Category: NASCAR Cup Series

TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Notes & Quotes Auto Club Speedway — March 25, 2011

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What is your outlook on California this weekend? “I’m looking forward to it. I enjoy coming out to California. It’s been a good place for me. We’ve had a lot of fun here over the years in the Nationwide Series and in the Truck Series and we’re looking for some more success like we had in 2005 with the Cup car. I’m excited about this weekend. Bring the Interstate Batteries — I call it the Hybrid Camry — out this weekend and get a chance to have some fun with Norm (Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries) and the boys so I’m looking forward to that. Hoping we can have a good car this weekend, that we can have a good solid run on Sunday and continue our momentum from Bristol.”

How do you manage good luck and bad luck as a driver when you have hot and cold streaks? “Good question — I don’t know. It’s so tough, but this sport is based on results and results come whether you’re good or whether you have some luck. Coach (Joe Gibbs) doesn’t believe in luck at all. ‘You make your own,’ I guess he likes to say. When you look at Joey Logano and the way his year started out is just terrible. It’s nothing that he’s done wrong. I guess you could say that you do make your own luck. In Joey’s situation from last weekend with I guess it was one of the wheel spacer bolts or screws came loose so essentially that was a man mistake. Some of our engine malfunctions that we found at the shop were man mistakes. We’re essentially making our own luck I guess. If it came down to the final 10 races and you had the same situation happen what do you do? Everybody says, ‘Ah, they’re falling apart.’ And it’s like, well I guess to a point you are. But, you’d certainly like to have it now than later. Hopefully Joey can still battle back and get up into the top-10 in points or at least get a few wins so he can be the wild card. That would be good for us and for Joe Gibbs Racing regardless of what the other guys feel. If they’ve had good luck so far, that’s great and dandy, but we’re worried about us and not necessarily anybody else.”

Are you surprised that Carl Edwards didn’t try to move you out of the way at Bristol? “He (Carl Edwards) did try. He did get into me once. He bumped me, but it wasn’t like he tried to get into the left-rear quarter panel and spin me out at all. We raced each other hard, we raced each other clean. That was good. If Carl wants to continue saying that he still owes me one, whatever, I don’t care. I’m racing my race and how I should be racing, and racing all of my competitors and not worrying about all of that stuff. To me, we’re here at California and I’m ready to move and see if we can’t win out here.”

Are you racing in the Nationwide Series to break all of these records? “That’s not why I’m doing it, no. I love to race, I love to get out there and compete against all of the competitors every weekend whether it’s Cup or Nationwide or double-dippers. For me, the numbers are just the numbers. If you are successful and you win races the numbers will come by themselves. To me, we just keep doing what we’re supposed to be doing and that’s to run hard and be strong and do what we can every week to get to victory lane.”

What has made you become more mature and more relaxed this season? “A lot of people have pointed to that — with Samantha (Busch, wife) and getting married this off-season and stuff like that. I give a lot of credit to her and just some things that we’re doing together in our lives that we’re happy with and we’re doing. It’s been really good. Other than that it’s just great that people have taken a little bit of notice more to maybe who I am or what I am. With that, we just continue on moving forward and doing what we’re doing.”

How do you balance your new attitude along with still being competitive on the race track? “Tony’s (Stewart) is the best at it. Tony’s really quick at being able to just come up with snide remarks sometimes so I’m not that good. He’s got it going on. For me, I don’t know. You listen to some of the people that say, ‘Well, don’t change,’ and ‘Stay the way that you are and get in trouble,’ and all of that stuff. I can’t do that anymore. I’m more about just trying to make do with what I can do and keep things right. Like I told her, keep moving forward in what I’m doing and keep seeing the change. I think maybe last year or the year before or whatever it was maybe it was a little more fabricated. People were telling me what to do and how to act rather than me doing the work and actually becoming the person inside.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) How do you think the new restrictor plate size will impact the racing at Talladega? “I think what they are looking for is just to keep the speeds down obviously with how we all figured out how to push draft. They were expecting the speeds. We didn’t push draft all that much last year at Talladega. They are going to be expecting us to do that. They’re going to be expecting the speeds to be higher. They’re just being a little proactive there. No problem in doing that. I think it’s actually a smart idea rather than changing it on us when we do get to the race track. They did a good job. I don’t think it will change much. The racing will stay the same. The push draft will still be there. Essentially the dynamic of the race like it was in Daytona will be the same in Talladega.”

How big of a weekend is this for Joe Gibbs Racing engines? “This will be a good weekend for us. The guys back at the engine shop, they’ve been working hard and working some long hours trying to get our issues resolved. They’ve done a really nice job. We haven’t had that many engine failures except what has popped up this year. You’re going to have some here and there when you’re trying stuff. You’re always trying stuff and you can always go so far on the chassis dyno or on the engine dyno, but until you get to the race track dyno is what I call it — the asphalt — you don’t necessarily know what exactly is under the hood. It will be a good test for us this weekend for sure with the big race track here and the long, sustained RPM at a high level with the out of gas through the corners. On the long run, you’ll be out of the gas a long time. Seeing how all of that plays out will be good. I suspect we’ll be fine.”

How is Joey Logano dealing with his bad luck this year? “I think he’s doing well. He’s high spirited — he’s a kid you know. He enjoys where he’s at. He likes the role he’s in, but he would rather be in the top-10 of course. Or at least just getting the finishes that they deserve in the past weeks. Joey’s (Logano) got a little frustration too. We were doing autographs yesterday for a bunch of people at Toyota headquarters and had a great day there and there were some people that were kind of razzing him a little bit about his bad luck and they’ve been trying tell him, ‘Hey, keep it up, keep your spirits up.’ A couple ladies, I told them to rub his head. We’re trying to change it for him, we’re trying to help him out. It’s not that he’s struggling at all — he’s fine. It’s just a matter of it beats you up a little bit mentally because you know you could be 10th to 15th or maybe even higher in points and you’re not there. I think he’s mired back in the 20s somewhere. He’s fine and he’ll get back up there. It’s just a matter of getting some good weeks going here and once he does get back on that string like he did last fall, I think he was the second higher points scorer in the final 10 races. He can do it, it’s not a matter of his driving talent, it’s just a matter of getting it all put together.”

What do you think of the fact that you are paired with Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty for most wins before age 26? “I beat them to 25, but they beat me to 26. I didn’t win enough this calendar year from May 2 to May 2. There’s still some opportunities for some more wins. Essentially that’s what it tells me. That’s what I read into it when you say that is I think I was the highest winner to 25, but now I’m not to 26. Whatever. It’s interesting. It has all come at such a young age, but there has been guys that have been here at a young age too that have been just as successful. You say the guys — (Richard) Petty and (Jeff) Gordon and so I’m watching video of (Jimmie) Johnson winning here and he’s another one of those guys. He wasn’t quite as young, but when you look at his career and how long he’s been here from 2002 — his rookie year to where he is now — going on 10 seasons. 54 wins or whatever it’s been — that’s a guy that you look at and say, ‘Man, he’s done a lot in a short period of time and five championships and everything else.’ Never finishing outside the top-five or 10 in points or whatever. That’s a guy that everybody would like to be if they had their choice and could pick somebody to follow after. We’ll see how things go here in the next few weeks and next few years and through my career, but all in all it’s been good so far. There’s plenty more for it to grow.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

AUTO CLUB 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

March 25, 2011

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 SERTA/MENARDS CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Auto Club Speedway and discussed his season so far, the effects of the shorter race and much more. Full transcript.

TELL US ABOUT BEING FIFTH IN POINTS AND HOW YOU FEEL SO FAR THIS SEASON. “Things are going good. We’ve had a good start to the year. We are four races in. We’ve run strong on four totally different types of race tracks which for a start-up team is a cool thing. Slugger has built a really good race team. Came out of the box strong in Daytona, had a shot to win that. Phoenix didn’t go quite as well as we had hoped. Vegas we had a good run. Bristol we had a good run and here we are in California hoping for another one. Hopefully it dried up and we’ll be on track here soon.”

YOU GUYS ARE OFF TO A GREAT START, THE NO. 29 IS DOING WELL. WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF RCR? “The No. 31 has had terrible luck. Obviously Daytona they had engine problems, got caught up in a wreck at Phoenix. Vegas and Bristol they ran all day had some problems in the pits and some issues they need to work through obviously. Overall our cars are really nice, they have shown pretty good speed. In Phoenix the No. 33 and No. 31 both passed me, they had good cars and they both got tore up. The speed is there, just trying to reduce all the troubles in the pits, the motor issue in Daytona which was kind of a fluke deal. Everybody is just racing so hard you’re going to have wrecks and just trying to avoid them. The way the points are its tough to bounce back, a bad run really hurts you more so than the past. They’ve got the speed, they’ve got the talent on the race teams to come back. I don’t foresee them being down there for very long.

THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF CHATTER LATELY THAT SOME OF THE PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO COME AROUND TO THE IDEA THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE, HAVE YOU EVER FELT ANY TYPE OF RESENTMENT OR ANYTHING ELSE FROM YOUR FELLOW DRIVERS OVER THE FACT THAT YOU USUALLY COME WITH A SPONSOR AS OPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO MAKE IT ON YOUR OWN? “Not from the drivers, no. Drivers have been really good. Obviously we race each other hard every week and they see what I’m capable of and I learn from them and that’s good. I see it probably more from the media than anything, honestly. It’s just one of those deals. I’m not changing the way I do it. I go out and do my job the best I can. I’m not trying to prove anything, just go out and do the best job.”

WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT THEY TOOK 100 MILES OUT OF THIS RACE, WHAT DOES THAT DO TO THE STRATEGY, PREPARATION AND HOW DO YOU HANDLE 400-MILES AS A SPRINT OPPOSED TO A MARATHON? “It won’t affect a whole lot. When we come to California, when we go to Michigan the straightaways are really long, lots of RPMs so the engine builders a lot of times will put a mileage limit on us for practice whether its you can only practice 70 miles over the course of two days, or 80 miles whatever it is. Cutting that mileage down we should be able to practice as much as we want. As far as the race goes, strategy is going to be a little bit different. It’s just going to move that back window up 100 miles to make it to the end. Still might see fuel mileage, we’ll still see green-flag pit stops and everything. We’re still going to race as hard as we normally do every lap.”

NOW THAT YOU ARE WAITING ON THE FUELER MORE TIMES THAN THE TIRE CHANGER, AS A DRIVER WHICH WOULD YOU PREFER . GETTING ALL THE FUEL IN OR WOULD YOU RATHER GO ON THE TIRE CHANGERS AND GET THAT POTENTIAL TRACK POSITION AND KNOW THAT YOU’VE GOT A SMALLER FUEL WINDOW? “We saw that come into play in Vegas. The last pit stop was green-flag and getting a full load of fuel to get to the end and that’s what it really comes down to, is how much fuel do you need to make it to the end. For us we stayed on pit road about two and a half seconds too long, just making sure we had enough fuel. That hurt us in the end. The years before you could always go on the tire changer, the tire changer would be the last guy, the fueler would beat him so you could see it in your mirror where the tire changers were and kind of anticipate it. With the fueling now you can’t really anticipate it. The tire changer backs away and the fueler is still plugged in so you can’t really tell when the jack stand drops so it makes it difficult to anticipate when you’re done. But at the end of the day you need as much fuel as will get you to the end.”

About Chevrolet: Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com ce5&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chevrolet.com%2f>

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

AUTO CLUB 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

March 25, 2011

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Auto Club Speedway and discussed his start to the season, racing luck and other topics. Full transcript:

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEKEND?: “For us right now is to make sure we score good points every week. Last week we had a pretty good car and ended up with a loose tire on the green and that really hurt us. Put us two laps down and killed our day. We finished 25th or 24th somewhere in there and we still scored decent points. It seems like we have a lot of potential this year and it’s pretty exciting. Pit crew is doing an amazing job week in and week out. They are getting so much faster than they were doing before. Just everybody on the team is really excited and pumped up — it’s nice to see.”

HAVE YOU PLAYED THE NEW NASCAR GAME AND WHAT CHARACTERISTICS DID THEY USE FOR YOU IN THE GAME?: “No and they didn’t ask me. If I assume what people say — it’s probably an aggressive driver. Everybody keeps asking me that all the time.”

HOW CLOSE IS YOUR SETUP TO YOUR TEAMMATES SETUP?: “It’s not. Last week actually it was pretty close. Normally we run completely different setups in the front and the back. Just completely different ways of getting around the car. He looks for different things in the car than I do. I think I’m a little more aggressive on the wheel than he is. That’s why we run different setups.”

WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE YOUR GOOD START TO THIS SEASON?: “Luck. Last year we had the pace. You look at my numbers last year and averages with where we were running and we were pretty good. At the mile-and-a-half we struggled last year, this year mile-and-a-half we seem to have the car a lot better. At the short track we are still pretty good. I think everybody is doing a better job as well. It’s like when (Brad) Keselowski wrecked in Daytona, I had blue on the side of the car and didn’t even feel it. We’ve been that close. Last week when they all wrecked, we got hit from behind and everything is spun. It didn’t really do a major thing to the car. We’ve been in the right place at the right time. I think that makes a big difference. I think everybody is really positive about it and everybody seems to be in a really good mood about it.”

HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO NOT BE ABLE TO CONTROL RACING LUCK?: “Not really, you just do what you have to and when things go your way, they go. When they don’t, they don’t. You just have to make sure you give yourself your best chance possible every time you’re in the car. You have to do the best you can every time you’re in the car and if things go your way then it’s a great thing.”

About Chevrolet: Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com ce5&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chevrolet.com%2f> .

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion, is second in points heading into Sunday’s Auto Club 400. Edwards has finished first or second in each race of 2011 and talked about his fast start.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – IT IS HIGHLY PLAUSIBLE THAT YOU COULD HAVE WON EVERY RACE THIS YEAR. IS THIS THE BEST START TO A YEAR IN YOUR CAREER EVER? “I would say this is the best start of a season that I have ever had. The fact that we are as competitive as we are every week is great. I was just talking to Jack and I am really excited to practice today and race this weekend and that is fun. It is fun to come every week and know you have a shot to win.”

WERE THERE TIMES BEFORE THIS FAST START WHERE YOU MAYBE DIDN’T WAN TO GO TO TO PRACTICE, OR WEREN’T EXCITED TO RACE? “Every driver, especially at this level, every team goes through times that are tough. It makes these times more special and makes me understand through the hardships that we have had it makes me really appreciate what we have got right now. We have to go get the most out of it that we can. Win the most races we can and set ourselves up to win this championship.”

YOU DISCUSSED LAST WEEKEND THAT YOU STILL OWED KYLE BUSH ONE PRIOR TO THE RACE, BUT THEN YOU COULD HAVE TAKEN HIM OUT TO WIN THE RACE BUY YOU DIDN’T. WHY DIDN’T YOU TAKE HIM OUT? “I have thought a lot about last week’s race. I think I did the best I could. I don’t think that my car was fast enough to go up there and compete for the win at the end of the race. On the restarts I was pretty good but we were too far from the end of the race to start running into each other. It could have ended up way worse than a second place finish.”

SO THAT WAS A CONSCIOUS THOUGHT IN YOUR MIND AT THE TIME? “Of course. It is Bristol. I think I did the best job I could. After I thought about it a little bit, I realized that race went pretty well. It was okay. It is hard to finish second. Some guys handle it better than others. Standing there right after the race and knowing you finished second it tough. It is one of the hardest positions in this sport.”

BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU OWED HIM ONE FANS PROBABLY EXPECTED YOU TO TAKE THAT OPPORTUNITY ESPECIALLY SINCE IT PROBABLY WOULD HAVE MEANT YOU WOULD HAVE WON. HAVE YOU TAKEN ANY GRIEF FROM FANS OR PEOPLE ABOUT THAT? “No. It boils down to this. I had my shot to pass him and I couldn’t because I wasn’t fast enough. When things got going, his car was just faster. I couldn’t get back to him. If I could have got to him with one or two laps to go then maybe I could have made something happen. I know that is what all the fans wanted to see. Trust me, nobody wanted to see it more than me. I would have loved to be in that position. As it went, I wasn’t even in position to consider that.”

JEFF BURTON SAID THAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO SAY YOU ARE GOING TO OWE SOMEBODY, JUST DO IT, DON’T KEEP SAYING IT. “Yeah, that is fine. People can say whatever they want. I am going to do what I have to do and say whatever I am going to say. That is me.”

AFTER THE PHOENIX RACE KYLE APOLOGIZED BUT YOU SAY YOU STILL OWE HIM. WHY DO YOU STILL FEEL THAT WAY? “The deal is I am just going to go race how I need to race. It is nothing personal. That deal at Phoenix cost me 28 points at least in my opinion. So, the least he can give up is one spot. I don’t know. I told him I owed him one and he asked for me to give it back to him at the All-Star race. You never know. Maybe that is how it will go. This is racing guys. You go to Bristol and are on a guys back bumper and you have a chance and you start thinking of all the little things and all the little reasons behind everything. Really it is fine. Hopefully him and I get to race a bunch this year and hopefully it is good clean racing. It might get exciting, you never know.”

HOW DOES A START LIKE THIS PLAY INTO YOUR FUTURE AND YOUR CONTRACT STUFF WITH JACK? “I don’t know. Right now if we run like this, this will be a great year. The biggest thing I don’t want to do is mess anything up by focusing too much on that. We all work very hard to be in the exact position we are in right now. To be this fast and come to the race track and have a chance to win. I don’t want to mess that up by focusing on the contract right now. We are four races in right now and I don’t want to do anything to mess up this performance.” WOULD YOU LEAVE THE CONTRACT ISSUE ALONE THROUGH THE WHOLE SEASON THEN? “I am leaving it alone for right now. We will just see what happens.”

DO YOU HAVE A TIME TABLE? “No.”

WHEN IT COMES TO PAYBACK OR RIVALRY OR ANYTHING ALONG THOSE LINES, IS IT SOMEWHAT IN YOUR FAVOR AS A COMPETITOR FOR THAT GUY TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ONE STASHED IN YOUR BACK POCKET? “I think so. I can tell by the way he drove his car on those restarts that he knew I was there and he was worried about me. That is good. You want a guy to be in that position. At the end of the day, I thought about it a little bit after I got home. I was kind of a little bit whiny after that race. I should have just got out of the car and said that it was a good race and he did a good job and that is the way it is. I was just so frustrated because I wanted to win so bad. It is racing. It is competition. At the end of the day, he had the best car and won the race.”

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH RIVALRY. “I know. I know. I wouldn’t call it a rivalry right now but it is just hard racing and that is what it is.”

WHEN YOU LOOK AROUND THE GARAGE, HOW FIT IS IT COMPARED TO WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN WHEN YOU FIRST CAME INTO THE SPORT? “Real fit. When I first came in there was nobody in the gym. I would be by myself. Now there are tons of guys that are there at the gym and a lot of guys that are fit. I did a deal for Sports Science yesterday and they asked me that question. They asked how I stack up and I got to thinking about it. Guys like Jimmie, Vickers, Mark Martin a number of the guys I see them working out hard. Kasey Kahne. Those guys, I think they all would do really well in any type of insurance situation.”

WHO WOULD BE A BIG CANDIDATE FOR THE BIGGEST LOSER NASCAR EDITION? “Well, I mean Stewart admits all he has to do is eat a little better and work out and he could instantly lose like 30 pounds. The guy is every dieters dream to be a guy like that because at any point he can transform himself. He would probably win that deal.”

THERE ARE A LOT OF GUYS LIKE BURTON AND BIFFLE THAT HAVE LOST A LOT OF POINTS FROM WHERE THEY WERE LAST YEAR. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEIR MENTALITY IS AS FAR AS GETTING BACK IN THIS THING? “I think those guys are going to be good. It think Burton will be right back there and I know Biffle will be. They are fast. All you have to be is fast in this sport. If you are fast it will work out. They have had back luck. They won’t run in that position in points for very long.”

WHAT IS WORKING FOR YOU GOING BACK TO PHOENIX LAST YEAR? WHAT IS DIFFERENT? “It is a number of things really. The team is working really well. It is the engine. Robbie Reiser is doing a good job. Everyone is working well together. It is not one thing. We are just fast and it is for all the right reasons.”

WE SEE GUYS IN THE POINTS LIKE PAUL MENARD THAT WE DON’T EXPECT TO SEE UP THERE AND THERE ARE GUYS THAT ARE STRUGGLING. IS IT MORE BAD LUCK OR THE SURPRISE GUYS. ARE THEY REALLY THAT GOOD? “I think there are a lot of guys that are really good right now. Everybody in the Ford camp has known how good Paul Menard is for a long time. He is a good example of showing people that in the right situation he can go and do really well. I don’t think you can count any of these guys out. None of them are up there because of just good luck. I think some of the guys in the back are because of bad luck. All of these guys are good. There are no favorites anymore. You can be surprised every week.”

HOW TOUGH WILL IT BE FOR GUYS TO COME BACK GIVEN THE NEW POINTS? “It will be tough but as the year goes on there will be guys that have bad luck. We will have races we don’t finish and there will be guys that have trouble. If those guys can run the way they should then they will take advantage.”

WAS THERE A POINT LAST SEASON WHERE YOU SAW A START LIKE THIS YEAR AS A POSSIBILITY? “Yeah, when we went to Phoenix and won that race I thought it was good. I thought that I didn’t know how we would keep it going. Then it happened again at Homestead and I thought it was looking really good. I knew if we could make it through the winter and not lose any ground then we would be real good.”

[media-credit name=”Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.” align=”alignright” width=”287″][/media-credit]JEFF GORDON makes an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Friday, March 25th. He reveals the reason why his daughter wants to be a racecar driver.

Ellen: I heard that Ella told you she wants to be a racecar driver?

Jeff: I get asked this all the time. Do you want your daughter to be a racecar driver? I just want to approach it the same way that my parents approached it with me and my sister. Whatever opportunities or passions you see as a parent your kids interested in, pursue that and see where that takes them. That’s what happened with me. We found racing at a young age. My parents introduced me to it and it just took off. I hadn’t thought about it a whole lot, certainly with my daughter, and we were driving down the road the other day and out of nowhere, she said, “Papa, I want to be a racecar driver.” And I said, “You do? Why do you want to be a racecar driver?” [She said] “Because I love you.” It just crushed me and at the same time, I thought, “Oh, now I’m going to have to get a racecar.” Laughs

Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion, spent his Thursday night in Los Angeles, attending one of the iconic shows of his generation, American Idol. Bayne sat front row for one of the most talked about results shows in the programs history, witnessing the judges save contestant Casey Abrams. Bayne talked about the experience at Auto Club Speedway Friday afternoon.

WHERE DOES GOING TO AMERICAN IDOL RANK ON THE LIST OF COOL THINGS YOU HAVE DONE THE LAST FEW MONTHS? “Man, that was awesome. I have gotten to do some really cool things recently but last night ranks right up there. I was so excited when I found out that I was getting to go and check it out. We got to sit in the front row right behind the judges and witness it. I got to see Stevie Wonder perform and Hulk Hogan was there and then the judges used their save deal to save Casey and the whole thing was so dramatic, it was crazy.”

WHAT IS IT ABOUT YOU AND THE CRAZINESS? SEEMS THAT EVERYWHERE YOU GO THESE DAYS COOL THINGS HAPPEN. “I know, it is crazy. I mean last night was insane and I was supposed to go to the Lakers game the other night too and that turned out to be a triple-overtime game. You are right, it does seems like everything is crazy, but in a good way. I am just so blessed to be able to be in these situations and be able to experience all of this stuff.”

ARE YOU, LIKE MOST OF YOUR GENERATION, A FAN OF AMERICAN IDOL? DO YOU FOLLOW THE SHOW? “I was really into it the first couple of years but I haven’t had much time to watch it, or TV at all for that matter lately. It is one of those shows that everybody talks about, and I was definitely a fan of it growing up. I love music, so that is part of why I am drawn to that show. Maybe if I wasn’t doing this whole racing deal I would have a music label or something, I don’t know.”

THE QUESTION THAT EVERYONE SEEMS TO GET ASKED ABOUT THAT SHOW IS, WHO IS GOING TO WIN IT? WHO IS YOUR PICK? “Man, I don’t know. They are all so talented. I really think that it is the most talent they have had on that show in a long time, maybe ever. Top to bottom, all of the finalists are so good. I mean if you look at last night. Casey was like a fan favorite. Everyone was going nuts for him but somehow he got voted off before the judges decided to save him. I think it is impossible to pick a winner. I got to meet each of them after the show and they were all really cool people. I am rooting for all of them.”

DID YOU GET TO MEET THE JUDGES? “Yeah, I got to meet Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony, which was really awesome. I got to meet Randy Jackson too. The cool part to me is not that I got to meet them, but that they actually wanted to meet me. That blows my mind. I mean that is Jennifer Lopez and she wanted to meet me? It is just crazy.”

Charlotte, NC (March 25, 2011) – As Robby Gordon and his No. 7 SPEED Energy team head to the Auto Club Speedway for this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race, they are hoping to overcome the struggles of recent weeks. After running out of fuel with only handful of laps to go at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and popping a tire on lap 128 of the Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol last weekend, Robby Gordon is ready for a change in performance. “We’ve had two bad weeks in a row, the SPEED Energy team needs to have a good finish and put some points on the board,” says Gordon.

Gordon, who grew up in Orange, CA, a short distance from the speedway in Fontana, will be driving a fluorescent yellow Dodge Charger R/T, representing the Octane flavor of his new energy drink, SPEED Energy. Local grocery store chain, Food4Less, has just joined forces with SPEED Energy and will be riding along on the quarter panels of the No. 7 Dodge.

“It’s going to be a fun weekend in Fontana. Growing up only 30 miles from the Auto Club Speedway, I’ve got a lot of friends and family coming out and obviously a lot of supporters. We’re excited to have our new partner, Food4Less, on board with us this weekend and looking forward to growing our association with them,” Gordon comments.

2011 marks the twelfth year Robby Gordon has been racing in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at Auto Club Speedway. In his 17 starts at the 2.0-mile oval, Gordon has led 11 laps and recorded a top finish of 9th in the fall 2004 event. Gordon’s best qualifying effort of 12th was recorded in 2009.

Appearances – Robby will be signing autographs at the Robby Gordon Motorsports / SPEED Energy merchandise trailer on Sunday, March 27th from 8:45am to 9:45am. Fans can also catch a Q & A session with Gordon at the Sprint Experience at 10:20am.

Race Coverage – NASCAR fans can watch the Auto Club 400 live on FOX on Sunday afternoon, March 27th, beginning at 12:00 p.m. PDT. On Friday, March 25th, SPEED Channel will broadcast qualifying from Auto Club Speedway beginning at 7:10 p.m. PDT. For news and updates, please visit SPEEDENERGY.COM, PLANETROBBY.COM or follow SPEED Energy on Facebook and Twitter.

About SPEED Energy – SPEED Energy is available in three flavors: Unleaded, Fuel, and Octane, which provide the human machine with the fuel it needs to keep up with the SPEED of life. Each drink contains a potent blend of B-vitamins, caffeine, taurine and ginseng. SPEED, packaged in 12 ounce sleek cans with a stylish black top and sexy body, is available in singles, 4 packs, and cases. SPEED Energy is available at major retailers, convenience stores, grocery stores, bars and nightclubs. For a retailer near you, please visit www.speedenergy.com.

Career Notes

Gordon owns three NASCAR Sprint Cup victories:

. Loudon on Nov. 23, 2001

. Infineon on June 22, 2003

. Watkins Glen on Aug. 10 2003

Gordon owns one NASCAR Nationwide Series victory:

. Richmond on Sept. 10 2004