NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 12, 2013
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 WIX FILTERS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and discussed, racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, being a free agent in 2014 and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
A THREE TIME WINNER HERE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY TALK A LITTLE ABOUT COMING INTO NEW HAMPSHIRE THIS WEEKEND:
“Well I have different circumstances there is no doubt about that.  For me it’s a track position race.  I’ve always talked about that and the fact that it’s important to qualify well.  You get a limited number of chances to adjust on your race car and tune your race and work in those windows that either the cautions or the green flag runs give you.  Excited it’s big for this weekend for Wix Filters I believe it’s our first race this year on the Cup side and they are also sponsoring the modified which is a lot of fun for me to come up here and race.  I’ve said before this is the birthplace of track position and a lot of weight is put on the teams and the performance of the entire weekend in qualifying.  We didn’t have the best of practices, but I think we have a car that is better than we did practice speed wise.  We will see what we can prove with the Wix Filters Chevrolet in qualifying.  We spent the entire time in qualifying trim so we will switch over and get some race trim in tomorrow.  We did come up here and test and feel we have a little leg up because we had a good test up here.
 
“Let me just go ahead and say before you guys ask any questions.  This is an opportunity for me to come up here and answer probably five or six questions, but all at once. The ability to save my time and your time every time somebody else asks the same question my answer doesn’t usually get as good so let me do it here all at once.  I’m aware of what happened this morning and the announcement with Tony (Stewart) and Kevin (Harvick) and what SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing) plans are.  I’ve had a good run.  I look forward to finishing out this year.  We have great sponsors in Quicken Loans, Wix Filters, Aspen Dental, Code 3 Associates, Outback they have all done us well.  Look forward to the opportunity to make the Chase, winning races and putting ourselves to have a chance to win a championship that’s my ultimate goal and it always has been. I do not know what my future holds.  I have no idea right now.  I didn’t have any idea at this time last year.  That is something that weighs on my shoulders.  I have a little homework to do.  That is part of racing and part of the situation that I’m in.  I can’t say that I’m happy with how everything unfolded.  I know that there are business decisions and business decisions sometimes trump friendships.  I don’t feel like that was the case, but in the end I’m happy with the three wins that I’ve had so far with Stewart-Haas and the performance and the cars and everything else.  There will be a change for me in 2014 and I don’t know what that change is.”
 
AT WHAT POINT DID THIS BECOME FINALIZED FOR YOU?
“I got a phone call from Tony (Stewart) on Wednesday about 20 minutes to seven and we talked for basically 20 minutes.  That was it.  His phone call was about making the announcement and that I would not be a part of Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. That was it.
 
“His stress was the importance of our friendship and that to me will never change.  We’ve only ever argued over how hard we race.  That is the kind of friends Tony and I are.  There is a chance that we might do that again in the future, but we have a great friendship and I look forward to keeping that.  That was the main point of our conversation outside of the obvious of 2014.  That was my first knowledge of what I won’t be doing.  I’ve been a free agent ever since I signed my contract last year in September for 2014 and had the ability to look around.  I will continue to do that.  At this point I do not know what or where I will be.”
 
IN YOUR MIND WHAT WOULD BE AN IDEAL SITUATION FOR YOU IN 2014?
“I don’t know. There are organizations out there that are capable of winning championships and capable of racing I guess into the Chase to give themselves and opportunity at a championship.  It’s obvious that there are some seats that are moving around and becoming available and potentially coming available.  To me I first and foremost want to be wanted for my ability.  Ability behind the wheel as well as what I can do for the sponsors.  That is the most important part.  It’s not easy out there with the economy and what it takes to run one of these race teams financially.  It’s not easy; sponsorship is not at its peak in NASCAR.  There are a lot of things to be considered, but I was sincere when I said it I want to be someplace where I’m wanted.  I want to be wanted for my abilities and the desires that we have as common goals to win a championship.  Every driver out there wants to win a championship.  Every driver out there wants to win races.  It’s the desire that you have to fight through all the things I think that make and separate the men from the boys I guess you could say.”   
 
WE ARE GOING TO YOUR HOME TRACK IN TWO WEEKS.  WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO GET A WIN AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY?
“I think for Tony (Stewart) to him it’s more like home court.  To me it’s more like home state and the essence of the history of the speedway and the history of speed at the speedway.  Indianapolis is to auto racing what Daytona is to auto racing in a different way.  The history of speed, the history of land speed, the history of a lot of racing, the great drivers that have crossed that yard of bricks and I say it every year I want to be on that list of winners at that race track.  That is what means a lot to me.  It’s not a brand new facility it is a facility with an awesome history and being a part of that history is one of my personal goals. Yes, it’s big, it’s huge and Tony (Stewart) has been fortunate enough to win it and I’ve been close.  I still want it.”
 
DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMITMENTS FROM ANY OF YOUR CURRENT SPONSORS TO GO WITH YOU TO WHATEVER RACE TEAM YOU MAY END UP AT?  DO YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE YOU WILL BE IN CUP NEXT YEAR?
“I have no idea on any part of it.  There are no answers that I have.  Obviously, I have my own homework to do.  I have no answers with respect to any of that at this point.”
 
DID OTHER TEAMS LOOK AT YOU THAT WAY?  DID YOU HAVE ANY CONVERSATIONS AT LEAST PRELIMINARY TALKS RIGHT OFF THE BAT LAST YEAR OR EARLY IN THIS SEASON?
“I haven’t had much for conversations.  I’ve really been focused on this year and performing the way I think we are capable of.  We had a brand new team when we started this season.  Matt Borland was an experienced crew chief, but our entire organization within the No. 39 side was brand new.  A lot of guys had never even come to a Cup garage before let alone worked on a race car in the Cup garage.  That’s been a learning process for us.  I think it slowed us down a little bit.  I think we have gained a lot of experience in the first 18 races or whatever that we can provide more experience for the next few to be able to have a better chance at the championship.  We are not out of this chance for the Chase.  We are not out of anything right now.  I think we are 17 points out of 10th.  There is a lot of racing left to go, a lot of points to be had.  I’ve been really focused on this year more so than next year.  As we go through this timing of the season,
the silly gets even sillier.  You never know what becomes available.”
 
LOOKING AT THE SPONSORSHIP LANDSCAPE DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO BRING SPONSORSHIP?  ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO MAYBE COBBLE TOGETHER SOME SORT OF DEAL TO BRING TO A TEAM GIVEN THAT THERE AREN’T ANY TEAMS THAT SORT OF HAVE OPEN RIDES WITH CARS WAITING?
“As an engineer we don’t like to use the word cobble (laughs).  It takes everything.  It takes a good team with the right resources, it takes the financial side of it and it takes the driver that can guide the rocket.  Yeah, that is part of the homework is putting all those things together.  Then you have to throw in the personalities of everything and putting people together because even if I am a top 10 driver in my opinion if I don’t have the right crew or the right cars or the right downforce or whatever it is it’s not going to work out.  All those things have to work right.  I want to be competitive.  I’m not going to go out there and just find a ride.  I want to find a ride with somebody that has the same goals and perspectives as I do.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 12, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and discussed racing at New Hampshire, the championship contenders and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT BEING BACK AT NEW HAMPSHIRE AND HOW WAS PRACTICE THIS MORNING?:  “Obviously from those numbers, I like it here.  We tested here and it’s always beneficial to test.  I thought we had a pretty challenging practice.  Conditions I think changed from the test quite a bit on us and even just how quickly things are advancing with the sport.  You come here whatever it was two months ago and just going week to week and how the setups evolved, speed in the cars, learning more and so here we are trying new things and completely different things than what we even tested here.  Some of the things worked and some of the things didn’t work, but we ended the practice on a positive note with some good qualifying runs.  Looking forward to qualifying and hopefully we can make a few more gains and get us a solid starting position and then learn what we learn from today and apply it to tomorrow to get ready for the race on Sunday.  It’s always a track I look forward to.”
 
DO YOU FEEL THE BANKING AT NEW HAMPSHIRE OR DO YOU CONSIDER IT MORE A FLAT TRACK?:  “Yeah, from where I’m sitting it feels like it has negative banking.  It’s very, very flat.”
 
DO YOU PLAN TO RACE UNTIL YOU’RE 71 YEARS OLD LIKE MORGAN SHEPHERD AND HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HIM RACING AT THAT AGE?:  “I think everyone is made different and how they apply themselves and stay healthy.  I think a doctor and Morgan (Shepherd) are the ones that decide that and I think that should be the case with every individual.  I think if you are taking good care of your body and you pass all the physicals then should there be a little bit more strenuous type of workout to pass that physical examination to make sure that you are prepared at that age?  Maybe, but I think if you’re out there capable of doing it and you are willing to do it and you pass the physical then I think you should be allowed to do it.  I think that’s quite an accomplishment I will say.  We talk about how amazing it is to see Mark Martin out there being competitive over 50 years old, but to just go out there and do what he does as far as Morgan is concerned at 71, that’s amazing.  And no you will not see me out there doing that at 71.”
 
HOW DO YOU JUDGE YOUR COMPETITIVENESS AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON AND ARE YOU EXCITED FOR INDIANAPOLIS?:  “Competitiveness versus results are two different things for me right now.  We’ve really struggled this year.  Earlier in the year with the competitiveness and then we started to get into competitiveness in the cars just driving better and more to my liking and the speed being there.  I think we’ve maybe have had it during the race most of the year, but qualifying we’ve struggled so that’s something that we’ve been working on and I was very pleased with what happened at Kentucky and I hope we can see some more progress there on the mile-and-a-halves.  On these types of tracks we’ve been pretty competitive qualifying and in the race so I hope that continues.  I’m very much looking forward to Indianapolis.  Same thing kind of applies to Indy as it does here, we tested there which is always great and beneficial, but things have evolved since that test and I think our cars have improved since that test and we’ll be trying to apply that when we get there.  All signs of that test and things that we have planned, I’m very excited.  We had a shot of winning that race a couple years ago and I always go to that track with confidence and feeling good.  When the car and the team feeling the same way then that’s a great combination to have.”
 
DO YOU SEE JIMMIE JOHNSON AND MATT KENSETH SEPARATING THEMSELVES FROM THE FIELD IN THIS CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE AS FAR AS BEING IN CONTENTION FOR WINS?:  “I would say that certainly up to this point they have and I agree with you.  I think both of those guys could have won more races than that.  The difference is that the way it used to be is you separated yourself through your consistency, especially if you won a bunch of races and top-fives and nobody had a chance of ever catching you.  It was over.  Even if your momentum didn’t quite continue the last 10 races of the year, you had such a stretch that you could just kind of give and take a little bit or maybe maintain the momentum and killed it like we did in 1998 where we just continued that all the way to the final race.  With the Chase, that’s what changes.  All of the sudden everything gets reset and all of the sudden you might have a small advantage based on your wins, but basically it’s something that you’re all on a clean slate now and you have to put the best 10 races that you’ve put together all season long right then and there to win the championship.  That really just in itself breaks up the momentum that you had.  I always feel like the best teams always win the championship.  It seems like they throughout the season build that team up and when the Chase starts, the guys that executed the best are the ones that win it.  I think the 2 (Brad Keselowski) had that last year and the 14 (Tony Stewart) the year before, even though he didn’t have any momentum, they did everything they needed to do to put themselves in position to go and execute well and put a championship run together.  We’ve seen the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) do that as well.  Right now I think it’s the 48’s to lose.  They’ve been so strong and because they’ve won five championships, you don’t expect them to go away anytime soon and you don’t expect them to lose that momentum when the Chase starts.  Because it is the Chase, anything is possible and can happen.”
 
WHY AREN’T OTHER TEAMS DOING WELL BEING RECOGNIZED AS CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS?:  “I think it’s just history.  The dominance that Jimmie (Johnson) and the 48 team have had over the years and the records that they continue to set or break draw a lot of attention and I think that what they need is a good rival.  That’s I think what creates a great story.  I think people and even the media and the competitors, you want to have somebody that you love to hate.  Unless you’re that team winning all the time, you’re not going to be real happy about them when they go to victory lane.  You’re going to want to figure out how to beat them.  I think that’s kind of where people are, but he’s also building just a heck of a resume and stats sheet and just doing unbelievable things that I don’t think truly and I’ve said this for years, I don’t think will truly be respected until years down the road.  It’s unfortunate for those guys because it seems like every time they do something amazing and good, they get a little bit of recognition, but then it’s more of they are stinking up the show, this is not good for the sport and I find that to be pretty unfair.  I think they probably don’t care a whole lot about it either after they’re celebrating the victory.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO PEOPLE THINKING A CREW CHIEF CHANGE WILL AUTOMATICALLY MAKE A TEAM START WINNING RACES?:  “First of all, I don’t think anybody should speak to, everybody can have their own opinions and with Twitter and Facebook and the internet these days, the opinions flow freely and everybody has a voice.  That’s great and it’s cool that people are interacting that way.  I don’t think anybody can really give true criticism unless they’re inside the organization and they see the re
lationship and they are in the meetings or they see how we work together at the track and away from the track.  To me, I’ve put as much blame on myself this year as I have when we’re not qualifying well, I feel like that I haven’t given the effort to the team.  I know our cars are better than that and then there’s been times where we’ve made mistakes and we’ve had freaky crazy things happen to us and I’m always a big believer on it’s not about luck, it’s about making your own luck and through preparation and hard work and putting yourself in position for good things to happen.  It seems like every time we get ourselves in that position something changes and those are things that are not a crew chief’s fault or driver’s fault or a team or crew member’s fault.  I don’t know if you’re speculating to Alan (Gustafson, crew chief), but he is one of the best crew chiefs in this garage area and anytime that I see or hear that, it frustrates me because I know how good he is.  Trust me, nobody is more frustrated with our performance this year than I am and our team is because it’s not because of lack of effort.  We know what our teammates are capable of doing and are doing and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be right there along with them.  We’ve changed crew chiefs, teams, pit crews, we’ve done everything over the years to try to keep up with the 48 and it hasn’t been successful yet, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to keep trying and that just shows you how good those guys are and I love my loyal fans that will go with me all the way to the bottom of the ocean even if it was my fault.  That’s just loyalty and you have to love that.”
 
DO YOU FOLLOW DRIVERS ARE TWITTER?:  “Yeah I do.”
 
DO YOU FOLLOW JIMMIE JOHNSON OR READ WHAT HE TWEETS?:  “And I have a lot of fans that are usually talking to both of us so I see his Twitter handle and a lot of tweets that are tweets to me or tweets to him.”
 
DOES JIMMIE JOHNSON COME ACROSS MORE INTERESTING ON TWITTER?:  “Maybe I don’t follow him quite as much as you do.  The thing is I don’t have to follow him to know how interesting he is because I’ve partied with the guy.  I’ve hung out with Jimmie enough to know that he’s a very interesting, great person and works very hard at being as good as he is and there is no surprise there.  Twitter, I think a good bit of his personality comes out in his tweets and again I’m not following it quite as much as maybe you are or others.  He’s mixing it up and having fun and being loose and I think that’s the great thing about Twitter is everybody gets to see a different side of you as well as they get to interact with you.  It’s a great tool or great fun to have.”
 
ARE YOU MORE FUN OFF TWITTER?:  “I am.  I had a pretty good night last week.  Everybody thought my Twitter account had been hacked because I actually said some comments and kind of got outside my norm and all of the sudden everybody thought this was not Jeff (Gordon) and somebody had hacked my Twitter account.  I didn’t know how to take that exactly.  Sort of hurt my feelings.  I guess I’m definitely more fun when I’m not on Twitter.”
 
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RUN INDIANAPOLIS IN A CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT IN AN INDYCAR?:  “That’s a good question.  Honestly, the whole time I was there I didn’t think about that at all.  I know that might be odd, but I really just was thinking of it from a purely entertainment standpoint seeing my son see a different kind of car and just whether he’s entertained by it or not.  Most of it was for him and my nephew who was also with me.  For me it was being amazed at how fast those cars go through those corners, corners that I’m used to going through at much slower speeds and just the technology of the cars.  Would I like to drive one of those cars somewhere?  Yeah, I would.  My biggest thing that holds me back from doing a lot of things is I want to be competitive in whatever it is I’m in and I know if I go run five or 10 laps whether it be a rally car or an IndyCar or whatever car, that’s not enough for me to go be competitive and if I can’t go be competitive in it then I usually don’t have fun.  That’s just my personality.  It’s not about just sliding the car sideways or feeling it stick at 220 mph, it’s about can I be as fast as somebody else and so no, honestly that didn’t persuade me to want to go do it.  As a matter of fact, when I was speaking to (James) Hinchcliffe and then moments later he’s spinning back into the wall, the guy barely flinched and he couldn’t catch it and I felt bad for him and also thought I had no desire to go get in that car.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING NASCAR NEEDS TO CONSIDER CHANGING ON THE CARS BEFORE NEXT YEAR’S DAYTONA 500?:  “I will say that the way we approached the July race was a lot different than February where we saw guys really get in line and run that high line a lot more in July where guys were a lot more racy and pushing the limits and trying to get that track position and working with other guys to do that — and girls.  I thought the racing was really good.  The only thing that being out front is a little bit too much of an advantage right now.  It’s very hard to organize a group to pass the leader.  Even that run that Tony (Stewart) got coming into three and through three and four, he got a pretty good push from the 29 (Kevin Harvick) and it didn’t materialize as much as I thought it would.  Seemed like it just stopped pretty quick.  I think that looking at some of the aero package, I like the way the cars drive and I like how we are able to mix it up and be three-wide and that has a little to do with the draginess and downforce of the car, but if there was something to allow a car to get a little more of a sling shot on the leader, that would be the only thing I would recommend.  Don’t know if I know enough how to make that happen, but that’s what I would shoot for.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 12, 2013
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and discussed racing this weekend at New Hampshire, the addition of Kevin Harvick and Budweiser to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT BEING IN NEW HAMPSHIRE THIS WEEKEND:
“I’m excited to be here this is a track that’s definitely been good to us for sure.  We used the third of our four tests that we are allotted to come up here a couple of weeks ago and see if we could get our cars a little better for here.  I’m looking forward to seeing how it pans out this weekend.”
 
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF KEVIN HARVICK AND BUDWEISER JOINING STEWART-HAAS RACING? CAN YOU GIVE US YOUR VERSION OF HOW IT ALL CAME DOWN:
“Oh I’m excited it’s something that obviously has been in the works for a while. I think Gene (Haas) is really excited about having him and I know I’m excited about having him as well.  The entire organization is excited about having him come on board.  It was a lot of work to get to that. It started two years ago, I guess, was the thought process of hiring another driver.  Just went through those steps obviously to get where we are today.  It’s not something that a decision was made overnight there were a lot of processes in between that made it a long journey, but we are here.”
 
WITH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WITH NOW HAVING THREE DRIVERS FOR NEXT YEAR HOW DOES THIS IMPACT RYAN NEWMAN, HIS PROGRAM, ARE YOU GUYS READY TO EXPAND TO A FOURTH TEAM?
“No, we are not ready to expand to a fourth team.  Unfortunately, this will be the last year that we have Ryan (Newman) with us.  That’s probably what has made this a bittersweet day. I’m bringing in another one of my friends to the organization, but also knowing that I’m losing a friend at the end of the year to the organization.  The number one thing when Ryan and I spoke is that our friendship will not change.  This was a business decision that was Gene’s (Haas) as well as mine and it was a hard decision.  There is a personal side and there is a business side. For Ryan and I we had to put the personal bit of it aside to work through the business part.  I’ll do everything I can to help Ryan in any way I can moving forward to try to help him in his effort to find another team next year.  I’m behind him 100 percent.  I believe in him 100 percent.  I truly wish we were able to facilitate four teams at this time.  We are just not able to do that.  Down the road I’m sure if that becomes a possibility that he will most definitely will be on the list to fill the fourth seat again.”
 
DO YOU HAVE THE REST OF THE CAR FOR KEVIN HARVICK SOLD OR ARE YOU STILL LOOKING FOR SPONSORSHIP FOR HALF THE SEASON?
“We are still looking right now.  We have been in discussions with many companies right now and got a long way with multiple companies at this point.  We have a lot of confidence that will be taking care of very shortly.”
 
WHEN TEAM OWNERS ARE LOOKING FOR DRIVERS TO FILL SEATS A LOT OF TIMES THEY LOOK AT COMPETITORS THAT WILL PUSH OTHER COMPETITORS IS THAT ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS OTHER THAN YOUR FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM THAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR HIM BECAUSE HE’S OF THE CALIBER OF DRIVER THAT HE WOULD PUSH YOU TO UP YOUR GAME AS WELL?
“Well and Ryan (Newman) did that too and that was exactly why we hired Ryan, but it is exactly that way with Kevin (Harvick) as well.  It’s somebody that because of our working relationship when I drove the Nationwide car I know how competitive he is.  I know how much he pushes the guys.  I know how he pushes myself as a driver and I know how we communicated and that’s a big factor is communication.  It is what you said as well as the communication factor and the fact that we know each other so well.”
 
KEVIN (HARVICK) TALKED ABOUT WHEN HE SIGNED THIS DEAL THERE WAS NO ASSURANCES THAT BUDWEISER WAS GOING TO GO ALONG WITH HIM CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOUR TEAM SORT OF MADE THAT HAPPEN AND ALSO DOES THIS MEAN THE END OF SCHLITZ IN TONY STEWART’S LIFE?
“Yeah, I’m finally upgrading to the good stuff.  Feel like the Jefferson’s now I’ve moved up.  Yeah, it’s the end of my Schlitz era.  I can’t say that it’s terribly disappointing.  Now I get to drink the good stuff everyday guilt free.
 
“Brett Frood is obviously as you guys know a big crucial part we run our business at Stewart-Haas and Brett is the one that pretty much knows all the answers to that question about how we worked with Budweiser to get to this point.  Brett was very much a driving force in working with them to see if they wanted to come over here.”
 
KEVIN (HARVICK) TALKED ABOUT ONE OF THE REASONS HE MADE THE MOVE IS TO REJUVENATE HIS CAREER TO KIND OF GET THINGS SPICED UP AGAIN.  YOU KIND OF DID THE SAME THING WHEN YOU WENT OVER TO STEWART-HAAS RACING AND MATT (KENSETH) SEEMED TO HAVE DONE THE SAME THING. DOES IT JUST COME A POINT IN A DRIVERS LIFE WHERE YOU KIND OF FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO SHAKE THINGS UP?
“Yeah, I think with different drivers at different times.  That is why you see in this series you will see driver/crew chief combinations like Ray Evernham and Jeff (Gordon) when Ray went and made his move and did something different.  It does work that way there are times when you feel like that things get stagnant.  It doesn’t mean you don’t respect and don’t care about the people that you are working with, but sometimes you just need something new and something that brings that intensity back to 100 percent.  I think this will do that for Kevin.”
 
IS THE BUDWEISER DEAL JUST WITH KEVIN HARVICK’S CAR OR IS THERE ADDITIONAL BUSINESS TO BUSINESS WITH THAT?
“As far as I know it’s just with Kevin’s car so far as far as I’m aware.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHERE THE NO. 48 TEAM IS NOW?  PEOPLE ARE SAYING THIS IS JIMMIE’S (JOHNSON) CHAMPIONSHIP TO LOSE, BUT AS WE SAW A FEW YEARS AGO EVERYBODY WAS SAYING THE SAME THING AND YOU CAME AND WON IT.  ARE THEY THAT FAR AHEAD WHERE NOBODY CAN CATCH THEM NOW? 
“I think history shows that you guys are smart enough to know this is a race to race scenario.  Everything can change in a week and can change in the matter of a month.  This is always been a technology based sport and they definitely have things going right, right now.  I don’t see it changing and taking a turn for the worst by any means.  They never have, the history shows that as well.  I don’t know that you can predict it at this point.  Jimmie’s championship the year that I won was one wreck at Charlotte in turn two changed his whole championship season.  I wouldn’t be putting anybody’s name on the trophy yet.  It’s way too early for that.  There are a lot of organizations that can get things going before the Chase and there are the same amount of organizations on top of that that can get something going during the Chase as we saw in 2011.   I think that is how you bench it.” 
  

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY TORONTO – 2 IN T.O.
STREETS OF TORONTO
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT                                    
JULY 12, 2013
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at the Streets of Toronto, and discussed racing at his hometown street course, the season to date and other topics. Full transcript:
 
DO YOU HAVE A ‘LOVE-HATE’ RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR HOME TRACK IN TORONTO?:  “Yeah, no I love coming home to Toronto and this race is something that I’ve been coming to since I was a toddler and a lot of my earliest memories of anything, never mind racing memories come from right here.  It’s a special place.  To get to come back here and now be on the other side of the fence and the guy on track putting on a show for the Canadian fans is something very special.  As you said, it’s a little bit of a love-hate relationship because I’ve never got particularly well here, which is unfortunate.  There’s always another year and here we are again so hopefully we can turn that around.”
 
HOW HAS YOUR SEASON BEEN TO DATE CLAIMING THE MOST WINS?:  “It certainly hasn’t gone the way that anyone would have predicted, to have three wins at this point, but then also five races or something outside the top-10.  We certainly haven’t been the model of consistency.  We’ve been fast and obviously the wins have been great and I wouldn’t trade those for anything because they are all so special and to get to win at this level is very difficult.  To have a team capable of doing what we’ve done this year is phenomenal so we just need to keep doing what we have been doing because some of the bad results haven’t necessarily been caused by things on our end.  Some of it is luck and some of it is getting caught up in other people’s things, it’s just part of the sport.  We just need to keep our head down and hopefully we can get the GoDaddy car back up front this weekend.”
 
HOW DO YOU COMPARE TORONTO TO TRACKS YOU HAVE HAD SUCCESS ON THIS SEASON?:  “It compares favorably because two of the wins have come on street circuits so that is certainly a strong starting point and with Ryan (Hunter-Reay) having won the race last year, we’re coming here with a good base and that’s going to be so important because with this doubleheader format we only get one practice session before we head into qualifying.  Qualifying here is monumentally important.  It’s a very tricky street circuit and I think it requires more setup compromise than anywhere else because of the fast corner, slow corners, the concrete patches and create all sorts of issues for us and then obviously the bumps.  That’s part of the challenge, that’s part of the charm of this place and hopefully we can take what we’ve learned at places like St. Pete and Brazil and Detroit and Long Beach and try to apply it here and hopefully it works.”
 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THE DUAL RACES AT DETROIT THAT COULD APPLY TO TORONTO?:  “Stay away from the tires and don’t hit spinning cars.  Those would probably be the first two lessons that I learned there.  The big problem with Detroit for us was that we had rain in qualifying for the first race and why that’s a problem is one of the big challenges about this format is the tire allocation that we’ve been given and how to use it.  Probably by design they’ve given us too few tires to use and it’s going to force us to be a little bit creative with our tire strategy throughout qualifying and the two races and because one of the sessions in Detroit was rained out for qualifying, we weren’t as pressured with tire allotment.  There’s going to be a lot of guys trying to figure out what to do.  We don’t have decade’s worth of experience on how this works and engineers hate that so I think you’re going to see a bunch of different tire strategies, which is going to be exciting and it’s going to be interesting to see at the end of Saturday and end of Sunday who nailed it and who came up with snake eyes.”
 
HAVE YOU EVER DONE A STANDING START AND WHAT ARE YOUR CONCERNS WITH THE START TOMORROW?:  “I’ve done lots.  I’ve probably done four seasons of open-wheel racing that were standing starts so I’m used to them, it’s been awhile.  I haven’t done them for a couple years now, but everybody is in that boat.  Some guys I don’t think have ever done them in Formula cars, which is a little scary to think.  The big concern is just that we haven’t had a ton of time to practice them.  We were going to do them at the start of the year and then we weren’t and then we were going to do them in Long Beach and then we weren’t and then we were going to do them in Detroit and then we weren’t.  The teams haven’t been quite as active or pro-active I should say on testing and practicing this.  We’ve never gone through the procedure or lining up and going through the lights as a series so there is a serious risk of somebody getting it wrong, which will look pretty silly.  Then of course the other issue doing a standing start on a street circuit is that if somebody does stall, there is nowhere to go.  That’s got big potential for issues.  That all adds to the excitement and that is why everybody should be here on Saturday to see what happens.  It’s either going to be really impressive seeing 25 IndyCars from a standing start rocket into turn one or it’s going to be pretty spectacular what goes wrong.”
 
ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS WITH MECHANICAL ISSUES FROM THE START?:  “No, the cars are certainly up to it.  The engines are up to it and all the components are there to do it.  It was always on the plans to do it, it’s just something that’s been delayed for various reasons.  Now we’re going to test it out for the first time at the start of a race.”
 
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF DUAL RACES ON YOU AND THE CREW?  HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THEM?:  “It’s going to have a tremendous impact on everybody involved.  The drivers have all really amped up their physical training in the weeks leading up to these events because normally and especially in Toronto, this is a particularly physical street circuit and you’re pretty beat-up on Monday and you’re dehydrated.  A lot of us have blisters on our hands because of the bumps and you normally have at least a week for that to recover and in this case we have a couple hours.  Rehydrating is going to be a big part of it because it’s going to be pretty warm this weekend I think.  There is a very careful balance between being rehydrated and actually over-hydrated, which is almost just as big of a concern.  Some serious medical issues can come from that.  The drivers are being very proactive on this side of things.  A lot of us have physical trainers and ‘physios’ with us for any medical problems that might crop up.  Nutrition is obviously very important.  Making sure you’re staying on top of what you’re eating and how much you’re eating and for the crews, normally these guys have a week to tear a race car apart and re-prepare it and rebuild it for another race and now they have to do it overnight.  Its long nights and early mornings and long days.  It’s very draining on everybody involved, but at the end of the day it puts on a good show for the fans and the fans appreciate having two races then that’s what we’re going to do because they are the reason we’re here.”
 
IS THIS THE BEST YOU HAVE FELT OF YOUR CHANCE TO WIN TORONTO THIS YEAR?:  “It’s probably the worst I’ve felt because now the expectation is higher and I still
am expecting some sort of bad luck to come into play.  It is a bit of a double edge sword because certainly with the year that we’ve had statistically on paper it’s the best chance that we’ve had and it’s one of those things where you want to come here and do so well, but at the same time history just hasn’t been kind to us.  Every track you have good races and bad races.  It just seems like here I have way, way more of the latter and way too few of the former.  We’ll see.  You have to stay positive and we have to keep our heads up.  Ultimately, you have to treat it like any other race and we’ll go up there and do the same job we would if we were in St. Pete or if we were in Long Beach or if we were in Brazil or if we were at Barber or any other track and we’ll see how it all plays out.”
 
YOU’VE TALKED A LOT ABOUT IDOLIZING GREG MOORE AS YOU WERE GROWING UP.  WHAT WAS IT ABOUT HIM AS A DRIVER AND/OR AS A PERSON THAT REALLY DREW YOU TO HIM?
“I think it is both things.  It wasn’t one or the other it was the combination of the two I think that made Greg such a unique person.  His fight on track was obvious.  His passion for the sport was obvious.  I remember watching him win his first race and he came off turn four at Milwaukee and he was fist pumping the air four hundred feet before the finish.  I mean Michael Andretti was not that far behind, but he knew he was getting it.  I will never forget that.  I loved that about him, but outside of the car he was such a genuine human being.  There’s a lot of people that can drive a race car well.  There’s a lot of people that are in the spotlight for one reason or another.  More often than not they don’t come across as genuine humble people and Greg did.  As a young kid even I could see the difference between him and the other drivers off track more than anything else.  I think that is what really drew me to him.”
 
CRAIG HAMPSON REJOINED YOUR TEAM THIS YEAR WHAT’S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CRAIG AND WHAT HAVE HIS CONTRIBUTIONS BEEN?
“Yeah, we have been going steady for about two years now.  It’s getting pretty serious.  No, Craig (Hampson, engineer) and I obviously worked together at Newman/Haas in 2011. As a rookie coming into the IndyCar series to get to work with somebody as accomplished as Craig and as experienced as Craig it was beyond anything I would have imagined.  Because there are very successful drivers that have never gotten the chance to work with somebody the caliber of Craig Hampson.  I learned so much from him and there is no doubt a lot of the success that we had in 2011 and winning Rookie-of-the-Year and my growth and maturation as a driver was largely influenced by him.  I sort of modeled how I went about my race weekends after the way Craig does his.  I tried to bring some of that influence to Andretti Autosport when I arrived last year.  When the opportunity came up to bring him back it just made too much sense to not do it and obviously it’s been a good match up to this point.  He brings a work ethic to the team on top of his wealth of experience that really just motivates everybody and certainly motivates me.  We have an understanding we speak the same language.  We are both realists.  He’s maybe a little bit more of a pessimist than I am, but that is okay we balance each other out.  At the end of the day we have a very common goal.  We both are willing to work very hard to achieve it.”
 
WE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE RETIRED YOUR KIMI RAIKKONEN IMPRESSION:
“Although (Dave) Despain always tries to get me to do it when I go on Wind Tunnel.”
 
HAVE YOU REPLACED IT YET HAVE YOU GOT A NEW SHTICK?
“No I haven’t had time to think of someone else yet, but I will come up with something at some point.”
 
WHAT ABOUT HAVING PAUL TRACY IN THE BOOTH FOR SPORTSNET THIS WEEKEND DOES THAT TERRIFY YOU?
“Not at all.  I think it’s going to be great.  I mean everybody loves Paul for his candidness.  That is what we need in the booth.  Nobody knows what is going on in a race more than that guy he’s done enough of them and won enough of them. He’s won here a couple of times.  I think more than anything the fans are going to get a kick out of it.  Hopefully he has got some nice things to say.”
 
YOU SAID THAT WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER MEETING MARIO ANDRETTI HERE AND GETTING HIS AUTOGRAPH WAS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE MOMENTS.  CAN YOU COMMENT ON WHAT THE ANDRETTI NAME IN TORONTO MEANS?
“I mean it’s legendary.  It’s probably more recognized even in Toronto than Tracy or Villeneuve or Moore because of the success that Michael (Andretti) had here especially winning seven times.  When I used to come to this race my family and our friends we would do a pool.  We would rip up the spotters guide and put all the names into a hat.  Every year whoever pulled Michael Andretti we just gave them the money at the start of the race and seven times out of 10 they were right.  It was pretty simple.  The name has a tremendous amount of power and influence in this town and to be associated with that just makes our position that much stronger.  It’s really an honor to be associated with them.”
 
RECENTLY I’VE NOTICED IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA EFFORTS COMMENTING ON CANADIAN KARTS AND GRASSROOTS EVENTS.  CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE YOU MORE INVOLVED IN ANY FORMAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM IN THE FUTURE?
“That is absolutely the plan.  I have pretty big goals on ways of trying to give back to the Canadian racing community especially the karting level.  We are so fortunate to do what we do and I know that I wouldn’t be here without the phenomenal karting community that Ontario had and Canada had when I was coming up.  I have seen it go through the years, everything is cyclical, and I’ve seen it go through really strong periods and some weaker periods as well.  I want to get to the point where I’ve got enough influence to try and bring back a strong championship.  That is my ultimate goal is to get a karting series started and give young karters a chance to get all the good drivers in Canada together in one place race against the best, make it worth their while and kind of give them a little bit of a taste of what it’s like as you move up through the ranks and pursue the career of a racing driver.”
 
WHAT IS THE KEY TO WINNING OR NOT LOSING HERE WITH THE LAYOUT OF THIS TRACK?
“As I said before this track is very much a set-up compromise.  I think the team and driver that nail that compromise the best are going to be successful.  We’ve got to make both kinds of tires last the black and red Firestones are going to be used during each race.  Maximizing both of those takes a set-up compromise and just the track in general the mix of high speed, low speed, concrete patches, asphalt patches, all these things require a compromise in the set-up as well.  You really have to be the guy that is averagely good around the entire place.  If you are really strong in one place and weak in another people are going to take advantage of that and it’s going to be tough to stay in front. It really is about averaging out the best.  The kind of trick in Toronto is you are never going to have a car that feels really good because in one corner or another you are going to be struggling.  It’s just trying to find one that is equally as average and mediocre around the whole lap.  It’s such a hard thing to accept as a driver and the engineers.  We are all such perfectionist we want to be great everywhere, but this track just doesn’t let you do it.  That is one of its quirks and one of the reasons why we like the challenge so much.”

CHEVROLET INDYCAR V6 DRIVERS READY FOR NEW CHALLENGES ON STREETS OF TORONTO
SERIES PREPARES FOR SECOND DOUBLEHEADER WEEKEND OF 2013
 
DETROIT (July 11, 2013) – After a stretch of IZOD IndyCar Series oval track races, the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 contingent is preparing to take to the 1.75-mile temporary street circuit in Toronto for rounds 12 and 13 of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule. The races in the largest city in Canada will play host to the second of three doubleheader weekends this season.  The long-running Toronto event will showcase a pair of 85-lap points paying races on Saturday and Sunday.
 
As the drivers and teams readjust their set-up’s and strategy from oval tracks to street circuits, they will face a new challenge – a standing start.  For the first time since 2008 at Long Beach, the IZOD IndyCar Series will implement a standing start for Saturday’s race one of the doubleheader weekend using a series of lights to signal the drivers the race is officially started.  The second race on Sunday of the Two in T.O. twin-bill will see the field take the green flag using the traditional rolling start.
 
“Team Chevy is looking forward to Toronto this weekend and the second of three IZOD IndyCar Series doubleheader weekends,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series.  “It is hard to believe the 2013 season is more than half over, but we are very pleased with the race results so far, including the not often mentioned strong reliability of the Chevrolet IndyCar Twin Turbo V6 engine.  In fact, Marco Andretti was able to lead 88 laps last weekend at Pocono while his engine passed the minimum change-out mileage threshold, as did Will Power’s engine on his way to a fourth place finish.  Our teams and technical partners continue to demonstrate the “Never Give Up” philosophy that is so integral to success and to Chevrolet’s principles.”
 
Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay looks to back up his performance from last year and once again hoist the trophy in his Andretti Autosport teammate James Hinchcliffe’s home country of Canada. Hinchcliffe has already claimed two victories on street courses this season taking home wins at St. Petersburg and Sao Paulo and would like nothing more than to earn his fourth victory of the season in front of the hometown crowd.  Two other former Streets of Toronto Chevrolet IndyCar V6 powered driver’s Sebastien Bourdais and Will Power would also like to find their way back to victory lane in Toronto and record their first victories of the 2013 season. 
 
Race number one of the Honda Indy Toronto 2 in T.O. is set to start on Saturday, July 13, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. ET with live television coverage on NBC Sports Network. Race number two is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m. ET with live television coverage on NBC Sports Network.  Each race will be 85 laps for a total of 299.5 miles.
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
INDY POCONO 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES                                                       
JULY 7, 2013
 
Will Power Leads Team Chevy at Pocono with Fourth Place Finish; Helio Castroneves Continues on Top of Point Standings
 
LONG POND, Penn. (July 7, 2013) – Will Power led the charge for Team Chevy with a fourth place finish today in the Pocono INDYCAR 400 for the IZOD IndyCar Series at Pocono Raceway.  Behind the wheel of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Power led four Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers with top-10 finishes, on the way to another strong oval track finish this season.
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, maintained his lead in the point standings with an eighth place finish in the 160-lap/400-mile race on the track referred to the ‘Tricky Triangle’. Ed Carpenter brought his own No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet to the checkered flag in ninth position.
 
Pole sitter Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, finished 10th, and remains third in the standings.
 
Defending Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, was credited with a 20th place finish after contact on pit road sent Hunter-Reay to the garage for repairs that put him 39 laps down to the winner at the finish.
 
Three-time race winner James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, was the victim of a single-car accident on lap one of the 11th race of the 19-race season.  He lost one spot in the standings, and now sits fifth in points.
 
Chevrolet maintains the lead in the Series Manufacturers’ standings with eight races remaining in the season.
 
Scott Dixon (Honda) was the race winner.  Charlie Kimball – 2nd, Dario Franchitti – 3rd and Josef Newgarden – 4th complete the top-five finishers.
The Honda Indy Toronto, the second of the double-header weekends the season, and the first with standing starts, is next on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule set for July 13-14, 2013.  NBC Sports Network will provide live TV coverage of both points-paying races beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, and again on Sunday. Both races will also be broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211, www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 13 App for most smartphones and tablets.
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED FOURTH:  “It was a good day and a good finish for the Verizon team. The boys gave me some great pit stops today and it was really important for us to score some good points and continue to make up ground in the championship. I really like this track here at Pocono. It seemed like it was a good crowd and we gave it all we had out there. A very physical race, but a good result for us in the end.”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED EIGHTH: “Well, it’s definitely good to come out of this race building our lead in the championship. The Hitachi team did a fantastic job this weekend. The race was very challenging. For us, as a team, we had to make a lot of decisions during the race. Ultimately, the key was saving fuel for a good result and we’ll take a top-10 finish and move on to Toronto with the good points we earned here. Thanks again to the fans here. They were awesome and it’s good to be back racing at Pocono.”
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED NINTH: “It was a tough race for us.  We started 14th and finished ninth.  I felt we had a better car than that result.  We didn’t have a fast car in the beginning of the stints, but we came on strong at the end of them.  We made the car a lot better for the race.  We were just missing a little something.  We were a little inconsistent with the tires. They felt a little different with each run.  I guess we shouldn’t be down about a top-ten finish, but I felt we had a shot for a top-five.  I thought we were charging in some portions of the race.  But then the car didn’t react as quickly after a pit stop.  We might have run a little too much downforce, but we need to look at it back at the shop.  It was fun to race at Pocono.  It is hard to pass but you do it.  I hope the crowd liked the Indy cars here.  I loved coming to this track.  The track does a goes job promoting the race too.  It is great to have Pocono as part of the Fuzzy’s Triple Crown.  We’ll have to defend our title at Fontana and stop Tony (Kanaan) and Scott (Dixon) from taking the $250,000 from Fuzzy’s Vodka.”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 10TH: “Oh man, I mean we knew early (about our fuel mileage), but not early enough. I think we should have responded quicker, but it’s so hard to be reserved right now. I’m so frustrated for RC Cola and everybody; we were just so dominant and I’m just absolutely gutted.”

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET – FINISHED 11TH: “The car was awesome! It was a really good race. This is a tricky place; you had to time your passes just right. I had a lot of fun out there and the team was great. They gave me a fantastic car and we were able to move forward and make a lot of moves toward the end of the race. I’m really happy that we were able to get a good result for the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car.”
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 SUNOCO “TURBO” KV RACING TECHNOLOGY SH-RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 13TH: “I apologized to the crew several times. I made a mistake and it cost us big. I had a run on Dixon, but didn’t really think that I was closing that fast on him. We had a car that was capable of winning this race and putting us in a position to contend for ‘Fuzzy’s Triple Crown’ and the $1 million prize.  We still have a chance to win in Fontana and collect $250,000, but I just feel bad for the crew because they worked so hard to give me a very competitive car.”
 
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 14TH: “We were working a lot on our fuel mileage there late in the race and had to jump in the pits for a splash of fuel, which cost us some positions right at the end. That was a bit unfortunate because the National Guard Chevy was quite racy, especially once the fuel burnt off and we got to the end of each stint. We were working on our downforce levels during some of the early pit stops, and the Panther crew was really quick in the pits all day. I’m really thankful Panther gave me the opportunity to run today knowing we’d have to miss practice and qualifications. We continue to gel each time we go out and I’m looking forward to the next one.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 16TH: “It was a tough day, we were running up front well in the Top-10. The second run was really strong for us, just running flat out. We caught Viso and I made the call to come in a lap early, so we came in. Then the track went yellow and that killed our race. We went completely out of sequence with that yellow and never caught a break. After that we tried to save fuel and not make another stop, but we couldn’t make it all the way without a yellow. At this place you cannot save fuel being flat out and wide open the whole race. The #7 McAfee car deserved better today and the crew did an amazing job today.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 20TH: “We had a great car today, just a lit
tle too much understeer to start with, so we were just going to add front wing as we went. I really think we had a great car to challenge for the win, was really looking forward to the rest of the race – I love this race track. Then we were just coming in to pit lane, minding our own business, and we get creamed from behind. It’s unfortunate but we’ve come from further back to win the championship and we’re determined to do it again. The DHL Chevy boys got me back out on the track; we tried to salvage some points, and I think we got one position. It’s so frustrating when you’re running top three, top two, really happy with your car and then somebody comes from out of nowhere to take you out.”
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO CHEVROLET – FINISHED 21ST: “It was a pretty disappointing weekend from qualifying on; things never went the right way for me. In the race, since Lap 1, it was extremely difficult to drive – we still don’t know what the problem is. During the race, the car was wandering on me in the straights, in the corners, going from side-to-side. I just needed to stop to have a look at the car, to see if there was anything wrong. But obviously, at that point, it was very late in the race and we lost plenty of ground. From here on there are many street and road courses coming. I believe we have everything it takes to be in the front in those upcoming races.”
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 23RD: “A very rough day. We ran into the exactly the same issue as in qualifying with our throttle getting stuck as soon as we turned on the car. With that we couldn’t race, so we came in to change the throttle and that was the end of our day. It’s been a very season for us and we cannot seem to catch a break. All we can do is stay focused with a positive attitude and see what happens next.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 24TH: INVOLVED IN A SINGLE-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP ONE OF THE RACE: ON WHAT HAPPENED: “I mean it just snapped, we got loose. We’ve been battling understeer with a hot day. We were planning on the car being a bit more pushy than…I guess it ultimately ended up being. We went a little aggressive on setup. I don’t know, maybe we went too much or what. It’s just so weird.  I  had a moment almost like that in qualifying, and I guess I used up all my luck/talent saving it the; we didn’t have enough this time. With the downforce level we were running, and the setup that we had, there is just no way I thought that was the kind of accident that would have taken us out especially on lap one especially when the tires are fresh and everything was good. It is devastating, man, to have the GoDaddy car out; Andretti Autosport one-two-three didn’t last too long. I feel bad for the team; the guys worked so hard. Hopefully Marco and Ryan can fly the flag, and try to bring it home for us. I’m not entirely sure what happened.  We’ll have to take a look at it.  The car just snapped loose on me.  We went a bit aggressive on setup because we had an understeering car all week, and we didn’t want that in the race.  Maybe we overstepped it a bit; I’m not quite sure.  We’ll have to go back and take a look.  It’s really unfortunate.  It’s a 400-mile race so to go out on Lap 1 is just devastating.  We had high hopes for the Go Daddy car.  We’ve been on a good sort of momentum streak.  It’s turned into a repeat of last year – an accident while running up front right before Toronto.”