NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE DRIVER TRANSCRIPTS
JUNE 15, 2014
 
 
SETTING THE GOLD STANDARD – CHEVROLET WINS AT MICHIGAN
Jimmie Johnson Takes the Gold Bowtie to Victory Lane for Fifth Consecutive time in 2014 and collects his first career win at MIS
 
 
BROOKLYN, MI – June 15, 2014 – With nine laps to go in the Quicken Loans 400, Jimmie Johnson retook the lead for the final time and never looked back.  Johnson, who led the 200-lap event four times for 39 laps, took the checkered flag for his first career win at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).  It took the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion 25 tries to record his first victory at Chevrolet’s home track.
 
“We have figured out every way to lose this race,” said Johnson from Victory Lane. “And today we were able to get it done. A huge thanks to Lowe’s and KOBALT and all the employees at Lowe’s. Thanks to Chevrolet, and the fans, and my fans. I’m excited to win on Father’s Day, having my family here, and having the boss here and for Chevrolet to win in their own backyard. We need to switch that stat where that other brand wins too much here and we need to get the bowtie more victories here.  Just a lot of things to be happy for.”
 
The victory was Chevrolet’s ninth win of the 2014 season; it’s fifth consecutive. It is the third time in the last six seasons the Bowtie Brand has completed this feat.  With the win, Chevrolet will take home the Heritage Trophy, a special award presented by MIS to the winning manufacturer.
 
“This is a big deal, said Alba Colon, Chevrolet program manager for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. “It’s a big deal for Chevrolet and especially it’s a really big deal to win at your home track in our backyard, so we are very excited. In the past, you know, this track hasn’t been that great for our Chevy teams, you know, so to be here today and be able to win and dominate, and having Jimmie, who has tried many times to win at this track, and he had some unfortunate luck the last year, and to be able to be some dominant here and to have other six drivers for a total of seven drivers in the top 10 is really great.”
 
Johnson has accumulated three wins thus far in ’14, and has now been victorious at every venue on the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule with the exception of four tracks: Kentucky Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Chicagoland Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
 
Johnson led Team Chevy to victory, but Chevrolet not only dominated the race, but the top 10 by earning seven of the highest finishing positions.  Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS finished second. Paul Menard followed in his No. 27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet SS finishing fourth matching his career best finish at the 2-mile track earning his third fourth-place finish.
 
After getting involved in an on-track incident on lap seven, Kasey Kahne and the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS team rallied to earn a fifth-place finish, his second of the season.  Jeff Gordon had a solid run finishing sixth.  The run helped him and the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS team maintain the point’s lead by 15 markers over fellow Chevrolet driver and MIS race winner Johnson.
 
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. moved up to third in the point standings with his seventh-place finish at MIS.  The driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Superman Chevrolet SS fought a loose race car in the closing laps, but held on to earn his 10th top 10 finish of 2014.
 
Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Larson earned the title of top finishing rookie for the 11th time this season earning an eighth-place finish during his first trip to the 2-mile track.  Larson now sits eighth in the series standings and rounded out the Chevy power finishing in the top 10 at Chevy’s home track nestled in the Irish Hills of Michigan.
 
Brad Keselowski (Ford) was third to round out the top five finishing order.
 
The Sprint Cup Series travels to the West Coast next weekend as Team Chevy drivers and teams get ready to compete turning left and right on the 2.52-mile, 12-turn road course in Sonoma, California on June 22nd. 
 
 
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS, CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF AND TEAM OWNER RICK HENDRICK – RACE WINNERS
          
KERRY THARP:  We’re going to hear now from our winning owner of today’s 46th annual Quicken Loans 400 here at Michigan International Speedway, winning for the first time, the No. 48 team in the Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet here at Michigan, but it’s the third win of the season.  Certainly right now that looms big as the season continues to unfold.  Rick, congratulations.  This is your fifth straight win in the Sprint Cup Series, the third time that has happened in your organization’s history.  You did that twice in 2007, and that time you also had a streak of six straight wins back in 2007. Congratulations.  Maybe just talk about this win today and just about how the overall organization is performing.
            RICK HENDRICK:  Well, this is a great win for a lot of reasons.  One for here in Michigan for Chevrolet, and being a Chevrolet dealer and racing Chevrolets, this means a lot to win this race.  It’s good to see Jimmie after leading so many laps here close the deal because we’ve run out of gas, broke motors, blown tires.  I think I remember a couple times coming off of 4 and losing it.  For him to be able to finish it off today, it was really good.
            And again, to keep the streak going, get five, that’s great.  This was a good race, and it just played out the way we needed it to play out, and all our cars ran well, and I think we were a little off early in the year, and we’ve been kind of clicking here lately, and real proud of all the guys at the Motorsports because of working hard together, and Kasey had a good day, and just a tribute to Chad and all the crew chiefs and drivers working hard, working together, the engine shop, chassis shop.  Everybody is really putting out a lot of effort right now, and it’s paying off.
            KERRY THARP:  And our winning crew chief is Chad Knaus.  Chad, certainly it was a good race.  It featured a little bit of everything, and certainly the role that the entire team played today was big.  I think it just showed again today how big of a team sport this is but certainly 48 once again made the right calls and things came your way, and now you’ve got five straight wins in the Hendrick camp and then three wins for Jimmie Johnson.  That leads all Chase drivers, so just talk about the significance of today’s win.
            CHAD KNAUS:  That’s pretty cool stats you’ve got there, Kerry.  Thanks.
            Today was just great.  My allergies are kicking in right now so I’m struggling a little bit.  But it was a long time coming.  Obviously we enjoy coming up here to Michigan, and we’ve raced very well up here, and we haven’t been able to close the deal on quite a few occasions, so coming in here very optimistic after what we did at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the way the company ran at Pocono, as well, so we felt like we had an opportunity.  We qualified solid.
            The Kobalt Chevrolet this weekend was really, really fast.  Same race car that we had at Charlotte Motor Speedway so that was a good decision on our part to g
et that joker turned around and brought to the track.  The guys had solid pit stops today, good strategy.  We knew there was going to be some opportunities to play some strategy today.  We also knew that if you had a fast race car you could maybe overcome strategy that maybe somebody else would play.  So we were fortunate enough to have a very fast race car and hit the strategy correct at the right time, and obviously put it all together for a solid win.
            And as far as Hendrick Motorsports goes, I think if you go back and look starting at Daytona, the engine shop and the chassis shop, the way that the Hendrick Motorsports affiliated teams and team itself has performed has been pretty impressive as a whole.  The chassis shop, we know we build chassis for a lot of the other competitors, as well, and those cars have ran very, very well.  The teams that have run with our engines have run very, very well, as well. It’s been pretty awesome, and I couldn’t be prouder of the guys in the 48/88 shop to be able to win four races in a row.  I think that speaks volumes about how well both of our race cars are running out of that one team, out of that one building.  The fact of the matter is I think we’ve got to be a little bit better.  Last week we were a whisker away from losing that one.  This weekend maybe we were one pit call away from not winning this one.  We’ve got to continue to improve our product so by the time we get to the Chase we’re where we need to be.
 
            Q.  Chad, you talked about having strategies.  How many different game plans do you have to come into a race with so that if something happens, you’re like, okay, if it’s fuel mileage, we do this.  If somebody short pits or ‑‑
            CHAD KNAUS:  It’s tough.  That’s why I have Rick stand on my box.
            RICK HENDRICK:  I told him in victory lane, I could never be a crew chief.  Never.  I admitted that as soon as you got to victory lane.  I said, I could never do that.
            CHAD KNAUS:  It’s tough.  It really is tough.  We work really hard to try to understand and follow what’s going on.  Last weekend we were only just a little bit away from being able to pull off last weekend.  We did that last pit stop, we came out ahead of the 2 and the 88, and if I hadn’t messed up last weekend and torn up our race car we probably would have had a shot to win there, as well.  It’s really hard and you’ve really got to pay attention.  It ends up being how much are you willing to dedicate to your time, and watching film, paying attention, watching what other teams do leading up to the event, and that’s one thing that Dave Elenz, my lead engineer, and myself, we pride ourselves on paying attention to what happens leading up to an event. So coming into it we feel like we’ve got a good idea what we need to do when situations arise.  It doesn’t always pan out, trust me, but we try really hard. How’s that?
 
            Q.  Chad, with what you guys have been able to do the last seven, eight years, the expectations for your team being so high, I know everybody kept a cool hand before Jimmie’s first win this season, but when the 48 is not winning, is it pressure on you?  Is it miserable?  Like you said, I know you keep a poker hand, but behind the scenes I’ve got to think the expectation is almost win every week or somebody did something wrong.
            CHAD KNAUS:  That is the expectation, obviously.  We go to the racetrack every week with the hopes and the intent of winning the race and sitting on the pole and leading the most laps and doing everything we possibly can.  The reality is that’s very difficult to achieve, so when we don’t run well, I can be grumpy I would say from time to time.  But that’s the way it is.  The expectation is for us to go out there and perform on a weekly basis as the best team out there, and that’s my expectation, and it’s the expectation of all the fans and especially all you media guys because if we falter for two weeks we’re washed up and we’re all getting fired and everything is going crazy.  So if we don’t do that, that’s the only way to keep you guys quiet.
            But it’s been a great year, and we started off a little bit slow.  We said coming into it that we thought it was going to be May time before we were able to hit our stride, and I think that May showed up and we started to run a little bit better, and I hope that we can continue to improve.
            KERRY THARP:  We’re joined now by our race winner, and that is Jimmie Johnson.  He drives the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet.  Happy Father’s Day.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Thank you.
 
            Q.  Congratulations on your first win here at Michigan, your third win of the season, and I like how we displayed that on your nameplate with the three wins.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  That was quick.
            KERRY THARP:  We like to work quick in NASCAR.  Jimmie, just talk about the significance of today’s win.  Certainly as I mentioned earlier, five straight wins now for Hendrick Motorsports, but your third win of the season.  We’ve still got several to go here before we set the Chase field, so just talk about now how your team is really starting to kick into gear.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I’m just thrilled on multiple levels.  The success that we’ve had as a team, kind of hitting our stride and getting to victory lane three times in the last four weeks, our teammates and their success, the company, and you look at our engines in our cars and what they’re able to do, Rick gives us all the tools to go out there and do our jobs and to have everything so fast and so good, you want it to last forever.  We know that it won’t, but it’s just a good time to sit back and reflect and enjoy it.
            Excited about all those pieces, plus winning on Father’s Day, having my family here, having the boss here.  He wasn’t here at the last race win that we had, so it’s fun to see his face in victory lane, for Chevrolet to win in their own backyard.  We need to switch that stat where that other brand wins too much here and we need to get the bowtie more victories here.  Just a lot of things to be happy for.
 
            Q.  This question is for Jimmie:  When you were going through those final laps, did you have any flashbacks at all of some of the shortcomings you’ve had here or did you focus just on this race, and how did Chad motivate you?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, we had a good lead, so it allowed me to take care of my stuff.  When I heard 10 to go, and I’ve been there before with the lead.  I heard 5 to go, I’ve been there before, didn’t win.  Taken the white with the lead and didn’t make it back.  So I was really ‑‑ I wasn’t taking anything for granted on that final trip around, and about 200 yards before the finish line I knew if the ca
r exploded I’d still slide across the finish line and it didn’t matter.  That’s finally when I relaxed and let it go.
 
            Q.  Just for Jimmie, I guess it’s 69 wins, but when you hear first‑time winner Jimmie Johnson anywhere, does it still lighten your mood or make you happy?  When was the last time you were a first‑time winner at a racetrack?  Can you remember that?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  That’s a good question.  Maybe Bristol a couple years ago.  I can’t believe I won to start with.  I don’t know what Rick saw in me or Jeff back in 2001 when they put me in that car, and believe me, when I won my first race, I was like, I thought I had these guys snowed and they’ve given me a year to go out and race.  They did see something.  It is very cool to hear it, and believe me, even at 69 wins, I still cherish them all.  It is not easy to win in this sport, and just thankful for the opportunity.  I’ve been with Rick and with Chad and Lowe’s, you look at that whole synergy of that, we’ve all been together through this entire ride of the 48, and it’s special each time we win.
 
            Q.  Rick, I know you’ve had conversations with these two guys before when things weren’t going as well as you’d hoped, but when things are going really well, do you just completely take a hands‑off approach and let those guys do what they do?  Do you have any conversations with them at all?
            RICK HENDRICK:  No, not really.  I mean, if they need me, I’m there to help them, and they use all the tools that are in the toolbox, but I have nothing ‑‑ not a whole lot I can add, other than just each department doing everything they can do.  I sit in their Tuesday meetings and listen to the feedback from the drivers and the crew chiefs and the engineers, the motor shop and all, and it’s just got to be a crisis for me to get involved.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  He’s the fireman.  He just puts out fires.
 
            Q.  Jimmie, inside NASCAR everybody knows about the crew chiefs and the crews.  Maybe in the general public that’s not the case.  35 laps to go and on the green, you’re in the lead, and the crew chief says this is the time to do it.  Can you just talk about the faith you have in him and the call he made there, taking four tires at that point?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, you know, I could tell in his voice that he was setting up for something.  I could sense what it was.  When he pulled me to pit lane and the gap that I had over the second spot at that time, I knew that four would be the call.  You may as well put four on if you’ve got time for it.  He made that call and got out on the track, and then again, just going off the tone of his voice and what he was asking me to do with the car, and he kept asking me to save my tires in case there was a caution.  I knew we were good on fuel.  So that gave me a lot of optimism.  And then honestly, once we had our four tires on and fuel in our car, if the caution came out, I still think we were golden.  We had enough to go the distance whereas everybody else was short.  Chad saw an opportunity and really let that develop and took great advantage of it.  I’m sure there was some risk at a small window of time in there, but it really was a win‑win.
 
            Q.  Jimmie, when Brad was in here, he said that he felt like Penske had a little bit of an edge on the aero side but that Hendrick’s edge right now in engines is like a full season ahead of where everybody else is.  Can you size up where you are compared to the competition, and is Penske the primary threat outside the walls of Penske and SHR right now?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I’m not smart enough to tell you whether it’s aero or motor.  I just know our cars are fast.  They run good.  It’s hard to say. The cars are all pretty equal aero‑wise with what the rules are from NASCAR.  But I’m not good enough to pick it out and tell you that we’ve got people beat in just one area.  It’s a team effort.  Our engine shop is very strong.  We’ve always known that.  But it’s hard for me to say exactly where it is.
 
            Q.  Is Penske still looking like maybe the threat outside of ‑‑
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, gosh, you look on Fridays and how much speed they have and you can argue a couple points.  Maybe they’ve got great power and able to execute in qualifying trim.  I don’t know.  They seem to have short‑term speed, like big short‑term speed, and we’re slowly working our way that direction.  But I’d say the car that seems to be the best car off the truck to when the checkered falls is still the 4 car, week in and week out.
 
            Q.  I asked Chad a similar question earlier about expectations.  When you’ve won as much as you’ve won, I’ve got to believe it gets more difficult when you don’t win.  How do you prevent that from eating away at you, and how have you been able to overcome what we’ve seen so many other teams fall victim to when there’s expectations?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Honestly I think what’s working for us is the amount of time we have together.  We’ve lost races together.  We’ve lost championships together.  And certainly we’ve had success.  But 69 wins and six championships out of 13 years of racing is a pretty small percentage.  Some of the losses you have are ‑‑ you got what you could that day and you went on, but a lot of those losses in there sting, and I think experience through those moments make us stronger and better.  Everybody knows about 2005 and the milk and cookies meeting that Rick had with us.  I think from that moment on, we were able to be more comfortable, oddly enough, in our own skin, and as a part of team 48.  Nobody is going anywhere.  We’re in this thing together, and we are team 48.
            Falling back on that is really what I tell myself, and it helps us through whatever the stretch might be.
            KERRY THARP:  Congratulations to the No. 48 team for the win here today, and continued best wishes to the 48 team and Hendrick Motorsports the remainder of this season.
 
 
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – HIGHEST FINISHING ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CONTENDER, 8TH:
 
KERRY THARP:  Next up is our top‑finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender.  Finishing eighth today and overcoming certainly several setbacks as the race unfolded, but he battled his way back, and that is Kyle Larson, and he’s the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet.  Kyle, just talk about certainly you had some bad things happen early, then I believe you had a pit road speeding penalty, but you had to admire the fortitude and the persistent effort of the 42 team today.
            KYLE LARSON:  Yeah, man, we had to fight really hard today.  I hate it for whoever got collected in my spin in the begin
ning.  I’m sure Martin Truex was in it because he was racing me really hard all day and he was beat up, so I feel bad for him.  We fought our way back to the top 5 and pretty much stayed there for most of the race, and then with under 50 laps to go I sped on pit road.  I was really bummed about that because I knew we would have a shot to win.  Then I fought really hard after that to finish eighth, and I think Shy made great pit calls all day long, and I screwed up.  I hate it, but still somewhat happy to get a top 10, just disappointed I let my team down.
 
            Q.  It seemed like you were faster.  A lot of drivers were saying it appeared you had more downforce after the bumper cover came off.  Were you surprised by it?  Tony seemed like he was displeased by something.  Did you understand what was going on there?
            KYLE LARSON:  Yes, that’s Tony being Tony.  Yeah, with the Tony issue, I was pretty tight on whoever was inside of me on the restart, and I was looking in my mirror and saw him juke to the right so I juked to the right and he hit me, and I don’t know, he was just trying to teach me a lesson I’m guessing.  Oh, well, that’s two weeks in a row.
            You know, the rear bumper, yeah, I’ve never had that happen before, and it happened so early in the race that I don’t know how it would have handled had I had a rear bumper.  Either way I think we would have had a really good car because we were good in practice, but it probably did help a little bit.
           
            Q.  The track and tires out there today, how did you find the race line, and how did the tires wear?
            KYLE LARSON:  I was surprised how wide the racing actually got.  We were all the way up into the third, fourth groove probably there at the end of the race and running up in the gray, which I was really surprised by, just because in my past Michigan experiences, it normally just gets ‑‑ the groove gets lower, and today it got lower, then worked its way up.
            And as far as tire wear, I don’t think there was any issues, at least I don’t think there was in my camp.  I don’t know about the other teams.  But we usually don’t see much tire wear on a newly repaved track.
 
            Q.  Kyle, in light of Friday’s news, your big news, how important is it to you or what does it mean to you to have another strong run on Father’s Day and how close do you feel you are to a win?
            KYLE LARSON:  Yeah, it would have been cool to get a win today.  I don’t know, I guess it’ll mean more next year.
            I didn’t get to see my dad today.  I texted him.  They’ve been in Indiana watching Midget Week for the USAC series and I’ll actually go there after this to go watch.  Yeah, I texted him, asked him if he was even coming, and he said I’ll probably get there right before the race starts and go sit in the stands.  I told him to make sure he came to victory lane if I won.  Oh, well, we didn’t get it done, but it was still a good day, and I’m sure he was happy to see me get a top 10 after all I had to deal with.
    
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH ALBA COLON, CHEVROLET RACING PROGRAM MANAGER, NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES ~ ACCEPTING HERITAGE TROPHY ON BEHALF OF CHEVROLET FOR JIMMIE JOHNSON’S WIN OF THE QUICKEN LOANS 400 AT MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:
 
KERRY THARP:  Joining us now is Alba Colon, and she’s a Chevrolet program manager for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  As we know, the Michigan International Speedway last summer instituted the Heritage Trophy that they present twice a year to the winning manufacturer in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race here at Michigan International Speedway, and it’s a big deal.  That’s a beautiful trophy, and Chevrolet will hang on to that trophy at least until August.  But congratulations, Alba.  Jimmie wins for the first time here at Michigan, but Chevrolet certainly continues to assert itself as just a first‑class manufacturer.  Just talk about what it means to win here today at Michigan.
            ALBA COLON:  Thank you, Kerry, and thank you, everybody.  First of all, I don’t think that we’re planning to return the trophy for many years to come.  No, first of all, thank you very much for having me here today.
            This is a big deal.  It’s a big deal for Chevrolet and especially it’s a really big deal to win at our home track in our backyard, so we are very excited.  In the past, you know, this track hasn’t been that great for our Chevy teams, you know, so to be here today and be able to win and dominate, and having Jimmie, who has tried many times to win at this track, and he had some unfortunate luck the last year, and to be able to be some dominant here and to have other six drivers for a total of seven drivers in the top 10 is really great.
            Trust me, there’s a lot of work that goes on behind everything that we are doing here, not only us but the other manufacturers, and it’s great to have friendly competition and to be able to bring this trophy home to our office, and we’re looking forward to the next August race to see how things go.
 
            Q.  Some of the competitors from your competition were in here earlier and were basically saying that particularly Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet seem to be very much ahead of the game with the new rules package this year, and it’ll be difficult catching up.  I know that trophy is important to you, but how do you see your chances going forward to get the other trophy at the end of the season?
            ALBA COLON:  Thanks for your question.  You know, the season is young.  This is race No. 15 of 36, and we have seen for many seasons that you can be hot, cold at different times of the year.  We have been working very, very hard to be where we are today.  We’re still working on stuff for the future, and of course to get ready for the Chase, what is important, you know, and we are taking it one race at a time.
            It’s great we won today, but next week we have a brand new race that we need to get ready, and one race at a time until we can get both trophies, the manufacturer’s and the driver’s championship.  But do not discount anybody yet.  All the other teams are doing good, and I know that they are working hard, also, one race at a time, to be able to claim both prizes in Homestead.
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE DRIVER TRANSCRIPTS
JUNE 15, 2014
 
 
SETTING THE GOLD STANDARD – CHEVROLET WINS AT MICHIGAN
Jimmie Johnson Takes the Gold Bowtie to Victory Lane for Fifth Consecutive time in 2014 and collects his first career win at MIS
 
 
BROOKLYN, MI – June 15, 2014 – With nine laps to go in the Quicken Loans 400, Jimmie Johnson retook the lead for the final time and never looked back.  Johnson, who led the 200-lap event four times for 39 laps, took the checkered flag for his first career win at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).  It took the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion 25 tries to record his first victory at Chevrolet’s home track.
 
“We have figured out every way to lose this race,” said Johnson from Victory Lane. “And today we were able to get it done. A huge thanks to Lowe’s and KOBALT and all the employees at Lowe’s. Thanks to Chevrolet, and the fans, and my fans. I’m excited to win on Father’s Day, having my family here, and having the boss here and for Chevrolet to win in their own backyard. We need to switch that stat where that other brand wins too much here and we need to get the bowtie more victories here.  Just a lot of things to be happy for.”
 
The victory was Chevrolet’s ninth win of the 2014 season; it’s fifth consecutive. It is the third time in the last six seasons the Bowtie Brand has completed this feat.  With the win, Chevrolet will take home the Heritage Trophy, a special award presented by MIS to the winning manufacturer.
 
“This is a big deal, said Alba Colon, Chevrolet program manager for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. “It’s a big deal for Chevrolet and especially it’s a really big deal to win at your home track in our backyard, so we are very excited. In the past, you know, this track hasn’t been that great for our Chevy teams, you know, so to be here today and be able to win and dominate, and having Jimmie, who has tried many times to win at this track, and he had some unfortunate luck the last year, and to be able to be some dominant here and to have other six drivers for a total of seven drivers in the top 10 is really great.”
 
Johnson has accumulated three wins thus far in ’14, and has now been victorious at every venue on the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule with the exception of four tracks: Kentucky Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Chicagoland Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
 
Johnson led Team Chevy to victory, but Chevrolet not only dominated the race, but the top 10 by earning seven of the highest finishing positions.  Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS finished second. Paul Menard followed in his No. 27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet SS finishing fourth matching his career best finish at the 2-mile track earning his third fourth-place finish.
 
After getting involved in an on-track incident on lap seven, Kasey Kahne and the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS team rallied to earn a fifth-place finish, his second of the season.  Jeff Gordon had a solid run finishing sixth.  The run helped him and the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS team maintain the point’s lead by 15 markers over fellow Chevrolet driver and MIS race winner Johnson.
 
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. moved up to third in the point standings with his seventh-place finish at MIS.  The driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Superman Chevrolet SS fought a loose race car in the closing laps, but held on to earn his 10th top 10 finish of 2014.
 
Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Larson earned the title of top finishing rookie for the 11th time this season earning an eighth-place finish during his first trip to the 2-mile track.  Larson now sits eighth in the series standings and rounded out the Chevy power finishing in the top 10 at Chevy’s home track nestled in the Irish Hills of Michigan.
 
Brad Keselowski (Ford) was third to round out the top five finishing order.
 
The Sprint Cup Series travels to the West Coast next weekend as Team Chevy drivers and teams get ready to compete turning left and right on the 2.52-mile, 12-turn road course in Sonoma, California on June 22nd. 
 
 
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS, CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF AND TEAM OWNER RICK HENDRICK – RACE WINNERS
          
KERRY THARP:  We’re going to hear now from our winning owner of today’s 46th annual Quicken Loans 400 here at Michigan International Speedway, winning for the first time, the No. 48 team in the Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet here at Michigan, but it’s the third win of the season.  Certainly right now that looms big as the season continues to unfold.  Rick, congratulations.  This is your fifth straight win in the Sprint Cup Series, the third time that has happened in your organization’s history.  You did that twice in 2007, and that time you also had a streak of six straight wins back in 2007. Congratulations.  Maybe just talk about this win today and just about how the overall organization is performing.
            RICK HENDRICK:  Well, this is a great win for a lot of reasons.  One for here in Michigan for Chevrolet, and being a Chevrolet dealer and racing Chevrolets, this means a lot to win this race.  It’s good to see Jimmie after leading so many laps here close the deal because we’ve run out of gas, broke motors, blown tires.  I think I remember a couple times coming off of 4 and losing it.  For him to be able to finish it off today, it was really good.
            And again, to keep the streak going, get five, that’s great.  This was a good race, and it just played out the way we needed it to play out, and all our cars ran well, and I think we were a little off early in the year, and we’ve been kind of clicking here lately, and real proud of all the guys at the Motorsports because of working hard together, and Kasey had a good day, and just a tribute to Chad and all the crew chiefs and drivers working hard, working together, the engine shop, chassis shop.  Everybody is really putting out a lot of effort right now, and it’s paying off.
            KERRY THARP:  And our winning crew chief is Chad Knaus.  Chad, certainly it was a good race.  It featured a little bit of everything, and certainly the role that the entire team played today was big.  I think it just showed again today how big of a team sport this is but certainly 48 once again made the right calls and things came your way, and now you’ve got five straight wins in the Hendrick camp and then three wins for Jimmie Johnson.  That leads all Chase drivers, so just talk about the significance of today’s win.
            CHAD KNAUS:  That’s pretty cool stats you’ve got there, Kerry.  Thanks.
            Today was just great.  My allergies are kicking in right now so I’m struggling a little bit.  But it was a long time coming.  Obviously we enjoy coming up here to Michigan, and we’ve raced very well up here, and we haven’t been able to close the deal on quite a few occasions, so coming in here very optimistic after what we did at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the way the company ran at Pocono, as well, so we felt like we had an opportunity.  We qualified solid.
            The Kobalt Chevrolet this weekend was really, really fast.  Same race car that we had at Charlotte Motor Speedway so that was a good decision on our part to g
et that joker turned around and brought to the track.  The guys had solid pit stops today, good strategy.  We knew there was going to be some opportunities to play some strategy today.  We also knew that if you had a fast race car you could maybe overcome strategy that maybe somebody else would play.  So we were fortunate enough to have a very fast race car and hit the strategy correct at the right time, and obviously put it all together for a solid win.
            And as far as Hendrick Motorsports goes, I think if you go back and look starting at Daytona, the engine shop and the chassis shop, the way that the Hendrick Motorsports affiliated teams and team itself has performed has been pretty impressive as a whole.  The chassis shop, we know we build chassis for a lot of the other competitors, as well, and those cars have ran very, very well.  The teams that have run with our engines have run very, very well, as well. It’s been pretty awesome, and I couldn’t be prouder of the guys in the 48/88 shop to be able to win four races in a row.  I think that speaks volumes about how well both of our race cars are running out of that one team, out of that one building.  The fact of the matter is I think we’ve got to be a little bit better.  Last week we were a whisker away from losing that one.  This weekend maybe we were one pit call away from not winning this one.  We’ve got to continue to improve our product so by the time we get to the Chase we’re where we need to be.
 
            Q.  Chad, you talked about having strategies.  How many different game plans do you have to come into a race with so that if something happens, you’re like, okay, if it’s fuel mileage, we do this.  If somebody short pits or ‑‑
            CHAD KNAUS:  It’s tough.  That’s why I have Rick stand on my box.
            RICK HENDRICK:  I told him in victory lane, I could never be a crew chief.  Never.  I admitted that as soon as you got to victory lane.  I said, I could never do that.
            CHAD KNAUS:  It’s tough.  It really is tough.  We work really hard to try to understand and follow what’s going on.  Last weekend we were only just a little bit away from being able to pull off last weekend.  We did that last pit stop, we came out ahead of the 2 and the 88, and if I hadn’t messed up last weekend and torn up our race car we probably would have had a shot to win there, as well.  It’s really hard and you’ve really got to pay attention.  It ends up being how much are you willing to dedicate to your time, and watching film, paying attention, watching what other teams do leading up to the event, and that’s one thing that Dave Elenz, my lead engineer, and myself, we pride ourselves on paying attention to what happens leading up to an event. So coming into it we feel like we’ve got a good idea what we need to do when situations arise.  It doesn’t always pan out, trust me, but we try really hard. How’s that?
 
            Q.  Chad, with what you guys have been able to do the last seven, eight years, the expectations for your team being so high, I know everybody kept a cool hand before Jimmie’s first win this season, but when the 48 is not winning, is it pressure on you?  Is it miserable?  Like you said, I know you keep a poker hand, but behind the scenes I’ve got to think the expectation is almost win every week or somebody did something wrong.
            CHAD KNAUS:  That is the expectation, obviously.  We go to the racetrack every week with the hopes and the intent of winning the race and sitting on the pole and leading the most laps and doing everything we possibly can.  The reality is that’s very difficult to achieve, so when we don’t run well, I can be grumpy I would say from time to time.  But that’s the way it is.  The expectation is for us to go out there and perform on a weekly basis as the best team out there, and that’s my expectation, and it’s the expectation of all the fans and especially all you media guys because if we falter for two weeks we’re washed up and we’re all getting fired and everything is going crazy.  So if we don’t do that, that’s the only way to keep you guys quiet.
            But it’s been a great year, and we started off a little bit slow.  We said coming into it that we thought it was going to be May time before we were able to hit our stride, and I think that May showed up and we started to run a little bit better, and I hope that we can continue to improve.
            KERRY THARP:  We’re joined now by our race winner, and that is Jimmie Johnson.  He drives the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet.  Happy Father’s Day.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Thank you.
 
            Q.  Congratulations on your first win here at Michigan, your third win of the season, and I like how we displayed that on your nameplate with the three wins.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  That was quick.
            KERRY THARP:  We like to work quick in NASCAR.  Jimmie, just talk about the significance of today’s win.  Certainly as I mentioned earlier, five straight wins now for Hendrick Motorsports, but your third win of the season.  We’ve still got several to go here before we set the Chase field, so just talk about now how your team is really starting to kick into gear.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I’m just thrilled on multiple levels.  The success that we’ve had as a team, kind of hitting our stride and getting to victory lane three times in the last four weeks, our teammates and their success, the company, and you look at our engines in our cars and what they’re able to do, Rick gives us all the tools to go out there and do our jobs and to have everything so fast and so good, you want it to last forever.  We know that it won’t, but it’s just a good time to sit back and reflect and enjoy it.
            Excited about all those pieces, plus winning on Father’s Day, having my family here, having the boss here.  He wasn’t here at the last race win that we had, so it’s fun to see his face in victory lane, for Chevrolet to win in their own backyard.  We need to switch that stat where that other brand wins too much here and we need to get the bowtie more victories here.  Just a lot of things to be happy for.
 
            Q.  This question is for Jimmie:  When you were going through those final laps, did you have any flashbacks at all of some of the shortcomings you’ve had here or did you focus just on this race, and how did Chad motivate you?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, we had a good lead, so it allowed me to take care of my stuff.  When I heard 10 to go, and I’ve been there before with the lead.  I heard 5 to go, I’ve been there before, didn’t win.  Taken the white with the lead and didn’t make it back.  So I was really ‑‑ I wasn’t taking anything for granted on that final trip around, and about 200 yards before the finish line I knew if the ca
r exploded I’d still slide across the finish line and it didn’t matter.  That’s finally when I relaxed and let it go.
 
            Q.  Just for Jimmie, I guess it’s 69 wins, but when you hear first‑time winner Jimmie Johnson anywhere, does it still lighten your mood or make you happy?  When was the last time you were a first‑time winner at a racetrack?  Can you remember that?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  That’s a good question.  Maybe Bristol a couple years ago.  I can’t believe I won to start with.  I don’t know what Rick saw in me or Jeff back in 2001 when they put me in that car, and believe me, when I won my first race, I was like, I thought I had these guys snowed and they’ve given me a year to go out and race.  They did see something.  It is very cool to hear it, and believe me, even at 69 wins, I still cherish them all.  It is not easy to win in this sport, and just thankful for the opportunity.  I’ve been with Rick and with Chad and Lowe’s, you look at that whole synergy of that, we’ve all been together through this entire ride of the 48, and it’s special each time we win.
 
            Q.  Rick, I know you’ve had conversations with these two guys before when things weren’t going as well as you’d hoped, but when things are going really well, do you just completely take a hands‑off approach and let those guys do what they do?  Do you have any conversations with them at all?
            RICK HENDRICK:  No, not really.  I mean, if they need me, I’m there to help them, and they use all the tools that are in the toolbox, but I have nothing ‑‑ not a whole lot I can add, other than just each department doing everything they can do.  I sit in their Tuesday meetings and listen to the feedback from the drivers and the crew chiefs and the engineers, the motor shop and all, and it’s just got to be a crisis for me to get involved.
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  He’s the fireman.  He just puts out fires.
 
            Q.  Jimmie, inside NASCAR everybody knows about the crew chiefs and the crews.  Maybe in the general public that’s not the case.  35 laps to go and on the green, you’re in the lead, and the crew chief says this is the time to do it.  Can you just talk about the faith you have in him and the call he made there, taking four tires at that point?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, you know, I could tell in his voice that he was setting up for something.  I could sense what it was.  When he pulled me to pit lane and the gap that I had over the second spot at that time, I knew that four would be the call.  You may as well put four on if you’ve got time for it.  He made that call and got out on the track, and then again, just going off the tone of his voice and what he was asking me to do with the car, and he kept asking me to save my tires in case there was a caution.  I knew we were good on fuel.  So that gave me a lot of optimism.  And then honestly, once we had our four tires on and fuel in our car, if the caution came out, I still think we were golden.  We had enough to go the distance whereas everybody else was short.  Chad saw an opportunity and really let that develop and took great advantage of it.  I’m sure there was some risk at a small window of time in there, but it really was a win‑win.
 
            Q.  Jimmie, when Brad was in here, he said that he felt like Penske had a little bit of an edge on the aero side but that Hendrick’s edge right now in engines is like a full season ahead of where everybody else is.  Can you size up where you are compared to the competition, and is Penske the primary threat outside the walls of Penske and SHR right now?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I’m not smart enough to tell you whether it’s aero or motor.  I just know our cars are fast.  They run good.  It’s hard to say. The cars are all pretty equal aero‑wise with what the rules are from NASCAR.  But I’m not good enough to pick it out and tell you that we’ve got people beat in just one area.  It’s a team effort.  Our engine shop is very strong.  We’ve always known that.  But it’s hard for me to say exactly where it is.
 
            Q.  Is Penske still looking like maybe the threat outside of ‑‑
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, gosh, you look on Fridays and how much speed they have and you can argue a couple points.  Maybe they’ve got great power and able to execute in qualifying trim.  I don’t know.  They seem to have short‑term speed, like big short‑term speed, and we’re slowly working our way that direction.  But I’d say the car that seems to be the best car off the truck to when the checkered falls is still the 4 car, week in and week out.
 
            Q.  I asked Chad a similar question earlier about expectations.  When you’ve won as much as you’ve won, I’ve got to believe it gets more difficult when you don’t win.  How do you prevent that from eating away at you, and how have you been able to overcome what we’ve seen so many other teams fall victim to when there’s expectations?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Honestly I think what’s working for us is the amount of time we have together.  We’ve lost races together.  We’ve lost championships together.  And certainly we’ve had success.  But 69 wins and six championships out of 13 years of racing is a pretty small percentage.  Some of the losses you have are ‑‑ you got what you could that day and you went on, but a lot of those losses in there sting, and I think experience through those moments make us stronger and better.  Everybody knows about 2005 and the milk and cookies meeting that Rick had with us.  I think from that moment on, we were able to be more comfortable, oddly enough, in our own skin, and as a part of team 48.  Nobody is going anywhere.  We’re in this thing together, and we are team 48.
            Falling back on that is really what I tell myself, and it helps us through whatever the stretch might be.
            KERRY THARP:  Congratulations to the No. 48 team for the win here today, and continued best wishes to the 48 team and Hendrick Motorsports the remainder of this season.
 
 
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – HIGHEST FINISHING ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CONTENDER, 8TH:
 
KERRY THARP:  Next up is our top‑finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender.  Finishing eighth today and overcoming certainly several setbacks as the race unfolded, but he battled his way back, and that is Kyle Larson, and he’s the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet.  Kyle, just talk about certainly you had some bad things happen early, then I believe you had a pit road speeding penalty, but you had to admire the fortitude and the persistent effort of the 42 team today.
            KYLE LARSON:  Yeah, man, we had to fight really hard today.  I hate it for whoever got collected in my spin in the begin
ning.  I’m sure Martin Truex was in it because he was racing me really hard all day and he was beat up, so I feel bad for him.  We fought our way back to the top 5 and pretty much stayed there for most of the race, and then with under 50 laps to go I sped on pit road.  I was really bummed about that because I knew we would have a shot to win.  Then I fought really hard after that to finish eighth, and I think Shy made great pit calls all day long, and I screwed up.  I hate it, but still somewhat happy to get a top 10, just disappointed I let my team down.
 
            Q.  It seemed like you were faster.  A lot of drivers were saying it appeared you had more downforce after the bumper cover came off.  Were you surprised by it?  Tony seemed like he was displeased by something.  Did you understand what was going on there?
            KYLE LARSON:  Yes, that’s Tony being Tony.  Yeah, with the Tony issue, I was pretty tight on whoever was inside of me on the restart, and I was looking in my mirror and saw him juke to the right so I juked to the right and he hit me, and I don’t know, he was just trying to teach me a lesson I’m guessing.  Oh, well, that’s two weeks in a row.
            You know, the rear bumper, yeah, I’ve never had that happen before, and it happened so early in the race that I don’t know how it would have handled had I had a rear bumper.  Either way I think we would have had a really good car because we were good in practice, but it probably did help a little bit.
           
            Q.  The track and tires out there today, how did you find the race line, and how did the tires wear?
            KYLE LARSON:  I was surprised how wide the racing actually got.  We were all the way up into the third, fourth groove probably there at the end of the race and running up in the gray, which I was really surprised by, just because in my past Michigan experiences, it normally just gets ‑‑ the groove gets lower, and today it got lower, then worked its way up.
            And as far as tire wear, I don’t think there was any issues, at least I don’t think there was in my camp.  I don’t know about the other teams.  But we usually don’t see much tire wear on a newly repaved track.
 
            Q.  Kyle, in light of Friday’s news, your big news, how important is it to you or what does it mean to you to have another strong run on Father’s Day and how close do you feel you are to a win?
            KYLE LARSON:  Yeah, it would have been cool to get a win today.  I don’t know, I guess it’ll mean more next year.
            I didn’t get to see my dad today.  I texted him.  They’ve been in Indiana watching Midget Week for the USAC series and I’ll actually go there after this to go watch.  Yeah, I texted him, asked him if he was even coming, and he said I’ll probably get there right before the race starts and go sit in the stands.  I told him to make sure he came to victory lane if I won.  Oh, well, we didn’t get it done, but it was still a good day, and I’m sure he was happy to see me get a top 10 after all I had to deal with.
    
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH ALBA COLON, CHEVROLET RACING PROGRAM MANAGER, NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES ~ ACCEPTING HERITAGE TROPHY ON BEHALF OF CHEVROLET FOR JIMMIE JOHNSON’S WIN OF THE QUICKEN LOANS 400 AT MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:
 
KERRY THARP:  Joining us now is Alba Colon, and she’s a Chevrolet program manager for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  As we know, the Michigan International Speedway last summer instituted the Heritage Trophy that they present twice a year to the winning manufacturer in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race here at Michigan International Speedway, and it’s a big deal.  That’s a beautiful trophy, and Chevrolet will hang on to that trophy at least until August.  But congratulations, Alba.  Jimmie wins for the first time here at Michigan, but Chevrolet certainly continues to assert itself as just a first‑class manufacturer.  Just talk about what it means to win here today at Michigan.
            ALBA COLON:  Thank you, Kerry, and thank you, everybody.  First of all, I don’t think that we’re planning to return the trophy for many years to come.  No, first of all, thank you very much for having me here today.
            This is a big deal.  It’s a big deal for Chevrolet and especially it’s a really big deal to win at our home track in our backyard, so we are very excited.  In the past, you know, this track hasn’t been that great for our Chevy teams, you know, so to be here today and be able to win and dominate, and having Jimmie, who has tried many times to win at this track, and he had some unfortunate luck the last year, and to be able to be some dominant here and to have other six drivers for a total of seven drivers in the top 10 is really great.
            Trust me, there’s a lot of work that goes on behind everything that we are doing here, not only us but the other manufacturers, and it’s great to have friendly competition and to be able to bring this trophy home to our office, and we’re looking forward to the next August race to see how things go.
 
            Q.  Some of the competitors from your competition were in here earlier and were basically saying that particularly Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet seem to be very much ahead of the game with the new rules package this year, and it’ll be difficult catching up.  I know that trophy is important to you, but how do you see your chances going forward to get the other trophy at the end of the season?
            ALBA COLON:  Thanks for your question.  You know, the season is young.  This is race No. 15 of 36, and we have seen for many seasons that you can be hot, cold at different times of the year.  We have been working very, very hard to be where we are today.  We’re still working on stuff for the future, and of course to get ready for the Chase, what is important, you know, and we are taking it one race at a time.
            It’s great we won today, but next week we have a brand new race that we need to get ready, and one race at a time until we can get both trophies, the manufacturer’s and the driver’s championship.  But do not discount anybody yet.  All the other teams are doing good, and I know that they are working hard, also, one race at a time, to be able to claim both prizes in Homestead.
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 15, 2014
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – Race Winner
THIS RACE HAS GOT TO HAVE BEEN A TOUGH ONE TO PUT THAT CHECKMARK NEXT TO IT WITH A WIN:
“Yeah, it has been. We have figured out every way to lose this race. And today we were able to get it done. A huge thanks to Lowe’s and KOBALT and all the employees at Lowe’s; I encourage everybody to enjoy this great spring weather and do a little shopping now. Thanks to Chevrolet and the fans and my fans. And for so many years, my dad was here and I wanted to win this race with him here. But I know he’s up in Upper Michigan with my two brothers, racing some off-road trucks. So, Dad, we did it finally. And then as a father (himself), what an awesome day. It tickles me deep. And I sure want to win everybody out there a Happy Father’s Day.”
 
JOHN KNAUS, CHAD’S FATHER, IS ALSO VERY PROUD OF THE CALL HE MADE ON THE PIT BOX.
“For sure. We just saw John in Chicago. We were doing a tire test there. It’s wild, I’m sure, for a parent, and I’ll experience it someday, to watch your kids take off and do something. I don’t want to get old, but I look forward to that day and I know it’s out there for me (laughs). But it was an awesome performance. I have to thank everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and Mr. H. That’s five in a row for the Hendrick organization. Great power under the hood. It was a fantastic race car. I thank everybody for all they do.”
 
ON HIS WIN TODAY:
“Just so happy to do it. We’ve always talked about winning here and have been so close. I want to thank all the fans for the awesome turnout today. There was a bunch of you out there. Big thanks to Lowe’s and Kobalt.  Want to encourage everybody with the rest of the afternoon, the nice day that you have, to  go to Lowe’s and buy some stuff and plant it in your yard, or whatever you have got to do. But just an awesome performance.  As those laps wounds down at the end, I was just wondering what was going to happen, and fortunately nothing did.
 
DID  YOU HEAR ANYTHING IN THE CAR?
“I’ve been through so much here, I just kind of put my arms up in the air and said ‘Well, if it going to happen, it’s going to happen – there is nothing I can do about it’. But we had a fast, fast race car, and Chad (Knaus, crew chief) knew the strategy he wanted to play at the end, and he nailed it just right.”
 
TALK ABOUT CHAD’S STRATEGY:
“We really were in a win-win situation. Those guys still had to come to pit road to make it to the end. Once I got an idea of how the race was unfolding, I knew we were in the catbird seat, and were able to take advantage of it.”
 
WHAT DOES THIS WIN SAY ABOUT WHERE THIS RACE TEAM IS? YOU HAVE WON THREE OF THE LAST FOUR RACES:
“We are getting stronger as the No. 48 – there is no doubt about that. I think it is obvious that Hendrick Motorsports produces fast race cars. They build fast engines. It doesn’t matter if it is Stewart-Haas, or the Hendrick organization. We’re winning a lot of races, and running up front. So, we just have to do the best that we can to get stronger as the Chase gets closer, and make sure we are on our game when the Chase gets here.”
 
CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – Winnner
YOU HAVE COME CLOSE TO WINNING SO MANY TIMES. WERE YOU HOLDING YOUR BREATH FOR THOSE LAST 5 LAPS?
“Yeah, because it seems like we’ve had that opportunity in the past. And with less than five laps to go, we’ve had issues of some form or fashion. So, I just can’t say enough about everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. They’ve just done a great job and I’m really proud of Jimmie (Johnson) and the guys.”

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Runner-Up Finish for Corvette C7.R
Garcia, Magnussen, Taylor lead Corvette Racing effort with GTE Pro podium
 
LE MANS, France (June 15, 2014) – The new Chevrolet Corvette C7.R is a podium finisher in its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Jordan Taylor were runners- up in the GTE Pro class in Corvette Racing’s No. 73 Corvette C7.R thanks to late-race heroics by the trio.
 
Despite losing valuable laps due to safety car nuances and a faulty valve stem for the Corvette’s air jack system, the No. 73 Corvette and its drivers completed 338 laps and finished a lap shy of the team’s first victory at the French endurance classic since 2011. The runner-up Corvette traveled 2,862.52 miles in the event.
 
“It was an honor to race the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE Pro class,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “While Corvette Racing has won in class seven times, we are proud of the persistence, determination and teamwork from the drivers, engineers and crew that delivered a runner-up finish for the new Corvette C7.R. The team’s ‘never-give-up’ approach was evident during each lap, pit stop and driver rotation.
 
“Every race, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, provides a great opportunity to learn on the track and then enhance the technologies in the Corvette road car.”
 
Campbell added: “Thanks to the Corvette and Chevrolet owners who supported the Corvette Racing efforts at Le Mans or followed the racing action this weekend from around the world.”
 
The first daylight hours Sunday saw the trio fighting back after losing laps to a faulty valve stem for the car’s air jack and twice being separated from its competitors by a safety car in the race’s opening 12 hours. The No. 73 Corvette led for extended periods in the early portion of the race.
 
The final four hours of the race started with Taylor trailing the third-place Porsche by about 90 seconds before the young American drove a storming triple-stint to close the gap by more than half to 47 seconds. By the time he handed the No. 73 Corvette over to Magnussen and the Dane completed his first flying lap of his final stint, the interval to the new second-place Porsche was 28 seconds with an hour and 40 minutes left.
 
Magnussen drove a single stint and handed over to Garcia. The Spaniard took out huge chunks of time and took the second position for good when the Porsche pitted with trouble 75 minutes from the end.
 
The No. 74 Corvette C7.R of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook placed fourth in class. The car had been running in podium contention as well before losing eight laps due to a slipped alternator belt and gearbox leak.
 
Gavin had reported a low voltage reading and a burning smell inside the car near the halfway point. Upon further examination, the crew found the alternator belt covered oil.
 
“As always, Le Mans was a stern test,” said Mark Kent, Director of Chevrolet Racing. “Achieving a runner-up position for the No. 73 Corvette is remarkable. It is a great reward for the dedication and work ethic of our team at Corvette Racing, Pratt & Miller and our Powertrain Group. We look forward to continuing this momentum when we return to the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship at Watkins Glen in two weeks.”
 
Corvette Racing’s next race is the Sahlen’s Six Hours at The Glen on Sunday, June 29 from Watkins Glen International. The event will air live at 11 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 73 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“We weren’t able to go for a win at the end. Things don’t always work out the way you planned, and when they don’t you always try to go for the next best option. At some point all the lead GTE Pro cars had issues; we had ours and they had theirs. At one point we were really down the order but we dug our heels in and slowly climbed back up the order, ready to strike when possible. So throughout the night and morning we moved back up the leaderboard – at the same time putting as much pressure on the other as we could. For most of the race we had the fastest car out there and we managed to finish in second a lap behind the leader; exactly the amount of time we lost in repairs at the beginning. I therefore can’t complain, and the lessons learned today will be implemented next year.”
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 73 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“It’s hard to be satisfied with second since it started so well for us a day ago. We had the car to win but as so often happens in Le Mans, things get in the way. We had some small issues in the pits and quite often picked up the wrong safety car. Three times I was stuck right behind the safety car which means you lose at least one third of a lap. But everybody performed flawlessly – especially Antonio and Jordan – but also the crew and the engineers did a stellar job.”
 
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 73 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“My last stint was my best-ever stint in Le Mans, no doubt about it. The car was awesome and we were much better on the tires than the Porsche we beat to third at the end. We triple-stinted our tires but they only double-stinted. Regardless we had the strongest package out there today. We were just unfortunate in the beginning  of the race.”
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 74 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“Our teammates did a fantastic job recovering from a broken air jack and losing some time. That’s pretty much what cost them victory but they got a great second place, and they are fully deserving of that.
“For us, the gearbox issue we had cost us seven laps and that’s how far we finished behind the leader. You could say that was what cost us victory. Our car wasn’t necessarily the fastest but we all worked extremely hard at it. Fourth is a good result but we were here to win. By not winning, you’re disappointed, you’re frustrated and you realize another year has gone by. But you also have to come back and shoot for it again the next year.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 74 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“First of all congrats to the winners, and to Jan, Antonio and Jordan. They drove a great race. All three of them were quick all weekend. We were just not quite there all weekend. In the race, certainly anything can happen. You look past the issues you had in practice. Obviously the first part of the race went fairly well. But still you could see that our pace wasn’t quite what it needed to be with outright speed. In these kind of races not having trouble, not making mistakes, that is the biggest key. We did that for the first 12 hours  then we started having little problems here and there. It is always fun to coming here to Le Mans, especially with this team. All the people in France seem to like our cars and the loud, thunderous V8s that we have. It is always an experience coming here. No matter if you finish first or last, it is a fun week, and one that I look forward to every year.”
 
RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 74 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“This race just shows you how far we have come in a year: with a new car fighting at the front for a good chunk of the race, for more than half the race. We had a couple of issues out there, but that famous Chevrolet and Corvette Racing never-say-die attitude shown through. I am really, really proud to be part of this team and seeing everyone fight at the end of the race and claw our way back. Like I said, we’ve come a long way and the future looks bright for this car.”
 
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER
“The race today clearly demonstrated why Le Mans is such difficult, demanding and awe-inspiring race. The final hours of the event required a passionate effort by Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Jordan Taylor – along with the efforts of the entire Corvette Racing crew, engineers and the GM Powertrain team. The podium experience at L
e Mans is truly an Olympic moment. Congratulations to everyone at Corvette Racing and thanks to all our fans for their unequalled support. ”
 

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Corvette C7.R Fights for Podium
Taylor racing toward third-place; No. 74 Corvette fighting back
 
LE MANS, France (June 15, 2014) – With six hours left to go, Corvette Racing’s No. 73 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R continued to fight for a podium position in the GTE Pro class during its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Antonio Garcia ran fourth as he tried to chase down the third-place Porsche with both cars on the same lap after 18 hours.
 
The Spaniard was 68 seconds from third place in the car he shares with Jan Magnussen and Jordan Taylor. The first daylight hours Sunday saw the trio fighting back after losing laps to a faulty valve stem for the car’s air jack and twice being separated from its competitors by a safety car in the race’s opening 12 hours.
 
Richard Westbrook was fifth in class driving the No. 74 Corvette C7.R. The car had been running in podium contention as well before losing eight laps due to a slipped alternator belt and gearbox leak. Oliver Gavin, driving with Westbrook and Tommy Milner, had reported a low voltage reading and a burning smell inside the car near the halfway point. Upon further examination, the crew found the alternator belt covered oil.
 
The next Corvette Racing update from Le Mans will be the final race recap at 3 p.m. CT/9a.m. ET.
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 73 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“It’s going quite well, actually. We’ve got good speed in the car, handling is perfect and we’re going as fast as we can. We’re a lap behind the Porsche in third position, so it will be impossible to catch them on the track, but we’re trying. You never know what happens next. After all, this is Le Mans.”
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 74 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“It was quite tough. We lost telemetry. We had to change brakes; Richard was struggling with that. We thought we had fixed the telemetry but that didn’t work. We were trying to monitor the tire pressures, and that didn’t work. I thought I had a tire going down; the car was oversteering massively to the right and it was locking up the left-front. I think it was a symptom of the pressures being cold because we didn’t have a way to measure them with no telemetry. They couldn’t tell me what happened. The tire was low but it wasn’t going down. Then we had a belt come off the alternator and we may have a small gearbox leak. There are a lots of little things that just haven’t run with us over the last few hours. There is still long way to go so we can’t think it’s all over. But the car is quiet edgy to drive. Richard, Tommy and myself will try our hard to keep pushing and pushing. Everyone on the team is motivated but our backs are against the wall.”
 

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Corvette C7.R Remains in Contention
Milner triple-stint keeps No. 74 Corvette in lead fight; Garcia’s triple keeps No. 73 close
 
LE MANS, France (June 15, 2014) – The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R remained in contention through the halfway point of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Tommy Milner’s triple stint kept Corvette Racing’s No. 74 Corvette in the hunt for a class victory. Milner ran second in GTE Pro as green-flag pit stops cycled through at the 12-hour mark.
 
The young American stayed within reach of the GTE Pro class-leading Aston Martin after 12 hours of the French endurance classic while withstanding intense pressure from the highest-placed Ferrari at halfway. Earlier, teammates Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook each took turns leading in class.
 
As the race reached halfway, Westbrook was turning his opening laps of his stint. He and the leading Aston Martin were nearly on the same pit strategy with the Corvette in third place.
 
The top four cars in class were on the lead lap in the dark of night around Le Mans.
 
Jordan Taylor was fifth in class in the No. 73 Corvette – this after the car lost nearly two laps in the pits when the valve stem that allows the car to be raised on its air jacks failed. Jan Magnussen, Taylor’s teammate along with Antonio, led the race just 40 minutes in before, during and after a hard rain in the opening hour.
 
Garcia also ran a triple-stint during the night to inch the No. 73 Corvette toward recovering its lost lap.
 
The next Corvette Racing update from Le Mans will be the halfway report at 9 a.m. CT/3 a.m. ET.
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 73 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“I had a couple of hard stints as it seems we’re struggling to find the speed we had earlier. We also had a problem with the air hose of the jacks, which put us a lap down. Antonio is now running on a different tire compound and is making up some of the lost ground. The track also felt different than it did earlier today.”
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 73 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“That was pretty good – my first triple stint of the race, with no cautions, just racing. It was challenging to find out how far you could push and what to expect from the tires. After the first stint the tires felt great, and they still did after the second, but you still have that question mark in your head on whether they’ll last through the third stint or maybe suddenly drop off. But those Michelins are pretty consistent so no worries there. I managed to keep a pretty decent pace throughout my three stints, and I think I was one of the fastest in our class throughout. It’s a shame what happened to us earlier, because with the leaders racing as close as they do it will be difficult to catch up an entire lap. But I’m glad the other car is up there.”
 
RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 74 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“We were having a good battle with the Aston Martin and Ferrari. Unfortunately the safety car bunched things up to make it a lot more interesting. The Aston was very strong at the end. We have a very good Corvette C7.R. It’s cooling off now so conditions are changing. Grip level has come down somewhat but there is still a long way to go. It’s nice to be fighting at the front and we want to keep that going.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 74 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“For a little bit I had caught the Ferrari and the Aston Martin and had gotten by the Ferrari. I got a nice tow from the Aston for quite awhile that got my best laps of the day. It was fun. The car was pretty good. We tried to triple stint there, and it’s good to know we can go that long. The tire wasn’t that great at the end but it was still a benefit time-wise. The car is good and we have to keep pounding around.”
 

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Corvette C7.R Leads After Six Hours
Westbrook has No. 74 Corvette out front in GTE Pro; Taylor fifth and gaining
 
LE MANS, France (June 14, 2014) – Corvette Racing’s two Corvette C7.R race cars have shown well in their debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After six hours, Richard Westbrook led by nearly 30 seconds in the No. 74 Corvette that he shares with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner.
 
Westbrook led a group of six cars on the lead lap that included Jordan Taylor in the No. 73 Corvette C7.R that was less than 90 seconds off the sister car’s pace. Both Corvettes led in the opening quarter of the race.
 
Jan Magnussen, sharing the No. 73 Corvette with Taylor and Antonio Garcia, put the Corvette C7.R into the lead at Le Mans for the first time 40 minutes into the race. He swapped positions with the first of the Ferraris, moving ahead once again on a dangerous and damp track.
 
Gavin also led in the No. 74 car during his stint as the Corvette Racing team elected to keep him out on dry tires during the wet safety car period. After the next pit stop cycle, Milner passed two Porsches in the span of a minute to go from third to first at the 3:30 mark.
 
The next Corvette Racing update from Le Mans will be the halfway report at 3 a.m. CT/9 p.m. ET.
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 73 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
(Opening stint) “I’m happy with my first two stints. We have a really good car; I just had to be careful not to overdrive it. As soon as you do the car lets you know it doesn’t like it, so I took it easy, staying right within the limits. Then the rain came, at first a light drizzle. When I hit the wet part of the track I had the better momentum and passed (Gianmaria) Bruni for the lead. Then I just slowed down as the weather got worse. I had a big moment on the Mulsanne but managed to catch the car just in time. Even behind the safety car I was at the limit; one mile per hour faster and I might have shunted so I asked for rain tires. Even if it dries out quickly we have a car good enough to lose some time now and catch it back up later. We’re only two hours into the race, so why take the risk?”
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
(How unpredictable was the weather in your stint?) “Those were tricky conditions and difficult at times. I’m pleased we made the call to stay out. Certainly when it first started to rain coming into the first chicane when the Audi crashed, I was really unsure what was going to happen. There were sheets of rain coming down. You could see it sitting on the surface and the car starts to glide. You just have to let it glide and coast. Fortunately I was able to get the car slow enough to get through the chicane and stay out of trouble. Even under the safety car, I was going 30-40 mph and still aquaplaning. In those conditions you’re doing all you can to survive. Then we realized it was short-lived and we thought we could make it work on the slick tire behind the safety car so we stayed out. I wasn’t sure but Chuck (Houghton, engineer) convinced me enough, and we did it. That put us in a position where we could capitalize.”
(How was the car in the dry?) “It’s a little bit edgy and tricky in the full dry with the tire we were on. It looked like everyone was struggling with the same thing; it was a matter of how forgiving you’ve made your car. As the circuit rubbers up, the car should be easier to drive. That’s certainly what we are hoping. By the time we get through the evening and into the morning, we should be looking good.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 74 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
(How was the stint?) “It’s a good start to the race for us. I’m still a little cautiously optimistic. We haven’t been super-quick all weekend. Our teammates have had the better of us; not by a lot but they’ve been quick all weekend. It seems like we have more pace in the race than we had from practice. Some of that comes from me being more comfortable in the car. My laps this week have been limited. It was crazy conditions with the rain. I’ve never driven on a race track with that much rain on it in my life.
“I’m most happy about the pace we seem to have in the car. Now it’s about being patient and running laps. I don’t want to get too anxious. Before the race, I thought we wouldn’t have the pace; that we would have to run laps and stay out of trouble. That part still holds true. That’ll be the biggest thing. The guys have already made good strategy calls so let’s see how that holds up.”