NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 21, 2016

KEVIN HARVICK LEADS CHEVROLET WITH FOURTH-PLACE FINISH AT SEASON-OPENING DAYTONA 500
Team Chevy Places Five in the Top 10

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 21, 2016) – With a late surge, Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, finished in fourth place to lead five Team Chevy drivers in the top 10 in the 58th running of the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) on Sunday.

“I was hoping that they (the leaders) would start pushing and shoving like they did to get that outside lane going,” said Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 champion. “You just want to be the first one to be in that outside line. Denny (Hamlin) pulled up in front of us and he got the honor of being the first car in that line with all that momentum.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Daytona 500 Post Race →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAN-AM DUEL #2
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 18, 2016

JAMIE McMURRAY, NO. 1 McDONALD’S/CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW THIS DUEL PLAYED OUT?
“It was fairly uneventful until the last 10 laps. I was shocked that that second group was able to catch us. But it seems like that’s the way these always work out. You get strung out and then with five to go it always packs back up. The lap cars played a little bit of a factor with some guys getting a little bit of a draft of them. You just had to be either in the middle or the outside. You couldn’t be stuck on the bottom. When the 20 (Matt Kenseth) got stuck on the bottom, he was able to make up a little bit of ground but the outside was just the preferred groove.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Can-Am Duel#2 Post Race →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAN-AM DUEL #1
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 12, 2016

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS ~ RACE WINNER

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by the winner of the first Duel tonight, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale, talk about holding off the 22 and the 4 at the end.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: That was crazy. You know, had to just go where they were going. Everybody knows how important getting the lead is at this race.
I knew how important it was to keep it so I had to do everything I could, get pretty aggressive at blocking and getting in front of them and trying to not allow them to get up on the quarter panel. They had a great car. I know that’s evident. But this car is something special.
I was so nervous today about tearing the car up because I know how good it is versus what we have. What we have is a capable car in the trailer, but this thing is special. So I’m real excited.
Hopefully we can get through these next few practices and be able to put the car on the grid on Sunday. Whatever happens after that, I don’t really care.
I was so nervous. It’s such a tough balance because you got to go out there and try to win, but you can’t tear up your car. You got to race like tearing up the car don’t matter. It’s really crossing your fingers and hoping you get to the finish with the car in one piece.
We did, so I was real happy with that. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Can-Am Duel #1 Post Race →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAN-AM DUEL #1
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 18, 2016

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
TALK ABOUT THE PASS FOR THE LEAD AT THE END?
“I really don’t know. Denny (Hamlin) is such a great plate racer. There are a lot of guys that are really good at it these days. I knew he was going to be real tough to get around. When he got the lead I didn’t know if we were going to be able to get around him. He has got a great car and he is real smart. For whatever reason I was able to get to his quarter-panel, he saw we had a pretty good run. I don’t know, I didn’t think I was going to clear him. We got away from him so he couldn’t side draft us I guess. You will have to talk to him how it worked out for him. I was really surprised as anybody that we got by him. He will be tough on Sunday.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Can-Am Duel 1–Dale Earnhardt Jr. →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPEEDWEEKS
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 18, 2016

CHIP GANASSI AND ROB KAUFFMAN OF CHIP GANASSI RACING WITH FELIX SABATES met with media and discussed their new partnership. Partial Transcript:

ON HIS PARTNERS
CHIP GANASSI: “It’s a good opportunity for Chip Ganassi and Chip Ganassi Racing to have partners like Rob (Kauffman) and Felix (Sabates). From my point of view, Rob wanted to stay in the sport and this was a good opportunity for him to do that. We both have shared interest in lots of different kinds of cars and I think that’s probably what brought us together. And I think it’s obvious that Rob has skillsets I don’t have and maybe vice-versa. So, it seemed to work well.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Chip Ganassi and Rob Kauffman →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE QUOTES
FEBRUARY 17, 2016

TY DILLON, NO. 95 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash in Turn 2
WHAT HAPPENED?
“The oil cooler cracked. I really hate it for those guys behind us. It’s just one of those weird situations. I hate that it tore-up race cars. I couldn’t do anything to make it any different. We were just getting the pack going. It was unfortunate for everybody involved. I hate it for our guys that our race car is torn up. It’s just as simple as a cracked weld on an oil cooler. Hey, we didn’t catch it early enough. It’s unfortunate but we’ll be fine. We have time to get everything fixed and I just hope the other guys do, too.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CAT CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash in Turn 2
ON THE ACCIDENT:
“Something happened to the No. 95 (Ty Dillon) I saw the oil up ahead and I started checking-up. It’s amazing how quick the oil spreads out as it sprays out and it was like ice out there. I tried to keep it (the car) off the wall and even when I got back on the race track it was slick and we just kind of bounced off the wall in the Caterpillar Chevrolet.”

DO YOU HAVE SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO THE RIGHT FRONT?
“The tail section mostly is just body work but the right front is up against the frame bar just a little bit. It looks entirely fixable; that was (crew chief) Luke’s (Lambert) comment before we ever got it back into the garage. So, we’ll see.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Involved in a multi-car crash in Turn 2
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“I could see him (No. 95, Ty Dillon) smoking. Obviously oil was getting put down. I was just following the guys in front of me. The whole line of us kind of just moved up, so I just followed them. We all just kind of got stuck in his oil. The front guy slowed down and then the rest of us couldn’t get slowed down in time. Just kind of a chain reaction. I got shoved into the wall, no fault of the guy behind me, but it’s unfortunate.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON GOING TO A BACK-UP CAR FOR TOMORROW’S DUEL RACE?
“It will be fine. You hate to wreck one in practice here because you kind of assume you are going to get some damage tomorrow. We will probably have to send down our Unlimited car now as a back-up for this one. But, they say the car that we will run in the Duels and hopefully the 500 is just about the same as this primary car that we had.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS met with media during Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, when you know you’re not hyping yourself up, not trying to make yourself look good for the team, when you know, that’s a sweet spot that all athletes dream of being in. Doesn’t matter if you’re a batter, pitcher, receiver, quarterback, racecar driver, those are the moments you live for and hope that you have a chance to experience.

I’ve been very fortunate for years that that has happened, quite a few years. It is cool. There’s nothing like it. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day– Jimmie Johnson →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

DO YOU FEEL ANY KIND OF PRESSURE GOING INTO THIS YEAR?
“I feel like I want to run well and we need to run well. It all goes to preparation and I’m working with the team and the team is preparing, and things like that. So I don’t feel any pressure, but I have to run well if I want to stay in the 5 car for a long time. But you can only do what you can do at the same time. We’re working hard to have the team be where it needs to be and myself, the crew chief and the engineers communicating the right way. If we do that, I don’t see why we wouldn’t run really well.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Kasey Kahne →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS met with media during Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

Q. (No microphone.)

BRIAN VICKERS: Yeah, that Xarelto commercial, the campaign has been going on for a few years now, raising awareness for blood clots, really encouraging people to go out and seek a doctor if they think something is wrong and find out what is the right plan for them.

You know, obviously that means a lot to me personally. I’ve been through a lot of scary situations. That advice is something I could have used tremendously before the first one. It’s something I gladly give after the second and third one.

The commercial was a blast. Getting to know Arnold Palmer, Kevin Nealon, now Chris Bosh, they’re all great guys. It’s been a really cool campaign. I feel like we’ve really made a difference to a lot of people.

It’s a bigger issue than people realize and we had a lot of fun with it. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Brian Vickers →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET SS met with media during Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

Q. Danica gets attention because she’s the girl on the block. Is it nice to just kind of be the guy that can go under the radar and kick everybody’s ass?

KURT BUSCH: We have our job to do on the 41 car. Whether it’s positioned to be in the spotlight or if it’s not, we’re still doing the same job. It’s always been a matter of how a story can be told and how things can unfold if you’re going to be that big, bright shining star or if you’re just running through the system, posting results. Nobody’s necessarily talking about it. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Kurt Busch →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS met with media at Daytona International Speedway during Media Day. Full Transcript:

HOW WAS YOUR SUPER BOWL EXPERIENCE?
“It was fun. I only got there Saturday night. I had an appearance in Michigan Saturday. I got over there and went to the Direct TV party. It was a crazy party. It was the second time I’ve been to that because I went to New York with NASCAR and did the New York Super Bowl, which was a crazy event. The coolest part is just the effort that goes into all that. They’re starting now for the next Super Bowl and it’s amazing the amount of people that come to it. I had fun. It was definitely not the results I wanted because of my team. I watched them all year long and it just didn’t look the same. They didn’t seem like they were loose and having fun. I know if I’m in a championship mode, I need to remember that because you change what you do up until that period of time that got you there. You can’t forget what got you there and how your emotions were leading up to each game. It was cool. I learned from that. And then also, I sat in the sun; so that stadium was a little weird. I had to sit in the sun the whole time, up until halftime, and burn up. But, I don’t know if I ever go to a game in San Francisco to sit in the shade side.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Austin Dillon →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

REGAN SMITH, NO. 7 NIKKO RC/GOLDEN CORRAL CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

AFTER A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY LAST YEAR, HOW’S IT FEEL TO KNOW YOU’RE LOCKED IN AN HAVE A FULL-TIME CUP RIDE AGAIN?
“It feels good. Even three weeks ago, I had no clue what was going on. I got a call from Tommy (Baldwin, team owner). Everything happened quick, and the next thing I know I’m coming to Daytona to go racing and have a full-time, locked-in deal with a charter. It was probably one of the craziest off seasons I’ve been a part of and one of the most unenjoyable to be brutally honest with you. By the time it all played out, it turned out to be one of the better off seasons for me.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Regan Smith →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

MICHAEL McDOWELL, NO. 59 THRIVENT FINANCIAL/ KLOVE RADIO CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

HAVE YOU REPLAYED THAT (QUALIFYING) LAP IN YOUR MIND?
“I wish I wouldn’t have had breakfast (laughs). It’ll drive you crazy, wouldn’t it; two hundredths of a second. You know, the thing is, I got through the gears well. I think I maximized everything I could, so there wasn’t a whole lot that I could’ve done different. But there are always ways to find two hundredths; it’s the same for everybody. But you got to be a little bit, to me, I just let it go a little more than that and we just didn’t get in. We’ve got do it on Thursday.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Michael McDowell →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016
An interview with:
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS:
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: — yeah, I mean, I didn’t get to steal anything, but I wanted to carry all the tapes out of there, all the video, and go catalog it myself. I got room if they would like to store it where I’m at.
So that would be pretty cool to be in charge of the archives, all the video. There’s some cool photo stuff in there, too. There was a lot of interesting stuff that I saw from way back on the beach days. All that stuff’s kind of got to be in a certain environment and so forth. It’s pretty neat. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Dale Earnhardt Jr. →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

TY DILLON, NO. 95 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full transcript:

ON RUMORS HE WILL DRIVE THE NO. 14 CHEVROLET SS FOR STEWART-HAAS RACING:
“Obviously it is something that has been talked about a lot, but nothing has been finalized. Unfortunately, it kind of stinks that we are even talking about that down here. I think everybody including myself want to Tony (Stewart) go out the right way and to able to run every single race. To get back to the question – it would be an honor for me to drive Tony’s car in his last year, and hopefully do good for those guys. Nothing has been announced yet. I haven’t signed anything yet. We’ve been in talks. Hopefully we will have some news sooner or later, but nothing is finalized yet. But, if the opportunity were to come about, I would be honored to drive the No. 14 car and represent Tony in his last year.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Ty Dillon →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016
An interview with:
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 15 5-HOUR ENERGY CHEVROLET SS:
Q. What do you expect to make out of this gap year, it’s like a tweener year?
CLINT BOWYER: That is the question, right? What do you do? I mean, it’s a year. I guess this is where my head is and what I’ve been thinking, what I want to use as a goal.
I want to be able to come in here and help Harry build his company to where he wants it, to where it can stand on its own two feet and be a better place than what it was when I came. I think we can do that. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Clint Bowyer →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/SCOTT PRODUCTS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

NEW DEAL THIS YEAR. NEW CREW CHIEF. NEW GENERAL MANAGER.
“New everything. It’s actually been really good. I was a little disappointed for (the team). They put a lot of work into the 500 car and to not have the speed that we wanted was disappointing for them. They were planning to get the Atlanta car prepped for two weeks and I think it kind of made them mad and they went back and kind of worked on it a bit harder to make sure it was right, so it’s just fun to have those guys in the shop. I think the stuff we’ve already done has been really good. We have eight brand new cars lined up. We have brand new cars for the first five or six races to start with. The work ethic and the amount of want that they have is pretty cool to see. You never really know until you really get on the racetrack, and you won’t really know until you get to Atlanta, but I like what I see at the shop.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–AJ Allmendinger →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

HOW ARE THINGS GOING WITH YOU AND CHAD JOHNSTON SO FAR?
“With Chad, things are going pretty good so far. He was pretty quiet when I first met him but once you get to know him he talks quite a bit and he is pretty funny too. So also, on the radio I thought he was very good the other night during the Unlimited in the way he talks. I don’t talk very much on the radio so it was nice to hear a different voice and kind of hear the differences between him and Chime. I think he has done a great job and everything I have heard about him is really good – even before he came here. So I am excited for it.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Kyle Larson →

An interview with:
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 NATURE’S BAKERY CHEVROLET SS:
DANICA PATRICK: — more confident I could get a top-10 finish at Atlanta than I feel confident that I could get a top-10 finish at Daytona just because it’s such a crapshoot. You have to have so much luck on your side. You have to avoid the accidents, be at the right place at the right time, have smooth pit stops, make good decisions on the track. There’s just a lot that you can’t count on. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Danica Patrick →

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016

CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

YOU’VE BEEN REALLY STRONG IN SPEEDWEEKS. DO YOU THINKTHIS IS THE BEST CAR YOU’VE BROUGHT TO DAYTONA?
“I think so. The good thing is that we know we’ve always had success at these racetracks. What I really like about our performance so far this year is to have natural speed out of the car like we had in qualifying was important because we thought we made gains. The tools at the shop and the little bit of wind tunnel time that we had, reviewing the scans, and the information that we get from RCR is important. When Germain Racing takes an RCR chassis and then build a body on our own back in the fab shop, there are a million different ways that you can mess that up. Our guys really paid attention to the details. We thought we made gains based on the tools that we had and we came back and were faster, so anytime that you can validate the work that you do is what’s encouraging. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR Media Day–Casey Mears →