NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 28, 2013
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD YOUTH FOUNDATION CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
ON HIS LAP:
“We like the bumps; at least in the corners anyways. It was a great lap. This National Guard Chevrolet had good grip and good speed and we had a cool race track. We had a lot of shade there for a couple of guys in front of us. Now the sun is back out so hopefully it’ll slow them other guys down. Steve Letarte (crew chief) and all the guys on the team did a good job putting a good car out there on the line for me.”
YOU KNOCKED YOUR TEAMMATE OFF THE POLE. HOW DID THAT LAP FEEL?
“It felt real good. I didn’t know that it would be quick enough to beat Jimmie (Johnson) but we had a lot of shade in front of us. About five cars in front of us we got a lot of shade and cooled the track down. It gave us a good opportunity to put down a lap like that. Steve Letarte (crew chief), Kevin Meander (engineer) and all the guys on the team did a good job putting a good car out on the grid; give me a good shot at it. They deserve a lot of credit. We just tried not to mess it up. Just tried not to over drive it.”
DO YOU HAVE THE POWER TO KEEP THE CLOUDS AWAY FROM THE SUN NOW SINCE THE SUN IS BACK OUT?
“Looks like from where I’m standing there is going to be a good amount of sun for these next several guys at least. We will see what it does.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
DID YOU SEE FLAMES COMING OUT? YOU WERE FLYING IN THIS CAR. GREAT LAP:
“That was a good lap. I’m looking under the car because as I crossed the start/finish line I dipped below the racing surface onto the apron. There is a huge hole down there and it had me airborne. I’m making sure that my car is alright.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT LAP?
“I feel good. I felt (turns) one and two went really well. (Turns) Three and four I thought maybe I could have been a little faster through there. We will just see how things play out. These clouds are coming in and the track is just going to get faster now. I’m not sure we will still stay on the pole, but hopefully it will get us a nice top-five. I would like to be top four. There are really four good pit stalls on pit road. If we can be in the top four that would be job well done.”
DID YOU KNOCK A FILLING OUT WITH THAT RUN?
“I dipped down below the racing line on the apron across the start/finish line to make the track a little shorter. There is a big jump down there! So, my younger brother, Jarit, is racing in Crandon (Wisconsin) in an off-road truck this weekend, so I wanted to get airborne myself and go down there and catch a little air. It doesn’t look as exciting as it felt in the car. But the car’s not designed for that.”
THAT’S BECAUSE YOU’VE ONLY GOT A COUPLE OF INCHES OF TRAVEL. THIS ISN’T YOUR BAJA CAR
“Yeah, a couple inches of travel that droop, let alone the 16th or an 8th when you’re down on the bump stops and all. But wow, that was exciting. The lap was good; a very, very good lap. I think in (Turns) 1 and 2 was spot-on; (Turns) 3 and 4, somebody could probably get through there quicker. And all these clouds are coming. So that’s going to hurt me a little bit with the guys that go later.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
PRETTY FAST LAP TODAY EVEN THOUGH JIMMIE JOHNSON MIGHT BE TAKING YOUR TITLE HERE TODAY:
“Jimmie (Johnson) had a heck of a lap there is no doubt about that. I told my guys that catching a cloud wasn’t going to be good enough. We were going to need to catch a layer of two or three clouds to run a 48. I was impressed with the effort that the guys did with the Quicken Loans Chevrolet. We picked up on it. Definitely feel that a little bit of cloud cover didn’t hurt us. We made some improvements and we beat a lot of cars that beat us in practice. We will keep working on it.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE STEWART-HAAS ORGANIZATION IS KIND OF GETTING BACK ON TRACK AND CAUGHT UP WITH THE GEN-6 CAR?
“I don’t know about that. I’m more focused on the No. 39 side and what we are doing. Collectively we have to have the right tools to work with. I never thought we didn’t have the right tools to work with we just have to make the car fast. That is not easy to do. There is so much complex things that are going on underneath what you guys see as the car shell which is really cool in the (Chevy) SS that it’s not easy.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“It was okay we really struggled in qualifying trim in practice. Everybody on the Target team did a really good job, good changes. I could have gotten out of the car a little bit more I think. But it’s hard because it’s so much quicker than before it’s hard to know what you are going to get.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 12TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“I mean you definitely want to get a cloud if you can, but it’s cooled down in my opinion since practice, so the times should be better than they are. We just missed the balance through (turns) one and two. The car was perfect through (turns) three and four, but (turns) one and two really tight. It hurt our lap, but we have a good race car so I’m excited about the race.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 14TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP AND HOW YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR CAR IS FOR THE RACE:
“I mean it’s pretty disappointing there. A couple of things we are going to be on the wrong side of the clouds. We probably made too many adjustments trying to tighten up. We just got way too tight. Just let a lot of speed off of it because I couldn’t be in the gas. Pretty disappointing that is not going to be anywhere near like we were in practice. It is what it is and we will make it work. I do feel like we are really good in race trim. I feel like we have an understanding of what we need going into the race so we will see what we can get. I thought we would qualify a lot better than that.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 21ST
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“It felt good. It felt a lot better than we did in practice, just a little bit on the free side. That was much better than being tight like we had been all day. It was good. The guys made some good adjustments and hopefully that holds off for somewhere in the top-15. I don’t really know. It’s hard to say I feel like it’s hotter out and then people going late you know does that help or not? I don’t know. We will see kind of where that ends up.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 22ND
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP. IT APPEARS YOU JUST CAUGHT THE END OF A CLOUD:
“I wish we would have been about five minutes later on that one. We knew with the early draw that it was kind of going to be hit or miss. If that one (cloud) brings some rain that would be the only good thing that could come out of that cloud for us going so early. All in all they did a good job and made the car…that is four tenths faster than we ran in our mock qualifying run at the end. We knew it wasn’t going to be very good with our draw. We have a good race car.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 51 ALSCO CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 26TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“The Cup car is pretty good. The Phoenix Racing Chevrolet was really good in r
ace trim. I was too loose right there in qualifying trim, but second car out it’s a little difficult to really know what you’ve got. It’s a good run in our Nationwide car to get the pole; going after our third straight win here so it’s been a good day.”
Chevy Racing–Kentucky Post Qualifying–Dale Earnhardt Jr.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 28, 2013
DALE EARNHARDT, JR. CAPTURES POLE FOR SATURDAY’S QUAKER STATE 400
FOUR TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS WILL START IN TOP-10
SPARTA, KY – June 28, 2013 – Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet SS, captured his first pole of the 2013 season and first of his career at Kentucky Speedway with a lap of 29.406 seconds and average speed of 183.686 mph which smashed the previous track record. This is the 39-year-old driver’s 12th pole in 486 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate and winner of the event’s pole in 2012, Jimmie Johnson, qualified third in his No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet.
Starting behind Earnhardt, Jr. and Johnson inside the top-10 will be Ryan Newman, No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS, who will take the green flag from the seventh position. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS, will make his fourth top-10 start of the season beginning the 267-lap contest from the 10th positon.
Other Team Chevy drivers qualifying in the top-20 were: Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevy SS – 12th and Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet – 14th.
Rounding out the top-five starters, Carl Edwards (Ford) qualified second, Kyle Busch (Toyota) will start fourth and Marcos Ambrose (Ford) qualified fifth.
The third-annual Quaker State 400 will take the green flag on Saturday, June 29th at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be aired live on TNT.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD YOUTH FOUNDATION CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
TALK ABOUT THIS RACE TRACK YOU HAVE BEEN HERE A FEW YEARS NOW THE CARS WERE FLYING AROUND OUT THERE JUST TALK ABOUT HOW THIS RACE TRACK IS HANDLING AND HOW YOU THINK THAT NO. 88 CAR IS GOING TO DO TOMORROW NIGHT:
“Well, I think we got great speed and we are real competitive. Worked on some things in practice and found what we think the car likes and what the car is going to want as far as our wedge trace and the balance of the car. I like the track; it’s got a lot of age on the asphalt, which we like. We widen out the groove in the corners which as a driver you like you can run the bottom, the top you have a lot of different options. You are not really limited and restricted as to where you can run in the corners. We don’t really mind the bumps in the corners it just kind of adds character when they are not very severe. There are some pretty bad bumps on the front straightaway that aren’t a ton of fun, but they don’t really affect how the car drives. You just kind of go through them. I enjoy the track I think it’s a great area and we have a lot of fans here. It’s a fun track to run on, race on. We thought we had a top-five car in practice and we got some good cloud cover about six or seven cars in front of us before we went to qualify and that brought the track temp down to give us a good advantage. Give us an opportunity to run a bit quicker lap than maybe what the car had in it. Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and Kevin Meander (engineer) and the team put a good car out there that rolled the center and turned really well and actually went through (turns) three and four very good. Looking at the trace on NASCAR.com it seemed like we got through (turns) three and four better than most.
“In between the last practice and qualifying I got my hair cut at Great Clips. I think that might have had something to do with it too. I don’t mind letting that sneak right out of the bag because they are one of my sponsors. I really did. It happened. I was a little lazy this week. It’s been a few weeks since I had my hair cut. Luckily somebody from Great Clips was here that could get the job done.”
CARL EDWARDS SAID THAT IN HIS ESTIMATION YOU RAN A PERFECT LAP. I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU FELT THAT WAY TOO AND DID YOU FEEL LIKE THE CLOUD WAS A REAL DIFFERENCE MAKER?
“I think that the cloud cover at least gave us a bit of speed. It’s hard to say of course the cooler track temps gives the car more grip. I would admit that I think we definitely had the better situation of anyone in practice with that scenario. There were some clouds that came in later in the qualifying session, but not quite the extent of what we had. I did think the lap was really good. I got into turn one a little bit over zealous. The car actually was working a little bit better as far as turning through the middle than it had in practice. That was able to keep the lap relatively competitive in (turns) one and two even though I over drove the car getting into turn one a little bit. (Turns) Three and four was just a real good corner. I think we did everything we could do down there. If anything we could have backed up turn one and maybe run a little bit better down the back straightaway.”
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR TOMORROW? IT LOOKED LIKE AS FAR AS THE 10 LAP AVERAGES THAT THEY WERE MUCH SLOWER. I ASSUME YOU HAVE PRETTY QUICK TIRE WEAR OFF HERE:
“The tire wear, the fall off is not very big. It seems like there is not a lot of fall off in lap time throughout the runs. There haven’t been, there wasn’t last year and there wasn’t in the Truck race. The track gets a lot freer as it gets cooler. We will anticipate that. We will look over our notes tonight and look at everything we did in practice. We did a bunch of different scenarios as far as how we thought the car might want to work. We found some things that we liked and we can go over those notes and look at that. We really have to guess on how tight we think the car needs to be. The car definitely is going to free up as it gets cooler and cooler. I really basically didn’t change much in my car from practice to qualifying and it turned quite a bit better. I know by the time the race starts and half way into the race it’s going to keep freeing up just like it did in the Truck race last night. We had that in our notes from last year that this place really gets freer as you get on deeper into the event. We just hope we make the right calls. Everybody in the garage area has got to try to guesstimate and make the right assumption on what they think the track is going to do and how much to push that button. I think we have a good idea. I feel pretty confident, pretty good. We have good speed and I think we are making the right choice on what we are going to do. What we have talked about doing for our balance and the set-up we are going to put in it.”
CLINT BOWYER SAID YOU GOT A CLOUD AND HE GOT THE DESERT ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN. CAN YOU RELATE TO THE DRIVERS THAT WERE JEALOUS OF THE CLOUDS THAT YOU GOT?
“Yeah, he got some shade on his lap. I was watching because I heard him say that. He had some shade, but he wasn’t able to produce. I’m just saying. He had a tough lap. I was watching him in practice and just looking from the lap times, I would guess that he wasn’t very pleased with his car in the first place.
I was sitting on pit road right before we were about to go out and there had been about six or seven cars that had gone before me that had cloud cover. I was thinking in my mind that the track temps were coming down more and more, and if we don’t get any sun, it’s going to continue to come down and the track is going to get more speed and I can drive it down in the corner. I knew I would be able to depend on the right rear tire to hook up off the corner and I was going to have a real good opportunity there. And for some reason this year, they delay the cars and th
ere is a bigger delay between cars and I don’t know why. I suppose it has something to do with the television broadcast but there is a huge delay it feels when you are sitting in the car. I was like, ‘come on, let’s go’, and then you wait for what seems like two minutes waiting for them to go, waiting for them to tap the hood. I was just hoping the sun would not come out while all of this was going on. Luckily enough, the cloud cover was heavy enough when we got out there, but I think it makes a big difference.”
HOW IS YOUR CAR RIGHT NOW?
“I feel pretty good about it. I thought we had…..like I said, we tried several different scenarios with completely different set-ups, went through a lot of different stuff in practice, and we feel like we understand what the car is asking for and what is going to make the car competitive. We went in that direction for qualifying and we did rather well in qualifying. We are making the right decisions for what we want to put in our car and it’s a little bit different than our teammates, but we think that is what our car is asking for and that is what we have had success with in the past. So we are leaning on some notes from last year and believe we made the right choice. We have a long race to sort it out if we start off with the balance a little bit off and I feel like Steve (Letarte) is a good enough crew chief to make the right adjustments to get us going and get the speed in the car that we need to run well.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD:
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP. THERE WILL CERTAINLY BE A LOT OF FAST RACE CARS OUT THERE TOMORROW NIGHT:
“Yeah, I was really happy with my lap; (Turns) 1 and 2 went really well for me. In (Turns) 3 and 4, I felt like I left a little bit on the table. But still, the gap that we had on people and the fact that we had a track record, I got a little optimistic. And not long after that (Dale Earnhardt) Junior took us down. So, it was a very good and comfortable lap. The most exciting part of the lap for me was going under the yellow line on the frontstretch and hitting that ‘jump’ down there (laughs). It doesn’t look all that spectacular on television, but when you’re off the ground in a car that’s not designed to be leave the ground, it’s very exciting.”
WHEN YOU TRYING TO LOOK AT THE SKY AND SEE IF THERE IS A CLOUD THERE, IS THERE A SCIENCE IN TRYING TO TIME IT? CAN YOU TAKE A LITTLE BIT LONGER TO ROLL OFF AND HOPE THERE IS MORE CLOUD COVER OR ANYTHING THAT WILL HELP YOU? OR, DO YOU JUST GO AND HOPE FOR THE BEST?
“Yeah, you can. It’s tough from inside the seat to know how long a cloud is going to last or how far one is away. So, you can take a little advice from your crew chief and maybe stall things 30 seconds and not get going right away, but that’s about as big a window as you can really mess with because you’ve got someone hammering on the front of the car to take off. But, yeah, that’s really about all you can do. Nobody would ever do that, either (laughter); none of us. What I was going to say is it’s interesting to me because the way the procedure has been for the last however long, the guys you had to worry about, you were all grouped together and the cloud wouldn’t affect things as much. And I kind of forgot about clouds and the importance of them. And then this year, and especially this weekend, it’s made a big difference and it really does. There’s some luck to that. Not every crew chief and driver is looking to the sky and trying to figure out where a cloud is.”
Chevy Racing–Kentucky–Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 28, 2013
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kentucky Speedway and discussed his mindset with 10 races left before the start of the Chase, what changed his feelings about racing at Kentucky, his thoughts on why it can be so difficult transitioning from IndyCar to NASCAR and much more. Full transcript.
TALK ABOUT YOUR MINDSET WITH 10 RACES LEFT BEFORE THE CHASE AND THIS WEEKEND HERE AT KENTUCKY.
“It definitely is an important time of the year for everybody. I looked around 10th (place) and how tight that is. If you’re on that eighth to 14th bubble right there, it’s getting really tense right now and it will over these next 10 weeks. Life is pretty comfortable up where we are. We can still squander away the position we are in and have trouble. But fortunately, now that I think it through a little more, with those three wins we should be in great shape. With all that in mind, we just need to focus on being strong, finishing up these next 10 races, entering the Chase, as competitive as we can. Certainly race tracks that we run on such as Loudon (New Hampshire) here next weekend or in a couple of weeks, whatever it is, we want to leave there knowing we’ve had a good race because obviously we come back and race there in the Chase. It’s an important 10 weeks for everybody. There is more pressure on some than others, but the real pressure will come in Chicago and hopefully we’ll be in contention at that point.”
YOU ARE GOING TO HIT SOME OF THE TRACKS THAT YOU’VE ALREADY RACED AT THIS YEAR, NORMALLY THERE IS NOT A GREAT DEAL OF DIFFERENCE WHEN YOU GO FROM ONE TIME TO ANOTHER AS FAR AS CHANGE IN THE COMPETITION, BUT WITH THE NEW CAR WILL THERE BE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR GUYS TO BE BETTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND?
“Daytona I don’t think so because the rules are so strict and there is very little area to grow and learn. Pocono for sure. I’m trying to think of another track we repeat too. We certainly do later in the year. Loudon is a good example, and Dover. Tracks like that. Absolutely, every time we go to the track the whole field is smarter. Like for us going to Pocono, we just hope whatever they gain on us we’re able to extend for unselfish reasons. Yeah, this garage area is smart. In two to three weeks’ time technology changes and what you had a month ago doesn’t work.”
EVEN THOUGH THIS IS ONLY THE THIRD RACE HERE FOR THE SPRINT CUP, WHEN YOU GO TO A TRACK THAT YOU HAVEN’T WON AT DOES THAT GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO REALLY SHOOT AT BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY YOU WANT TO WIN EVERY WEEK?
“It gets me excited. There’s five tracks left that I haven’t won at. I think (Tony) Stewart is down to two or three. We don’t talk about it amongst Stewart, (Jeff) Gordon or myself, but I think we all secretly would love to be the first to win at every track that we compete at. I think Stewart is the closest right now. I want to get closer. I’ve been very close here. I’ve been very close at Michigan. I’ve been very close at Chicago. So, I hope we can get one or two of them this year. I would love to start here.”
IT’S SUCH A LONG SEASON, HOW DO YOU STAY MENTALLY FOCUSED DURING THIS STRETCH IN THE SUMMER THAT SEEMS LIKE ITS NEVER GOING TO END?
“It still feels like it’s not going to end. There’s no doubt about it. There’s still a lot of racing left. Our last off weekend is in a few weeks then we have to grind it out after that. It goes in phases and the situation we are in with the strong start to the season, we are in a comfortable position because of the win and the points, but at the same time as we get closer to the start of the Chase we need to make sure we are peaking at the right time and that we didn’t peak too early. So we have that pressure and motivation on our side. When the final 10 (races) starts it’s just brutal. You live week to week, and honestly in some situations you live day to day at the track and what kind of speed your car has. That takes it to a whole new level. Then we have our short off season to recover, load up and do it again.”
THIS YEAR YOU ARE DRIVING A CAR THAT LOOKS MORE LIKE THE MANUFACTURER CAR, THE ONE THAT RUNS ON THE STREET, HOW’S THAT RESONATING WITH FANS, SPONSORS WHO WANT A CAR THAT LOOKS LIKE THEIR CAR?
“Yeah, it’s been very well accepted by the race teams, drivers, fans, manufacturers. When you look at the first quarter of the year, especially starting at Daytona with the buzz around the new car and everybody seeing it in competition for the first time, it’s been a great launch of the Gen-6 car. I know that all the manufacturers are pleased the style of the car, the connection between the showroom and the race track. Hopefully it’s a good sign of things to come in the future. The manufacturers are very important to our sport. They always have been. Due to officiating things changed to the Gen-5 car, but now the focus has gone back to the manufacturers and their own brand identity.”
LAST YEAR YOU TALKED ABOUT BEFORE THE RACE THAT YOU DIDN’T LIKE THIS PLACE VERY MUCH AND THEN YOU WENT OUT AND WON THE POLE, ONE YEAR LATER HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT NOW?
“Since I’ve been here to compete in the Cup car, I’ve really liked the track. I think I qualified in the top five for the first one and ran well. Last year we qualified on the pole and were very competitive in the race. Where the dislike came from was through my Nationwide days. I tore up a few cars here. Then prior to my Cup start at Hendrick, we were able to test here. There were teams here every week working away. I piled a bunch of them over there in between (turns) three and four. So coming back I was a little concerned about that, but things have been very good since I’ve been in competition in the Cup car.”
JUSTIN ALLGAIER SAID ABOUT A WEEK AND A HALF AGO THAT HE BELIEVES THAT TURN THREE HERE IS ONE OF THE MORE CRITICAL TURNS TO GET DOWN; YOU JUST MENTIONED THAT WHEN YOU WERE TESTING YOU PILED SOME CARS IN THAT CORNER, WHAT IS IT ABOUT THAT TURN? DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT IS A KEY PART OF THIS RACE TRACK?
“Yeah, I do for me. When we were testing here the entry is so flat and you really don’t pick up the banking until almost the physical center of the corner that I would lose the back of my car on the corner entry and spin out and smack the fence. Now it’s changed quite a bit. The track is so rough starting with the very end of the straightaway before you turn off the corner, it’s almost like you hit a curve. Inside the car it’s big. It’s a forceful impact. It just limits your speed into the corner then shortly after that you get into a series of bumps. I think that is where my fondness for the track has come around. When it was smooth and easy to get through there I would just bust my butt over there and make a mistake. Now you’ve got to slow down, deal with the bumps. Your car set up is very important. Your line selection is very important. You can move around two to three feet through the entry to the center of the corner over there and find like little valleys and miss the bumps to improve your lap time dramatically. That aspect of it makes it really fun for the drivers because you have some option and you just don’t chase the white line around the track.”
YOU ARE IN A DOMINANT POSITION AND DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THINGS. BUT, AT WHAT POINT IN THE RACE TO THE CHASE DO DRIVERS BEGIN TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT THEY NEED TO DO TO LOCK THEMSELVES IN COME SEPTEMBER?
“Honestly, we are all worrying. Even in the dominant position we’re in, we look back at the last three or four races and see missed opportunity; and we know that we left some bonus points on the table, plus points in general, if we were in the Chase. You can’t win a championship that way with Dover and Michigan. Sonoma turned out okay, but you can’t make those mistakes. So, although it looks like we’re just
cruising along and smiling, we have a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform at the level we need to. But, the other teams in that ‘bubble’ area, you’ll see a lot of testing or hear about a lot of testing. Teams have been very smart about reserving test sessions and as we get closer to the Chase, I think you’ll see a lot of teams in that 8th to 14th or 8th to 12th range using those test sessions to make sure they have good finishes and collect a lot of points.”
DO YOU HAVE A TESTING SCHEDULE AT THIS POINT?
“No, fortunately, the last I heard was that we’re still sitting on them and hopefully will use them on all Chase tracks. We’ll see how that goes. Jeff (Gordon) is obviously in a tough position and we need to make sure we get him in the Chase. But right now, we haven’t really picked any tracks yet.”
IT’S BEEN A TOUGH TRANSITION FOR DANICA PATRICK, AND YOU LOOK AT SAM HORNISH AND DARIO FRANCHITTI. WHY IS THAT TRANSITION SO DIFFICULT? IF YOU TRIED IT IN REVERSE AND TRIED TO GO TO INDYCAR AT THIS POINT IN YOUR CAREER, WOULD IT BE DIFFERENT?
“When I look at the vehicles, the way you make them handle, the downforce numbers, the mechanical grip, if you look and compare downforce versus vehicle, mechanical grip, the Cup car has a lot of mechanical grip and very little downforce. It’s just the opposite for an IndyCar race car. I know when I raced a GRAND-AM car, the way you use the brakes in a braking zone it totally different than if you do the same thing in a Cup car on the same track at Watkins Glen. Granted they all have four wheels, but they are very, very different.
“One other element that’s involved in all of this, and I think it’s something that’s always worked in my favor, because I’m used to running side-by-side with people in racing. And I’m a far better racer than I am somebody who qualifies or posts practice speeds. And IndyCar guys and girls don’t have a lot of side-by-side racing. They do, kind of now on the 1.5-mile ovals they run on, but it’s like a plate track running wide-open. It’s not the competitive passing and racing and fighting for position like you see in NASCAR. And it takes a while to figure it out.
“Even with my background, I can remember my first three races in ASA that I ran, I would catch a car and be stuck behind it and couldn’t pass it. I remember being on the radio and being upset that I didn’t know how to pass the car. It took time to figure out how to do that. So, when I summarize it all, it’s really that they are different cars. And then the racing that takes place on the track, the door-to-door racing and where you position your car to keep the air on it so you don’t make a mistake and how you can affect others around you to get the position, that’s just something that takes laps. I have a lot of friends that race in other series that want to come NASCAR racing and I tell them all they need a five-year plan before you have high expectations. You need to go out there and hit walls. You need to make mistakes. You need to make people mad. That’s what you do. You have to go out there and learn and learn through experience.
“In time, you see Sam is really off to a great year in Nationwide winning races and leading the championship at times. I think he’s proof that you just need time. He’s a great driver. He just needs to figure it all out in this style of car. Just to finish up my long story, I’d be very interested to watch a closed-bodied driver go to an open-wheel vehicle. Guys that I’ve talked to that have come our direction like Dario, and maybe even Juan (Montoya), when you take the downforce off the car your eyes are calibrated for a certain speed and it’s tough for them to come our direction. I’m very curious too, to what it’s like to go from a car that doesn’t stick in the corner all that well to something that has a lot of grip.
“Would the transition be easier going from our car to theirs? I have the same question. I don’t know the answer. But I do know, you’re going to race for a win. You’re not just going to show up in your first year and race for a win, but theoretically there’s an argument that going from low downforce to high downforce is an easier transition than the other way.”
Chevy Racing-Kentucky- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 28, 2013
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD YOUTH FOUNDATION CHEVROLET SS, met with the media following a press conference announcing his involvement with the National Guard Youth Foundation, specifically to draw attention to the nation’s alarming high school dropout rate by promoting the National Guard Youth Challenge program. During his time with the media he discussed his season thus far, racing at Kentucky Speedway and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
YOU ARE ONE DRIVER THAT IS STILL LOOKING FOR A WIN THIS YEAR AND WON LAST YEAR. HOW MUCH DOES NOT WINNING WEIGH ON YOUR MIND RIGHT NOW? HOW URGENT DO YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO GET A WIN BEFORE THE CHASE?
“I think we keep working hard the wins will come. We have had some really fast cars, just had some bad luck. Thought we had an opportunity to win at Michigan and just with the engine failure we weren’t able to get that done. If we just keep working and running well we will get our opportunities to get to Victory Lane.”
KYLE PETTY GOES ON TV YESTERDAY AND SAY’S THAT DANICA PATRICK IS NOT A RACE CAR DRIVER. YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH HER IS EXTENSIVE DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH KYLE’S STATEMENT?
“I have to disagree with Kyle (Petty). I think she is a tough competitor and she works really hard at what she does. She has run some really good races. On every occasion she is out running several guys out on the circuit. If she was not able to compete and not able to run minimum speed or finish in last place every week I think you might be able to say Kyle has an argument. But she’s out there running competitively and running strong on several accounts. I think that she has got a good opportunity and a rightful position in the sport to keep competing and she just might surprise even Kyle Petty.”
TOP-FIVE HERE LAST YEAR DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE COMING INTO THIS TRACK AND DO YOU FEEL LIKE TURN THREE IS ONE OF THOSE CRITICAL PARTS OF THE TRACK THAT YOU HAVE TO GET DOWN?
“Well, it looked critical last night in the Truck race, some guys having some difficulty in turn three. The track is just unique and very bumpy and got a lot of character. I enjoy racing here. I think that the track gets better every year. Just look forward to having a good car. I’m excited to get out there and get in practice see what kind of speed we have and how competitive the car is. Hope that we can put together a couple of good days and have a good weekend. I enjoy coming here and we’ve got a lot of fans in this area that enjoy seeing us race here.”
Richard Childress Racing–Kentucky–Camping World Truck Series Post Race
UNOH 225
Kentucky Speedway
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Kentucky Speedway
June 27, 2013
Race Highlights:
Richard Childress Racing teammates finished first (Ty Dillon) and 27th (Brendan Gaughan).
Dillon is third in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver championship point standings, 40 markers behind the leader; while Gaughan ranks seventh in the standings, 52 points out of the top spot.
The No. 3 Chevrolet team is fourth in the Camping World Truck Series owner championship point standings, with the No. 62 team eighth in the standings.
According to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics, Dillon earned the second-highest Driver Rating (127.3), while Gaughan ranked 18th with a rating of 68.5.
Combined, Dillon and Gaughan posted the Fastest Laps Run 26 times during the event, ranking them third and seventh.
Dillon was the Fastest Driver Late in a Run..
Dillon scored the third-highest Average Running Position of 5.393.
Dillon earned his second-career Camping World Truck Series victory and was followed to the line by Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, James Buescher and Ryan Blaney.
The next scheduled Camping World Truck Series race is the American Ethanol 200 presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, July 13. The ninth race of the 2013 season is scheduled to be televised live on SPEED beginning at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time and broadcast live on Motor Racing Network.
Ty Dillon Claws his Way to Victory Lane in Kentucky
After battling a loose-handling Chevrolet in qualifying, Ty Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops earned their second-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory; doing so at Kentucky Speedway. Starting from the 22nd spot, Dillon began his quest to the front right from the initial green flag. Crew chief Marcus Richmond called for a two-tire pit stop on lap 25, which propelled the Richard Childress Racing driver into the top 10. He battled a temperamental black and orange machine in the late stages of the race, but one last trip to pit road proved to be the ticket on lap 111. The Bass Pro Shops team serviced Dillon with right-side tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. He restarted sixth and drove through the field taking the top spot on lap 124. Not looking back, Dillon held off all competitors and drove his No. 3 Chevrolet to victory lane for his second career NASCAR win.
Start – 22 Finish – 1 Laps Led – 26 Points – 3rd
TY DILLON QUOTE:
“Man, what a night. I can’t thank my guys enough for everything they do for this team. Marcus (Richmond, crew chief) made some awesome calls that put us right where we needed to be to win this race. We started off with a not-so-great qualifying effort, but the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet became a rocket there at the end. The last five laps were the longest ones of my life. I’m so happy to be here in Victory Lane, have this opportunity to race for my grandfather and put on a great show for all the fans. I’m truly blessed.”
MARCUS RICHMOND QUOTE:
“This win is for everyone at RCR. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without the support from all the departments back at the shop. ECR engines are great. We had a really fast truck there at the end. Ty started off too loose and I knew if I could get the truck to the tight side, he could wheel it. And, he did. I’m so proud of this Bass Pro Shops team, they work hard and deserved this win.”
Brendan Gaughan Beaten by Mechanical Problem at Kentucky
Brendan Gaughan and the No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet started the UNOH 225 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway on a high note Thursday night. They qualified their Silverado fourth on the grid with high hopes for an even better finish. Once the initial green flag waved, Gaughan settled into the sixth position and ran there for the early going through lap 25. However, on that circuit around the 1.5-mile speedway, he radioed to crew chief Shane Wilson he had smoke in the cockpit and the oil pressure had dropped. The engine was still running, so Gaughan took his truck to the garage area. The crew quickly assessed the problem and discovered a faulty oil pump was the reason they were on jack stands while everyone else was racing. It was an all-hands effort to make repairs and get back out. They accomplished that on lap 59 returning to action in 32nd place, 34 laps down to the leaders. Through attrition and commitment, Gaughan and the South Point Hotel & Casino team were able to pick up five positions to finish in 27th place, while running top-10 and top-five lap times.
Start – 4th Finish – 27th Laps Led – 0 Points – 7th
BRENDAN GAUGHAN QUOTE:
“That was not the finish this South Point Chevrolet team was looking for or deserved. We had a great qualifying effort and Shane (Wilson, crew chief) made some big changes before we went out there. We were good in the race and just finding our rhythm and stride when we ended up in the garage. But, like I knew we could, we were able to fix it to get back out and earn some points.”
Casey Currie Challenges at the Front of the Field at LOORS Rounds 7 & 8 from Miller Motorsports Park
Casey Currie and the Monster Energy/General Tire team showed they are a force to be reckoned with in the Pro Lite division by challenging for wins during the 2013 Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series (LOORS) visit to Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, last weekend. Currie debuted his brand new Monster Energy/General Tire Jeep JK at the picturesque facility, and was in the mix at the front of the field throughout each day of racing before some late misfortune hindered an otherwise impressive weekend. Nevertheless, Currie and his team left Utah with their heads held high and full of confidence heading into the second half of the season.
The weekend prior to the Round 7 & 8, Currie took advantage of the opportunity to get some early track time at Miller Motorsports Park in a LOORS regional event. The information the team gathered was applied to race weekend and it helped position the brand new truck design with the seventh and fifth-fastest lap time in the two Friday practice sessions.
Currie and his crew made some additional adjustments heading into the first race of the weekend on Saturday and qualified third that morning. As the green flag waved for the afternoon’s 14-lap Pro Lite Main, Currie positioned the Monster Energy/General Tire Jeep JK into sixth place. After a quick move into the top five, Currie suffered a little trouble and fell 10th early. However, he instantly began an impressive charge through the field over the next nine laps, moving back into the top five and into an intense battle for the podium. Currie attempted to make a pass to put himself in podium position with three laps remaining, and hit one of the K-rails lining the inside and outside of the track resulting in a broken front suspension. Currie was unable to complete the final laps and settled for 20th.
“I hate that I made a mistake there right at the end,” said Currie following the race. “The truck was flying and I knew we had enough to get onto the podium, so I tried to take advantage at the first opportunity I saw and just misjudged the inside of the K-rail by one inch. That’s not the way I wanted to end the first day, especially with how hard all of my guys are working, but we know we have a good truck and we’ll look to bounce back on Sunday.”
On Sunday morning, Currie kicked off the eighth round of the season with the third-fastest time in qualifying and showed there were no lasting effects from Saturday’s hard luck. As the race got underway that afternoon, Currie asserted himself in the lead pack and maintained a spot inside the top four for the majority of the 14-lap Pro Lite Main. As the final five laps approached, Currie stepped up his aggression and began to make moves towards the front in his Monster Energy/General Tire Jeep JK. As he attempted to make a pass for the lead on Lap 11, Currie was spun out after contact from another competitor. He got back on the throttle quickly and re-entered the race, salvaging a ninth-place finish.
“We’re right there, but we just aren’t having the luck we need at the moment,” said Currie. “I couldn’t be happier with my team and with the momentum we have right now, and we will be a force at the next round in Glen Helen.”
Follow A Dream Heads to Chicago
Following its most dominant win in years last week at the Lebanon Valley Regional, Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team heads to Chicago for two races on the same weekend – the prestigious Jegs Allstars race and the Route 66 Nationals.
“We almost won it two years ago,” said Blake, whose team will be on the road for the next two weeks. “Making the Allstars race is the result of a lot of hard work over an entire year by every guy on this team.” From Chicago, the team heads straight to the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, where in 2011 it reached the final round.
“It’s the second time we’ve made the Allstars race, and it’s an honor to represent the Eastern Region,” said driver Todd Veney. “We’ll be up against the best cars from around the country, and it could be wide-open because nobody in this year’s field has ever won it before.” The Follow A Dream team, which reached the final in its only previous appearance, in 2011, is the only team in this year’s field that’s ever been to an Allstars final.
Richard Childress Racing to Participate in England’s Goodwood Festival of Speed
Richard Childress Racing to Participate in England’s
Goodwood Festival of Speed
WELCOME, N.C. (June 26, 2013) Richard Childress Racing (RCR) will have a presence in England’s Goodwood Festival of Speed for the fourth year by providing a pair of stock cars to be driven in this year’s annual Hillclimb. Kerry Earnhardt will pilot the 2000 No. 3 GM Goodwrench Monte Carlo and Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III will drive the 2013 No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro in July’s historic event.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed, July 11-14, is one of the world’s premier historic auto racing events. The festival has been held annually since 1993 on the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England. Race cars from the past and present participate in both demonstration and competition runs up the nine-turn, 1.16-mile Hillclimb circuit.
The No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo the legendary Dale Earnhardt drove to victory in March 2000 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and tallied 10 top-five finishes that year, will be driven by his eldest son, Kerry Earnhardt.
“I had the honor of attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2010 for RCR and drove the car that my dad won the 1995 Brickyard 400 with,” Earnhardt said. “The fans ‘over the pond’ are so enthusiastic about NASCAR and to have the opportunity to attend such a prestigious event not once, but twice, is awesome.
“This time I will be driving RCR’s 2000 No. 3 GM Goodwrench Monte Carlo that my dad won the spring Atlanta race in. Words can’t express what I feel when I sit in dad’s car, and I can’t thank Richard (Childress) enough for asking me to participate again.”
Joie Chitwood III will be behind the wheel of the 2013 No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Camaro in this year’s Festival of Speed. This Chevrolet is driven in regular NASCAR Nationwide Series competition by Childress’ grandson Austin Dillon, the 2012 Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year and 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion.
“My dad, Joie Chitwood Jr., had the distinction of racing against Richard Childress back in the 1960s, so it’s great to come full circle and drive one of his cars at Goodwood,” Chitwood said. “It’s a privilege to be behind the wheel of the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro and part of this diverse celebration of motorsports.”
Both cars participating in Goodwood festivities were prepared by and will be cared for at the Festival of Speed by Danny Lawrence, former No. 3 team crew member. Lawrence is an award-winning engine builder and longtime member of the RCR management team.
Tim Allison- Travis Memorial Race
This past weekend was the annual Travis Memorial Race and was the 13th year for it. Travis was a great racer and friend and a hometown favorite who lost his life 2 miles from his house in a freak motorcycle accident with a small deer. We dedicated our car for this special night which has never been done before. We duplicated what his car was painted like when he raced his last race and we changed our number to his number and dedicated the whole car in his memory,
At the end of the night we had a silent auction and auctioned off all the body parts of the car including the top and front wing, the right and left arm guard and the complete hood. We raised almost $6000 and this was put in the Travis Memorial Scholarship fund that was set up after his death. Every year they give out a scholarship to someone at the local school, what an awesome deal!
The night night started off good as the car looked awesome and was a crowd favorite since this was a surprise to everyone in the stands. Travis’s dad drew our number for the starting position in the heat race. We had installed a brand new fresh engine and the car was going to be fast, and fast it was as we really wanted to win this one for a our fallen friend. We started in the 3rd row of a very tough heat race and finished in the 3 position. The car was fast and that got us qualified for the feature and with the inversion we would start in the 9th position of the 25 lap race. As the race started we got going really good and were passing and lapping cars. With 7 laps to go we were up to 3rd and gaining only to have a right rear tire losing air. With 5 to go the right rear tire blew and our night was done. We were a little disappointed for not finishing the race as we had a shot at the win for our buddy, but we ended up with a 17th place finish. Everything happens for a reason and number 17 was travis ‘s number, so maybe it was all meant to be.
Race Winners Week Ending 6.23.13
Le Mans
Allan McNish/Tom Kristensen/Loic Duval
NASCAR
Nationwide Series- Road America- AJ Allmendinger
Sprint Cup- Sonoma- Martin Truex Jr
IndyCar
Iowa Corn 250- James Hinchcliffe
NHRA
Top Fuel — Spencer Massey
Funny Car — Courtney Force
Pro Stock — Allen Johnson
Pro Stock Motorcycle — John Hall
Super Stock — Anthony Bertozzi
Stock Eliminator — Anthony Bertozzi
Super Comp — Kent Hanley
Super Gas — Mike Sawyer
Super Street — Eddie Brooks
Top Dragster — Ken LeBlanc
Richard Childress Racing–Sonoma Post Race
Save Mart 350
Sonoma Raceway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Sonoma Raceway
June 23, 2013
Race Highlights:
Richard Childress Racing teammates finished 10th (Kevin Harvick), 14th (Paul Menard) and 31st (Jeff Burton) in the Save Mart 350.
Following the event at Sonoma Raceway, Harvick remains fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings, trailing leader Jimmie Johnson by 63 markers, while Menard ranks 12th, 128 points back, and Burton sits 20th, 170 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 12th and the No. 31 team 22nd.
According to NASCAR’s Post-Race Loop-Data Statistics, Harvick completed 21 passes while running in the top 15, ranking him sixth in Quality Passes.
Harvick was the ninth-Fastest Driver Late In a Run and posted the 10th-Fastest Speed in Traffic.
Menard made 45 Green-Flag passes during the 110-lap road course race.
Menard’s 14th-place finish marks his eighth top-15 effort of the season.
Burton made 38 green-flag passes during the annual road-course event at Sonoma.
Burton passed four competitors through the final 11 laps, ranking him third in the Closers category.
Martin Truex Jr. earned his first victory of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season and was followed to the finish line by Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer.
The next Sprint Cup Series race is the Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday, June 29. The 17th 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 Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio.
Menard Earns 14th-Place Finish at Sonoma Raceway
Paul Menard started the No. 27 Moen/Menards Chevrolet from the 16th position and battled handling issues throughout the 110-lap event at Sonoma Raceway, earning a 14th – place finish on Sunday. In the early laps of the event, Menard slipped back to the 20th position and relayed to the crew that the No. 27 machine was lacking rear grip. The “Slugger” Labbe-led pit crew made air pressure and track bar adjustments during the initial stop of the race on lap 25 in an attempt to increase rear grip. Just seven laps later, Menard pitted again under caution, this time for gas only setting the team up for a possible fuel strategy advantage later in the race. Restarting in 25th on lap 33, The Eau Claire, Wis., native methodically made his way toward the front of the field and was scored in 17th at lap 61. Unfortunately, the caution flags did not fall in favor of the team and Menard was off pit sequence from the majority of the front runners. The Richard Childress Racing driver ran as high as seventh before having to pit one final time for fuel on lap 83. With the leaders able to stay out, Menard restarted 22nd on lap 85. With the handling problems improving on the No. 27 Chevrolet, Menard was able to gain eight positions in the remaining 25 laps to cross the line 14th, his best finishing effort to date at the Sonoma, Calif., track. Menard now sits in the 12th spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings heading into Kentucky Speedway next weekend.
Start – 16 Finish – 14 Laps Led – 0 Points – 12th
PAUL MENARD QUOTE:
“We struggled with handling issues early in the race with our Moen/Menards Chevrolet. The team worked hard and we were able to make some gains throughout the race with adjustments. The cautions didn’t fall in our favor and we got caught off pit sequence from the leader. All in all, we’ll take a top-15 finish at Sonoma Raceway and call it a decent day.”
Harvick and the No. 29 Rheem Team Utilize Pit Strategy to Finish 10th
at Sonoma Raceway
Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Rheem team picked up their sixth-consecutive top-10 finish Sunday afternoon after utilizing pit strategy to collect a 10th-place result at Sonoma Raceway. The California native started the 110-lap event from the 12th position and worked his way into the top 10 by lap 31 when he brought the red and black machine down pit road for fuel, four tires and a chassis adjustment. Varying pit strategy by other teams forced Harvick to restart from the 34th position on the ensuing restart. As the race progressed, the Richard Childress Racing veteran worked his way back into the top 10 on lap 61, but once again fell victim to varying pit strategies on lap 63 when the team visited pit road for fresh tires and fuel, placing Harvick 19th when the field resumed green-flag racing. During the restart, the Rheem Chevrolet was shuffled back to the 22nd spot, but moved up to 11th on lap 83 when the team opted not to pit when several teams hit pit road. During the final laps, Harvick worked his way up to as high as sixth, before ultimately crossing the finish line 10th. Following his eighth top-10 finish of the season, Harvick remains fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.
Start – 12 Finish – 10 Laps Led – 0 Points – 4th
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:
“This wasn’t the finish we were looking for today, but the Rheem team did a great job getting us into the position we needed to be at the end to collect a solid finish.”
Late-Race Incident Thwarts Burton’s Top-10 Effort at Sonoma Raceway
Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Utility Trailers Chevrolet team finished 31st at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon following a late-race incident with another competitor that spoiled a top-10 effort from the Richard Childress Racing team. Starting the 110-lap affair from the 27th position, the South Boston, Va., native wrestled with a loose-handling condition early before joining the top 15 after the first pit stop of the afternoon. As the race progressed and track conditions changed, the 45-year-old driver reported to crew chief Luke Lambert that the red, white and blue machine tightened up, especially on the sharper corners of the 11-turn road course. The No. 31 team maintained a top-15 running position for a majority of the event and, after playing a pre-determined pit strategy to success, Burton restarted in the seventh-position with 25 laps to go setting the stage for the RCR driver to bring home another top-10 finish. However, disaster struck with less than 20 laps to go when contact from another competitor in the treacherous turn 11 sent the No. 31 Chevrolet SS spinning. Burton’s car suffered minimal damage in the incident, but many drivers passed Burton while he was stalled out in the middle of turn and the 21-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner fell back to the 36th position. After coming down pit road for fresh Goodyear tires with 14 laps to go, Burton managed to pass five competitors before the checkered flag waved and finished the race in 31st-place. Burton now sits 20th in the Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.
Start – 27 Finish – 31 Laps Led – 0 Points – 20th
JEFF BURTON QUOTE:
“I’m just really bummed out about what happened this afternoon. We had a top-10 finish going and it was taken away from us. What made it worse was
that we fought back from mechanical issues in practice on Friday and a poor qualifying effort on Saturday. I’m proud of this team’s effort and the progress we are making.”
Mopar Racing– Win for Mopar Express Lane Driver Johnson at Inaugural NHRA New England Nationals
Win for Mopar Express Lane Driver Johnson at Inaugural NHRA New England Nationals
· Mopar competed at Inaugural Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire this weekend, the 11th of 24 national events
· Johnson wins final elimination on a holeshot to earn his third national title of the season
· Johnson takes sole possession of second place in Pro Stock standings.
· No.1 qualifier Coughlin celebrates birthday but falls in semis despite 0.001 reaction time
· Hagan remains atop the Funny Car standings even after a first round loss
Epping, N.H. (Sunday June 23, 2013) – Allen Johnson drove the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger to the winner’s circle and a third national title this season after two key holeshot wins in the eliminations rounds of the Inaugural Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals giving him sole possession of second place in the Pro Stock championship points standings.
In order to advance to his fifth final round eliminations appearance of the year, Johnson defeated points leader Mike Edwards in the semifinals on a holeshot with a 0.0270-second reaction time. The defending Pro Stock World Champion posted another outstanding 0.025 second reaction time against Shane Gray to earn another exciting hotshot win and his 19th career “Wally” with an elapsed time of 6.642 seconds (205.38 mph) to his opponent’s 6.633 second (210.34 mph) pass.
“Both those guys were tough but this Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger team is bad to the bone,” Johnson said. “We had a great day and we just kept adapting to the track. Our team really worked hard and that was a fantastic run we put together in the finals. We made a radical change after the semifinals to get ready for the finals, and it really worked. We found something that will help the rest of the year.”
“We’ve done a lot of testing and now the testing is over,” Johnson added. “We’re in race form for the rest of the regular season and heading into the Countdown. Working with Jeggy (Coughlin Jr.) and Vincent (Nobile) has made us all stronger. We’re all clicking and working together and we’re going to start our championship march here.”
“All of us at Mopar are excited to see Allen (Johnson) earn a third national title this season and to see him do it in that manner at the new venue at the New England Nationals is fantastic,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group’s service, parts and customer-care brand. “Allen and the Mopar Express Lane team are working hard and getting good results amongst some tough Pro Stock competition and we’re looking forward to seeing them contend for more wins in their quest to defend the Championship.”
Jeg Coughlin Jr. earned the No. 1 qualifier honors at New England Dragway and had a first round bye before defeating fellow HEMI®-powered teammate Vincent Nobile. The driver of the Jegs.com Mopar was hoping to make his 43rd birthday celebrations a little bigger with a trip to the final round in elimination. However, even with a near perfect 0.001-second reaction time in his semifinal match-up against eventual runner-up Gray, Coughlin shut down early with an e.t. of 6.927 seconds (198.38 mph) to his competitors clean 6.638-second run (210.24 mph).
“It’s not the way I dreamed of celebrating my birthday,” said Coughlin who now sits third in the standings. “But, we went some rounds and earned some points, so it wasn’t all bad. I’m just hungry for another win.”
In Funny Car action, Matt Hagan was upset in the first round after losing traction while in the lead and getting nipped at the finish by Blake Alexander. Despite the loss, the driver of the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Charger R/T retains the championship points lead. Teammate Johnny Gray also lost in the first round to Tim Wilkerson but also remains third in the standings.
Defending world title holder Jack Beckman and his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps both drove their Mopars to the semifinal round to face the father and daughter duo from the Force Racing camp. Beckman had the lead on Courtney Force with the finish line in his sights before he saw his race and a shot a final round appearance go up in flames. Capps’ match up with John Force was their 68th and, for only the second time in the last ten meetings, he suffered a loss to the 15 time NHRA World Champ after hazing the tires off the start. Beckman and Capps both slide a little in the standings to the sixth and seventh place respectively in the tight Funny Car points chase.
Summit Racing–Line Continues to Make Progress, Moves up in Series Standings after Epping
Line Continues to Make Progress, Moves up in Series Standings after Epping
EPPING, N.H. (June 23, 2013) – The Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro driven by Jason Line at the Inaugural NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway is picking up steam in the middle of a strenuous four in a row stretch. Line made a move up one position, from fifth to fourth, in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock standings following a respectable qualifying performance and a round win earned on raceday.
During qualifying, Line made a series of good passes to earn a start from the No. 5 position and a first-round meeting with veteran driver Larry Morgan. Coming off of a very fast final qualifying pass (Line’s 211.86 mph was the quickest of the factory hot rods in the last act before the field was set for Sunday’s race), the Mooresville, N.C.-based driver was optimistic about his chances on raceday – however, he knew he would have his work cut out for him.
What he didn’t anticipate was that he and Morgan would light the pre-stage bulbs simultaneously.
“It caught both of us off guard,” admitted Line, who was uncharacteristically late with a .143-second reaction time as he left the starting line next to his also late opponent. “Neither one of us were exactly stellar, but the Summit Racing Camaro got us to the other end of the racetrack first and we were able to survive and move on to the next round.”
Line cleared the finish line with a 6.610 at 210.28 mph for the win light over Morgan’s 6.688, and the victory was a ticket to the second round and a meeting with Shane Gray, a driver Line had already gotten the best of in three elimination rounds this season – including the final round in Houston.
Line didn’t have lane choice for their meeting but was good and ready for their mid-day meeting. He launched ahead of Gray but soon got into trouble. His blue Summit Racing Chevy Camaro made a hard move to the right and he was forced to give up the run.
“We struggled pretty hard with the left lane, we weren’t able to negotiate it, and ultimately that’s what bit us today,” said Line. “We made some progress, but we still have room to go. Our biggest problem is that we’re not as good as we need to be on raceday – but this is a process, and we’ve got to keep after it.
“Overall, we certainly enjoyed our trip to New England. The fans are great, and hats off to the folks who run the racetrack. They certainly put a lot of effort into it. The facility is going to be extremely nice.”
Chevy Racing–Sonoma Wrapup
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SAVE MART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 23, 2013
JEFF GORDON LEADS THE BOWTIE BRIGADE AT SONOMA
Five Team Chevy Drivers in the Top-10
SONOMA, Calif. (June 23, 2013) – Piloting the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS, Jeff Gordon led Team Chevy in the Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup race on the tricky 10-turn road course at Sonoma Raceway with a runner-up finish. Gordon overcame an early and untimely pit road penalty for pitting just as the caution flag waved, which left him mired in traffic for much for of the 110-lap race. But solid pit strategy and a fast race car propelled him to the front of the field with just a few laps remaining.
Gordon, who owns five wins at Sonoma, and who also holds the record for the most all-time road course wins (9) in the Series, captured his fifth top-five finish this season. He gained three positions in the point standings, and is now ranked 13th overall.
Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet SS, also overcame pit road misfortune and rebounded to a top-five finish. Busch received two back-to-back pit road speeding penalties, placing him one lap down to the leaders a third of the way through the race. The team persevered to earn a fourth-place finish. This is his sixth top-five finish in 13 starts at Sonoma.
Gaining valuable driver points, Kasey Kahne in his No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS, earned a sixth-place finish; which moved him up to 11th in the standings. Series point leader Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, avoided mayhem to finish ninth, and now has a 25-point lead overall. Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet SS, continued his streak of Top-10 finishes for the six consecutive week by earning a 10th-place finish.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS finished 12th followed by Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/MOEN Chevrolet SS in 14th and Ryan Newman driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS finished 15th overall.
Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota) was the race winner, Carl Edwards (Ford) was third, and Clint Bowyer (Toyota) was fifth to round out the top-five finishing order.
Summit Racing–Anderson to Keep Chipping Away Following Epping Event
Anderson to Keep Chipping Away Following Epping Event
EPPING, N.H. (June 23, 2013) – Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson came to New England Dragway for the Inaugural NHRA New England Nationals with a hot rod that had only been in competition for one race, and he and the Summit Racing team qualified their still-new ride in the top half of the field and scored a round win on eliminations day. He leaves the event in Epping holding onto eighth in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock points.
Anderson qualified in the No. 6 position and scored a set of coveted bonus points along the way. His first round match with Steve Kent marked the first time this season that the four-time Pro Stock champ and Kent were lined up next to one another on raceday. Anderson was off the finish line first and raced to a strong 6.609. His Summit Racing Camaro and that of teammate Jason Line were two of just four cars in the opening act to exceed 210 mph.
Anderson’s first pass of the day was also one of the four quickest of the round, and he moved ahead into the quarterfinals for a meeting with No. 3 qualifier Mike Edwards. Edwards had lane choice for their second-round meeting, and Anderson was at a decided disadvantage but launched confidently ahead of his challenger with a .023-second reaction to Edwards’ .032. Unfortunately, lane choice was an important factor this weekend, and Anderson’s Summit Racing Camaro simply could not get a grip on the surface.
“We just spun the tire from one end of the track to the other,” said Anderson, who recorded a 6.635 in a losing effort. “That left lane sure gave us trouble. It’s a bummer, but the bottom line is that you have to qualify well and you’ve got to have a fast car so that you can keep lane choice. The deck was stacked against us today, but it only serves to make us dig deeper.
“I like this place, and I wanted to win – bad. The whole event was fantastic, and the fans were great. If their enthusiasm doesn’t get you fired up, nothing will. I loved almost everything about this place, and to come away with the first New England Dragway trophy would really have been something. Unfortunately, we got whooped today. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say, and we just have to be smart about our decisions. We’ll keep chipping away at it.”
Honda Racing–Rahal Runs Fifth for Honda in Iowa
Winner of one of three IZOD IndyCar Series qualifying heat races on Saturday, Graham Rahal took his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara-Honda to the front of the field Sunday at Iowa Speedway, challenging repeatedly and briefly leading the Iowa Corn Indy 250, before fading slightly in the final laps to a fifth-place finish.
Starting sixth in today’s 250-lap feature, it was apparent by mid-race that Rahal had a good-handling car for the tight confines of Iowa Speedway, as he was able to consistently run a high line, yet pass either high or low as needed. Simon Pagenaud, starting from eighth in the Schmidt Hamilton Racing Honda, also had a strong car, and the pair battled for position several times during the first 100 laps.
After the second round of pit stops on Lap 120, Rahal was solidly in second, running just behind eventual winner James Hinchcliffe, with Pagenaud in fourth and Honda-powered Scott Dixon, fifth. Rahal and Marco Andretti fought for second place through the third and final round of pit stops. But in the final 10 laps, the handling of Rahal’s Dallara appeared to deteriorate, leading to an eventual fifth-place finish.
Pagenaud frequently ran as high as fourth, and remained in the lead group for the duration of the contest, but lost two postions in the final laps to Tony Kanaan and Ed Carpenter, who pitted off-sequence earlier to have fresher tires for the final laps. Honda-powered Justin Wilson used the same strategy to lead five laps before finishing 11th. Dixon was another driver to run in the lead group, reaching fifth place on Lap 140 before fading with mechanical problems on his Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Graham Rahal (#15 Midas/Big O Tires Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Dallara) started 6th, finished 5th, led for the first time this season, second top-five result in 2013: “The race was good. I didn’t quite have James’ [Hinchcliffe] speed today, but we were close. On the second set [of tires], the car came on for me and felt really, really magical. That’s when we went from 10th to second. I don’t know what happened at the end of the race; we just lost overall grip and struggled a little bit. Earlier in that stint, I was chasing Hinchcliffe down. But at the end of the race, I was losing a little bit of everything in the car, and Ed [Carpenter] got me.But I’m proud of my guys because, as I’ve said, the last few weeks haven’t been easy for us. I’m really proud of the engineering staff and everyone on the team. For everybody to keep coming back week after week with their chins up means a lot to me. I felt like I could have won the race today. I feel like I got robbed; I should have had a podium at least today, but we’ll take a fifth.
”Simon Pagenaud (#77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Racing Honda Dallara) started 8th, finished 6th: “We’ve really improved our short-oval program in recent weeks. We were really strong on restarts today, and the car was handling really well. At the end of the race, I’m not sure what we were missing, because the car was really hooked up. I had a blast today. The restarts were fun, the racing was fun, and it was just a great day of competition. From the cockpit, it was ‘back and forth, back and forth’ all the time, on the track. Then, going as hard as you could into pit lane, and out just as fast. Traffic played a big role in the race, but it was great to be up front on an oval today.
”Roger Griffiths (Technical Director, Honda Performance Development) on today’s race: “Obviously we’re disappointed with the issues we had with the cars of Takuma Sato and Scott Dixon. We need to work hard and fast to find a resolution to those problems. We were very encouraged by the performances of both Graham [Rahal] and Simon [Pagenaud]. Graham drove a very strong race and looked like he could pass almost anyone for most of the day. It’s been a long, hard stretch of races for both our trackside group and the staff at HPD. Everyone has worked extremely hard for eight weeks solid. We’re now looking forward to this brief chance to recharge before going on to Pocono.”
Honda Racing–Strakka Finishes Sixth, Wins Privateer Class at Le Mans
A consistent, solid run from the Honda Performance Development-equipped Strakka Racing brought the British-based team top honors in the LMP1 Privateer category and a sixth-overall finish at this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Strakka driving trio of Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts brought its Honda-powered HPD ARX-03c through a rain and accident-plagued event that saw a total of six hours contested under caution. Strakka battled a two-car effort from Rebellion Racing throughout the first 18 hours, overcoming minor mechanical issues, a puncture and brief off-course excursion to split the Toyota-powered Rebellion Lolas as daylight returned to the Circuit de la Sarthe.
When Andrea Belicchi crashed the #13 Rebellion Toyota-Lola with just under six hours remaining, Strakka moved into the privateer team lead, and would hold its advantage through two rain showers in the final hours to score the inaugural official class victory for private LMP1 teams. Only the full “works” manufacturer-entered teams from Audi and Toyota finished ahead.
The 90th running of the 24-hour racing classic was marred by a single-car crash in the opening hour that claimed the life of Danish racer Allan Simonsen, who was driving a GTE-category Aston Martin when he lost control and collided with the trackside barriers.
In LMP2, the largest class at Le Mans this year with 22 entries, the American-based Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b of Ryan Briscoe, Marino Franchitti and Scott Tucker battled a variety of issues that combined to blunt HPD’s attempt at a second-consecutive LMP2 victory at Le Mans, and third in the last four years.
Running third in class after three hours on the strength of a strong opening segment from Briscoe, a punctured tire befell Franchitti and cost the Level 5 team two laps with an unscheduled pit stop. Additional problems, including excessive crankcase pressure, resulted in more time lost as the race approached the 12-hour mark.
The ARX-03b was eventually taken into the garage for additional repairs. Although this marked the first in-race failure in the three-year history of the production-based Honda HR28TT twin-turbo V6 engine, the Level 5 team was able to resume running in the final hour for team owner/driver Tucker to finish on track.
This weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans also was the third round of the 2013 World Endurance Championship. The WEC nowtakes a two-month break before continuing September 1 with the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil.
Danny Watts(Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a) finished 6th overall and 1stin the privateer category, first privateer win for Strakka in 2013: “It’s not really sunk in that I’ve been on the podium at Le Mans, because I’m so tired. I have to apologize to Jonny [Kane], because I missed his last race-finishing stint. I was asleep in the back of the truck! My side hurts a little, but I’m not so much physically whacked as mentally drained. It’s been a very emotional twenty-four hours with what happened to Allan Simonsen. I had to take the start from thirty-sixth on the grid, so there was a bit of pressure on me to stay out of trouble – which I managed to do. I went on and had a really good three-hour, forty-five minute stint which got us through all the GT and LMP2 cars. My second stint was at night and the car was consistent and fairly easy to drive. It’s great to win the LMP1 Privateers’ award, but what’s most important is that we get double points for the WEC. I think we can kick on from here, and really take the fight to the Rebellions.”
Art St. Cyr (President, Honda Performance Development) on the 90th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: “A bit of a bittersweet day for us. Of course, we were very happy to see another solid effort from Strakka Racing finally rewarded, with their privateer LMP1 championship, and sixth-place overall finish. It was a wonderful result for a team that continues to impress with their consistency and excellent preparation. But we’re a little bit disappointed with our result in LMP2, where we were seeking our third class win since 2010. We had high hopes for the Level 5 team this weekend, but unfortunately the crankcase pressure issue prevented them from contending for the victory, but the team persevered and was back on track for the finish. Finally, our thoughts are with the family, associates and many friends of Allan Simonsen. While not a member of the HPD family, he was a racer, like everyone at HPD. His loss is a loss for us all.”
Honda Racing–Heat Race Winner Dixon Leads Honda Field at Iowa
In true short-oval racing fashion, Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon fought his way into the final qualifying heat race Saturday evening at Iowa Speedway, then finished fifth to lead the Honda-powered field in IZOD IndyCar Series qualifying for Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 250.
A unique combination of single-car qualifying and heat-race action was used to set the field for Sunday’s final short oval race of 2013. Dixon posted the eighth-fastest speed in qualifying, which put him on the pole for the first of two semi-final heat races. Dixon and fellow Honda driver Takuma Sato finished 1-2 in the first heat, qualifying both drivers for the final.
In the second semi, Simon Pagenaud applied pressure on early leader Ed Carpenter, but it was Graham Rahal who stormed up from seventh to take the lead with just two laps remaining. Rahal and the second-finishing Carpenter advanced to the final, while Pagenaud finished third and just missed the cut.
In the 50-lap final, Dixon was boxed in by traffic at the start, falling to 10th during the hectic opening lap. Once the field sorted itself out, Dixon began reel in the competition, reaching fifth at the checkers, with Sato seventh and Rahal ninth for Honda. Sunday’s 250-lap race starts at 3 p.m. EDT, with live network television coverage on ABC.
Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara) qualified 5th, his fourth top-10 qualifying of 2013: “We made a chassis change between Heat 1 and Heat 3, and it definitely made the car better. I kinda got stuck behind a couple of cars at the start and had to lift, and dropped back. But the car was working well and I could pass on both the high side and down low, so we were able to move back up. The car was much more consistent [in the final], so I’m pretty optimistic about our chances tomorrow.”
Chevy Racing–Sonoma–Jeff Gordon
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SAVE MART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 23, 2013
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
ON LAP 24, WHEN YOU PITTED TOO SOON AND YOU RESTARTED 37TH, WERE YOU THINKING THERE WAS ANY WAY YOU COULD COME BACK AND FINISH SECOND TODAY?
“This is one of those crazy types of races where pit strategy goes all over the place and you never know what might happen. We were on a three-stop strategy and that’s why we wanted to come in when we did. I hate it for (crew chief) Alan (Gustafson) because that’s the call the crew chief makes and I’m right there. And I couldn’t turn away. At the time I was thinking gosh, I don’t know who has the worst (luck) right now, me or him? The way things have been going on the track for me haven’t been great and the way things have been going with the calls haven’t been going his way either. But, wow, we finally had a race car that was fantastic with this Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. And the pit crew and Alan the rest of the day were just spot-on. Great adjustments. We had a lot of fun out there. I knew that we could probably never get to that No. 56 (race winner, Martin Truex, Jr.), but boy, we were sure having fun coming up through there. I do want to say one thing about Drive to End Hunger. Go to Drivetoendhunger.org. We’ve got a really cool program where your name could be on our car and ride around the race with me on the hood for the race in Chicago later this year.
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SEALY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
YOU HAD NOT ONE, BUT TWO PIT ROAD SPEEDING ISSUES. YOU MADE AN IMPRESSIVE RECOVERY:
“Yeah, we were fast, even on pit road (laughs), twice. I messed-up, flat-out. I didn’t hit my tachometer right and I was speeding both times. It was one of those where I’m like how does that happen? I just put myself in a position that was poor trying to get too much on pit road. But man, this Furniture Row Chevy was fast. Congrats to Truex. When we were running a lap down with him, I was trying to pace myself. I wanted to get back on the lead lap. We did get back on the lead lap when he pitted, but we had to battle hard. We came back up through there. You’ve got to rub guys and move guys and we gave guys room and just made one mistake. I think we could have gotten all the way up to second, but we never would have caught Truex. I just have to thank the Furniture Row guys. We have Simmons, Serta, and Sealy as our mattress sponsors. But I got busted speeding on pit road. My bad.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SIXTH
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY AND ALL THAT PIT STRATEGY GOING ON:
“We had a good day. We came a long ways from Friday. The guys, Kenny (Francis, crew chief), Keith (Rodden, engineer) did a really nice job. That was one of the better cars I’ve had here late in the race. I was really happy with it. I don’t know we played the right strategy I thought. Maybe we could have stayed out with Martin (Truex) and ran second to him. Martin was the class of the field for sure. I think what we did and got back to sixth was probably better. Because of what we did last year it really bit us. That was our plan. We need the points. We have been struggling to get points. We have been pretty good, but we have been struggling to get points. The Farmers Insurance guys did that today.”
WHAT WAS THE TOUGHEST THING OUT THERE ALL DAY TODAY?
“Grip – just forward drive off the corner. I felt pretty good everywhere expect driving forward. It was real easy to spin the tires. It was for everybody. I felt like my car was probably better than most, but it was a long race. I think we got a little better as it went.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 12TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“It was pretty good. We really didn’t have a lot of great speed. We just had good strategy on pit road. Just come home with a decent finish. We will take it. This is definitely my worst race track, my least favorite track. We will take whatever, we will take a top-15 here any week.”
WHAT WAS THE TOUGHEST THING OUT THERE?
“Well just trying to get the car to turn in turns seven and 11. I just couldn’t turn. At the end of the race you couldn’t get turned through there. Just really hard all day long. This tire is not very good. The track is a good track. I think they just need to get a little bit better tire. I don’t know, it’s hard to say. These things are a handful around here. It really brings out the worst in guys like me. We feel good about running 12th.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 34TH – SCORED AS THE FINAL CAR ON THE LEAD LAP AFTER FUNNING OUT OF FUEL ON THE LAST LAP.
YOU REALLY LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD THE FASTEST CAR A LOT OF TIMES TODAY, BUT EVERYTHING REALLY FELL APART IN THE END
“Our Target Chevy was really good today. The guys did an amazing job; it’s just heartbreak. It’s heartbreak for me and everybody on the Target team. You’ve got to defend them in the way that when they do the fuel calculations based on the other runs; and the other runs, when you’re stuck in traffic, you can’t run that hard. Then you get in clean air and they’re asking me to run as hard as I can, and I’m doing that, you’re going to use a little more fuel. It should have been a little smarter. With five (laps) to go you start saving a little bit, just in case. We’ve got tools to prevent things like that from happening.”
John Force Racing–COURTNEY FORCE WINS INAUGURAL NEW ENGLAND NATIONALS
COURTNEY FORCE WINS INAUGURAL NEW ENGLAND NATIONALS
EPPING, NH —- In a rematch of their Father’s Day first round battle in Bristol last weekend Courtney Force came out on the winning side today taking out father and 15-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force in the final round of the Inaugural Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals. The second year driver won for the second time this season and third time in her career outpacing her teammate 4.301 seconds to 4.361 seconds in front of a capacity crowd at New England Dragway.
“I told him I was definitely going to try to get revenge, but last time I told him I was going to beat him for a Father’s Day gift and give him the day off, it definitely backfired on me and he got the win. I decided to keep my mouth shut this time. I was just hoping we could get a little bit of revenge over him and we were able to do that. Being that it was my birthday weekend made it that much better,” said Force, who turned twenty-five on Thursday.
“I knew I didn’t get my energy level up with my dad, I was actually too afraid that I was going to red light, especially because I walked into the bus right before final round and I heard him say ‘red light.’ I was like, okay, well I don’t want to red light against dad. But then it was in the back of my head and I thought maybe he was playing games with me, secretly, but it worked. I think he went in deep on me. I was just trying to do the same ol’ thing. I mess with him about every other weekend, but I thought, ‘I’m not going to mess with him,’ especially because I didn’t want to throw my own routine off. I just tried to do the same ol’ thing and he went in there deep. I’m surprised he didn’t put out the top bulb on me. But it was all fun,” said Force.
“This was good for our whole team. All of our teams and our sponsors, Traxxas, Castrol, Auto Club, Mac Tools, Ford, and BrandSource. We’re all very excited to take home a win here.”
This was the 220th Funny Car win for John Force Racing and was the 38th time JFR had two Funny Cars in a final. The last time JFR squared off for a win was 2012 in Phoenix when Robert Hight and the AAA Ford Mustang defeated Mike Neff’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang.
“I want another 200. If you start living on your laurels and what you did in the past you will never make progress. You don’t look back you just keep looking ahead,” said John Force JFR CEO and 135-time Funny Car winner.
For the third time John Force came up short against a daughter in a Funny Car final round. Previously he was 0-2 against Ashley Force Hood losing to her in 2008 in Atlanta and in 2010 at the Mac Tools US Nationals.
Courtney Force had to beat Alexis DeJoria, veteran Tim Wilkerson, 2012 Funny Car champion Jack Beckman to reach the final round match-up with her dominant father. Her Traxxas Ford Mustang was strong all day consistently going down the track and affording the second year driver the opportunity to move from 8th place in the Mello Yello point standings this morning to 4th place at the end of the day. She jumped over John Force, Jack Beckman, Ron Capps and Tim Wilkerson in the points today. The win in the final over John Force moved her from 5th to 4th in the standings. It was Force’s seventh final round appearance in 34 races. It took her famous father 62 races to reach seven finals.
“I was little nervous that dad got lane choice, but luckily throughout the day when he had lane choice he took the left lane and when we had lane choice we kept picking the right. I thought good, we’ll both be happy in the final round, we’ll get the lanes that we want,” said Force. “I was a little surprised. I think we both were just trying to go after a pretty good run down there and we both got in trouble. I think that’s a smart thing to do with the teams. Go after the quickest run possible because you know someone is going home with the win.”
The semi-final round was a big step for the 2012 Automobile Club Road to the Future Award winner, as NHRA professional rookie of the year. The last time she faced Beckman was the semi-final round of the fall Las Vegas national event where Force suffered her only red-light in competition. Showing no hang-over she left on Beckman today and never trailed in the race winning 4.175 to 4.279 seconds.
In addition to winning the first Wally trophy ever presented for an NHRA national event at New England Dragway Force also put a 55” flat screen TV in the hands of George Hayden, of Lowell, Massachusetts who won the Win with Force promotion. Yesterday John Force by virtue of being the No. 1 qualifier won a front loading washer and dryer for a lucky fan.
“I woke up today and I just had a good feeling about today. I was hoping that we could be the first Funny Car to take home a win here at New England Dragway. They built a really great track here. We’re excited to be racing here. We went to the top spot in qualifying and got bumped by my dad. I thought, ‘Man, he’s moving around me in points,’ and it was just time for a little revenge,” said Force who moved up to 4th in the Mello Yello points with her race win.
“My team needed this win. This Traxxas Ford Mustang team with all my guys and Ron Douglas (crew chief), they’ve really been working hard on this car. They give me a great race car every weekend. We’re usually picking up the most bonus points of all the cars and trying to work our way up to the top of the ladder. I definitely think we’re making some big moves now,” said Force.
In the final round the elder Force had his hands full and was caught up in the moment racing one of his daughters.
“It started spinning the tires at the other end in the first round against Richards and I pedaled it. It dropped some cylinders but I got the win. I was just programmed and when you get to the final and you have it close to the lights (finish line) you have to drive it. You can’t get out of it and I knew she would be out the window but I didn’t think,” said Force, who was racing in his 218th final round. “When it spun in the final my brain took over and I lifted. It was driver error and I would hate to blow it up and lose points and hold up the show. We moved up in the points and I didn’t want to mess that up. We moved from the cellar a couple of race ago to almost the top.”
Force was looking for his 136th win and back-to-back wins for the first time since 2010. His race day started against a rookie driver, Dave Richards, who was thrilled to be qualified and overjoyed to be racing John Force in the first round. Force was equally excited to be taking on a new driver who would motivate him to continue to fight.
“I get pumped up racing guys like Dave Richards because they are chasing the dream. I started chasing that dream forty years ago. As long as you have that dream you will be OK. We get caught up out here in corporate America. You forget why you came to race. We have a great race car and it has taken time to get us running. Just to be here with all these young kids. When you see a kid like him that that is building his program it makes you appreciate all the hard work.”
For rookie driver the first round match-up was about managing his excitement and not creating problems for his opponent. Richards was competing in front of a capacity crowd for the first time behind the wheel of his Paul Richards Racing Monte Carlo. His previous laps were in testing and licensing when those in attendance included a skeleton crew and empty grandstands.
“Right before we fired the car up I was like, ‘Holy crap I am racing John Force.’ We went in and did our burn out and as I stopped I saw him blow by me doing one of his crazy long burnouts. I was like that is cool. I re
ally wanted to do a shorter burnout and get right back up there so we weren’t holding anybody up. That was our biggest thing being the new guy out here everyone is watching you closely and you don’t want to hold anyone back,” said Richards. “I just went in first and was like this is cool. I am staging with John Force. All these thoughts are running through my head. He went in then I staged, he staged and I was like, ’Holy crap. Here we go.’”
In the opening round the AAA Northern New England Ford Mustang of Robert Hight was out in front of Del Worsham’s DHL Funny Car when it lost power at the top end. The track conditions were fluctuating with every pair as an early morning rain shower and the resulting humidity threw curve balls at a number of crew chiefs in Top Fuel and Funny Car.
Hight’s time of 4.405 seconds was not an indication of the power his BOSS 500 generated on the first 600-700 feet of his race against Del Worsham. At the finish line stripe Hight was only travelling at 216.93 mph which is the speed the AAA Mustang reaches as it accelerates past the 400 ft. mark. Worsham took the win but Hight maintained his position in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Funny Car Top Ten.
“This was a tough one to lose no doubt about it. I really wanted to give that Wally (winning trophy) to the AAA Northern New England office. We had a good effort in qualifying which was good but we need to match that up with some round wins on Sunday. We’ll be in Chicago in a couple of days. I like racing every weekend because you can’t dwell on a win or a loss,” said Hight.
“The big win this weekend for the AAA Mustang is how the fans reacted to seeing NHRA. We had people going through our AAA display which was right across from my pits all day every day. This place was packed and we can’t wait to get back here next year.”
It was another tough first round outing for the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster. The tricky track conditions and a new racing surface foiled a great opportunity for the rookie driver from Yorba Linda, California.
In the first round Brittany Force faced seven-time Top Fuel champion for the second time this season. At the spring Las Vegas race Brittany lost a close race in the second round to “The Sarge.” Today the new driver continued her education behind the wheel of the 10,000 hp Top Fuel dragster losing a close race as both dragsters hazed the Goodyears with Schumacher grabbing the win, 4.022 to 4.153 seconds.
“We had Tony Schumacher in the first round. It’s the second time we’ve run him and he beat us again, but well get him next time. He just had the better car. We both went up in smoke and pedaled it. It hooked back up, but it still wasn’t quick enough. The entire Castrol EDGE team and I will be ready for Chicago next week,” said Force.