Wayne Taylor Racing Finishes Second in 51st Running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona; Gives Corvette Daytona Prototype First-Ever Daytona Podium
 
Daytona Beach, FL (January 27, 2013) – The Wayne Taylor Racing trio of Max Angelelli, Jordan Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay battled from the drop of the green flag, to the waving of the checkered flag during the 51st running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Their focused effort yielded a second-place finish for the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) and delivered the first-ever podium position for the Corvette DP at Daytona International Speedway.
 
Starting 12th on the grid, Angelelli ran the first two and a half hours of the historic race to set the pace and the tone for the remainder of the longest endurance race for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.
 
“Just representing Team Chevy it’s such a big deal for me,” said Wayne Taylor, team owner. “I wanted to win so bad for Team Chevy just so much for Velocity Worldwide and everybody.  I’m really happy.  I’m relieved I guess you know.  I was not prepared to not be the face of Team Chevy with my team.  I know there are a lot of teams, but I wanted to be the one.”
 
Today’s finish is the first podium at Daytona for a Taylor-owned team since a third-place finish in 2007 where he and Angelelli shared the driving duties. Taylor and Angelelli also have the 2005 race win on their resumes.
 
“Congratulations to Wayne Taylor Racing for giving the Corvette Daytona Prototype its first podium finish in the iconic Rolex 24 At Daytona,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “I am very proud of the tremendous effort put forth by all of our Chevrolet teams and applaud the “never give up” attitude of our Corvette Daytona Prototype and Camaro drivers and crews as they battled for their finishing positions this weekend. We are looking forward to an exciting 2013 GRAND-AM season.”
 
Giving the Corvette DP three of the top-five finishers in the race were the No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP driven by Joao Barbosa, Burt Frisselle and Mike Rockenfeller who finished fourth; and the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP with drivers Richard Westbrook, Ricky Taylor, Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia who crossed the finish line in fifth place.
 
Jon Fogarty, Alex Gurney, Memo Gidley and Darren Law drivers of the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP finished seventh, with the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP driven by Christian Fittipaldi, Brain Frisselle, Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Felipe Nasr eighth in the final order.  The No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Corvette DP drivers Enzo Potolicchio, Anthony Davidson, Pedro Lamy, Nicolas Minassian and Stephane Sarrazin finished 10th in-class and 34th overall after early-race mechanical issues.
 
The No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R team with drivers Robin Liddell, John Edwards, Jon Magnussen and Tommy Milner finished 23rd in-class and 36th overall after mechanical issues spoiled what started as a very promising race. The No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette GT, driven by Boris Said, Eric Curran, Brandon Davis and Lawson Aschenbach, finished 32nd in-class and 52nd overall following mechanical issues early in the race.
 
 
 
“All of our Chevrolet Daytona Prototype and GT teams fought a great battle during this grueling race,” said Mark Kent, Director of Chevrolet Racing. “There is no other race in North America as demanding as the 24 Hours of Daytona and just finishing is an accomplishment. It was great to see the #10 Corvette Daytona Prototype finish in 2nd place and on the lead lap in a race that tests the limits of endurance for man and machine. We now turn our focus to the balance of the 2012 Grand Am season as we work to defend Chevrolet’s Daytona Prototype Engine Manufacturers Championship.”
 
The next event for both the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GRAND-AM Road Racing is March 1-2, 2013 at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas.

 
GRAND-AM ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES
ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JANUARY 27, 2013
 
WAYNE TAYLOR, OWNER, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE/WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED SECOND
TELL ME WHAT THIS FINISH MEANS TO YOU TODAY:
“Just representing Team Chevy it’s such a big deal for me.  When I think I have been in America for 22 years and when I first came here I drove for Jim Miller who is now Pratt and Miller.  My program manager when I was driving at that time was Mark Kent (Director of Chevrolet Racing).  In 1991, when Jordan (Taylor, son) was born we were racing at Lime Rock (Park) and Jim Miller said to me ‘I’ll have a plane for you because Shelly (Taylor, wife) was pregnant with Jordan and now all this time later he is in this car, with this team, with Mark Kent and everybody.  I’m happy.  I wanted to win so bad for Team Chevy just so much and Velocity Worldwide and everybody.  I’m really happy.  I’m relieved I guess you know.  I was not prepared to not be the face of Team Chevy with my team.  I know there are a lot of teams but I wanted to be the one.”
 
WE’VE GOTTEN SO USED TO SEEING THE EMOTIONS ON YOUR FACE. ONCE AGAIN TODAY, WE JUST SAW YOU FILLED WITH EMOTIONS. IS IT TOUGH TO SEE THIS TEAM AND WHAT HAPPENS? OR ARE YOU AT LEAST KIND OF HAPPY AFTER LAST YEAR GETTING OUT IN THE FIRST 30 MINUTES OF THE RACE? AT LEAST YOU’RE STARTING OUT THE SEASON STRONG.
“I’m really happy. Coming into the season we’ve all been excited with this new car partnership and Team Chevy and I think Ryan Hunter-Reay, winning the championship last year and driving with me back in 2006, coming with us. Max (Angelelli) of course is my family and part of everything, and then Jordan (Taylor) coming on board this year, there was so much expectation. And there was so much drama coming into this race with horsepower and this and that. In the end, I felt that this team did more than anybody else. I don’t remember one pit stop that we didn’t beat everybody. And everybody just executed perfectly and we were just about there.”
 
MAX ANGELELLI, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE/WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED SECOND
WHEN JUAN PABLO MONTOYA WENT BY YOU, YOU STILL DIDN’T GIVE-UP THE FIGHT?
“No, never, never; I told everybody on that team I would never give up, and they know me. But look, this is the Velocity Worldwide team. They made an effort, not me. They made an effort with pit stops and strategy, just absolutely perfect. So, it’s their win.”
 
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE/WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED SECOND
TALK ABOUT THE FINISH TODAY AND THE RACE:
“I guess we were the best of the rest you could say.  Ganassi was somewhat in a class of their own.  The team did a great job.  We didn’t have one mechanical problem the entire race.  We never had to do anything in the garage it was just fuel, tires, driver changes and that was it.  Everyone executed the race; it was just unfortunate the way the cars were going that is where we ended up.  You’ve got to be proud of everyone.  Looking at the long run we are in a championship here so second-place points is not a bad place to start.”
 
RUNNING YOUR FIRST RACE THIS SUCCESSFULLY WITH YOUR DAD WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?
“Of course it’s special, it’s cool to have him on the stand and hearing him give feedback.  It was special.  It would have been great to win it with him, but hopefully we can do that another day.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE/WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP– FINISHED SECOND
ON THE RACE:
“Excellent job, excellent team effort by everybody involved.  Team Chevy, Wayne Taylor Racing, the preparation was second to none.  We had a phenomenal race really when you look at how it all went.  No mistakes, never went to the garage, never a hiccup, had great pace.  We were struggling a little bit on some of the regulations with power.  We had a little bit of a disadvantage there that we had to work against.”

JOAO BARBOSA, NO. 9 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED FOURTH
YOU HAD A DISAPPOINTING END TO A REALLY SOLID DAY WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE RACE?
“It’s very frustrating.  We did the race we had to do.  We drove clean, we had no problems and the car was getting better every time.  Unfortunately, it was a terrible call in my view.  Deciding a race like this is a shame.  Obviously, I have to congratulate Scott (Pruett) he did a good job in the Ganassi car.  They had the edge on everybody for sure this year. I think for sure we could be on the podium, an easy podium.  I think we were very able to do that and we deserve that.  Unfortunately, it was just the call.  I think they are trying to make it like Ganassi and Allmendinger show, but everybody is there to fight for position.  You have to know when you can go and when you can’t.  I mean he was obviously outside the track, not in a position to take the corner.  He could have just lifted and try again, but GRAND-AM did the call that they did. We are learning and next race we will try again.”
 
BURT FRISSELLE, NO. 9 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED FOURTH
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE RACE AS A WHOLE AND HOW DID YOUR 24 HOURS GO?
“I never thought I would say a top-five finish at Daytona would be as disappointing as it feels right now.  It is a bit disappointing.  With that being said my first race as a full-time driver for Action Express was just so exciting.  I’ve got two of the best drivers in the world as my teammates this weekend.  It was so great to work with them and to push hard every stint to keep the car running. I’m so excited to be a part of this organization and be representing the Bowtie.  I even had a chance to give one of the Corvette engineers a ride around before the race.  That was really exciting to meet a guy who is designing the street product and give him a ride and give him a little insight into what we do here at the track.  Overall, it’s a great start to the season.  It’s great points, it’s a top five, but man that penalty hurt.  I have to say tonight it’s a little bitter sweet, but I’m also thrilled to be a part of this team.”
 
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 90 SPIRIT OF DAYTONA CORVETTE DP – FINISHED FIFTH
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RACE:
“It was a long one, not just because it was a 24 hours.  Just initially a few minor issues like some electronics we ran into. At one point I ran blind in one of my stints.  I had no radio, no telemetry, no shift lights, even with that the car was good.  Overnight we fixed all of that got back on the lead lap.  At some point we were actually, probably not fighting for the win, because I think there were two cars here like they have us covered.  A bit too much I have to say.  I mean we just kept it there all race long until two hours to go. I was placed fifth at that time.  I was feeling great, starting to put some pressure on the No. 60 car and I think by then I think we had the pace to fight for second-place.  All of a sudden the exhaust just gave up.  We lost all the headers, the exhaust, so we lost power, torque, everything.  So from that point on we were on the lead lap, but we couldn’t fight.  We just stayed around, kept running laps. It is good run for the Spirit of Daytona team for the championship.”
 
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI, NO. 5 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED EIGHTH
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR RACE:
“We were on target after about 2:30-3:00 o’clock in the morning.  Exactly where we had planned for, unfortunately, Nelson (Piquet Jr.) had a small off coming out of the pits.  That broke our rear suspension and
we lost 20, 22 laps with that.  That was the end of the race for us.  But, things happen I guess.  He did it, (Jamie) McMurray did it and Jeff Gordon did it, so at least he is in good company (laughs). When you are running with this caliber of guys like in the car and you are pushing wide open all the time.  Our main goal here was to try and beat the Ganassi (cars) so we were doing like qualifying laps one after the other and it happened.  It’s a shame now I guess from that point on I was already on a 364 day countdown for next year.”     
 
NELSON PIQUET JR., NO. 5 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED EIGHTH
TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AT THE ROLEX 24 HOURS AT DAYTONA THIS WEEKEND:
“It was a fantastic race.  Obviously, I did a silly mistake leaving the pits. It was obviously 5:00 am in the morning, new tires, one of those things.  I touched the wall barely at the exit and it was enough to bend our rear suspension.  We had to come in and change it.  It took a bit longer than we expected.  It is a shame.  First, I need to say sorry to all my teammates Christian (Fittapaldi), Felipe Nasr and Brian Frisselle.  Thanks to the team for the invitation it was a great experience.  Obviously, I’m going to be back over here in a couple of weeks with NASCAR, but it was a good start of the year for sure.”

 
Max Angelelli, Jordan Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay drove the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP to a second-place finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
 
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
 
QUESTION: Chip was just in and admitted that, yeah, you want to leave a little bit in your pocket when you’re testing, but where they found speed was with the rear wing.  That’s where they picked up all their speed.
 
MAX ANGELELLI:  We are not rookies.  I mean, what else can I do?  It’s so obvious, so unfair.  What else?
 
QUESTION: Max, to play off that a little bit, talk us through a little bit at the end of the race there, did you think there was anyway that you could stick with Montoya or even get by him for the lead?
 
MAX ANGELELLI:  We were hoping with a strategy to make it to the end and beat them in the fuel, with the fuel.  So we didn’t change tires at the kind of    I had many, many laps on my tires, and we were hoping just to make it like that with the strategy and get the win.
           
But Montoya and the 01 car is another league, is an A class.  We are B class.  Anyway, we are very happy, our Velocity Worldwide car Corvette performed very well.
 
QUESTION:  Do you still have a good explanation as to why your engines were restricted?
 
MAX ANGELELLI:  Well, I wanted to ask you that.  I need an answer because there is no explanation.  There’s no point.  Everybody could see it yesterday, the day before yesterday, today.  I don’t understand.  It makes no sense.  This is not competition.  I am competing against myself, and there’s no chance.
 
QUESTION:  After last year the difficulty with the engine failure, is there any redemption in coming back at all?  Are you able to get any celebration or joy?
 
MAX ANGELELLI:  We celebrated after the 22nd minute when we made it after the 22nd minute.  We were very happy.  It’s been a great day for us, thanks to Ryan and Jordan, a perfect job.  They did a perfect job, and our team, our crew, they made it happen.  It’s thanks for them, for their strategy, their pit stop.  They never made a mistake?
 
QUESTION:  When you said about Juan, he’s A class, we are B class, were you talking about the cars or were you talking about Juan?
 
MAX ANGELELLI:  We have something restricted, okay, just like driving with handcuffs; you can’t do it, can’t drive?
 
QUESTION:  So we’re talking about the cars?
 
MAX ANGELELLI:  Yes, the car.
 
JORDAN TAYLOR:  I think a comparison could be when Brumos won the 24 hour and Ganassi finished second.  They had the same complaints.
 
QUESTION: Jordan, can you talk about your first outing with this team and what it meant to you to finish so well?
           
JORDAN TAYLOR:  Yeah, it was good.  It was cool being with Ryan and Max, of course, just to have drivers like that to learn from and compare to.  As for the race, it was definitely a learning experience, it was my first time really being thrown in with all the GT cars trying to hold you off, but every stint felt better and better and I was feeling more comfortable.
           
I think the team said that it was the first time they’d ever run this race and not had to go to the garage, so I think that says some good things about us for not putting a wheel wrong, but it goes to the team for preparing the car to not have one little issue for 24 hours.
           

 
Daytona Beach, FLA (January 27, 2013) – At the half-way point of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, four Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) teams maintain strong top-10 positions in the running order. In near perfect racing conditions with blue skies and temperatures in the 70s at the 3:30 p.m. ET start, the temperature at the half-way point is 54 degrees.
 
Team-by-team recap:
 
No. 10 Velocity WorldWide/Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP – Driven by: Max Angelelli, Jordan Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay:  Started 12th; Running 2nd on lead lap
 
No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – Driven by Burt Frisselle, Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Mike Rockenfeller: Started 13th; Running 4th on lead lap
 
No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – Driven by Brian Frisselle, Nelson Piquet, Jr., and Felipe Nasr: Started 11th; Running 5th   on the lead lap
 
No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP – Driven by Richard Westbrook, Ricky Taylor, Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia: Started 5th; Running 6th on the lead lap
 
No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP – Driven by Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty, Memo Gidley and Darren Law: Started 8th, Running 11th 16 laps down to the leader  NOTE: At the 7.5-hour mark, after changing a right front flat tire, an electrical problem sent the team to the garage for several laps to diagnose and repair the issue
 
No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Corvette DP – Driven by Enzo Potolicchio, Stephane Sarrazin, Danthony Davidson, Pedro Lamy and Nicolas Minassian: Started 9th, Running 37th 46 laps down to the leader. NOTE: In the first hour, a bearing failed in the transmission sending the team to the garage to diagnose and repair the issue
 
No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R – Driven by Robin Liddell, John Edwards, Tommy Milner and Jon Magnussen: Started 7th in class, running 30th overall, 19th in class, 32 laps down to overall leader.  NOTE: Suffered a broken front brake line sending the team to the garage to diagnose and repair issue.
 
No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette GT – Driven by  Boris Said, Brandon Davis, Lawson Aschenbach and Eric Curran; Started 22nd in class, retired from competition 91 laps into the race

ALEX GURNEY, NO. 99 GAINSCO/BOB STALLINGS RACING CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE (DP), met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway following his first driving stint in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
 
TELL US ABOUT THE FIRST STINT AND MAYBE A QUICK LOOK AHEAD TO THE REST OF THE 24 HOURS:
“I think it started off reasonably well. I made up a position on the start got around (Ryan) Dieziel on the outside of the first horseshoe and just tried to settle into a pace.  I think we were going along well.  I was behind (Richard) Westbrook for a while and finally got by him.  He got caught up in traffic and got by him, so as far as the Corvettes concerned we were thinking we were looking pretty good.  A little farther into the stint (AJ) Allmendinger I think went off in front of me, I think that was him; it was one of the (Michael) Shank cars, in the kink all the way through the grass.  When I was coming around the second horseshoe I thought he was maybe come into me, but that worked out okay.  After the first pit stop I got caught for speeding.  I just went a little early; I know they extended the pit lane speed limit area.  That was a shame because I didn’t get to try it in practice, just went too early.  That didn’t help our cause fell back to tenth.  It looks like the guys did a really good pit stop. After the pit stop we got up to sixth.”
 
AFTER 23 LAPS THE BMW’S WERE 23 SECONDS AHEAD.  IF THEY DON’T BREAK DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY SPEED FOR THEM?
“Well, it’s hard to say.  That is a pretty good stat there.  We saw from qualifying there is an awfully big gap.  We are at minimum wing angle so we can’t do much as far as going down the straight any quicker than we are.  We would like to think that we can get the car working well enough to challenge them at the end, but we will after to wait another 22 hours or so.”
 
HURLEY (HAYWOOD) WAS IN HERE EARLIER AND WAS TALKING ABOUT THE BUTTERFLIES YOU GET BEFORE THIS RACE AND HOW HE WAS MISSING NOT HAVING THEM. COULD YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE BUTTERFLIES STARTING THIS RACE AND MAYBE ABOUT HURLEY (HAYWOOD) MISSING THIS EVENT?
“I understand the sentiment there.  I think every driver gets it.  I certainly get it especially at a race so important and with so many fans all around.  I don’t know.  So many great drivers on the grid there I got (AJ) Allmendinger in front of me and (Ryan) Dieziel next to me and I think (Max) Angelelli behind me and (Stephane) Sarrazin I guess so a lot of big dogs.  You want to be nice and clean, don’t make mistakes and try and hang in there.  As far as Hurley (Haywood) missing it, I mean I definitely understand that.  I have been on the sidelines.  If you feel like you can do it you want to be out there racing.”
 
IT WAS MENTIONED EARLIER DID THEY ADD SOME RESTRICTION TO YOU SINCE QUALIFYING TO THE CHEVYS AND WHAT WAS THAT AND HOW MUCH DID IT COST YOU?
“Well actually added it before the start of the weekend.  It costs us dramatically.  I don’t understand why they did it.  I think they felt that a lot of guys were sandbagging and it turned out they weren’t.  In my view they put a penalty on the slowest car on the straight.  I don’t get that.  They halved that difference after qualifying.  So, we are a little closer.”
 
 
 
MEMO GIDLEY, NO. 99 GAINSCO/BOB STALLINGS RACING CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE (DP), met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway following his first driving stint in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
 
TELL US ABOUT THIS EARLY STINT FOR YOU? WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THE REST OF THE RUN?
“Well I think the car felt pretty good.  Honestly, the first half of the first stint I probably did more laps than I have done in all the preseason testing.  For me it was just getting back used to the car again and then also with all the cars out there it’s a lot of traffic.  It’s great to have the field that we have this year.  It makes it super challenging.  You come up on two or three or four GT cars battling, going three and four wide.  You just have to be really patient.  I think my whole mindset going in is just to keep doing laps.  If I have to lose a position I will lose a position and keep it safe so we have a fast car at the end.”
 
I’M SURE YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT WOULD MEAN TO THE TEAM STARTING WITH ALEX (GURNEY) TO WIN THIS EVENT.  HIS FATHER WON THE VERY FIRST INCARNATION OF THIS RACE BACK IN 1962:
“That was a pretty special victory for Dan (Gurney) for sure.  Then just Bob Stallings has put a lot into the series and a lot into this team.  Not to mention it’s truly an all American team.  He doesn’t hold it against us if we’ve got an American accent which is totally cool.  He has just invested a lot in this series.  He is also as far as a team owner and I’ve been with a lot of teams Champ Car, Atlantics, all the way up through the ranks. He is probably one of the best, most supportive and fun to be around and gives you the tools to win races.  I think his team shows why they have won so many times except for this race.”
 
IS THERE A NOTICEABLE DROP IN THE TEMPERATURE OUT THERE ON THE STINT YOU JUST DID?
“Inside the car you don’t feel a whole lot different when the temperature drops because the DP’s are pretty warm inside.  It makes a big difference in the amount of grip and I noticed in the first stint the car was sliding around a fair amount, wasn’t too hooked up.  I had to work a little bit harder.  As the sun went down the track cooled off and it’s almost like the rubber that is on the surface gets a little bit more stable and the car hooks up, rolls around the corner better, puts the power down.  Other than the visibility being a little tougher, I really enjoy driving in the night when it’s cool just because the car seems to just hook up a little bit more.”
 
HOW IS THE TRAFFIC NOW WITH THE SMALLER SERIES IN THE TRACK?  ARE THEY CREATING PROBLEMS FOR THE TOP DRIVERS?
“It’s very challenging.  It’s part of what makes this race so interesting.  Actually the slowest cars, the GX cars they are actually a lot easier to get around because down the straightaway we are considerably faster.  But, when you look at the GT’s and how fast they are going looking at the times they are doing 47 (second laps) or something in qualifying. That is not a whole lot slower than what we are doing.  This is really a horsepower track, so I can see one coming out of the bus stop that is 100 yards ahead of me and I’m lucky to get around him by start/finish.  That makes it really challenging to get around these guys.  Just makes it a little bit harder everywhere.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE TOP CARS HOW THEY ARE DEVELOPING THE RACE?  ARE THEY ON A VERY FAST PACE?
“I thought the pace was pretty fast.  It really comes down to II think there are some cars that are a little bit faster than us ultimately, at least right now.  We will tweak on it a little as the night goes on.  I think that it’s a pretty fast pace for sure.  I think there are a lot of cars that are really close within a second.  As the night goes on and as the cars change a little bit, some hook up, some start loosening up, changing handling wise.  You never know who is going to be in contention, but there are just a lot of good teams out there.”

MAX ANGELELLI, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE (DP), met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway following his first three driving stints in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
 
TELL US ABOUT THE FIRST STINT AND OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS WANT TO GET OFF TO A GOOD START THIS YEAR AFTER LAST YEARS EARLY DISAPPOINTMENTS IN THIS RACE:
“As everybody could see I did three s
tints. At the beginning of my first stint I really took my time, very patient, just stayed behind to look around at what happened.  I felt the car was pretty balanced, good fast and it was too risky to take those people and they were already racing like the final hour.  When I got the opportunity I went by.  Our guys, the Velocity Worldwide team had an excellent, exceptional pit stop both times.  That really helped because we overtook so many cars in the pit.  The final stint, my third stint, I could stay with the No. 01 for half of a stint, but it was too quick in the straight.  As soon as I loose contact there was no chance.  Our car Corvette is really good, very well balanced and we’ll see.”
 
THEY MADE A CHANGE TO THE RESTRICTOR THAT YOU ARE USING COULD YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE AT ALL?
“No, I didn’t know.  Did they change?  No feeling at all.  I mean if change is 0.000001 millimeter is not a change.  They need to be released, just look at the top speed it is very simple.”
 
THIS IS REALLY SOME TEAM.  YOU ARE HERE WITH JORDAN TAYLOR WHO IS ONE OF OUR VERY BEST GRAND-AM DRIVERS FOR A FEW SEASONS IN GT AND NOW IN DP AS WELL AS THE INDYCAR CHAMPION RYAN HUNTER-REAY.  WHAT KIND OF TEAM IS THIS AND WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL?
“I’m very proud to share the car with Jordan (Taylor) and Ryan Hunter-Reay the champion in IndyCar.  We have two great drivers it’s just fantastic.  In talking to Jordan he says if he cannot make it in racing he is going to Hollywood (laughs).  He has an option open.”
 
WE HEARD THIS IS ACTUALLY THE FIRST TIME THAT YOUR FAMILY HAS BEEN ABLE TO SEE YOU RACE OVER HERE IN THE 24 HOUR.  CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE EMOTIONS THAT YOU HAVE KNOWING THAT THEY ARE HERE WATCHING YOU TONIGHT?
“It was strange for me it was the first time ever.  My kids, who are 9 and 5 they only, discover I was a race car driver last year.  So, 8 years, 4 years for the other one, they didn’t know.  They thought I was a mechanic and I was working on Wayne Taylor car.  My wife it’s her first time here ever all three of them.  I’m looking forward to seeing them and asking them how they are feeling.”
 

 
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE (DP), met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway following his first driving stint in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
 
TELL US ABOUT THE EARLY STINT AND THE OUTLOOK FOR THE REST OF THE 24 HOURS:
“Well I think I got caught for speeding on pit lane.  They extended the line and I think I just got caught out, which I was surprised about.  But, the car is good I think it is pretty quick.  I don’t know if we have enough for Ganassi if we really wanted to push hard.  We are definitely in cruise mode right now saving fuel.  I got stuck behind the No. 99 for a while.  I think if we were able to get around them we would have been quite a bit quicker.  But, I don’t see a point in really racing anybody at this point in the race.  We saved enough fuel to go a lap longer than them and were able to pass them in the pits and then pull away on the next stint.  I think the car is quick enough if we really want to start going, but at this point in the race I don’t see any reason to start pushing it so far.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR YOU TUBE VIDEO AND HOW IT CAME ABOUT?
“Well I was just informed that it might be taken off You Tube so I’m a little upset right now.  My friend Mark Jensen we were at dinner one night at a little Mexican place and a Mariachi band came around and serenaded us.  I think they thought we were together.  From that point we kind of thought of a funny idea of maybe doing a Mariachi dance for a video and then it kind of escalated from there.  I said on TV just now that everyone at the track sees all of us as very serious people and I don’t really think they see our personalities away from the track.  We all thought it would be fun to kind of just do a weird, goofy video like that.  If you have a sense of humor you will enjoy it.  Some people took it a little too seriously I think and were making some weird remarks.  I think if you are just open to laugh at people we were just laughing at ourselves the whole time.  It was just a fun video.”
 
YOUR BROTHER SPENT A NUMBER OF YEARS IN THE SAME ROLE LEARNING IN THE PROTOTYPE WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE FOR YOU THE FIRST WEEKEND WITH MAX (ANGELELLI) AND RYAN HUNTER-REAY?  HAS IT BEEN A BIG EDUCATIONAL ASPECT FOR YOU YET?  ARE YOU STILL SOAKING IT ALL IN?
“We had the November test just Max (Angelelli) and myself and then January it was all three of us.  I’ve been able to get used to everything, get used to the car and the team. It’s definitely been a learning experience as you saw in that first stint that was basically my first time in race conditions when GT cars are actually trying to hold you off.  It took a little time to get used to it and following guys like (Allan) McNish and (Scott) Pruett and them.  You pick it up pretty quickly just learning from the best guys.  I think when you are thrown in at the deep end with these guys that is the best way to learn.”
 
AFTER YEARS OF BEING THAT GUY IN THE GT CAR WHAT IS THE EXPERIENCE LIKE NOW?
“I realize why so many DP guys dislike GT cars.  You are in your own race in GT and you try your best to not lose any time.  You do block a lot of DP cars.  I didn’t really realize how irritating that is until tonight.  You are always on the radio asking who is in this car, who is in that car, because you want to understand which drivers are like what.  When you get back in the car later on the team is kind of aware of what drivers drive in what style and you know what to expect so you don’t get caught out.”
 
THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF TALK HERE OF THE CHEVROLET’S MAYBE BEING DOWN ON POWER A LITTLE BIT, BUT AT ONE POINT MAX (ANGELELLI) WAS ALMOST MATCHING SCOTT PRUETT’S LAP TIMES, BUT HIS QUOTES SAY THAT HE JUST COULDN’T KEEP UP WITH THEM ON THE STRAIGHTS.  WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE TO THE BMW’S?
“I would definitely put it to straight line speed.  We were around the cars in practice and it was difficult to even stay close to them out of the bus stop even if you got a run on them.  Even if it there was not a great driver in the car, but our car in years past the No. 10 car has traditionally been very strong here at Daytona under braking and on the infield.  It is not surprising that Max was able to match lap times I would say if you look at sector times we are gaining in the infield maybe two or three tenths on them and then they are gaining it back on the oval section.  I think if we get to the end of the race.  It will be definitely a very tough battle for us because the best place to pass is obviously on the straight.”
 
DARREN LAW, NO. 99 GAINSCO/BOB STALLINGS RACING CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE (DP), met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway following his first driving stint in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
 
TELL US ABOUT YOUR STINT OUT THERE IN THE RED DRAGON:
“The car is good.  It is running well.  We are doing like we should just basically protecting the car, staying out of trouble.  I have got to say, I have been running this race for over a decade and it is pretty crazy out there right now.  I mean stupid stuff where I literally have to stop and go to first gear in the chicane sometimes.  It’s nuts.”
 
OBVIOUSLY RUNNING IN THE TOP-FIVE RIGHT NOW IN FOURTH-PLACE CAN YOU TALK ABOUT MAYBE HOW YOU FEEL YOUR PROSPECTS ARE AT THIS POINT?
“I would say as far as the Chevy powered cars, I feel confident we are among the best there.  I feel fairly confident with
the Fords.  I still think the BMW’s really have the legs on us on the straight.  If you don’t you have to really run through the corners hard and get a heck of a run out to be able to even try and run with them.  It’s going to be tough, but we have seen a ton of cars go out already.  You never know we have a long way to go.  Not even half way.”
 
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT IT HAS BEEN LIKE TO DRIVE WITH A NEW TEAM HERE THIS YEAR:
“Well I drove for Brumos for a long time and Action Express for the last couple of years.  The GAINSCO car has always been fast.  It has always a desirable car to be in and the guys have been very welcoming.  A great group of guys, I’ve known them all for several years now and raced against them.  I was happy to be asked to come to it.  For me power wise the Chevy, aero wise the Corvette body I was used to that from last year.  The thing that is different is I’m back in a Riley which is what I ran for many years prior to the Coyote last year.  It’s very nice to be in a Riley, great handling car.  I actually feel that it is easier to drive at a competitive pace for a long period.  I think it is better for the long races for sure.”
 
 

No. 01 CKS Camaro GS.R Leads Team Chevy in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Season Opening Race at Daytona
 
Daytona Beach, FL (January 25, 2013) – Eric Curran and Lawson Aschenbach rallied the No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R from the 23rd starting position to capture a fifth-place finish in today’s BMW Performance 200 for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Daytona International Speedway.
 
Curran started the race, and with steady precision worked his way through the field to run solidly in the top-10 before turning the car over to Aschenbach. As he exited the pit box and headed down pit lane, Aschenbach was issued a speeding penalty that dropped the Camaro GS.R down in the running order. As the minutes clicked down on the 2.5-hour race, Aschenbach charged back.
 
In the final laps of the race, an exciting battle for position developed between Aschenbach and John Edwards in the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R that saw the pair of Chevy drivers swapping positions back and forth.  On the last lap, Aschenbach made his final move to get by Edwards to claim fifth and sixth respectively in the final running order.
 
Edwards took over the No. 9 Camaro GS.R from co-driver Matt Bell who started the race from the seventh position on the grid. Bell maintained a consistent presence in the top-five until turning the car over to Edwards.
 
Ashley McCalmont and Bob Michaelian finished 17th in the No. 00 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R, and Lawrence Davey and Mike Skeen were 23rd in the final running order.
 
Today’s race was the prelude to the 51st running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona for the GRAND-AM Rolex Series.  The race will start at 3:30 p.m. E.T. on Saturday, January 26, 2013.
 
Next on the schedule for Team Chevy in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will be the March 2, 2013 inaugural event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Richard Westbrook led the Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) entries in qualifying for the 51st running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Englishman, who won the first-ever race for the Corvette DP, put the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP in the fifth starting position for the legendary race that begins Saturday at 3:30 p.m. E.T.
Additionally, Alex Gurney qualified the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing “Red Dragon” Corvette DP in the eighth starting position, and Stephane Sarrazin was ninth in the final order behind the wheel of the No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Corvette DP.
 
The remaining Corvette DPs qualified as follows:  Christian Fittipaldi, No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – 11th; Max Angelelli, No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP – 12th and Joao Barbosa, No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP – 13th.
 
In the Grand Touring (GT) class for the GRAND-AM Rolex 24, Robin Liddell qualified the No. 57 Stevenson Camaro GT.R in eighth position in-class.  The No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette, qualified by Eric Curran, will start 23rd in-class.
 
Matt Bell, No. 9 Stevenson Camaro GS.R, led the Team Chevy contingent in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge with an eighth-place qualifying effort.
 
Other Camaro GS.R qualifying results for the BMW Performance 200 2.5-hour race on Friday afternoon beginning at 1:45 p.m. E.T. were: Bob Michaelian, No. 00 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R – 22nd; Lawrence Davey, No. 6 Mitchum Motorsports Camaro GS.R – 23rd and Eric Curran, No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R – 24th.
 
Scott Pruett (BMW) won the pole for the Rolex 24. Nick Tandy (Porsche) was the fastest GT qualifier, and Jade Buford (Aston Martin) won the pole for the BMW Performance 200.
Connect with Team Chevy on social media. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TeamChevy, follow us on Twitter @TeamChevy, and add +TeamChevy into your Google+ circles.
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING QUOTES:
RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 90 SPIRIT OF DAYTONA CORVETTE DP – QUALIFIED FIFTH
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING RUN?
“It’s a 24 hour race so qualifying is not as important as it normally is. The car felt really good. We are no match for the BMW’s at the moment, but I think we will be a lot closer in the race. It’s nice to be the first Corvette and it’s just good to start a 24 hour race at the right end. We didn’t really know where we were going to be after practice, but really happy. Really happy for our new sponsor Visitflorida.com and to be the first Chevy is good.”
HOW HARD IS IT TO GET YOUR CAR SET-UP FOR A 12-TURN ROAD COURSE LIKE THIS?
“The main problem is getting it set up for a 24 hour race because you need a car that is good over a distance not just for one lap. That is why qualifying you shouldn’t really take too much notice of the positions because it doesn’t necessarily mean that is the race is going to pan out. We are pretty confident.”
ROBIN LIDDELL, NO. 57 STEVENSON AUTO GROUP GT.R – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
TALK ABOUT QUALIFYING OUT THERE TODAY:
“Well it’s never easy qualifying here at Daytona in this car. At the end of the day we kind of set the car up very heavily towards the race. When we put new tires on we typically struggle with a lot of understeer in the infield. We are quite a long wheel based car, so we struggle with getting the car rotated and powered down. But then the car is very good in the fast section through the bus stop and through the kink on the infield, so we made some time up there and braking into (turn) one. Overall the car felt pretty good. It was pretty much what we expected. Not the fastest car for a qualifying situation, but over the race distance it’s pretty much what we are looking for. I was quite fortunate to get a good tow, a good draft, so I was able to pick up a few spots. I think without the tow we probably wouldn’t have been where we are. I think we are happy because at the end of the day there are a few cars behind us that probably on our right pace should be ahead of us. Right now we are happy, but obviously going into the race the car I think we are in good shape for the 24 Hours we have a good reliable car, a good crew, good teammates, nobody is slow to put in the car. I think in the end that will all play to us over the course of the race.”
MATT BELL, NO. 9 STEVENSON AUTO GROUP GS.R – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
HOW WAS QUALIFYING OUT THERE?
“Well…short (laughs). I think considering our car is pretty much new from the driver’s seat forward, the car was really close to what we need. Maybe not for qualifying, but for the race, we are probably not going to do a lot of changes to it. It was a little bit pushy in certain places. I never really got loose so it’s stable and that is kind of what you want in a race car for an endurance race. I think we are in a pretty good position. We would have liked to have used this session a little bit more for some tuning and tweaking because we haven’t had too many laps in the car. Again, considering what the car has been through and what the team has been through, they really nailed it on set up. Kind of a shot in the dark, but they got it right.”
IS THIS A REALLY TOUGH TRACK TO GET THE CAR WHERE YOU WANT IT ALL THE WAY AROUND IT?
“It is a pretty difficult track. It’s a complex place. There is an oval, not a lot of people tune for the oval here, but there are still a lot of high speed sections. The high speed bus stops, high speed braking, high speed into turn one that goes down to a very slow corner. There are the two horseshoes that are very low minimum speed so it can be tricky. Our Camaro is usually very good in the infield. We are a little bit off there we are going to nail it tomorrow I’m sure. That is our cars kind of high point is braking for the infield and pretty much the whole infield. The problem is these newer cars; especially the European imports are just so fast in a straight line that we really have a hard time. It’s a lot easier to make passes with your foot pinned to the floor than it is to try to dive bomb into the bus stop or into turn one. It’s complicated to set up the car, but I think we are pretty close.”
 

Chevrolet Roars into Daytona for Kickoff to 2013 GRAND-AM Road Racing Season; New Team Chevy Racing Display to Highlight Fan Activities for the Weekend
 
For release:
January 23, 2013
 
DETROIT – Chevrolet is ready to get back to racing and kick off the 2013 GRAND-AM Road Racing season. The year will begin with the 51st running of the Rolex 24-Hour at Daytona, a legendary endurance race that tests both man and machine.
 
Following a successful campaign in 2012 which saw the Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype make its competition debut, Team Chevy looks to build on the strength of last season’s eight Daytona Prototype victories that netted the 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Series Engine Manufacturers’ Championship.
 
This season Team Chevy’s Rolex Sports Car Series roster is comprised of six Corvette DP teams, including the newly established 8Star Motorsports, which will field the No. 3 Corvette DP.  8Star will join Action Express Racing, which fields two entries:  the No. 5 and No. 9 Corvette DPs.  Long-time Team Chevy partner Wayne Taylor Racing will field the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP. Filling out the Team Chevy Rolex DP roster are the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP and the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP.
 
Also competing in the Rolex 24-Hour under the Team Chevy banner will be No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R and the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette GT.R.
 
“The Chevrolet teams in GRAND-AM are well-prepared and excited to kick-off the 2013 race season at Daytona International Speedway,” said Jim Lutz, GRAND-AM Road Racing Program Manager, Chevrolet Racing.  “We will have a strong team and driver line-up in both the Rolex 24 Hour Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring, as well as in the Grand Sport class in Friday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
 
“We were very pleased with the results of testing in the ‘Roar Before the 24’ early in January. Our teams have been working ’round the clock to be prepared for the season-opener and biggest race of the year.
 
“Success in the Rolex 24 Hour takes a dedicated engineering effort from all of our teams, technical partners and the Chevrolet Racing engineering group to produce cars that are reliable and fast, and to achieve the goal of a trip to Victory Lane.”
 
Race fans at Daytona International Speedway for the Rolex 24 will also have the opportunity to experience the Team Chevy Racing Display, which was filled with show cars, production vehicles, Chevrolet Performance Parts crate engines, and parts and accessories. They are invited to participate in question-and-answer sessions with Team Chevy drivers.
“We’re excited to offer fans of the Rolex 24 a Chevy destination in the DIS infield,” said Maria Stenbom, Chevy Racing Motorsports Marketing Digital & Social/Manager, GRAND-AM. “The Team Chevy Racing Display will have something for everyone. Fans will have the opportunity to ask questions of drivers Lawson Ashenbach, Eric Curran, Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Richard Westbrook, Darren Law and Jon Fogarty, and spend time with one of our friendly product specialists and learn more about Chevy’s great vehicle lineup.
 
“I’m especially proud to be able to show the new 2014 Silverado and ZL1 Convertible to our fans!  Also on display are Chevrolet Performance Parts crate engines and an assortment of accessories and performance parts for fans to purchase from their local Chevy dealer. We hope to see you there.”
Ashenbach and Curran will be at the display at 11:45 a.m. on Friday, and Ricky and Jordan Taylor and Westbrook, Law and Fogarty will visit the display at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Fans who sign up with Team Chevy will receive a special commemorative t-shirt.
 
The display opens at 9 a.m. on Friday, January 25.
 
The 51st running of the Rolex 24-Hour will start at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 26 and conclude 24 hours later Sunday afternoon.
 
The opening race of the weekend, the GRAND-AM 200 for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, will also feature Team Chevy entries.  Mitchum Motorsports will field the No. 6 Camaro GS.R joined by the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports GS.R as well as the No. 00 and No. 01 of CKS Autosport.  The two and one-half hour race will start Friday, January 25 at 1:45 p.m. ET.
 
CHEVY RACING CAR AND DRIVER LINEUP FOR THE 51st RUNNING OF THE ROLEX 24 HOUR AT DAYTONA
 
ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES DAYTONA PROTOTYPE (DP):
 
No. 3 8 Star Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette DP
·         Drivers
o   Stephane Sarrazin
o   Nicolas Minassian
o   Pedro Lamy
o   Enzo Potolicchio
o   Anthony Davidson
 
No. 5 Action Express Racing Chevrolet Corvette DP
·       Drivers
o   Christian Fittipaldi
o   Felipe Nasr
o   Nelson Piquet Jr.
 
No. 9 Action Express Racing Chevrolet Corvette DP
·       Drivers
O   Joao Barbosa
o   Brian Frisselle
o   Burt Frisselle
 
No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Chevrolet Corvette DP
·       Drivers
O   Max Angelelli
o   Jordan Taylor
o   Ryan Hunter-Reay
 
No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Chevrolet Corvette DP
·       Drivers
O   Richard Westbrook
o   Ricky Taylor
o   Antonio Garcia
o   Oliver Gavin
 
No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet Corvette DP
·       Drivers
O    Alex Gurney
o   Jon Fogarty
o   Memo Gidley
·         Darren Law
 
TEAM CHEVY IN ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES GRAND TOURING (GT):
 
No. 31 Whelen Chevrolet Corvette GT.R
·         Drivers
o   Eric Curran
o   Boris Said
o   Lawson Aschenbach
o   Brandon Davis
 
No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT.R
·       Drivers
O   Robin Liddell
o   John Edwards
o   Jan Magnussen
o   Tom Milner
 
CHEVY RACING CAR AND DRIVER LINEUP FOR GRAND-AM 200 FOR THE CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE
 
TEAM CHEVY IN CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE GRAND SPORT (GS):
 
No. 00 CKS Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GS.R
·       Drivers
O   Ashley McCalmont
o   Bob Michaelian
 
No. 01 CKS Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GS.R
·       Drivers
O   Lawson Aschenbach
o   Eric Curran
 
No. 6 Mitchum Motorsports Track Pro Advisor Chevrolet Camaro GS.R
·       Drivers
O   Lawrence Davey
o   Mike Skeen
 
No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GS.R
·       Drivers
O   Matt Bell
o   John Edwards
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
PRESEASON TESTING
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 18, 2013
 
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway and discussed the new Gen-6 race car, testing today at Charlotte Motor Speedway and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT THE NEW CAR AND HEADING INTO THE 2013 SEASON HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR TEAM:
“Obviously we had some work to do based on our performance last year and the year before for that matter.  We certainly made a lot of changes from the very top of the company to a lot of positions within individual teams.  I feel good about what we have done. I think our preparation, what we have done to be ready before we start building cars is at a different level today than it was last year and even the year before.  I’m excited about what we have going on.  I feel like we have something to prove and looking forward for the opportunity to be able to do that.  As it relates to the new car I think everybody is kind of in the same boat.  It’s an exciting time.  The car is a really good looking car.  It has a lot of potential, as I’ve said before; I think that there has been more work that has gone into this car in the sense of just not the aesthetics but the opportunity to have better races.  As we have evolved the sport into much more of a mile and a half oriented sport it has become harder to have the good close racing that people want to see.  I think the racing is really similar to what it has always been, but I think the fans want more than that today.  A lot of effort has gone into making these cars so that we will have better races.  I’m really excited about that because I think at the end of the day that is the corner stone of this sport.  Is an exciting day at the race track whether you are watching it on TV or watching it at the track, without that the sport is in trouble.”
 
SOME TEAM IS PROBABLY GOING TO CONNECT WITH THIS CAR EARLY.  WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO BE THE MAGIC BULLET?  IS IT GOING TO BE SOMEBODY WITH A REAR SUSPENSION DEAL, IS IT GOING TO BE AERO?  WHAT IS GOING TO STAND OUT EARLY ON?
“I wish I knew that because then we would be that guy.  Honestly, we talk a lot about trick, but I will tell you that I’m not a trick guy.  I believe that you have to have an entire package.  When you have that entire package you may kind find a trick that makes that package better, but that doesn’t necessarily transfer to the team next to you in the garage.  The teams that will do the best have done a good job of understanding the aerodynamics of this car.  Understanding the chassis stuff, we don’t have rear bars now.  It’s a combination of all those things.  I don’t think it’s going to be just that a team just said ‘wow we found this trick little piece and put on the car.’  It’s more about understanding the entire package and maximizing the package, then having a grasp on what maximizing the package means from one track to the next.  What you do here isn’t going to work when you go to Phoenix.  It is understanding the car, understanding your driver, understanding the things you are dealing with, understanding the tires, understanding all that stuff and putting a package together that works with all that.  I don’t think it’s one thing.”
 
YOU HAVE TALKED ABOUT YOUR STRUGGLES THE PAST YEAR OR TWO AND TRYING TO GET THINGS STRAIGHTENED OUT AND BACK ON TRACK.  IS IT A GOOD THING THAT YOU GUYS HAVE A NEW CAR OR IF THAT GOING TO BE ANOTHER ISSUE THAT YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH?
“I think the timing of the car is good for us as a company.  I think that by anybody’s measurements we didn’t have a good year through the company last year.  We went almost the whole year without winning a race.  Kevin (Harvick) won really late in the year.  So for us, I think it’s easier when there is a whole new car with a lot of new rules, a new rear rule package.  I think it is easier to start over than it is taking an existing vehicle and starting over.  It gives us a chance to stop and say ‘okay what is the best way to develop a car’ and through that build a program that works for that.  I think the timing of that is good for RCR (Richard Childress Racing) in general.  Whether that will yield results or not we will see.  I think the timing of it is good for us.”
 
HOW MUCH TIME HAVE YOU HAD IN THE GEN-6 CAR ON AN INTERMEDIATE TRACK LIKE THIS AND IS IT WORRISOME WITH EVERY MINUTE THAT PASSES OF THE TESTING TIME YOU ARE NOT GETTING?
“This will be my fifth time in the Gen-6 car.  Testing is valuable, there is no question about it, but if we got two hours today, everybody got two hours.  So, we have had a fair amount of test time with the cars.  This test is a bonus.  The last time I remember doing testing like this was when the Taurus was first introduced.  We came over and we were working on the Taurus.  I view this as a bonus test.  We wouldn’t normally get this.  Again, if we get two hours then the whole field gets two hours.  Again, it’s about the teams that are most prepared.”
 
A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE SKEPTICAL, BASED ON THE PERFORMANCE THE LAST TWO YEARS, IF RCR CAN REBOUND.  WHAT HAS YOU EXCITED THAT THERE CAN BE A TURN AROUND?
“The direction of the company, the mindset of the company in regard to ‘what do we have to do to be better’, the commitment to that, the commitment to, I’m going to call it, a new philosophy.  Those things are there and those things are real.  I won’t sit here today and guarantee you that is going to give results.  I believe it will.  You are right we have to show it.  For me to sit here today and tell all you guys we are going to do this and we are going to do that, I think is ridiculous.  I can tell you that the commitment to improve is there.  The philosophy to improve is there.  It is a different philosophy; it’s a different way of doing business than we have done it before.  It’s what I have believed in and that is why I’m optimistic.  We will see.  I believe in my heart things will be a lot better.  Every team in that garage works hard too.  It will be a challenge.  I truly believe it’s going to be a lot better.”
 
ARE YOU TREATING THE FIRST FEW RACES AS A TEST SESSION TO UNDERSTAND THE CAR BETTER?  AS A REFERENCE POINT CAN YOU GET THE PACKAGE FROM THE OLD CAR MODIFIED TO THE NEW CAR JUST TO HAVE AN IDEA OF WHAT YOU CAN DO?
“I think that racing is a set of building blocks.  Every testing event, every race, every year you keep putting blocks on top of the next block.  You are building more and more information.  We are certainly going to use the information that we have from last year.  We use information that we have from 10 years ago.  You learn and you apply what you learned.  I think that it is a continuing evolution of your thought process.  As far as using the first few races for a test I mean honestly, no different than any other year.  We are going to go to the Daytona 500 with the best stuff we know how to win with.  We are going to go do everything we can to be successful.  When we got to the Fourth of July race in Daytona those things will be different because we will be smarter, we will have learned more.  It’s no more test session than every other week is a test session.  You are always hoping to be good.  You are always hoping to be able to learn something from one week to apply to the next week.  I don’t view this car being any different in that regard.  I think the learning curve could be quicker.  When you have the same basic car for three years you are going to learn a whole
lot less in that last year than you did in the first year.  I think that the learning curve could be steep.”
 
DO YOU SEE ANYTHING IN THESE CHANGES THAT FOR YOU PERSONALLY SEEM LIKE A PRESENT, A CHRISTMAS PRESENT IN A SENSE?
“It’s an interesting question because I had a conversation with another member of the media at Daytona and there was conversation about this car is going to have more downforce and you won’t have to drive the car as loose.  I said on the outside that makes sense, but on the inside typically I like cars set-up looser than my teammates.  So, you never know.  There is nothing that I look at that I just look at this car and say ‘wow that is really going to benefit me’.  Honestly, what I pay attention to is what we need to do with the No. 31 to benefit me.  The thing that has been hard the last two years and it’s something I haven’t dealt with much in my career is that the things that Kevin (Harvick) has liked haven’t worked for me.  That hasn’t been a good thing.  That hasn’t always been like that at RCR.  It just kind of popped up for some reason.  We really felt a lot of the same things before.  Although we wouldn’t run the same set up’s we would have a lot of the same comments and over the last couple of years we haven’t.  That has been a difficult thing.  It hasn’t been just me either.  It’s kind of been throughout the company.  One driver likes this, the other driver likes that we are not in the same area.  That has been very confusing.  I’m answering you question in a really long way because I don’t really know how to answer it other than to say that I’ll tell you in a few weeks.  I will tell you in a few months.  At the end of the day, us doing a good job with whatever the rule package is that is what it’s about.  We’ve got to give me what I need to be successful.  If we do that then we will be doing the right things we need to do.”
 
YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH THESE SITUATIONS BEFORE WHERE YOU’VE STRUGGLED, AND PEOPLE WONDER HOW MUCH LONGER ARE YOU GOING TO BE ABLE TO DO IT AND HOW MUCH LONGER WILL YOU KEEP YOUR RIDE. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT GOING INTO THIS YEAR? DO TESTS LIKE THIS CREATE MORE URGENCY BECAUSE OF ALL THE TALK?
“Well, you know, I want to be respected by my peers. And that does matter to me. I think anybody who says it doesn’t is a pretty shallow individual and I think you always want to be respected by the things around you. I don’t want to be in the conversation about is he going to have a ride or whatever; I don’t want to be in there because honestly, the reason I don’t want to be there is because that means things aren’t going well. I understood 20 years ago, more than that; I understood 25 years ago, when somebody started paying me to drive a race car, that it was different than driving for your dad. And I don’t drive for my dad. I drive for my boss. And he has bosses. He has sponsors that require and demand, as they should, success. And so, I’m tough enough to handle the pressure. If I wasn’t, I would have never accepted a position 25 years ago to get paid by somebody. I don’t want to be involved in those conversations because I enjoy coming in and talking to you guys (media). I enjoy it. And to talk about those things isn’t fun. We’re not moving the ball. We’re not making the sport better. It’s just a conversation about bad things. So, I don’t like to be involved in that because of that. And it really has nothing to do with the perception or any of that. It’s just that I want to talk about the good things and the fun things. I understand not everything is fun about racing. You are going to have some tough days. But generally, it needs to work well. And I have no interest in just being here. I have no interest in getting a paycheck just to show up and drive. I want to bring energy. I want to bring excitement. I want to have enthusiasm. I want to be part of a fight. I want to leave the track disappointed when we do badly. And that’s what you have when you’re doing well. So, that’s the reason I don’t want to be involved in those conversations. I can tell you this as the God’s honest truth: I’ve been paid to drive race cars for a long time. But I’ve never driven race cars to get paid. Does that make sense? I drove race cars because it was my passion. And I do it today because it’s my passion. I’ve been fortunate enough to get paid; I’m one of the few people, I live a blessed life. I get paid to do my hobby. But that doesn’t mean it’s still not; just because I get paid, I still don’t have a passion for it. So I want to be successful. I want to race Jimmie Johnson for the championship. I want to have the pressure going to Homestead (that) if you don’t get it done, Burton, you’re going to finish second. I want that pressure. That’s why I do it. The other pressure sucks. It’s not fun. So that’s the reason why. I just really don’t want to be in those conversations because it’s just no damn fun.”
 
WHO DO YOU FEEL WILL ADAPT THE QUICKEST?
“That is a tough question. It is not a mistake that you have a group of drivers that consistently run well, Matt (Kenseth) being one of them. The people that have benefited by this the most are the people that have found a way to know more about it than their competitors. That is who is going to benefit by it. As good as Matt Kenseth is, if his team has looked things wrong over the last three months and they go to Phoenix with the wrong philosophy, he isn’t going to be successful. I don’t have a way to answer that question other than to say that the teams that are the most prepared and understand it the most, individual teams and companies are going to have the most success.”
 
WHAT IS UP WITH HARRISON (BURTON-JEFF’S SON) THIS COMING YEAR? ARE YOU FEELING HEAT FROM HIM KIND OF COMING UP BEHIND YOU AND ARE YOU SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY ON HIM? “I hope so, and yes. (Laughs) He does drive for his Father, I need to get him a boss! We are moving into the late model thing full time, so we actually go Sunday and Monday to test. It that goes well, we’re going to race him in Georgia next weekend. Then the plan is to run him down in New Smyrna for eight races in nine nights. Then from there, we don’t really have a hard schedule because we’re waiting to see how he evolves and where he is. We want to put him in a position where it is hard for him, but not too hard. Until we really get a chance to evaluate him, it’s hard to know. So, we are remaining flexible.  We haven’t put a hard schedule around him. We’ll see where his talent is at this point, and then we’ll make the decision about what we need to do with him.”
 
ISN’T IT TRUE THAT WE REALLY DON’T KNOW WHO MIGHT BE GOOD DESPITE WHO HAS BEEN IN NATIONWIDE CARS, OR WHO HAS BEEN IN THE OLD CAR, OR WHO HAS BEEN OR WHO HASN’T BEEN?
“Y’all don’t take this the wrong way, but we don’t know in the garage, and that means y’all don’t know either. (LAUGHS WITH MEDIA AUDIENCE). No disrespect intended, but it’s fun, I’m a sports fan too, and it’s fun to sit down before the year and say ‘This is the team that’s going to win the Super Bowl.’, but how many of us are wrong? By far the majority of us are wrong. It’s fun to try and analyze it and say ‘Well this guy did this in 1932, and this guy did that. And this team did this.’  All that is fun. Every year is a new year. Again, it’s not a coincidence that certain drivers have success no matter what their situation is. That’s not a coincidence. I think none of us know. We’ve all been surprised before how teams we expected were going to be really good weren’t, and how teams we didn’t think were going to be very good, were much better than we thought. Then we also fall into the trap of there is always the team early in the year, like eight or nine races in ‘WOW, where did they come from.’ Then the year is over and they aren’t there anymore. We always fall into that trap too. You just never know, and I d
on’t think any of us know right now.”
 
YOU SAID EARLIER YOU THINK THIS CAR CAN LEAD TO BETTER RACING, FROM THE SEAT, WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT YOU FEEL THAT MAKE YOU BELIEVE THAT?
“My theory is based on years of experience, and watching what is going on with this sport; how it’s evolved.  We’ve gone through this thing-a lot of downforce; little downforce; a lot of grip; low grip; all these different tire combinations. At the end of the day, the better the cars are stuck in the race track, the closer the cars run to each other. A lot of us remember years ago that we went to the five in five rule when we took downforce off, and the racing suffered from that.  When the COT first came out, Goodyear was still using the tires it had used the year before.  The cars didn’t drive very well at all, and the quality of racing suffered. Especially on big tracks, the better the grip is, the closer the action can be. NASCAR, Goodyear, everybody…has gone into this process saying ‘Okay, can we take downforce off and put a lot of mechanical grip in it?’ ‘Will that make better racing?’ They’ve looked at a lot of different things, and what’s come out of it is it appears that more downforce; more grip; those things are going to make the racing better. I believe we are going to make more grip this year than we have ever made.
 
“Now that’s not to say every race is going to be the greatest race in NASCAR’s history. We have to have realistic expectations.  Some races are going to be boring. Some football games are boring. Some basketball games are boring. But, the average race has got to be a fun race to watch. I believe that more grip gives the drivers more opportunity to put their car in a position that they wouldn’t be able to put it if they didn’t have that grip. That’s why I think the racing is going to be better. I may be wrong, we’ll see. I think we have to change our mind set too because you track where the sport has gone-we don’t at North Wilksboro anymore, so we lost two short track races. We used to run two races at Darlington, we now run one. We used to run two races at Rockingham-we don’t run any. We replaced them with either flat one-mile race tracks, or with mile-and-a-half tracks. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that if you put 43 cars on a half-mile race track, you’re going to have more action than if you put 43 cars on a mile-and-a-half race track.  So we have got to find a way to get the cars closer together on a mile-and-a-half tracks. How do we do that? The only way to do that is to make them drive better. Slow them down a little bit; make them drive better, and try to get them closer together so you have more action.
 
“I’m of the belief, and I may be wrong about this as I am of everything, but I’m of the belief that our fans expect more today than they did 10 years ago. I watch a lot of racing as you guys do, I just don’t think the racing is different last year as it was 10 years ago, but a lot of fans do. I think the expectation level is raised with the advent of the X-Games. With the advent of people jumping motorcycles on top of the thing in Las Vegas three years ago on New Year’s. I think the expectation level has got raised. We have to match that. We have got to find a way to get there. The only way to do that is create more action. People don’t want to go to the race track and watch a car get eight seconds out in front of the second place car. They don’t want to watch that. They want to see a race. The only way to do that is put the cars in closer proximity to each other I think.”
 
YOU SEND MORE DOWNFORCE, MORE MECHANICAL GRIP. IS IT NOT LESS DOWNFORCE ON THESE CARS?
“It is a ton more downforce on these cars. So, to be clear, the speedway cars have a lot less downforce. So there is a lot less downforce on the Daytona/Talladega cars assuming they don’t change the spoiler between now and then, and there is quite a bit more downforce on every other car. So the Daytona/Talladega packages are completely different. That spoiler is (makes hand gesture). These spoilers are tall enough that you almost can’t see over the top of them. Matters of fact, some drivers have complained they can’t see over them. It is just two completely different packages.”
 
THERE IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT INSPECTION PROCESS FOR THE NEW CARS WITH THE USE OF LASER. IS THAT GOING TO MAKE THE COMPETITION EVEN MORE EVEN?
“I think one of the things we suffer from too is that our sport is a lot different than every other sport. In every other sport, they play on a field; they’re 100 yards. Baseball fields I know are a little different. The bases are the same distance apart. Major League Baseball provides a baseball. NFL provides a football. So we have a sport in which we all race each other every week. It’s not Duke vs. Carolina, it’s all of us every week. We race at completely different facilities every week, and we bring the ball with us. So, there are a lot of moving targets. And so one of the things that our sport has always suffered from, whether it’s true or not, is that when Jimmie Johnson wins five championships, oh, it’s because his car is different than everybody else’s. They’re cheating, they’re doing this, and they’re doing that. I think anything we can do to expose the fans to all of the rules, so that when NASCAR makes a call during the race, they understand that they weren’t trying to favor Earnhardt Jr. because they made a call on pit road, or that the rule was enforced, they didn’t make it up as they go, the better we are. And that goes for the inspection process as well. The better we have an opportunity to show the fans, look, every car rolls across this thing, here’s all the numbers, it prints out for everybody, unless there’s somebody up there with, you know, the man behind the curtain well here comes this car so let’s push this button, you know, I think it takes away some of that crap where people think oh well, they made this rule for this, you know? So I think it’s a good thing. It’s an extremely expensive proposition for NASCAR, but I think keeping us in a box is a good idea and I think letting the fans know that everybody gets to bring their own ball, okay? That’s part of the sport. That’s one of the coolest parts of the sport, but there are limitations to what they can do to that. And the more we can show them how we police those limitations, the better off we are, I think.”
 
IF THESE CARS HAVE MORE DOWNFORCE, DOES THAT MEAN THEY’RE GOING TO BE SOMEWHAT EASIER TO DRIVE FOR YOUNG DRIVERS COMING UP OR FOR SOMEBODY LIKE DANICA PATRICK, WHERE THE TRANSITION INTO SPRINT CUP IS GOING TO BE EASIER?
“Well, they’re going to make more grip. Whether that’s easier or not, I don’t know because the more grip they make, the harder you drive them. And you still have to find that edge. You still have to find that limit. So if no one else was here, and you went out in a car that made more grip, then yes, it’s easier. But, when you bring 45 or 48 other cars, and everybody’s trying to go faster than the next guy, then all of a sudden it’s hard again. So yeah, just driving it all by yourself and not watching a stopwatch, without a doubt it’s going to be a little easier in some sense, but whenever we start running today, everybody in that garage is going to start looking at how are we? Are we fast enough? How much do we need to pick-up? And that’s when it’s going to get hard. And even if it makes high grip, you’re still going to have to drive it really, really hard. The higher grip they make, the harder you have to drive it. And it requires less finesse. It requires more right foot and less brain. And so I wouldn’t say it’s going to be easier in the sense that everybody’s got the same thing. But just getting in the car, fundamentally they should drive a little better.”
 

 
 
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
PRESEASON TESTING
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 11, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS:
 
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I don’t know what started it.  I know we were in a pack drafting, just trying to learn the cars and what this aero package is doing.  Some guys started forming a line on the inside and things started getting a little more aggressive at that point.  Somebody must have turned or got turned or something and then they just all started stacking up.”
 
WE HEARD JIMMIE (JOHNSON) TALKING ABOUT THE LACK OF CARS YOU GUYS HAVE.  HOW DETRIMENTAL IS THIS WHEN TWO HENDRICK CARS GET TIED UP LIKE THIS?
“Obviously, they look like the really smart guys in the garage by not drafting.  Everybody has different theories on it.  We feel like we have to go get in those conditions and find out now what we have to deal with to be prepared when we come back here in February, even putting yourself in jeopardy. We will get this car fixed up no problem.  It is definitely going to cause some extra work.”
 
HOW SURPRISED ARE YOU THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN?
“I’m not surprised at all.  We see it every year, maybe not quite this big, but you get down here in packs.  It’s important to be in those packs and learn what you can learn, especially with a new car.  I think you can kind of weigh into both sides of it.  You know when the cars are starting to push and move around a lot more that the chances are getting higher that something is going to happen.  There are some rookies out there as well.  I saw some things happen a couple of laps before that.  You just ride it out and hope you can make it through it.  Unfortunately, we didn’t in this case.”
 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
“The cars drive pretty well.  You can’t push.  Which I think is a good thing.  The bad thing is, you can still get to the guys bumper, but the cars just don’t line up very well.  You really just shouldn’t even be doing it.  Unfortunately, that is kind of that last little bit of momentum that you need to sometimes make the pass or make your lane move.  So, it’s something that is going to have to be dealt with very carefully.  You are going to have to be cautious when you do it and do it with the right guys, but most of the time you’re going to need to stay away from it. That is certainly something we learned.  The cars really get good momentum and shifts by themselves but they run side-by-side for a long time so it’s not easy to complete the pass.”
 
CAN YOU NOT PUSH BECAUSE YOU ARE LIFTING THE GUY IN FRONT OF YOU UP?
“There is a lack of downforce and then the bumpers just don’t line up like they used to.  Certainly, the Chevy’s they have a little bit more of a point so they really don’t line up very good.  I was pushed by a Ford and it almost spun me.  I don’t know if any of them are really lining up that good.  Especially, with this kind of downforce that is in the cars.  I think it is a great package.  I love it.  We have to kind of start over again, we have gotten so comfortable with running on one another’s bumpers, pushing and being able to do that.  You have to kind of reset a little bit and go back to the way we used to do it where you get close and you still gain momentum and push guys but with the air not necessarily the bumpers.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS:
 
WHAT HAPPENED?
“We were just out there running around.  I felt like Marcus (Ambrose) was backing up to me in (turns) one and two to get a run down the back.  I was just going to give him a push down the back straightaway and see if he could get the lead.  I was trying to eventually get the lead myself.  We got off the back straightaway and were just kind of pushing him along there and our cars sort of just didn’t match up very well.  I got him hooked into the fence.  I pushed Martin (Truex) a little bit in his Toyota and they matched up good.  The bumpers were good, didn’t have any problem with any of the cars.  That is the first time I pushed a Ford.  The roll bar of the front of my car is just at the right place where his car sets right up on top of that.  I sort of had him going down the back straightaway like a forklift.  It was a big mess and tore up a lot of cars down here trying to work on their stuff.  Definitely the drafting is not like it used to be.  You can’t really tandem certain cars; certain cars don’t match up well.  Our bumpers on the Chevy’s have a little bit of a point. It makes it a little bit of a challenge to get into guys and kind of help them.  We definitely weren’t doing that in the corner at all because it was pretty hairy trying to do it on the straightaways.”
 
DOES THIS REALLY CHANGE THE MENTALITY HERE NOW?
“Pretty much, yeah.  It’s going to take a lot more care and concentration and just knowing kind of what is at stake.  Certain cars you line up okay with and can push fine and for whatever reason mine and Marcus’ (Ambrose) car didn’t line up good.  We got our bumpers together and it hooked him.  For whatever reason you’ve got to be careful who you are working with.”
 
DO YOU THINK THE RACING IS GOING TO BE BETTER?
“Yeah, I think the racing will be better because it doesn’t look like we will be able to tandem.  The cars are down 50 percent on downforce in the back.  They are real tail happy.  A lot of guys are really having a lot of snaps and moments out there on the race track where they are getting loose.  With that in mind you are definitely not going to be pushing anybody through the corner.”
 
BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS WHEN YOU WERE DOMINATING PLATE RACES?
“Well I’m not setting it up to say I’m going to run better because of this package, but the racing will be different.  It’s definitely a movement back toward the way the cars used to be.”
 
DID IT SURPRISE YOU THAT ALL OF THIS UNFOLDED AN HOUR INTO IT AND THAT THE CARS DIDN’T MATCH UP?
“Yeah, I was real surprised.  Marcus’ (Ambrose) car was a bit of a handful.  He was really loose into the corner and off of the corner, but I thought we were just going to get on going down the back straightaway.  He was going to drive to the inside of the leader and take the lead.  For whatever reason it just didn’t work.”
 
IS THIS A FORD REAR TO A CHEVY NOSE THING? OR IS THIS A MARCOS AMBROSE AND DALE (EARNHARDT) JR. THING?
“No, it’s not really between me and him.  He didn’t do anything wrong.  I think it was my responsibility not to wreck him.  He doesn’t have much control at that point. That was the first Ford I had pushed.  I don’t know.  You don’t want to push too many Ford’s if you can help it.”
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS:
 
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“I really don’t know.  I was two or three rows back.  I just saw the No. 9 get turned and then obviously it was just a wreck.  I was along for the ride after that.”
 
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED OUT THERE TODAY?
“The first drafting session we were really loose.  The cars drove okay not really around people.  When I got someone in front of me, beside me and behind me, the car was really unstable.  We worked on tightening the car up for the second draft.  I never really got to put myself in the same situation again.  I felt like we learned some stuff.”
 
 
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than
4.5 million cars and trucks a year.  Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design, and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
 
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
PRESEASON TESTING
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 11, 2013
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed the test session, his health, off season testing and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
HOW WAS THE CAR OUT THERE?
“It is pretty similar to what we have had here in the past.  This place is pretty smooth as far as bumps and handling there are not a lot of characteristics.  The car doesn’t get loose or tight or anything like that going around the track. You just kind of hold onto the mat and drive around the bottom.  It’s not going to really be a whole lot different as far as the way the car feels than anything I’ve driven here in the last 12 years.  Just looking for speed you just go out there and run laps. Put something on the car, put a new piece on the car or change a piece, go out and run laps and hope that you knock a few thousandths off the run before.  That is just the routine throughout the whole test really.  We will do a little drafting in the afternoon, mainly just out of curiosity.  I don’t know what specifically if anything we will learn during that. We will just do it to see how the cars perform and get a good idea what our strengths and weaknesses are.  Then move back to our single car runs and do all that tomorrow.”
 
IS IT DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO MAINTAIN YOUR FOCUS AND ATTENTION ON WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE THROUGH THIS EARLY MORNING SESSION?
“Yeah, it can be.  As a driver and this is specific to the Daytona tests only, you don’t really have to pay attention to what they are putting on the car, what they change.  If you don’t ask and if you don’t really get into it, rarely will a crew chief include you in that conversation.  They will put whatever they are doing to the car and tell you to go try again.  If I do it that way, yeah, I get really bored and have a hard time staying awake.  I just have a hard time getting through the day.  What I like to do, and it takes pretty little effort, is I just plug into what they are doing. I get out of the car, asked what they changed, why they changed it, why they think that is going to be better, what’s next, why they think that is going to work.  I try to really plug into the kind of technical things they are doing to the car.  It helps me because we have been doing this a long time and something they are doing might dig up a memory of a test or something we tried on some cars back in the DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) days that worked.  So it’s good for me to be involved as much as I can.  So that helps me get to clicking, the day goes by fast when you are plugged in like that.”
 
YOU SPOKE AT THE END OF LAST SEASON ABOUT WANTING TO STAY VIGILANT WITH STEVE (LETARTE, CREW CHIEF) ABOUT DOING A LOT OF OFF SEASON TESTING.  CAN YOU JUST UPDATE US ON THAT?  HAVE YOU HAD SUCCESS WITH THAT?  IS THE NEW CAR MAYBE PREVENTED SOME OF THE TESTING YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO?
“Yeah, being able to build the cars has made our opportunities to test limited at this point.  We will obviously be at Charlotte next week with everybody else and then we will have some opportunities probably after that to go to Nashville and Pikes Peak is an option that we like too, just depends on the weather down there you sort of have to get lucky with the weather, but that is a really good place to test.  They have a pretty nasty bump in (turns) one and two, but (turns) three and four is a really good corner that you can learn a lot from.  We probably won’t go to Walt Disney World just due to the rising costs and being able to acquire the race track. It’s not profitable for them, they are doing a lot of stuff with their sports car stuff down there so, and they make more money doing that than having us come test.  We probably won’t go there.  We will go to Nashville, I would hope two or three times before we end up going to Las Vegas or Phoenix.  We need to learn as much as we can learn.  We have got a lot of rule changes in the cars.  A lot of things are different so we need to try to find where our package needs to be and get a good comfortable idea of where to start when we go to the different tracks.”
 
ARE YOU NERVOUS AT ALL ABOUT FALLING BACK?
“Well I think it is the same for everybody so I’m not really worried.  I think I’m with a great company that excels at times like this when the whole sport is sort of reset.  I think that we have a lot of resources, no reason why we shouldn’t come out as one of the better performing teams, especially right off the bat.  Obviously, when you give somebody a new puzzle some guys might figure out something quicker than others just by chance and ingenuity.  Over the entire scope of the whole change and the whole new car I think that being with Hendrick (Motorsports) is going to be a real advantage.  I’m not really that worried about it.  I just like to work.  I just like to be at the race track working.  I think to believe in momentum means you keep plugging away and you keep working.  For us to sit around and just hope that when we show up to Vegas we are going to have plenty of time to figure things out or hope we are better when we get to Phoenix, I think that is just a pipe dream.  You have got to go to work.  You have to test and put in the time to be better, you’ve got to go to the race track.”
 
LAST NIGHT AT THE FAN FEST THERE SEEMED TO BE A LOT OF ENERGY OUT THERE.  DRIVERS HAVE BEEN TALKING HIGHLY ABOUT THE NEW CAR.  DO YOU JUST KIND OF GET A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THE DIRECTION THE SPORT IS GOING?  CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR NEW POTATO CHIP DEAL?
“Somebody asked me on stage last night, what I would change about the sport. We get asked that question pretty much every year at a time like this.  We used to have a lot of answers for that question.  It’s hard to come up with something I would change, something I would do differently now a days.  I’m pretty happy with how things have been.  I feel like that the sport is in a good healthy place.  We have a good opportunity to grow.  With this car we have a chance to do something great and really make a big impact.  It’s on everybody in the sport really as to how that all works out, but, you know, I think all the pieces are there. We have made a lot of changes that were hurdles and speed bumps, but as far as bringing in the double file restarts, and all the things that have happened in the last several years a lot of those changes have really improved the sport.  I think the racing is as exciting as it has been in a long time.  You look at some of these old races and look back at some of the events that we had in the ‘80’s and the ‘90’s, the racing is different.  It always is changing and it always will, but I think we have improved it.  The sport is in a really good place.  This new car has got everybody really excited about the potential.  You have to sort of be careful and reign that in a little bit, but it could be a lot of fun.  The cars look great and that is really important.”
 
TALK ABOUT THE CHIPS DEAL:
“We have been working on this deal for a while.  I didn’t expect it to get that much attention yesterday, but everybody kept texting me, all my friends, wanting bags of chips now.  My girlfriend read me Jeff (Gluck’s) article.  I will bring some in here for you guys as soon as we can get a truck load of them.  I only got one bag each so far.”
 
WHICH FLAVOR DO YOU LIKE BEST?
“The jalapeno I like the best.  I was surprised.  I thought I would like the barbeque the best, but the jalapeno is pretty good.”
 
ARE YOU DOING WELL HEALTH WISE AS FAR
AS THE CONCUSSIONS AND EVERYTHING?  AS AN ATHLETE, BUT ALSO AS A FAN OF THE REDSKINS WHAT DID YOU THINK OF RGIII (ROBERT GRIFFIN III) AND EVERYTHING THAT WENT DOWN LAST WEEKEND?
“As far as everything we went through at the end of the season last year with injuries and all that I feel really good. It was good to get in the car at the end of the year and be able to run a couple of races and get that out of the way.  Get any kind of doubts or questions that you personally had about yourself or your recovery out of the way.  I felt like all that went really good the last several weeks.  As far as how I felt in the car was great.  I feel really good down here.  The off time has been great, but I feel good, ready to go.  Glad I did it the way I did.  I think it gave me a good opportunity to get better faster and come back right and come back sharp.
 
“Yeah, that was very disappointing what happened in the game against the Seahawks with RGIII.  He seems like a really amazing, solid individual and just a good person.  He is great for the community and the team.  So that was really unfortunate to see him go down with an injury.  Hopefully, now that he has his surgery behind him all the recovery and everything will go as planned and he can come back better and stronger.  It was an awesome season.  I think as a ‘skins (Redskins) fan you kind of want to look back on everything as a whole and it was a pretty awesome season.  We haven’t had a lot of wins like that in a long time.  It was fun to watch throughout the year.”
 
INAUDIBLE
“He is in a much different situation as young as he is.  You make different choices as a 22 year-old versus a 38 year-old a much different situation.”
 
WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR IS IT KIND OF ANCIENT HISTORY FOR YOU MOVING FORWARD OR DID YOU REALLY REFLECT ON WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN?
“I really don’t look back that much.  I only look back on the positives when I think about last year.  With the new car and everything all the question marks about who is going to perform well, who is going to come out of the gate strong.  To find motivation and excitement I look back on how well we performed throughout the year.  How we were leading the points and how things were going mid-point in the season.  How strong we were in the summer, which had been, traditionally for me was a terrible time for me historically.  For some reason last year we were really strong in the summer time.  Just as a team we have improved ever since Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and I started working together.  I’m excited about the car.  I’m excited about the opportunities to discover what makes it work and what makes it go fast.  I think that if we apply ourselves and stay focused we can have a real solid year.  It was a disappointment not to finish as well as we had hoped in the Chase and really go for the championship.  We felt like we were a strong enough team at certain parts of the year to definitely do that.  We definitely have some unfinished business and feel like we can put forth the same effort and the same results this year.”
 
DO YOU HAVE AN INDICATION ON HOW YOU THINK THESE CARS WILL LINEUP IN THE DRAFT AND HOW MUCH WILL YOU MAKE OF WHAT WE SEE IN THE DRAFT TODAY AT A TEST VERSUS WHAT WE MIGHT SEE IN THE DAYTONA 500?
“It’s hard to say.  I don’t really know what the cars will do in the draft.  I expect them to be really similar to the old cars at Daytona.  They have a splitter; they have relatively the same package in the back.  There is a lot less downforce, so I don’t know what that is going to do, how the cars may handle.  We might be able to get cars moving around and guys getting loose having to work on getting the cars tied into the race track which would be good.  That is what made Daytona a lot of fun was when the surface was really slick and you actually had to work on the handle of the car.  I’m excited to be able to do that again whenever we are able to have that happen.  For the most part the cars are still pretty locked into the race track.  The track surface is aging, but it’s still relatively in good shape as far as grip level goes.  The tires are really bullet proof.   They don’t really fall off or wear out that much.  I expect the cars to look similar to what we saw in drafting here in the past.  Then in the races last year, I think it will be pretty similar.  Even today though after we test and draft and all that it’s not going to be a 43 car pack.  The more cars you get out there it really changes the dynamic of the way things work.  It can change the whole look of what the draft pack looks like when you get that many cars out there.  You only see about five or nine or 10 or 12 cars today drafting.  Or however many get out there.  I don’t think it’s a good example of what we will see in the race.”
 
IS YOUR UNFINISHED BUSINESS PRIMARILY WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP?  IS THAT YOUR NUMBER ONE GOAL?
“Absolutely.  With the way we ran last year, getting a real sense that we were starting to compete at that level as a team that had the opportunity to win the championship that felt really good.  It got really exciting.  I think we have an opportunity.  Our time is now.  We have a chance if we can just find some more pieces and keep improving we have steadily gotten better over the last couple of years.  If we can continue to do that and keep applying ourselves and keep working and not get complacent about certain things, then we can be one of those teams that are sitting there in Homestead with a shot at it.  I really believe that.”
 
 
About Chevrolet
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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
PRESEASON TESTING
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 10, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed the first test session, her expectations for the 2013 season and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
FIRST TIME OUT ON THE TRACK IN THE GEN-6 CAR AND HERE BACK AT DAYTONA TALK ABOUT HOW THINGS WENT FOR YOU AND WHAT YOUR EXPECTATIONS THIS YEAR?
“It’s good to be back.  It was a quick off season, but I’m pleased to be back in the car.  I was happy driving to the track this morning.  It started off a little bit slow.  I had a vibration and they saw that the shift mount was sort of dragging on the drive train or the drive shaft casing or the drive shaft itself.  I don’t know; that is how technical I am.  So, they thought that is where the speed was in the first run and then came in from the second run and it was still the same slow speed.  I shut it off and luckily I shut it off a little bit early coming into the garage.  Just so it doesn’t run and get hot.  They noticed that the car wasn’t rolling.  They kept trying to tell me to do something when I was sitting there. ‘I’m like I don’t know what else to do other than sit here’.  They found that the brakes were dragging so, pushed the brakes back for the last run.  They pushed me out, it probably looked like I was doing a full qualifying run, but we really just pushed the brakes back to see if that is exactly what it was.  Sure enough we popped up the speed chart pretty well.  It’s nice to know that the speed is there so now we will just start with our test plan.  They feel like they have it figured out what is going on with the brakes so we will get going this afternoon.  It’s definitely good to be back in the GoDaddy car.”
 
MANY OF THE SPRINT CUP DRIVERS IN THE CIRCUIT TODAY HAD TOUGH YEARS IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES, BUT SOMEHOW THE STEP FORWARD WAS MUCH BETTER FOR THEM.  DO YOU FEEL BETTER IN THIS CAR THAN YOU DID IN THE NATIONWIDE CAR?
“Well, it’s not like I didn’t do any Sprint Cup running, I did ten races last year.  It was a good warm up for this year.  As far as this new car in particular, I couldn’t even tell the difference between a Nationwide and a Cup car here.  It’s pretty straight forward here at Daytona.  I know that what the most important thing is. I feel as with any team whether it is racing or another sport is that the team itself is critical.  It’s important to have good energy together, understand each other well and work well together.  I feel like the switch over to Tony Gibson and his team at the end of last season for the last two races was a really good change.  I feel like I really saw some potential in having a good year this year. There will undoubtedly be really tough days.  I know the areas that we need to work on.  I think that having that good run at the end of Phoenix there to go for a top-12 finish was a pretty good day.  I think we are all really confident going into this year.  We just have to be optimistic, keep our heads down and stay positive when it gets tough.”
 
BEING NEW TO THE CAR OVER THE NEXT THREE DAYS WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO LEARN?  WHAT CAN YOU LEARN OVER THESE NEXT THREE DAYS?  WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH?
“It’s really going to come from the team side.  I think just playing around with the different things on the car based on the different shape of it. A little bit of aero stuff, a little bit of air box stuff, for me as a driver there is really not all that much to do.  We will see in bump drafting when that finally shows up, probably tomorrow, what that feels like and the differences on pushing with these cars versus the old cars.  But everything I’ve heard so far says that it’s pretty good.  A Chevy to a Chevy has been good.  The fronts of our cars are a little bit sharp in the middle, but they seem to be pushing okay.  As far as just riding around by myself I don’t really think you are going to notice anything.  I’m not anyway.  Some better drivers might have some better feedback for you, but I don’t.”
 
THERE ARE A LOT OF CHANGES HAPPENING THIS YEAR.  YOU’RE MOVING UP IS A CHANGE FOR YOU, BUT IT’S A BIG CHANGE FOR THE TEAMS ALSO, YOU HAVE A BRAND NEW CAR.  CAN YOU SHARE WITH FANS WHAT IT IS LIKE FOR YOU TO MOVE UP, WHILE EVERYBODY ELSE IS REALLY BUSY TRYING TO GET THE CAR READY?
“I don’t think that matters, it’s just the circumstance.  I mean there are a lot of rule changes in NASCAR happening from year to year and definitely this year with the new car.  I know that it was really late getting like decklids and things like that for the team.  They only just got them this past week.  I know that there is a lot of stuff going on that has made the guys kind of work longer, later, especially in these first few weeks of the year.  But that is just what happens when a new car comes out.  I think that for me as a first year full-time in Sprint Cup, I think that a new car is probably a positive for me.  Everybody is starting off on sort of a little bit more of a level playing field.  Who knows maybe this new car will play into my driving style better than the old one.  I’m not really sure.  I have heard it drives a little bit more like a Nationwide car, so maybe it will be something that will be more familiar to me. I think that especially with a new car, being a new driver, I’m not going to be looking for a feeling that the old car gave me; because I don’t really know it that well.  Especially, going with Tony Gibson and the guys for the last couple of races with some different set-ups I think that we will be starting with a clean sheet of paper for this year.  I think that could be a real positive.”
 
DO YOU KNOW EXTRACURRICULAR BEYOND CUP WHAT YOUR NATIONWIDE SCHEDULE IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE AND ARE YOU DEFINITELY NOT DOING THE INDY 500 THIS YEAR?
“I can confirm to you today that I will not be doing the Indy 500.  I am just going to do the Coke 600.  The team and I decided to focus on Cup.  It’s going to be plenty of work as it is.  It’s going to be important for me running for the championship full-time for the first time to really keep myself focused with the Cup car.  But if I do the Indy 500 moving forward it will be with GoDaddy.
 
NATIONWIDE?
“Nationwide I am not sure if that is completely set.  I know there have been some reports that have come out about running for Turner (Scott Motorsports).  We are definitely talking to them trying to figure it out and we are definitely working on that, but there has been nothing signed yet.  The exact dates, the races and the sponsor have yet to be confirmed for all that.  We are working on it, but I would like to.  I think that would be a good weekend to do it.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR MINDSET YOU WERE ALWAYS SAYING LAST YEAR YOU WERE NOT GOING TO BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF.  HOW DO YOU FEEL COMING INTO THE FIRST SEASON?  HOW IS THE VISION IN THE CAR?
“The vision is the first thing that popped out with what you were saying.  I feel like I almost sit higher in the car.  I feel like I can see more out the front window.  I don’t know if the dash is lower or not, but these are things probably Tony (Stewart) would know.  I don’t know.  It seems just fine to me.  I feel like I can see better out the front.  I think again just like last year obviously things have been changing for me year to year over the last good few years now.  Again, to just stay relaxed and stay positive, as I said earlier you can’t let the tough days get you down.  I’m sure they are going to happen, so I thi
nk that is going to help us have more better days if we can stay positive and stay up beat.  Tony Gibson (crew chief) has said to all of you guys and said to me that we need to create certain expectation levels as we go along and make them realistic, be smart about them and move them slowly.  That is a really good perspective for him to have.  It’s great to go into the season and think ‘gosh we left off so well’ and we should run top-10 or 15 now every weekend, we are going to do that.  But I think that it is going to be tough to do that every weekend given my first year.  I think everybody has got the right attitude.  Everybody is excited.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS, joined teammate Danica Patrick to talk with the media about his experience at the test session.
 
TALK ABOUT HOW THINGS WENT OUT THERE FOR YOU FIRST PRACTICE AND OUTLOOK FOR THE SEASON HERE AT DAYTONA:
 
TONY STEWART: “We are excited obviously.  We have a lot of work to do to get all three teams ready for the year with the new body changes, so far so good.  The big thing is just getting here and seeing the new look of the cars; I think it really looks good.  It’s nice to see.  I’m glad we finally got away from the Car of Tomorrow that wasn’t, I don’t think, the best of ideas by Gary Nelson (laughs).  It is nice to get back to cars that look like production cars again.”
 
DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TESTING YOU ARE GOING TO GET IN, BESIDES THIS WEEK AND NEXT WEEK AT CHARLOTTE, OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS?
 
DANICA PATRICK: “We are going to do a little short track testing next week before Charlotte.  Beyond that we will figure it out.  It probably depends on how these tests go really.  How fast is the car, how well does it handle, how well am I getting up to speed and how well are clicking.  I feel like the team is pretty good at making decisions quick on their feet if we need to go somewhere and do something.  We will address that probably at the end of next week.  Right now I think the testing is pretty well set for these two weeks and then we will regroup at Daytona.”
 
YOU GET A LOT OF ATTENTION IN CYBER SPACE FROM FANS DEBATING WHETHER YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL AT THIS LEVEL.  DO YOU PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THAT STUFF?  DOES IT BOTHER YOU?

DANICA PATRICK: “Well what they say doesn’t create my finishes.  I think it is great that people are talking about me.  It’s great there is a conversation, but I really try not to read those things.  Because at the end of the day they really don’t matter.”
 
THIS WILL BE YOUR FIRST YEAR GOING IN AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF TRANSITION IS THERE A DIFFERENT FEELING THAT YOU HAVE GOING INTO THIS SEASON? IS THIS TEST ALSO A TIME FOR YOU GUYS TO HANG OUT, TEAMMATES AND TEAM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING BEYOND THE RACE TRACK TO BOND?
 
DANICA PATRICK: “I feel really excited I have to say going into this season versus a lot of other seasons in my career I just feel excited.  I’m looking forward to it.  Sometimes I get a little more nervous going into the year, but I think that we have just got such a good atmosphere on the team all around that makes me excited.”
 
HAVE YOU DEFINED ANY STATISTICAL GOALS FOR 2013 AND JUST GIVE ME YOUR OUTLOOK ON THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR BATTLE:

DANICA PATRICK: “I think it’s very difficult at this point in time to put sort of numbers to exactly where I should be finishing.  I think you can look at a little bit of what happened last year as a bit of a baseline as to expectation levels and definitely areas that need work.  But it’s a new year; it’s a new car and a lot of stuff changes so obviously I will be working full-time with Tony (Gibson, crew chief) and the guys now.  I think everything changes a little bit and you can never really know what to expect.  I think we just need to get started on the season, get these first few races out of the way and then start to create some baseline for what we are expecting and what we are shooting for.”
 
WHAT YOU YOUR OUTLOOK ON WINNING THE ROOKIE-OF-THE-YEAR TITLE?

DANICA PATRICK: “You know you just race hard.  I think those are the things that just happen.  If it does it does, if it doesn’t it doesn’t, but I think that if I shoot for great results each time and keep bettering myself all the time that is the best goal that I can have as opposed to just shooting for Rookie-of-the-Year.  It’s going to be something I’m sure that will come into thought at the end of the year.  What decides that is it just championship or what does? I don’t even know.  Is it points?  I don’t even know what I have to do necessarily.  Just do the best I can and hope that is enough.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed his thoughts on testing thus far, the off season and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
HOW HAS YOUR DAY OF TESTING BEEN?
“We had a good day.  We just did single car runs, which was pretty much our plan and then we’ll do some drafting tomorrow.  Thought it went well.  Cars are driving really good by themselves.  Good speed.  It was a fun day to see this new body style out there, it looks great and drives good.  It’s an exciting way to get the season started.”
 
DO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE SOME CRAZY MOVES COMING BACK INTO PLAY TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500 WITH THIS NEW CAR?
“If they take away that yellow line, absolutely.  Some of those ridiculous moves were just because you had to go wherever the car in front of you wasn’t if you had the momentum.  Back then they didn’t have that yellow line so you could go down to the apron, which made things pretty exciting and interesting.  Now that we’re not able to do that limits you a little bit, but I haven’t drafted yet.  I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be able to do things like that, but looking at the size of the spoiler and the speeds that we’re running I’m anticipating that handling is going to be a little bit more of a premium than what we’ve had in the past.  Just because there’s a little less down force in the rear of the car.  I really won’t know until tomorrow.  I saw those guys drafting out there a little bit and it looked like the cars were moving around a little on them when they got into some turbulent air, but other than that I really can’t say until I get out there in those conditions.”
 
DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE ARE A LOT OF CHANGES TAKING PLACE THIS YEAR AND WHAT IS THAT LIKE?
“It’s always great when you can carry that momentum and excitement that the team experienced in Homestead into the off-season.  No matter what changes are coming, whether they’re very little or big changes like we’ve had with the new car, the team can rally around that and it’s a great boost.  You need a lot of energy over the off-season.  Those guys work really, really hard while the drivers might get some rest, the crew chiefs and the team guys are getting very little rest because they’re preparing for the new season.  You add on top of that a new car, there is a lot of work to be done.  We don’t have a lot of these cars sitting in our shops right now.  Certainly, not many speedway cars.  Even while we’re down here, there’s a lot of work happening back at the shop.  To be able to have a great finish like we had at Homestead and take that into the off-season is a big plus and big positive for us and it’s helped us stay energized through the off-season to get ready for this new season.  I don’t think anybody is better than Hendrick Motorsports when changes come in adapting to them and new cars and being prepared.  I feel very confident in the team and our organization
to come out strong and be strong throughout the year.  That is also energizing.”
 
WHAT DO YOU STILL NEED TO LEARN IN THE COMING DAYS ABOUT THIS NEW CAR?
“You want to have a fast race car, that’s always the case.  I feel like we’ve got pretty good speed.  There’s a couple cars that we have our eyes on that look like they have a little more speed.  Things will change by the time we get back down here in February.  Not too concerned with that right now.  The car has good speed so that is number one.  The next thing is just getting the car to drive well in traffic.  Cooling and overheating and things like that have always been an issue down here the last couple years.  We anticipate looking at the opening in the grill for that to be something we’re going to have to deal with again.  Then whether the tandem drafting is going to happen at all or not.  It doesn’t appear that it is, but I still think that you have to explore it to see if with three to go, if there’s a green-white-checkered or something like that, you can be prepared to do what you have to do to win the race.  You have to come down here and kind of patiently be aggressive by exploring those things now.  It’s better to explore them now so we know what to anticipate when we get back down here in February for Speedweeks.  That’s the nice thing about being in the Sprint Unlimited, in that race it gives us a great opportunity to understand what we’re going to be dealing with for the upcoming races, the Duels as well as the 500.”
 
HOW DID YOU END UP ON A YACHT FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE AND DID YOU AND CLINT BOWYER HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK?
“The question is how he got on the yacht.  That needs to be the real question.  My family and I have been going down to St. Barts for the last four of five years and we love going down there for New Year’s.  I knew that Clint (Bowyer) and Kevin (Harvick) were down there because Rick Hendrick’s boat was down there and I think they were on that boat through a charter with some friends of theirs.  I stopped by there to say hi one time and they were gone, they were out having fun or doing something.  Then I went about my business and on New Year’s Ingrid and I went to a couple different parties and ended up at one, which was really the party of the year if you ask me.  It was an amazing event that P. Diddy had.  We were just hanging out having a good time and on walks Bowyer and Harvick and a couple other folks.  I don’t know, it was a great New Year’s.  I enjoyed myself very much.”
 
HOW ENTHUSIASTIC ARE YOU ABOUT GETTING RID OF THE COT?
“I think that’s just part of when you’ve been in the sport long enough, you get accustomed to a certain, especially when you come into the sport to drive a car a certain way and that’s what got you there and you come to adapt to it quickly and had success.  When things change in a big way, it’s how you change along with them and the longer you’re in the sport, the harder it is for you to make those transitions.  I think the COT definitely played that kind of a role with me.  If you come into it when the COT came along, you can adapt to it fairly quickly.  When you’ve gone through all the changes and I felt like I kind of dealt with the same thing with the big rear springs and the big front sway bars and just took longer to adapt to them and did very well.  I feel like this year it’s kind of the same thing.  It’s all new with a different car, different down force levels and we just have to adapt to them.  Some are going to do better than others and I hope that our team and myself make for a good combination to be able to keep up with those changes.  The test at Charlotte next week, when I tested Charlotte last year the rules were a little bit different.  They didn’t have all the down force that the car has.  It’s gone through this kind of wave where it was down force, no down force, lots of down force.  I look forward to getting back in the car in Charlotte next week to see what that package is like and how it drives and the kind of feedback I’m able to give the team to go faster.  Tire-wise, I don’t remember those changes in the tires back then.  I certainly know the changes in the tires in recent years that I haven’t done a very good job at.  Maybe it was similar to that back in the days.”
 
DID YOU AND CLINT BOWYER LEAVE THE BOAT AS FRIENDS?
“I don’t remember seeing him leave the boat.”
 
DID YOU TALK WITH CLINT BOWYER?
“We talked.  We talked.  I had a great New Year’s.”
 
DO YOU THINK TOYOTA OR ANY MANUFACTURER HAS AN ADVANTAGE WITH THE NEW CAR?
“Can’t tell yet until we get out there drafting.  I know when we were down here or when our cars were at Talladega testing I spoke to Kasey Kahne and the shape of the nose of the Chevrolet for pushing if it’s a pushing and tandem drafting type of race that our noses don’t seem to line-up as good as some others.  But then it just comes down to cooling and getting air into the grill.  That little piece that NASCAR has added to the bottom of the rear bumpers seems to have addressed that.  I don’t see where anybody has an advantage at this point.”
 
DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THERE BEING MORE MANUFACTURERS LOBBYING IN NASCAR AGAIN?
“I think NASCAR has gotten very smart over the years through trial and error and just experience.  You’re talking about a totally different situation.  I’ve been telling this story a lot lately about 1995 when the Monte Carlo came along and it was a dominant race car.  It was basically taking the street version and turning it into a race car.  It was superior to the competition.  It really became a race among Chevrolets that year.  That was a different greenhouse, a different rear deck lid, a different nose.  This car that we have here where I think they’ve gotten very smart is they each have their own identity and they’re great looking cars, but the important aspects that keep the cars as equal as possible are the same.  The greenhouse, how that air meets that rear spoiler.  Even the noses have different characteristics to them and in the wind tunnel they are all very, very close.  I may be wrong, but until we get through some races I don’t think we’ll really, really know.  Usually by this point, if we felt like we were at a big disadvantage you would already be hearing about it.
 
“I feel like right now we’re as good as anybody out there.  I don’t see where anybody has any distinct advantage manufacturer-wise.  There are some pluses and minuses to that.  At one point I think NASCAR wanted to get away from some of that and say, ‘We don’t want to go through that process throughout a year where one has a distinct advantage and one is lobbying and trying to get a little more spoiler.’  I remember when there was one getting a little more spoiler, one getting more kick in the nose and all these things.  Yet, that also had a lot of buzz and people talking about and really getting behind their manufacturer to try to either get them help or support the good things that are happening.  It’s always interesting trying to figure out what things are going to bring the most entertainment and excitement and draw the most attention from the media, the fans and the viewers that are going to keep this sport great.
 
“To me, I think we’ve got a great car, great looking car and it’s driving very well.  There’s a lot of buzz and I think the racing is going to be great.  I think our racing has been great.  I haven’t had issues with the racing.  I think it’s been fantastic.  The double-file restarts helped a lot to keep the intensity and the racing exciting.  Of course we’re always trying to think about ev
olution of how aerodynamics are playing a role.  That’s across the board in motorsports.  The lead car having an advantage over the second-place car and how do we create more passing and all those things.  I still think we are so far better than the rest of the racing out there that I still think even if we have a little of that aero turbulent air, the dirty air and all that stuff, I still think our racing is the best out there.  Something that we can all continue to progress with.”
 

 
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
PRESEASON TESTING
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
DECEMBER 11, 2012
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media today at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a test session to learn more about the 2013 car.  He discussed how the test has gone so far, how the car feels, what his expectations are for 2013 and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT HOW THE TEST HAS GONE SO FAR AND THE NEW CHEVROLET SS:
“Our test is going pretty well so far.  The cars drive really well.  I know everybody is probably real curious about how we think the racing is going to go.  It’s real early in the game, this is the first time I’ve driven the cars at all.  I’m really impressed.  I really like the balance of the car, the downforce seems to be relatively good.  The car has driven well for us today.  We will just move through the next couple of days here and keep tuning.  Trying things and see what the car likes and doesn’t like.  Hopefully, get some more testing in before the season starts so we can continue to understand.  A lot of the rules and decisions that NASCAR is going to make on this car, some are finalized, some are not.  It’s still a little bit of a moving target for the teams.  I’m real encouraged so far.”
 
DID YOU GET ANY SENSE OF WEATHER PASSING IS GOING TO BE ANY EASIER WITH THE NEW CARS?
DID YOU DO ANY DICING OUT THERE?
“No, we didn’t.  We didn’t get a chance to run any cars together or around each other too much.  That is kind of what I meant by it being early in the game.  It’s just we only run for four hours, just by ourselves.  From what I could see nobody else was really in a competitive kind of atmosphere out there with other race cars.  I think that the car has really awesome potential.  I like it already leaps and bounds beyond the COT or the old car we ran.  This car really gives me a lot of sensations that are similar to the old car that we ran four years ago or however long ago it was.  It’s still early.  I’m trying not to get too excited or form too big of an opinion or too solid of an opinion of the car.  We have got a lot of things to learn about it.  There are still some rules and things to be finalized and still a lot to learn.  I think it’s important for us as the drivers and the teams to try and help NASCAR as much as we can.  We are all sort of working toward the same goal this week, trying to put a good show on.”
 
HOW DOES THE CAR FEEL DIFFERENT?  DO YOU NOTICE THE WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION DIFFERENCES?  THE CAMBER DIFFERENCES? THE REAR SUSPENSION DIFFERENCES?
“The rear camber is a big deal.  I haven’t driven a car today with the old stuff and the new stuff, but I do know that it’s going to provide a ton of grip being able to camber the right-rear tire any more than we had in the past.  I know that is a big advantage to adding grip to the car.  The body on the car itself I think behaves better aerodynamically.  For the most part you still have a splitter and you still have similar geometry and what not.  We have a gigantic rear spoiler on the car.  You can’t see out of the car very well, but that spoiler is doing a lot.  NASCAR seems to think that spoiler is the one that is going to provide the better package for better racing.  It definitely gives the car a lot more comfort and it does resemble what we ran many years ago.  Those were some pretty good race cars back then.  The car really drives down in the corner, turns in the corner and turns off in the corner good.  I really don’t miss all the stuff we were moving around in the back of these cars last year, I don’t miss any of that stuff.  It did make the cars go faster, but they were a little bit more of a challenge to drive.  The sensations that you got going off in the corner crooked weren’t a lot of fun.  This is awesome for me personally I kind of like going in the corner with the car going straight, like it’s supposed to.  I’m enjoying this.”
 
CAN YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE CAR THAT YOU ARE DRIVING TODAY WITH THE ONE THAT YOU DROVE IN 1999? WHAT KIND OF ADVANCEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE SINCE THEN?
“Well, we were talking about the horsepower.  There is about 100 to 115 more horsepower under the hood that is a huge difference.  That is 10 mph maybe at the end of the straightaway.  That changes everything about how a car is going to run a lap when you change the end of the straightaway speed that much.  We are running bump stops as opposed to; we weren’t coil binding back then, but as opposed to running a conventional set-up in the front-end.  That really changes a lot of things in how the cars drive.  Back in 1999 we were just straightening the rockers out.  In 1998 and 1999 on the Nationwide cars we had those old rolled under rocker.  We didn’t have anywhere near as much side force.  We really didn’t have moving the rear bumpers down to a science like we do now and getting the side force and the quarter panels straight on the cars.  Just a lot of different stuff, a lot of changes, the tires are tremendously different.  Now there is a lot less tread on the tires, we have a lot harder tire, a tougher tire, more durable tire.”
 
YOU TALK ABOUT THE FEEL OF THE CAR BEING MORE LIKE THE OLD CAR ARE YOU SAYING YOU NEVER REALLY ADJUSTED TO THE NEW (COT) CAR BECAUSE YOU SEEM TO BE MUCH BETTER DRIVING THE OLD CAR?  ALSO, CAN YOU GIVE US AN UPDATE ON WHERE YOU STAND WITH SPONSORS?
“I don’t have any update as far as our sponsorship situation goes.  I thought the COT was just frustrating for me.  I had good runs and good races in it.  I had races where the car drove well and was comfortable, but I never really connected with that car from the very beginning.  Just personally I didn’t like the car.  I didn’t really appreciate it for what it was.  The cars that you see in the garage, you will stand there and see Fords and Toyotas and Chevrolets driving b.  It’s great because everything looks different.  Everything is recognizable, instantly recognizable.  You don’t have to think about the driver and the team itself to associate with a manufacturer.  You look at the car and you can see it instantly.  That is a great feeling for me.  I can appreciate the cars for that fact.  I know all you guys probably understand it, but I’m not sure a lot of people realize how important that is having that instant recognition on a manufacturer for our sport.  How much healthier our sport can be with that happening.  I can of like that when you see a car and you can recognize it instantly.  The cars for me the cars feel like they have a ton more downforce, but these are perfect conditions.  It’s real cool, the track has a great surface; this is a tough tire that is going to get ahold of it real good. So we are just flying out there and the car feels great.  If we got to Texas or Homestead which is worn out and you wear the tires out and start sliding around it may feel a lot more similar to the COT.  Today’s feeling good and driving well.  I think there is good potential for this.  The car looks great; it looks like a race car to me.  I can get excited about that.  I can get behind that.”
 
YOU HAD A REALLY CONSISTENT SEASON IN 2012 ARE THERE AFTER AFFECTS OF ALL THIS GOING INTO 2013 OR DO YOU JUST START OVER?
“Well, you would like to believe in momentum and things like that.  In this sport you can be a hero one week and a zero the next.  There is so much competition out there.  There are a lot of variables too with the new car, completely new; the sport is going to be revolutio
nized again with this car.  There are a lot of things that are unknowns, but I’m with a great company that sort of does really well under those kinds of circumstances.  When there are a lot of unknown variables they are really good at figuring those variables out and figuring out how to be competitive given a certain working space they can kind of figure it out faster than most people.  I’m fortunate in that regard.  I feel like I can be confident. I can go into next year confident that we are going to put good cars on the track and I’m going to like the way they drive and I’m going to enjoy the races that we have.  Again, I think the first 10 races of the season are the most important races as far as making the Chase, putting down a good foundation of points.  If you end up after those first 10 races around eighth or ninth or 10th that kind of seems to be where you end up fighting all year long.  Just try to stay in the Chase.  It’s a real tough mental battle and it wears on the team, it wears on the drivers that are in those positions.  It’s nice to get out there and get up front early and stay there.  That is our outlook and I think that we are in a good position.”
 
IS IT POSSIBLE WITH SO FEW CARS TO REALLY GET THE FEEL OF THE CAR AND KNOW WHAT IT WILL DO RACING AROUND OTHERS?  WILL SOME DRIVERS JUST TAKE TO THIS NEW CAR MORE THAN OTHERS?
“Yeah I mean if you get excited about it you will kind of dive into it a little more aggressively and speed up the learning curve a little bit.  If you don’t have a good attitude about something then you typically don’t have a good outcome.   I don’t know if there are enough cars here to really… I don’t think that we are all out there seeking to be in racing conditions to get out there and run around each other.  Everybody is bolting on parts, going out and running, seeing what that does, repeat, rinse and do all that good stuff.  You just keep on doing that over and over and nobody is really out there seeking each other out trying to race.  That has to be kind of manufactured by NASCAR for us to say ‘hey man six of you get out there and race each other’.  That probably won’t happen until May here in Charlotte anyways.  I like the car and I think it has good potential, but again it’s just real early I don’t want to put words out there.  I don’t know enough to really make a good enough guess on weather this thing is going to do everything everybody wants it to do.  I’m excited.  I think it has good potential.”
 
YOU SAID THAT THE VISIBILITY WAS DIFFICULT OUT THERE BECAUSE OF THE SPOILER IS THAT CORRECT?
“Well we have had that kind of deal before when they had the wing on the back it was just different.  You would like to look out the back of your car and not see anything, but other cars.  The first race I ran in Japan I think we had gigantic seven inch spoilers on the back of these cars.  I mean it’s nothing new.  You think though what drivers and fans and NASCAR want is for the guy that is running second, third, fourth to have good downforce to be able to drive up to the guy in the front without having an aero push.  You know big giant spoilers you would think that would negate that idea.  We have had them before, ran them before so we will just have to see.”
 
IT WAS OKAY THOUGH?
“Yeah, I mean it’s not dangerous or nothing.  I can see.”
 
IF YOU HAD TO GUESS WOULD THOSE WHATEVER DRIVERS END UP BEING THE MOST SUCCESSFUL IN 2013 BE THOSE WITH TEAMS THAT ARE MOST ABLE TO GET A GRIP ON THIS NEW CAR THIS SEASON?  ALSO, DO YOU THINK SOME TEAMS ARE AHEAD OF OTHERS IN THAT REGARD?
“Yeah, it’s too early to say whether anybody is ahead of anybody yet.  The guys that have tested the most are the guys that are going to have the most information, the most data.  The people willing to do the most work.  The teams with the most resources obviously have to feel like they have a comfortable advantage knowing their resources outnumber the next guy.  I am with the best team I think in the garage when it comes to resources and work ethic.  I feel good about that, but I know there are some other guys out there that are willing to work just as hard and aren’t short on resources either.  A situation like this where everybody is kind of scrambling to learn as much as they can there are some teams that will stand out I’m sure.”