CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: 18-Hour Report
Both Compuware Corvettes persevering through safety car periods
 
LE MANS, France (June 23, 2012) – Through three-quarters of the world’s greatest road racing, Corvette Racing’s two Compuware Corvette C6.Rs continued to persevere through the night and into the daytime. At the end of 18 hours, Tommy Milner ran seventh in GTE Pro and Jan Magnussen was eighth in the class.
 
The race likely will be remembered for the number of safety car periods – nine so far, to be exact. Both Jordan Taylor in the No. 73 Compuware Corvette and Oliver Gavin in the No. 74 spent most of their night driving in more changing conditions with a mix of dry and wet track to go along with cool temperatures and wind.
 
Things weren’t much different for Richard Westbrook during his night-time stint in the No. 74 and Antonio Garcia in the No. 73. Adding to the disrupted flow of the race was the duration of the safety car periods due to repairs to safety barriers and walls throughout the first 18 hours.
 
The next Corvette Racing update will be following the race at 3 p.m. local time/9 a.m. ET.
 
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“This was probably one of the trickiest stints in my life, because when I got in it was raining on the first third of the track and the rest of the track was dry, so we went on the dry-and-wet tires. That was just super difficult, trying to keep heat in the tires in one section and overheating them in the next. We then put on slicks and tried to figure out how fast we could go on those. Once we got into a rhythm the car was good and quick, and we just tried to maintain our pace without making any mistakes.”
 
RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“It’s definitely not been a typical Le Mans, that’s for sure. I’m not sure what the deal is with the safety barriers … it seems that if anyone touches them we have a long safety car period. It’s disrupting the flow of the race – stop, start, stop, start. The tires get cold and take awhile to warm up and sometimes you don’t really get going on the rest of your stint after a safety car. Sure it’s frustrating but it’s the same for everyone. Our plan is the same – to keep going and see how things are at the end. I don’t know the history books, but I’d guess (the number of safety cars) would be a record. And they’ve all been long ones as well. I was in for three hours during the night and it felt like two hours were behind the safety car. I think it was 45 minutes but you’re bored and you want to go. But there is a reason for them and the organizers do have our safety in mind.”

Helio Castroneves and Will Power Finish One-Two in Pole-Qualifying Heat Race at Iowa Speedway
Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Drivers Claim Top-Four Finishing Positions in Unique Format to Set Line-up for Iowa Corn Indy 250
                                                                                                                                                                                          
Newton, Iowa – (June 22, 2013) Helio Castroneves earned the number one starting position for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 by turning the fastest time in single-lap qualifying, which put him on the pole of Qualifying Heat Race No. 3. The driver of the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet led from green flag to checkered flag in the final of the three 50-lap “Heat”, races which set the field for tomorrow’s race at Iowa Speedway.
 
Will Power brought the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet to the checkered in second behind his teammate in Race No. 3.  However, the result of an unapproved engine change for Castroneves’ car, Power will slide over to the pole position for the start of the race. Castroneves will start 11th with the 10-grid position penalty.
 
“Team Chevy continued to demonstrate some depth of strength tonight during qualifying at Iowa Speedway, carrying some momentum from Milwaukee,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series.  “The heat race format used to set the grid is unique to Iowa and this year added driver’s championship points to the qualifying process.  We are very proud of the five different Chevrolet teams that secured spots in the top ten to start the race tomorrow afternoon.  Based on the 50 lap heat races tonight, it looks like setup, great pit stops and tire management will be keys to success tomorrow. “
 
Andretti Autosport teammates James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet, and Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet finished third and fourth respectively in the 50-lap run for the pole.
 
Also earning top-10 starting positions for Team Chevy are Ed Carpenter, Tony Kanaan and Oriol Servia.
Sunday’s 250 lap/218.75-mile race will be televised live at beginning at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on ABC TV.  It will also be broadcast live by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211, www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 13 App for most smartphones and tablets.
 
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER: ON WINNING THE POLE:
“It’s really welcome, to be honest. I’m very excited for what we achieved. The car is really good. We were watching the other ones in the first heat and second heat so we can learn something. It’s the toughest one because you want to make some change, but you don’t know what. And, but it was in the end, the right decision what we did, again. So this weekend seems that we’re making the right choice on the changing of the car.”
 
ARE YOU NOT 100% HAPPY WITH YOUR CAR?
“You guys (the media) are going to find out very soon what’s going on. Hopefully; yeah, you guys are going to find out very soon.
 
“I might be overpowered. That’s what I’m saying. I’m going to try to make sure I get my voice heard.”
 
 WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND: ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP AND RACE: “Practice, really came on there during the race so, yeah, happy with second. I had a moment when I crossed the bottom line there in (Turns 1 and 2) and had a big moment, and then I just decided to settle for second. But the car was very solid. Obviously we have to go back and work on this. Hopefully we’ll have a good car tomorrow and another good result because we keep chipping away on the points.”
 
YOU ARE MAKING GREAT PROGRESS ON THE OVALS. TALK ABOUT THAT: “Yeah, the ovals have been my best results this year. And I haven’t been slow on the ovals, I’ve just had rotten luck you could say. There’s always a reason for some sort of mistake. But in the past years, that’s been the case. But, definitely I’m having fun on ovals this year and enjoying them and hopefully I can bring a good result for the team.”
 
DID THOSE LAPS HELP YOU MORE ABOUT WHAT THE CAR CAN DO FOR TOMORROW, EVEN THOUGH THE CONDITIONS MAY BE DIFFERENT? “Yeah, they did. Definitely. It definitely gives you a bit of a heads-up of what your problems are or where your car is strong and where you can run in traffic, and so on. I don’t think the conditions will be much different tomorrow. I hope it doesn’t cool down any because the cars are just stuck. I mean, they’re just stuck. So, if you ever had a moment or you went in the wall it’s just going to be so hard. I just think that the downforce is too much. Although, it’s helping me. I’m enjoying it.”
 
THIS IS SIX TRIPS FOR TEAM PENSKE TO IOWA. YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN STRONG. THIS IS AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY FOR PENKSE TO GET THAT FIRST WIN “Yeah, you can never tell in these races. There are so many competitive people. But, hopefully; I really need to gain some points on those guys, Helio and Hunter-Reay, and everyone in front of me. There are a lot of people in front of me. But at some point, the championship is going to become out of reach. But, I’m not racing with a head like that. I’m just racing smart and getting a solid result each weekend.”
 
DO YOU LIKE THE WAY INDYCAR HAS SET UP THE POLICY TO BRING YOUR PIT LOCATION FROM THE PREVIOUS QUALIFYING? HOW DOES THAT AFFECT YOU? “It’s a method. It’s good for me, I think. Solid qualifying results, I’m always up the front. But yeah, I’ve had my fair share of pit lane incidents in the past and it’s usually due to the fact that you’re back there around people you’re not used to being around.”
 
ANY THOUGHTS ON YOUR TEAMMATE A.J. ALMINDINGER CELEBRATING HIS NATIONWIDE VICTORY? “We’re real happy for him. I know how seriously he takes racing and how down he gets when he doesn’t do well. He puts everything into it. So, I’m really happy for him. It’s actually his first NASCAR win. So, everything that he’s gone through it’s just brilliant to see him win a race and Roger too, who is enjoying his vacation with a win in the heat race and a NASCAR win. So hopefully I can do us another one tomorrow, too; and we can do it here.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD: “The GoDaddy car was great. Huge credit to the Andretti (Autosport) guys because they gave us a car we could move up. We didn’t see a lot of guys making passes today, and we were able to move up from where we started. It’s a shame we lost that position to Will (Power) there with about 20 (laps) to go – I would have liked an outside starting spot (for tomorrow’s race)… We’re certainly in the ballpark. Helio (Castroneves) has been quick all weekend, and we know where we are relative to him so we just have to keep our heads down, make a couple changes for tomorrow and hopefully we can be there.”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC
COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 4TH: “I think we were a little conservative in the Heat Race with the RC (Cola) car. We ran a little more of a (race day) car and we could have been more aggressive – that kind of hurt us. In the end of the stint we would have started moving forward but it was too late. Starting fourth isn’t all bad though… we’ve done it (won) here from 17th.”
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 6TH: “We missed the balance a little bit in qualifying.  We had a little too much understeer.  It’s too bad it’s not a night race because it helps with the grip in the race. It will be a little more slick in the day and will probably be more of a one-groove track.  It’s easier for a second groove to open up at night.  I think more people will run the second grove in the race because there is more banking.  Then the low grove won’t be as good in the race.  You are drafting all of the time here.  It’s non-stop drafting.  This is one of the most physical tracks that we run. Iowa is a little less physical that it used to be because the grip level isn’t as high.  But it is still a very tough race.   We were not too good in our first heat race tonight.  We tried something different.  It wasn’t very good and I felt fortunate to transfer to the final heat.   But the Fuzzy’s Vodka crew busted their butts to make some quick changes in between the heats and the car was much better in the final heat.  We ran 100 laps today and I think we learned some things for Sunday’s race.  Unfortunately, it will be in the heat of the day.  So I’m hoping our changes in the final heat will help us on Sunday.  I definitely feel better about our Fuzzy’s Chevy now.”

ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 10TH:  “Tenth is definitely good for us, and you’ve seen the way things can go here with people going back and forth, so it’s not a bad place to start. Today we really accomplished what we wanted in the NationalGuard Chevy with a little bit of a race sim to see where the car is going to go. I felt very good in qualifying and in practice, we were just a little bit off (in the heat race) but that’s what this is good for; it gives us a chance to get it better for tomorrow. Honestly, the car felt good it just had a little too much understeer, which is the better evil to have and to solve. So I feel pretty good about tomorrow.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 SUNOCO “TURBO” KV RACING TECHNOLOGY – SH RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 8TH: “The car was good in the beginning of the race, but we developed some understeer as the laps came in. The good thing is that we found out about the problem tonight, so we have some time to work on the situation and I am confident we will be ready to race tomorrow.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14TH: “You know, it was way off the mark.  We’ve been sitting on our own thumbs all day today.  We just missed it today.  No. 1 DHL team will have to regroup and come back tomorrow because we’re starting buried in the pack.  We gave up points today.  An important day and we just missed it a bit.  It’s to fight another day and that’s tomorrow.”

E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 19TH: “Very difficult day for me today. I believe we didn’t get all of our factors together. Qualifying was really not the best, and then in the Heat we were lacking plenty of grip so we lost some positions. That is not a huge issue – I started from the same place in the back and have made it all the way to the front in the past, and that could also happen tomorrow.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO.  6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET,

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET,

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 23RD: “I’m really disappointed. The team’s been working really hard, but we’ve been fighting with the car since the second practice in Milwaukee. The car was great in the first practice there, but since then we haven’t been able to get it back to where we need it to be. It’s really frustrating. I know it’s there, because it was awesome in Texas as well. We’ll make some changes again tonight and hopefully get a good car for tomorrow’s race. We really want to go out and put on a good show for the Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsors that are here this weekend. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Halfway Report
Compuware Corvette fighting the good fight through 12 hours
 
LE MANS, France (June 22, 2013) – The halfway point of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has come and gone, and Corvette Racing remains in the GTE Pro fight after 12 Hours. The No. 74 Compuware Corvette C6.R with Richard Westbrook at the wheel ran seventh at the race’s midpoint. In the No. 73, Antonio Garcia was completing a triple-stint just before the 12-hour mark and sat eighth.
 
Garcia took over for Jan Magnussen, who had a double-stint to open his second round of the event. Jordan Taylor began the run from hour seven through 12 with a triple-stint as well. Luck didn’t appear to be with Magnussen, Taylor and Antonio Garcia. The trio found itself beset by being separated from its other GT competitors by the safety car on three consecutive yellow-flag periods.
 
Bad fortune also followed the No. 74 Corvette at the half-way point. It ran seventh in class despite having to pit twice for suspected tire issues and once for what Westbrook and Oliver Gavin said felt like a fuel pressure issue. The crew uploaded a fix to the ECU to help manage the engine under acceleration, which corrected the problem.
 
Tommy Milner ran a double-stint into darkness with a different tire compound on his Michelin tires, which helped him keep pace with the rest of the field.
 
The next Corvette Racing update will be an 18-hour report at 9 a.m. local time/3 a.m. ET.
 
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“I had a good two-and-a-half stints with a caution in the middle, which we used to change the brake pads. We tried some different tIre compounds, which went well. Right now we’re just trying to keep it within one lap (of the leaders) and on the track without making any mistakes, and see where we are when the sun comes back.”
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“I just spent four hours in the car, mainly because of the lengthy safety car period which allowed me to stay in longer. The car feels better. I had the class leader in front me in my first stint, and then the second- and third-place cars in my second stint and in both cases I could easily follow them. We don’t have the pace to catch and pass them, but we can follow them and put in some decent laps. Now it starts raining again, and I know what it’s like at this point in the race for it reminds of 2008, but I must say I’m happy I can have a rest now instead.”
 
RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“Those were pretty small problems that haven’t hurt us too much. We have a great crew and they turned it around quickly. We highlighted the problem with what felt like a fuel pressure issue, and they got that fixed really quickly. We also had a rear tire issue, which happens at Le Mans. There is a lot of debris. Our plan is to keep going around. We will see where that takes us.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“We went to a different compound tire and the car feels better in the nighttime than in the daytime. The track is fully dry, and that plays a part in it. The car felt better and was more competitive so we won’t lose as much time as before. Antonio was doing a (3):57 and I was doing (3):58s. Right now that is comparable to what everyone else is doing. That’s encouraging but we are still quite a ways down. If we can run with some of the faster GT cars, at least we can keep up with them. If nothing else, we can use their speed to make us go faster.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA/SAVE MART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 22, 2013
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
CONGRATULATIONS YOU GET TO START UP FRONT ARE YOU SURPRISED?
“A little bit.  We were second and fifth in practice so consistently we have had a really good car this weekend.  The No. 42 has been really good all weekend.  So you know you have a chance, but the deal is Juan (Pablo Montoya) and Marcos (Ambrose) are able to pull these crazy laps out when they need to.  We were just able to put it all together today.  That is really cool.  This is a really fun event.  The race is really fun, it’s just that this place can get a little bit frustrating at the end of the race if they have a late-race restart.  It’s always wild in turn four and turn seven.  I have been on the good end of it and I’ve been on the bad end of it.  Hopefully, we just put it all together tomorrow.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SEALY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
“We’ll take it, seventh is a good starting spot,” said Busch.  “We had a good weekend so far with two strong practice sessions yesterday in our Furniture Row Chevrolet.  We need to go out there tomorrow, have some fun, avoid trouble, stay clean and get the finish our performance deserves. Fuel mileage will be critical as it always is here.”   

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“I think that track conditions are fairly similar to yesterday.  It is getting a little bit warmer, but when we made our qualifying run it was in the afternoon yesterday so it might have been similar.  All in all a good run for the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet.  On a road course there is always places where you can gain time and lose time.  I feel like the lap overall was a good lap except for turn 11.  I just got in there and got real tight. That costs us a little bit of time, but hopefully we end up 10th, 11th, or something like that.”
 
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR PACKAGE FOR SUNDAY?
“We have raced really well here in the past.  I’m certainly optimistic and looking forward to the challenges.  This car is a little bit different than what we had.  Trying to figure out what this car needs balance wise for the race is still going to be determined throughout the race tomorrow.”

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“We’re definitely getting better. We’ve made gains each time we’ve been on the racetrack. And compared to where we’ve started in years past, we’re actually ahead of the game this year. Steve (Addington, crew chief) and the guys have worked really hard — here and at the shop — to bring a Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevy that’ll we’ll be able to work with on Sunday.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 RHEEM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 12TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“It was a decent lap.  I definitely left a couple of tenths out on the race track in a few corners, but all in all our goal was to run faster than what we did in practice.  We were able to pick up half a second and wound up with a decent lap.  We just didn’t want to dig ourselves a hole.  Driver definitely left some out there.  The car is running good.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 15TH
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“It felt pretty good, especially on that first lap. I was just a little bit tight. But it felt all right. We had a little pick-up from yesterday, so that was good. I think we’re going to have a better car in race trim Sunday than what it’s shown so far this weekend. We made some good progress yesterday and I’m looking forward to the race. I don’t know. Hopefully the longer it runs, the better we are.”
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/MOEN CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 16TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“We made some gains from yesterday’s practice sessions. We fought a loose-off condition, but we’ve improved on it. We just need to take it another step further. We’ve tried a lot of different setups on our Moen/Menards Chevrolet, but we still have some tricks up our sleeve for tomorrow.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“This is not going to be the pole. It’s just nice to get this interview right now and talk about my Lowe’s Chevrolet. But we’ll do what we can to manage what we can and try to find some more speed in this Lowe’s Chevy.”
 
WAS THAT ABOUT AS PERFECT A LAP AS YOU CAN EXPECT?
“Looking at the speed we are not in the 15’s yet and I think the pole is going to be the mid to low 15’s.  I think we are missing a big chunk of pace there.  We out ran everybody that went out ahead of us, which we should.  We will just see where we stack up.  I don’t think it’s going to be… we will be lucky if it’s top-10.  I think there are some real fast laps getting ready to come down out there.”
 
HOW ABOUT THE CAR IN RACE TRIM?
“We are fair.  We don’t have a ton of pace for whatever reason.  I think all four of us in the Hendrick cars are wanting a little bit more.  We picked a good direction to go here with our race car for qualifying.  I think we will be able to build on that and take it into tomorrow’s race.  We are not off to the start we wanted here in Sonoma, but there is still an evening to think things through and get ready for a race.”

JACQUES VILLENEUVE, NO. 51 TAG HEUER AVANT-GARDE EYEWEAR CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 22ND
“It just wasn’t quick enough. It was a lot better than yesterday. We improved the car overnight and I was discovering it and I just didn’t drive aggressive enough on the first lap so there was still a little bit of time, but at least my car was a lot better today. They worked hard. I was discovering everything yesterday and so far, it’s been run.”
 
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO BE FASTER FOR SUNDAY?
“Well, tomorrow is a whole different ballgame because it’s race trim and we have to have the car survive for a lot of laps and we don’t know. We have to talk about it.”
 
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE COMMENTS THAT DRIVERS DON’T WANT YOU BEHIND THEM BECAUSE YOU ARE SO AGGRESSIVE?
“Well, that’s a good thing because then maybe people would open the door. Their outlook on me is a little bit biased. I’m not as aggressive as they think. So I think it’s just an image that has happened and was built and it got out of control and I’m not sure why.”
 
SO YOU’RE NOT LOOKING TO DRIVE THAT WAY?
“No, no. If you can fight for the win, you drive more aggressively; mostly if you get taken off during that race then you have to make your way back through the field and that’s what happened in the last couple of years. I got taken out from the lead on the last lap and everybody thought that was great. So, I didn’t drive any more aggressively than anybody else out there but the image I got out of it was quite extreme.”
 
DID YOU SEE THE CRASH AT LE MANS TODAY?
“No, I just saw the sad news when I got here at the track and I wasn’t following it. Racing is still dangerous and I think people tend to forget about it. Mostly the younger drivers, the new generation that come into racing, they don’t realize that it’s still dangerous. And it is. But we don’t expect it. I think that all those races where you change drivers during the race; you don’t have a proper seat. You’re not sitting properly in the belts and it makes it that little bit more dangerous.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 26TH
HOW DO YOU LIKE THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT?
“This is the way they should have done it for years. It’s a lot easier to get everyth
ing done and get everything accomplished and it gives us a little bit more exciting session to watch. So, I’m all for it.”
 
HOW WAS YOUR LAP? DID YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS?
“Oh, just that the car is a little bit on the tight side, but we had great speed. We’ll just have to try to take care of our car and do the best we can in the race. We should be okay if we can just do everything right.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION 30TH ANNIVERSARY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 30TH
ON THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT:
“The format didn’t change anything for us. You used to get an opportunity to get a second lap, which worked sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. So everybody’s got an equal shot to make the best of it.”
 
HOW IS YOUR CAR?
“It’s always been loose. We rarely have it tight here. The tire is a challenge, but everybody’s got the same challenge and we’ll keep working on it.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 31ST
ON HER QUALIFYING RUN:
“We picked up from practice. It was loose, especially in the faster part of the course. But we improved from yesterday and the GoDaddy guys have worked really hard this weekend. Hopefully we have a good day on Sunday.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA/SAVE MART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 22, 2013
 
 
MCMURRAY CAPTURES POLE FOR SUNDAY’S ROAD COURSE RACE AT SONOMA
SEVEN TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS WILL START IN TOP 15
 
SONOMA, CA – June 22, 2013 – Jamie McMurray took advantage of the new qualifying format at Sonoma Raceway to put his No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet SS on the pole with a fast speed of 94.986 mph for Sunday’s Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. It was McMurray’s ninth Cup career pole, and the first of the 2013 season. He was also the pole winner at Sonoma in 2007.
 
The new qualifying format for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, used previously in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, featured eight groups of five or six cars each; and the drivers had five minutes to post their best lap around the 1.99-mile road course. McMurray was in the eighth group.
 
“It was all-around really good and our car has been good,” said McMurray. “Speed for this team really hasn’t been an issue. We’ve had plenty of speed; it’s just been about the last ten percent of the races and getting that finish. But hopefully we can get our bad luck out of the way and have a really good result this weekend. The truth is, I don’t really care if I lead the first lap tomorrow. I want to be there at the end. And this race, a lot of times comes down to the last restart and not getting in trouble. So, we’ll just dig and fight all day and I think our car will have enough speed. It will just be about not making any mistakes.”
 
Starting behind McMurray on Sunday will be six Team Chevy drivers in the Top-15 positions of the 43-car field.  Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet SS – 7th, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevy SS – 10th, Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS – 11th, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Rheem Chevy SS – 12th, Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS – 13th, and Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevy SS will start 15th.
 
Rounding out the top five starters, Marcos Ambrose (Ford) qualified second; Carl Edwards (Ford) qualified third, Greg Biffle (Ford) will start fourth, and Clint Bowyer (Toyota) qualified fifth.
 
The Save-Mart 350 will take the green flag on Sunday, June 23rd at 3:00 p.m. ET (12:00 noon, PT) and will be aired live on TNT.
 
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT AND YOUR THOUGHTS OUT THERE ON HOW TODAY WENT:
“I thought the qualifying format was really good.  Sonoma has always been a place that you would go down the drag strip and then come out half way down the backstretch.  Whatever they put on the drag strip everybody would always talk about it.  It seemed like it made the tires greasy for the first couple of corners.  I thought it was good that we got to pull out just like we do in practice.  You gap yourself with the guys in front of you, take it pretty easy and it was very similar to practice which I thought was good.  Sitting down there as a fan listening to the commentator getting to have five cars on the track, six cars on the track, I thought it was good.  It made it a little more interesting.  It wasn’t just one guy and the guy trying to commentate about one person on the track.  I thought it was good.  It was cool how people would bump each other off.  It was a good format.”
 
BACK AT RICHMOND YOU MENTIONED THIS TRACK IS ONE OF THE ONES THAT YOU WERE REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IN TALKING ABOUT HOW THE SEASON HAS BEEN IMPROVING.  BY STATS ON I THINK YOUR FINISHING AVERAGE IS 17.1, BUT YOU DID FINISH SECOND ONCE.  WHY WERE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO COMING HERE?
“Well, this has always been performance wise a really good track for me in qualifying.  I’ve qualified well here a lot.  I feel like I’ve raced really well here.  For me the last restarts have always got me.  Whether it is someone dive bombing you in turn seven and wiping you out.  I’ve made a mistake on the last lap here and lost a lot of spots.  When they have a restart at this track guys go from the top-five to 30th in a matter of about 20 seconds.  It can be a track that if they have a caution at the end you can lose a lot.  I just have always looked forward to Sonoma.  It’s one of the funnier tracks that we come to.  I don’t know that the road racers like this as much as they do Watkins Glen.  I really enjoy coming here.”
 
TALK ABOUT THE GEN-6 CAR AND THE FIRST TIME AT THIS TRACK, WHAT ARE YOU FEELING ARE THE DIFFERENCES ARE, WHAT IS BETTER, WHAT IS NOT?
“I expected the times to be quite a bit quicker coming here.  The tire that we are on this year when we did our testing this tire was a fait bit faster than the tire we ran last year.  This car is quite a bit quicker than the car from last year.  It feels better here.  The slow corners aren’t much different, but the faster high speed esses.  The car has a lot more grip, feels a lot more balanced.  I don’t know why the times aren’t any quicker.  Overall I think if we didn’t do lap times everyone would tell you that we are going quite a bit quicker.  Just the track must be worn out quite a bit more than last year.  The car is really good.  When we did our testing at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) we ran significantly faster than we did with last year’s car testing.  The car is really good.  The car has been good at every track we have been to so far.”
 
WHAT WEAR DO YOU THINK ARE ON THE TIRES WITH THIS CAR AND HOW DO YOU THINK THE STRATEGY IS GOING TO BE FOR NUMBER OF PIT STOPS?
“I remember sitting on the pole here last time and not sleeping the whole night worried about pit strategy and what we were going to do.  I got to turn one and I ran off the track and I came out about 35th or 40th and it didn’t matter.  Honestly, my answer to you would be that I don’t know and I’m not going to worry about it.  I’m going to let everyone else worry about it and I’m just going to do what they tell me.”
 
CARL (EDWARDS) TALKED ABOUT MISSING A FEW POINTS DURING HIS LAP.  MARCOS (AMBROSE) CAME IN AND SAID HIS ENGINE STALLED.  WAS THAT LAP THE BEST YOU COULD HAVE POSSIBLY DONE?
“No, when you go to oval tracks there are a lot of times you come in and you say ‘that is just it that is all I had.’  Here every corner there is a little bit that you can improve. When I sat on the pole here in 2009 I think, 2010, I remember when the lap was over thinking ‘I didn’t drive hard enough.  I should have driven harder.’  It ended up being the pole.  So when my lap started today as I was waiting on the No. 56, had an oil leak or something.  As that car was sitting there, you run through, especially at a road course for me, I run through the lap and my shifting points and what I needed to do. It’s a little bit harder this year because we didn’t just end practice and then get to do qualifying.  You haven’t been in the car until your lap starts.  I was like I remember that and I’m just going to go out and take whatever this car will give me.  I’m not going to push it to the very edge, because the trying to gain the every little bit can cost you a half second if you drop a tire off or if you get loose.  I drove at about 95 percent and I just kept it on the track.  I just had it all put together.”
 
EIGHT WINNERS THE LAST EIGHT YEARS OUT HERE, DOES THAT INSPIRE YOU AT ALL?  ARE YOU THINKING MAYBE THIS COULD BE YOUR YEAR?
“Yeah, when you look at this race it seems like every year out here somebody wins that you didn’t feel like was a good road racer.  All of a sudden you are like that guy is a good road racer because he has won.&
nbsp; This track has produced a lot of guys that I think historically haven’t run well on road courses.  Tomorrow it will be about the No. 9 and No. 42.  I think the No. 15 was really good in practice, but the race is long enough and there is usually a little bit of drama at this track.  It’s really about kind of being in position and if it is your day it will work out.  If it’s not, there is not a lot you can do about it.  Yeah, I feel really good about our car for tomorrow.  I think our pace was a fourth to eighth place car.  I think that is all you really have to have in order to put yourself in a position to win.”
 
DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF UNDER RATED AS A ROAD RACER?  WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT THE PROGRESS THAT EARNHARDT GANASSI RACING IS MAKING THIS YEAR?
“Yeah, I don’t consider anything with my ability versus someone else’s. It just is what it is.  Certainly that is just someone’s opinion.  What I will tell you about our race team is I remember sitting in here a year ago with Juan (Pablo Montoya) when we made the announcement we were going to run the Indy GRAND-AM race.  We talked about everything that was going on with making our cars better. They have just done an amazing job.  Juan and I were talking about it yesterday between practices about the cars don’t necessarily feel better on the track, but the times are better in relation to everybody.  Coming out here I was really confident because every track we have been to we have had really good speed and we have run really well.  We haven’t been able to necessarily get the finishes in the last 10 percent of the race, but it hasn’t really been anything that we have done wrong.  Feel really good about our cars and really just about any track that we go to now.”
 
LAST TIME YOU WERE ON THE POLE YOU FINISHED 37TH.  WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TO AVOID A SIMILAR FATE THIS TIME?
“The last time I was on the pole I remember not only worrying about pit strategy, but staying up all night wanting to lead the first lap.  I think Robby Gordon was second.  Robby would be really aggressive on the start.  I believe I ran off in the first corner and came off the first corner in last.  Then when I got to turn seven they had a wreck and I ripped the fenders off my car.  You know what I’m not worried about it.  It’s just about getting through that last pit stop hoping that your fuel mileage is good enough.  This is a fuel mileage race always.  I’m not really thinking back to the last time we were on the pole.  It’s really just about the last few races and kind of the way it’s played out.”
 
DO YOU STILL FEEL LIKE THE ORGANIZATION IS MAKING FORWARD PROGRESS AS WE GET DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO THE SEASON?
“Yeah, absolutely, when we went to Richmond and I think that is what you are referring to the conversations we had there.  We were running 10th with two laps to go and felt really good about that because that historically hasn’t been a good track for us.  A top 10 would have been great.  Cautions came out because of where I was pitted we elected to stay out on the race track which ended up being a horrible decision.  We went from 10th with a couple of laps to go to being second on the green-white-checkered to finishing 25th.  Charlotte we were running 10th and had a radiator break and it ripped a hole in the oil line which is I don’t know 40 laps to go. I think we ended up finishing 18th out of that, just because of the other cars that had broken.  At Dover we were running in the top-10 had something fall off another car go through the radiator.  Last week we were running I don’t know eighth or ninth and blew a right-front tire with a few laps to go.  So since Richmond I’ve run better than I did before Richmond, I just haven’t finished.  I told my wife after Dover.  We got on the airplane to come home I said ‘Christy, I don’t believe in luck, I believe you make your own luck, but when something falls off someone else’s car and it goes through your radiator, that is bad luck’.   When you blow a right-front tire and you don’t feel like you did anything wrong that is just bad luck.  I feel like we have been really unlucky, but our cars have been really good.  I tell you that because the morale on our team, not just the No. 1 team, but the No. 42 team, everybody is very excited about what we have going on right now.  We feel like performance wise we are really good.  I think we are better than we were in 2010 when we were able to win all the races. If we are able to put it all together we will win more races this year.” 
 
INAUDIBLE:
“We are definitely better than what we were at Richmond.  The thing that is so good about us this year is that we have been good on superspeedways, we’ve been good on short-tracks, we’ve been good at road courses, and we’ve been good at every kind of race track that we have been to.  Slick tracks, tracks with a lot of grip.  That is what we didn’t have in 2010 was we were good at certain tracks.  We performed extremely well at those, but I think it was the short tracks in 2010 we were terrible at them.  So this year it just all around our performance has been better.”
 
WITH THIS DIFFERENT QUALIFYING FORMAT DID YOU SEE THE CAR IN FRONT OF YOU OR THE CAR BEHIND YOU AT ALL?
“I was fairly fortunate because I was the last car to go out in my group and when I left the pits I asked them where Marcos (Ambrose) was he was the first car.  They said he was just now in turn seven.  So, I rode around, I don’t know, 20 seconds off the pace just take it easy.  When I got to turn seven they said Marcos was just now to the start/finish line, so no I never saw a car the whole time.  I think the qualifying format was a huge success.  I don’t know about the perspective on TV, but from the drivers perspective that was a huge success.” 

JOHN FORCE HOLDS ONTO FUNNY CAR TOP SPOT AT EPPING

EPPING, NH – John Force was not content to just run quick when conditions were ideal at the Inaugural Auto Plus NHRA New England Nationals. On Friday night Force posted the quickest run of the evening session a 4.051 second pass that electrified the crowd and gave him the provisional pole. Today Force was the quickest of both sessions grabbing six more qualifying bonus points and jumping from 9th to 7th in the Mello Yello Funny Car points. In both sessions on Saturday he was the only driver to run in the 4.0s running 4.089 and 4.094 seconds.

Today John Force’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang was the best car in the category but Force is not taking anything for granted going into the first round against rookie Dave Richards.

“We will be racing earlier tomorrow so we will have cloud cover. I think we can win with a 4.05 or 4.08. I don’t race the guy in the lane next to me. Every time I tried to do that it screwed me up. You run the race car the way you always have. Try to do everything the same for consistency. You don’t have to run the quickest times now unless it is crusher conditions,” said Force, who grabbed the top qualifier spot for a record 142nd time in the Funny Car class. “Now you have to race smart and win rounds. If you run the national record you can get 20 points that way but only if it is out there. We won’t know until tomorrow. You go up there with your mind right and anyone can beat you on any given Sunday.”

So far this season Force has raced two other drivers for the first time. In Houston he beat Blake Alexander in the first round and in Atlanta he outran the son of veteran driver Jim Head, Chad. Force continues to bring out the best of himself against the rising stars of the NHRA.

“I raced a kid last week that about whipped me Blake Alexander. I don’t know Dave Richards but I bet he is a young guy and that is the future. As long as he loves it as much as I did he will never quit,” said an energized Force.

“I just wish I was younger so I could be here forever. I love these cars and I love NHRA. These fans are crazy and awesome. We are going to give them a great show here and great TV on ESPN. If anything is my downfall in life is that I love things too much. You give it your whole life and your life goes by you. You wake up one day and ask what happened. The good thing is I have never woken up yet. I wake up and say another race bitchin. I am out here with my kids and I want to drive to show them.”

Richards will be the 136th different driver Force has faced in competition over his career. He is not taking anything for granted and knows that he will get Richards’ best shot. At the top end the winningest driver in NHRA history will accept whatever race outcome awaits him.

“I am just going to say, ‘Kid I wish you luck and I wish I was your age.’ I’ll be right there on the tree with you and may the best man win. If he beats me I will walk right over there and shake his hand. That is what it is all about,” said Force.

“Losing fuels me more than winning. I have to keep my energy up when I am winning but losing makes me a tiger. I go back to the pits and look at my race cars, talk to my people and I fight my way out of that hole. I have had fans come up and say this ain’t the John Force we knew. I was a leaker. That was the good ole days when we would sleep five guys in a hotel room.”

Force is joined in the top five in qualifying by daughter Courtney Force, No. 3 and son-in-law Robert Hight, No. 5.

Courtney Force wrapped up qualifying in her Traxxas Ford Mustang today and is sitting solidly in the No. 3 spot going into Sunday’s eliminations. She will go up against fellow female driver and No. 14 qualifier Alexis DeJoria in the opening round.

In the first session of qualifying today, Force smoked the tires at 330 feet and shut down early on a track nearing 125 degrees, but came out for the second session and drove her Traxxas Ford Mustang to a 4.287 ET at over 228 mph.

“We got qualified in the No. 3 spot on Friday night so we went out there today to see how quick we could get the car to go down in the heat for tomorrow. We were on a good pass in the second session, but it was moving around on me so it spun the tires and we couldn’t quite get it down there,” said Force.

Force did not improve from her 4.083 she posted on Friday evening at New England Dragway, but made a good, important run in the heat of the day.

“When we ran that 4.28 today we were actually on a run better than Friday night’s session. We were actually really excited about Q4 it just couldn’t get all the way down there. We’re hoping for some good weather tomorrow and we’ll just have to see what this Traxxas Ford Mustang can do,” said Force.

Force is 2-1 to DeJoria in previous match-ups.

Robert Hight is excited to get to the track tomorrow even if he has to race his friendly rival Del Worsham. Last weekend it was Del who had the better qualified Funny Car when the pair matched up and Worsham outran Hight. Tomorrow Hight will bring an improved AAA Ford Mustang to the starting line. His No. 5 qualifying time of 4.088 seconds at 313.80 mph gives him some confidence. In the final qualifying session Hight posted the third quickest time picking up a qualifying bonus points and some momentum going into Sunday.

“We are racing Del (Worsham) again in the first round. He will be a tough car for sure but I like our chances. Last night we made a good run and we were right there on the edge today. It rattled pretty hard in the first session. Jimmy and Danny will look at the data and all the crew chiefs will get together. This track has been great and the fans have been unbelievable. I am looking forward to going rounds for AAA Northern New England,” said Hight.

The Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster had the most trouble adjusting to the new track at New England Dragway. The three JFR Funny Cars were getting three times as much information as session as the lone JFR Top Fuel team. Data is critical and as a one dragster team Force and her Dean Antonelli/Eric Lane tuned dragster had a much steeper learning curve. Only Steve Torrence and his Capco team, also a one car team, out qualified Force and the Castrol EDGE dragster. Of the sixteen dragsters that qualified the bottom four were one car teams.

“We got two runs in today. The first one we got down the track and ran a 3.91, so we were happy about that. The Castrol EDGE dragster ended up 13th at the end of the day and I’ll be running Tony Schumacher for first round of eliminations. I’ve ran him before in Las Vegas. I’m excited to be running him again. I’ve been watching him race for years so it’s pretty exciting to be running up against a champion like him. I’m excited and hopefully we kick some butt tomorrow,” said Force.

“I’m happy to be out here. It draws a whole different crowd and the fans just have so much energy. We’ve been out there signing autographs and we did a question and answer session at the AAA display and I couldn’t believe how many people were out there watching and cheering us on. It’s pretty exciting to see how many people are coming out to this event and I think they’re excited we’re here.”

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Six-Hour Report
Compuware Corvettes keeping up fight in opening hours
 
LE MANS, France (June 22, 2013) – The two Compuware Corvette C6.Rs from Corvette Racing ran fifth and ninth in GTE Pro after six hours at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Changing track conditions throughout the opening of the race kept teams throughout the class on their toes.
 
Richard Westbrook ran fifth in the No. 74 Compuware Corvette C6.R one-quarter of the way through the world’s greatest endurance race. All three of drivers in the car – Westbrook, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – drove double-stints, and the car picked up two spots in class from the start of the race. Gavin and Milner weathered changing conditions in the opening four hours that saw intermittent showers mixed with dry but cool periods as well.
 
The No. 73 Compuware Corvette had Jordan Taylor at the wheel for his opening triple-stint at the six-hour mark. A scheduled brake change under one of three safety car periods also left the car a lap down from the class leader but well within striking distance with Taylor chasing down the sixth-place car at the rate of four to five seconds per lap. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia each ran double-stints in the challenging conditions to open the race.
 
The next Corvette Racing update will be a halfway report at 3 a.m. local time/9 p.m. ET.
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“The start obviously wasn’t great because of the accident, so the first stint I spent mostly behind the safety car. When we got going again the car was pretty decent, but after the pitstop I didn’t like the balance of the car so much. Toward the end, in the rain, it felt good but everyone was super-cautious so I managed to make up some time. There is still some work to on the car as we need to make it a bit more comfortable on the second stint on the same tires.”
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“The stints worked out OK, but of course I have mixed feelings. Richard (Westbrook) was the first one I spoke when I got out of the car and he told me straight away about Allan (Simonsen). Everything about the stint I just forgot, those two hours behind the wheel. I feel sad and sorry for the family and friends of Allan. Other than that we’re just doing our race, trying to make the best of it. In the tricky conditions we seem to be able to reduce the deficit to the others quite a bit. We didn’t make any mistakes, which allowed us to gain a few places. At the end I was satisfied with the stint. Maybe the track can come more and more to us during the night.”
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“Those were very difficult conditions. It is one of those situations that you kind of dread. Here you are driving a fast car with very low downforce on slick tires with the rain coming, and it’s one of the most challenge parts of the Le Mans track. Trying to find a tire that suits the entire track when it starts to rain in one spot is impossible. You have to roll your sleeves up and get on with it. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Right at the very start, (the weather) was doing it. I had the dreadful situation of witnessing Allan Simonsen’s crash first-hand. He was right in front of me. I didn’t see the car go into the guardrail but I just knew from the way he went off that it was going to be a huge accident. I sort of saw in the mirror what happened, and it was sickening. But then it was a case of keeping your head back in the game and working through the situation with the restart and changing conditions. The last five to six laps were very difficult and tricky. I always seemed to catch people just as they were coming out of the pits or behind other people who were having problems. It’s all part of the race. We have to keep on going through this and work our way through these situations.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
“The track changed every single lap for my first 14 laps. It was very hard to push. You want to go and push hard but you have to take into consideration the conditions. I had a situation where I went into Turn 1 at 75 percent and should have gone 45 percent. The 2011 race was tough with changing conditions at the end. It was similar to what we have today but there was nowhere as much rain and as much change. It was something like only three or four laps in my stint in 2011 were like that. But this year all 14 felt like they were in dramatically different conditions.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA/SAVE MART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 21, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Sonoma Raceway, and discussed the new qualifying format, racing at Sonoma and other topics. Full transcript:
HOW DO YOU FEEL HEADING INTO THIS WEEKEND WITH THE NEW CAR?
“I feel pretty good.  The weather is obviously great, which is keeping it nice and consistent for us out there. I think we have a little different tire as well, but don’t hold me to that. Just trying to get in tune with what it’s going to take for Sunday as well as for this unique qualifying session that we’re going to experience tomorrow. I felt pretty good. Our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, we were just working on race runs and trying to keep the rear grip in the car, which is something we struggled with here last year as well. Felt like we took off pretty good on runs and then really lost the rear grip and it’s something we’re dealing with again today and some of it is in the setup and some of it is just, that’s Sonoma.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT?
“I’m looking forward to it just because it’s nice to have in the back of your mind knowing that you’ve got a little room for error if you have to run another lap. I think from a time standpoint it makes sense for TV and for the fans that are here to know that it’s kind of a start and stop. I’ve said before, when we get into knock-out qualifying like F1 does, then you’ll see me get pretty excited about doing it this way.”
 
WHAT MAKES A TALENTED DRIVER STRUGGLE ON A ROAD COURSE?
“I’m trying to think of who we are talking about?  Oh, Matt Kenseth. I don’t know, when was the last time a Roush car, basing it off of him being at Roush, but the last time a Roush car won. I don’t know what those stats are. I think a lot of it has to do with your willingness to kind of explore and enjoy the adventure that it is. Then your team has to back that up with the right car, brakes, setup for you to be able to do what you need to do. Matt’s a great driver and I’m sure if the car is where it needs to be then he’ll be a threat for a win on a road course. I wouldn’t necessarily put it on Matt.”
 
HOW DID THE CHANGE IN QUALIFYING FORMAT CHANGE HOW YOU PRACTICED TODAY?  
“We didn’t change anything. I guess if we would have been really far back in our race runs with some of the quicker laps then we might have had to change our game plan and switch it over into qualifying trim to get a little bit higher up in the order. I think our philosophy in looking at it was that it’s not that we need to be in the last group that goes because I think it could be an advantage track condition wise to go out earlier, but you also don’t want to get in too early of a group where somebody is throwing debris out on the track or spinning off and you’re not allowed to get a clean lap in. I really like where we’re at, I believe we’ll be the lead car of the third group. I think that’s perfect, sorry, third from last group. I kind of like where we’re at and we didn’t do anything different. We just did race runs and that’s what we would have typically done. I guess if we just had one practice today and we were going to qualify then we would have run some qualifying runs at the end. I guess that would be the difference. We are going to do some qualifying runs on this next practice.”
 
HOW AWARE ARE YOU OF THE CHASE STANDINGS AND WILD CARD AND IS THIS RACE AN OPPORTUNITY?
“It is. I think we just look at this as an opportunity for us to run well and a chance to win. The bonuses are that it could contribute toward the wild card and help us in the points. Our focus is the same every weekend, we go trying to get the best finish that we can when we have confidence going into a track that we can qualify well, race well then that certainly helps us accomplish our goal. I’ll be honest, last weekend at Michigan I was not really looking forward to qualifying. I’ve struggled at that track qualifying since they repaved it and we struggled again. I was pretty happy with my car when we took off and it was unfortunate that we only made six laps. I feel more confident this weekend that we can qualify inside the top-10 and be a threat to go up there and battle these guys for the win. I think that we learned a lot last year and we were pretty good and we had a few things that we were missing so we’re taking those notes and then adding them to this car and hopefully we can improve over the weekend to be a real threat.”
 
WHAT IS THE ISSUE WITH QUALIFYING?
“I put a lot of it on myself. I think I’ve got to be able to give good information back to the team to help them make adjustments and you have to go out there and be aggressive and if the car just doesn’t feel right and you don’t really have that confidence in it then you’re not going to go out there and go fast. On those types of race tracks particularly like Michigan a repave, really rock hard tire, that’s what I’ve struggled with the last several years. Whether it’s old school, whether it’s me just getting old or we’re just missing something. I’m sure if Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) was here he would say the same thing and that is why we’re able to work through it and go week to week and not tear one another’s heads off because it’s my job to give him confidence that he is doing his job and give me confidence in what I’m doing. We also know it’s something we have to work on. The nice thing about this weekend is it’s more traditional. This is pretty typical tire, typical track. It’s a new car, but not a lot has changed here over the years. You hear me say that a lot, when not a lot has changed we seem to be able to be confident and consistent and competitive at those tracks.”
 
SOME HAVE SPECULATED IT IS THE HARD TIRE THAT IS HARD TO GET USED TO.  DO YOU THINK IT’S MAINLY THAT AND CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE FEEL OR WHY THAT HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR YOU?
“If you took a hard tire to Atlanta it wouldn’t bother me.  If you take a hard tire to a repave where the edge of the grip level is so fine, you are just on a razor’s edge.  That is just not the way that I have traditionally been successful.  There are guys like Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, I think of these guys they just put it out there and Jimmie’s (Johnson) is probably one of the best at running a pretty loose car.  When I think of guys really stepping over that edge I think of those guys.  You saw Kurt (Busch) qualify well there. I don’t know if (Greg) Biffle qualified good there, but I would think he would on something like that.  That is just not typically who I am.  I’ve got to figure that is why I put a lot on myself.  I’ve got to figure that out at those tracks because we are going to have to come back to some of those tracks.  Kansas, Michigan and others that have repaves.”
 
WITH YOU GROWING UP SO CLOSE TO HERE DO YOU BRING YOUR KIDS AROUND AT ALL? LIKE TO WHERE YOUR OLD NEIGHBORHOOD OR WHATEVER AND SAY ‘THIS IS WHERE I USED TO DO THIS OR THIS IS WHERE I USED TO BREAK DANCE ON THE CORNER?  DO YOU BRING THEM AROUND AND SHOW THEM YOUR OLD HAUNTS?  DO THEY HAVE ANY APPRECIATION FOR THAT?
“First of all I was never break dancing on the corner (laughs).  On a driveway maybe, with some linoleum laid down, a big beat box, no (laughs).  My kids aren’t even out here with me this time.  As my daughter gets older and her friends at home become more significant, especially around her birthday then we celebrate her birthday at home so they haven’t been traveling out here with us the last couple of years.  I think as they get a little older then I might want to do that with them.  Like what we would do with my wife in Belgium with her family and places she grew up.  I think they are still a little
bit too young to really kind of go through that process.  I think your upbringing, your family and memories that were great for you as a kid, I think they are definitely something that I want to share with them and Vallejo (California) has played a big, significant role in that for me.”
 
YOU RAN THE MOST LAPS IN PRACTICE. DO YOU LIKE RUNNING AS MUCH PRACTICE TIME AS YOU CAN OR IS THERE SOMETHING YOU ARE WORKING ON THE CAR?
“Again, it takes so long to switch the car over to get it into qualifying trim so when we ran a couple of good laps there early on I think that we felt like we were fairly close.  That we could just run longer runs and stay on one set of tires.  We ended up changing to new tires right at the very end, the very last run.  That is why.  We were making four and five and six lap runs.  Just really because I think we were really good in the race here the last time, but we just weren’t good long enough, so we really need to work on the rear-tire wear and grip.  We wanted to run a little bit more this time to get a better idea of what we are going to be dealing with.”
 
CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW DIFFERENT IT IS RACING THERE IN JULY VERSUS FEBRUARY?  
“Well, it used to be a lot more different, a lot crazier and slicker.  A lot different when we were in the daytime there, now that it’s nighttime even though it’s warm and humid the biggest significant change is the lights.  Just being under the lights.  I like it.  I love racing under the lights at Daytona.  I think it’s very cool and the conditions are fantastic.  I know what it was like racing there during the day when it was 105 (degrees) so really enjoy racing at night.”
 
OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS OR SO THE CHARACTER OF ROAD COURSE RACING AT LEAST FROM US WHO ARE OBSERVING IT I THINK FROM YOU GUYS WHO ARE DRIVING IT HAS CHANGED REMARKABLE IN TERMS OF GETTING MUCH MORE ROUGH AND TUMBLE.  JUST WANTED TO GET YOUR TAKE ON WHY THAT IS?  IS IT THE DOUBLE FILE RESTARTS?  IS IT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE SO MANY MORE COMPETITIVE CARS OUT THERE?
“You just answered your own question.  You are good (laughs).  No, that is all it is.  The double file restarts make a big change.  Pit strategy I think plays a role too where guys are taking more risks at not putting tires on and so you will get a mixture of guys who have more grip in their tires versus guys with less grip.  You are coming through there and guys are sliding around and other guys are going to use them up coming through there.  Then the double file restarts just compound them because it puts us closer together.  I think because the field is deeper with the competitiveness and a lot of that is the car.  The drivers have gotten better too, but the cars are so equal.  They are almost identical.  It’s hard to make a big difference with gapping cars and making significant advantages in your car.  It really is going to come down to the drivers.  I think that you are seeing guys be a little bit more aggressive because they know how hard it is to make their car better than the car in front of them.  So they have to be aggressive as a driver to get that slot and usually if you get that spot you can keep it.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT DANICA PATRICK’S IMPACT NOW?  IS IT PASSÉ FOR YOU GUYS EVERY TIME SHE COMES INTO A NEW RACE TRACK IT SEEMS LIKE THE LOCAL NEWS PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DANICA?  HOW IS SHE ACCEPTED?
“I’ve always been supportive of any individual or team or sponsor, personality that brings more attention to this sport that is a positive for the sport.  Whether that creates a story, whatever it is, she certainly does that.  I think people are very interested in what she is doing and she is a great race car driver.  I think it’s fantastic that people want to learn more about her and that it is a story.  For us, she is another driver and we go out there and we race together every weekend.  The more she is in the sport the more that you realize that is the case.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA/SAVE MART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 21, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed road course racing at Sonoma, the new qualifying format, the upcoming event at Daytona, practice in her Cup car, past experience on road courses, and more. Full Transcript:
 
WITH ONE PRACTICE UNDER YOUR BELT SO FAR, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS WEEKEND AT SONOMA?
“Well, I had hoped that being here before would have made it a little bit better for me out there, but it didn’t. So, I don’t know. The car just doesn’t feel very good. It just feels like it’s all over the place. It’s loose, it’s tight, it’s loose, it’s tight; it just doesn’t feel very settled. I feel like we just have a lot of work to do. I think that it’s going to be kind of a different story when it comes to race time because the rear tires just lose so much grip. So between that, and fuel-saving, I think that it’s going to be a fair amount different than just turning a fast lap. So you’ve got to keep that in mind. But, we’re just struggling with trying to find a balance on the car that just feels comfortable to drive, to be honest.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT?
“Well, it’s not new to me. We ran it in the Nationwide Series and I don’t really know any different in NASCAR. It’s been the only way that I’ve qualified on road courses; so I suppose it’s more of the same for me. That’s a positive. It is nice to have more than one lap just because it’s when you’re pushing these cars, things are bound to bounce around and move. It’s nice to have a couple of laps as an option to get your fastest.”
 
IS IT TOUGHER AT A ROAD COURSE THAN AN OVAL TO ADJUST YOUR MINDSET OR TEACH YOUR BRAIN NEW BRAKING POINTS OR WHATEVER YOU DO TO GET AROUND HERE?
“I think that’s a good observation. But I think it’s an observation overall for all tracks that I’ve been to in an IndyCar and then come to in a stock car. I think that just as much as it hurts to have different markers for open-wheel, it helps to just know where the track is going. So, yes; it’s probably more of a detriment to have different marks but it kind of balances out with at least knowing the track. I kept going through Turn 3 today and thinking to myself, ‘Is it because I’m doing it like I did in IndyCar that I am terrible through here and I can’t get the car to turn?’ I was thinking that to myself. Overall, it’s nice to just know where you’re going.”
 
HOW MUCH OF A BUMP DO YOU GET FROM LAST WEEK?
“You know, I have to say that I feel like over the last four or five or so weeks, really since Charlotte, I’ve felt like we have been in a position to get those kinds of finishes if things went our way, but they didn’t. So, I felt like overall, we were all thinking it was kind of overdue from where we had been speed-wise and the potential that we had in other races from the month before. It’s just nice, honestly, it’s a bit of a relief to get something of a result finally. I guess my words afterwards were I felt like we should have had a few of those by now. But it took a while.”
 
THE RESTARTS ARE SO CRAZY HERE. WHAT HAS TONY STEWART OR ANYBODY TOLD YOU WHAT TO EXPECT ON THE RESTARTS?
‘We haven’t talked about it. But, I supposed it’s going to be kind of like an even easier to bump scenario but just as chaotic as like Pocono, where you go into (Turn) 1 and it’s like everybody everywhere. But when you’re going slower it’s just a lot easier to find yourself into the back end of other cars. So, aerodynamics don’t really play much of a part, so you don’t have to worry about that. It’s going to pay off overall, probably, to be on the inside so that you don’t get pushed out or have somebody run into you. But on the other hand, the inside stops up, so sometimes you get a lot of cars if you go around the outside where they can carry the momentum and there’s somewhere to go, you know? But there’s the outside and then there’s the extra outside if you want to keep going, so on the inside you’re just stuck. I feel like I’m just going to get a feel for it over the first couple of starts and hope I’m in the right lane at the right time.”
 
YOU SAID YOU STRUGGLED TODAY IN PRACTICE. BUT COMING INTO A ROAD COURSE RACE, SO YOU FEEL A BIT MORE CONFIDANT BASED ON THE FACT THAT YOU RAN REALLY WELL ON THEM LAST YEAR AND YOU’VE HAD SUCCESS?
“Yep. That’s it. I feel more comfortable.”
 
HAVE YOU AND JACQUES VILLENEUVE PUT WHATEVER HAPPENED LAST YEAR BEHIND YOU YET?
“I don’t know. I saw him in the Rookie meeting and I was like, ‘Oh, hey’. And that was about it (laughter). You know, after the things that have happened, it’s hard to have a lot of respect for somebody like that. I respect what he’s done in his career; but the way that he treats other drivers on the track, I can’t. So, that’s all there is to say.”
 
WITH AS WELL AS YOU RAN AT THE ROAD COURSES LAST YEAR, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE OWED A GOOD FINISH TO SOME DEGREE? IT SEEMS LIKE ROAD COURSES HAVEN’T BEEN EASY IN GETTING THE FULL RESULT YOU DESERVE
“Yeah. That’s happened I feel like, on a lot of different tracks in just different categories of tracks. But I feel like it was just a little bit more obvious on the road courses because I was running that much better. And so many weird things happening; getting taken out, hitting a shoe….those are just not good things. And they were all running both times in the Top 5 when I was leading. It happens. I think that probably every driver can feel like they are owed something in different areas just based on their lack of luck. But you just have to keep plugging away. For every up, there’s a down. And it doesn’t mean that it’s going to come next. It just means that it will come eventually. Especially being in Cup for the first time, I feel like we just need to get to a place where the car is consistent and see what happens in the race. It think it’s just going to be a lot of tire and fuel conservation. We’ll see how it all plays.”
 
HOW DIFFERENT IS THIS IN A CUP CAR ON A ROAD COURSE COMPARED TO IN A NATIONWIDE SERIES CAR?
“The difference from an IndyCar to a Cup car on a road course is like night and day (laughter).  Oh, Nationwide to Cup? Honestly, it’s hard for me to tell because I never drove this track in a Nationwide car. But, one of the things that is relatively obvious is just how difficult it is to keep the rear tires underneath you. I never thought it would be so difficult, but it just seems to be such a huge issue power-down. And it’s going to play a part in the race, for sure. It’s going to play a part in who can find the most rear grip and who can make the least amount of mistakes when it goes.”
 
ON RACING AT DAYTONA SOON
“I think about Daytona. I never mind going to speedways. I find them fun. Obviously being the Coke Zero 400 and being a sponsor of mine, it’s an even bigger event. But I’m also thinking about the fact that Harry Scott (Turner Scott Motorsports) has invited people to his house in Hilton Head and I’m going to go there, too; and that sounds really good!  I feel like I’m actually going to be on vacation.  I’ll be working, but that will be a nice little break.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA/SAVE MART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 21, 2013
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Sonoma Raceway, and discussed the challenges of racing at Sonoma and other topics. Full transcript:
HOW DID PRACTICE GO FOR YOU GUYS?
“No drama so far. Nice, smooth session. Need a little bit of speed, but this is better than we’ve taken off in practice in the past here so somewhat encouraged by it.”
 
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE AT THE ROAD COURSE WITH THE NEW CARS?
“I don’t think it’s been a big deal. I think you learn the things you learn on the oval that make the car happy, kind of figure out how to transfer all that information over to when we come to the road courses. Hasn’t been a big drama so far.”
 
HOW MUCH INFORMATION FROM LAST YEAR TRANSFERS TO THE NEW CAR?
“Steve Addington (crew chief) is the guy you need to ask that question. He’s the one that puts the setup on it. I honestly don’t know. I’m not a guy that knows what springs and shocks go in the car each week. I just concentrate on giving him the feedback of what the car is doing and what I’m feeling in the car.”
 
IS BREAKING THE TRACK RECORD IMPORTANT?
“Does it pay extra? Do we get any more points or do we get a bigger trophy or do we get more prize money? If no, it doesn’t then no, it doesn’t matter to me.”
 
DOES THE CHANGE IN TURN SEVEN TAKE SOME OF THE FUN AWAY?
“What did they do? It’s new to me. I’ve been here for 15 straight years and I didn’t notice any difference when I got down to seven. I didn’t see anything. I don’t think it’s done anything.”
 
HOW CHALLENGING AND ENJOYABLE DO YOU STILL FIND ROAD RACING?
“I’ve always liked it. I’ve liked it from day one. I liked it when I did it in go-kart racing. I think it’s really cool that our series gets to do this twice a year. It’s just nice to do something that is outside the box and outside the norm. It’s not something that people just show up to do it. Everybody and the teams take it serious, they do a lot of testing and the competition each year gets better and better. You hear less and less about the so-called ‘ringers,’ it’s the guys that are doing this every week are the guys that are fast in these cars.”
 
IS THERE ANY SIGNIFICANCE IN BREAKING INTO THE TOP-10 LAST WEEK?
“It’s definitely been gratifying for sure. The thing is that, ‘A,’ we have to stay there and ‘B,’ we got to be consistent. Getting there has been a lot of fun, it’s been very trying to get to this point, but it just shows how quickly you can get things turned around. There’s other teams that can make gains like that too. It’s a constant moving target. You have to constantly keep up with it and I’m proud of our group. The hard work that they’ve put to get us caught back up. The hard thing is you can’t stop and they can’t stop with that intensity. We all have to keep working hard and keep that intensity up to get through the rest of the year.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE ROAD COURSE WIN ON YOUR RESUME?
“I don’t think, to me it doesn’t really matter. To me, at the end of the day it shows up in our standings and it’s in the win column. It doesn’t say where it’s at, it just shows up at the end of the year in the win column. Doesn’t matter whether it’s here or whether it’s a dirt track, a road course or whatever. Just a win against this group is big. You don’t care where they’re at or how you get them, wins are important.”
 
WAS THERE ANYTHING UNUSUAL AT THE TRACK WHEN DRIVERS WENT OFF COURSE EARLY?
“No, they do that — maybe you should watch practice every year. They do that every year at the beginning of practice, guys drive off. It’s getting used to the track again and it’s not the easiest track. That’s what makes it fun because it is challenging. It’s not forgiving as far as making mistakes so it’s easy early in the session to get guys that go off course.”
 
IS THE CHALLENGE WITH TURN 11 NOT GETTING WRECKED BY SOMEONE ELSE?
“If you stay ahead of them far enough you don’t have to worry about it. It just depends on where you’re at in the pack and who you’re around. There’s guys that will run in there and don’t care. There’s guys that have had a bad day earlier in the day and they’re in that mode so it just depends on who you’re around. Hopefully, you’re around guys you respect and that respect you and you don’t have problems when you get there.”
 
DO YOU HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT BLOCKING?
“They will block here. Just about everybody is going to block here. It’s inevitable. It’s not my favorite part about this by any means. The race track is fun enough, but there is going to be plenty of guys that block this weekend unfortunately.”
 
DO PEOPLE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE RESTARTS MORE AT SONOMA?
“You have to remember, if you’re 10th in line, by the time guys get to turn seven and turn 11, you can’t run in with the normal pace that you would normally run in there. Guys will take advantage of any available hold unfortunately and it puts guys in a bad position once they do that. That’s what guys are going to do. It’s what they’ve always done.”
 
IS THAT JUST A ROAD COURSE THING?
“Yeah, it’s just because you’re running so slow into some of these corners that when you have open track you run that corner a lot different. When you’re in traffic, you don’t have the luxury of driving in the corner or when you’re mid-pack of driving as far in as you want because there’s cars already in front of you slowed down. That’s what creates the traffic jam and then guys are going to take up every available space they can.”
 
ARE THE RESTARTS CRAZY FUN FOR YOU?
“Is it crazy fun? No. Go drive and then tell me what you think and then we’ll talk about whether it’s fun or not.”
 
DO YOU THINK A CHANGE IN THE SEATS OF SPRINT CARS WOULD BE BENEFICIAL IN THE FUTURE?
“I’m confident in the seat I have. I run Butler seats and a lot of the field does. I’m very comfortable and confident that what we have is the right thing. It’s no different than it is in this series, driver run what seat they are comfortable with and what they’re used to. It’s driver preference. I’m happy with the seats that I run in my cars. I feel like Butler has done a good job to make sure that we’ve got the best seats possible.”
 
WHAT CAN YOU ATTRIBUTE THE FIRST TIME WINNERS AT THIS TRACK TO?
“Everybody, it used to be when I started in this series 15 years ago it was a place that people kind of dreaded and there were a handful of guys that looked forward to it and were actually competitive. Five or six guys that had a shot to win the race. That was when road course specialists really meant something in the series and then the longer time has gone on, the specialist part of it kind of faded out of it because the teams take it more serious, the drivers take it more serious and it’s as important to win here as it was last week at Michigan and at Kentucky next week. It’s a different race, but the emphasis is still the same. Everybody works just as hard to win.”
 
HOW AWARE DO YOU HAVE TO BE OF THE GUYS ONLY RACING THIS RACE?
“The etiquette that we have in this series is different than the series they come from so it creates some of those problems that Claire (B. Lang, Sirius/XM Satellite radio) eluded to earlier, just makes it a little more difficult. You do have to be aware of who they are and that they are liable to do things just a little different way than what we are used to week in and week out.”
 
IS THERE AN EASIER WAY FOR DRIVERS TO GET INSURANCE?
“I’m not worried about that right now, I’m worried about driving race cars right now. I’m not going to get involved in the topic of the week this week. I’m worried a
bout making my race cars go fast and doing what I do every week.”
 
IS IT HARDER BEING AN OWNER OR BEING A DRIVER?
“Depends on what day it is. Sunday it’s definitely harder being the driver than it is the owner, but Monday it’s a lot harder being the owner.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA/SAVE MART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 21, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Sonoma Raceway and discussed his participation in a music video, the nuances of road course racing and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE STUFF YOU WERE DOING WITH SAMMY HAGAR?  
“Yeah, I’ve lost my race car in a poker match to Sammy and shooting a music video, it’s hard to believe with those two small cameras that it’s going to be a legitimate video.  Technology is pretty amazing.  I’ve known Sammy for a long time. I love his tequila, big fan of Cabo Wabo.  I’ve been down to his cantina in the past, was there for one of his birthday bashes one year and introduced him as he came out on stage with the band.  He’s just a good dude and he loves cars and loves music.  That is right up my alley.”
 
DID YOU GET A KICK OUT OF HIM TRYING TO GET IN AND OUT OF YOUR CAR?
“Yeah, I think he is going to be a little bruised up.  There wasn’t a lot of room for him.  I knew it would be a tight squeeze getting him in there.  The car is built for me and all.  The guy loves cars so much. Whenever I see him it’s all we talk about is what hot rods he has, what fast cars he has.  I knew he wanted to sit in one.  We crammed him in there.  I was afraid we would need a cherry picker, an engine hoist, to get him out, but he found a way out.”
 
DO YOU LIKE BEING IN A MUSIC VIDEO IS THAT JUST A KICK FOR YOU?
“That will be a first.  Hopefully, I make the final cut, it will be fun.”
 
HOW DID YOU TURN THE CORNER OF KIND OF NOT BEING SO GOOD ON A ROAD COURSE TO BEING REALLY GOOD?
“It really took experience.  We have tested every year for it.  In the Nationwide Series I took to it pretty quick and seemed to find my way around Watkins Glen pretty well.  This track is just so different.  There are three or four really good opportunities to destroy the rear tires.  Where at ‘The Glen’ you can’t hurt the rear tires and you’ve got to manage brakes.  That took me awhile to make that transition.  The last few years I have been much better at that.  One year really good at it.  Hopefully, I get a chance at more of that this year.”
 
ANYTHING THAT THE NEW CARS BRINGS THAT YOU CAN THINK OF THAT YOU DON’T KNOW OR YOU ARE LOOKING TO FIND OUT ON THE ROAD COURSE?
“Yeah, I think our splitter gaps and splitter contact in general or bump stop gaps and splitter contact are going to be key.  The structure of the front-end of this car is what is different than the old car.  Heavy on the brakes the splitter can touch the ground and affect your braking ability.  Also, going over the curves that structure is so much different now it can maybe upset the car a little bit more potentially hurt something in front.  Those will be the two areas I’m going to focus on when we are on the race track.”
 
WHAT DID IT MEAN FOR YOU TO WIN A ROAD COURSE RACE?
“It was a huge one to check, a box to check, for me.  I was so bad at it and couldn’t understand why, especially with my background.  Once my brain grasped it and I got in the right spot mentally I was able to make it work.  That was a big day for me.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE NEW QUALIFYING SEQUENCE THEY’RE PUTTING IN PLACE FOR THE CUP SERIES?
“It’s exciting. I’m not sure it’ll change things a ton. I’m familiar with it through my Nationwide days. It’s a little more normal for a qualifying effort on a road course. I’m not against it. In the end it might help some guys get a lap. In road course racing there’s such a rhythm and with one lap to get it done here in the past if you made a small mistake you really paid for it. Some drivers had a hard time completing their lap. It might change things a little bit but I don’t think it will too much.”
 
INAUDIBLE:
“Once we have a chance to get spread out, all the drivers are good and the cars are pretty equal and it’s hard to pass. That theory of cautions breeding cautions, if there’s a race track that will provide that it’s here. I’m surprised that the second caution didn’t create about four or five more. Once we hit three or four laps running and the guys get spread out I could see a lot of green flag running going on at that point.”
 
WITH GUYS LIKE (JACQUES) VILLENEUVE IN THE RACE THIS YEAR DOES THAT ADD A WILD CARD FACTOR?
“I didn’t know that but yeah, cautions might go up a little bit based on his Nationwide experience from what I’ve seen.”
 
ARE YOU GUYS CHALKING MICHIGAN UP TO A FREAK AMOUNT OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT HAPPENED TO ALL FOUR HENDRICK CARS?
“My tire issues seemed to be a little different than Kasey’s (Kahne). Kasey’s blew out. Mine, I think I ran something over the way it went down. It just got soft and then went flat. The other two guys, Junior broke a motor. Nobody else did. And then Jeff got wrecked. It was just one of those days. We couldn’t get out of Michigan fast enough.”
 
HAVE YOU BEEN IN OTHER MUSIC VIDEOS?
“No, I have not been in another music video. Sammy (Hagar) will be my first.”
 
SO THIS WILL BE YOUR DEBUT?
“It will if I make the cut. So hopefully I did a nice job for him.”
 
JEFF BURTON SAID HE WAS KIND OF FRUSTRATED WHEN YOU COME TO SONOMA AND ON THE RESTARTS PEOPLE ABUSE THEM. YOU MIGHT BE IN THE TOP-10 AND SOMEONE WIPES YOU OUT BECAUSE THEY DO THINGS HERE THEY WOULDN’T DO OTHER PLACES. DO YOU FEEL THE RESTARTS HERE ARE DIFFERENT AND PEOPLE CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ‘OH, THAT’S JUST SONOMA’?
“Yeah, being from fifth back here, it’s brutal. That’s why qualifying is so important. So you can start up front and hopefully maintain your track position. But if you’re 10th -15th anywhere in there, every breaking zone they’re three or four wide ramming each other, turning guys around. Some of it could be intentional. Other stuff, you have a guy that’s slowed his car down making his turn and someone two or three rows back just bombed it in and isn’t going to make the turn and just wipes out everybody. So track position is really important here. I really work hard to try and stay up front.
 
DO YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ‘OH, IT’S JUST SONOMA’ ATTITUDE?
“Some do. I don’t. I feel like if you wrong somebody here, they’ll usually come back on the race track and get you back. I can remember (Brian) Vickers and (Tony) Stewart having an issue. Tony ended up on top of the tires. And then if you don’t have a chance to thank someone here you can always carry it to a short track down the road. I’m always aware of that. Maybe some drivers are less aware of that. I’m not saying that you won’t accidently make a mistake but the intentional stuff, we know when it happens to guys remember.”
 

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Meet the Team
Ahead of difficult test in world’s most famous endurance race
 
LE MANS, France (June 19, 2013) – Members of Corvette Racing met with media at the Circuit des 24 Heures on Wednesday ahead of the first practice and qualifying session for the 90th anniversary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race begins at 3 p.m. CET/9 p.m. ET on Saturday.
 
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
With such a deep field in GTE Pro, how many hours into the race do you think you will know exactly where you stand?
“It’s hard to say. You’ll find during the race your strength and weaknesses, along with those for the competition. The way it looks like the race will go with the weather, you will have to be faultless and run to plan. You cannot be distracted by what other teams are doing, especially if they are faster than you. It’s important to say dedicated to what the plan is and stick to that 100 percent. That will be very, very hard even in a dry race because of the competition. But if the weather keeps doing what it is doing, it will be a huge accomplishment to come out with a victory.”
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
How big a boost is it to come to Le Mans after winning in the ALMS at Laguna Seca?
“It was definitely a good thing to have that victory. Since I joined Corvette Racing, we had won the big races like Sebring and Le Mans. But the win at Laguna gave the team (in the No. 73 car) a big push ahead of Le Mans. We are very confident for the race. It will be a very big battle with all the manufacturers that are here. For sure they are all very well prepared but I think we have shown them before what it takes to win the race. We need to believe and trust in Corvette Racing to do it again.”
 
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
Is it a big difference coming to Le Mans in your second year instead of as a rookie?
“Last year was a big experience with a lot to learn. It’s such a unique event. I didn’t really know what to expect coming in. You get here on Monday and are here throughout the week with appearances, media events and autograph sessions… it is a roller coaster of emotions but you are here to drive a race car. Now this year I know what to expect and have such a great team and crew behind me. I’m very much looking forward to it.”
 
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
This is 12 years at Le Mans with Corvette Racing. How has the event and preparation changed?
“Certainly, year on year the competition has grown stiffer and stiffer. Again this year is another high watermark in our class with five big manufacturers slugging it out in our category. Corvette Racing has raised their game year after year, which is an impressive thing – whether it is in preparation and leading up to the event, preparing the car, laying out pits, practicing pit stops, the routines and schedule… the way the team studies itself and improve year on year is spectacular. It’s hugely impressive and something that gives the drivers a lot of confidence to see that they are on the top of their game. The C6.R is at the end of its life and is at the top of its development curve. We plan to get out there and take on whoever is the best. If it turns out to be us, then great. But we will be fighting to get a victory. Certainly you will have to earn it, without a doubt. There is just so much strength and depth.”
 
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
You were part of the winning trio in 2011 for Corvette Racing. What will it take to get back there this year?
“Every year, the biggest challenge is not making mistakes and staying out of the pits. Ultimately when you look back, the winning team has been the one that hasn’t made mistakes and hasn’t pitted except for driver changes, tires and fuel. This weekend it looks like the weather will play a role, which it typically does at Le Mans. We saw that at the Test Day and got in some wet-weather running. And the GTE Pro class is super, super deep with five strong manufacturers that can all win the race. This whole week has been about preparing in every way possible with little details that will help make any kind of repairs quicker. Our guys have looked at every little aspect that may cause issues for the race, and we’re prepared for anything that comes at us.”
 
RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R
The last time you were in the car was a win at the Sebring 12 Hours. What did that do for the mindset of the team?
“To be honest, we needed that win at Sebring. Olly and Tommy had won the ALMS championship but we had had a poor run in the endurance events. It was important to turn that around. You don’t want to come to a race like Le Mans lacking in confidence. So Sebring did us a world of good. It is great to run with these two (Gavin and Milner). I know what they want from the car, and they know what I want from the car. We want to win this race in the last Le Mans for the C6.R.
 
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER
What does this race mean to Chevrolet and Corvette Racing?
“First of all, bonjour! We are very pleased to be back. Those of you who have followed us here at the 24 Hours of Le Mans know that this program is representative of the cornerstone of everything we do in racing. Our objective throughout our year is all designed and focused on this event. We realize it is the single most important road race in the world. This is our 14th consecutive year with Corvette and we have been very fortunate to have seven victories – all of which we are most proud. This is a remarkable year because we have three anniversaries that we can celebrate. First and foremost is the 90th anniversary of this great race, and we’re happy to participate. The second is that this is the 60th anniversary of the production of Corvette, and currently we are approaching 2 million Corvettes that are registered and on the roads today. That’s an amazing number. And this will be our 100th race with one of our strategic partners – Michelin. Those three are of extreme importance to us, and we’re proud and pleased to be part of all those significant events.”