Category: NASCAR Cup Series

Team 48 Daytona International Speedway
Budweiser Shootout/Qualifying Preview

OVER-THE-WALL ROSTER FOR THE BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT
WILL BE AVAILABLE RACE DAY.
RACE NOTES
Budweiser Shootout Chassis Information

•	Jimmie Johnson piloted primary chassis No. 618 to a seventh place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2010.
•	He last drove backup chassis No. 482 at Talladega in 2009, finishing sixth.

Daytona 500 Qualifying Notes

•	Johnson started third in last year’s Daytona 500.
•	He has started the historic event from the pole two times: in his 2002 Daytona 500 debut and again in 2008.
•	In nine Daytona 500 starts, Johnson has qualified outside the top 10 only once. He started 21st in 2007.

JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES
ON THE BUD SHOOTOUT:
“I think the Shootout will be a very good sign for what the 500 will be like. We will be using the push draft, the bump draft, three wide, potentially four wide…it will be a very good prelim for the 500 and show how crazy we can be on this track.”

HOW MUCH FUN IS A SHORT RACE LIKE THE SHOOTOUT?
“It is fun. Especially at the start of the season and coming into such a big race like the Daytona 500, it is nice to get out, get in the flow, make some mistakes. Yes, there is a lot on the line, but it’s not the Daytona 500. It is nice to knock the rust off and go racing.”

HOW AWESOME IS THE TRACK SINCE THE RE-PAVE?
“It is great. There is a part of the racer in us that is missing the old surface because it was a handling exercise and the guy’s car who handled the best won and we had some tools to work with. Now, it is fast for anyone which will put on one heck of a show. As long as we don’t wreck too early, it will be an amazing finish to the Daytona 500.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CHANGES IN THE POINT SYSTEM?
“If you go through and look at it, NASCAR did a very good job of explaining the points and dividing out the math so you could see what the value was before to what it is now and it really trends the same until you get it down to 25th or so and on down, you have a lot more to lose if you have a bad day. I get what they are doing. They are trying to simplify the point system for the fan base. There is certainly going to be a learning curve and I’m sure there is some griping about that now. NASCAR is doing everything in their power to help the sport grow and I think there are some other positive changes as you look at our race weekend and how much takes place at the track. Now practice counts. Practice is important and practice is televised. There is going to be more drama all weekend long and I think a better experience for our fans.”

SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES
Career Wins

•	Johnson has 53 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 26, 2010.
•	The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently 10th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, one victory behind Lee Petty.
•	He is second in total wins among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (82).
•	Johnson needed only 296 starts to hit the 50 mark. Only three drivers have reached 50 victories quicker – Gordon (232), Darrell Waltrip (278) and David Pearson (293).
•	Johnson has won at least three Cup races a season since he posted his first victory in 2002. He is the only driver in the modern era to win at least three races in each of his first eight full-time seasons.
•	Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series races at all but four (Michigan, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Homestead) of the 22 tracks on which the series competes.
•	Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 was the highest number recorded in a single season since Jeff Gordon posted 13 victories in 1998.
•	The four-consecutive wins scored by the No. 48 team in the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup ties a modern-era NASCAR record.

Career Poles

•	Johnson has collected 25 poles in his Sprint Cup career.
•	The championship driver has earned at least one pole a year since his first full-time season in 2002.
•	He had a career-high six poles in 2008.
•	Johnson’s most recent pole position was at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 24, 2010.

Career Starts

•	Johnson has finished in the top five in the Sprint Cup Series point standings each year since his first full season in 2002.
•	Johnson is the only driver to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup every year since the format was adopted in 2004.
•	In 327 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 134 top-five and 203 top-10 finishes.
•	He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit.
•	Johnson has led a total of 10,996 laps (of 94,228) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 126,257 miles.
•	He has finished on the lead lap 253 times.

Primary Car History – Chassis No. 618

Date	Event	Start	Finish
10/31/10	Talladega	19	7

Backup Car History – Chassis No. 482

Date	Event	Start	Finish
04/27/08	Talladega	10	13
01/05/08	Daytona	30	23
02/15/09	Daytona	7	31
11/01/09	Talladega	1	6

Jimmie Johnson – Budweiser Shootout Statistics

YEAR	FINISH	HOW HE QUALIFIED TO COMPETE IN THE SHOOTOUT
2010	13	2005 Bud Shootout Winner; Top six teams from each manufacturer based on final 2009 car owner points. No. 48 team finished first in standings.
2009	14	2005 Bud Shootout Winner; *Top six teams from each manufacturer based on final 2008 car owner points. No. 48 team finished first in standings. (*new format)
2008	3	2005 Bud Shootout Winner; Won Poles at Richmond Int’l. Raceway (9/8/07), Dover Int’l. Speedway (9/23/07), Kansas Speedway (9/30/07) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (11/18/07)
2007	4	2005 Bud Shootout Winner; Won Pole Martinsville Raceway (4/2/06)
2006	5	2005 Bud Shootout Winner; Won Pole at Chicagoland Speedway (7/10/05)
2005	1	Won Pole at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (5/30/04)
2004	9	Won Poles at Pocono Int’l. Raceway (6/6/03) and Kansas Speedway (10/5/03)
2003	7	Won Poles at Daytona Int’l. Speedway (2/9/02), Talladega Superspeedway (4/21/02), Lowe’s Motor Speedway (5/23/03) and Richmond Int’l. Raceway (9/6/02)

CORNELIUS, N.C. —  Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip embarks on his 25th consecutive start in the Great American Race when he climbs behind the wheel of the No. 15 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota. This year his NAPA Toyota boasts a Waltrip-designed paint scheme to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his first 500 victory as well as the life of his friend Dale Earnhardt.

Entering his 27th season as a driver, Waltrip’s so-called scaled schedule includes overseeing Michael Waltrip Racing, running in all three NASCAR divisions during Daytona Speedweeks, promoting his new book “In the Blink of an Eye,” and hosting a comedy tour. 

QUOTES

 

WALTRIP ON RUNNING HIS 25TH CONSECUTIVE DAYTONA 500: “I love the fact that I raced against great drivers like David Pearson, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. I started in 1985 and that was before any of the new tracks started coming on line. I am really fortunate to have raced in an interesting era. I have pretty much raced against the guys who were there or right near the beginning and the stars of today. I don’t think there are many athletes whose careers or “strings” have stretched that far back. It means a lot to me to race at Daytona that’s for sure.”

ON CAR DESIGN: “I wanted a black car to honor Dale’s life. NAPA agreed to it which was very special to me because I understand they put their name on cars to sell parts. The NAPA blue and yellow is who they are, and I am real fortunate over the last 10 years to have them with me. They are the cornerstone to Michael Waltrip Racing, and I asked them to depart from the usual design a little bit for this one event. They agreed to do so. That’s what the whole two weeks in Daytona will be about for me no matter what I am racing. I’ll be reflecting back over the last 10 years and the years Dale and I bonded and became friends. It’s through our friendship that led me to drive his car. Dale believed that I would win in his car. A lot of people didn’t understand that. I understood it, and I believed it. By the time I took the green flag for the Daytona 500 in 2001, Dale had me right where I had never been before and that was confident. That’s something over the course of my career I have lacked a little bit. Dale saw that and fixed it.”

ON WRITING HIS BOOK: “I believe the book accomplished everything I wanted. It’s a nice account of what led me to Daytona and then where I have gone since then. It wasn’t easy writing it. It was an emotional process. I was able to talk about everything and think about it. I was able to deal with it somewhat. But it didn’t fix anything. I think that’s what surprised me the most. I didn’t come out of it feeling any better about the whole situation. I say in the book that my dumb way of dealing with drama was to just ignore it. I figure if I didn’t deal with it, it would go away. I think through this process, I now understand a more healthy way of living my life.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

 

• The NAPA AUTO PARTS driver will be attempting to make his 764th NASCAR Sprint

       Cup Series start and when the season opener, the Daytona 500, gets underway at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) in Daytona Beach, Fla. He will be attempting to start in his 48th Sprint Cup race at DIS.

• Waltrip is one of only eight drivers to win more than two Daytona 500 titles.

 

• Waltrip is scheduled to appear on SPEED’s live edition of Trackside. It airs on Feb. 18 at

       6 p.m.

• Check out NAPA Reserve On Line. Visit napaonline.com to make shopping for an auto part easier. Order online and pick up at your favorite NAPA AUTO PARTS store.

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS team are back on the road as the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season kicks off with qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

Three weeks ago, Truex tried out the newly-paved superspeedway driving his NAPA Toyota that boasted a new front nose. The Daytona test saw the No. 56 fast in the draft.

For the second-straight year, Truex will team up with owner Michael Waltrip as they compete under the NAPA AUTO PARTS banner. 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of Waltrip’s first Daytona 500 victory with NAPA.

 

QUOTES

 

TRUEX ON EXPECTATIONS HEADING INTO DAYTONA: “Athlon Sports predicted the NAPA team to be in the top 10 in points this year. I like the way they think. It’s definitely a possibility. We’ve worked very hard on this NAPA team over the off season. We talked at the end of last year and again this winter about how happy I was with the way the team performed at the end of the season. I feel really good about what we accomplished and what we got done in the off season. I haven’t felt this confident going into a season since 2006. I am definitely looking forward to great things. It’s all about getting the season off to a strong start and we certainly can do that.”

ON SITTING OUT THE BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT: “It’s the strangest thing. Somehow I have gotten excluded from the Shootout over the last two years. Both of the last two years, the previous year’s rule, I was in. Going into the winter, I thought I was in, but they changed the rules on me again. I will be in Daytona for media day on Thursday and the first chance I will get to be on the track is Saturday. It’s going to be tough not getting on track for the Shootout practices and race.”

ON HOW THE CAR FEELS IN SINGLE CAR RUNS WITH THE CHANGES TO THE NOSE: “When I tested, I really didn’t notice a change. We’ve actually done a little bit of downforce testing and short track testing with it, and I don’t think it’s a huge difference from what we had. I think the playing field will be a little bit more level, the way the noses are mounted, the structure behind it that holds the nose on the car at the height it’s supposed to be. I think it’ll be a little bit more even across the board. Other than that I think it’s fairly similar, it just looks a whole lot better, which is good.”

 

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

 

• Martin Truex Jr. will be competing in his 190th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race when the Daytona 500, gets underway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Feb. 20. In 12 races at DIS, his best start is first (Feb. 15, 2009). His best finish of sixth came last year driving for NAPA.

 

• NAPA Racing will once again host the Honorary Pit Crew Member program at the Daytona 500. Marc Goodrich of Midway, Ga. and Kevin Edmunds of Tampa, Fla., will be honored in NAPA pre-race festivities and have their names decaled on the No. 56 and No. 15 NAPA Toyotas.

 

• On Feb. 12, NAPA will debut its 2011 television commercials on SPEED.

 

• Check out NAPA Reserve Online. Visit napaonline.com to make shopping for an auto part easier. Order online and pick up at your favorite NAPA AUTO PARTS store.

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine driver David Reutimann is heading to the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway for the 53rd running of ‘The Great American Race’ the Daytona 500. Reutimann, a Zephyrhills, Fla. native, considers the high banks of Daytona his home racetrack, but it is light years different then the local dirt tracks that he spent time on learning to drive.

QUOTES

WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR A DIRT TRACK RACER FROM FLORIDA TO STRAP IN AND RACE IN THE DAYTONA 500?: “It’s a pretty humbling experience, because you know how hard it was to get to that point. Now I’m at a point where I’m just really thankful to have what I have. Realistically it wasn’t all that many years ago that I was a guy that couldn’t even get into the pits or realistically even into the infield – and now I’m racing in the Daytona 500. That’s a pretty big jump, pretty big change in a relatively short amount of time. As time goes on there is more and more time between those areas, but it seems like it was a year or so ago that I was sitting in the stands watching the qualifying races. At that time I wasn’t even trying to figure out how I could go drive a car at Daytona – I was just trying to figure out how I could get into the pits in Daytona and hang out. That’s how big of change it has been for me personally.”

DO YOU THINK THE NEW PAVEMENT WILL IMPACT QUALIFYING AT DAYTONA?: “No. I mean, it was never very difficult with the old pavement either. Now it’s going to be smoother and there will be more grip, but the old track surface being worn out never made itself evident until about 15 laps into a run on tires when you could feel it start to slow down. So the surface never made to much of a difference before and now I have a feeling it will be a lot like Talladega – just be smooth and keep the wheel as straight as you can and do the things you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do them.”

WHAT DOES RACING AT DAYTONA MEAN TO YOU?: “I love that racetrack. I’ve always said that it’s the closest thing that I have to a home track. I just love going there. I’ve always loved going there even before I raced there and continue to love going there to this day. It’s also cool now to say that I’ve raced on the old surface and then race on the new surface as well now too. Just to be able to tell the differences and say that I’ve raced on both is pretty great. Actually, Daytona International Speedway sent each of the drivers a piece of the old racetrack, so I have a piece of the racetrack and that’s pretty special. Daytona has always been a special place for me and it will always be that way.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

 

• In 2010, Reutimann scored the third most points (576) of any NSCS driver on superspeedway’s and the fifth most points (285) of any driver at Daytona. His average starting position was 22.5 and average finish was 8.5 at superspeedways. Reutimann led 18 percent (19/104) of his total laps led at superspeedways in 2010.

 

• In 2010, Reutimann completed 93.3% (10,055/10,778) of the total laps and lead 104 laps. Reutimann has logged 51,075.7 miles in his NSCS Toyota Camry since 2007, competing in 134 NSCS races.

 

• Reutimann earned his first career NSCS win in the 2009 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and his second career win at Chicagoland Speedway on July 10, 2010 leading 52 laps.

 

• Crew chief Rodney Childers returns to the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota with Reutimann in 2011. Childers is entering his third season as crew chief of the No. 00.

 

• Sirius XM listeners can tune into channel 128 every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. to hear Reutimann’s weekly visit on Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody throughout the 2011 season.

Biffle on the Shootout:   This is about the most excited I can remember being about the start of a season. We had a good test at Daytona last month and we’re looking forward to seeing what we’ve got in the draft. The Shootout is a big deal if for no other reason than it is the first race of the season.  It’s not a points race, so we can go out there and just have fun with it.  It’s always good to get the extra laps and be able to experiment with a few things during practice and even the during the Shootout. I think we’re all just looking forward to getting back to racing.”

Erwin on the Shootout:  “It’s obviously very advantageous to be in the Shootout to get the extra track time for the Daytona 500.  If you can go down there and run well in the Shootout, that can be a big morale booster for next week.  It just really gives everyone on the team including the driver a chance to kind of work the bugs out before we get into a points race.  We didn’t get to do a lot of drafting at the test, so the Shootout will give us a better indication of how our cars will perform in traffic.  We believe the new nose we have for this season will be beneficial but it will be great to test that in race conditions before the 500.”       Daytona Notes

• •  Biffle’s average finish in the Shootout is 14th from an average starting position of 11th.
• •  In the 2010 Shootout Biffle ran in the top 10 for most of the race but spun shortly after the drop of the green flag on a green/white/checker finish while challenging Kevin Harvick for the lead.
• •  This weekend will mark Biffle’s fifth consecutive Shootout start.
• •  Mike Lingerfelt will be joining the 3M Pit Bulls for the 2011 season in the front tire changer position. Todd Zeigler, who has been a tire changer with Roush Fenway since 1998, opted to take on a non-travel role with the team.
• •  The 3M Pit Bulls hero card is scheduled to be available in Daytona.  It will feature the Pit Bulls in the Roush Fenway Racing pit crew training facility.
• •  Fans wishing to follow the 3M team through the 2011 season on Twitter can find them @163MTEAM.
• •  Biffle will be featured in another season of “Breakfast with the Biff” during the “NASCAR Now” raceday coverage on ESPN2.  The show generally airs on raceday from 9:00 am – 10:00 am ET.
• •  The No. 16 Ford will feature the new 2011 3M paint scheme throughout speedweeks.  The paint scheme first ran at the All-Star race in 2010 and received such positive reviews that it is now the primary scheme for the 2011 season.
• •  Visit www.shop3M.com to learn more about all of the innovative products 3M has to offer.