Month: June 2011

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

SAVE MART 350

INFINEON RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

JUNE 24, 2011

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Infineon Raceway and discussed racing at Infineon, what are the toughest corners at Infineon and what his strategy coming into Sunday’s race is. Full transcript.

TALK A LITTLE ABOUT COMING TO INFINEON RACEWAY WITH THE ROAD COURSE: “I always look forward to it. I really enjoy hustling the race cars. Just working on being smooth and being fast all at the same time doing the whole left and right thing. Happy after Michigan to come off a good finish and gain a couple of spots in the points even though they were narrow gaps. To move forward and have a nice top-10 finish was something we needed to replicate from Pocono. We did that so just looking forward to the race here and getting a good qualifying effort in.”

IF THERE WAS ONE CORNER THAT YOU COULD SHAVE A 10TH OF A SECOND OFF AND THAT LAP WOULD BE PERFECT, WHAT CORNER WOULD THAT BE? “The two toughest corners I think from our standpoint with our cars is seven and 11. I think seven is a little tougher than 11 but you can make a little more happen in turn 11 as far as passing. So seven I think is the most challenging corner for us here with our cars. The hard right, switching back to the left and getting the power down. That’s where you can really make or break a lot of time mostly because of the lack of speed there.”

INFINEON HAS LOTS OF CRASHES, SPINS AND PLENTY OF BUMPING AND GRINDING, WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY GOING IN AND IS QUALIFYING THE KEY? “Qualifying is no different than the race, keeping it on the race track. Clipping off that one really good lap and getting yourself a good starting spot which is very, very important here and also the pit selection even though you only pit twice, it’s important to get everything you can because it’s a fairly long pit road. Just being smooth and hitting your marks and having a good car and having something there at the end. It’s real easy to get frustrated here and use your race car up. Then you look at the end of the race and you’re like running 15th and that guy running 14th ends up finishing sixth and you’re like how did that happen. Well he was just a little more patient than you were. So that’s one of the things I always remember here.”

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 ce5&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chevrolet.com%2f> .

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

SAVE MART 350

INFINEON RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

JUNE 24, 2011

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET met with media and discussed the manner in which drivers are racing each other now, road racing at Infineon, two-car drafting style at Daytona next week, and more. Full Transcript:

REGARDING PRACTICE, YOU GUYS DIDN’T SEEM TO BE THAT FAST EARLY, BUT THEN YOU JUMPED UP LATE. WERE YOU JUST KNOCKING THE RUST OFF OR DID YOU COME IN AND MAKE CHANGES?

“We’re just trying to get the car better. We just can’t seem to get it happy right now, but it’s not wanting to do what we need it to do.”

IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR PLACE THAT IT’S NOT DOING IT?

“No, the bad thing is it’s all the way around the race track. So it’s not one particular area that we’re fighting right now. We’re just struggling all the way.”

YOU DIDN’T COME FROM A ROAD RACING BACKGROUND, YET YOU ARE CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED DRIVERS ON THESE COURSES. DID YOU HAVE TO LEARN OR ARE YOU JUST NATURALLY GOOD?

“I had some road racing background but it was just in Go Karts. The series we were running in Go-Karts was tough. We were racing against good kids and we learned a lot there, but I never really got a chance to do it outside of it. But it’s like the stuff I learned in the Go Kart never went away, it was just learning how to shift with it and that was the variable that I wasn’t used to. But it didn’t take very long when we figured out the shifting part.”

ON BEATING AND BANGING AT INFINEON, IS THERE ANY EXPLANATION FOR THAT?

“Yeah, because everybody would just knock each other out of the way on the last couple of laps. So I can promise you there will be a lot of guys that will just crash each other just because they think they can. I’ll bet anything I’ve got in my pocket that in the last two or three laps, somebody dumps somebody just doing something stupid. So there’s no doubt in my mind that’ll happen.”

DO YOU HAVE TO USE A SHORT TRACK MENTALITY?

“You almost have to play defense because you know somebody is going to wreck somebody and you just hope that you’re not in a spot when they do it that you get crashed up in it too. It’s gonna happen; there’s no doubt about it. It’s just trying to make sure you’re not in that spot where you’re the guy that’s going to get dumped for no reason.”

HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT?

“No, it’s gotten worse. It’s getting worse every year. Every time we come here, guys are getting worse about it. They put themselves in holes that puts everybody else in bad positions and just wreck each other for no reason.”

WHY?

“I don’t know. When you find that answer will you come and tell me because I’m curious the same way you are.”

YOU MENTIONED SOMETHING LIKE THAT AFTER MICHIGAN LAST WEEK TOO

‘It sure seems like it. It went from a give-and-take attitude and approach with drivers to just take, take, take now. So, we’ll learn with it if that’s the way it’s going to be. We’ll adapt to it. But it was a lot more fun when drivers respected each other and worked with other.”

BECAUSE OF THE LOWER SPEEDS, YOU DON’T GET AS MUCH AIR IN THE CAR. HOW DOES THE HEAT AFFECT YOU IN THE CAR?

“It doesn’t. If you guys get out of the media center and away from the buffet table once in a while and actually come out here, you’ll learn what it’s like to be in the heat and you get used to it.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT THE DAYTONA 500 THAT YOU CAN USE NEXT WEEK AT THE NIGHT RACE IN DAYTONA?

“Well, you just know you’re going to be partnered-up all day. I think it’s a bigger challenge for the crew chiefs going into next week, trying to figure out how to keep the cars cool and try to keep from the swapping down to a minimum and try to figure out how you can stay in line longer without having to do that exchange.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TWO-CAR-STYLE DRAFTING?

“The same thing I did in Daytona when we were there in the spring and the same thing I said in Talladega.”

ON SHR FRONT MECHANIC, CAM STRADER, WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT HIM THAT OTHER PEOPLE MIGHT NOT KNOW?

“He’s a lot of fun on the team. It’s good because we have somebody that’s been a driver and won a championship (NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series 2001) that understands what I’m talking about when I get out of the car. He gets it. He gets everything that we do. He understands why we do it. He’s a lot of fun. He’s one of those guys that it really doesn’t matter how the day is going; he’s going to have something sharp and witty that’s going to make you laugh, even if you’re having a bad day.”

DOES HE HAVE ANY QUIRKS? DOES HE DO ANYTHING UNUSUAL?

“Yeah, but it’s something we can’t talk about. Everybody’s got quirks (laughs).”

ON HIRING A NEW COMPETITION DIRECTOR: “We haven’t got anywhere yet. We are still looking at our options.”

IS THAT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO GET DONE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE? “It would be nice to have that person in that position. We definitely want to get that role filled. At the same time we want to make sure just like we did when we hired Bobby (Hutchens), we want to make sure we’re hiring the right person so we’ll take our time on it.”

IS THE LACK OF RESPECT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT LIKE PEOPLE PUTTING EACH OTHER IN BAD POSITIONS? “There are guys out there that are really good at give and take. We followed David Reutimann for four straight laps at the beginning of the race (at Michigan last week) and it was obvious we were faster than him but I guess second must have paid something. It must have paid something for the first 10 laps if you were running in the top two. It’s just little things like that that people used to work with each other and know that it was a 400 or 500-mile race. People don’t use their heads, its either they don’t use their heads or they just don’t care anymore and that’s the part that is kind of disappointing. The series was a lot of fun working with world-class drivers that respected each other. When guys are doing that it shows they don’t have respect for each other anymore and it’s a shame.”

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 ce5&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chevrolet.com%2f> .

Friday, June 24, 2011

Dodge Motorsports PR

Infineon Raceway Save/Mart 350

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE STRENGTH OF YOUR TEAM RIGHT NOW?  “I would give us a B-plus.  We’ve run really well, consistent.  We just haven’t had those break-through performances with a win.  Every area of the team is graded.  Whether it’s aerodynamics, motor department, chassis design, pit crew.  I’d say that we’re an “A” and a “B” in every category, but we end up with a B-plus overall.  There are teams out there that are A-pluses in certain areas and As in others.  I know that we can be better.  Right now, we have a great shot at making the Chase.  We just have to continue to grow as a team and make sure that when we hit the Chase, we’ve got an A-plus grade because you can’t throw away points in the Chase.  You have to make sure that you capitalize on every moment.  Like last week, we led some laps.  I thought that we were a fourth-place car.  We drove home 11th.  Those seven points in the Chase kill you.  Seven points right now aren’t so bad.”

CAN YOU ARTICULATE THE DIFFERENCES IN THIS TRACK?  “Most oval races, you get into that groove of (turns) 1, 2, 3, 4 and you’re working on a general chassis setup that just goes left.  Here at a road course, there’s 11 turns that we count.  It’s about shifting gears.  It’s about going up and down the hills, turning left, turning right.  There’s more of a percentage of turning right here than left, so our primary focus is turning right.  Just trying to get the car to balance itself on the short run as well as the long run because you’re paid really well when you run well on the long run.”

WHAT MAKES THIS A GREAT RACE ON SUNDAY?  “The fact that you get to see cars turning right and left; the whole gist of road racing with stock cars.  It’s not the Grand Am series or GT class of cars where they’re spread out.  You’ll see guys beating and banging on each other on a road course.  You don’t see that all that often.”

WHEN YOU HAVE A BAD RUN AT A TRACK, DOES IT STICK WITH YOU FOR A WHILE?  “It just pumps you up even more to know that you were that close and you just need to do one or two things different to seal the deal.  Marcos Ambrose will be tough this weekend.  We raced hard against him at Watkins Glen last fall and ended up coming out on top.  (Juan) Montoya won, we were second and Ambrose was third.  We know that we have to race those guys if we want to win the race on Sunday.”

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOU THE WAY THAT JEFF GORDON RACED HERE LAST YEAR?  “It was an off-day for Jeff.  He apologized to a handful of guys afterwards and for some reason (he) pinpointed me.  I thought that was interesting.  He drove straight through our right rear and we finished 32nd.  You have your bad days.  You have your moments of beating and banging.  It’s one of those things where the lines keep getting further and further towards the aggressive side here at Sonoma.  You don’t see it so much at Watkins Glen; you don’t see it as much here.  Everybody seems to get more and more aggressive late in races.”

WHY ARE WE SEEING MORE AGGRESSIVE RACING HERE?  “I’m not sure.  We have our cars here that put up a big fight and don’t take the damage as rough as they use to.  You can really lean into somebody pretty hard and still maintain your track position.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE DRIVING ABILITY OF YOU YOUR BROTHER?  “Kyle does a great job everywhere he goes.  Whether it’s the Truck, Nationwide, Cup series, he’s found that success, in the Truck series as a driver and owner.  It’s great to watch him put it all together.  He’s competitive every week.  Whether it’s mile-and-a-half, short track or superspeedway, he can driver at all the race tracks.  I like to joke around and say that I taught him too much, he’s absorbed it all and done very well with it.”

WHAT DOES KYLE DO WELL?  “Just raw speed.  He gets that car as fast as it can be and finding that lap time out on the track.”

IF THERE WAS ONE CORNER THAT YOU COULD TAKE ONE-TENTH OF A SECOND OFF, WHERE WOULD THAT BE?  “For racing, I would like Turn 10.  That’s the fast right-hander behind the drag tower.  If you can get through there quick, that puts you in position for getting into Turn 11.”

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO WIN ON SUNDAY?  “It’s a tough battle.  You can’t expect to win.  You have to go there and give it your best all through practice.  Stick with the race strategy and knowing when to pit.  When you’re out there racing, there are certain guys you know to race early in the run. Then there are guys late in the run that you know to race.  To win here, it’s a culmination of putting together so many elements because we only do road racing twice a year.  You have to be able to adapt.  Most importantly, the car has to run its lap times lap after lap after lap.  Not missing a gear and staying on track and executing the basics are what it takes to win here.”

WHERE DO YOU LOOK TO PASS ON THIS TRACK?  “Looking to pass here is tough.  There are opportunities to take advantage of other drivers when they make mistakes.  I’d say Turn 7 and 11 are your primary choices.  They’re two hard braking zones.  A big deceleration rate and you can out brake people in these corners.  You have to look to pass anywhere when somebody makes a mistake and take advantage of that.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING HERE?  “I think it’s very important.  When you start up front and you’re right in that lead group, you’re out of the trouble, out of those double-file restarts where it seems like cheap shots happen.  You’re out there just trying to hang on.  If you’re up front and can separate yourself from the rest of the group, then life is easier.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

SAVE MART 350

INFINEON RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

JUNE 24, 2011

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 RHEEM TANKLESS CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Infineon Raceway and discussed road course racing, next week’s Daytona race and other topics.  Full transcript:

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEKEND?:  “its fun to come close to home anyway.  It’s always fun to see all the fans and your friends and family and people that come to the race track.  It’s a race track that I’ve been fortunate to race on a lot and seen it go through a lot of different changes through the years, but always enjoy coming back.”

HOW GOOD IS YOUR TEAM RIGHT NOW?:  “I think as you look at just the 29 team – I’m just going to speak for that particular team, I think for me it’s fun to be a part of because I’ve never been a part of something where the chemistry is so good.  You can change things around, you can swap teams and obviously Gil’s (Martin, crew chief) been a part of my team before and the chemistry still wasn’t what it is today.  Gil does a great job with the guys and this group of guys has been together for a long time.  I think that helps.  The biggest thing is that it’s a good group of racers.  When you get a group of racers together, they don’t take offense to things that you say or something that you do wrong because they’re all going to do something wrong or say something wrong at a particular point too.  The chemistry of this team is great.  Obviously, you always want to get faster cars and you always want the performance to be better, but I feel like when you have a team like this, even when you’re off, you can still salvage something decent out of a day and I think that’s what it takes to be competitive for a championship.”

DOES THIS RACE TRACK CREATE A CRAZIER RACE?:  “It’s always pretty physical.  I think when you look back at the years past, it may not seem as physical as it has been, but I think there are very limited places to pass and so when you see somebody that’s vulnerable, you have to take advantage of it and when you get taken advantage of, you obviously want to minimize it as much as you can.  As long as the fenders aren’t rubbing the tires here, you can usually still make good lap times.  Road courses have become very physical races and the cars look more like they should have been at Martinsville than probably anywhere else.  It’s a fun race and it has become very physical over the last three or four years.  I think that’s more of a tribute to this particular car because you can be more aggressive with it and not get yourself in trouble with fenders dragging tires and things.”

HOW FAR BACK CAN YOU GO AT THIS RACE TRACK AND STILL COME BACK TO WIN?:  “We didn’t qualify well last year and it seems like our most successful weekends are the weekends that we don’t qualify well.  It just depends on how the day goes.  This particular race has become more of – it could be strategy, but the tires have become more important than it seems like strategy.  Do you go for fuel mileage – I think Robby (Gordon) finished second last year and he was on fuel mileage strategy.  The 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was on tire strategy, we were on tire strategy so it all just kind of meets in the middle and I think as you go through the day you can make up a lot of ground by being on a different strategy than the others.  If you start in the back then you just do something different and if it falls your way that day, then it falls your way.  I have a feeling that tires are going to be pretty important.”

DO YOU THINK NASCAR NEEDS TO LOOK AT THE DOWN FORCE IN THE 2013 CARS AND HAS THE RACE OFF OF PIT ROAD BECOME TOO IMPORTANT?:  “I’ll answer your second question first.  The pit road stuff is very competitive and when you look and hear people talk about this being a team sport, it really is a team sport because the guys – everybody is important.  I don’t have to go through each position, but the guys on pit road are as important as any driver or any car or anything you can even put on the track because no matter how fast your car is, if you have a crappy pit crew and don’t get off pit road, you’ll never win a race.  The guys on pit road are as important as anything you can put in.  I don’t know if that’s too much emphasis put on one particular position or segment or part of the sport – I don’t know.  Definitely seeing the strategy come into effect.  How to make that different or is that wrong?  I don’t know.  I think that the one thing that is hard about our series is it has become so competitive and the cars run so close to the same speed that passing does become harder.  I can’t say that I disagree with him, but I always tend to go in a direction that if I don’t have an answer, I don’t complain about it and I don’t have an answer for that particular problem.  That would be a great question for those guys in the trailer.  They have all the answers.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BEST CHANGES AT INFINEON?:  “I think just when you stand up on the hills and look down at the race track, I think as fan you can see a lot more of the race track.  You can see a lot of the improvements to the surface.  It seems like every year we come back there’s more improvements.  I still wish we ran the carousel.  I don’t think that was one of the better improvements.  I think that was more fun and seemed like it created – I know we try to create more passing zones, but I don’t think the way it was done necessarily did that.  I think I’ve been through two different eras of the race track, but every time you come back there is just something better and they do a really good job of just making the facility nice and everything here has been redone I think since I started.  We might use the same tires in what I call turn 11 down there, but not much else is the same as it used to be.”

DID YOU ROAD COURSE TEST PRIOR TO THIS RACE?:  “We did not.  The reason being is that a lot of times you go to VIR (Virginia International Raceway), which is close for us.  Some guys go to Road America and for us, I just felt like when we came here last year we weren’t really where we needed to be with the things that we did at the test, the way that the car travels with the elevation changes and there’s just a lot of differences with the surfaces and things like that.  We didn’t do any testing.  Finally we just ended it.  I think a lot of guys just want to go and get in a rhythm, but after you’ve been to these places eight, nine, 10 times – you pretty much know what you need to do and it’s not like when we used to come here and everybody was always trying to come up with new transmission ratios and things to get better.  Now, you’re kind of in a box and I’d rather see my guys fresh and the cars prepared right in the shop instead of taking them out of the shop for a day or two and really having to go to the race track and be miserable by the time you get to the end of the week.  Whatever week it is, it just makes for a long week for those guys and I would rather just have them fresh and do the things we know we need to do for this particular race track.”

IS IT A BADGE OF HONOR TO WIN A ROAD COURSE?:  “Yeah and I think when we won Watkins Glen in ’06 – it feels like it makes you a more well-rounded driver when you finally get to put a road course win or trophy in the trophy case.  This place has been, or for us it’s been rather elusive just for the fact that we’ve finished second, we’ve finished third and we’ve won a couple Southwest Tour Series races here and Winston West races back in the day and so for me, it’s kind of like California Speedway was – are we ever going to be able to knock the barrier down here and get to victory lane?  As a driver, you want to be well-rounded and win on all different types of race tracks for sure.”

WHY DO DRIVERS LOVE OR HATE ROAD COURSES?:  “I would say from when I started in this series to where we are now with the drivers in the garage, it’s probably a much less of a percentage than what it used to be as far as guys that don’t like it.  I think the reason that most people are okay with it now is because everybody knows how to build the cars now and they know how to make them drive right.  They know how to make them stop.  When I first started in the Cup series, it was still a wide range of vehicles that showed up to the race track as far as how they were prepared.  If you go back even further before my time, I imagine that was even wider and there as only a handful of guys that were competitive just because their cars weren’t competitive and prepared right.  I would say that everybody likes the change in pace of coming to the road courses.  I still am a firm believer that if you’re going to be the champion, there should be a road course in the championship Chase.  If you’re going to be the best on that particular year, you need to be the best at all the different styles of race tracks.”

HOW DO YOU HAVE TO APPROACH DAYTONA WITH THE TWO-CAR DRAFTING?:  “I think as a team we have a set strategy that we’re going to go into that race with this week and see how it works.  Whether that’s right or wrong, I don’t know.  We’ve talked about it for a couple weeks now and have a good plan.”

DO YOU LIKE THE RACING AT DAYTONA NOW?:  “The racing would be the same way that it is now if the race tracks – the worst thing in the world that happens to this sport is repaving race tracks.  That is the absolute worst thing you can do to make the racing bad is to pave a race track.  You look at some of the race tracks that have been paved for five or six years now and I don’t know if it’s the type of asphalt or whatever they’re doing, but the racing isn’t the same that it was and the race tracks just don’t get bad.  Basically, if Daytona and Talladega would have been paved like they are now, however many years ago and everybody would have figured out how to do – that car would have done what we do now, it’s just that there’s enough grip on the race track with the way that the asphalt is to allow you to do that.  There’s really no way to fix it as far as I’m concerned.  Unless you just say, go back to the no bump drafting in the corners.  That’s the only way you can really fix it until the grip goes away.  Paving the race tracks are a killer for the racing.”

WHERE DO YOU TRY TO PASS AT INFINEON AND IS QUALIFYING THE KEY?:  “Qualifying doesn’t hurt, but it’s definitely not the end all as to whether you can win or not.  I think going into turn 11 here or going into turn seven – I don’t even know how they number them now.  That’s how they used to number them.  Seven would be going into the esses back there and 11 would probably be the prime two spots to pass unless somebody just makes an absolute mistake.”

HOW MANY CARS ARE YOU RUNNING THIS WEEK?:  “We’re running four.  Are you talking at Daytona or this week?  Next week we will have four cars at Daytona.  Myself, (Tony) Stewart, (Clint) Bowyer and (Elliott) Sadler.  I think she (Delana Harvick) just forgot.  She knew that was how it was, but I think she just forgot.  That goes back to the style of racing and that’s really why you have to have an even number of cars.”

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

SAVE MART 350

INFINEON RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

JUNE 24, 2011

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET met with media and discussed road racing at Infineon, qualifying, next week’s race at Daytona, and more. Full Transcript:

ARE YOU HAPPY TO BE BACK HERE AT SONOMA? “Yeah, exciting.”

HOW IS EVERYTHING BETWEEN YOU AND MARK MARTIN? “It’s good. We handled it after the race (last week at Michigan) and talked a little bit and texted each other back and forth. Everything’s cool. In the heat of the moment, things just didn’t go my way. I was mad about finishing wherever I think we should finish that day. That’s the way it goes.”

DO YOU KNOW HOW HAPPY YOUR FANS WERE TO SEE YOU TICKED OFF LIKE THAT? “I’m just trying to do the best I can. I just show up and try to do my job and not worry about nothing else. I just show up and try to do my job and try to run as good as we can run. I had a good idea of what kind of race car we had and I wanted to finish where I feel like we should have finished that day.”

SONOMA HAS NEVER BEEN YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO RACE CARS. WHAT IS THE EXPECTATION AND HOPE FOR YOU THIS WEEKEND? “To make it my favorite place and go out there and be fast and competitive. I’ve ran well here before. I’ve had some pretty good cars here before, so I kind of know what I’m looking for in speed and in the car and we want to go out there and be a factor all day and look forward to coming back the next year.”

ON SET-UPS (QUESTION INAUDIBLE) “You’ll have to ask him. But all four teams know what we’re doing and knows what everybody’s set ups are and we can lean on each other; we lean on Boris (Said) a little bit too. So we should be able to find something that works.”

HOW WOULD THIS BECOME YOUR FAVORITE PLACE? IS IT ALL BASED ON RUNS? “I think if I ran well here I’d be happy. It’s just a real hard track to get around. It’s got a lot of turns and stuff and these cars aren’t really built for road courses. So, it just really makes it a hassle trying to race and pass. It’s fun; I talked to my spotter T.J. (Majors) about it. It’s probably really, really fun to watch because you just know somebody’s going to get run over and every other lap somebody’s going to be in the tires and you see a lot of guys screwing up and driving crazy and running into each other.”

IS THIS LIKE A SHORT TRACK RACE WHERE EVERYBODY GETS MAD AT EACH OTHER? “Yeah, this place gets interesting; especially up there on the helicopter pad afterwards. I don’t fly to the race tracks on helicopters no more but it’s pretty interesting after the race (laughs). Everybody just sort of gets what’s on their mind out and they talk it out or whatever. Or, they don’t talk and it’s just kind of awkward.”

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT THE NIGHT RACE AT DAYTONA NEXT WEEKEND? “We’ve got a fast car. We sat on the pole there in February. We rebuilt that car and we’re taking it back. And I’m sure it’ll be great. I’m sure it will race really well. It looks like you’re just going to have to team-up with a guy and work with him all day long and try to stay out of wrecks and push him to the lead or get pushed to the lead you know, I don’t know. It’s all going to come down to circumstances.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TWO-CAR-STYLE DRAFT? DO YOU ENJOY IT? “I don’t enjoy the two-car draft because when I push somebody I can’t see around him. And I would like to be in control of my own destiny all the time; be in control and be able to win the race. I was happy to push Jimmie (Johnson) to the win but in a perfect world, me and him both would rather just be racing our own cars and not have to worry about being obligated to push anyone to the win. You want to drive your own car across the finish line and that’s the way it ought to be.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT THE DAYTONA 500 THAT YOU CAN USE FOR NEXT WEEK? “Well, I think I learned more at Talladega. We ran okay at Daytona but it’s just circumstances. I thought it was a lottery five years ago (but) good Lord, it’s ridiculous now.”

ON QUALIFYING AT INFINEON “I don’t really worry about qualifying here because it’s a fuel mileage race and if you qualify bad you can use a different strategy to help you. But I don’t really worry about qualifying here too much. It’s nice when you qualify well, but if you don’t, it’s not a big deal.”

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