NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 6, 2013
 
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON CAPTURES FIRST SWEEP AT DAYTONA IN 31 YEARS
Team Chevy Drivers Take Top-Three Finishing Spots and Seven of Top-10
 
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (July 6, 2013) – Jimmie Johnson is widely known for smashing records and earning milestones, and his performance at the 55th Annual Coke Zero 400 was no different.  Behind the wheel of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet SS, Johnson became the first driver to win both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) in the same season, in 31 years.  The last driver to accomplish this feat was Hall of Fame driver Bobby Allison, in 1982.
 
Johnson, the current series point leader, led 94 laps of the161-lap race and extended his lead to a 49-point advantage after 18 races.  This was his fourth victory of 2013 and 64th career NSCS win.
 
“Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus and the #48 Lowes Dover White Chevrolet SS team on winning the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway tonight,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “The team’s focus on race set-up, strategy, terrific driving and execution in the pits made all the difference.
 
“It is extra special that Jimmie and the entire Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 team delivered not only the first points win for the new Chevrolet SS at the Daytona 500 in February, but also produced the victory tonight. It’s also very special because it’s the first sweep for a driver at Daytona in 31 years.”
 
Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevrolet SS, who came close to scoring his fifth July win at DIS, posted a solid second place finish.  Stewart moved up six positions in the point standings to 10th with his run.   Richard Childress Racing driver Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet SS, retained his fourth place spot in the standings after finishing third overall. It was Harvick’s 11th top-10 finish in 25 races at Daytona International Speedway.
 
“It was great that Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick finished 1-2-3 in tonight’s race,” added Campbell.  “We are proud of the Team Chevy drivers and crews on their strong runs tonight at Daytona.
 
Other Team Chevy drivers in the top-10 included: Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet SS – sixth, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet SS – seventh, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS – eighth, and Ryan Newman, No. 39 Outback Chevrolet SS was 10th.
 
Clint Bowyer (Toyota) was fourth, and Michael Waltrip (Toyota) was fifth to round out the top-five finishing order.
 
Next stop on the circuit will be Round 19 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 14th.  Green flag is set for 1:00 pm ET and will air live on TNT, Sirius/XM Channel 90, PRN Radio and

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES
JULY 6, 2013
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 RHEEM/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined on lap 22 with engine failure
WHAT HAPPENED?
DID THE WATER TEMPERATURE GET TOO HIGH OR WHAT WOULD HAVE CAUSED THAT? 
“Absolutely no warning, the water was 225 and we were just kind of riding there.  The car was really good, handled great.  Kind of biding our time for the first pit stop came off turn four and something just let go.  It wasn’t smoking, it broke and I could hear it.  I felt the heat come up.  I didn’t know if I was on fire or not.  I couldn’t feel it right away.  Just unfortunate we needed a good run and had a really good car today a good Rheem/Menards Chevy.”
 
ALL WE SAW WAS A HUGE BALL OF FIRE COME OUT OF YOUR CAR WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED OUT THERE? 
“The motor broke.  ECR (Earnhardt Childress Racing) guys build really great horse power.  I haven’t had a motor failure in forever.  Something just broke I’m not sure what it is.  It’s leaking oil right now.  I’m not sure if it was a part failure or what something big happened.  We needed a good run we had a really good car.  Just kind of biding our time there and nothing, it gave no indication, temperatures were fine.  We were running good until off turn four.”
 

 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined in crash on Lap 97.
IT APPEARED YOU HAD NO WHERE TO GO WHAT WAS YOUR VIEW OF IT? 
“We all went to the bottom to create a second groove because they were really checking up on the top. For some reason they decided to try to blend when there was no room.  For a change, somebody made the mistake and we ended up paying for the mistake.  Kind of sucks because everybody on this Target team has been working really hard we’ve got a great car.  We had really good speed in practice, qualified well and we were just taking our time.  It just sucks.”  

 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A CAR THAT DOMINATE AT A PLATE RACE?
“That is tough to do at a plate track.  Especially with how tight the rules are.  I think I showed strength early and a lot of the guys knew that and were willing to work with me, and kind of help me through situations, which is great.  I don’t know if I really made a bad move tonight.  I’m pretty proud of that.  Had a great horse to ride got ‘white lightening’ to Victory Lane, which I’m very proud of.  I want to thank Lowe’s and all the employees at Lowe’s for their dedication and support of our race team.  Chevrolet, KOBALT Tools, Gatorade, Sprint for their support of our series as well and I want to give my daughter an early birthday wish.  Her birthday is tomorrow, three already.  Time is flying, but just an awesome night tonight.”
 
WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH ALL YOUR TEAM AND THE FLIPPED UP BILLS OF THEIR HATS?
“I don’t know if it’s West Coast or I can’t really get…I’m looking at East Coasters thinking it’s West Coast.  We will take it we will run bills up.  It’s not as aero as you would think, but just very proud of the night.  I want to thank everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for a great race car, engine shop, chassis shop and aero.  Very fast race car.”
 
FIRST GUY IN 31 YEARS TO WIN THE 500 AND THE 400 SINCE BOBBY ALLISON WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?
“That is amazing.  Gosh, I remember being in Southern California watching Bobby Allison.  I remember where I was the day Davey (Allison) passed away.  That is how much the Allison family meant to me.  I always thought it was so great to watch Bobby and Davey race.  To tie anything that Bobby has done is pretty special.  Very happy tonight.”
 
AFTER THE LAST FEW WEEKS, HOW NICE IS IT TO PAY ONE OFF FINALLY IN VICTORY LANE?
“Yeah, we have been knocking on the door for sure.  It’s great to get ‘white lightening’ to Victory Lane.  Also want to wish everybody a happy Fourth of July and thank all the men and women that have fought for our country for our independence.  That was fun tonight.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/DUCKS UNLIMITED CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
OPPORTUNITY AND CIRCUMSTANCES KEPT CHANGING. WALK US THROUGH THE FINAL GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED:
“I mean I can’t remember everything that happened.  I didn’t get as good a restart as I wanted.  I think it kind of worked to our favor there.  It got Clint (Bowyer) a little bit ahead of me and it got Kevin (Harvick) a little bit ahead of Jimmie (Johnson).
 
“That let Jimmie and I both tuck down to those two guys and get going.  Kurt Busch gave us a really good push from behind there and that got us back to getting Jimmie the shove he needed.  It got us out there far enough ahead to where we could worry about racing him.  That is some strong Hendrick horse power up front there.  You get three or four of these Hendrick cars together and they are fast.  Everybody at SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing), Ducks Unlimited, Bass Pro Shops, just everybody did an awesome job this weekend.  Just glad we were ahead of the carnage.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER FOLDS OF HONOR CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
WALK US THROUGH THE FINAL LAP OR SO.  IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE IN THE EXACT RIGHT POSITION:
“I thought we were in a good spot.  The whole thing on the restarts is just getting your line to form.  Everybody on our Budweiser Chevrolet did a great job.  We were able to hold Jimmie (Johnson) door to door until the exit of turn two, but both of those restarts the No. 14 and No. 15 and whoever was behind them just couldn’t get our line formed up.  All night it seemed like the top line would form up pretty quick and those guys were able to get going a lot quicker.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined in a crash on lap 156 and finished 32nd
THAT WAS A BIG HIT COMING OFF TURN TWO GETTING INTO THAT INSIDE WALL:
“Yeah we were… Jimmie (Johnson) moved up to block the outside row coming so I kind of at that point had the lead. I had followed Jimmie a lot throughout the race.  I felt really good with our Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet.  Next thing I know I got slammed and shot left.  It was the end of our night.  It’s kind of how these races go.  You don’t have a lot of control over some of the things that happen here.  I’m happy our car was fast and we put a good showing out.  We ran up front the whole race.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA COATING SYSTEMS CHEVROLET SS – Caught up in accident on lap 149 finished 34th
YOU GOT KIND OF CAUGHT UP IN THE ACCIDENT WITH THE NO.11 AND THE NO. 20 TALK ABOUT IT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE:
“Yeah, we lost some track position there.  Had a really strong car, really good handling Axalta Chevrolet tonight so I was happy about that.  Great to have Finish Master and the 50 years that Axalta has been with them on board tonight too.  Just sitting there kind of riding along hoping that outside lane, I can’t say we were riding it was pretty aggressive.  Just nowhere to go and just riding that outside lane hoping they were starting to make progress.  I don’t know I just saw somebody spin in front of me.  We all tried to avoid it.  I guess it was the No. 11 and we all tried to avoid them and Matt (Kenseth) got sideways and then I didn’t have anywhere to go either.  Got the right-front and that just sent the car into the wall.
 
“It’s unfortunate.  I still think we had a great shot at getting the car to the front.  We had a very strong race car and you have to survive before
you can ever get there.  You have to finish too.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 18TH:
WAS IT AN EXCITING FINISH?
“Well, a green-white-checkered finish is always exciting.  (Dale Earnhardt) Junior and I had a good run through the middle and then up high around (Turn) 4. And I just watched the replay. It felt like I ran just along the wall but it could have been me that came down in front of the No. 38 (Dave Gilliland). It definitely wasn’t what I was trying to do at all. I was just following the No. 88 (Earnhardt, Jr.). So, if that’s what happened, then I definitely apologize. I lost spots doing it.
 
“So, all in all, it was a solid day. I felt like we were a little slow to get going, but I felt like we made the car better and I felt like I figured out some things in the car that helped. Got the Godaddy car in a decent position. Every time I look at the board I’m further down, but we ran strong and that’s what we want to do. I thought the Chevys looked really good in the race.”
 
DO YOU FEEL LIKE MAYBE YOU COULD HAVE MADE A RUN THERE ON THAT LAST LAP?
“I think that I did make a run on that last lap.  The No. 88 (Earnhardt Jr.) and I went up through the middle and then around the outside. So, I think it was a run. It didn’t end up like I wanted, like I said. I, by all means, was just meaning to follow the No. 88 around the top to the line, but I think it was all right. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do on those last laps. Nobody really had a plan because it’s really hard to plan for what 42 other guys are going to do out there.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/ SEALY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 6TH
YOU ARE NOW TOP 10 IN POINTS. YOU’VE GOT TO BE HAPPY ABOUT THAT
“That’s awesome to have a good run like that and stay out of trouble and post a nice Top-10. These Furniture Row guys have been working hard. We’ve made little mistakes here, there, and everywhere. When we start putting it together, it’s now starting to bear the fruit and we’ve moved our way into the Top 10 in points. So that’s pretty cool. We have a long way to go, and yet we still are getting better. I’m just real proud of these guys and the effort that we’ve put forth and just a big thanks to Barney Visser and Furniture Row and Chevy and everybody that’s on board. It’s great. We’re there, but we’ve still got a bit of work to do.”
 

CORVETTE RACING AT LIME ROCK: Second Place for Garcia, Magnussen
Hard-charging effort pays off with another podium finish
 
LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 6, 2013) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen stood on the podium at Lime Rock Park for the second straight season with a runner-up finish Saturday in the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix. The No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R ran a nearly flawless race to lead Corvette Racing’s effort in the fourth round of the American Le Mans Series.
 
The result, which played out for a live television audience on ESPN2, moved Garcia and Magnussen from fifth in the ALMS’ GT driver’s championship into a provisional three-way tie for second.
 
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin finished sixth in a trying race. The defending ALMS GT champions stand third in the provisional standings. Corvette Racing is tied for first in the team standings, and Chevrolet continues to lead the manufacturer’s championship.
 
Magnussen drove his entire stint in the car under green flag conditions on the crowded and steamy Lime Rock circuit. Starting from third, he pitted just over an hour into the race to hand over to Garcia. The hard-charging Spaniard chased down the first-place BMW and clicked off faster laps than the race leader before a late-race caution period halted his charge.
 
Misfortune struck Milner early as the driver’s side mirror broke after contact with a Ferrari early. He fell to 11th in class but worked his way up to seventh by the first pit stop. Gavin entered the race in fifth but the team was assessed a stop-and-go penalty when the Corvette left the pitlane with a cable still attached. Gavin also sustained minor damage when a prototype attempting to overtake him instead made contact.
 
“Today we saw both sides of racing at Lime Rock Park,” said Corvette Racing Program Manager Doug Fehan. “”It provided great entertainment for the fans with Jan and Antonio giving it their all and earning a well-deserved, runner-up finish. On the other end of the spectrum, I know Tommy, Oliver and the No. 4 crew would have liked to be part of the fight at the end. We head next to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – a track that should favor our Corvettes and keep us in the GT championship hunt.”
 
Next up for Corvette Racing is the Grand Prix of Mosport on Sunday, July 21 from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. It is the fifth round of this year’s ALMS championship.
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“Corvette Racing again did an awesome job. It was the second race in row, plus Le Mans, where we gave 110 percent. We made very good calls and very good pit stops. I think we forced the BMW to take two tires at the end. I don’t think they believed they could stay ahead of us. They took that gamble. I don’t know how much it helped them to take that last yellow; maybe it cooled down everything. At that point, you don’t really know their strategy. I was saving tires and don’t know if they were. Looking at the last four laps how much they were suffering, I don’t know in a full green race what would have happened. I knew the race would come down to tires. We managed things as best we could. We had a very strong car, very good strategy and very good points for the championship.”
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“It surprised me that I did my whole stint under green. It’s not like anyone was falling off but they managed to get back on so as to not cause a safety car. I don’t know if people were getting too hot but the driving standards were quite bad. The gap (from Garcia to the leader) was closed up at the end and we wanted Antonio to have as much time as he needed to see if he could do anything about the BMW. Whether it was six or eight minutes, it probably wouldn’t have made that much of a difference. It looked like Antonio had the car at the end. Had we been right with the BMW, maybe we could have done something. Second is probably the best result we were going to have, so I’m very happy.”
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“To say that this was a frustrating day would be an understatement. The race didn’t start well for us and never got better. The contact Tommy suffered put us behind early, and we found out again that it is near impossible to recover. The penalty was unfortunate and clearly didn’t help matters. Traffic was more of an issue than ever before but it’s a by-product of the circuit layout. Great result for Jan and Antonio; Tommy and I are eager for similar results again.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“We got completely hosed at the start by a competitor who decided to drive into me for the entire length of the braking zone in Turn 1, which knocked the mirror off. I checked out after that and had a nice little race going on before we had to pit to replace the mirror. The guys did an awesome job changing it out. Then on our pit stop, we just didn’t execute and got a penalty for that to put us back again. Traffic was just awful. It made everyone frustrated. You had to drive around in many cases at half your ability. It’s been a frustrating few days and months but we will learn from this and go to Canada with even more determination and desire. We’ll have to make up for these bad couple of races with a win. That’s how it has to be.”

Marco Andretti Wins the Pole for the Pocono INDYCAR 400 at Pocono Raceway to Lead Team Chevy in Capturing Top-Six Qualifying Positions
 
LONG POND, Penn. (July 6, 2013) – Marco Andretti continued his family’s legacy at Pocono Raceway by winning the pole for tomorrow’s 160-lap Pocono INDYCAR 400. His father and team owner, Michael Andretti, was the pole winner in 1986.  In 1987, his grandfather, Mario Andretti, won the pole. It is the second pole of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season for the driver of the No. 25 RC Cola Andretti Autosport Chevrolet.
 
Andretti led a contingent of six Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers to the top-six qualifying positions today including an all-Andretti Autosport front row, in the second race of the season that will see the field roll to the green flag in rows of three cars.  Defending Series Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay was the second fastest qualifier in the No. 1 DHL Chevrolet, and James Hinchcliffe turned the third quickest time in the No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet.
 
Team Chevy drivers claiming the fourth through sixth qualifying positions were: Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet; Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, No. 11 Sunoco “Turbo” KV Racing Technology Chevrolet and Series points leader Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.
 
“Congratulations to Marco Andretti for winning the pole position at Pocono Raceway today for tomorrow’s 400 mile race,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “This is Marco’s second pole of the season and is a continuation of the consistency he is demonstrating this year which shows in his current 3rd place position in the driver’s points battle.  Andretti Autosport secured the entire 3-wide front row for the start of the race tomorrow with Ryan Hunter-Reay alongside Marco and James Hinchcliffe beside Ryan.  The Chevrolet IndyCar V6 will also power the second row for Will Power, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.  We are very proud of the effort and preparation that our teams and technical partners have put forth for the return of IndyCar racing to ‘The Tricky Triangle’ here at Pocono and look forward to a strong Team Chevy race result tomorrow.”
 
A total of 12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers are qualified to start the second leg of the Fuzzy’s Triple Crown.  If a driver wins all three races, he or she will take home a $1 million bonus.  Kanaan is the only driver in a position to win the big prize by virtue of winning the Indy 500.  If a driver wins two of the three (the final leg of the Triple Crown is the season finale at Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, California), they will earn $250,000
The 160 lap/400 mile challenge is scheduled for Sunday, July 7th at the three-turn Pocono Raceway. The race will be televised live at 12:00 p.m. (ET) ABC and 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:
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER
 
TALK ABOUT TODAY’S QUALIFYING RUN AND ESPECIALLY GOING OUT SO EARLY AND HAVING TO PLAY THE WAITING GAME:
“Yeah, I mean obviously I always know my teammates are going to be strong.  I got everything out of it so I knew that I was going to be pleased with the result regardless if we were on pole or not.  In IndyCar racing now a days there is five guys that get it right so that is what I was waiting for.  We lucked out today.”
 
YOU SAID YESTERDAY THAT YOU DIDN’T THINK ANYBODY WAS GOING TO GET UP TO 221 AND YOU WENT OUT THERE AND LAID IT DOWN:
“I meant anybody else.  Yeah, no it all came together.  It was going to be all about balance and we really were focusing on every little detail in practice because we got a decent handle on the race car so we hope and we knew we had tonight’s session if we didn’t.  So we focused on really studying everything to get everything to the last detail and we did.”
 
TALK ABOUT BEING ON THE POLE AT YOUR HOMETOWN RACE:
“Yeah, it’s tremendous.  I’ve taken a huge liking to this place as soon as I rolled off here in the initial test.  I really think the Indy cars are built for this track and vice versa.  I really do. This became my favorite track.  I love Indianapolis, but the way this place races it’s so challenging.  It’s so different end to end and even lap to lap that you really have to chase the tools in the car and that was on my own.  There is going to be some traffic tomorrow and it’s going to be the one who gets it right.”
 
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET IT RIGHT?
“Honestly, I think there is going to be a little bit like Indianapolis right place at the right time.  Timing your passes because it’s really easy to get suckered in to try to make something out of nothing because of the way the cars are towing.  You really have to be smart.  You really have to be more than alongside.  I wouldn’t be comfortable just turning in right next to somebody in case you know.  You can’t go two-wide through turn two so you really have to time your passes and right place at the right time.  Hopefully we are on the better end of the luck.”
 
DID YOU GET A CHANCE TO DO ANY LONG RUNS YESTERDAY?
“I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot by saying this, but I mean the race car yesterday was on rails.  I could pass anybody as soon as I got up to them.  Today we were struggling a bit in turn three, but I think that is the characteristic of the wind.  I think relative to my competitors we are still strong.  That is all we can really go for.  It’s going to take more than that.  We know that.”
 
YOU BECOME THE THIRD ANDRETTI TO SCORE A POLE HERE AT THIS TRACK WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE TO YOU?
“Yeah, it means a lot to me.  This is the first place where I was able to, besides Milwaukee get a pole where they did.  We have always run strong here as a family similar to Indianapolis.  Tomorrow is the one we want.  I think that would be just icing on the cake.”
 
THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF FOCUS ON TONY KANAAN WINNING THE TRIPLE CROWN BUT IF A DRIVER WINS TWO OUT OF THREE THEY CAN WIN A $250,000 BONUS WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
“My first goal is obviously to work on tomorrow.  I really want to get this monkey off my back because I really feel the wins are going to start clicking off.  I felt we gave a couple away in the last couple of races which is frustrating, but we still managed to except Milwaukee with the electronic issue we still managed to keep it somewhat up there.  We definitely need to close the gap first and foremost on the points lead and hopefully we can take the $250,000 and the championship that would just be awesome.”
 
YOU HAVE SAID OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS HOW MUCH IT WOULD MEAN TO YOU TO GET A WIN HERE.  IT’S ALMOST BEEN A PERFECT WEEKEND HERE.  IS THERE EXTRA PRESSURE NOW BECAUSE YOU HAVE GOT THE POLE AND YOU HAVE BEEN THE FASTEST IN PRACTICES ALL WEEKEND?
“Definitely because if you look at my worst finish I swept that weekend up until the race too.  Tomorrow is the one that counts as they say.  A lot is going to play out.  It’s 400 miles and I think we are up to the task.  It’s just that we need to execute.”
 
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED SECOND
 
HOW MUCH DOES IT HELP YOU HAVING YOUR TEAMMATES ON THE FRONT ROW WITH YOU?
 
“It does help.  You know there is cooperation there for sure.  It’s like ‘go ahead after you, no after you.’ So it will be a little bit of that, but that’s only for the first lap after that we get going and we get to racing.  It’s definitely go
od this is Andretti’s backyard having Marco (Andretti) on pole.  Andretti Autosport locking out the front row it’s pretty cool.  Three-wide start here at Pocono will look pretty cool.”
 
THERE ARE A LOT OF POINTS AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT EIGHT DAYS.  JUST TALK ABOUT HOW PIVOTAL THESE NEXT EIGHT DAYS ARE GOING TO BE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP RUN:

“Yeah, you are right absolutely.  There are so many points.  I mean you look at Toronto there is double points there.  When you look at all the points on the table with pole, leading the most laps, laps led and then the three races we have coming up within a weeks’ time it’s a critical part of the racing season right now. We all know that.  It’s tough you can only do what you can do.  At Detroit for instance we finished second on race one.  Then race two I was just cruising along having a good time and made a mistake by a couple of inches, clipped the right-front on a curbing that was sticking out and ended the day.  We still salvaged some points, but it can happen that quickly especially on a street circuit.  400-miles here going into a double header at Toronto is probably I think the toughest week of the whole season.”
 
YOU GUYS SHARE A WHOLE LOT OF INFORMATION WHEN YOU ARE GOING THROUGH THE PRACTICE THING.  NOW THAT YOU HAVE QUALIFIED DO YOU GUYS MEET AS A TEAM TO TALK ABOUT THE RACE AT ALL OR DO YOU NOW GO YOUR OWN WAY FROM HERE ON OUT?
 
“No, we meet as a team.  Andretti Autosport is really open that way.  We get together as a whole group of four cars.  Each driver and engineer and we go over everything from every session and what we are going to do for the next session and what our big picture thinking is.  What we need to do to win the race, what we need to do to challenge to win, what we need to do better in traffic, so we are constantly talking about as a group what we need to do better.  Each driver likes different things in our race car.  It’s like each person has a different character to them.  You like things in a race car and that is where we go our own separate way a little bit.  Usually it’s not by a whole lot.”
 
TWO DRIVERS CRASHED IN TURN ONE TODAY WHAT IS HAPPENING DOWN THERE?  IS THE CAR JUST GETTING LOOSE?
“Yeah, it can be.  (Alex) Tagliani crashed because he understeered up into the gray, hit the right-front and then hooked back in.  (E.J.) Viso was for a different reason, he got loose early in the corner.  So it was for two different reasons.  This place is tricky in general.  This place is tough it really is.  It’s more thinking and you have to be so on top of the tools in the car, the weight jacker and the bars.  We are running different settings in every different corner; it’s all over the place.  As the wind shifts and changes and then you get into one car or two cars of traffic the place is just always changing.  You really have to be on top of it.  Turn one has a lot of banking and (turn) three has not much at all.  You get two different feelings there.”
 
ARE YOU SHIFTING GEARS ON THE LAP?
“Yeah, most of the time some guys qualify changing gears, some guys don’t.  Yeah, when you are race running you are changing gears just because of the draft and everything and then back down in the corners to get the RMP’s coming out.  It’s a busy lap around here.  It’s definitely I think the busiest lap short of Milwaukee it’s the busiest lap that you have just because you are constantly moving everything around.  Just trying to keep up with the changing balance of the car.  Last week here we were really loose, we got the car figured out a little bit better now, but it’s still pretty loose.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE UPCOMING SCHEDULE?
“I really like it when we are going and we have a weekend off here and there.  I like it that way.  I wouldn’t mind two weekends off. I’m doing the whole going from here to New York for the Turbo premiere, then Toronto, then to Los Angeles, so I won’t be back until the weekend anyway.  I’m going to have one weekend off.  It will be the same kind of as we just had last week.”
 
INAUDIBLE:
“Yeah, well carrying momentum is another art within itself.  You might have the momentum, but I don’t think it just goes away if you have a couple of weekends off or a weekend off.  We had that last year and we were able to carry it.  It is tough you are right.  If you are going week in and week out hitting everything on the mark and you have two weeks off it can be tough to carry it on, but you have to do it.  You just have to reach in and get it done.  I think our team definitely has the capability of doing that.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED THIRD
 
YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF YOUR LAP:
“Well, we have been battling understeer in turn one all week long and all through testing and everything.  I told my engineer if we have to lift for understeer we are going to be slow.  I went into turn one on the first lap and got really loose.  So, I had a big moment and had to crack the throttle a little bit and it took everything I am made of to keep my foot in it for the rest of the run.  Just frantically working on the tools either under the track and trying to keep it all together all things considered thrilled to be on the front row.  Andretti Autosport 1-2-3 it is just incredible.  Obviously feel back for E.J. (Viso) he was right up there as well.  That is exactly the same kind of thing that happened to me just got a little bit loose and I was luckier I guess.  Pocono, Andretti on the pole, Andretti Autosport locking out the front row it’s tough to write a better story than that.  It’s going to be a colorful picture I think it’s going to look Skittles front row or something.  It was a good run a huge credit to the boys.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS MECHANICAL GRIP AT THIS OVAL COMPARED TO MOST OF THE OTHER BIG OVALS WE GO TO?
“Paramount.  It’s just so different.  This place is tricky.  It’s earned that name.  That is not a marketing ploy the ‘Tricky Triangle’ that is not to sell t-shirts that’s an earned reputation.   I think when you look at how flat turn three is mechanical grip is at an absolute premium.  Trying to balance that set-up between the high banks of turn one and the flat nature of turn three is incredibly challenging.  Add into that being in dirty air and losing a bunch of the downforce that you have any way it really is what is going to make or break I think a race car tomorrow.”
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 SUNOCO “TURBO” KV RACING TECHNOLOGY SH-RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED FIFTH
 
HOW WAS IT OUT THERE?
“It was okay.  I mean obviously our first time here.  I’m excited I’m extremely impressed with the amount of people that came to watch us today. I’ve always heard good things about this place.  I’m excited.  They don’t call it the ‘Tricky Triangle’ for nothing.  We are going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow.  I’m excited.”
 
HOW WAS IT GOING INTO TURN ONE?  YOU ARE WIDE OPEN YOU ARE GOING FOR THE POLE:
“Yeah, I was and then it didn’t stick.  It’s amazing when I came here last week and I did my first 20 laps around this place I said ‘there is no way we are going to go flat into turn one.’ It just doesn’t make any sense.  All of a sudden we did.  It’s exciting.  Obviously three different corners around this track, it’s definitely tricky.  You are not going to have a good car in all of them.  We will see what is going to happen.”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI HAS OBVIOUSLY HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS HERE THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS WHAT KIND OF
EFFORT WILL IT TAKE TO BEAT HIM?
“It’s a 400 mile race.  I think the Andretti guys were strong through the entire season.  If you look at their Indy 500 effort I wasn’t expecting anything less than that.  Today I don’t think I had it for him for the pole.  Maybe it was going to be outside the front row, but what’s it going to take this race is a 400 mile race.  I don’t think you can pick a favorite yet.  It’s a very difficult race track, we haven’t been here so obviously they did a great job putting three cars in the top three, but it’s a long race.  I don’t know what it’s going to take.  It’s a long race.”
 
YOU ARE STARTING IN THE SECOND ROW WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE START TOMORROW GOING BACK TO A THREE-WIDE FORMAT?
“I think it’s part of this ‘Triple Crown’ thing.  We only do it once a year, so I think being in a 400 mile race hopefully we will respect each other like we do in Indy because it’s a long race.  I don’t see a problem.  This straightaway it’s longer than Indy.  So, I don’t see why not doing it.  It’s definitely going to be different.”
 
SOME DRIVERS SAY THAT THE TRACK GOING THROUGH TURN ONE THAT IS NARROWS EXITING TURN ONE.  WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF THE RACE AND AS THE RACE CONTINUES ON?
“We can’t get greedy.  I think in the beginning of the race in the first lap we all know that only one car is going to go through that corner at a time.  We just got to respect each other that is definitely the situation there.  I think we can squeeze two cars into that especially on the first lap with the speeds that we are going to be doing.  We are not going to be as fast as when we are going flat out around here.  It’s going to be difficult, but that is what my boss tells me all the time that is why I get paid the big bucks.  We are going to have to make it through.”
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
INDY POCONO 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES                                                      
JULY 6, 2013
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER: THERE ARE A LOT OF FANS HERE AT POCONO PULLING FOR YOU.  THAT WAS A HECK OF A QUALIFYING RUN DID IT FEEL AS GOOD AS IT LOOKED?  “It felt quick.  I’m pleased with it no matter where we end up.  I think it should be a very strong run.  Honestly, all I know is this team got the best out of it and that is all we can ask for. Hopefully, it holds up.  That is the only thing that is a bummer about an early draw is now we have to wait.”
 
YOU ARE THE POLE SITTER.  YOU TALKED ABOUT HOW TOUGH IT IS TO GO OUT EARLY AND SIT THERE AND WATCH EVERYBODY TAKE SHOTS AT YOU WHAT HAS THE LAST HOUR AND A HALF BEEN LIKE?  “Yeah, it’s been long.  First and foremost I hopefully (Alex) Tagliani is okay; other than that just an unbelievable team performance across the board.  E.J. (Viso) would have been right there so I feel for him as well.  I’m definitely happy for the RC Cola guys and really Andretti Autosport as a whole.  We have been making statement after statement so it’s a good feeling.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED SECOND: LOOKING AT THE FRONT OF THE GRID IT’S GOING TO BE ALL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT ACROSS THAT FRONT ROW.  TELL US ABOUT THE RUN OUT THERE:  “Absolutely the entire Andretti Autosport team has done such a great job here.  We had a good test last week and Firestone came back with a great tire.  We are really happy with that.  We are just looking to make the race car better tonight, hopefully have a great race.  We are really happy with the way the car is balanced in race trim so; I think it’s going to be a great race and a great show tomorrow.”
 
YOU GUYS HAVE CLEARLY PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO QUALIFYING IS IT THAT IMPORTANT HERE AT THIS TRACK?  “I think it’s important for sure just to start up in the thick of it and really start off on the right foot.  It’s a long race.  400-miles around this place is going to be tough, it’s going to be grueling.  Hopefully, the No. 1 DHL Chevy will be up front at the end putting ourselves in a position to win this thing.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED THIRD: HAPPY WITH THAT RUN? “Yeah, I mean the GoDaddy car ran pretty well.  We haven’t been the strongest I don’t think in practice.  Marco (Andretti) has been the class of the field.  We knew it was going to be tough to beat that.  We just wanted to try to stay in contention and he gave me some useful tips after his run, just teammates working together.  I had a little bit of a moment entering turn one the thing got a little loose on me.  I was battling it around the race track. The wind conditions when you are running this light on downforce don’t help.  Solid performance and hopefully that leaves us in the sharp end and hopefully a couple more Andretti Autosport cars can get up there too and we can start this show from the clean part of the track.”
 
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED FOURTH: ON HIS QUALIFYING:  “It was a good job by the Verizon team in qualifying. I think our set up was spot on and we were looking good on the first lap and I thought we had a chance at pole but then we had overboost going into Turn 1 on the second lap and the penalty for that was big and it cost us our chance. Still, qualifying in row two is a good place to be. I like this track here at Pocono – it’s pretty challenging. I think it’s going to be a good race tomorrow. It’s a very long race and you can definitely pass at this place so it should be really fun to watch.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 SUNOCO “TURBO” KV RACING TECHNOLOGY – SH RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED FIFTH: ON HIS QUALIFYING:  “I think I came up to speed too quickly. My fault. The Sunoco car is pretty good this weekend, so we’re going for the Triple Crown. I’m excited to be here at Pocono; it’s my first time.  It’s nice to see how many race car fans we have in this part of the world.  I’m glad you guys are here and we’ll go for it tomorrow for sure.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED SIXTH: ON HIS QUALIFYING: “First of all, I have to say thanks to the fans for coming out and supporting us. It was great to see so many enthusiastic people here today and they’re really excited about IndyCar. Good job by the promoters and everyone here at Pocono Raceway. Now, qualifying sixth is pretty good for the Hitachi Team Penske car. Maybe we were a little too conservative in our qualifying set up, but that’s OK. I know the car has been very fast and very smooth all weekend and I think we will be strong for the race. This track is very interesting and it’s going to be pretty exciting starting three-wide on Sunday. We’re looking forward to a good race and hopefully a strong finish in the Hitachi Chevrolet.”

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 10TH: ON QUALIFYING: “It was a really good qualifying effort for us. I think we might have had a little bit more, but we can be pretty happy, especially when I look at where we started this weekend. We’ve been struggling on the ovals, especially the last two races, but so far the car’s been awesome. I’m pretty happy; the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car has been pretty quick. It’s been a lot of hard work, but we took it step-by-step. Huge thanks to the team for that. We’ve really leaned on Tony and tried to learn as much as possible, because he’s really fast around here. I think we have a really strong race car, so hopefully we should be ok in the race. We’re toward the front, which is where we were hoping for; we should be able to go forward from there.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 12TH:
ON QUALIFYING: “We are pretty happy on our qualifying after a bad morning practice session. We didn’t feel comfortable trimming the car out so we just stayed where we knew we would stay flat for the two qualifying laps. We knew it was not going to put us in the Top-5 but at least its a decent qualifying. Now we can try to make the car a little better for the race and we will see what we can get.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 15TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING: “It wasn’t a good day for us.  We have a lot better car than where we just qualified. We have a lot of work to do now.  And it will be hard.  That’s because it is hard to pass here.  I am disappointed to say the least.  It will be challenging for the race.  Just like Indianapolis, track position will be very important. We just didn’t have enough grip to get through the corners the way I wanted.  I will have to work on getting a good start to make up some spots early.  This place is tricky , just like the nickname says.  With three different turns, it takes a balancing act to get the car as good as possible.  We will analyze our data from today and get a good game plan for the race.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 21ST: “Very disappointing qualifying session on my side. I’m pretty sure we could have done a lot better but we had a mechanical failure. The throttle sensor destroyed our run as soon as we left the pits. Now we need to focus putting together a fast race car and go from there. Tomorrow will be
a long race so we will see what we can do.”

E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 23RD: THAT WAS A HARD HIT. WALK US THROUGH WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED:
“I was heading into my second qualifying lap, and I just lost it in the middle of Turn 1 to the point I caught it for a second. I stepped out again and couldn’t do much. It (Pocono Raceway) is much trickier than we anticipated. The testing we had here a few weeks ago, and again two days ago, it really helped us. This accident is really unfortunate as I believed we could have been 1-2-3-4.”
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
INDY POCONO 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 6, 2013
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed qualifying at Pocono, how the track compares to Indianapolis and other topics. Full Transcript:
 
YOU WON THE POLE AT THE ONLY OTHER 2.5-MILE OVAL THIS YEAR THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR QUALIFYING HERE AT POCONO TODAY?
“It seemed like we had pretty good speed at the test a couple of days ago.  You never know.  The field is so competitive the Penske cars seem quick.  The Andretti cars were quick, Tony (Kanaan) is quick, so I mean I think it’s going to be a lot like Indianapolis, just who picks the right level of downforce and who gets the gearing right.  The way the wind is blowing today, tailwind coming out of (turn) three makes it tricky.  It’s a little bit different than it was the other day.  I think that will ultimately affect the trim level a little bit.  I think we will have a shot, kind of like I felt like at Indy going into it, I felt like we could have been anywhere in the top 10.  Just the way the series is right now.”
 
DERRICK WALKER IS NO LONGER PART OF YOUR TEAM DID YOU CONSULT HIM BEFORE THIS RACE? HE WAS PART OF THE PORSCHE TEAM AND PORSCHE WAS QUITE SUCCESSFUL HERE IN THE ‘80’S:
“No, to be honest we didn’t really talk much about then to now.  He hasn’t been with us either of the times that we have tested here.  He’s in Lime Rock (Connecticut) right now.  We didn’t really talk about it.  The track is similar, but it there have been improvements and changes in a different surface and the cars are different.  We are kind of just starting from what we know about this car and what the engineering group thinks would be a good package here and just kind of working our program the way we always would.”
 
HAVE YOU GOTTEN OVER THE SHOCK? (IN REGARDS TO BRAD STEVENS, NEW COACH OF THE BOSTON CELTICS PREVIOUSLY HEAD COACH AT BUTLER UNIVERSITY):
“I mean I still think about it a lot.  I watched his press conference yesterday which he did a great job as he always does.  I’m excited to see who the next Butler coach is going to be.  Really happy for Brad, it’s a great opportunity for him in Boston.  Like I told him they are my second favorite NBA team now.”
 
HOW MUCH OF THIS FRONT STRETCH IS SIMILAR TO INDIANAPOLIS AND HOW MUCH CAN IT HELP WITH THE GEARING AND THE DOWNFORCE LEVELS?
“I mean it’s longer than Indy.  Where it’s different is at Indy everything is pretty symmetrical, the straightaways are the same way, the short shoots are the same length.  Here each straightaway is a little different.  The corners are each different.  The duration of the corners are different.  I think gearing for Indy is a little easier. You can have the options in the gearbox to kind of cover a couple of wind scenarios at once and be okay.  Here with the different length straightaways, different shaped corners, it’s hard to have as many options available to cover different conditions.  Like we were talking about earlier in qualifying I think that gearing and getting it right for the conditions for two laps is going to be a big part of who comes out on the pole.”
 
HOW MUCH ARE YOU GUYS SHIFTING AROUND THIS TRACK OR ARE YOU?
“Yeah, I’ve done some laps single speed on new tires, but with the way the wind has been blowing with tailwind on the front stretch we will be at least using two top gears, maybe three.  Usually there is a down shift out of (turn) one and that gear will work back around to the front straightaway again.  Then you will up shift for the long front straightaways.  With this wind kind of how it’s been, but other guys maybe doing it differently.”
 
DO YOU DO ANYTHING TO PREPARE COMING INTO POCONO LIKE MAYBE SOME IRACING? 
“I didn’t.  We have tested here twice now.  iRacing is really good, but it doesn’t have the new car on there yet so it makes it a little different.  I just use the experience we had here with the two tests.  I was here for the announcement of the race coming back last fall and got out on track.  Mario (Andretti) was here that day so picked his brain a little bit.  Yeah, you really just take the experience from the first test day.  It’s always awkward going to a new track the first handful of laps.  The team did a great job getting the car pretty good to start with and that made the transition pretty easy.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU HAVE SEEN THE EXCITEMENT BUILD FROM THE INITIAL ANNOUNCEMENT THAT INDYCAR WAS RETURNING TO POCONO TO NOW THAT WE ARE GETTING READY TO TURN OUR FIRST COMPETITIVE LAPS HERE:
“Yeah, from that time it’s been great working with the family here.  Kind of connecting some of the dots between our two families there is quite a history there going back several generations.  It’s been fun getting to know the Mattioli family and Brandon and Nick.  They have been great to work with.  I think that they are going to be one of our better promoters the excitement they have and it appears there is a really good fan base up here.  When I walked in the garages this morning at just after 8:00 AM there was quite a few hardcore fans out here waiting already.  Which for an early Saturday morning I thought was a good sign.  I’m excited about the weekend and excited about the job they’ve done.  Hopefully, a bright future between Pocono and IndyCar.”
 
HAVE YOU KIND OF PICKED TONY’S (GEORGE) BRAIN A LITTLE BIT BECAUSE HE KIND OF RAN THIS PLACE BACK IN THE EARLY ‘80’S FOR A YEAR OR TWO I THINK.  WHEN HE WAS HERE IN THE ‘80’S IT WAS STILL A MAINSTAY OF THE SCHEDULE:
“Yeah, we have talked about it a little bit, but mostly just telling non-racing stories and talking about facilities and different things that had happened.  We actually came in together this morning and it was the first time he had been here since IndyCar was here.  He was excited to see some of the changes that they have done.”
 
MARIO (ANDRETTI) SAID YOU HAD SOME INTERESTING COMMENTS ABOUT TURN ONE.  CAN YOU SHARE THOSE WITH US?  WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT GOING INTO TURN ONE?
“It’s an awesome corner.  I mean it’s more daunting than turn one at Indy in my opinion.  It’s such a, with the banking and the speed and being a much tighter radius than Indianapolis it’s hard to get right.  It’s hard to be fast through there.  It’s hard to be consistent.  I think across the board all the drivers are really enjoying running around this track and turn one is a big reason why.”
 
YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE SET-UP FOR THERE RATHER THAN (TURN) THREE?
“Both, it’s going to be a compromise.  I think for an ultimate fast lap and for race running it may be different. I think the speed of the lap, your overall speed, I think is going to be dictated by how you get through turn one. When it comes to racing I think turn three is going to be a little more important getting a good run out of there and being able to run close in traffic.  They are both important and you have to be able to get them both right.”
 
YEAR’S AGO THERE USED TO BE A PRETTY BAD BUMP OVER THE TUNNEL TURN IS IT STILL THERE OR HAVE THEY SMOOTHED THAT OUT?
“I wouldn’t call it; I don’t think there is a bad bump on this place.  It’s a little choppy through there compared to the rest of the track. The rest of the track is smooth like Indianapolis.  I wouldn’t call anything here bumpy.  Certainly not like what it used to be from what I’ve heard.”

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
INDY POCONO 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 6, 2013
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, MARCO ANDRETTI AND E.J. VISO, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed racing at the historic venue, their seasons thus far and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
THIS TRACK IS SO FULL OF INDYCAR HISTORY AND THE ANDRETTI’S ARE SUCH A LARGER PART OF IT WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR YOU TO KIND OF BE RACING IN YOUR TEAMS BACKYARD?

E.J. VISO: “It’s fun.  The first time I drove into the track my GPS said Andretti drive or something like that it was.  It was really cool.  I know what history means and even if this is also the first time for Michael (Andretti) being in this track same as for me.  This track has a lot of history for all the Andretti’s.  It’s fun.  I’m pretty new in all the American racing history, but little by little I’m catching up.  Definitely at some point start being part of the history.  It’s something that is really amazing just being with this team and being next year to the actual champion.  It’s fun.  I think Pocono is an amazing track.  Really fast track every corner is very different.  Whatever happens in one corner probably happens the opposite in the other corner.  I’m talking about corner one, corner three, so there is a big contrast when you are driving a lot of thoughts while you are driving.  It’s tough to the engineers to give us a fast car, a complete balanced car because corners are extremely different.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT HAS BEEN A REALLY STRONG SEASON FOR YOU SO FAR:

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: “I think the season is wide open.  The championship is going to come down to the last race again.  It will probably come down to three or four drivers.  Hopefully of course all the guys you see sitting up here today are probably going to be a part of it.  You really don’t know who is going to win any race.  It’s kind of a mystery every weekend.  You really have to be on top of your game to make sure you score maximum points.  It’s a lot of fun and typical IndyCar.  It’s been a good season, a very long way to go still.  Everything can change pretty quickly.  We realize that and we are just trying to stick to what matters and that’s practice this morning and we go onto the next one.
 
“The ESPY’s it’s a huge honor going up against Tony Kanaan and the Brazilian contingent (laughs).  It’s very cool just to be nominated is like I said it’s an honor.  It goes to show how much work went into last year and our championship.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR STRONG START TO THE SEASON:
 
MARCO ANDRETTI: “Yeah, a lot better than last year for me I really worked on my consistency in the off-season.  Where I used to struggle was actually the strong part of this year on the street circuits are my best results.  Where I thought we would be able to string a couple wins together that has been my worst results.  That is the way it goes.  I think as long as we can keep showing up every weekend no matter what type of track it is hopefully like Ryan (Hunter-Reay) said we could all be in it at the end.  That’s what we are trying to do.  Yeah, good start here this weekend.  We will have to see what is going to happen.”
 
THERE HAVE BEEN SOME UP’S AND DOWN’S TO THE SEASON, BUT ALL IN ALL YOU HAVE THREE WINS THE MOST OF ANY DRIVER AND COMING OFF SUCH A DOMINATING PERFORMANCE IN IOWA HAS TO BE GREAT FOR YOU COMING INTO POCONO:
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: “Yeah, obviously it has been a very up and down year.  The highs very high the lows very low, it’s nice to have the wins certainly.  You look and we are still fourth in points.  It’s actually if you look at how many results we have outside the top 10 it’s a miracle we are fourth in points.  It’s good we have had those wins to stay in the fight keeping up with the rest of the guys up here.  In Iowa you don’t get days in racing like that very often especially when the series is as competitive as it is.  You have to take them when you get them because that’s a day of great execution by the whole team.  The car obviously was great and pit stops were great.  Strategy was great and we just tried to be smart out on track and it worked out.  In a sport where it’s sort of ‘what have you done for me lately’ it’s nice coming into a weekend off a performance like that.  In two days it won’t mean anything.  The focus now is Pocono and it’s great to be back here.  Hopefully, we can have another strong performance for the team like we did at Indianapolis and just try and get all four of the Andretti Autosport cars up there.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT FOR YOU TO WIN ON AN OVAL?
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: “Well, I mean it’s a huge part.  To be successful and to be a champion in IndyCar you have got to be able to perform on all different types of race tracks.  Personally as a driver, yeah, that was a big goal.  If you look at my two previous season in IndyCar I’ve matched my best road course and street course performance with an oval race. So right after St. Pete I had the goal of trying to win an oval race this year to kind of keep that streak alive and prove that we can be competitive on all types of tracks.  It was definitely a big day in that respect.”
 
IS YOUR SET-UP VERY SIMILAR?  CAN YOU HELP EACH OTHER OR DO YOU APPROACH THE RACE TRACK IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WAY?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: “Ryan (Hunter-Reay) likes putting the front tires on the back and the back tires on the front which none of us have been able to master, but he is that good (laughs).”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: “Yeah, somehow we make that work I’m not quite sure how.  I am just that good I guess, no, it’s non-stop with these clowns up here.  We all for the most part we like maybe a few things differently. Especially on the ovals we can take something very similar, but on race day sometimes some of us will branch out and try something different just to see what comes up.  So, yeah I think it’s in the same neighborhood.”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI: “I couldn’t have answered that better if I tried.”
 
WITH THE TWO LONG STRAIGHTAWAYS HERE IS THERE ANY ADVANTAGE AS A FOUR CAR TEAM TO SLINGSHOT EACH OTHER BACK AND FORTH AND BACK AND FORTH AROUND THE LAP TO GAIN TIME?  WOULD THAT BE A STRATEGY THAT A TEAM LIKE YOURS MIGHT USE?

MARCO ANDRETTI: “I don’t know it would be so tough to coordinate really because normally when you overtake somebody you can gap them for that lap.  It takes a lap to catch back up so it’s really hard to switch once a lap let alone twice.  No, it’s probably a tough strategy.”
 
E.J. VISO: “Saying that it’s important to mention that I think we were all expecting that this track was going to have the same nature as Indianapolis that we were able to draft pretty easily, but for some reason it is not happening that way.  It does happen, but not in that magnitude.  I believe that the amount of overtaking is going to be good, but I think not as much as we expect.”
 
THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR BACK AFTER 20 PLUS YEARS AWAY.  HOW IMPORTANT TO THE INDYCAR SERIES IS IT THAT POCONO BE SUCCESSFUL?
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: “I think we will see this is our first year here and it all depends on the promotion and the fan turn out and if it works that’s great because we would certainly love to be here.  But if it’s not well received I guess we will look at other options.  I’m not sure, it’s a new event so you have to unfortunately you have to get it going for a little bit and get some momentum rolling to get the attendance numbers up.  We will see.  I
think hopefully we have a pretty good first year attendance.  We shouldn’t expect everything this weekend.”
 
THE TRACK PRESIDENT SAID THE DRIVER’S WOULDN’T LIKE THE THREE ABREAST STARTS.  DO ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH THEM?
 
MARCO ANDRETTI: “No, this straightaway is pretty long and honestly I’m all about tradition myself.  Honestly, that one is probably up to the fans because I think we can get hopefully get it sorted out by turn one.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT EVEN THOUGH THIS IS CLOSE TO HOME THIS ISN’T A PLACE YOU’VE BEEN A LOT CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH OR HOW LITTLE YOU’VE BEEN HERE AND HOW CLOSE THE LAKE PROPERTY IS TO HERE:
 
MARCO ANDRETTI: “It’s actually closer to my house than the lake.  It’s about 40 minutes from our lake house and James (Hinchcliffe) said we did it in 25 the other day to my house.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: “That doesn’t mean it’s 25 minutes away though (laughs).”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI: “That is obviously the speed limit.  Obviously, we are going to have a nice hometown support, but all that matters is the on track stuff and there are a lot of elements that could help us or take us out of it.  We just need to do everything in our power to be in contention when it counts.  Yeah, I don’t know I think this is going to be a fun race.  We will have to see.”
 
HAVE YOU SEEN MANY RACES HERE?
 
MARCO ANDRETTI: “I didn’t really look back and study it religiously because it’s so long ago.  Even though race cars are still race cars it’s quite different.  It was different from when we tested here because of the tire.  It’s changing all the time.  I think you just need to adapt.  Yeah, I mean I think it’s going to produce an awesome race I really do.”
 
TWITTER ACCIDENT WITH THE THUMB?
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: “Yes, yes, I was trying to gain as many followers as my teammates have and I just over did it.  That is the price you pay for not being quite as popular as these guys.”

 
Corvette Racing Stands Up to the Heat
Compuware Corvettes to start third, fifth in GT at Lime Rock
 
LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 5, 2013) – Corvette Racing’s two Compuware Corvette C6.R race cars will roll off the GT grid from the second and third rows for Round 4 of the 2013 American Le Mans Series at Lime Rock Park, airing live at 3 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2. Oliver Gavin qualified the No. 4 Compuware Corvette third in class for the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix with Antonio Garcia fifth in the No. 3 entry.
 
Gavin’s best lap Friday was 51.490 seconds in the car he shares with Tommy Milner. Garcia, teaming with Jan Magnussen, turned a 51.357-second lap around the 1.5-mile circuit in northwestern Connecticut. Both cars are in prime position to repeat last year’s performance that saw the velocity yellow Corvettes second and third in the GT class.
 
The heat Friday bordered on oppressive. Air temperatures hovered near 95 degrees with track readings above 120 degrees. Both crews worked up a sweat throughout the day – especially the No. 3 group, which had to change the car’s gearbox following the day’s first practice.
 
The efforts of both teams paid off with each of the Corvettes within a half-second of the pole-winning car.
 
“Today was a mixed bag,” Corvette Racing Program Manager Doug Fehan said. “We had to change the gearbox on the No. 3 Corvette, but both Oliver and Antonio put in solid qualifying efforts. We know the race will be the typical GT slugfest, which is made that much more difficult with the close quarters and short lap around Lime Rock. It will come down to who can execute on the track and in pitlane. If we can do that and run as clean a race as possible, we will be in the hunt at the end of the day.”

Corvette Racing Stands Up to the Heat
Compuware Corvettes to start third, fifth in GT at Lime Rock
 
LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 5, 2013) – Corvette Racing’s two Compuware Corvette C6.R race cars will roll off the GT grid from the second and third rows for Round 4 of the 2013 American Le Mans Series at Lime Rock Park, airing live at 3 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2. Oliver Gavin qualified the No. 4 Compuware Corvette third in class for the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix with Antonio Garcia fifth in the No. 3 entry.
 
Gavin’s best lap Friday was 51.490 seconds in the car he shares with Tommy Milner. Garcia, teaming with Jan Magnussen, turned a 51.357-second lap around the 1.5-mile circuit in northwestern Connecticut. Both cars are in prime position to repeat last year’s performance that saw the velocity yellow Corvettes second and third in the GT class.
 
The heat Friday bordered on oppressive. Air temperatures hovered near 95 degrees with track readings above 120 degrees. Both crews worked up a sweat throughout the day – especially the No. 3 group, which had to change the car’s gearbox following the day’s first practice.
 
The efforts of both teams paid off with each of the Corvettes within a half-second of the pole-winning car.
 
“Today was a mixed bag,” Corvette Racing Program Manager Doug Fehan said. “We had to change the gearbox on the No. 3 Corvette, but both Oliver and Antonio put in solid qualifying efforts. We know the race will be the typical GT slugfest, which is made that much more difficult with the close quarters and short lap around Lime Rock. It will come down to who can execute on the track and in pitlane. If we can do that and run as clean a race as possible, we will be in the hunt at the end of the day.”
 
EDITORS: High-resolution images of Corvette Racing are available on the Team Chevy media site for editorial use only.
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
Qualified third, 51.490 seconds (103.057 mph)
“We found a bit more speed from the practices, and you always push harder in qualifying. I managed to stick a reasonable lap together, and we made a few adjustments with the car that helped us find a little bit more. It’s always a delicate balance here. There is not a huge amount of grip and you’re all the time seesawing from the rear of the car being too loose to the front of the car being too pushy. You try to massage that balance between the two because one end is always breaking free. Very rarely will you get a car that’s really good and stuck and lets you attack every corner with no fear.”
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
Qualified fifth, 51.537 seconds (102.963 mph)
“We all lost a lot of time from the first session due to the red flags and then we had to change the gearbox. We never got to try anything to improve the car from the first practice. In qualifying, I had no read from the car on new tires and we needed to judge what the car would do on new tires. I think I was pretty close to everyone other than the two leading cars. But after the problems we had this morning, we put in a very good qualifying effort. We are all very close and know how races here work out. We will all be single-file for two hours and 45 minutes, very close to how Laguna Seca was. We need to be spot on pit stops, tire changes and everything. If everything goes smooth, we have the car to be out front at the end.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 5, 2013
 
 
KASEY KAHNE LEADS TEAM CHEVY IN QUALIFYING AT DAYTONA
FOUR CHEVROLET DRIVERS WILL START IN TOP-10 FOR THE 55TH ANNUAL COKE ZERO 400
 
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – July 5, 2013 – Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet SS, led the way for all Team Chevy drivers during qualifying on Friday at Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.  Kahne turned a lap of 46.595 seconds at a speed of 193.154 mph to earn a fourth-place starting position for the event.
 
Paul Menard qualified the No. 27 Rheem/Menards Chevrolet SS in sixth position and was followed by Kahne’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet SS – who qualified eighth.  Danica Patrick, No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS, who won the pole here in February, will start in 10th position for the summer race.
 
Other Team Chevy drivers qualifying in the top-20 were:  Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevy SS – 13th, Juan Pablo Montoya No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS – 14th, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevy SS – 16th, and Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevy SS – 17th.
 
Kyle Busch (Toyota) won the pole position, Matt Kenseth (Toyota) qualified second, Clint Bowyer (Toyota) will start third and Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota) rounded out the top-five in fifth.
 
The 55th-annual Coke Zero 400 will take the green flag on Saturday, July 6th at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be aired live on TNT.
 
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FOURTH
A LOT OF DRIVERS HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE WIND OUT THERE WHAT DID YOU FEEL?
“I just thought it looked really windy.  I saw the flags moving.  It looks like it’s blowing from the backstretch to the frontstretch.  I just kind of went around there.  I felt where it pushed me a little bit.  I never felt it bog the car down.  That was good, our engines run really well.  I think we have a fast car, obviously to go that quick today.  We have a good Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet and looking forward to tomorrow night.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
WHEN YOU CAME INTO THE GARAGE YOU SAT IN THE CAR FOR AWHILE FIRED THE ENGINE, TURNED IT OFF, FIRED THE ENGINE TURNED IT OFF.  IS EVERYTHING OKAY WITH THE LOWE’S CHEVROLET?
“Yeah everything is in good shape.  Just taking my time to get out of the car make sure I cycled it a few times.  We are trying to get every bit of speed we can out of these cars and tape over the radiator inlet is really the best way to do that in qualifying.  We were being aggressive there, but just want to get the car cooled down before we push it in.
 
YOU HAVE THREE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS TEAMMATES OUT THERE THAT ARE REALLY FAST.  HOW COGNIZANT ARE YOU OF WHERE THEY ARE AT DURING THE RACE TOMORROW NIGHT?
“You know it’s tough in this format to do a lot with a teammate.  With the tandem drafting that we had in years past you had to have a partner and you may as well in the best situation was race with a teammate. You can plan things in advance and really work around that.  In today’s world it’s tough.  You try to help when you can, but you really have to look around and be aware of who you are racing with because every driver has their own tendencies and style.  I will get behind someone because I know they are going to get to the front it doesn’t matter who it is, what make it is, whoever is behind the wheel you know they are going to the front that is who you want to get behind.”
   
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
THE GUYS THAT WE FIRST TALKED TO WERE TALKING A LOT ABOUT THE WIND OUT THERE.  WHAT DID YOU EXPERIENCE?
“I didn’t feel like the car was buffeting today as much as it was yesterday.  Wind definitely plays a factor even from qualifying here at the beginning of the year for the (Daytona) 500 when we were on the pole there was certain spots that I gained and lost on that lap.  We kind of figured it was probably a wind thing.  Obviously, it’s not going to be the pole, but I think it will still give us a decent starting spot.  We found some ways to get better in practice yesterday and that should help us in the race.”
 
GIVE US AN IDEA OF HOW A LAP HERE FEELS IN QUALIFYING IN JULY VERSUS FEBRUARY:
“You know it’s hotter obviously. Just everything gets going a little bit slower.  You can feel the heat.  Shoot I feel a little bit slower, it’s hot.  It doesn’t mean we are going to start in a bad place.  We are not going to get the pole obviously, but it still should be a decent spot to start for the Coke Zero 400 tomorrow night.”
 
WHEN YOU GET OUT THERE TOMORROW AND GET THIS RACE GOING ON IT’S GOING TO BE A LITTLE BIT SHORTER TIME, A LITTLE BIT DARKER, A LITTLE BIT COOLER, MAYBE A LITTLE BIT MORE GRIP.  ANYTHING GOING TO CHANGE OTHER THAN TRY SOMETHING’S YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE BEFORE?
“Well, it will be darker; it’s going to be dark.  It will have more grip and it will be cooler.  All those things will happen tomorrow night and we obviously didn’t practice in those conditions but we have the extreme of them which is at the beginning of the year.  If there is one track we get a lot of laps on it’s here at Daytona.  I think as teams go we all feel pretty comfortable and that is why you don’t see a ton of practice out there from everybody because we have brought the best things that we can.  We will just have to see how it shakes out tomorrow night and hopefully the GoDaddy car can end up on top.”
 
ON THE CAR
“This is the same car that I used to test at the beginning of the year and it was a great car then. We weren’t even sure if we were going to use the other car as our primary. But we did. And it was fast and we got the pole and unfortunately we lost that car at Talladega. But that’s the way it goes on speedway racing. So, we’ve got a good car here, no doubt. And I’m sure that the red-white-blue added GoDaddy car will still start in a decent position for the race. Things change quickly here. I don’t think it’s going to be quite as much like follow-the-leader maybe as you saw at the beginning of the year in the 500. I feel like it’ll be fine.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/DUCKS UNLIMITED CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
YOU KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT WINNING THIS PARTICULAR RACE HOW WAS THAT LAP OUT THERE WITH ALL THE VARIABLES WE ARE FACING TODAY?
“I wish I could make it sound really exciting but from a driver’s side today’s is really just a showcase of what the teams how good a job they do coming here.  Our job is to watch the tach (tachometer) when we leave the pit road and shift three times and then just try to hold a really steady smooth wheel and let the car run what it’s going to run.  My job gets a little more interesting tomorrow night when I have to put my shoes on.”
 
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN:
“Uneventful, you just try to do everything you can to hold the wheel real nice and straight and not clip the apron and just have a smooth lap.  It’s going to run whatever it’s going to run.  Proud of our team everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing has done an awesome job.  Like always we have great Hendrick horsepower.  Uneventful day.”
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 27TH:
“You are running wide-open the whole time so you transfer a lot of heat through the gas pedal to your feet.  But we haven’t had any problems with our Cessna Chevy this weekend.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 5, 2013
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/DUCKS UNLIMITED CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed what it would take to win this weekend’s 400-mile race, his Mobil 1 ‘soda cookies’ commercial and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT COMING BACK TO DAYTONA; CERTAINLY A PLACE THAT HAS TO BE FOND IN YOUR MEMORY:
“Yeah, definitely any place you win 19 times at you kind of look forward to going back to.  It’s cool, I didn’t realize until I think three weeks ago or something when we were here for our winner’s circle appearance that we have the opportunity to tie David Pearson this weekend.  That’s a pretty cool stat to be brought into.  Obviously if we get lucky enough to get another one that would be something to be really proud of.  Definitely excited about having that opportunity.  Excited our buddy Johnny Morris is going to be here this weekend with a bunch of people from Ducks Unlimited and that is a really big deal for us this weekend.  Excited to have them on the car and excited to have a good weekend.  Last night was pretty neat being here in town and actually having an evening to go enjoy the fourth (of July).  It was fun to remember why we all get the chance to be here.”
 
DO YOU EAT SODA COOKIES?  DID YOU DO THAT SPLIT YOURSELF OR WAS THAT A STUNT DOUBLE?
“Let’s make no mistakes about it if I got down there I would still be down there (laughs).  No they did not ask me to do that, they had me get down on the ground for the camera shot, but they had green screens.  They had some male gymnast do it.  I don’t know who it was.  I didn’t want to be there when he did it. It was actually a lot of fun shooting the spots because I’m sitting there and I never look at what the spots are supposed to be before we get there.  So I get there and I’m starting to read the scripts and it’s saying Tony is getting on an exercise bike, he’s doing the splits and I’m like which Tony is doing this by the way?  Is there another Tony?  But it was fun.  Mobil 1 is pretty creative with their spots and I can’t say that I have ever just sat down and grabbed a Coke and grabbed Oreos.  I’ve ate Oreos and then chased them with a Coke, but I can’t say that I have done a lot of dunking.  It’s actually pretty good.  It might start a new trend now.”
 
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT COMING TO DAYTONA THREE WEEKS AGO AND WHAT YOU DID FOR THE MEDIA TAKING THEM ON RIDES AROUND THE TRACK:
“Yeah, the memory that keeps haunting my dreams is Holly Cain (writer for NASCAR.com) screaming at the top of her lungs in the car when we took her the ride around in the pace car.  It was fun.  It’s fun for us to be able to do that.  The media that were here it’s actually cool to be able to do that because it’s not every day they get the opportunity to go ride around the track like that.  It would be a lot more fun if we got to do it in a Cup car, but a pace car was a lot of fun.  We had a good time.
 
“To be able to talk through what we are looking for while we are on the track and having media members be able to actually physically see what we are talking about and the challenges.  It just adds that much more depth to what you guys are able to talk about when you are here for the race weekend.  It was a lot of fun.”
 
OBVIOUSLY FOR YOU TEAM IT WOULD BE VERY GOOD IF DANICA (PATRICK) WON A RACE. IF PUSH COMES TO SHOVE IF YOU GOT IN POSITION AND YOU WERE IN POSITION TO HELP DANICA WIN THE RACE OR WIN THE RACE YOURSELF WOULD YOU PUSH HER OR TAKE HER TO THE WIN OR IS SHE ALL ON HER OWN AND YOU ARE GOING TO GO FOR THE WIN?
“I don’t know if you know, but I actually have another teammate that drives for Stewart-Haas Racing named Ryan Newman.  It would be good for him to win a race too. Yeah, a win for any three of us is a splash for the team.  I will be honest I’m going for the win.  So, I’m still a race car driver first.  You can call me selfish if you want, but that is how I got in this position.  To be an owner and a driver is because I’m competitive and I want to win.  I’m not going to let somebody else win unless I feel like I can’t.”
 
TALK ABOUT STARTING THE CHASE AT CHICAGO AND ALL THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN AROUND THAT RACE:
“It’s actually fun.  The thing that probably I remembered most about last year is a bunch of the guys went out after it was over and for a lot of them because we have so many obligations up there the married drivers that have children didn’t have their kids up there and they were all excited because they all got to go out and do stuff.  I remember when I started and a bunch of these guys didn’t have kids and its stuff we used to do anyway.  It is it’s a lot of fun.  It’s the calm before the storm and doing the media stuff before we actually get started.  Chicago is a huge race from the stand point that it really can set the tone for the next nine weeks after that.   It’s not critical to get a great start there.  I mean if you don’t have a good start it doesn’t mean you can’t recover from it and win, but if you have a solid finish that first race of the Chase there it really gets that 10 week stretch kicked off in the right way.  You can carry that momentum.  It’s fun for me.  I grew up four hours south of Chicago and didn’t realize how much fun downtown was until I actually got to go up there through NASCAR.  It’s a beautiful place and NASCAR is gracious enough with all the obligations that they do have for us up there to give us some time to do some stuff on our own.  It was neat to walk around and just see things up there.”
 
WHEN YOU LOOK BACK AT A MOVE YOU MADE TO WIN HERE LAST SUMMER PASS GREG (BIFFLE) AND MATT (KENSETH) HOW MUCH OF THAT IS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AN OPPORTUNITY THAT IS THERE ON GUT INSTINCT AND HOW MUCH OF THAT IS BASED ON WHAT WORKED AND DIDN’T WORK IN PAST RESTRICTOR PLATE RACES?
“It’s very much exactly what you are saying.  It’s a lot of trial and error.  I lost the Daytona 500 here that I wish over and over I could have done different and maybe would have tried something.  I may have gotten wrecked doing it, but I wish I would have at least tried.  There are times that I have tried things that didn’t work and there are times when I wish I would have tried things that may have worked.  A lot of it is instinct and trial and error.  Anybody that sits there and says they know exactly what to do at what time is pretty much lying to you.  Its guess work.  A lot of it is just the right circumstances at the right time.  You can do the right thing as a driver, but there is still 10 guys or 20 guys behind you that their scenario maybe different and may alter what your decision was.  It’s very much I call it the Peyton Manning deal.  You are constantly calling an audible in those last two or three laps.  It may work it may not work.  You can’t sit there and say okay this is the playbook this is what we do, this is where we want to be on that last lap.  There are no guarantees.  It’s just literally adjusting what you think you need to do by what you are seeing in the mirror and what you are seeing in front of you.”
 
DO YOU THINK EXPANSION HAS THAT HURT STEWART-HAAS RACING, OR IS THAT A REASON WHY MAYBE YOU GUYS THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON HAVEN’T GOTTEN THE RESULTS THAT YOU WANTED?
“I don’t think so.  I mean I think we have got enough depth there to cover the three teams.  It’s just I think the combination of…we planned for all the expansion over the winter, but with the new car there were a lo
t of parts and a lot of things that we had to really wait late in the off season to get completed.  I think for us we got ourselves behind with that.  I think we have caught up since then, but I think just learning a new car and learning what it wants and what it likes and how to transfer that to the feel we are looking for.  It’s something that Ryan’s (Newman) struggled with Danica’s (Patrick) struggled with and I’ve definitely struggled with.  I think it’s been a combination of trying to figure out exactly what it’s wanting.  I think we did get a slow start to the year because we were behind on getting things prepared.  But I don’t think it was due to the expansion as much as it was just the cycle of going through to the new car.  But it was the same for everybody just some teams did a better job of getting off on the right foot than we did.”
 
YOU SAID YOU NEVER LOOK AT SCRIPTS AHEAD OF TIME. MIGHT YOU DO THAT AFTER SODA COOKIES? 
“You’ve got to remember, and you guys love this stuff.  I’m not smart enough to remember the scripts if I look at it before so there is no point in me looking at it until we get there.  We have done some pretty fun stuff in the last 15 years with partners.  I think a long time ago sponsors figured out that drivers aren’t good actors.  So the funnier they can make it the better off it is.  This has been a set of spots that Mobil 1 has done that has been very successful because of the comedy in it.  You get Jenson (Button) and I to both do all this and have it turn out the way it did I think they are pretty happy with it.”
 
THERE WAS A LOT OF CHATTER IN HERE YESTERDAY THAT TALLADEGA WAS A LOT DIFFERENT THAN DAYTONA.  SOME DRIVERS EXPECT TOMORROW NIGHT’S RACE TO LOOK MORE LIKE TALLADEGA THAN THE DAYTONA 500.  DO YOU HAVE ANY SENSE AFTER PRACTICE YESTERDAY WHAT TOMORROW NIGHT MIGHT LOOK LIKE?  MIGHT THERE BE A MOVE LIKE YOU MADE TO WIN THIS RACE A YEAR AGO?
“Sure, it might.  The hard thing is literally I don’t know that you can predict what is going to happen, especially at the end of the race.  As far as what the race is going to look like for the first 300 miles or 350 miles I don’t know what that is going to be like either.  Everybody in practice is not trying to figure out what to do late in the race, they are trying to figure out how their car will suck up to the car in front of them and what they can do to pass guys. What the sense of urgency for these guys during the course of the race is going to be different than what it was in practice.  It’s hard to get a feel for it.  At least from my mind like I say I’m fairly simple so I’m not sure I’ve realized it as much as some of these other guys may have.  I don’t know that we can predict what the race is going to be like. At the end of the race I think guys were trying yesterday to figure out what they could do to get a run on guys.  It’s always hard to predict especially if you get a caution late in the race.  It can definitely jumble it up quite a bit.”
 
19 DAYS UNTIL THE TRUCK RACE AT ELDORA.  DO YOU GET MORE INVOLVED IN THE PREPARATIONS FOR THAT NOW THAT WE ARE JUST A FEW WEEKS OUT? AND YOU ARE NOT DRIVING THAT RACE, CORRECT?
“I am not driving in that race.  Honestly, Roger Slack has done a great job and all of our staff at Eldora has done a great job getting things ready.  I will be there after; I’ve got sprint car races that weekend.  I’m going straight I think Sunday night is my last race that weekend and I will be there Monday on.  It’s more out of curiosity for me.  I will be available for whatever they need me to do that I can do.  If I had to be a part of it and had to actually be there hands on to do it I wouldn’t have the confidence to do it.  I’m more than confident in Roger and our staff up there that they’ve got everything squared away and ready to go and prepared.  It’s not something that somebody like me coming in a week before is going to get it ready.  It’s been months and months and months of work to get ready for this event.  I’m very confident in everything that they have done up to this point.”
 
LEVI JONES RETIRED LAST WEEK.  DID THAT SURPRISE YOU?
“A little bit.  Levi has won five championships for us in the sprint car series there and he’s won a Silver Crown championship.  He talked last year about cutting back on his schedule a little bit.  His family has expanded obviously.  His family has got a very successful business in St. Louis and he told me last year that is why he didn’t run our Sprint Car full time this year because he wanted to cut his schedule back and spend more time with his family.  It wasn’t a total shock by any means.  I thought there were other things that he wanted to do in Sprint Car racing.
 
“I know he wanted to run a wing car some and he had started to do that a little bit.  I was a little bit surprised.  I think it’s good that if that is the decision he wants to make.  He’s in a financial situation now where he can go work with his family’s business and retire from racing on his own terms.  I stand behind him 100 percent on it.  I’m sad that he’s not going to be running, but at the same time I understand why too.”
 
DID HE HAVE MORE RACES PLANNED FOR YOU THIS YEAR?
“Yeah, he was driving our Silver Crown car.  We definitely had races on our plate that he was going to run for the rest of the year.  I think when a driver makes that decision as an owner and as a fellow driver you understand.  Race drivers don’t make those decisions very easily.  They don’t make them overnight.  For him I know it was something that he had thought about a long time and like I said he had started talking about it a year ago.  It wasn’t a surprise, but at the same time when they finally make that decision you stand behind them 100 percent.  You don’t make them question why they are doing it.  You don’t ask them why.  They have thought it through already.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON MATT KENSETH’S SUCCESS DRIVING FOR GIBBS THIS YEAR?
IS KENSETH GOING TO BE YOUR TOUGHEST CHALLENGE IN SATURDAY NIGHT’S RACE?
“Yeah, definitely. Matt is one we will definitely see in the front at some point tomorrow. They ran really good at Daytona and they ran really good at Talladega. There is no reason to think that they won’t do the same thing. Matt is somebody who, in the last couple of years, has taken his restrictor plate program as a driver to another level, and gotten even better than he already was.
 
“And now he’s in cars and an organization that seem to be a good fit for him. He’s done an awesome job this year in that car. I don’t think anybody doubted whether he was going to have success over there. It was just a matter of how much and how quick. And it was right out of the box. When they came down here they ran well. And he’s been on a winning streak ever-since. He’s definitely done a great job. He’s pushing his teammates over there and that’s a good scenario to be in.”
 
IF THE NO. 3 CAR RETURNS TO CUP RACING NEXT YEAR, HOW DOES THAT COMPARE TO WHEN YOU BROUGHT THE NO.14 BACK INTO COMPETITION FROM A.J. FOYT?  WHAT SORT OF RESPONSIBILITY DOES THAT CARRY? DO YOU SEE YOURSELF AS NO. 14 OR WILL NO. 14 ALWAYS GOING TO FOREVER BE A.J.?
“In my scenario, I look at is as it’s always going to be A.J. In my career, I’ve run a lot of different numbers, whether it was No. 20 in the IRL and Cup, and I had No. 20 in the Sprint Cars, but I’ve always had different numbers in my career. And A.J. had different numbers, too. But A.J. made the No. 14 famous just like Dale (Earnhardt) Sr. made the No. 3 famous.
 
“I’m not sure there’s really a sense of responsibility. Since Austin (Dillon) has been
racing, he’s been running the No. 3, whether it’s been in the truck or in Nationwide. So it’s a part of his legacy now, too. So, even thought he’ll start next year in the Cup series in the car that was Dale Senior’s number, it’s been his number as well and been in his family forever. That’s how it became Dale’s number. Yeah, I think it’s generations. I think newer fans that have been following the sport the last three or four years will associate that No. 3 with Austin more so than Dale. Fans that have been around this sport a long time, if you’ve been around here more than 15 or 20 years, when you think of the No. 3 in the Cup Series you think of Dale Senior. And if you’ve followed IndyCar racing, you’re thinking the same thing about A.J. Foyt, no matter who runs the number afterwards. For me it’s definitely going to be a huge part of my career the rest of my time. My Sprint Car is No. 14, and when we run a Modified or a Late Model, we run the No. 14. So, that’s my number now, too.”
 
WHAT THINGS DO YOU THINK YOU WILL TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION ONE DAY WHEN YOU DECIDE WHETHER TO KEEP DRIVING OR NOT?
“I don’t know because I’m not even close to that. I really don’t know. It’s not even on my radar. I don’t see myself retiring from racing for a long, long time. So, I think a lot of it, for drivers that have families, that’s a huge part of it. Since I don’t have a wife and children and I don’t have that extra burden or responsibility, so to speak that I need to consider. I have the ability to lead a more selfish lifestyle from a driver’s standpoint and I don’t have to worry about somebody at the end of the day. But I’m sure that plays a huge part I would assume, and is probably a bigger factor than most people would like to admit.”
 
WHEN YOU LOOK AT BRAD KESELOWSKI, CAN YOU DRAW SOME PARALLELS BETWEEN YOUR SITUATION A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO AS OBVIOUSLY A VERY TALENTED DRIVER, STRUGGLING A BIT WHO CAN GET ON A ROLL AND MAKE THINGS HAPPEN AT THE END OF THE SEASON?
“Yeah. It’s a new year. It’s different I think from most years. It’s a totally different package this year. They were really strong last year with figuring out how to get the cars skewed and get the side force in the cars and this year’s package takes all that away; not some of it, but all of it away. So, it’s tryng to figure out a whole new package. It just shows how tough this sport is form the technology side. You can have the same people in place, but technology plays such a huge role in year to year. But when you take a season when you throw a whole new body style in it and a whole new rules package, it really can take a lot longer for some teams to adapt to it than others to find that sweet spot. We know they are definitely capable. When they hit on something and find what they did last year and find something that’s working for them, they definitely can put together the consistency do what they did just like last year. It’s just a matter of getting themselves to that point.”