Author: Official Release

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – “We had a great car. We were just a little bit on top of the race track right there. The wind is playing havoc with us and the track is a little slick, but it’s a tough day for us because the engine expired. We felt like we had an opportunity to run up front, for sure.”

WERE YOU TRYING ANYTHING DIFFERENT WITH THE MOTOR? “No, same old thing with the engine, but this one just didn’t make it.”

WHAT HAPPENED? “I really don’t know.

I had no indication. The engine just let go at the end of the backstretch. I let up on the throttle going in the corner and it broke. It probably broke a rod. That’s typically what happens at the end of the backstretch when you lift on the throttle like that. It looked like maybe it windowed the block and the oil pan, so probably something in the lower unit.”

DO YOU KNOW WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM?

“I’m not sure. The guys have been working really hard on the durability and something broke in the bottom end of the engine. It came out the bottom, but there was no indication. I don’t really know what happened. We had good oil pressure, the temperature seemed to be good, it was just unexpected. It’s unfortunate for us. This was our opportunity to get back in the chase and it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen.” HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THIS DISAPPOINTMENT? “It’s disappointing, but what can you do? It broke. Everybody is giving this program 110 percent, so you can’t blame anybody. We were trying hard to win the title and it isn’t gonna happen this year.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Qualified 18th) – “I think I just drove in a little too hard. Our car was a little free in qualifying trim in practice, so Drew and I talked about it and decided not to change much. The track is a little warmer now and maybe gave up a half-a-tenth or a tenth, but, all in all, our car has pretty good speed and hopefully that will wind up in the top 10 or top 15 for our UPS team.” IT’S ONLY BEEN A COUPLE OF WEEKS WITH DREW, BUT THINGS SEEM TO BE GETTING BETTER. “I think it’s a couple of things. Drew and I have been able to click pretty well here and, number two, our whole company is certainly better than we were a month or two ago.

These are tracks that certainly play into our favor. Now it’s just about being perfect over a weekend. I can’t make any mistakes. The crew can’t make any mistakes. I think our cars are close enough that we’ve got something to race, whereas six months ago we were still scrounging around with our cars to find some speed. I think we’ve got good speed and now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning and running some perfect races.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Qualified 7th) – “It was a great lap. I probably left a little bit out there, so I’m sure some guys will nip us off, but that’s still gonna be a good starting spot for us. These cars, the guys are doing such a great job back at the shop and the engine department, it’s big power out here in California and you need that for the car to run good, but Erwin and the guys are giving me great stuff right now. I’m just excited. My whole family is here, so maybe we can get another win.”

PAUL MENARD – No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion (Qualified 24th) – “It wasn’t terrible. We picked up close to four-tenths, so you can’t complain too much. We’ve just been off a little bit in qualifying practice, but we’ve got a couple hours of race practice tomorrow to get it dialed in.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion (Qualified 3rd) – “We made good adjustments today. It wasn’t perfect on the track, I actually didn’t think it was quite as fast as it was, but they were good adjustments. We were a lot better than what we had in practice, and just like Kansas it seemed like all the Roush and RPM cars unloaded with a lot of speed. Now we just have to work real hard to get it handling well because the speed is there again this weekend.

We need to get it to handle right, like we saw the 16 do last week.”

HOW WAS THE LAP? “It was pretty good by the speed. It didn’t drive exactly how we wanted it to, but our speed was really good. Jimmy and Chip made some really good adjustments from practice and what we were fighting, so it was a lot more comfortable and we could carry some speed. It was a great lap for us.”

KASEY KAHNE – No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion (Qualified 5th) – “I was looking for more, but that was pretty good. The guys did a real nice job and gave me a much better car. I kind of under-drove it and just wasn’t ready for it to run like that, but it was good. That was a big pickup for our Budweiser Ford. All of the guys have done a nice job and hopefully we’ll do some of that tomorrow and get it right so we’ll be able to race on Sunday with these guys.”

ELLIOTT SADLER – No. 19 Reynolds Wrap Ford Fusion (Qualified 2nd) – “I’m gonna be honest with you, the reason we qualified second today is 100 percent Todd Parrott. He’s put so much effort and so much hard work into our program the last couple of months. This is one of our newer cars – one of this year’s cars – and they’ve done a lot of work back in the body shop preparing the body on it, getting the car as light as we can and doing a lot of cool stuff. Man, that felt good.

It feels good to qualify like that. We’ve got a lot of people here from Reynolds Wrap, and I can’t thank them enough and, of course, Doug Yates’ engines. It’s a good day for us so far. We knew we were good in practice, I just had to make a really good lap and I was able to do that today. Todd, it’s been amazing working with him again. He’s given me like a new life. We’ve been pretty good the last couple of weeks, we just have to put it all together for 400 miles on Sunday and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.” YOU HAVE A BIG GRIN. “Yeah, this is a pretty big grin for me. That’s a great run for us and our team needs that. We’ve got a lot of cool people here today from Reynolds Wrap, and Todd Parrott has worked his butt off the last couple months turning our race team around and getting our program going in the right direction. This is one of our newer cars and I’m very happy to bring it here to California. Todd and I were talking about it this morning, the last time we worked together here at California Speedway we went to Victory Lane, so this is definitely a great start to the weekend and we’re gonna try to make the most of it.”

MATT KENSETH AND ELLIOTT SADLER PRESS CONFERENCE

ELLIOTT SADLER, Qualified 2nd – “It was a great lap for us. Everybody knows we need this for our team. Todd Parrott and all the guys back at the shop did a lot of work to this car. It’s a car I wrecked on the first lap of Indy this year and we re-did it. It’s one of our newer cars, we updated the body on it and it’s been good since we unloaded it. We felt really comfortable coming to this race this weekend and that’s a great way to get started off. I’m just very proud of my guys and they made me look pretty good today.”

MATT KENSETH, Qualified 3rd – “Our lap was really good, too. It’s encouraging this weekend and it’s a lot like last weekend at Kansas, where we showed up and all the Roush and RPM Fords were really fast on the sheet and they all have a lot of speed. We just have to get them to drive well and we feel like we’ll have a shot on Sunday. So that was a great lap for us. Obviously, I’m usually not the best qualifier, but we made some adjustments and fixed the things I was complaining about in practice and got a good lap out of it.”

ELLIOTT SADLER CONTINUED – ANY CLOSER TO KNOWING WHAT YOUR PLANS ARE FOR NEXT YEAR? “No, not yet. We’re definitely working on some stuff, but nothing yet to announce or finalize. Hopefully, this will help – to qualify good this weekend and hopefully run good – but, no, nothing yet. I wish I had some better news for you right now, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed and we’re working hard on it. I’m definitely gonna do some stuff with KHI next year in the Truck Series.

I’m gonna run a couple races for them, but as far as anything else, I’m not really sure yet.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Pepsi MAX 400 Qualifying, Page 10

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

MATT KENSETH CONTINUED – WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS TRACK FOR ALL OF YOUR SUCCESS HERE? “I’m not sure. It has been a really good track for us in the past, but lately we’ve been to a lot of good tracks and haven’t necessarily had all the greatest results. You have to be able to perform and put the whole race together every time you show up. It has been a good track. Ever since the first time I came here I just liked the track and, for some reason, we’ve run pretty well at it more times than not.”

DID YOU RUN THE SAME LINE AS MONTOYA? “I did not run the same line as Montoya. I just kind of saw his lap because I was no pit road, but it looked like he ran pretty high in one and two and low in three and four. I ran the bottom on both ends. Whenever you get done with your mock-up run, it’s funny because there have been a few tracks where after you’re all done with practice they’ll tell you, ‘Hey, by the way, those guys are running the top,’ and I’ll say, ‘It’s a little too late now.’ We just did our mock-up runs and our car was set up for that because you know where your marks are, and it would be awful tough to change that and expect to get good speed out of it, so I was committed to running the line that I ran in practice.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PEPSI MAX 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES

October 8, 2010

 

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER

HOW MANY PEOPLE DID YOU PROMISE TO BUY DINNER FOR IF YOU WON THE POLE?

“I only promised (crew chief) dinner. I said if someone else wanted to come I’d be more than happy to buy theirs also.”

ARE YOU GOING TO ‘SUPER-SIZE’ HIM AND GIVE HIM THE BIG FRIES AND EVERYTHING?

“There is a good possibility we’ll end up at McDonald’s. It’s right by our hotel so that would be really convenient. It was a really good run for us. The guys do such a good job putting these cars together at the shop and we did a really good job executing our practice today.

“But we’ve got a new engine in this week and the guys from ECR, this is a place where you have so much wide-open throttle that it’s really impressive what we have this weekend. I’m really glad to get to have that here at Fontana. I learned this morning that you don’t get to pick the tracks you have it at. So, Juan (Pablo Montoya) has had it a couple of races and I’m glad we got to have it here.”

WILL YOUR TIME HOLD UP?

“Oh, I hope so. It seems like a lot of guys; I see (Matt) Kenseth ran really well. The track is definitely getting faster. But that’s all my car would go. And I really felt like sometimes when you’re qualifying laps are over you think you could get a little more, but I really hustled it there and it’s all I had.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 4^th:

WE SAW YOU HIGH IN TURNS 1 AND 2 AND THEN YOU DROVE OFF OF Turn 4 WITH THE THROTTLE AND THAT’S WHERE THE DIFFERENCE WAS

“It was a good lap. The Target Chevy, we were really good in practice but got too tight at the end. I went through Turns 1 and 2 and thought, I don’t know if it’s going to be that good. It was okay. It was a little tighter than I wanted to be there but my line is so different than anybody else’s and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Just overall it was a good lap.”

WHY IS YOUR LINE DIFFERENT THAN EVERYBODY ELSE’S?

“I don’t know; I guess my background (laughs), but it works, doesn’t it (laughs).”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION – QUALIFIED 8^th:

ON HIS LAP

“That was the fastest lap we ran over the weekend so far, so directionally we did everything right and a top 10 starting spot will be great.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 9^TH:

ON HIS LAP

“Well, I’d like it if I could run like that all the time, or a little bit better than that. We weren’t real good in practice and we were struggling a little bit and made some changes and I also changed the line we ran. I was watching the No. 42 (Montoya), I guess he was running up off the bottom a little bit, so I decided to try that. It helped my car’s speed a little bit and that qualifying lap right there helped me a lot. So I’m pretty happy with it. The car had a little bit more than that. They had made it a little bit better since that last run in practice and the car was a real good car for that run. We weren’t as good when we showed up and made a lot of changes and got better.”

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 11^th:

ON HIS LAP

“I just want to thank everybody at the No. 5 car; (crew chief) Alan Gustafson and everybody that digs so hard at Hendrick Motorsports. I want to say a big thanks too to all our CARQUEST teammates out there and GoDaddy.com and Delphi; and welcome EBay Motors on board as well. It’s early in the weekend but this is the kind of race car that you can take and win a race with.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TORNADOS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 14^th:

HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT TODAY?

“It was pretty good. I under drove (Turns) 1 and 2 just a little bit and tried to make it up in (Turns) 3 and 4 and I didn’t really hurt myself; it was a good lap. I can’t really complain for the Tornados Chevrolet.”

HOW IS LOSING 100 MILES IN THIS RACE GOING TO CHANGE THE STRATEGY ON SUNDAY?

“Is it? Is it a 400?”

YES

“Awesome. Well, hopefully with a good qualifying position, we won’t have to move as far forward and it won’t take us as long.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 13^TH:

“That was a good pick-up for us. We weren’t that good in practice. We were hoping to be able to improve enough to get to the top 14 or something like that. We weren’t very good in practice. So, the car drove a lot better right there so wherever it ends up, it ends up. That was a big improvement and we’re going to get beat up a little bit with the draw but it was a big improvement from the drivability and that’s all I asked for and it ain’t the pole, but it was a big change from where we were in practice.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 17^th:

ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT

“It was a good qualifying effort. We were pretty far off in practice so we made some big gains there. But we needed to be a little bit closer in practice to be able to battle for the pole. And I was pretty happy with the car right there; it was a good lap. We closed the gap tremendously from practice.”

BECAUSE THIS RACE IS 100 MILES SHORTER THAN IN THE PAST, HOW DOES THAT AFFECT WHERE YOU QUALIFY?

“Yeah, it just depends on how the cautions fall. If we don’t have many cautions, which we’ve seen this place go that way, then qualifying is going to be extremely important. But all it takes is a few cautions, if you have a good car, this is a wide race track and you can move your way up there and with as good as our pit crew has been lately, I feel confident that we can make up the track position. But we made up some of it right there in qualifying, which was good.”

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 22^nd:

ON THE LAP

“I’m really proud of (crew chief) Darian Grubb and everybody on the Office Depot/Old Spice team. We weren’t very good at the end of practice and Darian made a really big adjustment there and the car really responded to it. So those are things that are encouraging for the whole weekend; and then when you can make a change like that and the car responds in the way that you’re wanting it to. So, we have a lot to look forward to.”

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Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion, has a pair of wins this season, including last week at Kansas Speedway. The win allowed Biffle to move within 85 points of leader Jimmie Johnson in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. He spoke with reporters after Friday’s practice session.

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – HOW HAVE THINGS GONE SO FAR?

“I’m certainly really excited about coming off a good week last week and the car is fast right off the truck again – good in race practice and we switched to qualifying practice and I think we ended up in the top five, so it looks the same as last weekend so far. It looks like we’re gonna have a decent qualifying run, although we’ve got to back it up on the race track now. We’ll see what happens here in a little bit, but I feel really good about this race track. I like it here.

We run well on this race track and I just can’t wait for Sunday and can’t wait for qualifying, hopefully get a good lap and look forward to the race.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HAVING ONLY ONE CALIFORNIA RACE NEXT YEAR? “Obviously I’m not real excited about that. This is probably one of our best race tracks that we race at, so getting cut down to one time – me personally – it’s gonna hurt. I’ve got a lot of family here and get back to the west coast a little bit. I’ve got friends and family who come from Washington and Oregon, where I grew up. I see a lot of people here I used to race with and fans, so it gives all the west coasters a chance to come and visit this race track. So I think it has a pretty good draw from a lot of different states. As far as that goes, one is the personal side of it. I really enjoy coming to Southern California and get to see everybody, but two, I run really good here so that’s kind of a double thing for me. I guess the bright side of it is, if there’s a positive, is at least we get to come here once a year. Unfortunately, we’re not gonna get to come twice.” DO YOU THINK THE FR9 IS COMING ON AT THE RIGHT TIME AND WHY OR WHY NOT? “I was hoping that this was gonna happen. It was kind of ironic that the FR9 engine came in right as Ford had struggled for so long. We really struggled with our cars. Our engines have always been great and made great power and been reliable, so it was like, ‘When are we ever gonna get our cars turned around and get our cars running better and be more competitive?’ And right as we did that, we were integrating the FR9 engine into the program, so it sort of makes it look like the FR9 engine is really our saving grace in the whole thing, and that’s part of the piece of the puzzle, but it’s not as big as what some people from the outside would look at that don’t know a lot about the sport. They say, ‘Oh, they’ve got their new engine. Now they’re winning races and really competing well.’ So really, where the turnaround was, if you look back at our stats, was Chicago for all Roush Fenway cars. The RPM cars had outrun us for the better part of the season, so we kind of switched to more of their suspension package in Chicago and I think Carl has three second-place finishes then, I’ve got two wins and was running second when the engine expired at Chicago that very race, so, really, that was kind of our turnaround race. We really turned our program around and the engine came on board, so with the two combination, it certainly made us a ton better. Some of the things about the engine, it makes a little bit better mid-range power, which the passing takes place from the center of the corner to the corner exit. When you put the gas down, the guy whose car handles the best and puts the gas down the earliest is normally the guy that will make the pass, but also that’s where you need the engine to have its most power. So this engine does that a little bit better and then the cooling package, we’ve really caught up to all the other manufacturers on our cooling package. It’s a little bit more efficient, so we’re able to match the tape on the front of the car as the other guys, so those two things – and it’s got the lower center of gravity. It is a little heavier than the old engine just because we had to make our engine a little bit longer to match the other manufacturers, so it has plusses and minuses to it as far as what it does.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Pepsi MAX 400 Advance, Page 4

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED — ARE YOU FEELING MORE COMFORTABLE WITH IT NOW AND CAN PUSH THE LIMITS MORE? “Yeah, I definitely do, especially after last week because we definitely tested it last week. The engine was on the chip for three-quarters of that race from just past the flag stand all the way to the corner. The engine shop said, ‘Make sure you don’t run this engine on the chip. We don’t want it running on the rev chip. Run it right before it.’ When you start making it miss on cylinders it gets angry inside with all the parts and pieces.

Of course, we listened to them and then ran it on the chip for three-quarters of the day and the thing lived the whole time. I got preliminary reports back that everything looked good in the engine – the valvetrain looked good, everything looked good – so maybe in the future we can get another 100 RPM and get the blessing from the engine guys to run the engine another 100 RPM. It’s not that you can’t run it another 100 RPM if you feel like it, it’s just particular tracks.

Like here, we’re turning 9400 RPM or so – 9350 or so, and then in the race we’ll probably turn only 9100. So that’s an extreme from last week when it was turning 9600. This week during the race it’s probably turning 9100 or 9200, so it just depends on the race track and the temperature of the day as far as how many RPM the engine runs.” IN THREE OF THE LAST FOUR RACES THERE HAVE BEEN FIVE OR FEWER CAUTIONS. AS A DRIVER, HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT AND IT IS MORE DIFFICULT TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS DURING THE RACE? “Yeah, I can definitely attest that there have been less cautions because we are unfortunately sitting here eighth in points because we pitted at Dover and the caution came out the next lap and caught us two laps down and the caution came out only one more time. So with a top 10 car we finished 19th and here we sit 85 points out of the lead.

Respectfully, we should be about 40 points out of the lead or maybe 35 if we would have just got our laps back that we lost because of that caution flag. So, yes, I have seen more green flag running, although last week it seemed like there were more cautions – a few more than there were at Dover. I think the trend is kind of up-and-down and as we figure these cars out and we all get better at driving them and more proficient, I think as drivers and teams we make less and less mistakes, and, of course, that means the caution comes out less and less as we go. I think it’s just a product of everybody getting better. The engines getting better – if you remember, it wasn’t uncommon to lose an engine and now it’s a lot more rare to see an engine failure because technology has gotten better and the guys have gotten better about building them. And to be honest with you, these cars are easier to drive than the old cars. The old cars you really had to be on your toes. These cars are a lot easier to drive.

They’ve got a lot of sideforce, the sides are real big and tall, they’ve got a huge spoiler on the back of them, so the cars are much easier to drive and they wreck a lot less.” IS IT MORE DIFFICULT TO MAKE CHANGES WITH MORE GREEN FLAG STOPS? “Yeah. You’re worried about getting on and off pit road, which is okay, that’s really not the biggest thing, the biggest thing is you don’t get a chance to experiment. If a race has a few more cautions or a normal amount of cautions, then you won’t be afraid to put some wedge in it and change the tire pressure. Well, when it runs green for four cycles in a row, if you’re off a little bit, you can get lapped or lose a lot of positions in a hurry. You have to be much more executed on the decision you make because the chance to un-do it if it’s the wrong way is normally about 70 laps later when you’re out of gas – then you get to come back and try it again. Under that scenario, it’s not as easy.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Pepsi MAX 400 Advance, Page 5

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED — MARTINSVILLE IS THE SMALLEST AND SLOWEST TRACK. WHY DOES IT CREATE SUCH A BIG CHALLENGE? “I think that is the challenge – the smallest race track is probably the biggest thing.

When you take 43 cars and there’s really one lane that makes the fastest way around the route, it’s hard for everybody to get in that same lane and make things happen. That’s really the biggest thing about it. The bottom is the fastest way around it because it’s so flat. It doesn’t provide any banking, so you can’t really effectively run the top much faster. If it had a little bit of a progressive bank, the top might be a little bit faster, where you could kind of run up and down the race track, so that’s really the biggest thing is you’re trying to put so many cars in a circle in one lane around the bottom of the race track and that’s what makes it so hard – just makes it really, really difficult. You get bottled up from the guy in front of you, the guy behind you can get the gas down and turn underneath you, sticks you on the outside and even though you’ve got a good car, you just got checked up a little bit because the guys up there are playing bumper cars, and, all of a sudden, you get shuffled to the outside and you can lose 15 spots before you can get back in line.

It’s kind of a gamble.” HOW DO YOU TRAIN YOUR FOCUS ON WHAT YOU’VE GOT TO DO EVERY RACE AND NOT LET THE 48 BE A DISTRACTION WHEN IT LOOKS LIKE THE SAME SCENARIO PLAYING OUT AGAIN? “It’s pretty easy for me because the way I look at it is I worry about the 16 car and get the best finish I can here at California. I’ve got to beat Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jimmie Johnson and all the rest and it really makes no difference who I’m racing for the lead or who I’m racing for fifth as far as what car it is. What he does, I don’t have any control over, so I focus on getting the best finish and not making any mistakes. Whether it’s sixth or third or a win this weekend, I just do the best I can. Last weekend, when I finished the race at Kansas I had no idea, and I still don’t today, who finished third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. I guess that’s bad of me, but I’ve been so busy this week I haven’t looked at the finishing order. And I didn’t know Jimmie finished second until I was in the media center and somebody said, ‘Well, what do you think about the 48 getting second?’

I had no idea where he finished. I didn’t see him all day. I didn’t see him one time. The guys later told me he was running in the teens with about 40 laps to go, or something like that, and they made some adjustments and got better and whizzed their way up to second place.

That’s a perfect example of paying attention to what we’ve got to do and do the best we can. I can’t control what they do. Unfortunately, they got all the way back to second, but we’ll just see. Hopefully, they’re off one of these races and we can gain some points on them.”

WHICH TRACK IS MORE AGGRAVATING FOR YOU AS FAR AS TALLADEGA OR MARTINSVILLE BECAUSE THEY’RE VIEWED AS THE TWO WILD CARD RACES?

“Probably Martinsville because there is so little room to race and so little you can do on that race track. We predominantly as a company and as a team have not run as well at Martinsville as we would like to, so, with that being said, my vote is Martinsville is probably the nemesis more than Talladega. We’ve run restrictor plate races and you’ve got more room to try and get things done and draft and pick a lane and do those kinds of things, although we did get 10th in the spring at Martinsville. We can go back there in the fall do that or better that by a little bit I think we’ll be good. And Talladega, we’re just like everybody else. I’m ready for it. I don’t let it affect me, that we could get caught up in wreck or that somebody else could. You just go in there and run the race, when they throw the checkered flag you look where everybody finished and head to the next one.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Pepsi MAX 400 Advance, Page 6

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion, finds himself

53 points out of the points lead thanks to fifth and sixth-place finishes the last two weeks. Edwards, who will be a guest on tonight’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, spoke about his team’s improvement after practice.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS WEEKEND? “Our Aflac Fusion is pretty fast. I believe that last week was a good test for us. That Kansas race track is a lot like the Auto Club Speedway. It’s going to be a really hot, slippery race on Sunday. It looks like the temperatures are gonna be pretty high. The track temp will be really hot, so, hopefully, we can get a good qualifying effort in here in the next hour or so and start up front.

I feel like our team has been marching towards this points lead just little bits at a time and I think this track is an opportunity for us to do that again.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AS WE GET READY TO GO TO MARTINSVILLE? “The spring race, Matt Kenseth had a chance to win that race and I think, if you ask Matt, that’s not a great race track for Matt. Our car was pretty fast. We’ve had on and off days there, but I look at that race track where if we can qualify well and can run like we’ve been running, we’re gonna be good, but it’s a bottleneck.

It’s a spot in the chase that I’m a little bit nervous about, but we’ve just got to qualify well there. I think that’s the thing that’s hurt us the most in the past. Once we get out there running I always feel like we run okay, but we’ve just got to make a good lap.” TEXAS IS SHORTLY AFTER THAT RACE. WHAT CAN YOU DO IN A NATIONWIDE CAR THERE THAT YOU CAN’T DO IN THE CUP CAR AND DO YOU PREFER ONE OR THE OTHER?

“Texas Motor Speedway is a lot of fun to drive in any car. The Nationwide car there is just so hammered down. You’re on the throttle so much that it’s a different kind of race than the Cup race, but I like them both. There is no carryover or transfer of information.

The Cup race there is spectacular. The track is very well suited to the Cup cars. You can run different lines, the speeds are extremely high, and the track has a little bit of character with the way the transitions work and there are a couple of bumps that make it a fun track to drive. But for me, the biggest thing at Texas is just that crowd. Seeing that many people at a race track and that many real race savvy fans, that’s a really special place to win.” HOW DOES THIS RACE BEING 400 MILES CHANGE THINGS FROM THE SPRING RACE? “Oh, so this is a 400-mile race? I thought it was a 500-mile race all weekend.

Man, I’m glad we covered that. That’s gonna go quick. The thing is it’s gonna be hot and starting at noon, a 400-mile race here should be over at about 3 o’clock or 3:30 at the latest. It’s such a fast race track, so that will change things a little bit. I was really looking forward to the 500 miles. I like the grueling aspect of this race track and that long distance race, but I think for the fans things are gonna shake out. The fastest car will probably be leading by the 400th mile, so if that makes it a more exciting race, then that’s good.” YOU HAVE A BIG DEFICIT IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES, JUST LIKE LAST YEAR. IS IT THE SAME PHILOSOPHY OF TRYING TO GAMBLE A BIT TO CATCH UP? “Our Nationwide program, we’ve just got to go out there and learn the most we can and take the most risk we can to try and win races, but, really, it’s about building for next year. I’ve committed to running full-time next year. I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to race for the championship or not, but we’ll still keep our own score if we can’t. We just want to go out and be the best we can for next season, so that’s what we’re really focusing on right now. There are a lot of changes coming to the Nationwide Series and I think that what we do now is we just focus on building towards that. Brad has been doing a great job this year. They’ve got a really big lead and they’ve earned it and, unless something major happens, I think they’re gonna be able to keep that lead. So we’ve just got to go for it, I guess.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Pepsi MAX 400 Advance, Page 7

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED — WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT NATIONWIDE CHANGES FOR NEXT YEAR? “I don’t know how many guys from the Cup Series are planning on running full-time. I think it might just be me.

Hopefully, Brad will run again. It would be great if Kyle would run.

It’s fun to be able to race with those guys for points. That’s fun.

I think what NASCAR is trying to do is they’re trying to make an opportunity for the Nationwide Series to be more of a development series. I think by eliminating the ability for a guy like myself to run for the championship, I don’t think that changes the face of the average Nationwide race. Kyle Busch has won 11 races this year and he’s not racing for the championship. There’s nothing that would keep him from doing the same thing again next year, or our team winning 11 races next year – whether or not I was racing for the championship.

The only thing it does hurt is team’s ability like ours to go out and get sponsorship to run for the championship. That’s an important thing to Copart and Fastenal is for us to have an opportunity to do that. I know they’re looking at it from all different angles and I’m glad they’re doing that and not making a rash choice and, hopefully, they come up with the right decision. But I don’t know what it is, yet. Nobody has told me.” IS YOUR SETUP DIFFERENT FOR THIS RACE THAN EARLIER? “It is a little bit different because the track will be slicker, the times will fall off more, it’ll be a different race, so, yeah, the car has to be set up differently.” DO YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF CAR YOU’LL BE RACING AT THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS LATER THIS YEAR IN GERMANY? “No, Jim Hancock from the United States team is here and we haven’t had a chance to talk about everything yet, but I know he’s here and he can talk to you about that. Travis Pastrana has committed to going. I’m committed to going. It’s in that big soccer stadium, but I haven’t seen what kind of cars we’re gonna race yet. We’re gonna go there and get all the practice we can and try to beat up on those Germans (laughter) the best we can, but they’re pretty fast.”

WHY DOES A LONGER RACE WORK BETTER FOR YOU. YOU SEEM DISPPOINTED THIS IS A 400-MILE RACE? “I work really hard to be as fit as I can be. My trainer, Dean, from Carmichael Training Systems, we work really hard to be prepared for these long races. I can’t believe I didn’t know this was a 400-mile race. This race track just seems like one of the hottest race tracks we go to sometimes. When the sun is out here there is no escaping the heat, so I feel that those long races play into my strengths physically, and then I feel that from a handling standpoint and the way the car drives, I think the hotter and slicker it is suits me and our team as well. I grew up racing at dirt tracks and I really like when the car moves around a lot. I really enjoy that.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PEPSI MAX 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 8, 2010

 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Auto Club Speedway and discussed two races at Auto Club Speedway, on-track retaliation and other topics.  Full transcript:

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT RICK HENDRICK BEING ON THE ROSTER FOR VOTING INTO THE NASCAR HALL OF FAME?:  “I would certainly love to see Rick (Hendrick) get inducted.  You know he’s going to eventually, but to be in that second class would be pretty amazing.  He’s been in the sport for a long time and has achieved an awful lot beyond just the success with the race teams.  I think of what he’s done in the sport.  There’s a lot of history in this sport and there’s a lot of people on that list that deserve to be in there so looking forward to seeing who those five are whether Rick makes it or not.”

IS THERE ANYONE BESIDES RICK HENDRICK ON THE LIST THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE INDUCTED?:  “You’re going to have to start going down the list and I’ll give you my opinion.  I think (David) Pearson is somebody that stands out to me that I would like to see in there.”

DO YOU THINK THERE SHOULD BE ETIQUETTE BETWEEN CHASERS AND NON-CHASERS?:  “I think that’s the beauty of our sport and our whole Chase that we have is that what makes it unique is that you’re racing against everybody out there and one of those challenges comes that you have to race those guys hard and clean and recognize that you’re going for a championship.  They have something out there to prove as well and they have to recognize the same thing.  To me, you should not go into the Chase expecting guys  that aren’t in the Chase to give you any extra leeway.  That’s not the way it works.  I had a heck of a battle with Ryan Newman last week and I felt like I was a lot faster than him.  Had we got by him, it would have gotten us a couple extra spots.  But he’s racing for position, racing for things that are important to him and he didn’t want to budge or give up on that so I respected that.”

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY?:  “I don’t know, ask me after Sunday because it’s been a while since we’ve won anywhere and this track is a tricky one.  It’s slick, the grooves move around during the race and we haven’t had the success here recently that we’ve had in the past.  Sometimes it takes fuel mileage.  Sometimes it takes having a good car on the restarts.  Sometimes pit strategy, but a lot of different things.  I’ll take a fast car anywhere we go, that always helps.  It’s going to be interesting this weekend being 400 miles instead of 500.  How that’s going to change things, of course it always depends on when the cautions fall and how they fall.  Being a little bit shorter race I think it always more exciting.  I’m anxious to see how it affects this one.”

 

DID YOU TAKE CONTROL OF LAST WEEK’S RACE?:  “I don’t really remember, but I think if I go back to what we were talking about, we’ve had some issues this year where we started adjusting the car and the adjustments that we were making, like if you go back four or five years ago, those adjustments might help.  This car, this day and age with some of the funky setups that we have, it just seems like if you start getting passed small adjustments – air pressure, small track bar and wedge adjustments, it just seems like the whole car starts to go crazy and that’s what I started to see happen last week is that we were making these adjustments and we started making bigger adjustments.  It was all based on things I was asking for, but I felt like it was not taking the car in the right direction like it was actually making us go slower.  I was just giving my feedback to Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the guys.  That’s my job and their job is to try to give me what I need out there.  Sometimes, I’ve got to back up and look at things that I’m saying and how I’m expressing it as to how that’s affecting the calls and the adjustments that those guys make.”

ARE YOU STILL SUPPORTIVE OF STEVE AND WORKING WITH HIM?:  “Oh yeah, absolutely.  No doubt about that.  This is a team sport and I really believe in Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and I think he’s an awesome crew chief.  If I’m not giving him the proper feedback then I don’t expect him to be able to make the right adjustments to help us go faster as the race goes on.  I was real happy last week with the way we ended that race and I felt like we really made big gains there at the end and went from a ninth or 10th place car all the way up to fifth.  Those are things we have to do more of.  Those are things we did earlier in the year and then we started missing in the middle part of the year.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CALIFORNIA LOSING A RACE?:  “This race track has struggled.  I think it’s been obvious that while we have a great fan base out here and I think we want to maintain that, you have to look at the sport, the whole sport and everything that’s going on.  When you leave Kansas Speedway and we’ve got an incredible crowd and just a huge group of fans are there and you look at how that race track and surrounding areas are growing.  They’re building a casino and all those things.  It just makes more sense for us to be there.  Whether it’s the economy, whether it’s this market.  They can’t even get an NFL franchise to work in this area.  There’s something about this area that is really tough when it comes to sports franchises and sports entertainment in general.  I think that right now it’s the right move. Hopefully we can get back to selling out this race and utilizing this market because it is a great market and then maybe one day come back and have two races.”

WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO RUNNING WELL AT CHARLOTTE?:  “I love Charlotte and love going there.  We weren’t very good there in May so we’ve been really looking hard at our notes and setups and cars and trying to do some things to be better when we go back there.  It’s a very fast race track, high-banked and I think it’s hard to pass there so qualifying is pretty important.  We’ve been missing some of that the last couple times.  I think we’ve learned some things since we were there and track position is important everywhere we go, but having a really well-balanced race car there is equally or more important.”

DO YOU FEEL GOOD GOING BACK TO TEXAS KNOWING YOU WERE STRONG IN APRIL?:  “I’m excited to go back to Texas just because we were so good there, I’m looking forward to seeing if we can go back there and be as good as well as where the competition is at.  We’re kind of on the fence for Texas because we feel like we’ve learned a lot since we were there, but at the same time, we were so good there that we wouldn’t change a whole lot.  I’m anxious to see just how our setup that we think is the best package, how it’s going to work for us.  It’s the first time I’ve really looked forward to going to Texas for a second time just because we were so good there.  I think we’ll be good again.”

DID YOU SEE THE NASCAR SOUTHPARK EPISODE?:  “I did not.  I read something about it and heard about it.  To me, regardless of what the positive or negative spins are that all these shows put, I think it’s still good publicity for the sport.  Even if you’re making fun of it, I think it’s still getting attention that’s pretty cool for us.”

DID LAST WEEK’S SITUATION AT KANSAS BRING TO REALITY THAT A NON-CHASE DRIVER COULD TAKE OUT A CHASE DRIVER?:  “I’ve never second-guessed that before.  I think if a guy feels like he was taken out then I fully expect that they’ll come back to get you.  That’s just part of racing.  We hear about paybacks all the time, but sometimes they happen right away and sometimes they take time.  David (Reutimann), he didn’t like what happened and he chose to retaliate right away.  I think if Kyle (Busch) was being honest, he would probably go back and rethink some of the choices that he made, not because he thinks that he did anything wrong, but just look at the outcome.”

ARE YOU NOT OVERLY AGGRESSIVE BECAUSE YOU CAN FOCUS ON WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP?:  “My thing is this is that I know if I have no issues with a guy and I don’t have any history with that person knocking me out of the way for a position, I know that if I make contact with him or if I wreck him, spin him, that’s going to come back to me one day.  That’s just the way I’ve approached racing throughout my whole career.  I go back to Sonoma and some things that happened there and I fully expect whether it happens this weekend, next weekend or whenever and those guys, the 19 (Elliott Sadler) and the 56 (Martin Truex Jr.), they’ve been racing me really, really hard.  Bumps and taps and little things here and there.  They haven’t just clean taken me out.  If it happens, you’re not going to hear me say much about it.”

 

IS IT MORE SIGNIFICANT THAT JIMMIE JOHNSON IS LEADING THE POINTS OR HOW TIGHT THE BATTLE IS?:  “I think it shows just how strong they are when the Chase comes around.  Those guys just have an ability to step up and each year they do it.   Each year you think, ‘Oh man, I think we have a shot at seeing a different champion this year.’  Then those guys start backing it up right away with solid finishes even though they started New Hampshire a little rough.  You just can’t ever count them out.  As tight as things are, I think everybody in the top-six or eight right now feel like they still have a shot at it.  At the same time, you don’t ever want to see that 48 (Jimmie Johnson) up there leading because those guys are just so tough and so strong that unless something happens to them, it’s going to be hard to consistently beat them.”

DID YOU FEEL CALIFORNIA WAS DESTINED FOR TWO RACES WHEN YOU WON THE FIRST ONE?:  “Yeah, I think so.  We’ve always had a great fan base in California.  Even southern California.  I don’t think that was ever in question and it was cool to come back, great race track.  I’m one that questions a lot of tracks having two races, not just here at California.  We’ve put a lot of people in the grandstands, we’re very fortunate to have as big of an audiences that we have, but makes you wonder when economy has some issues whether or not you can sustain that kind of audience.  I think before the economy, we saw things tapering off here a little bit and when the economy hit, it didn’t surprise me that it tapered off as much as it did here.  I just look at southern California in genera, there’s so much to do here, there’s so many options for entertainment that it’s very competitive.  When you think about trying to put and not to mention traffic is bad here all the time anyway.  You try to put 80 or 100, 000 people in the grandstands and do it twice a year, that’s tough to ask around this area.”

DID YOU GO TO CUP RACES IN CALIFORNIA WHEN YOU WERE A KID?:  “I didn’t know what a Cup car was when I lived in California, I’ll be honest.  I didn’t know what NASCAR racing was until I moved to Indiana.  Even though, my family on my dad’s side, I found out they were all big NASCAR fans.  I had no idea.  I had raced for years and all I followed was sprint cars and Indy cars and I found out that they were NASCAR fans on my dad’s side, but I had no idea.”

DO YOU STILL KEEP UP WITH INDY CAR?:  “A little bit.  Not like I did when I was growing up as a kid.  I was a big Rick Mears fan and Mario (Andretti) and AJ (Foyt) and (Al) Unser and those guys.  I mainly watched the Indy 500 that was my thing.  The series has changed a lot over the years and now with our schedule, it’s hard to keep up with any other thing.  I probably keep up with Formula 1 more than I keep up with anything.”

ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT THERE ARE MORE PAYBACKS AT LARGER RACE TRACKS?:  “Listen, we have to be big boys.  If you’re going to go out there and race at this series and at this level and do the things that we do, make the choices and decisions that we make then you’re going to have to recognize that’s just part of it.  You can’t pick and choose when paybacks are coming or where or what or how.”

 

IS THIS A CHANGE FROM THE YEARS PAST?:  “Nope.  I think it’s just a coincidence maybe that’s the pattern.  To me, the way I’ve always looked at paybacks is it just happens when it happens.  It depends on how ruthless you are.  If you feel like that person got you at a time when you had a shot at winning the race then you’re probably going to try to take a win away from them.  You have to kind of be in that position where you’re out of it and you don’t have a shot at it and you don’t want them to win that race.  It could be something like that.  To me, it doesn’t matter where you’re at.  I don’t think anybody goes out there with any intentions of hurting anybody.  That’s not the case.  This is why I try hard not to hit people.  I know I’m not always successful at that.  In my opinion, you don’t know what the repercussions of that are and when they’ll happen and I prefer not to take that chance.  When I see and even when I go back to (Dale) Earnhardt and Rusty (Wallace), I used to see things that went on back then that always used to amaze me.  Why would you do some of those things because surely they’re going to get you back and you may not like when or where they get you back and you might end up in the hospital.  That’s why I try not to make too many enemies out there.”

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.

Friday, Oct. 08, 2010

Auto Club Speedway

Dodge Motorsports PR

Pepsi MAX 400

Post-Qualifying Quotes

Tweets by TeamDodge

www.media.chrysler.com

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Operation Home Front/Miller Lite Dodge Charger) “We ran a 39.86 with the Miller Lite Dodge and were just dead loose at one point. Our early qualifying draw didn’t help us, but we weren’t the only ones to go out early. That’s just part of the deal. Fontana is a big, wide track with plenty of room to move around. We put ourselves behind a bit in qualifying. Now we’ll have to play catch up on race day.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger) “I’ll take it. I was excited that we ran that fast because I didn’t feel like the car drove that well at all. We put up a decent lap for how it drove despite the fact that it wasn’t a perfect run. It’s pretty warm out and the cars tend to get on the loose side here. I was a little loose in (Turns) 1 and 2, got through 3 better and 4 was OK. Let’s see where it puts us.”

SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) “We haven’t been good all day, so I didn’t expect too much in qualifying. Just a struggle today.”

NASCAR veteran Donnie Wingo has been named crew chief of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion. Wingo will assume the role immediately and will be atop the No. 21 pit box next weekend in Charlotte.

“It’s really an honor to be on top of the pit box for the No. 21,” said Wingo. “Anyone in NASCAR knows the historic significance and what the Wood Brothers have meant to NASCAR. The No. 21 is iconic in this sport and it’s a great privilege to be associated with this team. I’m eager to get to Charlotte next weekend and see what we can do as a team.”

Wingo most recently served at the crew chief for Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 6 Sprint Cup team with driver David Ragan. During his 27-year NASCAR career, he has worked with drivers ranging from Dick Trickle, Ricky Rudd, Jimmy Spencer, Juan Pablo-Montoya, Jamie McMurray and Morgan Shepherd.

The No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion and driver Bill Elliott will be back on track next week in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Operation Home Front/Miller Lite Dodge Charger)

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON COMING BACK TO AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY? HOW WAS TODAY’S FIRST PRACTICE? “It’s great to be back on the West Coast. Growing up in Las Vegas, it was always fun to come to Southern California whether it was for vacation or racing. Racing at Irwindale Speedway, Mesa Marin up in Bakersfield, Southern California has always been high on my list. It’s a great race track here. I’ve had a chance to win a race in the Truck and Cup Series.

“The way that everything shook out for us in practice, we had some suspension components that we were working on and trying to science out some stuff. The race track here just gets rougher and rougher and presents a tougher challenger every time that we come back as far as how we can get our front end compliance to get the grip that we need out on the track. So far, so good. We’ll see how things go.”

WHY ARE WE SEEING MORE RETALIATION BY DRIVERS? IS IT A CONCERN? “I think we’ve had it all along at the bigger race tracks, there’s just more focus on it this year with the guys not having to look over their back and having NASCAR make a call. The decision of ‘boys have at it’ means everywhere. We’ve let a couple weeks of retaliation go by. It seemed like just so that NASCAR wasn’t on you so hard. Now it’s more wide open and you don’t have to look over your shoulder.”

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF POSITION FOR THE REST OF THE CHASE? WHAT ABOUT THE NEXT COUPLE OF RACES? “We’ve got a decent foundation of points built up. We’re in better position than we were last year after three races. What we need to happen, like at Kansas, we were running eighth or ninth and tried to short pit, had a bad pit stop and lost four positions. If we can turn that around, flip it the other way and take and eighth-place car and finished fifth with it, that’s what’s going to put us in position to win this championship. We just can’t have those little mistakes chewing away at points and losing them. We need to start gaining them.”

HAVE YOU STARTED TO NOTICE FEWER CAUTIONS THE LAST PART OF THE SEASON AND THE NUMBER OR GREEN FLAG RUNS ASSOCIATED WITH IT? HOW DIFFICULT IS IT WHEN THERE ARE MORE GREEN-FLAG STOPS? “It’s good to get into that green-flag rhythm. I think that it helps a team like ours with just knowing what lap you’re going to pit on and getting the guys ready to jump over the wall to pit. I try to communicate with Steve Addington as much as I can at the beginning of the run to let him know the car is doing and then shortly before we pit. Green flag pit stops, you can lose a lot of time and positions as well as gain them, if the driver gets into pit road cleanly and smoothly. When you’re on pit road during a green-flag stop, it’s rare that cars are around you and guys can really blitz off a fast pit stop time because you don’t have to worry about other guys running into them. It’s a nice difference when you have green-flag sessions.”

WHAT DOES IT SAY FOR PENSKE RACING TO BE THE ONLY DODGE TEAM RACING IN CUP AND NATIONWIDE, YET HAVE A SHOT AT WINNING BOTH CHAMPIONSHIPS? “It’s a true testament to everyone who works at Penske Racing. They’re doing a great job and everyone is pushing hard. It’s just not on the NASCAR side; we had a legitimate shot at winning the IRL title too. We just came up a bit shy. It seemed like just a bit of lack of experience that Will (Power) had on some of the ovals. Again, the cars were prepared well. Everybody was upbeat about it. Last month, we were at a team luncheon with all of our teams there and we were saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a shot at three championships.’ We missed out on one. We still have a great shot at the Nationwide, that’s our best shot, and we’re right in the mix too. I’m proud of our car carrying the Dodge banner, there’s a lot of responsibility in that, but we’re doing a great job doing it as independents.”

FOR A SHORT TRACK, WHY DOES MARTINSVILLE CREATE SO MANY PROBLEMS? “It’s just the fact that you can let off the brake pedal going into a corner and dump somebody. You’re on the competition all the time and there’s no room for error. The spacing is so tight that positions can change quickly and if you have bad pit stop at a Martinsville-style track, it can be really difficult to work your way back up front.”

BETWEEN TALLADEGA AND MARTINSVILLE, WHICH ONE IS MORE FRUSTRATING FOR YOU? “I would say Martinsville is for me. I feel like I’ve just struggled at Martinsville over the years versus Talladega.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PEPSI MAX 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 8, 2010

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 THE HARTFORD CHEVROLET, met with members of the media to discuss Scott Miller as a temporary crew chief and the reduced penalties, track conditions at ACS for Sunday’s race, and more.  Full transcript:

 

WELCOME BACK TO AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON TAKING TO THE TRACK HERE?

“I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to a 400 mile race here. We were good here in the spring as a team and I’m looking forward to the challenge of having Scott Miller as a crew chief. This is going to be a challenge for everybody. Scott has done a good job of the homework side of it and getting acclimated to this race team and staying in tune to the last few weeks. I think that he can even benefit us a little bit. You know, he’s been on the sidelines looking in and down on our race team and on some of the faults that we have as a race team and some of the benefits and things that we do good. I think he can compliment both sides of that and help out a little bit. So, it’s going to be challenging to be able to go to work without (crew chief) Shane (Wilson), but I think everybody has done a good job of stepping up in preparation for this. I think we’ll be fine.”

WITH ALL THIS UNPLEASANT STUFF HAPPENING THE LAST WEEKS, DOES IT HAVE ANY AFFECT ON THE WORKING MORALE NOW WITH RICHARD CHILDRESS OR IS IT THE SAME AS BEFORE?
“Well, it’s taken a lot of attention and focus away from some things. But to get this behind us was important; it was crucial for the outcome of the rest of the year from RCR. I’m glad that we were able to do that. I guess they did pull back a little bit of the penalty or something, but more importantly I’m ready to look forward to these last few races and try to get That Hartford Chevrolet in victory lane again this weekend. We’ve got to do that, in my mind, to clear things up from New Hampshire. I think it’s important to get that done and I think looking at Talladega is another good place to do that. Kevin (Harvick) won the race. Our cars are very fast on the superspeedways. Our engine program is second to none and I know that a lot of the other Chasers are not looking forward to that. That’s got to be an opportunity for us to pounce.”

 

WERE YOU HAPPY AT ALL THAT THE SUSPENSION WAS REDUCED?  TALK ABOUT MILLER WORKING AS YOUR CREW CHIEF AND THE DYNAMIC WITH DILLON ACTING AS YOUR ‘COACH’ DURING THE RACE.

“I didn’t even know about the deal this week.  I put it behind me—last week in Kansas, I went on an elk hunt, my phone didn’t work for three days, then we went to Vegas and enjoyed ourselves for another couple of days.  It was a hell of a good week.  I got to enjoy it with some racers—Elliott Sadler, Bobby Labonte, Kasey Kahne and Dale Jarrett—just a good group of good guys.  You normally don’t get the chance during the season to enjoy some of the guys you race against; those are some of the best characters in the business, so I really, really enjoyed this week and had a lot of fun. I didn’t worry about anything to be honest with you. I think my phone turned on in Truth or Consequences; Elliott was driving and I’m like, ‘where the hell are we?!”  I think Truth or Consequences is where I finally found out what was going on.  Sometimes it’s neat to be able to just go out and get away completely, and I’m talking like completely away and enjoy yourself.  It was a well needed week.”

WAS IT WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY OR WHEN?

“It was Wednesday sometime, I don’t know.  It’s been a long week though.”

IN THREE OF THE LAST FOUR RACES WE’VE HAD FIVE CAUTIONS OR LESS.  HAVE YOU AS A DRIVER NOTICED THAT? AND WHEN THERE ARE SUCH A LOW NUMBER OF CAUTIONS AND SUCH A HIGH NUMBER OF GREEN-FLAG RUNS, HOW HARD IS IT TO ADJUST ON YOUR CAR DURING THE RACE TO MAKE THINGS BETTER, OR ARE YOU MORE CONCERNED ABOUT GETTING ON AND OFF PIT ROAD FAST BECAUSE ALL THE STOPS ARE GREEN? 

“Goodyear has done such a great job of making the racing better and I don’t know if there is a point to where it gets almost too good.  We might be approaching that.  They’re going an awesome job of making things safe; you’re not having tire problems or anything like that.  Those are the things that lead to cautions and once you get a caution, a lot of times cautions will breed other cautions.  That’s due in part, I think, the job that Goodyear has done for us.  It’s easy to get yourself greedy and I think that some of these race tracks that we’ve been to—look back in history they are some of the tracks that do stretch out and we have long runs, so chances that it could definitely be one of them.  I thought we might see one of those mystery cautions come out and they never did, but I wish they would have.  We’re in this together, you know.”

WITH ALL THE RAN WE’VE HAD A VERY GREEN TRACK, BUT WILL ALL THE PRACTICES AND THE NATIONWIDE RACE COMING UP, THE TRACK WILL BE RUBBERED-UP BY SUNDAY.  AT 91 DEGREES, WILL THAT MAKE IT CONSIDERABLY SLIPPERY FOR THE CARS?

“Yeah, I think the hot weather will definitely—you get enough laps in on this race track by the time we get to Sunday with the Nationwide race and all the stuff that goes on that the rubber is fine.  But the heat will definitely play a toll on everybody; you’ll be sliding around and your hands will be full in the racecar and the guy that can manage his tires the most will win the race.”

JUST FOR PURPOSES OF CLARITY, THIS WAS A ROAD TRIP THAT YOU GUYS TOOK?

“No, it was a hunting trip.  Some of those guys were already out there in Vegas, but [before traveling to Vegas] Elliott [Sadler], myself and Bobby Labonte were there to hunt, and really neat environment, beautiful terrain, crawling up on mountains.  I’m telling you, it was a workout.  It was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done was to pack that elk out of there.  It was hell for about a day.”

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO?

“Well I think that’s where we fly into.  I was along for the ride, man.  You ever done that?”

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR, YOU SEEMED LIKE YOU SORT OF CAME OUT OF YOUR SHELL A LITTLE BIT THROUGH THE WHOLE THING.  YOU SPOKE AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE, AND I THINK THAT’S A SIDE OF YOU THAT PEOPLE LIKE TO SEE.  DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE MAYBE DONE THAT A LITTLE BIT?

“I don’t know.  I’ve always been pretty outspoken really.  I think.  It’s just I’m having fun, I enjoy what I do for a living, I enjoy racing.  I don’t think I’m any different; I just think that I’ve had a different scenario happen that I felt like I needed to speak my opinion and have my voice be heard.  I did and it didn’t really matter; so I’ll just go on and I guess I’ll go back in my shell again.  I don’t know.  Like I said, I enjoy what I do and I like having fun and being around people.  Certainly I get to see that in this sport as much as anything.”

A COUPLE YEARS BACK YOU GOT OFF TO A GREAT START IN THE CHASE AND WERE RIGHT THERE IN THE POINTS.  AS A DRIVER, HOW MUCH WERE YOU AWARE OF THAT?  DID YOU THINK OF THAT, OR HOW DID YOU AVOID THINKING OF THAT AND HAVING IT IMPACT WHAT YOU DID ON THE TRACK?

“You mean as far as racing those guys?  I’ve never come to a race track not expecting to win.  You’re there to win; you travel a long ways and a lot of people’s hard work and dedication go into it.  I don’t care who you’re racing, you’re trying to beat them.  Sometimes doing that, when you’re trying as hard as you can giving 100% things can happen.  You’ve got to understand that.  We race a lot together.  When you race as much as this group does, and this garage together, there is bound to be things happening.  It was the same way when you are racing the touring series across the country; dirt car and late model boys; those guys get into it.  They’ll be fighting and bickering back and forth for a few weeks, and the next thing you know they’re having a beer together somewhere and enjoying each other again.  That’s just the nature of racing in general.” 

HOW DO YOU THINK JOHNSON HAS DONE?  DO YOU THINK HE’S MORE VULNERABLE THIS YEAR THAN HE HAS BEEN IN THE PAST? 

“He’s won four in a row—he’s on a pretty good roll.  I don’t know that it’s easy to avoid that.  Believe it or not, I think they’re on to something.  I think they’re pretty good.  I really do.  Can they be beat this year?  Certainly.  This year more than any year I’ve said it from the beginning of the Chase and even halfway through the season, he’s had moments of struggles and certainly Kansas is one of them, but they turned that thing around and got an awesome finish out of it.  He’s definitely shown signs of not being perfect all the time this year and maybe one of those things can bite them.  Usually it seems when you’re watching the 48 car, the right things happen at the right time, all the time. 

“They’re always able to put themselves in that situation to benefit from somebody else’s mishap or whatever the case may be.  I look at Dover; the 43 car was dominating the race, made a mistake and the 48 was there for the pouncing and did just that.  They just do a better job of putting themselves in the right situation most of the time.  I tell you; I think it’s a more even playing field than it has ever been.  I don’t think they have that one-up on the competition every week.  I think that it is going to be a struggle to win that championship all the way down to Homestead; I really do.  Look how close it is.  It’s close clear back to the ninth-place guy.”

HOW DO YOU THINK NON-CHASE GUYS SHOULD RACE THE GUYS THAT ARE IN THE CHASE?  DO YOU THINK THE NON-CHASERS NEED TO HAVE A LITTLE MORE RESPECT?

“It’s all respect.  It all comes down to respect; no different than you working in an office or anything else.  It’s all about respect.  If you show respect and give respect, then you are going to get it back.  There is a lot of people and a lot of situations where you need to take care of business.  It’s no different than the 11 car and the 29 car, and miraculously 30 minutes later get into it in practice.  There just has to be respect out there and when there is not, things happen.” 

EARLIER IN THE YEAR YOU CAME HERE AND RAN THIS WING; NOW YOU’RE COMING BACK AND RUNNING THE SPOILER.  IS THERE ANY REAL DIFFERENCE?

“They’ve done such a great job of compensating for that.  From the very first time, everybody is anticipating that we put the spoiler on and the adjustments that they made with the quarter panels.  Everybody was excited and was like, ‘Alright, what is this going to do?’  And it’s like, ‘Did you switch it? Did you put the spoiler on it?’  Other than looking in the mirror and seeing a spoiler on there to a wing; you really don’t feel anything as far from the seat of your pants.” 

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

PEPSI MAX 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 8, 2010

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET took three questions from media at Auto Club Speedway. Full Transcript:

 

CHARLOTTE IS COMING UP NEXT WEEK. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO AT CHARLOTTE TO BE SUCCESSFUL?

“It always seems like it’s a battle of trying to get your car to cut through the center of the corner and keep the forward drive in it; it seems like it’s a sacrifice of one or the other but the two ends are different. It seems like you can carry a lot more speed through (Turns) 1 and 2 and (Turns) 3 and 4 are a little more like ‘thread the needle’ type corners.”

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FALL AND SPRING RACES AT CHARLOTTE?

“Well, sometimes there isn’t one (big difference). You know they’re spread out so far and they’re at the beginning of summer and the end of summer, so a lot of times they can be very similar.”

THEY ARE GOING TO ANNOUNCE A SECOND HALL OF FAME CLASS NEXT WEEK. DO YOU HAVE A CANDIDATE YOU’D REALLY LIKE TO SEE GET IN THERE?

“I haven’t even looked to see who is on the ballots yet. I’ve been a little busy. We’ve got this Chase-thing that we’re doing.”

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.