Team Chevy Captures Two of the Top-Five Finishes at Phoenix
Jimmie Johnson Follows Daytona 500 Win with Runner Up Spot in Subway Fresh Fit 500
 
AVONDALE, Ariz. (March 3, 2013) – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, remained hot today as he vied for a second consecutive win in Round 2 of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at Phoenix International Raceway.   With the finish, Johnson extended his series lead to eight points ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS, who finished fifth.
 
Johnson’s hard-fought battle came up slightly short when the race was settled by a green/white/checkered finish. Although he couldn’t make the pass for the win, Johnson was able to hold off a challenge by Denny Hamlin (Toyota) who finished third.
 
Earnhardt led the 316-lap race for 47 circuits, but rallied late to score his second straight top-five finish. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, started sixth and finished eighth in a solid run after being involved in an early crash in the season-opener last week at Daytona.  After two events, Stewart sits 23rd in the point standings.  
 
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Pepsi MAX Chevrolet SS was ninth, and Richard Childress Racing driver Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet SS was 10th, giving Team Chevy five of the top 10 in the final order.
 
Three other Chevrolet drivers finished just outside the top-10.  AJ Allmendinger, No. 51 Guy Roofing Chevrolet SS was 11th, Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS was 12th, and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS was 13th.
 
Carl Edwards (Ford) was the race winner and Brad Keselowski (Ford) finished fourth, to round out the top five.
 
The series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week for the Kobalt Tools 400 on Sunday, March 10th.  
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND:
 
KRISTI KING: We welcome our second‑place finisher Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet.  Jimmie is currently our points leader by eight points over Dale Jr.  Talk about your run out there today and those last few laps specifically.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, definitely a good performance.  First pit stop we went with four and nobody else did, and we lost a lot of track position and realized then that the game here, it was going to be a little bit different than what we had expected.  That was our last four‑tire stop that we made.  That was really key to keep track position.
            I think we made the car better as the day went on and I know we made it a lot better from yesterday’s practice to today.  We are still learning this Gen‑6 car and made some good improvements to it.  At the end it got a little crazy, especially that last lap.  Denny got a huge run, cut the corner down there and cleared us both, but I felt like I still had a chance if I just hung on, on the outside around turns 3 and 4 and I was able to do that and just kind of beat him back to the finish.
 
            Q.  Did you expect the Fords to gang up on you there at the end?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I didn’t even notice the make situation at all, no.  I felt like Carl didn’t follow the restart protocol and was slower than the pace car on his last two restarts, and it gives the leader a huge advantage when that happens.  You’re supposed to wait until you get between the two lines and take off and this was all going on before it.  Outside of that, yeah, that was the only issue that I saw.
 
            Q.  How close were you on fuel at the end, and for the last part of that green‑flag run before the caution, were you and Carl ‑‑ it looked like you were running all out but I couldn’t tell.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I started at the beginning, Carl got a comfortable lead and I knew how hard it was to pass the leaders so I went into fuel‑save mode then and felt like I did a good job early.  I’m not sure the 99 did because I’m not sure they were concerned, at least what was being relayed on the radio to me.  So I’d say just inside 40 to go, I started trying again and brought the pace up and using more fuel and that kind of stuff, and I got within three car lengths but that’s as close as I could really get to him.
 
            Q.  Were you kind of shocked to see Denny suddenly start to appear there beside you or were you keeping up with what he was trying to do dropping low?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  My spotter was all over it.  I didn’t expect Denny to get up in front of us like he did.  I thought we were going to enter three wide, and I was going to be in the worst spot.  The clean line turns away from me, so I was looking out my window, and I could see a lot of the 11.  I thought, well, I’m not sure really what’s going to happen here, sure not going to let off, and the 2, gave him some room, and we all rolled in there without wrecking.  When I first heard that we were three wide I was pretty concerned that I wasn’t going to have a clean lane to race in.
 
            Q.  (Inaudible).
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, we’ll take it one week at a time.  That’s a cool stat and I want to keep it alive, keep it going.
 
            Q.  Yesterday in Nationwide qualifying I heard Brad Keselowski say on the radio that he would like to beat you to everything including the race to the bathroom, and seeing how you guys raced out there today in the closing laps, coming off of the championship battle last year, do you think that this is going to be an ongoing rivalry between you and Brad for the 2013 season?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Without a doubt, and it’s not just Brad-related.  I’m sure Brad has a few others on his radar, and whoever is ahead of him on the track or in the points.  But I’m well aware that with the success that I’ve had over the last eight or 10 years that there’s a lot of bull’s eyes on me.  I’m kind of afraid to sleep at night sometimes.  I know those guys are all gunning for me, and that’s a huge honor, it really is, to have the garage and then the reigning champion thinking that way about me.
 
            Q.  It looked really hard to pass the leader out there today.  Is that more a factor of this track still being relatively new pavement or is there still some kinks to work out on the new car or a little of both?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It didn’t seem a lot different than other races here to me since the reconfiguration.  I don’t think the Gen‑6 car has anything to do with it at this point.  I think next week in Vegas we have a track that has multiple lanes and we’ll see some great side‑by‑side racing.  The garage area and the teams and owners and the competition side of NASCAR have worked so hard to make these cars equal and we keep changing and jumping through hoops, new chassis, new bodies, new this, new that.  The cars are equal and when they’re equal you’re
going to have a situation like this.  What we need now is the racetracks to consider the asphalt they’re putting down and even reconfigure the lanes so that we have somewhere to race.
 
            Q.  The final restart, it looked like you had a little bit of problem on the final restart.  Did you, or did it just seem to appear that way?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  No, you’re supposed to maintain the speed of the pace car, so I maintained the speed of the pace car and the 99 is dropping back.  At some point you can’t see the guy to know when he’s going to accelerate, and that’s the goal of the leader.  If he can get you looking and get out of your sight and punch it, you never have a chance to recover and that is why the rule states that you’re supposed to maintain pace car speed.
            You have the double red and the single red to work whatever you want to inside of there and to go when you want to still give the advantage to the leader of the race.  So this was all happening before that, and that’s why I mentioned he didn’t follow the protocol.
 
            Q.  This kind of relates to one of the other questions, but in general, what did you think of the Gen‑6 car racing today, and do you have any ideas of how it could be improved?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I think we have a great product.  It’s going to continue to get better.  One of the things that we’ve all recognized over the years is the faster we go the narrower track gets the harder it is to pass.  Speeds will be up, especially when we get to the mile‑and‑a‑half’s, so with all that being said, I think we need to leave the cars alone for a good 10, 20 years.  Let the teams be.  Right here on this blacktop there’s a lot of work that can be done to help create better racing and keep the fans in the grandstands.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SUBWAY FRESH FIT 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 3, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
ON HIS DAY:
“Racing-wise, it was tough to pass all day long. Track position, and strategy on pit road really seemed to be the big deal. We went four early, and it cost us a lot of track position. We never made that mistake the rest of the day, and stayed up front. Very exciting finish there. To come across the line like that with Denny (Hamlin) was exciting. I didn’t think Carl (Edwards) followed restart protocol and slowed us down before we took off. But, outside of that, it was pretty much a perfect day. Very good start to the season. Leading the points. Up here running well on downforce tracks and superspeedway tracks.  Life is good.”
 
YOU WERE FIRST AT DAYTONA, AND SECOND AT THE RACE TODAY AT PHOENIX.  TALK ABOUT THAT FINISH
“Oh, I’m just very proud of this whole Hendrick team and everybody on this Lowe’s car and Chad Knaus (crew chief) and his leadership. It was a tough year for everybody in our shop during the off-season. Everybody worked hard to get us ready. And to open like this with great qualifying efforts, great speed in the race car, and great pit stops. Across the board, I’m very proud of this Lowe’s team.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
ON HIS DAY:
“Well, I hate to be frustrated at Phoenix, but I think we are.  We had a real good car. We feel like we could have finished better than fifth, maybe won the race. Just didn’t get the breaks on pit road. We kind of got boxed in, and picked on beating the No. 99 (Carl Edwards) off pit road. I think we could have beat him off pit road, but somebody was pulling in their stall in front of us, and just had to lift and give the spot to the No. 99. That was the race in my opinion, and we almost had it won right there. Real good race car. Tough in traffic; tough to get to people. But, we made our car good enough to actually make some passes and gain on some guys.”
 
ON THE RACE
“Well, I think we used strategy to get up front, on pit road, to get ourselves track position. We had a pretty good car. On that pit stop the No. 99 (Carl Edwards) got the lead. I was on the inside of him on pit road and I think I could have beat him off, but the No. 13 was trying to get in his stall and I had to lift for that. And I knew right then that was my opportunity to win the race was right there. It’s difficult to pass with the big spoiler. But our car was good enough to actually run up on some guys and make some passes. I want to thank (crew chief) Steve (Letarte). He made a lot of good changes and did some good stops on pit road. I’ve got to thank National Guard and Diet Mountain Dew and all our partners. But we haven’t been good here. So that was a good run for us. I was a little disappointed because I think we could have won. And you hate to give away them points. And I’d love to get to Victory Lane. This is a good sign for us though that we’ve improved this much at Phoenix. Hopefully it’s a sign for the rest of the season and that we’re going to be all right.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
ON HIS DAY:
“I think it was just a matter of where you cycled on the pit stops as far as when everybody figured out you had to take two tires than four.  It was just a matter of figuring out where in the cycle you were and whether you could get back the track position.  When we got up to the top three or four there we had good speed, but when you got hemmed up in the back there it was hard to make that ground.”
 
TRACK POSITION WAS EVERYTHING TODAY?
“Unfortunately, it was.  You could still pass.  It was harder to pass the further back you were.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED TO THOSE RIGHT FRONT TIRES ON DANICA (PATRICK) AND RYAN’S (NEWMAN) CARS?
“I don’t know yet.  I honestly don’t know what happened.  I saw Ryan’s the first time I think.  I knew it was a tire, but I didn’t know what happened the second time. I will find out when I get a chance to talk with those guys.”
 
THOUGHTS ON THE NEW GEN-6 CAR ON A MILE TRACK UNDER RACE CONDITIONS?
“It will change, but I think for the first race it is pretty sporty so far I think.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED NINTH
TALK ABOUT THE RACE TODAY:
“It was a solid top-10.  We had a better car than that.  We just made some choices that lost us track position.  Sometimes the cautions fall your way and sometimes they don’t.  Today most of them didn’t, but we had a couple there at the end that did.  That got us a little bit of that track position back.  We were able to come home ninth, so all-in-all that was pretty solid.”
 
HOW WAS THE NEW CAR ON THIS TRACK?
“It drove good.  It was definitely challenging this is probably not the best track to judge by.  This track is tough, flat and doesn’t lend itself to the best racing that we have on the series.  Yet, I thought on the long run when the tires gave up a little bit you could start searching around, making some moves.  Track position was key.  We knew that coming in.”
 
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS DAY:
“Over the last 60 or so laps we consistently had the fastest car in the field. It was great to top it off with a top-10 finish. Especially after all the adversity the team faced early in the day when Luke (Lambert, crew chief) flew home to be with his wife who is pregnant. Ernie (Cope) stepped in and made great calls all day. I appreciate the entire Cheerios team pullin
g together and working hard. It paid off in the end with a solid finish and we hope to build on that momentum next weekend.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN AN ON-TRACK ACCIDENT ON LAP 184
 
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
“Obviously I blew a right front. No real warning. I wasn’t that tight either; I was sliding a little bit. I felt like most of the day I was chasing the rear. It was a little unexpected. I took a hard hit to the right, and then on the left. I’m fine. The cars and the tracks are so safe. As a driver that’s a nice feeling. It doesn’t change the fact that we aren’t going to get any points really coming out of today, and it would have been nice. I was just saying that there isn’t enough garage space for all of the cars, so unfortunately we’re parked in the dirt this weekend. It would have been nice to get these points here, and then…especially off of our eighth last weekend (in the Daytona 500), and then have a decent run in (Las) Vegas. Then when they re-establish the pits and the garage area, we would have been in better shape. But, these points in the beginning of the year are so important. We were making progress, but unfortunately, our day ended early.”
 
THAT WAS A REALLY HARD HIT.  WAS THAT THE HARDEST YOU’VE EVER HIT?
“Oh, probably Daytona was a little bit bigger. And it was on the right and the left. So whenever those right-fronts go, they always hit hard because you don’t broadside. You kind of hit more straight on. But I took a hard hit on both side, but I’m fine. NASCAR is doing a good job with safety, but yeah, no real good warning. The car wasn’t all that tight and I was mostly chasing the rear. And there was no vibration that told me in the lap before that told me it was going to happen. So, for me, it just sucks to lose the points. Everybody works hard and after last weekend we really just wanted to get to these three races and get some solid points so that when they re-establish the garage area we could; we worked in the dirt this weekend (laughed), so I really wanted my guys to get in the garage area. So, we’ll just have to come at ‘em at Vegas. I really, really like Vegas so it should suit me well. But yeah, we were having a steady day. Not great, but we were making progress.”

Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney Win the Inaugural GRAND-AM Race at Circuit of The Americas
Three Corvette Daytona Prototypes Take the Checkered Flag in the Top-Five
 
AUSTIN, Tex. (March 2, 2013) – The No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing  “Red Dragon” Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) with pole winner Jon Fogarty behind the wheel, led the field to the green flag of the inaugural GRAND-AM of The Americas. And, 2.75 hours later, Alex Gurney finished the race by leading the Rolex Sports Car Series (Rolex) field to the checkered flag at the Circuit of The Americas.
 
“That was a hard battle, but a lot of fun,” said Gurney from Victory Lane. “Always great racing with those guys up front. Look at this, we have all the GAINSCO guys here. It’s our home race. We won it! We all dug deep – we wanted this one really bad. Just so stoked we pulled it off.”
 
“Alex did a really good job, man,” said Fogarty. “It was a nail-biter, and he held on and fought, and that is what it takes to win these races. It is great to do it in front of the GAINSCO crowd.”
 
Today’s victory on the home track for both the team (headquartered in Lewisville, Texas), and their sponsor GAINSCO, is the 16th time the driver combo of Fogarty and Gurney have won in Rolex competition.
 
“Congratulations to Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney as well as team owner Bob Stallings on a hard-fought victory today,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, GRAND-AM Road Racing. “The last few laps were very tense, but Alex did exactly what he had to do to hold off the competition for the win. Winning here at Circuit of The Americas is very special for the Texas-based team and their sponsor, and going to Victory Lane at the inaugural event at any venue is always memorable.

“Having a Corvette DP take the checkered flag is very rewarding for everyone involved in Chevrolet’s effort in GRAND-AM Road Racing.  This success is the result of the teamwork & dedication by our technical partners, race teams and drivers.”
 
The two-time Daytona Prototype champions led one time for eight laps around the 3.4-mile, 20-turn road course on the way to victory lane.
 
“Alex did a heck of a job,” said Stallings. “He didn’t quite have the car that second-place car had, but he ran a heck of a race. He was great – awesome. The last lap especially was very nerve-wracking, but Alex did a great job. He gave that car everything it could do.”
 
Today’s win moved both the team and drivers to second in the standings with two of 12 races on the 2013 schedule in the record books.
 
Giving Team Chevy three of the top-five finishers in today’s race were: No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Corvette DP (drivers Enzo Potolicchio and Stephane Sarrazin) – 4th, and No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP (drivers Brian Frisselle and Christian Fittipaldi) – 5th.
 
Other Corvette DP finishers were:  No. 10 Velocity World Wide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP – 10th; No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP – 11th and No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP -14th in-class.
 
In Rolex Grand Touring (GT), it was a tough day for both the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette GT.R No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R. Each suffered issues throughout the race that relegated them to the 13th and 15th in-class finishing positions respectively.
 
In the GRAND-AM of the Americas – Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R piloted by Matt Bell and John Edwards brought home a 10th place finish in round two of the 2013 season.  The No. 00 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R finished 15th on the lead lap, and team car, the No. 01 was scored 24th in-class after being sidelined with a mechanical issue.
 
Next on the Chevrolet GRAND-AM Road Racing schedule for both Rolex and CTSCC will be April 3-6, 2013 at Barber Motorsports Park just outside Birmingham, Alabama.
 

KAHNE GRABS OUTSIDE FRONT ROW FOR TEAM CHEVY
AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
SIX CHEVROLET SS RACE CARS WILL START IN THE TOP 10
 
AVONDALE, Ariz. – (March 1, 2013) – Kasey Kahne led the way for Team Chevy in qualifying by piloting his No. 5 Quaker State Chevrolet SS to a second-place effort for Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR), Round 2 of 36 on the 2013 tour.  Kahne missed collecting the pole by four hundredths of a second.  This will be the highest Kahne has ever started at the 1.0-mile track. 
 
Following Kahne in the line-up, six Chevy SS drivers will start the 312-mile race in the top 10:  Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner, Jimmie Johnson, will start third in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS.  Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, behind the wheel of the No. 24 Pepxi MAX Chevrolet SS, will start fifth. They are followed by Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Racing Chevrolet SS in sixth and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS in seventh.  Ryan Newman in the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS rounds out the top-10 for the Bowtie brigade with a tenth place starting slot.
 
Other Chevrolets in Sunday’s 43-car line-up include: Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Serta Chevrolet SS who qualified 16th; Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS will start 19th, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cheerios Chevy SS qualified 20th, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS qualified 21st.
 
Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy SS qualified 25th, but will go to a back-up car following contact with the outside retaining wall during his qualifying run.  Dave Blaney, No. 7 Sany Chevrolet SS will start 26th; JJ Yeley, No. 36 Accell Construction Chevrolet SS qualified 27th; Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevy SS will start 29th, and Danica Patrick earned a 40th place starting position in her No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS.
 
Mark Martin (Toyota) won the pole position and Kyle Busch (Toyota) qualified fourth to round out the top five starting spots.
 
Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 takes the green flag on Sunday, March 3rd at 1:00 p.m. MST (3:00 p.m. EST) and will be aired live on FOX.
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified SECOND:
 
GREAT LAP OUT THERE. TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR LAP AND BEING HERE AT PHOENIX
“It was a really good lap. In practice we fought loose-in a little bit in both corners, so that was our main goal for qualifying was to work on that. We got it a lot better for when we went out. I thought it was a really good lap. The sun was still out across a lot of (Turns) 1 and 2 and all of the rest of the track. So, it was good. The team has done a nice job. Preparation has been there. We’ve run pretty good with Quaker State on the car in the past, so hopefully this will be a good start for us. It’s definitely going to be a good start, and a great start to our weekend.
 
DO YOU LOOK AT MARK MARTIN (POLE WINNER) AT AGE 54 AND SHAKE YOUR HEAD? IT SEEMS KIND OF CRAZY THAT HE’S ABLE TO KEEP DOING IT
“It is. But I think we all know going into it that he can. I watch everybody qualify when he goes out, he’s probably the guy more than anyone else that’s probably going to beat me. It’s just the way it is with Mark right now. Last year it was the same way. I think he has a really good connection with the situation he’s in and they’re fast when it comes to qualifying every week.”
 
CAN YOU GIVE US YOUR EARLY IMPRESSION ON THE NEW TIRE? DO YOU LIKE IT?
“Well, I definitely feel the difference. The only spot that I really felt is from the time that you turn off the wall until you get to the white line, or get to your lowest point in the corners, through that load area. I felt that tire a lot. It moves more, to me. And I’ve been trying to figure out which tire. Left front, right front; which one it is that I’m kind of feeling the most there. But left-sides or right-sides. But there is definitely a difference and a feeling that I haven’t had in the past. We also have so many differences with the car this year compared to what we were last year when we were here in November. So, there are some variables. But I think the tire is a big part of that and something that I feel. Hopefully tomorrow we learn more about it when the car is in practice. And the Sunday for sure, it will be interesting how it races. I look forward to Sunday’s race. I want it to be from the bottom to three-quarters up the track, and can pass and all that. Hopefully the tire allows us to do that.”
 
WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED YOUR CAREER IN PHOENIX, IT SEEMS LIKE THIS IS ONE OF THE TRACKS YOU STRUGGLED AT.  AND NOW, THREE OF THE LAST FOUR RACES HAVE BEEN TOP TENS. WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR YOU?
“This was always a tough track. And when I was racing open-wheel cars, I loved it. It was like my favorite track. And then I came here in a stock car, and it was one of my most difficult tracks to figure out. We got it a little bit better, right before they repaved it; and then since they repaved it and changed the banking a little bit and the way the track races, I’ve been way better here and felt really good every time I come. So I personally like the new track way more than I like the old track, which I think is different than someone else who was in here (Media Center) earlier. That’s my opinion on it. This track is perfect.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD:
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“I’m just really pleased. We’ve been working in the right areas. Granted there is still a race to run here, but what we saw today, we know that our downforce stuff is close. That’s good, and that’s all we can really ask for. So, Daytona-plate racing-a different animal as we all know. But here, we had a very good showing from the first lap on-track, qualified well. I’m running the Nationwide race to try to get some more reps around here to sort this place out. I think the combination between the new car, and the new tire is playing into the No. 48’s hands a little bit. We seem to be closer than we were here last time. I will certainly have fun in the No. 5 (Nationwide) car tomorrow, but the big focus has been trying to get right in the Cup car, so when we come back in the fall, we can race here like we need to.”
 
WHAT IS IT ABOUT MARK MARTIN THAT HE KEEPS PEELING OFF POLES?
“He’s not afraid to stand on the gas for starters. I just deeply admire him, and his passion for the sport. He’s tried to walk away a few times, and I think we had a farewell tour for him one year, and he couldn’t do it. He came back. He just loves driving for his team. Loves driving his car, and is an inspiration to any team he works for. He walks into a room and everybody has been having a bad day, and Mark will bring the spirit up. Then also get in the car and tell you how to make it faster. I really enjoyed my time working with him, and I know he is a big asset to MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing). Today he showed it once again.”
 
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE ISSUE WAS WITH THE LASER PLATFORM IN TECH?
“I don’t. But, I noticed that we were one of quite a few over there dealing with it. It is really different now, because the machine runs its course. I got there so late, I don’t know what happened. Everybody stands around waiting, and the lasers are doing what they do, and you get a pass or go. Evidently we got a couple of no’s to start, then it was right. I think it was something in the back of the car from what the guys were saying.”
 
IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE TARGETING THIS TRACK SPECIFICALLY WITH THE NNS CAR. IS THAT ACCURATE OR IS THAT MAKING TOO MUCH OF IT?
“No, that is absolutely it for sure. The tracks in the Chase we’re very strong at. We feel like with the testing policy that is in place now, we can prepare for some of the other tracks that are within the Chase if we want. We have that fl
exibility. But what we couldn’t do is test here. All four teams have to go, and then the tire has to have raced at that track before, before you can go. We couldn’t come before. Then our teammates didn’t think this track was all that important to test at, so my only way to get more experience, and to try to get a better handle on this track is to run the NNS car. That’s really the bottom line. I’m still trying to learn the two cars, and figure out what can carry over from one to the other, because they are pretty different. I’m not sure I will figure it all out this weekend, but my first time on the track in the Cup car, I knew we were better off than we’ve been here in a long time. It should be a good week for us.”
 
THIS CAR HAS BEEN REALLY FAST EVERYWHERE YOU’VE BEEN WITH IT. A LOT OF EXPECTATIONS THIS YEAR ABOUT QUALIFYING RECORDS, ETC. WHY DO YOU THINK THERE WAS NOT A RECORD HERE TODAY?
“Did we go faster than the pole last time? The fall pole? I don’t know. I expected it to fall. Maybe when the track was brand-new, was when that record stood, and I had a good comeback for you on that front. I don’t know to be honest. One small thing, the speeds aren’t as high here as you see at like Las Vegas coming up, so the effects on the downforce aren’t as impactful. We’re still going pretty quick here. So I’m trying to get off on a limb to try and help you out with your story here. There could be a little something with that.”
 
HOW DID YOU KEEP CALM WAITING FOR THE LENGTHY TECH TIME BEFORE QUALIFYING?
“Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have been in that position before. I knew just to stay calm. You’ve got that long push down pit road, so I can get all of my gear on. I also knew, I asked how many cars before we were on the clock, so I had two to three cars, and six to eight minutes, plus the five minute clock. So, being in that position in the past, helped me ask the right questions. Manage it in my mind, and just get in and take my time. We do have some new guys on the car, and Ron (Malec, car chief) was communicating these things as well to guys as we were pushing down, because they were kind of panicked, so Ron stepped in and said ‘Hey guys, we’re not even on the clock yet. Just slow down and get it right.”
 

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SECOND
TAKE US THROUGH YOUR LAP
“I thought on the first lap I just slid, probably the front tires more than anything; the second lap I had more grip and was able to push a little bit harder. It felt pretty good from where we came from in practice. We made some good adjustments there. They’ve done a nice job with our Quaker State Chevrolet. I think that’s a pretty good lap for right now and hopefully it will stay somewhere in the top 10. I would imagine we’ll get quicker as we go, but you never know.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
DESCRIBE YOUR LAP:
“Not bad.  The first lap had me a little concerned.  I knew it wasn’t very fast.  I got a nice second lap in and have a spot in the top-three.  It’s a great way to get started on our first downforce track.  All the guys on my Lowe’s Chevy team have been working real hard just to be up to speed and ready to go for the start of the season.  Opened up at Daytona with the strong finish there and off to a quick start here too.”
 
A BIT OF A RELIEF RIGHT NOW?  KIND OF DESCRIBE YOUR NERVES IN THE LAST 20 MINUTES BEING ON PIT ROAD HAVING TO GO BACK TO THE GARAGE THEN BACK TO THE PIT LANE TO JUMP IN THE CAR?
“Yeah, that is never fun, but luckily I’ve been through it before.  I was able to get strapped in and get all my gear on before I got down to the end.  I’m not even sure we were on the clock yet.  It always gets your attention when you are standing there, it’s almost your turn and your car isn’t there.  Everybody starts asking what is up, so glad there was nothing up and we got it all dialed in and just got down there a little late.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED  FIFTH
ON HIS LAP
“It was a decent lap. I certainly felt like there were some areas that we could have been better. Looking at Kasey Kahne’s lap, I think that’s about what the track has in it right now. I think conditions are going to keep getting better. There are a lot of cars that were good in practice. So, we’ll see where we end up. I thought we did a nice job in improving from practice. But we definitely need a little bit more than that.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SIXTH
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LAP? YOU ARE EARLY IN THIS QUALIFYING SESSION:
“Yeah, it wasn’t bad. We had a pretty reasonable run there. I thought we were a little bit tight, but the track seems pretty fast right now. So, we felt pretty good about our lap. Hopefully it will stay there.”
 
HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
“Oh, well; we’ll be in good shape. A lot of people have been sick between Daytona and last week in Charlotte; but we’re just fighting the same thing everybody else has had. It’s just going through the cycle, I guess.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“My lap was a lot better than it was in practice, for sure. We had a lot of trouble in qualifying trim. We’re really happy with our Jimmy John’s Chevrolet in race trim, but in qualifying we were just extremely loose in. So, they got that fixed. We were a little bit too tight, but that’s better than too loose in qualifying.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH
YOU LOOKED A LITTLE LOOSE ON YOUR QUALIFYING LAP.  HOW WAS IT OUT THERE?
“I was loose with our Quicken Loans Chevrolet.  We had been loose in practice and qualifying.  We made some big changes, but they weren’t quite enough.  I think the track changed a little bit too.  I don’t know if it was a benefit going out late with the speed because I couldn’t see.  Or if I would have been better off being able to see and going out with less grip.  Either way the guys did a good job and we will get it all switched over into race trim and see what we can do tomorrow.”
 
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 51 GUY ROOFING CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 23RD
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“It was all right. The Guy Roofing Chevy. We struggled in qualifying trim a little bit. I felt in race trim we were pretty decent. I had a little bit of a brake issue there. We were struggling. The pedal was really soft. When you’re going down there, and trying to throw down a lap, it’s tough to do when the brake pedal is soft. But it’s just part of the new car blues. Everybody at Phoenix Racing is doing a great job to make these cars fast and I thank everybody at Phoenix and especially everybody at Hendrick for helping this program, and everybody at Chevy. I’m excited to be a part of it and excited to be back and hopefully we’ll work on the race car tomorrow and that probably won’t be a great starting spot, but we’ll work on it tomorrow. And I’ll be ready to go for Sunday.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 40TH
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“It just wasn’t great. We kind of had a similar issue in practice as well. Just couldn’t get the back end to settle down. The first qualifying run, we felt okay. It was just a little tight. The second run, it was just moving around too much. And had the same problem in the qualifying run. So, we just have to take a look at why it’s doing that and fix it. We thought we had fixed it from practice to qualifying, but the same kind of situation happened. So, I was way wide on (Turns) 1 and 2 on my first lap; and on my second lap, I about got in the fence too wide in (Turns) 3 and 4. So, it’s just not as good a qualifying effort. It’s not what I was looking for. I know how important it is on these short tracks to qualify well. So we’re just going to have to come out of it like a bat out of hell at the beginning.

Jon Fogarty Wins the Pole for Inaugural Rolex Sports Car Series Race at Circuit of the Americas: Jordan Taylor Makes it All Corvette DP Front Row
 
AUSTIN, Tex. (March 1, 2013) – Jon Fogarty thrilled his team owner, his sponsor and the team’s hometown crowd by winning the pole for Saturday’s inaugural GRAND-AM of the Americas presented by GAINSCO and TOTAL.  Fogarty set the pace around the Circuit of the Americas in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) with a lap of 2:00.179 at an average speed of 101.848 m.p.h.  Both the team, and GAINSCO are headquartered in Texas.
 
Today’s effort marked Fogarty’s 24th career Rolex Sports Car Series pole in Daytona Prototype competition.
 
Jordan Taylor made it an all-Corvette DP front row by posting the second quickest time behind the wheel of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP.
 
“Congratulations to Jon Fogarty and the entire No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP team on winning the pole in their home state of Texas for the inaugural Rolex Sports Car Series race at the Circuit of the Americas,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager for GRAND-AM Road Racing. “In addition, congratulations to Jordan Taylor for making it an all-Corvette DP front row with his efforts in the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP. Our Corvette DP teams have been strong throughout practice, and then in qualifying since they unloaded.  We are looking forward to an exciting and competitive race tomorrow.”
 
Other Corvette DP qualifiers were:  Burt Frisselle, No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – 4th; Ricky Taylor, No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP – 5th; Brian Frisselle, No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – 8th and Enzo Potolicchio, No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Corvette DP – 9th.  A total of 16 Daytona Prototype entries will start the 2.75-hour race.
 
In the Rolex Grand Touring (GT) class, John Edwards turned in a fourth-in-class qualifying effort in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R.  Boris Said, No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette, was fifth-in-class in  the final order.
 
The Camaro GS.Rs had a strong showing in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) qualifying.  Lawson Aschenbach, No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R, was the second fastest qualifier for Saturday’s 2.5-hour race. Edwards put the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R, in the third spot on the grid.  Ashley McCalmont was 12th in-class in the No. 00 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R.
 
“Our Camaro teams in both GT and GS have been solid as well,” Lutz concluded.  “And their qualifying efforts reflect the hard work being done by the teams.”
 
Race number two of the 12-race 2013 Rolex Sports Car Series season is schedule to start Saturday, March 2, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. CT (4:00 p.m. ET).  The 2.75-hour GRAND-AM of the Americas Presented by GAINSCO and TOTAL – Rolex Sports Car Series will be same-day (Saturday, March 2, 2013), tape-delay broadcast on SPEED TV, beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.  Live coverage will be provided on GRAND-AM.com Timing and Scoring that includes live MRN Radio coverage.

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed learning the new race car, the softer Goodyear tire, Danica Patrick’s performance at Daytona, an extra day of testing in Las Veqas, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
WHAT ARE YOU LEARNING ABOUT THE NEW RACE CAR?
“The car’s got good grip and I think the tire and the car combination is a good one. It feels good out there. We’re proud to have Pepxi MAX aboard our Chevy SS this weekend.  We’re looking forward to getting more laps in the car and we just shook it down in race trim and then did some qualifying runs. The car had good speed and we didn’t draw the best of (qualifying) numbers, so we’re going to try to make the most of our qualifying effort here and then get prepared tomorrow.”
 
TONY STEWART SAID YOU’LL BE SPENDING THE NEXT FEW WEEKS LEARNING ABOUT THE CAR. AT DAYTONA, IT SEEMED LIKE YOU PRACTICED FOREVER. DO YOU FEEL LIKE MAYBE YOU NEED MORE PRACTICE TIME WHEN YOU GO TO THESE NEXT FEW TRACKS?
“Absolutely; any time things change with as drastic of a change that we’ve had for this year with the new car, you want as much time on the track as you can. In Daytona, those of us who were in the Sprint Unlimited felt like we got a good amount of track time in real race conditions to get the idea of what the car was going to draft like out of our system in enough laps there. Here, we want to go fast. We want to qualify good. That’s going to be a huge key to the race this weekend. And once we get through qualifying, then we’re going to want to try to get as many laps as we can.
 
“I was a little surprised we didn’t have an extra day here, where we do have an extra day next week at Vegas because I think this track can be just as tricky to figure out as Vegas. But we’re just going to make the most of the time that we have. You’re certainly not going to see us sitting out any practices (here) like you did at Daytona.”
 
IS THIS TRACK DIFFICULT TO PASS ON?
“Yes and no. It seems to be like that last couple of times we’ve been here that the groove has widened out and the cars on the longer run have gotten tricky to get into certain sections of the corner. Like in Turn 1 under braking, it’s hard to be consistent with that entry as the air pressure builds up and the heat builds up in the tires. So, sometimes that opens it up for opportunities. But other than that, yeah, this is typically a tough place to pass on, especially since they repaved it.”
 
ON THE TRACK SURFACE AND THE TIRES AND THE WEATHER
“I was very pleased with everything I felt out there. I thought the tire and the track conditions were not as edgy and unpredictable as what we’ve seen in the past here, which tells me that the pavement is aging, which is a good thing. The tire, luckily Goodyear came and did some testing here and found that now we’ve lost a little grip in this track and now we can soften this tire up and maybe we can have some falloff over a longer run. So, everything I think has come together pretty nicely.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS TESTING FOR YOU NEXT WEEK?
“It’s very important. If they’d give us an extra day going into every race track, we’d take advantage of it. When you have telemetry on the car, especially on a race weekend, and you can gather that much information and learn more about the loads and the bumps and what the car is going through; ride heights of the front splitter and all those things, it’s valuable information that we will utilize and try to make the most of it for Sunday.”
 
DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME?
“Well, not until you just brought it up. It’s hard to get away from it. They’re still using it to advertise for the race and it was a big story. We’re really focused on this new car. Luckily we’ve got enough things going on that it takes your mind off of it once you get out there on the track. We’re just focused on getting the most out of the car and having a good, solid, and fast race car and a good weekend. So, at this point, I’m not thinking about it.”
 
ON HOW HE WILL RACE CLINT BOWYER
“You know, I’m going to race him the way that I’ve always raced him. We’ll race hard. We’ll race hard for position and hopefully we don’t have any incidents. I can’t run every lap worrying about every guy I’ve ever had an incident with.”
 
NOW THAT YOU’VE PRACTICED AT PIR, HOW DOES THE NEW CAR COMPARE TO LAST YEAR’S CAR?
“Well, ask me that question after next week.  I can tell you the difference between here with the older car. Again, the tire is different and that changes things. But it feels great. It’s got good grip and the car drives really well. But that pushes you to be more aggressive with it and then you start finding the limitations. And that’s what a race car is supposed to do. And so far, I’m enjoying the characteristics. You’ve got to understand too, it’s not just the body and the aerodynamics; it’s some of the things that NASCAR changed for this year (like) the bushings and the splitter structure. It’s just a lot of things that they’ve implemented (like) no rear sway bars that we’re trying to learn and understand and then a lot of downforce in this car. So, far, everything that I can feel in making runs by myself is very positive.  But I’d really like to see what happens once we get out there with more cars and in a race and understand what kind of characteristics we’re going to be dealing with and how important is track position. With this car, are we going to be able to dive to the outside and make some moves? Or how close are you going to be to be able to get up to the guy to turn underneath him? All those types of things we won’t really know until we go through a race.”
 
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE JERRY CLEMENTS DECISION BY NASCAR?
“I think that it’s very clear to me that NASCAR has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to things that are detrimental to the sport and that could have a negative impact on the sport. Obviously I don’t know all the details, but obviously whatever was said drew them to that conclusion that it was something that really could impact the sport negatively.”
 
THIRTEEN (13) DRIVERS HAVE LED THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 AND THE DAYTONA 500 AND DANICA PATRICK JOINED THAT LIST LAST WEEKEND. WHAT SORT OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IS THAT FOR HER?
“That’s a big deal. That’s huge. I’ve never run in an Indy 500, but I don’t feel like it’s really easy to lead an Indy 500 and I watched Indy 500’s where she led and it wasn’t like it was just under caution or anything like that. She got herself in position. I saw her have some great runs at Indy.
 
“And Daytona, typically I would say it’s not the hardest place to lead at, but this particular Daytona 500 was very difficult to lead at. So, I think that it’s quite an accomplishment and I thought she did a great job all day to keep herself in position. I know she probably feels like she made a little mistake there at the end, and lost some positions, but to come out of there with a solid run like she did was a great way to get the season started.”
 
THERE SEEMS TO BE A PRETTY GOOD FIELD OF YOUNG DRIVERS. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE YOUNG DRIVERS?
“Give me some names.”
 
BRAD KESELOWSKI
“He’s a young driver? (laughter) I’m thinking (in their) twenties. Ah, that’s a young driver to me. I think Ricky (Stenhouse) is a great talent. I love his background with dirt track and the way he’s brought himself up through to this level. He’s got a lot of talent. Keselowski has impressed me. He’s not a guy that I think a lot of people had on their radar as being able to come into the sport and take an organization that has never won a championship and get them to a championship. It is talent, but it’s also just willing to work just as hard as you can and do whatever it takes and he’s got that great work ethic. So, as far as those two guys, those are pretty high on my
list.”
 
CONSIDERING THE POPULARITY OF THE RAINBOW WARRIORS BACK IN THE DAY, DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAN COME TO YOU AND SAY HE BECAME A FAN OF YOURS BECAUSE OF THE BRIGHT COLORS OF THE CAR?
“Absolutely; primarily with kids, it just seemed like the neon colors just stood out so much. And it’s funny now. And actually, this just happened this past weekend in Daytona. I met a young lady who was 30 years old and she shows me a picture of when she was 10, and she was this big and now she’s this big and she was saying how big of a fan she was because of the bright colors of the car.
 
“So just recently I had an experience where; I think a lot of young new fans, when they watch for the first time whether they’re at the track or at home, they go okay, who am I going to pull for? And they either do it based on the driver in an interview, or they do it on the car. And we had a lot of people that became new fans of mine because of the rainbow-colored car.”
 
ON THE JEREMY CLEMENTS ISSUE, DO YOU THINK YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT HE SAID? DOES THAT MATTER?
“Personally, I’d like to know. I don’t think it’s anything that I ever would worry about myself saying or getting in that situation, but I’d like to understand the situation and the environment that it was in. That’s obviously a pretty severe penalty; and I think whatever his actions were, must have been pretty severe. But just out of curiosity, I’d like to know. From what I understand if I asked the proper person, I might be able to get that information.”
 
ON THE NEW TRACK-DRYING TECHNOLOGY, WE HAVEN’T SEEN IT IN ACTION YET, BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT?
“Oh, I was so hoping to see that last week at Daytona (laughs). I thought it was going to rain Sunday morning and I thought it would clear out just in time for them to get that thing out there and see how fast it could dry.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK IT IS JUST TO KEEP FANS ENGAGED IN THE RACE TO HAVE THAT TECHNOLOGY?
“Oh, I think it’s important. I think it’s been a long-time coming. Obviously it’s not perfect and it needs some work, but it’s a great step. These fans, if you had the opportunity to get a race in and keep the fans engaged at home as well as here at the track, for all that they go through to get here and potentially either keep them from having to leave because it’s just getting late and they have to go home for work the next day, or to prevent it (the race) from having to go to the next day, I think that’s huge. I’d like to see more tracks have it available.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed the performance of the new car on track at Phoenix, what he is looking forward to next week at Las Vegas and other topics.  FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW CAR HERE IN PHOENIX?
“We fought a little bit of problems we didn’t think we would fight.  We have been loose and that just wasn’t in our mindset.  We thought we would come here and fight tight.  We have fought loose most of the day.  A little bit of surprise, but a surprise shouldn’t be a surprise with a new car and all new stuff.  We are trying to adjust a little bit with it.”
 
HOW ARE LAST YEAR’S CAR AND THIS YEAR’S CAR DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU’VE SEEN SO FAR?
“Honestly, I think it is too early to say.  I think we really need more time, more racing that kind of thing.  Right now I think that they drive good.  It’s not like they drive bad.  No matter what the car is, no matter what the rules are, the people that do the better job with it, drive it better, set it up better, do better pit stops they are the ones that are going to win races. No matter what the car is that is what the focus has got to be.  We are just a touch behind right now, but we feel like we can see where we need to be.”
 
WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU LAST WEEK?
“I was catching David Reutimann at a pretty high rate of speed and I went to go underneath him and he blocked me to the left.  Then I went to go above him and he blocked me to the right.  On that one it didn’t work out very well for us.  We hit exceptionally hard.  Blocking is part of plate racing.  David reached out to me, apologized to me and said ‘I’m sorry it was my fault, I certainly didn’t mean to put you in that position.’  I know David didn’t.  Plate racing puts you in a position to do things you wouldn’t normally do.  That is kind of what it was.  We just came out on the short end of the stick of it.”
 
NOT THE FINISH THAT YOU WANTED LAST WEEK.  HOW DO YOU BOUNCE BACK FROM THAT?
“If in this sport every bad finish you have that is disaster then you are going to have a terribly long life.  Jimmie Johnson wrecked the third or fourth lap last year. Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, a lot of big names wrecked early in the race. You can’t have your tail tucked between your legs coming to Phoenix you have just got to go race.  I think the biggest thing you could do is worry about where you finish and you need to focus on what you need to do to finish well.  If you focus on that you don’t have enough time to worry about all the other crap.  Daytona is Daytona and next week Phoenix will be Phoenix and we will be on to (Las) Vegas.  Obviously, you’ve got to have good finishes you can’t just keep writing them off, but the only way to do that is move forward and focus on what’s next.”
 
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE JEREMY CLEMENTS DECISION BY NASCAR?
“It’s really difficult to comment on it because I don’t have a lot of facts.  One thing for sure that I don’t like to do is I don’t like to talk without being educated about something.  There are a lot of what if’s and a lot of stuff that is out there that you are having to make it up.  You don’t have enough facts.  Certainly, I don’t think NASCAR would suspend someone for something small.  I don’t think they would.  I don’t know what was said.  I don’t know how it was said because we don’t have that information.  Until I have that information it’s really hard to make a comment on it. I do want to get a little more information because I want to make sure I don’t do something wrong.  It’s just hard to have an opinion because there is not enough information to have an opinion.”
 
DO YOU FEEL FOR THESE NEXT COUPLE OF TRACKS COMING UP YOU GUYS SHOULD HAVE SOME MORE PRACTICE WITH THE NEW CAR? 
“I think (Las) Vegas we have a whole day.  We’ve got a whole day of practice.  I think that is good.  I think having a little extra time out here would have been a cool thing.  I think (Las) Vegas is good.  They are giving us some more time at Texas I believe than they normally would.  We do have a few more tests this year.  Yeah, I think a little more time this week would have been a good thing.  (Las) Vegas is a good idea.  A little more time at California wouldn’t hurt anybody’s feelings.  Giving more time at Bristol or Martinsville, those tracks are so unique to themselves I don’t think that necessarily is needed.”
 
IT’S THE 5OTH YEAR OF RACING HERE AT PIR.  WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY AND BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT?
“My favorite memory is me winning here twice.  My biggest disappointment was the year it rained.  I was sitting there running third or fourth and we pitted along with everybody else on the lead lap.  It rained during that caution, we had weather radar, but you are in the desert you are thinking surely to God it’s not going to rain it out.  Rusty Wallace I believe won the race in the rain.  Everybody pitted under that caution for rain (laughs).  That was probably the dumbest move that every race team in NASCAR made on that day. The last guy on the lead lap didn’t stay out. That was probably the most disappointing day.”
 
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE DONE AFTER LAST SATURDAY’S ACCIDENT IN DAYTONA?
“I think there has to be a thorough investigation.  I think the degree in which obviously people were injured that was a fluke accident. A car getting in the fence I don’t think at this point we can necessarily call it a fluke accident because we have seen over the last little bit of time we have seen several cars get airborne.  (Brad) Keselowski and Carl Edwards at Talladega then you go back… Keselowski and Carl (Edwards) at Atlanta that car got up in the air.  So I don’t want to say that getting in the air is a fluke.  I think we need to work harder on keeping the cars on the ground, which this car, honestly, has a lot more work done on that. As far as the fencing you have to stop and do research and understand how to do it better.  Everybody wants to fix it today, but the right way to fix it is through a thorough analysis.  Do a thorough analysis, get all the information then make a decision.  I think everybody, meaning well, wants to try to say here is what you need to do, but until you really understand it, it is hard to know what to do. I think it also reminds us that, and I’ve said this for years, safety is not a goal.  It’s not something you can reach.  It’s a continuing effort.  It’s a continuing mind set, it’s a continuing desire to be better at it.  You can’t say ‘okay we are here’ and move on.  By no means am I saying NASCAR has done that.  I think NASCAR deserves a tremendous amount of credit.  I think they have led motorsports as it relates to safety over the last 10 years there is no question about that.  In no way am I saying NASCAR has been not being aggressive, but it is a reminder that we have to continue to be.  It’s a reminder that we have to always be looking to be better.  We can never get to the point where we say ‘okay we are there, now we get to relax’.  You can’t have that mindset when it comes to safety.”
 
DOES IT GO BEYOND JUST BUILDING THE CARS TO THE SPECIFICATIONS NASCAR GIVES YOU? “I said it a long time ago, that I believe this is a community activity. When NASCAR wasn’t as proactive as they are today, I was standing up saying that we as a community need to do a better job. Meaning the teams, the drivers, NASCAR, the sponsors, the manufacturers…we collectively need to do a better job. I said that years ago, and got told I was crazy, and had a lot of press g
iven to me. But, that is still true today.  We as drivers can’t look around the industry and say ‘Well, y’all are supposed to take care of us. We’ve got to be proactive. We’ve got to be pushing the ball.  Car owners have to be pushing the ball. Team members have to be pushing the ball. NASCAR…it takes all of us. We can’t just give. We have to be willing to give of our time. We have to be willing to give money. We have to be willing to give effort to try to make a continuing effort if we want racing to be safer. I think we all do. I’ve heard some people say racing isn’t exciting because it is safer. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life. We as a community have to make sure we stay together and work, and don’t just put it on NASCAR’s shoulder. I think that is unfair to put it on the tracks and NASCAR. I think that is unfair. I think we have to do it together.”
 
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING BACK TO LAS VEGAS? “I think the day of testing is going to be real cool. I think having an opportunity working on this car on a race weekend rather than a test is going to be really good for everybody. And then seeing how they race. Seeing how they respond in the race. We’re going to try to jump to conclusions based on Thursday’s practice. But the fact of the matter is, until Sunday is over, we’re really not going to know. Going to through that process to me is going to be a good time. It’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to that getting started. The mile-and-a-half tracks is the place where this car I think will excel.”
 
THIS NEW AIR TITAN TRACK DRYING TECHNOLOGY WE’VE YET TO SEE IN ACTION. ASSUMING WE DO AT SOME POINT, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT JUST TO KEEP FANS ENGAGED, AND I GUESS EVEN THE TV AUDIENCE? “I’ll be honest, I would never have thought of that, but we need to dry the tracks quicker. But when you do, and they went out and did that, then it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. That’s part of my point about doing things as a community. If all of us ban together, we come up with better ideas. I do know that the Daytona 500 last year through Twitter talking to fans, the impact that had on them, not being able to stay, that’s a big deal. That’s bad for our sport. Anything we can do to lessen that opportunity is the right thing. Having said that, I wouldn’t have thought about it. I wouldn’t have thought well hell, we need to find a better way. I just wouldn’t have. There’s no question that’s a positive. No question.”

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 RACING CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed the learning process for the new race cars, Danica Patrick’s performance at Daytona, his opinion of the Phoenix International Raceway track, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
HOW IS THE NEW CAR HANDLING?
“So far, so good.  We are just a little bit tight, balance-wise; but other than that it drives really good.”
 
WERE YOU EXPECTING WHAT YOU FELT?
“I didn’t know what to expect.  It’s a new car and I don’t know how anybody knows what to expect until you get out and run it. So, you guys (media) are going to have the same questions for the next four weeks and we’re still going to be learning for the next four weeks. So, give us about four or five more weeks and we’ll be able to give you a lot more answers than what we’ve got today, so far, on what it feels like.”
 
LAST WEEK WAS NOT THE WAY YOU WANTED TO START THE SEASON. HOW DO YOU GO FORWARD OR BOUNCE-BACK FROM IT?
“Easy. We’ve left there (Daytona) 43rd (in points) and won a championship in ’02. So, you just put it behind you and it’s no different than if you get in a wreck on any other week. You can’t change it. So, you’ve got to focus on what you can change and that’s the week ahead.”
 
ON HIS HOSPTAL VISIT WITH THE FANS AT DAYTONA
“It was good. It was a good visit.”
 
YOU ARE ONE OF 13 ON THE LIST OF DRIVERS WHO HAVE LED AT THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 AND THE DAYTONA 500. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?
“It’s pretty cool. To be honest, as a race car driver, it’s an honor to just be able to compete in both, let alone lead laps. So, the good thing is we’ve got you guys (media) to tell us the cool stats because we don’t know that stuff until you tell us. But, that’s a pretty cool honor to be in a group of 13 people.”
 
ON DANICA PATRICK’S PERFORMANCE AT DAYTONA
“I thought she did a great job last week. She played a very, very smart race because it’s very easy to get over-anxious and want to do better than where you’re at; and cause yourself to have a worse day. And I thought she displayed a lot of patience and that’s really hard to do sometimes. So, I thought she did a great job.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY? WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE MEMORY AT PIR?          
“My favorite memory is oh man; probably the first Copper Classic I ran. The worst memory was the first time they started changing it; and the very worst memory is the second time they changed this track. Every time they change it they keep screwing it up and making it worse. It was really good the way it was. It was a lot of fun back then.”
 
HOW CLOSE ARE YOU WITH THE CAR RIGHT NOW? HOW MUCH WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE?
“I just answered that when you asked the first question about it. We don’t know. We’re in a learning process right now. We’ve got an hour and a half of practice. We’ve got a whole day tomorrow to get ready for the race. Every time we go on the track we’re going to keep learning right now. I just don’t honestly have an answer to that. We just don’t have a lot of time and we’re not going to have for four or five weeks. It’s going to take some time for us to learn these cars and you’re not going to learn it in an hour and a half. If anybody tells you they’ve got it all figured out after an hour and a half of practice, they’re lying to you. You can pretty much write down in stone for the next five weeks that people are going to be learning a lot going to different race tracks and trying to get a handle on what this car is actually going to be.”
 
YOU TALK ABOUT NOT HAVING ENOUGH TIME AND YET DAYTONA SEEMED LIKE A MILLION PRACTICE SESSIONS.
“Well we had all the practice time we wanted at Daytona. Nobody wanted to use that. This is a little different deal here where you’re running by yourself. This is the first time that we’ve all had a new car, guys. We’re not reinventing the wheel. It’s the same thing that we did with we had the CoT car and the same thing that we’ve had every time a new manufacturer had a new body style. So we’re not totally starting from scratch or reinventing the wheel. You’re just going to have to have the time that you do have to learn and everybody has the same amount of time. So, it doesn’t really matter how much time you’ve got.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed her success at Daytona, expectations for weekend at Phoenix, comparison of her first Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 and other topics.  Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR PHOENIX THIS WEEKEND:
“It was nice to come here at the end of the season, and race in the Cup race. It was also nice to have Tony Gibson as my crew chief.  I feel like it will give us a good baseline of where we need to start setup-wise for the weekend, so we can kind of pickup where we left off. I feel like we were pretty decent at the end of the race. Is qualifying on the pole, and leading laps what we should be thinking based on last weekend? No. I think we need to…I need to keep realistic expectations, and I think everybody else does too. Daytona is a very unique place, and this is kind of where the bulk of the season really starts. Things like being able to get up-to-speed quickly; knowing what I want in the car; how to push it to its limit and what its limit is are things that are going to begin to be tested now. That’s something that you don’t really face at Daytona.”
 
CAN I TAKE YOU BACK TO INDIANAPOLIS IN ’05 VERSUS AFTER THE RACE AT DAYTONA? OBVIOUS DISAPPOINTMENT FOR WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN; BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT HOW YOU HAVE IMPROVED AS A DRIVER IN BOTH SERIES, WHAT DO YOU TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR PROGRESS? “They really are very similar in a sense with my first Indy 500 and my first…wasn’t my first Daytona 500, but my first year full-time in the Series with the whole pole position potential. And with leading in the race, and being fast, and being a contender then kind of losing it a little bit at the very, very end. Very similar. I feel like now days having the experience that I had in IndyCar, and understanding how media works. What it is like to be busy, and do a lot of interviews and a lot of things outside of the car. And also building a great team helps me manage and tolerate all of that is very different than it was back in 2005. I kind of feel like it is another weekend now. Last weekend was what it was. But we’re moving on, and maybe perhaps in 2005 it was kind of a little bit of an ongoing excitement level, and hope for me. But I think I’m a little more mature now to know that these things come; they go. We’re going to have great weekends like maybe last weekend. And we’re going to have bad ones. I don’t know where they are going to pop up, but I don’t doubt that they will. I just feel more mature to be able to handle all of it.”
 
THERE ARE 13 NAMES ON THE LIST OF DRIVERS WHO HAVE LED THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 AND THE DAYTONA 500. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE ON THAT LIST? “When I heard that statistic. Joe (Crowley, public relations) is a wealth of knowledge, and knew that when we were walking back from pit lane after the race. He then sent me more information about who had led more than five laps, and things like that. So, I got more information beyond that. He’s going to have to become one of the historians of IndyCar and of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and maybe of NASCAR as well. But anyway, enough about Joe (LAUGHS). It is a statistic like that, that I personally I felt was the biggest one from the weekend. To look at the list of names, and to fall under them; while I’m honored to be a first woman to do something; those are great. You can’t take those away. A first is always wonderful. But, to fall into a historical statistic that is small, that is a small group, along with other drivers, and have it not be about being a male or a female, that is something that I aspire to as a driver. I hope that when I am done racing that people remember me as a great driver. And, if they remember me as a great girl driver, that’s fine too. But, I hope they remember as a great driver, and a list of others. I feel like that is one of those statistics that’s just genderless, and that’s pretty neat for me.”
 
THIS WILL BE YOUR SECOND TIME IN THE CUP CAR HERE AT PHOENIX. IN THE NATIONWIDE CAR, DID YOU NOTICE THE TRACK’S CHANGING A LOT FROM THE FIRST TIME TO THE SECOND TIME YOU WERE THERE, AND SO ON? HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EXPECT THAT BECAUSE YOU RAN WELL HERE IN NOVEMBER? “I would say that tended to happen wherever I went.  I felt like it was a little bit more about being a new track to me more than anything. The first to the second time is still going to show a steeper incline in performance, than perhaps the sixth to the seventh time. But Phoenix is one of those places that, man, even in the Nationwide car, I just couldn’t get the hang of it. I came here many times, and continued to kind of suck. I feel like at the end of the year was more of a breakthrough in the Nationwide car, and also in the Cup car, it was a good weekend. The best weekend I’d had in a Cup car. I really think that is what led me to want to do more double duty weekends this year. Haven’t been able to work that out yet. But, I think that driving both of the cars really just keeps you sharp. I feel like I have practiced the Cup car, it helped in the Nationwide car. Then when I had done the Nationwide race, I really felt like it led to helping in the Cup race. I think that was probably also a big contributor to why last year at the end of the year it was a good weekend.”
 
WHAT WAS YOUR DEBRIEF LIKE WITH TONY STEWART (CAR OWNER) AFTER DAYTONA 500, WHEN YOU WERE PERHAPS KICKING YOURSELF OVER THE FINISH OF THE RACE? WHAT IS HE TELLING YOU ABOUT PHOENIX? “I was. I was disappointed at the end of the race that I just didn’t have a better grasp as to what I needed to do to shoot for a better finish than where I was. Although….if they had just thrown that yellow, you know?  Third.  But you have to finish the race, I understand. That’s good for the sport when we finish under green. It makes it exciting. It really helped teach me. I feel like what happens at the end of the race and how to set them up. (Dale Earnhardt) Junior is really good at those big speedway races and knowing how to set things up. But, I just felt like…I was just frustrated that I didn’t have a better plan. Tony told me that he really thought that…he said ‘I really feel like you had more to lose in your position, than you had to gain by trying something. So I think that you did the right thing’. So that made me feel better – a little bit. Was I still mad that I went from third to eighth on the lap? No, I was still disappointed in it. But to have somebody like Tony Stewart say something to me like that was very kind, and it put it in perspective. I also Jimmie (Johnson) he did a nice job. We had a little conversation, and I said to him…he told me I did a nice job too. And I said I had wished I had a better plan, but thank you and I have a lot to learn. He said that the two wins he had, he didn’t have a plan, and sometimes you just have to take it on the fly and work with what happens in the moment. He very kindly later that day, at the end of the day said he’d seen the end of the race, and said, in his opinion, the only thing I could have done was back up to Junior when he backed up, but as far as what happened on the back straight when Junior went low, in his opinion, he thought I did the right thing. So to have somebody like Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson tell me that on some level I made good decisions out there at the very end, was a really nice thing for them to say. It makes me feel a little bit better. I still feel like I want to have a better plan in the future, but in that moment that I had made some good decisions. So, it was appreciated.
 
“When we had our competition meeting about the race, and we all kind of talked about what we were thinking going into Phoenix, and the track, and what issues we’d had from the year before. I feel like collaboratively we all had similar feelings. It’s always nice when we have the same opinion on what is about to happen the next weekend based on what we felt the year before.
Hopefully we’ll be…we just want to be better in qualifying. That is my personal goal for the weekend is to be able to improve from last year in the qualifying. Have a better run and feel good about it instead of being sideways in three and four (turns) and not qualifying very well. That’s what I’ll be working towards in this one session we have.”
 
COMPARE THE IMPORTANCE OF WHERE YOU ACTUALLY FINISH ON SUNDAY, VERSUS HOW MUCH YOU LEARN AND GROW ON FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND THROUGHOUT THE RACE ON SUNDAY? “I feel like the both lead to good things. If you learn and grow, you are going to finish better. That learning curve is different for everyone, which is why it is difficult to say where I should be at a certain point in time because you just don’t know at what point in time that an athlete or driver something is going to click and make sense, and you figure something out, and get more comfortable. I guess I would say the most important thing overall, if you look at the big picture, is to learn and grow. Good races and good finishes can just happen, and sometimes you don’t know why. Sometimes it’s because of other people’s misfortunes, your luck – which is a big part of the sport. But, learning is something that is going to pay off over time far more than being lucky one weekend.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR MINDSET AND CONFIDENCE COMING OUT OF DAYTONA IS THIS YEAR COMPARED TO WHAT YOU DEALT WITH LAST YEAR? “Completely different. It was a very difficult year last year at Daytona. It had the high of qualifying on the pole in the Nationwide race to having an accident with my teammate in the race. Then falling out of the Duel and the 500 at the worst possible times. It’s a nice reminder. I was hoping going into Daytona that I would be due a good weekend in Daytona, and sure enough it was. I feel like last year, maybe that frustration and exhaustion kind of spilled over into a couple of days of work during Phoenix week that I had to do to the weekend. Coming here again in the Nationwide car for the third or fourth time and being like 20th, and just feeling really kind of bad about myself, and storming off from all of you from pit lane, and deciding that I didn’t finish well enough to answer any questions. It is a different perspective. I feel just a little more mature. I feel like even if it would have been a weekend, I was more prepared to handle it. But, at this point in time, understanding that it is a whole new race, completely different track, and this is when the real season starts. Maybe I guess coming away feeling a little bit more calm; or humble; or understanding the ebb and flow of racing. I think that comes from having a good team around me that helps me understand that we are going to have good and back weekends, and we are going to stay together no matter what happens.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) and discussed racing at Phoenix, lessons learned from Daytona and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING ON THE TRACK HERE IN PHOENIX?
“We’re just looking forward to getting out on the track and seeing the difference in the tire and how that might be something I like better.  Hopefully, the car comes off the trailer pretty fast.  Just a lot of anticipation and nerves right now.  Just ready to see what kind of work we need to do and how close we are to being competitive.  We’re going to run a couple race runs and then we’ll go right into qualifying and get ready for qualifying later this afternoon.”
 
HOW MUCH OF TODAY’S PRACTICE IS MORE OF A TEST SESSION?
“It’s pretty time limited as far as practice goes, but the car shouldn’t be too different.  The chassis is really the same chassis and the splitter and everything is still there so the same fundamentals should work as far as nuts and bolts, springs and shocks and bump stops and stuff like that.  The body on the car is quite different so just how that aero is going to affect the setup and what adjustments you might need to make due to that  The tire is going to probably the biggest or I’m hoping the tires a big change because I haven’t ran good here since they repaved the place.  I’m hoping a change to the tire might be a move in a good direction for just me personally.  We’ll just have to see.”
 
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT WITH THE NEW CARS AT THIS RACE?
“I really don’t know what to expect.  I don’t think I would expect anything really different from what we saw last year.  This surface is very new.  For us to be able to put on the best race we can put on, the older surfaces, the surfaces that have a few more years on them tend to do better.  Tend to widen out and give us more grooves to run in the corners.  The tire change might help us in that direction in that regard.  The track being out here in the desert helps us.  This place should age pretty quickly, much like the beach — Daytona Beach.  It’s just a matter of time.  This thing will better and this track will get better and better.  I like the car.  Some places it’s going to look similar to what we had in the past and other places it might put on a pretty exciting show or a better show.  I think it will keep getting better.  I say it may put on a similar show at some places and that’s due to the surface really.  A lot of tracks have been repaved and they are just not widening out right off the bat.  When you put down a new surface its pretty single file for a couple years at least three or four races before we really start moving up the race track and changing lanes and running different grooves.”
 
HOW DID YOU FEEL AFTER TAKING A HARD HIT ON SATURDAY?
“I didn’t know how hard it was.  I was pretty good until we got into the fence.  I knew I was going to hit the fence because when I hit whoever, the 7 (Regan Smith) or whoever tore the right-front off, I couldn’t steer the car anymore so I knew I was going to hit the wall, but I wanted to stay in the gas long enough to cross the start-finish line and get whatever position I could.  The 99 (Alex Bowman) come from the infield up in front of us and we both hit the wall a good bit.  I was concerned just how my body was going to react to that and I was glad to be able — I felt pretty good after the wreck and that evening and the next day felt awesome and was able to get in the car and everything came naturally and was able to put together a good race.  I was real happy that I was able to pass a personal test I guess.  When you have concussions sometimes they’re easier to get the second, third, fourth time around so we survived that one.  We’ll move on and try not to get in anymore wrecks.”
 
WHY DID YOU START DRINKING CARROT JUICE?
“A buddy of mine was talking about this detox diet, it’s like a 15 day deal and for the first eight days you drink prune juice and then the last half of it you drink carrot juice so they were just picking on me, somebody that was talking in that podcast, I guess it was Mike Davis.  Just misinformed, I’m not drinking it all the time, but just during that little detox thing.  It was pretty tough too.  I was surprised I was able to make it.  It was like just fish, chicken and raw, steamed vegetables and then there was like two days where you just ate vegetables and fruit.  That was pretty tough for me to not have any meat.  I think the older you get the more you have to do to kind of maintain a healthy weight.  That’s really what it’s about for me is just trying to maintain my weight so I don’t have to keep getting my driver suits altered throughout the season.  Last year I was like, ‘Man, they’re shrinking, something is wrong with the washer.’  This off-season I lost a lot of weight, lost about 15 or 20 pounds and just trying to do a better job of managing my calories and stuff like that.  I never really worried about it before.  Just eat all kinds of stuff like pizza and wings and stuff every day and not really watching portion controls and stuff like that.  Just getting out of control so reining all that back in, not getting too crazy about it though.  I’m no health freak by no means.”
 
DOES THAT MEAN NO MORE HELLMAN’S FOR YOU?
“Well, you have to mix it in there every once in a while.  It’s part of the recipes.  Like I said, I’m not really a health freak or anything, but I am counting calories, I will say that.”
 
DO YOU APPROACH THIS RACE LIKE A MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACK OR A SHORT TRACK AND HOW MUCH TIME AND EFFORT HAS GONE INTO THE CAR FOR PHOENIX?
“We just can only test at certain tracks, we can’t test at tracks that are perfectly relative to Phoenix, but we can go to Nashville, which is as unnatural compared to Phoenix as you can get I guess.  We go out there and run around in circles and try to learn something.  It’s a tight box that we’re in as far as the testing goes and that’s got its pluses and minuses.  When we go test we’ll go to Gresham and Nashville and places like that and learn the limited amount of information you can learn.”
 
HOW MUCH VALUE IS THERE TO RUNNING THE NATIONWIDE CAR TO GET YOURSELF READY FOR SUNDAY?
“When the track is so unique such as Phoenix, I think it’s very valuable.  When it’s Daytona or Talladega where the drafting is completely different between the two cars and there’s not really anything to learn about the tire or about a setup or anything like that, there’s no real benefit other than just doing it for fun.  When you come to a technical race track that’s still relatively, the surface is new, the tire is new, everybody is still trying to find out a few secrets and gain some information on the competition then it’s a great opportunity.”
 
WHAT DID YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THE DAYTONA 500?
“We got off to a good start just like we did last year.  I really think that if you put yourself in a hole early, no matter how good of a team you are, you’re going to be one of those guys that are sitting there at Richmond or the last couple races before the Chase really digging and worried about your opportunities and position and worried about the guys that you have to beat.  You’ll be sitting in that 10th to 14th place position sweating it out.  It’s a distraction that I’d rather not have to put the team through or have to go through myself.  If we can put together a solid 10 races and get a good foundation of points together then we should be able to steadily maintain that throughout the rest of the regular season and go into the Chase comfortable and not have to really sweat
it out and start thinking that you can mentally prepare yourself for the Chase better I believe when you don’t have to worry about those last few races.  Mentally, it’s just easier and emotionally it’s easier.  That’s what I took away from that.  We certainly had a unique race.  Learned a lot about the drafting and how it’s different and hope to be able to take some of that stuff to Talladega and run well or do well.  Really it was about, I told one of my guys on my team that I’ll think about what I should have done different for the next 11 months until we get to go back to Daytona and try it again.  I should have went earlier to try to get to second sooner to have that lap or two that I needed to make a run on Jimmie (Johnson), but I was worried about getting freight-trained and going to the back like we had seen so many guys do throughout the race.  I was a little apprehensive and that’s why that move didn’t come sooner.  You learn a lot and learned a few lessons there that I can take and try to utilize at Talladega.  Other than that, it’s more about trying to get those points.  They are so important.”
 
DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR NASCAR TO COME AWAY FROM THE NATIONWIDE WRECK STRONGER FOR FANS WHERE THAT WAS THEIR ONLY EXPOSURE TO THE SPORT? “Absolutely and I think NASCAR is actively seeking solutions and alternatives to always make the sport safer, especially, we’ve done so much with the physical car itself.  There’s always opportunities and other areas where we can become a safer sport.  I’m sure that unfortunately incidents like that will draw attention, but in the long term a lot of positive things will come out of it.  That’s what I’m hoping anyways that we’re better off down the road because of what we experienced and it was a terrible experience for everyone that went through it.  It was difficult to watch and difficult to be a witness to, but I’m glad that no one was killed or anything like that.  That was my biggest fear was that we had lost a life or maybe multiple lives and that was going to be really difficult and it would have been really difficult to race the next day.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT NASCAR MEXICO RACING AT PHOENIX?
“I know that we’ve got more and more people from that country and from that region showing more interest in the sport.  There’s obviously a lot of involvement from NASCAR in Mexico and it’s growing with the series and everything.  Just a lot of interest as far as the drivers coming up here and trying to compete.  I think it’s exciting and just looking forward to seeing some of that result in good runs on the race track.  Some of them guys to come up here and run well and see what kind of talent they have to bring to the table and compete with.  I think the opportunities NASCAR can provide them down in Mexico will give them that avenue to be able to do that and to be able to come up here in some decent equipment and show what they can do.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHAT HAPPENED WITH JEREMY CLEMENTS?
“It’s really unfortunate.  It’s just really unfortunate that he chose to make that decision at that time to use that language.  I don’t like it and there’s no room for that in my life.  It’s just unfortunate that had to happen to him.  I hope he can get that sorted out and it just looks bad on the sport.  One person’s mistake looks bad on a lot of people and looks bad on the sport.  It’s just unfortunate.”
 
HOW DID THE DAYTONA 500 CHANGE WITH THE COMMUNICATION RESTRICTIONS?
“That’s kind of been the case for a little while now.  It seems like it was several years ago when we were able to do that when it’s really only been a few.  I really never liked that.  I never liked to have that much access to all the other drivers.  I didn’t like having to switch the panel on the dashboard with different guys I could go talk to and I rarely used it.  I didn’t run well in those races either.  It just wasn’t natural.  It didn’t feel natural.  I didn’t want to be in the middle of their conversations and I didn’t want to have that access.  I’m a bit old school in that regard where it just didn’t seem like something that we should be doing.  It didn’t seem like it was a comfortable practice for me.  I never was really fond of it and was glad when it was taken away.”