Author: Official Release

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PEPSI MAX 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES

October 10, 2010

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET met with media and discussed the upcoming Talladega race, his approach to the Chase, and more. Full Transcript:

 

YOU HAVE SIX WINS AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY. YOU HAVE THE TOP DRIVER RATING OF 115.3. YOU ARE ON TOP OF THE POINTS BOARD, BUT YOU’VE GOT SOME PEOPLE BREATHING DOWN YOUR NECK. WHAT’S YOUR THOUGHT ABOUT RACING HERE THIS WEEKEND AT CHARLOTTE?

“It’s been good to us over the years. This track, by the time the checkered flag falls, we seem to get on track and get where we need the car to be and can get a good finish. But I think, in my mind, of the No. 09 (Kasey Kahne) and the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) performance here in May, and how strong those two cars were and expect those guys to really be on top of things. But I’m optimistic coming in. I think the way we’ve run on the 1.5-mile tracks recently and the two-mile tracks is a very good sign for the No. 48 team that we’re on the right track and doing the right things and expect a good run from that. It’s hard to go off the May race (because) so much changes from May to October that it’s just really tough to say.

“I know we’re not coming back the same but it’s tough to go off of a race that was so many months ago. I really don’t want to go off that one because I ended up wadded up somewhere back here off of Turn 2 (laughs) on the back straightaway. But I’m looking forward to it. I’m hoping the weather will stay away. It looks like we’ll probably be okay there and we can qualify tonight.”

ON MARTINSVILLE NEXT WEEK

“We go to Martinsville next week? I swear I thought it was Talladega. I honestly thought it was Talladega.”

NO

“Okay, I’d better get my stuff together. Fantastic.”

YEAH, A LITTLE DIFFERENCE (LAUGHTER). WE TALK TO DRIVERS ABOUT THEIR SHORT TRACK BACKGROUND. YOU HAVE AN OFF-ROAD BACKGROUND YET YOU ARE AMONG THE ONES TO BEAT AT MARTINSVILLE. TALK ABOUT THAT.

“It took a while to get there. And when I came into the sport, I had two years in ASA and thought that the short tracks would fit well for me and it was quite the opposite. It took a long time to understand the big car, the radial tire, the extra power, and how to maneuver around on a short track. But the track at Martinsville, especially when the rubber is laid down, reminds me of some of my off-road stuff where we would have barrels or tractor tires stacked up as the turn-marker, but it was that tight of a radius. And when the rubber lays down, especially the right-side rubber on corner exit at Martinsville, you have to change your line to not run through the rubber at the wrong spot.

“And that rhythm really helps all dirt drivers. It doesn’t matter if it’s Tony (Stewart) in a Sprint Car or Dirt Late Model, or Kasey Kahne for that matter. I think certain guys have an eye for where the slick spots are on the track and how to change their lines and I think all of our dirt background really help that.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE FOR US THE FIRST TIME YOU WENT TO TALLADEGA IN A NATIONWIDE CAR AND THEN A CUP CAR? FOR US MORTALS, IT WOULD SEEM TO SCARE THE HECK OUT OF US. IS IT STILL AS TREACHEROUS AS IT APPEARS TO US? DESCRIBE THE MINDSET THERE.

“I’d say my first lap at Talladega was with one of the craziest guys ever to drive a Nationwide car in Randy LaJoie. He had me in a rental car and left pit road and went straight for the wall as fast as he could and was trying to show me how you run a lap up top and work your way down for your final lap. And that certainly got my attention. Luckily for me, I had Daytona earlier in the year and was able to comprehend the fact that you could run wide-open around a race track. Everything I’ve ever raced, in the corners you really had to brake and slow down and get in the gas and come off the corner. The single-lap stuff wasn’t all that intimidating, but when you hear ‘three-wide’, ‘four-wide’, ‘five-wide’ for the first time (on the radio) and you can’t see that far in front of you and you’re trying to imagine where the guys are next to you and trying to find some type of reference point with the dotted lines on the track to determine okay, this is my lane I think and we’ve got two in here and hopefully that’s their lane (laughs), so there are a couple of moments there that are really tense. It’s kind of trial and error at that point. I’ve had plenty of errors early in my Cup career at Talladega.”

NOW THAT YOU HAVE FOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS, DO YOU EVER GET TO A POINT IN THE CHASE FORMAT WHEN YOU’RE THINKING YOU DON’T HAVE TO FINISH IN THE TOP THREE, I CAN FINISH 8^TH AN BE OKAY; I DON’T HAVE TO BE AS RISKY AS SOME OF THE OTHER GUYS

“At this point, I think that would be a mistake for myself and anyone for that matter. You just don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of the season. I can look at the championships I’ve won so far and find different examples. Last year is a really good example. Luckily, I raced for every point I could up until Texas; or really the whole time, and then in Texas when we had our problem on lap 2 I had points that I could afford to give up and still was able to race from there and win the championship. You need every point.

“Last week at the end of the race when Clint (Bowyer) got by me, I thought I had another lap. I didn’t realize it was a green-white-checkered and I was really upset with myself for losing those five points. With the situation we had, it would have been smarter for me to play a little more defense and protect the bottom, but I thought I had a couple more laps in my back pocket where I could get the top working and try to get by the No. 14 (Tony Stewart). You really want every point you can get at this point. You just don’t know what’s going to happen through Talladega. And we always look at Talladega, but Texas I had a problem; you can go to Phoenix with the tight racing we have there and have a problem. You need every point you can get.”

AT THIS RACE LAST YEAR YOU AND CHAD KNAUS DECIDED YOU WANTED TO LEAD ALL THE PRACTICES, QUALIFY ON THE POLE, LEAD THE MOST LAPS, AND WIN THE RACE. AND YOU DID THAT. THE CHASE BASICALLY ENDED THERE AND NOBODY WAS CLOSE TO YOU AFTER THAT. DO YOU LOOK AT THIS TRACK AS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN DRIVE A STAKE INTO THE HEART OF THE COMPETITION, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE FACT THAT THERE WAS SO MUCH SEPARATION LAST WEEK WITH ALL THE BLOWN ENGINES?

“We really hope to. I think last year we were much more confident with our 1.5-mile set-up. And we’ve had a lot of good races leading up to now to where I should be confident but I just don’t want to get too far ahead of myself and be too optimistic. I like to be in a spot of concern that keeps me on my toes and stay focused on doing my job. Believe me, I’m excited that we’re at this race track. I know what we’ve been able to do here in the past, so it helps me sleep well the week leading into this race weekend but if the truth be told, until we get on the track and really know what we have, it’s all just smoke and mirrors in my brain right now. And I don’t want to fall into believing that and because we’ve been good here before that we’re going to again. We’ve got to go out and make stuff happen tonight in qualifying and then at the same time in tomorrow’s race practice, we need to be on our game. I certainly hope so. For my sake, I really want to leave here and collect a lot of points if possible, but at the same time I know it’s a really good track for the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) and it’s been a good place for Jeff (Gordon) over the years. So I don’t know what’s going to happen. But we’re going to go like hell and see if we can get some points.”

I WAS JUST HALF PAYING ATTENTION AND THEN PERKED UP WHEN YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T KNOW THE NEXT RACE WAS MARTINSVILLE, DID YOU REALLY THINK TALLADEGA WAS NEXT? ARE YOU KIDDING?

“No. I’m 100 percent honest. I thought that was next. Tells you how much I’m thinking about Talladega and how concerned I am about that race on the schedule (laughs). Wasn’t Talladega after Martinsville at one point in our schedule? Or am I totally backwards?

NOT RECENTLY

“Okay, well I thought that it was. I just get on the plane and where it drops me off, I get off and this week I wasn’t told to go to the airplane so I got in my car and drove here (laughter & clapping). Yeah. And I’m also a new parent and it does eat up a lot of time and a lot of your focus. It’s a good thing.”

AT TALLADEGA, THERE IS REALLY NO SURE FIRE WAY OF STAYING OUT OF THE BIG ONE. YOU’VE DONE IT BOTH WAYS, AT THE FRONT OF THE PACK AND THE BACK OF THE PACK. IS IT REALLY A ONE IN 200-LAP CRAPSHOOT THAT YOU NEVER REALLY KNOW AND THERE’S NO SURE FIRE WAY OF AVOIDING IT?

“We’ve tried both approaches and the last three years we’ve made it through there (the big crash) without any big trouble. I can remember Bobby Labonte at the front of the pack racing Talladega one time and gets flipped over and ends up landing on Tony Stewart, who is trying to ride at the back to be smart for points. So there is no safe place. We see a lot of teams trying to be conservative and smart and get to the end of the race and go from there and the problem we have now is when everybody decides with 20 (laps) to go, that it’s time to race, you have to race. You need the best finish you can get and that’s where the crashes are. So I think we all feel better if we go 480 miles and then get crashed. It really sucks to crash at five miles into the race or something (laughs). I think that’s what we’ve done over the years is there’s no need to push the envelope now if something weird went on, we could miss that. But at the end you’ve got to pull them tight (belts) and drive through there and try to get the best finish you can.”

ON THE COMMENTS THAT JIMMIE JOHNSON IS TOO VANILLA AND THE REASON THE TV RATINGS ARE FALLING IS BECAUSE JIMMIE JOHNSON IS TOO SUCCESSFUL AND WE’RE TIRED OF SEEING HIM WIN ALL THE TIME. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT?

“Well I know that I’m not the reason for those things and I sure as hell know I’m not vanilla. I think it takes anybody some time to get comfortable in their shoes and their sport and with where I went from being like a C-level driver in Nationwide and through all the other things in my career, to drive for Hendrick Motorsports to having success early, at the end of the day I want to be a professional and do my job. And some people formed opinions then and it’s unfortunate that if it still lingers around because I think I’ve done plenty to show that I’m far from vanilla. And at the same time, I’m getting more comfortable as each year goes by in how I act and what I do and with who I am. I have my own securities like anyone else and when I come to the track I just want to make sure I’m doing my best job and representing my sponsors. I think I’m finding a better balance of that. And from the success that we’ve had, it’s just unfair to put it on a driver’s success. When you look at the economy and the challenges that it’s posed on people, there’s a lot of conversations about the prices being too high for hotel rooms.

“The tracks have worked very hard to get their price point down and that hasn’t really moved the needle all that much. We have an amazing television package and people aren’t tuning in to watch. We don’t know why. And it’s not just our sport, it’s all sports and it’s all television. It’s not me and I know that. So I just kind of chuckle about it and if people want to spend time talking about it they can.”

IF MY MATH IS CORRECT, THREE OF THE SIX TRACKS LEFT, YOU’VE GOT 16 OR 18 VICTORIES THERE. SO IN A LOT OF WAYS THE NUMBERS REALLY DO KIND OF FAVOR YOU. THE ONE TRACK THAT’S LEFT AT THE END OF THE SEASON IS HOMESTEAD AND YOU HAVEN’T HAD TO WIN AT THAT TRACK. TALK ABOUT HOW A LOT OF US ARE ALREADY IN A POSITION WHERE WE MIGHT BE CONCEDING YOU THE CHAMPIONSHIP

“Yeah, I just don’t think that’s the smart thing to do. There is just so much racing left. Texas is a great example of what can happen. I think this championship is going to come down to Homestead and I feel that we’ve don’t a really good job of being more competitive at Homestead. Last year we ran in the top three or five most of the race with being smart on the race track. And we sat on the pole too. So I feel that if push comes to shove when we go to Homestead and we need to race for the win, we’ll have what we need to there. The other tracks, I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished and what we’ve done. But it doesn’t mean a damn thing about this weekend’s race or next weekend’s race and on and on. You have to go out and like we always hear, you’ve got to go play the game. Well, I’ve got to go run the race and that’s my job now.”

YOU’VE BEEN IN CRASHES AT TALLADEGA, WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE IN A CRASH AT TALLADEGA—THE SOUND, THE FEELING, ETC.

“First thing, there is a certain noise that restrictor plate engines make when you bail out of the gas and you can hear maybe other guys out of the gas.  Then your own car noise.  The tires squealing.  Depending on how hard you hit something, the tone and impact changes the harder you hit stuff, but one of the most interesting parts of a crash is spinning and bouncing off of things.  As a driver, you’re judging and rating how much damage it’s done.  If there’s some real small impact you that you make, you’re like, ‘Ok.  We can fix that.  That’s not bad.’  And then a good pop and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s going to be a problem.’  We’re evaluating each bump that we take throughout the spin and then the impact with the wall and you start off with kind of like a video game, you have all this life in you and you’re like, ‘Ok. I’m going to make it through this crash.’ As you start bouncing off things, your power starts dropping down and eventually in most cases, you leave defeated and the car is destroyed.  The noise and also the smell of the tires.  You get a lot of tire smoke inside the car.  Sometimes if you get off in the grass, not only do you smell that, but you’re covered in dirt and grass from being in the infield.”

CAN YOU COMPARE IT TO ANYTHING THAT WE WOULD KNOW?

“No.  I would say it’s also the longest slide.  Other tracks, the slide and the feeling of what am I going to hit and how hard am I going to hit it, there is a point of time that is really uncomfortable as a driver.  It’s very long at Talladega, but at other tracks it’s not long before you hit something.  Your nerves go through a little bit more of a roller coaster ride on one of those tracks, but I can’t say that anything that I’ve raced or done has compared to a 200-mile-an-hour half-mile slide and bouncing off things through all of it.”

KEVIN HARVICK SAID THAT REALISTICALLY HE THINKS THE TOP-FIVE STILL HAVE A SHOT AT THE CHAMPIONSHIP.  DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT AND HOW QUICKLY CAN THAT CHANGE?

“Yeah, I mean it really can.  You look at Tony [Stewart] down there in fifth and how much pace he has had and been chipping away the gap from where he is to first.  I certainly think he’s a player.  You kind of go through the numbers and you look at the three cars ahead of him, the four cars ahead of him and it’s hard to think that all three would have trouble, but I’ve just grown to believe that anything can happen.  We have a big gap over sixth and even a decent gap to where Tony is in fifth.  At Talladega all three of us, all four of us, could be in a wreck and Tony could leave there as the points leader at 107 out.  I just don’t want to worry about it too much; I want to consider everyone as a threat and stay on my toes to make sure that I do the best job that I can.”

WITH EACH OF THE FOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS, DO YOU CONSIDER THEM SEPARATE ENTITIES, OR DO YOU KIND OF TAKE ALL FOUR AND BUILD MOMENTUM AS YOU’RE CHASING THE FIFTH ONE?

“In my mind, they are all their own independent years and each one has had its own challenges and its own journey of sorts to get to that point.  Again, falling back on the past, I feel good about what we’ve accomplished and I’m proud of that.  It helps me get through the week I think when I’m faced with tough times, I can look back on my experience and say, ‘Ok, in 2006 we had trouble; and this happened here.  In 2008, we got in a heck of a run and outraced Jeff.’  So every driver will go back through their own experiences and find things that they need to apply in their current situation, and I do that as well with those championships.  I just know in the bottom of my heart because I did it in the past does not mean that it’s going to happen again and I’ve got to go out and earn it again.  It’s just me being a realist about it.  I’ll fall back on that experience to help me through the times that I need it, but I know that I’ve got to go on track and do it.”

GOING TO MARTINSVILLE WHO DO YOU NOT WANT TO SEE SITTING NEXT TO YOU ON A RESTART?  YOUR BOSS SEEMS TO THINK THAT THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS ARE WHAT IS GOING TO EVENTUALLY FIGURE OUT THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

“Yeah and we had a really exciting finish there in the spring with the double-file restart.  First and foremost, you would have to assume the front-row outside driver—the old theory of eight wheels are better than four is going to come into play—and whoever the inside car is going to lean on him pretty heavily.  There we can turn people around pretty easily.  It could.  I’ve heard Jeff [Gordon] make those comments on how double-file restarts could affect things.  I naturally think that he’s speaking more to the mile-and-a-half and two-mile tracks because the cars are really out of control in low-air situations.  You have more control over your car at Martinsville than at any of the other tracks on a double-file restart.  We’ll see.  Who I wouldn’t want next to me—man I guess whoever would be second in points. 

We’re going to be gouging for every single point at that part of the race and the way the points are stacked up, the top-five are all guys that are really good at Martinsville.  It could be exciting.”

IS THERE ANYONE THAT IS BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE AT GETTING THE POWER DOWN AND GETTING STARTED?

“Yeah, Kyle is probably the one right now that can get the power down better than others.  We’ve been beat by him and addressed it and have worked on things and looked at car set-ups and what I do.  At one point a few years back, I was that guy.  I don’t know what has changed.  I think Kyle right now probably has the best at getting the power down and getting to the line and taking that momentum and making something happen with it.”

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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

BANK OF AMERICA 500

CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 14, 2010

 

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway and discussed his position in the Chase, the Hall of Fame class, TV ratings, wild card races and other topics.  Full transcript:

 

TALK ABOUT YOUR MINDSET HEADING INTO CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Obviously, we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re not out of it, but we are approaching there if we don’t get something turned around really quickly. Last week was horrendous is the best way to describe it. We never quite got where we needed to be. It only got worse as the weekend went. It was a real disappointing weekend. Everybody worked real hard; it wasn’t from a lack of effort. We just couldn’t put it together. Hopefully we can put that behind us. If we are going to make a charge, it has to start now. There is not enough time left to keep waiting for the charge to come. It’s got to come now. This is not the position I thought we would be in, but it’s the position we’re in. We’ve got to deal with it.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE HALL OF FAME VOTE YESTERDAY? I DON’T THINK ANYONE WOULD BEGRUDGE THE FIVE WHO GOT IN, BUT THERE IS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT WHO DIDN’T GET IN AS WELL. “I think it is good that there is a lot of talk about who didn’t get in because if we get to the point where we are only talking about who is in and who didn’t get in, then maybe we are putting too many people in. Which we are not doing right now, I am not saying that. But, the fact that there is a lot of candidates is a good thing. I really don’t think we should, I guess it is human nature, to try to pull the negatives out of it, but the reality of it is that it is a great thing that the five people that got inducted, got inducted.

“Every one of them is a rightful member of the Hall of Fame. Every one of them has made a contribution that has made an impact on the sport and they did their craft very very well. There’s many people that haven’t been nominated yet in the same position. So, time will sort all of those things out. You shouldn’t lose sleep over when. If you’re honored enough to get into the Hall of Fame, you shouldn’t lose sleep about when you got into the Hall of Fame. The third class in no less important that the second class.

“And, the 10^th class will be no less important that the third class. So, for those who didn’t get into it that expressed disappointment, I guess I understand that in some ways, it is a hell of an honor to be considered to be in the Hall of Fame. I think the emphasis should be placed on the people who did get in it because there is no one that got in it that didn’t deserve to be in it.”

 

KEVIN HARVICK SAID EARLIER THAT IF YOU AREN’T IN FIFTH PLACE, YOU PROBABLY DON’T HAVE A LEGITIMATE SHOT AT WINNING THE WHOLE THING, DO YOU AGREE? WHAT KINDS OF THINGS CAN YOU AND CLINT DO THE REST OF THE WAY TO HELP KEVIN OUT? “We haven’t run the white flag up just yet. This is an interesting sport. As I said, we are certainly not a position that we want to be in, we’re certainly not is a position that I thought we would be in, but we’re in the position that we are in.

“For there to be a great comeback, at some point, you have to be behind and that is where we are right now. Our focus is on trying to mount the comeback without the faith you can do it; it never happens. Certainly the odds are against us but our focus is on still trying to go out and perform so we can win the championship. We have to have some help to do that. If those top-three or four guys go finish top-five, even top-10s the rest of the year, it is probably not going to work out for us. There are a lot of events that are going to happen between now and then. Kevin is right. If you look at history and it states we are in a hole that maybe you can’t overcome, the reason that record books change is because people do things that you didn’t think could be done. That is our view of it. We haven’t quit. We believe we’re capable but we’ve got to…We haven’t shown it, we haven’t done it but we still believe that we can. That is our emphasis.”

EVERYONE DISCUSSES TALLADEGA BEING THE WILD CARD THAT IT IS, DO YOU APPROACH RACING AT TALLADEGA LIKE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE RATHER THAN IF YOU WERE IN THE HUNT MORE, YOU MIGHT BE A LITTLE DEFENSIVE? “Well, we’re not there yet and we don’t know what position we are going to be in when we get there. Obviously we are not going to be leading the points when we get there but, we don’t know what position we are going to be in. No matter what, finishing the best you can finish is all you can do. My emphasis every time I go to Talladega is to try to win the race; miss the wreck; don’t cause the wreck. The thing about the wild card races is who would have thought California? You had engine failures and all the things going on. You had a lot of people breaking engines, you had all this stuff. The No. 99 car (Carl Edwards) stopping on the track…you never know when that stuff is going to happen. Every race is potentially a wild card race. Talladega without a doubt, evidence suggests it is potentially the biggest. But, you go into that race and approach it like you do every other race I think.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THEORIES ON WHY THE TV RATINGS HAVE DROPPED IN THE CHASE AND ANY THOUGHT THAT PEOPLE ARE BORED WITH ANOTHER JIMMIE (JOHNSON) RUN? “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. I don’t proclaim to be someone that can analyze why people watch what they watch when they watch it. I don’t understand it. You know there was a period of time when we really questioned the quality of the racing; I’m going to have a hard timing saying I that I don’t think the quality of the racing is good right now. I don’t know. I wish I had an answer for you and I’m sure that NASCAR wishes I had an answer for them. I don’t have the answer. I don’t know why it is. The racing has been good. It is not a run-away Chase. I mean, my Gawd, anybody that thinks this is a run-away Chase isn’t paying attention. I don’t know. When other teams go on runs and start reeling off; when Tiger Woods is winning a lot of tournaments, more people watch. If you argued that Jimmie having success is bad for the sport then why was golf so good when Tiger was so good?  Doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t proclaim to understand it.”

THERE WAS A LOT OF MOTIVATION FOR YOU COMING INTO THIS SEASON TO IMPROVE WHICH YOU HAVE DONE, BUT TO HIT THE NEXT LEVEL, MORE TOP-FIVES, MORE CONTENTIONS FOR WINS, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS NEED TO DO? “Our glaring issue has been, there have been several things. The quality of our pit stops has got to improve. We’ve not been as strong as we needed to be on pit road. I’m not busting on anybody. Everybody is working really hard, but we are consistently losing spots on pit road, that hurts us. We consistently don’t qualify as well as we need to, that hurts us. And, during the race, we could be sitting here today, we could be, we’re not, okay, but we could be sitting here today having won six or seven races this year. Had we had the right pit stops; had I made the right move; if if if, right? If doesn’t pay the bills. We were in position to do that and didn’t do it. So our weaknesses are execution, we need to execute better. Strategy with me making the right move at the right time. We were in position and have been in position to win plenty of our share of races and we haven’t executed on any of them. So, we’ve got to tighten up all those things in addition to continuing to find speed. We haven’t had the speed the last eight weeks that we had prior to that. So we have got to get our speed back and figure out why we are not quite as quick. So, it is never one thing. It is many things and that is what our focus is on right now in getting ready for next year is figuring out a way to step up all those areas. We’re working really hard, we haven’t given up on this year by any means, but we are working really hard on being prepared for next year. We’re going make some changes and do some things we need to do to get better.”

DO YOU AS A DRIVER WISH THAT THERE WERE MORE SHORT TRACKS ON THE SCHEDULE?  DO YOU THINK THAT WOULD FIX SOME OF WHAT AILS NASCAR? “Well again, I don’t really understand the deals.  It’s just not real clear to me.  I think short tracks have a real place in our sport—I think part of the history of our sport and what has made our sport great was the short tracks.  I don’t care what you say, there is no way you can have as exciting of a race on a two-mile racetrack as you can on a three-quarter-mile racetrack.  It’s lap for lap.  You can have the last lap, but lap-for-lap you’re going to have more action on a short track than you do on a big track.  I think that the tendency to want to build better racetracks there for awhile, everything built was big.  I think it would have been really cool to build some smaller racetracks.  That’s what our sport has grown up on.  That’s where the racing action is much more intense—the smaller the track gets.  I like the small tracks, I really think they have a major place in the sport and I think they enhance the racing, which ultimately people want to see.

 “Well you know, I’ve always thought that the drivers that are really good at Michigan think that you need to be a really good driver at Michigan to do well, the drivers that are real good at Watkins Glen think you got to be a really good driver to do good at Watkins Glen.  I think that it’s really hard to say that any kind of track is more of a driver’s track than anything else.  It’s a skill that is required to run Martinsville; many of those same skill sets you do here, but there are some that you don’t.  The very best can do it all, and some people are really good at some things and not at others.  Then there are some that are good at less things.  I don’t to say that you need to be a better driver, but it is a different skill set.”

KEVIN WAS JUST IN HERE AND SAID YOU CANNOT LOSE THIS CHAMPIONSHIP IN ONE WEEK, BUT YOU CAN LOSE IT IN ONE WEEK.  HOW DOES THE COMPETITIVENESS ON THE TRACK AFFECT YOU—KNOWING THAT EVERY WEEK IT CAN CHANGE SO MUCH?  “The Chase is intense; it’s a great experience.  When they drop that green flag at Loudon, it’s a feeling that is really hard to describe—the intensity level goes up, the consequences of bad days that is felt much more, the advantage of having good days is felt much more.  It’s just intense.  I think Kevin is right; I think you’ve seen it.  Those guys, the top three guys have been the most consistent.  They’ve run well and they’ve been consistent.  So that’s why they are where they are.  I believe Kevin is right.  I believe that in a race that is really, really close, you pay a big price for mistakes.  I will say though, you just don’t know what mistakes are going to be made and you don’t know, like the deal with Kyle Busch and David a couple weeks ago, I mean who would have thought of that.  You just don’t know what is coming, so certainly the tighter it is the more mistakes are felt but it’s not always a mistake that you make, sometimes something else happens that you can’t control and that can have a huge bearing on the point race as well.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON CAME IN HERE LAST YEAR AND SAID THAT HE AND CHAD TALKED AND DECIDED THAT THEY WANTED TO LEAD EVERY PRACTICE, LEAD THE MOST LAPS IN THE RACE, QUALIFY ON THE POLE AND WIN THE RACE—AND HE WENT OUT AND DID ALL THOSE THINGS.  WE HEAR DRIVERS COME IN ALL THE TIME AND SAY THAT THEY NEED TO FOCUS ON WHAT THEY’RE DOING, BUT WHEN SOMEBODY DOES SOMETHING LIKE THAT HOW MUCH DOES IT PSYCHOLOGICALLY AFFECT THE OTHER TEAMS?  “It’s interesting because whenever I hear Denny Hamlin talk, he talks about Jimmie Johnson.  If you think about post-race, pre-race, and what I read he is always comparing himself to the 48.  I’m not saying that’s wrong; I’m not saying that’s right.  I think they’ve looked at the 48 and evidence suggests that they probably should do this and said, ‘That’s who we’ve got to go beat and we’ve got to compare ourselves to them and when they do something we’ve got to do it better.’  He constantly is talking about the 48.  That is that team’s way of getting pumped up of addressing where they need to be better, of doing the things that they need to do and it’s worked very well for them. 

 “There is other teams that really don’t pay any attention to the 48 at all and just focus on what they are doing.  Which by the way, I’m sure that’s what the 48 is doing.  I’m sure the 48 is not looking at the whatever team and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to go do this.’  You got to do what you got to do to be the best you can be.  Whatever that is, whatever motivation that is, whatever psychological poise that is, then you just got to go do it.  It’s different for everybody.  I don’t think that teams and drivers are intimidated by words, I think that results are what gets people’s attention.  Somebody can talk all they want to talk; there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence and sometimes the more you talk the bigger hole you dig yourself.  I think results are what people pay attention to, not necessarily words.”

RELATED TO THAT, LOOKING AT MARTINSVILLE DENNY AND JIMMIE HAVE WON THE LAST EIGHT RACES, THREE TIMES THEY’VE GONE ONE-TWO.  CERTAINLY WE’VE SEEN TIMES WHEN ONE GUY HAS BEEN DOMINATE AT A TRACK, BUT HERE ARE TWO GUYS THAT HAVE JUST GOTTEN IT DONE.  HOW DOES THAT IMPACT THE GARAGE?  DO YOU NEED TO WATCH THOSE GUYS, OR CAN AVOIDING WATCHING THOSE GUYS HELP TOO? “If we were here practicing and we were the only ones here, we wouldn’t know how well we were doing.  Now I could come in and say, ‘The car drives good, the car feels good, whatever.  It runs a 31-flat.’  The minute that everybody else gets here, now you have something to shoot for.  Now the evidence is there.  This is point-blank how you’re doing.  If you aren’t willing to look at where you are in reference to your competition then you can’t improve.  If you aren’t willing to say well the 48 has won the last four championships, and those two teams have won the last eight races at Martinsville, if you’re not willing to look at that and accept that they are doing a better job than you, then you’ll destine to fail.  You can take several approaches, you can say ‘We can’t win because they’re really, really good.’ Or you can say, ‘If everything falls our way, maybe we can win.’ Or you can go to work.  I think the majority of the garage goes to work.  I really believe there is a big misconception with the media that when you see the 48, there is some sort of intimidation factor.  There is a lot of respect for them, as it should be.  I don’t think it’s an intimidation factor, I think it’s that they’re really good at what they do.  You have got to be on your A-game to beat them.  That’s how you gauge yourself.  You have got to—like I talked about with Denny, I think they’ve looked at that and they know who they have to shoot for and who they have to beat, and that is how they’re gauging themselves and rightfully so.  I think when you go to a race track and you see a team that has been very, very successful you know that you are going to have to beat them, but you don’t go into that race knowing that you’re beaten, you go into that race knowing that you’re going to have to step it up to match their results or to better their results.  Respecting someone and paying attention to what they’re doing with admiration is not being intimidated; it’s being smart.  Now, Earnhardt was a different deal because he would wreck your ass.  When you saw him coming, it was not that it was necessarily intimidation, but you knew well I got something different that I got to deal with. 

 “Jimmie is not that kind of driver.  Jimmie is very, very, very fast and he is very, very, very smart and he doesn’t take anything from anybody, but he’s not the kind of guy that you have got to deal with from that standpoint.  You have got to deal with him because he is really, really fast and he is really, really good at what he does.  I don’t know.  When I think of being intimidated and those things, I think about if I played football and Lawrence Taylor was coming at me I’d be intimidated.  But I don’t get intimidated because I know someone is faster than me, I just know that I’ve got to go off and try to get faster.  That is the best way, and that is a long answer, but that is the best way that I know how to answer it.  You can respect your enemy.  You really can respect your enemy.  You have to appreciate what they’re doing to respect them.” 

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.

CHARLOTTE FORD FAST FACTS:
•        Matt Kenseth registered the first victory of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series here at Charlotte Motor Speedway during his rookie season of 2000 when he captured the Coca-Cola 600.
•        Kasey Kahne swept both Charlotte NSCS races in 2006 and has four wins at the track overall, including the 2008 All-Star Race.
•        Bill Elliott is the other current Ford driver with at least one NSCS win at Charlotte, having won twice in his career.
•        Elliott Sadler holds the Charlotte track qualifying record at 193.216 mph, which he set on Oct. 13, 2005 when he was driving the No. 38 Ford for Robert Yates Racing.
•        There are 13 Fords entered in this weekend’s Bank of America 500, the full allotment of Fusions on the manufacturer roster.

Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth are looking to bounce back from problems last week at California that dropped them more than 200 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.  Biffle (10th) and Kenseth (11th) spoke about their situations before Thursday’s first practice session at Charlotten Motor Speedway.

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR TEAM’S
CHEMISTRY?  “I think our chemistry is really good.  We were really fast the last couple of weeks and won at Kansas, so I think the chemistry within our team is really good.” 

WOULD YOU CONSIDER THAT ONE OF YOUR TEAM’S STRENGTHS?  “I think so.  I definitely would.” 

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE BEEN ON A ROLLERCOASTER THE LAST FEW WEEKS?
“Yeah.  Our race didn’t start out the way we wanted at California.  We weren’t as fast as we thought we’d be, so that was a little frustrating, and then we had engine trouble, so that was more frustrating, especially since we were coming off a win at Kansas.  So it has been up and down, but we still feel like we’re on the positive side of the momentum.” 

WHEN THE MOTOR WENT LAST WEEK WHAT WAS THE EMOTION?  DID YOUR HEART SINK?  “Yeah, because that was our championship hope, really, to have a good day at California and continue to keep us up front.  I knew when that engine blew up that we were just gonna try to get the highest points finish we could, but that’s frustrating to be coming off a win and then end up like that.”

JACK SAID HE’S STILL OPTIMISTIC ABOUT WHAT LIES AHEAD BECAUSE THE PERFORMANCE HAS IMPROVED SO MUCH.  IS THERE SOME SOLACE IN KNOWING THAT THE SPEED HAS RETURNED?  “I think so.  That’s why I said I think we’re still on the upswing.  Our mile-and-a-half program seems to be
good and pretty strong.  We didn’t fire off the first 40 laps of that race like we wanted to, but we never got a chance to adjust on the car and work on it.” 

CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE INVOLVED IN ALL THAT MAYHEM AT TALLADEGA?  “It’s tough.  It’s horrible when you’re in the middle of those wrecks because there’s nothing you can do about it.  You’re just along for the ride.” 

DO YOU THINK YOU’LL RUN BETTER THIS TIME?  “We race the same every year we go there.  We’ve got fast cars and you just try to miss the wreck.” 

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YOU CAN’T GIVE EVERYTHING YOU WANT ON THE TRACK BECAUSE THE RISK MIGHT BE TOO HIGH?  “That’s the risk versus reward and it’s with anything.  It’s like gambling or anything you do like investing money on Wall Street.  It’s the risk you take versus the reward you get and how far do you want to push the envelope of getting that last position or getting that last quarter-of-a-second getting on or off pit road versus spinning out and hitting the cone and getting a pass through penalty and finishing 26th.  How far do you want to push the envelope?”

DO YOU THEN BREAK IT DOWN ON MONDAY AND PLAY THE WOULDA, SHOULDA GAME?  “That’s what the production meetings are for on Monday.  We try and learn from our mistakes or our other team’s mistakes.  For instance, we probably got our engine tuned up too much, well, the 6 and all the other guys can benefit from that by being aware of that now.  Unfortunately, we’re aware of it but we didn’t finish the race, so there are benefits to be learned all across the board.” 

DO YOU THINK THE NON-CHASE DRIVERS WILL HAVE MORE RESPECT FOR THE CHASERS THESE LAST FEW WEEKS?  “I don’t think so.  Everybody is racing for the best finish they can get.  These accidents would happen whether it’s in the chase or not.  People are racing as hard as they can and accidents are gonna happen.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion – HOW COULD THINGS TURN AROUND FOR YOU GUYS THIS WEEKEND?  “We’ve been hoping every week that things will turn around.  It seems like our car has been performing a little bit better here the last three weeks or so, and hopefully we can have our cars perform this week like they did last week and Kansas, where we got to the end and got a good finish.” 

DO YOU SEE YOURSELVES SIMILAR TO WHERE THE CHILDRESS TEAMS WERE LAST YEAR?  THEY
STRUGGLED MUCH OF THE YEAR AND THEN SHOWED IMPROVEMENT TOWARD THE END.
“I hope so.  You never want to go through a period like we have, where we haven’t improved and we’ve actually gone backwards.  You never want to go through that, you always want to be getting better no matter where you’re running or where you are in the points.  You always want to get better.  I think toward the two-thirds mark of the year we started running a little bit better as a group.  Greg’s been able to win a couple races and Carl has been pretty close a few times and we’ve been running a little better too, so we’re hoping we can continue that through the last six weeks and carry it into next season, and figure out some things that will make us better and hopefully get better over the off-season as well.” 

WERE THEY ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE ENGINE PROBLEMS YOU AND GREG HAD?  WERE THEY THE SAME THING?  “I never asked what happened to Greg’s car.  Our car and AJ was starting to have some problems toward the end of the race.  I know our cars had the same issue, which they know what the problem was and they have it addressed, but I’m not really sure what happened to Greg’s car, to be honest with you.  I didn’t even ask.” 

YOUR THOUGHTS ON RACING AT TALLADEGA?  “Everybody always talks about Talladega being the wild card in the chase, so I guess it could be.  Any of the races really could be because you never know what’s gonna happen as far as wrecks, but certainly Talladega always has the potential to be an accident waiting to happen.  You never know where it’s gonna occur, when it’s gonna occur and who it’s gonna take out, so that’s one you’re never sure where everybody is gonna finish until the race is over – that’s for sure.” 

SHORT TRACKS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN THE PROBLEM FOR ROUSH FENWAY OF LATE.  WHY?  “I think since the introduction to the COT car, the car we’re running now, our short track stuff at the 17 hasn’t been near as good and we haven’t really fixed that to have it where it needs to be and I’m not sure why.  Carl ran pretty good on the short tracks when the cars first came out and then we’ve all struggled as a group.  Richmond for us was much better at the 17.  We ran pretty competitively and even though we didn’t finish the race the way we needed to, there were times in the race where we ran pretty good.  New Hampshire wasn’t so good, but I don’t know why it is.  We’re working on it and working on all the stuff to make it better, but the short track stuff seems to have been the biggest struggle.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

BANK OF AMERICA 500

CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 14, 2010

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET, met with members of the media to discuss racing with an interim crew chief, the 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame Class, visiting The Price is Right set and more.  Full transcript:

 

HAD A GREAT RUN LAST WEEK, I’M SURE YOU WANT TO BUILD UPON THAT AND HAVE ANOTHER ONE HERE AT CHARLOTTE.

“Yeah, absolutely.  It felt good to get that run under our belts with everything that is going on—no crew chief and everything.  Scott Miller did a wonderful job of stepping in and obviously Shane did a good job of having a great plan for all this mess.  I was really excited about our run and a little frustrated there at the end, but it is what it is and come here to all of our backyards and hopefully have another good run.”

WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET COMING IN? ARE YOU HAPPY BECAUSE YOU HAD A REALLY STRONG REBOUND LAST WEEK OR ARE YOU FRUSTRATED BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING THAT CAME BACK, OR BOTH?

“I’m happy.  I had a good run.  There is a lot of things there, a lot of unknowns going into last week that I was concerned about and everything went according to plan.  Everything was set on keel, just like it always is.  I don’t think we missed a beat with Scott filling in.  I was very excited about the way we ran.  Obviously I was frustrated at the end—everybody wants to win and when you get that close you feel like you should’ve won.  I sent Tony a text and I said, ‘I guess we’re even now—I stole one from you and you got me back.’  I was happy for him.  It was a big win for him and we’ll go on.”

YOU MENTIONED A FEW WEEKS BACK REALLY WANTING TO WIN TO PUT THIS ALL BEHIND YOU—DO YOU STILL FEEL THAT WAY?  YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO WIN A RACE TO DO THAT, OR DID RUNNING SO WELL LAST WEEK TAKE CARE OF THAT?

“Well, running well last week put a lot of things to bed.  We’ve been haywire ever since that whole thing happened.  We haven’t been in it, has two terrible races in a row and I was just very, very excited about the way we ran.  To get some of the naysayers and just the doubt in our minds and everybody else’s minds put to bed.  I really did feel like we needed to win that race, and we do need to win a race.  We need to do that for ourselves, for our race team, and just to set the record straight.  We’re still running up front, we’re still capable of running up front.  We had a good race here in the spring and I look to do that again here.”

SCOTT HAS WON RACES IN THIS SORT OF ‘FILL-IN’ POSITION BEFORE.  HAS IT BEEN SEEMLESS WITH HIM STEPPING IN? WHAT ALLOWS HIM TO DO THAT?

“Yeah, it definitely seems pretty seamless with him filling in.  He’s done a great job, but I think it not only speaks for Shane’s plan and strategy—going into this he was ready, he was prepared for it, and all the guys never missed a beat and did their jobs, stepped up a little bit and filled in where needed.  Certainly Scott’s credentials speak for themselves.  I wasn’t worried about Scott not being able to do the job; he was a crew chief before, he is our competition director and probably the best person for that job because he’s on top of all what is going on.  He’s the most suitable person for that.  Everything that happens on the engineering side at the shop he’s in tune with, everything that happens on Sunday he’s there and knows what’s going on, listens to us every weekend on the radio.  He’s just a perfect fit there.  Actually, after the race on my way home I was thinking we could use this as an opportunity to better ourselves for when Shane and I get back together.  Sometimes a change opens your eyes and trips that trigger a little bit, but there are some things that he does different that we could do better at, and some things that we do good at and we need to realize those things and realize your strong points and fix the weak points.  I think that these next few weeks could be a positive for us.”

HOW MUCH CAN YOU HELP KEVIN HARVICK, HOW MUCH WILL YOU HELP HIM AND IS THIS SOMETHING THAT YOU GUYS HAVE TALKED ABOUT AT RCR?

“Well, certainly I want to be the best teammate I can be.  I wanted that championship to come home to RCR.  I don’t care……..obviously you want it to be you, but obviously it’s looking like that is not going to happen so Kevin’s our best shot and Jeff’s (Burton) not out of the thing by any means and our cars are capable of getting the job done. 
Kevin has done a great job all year long of leading the championship points so I don’t think it’s a fluke that he is up front and in the running for it right now.  You know, if we can continue our togetherness and work together through practices and things like that to hone in on a good package for Sunday then that is all it’s about.  That’s why you have multi-car teams so you can better your program for Sunday through practices, through qualifying and things.  That’s what in my opinion if I can help him at all – our qualifying program has been better than Kevin’s pretty much all season long and we need to get him qualified better.  He can’t continue to start back there and run with those guys that start up front.  We have to be able to as an organization, qualify better.”

AS A YOUNG GUY IN THE SPORT, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE HALL OF FAME CLASS ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY?

“You know it’s that you hear all those names and they are the grandfathers of this sport.  You would have thought they would have been in a long time ago but this Hall of Fame is new.  So you are hearing all the biggest names of this sport getting inducted in and it’s very exciting and I know that it has to be so gratifying for those guys and it has to be something that they have got to be so proud of.  Everybody is so proud of the Hall of Fame and the great job they have done with that and I have heard nothing but just awesome feedback from the fans.  We were down there doing something for The Hartford a few weeks ago and the fans are just blown away by it so I think that it’s neat that those guys are in and they are all big names of this sport and are all just genuine………the ones that I know are just awesome guys and still when they come to the race track it’s pretty cool for me.  You know, when David Pearson comes over and talks to you its like, “Wow!” David just came over and talked to me and that is pretty cool.  So I am very excited about that and I think it’s a great second class and I am happy for them.” 

LOOKING AHEAD TO MARTINSVILLE, AS A DRIVER DO YOU WISH THERE WERE MORE SHORT TRACKS ON THE SCHEDULE AND DO YOU THINK THAT WOULD FIX SOME OF THE COMPLAINTS YOU HEAR ABOUT NASCAR IF THERE WERE?

“I wish they’d use most of these racetracks for parking lots and build another one inside of them, but that’s just a short-tracker from the Midwest talking.  These bigger tracks—California—that was an awesome race.  All race long not just because I was running up front, it was a good race.  Even when I wasn’t running in the top three or four whoever was, was battling for it.  At times Mark Martin got out a little bit and the leader might have gotten away, but it was just a great race.  These bigger race tracks can be good racing.  Goodyear has done a great job.  Sometimes almost too good of a job on these bigger racetracks of creating excitement within the race; I think they have a big role in that.  I think the tire has a lot bigger role with this new car than one would think.  I wish there was more short tracks.  Martinsville, to answer your question, is one that I used to be scared to death of and I look forward to it every time I go back now.”

LOOKING AT THE STANDINGS IF YOU ADD 150 POINTS TO YOUR SCORE RIGHT NOW YOU’D BE IN FIFTH INSTEAD OF TONY STEWART.  HOW MUCH DO YOU LET THAT DRIVE YOU CRAZY OVER THE REST OF THE CHASE, OR DO YOU JUST KNOW THAT THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT AND MOVE ON?

“You can’t let that bother you.  It’s over with and done with. Your goal, everybody says has got to be within 150 points in the last race of the championship.  But I don’t know that I would want to be in that situation going into the banquet.  That would be miserable.  I would think I’d steal the trophy and run off or something.  It is what it is; the focus is bringing the championship home for RCR, no different than it was the very first race of the season.  Right now, certainly Kevin has done a great job of that and Jeff Burton is not out of it, we just got to get him on a little better roll.  We got to focus on the things we can do; again, as I touched on before we got to get to qualifying better that way we can run up front throughout the race and everything that comes with qualifying good—the track position, the pit road selection—just everything.”

LOT OF TALK ABOUT TALLADEGA BEING A WILDCARD RACE.  DOES CHARLOTTE PLAY INTO THAT AS WELL BEING A NIGHT RACE, OR IS THIS TRACK FAMILIAR ENOUGH TO ALL THE CHASE TEAMS THAT IT’S JUST ANOTHER NIGHT RACE AT CHARLOTTE?

“Well, you know certainly the night race always brings an extra element of excitement to the air, but I don’t think when I’m looking at wildcard races, I don’t think Charlotte stacks up like Talladega does.  Certainly this is a racetrack that it can be miserable.  I’ve been here before and had great runs and had a good car and all of a sudden with that same package, not run very well and been in the back and struggle all night long.  It’s very finicky.  It’s very tricky to get a good balance on your racecar and more importantly keep that track position.  One wrong call on pit road of staying out, or two tires, or four tires, or whatever the case may be, you lose track position on a track like this of the size and speed that it is.  You’re in big trouble.”

LAST EIGHT RACES AT MARTINSVILLE EITHER HAMLIN OR JOHNSON HAVE WON.  I KNOW YOU FINISHED SEVENTH IN THE SPRING, YOU ACTUALLY FINISHED AHEAD OF JIMMIE, BUT WHEN YOU GO INTO THAT WEEKEND, DO YOU ALMOST HAVE TO LOOK AT THOSE TWO GUYS TO DOMINATE THE TRACK?

“I think the rest of us just need to wreck them on the first lap—that’s what it sounds like to me!  [laughs]  They’re good; that’s why they’ve won the last eight races, it’s because they’re good there.  They force all of the rest of us to work on our program and get better.  I know at RCR that is one of the racetracks that we focused on to get better at. I think as a group we’ve all gotten way, way better at Martinsville.  Certainly those guys, not only their cars and their equipment, but their driving styles and the way they drive the track is good.  It’s up to us to step it up and beat them.”

ARE THERE ANY AREAS IN PARTICULAR WHERE YOU THINK YOU AND YOUR TEAM CAN IMPROVE?

 “I think you can always improve everywhere.  I mean, Jimmie Johnson, look at him.  We always look at him and use him as an example.  He has won four championships in a row and he is going to have to improve to win a fifth.  I think that’s just the competition and everything of this sport—you always have to improve and I think our organization has definitely improved a lot this year.  There are certainly areas that you look at every week and you know from the pit stop data to the qualifying—to answer your question I’ve talked about it three times is qualifying.  We have got to qualify better.  If we can qualify up front I think we will do a better job of finishing up front.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU TO BE ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT?

“Yeah, ‘A new car!’  She won—it was awesome!  It was really cool experience.  Austin and I were complete embarrassed—we had no idea what we were doing.  Drew Carey lost like 90 lbs., he walked by me the first time and I didn’t even recognize him.  I was like, ‘where is Drew at?’  He was right behind me.  And by God he was.  It was a cool experience.  It’s amazing how growing up that show just seems huge.  It’s always when you go to those sets and things; it’s unbelievable how small they really are.  They make it look so big on TV and yet it’s just one studio and it’s in and out and done within an hour.  Very neat experience; I’m glad we got to do it.”

 

NOW I KNOW YOU WERE A GUEST ON IT, COULD YOU HAVE MADE IT UP ON STAGE IF YOU HAD TO PRICE ITEMS?

“I don’t know.  They do a great job of building excitement in the air.  When those people come down there it is completely random and I’m telling you what, they are wound up.  Some of our PR people were in the stands and the first couple times you could tell that they were like with us.  I was in the back watching the live feed and you could see them back there and everybody is hooting and hollering and they didn’t quite know what to do.  They were sitting there stone-faced and all of a sudden about two more people come and they are in it, man. A kid that works for me, Chip, he’s back there ‘750! 750!’ She said ‘901,’ and he’s like ‘Nope! Nope!’  She won and it was just a funny experience.  They do a great job with

 

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

BANK OF AMERICA 500

CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 14, 2010

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL CHEVROLET met with media and discussed past performance at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his competitors in the Chase, the upcoming race at Talladega, and more. Full Transcript:

TALK ABOUT YOUR MINDSET HEADING INTO SATURDAY NIGHT’S BANK OF AMERICA 500 HERE AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

“Right now everything is going fairly well. I think obviously there is always room for improvement. We’ve run well over the last couple of weeks. This will be a big weekend for us. Every weekend is a big weekend, so it’s really nothing new. You’ve just got to go out and keep doing the things that you’re doing and play your own game and see where it all falls at the end.”

HISTORICALLY, CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE FOR YOU. WHY ARE YOU GOOD AT SOME AND WHY IS THIS ONE TOUGH? BASED ON THE FACT THAT YOU’VE RUN WELL ON OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS THIS YEAR, ARE YOU MORE OPTIMISTIC THIS TIME?

“Last time when we came here we ran well and that’s really all that we have to base it off of is how we ran at the first race this year. It’s the same tire. We had a spoiler on the car. There, for a while, we didn’t run good at any of the 1.5-mile race tracks through 2005, 2004; those types of places weren’t good for us. Really, the 1.5-mile tracks have been probably our strong suit this year, the bigger race tracks. We’ve been off more at some of the short tracks than we have at any of the 1.5-mile tracks. I feel like we have a good baseline. I got to spend the whole day yesterday in the Nationwide car at that test and have a practice before. We get to practice our Cup car today.

“So, based on the first race, I don’t see any big red flags. Obviously there’s not a ‘win’ in the column at this particular race track for us and statistically it hasn’t been our best race track but statistically none of the Chase tracks that we started at have been very good for us when we’ve been in the Chase either. So, we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and stay close enough to keep pressure on and capitalize on the days when you’re running good.”

ON SCOTT MILLER (RCR COMPETITION DIRECTOR) WHAT ALLOWS HIM TO SLIDE INTO THOSE INTERIM ROLES ALMOST SEAMLESSLY?

“Well I think his experience at the crew chief role is very good. When he slid in for me, he had been the engineer and he came in and knew what the team (Clint Bowyer) was all about. And being the competition director I think he knows what makes that team click and has listened to Clint enough to know what makes the team click. Really, when the crew chief gets thrown out (suspended) like that, the preparation at the shop is at an all-time high.

“Going to the race track and everybody has a plan in place to make sure that the engineers step up and do things that they normally don’t do, and there’s a little bit deeper playbook than probably it would require on a normal basis just for the fact that the crew chief is not there. But Scott does a good job. His demeanor is very calm. And he can fit into any situation no matter who it’s with and he just knows a lot about the organization and how it functions with each individual team as well.”

A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THAT JIMMIE JOHNSON IS THE ONE TO BEAT, BUT THAT HE IS BEATABLE THIS YEAR. WHEN HE GOES ONE-TW0-THREE IN THE LAST THREE RACES, IS THERE ANY SENSE OF HERE WE GO AGAIN? AS YOU’RE CHASING JIMMIE ON THE TRACK, IS (CREW CHIEF) GIL (MARTIN) CHASING (JIMMIE’S CREW CHIEF) CHAD KNAUS?

“Well I think as you look at it from a driver’s standpoint, right now we’re just kind of doing our own thing. I don’t really care what they do or how it’s done. We’ve got to score the most points that we can. Obviously they’ve been very good in the Chase as far as making things happen and they run well at most of the race tracks that we go to. The one-two-three part is pretty typical if you go back and look at what they’ve done in the past and we just have to keep our stuff in single digits and not make any mistakes and that’s what we did all year. So that’s our strong suit is usually not making a mistake; and whether that’s good enough to beat him in the end, we won’t know until we get to Homestead. So as far as the Gil and Chad question, I don’t think it’s an individual team thing from an RCR standpoint. Obviously the No. 48 (Johnson) outruns all the other teams at Hendrick Motorsports pretty much on a year-to-year basis so I think that would be a good question as to whether their three crew chiefs are chasing Chad. As an organization we’re doing the best we can with what we have.”

WITH TALLADEGA LOOMING IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS, DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT WITH THE POINT SEPARATION AND HOW CLOSE YOU ARE TO THE LEAD? IS IT THE WILD CARD RACE OR IS IT JUST RACE BY RACE AND THAT DOESN’T MATTER?

“I think you can control a lot of more things at the other places (tracks). But when you get to Talladega you’re kind of at the mercy of a lot of things that can happen around you. So, I think after you get done with Talladega you’ll kind of know where you stand as far as what you need to do over the last few weeks. I think the last few weeks are really good race tracks for us and Talladega is a good race track for us as well. They can all flip you upside down and turn things around and have things turn at any given week, but it seems the Talladega is definitely the biggest wild card as far as what’s going to happen and who is going to get caught in a wreck and who isn’t. So, I think everybody is waiting for that particular race to see where you stack up from there. I think where we are right now, I think things have; every time I say this Tony (Stewart) goes out and wins a race and Greg (Biffle) goes out and wins a race and they’re right back in it. Every time you think somebody’s out, they come back and rebound. But it really looks like there’s starting to be a slimmer group of guys that you’re going to have to look over your shoulder or look up to, to see what you’ve got to do to try to win. So, we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE SPEEDING PENALTY FOR YOU LAST WEEKEND AT CALIFORNIA, DO YOU HAVE TO CHANGE ANYTHING OR DOES IT SIT IN YOUR MIND? “We had a problem with our tach last week and I was going to fast. I was going 60.08. I must have just surged through a light, I thought I had it all figured out as to how it was working. But, obviously I didn’t and went to fast.”

YOU TALKED EARLIER ABOUT FINISHING SINGLE DIGITS, THREE OR FOUR GUYS THAT ARE BEYOND JIMMIE (JOHNSON) HAVE HAD GOOD OR AT LEAST DECENT FINISHES IN THE CHASE, CAN YOU KEEP DOING THAT FOR THE NEXT THREE OR FOUR RACES AND THEN REALLY SHOOT FOR EVERYTHING IN THE LAST COUPLE? “Here is my motto through the whole thing.  You don’t have to win it in one week, but, you sure can lose it in one. That is been the theory as we’ve gone about week-after-week as far as, I look at Loudon as the ultimate example of what we’ve done so far. Consistency has been our strong point, so there is no reason not to lean on that. If it is not good enough in the end, its not good enough. But those are the things that we lean on to be the strong point and get the good finishes and just wear ’em down. That is really what our strong point is. When you look at Loudon, those guys all stayed out, I think half of them ran out of gas. Clint made it and won the race, but the risk versus the reward, when they said we might be able to make it, I said I’m not even going to save you any gas because we are going to pit. There is no reason to get behind. It is harder to make up points week in and week out than it is to lose. So you just have to go out and protect yourself the best you can and race as hard as you can and get the best finish that you can.”

AS WE GET TO THE HALF WAY POINT OF THE CHASE, DOES THE MENTAL PART OF YOUR JOB GET EASIER OR DOES IT GET TOUGHER AND HOW DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE WHEN IT COMES TO THE MENTAL PART OF THE GAME? ARE YOU GOOD AT IT, IS THAT ONE OF YOUR STRONG SUITS? “I think it depends on how much we’ve got to play the game. It just depends on the scenarios of how the Chase has started. I think right now everything is pretty calm. I think from a mental standpoint, it’s obviously this is what we want to do. We want to win a championship and we want to race for a championship. The only way to win it is to be able to race for it. I feel like that is what we are doing. I feel like I have been around it long enough to know that you just go out and race and take all the pressures and deal with them yourself. You try to do the best that you can week in and week out. Makes me edgy, I know that for sure. It makes me a little more on edge, if that is possible.”

IN YOUR MIND, WHO IS REALLY STILL IN THIS CHASE? “I think you look from fifth forward. I think that is it really unless somebody just goes on a tear, this is just kind of where it is at right now.”

AT THE END OF ANY RACE, EVERYBODY IS GOING FOR IT TO EITHER WIN OR GAIN POINTS, HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU MADE MOVES TO TRY TO GAIN POSITIONS WHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVE YOU WERE THINKING YOU WEREN’T SURE YOU WERE GOING TO COME OUT OF IT? HOW OFTEN DO YOU SEE THAT? “In my mind, nine times out of 10, the aggressor comes out up top. So, Ill take that tenth of a percent and 10% chance of making a mistake and having things happen. But, if you don’t protect yourself in trying to go forward, you are going to get run over. Usually, by trying to stay out of trouble, you usually find more trouble than you will just going and racing like you normally do.”

YOU SAID TALLADEGA WAS KIND OF A CRAP SHOOT AND RISKY FOR EVERYBODY, BUT GIVEN YOUR STRENGTH ON PLATE TRACKS THIS YEAR, IF THERE IS SUCH A THING OF ANYBODY BEING A LITTLE BIT STRONGER IN POSITION GOING INTO TALLADEGA, WOULD YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT MAYBE YOU ARE IN LESS RISK THAN THE OTHERS? “I’ll take the odds. If it all ended at Talladega and we were behind, I’ll take the odds. We’ve been really good on those race tracks this year. I feel like we’ve had good strategies and done the things that we have needed to do and had fast cars. So really in the end, fast cars is what it takes to even have shot at winning a race, you have to have a car that is capable of doing that. I like the plate races. I enjoy them. We’ll go there and race just like we have and all the rest of them this year and hopefully come out with similar outcome.”

GOING TO MARTINSVILLE, YOU HAVE AVERAGING FROM ABOUT 8TH PLACE TO 11TH PLACE FINISH, WHAT WILL TAKE TO GET YOU GUYS INTO THE TOP-FIVE OR MAYBE A WIN THIS TIME? “I think we’ve run well there. We ran well at the first race and had some mechanical issues. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. I think (Jeff) Burton had the fastest car there last time and wound up getting a flat tire, so we will look at those notes and go from there and see what happens.”

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.