Author: Official Release

Camry driver Denny Hamlin earned his seventh victory of the season in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Martinsville Speedway.  

The win marks the third consecutive victory for the Chesterfield, Va.-native (Oct. 2009 and March 2010) and fourth of his career at the half-mile Virginia oval.  

Hamlin started from the pole and led twice for 40 (of 500) laps in the race.  

The win marked the 11th NSCS win of the year for Toyota and 32nd since joining the series in 2007.  

Kyle Busch (fourth) and Joey Logano (sixth) also finished in the top-10 for Toyota.   Other Camry drivers in the field included Kasey Kahne (14th), Robby Gordon (22nd), Scott Speed (23rd), David Reutimann (27th), Martin Truex Jr. (29th), Marcos Ambrose (34th), Casey Mears (40th), Joe Nemechek (41st) and Landon Cassill (42nd).  

Hamlin cut into Jimmie Johnson’s point lead, but remains second in the unofficial NSCS point standings and trails Johnson by six points after six events in the 10-race 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoff.  Busch moved to the fourth position and is now 172 points behind Johnson.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  1st Have you ever been able to close the gap so fast in a race as you did today? “I don’t think I’ve ever closed that well – ever.  We kept working.  We did not have a race-winning car all day until the very end.  Mike (Ford, crew chief) and those guys just adjusted and adjusted.  The pit crew got me from sixth to third on that last restart and that was the key – bottom line that was the key.  I was just waiting and hoping that the 31 (Jeff Burton) and 29 (Kevin Harvick) would use their stuff up racing each other.  I was just sitting there and sitting there trying to be patient with those rear tires and saved it for the end.  Just a great run by this FedEx team.  I have to thank everyone from Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing, Coca-Cola, Gillette, FedEx, Sprint for their support and these Martinsville fans – I can’t say enough about them.   This is unbelievable.  I had already counted how many points I was going to be behind after this race.” What happened to your car early in the race when you fell back? “I’m not sure if we had a left-rear tire equalize or what not, but I was very worried.  Everyone saw how far back we were dropping and I thought it was the end of our day.  We kept fighting, kept digging, kept making up spots throughout the day and just had the best car at the end.  I just can’t say enough for everyone who put all the work in to get this done.  This is a come- from-behind victory.” How did you approach the closing laps of the race? “I just tried to be patient.  I knew that the 29 (Kevin Harvick) and 31 (Jeff Burton) were extremely fast all day and they were the class of the field, but all I could do was try to time how many laps I had to run on this set of tires and go from there.” How does it feel to be only six points behind Jimmie Johnson in the points? “It’s a great feeling and what’s a better feeling is being here in front of all these Martinsville fans.  I love everyone here and they’ve always been great to me.  I can’t believe we’re back in victory lane.”

MIKE FORD, crew chief, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What were your thoughts at the start of today’s race? “To start, it didn’t look too good.  Backed straight up, slowest car on the race track.  After yesterday we kind of chased the racetrack a little bit.  Came in this morning, put a setup in the car very close to what we’ve run here last couple of times.  Looked like we made the wrong decision.  I knew we couldn’t be that far off.  So I figured something was wrong with the car.  Instead of making wholesale changes, we went a little bit more than what we typically would change hoping we saw something with a set of tires coming off.  We certainly did.  We saw a lot of buildup to the left rear, probably four times more than we normally see.   We knew right there if something was going to happen, if it was the race car making it do it again, but we never saw it again all day.  Very fortunate to not panic and lose the race right at the beginning.”

J.D. GIBBS, president, Joe Gibbs Racing How does it feel to have all three Joe Gibbs Racing cars finish in the top-six today? “It was encouraging.  When the race started, it wasn’t going the way we had planned.  I think for our guys just to keep their heads, stay calm, work on it.  Each car had their own issues, but especially the 11 (Denny Hamlin) did a good job making their way back up, doing what you have to do, being conservative on pit calls, but at the same time being wise in how you go about the whole championship hunt.  We’re excited about that.  We’re still in it.  We’re so proud to represent FedEx.  They’re so excited back home in Memphis.  Kind of fun to call those guys and let them hear our excitement here in victory lane.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  4th How do you feel about your finish today? “That was just a good way to run here at Martinsville – one of these places that I struggle at tremendously.  To come out of here with a fourth-place finish – I can finish fourth here – I’ve done that maybe two or three times, but any higher than that, I’m struggling for it.  All these guys on this M&M’s team did a great job.  We were fighting it since we unloaded.  Made a lot of changes to it and tried to make it a lot better and we got it there.  What a race there at the end with 100 laps straight on tires – that made it look like Pensacola (Fla.) in Late Models.” What happened between yourself and Jimmie Johnson? “It’s racing and I felt like I had the faster car than he (Jimmie Johnson) did and he was kind of slowing the center down a little bit.  That’s where I was faster.  I couldn’t get by him on forward bite – he had better forward bite than I did, but if I could just roll my line and just keep rolling around there then I could be faster than him.  I was just getting agitated.  Typical short track fashion – you come down toward the end of the race and he wants to keep his points intact and I want to get up there and run a little bit better and put him further behind from Denny (Hamlin).  There were too many different things going on there.  Jimmie and I – we know how to do it and I didn’t do it rough enough to where I turned him or nothing.  I just tried to give him a little bit, a little bit to try to get by him.  Finally we got by him so it worked out.” Are you pleased with a fourth-place finish? “It was a tie of a best career finish – I’ve done it like three or four times.  Fourth is getting a little tiring, but after a day that we fought there – we’re happy with that.  I’ll take it.  This isn’t one of my best places to begin with, but Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and all these guys on this M&M’s team did a great job.  They gave me a good race car.  We weren’t quite the best out there today – we were slow on the get-go, but it seemed like lap 50 to lap 100 there at the end we were pretty good and we could run those guys down a little bit.  All in all I can’t thank these guys enough.  They kept digging in hard all weekend and we unloaded a little bit off, but Dave and the guys did a nice job.  To bring home a fourth – we’re happy with that.  I have to thank M&M’s, Interstate Batteries and Toyota – everyone that is a big part of this program.” How was your race today? “It wasn’t a bad day.  We really fought a couple things that we made changes with, but overall the guys did a great job from when we unloaded here.  We were a little off, but Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and the guys never gave up on this M&M’s car and they made a lot of changes and got it a lot better.  Real proud of the effort and the way we came out here today.  Pit strategy got us up front and we kind of kept it from there.  We weren’t that great on the beginning of the run – I would fall back a little bit – probably a couple seconds off the lead, but then after about 40 or 50 laps I could start reeling them back in a little bit.  There wasn’t enough of those long runs in there to keep us in the ball game.  Overall a good day for us and we’ll take it.  Everybody wants to ask about points – I chipped away at it, but I’m not chipping very much.” How hard did you have to work in the race? “I was working pretty hard.  Jimmie (Johnson) and I had a heated battle there for a little bit.  I was just trying to get by him.  I knew he was trying to protect his points and he was doing what he needed to do to finish well – as best as he could anyways.  I kept leaning on him and kept leaning on him.  I was faster than him in the center of the corner, but he had better drive off the corner than I did so he could stay in front of me.  Finally once I got by him I seemed to pull away a little bit, but by then it was way too late to go get the front runners.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  6th

KASEY KAHNE, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  14th How did you feel about your first race with Red Bull Racing Team? “We made some gains.  Really learned a lot about the program.  Feel like next week it’s going to be better.  And the following week it’s going to be better.  And we’ll just keep going after it.  Engine ran great.  Car ran good.  Everybody put out a good effort, and we got the best spot we could today.”

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 Extenze Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Finishing Position:  22nd

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  23rd

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  27th How was your race today? “That really wasn’t how I thought our day was going to end.  We started out so strong and had a really good Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota early in the race, but as the race went on things got a little crazy.  There were cars trying different pit strategy that shuffled the field and we had some guys driving pretty aggressive and just a lot of hard nosed short track racing.  We fell victim to a combination of factors that put us in the wrong place at the wrong time and it cost us.  It’s a pretty disappointing day, but I’m really proud of my team.  We had great pit stops early in the day to help us gain track position and the guys did a great job getting the car back out after it got messed up.  Not the best day, but we’ll take what we can from it and head to Talladega next weekend and try to have a better day then.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  29th How has bad luck impacted your season? “This season certainly has not gone the way we wanted. I guess we’re getting all the bad luck out of the way now.  We just need to keep our focus and get better as a team for next year and run for a Chase spot.  It was tough out there today.  We weren’t very good at the start, but Pat (Tryson, crew chief) made a big change on our third stop and the NAPA Toyota started to get better. Unfortunately it wasn’t long until our problems started.  It’s hard to tell what we could have done out there.  We just need to get a little luck on our side.”

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Dollar General Country Million Sweepstakes Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position:  34th

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position:  40th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position:  41st

LANDON CASSILL, No. 64 Little Joe’s Auto Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports Finishing Position:  42nd

Team Chevy Driver Jimmie Johnson Maintains Point Lead with Four Races To Go in Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

Kevin Harvick Closes in to Within 62 points of Overall Lead with Solid Martinsville Run

Martinsville, Va. (October 24, 2010) – Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, held on to the overall points lead in the Sprint Cup Series championship standings despite a furious challenge from two other contenders today.  With four races remaining Johnson’s lead is now just six points over Denny Hamlin, and 62 over Kevin Harvick, driver of the Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet.

Several Chevrolet drivers led 410 laps in the race today taking their overall total laps led in the series to 200,080 since 1949.    

Harvick was the surprise of the day after qualifying in 36^th position on Friday, he torched the field and stormed to the lead by lap 172 of the 500 slated for Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.  Harvick led a total of 97 laps before finishing third in today’s race and slicing a bit into Jimmie’s lead. 

Johnson never led today, but was hardly ever outside the top-five running order.   Their car was a bit off from the start and they never could quite get the grip they needed to make a charge for the lead.  But Johnson was strong enough to score his 15^th top-five of the 2010 season and keep the competition at bay.

Driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, Jeff Burton, looked to have one of the strongest cars all day, but fought a loose condition late in the race and faded to ninth after leading a race-high 134 laps. He now sits eighth in the standings, up two positions.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, thrilled the crowd by taking the lead at lap 285 and stayed on the point for a total of 90 laps but lost the handle and became too tight after the final pit stop before finishing seventh.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Dupont/National Guard Families Appreciation Chevrolet, recovered from contact with the wall after being spun by another car at lap 386 to finish in 20^th position.  Gordon had a strong run in today’s race leading 56 laps.  He fell one position in the overall points from fourth to fifth.

Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet, finished 24^th after suffering a flat tire late in the race and falls one spot to seventh in the overall standings while Clint Bowyer, No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet was involved in a single car accident early in the race at lap 193 and returned to the track after lengthy repairs in the garage and finished 38^th in today’s race.  He remains in 12^th position in the Chase standings.

Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was the race winner. Kyle Busch (Toyota) completed the top-five finishers.

The series moves next to the biggest track, Talladega Superspeedway on October 31,2010.

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 EBAY MOTORS/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – Finished 2nd

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL CHEVROLET – Finished 3rd

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – Finished 5th

            KERRY THARP:  Let’s roll right into our post race for today’s race.  Our third place finisher, currently third in points, is Kevin Harvick.  He drives the No. 29 Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

            Kevin, you have to be pleased with your performance out there today.  You contended for the win.  You sliced 15 points off of Jimmie Johnson’s lead.

            KEVIN HARVICK:  That’s what we have to do.  Coming into this race, no one gave us a chance to even run anywhere towards the front.  So it’s nice to come here, get the finishes we feel like we deserve, that we’ve run well over the last few years, just hadn’t got the finishes to show for it.

            Great day for us.  Everybody did a great job on pit road and in the pits, doing everything they had to do to keep the car up front.

            KERRY THARP:  Questions for Kevin.

            Q.  Kevin, Denny just said that he was watching you and Jeff go after each other, hoping you used up your stuff.  Does the thought process ever enter into your mind as teammates not to use each other up?

            KEVIN HARVICK:  I didn’t see any bent fenders or contact, so I think it was fine.

            Q.  Kevin, how close were you to hitting that home run you said you probably needed to hit on Friday?

            KEVIN HARVICK:  We came pretty close.  I mean, coming here and getting our first top five, beating the 48, being in contention to win was pretty close to a home run.

            Q.  Kevin, we heard what you said on TV about Bowyer’s pit crew.  Talk about how that went today?  Did that make you more relaxed?

            KEVIN HARVICK:  Yeah, I didn’t have any to do’s with how it all went down or anything like that.  That was something that they handled internally at the shop.

            Clint is obviously doing everything he can to try to help us win the championship.  It’s just unbelievable the stops that those guys had on pit road today.  Makes life a lot easier.

            Q.  What was going on with you and Burton?  At some point you have to look at the big picture, say we don’t need to be doing this, just worry about the points?

            KEVIN HARVICK:  We were just racing.

            KERRY THARP:  Thank you, Kevin.  Congratulations.  See you at Talladega.

            Our race runner up is Mark Martin.  He drives the No. 5 eBay Motors Go Daddy.com for Hendrick Motorsports.  I can tell you from watching this race, folks here in this media center, what a performance you put on there today with a car that was pretty tore up.

            MARK MARTIN:  Yeah, lap 30 I started overheating my brakes, started having to baby them.  I thought there was no possible way we were going to run 500 laps.  At lap 150, 175, I thought, Oh, my goodness, it’s going to be a long, long day.

            Then we had all the stuff tear up.  I never really have much enjoyed this place, to be real honest with you.  But that last hundred laps was fun.  I’ve had guys pass me and I wondered how in the world they did that.  Now I see how.  What an incredible racecar that Alan Gustafson and everyone gave me.  Really good looking paint job with eBay Motors onboard.

            Really a great time, great recovery from two laps down.  I really want to thank my teammates and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for supporting us through a really tough summer.  We’ve turned it around with some good runs.  Hopefully we can continue to do that.

            KERRY THARP:  Certainly a great performance out there from you today.

            Also joining us up at the podium is our currently points leader and four time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series defending champion, Jimmie Johnson.  He comes in fifth in today’s race.  He holds a six point lead after today’s race here at Martinsville.

            Jimmie, talk about your performance out there.  You kind of gutted it out and still are the points leader heading into Talladega.

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Good top five finish today.  We certainly wanted to finish higher.  But it’s over and done with.  It is what it is.  Top five is something would have been a good goal coming in here this weekend.  We’re rolling into Talladega.  We all know what can happen there.

            Happy to still be leading.  Wish the margin had gone the other way.  Denny won the race, closed it up.  We’ll buckle down, go to work the next four.

            KERRY THARP:  We’ll take questions for Mark or Jimmie.

            Q.  Jimmie, Denny was talking all week about his strategy, the pressure was on you.  What is your feeling after seeing him do what he did, backing up what he said?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I really felt like he had a chance to win the race here.  You can’t argue with stats.  The speed that he and that team have had here over the years.

            Did a good job of stepping up to all the talk.  He did a great job today.  For a long time I thought the 29, the 11 and us were going to finish in sequential order.  We were around each other all day long.  That last stop at the end, those guys found a little something and got going.

            A lot of racing left.  We’ll see.

            Q.  Season high number of cautions today, but didn’t get one at the end.  Were you surprised there wasn’t?  You could have used one.

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yes, with how often we get cautions when guys blow a tire and end up into the fence.  Once the first two or three had gone by and we didn’t have a caution, I was glad to not see one, although it would have helped me.  I just felt it was fair that point.  If you didn’t throw it for the first couple, guys were blowing them, no sense in throwing them now.  NASCAR stuck to their plan on this and wanted it to finish under green.

            Some weekends the smallest piece of debris will bring out a caution.  This week you have seven or eight cars blowing a front tire up at the wall, we don’t get one.  I’m not complaining about it.  I wasn’t counting on getting one.  We made or bed and finished fifth today because we didn’t have the car we needed on the long haul.  It’s not that I’m blaming my finish on anything.

            It is odd sometimes.

            Q.  Mark, Denny said in Victory Lane that he had never closed that well before.  Had you ever had a closer rate like you had at the end of the race?

            MARK MARTIN:  Not in Cup.  In Nationwide, Busch races, some short track late models.  That baby was rolling.  That last 50 laps was unbelievable.  Man, that was fun.  I love long green flag racing.  I don’t like these 10 lap sprints, all that crazy junk.  I love long runs.  When I don’t have a good car and we get a long run, we suffer miserably.  When we have a great racecar like California or here, that’s to me what racing is all about and always has been.

            Q.  Jimmie, you just talked about didn’t have the car you needed on the long haul.  Certainly this race going green the last 100 laps is a rarity here.  That catch you off guard?  With the history here with the cautions, were you more set up for a short run at the end?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  In the past I’ve always been really good here on the long runs.  In the past we’ve worked more on the short runs.  Got beat a few times on the short run stuff.

            Today the trend of our car was very quick at the beginning, would fall off, get tight as the run would go on.  It didn’t really change much about all the adjustments we made to the car all day long.

            It did hurt us with it staying green.  Typically it’s good for me when it stays green, but it was just circumstances today.  Last night, we overadjusted a little bit.  I’m just as responsible, probably more responsible than anyone.  Yesterday the way we needed to get the car in the track and working was far different than what we had seen here in the past for our setups.  That’s what brought our car around yesterday at the end of practice.

            We started with it stowed, spent a lot of the day backing out of the stuff we did last night to the car.  I’ll take the blame on that.  Just happy we got a good finish out of it.

            Q.  You said last week at Charlotte, Jimmie, that Talladega is always your worry in the Chase.  Having your points lead cut today here, is it hard not to feel that sense of dread going to that track next?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  36, whatever it was, 41, whatever it was.  That’s not a huge amount.  You hate to see it vanish.  I’m really trying to not be emotionally attached to things until we get out of Talladega.  So much can happen at Talladega.  Last year, Mark, catch me in the points, right there with me on the points, I’m running sixth on the track, he’s running seventh coming to the checkered flag, his car gets hit, he gets hit, he is upside down.  I’m just one spot ahead of him.  I finish the race, get a bunch of points.

            MARK MARTIN:  The race is on after Talladega.  Nobody knows what’s going to happen.

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Not getting involved.  Not worrying.  Three races left after that.  If we’re close, we’ll race like hell.

            Q.  Mark, how do you judge a finish like this?  Are you happy to see the improvement or do you dwell on the season saying we should have been running like this all year?

            MARK MARTIN:  I hadn’t thought about that.  Pretty dang happy.  That’s what I did think about, definitely.  You know, it’s not a gimme.  You don’t get this stuff.  You’re not owed it.  You’re lucky if it happens.  That’s the way I look at it.  I feel darn lucky to have been in that seat today.

            Q.  You said you really haven’t had a lot of fun at this track.  Can you talk specifically about what happened today?

            MARK MARTIN:  With a hundred to go, we were 20th or something like that, 111 to go.  We drove to second.  Why wouldn’t that be fun?  I’m used to people passing me.  I was passing good cars the way they usually do me here.  I never could figure out how they did that.  Now I know.  When the car was working like mine was working today, that was really fun.  We had a spectacular racecar at the end.  Seemed to get better throughout the race.  We had to run it harder.  We weren’t running it real hard before we got wrecked and tore up, lost the laps we lost.  We had a flat tire under the green and lost two laps, too.  But we had time to get them back.

            Great success for us.

            Q.  Mark, you say you had a great car.  Those closing laps we saw so many cars fall off.  What adjustments did you make to be there at the end and come on strong while others were falling off?

            MARK MARTIN:  Car just got better.  The only thing we did was raise the track bar two rounds today and took half a wedge out.  Over the course of 500 laps, the car was mediocre at the start of the race and spectacular at the end.  The adjustments weren’t what made the car spectacular.  I think the racetrack just came to us.  We had a good setup in the car for the racetrack when it was rubbered up in the second half of the race.

            KERRY THARP:  Mark, thank you.  Super performance.

            MARK MARTIN:  Thank you, guys.

            Q.  Jimmie, what was the issue with the draft shaft cover?  Why did NASCAR ask you to replace it?  Any fear there might be any penalty involved with that?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I don’t know what you’re speaking about, to be honest with you.  Is this before or after?

            Q.  Before.

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I don’t have a clue.  Not my job, man, as Juan would say.

            Q.  I think everybody expected you and Hamlin to do well here because you have such a great track record here.  Were you a little bit surprised how well he did, making this a three man Chase?  Could he be figured the favorite because of his success at Talladega?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Coming into the Chase I definitely felt like the 29 was the favorite with the speed they showed on all types of tracks.  Didn’t matter, short track, big track, those guys did a great job.  They got off to a good start.  We thought it would be a bit stronger of a start.  They’re on it, they’re not slouches.  They ran great here.  There’s been an RCR car always fast at this track.  The 31, the 29, the 33 at times.  I felt like all three RCR cars would be quick here, including the 29, and they were.

            I almost fell into a sense of security today where the 29, the 11 and us were all like a third, sixth place car.  We stayed together most of the day.  The last stop at the end, those two both got going.  We just didn’t go anywhere.

            Wish that was different on our case.  But I can’t remember what you really asked me.  I know I answered the 29 part.

            Q.  With Harvick’s success at Talladega, is he considered the favorite now?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Kevin’s done a great job at those big tracks.  Man, you can make all the right moves and something out of your control happens.  We’ll just have to see what happens.  I know he’s going to be a great threat.  Have to naturally think the 1 car is going to be strong there.  The Gibbs cars are strong on those big tracks.  We’ll roll the dice and see what happens.

            Q.  You spent a lot of time nose to tail with the 18.  That got heated.  Can you talk about that a little bit.

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah.  I was doing all that I could to hang on to the position I was in and the points that came along with that.  Worked me over from time to time.  Never really got inside of me.  Then the contact started.  That’s fine.  I get it.  Especially in the center of the corner off the turn, that’s not a problem.  Then I got hit a couple times going into the turn.  That’s when I thought it was uncool.  Showed him the one finger salute a few times.  It was more me letting him know I was pissed.  He mellowed out.

            Once he got back to me, got back inside of me.  I knew he was just racing hard.  I had to show him I was not happy getting hit going in the turn.  Left in the lane, raced hard side by side.  He went on his way, that was that.

            I had a prime opportunity if I really felt like what he was trying to do was unfair, I could have dumped him if I wanted to.  That wasn’t the case.  He was just racing hard.  I was expressing my frustration with getting hit going into the turn, and that was that.

            We had a good talk after the race.  Everything’s good.

            Q.  Jimmie, if you and Denny and Kevin come out of Talladega similarly close as you are now, who has the edge in the last few races?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  There’s no way I can answer that.  It’s going to be one helluva race.  I can promise you that, though.

            Q.  Obviously you have teammates, Denny has teammates.  I assume Charlotte was trying to keep you from getting another five points.  I assume that’s going to be the problem at Talladega.  In other words, it’s not just you racing the other two guys.  You’re racing two other teams, whether it’s Clint Bowyer or Jeff Burton or something like that.  Is that just natural, you understand that, or is that something your spotter has to remind you of?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  No, I’m certainly aware of that.  At Charlotte I didn’t think that    Kyle was just trying to finish second.  He didn’t do anything wrong.  He was running as hard as he could.  He wasn’t mirror driving me.  I had zero issues there.  That was just racing hard.

            Today, I mean, I was totally fine with it until I started getting hit going into the turn.  That’s a big no no.  If you want to move someone out of the way, contact center of the turnout, but you get hit going in, that gets people’s attention.

            Q.  Is that Denny’s teammate trying to take five points.

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  If he handled the situation differently, yes.  If he went in there and blasted me out of the way, yeah.  But, you know, it was short track racing.  There’s a line there that I guess we recognize as drivers.  Kyle just did his job to finish as good as he could at Charlotte, and it was short track racing here.

            But that is a concern.  If it does cross that line, that’s not cool.  I’ll do my best to make sure to show it.

            Q.  Jimmie, Chad came over the radio when you asked for more front grip and said he couldn’t do much else, it was in your hands.  How do you feel you did with what you did or didn’t have?  Did you adjust the way you drove to try to stay as competitive as you could?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I did.  I’m not going to stop trying things in the car, searching for different lines, different techniques with the steering wheel and the brake and all that stuff.

            Oddly enough, we came in the next pit stop.  We found something.  Went back on some adjustments.  Found some speed, the car was faster.

            I know it’s tough for him on the pit box, sitting there working adjustments, feel like you’re boxed into a corner, can’t do anything.  After he had some time to think about it, he found me a little more.

            KERRY THARP:  Jimmie, thanks a lot.  Good luck at Talladega.

     FastScripts by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., 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 Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). 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, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

TUMS FAST RELIEF 500

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES

October 24, 2010

 

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 E-BAY MOTORS/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET: Finished 2^nd

YOU WERE DRIVING LIKE YOU WERE 21 YEARS OLD TODAY. WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? “Alan Gustafson (crew chief) and all these guys at Hendrick Motorsports, man, gosh, that was so much fun! And it was such a bad day. I was running out of brakes at lap 30 and you know, I thought this was going to be the longest day of my life. And these guys on this race team; I want to thank e-Bay Motors for coming on board. I look forward to a lot of folks going there and maybe checking out a lot of their cars and parts there and of course GoDaddy.com and everybody that supports us; CARQUEST and all those guys. It was a great run for us. We needed that. I ain’t mad we didn’t win; I’m glad we ran second to be honest with you. We were two laps down and to be honest we were going to be 28^th. So, boy; what an incredible race car, man! Another 20 laps and we could have caught him (Danny Hamlin). I’ve had people pass me before here and I thought hey, how do they do that? I see how now, driving this baby.”

WOW, WHAT A CHARGE AT THE END! THAT HAD TO BE FUN “It’s incredible. I want to thank all the fans for coming out today. I hope they saw a great race. In another 20 laps it would have been a really great race. I think all you guys. It’s a beautiful car; it looked fast and it was fast. That was a fun time.

“We started running out of brake at lap 30 and had to nurse them all along, and that whole last 100 lap run there I just had to know; I had to only run until they’d get so soft and then no harder. And yet the car was fast, you know? Man that was fun. This is what I live for and many I can’t give it up.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL CHEVROLET: Finished 3^rd “I’ve just got to thank everybody on this Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet and I’ve got to give Clint Bowyer a big kiss on the lips. Those guys on pit road were just awesome today and really kept us up and in front and in the race. And that’s what we’ve got to do. We kept the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) behind us and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) in sight and what everybody said was a two-horse race and we were right there in the middle of it. So, it’s a lot of fun. Right now we’ve got four more weeks. I’m looking forward to Talladega and just racing hard.”

A GREAT RUN. YOU STARTED WAY BACK IN THE 36^TH SPOT AND DROVE IT UP TO THE LEAD AND A TREMENDOUS BATTLE BETWEEN YOU AND DENNY HAMLIN “Yeah, the handling on our car just kind of went away and we just lost front grip there I the middle of the corners; he was just able to roll in the center. But I’ve just got to thank all these guys and really, everybody from RCR and our whole Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet team. They’ve done a great job at what we call some of our worst race tracks, and we come here where we felt like we’re running we and never had a top five so to come out of here today with a third is what it’s all about. We’ll just keep racing and keep hanging in there and keep racing hard.”

 

WERE YOU SURPRISED TO SEE MARK MARTIN COME OUT OF NOWHERE THERE AT THE END? “Well, he’s really good, always, on old tires and the cars just really fell off as you got way deep in a run and he’s pretty good at that. So, we fell off a little bit but we got going really good and raced good with the No. 11 and just came up a little bit short.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – Finished 5^th

ALTHOUGH NOT A WIN TODAY, BUT WHAT A SOLID RUN “Yeah, it was a good day. We were much stronger on the short run than we were on the long run. And they way this thing unfolded in the end there was a lot of long runs. We kind of lost a few spots. For a while there I thought the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) and us were all going to ride together all day long and then the No. 11 there at the end got going and took off an won the thing. It was a solid performance; something we can’t be disappointed in. I wish we were a little better but there is a lot of racing left.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. A SOLID TOP FIVE RUN: “Yeah, we certainly wanted to be better today with the Lowe’s Impala but the long run there at the end just wasn’t what our car needed at that point in time. On the short runs we were a lot better and more competitive. But another top five, we can’t be too disappointed in that.”

IT LOOKED PRETTY WILD THERE AT THE END, ACTUALLY ALL DAY. HOW DID IT FEEL TO YOU? “There was a lot of tough racing. You’ve got everyone fighting for a good finish at the end of the year; you’ve got Chasers trying to get every point they can, and I think the fans saw a great race here at Martinsville.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7^TH: ON HIS CAR LATE IN THE RACE: “I was just in the way, it was tight on restarts, but after 20 or 30 laps, we’d start rotating and we could either keep up or be a little bit better than the guys around us.”

DOES THIS HELP YOUR CONFIDENCE? “Well, this isn’t quite good enough. We have to run way better than this. I’ve been coming here ever since I quit wreckin’ and we get the right cooling on the front end, I can come in here and get a top-10 unless we have a major major issue in the setup. I feel pretty confident. That is how I feel. I’m not saying that is reality.”

DOES THIS GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE YOU CAN WIN NEXT WEEK? “I could run here and run in the top-10, I feel like when I go to Talladega, I always have a shot to win. The racing is different these days. Racin’ is different and I have to learn how to do, how to get it done.”

 

WHY DO YOU SAY IT IS DIFFERENT? “These care made it different. The COT car races different than the old cars that we won all those races with. Now the way the COT is, everybody basically has the same odds really going into Talladega. We’ll go there and I always feel good and confident. Even if that was the only race we showed up for each year, I’ think we would feel good going into it.”

WHEN YOU WERE UP THERE LEADING, HOW DID THAT FEEL? “We got toward the front on some pit strategy that worked out really good and then we had a good enough car at the time to pass the guys that were around us. They had a little less tire than we had. A lot of things worked in our favor to get us the lead then we came out on the pit stop in first and held it all the way until the next caution, I think about 50 or 60 laps. The No. 31 was coming but I felt like if I held my line just perfectly, I was actually a little bit better than him at that point.  Those RCR cars were really fast all weekend but the fell off real bad  and I figured he would if I just kept up and was patient out front. I felt good at that point. When we got behind a couple of guys and had a couple more sets of tires later, we got real tight. We were thinking we went down on our air pressure too far cause the car was actually okay after 40 laps but too tight the first 25. We just needed to be a little freer, but it’s all right.

“I love short track racing and I love coming here. This place has a lot of history. I have a lot of respect for it. I used to not understand how to get around here and then I have been pretty good here for a long time. I feel pretty good that when I come here I can run good. I like racing here and I like this style of racing. You kind of have to get over a lot of things out there that happen then you have to stand your ground in a lot of cases. It is a lot of fun. It is an active day and a lot of fun. The mile-and-a-halfs, when the car is tight, you go in the corner and turn the wheel and wait for it to turn and mash the gas. This is where it is at, right here.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9^TH: YOU GUYS FADED AT THE END A BIT? “Yeah, I don’t know.  The right rear tire is just killed on it. It just didn’t accept the speed on that last run for whatever reason and just killed the right rear tire.  We didn’t have that problem all day and had it on the last run so I am really disappointed.  Obviously we had a fast race car we just weren’t as good as we needed to be at the end and we put a great effort out there and it’s hard to believe you can finish 9^th in a car that was that good.”

THERE WERE SOME WORDS OUT THERE WITH YOUR TEAMMATE KEVIN HARVICK.  WAS THAT JUST MARTINSVILLE RACING? “I don’t know.  I have yet to understand what he was upset about.  I have no clue what he could be possibly upset about.  I cleared him and turned to the bottom just like he cleared me when he passed me on the restart turning to the bottom.  It’s Martinsville and that is what you do.  I am sure its heat of the moment, I am sure he is racing for the championship and he is up on the edge and I am sure it’s all that because I didn’t do anything wrong.”

REGARDING WARNINGS FROM NASCAR ABOUT BRAKE CHECKING EARLY IN THE RACE  “Well, it’s their job to police the sport and make sure we are following the rules. I wasn’t brake checking anybody.  I never once touched the brakes leaving turn four.  But they felt like I was and it’s their job to police the sport so they were just doing their job.”

THAT LOOKED LIKE THE HARDEST RACE YOU HAVE EVER DRIVEN JUST WATCHING FROM PIT ROAD.  WAS IT LIKE THAT IN THE CAR?“I drive like that every week.  I have this reputation of being a passive driver and I drive hard every week. I drove hard this week, but I didn’t drive any harder than I normally do.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOUR CAR SEEMED TO FALL OFF AT THE END OF THE RACE? “We just got really loose.  We took off and didn’t have any rear grip and we just never could hold our own.  We never had enough rear grip.  And of course that got worse and worse and we were trying to keep the pace and I was trying to keep myself in position and I just ate the right rear tire off of it.  And of course with a long run that is the worst thing you can do.  We just…………wrong handle at the wrong time.”

YOUR TEAMMATE HAD SOME HARSH WORDS ON THE RADIO, WAS THAT JUST HARD RACING? “I have no idea. I don’t understand what he is mad at.  I cleared him on the front straightaway and beat him off turn four and cleared him on the front straightaway and turned to the bottom, the same thing he did to me on the restart is the same thing that happens every restart at Martinsville.  It’s just Martinsville……..I mean I didn’t do anything wrong, I think he is just wound up and racing for a championship and just………I don’t know.  I can assure you I didn’t do anything wrong and I would do it again a thousand times.  Because if what I did was wrong, then I will just quit racing.”

HE SAID ON THE RADIO HE THOUGHT YOU WERE CHOPPING DOWN ON HIM “There will come a point when he realizes that everybody in the world is not against him. And every time it’s a conflict he is involved.  And you would think over the amount of years that he has done it, that he would get the hint that he is always in the middle of it and maybe sometimes if he just backed up a little bit and caught his breath, he would be okay. I’m not out to harm him.  I am a teammate of his and I am trying to help him and there comes a point where he needs to just catch his breath and realize that it’s my racetrack too.  And I didn’t do anything wrong.  If he thinks I did anything wrong, then we can’t race and there is nothing that I did that I regret and there is nothing I won’t do next week.” 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/NATIONAL GUARD FAMILIES APPRECIATION CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20^TH: CAN YOU START OUT TALKING ABOUT THE INCIDENT WITH KURT BUSCH? “We were racing hard. We got shuffled back on the pit stop before that. We ran him down quite a bit, we were quite a bit faster than him. I dove inside of him in turn three and I definitely over-shot it a little bit. Either he didn’t know I was there or whatever and cut down on me and I got into him. Kurt Busch doesn’t have a very long fuse so either it was pay-back or he just got angry really quick and decided to wreck us. We just did what we could do to come home with the best finish we could.”

WHEN YOU GUYS GOT TOGETHER LATER, HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT? “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t know he was on the outside of me.”

TALK ABOUT WHAT THIS DOES TO YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP HOPES “Well, our championship hopes have taken a big hit the last couple of weeks. So, for us, it’s not about that right now, it about going out and getting the best finishes that we can and trying to win races. I felt like, at times, we had a car capable of winning today and that pit stop hurt us and we were back there battling our way back up there slowly but surely. And that incident, I gave him (Kurt Busch) a reason to get upset. So I wish I hadn’t of done that. But, we were racing hard. And then what it does for us for the championship is really insignificant in my opinion. At this point we’re just racing to try to get the best finishes and we’ll continue to do that as we move forward.”

YOU SAY YOU GAVE HIM A REASON TO BE UPSET; DO YOU THINK YOU FIND YOURSELF TRYING SO HARD OUT THERE ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CAR CAPABLE OF GETTING BACK UP TO THE FRONT, THAT YOU’RE MAKING MOVES YOU NORMALLY WOULDN’T MAKE? “No, that’s a move I make all the time. You see it all day long. I probably made that one a little later than I probably would liked to have. I barely got into him but that’s what my point is that I gave him enough of a reason to think that he should wreck me. So, that’s just have at it boys, right? That’s just racing; that’s just part of it.”

 

HE TOOK IT BACK A FEW YEARS. HE SAID IT DIDN’T MATTER IF HE WAS IN THE NO. 2 OR THE NO. 97 OR RUSTY WALLACE WAS IN THE NO. 2, HE SAID YOU’VE ALWAYS LIKE TO WRECK THAT CAR. “Why does that not surprise me that he said that? (laughs). I think if we just let him talk, that’s all that really needs to be said (laughter).”

HIS REACTION TO THE OTHER INCIDENT HE BASICALLY SAID THAT YOU DID IT ON PURPOSE AND THOUGHT IT WAS A CHICKEN MOVE. THAT WAS HIS QUOTE, NOT MINE “Like I said, if he just keeps making quotes, I don’t need to say anything at all. I think if you look at the video it’s pretty self-explanatory. I ran him down and was quite a bit faster than him. I said it here, more than once, that I probably made the move a little late. I was going to get into him. It wasn’t much. But I gave him enough of a reason that whatever things he has from past history or whatever thoughts he has in there, it sparked it, you know? At that point, he was determined to wreck us.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON NOW HAS A SIX POINT LEAD. “That’s the exciting part of the championship right now. I wish it was a lot closer all the way back to fifth or sixth or seventh, or even all the way to 10^th. But it just isn’t. I thought Denny (Hamlin) did a great job today, but Jimmie did a great job too of coming home 5^th. It’s going to make Talladega very interesting.”

DARIAN GRUBB – CREW CHIEF, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24^TH: “We got better and better as the day went on but we got a little bit off at the middle of the race but we had a fast car after that.  We had a pit road speeding penalty that was our own fault, then pit road miscues that were our own fault and a couple of other things that kept knocking us back and then it went green for a really long time at the end and got really tight and not sure really why, but then we blew a bead out, had to come in under green and finished three laps down.  It was the right front. ”

 

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., 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 Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). 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, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Denny Darnell

Scott Sebastian

Dodge Motorsports PR

Martinsville Speedway

TUMS Fast Relief 500

Post-Race Quotes

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Tweets by TeamDodge

www.media.chrysler.com

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) Finished 10th “It was a good solid day for us and we got a good finish out of it. It was a good weekend for us, winning the Nationwide yesterday and getting a top 10 here today. I’m happy but now, I’m ready to go home. “

DID YOU EXPECT YOUR FIRST TOP 10 TO COME AT A SHORT TRACK? “I think it’s going to come every week and so does the team. You can’t think of it as we’re coming to this race or that race and that’s where we’re going to run well. You’ve got to run hard every week and you’ve got to believe you can run up front every week. It could have come at the first race at Daytona and I would have believed it. It’s just a matter of getting everything right and running a good race.”

WHEN WAS THE CAR AT ITS BEST DURING THE RACE? “In the middle part of the race, we probably weren’t that good, but at the start and at the end we were solid. Good pit stops and good restarts gave us good track position. Put it all together and you end up with a top 10.”

JAY GUY (Crew Chief, No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) “It was a very solid run for this Penske Dodge. All the guys have worked hard all year long, it’s a shame it has taken this long to get a top 10. It’s really good for Brad, it’s good for Mr. Penske and for all the folks at Dodge that help support us and put this program together. We’re looking forward to building momentum for the rest of the year and into 2011. Runs like today give you a little more pep in your step and pride going into the next race.”

DID YOU EXPECT THE FIRST TOP 10 TO COME ON A SHORT TRACK? “Brad is such an accomplished race car driver, so calculating, that it wouldn’t surprise me anywhere we go that we could get a top 10, a top five or a win the way he approaches driving a race car. He’s a student of the game and a really smooth driver. It was a good all-around effort from everybody and Brad did a great job today.

I’m real happy for this Penske Racing team.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Operation Home Front/Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Finished 16th “Man, just a lot of good, hard Martinsville racing out there today. It was a battle for all 500 laps. This place has been a monster for me over the years. We started behind with our Miller Lite Dodge, qualifying 29th on Friday. Anytime you’re short-track racing, track position and pit stall selection is critical, especially here. It was a battle. We started back in the pack, worked our way up and gained a ton of track position. Then we came in under green and had to pit a second time because of some loose lug nuts which cost us all of our position. We fought our way back inside the top 10, dropped to 15th, back inside the top 12; just a back and forth effort all day for us. We rubbed fenders, battled and clawed all day. There was a lot of hard racing going on all day. We fought hard and I’m proud of our Miller Lite Dodge guys. I thought we were going to be able to battle home a top 10, but we just didn’t get the run we needed on that last long run and dropped to 16th.”

WHAT HAPPENED TO CAUSE THE CONTACT WITH THE 24 CAR? “Look, there was good racing all day amongst a lot of guys. There was respect given for guys when they were getting back to the inside. (He) was on the outside lane on restarts and so yeah, he shoved me in there and I shoved him back in Turn 4. I didn’t mean to get into him that hard, but over the years with (Jeff) Gordon here, back in the 97 (car), wrecking the 2 car, whether you’re a current Kurt fan or ex-Rusty (Wallace) fan, he’s wrecked the 2 car a lot here.”

DID THE CONTACT WITH THE 24 CAR HURT YOUR CAR AT ALL? “His chicken move afterward wasn’t called for, but that shows the game we’re gonna play. One bump versus another bump, it still seems like the scorecard isn’t even.”

TRAVIS GEISLER (Crew Chief, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) Finished 25th “We actually had a decent car today. We were going to run top 20 for sure. We were running around 15th to 20th all day. We were on the outside of the 47, trying to get by him. He lost it on the inside and came up and hit us in the left front wheel. That knocked the toe out. There’s no stability on braking once you have that situation. We tried to fix it up best we could, but had already lost a couple laps trying to get it repaired. It was a tough day for us, but we’re happy for the 12 guys, their first top 10 of the year. It’s good to see them post a good finish.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion (Finished 8th) – “Our Aflac crew didn’t give up. We dropped like we had an anchor in the beginning and went to the back. Bob did a great job with pit strategy. That was pretty cool and then the guys did a good job on pit road. On that last run people were just falling left and right, so I started going easier because I figured they were melting the inside of the beads or something. It was just a really trying day for eveybody’s car and for all the drivers. I know for me personally I was worn out towards the end, but to come home eighth, I don’t know how we did in points, but it’s probably better than we started and that’s good.” IT SEEMED THE RACE WAS MORE INTENSE THAN USUAL? “It was a little more intense today. I think the points play a big part in that. The points are so close, not just among the leaders but the rest of us as well. It’s high stakes, high stress and a very, very small race track. It was just a good day. It was a good crowd and we’re happy. We’ll go home and get ready for Talladega.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Finished 33rd) – “It was kind of unfortunate for us today. We had a right-front tire go down. I don’t know, but something happened to the car after that because it drug the suspension off or something trying to get to pit road. The good news is we qualified well and practiced well this weekend, but we still have to keep working on it.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion (Finished 15th) – DID YOU HAVE A BETTER CAR THAN 15TH? “Honestly, no. I felt like we had a worse car than that if nobody would have had trouble, but I feel like we could have got a better finish. We sped on pit road somehow, which was weird because I wasn’t racing anybody. I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention on the last segment down there. They said I was speeding, but I was five car lengths from any car, so that kind of baffled me a little. I know it’s electronic and they have to right and I have to be wrong, but I don’t know how I managed that. That hurt us. If we wouldn’t have done that, we were probably gonna finish three to six spots better.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion (Finished 12th) – “I’m happy, but I’m mad at myself because I messed up on that pit stop. We finally got some track position, and were finally getting to the front when we were up to seventh or eighth, but I messed up on our two-tire stop. I just tried to leave too quick and stalled it and that put us in the back, so we had to fight from there, so I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but I’m pleased with the finish. Anytime you get a top

12 at Martinsville, I think it’s the first time I’ve ever run all 500 laps here, too, so, all in all, it was a good day. I think we gained some points on a couple guys around us, but, more importantly, we got back to running well after the last couple of weeks. I’m happy for the guys and mad at myself a little bit, but it was a decent day.”

WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT YOUR TEAM THAT WITH ALL THE DISTRACTIONS THIS WEEK THEY HAD A SOLID PERFORMANCE TODAY? “We can’t change anything that’s going on behind the scenes and what’s gonna happen. We can’t change that. We can come here and, for me, no matter what happens I feel like I’ll figure something out. I’m more worried for my guys because they bust their butts to go out here and work this hard. They don’t get paid a lot of money and they spend their whole life doing this, so I just want to try to take care of them. After everything this week, I’m just proud of my guys, my pit crew, my road crew and everybody back at the shop for building a good race car and rallying – putting their heads down and just forgetting about everything going on around us.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 17th) – YOUR TEAM HAD TO OVERCOME AN EARLY PIT ROAD SPEEDING PENALTY “I thought we had a top-10 to a top-15 car just depending where we were as far as track position.

In the middle of the race we were fast, but on that last run, we were way too free. I’m proud of our UPS guys for bouncing back after that speeding penalty because I think at one point we were down in the mid-30s. All in all, it’s not what we wanted, but I think we gained some points on the guys we were racing around. It was just typical racing at Martinsville.”

KENNY FRANCIS, Crew Chief – No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion (Almirola finished 21st) – “I thought Aric did real well today. We kind of struggled with the car all day and got it going pretty good at one point, but then about two-thirds of the way through the race we just kind of lost the handle on it. We couldn’t keep it turning good through the middle and never hit on any adjustments to help it, but Aric did a great job. He stayed out of trouble and stayed on the lead lap until we got a flat near the end, but I thought he ran a really good race. I’m really happy with that.”

FRANK STODDARD, Crew Chief – No. 26 Air National Guard Ford Fusion (Schrader finished 18th) – “It was a good finish. The car was extremely good on the long run, but wasn’t really good on the short runs because we were just a little too tight. That paid dividends at the end, unfortunately the race just didn’t get some long, green runs.

If you look back in the spring, I think we pitted under the green some and this time I think 70 laps was the longest run, so that didn’t play into our favor. We needed a long run. At the end, we were better than Harvick on the same set of tires, so I was pretty pleased with the day to get a top 20.”

CHEVY FAST FACTS

TUMS FAST RELIEF 500

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

October 24, 2010

 

• A total of 15 Team Chevy drivers will start the Tums Fast Relief 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Martinsville Speedway, race 32 of the 2010 season and the sixth race of Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

 

• Chevrolet drivers starting in the top-10:
  • Ryan Newman, No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet, will start 4th in the 43-car field for the 500-lap/263-mile race
  • Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet starts 5^th 
  • Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet,  starts 6th
  • Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, starts 9^th

 

CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK-MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY:

• A Chevrolet driver has won 46 of the 123 NSCS races at Martinsville Speedway (MS)

• Chevy has 48 poles at MS
• Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, has one (1) win at MS
• Bobby Labonte, No. 09 C & J Energy Chevrolet has won once (1) at MS

• Team Chevy drivers have scored 223 top-five finishes and 414 top-10 finishes at MS
• A Chevrolet has led 23,490 laps (42.3% of 55,587 possible) at MS
• Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Families Appreciation Chevrolet, has seven (7) MS victories, more than any other active driver
• Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, has six (6) victories at the .526-mile oval
•  Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com/eBay Motors Chevrolet, has two (2) MS victories
• Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet has won twice (2) at MS

 

TEAM CHEVY IN 2010 NSCS COMPETITION:

• Race wins – 17 as of race 31 of 36
• Poles – 14 as of race 31 of 36
• Laps led – 4,692 (51.1% of possible 9,177)
• Top-five finishes – 84 (54.2% of possible)
• Top-10 finishes – 154 (49.7% of possible)
• Team Chevy has six (6) drivers in the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. After five (5) of 10 races, the order is:
  • Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet – points leader
  • Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet – 3^rd in the standings
  • Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Families Appreciation Chevrolet – 4^th in point standings
  • Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice  Chevrolet – 6^th in the standings
  • Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet – 10^th in the points order
  • Clint Bowyer, No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet – 12^th  in points

 

• Chevrolet has won a record 34 NSCS Manufacturers’ Cups and Team Chevy drivers have collected the coveted NSCS driver’s championship 26 times and won 668 races

 

• In claiming the 2009 NSCS championship, Johnson became the first driver in the history of the NSCS to win four consecutive titles, ’06, ’07, ’08 and ‘09

 

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., 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 Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). 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, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

1st, Denny Hamlin 2nd, Marcos Ambrose 8th, David Reutimann 14th, Scott Speed 16th, Martin Truex Jr. 20th, Casey Mears 22nd, Joey Logano 26th, Kyle Busch 30th, Landon Cassill 33rd, Kasey Kahne 37th, Joe Nemechek 41st, Kevin Conway DNQ, Robby Gordon DNQ, Terry Cook DNQ, Johnny Sauter

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position:  1st Do you feel like it paid off to work on qualifying in today’s practice session? “Hopefully it’s a good thing.  We haven’t had our car in race trim yet.  I feel like we have a good baseline setup for here, obviously so we decided today that we were just going to focus on qualifying knowing that the corner pit stall is very, very critical here at Martinsville.  I love it when a plan comes together.” How nerve-wracking was it to watch the final cars take their qualifying laps? “I beat a hole through every cabinet and door in the front of the hauler.  The 24 (Jeff Gordon) had a good shot at us and the 16 (Greg Biffle) had a great shot at us getting into turn three on their last lap.  I wasn’t wishing bad luck, but I was just like, ‘Slip, slip, slip, slip.’  It came true for us.  I’m proud of this whole FedEx team.  We’ve had to work extra hard today because we have worked just on qualifying.  Kudos to them for working hard today and obviously tomorrow as well.” Are you pleased to have the number one pit stall for Sunday’s race? “It’s the biggest thing and this is only the first or second race we’ve had all year that we’ve actually just worked on qualifying on Friday.  I know the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) does that a lot and they typically out qualify us every single week.  This is the first time for us doing that and obviously we executed really well today.  Object one is accomplished and we just have to move on and change our mindset from here on out to what’s going to make our car last for 500 laps.” Have there been any changes related to pit stops at your team? “No, we’ve kept the same core group of guys for the last four years really of my career and really these are the same guys that I was probably complaining about earlier in my career.  They’ve just hit their stride and I think we’ve had the chemistry for so long now.  Even though we have strings of two or three bad weeks in a row where we had bad pit stops early in my career – we just figured that we had the right group of guys.  It’s just the chemistry and we needed to work on that part of it.  It seemed like it got better.  It definitely would from our standpoint.  If we were struggling in that area, a change like that would be open.  The 18 (Kyle Busch) car has got great pit stops every single week and they’re one of the best on pit road.  My guys have really stepped up big time in the last six months or so.  Keeping them together paid off instead of the changing like we were thinking about doing years ago.” Do you plan to keep your confidence up throughout the race tomorrow after sitting on the pole? “I forgot the last time I had a pole – I don’t get very many of them and it seems like I would remember.  We know here is a completely different beast than Atlanta or one of those tracks.  We know that when we do qualify on the pole, our car is really strong because we typically don’t qualify very well.  We always seem to race well.  It feels good to set out a plan and execute it.   We set it out days ago and said that we won’t even worry about what happens in race trim on Friday and just worry about getting that number one pit stall.  That’s optimistic being that you’re going up against 42 of the best guys in the country, but when you’re able to execute it like we are and like we’ve done, it gives you a lot of confidence.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) Was getting the pole here today phase one of your plan for the final five races? “Odds are that the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) isn’t going to stay where he’s at and the 29 (Kevin Harvick) isn’t going to stay where he’s at so that gap is going to close.  All we can do is try to win.  I feel like it’s going to be much easier coming from first.   We’re going to be able to be much easier on our equipment throughout the day where I’ve started back where those guys are before and you really have to use up a lot of your race car and sometimes you don’t have anything left by the time you get up front.  It’s going to be much easier on us starting there.  We can kind of set the tone, hopefully lead a lap early and obviously try to keep everyone behind us because the more we lead, the less for those other guys.” Will you have more left in your car at the end by starting up front? “I think it’s just because I’ve saved so much and I did a lot at Richmond earlier this year.  It’s about conserving equipment and I do feel like I’m good at saving brakes and things like that.  Parts have gotten so reliable on these cars nowadays – the brake packages and everything that guys are really hammering them and running as hard as they can each and every lap and they still have something left.  I think it’s a great start to the weekend and people might read into where Jimmie’s (Johnson) starting and where Kevin’s (Harvick) starting and where I’m starting, but we know as soon as the green flag drops those guys are going to be coming.” What is pit road like at Martinsville? “There’s about three good pit stalls.  What’s good for us is that hopefully the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) gets to pick a pit stall and he won’t have ones that work out for timing lines because a lot of guys here cheat pit road quite a bit in the sense that they’ll gas the cars up.  They know where the timing lines are so they’ll cheat where they are on pit road to work those timing lines.   Hopefully those good timing line pit stalls where guys cheat that will be gone by the time those guys get to pick a stall.  That will help us pretty much all day.  Hopefully we stay up front then we should have nobody in front of us when we’re going into pit road and obviously no one when we’re leaving because the number one pit stall.  It’s going to be important for us.  That was our biggest thing.  I think the 11th pit stall out there was the second-best one.  We wanted to be one of those two spots.”

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Dollar General Country Million Sweepstakes Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Starting Position:  2nd How has your short track program evolved? “We’ve had a great short track program all year and we’ve been looking forward to coming here to Martinsville.  It’s been a good day for us.  Started off pretty loose – had a little spin there early in practice, but we got lucky and didn’t hit anything.   Switched over to qualifying trim and really it was a good lap – I didn’t think it was going to be as good as the front row, but we’ll take it.” Do you feel like you run a separate race from the Chase contenders? “I’m excited to be on the front row and I’m going to try to stay there as long as I can.  There haven’t been as many opportunities as I would like to be at the front of the field so I’m going to try to take advantage of it.  At the end of the day I have to be mindful of who I’m racing around.  I appreciate the sport and if you’ve made the Chase you deserve to fight it out for the championship without a guy doing the wrong thing by you.  I’m mindful of who I’m around at the same time I’m racing my own race.” Why do road course racers do well at Martinsville? “I’m not sure I can answer that for you.  I’ve run well at Bristol and here – those are two good tracks for me.  Richmond I finished fifth as well.  I feel like in my case, our short track program has been strong and we’ve been able to take advantage of it.  I’m frustrated with my performances on the intermediate ovals so that is really my Achilles heel I guess if you like.  I feel like we’re running as well as we should, but then deserve to be with our team here – it’s nice to highlight it, it’s just a shame we can’t be more consistent with that.  Road racing guys, it doesn’t feel like a road race course to me, this place is very tricky to get around.  You have to run the car pretty loose getting in the corner and you have to trail brake – different to what I do in a road course so I don’t think there are a lot of similarities between them.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position:  8th How was your qualifying lap? “We were okay.  Just a little tight on throttle.  The guys did a good job.  Both of our mock runs we were really, really good and that was the first time it had been tight on exit all day.  Little confused as to why it did that.  All in all, hopefully it will hold up to be a decent lap.”

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Starting Position:  14th How did your car handle during your qualifying laps? “We gave a little bit up on our first timed lap – we should have been better, but I didn’t have enough rear traction off of turn four and I just kind of had a big drift all the way to the start-finish line.  I think I lost a couple hundredths.  The second lap I was just conservative and put together a good, solid lap.  Hopefully it will hold up solid for us.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position:  16th How did you feel about your car in qualifying? “It wasn’t what we were looking for, but it was better than practice.  We were fighting a lot of things.  This is a tough little place to get around.  It’s small and flat and it looks simple, but it’s really hard to get the car balanced good in all three parts of the corner – entry, center and exit.  We’ve  been complete opposites in all three corners today so we’ve been kind of battling it.   First lap was okay, but it was a little on the free side and the second lap the right-rear couldn’t hang in there anymore and just chattered out from under me.  Of course you lose three or four tenths in every corner when it does that so the second lap – you usually pick up on the second lap if you get things right, but the right-rear tire just couldn’t hold on that long.  Little disappointed, but at the same time it was faster than we ran in practice and a lot of guys slowed down.  Look at the positives and work hard on it tomorrow.”

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Starting Position:  20th

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position:  22nd

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position:  26th

LANDON CASSILL, No. 64 Little Joe’s Auto Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports Starting Position:  30th

KASEY KAHNE, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Starting Position:  33rd

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Starting Position:  37th

KEVIN CONWAY, No. 7 Extenze Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Starting Position:  41st

ROBBY GORDON, No. 07 Extenze Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Starting Position:  DNQ

TERRY COOK, No. 55 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Starting Position:  DNQ

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 66 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Starting Position:  DNQ