Category: NASCAR Cup Series

PHOENIX (Nov. 14, 2010) — A strong race car and a successful fuel strategy resulted in U.S. Army driver Ryan Newman finishing runner-up in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. He trailed race winner Carl Edwards to the checkered flag by 4.7 seconds.

It was the second-outstanding performance of the season at the one-mile oval for Newman, who won the April Cup race in Phoenix.

Driving the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet that was adorned with more than 500 faces of military veterans, Newman opted not to pit for fuel late in the race while some of the leaders did. The strategy paid off for the Army team as Newman managed to conserve enough fuel to get to the finish line and pick up three spots in track position. He was solidly running in fifth place following the last pit stop on Lap 222 of 312.

“Our U.S. Army Chevrolet was good all day,” said Newman, who virtually ran in the top 10 and top five for the majority of the race. “It was such an honor to drive the Veterans Day car and I want to say thank you to all the Veterans for helping me along today. After the final stop we knew we were going to be a few laps short and our crew chief Tony Gibson kept on saying slow it down and save fuel. I am not sure of how much fuel we had in the car at the end, but I am pretty sure it was very little, if any.”

Gibson said he wasn’t 100 percent convinced the Army car was going to have enough fuel to make it to the end, but he went with his gut feeling and the confidence of his driver.

“You could sense it in Ryan’s voice that we were going to be okay,” said Gibson. “He was confident and that’s what you have to go with. We actually started to conserve fuel with about 40 laps to go. Ryan did a great job and the pit stops were excellent all day. A great team effort. Our Veterans Day car was the talk of the garage and we really wanted to give all the Veterans a win. We came up one short.”

Though Newman posted a strong result by claiming his fourth top-five and 13th top-10 finish of the season, he did not gain in the point standings. He remains 15th heading into the season finale next Sunday (Nov. 21) at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart, finished 17th and is ninth in the Chase standings.

With Edwards winning and Newman coming in second, the remainder of the top five finishers in order were: Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson.

Denny Hamlin, who was one of the leaders to pit for fuel at the end, leaves Phoenix with a 15-point lead over Johnson in the Chase. Kevin Harvick is third — 46 points behind.

Camry driver Joey Logano (third) was the top-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Phoenix International Raceway.  

In the last five races, Logano has earned five consecutive top-10 finishes and three straight top-five results — earning finishes  of seventh (Charlotte), sixth (Martinsville), fifth (Talladega), fourth (Texas) and third (Phoenix).  

Hamlin (12th) led the most laps (190 of 312) at Phoenix to earn 10 bonus points towards the Chase championship.  

Other Camry drivers in the field included Kyle Busch (13th), Martin Truex Jr. (15th), Marcos Ambrose (22nd), Casey Mears (24th), David Reutimann (26th), Kasey Kahne (30th), Robby Gordon (33rd), Scott Speed (35th), Mike Bliss (39th) and Landon Cassill (40th).  

Hamlin continues to lead the unofficial NSCS point standings following Phoenix.  He holds a 15-point advantage over second- place Jimmie Johnson with one race remaining in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoff.  

Busch is in the seventh position, 347 points behind Hamlin.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  3rd What are your thoughts on your fifth straight top-10 finish and third consecutive top-five result? “These guys did awesome.  Our last few finishes have been crazy — we’ve been seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth and third in a row, so that’s pretty crazy.  I never thought that.  The guys did a good job with the Home Depot Toyota today.  We had a lot of things that went wrong during the race — we didn’t start the race very well at all.  We fell back to further back than 20th.  Everyone kept their head in the game and did a good job.  We fought pit road with the 13 (Casey Mears) pitting right in front of us and we would get boxed in there a couple times and lost track position.  The biggest thing we fought at the end of the race was track position.  We were every bit as good to run up there.  Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) and the guys did an awesome job.  It’s fun to be up here.” How was your race today? “Zip (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) did a great job getting this thing right for me — that was the biggest thing.  I thought we were going to be good to start the race and we then fell backwards quite a bit.  I think we fell back all the way to 20th or so.  We fought track position for the rest of the day.  We lost spots in the pits because the 13 (Casey Mears) was in front of us — we just had a bad pit box and couldn’t get out well.  We kept losing track position there at the beginning of the race and then about halfway through we got the car closer and I feel like the last stop we got it pretty close.  We got our Home Depot Toyota up there.  It’s cool that our last finishes are seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth and third in a row — that’s pretty cool.  I’m pretty excited about that.” Did your team have a fuel strategy? “It kind of worked out pretty good for us because as we were fighting for track position we had that long green flag run and only had about four cars behind us on the lead lap.  What we did was pitted under that caution where a lot of leaders stayed out and we tried to make it there.  We had five or six laps more (for fuel) than the other guys did because we pitted.  It turned out perfect for us.   Sometimes a little misfortune turns into good fortune.” What do these consistent finishes mean to you at the end of the season? “It’s huge, huge.  We’re trying to get 15th in points.  The 39 (Ryan Newman) beat us today, they finished second.  But, we’re close.   We lost as little as possible there.  If we finish off the year like this, I’m excited about next year, that’s for sure.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  12th What is going through your mind after this race? “Well, we had a great car and that was real important.  We did what we had to do.  The strategy and what not at the end just didn’t work our way.  That’s all I can ask for, is to have the better car than those two guys  — and we did.  But, unfortunately the strategy bit us.  We’re just going to have to go there and do it the old fashioned way next week and try to beat them on the race track.” Can you describe your frustration? “I’m frustrated — trust me.  This is one of the bigger let downs I’ve had.  I can tell you — I’m going to use this as motivation for next week to go out there and try to win.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) How do you feel about next weekend’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway? “The important thing is we have a good car for next week — it’s going to be our Texas car.  So, we know we got a good piece there.   These are the things — this is why we run the races.  This is why you can’t crown anyone before this thing is over is because if any kind of strategy or anything goes wrong, it could be the decid ing factor in the championship.  So, for me, it’s a tight one.  It’s just going to be whoever runs best next week.” How do you feel about not winning with a dominant car today? “It’s frustrating, for sure.  But, it’s better than being behind, I guess.  We were looking good right there and things just didn’t work in our favor.  Just going to have to fight to the end.  That’s all I can say, it’s going to go down to the very wire at Homestead.  Hopefully, we’re on the best end of it.” How do you move forward from today’s race? “Well, the important thing for me is I’m going to have to put this behind me and when I head out on the airplane this afternoon I’ve got to leave Phoenix in Phoenix and move on.  So, it’s frustrating.  Gosh, I can’t tell you how frustrated I am right now.” Will it be hard to sleep and concentrate this week? “No.  I’ll be all right.  I’ll be okay.” What do you think went wrong at the end of the race?   “We were short on fuel so we had to stop.” Is frustration a challenge you’ll need to overcome as you head into the final race of the season? “It is.  For me I guess as soon as I leave Phoenix, I have to leave Phoenix in Phoenix.  That’s the thing is you can’t let this — I couldn’t control it.  I did everything I was supposed to do today.  Things didn’t work out for me.  All I can do is concentrate on next week once Monday comes and put it behind me.  So the thing is, it could have been a lot worse.  We could have lost the points lead.  But regardless, you never know what can happen in the final race.  I hate that it boils down to the final race, but that’s what fans love and things like that.  I felt like we’ve been the best car over this Chase and we might not win it.” Does going into the final race with the points lead give you confidence? “It does.  Trust me, I’d rather race next week knowing I need to go out there and I need to win the race than knowing I need to finish 15th.  That’s the mentality I’m going to have next week, is to win the race.  Full-court press will be on.  It will be one of those things where you’ll probably see me as aggressive as I’ve been all year.  It’s just one of those days that happens in racing.  That’s why we run these races.  Strategy is part of it.  Unfortunately, we just had the bad end of the strateg y today.” Was it bad strategy to not stop on that quick caution or was it just bad luck? “Well, we don’t know if it’s the final caution.  We could have made it.  There were a ton of guys that made it that pitted at the same time we did.  Usually, we hav e the best fuel mileage.  That part I just don’t understand.  I can save fuel pretty well.  But, I was never alerted to save fuel.  So, I assumed that everyone was going to have to pit.  I didn’t even think it was a question.   Like I said, I did my job.” Can you take any consolation in the fact that you dominated most of the race, or  will you think about this Monday? “Well, it’s a double-edged sword because if you run terrible all day and you finish 12th, you salvage something out of it.  Knowing that we had a very, very good points lead with 15 or 20 to go that quickly diminishes, it hurts.  It hurts when you have a car that can possibly win.  So for me, I wasn’t aware that anyone was going to try to stretch it and make it.  Mike (Ford, crew chief) didn’t make me aware that anyone was going to stretch it and make it so I went out there and ran as hard as I could.  Unfortunately, our car didn’t have as good of fuel mileage as everyone else’s.” How have you been able to get more speed in the second half of the Chase? “I press the gas down harder.  I mean, like I said, I told y’all I was going to step it up, and I’m doing what I said I was going to do.” Do you have a ‘control-alt-delete’ system in your head or will you need a patented Coach Gibbs pep talk to move forward? “I feel I’ve done a good job of that this year.  I won’t need a pep talk.  Of course, I’m going to be disappointed for the next couple hours.  But trust me, when I get home, I’m done with it.  I’m going to move on and try how to figure out how to win next week.  This is fuel for me.” Do you feel your results at Homestead will work in your favor next week? “If you look at stats, yeah, it’s good.  It looks good for us.  If you look at history, it looks good for us.  But, you never know what c an happen.  This stuff that happened today can happen next week and you can’t control it.  We just hope to have a clean race next week and the best car win.  That’s all that we can ask for to crown the champ.  That’s the thing, is I’m proud that we’ve stepped up our performance like we have over these last few weeks.  It’s very proud for me to be able to do that.  So, I’m just going to continue to keep digging as hard as I can go and try to beat those guys.  It’s going to be tough.  Those guys are going to be good.  We see that every week.  They’re top-five.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s going to take a win.

MIKE FORD, crew chief, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Did you discuss saving fuel with Denny Hamlin during the closing laps? “No, it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference — you weren’t going to save that amount of fuel.  Had you pit when the other guys pit there, we were still short.  Give up that track position and then try and save, you’re not moving forward any way and you’re going to end up probably further back at the end.  It was two bad spots for cautions to fall for us.” Are you confident heading into the season- finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the points lead? “It’s pretty straight forward.   You go down there and go for a win.  We’ve run well there, we won the last time there.  We came off a mile-and-a-half win last week, so I’m very confident in our package.  It’s going to  be an exciting, close race.  It’s one of those races where it’s going to come down to the end and we’re going to have to make the right decision.” Can you talk about having a dominant car and then the finish of today’s race? “It was encouraging, that was the best we’ve ever run here at Phoenix.  We had a good car and quite frankly that salvaged the day.   Had we not been way out front it would have been harder to gain spots and we probably wouldn’t have the points lead still if we didn’t have a good car.  That was very encouraging.  The mileage deal is discouraging.  Our mile-and-a-half program is fairly close to where it needs to be, but here today it was not.  Discouraging but to come out of here, we could have  — those results on the board could have been straight up racing from what we’ve run here in the past.  You can’t wish it to be any different.  The situation is what it was and I feel like we made the most of that situation to still maintain the points lead.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  13th

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  15th How was your race? “We started out a little too tight, but we were good and drove up to the front.   We just continue to lose grip and faded.  Still we put ourselves in position for a top-10 with our strategy until we cut a tire down leaving pit road.  That’s just kind of how our year has been. We’ll try to regroup and get back after it next week in Homestead.”

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Little Debbie/Safeway Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position:  22nd

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position:  26th

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  26th How was your race? “We just missed it today. The No. 00 TUMS Toyota held on early, but as the race went on we just kind of lost the handle on it. We were loose in and off, tight in the center all day and we just never got much of a chance to work on it any under caution to make it any better. That was a tough day and one I didn’t enjoy very much. I appreciate my guys sticking with me today and giving it all they had, but I just think we missed it today. We wanted to put together a great finish in our final TUMS race of the season, but it just didn’t work out today. I’d like to thank them for their support this year. We look forward to working with them again next season. We’re going to go back and try to finish the season out as strong as we can next week at Homestead-Miami.”

KASEY KAHNE, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  30th

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  35th

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 MAPEI/Menards Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Finishing Position:  33rd

MIKE BLISS, No. 55 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Finishing Position:  39th

LANDON CASSILL, No. 64 Empire Steel Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports Finishing Position:  40th

EDWARDS SWEEPS PHOENIX WEEKEND WITH CUP VICTORY

• Carl Edwards captured his 17th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win with today’s victory.

• The Cup win was the first for Edwards since he won at Homestead in the final race of 2008 (70 races).

• Edwards was first in all three Cup practice sessions, in addition to winning the pole and race this weekend.

• The last time a Ford driver swept a Nationwide/Cup weekend was in October 2008 when Edwards won the Nationwide race in Memphis and Sprint Cup event in Atlanta.

• The win was the 119th all-time NSCS win for Roush Fenway Racing.

• Today’s win was the 598th all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for Ford Racing.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – “It’s so cool to be able to go up there and celebrate with the fans.

That was really nice. I saw them unlocking the gate, that was very cool. I’ve got to thank Scott’s, Kellogg’s – I ate my Frosted Mini-Wheats this morning – Subway, when they gave me five to go I gave them the footlong – just everybody – Cessna Citation Service Centers and everybody for sticking with us. It’s been a long drought. It’s been really hard to keep our confidence up and this is what we needed.” YOU DID IT ON A SWEEP WEEKEND. “It’s unreal. It’s so neat.

It still doesn’t feel like this really happened. We needed this win.

This is very special. Once again, thank you Aflac. I really appreciate it. It’s just unreal and thanks to the fans.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Finished 4th) – “We weren’t that good, but the fuel mileage worked out for us at the end. We had a top-10 car, but we want to be better than that so we’ll keep working on it. Hopefully, we’ll run a little bit better in the spring and then they’re gonna repave it.” HOW DID PIT STRATEGY WORK OUT FOR YOU?

“We were planning on coming to get tires and there were only five cars behind us, so we came and got some tires.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Valvoline Ford Fusion (Finished 7th) – “We probably ran as good or better than our finish. We came and got two tires so we could make it on fuel there at the end and left a nut off the right-rear and had to come back and pit. We started behind all the lapped cars and never got another caution, so we just had to fight all those lapped cars and used our tires up. Some people had to pit at the end, so we got a decent finish, but we ran pretty good. I think if we wouldn’t have had to come back in, we probably had a top two or three car. The 16 finished fourth and we were ahead of all those guys, so I thought we would have been OK.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 25th) – “We just didn’t start the race out that great today. Our UPS team had good pit stops and made good adjustments, but our car was just better at the end than it was in the beginning. In traffic, we just didn’t have it right and we were all over the board setup-wise. This is one of our toughest tracks on the schedule and we know that. We’ll just have to take a look at this race, Loudon and Richmond, which are some of my favorite tracks, but we just don’t run quite as quickly as we should at these places. I’m looking forward to going to Homestead where I think we can contend for the win, and I’m proud of everyone today.”

CARL EDWARDS WINNER’S PRESS CONFERENCE

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – “It was a great day for us. The race started, I felt like we had the best car, and then here comes Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson, and I think their cars were better in the middle part of the race and Bob made really good adjustments, and then the track came to us a little bit, and then the thing that really saved us was our pit stall. That’s something we talked a little bit here on Friday. We understand that we have to qualify better and that first pit stall is what kept us up there with that track position, so my guys did a good job on pit road.

The pit stall was good. Bob made good adjustments, and then at the end to make the fuel mileage work out, that was a little stressful but it worked.”

BOB OSBORNE, Crew Chief – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – “It’s great that we were able to get back to Victory Lane, for sure. We started out decent, a little bit on the free side and struggled with that most of the race. Definitely, the 11 car came up through the field quickly and the 18 shortly following him, so we saw early on that the 11 and the 18 were going to be the competition for us anyway at that point.

Like Carl said, some adjustments, conversation back and forth on how the car was handling and what adjustments worked earlier in the race and made some decent adjustments right there on that last pit stop.

And then the Ford Fusion gets great fuel mileage and that went our way with the golden foot over here, so everything worked out.”

JACK ROUSH, Car Owner – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – “It had been far too long since we’d been in Victory Circle with Carl. Everybody expects Carl to win as Carl expects to win, so Bob and I had been working behind the scenes to try to figure out how to get that to happen. The Ford support that we’ve got for our simulations has really come into play. It’s been good. The new FR9 engine that Ford helped us with certainly was a factor today, at least early on before we started saving gas, and then the fact that we were able to save the gas and he still had enough speed to maintain his position on the race track was all very good. I’m thrilled to be here. The pit crew did a nice job and the adjustments were just spot on that Carl and Bob worked out together, so I’m just proud to be here and share the moment.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – WHAT DOES A WIN DO FOR NEXT YEAR? “ A win is very important to us. It’s a big accomplishment for us. It’s something that we needed for our confidence and we needed it as a payoff for all the hard work that the guys put in at the shop and the engine department. It would be nice to get another one at Homestead, but to go into the off-season knowing that we’re getting better and it looks like we have a really legitimate shot to finish fourth in the points, to be in the All-Star Race next season, to have that energy going forward – all of those things are good.”

JACK ROUSH CONTINUED – ARE YOU CONFIDENT YOU ARE CAUGHT UP? “First off what occurs to me is too late smart? We didn’t realize we needed to build something. We thought we finished last year with sufficient momentum to be able to get in this year and do what we needed to do and early on we figured out that the things we tried to predict didn’t work, and some of the things we tried to simulate didn’t work out as well as they needed to. We were waiting for our FR9 engine and we needed a little more work on the aero side of the car. Throughout the year, the engineers worked hard on the aero piece. We had a problem with vibration that bit us last weekend with Greg Biffle’s car and we’ve had two weeks of testing on an independent race track to evaluate that. We think we’ve got a handle on the vibrations and we wish the year would not end, but I certainly feel like all the sponsors will enjoy the moment. Aflac certainly will and all of Carl’s other sponsors as well as the sponsors for the rest of Roush Fenway will certainly bask in the glory of this moment. We’re headed off to Homestead with one more opportunity to win a Nationwide race and another opportunity to win a Cup race. That track has been very good for us, so it’s really gonna end our year. Unless we stub our toes at Homestead, it’s gonna end our year on a great note and that will give us something to go through winter on even though we can’t celebrate a championship.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WINNING ON FUEL MILEAGE?

“I don’’t know the analogy, but it feels like you’re putting yourself out there and you’ve chosen this path and you’re just hoping that everything works out, that the race goes the distance and the amount of fuel that I was saving, I was hoping that was the right amount. I think Jack put it best when he came over to reach in the window and said, ‘I forgot what that felt like until that feeling in my stomach came on with two laps to go and then I remembered.’ When he said that, my stomach was still hurting from the nervousness because there’s so much to be gained by winning a race and it’s such a gutsy call to stay out there and try to stretch the fuel that you just have to sit and wait. Those are some long laps those last few laps.” YOU PITTED THE SAME TIME DENNY AND KYLE DID. WHEN DID YOU START SAVING FUEL AND HOW MUCH DID YOU THINK YOU HAD TO SAVE? “I wasn’t sure exactly what our status was. I don’t think Bob wanted to say it over the radio or he just didn’t want to tell me, but I didn’t know what was going on. I thought we were 12 short and then the caution came out, so I thought we were maybe six short or something like that. So when they dropped the green I started racing pretty hard and I felt like I was a little faster than Denny, but then I realized that maybe he was saving a little fuel, so I better save some, so I was saving.

And then Kyle was falling back even farther behind me and I thought, ‘OK, these guys are all saving fuel,’ and then Bob started telling me lap times. I thought, ‘Why is he telling me lap times? Maybe he wants me to race here.’ So we had to establish the fact that he wanted me to race then, so that’s when we drove by Denny. I don’t know if he was saving fuel then or not or if he was already resigned to having to pit, but I only saved fuel for about half of that last run.” HOMESTEAD HAS BEEN SO GOOD AND WHAT IS YOUR VIEWPOINT OF THE THREE-WAY BATTLE AHEAD OF YOU? “I think the battle we’ve got on the top of the point standings is really good for the sport and I think there are gonna be some really happy people and some really, really not happy people at Homestead. Without any personal favoritism in any way, I still feel that Jimmie Johnson is the guy to beat. He’s been through this kind of pressure a number of times and been able to perform, so I still think he’s the guy to beat, but with everything that can happen in a 400-mile race at Homestead, it’s gonna be an amazing race. If we look at how Matt ran at Texas, Matt could have been victorious at Texas. I felt like we were pretty fast for some of the day at Texas, so our mile-and-a-half program is almost as good as it’s ever been and it’s getting better, so I’m pretty excited to go to Homestead. Ford Championship Weekend has been huge for us in the past. It’s been very good.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – WHAT’’S GOING ON WHEN YOU”RE GOING THROUGH THE STANDS? “People are wound up. Fortunately, they all seem to be fans of mine, but everybody is really excited. I had never really considered doing that until that gate was open at Texas – the hole in the fence there at Texas was right in front of me, so I thought, ‘Well, we’ll see how this goes.’ The wrestler, John Cena, he was at a Gillette commercial shoot with us a few years ago and he did that.

There were some fans there and they just couldn’t believe he did it, so that’s kind of what sparked the idea. Those two times I’ve done that, I’ll never forget those. It’s really neat to go up there. I would highly recommend it to anybody. It feels really neat.” WHAT THOUGHTS GO THROUGH YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU’RE 0-FOR-70? “A lot of them and none of them are good. I have a lot of confidence. Jack has a lot of confidence, Bob does too, and we all work very hard, so we expect out of ourselves and people around us, we expect to win. We’ve had a lot of success before and with that comes a little more expectation, not just from the outside, but from within. I’m very proud at how our team has come together through this past two years since we’ve won, and I’m very proud to be a part of this team because we very easily could have fallen apart. Instead, we just kept working and here we are in Victory Lane, fourth in points, salvaging a season

that did not begin well, so I’m just proud of everybody.” DID YOU

GET THE CHECKERED FLAG BACK? “I think I actually hit somebody with the checkered flag. I kind of threw it and it didn’t fly like I thought it was going to, but somebody got the checkered flag up there.”

JACK ROUSH CONTINUED – WILL YOU GO UP THERE WITH CARL SOME TIME? “I don’t know. I’m not sure people like me as well as they do you (laughter). I’ve got a spotted past, so I’m not sure how it would work out for me.” DOES THIS RAISE THE WATER LEVEL FOR ALL THE TEAMS AND ATTRACTING NEW MONEY INTO THE SPORT? “I think that the chase and Brian France’s chase has been really good for the sport. We’ve been in the final hunt. We haven’t won a race since the chase started, but we’ve been up there and fought for it on numerous occasions. I think

this year will be remembered as a very good year. At this point,

we’re not there, but we’ll try to be there next year. But I think the changes that they’ve made on the chase are good and I know they’re looking at some other things that might even heighten the excitement even more.”

BOB OSBORNE CONTINUED – DID YOU EXPECT SOME OF THE SMACK TALK BETWEEN CREW CHIEFS? DO YOU EXPECT MORE OF THAT? “It’s hard to say. A lot of that is kind of a mind game. I personally know Mike and he’s not an overly-arrogant fellow, so my guess is they’re gonna banter back and forth and see who crumbles.” WHAT WERE YOU THINKING AS FAR AS FUEL MILEAGE? “It was a gamble at the end of the day. We rely on Jack quite a bit for calculating the fuel mileage and Kevin, the team engineer to calculate the fuel mileage, and both of them said we were short by a various number of laps. That’s when it comes into trying to keep Carl informed on how many laps short we are and use his best judgment on whether he can save that many laps or not. It’s either, ‘Yeah, I can save that many laps,’ and we take the gamble, or, ‘Positively, no way I can save that many laps,’ and we decide to come up with a strategy to pit.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – “I have a strategy for saving fuel that I don’t talk about, but I have a good strategy and it works for me. I don’t even tell Bob what I do.”

JACK ROUSH CONTINUED – WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THE THREE CONTENDERS GOING INTO NEXT WEEK? “I feel a little bit like Carl, I don’t know if I should give them advice because we’ll have to race against them next year, but based on my experience with Mark and the other things that have happened to us in our championship runs that have been unsuccessful, if you make a lunge for life, if you take a desperate chance on something new that you think would be better, it very seldom works out. You should stay with the people that got you there and continue to do the same things procedure-wise and process-wise that you have most success with. It’s real easy. It’s the same advice we give the pit crews before the race and sometimes during the race. ‘Don’t just try to do something that’s Herculean and unreal because it’s gonna be unreal and you’re not gonna be able to do it,’ and you just have a bad stop. The same thing applies to the management of the team, I think.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

KOBALT TOOLS 500

PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES

November 14, 2010

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 U.S. ARMY VETERANS DAY CHEVROLET – FINISHED 2^ND

HOW WAS YOUR RACE TODAY?:  “We did have a good car – the US Army Chevrolet was pretty good all day long.  I have to apologize to Jeff Burton – I got into him there a little bit on one of those restarts.  Veteran’s Day paint scheme – have to thank all the veterans out there, especially US Army.  Proud to represent them and thinking about my buddy (Michael) Schumacher over there in Pomona and we’ll go try to get them one more time in Homestead.  A great run and great effort for the team today.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED 5^TH:

WHAT ALL DID YOU DO TO CONSERVE FUEL?: 

“I did anything I could to stay out of the throttle.  Gave up a couple positions at the end, but driving to pit road I thought maybe I should have fought a little harder for those two spots because right now every point counts.  Just a solid performance.  We ran well all day long – our pit stops were phenomenal and kept us out of trouble a lot because of the great stops on pit road.  We had to work whatever magic we could there at the end and saved fuel and got it done.  We have one heck of a points race going to Miami.  I’m pumped.  I’m so happy to put pressure on that 11 (Denny Hamlin) team – we’re ready to race for this thing.”

WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET FOR HOMESTEAD?: 

“I know what my mindset is and I hope the pressure of us being on his (Denny Hamlin) heels really works on his mind throughout the course of the week – he and his crew.  Those guys better be on their toes.  Not only do they have the 48 to worry about, but they have the 29 (Kevin Harvick) and one race winner take all – it’s going to be one hell of a show.”

WAS IT DIFFICULT TO CONSERVE FUEL TODAY?: 

“At the end, that was tough to do, but it actually worked out for us.  We had a good car today – we ran in the top-four, top-six throughout most of the day, but unfortunately didn’t have the pace that we needed to get up there and race for the win and lead a lap.  I think today showed what this team is made of and we’re fighting, kicking to try to get every point we can and we’re ready for this final race.”

ARE YOU GOOD AT SAVING FUEL?: 

“It’s tough to do and at this track it seems like I can do a decent job of it. I tried it at Pocono a time and it always seems to work out to be a fuel mileage race at Pocono and I always seem to not save enough fuel.  It has worked here and at this point in the year, it’s important to get to the finish line.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE DRIVING 89 LAPS ON ONE TANK OF FUEL?  YOU HAD TO TURN OFF THE FANS, YOU HAD TO CONSERVE, YOU COULDN’T USE BRAKES, WHAT ELSE?

“I did anything I could to stay out of the throttle. We gave up a couple of positions at the end and when driving to pit road I thought man, I should have fought a little harder for those two spots because right now every point counts. But it was just a solid performance. We ran well all day long. Our pit stops were phenomenal and kept us out of trouble and kept us out of trouble a lot because of the great stops on pit road. And then we had to work whatever magic we could there at the end and save fuel and got it done and we have one heck of a points race going into Miami. I’m pumped. I’m so happy to put pressure on that No. 11 team (Denny Hamlin). We’re ready to race.”

YOU’RE STILL THE HUNTER WITH 15 POINTS BACK GOING INTO THE ONLY CHASE TRACK YOU’VE NEVER WON AT. WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET?

“I know what my mindset is and I hope that the pressure of us being on his heels really works on his mind throughout the course of the week, he and his crew. These guys better be on their toes. Not only to they have the No. 48 to worry about, but they have the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) and it’s going to be a hell of a show.”

WHAT A DAY. HOW WAS IT MENTALLY, UNDERNEATH THE HELMET, KNOWING THAT YOU HAD TO SAVE FUEL AND TRY TO GET POINTS BACK?

“Yeah, at the end that was tough to do. Fortunately it worked out for us. We had a good car today. We ran in the top four and top six throughout most of the day. Fortunately we didn’t have the pace we needed to get up there and race for the win and then lead a lap. But I think today shows what this team is made of. We’ll fight and kick and scratch and get every point we can; and we’re ready for this final race.”

WHEN YOU ARE TOLD TO SAVE FUEL, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO?

“It’s tough to do. At this track it seems like I can do a decent job of it. I try it at Pocono all the time and it seems to work out to be a fuel mileage race at Pocono and I never save enough fuel. So I’m glad that it worked here. Certainly this time of the year it’s important to get to the finish line.

DID YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS AS TO WHETHER OR NOT YOU COULD MAKE IT?

“We started early enough thinking about fuel, to where I felt comfortable that we had a chance. There are times when a crew chief will tell you with 10 to go, save fuel, save fuel, we’ve got to save fuel, and you’re like right, there’s not a chance. Both Michigan races last year come to mind when I think of that. But today we got a head start on it. I started conserving fuel early. And you can do it over a long period of time, it’s just impossible to do it over a short period of time.”

TALK ABOUT HOW YOU RAN TODAY

“We didn’t run like we wanted to today. We ran well and have nothing to be disappointed in but a good day right now isn’t going to get it done. You have to have a great day. So the fact that the fuel mileage was there today and got us in position to go to Homestead and really race for this and to put a lot of pressure on that No. 11 (Hamlin) is the biggest thing working for us right now. And the fact that we reduced that point lead? I hope he has a hell of a time sleeping all week and I hope he hears every rattle in that car (laughs) and everything that you can imagine at Homestead.”

HOW MUCH OF A CONCERN IS IT THAT DENNY HAMLIN WAS SHOWING PERFORMANCE TODAY LIKE YOU USUALLY DO AT PHOENIX AND ALSO THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS?

“It’s a reality we’re facing. They seem to have a little bit more pace than we do right now. But I think today showed that we’re not over; it’s not over until the last lap and we’re not going to quit trying and we made it work. We made chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what and had a good finish.”

HOW DID THE PIT SWAP WORK FOR YOU TODAY?

“The pit stops were great today. The guys really stepped up in a very tough situation and did their job and truthfully, their good pit stops kept us up front all day long because we struggled a little bit on track. We could run fourth to sixth but that was kind of it. And their stops really kept us towards the front.”

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO PEOPLE WHO QUESTION YOUR PERFORMANCE AT HOMESTEAD?

“I’m not sure why that’s even relevant. If you look at points accumulated over the course of the Chase, I think that will speak volumes as to what type of Chase took place. I know we’ve been competitive, but not as dominant as we wanted to all year long. We’ve got to go down there and race for it; there’s no doubt about it. I continue to hear that the No. 48 hasn’t had to race for it before and we’ve raced for it all Chase long.

“Maybe at Homestead we’ve been able to protect, but we certainly know that’s not the case this year and I love where we are. I love putting pressure on these guys and in fact I’m glad we cut their lead in half.”

CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 CHEVROLET – FINISHED 5^TH

HOW DID YOU PULL OFF 89 LAPS ON ONE TANK OF GAS FOR THE FINISH?:  “The guys did a really good job.  With the fuel numbers that we had, we were going to be pretty close when we stopped with 88 to go.  As soon as we took off, I told Jimmie (Johnson) to go ahead and save fuel and start saving at that point.  Obviously you can’t predict what’s going to happen, when the caution came out just a couple laps into it, that definitely helped us a lot and Jimmie saved a lot of fuel at that point. 

“With about 25 to go, we were listening to the Gibbs cars and we knew that they were going to be light so with 25 to go, I told him to go ahead and start backing off some more; and then once the 11 (Denny Hamlin) and 18 (Kyle Busch) pitted, then I knew that we could start laying back and making sure we made it.  It turned out great, it was a great race.  The KOBALT race here was awesome and it’s cool to have them as a sponsor and the fans saw one hell of a race.”

YOU ROLLED THE DICE THERE AND PUT IT ALL ON THE LINE, KIND OF DO OR DIE?

“Well, it was; but based on the numbers that we had, we figured it out right after we stopped, I told Jimmie to start saving fuel at that point. He obviously did a good job in saving fuel. We were only a half a lap short based on the fuel numbers that we had and so we were pretty good at that point. When that caution came out, I felt pretty confident we were going to make it. As soon as the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) pitted, we really backed him down just to make sure and it turned out great.

WERE YOU NERVOUS?

“I was nervous until five (laps) to go and at that point the bet was made. So there were no nerves after that.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP WAS ON THE LINE

“It’s on the line every day.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL CHEVROLET – FINISHED 6^TH

“I kind of got over it (feeling emotionally down) after about 15 laps and just started driving the car again. And it all worked out in the end. The guys thought we were really close on fuel and they thought we could make it, no problem. But they were still a little bit nervous about it and our mistake (missing lugnut) wound up being one of the things that kept us going.”

YOU CAME BACK AND ALMOST WON THE RACE

“Yeah, I’m not going to lie to you. I was down. And they just kept harping at me and then I finally just kept at it and when I heard them say we were good on fuel I knew we at least had a chance just for the fact that the race tended to have a lot of green flag runs today.”

TALK ABOUT THE EMOTIONS, DO YOU FEEL A SENSE OF RELIEF RIGHT NOW?

“Well, our mistake wound up being something that gained us more points than if we would have not made the mistake. We just kept after it and wound up getting an okay day.

“I didn’t ever know that it would come down to the last race and I guess it’s 46 points, I don’t know how far it is from first to second (15 points), but that’s what we race for. An hour ago I would have told you we were done. But now we stand here talking about gaining 11 or 13 (points) or whatever we gained today and we’ll go down there (Homestead-Miami Speedway) and still have a shot.”

ON THE PIT STOP

“I wasn’t really mad. I was just disappointed because I thought that it all had come out from underneath us. But in the end our mistake is the thing that gained us ground today.”

HOW RELIEVED ARE YOU TO BE IN THIS POSITION AFTER THE DAY YOU HAD?:  “We’re just lucky to be honest with you.  These guys on pit road, they do a great job and just made a mistake.  I was pretty down and thought, there it went.  Richard (Childress, team owner) and Gil (Martin, crew chief) were just like, ‘keep at it, you never know what’s going to happen.’  Then they told me that I could make it on gas and the car just didn’t handle very well in traffic.  Once we got up towards the front, it was handling pretty good and the further towards the front that it got, the better the car got.  We dodged one for sure and still have a chance next week so that’s all you can ask for.”

HOW DOES THE SHOWDOWN FOR HOMESTEAD FEEL?:  “I don’t know how many points it is, but I will take these guys up against anybody.  I believe those guys on pit road can do the best job and I never said a word about anything on the pit stop because they’ve done such a good job over the last four weeks and we just have to keep doing that.  Our car will be fast next week, it was fast this week – not quite as good as the 99 (Carl Edwards) or the 11 (Denny Hamlin), but we never really got to restart up there with them.  Just have to thank Richard and Gil for keeping me pumped up after I got a little down and we hung with them.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR RACE TODAY?:  “To be honest with you, I was pretty down when we had the pit stop problem.  Gil (Martin, crew chief) and Richard (Childress, team owner) just kept harping at me to stay after it, stay after it and I got over it about 15 laps into the run there and we started picking them off.  They told me it was going to be close on gas and just to be easy on the throttle.  The race had those tendencies to go green  today so we gained points and that’s all you can ask for, not matter how you did it.”

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO IN HOMESTEAD?:  “We just have to be aggressive.  That’s been a great race track, statistically, which is something you guys like to use.  It’s our best race track on the circuit, so we’re looking forward to it.”

GIL MARTIN, CREW CHIEF, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH:

DID LOSING THE MISSING LUGNUT ACTUALLY PLAY IN YOUR FAVOR? “I know there is no stress test a Dr. could give you to prepare you for right there. The guys on pit road did a great job all day long and at Texas last week. There won’t be any crew changes on our deal; those guys are doing a fabulous job. I mean it was an emotional roller coaster right there. At the end we would have had to have gotten gas or slowed up like the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) did. When we were running 13th, it wouldn’t have done us any good if we would have just started falling back. It worked out about as best as it could work out. Coming out of here with a sixth place and gaining 13 points, going to Homestead just 46 points out…hey man, we’re in this thing. I think we still have it.”

THAT IS WHY YOU RUN THE LAPS, RIGHT? “That’s why you run the race.”

DID YOU EXPECT IT TO BE THIS CLOSE GOING TO HOMESTEAD? “Yes, because all three of these teams are that good. It is going to take a mistake. It is going to take a flat tire or something like that to make something happen. I think next week it is going to be every man for himself. It will probably be wild next week. I’m looking forward to it.”

WERE YOU PROUD OF HOW THE TEAM RECOVERED FROM IT? “Shoot yes. That pit crew did a great job. It didn’t faze them; it won’t faze them next week. All it will make them do is be better next week.”

SO THE LUGNUT SITUATION ULTIMATELY SAVED YOU GUYS? “Well, it didn’t hurt. As it turned out, because it went green, it didn’t kill us. We were able to keep running and it didn’t kill us because we had gas to make it to the end. We had to check-up and save there for just a little while just to make certain if there was a green-white-checkered that we had fuel because we would have been dead in the water if a caution had come out with about six to go because one, we wouldn’t have had tires like Denny and a couple one of them probably had to stop and get. And two, we probably wouldn’t have had the fuel to run the green-white-checkered. So, it probably cost us four points for not passing the No. 48 there, but the 60 points we would have lost if we would have run out of gas, we wouldn’t be in contention next week. You will still be able to talk about us next week, we’re not out yet.”

DID YOU RUN OUT? “We didn’t run out, no. We just wanted to make sure we didn’t. We wanted to make sure we have enough for a green-white-checkered. Man, what can you say, we lived to fight another day.”

WAS THE LUGNUT MISSING? “Yes, one was missing. Knocked one off the left rear but he does a great job back there on the back, that guy is one of the best in this garage area. He’ll come back stronger than ever next week. He’ll be fine.”

HOW DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS STACK UP TO THE OTHER TWO AT HOMESTEAD? “I think we’re better than both of them.”

DOES IT BOTHER YOU THAT THE NO. 11 (DENNY HAMLIN) HAS SHOWN STRENGTH THE LAST TWO WEEKS? “Well, I would have liked to see how we would have run up there with them when we were third. Clean air is king. It is good for a tenth or a tenth and a half, we all know that, everywhere we go. We fought our way through traffic twice right there so we obviously had to have a pretty good car right there and Kevin did a good job. Homestead is a great track for Kevin. We ran excellent there last year. We have a brand new car we are taking there. We are looking forward to it.”

HOW DID YOU KEEP KEVIN CALM? “Well, I was just trying to let him know that the one advantage that we did have is that if it went green, we could make it. We knew the No. 11 and them couldn’t make it because one, they probably didn’t get as good a gas mileage as we did and two, they were running too hard, they were going to burn their fuel down. Everybody was calling for debris and we kept making sure we were on the radio saying there was no debris out there. Calling every corner (and) just trying to ensure him that we could make it if it went green. If it didn’t, we were sitting there with 12 lap better left tires, so a two tire change would have been good for us so we would have had an opportunity to get track position there. We were kind of in good shape for a very small window with around 12 to go to 15 to go because if Denny had gotten a caution right then, we would have been in big trouble. That didn’t happen. I can’t believe we went that long here at the end at Phoenix, but we did.”

About Chevrolet

Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., the Chevrolet portfolio includes: iconic performance cars, such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long lasting pickups and SUVs, such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, such as Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly” solutions, such as the upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco model that is expected to deliver up to an estimated 40 mpg highway, and 2011 Chevrolet Volt that will offer 25-50 miles of electric driving and an additional 310 miles of extended range with the onboard generator (based on GM testing).  Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security, and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response, and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010

Dodge Motorsports PR

Phoenix Int’l Raceway

Kobalt Tools 500

Post-Race Quotes

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

ddarnell@darnellcommunications.net

ssebastian@darnellcommunications.net

Tweets by TeamDodge

www.media.chrysler.com

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Finished Ninth “We’ll take the top-10 finish. Our Miller Lite Dodge was a little temperamental today. We did our job on Friday (in qualifying) to get a solid starting position (third) and we just weren’t able to capitalize on the early track position that we had. After the second stop, we kept working on the Miller Lite Dodge with air and wedge adjustments and the car didn’t react the way that we needed it to. Most of the middle of the race we just fought tight in, loose in the center and loose off, and it cost us too much track position. Around lap 235, we pitted for a second time after 10 laps or so to get back to an earlier combination that the car liked. From there, the car really responded and it was obvious that it may come down to fuel mileage. Steve (Addington, crew chief) said we were good to go to the end (of the race) and if it stayed green, we could make it on fuel. It was a solid day, but we need to get a better balance on the car. For us, it comes down to working on getting the front end to work better in the center of the corner.”

TRAVIS GEISLER (Crew Chief, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) Finished 32nd ”The first run of the race wasn’t very good for us, we faded a little bit. The second run, we made some adjustments and got ourselves back up to 22nd, ran there for a couple of runs and felt like we were going to be in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, we got off a little bit and it happened to be the longest run of the race, so we ended up a lap down. Then, we had some contact with the 98 and had to pit for a tire rub. It just kind of unraveled a little bit on us. It seemed like we were going to get it together for a decent run with the Mobil 1 Dodge, but it just didn’t work out. We’ll get after it for Homestead and see if we can end this on a positive note.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (NO. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) Finished 42nd “Just a tough deal for this Penske Dodge team today. This was a brand new car that the guys built and I hate to see us get into the wall like that so early in the race. We felt that we had a really solid race car heading into today. Obviously, it didn’t go the way that we wanted.

“No real warning that the right-front was about to let go. It was just a last minute deal heading down the front stretch that surprised us. It looks like it was some sort of weird tire failure that I’ve never seen before. I’m not sure what happened. We’ll have to go back with Goodyear and figure out what happened. Just a strange, strange deal for sure.”

Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion, is being sponsored by the Paralyzed Veterans of America this weekend.  As part of the Veteran’s Day holiday, Sadler’s car has a special paint scheme that encourages fans to donate on behalf of the PVA.  Fans can text ‘4Vets’ to 25383 to make a $10 donation, or can visit www.pva.org/ttg for more information.  Sadler spoke about what this program means to him on Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway.

ELLIOTT SADLER – No. 19 Paralyzed Veterans of America Ford Fusion – “It’s neat for me to be able to stand beside Richard Petty and address the crowd and remind them of the vets and what they did for our country.  We just had Veteran’s Day and we had a lot of people sacrifice a lot of things in their life to give us the freedom and the hope to do whatever we want to do in this country week in and week out, and especially to be able to race like we are here this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.  It’s cool for us to be involved with PVA, the Paralyzed Veterans of America because they do so much for vets as far as rehabilitation, job searching and helping them get their lives going in the right direction.  Richard Petty leads so much by example and it’s so neat to be able to stand side-by-side with him for such a great cause.  Now we’re getting the fans involved in it and NASCAR fans are the best.  Anytime you call or need some help, especially with some charity stuff, they’re always the first to jump in line and do what they can to help.  This is a great weekend for us.” 

DO YOU HAVE ANY VETERANS IN YOUR FAMILY?  “Oh yeah.  I definitely have family that served in a couple of different wars and they’ve given their time and commitment to different branches of the Armed Forces.  I had a stint with the U.S. Air Force for a couple of years back when I drove for the Wood Brothers and now we have the U.S.

Air Force again on the car this year with the 19 car, and now the relationship we have with the PVA.  I definitely have a lot of different connections in a lot of different areas and have met a lot of cool people that have fought for our country and given up their lives to help others.  Everytime I tell people, if you can just take the time to say thank you to a man or woman in uniform, it just means so much to them.  It was a part of my family and I think it’s a part of a lot of people’s families across the United States and it’s something to definitely be proud of.” 

YOUR FUSION HAS A NEW LOOK AS WELL THIS WEEK.  “It’s beautiful.  It’s awesome.  They did a great job with the design of it.  It’s with and Carolina Blue, which I’m very happy about that.  It shows up pretty well on the race track and more than anything to have that Veterans name and logo on our race car is something to be proud of.  It’s something our team can cherish and say we were a part of helping vets this weekend.” 

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS WEEKEND ON THE TRACK?  “We’ve seen a lot of emotion in our sport the last couple of weeks and we’ve seen a lot of jawing going back and forth, and I think this is part of that ‘boys have at it’ mentality that we talked about even before we went to the Daytona 500.  Even guys and past champions that are not involved much more in the chase like a Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon showing their emotions at Texas, to the three guys that are in the chase right now.  It’s great racing.  I think this is the best year we’ve had in a long time as far as being competitive on the race track with a lot of different winners and a lot of different guys sitting on poles, a lot of different guys leading laps and definitely the closest race we’ve had so far in chase history with three drivers.  So there are a lot of cool things going on right now.  Phoenix is a very tough race track to pass.  Track position is very, very important.  The three guys in the championship chase didn’t qualify as well as they probably would have liked, so pit strategy is going to be very big on Sunday.  Who knows?  That’s why we race.  These guys are gonna have to race hard and who knows who is gonna come out with the points lead on Sunday night?  We don’t know.”

YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS SOME CARS TO GET TO THE FRONT AS WELL.  HOW CAN YOU DO THAT HERE?  “You’ve got to have a fast car and you’ve got to be able to turn under the guys in turn one and two and have good forward bite off.  We might try some two-tire stuff.  We might try staying out every once in a while – any little thing on a short track is definitely magnified because of track position.  If you watched our qualifying times, this is the closest qualifying field we’ve ever had on a mile track in NASCAR history, so the competition is very tight.  All of the cars are running pretty close to the same speed, so track position and strategy with the crew chief is gonna make a difference on Sunday.” 

WHAT SHOULD THE FANS LOOK FOR TOMORROW?  “This is close quarters racing.  This is a narrow race track, especially coming off of turn four.  They’re gonna see a lot of paint being traded and I think they’re gonna see a lot of sheet metal being bent by the end of the day.  But I think it’s gonna be neat as far as the championship side of it, you’re gonna see who is gonna be conservative, who is gonna play defense, who is gonna play offense.  From the rest of the field, we’re getting towards the end of the season and everybody wants to try to get a win and make a statement to make their teams feel better going into the winter, so I think you’ll see a lot of aggression out there – a lot more taking than giving – so it should be a very good race here at Phoenix.  The track gets very slick during the middle of the daytime.  The groove is really wide now in turns three and four, so I think you’ll see good, hard racing and you’re gonna see some attitudes and I think you’ll still see that emotion like we saw last week at Texas.” 

MAYBE YOU CAN SLIDE YOUR WAY PAST EVERYONE AND GET IN VICTORY LANE.  “That’s my plan.  We’re gonna go and run the best we can.  We are in a position where we can take chances and throw caution to the wind and whatever happens, happens.  That’s the attitude we’re gonna have.”