John Force Racing

John Force Racing–Chicago Post Race

JOHN FORCE RUNNER-UP IN CHICAGO

 

JOLIET, IL—- John Force raced to his 219th final but came up a few hundredths of a second short of picking up his 136th NHRA Funny Car win at the 16th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway today. In a tremendous final with Matt Hagan Force’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang ran 4.113, his slowest run of the weekend, beside Hagan’s winning 4.065 second run. Force’s Mustang began chucking spark plugs at half-track bleeding off power as the 10,000 hp Funny Car tried to accelerate down the race track.

 

Prior to today’s final Force was 2-1 in final rounds against Hagan who he outdistanced for the 2010 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series title, his unprecedented 15th NHRA Mello Yello world championship,  on the last day of the season. Today Force was masterful on his way to his third consecutive final round defeating Tony Pedregon, Del Worsham and Ron Capps to reach the final.

 

After his semi-final round win over Capps Force’s parachutes became tangled with Capps’ NAPA Dodge Charger R/T as the Funny Cars turned off. Luckily, no one was injured and neither Funny Car sustained damage.

 

Over the first nine races of the 2013 season Force’s round win record was 6-9 but since a remarkable turnaround led by crew chief Mike Neff and Force the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang is 10-2 over the last three races. He has moved up from 9th in the Mello Yello point standings to 3rd over that span and he is less than two rounds of racing 36 points behind No. 2 Cruz Pedregon.

 

Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team held onto their Top Ten position but Bob Tasca III closed the gap to three points as he sits in 11th place heading to the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, next weekend. Hight defeated rookie Chad Head in the first round with a 4.059 second run. Over the course of the weekend Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang posted runs of 4.055, 4.052, and 4.059 and in a losing effort to Capps, 4.096. His lone off-run was the final run of qualifying last night when there was a Christmas Tree malfunction that forced a restart.

 

Hight’s 4.059 second run was the quickest of the first round of eliminations. In the second round his 4.096 second run against Capps would have trailered eventual semi-finalist Bob Tasca III (5.056) and eventual winner Matt Hagan (4.105) in that same round.

 

“We made a great run in the first round our third 4.05 run of the weekend. This Auto Club Ford Mustang is turning around. We slowed down a little bit in the second round against Capps but we know how to make it run quicker in Norwalk,” said Hight. “The tracks are going to get hotter and I think we have a race car that can run in different conditions. We are still in the Top Ten and you need to hang onto those spots to get into the Countdown. It was good to see John get to another final.”

 

Courtney Force made a brief appearance today in eliminations before she was dismissed in an upset against No. 10 qualifier and Ford racer Tim Wilkerson. Force posted a 4.123 ET to Wilkerson’s 4.090.

 

“It was a little bit of a rough start this weekend. The rain didn’t help either. We only got one run on Friday because of it and we smoked the tires later in the evening. I mean, right as I hit the throttle it just went up in smoke. We probably should have put some newer tires on. The track was a lot better than we thought it was going to be,” Force said.

 

Force made her best run of the weekend in the second session on Saturday when she posted a 4.04 second run.

 

“Coming out on Saturday, we just had a malfunction in the electrical system in the car and the battery went dead. We were just having some bad luck. We finally got our car in the show on the last run. We went out and ran a 4.04, which is a great run; close to being one of my career best runs. It was such a great track on Saturday. You saw some great numbers on the board. But that 4.04 shot us up to the top half of the field, which was good for us,” said Force.

 

Force qualified in the No. 7 spot for race day, but got outrun by Wilkerson in their 6th career match-up. Force is now 5-1 against Wilkerson in previous events.

 

“Going up first round today, our car just went slower than we expected it to early on in the run. We started to drive around him down at the end. We were definitely gaining on him, but just ran out of real estate. He got the win over us, which was unfortunate for our team.”

 

“It’s just one of those days. You have to go through it. We came here off a win last weekend, and then we went out first round, but it’s all part of NHRA drag racing. Our Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car has been a pretty good car. We can run some good numbers. We can put 4.0’s on the board so I know we have a good car and we’re up there in the points so we just have to get back at it next weekend,” said Force.

 

After three tough runs in qualifying with engine failures a plenty, Top Fuel rookie Brittany Force laid down a solid run in round one of eliminations Sunday at Route 66 Raceway.

 

Facing fellow competitor Bob Vandergriff Jr., Force ran a 3.846 second pass at 322.11 mph, but fell short to his 3.843 pass. Amidst an early round loss, Force and her Castrol EDGE team are proud of the work they had accomplished in overcoming those engine issues.

 

“It was a close run against Vandergriff,” Force said. “I had never run him before, so I was excited to go out there and run against him. He had a great car all weekend. We finally stepped our car up and didn’t blow it up like we had been doing the entire weekend. Glad we stepped it up. We had a good run, but it just wasn’t quite good enough. I saw him right next to me, so I knew it was close. We’ll just have to give it another shot next weekend.”

 

Crew chief Dean Antonelli felt the heat all weekend long as well as he and co-crew chief Eric Lane called the shots to get the 26-year-old down track smoothly. It was no easy task, but entering the first round of eliminations, they hit on something golden.

 

“Our weekend started out not too bad the first qualifying session,” Antonelli said. “We ran an .84, but nicked the motor a little bit down track. We lost the night session that night. In Q2, we put a hole out early and probably should have had her shut it off and the motor got real unhappy and blew up. Last night in Q3, we thought we’d go for it, but something unhappy in the engine, but we haven’t really found any one particular thing. We made several changes and it responded good. We were trying to run .84 and ended up running a 3.84 in the first round, but we just kind of got clipped in the lights. It was a good race and a good recovery from how qualifying went. Hopefully we’re on track and look forward to Norwalk.”   

 

Even with the set-back today the Castrol EDGE team has confidence in their abilities. Brittany has qualified for the two quickest fields in NHRA history this weekend and Pomona1 (quickest field in history).

 

Mopar Racing

Mopar Racing–Mopar Doubles up on Wins at Route 66 NHRA Nationals with Hagan and Coughlin

Mopar Doubles up on Wins at Route 66 NHRA Nationals with Hagan and Coughlin
 
·         Mopar doubles up by earning both Funny Car and Pro Stock title wins at 16th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals
·         Hagan posts third title win in his sixth final round appearance of the year to extend his lead in Funny Car Championship standings with six races left in regular season.
·         Coughlin earns his fifth career Pro Stock win at Route 66 Raceway and his second of the season
·         Just two points separate Coughlin and Johnson in second and third spot in the Pro Stock standings as they chase down the leader

Joliet, Ill. (Sunday, June 30, 2013) – Mopar drivers Matt Hagan and Jeg Coughlin Jr took top honours at the 16th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals “doubling-up” at the Chicagoland area track with title wins in both Funny Car and Pro Stock classes for a third time in the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series season. Hagan extended his lead in the Funny Car championship standings by posting his third victory of the season in the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Charger R/T in his sixth final round appearance for Don Schumacher Racing. For his part, Coughlin earned his second win the year aboard the Jegs.com Mopar Dodge Avenger by taking his fifth career “Wally” trophy at Route 66 Raceway to jump into second place in the Pro Stock standings.

 

“It was great to have Matt Hagan and Jeg Coughlin Jr. add two more wins in their Dodge vehicles today with their efforts at the Route 66 Nationals and everyone at Mopar is very proud of the strong first half of the season we’ve had,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC’s service, parts and customer-care brand. “Earning wins in both Pro Stock and Funny Car classes at the same event for the third time this year, is a great way to showcase all the hard work that Mopar HEMI-powered teams and drivers are putting in to defend both world titles this season.”

 

Drivers to previously double-up on National wins in both categories this year for Mopar were Johnny Gray and Allen Johnson at the GatorNationals, and then Gray again with Coughlin at the Kansas Nationals.

 

Hagan earned his Route 66 title win by defeating two of his Don Schumacher Racing teammates; After turning the win lights on in his first round match-up his against Gray, Hagan went on to run an incredible side-by-side, Mopar versus Mopar, showdown against defending world champion Jack Beckman, emerging the victor on a holeshot. His final round victory against John Force was earned by posting his best elapsed time of eliminations with a 4.605-second pass at 315.34 mph, to his competitor’s 4.113-seconds (304.80 mph) attempt.

 

“I don’t think you could put together a tougher line-up,” said Hagan in reference to having to battle two teammates, and veterans Bob Tasca III and Force to earn his eighth career victory. “We’re doing good things right now and we want to keep it up, but I want to stay humble. This is such a humbling sport. Things can change fast, so we’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

 With six races left in the regular season, Hagan leads the championship over Cruz Pedregon and Force while his DSR teammates Gray, Ron Capps and Beckman are all right there in the closely contested battle in the top six spots.

 

In Pro Stock action, Coughlin took home his fifth win from the Route 66 venue for his second win of the 2013 season, bringing his victories total to 54 titles. He won this one in a final elimination match against opponent Greg Anderson after having to face his Mopar teammate Allen Johnson, winner of the previous event at the New England Nationals, in the semifinals.

 

“When I let out the clutch, the car didn’t feel the best that it had all day, and by the time I got into second and third gear I was just cracking the whip on the thing as hard as I could,” said Coughlin, who moved into second place in the standings just two points ahead of Johnson with the win and closing the gap on the leader Mike Edwards. “You look at the guys we had to race and there were certainly no easy rounds. To see that win light come on in my lane and to have such a huge win here feels amazing. I feel very fortunate to be standing here clutching this Wally (trophy).”

 

The next stop for Mopar teams and drivers is the fourth NHRA event in as many weeks taking place at this upcoming weekend at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, marking the halfway point of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series with the 7th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals on July 4-7.

Richard Childress Racing

Richard Childress Racing–Kentucky Speedway Sprint Cup Post Race

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Quaker State 400
Kentucky Speedway
Sunday, June 30, 2013

Race Highlights:
Richard Childress Racing teammates finished 10th (Kevin Harvick), 19th (Jeff Burton) and 30th (Paul Menard) in the Quaker State 400.
Following the event at Kentucky Speedway, Harvick remains fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings, trailing leader Jimmie Johnson by 66 markers, while Menard ranks 15th, 151 points back, and Burton sits 21st, 182 points out of the top position.
The No. 29 Chevrolet SS team ranks fourth in the Sprint Cup Series owner championship point standings, with the No. 27 team 15th and the No. 31 team 22nd.
According to NASCAR’s Post-Race Loop-Data Statistics, Harvick completed 33 passes while running in the top 15, ranking him fifth in Quality Passes.
Harvick made 61 Green-Flag Passes, ranking him fifth in that category.
Burton was the ninth-Fastest Driver Early In a Run and made 62 Green-Flag Passes ranking him third overall.
Menard was credited with two of The Fastest Laps run and made 13 Green-Flag passes during the event.
Matt Kenseth earned his fourth victory of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season and was followed to the finish line by Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.
The next Sprint Cup Series race is the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, July 6. The 18th race of the 2013 season is scheduled to be televised live on TNT beginning at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio.

Menard Finishes 30th at Kentucky Speedway After Early Involvement in Multi-Car Incident
 
Paul Menard started the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway from the 24th position after persistent rain showers postponed the originally scheduled Saturday night event until Sunday afternoon. In the early laps, Menard relayed to the crew that his SYLVANIA/Menards Chevrolet was loose on entry and tight through the middle of the corners. A competition-caution on lap 30 allowed Menard to come down pit road for fresh tires, fuel and spring rubber and wedge adjustments. The chassis adjustments seemed to help the handling of the No. 27 machine and Menard had worked his way up to 20th at lap 42. Just five laps later, the Eau Claire, Wis., native was involved in a multi-car incident, which ultimately brought out the red flag on lap 48. Menard sustained significant right-front fender and front bumper damage during the on-track melee and the crew went to work making repairs during multiple pit stops once the red flag was lifted. Restarting in the 36th position, four laps down to the leader, Menard struggled with a tight condition for the reminder of race. Though he had a battle-scarred race car, Menard and the crew never gave up. By virtue of not having to take the car to the garage, Menard was able to gain six positions in the remaining laps of the event to finish 30th, earning valuable points in his quest to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Menard now sits 15th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings heading into Daytona International Speedway next weekend.
 
       Start – 24th               Finish – 30th            Laps Led – 0          Points – 15th
 
PAUL MENARD QUOTE:
“It’s unfortunate we got caught up in a wreck early at Kentucky Speedway. We never really got a chance to see what our SYLVANIA/Menards Chevrolet had. I have to thank my guys though, they did a great job of getting the car patched up, which allowed me to stay on the racetrack and gain several positions over the course of the event. We’ve got to keep our heads up and hope our luck changes next weekend at Daytona International Speedway.”
 
  
 
After being rained out Saturday evening, the NASCAR Sprint Cup engines fired back to life on Sunday with Kevin Harvick and No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team rolling off the grid 22nd at Kentucky Speedway. NASCAR mandated a competition caution at lap 30 to allow teams to check tire wear and address handling issues because rain washed rubber off the track following Saturday’s heavy storms. Harvick started the first run by quickly picking off several spots, moving up to 17th place in just the first five laps.  With the competition yellow out on lap 30, crew chief Gil Martin dialed up a few quick adjustments to fix the tight handling No. 29 car and opted to only take two two tires for track position on the first stop of the day.  The strategy paid off with some ensuing caution laps pushing the team up to 11th place on lap 38.  On the next restart, Harvick was able to squeak by a big wreck that put the field under a red flag condition.  After making it to fifth by lap 60, the car began to develop a loose condition that would ultimately play a factor for the rest of the race.  The following green flag stop saw a slew of cars get caught by an ill-timed caution, which included Harvick and the Budweiser Chevrolet SS. The team rallied back to the lead lap with a few fortunate cautions going their way. Through laps 214 to 243, Harvick maintained a tough battle for a top-10 spot with the No. 5 and No. 24 cars, until the yellow came out again and put the spotlight back on Gil and the crew for one final strategy call to take the team to the end.  Right side tires and fuel with a small air pressure adjustment sorted the No. 29 Chevy back to ninth when the field took the green on lap 246.  When the dust settled, Harvick brought home a 10th place finish and maintained his fourth place slot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points Race to the Chase.
 
Start – 22nd                  Finish – 10th              Laps Led – 0            Points – 4th 

KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:  “We were loose in and fairly free through the corners for most of the day.  Kentucky Speedway is a great place to race, but gave us all we could handle on getting our Budweiser Chevrolet to grip the turns.
 
 
  
Jeff Burton Overcomes Adversity to Finish 19th at Kentucky Speedway
 
Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS team lined up 15th for the 400-mile race at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday. After waiting an extra day because Mother Nature washed out racing action on Saturday evening, the 43-car field took the initial green flag on Sunday afternoon. From the start, Burton and the Luke Lambert-led team battled a tight-handling condition through the corners of the 1.5-mile oval, but still managed to race up to 11th in the first 30, of 267, laps. That was when a pre-determined competition caution was displayed because rain washed so much rubber off the track the prior two days. After pitting for tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments, NASCAR penalized Burton for exiting pit road too fast in sections seven and eight. Taking the green flag at the tail end of the field in 34th, Burton picked up six positions before the caution waved again on lap 39. This time, Lambert called Burton to pit road for tires and additional adjustments. Once again, Burton was penalized for being too fast exiting pit road. This time, it was for sections two, three and eight. At this point, driver and crew chief realized there was a problem with the car’s tachometer. For the remainder of the race, Burton used extreme caution upon entry and exit of pit road, which resulted in no more penalties. After another caution restart on lap 46, Burton was scored 35th. A multi-car wreck on lap 48 brought out the red flag. Electing not to pit allowed the team to restart 20th. From there, Burt
on raced his way up to fifth and then ran in and near the top-10 for the middle stages of the race. Towards the latter stages, Burton let Lambert know he was tight through the turns and lost some of the grip he had earlier in the race. More stops for adjustments didn’t work to the team’s desire and they ended up finishing 19th. Burton is now 21st in the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings as the team heads to Daytona International Speedway for next Saturday night’s scheduled race.
 
 
Start – 15th            Finish – 19th          Laps Led – 0        Points – 21
 
JEFF BURTON QUOTE: “This was not the finish this Caterpillar team deserved. We were good in the early part of the race, then got way too tight before the car went to loose. It was very frustrating. Those speeding penalties on pit road cost us some, but we ended up racing our back into the top-10 for a while. The last part of the race just didn’t go the way needed it to for this team. I hate it, but I know we’re going to be good when we get to Daytona (International Speedway) next weekend.”
 

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Line Marking Progress as Series Leaves Chicago

Line Marking Progress as Series Leaves Chicago
 
JOLIET, Ill. (June 30, 2013) – Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Jason Line was able to identify areas of success as well as a few trouble spots that need a little more fine-tuning over the course of the weekend at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago. The Mooresville, N.C.-based competitor had one of the quickest cars at the critical early incremental markers on the racetrack throughout qualifying and on raceday, and the important progress should be a building block as Team Summit continues their journey towards refreshing a championship-worthy program.
 
Line tucked away a 6.590 to 6.722 victory over Mark Martino in round one at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals and got the jump start on Jeg Coughlin in their second round meeting but fell into tire shake and gave up the advantage. Coughlin inched ahead for the 6.595 to 6.642 win, but Line counted the positives and is aiming to continue his consistent progress as the Countdown to the Championship comes into view.
 
“I was pretty happy with the 60-foot times we saw with my Summit Racing Camaro,” said Line, who qualified the blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro in the No. 6 position with a best time of 6.584 at 209.33 mph. “That was good, and if we hadn’t shaken in the second round, we would have won that round and it would have made all the difference in our day. We would have gone down a decidedly different path. But still, the Summit Racing team took a step forward. We didn’t have the performance that we were looking for this weekend, but we made some strides.”
 
Line was particularly pleased to see his Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson make progress this weekend with the new white Summit Racing Camaro. Anderson recorded his best qualifying performance since the race in Atlanta earlier this year and finished in the final round – his first of the season, while Line won the race in Houston. 
 
“This didn’t start out to be a very good year for us in terms of what this KB Racing team is used to,” admitted Line. “We’ve both struggled, but maybe Greg has struggled a little bit more, so it’s good to see him have a weekend like this. It certainly helped his situation points-wise, and anytime you get to the final, it’s a good day.”
 
Anderson moved up to the No. 7 position in the Pro Stock standings, and Line preserved his possession of the No. 4 spot. The Summit Racing duo will have another chance to move up in the series standings in just a few days, when the circuit makes its annual stop in Norwalk at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, their title sponsors main event.
 
“The Summit Racing team is pretty excited to get back to Norwalk,” said Line. “It’s a race we look forward to all year. Every team goes through a little bit of a slump, but thankfully, it looks like we’re working our way out of this. It’s a gradual process, but hopefully, we’ll make Summit Racing proud next weekend. This race in Chicago was a good warm up, and we’re sure going to try to go a couple of steps further.”
 

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Anderson Wheels Summit Racing Camaro to the Final Round in Chicago

Anderson Wheels Summit Racing Camaro to the Final Round in Chicago
 
JOLIET, Ill. (June 30, 2013) – Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson returned to familiar form at Route 66 Raceway this weekend at the 12th race of 24 on the 2013 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule. The four-time Pro Stock world champion and 74-time national event winner qualified his three-race-new Summit Racing Camaro in the No. 4 position and took out some serious competitors en route to his first final round of the season.
 
“I had a good day,” said Anderson, who competed in the 113th final round appearance of his career. “I certainly can’t argue that. It was a good day for the Summit Racing team, and hopefully we can build on it when we get to Norwalk next week for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.”
 
Anderson launched into raceday with a qualifying-best 6.569 at 209.30 that would count as his best start since Atlanta earlier this season. Scheduled for a first-round meeting with veteran competitor V. Gaines, Anderson arrived at the Chicago-area racetrack in full race-mode and wearing his game face. The Mooresville, N.C.-based driver had a cool .016-second reaction time to Gaines’ .055 and sealed the deal at the top end on a holeshot, recording a slower e.t. but crossing the finish line ahead of his opponent thanks to a very strong start. Anderson’s scoreboard flashed a winning 6.619 at 208.94 mph to a 6.602 with an identical 208.94.
 
The victory set the stage for a repeat of last year’s final at Route 66 Raceway, when Anderson forfeited the win to Erica Enders-Stevens. Again, Anderson was first off the starting line, and his .002-second advantage was the deciding factor in his 6.662 to 6.660 win. The margin of victory was an incredible .0008-second, and with No. 1 qualifier Mike Edwards waiting in the wings, Anderson took a breath and steadily continued the charge. He wheeled his Summit Racing Camaro off the starting line with a psychic .002-second reaction and parlayed the tremendous advantage into an astonishing third consecutive holeshot win. Edwards was .076 at the starting line and a quicker but losing 6.640 at the finish line stripe.
 
“You can’t let your guard down out here at any time,” said Anderson, who moved up one position to occupy the No. 7 spot in the Pro Stock standings. “Second and third round, running Erica and Mike and not having lane choice – those were big rounds. You have to have a lot of luck to win those rounds, and I got lucky. But those were big wins for me; I haven’t had many wins like that this year. I’m realistic and I know we have to keep digging, but I’ve got to be happy about those wins.”
 
The charge came to an end in the final round of eliminations, when Anderson’s starting line advantage wasn’t quite enough against challenger Jeg Coughlin. Anderson was out of the gate first with a respectable .027 light to Coughlin’s .036, but he soon fell into tire shake and had to give up the run. Coughlin turned on the win light, 6.603 to 11.680.
 
“I think we had a lot of luck today, and even though we had a decent day, the reality is that we still have a lot of work to do to get our Summit Racing Camaros living up to their potential,” said Anderson. “I ran very well during qualifying, and that definitely put a smile on all of our faces over here in the KB Racing camp. Today, though, I was a little disappointed. I was happy to get the win light three times today, but it didn’t quite happen the way we wanted it to. We just weren’t able to get near where we were yesterday – there was a little bit of extra heat and sun on the racetrack and that crossed us up again. We are working to make sure that doesn’t continue.”
 
The final round in Joliet was the third consecutive final for Anderson at the event. Notably, Anderson was challenged at Route 66 Raceway for most of his career, and it was the only venue on the NHRA tour where he had not won before he closed the deal in 2011.
 
“It was the one I couldn’t get for a long time,” said Anderson. “But it’s a great racetrack, one where you can consistently go out there and make good, quality runs. I’ve raced quite a lot of years at this place, and nowadays it’s a lot of fun to come out here.
 
“What happened here this weekend is a morale booster, nobody on this team is going to leave here dragging their lip. The bottom line is that we did this as a team, and that’s good. A lot of good happened today, and we have to build off of that. Right now, I’m glad we go to Norwalk next week. The more we’re on the track, the better we’ll be.”

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Action Express Racing and Stevenson Motorsports Repeat as Winners in Six Hours of the Glen to Give Team Chevy Double Victory

Action Express Racing and Stevenson Motorsports Repeat as Winners in Six Hours of the Glen to Give Team Chevy Double Victory
The Victory is the Second Consecutive in 2013 for Barbosa and Fittipaldi in Corvette DP and Fourth Win in Five Races for Camaro GT.R Piloted by Liddell and Edwards
 
WATKINS GLEN, New York (June 30, 2013) – Action Express Racing driver Joao Barbosa battled his way to Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International last year in the difficult and prestigious GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Six Hours of The Glen. Today, behind the wheel of the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) with his new co-driver, Christian Fittipaldi, Barbosa made a return trip to the Winner’s Circle to occupy the top step on the podium and once again collect the winner’s trophy for the overall win.
 
The pair combined to lead 30 of the 171 laps completed in the six-hour race that saw bright sunny conditions quickly replaced with heavy rain that was just as quickly replaced with blue skies and warmer temperatures. Fittipaldi held off all challengers in the final stint of the race to bring the Corvette DP to the checkered flag first.
 
It is the second consecutive win and the third consecutive podium finish for Barbosa and Fittipaldi this season. The victory moved the team from fifth in the DP team standings to third.
 
Not to be outdone, John Edwards and Robin Liddell powered the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R to the win in the Rolex Series Grand Touring Class (GT), also for the second consecutive year. The pair combined to lead a race-high 67 laps of the 164 run by the leaders in the GT class.
 
It is the fourth victory in the last five races for Edwards and Liddell, and closed the team to within six points of the leaders in the GT class standings.
 
“Our Chevrolet teams rose to the occasion today, and dealt with some changing and sometimes difficult circumstances throughout the Six Hours of the Glen,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. “It is always a rewarding experience for everyone associated with the Team Chevy program in the Rolex Series to score a win in both Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring as we did today.  Congratulations to the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP team and the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro team on their repeat victories in this prestigious race.”
 
Equaling its best finish of the season, a runner-up run at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the No. 3 8Star Motorsports Corvette DP gave Chevrolet the first and second spots on today’s DP  podium.  Team owner Enzo Potolicchio started the race, and then Stephane Sarrazin and Michael Valiante shared the driving duties for remainder of the event. Valiante was in the cockpit for the final stint to make a charge for the win in the closing laps.
 
The two Corvette Daytona DP teams that came into today’s race holding the first and second spots in the standings suffered setbacks early in the race. The No. 10 Velolcity Worldwide Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP had a mechanical issue with the shifter linkage on the opening lap of the race.  The team was able to make repairs and the car driven by Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor returned to competition. The team was credited with a 10th place finish and now sits in a tie in the standings for the top spot.
 
The No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP piloted by Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney came into the race second in the standings, but also had to battle back from a mechanical problem early in the race. Something went awry in the steering and sent it on an off-course excursion.  The team made repairs in the paddock and got the “Red Dragon” back in competition, but on the long track in a race that didn’t see a great deal of attrition, the team was relegated to a 14th place in class finishing position. They now sit fourth in the team standings.
 
In Saturday’s GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R led the way for Team Chevy posting a sixth-place finish.
 
Next on the schedule for both the Rolex Series and the Continental Tire Challenge will be the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25-26, 2013.
 
 
DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES:
 
NO. 5 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE, OVERALL AND DP RACE WINNER:
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: ON HIS THOUGHTS AS THE RACE CAME TO A CLOSE: “I don’t know. I was on the limit all the time.”
 
WHAT AN INCREDIBLE RACE. THAT WAS A FANTASTIC FINAL FEW LAPS. WERE YOU MORE CONCERNED ABOUT MICHAEL VALLENTE CATCHING YOU, OR THOSE LAPPED CARS THAT BOTH OF YOU WERE STARTING TO APPROACH ON THE FINAL LAP?
“I guess both. I knew that the No. 3 car had a very strong piece. They showed it a couple of times during the race. They were definitely stronger than us. But I think we played the game better than they did. And we, as a team, won the race today. Hats off to Joao, who drove an outstanding stint. And man, I’m very happy. Two in a row is a very nice feeling. We led at the three-hour mark and won the race, so it couldn’t have been a better weekend.”
 
YOU ALMOST HAD A FLAWLESS BECAUSE THERE AT THE END WHEN YOU WERE GOING THROUGH THE BOOT, YOU GOT SIDEWAYS. WHAT HAPPENED THERE? AND DID YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE THROWN AWAY THE WIN?
“I was under limit. I was very heavily under limit every single lap that I could do and maybe I ran a little bit over a little bit. But I managed to catch it, I guess. That’s where 42 years of age and 20-some years of 30 years of racing counts a little bit. And I’m happy that that came into the play. That definitely helped me a little bit like experience over there and it was a great week and a great day. We didn’t have the quickest car on the track today. And I just think that the whole group as a team did an excellent job.”
 
JOAO BARBOSA: TALK ABOUT THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN YOU AND CHRISTIAN AND THE TEAM: “It is working isn’t it? It’s like they say ‘We are in it to win it’. This was a great points day for us. We led at the three-hour mark. We led at six hours. We won the race overall. It is looking great for us in the points now. I think we made a great click.  This Action Express team, man…the chemistry that is going on is unbelievable. The car is running excellent. Christian did a fantastic job. He is a little worn out, but he’ll get over it (SMILES). What can I say, this group of guys has done a tremendous job, and the car drove awesome today.”
 
HOW SATISFYING IS THIS TO HAVE TWO WINS IN A ROW? LAST YEAR, YOU WERE USUALLY AT TEAM AROUND FOURTH OR FIFTH. NOW, YOU ARE SHOWING UP AND WINNING RACES.  “I don’t agree with that. We won the Six Hours last year. So, this team has been doing phenomenal. Obviously the chemistry is working so well and we were able to make the car go fast and these guys are awesome. They did a tremendous job. Every pit stop was great and we were able to bring the car home again in first place. Two wins and a second-place in the last three races and it is looking good. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
 
 
NO. 57 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GT.R, GT CLASS WINNER:
JOHN EDWARDS: YOU HAD TO SIT THERE AND WATCH ROBIN WORK SO HARD THAT LAST STINT, HOW HARD IS THAT?  “It was really tough, especially with the changing conditions. I’ve always said I prefer to be in the car at the end, because sitting on the pit stand I just get a nervous twitch going on with my leg. That is the worst part of the race for me. When I got out of the car, that was the most nervous part for me. Ultimately the car was good in the dry, and we were hoping it wouldn’t rain because those conditions are really tough, and you might throw it off even if you are as good of a driver as anyone can be.”
 
ROBIN LIDDELL: THE PRESSURE WAS ON THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH WASN

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Kentucky Speedway–Post Race

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 30, 2013

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 HELLMANN’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
ON HIS RACE AND RUN THAT GOT SECOND PLACE FINISH:
“Yes, it was a really good day for us. I wasn’t sure after Happy Hour what we had. We’ve had really quick cars for the last two months, and have not been able to capitalize on it. We’ve had really unfortunate luck. But cool to have a really good run. I was quite a bit quicker than him (Clint Bowyer), and I guess the No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) wasn’t on tires, so you are just fighting to get by as quick as you can because you never know when a caution is going to come out, or how it is going to play out.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“We had an awesome fast Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet that is for sure.  I think we passed more cars than anybody.  These pit stops just aren’t going our way.  If we try to stretch it doesn’t work our way.  If we try to pit early it doesn’t work our way.  I don’t know, you just have to keep working hard at it and hope they fall your way eventually.  Pit stops were great when we had them.  The car was awesome on the race track.  It took a little while for it to come in and that last restart I kind of timed it and the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) spun his tires and stacked us up, then cars were four-wide.  That didn’t certainly work out in our favor.”
 
WITH THE BAD LUCK YOU HAVE HAD THIS YEAR YOU GUYS HAVE BATTLED BACK TO 12TH IN POINT’S ONLY TWO POINT’S BEHIND 10TH.  TALK ABOUT HOW THE TEAM CONTINUES TO FIGHT TO GET IN THE CHASE:
“I’m happy the way we are running.  The last two weeks have been very promising.  That is going to help us as we move forward.  We are doing the right things.  We’ve got to continue to qualify better, execute better, hope some things go our way and then I have to be able to get those restarts.  The first one actually wasn’t that bad.  We were going to come out pretty good.  The last one, yeah, I could have done a better job.  I’m just happy with the way the car is working right now.”
 
A LOT OF GUYS COMPLAINED ABOUT THE TRACK HOW BUMPY IT IS. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON IF THEY SHOULD REPAVE IT OR JUST LEAVE IT THE WAY IT IS?
“I would rather it stay the way it is.  I don’t like repaves.  I think a smooth new pavement that they are putting on these race tracks now is worse than that.  Yeah, it’s rough and it beats the cars all up.  I don’t think we should be going down on the apron here on restarts.  I think that is pretty dangerous.  Other than that I like everything about the track.  It’s just trying to find a tire that works well here.  That is a challenging thing to do for this surface.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED NINTH
ON FINAL RESTART:
“I don’t know. We were kind of in an awkward situation in that restart there. And then we were like three and four wide going in the corner, then something happened with the air and just kind of turned me around. Unfortunate, but at least we rallied back for a good finish.  The No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) broke the pace car speed, which you aren’t supposed to, but, they aren’t calling guys on that so I need to start trying that in the future.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD YOUTH FOUNDATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 12TH
ON HITTING THE TIRE DEBRIS AND DAMAGING HIS CAR:
“You just fix it and keep going. The guys did a good job on pit road all day long working on it and trying to fix everything. I’m not sure we got everything back where it is supposed to be, but we did well-enough to get a decent finish out it. Just proud of how hard the team worked. Did a good job for qualifying, and put a good car out there for the race. Can’t do anything about what happened out there on the race track with that casing.  They worked hard on it to get it right, and get it good enough where we could run well. So, they deserve a lot of credit today.”
 
ON HITTING THE TIRE DEBRIS AND DAMAGING HIS CAR:
“You just fix it and keep going. The guys did a good job on pit road all day long working on it and trying to fix everything. I’m not sure we got everything back where it is supposed to be, but we did well-enough to get a decent finish out it. Just proud of how hard the team worked. Did a good job for qualifying, and put a good car out there for the race. Can’t do anything about what happened out there on the race track with that casing.  They worked hard on it to get it right, and get it good enough where we could run well. So, they deserve a lot of credit today.”
 

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Kentucky Speedway–Jamie McMurray

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 30, 2013
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY LEADS TEAM CHEVY AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
Five Team Chevy Drivers in the Top-10
 
 
SPARTA, Kentucky (June 30, 2013) – Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Hellman’s Chevrolet SS, recovered from early issues to finish second in today’s Quaker State 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Kentucky Speedway.  McMurray, who rallied from a mid-race tire problem, had one of the fastest cars in the field at the end of the 267-lap event.  With fresher tires, the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver was gaining on the leader in the closing laps, but was unable to catch him for the win.
 
The race, which was originally scheduled to run Saturday night, but postponed until noon Sunday due to rain, was dominated by Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson until an incident on the final restart.  Johnson, who led a race-high 182 laps in his No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet SS, lost control of the car and spun on a restart with less than 25 laps to go. After a pit stop for tires, Johnson made a furious charge from the back to finish ninth in the race and maintain his position as the series point leader. He now holds a 38-point advantage over second place.
 
Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet SS, scored his second straight top-ten finish and came home sixth.  The finish helped Busch move up three positions in the standings to 14th.  
 
Jeff Gordon gained more valuable points with a solid eighth-place finish in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS, which enabled him to move up one spot in the standings to 12th.   Richard Childress Racing driver Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS, finished 10th in today’s event and remains fourth in the overall standings.
 
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet SS, started on the pole for the race, but hit debris from a shredded tire early in the race.   After several repairs by the crew and some determined driving, Earnhardt Jr. came back to finish 12th. 
 
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was the race winner, Clint Bowyer (Toyota) was third, Joey Logano (Ford) was fourth, and Kyle Busch (Toyota) was fifth to round out the top-five finishing order.
 
Next stop on the circuit will be Round 18 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, July 6th.  Green flag is set for 7:30 pm ET and will air live on TNT, Sirius/XM Channel 90, PRN Radio and

Mopar Racing

Mopar Racing–Record Setting Run by Capps Gives Mopar No.1 Qualifier Honors at Route 66 NHRA Nationals

Record Setting Run by Capps Gives Mopar No.1 Qualifier Honors at Route 66 NHRA Nationals
 
·         Mopar is competing at 16th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals this weekend at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., the 12th of 24 national events
·         Capps sets both track e.t. and speed records with the third quickest pass in NHRA history to earn Funny Car No.1 qualifier position
·         DSR teammates Capps , Beckman are two of four drivers to run under the four second barrier
·         Johnson and Coughlin Jr. earn second and third qualifying spots in Pro Stock competition

Joliet, Ill. (Saturday, June 29, 2013) – A record setting run by Don Schumacher Racing’s Ron Capps in his Dodge Charger R/T earned him No.1 qualifier honors for the 16th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Saturday evening’s cool temperatures and perfect track conditions set the stage for Capps’ run of 3.988 seconds with a top speed of 320.28 mph, the third quickest pass in NHRA history, setting both the Funny Car elapsed time and speed records at the Chicagoland area track.

 

The Mopar driver posted the first three-second pass in the track’s history during the final qualifying session where three more entries, including his teammate Jack Beckman, would also run sub four-second elapsed times, but none were able to beat it.

 

“I really didn’t think it would hold since we ran so early in the session,” said Capps who’s record setting pass gave him his first top qualifier position of the season, his first at Route 66 Raceway, and the 15th of his career. “It was a great run. I thought [Matt] Hagan or [Jack] Beckman would go quicker than that, but we’ll take it. I’ve been hit or miss at this place, so maybe we can get one tomorrow. It’s great for the fans to have two night sessions. Funny Cars racing at night, it doesn’t get a lot better than that.”

 

Capps will face Bob Bode in the first round of Sunday’s eliminations.

 

Jack Beckman’s elapsed time pass of 3.993-seconds (319.52 mph) was good enough to put his Mopar in third spot and will give him lane choice over Alexis DeJoria in the opening round.

 

After sitting second in the sole Friday session with a 4.040 seconds (317.19 mph) pass, Matt Hagan ended up sixth in his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” machine after a mechanical problem with the lighting tree delayed his final qualifying attempt against Robert Hight. Once they restaged their Funny Cars, neither were able to complete the run or take a shot a adding their names to the list of drivers breaking the four second barrier that evening.

 

For his first round showdown, Hagan, who has two wins this year and is the current Funny Car points leader, will face the Mopar of his teammate Johnny Gray, who is third in those championship rankings with three wins of his own so far and who qualified 11th with a 4.064-second (310.70 mph) effort.

 

The 70 degree track temperature for Saturday’s final Pro Stock qualifying session also helped Allen Johnson and his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger initially set a track record with a 6.556-second run to go to the top of the qualifying score sheets, but his efforts were short lived as current points leader Mike Edwards earned his tenth No.1 qualifier position of the season with his own record low e.t. of 6.542 seconds and 210.64mph. That put Johnson second overall in qualifying and matched him up with Steve Kent for the first round of eliminations.

 

Johnson’s Mopar teammate and driver of the Jegs.com entry, Jeg Coughlin Jr., ran his own impressive 6.565-second e.t. with a speed of 209.92 mph to put him third on the qualifying score sheets, pitting him against Roger Brogden in the opening elimination round.

 

Fellow HEMI-powered entry of Vincent Nobile qualified eighth and will start against Greg Stanfield, while V. Gaines will pit his own Mopar against Greg Anderson in the first elimination round battle.

 

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Line Encouraged by Early Numbers, Set for Strong Raceday in Joliet

Line Encouraged by Early Numbers, Set for Strong Raceday in Joliet
                                                                                                   
Event:  16th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Location: Route 66 Raceway, Chicago, Illinois
Day/Date: Saturday, June 29, 2013
 
The final day of qualifying at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Chicago’s Route 66 Raceway was one of the best of the 2013 season of Mello Yello Drag Racing in terms of elapsed time and speed, with a remarkable series of 6.5-second blasts in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock category, including the 6.584 at 209.33 mph recorded by Summit Racing campaigner Jason Line, who will start sixth on raceday.
 
The first day of the event, the 12th of 24 on the 2013 schedule, allotted only a single qualifying session due to looming stormy weather. Line cleared the finish line with a 6.637 at 208.30 mph and ended the first day in the No. 6 spot, and in Saturday’s first session, the Mooresville, N.C.-based driver improved to a 6.611 at over 209 mph.
 
After the first session, the final round of qualifying was projected, accurately, to be the best. Line and the rest of the Pro Stock class watched as the air improved and the track temperature dropped dramatically, creating prime conditions for mind-blowing runs. Line was among those in the category to make their best run of the weekend so far in the later session.
 
“The conditions changed between the time we left the trailer and we got up there to the staging lanes,” said Line. “The session was fun, and it was good because you usually just kind of know who is going to go fast – it would be hard to bet against certain people right now – but there were a couple of surprises in there.
 
“Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but in my particular case we used the run as a test. My car did not make a great run, it shook really hard [through] second gear, but we learned something – and it 60-footed phenomenal. I don’t know that I ever went faster than that [to the 60-foot timer].”
 
Although the final timer on the racetrack is the critical decider in terms of round wins, the 60-foot marker is a carefully watched increment in a category where victories are often recorded by mere thousandths of a second.
 
Line’s .965-second dash to the first timing block was the quickest of all the Pro Stock cars, and the Summit Racing team proved that they certainly have the first part of the smooth racing surface figured out better than most as Line’s KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson wasn’t far behind (.968).
 
“All in all, things ended up pretty good today,” said Line, who will race Mark Martino in the first round of eliminations for the first time this year. “We got the Summit Racing Camaros to run a little bit better, and I have a good starting spot for tomorrow. I’d say we’re all looking forward to tomorrow morning.”

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Anderson Rejuvenated and Ready for Raceday at Route 66 Raceway

Anderson Rejuvenated and Ready for Raceday at Route 66 Raceway
 
Event:  16th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Location: Route 66 Raceway, Chicago, Illinois
Day/Date: Saturday, June 29, 2013
 
Greg Anderson wasn’t satisfied when he left Route 66 Raceway near Chicago on Friday night, but the Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro pilot returned on the second day of the Route 66 NHRA Nationals and quickly made amends with his racecar. The powerful combination of seasoned driver and improving hot rod clocked one of the quickest runs of the day in the closing session of qualifying to launch all the way up to the No. 4 position.
 
The first day of qualifying was abbreviated by one session when storms in the area surrounding Route 66 Raceway became a threat, and Anderson was deeply disappointed to forfeit a round after a 6.636 at 208.17 mph. The four-time Pro Stock champion seemed to realize that the pass was really just a warm-up to what was ahead. Sitting fifth after day one, Anderson improved in the first session on Saturday to a 6.621 at 208.23 and prepared for the final round of qualifying with optimism. The conditions were predicted to be ideal for incredible numbers, and the session certainly lived up to expectations.
 
In his white Summit Racing Camaro, Anderson got a hold of the racetrack and jetted to a head-turning 6.569 at 209.30 that was fourth-quickest in the category.
 
“That run felt a lot better,” said an enthused Anderson. “The racetrack and air were significantly better, and the whole class picked up. We gained on the pack, and that’s good; it’s definitely a good feeling going into Sunday. We think we can learn from what happened today and apply that towards tomorrow, so we’re going to bed feeling a little happier tonight.
 
“We’ll see how much sunshine we get tomorrow, and how the racetrack holds up, but it’s great out there and the surface just seems to be getting better every run.”
 
Anderson’s start from the No. 4 position is his best qualifying performance since the race in Atlanta earlier this year, and with a new car performing well in only its third event, the Mooresville, N.C.-based driver is looking forward to Sunday.
 
“We went into that last session thinking, ‘here is our opportunity, we have to capitalize on it,’ and I think we did,” said Anderson, who will race V. Gaines in round one on raceday. “We’re making forward progress, and we’re happy. Tonight was fun – these are the kind of race conditions we enjoy, and I wish we could do that more often. Now tomorrow we’ll see if we can negotiate the racetrack, take what we learned, and apply it.”
 

John Force Racing

John Force Racing–Chicago Qualifying

CAREER BEST ET HAS FORCE 5TH GOING INTO CHICAGO ELIMS

 

JOLIET, IL – The conditions were some of the best the NHRA has ever seen and the Funny Cars took advantage as four drivers made three second passes, a record for an NHRA Mello Yello Series national event, in the final qualifying session. John Force had the quickest Funny Car on Friday and in the first session today but in a long final session the 15-time champion Force’s career quickest ET, 4.010 seconds, was only good enough for the No. 5 qualifying spot. Ron Capps recorded the first three second pass at Route 66 Raceway and will be the No. 1 qualifier on Sunday with his 3.988 second run. Force will race former teammate Tony Pedregon in the first round tomorrow at the 16th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

 

“We ran 4.0s every run this weekend. Three runs in a row in the 4.0s out of three qualifying runs. Courtney got in on the last run with a 4.04. The Don Schumacher Racing teams stepped up and put a bunch of threes out there and so did Del Worsham (Kalitta Motorsports),” said Force.

 

“The conditions were there and it was trying to run a three right there at the end but it dropped a cylinder and still ran 4.01 seconds. We are OK and I will have to race Tony Pedregon in the first round. He threw a 4.09 out there. This was a great race for the fans. We found the consistency that we want. (Auto Club crew chief) Jimmy (Prock) right there at the end just like (Matt) Hagan didn’t get to do a burnout. You can’t look at performance from that run. Tomorrow will be a different situation.”

 

When Force is talking about consistency he can look back at the previous two races where his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang has posted the quickest ET five out of seven sessions and was 5th quickest in the other two sessions. He has also had a consistently quick Funny Car on race day earning seven round wins over the past two weeks.

 

Force’s 4.010 second run tonight was a career best for the winningest Funny Car driver in NHRA history. His previous quickest run was 4.011 seconds at the Reading national event in 2011.

 

Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team stepped up in the first session on Saturday running 4.052 seconds and grabbing the No. 5 qualifying spot. It also earned the 2009 Mello Yello Funny Car champion one qualifying bonus point as the third quickest run of the session. The run was quick enough to put Hight at the back of the pack for the night session. His two runs this weekend of 4.055 and 4.052 seconds show the team has the consistency to go rounds.

 

As the second session came to a close Hight was paired with Matt Hagan right in front of John Force and Jack Beckman. As Hight and Hagan staged the Christmas Tree staging system remained dark and as each team brought this to official starter Mark Lyle’s attention fuel was being consumed rapidly in each Funny Car. The decision was made to push each team back and let them add fuel then run after Force and Beckman. It was a reasonable solution to a terrible situation. Both teams smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle bringing a tremendous night of performance to an anti-climactic end.

 

“I am just glad we got two runs in today. When you looked at the forecast it was a shaky deal. I am glad we got all three Funny Cars in the top half so we will all have lane choice. We could get three Funny Cars to the semi-finals tomorrow,” said a dejected Hight. “The conditions tomorrow will not be anything like tonight so it will be anybody’s race. I have Chad Head and I know Jim Head his dad and crew chief will give him a good race car. We will be ready. We want to keep the John Force Racing winning streak alive.”

 

Courtney Force and her Traxxas Ford Mustang team made one of their best runs to date tonight at Route 66 Raceway. The team ended the day in the No. 7 spot and will have lance choice over fellow Ford driver Tim Wilkerson in the opening round on Sunday.

 

“I’m very proud of my team. We struggled a little bit during qualifying, but the fact that we could make such a big come back and run such a good number in the last qualifying session, especially under that pressure, says a lot for our Traxxas Ford Mustang team,” said Force, the winner of last weekend’s inaugural race in Epping, New Hampshire.

 

Force came into Saturday not in the show after qualifying was shortened to just one round on Friday. The Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car team had traction issues and ran a 9.742 second pass, leaving them in the No. 18 spot.

 

“We only got one qualifying run in yesterday due to the rain, which is a little unfortunate. The track cooled down and was actually a lot better than we expected it to be. It cooled down quickly. The sun went down and when we got out there to run we probably should have switched to a different set of tires,” said Force. “We went there and didn’t realize how good the track was and struck the tires immediately. We didn’t get a good run out of it, but luckily we got two more chances today.”

 

Since the 25-year-old Funny Car driver did not make the top 12 after the first qualifying session, she had to enter Saturday with a clean slate.

 

In the first session today, the Traxxas Ford Mustang had a short in the electrical system and that, in turn, drained the battery. The car shut off on the starting line after the burnout and the team went back to their pit area to prepare for the final session to qualify.

 

“First run we had a little bit of bad luck. We couldn’t make a pass on that run so there was definitely some pressure getting our Traxxas Ford Mustang qualified in the final session. It was a lot of pressure on me as a driver. I was nervous, but I felt okay. I know we have a great car tuned by Ron Douglas, it’s just a matter of getting it down there and my team came through in a big way,” said Force.

 

Force drove her Traxxas Ford Mustang straight down the track to make a 4.04 second pass and jumped up to the top half of the field.

 

 “I have all the faith in the world in my guys, so I knew that we would be able to get the job done. If not, I was planning on just pedaling it all the way down there to make sure we got it in the show. Luckily we went out there and ran a 4.04 and it took us to the top half of the field,” said Force.

 

Brittany Force, driver of the Castrol EDGE dragster, wound up 14th on the ladder going into Sunday’s elimination rounds.

 

With a run of 3.849 seconds at 317.49, she will face fellow Top Fuel competitor Bob Vandergriff in round one for the first time in her career.

 

“This is the first time I’ll be running Bob Vandergriff. He’s an awesome driver, so I’m excited to go up against him. Hopefully we can make some changes to our car and go some rounds tomorrow.”

 

Despite having two engine failures in her final two qualifying attempts, Force managed to make consistent runs, allowing her to qualify for her 11th race of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Series season.

 

“We were able to get two runs today. The first run it threw the rods out and the second run it had a hole out, so it caused the engine to blow up right before the lights. I’m hoping we can make those changes before tomorrow because we completely destroyed the engine. That’s not good for this Castrol EDGE team, but I know we’ll figure it out and make those changes.”

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Anderson Plans More Aggressive Approach After Friday at Route 66 Raceway

Anderson Plans More Aggressive Approach After Friday at Route 66 Raceway
 
Event:  16th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Location: Route 66 Raceway, Chicago, Illinois
Day/Date: Friday, June 28, 2013
 
The first day of qualifying at the highly anticipated Route 66 NHRA Nationals turned into an abbreviated affair when weather moved in around Route 66 Raceway near Chicago. In the single available run for the pro racers in NHRA’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Greg Anderson piloted his white Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro to a 6.636 at 208.17 mph and secured a first-day finish as the provisional No. 5 qualifier.
 
“The track was great,” said Anderson, who has qualified in the top five four times this season and has been a top-half player at all but two races in 2013. “It was fantastic, and we have absolutely no complaints there. I think we probably underestimated how good it would be. We knew it would be decent, but the humidity shot right back up before our run, so we lost a little bit of air and a little bit of power. But this racetrack has always been very good, and when the clouds came out and we had a little rainstorm, all it did was clean off the racetrack and make it better.
 
“Now we know what we’re dealing with out there, and we have a great race surface and we can pretty much throw everything we’ve got at it. We’ll get more aggressive tomorrow with our Summit Racing Chevy Camaros, and we’re hoping we can run faster.”
 
Qualifying will continue on Saturday with two more passes before the fields are set for the 12th race of 24 on NHRA’s Mello Yello Series 2013 tour.

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Line Laments Loss of Second Qualifying Pass, Eager for Day Two in Chicago

Line Laments Loss of Second Qualifying Pass, Eager for Day Two in Chicago
 
Event:  16th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Location: Route 66 Raceway, Chicago, Illinois
Day/Date: Friday, June 28, 2013
 
Jason Line was eager to get the most out of the first day of qualifying at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals and get the initial two passes under his belt at favorable Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, but weather pressed in and cut qualifying short by one round. Line, driving the brilliant blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro, clocked a 6.637 at 208.30 mph to nearly match his KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson’s 6.636, 208.17. Line ends the first day in provisional possession of the No. 6 spot, while Anderson is 5th in the line-up.
 
“Greg and I both made good, safe runs, but those are pretty ho-hum numbers,” said Line. “We’ll work on it and try to find some more speed for tomorrow. The racetrack was good, very nice and very smooth, so it will be interesting to see how things go tomorrow for the Summit Racing team.
 
“I was really disappointed that we only had one run today. You’re supposed to get two, and that’s what the fans paid for, so it’s a disappointment for everyone – but the truth is that I just enjoy driving my Summit Racing Chevy Camaro as often as I can. It is what it is, and tomorrow we’ll just have to make the most of the two runs that we have left. Team Summit is a very capable group, so we’ll take those two runs tomorrow and try our best to be good and fast so we can move up before Sunday.”
 
Qualifying will continue on Saturday with two more passes before the fields are set for the 12th race of 24 on NHRA’s Mello Yello Series 2013 tour.
 

Richard Childress Racing

Richard Childress Racing–Kentucky– Nationwide Post Race

Feed the Children 300
Kentucky Speedway  
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Feed the Children 300
Kentucky Speedway
June 28, 2013
 
Race Highlights:
Richard Childress Racing teammates finished third (Matt Crafton), sixth (Austin Dillon) and 17th (Brian Scott).
Dillon is fifth in the Nationwide Series driver championship point standings, trailing leader Regan Smith by 20 markers, while Scott is ninth in the standings, 55 points behind Smith.
The No. 3 Chevrolet team ranks seventh in the Nationwide Series owner championship point standings, with the No. 33 team eighth in the standings and the No. 2 team 13th.
According to NASCAR’s Post Race Loop Data Statistics, Crafton scored a Driver Rating of 114.2 ranking him fourth overall, ranked third in Fastest Laps Run and spent 100 percent of laps In the Top15.
Dillon was the Fastest on Restarts (165.866 mph), third-Fastest Driver Early in a Run (171.370 mph) and ranked fourth in Fastest Laps Run.
Scott ranked third in the Closers category.
Brad Keselowski earned his second victory of the 2013 Nationwide Series season and was followed to the finish line by Elliott Sadler, Matt Crafton, Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch.
The next Nationwide Series race is the Daytona 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, July 5. The 16th race of the 2013 season is scheduled to be televised live on ESPN beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Satellite Radio.
 
    
Brian Scott Battles Handling Condition to Finish 17th at Kentucky Speedway
 
Brian Scott and the No. 2 Shore Lodge Chevrolet team qualified 15th for Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway. Once the initial green flag waved over the 1.5-mile track, it quickly became apparent Scott and the Phil Gould-led team were going to have a long scheduled 200-lap race. For the early going, the car was loose through all the turns. After a pit stop on lap 50 under green, Scott told Gould to “throw the kitchen sink at this thing” to help the handling. One lap later, the caution came out and the Shore Lodge Camaro team was trapped one circuit down to the leaders. Through three other cautions and pit stops, the team kept making adjustments and the car started to respond to the loose condition. However, the front end was now tight exiting the corners, preventing Scott from getting back to the gas as aggressively as desired. By lap 133, he was one of only four drivers on their lap and used cautions to pit for additional chassis adjustments. The final yellow flag waved on lap 164 for rain, which turned into a red flag on lap 170. After trying to wait it out, Mother Nature prevailed and the race was called with the team being credited with a 17th-place finish.
 
   Start – 15th           Finish – 17th        Laps Led – 0          Points – 9th
 
Brian Scott Quote:
“This was not our night here at Kentucky Speedway. We were loose, then we got that squared away and went to tight. Phil (Gould, crew chief) and the Shore Lodge guys did all they could to make our Chevrolet better. We’ll take what we ended up with here and head to the next race in Daytona.”
 
 

Austin Dillon Drives No. 3 AdvoCare Chevrolet to Sixth-Place Finish in Rain-Shortened NASCAR Nationwide Series Event at Kentucky Speedway
 
Driving Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 AdvoCare Chevrolet, Austin Dillon earned his fifth pole award in the last six NASCAR Nationwide Series races and led 18 laps in the Feed the Children 300 before placing sixth in Friday evening’s rain-shortened event. The Welcome, N.C., driver started from the point position and drove to a commanding lead in the early laps of the race before succumbing to a loose-handling condition on his Chevrolet Camaro, causing him to fall to the fourth position. Crew Chief Danny Stockman directed Dillon down pit road for four Goodyear tires, Sunoco Green E15 Fuel and a round of chassis adjustments to combat the handling issues the driver was facing. The caution flag was displayed on lap 53, as Dillon exited pit road, and the team opted to take the “wave around” to remain on the lead lap. Restarting from the 11th spot on lap 59, Dillon immediately increased his position on the racetrack making it up to seventh before the next round of green-flag pit stops on lap 112. Dillon raced his way up to second and was scored in the sixth position when NASCAR officials slowed the field on lap 164 for rain showers, later stopping the field on pit road and shortening the event 40 laps shy of its advertised distance as the rain increased. Dillon was credited with a sixth-place finish and qualifies for the Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash program, and a possible $100,000 bonus, at Daytona International Speedway next week.
 
Start – 1                  Finish – 6                 Laps Led – 18                   Points – 4th                
          
AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:
“I think if we could have gotten into clean air, we could have picked up a few additional spots at the end of the race but, overall, it was a great day for our AdvoCare Chevrolet team. It was a really good points day. Who can complain about leaving Kentucky Speedway knowing we are qualified for the Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash bonus at Daytona International Speedway next weekend. That’s pretty cool to have a chance to win a $100,000 bonus. It’s a really great program that Nationwide Insurance has put together.”
 
 
 

Matt Crafton Finishes Third at Kentucky Speedway in NASCAR Nationwide Series Debut
 
Making his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut, Matt Crafton finished third in the rain-shortened event at Kentucky Speedway on Friday night. Starting eighth, Crafton had one of the fastest cars on the track and quickly drove his No. 33 Rheem/Menards machine to fifth on lap one. Crafton remained inside the top five until lap 54, where he took the lead as the caution was displayed for the first time during the scheduled 200-lap event. Restarting in second on lap 59, Crafton began to battle a tight condition in the middle of the corners and slipped back to third at the halfway mark. On lap 113, Crafton was making a scheduled green-flag pit stop when the No. 33 machine ran out of fuel coming to pit road. A lengthy pit stop to refuel and re-fire the engine caused Crafton to be scored 12th after the rest of the field had cycled through pit stops. On a mission to make his way back toward the front of the field, Crafton was seventh when he pitted for the final time on lap 142 for fuel only. Restarting first with 55 laps remaining, Crafton fought a loose condition on entry and a tight-handling car on exit, causing him to slip back to third at lap 148. Shortly after, the California native relayed to the crew that the car’s handling was improving as was clicking off lap times comparative to the leader. Just as he began to make up ground, the caution flag flew on lap 164 for rain showers. Ultimately, the scheduled 300-mile race was called on lap 170 for persistent rain and Crafton was credited with a third-place finish.
 
     Start – 8                   Finish – 3                   Laps Led – 8             Owners Points – 8th
 
MATT CRAFTON
QUOTE:
“We had an awesome car tonight at Kentucky Speedway. I can’t thank Menards, Rheem and Richard Childress Racing enough for this opportunity. Ernie Cope (crew chief) and the guys did a great job preparing the car. It was fast right off the truck Thursday and continued to be fast tonight. I had a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to my next Nationwide Series race with the No 33 crew at Chicagoland Speedway in a few weeks.”
 
 

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Corvette Racing–Rain Sets DP Field for Six Hours of The Glen

Rain Sets DP Field for Six Hours of The Glen; Front Row will be Corvette Daytona Prototypes of Wayne Taylor Racing and Bob Stallings Racing
Stevenson Motorsports Continues Roll in GT with Pole Winning Effort for Sunday’s Endurance Race
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 29, 2013) – The No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) of Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) and the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP will occupy the front row of Sunday’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen after qualifying Saturday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International was cancelled due to rain and the grid was set per driver’s point standings as set forth in the GRAND-AM rulebook.
It is the third consecutive race that the DP point-leading driver pairing of Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor will bring the Rolex Series field to the green flag.
Qualifying for the Rolex Sports Car Series Grand Touring (GT) class was completed just prior to the rain.  Robin Liddell, driver of the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro, led GT qualifying. It was his first pole of the season but third for the car, with co-driver John Edwards winning poles at Barber Motorsports Park and Mid-Ohio. Eric Curran, who shares the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette with Boris Said, qualified second in-class.
Other Team Chevy in the DP starting field are:
No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP – 4th
No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP – 5th
No. 9 Action Express Corvette DP – 8th
No. 3 8Star Motorsports Corvette DP -10th
No. 4 8Star Motorsports Corvette DP – 14th
 
Race time is 11 a.m. EDT Sunday with live television coverage provided by SPEED. Live radio on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 begins at 10:45 p.m. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions can be found at www.grand-am.com, and on mobile devices at m.grand-am.com and the GRAND-AM smartphone app.

John Force Racing

John Force Racing–Chicago

JOHN FORCE CONTINUES HOT STREAK IN CHICAGO

 

JOLIET, IL – For the second race in a row John Force was the best of the field on Friday in Funny Car. With only one qualifying session contested today due to the threat of inclement weather Force powered his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang Funny Car to the top spot with a 4.035 second run. He had to wait for a number of top contenders to run and the closest Funny car to the 15-time champ at the end of the night was Matt Hagan’s 4.040 seconds.

 

“You are racing here in Chicago and you have killer conditions and a killer race track. Everybody stepped on them after Chad Head put up that great number 4.05. Everybody knew it was out there. (Crew chief) Mike Neff does a great job and he has a great job around him,” said Force, who could clinch his third No. 1 of the season tomorrow.

 

“I am excited. Anytime you run good that is exciting. The car ran good and the parts looked good. I haven’t had a race car for a while and I have a pretty good race car now. We will see what we can do with it,” said Force. “Robert Hight and the Auto Club team stepped up and ran 4.05, too. I think Courtney needed a tire swap and we just made on our dragster in the staging lanes. It cooled down real quick and their tires were too big and her Traxxas Mustang was weak and it shook. We just needed to get a different tire on it and didn’t have the time.”

 

As conditions improved there was speculation that a Funny Car could make a three second pass something that has only happened at two other race tracks, zMax Dragway and Maple Grove Raceway. Force would have been impressed if a team would have made an attempt with the changing weather conditions on the horizon.

 

“Boy, whoever has the nerve to push and run in the 3s I would tip my hat to them. You have to make the show you don’t know what could happen tomorrow. What is it rained tomorrow and you only got one lap. We could see conditions like this tomorrow and you could run good again. Sure we will push it if we get more runs. I wasn’t surprised but every now and then a guy like Jim Head will throw it out there. That is what he wants is that big number,” said the winningest driver in NHRA history.

 

After a slow start Force has raced to back to back finals the previous two races with a win in Bristol and a narrow loss to daughter Courtney last weekend at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire. Running so well and consistently gives the driver and the team confidence and momentum as they approach each run.

 

“It helps not only for the driver because once you get back in the game you start remembering what you learned over the last 35 years. That is just confidence and that is good for anybody from an Olympic swimmer or runner or NASCAR driver it doesn’t matter. It is confidence which makes you better,” said Force. “It does the same thing for the crew chief and the guys on the crew. They start having more confidence and they make the right calls and right moves. Last week I just got beat by the better race car of my daughter. She smoked the tires and I had to pedal. She drove around me. It wasn’t going to make it. It was over for me if I didn’t pedal it. She got hers to the finish line and she got the win. Good for her and good for Traxxas. I wanted another win and I’ll get another shot this weekend.

 

The Auto Club Force Mustang jumped into the field with a strong run and for Robert Hight and his team it was just what the doctor ordered. His 4.055 second run had the 2009 Funny Car champion in the provisional No. 5 spot. Prior to the session NHRA announced there would only be one run today but that did not affect how Hight approached his only run of the day.

 

“That doesn’t change anything. You should never change your routine not in qualifying or on race day. It doesn’t make any sense to change up because of weather rolling in. It is what it is. You have to do your best every single run,” said Hight. “We went back to the Funny Car we ran in Topeka and went to the final. It was a perfect straight run. I think we have a lot to build on. The conditions tomorrow night should be really good since they are predicting a cold front. You may see some three second runs tomorrow night.”

 

Courtney Force and the Traxxas Mustang will be on the outside looking in going into Saturday. They posted the 18th quickest run when her Funny Car rattled hard and could not hook up on her run. Her time of 9.742 will not carry over to tomorrow. She and her Traxxas team are scheduled to have two runs to grab one of the remaining four qualifying positions.

 

Top Fuel pilot Brittany Force wrapped up day one of qualifying in the 10th position in her Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster.

 

The 26-year-old ran a pass of 3.849 seconds at 317.49 mph in the first and only qualifying session following a brief rain shower at Route 66 Raceway.

 

Despite inclement weather, Force met with fans to sign autographs and took photos with them out at the ropes before Friday night qualifying.

 

“We ended up 10th at the end of the night. We ran a 3.84 so I’m really happy about that, and that being our first pass. We had good weather conditions and it went down there. We had some trouble after we shut it off at the other end and put some oil down. That’s the first time we had ever done that, but now that I know the feeling of it, I can catch it sooner in the future. I’m glad we’re in the top half of the field and that number will hold going into Saturday,” said Force, a top contender for 2013 rookie of the year.

 

However, in spite of only getting one run, the Road to the Future candidate is optimistic going in to Saturday’s sessions.

 

“Obviously we want the most runs we can get to learn about the car and figure out how to tune it for race day. It’s not just my team, it’s all the teams that’ll hopefully get three runs. We did lose that second run, but that’s just the way the game goes.”

 

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Kevin Harvick–Kentucky

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 28, 2013
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kentucky Speedway and discussed racing at Kentucky, going to Fort Bragg, preparing for the Chase and other topics. Full transcript:
 
ON FINDING THE SOLDIER HE MET AT FORT BRAGG NORTH CAROLINA:
“None of that was really intended to be a public matter, to be honest with you.  I thought when we went to Fort Bragg I thought we would easily be able to find out the gentleman’s name that I had just talked to. We got the information, and looking forward to talking to him, hopefully at the race track sometime in the near future.
 
“We went to Fort Bragg, and just kind of took it for granted that the situation, and the fact that we didn’t get his name. We thought it would be rather easy to find out somebody’s name that we just talked to 15 minutes ago, and it has taken this long. So finally we took it among our group to take it to social media, and in a day and a half, we had found him, so it was pretty cool.”
 
HOW DO YOU STAY FOCUSED IN THIS LONG STRETCH DURING THE SUMMER MOVING TOWARD THE START OF THE CHASE?
“It is nice being in the position that we are in. You know we’ve been in several different areas of the points throughout this time of year. Obviously with a couple of wins, and where we are in the points, you are really going after wins. It is just like this week; we’ve been gone for three or four weeks with the testing, appearances, the races and the travel. For myself, after we got home Monday night, I just shut it down for three days, and took a few days off. The biggest thing is just once you have experienced, no matter where you are in the points, once you’ve experienced this time of year, you learn how to maintain yourself. If you are in a bad spot mentally, you know you need to shut it down for a couple of days. Or just physically not feeling well, you need to just take care of yourself. It is all about being ready for that first race of the Chase. Right now it is all about trying to gain more wins.”
 
DO YOU THINK THAT YOU CAME HERE AND TESTED A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO PUTS YOUR TEAM A LITTLE AHEAD OF THE CURVE?
“This is a unique race track with just how rough it is. I think everywhere we have been the car has required something different to be able to make it go around the race track like you need it to. We have a limited amount of practice time today. We have two practices and qualifying today, so everything is very condensed into a short amount of time. So hopefully we have a good place to start. Sometimes those tests backfire on you. At Pocono, it all worked out for us, and we had a competitive car and were able to run fast, and do the things we thought we should be able to do from the test. As you come back to a race track and you see a lot more rubber on it, and you see some different weather conditions, you are always a little bit concerned until you get through practice and the race and see where everything is at.”
 
HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY CHANGE IN THE TRACK SURFACE FROM LAST YEAR?
“No, the track surface is pretty consistent. This is just a really rough race track. There is nothing wrong with the race track; it is just rough. We’d rather see a rough race track than a re-paved race track. I don’t feel that we had much difference than we had last year.”
 
WHEN YOU ONLY GET FOUR OF THEM, WHY TEST HERE?
“Honestly, I haven’t even been asked where to test. Let me rephrase that. I’ve been asked where to test, but never really been in the meetings as to how those conclusions have been come up with. We all kind of put in a hat as to where we want to test, and the crew chiefs and management decide where they want to go from there. You get asked, and hopefully the decisions are made from a group of common denominators I guess you could say of the tracks that were picked. The crew chiefs and management make those final decisions. I would rather not test anywhere to be honest with you (LAUGHS).
 
“The Ford camp had Casey’s (Mears) here with all the Roush people working on it. They were here for three days. I don’t know what we could have done for the third day, but two days was plenty for me. Our testing was condensed into Pocono one week; Kentucky the next week. We definitely changed a lot of things from the time we started. The Pocono thing – we kind of got Pocono, Michigan and Indy kind of falls into that same group of race tracks. This one doesn’t really fall into much; but we hadn’t run very well here, so I think that was probably why they decided to come here.”
 
WHAT IS IT ABOUT TURN THREE HERE? DO YOU HAVE TO GET THAT RIGHT BEFORE YOU WORK ON REST OF TRACK?
“Turn three is just really flat getting into the corner. You have more banking as you exit the corner, so you kind of drive into the banking and it progressively gets a little bit more as you come off of the corner. It’s really flat right there, and you are carrying a lot of speed. You just wind up being loose into the corner for the most part. As you go through the weekend that will be the toughest spot to navigate for sure.”
 
ON KYLE PETTY’S COMMENTS ON DANICA PATRICK:
“That is a loaded gun right there. I think this (racing in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) is hard to do. You see there is really no good training ground for it anymore in the Nationwide and Truck Series because of the lack of horsepower. It is really hard to understand what you need to drive these cars, and to be able to drive them fast. It is just not something that is going to happen overnight. I don’t know that I would go as far as calling her not a racer because she has raced her whole life, and I think on a continuous learning curve. She’s obviously dedicated at what she does to try and get better, and knows she has a lot of hurdles to overcome in a short amount of time.
 
“She’s fortunate to have a sponsor that is willing to back her, and take those learning experiences with her. Hopefully as the week’s progress, she gets better and better. In that aspect, I think you look at that, and you try to put all that in perspective. I couldn’t imagine just coming in here and having two-and-a-half years of stock car experience, and expect to come here and be competitive knowing what all this entails. It’s hard. And it’s not going to get easier. I think that is why over the years you’ve seen less and less new drivers come into the sport because the cars have become harder to drive. There’s just nowhere to figure out how to drive them other than being on the race track on a Cup Sunday or Saturday that we race. Because they are just hard to drive.”
 
IS IT A DIFFERENT LEARNING CURVE EVERY TIME WITH GOING TO A NEW TRACK FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE NEW GEN 6 CAR?
“They’ve obviously created some new challenges for us. Different types of race tracks. As you look through the schedule, and you look at everything that we’ve done, just think they are going to run faster everywhere. They are going to run faster, but how you get there is a totally different equation than what we had to put together last year. It is just much different. We’ve progressed in a different direction than everything we had last year.”
 
AS AN ATHLETE, HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO SIT THERE AND HAVE PEOPLE SAY THINGS LIKE THAT ABOUT YOU IN A SITUATION LIKE DANICA PATRICK IS IN?
“It is almost that unfair part of being really popular. In her case, she obviously has got a lot of attention and things that come with it. She seems to, just being around her the little bit that I have, seems to have kind of become immune to it, and understands what the goal… I think she is realistic with her goals, and understands that she has a lot to learn and tries to take everything in. It is easier just to turn it all off. Not read it. Not listen to it. Because at some point, whether it is her,
or myself, or Dale, Jr. or Tony Stewart, or whoever it may be; you are going to be criticized, and you are not going to like it if you read. So it is easier just to not pay attention to it. I think if you can make yourself do that, life is a lot better, and you understand where your team is at, and where your goals are; and how you need to adjust them. And how you need to better. There is really nobody inside of any of our situations that can really understand why things are like they are; why they are good; why they are bad, or what you need to do to fix them. Because until you are in it on a day-to-day basis, this is really how to do.”
 
WILL THE NEW TIRE THEY ARE BRINGING TO DAYTONA GOING TO CHANGE THE RACING NEXT WEEK? 
“I didn’t even know they were changing the tire. (LAUGHS)  See, that is how I stay detached from it, so I don’t have any preconceived notions going to the race track on a given weekend.”
 
HOW DO YOU COMPARE TOMORROW NIGHT’S RACE TO THE COKE 600 IN TERMS OF ADJUSTABILITY?  “When we tested, we tested from day to night. I think as you go into the race, you try to build some of things into  your car; whether it will be more or less – hopefully we’ll have some things that we can go back and look at, and realize what we need to do at a certain time of day. No matter what race it is, you have to have adjustability in your car no matter where you are because you never know what the conditions are going to be like when you start the race in a pack. You never get to run in a complete pack like we will when the race starts.”
 

Uncategorized

Chevy Racing–Kentucky–Danica Patrick

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 28, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kentucky Speedway and discussed practice, the learning curve switching from IndyCar to NASCAR, Kyle Petty’s recent comments and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
HOW HAS PRACTICE BEEN?
“I think that we unloaded a little bit better than we have lately or well, in general. A little bit closer to start and made a nice change the first time and ran a little bit quicker and then we have just been trying to search and find some front grip out there. Made a few good changes. It’s hot and slippery and this is a bumpy old track and it’s slippery, especially as the sun beats down on it and rubber gets laid down and the rubber gets slippery.  I think we’ve got a general direction and we’ve been loose in for the most part everywhere we go and this was the first time that we’ve been a little tight in.  We’re just trying to address our issues, but then they present new issues.”
 
REACTION TO THE BLACKHAWKS WINNING THE STANLEY CUP:
“I tweeted, ‘Hawks win, Hawks win,’ because who is the Cubs guy that said, ‘Cubs win, Cubs win?’  Harry Carey — that’s why I did it.  It was a really good game and it was a good series.  They were playing really, really hard that’s for sure.  Fast and hard and I’m sure some people lost teeth, but it was exciting to watch.”
 
REACTION TO KYLE PETTY’S COMMENTS:
“Read it yes. I just think that it’s funny how he said that I could qualify, but I can’t race because those of you that actually watch what I do would know that I can’t qualify for crap. In the race things go much better. It’s a little bit funny, but the most important thing to me is that I can keep my team happy, we’re moving in the right direction, that Go Daddy is happy and that when you walk out of the garage or walk around the track and meet a little girl that wants to grow up to be like you then you’re doing something right — those are the things that feel right.”
 
DOES IT MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS ABOUT YOU AND DOES IT MOTIVATE YOU IF PEOPLE TALK NEGATIVE ABOUT YOU?
“Thanks Kyle (Petty) thanks for motivating me. I really don’t care, I don’t, it’s true that there are plenty of people who say really bad things about me, I hear about them or I read about them or read them on Twitter. People want me to die. At the end of the day, you just get over that kind of stuff and all you can do is trust that you’re doing a good job and that’s all that matters and the people around you believe in you.”
 
WHERE ARE YOU ON THE LEARNING CURVE AND HOW MUCH BETTER DO YOU EXPECT TO BE?
“This is my second full year in NASCAR and it’s in the Cup Series so it’s definitely jumping in the deep end on some level. I’m grateful that I was recommended to do Nationwide before Cup, I think that was a good idea. You talk about the curve and the curve is different for everybody.  I think at times on some level I think I am ahead of it and at times I feel like I am behind it.  And that is just because the curve is different for everybody and I don’t know at what time it flattens out and you are where you are, but it’s not yet.  I know from my perspective that I feel like I am feeling the car better and I think that over time being able to feel the car better is going to result in a car that is set up for me and will allow me to driver harder and faster and to be better.  So that what I am learning now, the feelings about the car.  Shoot if I got tight off the corner last year, or any other time I drove the car, I would have said it was just ‘tight off’.   I would have had no idea the splitter was coming up.  Now it just seems simple and straightforward to me.  These are the things you learn over time and there is no se amount of time that you get to flatten that curve out, but it will someday.  I have no idea when.”
 
WHAT IS IT THAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO SILENCE THE NAYSAYERS?
“You really think that I will silence naysayers?  That is the answer, you don’t.  I am sure every driver has them on some level.  There are going to be people that believe in you and those that don’t.  You surround yourself in people that believe in you.  And that is what matters.”
 
YOU HAVE RACED HERE WITH YOUR INDYCAR, NOW YOU ARE HERE IN THE CUP CAR.  HOW DO YOU PREPARE DIFFERENTLY AT THIS TRACK?
“It’s a whole different thing.  It’s a different line and it’s completely different.  For me it’s not about coming here in a different car, it’s about me coming here and spending my first time driving around here in a Cup car for the first time and getting used to how that feels.  That is it and there is almost no comparison.  You are still driving around the track, but they are completely different animals.”
 
CURIOUS IF YOU HAVE TO CHANGE WHAT I ASSUME WAS RICKY’S (STENHOUSE) CAR INTO THE PARKING LOT AFTER LAST WEEK?
“I think you just explained the scenario.  For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you would have seen that it was taking a really long time to get into the track, and he (Ricky Stenhouse) had a team meeting at the top of the hill.  That was a long walk and he was going to be late if we parked down in the paddock area so being the nice girlfriend that I am, I said I would just drive the car down and park it and you get on with your meetings.  So, it was really as simple as that.”
 
DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE AT KENTUCKY SINCE YOU ARE ONE OF THE NEWER DRIVERS AND NO OTHER DRIVERS HAVE HAD A LOT OF EXPERIENCE HERE?
“I suppose there aren’t as many set ups to fall back on and trends of the track and things like that on some level.  But at the end of the day, no matter what the scenario is, or what weekend we go to, you tend to see the order fall in a similar fashion.  That is just the way it goes, and it takes time to move it, so I guess on some level.”
 
HOW EAGER ARE YOU TO GO BACK TO DAYTONA NEXT WEEK AND HOW WELL DO YOU ANTICIPATE DOING THIS TIME?
“Well, we lost that poor car at Talladega.  So we are going back with our backup which is a really good car anyway.  We tested with it at the beginning of the year and I expect it to go in a similar fashion.  I think we will still be pretty fast.  Will we qualify on the pole and run in the top-3 or five all day?  I don’t know, maybe.  But the heat always changes a little bit but it’s a different car, and it’s going to be a different Hendrick engine.  All that stuff just leads to a slightly different weekend.  But I expect it to be somewhat similar at least from a good standpoint in my head.”
 
DO YOU FIND IT ENJOYING TO LEARN A NEW TYPE OF CAR OR DO YOU FIND IT FRUSTRATING?
“It’s frustrating.  It takes time and you always want to get to the ultimate where you kind of end up running well every weekend.  I would imagine if you asked the guys that run up front if they would like to be back in their first years and learning again if they find that more fun than to be running where they are at, then I would imagine they would say they were having more fun running up front.  It’s a process and that is what makes doing well feel so good – is the improvement that you have.  It’s far more exciting to run better every weekend.
 

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Kentucky–Jimmie Johnson

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 28, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with media and discussed the ‘race to the Chase’, going to the Yankee game with his son, being recognized in New York City, his qualifying efforts, the upcoming Brickyard 400, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR MINDSET BEFORE WE SET THE FIELD FOR THE CHASE:
“We know that this is an important race for us and every one from here on out is going to be crucial for us to get ourselves into the Chase as well as be a threat for the championship. You always know if you’re in it, then you have a shot at winning. Anything is possible when you accomplish that. We know that we’ve got to work hard and keep our heads up and build some momentum off the great run last week and here at Kentucky, this is crucial for us to run well here on a 1.5-mile and follow-up what we did at Sonoma, with a great run on an oval. Today went really well. It’s been a good day. It’s been a good week and I’m very happy with the car and hopefully we can follow that up in qualifying.”
 
CAN YOU RECALL ANY OTHER POINT IN YOUR CAREER WHEN YOU HAD THIS KIND OF URGENCY AND WERE WONDERING WHAT’S GOING ON AND WHEN ARE THINGS GOING TO FALL INTO PLACE?
“Last year. It’s pretty familiar to us. Maybe not quite at this level; I think we were further back than 10th at this point last year than we are now. So, obviously last year things didn’t go so well. I would point out this year and then 2000. Those are some years that stand out to me. There was one when we didn’t win a race. But I thought that year when we didn’t win a race that we actually had several shots at winning races and we finished second quite a few times. So it wasn’t quite like dealing with some of the things we’ve had this year. Yeah, you know, it’s certainly been frustrating.
 
“I think that this team, the way I look at our team, is that we have high expectations put on us. We know the pressure that comes along with that to perform. And when we don’t, the criticism comes with that. But I also know that nobody is more capable of pulling ourselves out of a hole and getting back on track than this team. It’s Hendrick Motorsports. It’s the No. 24 team and we have the capability of being very, very strong and getting on a roll.
 
“So, you just never give up. You never lose faith in one another. We lost a little confidence in ourselves with some of the things happened. Qualifying, primarily; I think in the race we seem to be able to perform pretty well if we’re there, if we have a car in one piece. But when you get caught up in some wrecks and some different things, it can definitely be a little frustrating. But the qualifying is what has broken our confidence down a little bit. And so hopefully we can qualify a little bit better today.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY WITH (SON) LEO AT YANKEE STADIUM:
“It was unbelievable. I took my daughter when she was around the same age and it was a really special experience for me and her and it was a special one for Leo and myself, as well. I’m so blown away with the experience of going to a Yankees game with the new stadium. It’s just unbelievable. We got on the train and rode the train all the way there. There were all the Yankees fans and a few Texas fans, too, that were on the train. It was Thursday afternoon; 1:05 p.m. game and I couldn’t believe how many people were at this game. It was incredible. I think for Leo, baseball might not be quite as exciting for him as Monster Trucks because I did take him to Monster Trucks this year, too; and he seemed to be in that and not pulling on me going, okay I’ve seen this. This is cool, but I’m ready to go home (laughs). But yeah, it was a great father/son experience and I had a lot of fun doing that.”
 
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT HIS TRACK AS HAVING A LOT OF CHARACTER. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THIS KENTUCKY TRACK?
“If you are trying to be kind to the bumps, then you’d call it ‘character’. I don’t even see how we make it through a race here from a mechanical standpoint. This place is so hard on the driveline and the suspension components, shocks, and springs. The loads are just unbelievable. But if you just look at the pure grip level of the race track, that part of it I really like. The transitions make this a very tricky track. It’s pretty flat from the back straightaway to Turn 3; plus there’s a huge bump going in there.
 
“So, it really makes you work hard and it’s hard to get the car working right in every aspect of the track. And the bumps are definitely one of the things that do challenge the cars and the set-ups. So, I like the fact that those challenges allow you, as a driver, to have to search around the race track. The car is never going to be perfect and you’re going to slide around. And that seems to suit me a little bit better than some of these new super-fast, high-grip race tracks that we go to.”
 
CAN YOU GO ON THE TRAIN AND TAKE LEO AND MERGE WITH THE FANS AND NOT BE JEFF GORDON? OR, DO YOU GET RECOGNIZED?
“I saw one couple looking at me, but they didn’t say anything. Nobody said anything to me. I would say 99% of the people on that train had no idea who I was. At the game, once I got inside, there were several people that came up to me and were really kind, and everything. But it wasn’t a distraction from me and Leo being able to have a special moment.
 
“But we got back on the train and not one single person said anything to me. And that’s one of the things I love about New York. I go through that on a day-to-day basis up there.  When you do get recognized, it’s actually a moment where you’re like wow, I can’t believe somebody recognized me in New York City! I did have one kid the other day. I had picked up my daughter. She was at this little camp and we were going back to the apartment and what’s real popular is these kids that ride these bikes that can take maybe two or three people in the back. I can’t remember what they call them. But, the guy had my hat on. And so I came up to a stop and he was next to me and I looked at him and I thought it was a No. 24 hat and I said, ‘Nice hat’. And he looked at me and said, ‘Thanks’. We went up to the next hat and I said, ‘Do you know why I said, ‘Nice hat’? He kind of looked at me and I said, ‘That’s me’. And he said, ‘Oh, yeah, it is’! (laughter). So I walked right by him and he didn’t know. And even if there are fans there, which there are plenty of fans in New York City, but a lot of times they just don’t expect you to come walking by.”
 
THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY IS TALKING ABOUT 40 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF IMPROVEMENTS TO A TRADITIONAL HISTORIC TRACK.  WHAT WOULD BE BEST TO SPEND THAT MONEY ON FOR DRIVER’S AND FAN?  WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT LIGHTS AT THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY? 

“Well, you have to understand from a fans stand point I’ve never, not since I went to an Indy 500 when I was a kid, have I sat in the grand stands.   I think the fans are much more in tune with what’s going on from a fan stand point where that money would suit their needs.  From our stand point that track is very difficult to get a tire.  It’s a very abrasive race track and Goodyear is very challenged with the race track.  I’m not saying repave, but just wondering how we could make it a little less abrasive.
 
“Lights… I mean lights would be cool.  Lights are cool everywhere, I love racing under the lights.  I don’t know what it costs for lights around Indianapolis, but Indianapolis is already to me one of the top facilities that we go to.  The garage area is immaculate.  They just do everything first class there.  Where they located the tunnels you don’t even feel a bump when you go over them like every other track we go to.  You can rid
e around there and tell them exactly where the tunnel is because there is a huge dip there.  You don’t get that at Indianapolis.  Once you get outside the race track and outside the garage area I really couldn’t tell you accurately where it would be good to spend some of that money.
 
“We know that our race has had its challenges as far as the crowd.  When I first started going to Indianapolis in 1994 with the Cup cars I mean the people lined up 10 deep around the garage area and filled the grand stands.  It was standing room only.  It sure would be nice to know why that hasn’t continued and how we get back to that.  That would be awesome.  I love racing there.  Just the history of that place is second to none for me who went to an Indianapolis 500 as a kid and went to high school around Indiana and always wanted to race at Indy.” 
 
IF YOU WIN HERE AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY YOU HAVE A WIN AT EVERY ACTIVE TRACK CURRENTLY IN THE SPRINT CUP SERIES.  WOULD THAT BE MEANINGFUL TO YOU? 

“Oh my God that would be huge.  Number one because this is a very challenging race track, not an easy race track to win on.  Number two is I don’t know what the plan is for adding race tracks in the future, but in the past every time we knock one off and get close to accomplishing that goal.  Which I think that would be a pretty awesome thing to accomplish, they add another race track.  So, getting a win at Homestead and Phoenix and getting closer to accomplishing that and knowing that there is one left and we are running good this weekend.  That would be huge.  That would be something that I would be very proud of.”
 
IT’S A LONG YEAR.  OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR CAREER HAVE YOU EVER HAD A HARD TIME KEEPING FOCUSED THROUGH THIS SUMMER STRETCH?  HOW MUCH OF A CHALLENGE IS THAT? 

“It’s tough.  I don’t know I feel like I’m kind of like a fine wine, I get better with age.  I feel like that is the same way my season goes.  I feel like we get better as the season goes on.  Sometimes, especially with a new car things change over the off season and I feel like as I get older, a little more set in my ways, it takes me a little bit longer to adapt to changes.  So throughout the season I feel like I get more and more comfortable and understand what I need and the team can help me accomplish that.  That is why I think the old point system worked so well for me because I think that we were able to look at 36 weeks as a total instead of 26 and 10.  I don’t know.
 
“I feel like one thing I’m very good at is pace of being able to adjust my schedule. To look out throughout the whole year on whether it be sponsor commitments, fan commitments, team commitments, family commitments and balancing out that very well to maintain a focus to be strong the second half of the season and not wear myself out.  This year I think a little bit more of a challenge with the testing schedule for the teams.  Like this week for instance teams got back Monday morning basically and they are coming here Wednesday afternoon.  That to me is tougher on the teams.  I feel like it’s always been tougher on the teams.  As a driver I feel like I’m able to maintain pretty well.”
 
WHAT IS IT THAT MARK MARTIN HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO WHERE HE CAN ADAPT TO ALL THESE DIFFERENT ERAS? 
“Mark (Martin) is a very unique race car driver.  One is I think he has always been one of the most talented race car drivers that there is. He has driven every kind of race car on different types of race tracks and been successful.  Started at a young age, so I think he is just tremendously talented, but I think if you look at the way he has treated his body it tells you that this guy likes a challenge.  He likes to push himself and that he is disciplined.  I think that is what gives you longevity in a sport when you have the talent.  He is able to align himself with good quality teams and equipment and people.  Then he is able to give results.  I think that is just a reflection on who he is and what kind of race car driver he is.”  

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