CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND – IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS
CHEVROLET DRIVERS AND TEAMS RACE FOR CHAMPIONSHIP HARDWARE AT LIME ROCK PARK
 
DETROIT – (September 25, 2013) – The 2013 GRAND-AM Road Racing season finale at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut will play host to tight championship battles.  Chevrolet drivers and teams in both the Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype (DP) and Grand Touring (GT) classes will take on the challenge of the 1.53-mile, seven-turn road course in pursuit of the season’s ultimate goal – a championship.   During the two hour and 45 minute Rolex race to decide who is crowned this year’s champions, each of the Team Chevy drivers knows that not only are the team accolades on the line, but also the coveted Manufacturers’ Championships for Chevrolet.
 
“Lime Rock is a shorter track with tight corners followed by rather long straightaways,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Program Manager, Rolex Sports Car Series. “It is always a question of give and take in getting the right balance for the corners and the speed needed on the straights. Our Team Chevy crews and drivers will be well prepared for the battle.
 
“This weekend’s race will be intense for the Chevrolet teams and drivers, especially in Daytona Prototype.  There is a very tight point’s battle for both driver and team championships with three of our Corvette DP teams and drivers in the thick of it.  Excellent performance and perfect execution is what the teams will strive to attain in order to bring home the championship for their team, drivers’ and the Manufacturers’ Championship for Chevrolet.
 
“In GT, Stevenson Motorsports GTR Camaro is within striking distance of driver and team championships if racing luck falls their way. The No. 57 team has worked hard on preparations for this critical race.”
 
The pairing of Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli lead the pack for the 2013 DP drivers’ title as the Series rolls into Lime Rock Park. Taylor and Angelelli won the two most recent races in Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP and enter the finale with an eight-point lead. The duo can clinch the title with a fourth-place finish at Lime Rock Park.
 
History is on the side of Taylor and Angelelli at Lime Rock. Wayne Taylor Racing has been undefeated since DPs began racing at the circuit in 2010. But two other Corvette DP teams are also in the hunt for the drivers’ championship. Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP, are only 11 points back while co-drivers of the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa are still within striking distance sitting 13 and 15 point’s out of the lead position.
 
Another title on the line at Lime Rock is the DP team championship. Wayne Taylor Racing currently sits 11 points behind the leaders.  A strong finish at Lime Rock could mean a double victory for the team.
 
Chevrolet heads into the final Rolex race of the year leading the Rolex Daytona Prototype Engine Manufacturers’ standings by 32 points.
Not only are the Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype drivers and teams in a tight championship battle, but co-drivers John Edwards and Robin Liddell have a GT class-high four victories in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro, and enter the finale 11 points behind the leaders in both the driver and team championship standings.
 
Liddell and Edwards know a bit about winning at Lime Rock Park – they’ve each won two races on the 1.53-mile course, and at least one of them has been atop the GT podium for the past three years.
 
The duo will defend their 2012 Lime Rock victory this weekend and will be joined by teammates in the No. 75 Chevrolet Camaro Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia. The Corvette Racing drivers won last weekend’s GT class in the ALMS race at Circuit of The Americas, taking the lead in the championship in the process.
 
Chevrolet sits third in the Manufacturers’ standings, but a strong run can substantially change the final standings.
 
This weekend at Lime Rock Park also marks the last race of the season for the Camaro GS.R drivers and teams in the Continental Tire Sports Care Challenge series.  Matt Bell and John Edwards led the way for Team Chevy on the strength of two wins in 2013 at Road Atlanta and Kansas Speedway.  Headed into the weekend’s race the driving duo are 34 points out of the lead in both the driver and team standings, but a misstep by the leaders could mean a big day for the No. 9 Stevenson Camaro GS.R drivers.
 
The first race of championship weekend at Lime Rock Park will be the Lime Rock Grand Sport Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge two hour and 30 minute contest which is scheduled to take the green flag at 9:50 a.m. ET on Saturday September 28th followed by the start of the Rolex Sports Car Series championship deciding two hour and 45 minute race at 1:00 p.m., ET.
 

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
 
JENNIE LONG:  Good afternoon, everyone.  We are joined by Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  Harvick is currently 6th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with two wins and seven top 5 finishes this season.  He has scored top 10 finishes in four of the last five races at Dover, the site of Sunday’s AAA 400.  This weekend seems like the perfect time to make a charge towards the top of the standings.  What’s your outlook heading into Sunday?
 
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, it’s been a good racetrack for us as we’ve gone to Dover the last few years, so obviously we’re looking forward to going back, and hopefully matching that success this weekend.  We didn’t run so well at Loudon last weekend, so we need a good weekend going to Dover this week.
 
Q.  I actually kind of had a big‑picture question for you.  I wondered if you could just talk a little bit about Richard Childress Racing today as you are getting ready to leave versus when you came in, how the team will be structured beginning next year?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, I think as you look at how I started at RCR, obviously I came in in the year 2000, actually at the end of 1999 to run some ARCA races and started off with a brand new Nationwide program that we put together and won the Rookie of the Year, won the championship in the next two years, and that Nationwide program has gone on to have a lot of success.
 
 
I think the Cup side of it came in under obviously distressed circumstances with everything that had happened to Dale, and for us we had already laid out a plan of what we were going to do for the next four years, and obviously that changed.  So the first few years at RCR were a little bit confusing just for the fact that we were basically just running the 29 car, which was the 3, to keep the company going and try to establish some groundwork as to what we were going to do in the future.
 
 
Luckily that all played out, and for me it was an opportunity to come in and race as a young racer from the west coast who was just looking for an opportunity, and Richard gave me that, and now the sport is a lot different than what it was in those days with multi‑car teams and the state of our economy has changed the way that the sport operates and functions.
 
 
A lot of things are different now than what they were then.  There was a lot of sponsorship and a lot of things were a little more fly by the seat of your pants then than they are now.  It’s definitely a different landscape than what it used to be.
 
Q.  If I recall correctly, 2006 New York, when they used to bring the Chase drivers there before the Chase began, talking to you in one of the press sessions, and I think I asked you what your approach would be in the Chase, and this was your first Chase, and you said you just thought you would do things as you normally would and then you kind of smiled and said, well, maybe I’ll be surprised.  I’m just curious, you’ve had several Chases since then.  What have you learned?  Can you just race the way you normally do or do you have to change your approach?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  We just do things the same way, and obviously that hasn’t exactly won us a championship, but I don’t know of anybody else who does it any differently.  You just have to go out and drive your car as fast as it’ll go, and the guys on the team are going to try to change the tires and make the right decisions just as they would every other week.
 
 
A lot of people think that we change our strategy, but our strategy is to try to win every week, and obviously you can’t do that every week, and you have to try to pull the best finish that you can from that particular weekend.
 
 
Really that’s our strategy is to go out and try to perform the best that you can, and if you’re having a good day, capitalize on it.  If you’re having a bad day, try to figure out how to create a decent finish for it and gain maximum points.  It’s really the same strategy, Chase or no Chase.
 
Q.  Considering where you’re at in the points and the season that you’ve had, how feasible do you see being able to put together a string of some wins and top 5s to kind of get back into this thing?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, you know, right now I honestly hadn’t even really looked and seen the points deficit and paid attention to it.  For us it’s really about just going out and doing what you can week in and week out, and where you fall is where you fall, and that’s the cards that you were dealt.
 
 
At one point we strung together nine weeks in a row there with top 10 finishes and some wins, and I think that’s what you need to do anyway to have a chance at winning the championship.
 
 
But if Matt keeps doing the things that he’s doing and winning every race, it’s going to be hard for anybody to make up points, and those guys have run well this year, and for us we ran well at Chicago and overcame a lot of mistakes.  Last week we weren’t able to overcome an ill‑handling car and make something out of it.
 
 
I think at Dover, obviously you have to go up there and get your car handling well and do the things that you would normally do to try to have a good day.  I think the capability is there for us as a team to string some finishes together, but it’s just a matter of putting the next eight weeks together, and we’ve done it before this season, so we’ve just got to do it quick.
 
Q.  Ever since you announced that you were moving on, you haven’t exactly let up, obviously, and done really well.  Could you talk a little bit about being able to have your sponsors go with you, what that means to you and how that’s going to help you going into next year?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, for me it was an interesting period, for me to transition through this year and into next year.  And part of the intrigue of the Stewart‑Haas situation was for me when I signed my contract, we had no sponsor, no team, no number, nothing, and from a contractual side, I couldn’t really be involved in any of the sponsorship stuff that was going on so that I could focus on the racing at hand this year.
 
 
It’s been an interesting time for me because in the past we have been so involved in the things that are going on.  But to see Budweiser and Jimmy John’s and to have Outback come on board next year is pretty satisfying for me, and just for the fact that the sponsors have enough value in the things that we’ve done on and off the racetrack from the past to carry that forward, and to be able to represent the brands Budweiser and Jimmy John’s that we’ve represented in the past is obviously something that I’m used to and I’ll be able to see familiar faces and brands going forward as I go into my new position at Stewart‑Haas Racing.
 
 
I’m excited about that.  Everybody over there has obviously done a good job.  It’s going to be great getting to finally know those guys once I’m done with my work at RCR.  It’s been an interesting transition, and obviously things seem to be working out well.
 
Q.  This is kind of a follow‑up.  Heading into the Chase was there a certain number, whether it’s top 10s, top 5s, average finish, or number of points that you couldn’t allow yourself to fall behind as we go into the Chase?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  You know, honestly we don’t sit and figure those things out.  We just try to go out and do the best job that we can.  I’ve been involved in this Chase and had high single‑digit average finis
hes through the whole Chase and not won.  You can go through these Chase races and you see Carl lost it with I think a high‑five average, to Tony who won five races.  So you just never know who’s going to be on a hot streak and who’s not, and it’s really a one‑week‑at‑a‑time battle to put yourself in the best position that you can, and if you make a mistake and don’t run well like we did last week, you have to be able to rebound the next week or your gap gets a little bit further and further apart every week.
 
 
It’s just a matter of overcoming a bad day this week with a good finish, and that’s really what it all boils down to.  There’s no magic number.  There’s no thought process.  There’s no average finish.  There’s really no rhyme or reason to how the 10 races are going to work out, so you just have to go out and do your thing.  It’s something that for me works well is to shut off the media and the fans to a certain extent and what their opinions are, and you go out as a team and try to do the best you can.
 
Q.  And on a similar note, does the fast start that Matt has got off to change the way that you approach the final eight races?
KEVIN HARVICK:  No.  I mean, there is no different approach.  You go out and run your car as fast as it’ll go and you try to put yourself in a position to win every week, and when you can’t win you try to take the best finish that you can out of every week.  If you’re in a position to do that, then that’s what you do every week.  It’s all about capitalizing on the moments and making a bad day into a better day and trying to make as few mistakes as possible.  There’s really no change.  Everybody thinks that you change the way that you race; well, that’s really not possible because you have to race as hard as you can to get through the first 26 weeks and then you’ve got to do the same thing in the last 10.  There’s no change of what you do.
 
Q.  Once a driver makes the Chase, what are some of the basic ideas that you bring up to a crew chief or a crew on how to improve in the last 10 races of the season?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, really everything has to get better.  You have to have a little bit better in each department.  It’s really not one particular thing.  It’s really not a conversation that you have to sit down and have.  I think everybody on our team has been around it long enough to know that in order to do better than what we’ve done in the past, we have to get better in every spot, whether it’s the driver, the crew chief, the pit crew, and everything that goes with it.
 
 
With the experienced teams, I don’t think there’s a conversation that needs to be had.  I think everybody just knows they have to get better, and you have to minimize the mistakes that you make in all positions and try to capitalize on the things that you’re doing well and get results out of them.
 
Q.  Do you almost have to kind of roll your eyes and shake your head because it seems like it happens all the time when you hear these are the only guys that are going to win or stand a chance to win?  How do you go about that?  Surely you’re looking ahead and you’re seeing Talladega, what could happen there, but do you just not let that get to you at all?
 
KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, I mean, from a media standpoint or a fan’s perspective, if you look and read and listen to the things that they said at the beginning of the year, we wouldn’t even be sitting in this chair right now in the Chase because everybody had kind of written us off at the beginning of the year waiting for our team to implode from within and not even having a chance to race for the championship.
 
 
For me it’s really something that I don’t even pay attention to.  I know a lot of people say that, but you really just turn the media and the opinions of the fans, you have to turn those away to stay focused on your team and the things that you do.  It’s really a simple process and how you do that.  It’s hard to make yourself do that, but through the years you learn that it’s way easier just to focus on the guys around you and not get caught up in the mixture of opinions and how things are going to work out because nobody really knows how it’s going to work out until we run the race and all the circumstances and different racetracks and things play out through the end.
 
 
JENNIE LONG:  Kevin, thanks for joining us, and best of luck this weekend at Dover.
 

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
 
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, and welcome to today’s NASCAR CAM teleconference.  We are joined by Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  Earnhardt is currently 11th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.  He has one win and five top 5 finishes at Dover International Speedway, the site of Sunday’s AAA 400.
 
 
Dale, your crew chief, Steve Letarte, said you need wins to get back into the championship hunt.  What do you think your chances are starting your run this Sunday at Dover?
 
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Well, just going to have to work hard.  Our chances aren’t looking that great because the guys ahead of us are winning races.  They’ve had a pretty strong couple weeks to chase off.
 
 
But don’t give up, keep working.  If we can win a couple races, no matter what happens in the championship, that will improve the results of our season and give us a lot to be happy about.
 
 
So it would be great to go ahead and go to Dover and get that done.  But we’re trying every week.  I thought we were pretty aggressive this weekend trying to get ourselves in position to win.  Ended up with a pretty good result.  Couple things go a little bit different, and I think we get a shot at Matt and give ourselves a better opportunity to get the win.
 
 
It’s good to be able to look back on Sunday and feel like we had potential.  If we can be as aggressive as we were this past Sunday on pit strategy and many different things, just going after the set‑up of the car and working real hard on Saturday trying to prepare the car for the race, I think we can put ourselves in position more often with just a few races left.
 Q.  What would wins here over the last eight races mean for you as far as momentum going into next year?  Are you a big believer in the way you finish one year has a big impact on how you start the next?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Well, not really.  There are so many changes in the off‑season.  We’re always looking with the new car, you’re looking at higher potential that there will be changes in the off‑season and lot of new things to learn, lot of new things to sort of science out.  Really, if we just win races, it just vindicates the work we do and gives yourself confidence that you can do the job.  Helps you understand where your team is and what things you can fix and change to get better before the next year.
 
 
So I think as far as it carrying over to next year, I think we’re going to really see some changes in the off‑season on how the rules are with the car, maybe some things might happen ‑‑ I think enough is going to change in the off‑season that it will be almost like kind of having to start over a little bit next year as far as learning what works and what doesn’t work.
 
 
Either way I feel pretty good with that.  We have a good organization that can start from scratch and make some things happen.
Q.  Do you feel like ‑‑ I know you talked earlier in the year about feeling that you were close to being a winning team and competing for wins.  Do you feel like you’re at that same spot?  Do you feel like you’re any better?  Do you feel like you’ve fallen behind at all?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Yeah, we started the year out strong.  I mean, if we could have beaten Carl Edwards out in that last pit stop in Phoenix, we thought we could have won that race.  We had a string of good finishes and we were leading the points in the first five or six races of the year.  I feel like we really applied ourselves and adapted to the new car pretty quickly.
 
 
Now that everybody else has sort of caught up, and even surged ahead in some areas ‑‑ you’re seeing Matt have an awesome year, and it looks like Gibbs is having a better year performance‑wise all around.  Some teams at Roush are starting to find some competitiveness just as the season has gone on things have evened out a whole lot more.
 
 
So I think we’ll have to work in the off‑season to try to put ‑‑ all the teams are working in the off‑season to try to start the year off with an advantage over everybody, and we’ll just have to do that.  Work really hard in the off‑season to see what we can learn.
Q.  You kind of hit on the fact that you guys can kind of go all out with the front and the top three running so strong already in the Chase, does that kind of change your strategy a little bit?  Like maybe the rest of the field feels like, hey, we’ll just go for all we can get because we just hope that they don’t?  Does that change your strategy?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I guess.  I wouldn’t say it changes the strategy.  You know, I think it just changes the way you appreciate.  You look at your position in the Chase and you see, all right, we’re way behind.  We’ve got ourselves off to a terrible start in Chicago.  So we don’t really need to try to string together decent finishes.  That’s not going to do much for us.  We’re behind so far that trying to be consistent and just rattle off top 10s if we can, there is no moral victory there.  We can gamble on tire strategy and get off sequence in the race and try to make it work for you and get to victory lane.
 
 
Now we do that all year long, really.  The regular season is long enough to where you can be pretty risky and have a couple go your way and couple go against you and still be okay points‑wise and not really work your way out of the Chase by getting too crazy on the strategy.
 
 
But in the Chase, you know, obviously you want to win all the races like Matt’s doing.  But if you just run smart and run as hard as you can, obviously, and try to finish as good as you can, like Kyle, for example.  He’s hanging around, and that’s going to pay off.  If Matt makes a mistake or has trouble similar to the way me and the 22 had in Chicago, Kyle’s consistency and Jimmie’s as well will bode well for them and that will put them in position to take advantage of Matt’s bad luck.
 
 
So you want to be consistent if you can, but if you start off like we did, you just kind of throw it all out the window and try to get a trophy or two before the season’s out.
Q.  Dale, do you know, a lot of crew chiefs are starting to talk about, like you did, feeling that changes are coming and pretty widespread.  Do you know anything about that area that you feel like will be changed?  We heard about the Fords maybe.  Have you heard anything about what part of the cars will be changed or what they’re looking at?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I don’t.  I don’t really know.  I know there are always ongoing discussions to improve the sport, improve how the cars race each other.  We’ve been working really much harder, I think, in the past five to ten years on trying to put a better product and better race car on the track than they ever have, but that’s just something that’s happened in the sport every year.  It’s always been a process that’s ongoing in the sport and it will happen again through this off‑season.
 
 
With more information, more technology, more ways to gather data, understand data and understand what the cars are doing and how the cars are talking back to us about what’s working and what’s not working, I think you’ll see more of that.  More conversation, more ideas moving around on what can improve things.
 
 
So, yeah.  I don’t know what changes we’ll see in the of
f‑season.  I don’t think that it’s uncharacteristic that there is conversation, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see something happening.  It happens every year.  I don’t think it’s something that’s new or unique.
 
 
Usually, it’s aerodynamics, involves aerodynamics or involves the way ‑‑ they’re always trying to improve, obviously, on how much air and down force the guys in second and so forth get as opposed to the lead car.  That’s an area we’ve always wanted to work in and wanted to improve, and I think that’s probably going to be ongoing.
Q.  On the analyst side of it, you’re talking about what might happen in the Chase.  Obviously, Matt Kenseth has been so strong, but Greg Biffle said he too has come out strong at the front of the Chase and then dropped off the face of the earth.  Do you expect it to shift a lot?  Do you think the points will shift around quite a bit yet for some?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Oh, absolutely.  There is a lot of racing left.  There are eight races ‑‑ that’s a lot of racing and a lot of potential for good luck and bad luck to be shared by everybody.  I’m certain Matt and his team are going to try real hard to be smart and continue on the success that they’ve had.  But nobody’s immune to someone else’s mistake or something reaching out and altering the way the race is going for them.
 
 
Even Matt, as strong as they’ve been, something could happen to those guys and it may not be something of their own doing.  That’s why everybody in the series just continues to work hard because you don’t know what’s going to happen.  Fortune or misfortune could be around the corner.
Q.  With the way the first couple of races have gone and Gibbs being up there and Jimmie, Dale, is there anybody that you think people might be overlooking?  Somebody that you think might be hanging back there four, five, six, seven that shouldn’t be overlooked yet, as you mentioned, with so much racing to go?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Well, I don’t really know anybody in particular, but anything could happen.  There is a lot of racing left.  Just as Matt won a couple races, any one of us could hit on a streak, get real competitive and launch themselves right back into the heat of the battle.  Just as easily as someone can get behind, someone can rebound and win a race or two and have a couple great finishes and the competition have some difficulty and things can be reversed rather quickly.
 
 
We’re only two races into this thing and a lot of tough competition in the Chase, and nobody’s going to make it very easy on Matt.  I think the more ‑‑ especially the larger his lead gets, I think more of a bullseye the guy gets on him, and the tougher competition tends to race you.  He can expect things to be pretty competitive going forward. He’s been in this situation before.  He’s obviously got a strong competitor, one of the strongest competitors in Kyle and Jimmie both right on his heels and Carl Edwards and a couple guys lurking back there in the shadows.
          

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 22, 2013
 
Jimmie Johnson Leads Team Chevy Finishers at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
 
LOUDON, N.H. (September 22, 2013)  Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, finished fourth in the Sylvania 300 to lead four Team Chevy drivers to top-10 finishes.  Today’s run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion’s second consecutive top-five finish in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.  With two of 10 races in the books, Johnson is third in points, just 18 points down to the leader.
 
Jamie McMurray recovered from a lap 38 spin to bring the No. 1 Linksys Chevrolet SS to the checkered flag in fifth place to give the Bowtie Brand two of the top-five in the final finishing order.
 
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet SS, finished sixth and now sits 11th in the Chase standings. 
 
Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet SS, was the fourth Chevrolet SS driver in the top-10, crossing the finish line in eighth place.
 
Other Chevrolet SS drivers in the Chase championship battle finished as follows:  Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS – 13th (7th in points); Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS – 15th (8th in points); Ryan Newman, No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS – 16th (9th in points); Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS – 20th (6th in points) and Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS – 37th (13th in points) after contact on lap 253 sent him to the garage for repairs.
 
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was the race winner. Kyle Busch (Toyota) and Greg Biffle (Ford) complete the top-five finishers.
 
The Series moves next to Dover International Speedway, Dover, Delaware on Sunday, September 29, 2013 for Chase Race Number Three.
 
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
ON HIS RACE: 
“It was better than we thought it would be. I felt like we were really going to have to scrap for a top-10, maybe a top-five. I truthfully feel like we had a shot to win this race, if not run second or third. Those last couple of restarts lining up on the inside lane just didn’t work for anyone. I’d lose a couple of spots and have to get them back. Strong, strong performance. And, again my crew has worked so hard over the last three or four weeks getting ready for Richmond, which didn’t go well. Then getting ready for here which went really well. It took a lot of hard work to get the end result, but we’ve got a nice race car for these flat tracks. I’m looking forward to Phoenix now. It’s good to have a good run here knowing we can go to Phoenix and be competitive too.”
 
IS THIS A SENSE OF RELIEF HEADING TO DOVER?
“Yes, to open (the Chase) with a five, four (finishing positions) is great. One, one like Matt (Kenseth) has is a lot better, but we’re in a good spot. We haven’t given up to many points, and we’re going to one of my best race tracks next week in Dover. So I certainly hope to have this Lowe’s Chevrolet in Victory Lane over there.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“Definitely wanted more.  I think we had a great race car.  There are the end I was in the inside lane on those restarts and I would lose two or three (spots) each time.  Just part of it one of those things, but a great performance.  Great start to the Chase you know our five, four isn’t too bad.  It’s hard to beat a one, one that Matt (Kenseth) has right now, but we will keep plugging along.  We are getting into the meat of the Chase and where there are some great tracks for this Chevrolet that I am driving and all these Lowe’s guys working so hard to make it fast.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 LINKSYS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
YOU CAME BACK AND YOU CAME BACK BIG.  EARLY SPIN, THE BACK OF THE CAR KNOCKED OFF AND YOU STILL CAME BACK WITH A TOP FIVE:
“Yeah, are car was really good even after the crash.  I told you before the race that if we had good track position at the end I thought we could finish good.  It was a really good day for our Linksys car.  Just a fun day racing.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 TIME WARNER CABLE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SIXTH
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY AND THE BATTLE WITH (JAMIE) MCMURRAY AT THE END:
“Yeah, I run out of rear tires trying to hold him off.  Couldn’t get the power down just off the corner and he was a pretty fast car to begin with.  I knew it was going to be difficult to hold him off, but we had a good car yesterday.  Almost as good as it was today.  Just real happy to be able to rebound from earlier on pit road and get a good finish.  The car was fast as heck yesterday, one of the top three cars I thought.  Glad we were able to get a decent finish out of it.  Just want to win one, I’m trying hard.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH
ON HIS RACE:
“We didn’t hit it right on the adjustments today. It was nobody’s fault, we all agreed what adjustments to make and it just didn’t work out. We struggled with the handling and couldn’t make a move to the front with our Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet. While we aren’t pleased with where we finished (13th), we fought for every position and gave it our best effort. There’s still a long ways to go in this Chase.  When you’re off the way we were today and still finish 13th I guess it’s not all that bad. But we know we can do much better and we’ll keep on plugging away.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 15TH
YOU LED 36 LAPS AND THEN THERE WAS THAT PIT STOP. TAKE US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED
“I’m highly disappointed in myself. The team put me in a great position. We had a decent car and then track position made it into a great car. So it was obviously important to maintain that. I just came in and slid through. I hadn’t come close to sliding through all day and I guess just leading, I carried a little bit more speed in there and crossed the splitter over the line by an inch and that’s all it takes to make a difference between a chance at winning and finishing 15th.”
 
YOU WERE ABLE TO SALVAGE A 15TH PLACE FINISH. IT’S STILL EARLY IN THE CHASE. WHAT’S YOUR MINDSET HEADED TO DOVER?
“Well, I’m excited with the way we’re performing. Chicago was great and this weekend was great and we just keep that up; we’re not far out of fourth. We lost quite a bit of ground to those guys up front but not too much as far as getting in the top 5 in points. I think we are very capable of doing it but the driver can’t make mistakes. Today was one of the days. This is a short race. Track position is so important. You can’t make mistakes. I made a crucial one and I can’t allow that to happen if we’re going to get ourselves in the top 5 in points this year.”
 
HOW DO YOU CLEAR YOUR HEAD AFTER A DAY LIKE TODAY?
“Oh, I’ve been doing this for 20-some years, man. It’s not like I’ve never made mistakes before but you just hate to make them at a crucial time like that. So I’m very disappointed. And I’ll be disappointed until we get to Dover and start working on Dover.”

YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE OVER THE LINE?
“I knew it was close. When I got in there, the front started to slide. And I knew I was carrying a little bit more speed. I knew it was going to be close but I was hoping it would stop just at the line. I saw the official react and I knew we were in trouble.”
 
FROM WHERE YOU WERE ON THE TRACK THEN, IN 22ND, WHERE DID YOU THINK YOU COULD POSSIBLY FINISH?
“Oh, a top 10. That caution hurt us in general. We didn’t need that caution to come when it did. So, that was taking us out of sync for what was going to work best for our pit strategy anyway. So, we were already go
ing to be behind but there is a big difference between starting say 12th and 22nd. We lost a lot of spots to the other guys that took four tires and who knows how much that made a difference, but it was a bunch.”
 
WHEN A MOMENT LIKE THAT HAPPENS AND YOU HAVE THAT GOOD OF A CAR, WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR HEAD? WAS IT OH, DAMN, I MIGHT HAVE JUST GIVEN ONE AWAY?
“Well, I knew just from the way that the race was going, that passing was near impossible. And my car was a good race car, but it wasn’t a good passing car; not to mention the absolute chaos that goes on. The guys were four and five-wide running all over one another. Just being in the mix of that and trying to battle your way through each position was difficult enough. But our car, being back there, just different have the handling characteristics that we needed to pass cars. We had the handling characteristics of a car that needed good track position and we had it until I messed up.”
 
HOW DO SIZE UP THE FIELD NOW?
“Well, I mean if (Matt) Kenseth keeps doing what he’s doing, it’s not going to matter what anybody else does. For us, we have to be realistic and look at our points position and outcome and right now we’re not that far out of fourth, so that’s a realistic goal for us right now. But anything is possible. We go to these next several races and go on a tear, who knows? But we’re higher in points than where we started this thing, so we’ll just keep that going.”
 
DID YOU EXPECT MATT KENSETH TO BE THIS STRONG?
“I knew they would be strong, but I thought this would be one track that we might have a little bit of an advantage on him. But then I saw the times that he was running yesterday in practice and I was like uh, oh; they’ve got their act together pretty good. And he was strong today. I thought he was beatable, but they didn’t make any mistakes and were really good. Hat’s off to them. That was a great job and they’re on a roll. Like I said, now we’re going to Dover and that’s a great track for him. So, yeah, they’re definitely the team to beat right now.”
 
HOW MUCH BETTER DO YOU FEEL AFTER THIS RACE COMPARED TO LAST WEEK AND HEADED TOWARD DOVER?
“Last week stung it still stings pretty good.  If we would have won today it might of helped a little bit, but we dug a pretty deep hole.  When Matt (Kenseth) and the No. 48 and No. 18 are running like they are I’m not going to catch them running sixth.  So, we’ve got to do better.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 37TH AFTER SUSTAINING HEAVY CONTACT FROM AN ON-TRACK INCIDENT ON LAP 253
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I really don’t know what happened.  Just racing and I’m not sure if there was contact or if I just spun.  I seriously don’t really remember how it happened.”

WAS THERE CONTACT?
“I’m not sure. I hit the inside wall, but I’m not sure how I got there.”
 
 

CORVETTE RACING AT AUSTIN: Thrilling Victory for Garcia, Magnussen
Third win of season and GT championship lead for No. 3 Compuware Corvette
 
AUSTIN, Texas (Sept. 21, 2013) – Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia scored their second straight victory in the American Le Mans Series’ GT class on Saturday, winning the eighth round of the championship at Circuit of The Americas. Garcia led the final 58 minutes in his No. 3 Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.R under intense pressure to win by less than a second.
 
Their third victory of the season moved Garcia and Magnussen into the lead of the ALMS GT drivers’ championship with two rounds remaining. The result bolstered Chevrolet’s lead in the manufacturer standings and Corvette Racing’s advantage in the team championship.
 
“The ALMS GT class is ultra-competitive,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “Corvette Racing’s teamwork was the key element to put us in the best positions to race for a win today. Preparation, strategy, flawless pit stops and incredible driving by Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia delivered a fifth win for Corvette Racing this season. The championship points standings remain very tight. Our focus remains on prep for the final two races of the season.”
 
Saturday’s race will air on ESPN2 at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
 
On the opposite end of the spectrum were Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. Their No. 4 Corvette lost its transmission just shy of the one-hour mark. The duo entered the weekend with the drivers’ championship lead.
 
Milner started from third but moved to lead class lead at the start the race as both Corvettes got around the pole-sitting BMW before Turn 1. Magnussen dropped back to third but moved up two positions and into the lead 10 minutes later when the then-race leading Viper went wide off track and forced Milner to back off slightly.
 
Two stellar pit stops and an incredible strategic call on the team’s first stop put Garcia in the lead for good with a little less than an hour remaining. The Spaniard fended off multiple charges from Dirk Muller by timing the race traffic just right. He was able to put slower cars between himself and his competitors on numerous occasions to build gaps from as little as 0.2 seconds to 1.5 and 2 seconds at a time.
 
In the No. 4 Corvette, Milner reported having issues shifting up to third gear 11 minutes in, and the problem grew worse when the car lost drive in fourth gear at the 57-minute mark. It stopped halfway around the circuit and could not continue.
 
“It was great to see the Corvette Racing team salute our Corvette customers in the Corvette Corral directly across from our pit location with a win,” Campbell said. “We race to improve the production car, and we race for our Corvette owners.”
 
The next race for Corvette Racing is the Oak Tree Grand Prix on Saturday, Oct. 5 from Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Va. The race will air on ESPN2 at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 6 with live coverage at 2 p.m. ET, Oct. 5 on ESPN3.