JEFF GORDON SPEARHEADS TEAM CHEVY WITH THIRD-PLACE FINISH AT DARLINGTON
JIMMIE JOHNSON MAINTAINS AS POINT LEADER
 
DARLINGTON, S.C. – May 11, 2013 – In his 700th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career start, Jeff Gordon took the lead for Team Chevy by scoring a third-place finish at the Bojangles’ Southern 500 in his No. 24 Cromax Pro Chevrolet SS.  A seven-time winner at Darlington, this marked Gordon’s 300th top-five finish in the sport; which recognizes him as becoming the fourth driver to accomplish this feat (joining David Pearson, Bobby Allison and Richard Petty).
 
“We all wanted this 700th start to be a memorable one and not one like we had last year,” said Gordon following the 367-lap contest. “So, it was a great effort by this Cromax Pro Chevrolet team. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made great calls and the pit stops were fantastic; especially when it counted the most there at the end. We were just bouncing between tight and loose and right there at the end, it was about the best that it had been all night.”
 
Last year’s Darlington race winner, and five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, brought his No. 48 Lowe’s Emerald Green Chevrolet SS home in fourth.  With his top-five finish, Johnson maintained his position as the current Series point leader.
 
A stout fifth-place finish by Kevin Harvick in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS, not only boosted him to 10th-place in the standings, but also gave Team Chevy three of the top-five spots in the finishing order.
 
Three other members of the Bowtie Brigade posted strong runs at ‘The Track too Tough to Tame’, giving Team Chevy six of the top-10 finishing spots:  Juan Pablo Montoya, in the No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS finished eighth, boosting himself three slots in the standings to 22nd overall.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS finished ninth, and is fourth in the rankings.  Ryan Newman, aboard his No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS, was 10th in the 500-mile race, and is 17th overall.
 
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was the race winner and Denny Hamlin (Toyota) finished second to round out the top five.
 
Next stop on the tour will be at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 18th for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 CROMAX PRO CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
KERRY THARP:  We’re going to roll into our post‑race press conference.  Our third‑place finisher is Jeff Gordon.  His 700th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 300th career top‑five finish in the Sprint Cup Series.  Only four drivers in total have done that.  Next up for him to join would be David Pearson.
 
Jeff, congratulations.
 
JEFF GORDON:  Is he 100 ahead of me?
 
KERRY THARP:  I think he’s 1 ahead of you.  I think you’ll probably get that. But talk about your run tonight and the race here this evening at Darlington.
 
JEFF GORDON:  It was a great result for us.  Just a great battle by this team.  We had a decent car before the sun really went down, the track cooled down and then we started battles between the balance from one end to the other, which is not uncommon here.  Seems like you don’t fight that as much during the day when the pace drops a lot more.  At night, that’s what you deal with.  Pace picks up, the balance changes.
 
We started freeing the car up, then the track started freeing up and then we tightened up.  We bounced back and forth.  I’m most proud that we kept battling.  We had good pit stops, the last one being a great one.  Great calls by Alan, staying out when we needed to stay out, coming in when we needed to come in.
 
The last run was the best the car had been.  We got a good restart.  Fortunate to come home with a third‑place finish.  Very happy with it.
 
KERRY THARP:  We’ll take questions now for Jeff Gordon.
Q.  Jeff, it seemed as though the low line in three and four tonight really was paying off for some of the cars.  Were you able to get down there at all?  Did it work for you?
JEFF GORDON:  That’s called the apron (laughter).
 
Yeah, I mean, early on in the race, (Kevin) Harvick went by me down there and I tried it and it didn’t work that well for me.  Later in the run it started working for me.  I started using it a lot more throughout the night.
 
It just depended on how my car was balanced out.  If I was tight, I couldn’t get down there.  You know, you try to go wherever the car in front of you isn’t.  At this track, that’s hard to do in one and two.  But in three and four, it’s nice to have that option.
 
Sometimes it worked well for me and we got by some cars.  It’s nice in lap traffic to be able to have that option.
 
I mean, I don’t know if it’s this car or this track or whatever it is, but guys were using the apron off of four, into one, all the way through three and four.  Pretty crazy when you think of what parts of the track we’re starting to utilize.
Q.  How special is it to have your 700th consecutive start here at Darlington and then come off with such a great finish?
JEFF GORDON:  Yeah, no, we’ve known for some time that this should be where it should happen.  I thought that was very cool.  I think, looking back throughout my career, this track has been one of the best for me, a very special place.  Holds so much history for this sport.
 
To have the seven wins here that I have, I couldn’t think of a better place to come to and get the 700th starthere.  Then to go out there and have a strong performance, it felt great.
 
I wanted the 700th to be a memorable one, and I’m glad it wasn’t like last year’s memory where we blew two left rear tires back‑to‑back.  This was much better than that.  Top three, that’s fantastic.  I mean, we needed this kind of performance, a gutsy performance, for the points as well as to make this one memorable.
Q.  Were you surprised to see it go green as long as it did at the start of the race?  Kyle Busch mentioned to Dave Rogers a couple of times he was struggling with lap cars.  Did you find it more difficult than normal trips here to Darlington to battle around lap cars?
JEFF GORDON:  Only thing I’ll add to that, I see every position being challenged, people racing one another far harder than they ever used to.
 
I heard Jeff Burton on the telecast last night during the Nationwide race talking about the give‑and‑take.  There used to be a lot of give‑and‑take here because you could let a guy go, let him wear his tires out, you could run him back down if you conserved.  That’s not the case anymore.
 
Even if you’re a lap car, especially the leader, you’re going to fight that leader as hard as you can to keep those positions.  When you’re the leader, you don’t like coming up on lap cars because you know they’re going to fight you more, then they let the guy behind you go as soon as they get to you, and it’s frustrating.
Q. 301 laps with one caution break.  How mentally taxing is it knowing you’re running that close to the wall, to run that many laps without the three or four caution laps you had in the middle of that?
JEFF GORDON:  Yeah, you know, I like getting into a rhythm.  The only thing that was different is the track conditions were changing each time you came out of the pits on new tires because the sun was going down, the track was cooling down.
 
I think it depends on how the race is going.  If you feel like you need to make up time on guys, you want a caution.  If you’re running up front, you don’t want to see a caution.
 
I don’t know.  I just kind of got into a rhythm.  It felt good to me.  I wa
s enjoying it.  I feel like green‑flag stops kind of separate the good pit crews and teams, and you can get yourself in a position, where as a competitor, you want to race against the least amount of guys as possible.
 
For the fans, you want to see cautions, restarts, sparks flying, things like what happened with Kasey and Kyle.  I hated to see that for Kasey.  I loved seeing him dive up there and take the lead.
 
The first portion of the race, it was surprising.  I didn’t expect us to go that long.  But I was kind of enjoying it actually.
                      

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BOJANGLES SOUTHERN 500
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 11, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 CROMAX PRO CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
ON YOUR 700TH CAREER NASCAR SPRINT CUP START, YOUR 300TH TOP-FIVE FINISH, JUST HOW MUCH DID THIS TRACK CHANGE FOR YOU GUYS?
“Well we all wanted this 700th start to be a memorable one and not one like we had last year. So, it was a great effort by this Cromax Pro Chevrolet team. Alan (Gustafson) called great calls and the pit stops were fantastic; especially when it counted the most there at the end. We were just bouncing between tight and loose and right there at the end, it was about the best that it had been all night. That’s what you want, you know? To be able to have good track position and have the car pretty well working for you; so, it was a really solid night. I’m very proud of this.”
 
WHAT DID YOU NEED IN YOUR CAR TO GET THE BIGGEST NUMBER TO WIN TONIGHT?
“Well I was excited that Darlington was going to be our 700th start and our team was ready to go out there and do battle and that’s what it takes at this tough race track. I’m really proud of this Cromax Pro Chevrolet team. I thought Alan (Gustafson) called a great race. We made the right adjustments at the right time and got good track position with tires there at the end and had some good re-starts. We needed track position. I thought our car was actually pretty fast there at the end. But, I don’t know, you know. We just couldn’t quite get it. We were always balancing between tight and loose and right there at the end was about the best the car had been. It took off really good, but it started getting tight on me and then Jimmie (Johnson) started catching us. So, I think that’s about the best we could have asked for. You always want to get out there in clean traffic and see what it will do.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S EMERALD GREEN CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
HOW WAS THE RACING OUT HERE TONIGHT?
“It was just a great 500 miles here at Darlington. There is nothing easy about this race track. It keeps you on your toes all night long. We had a great car. We lost a little tack position at the end. But we still got back into the Top-5; but I kind of ran second and third all night long; wish I was a little bit better, but this Emerald Green Lowe’s Chevrolet was doing a good job. We had fun (laughs). I love this place. I wish we could race here three or four times a year.”
 
HOW DID THE TRACK CHANGE AS THE RACE WENT ON?
“It changed a lot from yesterday in the first couple of segments. I wasn’t prepared for the track to change as much as it did there; and then it kind of stayed there all night long. But my first run or two was far different than I expected.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
A NICE FIFTH-PLACE FINISH FOR YOU. TELL US ABOUT YOUR EVENING:
“We had a good Budweiser Chevy all evening long, especially on the long runs, and that really kept us in the game at the beginning of the race when we had so many green-flag runs. So, we got caught with that one caution; luckily we were running fifth at the time and we were able to take a wave-around and restart I think 11th. So, it didn’t bite us too bad and we were able to get back where we were and that’s probably about where our car should have finished.”
 
WHAT WAS THE DEAL WITH THE INSIDE GROOVE? THAT’S SOMETHING WE REALLY HAVEN’T SEEN MUCH OF AT DARLINGTON:
“It worked here last time. Probably not as good as it did here tonight. But, it’s nice when you have some options and my car was just too loose to run really up in the fence. I did at the end, but the low line was fast enough to where you could conserve the car and still make decent lap times.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
SOLID TOP-10 RUN FOR YOU TONIGHT TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN:
“Well, we didn’t unload as good as we wanted, but we got into it really good.  We did a really good job.  Everybody on the Target Chevy has been doing a great job.  We have been running like this all year.  We’ve just had all kinds of mistakes and things.  I keep telling the guys we have got to execute.  If every person here does their best we are going to be looking like heroes here.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED NINTH
ON HIS RUN:
“We had a real good car all weekend.  Just never really got great track position.  The last half of the race the car was a little bit up out of the race track, but we were still pretty happy.  Traffic was terrible, just real dirty air out there.  We were faster than the No. 42 at the end of the race, just couldn’t pass him.  Probably faster than the No. 99 and No. 29 too, but got to be in front of them.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 TIME WARNER CABLE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 17TH
HOW WAS IT OUT THERE TONIGHT RACING?
“Oh, we were racing hard. I had a great Time Warner Cable Chevrolet and I cleared him, getting into (Turn) 3, so I had the outside and I then I saw he entered so early that I knew he was not going to be able to turn when we got to the corner and I was going along and the next thing I knew, I was spinning. So, I felt really good. The car was getting better and better as the race went, but they had to make a lot of adjustments and things. But, I don’t know. Three times this year me and Kyle (Busch) have had contact. And I’ve had capable of winning cars. It’s disappointing on the point’s side and not winning races. But that was close racing. He entered so early and he was just going straight to the corner. So whether he hit me or just blew the air off, whatever it was, he blew his entry and I’m not real sure what he was thinking on that.”
 
ARE YOU DONE TALKING WITH KYLE (BUSCH) NOW?
“Well, he needs to quit… I mean he’s got to just race me.  I mean I’ve never touched the guy in my life as far as on the race track.  Three times this year, there have been other times in other years.  I don’t really know what his deal is with me.  He blew that entry into (turn) one.  I got to the outside.  I got by him into (turn) three.  We had a great restart.  We kept getting our car better.  The guys did an awesome job.  Then he just blew his entry into (turn) one.  Whether he touched me… I mean it was very close whatever it was.  The angle he took into the corner, he had no steer and just went straight.  Then I went spinning.  It was definitely a tough way to end our race.  We had just got to the point where I could move off the bottom. I could move up higher because we had been so loose and I felt really good.”
 
WAS THAT A RECKLESS MOVE THEN ON HIS PART?
“I think he just struggles racing me and he just made an error as far as his entry.  Like he entered so early and had no steering.  You figure that out throughout the whole race.  He passed so many lap cars he knew what was going to happen.  He tried to stop but he couldn’t slow down at that point.  I don’t know he just kind of just screwed up again.  This is his third time this year he has screwed up.”
 
WHAT HAPPENED GOING INTO TURN NUMBER ONE?
“It was just close racing really.  He (Kyle Busch) messed his entry up; he entered early and then couldn’t turn once he did that.  So he was just kind of going straight across the track.  I was like ‘figure it out.’ If he would just figure it out we wouldn’t have any issues.  I have never even ran into the guy.  So it’s kind of crazy, but we had a great Time Warner Cable Chevrolet.  The guys did a really nice job throughout the race.  We kept getting better.  At that point in the race was the first time I could actually move to the outside and had some grip.  It was way looser
up high, but there was more momentum or speed up there.  I was just getting up to that area and it felt really solid with our car and where we were at.  Disappointing way to end.”
 
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE MOVE KYLE BUSCH MADE?
“I think he (Kyle Busch) just made another mistake.  That is his third one when he has been around me this year.  I don’t really understand it.  We were battling for the lead or for the top two or three spots each time.  Where he entered and hit his breaks he just crushed the splitter.  We do it all race long and the way he did it he hit the brakes and he has no front-end.  You just slide, he went straight on entry.  His car is going straight it’s not even turning left.  It’s just a mistake on his part.  I imagine he will call me again tomorrow and say he’s sorry.”
 
HOW WILL YOU RACE HIM NOW?
“I will race him the way I’ve always raced him the way I have always raced everybody.  I don’t know you try not to screw up and take people out when you are around them.  That is how I’ve always raced.”
 
DID HE ACTUALLY MAKE CONTACT WITH YOU?
“It was very close.  I could see him and I was like ‘oh shoot, oh shoot’ and then the car moved and just spun out.  I don’t know if he actually touched me or what, but his angle into the corner.  If he would have just entered like normal, the way he has entered the whole race it would have been no issues and I would have been leading off (turn) two and he just didn’t want that to happen so he blew turn one. So whether he hit me or not he still caused that whole deal with screwing up.”
 

All-Mopar Funny Car Final at Atlanta;
Gray Beats No.1 Qualifier Hagan for SouthernNationals Win
 
·         Gray takes Mopar Funny Car to winner’s circle at rescheduled 33rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta
·         All-Mopar Funny Car final elimination with No.1 qualifier Hagan as runner-up to DSR teammate Gray
·         Top Mopar Pro Stock finish in eliminations by Coughlin with semifinal appearance
·         Mopar is second and third in NHRA points standings in both Pro Stock and Funny Car categories
 

Commerce, Ga. (Saturday, May 11) – Following last weekend’s postponement of 33rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, Mopar was back on track earning the No.1 qualifier position in Funny Car with Matt Hagan in the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Charger R/T, and then the title win by his Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Johnny Gray, in an all-Mopar final.

After breaking a long winless streak last month at the Four-wide Nationals in Charlotte, Hagan earned his first no.1 qualifier position since his 2011 NHRA Championship winning season. He did it by setting Atlanta Dragway’s Funny Car elapsed-time record with 4.067-second run (305.29 mph) in the second qualifying session on Friday for his 11th career pole position.  On Saturday, Hagan proceeded to win rounds and reach his third final elimination of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello series season for a Mopar versus Mopar showdown against his teammate Gray.

While Hagan won the start with a 0.042 to 0.059-sec reaction time, Gray soon gained ground and set the quickest pass of the day with an e.t. of  4.077 seconds (314.17 mph) to his Mopar teammate’s 4.160-second pass (309.49 mph) for the title win. It is Gray’s second victory of the season after earning the GatorNationals title in March, the fifth of his career and his first in Atlanta. The win moves him up from fifth to third in the Funny Car championship battle, putting him just behind Hagan who remains second in the points standings.

“All of us at Mopar would like to offer congratulations to Johnny Gray on his win at the Southern Nationals,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC’s service, parts and customer-care brand. “The Mopar-powered Funny Car package looks strong again this year, and we look forward to Johnny [Gray] and his Don Schumacher Racing teammates contending for more wins in defense of the Championship title throughout what is already an exciting and closely contested season.”

In Pro Stock action, Jeg Coughlin Jr. was the highest finishing Mopar by reaching the semi-finals, losing on a holeshot by Shane Gray who cut a 0.002-sec light to defeat him with an e.t. of 6.62 to 6.60-second run.

2012 NHRA Champ Allen Johnson was upset in first round action, also losing on a holeshot, by Greg Stanfield who reached the finish line with an e.t. of 6.64-seconds (207.37 mph) to Johnson’s 6.63-sec (208.84 mph) in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger.

The SouthernNationals title was won by Mike Edwards who wins his second ‘Wally’ of the year to extend his lead in the championship.

Mopar remains second and third in the Pro Stock points standings but has Coughlin jumping into second spot with 530 points and a no.1 qualifier position, ahead of Johnson’s 501 points with two title wins in 2013.

Next weekend, Mopar looks to defend title wins by both 2012 NHRA Champions Beckman (Funny Car) and Johnson (Pro Stock) at the 25th annual NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park in Topeka, the eighth event on the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

Ed Carpenter Puts Chevrolet on Top of Time Sheet as Practice Opens for the 97th Running of the Indianapolis 500
 
INDIANAPOLIS (May 11, 2013) – Ed Carpenter set the pace on the opening day of practice for the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  The driver of the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet showed the way with a top speed of 220.970 m.p.h. as teams begin their preparations for the May 26, 2013 race.
 
Two Chevrolet IndyCar V6 powered drivers passed their Rookie Orientation Program (ROP) and are now eligible to practice and qualify for the Indianapolis 500.  A.J. Allmendinger behind the wheel of the No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet, and Carlos Muñoz, driving No. 26 Unistraw Andretti Autosport Chevrolet both passed the three phases of the ROP with ease this afternoon clearing the way for the pair to continue preparations for Pole Day on Saturday, May 18, 2013.
 
Practice will continue Sunday, May 12, 2013, from noon to 6:00 p.m. EDT.
 
CHEVROLET DRIVER QUOTES – OPENING DAY OF PRACTICE AND ROOKIE ORIENTATION PROGRAM:
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM  VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: IS IT AMAZING TO YOU THAT YOU ARE PREPARING FOR YOUR 10TH INDIANAPOLIS 500?            “My sister reminded me that it’s been a decade since I won the Indy Lights race here, the first Freedom 100. That seems crazy. It seems even crazier that this will be, hopefully, my 10th 500 start. I consider myself pretty lucky to have made so many of these.”
 
ARE YOU READY TO GET BACK AT IT THIS YEAR AFTER WHEN YOU HAD A GOOD CAR IN THE RACE? “To be honest, when I think back to the last month of May, we had a good race, and a good car in the race. But really I have bad memories from last May because we really struggled a lot. We came in unprepared, and we were lucky to get it sorted out by race day and have a chance to have a good finish. But even then, we still didn’t get a good finish. I think we were 17th so it didn’t really matter that we were running up front. The whole team was really determined to come in prepared this year, and they’ve done that. I am really proud of the work they’ve put in this off season.  We ran well in the race, but you have to look at the whole month of May, and we under performed. It wasn’t a month that I was proud of even though we had good moments in the race.”
 
YOU ARE EXCEPTIONAL ON OVALS, DO YOU FEEL AT ALL LIKE YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN THE 500? “I felt like we were going to be strong coming in just because we’ve learned a lot since we were here last year, and the team’s worked really hard. You always have confidence when you win races. It was good to finish last year with a win; it did a lot for the team. Gave the whole team motivation to keep pushing over the off season. Hopefully we can continue having a good month, and be there when it counts.”
 
A.J. ALLMENDINGER, NO. 2 IZOD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:  ON HIS FIRST LAPS OF INDIANAPOLIS 500 ROOKIE ORIENTATION PROGRAM: “I went down the back straightaway the first lap thinking to myself this is pretty sweet; I’m driving a Penske car on the backstretch of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That was an awesome feeling. From there, it was good. Just getting comfortable. Just trying to drive the race track without being too tense and anything like that. Overall I felt pretty good. The car is really balanced; I felt like I could take out some more downforce out of it and not completely scare myself right away. I have to thank Helio (Castroneves, Team Penske teammate) just a ton because his going out there and shaking the car down and just talking to me just made me a lot more calm than I would have been without him. A guy with his experience, his background, three victories, I trust what he says. It helped me out so much just to start off with. It’s awesome to have such great teammates here between him and Will (Power, Team Penske teammate). Now I can go sleep on that, and take in my first day at Indy, have the car roll back to the pits and be really happy about it.”
 
DID YOUR COMFORT LEVEL GET BETTER AS YOU WENT THROUGH 40, 50, 60 LAPS? “It’s kind of the way this rookie program is. At first I wondered why we started out off so slow. It’s good, because you can kind of get the feel of it. You don’t have to go out and run 216 (mph) the first lap and feel like you are here. You can slowly progress, feel the race track, get the line down. I still have a lot of work to do line wise, but overall,  it felt like I was pretty comfortable and I could go out there and run 218.000 (mph), 218.100 (mph) consistently and feel like I was wide open. I will have to go look at the data. My mind told me I was wide open. I don’t know if my foot completely stayed down, but it was a really good day. I was so nervous. I mean, the last two weeks I have been pacing; I was stress eating before I go in the car so the belts were a little tight. I was nervous, so it went as good as I could have hoped. Actually, it went better.”
 
ROGER (PENSKE) WAS THERE ON PIT LANE WITH YOU; WHAT DID HE SAY TO YOU? “He just told me good job. His opinion means more than anybody’s to me. To have him on the radio telling me good job every lap; keep doing the same things; things like that – like I said that’s more meaningful than anything out there. I’m the reason he took a chance on me, and I feel that is so important to have him see me through it on my first day was important. I told him to go win tonight (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington (SC) Raceway).”
 
EVEN AFTER 60 LAPS, DO YOU STILL HAVE TO TELL YOURSELF TO KEEP IT GOING IN TURN ONE? NOT TO LIFT? “The biggest thing for me and you hear everybody tell you, Helio, all the experienced guys especially – Rick Mears – you can’t let your guard down around here. Just because for four laps in a row you went wide open, you think okay, I’ve got this. You can’t relax. A couple of times down the back straightaway, I kind of caught myself like oh okay. Then all of a sudden that corner comes up quick, and you’re like…  It’s just the way this place is; that’s what makes it so special.  You have got to give it its respect every lap. Not when you show up. Not on qualify. Not on the race. Every lap you have got to show respect.  It was pretty special.”
 
HOW NICE IS IT TO FINALLY BE HERE; FINALLY BE IN THE CAR? “It’s amazing. And, obviously the first couple of races – at Barber and at Long Beach – were leading up to this. Last week I was okay; stressing a little bit, watching video and thinking okay that looks pretty simple, I’ve got that. You get here, and (Tim) Cindric did the worst thing to me, and he knew it. He made me stand right between the wall (and the track) and watch Helio come by the first time. I was like ‘oh man’; my heart was beating fast. I had to go back and start eating again and was like ‘oh man, that’s fast down the straightaway. To finally get that under my belt… There was nothing really to prove today except to myself that I could go out there and at least be comfortable. The big thing is, and I’ve been told this by many people and I have to keep it in mind every day – this is a process. It’s about taking it one day at a time, one step at a time. That’s all I can do.  You have to do that, it is such a long week.”
 
WHAT ARE A COUPLE OF THINGS HELIO HAS BEEN TELLING YOU? “Everything. Helio’s been telling me how to get around this place. What to expect. The line to run. Just to respect the place. Everything about this place. What it means; what he has been through. It’s meant a lot for him to help me. You know, he could have easily just went and drove the car and said it was fine and walked away and focused on his program.  But he’s here, talking to me. When we are back in the pits and he is showing me, tea
ching me and just talking to me. My teammates here, Will and Helio, they’ve been amazing since I showed up, and I feel very fortunate to have them.”
 
YOU MENTIONED THIS EARLIER, BUT HOW MUCH OF A PRIVILEGE IS IT TO BE IN A PENSKE CAR AT INDIANAPOLIS?  “I think more than anything, I think that is what kind of hit me going to the back straight. Yes, I’m in an IndyCar at Indy, but this is Roger Penske’s car. To have IZOD on the side of it; they were on pole last year. There is a lot of history and tradition. That was special, but I know the moment that when we walk out of Gasoline Alley on race day, and they introduce me as part of the field, and especially as a part of Roger Penske’s organization, a Penske driver, that is when it is really going to hit me.”
 
ON CONTINUING TO ADD INDYCAR RACES TO HIS SCHEDULE: “Roger knows my situation. I told him anytime he wants me to drive I’m driving, so he keeps offering me races and I’m not going to turn them down and I’m not going to keep asking me why either. You just don’t do that. I just say, ‘Yes sir, I’ll be at the next race, thank you.’ I’m looking forward to Detroit. I don’t see me doing a lot of the oval races once the ovals take over, you know, obviously I’m not running for points and there’s more risk there than reward at times on an oval. I’ll run whenever he wants me to run.”
 
 ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A CUP CAR AND AN INDY CAR: “They told me I wasn’t allowed to hit the brakes at the end of the straightaway. Believe me, first lap at the end of the straightaway my foot went and I thought ‘No no, don’t do that,’ and the line and everything is just so different. There’s little nuances at the track that are the same in a Cup car to an Indy car, just grip level and off each corner the feeling that you have about how the grip level kind of gains and releases, but in general the line of the racetrack is way different. The Cup cars, you turn in early especially into [Turns] 1 and 3, and you really get close to the rumble strips or when you’re on track or even on the rumble strips at times, and in these cars you don’t want to get anywhere close to that. For me that’s the biggest thing, just trying to get the line down. I feel like [Turns] 2 and 4 the lines are more similar in a Cup car than in an Indy car, but 1 and 3 they’re so different, and just trying to work on that. I still probably have a ways to go of being consistent and hitting the same mark every time and knowing what that mark is, but it’s a lot different. It’s like starting over.”
 
CARLOS MUÑOZ, NO. 26 UNISTRAW ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET: ON TODAY’S ROOKIE ORIENTATION PROGRAM: “Today’s rookie orientation went really well, I passed all of three of the phases and got some good laps in. It was not that much different then driving in Firestone Indy Lights, but it just took me a few laps to adapt to the track and new No. 26 Unistraw Chevrolet. I’m very happy with today, my teammates, James (Hinchcliffe) and Marco (Andretti), supported me throughout each of the phases and gave me some good tips. I feel really good going into the rest of this week’s practices, but it’s still a long couple weeks so we just need to take it step-by-step.”
 
TALK AB0UT YOUR EXPERIENCE ON YOUR FIRST DAY IN THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES HERE AT INDIANAPOLIS: “It was awesome! I tested at the beginning of the month in Indy Lights. My first lap was really special. I remember when I was in Colombia when (Juan Pablo) Montoya this race was really special for me. Right now I am in the same spot as him at the 500 in an IndyCar with a really good team. It is really special, but totally different from the Indy Lights. The speed just goes more fast. The car reacts different. Each time I was on the track, I was feeling stronger and stronger and getting more comfortable with the car, I knew what to do.  I had a little bit of tow in that time, but apart from that, I’m really happy. There is still a long, long, long way to go. This is just the beginning.”
 
IS THERE ANY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN INDYCAR AND INDY LIGHTS CAR? “No, for sure, totally different set-up wise. This car reacts more. The steering wheel way is totally different. It is more or less the same line out there as Indy Lights, just faster.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR PLAN AS THE WEEK GOES ON? “I think what I have to work on the most is with a lot of guys on the track. That is the most difficult part. I have teammates to work with. I have four teammates I can trust. Our plan for the week is for sure to be running all together to see how comfortable I am and prove the car. It is a long week. We will do some qualifying for sure. Some qualifying simulation. But the thing we will have to focus on the most will be the race.”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO 3 SHELL V-POWER PENNZOIL ULTRA TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: ON OPENING DAY OF PRACTICE: “It felt really good to be back in the Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet here at Indy, always a special feeling when you take the track for the first time. We were able to shakedown the No. 2 IZOD car for AJ and do the same for our car which is what we wanted to accomplish. AJ did a great job today, it was really fun being a part of the Rookie Orientation process with him, and I look forward to having him as a teammate here.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: ON OPENING DAY OF PRACTICE: “It was a good opening day for the Verizon team, we were able to shakedown the car and everything feels good. It’s obviously a long couple weeks and we are taking this step by step to be where we need to be for the race.”
 
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA  KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET: ON OPENING DAY PRACTICE: “Well you know, it’s pretty exciting to get back on track here at Indy. We always look forward to coming here, for us as a team and especially for me personally. Last year was a very long year and a really long month of May. Now to go out there and to feel the speed, it’s much more fun. The team has been working really hard on our Nuclear Clean Air Energy Indy car and I think it should be good. We still have a lot of things to go through, but it was nice to get back in the saddle. We’ll keep working hard from today on and hopefully have a really good month.”

CORVETTE RACING QUALIFIES 4TH AND 6TH AT LAGUNA SECA
(SALINAS, Calif., May 10, 2013) – Oliver Gavin, driver of the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R, qualified fourth (1:22.924 secs.) in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT Class at Laguna Seca.  Antonio Garcia, qualified sixth (1:23.042) in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course.
“The car was pretty decent and it took a while for the tires to come in,” Gavin said about his qualifying lap at Laguna Seca today. “I thought we found a pretty good spot on the track but the Viper was a little bit in the way on the front.  Unfortunately on the lap when it all started to come together, the Viper was right there when I came into the corkscrew which is a shame because I lost some time but I got by him and then the next lap I wasn’t so good getting into one and then into two and I never quite seemed to be able to string it together again.  I don’t think we had enough to get on pole, but I think we had enough to get third.”
Gavin teamed with Milner to win the GT class in last year’s event at Laguna Seca, finishing 3.45 seconds ahead of the No. 3 Corvette C6.R, driven by Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen for a 1-2 finish.  Gavin will again team with Tommy Milner this year. The two won the 2012 ALMS drivers’ championship, and opened the 2013 season with a victory at Sebring last month.
“Where we are right now with the car with the weight we have got on and everything else, I think we are pretty much maxed-out,” Gavin continued.  “So I am relatively happy with the start position because it’s a four hour race and plenty can happen.  Last year we proved that we could win races from third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and we didn’t have to be on pole.  Very rarely does the pole sitter win anyway.  So we just have to hit it right tomorrow and tires are going to be important and getting your pressures right with the track temperatures is going to be vitally important.  It’s going to be important because it’s an hour and fifteen minutes longer than the standard race.  Strategy is going to play a big part tomorrow.”
Garcia, who qualified the No. Corvette C6.R in sixth position also was not concerned with his starting position for tomorrow’s race.
“I could say that traffic was an issue, but it’s just three tenths and that was the difference in being on the pole or not,” Garcia said. “I am happy with how the car is behaving and if we had a cleaner run and more open track, then we could have been faster for sure.  But I am not too concerned, especially in this race because it’s completely opposite to Long Beach where it was a complete sprint race.  At Long Beach we had only one stop, and with a four-hour race here its going to be a minimum of three stops.  Starting position is important, but I think the best thing is to have a really good car that can fight through the race and that is what I am happy with.”
Garcia will team with Jan Magnussen for tomorrow’s race.
The other top-ten qualifiers for Saturday’s race in ALMS GT competition were, No. 62 Ferrari F458 Italia (1st), No. 05 Porche 911 GT3 RSR (2nd), No. 17 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (3rd), No. 55 BMW Z4 GTE (5th), No. 23 Ferrari F458 Italia (7th), No. 56 BMW Z4 GTE (8th), No. 91 SRT Viper GTS-R (9th) and the No. 48 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (10th).

ALL-CHEVY FRONT ROW SET FOR BOJANGLES’ SOUTHERN 500
KURT BUSCH CAPTURES POLE; JIMMIE JOHNSON IS SECOND QUICK
 
DARLINGTON, S.C. – May 10, 2013 – Kurt Busch set a new track record at Darlington Raceway during today’s qualifying session for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race with a blistering speed of 181.918 m.p.h. in 27.03 seconds in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Serta Chevrolet SS. This marked his second pole at Darlington, and credited him as the 26th driver to score multiple poles on the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval.  He also won the top starting spot in 2001.
 
“This Furniture Row car and these guys just have this confidence this weekend,” said Busch after his pole winning run.  “These guys, added-in with some of my stupidity of holding it wide-open through (Turn) 2, and gave us a pole and a track record. When you set a track record at a track, it’s something that you carry for a little while. So, it’s neat to dance with the Lady in Black today.”
 
Last year’s Darlington winner, five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, followed close behind Busch with a quick time of 27.173 seconds at a speed of 180.974 m.p.h. in his No. 48 Lowe’s Emerald Green Chevrolet SS.  He will start on the outside front row next to Busch in tomorrow night’s 500-mile race at Darlington, the historic facility that’s also known as the track “Too Tough to Tame”.
 
With Busch and Johnson on the front row, they will lead the 43-car field to the green with three additional Team Chevy drivers in the Top-10 starting order.
 
Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne qualified his No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet SS in the fourth-place starting spot.  Jeff Gordon, making his 700th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career start, qualified his No. 24 Cromax Pro Chevy SS in eighth; and Kevin Harvick in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet will roll-off 10th.
 
Kyle Busch (Toyota) qualified third, and Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota) qualified fifth to round out the top-five starting positions.
 
The Bojangles’ Southern is set to start under the lights on Saturday, May 11th at 7:00 p.m. ET, and will be aired live on FOX.
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SERTA CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT THE LAP YOU LAID DOWN AND YOUR OUTLOOK FOR TOMORROW NIGHT:
“Wow, what an incredible lap.  Just the way the team gave me the confidence right when we first unloaded, they deserve all the credit.  This group, the Furniture Row team they won here a couple of years ago and just the lineup of items that we had to go through today and the confidence they had in each of the changes they made.  We gained speed and it was a very definitive answer and it just gave me the confidence to go ‘you know what I’m going to go out there we have a great draw going in the 30’s, let’s just go out there and lay down a lap and see if it sticks’.  Just to have that confidence and then now with going through some of the races this year to sit outside pole at Texas and then to lead some laps at Richmond we have been just steadily working our way up.  It feels good to deliver for the Furniture Row guys.  Last week we ended on our lid, this week we are here with a track record.  It’s that whole cliché, you can be a hero one week, a zero the next.  It’s good to be on top and thanks to the guys.  This Generation-6 car, I forecasted it about a month ago. I said ‘when we got to Darlington the speed increase is going to be incredible.  We have to be prepared for it.  We have to make sure we have the right ingredients bolted on the car to make it go fast’ and I’m glad I could predict that the right way.”
 
AFTER GOING 210 MPH YESTERDAY DID IT FEEL SLOW OUT THERE TODAY?
“When I first went out onto the track the car moved all around and had so much suspension movement. Yes, it was different, but I had to just zone right back into what I have done my whole career and that is driving stock cars. Secondly, you have to show respect to this track because it will jump up and bite you.  I mean running around at 218 (mph) is definitely faster than running around at 181 (mph) average.  But when you do it with a stock car with no downforce and all the weight that it carries it’s pretty tough.  It’s all to the guys. They came with a load of confidence.  Every change they made on the car today gained speed and what they did here a couple of years ago to go to Victory Lane it’s like the speed is just built in the No. 78 car right now.”
 
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE POLE FROM 2001?  IS THIS AS SPECIAL AS THIS ONE WAS? OR WAS THAT ONE MORE SPECIAL BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRST?
“I was hoping I would get the chance to talk about that.  When I first came here as a rookie and you hear all the Darlington urban legends on how tough this place is and how it’s just going to chew you up and spit you out.  You have to respect it, I was like ‘yeah, whatever, I got this.’ There were even jokes about how you were supposed to hold it wide open off turn two.  That is like a rookie hazing.  If you try that you are supposed to wreck.  I accidently held it wide open off of (turn) two and got the pole. I got lucky that day.  I beat Jeff Gordon for the pole.  Honestly, I never thought that it was a pole sitting lap.   It’s just because of my stupidity I got it (laughs).  It was very sweet to get that first pole.  Back in the day there was that Union 76 club where you get a nice blazer jacket.  It gives you that tradition to be part of.  It was very special then.  Today was great, the Furniture Row team to be on the pole, the 10 year anniversary with Ricky Craven and the epic battle that we had.  This gives me a great shot to stay ahead of the field and win by two thousandths of a second this time.”
 
WITH EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE LAST WEEK AND THEN THE ANNIVERSARY OF 2003 AND TESTING THE INDYCAR DOES IT JUST SEEM LIKE THINGS ARE FALLING INTO PLACE FOR YOU THIS WEEK?
“Yeah, it’s been surreal.  It’s been an amazing ride.  To have Andretti lineup a deal to where you can go and drive his Indy car in the month of May and post some speeds that are worthy of making the show.  I had to pinch myself.  That was a kid in the candy store feel.  Then showing up today it’s full on race mode.  I knew I had three hours to get this No. 78 Furniture Row car dialed into Darlington and to put it on the pole that is a great surprise, but it’s also showing the strength of the team.  We have had a nice linear progression this year with qualifying results as well as race results.  Even though they have been all over the map, we have been running stronger as of late.  It is pretty sweet to get the pole and to lay down a track record at the same time.”
 
I SAW YOU RAISING YOUR HAND AT THE CROWD AND THEY WERE CHEERING BACK AT YOU AND YOU WERE PUMPING YOUR FIST.  IT KIND OF SEEMED LIKE YOU WERE TAKING EXTRA SPECIAL GRATIFICATION IN THIS ONE.  IS THAT THE CASE?  IF SO WHY DOES THIS MEAN A LOT TO YOU?
“When I unbelted and slid upon to the door of my car and I’m facing the crowd there was a cheer.  But at the same time Jeff Gordon was pulling in.  He qualified second at the time.  I was like ‘oh well they are just cheering Gordon for a good lap.’ A couple of other cars went by and then I turned around and when my face was to the crowd they cheered again.  It wasn’t, yeah, okay it was for me, it was more for the track record.  I honestly think.  It was a moment where they are seeing something special happen. A track record got laid down at Darlington in 2013 with the Generation-6 car and they were part of something special.  They saw a car almo
st run in the 26 seconds here.  It was a congratulations to me, but I want to give credit to the team and I think that the track record is special.  It will hold up for 364 more days, if it gets beat, well we had it for at least 364 days.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S EMERALD GREEN CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED SECOND
POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
“It was obviously a great lap for our Emerald Green Lowe’s Chevrolet. We had some issues in qualifying practice, or in practice with our qualifying run and we got those under control and had a really nice lap. So I’m thankful for that. It was a little bit frustrating as the second practice session wound down, but we got the car underneath me and got a great lap. So, we’re excited. The car drove good. I felt like there were some guys faster than us. We’re kind of in that second group. But I think the No. 56 and the No. 20 looked real good. Oh, maybe I have bad information. Maybe not the No. 20. I know the No. 56 was good; I saw it with my own eyes. The No. 15 is good. So, I’m just babbling, but looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”
 
ARE YOU A LITTLE JEALOUS OF KURT BUSCH RUNNING THE INDYCAR YESTERDAY? HE DID SO WELL, ALMOST 220 MPH?
“I am. That’s amazing. An amazing experience. I’m proud of him. I’m really happy that a NASCAR driver has had a chance to go get in good equipment over there and go to a track and show what we can do. We’ve seen open-wheel guys come this direction and I’m happy to see a closed-body driver go that way. Not that it’s easy, in any of the vehicles, but I feel like it’s harder for an open-wheel guy to leave all of the downforce in the light vehicle that they have and come to a NASCAR vehicle.  I think the transition might be a little easier; time will tell if Kurt pursues this further we’ll be able to see it, but I think he’ll impress early going that direction and getting out ahead of the heavy car into a lighter car with more downforce.”

JFR ALL IN AFTER FINAL QUAL AT SOUTHERN NATIONALS

COMMERCE, GA (May 10, 2013) – With only one day to get down the track and get qualified for the rescheduled 33rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals John Force Racing met their first goal. Led by Courtney Force, the No. 6 qualifier in Funny Car, John Force Racing is set up to possibly advance three Funny Cars to the semi-finals.

Courtney’s Traxxas Ford Mustang set the pace in the first session making the quickest run of the Funny Car category. For the second year driver it was a welcome feeling to be at the top of the field even if it was just for one session. She was followed by her brother-in-law Robert Hight and father John Force.

“It is tough when you come out knowing you are only going to get two chances to get qualified. It really puts a lot of pressure on the driver and the crew. Our Traxxas Ford Mustang team went out strong and ran a 4.10 and put us in the No. 1 spot,” said Force, the No. 1 qualifier for the season opening NHRA Winternationals. “It was great to see Robert Hight and my dad, John Force, in the standings two and three after the first session. To have all the JFR Fords 1-2-3 and then Wilkerson at No. 4 was pretty cool for Ford Racing. We picked up some points for those runs.”

In the last session of the day Force was running beside Hight and her Traxxas Mustang stayed hooked up posting a solid 4.118 second run giving her one of the most consistent ET averages of the class, 4.100 and 4.118.

“The second pass was pretty good. We didn’t improve but it was a solid run. That is great for us going into tomorrow. We have some confidence and we will be ready for Del Worsham in the first round. We’ll have lane choice and hopefully that will give us a little bit of an advantage,” said Force.

John Force will race his 135th different opponent when he squares off against one of his former crewman Chad Head in the first round. Force, No. 9 qualifier, will give up lane choice to the rookie.

“It will be exciting. His dad (former driver and current crew-chief Jim Head) is a veteran and he knows these tracks when they are loose. They can put up big numbers. They ran that 4.01 in Charlotte so we will give them a race and they are a great family,” said Force.

In the first session Force had the third quickest ET and in the second and final session today crew chief Mike Neff was looking for an aggressive race day tune-up. The Castrol GTX Ford Mustang will try and find the winner’s circle 8th time tomorrow. His last win at Atlanta Dragway was 2005 when he beat teammate Robert Hight then a rookie himself by .002 seconds.

“We ran good out of the box and it helped with the Funny Cars because we knew we would be in. We are still in the learning process with the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster. It is a new team with a rookie driver but in that second session they got it in there. She recovered and came back and got into the show in No. 9 and she’ll race Clay Millican, a good racer,” said Force when he was asked to evaluate the team’s performance today.

Robert Hight and the Auto Club Mustang continue to look for the consistency that will continue to move them up the Mello Yello point standings. They produced on the first run and then in the final session they took a shot at a race day set-up.

“The number one goal today was to get into the show for tomorrow. You never know on these rescheduled races what can happen so we came out in the first session and (crew chief) Jimmy (Prock) put up a good number. That got us in and then in the second session you start thinking about race day. We knew we were going to be in the top half so we would have lane choice. It looks like we have Johnny Gray again in the first round. We lost to him in Houston so we’ll try and get after him tomorrow with this Auto Club Ford Mustang,” said Hight , a finalist at last year’s Southern Nationals.

Coming off a weekend of disappointment in Houston Brittany Force and the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster team were behind the eight ball with only two shots at getting in the show. The team has qualified for five of the previous six races but as a new team in a new category qualifying runs are just as valuable as elimination rounds sometimes. Losing sessions robs the team of experience and data.

“It does get stressful especially with my dad and he is right there every second giving me tips and advice. Right before my last run he had his head in my cockpit telling me a hundred things at once but I know he is only trying to be helpful. These short days are difficult for our teams and for me as a driver,” said Force. “When you lose those other two runs, that is experience and data that we don’t get. We would have liked to have had those two runs for down the road. That is the way the game works out some time. Everybody out here only got two runs.”

Today in the final session the Castol EDGE Top Fueler slipped out of the field for a few minutes as Bob Vandergriff Jr improved on his first session time and went around the rookie driver from Yorba Linda, California. The Force kept her composure and drove her dragster right down the track and into the top half of the field eventually winding up 9th in the field.

“I was right behind Bob Vandergriff Jr so I knew depending on his run whether I would be in the show or not. I tried not to let it get to me or bother me. I was focusing on whatever happened still doing my same routine. He got in and bumped us out for a few minutes but then when we ran we jumped in at the No. 8 spot. I was really happy about that and this Castrol EDGE team is great. I am looking forward to running Clay Millican tomorrow,” concluded Force.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BOJANGLES SOUTHERN 500
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 10, 2013
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SERTA CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
YOU JUST CUT A NEW TRACK RECORD. DID IT FEEL LIKE IT?
“It did and it didn’t. There is still maybe a little bit more time out there. I might have to hold my breath for 27 more seconds for a couple more other guys. I was real fast in (Turns) 1 and 2. Maybe I left a little bit on the table getting into (Turn) 3, but it didn’t feel that fast. And when it doesn’t, that means the car was stuck really well. So that’s just a tribute to these Furniture Row guys. The confidence they had coming here this weekend stems from the years ago when they won here with Regan Smith. All the changes we made in practice, all of them made sense. Sometimes we took a step back; sometimes we took a step forward. But we had a distinct definition on each of the changes. So the car has been feeling pretty good.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S EMERALD GREEN CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SECOND
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT LAP?
“Yeah, I am.  White shoes, white car, Emerald Green paint stripes on it – the car looks good.  I’m very proud of Lowe’s and all the cool things they are doing to raise awareness with what is going on with their stores.  Great lap, we had some frustration in qualifying trim in practice.  Luckily we got that corrected and the car ran a really nice lap.  We will see if it holds up.  I have a feeling it will probably be top four, top five with the sun setting quickly.  Very happy with that lap, I can’t complain a bit.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 TIME WARNER CABLE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FOURTH
WAS THAT ALL YOU HAD OR DID YOU LEAVE ANYTHING?
“For the conditions that were there, we could probably go a little faster if we went right now with this cloud, probably go two tenths faster.  I felt really good, my car was really positive.  It went wherever I wanted it to.  Just wish I could have pushed a little harder.  I enjoy qualifying here.  This place is tough and you can really push as hard as possible, just try not to go over that line.  I did once in qualifying; it wasn’t pretty off turn two.”
 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN PRACTICE TODAY THAT IS GOING TO HELP YOU TOMORROW NIGHT?
“I think we learned some things in practice.  When we started the balance wasn’t quite where we wanted it.  The car moved around a little bit left and right.  We got a lot of that out by the second practice and then for qualifying as well.  I really look forward to tomorrow night.  This is always a great race to be part of.  We have a fast Time Warner Cable Chevrolet.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH
YOU IMPROVED UPON YOUR TIME FROM PRACTICE.  TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:
“Yeah, I think everybody is definitely picking up for sure.  Our car has been driving good.  Just had to commit to it now that it’s time and make sure that you keep your car rolling in practice.  That is a big key here at Darlington, just keeping all the wheels going in a straight line with the right side still on it.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 12TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“It was good.  Our Target Chevy has been really good.  We didn’t unload as good as we wanted.  Overall I think it’s a good day.  I thought we executed we did everything we needed to do.  Overall to be honest with you the biggest thing is just we bottomed out coming down the hill in (turn) two and pushed the nose when we hit that.  The car has been great.”
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/PITTSBURGH PAINTS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 15TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR WEEKEND THUS FAR IN DARLINGTON AND YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:
“We picked up a lot from practice, but everybody has. The track is a lot gripper.  Probably went just a little bit better than I thought.  I was hoping for more, but realistically I didn’t think we would run quite that fast.  We will take that.  We have a good race car.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 16TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:
“I was hoping we would run a little bit better than that.  I thought the car had real good balance and we just got into the splitter really hard around turn two.  It cost us quite a bit.”
 
HOW HAS YOUR CAR BEEN ALL DAY?
“The speed has been great.  The car has been comfortable.  The car was really comfortable there, we just got into the splitter really hard trying to come down off of the top of (turns) one and two to get off of turn two.  We had to lift a little bit there and you’ve got to be in the gas there.  It costs us a lot of time.  It costs us what I thought could have been a really good lap.  Every time we have hit the track on stickers we have been really happy, good speed, comfortable.  We will just try to take care of it in the race.  I think we have a car, if we can get up there and have good track position we will be real competitive.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 21ST
ON HIS LAP:
“We’ve just been lacking a little bit of speed. I under drove the car a little bit in turn three and four there. Our Quicken Loans Chevrolet was better than that, but it seemed to be lacking just a little bit of speed. We’ll work on that for tomorrow. We’ve still got one night to think about it.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 40TH
ON HER QUALIFYING LAP:
“Probably biggest thing was just not doing any qualifying runs at all.  These cars are quite different when they go into qualifying.  As a driver you drive as hard as you can with what you’ve got.  Qualifying requires you to commit to something before you can feel it based on the fact that you are coming to the green the first time by the start/finish line. I’m not happy with that, but it’s been a long day.  Everyone worked really hard to put the qualifying, put the engine back in the back-up car.  It’s going to make a lot of work for tomorrow night and the GoDaddy car.  That is the bed that I made for myself.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BOJANGLES SOUTHERN 500
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 10, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Darlington Raceway and discussed going to a back-up car following a practice accident, her confidence going into this race after last years’ experience at this track and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
THAT WAS QUITE THE DARLINGTON STRIPE YOU GOT EARLIER WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED?
“We just went out on our second set of tires in the first practice.  Kind of rebaselining the car, they were stickers.  It wasn’t a qualifying run we were just trying to see what the balance was.  I was just trying to get what I could from the tires.  I think that for me that is something I have to continue to work on. Just got loose into (turn) two.  In the second practice when we got back out there we made a change at the end that tightened up the whole track, but made me feel comfortable in (turn) two.  That is telling me that the car is a little bit freer than I thought it was.  You know what it’s just a learning process, it’s good to know and it reminds me that if I’m trying to achieve the balance out there on the track that I just have to discipline myself to take care of turn two.  It’s so important to get through (turns) three and four and rotate.  It’s a good reminder to be real careful through (turn) two.”
 
HOW DOES LAST YEAR’S EXPERIENCE HELP YOU THIS YEAR?
“I mean we are far better off unloading and hitting the track for the first time now versus last year.  Last year we were last and really felt very uncomfortable out there.  This time I felt much more comfortable. To the point that I was hanging it out a little bit more.  Exploring the limits of the car and I explored too far.”
 
SO MANY DRIVERS GET THAT DARLINGTON STRIPE.  IS IT JUST THE NATURE OF THE BEAST HERE OR ARE YOU GUYS JUST DRIVING THAT LITTLE BIT OVER THE EDGE?
“The reason for so many stripes, Darlington stripes, on cars here is you are really just driving against the wall.  You are carrying a lot of speed through (turn) one and you use the wall all the way out.  You are riding it while you’re in and out of throttle up there.  It’s not like it’s a straightaway it’s a corner so you are still turning.  The same thing goes through (turns) three and four.  You are also searching for grip so sometimes that line is a little bit higher getting in.  Sometimes it’s a little bit lower.  You are using the grip all the way up to the wall which means you are flirting with that wall.”
 
THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE FROM LAST YEAR DOES THAT ALLOW YOU TO SHAKE OFF WHAT HAPPENED EARLIER TODAY?
“For me I think the biggest thing about experience is definitely just something that is good and makes you more comfortable.  It’s not really very common for me to crash cars in practice on my own or crash cars on my own.  Shoot, I remember back to my IndyCar days I used to be told to go crash it.  Like ‘take it to the limit, I don’t care if you crash it, do it’.  For me sometimes, right now I think it’s never good to go to a back-up car and I don’t like to put that work on the team.  They work so hard anyway.  They work hard all week then they come to the track and do the same thing.  Then to stack work on top of that, but the only way to find the limit is to sometimes get over it. I wish it would have been a Darlington stripe, instead of going to a back-up, but lesson learned for tomorrow night.  I will be better for it.”
 
HOW MUCH DOES THE MISSED PRACTICE TIME SET YOU BACK?
“I definitely lost half an hour in the first practice and some of the second.  You know what it did do, it put us into race trim in the second practice for 25 minutes or so.  We would have done all qualifying runs in the second practice.  I think it might pay off to have done those practice runs instead of qualifying runs in the second session.  I don’t think it’s going to be a huge loss, but hopefully it doesn’t make for too big of a disaster in qualifying.  I think that the guys, Tony Gibson (crew chief) has been doing a better job at getting the balance closer in qualifying the last few weeks.  I feel comfortable that I will have something I can drive aggressively out there and we will just see where it puts us.  We’ve got 500 miles to improve on it.”
 
HOW EAGER ARE YOU THIS WEEK TO GET BACK OUT THERE AFTER WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEKEND IN TALLADEGA?
“There are a lot of frustrated people after Talladega or Daytona, any of the speedway races that we do because there are so many ‘coulda, shoulda, woulda’s’.  You are like just so close to the front of the pack, but yet so far away and there are accidents that you just can’t do anything about and sometimes you become a part of them. It’s a frustrating challenge.  I wasn’t the only one I’m sure.  This is obviously a little bit more traditional we are racing like normal, but I don’t look forward to getting away from those tracks.  I like the speedways I think they are fun and they are interesting.  For me they are some of my better chances to do well.” 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BOJANGLES SOUTHERN 500
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 10, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S EMERALD GREEN CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Darlington Raceway and discussed the rich history of the track, his successful start to the 2013 season, his thoughts on Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon making his 700th start and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT RACING AT DARLINGTON AND YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT LAST YEAR’S WIN AND WHAT IT IS GOING TO TAKE TO GET THE VICTORY THIS WEEKEND:
“I think it goes without saying that every team and driver is excited to be in Darlington.  We know and understand the impact and the meaning of this race track and what it has done for our sport, the early years and everything in between. I’m very happy to be here.  I love driving this race track.  After winning last year’s race and winning our 200th for Hendrick Motorsports it took it to a whole new level.  Happy to be back and not sure what to expect with the grip level on the track.  It’s aging and hopefully we get back to that real porous race track that wears out tires and puts on a great show.  The track is so narrow it’s tough for us to race at times. Especially on new tires, you can’t run side-by-side around here, but once we get some laps in and get the tire wear going there is some good passing that takes place.  I would assume that strategy is going to be a big part of why the winner ends up in Victory Lane.  It’s tough to pass and I think we will get a good idea of tire wear, but strategy in two or four (tires) and really probably having enough fuel, the first one to have enough fuel to go the distance will be a key point in the race too. All that said it’s a track that has in my opinion, the highest sensation of speed out of anywhere we go.  This track is narrower than any track and we are at 200 and something miles an hour down the back stretch going into (turn) three.  It gets your attention.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR DOMINANT START TO THE SEASON AND BEING THE SOUTHERN 500 CHAMPION FROM LAST YEAR AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS WEEKEND:
“It really has been a good start for the team.  Clearly the point’s show that, but I look through it two wins, how prepared out team was for all types of racing.  I would say our worst race was, based on performance, was in Fontana.  We still managed to get a 12th due to a lot of cautions at the end.  We kept pitting and putting tires on and was able to move our way back up through the field.  Only one major issue at Bristol, when I blew the right-front (tire) and had a poor finish there, a great start.  I think the great start reflects the hard work that was done during the off season by everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.  Right not it’s a moving target.  To stay on top of the point’s lead is going to be tough.  We are still learning the Gen-6 car and each week there is something new that we discover about the car and try to use to make our vehicles faster.  We are chasing a moving target right now, but off to a great start and happy about that.  Happy to come back to a track that we have won at, that always helps the team walk in the gates and start that first practice session with a lot of confidence.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHERE YOU SEE JEFF GORDON’S LEGACY RIGHT NOW AS HE HITS A MILESTONE OF 700 STARTS?
“It’s amazing that the number is that big.  He got such an early start.  He is not all that much older than I am, but clearly a lot more starts.  I remember watching him all the way back to the Thursday night thunder days when he was running a midget and being a fan.  Buying his diecast car from Toys ‘R’ Us because I was a Gordon fan, it went on my dresser at home.  When I got the call to drive for him, it was a very surreal moment. To have the friendship and the years go by and working together, being a teammate, I’m happy for him.  I am very thankful for the opportunity for starters, but very happy that he has had such an amazing career.  It was tough to be a Gordon fan for a period of time there.  People were all against him.  I was proudly cheering him on and still today.  Very happy for him and his 700th start.”
 
I UNDERSTAND YOU WILL BE COMPETING IN A TRIATHLON IN KING’S MOUNTAIN THE MORNING OF THE ALL-STAR RACE. WHAT IS IT THAT ATTRACTS YOU LATELY TO RUNNING TRIATHLON’S AND DOES IT GIVE YOU ANY PAUSE DOING ALL THAT IN ONE DAY RACING THE ALL-STAR RACE AND THE TRIATHLON?
“Well, things just changed.  I will not be competing in that event.  Unfortunately, Evie (daughter) has a dance recital on Saturday. It’s a 9 o’clock and the triathlon starts at 8 o’clock.  That is going to be a little tough to pull off.  I even tried to see if we could move the show to later in the day and it’s not going to work.  I have four months of training invested, but it’s all good.  I really do enjoy pushing myself from a fitness stand point.  It’s something that I’ve had my eye on for years.  I look ba

Corvette Racing Returns to Laguna Seca, Site of 1-2 Finish in 2012
 
(Monterey, Calif., May 9, 2013) – When teams and drivers return to a track where they have previously enjoyed success, it sparks a heightened sense of anticipation heading into the event. For the drivers and crew members of the No.’s 3 and 4 Compuware Corvette C6.Rs, this weekend’s four-hour American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca means a return to the site of a 1-2 Corvette Racing finish in 2012.
 
“I think the longer format is going to play into our hands,” said Oliver Gavin, co-driver with Tommy Milner of the No. 4 Corvette C6.R. “We have performed well over the longer races recently, and I really feel we have got the best team.”
 
Gavin teamed with Milner to win the GT class in last year’s event at the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course, finishing 3.45 seconds ahead of the No. 3 Corvette C6.R, driven by Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen.
 
“We regularly make up time on people in the pits – either with quick tire changes, how we play our fuel strategy or the strategy in general,” Gavin said. “We’ve got a great group of guys. These races are so tight it sometimes comes down to when you take your last stop and how much fuel you take on, and with a longer race you’ve got a wider strategy window to play with.”
 
Corvette Racing, which won the season-opener at Sebring and scored two top-five finishes at Long Beach, is tied for the ALMS GT Team Championship lead. Chevrolet leads the series’ GT Automobile Manufacturer standings by three points.
 
“Monterey is always one of the great events of the year,” Milner said. “The track lends itself to some great racing.”
 
Corvette Racing produced a 1-2 finish at the six-hour American Le Mans Series at Monterey last year as Gavin and Milner bounced back from a troubled pit stop to finish 3.45 seconds ahead of Magnussen and Garcia. While Magnussen drove the No. 3 Corvette C6.R from fifth to second in the final hour, Gavin took the No. 4 Corvette C6.R to the lead with about hour remaining en route to producing Corvette Racing’s second consecutive win of the season on its way to the 2012 manufacturer and team and championships.
 
“We had success there last year with our Corvettes, but as we saw at Long Beach we need to be on our game to give ourselves a chance to win again this year,” Milner said.
 
Gavin said the track conditions this weekend should make for a challenging event.
 
“Looking at the forecast, it looks as though it could be quite cool, so how well you make your tires work could steer the outcome of the race; they will certainly play a big part in the weekend,” Gavin said. “There’s likely to be plenty of cautions and incidents with 36-plus cars in the field; it makes for a full race track. Additionally, the track surface is always very dusty which adds to the challenges. The GT class drives around in a high-speed train and it only really gets broken up when there’s an incident, or when you come against faster or slower traffic. You have to be 100 percent on top of your game and concentrating fully; you can’t afford one slip up otherwise you won’t finish in the top-five, let alone on the podium.”
 
Corvette Racing has 78 ALMS class victories, including four in 2012, making it the most successful team in American Le Mans Series history.
The Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Monterey starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, May 11. GT qualifying is 7:55-8:10 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, May 10.

KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SERTA CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE. BUSCH AND FORMER TEAM CHEVY DRIVER AND CURRENT NASCAR ON ESPN ANALYST RICKY CRAVEN DISCUSS THEIR EPIC DARLINGTON BATTLE IN 2003, WHICH IS STILL THE CLOSEST FINISH SINCE THE INCEPTION OF ELECTRONIC TIMING AND SCORING IN 1993.   
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT FROM TODAY’S INTERVIEW:
 
 
AMANDA ELLIS:  Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference.  We’re joined by Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Serta Chevrolet for Furniture Row and NASCAR on ESPN analyst Ricky Craven.  This season marks the 10th year anniversary of their record setting finish at Darlington Raceway in 2003.  The margin of victory, .002 seconds, it’s the closest finish since the inception of electronic timing and scoring in 1993 and has since been tied at Talladega Superspeedway in 2011.
 
Kurt, let’s start with you.  What do you remember about that day and the battle with Ricky to the finish line?
 
KURT BUSCH:  Yeah, the most memorable part has to have been just the way the cars came to the finish line.  But to tell the story as many times as I have over the last 10 years, it gets better and better each year, it just puts a smile on your face when you know you gave it your all and the guy that you were racing, a competitor, he gave it his all, and the two of us put on a show.  That’s what the fans want to see, and at the end of the day, two guys taking the gloves off, going after it and producing such a solid finish, I think we both knew right away we were part of something special.
Q.  Ricky, the Darlington victory was your last Sprint Cup Series win.  How does it rank amongst all your accomplishments in the sport?
RICKY CRAVEN:  Well, I have to say that when I won, it was really all about winning at Darlington.  It was absolutely that important, and the competitors that have competed at Darlington, they understand it’s different than anyplace we compete.  It tests you in a way that other tracks don’t test you.
 
But to your point, the race has become much bigger to me than just the trophy.  It wasn’t about on that day, it wasn’t about being a fan of mine, it wasn’t necessarily about being a fan of Kurt, it was really about being a fan of racing, because since I’ve retired, it seems as though it’s all that anybody wants to talk about when I cross paths with them.
 
What’s important to me, and maybe I hadn’t expressed it enough, but I want to express it right off the top, is Kurt and I, like most competitors, we test each other every week, every seven days, and it’s not that important to be friends.  You know, as competitors, it’s just not that important.  But this race, this one day, has definitely brought Kurt and I together as friends, and I think that’s kind of unique, and it needs to be acknowledged.
Q.  10 years is a long time, but if you remember back then, Darlington kind of had an iffy future in the sport.  How much do you think that finish kind of reminded people of what the track was and the exciting races it could produce to helping along to where it is now?  It seems a lot more stable and a regular Mother’s Day staple on the NASCAR lineup?
RICKY CRAVEN:  I think that it is ‑‑ it’s critical that we look at Darlington the same way that baseball looks at Fenway Park or Wrigley Field, because geographically it might not be perfect.  If you look at the design of the racetrack from an aerial view, it might not be perfect.  But what I described earlier and the way that the track tests the driver, there’s not a driver that’s carried a NASCAR license that wouldn’t rank the track among the toughest that they’ve ever competed at.  And that means something, and it’s important that the fans understand that, and I think that they’ve certainly gotten that message loud and clear because of the way the drivers approach that weekend.
 
If, for whatever reason, the sport lost Darlington, it would have lost one of its pillars.  It’s not to say that the foundation of NASCAR would have been compromised, but there would have been a vacancy.  I mean, there would have been an absence that every single competitor would have felt.
 
I’m not nearly bold enough to say that that one race was a turning point, but I am realistic enough to say that at the end of the day, people buy into a product because they want value orthey want an experience, they want something that sticks with them.  If they’re going to spend their hard‑earned money, they want something that they can feel like they’ve invested in, andthat’s what that race represents, I think.
 
KURT BUSCH:  Our sport saw a tremendous amount of growth from the mid‑’90s to the mid‑2000s, and to have Darlington survive the storm, it shows its strength all on its own on how unique it is.  And to be the Southern 500, it ranks more important than the other tracks that have fallen to the wayside.  Even though Rockingham is close geographically, it put on spectacular races, North Wilkesboro, a track that not a lot of people know about, it put on great short track races that tested the drivers’ ability to save their tires and the tire management role.
 
Darlington, its first race, the winner was the Tortoise.  He took the approach on just running laps and he wasn’t the fastest car but he had the least amount of pit stops.
 
Darlington is a challenge in so many ways, it’s unbelievable.  And this weekend we’re going to have the Generation 6 car go for a qualifying lap around this track, and there’s going to be drivers talking about holding it wide open through turns 1 and 2.  It’s going to be a phenomenal ride, and what type of track could produce this type of challenge?  There is no other track.  Darlington shows its strength, and the Lady in Black will always shine through.
Q.  Kurt, I was just curious if you’ve looked at a lot of replays from the race at Talladega and your flip, and is there any ‑‑ are you just a passenger once you get kind of on your side or is there anything you can do while you’re either flipping or atop Ryan’s car?
KURT BUSCH:  I was in the Darlington frame of mind with this being the 10‑year anniversary.  Just typical, though.  For your question, I got lucky that Ryan Newman was in the position he was in to save my car from multiple barrel rolls.  When I reviewed the tape, I was in the mode of this barrel roll is going to last from Talladega to Georgia.  I mean, it was going to be a long barrel roll.  But Ryan Newman was in the right place at the right time to help me settle back onto the track and not be as big of a wreck as it could have been.
 
But, yes, I’m just an innocent bystander, wrong place at the wrong time.  There’s nobody to blame.  I can’t even blame NASCAR for it.  It’s just when it’s a free‑for‑all like that at the end of the race, you have to expect bumping and grinding.
Q.  Can you talk about just going to Darlington and also your IndyCar test this week that put maybe Talladega behind you?
KURT BUSCH:  Yeah, it’s always tough when you wreck and go out in a blaze of glory like that.  The only way to get back in the groove is jump back on your horse and go again.  This week I have a unique opportunity to test with Andretti Autosport and drive at Indianapolis in the month of May in an IndyCar.  This is an experience of a lifetime, and we’ll see what happens from Thursday.  I’m really excited about it.
 
And then on Friday jumping in the car at Darlington to go hammer down, it’s going to be a fast‑paced qualifying run, but then we have to focus on the full 400 miles and put ourselves in position at the end so that, yes, hopefully there’s a good show like it was with Craven an
d I 10 years ago, but I want to be on the .002 of the second side ahead this time and bring home the trophy for the Furniture Row guys.
Q.  With David Ragan winning last week, there’s been a lot of talk about another small team coming through.  It doesn’t happen very often, and in fact the last time it happened at a non‑Superspeedway was at Darlington with the Furniture Row team.  I wanted to ask both of you why don’t you think we see more often some of the smaller teams break through, especially at non‑Superspeedways or non‑road courses?
RICKY CRAVEN:  Probably a lot of it has to do with economics.  The same reason we never saw the Montreal Expos win the World Series.  We haven’t seen Minnesota win one in a long time.
 
So when you see a team like the Florida Marlins win the World Series, a couple times, in fact, it’s an example or I guess a comparison to watching Regan Smith win at Darlington or Keselowski win at Talladega a few years ago and David Ragan winning last week.  It’s extremely healthy for the sport.
 
I talked earlier about the value of leaving the racetrack and fans feeling like they got their money’s worth 10 years ago at Darlington, and I expect that people who left last week felt like they got what they paid for.  It’s not that it would work every week, but the fact is if David Ragan and Regan Smith and perhaps me, if we represent the Montreal Expos in terms of our identity with a small team, then Jimmie Johnson represents the Yankees, and not everybody wants to see the Yankees win year after year.
 
That’s just my view on it.  I can’t explain mechanically why it doesn’t happen more often, but certainly economically there’s a pretty clear explanation.
 
KURT BUSCH:  You know, being with big teams and being with small teams, there’s certain tracks that tailor themselves to the whole field, and then there’s tracks that tailor themselves to how the engineering and the infrastructure of a team can outspend another team.  The great equalizer is the restrictor plate.
 
Another step towards equalizing cars is putting them on a short track to get aerodynamics out of the mix, but a car just can’t necessarily show up and win at Martinsville anymore by having that short‑track feel.  You have to design the car lightweight, have all the weight low and to the left and have this tremendous amount of money and difference in that car.
 
So the core, though, of our schedule is still on the mile‑and‑a‑halfs, Darlington, Dover, Phoenix, New Hampshire, you still have all these high‑speed tracks that technology will buy you wins versus the good underdog stories.
Q.  Kurt, if you were to win, is that a big team win or a little team win in your opinion?
KURT BUSCH:  Well, in my mind this is a big team, and it would be a big team win.  But in everybody else’s mind this team hasn’t deserved the respect, in a sense, of a Hendrick Motorsports or Gibbs or Penske Racing, and therefore it would be a small team win.  But if you ask anybody that has knowledge within the sport, the budget that a Furniture Row is on is very different than a Front Row Motorsports.
Q.  I was going to ask you, Kurt, with as well as you’ve driven at times at Darlington and Furniture Row’s win a couple years ago, you must have a good amount of confidence coming into this week that you guys will be able to do well here, and also as far as getting back to 10 years ago for both of you, is it just amazing that you both didn’t end up in the wall sometime during those final few laps when you think back on it?
KURT BUSCH:  Yeah, I’m really pumped up about this weekend.  Drivers can say that each week, but with Furniture Row’s win there, with my hunger to try to win at Darlington and get those .002 of a second back, it’s going to be a good weekend, I really feel it.
 
And the way that Ricky and I raced, it’s amazing we didn’t wreck each other, and just hand the win over to a third place running guy.  That day it was Dave Blaney.  To take the gloves off, I knew Ricky was going to catch me.  I just knew it.  I had power steering issues, and lap after lap he’s ticking away not two two‑tenths to three‑tenths, he’s ticking away a half a second quicker than us.  And it was just, all right, if you can do math, you know he’s going to catch you with about two to go, three to go, and I’m like I don’t know what I’m going to do when he catches me.  But he doesn’t know I’m going through all this hardship, so maybe I can catch him by surprise and at least juke him for a lap and a half.
 
RICKY CRAVEN:  If you remember, Kurt actually did get in the wall.  I didn’t expect him to race me into Turn 1 with a few laps to go, and I expected him to lift and do a cross‑over, and as he said, I didn’t know what he was dealing with as far as power steering issues.
 
I think really, and I’ve seen this a lot, I didn’t watch it much during my career because as I said earlier, every seven days you’re racing.  So regardless of how exciting the racing is or if you won, it’s on to the next event.  But the life I’m in now where I do have time to reflect, it’s pretty clear that with two or three to go, we both made the decision that we’re going to win this race, and we went about it in different ways.
 
But in the end, it just came down to a few inches.  You don’t script it.  It’s not something that you plan for.  It’s not something that, as much as I want to say that all my short track days back in New England prepared me for it, they didn’t.  For the last few laps, I can tell you there were two guys that emptied the tank.  And it’s the only reason, the only reason I can explain Kurt walking across the garage to join me in victory lane and celebrate is because he had emptied the tank, like I had.  And, hell, at the end of the day, what is there to complain about?  You did everything you could do.  I mean, really, I think that’s what that race represents.
Q.  Real quick, Kurt, you mentioned earlier taking the gloves off, and Darlington, that old‑school feel that it still has being on the circuit.  Kind of go back to that last few laps where you guys were just bumping and banging and just really seemed like that was defined what NASCAR has been for so long, and just talk about just that exciting finish and what it was like to be a part of.
KURT BUSCH:  The way the track races at Darlington, it’s difficult to navigate it just even by yourself.  And the cliché is race the racetrack, that’s where the definition came from, is you have to race the racetrack because it’s so difficult that you can’t pay attention to where the other drivers are, you just have to run your own race.
 
And with the inevitable coming to me of Ricky, having so much more speed than me at the end, it’s as if I went into that defensive short track mode, and doing that on a three‑eighths mile Saturday night in a late model is just fine, but doing it at a 1.3 mile Superspeedway with a Cup car, maybe it’s not so acceptable.  But, then again, there’s somebody that’s going to get a trophy and points and a check.
 
And it’s just amazing how you just go into that mode of I’ve got to win, and you throw out the whole speech and preaching that everybody has given you about how you’ve got to race the racetrack, otherwise the track will jump up and bite you.  And it was if the Lady let us dance that day with her to get me and Craven beating each other up with the cars, and yet it produces a show that still stands today as one of the best finishes.
 
RICKY CRAVEN:  What’s also apparent to me is that there have been a lot of other really, really, really exciting races, finishes, and sometimes people qualify a great finish as the closing laps, the leader getting bumped from behind, spinning, and the guy goes on to win a race.  I’ve never heard anybody a
ssociate Kurt and my finish with that type of a race.
 
See, the problem with that type of a race, and you’ll see it again, you’ve seen it before, is when a driver who’s running second spins the driver in front of him, somebody got cheated.  And they may not have ‑‑ the people in the stands might not have gotten cheated, but somebody in the equation got cheated.
 
The great thing about Darlington, and it’s very apparent 10 years later, is that nobody got cheated, nobody.  And I agree with Kurt that for whatever reason, the Lady in Black allowed us to race the way we did the last two laps, because typically you couldn’t do that on new tires.  We did it on worn‑out tires.  I mean, we were 50 laps into a run.  The tires were gone.
 
And what both of us should be most proud of is that we took each other right to the edge but we didn’t take each other out, and that really stands pretty tall with me.
 
KURT BUSCH:  I agree with you.  Usually there’s a winner and somebody that is just disgusted and frustrated because they have a wrecked car and they didn’t get second place, and that’s what we’ve all come to know as entertainment.  This happened back in the days of the Roman gladiators. There’s somebody standing there in victory and there’s either a dead human a dead lion.  Somebody had to take the fall.  This day we had two winners it seemed like, and that’s what gave it such a unique twist at the end.  Or maybe I’m just telling myself that because I keep losing this race by .002 of a second, and I’m never going to accept that, but it was a great race.
Q.  You all talked about how you were able to get together in victory lane afterwards and respect each other for that, but it seems like especially in recent years at Darlington there hasn’t been maybe that show of respect after the race with you.  What do you think has changed over the years as far as hard driving situations, and today do you think that drivers would congratulate each other in victory lane or would be trading barbs like we’ve seen on occasion?
KURT BUSCH:  I think that day it was just something special and it was two men that gave everything they were worth.  If there was a loser, it was fine, because I gave it everything I had.  I’ve been in some epic battles over the years, good and bad, indifferent.  I’ve come out on top of a Nationwide race with Robby Gordon at Watkins Glen where it was definitely a gloves‑off moment, and the two of us were able to shake hands and smile about it afterwards, not as much as what Craven and I did with each other.
 
But I’ve always had this sense of ‑‑ or a feeling of when two drivers are toe to toe and they give it everything they’ve got that there’s that showmanship side.  There’s the entertainment side that is valued in our sport, sometimes more so than the actual competition side.
 
But usually it’s the competition that bleeds through, and two guys are upset with each other and NASCAR drivers are like elephants; we don’t forget.
 
It just depends on the situations, but more times than not, at the end of the day, I’ve got respect for the guy that I beat or that beat me, and it was just a genuine, honest competition.
 
RICKY CRAVEN:  I think that you’ve got to have that ‑‑ this sport desperately needs the drivers to show emotion and show their personalities.  I think it’s critical.  And we’ve gotten a lot of that over the years.
 
Now, it comes in different forms.  Sometimes it’s two drivers grabbing ahold of each other and sometimes rolling around on the ground like we saw from the Allison’s and Cale Yarborough, and sometimes it’s the element of surprise.  When people see what they saw at Darlington and then they see Kurt walking toward me, and I have to admit here was an element of concern.  I didn’t know how I was going to be greeted.  But Kurt grabbed ahold of my hand, we shook hands, and I could give you all sorts of analogies, but honestly, as far as racing goes, it was as close to ‑‑ this is really going to seem out there ‑‑ but it was as close to a schoolyard basketball game or a schoolyard kickball game when you’re a kid.  It’s as close as it gets, because everybody dreams as a kid of swinging ‑‑ being in that position to swing for the fence and win the game with one swing of the bat, and you do that, you rehearse that as a kid playing sports.
 
But then when recess is over, when the game is over and you’ve got to head back into class, you usually go in arm in arm or laughing, prodding one another, and that’s really what it was that day.  I said it, and I was sincere, the race has definitely brought Kurt and I together.  He’s been very gracious.  But it’s real.  It’s real.
 
AMANDA ELLIS:  That is all the time we have for today.  Kurt, Ricky, thank you for joining us.  It was a lot of fun to reflect back on the victory and the race this weekend in Darlington.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AARON’S 499
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 5, 2013
 
 
 
Team Chevy Driver Jimmie Johnson Scores Top-Five Finish at Talladega and Extends Point Lead
 
TALLADEGA, Ala. – (May 5, 2013) – In a wild scramble to the checkered flag, Jimmie Johnson led the way for Team Chevy by powering his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS to a fifth-place finish in the rain-delayed Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway.  It was Johnson’s fifth top-five finish of the season, boosting his lead in the current point standings to 41 markers over second.
 
In a battle with Mother Nature, the 499-mile race was red-flagged for three hours and 36 minutes due to rain and resumed with 63 laps remaining. While vying for the win in the closing laps, Johnson held the lead during the final green-white-checkered finish; but a mad scramble at the front shuffled him back to fifth place overall.  The race went into overtime, ending in near darkness at 511-miles and 192 laps.
 
Several Team Chevy drivers were sidelined in two multi-car crashes in today’s event including Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Chevrolet SS who was hit from behind in the first major incident early in the race, and dropped three spots in the standings from third to sixth.  Kurt Busch was looking at a possible top-five finish when his No. 78 Furniture Row/Beautyrest Chevrolet SS went airborne in a late-race crash and landed on the roof of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS driven by Ryan Newman.
 
Looking for a weekend sweep, Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race winner Regan Smith, No. 51 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet SS, came home with a solid sixth-place finish. Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Imron Elite Chevrolet SS, rallied from early issues to finish 11th.  Gordon’s teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS, posted a 17th place finish and moved up one position in the standings to third.
 
David Ragan (Ford) scored the win and his teammate David Gilliland (Ford) was second. Carl Edwards (Ford) was third and Michael Waltrip (Toyota) was fourth to round out the top-five.
 
The series heads to Darlington Raceway next weekend for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Saturday night, May 11th.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
AMAZING RACING HERE AT TALLADEGA. WHAT WAS IT LIKE DURING THE LAST FEW LAPS FROM YOUR SEAT?
“Well, I thought that between the No. 99 (Carl Edwards) and the No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) and ourselves and the No. 51 (Regan Smith) that we would settle the race between us. And then, the No. 34 (David Regan) and the No. 38 (David Gilliland); I was racing the No. 38 earlier and he had plenty of speed, but they came up on us so fast that I could see Carl (Edwards) trying to block and he finally said there’s no real way to block the speed that they’re bringing. Those two had blown by and David had made it back to the checkered flag. So, it’s really cool for that team.  It was obviously a very good day for our Lowe’s Chevrolet. We had a very fast car and I felt like we were a player all day long, and that’s awesome.”
 
REGAN SMITH, NO. 51 HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SIXTH
TAKE US THROUGH THE LAST FEW LAPS THAT YOU SAW:
“Well the last few laps I didn’t see much it was pretty dark.  Happy for the guys on the Hendrickcars.com Chevy Phoenix Racing, it was a good day for them.  A little disappointed.  That last restart we were on the bottom and our car just didn’t work on the bottom at all for whatever reason.  It just kept stalling out.  I stayed down there to try and help Jimmie (Johnson) and give him a shove so we could get up there and battle it out.  I just couldn’t give him a big enough push to clear guys at the right time.  I kept getting stalled out by the cars on the outside.  Still a good day, still proud of the effort by the team and you know go to the next one.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 17TH
ON THE GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED RESTART AND FINISH:
“We were on that inside lane and weren’t going forward. We were going backwards. Everybody was going by on the outside, and when it’s three- and four-wide, you can’t really go up. I don’t know.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE RACING?
“I don’t really know. We didn’t have a car that I felt comfortable with. We just didn’t have a good car all day, but – I don’t know – I thought it was alright I guess. What did you guys think?

WAS THIS ONE OF THE LONGEST RACING DAYS THAT YOU CAN REMEMBER?
“Nah, I’m sure there’s been some longer ones.”

THE DAMAGE ON YOUR CAR, DID IT HAVE ANY IMPACT ON THE WAY IT RACED?
“No, I don’t think so. I think a couple guys that finished in front of us had worse damage than we did. They seemed to finish okay.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 30TH AFTER BEING INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 183
ON ACCIDENT:
“We just got hit from behind, and along for the ride we went.”
 
ARE YOU OKAY?
“Yes, lovely.”
 
JJ YELEY, NO. 36 GOLDEN CORRAL CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 31ST AFTER BEING INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 183
ON ACCIDENT:
“My car was really bad on the bottom all day long, so I just stayed to the outside. Everyone kept getting jammed up in the middle. I could carry a ton of momentum, and pushed the No. 51 (Reagan Smith) to the lead there. Thought I was going to take the lead there myself down the back straightaway. I just kind of stalled out there from a side draft from Reagan, and the No. 17 (Ricky Stenhouse) thought he could stick it on the outside there, and there wasn’t enough room. He hit me in the right rear, and got me lose, and sent me back across the field. Very disappointing. I definitely thought we had at least a shot at a top-five, but we were definitely going for the win.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 32ND AFTER BEING INVOLVED IN MULTI-LAP ACCIDENT ON LAP 183
ON THE ACCIDENT: “I am doing this interview to let everybody know I’m alright. They can build safer race cars, they can build safer walls. But they can’t get their heads out of their asses far enough to keep them on the race track, and that’s pretty disappointing. I wanted to make sure I get that point across. Y’all can figure out who ‘they’ is. That’s no way to end a race. Our car was much better than that. That’s just poor judgment in restarting the race, poor judgment … I mean; you got what you wanted, but poor judgment and running in the dark and running in the rain. That’s it, thank you.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 33RD AFTER BEING INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 183
WHAT HAPPENED FROM WHERE YOU WERE?
“I’m probably sure the most common answer is ‘I have no idea’. It happens out here; it is frustrating. I know this is plate racing, but…I’m watching the replay right now, so let me see what happened here. I was running the middle lane…yes, yes…that’s about what I saw. Ricky (Stenhouse, Jr.) was trying to make it four wide, and the No. 36 (JJ Yeley) came up to block him, and it turned him. Then the No. 78 (Kurt Busch) was spinning, I went high. and somebody came up and clipped me and put me in the wall. I’m not sure which car it was. The No. 32 (Terry Labonte) it looked like.  Honestly, it is just the way it goes. People forcing the issue. It is late in the race, I get it. But that’s what causes these accidents that makes speedway racing speedway racing.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AARON’S 499
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 5, 2013
 
On lap 125 of 188, the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway was red flagged due to rain. The following Team Chevy comments were captured during the delay:   
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – CURRENTLY RUNNING IN THE 9TH POSITION

EVERYONE WAS TRYING TO TIME THEIR MOVES WHERE TO GO. YOU AND JIMMIE (JOHNSON)
WERE LINED UP THERE WHAT HAPPENED?
“Well, some guys built a run on the outside and got in line.  A lot of people committed up there and just went around us.  I didn’t think the outside line was going to be able to do that, but enough people got up there.  They got some good cars going.  I don’t know that was our first little bit of experience up in the front.  I was trying to understand what the draft was doing and how it works.  We have been trying to come back from a little trouble earlier today. Things are looking pretty good.  We are going to get this thing restarted and get a shot at it.”
 
LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT TROUBLE EARLY ON.  YOU HAD A LEFT-REAR FLAT TIRE AND TORE UP SOME SHEET METAL THERE:
“Yeah, I was going around the outside of somebody and I don’t know if they got tight or whatever, but we got together.  It just tore the quarter panel off; the tire didn’t actually go flat.  The quarter panel rolled up on top of the tire and tore the tread off the tire, but the tire was still up.  Goodyear builds a good one.  I don’t know I just would not have room right there.  When we hit, I thought we had a flat; it kind of turned me down and inside there.  Luckily, we didn’t have any more trouble than that. Got it fixed up, the team did a good job sorting everything out and getting everything right.”
 
WHEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT HAPPENS SO EARLY DO YOU PUSH THE PANIC BUTTON?
“It’s a long race a lot of things can happen.  I’ve seen a lot of guys get in trouble down there in turns one and two.  So a lot of things can happen in this race.  We still have a lot of racing left.  We are going to get this thing restarted.  Things are clearing up real good and we are going to get back on the race track and get a shot at trying to get back up to the front and try to win this thing.”
 
WHEN WE DO GET RESTARTED DO YOU HAVE A CAR THAT CAN WIN?
“We can win, sure.  Everybody out there can win if you do the right things.  We definitely got a great engine; the car has been good all week.  The guys have been doing a great job.”
 
WHAT CAUSED THE DAMAGE ON THE LEFT-REAR OF THE CAR?
“I was just going around the outside with some guys and they just come up in the lane I was in as we were going by; and I don’t know whether they got tight or something on the inside of me, but they just hit the tire when we was coming by on the outside and knocked the air out of it or bent the quarter panel, really. The quarter panel rolled over and tore the tread off the tire. The tire was still low. But, we got it fixed. And we sat there and waited until we could get our Lucky Dog opportunity and that came when we had the big accident in (Turns) 1 and 2 and then we had a great strategy to get us out off pit road up in the top five. And things have been going better since.”
 
FROM A HANDLING PERSPECTIVE, HOW WAS THE CAR RUNNING AFTER YOUR CREW MADE ALL THOSE REPAIRS?
“Well, I think the car runs fine. I can’t really tell what affect the damage has on it because I didn’t really get a good idea how the car was prior to that. We’ve been trained pretty easily. We can’t really get as aggressive as we would like to with the car. But I don’t know if that’s just the way the package is working with the traffic with the draft. When we get trained on the outside by some guys, I see it happen to a lot of cars. So I don’t think it’s anything just particular to our car. It’s been interesting to see how the draft works and what you need to do to get up front. We’re still hoping to have the opportunity to get out there and see what we can do with that.”
 
IN GENERAL TERMS, HOW IS THE RACING HERE AT TALLADEGA? AND IS THAT WHAT YOU EXPECTED OR ARE THERE SOME THINGS THAT YOU’VE SEE HERE TODAY THAT ARE A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU EXPECTED?
“The package and the drafting is different than anything I’ve ever been around. The side-draft on these cars is just incredible. It’s something I wish wasn’t quite as strong because we can really run up beside each other and just really stop each car. And it really causes a delay in action I guess is the best way to describe it. There is still a lot to learn and still a lot of racing left. I think we saw what kind of racing we can expect if we can get this thing restarted to the finish.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – CURRENTLY RUNNING IN THE 10TH POSITION
WHO ARE YOU GOING TO WORK WITH WHEN WE GO BACK TO GREEN?
“Not sure, I really don’t know how it’s going to unfold.  I didn’t expect, I think I heard (Clint) Bowyer talking about when the rain was going to come.  I just didn’t expect for it to get crazy when it did, then it didn’t rain, then it got crazy again and it rained.  Our Haas Automation Chevrolet in the end is actually pretty good.  I don’t know if there is actually a pairing of driver’s or any kind of group run the outside or the inside.  I think it is more just a crap shoot right now.  I got a run on the outside, went to the inside, got the lead coming off of (turn) four.  I was third off of (turn) four and leader at the line, so anything can happen. It’s just a matter of how cars line up.  In the end everybody is out for themselves, but they are trying to go fast so they are trying to push.  Whoever gets the best run I think is going to have that run.”
 
YOU BLASTED TO THE LEAD AT LAP 56 AND THEN YOU LED TWO LAPS THEN DROPPED BACK.  DOES YOU CAR SEEM TO WORK BETTER AT ONE AREA OF THE RACE TRACK?
“I’m happy that we are 10th right now.  We have been keeping ourselves in contention.  When I got the lead I wanted to get the lead.  I wanted to learn a little bit for the later part of the race, which I didn’t know if it was going to be now or 60 laps from now.  Either way, I have been playing it safe and being conservative.  I think that has proven to be smart for the last three races for me.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SERTA CHEVROLET SS – CURRENTLY RUNNING IN THE 13TH POSITION
IF WE RESTART YOU ARE 13TH.  IF WE ARE DONE YOU ARE 13TH EITHER WAY.  CAN YOU GET THAT NO. 78 CHEVY UP TO THE FRONT IF WE GET GOING?
“Yeah, the draft has been an interesting game today.  However many cars are in one lane, the quantity of cars seems to edge out the guys that don’t have the amount of cars in their lane.  So, like when our group is up front running, we were running the low lane, then those guys got on the outside there.  They came up charging.  A lot of cars jumped on that top side.  I think we are in the mix.  The guys have been doing a great job on pit road, nice and smooth.  It’s interesting with the weather.  When they say ‘alright rain is coming’ you should just see the intensity pick up and how the game changes out on the track.”
 
TONY GIBSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – CURRENTLY RUNNING IN THE 14TH POSITION
HOW DID DANICA PATRICK AVOID THAT BIG CRASH ON LAP 42?
“We were watching and we were like, holy cow! The next thing you know is she came on the radio and she just aimed for the empty hole. I don’t know how she missed the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) there at the end. The No. 18 came back down across and she said she got loose when she got on the first apron; then when she got on the flat, she got real loose. How sh
e survived, I have no idea. But I’ll take it because usually we’re right in the middle of those things. The GoDaddy.com Chevy did good and our spotter did an awesome job. We’ve got a fast car today. We’ve just got to get up there and show it.”
 
REGAN SMITH, NO. 51 HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET SS – CURRENTLY RUNNING IN THE 25TH POSITION
YOU HAD TO PIT UNDER THAT CAUTION PERIOD.  IT LOOKED LIKE YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD A HEATING PROBLEM:
“Yeah, we picked up some debris on the previous run and pushed most of the water out of the car.  Fortunately for us the Hendrick motors are great and durable and held up when it didn’t have much water in it.  This was a good break for us.  We got to get in here, get the thing cooled back down and now we can go out and see if we can get the Hendrickcars.com Chevy back towards the front again.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AARON’S 499
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 3, 2013
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed the mindset it takes to win at Talladega, his thoughts on JR Motorsports having the opportunity to lead the NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings and many other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT COMING TO TALLADEGA AND YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND:
“Really have had a lot of success here, a lot of great runs.  Always feel confident when we come here that we are going to have a good car, going to know how to use it and I think we feel that way coming in this weekend.  We had a great run at Daytona.  Feel like as far as a company goes Hendrick Motorsports has done a great job with this car at these particular race tracks.  Our confidence level is real good, real high.  Just looking forward to getting a little practice in, make sure everything is working the way it is supposed to.  Probably won’t run a whole lot, but the weather here is going to be odd all weekend.  Hopefully, we get an opportunity to race on Sunday and go to Victory Lane.  We really feel like we have a good shot at it and feel like it is about that time for us to win one here at Talladega.”
 
NOW THAT YOU HAVE SEVERAL RACES UNDER YOUR BELT WITH THIS CAR ARE YOU ENJOYING THE CAR?  DO YOU LIKE DRIVING IT AND DO YOU HAVE A GREAT SENSE OF HOW THIS CAR WILL RACE AT ANOTHER PLATE RACE?
“I am enjoying the car.  We are learning as we go. It’s hard to have a real good idea of what to expect every week.  There is still so much to learn with this car that the competitive line is a moving target.  Someone will find speed and really force the rest of the sport to chase that mark down.  Then the ante just keeps getting raised it seems week after week.  So it’s still a lot of questions and stuff about the new car. I really enjoy it I think it’s been good for me and we have run well pretty much everywhere we have been. I think that I’m not sure exactly what to expect on Sunday as far as a style of event we are going to have, style of drafting we will have and the way that the race will play itself out.  I think the asphalt has aged a little bit hopefully it is getting slicker and slicker.  Makes actually racing around each other a lot more challenging than it has been lately at the plate tracks. That should really separate the men from the boys.”
 
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IS GOING TO BE THE TOUGHEST PART OF THE RACE ON SUNDAY?  ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT ANOTHER LAST LAP SCRUM LIKE WE HAVE HAD HERE A COUPLE OF TIMES LATELY?
“Yeah, that is something I think you worry about every week.  Especially at a short track like last week and you feel like that could happen at any short track race.  The mentality is the similar at the plate tracks.  Someone is going to have a position on somebody and not be willing to compromise and somebody is going to get turned around and bring about that green-white-checkered.  I don’t know everybody likes to see as far as race car drivers go. I mean I don’t know the fans probably love to see that kind of ending and see that kind of excitement.
 
“I’m certainly if I’m a fan I think that is one of the best ways to end the race is make it as exciting as possible with a green-white-checkered.  As far as some of the drivers are in position and putting themselves in position especially the plate tracks to make a move at a certain time that works out for them when the checkered flag is expected to fall.  Then when those plans kind of go out the window with a green-white-checkered you really have to scramble to put something else together because you are going to line up behind another guy or a different person or be side-by-side on the restart with someone else and the plan you had is not there anymore because there are different people involved.  It’s really a challenge at the plate tracks when the green-white-checkered start to happen to put something together and be able to trust the person you are trying to work with because they might not be a teammate of yours.  They might not drive the same manufacturer you do.  So it’s really a big challenge and something that can really turn the race upside down.”
 
LAST NIGHT YOU WERE WITH RICK HENDRICK AT THE HALL OF FAME.  WHAT DID THAT EXPERIENCE MEAN TO YOU?
“I was really moved by the speeches from all the guys that were inducted.  Particularly Dale Inman just his appreciation really showed through and the comments he made.  It meant a lot to him and you could tell that he had seen a lot.  You could tell he had been through just about as much as a guy could go through in this sport.  It was really neat to be able to see him get some kind of recognition and for him to get that opportunity to speak in front of everybody.  That was really emotional I think for all the guys involved and for the people who know these individuals.  It was inspiring to me.  Even some of the things that the drag racers were talking about, as far as his father being a man and that means more to him than the stats.  Some of the quotes and some of the lines in there really said it all and really encompassed the meaning of the night and the meaning of being inducted.  It was really inspiring to be there and to be able to listen to some of that stuff.”
 
WHEN YOU GET IN THE CAR HERE YOU JUST DON’T KNOW.  YOU MIGHT WIN, YOU MIGHT WRECK, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THAT THOUGHT PROCESS WHEN YOU KNOW IT GOING IN?
“I think that you go in still with this mentality ‘I’m going to put it together, I’m going to make the moves, the car is going to be there and we are going to make great pit stops.’ You still go in with the mentality that you are going to put together this formula that is going to win the race.  You are going to do all these things that equal victory.  Even though you know it’s really a lottery in some aspects.  You still go in there kind of turning a blind eye to that part of it.  Restrictor plate racing is a race where you can get swept up in something that is totally out of your control and totally random and at times ridiculous.  You can be so frustrated by how out of your hands that happens.  How there was nothing you could do to avoid that fate.  You’ve really got to be able to put that behind you fast.  You’ve got to be able to know that is a possibility, a real possibility much more than any other track.  When you are running a short track you can see trouble coming.  You can avoid trouble.  You run your car how you want to run it.  It’s hard to explain, but you have got to know that is right around the corner.  You have got to be able to accept that kind of result and move on and go to the next race the next weekend. At the same time you’ve got to feel like you are going to do everything right.  You have to have confidence in what you are doing. If you are not making confident choices or not having confidence in what you are doing on the race track sometimes that type of mentality and just driving with caution or driving without confidence sends you backwards or puts you in a mess that tends to be the one that takes you out. So you have got to make confident moves, make moves with assertiveness and conviction.  That sort of has a better result more times than not.”  
 
JR MOTORSPORTS HAS NEVER LED THE NATIONWIDE SERIES.  REGAN SMITH IS CURRENTLY ONE POINT OUT.  WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO HAVE THAT PROGRAM COMPETITIVE AGAIN AND WOULD THE SERIES LEAD MEAN ANYTHING AT THIS POINT?
“Yeah, I think it says a lot about the changes we made over the last several months to try to turn things around and get the program more competitive.  I th
ink it raises awareness to potential partners for us to help us afford to put a great competitive team on the race track.  It says a lot about Regan (Smith).  It says a lot about the employees that we have there and how competitive they are and how talented they are.  It says a lot.  I’m excited about that. I’m excited about their potential this year.  I told Regan, ‘you’ve got to minimize your mistakes to do well in the points over a long haul’.  If he does that he will have a great opportunity of winning the championship.  I feel like that a lot of those guys in that series are going to… some of them are young and they tend to make more mistakes than the experienced guys.  If he can just keep his head on his shoulders, he has a bit of a temper sometimes, if he can just kind of keep that in check he has a great chance.  He has got a good team around him.  They are going to get better I think because they just started working together at the start of this year.  The potential there is through the roof for those guys if they can just all work together and stay on a good positive path mentally with each other and work together well.  They have to go to the race track every week and try to do the best they can and stay out of trouble.”
 
YOU ARE SO GOOD AT RESTRICTOR PLATE RACES, HOW MUCH OF THIS IS THAT YOU ARE GOOD AT IT AND FEEL IT; AND HOW MUCH OF IT IS RE-STUDYING THE CHANGE IN THE CAR AND WATCHING TAPE AND THINKING ABOUT IT THIS YEAR AS OPPOSED TO OTHER YEARS?
“The one thing that’s been consistent with restrictor-plate racing since I started racing in NASCAR is that they constantly change the rules. They constantly change the plates and the spoilers. They’re taking away and adding things to the cars so the package itself is changing just about every year. And sometimes in the middle of the seasons, the package can change. And what that means is, every time you move something on that car on the body of that car, it’s going to draft differently.
 
“It’s going to react differently with cars around it. The weigh it pulls up on somebody and your ability to pull out and pass changes every time. So you really have to have an open mind and be willing to change how you’re going to race and how you’re going to draft because of the way the car reacts. I think that you find those things out in practice. We don’t really practice as much as we used to. As a sport, I think everybody has really backed off on how much they run in practice.
 
“I remember we used to come here in ’02 and ’04 and we used to run lap after lap after lap in the draft from the start of the day until the end of the day and just run every lap we could run. And we’d learn so much about how the car drafted and how it reacts and what works and what doesn’t work and what’s new as far as the package and how the draft works. But you don’t do as much of that anymore. The crew chiefs don’t really like you on the track as much anymore. The engine guys want to keep the miles down on the motors. For several different reasons, we just really don’t spend a lot of time out there in 20-car packs running lap after lap and learning too much. So, you’ve kind of got to learn in the race on the fly.
 
“But you’ve got to be open-minded about what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling in the car because the package has changed so much. You’ve got to be willing to change the style of the way you try to pass people and how you put together passes and how aggressive you are out there.”
 
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL PLANS FOR THE UPCOMING MOTHER’S DAY?
“Yeah, we’re going to cook a brisket together. I just started. I bought Myron Mixon’s book, that guy from the show, BBQ Pitmasters, and I’m trying to learn how to barbeque (laughter). So we’re going to cook us a brisket and see how that goes. So, yeah, that’s going to be Mother’s Day for me. She lives 100 yards from me. We took her to lunch this week. I like sushi a lot and I just got her to where she’ll eat some of that. So we went and took her to lunch this week and got a haircut and just typical, normal stuff.”
 
LAST TIME WE WERE HERE YOU WERE PRETTY ANGRY ABOUT THE RACING IN GENERAL.  YOU KNOW THE POSSIBILITY OF A CRASH IS THERE. WHEN YOU ROLL IN HERE, DO YOU HAVE A SENSE OF DREAD? ARE YOU APPREHENSIVE ABOUT WHAT COULD HAPPEN?
“Well, I hate to put the blame on the concussion, but the feeling that I had physically when I got out of the car, I knew that I had set myself back somehow with the concussion thing. And so I was really angry with that because I had spent four weeks to get to where I could feel like I was great. And then now I’m going to take two steps back and have to do all that again. I was really, really mad that I couldn’t just get through that wreck and not have that happen.
 
“I don’t care if I’m in the crash and out of the race, but to get out of the car and feel concussed and feel like oh shoot man, now I’ve got to go through the process again and you’re not supposed to have them close together and all this stuff so you just have all kinds of worry running through your mind. It had me really, really angry and not myself, obviously. So, I’ve regretted that. I’ve regretted making those comments and I think I overreacted and overstated my feelings quite a bit. It’s frustrating when you run around and we spend all day running 495 miles and then crash in the last five (miles). The whole field crashes. It’s really frustrating to sort of accept that as what I decided to do today. I got up Sunday morning and decided to run 495 miles to crash in the last five miles and now I’m going to go home, and I’m all right with that. That’s hard to wrap your brain around, and I’m okay with it and everything’s cool. But I think I did over-react a little bit and just was real emotional. I think about feeling concussed. On Sunday morning I’m like man, I feel great and just 100 percent myself and I was just so happy to have that feeling and feel like I could get back on track and try to do well in the Chase and put that test crash behind me and get all that in the back of my mind and not worry about it ever again, and now I wasn’t the case after that race.
 
“But I don’t think about Talladega when I come here for a race such as this weekend, in a bad way. I think about it as a place where I’ve done well. I think about it as a place where we need to win and we can win. I know what I need to do to win at places like this and we can make it a good weekend. And if I drive the way I need to drive, I’m not in position to be in a wreck. I’m up front where I’m supposed to be. That’s my feeling inside is I’m supposed to be up front. And then, I get swept-up in a crash running 18th. I didn’t do something right. And I put myself in that position at some point in the race. So, if I do everything I need to do, then I won’t have to worry about being swept-up in the last lap crashes and we can go into Victory Lane and celebrate. That’s what I think about when I preparing to come here.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AARON’S 499
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 3, 2013
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed racing at Talladega, why he has a good attitude about restrictor plate racing, sponsorship and other topics. Full transcript:
 
TELL US ABOUT THE BUDWEISER MOBILE 360 APP:
“The new 360 App is pretty cool. Obviously it gives you a 360 degree view of the inside of the car. We had cameras hanging off the left side of the car. I think we freaked the guys out that were mounting the cameras on the car when it ran at 190 miles-an-hour on the first lap. I don’t know how much their camera cost; they were happy with the footage, but scared to-death it was going to fly off the car. It was fun. I always like to do things that are authentic. When you drive the car at full-speed, and you take a real race car. That was kind of my requirement I wanted to do the deal, and Budweiser spending the money to do something unique for the fans. Go to the Budweiser 360 App and check it out.”
 
TALK ABOUT BEING AT TALLADEGA THIS WEEKEND:
“It’s one of those deals where the last few times, really the last race, I thought coming to the checkered flag ‘Man, by the time we get to the start/finish line, we’re going to have a chance to win the race’.  I think we were running third; never made it off of turn four.  You just kind of go through cycles like. We won the qualifying race and Shootout (at Daytona International Speedway in February, 2013) this year. Points races haven’t been kind to us over the last few (superspeedway) races, but you keep doing the same things. You try to put yourself in position. Sometimes you miss the wrecks, and sometimes you don’t. I enjoy the restrictor plate style racing. Interested to see if there is any difference from Daytona to here as to how the cars draft, and drive, and handle – but that won’t be that big of a deal at this particular track. We’ll go practice, and see how the cars are and go from there.”
 
COMING OFF THE RICHMOND WIN. HOW MUCH FEEL GOOD AND CONFIDENCE TRANSFERS TO HERE?
“Obviously very different. I think a win is obviously a good fix for…whether you’ve had good runs; bad runs; it gives that instant boost. All the guys are pumped up. Everybody is excited to be at the race track. There’s really nothing you can take from last week to this week, other than some positive momentum. There is a W in the win column, and everything’s going okay, but it’s just two totally different animals.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS TODAY’S PRACTICE GOING TO BE? WILL YOU DO CLOSE DRAFTING DURING PRACTICE?
“I think the weather will have more of influence on that for tomorrow, than probably anything. I think everybody’s half-way convinced that today’s practices will line-up will line-up the cars for Sunday’s race. So, I think that race in Daytona kind of eased everybody’s minds just for the fact that we have more cars now. People have had time to build more cars. At Daytona, we were lacking some parts, and time was really the biggest thing that we lacked. I think everybody has had some time to put their cars back together, and put more cars together. I think you want to go out and practice, and get the best speed you can for qualifying. Possibly.”
 
HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THE PROSPECT AND THE CONCERN FOR THE UNKNOWN HERE? “My approach to these types of races has always been just you don’t worry about the things you can’t control which is a whole lot here. You go out, and go in with a mindset of that I enjoy restrictor plate racing.  That unknown is something that is intriguing to me to know that you can go somewhere, and you can race all day.  I know that a lot of people might think that you are crazy for thinking like it’s fun. But it is fun. I know that the end result doesn’t look like it is fun; it is a lot of work for the guys that fix the car. It’s dangerous. But, that thought of being able to push and shove kind of like you are at the go kart track with your buddies. That is really how you would race; especially at the end. You are pushing whoever is in front of you, no matter what color, what brand, what driver, who you hate, who you don’t hate; you are pushing the guy in front of you to try to make the be position at the finish that you can.  Sometimes you push too hard; sometimes somebody else pushes too hard and you are in there mess, and you get out and go home. You have to have that….for me, I’ve always just tried to approach it that I don’t care attitude, and just do whatever you have to do to try to put yourself in position. And, when you leave here, if you wreck, you can’t be mad. It’s part of the game.”
 
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL PLANS FOR MOTHER’S DAY NOW THAT DELANA IS A MOM? HOW MUCH OF A HELP WAS YOUR OWN MOM TO GET YOU WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?
“My biggest plan is to not screw up Sunday in the first year.  You don’t want to screw up the first Mother’s Day. My main objective is to make sure that you have the gift pre-week, and don’t forget to hand it out on Sunday. Obviously, my Mom has always been there. Always been supportive of everything I do. That is something you don’t want to forget as well. You want to make sure you don’t forget on either front.”
 
WILL SUNDAY’S RACE BE MOSTLY A FEELING-OUT PROCESS FOR THE FIRST HALF AS GUYS FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH THESE CAR, AND KNOWING AT DAYTONA,  YOU DIDN’T GET A LOT OF PACK STUFF?
“I don’t envision it being a lot different. We ran four Cup races in Daytona, so you kind of know what you have. The track is different. There will be the opportunity to have some bigger packs just because of the style of the race track, and there is more room to maneuver, and what affect, and how big that affect is on this style of racing is obviously yet to be determined. Honestly in my mind, I don’t envision it being a whole lot different.”
 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN DAYTONA EITHER BY RACING OR WATCHING THAT WILL HELP YOU HERE WITH THIS CAR?
“Winning is a lot more fun than wrecking. (SMILES) That is what I learned. We won the whole week, and wrecked on Sunday. But, that’s just kind of the way it goes. I think it is all going to be the same here.”
 
WHAT TWEAKS WOULD YOU MAKE TO THE GEN SIX CAR IF YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY IN TERMS OF AERO PACKAGE? WHAT WOULD YOU ASK FOR?
“I think the car has been very competitive as we have gone through the weeks. This will be our second event with the superspeedway stuff. It’s easier to get engaged on the downforce stuff when you are racing it every week. We’ve had several really good races, and finishes. Man, I got out of owning cars, and trucks and all those things, and trying to play the politics of it. I’ve learned to just drive the things, and let them figure out the rules and adapt to them the best we can.”
 
IS BELL HELICOPTER GOING TO BE ON THE CAR AGAIN?
“We had Bad Boy Buggies the week before (Richmond) at Kansas. Bell Helicopter was on last week. Cesna is a partner of our throughout the whole season. I know Bad Boy Buggies will be back on the car in the Nationwide Series as we go through the rest of the year.”
 
HOW MUCH OF YOUR RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACK SUCCESS TO YOU ATTRIBUTE TO YOU ATTITUDE OF KNOWING WHAT CAN HAPPEN AND BEING PREPARED FOR THE THINGS YOU CAN’T CONTROL?
“You see a lot of guys drive themselves crazy about having to come to Talladega, and complaining about what they think is right, or what they think is wrong. It is just a race. It really is. You know what is going to happen coming into the race. I’ve been through a lot of different styles of racing here. I’ve been in races with no cautions here; I’ve run one race with no cautions here back in the day. We’ve run races that are caution-filled and wrecks all over the place. We’ve wrecked on the first lap; last lap; middle
laps. You just never really know what to expect, so you just….  I think that mindset is kind of an RCR (Richard Childress Racing) mindset that was installed in the beginning, when I started restrictor plate racing. I think that Richard (Childress) has never been one to get on me about wrecking cars at the speedways. He knows the deal. He’s raced the cars. He knows the position that you get put in as a driver. You just have to go for. You have to be smart about it, but you have to be in position at the end of the race. You have to take some chances, and sometimes those chances pay off, and sometimes they don’t.  Sometimes you have absolutely nothing to do with what happens, and you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. The other side of that is you can drive through the biggest wreck in the world, and not have a scratch on your car. It’s definitely better to have a good mindset about it, and not let yourself get completely torn-up about what you would change and how you would change it. This is a part of NASCAR racing, and it has been for a long time.  You might as well just enjoy it.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AARON’S 499
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 3, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 IMRON ELITE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway, and discussed superspeedway racing, rain in the forecast and other topics. Full transcript:
 
HOW WILL YOU APPROACH PRACTICE WITH RAIN IN THE FORECAST?
“Obviously, we are going to put a lot of effort into going fast in this practice session, which means you’re going to have to work the draft. We want to make sure that’s we’re starting up front. It’s not crucial here, but I think it’s important and with what we learned in Daytona, I think track position is more important these days at a restrictor plate race than they used to be.”
 
DOES THE RAIN MESS WITH YOUR MINDSET?
“Honestly, if we didn’t practice at all it wouldn’t even affect my mindset. I don’t think we’re going to learn a lot in practice so this is actually kind of exciting that we’ll actually be able to go out there with a purpose for a potential starting position for tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.”
 
ON STARTING POSITIONS:
“I certainly would like to qualify. I think our team has an excellent shot at being on the front row or pole. We typically qualify well here. I would like to see us qualify and we can’t be guaranteed that the weather is going to come and rain this thing out tomorrow. We’ll be prepared for both scenarios.”
 
WILL THE HENDRICK CARS RUN TOGETHER IN PRACTICE?
“We’re going to consider all options, but we’re actively going to work the draft to try to go fast. If that’s what’s going to help us start up front tomorrow then we’ll do that. Typically, we wouldn’t worry about that. Typically, we would just go out there and see how the car is in the middle of the draft and look at our temps, look at our handling and look at the options of pushing or not pushing, being pushed and all those things. We’ll still do some of that, but we’re also going to try to put up a fast number.”
 
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF TRACK POSITION:
“It was hard to pass in Daytona and it’s not that it’s just hard to pass, it’s that nobody wanted to get out of line. Everybody kind of protected their position until those crucial moments in the closing laps. I think that there could be some more of that this weekend and I made some mistakes by getting a little bit over-confident that we could make some moves with some other cars and drive to the front. Until we see that happen here, I think it’s going to be more of start up front, try to have good, solid pit stops and strategy and stay up front and go after it in the closing laps.”
 
IS THERE ANY REASON THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT THAN DAYTONA?
“No. The only thing that is different is this is a wider race track. You don’t have to worry about handling where handling was a little bit of an issue at Daytona. You don’t have to worry about that at all here. You might be able to push a little bit more aggressively and we’ll look at the temps, but I think it’s going to be just as challenging and difficult to jump out of line and to get a line formed on that inside to move up there. It certainly could happen and it could have happened at Daytona, it just didn’t seem like enough guys really wanted to get organized to do it. They were pretty committed to stay in that outside lane so it made it very challenging and I would think you are going to see a lot more of the same here.”
 
HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE UNKNOWN THAT CAN HAPPEN AT DAYTONA?
“This car this year, we’ve experienced a lot of that, not just at Talladega or Daytona, but a lot of tracks. I think that we go into it trying to utilize our past experience, try to utilize what we’ve learned so far this year and then always try to look ahead at what we feel like we could gain and how we could get better. I think that here at Talladega, the only unknown is when that big wreck is going to happen and what’s going to cause it and sometimes it happens when you least expect it, but you can be assured that you get a full group of cars down to the closing laps of this race and it’s going to happen. It’s just whether or not you get caught up in it or not. Last time I was here I got very fortunate, they were slamming and banging and cars flying all over the place and we were able to sneak by on the apron in three and four and come out in second or third.”
 
HOW DO YOU COMPARE YOUR MINDSET NOW AT TALLADEGA COMPARED TO WHEN YOU STARTED RACING HERE?
“The first time I came here, I came with moderate confidence because of our success at Daytona that year. We ran up front. I don’t remember how we ended up here in that first race, but you definitely have to treat this slightly different than Daytona because it is bigger, wider, faster and the drafting is slightly different. What moves you’re able to make as a driver, just because of the security the car has here is a little bit different. Over the years, certainly that confidence is built because of our success, but at the same time the cars have changed, packages have changed, how you win at Talladega has changed. We were close a couple years ago and hopefully we can be smart and make some good moves and get ourselves back in a position. All you want at a track like this is to have yourself in position to be able to make some of those moves and hope that your momentum carries and you get a good finish and maybe even a win.”
 
HOW DOES THE GEN-6 CAR IMPACT THESE RACES?
“It’s a different aero package and this car has a lot of drag, but a lot of down force in it. It’s a little bit different in the draft. We saw in Daytona where you could upset the cars a little bit more when you got up close to them and outside of them. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that too much here, but still it’s something to think about. You can really play with the side draft a lot more here at this track with this car and so it’s certainly different than what we had last year.”
 
ON THE INDUCTION CEREMONY LAST NIGHT:
“Oh my God that was so cool. I haven’t been to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame event in a few years. It was very special to be there with Rick (Hendrick) and to see him honored like that. I know how much effort he and his organization have put into this sport and I know how much it means to Rick to be honored like that and having all four drivers and crew chiefs and many others that have been a part of that success over the years there last night meant the world to Rick. He did an awesome job as usual, very classy. It was also very cool to hear the other stories with Dale Inman and Richard Petty and Don Schumacher, Rusty (Wallace), it was a great event I thought.”
 
ON INCREASED SPEEDS IMPACTING RACING THIS SEASON, SPECIFICALLY AT INDIANAPOLIS DURING THE TIRE TEST:
“The speeds were up because Goodyear, it’s a tire test. They’re trying different combinations and different tires. The speeds won’t be that fast because that tire didn’t really pan out. It just didn’t lay the rubber that we were hoping that it would lay so it had a lot of grip, was super fast. We showed up second day, low temps on the track early in the morning and we busted off some crazy laps. Then it wasn’t short after that we went back to the Indy tire that we’ve run in the past. It’s a great tire, but it definitely doesn’t have as much grip. Speeds are going to be significantly less than what those were that we were putting out there. Just because it was cool to go that fast. I thought it was awesome. To have a car stick like that, not even in qualifying trim was to me a great experience at Indy. I wanted to talk about it and so did other drivers. There’s no doubt that the faster you go through the corners, the bigger hole you punch in the air, the more it’s going to impact the racing. We need wide race tracks where we can get multiple grooves
and we can search around the race track to be able to make that work. That’s just been evolution. That is just how the sport has evolved over the last 50 years. That’s where we’re at and that is where the Gen-6 car is and I think we have had some great races and certainly plenty of challenges. You do not want to be in the wake of that car. You have to get away from it. Yet when you’re away from it, it sticks really good so it’s got a lot of comfort, gives the drivers a great feel of confidence and allows us to push a little harder.”
 
WHO WOULD YOU PICK AS THREE DRIVERS FOR A FANTASY TEAM FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE?  “Oh my gosh, active drivers for the All-Star race. You can’t go wrong with Jimmie Johnson. Those guys have been so good in that race. The way that Matt Kenseth is running this year, those guys are just so, so strong. I’m trying to think who else has really been, I think maybe it would come down between a Kyle Busch or a Brad Keselowski, those guys have just been solid, fast and I would probably lean towards Kyle just because of his aggressiveness and abilities to do such a good job on restarts in those first couple laps. That’s when that race is won in my opinion.”
 
HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO SECURITY AT RACE TRACKS AND SURROUNDINGS IN GENERAL?
“I think you go through different times. I’ve been in this sport a long time and so when I first came into the sport, you put a moderate amount of energy and a team does into the safety of the cars. You’re main focus is how I can make this car go fast. How do I get it to the end? That’s is just your primary focus. Then some incidents happen where safety becomes a top priority and you put a lot more energy into that. I see the same thing with the tracks. They’re always trying to make sure everybody is safe, but sometimes things happen that you don’t really anticipate whether it’s what happened with (Denny) Hamlin, with me in a similar scenario in Vegas or what happened in Daytona. I think everybody needs to understand that these cars are traveling 200-plus miles per hour, safety is something that is a big focus, but there’s still things that you can’t prepare for. I think they’ve done a great job looking at the Daytona incident and that was one of those incidents where that car hit an area of that fence that just, it’s like an one-in-a-million chance of that happening. I think those are the things sometimes that are hard to foresee that you wish you could, what about that one-in-a-million? How could you possibly prepare and get ahead of that and be proactive rather than reactive. The nice thing is that I know the speedway here has made sure and all the speedways have looked at those crossover gates making sure that area does not give way in an impact if that were to happen again. Cars are going to get airborne, I think the cars are far better these days. They are going to get airborne, parts are going to fly off if they get into the fence, but I think most of the time it’s going to be minimal debris that gets put up into the grandstands as well as minimal injuries to the drivers, but it’s still possible.”
 
ON TRACK SECURITY:
“You know we had Monica Seles to a race, oh my gosh, 18 years ago as guest of DuPont and to me that was the first time we were really focused on it because it was after her incident that happened on the court. I know we were all conscious of her coming into our series where there is very minimal security when it comes to the fans access because that’s part of our sport. I wanted to make sure she was comfortable. She handled it well, but she was pretty shocked at how interactive we are within the garage area with the fans. I’ll be honest with you, not much has changed over the years. That’s just something we’ve come to expect and I’ve never felt threatened ever. I’ve had great interactions with the fans, doesn’t mean they always say or do the things that you hope for, but I’ve never felt unsafe. It’s one of those things that we’ve got to continue to keep that uniqueness and that accessibility. You just hope that there’s not one person out there that ruins that for everybody else.”
 
AT WHAT POINT IS IT DANGEROUS FOR AN INJURED DRIVER TO COMPETE?
“I think you have to look at your injuries. You have to put faith in your doctors and listen to them, they are the experts. Then you have to understand where you’re at in your career. If you have many, many years ahead of you then you have a bright future and you have a team that supports you to get through that healing process then you need to take your time and think long term. If you’re somebody that is struggling to keep that ride, they are going to push the limits more and take that risk. Life in general is just risk versus reward. As a race car driver, we don’t think of ourselves any more risky out there than somebody else that has a nine-to-five job. It’s just the way our minds work. You have to take yourself out of that and understand what the dangers are, what the risks are and if you re-injure yourself, can that be life-threatening or something that ends your career. I think for me, I’m later in my career and have a family and so an injury like what Denny (Hamlin) went through, I don’t know. I might not come back from that just because, is it worth it? For Denny, I think it’s worth it for him to really take his time and do it right. What he’s doing this weekend, to me that makes sense. It’s Talladega, there’s ways to avoid those incidents. I’ll be interested to see if he gets out or stays in there. If I know Denny he’s going to have a hard time getting out. Sounds like he is ready to go.”
 
ON PERSPECTIVE OF INJURIES THAT COULD TAKE YOU AWAY FROM YOUR FAMILY:  “My perspective on what kind of risks I’m going to take when I know what’s laying in front of me. It doesn’t change the risk that I’m going to take out there on the race track or how hard I’m going to push or whatever it takes to win races. That’s not on my mind when I’m out there, but when incidents happen and you go through certain injuries and stuff like that, yeah, you’re family definitely plays an important role because they are very important to you. You start to realize where the real priorities are and when I’m at the race track my priority is to win. If there is something that’s going to take me away from spending quality time with my family 10, 20 years from now, that’s something I would weigh in any decision I make.”
 
HOW DO YOU TREAT THE ALL-STAR RACE?
“I think we push hard to try to win every race. The difference is that you have a shorter amount of laps. You know that it’s kind of a win or nothing scenario and that’s not the case on the other weekends. Again, going back to the risk versus reward thing, it’s sort of a win or nothing maybe top-two or three, other than that it really doesn’t lend itself to battling over the top to try to get fifth or sixth or eighth or something like that. I’ve always approached it as being aggressive, I love the energy from the crowd and the whole event. We try to push hard whether it be in practice or qualifying just to get that car to be really, really strong especially over a 10 or 15 lap run because that seems to be where you can really make up positions and put yourself in position to win.”
 
WOULD YOU DO THE SAME THING DENNY HAMLIN IS DOING THIS WEEKEND?
“I probably would take a little longer vacation. He’s young, he’s got so many years ahead of him. I probably would be more patient with it just because what do I have to gain? I’ve had the fortune of winning four championships, sure I would like to win more, but he’s not won a championship. He has so many race wins ahead of him. I think he’s seen how good his team is this year and I think that makes it more challenging for a guy in his position than it would be for me to wait it out.”
 
DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO RETURNING TO DARLINGTON?
“I am, I always look forward to going to Darli
ngton. It’s a great track, it’s fast and exciting. It’s not the same track it used to be 10 years ago, but it’s still one of those tracks where you have to push hard, be patient. We’ve run good there the last couple times so I’m looking forward to it.”
 

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDAY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed the expectations coming into Talladega after a successful run in Daytona, the possibility of getting the Fan Vote for the All-Star race and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
FIRST PLATE RACE SINCE DAYTONA, DO EXPECTATIONS SPIKE ALL OVER AGAIN?   
“I suppose based on Daytona and how fast this car is, which is the same car we ran at Daytona, and how the race went.  I suppose it’s fair to say that there should be a little spike in expectation, but you also have to take into consideration on these big speedways that there is a whole lot of luck that comes into it.  Everything has got to be clean.  The stops have to be good.  You have to stay in the pack no issues, not getting caught up in an accident.  From what I remember last year even at Talladega it was more of a pack race than Daytona even.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.  Obviously, this is a wider track than Daytona so when we start getting four-wide that is when stuff starts to get a little exciting.  We will just have to hope that we are in the right place at the right time.”
 
SHOULD YOU BE THERE AROUND THE LAST LAP, DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM THAT LAST LAP AT DAYTONA THAT WOULD HELP YOU SWIM WITH THE SHARKS ANY BETTER?
“I learned that if I just stay in line and keep my foot down and don’t try and come up with any kind of plan that you are kind of a sitting duck.  I mean I talked to Tony (Stewart) after the race and I talked to Jimmie (Johnson) after the race too.  I think Tony pointed it out most specifically is just that there was probably more to lose in third than there was to gain. By pulling out and trying something I could have just as easily ended up 15th or so back, again right place at the right time with the right opportunity ahead of you. I have a better idea of what it is going to take, but it’s also circumstantial.  Jimmie told me after the race he said ‘look I didn’t have a plan.  The two times I’ve won now I didn’t have any plan going into the last lap.’ That is where the luck comes in and right place at the right time.”
 
WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL ON THE SUPERSPEEDWAYS?
“I don’t know if the confidence level shifts a tremendous amount as much as the comfort level does.  Just being comfortable on these big speedways and comfortable with this pack style racing that I was so used to in IndyCar on the ovals.  Just having a feel for it, it is something that I probably caught on to quicker than anything in stock car racing.  I guess I show up here and it’s just a little bit more comfortable.”
 
WHAT DO YOU HOPE DAYTONA DID FOR YOU IN TERMS OF PEOPLE’S CONFIDENCE RUNNING WITH YOU AND AROUND YOU?
“Anytime you run at the front and you run with good drivers you hope that they just have good experiences and they think nice things and they feel more comfortable around me.  They think less about me probably to be honest as far as just thinking about it other than worrying about me being fast.  I mean that is the best kind of thinking you can have.”
 
IS THE NATIONWIDE RACE GOING TO HELP ON SATURDAY AND MIGHT YOU MAKE ANY MOVES THAT BE GEARED TOWARD SOME EXPERIMENTATION FOR SUNDAY?
“Yeah, the Nationwide race that is why we are doing it.  We are doing it to try to win and we are doing it to get a little bit more practice in before the big day on Sunday.  There is going to be more bump drafting in the Nationwide race, but I think that everything is happening really fast in the Nationwide race because you have such shifts in speed with bump drafting and drafting. I feel like it kind of just sharpens your instincts up and sharpens you up out on the track and gets you ready for and more prepared for the next day.”
 
HOW COMFORTABLE WERE YOU ON THE ICE IN CHICAGO?
“I was wearing heels when I arrived to the Blackhawks game (Hockey).  At the last second I intelligently grabbed a pair of flats so I’m glad I did that because knowing that I had to go… I didn’t really understand what I was going to have to do out there.  When I realized I was going to be like really trying to score and hit the puck into the goal I thought you know what I better give myself the best chance possible.  I put those flats on and tried a couple of shots in the back just on concrete floor.  They gave me some advice on how to hit it and luckily that very first one went in.  I’m glad they didn’t show the rest of them because they didn’t look so pretty.”
 
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE ALL-STAR RACE WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR CHANCES ARE OF GETTING THE FAN VOTE?
“I don’t know.  I think about it from a fans perspective and I think that you want the driver that you cheer for to be out there of course, but you want a good race.  Hopefully, they think of me when they think of those two.  We always have the opportunity to race in as well.  We are going to be working really hard over the next month on our mile and a half car and we need to. Let’s hope it all comes together by the All-Star race.”
 
ON THE VIDEO FOR FAN VOTING FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE WITH RICKY STENHOUSE:
“We thought that was fun. Ricky (Stenhouse) and I shot that little video. I would love to be in the race and I think more than anything you want to entertain your fans of course. I hope I can be in the race to do that. Also, I want to perform well in the Coke 600 and racing in the All-Star race would definitely help that.”
 
HOW DID THE VIDEO COME ABOUT?
“I think it was between Go Daddy and Sprint and them all making that happen. In fact Joe (Crowley, PR) coming up with the script and thought it was a clever little script so we shot it in a matter of about 20 minutes and it aired. Obviously, we both want to be in the race and to try to create a little bit of buzz to get people to go vote and have some fun with it.”
 
WAS IT DIFFERENT DOING THE VIDEO AS A COUPLE?
“I suppose. We’ve done stuff on camera before. We shot stuff for Nationwide and some other things together. It wasn’t the first time, but I think it’s clever and cute for the both of us. I think I would vote for him, I like watching Ricky (Stenhouse) race.”
 
WHAT IS THE MENTAL APPROACH AT A TRACK LIKE TALLADEGA OR DAYTONA?
“You just have to hope and pray that you’re in the right place at the right time as I’ve said. You have to be smart enough to know when you’re putting yourself in a bad situation and when you need to force the issue. That’s the exciting part. As a fan, I’ve watched plenty of these speedway races in Cup and I want to watch to see how it plays out too and I think that’s part of the excitement of these tracks is that you’re not sure how it’s going to play out. There can be some new players up front and there can be some real shuffling of the field and that’s what makes it exciting to watch is you just have to watch it to see how it plays out.”
 
HOW HAS TONY STEWART BEEN DEALING WITH THE FRUSTRATIONS THIS SEASON?
“Tony (Stewart) is obviously an incredible driver. They’ve had tons of success as a team, Stewart Haas has and I think that when things aren’t going as you hope they would go, it’s frustrating and you just have to figure out what it’s going to take to turn that around. I know that he’s been around the shop more and trying to figure those things out because obviously he wants to run well as a team, but he wants to run well himself. I’m sure that all that will help and as I’ve said, we’ve got a lot of tests lined up for the next month. It’s just a matter of stumbling on to the right balance of setups so you can go to these mile-and-a-halves and unload close and then make it better instead of, at least in my situation, not sure exactly what platform you should be run
ning and what setup you should be running. We just need to get closer on that and arrive at the track with a closer setup.”
 
DO YOU HAVE CONCERN ABOUT HOW RAIN MAY IMPACT PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING?
“Well from what I’ve heard practice times are going to line-up the field for the Cup race, that is what we were inside talking about needing to get a draft and put a big number up on the board as possible. I said, ‘Okay, everybody is going to be trying to do that.’ You’re probably going to see a lot of cars on the track, obviously you want to get out there in case it rains and you want to give yourself opportunities to get that big draft run where you can put a big time up. It’s a little bit of a unique scenario on these speedways because you get so much faster when you catch up to a big pack. It will at least make practice interesting on these speedways, which can probably be pretty boring sometimes.”
 
ARE YOU ANY MORE COMFORTABLE AT DARLINGTON?
“Last year I ran there in the Cup race, it was one of the, well it was basically my first Cup race really. I ran Daytona, but Darlington was getting thrown into the deep end. That was the purpose of it was to get seat time so I’m not thinking or dreading going there next weekend and worrying about what that’s going to look like for me and how it’s going to feel. I have an idea now of how it is going to feel and what needs to be done.”
 
WHO WOULD YOU WANT YOUR THREE CAR FANTASY TEAM TO BE IN THE ALL-STAR RACE?  “Three car fantasy team for the All-Star race, I think as far as going out to win the race I think Tony (Stewart) would be a good one. I feel like he always seems to do well in these one off races in particular. I think Tony, probably Jimmie (Johnson) of course and Kyle (Busch). I would say they would be pretty good picks.”

2014 Corvette Stingray to Pace 97th Indianapolis 500
INDIANAPOLIS – The all-new, seventh-generation 2014 Corvette Stingray will serve as the Indianapolis 500 Pace Car, leading the field to green at the start of the 97th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” on Sunday, May 26, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It marks a record 12th time the Corvette has served as the Pace Car, starting in 1978.
“It is an honor to help inaugurate the all-new Corvette Stingray at the hallowed Brickyard and further the legacy between Chevrolet and the Indianapolis 500,” said Jim Campbell, GM vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “The 2014 Corvette Stingray’s performance was influenced by racing, making this prestigious assignment even more fitting.”
Along with Chevrolet’s return in 2012 as an engine supplier, the Corvette Stingray Pace Car extends a legacy at the Brickyard that dates to the racetrack’s early days.
“Chevrolet is a great partner of the Speedway,” said Jeff Belskus, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation president and chief executive officer. “That connection is heightened this year with the next-generation Corvette in front of a very talented field of racers.”
Decked out in Laguna Blue Tintcoat with official Indianapolis 500 graphics on the doors, the   Corvette Stingray Pace Car differs from production models with only track-mandated safety features and strobe lights. No powertrain upgrades are required to run in front of the IndyCar pack, thanks to its all-new 6.2L LT1 engine, which features advanced technologies including direct fuel injection, continuously variable valve timing and Active Fuel Management (cylinder deactivation). They help produce an estimated 450 horsepower more efficiently.
The 2014 Corvette Stingray coupe goes on sale this fall, with a convertible model – featuring a fully electronic top that can be operated remotely with the key fob – coming a few months later. Vehicle highlights include:
·         An interior that offers genuine carbon fiber and aluminum trim, hand-wrapped leather materials, dual eight-inch configurable driver/infotainment screens, and two new seat choices – each featuring a lightweight magnesium frame for exceptional support
·         Advanced driver technologies, including a five-position Drive Mode Selector that tailors 12 vehicle attributes to fit the driver’s environment and a new seven-speed manual transmission with Active Rev Matching that anticipates gear selections and matches engine speed for perfect shifts every time
·         Lightweight materials, including a carbon fiber hood and removable carbon fiber roof panel on coupes; composite fenders, doors and rear quarter panels; carbon-nano composite underbody panels and a new aluminum frame help shift weight rearward for an optimal 50/50 weight balance that supports a world-class power-to-weight ratio
·         A sculpted exterior featuring advanced high-intensity discharge and light-emitting diode lighting and racing-proven aerodynamics that balance low drag for efficiency and performance elements for improved stability and track capability
·         Track-oriented Z51 Performance Package, including an electronic limited-slip differential; dry-sump oiling system; integral brake, differential and transmission cooling; as well as a unique aero package that further improves high-speed stability.
The Corvette Pace Car features the track-capable Z51 package.
Chevrolet and the Indianapolis 500
Chevrolet has a long shared history with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 and the IZOD IndyCar Series. Chevrolet was founded in 1911, the year of the inaugural 500-mile race, and the Chevrolet brothers – company co-founder Louis, Arthur and Gaston – all competed in early Indy 500 races. Arthur Chevrolet competed in the 1911 race and Gaston Chevrolet won it in 1920.
Chevrolet competed in Indy-style competition as an engine manufacturer in 1986-93 and 2002-05 with V-8 engines, and returned in 2012 with the Chevrolet IndyCar twin-turbo V-6 engine with direct injection. In that time, Chevrolet won 118 IndyCar races, powered seven driver series champions and scored seven Indianapolis 500 victories.
2013 marks the 24th time a Chevrolet has served as the official Pace Car of the Indianapolis 500, more than any other brand, dating to 1948 with a Chevrolet Fleetmaster. Camaro has served in the role seven times and, with this year’s running, Corvette has led the way a record 12 times.

Chevrolet Takes Points Lead to the Challenging Course on the Streets of São Paulo
Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle Set for Sunday, May 5
 
DETROIT (May 1, 2013) – With three races on the 19-event 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule in the record books, Chevrolet holds the lead in the Series’ Manufacturers’ Standings, and Team Chevy driver Helio Castroneves holds the lead in the overall driver point standings heading into this weekend’s 75-lap, 190.2-mile race on the Streets of São Paulo (Brazil).
After a perfectly choreographed journey of over 5,000 miles, the Chevrolet teams and drivers will face the 11-turn, 2.536-mile temporary street circuit that presents a set of circumstances virtually unlike any other. The engineers from Chevrolet and its technical partners have been working tirelessly with team engineers in preparation for a successful trip to South America.
“The Streets of São Paulo circuit is a conglomerate of challenges all wrapped into one venue on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “A number of unique circumstances coexist there that dare our Chevrolet engineers, team engineers and technical partners to reach optimum performance from the Chevrolet twin turbocharged V6 powered cars. The altitude, 2,368 feet above sea level, is higher than any other circuit visited by the IndyCar Series.  This, along with weather patterns that can change unexpectedly, can bring engine cooling, aero setup and calibration to the top of the focus list.  In addition, the circuit offers the longest straightaway (0.93 mile) followed by one of the slowest corners on the schedule which gives the brakes a workout and provides opportunities for passing.  Combine all that with the road surface variability of a street circuit and you have a situation that rewards the team and driver that adapts quickest and best.  With the enthusiasm the Brazilian fans have for the sport, the São Paulo Indy 300 is always brimming with intensity and excitement.”
Chevrolet drivers James Hinchcliffe, and defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay took Chevrolet V6 power to Victory Lane respectively in the first two races of the 2013 season to give the Bowtie Brand the lead in the IndyCar Series Manufacturers’ point standings.
Brazilian born Castroneves, whose consistency so far this season has landed him on the podium in two of the three races run to-date, and took him to the top of the standings, has been a fan favorite since the Series’ first race on the São Paulo circuit in 2010.  In the 2012 Chevrolet IndyCar V6 debut in his native city, the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner rebounded from a qualifying effort that landed him deep in the field to finish in fourth position.
Will Power heads to Streets of São Paulo undefeated in IndyCar competition on the circuit. He is the only winner in the three-year history of the event, winning in both 2011 and 2012 from the pole.
Tony Kanaan, another fan favorite from the Chevrolet stable, will make his fourth start in IndyCar competition in his native Brazil. He calls Salvador, Brazil his home.
The 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season continues with the Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle on Sunday, May 5 on the streets of São Paulo, Brazil. The race will be televised live at 11 a.m. (ET) by the NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and

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