NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 30, 2013
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/BEAUTYREST CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Atlanta Motor Speedway and discussed the new tire at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his move to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 and other topics. Full Transcript:
BIG WEEK FOR YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT AND SIGNING WITH STEWART-HAAS RACING:
“It’s tough to have the present to work on and try to get Furniture Row in the Chase and then the future with Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s tough to balance it all, but it was nice to do the announcement Tuesday. It’s exciting to have the future set where 2014 and beyond will go, but at the same time you know it gives you a breath of fresh air coming to the track and kick butt these next two weeks with the Furniture Row guys. I think the most important two races in the No. 78 cars history are these next two.”
HOW DOES GOING TO RICHMOND AND HAVING TO CLINCH HOW DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR APPROACH THESE NEXT FEW WEEKS?
“We won’t have any type of cushion whatsoever. We have to race these next two against right now I see the Penske cars as the two we are racing heads up. After Sunday night after the Atlanta race we will see exactly what numbers are going to be in front of us and how that will play out, but we can’t go there to run 10th. We have to go there and run top five in these next two races.”
HOW WELL PREPARED IS THIS TEAM FOR A RUN AT THE CHAMPIONSHIP IF YOU MAKE THE CHASE?
“I hate to play the ‘what if’, but ‘what if’ in this case is a good ‘what if’ and that is if we make the Chase. We have one test left which we will probably utilize at Martinsville, which is probably my weakest link. Just the speed that we’ve had at all the race tracks, the diversified race tracks this year, I think we will be great in the Chase. I think we can put up a good showing. Then the pit crew they are going to have to step it up and know that it counts now. The Chase for us started a few weeks back. We’ve had to be perfect and run sixth and run third and run these top fives up against the stats every week. When we had a week like we had last week with the right-rear hub falling off while we are leading the race those are things that are tough to overcome.”
YOU HAVE HAD VERY STRONG CARS WITH NOT VERY GOOD FINISHES AT ALL WITH DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES. YOU KNOW AS WELL AS ANYBODY THAT YOU COULD BE SITTING IN A VERY GOOD POSITION HAD THINGS FALLEN YOUR WAY JUST A FEW RACES:
“You know the best part about when you have something fail is going back through and dissecting exactly what happened and how to learn from it. This single car team has done that every time we have had a problem there has been new procedural things to bounce back from and not have that same problem happen a second time. Another thing that makes it easy for this group to bounce back is just the raw speed we’ve had every week when we unload. We’ve been fast everywhere we go.”
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOU TO LEAVE THIS TEAM AND GO TO ANOTHER TEAM?
“The toughest part about switching teams is the notification with the current group that you are with. There is big disappointment in that. It’s tough because we have so many weeks left in our campaign this year to run hard. It’s just the nature of this sport. If you are not settled by September 1st you are behind in a lot of categories. The number one category is just making the announcement, creating the buzz and then getting people lined up to know that is where they should look to commit to for the next year. If you are making decisions about your team move and where you are going to be in the next year in December the next year is a waste. You have to get things done as early as you can.”
HOW MUCH OF THE SUCCESS OF FURNITURE ROW RACING THIS YEAR WAS THE FIVE OR SIX RACES YOU RAN LAST YEAR?
“It was amazing to get together, to get the bugs worked out and team communication. Walking in the hauler now we have our run through sheet we have our run log. We have all of our procedural things in place. Last year during those six races I didn’t know Todd (Berrier, crew chief) from Cole (Pearn, lead engineer) and how to talk to each one of them and just did like in the garage knowing who I was going to talk to on the radio next. You just get through all those sequences and it just that is when you are building speed is knowing how to talk to the guys with ease. Last year was great to get together with the team. I’m going to finish the season strong with these guys though. We have a lot of unfinished business.”
DO YOU GET A SENSE THAT YOUR GUYS ARE NERVOUS ABOUT WHAT THEY WILL BE DOING NEXT YEAR?
“Yeah there is always that unknown and it’s tough within our sport like I was saying earlier you have to commit to something in September for next year, but then you still have three months that you are working with the same group of guys. In a nutshell there are still 12 races left. That is a third of the season. We still have a long way to go together and that is the focus it’s on the present and it’s right now.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT FURNITURE ROW RACING WAITED AS LONG AS THEY DID TO EXTEND YOU AN OPPORTUNITY?
“Yeah, it was a bit surprising; especially with all the success we had this year. I had hoped that I exceeded in all the categories on how they evaluate their drivers.”
IN REGARDS TO THE NEW ZONE TIRE THAT WILL BE USED THIS WEEKEND AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
“The zone tire is something that is going to be very unique. I hope that it turns out really well. We always want durability, but we also want raw speed. This tire I believe will provide us both. It will be exciting to see the long runs as well as here in practice the short run tire temps. There could be something just as simple as adding a ton of camber to the car will make you turn better. At the same time you won’t have to worry about durability.”
Category Archives: Chevrolet Racing
Chevy Racing–Atlanta–Ryan Newman
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 30, 2013
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 ASPEN DENTAL CHEVROLET SS, met with media and dicsussed the next two races leading into the Chase, the new zone tire, maintaining team momentum while planning to go to another team and season-end, the intensity of the Richmond race, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
THE MODERATOR: Ryan, talk a little bit about these next two races and your team’s mindset.
RYAN NEWMAN: I think for us the absolute mindset is to focus on the racing part of it and know that these next two races are going to be what proves what we’re capable of in the next 10 if we can get what we need to done in the next two races. As Stewart said a few years ago, we’d just be taking up a spot in the championship race.
From our standpoint, it’s our job doing business as usual, doing our best to get the best finishing position we can, no extra risk. Especially here at Atlanta, things get spread out a little bit and you end up with 10 cars on the lead lap, that type of thing.
Having a good racecar here is extremely important – probably more important than Richmond.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions for Ryan.
Q. Ryan, what is your take, especially from the standpoint of an engineer, on the new zone tire, the tread that they’re bringing in?
RYAN NEWMAN: I mean, I think there’s definitely a common sense approach to it that they’re using. It’s something that they’ve been working on. I’ve been a part of testing it several times at different racetracks.
Here at Atlanta, it’s the best worst-case scenario for that because it is the toughest track we have on tires. The strength of that zone tread tire is the durability side of it. The biggest part of the durability side of what we do is the inside shoulder of the right front tire.
I think all that being said, I hope there are no issues. The reason they’re doing that is so there won’t be any issues because this new car is definitely the most challenging we’ve had on tire durability.
Q. Ryan, I’m not really referring to your current situation with Tony, but looking back to say when you went from Penske to Tony Stewart, you tell your crew guys, I’m leaving to go to another team, how do you keep that momentum up until the end of the season is over with?
RYAN NEWMAN: Quite honestly those guys did that for me because after the announcement was made in Loudon, we didn’t know obviously. Our goal is, was, still is to make the Chase. They rebounded for all of us and performed at Indianapolis the way we all needed to and the way we’ve been capable of all year.
That was the answer to your question. I mean, they said, We’re not quitting, we’re going to fight till the end. The end is the checkered flag at Homestead.
Q. Ryan, you’re obviously fighting to make the Chase. Next season remains unsettled. Is it difficult to kind of compartmentalize the two, keep the focus on this year as opposed to thinking about what may happen next year?
RYAN NEWMAN: I wouldn’t say it’s difficult. I would say it’s more of a challenge because you have to, as you said, compartmentalize, stay focused at different times on different subjects.
All that being said, it takes away from your relaxing time in your mind, which is just as important as being focused on what you need to at a given time, be it 2013 or 2014.
I feel like mentally I’m capable of doing that and have been. Basically I’ve been in that situation for the last 12 months. So it really hasn’t changed for me. I think I’ve honed my skills over the last 12 months to be in the right position right now.
Q. Are you any more confident that you’ll have a Cup ride next year now compared to maybe three or four weeks ago? Also, did you watch the press conference on Tuesday and did you laugh, did you cry, did you throw anything? What did you think?
RYAN NEWMAN: No, I did not watch it. I have only read it and seen the quotes from different individuals.
To me it’s a unique situation that to me doesn’t really affect me, as I said. In the end, it’s what they’re going to do in 2014. I already knew I wasn’t going to be a part of that.
Yeah, I do feel more confident, to answer the first part of your question, that I’m moving along. I have nothing obviously to announce. But my focus is on these next two races.
I do have a different focus, as we talked about, on 2014, but that won’t happen this weekend or next weekend, it will happen during the week.
Q. As a guy whose background is completely dissimilar, how do you think Kyle Larson’s background prepares him for getting in a Cup car?
RYAN NEWMAN: I think no matter if it was Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske or Tony Stewart, or whoever, they would have went to Kyle and said, Do you think you’re ready for this? There’s a part of a driver that has to take the responsibility in saying yes or no.
I think Kyle has definitely proven across the board he can drive absolutely anything anywhere anytime. There’s a few drivers out there that can do that. When I say ‘a few,’ there’s 20 or 30 that are that good.
I think no matter what announcement there is, in the end we all know Kyle has a lot of talent. I think the biggest challenge he’s going to have ahead of him is not what happens outside of this room, it’s what happens inside of this room, the media part of it, the publicity part of it. The potential pressure, if you let it get to you, is more of a challenge I think than sitting in the seat behind the wheel and doing your job as a driver.
Q. Can you describe the intensity that a lot of guys are going to feel next weekend at the Richmond race, the guys around the bubble, and how that’s different from every other week? It has to have something extra to it.
RYAN NEWMAN: It does. To me, maybe I kind of view it as watching golf on TV, where you watch, you know where the leader is, you seed the leaderboard, you know where you’re at starting the race, you have maybe the last round to make up, you see where guys are plus or minus. You keep kind of track of that under cautions. But when the green flag drops, you have your job to do. That’s just like swinging the clubs.
I’m no golfer, but I see it like that. It’s doesn’t go necessarily play-by-play, but event by event, if who is on what hole, what does he have left, where are we at in the race, who is good on fuel, things like that.
You kind of watch that. But in the end, as a driver, you’re still focused on hitting your marks, not screwing up, not taking yourself out.
So I think to me that was the first thing that came to my mind when you asked the question. I’m not a huge golf fan, but I’ve watched enough golf on TV to know that’s how the mental and physical part of it works.
Q. How different is it now in the garage looking for a ride than it was when you first came in?
RYAN NEWMAN: I didn’t have to look. I don’t know. I don’t know.
I came into this garage with a great ride, you know, obviously a great organization with great people. We proved that, proved that out of the box, winning a pole my second race, a top five in my third race. It came not easy, but it just came.
There was a lot of hard work involved, but that’s why I can’t say it was easy. In the end, I can’t answer that because I know it’s not easy now. That’s why going back to a kid like Kyle Larson, if you have a go
od opportunity like that, it’s hard to say no, and that’s the bottom line.
Q. You would think performance, you win at Indy, that would assure you of something. Do you feel like the next couple of races, that it’s on the races themselves?
RYAN NEWMAN: Yes, it’s on. There’s no doubt it’s on. Indianapolis and all that stuff helped. But I think if you look at my history in the sport the last 10 years, I’ve got a good résumé on and off the racetrack. I think there are car sponsors and owners that appreciate that.
THE MODERATOR: Ryan, thank you for your time.
RYAN NEWMAN: Thank you.
Chevy Racing–Tuesday Teleconference–Gene Haas, Kurt Busch
GENE HAAS, STEWART-HAAS RACING CO-OWNER, KURT BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET BEGINNING IN 2014 AND GREG ZIPADELLI, COMPETITION DIRECTOR OF STEWART-HAAS RACING WERE GUESTS ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE.
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much for coming to today’s announcement. We have three speakers; really wish we had four with Tony Stewart. He certainly wants to be here. Still recovering from his broken leg sustained August 5th. Certainly wants to be here. We’ll get him back out in front of you guys sooner rather than later.
First off, want to introduce everyone here. On the far left, Gene Haas, co‑owner of Stewart‑Haas Racing. Kurt Busch, driver of the Haas Automation Chevrolet beginning in 2014. And Greg Zipadelli, competition director of Stewart‑Haas Racing.
Let’s go ahead and get started.
Gene, you’re expanding Stewart‑Haas Racing to a four‑car team in 2014 and you’re doing with a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion in Kurt Busch. How did this all come about?
GENE HAAS: Well, it’s been a story in the making. There was an opportunity to have Kurt Busch join us as the driver. I’m in this business to win races. I talked to Kurt Busch over the years. He’s been kind of a favorite of mine. I see his on‑track performance. I thought this was a great opportunity to pair him up with Haas Automation, for him to be the driver of my choice. It was an opportunity that I just felt was too great to pass up.
I bent a few rules, pushed, had some conversations with Kurt. Everything started to line up. We just needed to figure out how we’re going to do this.
One of the biggest problems in any race team obviously is sponsorship. With the other three cars having their sponsorship pretty much filled up, it was an opportunity for Haas Automation to be a primary sponsor. In the past, I’ve always been a co‑sponsor on the Stewart‑Haas Racing team. That’s a good position to be in. I have no problems with that. This is going to be my shot at being a primary sponsor, going to the Daytona 500, the Brickyard as the primary sponsor.
Haas Automation has never been in the winner’s circle, and I’m sure that’s going to change next year.
So that’s my primary reason for basically pushing this expansion. It’s been met with a little bit of resistance. We have a lot of great people here that are going to have to work hard to make this a reality, but there’s a lot of enthusiasm with it. As a matter of fact, I think the enthusiasm has been overwhelming from both people outside Stewart‑Haas Racing and inside. A lot of people are telling me this is great, they feel enthusiastic. Attitude is what wins races.
I’m happy we’re doing this. I think it’s going to be an exciting year. I’m looking forward to it.
THE MODERATOR: Kurt, welcome to Stewart‑Haas Racing. Now that you’re a part of this team, you join Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, collectively that is a lineup that boasts four Sprint Cup championships, 36 poles and 93 wins. Talk about this opportunity.
KURT BUSCH: The excitement is just at an all‑time high. To be in this position, it’s amazing to have Gene Haas call you up and say, Let’s go do this, win some races together. To have the opportunity to have Stewart‑Haas as the emblem on the door as I go to work every day, work on making faster racecars with all the mechanics, but also to work alongside Tony Stewart as a co‑owner and as a driver, he sees things from the driver’s seat that I’ve been trying to explain for years to team personnel and owners. That’s what makes his position so valuable.
To have a guy like Kevin Harvick that I’ve gotten a chance to work with at RCR this year, the Furniture Row situation, behind the scenes, carrying a banner on it that says Kurt Busch. Harvick and I, an amazing connection we’ve had all through our career. Being rookies together, now to be coming to the same program at the same time.
Then with Danica and her growth. I’ve always tried to take young drivers under my wing, show them some things around the track. That will be a nice situation for me to be in as well.
The opportunity is about people. That’s what makes this so important that I’ve neglected in the past, is understanding the people, knowing that that makes the difference if you’re going to Victory Lane or not.
Stewart‑Haas, Gene, Tony, this combination is so powerful. That’s what makes it so exciting. It’s tough for me. I have to remember I have 12 weeks left in the regular season. Right now if we can have two good weeks, we’ll make the Chase.
THE MODERATOR: And Greg Zipadelli, you’ve been in the sport a long time, which means you’ve competed against Kurt a long time. Now that he’s part of Stewart‑Haas Racing, what does he bring to the table?
GREG ZIPADELLI: I think he brings a ton. If you look back at his record, at the competitiveness he carries within him, he’ll demand from everybody here at SHR, I think will push us to new heights, along with Kevin coming and Tony. That’s a dream come true as far as having a driver lineup.
Danica, going into her second full year, with those three guys, to be able to lean on them, hopefully be able to help her, we’ll have something special here with these three guys and Danica.
It’s not often that you get the opportunity to expand the way things are in this sport today. From where I’m sitting, it’s awesome. I know from the time we had the meeting yesterday with the guys, the things I’ve heard in the last 24 hours, how excited they are, that means an awful lot. That’s encouraging to me that these guys will jump onboard and do what it takes. We’ll certainly do our best to perform at the highest level next year.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and open it up for questions.
Q. Zippy and Gene, where are you putting four cars? I guess you have to build. How quickly can that be done? Where will it be done? Who is paying for that? Zippy, how quickly are you going to have to build a team around Kurt? Where will you get those people from?
GREG ZIPADELLI: There’s people out there looking for jobs. The amount of résumés that I’ve gotten in the last week since this has kind of broke has been unbelievable, phone calls. There’s a lot of great people out there.
We haven’t started looking at people. We’ve been looking at getting Kevin Harvick’s deal done. Obviously until Monday morning, this wasn’t a done deal. So we’ve kind of looked at the structure of the building.
There’s some areas we’re going to move, rooms we’re going to knock down to expand each department, the building is going next door, so.
We’re not sure how we’re all going to lay all that out. That’s kind of the stuff we’re going through now, designing that. But it will be tight for a little bit. But we’ll prioritize what we need to work on.
The biggest thing, we’re going to have to move cars around. We have plenty of rooms to have plates, that type of stuff, body shop, we’ve already added on to that this year, there’s no issues with that. It will physically be, where are the cars.
GENE HAAS: When we originally started at this location, we purchased 30‑acres of land. The building layouts were already done. It was part of the previous layout. It’s not like we’re starting from scratch.
It will take probably somewhere around six to nine months to get the struct
ure up, but we hope to have it open by June.
The way we do things around here is a little unique in the sense that we just focus on racing. That’s really our primary things. Things like chassis, engines, obviously come from Hendrick Motorsports. Some of that load will go on them to increase their output.
It’s going to be challenging mainly from a space standpoint. But I think we can offload some of that to some other locations. We can just focus on the races at hand.
Q. Kurt, when Kevin Harvick won the Coca‑Cola 600, he praised you a lot, said that RCR was a lot better because you gave feedback that was accurate and you drove the car hard enough that it was useful feedback. Five or six years ago you were pretty bitter rivals. Now you seem to be working real well. You and Tony have had some incidents in the past. When you sign on the dotted line, does all that go out the window? How do you work together where before you were such fierce competitors?
KURT BUSCH: You know, I got a bunch of phone calls, of course, in the last couple weeks. The last one before I came in here today was Kevin Harvick. 10 years ago we weren’t in a place in our careers to do this. We’ve had different roads we’ve been on, but at the same time they’ve paralleled one another because we were rookies together.
I think we’re in a great spot in our careers now to join another fierce competitor such as Tony, and to look up to Tony as our co‑owner with Gene, and to know that our spot here is to build these four cars together and to make them as fast as we can.
That’s what made this opportunity for me so unique is the people that are involved and the teammates that I will have to work with. Harvick is a fierce competitor that knows how to get the most out of his car. Tony is the same way. If I can give Zipadelli some notes on the feedback that I’m feeling to have another little small thing to give us an advantage, I’ve always prided myself in trying to make the crew chief’s job easier. This structure here is structured around the crew chief operating the team. That’s what makes it an even better fit.
Harvick and I in the past, Tony even, we are now in a better spot in our careers to be able to do this.
Q. Gene, what pushed you over the top with the Outlaw, his tenacity, a little bit more about what you see from him on the racetrack?
GENE HAAS: Well, I think we all see how Kurt has done on the racetrack. He’s done an amazing job with the 78 car, taking a car that is a single‑car team, has a lot of competitors that are way ahead of it. They’ve done a remarkable job of being able to compete in that top‑10 bracket.
I think that was something that was obvious. I know Kurt’s résumé as well as anybody. I kind of like his attitude. He’s passionate about what he does. He likes to win. He’s not afraid to get in people’s faces. I think that kind of reflects my company a little bit.
I think there’s a good match there. He’s a passionate person, and it takes a lot of passion to win these races. The fact that he runs into his friends at 200 miles an hour once in a while, has a few tough words with that, they all do that, so I don’t really have any problems with that either.
I think at the end of the day they all seem to get along and they’re all there at the next race. It is a sport. I think there’s a lot of camaraderie there in the garage and among the drivers. That’s what makes this NASCAR business somewhat of a hobby to me.
Q. Kurt, what kind of conversation did you have with Tony as I’m sure you talked about this?
KURT BUSCH: Tony was slapping me a high five. He says we’re tapping into Gene’s wallet the way I wanted to (laughter).
Tony is about finding better people and better products to go and utilize so he has a better chance of winning.
But all kidding aside, Tony knows the same things that I know: it takes people to make a difference. Just like what Greg Zipadelli was talking about, the opportunities when you expand to four teams, you have the ability to start from scratch on one of those teams, but still use the blueprints, that’s what Tony was trying to reiterate to me. There is a structure here, proven success. The fact we’re going to have a chance to start something fresh at the same time as working on the current situation, he was in that owner mode. It was easy to respect him when he was talking that way. Then when he would switch into driver mode, we’d throw sarcasm at each other, it was a unique element. Even though we spent Sunday watching a little bit of the IndyCar race together, we were talking about things from the driver’s side of it.
To me it matches a lot of my racing passion on trying to explore different avenues in racing and at the same time keeping your eye on the big prize, which is ultimately another Sprint Cup championship.
Q. Kurt, has the team decided on a number for your car? Can you sort of put into words what you gained from the experience of the last year racing the 78, basically having to box above your weight every week?
KURT BUSCH: We haven’t come to a decision on a car number. It’s obviously Gene’s team and Tony Stewart is the car owner. They’ve given me some nice input on what they’d like. They’ve actually been open to what I would like.
My eight‑year‑old Houston says, Put 360 on the door.
Why 360?
Because you’ve come full circle.
When kids speak and they hit it on the head of the nail like that, it’s amazing. I don’t know if 360 works, but we’ll come up with the right number. I like the theme here with 4 with Harvick, 14 with Tony, 10 with Danica. A 4, a 1, even multiplication tables or addition tables can all add up here. That’s the fun part. That will be later on.
Right now the battle that we have of getting into the Chase, like you said boxing in a rink that might be a heavier‑weight division than what we’re showing up with on the 78 car. Barney Visser has done a tremendous job at making us a player, something that competes with the big dogs. It’s been a tremendous effort this year by a lot of people. We’ve had some bad luck go against us, we’ve also had some good luck to be in position to make the Chase.
It’s taught me a lot about myself on how to understand disappointment better, and it’s also taught me a lot about how to help with crew members when they stumble or they trip on something, to be there for them. So that’s why I feel like I’m in a better place mentally and spiritually as well. Barney is a guy that believes, and a lot of things happen for reasons. He’s given me a tremendous amount to go out there and race against the big dogs. We still have 12 more weeks to do it.
Q. Gene, you said you encountered some resistance in making this decision. Was that internally? What were some of the potential holdups?
GENE HAAS: Well, it really all started at the General Motors dinner in Indianapolis. I talked to Kurt, found out that he really didn’t have a firm contract with his current team. I was a little surprised at that because we had talked to him the previous year. We were just trying to find out where he stood.
When he took the 78 ride, you know, usually it’s for several years. When I was talking to him, he said, No, no, there’s some transitions, they’re going to try to find out what manufacturer they’re going with before they announce the driver. That was Indianapolis, only a few weeks ago.
So I talked to Joe Custer. Joe reached out to Kurt who found out that things were lining up. I wanted to go forward with th
at. Tony broke his leg. I didn’t have really a chance to talk to Tony about it at all since he wasn’t really talking to anybody. So I kind of did this on my own, probably overstepped my authority a tich there. I’m not used to having too many authorities to work with. I’ve been pretty much on my own. I did realize that Tony might be a little bit upset about it. He was, he was a little upset.
At first he said, Oh, wow, we can’t really do this because this is going to be too much of a load on the team. We’re not prepared for it. We don’t have the space. There’s a whole line. He actually is an astute businessman. He thought about all these little things, where are we going to get the people, the money, where are the buildings going to come from. I didn’t think about any of that. From Tony’s standpoint, he’s more of a businessman. I just thought it would be kind of neat to have.
That’s how it came about. We all know Tony’s problems he was having, so I couldn’t talk to him too much. When I finally did talk to him, he was saying, maybe we should wait a little while. I think he actually said, you need to wait a while. I kind of made an offer to Kurt here, I don’t know if he’s going to take it or not, and if he takes it, I’m not backing down. That’s where we were.
About a week later, Tony said, Okay, all right. He thought, it’s okay. What are you going to do? Don’t have much choice. It’s a series of events. Chance meeting Kurt at the General Motors dinner, Tony being incapacitated where I couldn’t talk to him, I wanted to do something. I stepped up and said I would fund it.
It’s very difficult to find a sponsor in less than 24 hours. So we did that, too. We did a lot of stuff. That’s why we’re here today.
Q. This situation will be similar to Furniture Row in that the owner is the sponsor. Did that dynamic work better than just representing a corporate entity separate from the team? And will the rules be a little bit different when Kurt is representing your company?
KURT BUSCH: The way that Barney is committed to NASCAR, the way that Gene is committed to NASCAR is very similar. You want to go to the racetrack and have the least amount of responsibilities on a Friday through Sunday, just have to focus on the car. That was what Furniture Row provided me this year.
I think having that freedom is something that I enjoyed. That was part of the discussion with Gene on how we were going to orchestrate the schedule, what it took to make both sides work.
There was hardly much discussion about it. It was the opportunity with the people that we’re going to bring onboard here and with the equipment that Gene and Tony use, which is Hendrick engines and Hendrick chassis. That was the difference‑maker. Obviously having teammates such as Tony to work with, Harvick, and Danica. When you have less responsibilities and it’s more about the car, that’s the fun part of it.
GENE HAAS: Haas Automation has always been a sponsor in the NASCAR Cup Series. I can’t remember a year that my name wasn’t on a Cup car. All of a sudden I’m faced with this reality I’m not going to be there anymore. I had a little bit of a vested interest in having a sponsored car. That was my point of view, something I wanted to do. I wanted to be a sponsor.
Now here is an opportunity to be a primary sponsor, which carries with it a lot of advantages, a lot of disadvantages, too. From that point of view, I was willing to go ahead and do that.
I think it’s money well spent. I think advertising is a good value for your money and I wasn’t afraid to commit to it, and I could do it quickly.
Q. Gene, throughout most of your career as owner, co‑owner, you’ve had a lower profile. You now are more at the forefront, obviously very involved in making this deal happen. Why from the background to the forefront? It seems like this is different than what the NASCAR fans have seen in the past. You are sponsoring Kurt with your own company. The question fans would ask is, Why didn’t you do the same thing with Ryan Newman in that situation?
GENE HAAS: Okay, there’s a few questions there.
Well, you know, from the start I have to admit Tony Stewart is somewhat of an overwhelming personality. When he came in here, Haas CNC Racing had no credibility. We were a small, struggling team in the back that would have died out and nobody would have noticed. When Tony came in, Tony selected himself as a driver. That made perfect sense. He also selected Ryan Newman as his co‑driver. That relationship effectively lasted for four years until Danica Patrick came on.
It was really the die was set, it was cast, that was the way it was going to be. Wasn’t much wiggle room for me to do much. And I have a lot of respect for Tony. Tony works really, really hard. He drives that car every weekend. He works with sponsors. He’s on the airplane going back and forth. I’ve never been a co‑owner, but I’ve never seen a co‑owner that would actually work that hard. That’s probably why I think Tony was more, you know, in front of everybody.
As far as what I do, I obviously build machines. That’s my day job. That’s what gives me my ability to participate in this kind of sport. I know what I do well. That’s what I do well. I know what Tony does well. Quite frankly, we’re very, very good at what we do, and that’s why this company has been successful.
Like I say, this was just an opportunity. I have the ability to react quick. I reacted quick. This is something as an owner and also as a sponsor, it’s something I wanted to do. That’s why I did it.
Your third question was why not Ryan? You know, Ryan has been an excellent driver. He’s been with us going on five years now. I think he’s done a great job driving the car. I think he’s been a great sponsor driver. He’s done well at all of that. He’s brought us some of our sponsors, like the Army, kept them for four years. I think he has done his job.
The question is, at some point I am now going to be the sponsor. I just simply wanted a change and an opportunity to do something different. I don’t think this says anything negative about Ryan. He’s been a great driver, done a great job. After five years I just feel that I want to take hold of an opportunity that was presented to me. It gives me a chance to, you know, be a sponsor and direct things the way I wanted to direct them.
Q. Kurt, you talked about helping crew guys when they stumble. Obviously single‑car teams don’t have the depth of multi‑car teams. Were there too many stumbles with the 78? What happened Saturday, did that have any effect on your decision?
KURT BUSCH: No, nothing that happened Saturday was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We’re not going to look at one circumstance and say it affected a future plan to where you have a long‑term commitment and such an exciting opportunity that you can team up and drive cars with Tony Stewart, with Kevin Harvick.
The 78 car is as good as anybody. The part that failed on Saturday night is something that you might see more in quality control if you are burning up four sets of hubs each week. Four times four would be 16. That’s what we’re going to have here next year. It’s something that slipped through the cracks. You have those part failures.
Right now, since we haven’t built any cushion to have those pitfalls and still make the Chase, that’s why it makes it so significant.&nbs
p; We have to be perfect the next two weeks to make the Chase. I’m as fired up as ever to try to deliver these guys into an area that they never thought was achievable and at the same time I have the future in front of me with Stewart‑Haas Racing to know when you’re starting a team out like this, you have teammates such as Stewart, Harvick and Danica, we’re going to be putting all of the cars in the Chase next year. That’s the difference of trying one car versus four.
Q. Greg, can you talk about trying to handle four pretty distinct personalities? What do you imagine driver meetings to be like?
GREG ZIPADELLI: We built a rubber room upstairs, that’s the first thing we did (laughter).
When you have four passionate drivers, I would much rather deal with that than to try to figure out how to get them going. You’re born with that. The competitiveness that these guys have, that’s what you need in this sport.
We’ll deal with what comes our way on a weekly basis and we’ll continue to race. It’s as simple as that. I think what makes this unique is there’s three guys and Danica that all had their days. I think they can all help each other. At least that’s the theory I’m going with.
Q. Kurt, you’ve touched on this a little bit. You said you learned more the importance of people. You said you were in a better place mentally and spiritually. Seems like in the past you were trying to be someone that other people wanted you to be, where now you’re at peace with yourself and you know who you are. Is that accurate? If so, did that play a role in the fact that Gene reached out to you?
KURT BUSCH: You know, it’s easy as a 25‑year‑old to say you know everything, that you can do everything by yourself. That’s what I thought that I could do when I moved from Roush Racing to Penske back in 2006, to bring Roger his first championship. I thought I could wear all the weight on my back. That was not the case. That’s when you learn it’s about the people, team communication, how it filters through all the channels.
The Penske thing, the image, all of that, it wasn’t your own identity, you were trying to be something else, stepping back and hitting the reset button, heading to Phoenix Racing, finding the true fun and true reason to go to the racetrack, rolling up your sleeves, getting dirty, being there with the guys, to feel that camaraderie, that old school let’s work hard and not think about how to publicize things, how to put a twist on it to make it bigger than what it’s supposed to be. That was so educational for me with having 10 years of experience in this sport.
Then with Furniture Row, having the opportunity to catch them on an up‑swing, to see Todd Berrier go over there, wear out my phone, come out here and drive, we can do great things. You don’t have the sponsor requirements, to have the stress and fatigue of that part of the schedule, that’s what allowed me to stay focused on the car, to stay genuine, and to still allow myself to grow and develop into what I really am, and that is a true hard‑nosed racer that gives it their all. You got to let the rough edges drag sometimes. When you have a guy like Gene Haas that wants to make you part of a four‑car, super‑power team calling, you have the ability to be yourself, to work with guys that have those same edgy attitudes as yourself, that’s the journey I’ve been on over the last 18 months.
Q. Everyone obviously is operating under the scenario that Tony will be back and ready to go in 2014. If there were some unforeseen complication in his recovery, would Kurt be a viable option for the 14 or would you likely go the route of a substitute guy like you’ve been doing right now?
GREG ZIPADELLI: I don’t think there’s much question whether he’ll be back or not. Prognosis is better every time he goes to the doctor. We’re not going to push him to get in a car until probably Daytona. We’ll give him all the time he needs.
It would take some disaster. I don’t see anything of that with what he’s facing, so…
Q. Kurt, Gene was talking about what his team was before Tony came along. Do you take personal pride in seeing what has transpired at Furniture Row since your arrival? How would you like to end your season with them?
KURT BUSCH: Well, it’s been very satisfying to take the team from where they were to where we are now. But I didn’t do it by myself. There’s so many people that have jumped onboard to come out there because of Todd Berrier, his ability to lead people.
Any situation that I get in I want to try to leave it in a better place than where it was before, whether it’s driver feedback, driver reports, the notes on when they’re going to unload at the track. Let’s just say at Phoenix in 2014. They’re going to have my notes to look over and a setup that’s been proven. I hope that that’s there.
We still have the present that’s right in front of us. The next two weeks are the post important weeks of the 78 car’s career. If we find ourselves racing somebody heads up going into Richmond, that’s what I want to be there for, to deliver them into the Chase, and at the same time it’s the goal achieved of being in that position. When points can reset, we’ll only be five points away from the championship lead. There’s no sense in giving up then. We’ll keep plugging away and pushing. Time is now with the 78 car.
Q. Kurt, when you’re hanging out in January 2012, you have an unknown future, you don’t know what it’s going to be. You know how bad you want it, but you also have the realization somebody else has to have the same amount of passion to get back to that level. You now have that. Back in 2012, what percentage chance would you have given yourself to be sitting right there today with those guys?
KURT BUSCH: That’s a great question. The internal drive that I have within me, would I have given it a high percentage? Yes and no. It’s a matter of finding the opportunities. You never know what’s around the next corner.
All I needed to do was to bear down and to put the blinders on and to learn more about myself, which was to jump in the car and just race and have fun on that side of it, but also grow as a person. Now being a 25‑year‑old champion is different than being a 35‑year‑old champion.
I have the potential to show up here January 1, 2004, with two championships under my arm. It’s not done individually. I’ve had great people to lean on. My family has been there to help me. Patricia has been wonderful to help me understand more about life. Having Houston there as an eight‑year‑old, to show him about things in life, it was an element that all came together perfectly.
What percentage I don’t know I could have put on at getting back to this point. I didn’t know how long it was going to take. I wasn’t going to give up. I was going to keep racing, and different opportunities pop up if you present yourself in the right position.
Q. Zippy, you’re only looking at about four months before you have to see a car on the racetrack. Can you talk about the difficulties of adding a fourth team? How did you first find out about all this?
GREG ZIPADELLI: I mean, anytime you expand, there’s difficulties. We expanded last year. We kind of sat back and looked at some of the things that we went through last year, how we can prevent some of them. We can start building cars today, which we couldn’t do last year because of the body change. We can start putting people in here to go to work in the fab shop to take some of that load today, which we couldn’t do last year. We were behind on getting plates in here, things of t
hat nature.
As far as that goes, I think we’re in much better shape than we were a year ago for many reasons, especially, like I said, the car change was huge last year. It hurt everybody. It affected us even more to start than others.
So we already have that I think behind us. I think we’re building great racecars. I think we can continue to build them and make them better.
I talked to Gene, I guess it was jokingly in Nationwide. He said, Let’s start a fourth Cup team. This is a couple hours before he went to the GM dinner. I heard it but I didn’t quite grasp it at that time.
Q. Kurt, you mentioned Houston, the number 360. Can you talk about your transition going from Roush to Penske to Phoenix, Furniture Row, now back to one of the top teams in the sport. Your fans are out there wondering how you’ve come full circle.
KURT BUSCH: It’s been a great journey. When I first started out, I was an undiscovered punk out on the West Coast. Jack Roush put me in his truck. I didn’t know where the brake pedal was apparently because I ran into everything. We had a start to the truck season that was unreal.
By the end of my first truck season, I’m running Cup cars. So from running late models on a Saturday night short track, not knowing how you’re going to scrape together enough money to get to the next race with gas money, nine months later I’m running Cup cars.
Just going as fast as ever, I never knew when to slow down or what was next, I just kept going. With the different transitions through life, coming from young 20s into the later 20s, now being 35, I find myself in a great position with stability in the sport, knowing what I’ve done wrong, knowing what I’ve done right, then having a guy like Gene Haas believing in you and wanting to reach new heights with his team, where I still want to go, what I still want to achieve.
The Stewart‑Haas Racing combination is incredible. I’m blessed to have this opportunity and at the same time I’m pulling out my old go‑kart that my dad got me when I was little, dusting it off, changing the carburetor in it, putting Houston in the seat so he can go drive around in the parking lot so I can teach him the same things that my dad taught me.
Q. Kurt, I know it’s a tough decision, but what are you looking for as a crew chief for next year?
KURT BUSCH: That’s a decision that we’ll all make together here at Stewart‑Haas Racing. There’s four teams that we have to present to our competitors that we’ve got to go up against in Daytona. We want the best guys that we can possibly get assembled.
We have the opportunity to create an All‑Star team here for this group. The Rolodex that Zipadelli has, the people that Gene knows, Custer, Tony, Harvick, there’s a large contingent of people that know a lot of people in this sport. We’ll see how it all filters out.
They told me this is a crew chief‑run organization, so you’re going to want the best leader possible in that position. It could be a veteran or a young, gun‑slinger engineer.
Q. Gene, what would have happened if Tony had simply put down his foot ‑ his good foot ‑ and said, No, this is not going to happen, I forbid it? What happens then?
GENE HAAS: I never crossed that bridge. You know, I don’t know. Tony kind of does his own thing, I kind of do my own thing. I have to admit we kind of think alike.
Like I say, I don’t think Tony was exactly enthralled with what I did. But I think he saw it my way, you know (laughter). Either that or get out of the building.
Anyway, he has a lot of power. I have to admit, you know, I have some power, too. I think in a sense it’s a check‑and‑balance system where the two powers balance each other out.
I have a lot of respect for Tony. He’s a great driver, past champion. Tony has a lot of respect for me. I carry a lot of depth with my company. We have the ability. How can we expand to a fourth team, where will the resources come from? I am highly qualified in that area to do this. I think that gives us an edge. Putting a super team together with four top drivers, what we have, I mean, that’s kind of like your Dream Team.
I think, you know, initially since it wasn’t Tony’s idea, he was taken aback a little bit by it. But I think he saw it wasn’t a bad idea. In retrospect it looks like it’s going to be a great idea. If we don’t win any races next year, hey, I’m going to look like an idiot.
I take gambles, I made a decision, and I think I’m going to be proven right. I think we’re going to win a lot more races than anybody ever thought possible.
Q. Gene, the talk has been about sponsoring as a primary sponsor. Is that in all 38 scheduled races next year? Do you envision involving any associate sponsorship as well? I haven’t seen anything here about it being a multi‑year contract or just for the next year.
GENE HAAS: Well, the contract with Kurt is a multi‑year contract. Other than that, we kind of keep that private.
We like sponsors. We always have room for another sponsor. We welcome sponsors. We love our sponsors and we’d like to have more. This is a business and we need our sponsors to help make this work.
My primary purpose here, though, is winning. I think if you focus on the winning part of it, the sponsors will come.
Obviously, you decide to hire a driver, chicken and egg, what comes first, the driver or sponsor? In a perfect world, you’d like to have both of them.
In this case I knew that we were going to be able to go out and find a sponsor for Kurt Busch. Like I say, quite frankly, having Haas Automation on the front of the NASCAR is very good advertising, that actually we use the NASCAR races to promote the machine tool business. We do that with customers, with our dealers. It makes very good business sense.
I was just able to step up and make that decision. Time will tell how that all works out. But I’m confident that, if anything, I’m going to win races. I tell you, I’ve been racing in NASCAR for over 10 years, I’ve seen an awful lot of teams put their whole lives and fortunes into racing, and wind up with nothing. I have my little trophy to show for it and I’m very thankful for that, I thank Tony for that. That’s what it’s all about. It’s about winning. It’s about proving that you’re a winner. It’s about transferring that kind of attitude over to your customers that buy your products.
So to me it all goes full circle. I was able to make that decision. Most sponsors take a very long time to decide where they want to put their advertising dollars. I just made that decision in a minute.
Q. Kurt, is the Indy 500 something that you’ll still consider doing, something your new owner is interested in?
KURT BUSCH: It’s something that’s still on the table. There’s certain timelines that I’ve agreed to with Michael Andretti if we’re still going to do the deal. We’re working on things. I mention that to Tony when we got together. He said, Man, if you’re going to run Fontana this year, I’m rolling with you and I’m going to be there with you.
There’s still the concern of running extracurricular races. But right now the focus is obviously on these next two weeks and getting the 78 car in the Chase. We’ll see what opportunities lie ahead. Everything has to be the right situation for it to happen.
Q. Gene, will it change the dynamics of your company? Will this change the dynamics of you within the company a lot?
GENE HAAS: Well, I’ve always been
here at Stewart‑Haas Racing. Maybe I just wasn’t as important. I’ve been to these video conferences, whatever they are, before. No one ever asked me any questions. Now all of a sudden you’re asking me questions (laughter).
Just have to adapt to it. It’s fun. This is part of the business that the drivers get to do all the time along with the crew chiefs. For the most part I don’t think the media is really that interested in the owners. Obviously the dynamics of the race, the drivers, is probably the most important thing.
Will it change me? I don’t know. If people ask me questions, I’ll try my best to answer them. We’ll see where it goes from there.
I think the most interesting thing was the fact that Kurt Busch and Haas Automation coming together was really done by me. I guess that is different than what you’ve seen in the past. In that respect, yes, there’s going to be new dynamics. My main goal here is to win races. I think Tony’s main goal is not only to win races but to run a successful business. I’m more interested in seeing the winning part of it. Maybe Tony is going to be more the businessman now.
Q. Kurt, what does this say to people? You look at celebrities, people learning when they’re young and coming back, what does this say you can achieve and do, maybe people that don’t do everything right the first time around?
KURT BUSCH: This is a tough game. It was on my résumé when I first started out racing to be in the top 1% of any racing division that I got into. When I achieved success at an early age, I was in that top 1%. I began to abuse that, and I wasn’t in the right situation to be at the top anymore.
When you fall away from the focus on what got you to your first goal, the ultimate goal which was to raise up a Sprint Cup trophy, you don’t want to throw away the God‑given talent you’ve been given.
I wasn’t advancing with the sport like I needed to. It all comes around knowing what to do in all the different situations, whether it’s team meetings, interviews afterwards, whether it’s in Victory Lane when you’re going to go down and spray the team owner because he’s the one that gave you that chance. It’s knowing what to do in all situations.
Q. Gene, looking back when you ran a few races with Jack Sprague, John Andretti, the like, did you ever think you’d be sitting here with two champions on your roster, a regular Chase contender, and somebody who is the best‑marketed driver in all of auto sports?
GENE HAAS: No. When I started this thing, I always had an interest in racing. Even going to high school, I used to machine magnesium wheels for a company called LaGrande Racecars in North Hollywood. I’ve been racing cars most of my life. When I started out in 2002, Joe Custer and myself, we ventured out, talked to some NASCAR teams, Bill Davis Racing, we were already working with Rick Hendrick. Rick kind of looked at me and said, I don’t even know why you’d want to do something like this. You’re totally insane to get into NASCAR racing. If you want to get into it, I’ll help you. That was really the start of it.
A lot of people can sit home and watch TV, some of us like to go out and do other things. Whether I failed at it or not, that wasn’t the point. The point was just doing it. That’s what I’ve always done. I never really thought that I could be in a league with Rick and the other teams. But we are. I guess we’re getting there. To be honest with you, it doesn’t really feel that much different. If you say it is, I guess it is.
Quite frankly, I won one championship with Tony. It felt good. I’d like to do it again maybe a couple more times.
Q. You mentioned about the trophy. How much did winning that make you more willing to make the kind of financial commitment like you are today? Did it whet your appetite a little bit more?
GENE HAAS: Well, winning the trophy was bittersweet. I think there was a lot of work that went into it, and it felt really good to win that. Once you win it, it’s like, What do we do next?
There’s always another challenge. That’s what I like to do, is figure out what that next challenge is. Once we won that trophy, it would be nice to have another one. Not so much maybe win the trophy, but to put an organization together that can win it.
With Kurt Busch, I saw an opportunity. Even though Tony was incapacitated, I couldn’t really talk to him about it, I just decided it was something that was too good to pass up.
So I think winning the trophy means a lot, but it also means a lot to have an organization that can back it up and do it again. A lot of people, stupid luck to do it the first time. If you do it the second or third time, maybe we have something here. That’s what it is. It’s very rewarding to be able to put together an organization that can accomplish something like that.
I have to be honest with you, by my nature, I’m not a very organized person, not good at putting things together. In my own strange way, I have some talents that I’m very good at. It’s a matter of figuring out what you’re good at, getting it done. I can’t drive a car, but I can have a winning team to go with that car. The fun part is trying to find the people to make it work, the personalities that go along with it. All the people that work here, from the guys that drive the trucks all the way up to the crew chiefs and owners, are all personalities, and when it works, it’s a lot of fun.
Q. Greg, the expectation is that you are going to hire Rodney Childers to be Kevin’s crew chief. Can you say where you are in that process?
GREG ZIPADELLI: We’re still working on that. I feel like we’re in a good spot, but we don’t have it done yet honestly. Hopefully in the next week to 10 days it will be done and official.
Q. Gene, is Tony hooked in like he is with some of the races listening to the press conference? You made some jokes a while ago. Really addressing the issue of this organization and Tony coming back next year from his injury, is there some type of a risk here, anything behind the scenes that people are speculating about?
GENE HAAS: I’m sure Tony is watching it. How you doing, Tony (smiling)?
I don’t know. To be honest with you, I can’t really think about too many times that we’ve had too many riffs. We both like doing this. We both want to win. We’re kind of pointed in the same direction.
To sit there and say we’re at odds… The only thing we could be at odds at is do we have enough money, enough resources. Those are more logistics to figure out. The primary goal here of winning races, kicking butt, that’s what we do, that’s what we want to do. That primary goal is my goal. It’s to put together an organization.
I can guarantee Tony doesn’t really care squat about money. I don’t really care that much about it. It’s an important measure. But we’re using the money to accomplish something bigger than the money, and that’s to win races. These races are incredibly hard to win. There’s so much competition out there. Tony is a diehard racer, Kurt Busch is, Kevin is, I assume Danica is a diehard racer. That’s just what we do. We don’t know what else to do.
GREG ZIPADELLI: Tony was very much in favor of the fourth team. What Tony was against was us trying to get it done for next year. Just so you don’t read anything more into it.
I had a couple weeks to process it, spend time with Gene and Joe, talk about it. Tony was in the hospital. Tony didn’t know the discussions
that were going on. When we all met and talked about it and assured him we would do our best to make sure things didn’t slip through the cracks, it took him a couple days to process it. I was like, Are you kidding me?
But it’s an opportunity of a lifetime for a race team to have a caliber of a driver like this. I know he’s very excited about it now. But it’s a little overwhelming when you’re first hit with it.
Q. Gene approached you at the Chevrolet dinner about getting this done for next year, is that correct?
KURT BUSCH: We talked when we were at dinner, but it was more about how I could sell more of his machines to Barney. That’s really how the discussion was going.
When you have chances to be in front of people, you’re working on developing relationships. At the Chevrolet dinner, when everybody is there to sit down and just talk about what’s going on at Indy, we just sit there and we’re talking about racing.
Q. When he popped the question, as it were, what was the emotion?
KURT BUSCH: He didn’t pop it. He sent his dirty work guys in there to do that.
No, I got a phone call on a Monday after a race. Looking at different things in life. I’m unboxing things I got shipped back from South America when we went on our vacation in the July off week. I got this bowl that I really liked. It came in a thousand pieces when I got it back. So I’m gluing it together with super glue along with Patricia. The phone is ringing. It’s not a number I recognize, it’s Monday, I should take it.
It’s a real story every driver talks about when they get a call from an owner. That’s the most exciting phone call you could ever receive. There’s a thousand guys they could have called and I’m glad they called me.
Chevy Racing–IndyCar–Sonoma
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
GOPRO GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 25, 2013
Will Power Puts Chevrolet in Victory Lane at Sonoma
SONOMA, Calif. (August 25, 2013) – For the third time in his IZOD IndyCar Series career, Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, stood atop the victory podium at Sonoma Raceway. Power, who started third on the 25-car grid for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, was credited for leading once for a total of 16 laps of the 85-lap race on the way to his 19th career victory, and his first of the season.
“Congratulations to Will Power and the No. 12 Penske Verizon Chevrolet team for their win today at Sonoma Raceway,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “Will persevered, and it was great to see him back in the Winner’s Circle.”
The victory was the eighth of the year for the Bowtie Brand, and moved Chevrolet back to the lead in the battle for the 2013 Series’ Manufacturers’ Championship.
Team Chevy drivers notched a total of two of the top-five finishers, and seven of the top-10 in the final finishing order.
With a seventh-place finish, Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, extended his points lead to 39 points with four races remaining in the 2013 19-race IZOD IndyCar Series season.
Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, finished fourth and remains fourth in the point standings, improving to just 70 points behind the leader.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, continued his quest to defend his Series’ championship with a sixth-place finish today. He is third in the standings, moving to only 62 points down to the top-spot.
James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, finished eighth followed by fellow Chevrolet IndyCar V6 driver Simona De Silvestro, No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KV Racing Technology Chevrolet, who claimed the ninth finishing position.
Sebastien Bourdais, No. 7 McAfee Dragon Racing Chevrolet, was 10th at the checkered flag.
Justin Wilson and Dario Franchitti completed the podium finishers in today’s race.
Next on the IZOD IndyCar Schedule will be the September 1, 2013 running of the Grand Prix of Baltimore on the Streets of Baltimore (MD).
POST RACE DRIVER QUOTES:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER : ON THE WIN: “We’ve had a lot of hard hits and I’m just happy for all the guys. It’s just phenomenal, it’s great for our confidence and we’re back in our winning ways.”
ON NOT LETTING LACK OF WINNING GET TO HIM: “I learned a lot about myself this year. I just kept at it, and just stoked for all the guys from Verizon, Meijer, Quicken Loans, all of the guys that make this possible. Living the dream.”
ON FINAL RESTART: “That was tight, he was close to getting me. He definitely had a good run there, so it was good racing. It’s hard racing, I can’t believe how many restarts, it was crazy. A very good day. I love wine. Especially when you win.”
TIM CINDRIC, PRESIDENT OF PENSKE RACING: HOW REWARDING IS THIS WIN? “Yes, without a doubt. These guys have spent all year trying to get to this point and the championship is not in reach for Will, but obviously for Team Penske Helio had a good day. Certainly tough there with what happened there in the pits and I am just glad that everybody is okay.”
STRATEGY-WISE YOU GUYS HAD GOOD STOPS ALL DAY AND WERE HITTING THOSE NUMBERS LAP IN AND LAP OUT: “Yeah, without a doubt. We had good stops, Will drove a good race, and really didn’t make too many mistakes. The restarts were really tough and we had to get the one done there at the end and that hasn’t always worked out for us in the past, so fortunately it was our day today. Certainly needed that for the moral of these guys.”
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: “We had to (get into the top five) with a broken front wing so I was really losing it in the third sector, but other than that not a bad weekend – you got to keep fighting. I know temperatures are hot right now all around, it’s that type of race when you have a lot of restarts there’s going to be a lot of carnage because yellows breed yellows and that’s the way it works.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: “Seems like the way things have been falling lately – we’ve just been making our lives more difficult than it needs to be, but at this point in the season we need to be making the kind of gambles we’ve been making, and we’ve just not had luck on our side. I think the DHL car was the one to finish first or second today and we buried it deep in the field. It’s part of it; we have to take those gambles right now. We’re not interested in finishing second or third in the championship and when that’s the case you have to go for it all… that’s what we did. Disappointed, we had a great race car but couldn’t do much with it back there. We worked our way from last up to sixth but just ran out of laps.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: “We tried to do everything that we could. I’m happy that Will (Power) got his win. He was really aggressive and pushing as hard as he could. He deserved it. I’m happy for him and happy to extend the points lead. I can’t believe it. With all that happened to us in the race, I’m extremely satisfied for the Hitachi Team Penske boys. Four more to go. Let’s keep going.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH:
“Crazy Race. We had a disastrous first stint. The original start was alright but on the restart we got shuffled back, and I accidently hit the pit lane speed limiter coming off of (Turn) 7 and was losing all sorts of spots – on top of that the car was tough to drive. So we went off strategy there and the yellows fell just right; it looked like it was going to come into our hands a bit and on that last stint we were on reds when a bunch of guys were on blacks. Unfortunately those cautions at the end when everybody had to come in and top off gave some guys fresher tires, we had the oldest tires of the groups and each of those restarts we just feel back a couple spots. It’s too bad because we recovered great, the GoDaddy guys called an awesome race as always and to rebound into the top five from where we were in the first stint is testament to what these guys do every week. Pretty interesting driving out there, but that’s what you get in a competitive series. We’ll take the finish and move on to the next one.”
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH: “I’m pretty happy with P9, Our race was chaos out there. We had really good restarts every time except one and I was always able to move up the field. Then we got hit by Sebastian (Bourdais), which I think was pretty dumb because there was plenty of space to get by. That put us back in the back and then we had to fight our way through the field again. The guys did an awesome job in the pits and strategy-wise I think we made some pretty good calls. I’m really happy. I think we were the highest-finishing car that started in the back and it was pretty good to show that kind of pace and recover from where we started.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10th:
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 SUNOCO-TURBO KV RACING TECHNOLOGY – SH RACING CHEVROLET FINISHED 13TH: “I really had to work hard today, The left-rear of the car was damaged early in the race and made it almost impossible to turn right. But, given how tough this w
hole weekend has been I am just happy to have brought the car home in one piece. We fought hard, had to recover from a drive through penalty and still managed to work our way back into the top-10. Unfortunately, in the end we just didn’t have enough to maintain that position.”
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14TH :
“Well, it was such an up and down race – we pretty much had everything possible happen to us. We were very, very fast and we were able to make it towards the front every time we came from the back; it happened that way three times. We had a couple of penalties that I don’t really think were too fair. The first one, I was trying to pass (Justin) Wilson, and I already had half a car in front of him and he pretty much ran into me. If he had just left me a little bit of space, nothing would have happened. They gave me that drive-thru penalty which pretty much is where the nightmare started. Once you’re in the back part of the pack, it’s when all the bad things begin to happen. I’m grateful to the team; I was very happy with the car. I think we were able to do big improvements – we were not that happy with the car during the first part of the weekend, but I think the speed that we had in the race was better.”
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH : “The National Guard guys gave me a great car, there was just a little too much carnage out there today. The crew was great in the pits too – I was proud of them. What a way to bounce back from where we qualified. The National Guard Chevy was really strong out there and we were able to pass lots of cars. I have to thank the team and the National Guard for giving me a chance to run again this weekend. We didn’t get the result we wanted but I’m happy with the way we all stuck together and bounced back from where we qualified.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH: “It was frustrating for us today. It looked like we were going to be a pretty good shape early in the race. I got shuffled to back after a restart and we had to go with the black tires. They just weren’t as good. Then later in the race I got caught up in someone’s accident. I had nowhere to go. We seemed like we had good pace at some parts of the race. But we really struggled on the black tires today in the Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevy. We kept staying out with all of the yellows and I was getting good restarts today. So we stayed in the mix pretty well in the early portion of the race. It then got to a point where I was on old tires and other guys were on fresh ones. On the one restart, I lost a ton of ground with the old tires. So we had to pit again and that kind of ended our day. Now we’ll just pack up and travel across country to Baltimore for next weekend.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21ST: “We are really disappointed with that finish. We were doing a great job even though we faced a penalty early in the race and started in the back. We had a great strategy which let us pass a lot of cars. On the last restart Davison took us out the race and its just a shame. We really wanted to bring that #6 TRUECar racing car up to a finish in the front. I want to thank all of the TRUECar, McAfee guys, everyone who was present to support us here in Sonoma. This team really showed how fast we can be and all of the hard work the team continues to do is paying off, I just wish we could have shown this in our result today.”
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT – ROGER PENSKE AND WILL POWER:
THE MODERATOR: We have been joined by race winner Will Power and team owner Roger Penske. This is Will’s third win in Sonoma. He won in 2010 and 2011. It’s his 19th career IndyCar win. He’s the 10th different winner this season.
Will, congratulations. Walk us through your day.
WILL POWER: Thank you. It was a lot more yellows I think than anyone anticipated, so you really had to survive a lot of restarts. A bit of a different strategy there between a bunch of cars to survive that.
Kept putting ourselves in good position. Really happy for all the Verizon guys, my crew, all the people that worked so hard to put us in this position.
THE MODERATOR: Roger, your team has had a lot of success here. Talk about the race today and why you’ve been so successful here.
ROGER PENSKE: I think when we come here, we look forward to it. Racing in northern California is pretty special. Many years I raced here at Laguna Seca and here obviously.
This is a key part of the season for us, for Helio, and obviously Will was looking for that first win. With his skill here, he got that bad accident where he got hurt, coming back here and doubling down as he has the last three years is pretty important.
There’s a lot of strategy. Restarts looked like a NASCAR race, guys moving, pushing and shoving. At the end of the day, I don’t like to see the call that had to take place. Everyone saw it. It’s unfortunate. That’s the way racing is. So we’ll move on.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.
Q. Will, just how huge of a relief is this for you to finally get a win?
WILL POWER: It is. I’m actually very happy for my guys. I think we all expected to be a little bit more competitive. Not that we haven’t been, we’ve just had some bad things happen to us.
Very happy. I’ve learned a lot this year. I’ve been in the back of the pack. I’ve learned a lot about restarts. When you have a tough year, you really start searching, looking. You pick up things. Really feels like next year I’ll come back more a complete driver.
Q. Will, yesterday after practice and then during qualifying, the wind became an issue. We watched that flag go different directions. Was the same thing happening in the race?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it actually changed from the beginning to the end. The wind went a full 180. You got to read it. You drive the track a lot differently depending on the wind direction. That was the case again in the race today.
Q. &n
bsp; Will, what is it about Sonoma that brings out the best in you?
WILL POWER: It’s actually a pretty tough track. To me it’s a real driver’s track. It’s about understanding where to overdrive and where to underdrive. You can easily blow corners here.
I think the team, we do have a very good setup here. As you saw this weekend, it looked like Andretti and Ganassi had pretty much caught us and passed us. But in the race I feel we had a better car. So, very happy.
Q. Will, Dario is clearly less than happy about the restart. Can you take us through how you saw that.
WILL POWER: I mean, we barely touched. I’m surprised. That’s just racing. I’m surprised at his displeasure. Dixon did exactly the same thing to me when roles were reversed on the first restart. Dario seems to have a short memory because in Detroit at the first corner, he hit me a lot harder and I lost a bunch of positions.
It’s just racing. He’ll cool down. Double-file restarts, what do you do? We’re side-by-side. Cars are going to touch. It’s not like I KO’d him into the wall.
Q. Roger, you mentioned it’s a shame to see a call like that made. Safety is the number one key on pit lane. If you can talk about the profound impact that that call may have on the points championship. Now Helio’s closest pursuer looks like he was going to gain points.
ROGER PENSKE: I think the difference, we were 33, now we’re 39, so it’s 6 points. Not anything catastrophic.
That’s racing. To me, I didn’t call it. I wasn’t involved in it. Obviously when you have a pit crew member going up in the air… If you look at it, our pit crew actually lifted the tire up, went behind the car.
To me, I think judgment there was made by whoever makes that call. We certainly didn’t. You know, those are the way things go.
Q. Roger, what do you think about the tire compounds this weekend? It seemed to help the competition. The reds were uniquely different than we’re used to seeing.
ROGER PENSKE: There’s no question that the softer compound, at this track today, the temperature, they were probably 1 second to 1.2 seconds faster and held on. The blacks were running in the 82s. Will was actually quick there on blacks for quite a while.
That’s the difference. I think that makes strategy. We have to run one set of reds or one set of blacks in the race. We used some of those to qualify. They’re not all brand-new. You could go all blacks and one set of new reds.
I think it’s added a little bit of ingenuity for the crews and the drivers. Taking care of your tires was key today because the car would get a lot of oversteer if you didn’t take care of your rears, whether it was on reds or blacks.
Q. Roger, quick question about Helio’s race. I know he’s working on a points championship and the lead. But he seemed to be faster in practice and qualifying. Was today disappointing for him?
ROGER PENSKE: Not at all. You saw on the restarts, he was taking care of himself. We got jumped by Marco twice where we were behind the car ahead of us, and Marco was three-wide going through the corner here before we got to the acceleration cone.
I told him, We cannot afford to knock the wheels off. Certainly once Dixon had his problem, our goal was to finish. He finished ahead of Hunter-Reay, Hinchcliffe, some pretty good cars. I don’t think we have to take a backseat on his run today. When you’re running for the championship, get six points today, I think that’s a big win for us.
Q. Will, by the points you’re mathematically still alive, but by the positions there’s an awful lot of guys ahead of you. How much do you miss being right in the middle of a championship fight?
WILL POWER: Yeah, in one way it’s more relaxing because you can be more aggressive. Like Roger was saying, Helio had to kind of look after himself. But of course I would love to be in the battle right now. We just have had one of those years where things don’t flow. But it’s slowly coming on here.
Yeah, you know, obviously next year’s mindset. This year is to make sure Helio wins the championship. We’re going to help him any way possible for the next three races.
Q. You said you learned a lot about yourself this year. Can you detail that a little bit more.
WILL POWER: I just think you start really looking close at your weaknesses. My oval performance wasn’t very good. This year I definitely had to get points on ovals because we weren’t winning races on road courses. Also the mental aspect. I really believe it makes you stronger, having a year like this. You’ll come back next year a serious contender.
Q. Roger, not to belabor the point, but you said your crewmen lifted the tire up trying to avoid contact. Is it clear, the dividing line between the two pit areas, and was your guy where he was supposed to be?
ROGER PENSKE: I think you should look at the tape. Our man who changed the tire picked the tire up, was running behind the car. It wasn’t that he stuck the tire out. He didn’t leave the tire on the ground where it could have been in the way.
I think they’re way overplaying this thing as far as I’m concerned. Someone got hit, went up in the air. Obviously the 9 car was too close to our crew, had an accident there. The outcome is obvious.
So I feel bad for Scott. On the other hand, you know, it could have been the other way. We’ve been in situations where it was called the other way. Running over the hose, we’ve had to do a drive-through.
These are things that are pretty clear in the rule book. You go to 701.16 in the rule book, if a team member gets hit in the pits, there’s a drive-through.
WILL POWER: Kanaan had a penalty last year in Toronto by touching a tire. He didn’t hit a crew or anything. You know, it is clear-cut.
Q. Roger, how are the crewmen?
ROGER PENSKE: As far as we know, the boys are okay. He landed on his elbow. The other guy went up because the hose got around his leg and flipped him up. I’m sure they’ll be sore tomorrow, but so far, so good.
Q. You have a competitor directly accusing you of unsportsmanlike conduct. Would you like to respond to that directly?
ROGER PENSKE: Who is that?
Q. &nbs
p; Dario said a quote to that in the press conference earlier.
ROGER PENSKE: At what time during the race and what was the issue?
Q. Dario said in the post-race press conference that he thought the usual decorum that is exercised for those competing in the title fight was not displayed in the incident in the way the pit crew member walked around the car.
ROGER PENSKE: What was he talking about, the incident with our crew member?
Q. The one that drew the penalty.
ROGER PENSKE: I’d love to have Dario here. As far as I’m concerned, he’s off base. Our guys were doing a job, changing the tires, picked the tires up, got hit by a car from behind.
You start to get personalities into this, what we’re doing running for a championship, it’s ridiculous.
Chevy Racing–Bristol–Kasey Kahne Leads Charge For Chevrolet
KASEY KAHNE LEADS THE CHARGE FOR CHEVROLET WITH SECOND PLACE FINISH
FIVE TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS END THE NIGHT IN THE TOP 10
BRISTOL, TN – August 24, 2013 – With a hard fought effort to earn back-to-back victories at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kasey Kahne, scored his fourth second-place finish of the 2013 season in his No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS in the Irwin Tools Night Race NASCAR Sprint Cup 500-lap contest at the ‘World’s Fastest Half-Mile’. Kahne, who missed taking the trip to Victory Lane by a mere 0.188 seconds, was disappointed in the result of his valiant battle with race winner, Matt Kenseth.
“I was trying to get there,” said Kahne. “I would have wrecked probably both of us. It would have just been a wreck. I just tried to pass him as clean as I could, and race him as hard as I could. I thought I had him at one point. I had a good run. I tried to slide across him, but he just kept position. We were rubbing all the way down turn four. I just didn’t clear him. I just didn’t get it done and I’m upset with myself for not figuring out how to win tonight because I clearly had a better car at the end of the race.”
Juan Pablo Montoya, who was also a strong contender in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS, placed third for Team Chevy, giving the bowtie brigade two of the top three finishing positions. “I’ll tell you, we had a really good car all night,” said Montoya. “We were a little tight at the start of the night and we made some good changes. The car had good speed.”
Other top finishers under the lights at Bristol were Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Schrock Chevy SS finished sixth, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Axalta Coating Systems Chevrolet SS was seventh, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS, ended the day in 10th. Overall, Team Chevy posted five of the top-10 slots in the 266.5-mile race results.
Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, maintained his point lead in the current standings after being involved in a multi-car accident on lap 360. He was forced behind the wall for repairs. The team fought hard to finish the race in 36th place. Johnson continues to hold an 18 point advantage over the field.
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was the race winner, Brian Vickers (Toyota) was second, and Joey Logano (Toyota) finished fifth, to round out the top five.
The next race on the tour is September 1st at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
KERRY THARP: Let’s roll right into our post‑race for tonight’s 53th annual Irwin Tools Night Race here at Bristol Motor Speedway. Our third‑place finisher was Juan Pablo Montoya. He drove the No. 42 target Chevrolet for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Congratulations on a very solid run. You had a contending car all night. Just talk about how things went for you and maybe what you were thinking there at the end.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I’ll tell you, we had a really good car all night. We were a little tight at the start of the night and we made some good changes. The car had good speed. I got caught speeding there with like 170 to go or something, and that kind of hurt us. But I’ll tell you the truth, I think it helped us because if it would have played right, we probably would have run out of gas. Our fuel mileage wasn’t as good as the 20.
It made it more interesting. I really had to use the brakes and really cooked the front tires there at the end, but it was fun.
KERRY THARP: And our race runner up is Kasey Kahne. He drove the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Kasey, talk about your race out there tonight. Certainly you were giving it all you could to get past the 20, and it was a lot of give and take and certainly put on a great show tonight here for the fans at Bristol. A heck of a race down there towards the end.
KASEY KAHNE: Yeah, I thought Matt did a good job of just running as hard as he could as close to the wall as possible, which helped him a lot, and then I was just trying to gain speed. I had a better car. We were on the right strategy, and I just couldn’t clear him. There was a couple shots I took, and I had to have been close, but I could feel him on the right side of my car, and I just didn’t clear him. I didn’t figure out how to get by. It’s disappointing not to win here. I thought we had the best car the last 200 laps, and it was a lot of work. We didn’t start the best, but Kenny made a lot of good calls, and our strategy was perfect at the end. It was a great night for us, good for the points and things, but yeah, I wish I could have figured out how to get by him.
Q. Kasey, you said on the TV interview, first you said I had options, and then you came back later and said you were upset with yourself for not figuring out a way to win. What options did you have?
KASEY KAHNE: Well, the only options ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Taking him out.
Q. Which obviously would have helped Juan.
KASEY KAHNE: That’s the only option I have.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I was hoping they were going to wreck on the white flag to be honest.
KASEY KAHNE: I had already tried to clear him on a slide job type deal and he just didn’t brake and stayed in the gas and we were going to hit each other. I don’t know how all that was going to work out. I needed a win bad, but I also needed a finish, and I just didn’t do anything crazy. I just basically ran as hard as I could, tried to pass him two different times and ran on his bumper and hoped he’d screw up, and he really never did.
Q. Juan, you came back from a speeding penalty and you salvaged the day and finished third. Based on your situation is anything short of wins kind of satisfying at this stage?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It is. To be honest with you, where we are with the team and the result, if I got in, it’s pretty good. I’m still running until the end of the year with Target, and I want to make sure I can do the best for them.
Q. Kasey, I think a lot of people would probably say that you cemented your reputation tonight as a clean racer. Is it just something that you don’t believe in, to wreck somebody as revenge or take retaliation, because certainly you joked about it on Twitter that they had gotten you four times this year and you could have exacted your revenge tonight and you didn’t. Is that simply against your code?
KASEY KAHNE: Seems that way. You know, I’ve always really raced that way. I don’t have any experience doing it for one, and for two, that’s just kind of how I’ve always raced.
I think more than anything it’s just discouraging when other guys, like Matt in his case at Watkins Glen, watching that afterwards, all he had to do was lift, and he didn’t because he didn’t want to get passed from behind or whatever the situation was. It wasn’t a mistake like he got loose or anything, he just didn’t lift and wiped us out and those kind of things are discouraging because that’s not how I race, but at the same time, more times than not, Matt races me clean.
I don’t know, I just don’t ‑‑ I think at the end of the day I just don’t wreck people.
Chevy Racing–Bristol–Post Race
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 24, 2013
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
ON HIS RUN:
“We had a really good Farmers Insurance Chevrolet. We were fast. Kenny (Francis, crew chief) made a great call to get the tires and not worry about fuel and I just didn’t get it done. I didn’t win. I had the better car. The guys did a great job in the pits and I feel bad I didn’t win. We needed this. I would have been big for us. But, we ended up second. It was still a good point’s day and we’ll try to get one in Atlanta.”
YOU TRIED TO MAKE THE PASS CLEANLY. ON THE FINAL LAP, YOUR ONLY OPTION WOULD HAVE BEEN TO HAVE CONTACT WITH THE NO. 20 (MATT KENSETH). WERE YOU TRYING TO GET THERE?
“I was trying to get there. I would have wrecked probably both of us. It would have just been a wreck. I just tried to pass him as clean as I could, and race him as hard as I could. I thought I had him at one point. I had a good run. I tried to slide across him, but he just kept position. We were rubbing all the way down Turn 4. I just didn’t clear him. I just didn’t get it done and I’m upset with myself for not figuring out how to win tonight because I clearly had a better car at the end of the race.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE ENOUGH FOR THEM AT THE END?
“Our Target Chevy was strong all day. When we restarted I started gaining on him. I thought ‘oh we are looking pretty good here’. I tried running the top in (Turns) three and four and it was so way dirty and I lost a bit of ground there and started kind of equalizing. I just kept getting tighter and tighter, so it didn’t happen. That was all we had believe me.”
AS YOU WERE WATCHING THAT BATTLE IN FRONT OF YOU FOR FIRST AT THE END YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN THINKING THESE GUYS MIGHT TAKE EACH OTHER OUT AND I CAN FALL INTO THIS THING:
“I was hoping they would do that on the white flag (laughs).”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA COATING SYSTEMS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SEVENTH
IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS NOT WHAT YOU NEEDED IS THERE ANY SENSE OF A LOST OPPORTUNITY HERE?
“Yes and no. I think we were better than that. I don’t know if we had enough for Matt (Kenseth) but we fought hard and gave it our best effort. Seventh gained point’s on 10th, it’s not as much as we could have, but we gained something.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS RUN:
“We had a good car especially at the end. I’m real happy with the speed we had, just we weren’t sure about making it on fuel. The No. 15 ran out and he was even saving as much as we were. Just a risk we couldn’t take. Just a risk we couldn’t take tonight, but gave up about maybe five points there and hopefully just making sure we got the fuel to finish the race and getting a 10th-place finish will pay off for us here in the next couple of weeks.”
ORIGINALLY WHEN IT LOOKED LIKE IT MIGHT GO TO THE END ON FUEL WERE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THAT?
“Yeah, we were still five short and we didn’t have a yellow. It was five laps short and you just don’t know if you saved enough under caution shutting the car off and stuff. If we were past Richmond Steve (Letarte, crew chief) said we would have gambled and went for it. I believe that. If it was earlier in the season we would have gambled and went for it. But under the circumstances we didn’t have the freedom to do that and as much as I hate to say what could have happened maybe we could have finished in the top five or top three even. Considering what happened to guys behind us in points I think we had to do the right thing, do the smart thing anyways.”
DID THIS RUN TURN THINGS AROUND A LITTLE BIT CONSIDERING WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE PAST FEW WEEKS?
“The car was really good. Steve (Letarte) and I worked on the car real hard Friday. Still weren’t right where we wanted to be. Him and Kevin Meendering my lead engineer studied all this morning and came up with a couple of changes that I think we really needed to help the car. Really Steve put his heart in it. The car was great at the start of the race. We picked off cars real quick and moved up real fast. We were able to lead a couple of laps and get some points there. The car was pretty good definitely a top five car all night especially at the end of the race I think it was really dialed in.”
TWO MORE 10TH PLACE FINISHES AND YOU ARE IN THE CHASE RIGHT?
“I would like to think so. I really don’t know how much we gained on everybody tonight but we definitely needed to build on that cushion. That 20 points really had me pretty nervous. Hopefully if we can put a good one together next week something similar or better than this we will definitely go to Richmond a lot more comfortable.”
MARK MARTIN, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 20TH
YOU STRUGGLED EARLY BUT AFTER THE HALFWAY MARK, MADE SOME HEADWAY. TALK ABOUT YOUR NIGHT:
“We struggled at the beginning of the race hitting the racetrack really, really bad. Then I screwed us up in the pits. Pitted long, and we weren’t able to get it rectified before the tires got changed, which put us a lap down. We still didn’t have the car fixed yet, so we continued to work on the car and at about halfway, we got the car pretty competitive. At that point, we had taken a gamble and lost a couple more laps by pitting under the green, and then having a caution come out on the lap where we came back out. We had some tough luck and a few things that we could’ve done better, but we were pretty fast at the end. That’s why I go home feeling good about it because we were able to improve the car and get it competitive and that’s hard to do with the short pit stops that we get here. The guys did a good job. I think we’ll be better. Our practice time was so short yesterday and we had so much trouble, we just needed another day to be ready for tonight, really.
“We missed the setup really bad at the beginning of the race. We struggled with the car in trying to get it better, and then I pitted wrong and cost us a lap and that was the beginning of the end. Then we tried to pull pit strategy to get back on the lead lap. We had to pit under green and that made it very difficult. The positive is the guys did a great job. We were way off in the beginning and at the end we were a top-10 car. I can go home knowing that it was just a short day yesterday and we didn’t have a chance to get it right. We took a stab at it this morning and missed it pretty good. We were able to adjust to that during the race, get it up off the racetrack and get it competitive at the end. This one is behind us and hopefully we’ll move ahead from here.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 26TH
ON HER RUN:
“Overall I would honestly say we are still on a good streak of running strong. There is nothing you can do about getting into the wall and having damage. We came back as best as we could and made the car as good as it was at the end. That is a positive. My goal honestly in my mind is like ‘man if we can come away with a top 30 with having these problems then that is alright’ and we finished 26th through attrition and staying out of trouble. We will take it and move on.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SEALY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 31ST
THE INITIAL PROBLEM WITH THE WHEEL HUB IS THAT SOMETHING YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO DIAGNOSIS LATER?
“Yeah I guess we had a right-rear hub fail where the studs pulled through or they weren’t tightened or assembled. I do
n’t know just a right-rear hub failure. Now we have to go back and diagnosis that. When you are 20 laps down there is nothing you can do. We just rode around and we are down, but we are not out. I guess at the end of the race we gained a bunch of points back with guys having trouble. My thoughts all through the race were we just have to go to Atlanta and Richmond and win them both.”
IS IT WEIRD FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO HAPPEN THAT FAR INTO A RUN?
“Yeah, we didn’t even pit yet so we had a wheel start to vibrate loose at an odd time. I felt vibrations before, but we are leading the race walking the dog and our right-rear is falling off. It’s just kind of how you have to fight sometimes and overcome the obstacles that come your way.”
AT THIS POINT WHAT SORT OF RALLY THE TROOPS MENTALITY DO YOU HAVE FOR THE GUYS AND THE GUYS HAVE FOR YOU?
“Well we are down, but we are not out. We have two races to go and I heard we are only five points out of 10th.”
YOU CAME BACK OUT AND GAINED 10 SPOTS:
“Yeah, it’s just never give up. You feel like going back out sometimes is really just a hazard, but guys had trouble today towards the end and we might of actually passed a couple of them. Again, we are down, but we are not out.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 34TH
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE WRECK THAT YOU SAW?
“I just saw the No. 11 shoot across the race track. It looked like he was trying to swerve at somebody. He said the No. 56 got into him and so I just wanted to know what happened.”
WHAT DID HE (DENNY HAMLIN) TELL YOU?
“He just told me his version of it. It’s all good it’s Bristol racing and it’s just something I wanted to know.”
HOW WAS YOUR RACE IN TOTAL?
“The race wasn’t bad we were just off on fuel mileage.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 36TH
“We will definitely come back next week and do all we can. We had a decent finish. Last week I really thought we had a shot to win and had an engine failure. This racing stuff happens. Luckily, we had a big point’s lead that we can kind of deal with right now. We’ve locked into the Chase. We certainly want to clean things up and have some great finishes rolling into the Chase. We’ll keep after it, and be back again next week. We’ll go to Atlanta and do all we can there. And then Richmond; and I feel like we had a really good test. There is still a lot of racing left. And the once the Chase starts, it is its own animal. So we’ll just wait and see what happens during those ten (races).”
Chevy Racing–IndyCar–Sonoma Qualifying
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
GOPRO GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 24, 2013
SONOMA, Calif. (August 24, 2013) – Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, led three Chevrolet V6 drivers in Firestone Fast Six qualifying for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Power turned in the third fastest time in the final session of knock-out qualifying that set the starting grid for the 15th race of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season.
Ryan Hunter-Reay turned the fourth fastest time in his No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, followed by point standings leader Helio Castroneves in the cockpit of the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet who turned the fifth quickest lap in the session.
James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, was ninth quickest to give Team Chevy four of the top-10 qualifiers.
Dario Franchitti (pole winner), Scott Dixon (second quickest) and Charlie Kimball (sixth fasted) completed the Firestone Fast Six.
The 85-lap/202.73-mile GoPro Indy Grand Prix at Sonoma is scheduled to start on Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. ET with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.
Live radio coverage will be on XM Radio Channel 94 and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 212. In addition, IndyCar live timing and scoring with the radio broadcast can be found at
Chevy Racing–Bristol–Danica Patrick
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 23, 2013
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Bristol Motor Speedway and discussed practice, her visit with Tony Stewart and much more. Full Transcript:
HOW IS THE CAR SO FAR?
“We were really tight to start second practice and we made a lot of improvements there. I think that is what helped us get going so well in qualifying trim. We just didn’t make improvements during qualifying. I think we have a lot to go off of and I’m proud of everyone for working so hard. It’s a lot to cram in, a lot of changes that we crammed in those couple of hours, but I think they are going to pay off.”
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM BEING HERE THE LAST TIME?
“I mean I think in general it really just has more to do with being familiar with the car, familiar with the track itself which I’ve raced here a lot now or plenty of times to feel comfortable with the track. All of it helps and all of it helps a lot more in the beginning. It’s just that learning curve in the beginning. Beyond that it really just has to do with how the car feels. If the car feels good you are going to move up. If it doesn’t then you are going to have to work on it.”
EXCITED ABOUT MARK MARTIN BEING A PART OF THE TEAM?
“Yeah, I’ve known Mark for a long time. He’s a really nice guy and he’s really interested in helping. That is good. Shoot he can fit in my car so maybe someday he will drive my car too. I always like getting other drivers feedback.”
GREG ZIPADELLI SAID THERE MIGHT BE A CHANCE YOU HAVE THREE TEAMMATES NEXT YEAR. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR TIME AT ANDRETTI HOW VALUABLE IS IT HAVING AS MANY TEAMMATES AS POSSIBLE?
“Well if it does work out that there are four of us on the team next year then I’m excited. I always like having more people to look at as far as their styles. There are more engineers there are more crew chiefs and more people around to develop things. For me I think it’s a great thing.”
YOU TALK ABOUT JUST TRYING TO TAKE EVERYTHING THAT COMES YOUR WAY. IS THIS THE HARDEST PLACE TO KIND OF KEEP COMPOSURE AND KEEP YOUR COOL?
“I think it can be frustrating, but there is a certain element that it does become single file and there is really nowhere for anyone to go. A lot of times where it might seem like the person right in front of you is holding you up it’s because the person in front of him is holding him up. The restarts are going to be important and that has been the case all year. That has been the most important time to make passes. Whenever you are running really close to people it always gives them a lot more of an opportunity to lay on you and that is the kind of stuff that gets you a little fired up.”
HOW CLOSE DID YOU COME TO THROWING YOUR HELMET LAST YEAR WHEN THE REGAN (SMITH) THING HAPPENED?
“(Laughs) No I don’t think I get enough helmets to throw them. I never think of that, but I do think of the fact that I want another driver to see if I’m angry. I think I made that at least mildly clear.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT KURT (BUSCH) POSSIBLY COMING OVER, WHAT HE CAN BRING TO THE TEAM AND HELP YOU AS WELL?
“Well I mean if like I said if I have four teammates or if there are four of us next year then I just answered it. I would like that. I would like to be able to learn from other drivers no matter who they are. If it just happens to be Kurt then he is a fantastic driver and he gets up on the wheel and I feel like there would be a lot that all of us could learn.”
HAVE YOU SPENT TIME WITH KURT (BUSCH) PERSONALLY AWAY FROM THE TRACK?
“Shoot the only driver I spend a lot of time with personally is Ricky (Stenhouse, Jr.). We spend so much time at the track together, but I have known Kurt for a long time. Shoot it goes all the way back to when he drove an IndyCar at Sebring I believe. He drove a Rahal Letterman car and I was there watching that day. I’ve always really liked him and got along really well with him. We’ve never had any problems on the track at all so we have a good working relationship for sure.”
THERE WAS A REPORT THIS WEEK THAT MICHAEL ANDRETTI IS TALKING TO JUAN (PABLO MONTOYA) ABOUT POSSIBLY GOING OVER THERE. WHAT KIND OF A FIT WOULD JUAN BE WITH THE ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT GROUP?
“I don’t know. I think it all depends on who you end up having to work with and what your obligations are with the team. Things always feel like they are going really well if you are running well. If you are running well it will all be great.”
TONY (STEWART) APPARENTLY HAS THE ABILITY TO TALK ON THE RADIO FROM HIS HOME. DID HE SAY ANYTHING TO YOU IN PRACTICE?
“Tony (Stewart) was trying to talk on the radio, but I couldn’t hear him. I could hear him key up, so I’m happy for him for that because the poor guy is laid up for such a long time. He barely can move around, so I’m glad that he’s able to get interactive with us and gosh technology huh it’s pretty awesome.”
HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO TALK TO HIM A LITTLE MORE THIS WEEK?
“I went and saw him this week again and he is progressively getting better you know. We were joking about how he has to go to the hospital to get a check-up and how the ambulance comes, and they bring him out on a stretcher. Poor guy. But he was in good spirits and he was definitely of the mindset that he needs to do it right, and do rehab right. You know, they hope that he can be back in January. And if he does, he is like, ‘I don’t need to be back any sooner, so let’s just do this right’, and I think that is the right attitude. So I think he is in a really good place……as good of a place that you can be with many incisions in your leg.”
DO YOU MISS TONY BEING AT THE RACE TRACK?
“It hasn’t been that long that he hasn’t been here. So I think that in general he is a great driver, we have similar styles and similar feels with the car, and he plays a really good cheerleader. I think the team has done a really good job of keeping their cool and being up for any of the challenges. I never felt like the team has been disrupted by other drivers coming into the 14 car, so I feel like they are all doing a really good job. That comes with putting good people in. So, I just miss it because he is a great driver and he is the leader of this team.”
HOW DIFFERENT FOR YOU IS THE TIRE TEST IN PHOENIX AS OPPOSED TO THE TEAM TEST AT RICHMOND?
“Well, I have only done one tire test and it was at Daytona. You do get a fair amount of time to work on the car, but there is definitely dedicated time to running different sets of tires and things like that. Even though it’s not a full test for the team to run through the changes, any time is good time for me in developing a good relationship with Goodyear. Just having a hand in picking a tire is a big benefit. You are always going to pick one that you feel you run the best with. So I think that is good or at least being able to have a feel for it so you know what is coming when they choose a certain kind of tire. Honestly sometimes maybe the most interesting tire isn’t the most consistent one; it’s the one that goes off the most. It’s all good for me; track time is good for me. Only running a couple times at Phoenix in a Cup car, I think it’s really good for me to run somewhere like that.”
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A TIRE THAT YOU FEEL MOST COMFORTABLE WITH OR ARE YOU TRYING TO KEEP IN MIND EVERYBODY ELSE OR IS THAT NOT YOUR JOB THAT IS GOODYEAR
Chevy Racing–Bristol–Qualifying Report
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 23, 2013
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SEALY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SECOND
TALK ABOUT THAT LAP:
“Yeah pretty eventful. They had to fix all the damage that I gave the car through practice. Things get bent and things that you measure show straight and then when you get over to that big inspection rig with lasers and measuring calipers it really shows that you were wrong. It’s just a matter of trying to understand what is bent in the car. As long as we have tomorrow morning to go through it I think we will be fine just an eventful qualifying run. I’m sorry if I’m scatter brained and my interview sounds horrible, but thanks to these guys. To work as hard as they did on this car it’s one of those moments where everybody just had to roll up their sleeves, jump in and we smiled all the way through it going ‘hey it’s fun to do an old school thrash and then we got through it’.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
HOW HAS A SEASON SWEEP SOUND FOR YOU HERE AT BRISTOL?
“It sounds good. It’s not going to be easy I know that. The first one was tough and the track I feel is even tougher this time. Just kind of see what happens we are going to push pretty hard and see. We qualified alright. I feel like the car was close right there the guys did a good job. I wish I would have maybe got a little more aggressive with it. Fifth for now hopefully a top 10 it will be close to a top 10 we will see.”
YOU COME IN 11TH IN POINT’S BUT YOU’VE GOT THE TWO WINS CAN YOU KIND OF PIN YOUR EARS BACK AND JUST GO FOR WINS AT THIS POINT?
“No, I think you need to just really be… like we need to get in the top 10. We need to be consistent. We need to try and get another win. There are a couple of tracks that I feel like we can if things go our way and we play it right. I really feel like we just need to be really to me it’s like Chase time like we have to really focus on that and can’t just go for wins and just get out of control because something crazy could still happen and knock us out and even not starting with those bonus point’s would be bad also.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“I felt like I had a really good three and four on my lap, just my one and two was not exactly what I wanted. But man it’s fast here, touchy…..and the track seems rougher and has more character than it ever has. We will see how it ends up and I think it was a good run for our Quicken Loans Chevrolet.”
MARK MARTIN, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO GET THE SECURITY YOU WANT IN THIS TAKING OVER THE SEAT FOR TONY STEWART WHILE HE IS OUT WITH INJURY?
“I’ve just got to have some more time. I apologize to all these guys for working so hard to try to accommodate me. Being familiar with all this stuff may be a little over-rated; but to be real honest with you, I was quite challenged today and I don’t feel like I was able to rise to the challenge. I’m really proud of that qualifying lap. It’s better than I thought, but it’s still going to be mid-pack. But, we’re in one piece and we have learned so much. If we just had one more day before the race to work together a little bit, it would help us a ton. Kudos to Bass Pro Shops and Mobil 1 and everybody that works in this thing. And Tony Stewart, thanks, bud.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:
“It was a little bit better than what I hoped for based on practice. I am pretty happy and I was extremely challenged by the newness and differences in the race car than what I have been driving. I haven’t been here in two years, and the race track ……because it’s been ground up top…..I haven’t been on that before, so the race team had to be patient and we lost a lot of time in practice in just getting to know each other.
“It’s going to be upper to mid pack starting spot. That is better than what I was hoping for at the end of practice and I am so proud of these guys and we will build strength and momentum going forward after we get this race under our belt and start marching forward. I just never got the confidence in the car and in the track like we need and over a period of time that will come.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“Yeah I mean you just have to be so committed. Stuff happens; I had an exciting (turn) three and four coming to the green. I had to turn around and take another shot at it. The first lap was still really tough, but my second lap was okay looks like top 15.”
RYAN TRUEX, NO. 51 SEAWATCH CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 18TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:
“It was good. I under drove it a little bit and every driver says that, but I messed up one and two on my first lap. I think our first lap was better and I could have drove a little higher. There is so much grip up high right now. I got a little scared I guess….a little gun shy to get up near the wall. I got in the wall a little bit in practice in the end. So I was a little gun shy but proud of these guys and I think that will hold up for a solid starting spot.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH
NOT EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR IN QUALIFYING CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR LAP?
“Yeah it was a little bit slower than we would like to go. The car was pretty good, I don’t know. It’s really tough to get ahold of this place. We haven’t qualified good here in a really long time.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE FOR TOMORROW NIGHT?
“Yeah I hope so. It’s just going to be very competitive race. It’s really… everybody runs the same speed. It’s just going to be whoever can be up front and get track position.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 22ND
ON HER QUALIFYING RUN:
“We had a pretty normal pick-up so that is good. That just means that we made nice good changes and the car felt pretty good out there. I know that qualifying is not my strong suit so I feel like over time we will keep getting better and better at it. What we need to do right now is just kind of be on the norm for the pick-up and just keep improving our practice times so that when we do pick up in qualifying we just keep moving up.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 42ND
ON HIS LAP:
“We’ve just been chasing it all day. In qualifying we were just way loose and I had to chase it up the hill and got in all the debris and that hurt us a lot. But we’ll get better. It’s just one of those days; a bad day. We will regroup. Tomorrow is a long night and we’ll find a way to make it work.”
Chevy Racing–Izod Indycar–Sonoma
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
GOPRO GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST PRACTICE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 23, 2013
SONOMA, Calif. (August 23, 2013) – Helio Castroneves and his No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet team stayed focused on the task at hand during the opening day of practice for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma by posting the second fastest time in the combined sessions. Castroneves comes into the 15th race of the IZOD IndyCar Series season leading the point standings by 31 points in pursuit of his first Series’ Championship.
Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, was third overall in the final order, and Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet logged the fourth fastest time.
Firestone Fast Six qualifying for Sunday’s 85-lap/202.73-mile race on the 12-turn/2.385-mile Sonoma Raceway is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. PT. Qualifying will be broadcast tape delay on NBC Sports Network at 6:00 p.m. PT. A total of 12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers will make qualifying runs.
GoPro Indy Grand Prix at Sonoma is scheduled to start on Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. ET with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.
Live radio coverage will be on XM Radio Channel 94 and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 212. In addition, IndyCar live timing and scoring with the radio broadcast can be found at
Chevy Racing–Bristol–Kurt Busch
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 23, 2013
KURT BUSCH TO START ON THE FRONT ROW FOR SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK
Six Chevrolet SS Drivers to Start in Top 15
BRISTOL, TN – August 23, 2013 – Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet SS, who has five career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at Bristol Motor Speedway, will start the race on the outside of the front row for the second straight week. Busch has now earned seven outside, front-row starting spots so far in 2013. He will be looking to keep his hot streak alive and stay inside the Top 10 in the point standings in the last three races leading into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Kasey Kahne, who won the spring event at Bristol, will start his No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS in seventh position. Kahne also needs a solid run on Saturday night to keep his grip on his Chase “Wild Card” position. Ryan Newman, No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS, also very much alive in the Chase standings, and will start in eighth position on Saturday night.
Other Team Chevy members starting in the Top 15 are: Mark Martin, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS – 11th, Jimmie Johnson, No 48 Dover White Chevrolet SS – 13th, and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet SS – 15th.
Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was the pole winner, Carl Edwards (Ford) was third, Brian Vickers (Toyota) was fourth and Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was fifth, to round out the top-five.
The IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway takes the green flag on Saturday, August 24th at 7:30 p.m. ET, and will be aired live on ESPN.
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/SEALY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SECOND:
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“It was an eventful Friday for us. I got a little loose getting into (Turn) 3 and it took me all the way until Turn 4 to scrub the fence and we pancaked the right side just enough to where we had to quit practice for the last half hour and go to work on fixing the car. The hood seams were sealed and the decklid seams were sealed, but the whole right side was pancaked. You’re right on that edge. Do you fix it or do you pull out the back-up. It was so cool to just feel the energy from my guys. They all rolled their sleeves up. They all looked at the clock and said we’ve got an hour and a half to fix this to get in the tech line. And we got it in. Then we had trouble getting it through the tech line because the lasers inspect the car with a little bit more detail than what our tape measures show. And so we had to go through the tech line two or three times and got out to the grid right before it was our turn.
“I went and turned a lap and the cool part was I said I’ve got to go 95 percent. I can’t go a full 100 percent on that first lap just to feel the car and to trust the car and to trust the track. And then the second lap, once I made it through the first lap, I said all right, let’s go 100 percent. And then I backed all over the place again. So it was a very eventful day. But, thanks to my guys for working as hard as they did to give us this outside pole. We’ve been on the outside pole a half a dozen times. It’s a good accomplishment but at the same time, we’re coming up a little short for getting the pole. But these guys keep plugging away. It’s been great to go into an old school thrash like we did today and come out with an outside pole.”
THIS IS YOUR SEVENTH OUTSIDE ROW STARTING POSITION. YOU ARE IN POSITION FOR A CHASE BERTH. WHEN YOU WENT TO FURNITURE ROW THIS YEAR, DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA YOU COULD PUT TOGETHER THIS KIND OF SEASON?
“It’s been great on qualifying days. Fridays have been, I think, our strongest suit. What I mean by that, it can be defined in a few categories and that’s all the hard work at the shop the guys do with the simulator and the seven-post. So, when your first lap out is fast, it’s encouraging all weekend long. And when we switch over into qualifying trim, that speed is there again. To say that I didn’t expect it wouldn’t be the right phrase. It’s been a great work in progress that I knew we could achieve. And to have as many outside poles as we do, is a nice feather in the cap. But when you need to get through a Saturday practice session and still have that speed and then translate it into Sunday, we’ve just come up a little bit short on some of our speed. That’s maybe why we haven’t driven the Furniture Row Chevy into Victory Lane. But it’s been very satisfying on Fridays, and working through the sequence of the weekend to find that chance to go to Victory Lane, we just keep coming up a little bit short.”
“Is not winning the only thing that’s missing? Well, we’re three weeks away from the Chase. And that’s what our focus is right now and I said this about six or seven weeks ago, we don’t have to win to make this Chase. Even if we had a win right now, we would be not guaranteed a spot in the Chase. Consistency is what gets you in and consistency wins the championship. You just have to ramp it up a notch once you’re in the Chase. So right now, the blinders are on. We are full-focus on just making sure we get nice, consistent finishes.”
DO YOU TRUST WITH YOUR GUYS ALL THE TALK ABOUT WHERE YOU MAY GO NEXT YEAR TO TRY TO HELP THEM KEEP THE BLINDERS ON? AND DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS ON THE REPORTS ABOUT STEWART-HAAS RACING WOOING YOU FOR NEXT YEAR?
“Yeah, the guys know that this is the time now, and they are all shaking my hand saying thanks; and they are also saying let’s do this again next year. And I’m like yeah, heck yeah, I’m right there with you. We have to stay focused on the present as well as balance the future. And it’s a tough thing to do. And you hope you could do it behind the scenes, you know, where it’s not out in the public. But today was a great reminder of how hard you have to work in this sport. And when things go wrong, you have to have talented guys jump in and pick you up. And today we brought home the outside pole with the adversity we had to overcome.”
YOU HAD YOUR ISSUE TODAY KYLE BUSCH HAD PROBLEMS. JIMMIE JOHNSON HAD PROBLEMS IN QUALIFYING. IS THE EDGE A LITTLE BIT HARDER TO FIND AT THIS TRACK THIS WEEK FOR SOME REASON?
“If Jimmie didn’t have problems, I was just going to go oh you know those dang Busch brothers; always out there on the edge tearing cars up. Checkers are wreckers, you know. That’s the whole mentality. But it’s a joke, guys, really. My delivery was really poor (laughter). I actually asked (John) Darby if I could go out there and walk the banking in (Turns) 3 and 4 right before qualifying, just to see where the marbles had collected. We’re all right there on that high lane. And the higher you go, there’s more grip. But as soon as you put a few inches of the tire into the marbles, then your right-side is pancaked. You’re right on that edge and it’s a half-mile around. Any little mistake shows up on the stopwatch immediately.”
EVERYBODY KNOWS HOW HARD YOU DRIVE A CAR. WHEN YOU ARE A SOUGHT-AFTER DRIVER, AND THERE ARE MULTIPLE OFFERS COMING YOUR WAY, WHAT IMPACT DOES THAT HAVE ON YOUR CONFIDENCE IN THE CAR?
“You know, it’s like a checklist that you go through each time you get in the car. One of those items is to just block out the outside world and know that what is at hand right now is a qualifying run. Tomorrow is 500 laps at Bristol where I have to protect my car and make sure we don’t try to push any issues on restarts. And then to have the outside guys knocking on the door going hey we want you to drive. It’s a good confidence booster, to say the least.”
THERE IS GOING TO BE A CONTRAST BETWEEN THE GUYS THAT HAVE TO MAKE THE CHASE AND THE GUYS WHO ARE GOING OUT TO WIN. EVERYBODY WANTS TO WIN. BUT WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THE TENURE TO BE TOMORROW NIGHT?
“I’m just sitting here thinkin
g. With Bristol, as cool as this place is and the excitement level, could we move this race into the Chase so we didn’t have the guys that were on edge, that had to have a good consistent run, just to get their way into the Chase, why couldn’t this be the second race into the Chase? And then why can’t we just put dirt on this place and run here in March on dirt, you know? I think that would be awesome to put dirt on here and then every ticket was $35. That would be pretty sweet. That’s my vote for next March.”
WHAT ABOUT MARTINSVILLE?
“I can get on my soapbox again and talk. I think there should be a lottery system or there should be a wager that you have to place with NASCAR to buy a Chase date. And that the championship race, at the final race, should have to bid just like you bid on the Super Bowl. It should move around a little bit. Yeah, we can’t probably race in Chicago in November. It might be a little too cold. But there are a half-dozen tracks that I think could be a series finale, and I think they should have to bid on the tracks.”
Chevy Racing–Bristol–Mark Martin
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 23, 2013
MARK MARTIN, INTERIM DRIVER FOR TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS AND GREG ZIPADELLI, COMPETITION DIRECTOR FOR STEWART-HAAS RACING, met with members of the media at Bristol Motor Speedway and discussed expectations for the race weekend and the remainder of the season, what Stewart-Haas Racing might look like in 2014 and many other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK ABOUT HOW THINGS UNFOLDED THE LAST FEW DAYS AND THEN NOW THAT YOU HAVE YOUR SIGHTS SET ON THE REST OF THIS SEASON YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT BEING BEHIND THE WHEEL OF THE NO. 14:
MARK MARTIN: “Well first of all I’m honored and humbled both to be asked to fill in for ‘Smoke’ (Tony Stewart). I really look forward to Tony getting back with us. I just wanted to say that first of all. It has been a whirlwind for sure. Getting the details sort of sorted out Sunday and Monday really not until Monday and then taking the trip, I’m over in Arkansas right now with Arlene (Martin, wife). Taking a trip to North Carolina Tuesday and spending the day fitting seats and shooting pictures and getting to know people. Faces and names and the organization and everything else Tuesday and Wednesday were kind of a whirlwind for sure. Today I’m a little bit nervous. Today is going to be action packed with a short amount of practice to get ready to race tomorrow night and to qualify all packed into one day. I’m excited about the challenge and I’m extremely committed to do a good job for this race team, for this group, for Tony and hopefully return his car back over to him in as good or better standing then when it was turned over to me.”
TALK ABOUT THE THOUGHT PROCESS THAT WENT INTO CERTAINLY BEEN A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENING OVER AT YOUR PLACE THE LAST FEW WEEKS. JUST TALK ABOUT THE THOUGHT PROCESS IN GETTING MARK (MARTIN) AND GETTING SOME STABILITY OVER THERE HERE MOVING FORWARD:
GREG ZIPADELLI: “For us it’s a homerun. Obviously he has big shoes to fill to take Tony’s seat and there are not many guys in the garage that could do that. We all agreed that if there was any way to get Mark Martin he was the guy that would do us the best job and be able to do that. That is kind of like over the last few weeks we said we were going to take our time and everything that we did we would try to be as calculated as we could and obviously we were hoping we could get this worked out. We felt like it was the best opportunity for the No. 14 car to perform on a weekly basis and you know do our sponsors the justice that they deserve.”
TONY HAS HAD SUCCESS IN ALL FORMS OF MOTORSPORTS, RACED ALL KINDS OF THINGS AS WELL AS IN NASCAR. ALSO DURING HIS CAREER HE’S HAD RUN IN’S WITH MEDIA, OTHER COMPETITORS AND EVEN NASCAR ITSELF. EVEN THROUGH ALL THAT PEOPLE STILL HOLD A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF RESPECT FOR HIM. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?
MARK MARTIN: “I think because people see people who have been around and close enough to him to see Tony on the inside know that he is an incredible person, caring and amazing person. For the people who don’t get to know that side of Tony they might have a different impression, but he’s loved in the sport and respected throughout the sport universally I think for what a great person he is and the incredible driver and commitment that he has to racing.”
THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT WHAT TONY MAY OR MAY NOT DO OR WHAT HE WILL BE LIKE AFTER HE COMES BACK WILL HE HAVE CHANGED. DO YOU EXPECT HAVING YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH TONY THAT HE WILL BE ANY DIFFERENT THE DAY HE GETS BACK IN THE NO. 14 CAR?
GREG ZIPADELLI: “No, I mean I hope obviously he is struggling with the fact that he is not in the car and he’s in this situation, but he’s a racer he loves to do what he does. I hope that and think that he will come back to Daytona with something to prove to the world and maybe he will turn over a whole new leaf he hasn’t got to see you guys for four or five months and he will be more welcoming to you. I don’t know, I can’t guarantee that.”
YOU HAD A CONVERSATION WITH TONY, WENT TO VISIT HIM WHAT WAS THAT LIKE? WHAT DID YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT?
MARK MARTIN: “I couldn’t get a word in edge wise. If that tells you what two weeks of bed rest does for you. We talked initially about he went into great detail about the accident and what caused the injury and the fix for that particular freak accident. What happened all the stars had to line up just perfectly for that to happen where it injured him. He went through in great detail of how they were going to address preventing that from ever happening again in sprint car racing. Talked a lot about sprint cars, a lot about safety in sprint cars and we talked some about injuries. Finally after about an hour of Tony never taking a breath I got a chance to talk a little bit about… I had some injury stories for him. We had the biggest laugh. I thought he was going to start crying once laughing so hard. A story that I told him about when I had my foot and ankles broke. It was that story about when Darrell Waltrip drove my car at La Crosse, Wisconsin. Actually what was funny was the trip from Arkansas to La Crosse Wisconsin. My dad was driving me up. It’s a long story… move on past that… it’s a very funny story. It sounds like a lie, but it really is not even embellished it’s just crazy. But we had a really good time. We did talk a little bit about the No. 14 car and about Cup racing. We had a really good time and he was in really good spirits.”
I KNOW MARK AND TONY ARE NOT THE SAME SIZE. YOU DID A PHOTO SHOOT THIS WEEK HAD TO GET A UNIFORM. WHAT ABOUT THE COMMERCIAL SIDE OF IT? ARE WE GOING TO SEE MARK REPRESENTING TONY STEWART IN ALL FACETS OF PUBLICITY NOW?
GREG ZIPADELLI: “Obviously the sponsors wanted some things done so I mean we are obviously doing everything we can do be good partners with them and make sure that they can use Mark in whatever they need to from here to the end of the year. Everybody did a great job this week. A lot of stuff got done in a short period of time, but we got it done and feel like everybody chipped in and gave when they needed to and we were able to get everything done and pulled off.”
BECAUSE THE ANNOUNCEMENT HAD ALREADY BEEN MADE WITH BRAIN VICKERS GOING IN FULL TIME DID YOU FEEL MORE AT EASE TAKING THIS POSITION BECAUSE OF THAT AND DID THE FACT THAT ANNOUNCEMENT WAS MADE RESULT IN YOU BEING MORE PRONE TO TAKE THIS?
MARK MARTIN: “It obviously opened the door for this to happen. It’s been quite a work in progress since Brian’s win up at New Hampshire. Getting Aaron’s re-signed, getting Brian signed, getting all those parts and pieces of the puzzle together and so it was just a matter of timing. Once they got that done, signed and announced you know then it kind of opened the door where it was a win/win for everybody. It’s a win for Brian, it’s a win for Michael Waltrip Racing, and it’s a win for myself to have the opportunity to be a small part of Stewart-Haas. I’m not sure I can describe to you what it means to me that Tony wanted me to do this. He is definitely one of my heroes. People who are paying attention knew that before this ever happened so it means a lot to me that he wanted me to. Like I said before I’m a little bit nervous about today because I feel like it is an extraordinary challenge because it’s not like…I’ve switched around a lot, but usually you have a couple of months and a test or two to get together. Man, I see a lot of faces I’m not sure I can put names to just yet. This i
s going to be an action packed two and a half hours or whatever today. It’s going to be action packed. Then we are going on and testing next week at Richmond and I think that will help us this weekend and next week’s test will help us start getting in the groove and as we go forward I think things will smooth out. It’s been pretty intense so far this week.”
THE PHYSICAL RECOVERY FOR TONY IS GOING TO BE VERY DIFFICULT. I’M WONDERING IF THE MENTAL PART OF THIS IS GOING TO BE JUST AS DIFFICULT FOR HIM SINCE HE IS USED TO BEING IN A CAR SIX DAYS A WEEK?
GREG ZIPADELLI: “I think that is part of what he will learn a little bit about how important it is to him. Sometimes we all take things for granted and I think at the end of the day hopefully he will look back. I think he is bound and determined to change the sprint cars and making them safer and getting that movement going in the direction it probably should have happened years ago, but they are so weight conscious and have been allowed to work in those areas. I think he is bound and determined to do that which I think will help everybody over there. Hopefully he will come back here with a little bit different attitude and understanding how important and we all rely on him. He’s got a lot of kids at Stewart-Haas you know what I mean as we say we are under his umbrella and I know he will do his best. I really think when he comes back I think he is going to be fired up and ready to show the world that all that time he has had cooped up there will hopefully pay larger dividends for next year and hopefully start the year off on a stronger note. Obviously we’ve got a lot of changes at Stewart-Haas and adding things. There is just a lot of excitement a lot of positive things to turn this around and to head into next year with.”
IT SEEMS LIKE THERE IS A LOT GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES AT STEWART-HAAS AND YOU GUYS ARE SEEMINGLY TAKING A PRETTY AGGRESSIVE STANCE AND POSITION ON BUILDING THINGS FOR THE FUTURE. WHAT IS GOING ON, AT STEWART-HAAS? IT SEEMS LIKE YOU GUYS ARE BUILDING AND BEING VERY AGGRESSIVE AND WANT TO BECOME A VERY LARGER PLAYER AMONGST THE HEAVY WEIGHTS?
GREG ZIPADELLI: “I think that is said very well is we are looking to expand. We are looking to do whatever we can to make Stewart-Haas a better place to race, give our drivers better resources. Our crew chiefs and things our goal is to give our teams better product to race every week going into Daytona. With four good drivers next year I think that it gives us that opportunity. Our owners are aggressive. It’s kind of exciting it’s fun in a time where everybody is kind of going the other way we’ve got owner that are committed to stepping up and hopefully making Stewart-Haas a bigger and better place in the future.”
TONY TOLD A RADIO PERSON THIS WEEK THAT HE HAD NO INTENTIONS OF NOT RUNNING SPRINT CARS. HAVE YOU TALKED ABOUT THAT AND ARE YOU OKAY WITH HIM GOING RIGHT BACK TO DOING WHAT HE WAS BEFORE?
GREG ZIPADELLI: “I think that it’s too early to get into that stuff. He needs to go through his process right now. We need to go through ours and we need to spend time talking honestly. I don’t think you can take Tony Stewart and tell him he can’t drive other cars. That is what makes him that is who he is. Can we get him to cut his schedule back, can we get him to look at things; can we help him with this movement of making those cars safer for everybody including himself? I think those will be the things that come in the next couple of months.”
CAN YOU BE A LITTLE MORE SPECIFIC WHERE DO THINGS STAND WITH KURT (BUSCH) AND IS RODNEY (CHILDERS) GOING TO BE THE CREW CHIEF FOR KEVIN HARVICK NEXT YEAR?
GREG ZIPADELLI: “We love Rodney (Childers) we think a lot of him he has been a friend of mine for a while. We have talked to many people. He is on our radar, but we have no commitments, nothing signed. I talked to people yesterday about the opportunity so we would love to make him part of Stewart-Haas, but we are not there yet. As far as Kurt’s deal that is moving forward. We spent some time this week talking about buildings and expanding. As far as that part of it goes we are pretty much committed.”
INAUDIBLE:
GREG ZIPADELLI: “We are working on that and if we can get it all worked out we are going to head that way.”
YOU SAID YOU TALKED TO TONY ABOUT MAKING THE SPRINT CARS SAFER CAN YOU GO INTO A LITTLE MORE DETAIL ON WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CAR AND WHAT YOU FEEL LIKE CAN BE DONE TO MAKE THEM SAFER?
MARK MARTIN: “I shouldn’t because I’m not technically familiar with sprint cars. The way evidently the rear ends can’t come back because they hit the fuel cell. When the car went upside down the rear end was able to get below the fuel cell and it was able to pull like the drive shaft, for me not knowing better, there may be a better word for that. The yoke out of the front side and that is what got him. Technically I shouldn’t even answer that question because I’m an idiot I haven’t ever been closer than 10 feet to a sprint car so I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
GREG ZIPADELLI: “He’s kind of explaining what it is the torque tube came out and hit him. There is protection, but obviously that hoop that is there is not enough to contain it. I think that is the area they are working in.”
MARK MARTIN: “So the torque tube is actually in my world a drive shaft. See I told you I was an idiot (laughs). It’s a drive shaft in a Cup car.”
HAVING WORKED WITH RODNEY CHILDERS CAN YOU JUST TALK ABOUT HIS ABILITIES AND WHAT THE OPPORTUNITY WORKING WITH A FULL-TIME DRIVER POTENTIALLY AT STEWART-HAAS COULD DO FOR HIM AND WHAT HE COULD DO FOR THE TEAM?
MARK MARTIN: “Rodney Childers is an amazing person. I will say that first and foremost, amazing. He’s very smart and very dedicated and an incredible crew chief. It’s funny how things work out. My mission in February was to help him secure a championship caliber sponsor and driver for 2014 so that he could race for a championship in the No. 55. My how things change over time. I feel like we still accomplished that, it’s just that he may have an opportunity to do it. I would assume that the whole garage would be after Rodney Childers. Last year he did a one year contract instead of a long term deal because he wanted to wait to see what transpired after our year together. He wanted to work with me and Brian (Vickers) and Michael (Waltrip) in 2013 and wait and see what 2014 brought. He’s in that position now to look at all options.”
WHAT ESSENTIALLY TRANSPIRED IN THE MONTHS SINCE THE ANNOUNCEMENT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE THAT RYAN (NEWMAN) WOULDN’T BE COMING BACK AND TONY’S STATEMENT AT THE TIME THAT HE DIDN’T THINK YOU WERE READY FOR FOUR CARS? HAS THERE BEEN A QUANTUM CHANGE IN PHILOSOPHY SINCE THEN THAT’S MAYBE ALLOWED YOU TO GO FORWARD WITH THAT FOURTH CAR AS MUCH AS YOU CAN GET INTO THAT WHAT HAS CHANGED?
GREG ZIPADELLI: “I mean obviously something has changed. Gene Haas is obviously a partner and started this many years ago. He just came the other day, he is always liked Kurt (Busch). We had talked about Kurt last year of putting him in the No. 39 things just didn’t work out. It’s really nothing that Ryan (Newman) did wrong I mean he’s done a great job, he’s a good guy, heck of a driver. This just kind of got sprung on us 14 days ago or less. It’s kind of all come down. Gene just showed some interest and having the ability to put something together. Without getting into a ton more details that is really all it is. It’s something we are working o
n. I don’t know that it will all come together. It’s going to take an awful lot. It is kind of late. We didn’t think that we would have all the pieces to get put together at Loudon and felt like it was the best thing for Ryan to give him a fair shot at securing something for himself. I mean which is the most important thing.”
Chevy Racing–Jimmie Johnson–Bristol
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS, met with media and discussed his motorcycle injury at the age of eight, engine issues last week at Michigan, the respect among others for Tony Stewart, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
YOU ARE OUR POINTS LEADER WITH FOUR WINS SO FAR THIS SEASON. COMING INTO BRISTOL, WE’VE GOT THREE RACES BEFORE WE RESET THE FIELD FOR THE 2013 CHASE. YOU’VE ALREADY CLINCHED A SPOT IN THE FIELD AND WOULD LIKE TO GET SOME ORE BONUS POINTS. TALK ABOUT COMING HERE TO BRISTOL AND YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND:
“I’m excited to be in Bristol. This night race was always one of my favorites to watch, growing up. I’m looking forward to a packed house and some great short track racing. We’ve been a Top 5 car here over the years and hopefully we can take that next step and move into that Top 3. In my opinion, running in the Top 3 you’ve got a great shot at a win. We’d like to win another race here. We’ve done it once in our career and hopefully we can do it again.”
THE ENGINE ISSUES YOU HAD LAST WEEKEND (AT MICHIGAN), HAVE YOU DISCOVERED WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS AND TAKEN CARE OF THAT? DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS GOING FORWARD?
“There is always concern and we tested at Richmond and the guys were still asking me questions from the engine shop about what I felt and the order and how things went on and failed. They didn’t have any clear direction then. And I’m not sure they’ve had a lot of time to work on everything with all four cars going to Richmond on Tuesday and Wednesday. But, we definitely had one; our engine failed and the others didn’t. In the past, that stuff usually boils down to a part failure. And I’m assuming it was something in that department. Hopefully we can find out what batch it came from and which part it was. You know, when things fail at a rapid rate like they do, it’s hard to find the source of the issue. Hopefully we can narrow that down and get new parts and pieces in place so it doesn’t happen to our car or anybody else’s.”
OBVIOUSLY TONY STEWART HAS HAD SUCCESS IN A LOT OF FORMS OF MOTORSPORTS, INCLUDING HERE (NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES). DURING HIS CAREER, HE’S ALSO HAD HIS SHARE OF RUN-INS WITH MEDIA AND FELLOW COMPETITORS AND EVEN NASCAR. YET, THROUGH ALL THAT, HE STILL SEEMS TO BE HELD AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL OF RESPECT AMONG HIS PEERS. THAT IS A DELICATE BALANCE. WHY IS THAT?
“I think it’s because of his honesty. At times his frustration with his honest approach, you might hear some real colorful things and have an issue on the front side. It might lead to something, an altercation on the track; getting out of cars and having a scrappy session with someone after (laughs). But once the dust settles, his honesty once again weighs out. He’s not one to walk from a problem or run from a problem. He’ll continue to talk to whoever it is and whatever it’s about and work through those things. So, that’s kind of where I put it. He’s just honest at all times. Sometimes he probably wishes he had a filter on it, especially on the front side, to save some of the back-end issues. But, at the end of the day, that’s what I respect about him is he’s just an honest guy.”
MARK MARTIN AND GREG ZIPADELLI WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT TONY STEWART AND WHAT HE’S IS GOING TO GO THROUGH MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY ON HIS WAY BACK. WHAT’S THE TOUGHEST INJURY THAT YOU’VE EVER HAD TO GET OVER? HAVE YOU EVER HAD SOMETHING WHERE YOU REALLY GOT BUSTED AND IT TOOK A WHILE TO GET BACK?
“Yeah, I’ve been fortunate in my four-wheel career to have just some minor injuries and issues. But, my first championship I won when I was racing dirt bikes. With a few races left in the season, it was my birthday of all things, I fell in the first turn and bent the handlebars. And as I rode a couple more laps, I just mentally forgot about my handlebars being bent and where they had the front tire pointing. I came over a double-jump section of the race track and just put my hands straight like I expected and the wheel was cocked. I tumbled and got tangled-up with the bike and I broke my tib and fib on my left leg and pulled the knee apart. And when I was done tumbling, my foot was up here. And I’ll never forget looking at the bottom of my motorcycle boot laying on the ground and like, wow, this is really serious.
“I went to the hospital and had reconstructive knee surgery and they got everything put back together and had me in a cast. And we figured out that if I started the race and rode one lap the next couple of events, that I would tie with this other kid in points, and I would have more race wins and would win the championship. So, my dad, with his fabrication skills, designed a little thing off the side of the bike. He borrowed some adult-sized leathers and boots and all that, and got my foot propped up and rode one lap and tied the kid in points and won the tie-breaker due to the wins, and went and got my first championship trophy on stage on crutches. I was in a cast for quite a while. That was a six or eight-month process to get through, but I was so young; and really, nothing stuck around, mentally. It didn’t bother me in any way, shape, or form. So I was pretty lucky with the age. Not only did it kill the injury for my knee, but also mentally, it just didn’t have an effect on me.”
HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN THAT HAPPENED?
“It was on my eighth birthday.”
SO YOU HIT THE GROUND AND IMMEDIATELY KNEW YOUR FOOT WASN’T WHERE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE?
“Yep. I was staring at the bottom of my motorcycle boot. And I knew that was bad (laughter). And then there was somebody trying to help me off the track and my dad was running over; he saw me fall. And when he saw my leg and somebody trying to move me, that person still today probably regrets touching me because my dad stuffed him. He came running up and planted the person that was trying to help. It was a reaction. He could hear me scream and saw my leg in an awkward position and was just being a protective dad.”
COULD YOU TALK ABOUT THE POSSIBLE CHANGES COMING AT STEWART-HAAS RACING AS FAR AS PERHAPS GOING TO A FOURTH TEAM NEXT SEASON AND HOW THAT WOULD BENEFIT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS?
“I hear the rumors but I’m not sure what it happening or what will happen from personnel changes to adding cars. There’s still a lot to learn about Tony’s (Stewart) health and what’s going to happen with the No. 14 car. But, we have a great relationship with Stewart-Haas Racing and I know with (Kevin) Harvick coming on board, Kevin and I have talked already and we work well together now, but I think that can improve and be better in the future. And the more smart pulling in the same direction, the better both companies are going to be. Stewart-Haas has shown their ability to win races and championships; and I think for the good of all of us, the more smart people, the more dedicated-focused people on both teams, the better all of us are going to be.”
Chevy Racing–Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Teams Trek West To Take on Sonoma Raceway
Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Teams Trek West To Take on Sonoma Raceway
DETROIT – (Aug. 21, 2013) – After a short break, the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 teams and drivers return to competition at Sonoma Raceway for Sunday’s running of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. With only five races remaining on the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule, critical points are on the line as the intensity of the battle for the championship increases.
Situated in Sonoma County, just north of San Francisco, California, Sonoma Raceway has long been a favorite track of drivers and fans. The 2.385-mile, 12-turn natural-terrain course has it all to challenge drivers – elevation changes, tight right-hand Turn 12 leading onto the frontstretch, a Carousel turn that requires finesse to navigate – all packed into a scenic setting.
“Team Chevy has been very busy analyzing and refining our on-track results and we are eager to return to the race track, especially the Sonoma Raceway for the Go Pro Indy Grand Prix,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “The competition has really peaked in the second half of the season so it is time to unleash the full potential of the Chevy arsenal. The IndyCar Open Test on Wednesday along with the three practice sessions before qualifying will provide ample time to optimize the setup for the typically low grip surface there. Our teams and technical partners know this is crunch time and are digging deep to focus on executing what it takes to win the top spot on the podium at each of the remaining races, and earning championships.”
Chevrolet heads to Sonoma tied for the lead in the Series Manufacturer point standings with seven victories thus far this season, as well as three Team Chevy drivers in the top-five of the Driver Championship Standings, and five drivers in the top-10 points positions.
Helio Castroneves sits atop the standings with one victory to his credit through 14 races. Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, has two wins in 2013 and sits third in the point’s order and Marco Andretti is solidly in fourth position with only five races remaining until this year’s champion is decided.
In previous IndyCar races at Sonoma, five current Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers have visited the Winner’s Circle. Ryan Briscoe is the defending race champion. Will Power is the only driver with multiple wins at the 2.358-mile course with back-to-back victories earned in 2010 and 2011. Castroneves took the trip to Victory Lane in 2008. Marco Andretti was the Sonoma race winner in 2006, and Tony Kanaan captured the win in 2005.
The 85-lap GoPro Indy Grand Prix at Sonoma is scheduled to start on Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. ET with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.
Live radio coverage will be on XM Radio Channel 94 and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 212. In addition, IndyCar live timing and scoring with the radio broadcast can be found at
Chevy Racing–Tuesday Teleconference–Greg Zipadelli
GREG ZIPADELLI, COMPETITION DIRECTOR OF STEWART-HAAS RACING AND MARK MARTIN, INTERIM DRIVER FOR THE NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS, WERE GUESTS ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE.
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
JAYME AVRIT: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference. Our guests are Greg Zipadelli, competition director for Stewart‑Haas Racing and Mark Martin, interim driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart‑Haas Racing
Greg, you made it official that Tony Stewart is out for the remainder of the season, and as a part of that news, you announced that Mark Martin will drive 12 of the final 13 races in the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart‑Haas Racing with Austin Dillon driving the car at Talladega. How important is it to have a plan for the rest of the season?
GREG ZIPADELLI: Obviously it’s great that this worked out for everybody here at Stewart‑Haas, our partners, to put a veteran in that has as much experience, wins, top 5s, all those things are so important to go out and finish the year on a strong note. Obviously we’re still racing for a spot in the Chase with the 39 car, and we’ll do the best we can with owner’s points. By keeping one guy that has a lot of experience in there like Mark, I think it gives us our best shot.
JAYME AVRIT: Mark, Tony Stewart always says how much he respects you. What are your thoughts as you get ready to fill in for him beginning with this weekend’s race at Bristol?
MARK MARTIN: Well, I’m incredibly honored. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding how Tony could possibly feel that way toward me when the guy is so amazing, the modern‑day A.J. Foyt. When I was growing up, A.J. drove anything and everything and was fast and won in everything he drove. And Tony is the guy today that really does that and is successful at it.
So it’s hard for me to comprehend that, but he’s made great friends ‑‑ we’ve been good friends for quite some time with amazing respect, mutual respect. It’s an honor to be in the situation where we’re able to do this.
I’m really, really sorry that it comes at the expense of Tony getting hurt. But one thing I do want to say that is really important here is the amazing amount of cooperation that it took to get this deal done by so many parties, and I haven’t seen this much cooperation in the past, and I think it was largely in part for the incredible amount of respect that everyone has in the sport for Tony Stewart.
Q. This question is for Mark. You have been very particular in what you’ve chosen to do in your career, particularly since you stopped racing full schedules. Why was it important for you to be able to do this for Tony?
MARK MARTIN: Well, really it’s such a win, it’s a win for every person involved, from Michael Waltrip Racing, Aaron’s, Brian Vickers, as well as the incredible amount of respect that I have for Tony. Just the fact that they asked me was a huge honor to me.
You know, I feel kind of amazed that we were able to get this done, but we were able to get it done. Aaron’s agreed to it. The folks from Toyota agreed to it. They are very intense racers, but they all saw the value in a win‑win‑win situation, and everyone respects Tony and wanted to be able to help out.
I think all the stars just lined up for this to work out because anyone along the way, including Mobil 1, Chevrolet or Bass Pro Shops could have probably stopped this from happening. So there were so many pieces to this puzzle, it was a lot more complicated than it looked at face value. But the reason it was able to be worked out is because everyone was able to win in this situation.
Q. I have one for Greg. Obviously with Tony out the entire season now, the injury, is it more serious than you guys first thought? Can you figure out what happened inside the car to cause the injury and put him in the position he’s in right now? I think the release said you guys were expecting him to be back in the car for the beginning of next year.
GREG ZIPADELLI: Yeah, I mean, we expect a full recovery by Daytona or close to it. You know, it may be able to be done earlier, it’s just not worth it. It’s a bad break to the leg, and he needs time to go through the process of healing, rehabilitation, all those things. With Mark coming on board, I think it gives us the window to go to the end of the year and feel like we are doing our partners the best job we can to fill Tony’s shoes, and that’s what we’ll do.
Q. And Mark, I know you’ve always wanted to win a title. Are you thinking about winning an owner’s title here? What would that mean to you if you were able to pull that off? And also are you thinking about next year still driving?
MARK MARTIN: Well, you know, obviously when I was at the 55 with Michael and Rodney and all the guys, their goal with Brian and Michael behind the wheel, and myself, was to try to make the owner’s Chase. You have to have those goals. Obviously Stewart‑Haas Racing has the same goal at this point in time.
You know me, and you know that I don’t want to race ‑‑ my motivation for racing is not for points, it’s for racing. I want to race, and I want to finish ‑‑ if I’m running 20th, I’ll bust my butt to run 19th. And that’s one more point, but it’s for one more position. And I say that just trying to explain the fact that we will race as hard as we can race, and wewill finish as high as we can in every race, and that in turn accumulates the most points that we can.
But I don’t go into this situation rubbing my hands together saying, oh, wow, this is an opportunity to race for a championship. First of all, the first thing we’ve got to do is put it together really quickly. I feel like going into Bristol, I feel sort of like ‑‑ I’ve driven for a lot of different teams, and I’ve worked with a lot of different people, but when you do something like the 11 car at Martinsville on four‑days’ notice or going into Bristol with this short of notice, it is like jumping into ice‑cold water. We’re going to go into Bristol and we’re going to have to do race setup, qualifying setup and qualifying all on Friday, boom. We don’t get another crack at it on Saturday. We don’t get another chance to think about it.
It’s going to be challenging, and challenges are good for me. They push me hard. They drive me hard, and I will do everything I can to step up to the plate and dig in. But it is a new situation, and it’s not like you sign on with a new team in November and you have January and February to get to know each other before you go off racing. We’re faced with this race coming up in just a few days.
Q. Do you think this will be it for you? Is this the last of your racing or do you still plan to come back and do some kind of part‑time next year?
MARK MARTIN: I don’t have a plan right now, and I have much less planned right now than I had a week ago. A week ago I was going to race a partial schedule. Now I’m racing all but one with a whole new situation with what I feel like is a lot of challenges and a lot of pressure, and I don’t want to think about 2014 at all right now.
Q. This is for Greg. When you all thought about whether Mark Martin would be a possibility or not, how much hope did you have that it would actually get done?
GREG ZIPADELLI: Well, I mean, obviously every time you get an opportunity to work with a driver as great and has the accomplishments he has, you obviously look forward to that, and when we sat down and looked at what we had for options, to run as many races as we need, he was obviously the best option.
There’s a lot of options and a lot of people reached out to us, and we’re very thankful for obviously everybody wanting to have that opportunity.
But Mark just seemed to be the fit. Him and Tony, they’ve got a bond. They seem to get along. Tony was very excited about it. That was his first choice, so that’s what we went after. Like Mark said earlier, everybody kind of giving a little bit in this situation, hopefully it’s a win‑win for everybody, so we certainly appreciate everybody working with us.
Q. Mark, did you actually change your Twitter handle yourself? And can you explain how that all got done so quickly?
MARK MARTIN: Well, Arlene and I had already had a discussion several weeks ago even before this came up about the 55 part of it, the @55MarkMartin. So we had had the discussion. I moved right past it, didn’t want to think about it or deal with it. We got home last night, and I told her that she was right, I needed to figure something out. I have a buddy that has helped me initially with Twitter a good bit, and he ‑‑ Phil Hampton, and he actually got in contact with Twitter. We went on the computer last night and searched it out and looked at our options and then talked a little bit to Phil, and Phil talked to Twitter, and there was a lot of cooperation there, and we got it handled, got what we wanted.
Q. Mark, can you reflect a little bit on how far Michael Waltrip Racing has come in the two years you’ve been associated with them?
MARK MARTIN: Well, first of all, I appreciate you giving me a chance to talk about MWR. It’s been such an incredible experience. The working environment that they have there is so great. I mean, it is the least uptight and the least tense of any place I’ve ever been. I really, really have enjoyed being a part of it. I’ve felt really warm and welcome there, and I really love the people in that organization.
A lot of the people there I’ve worked with before at other places or known, and it was a very comfortable situation. And to be real honest with you, people can say what they want, but I have had very little to do with the progression of that organization. I stepped in at a good time when the organization was on an upswing, and it was just starting to show on the racetrack before I arrived there, and when I stepped in, everything was just in place and clicking.
Like I said, they’ve got a lot of great people there who work really well together, and the team concept and the team is working together so great with Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer, all the crew chiefs, we all got along so well and worked really hard to achieve the performance that we achieved. I was so proud of Clint being able to finish second in the championship last year, and he’s sitting in the same position this year and hopefully can be poised to race for the championship. And Martin getting a win at Sonoma, he’s been so close for so long, so I’ve felt really good about being a part of so many great people there. I really, really have made great friends with all the folks there.
Q. This is for Greg. Can you sort of walk us through the mechanics of how exactly this deal came together and how many people had to say yes and maybe what was your biggest challenge in putting it together?
GREG ZIPADELLI: I don’t actually know how many people had to say yes. It was just a lot. Obviously Mark and I ‑‑ I’ve known Mark for a while racing, and we had been talking. You know, we just ‑‑ I’ll be honest with you, it just kind of happened. Everybody was very cooperative. Michael Waltrip Racing, hat’s off to them for allowing Mark to help us out and them getting a jump start on next year. It just really was like, “Hey, do you think this would ever work, Mark?” And he goes, I don’t know, let me go check. It was just that simple, that casual of a conversation, and from that point everybody started thinking about how it could help Stewart‑Haas Racing and also help MWR, and obviously it happened.
Those things like that are difficult to get worked out. Everybody was very respectful of each other, I believe. It just seems to be a good fit for all of us. It’s about as close to a miracle as you could have happen in such a short period of time.
Q. Zippy, I just wanted to see if you had any comment on Lee Spencer’s report that SHR had offered Kurt Busch a deal for next year beyond a possible expansion?
GREG ZIPADELLI: I mean, right now we’re really focusing on Mark. Obviously there’s options out there. We’re looking at everything that’s there. There is nothing done. Right now like I said we’re focused on the 39, trying to win another race to make it into the Chase and getting Mark fitted up in this car and heading to Bristol to do the best job we can.
Q. Mark, have you talked with Tony, and what kind of conversation did you have? Have you been able to kind of have a one‑on‑one with him about all this?
MARK MARTIN: I haven’t talked directly to Tony. Talked back and forth through Eddie Jarvis, and we’ll be getting over to see ‑‑ I’ve been in Arkansas for a couple weeks, and I’m going to get over there and see him Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how all the seat fitting goes on Tuesday and everything. I’ll finally get a chance to go visit with him, and I look forward to seeing him.
Q. For Greg, obviously there will be a lot of reports and whatnot moving ahead, not knowing what 2014 will hold, and are you talking to drivers still now, other drivers beyond the story and the talk in the garage about Kurt Busch?
GREG ZIPADELLI: No, not at all. Like I said, we’ve got two big things going on here right now with the 39 having an opportunity to make the Chase and getting Mark Martin over here, get him acclimated with the guys and how we do things and heading to Bristol. We’ll take it week by week.
Q. Greg, what do you want Mark to do or what do you want him to provide or what can he do to help carry the organization, help it go a little bit further in his time with this car? What are things that he can do or what are you looking at other than obviously strong finishes? How can he help move this organization a little further along?
GREG ZIPADELLI: Well, I mean, any time you have somebody that has the experience level that he has, all the different organizations that he’s been at, I feel like he can bring some wisdom and help us out a little bit with things he’s seen and how things have changed over the past.
But the biggest thing is we’re really just concentrating on Mark getting in the car, doing the best he can, like he said, finish every lap that we can, and what that brings us at the end of the day, that’s what we end up with. As long as we all do our best, feel like we give 110 percent for each event until Tony gets back, that’s our main priority. There’s no major expectations of him coming in and any extra pressures of him trying to have to do anything. It should be fun to have somebody else in there like Mark that can sit in there and jump in for the rest of the year, but really that’s all we’re looking for, just good, solid finishes.
Q. You talked about you’re focused on the 14 and getting the 39 in the Chase, but obviously with the report of the possible expansion, certainly in your role as competition director you’re looking short‑term and long‑term. You talked earlier this season about the challenges of going from a two‑car to three‑car operation and how that maybe slowed you guys up in performance. What are the lessons you learned and how do you avoid that if you go from a three‑car to a four‑car organization and not have those same problems?
GREG ZIPADELLI: Well, there’s lessons to be learned. We’re not to that point yet.&nb
sp; Right now we are a three‑car. We have made lots of gains throughout the year, but I still think we have room to improve. We’re still working on that.
Obviously if something were to come, we would look at where we feel like we fell short and try to do a better job at it.
Q. After spending essentially a career at Roush, when you announced you were going to leave there at the end of 2006, could you have imagined that you would have had the opportunities that you’ve had now to be with so many different teams? And what have you learned along the way?
MARK MARTIN: No, I never dreamed of what would take place from 2007 on. It’s been a really great experience to have the opportunity to work with so many great people, teams, learn from so many people and make friends, so many good friends throughout the time. I’ve had great times. I’m just really grateful for all the time that I’ve had in NASCAR racing and in all of racing. The battles that I had getting to NASCAR and ever since, a lot of years of my life have been dedicated to racing and these cars, and it’s really been rewarding, a rewarding experience to have the opportunity to work with Hendrick Motorsports, DEI and MWR and now Stewart‑Haas. I’m excited about an opportunity to get inside the organization.
One of my goals is, I know that Zippy’s main goal is to get good, solid performance, but more than that I want to be able to bring something to the organization in stability, and hopefully we can turn the 14 car back over to Tony an even stronger organization than what it was when he stepped away and got injured.
You know, that’s the thing that I really want to work hard to do is when it’s all said and done with, I hope that they can look back and say they were glad that they had me as a part of the organization.
Q. Mark, I’ve known you for a long, long time. I can remember a lot of the up‑and‑down days, and I can remember how you don’t like to focus too much on one thing at all, but there have been some great moments in your career and in your life as a driver. How does this moment rate in your life in doing what you’re about to do?
MARK MARTIN: Well, I’m humbled and honored. At the same time it came at a tragic ‑‑ a tragedy with Tony, so it’s tempered because of that. I will have to wait until we get through this and rate it when we get done because I don’t know how successful we’ll be. If we’re extremely successful, then it will be one of the greatest experiences of my life, and if we’re not successful, then I’ll be sorely disappointed that I wasn’t able to bring more to the table. I would wait and see before I rate it, but definitely humbled and honored that they would ask me to do it.
Chevy Racing–Michigan–Post Race
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
PURE MICHIGAN 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 18, 2013
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 RHEEM CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
YOU STARTED 13TH AND BROUGHT IT HOME SECOND WE THOUGHT MAYBE YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE A RUN ON JOEY LOGANO THERE AT THE END. DID YOU HAVE A SHOT AT HIM?
“You know, we never really got out in front by ourselves today, but our Rheem Chevrolet was really good. I’ve got to thank everybody who is a part of this car. I just mistimed that last restart there. I was rolling pretty good on the No. 55 (Mark Martin) and going to beat him to the start/finish line, so I had to check up and that allowed the No. 22 (Logano) to kind of make it three-wide and get under me and then we had to fight back from there. But all in all it was a good day and we tried a lot of different stuff today and it seemed to run pretty good.”
ALL IN ALL, IT’S ABOUT GETTING READY FOR THAT 10-RACE CHASE. DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE A TEAM AND A CAR AND A GROUP THAT’S CAPABLE OF WINNING THIS CHAMPIONSHIP?
“Well, they did a great job today and I think everybody was on their game. So, I think as long as we run like that every week and finish in the top five every week, we’ll have a shot.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SERTA CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE DAY?
“A good day. At the end of the day, we have our weaknesses and pit road and restarts are one of them. It’s just like our Achilles Heel, but to be in position to win at the end, we had it, we just didn’t have the speed. So we can’t blame those items as a result of our third place. But here we are talking third place and that’s what’s awesome about our effort today to bounce back from where we were at the first Michigan and what we’ve learned since June to be where we are now. Teams have to move quick to find technology and this little team keeps continuing to do that. Call these guys a big team, Furniture Row Racing. This is awesome. Thanks to them and everybody that keeps putting their hand on this car to put us in Chase position.”
HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL TO KNOW YOU CLIMBED TWO SPOTS TODAY AND YOU’RE IN NINTH NOW; INSIDE CHASE CONTENTION
“I was all fired up. We were running 14th. (Martin) Truex was ahead of us, (Brad) Keselowski was ahead of us, (Greg) Biffle was ahead of us (Kasey) Kahne was ahead of us. You can’t run 14th and gain on guys. And I had a restart where the seas parted and I went to the high side and we got a lot of positions on that one restart. So, we’ll just keep plugging away. We’ve got three (races) to go (before the Chase) and we’re in the mix.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 NIBCO/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
FUEL MILEAGE, STRATEGY, BUT A FAST RACE CAR, WHAT ADDED UP FOR YOUR FINISH HERE TODAY?
“We had a good car all weekend. We didn’t qualify very good and I knew that the car had some speed in it, but it mostly just drove really good all weekend. Lacked a little bit of speed to run with Joey (Logano) and even Kevin (Harvick) was too fast at the end. Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) made some good calls to get some track position when to take two (tires), when to take four (tires). Matt Krueter (gasman) filled up the car with plenty of gas at the end and everybody at RCR I’m just really proud of them. We needed a good run and we’ve got four RCR built cars in the top 10.”
FIRST TOP FIVE OF THE SEASON, HOW DID YOU DO IT?
“We really needed a good run. We started off the season strong and just fell off the last couple of months. We have had good cars we just haven’t been able to put together a race and we have been crashing a lot and we just don’t do that. Really proud of everybody at RCR with three cars in the top ten and the 78 being the fourth car. Also just proud of RCR and everybody on my team. Slugger made great calls about when to take two tires, when to take four, and made great adjustments all day long.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
SOLID TOP 10 FINISH TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“It’s good to be disappointed with eighth that is a good thing. We had a lot of speed at times we had the best car on the track. We just struggled with tires more than other people did. When we put tires on it seemed like it hurt us more than others. When we had our sequence of tires that we wanted our car was really happy. That next to last caution was not what we needed. Pitting under green and being able to put four (tires) on right there would have been a hundred percent for us. We were about five laps from pitting and that caution came out. That kind of sealed us. Just because of what we had going on with our car, but it’s a good day. That’s a step in the right direction, no drama, got what we deserved and we will go on.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH
ON HIS RUN:
“It was up and down. Definitely scared myself at the beginning it was too early to be wrecking out there. I apologize to the No. 36 team and JJ Yeley. I didn’t mean to get into them like that at all. I just grabbed the brakes and locked them down in the rear, couldn’t steer out of it. Luckily we had saved enough car where we could work on it, get some track position. Steve (Addington, crew chief) made some great calls on track position and can’t say enough about them guys. They did a great job.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD YOUTH FOUNDATION CHEVROLET SS – SIDELINED WITH RIGHT-FRONT TIRE ISSUE ON LAP 135 – FINISHED 36TH:
ALL THE FANS WERE ON THEIR FEET AS YOU LED THIS RACE, AND THEN YOU WERE IN THE WALL AND BACK IN THE GARAGE:
“It’s just the tire; we’ve had a lot of problems with. I think this is the same tire we struggled with the last race. But, I don’t know, you know. It’s just kind of frustrating. It’s just bad luck. If we keep running like we’re supposed to run and like we’ve been running, we’ll get on into the Chase and not have to worry about it. But this bad luck, we need to shake that. We just can’t keep having this every week. It’s been biting us every week. So we’ll just have to see what happens.”
YOU ARE SEVENTH IN POINTS RIGHT NOW. LOOKING AT THE WAY YOU GUYS CAN RUN AND LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE WITH THREE RACES TO GO BEFORE THE CUTOFF, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CHASE?
“There are guys in worst positions than us. We ain’t got to outrun just one guy; there’s a lot of guys. And all of them have got to have clean races, just like we do. I think we’ll be all right. We’re not an 11th place team. We’re a Top 5 team. We’re consistent. We’re more consistent than most. We’ve just got to shake this luck, whatever is going on; it’s something different every time. We’ve got good speed and we’ve just got to keep our head up and keep working hard and things will be all right.”
YOU ARE NOW 20 POINTS INSIDE THE TOP 10 IS THAT A CONCERN FOR YOU OR DO YOU STILL FEEL SOME WHAT COMFORTABLE?
“I feel pretty good. I’ve been in tighter situations. I think if we just run as good as we can we will be fine. We are not an 11th place team. If we just run as good as we can we should be alright.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING OR DID THE TIRE JUST BLOW?
“Yeah, it was down on the splitter getting into the corner. I got it slowed down pretty good and then started getting close to the wall and put a little brake in it and it blew the tire out. It had a slow leak and I don’t know. We have had a lot of problems with this particular tire and it’s getting frustrating.”
IS THE FACT THAT YOU ARE EVEN IN THIS SITUATION, YOU’VE HAD SUCH A GOOD SEASON THAT YOU WOULDN’T EVEN THINK THAT YOU WOULD HAVE HAD TO W
ORRY ABOUT RICHMOND IS IT DISAPPOINTING EVEN TO BE IN THIS POSITION?
“No not really. It’s a competitive sport and we’ve got some good teams behind us. We are not sitting here with everybody in the distance. It’s just a little closer than we would like it to be, but it’s still 20 points is 20 points. That is half a race a little more than that so we got three to go we should be alright. If we keep having bad luck we can’t do nothing about that.”
Chevy Racing–Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
PURE MICHIGAN 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 18, 2013
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – SIDELINED WITH AN ENGINE FAILURE ON LAP 54
SOME EARLY PIT STOPS, BUT THEN APPARENTLY AN ENGINE PROBLEM WHAT HAPPENED?
“Yeah, we were just putting ourselves in position for later in the race with those early stops. Then we had an issue there with the engine as I came out of the pits and got back up to speed dropped a couple of cylinders. We were trying to get it figured out and see what would happen. On my way into the pits it finally locked up and that’s the end of it. Unfortunate day, but I’m happy that we have had such a strong opening part of the season and we have points on our side and some wins on side so we are not in jeopardy of anything going into the Chase.”
DO YOU EVER JUST SHAKE YOUR HEAD AND WONDER IF THIS PLACE HAS IT IN FOR YOU?
“It does. It’s going to make it all the sweeter when we are able to win.”
ONCE AGAIN AT MICHIGAN YOUR DAY IS OVER EARLY. I SAW YOU TALKING TO THE ENGINEERS, WHAT DID THEY SAY WENT WRONG?
“The engine broke there. I guess when we came in for a green flag pit stop something started then and made it a few more laps and didn’t really notice anything off. Then it finally dropped a cylinder or two down the backstretch. Definitely an unfortunate thing but we had plenty of speed in the car and I think we were going to be a factor with this Kobalt Tools Chevrolet.”
WERE YOU GUYS MAYBE TRYING SOMETHING NEW FOR THE CHASE?
“Not that I am aware of. You know, this track is hard on engines and these guys will figure out what went on there. Days like today, I am thankful for the big point’s lead that we have and the bonus points we have been able to accumulate to get us to this position for the Chase. It happens and I hope to get all this stuff out of the way now although I hate losing momentum going into the Chase. It’s nice to roll in there hot and I think we had a chance to win today. We will dust ourselves off and go again next week.”
CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT DID YOU FEEL?
“Coming down the back straightaway I felt it drop a couple of cylinders and knew we were in trouble. So brought it to pit road and unfortunately it finally broke all the way and locked up. It would be nice to have salvaged something and maybe pulled the down cylinder parts out you know the valve train parts out and get back out on the track, but the engine didn’t live long enough once it broke. These things break pretty quick and that was the end of it.”
IS THAT THE ENGINE THAT YOU HAD IN THE PRIMARY CAR?
“I am not 100 percent sure, but Jamie Little (ESPN Anchor) just said that it was a new engine and it wasn’t the one in the primary, but I don’t know for sure.”
ARE YOU AT ALL WORRIED THAT AS GOOD AS A SEASON YOU ARE HAVING LIKE WEIRD THINGS KEEP HAPPENING TO YOU EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE THAT COULD CARRY OVER INTO THE CHASE AT ALL?
“When I look back most of it is self-inflicted. Even though it’s an engine failure we will be able to trace back why and what. Human hands are on these things assembling them and it could be in that or it could have been a simple part failure. The bulk of the stuff has been human error. I’m not overly concerned. I hate having momentum not work in our favor late in the regular season. I think we would have had a very strong race today if not a win. That momentum is key rolling into the Chase. That is the biggest downfall to me.”
Chevy Racing–Big Night for Chevrolet, Wayne Taylor Racing in Kansas Triumph
Big Night for Chevrolet, Wayne Taylor Racing in Kansas Triumph
Taylor, Angelelli win for third time and regain DP championship lead
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Aug. 17, 2013) – Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli came away winners Saturday night in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series in more ways than one. The Wayne Taylor Racing duo won the inaugural SFP Grand Prix at Kansas Speedway in their No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Daytona Prototype and regained the championship lead in the DP drivers’ standings in the process.
Jordan Taylor held off a stern challenge from Scott Pruett to win by 0.568 seconds. The son of team owner Wayne Taylor, driving the closing stint for the first time in a Daytona Prototype, kept Pruett behind him for the better part of an hour. Angelelli moved up from fifth at the start to third when he handed off to Taylor.
The third victory of the season for the Angelelli-Taylor pairing came with the extra bonus of now leading the drivers’ championship. Angelelli and Taylor lead Action Express Racing’s Christian Fittipaldi by two points, meaning Corvette DP drivers hold the top three spots in the championship with two races remaining.
The Wayne Taylor Racing entry made only three pit stops – the least amount of the DP field. After the team elected to short-fill on its first stop, Taylor moved into the lead for the first time midway through the race following the third and final caution period. The team called in Taylor for his final stop with 38 laps to and was the first of the lead cars to pit. That strategy proved to be the difference.
“Max was great at the start and gave me a great car,” Taylor said. “The guys had the perfect strategy, and we were the only ones to do what we did. So it worked out in the end.”
The victory allowed Chevrolet to increase its lead in the engine manufacturers’ standings, and Wayne Taylor Racing moved from fifth to second in the team championship.
“Congratulations to everyone at Wayne Taylor Racing for a fantastic victory in the inaugural Rolex Sports Car Series event at Kansas City and reclaiming the Daytona Prototype drivers’ championship,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Program Manager for the Rolex Series. “This was an incredible challenge with a number of incidents that impacted many of the top runners. Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor may not have had the fastest car on the circuit but the Wayne Taylor Racing team had the best strategy and made the fewest mistakes. In a series as competitive as this, those two factors are keys to winning races and championships.”
After starting third and fourth, Action Express Racing’s two Corvette DPs finished fourth and fifth.
In GT, Stevenson Motorsports’ No. 57 Camaro GT.R of John Edwards and Robin Liddell placed fourth. They are third in the class championship and only three points out of first place, as is Stevenson Motorsports in the team standings.
Earlier in the day, Edwards and Matt Bell won the GS class of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in Stevenson Motorsports’ No. 9 Camaro GS.R. Both drivers led during their stints, and Edwards ran out front the final 23 laps for the duo’s second GS victory this season.
The next round of the Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival. Both races are set for Sunday, Sept. 8 from Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. The Rolex Series event will air live at 5 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES QUOTES
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP
“It was a stressful two hours. It was my first time finishing a race in the DP class. To have someone like (Scott Pruett) behind me for an hour-and-a-half was stressful but I knew I had a good car behind me and had all these guys (on the team) supporting me so I wasn’t phased at all.
“We went into this race thinking we had a third- to fourth-place car. Our engineers did their homework and it paid off. The car was solid for the whole stint. We usually have tire wear issues where they drop off a little bit, but the Continentals were perfect and we could push for the whole race.”
MAX ANGELELLI, NO. 10 WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP
“Our Corvette was really good. Jordan did a fantastic job. It’s not easy to have Pruett behind you for over an hour. I’m very happy and very proud.”
CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE QUOTES
MATT BELL, NO. 9 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GS.R:
“The Stevenson guys have been working really hard. This one definitely goes to the guys that run the car all week. Ryan (McCarthy) our engineer really pulled off a great job making this car drivable on the oval and on the infield. These guys have been working really hard. Ryan nailed the setup. My stint was mostly on my own, which really highlighted what the team did with the car. John had a lot of battling going on, and I think he did a very good job with that. It’s not an easy task keeping Matt Plumb behind you. I’m very impressed with everything the team has done this weekend.”
JOHN EDWARDS, NO. 9 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GS.R:
“The car was great. I don’t think we expected this to be one of our (most favorable) tracks but that didn’t stop us from really focusing on the setup and just trying to make the car as good as we could make it. I think we had one of the fastest cars. I think we probably weren’t as fast as the No. 13 car but ultimately Matt (Bell) was faster than Nick Longhi and did a good job to get by him. So that move early in the race – even though this is an endurance race – really played a key part in the end because I was in a position to defend against the No. 13 instead of trying to get around them.”
Chevy Racing–Michigan–Jimmie Johnson
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A FINAL PRACTICE CRASH AT MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY.
IN REGARDS TO THE ACCIDENT:
“That was definitely part of it. I’m a little puzzled as to why I spun out going in because I’ve had great entry stability even on that run I had great entry stability. I got a little close to the No. 27 but then again it’s not like I was right on him. To me it felt like I lost downforce just from the traffic scenario. I’m not really sure either way we have a torn up car and we will have to work hard to get this one ready to go. Hopefully make a couple of laps here before this session is up and take it from there.”IT SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE A GOOD BACK-UP CAR:
“Very good back-up car went out and put down an eight or 10 lap run there at the end that I would put up against anybody’s time. I hate the extra work load, but we are trying to figure out what really happened because I had no sign of lose and certainly spun out and crashed. The No. 88 came over and he said that he felt there may have been some oil down and he slipped real bad going through there. Then we are trying to look at our tires and get an understanding of what might have happened because lose was not in the characteristics of the car and then I end up spinning out and going in. It would be nice to figure out why so we know, but regardless we’ve got a back-up car that we’ve gone to and hopefully the race engine is still in good shape and we can put it in the back-up car and not have any issues with our grid position.”
YESTERDAY YOU HAD A CUT TIRE WHICH WAS SORT OF ODD DID YOU GUYS FIGURE THAT OUT?
“Yeah it was a valve core issue with the right front as we are rolling into tech the valve core was leaking air and NASCAR was like ‘hey we would love to tech your car, but you need tires we air in them, so get out of line and come back’. So we had to put a different set of tires on for qualifying and got through inspection.”
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO FOR TONIGHT?
“If we can understand why it will help us with the last adjustment we made when we were on the track and decide if that is the direction we want to go in. Because it produced the fastest lap and then I crashed. If not we will back up a step and then play it safe there, but it was really nice to get out there and get some laps on the car and get our heights right and get the splitter broken in. That was real important to get at least one run on the car.”
Chevy Racing–Action Express Fills out Second Row in Rolex Series Qualifying at Kansas City Fittipaldi third-fastest for Action Express in inaugural event
Action Express Fills out Second Row in Rolex Series Qualifying at Kansas City
Fittipaldi third-fastest for Action Express in inaugural event
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Aug. 16, 2013) – Action Express Racing will fill out the second row and lead the contingent of Corvette Daytona Prototypes in the inaugural SFP Grand Prix on Saturday. Christian Fittipaldi qualified third in Action Express Racing’s No. 5 Corvette DP during time trials Friday night at Kansas Speedway for the 10th round of this year’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.
Fittipaldi’s best lap was 1:10.055 (121.790 mph) in the entry he shares with Joao Barbosa. The pairing is coming off a runner-up finish in the Rolex Series’ previous round at Road America last weekend.
Four other Corvette DPs followed Fittipaldi in the qualifying order. Burt Frisselle was fourth in the No. 9 Action Express entry at 1:10.081 (121.745 mph). The top seven cars were within 0.598 seconds at the six-turn, 2.370-mile speedway road course. Memo Rojas captured pole position.
Stevenson Motorsports will start from the second row of the GT grid after John Edwards qualified fourth in the No. 57 Camaro GT.R. Edwards’ lap of 1:15.528 (112.96 mph) put him within 0.572 seconds of Alex Tagliani’s pole time. Edwards and teammate Robin Liddell sit second in the GT championship with four victories to their credit. Only one other duo has won more twice this season.
Boris Said in Marsh Racing’s No. 31 Corvette was sixth-fastest in GT qualifying.
“Of course we would like to be on pole position but we have seen far too often that qualifying means little when it comes to the race,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Program Manager, Rolex Sports Car Series. “The competition is very close, especially between our Corvette DPs. There still are many unknowns at this new venue for the Rolex Series, and our teams are well-prepared to meet those challenges. That, combined with racing under the lights at this great facility, should make tomorrow’s race very interesting to say the least.”
In qualifying for Saturday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race, Stevenson Motorsports’ Matt Bell was the fastest driver in a Chevrolet entry at 1:21.695 (104.437 mph). That put the No. 9 Camaro GS.R he drives with Edwards sixth on the GS grid.