IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
INDY POCONO 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES                                                       
JULY 7, 2013
 
Will Power Leads Team Chevy at Pocono with Fourth Place Finish; Helio Castroneves Continues on Top of Point Standings
 
LONG POND, Penn. (July 7, 2013) – Will Power led the charge for Team Chevy with a fourth place finish today in the Pocono INDYCAR 400 for the IZOD IndyCar Series at Pocono Raceway.  Behind the wheel of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Power led four Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers with top-10 finishes, on the way to another strong oval track finish this season.
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, maintained his lead in the point standings with an eighth place finish in the 160-lap/400-mile race on the track referred to the ‘Tricky Triangle’. Ed Carpenter brought his own No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet to the checkered flag in ninth position.
 
Pole sitter Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, finished 10th, and remains third in the standings.
 
Defending Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, was credited with a 20th place finish after contact on pit road sent Hunter-Reay to the garage for repairs that put him 39 laps down to the winner at the finish.
 
Three-time race winner James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, was the victim of a single-car accident on lap one of the 11th race of the 19-race season.  He lost one spot in the standings, and now sits fifth in points.
 
Chevrolet maintains the lead in the Series Manufacturers’ standings with eight races remaining in the season.
 
Scott Dixon (Honda) was the race winner.  Charlie Kimball – 2nd, Dario Franchitti – 3rd and Josef Newgarden – 4th complete the top-five finishers.
The Honda Indy Toronto, the second of the double-header weekends the season, and the first with standing starts, is next on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule set for July 13-14, 2013.  NBC Sports Network will provide live TV coverage of both points-paying races beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, and again on Sunday. Both races will also be broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211, www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 13 App for most smartphones and tablets.
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED FOURTH:  “It was a good day and a good finish for the Verizon team. The boys gave me some great pit stops today and it was really important for us to score some good points and continue to make up ground in the championship. I really like this track here at Pocono. It seemed like it was a good crowd and we gave it all we had out there. A very physical race, but a good result for us in the end.”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED EIGHTH: “Well, it’s definitely good to come out of this race building our lead in the championship. The Hitachi team did a fantastic job this weekend. The race was very challenging. For us, as a team, we had to make a lot of decisions during the race. Ultimately, the key was saving fuel for a good result and we’ll take a top-10 finish and move on to Toronto with the good points we earned here. Thanks again to the fans here. They were awesome and it’s good to be back racing at Pocono.”
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED NINTH: “It was a tough race for us.  We started 14th and finished ninth.  I felt we had a better car than that result.  We didn’t have a fast car in the beginning of the stints, but we came on strong at the end of them.  We made the car a lot better for the race.  We were just missing a little something.  We were a little inconsistent with the tires. They felt a little different with each run.  I guess we shouldn’t be down about a top-ten finish, but I felt we had a shot for a top-five.  I thought we were charging in some portions of the race.  But then the car didn’t react as quickly after a pit stop.  We might have run a little too much downforce, but we need to look at it back at the shop.  It was fun to race at Pocono.  It is hard to pass but you do it.  I hope the crowd liked the Indy cars here.  I loved coming to this track.  The track does a goes job promoting the race too.  It is great to have Pocono as part of the Fuzzy’s Triple Crown.  We’ll have to defend our title at Fontana and stop Tony (Kanaan) and Scott (Dixon) from taking the $250,000 from Fuzzy’s Vodka.”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 10TH: “Oh man, I mean we knew early (about our fuel mileage), but not early enough. I think we should have responded quicker, but it’s so hard to be reserved right now. I’m so frustrated for RC Cola and everybody; we were just so dominant and I’m just absolutely gutted.”

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET – FINISHED 11TH: “The car was awesome! It was a really good race. This is a tricky place; you had to time your passes just right. I had a lot of fun out there and the team was great. They gave me a fantastic car and we were able to move forward and make a lot of moves toward the end of the race. I’m really happy that we were able to get a good result for the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car.”
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 SUNOCO “TURBO” KV RACING TECHNOLOGY SH-RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 13TH: “I apologized to the crew several times. I made a mistake and it cost us big. I had a run on Dixon, but didn’t really think that I was closing that fast on him. We had a car that was capable of winning this race and putting us in a position to contend for ‘Fuzzy’s Triple Crown’ and the $1 million prize.  We still have a chance to win in Fontana and collect $250,000, but I just feel bad for the crew because they worked so hard to give me a very competitive car.”
 
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 14TH: “We were working a lot on our fuel mileage there late in the race and had to jump in the pits for a splash of fuel, which cost us some positions right at the end. That was a bit unfortunate because the National Guard Chevy was quite racy, especially once the fuel burnt off and we got to the end of each stint. We were working on our downforce levels during some of the early pit stops, and the Panther crew was really quick in the pits all day. I’m really thankful Panther gave me the opportunity to run today knowing we’d have to miss practice and qualifications. We continue to gel each time we go out and I’m looking forward to the next one.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 16TH: “It was a tough day, we were running up front well in the Top-10. The second run was really strong for us, just running flat out. We caught Viso and I made the call to come in a lap early, so we came in. Then the track went yellow and that killed our race. We went completely out of sequence with that yellow and never caught a break. After that we tried to save fuel and not make another stop, but we couldn’t make it all the way without a yellow. At this place you cannot save fuel being flat out and wide open the whole race. The #7 McAfee car deserved better today and the crew did an amazing job today.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 20TH: “We had a great car today, just a lit
tle too much understeer to start with, so we were just going to add front wing as we went. I really think we had a great car to challenge for the win, was really looking forward to the rest of the race – I love this race track. Then we were just coming in to pit lane, minding our own business, and we get creamed from behind. It’s unfortunate but we’ve come from further back to win the championship and we’re determined to do it again. The DHL Chevy boys got me back out on the track; we tried to salvage some points, and I think we got one position. It’s so frustrating when you’re running top three, top two, really happy with your car and then somebody comes from out of nowhere to take you out.”
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO CHEVROLET – FINISHED 21ST: “It was a pretty disappointing weekend from qualifying on; things never went the right way for me. In the race, since Lap 1, it was extremely difficult to drive – we still don’t know what the problem is. During the race, the car was wandering on me in the straights, in the corners, going from side-to-side. I just needed to stop to have a look at the car, to see if there was anything wrong. But obviously, at that point, it was very late in the race and we lost plenty of ground. From here on there are many street and road courses coming. I believe we have everything it takes to be in the front in those upcoming races.”
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 23RD: “A very rough day. We ran into the exactly the same issue as in qualifying with our throttle getting stuck as soon as we turned on the car. With that we couldn’t race, so we came in to change the throttle and that was the end of our day. It’s been a very season for us and we cannot seem to catch a break. All we can do is stay focused with a positive attitude and see what happens next.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 24TH: INVOLVED IN A SINGLE-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP ONE OF THE RACE: ON WHAT HAPPENED: “I mean it just snapped, we got loose. We’ve been battling understeer with a hot day. We were planning on the car being a bit more pushy than…I guess it ultimately ended up being. We went a little aggressive on setup. I don’t know, maybe we went too much or what. It’s just so weird.  I  had a moment almost like that in qualifying, and I guess I used up all my luck/talent saving it the; we didn’t have enough this time. With the downforce level we were running, and the setup that we had, there is just no way I thought that was the kind of accident that would have taken us out especially on lap one especially when the tires are fresh and everything was good. It is devastating, man, to have the GoDaddy car out; Andretti Autosport one-two-three didn’t last too long. I feel bad for the team; the guys worked so hard. Hopefully Marco and Ryan can fly the flag, and try to bring it home for us. I’m not entirely sure what happened.  We’ll have to take a look at it.  The car just snapped loose on me.  We went a bit aggressive on setup because we had an understeering car all week, and we didn’t want that in the race.  Maybe we overstepped it a bit; I’m not quite sure.  We’ll have to go back and take a look.  It’s really unfortunate.  It’s a 400-mile race so to go out on Lap 1 is just devastating.  We had high hopes for the Go Daddy car.  We’ve been on a good sort of momentum streak.  It’s turned into a repeat of last year – an accident while running up front right before Toronto.”
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marco Andretti Wins the Pole for the Pocono INDYCAR 400 at Pocono Raceway to Lead Team Chevy in Capturing Top-Six Qualifying Positions
 
LONG POND, Penn. (July 6, 2013) – Marco Andretti continued his family’s legacy at Pocono Raceway by winning the pole for tomorrow’s 160-lap Pocono INDYCAR 400. His father and team owner, Michael Andretti, was the pole winner in 1986.  In 1987, his grandfather, Mario Andretti, won the pole. It is the second pole of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season for the driver of the No. 25 RC Cola Andretti Autosport Chevrolet.
 
Andretti led a contingent of six Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers to the top-six qualifying positions today including an all-Andretti Autosport front row, in the second race of the season that will see the field roll to the green flag in rows of three cars.  Defending Series Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay was the second fastest qualifier in the No. 1 DHL Chevrolet, and James Hinchcliffe turned the third quickest time in the No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet.
 
Team Chevy drivers claiming the fourth through sixth qualifying positions were: Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet; Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, No. 11 Sunoco “Turbo” KV Racing Technology Chevrolet and Series points leader Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.
 
“Congratulations to Marco Andretti for winning the pole position at Pocono Raceway today for tomorrow’s 400 mile race,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “This is Marco’s second pole of the season and is a continuation of the consistency he is demonstrating this year which shows in his current 3rd place position in the driver’s points battle.  Andretti Autosport secured the entire 3-wide front row for the start of the race tomorrow with Ryan Hunter-Reay alongside Marco and James Hinchcliffe beside Ryan.  The Chevrolet IndyCar V6 will also power the second row for Will Power, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.  We are very proud of the effort and preparation that our teams and technical partners have put forth for the return of IndyCar racing to ‘The Tricky Triangle’ here at Pocono and look forward to a strong Team Chevy race result tomorrow.”
 
A total of 12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers are qualified to start the second leg of the Fuzzy’s Triple Crown.  If a driver wins all three races, he or she will take home a $1 million bonus.  Kanaan is the only driver in a position to win the big prize by virtue of winning the Indy 500.  If a driver wins two of the three (the final leg of the Triple Crown is the season finale at Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, California), they will earn $250,000
The 160 lap/400 mile challenge is scheduled for Sunday, July 7th at the three-turn Pocono Raceway. The race will be televised live at 12:00 p.m. (ET) ABC and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211, www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 13 App for most smartphones and tablets.
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER
 
TALK ABOUT TODAY’S QUALIFYING RUN AND ESPECIALLY GOING OUT SO EARLY AND HAVING TO PLAY THE WAITING GAME:
“Yeah, I mean obviously I always know my teammates are going to be strong.  I got everything out of it so I knew that I was going to be pleased with the result regardless if we were on pole or not.  In IndyCar racing now a days there is five guys that get it right so that is what I was waiting for.  We lucked out today.”
 
YOU SAID YESTERDAY THAT YOU DIDN’T THINK ANYBODY WAS GOING TO GET UP TO 221 AND YOU WENT OUT THERE AND LAID IT DOWN:
“I meant anybody else.  Yeah, no it all came together.  It was going to be all about balance and we really were focusing on every little detail in practice because we got a decent handle on the race car so we hope and we knew we had tonight’s session if we didn’t.  So we focused on really studying everything to get everything to the last detail and we did.”
 
TALK ABOUT BEING ON THE POLE AT YOUR HOMETOWN RACE:
“Yeah, it’s tremendous.  I’ve taken a huge liking to this place as soon as I rolled off here in the initial test.  I really think the Indy cars are built for this track and vice versa.  I really do. This became my favorite track.  I love Indianapolis, but the way this place races it’s so challenging.  It’s so different end to end and even lap to lap that you really have to chase the tools in the car and that was on my own.  There is going to be some traffic tomorrow and it’s going to be the one who gets it right.”
 
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET IT RIGHT?
“Honestly, I think there is going to be a little bit like Indianapolis right place at the right time.  Timing your passes because it’s really easy to get suckered in to try to make something out of nothing because of the way the cars are towing.  You really have to be smart.  You really have to be more than alongside.  I wouldn’t be comfortable just turning in right next to somebody in case you know.  You can’t go two-wide through turn two so you really have to time your passes and right place at the right time.  Hopefully we are on the better end of the luck.”
 
DID YOU GET A CHANCE TO DO ANY LONG RUNS YESTERDAY?
“I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot by saying this, but I mean the race car yesterday was on rails.  I could pass anybody as soon as I got up to them.  Today we were struggling a bit in turn three, but I think that is the characteristic of the wind.  I think relative to my competitors we are still strong.  That is all we can really go for.  It’s going to take more than that.  We know that.”
 
YOU BECOME THE THIRD ANDRETTI TO SCORE A POLE HERE AT THIS TRACK WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE TO YOU?
“Yeah, it means a lot to me.  This is the first place where I was able to, besides Milwaukee get a pole where they did.  We have always run strong here as a family similar to Indianapolis.  Tomorrow is the one we want.  I think that would be just icing on the cake.”
 
THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF FOCUS ON TONY KANAAN WINNING THE TRIPLE CROWN BUT IF A DRIVER WINS TWO OUT OF THREE THEY CAN WIN A $250,000 BONUS WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
“My first goal is obviously to work on tomorrow.  I really want to get this monkey off my back because I really feel the wins are going to start clicking off.  I felt we gave a couple away in the last couple of races which is frustrating, but we still managed to except Milwaukee with the electronic issue we still managed to keep it somewhat up there.  We definitely need to close the gap first and foremost on the points lead and hopefully we can take the $250,000 and the championship that would just be awesome.”
 
YOU HAVE SAID OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS HOW MUCH IT WOULD MEAN TO YOU TO GET A WIN HERE.  IT’S ALMOST BEEN A PERFECT WEEKEND HERE.  IS THERE EXTRA PRESSURE NOW BECAUSE YOU HAVE GOT THE POLE AND YOU HAVE BEEN THE FASTEST IN PRACTICES ALL WEEKEND?
“Definitely because if you look at my worst finish I swept that weekend up until the race too.  Tomorrow is the one that counts as they say.  A lot is going to play out.  It’s 400 miles and I think we are up to the task.  It’s just that we need to execute.”
 
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED SECOND
 
HOW MUCH DOES IT HELP YOU HAVING YOUR TEAMMATES ON THE FRONT ROW WITH YOU?
 
“It does help.  You know there is cooperation there for sure.  It’s like ‘go ahead after you, no after you.’ So it will be a little bit of that, but that’s only for the first lap after that we get going and we get to racing.  It’s definitely go
od this is Andretti’s backyard having Marco (Andretti) on pole.  Andretti Autosport locking out the front row it’s pretty cool.  Three-wide start here at Pocono will look pretty cool.”
 
THERE ARE A LOT OF POINTS AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT EIGHT DAYS.  JUST TALK ABOUT HOW PIVOTAL THESE NEXT EIGHT DAYS ARE GOING TO BE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP RUN:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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