NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FEDEX 400 BENEFITING AUTISM SPEAKS
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 2, 2013
 
TONY STEWART TAKES WIN AT DOVER AND CLAIMS FIRST WIN OF 2013 SEASON
Team Chevy is 1-2-3 for Second Consecutive Week
 
DOVER, DEL. (June 2, 2013) – Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart claimed his first victory of the 2013 season at the ‘Monster Mile’ in the FedEx 400 in his No. 14 Code 3 Associates Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS. The win marked his third at Dover International Speedway and snapped a 30-race winless streak.
 
“It’s been such a tough year,” said Stewart, whose last win was at Daytona in July 2012. “Everybody has dug deep to help us get back to where we are today. Hopefully we will start building that momentum back up now.”
 
With three laps remaining in the 400-lap race, Stewart passed Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet SS, and pulled away to the checkered.  Montoya, who led the field during 19 circuits, posted a strong second-place finish. “Tony was way quicker. I don’t understand where he came from,” said Montoya. “He wasn’t that good all day, and he was good when it mattered.”
 
Jeff Gordon was third in his No. 24 AARP Credit Cards from Chase Chevy SS, giving Chevrolet the top three finishing positions for the second week in a row.
 
Seven-time Dover winner and five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, was clearly the class of the field in his No. 48 Lowe’s/Monsters University Chevrolet SS, and led the 400-mile event for 143 laps. But with 20 laps to go, jumped a restart ahead of then leader, Montoya, and was ruled by NASCAR to serve a pass-through penalty.  Johnson finished a disappointing 17th in the order, but still maintains as the series point leader.
 
Last week’s race winner,  Kevin Harvick, posted a solid eighth-place finish in his No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., was 10th in his No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS, putting five Team Chevy drivers in the Top 10.
 
Kyle Busch (Toyota) was fourth and Brad Keselowski (Ford) was fifth to round out the top five in the finishing order.
 
Next stop on the 38-race circuit will be Round 14 at Pocono Raceway Sunday, June 9th.
 
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
STEVE ADDINGTON, NO. 14 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – WINNING CREW CHIEF
GREG ZIPADELLI, STEWART-HAAS RACING COMPETITION DIRECTOR
 
THE MODERATOR:  Steve, talk a little about that race out there, it was a pretty exciting day for you guys.
 
STEVE ADDINGTON:  Yeah, I felt like we just needed track position and I felt like our lap times were pretty good all day long.  When you start that far back, it’s so tough.  And then you’ve got guys like Kyle and them running unbelievable laps at the beginning, and get a lap down and get the lucky dog and got to work on our car a little bit.
 
Finally, just, you know, understood what he was saying was happening with the car, so we made the right adjustments and everybody on the race team did a good job.  Got a great group of guys.  They work really hard.  So it we were all leaning on each other and talking about it, and everybody just worked together, all 400 laps and that’s what it took to win the thing.
 
THE MODERATOR:  I know you’ve been waiting on this thing for a long time and certainly a wonderful moment for you to share as a team.  Just talk about what this win means to you.
 
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Yeah, for everybody at Stewart‑Haas, thank you for your efforts, your attitudes.  Everybody has had an amazing amount of drive, attitude the last couple months when everybody has been beating us up and where we are at and what’s going on.
 
So you know, we came up here and tested.  Guys did a good job of spending two days getting some laps in.  The 39 car unloaded and they were good and they were fast, qualified well.
 
14 was off and they rebounded from it.  To me that’s what counts; everybody was in for all 400 laps.  They called a really good race.  They put themselves in position.
 
At these races today, track position is so important, but you have to have your car close enough for a driver to step up and take the challenge and you know, we were able to do that as a group today, and proud of everybody back home and the guys here that have put their effort in.
Q.  How hard has the first part of the season been, and what does this do for you going the rest of the way?
STEVE ADDINGTON:  Well, the first part, everybody sees that.  We’ve struggled.  We struggled as a group.  It’s not just like one car has been up contending for wins.  It’s been all three that have struggled.  We sat down and hats off to Zippy for putting everybody together to make sure that we are getting better each week and looking at the right areas.
 
It’s really big.  It’s not a fix‑all for what we’ve got going on.  I think that it’s a step in the right direction.  It was a car that was competitive.  Once we got it up front but it’s not a fix of where we know ‑‑ you know, we’ve going to go through this every weekend.
 
We’ve got to keep our heads down and keep digging, and I think that everybody at Stewart‑Haas Racing understands that; that they work their guts out, Bob.  It’s not from a lack of effort. You guys don’t see that.  You guys can’t be there at the shop to understand that everybody’s working hard in pulling this together and I think that when you’re down, it tells a lot about a group of guys to pull together and try to get out of that slump and I thinkthat it’s headed in the right direction.
 
I think that we made gains at Charlotte.  We got to test Pocono, and so we are excited about that.  But we also came here with those things and we were off a bit; even though we had tested there, we went in a different direction, but it was just a couple of things that we were off on and we went back to it and it worked for us today.
Q.  You said last week that the Chase was kind of the furthest thing from anybody’s mind because you just needed to focus on getting things turned around first.  Now Tony is in the No. 1 wild card spot and looks now to be in pretty decent position.  Is it okay to start thinking in those terms and try to take this and use that, or are you still not back far enough yet where you still feel like you have more work to do?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Oh, we have got more work to do, don’t let this kid anybody.  But as a group, we are building momentum at the right time of the year, and we did win a race.  I guess we moved up a bunch of points; that’s positive.  So we are going to take the positives, we are going to Pocono and try to build on it just like we did at Charlotte.
 
That’s all we can do is build on it and continue to improve.  When we win a bunch of these things in a row, it means that we don’t have to work on it anymore.  But you’re right; we did make gains.  We did talk last week, and like I told you, some things take time, and you know, these guys did a really good job this weekend of getting off, executing, getting their selves back on and making the right calls at the right time and putting themselves in position to win.
 
And that’s what it’s about in this sport.  You have to have a car good enough to put yourself in position, and then you have to be able to execute that.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Tony, it’s very good to see you here in the media center.  Talk a little bit about is that win out there today and how you’re feeling right now.
 
TONY STEWART:  God, as much as I hate to say it, it’s good to be back in the media center.
Ju
st this was ‑‑ I don’t know what Zip and Steve have mentioned before we got here, but this is a weekend that to me helps define what our program is about and what our organization’s about.
 
To go from where we were on Friday to having a bad day to yesterday gaining on it but not having speed and then today, continuing to make changes and start with the car that we had, makes me proud of the two guys that are sitting beside me.
 
I wasn’t the result of what happened today as much as the reason that we are all three sitting here is because of the two guys beside me.  You know, yesterday when we finished happy hour, I’ll be 100 percent perfectly honest, and I might get backhanded by both of them sitting here, but I was preparing for a very long day today.  I wasn’t prepared to be sitting here.  I knew that they stayed late and were working, but I honestly didn’t think we could get there from where we ended up happy hour yesterday.
 
But I’m proud to be sitting here saying that I was very wrong and happy that I was wrong.  So this is ‑‑ these are the days that ‑‑ you know, this means more to me going from where we were Friday to where we are today than having a weekend where we show up and we are quickest in practice, sit on the pole and everything goes right all weekend.  It’s much harder to do it the way that we just had to do it over the last 48 hours.
 
So that’s what makes me really proud of these two guise and what they have done, because this was no lay‑up.  This was not a little bit of tweak here, a little bit of tweak there.  This was going and really sitting down and saying, okay, we may have to abort everything that we are doing to try to come up with a new package.
 
To have that ability and the confidence for these guys to do what they did overnight, I mean, that speaks volumes to me as an owner and a driver both to know that we have guys that have the confidence to do this.
 
And we have got a great ‑‑ the thing is, it shouldn’t be just the three of us here.  There should be about 200 people sitting behind us here that are all responsible for this right now, and another group of guys that sit at a shop about ten miles away that have been a big part of that at Hendrick Motorsports.
 
But our guys have never given up.  There’s been a lot of dejected guys all year, and disappointed guys all year, but that’s why we want them working at Stewart‑Haas Racing, too, because the way we have been running, we want them to be disappointed and dejected, but nobody is walking around with their heads down.  They are all trying to find a solution and that’s what makes days like today so special is when you have guys that just do not quit and they refuse to give up.
 
All day, I kept listening to Steve on the radio and knew that our lap times were good.  We just never really got the track position to do anything.  I was just happy ‑‑ I was going to be happy if we got in the Top‑10 to be honest, and we got up to eighth there.
 
And then Steve had the ‑‑ I’ll be honest, Steve had the balls to make a call that gave us the opportunity to run for the win.  That’s confidence and that’s something that you can’t teach. It’s just something you have to have, and Steve has it.  You know, I was behind him 100 percent on it and I thought it was a good call, and that gave us the opportunity to do what we did.  So without that call, we are not sitting here.
Q.  Typically when a team is struggling, we always ask them what’s wrong, and the response is, if we knew what was wrong, we would fix it.
TONY STEWART:  You got that $hit straight.  (Laughter).
Q.  You obviously can look at your results after a race, and you know where your team is deficient.  Has there been any one area, or has there been just a general, we are not good enough in several areas.
TONY STEWART:  You’ve got to guide that question to this man next to me.
 
I mean, I’ll be honest.  I’m not the smartest guy in the world.  You guys have known that over the last 15 years.  I’ve proven that time and time again.  I’m just smart enough to know to hire good people.
 
I honestly don’t know.  And the hard thing in this business and especially when you’re struggling, it’s hard ‑‑ the further off‑base you are, the harder it is to sit there and pinpoint a problem.  It can be numerous problems, and it can be one problem.  But the hard part is when you’re far enough off base, it’s hard to break it down and diagnose those problems.
 
It literally is a process, at least in my opinion, my view, it’s a process of elimination.  You eliminate a variable at a time until you finally narrow it down to a group of possibilities of what the problem is, and that’s something that this group has done and been doing and we are still in the process of doing.
 
But you know, you can have that mind‑set of that’s what has to happen but you have to have people that have the mind‑set to also execute that, and that’s what we’ve got.  We’ve got people that are very dedicated to making sure that no matter how bad it gets that they keep their heads focused in the same direction.
 
What Zippy has done in the last month, especially, is being able to get these guys to rally around each other.  You know, we are all looking for a direction of what it’s going to take to get this thing fully back on track consistently.
 
But the hard thing is, when you have got ‑‑ the more people you’ve got involved, the more teams you’ve got involved, the easier it is to have one going in one direction, one going in the other direction, and the third going in the total opposite direction of those two.
 
It takes somebody like Zippy to try to get these guys to at least put their minds together.  And it’s okay to be working different directions, but to have all three teams understand why we are going the directions we are going to try to figure it out.  That’s something we have really been focusing on in the last month.
 
I think last week was a step in the right direction, and a bigger step than I possibly could have imagined.  This week is a step in the right direction.  Matt and Ryan had an awesome day on Friday, qualified well and that gives us hope.  Today gives us hope.
 
So you know, this is not an organization that’s turned around in two weeks.  We still have a lot of work to do to get it turned around.  But the last two weeks, we’ve made progress, and last week was a big step to ‑‑ and this week is another step.  It gives Ryan and Danica and I confidence as a driver.  It gives the three crew chiefs confidence that we are making progress and we are making forward progress at this point.
 
I think as an organization, we have a lot to be proud of right now.
Q.  I understand what you’re saying about kind of just taking incremental steps and making progress, but, with the wild card system, in some ways your season has completely turned around now because now you’re right in the Chase as it was today, halfway there.  So how much of that Chase focus will play into things now, because obviously you want to keep building in the right direction, but then you have this other goal now which is a very realistic goal.  Where does the wild card factor into things?
TONY STEWART:  Very valid question.  I’ll be honest.  I mean, I’ve done this enough and been in the Chase enough that being in the Chase is not a novelty for me.  I don’t care about being in the Chase unless I have an opportunity to win the championship.
To me, it’s bigger ‑‑ it’s a bigger deal to me to get our program turned around to where if we have the opportunity to get in the Chase that we have ‑‑ our goal is not just to make the Chase.  Our goal is to be championship contenders.

 
So I would rather miss the Chase and the effort to be in the process of building our program to where we have an opportunity to not just be in the Chase, but have an opportunity to win the Chase.  Just making the Chase, that’s not good enough.  That will not change our focus.  It won’t change our direction with one win today.  It’s like we talk about in our meetings.
 
We have to get up ‑‑ everybody has to get on board the ship and one guy has to steer the ship and we all have to go that direction.  This will not change the direction of where we’re aiming the ship right now.  We want to get three cars competitive and get three cars running well again.
 
So we realize that this could put the 14 team in contention and make the Chase.  That’s not good enough.  I want to get this whole program turned around to where all three drivers have a feeling and an opportunity to go to the racetrack every week and feeling like they have an opportunity to go out and have a good result at the end of the day.
Q.  That was kind of what my question was –
TONY STEWART:  Oh, we can move on then.
Q.  No, I have another one.
TONY STEWART: (Laughing).
Q.  Okay.  Don’t throw me off.
TONY STEWART:  Too late.
 Q.  A lot of people have spoken about your statistics and the slower start this year.  I’m just curious for you, how deep have you had to dig and how much of a cheerleader have you had to be and how important is it for you to get this win and to be able to show the team and be able to go into the shop and be able to say, you know, we are moving on, we are progressing?
TONY STEWART:  It’s been a lot harder than you think.  I mean, the thing about being in the role we are in as an owner and driver is when you have a good day like today, I’m ecstatic about our win, but at the same time, I go back to the bus and I’m like, okay, what happened with Ryan’s day; what happened in Danica’s day.
 
So when everything goes good, you still average out with what all three teams do.  And when it goes bad, you feel that assumption of responsibility for what all three teams have had.
 
So as much as this is a great win and a great victory for us, and great momentum builder for our organization, I will go back and instead of just focusing on the fact that we won, it’s going to be, what happened in Ryan’s day, what happened in Danica’s day.
 
And it does make you have to ‑‑ you have to play cheerleader.  I like looking at cheerleaders; I think they are hot. I’m not much of one, but that’s my role.  I can’t sit there and go down on a shop floor and tell these guys what to do to make changes to the car to make it better.
My job is as a car owner to go down there and keep the morale of the guys good.  I would say Zippy has done a much better job of that than I’ve had.  I’ve struggled with it.  It’s been very hard, when you’ve had the start to the season we’ve had, you start questioning, you start doubting, you start looking for answers that you don’t have the knowledge to diagnose.  That makes you feel very helpless at times.  And having a good support system has probably been the biggest thing.
 
I think as much as I’ve got to be a cheerleader for everybody else, the guys on the shop floor, the guys that don’t even come to the track at the shop; they have been the cheerleaders to keep us motivated and pumped up.  It’s a group.  It’s a group effort; it’s not just one person leading the charge. Everybody’s rallied around each other and kept their mind‑sets positive.
 
Zippy and Steve and Borland and Tony Gibson and Ryan and Danica going down and seeing the guys, that’s what keeps everything motivated. We all have the role of keeping each other energized and pumped up, but the guys that don’t even get a shot to come to the racetrack on the weekends have done as much of that as anybody.  So.
 
I think it’s truly been a team and an organization that has rallied around each other, and they just ‑‑ there’s 200‑plus people that just refuse to quit.  They just won’t stop.  There’s nobody that says what we got’s good enough and what we’re doing is good enough.
 
Everybody is frustrated and everybody’s agitated.  But it’s for good reasons.  They are not just happy just having a job and collecting a paycheck.  They want the same thing we want and that’s to be sitting here in the media center at the end of the day talking to you guys about what are we doing to make it better.
Q.  Juan made it clear that he knew that you had him.  He knew his tires were going.  He could see that your momentum was going to get him. When you made the move to the outside, was it that obvious to you, too, that the race had changed?
TONY STEWART:  Not necessarily.  You know, because even when you get somebody like Juan that’s in that situation where his tires might be gone, you’ve got a world champion that is behind the wheel, and that’s ‑‑ you know, we have talked about this Gen‑6 car and how hard it is to make a difference.  You still take guys like Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon and guys like Juan Montoya, they take cars that have worn out tires and still figure out how to get that extra little bit they need out of it.
 
You know, we got running the same line Juan was and that was letting the car kind of go up in the middle of the racetrack a little bit.  And I started moving around and moved down, all the way to the bottom, through the center of the corner, and picked up speed, and he is very keen on paying attention.  He didn’t get where he is by not paying attention to situations like that, and he saw that right away after two corners and moved and adjusted his line and picked up speed, as well.
 
It literally was a mind‑set of trying to figure out on a lap whether it was worth risking losing second and finishing third to Jeff if I moved around to try to find a spot to win the race, and to me, that was worth the risk.
 
So you know, that’s what NASCAR wants in this series.  That’s the scenario we chose.  I wasn’t going to ‑‑ it was worth the risk of either winning the race or falling back to third because we picked the wrong line but tried.
The last thing Steve said after when we got ready to go to green, he said, “Use it up.”  Which I’m sitting there as a car owner going:  I’ve got to pay for this.  You can use it up all you want, but I’ve got to pay for this at the end of the day. (Laughter).  But I knew what he meant.
 
It’s fun.  Juan very easily could have made it very difficult and very complicated to race him.  And I’ve always liked Juan.  I’ve always respected Juan.  And I think he’s come a long way in this series about the mind‑set of this, but it’s fun.
 
There’s a list that we have of people that when you sit there and you look at those people, there’s people that you enjoy racing and that you hope you have that battle with and that you know they will treat you with respect and they know that you will pay the favor back and treat them with respect when it comes to racing for a win.  And, you know, to have Jeff and Juan in that scenario, that’s two guys that are on that list of guys that I respect and would want to be in that scenario with.
Q.  Obviously during the last few months, there were lots of rumors about your team and possible ‑‑
TONY STEWART:  You guys started all that crap.
 Q.  Well, no, we get asked about it by people in the garage, I mean, other competitors ‑‑
TONY STEWART:  I don’t know who you guys are talking to in the garage area.  You guys need to just come talk to us, because we never discussed any of this crap that’s been going around here.  It’s been a huge distraction for our organization.
 Q.  My
question is:  Does this win help calm anybody in your group who thought that there might be changes, and is it any validation of what you believe Steve can do?
TONY STEWART:  It doesn’t calm me down because it ticks me off that I’ve got to sit here and go through this crap because of you guys.
 
I mean, if you’re going to put something in there that there’s going to ‑‑ possibility of somebody moving around, you might want to talk to the guys that write the checks, the guys that work there, and find out the facts before you guys go throwing darts on the dartboard.
 
I’ll be honest, it pissed me off because it was a big distraction to my team, my organization.  It kept us from doing our job, because people are hearing humors and reading what you guys write, and was totally inaccurate and unprofessional in my opinion.
 
If you’re going to write that, you’d better have some facts behind it, because there wasn’t anybody in our camp that said anything.  So if you heard it from somebody else, that’s not good enough. If that’s your sources, you’d better ‑‑ you’d better do a better job, because it was a big distraction.
 
And when I finally got wind of it was three weeks after it first came out, and I was ticked.  I don’t need that crap.  I’ve got enough stuff to worry about, keeping three cars competitive and trying to get them in that state and having to deal with a bunch of bull crap that’s inaccurate and speculation; to me at this level is unacceptable.
Our organization doesn’t need.  It didn’t deserve it.  They worked hard enough.  And to have to sit there and have people question what’s going on and us have to take that much extra time to try to defuse what you guys planted, was a bunch of crap.  And, don’t do it.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Any additional questions?
 
TONY STEWART:  It was going really good until I got to that, and I was willing to look through it today to be honest, but you brought it up Bob (ph) which you’re the guy I expect to bring it up.
Q.  I’ll ask you ‑‑ before you get upset ‑‑
TONY STEWART:  I’ll try to cheer up for you.
Q.  Today was probably the closest he’s ever been to winning for the first time on an oval.  Wondering if you felt any sympathy for him, it’s been getting close but nothing.
TONY STEWART:  Absolutely.  Both of us are hungry for a win.  You know, and the thing is, Juan, I spoke to him earlier in the week, and we are parked right next to each other no most home lot.  For someone like him, he’s an Indy 500 champion; he’s a world champion.  There’s no doubt he knows how to drive.  There’s no doubt he knows how to win races.
 
At this level, it truly is about the people that you’re with.  It’s like he mentioned the other day, he went through the lowest of low times last year with Ganassi and those guys have made huge, huge steps in their program this year.
 
Now they are reaping the rewards of it, both him and Jamie.  It’s good to see, because Juan is a championship‑caliber driver.  Where he was running in the field last year is not indicative of his skill and talent as a driver, and it was good to see him in a position to win the race.
 
You know, like I said, he could have made it a lot worse on us and he ran with respect.  When you’re hungry for a win, it’s easy to say, hey, I did what I had to do.  He ran us with the utmost of respect, and I think he deserves a lot of credit and recognition for that.
 Q.  I wanted to ask about the final restart, you had a front row seat with Juan and Jimmie.  Jimmie after the race said Juan led them up very slow and at least one other driver also said the restart was very slow.  Wanted to see from your vantage point if you thought it was a normal restart, and was there anything weird there that threw you off, and were you surprised that Jimmie ended up with a penalty off that?
TONY STEWART:  Juan was leading the race; correct?  So he’s in charge of the restart pace.
 
You know, guys can talk about what the pace is.  The zone that we have to restart in is not very conducive to being leader‑friendly.  Most of the time, the guy that’s second has a huge advantage, and most of the time will lay back and roll the start and play to his advantage.
 
I feel bad for Jimmie, because Jimmie ran good all day.  He didn’t deserve to be in a situation at the end, but at the same time, he knows what the rules are, and he knows that the leader has to cross the start/finish line first.  He knows that.  It’s not to me to say whether it’s right or wrong.
You guys saw the scenario the same as we did, but everybody knows the rules.  We know what the procedure is.  And Juan is smart enough to not let the second place guy take advantage of the restart, and that’s what he did.
 
I feel bad for Jimmie because I don’t think that’s what he deserved.  You know, you work hard all day to put yourself in a position to try to win the race at the end.  You don’t want it coming down to  …
 
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 ENERGIZER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Talk about that race out there today.
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:   I thought it was pretty good to be honest with you.  Our car was okay.  We came here, did a test before the race and it was a lot cooler and so when we unloaded we had to do quite a bit of work on the car.  We struggled with loose all day and the longer we run, the worse it got.
 
I don’t know; it was a bit of a hit and miss.  One of the runs on the green, we decided to ‑‑ we made a couple of big changes on the car, and the car just took off, came to life, and it came to life at the right time.  It’s a shame, you know, there at the end, it was way too loose and I just couldn’t hold Tony off.
 Q.  Can you talk about the last restart?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Jimmie was laying off about just nearly a car length from me, and I knew he was trying to jump the start.  And I backed off a little bit for us to line up, and he didn’t want to do it. …when we got to the line, I think he wanted to time it and he timed it too well, and he just ‑‑ you know, he wanted to get the jump on me and he just jump it too much.  I would have tried to have done the same.  It’s one of those deals that when you time it too good, it actually hurts you.
 Q.  Can you talk about the overall finish?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  We got two top fives in about a month, near misses, wins and I think they are coming.  I’ve said this before:  You have got to start running in Top‑5s, Top‑10s to be able to get wins, to give yourself a shot.
 
Today we gave ourselves a good chance.  Just the car was a little bit too much of a handful there at the end.  We tried and I think it was too hot on the tires the run before, and our left tires were completely gone I think.  Taking two really hurt us, but we had to for the track position.  It’s one of those deals.
 Q.  Can you talk about how your relationship has evolved with (ph) over the last year and a half?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, when we started, it was hard because he had a certain mentality the way the car had to be set up and I was like, you don’t get it, if you set it up like that and I can’t drive it, it doesn’t matter how good of a base set up it is.  You’ve got to give me something that I can drive and be comfortable and hustle the car.
 
It took a little bit of time, but now I think we are clicking really well and you know, we have been getting good results every week that it’s awesome.
Q.  You were testing here a couple of weeks ago and you were not very happy with the car ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Still wasn’t today.< br>Q.  But where did it click for you guys to be able to run Top‑5, Top‑10 today?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  The problem is us being pissed off with a car when we are not happy, it’s about a 15th place care.  When it was our best, we couldn’t run 20.  It’s all relative.  We unloaded really well and we did everything right.  You know, we had good strategy, good calls, made the car better and we were patient.
 
But you know, right there at the end, I was out of tires, and even, you know, I thought Jeff had me there at the end.
Q.  Just wanted to follow up, can you speak about the laps, fighting with Kurt, he seemed to be a little annoyed?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  It’s weird, I got to his bumper ‑‑ I don’t think I touched him, got him loose got into turn three, and he gave me a tap and I’m like, I don’t think I hit you ‑‑ I didn’t think I had.  But it’s okay.  It’s racing hard.
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AARP CREDIT CARDS FROM CHASE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
 
THE MODERATOR:  Jeff, great race out there today, talk a little about your run.
 
JEFF GORDON:  Yeah, it was a fantastic finish for us.  We battled hard all day long, hovering 13th, 14th, I think we got to maybe 10th at one time.
 
But I mean, it’s frustrating, you know, when you think you have a better car than that, but you’re trying to make adjustments on the pit stops and play the right tire strategy but you’re just not making any ground and you know, we just got fortunate there where we only had a few laps on the tires and we decided to stay out.
 
Right away on the restart, I knew that clean air was making a huge difference and we were able to stay up there and we went third, fourth, whatever it was, for that entire run, and you know, we knew we needed the caution to come out.  You hate to see it happen the way that it did but it certainly paid off for us to be able to come in and get four tires and have a good restart there to get third.
Q.  Overall do you think this is a turning point to get the season started?
JEFF GORDON:  It’s certainly a great feeling.  We have been running good.  We just, you know, have had some things happen to us, kind of like last year, some self‑inflicted and some things out of our hands.  We have just got to fight.  We fought hard today, very hard, and this is a tough place. It’s hot, slick.  It was not an easy race and this team just never gave up.  That’s what got us in the Chase last year and that’s what is going to get us in there this year.
 
It’s so hard.  Every time that we have a finish like we had at Darlington or a finish like we had today, or like Charlotte, it’s never over until it’s over.  We just never seem to get into a rhythm of momentum.
 
All I can tell you is our pit crew has definitely improved.  We made a little change there and it’s paying off for us.  Our cars have improved, so that always makes life a little easier, and now I just have to make sure I don’t make any mistakes.  I think Alan would probably second that; we
 
Today was a great race for us, just because we were sitting there 12th, 13th, 14th, and we stay out and all of a sudden, here we are third.  So that’s a great lesson for us to learn when we go to other tracks, as well.
             FastScripts by ASAP Sports

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FEDEX 400 BENEFITING AUTISM SPEAKS
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 2, 2013
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
IT’S DOVER YOU ARE IN VICTORY LANE CONGRATULATIONS:
“If somebody would have told me it was going to be that way yesterday I would have told them they were crazy.  This thing was not a car that could win the race.  Just great pit strategy at the end.  We had a car that was solid we just never got track position to get in clean air.  It felt a lot better up front.  Steve Addington (crew chief) made a great call there that last caution and gave us the opportunity to race for it up there.  It didn’t seem like the guys that took four tires had a huge advantage taking off there.  Just really proud of everybody on this Code 3 Associates Chevy.  Code 3 had done such an awesome job of getting everybody in Oklahoma back on their feet.  They have saved over 150 animals and helped reunite 40 pets with their owners.  Pretty cool what they do right now.  I couldn’t think of a better week to celebrate what Code 3 Associates does and their hard work.  Between them and Chevy and Bass Pro Shops, Mobil 1 all the Hendrick engine and chassis department everybody has been helpful.  Especially on the Hendrick side nobody knows how much they have tried to help out.  It’s greatly appreciated, but our guys at our shop have been digging.  None of these guys get down.  We have been down but they haven’t gotten down.  That is what carries you to days like today at the end of the day.”
 
TELL US ABOUT THE BATTLE WITH JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:
“When we noticed we were catching him we kind of got going on the bottom there and realizing we were making up even more time when we could stay right on the bottom.  He was smart he was watching and he picked up on that and moved down.  I couldn’t really make any ground there any more so I had to try something.  Jeff (Gordon) was coming behind us there.  I was willing to risk running third to battle for the win instead.  If it didn’t work out and I dropped back a spot it was worth it.  It’s fun.  It’s fun when you can battle guys like Juan Montoya and Jeff Gordon like that.  That is two pretty cool names to be racing for the win with.”
 
WHAT DOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS DO FOR A TEAM THAT IS TRYING TO GET THEIR FOOTING BACK UNDER THEM NOW?
“It’s definitely momentum.  We got two weeks of momentum under our belt now at two totally different race tracks.  That is big.  Momentum is huge in this sport.  We still got a lot of work to do.  We won’t sit… I guarantee you none of these guys behind you will tell you we are exactly where we want to be right now.  It’s a good reward for how hard they have been working to get that first win of the year.  Now it’s trying to be more consistent and stay in the top-10 more and make our program better.  It’s proof that no matter how bad it’s been this year none of these guys have quit and given up.  Just really proud of the effort this weekend; I think we probably made more gains from Friday to right now than any team in the garage did.  I’m really proud of that fact.”
 
YOU TOLD YOUR GUYS NOT TO GIVE UP. WE WILL FIGURE THIS THING OUT. WITH THE CHALLENGES THIS YEAR, DOES IT MAKE THIS WIN EVEN MORE MEMORABLE FOR YOU AND THIS ENTIRE ORGANIZATION?
“Oh gosh, yes. It’s been such a tough year. And we had, not new partners to us at Stewart-Haas Racing, but new partners on the No. 14 car with Code 3 Associates this week. And with all the tragedies in Oklahoma, to be able to showcase a great partner like that that’s done so much to help so many people. It’s them and Mobil 1 and Bass Pro Shops, Rush Truck Centers, Coca-Cola, and Sprint, and most of all; it’s all of our fans out there. We’ve let them down for a long time. Hopefully today we’ll be starting on building that momentum back up now.”
 
YOU HAVEN’T WON HERE AT DOVER SINCE YOU SWEPT BOTH RACES IN 2000:
“Yeah, it’s been a while. Honestly, we tested here, which I thought would be an advantage coming here. And yesterday we took two steps backwards it seemed like, and yesterday it didn’t seem like we were much better. But I’m so proud of all of our guys and our engineers. They worked hard late into the night last night and never gave up. They kept working today. Addington’s pit strategy gave us the opportunity there at the end. It’s pretty cool. Not many times you get to outrace Juan Montoya. He figured out where I had been gaining ground and he made the adjustment and got going there and so we had to move around again, so found a little something on the top there. Everybody at Chevrolet has been helping us doing everything they can to help out and most of all, Rick Hendrick and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and the engine department and the chassis department and Doug Duchardt. Just everybody has dug deep to help us to get back to where we are today.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 ENERGIZER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
DESCRIBE THE CLOSING LAPS WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE?
“Our car was just a handful at the end.  We had a really quick car all day.  This Energizer Chevy everybody did a really good job.  I was just too loose.  I didn’t have enough drive off the corner.  I was too loose in.  It was hard I was trying to do the best I could.  The more you try and you stop using the tires the worse it is.  Then if you back off them it’s as bad.  It’s one of those deals where we were just not quick enough.”
 
HOW MUCH DID THE TRACK CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE RACE?
“It changed a ton.  We kept tightening the car up and it kept getting looser.  We kept making it tighter and tighter.  We really did two tires on mistake there.  He (Chris Heroy, crew chief) said two and then I guess when I was coming down I was on the radio and he said four, never heard him and left at two.  It actually worked out pretty well.”
 
A GREAT BATTLE! TELL US ABOUT THE END WITH TONY STEWART:
“He was way quicker. I don’t understand where he came from. He wasn’t that good all day, and he was good when it mattered. Our car, on that last run, it was a little tight the first few laps. I thought we were going to be good and then we started losing the rear really quick and never had any speed. It seems like you normally have like 10 or 15 laps where you can really mash the gas. I think our left tires were way too old. But everybody on the Energizer car this weekend did a really good job. I think that win is coming. It’s just good to be running this good every week.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AARP CREDIT CARDS FROM CHASE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“I thought we had a really good race car.  We just never could get the track position.  We kept adjusting on it.  We weren’t going anywhere.  We were making changes to the car, some were helping, some weren’t, but we still weren’t really making any ground.  We got fortunate we kind of stayed out under one green flag run; had pretty fresh tires then we were able to stay out on that one.  Great call, great pit stops, really proud to have Chase credit cards services, AARP reward card on this Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet.  It was a fun day there at the end.  We were struggling and fighting hard all day, but came out with a good finish.”
 
WERE YOU WONDERING IF THE CAUTION GODS WOULD SMILE ON YOU AT THE END?
“Yeah, we needed some things to go our way and that’s something that’s been hit or miss for us this year. Finally things went our way. We made a call to stay out, which obviously paid off and gave us some good track position. Our car drove pretty good up front there. And
then we needed a caution. You hate to see what happened to Denny (Hamlin), I think it was Denny, happen, but it certainly paid off for us. So, then we had a car there with four tires that really took off. They pumped the air pressure up on them and it took off. I was able to get by Kyle (Busch), but it started getting pretty loose on me as I caught those other two and all I could do was watch at that point. So, we almost got Montoya on the last lap, but it almost cost us another position too, so it was a great top-three. Don’t forget to get your AARP Rewards Card from Chase. It was pretty cool having a unique paint scheme this week with a local company here from Wilmington that supports such a great cause with Drive to End Hunger.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS- FINISHED 8TH
ON HIS RUN:
“Our Jimmy John’s Chevy was good one run, really loose one run and really tight the next run.  At the end we were just loose and tight.  Then the run before on two tires really loose.  We hung in there and got a solid top-10.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS RUN:
“Yeah, it was real hot, but we knew that going into the race.  We made our car better.  I felt like we had a real strong car the last half of the race.  We just couldn’t get track position, couldn’t pass.  We were faster than the guys in front of us at the end, but just couldn’t pass.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/MONSTERS UNIVERSITY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 17TH
BACK HERE IN THE GARAGE WITH A DISAPPOINTED JIMMIE JOHNSON. DID YOU THINK YOU JUMPED THE RESTART?
“No, I was half-throttle for the whole front-stretch. And at some point, I gotta go. And in this situation, NASCAR has the judgment to decide if you jumped it or not. But I’m like, he’s (Juan Pablo Montoya) is not even going. So I’m not sure if his car broke or if off power or spun the tires. I don’t know. So I’m running half-throttle down the frontstretch waiting for him and he never comes. So at that point, we got back going. Chad (Knaus, crew chief) even told me on the radio that something that had happened and that I should just take off and not worry about it. And then we were called on it. So, a bummer way to lose a race. We certainly had the winning car. Would have loved to have this Monsters University Chevrolet in Victory Lane today, but we’ll have to come back and do it in the fall.”
 
EXPLAIN TO US WHAT YOU SAW THERE:
“Well unfortunately it’s in the towers hands at that point.  The tower can choose to decide if it was a legal start or not.  I didn’t know if he (Juan Pablo Montoya) broke or what…. I just don’t know.  I’m running half throttle down the front stretch waiting for him and he doesn’t come.  My vision is so limited inside the car.  I’m really a sitting duck.  They decided to call me on it.  I totally disagree with the call, but it is what it is and come back and try to win in the fall.”
 
DID YOU TRY TO GIVE JUAN PABLO MONTOYA THE SPOT BACK AT SOME POINT RIGHT AFTER THAT?
“I ran half throttle for the first half a lap waiting for him. Then at some point you have to go and you have to race.  That is when I got back in the gas and took off.  Went so long and I tried to give it back and I was hopeful they would look at the telemetry and see.  They have all that ability.  I was hopeful they would see I was trying to give them the spot back.  Again, I didn’t know if he broke, I didn’t know if he had contact, spun the tires and hit the outside wall.  I have no clue.  At some point I had to go and unfortunately they called me on it.”
 
ARE YOU SURPRISED THEY MADE THE CALL?
“I am.  Whatever happened he just did not go.  For me to run half throttle for half a lap and not get caught, I tried to give it back and he just wasn’t coming.  At a certain point I didn’t know if he was even still on the road or under power or whatever it was.  Wish they would have seen it a little differently.”
 
WHAT COULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY? WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU JUST DIDN’T GO?
“I would have been passed by at least the No. 42 if not two or three others.  Once you get up to speed and the pack gets rolling it’s real hard to give it back and have it be fair for everybody.  Again, the issue that he had was so big.  I didn’t know if he lost power or what.  Eventually, I just had to get going and was called on it.”
 
WHAT DO THE OFFICIALS NEED TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS SITUATION IN CASE IT HAPPENS AGAIN?
“I would just be wasting air talking about it.  There is always a judgment call in pro sports it doesn’t matter what the sport is.  Our sport doesn’t have many opportunities for that, but today we did and the call didn’t go my way.”
 
WAS IT MORE DISHEARTENING BECAUSE OF THE WAY YOU CAME BACK UP THROUGH THE FIELD?
“Yeah, you never want to lose especially when you have a chance to win. We could have made history today so that stings a little bit more.”
 
WHAT DO YOU DO THINK IF YOU ARE IN THE SAME SPOT AGAIN?
“Just go talk to them and try to find out what… help me better understand what I could have done is really how I’m going to enter that conversation.”
 
YOU WENT A LAP DOWN EARLY AND WERE ABLE TO TURN THINGS AROUND:
“I was really puzzled what was going on with the car.  Must have been that set of tires because after that the car came to life and was great.  We were really bad at the start of the race.”
 
WAS CARL (EDWARDS) RELATING BECAUSE HE CAME OVER AND TALKED TO YOU.  WAS HE RELATING WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM LAST YEAR?
“He didn’t say anything he just couldn’t believe I got called on it because the No. 42 took off so slow.  He said he felt for me.”
 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
CHEVROLET INDY DUAL IN DETROIT
RACEWAY ON BELLE ISLE – DETROIT
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 1, 2013
 
Ryan Hunter-Reay Finishes Second in Chevrolet Dual in Detroit Race One; With Fifth Place Finish, Helio Castroneves Takes Points Lead
 
DETROIT (JUNE 1, 2013) – Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet,  claimed his third 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series podium of the season with a second-place finish on Saturday in the first race of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit at the Raceway on Belle Isle.           
 
Starting fourth on the grid for the 70-lap/164.22-mile race on the 13-turn/2.36-mile temporary street course, Hunter-Reay led once for 20 laps on the way to his runner-up finish, which moved him to second in the standing, just three points out of the top spot.
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, took over the lead in the standings with a fifth place finish in the sixth race of the 2013 IndyCar Series season. Castroneves started 12th on the 25-car grid.
 
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, finished eighth to give the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 three of the top-10 finishers.
 
“A tough day for many of our Chevrolet IndyCar V6 teams and drivers in Race One at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series.  “But, the race completed with dry conditions despite a forecast for rain.  Team Chevy now holds the top three positions in driver points and maintains the lead in the Manufacturer points battle.  We will regroup overnight for Race two of the first-ever doubleheader weekend, and come back to race for the win.”
 
Race Two of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit is slated to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 2, 2013, with live television coverage on ABC.
 
Live radio coverage will be on XM Radio Channel 94 and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 212. In addition, IndyCar live timing and scoring with the radio broadcast can be found at

Team Chevy Scores Double Win in Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 in Detroit
Angelelli and Taylor Take Team and Driver Point Lead with Victory; Liddell and Edwards Score Third Consecutive Win of the Season
                                      
DETROIT – (JUNE 1, 2013) Jordan Taylor put the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) on the pole, and Max Angelelli closed the deal to win the Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 at the Raceway on Belle Isle. The duo led 45 of 61 laps on the way to victory lane.
 
It is the drivers’ second win of the 2013 season, and catapulted the pair into the lead in both GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series (Rolex Series) team and driver points. The victory in the shadow of Chevrolet’s Detroit headquarters also extended Chevrolet’s lead in the Series’ DP Engine Manufacturers’ Championship Point Standings.
 
“Congratulations to Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli and the No. 10 Velocity Corvette DP team on their win on Detroit’s Belle Isle circuit,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicle and Motorsports. “Their win today propelled Max and Jordan to the drivers’ points lead.”
 
For the third consecutive race, Robin Liddell and John Edwards powered the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R to the victory in the Rolex Series Grand Touring (GT) class.  Starting fifth in-class for the two-hour race on the 13-turn/2.36-mile temporary street course, Liddell methodically worked his way through the field to the second place before the pit stop and driver exchange.
 
“It was great to see Robin Liddell, John Edwards and the Stevenson Camaro team win after an intense battle with Ferrari.” Campbell said.
 
With excellent pit work, Edwards came out in the lead, and held the point to grab the GT class win.  The victory moved the pair to second in the class team points as well as second in the driver points.  Chevrolet gained ground in the GT Manufacturers’ Point Standings.
 
“It was extra special to have these drivers and teams deliver wins in Detroit, the home of Chevrolet’s worldwide headquarters,” said Campbell.
 
Mark Kent, Director of Chevrolet Racing agreed.  “Just to be racing here on this beautiful Detroit circuit is exciting, and for Chevrolet to win both classes is the icing on the cake,” he said.
 
Rounding out the podium in DP were the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP driven by Christian Fittapaldi and Joao Barbosa, and the No. 2 Starworks Ford.
 
In GT, the No. 63 and 61 Ferrari teams joined Stevenson on the podium.
 
Next on the GRAND-AM schedule will be June 14-15 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio featuring both the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
 
POST RACE DRIVER QUOTES:
MAX ANGELELLI, NO. 10 VELOCITY WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE:
“I have to say that we delivered and executed perfectly. The guys did an excellent job in the pits. Once again, this is a team win. They made us win the race. This is for GM, Chevrolet and Corvette!”
 
WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT BARBOSA IN THE CLOSING LAPS? “I realized that I was good in the corners that were important – Turn 3 and Turn 7. We had good top speed and good braking. (Barbosa) was closer in the first-gear corners and the very tight sessions. He was very fair and it was hard racing.
 
“The beauty of this series is that it’s really impossible to say you are in a good spot. If you miss a race or have a bad weekend, it takes a long time to recover. Anything can happen and the championship is still really wide open. There are seven cars that can contend.”
 
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 VELOCITY WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE:
“To win last year in the Camaro in GT for Chevy and now this year in the Corvette for Chevy is perfect. The goal all weekend was to put the Corvette DP on top. It’s great for Team Chevy and I’m glad to be a part of it.
 
“Pretty much every day it’s been a green track. It rained before qualifying and it was green again so we knew what to expect. Today was a little more unique. It was dry the whole morning. Going into the race the track got warmer and there was more rubber from our warm-up and IndyCar qualifying. There was a little more grip but the heat of the day compromised it a little. I don’t think there was any drop-off in the tires and kept everyone close and competitive. It was a good, classic GRAND-AM race.”
 
ROBIN LIDDELL, NO. 57 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GT.R:
“It was a big deal for all of us. We had a GM party a couple nights ago and it is an important event to showcase their cars and abilities. What GM and the organizers have done here is fantastic.
 
“We decided to switch things around because John didn’t have a Continental race
I knew any chance there was to pass that I had to take it. I had to take it and picked up three spots early. The Stevenson guys again were phenomenal. We were able to jump ahead of the Ferrari on the pit stop. I think this is the only the second race win I’ve had in the Rolex Series where I haven’t finished. When you’re sitting on the stand while leading with 10 minutes to go is nerve-wracking! John did a fantastic job as always. It was fun to switch things up and it worked out well.”
 
JOHN EDWARDS, NO. 57 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GT.R:
“I don’t know if it’s a magical season but we’re definitely in the championship fight. I’m happy Stevenson gave me the chance to finish the race. Robin drove a really great stint starting out and picked up positions at a place where people say it’s tough for passing. Each race the Stevenson guys raising our expectations. We expect them to be perfect and best in the paddock. The last three races we’ve made passes on pit stops or through strategy calls. At Barber and here, we made the pass by having the better pit stops. Hats off to the Stevenson guys. They really got us in the lead during the pit stop. You could see by the pressure I was under that if I had gotten out in second place then we probably wouldn’t be here talking as winners.”