NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
 
 
Newman Puts Chevrolet SS on the Pole at New Hampshire
Team Chevy Drivers Capture Four of Top-Five and Six of Top-10 Starting Positions
 
LOUDON, N.H. (Sept. 20, 2013) – Ryan Newman is known for his talent of winning poles, and today in qualifying for the Sylvania 300, he did just that with a record-setting lap of 27.904 seconds/136.497 m.p.h.  It is his second pole of the 2013 season, and the seventh time the driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS will lead the field to the green flag at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS).  In 2002 and again in 2011, Newman started on the pole at NHMS and won the race.
 
Also breaking the old track record were the second and third place qualifiers, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS and Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS.
 
Kurt Busch qualified the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS fourth fastest to give Chevrolet the four fastest starters in the 43-car field.
 
Richard Childress Racing drivers Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Sylvania Chevrolet SS and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS qualified seventh and eighth respectively to give Team Chevy six of the top-10 starters in Sunday’s 300-lap/317.4-mile race that is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. ET with live coverage on ESPN TV, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and PRN Radio.
 
Other Chevrolet Chase contenders qualified as follows:  Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS – 11th and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet SS – 17th.
 
Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota) completed the top-five qualifiers.
 
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
THIS IS RYAN’S 51ST POLE IN HIS NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER. THIS IS HIS SECOND POLE IN 2013. HE HAS SAT ON THE POLE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE SEVEN TIMES. THIS WAS A TRACK QUALIFYING RECORD 136.497 MPH. TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“I’ve sat in here several times and probably on at least six other occasions and said this was the birth place of track position and I strongly feel that it is in qualifying well and having that number one pit stall at the start of the race up front in clean air and all the things that go along with it. More important is the confidence to know that you have the fastest race car or at least can make it the fastest race car. Our Quicken Loans Chevrolet was good today. The guys did a really good job. We unloaded in qualifying trim and kept making it faster and faster and faster and we really thought Kasey (Kahne’s) lap was going to be tough to be and I really didn’t feel like I had a lot of speed in my lap. I felt ike it was balanced. But the speed just kind of comes with the track cooling down compared to practice and a really good run for us. I’m happy to be on the pole and to get my 51st pole and to do it at a place where it’s really tough to pass.”
 
WHEN YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO GIVE 100 ON BOTH LAPS EVERYBODY SORT OF CHUCKLED. BUT IT TURNED OUT THAT WAS INDEED THE CASE BECAUSE EITHER ONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD FOR THE POLE. DID YOU FEEL LIKE AFTER YOU RAN THE 27.93 THAT THERE WAS STILL SOMETHING LEFT OUT THERE?
“I had no idea I’d run a .93. I hit the chip on th back straightaway and didn’t in practice, but I ran a .33 in practice. That could have been a .32 for all I knew. The question that they had asked me was are you geared up for being quick on the first lap or second lap. I was more focused on being as good as I could be on both laps and then I would tell you afterwards which lap those pressures came in and obviously it was 300ths to the better on the second lap. So, the guys did a good job with our Quicken Loans Chevrolet and I’m just happy that we’re in this position in a place where it probably means the most.”
 
CAN YOU JUST GIVE US AN UPDATE ON MODIFIED PRACTICE THIS MORNING
“I’ll let you know if you’ll let me go qualify (laughs). No, it was pretty good. It’s the same old program to come up here and have fun. We made the car definitely better than we were in the first race. I think we were 10th or something in practice. But I don’t look to be able to set it on fire and win the pole. I think we’re going to have a better long-run car. We kind of showed that in the first race.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
POST QUALIFYING PRESS RELEASE TRANSCRIPT:
 
YOU WILL BE IN GOOD SHAPE AS YOU START THE SECOND RACE IN THE CHASE HERE ON SUNDAY.
“We had a really good lap. We went out pretty early and I feel like I missed just a little bit off Turn 2; didn’t quite get enough there. We got through Turns 3 and 4 really well. I felt strong there in practice and in qualifying. I’m looking forward to practice tomorrow and working on it and trying to decide on a better package on what he had that first race here. We were off the first race. A lot of cars were. We were one of them. We came back and tested as a company and hopefully we learned some things and picked up some speed since.”
 
ON GOING OUT EARLY AND SETTING SUCH A FAST TIME THAT HELD FOR MOST OF THE QUALIFYING SESSION
“I thought that was a really strong lap for going out at that time. I think the track definitely cooled down; the temperatures cooled down some, so the track obviously did too. There was a little bit of shade out there. I think the time we put down with an early draw was solid. Like I said, I think I could have gone a little quicker if I would have hit Turn 2 a touch better that second lap. Whether it would have been the pole or not would be tough to say, but I think I could have picked up a little bit myself. So that just shows that our Great Clips Chevy was strong. We have a strong car for the weekend.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
YOUR RACE TEAM IS KIND OF PICKING UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF LAST WEEK AT CHICAGOLAND THAT HAS TO FEEL PRETTY GOOD:
“Well it just feels good that we are picking things up.  It’s been an up and down season for us there is no question about that.  If you ever want to peak you want to do it when the Chase comes around.  Just sneaking our way into it and now having the type of performance we had last week and today has been a great day from practice to backing that up with qualifying.  This is a great way for us to not only get this weekend started, but to get the Chase started.  We are pretty excited right now.”
 
THERE WAS A SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR FIRST AND SECOND LAPS WAS THAT BY DESIGN?
“No, I really was planning on when I went into the run and took off from pit road I was really going to try to get it done on the first lap.  I came off of turn four just wiggling, sliding and I thought ‘okay well maybe I can make up for it in (turns) one and two’.  Then I got off of (turn) two really bad and at that point it was just all about regrouping and trying to put a second lap together.  The last time we were here we did it on lap one.  All day today I’ve not been able to get it done on lap one. It’s a strange thing.
 
“Maybe it’s just a slight change in our set-up.  I’m not really sure what it is.  The car is good it just takes that first lap for the temps to get up and the grip to be there.  We struggled with that today.  I was really nervous.  I was shaking when I got out of the car just because that first lap was so hairy and on the edge.  The second lap I just had to really try to get the car to run really straight and not make any mistakes, but knew we had a lot of ground to make up. 
 
“When they said I was
third, boy, I was really excited because I knew we certainly weren’t anywhere close to that on the first lap. I wish now I would have designed it that way though because I wouldn’t be shaking as much right now.  I wish that I would have just thrown away the first lap you know that is something I like to do and we do that a lot of places.  But it’s not something I’ve typically done here.”
 
IS THAT A CONCERN IN RACE TRIM TOO IN TERMS OF RESTARTS AND THINGS LIKE THAT OF GETTING UP TO SPEED ON LAP ONE?
“Always, it’s always a concern here at New Hampshire.  This place is very tricky on restarts because of the lack of grip.  You just don’t have the banking to get the grip and get the car into the race track the way you need it to when those tires are cold.  Yeah, it’s something that we worked on a little bit when we were here testing.  It’s something we will be working on tomorrow as well.  As fast as the times were qualifying I thought that the grip must be there so I thought it would be there right away, but it wasn’t.  I’m just glad it was there on the second one.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR IMPROVEMENT ON QUALIFYING?  OVER THE LAST FOUR RACES YOU HAVE QUALIFIED IN THE TOP 10.  ARE CERTAIN THINGS CLICKING? 
“I would say it’s a combination of I think that earlier in the year with the new car we made some adjustments or tried to guess which direction to go in for qualifying.  It seemed to bite us a little bit.  We were getting extremely loose going to qualify from practice.  I think we have just found that we need to tighten the car up a little bit more than what we anticipate.  I think some of it is this car and just the balance change when you tape the grill up and go put it into qualifying trim and the cooler track and tires.  Then I think the other thing is we have been to some tracks that are not only good tracks for us racing, but qualifying.  Atlanta, here, Richmond, so like I said if you are ever going to get the momentum and get things rolling this is the time to do it.  Pretty excited things are going the way they are going for us right now.”
 
HOW BENEFICIAL WAS TESTING HERE? 
“I will let you know on Sunday when the race is over.  I mean testing is always beneficial, but it can give you some false sense of security or some information that can lead you down the wrong path.  What typically happens when we come here and test, I did the tire test this year here and did our Hendrick test and it’s amazing just how much grip there is when we are here testing.  Then you go out to practice and there is no grip.  A lot of it is the other different series that are here putting different rubber on the track just makes for different conditions.  I think we learned some good things that are going to benefit us in the race.  But we didn’t do any qualifying runs when we were here.  I didn’t expect it to impact our qualifying.”
 
 
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
ON HIS NEW TRACK RECORD:
“I’ve told you before that this track is the birthplace of track position and qualifying great with our Quicken Loans Chevrolet is extremely important obviously for where we are in the points and this time of year. It is really difficult to pass. Having a good pit selection; having all those things we’ve had so many times before…  But great run for Matt (Borland, crew chief) and all these guys to do what they did.  Last time we were on the pole here, we led a lot of laps and we won (SMILES). I am hoping we can duplicate that again.”
 
SEVEN TIMES THE POLE SITTER HERE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY CONGRATULATIONS:
“Yeah it’s great timing I guess none the less, but a great run for our Quicken Loans Chevrolet.  Matt (Borland, crew chief) and the guys did a great job and this is the birthplace of track position so with that being said we will see if we can capitalize on it.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS TRACK POSITION?  IS IT HAVING THAT NUMBER ONE PIT STALL WHAT MATTERS THE MOST?
“Well everything about qualifying weighs in to having a better chance in the race with the pit selection and with track position to start and obviously knowing you have a fast race car. We will see what we can do with our Quicken Loans Chevrolet tomorrow in race trim.  We have been in qualifying trim the entire day so I’m pretty sure and pretty confident we can make it all pay off.” 

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SECOND
A NEW TRACK RECORD.  PRETTY GOOD LAP TELL US ABOUT IT:
“Yeah it felt really good.  The first lap I was sliding a little bit too much so we didn’t get there, but the second lap I was able to pick up some speed and run a good lap.  I don’t know I know Kurt (Busch) is going to be strong and probably a bunch of the other guys as well, but that is a good lap for right now.  I felt good about it.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FOURTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“I’ve just got to thank the guys for going out there and having shots at poles. It’s not every Friday that you have a shot at it. Today we didn’t get it but it’s crazy how close it is. And our Denver Mattress Chevy was right there. You can’t tiptoe a pole lap. You have to know it. And so I think we tiptoed into a top 5 spot. I just couldn’t’ do anything aggressively with steering input or throttle input because the car wanted to come out from underneath me.”
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 SYLVANIA/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
AFTER BRUSHING WALL IN PRACTICE TALK ABOUT QUALIFYING:
“The car was really good in practice. We were doing race runs.  I lost track of where the wall was and I just brushed the wall a little bit.  We switched to qualifying trim right after that and the car was good in qualifying trim. I didn’t get all of it, so we basically left it alone. We tightened it up just a little bit for qualifying here. We could have gone a little bit more, just a little bit too loose.”

YOU THIS THE WALL IN PRACTICE AND YOU JUST SAID YOUR CAR WAS LOOSE
“The car was really good in practice. We were doing race runs. I just lost track and brushed the wall. I switched over to qualifying trim right after that and felt like the car was good in qualifying trim. I didn’t get all of it. So we basically left it alone. We tightened it up just a little bit for qualifying here. But we were just a little too loose.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR LAP?  TOMORROW WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE TO PRACTICE SOME MORE WHAT ARE YOU GUYS GOING TO WORK ON?
“Our qualifying lap was fine nothing spectacular put up a decent time so that is good.  As we get into race trim tomorrow we worked on that this morning and just didn’t have exactly what we were looking for.  Tomorrow’s practice will be important for us and just trying to get that race feel that we need where you can pass cars.  It’s one thing to get one to go by itself around here with clean air and everything.  But what I saw in the race here in the spring to get through traffic you need something totally different.  I was chasing that feeling today in the first practice session and I didn’t quite get it.  Trying to drive it a little differently and a little smarter going into the race.”
 
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“The car drove comfortably, so that is a good sign.  Saw a lot of guys on television lacking an overall grip comfort. I had that. Decent lap. We had a tough time in race trim this morning. When we got to qualifying trim and went faster. We are definitely working hard to get this Lowe’s Chevrolet right. Tomorrow’s practice will be important for us. This has been such a great track for us over the years, I feel pretty good about things.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 TIME WARNER CABLE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 17TH
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR RUN:
“Just wasn’t real happy with it.  We just haven’t had the car we had here in qualifying last time.  The car just hadn’t been turning very well and the front end is a bit of a handful.  We will just have to see how it goes.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 21ST
A GOOD SECOND LAP TALK ABOUT THE RUN:
“The first lap felt like a little bit of a throw away.  I got pretty loose in (turns) one and two and I wasn’t very good coming to the green either.  I kind of knew it wasn’t going to be the lap.  It was like that in practice for me.  It’s so important to turn here that I guess what I feel like I’ve learned is that you can be a little loose to start, but in qualifying it comes in quicker.  In the race it’s a little bit like our first race run we were really loose but just kept going faster and faster and that was our best run of that first practice other than qualifying.  It’s just important to rotate at almost any cost for some reason.”
 
WHAT WAS THE BIG DIFFERENCE FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING?
“That magic I was talking about on the PA system before I went out that I was hoping for. We’ve just been doing a nice job. (Tony) Gibson (crew chief) has been doing a great job of making the car better for qualifying, and I’m just thinking more about it, and watching the cars more before I go out for my qualifying run. Just paying attention to the little things. Every little bit helps. The times are always so close, especially at a small little track like this. It is really critical I think at this track to turn in the center.  It just is. There is so much time in it. I rotated really nice on throttle.  Too well on the first lap which is why I was slow.  But no matter what happens, it was a nice pickup for us, and hopefully will give us a better place to work from on Sunday than last time.”
 
 

ACO Honoring Corvette Legend Dick Thompson on ALMS/WEC Weekend
‘Flying Dentist’ is oldest living American to race at Le Mans 24 Hours
 
AUSTIN, Texas (Sept. 20, 2013) – Through the years, Corvette and Chevrolet have had the honor of racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A number of American sports car achievements have come from Corvette drivers over the years, and those contributions will be front and center during a special ceremony this weekend at Circuit of The Americas.
 
Friday evening, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), the governing body of Le Mans, will honor Dr. Dick Thompson, the oldest living American to race at Le Mans. “The Flying Dentist” won multiple SCCA national championships from the mid-1950s to early-1960s, and Thompson was part of Corvette’s initial journey to Le Mans in 1960 in one of Briggs Cunningham’s three Corvettes.
 
Cunningham’s trio of cars, plus a fourth entered by Camoradi USA, started a dramatic shift in the perception of Corvette as a global sports car brand. Corvette Racing’s debut of the C5-R at the great race in 2000 added to its rich history. Since that time, Corvette Racing captured seven class victories at Le Mans with the C5-R and C6.R.
 
As part of this weekend’s tribute, both of Corvette Racing’s Compuware Corvette C6.Rs that race in the American Le Mans Series’ GT class will feature the names of every American driver who has raced at Le Mans in the race’s first 90 years. Included on that list are seven American drivers who drove or currently drive for Corvette Racing.
 
The ALMS shares the COTA weekend with the FIA World Endurance Championship.
 
JIM CAMPBELL, CHEVROLET VICE PRESIDENT, PERFORMANCE VEHICLES AND MOTORSPORTS
“We salute and honor all of the American drivers who have competed at Le Mans, including Dr. Dick Thompson for his achievements. He was inducted in the National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame in 2000 – a very special honor in the Corvette community. I personally had the opportunity to spend time with Dr. Thompson at the 12 Hours of Sebring a number of years ago, where we sat in the 1959 Corvette Stingray Racer. It was extra special because he had actually raced that car.”
 
PIERRE FILLON, PRESIDENT, AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE L’OUEST
“As part of the ceremonies linked to the 90th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest is pleased to honor the American drivers who have raced at Le Mans through their most senior, Dr. Dick Thompson, a former Corvette driver. An iconic American brand, Corvette’s racing history is tied to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and there could be no more appropriate a manufacturer to carry the names of all the U.S. drivers who have distinguished themselves at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed sponsorships, restarts, helping teammates on the track, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK THIS WEEKEND AS WE EMBARK ON THE SECOND RACE OF THE CHASE
“We had a nice run at Chicago. I felt like, at times in the race, we had a chance to win. We still came out of there with a very good top-10 finish. We certainly had challenges to overcome throughout the night. So, to take a challenging and eventful night and turn it into a top-5, I think says a lot about the team and the speed we have. The August stretch is now hopefully long and far behind us in our rear view mirror. We’re excited and optimistic for this week. This is a track the (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) really likes and we’ve had good success here.Of course you want to win, but knocking down those top-5’s and top-10’s if you don’t have the best today, and just not get too far behind this early in the Chase is important.”
 
WHEN YOU COME OUT OF THE PITS ARE YOU ARE BACK IN THE 20’S, AND KNOW YOU HAVE A LOT TO DO, DO YOU SEE RED? DO YOU GET MAD? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? ARE WE GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF FUN NOW?
“No, no fun. Traffic is so tough to get through. Definitely seeing red. A lot of complaining on the radio. Just before we took the green on that run before we got to third, a lot of complaining. I’m like man, I need track position, you’re killing me, I need track position. And once I got to I think fourth, or something, (spotter) Earl (Barban) came on the radio and said, ‘Hey buddy. There’s that track position you wanted.’ So, I was complaining a lot; especially the second time because it’s so hard to get back through the field. And that second to last run, man we were flying. And I was still fast the last run, but we had perfectly matched set of tires and everything rolling right on that second to the last run.”
 
SOME OF THE GUYS IN THE CHASE HAD TOUGH RUNS AT CHICAGO.  YOU SHOWED IN ’06 THAT YOU FINISHED IN THE HIGH 30’S HERE BUT STILL WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT NOT GIVING UP HOPE AND THAT THERE IS STILL A CHANCE TO WIN THE TITLE?
“Yeah, you can’t give up hope. That’s not the way you want to start the Chase. Last year I had two bad races and really one in Phoenix where we crashed, and still had a chance going to Homestead. So I think there still is a chance for them. Unfortunately, they’re losing control. And that’s what no one wants to have happen. As you have poor finishes or bad finishes or whatever the cause, you lose control. And that’s the worst part. But we’ll see. In 10 races, anything can happen. Talladega is still out there in front of us and I think once you get through Talladega, the championship picture becomes much more clear. And again, not the way they want to start, but it’s not time to panic yet.”
 
WERE YOU SURPRISED WHEN YOU HEARD THE NEWS THAT NAPA WAS LEAVING MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING? WHAT TYPE OF IMPACT DO YOU THINK IT HAS ON TEAMS TO ACTUALLY SEE A SPONSOR LEAVE OVER SOMETHING LIKE THAT?
“Yes, definitely shocked. The long-standing relationship that Michael has had with Napa; definitely shocked. I don’t know what message it sends. Clearly there’s been a lot of things flushed out and discussed over the last couple of weeks. And the sponsor stood up and said hey, this it where we stand.
 
“And I saw something where Michael had spoken to his other sponsors and they’re all behind him. In this tough economy and tough world right now, we hate to see sponsors leave. And It’s going to be very challenging for MWR with the loss of such a major sponsor.”
 
ON RESTARTS, WHAT WAS YOUR VIEWPOINT LAST WEEKEND? WHAT KIND OF IMPACT MIGHT IT HAVE HERE BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENT TRACK CONFIGURATION?
“I think it’s good. I think it’s taken a little bit away from the leader, which is okay. The leader, with knowing that you couldn’t, in most cases, couldn’t be beat back to the start/finish line, you could set things up to get the person next to you to lift. I think Jeff (Gordon) was kind of talking about it earlier.
 
“When second is on the inside, and you’re on a 1.5-mile and you have that big apron down below, if you can get second to lift, now he’s three-wide and someone next to him is slowing him down, you’ve got a big advantage. So, it’s taken away some advantage from the leader, which is fine. I think it will promote a better start; less controversy clearly, but a chance for better racing through (Turns) 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and maybe more lead changes. That’s good for our sport, directionally. I still think we need to focus on how guys lay back. And when you have a huge apron down below like we did last weekend (at Chicago), it’s easy to lay back three-quarters of a car length to a car length, and roll up on the driver in front of you and be inside.
 
“So, that’s the part that I think we need to focus on next; but definitely a good change.”
 
BUT THERE IS STILL A LOT OF GAMESMANSHIP THAT CAN TAKE PLACE
“A lot. There’s some. The ace everyone had in their pocket was knowing the leader couldn’t be beat. Now, when the green is out, it doesn’t matter. That does change it. There’s change on both sides, for the leader and for second. I think it makes life easier for second.
 
“If the leader spins, you’re not put in the position; you know, did he spin is questionable enough, am I only six inches ahead? Is that going to be viewed all right by the tower? It takes away a little from both sides. But, I think in the end it’s a better product and easier to officiate.”
 
YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT JUST TRYING NOT TO GET TOO FAR BEHIND THIS EARLY IN THE CHASE. BUT HOW BADLY DO YOU NEED A BREAKOUT WIN SINCE YOU HAVEN’T WON SINCE JULY?  CAN YOU KEEP THAT STEADY APPROACH OR DO YOU NEED TO WIN ONE HERE PRETTY QUICKLY?
“When you get to the Chase, at least my focal point, you can’t look back on the regular season. It doesn’t matter if you dominated it or if you’ve been behind. It’s a 10-race stretch of it’s own. With that in mind, I haven’t won in a week. I finished fifth and had a shot to win last week. So, that’s how you have to look at it honestly. I know that Dover, Martinsville, our performance on the plate tracks this year, and on 1.5-miles in general, I know there are very good opportunities for us ahead. So, blinders on. Focus on the No. 48. Focus on what we need to do and not let the outside opinions or what goes on to be a distraction for us. We need to run our best 10. I honestly feel if we put together our 10 best races, we’ll be in contention for the championship.”
 
WITH THE RULES THAT CAME DOWN LAST WEEK, DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO HAVE ANY KIND OF CHILLING EFFECT ON WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE ABLE TO FUNCTION ON THE RACE TRACK AS TEAMMATES WITHOUT CALLING INTO QUESTION WHETHER OR NOT YOU’RE WALKING THAT FINE LINE THAT NASCAR HAS SET? CAN TEAMMATES STILL HELP EACH OTHER IN SOME WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM?
“Yeah, you can let a guy by to lead a lap; and the flow of the race and what goes on is still the same. I guess the ruling might have a different meaning for one team versus another. For us, and it’s the way we’ve raced; and the only team orders we have ever had at Hendrick Motorsports is don’t crash your teammate. That’s it. One very simple rule.
 
“And we still break that rule, at times. So, for us, it hasn’t been a big change. There is obviously a spotlight on things and I feel it was a rare situation. I’m sure it’s happened more than once in our sport, but it was pretty rare. And I think NASCAR has the language they need in the rule book. We certainly have the eyeballs paying attention now for stuff like that and to jump on top of it next time if it happens.
 
“It doesn’t change the Hendri
ck mindset. So, we’ll still function and do what we can. And right now, I’ve got three teammates. All four of us are in the Chase. Anybody who saw the closing laps with (Jeff) Gordon and I at Chicago knows that we were both very hungry for that one point. I mean he almost had me passed two or three times and I was able to rally back on the outside.”
 
AS YOU KNOW, JUAN PABLO MONTOYA IS MOVING TO INDYCAR AT THE END OF THE YEAR. HOW DO YOU LOOK AT HIM AS A RACE CAR DRIVER? HOW HAS HE IMPRESSED YOU ? WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THE CHALLENGES HE’S FACED WITH A SMALLER TEAM THAN YOUR TEAM?
“It’s only been a couple of times, but I’ve had a chance to see him in a high downforce car and on a road course, which would be in the GRAND-AM Series. My opinions and ability to race with him and his car knowledge of a stock car is one thing. When you go to a lighter downforce car, road course in general, and watch Juan do his thing, he blisters everybody. So, I feel very confident that he’s going to be successful going back to IndyCar. I certainly want him to be safe. He’s had a rollcage around him for a long time now and I’m sure he’s grown used to that comfort level and safety factor that’s there.
 
“But his ability to get through a road course on brakes and turn-in speed and all that stuff, he’s gifted. That’s why he won the CART championship and went to F-1 and had the success that he did. And stock cars are a different animal. So, I have high hopes for him. The one thing that I’ve heard through (A.J.) Allmendinger is that the IndyCar world has changed quite a bit and it’s ultra-ultra competitive over there. And he has come back with his eyes wide open saying you have no idea how hard those guys run week-in and week-out. So I am assuming there will be some type of acclimation process for him to get up to speed and get going, but he’s going to do just fine.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET/GILLETTE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and discussed going to IndyCar for Team Penske in 2014, finishing the season strong for his Earnhardt Ganassi team and other topics.  Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR DECISION TO RACE INDYCAR FOR TEAM PENSKE NEXT SEASON: “I was looking at all the choices, and when I started talking to Roger (Penske) about it, to tell you the truth, it was a no-brainer for me. I always loved open wheel (racing). That is my background. I had seven great years here, and still have nine more races with the Target car this year. When you get a chance to run for Roger, I wouldn’t turn that down.”
 
DID IT ALL HAPPEN PRETTY FAST? “Yes.  I was talking a lot to the No. 78 (Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet SS owned by Barney Visser), and they are great people and they work really hard. I think they have a really good team. There were a few conversations with Roger and Tim (Cindric, President, Penske Racing) about it, but they were pretty casual. They called me and asked if I could come up, and I said yes. That was it.”
 
SO IT DIDN’T TAKE YOU LONG TO MAKE THAT DECISION? “No. It is something I wanted to do. I have been lucky enough to race for Chip (Ganassi) in IndyCar, it is one of the best teams out there. I have run for Williams, McClaren, Mercedes, BMW (in Formula 1), I mean I have run for big teams, and the only one on the list that I hadn’t run and felt I always wanted to do was Roger’s.  If I could get some wins for him next year, I will be really excited.”
 
HOW DID IT GO WHEN CHIP FOUND OUT YOU WERE GOING TO GO DRIVE FOR ROGER? “To tell the truth, he was in Europe so I left him a voicemail and sent him a text. He seemed very genuinely happy about it.  I have always told people here, we are really good friends. We have a very good relationship. It is just going to make it more interesting and fun next year.”
 
HOW MUCH WILL YOU MISS DRIVING THE NASCAR STOCK CARS? “There are a lot of good people here, and we were looking at things for next year. But today the focus is still on this year in the Cup Series to finish the season. Then looking at the Penske thing into the future we’ll see if there is maybe some NASCAR races might come about. We’ll see.”
 
YOU ARE NOT RULING OUT COMING BACK HERE TO RACE SELECT RACES? “We’ll see. That is up to Roger and what he wants to do. We need to sit down and talk about that later. There are two focuses. One on the weekends is going to still be this. I still want to try and get the oval win for the guys. They have been working really hard, and we’ve been getting a lot better race cars. This is a place where we have run really well, so that is important.”
 
YOU HAVE SAID THAT YOUR TIME IN NASCAR HAS MADE YOU A SMARTER DRIVER. CAN YOU EXPLAIN A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THAT AND HOW IT MIGHT TRANSFER TO INDYCAR? “I think you learn so many things about the cars that you will never understand, or believe or see. There are a lot more basic things that you ignore in open wheel. I think it is pretty cool because I sat down with the guys the other day, and we talked a little bit about the cars. I talked to Will (Power) a little bit and understand more what the cars do. On YouTube I’ve been looking at a lot of videos and on-board cameras. It is fun because I know all the places.
 
“There are a lot of things to learn. And as I said the beginning of this week, it is going to be an uphill battle in a lot of ways, but I am looking forward to the challenge.”
 
WILL YOU CONSIDER IT UNFINISHED BUSINESS IF YOU DON’T GET THAT WIN ON AN OVAL BEFORE THE END OF THE SEASON? “It’s not over yet, so we’ll see. We are working really hard. I have a great group of guys here. They are fun to work with. They are determined and I am 100% behind them in these last races here.”
 
DOES WHERE YOU ARE GIVE YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE DIFFERENT STRATEGIES TO GET THAT WIN? “We’ve been going that all year, believe me. We’ve been trying and have been close to paying off. But, we’re not there yet.”
 
ANY CONCERNS ABOUT SPONSORSHIP ISSUES FOR INDY NEXT YEAR? “No, not really. Roger took a leap of faith. I think they are the best team out there, at least one of the best.  They took a leap of faith on me, and I am taking a leap of faith on them. It’s all good.”
 
HOW HARD IS IT FOR A ONE-CAR OR TWO-CAR TEAM TO COMPETE AGAINST THE FOUR CAR, AND THE THREE-CAR REALLY BIG, STRONG TEAMS? “If you look at the champion (Brad Keselowski) from last year here (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) was from a two-car team. So it is all relative.”
 
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT YOU MIGHT MISS FROM HERE? “No, but I thought enough what I have missed in open wheel. Getting that opportunity was…I know Helio (Castroneves) really well. I met Will (Power) this week. I told them I am going to need their help a lot to get up to speed. I think it will be fun. I think I can bring a completely different aspect to the cars. I have a lot of open wheel experience, so it should be fun.”
 
HAVE YOU TALKED TO AJ ALLMENDINGER AT ALL AFTER HE HAD DRIVEN THE NO. 2 CAR THIS YEAR? “It is funny; I talked to AJ a lot about IndyCar this year and that was actually before I knew I would be in the No. 2. Everything happens for a reason.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT GETTING BACK TO INDIANAPOLIS? “We do that every year here, but going back to actually the 500 is a big deal. I know Roger hasn’t won it since ’09. I’m one-for-one there, so hopefully we can make it two-for-two. AJ did a really good job this year. If you watched the race, if he wouldn’t have had the problem with the seatbelt, he had a real shot at winning. You have to be there at the right place at the right time.”
 
WHAT HAS BEEN THE REACTION ON THE INDYCAR SIDE FROM OTHER DRIVERS?  TONY KANAAN? DARIO FRANCHITTI? HAS IT BEEN GOOD? “Yes, absolutely. They have all sent me texts. They all laugh. They all said they all knew sooner or later you would convert back. It is fun. It is fun because you learn a lot of different things. When you go to Europe, it is all about yourself and not about the team. You learn to be a team player over here. I think that is going to help us huge.”
 
IS IT GOING BACK TO YOUR ROOTS? “Yes, that is where I grew up and everything. I feel like I am a stock car driver as well. I’m open for anything. But right now, this Penske opportunity is golden.”
 
WHAT WERE YOUR IMMEDIATE FEELINGS WHEN IT WAS DONE AND FINALIZED? “I was jumping around. I felt like a five year-old kid.”
 
HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO ROGER? “The deal was actually done with Roger.”
 
IS THERE ANY WAY YOUR EXPERIENCE HERE HELPS YOU OVER THERE? “Absolutely. We talked about that already. But yes. You learn a lot of things, and understand a lot of things. The tire degradation here is so much more noticeable. Tire management is huge here. In open wheel, you do a little bit of that, but if you understand it better, it is going to pay off. There is a lot of pluses of being here these years. I don’t think that they are wasted years. I think that I learned a lot. I’m just looking forward to being in a winning car.”
 
DID YOU SERIOUSLY CONSIDER ANY OTHER NASCAR RIDES? “Absolutely. The No. 78. We talked about it. We actually were pretty close. When the Penske thing came about….”
 
SO THIS DOESN’T CLOSE THE DOOR ON ANY FUTURE NASCAR? “No, not at all. We talked to Roger a little bit about it. But today the focus is here, but at the moment and the next couple of months is getting up to speed in the car.”
 
HOW CLOSE WERE YOU TO SIGNING WITH THE NO. 78? “We were getting there.”
 
WOULD
YOU WANT TO COME BACK AND RUN A FEW NASCAR RACES? ROAD COURSES? DAYTONA? “I think it would be fun. It would probably be with Roger if we did it. We’ll look at that in the future. We talked about it a little bit. But I am focusing at the moment of finishing this and then the Indy car.  I know what we need to do and that is goal at the moment.”
 
IS THERE A POSSIBILITY OF DOING THE MEMORIAL DAY DOUBLE? “I don’t know. You are asking the wrong guy…I think you are in the wrong hauler.”  (LAUGHS)
 
IS RUNNING THE DAYTONA 500 WITH ROGER SOMETHING YOU WOULD TALK ABOUT? “There is a little bit of talks, but not much. You have to understand the deal was announced four days ago. It was done in five. It is not like we had two months to talk about it. I talked a lot to the guys. I started looking at videos and stuff.  And that is all I have done so far.”
 
YOU AREN’T GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS CAR BEFORE END OF YEAR ARE YOU? “No, no. Target has been a great sponsor for me and the team. I am committed to them all the way to the end of the season.”
 
WHO WAS THE FIRST INDYCAR DRIVER TO SEND YOU A TEXT? “Helio. Then TK then Dario…then Scott (Dixon) the next day.”
 
WILL IT BE AWKWARD WITH YOU AND THE GANASSI INDYCAR BOYS SINCE YOU ARE GOING TO THE ENEMY CAMP? “I don’t see it as the enemy.  I won the championship with a lot of the guys that are still there. It will be fun. I have great friends there, and I still will. Just  driving a different car. And I will make news ones. It is what it is.”
 
AND CHIP WISHED YOU WELL? “Oh yes. As I said, he understands he made a decision not to have me here in his car next year, and I made a decision that I wanted to go back to open wheel. Roger gave me that opportunity.”
 
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SHORTER INDYCAR SCHEDULE? “Yes! That’s is another thing that is important. I want to have a little more time for myself and my family. Sebastian races now. If I want to run well, at the beginning of the season I will be more busy than I was here. I really want to make sure…I know I have an uphill battle and I think the first few races are going to be hard while I figure everything out. It will be fine.”
 
AT MICHIGAN YOU SAID YOU JUST WANTED TO GET IN A WINNING RACE CAR: “And I got my wish didn’t I?  And I said that, and it was true. I wanted to have the best opportunity to win races, and Roger gave me that.”
 
INAUDIBLE QUESTION: “IndyCar all the while. Think about it. 2000 probably. I drove Formula 1 for six years. I have been driving open wheel since ’92 through 2006.”
 
HAVE YOU DONE ANY SORT OF TESTING? THOSE CARS HAVE CHANGED SO MUCH: “No (to testing). Remember one of the good things about it is that when I drove them, they were sequential, manually sequential gearbox. Now they are paddle shift like the F1 (car) was. It is actually…I would say…easier than it used to be. You know when you had a six speed manual and you had to go from sixth gear to first gear, one at a time; that was a lot of work. This is click click click (makes a noise with his tongue). You know. I hadn’t even thought about the push-to-pass yet.  There are a lot of things I am going to learn and a lot of mistakes I am going to do with the push-to-pass; not using it or over using it and stuff. We’ll learn and I think the more I look at videos and prepare myself for the race, the better I am going to be
 
“It’s cool to have data on the weekends. Proper data. Look at suspension. Look at everything. Look at how I am driving the car. If I have the data, it makes my life easier. I can just look at everything they are doing, and give it a try. See what happens.”
 
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and discussed last week’s solid run at Chicagoland, his outlook for this weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the new restart procedure and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND AS WE BEGIN RACE NUMBER TWO OF THE CHASE?
“We had a great run at Chicago very happy with the performance, but also pretty happy with the result.  We know we could have gotten more had we not had the tire issue.  The team was fired up this week.  I went in the shop and you could just see a different attitude and a lot of smiles. A lot of guys are really excited to get here to New Hampshire.  This is a great track for us.  It’s been a great track for the No. 24 team for many years.  We tested here a few weeks ago with all the Hendrick (Motorsports) cars and thought that if we make it in the Chase we have a great opportunity.  I’m looking forward to trying to capitalize on that this weekend.”
 
AS YOU SAY A GREAT TRACK FOR YOU.  COULD THIS AMOUNT TO A BREAK OUT RACE FOR YOU?
“It certainly can.  I think what happens when you go to certain tracks that are good tracks and consistent tracks for you, then you have an opportunity. It’s about capitalizing on that opportunity and making the most out of it.  That is the way I look at this track.  I look at Martinsville very similar that it is also one of those tracks.  It doesn’t guarantee anything, doesn’t make the job any less hard.  We are going to have to fight and claw just like we have all year long to make it in the Chase and to get the results that we’ve had.  What is nice is when you claw and you fight and all of a sudden you start to see your cars running better and your pit crew is putting good pit stops together and your restarts are better and the results are better.  That is what we saw last week in Chicago and that is certainly what we hope to continue here.”
 
WHY DID IT COME TOGETHER LAST WEEK?  BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T EXPECT YOU WERE IN THE CHASE AND THEN YOU WERE? WAS THERE A SORT OF EASY FEELING THAT THE PRESSURE WAS OFF OR THAT THERE IS KIND OF A FEELING THAT WELL WE WEREN’T GOING TO BE IN AND NOW WE ARE SO THERE IS KIND OF AN EASY FEELING ON THE TEAM WE’VE GOT THIS? 
“No I think now the pressure is on.  Now we are in it and we want to show everyone why we are in it and what we can do and what we are capable of doing.  To me the question isn’t more why we stepped up and performed at Chicago.  It’s why haven’t we leading up to Chicago.  I think we had the last three races leading into Chicago.  We were pretty good, but previously in the season we just have had our struggles.  We have had missed opportunities and it’s hard to always put your finger on what exactly has caused those things.  All I do know is that this team is ready to step up.  They did at Chicago.  I mentioned that we were probably going to surprise some people and I think we will.  Coming out of Chicago with a solid finish was important to us.  We had a great performance going there last year.  We had the strange throttle issue.  That changed our whole Chase for us.  It was nice to know we had an issue, fought back from it and moved up in the points.  Now we come in here to New Hampshire a great track.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA IS MOVING BACK TO INDYCAR.  COULD YOU COMMENT A LITTLE ON THE SEVEN YEARS THAT HE HAS BEEN HERE, WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN HIM LEARN AND PROGRESS, HOW YOU ASSESS HIM AS A RACING DRIVER AND THE CHALLENGES THAT HE HAS FACED IN A TWO CAR TEAM VERSUS A FOUR CAR TEAM LIKE YOUR OWN:
“I’m certainly very anxious to watch IndyCar next year.  I think it’s going to bring a lot of attention to it.  I’m anxious in a way of being here in these types of cars and the struggles that you have in these types of cars with lack of grip, all the different tracks, how competitive it is among the cars and teams that are out there.  How that experience is going to either enhance or hinder him going back to the IndyCar series.  One thing has always been true and still is for Juan (Pablo Montoya) he is a fantastic race car driver.  He is very aggressive and he pulls off great moves.  I think that he has shown that here and he is going to certainly do that in IndyCar when he goes back there as well.
 
“I think the challenges have just been a question mark on how strong is Ganassi in the Cup Series.  Is it Juan’s inexperience on ovals that have kept him from winning races on these ovals?  He has run really well at times, but then it seems like it doesn’t always come together for that win.  Is that lack of experience and just unique cars or is it the team?  You don’t always know the answers to those things.  You would certainly think a guy of his talent he would be able to adapt to it and so it makes you question some of those things.  I have always applauded him for making that move because at that point in his career all the different kinds of cars that he had driven did not prepare him for NASCAR.  That is a big step.  Even though he didn’t win as many races as I think he would have liked to have it’s been a pleasure racing with him.  I respect him tremendously.”
 
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE WILL BE MORE OF A DETERRENT FOR TEAMS NOT TO REPEAT THE ACTIONS OF MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO THE NASCAR PENALTIES OR THE FACT THAT A SPONSOR HAS ACTUALLY LEFT A TEAM OVER IT?
“I think all of those things.  I think that a sponsor leaving probably is certainly bigger than those penalties.  That is hard to replace especially this point in the season.  I think that was a very loud message that was sent to MWR as well as everyone in this sport.  About what our expectations are and our actions what they can result in if they are negative actions.  I mean that is unfortunate.  You know you see a team go through some decisions that they went through and choices and you want a team to get penalized for those types of things no matter what team it is.  But you never want to see it go to this level where they lose a sponsor.  That is really unfortunate.”
 
AS PART OF A TEAM THAT HAS THE MOST DRIVERS IN THE CHASE ARE YOU STILL ABLE TO WORK WITHIN THE NEW RULES NOW TO HELP A TEAMMATE IF NEED BE ON THE TRACK?  HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO STILL DO THAT WITHOUT THAT SITTING IN THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD AS ‘HEY IS THIS GOING TO BE INTERPRETED AS SOMETHING THAT IS A PENALTY’? DO YOU FEEL AS A DRIVER THAT IT PUTS YOU IN AN AWKWARD SITUATION WHEN YOU HAVE TO FEEL THE TEAM ORDER AND ARE YOU GLAD NOW THAT NASCAR HAS SAID THAT IS CROSSING THE LINE? 
“Oh yeah absolutely.  I think that we are all relieved in many ways that all we have to do is just go out there and race hard.  I think that right there, that statement that I said gets misinterpreted maybe in some ways by people that might not understand this sport as well as that garage area and members of the media that follow this sport or diehard fans that follow this sport.  Because you would think ‘oh well you just race as hard as you can all the time.’  Yeah we try to go out there and race to win every single weekend.  But if you are having a bad day or you are not in a position to win the race or not in a position to win the championship you are going to be a team player.  That is part of having teammates.  So now it’s going to get challenging and difficult on those days.  On the days where you are there competing for the win and a top-five and top-10 there is no questions.  You just go and do your job what you lov
e to do and what we enjoy doing every single weekend.  I love that that is the position that we are in right now.  We have all four cars in the Chase, all battling hard, racing hard for wins and to win the championship.  We don’t have to worry about any kind of team order or anything because all four of us are in it.
 
“It will get challenging when we get further into the Chase if any of us are not in that battle and how we are going to manage racing as hard as we can as well as what is happening with our teammate for the championship.  I think that we are not going to do anything that is going to manipulate the outcome of the race and we are going to do everything we can to race at 100 percent all the way to the checkered flag.  There might be instances where it might look like we are helping our teammate and we are not.  We are racing them hard, but they are faster than us or something like that.  That is where it’s going to get challenging.  That is where you guys are going to do your jobs very well and going to watch very closely of how business is being taken care of on the race track, radio communications and all those things.  I think not having the digitals (radios) has been a little bit new for the team because they could talk to a spotter about our plan or talk to somebody else on another team about what we were going to do on the next pit stop things like that.  That has changed things.  I think that is also a good thing because we want the fans and the media and everybody to know what we are talking about and what is getting ready to happen at all times.  I think it only makes a better experience for the fans as well.”
 
WHAT WAS IT LIKE LAST WEEK WITH THE NEW RESTART PROCEDURE? HOW DID IT WORK OUT?  WILL THERE BE ANY ADDITIONAL CHALLENGES WITH THAT HERE JUST BECAUSE IT’S A TIGHTER SMALLER TRACK?  WHAT MIGHT THE RESTARTS BE LIKE HERE?
“I liked it and I will tell you why I liked it. Because the thing that I didn’t anticipate was now that let’s say this weekend is more likely going to be the outside lane being the line that the second-place runner will be in.  Before if that person took off and got a little bit too good of a start or the other car spun the tires then all of a sudden they are checking up to not beat them to the line and it’s just causing chaos five and 10 rows back.  You start getting people running into one another and damaging their cars and causing wrecks.  Now it seems like both lanes sort of flow evenly to turn one.  I think that there is not as much of a disadvantage for the other lane.  It just seems like if you are in that No. 2 car lane it might be a little bit less of a disadvantage than it used to be because it just seemed like the No. 1 car lane would always take off a little quicker and that momentum just continues to carry all the way to the first turn.”
 
DID YOU OR ALAN (GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF) SPEAK WITH THE ENGINE DEPARTMENT ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT, JR.’S PROBLEM LAST WEEK?  DO YOU HAVE ANY FEELINGS IT MIGHT JUST BEEN A HEATING AND COOLING CYCLE THING?
“No, it wasn’t any of those things.  We did speak at length about it and we feel like it’s something that we had an issue with a couple of years ago that we felt like we had solved.  We had several engines that had no issues and one that did and sometimes those are just freak things.  The material and the metal how it’s manufactured and sometimes there are just flaws.  That is the only thing that I feel like at this point that we can come up with.  We haven’t been able to duplicate it.  That is one of the biggest challenges.  I will say that I can’t believe any engine made it through that race.  I will tell you why because I’ve never turned so many RPM’s and put so much load on an engine as we did there.  The track was fast, the fall off was not huge, we were hitting the rev limiter, cool temperatures and just wide open in the middle of the corner so early.  Just carrying that long wide open throttle all the way deep into the next corner for a long period of time, I was concerned about everybody’s engines.  That was about as much demand as you can put on one.”
 
YOU SAID A MOMENT AGO THAT WHEN YOU GUYS HAD THE ISSUE IN CHICAGO LAST YEAR IT CHANGED YOUR WHOLE CHASE.  THAT IS SORT OF THE SITUATION DALE (EARNHARDT, JR.) IS IN RIGHT NOW.  HE BLOWS A MOTOR AND HE IS 53 POINTS OUT ALREADY.  HOW DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR MINDSET?  HOW DO YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT YOUR TASK DIFFERENTLY WHEN YOU ARE IN THAT POSITION?
“I think that in that position you have absolutely nothing to lose.  You can instead of maybe having a game plan where you were going to try to fine tune a set-up you can just go completely outside the box and just go for broke and make very gutsy calls on pit road.  You can be more aggressive as a driver.  The engineers can be more aggressive in the set-up as well.  It could benefit them greatly, it could benefit us as well, but it also could cause some challenges.  I think that they are looking at it like ‘listen unless something miraculous happens we are not going to be back in this thing’ to the level that they would like to be. I think there is a part of you that just says ‘okay let’s just see how high up in points we can get and there is a part of you that says we go for broke and if we get on a heck of a role we can still do this’.  You certainly never stop giving up hope.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:

JENNIE LONG:  Good afternoon everyone and welcome to today’s NASCAR Cam teleconference.  We are joined by Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet for Furniture Row Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  Busch is 6th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings with nine top 5 and 14 top 10 finishes.  He has three wins and 11 top 10 finishes at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the site of Sunday’s Sylvania 300.

 
Kurt, your team is one of the few teams located outside the Charlotte hub.  How big of a deal is it you were not only able to make the Chase but look like a true championship contending team?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Well it has been a significant challenge for the team logistically to operate in Colorado, but other than that, it’s business as usual.  You see our crew chief, our lead engineer, full on assembly group of guys, some hanging bodies, some repairing crash damages.  You see the motor tuner, the motor assembly.  There’s a chassis dyno, seven post rigs, so it’s a bona fide program and we have all the right people, and it was just a matter of having everything fall into place with the performances on track, and we’ve been able to do that.  It’s been a very successful season and we’re in the Chase and we don’t want it to stop there.  We want it to keep going.

Q.  I just wanted to ask you about the unique position you find yourself in being a one car operation, no teammates really to speak of in this Chase.  Is that a hindrance or is it an all in one effort for your team going into the Chase?

 
KURT BUSCH:  You know, one thing that is a strong suit that I’ve noticed with this whole situation is the independence and being able to navigate through some of these waters a bit more aggressively as well as we can steer our ship in a quicker direction and not have to report back to a big mother ship, so to speak.  So being able to just navigate and get things implemented into the cars quickly is so refreshing.

A couple weeks ago we were at Atlanta, which is a bumpy, rough racetrack.  We found a couple items and we had those in our car by Chicago two weeks later.  Those are the types of things that    and that freedom, that helps a single car team.

Q.  In terms of making this Chase, I know for you it’s especially gratifying, but there was some emotion there that you showed once you did make that.  I mean, where did that come from?

 
KURT BUSCH:  The big emotion Saturday night in Richmond when we locked into the Chase was little Houston.  It’s Patricia’s eight year old, and I’m an adopted step dad with him.  He had a summer long list of things he wanted to do, ride his go kart, go camping, fishing, just things that an eight year old would want to do, play video games.  He said he wanted to bungee jump, but we had to drop that off the list.  But one thing that I didn’t get done for him that he had on his list, he wanted to go to victory lane, and I didn’t win yet this year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and ran very limited Nationwide races, three as a matter of fact, and didn’t get to victory lane.  So I felt like getting him to the Chase stage was that moment for us to share together, so I lived up as a step dad to his expectations.

Q.  Will you bring him to New Hampshire?

 
KURT BUSCH:  The custody calendar has us juggling him the rest of the year, and we try to keep him at just the East Coast races, and so his father him on the weekends we don’t and we do have him though for New Hampshire and that’s a great race for us because we ran well there earlier this year and led a lot of laps.  Looking forward to New Hampshire this weekend and coming up to the New England area and just trying to continue on the success level of this Chase so far.

Q.  You talked about not having a teammate, but do you view your brother as kind of a de facto teammate in a sense?

 
KURT BUSCH:  He’s definitely a genuine teammate in life in the way that we talk to each other and share information about what we see on the racetrack.  Yes, I can lean on him and he leans on me for that.  And then there’s a small exchange with Kevin Harvick, twofold:  One is he races with RCR, and we’re a team that’s paired up through them with an engineering alliance as well as what we’re doing next year in 2014 as teammates at Stewart Haas Racing.  The two of us have definitely bonded this summer in that fashion.

Q.  Obviously we know about your future for next year, and I wanted to ask you a little bit about Furniture Row racing.  The first question is what kind of a driver do you see fitting in and filling your shoes there?  Do you think it needs to be somebody that can bring some experience, or do you think that’s a real prime place for a young guy to come in and see what he can do?

 
KURT BUSCH:  I think the level of driver that they’re looking for would be somebody with experience as well as somebody that has the potential to grow into whom would best fit that role.  But we’re starting to run out of those experienced drivers, such as Juan Pablo Montoya.  He’s made that announcement this week that he’s going to Penske with an IndyCar program, and you’re now looking at guys like a David Ragan as a veteran or a Scott Speed.  One of the dark horses that nobody is really looking at that I think would be a good candidate is a Josh Wise.  But the list can go on and on.  You have Blaney’s son, you have Truex Jr., there’s probably    everybody that wants a Chase ride, I mean, this is a Chase car, I’m sure their phone is ringing off the hook, and I’m not mentioning the right names.  But I see a young guy fitting in over there that can grow with the team just based off of what I’ve seen with their negotiations.

Q.  What do you think is next for this team?  What do you think is maybe something that they need to look at that you think this slight improvement will maybe mean the difference between winning races on a more weekly basis?  I know obviously you’ve gotten them into the Chase and they’re vying for the championship, but what do you think is kind of the next step?  What’s the missing link for them?

 
KURT BUSCH:  I wish I knew because I’d implement it right now and we’d go to New Hampshire with it.  I feel like we’re a 95 percent team.  We have a lot of tools that are strong.  We go to the racetrack each week with raw speed.  Our pit crew has improved, but we’re missing that last five percent, and I don’t know where it’s coming from, and if we had it, I think we could drive into victory lane with it next week with it.

They’re a fantastic team.  They have a lot of well roundedness to them, and there’s just a couple small areas that I think that they could improve.  But I don’t know exactly what to do to pinpoint it.

Q.  You entered the Chase with no wins, so you were a lower seed.  You look at a situation like Earnhardt and Logano who had situations at Chicagoland, and you don’t have that 15 point buffer that Kenseth does or your brother.  Can you win the championship by using up one of those mulligans, or do you have to be perfect all 10 weeks to have a realistic shot?

 
KURT BUSCH:  You know, the best way to explain this, because there’s a lot of us in the South that love SEC football, and every one of us has a team that we would root for.  If you find yourself early in the season with one loss, your hope is that the other groups of guys beat up on each other and everybody has got one loss.  When that happens, then you have a legitimate s
hot at getting back in this for a championship run.  So until everybody has one loss or one big moment, no, there’s no way they can overcome that.

Q.  Real quick, let’s just go back to New Hampshire.  You’ve got three wins there and a lot of top 5 finishes.  How do you attack that course?  How do you like to run it?

 
KURT BUSCH:  I like to run the long runs there at New Hampshire, making your car work for 100 laps at a time I think is key with some of the strategy that’s been played there the last few years on pitting and then running long distances.  With that said, you cannot sacrifice short run speed, and that’s where I think our Furniture Row car got in trouble in the first race is that our car was a bit too vulnerable, we couldn’t be aggressive on restarts and we got spun around by Kenseth, our championship leader, earlier this year.  We have to protect our car better on short run speed and still have that long run speed in case it comes back to play.

Q.  Just back to your independent status, are you a little bemused by some of the sanctions handed down about collusions among teammates there?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Yeah, nobody can pin it on me.  We’re scot free and worked our way in independently to be a part of this Chase.  There’s different things that you want to do as a team and to help a teammate and then there’s a line that’s drawn.  At the end of the day you have to worry about your car number, your team, your people and how your people are reacting.

Q.  All NASCAR drivers seem to be optimistic before the season starts, and when I spoke to you in Charlotte for the Sprint media tour you were optimistic, but did you really see a Chase spot coming, and was 2013 just a race to race routine for you that you would normally do?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Last year in 2012 I finished with Furniture Row Racing with three top 10s out of six races, and that type of performance level is Chase material. Now, that’s only six weeks, though.  You have to do it over 26 weeks.  And so half the races, if you finish them in the top 10, that’s Chase material, and we did that.  We had exactly that number.  We had 13 top 10 finishes.  So I felt like, yes, we could make the Chase.  I was very optimistic.  Yes, it is week to week, but our team wasn’t Chase ready the first five, six weeks of the season, and so I lumped it into five, six chunk races, and once we cleared that, then I looked at the next six and what had to happen for small optimum goals then, and then bridge it into the next six.  So by race 18, you better be Chase ready because you only have eight weeks from that point to tie it together perfectly to make the Chase.

Q.  And how would you compare it to all the ups and downs that you’ve gone through in your championship in the past, all the changes that you’ve made to be able to do this?

KURT BUSCH:  You know, with this small team, it’s a big accomplishment, and for me it’s very satisfying to have bounced back and put this group in Chase contention.  It’s like a top five moment, with my career, with a championship, and big wins, consistency over the years, making seven out of 10 Chases, this year was a significant top five type moment.

Q.  Over the last few weeks it seems like I’ve noticed you are one of the most aggressive drivers on restarts, and I just would like to hear how you would describe the importance of kind of stepping up, particularly at that time, and has this restart rule that’s been handed down over the weekend impacted the way you approach restarts at all?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Well, I think it was the fact that our backs were up against the wall about four weeks ago with our points situation and making the Chase, and I was aggressive on restarts to gain those spots back after some poor pit stops, and it turned out to bear fruit and gave us the points we needed to make the Chase.

I mean, we made the Chase by 12 points.  That’s a decent margin.  But I passed nine guys on one restart in Atlanta being on the aggressive side.

So restarts are important.  I think now it’s in the forefront for everybody with the rule change and how we’re seeing races won, on how important it is on that final restart, which we never do know the final restart until it is maybe that last green white checkered, but every restart has important positions to be gained or you can easily lose them.  It’s a new dimension in our sport that I think is gaining a lot of attention, and teams are looking at how they can benefit around it.

Q.  I saw a stat that showed that you and Casey Mears are tied with the most times caught speeding on pit road with seven, and I was kind of wondering if you’ve analyzed that to hopefully limit that down the stretch here so it won’t hurt you as you’re trying to win the championship?

 
KURT BUSCH:  That’s pretty sweet.  I’ll take that as not a top 5 moment, but I’ll take that.  You’ve got to get a stat in something.

All kidding aside, Chicago was a bogus thing in my mind because my tach was green all the way down pit road.  There’s times when it might flicker red and then you hold your breath to see if you’re going to get by the police, in a sense.  Chicago was all green, never expected to be called in, and we were.

What that means is we’re setting our pit road tachometer too aggressively and too close to the margin, so we just have to be more conservative.  The thing that has to be clear internally with Furniture Row Racing is that the guy setting the tach isn’t going conservative on his own and then I’m going doubly conservative to make sure we’re not too conservative once we’re out performing, because we have to perform in this Chase.  We can’t lose spots on pit road with slow pit stops and we can’t lose spots on pit road driving too slow in a speed zone.

Q.  How tough is that for you since obviously every pit road is different?

 
KURT BUSCH:  It’s not tough for me.  We just need to do a better job at filtering through our tachometer settings.  But the way that our sport has evolved, if I can stand on a soapbox real quick, we have a gear selection that’s given to us by NASCAR, a tire size that’s given to us, we have an ECU unit, the electronic control unit, can tell us what rpm we need to run down pit road.  Why not put a button on the steering wheel that keeps us more focused on crew members on pit road and not chancing how fast we’re going and taking attention from where safety needs to be?

Q.  Just a follow up on some of the topics we were discussing regarding the teamwork.  A broader issue here, we saw some of the rulings that came down last week that kind of were brought about to mitigate some of the manipulation of the outcome of races like Richmond by teammates where you’re having unseemly things taking place on the track.  As a driver do you feel it puts you in an untenable situation to have to field the team order, and then hypothetically speaking, would a driver have to wrestle with countermanding the team order because he feels it’s not good for him or his outcome, and are you glad that NASCAR kind of drew the line and said this is what’s not allowed and this is what is allowed?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Well, I can just tell you with all the experiences I’ve been through in the past that I am relieved that I’m on a single car team, that we raced our way into the Chase and did this all on our own without any type of controversy.  I have never been on this side of it to see how sick it gets and how awkward it can feel and just the genuine interest level that is away from the racing side of it can be extreme.

These teams that were on the bubble put themselves in a position over those 26 weeks to not be locked in, and that’s the whole point of what I’m trying to say is you h
ave 26 weeks, why don’t you try to run better, get yourself locked in, so with two weeks to go you’re on easy street.  But team orders are a Catch 22.  You’re trying to do your own thing independently for your own car number, and at the same time there’s a master name that’s on the building, and so you have to adhere to what the general manager or the team president is going to tell you to do, and sometimes you’ve got to do what’s right for your own self, sometimes you’ve got to do what the team tells you to do.

Q.  In terms of just the broader issue of teamwork, how does that manifest itself on the track?  I asked Matt Kenseth this earlier.  Certainly you exemplified what a great teammate does for another at Daytona when you helped him win the 500, but in terms of that even at a carburetor restrictor plate, is it tough to really enact teamwork out there?

 
KURT BUSCH:  You know, when I was a teammate with Matt Kenseth at Roush Racing, I adopted the philosophy early in my career on let’s race one day a week, but we’re going to work together six days out of the week.  So when you have team communication and information going back and forth, you’re there to make both programs stronger, or however many cars are in your stable stronger, and then on the seventh day everybody goes and races for themselves.

Q.  We’ve all followed your ups and downs the last few years from Penske to James Finch to Furniture Row, and you’ve been beaten down seemingly by everybody in the sport, but one thing that I’ve noticed this year is everyone has sort of rallied around you, and the perception has changed maybe with the underdog status and seeing how you’ve humbled yourself and you’ve gone back to really enjoy racing.  What, if anything, have you noticed in terms of the reaction and the treatment you’ve been getting from fans and even your fellow drivers?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Well, it’s been a long journey, and it didn’t happen overnight, but I chose to settle into this program with working with Phoenix Racing and finding that genuine fun of what it meant to go back to the racetrack because of all the distractions, requirements and monotonous things and situations that kept developing with a big team like at Penske Racing.  So it was great to get a breath of fresh air, roll up my sleeves blue collar style and work with the guys, and then to do the same thing with the Furniture Row group who’s a step up from where that Phoenix Racing team was and then to try to get the results side of it back, and we’ve done that.  So it’s been neat to have those small goals set forth, and then to achieve those goals, and then to set new ones.

And ultimately we want to be in victory lane, and making the Chase was a great feather in the cap, and it’s been a nice road back, and all along, though, it’s been about having fun and working with the crew guys and letting a story be told without people’s visceral opinions changing the way that things are really actually unfolding.

Q.  Have you noticed maybe any reaction changing from the fans, whether it’s through driver introductions or things that they’ve had a chance to say to you when they’ve greeted or you seen you at the track?

 
KURT BUSCH:  The number one thing that, as I said, I’m not looking for as far as attention and recognition.  It’s just the work with the military, and seeing men and women who are in uniform and coming up and shaking my hand or giving my girlfriend Patricia a hug who’s the president of the Armed Forces Foundation, it means a lot, and she says that she’s never seen this type of reaction, where people are genuinely going out of their way to say thank you.  It means that we’re making a difference and we’re helping our military families who have sacrificed so much and served for our country that they want to come to the racetrack and be part of the NASCAR Troops to the Track program as well as if they’re just a fan and they’re a military member they come up because they’re seeing that Patricia’s foundation is making a difference.

Q.  Would it be safe to say that Kurt Busch is back?  Are you back to being comfortable in your own skin and back to being the driver and maybe the man that you want to be?  Everything is going pretty well for you right now.

 
KURT BUSCH:  It’s going great, just success on the racetrack is one thing and getting your priorities in life in order is another thing, and sometimes you have to take a step back to make two steps forward.

Q.  During the race there seems to be lots of drivers having all sorts of issues.  How does a driver manage their stuff in that situation knowing that you could be the next driver to have an issue or a problem?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Well, around every corner is an opportunity for success or failure.  In this day and age things move so quick that something does pop up, you’ve got to roll with it, and you have to react and make educated decisions on what’s going to happen next and how to recover as quickly as you can from those mishaps.  So your team can help you or your driver’s experience can help you.  Lady luck can get involved; you never know.  But the more you’ve been through it, the better you should be able to deal with it.

Q.  How does a driver turn not having a ride from a negative way to a positive way, and once a driver finds a ride, what sort of things will you do or a driver do to kind of get an idea of how the other organization is ran at the racetrack?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Well, it’s just a matter of keeping your spirits up and knowing that around the next corner is a potential new opportunity, and when you get that new opportunity you have to take it slow and learn the people, learn the system, and at the same time try to implement the experiences that you have on what it takes to find success on the racetrack and produce those results.

 
Q.  I just have a quick question for you.  How excited are you for a shot at the Cup this year?

 
KURT BUSCH:  Well, it’s been an amazing ride, and to make the Chase with a single car team was a nice accomplishment and something very gratifying, and now here we are one week into it and we have a nice top 5 finish.  We need nine more of those along with a win.  So I’m looking forward to the challenge.  What keeps me even more hungry this year is that we haven’t won yet, and I know we’re capable of doing it, and here it is.  The Chase, it’s the most important time to win, so it would be great to see it all come together.