CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: A 10th ALMS Team Championship
Garcia/Magnussen 3rd, Gavin/Milner 6th on title-winning day
 
ALTON, Va. (Oct. 5, 2013) – For the 10th time in the 15 years of the American Le Mans Series, Corvette Racing can lay claim to an ALMS team championship. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished third in the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway in their No. 3 Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.R to clinch both the ALMS manufacturer and team titles with one round of the series to go.
 
The result moved Garcia and Magnussen ahead in the drivers’ standings by 18 points with 24 available at Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans in two weeks.
 
Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette placed sixth on an up-and-down day that saw the cars begin the race eighth and ninth on the GT grid. Once again, clever strategy and engineering plus quick pitwork allowed the two yellow Corvettes to march toward the front early.
 
Garcia made a steady and sometimes aggressive charge to the race lead by the end of his stint. The Spaniard displayed many of the same skills in traffic that delivered a Corvette Racing victory in the previous ALMS round at Circuit of The Americas. He handed the C6.R over to Magnussen with a little more than an hour left, and the Dane drove a measured stint the rest of the way.
 
Meanwhile in the No. 4 car, Gavin had a rough-and-tumble two hours that saw him work his way into the top-five at one point before multiple incidents of contact and a one-minute penalty after colliding with a GT Challenge Porsche just after the one-hour mark. Gavin handed off to Milner with 60 minutes left, and the Virginia native moved up quickly through the field to fourth late in the race. As the final 10 minutes of the race clicked away, Miler and the No. 56 BMW became involved in a dicey fight. The pair battled to the checkered flag which saw the No. 4 car settling for the sixth finishing position.
 
The 2013 American Le Mans Series closes with Petit Le Mans on Saturday, Oct. 19 from Road Atlanta. The 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance race will air live on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2.
 
EDITORS: High-resolution images of Corvette Racing are available on the Team Chevy media site for editorial use only.
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“After yesterday, we knew would be a hard race. We knew that if we didn’t have ultimate pace, we would focus on at least having a good car for the race. We worked on not having a lot of tire degradation, and that’s what saved us on race pace. We definitely needed to move up quickly, and Olly (Gavin) and I did at the start. Even when we fell back early after the first stop, I was able to muscle back toward the front. Our Corvette was very good, and our pace was really good. That’s what allowed us to catch and pass people, sometimes very aggressively. We needed to keep moving forward. Overall, we had a nice car and good stops.
“Even if we couldn’t win, we ended up with really good points. The most important thing is that we wrapped up the manufacturer championship for Chevrolet and the team title for Pratt & Miller. That is a great goal and I am very happy we were able to win these championships for them.”
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“Antonio did a fantastic job in his first two stints. When I got in the car, I really felt like there was a lot on the line. I couldn’t risk anything – there could be no penalties or anything. We had to lock up the manufacturer championship, and we could do that by finishing ahead of the BMWs. That was the number one goal. I was far from as aggressive as I normally would have been. It was difficult because you definitely lose a little bit of your edge. I had to defend a couple times on the BMW; he was fast in some places and I was faster. Every time I got a gap over him, something would happen and he would catch right back up. It was tough, but I’m happy for Chevrolet. I’m happy for Corvette Racing. It’s great to get both these championships today.”
“Now we go to Petit Le Mans with a good margin (in the drivers’ championship). We can relax a little bit, and the pressure is on the 56 car to win or finish second. If we score even just a few points, I think we will have it.”
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“Today was quite a tough day. Every way I seemed to turn, there was contact or people hitting me. The track is so narrow and slick at times with the different amounts of dust and rubber on it; it makes for a very tricky surface to race on. The first stop was a great job by the guys to get us from almost last to almost first. But after that, something silly would always happen. Our car wasn’t great toward the second stop; we were on the harder tire, and the car was nervous, skating around and wasn’t hooked up. The thought was to get through my stint, hand over to Tommy, we’ll make some changes and we’d move on from there. But I got blocked by a slower GTC car and caught another slow car at the end of the backstraight. He blocked me all the way down to the last corner before pit entry. He stopped on both apexes and we had contact. We ended up both spinning, I fell back and then had to serve the penalty. It was super-frustrating. Fortunately we got a caution and got Tommy in the car. He did a great job all the way to the end under difficult conditions. For sure, the BMW was blocking him but the officials didn’t want to look at it that way.
“It’s been a rough day and weekend for the No. 4 car. But it’s a great day to come away with a great result in winning the manufacturer and team championships. The manufacturer title is the main goal for the whole year. Everyone is and should be happy about that. All in all and in the bigger picture, it’s been a great day considering how we started. The crews were fantastic in the pitlane and delivered.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“Oliver had a really tough two hours. But after all that trouble in Oliver’s stint, I got in and came out right on the tail end of the lead lap with a car that was still pretty quick. I was chomping at the bit to go chase after some guys. I had fun for awhile there – passing some of the other GT competitors and getting into the race. I was quick initially and then settled in with five other cars and we ran together for awhile. At the end, Dirk (Muller) flat-out blocked me and it should have been a penalty. In the end, we are ALMS GT manufacturer and team champions, so that’s not a bad way to end the day.”
 
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER
“I spend a lot of time not only in Europe but among the people that run and organize (Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship), and to a man they look at the ALMS as the most competitive GT racing in the world. I think you would have a difficult time arguing that if you look at every race this year – including all day here at VIR. We were eighth and ninth on the grid, and they were many out there who would have written us off. We have been in that position before. The beauty of continuity and keeping a team together over the years is that you develop an inner strength that galvanizes the team to an extent that makes you literally unbeatable. This is a team that does not give up despite all the odds. We took a car that qualified eighth and ninth, but ran up front with both of them. That is a testament to the team Gary (Pratt, team manager), the drivers and the crew.”
 
GARY PRATT, CORVETTE RACING TEAM MANAGER
“This means everything to us. Our number one goal when we start at Sebring is the manufacturers’ championship. Once we get that, we go on to the drivers and team championships. When you execute like the guys did today and have a good strategy –even though we aren’t the fastest car, somehow we get it done with great pit stops. We have what we think are the best drivers in the paddock; they execute and do a great job e
very single race. Chevrolet expects a lot out of us, and we just try to deliver. There is a lot of good engineering and a great group of mechanics and crew chiefs that execute in the shop, in the paddock and in the pits. Sometimes it looks easy but it’s really not.
“I also want to thank Chevrolet. We started in 1999 doing just the endurance races. They were patient, let us build the team and get experience. We didn’t have a lot of engineering on staff but we were able to go out and get Doug Louth and Lynn Bishop as our head engineers. That mix of good engineering, great mechanics and good drivers has really paid off. Corvette is a great product to start with. And the patience from Chevrolet with us to build the team and allow us to continue to do this after this many years really puts us in a big advantage.”
 

Simona De Silvestro Captures Career-First Podium in Reliant Park Race No. 1
 
SHELL AND PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON
TEAM CHEVY RACE NO. 1 RECAP
 
DETROIT (October 5, 2013) – Simona De Silvestro, No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KV Racing Technology Chevrolet, led the way for Team Chevy in Race No. 1 of the Grand Prix of Houston with a second-place finish today.  It was De Silvestro’s first-career podium finish, and her IZOD IndyCar Series career-best finish.
 
“Finally. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said De Silvestro from the podium. “It seemed like a pretty good car the whole weekend.  I qualified up there and then the race went actually pretty good. I really have to thank everybody at KV Racing, and also everybody from the Nuclear Clean Energy campaign for sticking with me. Finally we have our podium.  Hopefully tomorrow we can even better it.”
 
Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers also capturing top-10 finishes in the 17th round of the 2013 19-race season were Sebastien Bourdais, No. 7 McAfee Dragon Racing Chevrolet, in eighth place followed by EJ Viso, No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA CITGO Andretti Autosport HVM Chevrolet, in the ninth finishing position.
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske Chevrolet, came into today’s race leading the point standings by 49 points. However, on lap 23 Castroneves slowed on the track, and nursed it to pit lane with a shifting problem.  Castroneves returned to competition on lap 32, nine laps down to the leader.  Additional problems plagued the team for the remainder of the 90-lap race, and Castroneves had to settle for an 18th place finish.  He retained the point lead, but by only eight points leading into Sunday’s Race No. 2 on the temporary circuit of Reliant Park Houston.
 
“At least the good news….I am starting with the good news,” said Castroneves post-race. “We are still leading and I didn’t know that.   Second, we did have a much better car in the start of the race than in qualifying, and we are still leading.   I don’t know who makes those decisions, but I tell you what, it’s not what we expected.  The team did a great job.”
 
The weekend concludes with the running of Race No. 2 on Sunday at 12:40 p.m., CST.  The race will have live TV coverage on NBC Sports Network.  Additional live coverage will be provided by IMS Radio Network on XM and Sirius Channels 211 as well as on www.indycar.com live timing and scoring.
 
CHEVROLET IN THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES – FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND:  ON THE PHYSICAL DEMANDS OF THE DOUBLEHEADERS: “I think it’s going to be difficult to be honest, but it’s the same for everybody.  We just need to have a good meal tonight and rehydrate.  But it’s definitely tough because you don’t have that much time to relax. The straightaways are really bumpy so you really have to be on top of the car every time.  I think to finish P2 , I think you want to do it again anytime.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH: “Well we should be happy because we started 14th and finished 8th in the #7 McAfee Dragon Racing car. We had a pretty fast car, running the 3rd fastest lap of the race. We were making a lot of passes and were able to run our way to the front in all the way to 4th. Unfortunately on one of the yellows the pits were closed for no reason, just a car stuck on track. no danger or anything. It hurt positions 1 2 and 3, and Dixon had pitted, so that just killed our race. I know its a tough business but we just need more consistency. So it was a disappointing finish but we have a fast car. Tomorrow we will have another shot at it and see what we can get.”
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET,  QUALIFIED 9TH:  “Well definitely a very difficult race; very physical, very demanding for everyone in the crew. Strategy was crucial, and I think it’s one of the things we got right. Even if we hadn’t had the right strategy, we unfortunately got messed up by a yellow flag where they closed the pits just as we were on our way in (to pit). We needed to make up some spots after that spot, and we did – back up to ninth. I’m grateful for the team – I had a very competitive car even when the Hondas are fast this weekend… I think we still had a good chance of finishing in the top three or four.”
 
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12TH:  “It was very disappointing with not being able to keep the lead in the second half of the race.  The Verizon Team Penske Chevy ran well and we were in a decent position. Obviously that yellow flag was good for (Scott)Dixon in the points. It ruined our day and a few other people’s as well. We know we have a strong car here in Houston and we will give it a go in tomorrow’s second race and hope for a better finish.”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 13TH: “The race was there, but it takes too long to get there. I have to sneak up on it and lose too much time coming up on tires. I lose mystrength in the restarts because I don’t have predictability. The car doesn’t tell me what the limit is and it could potentially stick. It’s very unpredictable which makes for a long 90 laps, so hopefully we can find predictability tomorrow for the No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet.”
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO.  6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14TH: “It was a pretty disappointing finish for the #6 TRUECar because we had a very competitive car. We had a great start battling our way to the front for awhile. Unfortunately an issue on a pit stop where we couldn’t get the hose out of the way and I clipped it enough to get penalized. So we had to come in and do a drive through causing us to go down a lap. To lose a lap around a place like this or anywhere you just pretty much out of the game. Seeing where Rahal and Jakes finished we were stronger than them, looking for a Top-10. This was unfortunate but racing is racing so we will be back again tomorrow.”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 SHELL V-POWER/PENNZOIL ULTRA TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH:  “Obviously that was a tough finish for the Shell-Pennzoil team. Early in the race, the car was bottoming out in a couple of places and then I just couldn’t shift. It was a helluva job by the Shell and Pennzoil guys to figure out the problem and get me back on track. It’s tough but it’s something that’s out of our control. I tried to earn as many points as I could and really just focus on making the car better so we can be ready for tomorrow. On the positive side, we still have the lead in the championship and I think we will be in good shape for Sunday. We need to have a good qualifying and bounce back with a strong race tomorrow.”
 
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH: “It was tough out there today, but that’s what we expected. Our car was so great and I really thought we were going to be able to give the National Guard guys a good race. Baltimore was awesome for us, and when we got here I had a great pace. I was just waiting for our last stop. I don’t know what happened – it looked like we lost fuel pressure – but we’ll have to see.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20TH: “The dash just said low pressure, so something in the gear shifting mechanism lost pressure; I think we might have melted a line back there somehow. I don’t know how many races this season we’re sitting here watching the end of the race instead of being in it. We had a good day going on and the guys worked hard, I was hanging on to a car I’m not really comfortable with at the moment. We’re going to make som
e changes for tomorrow, but I think we had a top five car. The track is brutal, the heat isn’t an issue, but the bumps are just brutal and playing havoc on our setup right now.”
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY – SH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21ST:
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 23RD:  “Vautier got right in front of me at the start. Then he made a last second move to miss Hinch. I tried too but clipped him. The ECR/Fuzzys guys did a super job to replace the whole right corner of the car. They have been flat out since early last week with Fontana test, the trailer fire and this incident.  We thought we might get out to gain a few points but, of course, Kanaan and Vautier got back out just in front of us. It was one of those days. We have Sunday now to get better.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY PINK ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24TH:  “We’re just really disappointed with our run today. You hate coming all this way and getting everyone working as hard as they have with the trouble that we have had with the track and everything, but we were about ready to put on a good race and the GoDaddy PINK car was good starting in the third row. These guys (Andretti Autosport) are always good in the pits and good on strategy and I was really confident. I was looking forward to my first standing start because we didn’t make the one in Toronto. It’s just tough, it’s a tricky thing to do, but I guess the good news is that we have the chance to do it all again tomorrow. I really wish we had been able to run though; I was for sure looking forward to it. Thanks to Andretti Autosport and the fans who are sitting out here in this ridiculous heat and sticking by us all weekend.”
 

Chevrolet Claims 10th ALMS Manufacturer Championship
Corvette Racing delivers another Bowtie title with VIR victory
 
ALTON, Va. (Oct. 5, 2013) – Chevrolet added to its record-setting tally in the American Le Mans Series on Saturday by wrapping up its 10th manufacturer championship. A third-place class finish by the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway was enough to clinch the GT manufacturer title with one round of the ALMS remaining.
 
This is the second consecutive GT championship for Chevrolet to go along with eight straight GT1 titles from 2001-08.
 
“It’s exciting for Chevrolet to clinch the ALMS GT manufacturers’ championship for the second year in a row,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet’s U.S. Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “This championship is the result of tremendous preparation, persistence, teamwork and great driving all season long. Thanks to the Corvette C6.R drivers, Chevrolet powertrain engineers, and our partners at Pratt and Miller for their efforts and results.”
 
Saturday’s result also clinched the ALMS GT team championship for Corvette Racing – its 10th in the ALMS and most in the series’ history. In addition to VIR, Chevrolet and Corvette Racing were victorious at Sebring, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Baltimore and Circuit of The Americas.
 
“The ALMS GT class was as deep and competitive as ever in 2013,” said Mark Kent, Chevrolet’s Director of Racing. “Winning this manufacturer championship required the highest level of teamwork from our group, Pratt & Miller, and GM Racing Powertrain. We look forward to closing the ALMS season at Road Atlanta in two weeks and beginning the 2014 Tudor United Sports Car Championship in Daytona Beach with the Corvette C7.R.”
 

RECORD SETTING FRIDAY FOR JFR AT MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY

READING, PA (October 4, 2013) – John Force became the seventh driver to break the 4.00 second barrier today at Maple Grove Raceway. The 15-time NHRA Funny Car champion grabbed the provisional No. 1 qualifier spot with a near record run of 3.987 seconds at 323. 50 mph. It was the fifth quickest elapsed time in NHRA history. Two of the five quickest times have been posted at Maple Grove Raceway. Quickest previous time for a JFR Ford was 4.005 seconds by Robert Hight in the Auto Club Ford on Oct. 12, 2008 at Richmond, Va. Force’s previous quickest time was 4.010 second from this June’s race in Joliet, Illinois.

“I joked we are a little late because Schumacher’s cars ran that here last year but you look at the points for the championship. You don’t want them to get a national record. You want to gobble up the points. We’ll see what the weather is tomorrow. For today we feel really good about it,” said Force in the Maple Grove media center. “I want to clarify Jimmy Prock runs my car with Danny DeGennaro. They work as a team with Mike Neff and Ron Douglas and Dean Antonelli and John Medlen from the dragster. We all work together. Neff’s car ran 4.07 with Robert Hight and the Auto Club. It is a team effort. Jimmy Prock is throwing hard balls. I am pretty excited.”

Force picked up six qualifying bonus points today and moved into a tie with Matt Hagan for the Mello Yello Funny Car points lead. Points are officially awarded at the conclusion of qualifying. Force’s first run of qualifying was a strong 4.032 second run beside Hagan.

“When we look back in 2010 when I won the four-wide I almost put out the top bulb I was in so deep and we ran 4.02. My guys said that was a three second run but you don’t get credit for it. I told (Jack) Beckman when he ran over to congratulate me I said thank you but we were a year late. Those guys got their stuff together and we are chasing them. Our new chassis is working. We are going to go out there and race and have some fun. It is pretty cool. To see Jimmy Prock turn it around after having struggled for a couple of years. It is pretty awesome,” said Force.

“Getting that three second run is important for the sponsors like Ford, Castrol and Auto Club. It means we can race with anyone. The cool air has given championships and it has taken away championships. We know in the last three or four races we are right there with everyone. We can run in the heat,” said Force who has been in the last two final rounds. “Tonight we ran pretty decent. Last year they shattered the record. You get caught up in trying to run national records and you will beat yourself. We are going to come out here again and just try to run smart in the conditions that we get. Then we are going to try and win on Sunday.”

Force was matched up with his daughter, Courtney as the final pair of Funny Car in the second qualifying session. The Castrol GTX driver knew that either he or Courtney would be No. 1 so crew chief Jimmy Prock gave him an aggressive tune-up.

“Once you know you are already in you turn the wick up. Jimmy won’t push it over center. You don’t want to smoke the tires because you want those three points. He put it down there and figured it would run 4.02 or something,” said an excited Force.

While Force was making his career best elapsed time run his daughter Courtney was in the lane beside him making history. The youngest Force brought the huge crowds at Maple Grove Raceway to their feet today when she not only ran her career-best speed, but trumped the national Funny Car speed record with a 329.42 mph run at the end of the day. She also provisionally qualified No. 2 going into Saturday.

To kick-off qualifying at the 29th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals, Force drove her Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car to a 4.071 elapsed time and had top speed of the session at 318.54 mph beside Johnny Gray, good for the No. 2 qualifying spot right behind her father John Force.

“Conditions weren’t as cool as we had hoped for coming out here to Maple Grove, but our cars run well in the heat. We went down there and ran a 4.071 with top speed of the session at 318 mph. We went up to the No. 1 qualifier spot, only to get knocked down to the No. 2 spot by my dad later on in that session when he ran a 4.03.”

“We actually backed our car down after there was an oil down on the track. We saw some of the guys up ahead of me spin the tires so we decided to back it down a little bit and make sure we could get a good, safe run out of it. That’s’ what we did and we ended up No. 2.”

“It’s fun when you get to run a low 4.0 like that and go to one of the top spots. It lets you feel at ease and we get to play around with that and tweak it for the rest of the weekend. We were really excited knowing that we made a good run that early,” said Force.

In the second qualifying session, Force ran beside her father to see who could make the quickest and fastest run. The 25-year-old and her Traxxas Ford Mustang team ran the best ever speed in the history of Funny Car and left the crowds at Maple Grove Raceway speechless. She posted a 4.025 elapsed time with an enormous speed of 329.42 mph.

“It felt like a good run. It felt unbelievable. I didn’t see dad down there, but I thought I saw my win light so when I got out, they said, ‘your dad ran in the 3.0’s!’ and I’m like, well then what did I run, because I didn’t see him. They said I ran 329 (mph) and I said, you know what, I’ll take it.

“Our Traxxas Ford Mustang team works really hard on our car and I have definitely got to praise them for all that they do, but for Ron Douglas and Dan Hood, they give me a great race car; they give me a consistent one every time we come out here. We were running low 4.0’s earlier in the heat. The sun is just setting and I’m still sweating out here and we just ran a 4.02. We’re excited. We’ll take it. We’re picking up points. Dad just picked up 6 points today and I picked up 4. We’re just hoping we can keep our car consistent and hopefully we can get this pink Funny Car to go rounds and hopefully we can get it in the Winner’s Circle. “

“The coolest part is that it’s a pink Funny Car. We drove it down there with flying colors at 329 mph, but the main important is that it’s to bring awareness to breast cancer research and I think that’s the coolest thing. We’re able to come out here and wear some pink and get it down there at over 329 mph and really shine a spotlight on our car, not only for the speed but for breast cancer,” said Force.

Leading up to today, Force’s fastest career speed was 319.60 mph, even though she posted a 322 mph run in West Palm Beach, Fla. during pre-season testing. Today, she topped the charts by surpassing the national record that was 320.58 mph by Beckman, which he set in October of 2012 here at Maple Grove Raceway. The 329.42 miles per hour run by Courtney Force is the fastest speed in Funny Car history by almost six miles per hour (323.50 by John Force) and the second fastest speed of the year to Tony Schumacher’s 329.91 mph in the U.S. Army dragster at Phoenix

Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang regrouped in the second qualifying session posting a 4.072 second pass at 315.86 mph. The run positioned the No. 4 driver in Mello Yello points as the provisional No. 6 driver. The team is in a great position to move up higher in the top half of qualifying tomorrow with consistently positive conditions.

Brittany Force and the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster once again started an NHRA national event on a positive note. They posted the third quickest elapsed time of the first qualifying session.

 “As a team, we were very happy with our first run out today in the Castrol Edge Top Fuel dragster. We ran a 3.82 and hung onto the No. 3 spot throughout the first session. I’m very excited
that we could make a really good run early. It did have a hole out and that slowed us down quite a bit on the run. I felt it shaking down there so I was very surprised when I hopped out of the car at the top end of the track and heard what it ran. It was a good number and gave us some room to try and improve on the next pass,” said Force.

“Being able to come out here and qualify in the top half of the field and have a consistent race car. It makes you feel confident as a driver.  It gets everyone pumped up from the crew chiefs to the crew guys. It gets our mind and our focus in the right place.”

In the second session the team did not improve but they made another consistent run a 3.837 second run. The run gave the whole team confidence in their tune-up and their chances of improving on a race day set-up. The rookie team is racing a pink Top Fuel dragster as part of the national “Paint the Track Pink” program with Lionel.

“People are definitely excited to see the pink Castrol EDGE dragster. Fans are coming up and are excited to see the pink car. You are really painting the track pink when you go out there and put up a good number like that 3.82. I am hoping running well like that will bring more awareness to breast cancer research. I want people to get involved. There are so many ways for people to get involved whether it is going to Target and buying something with a pink ribbon or buying our die-cast dragster from Lionel so a portion of those proceed goes to the Breast Cancer Foundation. I think that is what people want to see. I have been driving my same paint scheme all season and now we have something new,” said Force.

The entire team is behind the program and Force was pleasantly surprised to see her crew guys jumping on the pink bandwagon today.

“I came out this morning and some of my guys were decked out in Castrol EDGE uniform shirts with pink stripes and some were wearing pink Vans or shoes with pink laces. They had it all going. It was cool to see us all supporting this cause together and having fun,” added Force.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
 
HARVICK CAPTURES POLE POSITION AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY
Three Team Chevy Drivers Qualify in Top Six
 
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – October 4, 2013 – Kevin Harvick ran the fastest lap of the field in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS with a speed of 187.516 mph to capture the pole position for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas City Speedway. This marked Harvick’s sixth Sprint Cup career pole and first in 16 races at the 1.5-mile track. It also snapped a 254-race pole drought. His last number one starting spot came at New Hampshire in Sept. 2006, a race he also won.
 
“When you win that few of poles you can remember the things that happen on those particular days,” said Harvick. We unloaded this morning and the car was really fast right off the truck and comfortable to drive.  Went through a couple good runs, a couple bad runs and just kind of went back to where we started and had a good qualifying lap.”
 
Jimmie Johnson posted the third fastest qualifying lap in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and will line-up right behind Harvick in the starting order. Dale Earnhardt Jr., put his No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS in sixth place in the starting order. Harvick is fourth, Johnson is second, and Earnhardt Jr. is 10th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings with seven races remaining.
 
Other Team Chevy Chase contenders will start in the top 20 in the 43-car field.  Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Axalta Chevy SS qualified 14th, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Time Warner Chevrolet SS qualified 15th, Ryan Newman, No. 39 Code 3 Associates Chevy SS qualfied 17th, and Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS will start 19th.
 
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Ford) qualified second, Brad Keselowski (Ford) will start fourth, and Joey Logano (Ford) qualified third.
 
The Hollywood Casino 400 takes the green flag on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. ET and will be aired on ESPN.
 
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR POLE WINNING RUN TODAY?:  “When you win that few of poles you can remember the things that happen on those particular days.  It’s been a good day for us.  We had an okay day yesterday.  I think everybody is fighting a lot of the same issues with the cars to figure out the tire and what you want in them.  We unloaded this morning and the car was really fast right off the truck and comfortable to drive.  Went through a couple good runs, a couple bad runs and just kind of went back to where we started and had a good qualifying lap.”
 
WHY HAS IT BEEN SO LONG SINCE YOU WON A POLE?:  “Just throughout my career for whatever reason we just hadn’t qualified well and we always definitely seem to race a lot better than we qualify.  That’s a good question.  I think today we had speed right off the bat and I think when you have the confidence in the car to go ahead and push it, it’s always hard to understand how to make it go two or three tenths faster whether it’s just the speed in the race track or how much harder you need to drive the car.  There’s a lot of things that you have to run through.  We’ve always had better race cars than fast speedy cars.”
 
CAN YOU WIN FROM THE POLE?:  “I hope the stats stay exactly like they have been for the last few races where we sat on the pole.  We’ll see.”
 
DID NOT WINNING POLES UPSET YOU?:  “It really doesn’t.  These races are so long so it matters, I shouldn’t say it doesn’t matter because it definitely helps to have the first pit stall and have the track position, especially on a weekend like this where track position is going to be probably king as we go through the weekend.  Never been really something that honestly we put a lot of effort into to try to figure out what we needed to do and we’ve always just been able to make it work by not qualifying well and winning races.  It’s just kind of been that way for a long time.”
 
IS THIS A STATEMENT TO PEOPLE SAYING THE CHASE IS A THREE MAN RACE AND HOW IMPORTANT IS PIT STALL ONE?:  “The first pit stall is definitely important.  It’s obviously not going to hurt anything to be down on that end of pit road so that when it comes down to the end of the race and everybody has the two-tire strategy, no tire strategy, four tires or whatever the strategy may be to be able to get off pit road pretty well.  That part of it is good.  To be honest with you, walked into media day this year and there was two people standing in line to conduct interviews so from day one of this year everybody has kind of written us off.  We’re three races into the Chase and it kind of is what it is so we’ve done our thing and put our self in position to just go out and race and enjoy it.”
 
DID YOU KNOW YOUR LAP WAS FAST ENOUGH FOR THE POLE?:  “I thought we had a good one and two.  Standing out there watching the laps as you are getting ready to qualify, you see a lot of those guys went in kind of a group there that ran in the high 28s and then everybody kind of started backing up a little bit so I didn’t know if the race track still had the speed in it that it had earlier, but you’d see a car 29 flat or so here and there as it got to us.  The one thing for me that always when I see (Ricky) Stenhouse go before me and he has a good qualifying lap and I know how far he drives it into the corner so I knew there must have been some pretty good grip in turns one and two.  We had been struggling I think everybody has been struggling into turn three all weekend with the wind.  I just wanted to get through there on the entry and not have any big mistakes.  I’ve run a lot of qualifying laps that I thought were really good and had them not be so good.  You just try to go out and do what you did in practice and see where you fall.”
 
WHAT DO YOU SEE YOURSELF DOING AT AGE 79?:  “Not racing cars.  I can promise you that.  I hope that I’m sitting on a golf course somewhere playing golf with my son.  That would be kind of cool and hopefully he’s been successful in life and just hanging out having a good time and enjoying the good times that I’ve had leading up to that point.  It won’t be racing cars.”
 
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:  “I felt like the lap I ran was a huge pick up and pretty dang solid.  Then Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) got me and I knew Kevin (Harvick) had a little more left.  Solid effort, but the conditions today were tough to get right with the wind blowing as hard as it is.  You feel real comfortable and confident in turns one and two and then three and four you can see the lap tracker on everybody just falling off.  You build a lot of confidence with how your car felt in one and two and then get to three and four and in most cases over drive the car.  I did not do that and got a good three and four.  Felt good about it.”
 
ARE YOU SURPRISED IT HAS BEEN SEVEN YEARS SINCE KEVIN HARVICK WON A POLE?:  “That’s the first I’ve heard of it, wow.  That’s a long time, no way.  I didn’t think that was the case.  He’s going to be a happy guy when he gets in here (media center).”
 
DID YOU LEAVE ANY SPEED ON THE TRACK?:  “We all come in and think that if we would have known that we would have handled that situation a little different and the exit I had on turn four was a little uncomfortable and a little slow to wide open.  I sat at like three-quarter throttle for too long.  Mig
ht have been a little there, but at the time and when I heard my lap time, knowing what I had run in practice, I was like, ‘Okay, that was good.’  It’s hard to be too greedy, but you sit there with confidence and then you get beat and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, yeah I totally messed up turn four.’  Then if you get beat again, well maybe turn two could have been a little better also.  It’s just tough.  It’s easier to analyze after.  Especially when you see what the lineup is now and what kind of speed was out there.  At the time I felt good and even the 24’s (Jeff Gordon) lap.  I thought the sun had been out so long, a lot of rubber went down from the Nationwide cars.  I was expecting the speeds to slow down versus practice and the 24 ran as fast as anybody did in practice and I thought that was a strong lap and he ended up in the teens somewhere.”
 
DID YOU DIAGNOSE WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PRACTICE SPIN?:  “The spin was just me being real aggressive on my first lap in qualifying trim and on sticker tires.  Just made, I don’t know if it’s a mistake necessarily, but high effort and now knowing that we needed to scuff tires, it was the wrong time to head out there with all the bravery that I had.  Spun and thought I was going to hit the fence and I down shifted to third gear, you can see on the video the wheels spin pick-up and that was the deciding moment where the car changed directions and missed the wall.  I don’t know if that had anything to do with the oil cooler issue.  My guys haven’t been talking about that.  Separate later issue something with the oil cooler happened that it started leaking.”
 
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
THE SHELL AND PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON
RELIANT PARK
TEAM CHEVY FRIDAY QUALIFYING RECAP WITH SELECT DRIVER QUOTES
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
FRIDAY PRACTICE RECAP
 
DETROIT (October 4, 2013) – After a delay in starting today’s IZOD IndyCar Series practice for the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston for two and one-half hours to put in temporary fix to make the track more drivable, Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet emerged second fastest at the end of the day.
 
Other Team Chevy drivers in the top-five of the fastest drivers in the day’s combined times were Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, and Sebastien Bourdais, No. 7 McAfee Dragon Racing Chevrolet, who were fourth and fifth respectively.
 
The delay in starting practice also forced a change in the qualifying procedure for Race No. 1 and Race No. 2.  Rather than the Firestone Fast Six, qualifying for the first of the two races will be held Saturday morning at 10:45 a.m. CST with two groups of cars in 12-minute sessions each prior to the running of Race No. 1 at Reliant Park in Houston which kicks off at 2:40 p.m., CST. The same qualifying procedure for Race No. 2 will be held on Sunday at 8: 45 a.m. CST. And the weekend concludes with the running of Race No. 2 on Sunday at 12:40 p.m., CST.
 
Both races will have live TV coverage on NBC Sports Network.  Additional live coverage will be provided by IMS Radio Network on XM and Sirius Channels 211 as well as on www.indycar.com live timing and scoring.
 
CHEVROLET IN THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES – FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 2ND IN PRACTICE:
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT TODAY’S PRACTICE SESSIONS?
 
“Yeah, there was obviously a little bit of a delay there with the chicane but I think they got the problem fixe there in turn one.  But apart from that we all got plenty of miles and got used to it.   I think qualifying is going to be pretty interesting because the braking point in turn one is going to be a lot faster than the last time we were here.   So a good day for us and a good car and am really hoping we can challenge for the pole tomorrow.”
 
HOW MUCH DOES EXPERIENCE HELP YOU?
 
“Well, the track is  a lot different actually.   They have moved the curbs out and I really couldn’t remember it here well anyway.  But yes, we have been here before but none of the stuff we have used here before relays over.  So I think everyone is kind of on par now and it’s the typical guys here at the front and although, yeah, Justin (Wilson) and I have both raced here.”
 
IT WAS ONLY PRACTICE BUT HELIO SEEMED TO HAVE SOME ISSUES OUT THERE.  DO YOU FEEL LIKE HE IS STARTING TO HAVE SOME OF THE PRESSURE STARTS TO FALL ON A GUY IN HIS POSITION?
 
“I think he is just trying things because of the way he drives.  He is very aggressive and I am sure he is feeling pressure because he has been wanting a championship his whole career and he is very, very close to getting that.   So I am sure he doesn’t want anything to go wrong this weekend and wants to qualify as well as he can.   To me he has been at the absolute best that I have seen him this year.  He is quick everywhere and he is quick here again today and I think he is getting it the right way in every race to get the points basically.  He has not taken the massive risks and that has been what has put him in this position.  So, I would expect him to do the same again this weekend.”
 
ARE THERE ANY OTHER AREAS OF THE TRACK THAT THEY SHOULD LOOK AT?
 
“Actually there are no really terrible areas and its not too bad.  After Baltimore, it feels smooth.  It’s not a dig at Baltimore, it’s good that it adds character to the track you could say.  It’s not bad, not too bad at all.”
 
HOW BAD IS THE HEAT AFFECTING YOU OUT THERE NOW AND HOW DO YOU EXPECT IT TO PLAY OUT IN A WEEKEND WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO BE LOGGING A LOT MORE MILES THAN USUAL?
 
“Yes, it’s tough and as soon as we finished that session I was like ‘man, it’s going to be hard doing two races’.   But a race will be really difficult because I got out after that session and I was absolutely spent.  So, yes, it will be hard.”
 
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 4TH IN PRACTICE: “I think we’ve been in the ballpark all day. I think the DHL Chevy is good – I’m pretty happy with where we are right now. Everybody is a little bit frustrated with how tight this place is in dealing with traffic, but I can say qualifying is going to be at a premium. Everything is good though, we’re happy with it. We only sustained a left-front suspension damage this morning so all good. You have to step over the limit to know where the limit is.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 5TH IN PRACTICE: “Kind of a weird day. Not exactly what we were hoping for on the #7 McAfee TRUECar. Car is pretty fast finishing p5 in the second practice after missing pretty much the entire first practice. Unfortunately we had to replace the engine for an internal failure so we will have to start p10 in best case scenario. We finished on the podium from 22nd in Baltimore, so it could be worse. It’s not going to be easy work for sure.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 SHELL V-POWER/PENNZOIL ULTRA TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 11TH IN PRACTICE: “It was a productive day for the Shell and Pennzoil team. They did a great job. Unfortunately, it was just a little bit over the limit for me, and we weren’t able to put it all together. But I’m very happy with how the car came out of practice in good shape. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the track is tomorrow, and I’m excited for qualifying and the first race of the weekend in front of the fans here in Houston.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY – SH RACING CHEVROLET, 12TH IN PRACTICE:
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, 13TH IN PRACTICE:
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, 16TH IN PRACTICE:
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY PINK ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 19TH IN PRACTICE: “Obviously it’s a bit of an abnormal day with the way everything transpired. It’s too bad that we had to make that adjustment to the track to get out there and run, but I think it was a compromise that at least got us some track time on 95% of the track we are going to be running. The GoDaddy PINK car is actually pretty quick, we were never on track with everybody else at the same time, but I think we are in or around the top five. Unfortunately, in the second session we had a couple problems – we had a battery die – and that cost us some time, we didn’t get new tires and didn’t get through all the changes we wanted to try. At least it wasn’t qualifying; and I think it almost actually works out better. I think maybe next year we should look into having qualifying for Saturday on Saturday morning, and qualifying for Sunday on Sunday morning and give us a full day of practice on Friday. That may be the good thing to come out of today. But happy Ryan (Hunter-Reay) was quick and I think as a team we can be competitive tomorrow.”
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 20TH IN PRACTICE:
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, 21ST IN PRACTICE:

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO.  6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 22ND IN PRACTICE: “It was an interesting day for everyone out there. We did not get the amount of track time that we expected which you need in a place like this to understand it. We made progress in the #6 Dragon Racing TRUECar  during the second practice session but were unable to put the fast time we were looking fo
r down when we needed it. We feel we have something strong for tomorrow’s qualifying session and race. Its all about taking care of the tires and getting as much experience each lap we put out. So far so good!’
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, 23RD IN PRACTICE: “I would lying if I didn’t say this is one of the more odd practice days of my career.  It seems even worse than Baltimore’s first race.  It’s a tough place.  It’s rough.  It’s slick. There were so many yellows that we missed a lot of track time today.  I will say that I like this schedule format than the other doubleheaders with the Friday qualifying.  We’ll qualifying on Saturday and Sunday now.  We made some progress today and I am getting more comfortable with the track.”  

CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Uphill Climb Following Qualifying
Magnussen eighth in GT; Milner ninth following spin on oil slick
 
ALTON, Va. (Oct. 4, 2013) – Corvette Racing faces a tall mountain to climb for Saturday’s Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway. The two Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs qualified eighth and ninth Friday in the American Le Mans Series’ ultra-competitive GT class.
 
Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette set the team’s best time in the 15-minute session at 1:46.923 (110.098 mph). Tommy Milner, driving the No. 4 Corvette, was next in the order at 1:47.038 (109.980 mph) but the defending race and ALMS GT co-champion spun on another car’s oil and fluid at VIR’s famed Oak Tree turn with four minutes left in the session. The damage was confined to the front-left portion of the Corvette.
 
Corvette Racing seeks its 10th ALMS GT team championship, which it can achieve with a sixth-place class finish or better. Chevrolet will wrap up the manufacturer title with a victory in Saturday’s race, set for 2:15 p.m. ET. Live coverage on ESPN3 begins at 2 p.m.; ESPN2’s coverage airs at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
 
Magnussen and Antonio Garcia are on a two-race winning streak, and their three victories are the most in the GT class this season. The pair leads the drivers’ championship by 13 points – 44 remain over the final two rounds.
 
Milner and Oliver Gavin won last year’s race at VIR to take the drivers’ title. It also delivered the manufacturer championship for Chevrolet and team title to Corvette Racing. Entering the weekend, they stand third in the GT standings and are 18 points back of their teammates in the No. 3 Corvette.
 
EDITORS: High-resolution images of Corvette Racing are available on the Team Chevy media site for editorial use only.
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“That was a tough session for both Corvettes. The car was actually pretty balanced.
The only strategy we can look at now is that we need to react to what everyone else does. We need to try to stay clean and get as many points we can. The chance of getting 20 points is slim. But if we’re good for 10 points, we’d better get 10 points.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“Looking at the track now, you can see a pretty big wet spot on the track. I had just wound up for another quick lap and wound some front brake bias into the car. My first indication of it was when I went for the brakes and locked the front. The first reaction was that I went too far on the front brake bias and just went off. I started apologizing to the crew over the radio. When I finished, Chuck (Houghton, No. 4 engineer) said, ‘I don’t think it was your fault. It looks like there was something on the race track.’
(The session) “It’s not the best qualifying all the way around. We have struggled all weekend but I think everyone has with grip levels and other areas. Maybe we are having the worst of it. We’re not miles off the pace but would like to be farther up the grid than where we are now. The good thing is that our pit crews have been phenomenal all year long. We are making the most of things because we have the right strategy calls, not making mistakes and the pit work has been great. They’ll always be up to the task and will gain us a couple spots if we need.”
 
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER
“Today was a difficult and frustrating day. Weather conditions compounded by a tricky and dirty race track proved to be a difficult challenge to overcome. But those out there at follow Corvette Racing know that we never give up. COTA was a perfect example of coming home victorious and not necessarily having the fastest car.”
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
THE SHELL AND PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON
RELIANT PARK
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
Chevrolet has entered into an agreement with Chip Ganassi Racing Teams to power the organization’s cars in IndyCar Series competition beginning with the 2014 season. Prior to the Chevrolet announcement, Chip Ganassi announced that 2013 Indianapolis 500 Tony Kanaan will join Chip Ganassi Racing Teams in 2014.
 
JIM CAMPBELL: “It’s great to be here in Houston and I just would like to make a very special announcement today.  Chevrolet would like to announce that we will partner with Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2014 IndyCar season.  We have a tremendous amount of respect for Chip, Mike Hull and the entire team and the way they have organized themselves: and the way they conduct themselves: and the way they have garnered results.  Over time nine championships in IndyCar, also four Indy 500’s to date.  This is really a proud moment.  A lot of respect for Chip, we have a chance to work together on the stock car side of our business.  It’s going to be great to have Chip Ganassi, Mike Hull and the entire organization with Chevrolet power for 2014 – it’s a special day.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE DECISION TO SWITCH TO CHEVROLET?
 
CHIP GANASSI: “As you know we are with Chevrolet in our NASCAR team.  This thing kind of happened pretty quick with Chevrolet.  They have obviously shown they have a great product and we want to be a part of it.  Really gives us an opportunity, I think to bring it’s something for our team that is very important is to bring, sort of consolidate our manufacturers if you will and be a part of a winning effort.  We have had some great years and great races with Honda, but the opportunity came up to be with Chevrolet and they really showed a sincere effort in wanting us to be a part of their organization and their program.  My hat’s off to Jim Campbell and Mark Reuss and everybody at General Motors for making this happen.”
 
IF (RYAN) BRISCOE DOESN’T GET HURT AND TK (TONY KANAAN) DOESN’T RUN THE GRAND-AM RACE IS THAT WHERE THIS CHANGE STARTED, OR WERE YOU DOWN THAT ROAD BEFORE THEN?

CHIP GANASSI: “I think we were… that’s a good question I hadn’t thought of that.  I mean you know we were obviously at that time wanting to get back to a fourth car.  I think that sort of falls in the category as if Dario (Franchitti) doesn’t crash at Talladega in a stock car would he have ever come back and have won the championships he’s won in IndyCar racing.  I don’t know.  It’s unfortunate that people get hurt from time to time in this business. Thank God that wasn’t too bad.”
 
INAUDIBLE:
 
CHIP GANASSI: “Well it’s hard to say it wasn’t in the works.  This has been in the works for five years.  In terms of Tony (Kanaan) and I it’s been in the works for five years.  We have always stayed closed and stayed friends.  It’s not something that happened over night for sure with Tony.  It certainly didn’t happen as fast as Chevrolet.”
 
HOW MANY YEAR DEAL IS THIS WITH TONY?

CHIP GANASSI: “You know we don’t talk about those kinds of things and we don’t talk about contracts with our drivers or contracts with our sponsors in the team in the media, but thanks for asking.”
 
TAKING ON FOUR ADDITIONAL CARS IS THERE A LIMIT TO HOW MANY CARS YOU CAN SUPPLY OR MIGHT WE SEE SOME TEAMS THAT HAVE CHEVY TODAY SWITCH?
JIM CAMPBELL: “Well what I would say is clearly all of the teams they are looking at their options for next year there is no doubt about that.  In terms of our capacity we are obligated in our contract with IndyCar to have the ability to handle up to 60 percent of the field.  We can handle well beyond that.  Plus we got a bump up for the Indy 500 only.  We do have enough capacity, but we will see how it all shakes out here at the end.”
 
DID YOU EVER THINK YOU WOULD HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY COME BACK IN YOUR DIRECTION?
 
TONY KANAAN: “I would say I would go back to 1998 the first time we talked.  So it’s been more than five years, but recently yes when the sponsor left the last team I raced I went straight I remember walking into Mike Hull’s office and talking about how we could do something together.  I think the opportunities they are there every day.  If I didn’t think about it that means I didn’t want to win races.  I wanted to be in the best team with the best guys that have been beating me forever.  I thought about it every single day that is how I think I proved in the past three years how much effort I had to put into keep going after everything we won.  Opportunities are there it’s up to you to take it and make the best out of it.  To answer your question I thought that was a possibility, yes.”
 
WHEN YOU ALMOST SIGNED TONY BEFORE AT THAT TIME YOUR PEOPLE TALKED TO HIS PEOPLE, BUT YOU DIDN’T ACTUALLY TALK DIRECTLY TO TONY. THIS TIME DID YOU CALL HIM?
 
CHIP GANASSI: “No.  That was a very difficult period.  There was a lot going on there at that time and maybe some of your facts might not be as stated.  We sort of know I think Tony and I know what happened then and we know the truth and we better just leave it at that.”
 
JIM CAMPBELL: “In closing here I just also want to thank Steve Lauletta for just an amazing job of working with us over a short period of time to make this happen.  Thank you, Mike (Hull) thank you and Chip to your team a lot of respect for this guy not only for his accomplishments in IndyCar, but you look across all the series and he knows how to build championship winning teams.  Again, it’s a pleasure to be partnering with Chip Ganassi Racing 2014 and we are looking forward to it.”
 
ADDITIONAL JIM CAMPBELL:
 
HOW DID THIS COME TOGETHER?
 
JIM CAMPBELL: “Specific team negotiations in terms of contracts we just don’t talk about that stuff.  What I would say as our approach in any series including IndyCar is we want to bring the right technology, right expertise related to in this case the powertrain and also the overall integration and we want the best teams.  We think we had a great year last year.  We are in the hunt this year.  Just being able to add Chip Ganassi Racing in 2014 it’s going to make us even stronger.  With that said there are a lot of teams that are still evaluating their options.  We compete in over eight series so we go through a lot of negotiations with teams.  We know they have choices.  Sometimes they stay with us sometimes they don’t, but I am hopeful that all those teams will look at us seriously and stay with us time will tell.”
 
IS IT FAIR TO SAY YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT GOING TO SUPPLY THE CURRENT ENGINES YOU ARE SUPPLYING PLUS FOUR NEXT SEASON?

JIM CAMPBELL: “I would say time will tell.  Our obligation to the series is to provide at least 60 percent or greater.  So we are prepared to do that but our capacity is well beyond that.  We will see where we end with all the team discussions and will ramp up accordingly or we will ramp down accordingly.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS  met with media and discussed the new tire, her expectations for the end of the season, doing a music video with Colt Ford, and more. Full Transcript:
 
HOW WAS PRACTICE TODAY?
“I feel like our practice today for qualifying which, it was nice to have practice yesterday because you feel comfortable to start right off in Qualifying trim. Was off to a really good start. The car felt so much better than it did yesterday.
 
“We struggled to find front grip throughout practice. It didn’t improve like we wanted to. I think for qualifying we’re just going to try and fix the balance and not try and get so creative maybe with finding front griip as that seems hard to do. This tire has been just hard; and it really does’t want to turn. So, let’s just shift the balance and see what we can get.”
 
IF THE WEATHER CHANGES AS MUCH AS THE FORECAST SAYS, HOW MUCH OF WHAT YOU LEARN TODAY WILL BE RELEVANT ON SUNDAY?
“The balance is the balance. So I really feel like when temperatures heat up and cool down it can make your problems worse. But it’s not going to make everything irrelevant that you’ve done. So, I feel like if we can achieve balance in practice, it will be the same for the race. It could get more dramatic, but that’s about it. And especially when it comes to a cooler temperature, you’re really just adding downforce to the car and grip. So, it will be better for everybody, but it’s better than getting caught, in my opinion.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR ENTHUSIASM LEVEL NOW FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON?
“Off the charts!” (laughter)
 
A LOT OF DRIVERS WANT TO SEASON TO BE OVER IF THEY’RE NOT IN THE CHASE. AS A ROOKIE, HOW DO YOU FEEL?         
“What enters my mind when I think about this season and it coming to an end is not that I want it to just get over with. I want it to just end well. That’s all. Even if you can just have one or two good races at the end of a season where it’s been up and down and a lot of down, and especially being a rookie season, that’s a good way to end. I feel like we’ve made improvements throught the year and I definitely learned a lot. But we started off a little behind and made improvements during through the summer. And I feel like we’ve fallen a little bit behind again. It’s hard. The Sprint Cup Series is hard. Everybody is pushing really far and everybody works so much and so hard that it’s just difficult. That’s what makes it so gratifying when you do well.”
 
WOULD A TOP-20 BE CONSIDERED ‘DOING WELL’ FOR YOU?
“I would say that top 20’s are the goal right now. I had really thought that top 20’s are really where we should have been to start the year. But we started behind. I’d hoped to be more consistently in top 15’s at this point.
 
“But we’ve got Talladega and Martinsville coming up and both of those tracks for me I would say, better tracks. So, I think a top 15 will be good for me toward the end of the season, here. And shoot, at Talladega, go out an win!”
 
HOW WOULD YOU RANK YOUR SEASON AS A DRIVER?
“I don’t really feel like those are easy answers. I, of course, give myself an A+ for trying and working things out. Your grade is your finishing position in the championship. That is what reflects what you’ve done all year.”
 
HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO SEE THE FINAL COLT FORD VIDEO?
“I saw the Colt Ford video a couple of weeks ago. They put it out very quickly and we only shot that five or six weeks ago. So, that’s fast. And it’s cool to see it out. It was a lot of fun to do. It was a beautiful day in Mooresville that day and those are the fun things that you get to do outside of the car. So, I enoyed that. That was good fun. And obviously, I had a pretty hot mechanic working on the car.”
 
DID YOU HAVE TO ACT TO FLIRT WITH RICKY STENHOUSE, JR.?
“That was not acting. That was not hard. When I look at him I smile, so that was not hard.”
 
DID YOU SEE THE MOVIE, RUSH?
“I did see the movie, Rush. I didn’t know the story. I had heard of obviously both of the drivers before for sure, but I didn’t know the story at all. It was a fascinating story come the end of the movie. I thought it was a really good racing movie.
 
“I think it’s always hard to portray excactly what’s happening when you’re like taking cockpit shots and things like that, but I thought it was pretty good. I thought it was done really well. It was a very interesting story and kind of a sad story in the end, I guess.
 
“But it was really cool. It’s always fun as someone that is in racing to see a movie about racing be done so well and be done with such great actors and by such a great director. So, it’s cool.”
 
REAGARDING TALLADEGA, LOT OF DRIVERS DON’T LOOK FORWARD TO IT. ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IT?
“The reason they don’t look forward to it is exactly why I do because someone like me has more of a shot there, just like everybody else. So, they’re in the Chase and have run welly well and been fast all year. So, when we get on more traditionaly tracks, that’s where they’re going to fall into place more than not.
 
“But with speedways, it’s a toos-up what’s going to happen. So, that’s why it’s fun for me because somebody like me has a chance. On top of that, Stewart-Haas speedway cars are really good. So, hopefully it will be one of the good days at the end of the year.”
 
ARE YOU MORE READY TO WIN THAT RACE NOW BECAUSE YOU’VE LEARNED A LOT?
“I feel more comfortable. I felt really comfortable at Daytona in general, but I think that I’m realizing how important it is throughout the race to try things and practice taking runs and thing like that and being a little bit more brave with not worrying about what happens as a result; and knowing that as long as you don’t lose the draft, you can be set up for the end of the race. I’ve lost the draft and that’s not good either.
 
“But I was ready at the beginning. I think as a race car driver when you get to this level, you’re ready for anything that comes at you. But as I said at the beginning of the season coming from Daytona that you have to at least know what your car do and get a run and get by somebody. I’m more apt to practice that now in practice and in the race.”
 
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT KURT BUSCH JOINING SHR NEXT YEAR?
“I think that Kurt and Kevin (Harvick) are both going to be great teammates. I’ve always gotten along with both of them very well and I think we have a chance to have a lot of fun. Obviously a lot of people talk about all of our strong personalities together, but I feel like what you have it a lot of comfort and confidence with a lot of the drivers and for me especially, I have the opportunity to learn a lot with Tony (Stewart), Kurt and Kevin. Those are three really incredible drivers. I’m very lucky to be in the position that I am and hopefully being able to rise to the occasion.”
 
HOW IS TONY STEWART DOING?
“Tony pushes hard. He works hard. He’s doing really good. And he is very foused on recovery and doing what’s right along the way. That’s good because you know he’s got that rebellion streak in him but he’s been very dedicated to the process. So, you’ll see him back just as good as ever.”
 
DID YOU KNOW COLT FORD BEFORE DOING THE VIDEO?
“No, I had never met Colt Ford. I had obviously heard his music on the radio over the last good year, being a Country (music) fan now. Although, he’s kind of a rapper. I don’t know. Has he ever done any music other than Country Music?  I grew up listening to rap in Northern Illinois. That was the most common stuff we listened to. I like rap; especially the kind of rap you can under
stand what he’s saying. Putting a southern twist on it is good. So, I like it. I like unique-sounding music and he definitely has that for country music.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed racing at Kansas, the new tire, engine wear, keeping an eye on the competition, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
ON RACING AT KANSAS THIS WEEKEND
“It’s always nice to come back to the race track after a good win (Dover, last week). Our 1.5-mile stuff has been good to the No. 48 team. I wish we would have closed a few more wins during the regular season on the 1.5-miles, but we’ve had good speed. Yesterday, after working through the new tire, we had the car more comfortable and got some speed out of it. But I still think there is a lot of learning to do; and truthfully, a lot of evolving for all the teams through today’s practice and then in tomorrow’s practice. The tire acts different. I think its achieving what Goodyear wants to have happen. So, directionally, it’s a good move. But it’s just different. I think it’s going to take us time to get all the speed out of it that we want to have and understanding the tire exactly like we need to. But, I thought yestereday was good. I’m very thankful that NASCAR gave us extra time and gave us a nice headstart on the weekend.”
 
WITH EVERY POINT MAGNIFIED DURING THE CHASE, HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING? IS IT MORE IMPORTANT THAN DURING THE REGULAR SEASON?
“Track position is so important. So yeah, because things are condensed. It makes your day so much eaiser when you qualify well and have a good pit stall and start up front. At this track, there’s a very good chance there will be fuel strategy and tire strategy coming into play, and that jumbles things up. So, at some tracks you expect it to be a big issue for qualifying to play out and it kind of goes back and forth. But at the end of the day, we all know the importance of it and you want that on your side. It just makes a big difference. If you start deep in the field and you get to the top five and if you have a chance at clean air, it usually takes you a stop or two to get your car dialed-in. Anymore, it takes so long to get to the front that you don’t have a stop or two left at the end to really challenge for the lead from an adjustment standpoint. So, qualifying really important.”
 
AFTER THE TIRE TEST YESTERDAY, MATT KENSETH SAID HE WISHED THEY WOULD HAVE KEPT THE ORIGINAL TIRE. BUT JEFF GORDON SAID HE REALLY LIKES IT. HOW MUCH OF A GAME-CHANGER FOR THE TEAMS RUNNING IN THE CHASE IS THIS TIRE SITUATION EVEN AFTER A THURSDAY TEST PLUS PRACTICE IF SOMEBODY IS STRUGGLING?
“I think we have enough time to sort it out. From the Hendrick side, when we started, we were kind of split in different areas. I think the No. 24 came off the truck real good. We weren’t very good but we were able to get there at the end. So, I think in time, especially the No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) team and the Gibbs cars, if they’re not happy, I’m pretty confident they’ll get there by race time. It’s just different. And the things that we do and what we expect out of the old tire and what it’s capable of, it’s just different with this tire. And it’s a matter of finding what it likes.”
 
JAMES HILTON IS RACING IN HIS LAST RACE TONIGHT IN THE ARCA RACE. HE IS 79 YEARS OLD. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO BE DOING WHEN YOU ARE 79?
“Breathing!” (laughter). It’s so awesome. I think Earl is even spotting for him tonight. So, I’m excited for him. Every time I see him out there in that No. 48 it puts a big smile on my face. So, he got the number off to a good start and he’s going to run it well tonight, I’m sure. But, at 79, it’s amazing. He’s truly passionate and loves our sport. It’s nice to see him out there one last time.”
 
YOU’VE WON 5 CHAMPIONSHIPS AND YOU STILL COME OUT HERE AS COMPETITIVE AS EVERY, MAYBE MORESO. WHERE DOES THE MOTIVATION COME FROM ON A WEEKLY BASIS?
“I think a lot of it is just in my DNA and the type of person I am and the family I grew up in. My parents and grandparents and great grantparents were just all hard-working people. So I think I grew up in that environment and around it. Now, married with kids, I’m much more mature than when I started. There is an element in that that is bringing more focus and more drive. Granted there is less time. I have more things on my plate. But the time that I do a lot to train. The time that I do a lot for working with the team and coming to the track, it’s just much more focused. I think the structure of family and kids and all that plays some kind of role in that, too. It mixes with the work ethic I was raised with. So somewhere in the mixture of those things is where it comes from. But I am happy when I accomplish things. I make lists all the time and I scratch things off my list whether it’s a honey-do list or goals I make for myself. I just have that mindset where I like to work through things and accomplish things.”
 
LONG AGO, DALE EARNHARDT SR. TALKED ABOUT HOW THE TIRES ALWAYS TALKED TO HIM, AND THAT HE ALWAYS RAN BEST WHEN THE TIRE TALKED TO HIM. THERE WAS A TIME PERIOD WHEN IT DIDN’T. JEFF GORDON AGREED WITH THAT WHEN ASKED ABOUT IT YESTERDAY.  WHEN YOU WERE IN THE CAR YESTERDAY, WAS THAT TIRE TALKING TO YOU AS GOOD AS ANY OTHER TIRE BEFORE? OR, HAS THAT BEEN PART OF YOUR STRUGGLE OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS?
“At the start of your question, I was thinking more about the bias ply era. I ran on bias plys in ASA for two years and from then on I’ve been on radials. And on bias ply, there is a big window of grip that you can feel and adjust the car. The sidewall is very flexible. So once you slip the tire, literally the sidewall on a radial is so stiff that once it slips, it stands up. And then the tire has to start over and grip again and let the sidewall fold. That aspect I think challenges all drivers. The radial era, I love watching some old footage and think there is something in my mind of of Sr. at Charlotte smoking the right rear tire all the way through Turns 1 and 2. You cannot do that with a radial tire. That just doesn’t happen (laughs). So, I might not have the best opinion of all that because I didn’t really drive in that era on these tracks. The radial, you feel a lot of grip, but you know right behind that real nice grip level you have, there’s a cliff on the other side.
 
“So, we all generally drive a little more on edge now and are a little more concerned with what’s on the back side of this. I’m being really greedy right now, what’s next? And that’s just the world of radial tires that we live in. The tire, in my opinion, has a lot less grip that what we had here before and what we’ve been on on 1.5-miles. And that inside edge is a lot harder compound and then it’s softer on the way out. So, where we make our money through the corner, it is a slower tire right now. And that’s the part that I felt yesterday, was just the lack of grip that it had. It was very friendly; it didn’t have that sharp drop-off. But it just didn’t have a ton of grip.”
 
WAS IT TALKING TO YOU?
“They’re always talking to you. Sometimes you are arguing with them. But when things are hooked-up and rolling; and I think what you’re aluding to, you can feel on a very soft compound. And the tire will really tell you where its grip level is and what you feel. And anymore, the only time you feel that is in a tire test when they try something soft.
 
“We ususally end up on a much harder compound where, you’re guessing. You think it’s talking to you but you just don’t know. The downside to it is the penalty once you lose control and once you cross that line, it’s really severe.”
 
KNOWING IT IS STILL EARLY IN THE CHASE, BUT CAN THEY CATCH YOU GUYS?
“I think there is enough racing left. If somebody gets hot and the others cool off. It’s 30-something points back to fourth (now); the numbers change a little when you’re chasing three people instead of one. But if we a
ll start running seventh or eighth and somebody gets hot, they can make up points. I still think it’s possible; largely because there are seven races left. It start shifting dramatically as we get deeper into the season, but with seven left there are still a lot of opportunities for those guys.”
 
SINCE THE RECONFIGURATION OF THIS TRACK, ARE THE ENGINES WORKING HARDER? ARE YOU TURNING MORE RPMS? IF SO, DOES THAT BECOME A WORRY FOR YOU ABOUT ENGINE WEAR AND DURABILITY?
“Yep, for sure. And NASCAR changed the rear-end gear ratio to help everybody coming here. I think that we could have the other gear with this tire, and the tire doesn’t have the grip that we anticipated. And our max rpm yesterday was quite a bit lower than anyone thought it would be. When we get in the draft, we suck-up pretty hard down the front straightaway to the car in front of us. You just might catch the chip in a race environment, for a lap or two, but in general the rpm is pretty low based on the rule change. And that will help all the engine shops breathe a little easier through the course of the race (laughs).”
 
WITH JUST FOUR RACES IN, IS IT TOO EARLY FOR YOU TO BE WORRIED ABOUT WHERE THE OTHER TOP CHASE CONTENDERS ARE DURING THE RACE?
“Yeah, you pay attention, for sure. And in the first couple of races, it was real easy to see where the No. 20 (Kenseth) and the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) were because I was chasing them. They were up front. Last week I didn’t find myself too worried about it. I knew they were going to have a great day and they both finished in the top 10. But I guess it’s not that point of the year yet where you’re totally worried. When you get to Homestead and Phoenix, you are looking at the scoring pylon whenever you can and are really focused on where they are. Not so much just yet because there is a lot of racing left.”
 
 

Chevrolet and Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Partner in IndyCar Series
 
·        Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Has Nine IndyCar Series Championships since 1990
·        Powered by Chevrolet Beginning in 2014

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
HOUSTON—One of the most successful race teams in IndyCar Series history will be powered by Chevrolet starting in 2014.
 
Chevrolet has entered into an agreement with Chip Ganassi Racing Teams to compete in IndyCar Series competition beginning next season. Chip Ganassi Racing Teams has won 93 races, including four in the Indianapolis 500, and nine championships since its founding in 1990.
 
“Chip’s teams have been a dominant force in open wheel racing for a long time, and we are looking forward to working together in IndyCar,” said Jim Campbell, Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “In addition, it will be great to be partnered with Chip and his organization in both open-wheel and stock-car racing.”
 
Chevrolet and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates have been partners in stock-car racing since 2009.
 
“This decision makes a lot of sense for us for a number of reasons,” said Chip Ganassi, Owner of Chip Ganassi Racing Teams.  “We feel Chevrolet has done a great job in their return to the IndyCar Series and because of our existing relationship with them in NASCAR.  There are a lot of synergies that we will be able to realize in working with the same manufacturer across the two series.  We are thrilled.”
 
Chip Ganassi Racing Teams drivers Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball have combined to win four races and two poles so far in 2013. Franchitti is a three-time IndyCar Series champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner; Dixon is a two-time IndyCar champ and the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.
 
Tony Kanaan will join Chip Ganassi Racing Teams starting in 2014. Kanaan’s IndyCar career includes 16 wins, 11 poles, the 2004 Series’ championship, and he is the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion.
 
Chevrolet returned to IndyCar racing as an engine manufacturer in 2012 with a new program focusing on the Chevrolet 2.2 liter direct-injected, twin turbo IndyCar V6, and won 11 of 15 races, and won the IZOD IndyCar Series Manufacturers’ Championship, the overall Driver’s Championship (Ryan Hunter-Reay), Driver’s Oval Track Championship (Hunter-Reay) and Driver’s Road-Course Championship (Will Power).
 
Chevrolet has nine poles and eight wins through the first 16 races of the 2013 IndyCar season.
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
THE SHELL AND PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON
RELIANT PARK
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 SHELL PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston and discussed his outlook for the races this weekend, his mindset entering the final three races and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF THE RACE TRACK?:  “We didn’t have a chance yet to go around.  Certainly, they did a great job after the NFL game here in putting everything together in such a short notice.  Big credit to the city for organization and everyone.  Right now the only way I was able to learn the track was through YouTube videos and things like that.  Excited, excited to be here.  It’s a big one and very busy for us for Shell — it’s going to be the colors on our car this weekend so we’re looking forward to a great result.  Looks like the weather is going to hold up pretty well so that’s another good thing.”
 
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE SHELL ON YOUR CAR AND REPRESENT THEM IN HOUSTON?:  “It’s great to be here in the backyard of the Shell/Pennzoil home basically.  Sounds like everyone is really looking forward to it I believe.  I remember when I came here a long time ago; the Latin community seemed to be very supportive, which is great.  I’m excited to have that kind of support to be back again at a place where they welcome us here.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET ENTERING THESE FINAL RACES?:  “It’s pretty much the same as what we’ve been doing.  At this point we have to go with the flow, depends on the setup how the car is going to be and we feel like the car is hopefully out of the box going to be in great shape.  Right now, just go with the flow.  I want to have a very good car so we can attack, but at the same time if we don’t then we just have to see where we are.  At this point, we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT HAS RESILIENCE BEEN TO YOUR SEASON?:  “I give the credit not only for the team, but I think sometimes when it’s your day it’s your day and there’s not much that can go against that.  I give the credit to the team to keep not only good equipment and reliable equipment of also Chevy so when you put all those things together it’s a perfect fit.”
 
IS THERE SOMETHING THAT HAS CLICKED THIS YEAR TO ALLOW YOU THE CONSISTENCY ACROSS THE WHOLE SEASON?:  “I don’t think we changed anything to be honest.  Last year we were up to the last race of the season, we were third in the championship and past years was pretty much like that.  We have always been very consistent and I believe this year it’s more about how tight this series is and how competitive the series is and the way the rules are.  They make the smaller teams or other teams able to catch up with the bigger teams.  All of the sudden the key was to be consistent, but I don’t think it was anything that I changed or anything I planned or my driving style.  To be honest, it was just the same thing that’s been happening.  Finding the key of the season and it seems to be the consistency.”
 
IS THERE A SPOT ON THIS COURSE THAT SEEMS A HOT SPOT FOR PASSING OR FOR TROUBLE?:  “Yeah, I believe the front straightaway, I just ran out over there and was looking at the cars running and it sounds like it’s very bumpy.  It’s no different than a lot of street courses that we go to so it’s just the same old thing.  I believe the front straightaway and turn four or five I think seem to be the points for you to pass.  Also they changed from the YouTube video, they changed, it used to be much wide and somehow they were able to put the curves or make the corner tight.  It’s a little bit different, but I think the layout is good, it’s fun or seems to be fun so I’m excited to try it and go out there and have fun.”
 
DID GETTING BACK IN THE CAR AT FONTANA HELP YOU GET BACK IN THE RHYTHM?:  “It did.  It was not very fun to be like four weeks away from the car, but it’s the same for everyone and everybody is trying to find things to get back in the rhythm.  The good news is you recharge the battery from everyone.”
 
DO YOU LIKE BEING IN THE POINTS LEAD AND DO YOU HAVE TO BE MORE CONSERVATIVE?:  “As long as the car gives me the opportunity to be competitive.  I have a good car and most of the time I do then I just go for it.  But I think in this position with previous experience of my teammates and things like that, I feel that it’s more for us to lose than actually to gain.  The people that are in the attack mode are the guys behind us.  At the same time we’re not going to drive like just an old lady out there trying to finish the race, that’s not the case for us.  We have to be rough when we have to be rough.  We’ve got to be smart when we’ve got to be smart and that’s the way I am approaching right now.  Plus you have to go according to what the car is given to you to do and that’s the way I’m approaching this weekend.”
 
ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT THIS COULD BE ANOTHER BIG WEEKEND FOR SCOTT DIXON?:  “I’m not looking at what Scott (Dixon) or anyone is thinking to do; I’m not looking at all of them.  I am looking at what I can do.  Whatever happens during the race, we have two races now, which is a big, big deal.  At the same time we can lose a lot of points and at the same time you can win or make things happen here.  Just have to be on the conservative side, but we’re not too conservative or on the side where we can just show up.  We still have to do our job and have great pit stops and you have to still push it because as you said they are not going to go easy on us.”
 
DO YOU FEEL THIS IS ONE OF YOUR BEST SEASONS OR DO YOU THINK YOU CAN BE A CHAMPION THIS YEAR AND THIS NOT BE ONE OF YOUR BEST SEASONS OVERALL?:  “No, I don’t think that.  I feel this has been an amazing comeback season to be honest.  Especially after a few years and especially the way the series are going.  As I said, if you analyze how many winners they have this year, previous winners and previous champions — if you start putting all of the things together and we still are doing what we’re doing then it shows that I feel that I’m getting better and better.  For me, it’s finally been everything that’s been accomplished, but no question many wins and things like that yes you might end up winning a lot of races in one season, but not getting what you want.  This year I feel that as a complete driver I am much better.”
 
DO YOU FEEL AS A COMPLETE DRIVER THINGS HAVE REALLY CHANGED FOR YOU?:  “Absolutely, I learn along the way with all my teammates and obviously the people alongside me.  I think things happen for a reason.  Since we were apart ways, it was good that I was with him because I was able to understand a lot of the techniques and today I have a lot of knowledge from it and I have to thank all the other teammates that are able to make my driving style better, updating my ways to come up to approaching some of the weekends.  That’s why maybe you think at the end of the results in terms of many wins and breaking the records and things like that, but I’m not thinking that way.  I think as a complete driver, I feel much better.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE DRIVER ADDITIONS FOR NEXT YEAR?:  “Very happy for Tony (Kanaan) to be honest.  He deserved that.  That kind of soap opera between Ganassi and him finally it can end or it’s the beginning and I’m extremely happy for him.  He deserves and that shows again what I’m talking about as experienced drivers as myself, Tony, Dario (Franchitti), Scott (Dixon)
and now (Juan Pablo) Montoya coming back to the series, it shows that this is not about being aggressive or being sporadic.  You have a strategy and I’m excited as well for next year.  At this point, to start next year we have to finish this year and that’s the way I’m looking.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 4, 2013
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed racing at Kansas, recent success and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT BEING IN KANSAS THIS WEEKEND:  “It’s always fun to come back here.  My mom and dad actually flew out here with me this weekend.  My mom has been down in Joplin with some of her friends.  My dad and I, we actually went fishing over at Bass Pro Shops farm over in Calhoun, Missouri the last couple of days and then I think he’s maybe off to the go-kart races today in Topeka.  It’s been a really fun weekend so far and it’s certainly nice to have my family with me.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL LOOK FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK AFTER YESTERDAY’S TEST SESSION?:  “I did the tire test at Atlanta, which used the multi-compound tire.  I did the tire test at Phoenix, same thing and then obviously yesterday.  The balance of the car is a little bit tighter and seems to have a little less grip with this tire, but I think the one thing that we’ve noticed is that camber doesn’t seem to be as sensitive and I say that in that most of the time we come to these fast tracks and the more camber you can run, the faster you can go.  At the same time, the more you run the bigger threat you have of blowing the tire out.  There’s a fine line of how much you want to run versus the speed versus the risk.  This tire doesn’t seem to be sensitive.
 
“We did fairly large sweeps yesterday and didn’t see a big speed difference from having a lot of camber and we were doing large, large adjustments.  I think that’s good in that it’s a safer tire than what we’ve had in the past and I think when you put that responsibility in the teams’ hands of more camber will go quicker then that’s what we’re all going to do and try to figure out a way of cooling the tire better or making it live.  You try to do something.  I think that’s good and I think that’s probably the future of our sport is to have this.  Just all around, I don’t see any issue with it.  It’s a little bit slower, but it’s the same for everybody.”
 
IS THERE A REASON WHY YOU ARE COMPETITIVE IN CHASE RACES, BUT NOT IN THE CHASE?:  “No, I don’t know I just give the same effort every week and I don’t know if there’s some guys that get deflated when they don’t make the Chase and it seems like maybe some of those teams start trying other off the wall ideas because they’re not in the Chase.  I look at this year for most of the teams, there’s not really anything to gain by doing things off the wall because the rules are going to change so much next year with the ground zero car and not having the ride height rules afterwards that I don’t really see a big advantage in experimenting because until we get to test that car in the off season and we find out exactly what the rules are, I think for the rest of the year you just do what works best, but I can’t give you a reason.  It sure does seem odd that we’ve been a really good car not in the Chase.”
 
DOES YOUR RECENT SUCCESS JUSTIFY YOUR ROLE AS A LEADER WITH THE TEAM HEADING INTO NEXT YEAR?:  “Racing goes in streaks and it seems that you get on a streak and everything you do works and then you get to have the opposite as well where the stuff that’s always worked in the past doesn’t.  Right now we just have had a few really good races and our cars have been good.  I feel like our mile-and-a-half program has been good so I expect to run well this weekend.  As far as Kyle (Larson) coming in and Juan (Pablo Montoya) leaving, I haven’t paid a lot of attention to that because until Juan’s out of that car and you start working with Kyle every week, it’s not any different right now for us.  Kyle did a test at Charlotte and I think he had a really good test there.
 
“Like I said earlier about the setup stuff, what we’re learning right now I don’t think is going to apply to next year as much as it would if the rules were staying the same.  Just kind of is what it is.”
 
WILL IT BE DIFFERENT NEXT YEAR?:  “I think it will be different for our whole organization next year.  I think the meetings will be different.  I think we’re going to have more meetings with the teams and the drivers and they’re structuring that right now trying to get everything setup and get a little more organized for next season.”
 
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING WITH KYLE LARSON?:  “Absolutely.  Kyle (Larson) is a really easy guy to get along with.  He’s a good person, he’s been racing for a long time and racing is all he wants to do.  I think he’ll be a really good listener.  I’m not one to push my opinion over, but if he’s to ask my opinion then I’ll be very honest with him and like I said when they announced that Kyle was going to be my teammate, I think there will be a little bit that I can help him with on the track.  Maybe going to tracks he’s never been to — Martinsville, Pocono and some of those places and explain how restarts work or just little nuances that happen at each track.  I think my role with Kyle is going to be much larger off the track with sponsor commitments, coming into more money, a lot of things that I don’t know that we pay attention to when someone gets a Cup ride versus being in the Trucks or the Nationwide.”
 
HOW BENEFICIAL WILL IT BE TO HAVE A TEAMMATE THAT LIVES IN TOWN AND WHERE DO YOU SEE THE GAINS?:  “Having Kyle (Larson) in the Charlotte area is going to be beneficial.  At the same time, Juan (Pablo Montoya) and I really don’t have a relationship away from the race track.  I don’t know that’s that important, but the fact that Kyle and I are both into karting and can go out and do that and just hang out and goof off.  We’re definitely at different stages in our life where I’m married with kids and he has neither.  That is a big difference in our life, but when you have a common hobby and something you can go do together and hang out and maybe become little better friends along with teammates, I think that’s going to be good.  Him being in Charlotte is going to be much more beneficial to the team than what it will be to me.
 
“Just the team moral, getting to go into the shop and see the guys.  It’s hard for Juan because he lives so far away and normally when he would come to the shop it’s for a reason.  You don’t always have time to hang out and just kind of goof off.  Normally when you’re there it’s when you have a photo shoot or because they needed him for something.  That’s a little bit tough with Juan living so far away, but Kyle is one of those guys I think that will be at the shop a lot.  That will be kind of his hangout throughout the day.  The speed in the cars, our cars and I said it earlier in the year, but I feel that our cars are actually better now than they were in 2010.  We haven’t won the races that we did in 2010, but the cars have been really good.  A lot of the speed has just come from making good decisions in the race and getting ourselves in a better position.  The 42 (Montoya) has been in a position to win a few races.  I feel like we certainly at Kentucky were in a position to win a race so I don’t know that we have more speed, I think we’re just doing a better job at finishing maybe where the car should.”
 
HOW SPECIAL IS IT TO COME TO KANSAS SPEEDWAY AFTER GROWING UP RACING IN THE AREA?:  “I just really enjoy coming back to this part of the country.  My dad, I talked to him last night and I asked him what he did yesterday and he went and saw a couple of our old friends that we raced with at I-7
0 and Lakeside, not necessarily guys that raced, but guys that worked on the cars and had race shops here.  It was really cool to hear him tell me kind of what they were talking about and what they are doing now.  Just being back here, I’ve got a lot of really good memories of this part of the country and Charlotte is my home now even though I was raised just south of here.  Charlotte is my home, but I really enjoy coming back here and running into people I haven’t seen in a long time.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING WITH THE RULES NEXT YEAR YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE?:  “I like the idea of the ground zero car.  I think it’s going to be easier to get the car to the attitude that you want without and (John) Darby kind of mentioned this without having to put a trick spring in the car, it’s going to be simpler for the teams and I’m actually part of the test that they have a couple of wickers that they’re going to put on the car and they have a much larger spoiler that they’re going to try.  I haven’t seen everything, but until you go try the stuff on the track, it’s hard to give your opinion.  As a driver, we all have ideas, but 99 percent of them aren’t any good, they’re just our opinion.  After the test I would probably have a much better idea of what I think they should implement and what would make the racing better.  I don’t really think the racing is that bad right now.  Certainly track position is key.  It has always been important and when you watch any form of racing on TV whether it’s open wheel or stock cars, anything or even motorcycle racing on the super cross, if the guy gets a good start then it’s hard to catch him.  Track position is always going to be important.  I don’t think they’re ever going to get any type of a race car that to be in the back is going to benefit you.  I like the idea that they’re trying and they’re trying some I would say off the wall ideas and stuff that you would think would never happen in NASCAR so it will be interesting after that test to see how that works out and try all the ideas that they have.”

Chevrolet and Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Partner in IndyCar Series
 
·        Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Has Nine IndyCar Series Championships since 1990
·        Powered by Chevrolet Beginning in 2014

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
HOUSTON—One of the most successful race teams in IndyCar Series history will be powered by Chevrolet starting in 2014.
 
Chevrolet has entered into an agreement with Chip Ganassi Racing Teams to compete in IndyCar Series competition beginning next season. Chip Ganassi Racing Teams has won 93 races, including four in the Indianapolis 500, and nine championships since its founding in 1990.
 
“Chip’s teams have been a dominant force in open wheel racing for a long time, and we are looking forward to working together in IndyCar,” said Jim Campbell, Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “In addition, it will be great to be partnered with Chip and his organization in both open-wheel and stock-car racing.”
 
Chevrolet and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates have been partners in stock-car racing since 2009.
 
“This decision makes a lot of sense for us for a number of reasons,” said Chip Ganassi, Owner of Chip Ganassi Racing Teams.  “We feel Chevrolet has done a great job in their return to the IndyCar Series and because of our existing relationship with them in NASCAR.  There are a lot of synergies that we will be able to realize in working with the same manufacturer across the two series.  We are thrilled.”
 
Chip Ganassi Racing Teams drivers Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball have combined to win four races and two poles so far in 2013. Franchitti is a three-time IndyCar Series champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner; Dixon is a two-time IndyCar champ and the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.
 
Tony Kanaan will join Chip Ganassi Racing Teams starting in 2014. Kanaan’s IndyCar career includes 16 wins, 11 poles, the 2004 Series’ championship, and he is the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion.
 
Chevrolet returned to IndyCar racing as an engine manufacturer in 2012 with a new program focusing on the Chevrolet 2.2 liter direct-injected, twin turbo IndyCar V6, and won 11 of 15 races, and won the IZOD IndyCar Series Manufacturers’ Championship, the overall Driver’s Championship (Ryan Hunter-Reay), Driver’s Oval Track Championship (Hunter-Reay) and Driver’s Road-Course Championship (Will Power).
 
Chevrolet has nine poles and eight wins through the first 16 races of the 2013 IndyCar season.
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
OCTOBER 3, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway after the open test day on Thursday where competitors tested a new tire.  He discussed his opinion of the new tire, the status of his team in the Chase and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
HOW DID IT GO FOR YOU OUT THERE TODAY?
“Pretty good.  I thought the track had good grip when we first started and lost a little bit probably due to the track temp there towards the end of the day.  Certainly hoping to lay some rubber down, but I’m not so sure that this tire is going to do that.  Other than just being real real tight I thought the tire reacted pretty similar to what we’ve dealt with in the past here.”
 
IN EVERYTHING YOU DID TODAY IS ANY OF IT A DIRECTION FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND OR WAS THIS JUST REALLY ALL TESTING?
“No, everything that we did today was in direction for this weekend.  To me this is just an extension of our race weekend.  We had data on the car, data acquisition to gather more detailed information.  In some ways we wish we had this every weekend.  Not necessarily an extra day at the track, but data acquisition to gather that data.  Then the engineers will sort through that overnight and come up with what we think we are going to need to do for the weekend.  Of course it’s going to be cool on Sunday so that is going to change things quite a bit with the grip level and the balance.  No, to me testing is always trying to find something to make the car go faster.  Not everything can relate to every other track and this track being as smooth as it is and sort of a repave.  Still kind of acts like a repave even though it has lost a little bit of grip.  The tire kind of makes it that too because it’s a pretty hard tire that we are basically sitting on.  I’m not so sure that anything else really applies to other tracks. We are all about what is happening this weekend.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAMS PERFORMANCE THUS FAR IN THE CHASE SAYS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR TEAM?
“It’s just we don’t ever quit.  I think it shows that we’ve made improvements performance wise we’ve gotten a lot better not just since the Chase started, but prior to the Chase we were performing better.  Which to me is what helped us get into a position to even have a shot at being in it.  We had sporadic good performances earlier in the year, but for the most part we just didn’t have the speed and that has really come together in the last six weeks.  I’m really proud of them for that because I’ve been going to the race track and had a lot of fun.  We have been leading laps and running up front.  At times in position to win races and there is nothing better than doing that and it couldn’t happen at a better time than right now.”
 
IN LAYMEN’S TERMS WHAT DOES THIS ZONE TREAD MEAN?  HOW DO YOU FEEL THE DIFFERENCE IN THESE TIRES HERE NOW?
“Unless you A, B, A the tire that we had here before against this tire and then back to the other tire it’s really hard to say what the gain is.  I really give Goodyear a lot of credit for bringing this tire here and trying to give us something to lean on these smooth race tracks like this where they have to build a very durable tire.  We build a lot of shoulder heat in the tire because of the high speeds. So when we say durable we mainly mean really rock hard.  So to put some softer compound in there to try to give the car a little bit more forgiveness and grip I love it.  It worked really well at Atlanta.  That is the first time we ever raced this.  I really liked it there.  I’m not seeing anything that is odd or off today other than just really tight.  We are seeing some tire wear which is a good thing.  That is what Goodyear likes to see to dissipate that heat is to see a little wear.  We will monitor that throughout the weekend.  If we saw more rubber being laid down on the track then typically you would say ‘okay that will get better as the weekend goes on’.  This is one of those tires that we have seen this year where it just doesn’t lay much rubber.”
 
IS IT A BETTER TIRE IN YOUR OPINION OR IS IT TOO EARLY TO SAY UNTIL YOU GET INTO THE RACE?
“Right now I would say it’s a better tire.  I don’t think any of us like the box that Goodyear is put in when we come to a newly surfaced track and have to put a rock hard tire on there for durability.  It’s not because that is the best performance tire it’s because they have to play it safe because of the high heat and the speeds that we are running.  Right now what I’m feeling it feels good.  It concerns me that just the No. 24 that we are as tight as we are.  We can’t seem to get it fixed.  That makes it tough to maneuver through traffic and tough to get the speed out of the car that we want to have.  We are just trying to find more tools to get the front to hook up. It seems like unhooking the back doesn’t seem to be the answer and so right now it’s probably too early to really judge the tire, but with everything I’m seeing I’m liking, I’m not disappointed with it in anyway.”
 
WITH EVERYTHING THAT GOES INTO THE SET-UP OF THE CAR AND EVERYTHING IS THIS THE TIRE A MAJOR CHANGE OR A MINOR CHANGE?
“I think it’s a very minor change.”
 
JAMES HILTON IS ACTUALLY RETIRING AFTER HIS RACE TOMORROW.  I THINK YOUR ROOKIE YEAR WAS KIND OF THE LAST YEAR HE WAS RUNNING SOME CUP RACES.  I WAS CURIOUS IF YOU EVER RAN INTO HIM?  HE WAS 59…
“I hope I never ran into him (laughs).”
 
NOT LITERALLY WITH THE CAR.  I WAS CURIOUS IF BACK THEN YOU SAW HIM AND THOUGHT ‘MAN HE’S RACING AT 59 I HOPE I’M RACING AT 59.’ NOW HE’S 79 AND STILL RACING:
“Well I admire anybody that is out on the track whether they are at full speed or whatever minimal speed is.  I think it says a lot about somebody that wants to go out there and has a passion, desire to do that.  Especially now working with AARP I have an even greater appreciation for folks that do that.  I don’t have any real stories racing with James other than he just seems like he has been around forever.  Every time I turn on a race James Hilton is out there and that is pretty cool.”
 
YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE DOING IT INTO YOUR SEVENTIES?
“I don’t think I will be doing it until I’m 50 so no, but I said I wouldn’t be doing it when I’m 40 and here I am at 42.  So you never know.”
 
MATT KENSETH SAID HE WISHES THEY WOULD NEVER CHANGE THE TIRE.  YOU SAID YOU LIKE IT.  WITH THIS TEST TODAY AND SOME OF THE TEAMS ARE USING THE CARS THAT THEY TESTED TODAY, SOME AREN’T.  THE THING IS I WONDER HOW EVERYBODY ADAPTS TO IT AND HOW IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE RACE THIS WEEKEND?
“Well of course whoever won the race the last time they are not going to want anything to change.  Things went well for them and they would like to come back with everything being the same, especially when the championship is on the line.  For us even though we had just not a very good weekend but it wasn’t because we didn’t have speed or didn’t like the tire, I thought we actually had a pretty good race car, but we got caught on pit road when the caution came out.  And we crashed in qualifying and had to come from the back.  We weren’t going to be in the top 10 so I wasn’t asking for a big tire change or anything, but I always am asking Goodyear to find ways on this type of tire, it’s the Michigan, here, any newly paved race track.  One of the things I struggle with the most on those types of tracks is there is very little forgiveness.  It just seems like you can get to the peak of the
performance of the tire, but it’s like a razors edge and you get to it and you can jump right over it very quickly and you lose the front or the back.  That is what happened to me the last time here in qualifying it was just very much of a surprise.  So I applaud Goodyear anytime that they are going to try to add something to that tire to give it a little bit more forgiveness because I don’t think I’m the only one that is making those comments.  That is what I see them attempting to do and they wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t feel confident in it.  I know that there is limited testing that they did and it was in July, but to my knowledge this is one of the first days that we have had this whole combination of both left-sides and right-sides on the car.  Other than a little bit of extra wear which is typical that you see especially after the rain and everything I would say that it’s a positive not a negative.”
 
WHAT DOES FORGIVENESS IN A TIRE MEAN IN A RACE?
“It’s just when the car slides around that you can recover from it.  You can just ease out of the throttle and the car straightens up and then you don’t just lose the back of the car like that.  Or even the front of the car where you can feel where you are getting to the edge of the grip and you know when you are about to go over it and if you go over it you can recover quickly and get the car to cut with the front same thing with the rear.  When the tire is real hard it needs temperature but even when you get it to that temperature and you load it up it just only has so much grip because it’s just harder.  Then it doesn’t wear so it last forever.  That is why you see so many two tire stops.  Where guys want track position instead of new tires and I think most of us would agree that the best races that we see are tracks where there is fall off.  There are four tire changes, yeah, it’s nice to have somebody try to chance it and maybe take right-sides, but you want to see passing.  The way you do that is by having fall off in the tire and the abrasiveness of the track and the multiple grooves.  I think that is what they are at least trying to achieve with this tire.”
 
KNOWING THAT IT IS STILL EARLY IN THE CHASE DO YOU RUN THROUGH IN YOUR MIND WHAT YOU THINK CERTAIN THINGS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO HAPPEN FOR YOU TO REEL IN THAT GROUP IN FRONT OF YOU?
“I think all we can do is our best to get the best out of our car and our team.  We can’t control what our competitors do.  We can only control what we do and to me it’s just living up to our full potential.  Then just kind of let the chips fall the way they are supposed to or the way they will.  We can’t play those scenarios out in our mind because you just don’t know how that is going to happen.  You just go out and race as hard as you can and I’m very proud of the effort that we’ve put out.  I made a mistake at New Hampshire that cost us. Other than that we have gained on everybody in the Chase except for the top three guys.  Those guys have been performing very well. If they don’t have some issues or have a really bad day then nobody is going to catch them.  We are not wishing that upon them it’s just we just got to go out and do our jobs and hope that the tracks, like I look at this as one of our weaker tracks.  If we can perform well here I think it really puts us in great position to go gain some points at a few other tracks.  That is what we are looking at doing right now.  We are way ahead of the game right now.  We were four weeks ago not in it.  Now we are in it and we are up to fifth or tied for fourth.  We are pleased with where we are at. We are not going to complain about being where we are at, at all.”
 
HOW MUCH EASIER IS IT TO COME TO THE RACE TRACK WHEN YOU ARE RUNNING WELL AND HAVING FUN RATHER THAN THE STRUGGLES FROM THE PAST?
“This has been a very frustrating year for us.  We’ve tested ourselves, me personally, Alan (Gustafson, crew chief), the engineers, the pit crew, everybody on this team because we’ve gone to race tracks where we felt like we should have performed and we didn’t.  We have gone to race tracks where we were performing and made mistakes or had failures and that tests your patients, it tests your frustration in the car and off the track your relationship with the people on the team.  When you can fight through that it makes you stronger.  We thought we fought through enough last years, but we actually I think needed a little bit more of that.  It’s been a struggle.  Knowing what struggles we have been through to have things going well it is exciting because we can appreciate it so much more because we know what those tough times were really like.”
 
I WANT TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ‘KICK IT FOR CANCER’.  I KNOW THAT YOU WENT TO KNOXVILLE THIS YEAR.  WAS THAT YOUR FIRST TRIP TO THE DINGUS?
“I think it was my first trip to dingus.  Very good time.”
 
TALK ABOUT ‘KICK IT FOR CANCER’ AND THE SPRINT CAR COMMUNITY AND HOW THEY HAVE SUPPORTED YOU:
“They have been extremely supportive.  I am and I’m not surprised you know they are just a great group of racers that work very hard.  We have supported a team and I think that they just appreciate our involvement in looking at the World of Outlaws and sprint cars and that fan base as a group of people that we wanted to be involved with and put on these kickball tournaments.  Kendra Jacobs and Shane Stewart so many people that have… the promoters at all these tracks they have just gotten behind it.  So yeah in that sense I am surprised.  I didn’t expect it to take off the way it has.  They have been tremendous to bring more awareness to pediatric cancer through the ‘kick it’ tournaments.  We have raised a tremendous amount of money as well as overseas.  One of our biggest games we have had to date was over in Australia because all the sprint car racers go over there during the winter.  It’s been phenomenal and it continues to grow and we are having a lot of fun.  We had a ‘kick it’ tournament in Charlotte or outside of Charlotte with NASCAR.  We don’t raise near as much money with them as we do with sprint car racing.  That is the type of community that there is.  Everybody wants to be a part of it and they are also maybe not as scared about getting hurt out there doing the kickball tournament.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, SR. USED TO TALK ABOUT HOW THE MOST IMPORTANT CONVERSATION FOR HIM IN EVERY RACE WAS THE CONVERSATION HE HAD WITH HIS TIRES. WHAT HIS TIRES TOLD HIM ON A CONSTANT BASIS. DOES THIS TIRE THAT YOU ALL TESTED TODAY SPEAK TO YOU AS WELL AS ANY TIRE THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER HAS EVER TALKED TO YOU AND IS IT AS EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO YOU?
“That must be why I struggle on these repaves (laughs).  Because I feel like they are speaking French and I don’t know French.  No, I mean they don’t.  That is what I was getting at about these harder tires on these newly, recently paved race tracks.  It’s a box that we are in and we understand why we are in it because of the durability as I mentioned and trying to get the best performance as well as we are carrying a lot of speed.  This car has got a lot of downforce and the track has got a lot of grip in it.  You are either stuck to the race track or you are not stuck to the race track there is no in-between. I understand what you are saying.  To me you can say it’s the tire, you can just say it’s the grip level; you can just say through the seat of your pants of what the car is doing it’s just feeding information.  It does start at the tire because the tire and the contact to the pavement is the first thing that you are reacting to.  Then it’s sent up through the springs and the shocks and the whole chassis and aerodynamics and everything bef
ore it finally gets to you and your hands on the steering wheel and your butt in the seat.  I kind of like to talk to everything.  Sometimes that is why I confuse myself in those conversations. I never heard Dale (Earnhardt, Sr.) say that so that’s interesting, but it’s also true.”