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.”
 

BRITTANY FORCE PROV. No. 1 AT BRISTOL

BRISTOL, TN – Second year Top Fuel driver Brittany Force and her Castrol EDGE Dragster rocketed down the iconic Bristol Dragway with a 3.82 second pass at 317.94 mph. It was the quickest run of the first qualifying session today at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals and Brittany picked up three additional NHRA Mello Yello bonus points for claiming the number one qualifying spot.  

 “I didn’t think we ran that fast. The car actually felt kind of sluggish and slow. I felt the car shake around the 700 to 800 foot mark as it started dropping cylinders and I was expecting it to start smoking the tires. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I should lift and get out of it or keep my foot planted on the accelerator. I decided stayed in it until the end but I didn’t think it was that great of a run. I was shocked and even surprised when I found out I was number one qualifier for running that 3.82,” said Brittany Force.

If Brittany’s 3.82 second run holds tomorrow, it will be the second time this season she will compete from the one qualifying position on race day. Rain storms moved into the area and cancelled the second Top Fuel qualifying session much to Brittany’s disappointment as she was ready to jump back in the cockpit of her Castrol EDGE Dragster to see if she could improve her time.

“The Castrol EDGE team is pumped as we’re excited to be number one again. It is unfortunate the rain came before our second session as I was anxious to get up to the lanes and make the second pass. We’ll get two runs tomorrow so maybe we’ll step it up even more,” said Brittany Force

To say Brittany’s excited would be an understatement as she’s been qualifying in the top half of the field and going rounds throughout this season. She’s already been to her first Top Fuel final and has a claimed a much coveted number one qualifying spot in a tough field of fellow competitors. She’s also gaining valuable experience on every run that is making her seasoned driver and a formidable competitor.

“My years of racing in Super Comp and A/Fuel Dragster taught me a lot. I also spent a whole year testing in Top Fuel so I could gain more experience. If I had made the jump directly to Top Fuel without coming up through the ranks, I’d be a mess,” said Brittany Force.

Brittany’s experience behind the wheel is also paying off in huge dividends.

 “I’m definitely getting use to this Castrol EDGE Dragster. If it ran hard and shook the tires on a run like this last year, maybe I would have gotten out of it. But now, I know it if the car hasn’t done anything to act up on the run, I’ll stay in it. I learn something new on every pass and each run is always different,” said Brittany Force.

The Castrol EDGE Team led by crew chief Todd Smith and Dean Antonelli has tuned up the 10,000 horsepower Castrol EDGE Dragster and has given her one very fast and consistent race car that’s primed and ready to bring Castrol EDGE AND John Force Racing its first Top Fuel victory.

The John Force Racing Funny Car contingent opened the race with a stellar performance posting two of the three quickest runs of the first session. Mello Yello points leader Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team were No. 1 after the first session with a strong 4.074 second pass at 315.27 mph. John Force, the 2013 Ford Thunder Valley Nationals winner, was No. 3 with a 4.099 second pass. Unfortunately when the rains rolled in near the end of the second qualifying session Hight and Force were still in the lanes along with Tommy Johnson Jr. and Cruz Pedregon. That quartet of Funny Cars did not get a second shot at qualifying. Del Worsham posted both ends of the track record 3.992 seconds at 319.45 mph to move into the provisional No. 1 spot.

“We wanted to get another run in but we totally understand safety comes first. There was lightning all over the place and then when it started raining we knew it was a long shot to get a second run. I am happy with how well we ran in the first session and that is closer to race day conditions. We got three bonus points and we will be ready to hit it again tomorrow,” said Hight.

Eventually Hight settled into the provisional No. 4 spot with John Force slipping to No. 7. Courtney Force stepped up in the second qualifying session moving from the No. 7 spot after the first session to the No. 6 spot. The youngest Force improved from a 4.142 second pass to a 4.077 second run in her Traxxas Ford Mustang.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING TRANSCRIPTS
JUNE 13, 2014
 
CHEVROLET SS SWEEPS TOP-THREE IN QUALIFYING FOR QUICKEN LOANS 400
Kevin Harvick Sets New Track Record En Route to Winning 3rd
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pole of the Season
 
BROOKLYN, Michigan (June 13, 2014) Kevin Harvick led the charge of Chevrolet SS drivers in securing the top-three spots in the final qualifying order for the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. With a new track record of 204.557 mph, the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet will lead the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) field to the green flag for the third time this season.
 
Harvick’s speed was the fastest pole-winning speed since April of 1987, when Bill Elliott set the all-time qualifying record of 212.809 mph at Talladega Superspeedway.  That makes Harvick the ‘Fastest Man in Michigan’, and the second-quick all-time qualifier in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Current NSCS point leader Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS, will start alongside Harvick for the 200-lap/400-mile race.  Coming off his win at Pocono last week, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will start the No. 88 National Guard/Superman Chevrolet SS from the third position on the grid.
 
Paul Menard, No. 27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet SS, posted the fifth quickest time to give Chevrolet four of the top-five starting positions. Aric Almirola (Ford) complete the top-five in qualifying.
 
Defending and six-time NSCS champion Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet SS, and Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, qualified 7th and 8th respectively to give the Bowtie brand six of the top-10 starters in the 15th round of the 36-race season.
 
This marks the seventh pole for the Chevrolet SS in 2014 NSCS competition.
 
The Quicken Loans 400 is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday June 15th. Live coverage will be available on TNT, MRN Radio, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
 
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
YOU RAN A LAP OF 39.198 SECONDS, 204.557 MPH, CONGRATULATIONS. TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN:
“Obviously it was a really fast lap, a really fast couple of laps. But the car has been really good since we unloaded it off the truck and these guys put fast cars on the track every week and then we’ve been in contention for poles and wins every week. Today it just all came together from the time we unloaded. I’m just really proud of my guys and everybody at the Henrick Engine Shop and on these big race tracks when you have fast cars, speed makes the driver’s job a lot easier. So, it’s been a good weekend so far.”
 
YOUR SPEED IS THE FASTEST POLE-WINNING SPEED SINCE APRIL 1987, WHEN BILL ELLIOTT SET THE ALL-TIME QUALIFYING RECORD OF 212.809 MPH AT TALLADEGA.
“Just a little shy of that.”
 
BUT THAT’S STILL PRETTY QUICK. THIS IS YOUR 9TH POLE IN THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AND THIRD POLE THIS YEAR, A SINGLE-SEASON CAREER HIGH FOR YOU:
“This format has obviously been good for me to I guess creep-up on it as you go through the sessions. And a fast car allows you to do that. A fast car really solves a lot of problems and Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and the guys have done a great job with that and we just keep at it.”
 
IN INSTANCES WHEN YOU THINK YOU’VE HAD A CAR CAPABLE OF WINNING, BUT FOR WHATEVER REASON COMES UP SHORT, TO COME BACK TO THE TRACK AND CONTINUE TO BE FAST, IS THERE ANY BETTER MEDICINE?
“Well, I think every week the cars are fast and you’re able to really be competitive. And when you have problems, you can leave with your head up still just for the fact that you know that you’ve got the speed to contend for wins and do the things that you have to do to win races and contend for poles. So it’s a lot of fun. But no matter if you’re running good or bad, Monday morning you have to forget about winning or losing the week before. Next week is a new challenge and a different style race track and a lot of different things come with it. So, I think the experience of myself and everybody on the team are, we’ve been tested (as to) whether we can do that or not this year, but I think everybody has proven week-in and week-out when we unload, usually every week, for the first practice the car is fast and we just keep plugging away.”
 
IS THIS TRACK TOO FAST? DO YOU HOPE IT SLOWS DOWN OR STAYS AS IT IS?
“Well, Michigan has been fast for a long time. I think how fast is too fast, you know what I mean? It’s the perfect storm with pavement with the cars in qualifying trim. The cars will slow down a tremendous amount when we get them in race trim and in a pack. It’s going to be quite a bit hotter on Sunday. They’ll slow down. Qualifying speeds are high. It’s just a matter of whose opinion is taken on whether it’s too fast or not.”
 
WHEN WE MENTIONED THE FAST SPEEDS BY BILL ELLIOTT, UNRESTRICTED. WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO GO THAT FAST ON A RACE TRACK? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE POTENTIAL OF THAT EVER HAPPENING? WHAT IS YOUR NEED FOR SPEED?
“This is one of those race tracks where you’re running fast but you really can’t put it all in perspective I guess until you hit something just for the fact that it’s so wide and so fast and so smooth. But you don’t really get that huge sensation of speed. So, we just want to win. So however fast we need to go to win, we’ll just call that ‘good’.”
 
ON FATHER’S DAY, TALK ABOUT WHAT THAT MEANS TO YOU:
“For me, it’s special to have him (son, Keelan) here and to be able to share these moments. I’m fortunate to be able to do this all the time, but to be able to share it with him a lot and to have him here this weekend is a lot of fun. He seems like he’s enjoying it. He wants to grab and throw the microphone at somebody, but it’s pretty special. I love how our sport embraces Father’s Day and our troops and (is) really just a family sport. I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/SUPERMAN CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD
HOW WAS THE CAR IN PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING? WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR SUNDAY? “Real happy with the qualifying effort obviously, especially in the transition from the second round, to the last round. We’re making some good gains on how we need to adjust the car to find the balance we need as continue to cycle the tires each qualifying run. That is something we really needed to improve our qualifying efforts. The car has real good speed. The car is pretty comfortable. Both cars – the Nationwide car and the Cup car – seem to be very competitive. We’ll get a chance tomorrow to really work on our race trim package for the Cup car tomorrow. We ran a little bit of race trim this morning. The track wasn’t ideal, but we understand some balance things we need to work on, and some things we can do to ease the work load tomorrow. So that’s good.  We’ll see how the car feels in practice, and how confident we are. That determines how we will start the race, and how well we can do Sunday.”
 
PLEASE TALK ABOUT 203 PLUS (MPH) THAT IS AWESOME AROUND HERE:
“I don’t remember what we ran before. Is that a new record?”
 
MODERATOR:
“The 204.577 mph. is a new record. In fact, it is actually the fastest qualifying speed since Bill Elliott – 1987 when he ran 212 before the restrictor plate.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:
“WOW! That says a lot about the cars. How comfortable the cars are. I didn’t really feel like we were going that much faster than what we have ran here in the past. We’ve added a good amount of downforce in the cars since last year. We’ve anticipated that we would be faster everywhere we went this year, and we have as a sport.  This place is no different. This is just an excellent race track. Really lends itself to a good motor – good power plant.&nbsp
; I think you have to give Hendrick a lot of credit for what they were able to accomplish today getting the pole, and having the top-three.  I also think that even though we got beat out there by a Stewart-Haas car, the relationship between the two companies is one that benefits both sides. It definitely appears to be pushing both companies to new heights taking something from a conversation I had with Steve Letarte.  We’re happy about the power plants. We’ve had some real good motors last week at Pocono. We knew coming in here it was going to be a plus for us. That is how it seemed to turn out today, like we expected.  Hopefully we can get this car to handle through the corner good, and utilize all that power on Sunday.”
 
IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE UP FRONT HERE AT MICHIGAN?
“When we practice, as much as you want to be out there running by yourself when the car drives great, you need to get in behind people and see what the balance of your car does.   I’ve experienced….JEFF GORDON INTERJECTS: Don’t tell them. Don’t tell them.  DALE EARNHARDT, JR:  Don’t tell them everything?  I experience different things depending on the track.  (LAUGHTER) So, we need to get out there and learn everything we can. That means getting behind guys and running. It might not look good on a stat sheet, or the lap times might not look the best, but you need to get out there in traffic and get an understanding of what you need to work on, and the balance, and things you can adjust, and what to expect on Sunday.”
 
IS THE HIGHER SPEEDS HERE TYPICAL OF WHAT HAPPENS WITH A RE-PAVE?
“They didn’t really change anything when they re-paved the track. The configuration is very similar, but it is just really smooth. It is standing up well even after this much time, you would anticipate a bump or two around the tunnel and maybe down in a couple of corners, and maybe the seams coming apart a little bit and they come in a fill up those seams with the stuff we don’t like to run on, but the track is holding up really well. We beat the asphalt up here because we are going through the corners so fast. But, it is holding up well. It is starting to lose a little bit of grip in three and four. That particular corner is lighter and one and two because of the way the sun sets here. That corner gets cooked and baked throughout the summer and winter time, a little bit longer throughout the day. So, it has a little less grip, so the car turns a little bit better through that corner. I think that corner is wider because of that. When I was here practicing, and even today in the Nationwide car, I could run near the apron kind of the preferred groove a lot of guys are running. At the test I was running about the groove with real comfort. You aren’t able to do that in one and two because the track is still a little bit polished down there. Even though it is as fast as it is, it has widened out a good bit, and the speed is due a little bit to the re-pave, but even more so due to the extra spoiler. We have so much spoiler on the back of these cars, and we have improved the front of these cars a lot. With the new rules to get the cars on the ground, it has also added additional grip and downforce, so we are really maxing out the downforce like we have never done before and that is why we are faster wherever we go, no matter what the surface.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
CERTAINLY A STRONG EFFORT TODAY BY THE FOLKS AT HENDRICK AND YOUR ARE RIGHT UP THERE KNOCKING ON THE DOOR FOR THE POLE.  203.776 MPH THAT IS PRETTY QUICK AROUND HERE.  HOW DID IT FEEL OUT THERE IN THE CAR GOING THAT FAST?
“It has to feel pretty good if you are going to go that fast because the speed obviously comes from the long straightaways and the big sweeping corners and the amount of grip that we have.  You have got to push it hard and as Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) mentioned the added downforce I think the combination of the spoiler and the downforce, but then what the teams have been able to do with those lower ride heights to maximize the amount of downforce as well as maintain a little car down the straightaway for good straightaway speed.  Then you take the horsepower on top of that and makes for a very fast race track and times there qualifying.  That was a great session for us.  The last two weeks have been great sessions for us.  We have improved in the final session, made it to session three solidly in all three session and then actually made our best lap on the final run.  It wasn’t enough for (Kevin) Harvick, he was strong.  Even the first time out I thought my lap was pretty good, which it was, but nowhere near Kevin’s.  That last time we actually got a little closer to him, had a good lap, but still not enough for Kevin (Harvick).  Those guys are really tough especially in qualifying, but great effort by Hendrick engines and to have me and Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) right there second and third and I know Jimmie (Johnson) is not that far back either.  Really am pretty excited, all day we have had a good car.”
 
DALE WAS SAYING HE DIDN’T EVEN REALLY NOTICE HOW FAST HE WAS GOING IT WAS JUST SO COMFORTABLE.  20 CARS ABOVE 200 MPH THAT USED TO BE A REAL DAUNTING NUMBER NOW IT SEEMS YOU GUYS HAVE GOTTEN ACCUSTOMED TO RUNNING THAT FAST HERE.  IS IT COMFORTABLE TO BE ABOVE 200 HERE NOW?
“It’s daunting if something goes wrong I can tell you that.  This weekend is going to be a real challenge for reliability.  We are going so fast.  From engines to just components on the car, tires, it’s concerning.  I’m glad it’s 400 miles, but even 400 miles you are going to have to manage it.  The cars are comfortable enough and stuck so well that is why you are not really noticing the speeds as a driver.  As a driver, I don’t know how much faster we’ve gone this year than last year, but I feel like it’s quite a bit.  My car was way more comfortable and those speeds were easier to handle this year than they were last year.”
 
HOW COMFORTABLE DO YOU THINK YOUR CAR WILL BE WHEN IT IS IN TRAFFIC?
“I mean we were really hoping that we would qualify well.  We had some issues getting switched over into qualifying trim in practice and we only got to make one run and it was a pretty good run.  I felt like I left quite a bit out on the track because I just wasn’t as aggressive as I could have been.  Sometimes you only learn that by making a run that is why you like to make two or three runs in practice.  Luckily I was able to learn a lot from that and then go apply that in qualifying the three sessions.  I think that luckily we are starting up front, but we know we are going to get back in traffic at some point.  I hope we don’t.  It would be nice to keep the track position, but you’ve got to believe that you are going to be in it.  You hope that by that time the groove is widened out a little bit more as Dale mentioned three and four is definitely a little bit wider so you have a few more options.  But one and two there are really not a lot of options.  The speeds that we are carrying even last week at Pocono we had some different strategies going on and I got back into about 15th or 18th at one time and it was like flipping a switched.  The amount of grip that the car had went from awesome to none.  It was very challenging.  We are just seeing more and more of that as the cars become more aero dependent.  I say that because we are maximizing the grip and downforce and so if you take any amount of that away it makes a bigger difference than it ever used to. You get back in traffic at a place like this in the corners for the length of time that we are in the corners it’s going to be a huge change.  That is another part of the survival is surviving traffic and being prepared for it.  There is nothing the team can do.  There is very little the team can do.  It’s yo
u having to figure out what is going to happen when you drive into the corner and recognize that the car is buffeting around and there is probably not a lot of downforce on it.”
 
LAST YEAR IT BECAME KIND OF A TIRED STORY LINE PEOPLE STARTED TO ASK YOU TO LOOK TOWARDS THE END OF YOUR CAREER AT THIS POINT LAST YEAR AND HERE YOU ARE LEADING THE POINTS CAN YOU REFLECT ON THIS LAST YEAR WHERE YOU ARE AT NOW COMPARED TO MAYBE A YEAR AGO?
“Man I’m just trying to go out on top.  (Laughs) That is going to get me in as much trouble as what I said in January.  Yeah, I have always said that the combinations are being healthy, being competitive and just enjoying myself out there.  I felt like if those first two things are working for me then the last is going to come as well.  As long as that is there then I want to keep doing it.  Obviously, I’m enjoying myself a lot right now.  I had a little health issue a couple of weeks ago, but that is subsided now and feeling pretty good.  The race cars are just so good that I’m just enjoying every time we are on the track every weekend that we are racing and that has certainly brought back some fire in me and the team.  I just feel like Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) has really worked hard to step things up to be a championship caliber team.  I think that the performance this year is showing that hard work and effort paying off.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 13, 2014
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
BEFORE THIS KNOCKOUT QUALIFYING CAME INTO PLAY SIX NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES POLES.  YOU KNOW HAVE THREE WITH THIS FORM OF QUALIFYING:
“I think that is just a credit on our Budweiser and Stewart-Haas race team for putting fast race cars on the track.  When you put it together with the Hendrick Motorsports engine package it creates a lot of speed and it makes coming to these place a lot of fun.  Really excited to start on the pole and get that first pit box and hopefully we can put the whole day together on Sunday.”
 
WAS YOUR CAR JUST THAT GOOD BY ITSELF OR DID YOU TRY TO FIND SOME AIDE AS WELL?
“We just kind of wanted to go right at the beginning of that session.  The second session I got too close to the No. 88 coming to the green and I felt like it hurt my lap.  We just tried to get a clean lap that time.  The car actually ran the fastest that it had.  I think clean air for us was probably a better decision.”
 
YOU CAN’T HOLD YOUR BREATH AROUND HERE THAT LONG, CAN YOU?
“You know, it’s actually the opposite. You just have to relax and really pay attention to not overdrive it because it’s so easy to miss your line on the entry to the corner. So, I’ve just got to thank everybody on my Budweiser Chevrolet; and everybody from the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop. You put those two packages together and it creates a lot of speed. My guys are doing a great job and we just have to keep doing everything we’ve been doing, and we have fast race cars.”
 
HOW FRUSTRATING HAVE THE WEEKS BEEN WHEN YOU HAVE THE FAST CARS AND YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO COME THROUGH WITH THE WIN?
“Well, it’s just part of it. In my career I’ve won a lot of races that I probably shouldn’t have won and lost a lot that you should have won. So, it’s a vicious cycle and we’ve had flat tires two weeks in a row and really fast cars to go along with it. But, you just have to keep plugging along week by week, and that’s where the experience in this sport, and a lot of these guys have been around this a long time. Monday morning, you’d better forget what you did last week because you’ve got to worry about the week coming.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
IS THIS A MATTER THAT EVERY DEPARTMENT AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS TO WORK HARD AND GET EVERYTHING OUT OF THESE CARS WHEN YOU ARE GOING THIS SPEED?
“Absolutely, you’ve got to get through the corners, but at this place you’ve got to get down these long straightaways and I think it’s just a full combination of all the hard work of the body, the chassis and the set-up as well as that great horsepower from Hendrick.  Hendrick engine on the pole, obviously that is what it takes to be on the front row here today.  We are pretty excited.  We put up a heck of a lap that I thought was just another great effort by this Drive To End Hunger Chevy SS team.  Just not enough to get Harvick those guys are really tough right now.”
 
YOUR CAR IS EXCEPTIONAL IN RACE TRIM, AND NOW ALSO IN QUALIFYING TRIM
“The car is just really solid. I’m really proud of all the guys and all the hard work they’ve put in as well as the engine shop. At a place like this, the only way that Drive to End Hunger Chevy SS is getting around here that fast is that you’ve got to have a lot of power under the hood. The engineers are doing a great job with the bodies and getting the cars through the corners as well. It’s been a fun day. I struggled here last year and boy, these last two weeks have just been phenomenal qualifying sessions and cars for us. You’ve got to take your hat off to (Kevin) Harvick and those guys. They are just superfast, especially when it comes to qualifying. We gave it a great effort but not quite enough to get those guys. But we’ll certainly take this second place and take it into Sunday with a lot of momentum and a lot of excitement.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/SUPERMAN CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD
HOW WAS THE CAR IN PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING? WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR SUNDAY? “I’m real happy with the qualifying effort obviously, especially in the transition from the second round, to the last round. We’re making some good gains on how we need to adjust the car to find the balance we need as continue to cycle the tires each qualifying run. That is something we really needed to improve our qualifying efforts. The car has real good speed. The car is pretty comfortable. Both cars – the Nationwide car and the Cup car – seem to be very competitive. We’ll get a chance tomorrow to really work on our race trim package for the Cup car tomorrow. We ran a little bit of race trim this morning. The track wasn’t ideal, but we understand some balance things we need to work on, and some things we can do to ease the work load tomorrow. So that’s good.  We’ll see how the car feels in practice, and how confident we are. That determines how we will start the race, and how well we can do Sunday.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
“We just actually got through (Turns) 1 and 2 really good on that last run I was out. I think I overshot (Turn) 3, which I had to lift all the way out and gave up too much speed getting back to the throttle. So I would say I got through 1 and 2 so well that I thought there was a lot in 3 and there wasn’t. So I ended up pushing the car and making it a little too tight and we lost a little bit with our Farmers Insurance Chevy. But there is still a lot of speed in the car. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and working on it and getting prepared for the race on Sunday. It’s a pretty good track and we should run really well here. Our engines and cars are really strong.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 13, 2014
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
BEFORE THIS KNOCKOUT QUALIFYING CAME INTO PLAY SIX NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES POLES.  YOU KNOW HAVE THREE WITH THIS FORM OF QUALIFYING:
“I think that is just a credit on our Budweiser and Stewart-Haas race team for putting fast race cars on the track.  When you put it together with the Hendrick Motorsports engine package it creates a lot of speed and it makes coming to these place a lot of fun.  Really excited to start on the pole and get that first pit box and hopefully we can put the whole day together on Sunday.”
 
WAS YOUR CAR JUST THAT GOOD BY ITSELF OR DID YOU TRY TO FIND SOME AIDE AS WELL?
“We just kind of wanted to go right at the beginning of that session.  The second session I got too close to the No. 88 coming to the green and I felt like it hurt my lap.  We just tried to get a clean lap that time.  The car actually ran the fastest that it had.  I think clean air for us was probably a better decision.”
 
YOU CAN’T HOLD YOUR BREATH AROUND HERE THAT LONG, CAN YOU?
“You know, it’s actually the opposite. You just have to relax and really pay attention to not overdrive it because it’s so easy to miss your line on the entry to the corner. So, I’ve just got to thank everybody on my Budweiser Chevrolet; and everybody from the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop. You put those two packages together and it creates a lot of speed. My guys are doing a great job and we just have to keep doing everything we’ve been doing, and we have fast race cars.”
 
HOW FRUSTRATING HAVE THE WEEKS BEEN WHEN YOU HAVE THE FAST CARS AND YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO COME THROUGH WITH THE WIN?
“Well, it’s just part of it. In my career I’ve won a lot of races that I probably shouldn’t have won and lost a lot that you should have won. So, it’s a vicious cycle and we’ve had flat tires two weeks in a row and really fast cars to go along with it. But, you just have to keep plugging along week by week, and that’s where the experience in this sport, and a lot of these guys have been around this a long time. Monday morning, you’d better forget what you did last week because you’ve got to worry about the week coming.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 13, 2014
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Michigan International Speedway and discussed resigning of Farmers Insurance, racing at Michigan, status of his contract with Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Busch and other topics.  Full transcript:
 
ON RENEWAL OF FARMERS INSURANCE AS PRIMARY SPONSOR: “It is really good news. It is exciting to have Farmers Insurance re-sign for three more years, and be part of our No. 5 team. We’ve done a lot with them, and have really enjoyed working with them over the years. We won some races. We have a good partnership. I think what we did this year with ‘Thank a Million Teachers’ was a…I had a lot of fun with it. It was a great promotion that they did just showing teachers how much we appreciate them. I spend a lot of time with teachers and then with students at the same time in the month of May in four different states, four different schools. I really enjoyed that. It is things like that that I am excited about that we will get to keep doing with Farmers Insurance. I’m looking forward to winning also, and getting them in Victory Lane more than we have at this point.”
 
ON SECURE FEELING OF HAVING SPONSOR SIGNED, AND CHALLENGES OF MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY: “It feels good when you know you have sponsorship. They are such a big part of what makes us able to race each weekend and put everything into it that Hendrick Motorsports does. I’m glad about Farmers Insurance. We have Great Clips there as well. I’m excited about it; I think there will be some good things there.
 
“As far as Hendrick at this track, I think that they have always been pretty strong here. I remember racing against them before I was at Hendrick, and they were fast. I know Fords have won here a lot for some reason, but I’ve watched Jimmie (Johnson), Jeff (Gordon) and Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) win twice here. I feel like it is a good track for us. We were leading here and had a tire problem in turn one. Jimmie was really good as well. We were fast today, and look forward to a solid weekend.”

WHERE ARE YOU WITH YOUR DRIVER’S CONTRACT WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? “I like being at HMS. It is just an unbelievable place. Getting to work with the three teammates that I get to work with each week is better than anything I’ve ever done in racing as far as guys I’ve been able to work with. I am getting information there from three of the best in racing. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. Mr. Hendrick is always trying to help me as a driver; as a person and he gives us every opportunity. So, I want to be there a long time. We still have a year-and-a-half before my deal’s up. So I think performance, and sponsors that want to be part of them, and just getting our team back where it needs to be. We’ve struggled some this year for really no reason. We can’t have that. If we can get rid of some of those struggles, I would hope that I would be at Hendrick Motorsports for a long time.”
 
WHEN DO YOU START TALKING ABOUT RENEWAL? “I think you start talking about it whenever they start talking about it. I don’t know when that date is, but I think we have a lot of really good things going on, and with a little bit of performance here and there, maybe it will come up sooner than later. I would love to be there for a long time, so we will kind of have to see how that works out.”
 
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS TRACK AND YOUR PERFORMANCES ON IT? “It is a really smooth, high-speed different Michigan than what it was the first seven years I came here and raced. I enjoy it. It is going to be hot; it is going to be 83 on Sunday. I think there will be a little less grip out there which hopefully should open up the race track and give us more opportunity to make passes because the track is a lot grayer than it was last year. I think it will be good. It just takes time when a track gets repaved especially with this type of banking and this type of speed to really have the track open up and race really well. I think it is heading in that direction. As far as our performance, we ran pretty good in both races. We had a tire in the second one leading, so I felt like we had a top two or three car there. In the first one we got to seventh from the back, so that was pretty good performance.”
 
YOU ARE GOING TO SONOMA NEXT WEEK, AND TEMPERS CAN EASILY FLARE AT A ROAD COURSE, AS WELL AS IN YOUR PERSONAL CAR ON THE FREEWAY.  WHAT ARE THINGS THAT CAN MAKE YOU ANGRY WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING YOUR PERSONAL CAR ON THE HIGHWAY?
“There are a lot of things that make me angry out there. People driving slow in the fast lane, that is the first one. Not paying attention. Texting. Swerving because they aren’t paying attention.  Someone sitting at a stop sign and not paying attention…I saw this yesterday, and it got to me pretty good. It is just people not paying attention more than anything at the end of the day.  I just feel like when you are on the roads, it is a good place to pay attention. Things happen fast. Until you have been in accidents, you might not realize that. But once you get in one…even at 40 miles-an-hour, it happens a lot quicker than you are expecting it to.”
 
HAVE YOU AND KYLE BUSCH SPOKEN SINCE LAST WEEK? IF SO, HOW DID THAT GO?  “He sent me an email, then a text to ask if I got it. I told him I did, and that is how it went. I talked through every situation and scenario last year with him when we had them, and to this day, I’ve still raced him the exact same way. For him to do that, I knew it was coming as soon as he floored it in the corner. I was like ‘He can’t. He can’t. He’s going to run me right in the wall’. I think he was having a bad day, and just loses it. But as far as us talking, we haven’t. He did write me an email, but I don’t really care anymore. I don’t care to talk to him or anything.”
 
WHAT CAN BE READ INTO THE PRACTICE SPEEDS AT MIS, AND BEING FASTEST IN THE FIRST PRACTICE? IS THAT A GOOD READ OR IS THERE STILL ENOUUGH TIME FOR EVERYBODY TO CATCH UP? “Well it was all just qualifying, so the cars change a good bit for the race. They will change the setup a lot for tomorrow. The set-ups, and kind of the balance of the car and what you can get away with. This place when you are taped solid, and have all the downforce put in the car, it’s a much different feel than what we’ll have tomorrow, and especially what we will have Sunday when there is cars all around. I wouldn’t say you can read a lot into it, but definitely think that when you hit on something, you can carry some of that with you. I felt like at the end of practice we made some really big gains with our Farmers Insurance Chevy. I look forward to the whole weekend, I think we will be a strong car all weekend long after how we have started.”
 
HOW DO YOU KEEP THE PRESSURE FROM MOUNTING ON YOU AS THE RACES ARE COUNTING DOWN, AND WINS COUNTING SO MUCH? “Really where we are at right now, as a team, we need to show up each weekend, and put full weekends together; from myself to Kenny (Francis, crew chief) to everybody on our team. We all have talked about this all weekend, and all week long leading into this race. We just need to step up, and if we do that, I feel like ‘yes, there is going to be pressure, we want to be in the Chase’. But we have fast enough cars. We have all the equipment; everything there to do it. We just need to put those weekends together. Put ourselves in position, and there is still plenty of time to win races.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE GAME OF CHICKEN THAT GETS PLAYED WITH SOMETHING THINKING THE OTHER ONE IS GOING TO LIFT? “This is just when one guy in on the inside and one guy is on the outside and a wall is coming, the car on the outside is going to hit the wall first if he doesn’t…. you know, when you run out of space.  The guy on the inside
wants to use the entire exit of the corner to carry his speed down the next straightaway. My whole opinion, and my whole point on that was I had already passed Kyle (Busch) the reason he passed me back was because I was passing Ryan Newman and two cars, with no one in front of us-the next car was way up-going down the straightaway side-by-side gave Kyle the opportunity to get a big draft, and stick his nose in there when we got to turn one. So suddenly he is back and he knows if he didn’t clear me there, that we would be a position behind. So he just floored it, and if it is close someone is going to life. So that is the way I look at it. You just put someone in that position, and it’s all up to the guy on the inside. His spotter was telling him outside, outside, outside.”