reliant Park would solidify the championship for the Bowtie Brand, but only one trip to Winner’s Circle will take the decision all the way to the final lap in the IZOD IndyCar Season finale at Auto Club Speedway set for October 19, 2013.
 

Taylor Ferns Racing–Taylor Ferns Gears up for the Gold Crown Midget Nationals at Tri-City Speedway

Taylor Ferns Gears up for the Gold Crown Midget Nationals at Tri-City Speedway
By Ferns Racing PR 
 
SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich.—Oct. 2, 2013 — After competing in three races on the same day on Sept. 21, Taylor Ferns is anxious to get back to the track. She has another three-race stretch lined up this week, but this set of races will be spread over three nights, as she heads to Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill., for the running of the fifth edition of the DuPont Gold Crown Midget Nationals.

The DuPont Gold Crown Midget Nationals will be co-sanctioned by the Honda USAC National Midget Series and the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series. A pair of preliminary nights are set for Thursday, Oct. 3 and Friday, Oct. 4, with a full racing program contested each of those evenings. The finale of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals will take place on for Saturday, Oct. 5.

“What I always remember about Tri-City (Speedway) is that it goes dry/slick really quick,” said Ferns, who pilots the Motor City Transport Inc. Spike. “You have to either run way up at the top or be right on the bottom. It will definitely be a transition from the last race at Eldora (Speedway) where you are up on the cushion the whole race. I’ve raced the heavier cars quite a bit this year, so going back to the midget for the last few races this year will be a transition as well, with how light the midget is.”

The native of Shelby Township, Mich., made her first-career Honda USAC National Midget Series start at Tri-City Speedway in 2011, during the third running of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals, winning a heat race to earn a spot in the preliminary feature, and finishing16th in that contest. She also raced in the event last year, which was shortened to a two-night contest due to rain.

Ferns made her most recent start with the Honda USAC National Midget Series at the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio, during the 4-Crown Nationals. She finished 11th in that race and followed that up with a career-best fourth-place performance with the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series. Ferns has made nine starts with the Honda USAC National Midget Series Dirt Championship this season at eight different tracks. She also has made five starts on the pavement in a midget, finishing fifth at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado in June and seventh at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis in July.

“To race the same track and the same car three straight nights will be helpful,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed getting to race so many different cars this year, especially the day we ran three cars in one day, but to run the same one like this week, will help me improve in the midget for sure. I haven’t had the best of luck at Granite City (Tri-City Speedway) the last couple years, so having three straight nights in the midget should be a benefit and a good learning experience as well.”

Along with competing in Midget and Silver Crown races, Ferns also has made eight starts with the ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards in 2013, finishing among the top-15 in seven of those races, including earning three top-10 finishes. In the two ARCA races on the dirt this year, she finished ninth at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield and was 10th at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Ferns ran ninth in her ARCA debut in March at Mobile International Speedway in Alabama.

“It was a lot of fun racing the ARCA car and the Silver Crown car this year,” Ferns said. “We had some good results and I learned new things at every track and that was the main goal we had going into the season. Finishing up the year in the midget, we just want to go out and improve each time we are on the track.”

Ferns was scheduled to race at Tri-City Speedway in the Hut Hundred earlier this season, but that event was postponed by race twice.

Summit Racing–Line Looking for Move Up at Maple Grove

Line Looking for Move Up at Maple Grove
 
Mooresville, N.C., October 2, 2013 – Summit Racing campaigner Jason Line has emerged as one of the top challengers for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock title in 2013, and the Mooresville, N.C.-based driver looks to this weekend’s Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway for the opportunity to climb a bit higher in the standings. Line, a two-time world champion in the extremely competitive factory hot rod class, is currently No. 3 in the Pro Stock points with just three races left before the title is decided.
 
“It’s as simple as this: I have to win rounds,” said Line, whose most recent victory in the current season was just two weeks ago in Dallas, and last weekend in St. Louis he had the dominant car during eliminations but was edged out of contention for the win by just a fraction of a second.
 
“We didn’t have a great day in St. Louis last week, but you’re going to have those,” continued Line. “As tight as the competition is, it isn’t reasonable to expect you’ll win every week – but you’d sure like to. We just lost a heck of a good drag race with our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro. But this is a new day, a new weekend, a new race. If we keep going like we have been, there is a very good possibility that we can redeem ourselves.”
 
Line has had a superb track record at Maple Grove Raceway and currently holds the track record for elapsed time (6.477 clocked in 2011) and speed (214.35 mph, the standing national record recorded at the event last October).
 
In his career, the Minnesota native has won twice in Reading. In 2004, Line beat Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson in the final round, and in 2011 he ousted then-teammate Ronnie Humphrey in the trophy round. He has also been the low qualifier at the event three times, including at the two most recent races held there.
 
“Maple Grove is a good place, and I certainly have enjoyed some success there in the past,” said Line. “It’s fun to go back there, and it’s a very pretty part of the country. I don’t know that there will be the opportunity to set more records this time around, but if it’s up for grabs, you can be sure that Summit Racing will be going after them. The record is worth 20 points, and at this time of the year every one of those points counts.”
 

Kasey Kahne Racing Update 10.3.13

Kasey Kahne Racing – Results Recap
September 23 through September 30
 
Freemont Speedway; A Character Building Night
 
With five races remaining in the 2013 World of Outlaws series, KKR headed to Freemont Speedway in Ohio last Saturday night. Daryn Pittman had another potential race-winning performance going when running in the second position late in the race and contact from another car sent him spinning. Daryn and the Great Clips/ASE/Sage Fruit team came from 28th to ninth in the final 10 laps of the race.
 
Cody Darrah and the SurePoint/ASE/Sage Fruit team also had a fast run in the A-main going when a broken power steering pump relegated them to a 28th place finish when the checkered flag fell.
 
Daryn Pittman still holds a 52-point lead over Donny Schatz.
 
The series heads to Williams Grove (PA) this Friday and Saturday night.
 
Brad Sweet again was in the No. 5 JR Motorsports Great Clips Chevrolet in Saturday’s race at Dover International Speedway. The team finished 13th after qualifying seventh, with the final 167 of 200 laps going caution free.

Chevy Racing–Tuesday Teleconference–Kasey Kahne

 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference with Kasey Kahne.  Kasey has two wins and eight top‑five finishes this season and has scored four consecutive top‑10 finishes at Kansas. With two of your best tracks coming up at Kansas and Charlotte, is this a time when you think you can make a comeback in the championship hunt?
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  I think it’s a stretch where we can run well.  They’re a couple tracks that we’ve been able to run up front at every time we go to them. Looking forward to that.  Just trying to get back on track, finishing up the season strong.
 
 
I feel like the leaders in the points, they’re kind of in their own race.  We’ll just do what we can to finish off our year, and hopefully we can get a win or two at some of our best racetracks.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll now go to the media for questions for Kasey Kahne.
 
 
Q.  With this new tire at Kansas, what is your prediction on how it’s going to perform on a newer racing surface?
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  I guess that’s why we’re going Thursday for some laps, try to see how it performs, how it holds up.  It will be interesting.  I thought it worked fine at Atlanta.  Hopefully here it will work good, too.
 
 
That tire we were on at the start of the year was just really hard and didn’t wear out a lot.  There were a lot of two‑tire stops you would do.  I would imagine this would be similar just with the fresh surface, a lot of load in the tires.  You know the right side is going to be really hard.
 
 
I would think it would be pretty close to what we raced.  Hopefully it wears out more.  We’ll have to slow down on runs, like what they’re trying to shoot for.  I don’t know if it will or not.  I would think it will be real similar to what we had.
 

Q.  Do you think we will start to see lap times begin to fall off this weekend or has it just not reached that stage yet when you were last on it in April?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Kansas City is a pretty tough area, part of the country.  The weather is cold and hot, things like that.  A lot of heat and real cold.  If not this one, it will definitely be the next one, I would think.
 
 
The temperatures are going to be really cool on Sunday, so there probably won’t be quite as much falloff.  You’ll still have a lot of heat in the tires, you’ll start slowing down some.  If you have a good handle on the car, you’ll be able to drive by the other guys.  The track is really wide.  I think Kansas is a great racetrack.  Hopefully this weekend we’ll put on a great show.
 
 
Hopefully it will clear out with the sun and we’ll be able to move around quite a bit.
 

Q.  What did you feel like your demeanor was or what was the feeling of the team going into Dover last week knowing you were so far behind in the Chase compared to the week earlier at New Hampshire?

KASEY KAHNE:  It’s a bit different.  I think once you realize your chances at a Sprint Cup are over with, it changes the feeling a little bit. But, you know, the guys stepped up and they did a good job.  We had a good car.  Just a little problem throughout the race, so it didn’t go our way for a better result.
 
 
Still, to finish where we did with what we battled, it was a pretty respectable day.  It will keep getting better.  We have a strong team.  We’ve been one of the best cars at times throughout the whole season.  Hopefully we can hit on it again these last seven races and at least finish strong and get back in the top 10.  I think at this point in time that would be a successful year for where we’re at right now.
 

Q.  I assume there’s no good way to fall out of Chase contention.  Do you view what happened at New Hampshire, at least you kind of did it to yourself rather than being circumstance, is there any sort of different feeling when it’s kind of self‑inflicted?

KASEY KAHNE:  I mean, there’s probably a different feeling.  But I think the way I look at it is, you know, I’m the one that made the mistake.  I feel bad for the guys on that front.
 
 
We work together all season long.  Things happen, whether it’s to the car, driver error, a pit stop error.  I mean, all those things happen.  As long as you’re always together as a team during any of those things, you just recover and you move on.
 
 
When it’s not your season, it’s not your season.  But I definitely take full responsibility and felt bad after screwing up and spinning there,taking us out of the Chase, yeah.
 

Q.  Kasey, you certainly had your share of ups and downs this season.  As far as those circumstances, it’s obviously a part of a racecar driver’s life, because you can’t win every time.  Once you go through a big disappointment, does it make it easier on you after you recover from that to go forward?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  I don’t think so.  I think one of my biggest disappointments this year was the Darlington incident.  I felt like going into the season I had a few goals, and one of them was to win Bristol, one was to win Darlington, one was to make the Chase.  We got Bristol, and I had Darlington, but Kyle got me. That was disappointing, set you back.  We recovered from that and moved on.  Then something else happens, you recover and move on.  I spun at New Hampshire.  Recover and move on.
 
 
I think they’re all about the same.  I don’t know, you just want to run better.  It’s been a tough season all year really.  As soon as you start feeling good, something happens.
 

Q.  Although it’s not very likely, come Talladega, there is a potential that the top three guys could be in one crash.  Does that change your strategy at all or you just go race after race?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, race after race.  There’s a possibility I’ll hit something there, too.
 

Q.  Obviously you’ve raced in different series, different points systems.  When you look at the Chase, Dale Jr. is eliminated, Logano is eliminated, you’re eliminated, is it time to look at something different with the points?  Is there anything that can be done?  If you’re trying to help people who have mistakes early in the Chase, is that monkeying around too much with the points system, and essentially the Chase should be about the strongest survive?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, I like the fact that 12 and sometimes 13 drivers get to start the Chase and have a chance to win a championship with 10 races to go after a lot of things can go on.  We had a lot of ups and downs, but we had a lot of really strong races, so we made the Chase.  Then we have a chance to win the Sprint Cup.  I like that side of it.  I like how NASCAR has done that.  I hope they keep that around.  It just opens up for the final 10 races.
 
 
Once you get in those final 10, if you keep having an up‑and‑down year, you’re not going to win a championship.  If you can pull it together, you can have a shot.
 

Q.  There shouldn’t be a way to rescue teams that have problems early in the Chase?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  No.  At that point you’re just controlling it way too much.  At some point consistency and winning races and running up front week after week, at some point that has to come into play.  You get y
our Sprint Cup champion from that.  You can’t (indiscernible) things four times in 10 races and still have a chance to win a Sprint Cup.
 

Q.  Kasey, can you talk about your upcoming 5 Kahne 5K race.

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Sunday morning, October 13th, at 10 a.m., right after the Charlotte race, two weeks from now, we’re looking forward to having our fourth 5K, starting at the Hall of Fame, ending at the Hall of Fame, running 3.1 miles.  It’s been growing each year.  It’s been cool to watch it grow, watch the people come out and really enjoy themselves, get a good run in in the morning, hang out.  We have Great Clips there cutting hair.  There’s different prizes.  There’s a kids’ race after the 5K is over.  It’s a cool day.  I enjoy it.  I hope a lot of people come out and enjoy it again.  You can go to www.KaseyKahneFoundation.org and sign up. Sunday morning after Charlotte weekend, October 13th, it’s going to be a good time.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thanks, Kasey.  That’s all the questions we have today.  Best of luck this weekend at Kansas.
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  Thanks.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you to the media for joining us, as well.

Chevy Racing–CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: GT Championships in Sight

CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: GT Championships in Sight
ALMS manufacturer, team titles within reach in next-to-last round
 
DETROIT (Oct. 1, 2013) – Twelve months ago, Corvette Racing and Chevrolet celebrated a championship weekend at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). Now let’s fast-forward to the present day – Chevrolet and Corvette Racing are on the verge of securing a repeat championship titles in the American Le Mans Series… once again at VIR.
 
The Oak Tree Grand Prix on Saturday, Oct. 5 could see the ALMS GT team and manufacturer championships wrapped up. The two yellow Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs have five victories between them: three for the No. 3 of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen – Laguna Seca, Baltimore and Circuit of The Americas – and two for Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette – Sebring and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
 
All Corvette Racing needs to win its 10th ALMS team championship is for either of the two cars to finish sixth or better in class at VIR. A victory for either Corvette would secure Chevrolet’s 10th manufacturer title with one race left in the season. That’s what happened in 2012 – Gavin and Milner’s triumph landed them the drivers’ championship, Chevrolet clinched the manufacturers’ crown and Corvette Racing wrapped up the team title.
 
In the drivers’ standings, Garcia and Magnussen are in the midst of a remarkable run of three wins and two podium finishes in the last six races. That streak places them in the lead of the championship despite coming away from the season’s first race at Sebring with no points.
 
Saturday’s race is set for 2:15 p.m. ET with live coverage on ESPN3 beginning at 2 p.m. ESPN2’s coverage airs at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
 
VIR, which opened in 1957, has been a happy hunting ground for Corvette’s stable of four drivers. In addition to his GT victory last year with Gavin, Milner also won in GRAND-AM competition in 2005. The Virginia native made his professional debut in GT racing a year earlier and claimed pole position.
 
Magnussen also is a past winner at VIR in Rolex Series competition having taken a Daytona Prototype victory in 2007. This will mark Garcia’s fourth straight year competing at the venue, and he posted the fastest GT lap of the race in 2012. He and Magnussen placed eighth in class last season.
 

Honda Racing–Honda, AcuraRacers Claim Five Titles At SCCA National Championship Runoffs

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2013) – Honda and Acura racers won five Sports Car Club of America national titles, including a second consecutive Formula title and the closest finish in SCCA transponder-era history, in the SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America.

A total of 61 Honda and Acura racers, the largest participation in recent history, traveled to the classic Road America road course in Wisconsin September 16-22 for this year’s celebratory 50thAnniversary Runoffs, taking part in 11 of the 28 classes.

Twelve Formula F drivers, exactly half of the 24-car starting field, used the HPD L15A7 engine at this year’s Runoffs, a record for the manufacturer in this open-wheel, training-ground category.  Tim Kautz, who made history in 2012 as the first Honda-powered Formula F National Champion, successfully defended his title after a race-long battle with Reid Hazelton. 

“It was a great race, the whole race,” Kautz said. “We [Kautz and Hazelton] were battling a little harder than we should have at the start. Then, I could see Reid decide ‘Hey, there’s too many people coming out to play, let’s pull away a little.’ So, we worked together, and the last couple of laps the gloves came off. I think the last lap I went from first to second to first to second to first. So that’s a fun race, a real fun race.”

Behind the lead pair, Jeffrey Bartz finished third in his Honda-powered Van Diemen, with former national champion Scott Rubenzer fourth in his Spectrum-Honda and Cliff Johnson fifth in another Piper-Honda. 

In Touring 3, Chad Gilsinger took his Acura TL SH-AWD to victory, despite final lap drama that saw his relatively comfortable lead of more than eight seconds nearly wiped out when he encountered a slower car – and yellow flags for a separate incident at Turn 12 – less than a mile from the finish. 

“I was basically in cruise mode at that point, but came up on a lapped car.  He was going overly slow and was pointing me by,” Gilsinger recounted.  “But as I got alongside him, I noticed a yellow flag [for the incident at Turn 12].  I didn’t want [a penalty for passing under yellow] to screw up the win, so I almost stopped to let him back by, until we could get past the incident and I could [legally] pass him.  It was almost a bad situation, but luckily it turned out okay.” 

Gilsinger’s victory was his second Touring 3 national championship.  He also won the category in 2010, driving a Honda S2000.

In the production categories, Acura Integra drivers finished first and third in F Production after an exciting race-long battle that also included the Mazda Miata of Eric Prill.  Mark Carpenter took his 2nd Runoffs championship in the class, with Kevin Ruck finishing third in his Integra.

Officially, Carpenter led all 13 laps around the four-mile Road America circuit in his first Runoffs appearance since winning in 2009, but Prill pulled along side several times, and Ruck was never far behind. 

“Our decision to go racing didn’t happen until June of this year,” Carpenter said. “It’s a little different feeling this time around. In such a short period of time, my guys did a great job getting the car together, even on the trailer, to get it out of the garage. I was tripping over it in my garage for two years. Even though I’ve been out of the driver’s seat, I’ve still been at the track,working in pro racing [as an engineer] for the last couple of years. I’ve learned a lot of things that have helped my driving. There’s a lot I’ve picked up on. It’s different this time around, but it feels just as sweet as 2009, for sure.”

The fourth Honda championship of the weekend came in H Production, where Lawrence Loshak won his fourth title – and second with Honda after winning E Production in 2006.  Loshak startedfrom the pole and was ahead of a multi-car, first-lap crash that briefly stopped the race. 

On the restart, a missed shift dropped Losak’s Honda CRX down to fourth.  But by mid-race, Loshak reclaimed a lead he would maintain to the finish.  Jay Griffin finished third in his CRX to add to Honda’s podium total for the weekend, with 2011 champion Greg Gauper taking fourth in his Honda Civic.

“You know, sometimes when you get a run, you gotta go,” Loshak said of his recovery to retake the lead. “You follow them around, kind of get a judge of character of who you’re racing with, and these guys have been awesome. You gotta do it, especially at the National Championships. It worked out.”

The weekend closed out with one of the most exciting races of the weekend and, with a seven-thousandths-of-a-second margin of victory, the closest Runoffs finish since the SCCA began using transponders, as Chris Bovis took his Honda CRX Si to victory lane for the second time in his career in GT Lite. 

Bovis, who previously won GT Lite in 2007, started this year’s race from fifth on the grid, and spent the first nine laps battling multi-time champion Kent Prather for second place.  With three laps remaining in the 13-lap contest, Bovis finally had Prather in is rear-view mirror, and set fastest race lap as he chased down the Nissan of race leader Bobby Lentz.

On Lap 12, the pair was running nose-to-tail, and sometimes side-by-side, as they fought for the lead.  Coming out of Turn 12, they again ran side-by-side, rubbing fenders, through the fast right-hand Turn 13.  Lentz nosed ahead after the contact, but Bovis “squared-up” the final Turn 14 and pulled alongside Lentz as they exited the left-hander, setting up a drag race to the finish where Bovis prevailed, literally, by inches. 

“The difference between Bobby’s laps and mine was just a matter of a few feet here and there. I was trying to figure out where I was quicker. I was just marginally quicker,” Bovis said. “The best turn I had was [Turn] 13, which is a terrible place to do anything. I’d love to tell you I had a plan, but I consciously thought going into [Turn] 3, this is just going to happen somewhere. Road America is a very important place for me. I grew up here. I’ve seen a lot of drivers run here. I just know sometimes here, if somebody is diving really hard into the corner, you can square the corner up, cut back, and just lengthen the straightaway up, and sometimes it works. That’s honestly the only option I had. It was the [last turn of the] last lap.”

Honda Performance Development [HPD], through the Honda Racing Line, offered contingency awards of up to $2,500, along with additional support to help offset travel costs for the racers.  HPD also hosted catered, trackside hospitality exclusively for Honda/Acura competitors and their team members, providing buffet lunches September 17-21 and a Friday night ice cream social in celebration of the Runoff’s 50th Anniversary.

Founded in 1993, Honda Performance Development (HPD) is the technical operations center for high-performance Honda racing cars and engines, and operates at race circuits around the world from its headquarters in Santa Clarita, California.HPD offers a line of race engines for track applications from prototype sports cars to karting; and showcases “fun” products for professional, amateur and entry-level efforts.

Launched in 2009, the Honda Racing Line is a program targeted at licensed participants in sanctioned amateur and entry-level professional racing.  The Honda Racing Line was formed to provide its members with a direct connection to Honda Performance Development and its unparalleled record of success at the highest levels of motorsport. 

Richard Childress Racing–AAA 400

AAA 400
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Dover International Speedway    
September 29, 2013
 
Race Highlights: 
Richard Childress Racing teammates finished sixth (Kevin Harvick), 14th (Jeff Burton), and 18th (Paul Menard) in the AAA 400.
Following the event at Dover International Speedway, Harvick is fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings, 39 markers behind the leader, while Menard is 17th and Burton sits 20th.
The No. 29 Chevrolet SS team ranks fourth in the Sprint Cup Series owner championship point standings, with the No. 27 team 18th and the No. 31 team 21st.
According to NASCAR’s Post-Race Loop Data Statistics, Harvick completed 53 Green-Flag Passes, 39 of which came while running in the top 15 (Quality Passes), positioning him second and third in the loop data categories.
Harvick was the seventh-Fastest Driver Late in a Run, eighth in the Closers category after gaining two positions during the final 10 percent (40 laps) of the race, had the eighth-fastest Speed in Traffic, spent 95.5 percent of the laps in the Top 15, ranking him ninth, and was the 10th-Fastest Driver Early in a Run.
Burton gained one position during the final 10 percent (40 laps) of the race, placing him the 10th in the Closers category and was the 10th-Fastest Driver Late in a Run.
Menard completed 37 Green-Flag Passes during the 400-lap event.
RCR teammates Burton, Harvick and Menard posted nine of the Fastest Laps Run with four, three and two laps, respectively.
Jimmie Johnson earned his fifth victory of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season and was followed to the finish line by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch.
The next Sprint Cup Series race is the Kansas 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 6. The 30th race of the 2013 season is scheduled to be televised live on ESPN beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Time and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio, channel 90.
 
   
Menard Finishes 18th at Dover International Speedway
 
 Paul Menard started the 400-mile event at Dover International Speedway from the 21st position and struggled with handling issues throughout the day to finish 18th on Sunday afternoon. A long green-flag run in the early laps of the race, coupled with a loose-handling condition, caused Menard to fall a lap down to the leader at lap 130. The No. 27 pit crew made a variety of chassis adjustments during the ensuing pit stops in hopes of providing some relief to the Eau Claire Wis., native. After a lap-231 pit stop for four tires, fuel and multiple chassis adjustments, Menard was running in 18th and relayed to the No. 27 crew that the car was the best that it had been all day and the loose-handling condition was tightening up. Continued long green-flag runs and persistent handling issues contributed to Menard falling two laps down to the leader toward the latter portion of the race. The Richard Childress Racing driver and team never gave up and Menard was running lap times comparative to the leader, but the caution flags never fell in his favor. Unable to gain any laps back, Menard ultimately finished the 400-lap event in the 18th position and sits in 17th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings heading into Kansas Speedway.
 
Start – 21         Finish – 18          Laps Led – 0          Points – 17
th 
 
 
PAUL MENARD QUOTE:
“It was a tough day for the No. 27 CertainTeed/Menards crew. We struggled with handling all weekend at Dover (International Speedway), and never seemed to hit on the right setup until the end of the race. The crew worked hard making adjustments all day to try and get the car to handle better. Track position is everything at Dover. Once you fall a lap down to the leader it’s hard to gain any ground, especially with the long green-flag runs we had today.”
 
 

Harvick Finishes Sixth at the Monster Mile
 
Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser team finished sixth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon after battling handling issues throughout the race. The California native started the 400-lap event from the 12th position and maintained a spot in the top 15 while battling a simultaneously tight and loose-handling red and white machine during the early laps. The Gil Martin-led pit crew made adjustments to the Budweiser Chevrolet during scheduled four-tire pit stops throughout the first half of the race, but Harvick continued to battle an ill-handling machine. As the race progressed, the pit crew continued to work to improve the handling of the Richard Childress Racing entry, allowing the 21-time Sprint Cup Series race winner to gain valuable track position, crossing the finish line sixth and picking up his 15th top-10 finish of the 2013 race season. Following the 400-mile event, Harvick gained two positions and now sits fourth in the Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.
 
Start – 12         Finish – 6         Laps Led – 0         Points – 4th
                      
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:
“This was a tough one for us. We struggled most of the weekend to find the right balance on the Budweiser Chevrolet and battled handling issues during the race. The team did a great job bouncing back today and it resulted in the solid finish we needed.”
 
 
 

Burton Finishes 14th at Dover International Speedway
 
Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team battled back to a top-15 finish of 14th at Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Starting the 400-lap event from the 25th position, the 21-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner battled a tight-handling condition on his black and yellow machine early, entering the top 20 just before lap 100. On two occasions, the Richard Childress Racing driver was trapped one lap down to the leader during long green-flag runs, receiving the “Lucky Dog” free pass award both times when the caution flag was displayed to get back onto the lead lap. Restarting with a top-20 position on lap 236, Burton struggled throughout another long green-flag run and once again dropped one lap down to the leader. The Caterpillar team didn’t give up over the course of the race, making several air pressure and chassis adjustments to remedy the tight-handling condition and Burton cracked the top 15 with less than 100 laps remaining. The South Boston, Va., native maintained that top-15 running position for the remainder of the event and brought home a 14th-place finish. Burton remains 20th in the Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.
 
Start – 25                      Finish – 14                   Laps Led – 0                 Points – 20th
 
JEFF BURTON QUOTE:
“Everyone on this Caterpillar Chevrolet team put in a solid effort all weekend. We weren’t where we needed to be on the speed chart, but we never gave up throughout the race and ended up with a top-15 finish. When things are tough, you find out what people are made of. I am proud of these No. 31 guys.”
 

Summit Racing–Anderson Goes to Semis, Moves up Two Positions in St. Louis

Anderson Goes to Semis, Moves up Two Positions in St. Louis
 
Madison, Illinois, September 29, 2013 – Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson used tremendous driving skills to make important moves on Sunday at Gateway Motorsports Park’s second annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals. Anderson, who entered the event ninth in the series standings, vaulted up two spots to seventh at the St. Louis area facility and put the points leader on the trailer en route to a semifinals finish.
 
“I had a good run going today,” said Anderson, who easily halted a traction-troubled Vincent Nobile in the first round with a powerful 6.537 at 211.16 mph before recording a psychic .005-second reaction time at the starting line in his streaking white Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro to defeat Jeg Coughlin with a stunning holeshot in the second round.
 
“It was almost a great day, but unfortunately I came up .007-second short in the semifinals. Luck was on my side much of the day, but we just couldn’t quite get it done. That win over the yellow car really was great, though; that helped my Summit Racing teammate Jason Line tremendously points-wise.”
 
Following a win in Dallas last week, Line was in sole possession of the points lead. An early exit in St. Louis, however, allowed Coughlin to briefly move into the top spot. Anderson’s impressive lashing just one round later helped prevent the competitor from leaving St. Louis as the No. 1 driver in the standings.
 
In the semifinals, Anderson had the opportunity to further aid his teammate’s cause. As he was in each round of eliminations, Anderson was out of the gate first – this time with a remarkable .011-second reaction time to Mike Edwards’ .035 – and recorded a 6.560 in the less-desirable lane. Edwards’ 6.529 got the nod by the slim margin.
 
“I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to win that one, but we almost had it,” said Anderson. “The bottom line is that it is very, very tough out here, and we need to keep digging and fighting the good fight to win as a team. I’m not completely out of the running for the championship, but we’ll see what happens. Jason is No. 3 in the points right now with his Summit Racing Camaro, and he has a very real shot at securing a championship for KB Racing. This class is tough. You just have to continue to strive for perfection, and that is exactly what we will do.”
 

Chevy Racing–Dover–Post Race 2

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2013
 
 
Jimmie Johnson Becomes All-Time Winner at Dover with Victory in AAA 400
Johnson’s Third Straight Top-Five Finish in Chase Moves Him to Second Overall
 
DOVER, Del. – (September 29, 2013)  – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet SS, won the 44th Annual AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway today and further etched his name in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) history books.  The win was his eighth at the one-mile speedway, which broke a tie he held with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison at seven.   It was also the five-time champion’s 65th career NSCS victory, fifth win of 2013, and his third consecutive top-five finish in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. With the win, Johnson moves up to second place in the standings, just eight points behind the leader after three Chase races.
 
“Two (tires) worked good for us in practice,” said Johnson. “And believe me, I wanted to see four tires line-up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off. It’s good to get this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet in Victory Lane. I’m very excited.
 
“To do anything that Bobby (Allison) or Richard (Petty) has done, is quite an accomplishment. We’ve had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just so happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day.”
 
Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., posted his sixth top-10 finish in 28 races at Dover.  The driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS moved up one position in the point standings to 10th with his 16th top-10 finish of 2013.    Jeff Gordon had another strong finish in his No. 24 Axalta Chevy SS, bringing home a fourth –place finish to give Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports three of four of the top five finishers.   The finish moves Gordon up three positions to fifth in the Chase. 
 
Two other Chevrolet Chase contenders had top-10 finishes as well at Dover.  Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS, came home in sixth place, his 15th NSCS top-10 finish of 2013.  Harvick moved up two spots in the standings to fourth.   Ryan Newman started third and led twice for six laps before finishing eighth in his No. 39 State Water Heaters Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing.  He also moved up two positions in the standings with his 14th NSCS top-10 finish of the year.
 
Other Chevrolet SS drivers in the Chase championship battle finished as follows:  Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS – 13th (13th in points), Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS finished 21st after experiencing a loose wheel early in the race, and fell two spots to ninth in the Chase standings.
 
Joey Logano (Ford) finished third and Kyle Busch (Toyota) was fifth to complete the top-five finishers.
 
The Series moves next to Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas on Sunday, October 6th, 2013 for Chase Race Number Four.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
 
CHAD KNAUS, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – WINNING CREW CHIEF
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll continue our post‑race media availability.  We welcome race winner Jimmie Johnson.  This is Jimmie’s 65th victory, fifth victory of 2013, eighth victory at Dover which breaks a record with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.
 
Talk about the moment, Jimmie.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It’s really cool.  I’m not sure I’ve ever done what Richard Petty hasn’t.  To get this eighth win here is very, very special.  Truthfully it was the first thought that went through my mind when I crossed the finish line.  It wasn’t long after I thought of the impact of winning in the Chase, wondering where the 20 was.
 
Big day.  I came so close in the spring to getting this eighth win here and had that slip away, it was nice to get it done today.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Also joining us is crew chief Chad Knaus.  Talk a little bit about being here with Jimmie, this win, only eight points behind Matt now.  Shaping up to be a bit of a battle.
 
CHAD KNAUS:  Yeah, this is obviously a great racetrack for us.  Jimmie has really taken to this place starting back in 2002 when we first came.
 
It’s pretty spectacular every time I hear Jimmie’s name mentioned in the same sentence as guys like Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., all the guys that have done so well throughout the history of our sport.  To be able to one‑up those guys right now is pretty spectacular.
 
Very proud to be part of the 48 team.  Had a great racecar.  Wasn’t the easiest weekend for us.  We had to work hard.  Jimmie used a lot of his knowledge and veteran knowledge to get us to where we are today.
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll start with questions.
Q.  Chad, this is the first time in seven races that you guys have outscored Kenseth in a race.  I know you have both said, Look, it’s about how you’ve run at times, it’s not about all the finishes.  At the end of the day, what kind of significance is there in the sense that you’ve actually beaten him in a race head‑to‑head for the first time in over a month?
CHAD KNAUS:  What are you talking about again?  Just kidding (smiling).
 
No, it’s good.  The fact of the matter is this:  I feel like in Chicago if we hadn’t had a botched‑up little pit stop there at the first part of the race ‑ some of our doing, a little of assistance ‑ I feel like we could have won the race in Chicago, which we’re hoping to do at some point before I retire.
 
I feel like last week in Loudon if we could have ever gotten control of the event, which we had great opportunity.  Got jumbled up on some restarts, couldn’t get to where we needed to, we could have beaten him there.
I feel we had cars capable of winning the first two races, like the 20 and 18.  Coming into this event we felt we had a good racecar.  Brought the same racecar we had in the spring.  We obviously ran really well in the spring.
 
Being able to come in here, qualify respectably, go out and lead the most laps, win this race, speaks volumes about this team.
 
What we’re doing right now is we are just trying to establish a foundation and set ourselves up for the second half of the Chase.  As long as we do that, we’re going to be where we need to be.
Q.  Chad, when you realized behind you was somebody on four tires, I assume you were thinking there was going to be a bigger buffer, did you feel like you had enough laps that they wouldn’t factor in?  Did you think, We’re screwed?
CHAD KNAUS:  Second part (laughter).
 
No, here is the situation.  If you look back over the history of this race, we even saw at the beginning of the event today, the 18 car was able to go out there on two tires, establish a lead on two tires versus the guys on four, took 27 laps for somebody to catch the 18 car and pass them.  We felt like with 20 something laps to go in this race, we would probably be okay if we could make it happen.
 
Now, fortunately enough for the 88, they were able to get broken free of the guys who were on two tires pretty quickly.  But we did a lot of due diligence yesterday trying to understand where our car was, what we needed to do with the KOBALT Chevrolet to make it fast for Jimmie if we did get ourselves in a position where we needed to do two tire
s.  We understood what we needed to do.  We made those changes.  Jimmie told me after the race, he felt like that was the best the car was on the short run.
 
We ran our fastest laps right there at the end of the race, on two tires.  We ran some twenty‑three fifties which was really fast.  We worked hard and tried to understand what we needed to do for strategy, and fortunately it paid off for us.
 Q.  Are you surprised more people didn’t go with that?
CHAD KNAUS:  I was surprised.  I thought more people would have taken two tires towards the end of the race.  We saw guys early in the race take two tires, get track position, maintain that without having clean air.  So I expected a little bit more of a buffer.
 
I’ll be honest, when Stevie and those guys took four tires, I felt like, Damn, that was a missed opportunity, we should have taken four.  But it definitely paid off for us.
Q.  Jimmie, a similar question, but if you could talk about what was going through your mind knowing that Junior had the four tires, said this is one of the best cars he’s had all season.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, he was fast.  I’m not sure how much pit road early in the race, that couldn’t have helped their overall cause.  He worked his way back around, up into the mix of things there.
 
What I saw of his car on four tires earlier in the race, he was pretty quick.  That was really our weakest point, was the first five to ten laps, then our car would come in and was incredibly fast at that point.
 
I didn’t want to lose control at the end of the race with 20 some to go and all that.  So the pressure was on.
 
I ran my guts out to stay ahead of him.  Any switch I could flip in the car that was a fan that might help the car turn my brake bias, everything and anything I could twist, turn, pull, push, I did, then just drove the shit out of that thing.  Was able to keep him at bay for 10, 12 laps.  At that point I was able to stretch a little bit and get back to running a smart race.
 
That opening 10, 12 laps was a pressure‑packed situation.
Q.  Not only is Jimmie the all‑time winner here, he’s the all‑time winner at seven tracks.  Can you talk about what that speaks to?
CHAD KNAUS:  The man’s got a lot of skills. It’s been an honor to be able to work with Jimmie over the course of the years.  I think he’s able to pull out some things that are pretty spectacular.  He’s able to dig deeper, pull out his cape, make things happen in winning moments of these races that other people cannot do.  It’s pretty spectacular.
 
I’ve seen a lot of great drivers, worked with a lot of great drivers.  Knowing what we’ve got sitting behind the seat is always a little bit of confidence, knowing if you get close, if you make the right call at the right time, he’s going to be able to carry the ball.
 
Once again, I think Jimmie is probably the most underrated champion we have in this industry.  He is by far and above the most powerful driver over the course of the last 25, 35 years in this sport.  It’s pretty fun being able to work with him.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Thanks, man (laughter).
Q.  Jimmie, for a while you, Kyle and Matt were top three.  For most of the race y’all were somewhere in the top five.  Either part of that motivational, give you more drive to do better?  Was any part of that a cool factor?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I was thinking about it when I was in the car.  My whole thought process was just how tough this championship’s going to be.  They’re bringing their best and doing their best.  You’ve got to deliver.  That was my mindset when I was racing with both of those guys for three‑quarters of the race.
 
It didn’t surprise me.  It just confirmed what I think we’ve all been kind of feeling and thinking about, is that those guys, they’re both in a great position, and in it for the long haul.
 
For myself, from a mental standpoint, that’s the area where I thrive, when we get into long runs, a tough, demanding track.  It’s not easy to get around this place.  A long, tough championship.  I really feel like I operate better.  The more painful it is, the harder it is, that’s where I seem to do my best work.
 
I don’t like it.  I don’t enjoy that experience.  But I’ve always done a better job and have surprised myself through those moments.  It was like that in this race today.  I think it’s going to be more so of that into the coming races to the checkered flag in Homestead.
Q.  In that light, how important was it for you to win on a day it appeared you had a little better car than both of them?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I mean you’ve got to win when you’re at your best track.  That being said, we had to win here today.  I think any points on the 18 or the 20 would have been a very good day.  Max points, it’s an awesome day.
 
Again, it’s just relative.  It’s a little early to play that game too much right now.  There’s a point in the season where you just worry about who’s leading, who’s behind you if you’re the leader, beating them.  So that mindset would have been there if we ran second to Junior today.  Still would have been happy to outrun the 20 or the 18.  We need to win at our best tracks, and we did that.
Q.  About the mistake Junior had on pit road, he said that might have been the difference of him having the clean air and being up front at the end.  Do you think that was really significant?  Did you feel also you pissed off a lot of people today by beating Junior?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It doesn’t matter, I piss them off regardless.  Just me breathing pisses some of them off (laughter).
 
It certainly affected his day.  To lose track position like that, without a doubt it affected his day.  I’m not sure at the end with strategy how things would have played out.  I think he was second behind us on that run.
 
It’s hard to say if it really would have made a difference, but it didn’t help him, help his cause at all.
Q.  The fact that you guys share a shop with the 88, Junior says these were the best his cars have ever been.  Do you feel the same way, your cars are right at the top right now?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Bristol, no.  Richmond, no.  Dover, yes.
 
It’s funny, because each track has its own demands.  I feel like here, the way we performed at Martinsville earlier in the year, we’ve been able to refine and hone in on specific tracks.  The bigger, faster tracks, I feel really good about our equipment.
 
The way we ran in New Hampshire, as Chad pointed out, we had an awesome pit stop, came off pit road in third, the 9 and the 15 stayed out, put us in a position of having control of the front row.
 
I think we could have won is what I’m getting at.  If we even lined up fourth, had a bad stop, I think we would have gotten through those guys and had a chance to win.
 
The short tracks, Loudon, Phoenix, have been a concern for us.  The way we ran in Loudon, we honestly feel we had a shot to win there.  That will carry over to Phoenix.  We have a good lineup of races ahead.
Q.  Jimmie, I don’t know if this makes up for what happened in the spring, but does it make it feel a little bit better just to come back to the same place where you were so disappointed and pissed?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It doesn’t change that too much.  It’s nice to win, not have something like that take it away.  I’m just happy there’s been a rule change to the restarts.  It was a long time coming and needed to happen.
 
That situation can’t happen again.  I’m happy about that.
 
But it still stings.  I can remember the major
ity of the races we should have won.  I think drivers are like that.  You just hate little stupid things that keep you from getting to Victory Lane.
Q.  You both have competed against Matt in previous Chases.  This is the first time you’ve competed against him with him at Gibbs.  Can you talk about what you see, if anything, different about him this season and how that is shaping up in this championship battle.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  He’s always been incredible at scoring points and getting the most out of his racecar on a given weekend.  It doesn’t let emotions rattle him much.  That part of Matt has always been a consistent thing.
In his previous life at Roush, there were certain tracks you went to, you wouldn’t think about him.  Martinsville would be one.  I would tease and harass him about how he looked on the track.  We were there testing one time, had some good laughs about it all.  I say that, we go there this spring, I think he ran top five or something.
 
The change has been good for him.  Is it equipment?  Is it a personnel thing, working with someone new and different, that relationship?  I don’t know where it lies.  But I think the bottom side, the tracks Matt struggled at, for whatever reason, that has risen, and he’s more competitive on those tracks than he was at the Roush side of life.
 
CHAD KNAUS:  Matt’s good.  He is.  He’s good.  There’s no doubt about it.  I really enjoy racing with Matt.  He’s a good driver.  He’s a clean driver.  He understands where he’s at on the racetrack.  At different points today we were faster than him, he understood.  He really gets it.  He gets it more than most of the drivers out there.  He knows when to get the hell out of the way.  He knows when he has the best car.  He needs to take advantage of that.  He knows what to do.
 
I had a lot of respect for Matt when we finished second in the championship to him a few years ago.  His father and Matt both came up to me and said, Man, we wanted to win, but you definitely were the best.  Matt is a good dude.  I like racing against Matt.
 
I think going to Gibbs has given him better equipment.  I think the Roush equipment isn’t as good as what they’ve got at Gibbs.  It’s going to be interesting to see that dynamic between Kyle and Matt further down the road.  If Matt keeps beating Kyle, it will be fun to see.
 
And write something positive, Jim.  Don’t write about how the ratings are down, all that kind of stuff.  Let’s see something positive from Jim this week.
 
THE MODERATOR:  On that note, congratulations on your win today, guys.
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll get started with our post‑race press conference.  We welcome our second‑place finisher Dale Earnhardt, Jr., currently 10th in points.
 
Talk a little bit about the race out there starting from the pole, finishing second.
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Yeah, we had an awesome car.  Two weeks in a row we’ve had two fantastic racecars.  We’re proud of Steve and Ken, my engineer, all the guys for bringing such good cars to the racetrack.  It certainly makes my job easier, gives us opportunities to win like this.
 
Trying to look on the bright side.  A little disappointed we didn’t pull off the win.  Felt like we had the perfect strategy.  Had maybe the best car, arguably the best car, today.  With those four tires I thought we could get it done.
 
We left everybody in the mirror.  We were clicking off some laps, but just not fast enough to get to Jimmie.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll open it up to questions for Dale.
Q.  Can you talk about the two pit stops, the one where you blew past the commitment line, then the last one where you got caught up in traffic?  Are you glad neither of those cost you?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Yeah.  If you really look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely.  We had the lead, gave up the lead.  Jimmie had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.
 
If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race.  It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was to get by Jimmie.
 
I think missing the commitment cone was a big factor in us not finishing one spot ahead of where we are.  But the other pit stop wasn’t that big a deal.  I came on pit road about as hard as I could.  The 14, Mark, was running maybe 5, 10 miles an hour slow in the first couple segments.  I don’t know that cost us a ton of time.
Q.  Dale, do you have any sense for how long it would have taken for your tires to produce more of an advantage?  Did you feel like you were starting to track him down?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Yeah, definitely.  I knew for sure over the entire run, if we could run 80 laps, four tires are definitely going to be better than two.  We were guessing around 35, 40 laps the difference would start to show.
 
I felt like as we got the traffic, Jimmie was starting to struggle a little bit in the last couple of laps.  My car actually got better the longer I ran and drove better, did what I needed it to do in the corner as we ran.  It wasn’t quite clicking just yet.  Our car was starting to come around.
 
I think the difference in the tires between our two cars was about to show.  But the race is 400 laps.  That’s the way it is.  They did a good job.  Real proud of the company.  We were going to have a helluva party if we could get to him.
Q.  Dale, Jimmie said you drove a whale of a race.  Second place, when you’re going up against Kenseth, talk about hitting your head against the wall.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Well, I think we won’t do that.  I feel like in the last couple of weeks, we’ve been able to really show what our team’s capable of.  We’ve been really quick on the sheet every day, fast in practice.  The changes we’re making, everything seems to be working right, going in the direction you want.  I feel like when we get it right, we can compete and we can win.
 
We came really close today.  I don’t feel like today was a highlight for us.  I think this is how it’s supposed to be every week.  I know that competition’s difficult and tough, Jimmie being one of the best drivers the sport has ever seen.  Running at one of his better racetracks, it was going to be a challenge.  But I felt like we had enough car and tires for sure to beat him.
Q.  Coming off the last restart, you were with Jimmie for a little bit, then seemed like you moved up on the high side, he got away from you.  Would that not have mattered?  Did you give up more time than you necessarily wanted to at that point?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  I was just trying some different lines, seeing what might work.  I ran the high line, gave up about four car lengths to him.  Realized I needed to be back on the bottom.  Went back down there and focused again.
 
His car was good.  I mean, I had to run perfect laps to maintain the pace that he had, just to not let the lead get any bigger, just hope that he’d start coming back to me there at the end.  It was just a little bit too late.
Q.  Dale, even though he’s your teammate, does it still kind of suck to lose to Jimmie because he always wins everything?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  I’ll be honest with you, it sucks to lose regardless of who wins (smiling).  It’s probably harder to run second th
an it is fifth or tenth.  When you have a car like we had today, you don’t get good cars every week, you like to capitalize.
 
It doesn’t bother me that it was Jimmie.  I know Jimmie is going to be good here.  Plus he’s my teammate.  I want to see him do well.  When he does well, it indirectly affects us and benefits us.
 
I wasn’t hoping he was going to blow a tire or anything there at the end; I was just trying to catch him.  If I could get to him, I thought I would be able to get by him.  We just couldn’t do it.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Dale, thank you for your time this afternoon.  Congratulations.
 
 

Mopar Racing–Beckman Tops Team Mopar Effort with Runner-Up Finish at St. Louis

Beckman Tops Team Mopar Effort with Runner-Up Finish at St. Louis

Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger driver and defending Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson falls in the quarterfinals but remains within striking distance of a repeat title
Madison, Ill. (Sunday, September 29, 2013) – Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver “Fast” Jack Beckman muscled his Mopar-powered Dodge Charger R/T NHRA Funny Car to a runner-up showing on Sunday at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals in suburban St. Louis, advancing to his third final of the year. The defending Funny Car king took a giant step towards recapturing his crown, moving to third in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship Funny Car standings, and also brightened up an otherwise tough outing for the Team Mopar contingent at Gateway Motorsports Park.

The No. 8 seed heading into Sunday, Beckman bested Alexis DeJoria to start eliminations, posting a 4.079-second elapsed time at 312.78 mph to DeJoria’s 4.110/310.70. Next up for Beckman was an all-Mopar second-round showdown with his DSR teammate, pole-sitter and Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar Dodge Charger R/T driver, Matt Hagan, who knocked out No. 16 Daniel Wilkerson in the first round. Beckman triumphed in the HEMI vs. HEMI grudge match, notching a 4.088/308.64 to Hagan’s slower 4.187/304.53.

In a wild semifinals battle against Del Worsham, in which both racers struck the tires, Beckman was able to get back in the gas of his Dodge Charger R/T first, taking out his foe thanks to a 4.546/253.47 run. Beckman lined up against John Force in the final in search of his first win of the season and was first off the line, but Force had a little more at the top end. Beckman’s 4.127/309.84 was solid but short of Force’s winning 4.097/310.13 pass.

“The problem is we keep opening the door wide open for ourselves and then we fail to take full advantage of it,” said Beckman after the final. “We have to win a race if we are going to win the championship. We are probably going to have to win two of the last three races. I guess the upside is we have a car that can do it.”

“Fast” Jack’s Mopar-powered DSR teammate Ron Capps exited in the second round against Force, his 4.108/308.99 mark not enough to overcome Force’s quicker 4.095/312.21 pass. No. 12 qualifier and DSR Dodge Charger R/T racer Johnny Gray came out on the losing end of a first-round match with Worsham, and Jeff Arend, who was unable to drive his Dodge past Robert Hight, also was unable to advance past the opening round.

JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger pilot and No. 3 qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr. was dealt a hard-luck second-round defeat at St. Louis. After posting a 6.541/211.39 run to advance in round one against Greg Stanfield, who drew a red-light foul after leaving too early, Coughlin squared off against Greg Anderson in  a fight of past Pro Stock champs. Coughlin recorded a solid .039 reaction time paired with a 6.539/210.57 pass, but Anderson’s near-perfect .005 reaction off the starting line and 6.571/210.47 run provided him the margin for the upset holeshot win. Despite the quicker-than-desired exit, Coughlin is second in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship Pro Stock playoffs standings, just 10 points behind leader Mike Edwards.

The top qualifier for the third time this year in his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger, Allen Johnson knocked off Larry Morgan to open the day on the strength of a 6.527/212.03 pass to Morgan’s 6.566/209.98, recording the second-quickest pass of the session. In a quarterfinals race with Rickie Jones, Johnson came out on the wrong end of an excruciatingly tight contest, coming up short by a one-inch margin, or three ten-thousandths of a second on the timing lights. Johnson reacted first off the line with a .037 time to Jones’ slower .043, but A.J.’s 6.543/211.86 effort wasn’t enough to best the 6.537/211.83 laid down by Jones.

Johnson fell one spot to sixth in the Countdown standings, but in the wide open chase for the Pro Stock title he will leave St. Louis closer to the leader than when he entered. Coming into the event Johnson was 74 points behind first, but is now just 69 points behind new leader Edwards.

 “We’re going to leave here in not much worse condition than how we came in, but the races are dwindling down,” said Johnson, the defending Pro Stock series champion. “The biggest thing is that we have a really good car, a really good engine package. Losing close races is part of racing, but we’ll leave here with a strong the car. The engine program’s really good – we were the quickest car in about 75 percent of the runs here this weekend. We head to Reading very upbeat.”

No. 2 qualifier V. Gaines was also the victim of a holeshot loss, falling in the first-round to fellow Mopar-powered Pro Stocker Matt Hartford, who was unable to get by Edwards in the quarterfinals. Vincent Nobile, a member of the J&J Racing trio that includes Johnson and Coughlin, lost to Anderson in the opening round, and Dodge Avenger driver Deric Kramer met his match in round one versus event winner Erica Enders-Stevens.

John Force Racing–JOHN FORCE WINS AAA INSURANCE MIDWEST NATIONALS

JOHN FORCE WINS AAA INSURANCE MIDWEST NATIONALS

 

ST. LOUIS —- John Force, the winningest driver in NHRA history, continues to add to his expanding legacy. Today at the 2nd annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals Force defeated long-time rival Jack Beckman in a final for the ages taking the win light by .013 seconds or six feet to capture his 136th career Funny Car title. This was Force’s sixth final round in the last twelve races and his first win with crew chief Jimmy Prock.

“You have to start with Jimmy Prock but it is the brain trust. Jimmy gave me a good hot rod,” said Force, a three-time winner at Gateway Motorsports Park. “I was losing some races but Robert worked in that cockpit with me to get me comfortable. I have been guilty of getting overloaded and not focusing on my race car. Now I have people like Just Marketing, Octagon, and Rogers & Cowan working for me so I can focus on winning. You have to live this race car every day.”

Force moved into second place in the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings just six points behind points leader Matt Hagan. This is the highest Force and the Castrol GTX team has been in the point standings since Force won his 15th Funny Car championship in 2010.

Earlier this year Force won at Bristol’s Thunder Valley Raceway with Mike Neff as his crew chief but since that win on Father’s Day the 15-time Funny car champion has been shut out of the winner’s circle.

“It has been a little bit of a drought since we won in Bristol earlier this year. Robert said when we made the switch that these guys are great guys and they are unbelievable. He said when Jimmy Prock get hot he will get fast,” said Force. “The whole brain trust has been working together from Mike Neff to Ron Douglas, Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Dan Hood to get these Funny Car running. We are working as a team and it is really cool.”

“I gave away two trophies for this win. I gave one to Jim McGrath, the president of AAA Missouri and one to Jimmy Prock. I want to thank AAA for their commitment to JFR. We have a long range deal with Traxxas for Courtney. We are not dead yet and I am not dead yet. We are going after wins and corporate America.”

In the final Force was racing Jack Beckman who has had the upper hand on Force for most of his career. Beckman has a commanding 21-8 record against Force. They are now 2-2  in final rounds. Force has never lost to Beckman at Gateway Motorsports Park, with a 2-0 record now.

“Beckman is a great racer. He taught my kids at Frank Hawley driving school. He has taught me some lessons too. At the end of the day our old hot rod went down the race track and we gave the fans a show. That is what it is all about,” said Force

This is the twenty-first season for Force to win at least two races in a season. He needed a pre-race pep talk from his wife Laurie today. The couple celebrated 32 years of marriage this weekend.

“I talked to my wife this morning and she said you need to get back to winning because winning fixes everything. She got my head right this morning,” said Force, a 222-time finalist. “I need to start winning races and I know how to do that. I don’t know if I will win another championship or another race but I will be in the fight with these young kids.”

Force started the day taking out rookie Chad Head in the first round before dispatching Ron Capps in the second round. In the semi-finals for the second race in a row he had to race teammate and son-in-law Robert Hight. For the second race in a row he also took out Hight. The 2009 Funny Car champion had nothing but word of support for his leader at the end of the day.

“I told John after the semi-finals that he needed to win this race. We are running well we just need to quit running into John in the semi-finals. We are making up ground every race on Hagan and now we are only 48 points out of first place,” said Hight. “We can get that under two rounds with a good qualifying effort in Reading. This AAA Insurance Mustang was great today we took out two tough competitors in (Jeff) Arend and (Tim) Wilkerson and lost to the guy that won the race. We are not hanging our heads. We’ll be in Reading ready to get after it.”      

Courtney Force qualified in the No. 4 spot with lane choice going into race day, this was her ninth top five start of the 2013 season. Her Traxxas team accumulated a total of four bonus points throughout Friday and Saturday for the qualifying efforts.

Today, Force moved up one spot and around competitor Johnny Gray to seize the No. 7 position in the NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car point standings. She finished in the quarterfinals when she beat Tony Pedregon, later falling to Del Worsham in the second round.

“First round we faced Tony Pedregon and had a pretty stellar pass of a 4.056. We were the second-quickest of the session next to my dad, who one-upped us again. But we’re just excited we were able to get past Tony in round one. The fact that we won in the opening round and Johnny Gray lost in the opening round was big because we moved back up a spot in the points to No. 7,” said Force.

This was the first ever match-up between the youngest daughter of John Force and fellow Funny Car driver Tony Pedregon.  The pair left the starting line at about the same time, but Force pulled away and turned on the win light. She posted a 4.056 second run at over 318 mph to his 4.143 at 296 mph and had lane choice going into the semi-finals.

Force went on to compete against No. 5 qualifier Del Worsham. Once again, both drivers were off the starting line together, but Force took an early lead shortly before striking the tires at about 200 feet out and had to back off the throttle. Worsham took the win with a 4.119 ET at 311.77 mph and Force sat out the rest of the day to watch her father walk away with a Wally.

“We got lane choice in the second round against Worsham. We were really trying to run it hard and put a good number on the board after we saw Robert go up there and run a 4.07, but it was a tough match-up. Del got down there with no problem and ran a 4.11, but we struggled a little. We spun the tires and I had to pedal it. We went over a spot on the track that didn’t have any rubber on it and I think that kind of killed the run for us in that left lane. Those things happen,” said Force.

With only three national events left, Force will go to Reading 135 points out of first place in the No. 7 position in points.

“We have a great race car and I think we proved that this weekend; that we can run low 4.0s in the heat and in the cool air. I’m excited that we’re moving in the right direction,” said Force.

Brittany Force and her Castrol EDGE team continued to make strides as they wrapped up the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals Sunday at Gateway Motorsports Park.

The Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award contender qualified fifth for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series national event. This was the fourth she has qualified in the top half of the field this season and second time since the Chevrolet Performance US Nationals. Force also ran the quickest elapsed time of her career at 3.79 seconds during the second qualifying session under the lights Friday night.

Going into round one of Sunday’s eliminations, Force would face fellow competitor Brandon Bernstein for a second time this season. Running a 3.825 ET at 317.34 mph, the 27-year-old from Yorba Linda, California would advance to the quarterfinals as Bernstein hazed the tires and lifted off the throttle. Second round for Force would prove to be tough as she prepared to compete against Al-Anabi Racing’s Khalid alBalooshi. With a reaction time of 0.090 seconds, the Castrol EDGE dragster was making a run for the win light, but unfortunately fell short of the victory has her tires went up in smoke
, forcing her to shut off the engine early.

Force walks away 13th in the championship points standings and with another round win under her belt. She believes her team is moving in the right direction and is proud of what they have accomplished thus far.      

“Overall, we had a great weekend here in St. Louis,” Force said. “We had a good race car and I ran my best ET Friday night with a 3.79. We ended up qualifying No. 5 and even went into the second round, so I think overall it was a great weekend. We’re packing up and going home early, but this Castrol EDGE team is anxious to get to Reading and hopefully go some more rounds.”

Chevy Racing–Dover Post Race

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 29, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
IT’S YOUR EIGHTH VICTORY AT DOVER TODAY. TALK ABOUT THE LAST RUN. I’VE HAD CREW CHIEFS TELL ME THAT TWO TIRES WILL NOT BEAT FOUR TIRES. HOW DID YOU HOLD OFF YOUR TEAMMATE, DALE EARNHARDT, JR.?
“Two (tires) worked good for us in practice. And believe me; I wanted to see four tires line-up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off. It’s good to get this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet in Victory Lane. I’m very excited. I’m very happy to have Mr. Hendrick here. I wish that I had my family here. I want to say hi to my girls at home. Thank you to all the fans and to Sprint. This is just an awesome day and awfully timely in the scheme of things.”
 
YOU ARE ONLY EIGHT POINTS BEHIND MATT KENSETH NOW. HOW STRONG IS THIS TEAM, GOING FORWARD, FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“It’s good. All these things are great. When you put the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) up there, it’s going to make it a very difficult deal. And I think it’s going to be fun for the fans to watch. We came to a good track and we got what we needed to, done. I know that No. 20 is going to be awfully strong for the rest of the stretch, and I look forward to racing with him.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR PLACE IN THE RECORD BOOKS NOW. IT USED TO BE YOU AND RICHARD PETTY AND BOBBY ALLISON TIED FOR THE MOST WINS AT DOVER. NOW IT’S JUST YOU:
“It’s incredible. To do anything that Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment. We’ve had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just so happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day.”
 
TALK US THROUGH YOUR DAY AND THIS DOMINATE RUN THAT YOU HAD:
“Just a very fast race car.  I think we were a little vulnerable on stickers and new tires to get going for five to eight laps.  Then after that this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet was really strong.  I was fearing cautions at the end.  Of course we had one.  I felt like two (tires) was good for us.  We knew that it was going to work well for us.  I wish that four (tires) was going to start further back.  When I saw four was the car right behind me I knew I was going to be in trouble.  (Dale Earnhardt) Junior drove a whale of a race.  He kept me super honest there at the end.  So a very strong day.”
 
GIVEN THAT YOU WEREN’T AS GOOD ON THE SHORT RUNS AND YOU HAD TWO TIRES WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND DALE EARNHARDT, JR. RIGHT THERE AT THE END OF THE RACE?
“I think really just track position.  He had a great race car all day long.  I think really between the No. 88, the No. 20 and the No. 48 we seemed to have all the speed to be the three fastest cars.  I saw him miss pit road early in the race.  I’m sure that was tough to rebound from.  He finally got back up to the front there and was awfully strong.  It has just been a track that I’ve adapted to since the beginning and I’ve really enjoyed running at.  The longer the run the better I perform here.  This track isn’t easy to drive.  You’ve got to be up on the wheel for four hundred laps around here and I enjoy that aspect too.”
 
10 POINTS THAT YOU KNOCKED OFF OF MATT KENSETH’S LEAD IS THIS THE POINT THAT JIMMIE JOHNSON AND THE LOWE’S TEAM STARTS TO MAKE THEIR MOVE?
“I still think it’s too early to say somebody can make a move.  You just don’t want to give points up.  Today we got max points so we didn’t leave any on the table and we will go to Kansas next week and see what we can do.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
YOU CAME UP ONE SPOT SHORT WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE AT THE END?
“Well, Jimmie (Johnson) was just that good.  I thought that four tires were going to be enough to get to him and get him out of the way, but he is just that fast around here.  That track position is really important and I gave that up early in the race with that mistake coming onto pit road.  And it cost us a shot at the win there.  We still had it.  My crew gave me a good enough car to get us back into it, so I’ve got to thank them, National Guard, Diet Mountain Dew, Time Warner Cable and all of our partners.”
 
HOW DID THE RACE TRACK CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE DAY TODAY?
“The balance moved around a little bit not quite as much as we have seen here in the past, but I think we just brought a better race car this time.  That is why we had a better time of it.”
 
YOU WERE THE FIRST CAR WITH FOUR TIRES ON THAT LAST RUN. DID YOU THINK THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH TO GET IT DONE?
“Yeah, I did. That’s real disappointing there; but Jimmie (Johnson) is really that fast. He’s that good around this place. I thought we might be able to get to him and I was definitely going to do whatever I could to win if I could get within reach. But I just couldn’t get to him. So, I’m just real disappointed. We’ve had a couple of good weekends. These are two of the best cars I’ve had all year. I’ve got to thank the team. But, running second is no better than running 10th. I’d like to get a trophy here soon.”
 
YOU HAD A COUPLE OF ISSUES ON PIT LANE TODAY. DO YOU THINK ULTIMATELY THAT HAD ANY AFFECT ON WHERE YOU FINISHED?
“Yeah, I take responsibility for getting a little too eager coming onto pit road for that green flag stop. We’re lucky we didn’t have more trouble through that whole deal.  I didn’t know what the heck the rules are for that, so I was figuring we got off pretty light. But I had a fast enough car to get back to the leaders, but you’ve got to be the leader on that last start. You see most of these races are won by the guy leading it at the last restart or after the last round of pit stops. That wasn’t us today. I’ll take responsibility for that mess-up coming on pit road for sure.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
DESCRIBE THE WAY THINGS WENT THIS AFTERNOON FOR YOU ON THIS TOUGH RACE TRACK:
“It was definitely tough.  Our Axalta Cromax Pro Chevrolet was very good.  We had moments where I felt like we had the best car and there were moments where I felt like we were one of the worst cars.  Man, I did not want to see that last caution. I felt like we were really in the perfect position fuel mileage wise, tires, speed of the car, we were just sitting there riding trying to get to the end.  Then we had to make a decision on two tires, four tires.  I felt like two was going to be the right thing.  It worked out for Jimmie (Johnson) to win it.  Congrats to him, but just didn’t work out for us.  Our car just didn’t take off very good there.”
 
YOU HAD A GREAT CAR AT TIMES. IF THIS RACE HAD STAYED GREEN THE REST OF THE WAY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAD FOR THEM? YOU WERE ALSO SAVING FUEL FOR A WHILE:
“I think we definitely had that strategy nailed. We came in; stretched it as far as we could and the team did an excellent job getting it full of fuel. I was saving (fuel) most of that run. So, we were four short. But it doesn’t matter. The caution came out and we just did not have a short run car. We took two (tires) to get track position, which won the race. But it just didn’t work for our car. All in all, it was a great day for the Axalta Chevrolet. I was very happy with just the overall performance of everybody. And I was having fun. Congrats to Jimmie (Johnson). He’s so tough here. It’s no surprise that he won. It was a great job by (Dale Earnhardt) Junior, too; that was fun to watch.”
 
YOU
GAINED IN THE POINTS AND TECHNICALLY TIED FOR FOURTH, BUT YOU ARE IN FIFTH. LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE AND MOVING ON TO KANSAS, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR CHANCES?
“Oh, well, if we keep performing the way we’ve been performing; a driver can’t slide into the pit stall too far, and we’ve just got to keep knocking out good pit stops and having good race cars like we’ve had. I’m very excited and motivated by how well this team has stepped-up ever since the Chase has come around. I can’t wait to get to the next race.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SIXTH
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RACE:
“That was a long day.  All in all, all the guys on our Budweiser Chevy did a good job of just kind of keep pounding away.  That is what you have to do here at Dover as you get towards halfway it just kind of seems like you can make up positions by just staying in the game.  We just kept ourself in the game today.  We didn’t have a great car, but we still have some work to do to get the performance a little bit better.  We have got to fix pit road.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHERE YOU STAND AT IN THE CHASE RIGHT NOW?
“We beat the points leader so we probably didn’t gain any points, but we didn’t lose any either.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 STATE WATER HEATERS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
“Our day started out really well, the car was great for the first 100 laps or so. It got tight after that and we never could make the right adjustment to get it handling like I needed it to. I think we finished eighth, but I know a lot of the guys we’re in the chase with finished ahead of us. All in all, it wasn’t a bad day for the State Water Heaters Chevrolet. We got another top-10 finish, which means everyone can go to Outback Steakhouse and get a free Bloomin’ Onion, and we paid 10 mortgages with Quicken Loans’ “Bring it Home” promotion.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH
HOW WAS YOUR CAR TODAY AND WERE YOU GUYS HAVING A MECHANICAL ISSUE?
“We don’t know yet.  Something was wrong and we lost a lot of power.  Didn’t seem like the engine, maybe it was something else like tail pipes or something. We are not real sure.   We just salvaged a good finish and we didn’t pit there and got a top-15.  So that was good for what we had and what we were dealt with.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 21ST
ON HIS RACE:
“A loose wheel did us in. We were way off at the start, but after the first pit stop we made some good changes and started to make a move. But once again we had an issue with a loose wheel (right rear, Lap 156) and that put us a couple of laps down. And with the lack of cautions we couldn’t make it up. This is the Chase and you can’t afford to have these problems. We need to regroup and get it together for Kansas next week.”

Summit Racing–Anderson to Face Nobile in St. Louis First Round

Anderson to Face Nobile in St. Louis First Round
 
Madison, Illinois, September 28, 2013 – Greg Anderson is ready to put qualifying behind him and bring his A-game to the table for the first round of eliminations at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis. The four-time Gateway finalist last earned a win at the facility nestled in the shadow of the famous St. Louis arch in 2004, and he is good and ready to return to the winner’s circle this weekend in his Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro.
 
“I like this facility, and I really enjoy the fans here; they’re just great,” said the Mooresville, N.C.-based Anderson. “We didn’t give them the show we wanted to yet this weekend, but we’ve got tomorrow to make up some ground. Right now, everyone on the Summit Racing team is focused on preparing our Camaros for a better day. We’re digging in tonight, and we expect it to show tomorrow.”
 
Anderson and Team Summit pushed as hard as they could during qualifying to edge up the ladder. His best time of 6.566 at 210.47 mph was recorded in the third round of qualifying in the cool morning air on Saturday and was sixth-best of the session. Ultimately, Anderson’s time was good for a start from the No. 11 position with 20 drivers vying for one of 16 raceday spots.
 
In the first round, Anderson will race Vincent Nobile, a driver he most recently met in the first round in Charlotte just a couple of weeks ago. In their most recent meeting, Anderson got the nod with a stout 6.59 to his opponent’s traction troubled pass.
 
“There is no question about it, we will have a challenge tomorrow,” said Anderson, who entered the event 9th in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock standings. “But the Summit Racing team is eager to rise to the challenge. There is no time like the present to show what we are capable of.”
 

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