Ryan Hunter-Reay Wins the Pole at Barber Motorsports Park
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  (April 6, 2013) – Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will start the No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet from the pole of tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park (Barber). With a lap of 1 minute, 07.0871 seconds at 123.422 miles per hour (m.p.h.), Hunter-Reay went to the top of the Firestone Fast Six leader board with less than a minute remaining in the 10-minute final session.
 
Today’s Verizon P1 Award is Hunter-Reay’s third-career pole, and his first at Barber as well as his first of the 2013 season.
 
Making it an all-Chevrolet IndyCar V6 front row is two-time Barber race winner, Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, who will start alongside Hunter-Reay for tomorrow’s 90-lap race on the challenging 2.38-mile, 17-turn, purpose-built road course.
 
“Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay and the entire No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport team on winning the pole for the Grand Prix of Alabama,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “As always with this exciting method of qualifying, it was tense down to the last seconds of the Firestone Fast Six, but Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power were focused and managed to deliver at the end to secure the top two spots. We are very proud to have Chevrolet IndyCar twin turbo V6 engines on the front row to lead the field to the green flag at Barber Motorsports Park for the second consecutive year.”
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 AAA Insurance Turbo Team Penske Chevrolet, will start sixth tomorrow giving Team Chevy three of the top-six starters in Round Two of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season.
 
The 90-lap Grand Prix of Alabama will be televised live at 3 p.m. (ET) by the NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com. Race timing and scoring can also be found on

Chevrolet Drivers Score Double Wins in Rolex Sports Car Series at Barber Motorsports Park
Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor Win Overall and DP; John Edwards and Robin Liddell Take Top Podium Spot in GT
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (April 6, 2013) – Max Angelelli put the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) in the lead with 45 minutes remaining in the third race of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season.
 
The determined driver never stopped pushing, leading the final 33 laps around the 2.38-mile, 17-turn circuit to post his 22nd DP victory. Co-driver Jordan Taylor, who led five laps during the opening hour, scored his first DP triumph after winning twice in the GT division. It was team owner Wayne Taylor’s first win of 2013.
 
The Angelelli/J. Taylor duo led a trio of Corvette DP’s across the stripe to make it an all-Chevrolet podium in the DP class.  Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty took the checkered flag in second place, with Gurney handling the driving duties for the final stint in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP. In third place was Richard Westbrook wheeling the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP with co-driver Ricky Taylor.
 
Bringing home the victory in the Grand Touring (GT) class were John Edwards and Robin Liddell in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R. Edwards started the race from the pole, and Liddell won the race off pit lane from the final stop, and held off a hard challenge to win by 0.733 seconds.
 
 “Congratulations to Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor on their win today at Barber in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, GRAND-AM Road Racing.  “And to John Edwards and Robin Liddell for winning the GT class with the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R.  Both teams did an excellent job with pit strategy throughout the race, and the drivers in both cars held off stiff competition in the closing laps of the race to get their wins. It was an exciting finish, and we are pleased that the No. 99 and No. 90 Corvette Daytona Prototypes were on the podium as well. Race results like this are very rewarding for everyone at Chevrolet, our teams and our technical partners that work tirelessly on the GRAND-AM Road Racing program.”
 
Eric Curran and Boris Said brought the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette, to the finish in third place in GT, giving Chevrolet two of the three podium positions in-class.
 
 In the 2.5-hour Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race, Stevenson Motorsports teammates John Edwards and Matt Bell finished second in the No. 9 Camaro GS.R to capture their best finish of the season to date.  Lawson Aschenbach and Eric Curran brought the No. 01 CKS Camaro GS.R to the checkered flag in fifth place, equaling their strongest run of the season so far.
 
“In addition, congratulations to John Edwards and Matt Bell on their second-place finish in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race this afternoon,” Lutz concluded. “It was also a very tense race with an edge-of-the-seat exciting finish. Chevrolet had a good presence in the finishing order with the No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro capturing the fifth finishing position.”
 
The next event for Team Chevy in GRAND-AM Road Racing will be at the GRAND-AM Road Racing debut event at Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Georgia, April 18 – 20.  The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race can be seen live on SPEED, Saturday, April 20, at 4:30 p.m. EDT/1:30 p.m. PDT. The Continental Tire Sports Car Series race will run Saturday, April 20 at 11:30 a.m. EDT, with television coverage set for broadcast on April 27, 2:00 p.m. EDT on SPEED.
 
POST RACE OWNER AND DRIVER QUOTES:
ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES:
MAX ANGELELLI & JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP – OVERALL AND DP CLASS RACE WINNERS:
 
THE LAST TIME YOUR CAR WENT TO VICTORY LANE HERE WAS 2005 AND YOU WERE A DRIVER, ALONG WITH MAX. NOW YOUR GET YOUR SON, JORDAN, HIS FIRST DP WIN IN A TAYLOR-OWNER CAR. CONGRATULATIONS:
 
WAYNE TAYLOR:
“Thank you very much. This team did an outstanding job this weekend. They worked really hard the whole year. Our pit stops are just terrific and Jordan and Max did an absolutely outstanding job. I owe this to the team. The team has worked so hard since the beginning of the season and, clearly, we’ve been better than the rest in the pits all season. Sometimes, you need to have a little bit of luck to win these things, but I just can’t say enough about this team and how everybody has elevated their game to perfection. A huge thanks to Velocity Worldwide coming on board at the time they did. You know, it was really a tough time at the end of last season trying to get everything together. I owe a special thanks to Paul Blakely, Enda McShane and Brian Stockman from Velocity. And, to Toshiba, who have stuck with us through everything we’ve done over the years. I have so much to repay them. And then there’s General Motors. Everything that Mark Kent, Jim Campbell, Mark Reuss – the support that they’ve put behind the series and behind these Corvette teams is just incredible. I can’t thank them enough. I’m just so happy for everybody.”
 
MAX, YOU LAST WON HERE AT BARBER IN 2005 AND YOU ARE VICTORIOUS AGAIN HERE TODAY. CONGRATULATIONS:
 
MAX ANGELELLI:
“Thank you very much. It’s been almost ten years and so I’m happy. After ten years, that’s good. Thanks to the team and to Jordan. They deserved it. They won the race.”
 
WATCHING THE LAST 15 MINUTES OF THAT RACE, IT LOOKED LIKE GURNEY COULD GET CLOSE TO YOU, BUT THEN YOU COULD PULL AWAY ALMOST AT WILL. WERE YOU JUST KIND OF RUNNING YOUR OWN RACE AND CONSERVING? WERE YOU PLAYING WITH HIM A LITTLE BIT OUT THERE?
 
MAX ANGELELLI:
“When you have the car to do that, it’s pretty enjoyable to inflict philological pain. So, I just enjoyed myself.”
 
AFTER THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF AUSTIN FIVE WEEKS AGO, HOW SPECIAL IS IT TO GET THE WIN HERE TODAY?
 
MAX ANGELELLI:
“It is great for the guys; not for me, for the guys. That’s it.”
 
THIS IS YOUR FIRST WIN IN A FAMILY-OWNED DAYTONA PROTOTYPE. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?
 
JORDAN TAYLOR:
“Yeah, it’s cool. We had a strong car in Daytona and Austin, but it just didn’t go our way. Little things held us back. So, we knew we had it coming and it’s nice that it came this early in the season and that sets us up in a good position for the rest of the championship, so we’re looking forward to it.”
 
ROBIN LIDDELL AND JOHN EDWARDS, NO. 57 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS, STEVENSON AUTOMOTIVE GROUP CHEVROLET CAMARO GT.R – GT CLASS RACE WINNERS:
 
THIS CAR STARTED ON THE POLE WITH JOHN EDWARDS AND YOU BROUGHT IT HOME TO VICTORY LANE TODAY, BUT IT WASN’T EASY. YOU HAD YOUR HANDS FULL OUT THERE IN THE CLOSING LAPS:
 
ROBIN LIDDELL:
“Yeah, we were under quite a lot of pressure. Alessandro (Balzan) was doing a good job in the No. 63 Ferrari was doing a good job. He’s not been in the series very long and we’ve already had a good few races with him and with those guys. Obviously the car was out front with John starting on the pole and that helped a lot. It takes the pressure off as the second driver. It’s not an easy track to pass around here and although the car was very good, it was key for us getting track position and trying to stay there rather than trying to fight out way through the field. The second pit stop was very key. We just managed to sneak out ahead of those guys. Great job by the team and the crew to do that and I had a pretty risky move in the pit lane just to stay ahead of him going down past their box. So, I figured that was going to be the key to the race. We obviously managed to come out ahead. We were certainly good on new tires and I think we were even better in the traffic. Overall, they
were very strong and they were closing the gap pretty tight and pretty quickly at the end there. So, hat’s off to all our crew and thanks to everybody on our side: Stevenson, Chevrolet, John, Mike Johnson, and everybody did a super job today.
 
“I think I gained a little bit from some track experience here. Obviously Alessandro has not been at some of these tracks and I think I just knew where to position the car and when the tires started to go off, I think I could cope with that a little bit better. He was a wee bit quicker in the end and obviously we were under quite a bit of pressure. But generally speaking, I seemed to get the breaks; and where I was able to stop a DP going by to get a run out of the corner and keep him between us, I was able to do that. We were looking very strong in the last section into the last couple of turns and I full expected him to have a lunge being made at me in the last lap, but he wasn’t close enough to me. So, all credit to the guys. The team did a wonderful job. In the end the guys did a super job in the pits and it was very, very tight on the way out because the No. 63 car came out of the box and I really thought we were going to make contact. I just my foot in because I figured that would be the key to the race, which I think in the end, it was. So a great job by everybody.”
 
YOU WON THE POLE AND YOU STARTED FROM THE FRONT WHERE YOU WANTED TO. AND YOU GUYS MADE IT WORK:
 
JOHN EDWARDS:
“Yeah, I had a pretty intense stint there because we chose to take tires and other people didn’t. So we were a bit faster but the tires were starting to go off as I was catching Jeff Westphal who hadn’t taken tires. And I didn’t think I was going to get by him without a mistake or some traffic, so I saw an opportunity with traffic and took it; and ended-up going sailing off the road, so I hope I didn’t give the team a heart attack doing that. But we ended up pitting behind Jeff and came out ahead. So full credit to the Stevenson crew and the tire change. We weren’t waiting on fuel for that stop. So the guys with the tires and Robin and Mike with the driver change, really deserve a lot of credit for taking that spot because if we had come up behind Alessandro, I don’t think we would have had a shot getting by him.”
 
 ALEX GURNEY & JOHN FOGARTY, NO. 99 BOB STALLINGS RACING, GAINSCO AUTO INSURANCE CHEVROLET CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 2ND:
TALK ABOUT THE DAY, AND THOSE LAST LAPS:
 
ALEX GURNEY: ON HIS RACE: “Well actually the last four (laps) we were on fumes there so I backed it way down. But for a while there, when I’d get free of traffic I’d try to mount a run on it and it seemed like I could gain a little bit, but he (Max Angelelli, race winner) did an awesome job. He never made a mistake. Hats off to him. We were about the same. I think if we were in the lead, we probably would have won, as well. But anyway, it was a good solid race and a great points day, for sure.”
 
JON FOGARTY: ON HIS RACE: “The opening part of my stint was great.  The car was really perfect and I was able to open up a gap and kind of maintain my pace.  Then a yellow came out, people kind of mixed up their strategies, and we came out in the middle of the field.  Working our way through traffic we came up upon a bunch of slower cars and I just picked the wrong line. I ended up following a GT car through the grass and was just fighting from there. We had a good clean race. The 10 car went around the outside of me for position, it was a good move, but I feel like that is what put us in second place. It would have been great to win, but we are conscious of the fact that we play for championships.  Podium points are solid and this moves us closer to the championship.”
 
RICHARD WESTBROOK AND RICKY TAYLOR, NO. 90 SPIRIT OF DAYTONA RACING, VISITFLORIDA.COM/GOPRO CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 3RD:
RICKY TAYLOR RAN PRETTY LONG THERE AND PUSHED THE FUEL ENVELOPE IN THE FIRST RUN, BUT YOU PICKED IT UP. DID YOU HAVE ENOUGH TO TRY TO GET TO VICTORY LANE?
 
RICHARD WESTBROOK: “No, we were pretty much out of fuel; but that’s car racing. Sometimes you’ve got to play the fuel-mileage game. It’s a real shame when you’re driving because you know how good the car is and you’ve got to save fuel. Even with saving fuel, we could race them up to a point and then there was no point and we’d get overtaken in fuel-saving mode. So, we backed-off and brought it home. Good points and I think when we wake up tomorrow we’ll all be happy.”
 
ON HIS RACE:  “It’s good to get our season going with some points.  A little bit disappointed because we had a really good car, like we always do here.  When we wake up tomorrow we will be happy with the points when we look at the points table because it looks a lot stronger for us.  The team did a great job.  Just a little bit unlucky with the strategy. We had to save a lot of fuel during the race, which is part of sports car racing, but it’s not nice when you drive in it and you know the car is good. You want to race, but you’ve got to back off just to get around.  That is what makes this sport so interesting sometimes the strategy that is played out.”  
 
RICKY TAYLOR:
ON HIS RACE:  “We had a good car and thought pit stops and strategy were really good.  I was a bit disappointed with the way I drove today. It was a good day.  I think we can build on it in Atlanta.  It’s good to have a podium after a rough start to the season.”
 
MORE: “The car was really fast in clean air. I felt like we were definitely as good as the 99 and then the 10 and 01 didn’t have the pace we did for sure. I was a bit frustrated with myself in traffic and I kind of let them get away. But at the end of the day it’s a good podium and I think we can build on this for the rest of the year.”
 
CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE:
 
JOHN EDWARDS AND MATT BELL, NO. 9 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GS.R, FINISHED 2ND:
 
JOHN EDWARDS: ON HIS RACE: “It’s the elusive double win (referring to his win earlier in the day in the Rolex Sports Car Series GT class). Bill (Auberlin) has been able to do it twice, and I’ve come close once before, and can’t pull it off quite yet. I hate sound depressed to finish second, but when you are leading with 20 – 30 minutes to go, and just make a rookie mistake, I just missed a shift and let Hugh (Plumb) right by. Hugh drove great. After the restart, I got in a scrap with David Empringham. We had some contact in (turn) five, which is fine; we were side-to-side. Then going down the straightaway, he just turned right into me. So, don’t know what he was doing.”
 
MATT BELL: ON HIS RACE: “We didn’t have a car for second place. To come away with it is really, really impressive. Not enough can be said about the Stevenson team. Really, I mean…when I started driving the car, it was really good for two laps, but I was in traffic and couldn’t capitalize on it. We had a pretty good lap, but they just immediately faded. One I got a handle on it; the car was just getting looser and looser, just almost to the point of being un-drivable. They made a decision to make a change, and the change was perfect. The next stint they made another change, so John’s drive was even better. Then again, on the final stint, they made more changes.  Like I said, we didn’t have a second place car; to come away with it is really impressive.”
 
LAWSON ASCHENBACH AND ERIC CURRAN, NO. 01 CKS AUTOSPORT CAMARO GS.R, FINISHED 5TH:
 
LAWSON ASCHENBACH: ON HIS RACE: “We actually had a really good Team Chevy CKS Autosport Camaro. But, we just really had nothing for them today; it was a little bit frustrating. We got put back a little bit on our last stop; we took four tires instead of two. It’s hard to come back here with track position. Considering everything that happened, and what happened with
Eric in the beginning of the race, I’m pretty happy with fifth place. A little bit disappointed, but to get out of here with a fifth…hopefully we will just regroup and get a little bit better for Road Atlanta.”
 
ERIC CURRAN: ON HIS RACE: “The race was good. The Continental Tire Series is always tough, but this Team Chevy No. 01 CKS Camaro was great all day long. I got tangled up with an ST car early running in the top-five, but got back up to the fourth position. Lawson did a great job finishing up in fifth. We needed the points. We had a tough race at COTA. We’re excited to finish in the top-five. With the other Camaro, the Stevenson car, in second, It has been a good day overall for Chevrolet. We finished third with Corvette in the GT class of the Rolex race earlier. There were a lot of Chevrolets on the podium today, so I’m excited for that.”
 
POST ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES RACE WINNER’S PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
MAX ANGELELLI AND JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP – OVERALL AND DP WINNERS
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE RACE FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE:
MAX ANGELELLI: “For my side it was kind of easy because I only had to maintain the gap looking after the tires so I really babysitting the tires all along.  The car was great.  Jordan (Taylor, co-driver) allowed me to have such a race.  Easy race, easy stint because he put the car in such a good position ahead of the No. 99 that really helped.  On top of it the team really made a good call.  I never thought about it and I was the one pushing the team for only a one stop race but they, as usual, they didn’t listen to me.  So we won the race.”
 
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST ROLEX DP WIN:
JORDAN TAYLOR: “It was a pretty exciting day I would say.  I would say the first 10-15 minutes before that first yellow wasn’t great for me.  I got caught in a bit of GT traffic with (Memo) Rojas.  We were also saving a little bit of fuel at that point.  I knew if the yellow had come and we had to take a stop we would be in a good position to jump them maybe and our guys are always strong in the pits so we were able to get back by them, but we lost a lot of track position.  I think we were sixth or seventh in line, but the car was super strong.  We were able to kind of maintain a decent pace and pick off guys not aggressively and not taking high risk it was kind of in traffic.  I think when I got Jon (Fogarty) he was held up by a GT car over the hill and I was able to get around him.  I don’t remember a couple of the other ones, but Ricky (Taylor) was another one, he got held up by one of the Nonnamakers I think and I was able to get around him.  It was exciting.  When you are in the car for that kind of a period of time you don’t really know what is going on around you.  I didn’t know where we were track position wise or fuel wise when we put Max (Angelelli, co-driver) in.  So once I got out of the car, spoke to the guys, heard that we had a decent gap and we were the only ones at that point fully fueled to get to the end I was pretty excited.  Those last 50 minutes were pretty stressful.  I’m used to finishing the races in GT so it’s a little different on this side, but it was good.  Max did a great job.”
 
CORVETTE HAS FINISHED 1, 2, 3 TODAY AND QUALIFIED PRETTY WELL.  WHAT ABOUT THIS TRACK SUITS THEM?
MAX ANGELELLI: “Probably we have the best teams.  Chevy had the best teams.  That is what I think and best drivers.”
 
JORDAN TAYLOR: “We definitely have strong teams, good strategy and like if you look at the driving pairing in the Corvettes compared to the Riley’s it is pro/pros in most of the Corvettes and pro/am in most of the other cars.  I think if you look at the fastest laps the Riley’s were right there.  I think Brendan Harley even had the fastest lap of the race.  Over a lap over a stint I think if you have pro/pros in both cars it’s going to be a fight at the end.  I think the only difference was it was an all green race and the pro/pro line-ups made that gap at the beginning where it mattered.  I think that is kind of where you see the difference.”
 
THERE WAS PRETTY MUCH A LACK OF DRY RUNNING TIME FOR MOST OF THE WEEKEND.  DID THE CAR FEEL AS WHAT YOU EXPECTED IT TO BE OR DO YOU THINK THERE COULD HAVE BEEN IMPROVEMENTS IF YOU HAD MORE DRY TIME?
JORDAN TAYLOR: “I think there were definitely rooms for improvement. Qualifying was basically the only dry session we had.  It was basically my first time back in the DP here in a couple of years.  I don’t think my feedback was that accurate.  We didn’t really want to take a risk on a change before the race.  We knew we had a decent car.  We qualified third so we were safe in that respect, but I was able to have good running in the race and Max (Angelelli, co-driver) only drove in the wet the whole weekend.  His first dry lap was actually his first lap in the race.  He had to adapt pretty quickly and not lose that gap that we had already.  It was an exciting day, a lot of firsts for everyone.  I’m just glad we were able to get through it the way we did.”
 
IN REGARDS TO THE TRACK SURFACE:
JORDAN TAYLOR: “It’s always nicer when you have more grip and compared to last year we had the predicted lap on the dash from the year before and that is always nice to see that ticking down the whole way around the lap.  The new Continental tire was much better as well so we were able to push throughout the stint and not really have to maintain a pace.  That made I think the racing more exciting.”
 
WITH ALEX GURNEY HOUNDING YOU TOWARD THE END WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO DIFFERENTLY TO HOLD HIM OFF?  WERE YOU AWARE OF HOW CLOSE HE WAS?
MAX ANGELELLI: “No, I wasn’t worried.  I knew what I had.  My car was so strong.  I could pull away. I think I show it to him.  There was not a worry. I had the situation in my hands and just managed the gap.  I just kept him around two seconds I guess.  That is it. Our car was really good.  It’s been a good weekend.”
 
THEY GROUND THE TRACK DOWN AND YOU HAD A NEW TIRE COMPOUND THIS WEEKEND.  HOW DID THAT COMBINATION WORK OUT FOR YOU GUYS TODAY?  WHAT DID YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY FROM LAST YEAR?
MAX ANGELELLI: “Continental delivered a great tire compound. Finally they were able to decide their own destiny changing the tires.  It was about time.  Finally we can practice; finally we can race hard so that was great. Now we have good tires and we can push all the way to the end.”
 
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO GET YOUR FIRST DP WIN?  WITH YOUR BROTHER ON THE PODIUM HOW WILL THE FAMILY GO ABOUT CELEBRATING THIS EVENING?
JORDAN TAYLOR: “I don’t know if he will be celebrating as much as us.  We both want to win, but it’s cool that we were both on the podium.  I know he probably wanted to be on the top step like we are and vice versa.  If I was in his position I would want the same.  Our brother relationship isn’t really like other brother relationships.  We don’t look at it as a competitor wanting to kill each other out there.  I think you can see from both races that we race respectably.  Same with (Jon) Fogarty we never touched once in Austin or here.  It’s good racing and we know one of us is going to be better one weekend the other is going to be better the other weekend.  I don’t think any comparisons need to be made.  I think someone is going to have a good day and a bad day and the other day is going to be vice versa.  We enjoy it.”
 
JOHN EDWARDS AND ROBIN LIDDELL, NO. 57 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GT.R – GT WINNERS
IN REGARDS TO HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED:
JOHN EDWARDS: “I had the first stint, then we pitted and took tires and a l
ot of people didn’t so I had to try to work my way through the field and I think that was still the right call because we saw Boris (Said) struggling on his tires at the end of his stint and lost a lot of track time.  I think that was the right call, but it did put us back in traffic and I had to work hard to make that up.  Made a pretty opportunistic move with some traffic when I caught Jim Norman was trying to go around the outside of (Jeff) Westphal while he was inside Jim Norman and went sailing off at the exit of turn four.  That was maybe not my wisest decision, but in a two hour race we are flat out the whole time and you know that those positions are really going to matter.  In the end I didn’t get by him and pitted from P2 (position 2) and the crew did an awesome stop.  We were a bit concerned that driver changes it’s tough to do within the tires and the driver change went perfectly and got done before the tires.  The crew did a great job on the tire change.  Dropped the car and beat the No. 63 out of pit lane and that was really the key to the race.  After that Robin (Liddell) with two maybe dry laps in practice went out and did a 27.7 on his first lap and then held off (Balzan ) Alessandro the whole time.  Excellent job by him as well.”
 
ROBIN LIDDELL: “Although it was a short race and reasonable uneventful from my point of view I felt under quite a lot of pressure.  Obviously, same sort of deal for everybody this weekend.  It was a wet weekend up until qualifying.  Although I did a couple of laps at the end of that final practice it really wasn’t completely dry.  Obviously, the track has changed quite a bit.  I think the testing that we did here in November helped us quite a lot.  Or helped me at least just being able to go out and get into the groove straight away.  I knew that was important plus with only fourteen minutes or so to go, fifteen minutes I guess maybe.  I felt the pressure of being able to go out and basically stay in front of those guys, but got into a good rhythm pretty quickly.  The car felt good.  The track has improved quite a lot from our point of view although there is some fall off in the tire degradation it’s not as bad as it used to be so it’s definitely a step forward.  That is a credit to the team here at the track for dealing with that and the Continental guys.  Obviously, John (Edwards) as usual did a good job, got the car on pole, drove a really good stint and really I think it came down to the guys in the pits.  We had a pretty good second pit stop and I came down pit lane and the Ferrari had dropped and started to go.  He came out at quite an angle, but of course by that time I was doing 45 (mph) and I just literally thought to myself ‘if he comes out I am just going to crash into him.’ There was no way I was lifting I just had to stay on the outside lane.  I wasn’t willing to lift.  I figured at that point if he got ahead of us in the pit that probably was going to be the game changer.  We managed to stay ahead and we were pretty strong on new tires actually compared to them.  I think in the traffic as well we were able to keep them at bay quite effectively.  I think in some respects they have proven themselves to be pretty strong competitors already.  We have had a few tight races with them so far in the short time they have been in the series, but also in terms of our experience here at this race track and on fading tires with traffic, etc.  I think that did play out a little bit to my advantage and was able to choose my moments better and keep the advantage in the traffic situation.  All in all very happy, I must say I wasn’t expecting to come out of here with a win.  I really thought we were going to have a tough time this weekend.  Very happy for all the team and everybody else at Stevenson and Chevrolet.”
 

Ryan Hunter-Reay Wins the Pole at Barber Motorsports Park
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  (April 6, 2013) – Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will start the No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet from the pole of tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park (Barber). With a lap of 1 minute, 07.0871 seconds at 123.422 miles per hour (m.p.h.), Hunter-Reay went to the top of the Firestone Fast Six leader board with less than a minute remaining in the 10-minute final session.
 
Today’s Verizon P1 Award is Hunter-Reay’s third-career pole, and his first at Barber as well as his first of the 2013 season.
 
Making it an all-Chevrolet IndyCar V6 front row is two-time Barber race winner, Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, who will start alongside Hunter-Reay for tomorrow’s 90-lap race on the challenging 2.38-mile, 17-turn, purpose-built road course.
 
“Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay and the entire No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport team on winning the pole for the Grand Prix of Alabama,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “As always with this exciting method of qualifying, it was tense down to the last seconds of the Firestone Fast Six, but Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power were focused and managed to deliver at the end to secure the top two spots. We are very proud to have Chevrolet IndyCar twin turbo V6 engines on the front row to lead the field to the green flag at Barber Motorsports Park for the second consecutive year.”
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 AAA Insurance Turbo Team Penske Chevrolet, will start sixth tomorrow giving Team Chevy three of the top-six starters in Round Two of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season.
 
The 90-lap Grand Prix of Alabama will be televised live at 3 p.m. (ET) by the NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com. Race timing and scoring can also be found on

Ryan Hunter-Reay Wins the Pole at Barber Motorsports Park
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  (April 6, 2013) – Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will start the No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet from the pole of tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park (Barber). With a lap of 1 minute, 07.0871 seconds at 123.422 miles per hour (m.p.h.), Hunter-Reay went to the top of the Firestone Fast Six leader board with less than a minute remaining in the 10-minute final session.
 
Today’s Verizon P1 Award is Hunter-Reay’s third-career pole, and his first at Barber as well as his first of the 2013 season.
 
Making it an all-Chevrolet IndyCar V6 front row is two-time Barber race winner, Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, who will start alongside Hunter-Reay for tomorrow’s 90-lap race on the challenging 2.38-mile, 17-turn, purpose-built road course.
 
“Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay and the entire No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport team on winning the pole for the Grand Prix of Alabama,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “As always with this exciting method of qualifying, it was tense down to the last seconds of the Firestone Fast Six, but Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power were focused and managed to deliver at the end to secure the top two spots. We are very proud to have Chevrolet IndyCar twin turbo V6 engines on the front row to lead the field to the green flag at Barber Motorsports Park for the second consecutive year.”
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 AAA Insurance Turbo Team Penske Chevrolet, will start sixth tomorrow giving Team Chevy three of the top-six starters in Round Two of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season.
 
The 90-lap Grand Prix of Alabama will be televised live at 3 p.m. (ET) by the NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com. Race timing and scoring can also be found on

Helio Castroneves Tops Speed Charts in Practice for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Alabama
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  (April 5, 2013) – Today, at the conclusion of the first day of practice for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Alabama, Helio Castroneves, No. 3 AAA Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet, was at the top of the speed charts. His teammate, Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, was fifth in the final combined practice run-down.  Castroneves and Power are the only two drivers to have won races, as well as pole positions in the three previous races held at Barber Motorsports Park.  Castroneves has one pole and one win at the 2.38-mile, 17-turn track, while Power has two poles and two wins, including the 2012 debut of the Chevrolet  IndyCar V6 Direct Injected, Twin Turbocharged engine.
 
Other Team Chevy drivers turning in times that landed them in the top-10 were: E.J. Viso, No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA Citgo Andretti Autosport HVM Chevrolet – seventh and A.J. Allmendinger, No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet – eighth.
 
The IZOD IndyCar Series will return to the track for a 30-minute practice session at 8:00 a.m. CT Saturday morning in preparation for qualifying that is slated to start at 10:25 a.m. CT.
 
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES:
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AAA INSURANCE TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET FASTEST IN PRACTICE: HOW MUCH MOMENTUM DOES BEING FASTEST TODAY GIVE YOU GOING INTO TOMORROW? “First it is great to have AAA. I don’t know if you guys know it, but AAA and Turbo (the movie) are teaming up together. Which I have to say will probably help a little bit out there. It is great to talk about it so people, when they go out there, even that we go fast with Turbo, to not text and drive and don’t talk on the phone. Don’t forget to watch it July 17. That is the premier of the movie. I want to make sure you watch it because it is going to be a lot of fun. Be safe when you drive. I think it is better to be lucky than good. Obviously with the yellow at the end, a lot of guys probably didn’t put on tires. But the car felt pretty good. The AAA machine felt very strong this morning. Unfortunately, it was a little bit difficult because it seemed that the track has a lot of grip, and when you have an extra set of tire, certainly it helps a little bit. But, at the end of the day, with A.J. (Allmendinger) and Will (Power), we’ve been actually throwing a lot of different stuff out there, and it seemed to be working. Again, it is just the first day. There were a lot of weepers, if you guys noticed. If you didn’t, it feels like that even if it is warmer right now, the weepers are coming out a little bit more, and sometimes when you hit just the line, the car kind of does some weird things. But, I am happy that Chevy is working together. Hopefully we continue the good momentum.”
 
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 5TH IN PRACTICE:  “We definitely have a bit of work to do with the Verizon car because we’re just off the pace a bit. We were running top five all day, but we really had to push to get there. We’ll get together tonight and work to figure out how to improve for qualifying tomorrow.”
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, 7TH IN PRACTICE: “Well it’s been a pretty good day. We’ve gone through different car setups, and at the end we believe we found a good scenario to keep working with the car for tomorrow morning’s practice before qualifying. The team has done a good job here. I believe we have a good baseline and fundamental setup shared between the four cars. Tomorrow is going to be very interesting, and we can already tell that this race, and this weekend, is going to be based all around tires. Tires is the key word – for good or for bad. We will need to be working very closely with them (tires).”
 
A.J. ALLMENDINGER, NO. 2 IZOD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 8TH IN PRACTICE:
HOW MUCH HAS THE TRACK CHANGED CONDITION-WISE FROM THE OPEN TEST IN MARCH TO NOW? “When we got here at the test, for me, I was trying to learn the race track, and it was so cold, there was just a ton of grip out there. I felt like the first session was real slick compared from the test with the GRAND-AM cars here, and the Continental cars here, then obviously with just the rain, and no rubber really being down on the race track.  For me, it is just a process. It’s just trying to learn how these weekends go. Trying to keep up with the race track as it changes. It’s so funny…on the (NASCAR) Cup side of it; you have a set day of it. Friday you work on qualifying. Saturday you work on race set-up. And, Sunday you go race. Here obviously you are working on speed, but there isn’t a lot of time to work on race set-up. So I think it is just the process of going through the weekend; figuring out how the weekend goes and how we use our tires; what we are working on. So far, I felt like the first day was good. I think we were ninth and eighth.  I think there is still a lot out there in me. The cars are going to be fast. That is the good thing about the Penske organization, especially around this place. Then winning all the races. I know the car is going to be fast. I know the setup is going to be fairly close. It is just about me trying to go out there and figure it out. Figure out what I need in the race car. How I get the speed out of it. I still left a lot out there on that lap that I did. I think tomorrow, the biggest and toughest thing for me is that qualifying lap. Putting those reds (tires) on for the first time, and not having had any practice on them, and just have to go get that lap. It was a solid day so far.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 12TH IN PRACTICE: “I think it was a good solid day for the No. 1 DHL Chevy. I think that we made some good progress this morning. We were very disciplined with the tires this afternoon, not taking a second set, which is why we’re down in the charts right now – we never took the second set like most of the rest of the field. I’m feeling pretty good about tomorrow; we need to make a few changes to stay ahead of the track development but other than that… we’ll see in the morning. I think we’re a top five car right now so I’m happy about that.”
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 CHARTER PANTHER DRYER & REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, 13th IN PRACTICE:  “I’m actually very pleased.  We woke up the car – it’s a lot more alive. I’m much happier than after the first session. We did our best lap on old tires. When we put on the sticker tires, the red flag came out so we didn’t get a lap in. It’s always a question mark how much we would improve on new tires, but everyone improved quite a bit. The pace we had on old tires was encouraging.  I think we’re on a good path, we just need to fine-tune it a little bit and the Charter car should be in good shape.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 15TH IN PRACTICE:  “Today did not go as planned, but you get these days in racing. We had a couple of things go wrong in the first session, and the way the yellow fell in the second (session) we didn’t really get a proper run all day. I think we can get the Go Daddy car up there tomorrow when it counts. I think it’ll be a challenge, but that’s what they pay us the big bucks for.”
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY SH RACING CHEVROLET, 16th IN PRACTICE: “The track is much slicker now than it was during our open test about a month ago, which made our work cut out during these two sessions. We did some changes to car and got it going our way by the second session, but there is still a lot of work to do for tomorrow before we get to qualifying.”

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, 17th IN PRACTICE:   “The day was alright. I think we need to tweak a couple of things a bit. It’s definitely a little different from the open test, but I think we should
be alright. We haven’t gotten a lap in this afternoon so we have to work on that to get the gap tomorrow and get it in. I really think we should be alright. Hopefully we’ll qualify up front and have a good race from there.”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 19TH IN PRACTICE: “Not the greatest end of day result for the RC Cola car. Right now we have some room for improvement, but I feel that we will be in good shape by Sunday. We didn’t get a chance to do a run on new tires so we still have some unanswered questions. We’ve had positive results here in the past so I’m confident that we can get where we need to be.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 20TH IN PRACTICE: “It was a very interesting day, we tried something completely different than we tried in the test a few weeks ago and got the same read. Coming out of the second practice we were not able to use new tires due to a red flag, but if we had we should have seen the results we are looking for. We still have some work to do, but we should see better results in the #7 McAfee car tomorrow.”
 
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, 23RD IN PRACTICE: “The fact we didn’t throw a new set of tires on the National Guard Chevy at the end of the session today obviously has a significant effect on where we were at (on the speed chart). Another piece of that is that the track gets better as it cools off here and we were one of the first cars to go out when we did our fastest lap. That all aside, the track is significantly different from when we tested here, and we’re still trying to get everything dialed in. Between myself and Oriol (Servia) we both made some changes that we’ll all end up going to when we roll out in the morning.”
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO.  6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 24th IN PRACTICE: “It’s been a tough day for the whole Dragon Racing team, we were expecting so much more after finding a strong pace in St. Pete. We know what we need to work on and we know what we need to bring tomorrow. It’s a matter of confidence and we have it, it’s just a matter of small things we need to fix. We need to keep focused and bring that #6 True Car tomorrow in a positive way as we did in St. Pete.”
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, 25TH IN PRACTICE: “Both sessions were a little weird today.  The track had some weepers and, actually, the weepers were worse in the second practice.  That is a little strange.  The track has changed from the test last week.  We did learn some good things this afternoon.  We closed the gap a little on the leaders.  We need to get more.  We had a mistake on the new tire run, so I think we’ll be faster with the new setup.  I think we can do better on Saturday.  We were moving in a better direction with the car now.   This place is a hard track, and you tell it with everybody.  Someone will get a good lap and then fall off the next one.”
 
POST PRACTICE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: HELIO CASTRONEVES AND A.J. ALLMENDINGER:
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AAA INSURANCE TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET FASTEST IN PRACTICE: HOW MUCH MOMENTUM DOES BEING FASTEST TODAY GIVE YOU GOING INTO TOMORROW? “First it is great to have AAA. I don’t know if you guys know it, but AAA and Turbo (the movie) are teaming up together. Which I have to say will probably help a little bit out there. It is great to talk about it so people, when they go out there, even that we go fast with Turbo, to not text and drive and don’t talk on the phone. Don’t forget to watch it July 17. That is the premier of the movie. I want to make sure you watch it because it is going to be a lot of fun. Be safe when you drive. I think it is better to be lucky than good. Obviously with the yellow at the end, a lot of guys probably didn’t put on tires. But the car felt pretty good. The AAA machine felt very strong this morning. Unfortunately, it was a little bit difficult because it seemed that the track has a lot of grip, and when you have an extra set of tire, certainly it helps a little bit. But, at the end of the day, with A.J. (Allmendinger) and Will (Power), we’ve been actually throwing a lot of different stuff out there, and it seemed to be working. Again, it is just the first day. There were a lot of weepers, if you guys noticed. If you didn’t, it feels like that even if it is warmer right now, the weepers are coming out a little bit more, and sometimes when you hit just the line, the car kind of does some weird things. But, I am happy that Chevy is working together. Hopefully we continue the good momentum.”
 
HOW IS YOUR FEEL FROM PRACTICE TODAY GOING INTO QUALIFYING TOMORROW? “I feel good. I feel like we have a great car; a great team. We’ve showed that in the last three years.  We just have to go out there realistic. I do feel like a lot of guys out there did not have the opportunity to put tires on. I feel like tomorrow will go fast, the track is going to get fast, especially with the red tires. Plus the way the track is going. I feel good. I feel definitely pumped for tomorrow. So hopefully we can put AAA in same spot we put it today.”
 
HAS ANYTHING A.J. HAS ASKED YOU SURPRISED YOU? “Absolutely not. You know, like I said before. If we put everybody in this chair, I guarantee you he is going to be the fastest guy out there, because he can jump in every kind of cars, and do really well. Right now. I have to give him credit, because to go there and only have a few tests in the car, and already start running there in the top-10, in this competitive series, that just shows he is here for a reason. For us, in fact the first session, he was able to, we were discussing a lot of things, and I was able to make some adjust in the car related to what he felt, because I didn’t have the opportunity to have two sets of tires in the morning. So, yes, he does help. And every time somebody out there especially with his caliber, it is always good to have more information.”
 
A.J. ALLMENDINGER, NO. 2 IZOD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 8TH IN PRACTICE:
HOW MUCH HAS THE TRACK CHANGED CONDITION-WISE FROM THE OPEN TEST IN MARCH TO NOW? “When we got here at the test, for me, I was trying to learn the race track, and it was so cold, there was just a ton of grip out there. I felt like the first session was real slick compared from the test with the GRAND-AM cars here, and the Continental cars here, then obviously with just the rain, and no rubber really being down on the race track.  For me, it is just a process. It’s just trying to learn how these weekends go. Trying to keep up with the race track as it changes. It’s so funny…on the (NASCAR) Cup side of it; you have a set day of it. Friday you work on qualifying. Saturday you work on race set-up. And, Sunday you go race. Here obviously you are working on speed, but there isn’t a lot of time to work on race set-up. So I think it is just the process of going through the weekend; figuring out how the weekend goes and how we use our tires; what we are working on. So far, I felt like the first day was good. I think we were ninth and eighth.  I think there is still a lot out there in me. The cars are going to be fast. That is the good thing about the Penske organization, especially around this place. Then winning all the races. I know the car is going to be fast. I know the setup is going to be fairly close. It is just about me trying to go out there and figure it out. Figure out what I need in the race car. How I get the speed out of it. I still left a lot out there on that lap that I did. I think tomorrow, the biggest and toughest thing for me is that qualifying lap. Putting those reds (tires) on for the first time, and not having had any practice on them, and just have to go get that lap. It was a solid day so far.”
 
WHAT IS THE CONTRAST IN MINDSET FROM WHEN YOU WERE IN TESTING TO NOW WHEN YOU ARE HERE TO COMPETE?

 
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON SETS RECORD QUALIFYING MARK AT MARTINSVILLE
Four Chevrolet Drivers Will Start Sunday’s Race in the Top-10
 
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 5, 2013) – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, set a new track record with a time of 19.244 seconds and average speed of 98.400 mph in the first race at the 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway short track for the Gen-6 Chevrolet SS race car.   This was the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s first pole of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) season, and 30th of his career through 405 races.  It is his third pole at Martinsville.  Johnson also holds a track record at Kentucky Speedway.
 
Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS, and Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS, will start fifth and sixth respectively.   Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Newman, No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS, will start Sunday’s STP Gas Booster 500 from the 10th position.
 
Other Chevrolet drivers who qualified in the top-20 for Sunday’s event were: Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Novo Nordisk Chevrolet SS, qualified 13th; Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS will start 14th; Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Pittsburgh Paints Chevrolet SS was 16th fastest; Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS, will start 17th; Regan Smith, No. 51 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet SS qualified 18th; and Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row/Serta Chevrolet SS will roll off 19th.
 
Marcos Ambrose (Ford) qualified second, Brian Vickers (Toyota) was third, and Joey Logano (Ford) was fourth to round out the top-five.   
 
Sunday’s STP Gas Booster 500 from Martinsville Speedway is on Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 1:00 PM EDT on FOX and Sirius XM Channel 90.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
 
YOU POSTED A NEW TRACK RECORD. TALK ABOUT YOUR LAP:
“I just heard that. That’s the icing on the cake. That makes the day even better yet. Track records are hard to come by, so I’m very proud of that and happy to have that. My first run out, we were in q-trim and we made two or three laps and we just knew right away that we would have a great shot at it today. At that point, I just needed to do my job and not mess up. So I’m very proud of that. It’s very easy to do at this race track, especially once practice ends. You’ll sit and have lunch and relax for a couple of hours and then have to do it all over again. It was a great day across the board for the team, driver, the engine, the car, and everything. We got the car dialed-in.”
 
HOW DID YOU FEEL DRIVING IN THE CAR TODAY WITH SETTING THE RECORD? DID YOU HAVE THAT IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND WHILE MAKING YOUR LAP?
“I didn’t know what the record was and honestly didn’t know that we were below it in practice either. We ran a .21 in practice so I was unaware of that altogether. I just heard about it as we were taking photos with the Coors Light backdrop and everything. Great news. It was something again, I didn’t know about but am very happy to have.”
 
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE TO BEING ON THE POLE HERE IN MARTINSVILLE?
“That pit stall. If you get behind or if you’re off-strategy or if you have any reason that leads you to lose track position, that pit stall is worth three to five positions on the race track. It’s a big, big advantage from that perspective.”
 
DURING PRACTICE, DID YOU DO ANY LONG RUNS? DID YOU GET ANY SENSE OF TIRE HEAT AND BEAD HEAT AND DO YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WHERE YOU ARE CONSIDERING THE PROBLEMS YOU’VE HAD EARLIER THIS YEAR?
“I didn’t do any race runs at all. And I know the No. 88 (Earnhardt Jr.) did. I think our teammates all started in race trim but we were just strictly in qualifying trim. I know that they saw some high wear, which is very common to have here. Until we get into the Cup practice tomorrow, the track just doesn’t take rubber for some reason. It usually stays pretty green an abrasive.
 
“But I don’t feel like we’ll have a lot of beading issues here based on conversations I’ve had with the team and understanding the Bristol tire and what tire they bring here. You can eventually get them too hot and have it be a problem, but the problem I had at Bristol was not a bead problem. The bead might have blown out, but it wasn’t from heat around where the tire and bead meet. If you have a good-driving race car, I don’t think you’ll see any melted beads from brake temps.”
 
DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR SEVEN GRANDFATHER TROPHIES ARE?
“Yeah. Six are at my man cave, my warehouse, and then one is in my office.”
 
DO YOU HAVE A PLACE FOR NUMBER 8 IF YOU WIN IT?
“Oh, I’ve got a big warehouse. I’ve got a lot of room. I call it the warehouse, but it’s really my man cave. I’ve got everything from when I was a kid on dirt bikes that I’ve saved, that my mom has saved, all the way to stuff now. So, I have a pretty good collection.”
 
DO YOU KNOW WHAT OTHER TRACK RECORDS YOU HOLD?
“I think I have one in California? No? Okay. Um, this could be a fun game (laughter). Kansas? No. I’m terrible with stats. There are a lot of stats given to me whenever I’m in here (Media Center). I’m always playing dumb. I’m not really playing dumb, I’m just dumb. I just don’t know. Kentucky? I was on the pole in Kentucky? Awesome. Heck, that was recent, too, and I don’t even remember that (laughs). Those were the only two? Now I know the stat.”
 
INAUDIBLE
“Yeah, I feel like when the track is resurfaced, that brings in an opportunity. I feel like this car will give us a better chance at a lot of tracks that might have an older surface on it, because of all the extra downforce we have with it. Again, I think it’s a moving target because of the age of the surface on every track.”
 
ON SETTING A NEW QUALIFYING RECORD:
“I didn’t know I was on a new tire until after practice. My car felt awesome. Since we unloaded, I knew I was going fast. I’m just trying to understand. We have a little bit lighter car here. The weight is in different position, basically. I knew my stuff was fast. I didn’t know where the mark was. I’m surprised with it being this sunny. I remember when Ryan (Newman) set the pole, it was a very cool day with a lot of fast times and he blasted off a quick one. So, the track record today was not in my mindset at all. I just didn’t think it was there. But I knew I had a great driving car.
 
YESTERDAY, WE HAD EVERYTHING FROM RAIN AND SLEET AND SNOW. TODAY WE HAVE SUNSHINE AND A SOMEWHAT GREEN TRACK. IS THERE A POINT DURING THE RACE WEEKEND WHEN A GREEN TRACK CAN BE A DISADVANTAGE? IS THERE A PARTICULAR TRACK WHERE IT CAN BE MORE OF A DISADVANTAGE?
“Yeah, green tracks are tough to manage. I’d say concrete tracks, in my opinion, are more difficult ones to sort out. The tire wear is really high on green tracks. For here, in the Cup race, a third of the way or the halfway point, the track changes and you’ll see where we lay down right-side rubber. In the set-up you worked on Friday and Saturday is now kind of out the window and the car drives totally different because of the right-side rubber laying down. That’s the biggest challenge here that we fight. In my opinion you have a green race track until the race starts, so you’re guessing what the balance needs to be in the car and you’re hoping that the rear tire wear you see is because of the green track. Experience does help teams here to realize that hey, the track is just not there yet. Let’s stay the course. We had a successful race with whatever set-up, and fall back on your experience because a green track here, and even Dover and Bristol, can play some games with you because the balance changes pretty dramatically.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP GAS BOOSTER 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 5, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
YOU WERE FASTEST IN PRACTICE AND NOW FASTEST IN QUALIFYING.  WHEN YOU ARRIVED HERE THIS MORNING, WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD SUCH A GOOD RACE CAR?
“Probably my second or third lap on the race track.   We always go to the race track hoping we will have speed and be the guy to beat, but you just don’t know until you get out there and do it.  I think Phoenix proves that, because it was one of our better race tracks and we just didn’t have what we needed to there.  That hasn’t been the case here this weekend.   The car has been very fast and I am happy to back it up and I wish I would have made it on the second lap because I feel a car that can go two laps will be faster in the second lap.   Our car was a little too loose and I got all I could on the first lap and tried for a little more on the second and it didn’t happen.”
 
SO A HANDFUL ON THAT SECOND LAP? WHAT WAS IT LIKE OUT THERE?
“In order to be fast here, you have to be uncomfortable.  It sounds odd at such a small race track but it’s true and I had plenty of uncomfortable on that lap.  (laughs).”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FIFTH
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“It felt really good.  I was a little bit loose off the corner so I didn’t get back to the throttle near as hard as I wanted to.  I just had to kind of ease the throttle down and that was where we gave it up.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10th
DO YOU THINK HAVING AN EARLY DRAW IN QUALIFYING MAKES A DIFFERENCE HERE AT MARTINSVILLE?
“I think it doesn’t matter a whole lot here.  The only thing you are really going to have is the first couple of cars got a little dust on the race track.  I think you get brake dust and everything else from the next cars on.  I think it’s pretty fair no matter where you draw here for qualifying.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 14th
YOU WERE TALKING TO YOUR TEAM WHAT DID THE CAR DO ON YOUR LAP?
“It just stepped out in turn four.  I think our Target Chevy is pretty good.  We are supporting Racing with Insulin this weekend.  It’s a pretty good cause.  I don’t know it’s a bit of frustration, but we got great speed this week again.  Just have to get a good finish.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 RUSH TRUCK CENTERS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 26th
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“It wasn’t very good.  It’s not advantageous at most places to be the first guy out, but we will take what it gives us here and we will work hard to see if we can get this car better for Sunday.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 32nd
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING RUN?
“We were very much just like everybody else.  It was pretty much backing up the time from practice.  Some people went a little bit quicker and some people went just a little bit slower.  We were kind of right in the middle of that.  It wasn’t anything terrible, we are in a position where we need to keep picking up.  I think we were looking good getting into (turn) three but got loose on the brakes and lost all of our time there.  Other than that the rest of the track was fine.  If we can get the rear more comfortable on entry I think we will be pretty good.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP GAS BOOSTER 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 5, 2013
 
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CHILDRESS INSTITUTE FOR PEDIATRIC TRAUMA CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Martinsville Speedway and discussed racing at Martinsville, blocking and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO COME BACK TO RACE AT A PLACE LIKE MARTINSVILLE?  I’M SURE IT HAS SOME FOND MEMORIES FOR YOU:
“I think this is one of the hardest race tracks we go to all year long.  It’s a place that a lot of drivers hate.  It’s a place a lot of drivers really like.  You have to embrace it for what it is, for how hard it is.  For me coming back here I remember when they made the announcement that they were going to run a late model stock car race here.  I couldn’t believe that I would have a chance to race at this race track.  To go from running late models here to winning my first Nationwide race here and winning a Cup race here this is certainly for me a pretty special place.  It’s a difficult place too.  I’ve had a lot of heartaches here too there are races that I look back on and really feel like we had a chance to win and stuff would happen.  I think we need more short tracks on the circuit.  I think coming here twice a year is good for our series because it is good racing, it’s competitive racing, it’s action and I think that is what our sport is all about.  Coming to a short track to me this time of year is a really good thing for us to be doing.”
 
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO RUN A FAST QUALIFYING LAP AT CHARLOTTE?  IN THE RACE WHAT CAN YOU DO FROM INSIDE THE RACE CAR IF ANYTHING TO ADJUST TO THE CHANGING TRACK CONDITIONS?
“Well, as far as qualifying at Charlotte it’s just aggression.  You just have to be real aggressive.  You’ve got to have a car that you can lean on and know that you just have to trust it.  You’ve got to be in the gas a lot.  It’s one of those laps you just kind of hold your breath and just get it around the race track.  As far as making adjustments I’ve won the (Coca-Cola) 600 a couple of times and I will tell you that I feel like you’ve got to have a good car period.  We have won that thing by running well in the day and running well at night.  We won it once when our car wasn’t very good during the day as it cooled down we got better and better.  It wasn’t so much that we got better, but other people got worse. You’ve got to go into the race understanding there is a grip level change coming, the pace is going to pick up. When the pace picks up now the car travels more. A lot of things happen and you need to understand that. But, as competitive as it is today, I don’t think you can give up a whole lot at the start of the race. You still have to be able to go. From a driver’s standpoint it’s more about what you do in practice. Understanding how the track is going to change. Once the race starts, honestly there is a lot a driver can do, but there’s only so much he can do at the same time. You can’t find your way around three tenths. You’ve got to be close anyway, and then from there the driver can make adjustments.”
 
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WATCH JEB (BURTON) RACE HERE?
“It’s fun. I haven’t seen Jeb race a lot because obviously I race almost every weekend. So, I never really got a chance to watch Jeb race until last year. Honestly, sitting here in the grandstands off turn four was the first race I ever saw Jeb run from start to finish. It’s fun to see him race. He really wants it.  He’s very committed to it and wants to find a way to make a living doing it. I think he’s talented and gifted too. It’s going to be neat to watch him this year. He’s got a good team to work with. It’s a big step for him to go from what he was doing to what he’s doing now. It’s fun to watch. It’s cool to see that enthusiasm. From a guy that’s been doing a touring series for probably 25 years, to see a guy doing it his first year, to see that enthusiasm and excitement, it’s pretty cool.”
 
AS ONE OF THE VETERAN SPOKESPERSONS OF THIS SPORT, WHY DO YOU THINK OTHER VETERAN DRIVERS SEEM TO HAVE AN ISSUE DRIVING WITH AND AGAINST JOEY LOGANO? “Well, that’s an easy question. I don’t that there is a lot of drivers that have issues racing with Joey Logano, there are a few. I think it would be an over characterization saying that a lot of the older drivers have issues with Joey, because I don’t think that is fair to Joey. I do think that Joey has been in a position where people have been pushing him, have their foot on his back pushing him into being a tough guy. Stand up for yourself. They even say it on T.V.; he needs to stand up for himself. I think that has put Joey in an uncomfortable position for him. I think he just needs to not worry about all that and just race and be himself. Then when a couple of issues happen, it’s easy to say he did this so that’s how he is going to be. But, some of it is piling on in my opinion. At the same time, when he does get confronted with issues I don’t think he handles it very well. He doesn’t just step back and say you know what, okay let me listen to what you’re saying. I may disagree with you but let me listen. He tends to resist, as if I’m right, I’m right, I’m right. I know I had an issue with him a few years ago and I encouraged him to go look at the tape. I had already looked at it so I knew what it showed. I didn’t tell him that. The next week I asked him if he had looked at it and he said no, I don’t need to. That kind of attitude is not welcomed. At the same time, I think Joey is a good person. I think he is a good race car driver. I think he is a young person that is growing up in front of everybody. He’s had a lot of pressure put on him. He’s gone to a team where they didn’t have as much success as his teammates did at Gibbs. That puts a lot of pressure on you. Trust me, I know that. He’s growing up in front of all of us. Like I’ve said many times, I think the way I came up was easier because I was running for teams that weren’t supposed to win. I was told finish 20th and try to win rookie of the year award and we’re all good. That’s a lot easier than this is a really good team with a championship crew chief and lets go win this race. That’s a different deal. So, I think a lot of it is he’s grown up in front of us. We all make mistakes as we grow up. All in all, Joey is not a bad guy. He can be a little more receptive to listening rather than arguing. Joey is not a dirty driver. He’s not. Some of it is piling on and some of it he brings on himself. By any means, I have no problem driving into turn three at Daytona side by side, or turn two with him here. I’d race with him anywhere, any time. I’m not uncomfortable racing with him at all.”
 
CAN YOU GIVE US YOUR VIEWS ON BLOCKING AND WHETHER YOU FEEL IT’S ACCEPTABLE? ALSO, DO THINGS CHANGE FOR A DRIVER WHEN THEY FIND THEMSELVES RUNNING UP FRONT MORE OFTEN THAN THEY HAD BEEN IN THE PAST?
“Listen, I think that is a valid point. I remember Rusty Wallace in Michigan in practice was madder than hell at me because I had passed him and he didn’t think I had given him enough room. I think really it was because it was the first time he had seen me. I mean, he was used to me not running and now here I passed him. I think there is some of that. When you race a guy and he’s been kind of easy to beat and now he’s not, you expect to be able to beat him. There’s a transition. I think that’s a valid point.
 
“We don’t have a rule against blocking. Drivers have the right to make their own rules. Every driver feels differently about blocking. Obviously Tony (Stewart) has been very clear about his opinion on blocking. As crystal clear as anyone can be. There comes a time and a place on some of these restarts at some of these places where sometimes you don’t
have a choice. If you just say okay I’m just going to hold my line, you are going to get passed like at Daytona and Talladega. There are times in a race where if you don’t you will get yourself in trouble. Some drivers have more tolerance for it than others. So, it’s hard to say what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s really hard to say. I got blocked late in the race last week and literally I was on the apron on the back straightaway. I was pissed because it’s okay to try to slow you down, but to block that far I thought that was excessive. On the other hand, had I been him I might not have thought it was excessive. You’ve got to do what you think is best. I think at the end of the day you have to remember what you do to somebody, you have to expect it’s going to be done back to you. If you feel like what you are doing is okay and it would be okay if it was being done to you then you do it. But, don’t complain when it happens the other way. So really, there are no rules so it’s up to the drivers to police it. It just boils down to what your values are and what you feel is right. The problem we have in our sport is we have a lot of drivers that will complain when it happens to them, but when they do it to you they look at you like what’s wrong. Because this is a self-serving sport and we tend to become selfish people in these race cars. You’ve got to be open-minded and understand what’s good for you has to be good for the next guy.”
 
YOUR FIRST NATIONWIDE RACE HERE IN THE LATE 80’S, DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD STILL BE RACING HERE IN 2013 AND HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED OVER THOSE YEARS?
“My goal was to become a Nationwide driver. I know people don’t believe this, but even when I started Cup racing, the only reason I started Cup racing was because that was my opportunity. I wanted to be Jack Ingram. I wanted to be Sonny Hutchens. That’s the people I wanted to be. I watched Cale Yarborough and he was the guy I pulled for, but I wanted to be a Nationwide driver. So, when I got a chance to run Nationwide I was the man. So, I never thought about being here for this long. Never thought about it. That first race here was something I will never forget. We qualified really well. We blew an engine in practice. We did not have a spare engine and we were in trouble. We got bailed out after people lent us an engine. We were able to run and then we blew that one up in the race. I remember it very well. It was Jeff Hensley and his dad. His dad took us over to his shop. We had to change motor mounts in the car and had to change everything. They lent us an engine and didn’t even know us. I’ll never forget that.”
 
TALK ABOUT THE IMPROVEMENT YOU’VE SEEN AT RCR (RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING) WITH YOUR TEAM AND THE ORGANIZATION AS A WHOLE AS YOU’VE TRANSFERRED TO THE NEW CAR. “It hasn’t shown up on paper yet. It hasn’t shown up in results but I feel strongly that we’ve made steps in the right direction. I feel strongly that we are doing the things we need to do to get back where we need to be. We had a really good car at Phoenix and didn’t get as good as a run as we deserved. We had a really, really good car at Bristol and didn’t get what we deserved. We had a good car at Daytona and didn’t get what we deserved. So those three races were our best races and we didn’t get what we deserved and we’re 24th in points. Last week we had times in the race where we were good. We drove up to right at the top 10 and then we had times in the race we weren’t. We are making strides on it. We’re not where we need to be but we are definitely headed in the right direction.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON WAS IN HERE EARLIER AND HE SAID THE EASIEST WAY TO SOLVE CONTROVERSY OR RIVALRY IS TO JUST GO FIND THE GUY AND DEAL WITH IT. HE SAID HE LEARNED THAT FROM YOU HERE. DO YOU SHARE THAT VIEW THAT WHEN YOU HAVE A DIFFERENCE YOU SHOULD JUST GO FIX IT IMMEDIATELY? “I hope I don’t do it a lot because I wrecked him and had to go apologize. He’s right. I did walk through his team and I was walking in there I was like I’m too small for this. At the end of the day, when you screw up, if you’re not going to man up and admit I screwed up then you’re never going to improve as a person, a race car driver, as anything you do. We learn by messing up. People that are hard headed and the people that are difficult to deal with are the people that won’t look in the mirror and say I messed up, because they never do anything wrong. You can’t talk to somebody like that. There are times when relationships become so strained that you can’t have a logical conversation. At that point, it may be best not to have the conversation. What I said about Joey a little while ago, I feel like somebody has their foot in his back pushing him to be a tough guy, I think that showed up at the end of the race when he made the comment that he made. I think that spurred a lot of this on. You can’t blame Denny from being upset. I’ve crushed my vertebrae years ago and it hurts. He’s not here. He’s not able to race. There’s some strained relationships there without a doubt. You need to reach out and try to make it happen. If you can’t have a logical conversation, then its best to pull back. We live together. We’ve got to race together. We’ve got to somewhat get along. Even if you don’t like the guy you still have to have some sort of professional respect for the guy. They’ll find a way through it but it’s probably going to take a little time. I’m sure Denny, in the position he’s in, is bitter about it. I think Joey has his feet dug in the sand too. I do think over time it will get better. But when you screw up, you’ve just got to address it. You just do.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP GAS BOOSTER 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 5, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with media and discussed racing at Martinsville, aggressive driving, Grandfather clock trophies, driver feuds, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT RACING AT MARTINSVILLE THIS WEEKEND:
“It’s all about the clock this weekend. I feel like we have a really good car to be able to learn the different nuisances with this car. Goodyear brought a little bit different tire, so we’re going to work through all that in practice. We did today and will tomorrow. But I feel good about it. You know, thus is just one of those tracks, and I know I’ve said it over and over again in here (media center) that things have just changed the least and the way you drive the track, even though the cars have gotten faster, it’s just the way you drive the track and how you use the brakes and how you roll through the center and how you apply the throttle, have just not changed tremendously here, versus what we’ve gone through at other tracks, aerodynamically and (with) mechanical grip and some of the faster tracks. It’s always a track I come to looking forward to, and I hope the same with this car. And so today, things went pretty well; so I’m pleased and excited about the weekend.”
 
YOU HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS EARLY IN YOUR CAREER AS A YOUNG DRIVER. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? DO YOU THINK THIS IS A YOUNG MAN’S SPORT, AN OLD MAN’S SPORT, OR THAT ANYBODY CAN DO IT?
“Talented race car drivers, when they get with the right team, are going to have success. And I think even young, well it depends on what kind of young personality they have. If they are super aggressive, there are a lot of times where if you don’t manage the patience along with that, then you are going to find yourself going really fast, but hitting a lot of things and tearing-up equipment and taking some time to learn what it’s like to run a 500-lap or 500-mile race. But I’ve always said you’re better off having someone you’ve got to pull the reins than you are cracking the whip.
 
“And so, when you see a guy that has speed and talent and pushes, you hope that over time that patience and using their head in situations can come along with it. So, I feel like I was pretty aggressive when I first came into the sport and made a lot of mistakes, but was able to take that and progress with it and gain experience and patience to be more consistent and to make a championship contender.”
 
YOU DROVE IN A TIME BEFORE THE COT AND SOFT WALLS AND THE HANS DEVICE. WERE DRIVERS MORE COGNOSCENTE OF THE DANGERS THEN WHEN YOU WEREN’T AS PROTECTED? HAS IT CHANGED NOW WHERE DRIVERS FEEL A BIT OF INVULNERABILITY AND ARE MAYBE MORE AGGRESSIVE?
“No, I don’t notice anything different. The way you drive and the aggressiveness that you have has always been there. I feel like the emotions have always been there. When somebody gets you upset and your emotions get the best of you, you make decisions.
 
“Those things happen today no differently than they did when I first got in the sport. We’re running more 1.5-mile tracks and bigger tracks now than we did when I first got in the sport. And the cars are more equal now than they used to be. So, I personally just think you’re seeing a lot tighter racing in the closing laps when there’s a caution and people are aggressive and people are going for it. I think it’s what makes those moments exciting, but I think it also is what makes for some of those instances to happen. Bristol, gosh; people have been getting spun-out at Bristol forever. That certainly hasn’t changed. The bigger tracks, I don’t think any of us are sitting there making a decision based on whether this is going to hurt or injure me or the other guy. You’re making decisions based on trying to win the race. And then you’re also making decisions based on the heat of the moment if something really gets a hold of you and puts you in that position to make an irrational bad decision. But those are the things that are going through your mind, not the dangers. We all get complacent on how fast we’re going and how tight we’re racing until those moments injure somebody.”
 
THE MEDIA HAS BEEN TALKING A LOT ABOUT JOEY LOGANO TODAY. THAT’S A GUY WHO CAME INTO THE SPORT WITH A LOT OF HYPE, EVEN BEFORE HE GOT TO THE CUP SERIES. YOU HAD A LOT OF THE SPOTLIGHT THROWN ON YOU VERY EARLY IN YOUR CAREER. HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT OR EASY IS IT TO HAVE NOT JUST THE PRESSURE TO PERFORM, BUT ALSO THAT ADDITIONAL SPOTLIGHT ON EVERYTHING YOU DO?
“I feel like my rookie year was the toughest just because there was hype on all the rookies that year (like) Bobby Labonte, Kenny Wallace, and myself coming from the Nationwide Series. And I think that there were a lot of people looking for those younger guys coming up to make a dent in the sport. I was fortunate that (by) my third year in the sport, we were battling for a championship. So, when you go to that, the pressure changes from whether you’ve got what it takes or whether you belong there or working on job security to the pressure of winning every race you go to and trying to win the championship.
 
“I think in Joey’s case, he has had a lot of hype and he’s had a lot of success. But in the Cup Series, he has struggled. And I think there is a lot of question behind that and I think it’s been pretty tough on him to have all that success and hype along the way, and come into the Cup Series and not be able to live up to it; whether it’s the team or him or whatever it is. Just the combination hasn’t been there. I think that now with this move to Penske, that there’s certainly a lot of pressure on him to live up to those expectations.”
 
WITH ALL THESE FEUDS GOING ON, ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT GETTING ON THE TRACK THIS WEEKEND AND GETTING IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THAT?
“All those feuds have now taken it all off of me. So that’s a good thing. No, it’s going to be business as usual this weekend. I always evaluate every situation as it comes. So, you’re out there in the race, and two guys are racing hard. If they have history and start rubbing up on one another, then yeah, you’re going to be cautious of it and probably give them a little extra room. If you’re racing along and two guys are just racing hard, and they get into one another, then you’re going to react similarly or at least pay attention to is. And those are just normal things you go through most weekends, but especially here at Martinsville.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR SPONSOR FOR SUNDAY’S RACE?
“Yeah.  AARP Drive to End Hunger has been a tremendous sponsor for us. We have a lot of fun getting a chance to interact with the fans and the people that want to volunteer to be a part of helping the more than nine million older Americans that are dealing with hunger issues. So, to know that you’re supporting a great cause and making a difference in people’s lives is very exciting for me to represent that on Sunday’s.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, LIKE YOU, IS A SEVEN-TIME MARTINSVILLE WINNER. HE SAYS ALL OF HIS GRANDFATHER CLOCKS (TROPHIES) ARE ACCOUNTED FOR AND HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE THEY ALL ARE. CAN YOU SAY THE SAME ABOUT YOURS?
“I couldn’t go through and tell you which rooms they’re in. I know that they’re accounted for, but I have a pretty bad memory. I think there’s one still in a box. And I think that there are several spread out between Rick Hendrick and Ray Evernham and maybe even Brian Whitesell and myself. But they’re out there. Our decorating at home doesn’t really lend itself to Grandfather clocks (laughter), so it’s just not one of those trophies you’d typically display at home, but usually at the race shop or waiting for that place to put it one day. If you have all of them lined-up, that’s pretty cool also. I don’t have as big a house as he has.”
 
BUT HE
KNOWS WHAT TIME IT IS, RIGHT?
“The thing is, I tried that! I put it up there and I found out I had to wind that thing like once a week. That’s a lot of maintenance!”
 
DID WHAT HAPPENED HERE LAST YEAR WITH CLINT BOWYER SET THE STAGE FOR YOU GUYS THE REST OF THE YEAR AND THE LITTLE FEUD YOU HAD GOING ON?
“Well, yeah you know, he wrecked us. So, whether it was intentional or not, it’s still something that was in the back of my mind. You could say it set the stage. But for me, it’s an accumulation of things; sort of like a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ deal. And we just made contact too many times last year. But listen, he was racing hard. The thing that bothered me so much about it last year is that I really don’t know if we were going to win that race because we were sitting ducks on old tires. He had it won, really, I think, pretty easily. But to try and make that move going into Turn 1 was very impatient and it really cost him as much as it cost me.
All he had to do was wait until we got off of Turn 2 and he probably would have driven by all of us down the back straightaway. So, certainly that’s not forgotten. But it’s nice to know that some of that attention is off of us. We’ll just go race hard like we have every other weekend.”
 
HAVE YOU LOOKED BACK AT WHAT HAPPENED AT CALIFORNIA AT THE BLOCK THAT JOEY LOGANO PUT ON TONY STEWART AND THEN THE RACE BETWEEN DENNY HAMLIN AND LOGANO? WHAT IS YOUR OPINION? WAS IT ACCEPTABLE OR NOT ACCEPTABLE; HARD OR NOT TOO HARD?
“There’s a mirror and a spotter in these cars for a reason. To me, blocking has always been sort of wide-open and accepted. But you’ve got to make the block soon enough. If the guy is there and you start turning down on him, you’re basically giving the guy behind you an excuse to turn you. We see it a lot more at Daytona and Talladega.
 
“To me, that was two guys racing hard; and I can understand why Tony was mad because he had I guess a hole in front and faded. Had he gone down in Turn 1 and raced side-by-side with him and finished in the top five, he probably would have shaken it off as ‘I wasn’t happy about it, but we’ll deal with that later’; and not reacted quite as aggressively as he did. But to me, everywhere we go, you’ve got to use that mirror and you’ve got to figure out, especially in a green-white-checkered situation, you’ve got to go for it and you’ve got to do everything you can to win on both sides.”
 
WHAT IS THE KEY TO THE PERFECT QUALIFYING LAP AT CHARLOTTE? IN THE 600, WHAT CAN YOU DO INSIDE THE CAR TO ADJUST TO THE CHANGING TRACK CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE RACE?
“Well, qualifying there is so fast (with) so much grip and it’s at night and the track just picks up so much speed that you’re just super aggressive; I mean it’s just basically hold your breath and drive-in as deep as you can and get back on the gas hard and as quickly as you can and hope it sticks. (You) hope it turns and hope the back sticks. It’s a pretty white-knuckling experience because it (the track) just picks-up so much from practice. I couldn’t tell you what the key is to having a perfect lap there because I haven’t had one recently. I love qualifying there but we just haven’t had all the things go right for us.
 
“In the race, there’s not many tools other than just moving your line around at that race track. You can make a wider arc into the corner, turn in later, try to get down to the white line to get the car turning if you’re tight, and drive up to the top if you’re freer and that usually tightens the car up. That’s about all you can do inside the car.”
 
AT LAS VEGAS YOU STRUGGLED A LOT. AT FONTANA, IT LOOKED LIKE JIMMIE JOHNSON WAS STRUGGLING A LOT. KNOWING THIS IS A TRACK WHERE YOU GUYS DO SO WELL, WHY DOES IT SEEM THAT YOU ARE STILL GETTING THINGS FIGURED OUT AT THE BIGGER SPEEDWAYS? IS IT IMPORTANT THAT YOU GUYS DO WELL HERE BECAUSE THIS IS MAYBE MORE A CONSTANT THAN THE INTERMEDIATES AND 2-MILE OVALS? DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS AS TO WHY YOU AND JIMMIE ARE STRUGGLING?
“It’s hard to say. Those guys are all good at Vegas and we struggled. We went into California with some concerns. I felt like we actually ran better at California than we did at Vegas, but we still have some things that we’re working on for Texas to make improvements. You’re always learning from your experiences as well as from your competitor’s. I think there are some things that we learned in California that will make us better. I can’t tell you why Jimmie struggled at California. That’s not a track where he typically struggles. I think when you take the rear bar away from us, and the bushing, some teams are going to figure that out sooner, and the big spoiler and downforce this car has, than others. And speaking for the No. 24 team, we have not figured it out yet, but I’m very confident that we will catch-up.
 
“Coming here, we don’t have to think about those things. I feel confident this weekend, being on a short track and being Martinsville, that we’ll be competitive. Urgency? Yeah, we want to win. We want to move up in the points. We did not anticipate being this far behind again at this point of the year like we were last year. Urgency never does you any favors. So I think it’s really more of just staying focused on each race and working on our intermediate program.”
 
IN REFERENCE TO DENNY HAMLIN, WHAT IS IT LIKE TO NOT HAVE ONE OF THE TOP COMPETITORS AT THIS TRACK NOT RACING THIS WEEKEND? DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR MINDSET OR DOES THAT GIVE YOU AN OPPORTUNITY WITH ONE LESS GUY TO CONTEND FOR THE WIN WHO HAS HISTORICALLY DONE WELL HERE?
“I don’t think there’s one less guy when you put Mark Martin behind the wheel of that car. I mean I think it’s a strong team and a strong car. The key is going to be adapting to his (Hamlin’s) set-up because he likes his car to have a certain balance that’s worked very well for his driving style and this track. Is that going to suit Mark Martin’s driving style? How long does it take them to get it figured out? But I think Mark Martin is equally as competitive as Denny when you put him in quality equipment. So, I don’t think we’ve taken one out of the mix. But, Denny is certainly always a guy that you focus on here, as being one of the guys you have to beat. We’ll see what happens on Sunday with the No. 11 team.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP GAS BOOSTER 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 5, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with media and discussed racing at Martinsville, aggressive driving, Grandfather clock trophies, driver feuds, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT RACING AT MARTINSVILLE THIS WEEKEND:
“It’s all about the clock this weekend. I feel like we have a really good car to be able to learn the different nuisances with this car. Goodyear brought a little bit different tire, so we’re going to work through all that in practice. We did today and will tomorrow. But I feel good about it. You know, thus is just one of those tracks, and I know I’ve said it over and over again in here (media center) that things have just changed the least and the way you drive the track, even though the cars have gotten faster, it’s just the way you drive the track and how you use the brakes and how you roll through the center and how you apply the throttle, have just not changed tremendously here, versus what we’ve gone through at other tracks, aerodynamically and (with) mechanical grip and some of the faster tracks. It’s always a track I come to looking forward to, and I hope the same with this car. And so today, things went pretty well; so I’m pleased and excited about the weekend.”
 
YOU HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS EARLY IN YOUR CAREER AS A YOUNG DRIVER. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? DO YOU THINK THIS IS A YOUNG MAN’S SPORT, AN OLD MAN’S SPORT, OR THAT ANYBODY CAN DO IT?
“Talented race car drivers, when they get with the right team, are going to have success. And I think even young, well it depends on what kind of young personality they have. If they are super aggressive, there are a lot of times where if you don’t manage the patience along with that, then you are going to find yourself going really fast, but hitting a lot of things and tearing-up equipment and taking some time to learn what it’s like to run a 500-lap or 500-mile race. But I’ve always said you’re better off having someone you’ve got to pull the reins than you are cracking the whip.
 
“And so, when you see a guy that has speed and talent and pushes, you hope that over time that patience and using their head in situations can come along with it. So, I feel like I was pretty aggressive when I first came into the sport and made a lot of mistakes, but was able to take that and progress with it and gain experience and patience to be more consistent and to make a championship contender.”
 
YOU DROVE IN A TIME BEFORE THE COT AND SOFT WALLS AND THE HANS DEVICE. WERE DRIVERS MORE COGNOSCENTE OF THE DANGERS THEN WHEN YOU WEREN’T AS PROTECTED? HAS IT CHANGED NOW WHERE DRIVERS FEEL A BIT OF INVULNERABILITY AND ARE MAYBE MORE AGGRESSIVE?
“No, I don’t notice anything different. The way you drive and the aggressiveness that you have has always been there. I feel like the emotions have always been there. When somebody gets you upset and your emotions get the best of you, you make decisions.
 
“Those things happen today no differently than they did when I first got in the sport. We’re running more 1.5-mile tracks and bigger tracks now than we did when I first got in the sport. And the cars are more equal now than they used to be. So, I personally just think you’re seeing a lot tighter racing in the closing laps when there’s a caution and people are aggressive and people are going for it. I think it’s what makes those moments exciting, but I think it also is what makes for some of those instances to happen. Bristol, gosh; people have been getting spun-out at Bristol forever. That certainly hasn’t changed. The bigger tracks, I don’t think any of us are sitting there making a decision based on whether this is going to hurt or injure me or the other guy. You’re making decisions based on trying to win the race. And then you’re also making decisions based on the heat of the moment if something really gets a hold of you and puts you in that position to make an irrational bad decision. But those are the things that are going through your mind, not the dangers. We all get complacent on how fast we’re going and how tight we’re racing until those moments injure somebody.”
 
THE MEDIA HAS BEEN TALKING A LOT ABOUT JOEY LOGANO TODAY. THAT’S A GUY WHO CAME INTO THE SPORT WITH A LOT OF HYPE, EVEN BEFORE HE GOT TO THE CUP SERIES. YOU HAD A LOT OF THE SPOTLIGHT THROWN ON YOU VERY EARLY IN YOUR CAREER. HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT OR EASY IS IT TO HAVE NOT JUST THE PRESSURE TO PERFORM, BUT ALSO THAT ADDITIONAL SPOTLIGHT ON EVERYTHING YOU DO?
“I feel like my rookie year was the toughest just because there was hype on all the rookies that year (like) Bobby Labonte, Kenny Wallace, and myself coming from the Nationwide Series. And I think that there were a lot of people looking for those younger guys coming up to make a dent in the sport. I was fortunate that (by) my third year in the sport, we were battling for a championship. So, when you go to that, the pressure changes from whether you’ve got what it takes or whether you belong there or working on job security to the pressure of winning every race you go to and trying to win the championship.
 
“I think in Joey’s case, he has had a lot of hype and he’s had a lot of success. But in the Cup Series, he has struggled. And I think there is a lot of question behind that and I think it’s been pretty tough on him to have all that success and hype along the way, and come into the Cup Series and not be able to live up to it; whether it’s the team or him or whatever it is. Just the combination hasn’t been there. I think that now with this move to Penske, that there’s certainly a lot of pressure on him to live up to those expectations.”
 
WITH ALL THESE FEUDS GOING ON, ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT GETTING ON THE TRACK THIS WEEKEND AND GETTING IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THAT?
“All those feuds have now taken it all off of me. So that’s a good thing. No, it’s going to be business as usual this weekend. I always evaluate every situation as it comes. So, you’re out there in the race, and two guys are racing hard. If they have history and start rubbing up on one another, then yeah, you’re going to be cautious of it and probably give them a little extra room. If you’re racing along and two guys are just racing hard, and they get into one another, then you’re going to react similarly or at least pay attention to is. And those are just normal things you go through most weekends, but especially here at Martinsville.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR SPONSOR FOR SUNDAY’S RACE?
“Yeah.  AARP Drive to End Hunger has been a tremendous sponsor for us. We have a lot of fun getting a chance to interact with the fans and the people that want to volunteer to be a part of helping the more than nine million older Americans that are dealing with hunger issues. So, to know that you’re supporting a great cause and making a difference in people’s lives is very exciting for me to represent that on Sunday’s.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, LIKE YOU, IS A SEVEN-TIME MARTINSVILLE WINNER. HE SAYS ALL OF HIS GRANDFATHER CLOCKS (TROPHIES) ARE ACCOUNTED FOR AND HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE THEY ALL ARE. CAN YOU SAY THE SAME ABOUT YOURS?
“I couldn’t go through and tell you which rooms they’re in. I know that they’re accounted for, but I have a pretty bad memory. I think there’s one still in a box. And I think that there are several spread out between Rick Hendrick and Ray Evernham and maybe even Brian Whitesell and myself. But they’re out there. Our decorating at home doesn’t really lend itself to Grandfather clocks (laughter), so it’s just not one of those trophies you’d typically display at home, but usually at the race shop or waiting for that place to put it one day. If you have all of them lined-up, that’s pretty cool also. I don’t have as big a house as he has.”
 
BUT HE
KNOWS WHAT TIME IT IS, RIGHT?
“The thing is, I tried that! I put it up there and I found out I had to wind that thing like once a week. That’s a lot of maintenance!”
 
DID WHAT HAPPENED HERE LAST YEAR WITH CLINT BOWYER SET THE STAGE FOR YOU GUYS THE REST OF THE YEAR AND THE LITTLE FEUD YOU HAD GOING ON?
“Well, yeah you know, he wrecked us. So, whether it was intentional or not, it’s still something that was in the back of my mind. You could say it set the stage. But for me, it’s an accumulation of things; sort of like a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ deal. And we just made contact too many times last year. But listen, he was racing hard. The thing that bothered me so much about it last year is that I really don’t know if we were going to win that race because we were sitting ducks on old tires. He had it won, really, I think, pretty easily. But to try and make that move going into Turn 1 was very impatient and it really cost him as much as it cost me.
All he had to do was wait until we got off of Turn 2 and he probably would have driven by all of us down the back straightaway. So, certainly that’s not forgotten. But it’s nice to know that some of that attention is off of us. We’ll just go race hard like we have every other weekend.”
 
HAVE YOU LOOKED BACK AT WHAT HAPPENED AT CALIFORNIA AT THE BLOCK THAT JOEY LOGANO PUT ON TONY STEWART AND THEN THE RACE BETWEEN DENNY HAMLIN AND LOGANO? WHAT IS YOUR OPINION? WAS IT ACCEPTABLE OR NOT ACCEPTABLE; HARD OR NOT TOO HARD?
“There’s a mirror and a spotter in these cars for a reason. To me, blocking has always been sort of wide-open and accepted. But you’ve got to make the block soon enough. If the guy is there and you start turning down on him, you’re basically giving the guy behind you an excuse to turn you. We see it a lot more at Daytona and Talladega.
 
“To me, that was two guys racing hard; and I can understand why Tony was mad because he had I guess a hole in front and faded. Had he gone down in Turn 1 and raced side-by-side with him and finished in the top five, he probably would have shaken it off as ‘I wasn’t happy about it, but we’ll deal with that later’; and not reacted quite as aggressively as he did. But to me, everywhere we go, you’ve got to use that mirror and you’ve got to figure out, especially in a green-white-checkered situation, you’ve got to go for it and you’ve got to do everything you can to win on both sides.”
 
WHAT IS THE KEY TO THE PERFECT QUALIFYING LAP AT CHARLOTTE? IN THE 600, WHAT CAN YOU DO INSIDE THE CAR TO ADJUST TO THE CHANGING TRACK CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE RACE?
“Well, qualifying there is so fast (with) so much grip and it’s at night and the track just picks up so much speed that you’re just super aggressive; I mean it’s just basically hold your breath and drive-in as deep as you can and get back on the gas hard and as quickly as you can and hope it sticks. (You) hope it turns and hope the back sticks. It’s a pretty white-knuckling experience because it (the track) just picks-up so much from practice. I couldn’t tell you what the key is to having a perfect lap there because I haven’t had one recently. I love qualifying there but we just haven’t had all the things go right for us.
 
“In the race, there’s not many tools other than just moving your line around at that race track. You can make a wider arc into the corner, turn in later, try to get down to the white line to get the car turning if you’re tight, and drive up to the top if you’re freer and that usually tightens the car up. That’s about all you can do inside the car.”
 
AT LAS VEGAS YOU STRUGGLED A LOT. AT FONTANA, IT LOOKED LIKE JIMMIE JOHNSON WAS STRUGGLING A LOT. KNOWING THIS IS A TRACK WHERE YOU GUYS DO SO WELL, WHY DOES IT SEEM THAT YOU ARE STILL GETTING THINGS FIGURED OUT AT THE BIGGER SPEEDWAYS? IS IT IMPORTANT THAT YOU GUYS DO WELL HERE BECAUSE THIS IS MAYBE MORE A CONSTANT THAN THE INTERMEDIATES AND 2-MILE OVALS? DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS AS TO WHY YOU AND JIMMIE ARE STRUGGLING?
“It’s hard to say. Those guys are all good at Vegas and we struggled. We went into California with some concerns. I felt like we actually ran better at California than we did at Vegas, but we still have some things that we’re working on for Texas to make improvements. You’re always learning from your experiences as well as from your competitor’s. I think there are some things that we learned in California that will make us better. I can’t tell you why Jimmie struggled at California. That’s not a track where he typically struggles. I think when you take the rear bar away from us, and the bushing, some teams are going to figure that out sooner, and the big spoiler and downforce this car has, than others. And speaking for the No. 24 team, we have not figured it out yet, but I’m very confident that we will catch-up.
 
“Coming here, we don’t have to think about those things. I feel confident this weekend, being on a short track and being Martinsville, that we’ll be competitive. Urgency? Yeah, we want to win. We want to move up in the points. We did not anticipate being this far behind again at this point of the year like we were last year. Urgency never does you any favors. So I think it’s really more of just staying focused on each race and working on our intermediate program.”
 
IN REFERENCE TO DENNY HAMLIN, WHAT IS IT LIKE TO NOT HAVE ONE OF THE TOP COMPETITORS AT THIS TRACK NOT RACING THIS WEEKEND? DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR MINDSET OR DOES THAT GIVE YOU AN OPPORTUNITY WITH ONE LESS GUY TO CONTEND FOR THE WIN WHO HAS HISTORICALLY DONE WELL HERE?
“I don’t think there’s one less guy when you put Mark Martin behind the wheel of that car. I mean I think it’s a strong team and a strong car. The key is going to be adapting to his (Hamlin’s) set-up because he likes his car to have a certain balance that’s worked very well for his driving style and this track. Is that going to suit Mark Martin’s driving style? How long does it take them to get it figured out? But I think Mark Martin is equally as competitive as Denny when you put him in quality equipment. So, I don’t think we’ve taken one out of the mix. But, Denny is certainly always a guy that you focus on here, as being one of the guys you have to beat. We’ll see what happens on Sunday with the No. 11 team.”