NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2013
 
MARK MARTIN, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Atlanta Motor Speedway and discussed what the team will be working on in final practice today, his plans for 2014 and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
YOU WERE ONE OF THE EARLY CARS OUT YESTERDAY FOR QUALIFYING WHICH PROBABLY MEANS YOU DIDN’T GET THE LAP THAT YOU WOULD HAVE LIKED.  WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE GET ACCOMPLISHED TODAY DURING PRACTICE?
“Just get a little bit more time to get the car more comfortable.  The car is still quite a bit different than what I have been driving for a couple of years.  The car felt pretty good.  We did some race trim stuff yesterday before we went into qualifying trim and the car actually seemed to have good speed and felt pretty good.  We definitely have some things we thought about and want to work on today to try to improve the car and work all over the race track to check out the multiple grooves.  It’s going to be hot and slick for sure and it will be a challenge for us to get those things handling good in this heat.”
 
CAN YOU GIVE AN EXPLANATION WHY YOU FOR NEXT YEAR WILL LEAVE THE MICHAEL WALTRIP TEAM?  WHAT WAS THE MAIN REASON?
“Because everybody won in that situation.  Brian Vickers, MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) had secured Brain Vickers for a two year contract to race for a championship.  Aaron’s had signed on board to fully sponsor the car for the next two years.  Everything that Michael (Waltrip) and I hoped to accomplish when we entered into that scenario was accomplished.  It was a win for them to get a chance to start with Brain.  Get a head start with Brain and because Tony (Stewart) asked me if I could come do that.  That is why.”
 
AS A GUY WHO HAS DRIVEN A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS OVER THE YEARS CAN YOU FEEL ANY DIFFERENCE AT ALL FROM THE DRIVERS SEAT WITH THE NEW DUAL TREAD TIRE?
“You know what I thought the tire had exceptional grip yesterday for the pavement.  We have really complained as drivers quite a bit about the grip level the last few years here.  The combination of the Gen-6 and the tire seem to work pretty well.  The biggest thing is that hopefully it gives us the durability that we really need for these high speeds and these long turns.  I think it’s probably a really good scenario because it pushes the teams to protect themselves by putting softer rubber on the outer part of the tire it pushes the teams to try to get out there on that instead of the fast inside shoulder which is problematic.  We certainly don’t need to abuse the inside shoulders here and fail right-front’s at this race track with these speeds.  I think it’s a very smart move because it encourages the teams to take a little camber out maybe and it gives us better grip than we would have if had the really hard stuff all the way across the tires.”
 
ANY PROGRESS ON 2014 WHAT YOUR PLANS MIGHT BE?
“You know I was thinking about it and had some discussions before Tony’s (Stewart) injury.  I will be real honest with you I could care less about 2014 right now because I am doing all I can to tread water.  Making this change was pretty huge because not only is it different crew guys work on the car which really isn’t a huge thing, but it’s a whole different thought process, it’s a whole different bunch of guys that I didn’t have a chance to go to test in February and go hang out in the shop.  Just jumping right in it added, I don’t know, about three races to my schedule what I had so I picked up three additional races.  So I am really pushed and driven to try to get immersed in this team and figure out what I like in these cars so that we can start putting that in there week to week.  We are still just throwing stuff at the car and me saying ‘nah, yeah that’s better, nah’.  When you find something that really feels good to you there is a sense of continuity from track to track you can use that same logic.  You might not use the same springs and all but you can use the same logic and you can simulate it out and shoot for those same kind of feels at other race tracks.  We are not there yet obviously.  This is not like making a change over the winter.  It’s not like stepping out of a MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) Toyota into even a (Joe) Gibbs Toyota like I did at Martinsville.  There is just a lot going on.
 
“And I’d like to say one more thing to Wolfgang (media member with question). I think everybody in here heard what I said in February. I’m not a candidate for the No. 55 car for 2014. I did not want to drive that car. It was because I wanted to see those guys run for a championship, which is something I’m not going to do. So, I had really built a strong relationship with those guys and they’re championship material and I want to see them be able to go out there and go after that. So, for me, making a decision on what I do in 2014 is not important right now. I’m in no hurry because I’m not really worried about what I do. I do have a focus on what I can do in NASCAR. I want to do more in NASCAR than drive race cars. I want to do more than that. I had a good time at MWR and they let me be a part of that organization a little bit more than just to show up and drive, driver; and I want to grow more of that. So that’s of great interest to me and is where my primary focus was before Tony’s (Stewart) No. 14 car came up. After that, it’s like I’m not worried. I’ve got to stay focused on what’s in front of me.”
 
HAVE YOU AND ARLENE MOVED TO NORTH CAROLINA AND MADE THAT YOUR RESIDENCE AS OF NOW?
“You’re on to something but not completely. This is the craziest thing. My son, Matt, lives in our house in Arkansas and we live in his house in North Carolina. So, I’m not sure this is working like it’s supposed to. But he has a place in North Carolina and we do spend a good bit of time there. He’s going to school in Arkansas, so he stays at our house in Arkansas. So, that’s kind of what we’re doing right now. We don’t have a permanent residence there but we’ve got a place to stay. I spent a lot of time there last year and am going to spend more time going forward because like I said before, I am going to find a niche in this sport that goes beyond driving. And so if I’m going to do that, I’ve got to be around more.”
 
WHAT YOU JUST SAID ABOUT BEING MORE INVOLVED WITH NASCAR, A MOVE TO THE CAROLINAS OBVIOUSLY MAKES SENSE. ARE YOU STILL KEEPING YOUR PLACE IN FLORIDA?
“Yes, we’re not giving it up. We’ve been there 20 years. We’re not giving up on that. But right now we have a lot going on in the Carolinas and enjoy getting back to Arkansas as well. I do have a place in Batesville and we enjoy getting back there. But, the business at-hand is really in Charlotte. We have been there for a couple of years now, more than we used to. And we do have a place to stay there. So, I’m getting in position. I’m positioning myself for the future, long-term.”
 
YOU WERE THE FIRST GUY TO INTRODUCE US (MEDIA) TO JOEY LOGANO. AS IT TURNS OUT, IT LOOKS LIKE HE’S GOING TO BE OKAY (LAUGHTER). WHAT DO YOU SEE IN KYLE LARSON? IF KYLE LARSON CAME TO YOU FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO HANDLE THIS JOB OFF THE RACE TRACK, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIM?
“To answer the last question first, I would answer his question in specifics. He wouldn’t ask me in general like your question was. He would ask me with more specifics and I would answer him honestly on my opinion on whatever specific thing that he was pondering. What I see in Kyle Larson is the same thing as what you guys see. Strapped in a race car, one that didn’t normally always run in the top 5 and almost normally does run in the top 5 now with little or no experience, whether it’s a car or a truck o
r whatever he’s done. It’s just real plain. You just turn on the TV, watch the race and say he’s never done that before but it sure looks like he has. It was a little bit like when I saw Joey Logano and he was 11 years old here at this track and I saw him race. I’d already heard about him. And when I saw him race, he raced like a man, not like an 11 year-old kid. So, different, but Kyle Larson is very obvious (laughs). It’s just obvious. You just look at his results and they are amazing.”
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF BALTIMORE
STREETS OF BALTIMORE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 31, 2013
 
BALTIMORE (Aug. 31, 2013) – Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, qualified second for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Baltimore on the 12-turn/2.04-mile temporary street circuit in Baltimore’s (Maryland) Inner Harbor. It is his sixth front-row qualifying effort of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season.
 
Current Series’ point standings leader Helio Castroneves, No. 3 PPG Automotive Finishes Team Penske Chevrolet, turned in the seventh quickest qualifying time of the 24 drivers who made a qualifying attempt.
 
2012 Series’ champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, set the eighth fastest time to give Team Chevy three of the top-10 qualifiers.
 
A total of 12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers will take the green flag tomorrow for race 16 of the 19-race season schedule.
 
Scott Dixon won the pole with Simon Pagenaud, Justin Wilson, Josef Newgarden and Tristan Vautier completing the Firestone Fast Six.
 
The 75 laps/153 mile race is scheduled to start Sunday at 2:30 p.m. with live TV coverage on NBC Sports Network.  Additional live coverage will be provided by IMS Radio Network on XM and Sirius Channels 211 as well as on www.indycar.com live timing and scoring.
 
 
CHEVROLET IN THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES – FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED  2ND: “It was a tough qualifying man, but we gave it everything we had in the Verizon Team Penske Chevy. Our chance to get pole really came the lap before our final lap but we just couldn’t get there. It should be a good race tomorrow. With the chicanes, especially, there could be a lot of action and I expect it will be another good battle.”
 
SELECTED QUOTES FROM FIRESTONE FAST SIX PRESS CONFERENCE: ON WHETHER FINAL LAP WOULD HAVE BEEN POLE BEFORE REAR-END STEPPED OUT: “No, I was five tenths down. It was not there.”
 
ON HIS PREVIOUS SUCCESS AT BALTIMORE: “It’s a cool track. It would obviously be nice if we didn’t have to use the chicane there, but these street courses are bumpy, and it is just a part of the game. I think it is good for racing, and there will be a lot of mayhem, hopefully behind me, tomorrow. (LAUGHS)”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 PPG AUTOMOTIVE FINISHES TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH: “In qualifying today, it’s one of those deals where on the odds you’re thinking to wait a little bit and it might pay off because the track might be better. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off for us as the red flag came out and ended the second qualifying a little early.  The PPG Team Penske boys will keep working and move forward so we can get that Chevy to the front in tomorrow’s race.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET,  QUALIFIED 8TH: “Same thing as last year – almost the same exact circumstances; (Graham) Rahal put it into the wall and we didn’t get a lap time in that was capable of carrying us onto the next round. It’s part of it – it’s part of street course racing. I think we could have advanced to the (Firestone) Fast Six had we nailed everything today, but we’re just off a little too much at the moment. We’re going to go back, work on it and hopefully get a good race car under us. We’re starting better than we did last year so you have to look at the positives… and maybe hope for rain.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 11TH: “It’s obviously really tricky right now. The track here is always a challenge with the bumps and the chicane still catching a couple people out, myself included over the weekend. You know, I feel bad; the GoDaddy guys have done a good job. We had a much stronger car in place. I was on a lap, which, I’m sure, everyone was on a lap sorta thing. But we were four turns in and already a quarter of a second up… would it have been (Firestone) Fast Six? I don’t know. Obviously there are a lot of strong cars out there. Certainly we didn’t want to back on the sixth row, but the car’s good; we definitely improved it over the weekend. It’s consistent which will be important in the race tomorrow, so I think we can do some damage from here.”
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY – SH RACING CHEVROLET,  QUALIFIED 16TH: “We definitely are faster than we showed in qualifying. First we had a red flag and then I got held up by traffic and couldn’t get a clean lap when I needed it. No excuses. It is the same for everyone out there. It is just disappointing. We will start in the back half of the grid again, but I think we have a good race car. We just have to make up positions during the race like we did last weekend in Sonoma.”
 
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17TH: “I’m confident for tomorrow because we’ve got the best car that we’ve had all year. We’ve been near the top six nearly every session and we just didn’t have our best effort in qualifying unfortunately. We just missed it by a little. But the truth is we were in a tough group; the same lap time would have put me P4 in the other session. But qualifying is the first time you put on the red tires and that always changes the balance a little and if you’re able to do the first transfer you can always tweak it and be strong in the next round. The National Guard Chevy was good, but we just didn’t have enough. We can still have a great race starting in 17th, especially here where there are always a lot of things that happen during the race with yellow flags and restarts. I just wanted to qualify a little better for the National Guard and to show that we had the speed, but now we have to do that on race day – and we will.”

MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 DR PEPPER ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET,  QUALIFIED 18TH: “I’m not going to blame anybody but me… I didn’t get the greatest gap – and that’s on me, ya know. I had to blow the first lap so we had one lap to do it and I didn’t do it. I hope we can get the right set up on the Dr Pepper car to be able to get through the field tomorrow. We have the warm up, but not a lot of practice so we’ll have to see. We have two teammates that advanced so that part of it is good, but it’s frustrating. It’s a double edge sword.”
 
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET,  QUALIFIED 19TH: “I’m a bit frustrated with qualifying and where we ended up. I guess we’re going to have to make it up tomorrow. We haven’t been shiny all weekend; we’ve had some brake issues to deal with. I think we got that fixed for qualifying, so now we can start working on the car. Hopefully we’ll have a good car and be able to move forward during the race tomorrow.”
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 20TH: “We had a little improvement from our previous times.  We closed the gap on the leaders which is good.  We had some fortune today with guys making mistakes in our group. I think we made some good changes going into that session.  I’m hopeful we are getting on to something for the race.  There is definitely some potential for a lot of carnage in the race, especially the way things have gone in practice and qualifying.  We need to keep working on getting a good race pace for here.  We are just hoping for a clean race on Sunday.  There are just so many places on this track that can create problems.  The name of the game is to stay as clean if possible.”
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO.  6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 21ST:
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 22ND: “Well, qualifying wasn’t right from the beginning. I think just waitin
g until the very last minute to go out and put a lap down put a lot of risk and pressure on us. We couldn’t go through – I clipped the wall on the only qualifying lap I had and bent the pushrods in the back. I couldn’t continue qualifying so we’ll be starting from the back. Anyways, this is probably one of the tracks that you can make a different call on the strategy where you would be able to cycle back to the front; that’s what we’ll be looking for tomorrow.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 24TH:
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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 30, 2013
 
 
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA TO START THIRD IN THE ADVOCARE 500
FOUR TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS POST TOP 10 STARTING SPOTS
 
HAMPTON, GA – Aug. 30, 2013 – With a best speed of 188.539 mph in 29.405 seconds, Juan Pablo Montoya put his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS in the third place starting postion for Sunday’s Advocare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This qualifying effort was Montoya’s fourth Top-10 start on the 1.5-mile oval, and his ninth Top-10 start of the season.
 
Behind the wheel of his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS, Jeff Gordon posted a solid qualifying run of 188.053 mph in 29.481 seconds to earn a fifth place starting position. With that, Team Chevy will occupy two of the top 5 starting places in the 500-mile race.
 
Other Team Chevy starters in the top 10 are Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National –Guard/Race2Achieve.org Chevrolet SS in eighth and Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet in 10th.
 
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Ford) won the pole position, Carl Edwards (Ford) qualified 2nd, and Denny Hamlin (Toyota) qualified 4th  to round out the Top 5 starters.
 
The Advocare 500 will take the green flag on Sunday evening, September 1st at 7:30 p.m. ET and air live on ESPN TV and PRN Radio.
 
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD:
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR LAP AND JUST PRACTICE IN GENERAL TODAY
“Most of practice was done in race trim. We only had two laps in qualifying trim and we kind of struggled. We were kind of loose there every run we did and we worked a lot on the car. At the end, when we went to qualfiying trim, it was actually pretty good. I actually ran a 40-something in practice and it was kind of disappointint to run a .40 tonight. It felt really good but just bottomed-out in (Turns) 1 and 2 and I had to get out of the gas. It’s okay. I’m in. Can’t complain.”
 
DID YOU HAVE AT ALL ENOUGH PRACTICE TO GET A FEEL ABOUT THE NEW TIRES AND WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO BE LIKE?
“What do you expect when you come to Atlanta? That they’re going to fall off, I don’t know how much, but I would say at least two seconds in the fuel run, to more like three probably. And just keeping the tires on it is going to be very important. They seem really good. When they’re new, they’re really good. When they’re brand new you have a ton of grip and a lot of stability and they are really easy to push, so it makes it fun.”
 
DO YOU FEEL ANY DIFFERENCE WITH THE NEW TIRE COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS TIRES YOU’VE HAD?
“I think we used the tires a year ago. So, a different car.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 30, 2013
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
ON HIS LAP:
“I was really expecting to run in the 20’s to be honest with you.  I ran in the 40’s in practice in the heat.  It just bottomed out and with the cooler conditions the track grip bottomed out and I had to get out of the gas in (turns) one and two.  It’s okay.  I mean I can’t complain I’m third.  That is probably a top five start.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FIFTH
ON HIS LAP AND TRACK CONDITIONS:
“I’m a little bit concerned that the conditions are going to improve here and that we may have just been right there on the edge of when the track is going to get better.  The car has been really good all day.  Gosh, I’ve been so happy. That backs it up because it wasn’t a perfect lap, but still decent lap.  I got through (turns) one and two I thought really good and (turns) three and four just a little bit too tight.  I’ve been so thrilled with the car all day.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/RACE2ACHIEVE.ORG CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“I think we finished eighth.  That was a real good car.  The car had a lot more speed than that in it.  There was such a huge difference between the track I think in practice and qualifying that I really underestimated what kind of race car we had.  Got to give Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and my engineer Kevin (Meendering) a lot of credit because they had the car ready.  The car was really good real fast.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH
HOW CHALLENGING WAS IT TO FIND THAT FAST LINE HERE AS THE SUN BEGINS TO SET?
“There’s nothing like taking the line in qualifying you didn’t run in practice. That was interesting. And the first time through, that seemed to work pretty good. So, it’s so hard to tell. I think the track is going to pick up some more speed. If we can stay in the Top 10, that will be good. The lap felt nice. I just don’t know how it’s going to stack up. I’m encouraged because we’re right there with Kyle (Busch), but the temp just seems like it’s dropping. I don’t know if it was because it was in a hot car and got out and now it feels cooler, or what; but it does feel like the temps are coming down a little bit.”
 
CAN YOU GIVE US AN UPDATE ON BABY WATCH?
“It is getting close. And I’m really just going off my wife’s pulse on it all and she’s pretty calm and relaxed about it. We’ve had weekly doctor checkups and everything is going great and it looks like we don’t have anything to worry about right away, although I’d love for something to happen this weekend or next weekend and but everything is great. Mom is healthy and baby is healthy and we’re just kind of waiting for when No. 2 decides to come out.”
 
WHEN IS THE DUE DATE?
“Chicago weekend. “Richmond and here is real easy. It’s easy for me to mess with the situation being locked-in. Chicago, it gets kind of tricky there and there is no one more focused and committed on the No. 48 winning a championship than Chani, and she is like you need to be in that race car and do your job. So, that’s letting me sleep well. And I clearly want to be there for the birth of our second daughter.”
 
IS REGAN SMITH THE BACK-UP FOR THIS RACE?
“Yeah, it must be. Yeah it is kind of convoluted with Regan and James and how things bounce around; so yeah, I’d think it would be Regan.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR CHASE OUTLOOK AT THIS POINT?
“The tracks in the Chase are really good for us. The last three, four or five weeks, we’ve had a lot of different things go on. We have very fast race cars; the majority of them. I’ve blown tires and blown an engine, two different things there that have kept us from scoring points and then potential wins. But, I feel like we’ve got great race cars and great tracks in the Chase. It would be nice to have a little momentum leaving here and going into Richmond, although this race track and Richmond, we don’t have a track like either one of those in the Chase. Although momentum is key and important, if we don’t have the best Atlanta or Richmond races, we know that those 10 tracks in the Chase and really good for us and that’s where we’re really focused.”
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 E-Z-GO CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 15TH
ON HIS LAP:
“It looked a little worse than what it really was. You somewhat know what you have in the middle of the corner. I was just trying to keep the wheel as straight as I could and trying to leave skid marks off the corner. I didn’t feel like it was that good of a lap. I think it’s going to turn out okay and there’s been some good cars go. But it was pretty interesting. It’s such a fun race track.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 ASPEN DENTAL CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 17TH
DID THIS DRAW HELP YOU?
“I don’t know if the draw helped us, but it was a definite improvement over practice. I think we’ve beat as many guys now with 30 cars left, as we did in practice. So it was a definite improvement for our Aspen Dental Chevrolet. Not the lap that we wanted, but a huge improvement, which is what we needed.”
 
MARK MARTIN, NO. BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 27TH
YOU WENT OUT EARLY. DO YOU THINK THAT MIGHT BE A DISADVANTAGE?
“Yeah, well, it’s not going to help any. The guys did a good job on the car. It felt good. I don’t feel like it was a spectacular lap, but it was a decent lap, respectable for what the car could do. It was definitely early. And it’s going to get real fast as we go on. So, we’ve got a good race car. We’re all comfortable working together now. We’re starting to get kind of in a groove. Last week was really tough and no time; and we’ve had some testing time now and a good day today. The wonderful thing is we get this evening to think about it and tomorrow to get a little bit more dialed in. So, I’m enjoying working with these guys. They’re a good bunch of guys and they’ve made me feel real comfortable.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/BEAUTYREST CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 32ND
ON HIS LAP:
“We ended up on the tight side and we’ll end up 30th.”
 

CORVETTE RACING AT BALTIMORE: Third and Fifth in GT Qualifying
Top-five positions for both Compuware Corvettes on crowded streets of Baltimore
 
BALTIMORE (Aug. 30, 2013) – Corvette Racing will start its two Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs from the second and third rows of the GT grid for Saturday’s Grand Prix of Baltimore. The positions are solid ones for Corvette Racing and Chevrolet, both of which are leading in the American Le Mans Series’ team and manufacturer championships.
 
Tommy Milner qualified the No. 4 Compuware Corvette third Friday with a time of 1:30.007 (81.594 mph) around the 2.04-mile, 12-turn street circuit alongside Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Teammate Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Corvette ended the session fifth at 1:30.132 (81.480 mph).
 
Saturday’s race is the seventh round of the ALMS championship. Live online coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN3. On Sunday, ABC’s coverage starts at noon ET.
 
“Baltimore is an exciting yet demanding venue,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet US Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “The ALMS GT class is extremely competitive so it will take the right combination of race strategy, smart and persistent driving, and efficient pit stops to work our way to the front of the pack. Baltimore is a critical race for the ALMS drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings.
 
“It’s great to have the support of so many Corvette owners in the Baltimore Corvette Corral,” Campbell added, “along with Corvette owners and fans from around the world as we work to defend the manufacturers, team and drivers championships in the ALMS GT class.”
 
Indeed, Milner and Oliver Gavin entered the weekend leading the GT drivers’ championship. The duo placed second in last year’s race at Baltimore and is the only pairing to win more than once in the class this season.
 
Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, stand fourth together in the championship, underwent some drama following an engine issue in the day’s first practice. The No. 3 crew changed the Corvette’s motor in less than two hours, and the car made the next session.
 
Bill Auberlen (BMW) was the fastest qualifier in class, followed by Joey Hand (BMW).
 
EDITORS: High-resolution images of Corvette Racing are available on the Team Chevy media site for editorial use only.
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“What happened this morning was unfortunate, but luckily we didn’t lose that much time in practice. It’s a shame that the guys had to change an engine instead of concentrating on making the car go faster. But they did a fantastic job of getting it back out there for the second practice. In qualifying, the car was pretty good. It had a little bit too much understeer for me to really be able to have a shot at pole. I don’t know if we could have caught the two BMWs but it is very close behind them. Usually you don’t have to deal that much with traffic in qualifying. You have to make a quick decision – are you going to fight to get by or give some time and create a big gap. What I can say is that it will be worse tomorrow.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“In the end, I could have gone quicker were it not for traffic early. It is what it is. Third place is good. Based on all the practice sessions and qualifying, it will be an incredible race. I laid it all out there in qualifying. It’s so close that if I didn’t push that extra last little bit, I would have been fifth or sixth and that puts us in a worse position for the race. In this case, qualifying matters because the race matters, and because it’s hard to pass getting the car up front is important. The car feels good and should be great for the race.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 30, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Atlanta Motor Speedway and discussed the first practice session, the addition of Kurt Busch to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
HOW DID PRACTICE GO? TYPICALLY OPEN WHEEL DRIVERS DO WELL ON THIS TRACK BECAUSE THERE IS NOT ONE SPECIFIC LANE AND IT’S FAST:
“You know I think that it’s not an easy track.  It’s slippery so grip is at a premium and balance is at a premium.  We struggled with that at the beginning.  We were trying a whole different set-up and it really didn’t work.  The very last qualifying run was a little bit better. I finally felt like the car was in the track a little bit.  Hopefully, that means that we will be able to make it even better that amount again for qualifying.  I really think it has a lot to do with the car.  When it’s the slippery you don’t just go out and hold it wide open.  There is a lot of moving around and adjusting for the car and the balance.  It’s about that.”
 
YOU LIKE HIGH SPEED TRACKS.  HOW DOES THIS PLACE SUIT YOU?
“I don’t know if I necessarily like high speed tracks.  I think it’s being able to work with the car and make it better.  I feel like I’ve had good success on everything in stock cars from real short tracks like Martinsville to big tracks like Daytona and road courses in Nationwide.  I used to think that I had a sort of track that I was best at, but I think it just has to do with where the strengths of your team are and where you just make progress on the weekend.  It could have been easy to melt down a little bit in practice and get everyone upset and take ourselves out of the game, but we all stayed calm.  We worked hard and our last run was our best run. That is the kind of stuff that we need to pull us through the weekend.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON KURT BUSCH JOINING STEWART-HAAS RACING IN 2014?
“I am glad that came out officially.  That is always nice when we there is a yes or a no to it, but it all happened pretty quick as everybody knows.  I’m looking forward to it.  Kurt (Busch) is a great driver, very fast and I’ve always gotten along with him.  I feel like we are going to have a pretty fun team.”
 
ARE YOU GLAD THE TEAM LINE-UP IS ALL DONE FOR NEXT YEAR?
“It is nice.  I think it helps from a team perspective to get things in order and in line for the year because there is going to be a lot that we are going to need to get organized everything from space at the shop to airplane space.  There is a lot for the team to get in order and this gives us the appropriate amount of time to do it without having to skirt around making it look obvious.”
 
IT’S A VERY BOISTEROUS TEAM SOME OF THESE GUYS ON THE TEAM…
“There is a girl too.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR TEAMMATES FOR NEXT YEAR?
“I think they are all great drivers and I think I have a lot to learn from all of them.”
 
DOES IT TAKE ANY OF THE PRESSURE OFF OF YOU AS FAR AS IF THE TEAM DOES STRUGGLE THERE IS ANOTHER VOICE THERE?
“I think the best part about having more drivers is one we are going to start hiring people.  We are going to get some fresh ideas and perspectives in.  We are just going to have more brain power.  There are going to be more crew chiefs, more engineers, more of everything and then when you have a line-up like we do there is a lot of experience there especially those other three guys.  I feel like it’s going to help our team from top to bottom.”
 
DID YOU GET A CHANCE TO SEE ANY OF GENE’S (HAAS) PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK?
“I read a little bit here and there, but I didn’t see much of it.  I was back in Indiana with my family.  Obviously, Gene (Haas) was in a position year’s back where he was the team owner and had drivers.  Then obviously the Tony (Stewart) equation came in where he becomes a partner and I think he got excited about wanted to kind of have his own driver again.  So be it.  Again, I’m all about bringing great drivers into the team.  It’s good for everybody, especially good for me.”
 
HAS HE BEEN A LEADER IN THE TEAM OR JUST STAYED IN THE SHADOWS?
“I guess from my perspective, I feel like in general, he kind of trusts that the right people are in the right places. And Tony (Stewart) and Brett (Frood) and Eddie (Jarvis) and Zippy (Greg Zipadelli) and everybody know what we need as a team. But, then again, I wasn’t around back when it was his. So, I think he’s been a little more on the silent side from my perspective. But he’s definitely been there and whenever we’ve talked, we’re always talking about the car and things like that. So he’s just passionate on sports.”
 
ON FANTASY FOOTBALL:
‘Yeah, I was just saying today that you ought to do our Fantasy Football and Ricky (Stenhouse) said I think that’s all done. Everybody’s done their draft. But we put one together today is the point. So there are 12 of us on the team now or in the division or whatever, so I think we’re all a little lazy and we’re auto draft.”
 
SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO PICK?
“Let’s face it. I’m a football fan, but I’m not really sure I can put a whole team together from all the different teams. Now, if we’re just talking about like the Bears, Packers, Lions, and those teams, I’ve watched them enough that I could probably pick out some good ones. But I found that last year doing Fantasy Football at JR Motorsports, I found that I learned a lot more about a lot of other teams and a lot of other players because I had to pay attention to other people. So, I’m actually looking forward to auto draft because it helps me learn about other teams and other divisions. So, I’m excited because it’s really fun to do in the winter and I like it.”
 
HOW BIG OF A BEARS FAN ARE YOU?
“I go to games every year. I’m a big Bears fan for sure. I always watch their games. I even get nervous for their games. That means that’s a fan, right? I’m sure I’m not the biggest fan but I’m a big fan for sure.”
 
WHEN YOU HAVE PLAYERS FROM OTHER TEAMS PLAYING THE BEARS IN THE FANTASY DEAL…..
“It almost makes me not want to have anybody from the Packers. Because if I have players from the Packers, that means I’ve got to cheer for them. It’s tough.”
 
WHO IS IN YOUR LEAGUE?
“It’s like Ricky and I and a bunch of our friends and some family. So, yeah we’re trying to come up with a team name and we couldn’t.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 30, 2013
 
CHIP GANASSI, OWNER EARNHARDT GANASSI RACING WITH FELIX SABATES, MET WITH MEDIA TO ANNOUNCE THAT KYLE LARSON WILL DRIVE THE NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET IN 2014.  JOHN OLGUIN, VP OF COMMUNICATIONS WAS THE MODERATOR.  FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
JOHN OLGUIN:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome and thank you all for being here.  I’m John Olguin, head of communications at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.  We’re excited to be here today to introduce the 2014 driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet.  We think it’s a great day for not only our team but for our 24-year partner with Target and also for the sport.
This driver currently sits eighth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings with 13 top 10s and six top 5s in 23 starts.  He’s started twice in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series where he won at Rockingham and finished second at Eldora.  
He is a two-time SPEED performer nominee both in 2011 and 2012.  He is the 2012 NASCAR K&N Series champion and Rookie of the Year.  He’s a graduate of the NASCAR Driver For Diversity Program and their Next Program as well.
We’re pleased to announce the 2014 driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet is Kyle Larson.
Obviously we have here with us Chip Ganassi and Kyle.  Let me start with you, Chip.  Give me your thoughts on this announcement.
 
CHIP GANASSI:  I have some prepared comments here, ladies and gentlemen.
Certainly we believe that Kyle is the future of the sport.  He’s a unique talent.  Let me be very clear, this was a racing decision.  We felt that Kyle was the best short-term and long-term fit for the team and for Target.
While our team has been partnered with Target for 24 years, when we decided to make the change, we wanted to make sure we found the right driver, someone that would represent their brand as well as have a chance to win races.
Kyle was our first choice.  We did not offer any deals to any other drivers.  We talked to other drivers.  We’re thrilled to have Kyle.  Nothing he has done makes us feel he cannot move to the Sprint Cup Series.  As I said, we spoke to a number of current Cup drivers.  At the end of the day we felt that Kyle was the best option for our organization.
We do feel that we need to continue Kyle Larson’s growth, and putting him in a Cup car was the very next step.  We’re sure there will be some growing pains but we’re sure he’s ready.  Some of those growing pains will come whatever his first year in the series is.  It’s a good opportunity.
My expectations and advice to him will be to keep the car on the track and run laps.  As many of you already know, this kid is a special kid.  We couldn’t be more proud to have him here today announcing him as our driver for next year and beyond.
 
JOHN OLGUIN:  Kyle, what are your thoughts?
 
KYLE LARSON:  I’m really excited, excited to be a part of the Target brand.  Everybody knows the Target logo when they see it.  It’s a pretty iconic car.  I think I can do okay.  Like you said, there’s going to be some growing pains, I’m sure.  I think I’ll learn a lot and I’ll grow as a driver and mature as a person.
 
JOHN OLGUIN:  Let’s open it up to some questions.
 
Q.        Kyle, how much of a whirlwind do these last few years feel like to you?  Will moving up to the Sprint Cup Series cause you to focus more on that and less on all the other racing you’ve been doing?
KYLE LARSON:  It’s definitely been quite a whirlwind.  I was walking over here saying a year ago today I was making my second Truck start.  It’s been a really quick road.  But I feel like I’ve done okay with it and learned quite a bit.
As far as next year goes, I know I’ll have to focus more on the Sprint Cup stuff.  I understand it’s probably going to be the toughest step in my whole career.  I’m going to have to dedicate a lot of time to it and grow as a driver, do a great job for Target, for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and make everybody there happy.
 
Q.        Chip, obviously the past several seasons you’ve tried to double and redouble your efforts to try to get back to where you want your team to be.  Can there be a difference here when you have a young, fresh driver that everybody is enthusiastic about, does that help you throughout your team, even in your shop?  Do you have hope to believe that you can come yet again with a fresh new effort?
CHIP GANASSI:  That’s a good question.  I think we’ve made some steps since the inception of our team.  Some were solid steps.  Looking back, some were not so solid.  But it’s a building process.
I think we made a big step this past year.  Our cars are a lot better.  They seem to run at the front a lot more.  You know, we led some races.  We’ve been running at the front a lot.  Having the right drivers certainly doesn’t hurt.
Are we there yet?  Do I think I’m there yet?  You’re never there.  You’re never there.  Until we can win on a consistent basis and win championships consistently, we’re not there, you know.
 
Q.        Bottom line, are you counting on winning some races with Kyle next year?
CHIP GANASSI:  Am I counting on winning races next year?  That’s a good question.  I think Kyle is the kind of driver, when he sees an opportunity in front of him, he takes it.  If that means it’s a win, hey, great.  There’s no pressure for him to win his first year out.  I don’t think there’s any pressure like that.
I mean, the kid’s done very well in every step he’s made in his career so far.  I see no reason why this should be any different.
 
Q.        Chip, Kyle has been compared to Jeff Gordon, to Tony Stewart.  First of all, what kind of a game-changer can that be for the organization, signing him at such a young age?  Do you anticipate you’ll get him in any Sprint Cup cars this year as far as running a race or two before the 2014 season?
CHIP GANASSI:  I appreciate those comments.  They all said nice things about Kyle.
In terms of comparing him to drivers, that’s something for you guys to do in the media.  I’m not somebody that’s going to sit here and compare him to anybody.
Obviously, when those guys came into the sport, guys like Jeff, Tony, Jimmie, they were certainly game-changers when you look back on it now.
I think to say we’re sitting here today with a game-changer, I think that’s a bit rambunctious.  We have to see what the guy does.  Maybe when he’s been in it as long as those guys have, we’ll be able to look back and do that.  I wouldn’t go as far as doing that today.
In terms of Cup races this year, right now the plan is to try to do that.  I don’t foresee that happening.  It’s never been my MO to push anybody out of any cars that are on our team.  As you know, Juan has been a great asset to our team for many years.  I’m not going to push him out or do anything like that.
I would think there’s opportunity to get him in Cup races this year and we’re going to take advantage of those opportunities.
 
Q.        Chip, you call him a special talent.  What makes Kyle a special talent in your mind?
CHIP GANASSI:  Well, you know, you hear those words a lot.  That gets thrown around a lot.  Believe me, I’ve seen my share of young guys come along in motorsports.
I would say that, you know, my first indication was at Daytona this year.  I remember watching him in the race, hearing all the time how special he
is, how special he is.  He’s running around the Nationwide race 14th or 12th.  I thought, What the hell is so special about this kid?
Sure enough, at the finish line, he was right there.  Of course, he was here and there at the finish line at Daytona this year, I should say.  Be that as it may, that to me was special.  I’ve seen that five or six, eight times now.  He gives you the impression he’s dilly-dallying in the middle of the pack, not paying attention.  Always at the end he’s where it seems to matter to be.  That says something to me.
 
Q.        Kyle, you handle yourself in many situations very calmly.  People were looking at you as a young guy, look what he can do.  As you move into the Cup Series, it will be, Did he move too fast?  Is all that attention going to be the toughest part for you?
KYLE LARSON:  I don’t know.  I think I’ll pay attention a little bit to it.  As long as I’m out there, you know, living up to my expectations and Chip’s expectations, that’s all that really matters.
Like you said, I’m not one to pay attention to all the hype or the pressure that other people put on me.  I just try and go out and do the best I can.  I don’t see myself doing any different next year.  I’m not going to push it harder than I think I can push it.  I’m just going to try and do the best I can.
If that’s winning races, contending for wins every week, that’s great.  If I’m running top 15, I’m happy with that, too.  It’s going to be a fun year next year.  I think I’ll learn a ton and I’ll enjoy it quite a bit.
 
Q.        Chip, knowing that this is an incredible talent, how do you groom him, bringing him up to this series, what do you do to make it easier on him as he comes into the series?
CHIP GANASSI:  Well, I think a big part of it was certainly his Nationwide experience this year.  In fact, we’re planning on Nationwide next year, as well, being in both series.  I think he’s in a great team with Turner Scott Motorsports.  Those guys have done a great job.  I think it’s kind of a plus that he’s with a bona fide Nationwide team.  It’s not a Cup team there doing a Nationwide car.  It’s a bona fide Nationwide team.
A lot of people think his learning curve is a little steeper doing it that way, but that will pay dividends down the road.  So I think that’s pretty important.
I’ve never considered myself a great coach or anything.  I’m sure they’re out there.  We just want to win races.  We want to be at the front.  This is not a complex thing we’re talking about up here.  It’s racing cars.  We have a young talent here that deserves a shot, and we’re giving him his shot.
 
Q.        Kyle, I don’t know if you’ve heard the debate the last couple weeks, but how ready you may be for this step.  Does it bother you?  Does it motivate you?
KYLE LARSON:  It doesn’t bother me at all.  I’d like to prove the people that don’t think I’m ready for it wrong.  The guys that think I am ready, let them pump their chest out a little bit.
Like I said, you know, as long as I’m running top 15, I’m happy with that.  I don’t know if the fans and media people think that’s good enough.  I think that’s about where I’ll set my goals for next year.
Like I said, I’ve never let the pressure get to me of running well or doing whatever.  Just always kind of sat back and raced, tried to do the best I could.  I think that’s paid off for me in all the years I’ve been racing.
I was always young.  Starting off racing Sprint cars, I was the youngest to start off in California at 14 years old, did well, proved people wrong.  I’m hoping I can do the same next year in the Cup Series and go from there.
 
Q.        This situation is nothing new to you?
KYLE LARSON:  No, I wouldn’t say so.
 
Q.        Chip, when it was clear that you and Montoya were splitting, in Europe the comment was you would bring him back to open-wheel racing.  To what percentage was Target, your sponsor, involved in signing Kyle or was it your own decision?
CHIP GANASSI:  It was our own decision.  It was a racing decision.  Target has been our sponsor for a long time, but it’s a team decision.
In terms of Juan, bring him back to open-wheel racing, whatever, I think at this time let me say this:  Juan has been a great asset to our team for many years.  We’ve enjoyed a lot of success with him.  He’s not only a driver of our team, he’s a great friend of mine.
I think there are always opportunities in our team that seem to present themselves.  You never know from time to time when those come along.
With all the different cars we have, it does make for some great opportunities at different times.  I’m certainly not counting him out of any opportunities or potential opportunities coming along.
 
Q.        Kyle, as you’ve already seen in this press conference, there’s a lot of people who have at some time or another questioned whether or not you’re ready.  For a young guy who is starting out in racing, whose goal is to race in the best and biggest series that there is, is there ever a time you’re not ready?
KYLE LARSON:  I don’t know.  I feel like I’ve learned quite a bit this year in the Nationwide Series, the K&N Series, all the stockcar stuff.  Even the Sprint car stuff I run helps when I come over here and race the stock cars.
I guess there’s a point when somebody’s not ready.  But I feel like I am ready.  I feel like I can go out there and contend.  I raced with some Cup guys in the Nationwide Series this year and learned a lot from them.  Raced them hard.  Beat some of them.
I think I can do it.  I think Chip obviously thinks I can do it, so that’s all that really matters to me.
 
Q.        Ryan Newman said earlier today when an owner comes up to a young driver like yourself and offers them a deal like this, it’s up to the driver to have the maturity and responsibility to say if he’s ready or not.  Was there any doubt in your mind that you could do this?
KYLE LARSON:  No.  Like I said, I think I can do it.  These opportunities don’t come about very often.  You never know when you have another shot like this.  You have to capitalize on it and do the best you can.
You know, there’s been people that are a lot younger than me that got their start in Cup.  I think I’ll do okay, like I said.  I’ll be all right.
 
Q.        Kyle, a number of people have said, including Jimmie Johnson and a couple of other drivers, that the Cup car may actually suit your style better given your background with the higher horsepower and greater weight.  Wondered what your thoughts on that are.
KYLE LARSON:  I believe so.  The Nationwide stuff, I don’t know, it’s about 200 horsepower less than a Cup car.  With my Sprint car background, they’re 1400-pound cars with 900-horsepower engines.  I’m used to having way too much horsepower.  I think it will translate well to the Cup cars.
I’ve gotten to test earlier this year at Rockingham.  I feel like I did pretty well in it, enjoyed it.  I feel like it suited me a little bit better.  We have to finesse the car a little bit more.  It wasn’t so much momentum driven.
I think that’s where I struggle a little bit in the Nationwide stuff, I probably don’t understand momentum quite as good as Kyle Busch or somebody.  That’s why I think the Cup stuff will be a little bit better for me.  We’ll just have to wa
it and see, I guess.
 
Q.        Chip, talking about the opportunity he may have this season to run a few races in preparation for next year, what experiences specifically would you like Kyle to have to kind of condition him for running in the Sprint Cup Series?  Kyle, in running both series, is there any room for Sprint cars as well on the schedule?
CHIP GANASSI:  That’s a good question.  What kind of experience?  Obviously, there’s no better experience than being in the races themselves, just going through all these sort of cycles that you have to go through as a young driver coming into the sport.
I think a lot of those he’s been through already.  These younger guys that come along today, they seem to take a lot of these things in stride that we all as adults think they’re big deals, scary things, whatever.  These young drivers seem to take it like a fish to water.
He’s shown a great ability to field anything that gets thrown at him, if you will.  So I think that’s what said it all for me.
KYLE LARSON:  Racing both Nationwide and Cup next year, that takes up about your whole weekend.  I know I won’t be able to race as much Sprint car stuff.  I’m cool with it.  Getting more experience in stock cars is a little bit better than racing Sprint cars.  That just shows where my focus is at being in the NASCAR stuff.
If I could still race 10 Sprint car races next year, I’d be totally fine with that.
CHIP GANASSI:  Not all of us might be (laughter).
KYLE LARSON:  I run nearly 55 to 60 this year.  That’s a bit much.  I’m ready to slow down a little bit.  If I could still be part of Sprint car racing, whether it be in ownership or having a small part in it, I would still enjoy it quite a bit and feel like I’m over there racing.
 
Q.        I don’t know what Kyle’s contract situation was with you before all this came down, but I do wonder, how important was it for you to give him this opportunity so somebody else didn’t?
CHIP GANASSI:  You know, I don’t know.  That’s a question that’s probably three years old.  I mean, that’s how long ago I met Kyle.  I don’t know.  I think that’s about when we did our first deal, two or three years ago.
To tell you the truth, I don’t have a good answer.  I think you know me well enough to know I have a pace at which we do things at our team.  Outside interference doesn’t affect that much.
 
We have our plan.  We work our plan, plan our work.  I’m sorry, but your column doesn’t influence me that much (laughter).
 
Q.        Chip, will Kyle run the full Nationwide schedule next year or just companion races or go for the title?
CHIP GANASSI:  Yeah, I mean, hopefully he’s running for a championship there next year, too.  Is he going to run every race?  That might be a stretch.  The idea is to do that.  The idea is to run as many as he can.  If he misses one or two, he may have to.  Not just companion races, no.
 
Q.        Chip, in your career you’ve brought in a lot of young guys with good and bad results.  What were you looking for during his Nationwide races to know that this was the right move?
CHIP GANASSI:  You know, I think I answered that already.  His level of maturity approaching the racing, of the race itself.  I said earlier I thought it looks sometimes like he’s back there in 10th or 12th, but always seems to be in the top 5 at the end.  I think that’s a good thing.
You know, there’s obviously a lot of questions about whether a guy like Kyle, I’ve heard from everybody, It’s too soon, too early.  Let’s take the list of drivers that we say it’s too early or they came too early and put that list over on one side.  On the right side let’s put a list of guys that at tracks all across the country, Saturday night tracks, dirt tracks, that never got the opportunity.  How long is that list, okay?  That list is 50 times longer than the list of guys that came along too soon.
As I said, there’s an opportunity here.  He’s a great driver.  He’s obviously the number one pick, as said by many other people besides myself.  Nobody deserves a shot more than he does.
 
Q.        Chip, certainly over the last couple of years you’ve made a lot of changes within your organization.  Is it to the point where your organization was ready for this type of opportunity to have a young kid?  Maybe I’m going out on a limb, but typically a young driver isn’t going to be able to come in and say, We need to do this to make the car better.  Has your team gotten to the point where you can take this opportunity?
CHIP GANASSI:  I think so.  You know, I think our cars, like I said earlier, have shown they can run easily in the top 5, top 10 on a pretty regular basis this season.  For one reason or another we’re not there at the end.
But I think plugging in a guy like Kyle, certainly the team is ready for that.  Again, until you’re winning every race and you’re winning every championship, you know, you’re never really complete, your team is never really complete.  I’m sure every race team in this garage area would like to tweak one or two things on their team from time to time.
What you’d like to do and what you actually can do are two different things sometimes, whether it’s availability of people, resources.  Lots of things come into play.  It’s not like scripting a movie.  It takes a lot of things to happen on one of these teams when you make changes or you anticipate improvements.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 30, 2013
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/BEAUTYREST CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Atlanta Motor Speedway and discussed the new tire at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his move to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
BIG WEEK FOR YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT AND SIGNING WITH STEWART-HAAS RACING:
“It’s tough to have the present to work on and try to get Furniture Row in the Chase and then the future with Stewart-Haas Racing.  It’s tough to balance it all, but it was nice to do the announcement Tuesday.  It’s exciting to have the future set where 2014 and beyond will go, but at the same time you know it gives you a breath of fresh air coming to the track and kick butt these next two weeks with the Furniture Row guys.  I think the most important two races in the No. 78 cars history are these next two.”
 
HOW DOES GOING TO RICHMOND AND HAVING TO CLINCH HOW DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR APPROACH THESE NEXT FEW WEEKS?
“We won’t have any type of cushion whatsoever.  We have to race these next two against right now I see the Penske cars as the two we are racing heads up.  After Sunday night after the Atlanta race we will see exactly what numbers are going to be in front of us and how that will play out, but we can’t go there to run 10th.  We have to go there and run top five in these next two races.”
 
HOW WELL PREPARED IS THIS TEAM FOR A RUN AT THE CHAMPIONSHIP IF YOU MAKE THE CHASE?
“I hate to play the ‘what if’, but ‘what if’ in this case is a good ‘what if’ and that is if we make the Chase.  We have one test left which we will probably utilize at Martinsville, which is probably my weakest link.  Just the speed that we’ve had at all the race tracks, the diversified race tracks this year, I think we will be great in the Chase.  I think we can put up a good showing.  Then the pit crew they are going to have to step it up and know that it counts now.  The Chase for us started a few weeks back.  We’ve had to be perfect and run sixth and run third and run these top fives up against the stats every week.  When we had a week like we had last week with the right-rear hub falling off while we are leading the race those are things that are tough to overcome.”
 
YOU HAVE HAD VERY STRONG CARS WITH NOT VERY GOOD FINISHES AT ALL WITH DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES.  YOU KNOW AS WELL AS ANYBODY THAT YOU COULD BE SITTING IN A VERY GOOD POSITION HAD THINGS FALLEN YOUR WAY JUST A FEW RACES:
“You know the best part about when you have something fail is going back through and dissecting exactly what happened and how to learn from it.  This single car team has done that every time we have had a problem there has been new procedural things to bounce back from and not have that same problem happen a second time.  Another thing that makes it easy for this group to bounce back is just the raw speed we’ve had every week when we unload.  We’ve been fast everywhere we go.”
 
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOU TO LEAVE THIS TEAM AND GO TO ANOTHER TEAM? 
“The toughest part about switching teams is the notification with the current group that you are with.  There is big disappointment in that.  It’s tough because we have so many weeks left in our campaign this year to run hard.  It’s just the nature of this sport.  If you are not settled by September 1st you are behind in a lot of categories.  The number one category is just making the announcement, creating the buzz and then getting people lined up to know that is where they should look to commit to for the next year.  If you are making decisions about your team move and where you are going to be in the next year in December the next year is a waste.  You have to get things done as early as you can.”
 
HOW MUCH OF THE SUCCESS OF FURNITURE ROW RACING THIS YEAR WAS THE FIVE OR SIX RACES YOU RAN LAST YEAR?
“It was amazing to get together, to get the bugs worked out and team communication.  Walking in the hauler now we have our run through sheet we have our run log.  We have all of our procedural things in place.  Last year during those six races I didn’t know Todd (Berrier, crew chief) from Cole (Pearn, lead engineer) and how to talk to each one of them and just did like in the garage knowing who I was going to talk to on the radio next.  You just get through all those sequences and it just that is when you are building speed is knowing how to talk to the guys with ease.  Last year was great to get together with the team.  I’m going to finish the season strong with these guys though. We have a lot of unfinished business.”
 
DO YOU GET A SENSE THAT YOUR GUYS ARE NERVOUS ABOUT WHAT THEY WILL BE DOING NEXT YEAR?
“Yeah there is always that unknown and it’s tough within our sport like I was saying earlier you have to commit to something in September for next year, but then you still have three months that you are working with the same group of guys.  In a nutshell there are still 12 races left.  That is a third of the season.  We still have a long way to go together and that is the focus it’s on the present and it’s right now.”
 
WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT FURNITURE ROW RACING WAITED AS LONG AS THEY DID TO EXTEND YOU AN OPPORTUNITY?
“Yeah, it was a bit surprising; especially with all the success we had this year.  I had hoped that I exceeded in all the categories on how they evaluate their drivers.”
 
IN REGARDS TO THE NEW ZONE TIRE THAT WILL BE USED THIS WEEKEND AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
“The zone tire is something that is going to be very unique.  I hope that it turns out really well.  We always want durability, but we also want raw speed.  This tire I believe will provide us both.  It will be exciting to see the long runs as well as here in practice the short run tire temps.  There could be something just as simple as adding a ton of camber to the car will make you turn better.  At the same time you won’t have to worry about durability.”  
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 30, 2013
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 ASPEN DENTAL CHEVROLET SS, met with media and dicsussed the next two races leading into the Chase, the new zone tire, maintaining team momentum while planning to go to another team and season-end, the intensity of the Richmond race, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
THE MODERATOR:  Ryan, talk a little bit about these next two races and your team’s mindset.
RYAN NEWMAN:  I think for us the absolute mindset is to focus on the racing part of it and know that these next two races are going to be what proves what we’re capable of in the next 10 if we can get what we need to done in the next two races.  As Stewart said a few years ago, we’d just be taking up a spot in the championship race.
From our standpoint, it’s our job doing business as usual, doing our best to get the best finishing position we can, no extra risk.  Especially here at Atlanta, things get spread out a little bit and you end up with 10 cars on the lead lap, that type of thing.
Having a good racecar here is extremely important – probably more important than Richmond.
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll take questions for Ryan.
 
Q.        Ryan, what is your take, especially from the standpoint of an engineer, on the new zone tire, the tread that they’re bringing in?
RYAN NEWMAN:  I mean, I think there’s definitely a common sense approach to it that they’re using.  It’s something that they’ve been working on.  I’ve been a part of testing it several times at different racetracks.
Here at Atlanta, it’s the best worst-case scenario for that because it is the toughest track we have on tires.  The strength of that zone tread tire is the durability side of it.  The biggest part of the durability side of what we do is the inside shoulder of the right front tire.
I think all that being said, I hope there are no issues.  The reason they’re doing that is so there won’t be any issues because this new car is definitely the most challenging we’ve had on tire durability.
 
Q.        Ryan, I’m not really referring to your current situation with Tony, but looking back to say when you went from Penske to Tony Stewart, you tell your crew guys, I’m leaving to go to another team, how do you keep that momentum up until the end of the season is over with?
RYAN NEWMAN:  Quite honestly those guys did that for me because after the announcement was made in Loudon, we didn’t know obviously.  Our goal is, was, still is to make the Chase.  They rebounded for all of us and performed at Indianapolis the way we all needed to and the way we’ve been capable of all year.
That was the answer to your question.  I mean, they said, We’re not quitting, we’re going to fight till the end.  The end is the checkered flag at Homestead.
 
Q.        Ryan, you’re obviously fighting to make the Chase.  Next season remains unsettled.  Is it difficult to kind of compartmentalize the two, keep the focus on this year as opposed to thinking about what may happen next year?
RYAN NEWMAN:  I wouldn’t say it’s difficult.  I would say it’s more of a challenge because you have to, as you said, compartmentalize, stay focused at different times on different subjects.
All that being said, it takes away from your relaxing time in your mind, which is just as important as being focused on what you need to at a given time, be it 2013 or 2014.
I feel like mentally I’m capable of doing that and have been.  Basically I’ve been in that situation for the last 12 months.  So it really hasn’t changed for me.  I think I’ve honed my skills over the last 12 months to be in the right position right now.
 
Q.        Are you any more confident that you’ll have a Cup ride next year now compared to maybe three or four weeks ago?  Also, did you watch the press conference on Tuesday and did you laugh, did you cry, did you throw anything?  What did you think?
RYAN NEWMAN:  No, I did not watch it.  I have only read it and seen the quotes from different individuals.
To me it’s a unique situation that to me doesn’t really affect me, as I said.  In the end, it’s what they’re going to do in 2014.  I already knew I wasn’t going to be a part of that.
Yeah, I do feel more confident, to answer the first part of your question, that I’m moving along.  I have nothing obviously to announce.  But my focus is on these next two races.
I do have a different focus, as we talked about, on 2014, but that won’t happen this weekend or next weekend, it will happen during the week.
 
Q.        As a guy whose background is completely dissimilar, how do you think Kyle Larson’s background prepares him for getting in a Cup car?
RYAN NEWMAN:  I think no matter if it was Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske or Tony Stewart, or whoever, they would have went to Kyle and said, Do you think you’re ready for this?  There’s a part of a driver that has to take the responsibility in saying yes or no.
I think Kyle has definitely proven across the board he can drive absolutely anything anywhere anytime.  There’s a few drivers out there that can do that.  When I say ‘a few,’ there’s 20 or 30 that are that good.
I think no matter what announcement there is, in the end we all know Kyle has a lot of talent.  I think the biggest challenge he’s going to have ahead of him is not what happens outside of this room, it’s what happens inside of this room, the media part of it, the publicity part of it.  The potential pressure, if you let it get to you, is more of a challenge I think than sitting in the seat behind the wheel and doing your job as a driver.
 
Q.        Can you describe the intensity that a lot of guys are going to feel next weekend at the Richmond race, the guys around the bubble, and how that’s different from every other week?  It has to have something extra to it.
RYAN NEWMAN:  It does.  To me, maybe I kind of view it as watching golf on TV, where you watch, you know where the leader is, you seed the leaderboard, you know where you’re at starting the race, you have maybe the last round to make up, you see where guys are plus or minus.  You keep kind of track of that under cautions.  But when the green flag drops, you have your job to do.  That’s just like swinging the clubs.
I’m no golfer, but I see it like that.  It’s doesn’t go necessarily play-by-play, but event by event, if who is on what hole, what does he have left, where are we at in the race, who is good on fuel, things like that.
You kind of watch that.  But in the end, as a driver, you’re still focused on hitting your marks, not screwing up, not taking yourself out.
So I think to me that was the first thing that came to my mind when you asked the question.  I’m not a huge golf fan, but I’ve watched enough golf on TV to know that’s how the mental and physical part of it works.
 
Q.        How different is it now in the garage looking for a ride than it was when you first came in?
RYAN NEWMAN:  I didn’t have to look.  I don’t know.  I don’t know.
I came into this garage with a great ride, you know, obviously a great organization with great people.  We proved that, proved that out of the box, winning a pole my second race, a top five in my third race.  It came not easy, but it just came.
There was a lot of hard work involved, but that’s why I can’t say it was easy.  In the end, I can’t answer that because I know it’s not easy now.  That’s why going back to a kid like Kyle Larson, if you have a go
od opportunity like that, it’s hard to say no, and that’s the bottom line.
 
Q.        You would think performance, you win at Indy, that would assure you of something.  Do you feel like the next couple of races, that it’s on the races themselves?
RYAN NEWMAN:  Yes, it’s on.  There’s no doubt it’s on.  Indianapolis and all that stuff helped.  But I think if you look at my history in the sport the last 10 years, I’ve got a good résumé on and off the racetrack.  I think there are car sponsors and owners that appreciate that.
THE MODERATOR:  Ryan, thank you for your time.
RYAN NEWMAN:  Thank you.
 

GENE HAAS, STEWART-HAAS RACING CO-OWNER, KURT BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET BEGINNING IN 2014 AND GREG ZIPADELLI, COMPETITION DIRECTOR OF STEWART-HAAS RACING WERE GUESTS ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Thank you very much for coming to today’s announcement.  We have three speakers; really wish we had four with Tony Stewart.  He certainly wants to be here.  Still recovering from his broken leg sustained August 5th.  Certainly wants to be here. We’ll get him back out in front of you guys sooner rather than later.
 
First off, want to introduce everyone here.  On the far left, Gene Haas, co‑owner of Stewart‑Haas Racing.  Kurt Busch, driver of the Haas Automation Chevrolet beginning in 2014.  And Greg Zipadelli, competition director of Stewart‑Haas Racing.
 
Let’s go ahead and get started.
 
Gene, you’re expanding Stewart‑Haas Racing to a four‑car team in 2014 and you’re doing with a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion in Kurt Busch.  How did this all come about?
 
GENE HAAS:  Well, it’s been a story in the making.  There was an opportunity to have Kurt Busch join us as the driver.  I’m in this business to win races.  I talked to Kurt Busch over the years.  He’s been kind of a favorite of mine.  I see his on‑track performance.  I thought this was a great opportunity to pair him up with Haas Automation, for him to be the driver of my choice.  It was an opportunity that I just felt was too great to pass up.
 
I bent a few rules, pushed, had some conversations with Kurt.  Everything started to line up.  We just needed to figure out how we’re going to do this.
 
One of the biggest problems in any race team obviously is sponsorship.  With the other three cars having their sponsorship pretty much filled up, it was an opportunity for Haas Automation to be a primary sponsor.  In the past, I’ve always been a co‑sponsor on the Stewart‑Haas Racing team.  That’s a good position to be in.  I have no problems with that.  This is going to be my shot at being a primary sponsor, going to the Daytona 500, the Brickyard as the primary sponsor.
 
Haas Automation has never been in the winner’s circle, and I’m sure that’s going to change next year.
 
So that’s my primary reason for basically pushing this expansion.  It’s been met with a little bit of resistance.  We have a lot of great people here that are going to have to work hard to make this a reality, but there’s a lot of enthusiasm with it.  As a matter of fact, I think the enthusiasm has been overwhelming from both people outside Stewart‑Haas Racing and inside.  A lot of people are telling me this is great, they feel enthusiastic.  Attitude is what wins races.
 
I’m happy we’re doing this.  I think it’s going to be an exciting year.  I’m looking forward to it.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Kurt, welcome to Stewart‑Haas Racing.  Now that you’re a part of this team, you join Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, collectively that is a lineup that boasts four Sprint Cup championships, 36 poles and 93 wins.  Talk about this opportunity.
 
KURT BUSCH:  The excitement is just at an all‑time high.  To be in this position, it’s amazing to have Gene Haas call you up and say, Let’s go do this, win some races together.  To have the opportunity to have Stewart‑Haas as the emblem on the door as I go to work every day, work on making faster racecars with all the mechanics, but also to work alongside Tony Stewart as a co‑owner and as a driver, he sees things from the driver’s seat that I’ve been trying to explain for years to team personnel and owners.  That’s what makes his position so valuable.
 
To have a guy like Kevin Harvick that I’ve gotten a chance to work with at RCR this year, the Furniture Row situation, behind the scenes, carrying a banner on it that says Kurt Busch.  Harvick and I, an amazing connection we’ve had all through our career.  Being rookies together, now to be coming to the same program at the same time.
 
Then with Danica and her growth.  I’ve always tried to take young drivers under my wing, show them some things around the track.  That will be a nice situation for me to be in as well.
 
The opportunity is about people.  That’s what makes this so important that I’ve neglected in the past, is understanding the people, knowing that that makes the difference if you’re going to Victory Lane or not.
 
Stewart‑Haas, Gene, Tony, this combination is so powerful.  That’s what makes it so exciting.  It’s tough for me.  I have to remember I have 12 weeks left in the regular season.  Right now if we can have two good weeks, we’ll make the Chase.
 
THE MODERATOR:  And Greg Zipadelli, you’ve been in the sport a long time, which means you’ve competed against Kurt a long time.  Now that he’s part of Stewart‑Haas Racing, what does he bring to the table?
 
GREG ZIPADELLI:  I think he brings a ton.  If you look back at his record, at the competitiveness he carries within him, he’ll demand from everybody here at SHR, I think will push us to new heights, along with Kevin coming and Tony.  That’s a dream come true as far as having a driver lineup.
 
Danica, going into her second full year, with those three guys, to be able to lean on them, hopefully be able to help her, we’ll have something special here with these three guys and Danica.
 
It’s not often that you get the opportunity to expand the way things are in this sport today.  From where I’m sitting, it’s awesome.  I know from the time we had the meeting yesterday with the guys, the things I’ve heard in the last 24 hours, how excited they are, that means an awful lot.  That’s encouraging to me that these guys will jump onboard and do what it takes.  We’ll certainly do our best to perform at the highest level next year.
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll go ahead and open it up for questions.
Q.  Zippy and Gene, where are you putting four cars?  I guess you have to build.  How quickly can that be done?  Where will it be done?  Who is paying for that?  Zippy, how quickly are you going to have to build a team around Kurt?  Where will you get those people from?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  There’s people out there looking for jobs.  The amount of résumés that I’ve gotten in the last week since this has kind of broke has been unbelievable, phone calls.  There’s a lot of great people out there.
 
We haven’t started looking at people.  We’ve been looking at getting Kevin Harvick’s deal done.  Obviously until Monday morning, this wasn’t a done deal.  So we’ve kind of looked at the structure of the building.
There’s some areas we’re going to move, rooms we’re going to knock down to expand each department, the building is going next door, so.
 
We’re not sure how we’re all going to lay all that out.  That’s kind of the stuff we’re going through now, designing that.  But it will be tight for a little bit.  But we’ll prioritize what we need to work on.
 
The biggest thing, we’re going to have to move cars around.  We have plenty of rooms to have plates, that type of stuff, body shop, we’ve already added on to that this year, there’s no issues with that.  It will physically be, where are the cars.
 
GENE HAAS:  When we originally started at this location, we purchased 30‑acres of land.  The building layouts were already done.  It was part of the previous layout.  It’s not like we’re starting from scratch.
 
It will take probably somewhere around six to nine months to get the struct
ure up, but we hope to have it open by June.
 
The way we do things around here is a little unique in the sense that we just focus on racing.  That’s really our primary things.  Things like chassis, engines, obviously come from Hendrick Motorsports.  Some of that load will go on them to increase their output.
 
It’s going to be challenging mainly from a space standpoint.  But I think we can offload some of that to some other locations.  We can just focus on the races at hand.
Q.  Kurt, when Kevin Harvick won the Coca‑Cola 600, he praised you a lot, said that RCR was a lot better because you gave feedback that was accurate and you drove the car hard enough that it was useful feedback.  Five or six years ago you were pretty bitter rivals.  Now you seem to be working real well.  You and Tony have had some incidents in the past.  When you sign on the dotted line, does all that go out the window?  How do you work together where before you were such fierce competitors?
KURT BUSCH:  You know, I got a bunch of phone calls, of course, in the last couple weeks.  The last one before I came in here today was Kevin Harvick.  10 years ago we weren’t in a place in our careers to do this.  We’ve had different roads we’ve been on, but at the same time they’ve paralleled one another because we were rookies together.
 
I think we’re in a great spot in our careers now to join another fierce competitor such as Tony, and to look up to Tony as our co‑owner with Gene, and to know that our spot here is to build these four cars together and to make them as fast as we can.
 
That’s what made this opportunity for me so unique is the people that are involved and the teammates that I will have to work with.  Harvick is a fierce competitor that knows how to get the most out of his car.  Tony is the same way.  If I can give Zipadelli some notes on the feedback that I’m feeling to have another little small thing to give us an advantage, I’ve always prided myself in trying to make the crew chief’s job easier.  This structure here is structured around the crew chief operating the team.  That’s what makes it an even better fit.
 
Harvick and I in the past, Tony even, we are now in a better spot in our careers to be able to do this.
Q.  Gene, what pushed you over the top with the Outlaw, his tenacity, a little bit more about what you see from him on the racetrack?
GENE HAAS:  Well, I think we all see how Kurt has done on the racetrack.  He’s done an amazing job with the 78 car, taking a car that is a single‑car team, has a lot of competitors that are way ahead of it.  They’ve done a remarkable job of being able to compete in that top‑10 bracket.
 
I think that was something that was obvious.  I know Kurt’s résumé as well as anybody.  I kind of like his attitude.  He’s passionate about what he does.  He likes to win.  He’s not afraid to get in people’s faces.  I think that kind of reflects my company a little bit.
 
I think there’s a good match there.  He’s a passionate person, and it takes a lot of passion to win these races.  The fact that he runs into his friends at 200 miles an hour once in a while, has a few tough words with that, they all do that, so I don’t really have any problems with that either.
 
I think at the end of the day they all seem to get along and they’re all there at the next race.  It is a sport.  I think there’s a lot of camaraderie there in the garage and among the drivers.  That’s what makes this NASCAR business somewhat of a hobby to me.
Q.  Kurt, what kind of conversation did you have with Tony as I’m sure you talked about this?
KURT BUSCH:  Tony was slapping me a high five.  He says we’re tapping into Gene’s wallet the way I wanted to (laughter).
 
Tony is about finding better people and better products to go and utilize so he has a better chance of winning.
 
But all kidding aside, Tony knows the same things that I know:  it takes people to make a difference.  Just like what Greg Zipadelli was talking about, the opportunities when you expand to four teams, you have the ability to start from scratch on one of those teams, but still use the blueprints, that’s what Tony was trying to reiterate to me.  There is a structure here, proven success.  The fact we’re going to have a chance to start something fresh at the same time as working on the current situation, he was in that owner mode.  It was easy to respect him when he was talking that way.  Then when he would switch into driver mode, we’d throw sarcasm at each other, it was a unique element.  Even though we spent Sunday watching a little bit of the IndyCar race together, we were talking about things from the driver’s side of it.
 
To me it matches a lot of my racing passion on trying to explore different avenues in racing and at the same time keeping your eye on the big prize, which is ultimately another Sprint Cup championship.
Q.  Kurt, has the team decided on a number for your car?  Can you sort of put into words what you gained from the experience of the last year racing the 78, basically having to box above your weight every week?
KURT BUSCH:  We haven’t come to a decision on a car number.  It’s obviously Gene’s team and Tony Stewart is the car owner.  They’ve given me some nice input on what they’d like.  They’ve actually been open to what I would like.
 
My eight‑year‑old Houston says, Put 360 on the door.
 
Why 360?
 
Because you’ve come full circle.
 
When kids speak and they hit it on the head of the nail like that, it’s amazing.  I don’t know if 360 works, but we’ll come up with the right number.  I like the theme here with 4 with Harvick, 14 with Tony, 10 with Danica.  A 4, a 1, even multiplication tables or addition tables can all add up here.  That’s the fun part.  That will be later on.
 
Right now the battle that we have of getting into the Chase, like you said boxing in a rink that might be a heavier‑weight division than what we’re showing up with on the 78 car.  Barney Visser has done a tremendous job at making us a player, something that competes with the big dogs.  It’s been a tremendous effort this year by a lot of people.  We’ve had some bad luck go against us, we’ve also had some good luck to be in position to make the Chase.
 
It’s taught me a lot about myself on how to understand disappointment better, and it’s also taught me a lot about how to help with crew members when they stumble or they trip on something, to be there for them.  So that’s why I feel like I’m in a better place mentally and spiritually as well.  Barney is a guy that believes, and a lot of things happen for reasons.  He’s given me a tremendous amount to go out there and race against the big dogs.  We still have 12 more weeks to do it.
Q.  Gene, you said you encountered some resistance in making this decision.  Was that internally?  What were some of the potential holdups?
GENE HAAS:  Well, it really all started at the General Motors dinner in Indianapolis.  I talked to Kurt, found out that he really didn’t have a firm contract with his current team.  I was a little surprised at that because we had talked to him the previous year.  We were just trying to find out where he stood.
 
When he took the 78 ride, you know, usually it’s for several years.  When I was talking to him, he said, No, no, there’s some transitions, they’re going to try to find out what manufacturer they’re going with before they announce the driver.  That was Indianapolis, only a few weeks ago.
 
So I talked to Joe Custer.  Joe reached out to Kurt who found out that things were lining up.  I wanted to go forward with th
at.  Tony broke his leg.  I didn’t have really a chance to talk to Tony about it at all since he wasn’t really talking to anybody.  So I kind of did this on my own, probably overstepped my authority a tich there.  I’m not used to having too many authorities to work with.  I’ve been pretty much on my own.  I did realize that Tony might be a little bit upset about it.  He was, he was a little upset.
 
At first he said, Oh, wow, we can’t really do this because this is going to be too much of a load on the team.  We’re not prepared for it.  We don’t have the space.  There’s a whole line.  He actually is an astute businessman.  He thought about all these little things, where are we going to get the people, the money, where are the buildings going to come from.  I didn’t think about any of that.  From Tony’s standpoint, he’s more of a businessman.  I just thought it would be kind of neat to have.
 
That’s how it came about.  We all know Tony’s problems he was having, so I couldn’t talk to him too much.  When I finally did talk to him, he was saying, maybe we should wait a little while.  I think he actually said, you need to wait a while.  I kind of made an offer to Kurt here, I don’t know if he’s going to take it or not, and if he takes it, I’m not backing down.  That’s where we were.
 
About a week later, Tony said, Okay, all right.  He thought, it’s okay.  What are you going to do?  Don’t have much choice.  It’s a series of events. Chance meeting Kurt at the General Motors dinner, Tony being incapacitated where I couldn’t talk to him, I wanted to do something.  I stepped up and said I would fund it.
 
It’s very difficult to find a sponsor in less than 24 hours.  So we did that, too.  We did a lot of stuff.  That’s why we’re here today.
Q.  This situation will be similar to Furniture Row in that the owner is the sponsor.  Did that dynamic work better than just representing a corporate entity separate from the team?  And will the rules be a little bit different when Kurt is representing your company?
KURT BUSCH:  The way that Barney is committed to NASCAR, the way that Gene is committed to NASCAR is very similar.  You want to go to the racetrack and have the least amount of responsibilities on a Friday through Sunday, just have to focus on the car.  That was what Furniture Row provided me this year.
 
I think having that freedom is something that I enjoyed.  That was part of the discussion with Gene on how we were going to orchestrate the schedule, what it took to make both sides work.
 
There was hardly much discussion about it.  It was the opportunity with the people that we’re going to bring onboard here and with the equipment that Gene and Tony use, which is Hendrick engines and Hendrick chassis.  That was the difference‑maker.  Obviously having teammates such as Tony to work with, Harvick, and Danica.  When you have less responsibilities and it’s more about the car, that’s the fun part of it.
 
GENE HAAS:  Haas Automation has always been a sponsor in the NASCAR Cup Series.  I can’t remember a year that my name wasn’t on a Cup car.  All of a sudden I’m faced with this reality I’m not going to be there anymore.  I had a little bit of a vested interest in having a sponsored car.  That was my point of view, something I wanted to do.  I wanted to be a sponsor.
 
Now here is an opportunity to be a primary sponsor, which carries with it a lot of advantages, a lot of disadvantages, too.  From that point of view, I was willing to go ahead and do that.
 
I think it’s money well spent.  I think advertising is a good value for your money and I wasn’t afraid to commit to it, and I could do it quickly.
Q.  Gene, throughout most of your career as owner, co‑owner, you’ve had a lower profile.  You now are more at the forefront, obviously very involved in making this deal happen.  Why from the background to the forefront?  It seems like this is different than what the NASCAR fans have seen in the past.  You are sponsoring Kurt with your own company.  The question fans would ask is, Why didn’t you do the same thing with Ryan Newman in that situation?
GENE HAAS:  Okay, there’s a few questions there.
Well, you know, from the start I have to admit Tony Stewart is somewhat of an overwhelming personality.  When he came in here, Haas CNC Racing had no credibility.  We were a small, struggling team in the back that would have died out and nobody would have noticed.  When Tony came in, Tony selected himself as a driver.  That made perfect sense.  He also selected Ryan Newman as his co‑driver.  That relationship effectively lasted for four years until Danica Patrick came on.
 
It was really the die was set, it was cast, that was the way it was going to be.  Wasn’t much wiggle room for me to do much.  And I have a lot of respect for Tony.  Tony works really, really hard.  He drives that car every weekend.  He works with sponsors.  He’s on the airplane going back and forth. I’ve never been a co‑owner, but I’ve never seen a co‑owner that would actually work that hard.  That’s probably why I think Tony was more, you know, in front of everybody.
 
As far as what I do, I obviously build machines. That’s my day job.  That’s what gives me my ability to participate in this kind of sport.  I know what I do well.  That’s what I do well.  I know what Tony does well.  Quite frankly, we’re very, very good at what we do, and that’s why this company has been successful.
 
Like I say, this was just an opportunity.  I have the ability to react quick.  I reacted quick.  This is something as an owner and also as a sponsor, it’s something I wanted to do.  That’s why I did it.
 
Your third question was why not Ryan?  You know, Ryan has been an excellent driver.  He’s been with us going on five years now.  I think he’s done a great job driving the car.  I think he’s been a great sponsor driver.  He’s done well at all of that.  He’s brought us some of our sponsors, like the Army, kept them for four years.  I think he has done his job.
 
The question is, at some point I am now going to be the sponsor.  I just simply wanted a change and an opportunity to do something different.  I don’t think this says anything negative about Ryan.  He’s been a great driver, done a great job.  After five years I just feel that I want to take hold of an opportunity that was presented to me.  It gives me a chance to, you know, be a sponsor and direct things the way I wanted to direct them.
Q.  Kurt, you talked about helping crew guys when they stumble.  Obviously single‑car teams don’t have the depth of multi‑car teams.  Were there too many stumbles with the 78?  What happened Saturday, did that have any effect on your decision?
KURT BUSCH:  No, nothing that happened Saturday was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  We’re not going to look at one circumstance and say it affected a future plan to where you have a long‑term commitment and such an exciting opportunity that you can team up and drive cars with Tony Stewart, with Kevin Harvick.
 
The 78 car is as good as anybody.  The part that failed on Saturday night is something that you might see more in quality control if you are burning up four sets of hubs each week.  Four times four would be 16.  That’s what we’re going to have here next year.  It’s something that slipped through the cracks.  You have those part failures.
 
Right now, since we haven’t built any cushion to have those pitfalls and still make the Chase, that’s why it makes it so significant.&nbs
p; We have to be perfect the next two weeks to make the Chase.  I’m as fired up as ever to try to deliver these guys into an area that they never thought was achievable and at the same time I have the future in front of me with Stewart‑Haas Racing to know when you’re starting a team out like this, you have teammates such as Stewart, Harvick and Danica, we’re going to be putting all of the cars in the Chase next year.  That’s the difference of trying one car versus four.
Q.  Greg, can you talk about trying to handle four pretty distinct personalities?  What do you imagine driver meetings to be like?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  We built a rubber room upstairs, that’s the first thing we did (laughter).
 
When you have four passionate drivers, I would much rather deal with that than to try to figure out how to get them going.  You’re born with that. The competitiveness that these guys have, that’s what you need in this sport.
 
We’ll deal with what comes our way on a weekly basis and we’ll continue to race.  It’s as simple as that.  I think what makes this unique is there’s three guys and Danica that all had their days.  I think they can all help each other.  At least that’s the theory I’m going with.
Q.  Kurt, you’ve touched on this a little bit.  You said you learned more the importance of people.  You said you were in a better place mentally and spiritually.  Seems like in the past you were trying to be someone that other people wanted you to be, where now you’re at peace with yourself and you know who you are.  Is that accurate?  If so, did that play a role in the fact that Gene reached out to you?
KURT BUSCH:  You know, it’s easy as a 25‑year‑old to say you know everything, that you can do everything by yourself.  That’s what I thought that I could do when I moved from Roush Racing to Penske back in 2006, to bring Roger his first championship.  I thought I could wear all the weight on my back.  That was not the case.  That’s when you learn it’s about the people, team communication, how it filters through all the channels.
 
The Penske thing, the image, all of that, it wasn’t your own identity, you were trying to be something else, stepping back and hitting the reset button, heading to Phoenix Racing, finding the true fun and true reason to go to the racetrack, rolling up your sleeves, getting dirty, being there with the guys, to feel that camaraderie, that old school let’s work hard and not think about how to publicize things, how to put a twist on it to make it bigger than what it’s supposed to be.  That was so educational for me with having 10 years of experience in this sport.
 
Then with Furniture Row, having the opportunity to catch them on an up‑swing, to see Todd Berrier go over there, wear out my phone, come out here and drive, we can do great things.  You don’t have the sponsor requirements, to have the stress and fatigue of that part of the schedule, that’s what allowed me to stay focused on the car, to stay genuine, and to still allow myself to grow and develop into what I really am, and that is a true hard‑nosed racer that gives it their all.  You got to let the rough edges drag sometimes.  When you have a guy like Gene Haas that wants to make you part of a four‑car, super‑power team calling, you have the ability to be yourself, to work with guys that have those same edgy attitudes as yourself, that’s the journey I’ve been on over the last 18 months.
Q.  Everyone obviously is operating under the scenario that Tony will be back and ready to go in 2014.  If there were some unforeseen complication in his recovery, would Kurt be a viable option for the 14 or would you likely go the route of a substitute guy like you’ve been doing right now?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  I don’t think there’s much question whether he’ll be back or not.  Prognosis is better every time he goes to the doctor.  We’re not going to push him to get in a car until probably Daytona.  We’ll give him all the time he needs.
 
It would take some disaster.  I don’t see anything of that with what he’s facing, so…
Q.  Kurt, Gene was talking about what his team was before Tony came along.  Do you take personal pride in seeing what has transpired at Furniture Row since your arrival?  How would you like to end your season with them?
KURT BUSCH:  Well, it’s been very satisfying to take the team from where they were to where we are now.  But I didn’t do it by myself.  There’s so many people that have jumped onboard to come out there because of Todd Berrier, his ability to lead people.
 
Any situation that I get in I want to try to leave it in a better place than where it was before, whether it’s driver feedback, driver reports, the notes on when they’re going to unload at the track.  Let’s just say at Phoenix in 2014.  They’re going to have my notes to look over and a setup that’s been proven.  I hope that that’s there.
 
We still have the present that’s right in front of us.  The next two weeks are the post important weeks of the 78 car’s career.  If we find ourselves racing somebody heads up going into Richmond, that’s what I want to be there for, to deliver them into the Chase, and at the same time it’s the goal achieved of being in that position.  When points can reset, we’ll only be five points away from the championship lead.  There’s no sense in giving up then.  We’ll keep plugging away and pushing.  Time is now with the 78 car.
Q.  Kurt, when you’re hanging out in January 2012, you have an unknown future, you don’t know what it’s going to be.  You know how bad you want it, but you also have the realization somebody else has to have the same amount of passion to get back to that level.  You now have that.  Back in 2012, what percentage chance would you have given yourself to be sitting right there today with those guys?
KURT BUSCH:  That’s a great question.  The internal drive that I have within me, would I have given it a high percentage?  Yes and no.  It’s a matter of finding the opportunities.  You never know what’s around the next corner.
 
All I needed to do was to bear down and to put the blinders on and to learn more about myself, which was to jump in the car and just race and have fun on that side of it, but also grow as a person.  Now being a 25‑year‑old champion is different than being a 35‑year‑old champion.
 
I have the potential to show up here January 1, 2004, with two championships under my arm.  It’s not done individually.  I’ve had great people to lean on.  My family has been there to help me.  Patricia has been wonderful to help me understand more about life.  Having Houston there as an eight‑year‑old, to show him about things in life, it was an element that all came together perfectly.
 
What percentage I don’t know I could have put on at getting back to this point.  I didn’t know how long it was going to take.  I wasn’t going to give up.  I was going to keep racing, and different opportunities pop up if you present yourself in the right position.
Q.  Zippy, you’re only looking at about four months before you have to see a car on the racetrack.  Can you talk about the difficulties of adding a fourth team?  How did you first find out about all this?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  I mean, anytime you expand, there’s difficulties.  We expanded last year.  We kind of sat back and looked at some of the things that we went through last year, how we can prevent some of them.  We can start building cars today, which we couldn’t do last year because of the body change.  We can start putting people in here to go to work in the fab shop to take some of that load today, which we couldn’t do last year.  We were behind on getting plates in here, things of t
hat nature.
 
As far as that goes, I think we’re in much better shape than we were a year ago for many reasons, especially, like I said, the car change was huge last year.  It hurt everybody.  It affected us even more to start than others.
 
So we already have that I think behind us.  I think we’re building great racecars.  I think we can continue to build them and make them better.
 
I talked to Gene, I guess it was jokingly in Nationwide.  He said, Let’s start a fourth Cup team.  This is a couple hours before he went to the GM dinner.  I heard it but I didn’t quite grasp it at that time.
Q.  Kurt, you mentioned Houston, the number 360. Can you talk about your transition going from Roush to Penske to Phoenix, Furniture Row, now back to one of the top teams in the sport.  Your fans are out there wondering how you’ve come full circle.
KURT BUSCH:  It’s been a great journey.  When I first started out, I was an undiscovered punk out on the West Coast.  Jack Roush put me in his truck.  I didn’t know where the brake pedal was apparently because I ran into everything.  We had a start to the truck season that was unreal.
 
By the end of my first truck season, I’m running Cup cars.  So from running late models on a Saturday night short track, not knowing how you’re going to scrape together enough money to get to the next race with gas money, nine months later I’m running Cup cars.
 
Just going as fast as ever, I never knew when to slow down or what was next, I just kept going.  With the different transitions through life, coming from young 20s into the later 20s, now being 35, I find myself in a great position with stability in the sport, knowing what I’ve done wrong, knowing what I’ve done right, then having a guy like Gene Haas believing in you and wanting to reach new heights with his team, where I still want to go, what I still want to achieve.
 
The Stewart‑Haas Racing combination is incredible.  I’m blessed to have this opportunity and at the same time I’m pulling out my old go‑kart that my dad got me when I was little, dusting it off, changing the carburetor in it, putting Houston in the seat so he can go drive around in the parking lot so I can teach him the same things that my dad taught me.
Q.  Kurt, I know it’s a tough decision, but what are you looking for as a crew chief for next year?
KURT BUSCH:  That’s a decision that we’ll all make together here at Stewart‑Haas Racing.  There’s four teams that we have to present to our competitors that we’ve got to go up against in Daytona.  We want the best guys that we can possibly get assembled.
 
We have the opportunity to create an All‑Star team here for this group.  The Rolodex that Zipadelli has, the people that Gene knows, Custer, Tony, Harvick, there’s a large contingent of people that know a lot of people in this sport.  We’ll see how it all filters out.
 
They told me this is a crew chief‑run organization, so you’re going to want the best leader possible in that position.  It could be a veteran or a young, gun‑slinger engineer.
Q.  Gene, what would have happened if Tony had simply put down his foot ‑ his good foot ‑ and said, No, this is not going to happen, I forbid it? What happens then?
GENE HAAS:  I never crossed that bridge.  You know, I don’t know.  Tony kind of does his own thing, I kind of do my own thing.  I have to admit we kind of think alike.
 
Like I say, I don’t think Tony was exactly enthralled with what I did.  But I think he saw it my way, you know (laughter).  Either that or get out of the building.
 
Anyway, he has a lot of power.  I have to admit, you know, I have some power, too.  I think in a sense it’s a check‑and‑balance system where the two powers balance each other out.
 
I have a lot of respect for Tony.  He’s a great driver, past champion.  Tony has a lot of respect for me.  I carry a lot of depth with my company.  We have the ability.  How can we expand to a fourth team, where will the resources come from?  I am highly qualified in that area to do this.  I think that gives us an edge.  Putting a super team together with four top drivers, what we have, I mean, that’s kind of like your Dream Team.
 
I think, you know, initially since it wasn’t Tony’s idea, he was taken aback a little bit by it.  But I think he saw it wasn’t a bad idea.  In retrospect it looks like it’s going to be a great idea.  If we don’t win any races next year, hey, I’m going to look like an idiot.
 
I take gambles, I made a decision, and I think I’m going to be proven right.  I think we’re going to win a lot more races than anybody ever thought possible.
Q.  Gene, the talk has been about sponsoring as a primary sponsor.  Is that in all 38 scheduled races next year?  Do you envision involving any associate sponsorship as well?  I haven’t seen anything here about it being a multi‑year contract or just for the next year.
GENE HAAS:  Well, the contract with Kurt is a multi‑year contract.  Other than that, we kind of keep that private.
 
We like sponsors.  We always have room for another sponsor.  We welcome sponsors.  We love our sponsors and we’d like to have more.  This is a business and we need our sponsors to help make this work.
 
My primary purpose here, though, is winning.  I think if you focus on the winning part of it, the sponsors will come.
 
Obviously, you decide to hire a driver, chicken and egg, what comes first, the driver or sponsor?  In a perfect world, you’d like to have both of them.
 
In this case I knew that we were going to be able to go out and find a sponsor for Kurt Busch.  Like I say, quite frankly, having Haas Automation on the front of the NASCAR is very good advertising, that actually we use the NASCAR races to promote the machine tool business.  We do that with customers, with our dealers.  It makes very good business sense.
 
I was just able to step up and make that decision.  Time will tell how that all works out.  But I’m confident that, if anything, I’m going to win races.  I tell you, I’ve been racing in NASCAR for over 10 years, I’ve seen an awful lot of teams put their whole lives and fortunes into racing, and wind up with nothing.  I have my little trophy to show for it and I’m very thankful for that, I thank Tony for that.  That’s what it’s all about.  It’s about winning.  It’s about proving that you’re a winner.  It’s about transferring that kind of attitude over to your customers that buy your products.
 
So to me it all goes full circle.  I was able to make that decision.  Most sponsors take a very long time to decide where they want to put their advertising dollars.  I just made that decision in a minute.
Q.  Kurt, is the Indy 500 something that you’ll still consider doing, something your new owner is interested in?
KURT BUSCH:  It’s something that’s still on the table.  There’s certain timelines that I’ve agreed to with Michael Andretti if we’re still going to do the deal.  We’re working on things.  I mention that to Tony when we got together.  He said, Man, if you’re going to run Fontana this year, I’m rolling with you and I’m going to be there with you.
 
There’s still the concern of running extracurricular races.  But right now the focus is obviously on these next two weeks and getting the 78 car in the Chase.  We’ll see what opportunities lie ahead.  Everything has to be the right situation for it to happen.
Q.  Gene, will it change the dynamics of your company?  Will this change the dynamics of you within the company a lot?
GENE HAAS:  Well, I’ve always been
here at Stewart‑Haas Racing.  Maybe I just wasn’t as important.  I’ve been to these video conferences, whatever they are, before.  No one ever asked me any questions.  Now all of a sudden you’re asking me questions (laughter).
 
Just have to adapt to it.  It’s fun.  This is part of the business that the drivers get to do all the time along with the crew chiefs.  For the most part I don’t think the media is really that interested in the owners.  Obviously the dynamics of the race, the drivers, is probably the most important thing.
 
Will it change me?  I don’t know.  If people ask me questions, I’ll try my best to answer them.  We’ll see where it goes from there.
I think the most interesting thing was the fact that Kurt Busch and Haas Automation coming together was really done by me.  I guess that is different than what you’ve seen in the past.  In that respect, yes, there’s going to be new dynamics.  My main goal here is to win races.  I think Tony’s main goal is not only to win races but to run a successful business.  I’m more interested in seeing the winning part of it.  Maybe Tony is going to be more the businessman now.
Q.  Kurt, what does this say to people?  You look at celebrities, people learning when they’re young and coming back, what does this say you can achieve and do, maybe people that don’t do everything right the first time around?
KURT BUSCH:  This is a tough game.  It was on my résumé when I first started out racing to be in the top 1% of any racing division that I got into. When I achieved success at an early age, I was in that top 1%.  I began to abuse that, and I wasn’t in the right situation to be at the top anymore.
 
When you fall away from the focus on what got you to your first goal, the ultimate goal which was to raise up a Sprint Cup trophy, you don’t want to throw away the God‑given talent you’ve been given.
 
I wasn’t advancing with the sport like I needed to.  It all comes around knowing what to do in all the different situations, whether it’s team meetings, interviews afterwards, whether it’s in Victory Lane when you’re going to go down and spray the team owner because he’s the one that gave you that chance.  It’s knowing what to do in all situations.
Q.  Gene, looking back when you ran a few races with Jack Sprague, John Andretti, the like, did you ever think you’d be sitting here with two champions on your roster, a regular Chase contender, and somebody who is the best‑marketed driver in all of auto sports?
GENE HAAS:  No.  When I started this thing, I always had an interest in racing.  Even going to high school, I used to machine magnesium wheels for a company called LaGrande Racecars in North Hollywood.  I’ve been racing cars most of my life.  When I started out in 2002, Joe Custer and myself, we ventured out, talked to some NASCAR teams, Bill Davis Racing, we were already working with Rick Hendrick.  Rick kind of looked at me and said, I don’t even know why you’d want to do something like this.  You’re totally insane to get into NASCAR racing.  If you want to get into it, I’ll help you.  That was really the start of it.
 
A lot of people can sit home and watch TV, some of us like to go out and do other things.  Whether I failed at it or not, that wasn’t the point.  The point was just doing it.  That’s what I’ve always done.  I never really thought that I could be in a league with Rick and the other teams.  But we are.  I guess we’re getting there.  To be honest with you, it doesn’t really feel that much different.  If you say it is, I guess it is.
 
Quite frankly, I won one championship with Tony.  It felt good.  I’d like to do it again maybe a couple more times.
Q.  You mentioned about the trophy.  How much did winning that make you more willing to make the kind of financial commitment like you are today?  Did it whet your appetite a little bit more?
GENE HAAS:  Well, winning the trophy was bittersweet.  I think there was a lot of work that went into it, and it felt really good to win that.  Once you win it, it’s like, What do we do next?
 
There’s always another challenge.  That’s what I like to do, is figure out what that next challenge is.  Once we won that trophy, it would be nice to have another one.  Not so much maybe win the trophy, but to put an organization together that can win it.
 
With Kurt Busch, I saw an opportunity.  Even though Tony was incapacitated, I couldn’t really talk to him about it, I just decided it was something that was too good to pass up.
 
So I think winning the trophy means a lot, but it also means a lot to have an organization that can back it up and do it again.  A lot of people, stupid luck to do it the first time.  If you do it the second or third time, maybe we have something here.  That’s what it is.  It’s very rewarding to be able to put together an organization that can accomplish something like that.
 
I have to be honest with you, by my nature, I’m not a very organized person, not good at putting things together.  In my own strange way, I have some talents that I’m very good at.  It’s a matter of figuring out what you’re good at, getting it done.  I can’t drive a car, but I can have a winning team to go with that car.  The fun part is trying to find the people to make it work, the personalities that go along with it.  All the people that work here, from the guys that drive the trucks all the way up to the crew chiefs and owners, are all personalities, and when it works, it’s a lot of fun.
Q.  Greg, the expectation is that you are going to hire Rodney Childers to be Kevin’s crew chief.  Can you say where you are in that process?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  We’re still working on that.  I feel like we’re in a good spot, but we don’t have it done yet honestly.  Hopefully in the next week to 10 days it will be done and official.
Q.  Gene, is Tony hooked in like he is with some of the races listening to the press conference?  You made some jokes a while ago.  Really addressing the issue of this organization and Tony coming back next year from his injury, is there some type of a risk here, anything behind the scenes that people are speculating about?
GENE HAAS:  I’m sure Tony is watching it.  How you doing, Tony (smiling)?
 
I don’t know.  To be honest with you, I can’t really think about too many times that we’ve had too many riffs.  We both like doing this.  We both want to win.  We’re kind of pointed in the same direction.
 
To sit there and say we’re at odds…  The only thing we could be at odds at is do we have enough money, enough resources.  Those are more logistics to figure out.  The primary goal here of winning races, kicking butt, that’s what we do, that’s what we want to do.  That primary goal is my goal. It’s to put together an organization.
 
I can guarantee Tony doesn’t really care squat about money.  I don’t really care that much about it.  It’s an important measure.  But we’re using the money to accomplish something bigger than the money, and that’s to win races.  These races are incredibly hard to win.  There’s so much competition out there.  Tony is a diehard racer, Kurt Busch is, Kevin is, I assume Danica is a diehard racer.  That’s just what we do.  We don’t know what else to do.
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Tony was very much in favor of the fourth team.  What Tony was against was us trying to get it done for next year.  Just so you don’t read anything more into it.
 
I had a couple weeks to process it, spend time with Gene and Joe, talk about it.  Tony was in the hospital.  Tony didn’t know the discussions
that were going on.  When we all met and talked about it and assured him we would do our best to make sure things didn’t slip through the cracks, it took him a couple days to process it.  I was like, Are you kidding me?
 
But it’s an opportunity of a lifetime for a race team to have a caliber of a driver like this.  I know he’s very excited about it now.  But it’s a little overwhelming when you’re first hit with it.
Q.  Gene approached you at the Chevrolet dinner about getting this done for next year, is that correct?
KURT BUSCH:  We talked when we were at dinner, but it was more about how I could sell more of his machines to Barney.  That’s really how the discussion was going.
 
When you have chances to be in front of people, you’re working on developing relationships.  At the Chevrolet dinner, when everybody is there to sit down and just talk about what’s going on at Indy, we just sit there and we’re talking about racing.
Q.  When he popped the question, as it were, what was the emotion?
KURT BUSCH:  He didn’t pop it.  He sent his dirty work guys in there to do that.
 
No, I got a phone call on a Monday after a race.  Looking at different things in life.  I’m unboxing things I got shipped back from South America when we went on our vacation in the July off week.  I got this bowl that I really liked.  It came in a thousand pieces when I got it back.  So I’m gluing it together with super glue along with Patricia.  The phone is ringing.  It’s not a number I recognize, it’s Monday, I should take it.
 
It’s a real story every driver talks about when they get a call from an owner.  That’s the most exciting phone call you could ever receive.  There’s a thousand guys they could have called and I’m glad they called me.