Category: NASCAR Cup Series

Denny Hamlin (eighth) was the highest finishing Camry driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at California’s Auto Club Speedway.  

David Reutimann (10th), Joey Logano (11th) and Martin Truex Jr. (18th) also finished in the top-20 in the 200-lap race at the two-mile Southern California oval.   Other Toyota drivers in the field included Scott Speed (24th), Casey Mears (25th), Reed Sorenson (27th), Kevin Conway (31st), Marcos Ambrose (33rd), Kyle Busch (35th), Joe Nemechek (37th), Landon Cassill (40th) and Jason Leffler (43rd).   Hamlin remains second in the unofficial NSCS point standings and trails current leader Jimmie Johnson by 36 points after four events in the 10-race 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoff.  Busch fell two spots to ninth- place — 187 points behind Johnson.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  8th Are you frustrated with your finish today?   “I needed it to go green that last 20 laps.  We were catching the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and those guys.  I felt like we were going to finish third or fourth.  Just got those restarts.  That was our Achilles heel all day — we’d lose three or four spots every lap for the first couple and then we would make them back up.  A little bit frustrated.  All in all it’s a decent day.  Can’t be too disappointed with it — especially from where we started.  It’s somewhat uplifting that we got out of here with a top-10 day.  On the other hand, we felt like we at least could have raced those guys.”   What do you think about the way other Chase drivers — like Tony Stewart — have picked up wins?   “There in a position where they’ve got nothing to lose.  It’s all or nothing for them.  I told you all two weeks ago in Dover that Tony (Stewart) could catch fire at any time.  It’s not surprising for me.  That’s a great race team and Tony (Stewart), obviously knows how to step up when it’s game time.” Were you handicapped by having to start at the rear of the field after changing a transmission? “It was a little bit, but it wasn’t overwhelming.  It wasn’t something we couldn’t overcome.  We were in the top-10 by lap 50 or 60.  The next 150 laps we only gained two spots.  We had an up and down day but we definitely had a good car there at the end.   I was proud of the adjustments we made.” How were the restarts? “It was wild.  You’re in a position where a lot of guys are racing extremely hard, the guys that are just racing for nothing.  It’s a balance — it’s tough.  You don’t know how to approach racing some guys, but  its pretty much every man for himself out there.” How do you look at the point standings with more than half the Chase left? “We are in a decent spot — we’re not in a great spot.  We run better the second half of the Chase, we always have.  At this point to be within whatever amount of points we are, probably 50 or 60, I can take that and I can race him from there.”  EDITOR’S NOTE:  Hamlin is currently in second-place in the Chase standings, 36 points behind first-place Jimmie Johnson.

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  10th How was your race? “It was up and down.  We had a really good car.  We came from a pretty good ways back in the pack.  We got up inside the top- 10 then came down pit road, made no changes just changed four tires on it and it went to pieces.  We made a pretty big adjustment the next time — put tires on with some different codes and stuff like that then we had over adjusted for that.  One set wasn’t working well.  We spent the next couple runs putting it back.  It’s just disappointing when you have a really good car and you really bust your tail and you can’t even come down pit road and put four tires on the thing without it going to heck.  It happens, it’s just really discouraging.  I ended up battling back, should have been better than 10th, I just messed up coming off (turn) four and let two guys get by me.  All in all, it was good pit stops and ended up being a good day from the way it was looking like it was going to go.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  11th

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  18th How was your race? “It was a rough one.  We started really bad.  The guys worked on our NAPA Toyota and it actually got really, really good.  We were the fastest car on the track there for a long time.  We drove up fifth or sixth and then sitting there running in the top-10, having a decent day, working on our car and getting better and better.  Just got wrecked on pit road by the 20 (Joey Logano) car.   It was unfortunate.  You’ll have those things I guess.”

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  24th

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position:  25th

REED SORENSON, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  27th

KEVIN CONWAY, No. 7 Extenze Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Finishing Position:  31st

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Little Debbie Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position:  33rd

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  35th

Did you have any warning that something was wrong? “I wasn’t feeling anything.  There was just a weird pop off of turn two one time when I got to the throttle wide open and it blew the back of the hood seal between the hood and the cowl — it blew it up.  So, I don’t know what happened.  I said, ‘Well, that didn’t sound too good.  I’m not sure if it’s going to make it the rest of the race.’  Apparently, it didn’t.  Real unfortunate for all these guys and the way we were coming back right there with that run.  We finally got some adjustment in the car that made it were it was heading back towards the front and it just blew up.”

Can you put this disappointment in perspective? “No.  Not really.  On to another year.  It’s over.”

What happened? “Just engine failure, apparently knocked us out of the race.  The guys did a great job there adjusting on the car — getting it a lot better for us.  We had something there coming back forward and got to fifth, and it just blew up.  Real unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

What happened on the pit stop that put you back in the field? “We came back in to put a hose back on one of the ducts because it popped off.”

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Heat Redefined.com Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position:  37th

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

JASON LEFFLER, No. 66 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Finishing Position:  43rd

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PEPSI MAX 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES

October 10, 2010

 

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: TALK ABOUT THE GREAT TEAM EFFORT THAT WENT INTO YOUR WIN TODAY: “Oh man, they did an awesome. They did an unbelievable job in the pits that got us an opportunity again. Both races we have won, we have won because the pit crew gave us a chance and that is all you can ask for.”

WE SAW SOME FOUR, FIVE WIDE RACING, WHERE WAS YOUR CAR THE BEST?
“I don’t know, I was all over the track today trying to find different spots. It seemed like at the beginning of a run, and the later the day got, the more we could stay down on the bottom and be decent. I know Jimmie was running about a little over half way up in three and four. It depended on how long we ran; if we ran long enough, we were all on the top in one and two. It is just having the confidence to hunt around when you need it to and then get out of your comfort zone and move to a different spot.”

WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND WITH THAT LATE RACE CAUTION? “I wasn’t sure whether I was happy about it when I saw the caution or worried about it. I think more worried than anything because Jimmie (Johnson) was coming. I just knew the restart was going to be critical and if I could get through one and two and still have the lead off of two, then I would have a shot at it. We got a good restart picking the top there, Good thing Clint Bowyer was there to keep Jimmie honest and keep him busy and that just let us do our own thing the last lap and run our lines.”

DO YOU WORRY ABOUT POINTS AT ALL BEHIND THE WHEEL OF YOUR RACE CAR? “Nope!”

HARD FOUGHT BATTLE TODAY, BUT HOW DID YOU BEAT JIMMIE JOHNSON AT HIS HOUSE? “I knew we were going to have our hands full with him and thank goodness Clint Bowyer got up there and mixed it up and broke his momentum.  I tell you, this is kind of the best of highs and the lowest of lows this week—thinking about Shane Hmiel and our buddy Eric Saunders.  Eyers, I don’t know how you knew we were going to win this race buddy, but he called and told us yesterday that we were going to win.  I didn’t think we were good enough to do it, but man they did an awesome job.  To finally win for Gene and Margaret Haas at home here, this is their home race.  Man just glad to finally win one at California; I can knock this off the list of tracks I haven’t won at now.”

YOU GAINED FIVE POSITIONS IN THE POINTS TODAY, WHAT DID THIS WIN MEAN AS YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “We’re doing everything we can do.  We’re going to need some help, but we’re doing everything we can do.  I’m proud of these guys, and just so thankful.  Thank Hendrick Engines and Chassis, and everybody at Stewart Haas—they refuse to give up, they refuse to back down.  We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing here.  I’m glad to get Chevy the Manufacturers’ championship and to lock that up today.  Like I said, just thinking of Eric and Shane and guys back in Indianapolis.” 

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 THE HARTFORD CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2^ND: TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE, SOLID SECOND PLACE: “Yes it was. I didn’t need that caution to come out there. That piece of debris was back there the whole run, but finally a mysterious caution came out. Tony (Stewart) just beat us there at the end. The Hartford Chevrolet was good. It was a good day for us. We will regroup and hopefully get us another win.”

DISAPPOINTMENT BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU HAD A FEW LAPS AGO—THE LEAD—OR  HAPPINESS WITH WHERE YOU FINISHED?  “Both.  I’m happy for The Hartford Chevrolet, I’m happy to get things turned around.  After the last two weeks we had.  I’m frustrated.  I want to redeem myself.  We’re a race winning team and we need to go out and prove that that last one wasn’t a hoax.  You know, that mystery caution came out.  That piece of debris was out there the whole run.  It’s a shame, but I guess it made a better race out of it.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3^RD: YOU MAINTAINED THE POINTS LEAD, WAS IT AS MUCH FUN ON THE TRACK AS IT WAS WATCHING? “Yes it was. Especially if I would have been in victory lane. But, just an awesome race today. I think if it had stayed green at the end, we had a shot to get the No. 14 (Tony Stewart), But it didn’t turn out that way, there was a caution at the end with that wreck. Starting on the inside was kind of a problem for me. I just didn’t get going like I needed to. The No. 33 (Clint Bowyer) got there. Very proud of the effort today and for the finish. I can’t thank Lowe’s enough for letting the Jimmie Johnson Foundation on the car.

“One race down, still in the points lead, but a lot of racing left.”

EVERYONE IS ACCUSTOMED TO WATCHING YOU WIN HERE. A STRONG TOP-FIVE FINISH FOR YOU TODAY, WHAT POINT WAS THE DIFFERENCE?  “I think if it stayed green, this 48 car would have been in victory lane.  We were really catching Tony [Stewart] fast on the top side.  I just didn’t have anything on the bottom down in three and four; and on the restart that is what allowed Clint [Bowyer] to get inside of me and get by me.  Just a great performance.  Great day overall.  We certainly wanted to be in victory lane, but if we can finish in the top three week in and week out you’re going to have a shot come Homestead and that’s all we’re after.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TORNADOS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5^TH: A VERY GOOD DAY FOR YOU TODAY: “First off, congratulations to Tony (Stewart and his entire team. A great day for Stewart-Haas Racing. Can’t really complain a whole lot. The Tornados Chevrolet was really good. We started off tight and got it loose and then got it good at the end. Had a little beatin’ and bangin’ there with the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) car, not sure what his deal was. He caused us a little bit of damage and we had to fix that. His car was better down the straightaways that he was.”

HOW MUCH DID THE RACE TRACK CHANGE AS THE RACE UNFOLDED? “Not a ton I don’t think. Track position was definitely key because having clean air on the car made some more downforce and kept the tires a lot cooler.”

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST AUTO PARTS/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6^TH: ON HIS RACE: “It was nice to really be strong. I am really proud of how we ran today.  We had a great car. Would have like to have seem more racing at the end instead of all that, but I’m not going to complain. It’s been a long time since I had a race car that could win a race and that one could have won today under the right circumstances. So kudos to Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and everybody at the No. 5 car and Hendrick Motorsports for getting us back in the hunt. We hadn’t been in a while.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7^TH: ON YOUR RUN TODAY: It was a good day for our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet team, but it wasn’t great.  Our car was good on the long runs, but we struggled a little on restarts, and we had a couple of pit stops that hurt us.  I got busted for speeding on pit road, so all of us contributed to that finish.  But still, at the end of the day, with all of that, we finished 7th.  We need to stepit up, and we are still in striking distance in the points battle.”

 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9^TH: “It wasn’t the kind of day we were hoping for. Thinks are going pretty well for us and we’re hanging in there but honestly I think we were anywhere from a third to a fifth-place car, so to come home ninth, there’s no doubt, we need to get better. There’s no doubt. We’ve got to get better.”

WHEN THAT RED LIGHT GOES ON, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

“The red light I was fine with. We have some leeway in the system. Two red lights, and I would have been letting off. One red light, I do it all the time. Usually the way we have it is if it flashes two, then you’ve got to back off. But at one, you’re fine. We were just obviously too tight in the tolerances and I pushed it too far.”

YOU HAD A STRONG CHARGE THERE

“Yeah, I got through (Turns) 1 and 2 there on that last restart and there were guys who not come in and we took two (tires) and I just went to the top side but I had the No. 19 (Elliott Sadler) coming on the outside and the car stuck; I got in the gas and drove around some guys and just stuffed it in a hole that I really didn’t even think was there and we were all playing bumper cars down the back straightaway. It was pretty crazy. I kept hearing four or five wide and I just stayed in it. When we got into (Turn) 3 they spread out and gave me a hole and I had the better tires and I just shot right through there.”

20 LAPS TO GO AND YOU WERE 24^TH.  YOU FINSIHED EIGHTH—HOW’D IT  HAPPEN? “Well I didn’t think it was going to happen.  We restarted and we tried to free the car up because we were back in traffic, and that was definitely not the thing to do.  I was really loose just hanging on and we were not going forward.  Cautions fell right for us.  We put four tires on and Steve just made great adjustments and boom we were driving right through up there.  Then at the end he did another great call to get two tires.  I think we were five-, six-wide or something off of turn two and it got really narrow and hairy down there.  I got up behind my teammate Dale Jr. and made sure that he didn’t wreck, pushed him down the back stretch and drove by some more guys through three and four.  That was a really good finish.  It was totally my fault.  I just pushed it on the limit just a little bit too much coming down pit road and it was speeding.  It wasn’t by much, but it was enough to make us go to the back of the field and by that point in the race I thought we were done, so a great comeback by this entire DuPont / Pepsi Max Chevy [team]. 

REGAN SMITH, NO 78 FARM AMERICAN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12^TH:  ON TODAY’S FINISH: “Two tires worked for us. Pete (Rondeau, crew chief) made a really good call at the end. We had a good Farm American Chevrolet early but got back in dirty air and bad traffic. It was so tough back there. When we took the two tires (following caution on Lap 193) the car was pretty good. I was just lacking a little bit of grip to hold it for much more than that one lap. But to still maintain 12th was pretty good. I was pleased with that. It was just frustrating when you’re that close to a top-10 and not get it. We’re working hard as a team with Furniture Row Racing to get the company’s first top-10 monkey off our back and move on to bigger and better things. The last caution helped us. When we made our (two tire) move we knew we needed more cautions to make it work. We did get the cautions and it played out like you draw it up in a book. When I went into (turns) three and four and the car stuck pretty good I said  ‘maybe the clean air was going to be enough to do it for us’. Then went I went down into one and two I couldn’t hold the bottom like I want to and lost ground.  A good effort all-in-all for Farm American.com and Furniture Row Racing. 

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., the Chevrolet portfolio includes: iconic performance cars, such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long lasting pickups and SUVs, such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, such as Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security, and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response, and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Sunday, Oct. 10, 2010

Dodge Motorsports PR

Auto Club Speedway

Pepsi MAX 400

Post-Race Quotes

Tweets by TeamDodge

www.media.chrysler.com

SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) Finished 15th “It was a long day, that’s for sure. We weren’t very good on a long run. We could go OK for a couple of laps and move our way up. We just stayed out of trouble and made sure we could make it to the end. That’s what it took for us today. I could say I wish we had more restarts there at the end, but I’m glad we didn’t. It was just a matter of time, everybody was crawling all over each other, beating and banging. A tough race out there today. I wish we had been a little better with the Mobil 1 Dodge, but we did what we set out to do and that was bringing the car home in one piece. We started 37th and got a top 20 out of it. A pretty good day I guess.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Operation Home Front/Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Finished 21st “That shows just how fast things can change out there. We definitely did not need those late cautions. With 20 to go, it looked like we were going to come out of here with a solid top-10 finish, but it was not to be. We fought the car being too loose or too tight most of the day. Just a half-pound air pressure change would make the car go from sideways loose to really tight. We still looked to be a threat for a top-10 until we had the run-in with the 6 car (David Ragan). He just washed right up the track and pinned is into the wall. The left-front tire blew and we had to pit for repairs. We were running wounded out there on the last restart, but still made it back up from 30th to finish 21st. It could have been a really solid day here for the Miller Lite Dodge, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully, we can bounce back next week at Charlotte.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger) Finished 26th “I got in the wall a third of the way through the race and tore up the right rear quarter panel. The guys did a heck of a job fixing it. We were starting to climb back up through the field and splitter broke. We spent the rest of the race getting that fixed. We got it fixed and started making progress, but lost it at the end again. It was one of those days when absolutely nothing went right. Our car was actually decent, so it’s frustrating that we couldn’t get a better finish out of it.”

KASEY KAHNE – No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion (Finished 4th) – “We had been loose all day, but we were just a little bit tight there right at the end and those guys were a little better. They turned a little better than I did getting to the center and could roll faster, but it was still a great day by the team. All of the guys on my Budweiser Ford Fusion did a nice job. We made some gains and it was actually nice. I felt like a driver again, so it was kind of cool.”

YOUR CAR OBVIOUSLY GOT BETTER AS THE DAY WENT ON. “It definitely got better.  It was a handful. It was tough and we had to work on it a little bit and lost some positions doing that, but once we got it where we knew we needed it, the car wasn’t too bad. We were pretty close.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion (Finished 20th) – “It was up and down. I felt like we ran really good before the track got rubbered up and, kind of like Kansas, we lost the handle there in the middle pretty bad. Jimmy and Chip made some good adjustments and really brought the car to life two or three runs from the end, but on the second-to-last restart I could feel the engine wasn’t running right. I had something wounded that was getting ready to break, so I just held on to what we could.”

DO YOU THINK THERE’S SOMETHING GOING ON WITH THE MOTORS OR IS IT JUST THIS TRACK? “Everybody’s got to race on the same track. We’re using the same gear now, so it’s something that we’ve got to look at. The 16 had a problem and we did too in 400 miles. They’ve been working really hard to give us more power to be competitive and there are always growing pains with that every once in a while getting that figured out, but Doug Yates and all those guys at the engine shop do a great job and I’m sure we’ll figure out what the problem is when the truck gets back in a couple of days.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR TEAM IS AT LEAST RUNNING BETTER NOW? “Yeah, we’ve been running better. That probably took all three of us out for a legitimate shot in one race, so that’s really disappointing, but I’ve already made my mistakes and had us in a hole anyway, so we certainly couldn’t afford any bad finishes. You know that you’re not gonna be able to win it now from where we’re at, barring a miracle, so we’ll just keep trying to build on it this year. We’ve been running better the last month or two and try to hopefully get a win or two before the end of the year and have some momentum going into next season.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion (Finished 34th) – “That’s a really tough day, but you’re gonna have days like that. It’s racing.

There are a lot of moving parts in the car. Our Aflac Fusion was really good. It felt like even there at the end we went out and ran a couple of runs hard to see how fast we could go, and we had a great car. It was something in the ignition – the rotor is what they said, in the distributor – and it was scattering the spark. I could tell it was going away and then finally it just quit. It didn’t blow up the engine, it ran well, we just had a part failure in there and that’s the way racing goes.”

HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO HAVE A MECHANICAL ISSUE TAKE YOU OUT OF THIS CHASE? “It’s definitely out of my control, but my guys build great engines. Like I said, there are so many moving parts in a race car. You’ve got to run well enough to absorb these kind of days. We’ve run really well. We’ve got six races left and we’re 162 points back, so over six races that’s not a lot of points per race, so I think we can do it. We just have to keep digging.”

DID YOU FLASH BACK TO CHARLOTTE A COUPLE YEARS AGO WHEN THE POWER FAILED? “Yeah, I thought of that, but that’s racing. You can’t get mad about that because there’s nothing you can do.”

DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Taco Bell Ford Fusion (Finished 20th) – “I’m excited. We weren’t very good all weekend in practice and yesterday after practice the guys changed the spindles and everything else on the car – front and rear swaybars, spindles, four springs – to something we hadn’t run all weekend. This is what we ran in Kansas and we just had confidence that it would be better and it was better all day. We just worked on it and Peter and the guys did a good job trying to keep up with the track. There at the end, we were able to come in and put tires on and make up a bunch of spots. It was a great day for us and a great points day for Front Row Motorsports, and it gives us a chance to talk about our Ford Fusion. We’re excited. A 20th-place finish might not be big to some people, but for Front Row Motorsports it’s a good day.”

YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO RUN WELL HERE IN YOUR HOME AREA. WHY? “Yeah, it’s really good. We’ve got more friends and family at this track than anywhere else and when they introduce you at the start of the race you just feel the support, so it’s good to feel that support. It’s good to be back home and have a good run.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 32nd) – “I felt like we had a good run going in our UPS Freight Ford. We kind of went to the front and went to the back depending on our pit strategy. Some guys were taking two tires throughout the day, so I felt like we were always a little better than where we were running. Late in the race, I was just going as hard as I could and not cutting anyone any slack and just misjudged by a foot or two and it cost us. Fifty laps into the race I wouldn’t have made that decision, but the last run of the day and with less than 10 laps to go, the little bit of give-and-take goes out the window.”

TODD PARROTT, Crew Chief – No. 19 Reynolds Wrap Ford Fusion (Sadler finished 13th) – “It wasn’t bad. We lost some track position early in the race and got behind, but we kept working on the car all day and got it back to the front. The restarts were so crazy and whichever line you were in seemed to kill your momentum. It was kind of a crazy race, but the guys did a great job to come home 13th. I think we were running 11th coming off turn two coming to the checkered and I think the 20 and 78 may have snuck by us, but everybody hung in there all day and did a great job on this Reynolds Wrap Ford Fusion to come home with a top 15.”

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

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

WHAT HAPPENED? “I really don’t know.

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

DO YOU KNOW WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MATT KENSETH AND ELLIOTT SADLER PRESS CONFERENCE

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

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

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

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

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

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

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

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

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PEPSI MAX 400

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES

October 8, 2010

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

WILL YOUR TIME HOLD UP?

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

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

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

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

WHY IS YOUR LINE DIFFERENT THAN EVERYBODY ELSE’S?

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

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

ON HIS LAP

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

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

ON HIS LAP

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

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

ON HIS LAP

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

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

HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT TODAY?

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

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

“Is it? Is it a 400?”

YES

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

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

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

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

ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT

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

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

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

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

ON THE LAP

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

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., the Chevrolet portfolio includes: iconic performance cars, such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long lasting pickups and SUVs, such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, such as Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security, and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response, and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

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

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

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

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

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

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 8, 2010 Auto Club Speedway

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

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

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

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

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

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