AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 51 PHOENIX CONSTRUCTION CHEVROLET – Sidelined due to a blown right-front tire on lap 71
 
YOU SAID YOU FELT IT COMING, WHAT HAPPENED?
“It was getting tight the last couple of laps, but I just thought that was how the race track was going. I had that for the first run. Then I went in turn one, and felt it get really tight. I actually radioed in and said ‘I’m pitting this lap’.  I tried to checkup down the back straightaway and try to save it and make sure it didn’t blow. Unfortunately it did. I just feel bad for everybody at Phoenix Racing. James Finch; Hendrick horsepower. The car was really fast. We were running so well. I thought we could have an easy top-10, if not a top-five. Just so disappointed. These guys work so hard. This small group of guys, they’ve been through so much this year. They work their butts off. I really enjoyed it. I hope I’m in the car next week. I don’t know, but if not, James Finch, everybody at Chevy, Hendrick giving me this opportunity. It has meant the world to get back in this sport. I love this sport, and I hope I’m back next week. But if not, I thank James, Steve Barkdol and everybody for what they’ve done.”

MR. RICK HENDRICK, OWNER OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS (HMS), SPOKE BRIEFLY WITH MEDIA DURING THE HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 ABOUT THE MEDICAL STATUS OF DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET
 
MR. HENDRICK:
“I want to apologize to all you guys (the media). I gave you a little bad information out on pit road today. I’ve been out here at the dealerships and I did talk to the doctor (Dr. Jerry Petty, neurosurgeon) with Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) and he said everything looked good and everything was fine. However, I didn’t know until (HMS PR director) Jesse (Essex) informed me that I had gotten ahead of myself and that there is a closed test Monday that Dr. Petty will attend. Dale will be back in the car (for that test) and he’ll make the decision with a final test on Tuesday. So, we don’t foresee any problems but I didn’t read my emails this morning and I kind of got ahead of myself. I talked to the doctor myself and everything went good in Pittsburg (PA, tested Tuesday Oct. 16th)) and Dr. Petty felt real good about it. And I did know that they were going to shake down a car, but I didn’t know that the doctor was going, and that he would actually be evaluating him Tuesday (two separate tests/evaluations). I apologize for that. The test (next) Tuesday is in his (Dr. Petty’s) office. The test Monday is in the (race) car.”
 
ARE YOU STILL FEELING VERY POSITIVE THAT HE’LL BE BACK IN THE CAR AT MARTINSVILLE?
“I will be shocked if he’s not in the car. Everything looks good. His attitude and the way he feels; he’s had no headaches since Thursday or Friday of Charlotte; and the tests have gone real well. I think Dr. Petty is just being super-cautious and I applaud him for that. I think the sequence is that he (Dr. Petty) will be with him at the test Monday; they will evaluate him in his office Tuesday, and then he will notify NASCAR if he’s okay. Maybe I just heard what I wanted to hear when I talked to (Dr.) Petty because everything in Pittsburg was good.”

 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – Sidelined with an on-track incident on lap 155
 
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I have just been really frustrated with the No. 83 (Landon Cassill). He slammed into me on the front straight for no other reason than his radio communication ‘She was in the way’. I’ve always played fair. If it’s one time, I can imagine frustration. But it’s been pretty consistent with him getting in to me. So at some point in time, I have to stand up for myself, or everybody’s going to do it. So, the bummer is that this is my Texas car. We were having a good run, we were making the car better. And, I’m out of the race and he’s not.”
 
YOU TALKED TO YOUR CREW CHIEF GREG ZIPADELLI, DID HE GIVE YOU ANY WORDS OF WISDOM?
“Be honest.”
 
ON THE ACCIDENT:
“I’m fine but the car’s not, unfortunately. The GoDaddy crew and Zippy gave me a really good car today. I know we struggled in practice, but we made a lot of progress here today and were making the car better. My situation with the No. 83 is really a product of frustration. He got into me on the front straight and said I was just in the way. That’s really no good reason to hit me. If it’s one time, I can imagine it’s frustration, but it’s been quite a few times with him. At some point I have to stand up for myself so this doesn’t happen with other people. I chose today. The bummer about it is that my car is out, and he’s still out there going, so I’ve got to work on how to do that.”

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 CERTAINTEED INSULATION/MENARDS CHEVROLET – FINISHED THIRD
ON HIS RACE:
“We had Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) back this weekend. He is well rested after six weeks off, and had some good ideas to try this weekend. Our Rheem Chevrolet in the Nationwide (Series) was probably the best car yesterday. And, our CertainTeed/Menards today was good too. It’s a game of track position, and we had a good car. It was just a matter of getting us up there and having good pit stops and gained track position. Once we got up there, we just couldn’t hang on.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET – FINISHED FOURTH
ON HIS RACE – DID THE CAR NOT RE-FIRE?
“Yes, it just wouldn’t re-fire. Disappointing. But we got through there. We had a good car; we got back to fourth.  We passed a lot of cars there. The Farmers Insurance Chevrolet team did an awesome job. Great pit stops; great pit calls. A lot a tire and fuel strategy race throughout. Our guys did a really nice job. I had an awesome car. It was a little loose there taking off. It was coming to me and getting good there at the end. We just weren’t close enough at that point in time. But still, a solid day.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET – FINISHED FIFTH
ON HIS RACE:
“An eventful day. Happy to get a top-five out of it. We have a ways to go, but I’m really proud of our guys. We had stuff early on in the race and our guys never quit. They never gave up, but we’ve got some work to do still.
 
“Our guys led by (crew chief) Steve Addington, they never gave up today. Really proud of the effort they gave. That’s how we won a championship last year, by never giving up. We probably had to pass more cars than anybody today, but that seems to be our M.O. We seem to have to do that every week. We’ve got a little bit of work to do, but we’re gaining on it. Proud of my guys. We worked with a little different package this week. We still didn’t get it right, but we got pretty close.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED NINTH
YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE BACK OF YOUR CAR AT THE DAMAGE WHEN YOU SPUN. WHAT HAPPENED? HOW DID YOU DRIVE IT BACK TO A TOP-10 FINISH?
“I had to get a look at it here. It is pretty tore up. I’m definitely proud of this team, and the fact that we never give up. We continue to fight to try to get every point that we can. I think that yesterday’s Nationwide race showed that this thing isn’t over until the checkered flag falls on any given Sunday. All that said, I’m very proud, but also disappointed. I crashed the car. I spun out trying to get inside the No. 56 (Martin Truex, Jr.).  He bobbled a little in front of me and I thought that was an opportunity to jump in the gas real hard. When I did that, my car took off and I couldn’t catch it.  All-in-all a good day, but it could have been a lot better. I think we could have been in Victory Lane, and stretched some points on these guys.”
 
 MR. HENDRICK PRAISED THE NO. 48 LOWE’S TEAM OR IT’S QUICK REPAIR OF YOUR CAR. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
“I’m just now getting a chance to look at the damage on the car and it’s pretty severe. One, I’m impressed that
they fixed it as they did and got the spoiler and deck lid back in place. Two, I’m surprised that the car was as fast as it was. It drove fine through the turn. I could tell on the straightaway that I didn’t have the efficiency and I can see why with this left-rear quarter-panel. It’s blown out; a big parachute sticking in the wind. So, all things considered, without my mistake, I think we had a shot to win. And then even after that we had a great pit stop and came out up in the top five or six probably, but we had some issues with getting fuel in the car and I had to go to tail-end and still got back to ninth. So, I’m proud of myself for all but one corner. Everything else today and this weekend was really good except for one corner. And truthfully, I was just trying to get inside the No. 56 (Martin Truex Jr.). He was loose in front of me. I could see his car moving around and I was trying to put some pressure on him and his car bobbled. When his car bobbled, I jumped on the gas hopeful to get an opportunity and mine took off, just quick, just gone. So that was the crash.”
 
HOW CRAZY WAS THIS RACE?
“It was (crazy). It’s weird that all the cautions came back. Now we see this type of driving at all the race tracks, but we don’t get cautions out of is and today we got a lot of cautions out of it. And restarts were pretty wild. You had to run so hard that when something happened and you lost grip, the car just stood up on the tires and would take off and you couldn’t control it and the guys were sliding everywhere.”
 
WHEN YOU LISTENED TO (CREW CHIEF) CHAD KNAUS ON THE RADIO, YOU SEEMED SO CALM THROUGH THE WHOLE THING. HE WAS VERY SPECIFIC ABOUT ‘DO THIS, DO THAT’. WHAT’S THAT LIKE FOR YOU SITTING IN THE CAR AND THAT TONE HE WAS USING?
“It’s big. And that’s what truthfully we didn’t like about our attitude and execution at the end of last year. When things got a little trying for us, we didn’t communicate and work as we needed to. That’s all people; not just the guy calling the shots and what to fix on the car, but all of us. And today we executed like there really wasn’t anything that happened and did our best to get the car back on the track and get our best finish. It’s more mature racing here in 2012.”
 
HOW DID THE CAR FEEL AFTER THE CRASH?
“The deck lid and all that is so sensitive, I really thought I was in trouble when I hit the wall. It’s tough to get the support to hold that deck lid where it needs to be. And if there isn’t enough support back there, NASCAR will park you. So when I backed it in, I was pretty bummed out and assumed that we were going to be many laps down.”
 
YOU SEEM REALLY SHAKEN-UP.  OR WAS IT JUST A REALLY LONG AND HARD RACE?
“I had a couple of hundred miles to think through the mistake I made. And I want to be happy because of this amazing comeback the team had, but one little mistake. We didn’t lose many points if any, at all today; maybe it’s a draw because I led a lap. I’m not sure if Brad (Keselowski) did. But it could have been so much more. You don’t want to leave points on the table.”
 
HOW LONG WILL YOU KICK YOURSELF FOR THAT?
“Humm, through the night. Tomorrow I’ll get back to normal.”
 
DOES KNOWING YOU ARE GOING TO MARTINSVILLE HELP?
“I really hate missing an opportunity to get points on Brad (Keselowsi) on a 1.5-mile track. That’s his strong suit and they’re just good on them. Today we had a fast enough car that I think we could have gotten some points on him. So I’m disappointed in that, but at the same time, what we went through to finish and have it be even still is pretty good. So, we’ll take it and we’ll go to Matinsville and hopefully things will go well.”
 
HOW DID YOU CONTINUE TO REFOCUS AS YOU WENT THROUGH THE RACE AFTER THE CRASH?
“Luckily the damage to the car was really cosmetic. The suspension was still true and straight and the car drove correctly. That helped me more than anything. If the car was wicked and evil to drive, it would have been
a long, long afternoon. Luckily nothing was all that bad and it was just cosmetics.”
 
YOU FINISHED ONE SPOT BEHIND BRAD KESELOWSKI. WAS THERE A MESSAGE THAT GOT SENT TODAY?
“The best way to send it is how you perform on the track and today we showed what our team is capable of. Outside of that, and the one mistake I made, everything else went pretty awesome. I’m proud of the team and I hope the other guys are paying attention.”
 
REGAN SMITH, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET – FINISHED SEVENTH
TODAY WAS A REALLY SOLID DAY FOR YOU AND THE NO. 88 TEAM, BUT IT LOOKED PRETTY TREACHEROUS OUT THERE HOW WAS YOUR DAY?
“The track conditions were difficult.  I think a lot of it was just over done by guys maybe not being smart on restarts from what I saw.  Everybody was fighting for the bottom you didn’t want to lose positions on the top side, but then the top side would come in as runs would go on so that was kind of weird.  All the guys on the National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevy did a hell of a job.  These past two weeks we had arguably a better car last week had we had a chance to run the whole race.  It’s been nice to be able to step in and have them treat me like their normal driver.  I know Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) is excited to get back so that is going to good for him. Looking forward to whatever comes next for me.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 10TH
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE TRACK CONDITIONS TODAY?  A SOLID 10TH –PLACE FINISH FOR YOU TODAY:
“It wasn’t that bad.  It was hard to pass you just couldn’t reach the edge of the grip level really easy.  My car stuck pretty good so I had pretty decent grip on the restarts and we were able to make up some spots.  We did pretty good strategy so all in all it was a decent day for us.  I thought we could pull off a top five at one point, but we just didn’t.”
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/ARCTIC CAT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 15TH
ON HIS RACE:
“Our guys worked really hard today on this Bass Pro Shops team.  We were forced to short pit early and got caught two laps down when the caution came out.  Our guys thrashed and never gave up; we got position back on the lead lap and just battled through all the cautions to bring home a 15th-place finish.”
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TAYLOR SWIFT/TARGET CHEVROLET – FINISHED 16TH
ON HIS RACE:
“I’m proud of our Target team today. The guys did a great job and we went through a lot these last few days with a wrecked race car in practice and a flat tire during the race. Overall I was pretty happy with our car. What a crazy race that was. You never knew what to expect out there; everyone was wrecking. We just tried to run a safe race and thankfully we were able to stay out of everyone else’s mess.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/FARM AMERICAN CHEVROLET – FINISHED 25TH
ON HIS RACE:
“Our overall performance was indeed much better than our finishing result. There was just too much to overcome. But on the bright side, we have a race team that proved today that we can run up front. There is no doubt in my mind that we had at least a top-five car. ”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES CHEVROLET – FINISHED 30TH
THE ACCIDENT THAT YOU HAD WITH KYLE (BUSCH) CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH IT?
“I’m not real sure other than the fact that he got loose and I ended up hitting him in the middle of (turns) three and four and spinning him around.  Then we got clobbered by the No. 22.  A chain of events, but he just got loose in front of me and it’s so fast here it’s hard to check up when he is getting sideways.  Saw he already lost control of the car once earlier in the race it’s kind of treacherous on the tires.”

PAUL MENARD LEADS TEAM CHEVY AT KANSAS WITH A THIRD-PLACE FINISH
 
AL
L SIX CHEVY CHASERS HAD STRONG RESULTS
 
KANSAS CITY, KS – October 21, 2012 – Paul Menard led the Team Chevy train across the finish line in third place at the close of a crash-infested Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race today at Kansas Speedway.  This was the second top-10 finish in eight races at Kansas for Menard, driver of the No. 27 Menard’s/Certain Teed Insulation Chevrolet. There were 14 caution flags for 66 of the 267-lap race; most of which were brought out by accidents. Menard managed to steer clear of the melee, and led the field once for a total of six laps.
 
Behind Menard were Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet (4th), and Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy (5th). Regan Smith, who is temporarily substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevy finished 7th.
 
Jimmie Johnson, five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion in the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, hit the wall in Turn 4 just after the half-way mark in the 400-mile race. Quick repairs by the team put him back on track; and Johnson managed to bring it home in the ninth position. Johnson remains in second place in the CHASE for the NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings, just seven (7) points shy of the leader.
 
Teammate Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevy was 10th, and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet finished 11th.  All six Team Chevy contenders finished in the top 11 for the day.
 
Caught in accidents and sidelined early were Ryan Newman, No. 39 Code 3 Associates Chevy (30th), Danica Patrick, No. 10 GoDaddy Racing Chevy (32nd), and A.J. Allmendinger, temporary driver in the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Chevy (35th).
 
Rounding out the top five were race winner Matt Kenseth (Ford) and Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota).
 

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 CERTAINTEED INSULATION/MENARDS CHEVROLET – FINISHED THIRD
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll go ahead and get started with our post race availability.  We welcome Paul Menard, who finished third in today’s race.
Paul, talk a little bit about your run out there today.
 PAUL MENARD:  Just a good weekend in general.  We had a couple days of tests; work on a couple different packages.  Slugger came back fresh off of a six‑week vacation.  He had a lot of ideas.  Luckily we had two days to work through them.
 
Kind of hit on something yesterday morning that we liked, thought was promising, stuck with it.  Obviously running the Nationwide car on a new surface, we learned a lot about tire pressures, what grooves come in.  The second groove came in a hell of a lot better than I think anybody thought.  You could make lap time and pass cars.
 
Overall, just really happy with the weekend, the repave.  The track came in real well and it’s just going to keep getting better.  Real proud of my Menards guys.
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll take questions.
Q.  Paul, you sound happy with the repave.  What led to all the mayhem out there?
PAUL MENARD:  I was pleasantly surprised with it.  Anytime you repave a track, you expect the worst, single groove, hard to pass.  We’ve been breaking a lot of track records with all the repaves this year.
 
Going into the Nationwide race yesterday, I thought it was going to be a single file, right around the bottom, get out of line, be real treacherous.  It wasn’t.  The second groove burned in.  The third groove came in today.
 
 For a first race on a repaved track, I thought the track came in really well.  Would I rather have the old surface?  I would.  But with the surface falling apart, they had to do something.
Q.  Why all the cautions?
PAUL MENARD:  I don’t know.  People being impatient.  A lot of restarts.  Doesn’t matter what track you’re at, if there’s a restart, you have to get all you can.  Carrying a lot of speed here, so it’s hard to pass.  Very aero dependent.  I’m sure everybody was going for it.
Q.  Paul, you’re not necessarily someone particularly you see up front a lot, but you were dominant yesterday, you were up front most of the day today.  Is it the racetrack?  Did you hit on something?  What was it?
 PAUL MENARD:  This year we’ve lacked speed overall week‑to‑week.  Last year we qualified really well, had a lot of good speed, but very inconsistent results.
This year RCR as a whole has kind of lacked speed.  We found some things in the last month or two that’s helped us pick up just overall speed.
 
Then our consistency this year we’ve had, even though we haven’t been as fast, we’ve been more consistent.  This is just one of the weekends where we put it all together.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Paul, we appreciate your time this afternoon.  Congratulations on the run.
PAUL MENARD:  Thank you.
       

Chevrolet Clinches Bill France Performance Cup for the 15th Time
Award Recognizes Manufacturers’ Championship in the NASCAR Nationwide Series
 
 
DETROIT (October 20, 2012) – With Austin Dillon’s second place finish in the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway, Chevrolet has clinched the Manufacturers’ Championship in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The 2012 achievement marks the 15th time the Bowtie Brand has captured the prestigious Bill France Performance Cup.
 
“Chevrolet is honored to win the 2012 Bill France Performance Cup, and capture the Manufacturers’ Championship in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for the 15th time,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports.  “Our success is the result of dedication and determination of our Nationwide Series team owners, crew chiefs and their crews as well as the drivers giving it their all on the track. We salute the efforts of everyone who worked tirelessly to bring this award to Chevrolet.”
 
On the way to securing the Bill France Performance Cup, Chevrolet drivers have won 11 races in the 30 Nationwide Series races held to-date. The quest for the coveted Manufacturers’ title began at the first race of the season when James Buescher took the win at Daytona International Speedway.
 
“Winning the Bill France Performance Cup is a tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved in the Chevrolet NASCAR Nationwide Series program,” added Pat Suhy, Chevrolet Racing NASCAR Group Manager. “Our technical partners, in conjunction with Chevrolet engineers and those on every one of our teams have put in a dedicated and focused effort throughout the season that resulted in this Manufacturers’ Championship.  Thank you to everyone for their contributions to our success.”
 
In addition to Buescher, the following Team Chevy drivers that contributed to Chevrolet’s capturing the Manufacturers’ crown with manufacturers’ points-paying finishes are: Elliott Sader (four wins); Austin Dillon (two wins); Kevin Harvick (one win); Justin Allgaier (one win); Nelson Piquet, Jr. (one win); Kurt Busch (one win); Paul Menard, Cole Whitt, Ty Dillon and Ron Fellows.
 
“Congratulations to our teams, drivers and partners on winning the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Bill France Performance Cup,” said Shane Martin, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, NASCAR Nationwide Series. “While the organizations are competitors on the track, we are all Team Chevy, and the cooperative effort has resulted in this exciting and important achievement.  I am very proud of the contributions made by everyone involved in this program, and look forward to more success as the season winds down.”
 
With three races remaining on the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule, Dillon is in third place in the driver’s point standings and Sadler is the current points leader.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 19, 2012
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER:
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“Our Farmers Insurance Chevrolet was awesome right there. It was great. I tried to get a little…I went into (turn) three, and felt like I could go wide open. So I went back to wide open, and then I started just chattering a little bit. So, I eased off the throttle and back down. I definitely gave up a little time doing that. So far so good though.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED SIXTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“It was a good lap for our Code 3 Associates Chevrolet. The guys did a good job making it better. I don’t think we made it good enough; that is the problem. I think a couple other guys are going to be really fast, probably pushing the 27 second bracket.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP: DID YOU SEE ELVIS ON THAT RUN?
“I did, I saw him again.  There is an old saying, drive it in the corner and don’t hit the brakes until you see, and there’s a few names that come about, and Elvis is the one I grew up hearing about. So, I saw Elvis again, and went a little further yet. I had a great lap. The car is very fast. It’s awfully close up there at the top. It’s hard to look back at the lap and see where I could have been faster because you are just driving your guts out, and really doing all that you can all the way around the track. You know it is fast; you just don’t know if it is fast enough. We had a very solid lap with my Lowe’s Chevrolet. I think we are going to be strong on Sunday. We’ve been here so many days, I can’t figure out what day we are on, but we’re on Friday, so come Sunday we’ll be great.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 10TH
HOW MUCH OF YOUR NOTES CAN YOU USE GETTING AROUND RACE TRACKS LIKE THIS ONE THAT ARE NEWLY REPAVED?
“Well you never really know exactly what you need as far as travels and what the speeds are going to be.  So you have to kind of get here.  You have a basic plan and it’s like a lot of places we go to that are really smooth.  We have had a lot of experience with repaves this year so we take that same kind of approach and go from there.”
 
WHEN IT COMES TO THE RACE ON SUNDAY WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU ANTICIPATE FACING UNDER GREEN FLAG CONDITIONS?
“I think the hardest thing is just going to be passing.  Hopefully, in the Nationwide race and the ARCA race the groove gets spread out.  The bottom lane is still the fastest right now and that is going to be the way around.”
 
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 51 PHOENIX CONSTRUCTION CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 13TH
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“It was pretty good.  This place is really fast right now so when you kind of are in practice you get that rhythm of going out there.  We have been fighting just a little bit tight in practice. I got down into (turns) one and two and got right along the (white) line and it just got me a little free so I had to pedal it just for a second.  When the speeds are this high if you pedal it just a little bit you lose a little bit of time.  I’m happy overall so far the whole week has been really good.  As a driver you always want a little bit more, but that should I think keep us right inside the top-15 which will be good for us and we will try to get it good for 400 miles.”
 
HOW DO YOU THINK YOU CAR IS GOING TO BE FOR SUNDAY?
“I think it’s got out right speed so far the whole weekend.  I think the speed is there, but the biggest thing is the fact that as you keep going out there on tires you keep getting quicker.  Nobody has really gone out there on new tires and just run a ton.  I think we will be alright.  We definitely have good speed and track position is going to be everything so it’s the way that is going to play out.  All of us have to be smart and not make any mistakes.  I think if we can do that we can have a solid top 15 if not better on Sunday.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 7 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 41ST
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“I feel like anytime I’m not last it just feels good (laughs).  For me the big indicator of how comfortable I am is how I can qualify the car.  I definitely feel like we were making a little bit of progress today.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do as many qualifying runs as I would have wanted to in practice because I came across the line after my second run and lifted, popped it out of gear, but when I popped it out of gear it ran into third gear.  So, they had to change the engine and we weren’t able to do anymore qualifying runs.  Shortchanged myself there, but I will definitely push the clutch in every time I take it out of gear from now on.  We are steadily making progress and that is what this is for.  I’m sure that the race will be even more as it seems to do every other time.  I know it’s going to be tough to pass and I know we are not going to start in a great spot, but we will make the most of it and we will be better off next year that is what I keep saying.  That is why we are doing this.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 19, 2012
 
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET, met with media and discussed his time at Kansas, what he expects to see during Sunday’s race, his qualifying effort, and going to Martinsville next weekend. Full Transcript:
 
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“I was as brave as I could be. We ran a decent lap, but it’s real tight from where I am up to the top. Looking back on it, I don’t know what to really ask for because it was a very strong lap. The last two days have been good for our Lowe’s Chevy. Good speed in race trim and qualifying trim. I think that the conversation has been about the track and the resurface and I think they’ve done a nice job with the track and I’m hopeful, like everyone else, that we get some warmer temperatures so we start moving up the race track and widen out the lane. We know there’s more up grip up there with that extra banking. We just haven’t had a need to go there yet and I think a race plus a race under sunny conditions will allow us to do that.”
 
THE CONDITIONS ARE GOING TO BE MUCH DIFFERENT ON SUNDAY. HOW DO YOU THINK THAT WILL PLAY OUT WITH THE REPAVING AND RECONFIGURATION OF THE TRACK?
“It’s going to be a big guessing game. Tire wear isn’t all that high. When the track was green, we did see some tire wear so maybe as we’re starting to work in the top lane we’ll need to put four on for the first half of the race, but I would have to assume that two tires and good fuel mileage are going to be awfully important.”
 
YOU ARE GOING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH SO MANY UNKNOWNS AT THIS TRACK, IS THIS KIND OF LIKE A LITTLE BIT OF A WILD CARD AS WELL? THERE ARE SO MANY UNKNOWNS PLUS THE WEATHER AND THINGS LIKE THAT
“Yeah, it is tough to work on a plan, but I think that the No. 48 has always adjusted well and I think our experience under pressure situations and at different race tracks helps us. So we welcome the change and the excitement. It’s been a fun couple of days and I’m looking forward to tomorrow and Sunday as well. I’m having a lot of fun in this championship battle. This has been a very competitive chase. I’m enjoying racing with the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) and the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) week in and week out, and I’m looking forward to pouring the pressure on now.”
 
ON GOING TO MARTINSVILLE
“I feel good. I really do. The track in practice and qualifying; the track isn’t what we race. If anything, we get a little frustrated through practice and then our qualifying effort usually isn’t what we want. But when they drop the green flag, and we are racing, we usually go the right direction and I know it’s been a good track for us. It’s also good for the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin); the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) should be strong there too, but he’s a bit back in points and I guess the No. 24 is too; but there’s maybe a chance to pick some (points) up on the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski). I’m not sure what his record is there but I don’t remember seeing him up front a lot so there might be a good opportunity, but at the same time I don’t want to count those guys out. They’ve shown up each and every weekend and shown a lot of speed in a lot of situations. I’m excited for it, but I know a couple of other guys are too.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 19, 2012
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed the first practice session, a potential second groove coming in on the newly repaved surface and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TELL US ABOUT PRACTICE:
“We were moving along there pretty good making progress and we made one adjustment to try to make the car go a little faster and unfortunately it went the wrong way on us.  We couldn’t get that out of it before that practice was over.  I feel like we had good speed in the car up until that point.  Every time you go out everybody is going faster and faster.  I find it hard to believe that we are going to run quite that fast in qualifying, but you never know with repaves and cold tires what it is going to do.  I feel pretty confident that we can be a lot better than what we were right there.  The track is fast there is no doubt about that.”
 
IS THE SECOND GROOVE COMING IN?
“Not yet.  Not enough of one to go out there.  I think that it’s going to get wider as the races go through the weekend with double file restarts and all those things.  I still think the preferred lane is going to be around the bottom.”
 
YOU KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO HAVE THAT VERY SPECIAL CHEMISTRY WITH A CREW CHIEF.  WHAT DO YOU SEE BETWEEN BRAD KESELOWSKI AND PAUL WOLFE?
“I don’t have to see it.  I don’t really know Paul (Wolfe) all that well.  I probably don’t pay attention to some of the things that maybe you guys pay attention to. But, I know what it takes to be a good team and to win races and be a threat for the championship or win championships.  You’ve got to communicate well and you’ve got to have confidence in one another.  That is obvious what they have.”
 
IS THAT THE TYPE OF THING THAT HELPS YOU GET THROUGH SOME TOUGH TIMES THEY HAD A BIT OF A STUMBLE LAST WEEK?
“Absolutely, one moment doesn’t define your relationship as crew chief and driver.  You build that up throughout the year and you build up the confidence and you go through times where you are going to struggle or you’re going to have difficulties.  How you make it through those times is what makes you stronger.  Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and I have gone through that this year.  However, when you’re committed to one another and you have a close driver/crew chief relationship or friendship and you believe in one another then you prevail, you get stronger, when things do go well it only makes you that much better.”  
 
AT MARTINSVILLE NEXT WEEK YOU WILL BE IN TRAFFIC ALMOST ALL DAY LONG.  WHAT KIND OF A DEMAND IS THAT MENTALLY TO TRY TO AVOID POTENTIAL TROUBLE THERE?
“Gosh, you’ve got me thinking about Martinsville.  I can’t wait to get there I’m already dreaming about it.  It all comes down to preparation.  Hendrick (Motorsports) gives me such great race cars it allows me to just go focus on my line and my entry speed.  Just how we can make the car go faster get back to the throttle sooner and make the tires last over long runs.  To me Martinsville is just that kind of place that you get into a rhythm and it’s important when you get into traffic to maintain that rhythm or get back into it as fast as you possibly can.  I think there is no other track that demands that kind of rhythm more than Martinsville.  It’s very easy to over drive the corners there.  When you are around other cars you have to change your line and change what you are doing in order to make a pass.  It’s about jumping right back into that rhythm that you had.  It’s a part of the challenge that comes with Martinsville.”
 
IS THAT YOUR FAVORITE TRACK?
“It’s certainly one of them.  I like to go wherever we run good.  For whatever reason things have changed the least amount when you think of aerodynamics and the things that we are doing to these cars, tires, track conditions have changed the least there.  So it allows what I can do as a driver there to be consistent and still give good feedback and we just get to fine tune which is a nice thing.  The difference is we go to all these other tracks and they were showing it there during practice.  These guys skewing the rear-ends and doing all these crazy things.  You are constantly pushing the limits for aerodynamics at these other tracks and doing some pretty crazy things.  Sometimes those changes you feel as a driver.  At Martinsville we don’t do near as much of that.  That allows an old school guy like me to still be able to go to a place like Martinsville and have success and do the things that 10 years ago worked for me and still work for me now.”
 
WE ARE ALL TRYING TO LEARN MORE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ABOUT THIS CONCUSSION SITUATION.  LAST WEEK YOU SAID SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT OF IF THE CHAMPIONSHIP WERE IN THE BALANCE MAYBE YOU WOULDN’T BE AS HONEST WITH THE MEDICAL PEOPLE.  YESTERDAY WE SAW DENNY HAMLIN, A CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER, HIT PRETTY HARD.  HE ADMITTED HE WAS DIZZY DID THAT SURPRISE YOU AT ALL THAT HE WAS SO FORTHCOMING?
“Yes and no, I think that is kind of normal if you take a big hit like that to have a little bit of dizziness.  It doesn’t necessarily mean you have a concussion.  I think that where I would question any forthcoming information is a day later, two days later if he had headaches or still had dizziness would he be forthcoming.  I’m not judging Denny (Hamlin) or anybody else.  It’s just that is a very difficult position to be in.  Here is a guy that is in the championship battle with five races to go. It only makes it that much more difficult to make the right decision.”
 
ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT THE NEW SURFACE HERE THAT AFTER MORE CARS HAVE BEEN ON THE TRACK OR YOU HAVE JUST BECOME MORE COMFORTABLE WITH IT WITH MORE TIME ON THE TRACK?
“It’s just got a lot of grip and is really fast especially in today’s conditions cool, the wind is not as bad as it has been.  It’s going to change on Sunday, it’s going to be warmer the sun will possibly be out.  Things are going to be a lot different on Sunday than they are today.  Today we have seen some extremely fast speeds, qualifying is going to be ridiculously fast.  We are definitely finding the limits of the tire, the grips level, aerodynamics.  From inside the car you’ve got to be extremely committed.  It is as fast of a track as I can imagine us being at this year.  It kind of reminds me a little bit of Michigan but maybe even more demanding than that.”
 
HOW SO?
“Just the grip level the track has so much grip and a track like this you are actually putting more wheel into the center of the corner because it’s a tighter radius than say at Michigan.  The amount of throttle and wheel that you are putting into the car in the middle of the corner you are putting a huge demand on the tires, the car, the aerodynamics, the engine and the driver.  We started reaching speeds there in that practice that were pretty darn demanding and impressive at the same time.” 
 
OBVIOUSLY THE EXPECTATION COME SUNDAY REALISTICALLY IS THAT THIS RACE IS GOING TO BE A STRATEGY RACE…
“Not necessarily because I think what you are going to see is, yeah tire wear typical pretty hard tire, new surface you don’t typically see a lot of tire wear and so tire strategy come into effect. But it doesn’t mean there are not going to be accidents and cautions and necessarily be fuel mileage race.  It’s just going to come down to whether you take tires, two tires, four tires, and then whether or not we don’t see a lot of cautions, but we don’t really know that until Sunday.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE IN HELPING ALAN
(GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF) WITH THE STRATEGY BEFORE AND DURING A RACE?  HOW HARD IS IT TO RELINQUISH CONTROL AND LET HIM MAKE THE CALLS?
“It’s tough as a driver because if you are let’s say 15th-place you are going ‘oh the car is doing this, this, or this.’ A lot of times that is just aerodynamics you are just not getting the downforce because you are behind on the cars.  You have to be very careful and the crew chief has to be careful too taking that information and taking it too literally.  Because sometimes a driver is frustrated out there and you can take that exact same car doing those things and put it right up there in the front in clean air and that seems to fix three quarters of your problems.  I think there becomes a certain point where you work on the car, try to make it better and then there becomes a point that you go ‘okay now is when we have to start working on track position.’ That is the crew chief’s job, but the driver helps contribute to that as well by the feedback and information he is giving.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 19, 2012
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET and RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES CHEVROLET met with media following the press conference to announce Code 3 Associates’ role with Stewart-Haas Racing, The non-profit organization specializes in animal rescue and recovery in disaster areas and has partnered with the Ryan Newman Foundation and the Tony Stewart Foundation, both of which specialize in animal welfare.  Among the topics discussed with media were the new track surface at Kansas Speedway, their expectations for the race on Sunday, Danica Patrick running full time in the NASCAR Sprint Series in 2013, their outlook for the balance of the season, and more.  TRANSCRIPT:
 
RACING HAS ALWAYS BEEN IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE. WHEN DID OTHER THINGS LIKE CODE 3 ASSOCIATES BECOME AS IMPORTANT AS JUST MAKING A LAP AROUND THE TRACK?
 
STEWART:
“I think for me it was about three or four years after I was established in the Cup Series and you sit around one day and just in casual conversation you talk to somebody about what it was like six or eight years before that; and you realize that there isn’t anybody, unless they have a wealthy family, that bought their way up here. There are a lot of people, at least in my case, that helped out. Whether it was somebody who gave me an extra $20 at the end of the night so I had gas money to go to the race track; or had a kid that was off to college that had a room that and knew I was traveling to a track and couldn’t afford a hotel room, that gave me a place to sleep. It was scenarios like that that made it to where we finally were at the level where we could finally pay it back. It’s a very gratifying feeling in knowing that having some of these partnerships with some of these associations is sometimes more gratifying than a win because you realize that it’s more than just what’s happening in the moment. It’s got lifetime affects that help out. That’s when it was big to me.”
 
NEWMAN:
“Same here. It’s the two or three years after you built the confidence in yourself to know that you have the potential to make a difference in other people’s lives for the greater good. With our foundation, the Ryan Newman Foundation, we chose animals and animal rescue and helping to reduce the overpopulation through spaying and neutering and pet adoption and things like that. You get to a point where it’s just like Code 3. You want to do it your way. And that’s why we’re starting our own rescue ranch, which will be a rescue shelter at some point. It’s starting out with an education building for an education side. We feel it’s important to connect with the kids through school systems and school programs and things like that. We want to make a difference in our local community as well as up and down the entire eastern seaboard. That’s why we’re starting Rescue Ranch as a separate part of our foundation and the desire is just the same as like Tony said, it’s heartwarming to know that you can make a difference. And together we’re stronger as a team and why we appreciate Code 3’s support.”
 
TALK ABOUT THE IMPACT THAT THE REPAVE AND THE RECONFIGURATION OF THE TRACK IS GOING TO HAVE ON THE RACE THIS WEEKEND AT KANSAS:
 
NEWMAN:
“It’s faster. That’s the no-brainer. There’s a lot of grip with the tire combination, which is as equally an important part of the repave as it is the actual asphalt that they use. But in the two half-days we’ve had in testing, it’s very influential, as it was in Michigan, when the sun comes out, what it does to the race track and allows us to lay some more rubber down and move around. And from what I’ve seen and with the weather this weekend, it’s going to keep getting warmer and warmer and the sun is going to start beating down on the race track. I’ve seen the race track changing quite a bit; not just from what we’ve tested the last two days, but much more so in the next three days. You have Hoosier rubber as well as Goodyear rubber and multiple laps put on the race track, which are not going to really age it, but they are going to change it. So, the racing, I really can’t say until we get to that point where the track gets a little bit wider and we’re the last people to get to race it and it’s always better the later laps when the track has widened out.”
 
STEWART:
“Yeah, what still amazes me is how technology is and how they pave race tracks. To put banking in and have it so smooth; the transitions are smooth. It’s smoother than most highways that you go down. From that side it’s nice to see how nice it really is right now. It’s like Ryan said. It will be easier to get more rubber on the race track as it gets more heat. The cool temperatures like today, it’s a lot harder to get rubber transferred into the race track. But the more rubber that gets transferred down, the better it will be. So, like Ryan said, the temperature is supposed to keep getting warmer each day, so with that, it should keep making it better and better.”
 
THE PRELUDE TO THE DREAM IS GOING ON HIATUS IN 2013 IF YOU COULD TALK ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THAT AND ALSO TALKS ABOUT MAYBE A TRUCK SERIES RACE THERE?  AT 50 POINTS OUT NINTH IN THE STANDINGS AT THE HALFWAY POINT OF THE CHASE WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FINAL FIVE RACES HOLDS FOR YOU, WHAT YOU CAN DO AND WHERE YOU MIGHT END UP?

STEWART:
“Last year we had a really good stretch about this time of the year, but we are in a little different scenario this year than we were last year we are a little bit further back. You never say never and this track obviously it’s new for everybody this weekend so that gives us the opportunity to try to take advantage of it on a track that is new.  As far as where we think we will end up I have no idea.  The hard thing with trying to predict something like that is there are just so many variables that are out of your control.  We really missed on an opportunity at Talladega.  I mean I had an opportunity to gain 20 some odd points and that would have put us in a very similar situation where we were last year.  That was an opportunity that got away because of a mistake that I made.  We have learned that until they mathematically tell you you’re out you still have just a good of shot as anybody.  We will keep plugging away.  We are only half way through this now so we are going to stay focused.  We are racing like we are still racing to win the championship right now.
 
“The Prelude on hiatus it takes a ton of work to put the Prelude on.  We are changing our format for how we run the Dream that weekend making it a three day weekend with that series.  We are trying to focus on that a little bit more and some changes that we think are going to be better for our late model race.  We just needed to take a year off while we focus on that and make sure that we don’t get overloaded for that.  The rumor about the Trucks, trust me I would be ecstatic if we could get any NASCAR race at Eldora that would be great.  I have talked to NASCAR they have been looking at all kinds of different tracks.  It has been brought up in conversation but that is about as far as it has come right now.”
 
WILL THE PRELUDE BE BACK?

STEWART:
“We have intentions of bringing it back.  Like I said we are just changing the format with the Dream this year so we want to make sure that we have enough resources to focus on that.  It made it a little bit harder to try to put the Prelude on the same weekend so we needed to take a year off with that to focus on the dream.”
 
WHY DOES A RACE TEAM NEED SOMEBODY IN THE COMPETITION DIRECTOR POSITION?  WHAT WOULD THEY BE AT A LOSS IF THEY DIDN’T HAVE THAT GUY THERE?

STEWART:
“I think for where the casual fan doesn’t understand is t
hat not every car owner can be at the shop every day and can be down on the floor every day and handling financials all the way down to the people that sweep the floor at the end of the day.  The competition director is very crucial in that connection between what is going on down on the floor and what is going on in the upper office.  He is managing the crew chiefs, managing the teams, managing the different departments at the race shop. He is that connection between downstairs and upstairs.  Especially on a race weekend, if we have any kind of a problem that is the guy, and in our case with Greg Zipadelli, he is the acting role as the car owner from my side.  He is very crucial in that role and having the right person in that role if very important to each organization.”
 
WHEN THINGS LIKE THE GODADDY DANICA (PATRICK) REPORTS THAT CAME OUT THIS WEEK DO YOU HAVE TO GET INVOLVED AT ALL WITH THAT OR DO YOU LET MIKE (ARNING) AND HIS PEOPLE HANDLE IT?  DO YOU EVER WORRY THAT ALL THE CRAZINESS THAT SURROUNDS HER WILL IMPACT HER ON THE TRACK?
 
STEWART:
“I never worry about how it is going to impact her on the track because when she started last year in the Nationwide Series everywhere she went it was crazy, but she is able to get in the car and focus on what she is doing.  As far as what came out yesterday it hasn’t even been to our department yet and our side.  We don’t really have anything to do with that at this point.  I think whatever happens it will be interesting to see when it comes Super Bowl Sunday for sure.  As far as what she is doing with the race team and the commitment there it is all the same. For us we read everything yesterday and laughed about it and going on.”
 
REGARDING YOUR OUTLAW TEAM: THE TIRE DEAL THAT IS UP RIGHT NOW, GOODYEAR IS OUT, SPECULATION IS WHAT TIRE THEY ARE GOING TO GO TO TALK ABOUT THAT, YOUR DRIVER ROSTER NEXT YEAR AND ARE YOU GOING ANY OF THE NATIONAL TOUR RACES (AMERICAN SPRINT CAR SERIES) TOWARD THE END OF THE YEAR?
 
STEWART:
“I’m a little disappointed in World Racing Group to be honest.  I don’t think that their decision was what they thought was good for all of Sprint Car racing.  I think they made a decision what was good for them only.  I think the tracks are finally speaking out and speaking back and saying hey you are not going to dictate how we run our races.  I personally think Hoosier is the perfect option.  It has been for years.  I’m kind of surprised that World Racing Group when American Racer brought them into the lawsuit years ago and then all of a sudden they are trying to partner up with them.  I find that kind of ironic.  I think World Racing Group has kind of lost focus on caring about its racers.  I think they are starting to show pretty clearly now that they are more worried about themselves.”
 
INAUDIBLE

STEWART:
“It makes it tough for everybody.  It’s really going to make it hard to get cars to show up at Outlaw races when they are not running that tire.  A lot of tracks around the country have already announced that they are going with Hoosier tires next year.  Hopefully, at some point World Racing Group takes a step back and realizes that they have to have partners around the country with race tracks and teams to do what they do and not just trying to make a quick buck by signing a tire deal.”
 
OUTLAW ROSTER FOR NEXT YEAR?

STEWART:
“Still got Donny (Schatz) and Steve (Kinser) on board for next year and real excited about that.  I’m really proud of both of them.  We had a one-two finish a couple of weeks ago with Steve (Kinser) winning.  I’m really excited to have our same lineup back next year.”
 
DANICA PATRICK WAS IN EARLIER TALKING ABOUT HOW SHE FELT SHE DID HERE YESTERDAY IN THE TEST AND AT CHARLOTTE.  SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE RACES THAT YOU PICKED WERE PRETTY TOUGH.  YOU HAVE TALKED A LOT ABOUT THAT BEING THE INTENT AND THAT SHE WOULD THANK YOU NEXT YEAR.  DO YOU INDEED THINK THAT SHE WILL THANK YOU NEXT YEAR?

STEWART:
“Yes.  I do.  I really do think she will thank me next year.”
 
WHY?
 
STEWART:
“Just like we said we picked races that were going to be hard.  They are not supposed to be easy.  Her scenario is a little different than a lot of other drivers.  She has been very eager to get to the Cup series and I still think more so than some people do that she has the ability to be successful at this level.  The learning curve that she is going through has been a lot shorter than what it probably should have been. But with that, that is why Ryan (Newman) and I are here as a support system to her, why Greg (Zipadelli) was chosen as her crew chief for this year.  I believe she can do it, but it wasn’t going to be easy.  There wasn’t anything to learn by going to easy tracks this year on a partial schedule.  The schedule she is going to have next year she is going to have to go to these hard tracks.  Being able to just have the experience of going the year before even if it’s a rough experience you at least learn and get a base of that track anytime you do something for the first time it’s tough.  The second time is always easier.  I don’t care what it is.  Next year she will see the benefits of that.  It is hard because she is running against top notch guys, top notch teams.  There is not enough time to allow her to get caught up at this point, but she is still learning.  She will realize that next year and she is a confident person and part of my job as a car owner is to say ‘hey I know it’s frustrating at times, but trust me there is a benefit to what we are doing.  I’ve been there before I know’.  Though she may not see the benefit of it right now she will next year.”
 
HOW DO YOU BALANCE GIVING HER THE TOUGH LESSONS WITH KEEPING HER CONFIDENT ENOUGH THAT SHE FEELS GOOD ABOUT THINGS?
 
STEWART:
“Because we have all done it, Ryan (Newman) came from totally different types of cars to this level.  I came from totally different types of cars to this level.  There is always that part at the beginning where you wonder if you can do it if it was easy at the beginning then you would have that confidence right away.  Anytime you move to a top tier series it’s going to be hard to be competitive right off the bat.  Having us having gone through those lessons and going through those experiences that is where we can help keep her confidence up and reminder her that hey there is a reason that we brought you into this program.  We can handle that side and help her out with that.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 19, 2012
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed how her season has gone and what she has learned, working with several crew chiefs, her expectations for next year and what she needs to do before the season starts and much more. Full transcript.
 
TALK ABOUT HOW THINGS HAVE GONE FOR YOU SO FAR HERE AT KANSAS.
“Yeah, we started practice a little late on Wednesday but we got some good laps for an hour and a half at the end of the day which was nice. Getting out on Thursday, I’ve struggled in the Cup car. I don’t really feel very comfortable. After I’m done with this I’ll be going over to figure out how I can feel more comfortable or what I’m doing wrong because I’m sure there is a lot for me to learn. I think in the Nationwide car we were pretty good actually. I felt like we had good speed. I actually expected to come and be relatively good on speed. I feel like JR Motorsports cars are very fast and they do well at big, fast tracks. Especially with how well we ran at Michigan I think we can take what we learned there and apply that really well here this weekend being a newly paved track like Michigan was. I was thinking I always tend to go pretty fast in the Tissot car when I drive it. It’s kind of weird. Each time it always seems to be a good weekend for me. Hopefully that keeps going.”
 
IT’S FOUR TO GO IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES, AS YOU LOOK BACK OVER THE SEASON HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HOW IT’S GONE?
“I feel like we’ve been overall much faster than what our results have showed and performed better in the race than what our results have showed. We definitely had a pretty long stretch of bad luck through the summer, and I feel like that was maybe where we had the most speed. Everything from Elkhart to Daytona to Iowa, there were a bunch of races that things happened that were not completely out of my control but definitely not always in my control fully. I feel like with that in mind it’s been an okay season. We recognize as a team that we need to find speed and that’s why you’ve seen the changes happen in the team that have happened. We all want to get faster. We all want to be more competitive and I feel like we’ve been inching a little bit closer here at the end of the year. I don’t know if we’ll get all the way by the end of this season but making progress is key. For me, ultimately because I’m moving on, it’s about learning and understand cars, understanding changes, and just getting a better grasp of all of the elements for the weekend. Ultimately I am disappointed with the results. I wish they were better. I wish there were better things on the record books. I would imagine a lot of drivers can say that at the end of the year.”
 
IS THIS A GOOD WEEKEND TO DOUBLE DIP, WHEN YOU HAVE A NEW TRACK?
“I don’t know if you are asking about other drivers or not, but for me the reason why this was picked was because there was this much more track time to do a Cup race, to get more comfortable. So, yeah it is a good choice.”
 
IS IT ADVANTAGEOUS TO RUN BOTH SERIES THIS WEEKEND?
“I don’t know. It depends on what everyone’s motives are. I don’t know why they drive the car. Do they do it for sponsorship? Do they do it for their team? Do they do it for track time? Why do they do it? That’s the question that needs an answer to decide whether or not it’s a good weekend for it. If they just do it for track time, you’re already getting a lot of it. So, that’s probably different between driver to driver.”
 
WITH ALL THE TALK ABOUT THE GODADDY SPONSORSHIP AND THE SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS THIS WEEK, DOES THAT STUFF BOTHER YOU OR IMPACT YOUR FOCUS?
“It’s more work for the general Danica racing team than anything as they are working on my behalf to make sure that everything is going the way it should. It’s just how it goes. It’s really not a problem. I know they were saying sorry for the drama, but I just drive the car.”
 
WITH THIS NEW TRACK, WHEN YOU CONSIDER DALE (EARNHARDT, JR.) CRASHING BACK IN AUGUST AND DENNY (HAMLIN) CRASHING YESTERDAY, ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS ON YOUR END?
“Any time you have a really wide track, I feel like the accidents can be bigger because you have further to go. When you’re running a narrow track and you bump the wall coming out of the corner or you lose it in the middle, you don’t travel very far and your trajectory is a lot less t-boning the wall. I think accidents can be pretty big at a place like this where not only is it fast from the re-pave, fast because it’s a 1.5-mile track, but because it’s wide. I remember my dad telling me that at Indy (Indianapolis Motor Speedway).
 
“It’s a fast track sure, but you’re running along the wall a lot of the time and the accidents can be big but at least you’re clipping as opposed to having so far to travel. I think that new tracks need to come in, they need to grip up and you need to lay the rubber down. The grip level outside of that is not the same. It’s very different as opposed to tracks that are seasoned. When you get off line it’s going to be really tricky and dodgy for sure. I think the tire here is hard and it doesn’t feel like it’s got a ton of grip. You know there is a lot of track time so hopefully that helps, but I think it’s going to be really tough to pass. I mean I could see that in practice. The times at least in the Cup car, I’m not that fast at all and people could come up behind me and I would just let them go because it’s hard to pass. You take the air away from them because you’re running the same line. It could make it a little interesting in the race if there’s not two grooves.”
 
WHAT IS THE EXPECTATION FROM THE SPONSOR AS FAR AS RACING? ARE THEY GIVING YOU THE TIME TO DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO GET WHERE YOU NEED TO BE?
“Oh yeah. I think my sponsors and partners have always been great about that. They don’t just sponsor me and put the name on the side of a car. They go beyond that for sure. They use my platform and my reach with fans. I always believe that’s what makes the relationship really work. While they want me to do well, I want to do well and that’s my primary goal. The relationship has legs outside of that and that’s what I feel like makes them work really well and why I’ve been fortunate to have sponsors stick around for a long time.”
 
WE’RE ALL STILL TRYING TO LEARN AS MUCH AS WE CAN ABOUT CONCUSSIONS AND THE WAY DRIVERS DEAL WITH THEM, I KNOW YOU’VE DEALT WITH BASE-LINE TESTING IN INDY CAR, DO YOU SEE A PLACE FOR THAT HERE IN NASCAR?
“I guess in a simple word, yes. I don’t think additional precautions or testing or knowledge is a bad thing. I’ve been asked a lot about people sandbagging the tests and my answer is at first a foremost my competitiveness comes out so I just had to do as well as possible because of my personality. The other side of that is if you choose to sandbag and not perform as well on the original test so that you can do better later, it’s your own fault. It’s your life. If you choose to do that you can, but it’s only affecting you.
 
“I thought baseline testing was a good thing. I think a lot of sports do that. I know when I had a big accident in Homestead at my first Indy Car race in 2005, I was fortunate enough to have a weekend off between that one and the next race which was Phoenix, and I took the baseline and retested the baseline at ASU (Arizona State University). I think it’s a good thing. I don’t think it’s a lot of fun to have to take the time to do it, it takes a while being about a 30 minute test, but knowing more about your mental status and health is always good.”
 
YOU’VE DEALT WITH SEVERAL DIFFERENT CREW CHIEFS, HOW DO YOU SHIFT GEARS WHEN YOU ARE GETTING INFORMATION MOVING FROM CAR TO CAR?
“I think it’s
fine. I don’t mind having different crew chiefs. I think the hard part is them understanding how to take what I’m saying and apply that to a car. When I say the car is pushing three out of five, that’s not the same for me as someone else. That’s the learning process and that’s the tough part. I think if you can get in sync with one or with two, then I think you are fine.”
 
PREPARING FOR A FULL-TIME CUP SEASON, DO YOU FEEL LIKE GOING INTO IT NOW THAT YOU ARE GOOD TO GO AND FEEL LIKE YOU’VE ACCOMPLISHED ALL THE THINGS THAT MAYBE YOU HAD IN MIND? IF NOT, WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO WORK ON A LITTLE BIT MORE AND WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST BENEFIT TO YOU HAVING RUN THESE CUP RACES BEFORE DOING A FULL SEASON?
“Just getting over the hurdle of running at difficult tracks and unique places. I think it’s going to be helpful to have some sort of baseline set-up going to these places next year. The new places are always challenging for me. It was the same in Nationwide. I get frustrated when I think about how I’m doing out there in Cup some times in practice.
 
“Then I remember back to Nationwide and I remember it didn’t go so great there either, and you end up figuring out how to drive the car and how to get it to the limit. You have to feel that out and be able to believe in that. I’m just not quite there, so each time I get to a new track it’s always the same. I’ve got to build up my confidence.
 
“I’m not the kind of driver that goes out there and goes past it to figure out where it is. I build up to it. Another thing I’m not very good at doing early on is take a car that’s not right and make it decent. I just don’t have the confidence to do that yet. When they make a change that’s right all of a sudden a bunch of time comes off. Plus the fact that I’m methodical, I was just talking to the team the other day about that, those are definitely characteristics of me.
 
“They’re not great, but they’re also not horrible. Being methodical is also what helps me be able to repeat it time and time again. I know that the team has been really encouraged in the races where a lot of times through the middle or the end of the race my pace is really good and they’re really happy with it. So, that’s the kind of stuff we need to focus on and keep in mind. Hopefully that will improve. I know that in Nationwide when I finally kind of figured out how to drive the 1.5-mile tracks at least, it helped on all of them. So I’ve just got to figure out those characteristics of the car and how to wrap my head around it.”
 
TONY (STEWART) HAS SAID MANY TIMES THIS YEAR THAT WHEN HE SET YOUR CUP SCHEDULE HE PICKED REALLY HARD TRACKS FOR YOU AND HE SAID YOU WOULD THANK HIM NEXT YEAR. NOW THAT IT’S ALMOST OVER, DO YOU EVER SEE YOURSELF THANKING HIM FOR WHAT HE PUT YOU THROUGH?
“I think the fact that I’m going to get to drive at his team is enough thank you for all of it. What doesn’t kill you makes your stronger right? I actually have had a lot of fun at some of the more challenging tracks. I really enjoyed Darlington. I really enjoyed Bristol. There have been some tracks that I didn’t expect to like. There are times that I go to places like for the Coke 600 at Charlotte and I thought I could do better there, and personally I thought I sucked. I think I surprise myself sometimes of what I catch on to and what I don’t. I’m sure it will help and just knocking 10 tracks off the list is one of the biggest things.”
 
WERE THEY TOUGH?
“All of them? Yeah, I feel like the toughest thing for me is I’m just so slow in practice. Guys are so fast. I feel like in the race when everything kind of evens out and there’s not new tires any more, all there is the beginning of a run which I still struggle with, once everything kind of settles in I’m better and I fix my car more throughout the race. There’s a lot more time to do it in the Cup race and by the end I feel pretty good, but practice is fast and furious. I just have to keep getting better.”