Day: June 10, 2011

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

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed racing at Pocono this weekend, the new gear rule, winning the Prelude and much more. Full transcript:

TALK ABOUT COMING INTO POCONO THIS WEEKEND. “I’m looking forward to it. We’ve had a lot of good runs here. Fun race track. Very challenging race track. It is always excited to get the cars unloaded on Friday and see what you’ve got for a racer. We really had a good baseline package going on there for about six weeks and the last two weeks the package really hasn’t been working so the boys have been working really hard trying to cipher through all the data and try to figure out why it wasn’t working on those race tracks. I think hopefully that package is going to be good here. We’ve all got a lot of confidence in it. I think it will be a good race.”

RICHARD CHILDRESS JUST MADE HIS STATEMENT OUTSIDE THE HAULER, WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT RICHARD AND WHAT KIND OF A GUY HE IS? “His passion I think is the biggest thing for this sport. He takes a lot of pride in having success in this sport. He takes it very seriously. Here is a man that is 65 years old and still every bit as big a part of this sport and our organization as he was when it started and probably even more. We’ve got close to 500 employees and he works very hard to make sure all of them have a job. I think that’s the biggest thing, his passion for this sport is second to none. He doesn’t let anything get in the way of his dreams and making it a reality.”

WITH THE NEW GEAR RULE HERE, WHAT KIND OF DIFFERENCE IS THAT GOING TO MAKE AND WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO SHIFT?“Is that our push to pass button? I don’t know. There was a couple of times even in the last couple of years getting down into (turn) one you get really bottled up and you’d actually reach down and grab your gear anyway you’d be bogged down so much that you felt like you needed to. Only time will tell. We’ll have to get out there on the race track. I don’t know that it will be an every lap deal. Certainly, probably, maybe on restarts but we just have to get out there and feel it out and see what we’ve got. I’ve never shifted here before but like I said it’s not that big of a deal. We shift on the road courses all the time and it’s really kind of a given. You can tell by the pitch in the engine, you don’t even have to look at the tach and know what rpm you are, you can tell by listening to the engine if you need to reach down and get you a gear.”

YOU MENTIONED YOUR CAR BEING A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS, IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIFIC THAT YOU CAN POINT TO THAT’S MADE THE DIFFERENCE? “Yeah, that lap tracker. The time is not as quick as it was as the few weeks before. That’s the biggest thing that I saw. What stood out in my mind was the 18th-place finish verses the top-fives we were having. We’ve got to get back to working. They’ve been working hard. That’s the good thing about my race team. I don’t feel like it does me any good to go in there and chew their butts and yell and scream at them. They see the results. Step back and let them go to work. If its three or four weeks of that you better get to doing something but nine times out of ten sometimes saying nothing is best.”

AS A DRIVER IF YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING FOR ANY DAMAGES YOU DID TO ANOTHER CAR AFTER THE CHECKERED FLAG, WOULD THAT CURTAIL ANY KIND OF EMOTION?“Man I don’t know. Ask somebody that gets road rage or runs somebody on the highway was it worth it they would probably tell you yes. After they paid for it they would probably tell you no. It’s just one of those things. It’s over with. We’ve got to look for a new story.”

HOW WOULD YOU EVALUATE WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW AND HEADING INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE REGULAR SEASON WHAT’S A WEAKNESS OR A TYPE OF TRACK YOUGUYS NEED TO ADDRESS TO GET BETTER?“I still have a lot of confidence in our program. We just had a bad race. A lot of pressure was on that Kansas Speedway race, not only for myself but our race team. They know how important it was too me. We just came off a truck win. We struggled to find a good handle on the car. That’s happens to everybody in this sport. We’ve got to be able to bounce back and rebound from that and have a good run here. This has been a very good race track for us and I feel like a track that we can win at some day. We have to walk into this track with that approach in mind and go out and make it happen.”

TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE IS THE ISSUE OF GETTING ALL THE FUEL IN THE CAR SOMETHING EVERYBODY IS HAVING TO DEAL WITH AND HOW MUCH TO YOU THINK THAT IS AFFECTING THESE FUEL MILEAGE OUTCOMES?“We’ve obviously had some teams with some issues more than other teams. I think that as far as our team goes, knock on wood we haven’t had any trouble with that. We’ve been able to calculate our fuel mileage pretty well and get to the end of these things and make the best of that opportunity. We haven’t done as good of a job as some of the teams to take advantage of that opportunity. That’s the biggest thing. You’ve got to have the cajones to go for it and you’ve got to be man enough to stand up when it doesn’t work and say at least you tried. That’s the biggest thing about it, is it’s a pretty big gamble. There’s a lot to wager right there. There’s a lot on the line if it doesn’t work out but I’m telling you, you can change a bad day into a good day pretty quick if it does work out. Worked out well for some guys last weekend and not so well for others. One Penske car it worked out well the other Penske car not so much. As far as getting the fuel in the car and things like that, having to wait just a little bit longer is the biggest thing that I’ve noticed, is you see your tires guys done, no more impacts zinging and you’re still up on the jack and you’re like what’s going on? You think maybe one of them hung a lug nut or something then all of a sudden it comes down and you realized it was the gas that you were waiting on. Had that a couple of times. As far as getting it to the end and actually getting the fuel in the car I think that just happens to be the talent or whatever putting it in there.”

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE SATISFACTION AND PRIDE YOU TAKE AWAY FROM BEING A VICTOR IN THE PRELUDE BUT ALSO THE GOOD THAT IS DONE WITH THAT EVENT AS WELL?”Well I think the satisfaction and the pride of winning against some of the best drivers in the world, that’s huge. A lot of champions in that race. It means a lot to us to be able to participate in that race but I’m telling you the sense of pride to be able to win and be a part of something that’s such a great cause. Tony (Stewart) does such a good job. I’m telling you we have a charity event every year, it’s so hard to raise money for charity and to raise the kind of money he has continued to raise over the last few years for various causes is just unbelievable. That’s a lot of hard work on a lot of peoples parts to make an event like that go down and have that kind of success rate. I was very proud of Tony for putting on a great show year in and year out and having so much fun doing it.”

GIVEN THE CHOICE OF WINNING MULTIPLE RACES AND NOT MAKING THE CHASE OR MAKING THE CHASE WITH ZERO WINS RIGHT NOW WHAT WOULD YOU TAKE?“At the end of the week, making the Chase. Look at your opportunity there. You’ve got an opportunity to win a championship. If you win a championship nobody is going to care if you won zero races or 12 races, you’ve won a championship and that trophy is a hell of a lot bigger than any other trophy a race track gives you and so is the check.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE GENERAL OPINION OF KYLE BUSCH IS IN THE GARAGE?“Come on. He’s just a great guy. (laughter) Truth be told Kyle Busch is one of the best drivers in the sport. Everybody knows that and everybody has pretty much a uniform opinion about his personality. It’s the same for everybody I think. What you see is what you get. That’s what is great about this sport. You guys do a good job of covering it and people get wonderful opportunities to see and understand what a driver is like. We have fans ask me all the time what’s Kyle Busch really like, what’s Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, what are these guys really like and that’s the answer I give them all the time. We cover this sport well and what you see is what you get. There is enough opportunity there, both sides, whatever side of that person is going to come out.”

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.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What is your strategy coming into Pocono? “This week always a little bit challenging for us.  Not the typical Bristol or Richmond or Charlotte or something where we know how to run there or expect to run there.  This kind of place throws us a little bit for a loop every time we get here — whether we run up front or whether we struggle a little bit.  Last spring was really good for us — we sat on the pole and led a lot of laps and ran real well.  Then towards the end we finished second to Denny (Hamlin) I believe.  Then the fall race, just kind of meandered back about 12th or 15th all day.  Didn’t quite get everything we wanted.  We’ll see if we can’t turn the tables again this time and try to run up front and get a good finish this weekend for all our M&M’s guys.”  

Do you look forward to getting in the race car during difficult situations? “It’s different for every driver, but it my particular case I feel like once you get out onto the race track or once you get in the car and put your helmet on and then out on the race track — that’s where your priorities lie and that’s where your focus is.   To me, it doesn’t seem that challenging.”  

Do you feel you have a respect issue in the garage and do you need respect in the garage to be successful? “Can’t answer the first part for you — you would have to ask everybody else.  As far as needing respect in the garage area — certainly.  It makes your day a little bit easier.  Makes your job a little bit easier.  I’ve been able to have good conversations and talk to people outside the race car or at driver intros or stuff  like that.  Whether it’s the case that they’re not being true to my face — I don’t know, I can’t read that.  I’m not in people’s minds.  If you’re mad at me, you’ll have to tell me.”  

What are your thoughts on the new qualifying procedure at Pocono? “To me, the whole schedule is a little weird.  You come in today and you get the first practice and the first practice is going to base your time for qualifying.  Then you go into the second practice, which is later in the day — about when the race is going to end.  Then there’s going to be a lot of grip probably when the track starts cooling off just a little bit around the 4:30 or 5:00 time frame.  We’ll see how it pans out.  You come in on Saturday and you run one lap and then you have nothing else to do and then you wait until the race on Sunday.  That to me is a little weird.  I like the old schedule a lot better — just personal preference, if I had an opinion I would say that you come in and you run some race laps to get yourself acclimated to the track, you switch over, you go to qualifying trim, you make some laps, you qualifying that afternoon or evening or whatever it may be.  Then the next day you have two practice sessions solely devoted to your race car and what you might need to work on for Sunday.  To me, that’s a more productive schedule.”  

Do you feel like you are wearing the black hat rather than the white hat lately? “I’m not sure that there’s really any hats to be worn here.  The black hat deal — the villain type thing, I’m not sure that I really did a whole lot to bring that back upon myself.  I feel like I’ve acted in the utmost respect to every case that’s come up my way and has been thrown in front of me.  I’ve tried to do it with dignity and class and I feel like that comes from people wearing white hats — not black.”  

Do you understand why Richard Childress was mad last week? “Me giving a congratulatory bump to Joey Coulter is what tipped him (Richard Childress) over the edge there.  I don’t recall anytime — face-to-face conversation where Richard did tell me that, ‘If you touch another one of my cars I’m going to come find you.’  I don’t know if it was ever said in the media, but it was never relayed to me.”  

Would it be good if drivers paid for damage they cause to other cars? “If he came to me and was so upset about it, I would have offered him money to fix it.  I’m an owner in this sport — I know there’s going to be torn up equipment here and there sometimes, whatever.  I will say that if I didn’t roll out of the throttle, we both would have crashed off of turn four.  The kid did what he was supposed to do on the last lap there.  We raced each other for 18 laps and I was having fun with him trying to keep him back and I thought I had it done and then he got on my inside down the backstretch there and pulled a slide job through three and four and kind of squeezed me up there.  I had two options — lift and let him beat me, which is fine, no problem.  We’re racing for fifth in the Truck Series — wasn’t for a win.   Or crash the both of us.  It wasn’t necessary for any of that.” Have you received any secret fines in the last seven days? “No.”  

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) How should NASCAR handle penalties if someone is threatening a lawsuit? “I don’t know.  That’s not to my discretion to be honest with you.  It’s further to NASCAR to depose.  That’s a great question for the, but for myself, I need an instance of what you’re explaining.  Besides all the information you’ve just given me and the question you’ve asked, I can’t really comment further.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) Is tire management or fuel management more difficult? “If you had to just go into fuel management mode — that’s the hardest thing for me to do — I can’t understand how to do that.  I’ve done it in the past and I feel like I’m doing a really good job at it.  Then I end up being a half-a-lap short or maybe a lap short or something like that.  Carl (Edwards), for instance, I feel like he’s probably one of the best — Brad (Keselowski) might be pretty good at it too, obviously from last weekend.  Tony (Stewart) won here last year on a fuel mileage race or the year before.  Those guys do a great job at being able to maximize the amount of fuel in their cell and I’ve tried doing the same techniques they have — I just haven’t been as successful as they are.  You have a crew chief tell you, ‘Hey man, we’re eight laps short to the end of the race, we are going to have to save some.’  And they make it.  It’s like, where do you find all that?  I remember Carl at Homestead, I think it was 2008 and he was like eight laps short and were are like, ‘There is no way these guys are going to make it.’  They ended up making it.  To me, tire management is a lot easier.  Richmond, for instance there, the last run of the race, we went 100 laps there at the end.  You were in a little bit of a tire saving mode and a little bit of a fuel saving mode so with both of those together, it actually helped me.  I feel like that was probably the best fuel savings that I have been able to accomplish.”

Did you know how much damage there was on Joey Coulter’s truck at Kansas? “No, I didn’t feel like I hit him all that hard.  I just thought I rubbed him a little bit.  Typically when you rub a guy, you don’t see much damage from it.  The trucks are so different too.  I forgot about how the left-front fender on a truck — the nose is so much wider than the tire is so it kind of sticks out a little further so maybe there was more damage than I thought I would have caused.  That’s entirely my fault — I’m the one that instigated it there or initiated it.  As far as him having to fly out body hangers and all that stuff — if it’s something they didn’t feel that they could hammer and dolly out, sorry it came to that.”

Did the media interpret  malicious intent toward Joey Coulter? “There can be an easy way to interpret things sometimes and it seems like maybe I might be on the wrong end of interpretation a lot of those times.  There was no malicious intent to be involved in hurting or damaging a RCR (Richard Childress Racing) vehicle.”

Was anything said to you by Richard Childress prior to last week’s incident? “No.  We were in that NASCAR hauler from Darlington after the race and he (Richard Childress) never said a word in there.”

How are M&M’s handling the recent situations? “M&M’s is handling things the best that they can handle it and going through things day by day.  There’s a lot of support there.  We just had a NASCAR day at Hackettstown, New Jersey yesterday and people were awesome.  They had a lot of great questions about racing, about the sponsorship, about the partnership that we have and how things have really been working well for them over the past few seasons and how we can continue to grow the brand.  They’re doing everything they can in their power to make sure that we continue to carry on the presence of M&M’s in NASCAR and with Kyle Busch.”

How much have you talked with your brother in recent weeks? “I’ve talked to my brother (Kurt Busch) a little bit.  He’s had some good things to say and some good advice to give as well.   You mentioned that he had been through something like this before — little bit different case.  We discussed some things.   As far as there being support on my end — sure, there’s been a lot of support.  I’ve got a lot of friends that I talk to in the garage area.  Whether they’re crew chiefs or team members from other teams — even team members from the RCR (Richard Childress Racing) camp that are my friends.  I’ve had an outreach of support as well as after the incident in Darlington, it’s not something new for race fans, for as passionate and devoted as they are to this sport or to a particular driver that the outcry of a penalty — they want to pitch in and help.  I didn’t boast about it, but I had the same amount of fans that wanted to help pay my fine from Darlington in which we just put the money toward the Kyle Busch Foundation.  It’s cool to have that support when times get tough and it is cool that you can have something better come out of a situation like that.”

How many cars can win each week and how many are championship contenders? “Good question.  It is early.  To be honest with you, it changes every single lap or every single fuel stop or pit stop.  For instance, last weekend I thought Carl (Edwards) was going to win the race.  He drove up through green flag conditions, took the lead and didn’t take it off pit road and then two runs later I’m passing Carl and I’m running sixth and he’s eighth or ninth or something like that and I’m like, ‘I just thought this guy was going to win the race.’  Now you’ve got somebody else out there and Jeff Gordon started coming.  Then at the end of the race there was the fuel strategy playing out and all of the sudden Brad Keselowski is leading.  It changes every lap.  Somebody asked me last week or the week before — do you feel like you’re a safe bet going into the Chase riding on two wins?  Brad Keselowski just won a race — if he wins one more, he’s got two wins and he’s going to be, if I fall out, I’m going to be a guy and he’s going to be a guy and Jeff Gordon with one win is going to be out.   Things can change awfully quick.”

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Affliction Clothing Ford Fusion, met with media members outside his hauler prior to the first Cup practice session Friday at Pocono Raceway.

WHAT WILL BE THE DIFFERENCE THIS RACE NOW THAT YOU CAN SHIFT?  “I don’t really know but I think it will be a little bit better. I think it will be more forgiving if you get in traffic or if you miss the corner or whatever you will be able to down shift and have a little power to get back up out of there. I am looking forward to it.”

DID YOU LIKE SHIFTING WHEN IT WAS HERE BEFORE OR THE WAY IT WAS THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS?  “It is easier not to shift but I like shifting because it adds another element to the race. I think it probably makes more passing and you have to be a little easier and careful on equipment. I think it gives you more of a possibility of things breaking. It puts it more in the drivers hands and I like that.”

YOU HAVEN’T HAD THE SUCCESS YOU’VE WANTED AT THIS TRACK, WHAT HAS TO CHANGE THIS YEAR FOR YOU GUYS TO FIND VICTORY LANE?  “Yeah, it hasn’t been the best track for me but I am really looking forward to it this time. I think our cars are the best they have been in a long time and our engines are running better than they probably ever have been. I am looking forward to getting on the track. You need everything to go right, like any track, but I need to do a better job of giving my guys the feedback so they can give me what I need which is the car going fast.”

DO YOU LIKE YOUR CHANCES THIS WEEKEND?  “I feel good about it. Our team has done a superb job this year and we have had really fast cars at almost all the tracks that we have gone to. We don’t have quite all the finishes we would like but we do have a couple of wins and have been in contention a lot more than we had the last couple of years. It has been a lot of fun to go to the track this year.”

FUEL MANAGEMENT HAS BEEN AN ISSUE THE LAST COUPLE OF RACES. WHAT KIND OF IMPACT DOES IT HAVE AT THIS TRACK?  “It depends on when the cautions come out. That is what it is all dictated by. IF you have a caution come out and everybody is a little short and some can make it and some can’t, that is when it comes in play. If there is a caution with 25 to go and everyone can make it then it doesn’t matter. With the longer green flag runs it is something you think about more than last year at this time with all the cautions toward the end and green-white-checkers is tough. Last weekend you had to start thinking about two pit stops from the end, not one pit stop from the end. It has definitely been more of a factor this year.”

THERE HAVE BEEN SOME HIGH PROFILE ON AND OFF TRACK INCIDENTS THIS YEAR. IS THAT GOOD OR DO WE NEED TO GO BACK TO A KINDER, GENTLER NASCAR?  “I don’t know. I like watching it as long as I am not involved in it. I never like being involved in that stuff, but it is a lot of fun to watch it.”

JEFF GORDON WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT HOW SOME GUYS WOULD PLAY AROUND WITH SHIFTING HERE THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. DID YOU EVER TRY IT AND TAKE A CHANCE AT HOW IT WOULD WORK?  “Yeah, but the ratios were so far off that you were taking a chance at breaking something. A lot of people toward the end, like the last 10-laps, I would start shifting in a few spots and passing some cars. When you are underneath and shifting and the guys I race on the last 10-laps, everybody was shifting in turn one and turn three just because everybody else was and you could gain a couple car lengths off the corner. They needed to either open it up and let us shift again or change that third gear ratio to make it so big it was impossible to shift. I think this will be alright.”

DO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE A NOTICEABLE IMPACT ON THE TYPE OF RACE WE SEE ON SUNDAY?  “You know, hypothetically, I think it should create more passing. If you get in a two or three-wide situation and get and get bogged down you have another gear there to get your rolling a little better. I don’t know if it will make a big difference but it will be a fair amount different from the drivers seat. Without shifting it is a lot easier and you have less things to do and less things that can go wrong. I am looking forward to doing it again and I think it will add another element to the race.”

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO HAVE SUCCESS AT MICHIGAN NEXT WEEKEND? “Michigan is a two-mile track so everyone thinks about horsepower but it has a ton of corner so really you need to handle really well, that is the first key to being successful there. Of course you have to have a good motor. Lately there have been a lot of fuel mileage races and that is one of those tracks where you have to look at everything.”

IF YOU COULD ONLY CHOOSE ONE BETWEEN HORSEPOWER AND AERODYNAMICS THERE AT MICHIGAN, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU TAKE?  “That is an easy answer these days. You go for the engine because everybody is in the same box and very close with the aero on these new cars.”

WHAT IS THE TOUGHEST ASPECT OF 400 MILES AT MICHIGAN?  “That is a great question. Probably just managing everything. There have been times we have had really fast cars but it comes down to fuel mileage at the end. Probably handling the way you need to and having the track position and making sure you have the right fuel mileage to get it done or the right strategy at the end to have a shot.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

5-HOUR ENERGY 500

POCONO RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

June 10, 2011

RICHARD CHILDRESS, OWNER OF RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway. Full transcript:

RICHARD CHILDRESS: “Here is the deal. I am going to make one statement on this deal. I appreciate everyone’s patience during the last week when I couldn’t talk to everyone. The main thing is I take all the responsibility for my actions last week. I am very passionate about this sport. I am passionate about my race teams, our fans and I let my emotions get…come in front of my passion. But that is behind us.

“I guess the next thing is the fine that was levied against me, I’m going to pay it personal. I agree that NASCAR should have done something with me. I don’t agree that they didn’t handle the situation that happened on the cool-down lap.

“With that said, we had a lot of fans to send in donations last week toward our fine, I am going to pay it personally. All that money that has been sent in, that is still coming in, we’re going to take and donate to the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma.  At least in every bad situation, something good will come out of it.

“Hopefully Kyle (Busch) and myself will both end up learning something from this. Thank you all very much. Talk to you later. That’s it.”

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