Category: NASCAR Cup Series

THE NUMBERS for the DAYTONA 500 presented by Dodge

2 – number of times Richard Petty drove a Dodge to victory in the Daytona 500 among his seven wins (1973 and 1974)

3 – number of Daytona 500s run without a caution (1959, 1961, and 1962)

3 – number of consecutive Daytona 500s extended beyond the scheduled distance (2005 2007); the 2010 race was also extended with three attempts for a green-white-checkered finish for a total of 208 laps

4 – number of Daytona 500s shortened due to rain (1965, 1966, 2003 and 2009)

7 – fewest lead changes for a Daytona 500 (1964 and 1965)

11 – number of jet dryers available for the Daytona 500 and Speedweeks 2011

11 – most cautions for a Daytona 500 (three times – 1968, 2005 and 2006)

21 – most different leaders for a Daytona 500 (2010)

32 – most consecutive Daytona 500 starts (Dave Marcis, 1968-1999)

52 – number of lead changes among 21 drivers at last year’s Daytona 500

60 – most lead changes in the previous 52 Daytona 500s (1974).

68 – most starters for the Daytona 500 (1960)

120 – minutes, the minimum amount of time it takes to dry the 2.5-mile track after a significant rainfall

184 – most laps led by race winner of the “The Great American Race” (Richard Petty, 1964, 200-lap event)

265 – total number of cautions in the 36 Sprint Cup races in 2010; 305 in 2009 BONUS

39 – consecutive Sprint Cup races led by Bobby Allison (9/6/71 – 10/22/72)

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford brings a two-race win streak dating back to last season into Sunday’s Daytona 500 where he looks for victory for the first time. Edwards will start 22nd in the 500 and answered questions from the media on Friday.

CARL EDWARDS – No.  99 Aflac Ford Fusion –  CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT BEING IN DAYTONA SO FAR, THE RULES CHANGES, THE CARS AND WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED GOING INTO SUNDAY?  “I think we have all kind of seen what is going on with the two-car drafts and we got to run yesterday, Greg and I had a lot of time in the Gatorade race to try to learn about that and I feel like we did. I don’t think anyone really knows how the race is going to be on Sunday. Have you guys heard if they are talking about any rules changes yet? Nobody has said anything? I don’t think we are going to have much more time on the track to look at what things are going to be like. We have seen what it is going to look like, generally. I feel like if that is how we are going to race, then we are prepared.” 

WITH THE APPARENT EMPHASIS OF THE NEW ENGINE ON COOLING PROPERTIES, DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT BEING ABLE TO DRAFT LONGER BASED ON WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN OUT THERE?  “I feel like Matt (Kenseth) showed us in the first qualifier, by pushing the 29 car, showed us what could be done by sticking the nose out there a little bit. I did not push anyone for a long period of time, so I didn’t get to see the temperatures and how it worked. I believe that one of the positive things about this FR9 that I didn’t really think much about until we got down here, is that it cools better or at least seems to. That could be really beneficial for us on Sunday. I still don’t think we have taxed these engines long enough to know where the breaking point is. We will find that out Sunday. Guys will be running right at the upper limit of temperature and RPM’s and I think engine failures will become a big part of the race. That FR9 engine seems to be one that can stay cooler, which is great.” 

IT HAS BEEN A BUSY OFF SEASON, HOW GOOD WILL IT FEEL TO GET OUT ON THE TRACK SUNDAY AND HAVE THE SEASON OFFICIALLY BEGIN?  “This season kind of snuck up on me. We had a really busy off season with a lot going on at the shop and traveling with my family. It feels like it has come really fast. I am excited though for it to get started. I am really excited about hopefully getting out of Daytona with a good finish and then Phoenix; we could not be going to a better track for us right off the bat. Vegas should also be great. I don’t know about you guys, but there is something about this season that feels different to me. It feels like all the teams and drivers and NASCAR and even the media are all positive. There is a lot of positive energy and coming off last season I am really excited about this one.” 

YOU MENTIONED PHOENIX, BUT THEY ARE GOING TO CHANGE THAT TRACK AFTER THE UPCOMING RACE, WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT?  “I will be out there laying in front of the excavating equipment trying to get them to leave it.  I really like that surface a lot. Everything they have done out there through the years has been better. The way they changed the outside wall off of turn two was good change at the time. I really liked that wall, I thought it was neat. I feel like the pavement will be positive. No matter how hard you try, I don’t think you can mess that race track up. It is the right size, the sun beats down and it gets slippery. It will be neat with the new pavement as well.” 

EARLIER THIS WEEK RYAN NEWMAN WAS TALKING ABOUT LIFT OFF ON SPEEDS. YOU ARE A PILOT, WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM SAFE SPEED FOR THESE CARS?  “That is a good question. I got that feeling driving with someone pushing me that if we had a little trouble, like let’s say I drive through turn one and blow a left rear tire and the guy behind me doesn’t realize it quick enough, I think there is a dynamic with two cars with one being sideways is bad. We saw that with Brad and I, unfortunately, with the car pushing the car that is sideways it does something to the aerodynamics and makes it more likely the front car will go airborne. With these two car drafts it concerns me a little bit that it could be more likely to happen. I think NASCAR has answered that by trying to keep the overall top speeds down to try to answer that. You just don’t know though, it is all about how the cars are positioned.” 

ARE YOU SPENDING MORE TIME PAYING ATTENTION TO THE GAUGES IN YOUR CAR AND HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE A DRAFTING PARTNER?  “It is all there is. Yesterday the most important thing was the guy that was pushing you or that you were pushing. In my case, Greg was pushing me. That was the most important thing and there is nothing more important. If you come apart or are not working well with that guy and really helping one another to do the best you can together, then you are going to have no chance at winning. This race, I believe, is truly going to be the biggest exercise in team work that we have ever had to be a part of. You can’t just jump ship and go, not like a pack of cars is, you have got to pick a guy and work with that guy. You are going to have to work with him for the last 10 or 15 laps to be in a position to win.  As far as the gauges, I have never messed around with my radios and stared at my gauges and looked in my mirror ever at a race track. You have to pay attention. This will be a much more draining race. Much more difficult to keep the attention level where it needs to be to avoid disaster.” 

KEVIN HARVICK SAID THAT HE WOULD PREFER TO BE IN SECOND PLACE COMING TO THE FINISH LINE, YET ALL THREE OF THE RACES HAVE BEEN WON BY THE GUY BEING PUSHED, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BEING BEHIND OR IN FRONT?  “I think you want to be leading if there are a bunch of cars racing toward the finish line. For instance, if I am pushing Greg on Sunday and we are battling another two car group or two different groups, six cars total and we are two of them, I am going to just keep pushing. I want my teammate to win the 500 more than I want for both of us to lose to somebody. If you are out there by yourself and have that lead, then I think what Kurt (Busch) did by holding off Regan, that is not going to be the norm. It is going to be very difficult for the guy in front to hold off a guy in second if it is just the two of them. It all depends on the situation at the end of the race, if it is a whole mess of cars or just two.” 

GUYS ARE TALKING ABOUT NEEDING PARTNERS AND FRIENDS OUT THERE, HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT THAT EXACTLY? “You definitely want friends for sure. It also can change in a heartbeat. Yesterday, Greg and I got separated and I got lined up with David and all of a sudden David is the guy that I had to work with. That is likely to happen on Sunday too. You could work with someone for three hours and get stuck with someone else the last 15 minutes. You better get to like that guy really quick.” 

IF YOU ARE PUSHING A CHEVY DOWN THE LAST FEW LAPS LIKE BAYNE WAS WITH GORDAN YESTERDAY, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DEAL WITH THAT?  “Good question. I can just picture Jack Roush if I finish second and push some other manufacturer across the finish line. He probably isn’t going to want to say much to me. I guess you have to make those decisions at the last minute. There is going to be a lot of thinking and break power being used the last mile of this race and guys determining how much they really like that guy in front of them or that manufacturer or car owner. There is a lot to it. It really at the end of the day, for two guys to do well, they have to go with one another almost to the very end.” 

HOW DOES A DECISION GET MADE IF YOU ARE PUSHING SOMEONE OF WHEN TO SWITCH AND TAKE YOUR TURN IN THE LEAD, AND DO YOU LIKE THIS STYLE OF RACING?  “Coming to grips with the fact that you might not be the guy to win the race is tough. Jamie pushed Kurt first in the Bud Shootout I think, so that is a case from the outside looking in, that is pretty interesting. He just said that he was going to stick with it and push him and he wrote that race off. Now Kurt owes him a little bit and maybe that pays off on Sunday. You have to think bigger than this one race. You have to know we are coming back here in July, going to Talladega, come back here and have the same type of racing next year, and all of that makes that decision easier. It makes it easier to push a guy and know that maybe next time it will be reciprocated. Now I know it is the Daytona 500, but if you always abandon ship, trust me I have tried, I used to be the first guy to jump out of line and go for me, but pretty soon guys won’t work with you because they know you will jump ship and that doesn’t pay off in the long run. You are investing in future partners. Right now I am sitting here at this nice desk and once I have a helmet on sitting behind the wheel looking at the checkered flag at the Daytona 500 I think we all might think differently. Do I like this style of racing? I like racing where the driver and crew chief and the way you drive the race car are the things that dictate whether you win or not. This style of racing is not my favorite. I do think that the way the car is driving now where two guys can separate themselves I feel like there is a lot more control. I would much rather have that than just running around in a big pack of cars. I think this is a really big step forward, in my opinion, for restrictor plate racing.” 

THE GOODYEAR GUYS SAID THERE WAS HARDLY ANY WEAR ON THE TIRES AFTER 60 LAPS. HOW DOES THAT WEIGH INTO YOUR STRATEGY?  “I guess if wear is not a problem then we just have to worry about temperature. I haven’t heard anything about blistering or anything, so I think you will see guys go as long as they can and somebody will test the limits of the tire. I hope we aren’t the ones to find the limit. Goodyear has done a great job and obviously has a great tire and the surface is nice and it is all working out well. I don’t think that will be a big factor in the race.” 

YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW MENTALLY GRUELING THIS RACE WILL BE. MENTALLY, WHAT DO YOU GUYS HAVE TO DEAL WITH AND WHAT IS THE THOUGHT PROCESS THAT IS SO GRUELING?  “You have to think about so many things. Communication with the guy pushing you or the guy you are pushing. For instance, Greg was pushing me and the guys wrecked in front of us, so I am yelling in my radio to slow down hoping Greg hears it. There is that and the anxiety that goes with that. We have to monitor the temperature of the car and run in a position so the guy behind you can get his nose out. You try the best you can to keep guys from breaking you apart and all that stuff. You are thinking essentially about two cars instead of your own which is a different style of racing which is much tougher.

Daytona Beach, FL (February 18, 2011) – The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season marks Robby Gordon’s seventh year as owner/driver of the No. 7 Robby Gordon Motorsports team.  RGM, one of the few single car teams in NASCAR’s elite series, announced last week that they are partnering with Dodge Motorsports.   Robby Gordon will start the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 piloting the orange and black No. 7 SPEED Energy race car, representing one of his new energy drinks, “Fuel”.   Gordon started 19th in the second Daytona Duels on Thursday and finished 17th. He will start Sunday’s 200–lap event from 30th position. 

  “With the new surfaces, the two-car pack, and the new rule change limiting the inlet air to the radiator, we used Thursday’s Duels as a learning experience to see how these events were raced and ultimately won. Thursday’s results gave us an opportunity to strategize and create a solid plan for Sunday’s race. I am really looking forward to the season-opener,” commented Robby Gordon.

  Past Daytona performances – Robby Gordon made his Daytona debut in the 1991 Daytona 500.  Since that time, Gordon has competed in 22 events at the 2.5 mile superspeedway.  In the 2003 Daytona 500, Gordon recorded his best qualifying position in 3rd place and went on to finish the race in 6th place.  Gordon later tied his best finish of 6th in the 2008 July event at Daytona.

  Around Town–Gordon made several appearances promoting his sponsor, SPEED Energy, this week.  On Thursday, February 17th, he was at the 7-Eleven located at 2150 International Speedway Blvd. from 10:00-11:00 a.m.  On Thursday night, the Ocean Deck Bar on 127 South Ocean Avenue in Daytona hosted a Robby Gordon autograph signing and SPEED Energy promotion at 10:00pm.  On Sunday, February 20th, SPEED Energy will have a sampling promotion at the 7-Eleven on 2655 West International Speedway Blvd.  Gordon will not be at this location, but don’t miss your chance to check out his street legal show car and sample SPEED Energy. Gordon will be appearing at the Dodge display at 9:45 am on Sunday. Stay tuned to www.speedenergy.com and SPEED Energy’s Facebook page for updates on this week’s activities.

  Race Coverage – The 2011 season will officially commence with the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 20th.  Live coverage of the race can be seen on FOX beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST.  MRN and Sirius/XM Radio will begin their live reporting at 12:00 p.m. EST.   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 energy blend of B-vitamins, caffeine, taurine and ginseng. SPEED is packaged in 12 ounce sleek cans with a stylish black top and sexy body and is available in singles, 4 packs, and cases.  SPEED Energy is be available at major retailers, convenience stores, grocery stores, bars and nightclubs. For a retailer near you, please visit www.speedenergy.com.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES 2011 DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT February 18, 2011            

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET met with media and discussed pushing & pulling, choosing partners, the Duel Qualifying races, and other thoughts about the paired racing, and more. Full Transcript:  

ON THE WEEK SO FOR AND LOOKING AHEAD TO SUNDAY’S DAYTONA 500 “Yeah, it’s been a busy couple weeks for me. We’ve been down here (Daytona Beach) since two Sunday’s ago. I’ve been having a lot of fun. SpeedWeeks is always important to me. I love it down here. As a fan of motorsports, you get your fix. There’s Volusia, the dirt races, there’s New Smyrna, really good asphalt racing going on over there. It’s just exciting. The (Budweiser) Shootout, the Duels, Nationwide, the Truck race, the Cup race, there’s just so much going on down here it keeps you busy.

“But I’ve learned a lot. I think we’ve all learned a lot. I think NASCAR has learned a lot about the new surface. Who would have thought in a million years spending $20 million on improvements would create some headaches for you where you have to make some pretty major adjustments like they’ve been having to do all week long. Hats off to everybody and their efforts to make Daytona one of the best race tracks in the country. So, like I said, the Duels were good. We learned a lot from them. I think the 500 is going to be good for us. Our cars are all fast. We work well together as a team; and doing a good job of managing everything. I think the results have spoken for themselves.”  

HOW VALUABLE WILL IT BE FOR YOU TO RACE IN THE NATIONWIDE RACE JUST TO GET MORE TIME? IS THIS A ONE-TIME DEAL? “Oh, I think we have eight (8) on the schedule. I’m really proud of the Rheem (Tankless Hot Water Heaters) folks. Kevin (Harvick) brought me an awesome car. It’s fast. We’re going to have a shot at that one. That’s what’s so much fun about coming down here. This track means so much to you and when you’re in equipment that you know going into the race, before the race, that you’re going to have a shot at winning if you do the right things, that’s a good feeling. So, absolutely. The extra time on the race track, working with your spotter, working the draft, trying to figure out things. The thing is, as a race car driver, all of us know where we need to be and where we want to be, but you have to figure out how to get yourself there. And we have to get yourself in that situation so you can have a shot at winning. That’s a lot harder than it looks.”  

YOUR TEAMMATE SAID YOU SHOULD HAVE WON THAT RACE (DUEL QUALIFYING RACE ON THURSDAY), AND YOU WAITED TO LATE TO MAKE YOUR MOVE. “Who’s that?”   KEVIN (HARVICK). “Oh, he must have waited way too long (laughter). Where did he finish?”   HE WAS IN THE OTHER RACE. DO YOU AGREE OR NOT? “I know that. I think he finished third or fifth or something. But obviously, I did wait about six inches too long. But there was so much there. You had to, in that situation; I needed to take care of RCR. Those guys were pretty close to us. I was worried, coming off of (Turn) 4 if I moved out that it was going to break our momentum and those guys were going to suck up on us and neither one of us would have won. Richard (Childress) would have been not too happy. That was going through the back of my mind. Obviously if it was the 500, in a different situation, I would have gone for it a little bit more. But like I said, I was really happy for Jeff (Burton). After the ending to his season last year, he needed a win. I was happy. Obviously you always want to win. You want to win for your team. But that situation wasn’t all that bad.”  

YOU GUYS WERE LIKE MR. CONGENIALITY ON THE RADIO. FOR AS FURIOUS AS IT WAS, IT SEEMED VERY CALM. DID YOU HAVE A TEAM MEETING PRIOR TO IT TO LAY OUT A GAME PLAN? “You do a little bit. I think calmness in that situation is key. You’ve got to stay calm. You’ve got to have a spotter that stays calm and lets you know your surroundings at all times. And the calmer it is, the more you can slow it down, I think the better off and the better shot at making the right decision, you have. Funny, before the race Jeff Gordon kept asking me, ‘What are you going to do? Are you going to go with me? I know you’re going to go with your teammate. I know you are!’ And I’m like actually, let’s just get going. I’m going to push you and of course, when I get a chance, I’m going to get with my teammate and I’m going to beat you (laughs). But for the time being, let’s get going. He kind of made our decision right off the bat. I planned on pushing him for a while. But he moved over in front of the No. 21 (Trevor Bayne) and that gave (Jeff) Burton a chance to get over behind me.

“So that was funny, the kind of wheeling & dealing that was going on before the race. And then, he screwed it all up (laughs). As soon as he moved up, Burton slid down and it was perfect. I was laughing all the way down into “Turn) 1 because I don’t think anybody really knew what the plan was.”  

HOW DO YOU THINK SUNDAY’S RACE IS GOING TO TURN OUT? “Time will tell. After watching the first Duel, I fell asleep on the couch. I’m not going to lie. I was watching it and I literally fell asleep (laugh); and I woke up and I thought man, I’d better wake up ‘cause I’ve got to go race. The second one was obviously a lot more intense and more interesting for me in the car. You were able to get out, but it would cycle back around. They’d run you back down and suck-up on you and you constantly had to manage that cycle and try to put yourself in the right situation and be back up front when the time came. The caution came out and kind of enabled Jeff and I to get gone. There’s a lot to it right now.

“You can push, a two-car push, but you can only push for a certain amount of time and you’ve got to get out and breathe and manage your temperatures. And then that slows you down and enables them to suck back up on you and then the cycle starts back up again. So, it’s difficult to keep that going. And the switch. They come up on you so much faster that it forces them to make a pretty evasive maneuver at times and that gets pretty hairy.

“But I thought it was a lot more interesting race, the second one, than the first one. Not pulling any punches or anything, but I think the second race probably had more of the cars that I think I’ve got to beat for the 500, in it than the first one did. That is why you saw more racing going up front and that’s what I thought the difference was.”  

IT SEEMED LIKE WHEN CARS GOT PAIRED UP IN THE DUEL RACES YESTERDAY, THEY STAYED TOGETHER FOR THE ENTIRE RACE; EVEN TO THE POINT OF WAITING FOR EACH OTHER ON RESTARTS AND ON PIT ROAD WITH VERY FEW CHANGES BETWEEN PARTNERS. DO YOU THINK WE’LL SEE THAT IN THE 500? “I think you saw a lot of teammates and a lot of agendas there. There’s a lot of teammate communications meetings and so forth going on before the race and making a plan to help each other get to the front and achieve your goal. But I think that was the case. The first one (race) the teammates weren’t quite there. Paul (Menard) couldn’t get to Kevin (Harvick) and it forced him to find a new dancing partner and him and Matt (Kenseth) did a good job of getting out front and managing their situation to where they were up front all day. But the key is being able to push.

“I was watching the race and Darrell (Waltrip) and them were talking about everybody and Matt (Kenseth) pushed Kevin (Harvick) around the track the whole race and he never said anything (laughs). And I’m like, hello? The No. 17 (Kenseth) hasn’t swapped yet. You need to start talking about that. They finally started talking about it. It’s going to be interesting to see who can push the longest and I think whoever can do that is going to prevail.”  

DO YOU THINK THE FORDS ARE THAT FARTHER AHEAD IN TERMS OF A COOLING SYSTEM THAT THEY SEEM TO BE ABLE TO STAY BEHIND ANOTHER CAR FOR A MUCH LONGER PERIOD OF TIME? “A Ford? Surely not.”   YOU TALKED ABOUT THE WHEELING & DEALING GOING ON, ON THE GRID; AND TEAM MEETINGS. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT FINDING OR IDENTIFYING DRIVERS YOU CAN WORK WITH? “Well, it all goes according to plan until like I said, Jeff (Gordon) pulled out right off the bat and then your plan and all the talking you’ve done goes out the window. But it’s the same for everybody. You’re going to have to find somebody that you can work well with. And I’ll tell you another thing, going back to what you’re thinking and what your thought process is and what you’re going through as we’re learning about this, you’re going to find cars that you just flat can’t run the speed with. And that’s a big thing. You’re going to have to realize, hey; if he’s not pushing me fast enough, let’s swap and see if I can pick up. And if you don’t, you need to get with somebody else pretty quick or you’re going to have a long day.”  

GIVEN WHAT YOU’VE SEEN AND EXPERIENCED YESTERDAY, IS SECOND STILL THE PLACE TO BE COMING FOR THE CHECKERED FLAG? OR IS IT NOW SWITCHING TO BEING OUT FRONT? “Well, both races were won (being) pushed to the win. But like I said, if it was the 500 I would have made a little more attempt at winning than I did there. But you don’t know. I don’t think you’re going to have two cars break away for the win like that. I’m a fan of this thing too. I want it to be the best race ever and I want it to be four, six, eight cars in a pile going for the win at the end like it’s always been here. I really don’t think, unless it’s a green-white-checkered, that you’re going to have that. And even if it is a green-white-checkered, you may not see just two cars going for it in the end. I hope not.”  

WHY WERE THE TWO RACES SO DIFFERENT? AND IF YOU FEEL ASLEEP DURING THE FIRST ONE, WHAT DOES THAT SAY FOR THE FAN WHO DOESN’T WANT TO FALL ASLEEP DURING THE DAYTONA 500? “It’s like I said, I think the second one had a lot more cars that are going to be contenders for this 500. No offense to anybody, but I felt like there were a lot more cars that are frontrunners week in and week out in the second one. I think that’s why you had a lot bigger battle. You had four to six two-car packs that were battling and that swapped in a cycle for a lead. So I don’t think you’re going to see that first race play out with 43 cars out there; I know you’re not. I think it’s going to be even more so than what you saw in the second race.”  

WHEN THE CARS WERE DOING THE PUSHING IN THE CORNERS, THEY WERE JUST SLIGHTLY TO THE RIGHT OF THE CAR DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THEM. WAS THAT ALL ABOUT TRYING TO SCOOP-UP SOME FRESH AIR, OR TO TRY TO AVOID SPINNING THE GUY THEY WERE PUSHING “Well, you don’t want to find yourself on the left side of their bumper. You’re going to turn them around. It seems where it happens is in the corner. When you’re sucking up on somebody, you go to move out and change your angle and then you’re pulling on the wheel to keep the arc of the corner back in. That’s when you find somebody on your left-rear taillight and it can spin you out. For whatever reason you want to be perfectly behind him and then if not, over to the right side, it seems effortless as it pushes them around. But if you get over to the left side, they’ve got their hands full and if they don’t save it, it’s probably going to wreck you too. So, as a pusher you’ve got to be sure you don’t do that to them because it’s probably going to wipe you out too. But as a pushee, you’ve got to make sure they don’t make some evasive move in the middle of the corner where it changes their arc and puts you in that situation.”  

HOW MUCH OF THIS IS A PHENOMENON AND HOW MUCH OF IT IS A TREND? “Well, we’re stuck in this sandbox for now. This is the sandbox we’ve got to play in and we’ve got to make the most out of it. As far as the future goes, my personal opinion is that I don’t see them having this situation play out. You know, we’ve got four of these (restrictor-plate races). Now that both big tracks (Daytona & Talladega) are repaved, we’ve got four races just like this. So I think they’ll make a change, I don’t know what it will be, but I think they’ll make a change and attempt to make this go back to three and four wide, massive wrecks (laughs) and go back to normal on superspeedways. That’s the way it’s always been. Hopefully, surely, they can get it back that way.”  

YOU SAID EARLIER THAT ONE CAR BEHIND THE OTHER MIGHT WORK AND THEN WHEN THE SWITCH HAPPENS, IT WON’T. IS IT THE AERODYNAMICS OR THE DRIVERS OR THE MAKE OF THE CAR? “Well, I can tell you, bragging on my ECR boys, but when we’re pushing we go pretty fast. I’m just really proud of your efforts. It’s a lot of fun to be able to come down here and know you’ve got the horsepower under the hood to get the job done. Certainly there are water heaters that produce a little more heat than others.” 

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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES 2011 DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT February 18, 2011  

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed the two-car draft and expectations for Daytona 500, overheating issues, changes to Phoenix and other topics.  Full transcript:  

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE AT THE END OF THE RACE TO HAVE A SHOT AT THE WIN? “With the restrictor plate, you have got to give yourself a chance. First of all you have to put yourself in that position, I thought we did yesterday. We got screwed with that green-white-checkered. It goes both ways. As good as it could be being in the lead, being in second can be very useful. It all depends on how you make the move. Is anybody else coming? Do you have your teammate in front of you and a group along side of you? You have to push your teammate to the line. It is a hard judgement call.”  

ARE YOU PRACTICING TODAY? “No, we aren’t doing anything today. We will run tomorrow a little bit. These races are really hard on the engines so the less you do is better.”  

IS IT A RISK VERSUS REWARDS THING? “I thought we were pretty what we did in practice yesterday. I believe the rules are staying the same. We are comfortable.”  

CAN YOU COMPARE MICHAEL SCHUMACHER TO JIMMIE JOHNSON IN THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS? “They are different. Different series, different things. I think they are both great. I don’t really care in particular for either, you know what I mean? I am here to do my job, not cheer for somebody else.”  

DO YOU THINK JIMMIE’S WAS MORE DIFFICULT? “I think both are as hard, you know. I wouldn’t put one on top of the other.”  

DID YOU LEARN WHO YOU WILL OR WILL NOT DRAFT WITH YESTERDAY? “Normally when you have a good car and we do, everybody is happy to draft with you. It is harder when you car is not as competitive as it needs to be. Right now we have really good cars. They are really good pushers and they run strong and people are normally pretty happy.”  

DID YOU WATCH THE SECOND DUEL AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN? Yes I did. Just seeing what works and what doesn’t.  Moves and things. I recorded both Duels, I will probably watch both of them tonight just to make sure I am well prepared for the race.”  

HOW IS IT THAT YOU COME UP WITH PEOPLE TO WORK WITH? You push. Honestly, that is the way you do it. We restarted with the 27 in front and we were fourth. He never backed up to my bumper and by the time he decided to come to my bumper, we were at the back of the back. We regrouped. I looked for a guy and was patient to be comfortable with the guy I was going to push. We got Kasey Kahne in front of me and I was happy to push him. We pushed and pulled away for the big pack and got to the leaders and ran all day with him. We did really good swaps and at the end, we could run our car a little bit hot and it was really good.”  

DID YOU HAVE AN AGREEMENT AHEAD OF TIME WITH ANYONE? “I’ll tell you, I talked to a lot of the guys. I was really looking forward to working with Kurt Busch to tell you the truth. He pulled in front of me and I was being pushed by the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) so I was kind of screwed. I actually went on the radio and apologized to the No. 22 because I was being pushed by somebody else right now. I felt like we worked with Kasey really well all day. On that last restart, I thought the smartest thing to do was to just keep doing the same thing. I thought it was ok. I think we were screwed by being the front pair but that is the way racing goes.”  

COMING DOWN TO THE FINISH LINE, WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE? “Both races the guy in the front won. It is hard to know, and I think the 500 is going to be different because you are going to have double the packs. You had what, four or five packs per race, now you are going to have 10 packs of twos. Ten packs of twos, three wide, there is nowhere to go. It is going to be hard. You are going to have to be patient. The pit stops are going to be a key factor. Working well in the pits making sure you come together, make sure you come out pushing. I think that goes along way.”  

DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE A LOT OF BLOWN MOTORS BECAUSE IT WILL BE SO CROWDED GUYS CAN’T SWITCH? “Occasionally we switched running two wide. One dropped to the middle. It worked ok. It’s not ideal but you have to do it. It is going to be harder with 43 cars. You either unplug yourself and wait and see where you can swap, by the time you are done with that, you are going to lose four seconds. It is all about timing. You have to remember it is 500 miles. It isn’t 120 miles, it is 500. I think you have to be calm. You have to take you time. You don’t want to get the car too hot too early. We’ll see.”  

DID NASCAR REACT TO THIS QUICK ENOUGH? “How do you react? If you look at Talladega last year, the race was decided the same way. The first one was the same thing. It is what it is. It is the way the bumpers line up. It is what we got. I think they are good changes to make it harder to stay together. I think in the Shootout the people had the equipment, we didn’t, but the people that had the right equipment could stay locked on all the time and not even come out of their bumper. That was crazy. Right now it seems that the Fords are the best car for a pusher because they don’t have a heating problem. At least it seems that way. They changed everything they could change. They closed the grill opening. I think in more traffic, you are going to get less air the guy in front is not going to cool down as well. I think it is going to be a little be different in the 500.”  

WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESION OF THE CHANGES THEY ARE GOING TO BE MADE TO PHOENIX? “I haven’t seen the proposal. I have heard they are going to change the two corners, turns three and four. I don’t know how much banking they are going to put in it. Hopefully they don’t screw it up. I drive where ever they take us. I’m a big fan of some tracks, not a big fan of others. Right now Phoenix is a cool place. It is really tricky. Both ends are very different. They are probably looking for better racing or something different.  They were always pretty exciting there I thought.”  

HOW CROWDED IS THAT PHOENIX FRONT STRETCH. IT SEEMS LIKE IT IS SO TIGHT, THERE IS NO WHERE TO GO IF THERE IS A PROBLEM? “That happens in about 80% of places we go to.  It does, doesn’t it? Richmond, you have the same issue. New Hampshire you have the same issue. Bristol, Dover, Martinsville and I just listed half the season already.”  

ON THOSE EXCHANGES, YOU PRACTICE WITH YOUR TEAMMATE, DURING THE RACE HOW MUCH TRUST IS THERE WITH OTHER DRIVERS THAT THEY KNOW HOW TO DO IT AS WELL AS YOU DO? “It depends on who you pick. You hope the person you pick is smart enough and good enough to get the job done. Especially early in the race you have to have somebody who knows exactly what the plan. What we did with Kahne as soon as we got together, I told my spotter to make sure he talked to Kahne to make sure he knows what we are doing and how we have been doing it and it has been working so make sure he does the same thing. We did it and it worked flawlessly.”  

DANICA (PATRICK) AND SAID SHE DOESN’T HAVE A REAL FIRM COMMITMENT TO EITHER/OR NASCAR OR INDYCAR. IS THAT POSSIBLE? “I admire what she is doing. But seriously it is way harder than just doing one. The cars are so different. I did the Rolex 24 Hours and I got back in these cars the first time and it was whew, what the heck happened? I think she wants to do it. She just wants to make sure that she is good enough to do it. I think she has the talent to do it. But Dario (Franchitti) struggled when he came here and he has the talent to do it and he struggled. It is not as easy as people think.”  

SO WHEN YOU CAME HERE YOU KNEW YOU HAD TO GO ALL IN? “Yea. I went all in. I said, what the heck. Some places it took a little time and some it didn’t. To really get up on how the whole season works here, yea, it takes awhile. But I knew it would.”  

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

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES 2011 DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT February 18, 2011  

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET, met with members of the media a Daytona International Speedway and discussed his week in Daytona so far, where you want to be at the end of the race, the increased speeds and much more. Full transcript:  

TALK ABOUT WHAT KIND OF WEEK YOU’VE HAD SO FAR IN DAYTONA. “Well it hasn’t been a bad week. Obviously we would have liked to have won a race of some sort by now but I think as we’ve gone through the week we’ve been leading laps and racing in the front of the two races we’ve run so far and feel like we’re comfortable with where we are at with our car and just with the type of racing and the conditions that we are racing in. You just got to put yourself, keep yourself in position to be able to win, so that’s what we’ve been trying to do and hopefully it plays out for us on Sunday.”  

AFTER THE SHOOTOUT ALL THE TALK SEEMED TO BE YOU DON’T WANT TO BE THE LEADER WITH ONE OR TWO TO GO, THEN THE TWO RACES YESTERDAY THE LEADER WON BOTH RACES SO WHERE IS THE PLACE TO BE AS THE LAPS WIND DOWN?“I think as you come down to the end you’ve got to kind of see where you’re at with your situation. If there’s multiple packs coming to the start/finish line and they get side-by-side, obviously you want to be one of the front cars. At the situations yesterday in the qualifying races I don’t think either guy in second place did a very good job of doing what they needed to do to try to win the race. I think Clint (Bowyer) pulled out too late and I think the No. 78 was content to just sit there and finish second. I still think if you’re coming to the start/finish line and you have a break-away scenario like you did yesterday with the No. 22 and the No. 78 or the No. 33 and the No. 31, both of those cars should have won the race that were running second. I just don’t think they did it exactly how they should have done it to win the race. It’s all going to depend on the circumstances coming toward the finish line and where you are positioned with a few laps to go.   “I would have loved to been in the position those guys were in yesterday coming to the checkered flag because there’s no reason the second-place car should have lost racing either one of those races. They should have at least wrecked. (laughter).”  

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHY YOU ARE ONLY RUNNING THE CUP RACE THIS WEEK? ALSO CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO PK’S TRUCK IN POST-QUALIFYING TECH YESTERDAY?“I think I’ll address the PK thing first. You know as a team you don’t ever want to do anything wrong. Yesterday the left front shock got hung up and obviously a piece of debris got stuck in the piston or something really of no fault of anybody, its happened randomly as we’ve gone through the years. It’s real easy to just get a piece of trash, it’s an eight thousandths of an inch hole so anything can get stuck in there. Once they took the shock off the heights were all right. So I feel bad for Nelson, obviously coming in everybody had high expectations and they went out and did what they needed to do to qualify well and have run well since they’ve been here and just kind of one of those freak things that happens so luckily the points are on that truck and they’ll do a good job and hopefully salvage a good night out of it. As far as my schedule, just a lot going on this particular week with new sponsors, adding teams on both sides of it just didn’t really feel like it was going to benefit everybody to be in the race car this week and Clint wanted to run those superspeedways so we put Clint in the car this week and made him happy and everybody’s happy on the sponsorship side of it and able to pay attention to everything outside of my primary job as a Cup driver. I think that was the main focus coming into the week was to try to win the Daytona 500 and that’s what we’re here to do.”  

WITH THE TWO-CAR PACKS AND NASCAR MAKING ALL THESE RULE CHANGES TO TRY TO BREAK THAT UP AND ALSO SLOW THE CARS DOWN, WHAT WAS YOUR OPINION AFTER TESTING IN JANUARY AND WHAT COULD NASCAR HAVE DONE TO BREAK THOSE PACKS UP HAD THEY ACTED SOONER?“I think when you look and you sit in NASCAR’s shoes and you look at the testing it’s never the same as it is when you come back down here for the races. The first Duel yesterday was a little bit boring and the second race was awesome. I mean I watched the second race and it was a fun race to watch at the end. I still don’t think that we really know exactly what’s going to happen. Obviously the two-car stuff is going to work but we haven’t been out there with a whole pack on the race track yet so there’s still some unknowns. The two-car thing, I think everybody is just smarter as far as knowing what to do. When you take the race track out of the equation with the handling and the things like that, it allows us to do whatever we want with the race car and it’s all about speed and you can push and shove and you can do everything that you need to do there. Six or seven years ago if we had all known this was going to work we would have all probably worked a lot harder on it with the old cars too and it probably would have done the same thing. I remember back at Talladega when everybody was screaming and yelling because Dale Jr. was bumping through the corners with the old car but he was making time and winning a race it didn’t click in everybody’s mind that that would work all the way around the race track all the time. So it’s a new scenario that everybody has figured out and still not mastered but it still works and I think it would have worked seven or eight years ago. It just pops up and all of a sudden you don’t really know exactly what direction to go because I think it’s just there and it’s always been there.”  

TAKING THAT ONE STEP FURTHER, SOME DRIVERS SAID THEY WERE COMFORTABLE AT SPEEDS OVER 200 THE KEY ISSUE WAS LIFT-OFF, IS IT POSSIBLE AT SOME POINT THAT MORE SPEED COULD STILL BE SAFE TO RACE AT?“I think it’s all safe until you hit something. I always tell people you never really realize how fast you are going until you hit something then it hurts. I don’t think anybody knows the answer to those questions. I don’t think 210 is probably safe for the people sitting in the first 20 rows, I don’t think so. So it’s just one of those things that you have pop up and you really don’t know the answer to. I wish I had some insight on what I can tell you that would work or wouldn’t work because Speedweeks it always seems to have a scenario that pops up and you have to adjust to and it just seems like this year this is the Speedweek scenario that you had to adjust to. The ironic thing about this is, I was standing in the garage a couple of days ago and Donny Allison came up and he’s like all these people think this is new. I’m like what do you mean. He’s like me and Richard Petty lapped the field doing this. So maybe you should talk to those guys because obviously this isn’t something that’s brand new.  He like you know if you move out from the wall it does the same thing, if you do this in the corner if you push the car here it helps the guy in front of you through the corners, so this is not something that just cropped up at Daytona because of new asphalt and new cars, this is something that’s always been here it’s just much more obvious now and obviously Donnie and Richard and those guys have been in these scenarios before where this stuff has happened with the old tanks they used to race. This is just part of Daytona I guess. There was no aero anything and they could still manage to get to cars together and it’s always been that way.”  

WONDERING WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THE BRIAN KESELOWSKI STORY THERE.“Well I think as a driver/owner or kid or person that struggled to get the shot that you always wanted I think you look at that scenario and you look at the Keselowski family and everything that they’ve put into this sport, they’ll make more money off of this one race than they probably have made in years. To see that and hopefully that leads to them being able to get better cars and being able to be more competitive. It’s just really neat to see a family that’s that close and to have his brother be the one kind of pushing him up there because nobody else probably would have got behind him and said alright I’m going to stick with you and we’re going to the front, but I think Brad had the confidence in his brother to know that he can drive the race car and get behind him and push him. Usually one thing leads to another so hopefully this leads to good things. Really the Keselowski family, you couldn’t ask for better people. They’ve been around this sport for a long time and are just good people. It couldn’t have happened to better people.”  

TALKING ABOUT WANTING TO BE SECOND TOWARD THE END, YESTERDAY IN THE QUALIFYING RACES AT LEAST A COUPLE OF TIMES SAW FORD TEAMS REALLY PUSHING, IS THERE SOMETHING WITH THE FORD CARS OR IS THAT JUST A COINCIDENCE?“They’ve obviously got the cooling system a little bit better than everybody else I would say. The thing you’ve got to remember there is a lot going on with those rear tires. There’s a lot of air that moves around on the right rear of these cars and that’s why you see the cars pop out to the right. Not only are they getting fresh air from the side of the car but that right rear tire, there’s a lot going on right there so you can get a lot of air into the grill of the car right there. The Roush cars definitely have a cooling system that’s better than everybody else’s. They’ve got something figured out there that they’ve done a good job with. I could manage my car. The engine guys don’t like how I manage my car so I don’t know if that will work for the amount of time that we need it to work for, for the Daytona 500. So there’s some scenarios there that we have to make some decisions as a team as to how we want to play things come Sunday. Managing your car is going to be very important because we’ve already seen a lot of engine problems. Our engine guys are no different than anybody else. The gun is loaded and sitting on the counter and you just don’t want them to pick it up because they’re terrified of everything that’s going on.”  

DO YOU WANT A ROUSH CAR BEHIND YOU TOWARD THE END?“Well I think it’s just a matter of circumstances. I know obviously Matt (Kenseth) and I seem to race together a lot. I helped him to his Daytona 500 win and he helped me to mine and we seem to be around each other a lot yesterday, pretty much the whole race. It’s just a matter of circumstances as to who you work with and how you work with them and I think as it all plays out during the day there are just so many things to think about.  You’ve got to make pit stops, you’ve got caution flags and there’s so many things that change throughout the race, you just really have to have a good plan in your mind as to what your plan is as a team, how you want to conserve your car and how hot is it going to be, there’s just a million things that

we have to sit down and go through as to the thought process we need to approach the first half of the race with. The ¾ point of the race and the last quarter of it what the approach is going to be for our particular team. After talking to the engine guys, talking to Gil (Martin) and what we feel comfortable with there’s just a lot of things that we haven’t had play out because of the mileage of the shorter races. It’s going to be warm and I think there is going to be more of a management issue than there has been in the past couple of races.”  

CAN YOU EDUCATEUS ON WHY THE SPOTTER SITUATION IS SO MUCH MORE CRITICAL OR DIFFICULT IN THIS TWO-CAR DRAFT AS OPPOSED TO 43 CARS WHEN YOU THINK IT WOULD BE THE OPPOSITE?“What happens is when you get other cars coming and going you can’t really feel where the back guy is and all of a sudden when those cars start to become detached it instantly starts slowing you down but the front guy doesn’t feel it nearly as much as the back guy so the spotter is very important to know when those runs are coming and I think everybody has pretty much got it worked out as to what you need to tell the guy next to you. It probably looks like a bunch of ants up there running around as things switch on the restarts as to who is going to try to work with who. There’s more strategy and more talking than any race I’ve ever been a part of.”  

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE EXCHANGE AND SWAP THAT YOU AND MATT (KENSETH) WERE DOING IN YESTERDAY’S RACE?“When traffic comes and goes it’s hard for the front car to feel and we just got detached. We weren’t planning on making a change, we just got broken apart there.”  

YESTERDAY WE ASKED JEFF WHAT HE EXPECTED ON SUNDAY AND HE SAID BASICALLY A FAIRLY NORMAL FIRST 400 MILES AND WE’VE SEEN OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS, BUT THOSE LAST 100 MILES JUST REALLY CRAZY, HOW DO YOU SEE THAT?“That’s the battle that I have in my mind. We have the track position that we need and I know we have to manage our car, but the thing about the Daytona 500 is you never know what is going to happen. It can go run 300 miles and not have a caution and if you don’t pay attention you will wind up a lap down. I know we can talk about the Lucky Dog and the wave arounds buts it’s just totally going to screw up the strategy. That’s just one of those scenarios that as our particular team, No. 29 team, we’ve got to decide exactly how we want to race and when we want to race as to is it track position, is it mange the car, how worried are the motor guys, how worried are they about 500 miles at what we’ve been doings, so that’s a decision we have to make. In my opinion, you need to keep the track position that you have and we might need a back-up spotter because I don’t know if his eyes will work all day for 500 miles doing the things they have to do because they are the guys that are going to be worn out the most. Just we’ve got to make some decisions, that’s pretty much what it boils down to as to what we think we need to do.”  

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.

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford, is coming off a 15th place finish in the Gatorade Duel 150 race yesterday, but partnered with teammate Carl Edwards to lead the field for much of the race.  Biffle will start Sunday’s Daytona 500 in 26th position, looking for his first Daytona 500 victory and second win ever on the track.  Biffle answered questions from the media on Friday.

GREG BIFFLE – No.  16 3M Ford Fusion –  TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SPEEDWEEKS SO FAR, CHANGES TO THE CAR AND YOUR FEEL GOING INTO THE 500 ON SUNDAY.  “It has been fun so far. It is exciting and different. We really didn’t know what to expect coming down here. I don’t think any of us expected for it to turn out like it has with the two-car drafts. We are getting used to drafting with two cars against another two cars. We are learning very rapidly. It has been a good Speedweeks for us so far. We haven’t tore anything up yet, which is good. We will see how our 500 engine runs and make sure everything is good with it. I think NASCAR has done a good job with the rule changes to keep the cars under control and the track surface is super nice. They have done a fantastic job. I am really excited for the 500. I think it is going to be different than what we have seen so far.”

HOW DO YOU EXPECT THE 500 TO BE DIFFERENT AND HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT THE STRATEGY TO GET UP TO THE FRONT FROM 26TH?  “We had a great 150 Duel race going and unfortunately at the end Carl and I got broken up and that wreck happened and we lost our mojo a little bit. I thought we were going to start toward the front. Like any restrictor plate race, I don’t think it really matters where you are going to start here in the 500. We will work our way up to the front. It will be interesting to see if guys push for 500 miles or not. That will be the interesting part of it. That and if NASCAR closes the grill down any more, which we will have to wait and see. I haven’t heard any rumors of that. How the 500 will be different, that is exactly I guess what I am talking about. I don’t know if guys will be pushing each other for 500 miles or not. Maybe it will be a big pack, stay a huge pack with people jockeying for position. We really don’t know yet and I am curious to see how that plays out.”

KEVIN HARVICK SAID THE TWO GUYS RUNNING SECOND YESTERDAY SHOULD HAVE WON THOSE RACES, BUT THEY WAITED TOO LONG TO MAKE THEIR MOVE. DO YOU THINK THAT IS CORRECT?  “I only say one of them because I was in the car for the other one, so I didn’t see a replay of it. I only know how close they were at the finish. The one that I saw, yeah, I felt like the guy should have made his move a little sooner and tried to side draft him to the finish line. A win is a win. It wasn’t like the 500 was on the line. I would have certainly tried it. I would have pulled out to see, if nothing else to learn a little bit for the 500, but I didn’t get that chance.”

IT SEEMED LIKE MOST GUYS COULD GO THREE TO FIVE LAPS HOOKED UP TOGETHER YESTERDAY, BUT TREVOR BAYNE WENT LONGER, YOU WENT LONGER. IT SEEMS LIKE THE FORD CARS HAVE AN EDGE THERE. IS THAT BECAUSE OF THE FR9 ENGINE AND THE OPTIMAL COOLING?  “I don’t know if the engine has anything to do with it. We have worked really hard on our cooling package. One thing that I saw yesterday is that it appears that the 31 and 33 cars stayed together for longer or as long as we did and were just a hair faster than us. The two Childress cars and Carl and I, they were a little bit faster than us, just by an ounce. I couldn’t see if they were switching places or what they were doing, so it was hard for me inside the car to pay attention of anything else going on around you other than right against your bumper. I don’t know if we are the best at the cooling package right now or not because I think the Childress cars seemed like they were a tick better than us. Whether it was cooling or however they were doing their deal, maybe just pure speed, they were a tick better. We have worked very hard on it though. We will have to wait and see if there are any more changes prior to the 500.”

HOW IS IT THAT YOU DECIDE ON AND FIND DRIVERS THAT YOU WANT TO WORK WITH, PUSH AND BE IN TANDEM WITH AND DO YOU FEEL YOU NEED BACK-UPS IF YOU GET SEPERATED?  “You definitely need a back-up because Carl and I got separated yesterday and I was sort of our to lunch at that point. There wasn’t anybody around that I could find. There weren’t any single people left, they were all married. I was kind of left out on that island. The rose ceremony ended quickly for me. You gotta have options. The thing about it is, rarely is it that you all of a sudden lose your dancing partner and there happens to be another one there. That is what happened to me. I lost my dance partner and all of a sudden I am looking around and see that everybody is paired up. There were a few guys back there that weren’t. At the end we tried to get paired up with one of them and he was like ‘I don’t want to race because I am in the 500 already,’ he didn’t want to wreck his car. I respect that. It is just a starting spot. You can go from the front to the back in this race. It doesn’t matter if you start 12th or 20th. It is all kind of the same. You are going to have multiple people you can work with come Sunday.”

HOW FREQUENTLY DO YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT YOUR WATER TEMPERATURE GUAGE HERE AS COMPARED TO A TYPICAL NASCAR WEEKEND?  “The answer is kind of a two-part question. Restrictor plate racing you have to pay attention to the temperature gauge a lot more often than other race tracks, because you are always in a pack. Now, being against a guy 24-7, you have to just constantly monitor it. That is all I am looking at, pushing him straight and looking up and down at the gauge. I am starting to get a better feel so that I don’t have to look at the gauge as much. I am getting a better feel for how hot it is or should be and how much I have been able to move out and get air in it. I have a pretty good idea now. I don’t have to look at it quite as much. You have to monitor a tremendous about more than a normal restrictor plate race. On a regular weekend we would look at it about every 20 or 30 laps or so just to make sure we don’t have a bag on the grill or something.”

HOW MANY DRIVERS CAN YOU LISTEN TO ON THE RADIO OUT THERE?  “We have eight channels on our radios. We have our teammates on there as primary channels, but we also have two radios. We have a primary and a spare. We can take that spare and put other channels in it to monitor it. We can only talk and receive on one channel, being in the car. We can’t scan multiple channels, or talk on multiple channels. Lord knows I don’t think I could manage that either. I was on Carl’s channel, so I would be listening to his spotter and Carl and then his crew chief says something that scares me to death because I can’t understand him and I didn’t know what he was saying. It is different. It is something I have never been involved in before. It makes it interesting for us all that is for sure.”

DO YOU PUT LIGHTS ON YOUR WATER TEMPERATURE GAUGE?  “Yeah. Those are dummy gauges, we like to call them. They turn red when it is over temperature and then it will flash, that is the dumb effect, that you are about to burn it up.  They are fun gauges. They help us out a lot. We don’t have to think anymore.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES    Daytona 500 Advance, Page 4        February 13, 2011    Daytona International Speedway    

Even though the No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion of Trevor Bayne suffered body damage in Thursday’s last-lap accident of the second Gatorade Duel race, the team has decided to try and fix their primary car.  Bayne will not participate in today’s practice sessions as repairs continue.  Co-owner Len Wood talked about what went into that decision this morning at Daytona International Speedway.

LEN WOOD, Co-Owner – No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion – WHAT WENT INTO THE DECISION TO TRY AND REPAIR THIS CAR AS OPPOSED TO GOING TO A BACK-UP?  “We were standing there looking at it yesterday and some of the guys in Jack’s fab shop that helped build the car to start with said they could fix it.  They said they had the parts to do it, so Donnie was trying to weigh out whether we needed practice or not and how much time we could allot to fixing it, so the decision was made to fix it.  They had more parts that came down on a truck this morning. They were swapping the 6 out, bringing him another back-up car, so they brought a few more parts.  They’re moving along really good on it.  We won’t run today.  We’ll put the race engine in it probably this afternoon and get ready to hopefully run some tomorrow and then be ready for the 500.”

IS THERE ANY CONCERN ABOUT POSSIBLE DAMAGE TO COMPONENTS UNDER THE CAR THAT YOU CAN’T SEE?  “That’s what we did first.  We looked around to see if there was any frame damage.  Did we bend the front clip?  We didn’t hit anything with the wheels, so nothing appears to be wrong with any of that, so that was one of the decisions.  There was grass everywhere.  Sometimes you see cars almost fold the front end under when they go through the grass.  You can bend a front clip really easy like that.  Well, when all the grass came he was backwards and he was catching it with the back of the splitter, so he didn’t tear any of that off.  When you put the hood down, the hood still fit, so all of that was still good.”

WHAT ARE YOU REPAIRING?  “We’re putting a left side on the car from the rear tire forward, and then there’s a little piece on the left-front of the nose that had to be patched and a piece over the right-front fender.  On the right side, they had to beat it out just a little bit, but they didn’t cut anything.  We’ll probably do some wrapping and painting.  We’ll do a combination.  We may not have that part finished until after we run tomorrow.  The main thing will be getting it back together and get out there to run a few laps tomorrow. What you’ve got down here is what you’ve got.  It’s not like we’re gonna go out there and pick up another quarter-of-a-second by trying this or that.  It’s gonna be a lot about who your partner is on Sunday.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF TREVOR’S PERFORMANCE YESTERDAY?  “We were really impressed because on Wednesday I don’t think anybody wanted to draft with a rookie.  It was a little bit frustrating to start because we couldn’t get going, but then late in practice Kyle Busch said he would run with us.  They ran about six laps and did the swap and Kyle told him what to do on the exchange and how to drag the brake.  He helped Trevor out a little bit, but he only had about six laps of two-car drafting before that race yesterday.  In December, we ran 400 miles of drafting practice in that tire test, but none of it was touching anybody.  Nobody did that until we came back for the January test.  At that test, we were doing single-car runs trying to get speed in the car, so we’ll see what he’s got on Sunday.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES    Daytona 500 Advance, Page 5        February 13, 2011    Daytona International Speedway   

    The Wood Brothers have been racing since 1950, but founder Glen Wood has been coming to Daytona since 1947 and has been to every Daytona 500.  Ford Racing reminisced with Wood earlier this week about what racing was like on the beach and how he got started coming to Daytona every February.

GLEN WOOD, Owner – No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion – HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COMING TO DAYTONA?  “I started coming here in 1947 and this makes the 65th straight year I’ve been down here.  I came here for the first time with Bernice’s dad and brother in 1947 in a little ’44 Ford.  We just sort of started going to races back at home after the war, and I asked them about going down to Florida and they agreed.  That was the start and we decided to go back the next year and I’ve done it every year since then.  I’m lucky that I’ve felt good and haven’t been sick to where I couldn’t go during this time, but the other thing about coming down here is I’ve always driven.  I’ve come down here before by plane for the Fourth of July race.  I haven’t been to every one of those, but I have been here for all of the 500s.”

HOW HAS THIS AREA CHANGED?  “I remember when there wasn’t a track here and you’d come by 92 and see stumps rooted up out of the ground because it was just wilderness out here.  It’s just like you see in a lot of places where there are swamps, palm trees and water.  I’m sure Big Bill noticed that it was getting built up on the beach with houses right along where the track was, and that was a big change.  There got to be several houses in that last two miles down to the lighthouse and it got so that they would have to tell them, ‘You can’t go out.  If you’ve got to go anywhere, get out of here now and don’t come back until tonight.’”

YOU RACED ON THE BEACH.  WHAT WAS IT LIKE? – “You would start down by the lighthouse and I can remember the first year I ran it there were more than 100 cars in the race.  Can you imagine that many starting and then realizing that we’ve all got to slow down and make that turn at the North Turn (where the North Turn Restaurant is now).  What they’d do is they would turn off the ocean and get back up on the highway right there and go two miles down toward the lighthouse.  I don’t know how many of us ran over the bank down on the other end. One of the guys asked me one time, ‘How do you keep from running over the bank?’  First thing, when you would come over the last rise, you could see the turn so I would pump my brakes a little bit to see if I’ve got some.  Back then, it was common to have a vibration break a brake line and you wouldn’t have any brakes, so that was the worst thing you could do going down in there without any brakes.  So, I would pump the brakes and realize the turn was coming up and just slowed down.  Curtis Turner was the best that ever was on the beach. I’d say he would throw it sideways for at least 100 feet and it was the prettiest drift you ever saw coming into the North Turn and he never did go wobbling out like a lot of them.  He went out of there just as pretty every time.  He is one of the legends over here from the very start.  I didn’t drive quite like Curtis did and even though I’d have some drift once you got into it, he was just the one you had to watch.  He enjoyed doing that on every dirt or half-mile track, but when it got serious and he needed to tighten up to keep things together, he’d drive it a little more stable.”

RCR Post Race Report — Duel 150 Qualifying Races

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

RACE: Duel 150 Qualifying Races

TRACK: Daytona International Speedway

DATE: February 17, 2011

1st Duel 150 Race Highlights:

RCR teammates finished in the top 10 – third (Kevin Harvick) and ninth (Paul Menard)

Menard’s second-place starting position in the Duel 150 was his highest career start in the annual event

Nine different drivers led laps with Harvick leading a race-high 20 laps

Harvick and Menard will start seventh and 19th, respectively, in Sunday’s Daytona 500

Kurt Busch led the field to the checkers with Regan Smith, Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne in tow

Menard Finishes Ninth in First Duel 150 at Daytona

Thursday afternoon, Paul Menard lined up his No. 27 PEAK/Menards Chevrolet on the front row for the start of the first of two 150-mile qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway. Leading the field until the first caution of the race just two laps in, Menard was hung to the outside on the lap-six restart and slipped backwards. “No help,” were the words that echoed on the radio as the field charged past the No. 27 Richard Childress Racing machine. Finding a solid drafting partner proved to be the key to success at the newly repaved 2.5-mile superspeedway. Menard worked diligently with the No. 47 car, pushing him through traffic for most of the race. After pitting on lap 40 for fuel, Menard continued to practice patience and chip away at the front. A lap-55 caution set the stage for a green-white-checkered finish. Restarting from the 10th position, Menard held on to tie his previous best finish (2009) of ninth.

Start – 2nd Finish – 9th Laps Led – 5

PAUL MENARD QUOTE:

“We have a really strong PEAK Chevrolet for this weekend. We learned a lot today. So much of Sunday’s race is going to rely on the communication between the spotters on the spotter stand. Being able to get the right cars together and then staying bumper-to-bumper can make or break your day. The Duel races are a great practice for Sunday’s race. We made it back up inside the top 10 in 150 miles and on Sunday we’ll have 500 miles to get to that top spot. ECR power is just fantastic and with the right ‘dancing partner,’ as my crew chief called it, I believe we can contend for the win.”

Harvick Earns Podium Finish in Duel 150 Qualifying Race at Daytona

Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team finished third in the first Duel 150 on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. His finishing position in the qualifying race places Harvick seventh on the starting grid for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Harvick started ninth and was running sixth by the time the caution flag waved on lap two. When the field took the green at lap six, Harvick paired up with Matt Kenseth and took the lead on lap 12. The duo drafted together nose-to-tail until they came down pit road at lap 42. The No. 29 Budweiser team made a fuel-only pit stop and got Harvick back out to draft again with Kenseth. The caution flag waved for the second time at lap 56 as the No. 66 car’s engine expired and set the field up for a green-white-checkered finish. Once again, Harvick paired up with Kenseth and moved forward through the field. Harvick took the checkered flag in third position. During the course of the 62-lap race, Harvick led on five different occasions for a total of 20 laps.

Start – 9th Finish – 3rd Laps Led – 20

KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:

“The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was really good in the two-car draft. I was able to get hooked up with (Matt) Kenseth and our cars seemed to work really well together, which made it fun competing up front. Winning at Daytona is always fun, but I’m happy with our third-place result that allows us to move up in the (Daytona) 500 field and start seventh. It’s going to be an exciting race.”

2nd Duel 150 Race Highlights:

RCR teammates finished in the top two – first (Jeff Burton) and second (Clint Bowyer)

Burton was the event’s lap leader, leading 17 of the 60 contested laps

RCR’s four drivers led a total of 52 laps between the two Duel events combined

Bowyer now has two top-five credits in his last two Duel 150 starts at the 2.5-mile speedway

Burton’s win places him fourth in the Daytona 500 starting field

Bowyer’s second-place finish lines him up sixth for the Daytona 500 starting field

Burton was chased to the checkered flag by Bowyer, Michael Waltrip, Kyle Busch and Brian Keselowski

Burton Returns Caterpillar, No. 31 Team to Victory Lane at Daytona

Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar team ran in the top nine for the entire 60-lap Duel 150 event at Daytona International Speedway. He found a trusted dancing partner in Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer that helped the South Boston, Va., native and sponsor Caterpillar return to Victory Lane at the World Center of Racing for the first time since 2000 and 2002, respectively. After starting on the outside of row two for Thursday’s second qualifying race, the RCR duo of Bowyer and Burton immediately began working with each other, drafting towards the front of the field. The RCR powerhouse slipped to ninth just before the race’s halfway mark, but quickly regained their momentum in the second half. Burton led five times for a total of 17 laps, including nine of the final 10 circuits.

Start – 4th Finish – 1st Laps Led – 17

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:

“We have to keep in perspective that this is not the Daytona 500, even though it’s great to be in Victory Lane. I’m real proud of that. Last year, obviously, was very influencing toward the end of the year. The Cat Racing team kept ourselves in position to win races, but never made it happen. I thought we were in great shape to win the other night, but to win tonight means a great deal. That’s what drove us nuts last year. It’s good to get that off our back and prove to ourselves we can do it. I’m definitely looking forward to this year. I think, obviously, the Daytona 500 is the first hurdle. Winning the Daytona 500 and a championship are the two biggest things on my list I want to get done. Hopefully, we’re just one step closer to that.”

“It’s an advantage to have a teammate. There’s no question about it. Everybody can see that. The difficult part is getting with a teammate. We worked diligently today to make sure we were with a teammate. We tried very hard to be with Clint. Everywhere he went, I went. Everywhere I went, he went. Todd (Berrier, crew chief) said it best – it’s a shame there wasn’t room in Victory Lane for both cars. It doesn’t always work out. You can have everything lined up and get a restart. Now, you’re side by side instead of front to back. You can try to get in front of each other, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to work out – just like what happened to Kevin (Harvick, No. 29 Chevrolet driver) and I on Saturday night. It’s important. Everybody is going to try really hard to be with a teammate, but there’s times it’s not going to work out. You’re going to have to go and make it work with someone that is willing to work with you just as hard as a guy that is your teammate.”

Bowyer Brings Home Second-Place Finish in Qualifying Race at Daytona

In another photo finish during Speedweeks 2011 at Daytona International Speedway, Clint Bowyer and the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet team led 10 laps and finished second in Thursday’s 150-mile Duel, crossing the start/finish line a mere .005 seconds behind Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton. Starting from the third position, Bowyer found himself in the lead at lap two after immediately hooking up with Burton and moving to the front of the 24-car field. The two drivers “lost the draft” on lap eight and Bowyer dropped to the12th position, his lowest position of the race, before working his way back into the top five before the caution flag flew on lap 18. After coming down pit road for fuel only, the Emporia Kan., native was back again at the front of the field with Burton in tow where he remained until they decided to switch positions to keep their cars from overheating. After a caution on lap 40, the two RCR drivers never fell out of the top six, bringing home a one-two finish at the checkered flag. The second-place finish places him sixth on the starting grid for Sunday’s 53rd running of the Daytona 500.

Start – 3rd Finish – 2nd Laps Led – 10

CLINT BOWYER QUOTE:

“It was fun to push our teammate to the win. We worked together a lot this race and that was crucial for Sunday’s event. I wish we could have been in Victory Lane for our team, but our engines were strong again and we are looking forward to Sunday.”