Day: June 10, 2011

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

5-HOUR ENERGY 500 P

OCONO RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

June 10, 2011

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed racing in Pocono this weekend, his confidence level, the shifting changes and more. Full transcript.

DO YOU THINK YOU WILL RUN WELL HERE THIS WEEKEND? “I hope so. We’ll see. We’ve got a tricky little race track here and some new shifting rules. So we’ll be learning all day long hoping we’ll be able to get up to speed and be competitive.”

HOW ABOUT THIS TRACK AND HOW YOU’VE RUN HERE IN THE PAST, DO YOU THINK THIS IS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN END THE STREAK? “I don’t know. We’ve not been real successful here in the last several years. We’ve had a really good start when we first started coming here. We’ve had a lot of good runs but the last couple of years haven’t been that awesome. We’re taking it one week at a time and see how it goes.”

WHERE IS THE CONFIDENCE LEVEL RIGHT NOW? “It’s good. I’m still good. Just trying to be productive, show up on time, be ready to work, try to work hard. See how that works out for me. It’s been going so good so far. Wanna keep trying to get better too.”

HAVE YOU BEEN TRYING ANYTHING DIFFERENT THAT HAS LED TO THESE GOOD RESULTS? “Basically we changed everything. I’m in a new shop, new team, new crew chief. Everything has been changed. I don’t know what else different I can do. That’s a lot. We’ve made a lot of changes.”

AFTER THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS DO YOU TAKE THAT AS FRUSTRATION KIND OF FUELED THE FIRE FOR POCONO? “It’s great, it’s not frustrating. I’m running good.”

SO CLOSE TO FIRST LACE THOUGH? “Yeah, that’s great. That’s where you want to be. Close. If not winning, that’s better than running damn 25th and 30th every week I’ll tell you that.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT SHIFTING HERE AND IF YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE SHIFTING? “I don’t know. I’m going to try to find out. I haven’t shift here in a while. I think it’s unnecessary but they think the brakes are going to be better but it ain’t going to be no better.”

DO YOU THINK ANYBODY WILL HAVE A REMEMBERING ISSUE WITH IT? “Shifting is no big deal. Just hopefully you’ve got the gears all right and everything feels pretty comfortable. It should be fine.”

AS FAR AS THE RACING, WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE GOING TO SEE AS AN IMPACT OF THE SHIFTING? “It will be the same as it was last year. Take last year’s race and replay it and just imagine all the drivers are shifting.”

THERE IS RAIN IN THE FORECAST, HOW MUCH DOES THAT IMPACT HOW YOU APPROACH PRACTICE? “What are the rules if it rains out tomorrow?”

FASTEST IN FINAL PRACTICE I THINK. “If none of us know, I don’t know if we can answer that question. Steve will do all that, I just get in there and he’ll say man we’ve got to put a lap down lets go and I’ll go try to do it. If we do we do, if we don’t, we don’t. Mainly today we’re just going to focus on how the car gets through the corners, whether we’re comfortable, how we’re shifting. We’ve got a little bit of time today and just try to really get those things down and get that stuff comfortable so we can run a whole race on Sunday.”

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT MICHIGAN? “I don’t know. I feel like we’ve run pretty good there the last several times we’ve raced there. I really like the race track. It’s a real fun place to race. You’ve got to have a lot of motor and you can’t use a lot of gasoline. When we put a lot of gas in these cars to go fast you end up running short on the fuel mileage. A lot of times that is a fuel-mileage race. You do need a lot of motor though and we’re pretty good in that department.”

SPEAKING OF MOTOR, IF YOU COULD PICK BETWEEN POWER AND AERODYNAMICS WHICH ONE WOULD YOU PICK? “Aerodynamics probably. Matt Kenseth won a championship without any motor. Jack Roush will tell you they ain’t got any motor, they’ve got a pretty good one these days but back then they haven’t too much. Sometimes when you actually get down on power you go through the corner faster. Aerodynamics is always important.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE QUALIFYING CHANGES THIS WEEKEND? “I really don’t know what the changes are. I haven’t really paid much attention to it. I think first practice determines how we will qualify. I thought if it rained out we would start by points but I guess it could be the last practice speed. I don’t know. It will take me a couple of weeks to get this all sorted out. It sounds kind of confusing.”

YOU SEEMED REALLY HAPPY AFTER LAST WEEKS RACE. “Yeah, I feel like it’s a good relationship and going pretty good. Just trying to protect it and keep it going that way. Hopefully everybody on the team is enjoying what we’re doing. We’re not satisfied, we want to win races and I know that those guys are itching to win and get in victory lane and if we work hard we’ll get rewarded with that. I hope everybody on the team is enjoying what’s going on this year. I certainly am. I’m certainly having a good time.”

HOW MUCH HAS BORIS SAID HELPED ELEVATE ROAD RACING IN THIS ENTIRE SERIES WITH THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE HE HAS WORKED WITH? “Well he’s definitely very helpful. He’s helped me with setup ideas, knowledge about road course set up, how to set a car up for road courses and obviously helped me with driving, helped a lot of drivers with driving. Him and Ron Fellows both, any time any of those guys come in and are fast they elevate the standard of competition and elevate the level of speed and what you need to change to be good always gets tougher. They definitely made us all faster whether it be by tutoring us or by raising the stakes by showing up.”

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR YOUR NATIONWIDE CARS WITH DANICA AND SOMEONE ELSE NEXT YEAR? “We haven’t really talked about it. We’re waiting on Danica to make her decision and we can start to plan what we want to do. It would be a lot of fun to try to go full time. We definitely would like to be part of that opportunity. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”

WHAT IMPACT DOES FUEL STRATEGY HAVE ON THIS PARTICULAR TRACK? SOMETIMES CIRCUMSTANCES LIKE CAUTIONS PLAY A ROLE AS WELL? “Yeah, that’s what really causes it from the get go. If the caution comes out, if you’re car is going to go sixty laps on fuel and the caution comes out with 65 laps to go then you’re in a little bit of a pickle. That’s just the way it happens sometimes.”

WITH ALL THE CHANGES COMING INTO THIS RACE, THE SHIFTING AND QUALIFYING, EVERY WEEK IT’S A WIDE OPEN RACE FOR EVERYBODY, DOES THAT MAKE IT ANY DIFFERENT COMING INTO THE WEEKEND? “Not really. I think it will be pretty similar to how it was last year. Racing here has always kind of been the same.”

ARE YOU CONFIDENT AT THIS RACE TRACK? “I like this place. It’s real tough to get around. It’s a pretty tough race track with all three corners being really different. The car wants to drive different through all three corners. Hopefully you kind of got a good balance across the board. But I feel good. Feel like we just are going to try to come here and do a good job, put together a good weekend just like we’ve been doing every week.”

DO YOU THINK THERE SHOULD BE A RULE IN PLACE FOR A DRIVER, IF YOU DO DAMAGE TO ANOTHER CAR AFTER THE CHECKERED FLAG YOU SHOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGES? “I don’t know if that would have made a difference. I don’t know. The way it was handled and I was reading some of Brian’s comments about Darlington and he was saying and I may be wrong but as far as I remember he was saying where he had a problem was the extracurricular stuff that went on outside of the flag. Everything in between the green flag and the checkered flag was fine but what happened after the checkered flag they felt was a problem. And then in Kansas it wasn’t a problem. So that was the only thing that stuck out to me, when is it okay to hit a guy after the race and when is it not okay. What Kyle did in Kansas we do all the time. I didn’t really think that was too big of a deal. Obviously it upset Richard but we run into each other all the time after a race but really a lot of it never gets caught on television or seen by anybody. Sometimes it’s because you’re happy for somebody and sometimes it’s because you’re mad at somebody. We end up sorting those things out ourselves someway and somehow. I guess there is a certain level of contact that doesn’t need to happen after the race. I can totally understand. I’m not calling Brian out or anything I’m just saying I wish I knew everything and I don’t.”

KYLE SAID HE DIDN’T REALIZE HE CAUSED THAT MUCH DAMAGE, YOU SAID YOU GUYS DO IT ALL THE TIME, AT WHAT LEVEL DO YOU DO IT ALL THE TIME? “If you’re mad at somebody you’re not thinking about nothing but what you’re mad about. You’re not worried about nothing but what pissed you off. Sometimes you make mistakes, sometimes you handle it just right and sometimes you don’t do nothing. It just depends, it’s all circumstantial. I don’t have much concern in it and I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. It was a big deal. What Richard did obviously drew tons of attention but what Kyle did wasn’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. When you just see it on TV you go oh man that happens all the time. I’ve seen that a million times before.”

IF SOMEONE HAD DONE LIKE $10,000 DOLLARS DAMAGE TO YOUR NATIONWIDE CAR? “I’d get mad. Heck yeah. When Denny and Brad were being idiots at Charlotte that one race and banging into each other’s fenders and stuff it really upset me. I was in another car and I went up there and ran into Denny.”

AFTER THE RACE OR DURING? “During. We were all like hey don’t hit that car. It was just really stupid all of us and then there was that big fight afterwards between the two teams. Not my team but the other two teams. It was just silly. That happens all the time and yeah you get mad. That damn Beuscher kid wrecked Danica in California for no freaking reason at all so he’s on the list. He’s got his coming one day.”

About Chevrolet:Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

5-HOUR ENERGY 500

POCONO RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

June 10, 2011

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 OKUMA CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed racing at Pocono, his team owner, fuel mileage and other topics. Full transcript:

TALK ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE AN OWNER THAT TAKES CARE OF HIS GUYS: “Richard (Childress) is one of those guys who has driven race cars and understands what comes with being inside the car and the frustrations. A lot of times Richard sides with the drivers, more times than not, in our competition meetings, on the race track, off the race track and always has our backs. We’ve all got his back. As you can tell, he’s always got ours. It is fun to drive for a guy that has got the passion and the desire to do what you have to do to be a part of this sport. He is a great guy and I love being on his team.”

DO WE NEED THE ‘HAVE AT IT BOYS’ TO THE EXTENT WE HAVE SEEN OR DO WE NEED A KINDER, GENTLER NASCAR? “You are asking me that question? (LAUGHS) Kinder and gentler is boring, so, things happen and there is a lot of emotion that comes with this sport. To have that caged up and have that not seen, let everyone see, how much is involved in this sport and how much everybody cares about this sport would be crazy.”

FUEL MILEAGE HAS BEEN A BIG ISSUE THE PAST FEW WEEKS, HOW BIG OF AN ISSUE IS IT AT THIS TRACK (POCONO)? “I think the fuel strategy, I think you’ve seen. I think the tire strategy, I know the last couple weeks have definitely have been just fuel mileage. I think the few weeks before that have been a lot of tire strategy going all the way back to Darlington. I think the reason that you see so many people taking chances on strategy is because of the importance of trying to make the Chase. With these two Wild Card spots, a win or two and putting yourself in an okay spot in the points might get you in. So you have to be willing to take a risk to win these races right now. Whether it is fuel mileage or tire strategy or whatever the case may be, you have got to have everything go your way on a particular with the strategies and things to work out. So, this race is tough because it is so far around and the fuel window lap-wise is very short. You have to have it all go your way here to.”

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET A WIN HERE? “I felt like we had a car capable of doing what we needed to do at both races last year. We definitely have to keep doing the same things that we did and try to move forward and get just a touch better. I like coming here. It is a fun track as a driver to come to and race and looking forward to the weekend.”

A LOT WOULD HAVE TO GO WRONG FOR YOU TO NOT MAKE THE CHASE WITH YOUR THREE WINS, HOW DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY THE NEXT 13 RACES? “We’ve already been down the experiment road and we have zeroed-in on some things we need to clean up and work on as far as packages at different race tracks and things like that. We’ve already been going down that road. I think as far as winning races is really what it is all about for us right now. Trying to put ourselves in position to do that and hopefully capitalize on a few more before the Chase starts. The way you have to think about these races right now is you can’t think that if you are running in the top-five, you can’t think like a top-five guy. You have got to think like you are racing in the middle of a pack and gambling. You have to gamble and you have to be competitive to win these races right now.”

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO AT MICHIGAN NEXT WEEK TO BE COMPETITIVE THERE? “It all just depends on how your car is working. How you are handling. We were fortunate enough to win the last race we ran there. The tires wear out; you have a lot of options as a driver to move from the bottom of the race track to the top and I think that is why everybody likes going there. It is a fun race track to race on. You have got to have good fuel mileage. You have to have a good handling car. You have to have the whole package.”

IF YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE ONE THING, WOULD IT BE HORSEPOWER OR HANDLING? “Handling.”

WHAT IS THE MATURATION PROCESS FOR A YOUNG DRIVER ON HOW HE MATURES THROUGH THE SPORT? “Well, this is a tough garage to negotiate. There’s a lot of people in this garage that are friends, that have been here for a long time. There is kind of a mindset of how it should all work. Sometimes, I’ve been there, you get outside that mindset and they will just kinda push you to the side and things become a lot harder than they need to be. So, it is definitely hard to find your place. I came in and pushed and shoved and talked and did all the things probably the wrong way, but it will teach you how to do it the right way really fast.”

HOW DO YOU THINK KYLE BUSCH IS DOING? “You know, he’s been here long enough, he should understand.”

WHAT IS THE HARDEST ASPECT OF RUNNING 400 MILES AT MICHIGAN? “It all depends on how your day is going. It really does. If you are having a good day, it’s not very hard anywhere to drive a good handling race car around and tell your guys what it needs and everybody is in a good mood. If you are having a bad day, you can get behind at Michigan really fast and usually when you are hooked up at Michigan, the leader’s in clean air and moving through traffic pretty well and if you are mid-pack, you can find yourself getting behind and a lap down pretty fast because you are going to have a green flag pit stop and you are going to have a whole bunch of green flag laps. You have just got to be going from the time the green flag drops and keep up with your car and keep yourself up in the pack.”

IF YOU WATCH A NASCAR RACEDAY, WHY DO YOU WATCH AND WHAT MAKES IT SUCH A GOOD SHOW? “I just like to see the funny faces and sounds of Kenny Wallace’s face. That is usually the only reason I watch.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED AT ALL THAT YOU HAVE THREE WINS TO THIS POINT IN THE SEASON OR DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD MORE? “I think we have been in position. We’ve won some races we shouldn’t have won and we have lost some races we should have won. I think last year we should have won more races and we were able to capitalize on some of the situations that we probably should have capitalized on last year.  For us, the performance has been good for the last couple of years. The capability of the team has been there for a couple of years. We’ve just been able to get off to a good start and make it happen so it doesn’t surprise me.”

DO YOU GET OVER THINGS WITH OTHER DRIVERS YOU HAVE CLASHED WITH IN THE PAST? “You do. You do sometimes. And then sometimes there are just those guys that you just can’t do that with. You definitely can get over things through time, but, situations happen and things happen and conversations come up with guys that you don’t necessarily like. You just have got to let things go. But sometimes there are just people you can’t do that with.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE PERCEPTION IS OF KYLE BUSCH IN THIS GARAGE? “I think that is pretty self explanatory.”

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE FOR YOUR TEAM TO GET TO VICTORY LANE HERE AT POCONO? “I think we just have to do the same things we have been doing here. We’ve had great cars the last couple of times we’ve been here. It is just like anywhere else, we have to put the whole day together and have everything fall your way at the end of the day. Everybody has done a great job and we will just keep at it. You never know. We can win anywhere, you just never know if it is your weekend.”

About Chevrolet:Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Pocono Raceway

Dodge Motorsports PR

5-Hour ENERGY 500

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

http://twitter.com/teamdodge

www.media.chrysler.com

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) TALK ABOUT YOUR WIN AT KANSAS, BEING 21ST IN POINTS, THE CHASE WILD CARD AND WHAT IT MEANS COMING INTO POCONO?  “As far as the wild card is concerned, it’s a great opportunity for a team like ours, guys like myself that are obviously not where we want to be in points, but have some performance capabilities.  We haven’t been able to consistently execute, but we’ve been able to run well.  That’s something I feel good about for our team.  I said earlier in the season, way before I was super competitive like I think we are now and way before I won a race, I felt like the wild card was great for the sport and served this sport well.  I still feel that way, to this date and this time.  I think it serves the sport well from the standpoint of guys that are a bit riskier with their situations and put things out on the line. Although it didn’t affect the way I ran the race last weekend in Kansas, if somebody else were to win a race and bump us out, I’m sure if you look at the last few races before the Chase starts as being very, very aggressive races that teams would do pretty much anything trying to get that win if they were in position to capitalize off it.  I think that serves the sport well; it kind of builds into that playoff-drama type feel that other sport have.  For that, I’m kind of excited for the sport, to have the bracket or whatever we want to call it, the procedure that they do.”

WE’RE HALFWAY TO THE CHASE; WILL YOUR TEAM GO ALL FOR BROKE FOR WINS?  POINTS?  HOW WILL YOU BALANCE THAT?  “I think it’s too early to have a strategy.  There’s still a lot of races left.  I think if you look at the way that our team is performing, we’re more than capable of being in the top-20 on our own merits with the way that we’ve been running.  We just need to continue to execute.  We’re a team that is growing stronger every week.  If we can continue to grow as we’ve grown so far and at the same rate, I think that not only will we be a Chase-capable team, perhaps makes some noise in it.  I’m very excited about that and I don’t want to do anything to interrupt that process by doing something stupid and trying to get a win that may hurt that process.  There’s a balancing act there, certainly.  As those last few races come before the Chase, obviously you’ll have a little better idea where you stand.  You hate to box yourself in and say ‘were going to do this, or we’re going to do that’.  We have a little bit more time.  Those last three to five races before the Chase starts are going to be really, really exciting.”

WITH YOUR WIN LAST WEEKEND AT KANSAS, DID YOU SHOW YOUR TEAMMATE KURT BUSCH THAT YOU ARE A FORMIDABLE TEAMMATE?  “That’s a better question for Kurt than it is for me because I really don’t know how he feels about it.  I’d like to think that we’re growing as a team.  I would be the first one to admit that last year and the way that we performed was essentially a lost year.  I think if you look at that, he has a lot of merit for what he said earlier in the season.  But that was last year.  Now we’re on 2011 and in a sense, I feel that I’ve picked off where I was in ’09 and there’s a lot of potential there to be that formidable teammate that it takes to have a great multi-car team.

“I think one of the less reported things at Penske Racing right now is the synergies between the teams.  I think if you look before at the (Ryan) Newman and Rusty (Wallace) days,  it was well documented how that was not the case and I think that’s something that we have right now at Penske Racing which makes me really excited moving forward.  I think that Paul (Wolfe) and Steve (Addington) and Kurt and I work together really well and believe in each other and I think that’s important.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW SPECIAL MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY IS TO YOU? “Michigan is a very special place for me.  Not just because it’s a track that I’ve won on in the past in a Nationwide car, but because it’s my ‘home track’ of sorts.  It’s interesting that Carl (Edwards) has won those races (at Michigan) and he’d give anything to win at Kansas.  I won at Kansas and he’d give anything to win there.  Maybe we’ll have to trade trophies one day.  It’s still cool to win a Cup race anywhere you can win it and I enjoyed winning at Kansas.  To win at Michigan would be right up there with the Daytona 500, that’s for sure.”

DID YOU AND PAUL (WOLFE) TALK ABOUT WHERE YOU WANTED TO BE IN THE QUALIFYING ORDER?  “I think pretty much everybody is banking on rain tomorrow.  We have a whole bunch of engineers with all kinds of computers that show clouds and so forth.  They say rain tomorrow and we have to believe them.  If that’s not the case, we probably would have gone with a different strategy.  So, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”

HAVE YOU MADE AMENDS WITH KYLE BUSCH?  “I guess I don’t know what making amends.  Making amends to me is sitting down and talking to someone and writing a peace treaty, so to speak.  And then, there’s putting things in the back of your mind and moving forward.  I’d probably say that I fall into the latter category as far as making amends.  To me, I put it in the back and move forward on what I can do to win next week and this week, make the Chase and all those things for my team.  I kind of find it a disservice to spend a lot time thinking about Kyle.  It would be a disservice to all the people that work on my own cars and to our own efforts.  If that’s making amends, then yes.  It’s probably not my definition of it.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES         

5-Hour Energy 500 (Friday Advance)

June 10, 2011                                            

Pocono Raceway

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion, took the checkered flag in the last race at Pocono in the fall. Biffle took time to talk with media Friday afternoon after the first practice session.

WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY THIS WEEKEND?  “Just coming off a good run here in the fall last year we are just trying to get our race car driving good. We weren’t that great for a major part of that race but we got good at the end and a little rain shower and got track position. We are trying to duplicate that and be a little better than we were in the first half of that race last year. We worked on qualifying a little bit. We are getting ready to work on some race trim stuff here in the second practice and see how we can get it to drive.”

WITH THE SHIFTING, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WILL BE DOING AND WHAT OTHER GUYS WILL BE DOING?  “I think everybody will have a little different strategy. Some guys will try to shift in every corner, some guys in one and some guys in one and three. The main thing is that we are shifting again like we need to be at this race track. I am still not clear on why we stopped shifting here originally. I know there as a rule that came into affect but we also still road raced and we shifted there. At this race track in the middle of the run you would go so slow in turn one and two that shifting will make it a lot more exciting and make some more passing zones and a little more side-by-side.”

DO YOU THINK THIS IS THE BEST PLACE FOR YOU TO GET YOUR FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON?  “Yeah, I think any of them are good, but as far as opportunity we feel like this week or especially next week at Michigan, which is a great track for us, we think that one of those race tracks or we keep saying that. Last week at Kansas, I had the best finishing average of anyone there at that race track. Darlington, you know. Dover has always been a good place. We have come up a little short so far. We are running pretty good and good enough to win, we just have to be in the right position at the right time.”

YOU HAVE HAD FUEL ISSUES. DO YOU FEEL THOSE ARE BEHIND YOU? HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT THE PROBLEM AND DO YOU FIND IT CURIOUS THAT 13 RACES IN WE ARE STILL HAVING PROBLEMS WITH FUELING?  “Yeah, we are going to always have fuel issues as long as we have this fueling system because it has a few down sides to it at the same time as it has upsides. With an improvement comes maybe a set back or something that could be negative. The one negative thing is that it is very important, from what I understand and I did a lot of research on it, the way you plug it in. If you get fuel on the air side, where the air returns, it is like a straw that has a bubble in it and the air won’t come out so the fuel won’t go in. No matter what you do, you have to get rid of that can and get another one because it has that air lock in it. The other thing that this thing does that the guys are getting better at is that it spills gas on the ground. They are trying to minimize that as well. When the connection comes apart it has a void area where there is some excess fuel. It doesn’t seal up right when it disconnects. It is just part of the changes that we have to face and deal with to get the best we can. If a guy doesn’t get it perfect in there, any one of these teams are going to have that issue.”

IF SOMEBODY OFFERED YOU THIS DEAL BEFORE THE SEASON, YOU COULD WIN ANY THREE RACES AND NOT MAKE THE CHASE, OR NOT WIN A RACE AND MAKE THE CHASE, WHAT WOULD YOU TAKE?  “Do I get to win the championship? If I get to win the championship then I am going to take no wins and win the championship by far. Nobody knows who won the three biggest races compared to the guy that owns the title a few years from now. We all know that Jamie won those last year, but we also know who won the championship. Like I said, it is very important. Winning races is important. That is how we measure each other. How many races have you won? When was the last time you won? Where did he win at? That is how we justify whether you are a good driver or team or have the talent or ability to compete at this level. On the other hand, the 12 guys that make the Chase are kind of the icons of the sport so to speak. They go to New York and do the thing. They do the banquet. There is a poster and this and that and media events. Those 12 guys and those 12 sponsors take a leadership role for 10 weeks and then somewhat the next season prior to the Chase again. That has a lot of importance as well.”

HALF WAY THROUGH THE REGULAR SEASON YOU ONLY HAVE ONE TOP FIVE FINISH. DO YOU FEEL MORE BEHIND THIS SEASON BASED ON HOW WELL CARL AND MATT ARE RUNNING?  “Yeah, we definitely feel like we are further behind. A lot of those races have been circumstance. We have run good enough to win. We have led a lot of laps and we were leading at Charlotte and probably would have won. We potentially could have won at Vegas but had a fuel issue. There are a lot of places where we should have top-fives for sure and don’t. The team is feeling the pressure because we are running good enough to get those finishes; we are just having crappy stuff happen to our cars and track position with throttle linkage falling off and can’t get gas in the car. We have fouled up this or that and I have come down pit road when I shouldn’t have. We have made a lot of miscellaneous mistakes. We have been competitive enough with the two other cars, we just don’t have the finishes they do.”

DO YOU THINK NOT GETTING ALL THE FUEL IN THE CARS IS AFFECTING THE OUTCOME OF RACES?  “Absolutely. 100-percent. The issue is that the teams are faster than you can fill the car with gas. It is that simple. The pit crews have gotten so good and the guys have gotten so good and trained and worked so hard that they can get the tires on the race car faster than you can get the car full of gas. Congrats to them for how hard they have worked and what they have accomplished. With the new fuel connection or whatever you want to call it, has slowed up the fueling of the car enough to where you can literally change tires faster than you can fuel.  Not by much, but it doesn’t take much. You know, when you are filling 18 gallons in 12 seconds, one second, you do the math on how much fuel that is. It is over a gallon a second. So if you are two-tenths of a second off then you are talking about almost a half a gallon of fuel or probably over that. It is very important. The thing doesn’t flow very well when the can gets low, which makes it worse. You know as well as I do that when you start dumping something out that has a lot of fuel it it, it has a lot of pressure. When it gets lower, it doesn’t want to flow as fast.”

ARE THERE WAYS THAT TEAMS CAN START WORKING ON THESE FUELING SYSTEMS? CAN YOU LOOK TO ADVANCEMENT OF THE SYSTEM?  “They have done a tremendous amount of work on this and the connection and different o-rings to give you more clearance or if you happen to not be square on it that it doesn’t shoot fuel into the air part of it and lock the can. NASCAR has let us kind of do what we want on the inside of the mechanism but the reality is the mechanism is kind of what it is.  There are small things they can do and I know they have worked like heck to optimize them. I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t know if it is having a gallon more gas in the dumb cans or what it might be to speed it back up just a little bit. It puts the emphasis back on the pit crew a little bit.”

YOU HAVE HAD A FEW DIFFERENT FUEL GUYS THIS YEAR HAVEN’T YOU? “We switched guys and had an intermediate guy for a couple of races and now we have a guy that is doing it. We have had two or three times where we haven’t been fuel. I don’t think it is because he did anything wrong. I think it is the timing. We are a gallon and a half short and at the mercy of the caution coming out and have to stop six laps short of the field. I think lots of teams up and down pit road have had that happen, even with the old system. The reality is that the emphasis now unfortunately is on the fuel part of the pit stop and that is the function of it.”

AT THE RISK OF SOUNDING POLITICALLY INCORRECT, THIS WHOLE FUELING SYSTEM WITH CORN BASED ETHANOL AND THE PRICE HAS GONE THROUGH THE ROOF WORLD WIDE. WE HAVE THIS FUEL YOU REALLY DON’T NEED AND A FUELING SYSTEM YOU REALLY DON’T NEED THAT HAS COST A LOT OF MONEY. ARE WE SOLVING A PROBLEM THAT REALLY ISN’T A PROBLEM?  “Yeah, I am going to reserve my comment on all that. If it is not broke, don’t fix it, you can always take that approach. Or you can always take the approach of trying to be ahead of the curve and innovative. We are trying to recapture the vapor or the fumes inside the fuel tank. When we first started messing with these things we are dumping a half a gallon of gas on the ground. I am not a physicist but I would have to say that probably makes as much fumes as what was inside the fuel tank. I was kind of scratching my head as you were at the beginning and asking if we were making it better or worse. We have gotten better about not spilling gas now and it has started to function more like it was intended to. The reality is that it is slower than the old system. Until we find a way to speed that up a little bit then we will be faced with having to wait a millisecond or half a second on the pit stop on the fuel.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What are your thoughts on the ‘wild card’ for the Chase? “You have to win to be one.  That’s about it.  For us, we’re trying to get in there by points — if you’re a wild card then that means you’re not in the top-10 in points.  If not, that would be a pretty disappointing year if we end up outside the top-10 in points.  We’re not going to be really worried about that or counting on that at this point anyway.”  

Is this a good time for you to race at Pocono? “It certainly is — we feel like we’ve been in contention for a couple wins here these last three or four weeks.  It comes at a good time.  This is a new car and it seems to have some pretty good speed in it.  It’s a good part of it.  We’re racing here in the middle of the day — conditions are going to be hot and slick on Sunday.  All those things factor into what usually caters to us.  I think this is a good time and hopefully it’s a chance for us to get in victory lane for the first time this year.”  

How much emphasis do you place on this race? “It’s tough to say that it’s any more or less than any other week, but you just have a little more confidence I guess you could say, when we come here.  I know what feel that I’m searching for in the race car.  For me, unlike other race tracks where I haven’t won, I’m constantly searching for something I don’t know in the race car.  Here, I know what I need and know what I want to be competitive and to win.  It’s easier for me to give good feedback I feel like.  I feel like our cars are better when we come and race here because I know what it takes to win.  I think those type of race tracks — that’s why when we win somewhere, we win multiple times is because once I get this feel that I like then it’s kind of easy to duplicate.”  

Does shifting at Pocono change your strategy for the race? “It does — it takes a little bit and it’s another element that gets changed.  It will.  I think that we’re really only shifting in one corner — it turn one.  It’s tough for me to say.  You’re still going to have the guys that typically run good here — looking at the practice speeds, it looked like the typical guys were pretty good.  I don’t think it will change a whole lot, but I do think it’s going to be tough on the reliability of these race cars for 500 miles.  Shifting takes its toll on engines for sure.   Somebody will break one.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES         

5-Hour Energy 500 (Friday Advance)

June 10, 2011                                            

Pocono Raceway

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg Ford Fusion, talked with media members after the first practice session of the day at Pocono Raceway Friday afternoon. Edwards is a two-time Cup winner at Pocono.

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LEADING THE POINTS AND YOUR STRATEGY HERE THIS WEEKEND.  “It is nice to be leading the points and coming here without a lot of pressure and just going for the win. We have a pretty fast race car and practice went really well and it is a fun race track. We were racing at Eldora on Wednesday night and coming here is so much different. That first lap in practice is an attention getter, driving down in that tunnel turn especially. It is one of my favorite race tracks to drive on. I am glad we are here.”

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED WITH THE SHIFTING AND WHAT IS THE GAME PLAN THERE?  “We have some different ratios for third gear. I tried shifting there in practice and I went the same speed shifting and not shifting. I think that will be something you can use maybe on restarts when the cars are bunched up. Right now with my limited race trim practice I don’t see myself shifting very much. There are a lot of cycles on the engines here and a lot of up and down on the RPM. Three times per lap and then if you add another shift in there it makes a lot of opportunity for mistakes. To me, I am going to do the best I can to not shift and have the car set up for that.”

CAN SHIFTING IMPACT THE FUEL MILEAGE HERE?  “Yeah, I think you use more fuel shifting and getting into third gear and then lifting and standing on it again going into fourth you burn more fuel shifting. If it becomes a fuel mileage race there won’t be guys shifting that last run. You just never know. There have been a couple of fuel mileage races here that I have been a part of and it is a tough place to save fuel at. There are a lot of bumps and the car moves around a lot. It is really hard to run really smooth laps.”

HAVE YOU GUYS HAD ANY ISSUES LIKE GREG (BIFFLE) HAS HAD WITH FUELING THE RACE CAR?  “That is a good question. I think there were a couple of times we had issues, but we haven’t had them lately. At least if we have, Bob hasn’t made a big deal about them with me. For a couple races maybe two months ago we had a little trouble.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW THAT CHANGES THE PIT STOP FOR YOU GUYS HAVING TO WAIT AROUND?  “Sometimes you have to wait and that last little bit of fuel can impact a race hugely. If you look at our Nationwide race at Chicago, it was full but that was a race that showed you that six more ounces of fuel and you can win the race or be the difference between winning or losing. The gas man is a bigger part now than I think they were before. It is hard to wait on pit road. It is hard for everybody.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO LEARN TO NEGOTIATE THE GARAGE? SOME GUYS COME IN AND HAVE TO REALIZE YOU HAVE TO CARE WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT YOU.  “I don’t know. I think I might care less now than I used to (laughter). At the end of the day you have to just respect one another on the race track. It doesn’t really matter what you think of each other off the race track as long as you have a good relationship on the track and respect one another as drivers and competitors. That is the most important thing.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED … WHAT DO YOU THINK THE GENERAL PERCEPTION IS OF KYLE BUSCH IN THE GARAGE?  “I don’t know about the general perception because I try not to talk with other people about someone else. My perception though of Kyle is that he is a very hard racer and we have gotten into it before as you guys all know. We had our deal at Phoenix this year and I felt that he really was trying hard to set things straight after that.  Even last weekend he raced me extremely clean there at Kansas. He is just a hard racer and we have a very good working relationship on the race track I think, other than that deal at Phoenix which he came over and apologized for. To me, we are fine and we race hard and it is fun to race him.”

RESTARTS ARE CRAZY HERE. DO YOU STILL SEE SHIFTING HAVING AN AFFECT HERE?  “I forgot until you just mentioned that how crazy those restarts are here. They are crazy. There is so much room and everyone can draft and really make things hard on one another. I think what will happen is that I don’t think the shifting will affect the first lap of the restart, but that second lap there are going to be guys who will go down into turn run and think, ‘okay, do I stick this thing in third gear or leave it here and try to run this in fourth.’ I think that is going to change a lot. As you stick it down in third gear you can miss that a little bit and upset the car and make a mistake. I think it will make the second lap on restarts a little harrier.”

I THOUGHT YOU DID A REALLY GOOD JOB ON REGIS AND KELLY AND SEEMED VERY COMFORTABLE, DID YOU ENJOY DOING THAT?  “It was a lot of fun. Leslie from NASCAR New York called Randy and said that there was an opportunity to go on the show. That was at about noon on Monday and we went on Wednesday. I thought, ‘well, sure, that sounds like fun.’ My wife and I were out on a walk and her mom said ‘Regis and Kelly, no way! I can’t believe it.’ I told her to tell her she could go, so she went and my mom went and we went up there on Monday night and it was really fun and we had a good time. They are really nice people. The coolest thing about that show is when the camera shuts off, nothing changes. They are the same folks and they were interacting with the crowd a bunch and having a lot of fun. Marc Anthony is a really cool guy too. I talked to him and I didn’t realize that he and Jeff Gordon are such good friends. He is a huge race fan and I never would have guessed that. He knew all about NASCAR and was pumped to get to talk about it a little bit. It was a good experience overall. I hope we go back. Kelly did throw me off by asking me what the car smelled like after a race. I had such a great opportunity to plug my Avon Turn 4XT and I just missed it.”

WHAT WORKED WELL FOR YOU IN PRACTICE, WHAT WILL YOU WORK ON IN THE SECOND SESSION AND WITH THE NEW SET-UP YOU WILL GO LAST IN QUALIFYING.  “We took a little gamble here because qualifying starts right around 11 and we think that going in early is going to be an advantage but with the chance of rain and cloud cover that is supposed to be here. We gambled and went out and set the fastest lap we could in qualifying. We achieved our goal, which was to be the fastest car, but we might have actually done the wrong thing though because if the sun is out and qualifying goes off this plan we will go at the end and have a disadvantage. We gambled and some other guys gambled that qualifying would go as planned and the sun will be out so they are going to go early. There are a lot of different strategies being played out behind the scenes that may not be obvious. If it rains we will look great. It would be wonderful to start on the pole but we will just see what happens. We will do some cloud seething or something. This is the game now. You have to set yourself up based on when qualifying happens, what you think the cloud cover will be. You try to run your practice to put yourself in the front or back of the order if you can.”

“Are those all of your 5-Hour Energy’s there Mulhern? That is like 45-Hours of Energy. (laughter) You guys are screwed. Oh, and you have a Red Bull and a banana. Well, I see you are on a health kick there. You need a cigarette or anything?” (laughter)

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ISSUED A SECRET PENALTY?  “I haven’t had a secret penalty yet. I don’t know if you can believe that statement inherently, but I haven’t had a secret penalty. I have had some good public penalties. I don’t know. Due to their secret nature I don’t know what they are or what they were for, so I don’t know what to think about that. I guess you have to be careful what you say around here.”

DOES IT BOTHER YOU THAT WITH THE NEW QUALIFYING PLAN THAT DRIVERS CAN MANIPULATE THE SYSTEM BY SEEING HOW SLOW THEY CAN GO?  “It is a little bit strange, the way the qualifying procedure has an impact on what you try to do. I think it is a neat idea and has been working for the most part very well, what NASCAR has been doing. I think it is exciting for the fans that the faster cars go toward the end. But you get these races where qualifying occurs earlier in the day and all of a sudden people don’t want to go fast in practice. It is an interesting thing. We talked a little about it this weekend. It is another opportunity for you to apply some thinking and strategy and I think it is another part of the race weekend that is kind of neat for the fans. I don’t mind it.”

AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON DO YOU THINK WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT GROUP OUR CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS WILL COME FROM?  “That is a really good question. I have not been paying that close attention to the points but I have noticed that the group of winners, we have had a lot of different winners. I think that this season has shown us that we are more competitive, all of us are with one another, than ever before. I don’t know. I just think there is a lot of time left. You look 13-15 races ahead and there are guys rolling out new cars and guys coming up with strategies and guys getting wins and making their way into the Chase that we might not be thinking about right now. I think it is too early yet. I think that this season you have had enough surprise winners to prove to me it is possible to have a surprise champion.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

5-HOUR ENERGY 500

POCONO RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

June 10, 2011

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed racing at Pocono, Matt Borland’s position at SHR, fines in NASCAR and other topics. Full transcript:

TALK ABOUT YOUR STRATEGY COMING INTO POCONO: “It will be interesting. It puts the driver back a little bit more into the equation of things with respect to the shifting. The second part of the shifting is that it does change the handling of the race car so getting into a car that drives good when you don’t shift versus when you do shift just because of the fuel mileage situation with the big race track, that makes a difference as well. The combination of driver, crew chief and race car, is probably more important than it is most other race tracks just with the asymmetry of the race. Three different corners; different banking; different length straightaways; shifting; not shifting-those types of things. A lot of communication has to be done here. You add into that your spotter talking you coming off of turn four the first couple of times, you get everything sorted out, you can have a good day.”

HAS TONY TALKED TO YOU AT ALL ABOUT THE MULTI MILLION DOLLAR DEAL WITH INDYCAR AT LAS VEGAS AND ARE YOU INTERESTED? “I have no idea what you are talking about, so, no he hasn’t talked to me about it.”

INDYCAR IS OFFERING FIVE MILLION DOLLARS TO RUN…”Oh the double-deal or whatever it is? No, we haven’t talked about it. We’d rather go run a sprint car show with five grand to win, that is just kind of how we work.”

IT IS MATHEMATICALLY POSSIBLE THAT A MULTI-RACE WINNER MIGHT NOT MAKE THE CHASE, WOULD YOU TRADE A CHASE POSITION WITH NO WINS FOR TWO OR THREE WINS AND NOT MAKE THE CHASE? WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT? “It all depends if you have a lot of second-place finishes. Just looking at the average of what it takes to be a champion. You want to be a winner in the first place. You have 26 chances to be a two-time winner, let’s say. That is pretty tough to pass up. My point about the second-place finishes is that if you aren’t a winner in the first 26, it is going to be really tough to be a champion in the last 10 and the second part of that is that you are going to have to have, what is Jimmie’s average the last five years-like sixth or seventh? That is a lot of second-place finishes if you are not a winning team. That is a 50/50 crap shoot if you ask me when it comes to what would I rather have. I also want to have a shot at the championship but typically, if you aren’t a winner in the first 26, you are not going to be a champion anyway.”

EARLIER THIS WEEK, THERE WERE ANNOUNCED CHANGES AT STEWART-HAAS RACING WITH MATT BORLAND BECOMING THE VP OF COMPETITION, WHY DO YOU FEEL THOSE CHANGES WERE NECESSARY AT THIS POINT AND WHAT DOES MATT BRING TO THE TABLE WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH HIM THAT IS GOING TO MAKE HIM EXCEL IN THAT ROLE? “Two things, for a lot of us, it was a bit of a surprise, I’ll say that. But at the same time, changes are sometimes needed to initiate the spark. To initiate that new chemistry and I think between…I don’t think Matt’s position right now is his long-term goal and I think it’s an interim thing, but he does bring a lot of technology. A lot of, obviously, crew chief background. To my knowledge, I can’t say this and know, but I don’t know that Bobby Hutchens ever was a crew chief, he’s worked with them a lot. I think from Matt’s standpoint, he is very in-depth with the engineering side of things and I think a lot of the work, a lot of the emphasis is now more-so on the crew chiefs than it is Matt Borland.”

TONY WAS COMPLAINING LAST WEEK ABOUT THE DESCREPANCY OF MOTORS, THEN THE PERSONNEL CHANGES, HAVE YOU GUYS PINPOINTED WHAT THE PROBLEMS ARE OR ARE YOU SEARCHING AROUND TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT?  “I’m sure you have listened to it by everybody else, but these cars are super sensitive. It doesn’t take much at all to get off when it comes to the grip, the speed and the balance of the race car. I’m not sure how to equate until NASCAR does a chassis dyno or an engine dyno where we are at compared to the Fords, Dodges and Toyotas. I think that the change that was made at our shop was just an internal one. It has nothing to do with our relationship with Hendrick. It has nothing to do with the chassis or engines. It is more a team chemistry situation and that’s part of why every change is made is how everybody gets along. Like I said, I’m not in the ownership role. I’m a hired driver so I only see part of everything that goes on. I’m told right before or right after what goes on when it comes to the changes. It is a tough situation, especially with Bobby (Hutchens). Everybody in here knows Bobby with his personal life as well as his professional life and that’s something that was definitely thought of. We’re just out there racing hard and trying to make a difference. Like I said, the emphasis right now is more so on the crew chiefs than it is Matt Borland. Matt’s a great guy, brings a lot to the table. And, he’s been at the table. He’s in our competition meetings; he knows what is going on. He’s always a very integral and important part of our team and our organization. It’s more just a naming thing I think right now with him.”

DID YOU GET A FINE FROM NASCAR FOR SOMETHING IN THE HAULER WITH JUAN PABLO MONTOYA? “I’ve always said that private things happen privately and what happens in the trailer stays in the trailer and there is a reason that we have private meetings and there is a reason that NASCAR does things the way they do.”

DO YOU THINK THAT IT SHOULD MATTER TO NASCAR WHETHER IT GIVES A FINE PRIVATELY OR PUBLICALLY AS TO WHETHER ANOTHER COMPETITOR HAS THREATENED LEGAL ACTION? “I don’t know anything about the legal action part of things. I do know that when we are talking about fines, whether it is private or public, there is nothing really we should elaborate on because it is not something that our sport should be proud of or should elaborate. To me, it is something for you guys to write, but it is not something that is good for our sport so it’s not something we want to keep talking about first of all. In every other sport, to my knowledge, out there has it, whether it’s golf, basketball, football, whatever. I don’t know how they handle it, whether it is publically, privately or both, but, I’ll just say that it is a negative aspect of our sport and we should all be talking about the positive things.”

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Friday, June 10, 2011 Pocono Raceway   

Dodge Motorsports PR

5-Hour ENERGY 500

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

http://twitter.com/teamdodge www.media.chrysler.com

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE STRATEGY THIS WEEKEND AT POCONO?  “It’s going to be good to see how the third-gear rule will play out with being able to shift again.  We’ll see how early in the run that we can do that.  But then you’ll have to manage your engine and rpms and not over-rev it.  We’ll see what pace we’re going to have.  Today is going to be warm.  It should be cooling off for Sunday’s event.  We’ll see what lap times we’re able to run and what pace we’ll have to set.  Overall, to be sixth in points, we ran really well last week and it’s exciting to see such a quick turnaround with what we have going on for setups and all the personnel things that we’ve moved around.”

WOULD YOU RATHER WIN MULTIPLE RACES AND NOT MAKE CHASE OR MAKE THE CHASE WITH ZERO WINS?  “To win a championship, that’s the ultimate goal.  To do that you need to have a consistent run to get into the Chase.  You can do it with wins.  You can do it with being consistent.  But if you’re not in the Chase, you don’t have a shot at the championship.  Ultimately, you want to win, but if you can be consistent and work your way into the Chase, that’s the most important key.”

CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW SHIFTING AT POCONO CAN CHANGE THE WAY YOU RACE AT POCONO?  “Back in the day, we’d run third gear primarily all the way around the race track and put it into fourth gear down the long front straightaway.  With the gear rule that we’re going to change to and what we’re going to adapt to today, we’ll see how it plays out.  We might end up shifting more often because it’s a third gear that’s mandated, so we can’t change it at all.  It helps you come off the corner stronger.  With a lower gear like that, you’re able to get those rear tires to spin a little easier and you’re going to be on the looser side of things.  It’s basically getting that squirt out of the corner, coming out of the corner stronger with that gear.  We’ll see how much it loosens it up, yet you still have to be conservative because you don’t want to over-rev the engine.  We’re seeing a lot of these races getting into fuel mileage.  The more that you’re shifting, that’s going to take away your fuel mileage as well.  Most likely, we’ll downshift right at the apex of the corner because it will over-rev the engine if we downshift into the corner.” 

HAVE YOU TALKED TO KYLE ABOUT THE CHILDRESS SITUATION?  “We just talked a little bit at driver intro last week.  He’s got a lot of things going on in his life; good things with his truck program, running all the Nationwide races that he does, and of course the Cup side of it.  I just told him don’t waver to what’s gotten you to this point.  Stay true to yourself.  Stay firm with how you’re racing on the track.  Don’t change.  At the end of the day, just try and smile more.  I think he’s trying to take everything, trying to be a perfectionist with it all and it’s really hard to do that at the level he’s trying to do it. 

“Ultimately, that’s what we’re all worried about, how the car performs and we want to win.  Then there’s the identity that you create, the icon that you become, the role model that you are to kids.  There are so many different hats that you have to wear at this level.  But at the end of the day, it’s just a matter of making that car fast and trying to get it to victory lane.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE IN NASCAR?  “I think that it’s good to mix the go-or-go-homers in with us.  There’s no sense in just trying to separate them toward the end.  You can see the lull in the action on TV when top 35 guys go and then you have the go-or-go-homers at the end, you can just see the interest drop off.  Mixing those guys in, but still continuing to do what were doing with practice speeds to dictate when you go out, is a smart move and we’ll see how it plays out this weekend.”

HOW MANY TEAMS ARE CAPABLE OF WINNING A CUP RACE AND HOW MANY ARE CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER?  “You’ve got where Brad (Keselowski) is in points, 20th or so, there are 20 teams that can win on any given weekend.  There’s probable more than that.  With the way that the series is so competitive, everybody is running very similar lap times.  With the way that fuel mileage sometimes plays out or just taking two or no tires, you never know because everybody is very competitive. 

“I would say there are a good 10 legitimate championship contenders and as we get closer to the Chase, that number ends up getting a little bit smaller.  Once you get into the Chase and start running those weeks down towards the end, you only have two or three guys that have a legitimate shot at winning (it).”

IS THE WILDCARD SYSTEM PUTTING MORE PRESSURE ON DRIVERS TO THINK AHEAD?  “It is different.  Now, if you win, you find yourself in great position to make the Chase.  Let’s just say you’re running eighth or ninth in points with no wins and you have a couple of bad weeks right before Richmond, the next thing you know you’re on the outside looking in.  Wins are important.  Wins get you that comfort zone.  Like (Kevin) Harvick right now, he doesn’t need to sweat anything.  He’s got three wins.  I don’t think you’re going to see a flurry of other drivers winning so many races that it leaves just one win for those guys to get into the Chase.  I think you’re going to have multiple wins if you’re going to be the wildcard to get in.”

WILL THE VETERANS HAVE AN ADVANTAGE AT SHIFTING AGAIN AT POCONO?  “These are the best drivers in the world and nobody is going to have problems adjusting to it.  In a roundabout way, just like when we went to Daytona and Talladega this past year and how things evolved with the two-car draft, if you’re going to find speed going faster as a two-car draft, well, you’re going to find speed in shifting out there.  No matter what it takes, every driver is out there to find that extra speed and be the fastest guy on track.  The veterans might adapt to it a little quicker, but you’ll still have a new guy like Andy Lally, he’s a great road racer, he’ll probably figure out how to shift it as well.

“The technique is just to be as nice to the equipment as possible.  You don’t want to be slamming it into gears.  You don’t want to be aggressive with it.  And, in the back of your mind, you always have to keep track of the revs in the engine.  You don’t want to over-rev it.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR INCIDENT WITH JIMMY SPENCER AND HOW IT AFFECTED YOU AS A DRIVER AND WHAT YOU CARRIED AWAY FROM THAT?  ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT NOBODY WAS SUSPENDED FROM LAST WEEK’S INCIDENT?  “Yeah, it’s really odd how different things happen in the past and how they were handled versus where we stand today and how things work out.  It’s like Kevin Harvick said he wanted all his money back from all the fines that he got from earlier in his career because things are being handled differently now.  We’re all responsible for taking care of this sport and the forefathers that gave it to us.  It’s up to us to continue putting it in a good spot and to carry it to the future for the young drivers that are going to come up and race with us into the future.  I learned things back when I was in trouble doing things wrong.  When you sit down at the end of the day and you’re on the porch in rocking chair mode, you want to see a different picture.  That’s what I wanted to see, a different picture at the end of the day.  That’s why it’s been good for me to change.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES 5-HOUR ENERGY 500 POCONO RACEWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT June 10, 2011

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed racing at Pocono, his foundation, shifting at Pocono and other topics.  Full transcript:

TALK ABOUT YOUR STRATEGY FOR POCONO THIS WEEKEND: “We are getting closer, our cars are faster each and every week. We still need to put all the pieces together really from Friday on. Qualifying is so important. We’ve had a couple of different issue pop up and trying to get that stuff under control so we can qualify, hopefully in the top-five on a regular basis. It just leads to a great pit stall pick and really helps the weekend. We’re still trying to get everything right on pit road. I’ve got a group of young guys that are extremely dedicated and focused and athletic. They are some green guys that don’t have a ton of experience and we’re getting them reps. They are crewing the No. 38 Nationwide car trying to get reps from time-to-time and getting a little better each week. I think once we get everything in order and we are very close on all fronts, we’ll be there competing on a regular basis for wins like we want. We did win one, we are second in points, so yea, the year could be better, but we do have a win and we are second in points and we have knocked on the door a few times early in the year to win and just couldn’t capitalize on it. But we are looking forward to doing some celebrating here before long.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW OFTEN YOUR FOUNDATION IS APPROACHED FOR HELP AND DO YOU FIND YOURSELF WISHING YOU COULD HELP MORE PEOPLE THAN YOU ARE ACTUALLY ABLE TO TOUCH? “Yes, without a doubt, we are approached daily by many to help. Our focus here lately has been on educational grants and we’ve focused it on three areas. Where I grew up, where my wife grew up and then in North Carolina where we live. It is very difficult and we do a good job of raising around a million dollars each year but between those three areas, we can’t take care of every grant request that comes in and we feel bad, but, we know we are making a difference. We wish we could help more. That is just on that side of things. There are still many, many other great causes out there and we’re always fulfilling requests and we try to help out as often as we can with as many fund raisers that take place and donate items. Just help wherever we can. I’m not the only driver doing. There are a lot of drivers and teams in this sport that do it and very happy to do so.”

TALK ABOUT BRINGING BACK THE ELEMENT OF SHIFTING HERE AT POCONO: “We started shifting last year and even I tried some the year before that and didn’t see a lot of speed because the gear ratios we were allowed to use, there is just such a big gap between each downshift is one, very risky and two, we couldn’t run the coolers on the cars to keep everything cool, cold, because as you start downshifting…the transmission coolers…so if you are running in third gear a lot, you are going to build a lot of extra heat and you need to have coolers and stuff on the car in order to keep the transmission under it. It was kind of a risky thing, you only wanted to do it from time-to-time. Not-to-mention the power curve of the engine, if you are not shifting, you might want to move the power curve down and a lower RPM range where you will run and then if you shift you kind of want to do the opposite because you can stay in that peak RPM longer. So it really hasn’t been a strong effort to have a car shift and guys are dabbling with it. Now it just makes it easy where you can come in, you can put the coolers on the car, you can get the gaps closer so when you downshift you aren’t risking missing a shift and spinning the car out and crashing it. It won’t be as easy to tear up the transmission and you can build and engine package to suit what you plan on doing. So I think it has been a good move. It brings a lot of interest to the track and a lot of discussion from a fan standpoint and the media standpoint. Gives us drivers options. Gives the team options. The engine shops options. I think there is a lot of excitement coming into this race from the garage area.”

IS THIS RACE HERE ON SUNDAY WIDE-OPEN WITH EVERYTHING COMING INTO THIS RACE? It is and what comes to mind for me first is usually at the end of this race, we have some type of fuel situation that develops or two versus four tire strategy. We don’t get a lot of cautions here and every time I think of Pocono, I think we have a great race for two-thirds of the race and then strategy comes into play and we find ourselves in 20th on a restart trying to fight our way back to the front. That part makes this race exciting at the end. I guess it is exciting for the fans but frustrating for us competitors because often times the fastest car will start that last pit stop on or that second-to-the last pit stop on mid-pack because you have a lot of guys gambling and trying to get some track position and out-strategize the fast cars. So that part makes it frustrating and exciting all at the same time”.

A FAN MENTIONED ON A SITE MENTIONED THAT THE NO. 48 GUYS ARE HIDING IN THE BUSHES AND ARE GOING TO POUNCE IN SEPTEMBER AND WIN FIVE OUT OF THE LAST 10 RACES, THAT SORT OF THING, DO YOU FEEL LIKE WITH THE NEW GUYS YOU HAVE THIS YEAR AND SOME OF THE CHANGES THAT YOU CAN STILL COME BACK LATE IN THE YEAR AS YOU HAVE DONE IN SOME PREVIOUS YEARS AND BE A FORCE IN THE LAST 10 OR 12 RACES? “Yes, I really do and I don’t feel like we’re in a big hole. We’re second in points. We’ve been in much worse positions than we are now in years past and been able to get stuff in order and come back. We’re learning, we’re developing new stuff.  We’re also developing a new group of guys over the wall as you mentioned and we’re trying as hard as we can each and every week just like we have each and every year. It may appear that we are laying in the weeds waiting for September. We are at 100% doing all we can on all fronts. I think it speaks to how competitive this garage area is and just because you have a good year the previous year and win a championship doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean you are going to come out and be successful. The garage area is very very competitive and we’re working hard to get back to the top of the mountain and if part of their observation is right, there’s time. There is time and that is what we feel, that is what we build a lot of confidence in is that we do have time to get our stuff right before the Chase starts. So we’re optimistic.”

JEFF GORDON SAID SOME TRACKS HE FEELS REALLY GOOD ABOUT AND SOME HE’S KIND OF IFFY ON AND HE SAID THIS ONE (POCONO) CAN CHANGE HALF WAY THROUGH A RACE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IS THAT KIND OF RACE TRACK? “Yes, we’ve seen that. I think this race in the spring last year, we dominated the first half or two-thirds and then the switch was flipped and we went the other way and couldn’t get out of sixth or seventh the rest of the day.  In our sport, if you lose track position and that is what usually happens towards the end of these races, you have different strategies coming along, you can get up there in clean air and develop and really tune your car for that environment and then if you lose track position, you have a totally different race car.  You don’t only see it here, you see it at all the tracks. I think there is a lot more in that than anything. Yes, this track is just very temperature sensitive, I think track position plays a big key in the success of your race here.”

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