NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 30, 2016

CHASE ELLIOTT CAPTURES POLE POSITION AT TALLADEGA
Team Chevy Takes Top Three Spots in Qualifying

TALLADEGA, Ala. – (April 30, 2016) – Chase Elliott earned his second career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole with a fast lap of 49.704 seconds, 192.661 mph in his No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet SS for Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. He also won the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500 in February. This marks Elliott’s first pole at the 2.66-mile track.

It was Chevrolet’s 33rd pole at the longest track on the circuit, more than any other manufacturer.

Austin Dillon qualified second with a lap speed of 192.424 mph in the No. 3 Dow/Intellifresh Chevrolet SS. It is his fifth top-10 start of 2016 and his second in six races at Talladega Superspeedway.

Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate and defending race winner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was third fastest in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevy SS, giving Team Chevy the top three qualifying positions.

Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson qualified fifth in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, to give Hendrick Motorsports three cars in the Top 5 and Chevrolet four of the Top 5 starting spots.

In the knock-out style format, six Chevrolet SS race cars qualified in the final Top 12.

Paul Menard was 10th in the No. 27 Moen/Menards Chevy SS, and Kasey Kahne was 11th in his No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet.

Rounding out the Top 5 starters, Matt Kenseth (Toyota) qualified fourth.

The GEICO 500 from Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled to begin at 1 pm EST on Sunday May 1. Live coverage will be available on FOX, MRN Radio, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.

POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER

TALK ABOUT STARTING FIRST IN THE GEICO 500:
“Well we hope it goes better than starting first in February is the biggest thing. You have to realize, this is definitely a team effort. This isn’t anything about what I did. It’s about the kind of car we brought back and how good of a job my No. 24 guys and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports did fixing the car that I tore up in February. They did a great job with that and Alan Gustafson (crew chief) and those guys certainly have a knack for this stuff. They sat on a lot of poles as of late with Jeff (Gordon) over the past couple of years too. This is definitely special. I appreciate Napa Auto Parts being on the car and cool to get them another pole. For us we have to realize it’s just a starting spot and there is 500 miles of racing to do tomorrow that a lot can change in a hurry. You have to realize that. Really take advantage of our spot on pit road I think is the biggest thing. Having that first pit box at the end of the day is going to be more important than the starting spot. We will see how it turns out.”

RUNNING THE XFINITY RACE TODAY IS THERE ANYTHING YOU ARE HOPING TO LEARN FOR TOMORROW?
“I don’t know, maybe just getting on and off pit road, obviously getting back in the routine of doing that. Green flag stops can always throw a twist at you a time or two depending what is going on. I think other than that the drafting is very different. The style of drafting in the Cup cars versus Xfinity cars is very different. I think in that aspect it will be a little different.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW – ENERGY& WATER/INTELLIFRESH CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND

TALK ABOUT YOUR LAPS AND YOUR CAR HEADING INTO TOMORROW:
“I’m just proud of the guys at RCR/ECR. We struggled a little bit here the last couple of qualifying efforts for the speedways. To come out and have a shot at the pole is really big for our Dow/Intellifresh Chevy. I’m proud of all my guys. ECR did a good job bringing something a little different hopefully than the Daytona race. We felt like we needed to get better and I think they did.”

CONSIDERING WHAT THE GIBBS TEAMS DID IN DAYTONA CAN THEY DO THE SAME THING HERE AS FAR AS SEEMING TO JUST WORK TOGETHER OR IS IT MORE DIFFICULT HERE?
“No, they should be if they have the same speed, I don’t think they have the same speed as they did at Daytona. They lost something from the time they came from Daytona to Talladega. We will see how it goes. Just proud of our guys for building a fast race car. If you can get your teammates up there it definitely is a good place to have them up front so you can kind of block both lanes, but this place does seem to spread out. It’s just so much wider and handling doesn’t affect as much. I don’t think you will see the pack as spread out like Daytona because handling hasn’t been an issue all weekend yet.”

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO GET A WIN HERE?
“It would be huge. It’s a great place to do it at, exactly like you were saying. There is a lot of history here from Dale (Earnhardt) and RCR. It’s kind of the place… a lot of good stuff happens for RCR here. Hopefully, we can continue that streak of good runs for RCR here. We’ve got a car capable of doing that, obviously, with the qualifying effort. Man, I would love for it to be my first Cup win.”

DO YOU GET INTO ANYTHING ABOUT THE SYMBOLISM ABOUT THE NO. 24 AND THE NO. 3 CARS BEING ON THE FRONT ROW HERE?
“Yeah that is cool. I think that is very special. The No. 24 car, I think they have won probably three or four out of the last speedway poles; I’m not sure how many. That car, what they are doing, they are doing a good job. To be within the same speed range there that was good for us. I think we are going to have a solid place to go. That is stay up front at the beginning of this race.”

HOW BIG A FACTOR WAS THE WIND OUT THERE TODAY?
“I don’t think… it might have picked up there at the end. I did feel it right before our last run that the wind had picked up from the first run, but it also had cooled down. It’s kind of hard judging the difference between the two. Surely, it’s better to have no wind or the wind in the right direction for you, but it might have affected us a little bit. I think more than anything, probably, we were in the middle of the pack so our car could have cooled down a little bit more and not been as heat soaked as the No. 24.”

YOU ARE GOING TO RUN RIGHT INTO THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES RACE TODAY. HOW IS YOUR CAR? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE TODAY THAT YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO TRANSFER TO TOMORROW?
“Our Xfinity car was really solid. I feel like we have a great shot of winning this race and want to win this race. I will do what I can to stay up front, make smart moves and no mistakes and see if we can’t come home with another Victory in the Rheem Chevy.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 30, 2016

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
HOW MUCH DOES GETTING THE POLE HERE MEAN TO YOU?
“It’s obviously really special. They were just telling me that on this day 30 years ago I think Dad set the record here. That is pretty special. This has always been a special place to him and certainly great to be here and have the opportunity in Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, Napa Auto Parts to come be a part of this weekend. Like I said in Daytona, this is all team guys. This had nothing to do with me and they have brought a fast car back. This is our same car that we ran at Daytona. Unfortunately I didn’t bring it home in one piece, they had to fix it, but they did a great job doing that and hopefully we can just try to be smart, try to cut down on some of the dumb mistakes I made in February and try to give ourselves a shot and be there at the end.”

WHAT IS IS GOING TO TAKE TO STAY AT THE FRONT OF THE PACK?
“I do think racing and trying to stay up front is important. It’s obviously much easier said than done, but I think for us having a good pit road selection is very important. I think that becomes a big factor at the end of the day when you come on to pit road with a big group of cars and being able to run down pit road and have that first box is big. Hopefully, that helps, but you’ve got to get to the end of the day for that to matter. Unfortunately, I didn’t do that in February so hopefully we can do that tomorrow and see how it goes.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Talladega–Team Qualifying →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 30, 2016

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
“This is definitely a special place. It’s cool to get it done today. This is a team effort and those guys and everybody at the No. 5 and No. 24 shop, in particular, and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and the Hendrick engine department and obviously NAPA Auto parts. But man, this is cool. Those guys do such a good job. And as I said in Daytona, this had nothing to do with me. This is the car that we had. This is the same car we had in Daytona. They brought another fast one here.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT THE DAYTONA 500 THAT YOU CAN USE HERE AT TALLADEGA?
“Well, obviously I have a lot to learn. The race last time at Daytona didn’t go so good. Hopefully for me, I’ll just try to take what I learned and try to cut down those dumb mistakes that I made in the Daytona 500 this year and just try to be smarter. We have a great pit box, which I think is big here for pit road and track position. It’s so important at the end of the day. The first thing is making to the end and obviously I didn’t do a very good job of that in February. So, I think that’s our first goal is to try to get to the end of the race; and if we can get there, just try to be smart. We’re excited. This is cool. This is a team effort, and certainly they did a good job.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 29, 2016

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed what it takes to win at Talladega, superspeedway strategy, the lugnut issue, and more. Full Transcript:
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING INTO SUNDAY’S RACE AT TALLADEGA?
“I’m just ready to start the race and get qualifying done and figure out how the weather is going to be. Practice here is a little bit of fun because you just get out there and see what kind of car you’ve got. But you don’t really know for sure until you get out there with 43 guys. Everything acts a little bit different once everybody is on the race track together. So, the anticipation to get out there in the race is very high. Whereas, at other race tracks during Friday and Saturday, you really are working and grinding through practice and working on a lot of balance issues. We’re not really dealing with any of that stuff here. The real anticipation is ramping up for the race itself and qualifying is what it is. We’ll go out there and see where we end up. I think we’ve got a pretty good car. I don’t really know for sure how good it is. We did have to put a whole new front end on it, so I’m sure it’s different one way or the other. I wouldn’t expect it to be exactly the same. So, hopefully those guys improved it just a little bit more and we’ll have a good race on Sunday.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Talladega–Dale Earnhardt Jr. →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 29, 2016

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed splitting driver duties with Ty Dillon this weekend at Talladega, the Driver Council, recent issues regarding lugnuts, and more. Full Transcript:

IT SEEMS LIKE THE SAME DRIVERS ARE WINNING AT THE PLATE TRACKS, REPEATEDLY. WHY IS THAT?
“I think it’s the same philosophy as it has been as far as drivers knowing what to do and what to look for as far as how to read what they need with their cars in practice to know how to pass in the race. You look at the guys that are really good at these places it is guys that are good at both Daytona and Talladega and they know how to work the draft. I think it’s kind of a second wave of drivers since Dale Earnhardt has been gone, that have really figured it out. I think Dale (Earnhardt) Junior and I had a pretty good run together when we were doing tandems together. It seemed like we always got hooked-up at the end of the races here. The unfortunate part is that I always got the lower end of the deal finishing second, but he always won. But as far as I was concerned on points, that was a pretty good day for us to finish second here. We were willing to do that a lot here. I think it’s just that guys have figured out how to pass and how to get that momentum and how to get enough momentum to get by without the car stalling out.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Talladega–Tony Stewart →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 29, 2016

TY DILLON, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed subbing for Tony Stewart, the difference between driving Richard Childress Racing prepared Chevrolet’s and Stewart-Haas Racing equipment, the prospects of winning on Sunday and many other topics. Full Transcript:

ON DOING DOUBLE DUTY:
“Definitely going to be a busy weekend for us with everything going on on the Cup side, but we are coming off a lot of momentum from last week. It was a great run for us winning the Dash for Cash from Xfinity and finishing second and having an opportunity to win the race. We come here with a lot of momentum. I love this race track. I’ve won here before in the ARCA series. I’m excited get out there and be a part of both races.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Talladega–Ty Dillon →

CORVETTE RACING AT MONTEREY: Strong History at Laguna Seca
Seven class victories and three wins in last four seasons at Monterey

Gavin, Milner enter with GTLM points lead, Rolex and Sebring wins
Garcia, Magnussen went back-to-back in 2013-14
Corvette Racing with 99 victories in program history

DETROIT (April 27, 2016) – Corvette Racing will wrap up its two-race swing on the West Coast at one of its most successful venues – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for a two-hour sprint race near the Monterey coast. The Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix presented by Mazda is the team’s third race of the season and last before the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A victory Sunday would be Corvette Racing’s eighth at the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit on the Monterey Peninsula and fourth in five seasons. Four different models of Corvette have won races there including the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R that won in 2013 and 2014.

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, drivers of the No. 4 Corvette C7.R, were winners in the 2012 race in the previous-generation Corvette C6.R. The pairing is the hottest driver in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. They opened the season with victories in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

They seemed on their way to a victory two weeks ago at Long Beach – which would have been No. 100 for Corvette Racing – before another GTLM competitor knocked Milner from the lead with two minutes left. He and Gavin still managed to place second and lead the class Driver’s Championship by 18 points, while Chevrolet leads the Manufacturer Championship by five points.

Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R won in 2013 and 2014 at Laguna Seca. They are looking to end a string of bad luck that resulted in ninth-place finishes in their last two events. They were runners-up to the No. 4 Corvette at Daytona.

The Continental Tire Grand Prix of Monterey for GTLM and Prototype entries is set for 11:15 a.m. PT on Sunday. It will air live on FOX Sports 1 with audio coverage from IMSA Radio is available on IMSA.com.

Corvette Racing Display on Location in Monterey
Corvette Racing fans will have plenty to see and do at Laguna Seca. In addition to the on-track activity for Corvette Racing and Corvette Daytona Prototypes, the Corvette Racing Display will be open starting Friday morning. Fans can learn all they need to know about Chevrolet and see a number of Chevy attractions:

• Award-winning Chevrolet 2016 production vehicles such as the Colorado Diesel – the 2016 Motor Trend Truck of the Year – and the Camaro – the 2016 Motor Trend Car of the Year
• Additional Chevrolet vehicles including Silverado HD, Malibu, Cruze, Equinox and Corvette Stingray
• A Corvette C7.R show car
• Samples of Chevrolet engines, performance parts and accessories available to fans for purchase from their local Chevrolet dealer
• A variety of Chevrolet and racing related activities for adults and kids
• Commemorative t-shirts for fans who sign up with Corvette Racing.

The Corvette Racing display opens at 8 a.m., Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Jan and I are in a similar situation as when we arrived at Laguna Seca in 2013. We had a fast Corvette and were in contention during a number of races prior, but we finally broke through for our first win together in Monterey. It was a great race and very satisfying. We arrive again looking to turn around our fortunes. We’ve led every race this year but haven’t gotten the results we feel we deserve. Hopefully we can break through before we head to Le Mans.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a fun track to drive and really one of my favorites. There are passing opportunities at the final turn and the hairpin, and you can also grab an opportunity at the Corkscrew but you really have to commit. With split races for the classes this weekend run over two hours, the weekend is going to be really interesting. If we don’t have any yellows, then two hours is going to be right on the limit of trying to make it on one stop. The place here at Laguna really has an awesome flow to it. After the Andretti hairpin you can really get an brilliant run through the next flow of corners up to the Corkscrew.

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Laguna Seca is one of the best venues for sports car racing in America. It’s a fantastic area and that adds to the history of the track and motorsport in the Monterey area. It also helps that Corvette Racing – and myself personally – has had a great deal of success at Laguna Seca over the years. Tommy and I have great momentum after the first three rounds of the season. What happened at Long Beach is still disappointing but we would all like nothing more than to get back on a winning track in Monterey before we prepare for Le Mans.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Long Beach is over and everyone on the No. 4 Corvette team is ready to move on to Laguna Seca. It’s a great place to be and is one of my favorite stops on our schedule. You face a number of challenges with small mistakes potentially leading to bigger problems. Keeping the car on the track and out of the sand and gravel is a priority. Fortunately we have a Corvette that brakes and turns well in the mid-speed corners that make up the layout. Leaving here with the points lead and a victory would give us great momentum ahead of our return to Le Mans in June.”

DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “The Monterey Peninsula is certainly the most panoramic region we visit, and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is one of the most formidable circuits on which we race. From the iconic Corkscrew to the windblown sand, this place presents every driver with daunting challenges at every corner. After our brush with victory in Long Beach, I can assure you all our guys are totally engaged and fully prepared to give our fans what they pay to see and move on to Le Mans on a positive note.”