NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 18, 2013
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR, NO. 88 MOUNTAIN DEW/XBOX ONE CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed Xbox games, how much he enjoys Talladega, short racing stories, and more. Full Transcript:
WHEN YOU COME TO TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY, YOU THINK ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT, JR. AT LEAST I KNOW I DO (LAUGHTER). THAT’S A COOL PAINT SCHEME YOU’VE GOT OUT THERE. TALK ABOUT THAT, AND THEN TALK ABOUT COMING TO A PLACE WHERE YOU’VE WON FIVE TIMES IN THE SPRINT CUP SERIES. THIS HAS GOT TO BE A SPECIAL PLACE FOR YOU.
“Yeah, that’s true. The car looks great. I’m really excited to be paired up with Xbox One. I’ve got to thank Diet Mountain Dew for being innovative on the marketing side. I’m a big fan of Xbox. I’ve got several actually, strewn around the house and in the bus. So it’s a good fit. And hopefully with this promotion that Diet Mountain Dew has they’re going to auction off a lot of these Xbox Ones right here like this one right here on the table. I think that will be pretty successful, obviously; regardless of our participation because Xbox is such a huge brand. And with the release of the new console, pandemonium is going to set in for a little while. But I’ll be on the list somewhere, trying to get one.
 
“But this race track is really a special race track, just in general, to the sport. I think the history of this place and just how it was conceived and the unique circumstances of that first race and how the drivers, many felt it was unsafe or what have you. And how the track eventually turned into one of the most impressive and unique, concerning speed, and how the style of racing that you have here is so unique, it’s just amazing what this place has been able to deliver year after year. I do enjoy coming here and I remember this was one of my favorites as a kid. When I was young, out of all the tracks that I had the chance to go to, this was definitely one of my favorites to come to.  Milling around in the garage during the race and just how big the place was and the cars looked different because of the superspeedway bodies and it was just a really fun experience for me.
 
“And this was actually the first race track that I drove on aside from Myrtle Beach. I was racing at Myrtle Beach. Actually I wasn’t even racing Myrtle Beach. I was racing street stocks at Concord. And I think they were testing the V-8. They were going from V-6’s to V-8’s in the Nationwide Series. And Dad was down here driving it and Dave Marcus was out here driving Dad’s car. And Dad called me at the dealership. I was changing oil and told me to get my helmet and my suit and be at the airport the next morning and not to ask any questions or tell anybody where I was going. I didn’t know where I was going. I mean, I knew I was going to Talladega, but I didn’t know why. I assumed I was going to drive a race car somewhere. But we got here and he told me to get my stuff on and get in the car and go out and run; and hold it wide-open, that it would be on the stick. And I remember going down the back straightaway in that car and wondering if it was really going to stick when I got in that corner because it just didn’t seem like it was possible.
 
“But yeah, this is a real special place. My dad won a lot of races here and I’ve had the fortune of being able to get to Victory Lane several times. I think this place will just continue to deliver, year after year, long after I’m gone. It’s just such an impressive track and I really enjoy being here.”
 
YOU ARE THE SPORT’S MOST POPULAR DRIVER. BUT DO YOU GET THE EXTRA LOVE THAT YOU GET HERE AT TALLADEGA? AND DO YOU STILL GET A KICK OUT OF THAT BECAUSE IT REALLY IS UNLIKE ANYWHERE ELSE?
“Yeah, I think that we were winning so many races there in a short period of time from ’01 to ’04 and when we weren’t winning, we were running second or third and always in the middle of the race for the lead. And I think, I don’t know, maybe our personality is a good match for this area. I have had a lot of friends down in this area and spent a lot of time down here hunting. And for whatever reason, it’s just been a real comfortable area for me to be in. You know, you travel all over the country, racing in all the different parts of the country and some places you feel almost like you’re at home. And this is one of them.
 
“So, I think that Dad really started all that with the success he had here. Our DEI team came in and just kind of inherited already a pretty loyal fan base. This sport has got the most loyal fans as it is already. We sort of adopted a lot of people and we were able to go out and win. And that endeared them and has for some time now. And yeah, It makes it fun to come here knowing you’ve got a lot of people excited to see you run. And as soon as the race starts, when you starting on the line out there before you even get in the car, the first thing you’re thinking about is how fast you can get to the lead because you know a lot of people want to see you leading the race. And they come here to cheer that specific moment and hopefully see you go to Victory Lane. You just want to produce as soon as you can.”
 
WHEN YOU ARE GOING AROUND HERE, AND WHEN YOU TAKE THE LEAD, CAN YOU ACTUALLY HEAR THE FANS? THEY GET PRETTY LOUD. DOES THAT GIVE YOU ADRENALINE? DOES IT GIVE YOU A RUSH WHEN THEY ARE CHEERING FOR YOU? OR, DO YOU JUST HAVE TO BLOCK IT OUT AND JUST KNOW YOU HAVE A TASK AT HAND?
“No, you don’t block it out. I think you enjoy it. If you’ve got one fan or you’ve got thousands of fans, you know that when you put the car in first place, that they’re happy. I think you enjoy that as much as the fan enjoys it. You’re happy being first, obviously, but when you see the reaction that other people get from it, yeah, it’s a great feeling. It’s a really good feeling. Sometimes you swear you can hear them, but most of the time you can’t. But you can definitely see it. You can definitely see after lap after lap of going by the grandstand and seeing them sitting down. When you come by and they are standing up, it’s obvious. And you see the arms in the air and all that stuff. So, yeah.”
 
MATT KENSETH WAS JUST IN HERE TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU HAVE TO EMBRACE THIS PLACE AS AN OPPORTUNITY AND NOT GET CAUGHT UP IN ALL THE STUFF THAT COULD HAPPEN.  KNOWING HIM AND KNOWING THIS JOINT IS THAT KIND OF MINDSET ESSENTIAL TO DOING WELL HERE?
“I think so.  As much as I feel like a lot of things are out of your control so you start the race thinking ‘I’ve got no control over what is going to happen.  I’m just going to do this or I’m just going to do that.’  I’m either going to lay back you make up your mind probably hours before the race.  I’m going to run hard every lap or I’m going to take it easy, this is what I’m going to do.  You still even after you’ve got this plan that you’ve talked about and thought about and maybe you spent time with your crew chief and your team.  Maybe you spent a week on it who knows you still feel as helpless as a guy with no plan at all.  Just because so many things are out of your hand, but I think you can psych yourself out and you can definitely anticipate negative results and negative things happening so much that you almost guarantee that as your fate.  I think if you think positively ‘man this is going to work, I’m going to make the right choices when things are quite working right.  I’m going to keep striving and pushing and I’m going to make this a good results.  I’m going to get something out of this today’.  Typically it works out.  Typically that attitude is going to prevail over ‘man this isn’t going to work, every time I come here I’m going to wreck, every time I come here I’m going to have trouble, I can’t figure it out why even try’.  That attitude never works
.  But not that I think drivers are that extreme about it, but you definitely when you have so little in control.
 
“When you are driving at other race tracks man you are driving the car you are in control of getting the car better and you are in control of a lot more.  Where here you are at the mercy of the draft and what line you are in.  A choice to change lines a couple of laps ago might have you just going backwards with no option to get out you are trapped in that box.  Trapped by the cars around just sort of ride that decision out for a few more laps.  That is kind of frustrating, but you have to stay positive I think to not end up in that crash or not end up having a terrible result because you make all these terrible choices you have to stay positive and keep pushing.  And try to stay positive I mean you will make five bad decisions but that one right decision you made might be the one that gets you where David Ragan ended up.  Just like that he wins the race. You just got to keep plugging away and you are going to make a lot of bad decisions you just got to get ready for that.”
 
HAVE YOU GOTTEN BETTER AND THEN WORSE AND THEN BETTER AND THEN WORSE?  WHERE ARE YOU AT NOW IN THE BACK AND FORTH OF IT ALL? 
“Yeah definitely feel like I’m waiting on something good to happen.  I don’t think that I’ve made too many bad decisions I suppose.  I really don’t look back over each race and go ‘man you know this is exactly where I went wrong’ so I don’t take a record of everything.  I feel like we haven’t got the job done and this is a place where I feel like I should know what I’m doing and should be able to go out there and get a great result every time.  Every time you show up here thinking that this might be the weekend that you get it kind of turned around and put things back in the right direction.  It hasn’t been going great here, as great as I want it to go here lately.  We have torn up a lot of cars and been frustrated most times when we leave here.  I still come back as confident and excited about the opportunities as ever.  That is the way we feel this weekend.”
 
DO YOU KNOW WHY?
“The package changes a lot and you’ve got to adapt.  Maybe I haven’t adapted as well to some of the packages or maybe I’m just not making the right decisions.  You’ve got to make all the right decisions in the draft to put yourself in position to win.  And I haven’t been doing that to win these races here, but my confidence and my determination has not changed a bit.  I think you’ve got to adapt and I don’t think I’ve adapted as well as I’ve needed to, to the way this package needs to be ran. But I’m going to stay open minded to that and try to do a good job this weekend of putting the car where it needs to be and making better decisions that put me in position to have a shot at it.  I just want to have a shot at it.  You know we haven’t really even done that. Every time we have had these late restarts we have been in the back or outside the top 10 or just things haven’t gone the way we need them to go at the end of these races to have a shot and be up close to the front to make a move at the last few laps.  That is the goal this weekend.”
 
YOU MORE THAN ANYBODY ELSE CAN RELATE TO THE WHOLE POPULARITY THING WITH DANICA (PATRICK).  DOES NASCAR NEED HER TO BE SUCCESSFUL EVENTUALLY AT SOME POINT IN TERMS OF HER RESULTS?
“I think that she needs it more than NASCAR needs it.  I think that for her she wants it.  She wants to be successful and strives to be successful and that is on her.  That comes down to whether she can get it done or not and time will tell.  I don’t think that the sport wins or loses either way.  Obviously I mean if she is successful it is a plus, but no matter what happens to any of us the sport goes on.  The health of the needle doesn’t move a whole lot depending on individuals.  It’s really a sport of so many people and so many different drivers and so many different personalities you move one out and put another one in I don’t think the needle moves a whole lot no matter who we are, me or anybody.”
 
WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN IN JEFF GORDON THAT HAS ALLOWED HIM TO SORT OF TURN IT AROUND THIS YEAR?  DOES HE HAVE THAT PASSION AND STYLE BACK THAT MAYBE HE HAD A FEW YEARS AGO MORE IN HIS SO CALLED PRIME?
“I think Jeff (Gordon) will tell you that he is not has been as successful this year as he’d hoped.  He is as determined as I’ve ever seen him.  I’ve only spent a few years actually as a teammate, but I’ve known him for a long time.  His determination and how he goes through the process of working a race weekend being tenacious and trying to figure the car out and working with his crew and utilizing practice.  I mean he puts in the effort and the desire is definitely as strong as it’s always been as far as I can tell.  I think that he’s just a real talent and they are just trying to find the right combination of things to sort of get their team where it’s successful every week.  I think they show the potential of that off and on and you see them win a race here and there and have struggles from time to time.  They are just trying to find that consistency, but yeah, I mean he has got the confidence that he is the best guy out there and wants to go out there and prove that every week.  I see that in him in his demeanor and his body language every week.  I like having him as a teammate because of that, because of his determination.”    
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 18, 2013
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/WONDER BREAD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed his unique paint scheme this weekend, his current position in the Chase, the unpredictability of Talladega Superspeedway and many other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT HAVING WONDER BREAD ON THE CAR THIS WEEKEND.  WE WERE WONDERING WHAT YOU PUT ON YOUR WONDER BREAD?
“It’s a wonderful situation.  The fun about this is it’s a re-launch for Wonder Bread.  They were in bankruptcy earlier this year and the name was traded with the different companies and so with Wonder back on the shelves it’s a great advertisement for them to team up with us to do some marketing together with the power of NASCAR.  NASCAR is a brand that can move and teach people about how loyal to be to a brand.  So with Wonder Bread and NASCAR here at Talladega it’s fun, it’s exciting.  It branches off of the ME car that I ran here last year.  That was with the Armed Forces Foundation and creating awareness for PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) and I think that sparked some of the Wonder Bread executives on ‘hey Talladega, Wonder Bread, with Talladega Nights let’s do it and Kurt’s our guy’.  It’s very tasteful re-launch of a brand.”
 
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO CHANNEL ‘RICKY BOBBY’ AGAIN?
“It will be fun.  This is more serious this time around.  Here we are in the Chase the No. 78 car has had a successful season.  Barney Visser (team owner) we have to thank him for allowing all this to happen.  I wish we could’ve won earlier in the year.  Which would have mean the Furniture Row Chevy could go to Victory Lane, Barney could have enjoyed that and then he would have been more open to releasing his car for marketing opportunities such as this.  I think we had to turn down a few different opportunities just because Barney (Visser) the main sponsor and the owner didn’t want to have another brand in Victory Lane.  He wanted to have his brand.  So Talladega it’s one where there is less of a percentage or is there more of a percentage of a chance to go to Victory Lane, but just the fun in all this to have Exit 10 marketing help us put all this together with the guys at Wonder Bread and the Zimmerman Agency it’s just a fun opportunity to make a strong impact with advertising.”
 
WILL YOU STILL USE SOME LINES FROM THE MOVIE DURING THE RACE OR ARE YOU GOING TO BE MORE CHASE FOCUSED?
“We are Chase focused and that is what we are here to do is to run well, run successful. There might be some slips of the tongue.  ‘I want to go fast and slingshot engaged’ yes, but we are not going to have the full lines rehearsed like we have.  It’s just going to be off memory on watching the movie.”
 
IS THIS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU AT A PLACE LIKE TALLADEGA WHERE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN TO REALLY MAKE UP GROUND IN THE POINTS?
“Yeah we were hoping at this point in the Chase that we would be within 30 points of the lead.  That is not the case.  So this is a go for broke weekend for two reasons.  One is we have Wonder Bread on the car.  They want to be up front, they want to be seen, they want to experience the return on investment on sponsoring the car.  Secondly we need to go for the win.  We need to have nothing but trying to try to win happen and get ourselves back in this Chase if we are going to have a shot at it.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MOVIE TALLADEGA NIGHTS?
“Well the movie over the years the more you watch it the more you laugh at it.  It’s a self-deprecating humorous approach about our sport of NASCAR.  But at the end of the day the way we have always viewed NASCAR how powerful it is as a machine to team up with and to advertise it’s because of the loyalty of the fan base.  To have Wonder Bread back on the shelves and easily accessible at your local grocer that is what we are here to do it to have people see the logo, see the bread and go pick it up and try it out.  I grew up with it out on the West Coast.”
 
ARE THERE ANYMORE MOVIES ON YOUR BUCKET LIST THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SOMEDAY?
“I think we need to get with Bojangles and do the chicken suit if we are going to do Stroker Ace, but this is probably the extent of it.  This is a nice tasteful promotion.  It’s a nice pat on the back to what the AFF (Armed Forces Foundation) helped me do with the ME car and with the Days of Thunder car when we ran City Chevrolet a couple of months back.  A company, an organization such as Flower’s saw the activation and the fun we were having with it and said those guys can do us right and we need to team up with them.”
 
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE SCENE FROM TALLADEGA NIGHTS?
“It’s got to be either the beginning when he jumps in the laughing clown malt liquor car or the table scene when it’s the prayer that has got to be the best.  Or it’s when Cal Naughton, Jr. is asking how to figure out how to run the TV and the radio at the same time because he likes to party.”
 
HAS TODD BERRIER (CREW CHIEF) BOUGHT INTO THIS?
“I don’t think (Todd) Berrier has bought into this as much as Nick Harrison has done in the past, but you might see him slip up and have fun with it.  He’s got the crew uniform on, but again here we are we are in the Chase and we have some work to do.”
 
DO YOU HANG ONTO THE UNIFORM?
“Oh absolutely we will hang onto the one put it right there next to the other fun advertising that we have done over the years.  I thought we were only going to have one, but we are going to have three suits.  So I know we are going to be auctioning one off for charity and all the proceeds will be going to the Armed Forces Foundation.”
 
DO YOU WEAR THEM AT DIFFERENT TIMES DURING THE WEEKEND?
“Yeah, I will have a suit for each day.  There is a Friday suit, a Saturday suit and a Sunday suit.”
 
HOW DID YOU CONVINCE BARNEY (VISSER) THAT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?
“I think that it took time to see the other organizations try to knock on the door and for lack of a better term penetrate him into ‘hey this is a good idea we want to advertise with you, we want to be part of your team because you guys are running well’.  I think with the bills adding up this year with the Generation-6 car he came in over budget, plus he never said no to any test session.  He never said no to any expenditure that Todd Berrier (crew chief) was asking him for and maybe he saw this as an opportunity to gain some of the money back.  But in my mind this is an advertising campaign that is worth a certain value.  If you want to advertise with a Cup team the money is at least a half a million dollars when you do that this day and age.  So that is a significant amount of money, but it’s also going to be a significant amount of exposure for Wonder Bread this weekend here at Talladega Superspeedway.”
 
WHEN YOU SAY TASTEFUL A LOT OF PEOPLE, I MEAN A GREAT MOVIE AND FUNNY, BUT MAYBE IT’S NOT THE MOST FLATTERING PORTRAIT OF THE STOCK CAR INDUSTRY… 
“That is why Wonder Bread with their launch this weekend is what we are trying to do as a bone fide sponsor agreement.  It’s not really themed from the movie.  This is a re-launch of a brand.”
 
IF THE STANDINGS DON’T GET TOO JUMBLED THIS WEEKEND IS THE CHAMPIONSHIP TOO FAR AWAY STILL?
“Anything can happen any weekend.  This being Talladega, yes, this one has the most percentage chance of shaking up the standings.  Martinsville, it’s just as easy to clobber somebody as it is at Talladega.  Then you have motor failures.  That kept our defending champion out of making the Cha
se this year even though his run toward the Chase wasn’t as strong as it needed to be.  Anything can happen any weekend with points when there is 43 for a win and one for last place.”
 
INAUDIBLE:
“We are all doing this for a good reason and that is the re-launch of a brand.  Wonder Bread is back and it’s fun to have a black race car all year long painted white.  It’s a big difference, it’s a big look, it’s exciting and I think the fans know that at Talladega the Talladega Nights movie is part of the way of life here at the track.”
 
THE TEST AT CHARLOTTE EARLIER THIS WEEK AND NASCAR KIND OF LOOKING AT WAYS THEY WANT TO CHANGE AERODYNAMICALLY THE CAR.  WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THE CAR TO HANDLE AS WE LOOK TOWARD 2014?
“We need to see more of how the IROC (International Race of Champions) cars handled in traffic and you saw passing.  There were only 12 cars in that series, but it provided great excitement.  It gave us a platform to race each other hard, side-by-side and produce a show that was only for those quick 50, 60 lap races, but those cars seemed to drive well in traffic.  That is what we have to find.”
 
HOW DOES NASCAR NEED TO MODIFY THE CURRENT CAR TO GET TO THAT?
“There are people smarter than me to try to help out with that.  If I knew I would implement those changes.”
 
TALK ABOUT HOW YOU GOT THIS WONDER BREAD THING STARTED.  FANS ARE REALLY HAVING FUN WITH IT:
“We were given a call by Flower the parent company that Wonder Bread was re-launching.  They wanted to team up with what I had done in the past with the ME car and Talladega Nights and we created that stage for a big organization to jump on and advertise with.  It came from the past experiences.”
 
HOW DID THE FIRST ONE COME ABOUT?
“That was all the Armed Forces Foundation that was their brain child to draw more attention to the foundation and what PTSD really means and the movie exemplifies that when he thinks he’s on fire he has to go through rehab and then he comes back to be successful.  It’s very similar to what I’ve gone through the last 18 months.”
 
DOES IT SEEM LIKE THE CHASE IF HALF OVER? ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FACT THAT THE END IS THAT CLOSE?
“The end sets in with your mind when you are officially eliminated from the championship, but at the same time I saw our mediocre finish last week as a true definition of our season.  We are seventh overall in the points.  We haven’t won a race.  Sixth is obtainable in the point standings very easily we are only one point out.  Are we a top-five team with the Furniture Row Chevrolet?  Maybe we are not, but the season has been a success. We have defied the odds.  We have worked harder than anybody in this garage to get to this point.  We don’t quite deserve a top-five finish.  I’m not giving up on it.  I would love to get into the top-five and to be part of that group that goes up on stage in Las Vegas.  But honestly if we can bring home sixth in the overall standings without a race win it’s almost as good as a championship run from where this team was a year ago at this time.”
 
HAVE YOU STARTED TO LOOK TOWARD STEWART-HAAS AT ALL AS WE GET DOWN TO THE END OF THE SEASON?  WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO GEAR UP WITH THAT TEAM?
“As far as Stewart-Haas Racing goes, I’m learning the people in their system more of the marketing side, more of the management side.  I try not to spend too much time on it because of how strong the No. 78 team is running and my dedication towards this.  My official start date isn’t until December, but you have got to get crew members lined up on a brand new team and that is the work that we are working on right now.”
 
IF YOU DON’T START UNTIL DECEMBER YOU WOULD BE BEHIND WOULDN’T YOU?
“A little bit, but Stewart-Haas racing is a program that can already build chassis and build bodies on cars right now before even the people on the floor show up to turn the wrenches on that car.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 18, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed Talladega as a gamechanger, how he is looking forward to Martinsville next week, what a championship title would mean to him now, and more. Full Transcript:
 
ON THE STRATEGY OF RACING AT TALLADEGA
“Well, I think some of it comes down to where we qualified. So, we’ll get through tomorrow. Obviously, coming into this race, strategy is to keep you out of that big one or keep you out of trouble the best possible way that you can do that. And ultimately, what’s going to get you a solid finish, if not a win out of here? I think we recognize where we are in the points and that this could be a turning point for us that we need to come out of here with a pretty solid finish and make up some of those points that we’re behind right now and that this is a track that we can do it at. We know there are other tracks where that can happen; it can happen anywhere.
 
“But this is certainly one where anything can happen and anything can happen anywhere. And we expect that. And we’re going to do everything we can to go out there and approach it in a way that’s going to give us the best finish. Sometimes that means we’re going to be real aggressive and sometimes that means we’re going to be real conservative. But to say that we have an exact plan at this moment, or to say that plan might not change when they drop the green, I just can’t say that because I’m not really sure.”
 
THIS PLACE CAN BE A GAMECHANGER. SO, DO YOU LOOK AT THAT AS BEING IN YOUR FAVOR OR IN YOUR CORNER?
“Well, we have nothing to lose. We’re sitting here fourth in points. We came into (the Chase) 13th. We’re sitting here in a great position and everything is a bonus from here on out for us. We’re certainly more in the mode of we’re not probably on eggshells like some of the guys are that are ahead of us in points and have everything to lose.”
 
WITH THE NEW CAR, DOES SANDBAGGING WORK AS WELL AS IT USED TO? DID YOU NOTICE THAT LAST MAY THAT YOU CAN’T HANG BACK AS MUCH?
“You certainly can’t expect us, with 10 or 20 laps to go, to just drive your way to the front. So, yeah, you’ve got to be real careful about trying to hang in the back and while it might keep you out of trouble, it also can get you a lap down.
 
“It can also put you in a position where you find yourself not getting any further up than 15th. And you might be right in the middle of that big one if it happens, in the final laps, so I absolutely feel like track position is still going to be important in the closing laps of this race.”
 
WHY IS IT? IS IT IN THE CAR OR THE SET-UP?
“It’s just so may cars and teams and drivers that could win here. It’s just the cars are all so equal with the type of drafting that we have. You really have to be careful pushing the cars ahead of you. So, I just know from the last time we were here, I was wide-open, pushing the guy ahead of me, and somebody was pushing me from behind. We were three-wide, but we weren’t going anywhere. We were just there, kinda stuck.
 
“And so I think that can work for you and it can work against you. If you’re in the middle of that, and a big wreck happens, you might escape and you might now because the chances are there is probably going to be a big wreck in that type of scenerio. But at the same time, if that doesn’t materialize, if that doesn’t happen, you’re going to want to be in the front of that pack.”
 
TALK ABOUT THE LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THIS TRACK
“All of us as teams and drivers want to go into a race track where we feel like we can tune the car to make it go faster than our competitiors; and that as a driver, that I can give information to the team to help the car go faster.  And that’s just not the case here. So that’s a little bit frustrating the only time you come here.  But at the same time, you do have to work the draft. You have to pick the right lane. And there are still skill sets that pay off at these types of tracks, but just less than others. That creates some frustration. It’s very easy to get shuffled out of the draft, which can cause some frustration.
 
“But, at the same time, when you’ve experienced what it’s like to go through that and win, it’s an awesome feeling. So, I’ve been able to experience both sides of that and you’ve got to come in here with a postiive attitude. You’ve got to know that there’s going to be times you’ve going to have to really be aggressive and that it’s going to be bumper cars at 200 mph at times and there’s going to be wrecks.
 
“That’s just part of it. But, at the end of the day, somebody’s going to win this race. And there’s no reason why we can’t win it just as easily as anybody else.”
 
IS THERE A TRUE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT THE GUYS IN THE CASE HAVE TO DO COMPARED TO WHAT THE GUYS WHO ARE NOT IN THE CHASE HAVE TO DO IN TERMS OF BEING CONSERVATIVE OR AGGRESSIVE?
‘I don’t know if there is a difference in how they approach it, but there is certainly going to be a difference in how they’re feeling about this race. When you come in with a pretty good gap on the compeititon like with what Jimmie (Johnson) and Matt (Kenseth) have, the last thing you want to see on the schedule is Talladega because you just know what the risk and the chances are of getting caught up in something; and that it can be completely out of your control.
 
“So, for those guys, they have more to lose than the rest of us do. We’re all trying to play catch-up and just hoping that we can come out of here and be unscathed and go on. And if we don’t, then we’re probably not going to win the championship. But we’re in a position right where unless something drastic happens over the next few weeks, we probably don’t have a shot at it anyway. We’ve got a big gap there. And we’ve been racing really really good and the cars have been fast and I’m proud of the team, but we’ve got to have some things happen to get ourselves really in the mix of this thing.”
 
IF KYLE (BUSCH) OR KEVIN (HARVICK) WERE IN FRONT OR BEHIND YOU, DO YOU EXPECT TO HELP THEM OR EXPECT THEM TO HELP YOU AS TO WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS?
“I don’t expect anybody to help us. And I don’t go into it planning to help anybody. If that materializes throughout the race, and I think that it’s going to be something that can help me and it happens to help them out, then absolutely I’ll do it. But at this moment, I can’t say that I’ve discussed working with anybody or anybody working with me.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHAT DALE EARNHARDT SR. DID HERE AT TALLADEGA AND ON THAT CLASSIC MOVE HE MADE THROUGH THE FIELD?
“Trust me, it’s not the only time I’ve ever seen that. I prided myself on trying to learn from it over the years when I was racing with him, to be able to do that myself and he was a master at it and he was a teacher as well as the greatest executer of it. He just knew how to work that air. Those times have changed a little bit. It’s a little bit harder to make those things materialize as much as they used to, but it still can be done. You still use that air to side draft and get momentum and get big pushes, but you ust get stalled out a lot easier now.
 
“So yeah, those are classic moments. They are moments I’ll certainly always remember. I remember that day and how frustrated I was that he did that to all of us. But it was like we couldn’t do anything to stop him. But that’s just how good he was.”
 
ON GOING TO MARTINSVILLE, WILL THAT BE AS OLD SCHOOL AS WE GET WITH A LOT OF BEATING AND BANGING GOING ON?
“I’m excited about Martinsville. I love that track. We always run well. We’ve got to figure out how to lead as much in the second half of the race as we do in th
e first half. We seem to dominate in the first half of the race just about every time we go there, but never seem to be able to pull off the win; or at least recently haven’t been able to.
 
“That’s where our focus is. You know there are going to be some classic battles there. It’s short track racing, hard-braking, side-by-side; it’s probably one of the toughest places that we race at and certainly plenty of contact.”
 
WHAT CHANGES WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE RACE CARS FOR 2014?
“I think we all recognize that aerodynamics and technology have really dominated motorsports in the last eight to 10 years. And it just continues to evolve. And so, trying to find a way where we aren’t as aero-dependant as we are right now and I don’t know how you get around that. It’s not an easy challenge.
 
“But we want to see more passing. We want to see more side-by-side racing and there are some tracks that still offer it. So, some of it falls on the track’s surface. Some falls on the tire. Some of it falls on the aerodynamics and the teams and NASCAR. So, we’re all playing a role in it. I’m just proud of them that they’re working towards trying to find something. I wish we would start earlier in the year on that.  And I can’t give you all the details of how it went because I don’t know all the details, but at least they’re trying stuff.”
 
WHY EARLIER?
“Because it takes time. It doesn’t happen in a month or two months. Before we know it, we’re going to be in the off-season and new rules are going to be written and the season is going to start in January. And I think that we should be working right now for 2015. And we should always be at least a year in advance of the design of the car and of the package and trying to get ahead of it instead of always behind one step behind it.”
 
CAN YOU COMPARE WHO YOU ARE NOW TO WHAT YOU WERE WHEN YOU STARTED IN THIS SPORT?
“Yeah, I feel like I’m definitely a more patient and smarter driver today. Anytime a driver says that it means that he’s probably not putting it out there on the edge quite as much as he used to. So, you’ve got to take the pros and the cons of what you’ve learned over the years and where you’re at. I feel like in some ways, I’m proabably not putting myself in vurnable positions enough and pushing the limits of it, but on the flip side of that, I’m bringing the car home in one piece a lot more often.
 
“It all still just comes down to the total team effort and we’ve proven that over these last five or six or seven weeks. Earlier in the year, people wrote me off and said when are you going to retire? And now everybody is like wow, look at this guy. Where did he come from? He’s back. He’s got that confidence and that smile. Well, yeah. Because the cars have been awesome and as a team, we’re coming together at the right time and putting great efforts out there and results. And that’s fun. That’s what I like to do.”
 
WHAT DID YOU THINK WHEN YOU WERE HEARING PEOPLE WRITING YOU OFF AND THINKING HOW MUCH LONGER DOES THIS GUY HAVE AND KIND OF THE SWAN SONG OF JEFF GORDON?
“You know, I get it. You’re all about performance and stats in this sport. I always love how earlier in my career, there were certain moves that were made or certain races that happened that I got all the credit and the team didn’t get enough credit. And now, I feel like it’s kind of the same thing. All of a sudden we’re runnning good and everybody is like oh man, Jeff’s confidence is back. Well, no. The team deserves credit. They work hard and unfortunately we just didn’t seem to have it earlier in the year, but we certainly do now and that’s just a sign of a good team that works hard. And for me, I never give up and neither does this team and that’s why we’re seeing good results.”
 
HOW MUCH WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO WIN ANOTHER TITLE?
“I just like the fact that you’re talking about that (laughs). That’s a good question to have you know, because it’s been a while since I’ve had that question asked; probably since ’07. And I’m excited about that. That means things are happening for us. It’s been so long, I don’t know what it feels like to win a championship. I’ve never won a Sprint Cup. And at this point in my carerr, (crew chief) Alan Gustafson and this team, I feel like they are very deserving of a championship. I’d love to experience this as a group as well as with my wife and my family and how much it would mean to all of us to be able to pull that off. I don’t even know if I have words to describe how much it would mean. The longer you’re in the sport, the harder your, and the more ups and downs you go through, the more meaningful wins and championships; certainly nothing would top that.”
 
DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD APPRECIATE IT MORE NOW THAN THE FIRST FOUR?
“Oh gosh. I can tell you I didn’t appreciate the first one near enough. And each one after that, I appreciated it more to have what 11 or 12 years now in between our last one, you’d better believe I would appreciate it a lot.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 18, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS, took questions from the media at Talladega Superspeedway following the announcement that Aspen Dental will be joining the No. 10 team in 2014 for two primary sponsorship races and a year-long associate partnership.  Patrick discussed racing this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, how racing at Talladega differs from racing at Daytona and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
THREE PLATE RACES UNDER YOUR BELT DO YOU FEEL BETTER PREPARED MAYBE THAN EVER TO DEAL WITH THESE THINGS AND DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE TO SURPRISE SOME PEOPLE WITH ANOTHER DAYTONA 500 LIKE FINISH?  OR HAVE YOU JUST LEARNED THESE THINGS BASICALLY ARE JUST THE SAME OLD CRAPSHOOT FOR EVERYBODY IN THE FIELD?
“There is a certain level of it that of course is a little bit of a crapshoot, but there are patterns.  I would say that one of my patterns is that they tend to be better races for me and that find a way to the front for a majority of the race.  Hopefully this will be another one of those and I know that Stewart-Haas builds great speedway cars.  I know I feel very comfortable and confident on these tracks.  What I would like is for having good races to not be a surprise and especially on these speedways to really not be as they have been something that I’ve been comfortable and had good results at obviously from the beginning, but from Daytona especially.”
 
AS SOMEONE WHO IS NOT IN THE CHASE DO YOU THINK ABOUT RACING UP FRONT WITH CHASE DRIVERS NOW THAT WE ARE IN THIS PLAYOFF?
“I feel it’s an element of thought at times, but you just have to get on with the racing.  I feel that when, just like with teammates, when you start to tiptoe around someone too much you are not doing what’s normal.  Or in some ways not what is expected as a driver.  You really have to get on with the job at hand and understand that these races will just play out how they will play out and there will be accidents.  You hope that you aren’t the culprit, but if you are that on some level there inevitable in this kind of racing and that nobody wants to crash, but it’s just the nature of everybody going over 200 mph a couple of inches from each other.” 
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS THAT HAS HELPED YOU HAVE THE SUCCESS ON THE RESTRICTOR PLATES?  THERE ARE A WHOLE LOT OF VETERAN DRIVERS THAT HAVEN’T HAD SUCCESS AND DO NOT LIKE COMING.  DOES IT FIT YOUR STYLE OF DRIVING?  DO YOU THINK IT’S THE POSITIVE ATTITUDE YOU COME IN ACTUALLY LIKING THESE THINGS?  WHAT IS THE KEY?
“I’m sure that you are right about some of those things for sure.  Having a good attitude always helps.  As I have said before IndyCar racing on mile and a halfs was much like this kind of racing.  Flat out, close quarters and just trying to do whatever it took to keep the momentum up.  I feel like visually it’s very familiar racing to me.  Aerodynamics work different, but as far as the visual of how it goes and needing to keep the momentum up is very similar.  Then it’s being with good teams that have good speedway cars it’s important.  I think that has been seen in qualifying and obviously with Daytona qualifying on the pole for that race you need to have a really fast car to do that.”
 
HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE MADE ON THE TRACK BEING AS PEOPLE KNOW YOU ARE CONFIDENT HERE AT THIS TYPE OF RACING?  TALK A BIT ABOUT WEATHER YOU THINK THIS RACE WILL BE ANY DIFFERENT THIS TIME AROUND BEING IN THE CHASE?
“Well I think as far as it being different these are the races that when I have been a spectator at home they are the ones that you see drivers that are in the Chase hanging back waiting until the last 10 or 20 laps before they really make their move and try and get to the front without putting themselves at risk the whole time.  That is something that you might see that might be a little bit different although that happens every now and again otherwise.  As far as friends go I think that happens when you do well.  Everybody wants to be your friend when you are fast so the best thing I can do is go be fast.”
 
CAN YOU COMPARE RACING HERE WITH DAYTONA?
“The races are really similar other than the fact that Talladega is a little wider. They are very similar races.”
 
GIVEN YOU ARE THREE QUARTERS OF THE WAY THROUGH THE SEASON NOW HOW DO YOU PERSONALLY JUDGE YOUR PROGRESS?  DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE ON TRACK WITH WHERE YOU WANTED TO BE FOR THIS SEASON?
“I’m right where I need to be.  I’m right where I was going to be.  All I know is that I’ve done everything I can to prepare for the year, to learn throughout the year and that is what’s going to lead into next year.  And trying to really put it altogether to get great results for GoDaddy and for Aspen Dental next year.  I don’t think that you can ever plan how it’s going to go or give yourself a grade because everybody learns at a different rate. There are times that I probably was unexpectedly better than they thought and worse than they thought.  It’s just my own personal progression and everyone’s is different.”
 
THE GEN-6 CAR WE THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE ADVANTAGEOUS TO YOU BECAUSE EVERYBODY WAS KIND OF STARTING ON THE SAME LEVEL PLAYING FIELD SINCE NOBODY ELSE HAD DRIVEN THE CAR EITHER.  WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF THAT CAR?  YOU HAVE NOTHING REALLY TO COMPARE IT BY, BUT WHAT WOULD YOUR FIRST YEAR GRADE BE TO IT?  DID YOU PAY ANY ATTENTION TO MONDAY’S TEST AND POSSIBLE CHANGES THEY MIGHT MAKE AND HOW THAT WOULD HELP WITH THE DRIVABILITY?
“I think it’s been a successful year for the car.  I feel like there has been very little issues.  It’s just a different balance of a car.  I think it suited some driving styles better than others probably, but I think that it really comes down to as we feel and saw as a team to start the year off that you’ve got to bring the best cars possible.  I feel like we started a little bit behind, but have rapidly throughout the year been learning and understanding the car better and better.  What is hard is everyone else does that too to some degree, but I think that it’s going to give us a lot of knowledge going into the off season for what we need to work on to arrive with better cars next year.  Speaking more in specific with excluding the speedways they are a special unique character of their own, but the rest of them.  I think it’s been fine.  I think there are no issues and I’m also definitely not smart enough to know what they need to fix it.  I don’t have the experience with these cars yet to really know, but I will be for sure asking how the test went on Monday and I know that there were team members there to watch and to see what was going to go on and what is maybe happening for next year.”
 
MARTINSVILLE NEXT WEEK YOU HAD PROBABLY YOUR BEST NON-PLATE RUN THERE.  DO YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE THERE AT ALL?
“Two extremes there, speedway then the extra short track.  I think that what that shows is what is possible when you have a good car to work with.  I feel like I definitely had that at Martinsville so the challenge for me this time around will be to not down shift from fourth to third when I come out of the pits and over rev the engine and have to start from the back and in general just have a better qualifying run so that I can start further up and work from there.  It’s a short track and those leaders are on you very quickly if you don’t have a good qualifying run.  Qualify better and let it play out from there.”

CORVETTE RACING AT PETIT LE MANS: Oliver Gavin’s Keys to Road Atlanta
Six-time ALMS winner at the circuit gives the inside secrets
 
With six victories in 15 American Le Mans Series starts at Road Atlanta, Oliver Gavin certainly knows his way around the circuit. Corvette Racing’s superstar Englishman has hundreds of laps under his belt around the 2.54-mile, 12-turn circuit and is immensely qualified to speak on the challenges the track presents as well as keys to quickly getting around. He hopes to taste victory again in the No. 4 Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.R with Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook.
 
Turn 1: A Thrill
“Turn 1 for me – if you get that right – is a really, really good corner. You come down the frontstraight, are braking on the bumps and go down one gear. Then you try to carry as much speed through the apex. The car tends to slide a little bit just as you apex, but the track starts going uphill and that catches you a bit. It helps with your line and gives the car a little extra grip. Then as you come out of there you have to line yourself up for braking into Turn 3.
 
“Should you get it right, it builds your confidence for the rest of the lap. If you’re on a qualifying lap, you have to make sure you get that corner right. It’s so important.”
 
The Esses: Biggest Challenge
“The most difficult section of the track is the combination through turns 3, 4 and 5.
 
“As you come into Turn 3, you’re braking up and over a blind crest, and you know you have to start turning into the corner before you see the apex. It’s all about repetition and getting that knowledge of where you need to turn in and how much speed you need to carry in there. You need to get over the curb on the inside in a way that the car floats over it. Then when you land on the other side you’re not bottoming out the car and you’re giving it as much speed through there to get down the hill – but not so much that you’re going on the curb at the exit. If you do that, the car gets out of shape and it can be difficult going down the hill.
 
“Then you’re hugging the curb tightly at Turn 4, and the end of the complex is almost always flat out in our car. Maybe in qualifying we will be flat. But on full tanks and worn tires, it’s harder to do. It’s right on the ragged edge. It’s an area where a lot of prototype cars have caught you out of Turn 1 and they are waiting for you to go through Turn 3 and to go by through 4A. That is a real challenge – either breathe and let them go by or keep them behind you going down the hill.
 
“It’s difficult then to get the braking point for Turn 5 right. That is a corner where you need to carry speed in and maximize the apex speed. Getting off the corner, you want to be able to use some of the curb on the exit but not too much. If you use too much the car will start leaping and bouncing around and can easily spin or go into the wall. But it’s critical to set up the run to Turn 6.”
 
Turn 7: Key to the Lap
“Whenever people talk about Road Atlanta, they usually talk about Turn 12, Turn 1 or maybe the Esses. But for me the most important corner is Turn 7 – going to the backstraight. If you get that right, you can make up so much time on everybody. You’re carrying all that speed through and out of the corner and all the way down the backstraight. It’s the longest section of straightaway on the whole circuit. It’s vital to get that right because it can really impact your lap time.”
 

Championship Battles in the Forefront as Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Heads to Auto Club Speedway for Season Finale
 
DETROIT (October 16, 2013)  – A championship battle is on the horizon for the Chevrolet teams and drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series as they head for the season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. After 18 weeks of racing on road and street courses the season ends at one of the toughest oval tracks on the circuit.  The two-mile, D-Shaped Fontana, California track provides high speeds, an abrasive surface and the opportunity for tricky pit strategy for the championship hopefuls to traverse.
 
“The Finale at Fontana this weekend will decide numerous championships for the 2013 IZOD IndyCar racing season and our Chevrolet drivers, teams and technical partners are burning the midnight oil preparing for it,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series.  “We have a strong racing package at this venue and deep talent within Team Chevy.  Flawless execution will be required to come out on top.  The drama of the championship battles coupled with 500 miles of superspeedway racing under the lights at Auto Club Speedway makes this race event the most intense of the year.  Fans should be on the edge of their seats, or standing, whether they are in the grandstands or watching it live on NBC Sports Network or following it on Sirius XM radio.”  

While everyone’s minds are focused on the tasks at hand this weekend at Auto Club Speedway the community’s thoughts are still with their injured competitor, Dario Franchitti from Chip Ganassi Racing.

“All of us at Chevrolet wish the best for Dario Franchitti and those who were injured or affected in the last lap crash in Houston,” continued Berube. “This sport pulls together like one family in these situations and everyone at Team Chevy is hoping to see Dario up on his feet and back in the race car soon.”
 
250 laps are all that remain between Team Penske Chevrolet driver Helio Castroneves and his first IZOD IndyCar Series championship.  The veteran driver enters the finale 25 points behind the championship leader, but looks to have a strong run at Auto Club Speedway.  The Brazilian has one victory on the season at the 1.5-mile oval Texas Motor Speedway and is poised to battle for the win and if all the stars align take home his first series title.
 
Chevrolet is also gridlocked in the battle for the coveted Manufacturers’ Championship title.  The quest to defend their 2012 award will come down to if the Bowtie Brigade can find their way to Victory Lane for the 10th time this season.
 
All the championship hardware will be presented following the 250 laps/500 mile race which is scheduled to start Saturday at 8:00 p.m., PST with live TV coverage on NBC Sports Network.  Additional live coverage will be provided by IMS Radio Network on XM and Sirius Channels 211 as well as on www.indycar.com live timing and scoring.
 
 
CHEVROLET IN THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES – FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AUTO CLUB TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 2nd IN STANDINGS (ONE 2013 WIN):
“It’s going to be an exciting weekend at Auto Club Speedway.. We have put what happened in Houston behind us and we are ready to go fight for the championship. We had a very fast Auto Club of Southern California car at the Fontana test a couple of weeks ago and we go into this weekend with a lot of confidence. I have all the faith in the world in my team and I know we are capable of getting the job done on Saturday night. Everyone should make sure they are watching, because I have a feeling this is going to be an awesome race.”
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 DR PEPPER ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 5th IN STANDINGS:
“We have been dominant in the 500-mile races and have led a lot of laps, but Fontana is about leading the right lap, and that’s what we need to do. I’d really like to end the season with a ‘W’ for the Dr Pepper team. Auto Club Speedway is a tricky place to get right with the seams, but will be rewarding if we do.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 6th IN STANDINGS (TWO 2013 WINS):
“As a team we have some great memories of what we accomplished at this race track. This time last year we fought through adversity all weekend long to claim the overall championship by just a few points… what a comeback. We learned a heck of a lot about what we need to do different with our setup at this track, and following a successful test just a couple weeks ago, we’re optimistic headed into the final race. For one reason or another, things just haven’t gone our way this year despite recording three poles and two wins. We may not have the championship on the line Saturday night, but we’re really hungry for that third win this season. I think we’re ready.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 7th IN STANDINGS (TWO 2013 WINS):
“We’re looking forward to ending the season strong with a good result this weekend in the Verizon Chevy at Auto Club Speedway. With the series championship and the manufacturer’s title on the line for Helio and Chevy, it’s definitely going to be interesting. We want to build on the good finishes we’ve had here in the last few races and score some points to hopefully help with both championships.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 9th IN STANDINGS (THREE 2013 WINS):
”This is one of the toughest tracks we race on all year! The low downforce configuration and the seams wreak havoc for us. It’s so easy to be caught off guard, and so 500 miles there feels like 1000 anywhere else! That said, the team had a strong test there a few weeks ago, and hopefully that translates into a good package on the GoDaddy car for the race weekend. It would be great to end the year with a podium and head into the off-season with some momentum.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY – SH RACING CHEVROLET, 11th IN STANDINGS (ONE 2013 WIN):
“I’m really looking forward to the final race of the season in Fontana. We had a good test there last month and over the season we have shown that we are very competitive on ovals. This is a big weekend for the team.  We have $250,000 on the line for the Fuzzy’s Triple Crown Award if we can win here and also, obviously it will be my last race with KV, so I would like to give Kevin Kalkhoven, my good friend Jimmy Vasser and the whole KV Racing organization another victory to remember me by.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 12th IN STANDINGS:
“Fontana, last oval and last race of 2013. After a strong second half of the season with a few podiums, it would be great to finish in style on a superspeedway. We haven’t been very strong so far on these kind of tracks, but during the last test, I think we found some interesting setup options and I am hopeful Dragon Racing and myself will be able to put the No.7 Mc Afee / True Car / Chevrolet at the top.”
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, 13th IN STANDINGS:
”Excited to finally head to Fontana which has always been a controversial place. Last year was a very difficult race with a lot of bumps in the track, a lot of changes in the height and seams in the lanes which makes the stability of the car more difficult. It’s also a place that is normally pretty hot, so with all these factors together, it’s going to be a tough weekend. But, we, once again, have faith in the research and development we’ve done as a team.”
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, 15th IN STANDINGS:
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s race at the Auto-Club Speedway in Fontana. We had a test there last month and I think it went really well. I’ve improved a lot on the ovals this year and am looking forward to a strong finish! I want to thank my team, the Nuclear Clea
n Air Energy campaign, and Chevy for all their support this year. We’ve had some really great momentum the last few races, finishing the last four races in the top-10 and getting my first IndyCar podium in Houston. We’re working hard to keep that momentum going with another great finish this weekend in Southern California.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, 18th IN STANDINGS:
“Last year’s Fontana win was the most gratifying since it was my team and we were in our first year of operation.  It meant a lot to go up against the big teams like Ganassi, Penske and Andretti and win the race with our new one-car team.  Winning the pole at Indy was a huge accomplishment for our team too.  We were the little guys going against the big ‘Goliath’ teams and we prevailed.  Now, we come to Fontana and the big teams are racing for a series championship.  But I think they know that our one-car effort will be a contender too. It’s always fun to come back to tracks where you’ve had success. Last year we were successful at the Fontana Open Test and that carried through the race.  We were pleased with our recent test last month. So let’s hope that carries over again in Saturday’s 500-miler. Fontana is always fun because it’s really challenging. The weather changes a lot and the track changed too. One of the things we have been working on this year is to be able to use more of the track.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO.  6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 21st IN STANDINGS:
“It’s amazing how quick this year went by, we’ve been working so hard and seeing where we are right now compared to where we started makes us wish that there were a lot more races ahead. We need to keep the good strides we’ve put forward and finish strong. The test we had last week was good with a strong race car, we need to continue to work on the  car to have a good show out there on Saturday. “

ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, 22nd IN STANDINGS:
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 2 IZOD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“It’s going to be a lot of fun to get back behind the wheel of the No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Chevy this weekend. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve raced in IndyCar so it’ll be important in practice on Friday to get comfortable in the car and with our setup. It will be an honor to represent IZOD in their final race as series sponsor and hopefully we can come through in a big weekend for Team Penske.”

 
CORVETTE RACING AT PETIT LE MANS: A Weekend of Curtain Calls
Road Atlanta marks final race for Corvette C6.R and ALMS championship
 
DETROIT (Oct. 16, 2013) – This weekend’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta will see two of modern-day sports car racing’s most prominent names take the checkered flag. The Corvette C6.R competes for the final time in the hands of Corvette Racing for the final event of the American Le Mans Series. One of the most successful models ever fielded by Corvette Racing, the C6.R will make way for the all-new C7.R to debut in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona in the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
 
Two Compuware-sponsored Corvette C6.Rs are entered for this weekend’s 1,000-mile/10-hour Petit Le Mans. GT championship leaders Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen team with Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette while Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook pilot the No. 4 entry that opened the ALMS season with a victory at Sebring.
 
All said, the C6.R helped deliver six ALMS manufacturer and team championships along with five driving titles since 2001. Garcia and Magnussen can add to that tally this weekend by finishing at least seventh or better in class. Considering those facts, it is no surprise to see Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and its drivers throughout the ALMS’ history records.
 
There are 55 victories worldwide for the C6.R, which made its racing debut in 2005. Of those, 51 were in the ALMS and four came at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Breaking down the numbers further, the GT1 version of the C6.R scored 42 victories – including a record-setting 39 in the ALMS. At one point, the C6.R won 25 consecutive races in class between 2007 and 2009; it is the longest such streak in ALMS history, regardless of class.
 
Corvette Racing will end the American Le Mans Series as its most successful entrant. The team’s 82 victories are 27 more than any other competitor. Corvette Racing also has 54 1-2 team finishes in ALMS events and has been the fastest qualifier in 64 races – both series records.
 
Current Corvette drivers rank near the top of the ALMS’ lists of individual categories. Jan Magnussen enters Petit Le Mans as the co-leader in the ALMS starts with 115. Oliver Gavin isn’t far behind with 110 starts. The Brit leads in career fastest race laps with 29, and ranks third in both career victories (40) and career poles (20).
 
The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is a result of a merger between the ALMS and GRAND-AM. The series will feature 12 events throughout North America.
 
EDITORS: High-resolution images of Corvette Racing are available on the Team Chevy media site for editorial use only.
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“This car has won Petit Le Mans several times. For sure it would be great to end the ALMS by winning again this year at Petit Le Mans with it and win the drivers’ championship. It’s a very special car and has won so many races around the world.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“I’ve been involved in the ALMS since the beginning. It’s been a championship that personally gave me a second career in racing. I pretty much thought that when I was done with Formula One and the way it ended that it would be it for me. Coming here and getting into this championship – first with Panoz and then in GT racing – has been a super privilege. It’s not just to race but also to fight for championships with the biggest manufacturer in the ALMS.”
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“It is going to be the last race for quite a few things – whether it’s the last race of the ALMS or the last for the C6.R. I’ve gone all the way through the life of the C6.R – both the GT1 version and the GT spec. It’s been so successful and been a great car to drive and be around. I take a huge amount of pleasure in driving it. I’m sure the team has taken a lot of pleasure in working on it and preparing it for the racetrack each weekend. It has been up against the best car manufacturers in the world and oftentimes putting us on the top step.
“If journalists are looking to write a story on the ALMS, the GT car that been there through all its years is America’s sports car – the Corvette. It will be viewed as one of the dominants cars of the ALMS. Corvette has been there for every single Petit Le Mans. If you say ‘ALMS GT car’, I think the automatic reference is a Corvette. The noise and the velocity yellow scheme are the hallmarks of the ALMS. Other cars have come and gone. Chevrolet and Corvette Racing have always been here. The key has been a group of people who have stuck together and functioned properly as a team. Weekend after weekend, we are able to get that high level of performance from the mechanics, engineers, other crew and drivers. It’s been an amazing run. I have to pinch myself sometimes to realize I’ve been part of it. Sometimes in the sport, you have to look back after a couple of years and realize what you’ve been involved in. You look at the last couple of years here with great competition against different brands of cars and different teams. I’m sure we will look over the last couple years of the ALMS GT class and say there was some mighty and fantastic racing at every single round.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“The C6.R has featured pretty prominently throughout the ALMS. It was incredibly successful in the GT1 spec. And I think in GT that we have proven pretty well that the chassis and package – no matter where it was raced – was competitive, fast and won championships and everything there is to win in production-based racing. It’s a testament to the car and to the team’s drive, determination and competitiveness to make it a dominant force.”
 
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER
“By any measure, the Corvette C6.R has rightfully earned a place among the greatest sports cars of the modern area. Its on-track successes have proven it to be a more-than-worthy successor to the C5-R. Teamed together, these two proud representations of the Corvette production car have made Corvette Racing the most successful team in ALMS history. In addition, with seven Le Mans victories to its credit, Chevrolet and the Corvette brand are now highly respected around the world. All this was achieved through the hard work and dedication of al the guys on the team and the unwavering support of Chevrolet’s management, marketing and engineering personnel. I could not be more proud of all of them.”
(Saluting the ALMS) “It was the extraordinary passion and vision of Don Panoz that led to his creating the American Le Mans Series. In doing so, he literally set the stage for Corvette’s return to international sports car glory. His ability to bring together the historic 24 Hours of Le Mans in combination with the ALMS created what is now considered to be the most competitive sports car racing in the world. Chevrolet and Corvette will be forever grateful for his efforts – Thank you, Don!”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BANK OF AMERICA 500
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 12, 2013
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
THAT WAS A HECK OF A BATTLE BETWEEN YOU AND BRAD KESELOWSKI THERE IN THE CLOSING LAPS CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT?
“Yeah, we had a great race.  I was on two (tires) and he was on four (tires) and he could just move around a little bit better.  I was trying to move around, but I was just a little bit on the tight side with the front end, then I would get loose if I got the front working. I was doing all I could and felt pretty good, but he made some nice moves and just really had some speed there late in the race and was able to get by me.”  
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
ON THAT FINAL RESTART IT LOOKED LIKE YOU DROPPED BACK A LITTLE BIT, BUT THEN CAME BACK AND HAD A GREAT BATTLE WITH KASEY.  WHAT HAPPENED THERE THAT YOU DROPPED BACK?
“Down in (turns) one and two just in the dirty air I pushed the No. 5 off into (turn) one. He didn’t get the best restart and something to do with that combo got me off the bottom and a couple of cars got into the side of me.  If we could have come out second which was really close with the No. 24 and start on the front row I think it would have been a much different result for us, but it didn’t happen.  We led some laps tonight, had a good car.  I’m not sure what happened in the points, but I know it’s awfully tight up there right now.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SIXTH
IT WAS ONE OF THOSE NIGHTS YOU GUYS JUST KEPT SWINGING AWAY AND GOT A DECENT FINISH OUT OF IT:
“Yeah, we got a decent finish, but our car was terrible all night.  I just have to thank all my Jimmy John’s guys for working hard and keeping the car on the lead lap.  Then just the restart went our way there at the end and we were able to get a decent finish out of it.  We survived.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SEVENTH
HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT? YOU HAD A REALLY STRONG CAR
“I don’t know about that. It was a solid night. I was really good out front there in the beginning. We really struggled all day on Friday and tonight we could just not get it to take off good and then be good on the long runs. It looked like some guys were maybe a little bit freer than us on the shorter runs, but we were still able to maintain some good laps times and then be good on the long runs. It was a solid effort. It was a great call there to try to make two (tires) work. Our car was just way too tight to be able to do it. We lost a few more positions than I was hoping. But it was still solid.”
 
DID THE LONG GREEN FLAG RUNS NOT GIVE ENOUGH TIME TO ADJUST ON THE CAR?
“We’ve been adjusting on it all weekend. I don’t know. We had a very fast race car but just trying to get the balance is really temperamental. I don’t know. That’s why we debrief and keep working at it. We were very strong and overall it was a good weekend for us. But I was definitely anticipating or hoping to be a little bit better than that.”
 
DO YOU THINK THIS WAS AN OPPORTUNITY LOST WITH HOW STRONG YOU THOUGHT YOUR CAR WAS ALL WEEKEND?
“It was certainly an opportunity. You want to take advantage of that number one pit stall but we didn’t have enough cautions to do that. We need more cautions. We needed more cautions because when we had the track position we seemed to be able to maintain it, but once we lost it there was no getting it back. And all those green flag stops just didn’t really suit us. So, we still had a solid effort tonight. But yeah, when you look at the guys who finished ahead of us, they are all the guys we are racing.”
 
YOU ARE 36 BACK IN FOURTH; FIVE RACES IN. HOW GOOD IS THAT?
“I’m pretty impressed with that, to be honest. We’ve got to be realistic and while we’ve been really strong ever since the Chase started, we also came into this thing barely making it in and one week we probably weren’t in it and then the next week we’re in it and then we came from 13th to where we are. So I’m very proud of that and I’m not going to let this get us down. But, I also feel like we’ve been knocking on the door to get a win and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
 
TALLADEGA IS CONSIDERED THE WILD CARD RACE. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TALLADEGA AND MARTINSVILLE?
“I’m looking forward to Martinsville. I don’t know if anybody is looking forward to Talladega but it’s part of it. And you’ve got to go in there with a positive attitude and fight and do your best and try to avoid whatever may occur there or what’s going to occur there and hope that you come out with a race car, it doesn’t even have to be in one piece, it just needs to get across the line with a decent finish.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
ON HIS NIGHT:
“We struggled all night on the short run. Our Quicken Loans Chevrolet was really good as the run went on; it would come to life 20 or 25 laps into the run. But by then, we’d lost track position and couldn’t get it back. We weren’t able to capitalize on the speed we had in the car. Matt Borland (crew chief) kept adjusting on the car all night, but we couldn’t get it where we needed it to be. At the end of the day, we came home eighth, which means we’ll pay 10 mortgages for 10 fans thanks to the “Bring it Home” sweepstakes, and Monday will be a Bloomin’ Monday at Outback Steakhouse.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH
ON HIS RACE:
“We lost the handling of the car and it was a struggle the entire night. We had an upbeat feeling about tonight after two strong practices on Friday but nothing really materialized for us to make a charge. It’s disappointing to finish where we did (14th) after having a number of solid runs on the mile-and-a-halfs, including last week’s runner-up finish in Kansas.  Next week we’ll give it another go in the Wonder bread car at Talladega.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 TIME WARNER CABLE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 15TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR NIGHT:
“The car just got really tight.  We’ve got to take it back and something moved. Something in the set-up moved, but the car was real quick at the start of the race.  We were just kind of real happy with the speed.  The No. 5 was really good and the No. 48 got real good.  Still thought we had a top-five car and I don’t know what happened.  We lost a rubber out of the right-rear spring or something like that.  It just would not turn at all the last half of the race pretty much.  We are just kind of trying to figure out what is going on.  We will get it back and figure it out when we get to the shop on Monday.  It was still a good effort by all the guys on this Time Warner Cable Chevrolet.  We are having some pretty good cars we just something happened tonight we are not quite sure what it was.  We will find something I’m sure.  The car just doesn’t get that tight from running that good without any adjustments.  We were freeing it up, moving the trackbar, taking wedge out and just getting tighter and tighter something wrong with it.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 20TH
“We didn’t have a great starting spot with our GoDaddy Chevy, and as always at these mile-and-a-halfs, track position is really important just because how tough it is to run in traffic and as a result pass. It really was just a little tight the first couple of runs and then man, I don’t know what else we could have done to fix the balance. All we needed really was track position and more yellows so we could get back on the lead lap. The team did a really great job of working through practices and m
y pit crew did an awesome job of getting me out in record time. We just needed track position.”
 
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BANK OF AMERICA 500
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 12, 2013
 
MARK MARTIN, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – SIDELINED WITH AN ENGINE FAILURE ON LAP 82
 
WHAT HAPPENED THAT PUT YOU BEHIND THE WALL?
“Well we broke a valve spring earlier and we were trying to nurse it along to maybe a caution where we could possibly work on it a little bit where it wouldn’t self-destruct, but we didn’t get that.  When you run one with a broken spring a lot of times you wind up failing something else.  I hate that for everybody.  I hate that we brought out a caution, but we were just trying to do the best we could there.  Trying to nurse it along and see if we could make it to the end.”
 
DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA THAT SOMETHING WAS GOING TO GO WRONG?
“It went down a cylinder on the front straightaway a while ago.  That is when we started falling back obviously.  We went down on seven cylinders no warnings no issues up until that point.  These guys are pumped up and we were ready to go racing and it’s really early in the night to be out.  I would have liked to have raced and got the experience of adjusting our car and fighting and battling with it.  But we didn’t get to do that.”