NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 26, 2013
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Richmond International Raceway and discussed racing at Richmond, penalties for the Matt Kenseth No. 20 team, his equipment at Hendrick Motorsports, what he has done to improve, and more.  Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOU AND THE TEAM’S MOMENTUM COMING INTO RICHMOND:  “Things have been going really well. We didn’t feel quite right today. There were times when we felt pretty good. Race trim got to where I was pretty happy; a couple of small adjustments for tomorrow’s race, and I think we’ll be in a good spot compared to other cars. That’s good. We made one mock run right at the end, and just didn’t go very fast. So, we’re trying to figure out how to do a better job qualifying this afternoon. It should be interesting. The bottom seems really good here, which it has the last couple of times we have raced here. I remember there was a day that you would just keep moving higher and higher. That seemed like the spot to be two or three years ago, and now it is just how low can you go. The track has changed a lot over the last couple of years, but I feel pretty good with our Quaker State Chevrolet.”
 
DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE WIN LAST WEEK CONSIDERING MATT’S (KENSETH) PENALTY? “I don’t know. I thought about that this week. In sprint car racing, you know you win the Knoxville Nationals and then something is illegal, then the guy in second would win. But, I just think the way NASCAR…to me – it has always been a lot different than that. There have been plenty of penalties after the fact, you know, when the car goes through tech and things. In Matt’s case I would say that as far as what happened with them is to me, from what I’ve read, it seems like a mistake, and it also seems like something that would make zero factor in speed. I think there are a lot of things you can do to gain speed, and go faster, and be more competitive. But, as far as what happened to them and to Matt, because I don’t think that gave them anything at all, maybe less. Who knows? It’s hard to see all that. Matt’s a good guy, and that was a pretty big deal for those guys.”
 
WAS KYLE LARSON ON YOUR RADAR AT ALL BEFORE HE GOT INTO NASCAR? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIM AND HIS ABILITY? “He actually has been because he did some stuff…we get a lot of our sprint car parts through Kaeding Performance out in California. He had a deal with them.  He drove one of their sprint cars. So with our relationship out there, we knew a lot about him. My cousin Willie knew a lot about him. I would always hear really good things about him. Then I started paying attention before he got to the Nationwide Series or the Truck Series, or maybe even a year prior to that. He has been pretty impressive since he started. Always has since he’s been on four wheels. I think he is going to stay that way. He is talented. He enjoys racing. That is all he wants to do. He has a lot of drive and passion for it, so I think he’ll be a guy that is going to win NASCAR races for sure.”
 
YOU ARE OFF TO A GREAT START, WHAT IS IT? IS IT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? IS THERE SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN YOUR CAREER? WHAT IS IT? “I would say it definitely starts with Hendrick Motorsports. From the car; the preparation at the shop; building the car; building the chassis; the body; the aero side of things. Then the engines run great. Everything from Chevrolet and our engine shop. And then just the relationship – myself, Kenny (Francis, crew chief) and Keith (Rodden, engineer), and our whole team. We have built some of it with the guys from last year, and other parts of it have been going for a long time. So for me, just putting all that stuff together, and being really relaxed and confident. I just feel like we have a shot every week. I really think that we have. We’ve been kind of in the hunt whether it was practice or the race – especially in the race; every race this year.”
 
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE GENUINELY A CONTENDER FOR THE CHASE? “I hope to be. I hope as this season goes on we keep getting stronger. There are so many things that go into that in those final 10 races. I think I’ve felt pretty good the last two or three years in those final 10 races – two years – whether we were in the Chase or not, I ran pretty well. So, if we can keep building our team, hopefully we can be one of those guys when that time of the season comes. But, hard to say right now, there is still a lot of racing to go.”
 
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN THE FEELING WHEN YOU COME TO THE TRACK WHEN THINGS ARE GOING SO WELL? “I really feel like Monday, whether when we won at Bristol, or Monday after last weekend, or after Phoenix, or whenever it may have been; Monday or Tuesday I am already ready for the following race, and I am excited for it.  Can’t wait to get there.  I get to look forward to it all week long. It is nice to have that. I’ve had that before, and I think a lot of people do with what we get to do as far as racing each weekend; something that we love to do. You are always looking forward to three or four days from now. I’ve had that all season and I’ve had it a lot. I think it goes to…just a lot of it’s just to show that I feel that we can win, and I want to win. It’s exciting for me each week. Other than that, I would say a lot of things are the same…similar to last year. Just trying to find where my trailer is parked, where the car is parked…all that stuff. It’s always different. It’s places I’ve never been. To be second in points…I don’t know if I’ve been second before. I don’t recall being second. It feels good.”
 
DO YOU THINK TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, YOU CAN CONTINUE AS YOU ARE NOW? OR DO YOU HAVE TO BE A DIFFERENT, MORE AGGRESSIVE KIND OF DRIVER? “I think one of my biggest downfalls since I have been in this Series is being consistent. That is something I’ve worked on.  I have really wanted to get better for awhile. Last year I thought we did after the first seven or eight races and carried that through to this year. To me the reason we are where we are at is because we are way more consistent because I have been, and the team has. In order to win the championship, I think you need to win a little bit more. We’ve won one so far. But, consistency is the only way to do it. You can’t fall out of races, and get in wrecks and things like that. I feel like that we are making gains in the right areas. You just have to peak at the right time. You never know which team is going to do that. There are going to be 12 teams that definitely have a shot to do that when that time of the season comes. But right now, it is just about being consistent, figuring out each track and these cars; the tires and the things that they throw at us.”
 
‘YOU CHASED MATT KENSETH TO THE FINISH LINE AT LAS VEGAS AND AGAIN LAST WEEK AT KANSAS. JGR HAS WON FOUR OF THE FIRST EIGHT RACES. WHEN YOU SEE AN INFRACTION WITH PENALTIES LIKE THIS AS A COMPETITOR, DOES THAT PUT A QUESTION MARK OVER THE TEAM.
“It does not, to me. Not at all. I feel like we’ve always known you don’t mess with engines at any type of racing. It’s a big deal and not a good thing at all. But as far as them and their team and their speed and how they get it each week, I feel like their going to be there all season long. Especially Matt (Kenseth) and Kyle (Busch), and when Denny (Hamlin) comes back and those are three great drivers and three great teams and a great owner. So I don’t see them going anywhere. To me, I don’t feel like they’re cheating in any way. I don’t think that’s what you can even call it. To me it’s more like it was a mistake. You get in trouble for it because it’s a big deal and they’re taking the consequences for it. But to me, they didn’t cheat as far as I
look at it in my head.”
 
YOU TALK ABOUT WORKING TO BE MORE CONSISTENT. AT TIMES YOU CAN’T CONTROL CERTAIN THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO THE CAR. WHEN YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT BEING MORE CONSISTENT, HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED OR WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO AT LEAST CONTROL THE THINGS THAT YOU CAN?
“Over my career there have been plenty of times when things happen that I can’t control or that even the team can’t control. It’s just situations. There have also been plenty of times when I’ve done a bad job in practice with communication or something to where we get the car to where say it’s too loose and we can’t get it back throughout the whole race. So, I take that on myself. I just didn’t get the car right. So for me, a big part is our final two practices of the weekend to be much better there and get the car more consistent to where I feel comfortable and I’m kind of looking ahead into the race and how those races change the feeling of the car and how that changes in the races. That’s where I feel like I need to be more consistent and I think we’ve done a really good job of that for the last year and a half. And there have been other times in my career where I wear myself out and (crew chief) Kenny (Francis) out too. I’ve tried to step-up my side of it and I know that Kenny is always up on his. I think it’s just little things that I’ve seen over the years that I could do a better job of and I feel like I have.”
 
YOUR EQUIPMENT IS PROBABLY MUCH BETTER THAN WHAT YOU’VE HAD IN YOUR CAREER.  IS EQUIPMENT HELPING YOU OR HAVE YOU RISEN TO THE EQUIPMENT, IN THAT SENSE?
“I’d say a little bit of both. Definitely the equipment is great every week. And I agree, and I feel like the equipment is great every week that gives me confidence and we have teammates that you can look at and go ahhh; and see what they did and that helps so we can try some of that stuff. Personally, I’ve had cars that are as good in the past. Some of those race cars were some of the nicest cars I’ve driven.
 
“Early on, with Ray Evernham, those were some of the nicest cars on the track and had some of the most speed. Back in my rookie year, if I had known what I was doing like I do now, I probably would have won 10 races that year. Not the first year with Evernham. The cars were better than anything out there, or at least as good as probably the Hendrick cars or the Roush cars at the time. Personally, I think I’ve come a long ways and then it’s great to have some of the best equipment and engines every single weekend.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 26, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Richmond International Raceway and discussed being fastest in the final practice session, the penalties levied this week against Joe Gibbs Racing, the new qualifying format NASCAR announced this week for Sonoma and Watkins Glen and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
YOU WERE FASTEST IN THE FINAL PRACTICE SESSION TELL US ABOUT IT:
“The last qualifying run went really well.  It makes you nervous when you are practicing during the day and you are going to qualify at night and you are fastest in your qualifying run.  Because you know the track is going to change.  We are going to try to do our best using previous experience and notes to make sure that we adjust it right for when the sun goes down.  We drew a really late number as well so we have been good here qualifying in the past.  I think we could have a shot at it today.  That is certainly good.  We have seen here as well where qualifying doesn’t really mean that much if you don’t get that car working really well in race trim.  So we really are working hard on that aspect of it.”
 
TALKING ABOUT QUALIFYING NASCAR MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT THIS WEEK THAT THE QUALIFYING SESSIONS WOULD BE CHANGED FOR THE ROAD COURSES WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
“It’s cool.  I’m a big fan of Formula 1 and I love knock out qualifying.  I kind of was hoping that we would go more towards the knock out qualifying session because I think in road racing that gives you that opportunity to do that.  But we have 45/50 cars that we have to get qualified in so it’s a little bit more challenging to do that.  You are obviously going to have that clock and the ability to kind of make a second lap if you need to.  Which at Sonoma I think that is the biggest thing is trying to get heat in the tires and make that lap the way we do it on single lap qualifying is very challenging.  I think what I’m looking forward to most guys are is being able to go out there and really plan your lap and get heat in the tires as you cross that line and then lay down that lap.  It will be very interesting to see how that goes.  I’m certainly anxious to try a new format.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THE PENALTIES THIS WEEK AGAINST JOE GIBBS RACING?
“We have always known that engine related incidences get very severe penalties.  It just seems to me like in that instance it’s not worth not only what intentions could be, but also not double checking and making sure that you do all your checks and balances.  To make sure that those parts and pieces, even if it’s a mistake, doesn’t get in that engine, which is something that I know Hendrick Motorsports works extremely hard on, because we know how severe those types of penalties can be.  It’s unfortunate they are having a great year and when you look at who is responsible for it I don’t know if they are getting penalized as much as the team is. But we also know ultimately the crew chief and the car owner on that team is who NASCAR holds responsible.  Somebody has got to be responsible for it.”
 
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE AT TALLADEGA NEXT WEEK?
“I’m certainly very anxious to see because bigger wider race track compared to Daytona.  In Daytona I feel like we learned a lot about being very patient and picking and choosing your moments to try to make passes.  I certainly tried to make some that didn’t work out and cost us a lot of positions.  We saw single file through the middle section of the race, but yet still be extremely exciting in the closing laps.  I think that you are going to see certainly that at the end.  The unknown is with this bigger, wider track are we going to be able to complete those passes that we weren’t able to at Daytona.  We did see handling be a bigger issue at Daytona when you were around other cars on the longer runs.  That doesn’t normally seem to be the case at Talladega, so we won’t know until we get there, get in practice, start drafting and run our race.”
 
YOU ARE IN THE SAME SHOP WITH KASEY KAHNE HOW GOOD ARE THEY RIGHT NOW?
“Kasey (Kahne) and Kenny (Francis, crew chief) were going through a lot of changes.  That whole shop was last year being new to Hendrick.  I think that is tough for anybody to come into a new environment and just get into the rhythm and flow and get started off by being very competitive, winning races and not having issues.  We saw how strong they were this second half of the season and it looks like this year they have been able to kind of pick up where they left off and get off to a much better start this season.  So that is great.”
 
ARE YOU IMPRESSED WITH KYLE LARSON’S TRANSITION SO FAR FROM DIRT TO ASPHALT?
“I’m impressed with Kyle Larson for a lot of reason and a lot of different series.  I raced sprint cars.  I raced midgets and of course the last 20 plus years been racing in NASCAR.  To me non-winged sprint car on dirt is probably one of the hardest race cars there is to drive.  He makes it look pretty easy.  He can jump back and forth and be competitive in just about everything that he gets into.  I think he has impressed a lot of people.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 26, 2013
                 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Richmond International Raceway and discussed racing at Richmond, frustration with another driver at Kansas, being on The Colbert Report and other topics.  Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WEEKEND: “I’ve always enjoyed coming to Richmond. I was just talking about that…had fun racing Indy cars here. I liked driving the Nationwide car here. We didn’t have the greatest result, but it was still fun. Even in the Nationwide car, Ricky (Stenhouse) and I were talking about it; we struggle with getting the power down off the corner after 20 or 30 laps. So, I can’t imagine how much fun this is going to be in a Cup car. We’ll have to see. There seems to be some similarities between Martinsville and here. We’re hoping that that translates.”
 
YOUR DIVORCE WAS FINAL LAST WEEK, ANY COMMENTS ON THAT? “No. It is just the end.”
 
AFTER THE RACE LAST WEEK, WERE YOU REALLY MAD AT (DAVID) GILLILAND, OR WAS THAT JUST VENTING ON THE RADIO? “Yes, I was mad. I’ve felt like he drives very aggressively against me from Darlington last year on. There was just a lot more of it last weekend, and I was frustrated. But, I think in general it was a frustrating race, and that was just one of the elements.”
 
HOW MUCH OF A CHANCE DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE OF WINNING AT TALLADEGA CONSIDERING HOW WELL YOU RAN AT DAYTONA? “I feel like I’ve learned some lessons from Daytona about the draft, and that unfolds at the end if you are in the right place at the right time. I think that when we talk speedway racing, there’s a lot of luck involved. Like I said, right place at the right time…there are a lot of people that have a good chance of winning Talladega I think. Hopefully we are one of them at the end of the race. But, we won’t know that until end of the race.”
 
HOW MUCH WAS THE COLBERT REPORT EXPERIENCE? WHAT’S IT LIKE CARRYING HIS LIKENESS ON YOUR CAR THIS WEEKEND? “I have always liked The Colbert Report. I think it is a great show. It is really funny. I love his (Stephen Colbert) sense of humor. That was the first time I have been on his show. I was excited. He’s a cool guy. Obviously he plays a character. He said before I went out there.  So my character is incredibly ignorant and stupid. Just bear with me; have fun with it. It was cool. When we got done, he came back and said good job; that was fun; sorry I went a little bit long, but I was having a good time. So that’s a very nice thing for him to say. I had a good time. I felt like he went kind of easy on me. I’m glad I’ve watched the show because I was prepared for anything. I feel like I watch his show and I see some people that go on and I don’t think they have any idea what that show is all about, and what he does on it. I’m glad I had some knowledge. It was a lot of fun. It’s always fun to do those kinds of things that are a little different and outside the box.
 
“I’ll take the Colbert bump, sure. He has a big following. I guess, really, I’m one of them. It was nice of GoDaddy to let that go on the car. I didn’t make the joke on TV, but we would have gone about it, I would have said I will try and keep his face off the wall. We’ll have to see.”
 
HOW ARE YOU ADJUSTING TO THE GEN SIX CUP CAR? WHAT CHARACTERISTICS HAVE YOU NOTICED ON THIS TRACK THAN IT WAS LAST YEAR WITH THE PREVIOUS CAR? “We haven’t been out on the track yet, and I wasn’t on the track last year in the Cup Series to know what that would have even been like to tell you what the difference is. I feel later today you’ll probably have a better answer from someone who’s been here in a Cup car. The new Gen Six is fine. We are all just adapting. I feel like we are running okay on certain kinds of tracks as a team, but struggling at some others. We will work that out; sooner than later hopefully.”
 
DID GILLILAND’S “SHUT-UP AND DRIVE” COMMENT BOTHER YOU, OR DID YOU SORT OF FEEL LIKE HE IS TREATING YOU LIKE EVERYONE ELSE? “No, I don’t think he races me like everyone else. I watched him move over, and let someone by, so no, I don’t think he does. And, that is what makes me mad. He is just getting more attention for this than he deserves.  I think he was just driving in a way that I didn’t think was appropriate, and I haven’t thought was appropriate for a long time, but it was just too much that time.”
 
A LOT OF PENALTIES HAVE BEEN LEVIED BY NASCAR THIS YEAR.  DO YOU THINK NASCAR HAS BEEN PARTICULARLY TOUGH THIS YEAR?  HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE MOST RECENTLY MATT KENSETH? “It’s tough for me to know what the things that teams, cars, drivers, owners have been penalized for and to know how bad that is.  I think that penalties happen more in (Sprint) Cup than anywhere it seems like, and I haven’t been around that long, and I don’t know how much of these things are performance gains or oversights or blatant or something they just got caught for.  I just don’t know.  I don’t know if it has to do with the new car, I really don’t.  So I would say that NASCAR is definitely sending a message that if something is found that they don’t like, that there will be penalties for it.  That’s pretty clear.”
 
WITH THE NEW GENERATION 6 CAR IT SEEMS LIKE THEY ARE TURNING RECORD LAPS AT THESE TRACKS.  DOES THAT MAKE YOU NERVOUS AT ALL HAVING TO GO OUT AND RACE IN A NEW CAR THAT YOU HAVE NEVER USED ON A CERTAIN TRACK AND ITS GOING TO BE RUNNING AT RECORD SPEEDS? “We are talking tenths of a second or a mile-an-hour.  I mean we are not talking about going from 100 to 200 miles-an-hour, so no.   You are not nearly going to feel it.  There is probably a bigger difference going from qualifying trim to race trim, so we are talking small amounts here.  So I think it’s a talking point, but the car is similar, and I think that is what we can see….that it’s similar.  So, maybe it’s a little bit faster, maybe it could be a little bit slower.”
 
IN YOUR HISTORY OF RACING; INDYCAR, ETC, AND EVERYTHING – DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE DRIVER SHOULD ALWAYS BE RESPONSIBLE IN A PENALTY SITUATION WHETHER IT WAS THE ENGINE BUILDER, CHASSIS, OR WHATEVER, WHO BROKE THE RULE? “Oh gosh, I hope not because I have absolutely no idea what goes on other than when I am driving the car.  If you are asking if it’s just the driver that should be held responsible, then I don’t.   If you are asking if they should get a penalty then it’s the team that puts the car out there that gets that result so it all kind of goes hand-in-hand but I definitely don’t think it should be all the driver’s penalty.  But you are driving for a team where NASCAR found something they didn’t like so the biggest penalty is the car that is out there running for the championship points, so that is where they get them.  That is what hurts the most, you know?” 

Five Team Chevy Drivers Finish in Top-10; Helio Castroneves Retains Points Lead
 
LONG BEACH, Calif.  (April 21, 2013) – With a fifth-place finish, JR Hildebrand, No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet, led a contingent of five Chevrolet IndyCar V6 drivers in the top-10 finishing positions of the Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy. Hildebrand scored his best finish of the season after starting the 80-lap, 157.4-mile race in 12th on the 27-car grid.
 
“I’m really proud of the run we had and the pit crew guys did such an awesome job,” said Hildebrand. “We made up three or four of those spots in the pits on our last stop. We struggled in the first stint and were going backwards, but we had a great strategy and ended up on the sticker reds in the end and I was able to pass several guys there at the end just using the overtake.”
 
Oriol Servia, No. 22 Charter Panther Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet, finished in sixth place, followed by Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, in the seventh finishing position. Simona de Silvestro brought the No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KV Racing Technology Chevrolet to the checkered flag in ninth place.
 
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Team Penske Chevrolet, retained the lead in the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings with a 10th-place finish in today’s race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary course on the Streets of Long Beach.
 
“At the end of the day the lemon became the lemonade with our finish,” said Castroneves. “We are very happy to come out of here still leading the points, and now we have focus on what we need to do to improve.”
 
After three races in the record books of the 19-race 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season, Chevrolet has six drivers in the top-10 in the standings. Joining Castroneves in the top-five is Andretti who sits fourth in points.  Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, is sixth in the standings after contact relegated him to the 24th finishing position today.
 
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, sits eighth in the standings with his 16th place finish in the race.  Sitting ninth in the standings is de Silvestro, and James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy.com Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, is in 10th position after a multi-car incident early in the race landed him in the 26th finishing position.

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH INDY
STREETS OF LONG BEACH
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES
APRIL 21, 2013
 
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5th: ON HIS RACE:  “I’m really proud of the run we had and the pit crew guys did such an awesome job, because we made up three or four of those spots in the pits on our last stop. We struggled in the first stint and were going backwards, but we had a great strategy and ended up on the sticker reds in the end and I was able to pass several guys there at the end just using the overtake. I didn’t see (the incident between Oriol Servia and Tony Kanaan) because I’d let those guys go a little bit while we were saving to make sure we had enough fuel. I saw some tire smoke as I approached Turn One and was able to split through the middle. Really happy to get another Top Five here for the second year in a row, but we’ll make sure we put the work in to make sure we’re ready to rock-n-roll next week. If we continue to make gains like we have we’ll be running up front with the big boys a lot more often.”
 
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 PANTHER DRYER & REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH:  ON THE RACE: “I had the best car probably of the whole season in the race. It was awesome. On one restart, I don’t know what happened to Simon [Pagenaud] but he slowed down in the straight and I broke the front wing but even with that we were one of the fastest cars on track. I was saving fuel but I was flying. I was so happy!”
 
ON THE INCIDENT WITH TONY KANAAN: “With two laps to go, I had a run on Tony [Kanaan]. I was on the push to pass, I don’t think he saw me coming. I got in his inside and he closed the door. I was there – I cannot disappear! There’s no way I should get a penalty – neither should he – it was one of those deals where you both want the same space in the corner so you crash. I’m angry with him, he’s angry with me. That’s what happens in racing. But I shouldn’t get a penalty.” NOTE: Upon Further Review, IndyCar Officials Rescinded Penalty
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: ON HIS RACE:  “Going into this, I knew that this would be about the best we would finish. I am definitely pleased with how we climbed our way through the field and how we stayed consistent throughout the day.  We knew that if we just stayed in the race and didn’t make any mistakes, we would be good. I had some front wing damage and a lot of understeer the whole race.”
 
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH: ON HER RACE:  “I think it was a good recovery from where we started. The car was really fast and the guys did a really awesome job in the pits. When we had clean laps we could move forward and made up some positions, so I think P9 is really good for us. Hopefully next time we can start a little more up front and make life a little bit easier. But, I think it was a great weekend for us.”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AUTO CLUB TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: ON HIS RACE:  “Tough day for the Auto Club Chevrolet, but my team did a great job getting me back out after our incident with the nose. I was trying to be careful but got bunched up and broke the front wing. At the end of the day the lemon became the lemonade with our finish. We are very happy to come out of here still leading the points and now we have focus on what we need to do to improve.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH: ON HIS RACE: “Well a lot of things happened today. We started in the middle of the pack and that ended up being our result. The yellows didn’t fall at the right time for us and we struggled with two of our pit stops. The last restart I couldn’t stay in front of Helio, and that was terminal for us at that point. I am disappointed because the team worked so hard to give me a good car, and should have been in the Top-10.”
 
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16TH: ON HIS RACE: “Frustrating day out there for the Verizon car, we had a car that we thought was good enough to win today. Sato was very strong and he really dominated out there. Obviously we didn’t have the start out there that we wanted and broke traction which hurt us. We didn’t lose much in the points which is a good thing but certainly we could have had a much better day.”
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED  18TH: ON HIS RACE: “I think we should have had a better finish today.  We had a 10, 11 or 12th place car today.  We had a tough first stop, but the car was very good in the middle stint and I did get up to P12.  Then later I tried to make a pass on (Sebastien) Bourdais and broke too hard and locked up the right front.  The tire was junk after that.  So I didn’t have the race car that we had in the middle.  We are making progress with the Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevy but we aren’t getting the results right now.  The team working well together and I feel good going to Brazil.”
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY SH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20TH:  INVOLVED IN SINGLE-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 79 OF THE RACE – ON WHAT HAPPENED:  “We had a good race going and I was set for a fifth-place finish until (Oriol) Servia took me out with half a lap to go. It’s really frustrating… I was the leading Chevy car out there and it was looking like a good points race for us. I’m really disappointed on how it turned out.”
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22ND: NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 35 – ON WHAT HAPPENED:  “A very tough weekend for the team. It was looking like a good weekend for me after our very difficult beginning. It was a very tough Friday, a bit better Saturday in qualifying – we were able to qualify in the top 10 – and then in the race I really had a good, good recovery with some changes for the race which were in the right direction. The team gave me a car that was very competitive with new and old tires. I was able to have a very good rhythm and good pace with fuel. I believe we had a car that was able to win this race. I feel bad for the outcome of the team: one driver took three Andretti cars out – it’s a shame. Now to Brazil.”
 
A.J. ALLMENDINGER, NO. 2 PENSKE AUTOMOTIVE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 23RD: ON HIS RACE: “I thought today was going to be a good day for the Penske Automotive Chevrolet, we were posting lap times that were consistent with those up front. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get the track position we needed and having the gear box break in Turn 5 ended the day. But it’s another step in the learning process and should make us better for Indy.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24TH: NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN A SINGLE CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 50 – ON WHAT HAPPENED:  “We just weren’t going anywhere sitting in traffic like that. We missed it today – just didn’t have any grip and the corners that were my best over the weekend, were now my worst. I just had to start trying things and we were just sitting in the back of the pack. I started going and I couldn’t get around anywhere else and dove down to the inside. Got inside but there was no grip in there and just got into the tires. Completely my fault, but at that point we were just trying to make a bad day a little bit better.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 26TH : NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 35 – ON WHAT HAPPENED: “Two in a row (not finishing due to contact) – what a kick in the pants. It’s really unfortunate because I think the Go Daddy team had done a good job giving us a great race car. If you look at the first stint we performed pretty well; we
picked up spots on the start and the first restart. We thought we were taking a bit of a gamble on the black tires there, but I think that might have been a really good strategy call seeing the way that the reds were falling off. We knew we had to protect them the second stint – I was excited to see how that was going to play out for us. A few guys jump us there with pitting a bit early but we were comfortable with the pace of our car. And on the restart… I didn’t get the best restart and Tony (Kanaan) had a smokin’ one and I was trying to keep, I think it was (Simon) Pagenaud, behind me on the inside and as we got down to Turn 1. I haven’t seen a replay so I don’t know if Tony was trying to do a last minute pass or if he was getting squeezed by someone else, but he moved in the brake zone and I just had nowhere to go and day done. So really tough break for the GoDaddy guys because I genuinely think we were podium contenders today and it was going to be a good comeback from not the strongest of weekends. But one thing I love about this team is they pull out on Sundays – they do Sunday as well as anybody, and often better, and I think today was going to be one of those days. But we’ll get our momentum back and move on to Brazil.”
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO.  6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED  27TH: NOTE: INVOLVED IN A SINGLE CAR INCIDENT ON LAP THREE OF THE RACE: ON THE WEEKEND:  “It’s been a weekend to forget as a whole. We struggled from the beginning of the weekend and our result today wasn’t where we wanted to end up with the #6 TrueCar. We really were looking for a good finish because we had the car figured out. We knew there were going to be a lot of yellows today and we were going to do our best to stay out of them, which unfortunately did not happen. I am really sorry for my team because they have worked so hard all weekend and we leave today with a disappointing result.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES
APRIL 21, 2013
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/PITTSBURG PAINTS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH:
ANOTHER TOP-10 FINISH FOR YOU AND THE TEAM. TALK ABOUT THE DAY
“It was okay. It was really hard to pass. We’ve got some of the best pit stops in the business. My guys do a really good job on pit road. So, we gained a lot there. The pace slowed down, which really caught us off guard from yesterday a lot more than we thought. So, we missed it a little bit but you’ve just got to look back and utilize the tools and do a better job of starting the race because we always end pretty good.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 16TH
IF NOT FOR THAT FINAL CAUTION COMING OUT WHEN IT DID, HOW GOOD OF SHAPE WERE YOU TO GO THE WHOLE WAY?
“We were fine. We were running in the top five. We had good speed. I think we would have finished in the top five. We had a shot at it. The No. 17 had gotten his car really, really good; so (Ricky) Stenhouse was probably the strongest car that I saw at the end of the race. The No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) was pretty good too.”
 
WHAT POSITIVES CAN YOU TAKE OUT OF THIS AFTER HAVING THREE TOUGH RACES?
“Well, we’ve ran good in all of them. It’s just tough times. We’ve had poor luck; you can’t do much about that.  We’ll just have to keep working. But the cars are fast. We know we can run well. I’m really happy about how the cars have been driving and the work we’ve been doing. I’m extremely happy with the engines today. The power in the car was just incredible.”
 
HOW WORRIED WERE YOU WHEN THE CAUTION CAME OUT AFTER YOU PITTED?
“I was real worried. I was a lap down. I just had an idea there that we was in big trouble and were going to have a hard time finishing as well as we were running.”
 
THERE WAS A LITTLE BIT OF CONFUSION ABOUT WHETHER YOU WERE GOING TO BE THE LUCKY DOG OR NOT
“Yeah, we were the Lucky Dog because we were ahead of the No. 17 (Stenhouse), a lap down; but NASCAR has a way of scoring it and they scored it the way they scored it. That’s the rules. It’s not a real big deal. If we were the Lucky Dog, we would have been able to have the advantage of coming down pit road and work on the car a little bit and take some tires. But we weren’t.”
 
AND SO YOU ENDED UP HAVING TO TAKE A WAVE AROUND?
“We took a wave around. We were still in the same position we were in, whether we were the Lucky Dog of not, but didn’t get a chance to work on the car a little bit. But I don’t know if we would have done anything to it. I’m just real happy with the speed. The car had a great engine. The car handled good. We did a good strategy. We just got bit by a caution there.”
 
ON THE PAST FEW WEEKS
“We’ve been doing that every week; running real good and not getting a good finish. But it’ll come around. We’ve just got to keep working and stay positive. You can’t really get down about it because it can affect how you can perform when things do get turned around. So we’re going to stay positive. The cars have been real fast. What we’re doing is working on the set-ups. It just seems like we’ve got a good idea of what we need to be doing. The cars are real competitive.”
 
WHAT DID YOU GET BURNED BY TODAY?
“We got bit by a caution that came out just as we had pitted for our last stop. We were good to go to the end. We were running in the top three there. So, we had lined-up a top-five finish for ourselves and the tail piece on the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) came off and the caution came out and trapped us a lap down. We had to take the wave by and we were in 20th at that point.”
 
HOW DISAPPOINTED WERE YOU WHEN THAT CAUTION CAME OUT?
“As disappointed as you can be. We were a lap down and had tp take the wave by and that put us to the back behind a whole bunch of lead-lap cars. There was just no time left. It’s real hard to pass here. It’s a good race track though. This thing is widening out. But it was real tough to pass today. So, we’re going to have a hard time getting back to where we were. Chances weren’t very good.”
 
IS IT DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF THE HARD TIRES?
“Hard tires, yeah. The hard tires make the track really fast. Everybody runs about the same speed. You can’t really charge on people and get close to people because when the tires are hard, you just start slipping around in dirty air. But as the track ages, they’ll soften the tire up a little bit and we’ll be able to race a little bit closer and the racing will get a little bit better. This place has got a great future.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE 85TH ANNIVERSARY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND:
DID YOU NEED ANOTHER LAP OR DID YOU NEED A CLOUD TO COME OUT?
“I needed clouds.  We tightened up a little bit on that final run and putting two on, and zero, I knew we were going to be a little loose but didn’t think it would be quite that bad.  Matt (Kenseth) was fast and I just did everything I could and he would go to those spots and I couldn’t make any ground.   It was still a good race and I want to thank Farmers Insurance and 85 years of Farmers Insurance, Chevrolet, Time Warner Cable, Quaker State and everybody on my team.   The team has done an awesome job and we fought back after a little bit of a disappointment with last week of 11th and came back this week.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD:
FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, A LOT OF PEOPLE SAID ALL WEEK ‘WHERE ARE THEY’, BUT HERE YOU GUYS ARE WITH TWO OF YOU IN THE TOP 5
“Yeah, Friday and Saturday weren’t fun.  There wasn’t a lot of smiles around our group but everybody worked real hard to get the cars right and we had a great race car today.  At times I felt like I had a shot to win with my Kobalt Tools Chevrolet and we just didn’t have enough for Matt and Kasey there at the end, but a very solid performance for our Kobalt Tools Chevrolet SS.”
 
AN UP AND DOWN DAY BUT YOU GUYS SEEMED TO GET THE CAR CLOSER TO THE FRONT THE MORE YOU COULD ADJUST ON IT
 “We had a vibration at the start of the race and we had to come in and put four tires on and we lost…..well we didn’t have the best starting spot to begin with, but we lost more time.   But from there on, I drove right up through the field and got to the front and at times felt like my Kobalt Tools Chevrolet to win.  The last two runs we were a little too tight but other than that, a really strong performance with a car that drove through traffic, which is hard to do in today’s world of racing.  So happy to be able to do that.”
 
DID THE SECOND LANE EVER REALLY COME INTO PLAY TODAY?
“Oh yeah, that second lane was there for sure.  A lot of guys would get to it maybe 10-15 laps into a run, but the third lane wasn’t there yet.  There wasn’t anything that high, but the second lane was working real nice.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH:
We struggled a little bit today with our Code 3 Associates Chevrolet. The guys  made good adjustments, and we used pit strategy to get some track position  towards the end of the race, but we didn’t have the speed we needed to keep it  up there. A good effort by everyone on this No. 39 team. We learned a lot today.  We’ll head to Richmond next week and see what we can do there.
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 15TH:
“From the start of the race we never could get the handling right. The car was loose then it was tight then it chattered — we just never had any consistency to work off of. We also had a loose wheel early in the race to deal with and that knocked us to the back. After our practice sessions we were looking for a better finish than 15th.”
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JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SEVENTH
YOU HAD QUITE A MOMENT TODAY THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO COME BACK FROM.  I SAW ALL THE GUYS CONGRATULATING YOU, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“We just started off way too loose.  I honestly thought we had one of the better cars in happy hour.  From the drop of the green flag it was just extremely loose.  We had to actually come in twice and lower the trackbar and make some adjustments.  Then I thought we finally had some track position and I got turned sideways on the restart and went all the way to the back again, but it was a good recovery.  We just had a fast car all weekend so really happy with that.  Good job by our team.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH
HOW BADLY WERE YOU HURT WHEN THAT FINAL CAUTION CAME OUT WHEN IT DID?
“It cost us probably a good six positions I think.  We weren’t the best car, but we made some great improvements throughout the weekend.  The race pace just kind of came to us and the conditions in the race.  Really kind of brought us to life compared to the competition.  We are still lacking a few things, but all in all I thought it was a great effort.  We just cannot catch a break.  That last caution that definitely hurt us being on pit road when the caution comes out it’s never a good thing unless you are on a road course (laughs). We were looking pretty good up until that point, but we weren’t the only ones that it hurt.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE RACE FINISHING 13TH WITH HAVING TO START LAST?
“Well, I mean if you would have asked me when the race started or before the race started ‘hey you are going to finish 13th today’, I would say ‘hey that is not bad’.  When you find yourself where you are a sixth or seventh place car and you think you can finish there then 13th is a little disappointing.  You are constantly changing your expectations throughout a race.  That is kind of how it was for us today.  Starting 43rd I was not looking forward to that.  It actually went a little bit better than I anticipated.  We were able to make our way up through there and actually had some cautions fall our way at the beginning of the race.  That last one just didn’t fall the way we needed it to.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 25TH:
“We started out pretty good, but we just got tight in the second half of the race. We had a tire rub at one point and issues with the splitter from some contact we made. The trash on the grille was what really hurt us today. The temps went way high and we had to pit to pull it off. That put us two laps down. It’s disappointing because I think we could have had a much better finish with the Go Daddy car, but it’s one of those things that’s out of our control. The pit crew was awesome, I think they did a 12.1 (second stop), which I didn’t even think was possible. They did great today.”
 
TONY GIBSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS:
“We got in the back of somebody and knocked the splitter into the ground. From that point on, it was just too tight taking off until the tire pressures came up. Up until then it was good, the changes we made overnight were good. We had a good racecar, it was balanced good. She did a great job and it was definitely a top-15 car. We made improvement and the pit stops were good, but you can’t do anything about the trash on the grille. It’s just one of those things we just can’t control. That’s just part of it. But, the bright side is that we finished again and got a lot of laps in and we made some improvements and made a lot of gains. I felt like today was a positive day.”
 

CORVETTE RACING FINISHES 4TH AND 5TH AT LONG BEACH
Tied for Manufacturer Lead After 2 Rounds
 
(LONG BEACH, Calif., April 20, 2013) – Corvette Racing scored two top-five finishes at Long Beach to maintain a share of the lead in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Manufacturer Standings through the first two races of the season.
 
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin, drove the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R to a fourth-place finish in the GT class in the two-hour Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished fifth in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R.
 
“As we saw in qualifying, the cars are just so close in performance,” Milner said. “We were in a good spot, but just a little unlucky there.”
 
Milner, who earned his first career ALMS race at this event last year, qualified sixth and had driven up to fourth when the team pitted with just over an hour remaining, and changed drivers. During the exchange, the team had a difficult time securing the steering wheel.
 
“Pretty much our race was so dictated by that pit stop where I got in and really just struggled to get the wheel on,” Gavin said. During the stop the team also experienced some trouble with one of the tires, and “the wheel got spun around and I was then trying to find the point where it had to slot on, and it wasn’t so easy to see. By the time I got it on, everybody else had finished up their pit stops and we came out pretty much at the back.”
 
Garcia, meanwhile, started fourth and quickly moved toward the front.
 
“Everything went to plan, basically,” Garcia said. “We knew how usually the first lap works here. I basically put pressure on, and the two cars in front of me both went off so I kind of made myself a little bit of a gap and made a pass on both.”
 
But, a series cautions slowed the No. 3 Corvette C6.R’s momentum, and brought pit strategy into play.
 
“All of those yellows – especially that first one, it was like flipping a coin,” Garcia said. “I think it was the right call to stay out, but then with all of these yellows coming after is where being in the lead wasn’t such an advantage anymore.”
 
The No. 3 Corvette C6.R was running second when the driver change was made.
 
“It started off pretty well,” Magnussen said. “I think the way the strategy and the pit stops worked out really hurt us. It seemed like everybody else was trying to salvage something and kind of went out of sequence and gained really well on it, and we lost on it, unfortunately. We were struggling a little bit too much right there at the end with grip.”
 
With less than 15 minutes remaining, Gavin passed Magnussen for fourth place.
 
“It was another learning lesson for us,” said Gavin, who teamed with Milner and Richard Westbrook last month to win the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. “It was good just to score the points in the championship, to get fourth place, I’ll take that every day with how rough that race was. It was pretty nasty at times, and difficult, and traffic was hard. There was plenty of bumping and banging, and you just have to try and keep the car clean. There were a number of times where I thought, ‘Oh, this could get pretty messy here. We’re going to lose a corner off the car.’ Or, it was just sliding and sliding and you were just hoping that it was going to stop sliding before we ended up hitting the wall, and fortunately it did.”
 
The No. 55 BMW Z4 GTE won the race, followed by the No. 56 BMW Z4 GTE, the No. 91 SRT Viper GTS-R, and the two Corvettes.
 
Unofficially, Chevrolet and BMW share the Manufacturers Standings with 34 points apiece.
 
“Those guys battled the whole race,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “I would say tires were a factor throughout the race. It was tricky out there. I commend the whole Corvette Racing team for really staying focused and driving toward the front. You know, a couple of cars in front of us were a little tight on gas. We didn’t get them today, but it was a good points day and momentum in the season continues. So, on to Monterrey.”
 
The ALMS season resumes with Round 3 on May 9-11 with the American Le Mans Series Monterey (Calif.) at Laguna Seca, where Gavin and Milner won last year.