Category: NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PRICE SHOPPER 400

KANSAS SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 1, 2010

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed racing at Kansas, mental toughness of the Chase and other topics.  Full transcript:

 

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS WEEKEND’S RACE IN KANSAS?:  “We’re just looking forward to getting going.  Obviously we feel like these next two weeks are important for us to have good weeks.  We got through Dover with not as good a day as we thought we should have had.  We thought that was going to be a tough weekend for us based upon just everything we’ve done in the past so these next two weeks are going to set the tone for our particular team and they’re important.  Just have to get off on the right foot here in practice and go through the weekend and race hard.”

DO YOU GO BACK TO LOOK AT THE LAST COUPLE TIRE RUNS AT DOVER?:  “I think the last two runs just weren’t good for us, our car just got loose and we’d been so good for us all day running in the top-10 and felt like we were going to have a decent day.  The car just went away that next-to-last run and we really thought that it was just the tires and we didn’t change anything and the car reacted the same when we put the second set of tires on so we obviously just lost track of the race track and needed to make an adjustment on our cars.  Just made a decision to not make any changes and it just stayed the same.”

WHO DO YOU SEE AS YOUR BIGGEST THREAT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?:  “I think it’s just wide open.  You look at it and I think there’s three or four teams that are far enough back that you can narrow down or count a few of them unless they have spectacular weeks, are probably out of it or are going to have a tough time getting back into it.  Everything else is so tight that it’s just going to come down to not making mistakes and losing the least amount of points as possible.  I don’t think there’s any clear cut favorite.  The 48 (Jimmie Johnson) always runs good at Dover.  I really expected the 18 (Kyle Busch) to finish well at Dover where he kind of had the same fall off that we did the last couple runs.  I think it’s wide open right now.  I think you just have to go out and get the best finishes that you can because I think every point is going to matter when you get towards the end of the Chase.”

IS THE APPEAL PROCESS IN NASCAR FAIR AND DOES THE PANEL KNOW ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO JUDGE?:  “We’ve been through a couple of appeals processes ourselves at KHI (Kevin Harvick Incorporated) and I didn’t even get involved in them to be honest with you so I know how it works, but from the politics side of it, I look at that as the politics side of it and it’s not something that I really have gotten too deep into because it’s not something that’s in your favor as far as, you’re already got the penalty and you’ve already got the outcome so from my standpoint I just stayed out of it and don’t really have an opinion one way or another on how the whole process works.”

DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO GOING BACK TO CALIFORNIA FOR NEXT WEEK’S RACE?:  “I feel like I let one slip away there just getting into the wall there at the end.  We still had a good finish and Jeff (Burton) ran really well there too so we’re looking forward to going back.  Obviously, a lot can change, it’s been a hot summer and the race track will be different, but it’s been a good race track for us over the last couple years and we’re really looking forward to going back.  We need to capitalize over the next couple of weeks on making something happen.”

ARE THESE RACES KEY BECAUSE THEY ARE THE INTERMEDIATE TRACKS?:  “I think this is kind of a lead-in to what the Chase is going to hold as far as the mile-and-a-half race tracks.  The biggest key for us is these two weeks leading into Charlotte, which is what we see as our second Achilles’ heal in our whole thing.  We just have to go into, not defense mode, but just minimize the damage like we did at Dover.  Obviously, I don’t feel like we got the maximum potential out of what we had in Dover, but it’s important for us to keep that gap as close as possible to first, whoever it may be and come out of Charlotte.  That’s really why the next two weeks are important to us as the 29 team goes.”

HOW DOES MENTAL TOUGHNESS APPLY TO YOUR TEAM AT EACH RACE AND IN THE CHASE?:  “I think we have a lot of different, Gil’s (Martin, crew chief) very good at leading the team and keeping everyone calm because I’m pretty high strung as far as what happens on the race track and things like that.  He’s good at keeping them calm and he keeps everybody calm really, including myself.  That’s a good balance between the two of us.  I can be myself and not have to worry about back-tracking on what I said and who I need to apologize to for something I said on the radio.  He takes care of all that.  As you go through these 10 weeks, the mental grind of the whole process is a lot because it’s all you think about constantly and this is what we all race for.  We all want to win a championship, we all want to be in position to win a championship and this is the time to make it happen.  It’s just like flipping a light switch when you get into Loudon and you get into the last 10 weeks, it’s just a whole different mindset and knowing that every point matters.  It’s not like the last 10 weeks before that had been where nothing really mattered.  It’s just two totally different mindsets from where we were to where we are right now.”

WAS THE INCIDENT LAST WEEK WITH DENNY HAMLIN PART OF THE GAMES YOU ALL PLAY?:  “I don’t think there was any games that was all pretty serious.  I think everything was pretty serious as far as where we were coming from as a company and where we were coming from as a team.  I think where Denny (Hamlin) and I stand is very clear between the two of us as far as off the race track and on the race track.  When it comes down to knowing what’s right for your company and what’s right for your team, those are two different things.  Our team is excited and pumped up and we all feel like everything’s clear.”

DID YOU ANSWER DENNY HAMLIN’S CALL RIGHT AWAY?:  “I don’t think there was every going to be an issue with myself and Denny (Hamlin).  Off the race track, obviously, in the garage it doesn’t matter who your friends are or what happens away from the race track, it’s all about what’s happening at the race track and what’s right and wrong for your particular race team.  Obviously, it evolved into what it was, but off the race track, it was fairly simple for us to talk.”

WERE YOU SAD TO SEE CALIFORNIA LOSE A RACE?:  “I want what’s best for the sport and what’s best for the sport is full grandstands and they always had good crowds when they had one race and I think they’ll have a good crowd for one race and some markets are just not two race crowds.  I think that the best thing for the sport are full grandstands and people that enjoy our sport and if that requires going to some different markets and shaking things up, I hope we can continue to do that as we go forward.  When people watch on TV and the grandstands are full then they want to be there too.”

WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE TO GO FROM JUST TRYING TO WIN RACES TO THE CHASE?:  “It’s hard to just flip that switch one week.  We rebounded at Loudon and got a good finish and we all knew that Dover could be the place and it always seems to started that way that the second race was Dover and hasn’t been a great place for us.  Flipping that switch on isn’t hard, we all knew what was coming and I feel like everybody on our team flipped that switch when it was time to go and everybody was well-prepared to do what they needed to do with the cars and we scramble well to chase things when they aren’t going well and that’s been something that RCR is very good at is making something out of nothing.  I think you can look back at Richard’s (Childress, team owner) whole career, whether it be owner or driver and how he got to this point and he’s just installed that scramble mode into all of us to get something when there’s nothing there to get.  We did that at Loudon and we gave probably three or four spots away at Dover.  If it comes down to the last three or four weeks of scrambling then I feel that we can do that as good if not better than almost everybody.”

WHAT CAN CLINT BOWYER DO TO HELP YOU AND JEFF BURTON WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP?:  “I think it’s going to allow him to get out of the box and try things that maybe we don’t want to try because we have to be a little more conservative on the performance side of it whether it be an engine that the engine shop may want to put in or parts and pieces that maybe the engineering department finds that they feel are going to be better, but aren’t proven on the race track.  All those things can go into his car and they can go into just worrying about winning races and really being aggressive and they hadn’t got to do that in a while so he can do that and that’s probably the best thing he can do.”

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF JIMMIE JOHNSON WINNING AT DOVER?:  “I don’t think it’s impacted us at all, just for the fact that at Dover he’s going to run really well.  I’ve said from weeks and weeks and weeks ago that the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was going to be someone that you had to contend with and was the favorite still to win the championship until somebody beats him.  Here we are again two weeks in and there they are.  You’re going to have to beat them.”

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.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PRICE SHOPPER 400

KANSAS SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 1, 2010

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed TV ratings, the No. 33 team and other topics.  Full transcript:

 

DO YOU THINK DRIVERS THAT ARE 100 OR MORE POINTS OUT ARE OUT OF CONTENTION FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “I think a lot of things can still happen.  Certainly as the thing goes on, more people are going to get eliminated.  The problem is that you start getting enough points behind and a lot of people between you and the leader then you have to go through all of them.  That makes it more difficult.  Obviously, some people’s chances are lower than they were when the thing started.  I think there are a few teams that are teetering on not being able to be afforded another bad race.  I don’t want to say anybody’s eliminated, but certainly people are getting really close.”

DID YOU KNOW THE FIRST TWO CHASE RATINGS ON TV WERE DOWN 20 PERCENT AND WHAT DO YOU THINK? “I didn’t know that.  I don’t really make it part of my day to look at TV ratings.  I do think it’s important, but I think some of it is confusing to me.  I really believe and you all feel free to disagree with me, but I really feel like the racing has been better.  I think the racing has been good, I think the double-file restart thing has been good.  We’ve had some green flag runs in those races, but at the same time, people kind of tuning in at the start of the race, if they’re not tuning in at the start of the race then that’s a concerning factor.  I don’t have the answer for it – I just don’t.  I feel like the racing is good, I feel like we’ve had 10 races and 10 winners – the last 10 races have had 10 different winners I think.  Is that right?  It’s not like there’s not parity, it’s not like there’s not – when Jimmie (Johnson) won four championship, everybody thought that was so bad for the sport, well now we have 10 people that have won 10 races, is that bad for the sport?  I don’t have the answers for it.  I just believe our sport has to continue to grow, continue to improve and if we do continue to improve, the people are going to watch.  Why they’re not watching now, I just don’t have an answer for that.”

WHAT IS THE ETIQUETTE FOR DRIVERS TO RESOLVE DIFFERENCES LIKE KEVIN HARVICK AND DENNY HAMLIN DID LAST WEEK?:  “It’s a person to person thing.  Honestly, you deal with everybody and every situation differently.  There’s not a script that came with an owner’s manual that tells you how to handle that situation.  You just have to kind of feel your way through it.  I think it depends on the personalities, it depends on what the history is.  The willingness of the participants to move forward.  Sometimes you just don’t want to hear it and you don’t want to move forward.  You’ve had your opinion set and you’re not willing to change it.  Sometimes there’s a willingness to agree to disagree and sometimes there’s a willingness just to forget it and move on and a lot of it is the incident and the personalities involved.  It is clear though that once that wound is open, it’s real easy to reopen and any little thing opens it back up pretty quickly.”

 

COULD YOU TELL THE 33 TEAM WAS A LITTLE OFF AT DOVER? “The thing I tried to impress to Clint (Bowyer) or impress on Clint is that we live in a moment and we think that in that moment everything revolves around that.  In two weeks, there’s going to be another conversation about some other controversy.  I told him that at Dover and it took about 10 minutes.  Maybe that was part of the plan.  It’s really difficult to go from the emotion, think about it, they make the Chase, close, but made the Chase.  We all at RCR (Richard Childress Racing) feel like each individual team is capable of winning a championship.  They go to New Hampshire, win the race, second in points and thinking this thing is laid out really well.  Two days later, you’re in this process of being called a cheater, you’re in the process of all this stuff and that’s a lot, it’s a lot.  There’s no way that it’s not a distraction.  There’s no way that you can just shut it off and say it’s not happening.  Who’s my crew chief next week?  Who’s going to be my car chief?  It’s a big, big, big distraction – there’s no way around it.  In some ways, having the appeal process over, almost over, it’s not over, but that part of the appeal process over, even though it wasn’t the result they were looking for, you are now able to move on.  It’s hard to forget that a year from now, that’s not going to be, right now it’s the center of the world, that’s what everybody wants to talk about.  It’s going to move and it’s going to be okay.  That’s what I tried to impress on him.  I’ve lived it.  I got my rookie of the year win thrown out of the race.  They caught us at Richmond and said, you can’t race tonight.  You go home.  I thought my world was coming to an end.  But I look on it now and it’s just a blip.  It was a blip on the radar.  I don’t forget it, but it’s a blip on the radar and that’s what this will be.  It will be a learning experience, it will be something that the whole company is stronger for, he’s stronger for, wiser.  At the end of the day, it will make the company better and make him better.”

WHAT HAS THE REACTION BEEN FROM SPONSORS THIS YEAR WITH ALL THREE RCR CARS IN THE CHASE? “I don’t want to diminish our poor year last year, but our sponsors weren’t calling and saying, ‘What the hell is going on?’  We are really up front with our sponsors and tell them what’s going on and tell them the truth and try to be really honest with them.  They were all disappointed.  Caterpillar came into a situation that it made the Chase three years in a row and had honestly felt that they contended for two of those championships and then we’re not even in the Chase.  Obviously, everyone was disappointed, but nobody was calling demanding, screaming and yelling, everybody was disappointed, but we try to be really honest and up front with them and our sponsors are wise to the sport.  They understand that this isn’t easy.  There’s other teams out there that have drivers and have crew chiefs and have engineers too.  They’re trying to beat us.  Certainly everybody is more upbeat than last year, but I don’t want it to feel like they would be more this year.  I don’t want it to feel that last year they were in a panic because I never got the sense of any of our sponsors being in a panic.”

 

WHAT CAN CLINT BOWYER DO TO HELP THE OTHER TWO RCR TEAMS WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “The same thing that we can do to help him and that is when you learn something, explain here’s what I learned.  Clint’s (Bowyer) really good about every race weekend, Clint comes and seeks me out, ‘Hey man, I did this and it helped my car.  I drove the corner differently here.’  Just that communication and that communication is what makes us better.  The cool thing about our program is that we’re all three fairly equal talent levels, but we all go about it a different way. I think that makes us all better.  Clint being able to just continue to be able to push us.  That’s what’s important.  In the same way that we can help him.  They have a really, really tall mountain to climb, obviously and it would be historic for them to win the championship at this point.  They don’t need to quit.  They need to go about it as if they have a chance to win the championship and if they do that, it will help us too.  We have to do the same for them.  To be clear, it’s not about them changing what they’re doing.  They need to continue what they’re doing, which is what got us in this position.”

BECAUSE YOU RACE KANSAS ONCE A YEAR, IS IT MORE DIFFICULT TO GET WHAT YOU NEED FRIDAY FOR SUNDAY’S RACE? “I think it is and the problem that I have and I’m not afraid to admit it, like last week I had an engineer come to me and want to talk about Kansas.  What I deal with in the car and I’m like, wait a minute dude, I don’t even know what the track looks like.  This track is nine or 10 years old, but it’s not really new, but in my eyes, I don’t even remember the race track.  Darlington and Rockingham, Charlotte, Martinsville and those tracks, here, I had to literally sit down yesterday for hours and watch video to remind myself about the race track.  I’ve just had a hard time getting this one stuck in my head about how to drive this track.  So yeah, I think it is a challenge.  I think it’s hard to come here once a year.  It’s hard to not necessarily get up to speed quickly, but remember all the little small things that make the big difference.  Really that’s what the race is all about is doing the small things better.  When you can start fine tuning little things, that’s when you get optimal.  It’s hard to do that at a track that you don’t go to as much as other places.”

HOW HAS JIMMIE JOHNSON’S PERFORMANCE GIVEN HOPE TO OTHER DRIVERS ABOUT WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “Listen, you got part of your facts wrong.  They started the championship off with a 24th or 25th.  At this time last week, we were talking about them not being able to win, remember?  You guys are really reactionary.  You all react really quickly.  Anybody that believed that the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) wasn’t at the ready coming to this championship has blinders on.  Now I was the first one to say that I didn’t know who the favorite was and I still don’t today.  If you look at the 11 (Denny Hamlin), obviously they looked really good at New Hampshire, didn’t look so great last week, which is exactly what happened to the 48, only opposite with the race tracks.  I don’t know who the favorite is, but I do know that the 48 is capable of turning it up.  One race doesn’t win a championship, it takes 10.  there’s no question that they’re going to be a factor.  Anyone that believed that they weren’t going to be a factor hadn’t been watching because we tend to change history.  They didn’t go into the last four Chases winning all the races and on a hot streak every time, they didn’t.  We tend to think that they just dominated the last four years and that’s not the way that it’s been.  They dominated the Chases.  They’ve done a better job during the Chase.  They have come into several of these Chases not being the hot team.  There’s no question that they know how to turn it up and I believe that they were a threat to begin with.  I think if you start chasing them, you are making a major mistake.  I think you have to chase yourself.  Of course, here’s a guy that has never won a championship, but I know that if we do our job and we do the best we can do then that’s all we can do.  We have to optimize who we are and we have to be the best that we can be and I can’t worry about whether the 48 or the 11 or the 17 (Matt Kenseth), whether they’re going to be the best they can be or not.  I can’t control that.  All I can try to do is try to control being the best that we can be.”

HOW DO YOU THINK THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF PENALTIES HAVE AFFECTED THE SPORT?:  “I think the more we can keep the action on the track, the better we are.  I think that drivers going at each other, racing hard, disputes about their racing – I think all of that is cool and that is part of the sport.  I think the more that we can keep the business things and conflict post-race, pre-race, the more we can keep that to a minimum, the better.  People want to see the action in racing and practice – the on-track stuff is I think what the fans want to see.  I think that anytime that the authority has to make a decision, it opens the door for people to question because people always question authority, right?  Everybody always thinks the ‘man’s’ trying to get you.  The more that NASCAR doesn’t have to do that, I think the better the sport is.”

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.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PRICE SHOPPER 400

KANSAS SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 1, 2010

 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/JOHNS MANVILLE CHEVROLET met with media and discussed tough summer months and performance on 1.5-mile tracks, his mindset during the Chase, his crew chief, Chad Knaus, and more. Full Transcript:

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR WIN LAST WEEKEND AT DOVER

“Yeah, last weekend was great for us. Dover has just been a great track for us over the years. To go there and finish things off as we did was great for the team and at the right time. So, we’re very proud of what we did last week but it’s a new weekend and a new track and new circumstances and ideally we’d love to do the same thing here but it’s going to be a tough weekend. There are a lot of fast cars on the 1.5-mile tracks this year.”

HOW DO YOU MENTALLY MANAGE THE EXPECTATIONS THAT ARE ALL AROUND YOU WHETHER IT’S HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS OR EVEN JUST ALLOWING YOURSELF TO THINK ABOUT WHAT COULD BE?

“First of all, I’ve got to really worry about the areas that I control and what I can do; and over the years I’ve learned that I can stress about the elements that I can’t control but I just lose sleep and it doesn’t do me much good. I’m in a great position where I can rely on my team and can rely on the resources at Hendrick Motorsports and know that we’re going all we can there and that allows me just to focus on my job. It’s worked really good for me over the years and I’m planning to do that again this year. And the other part that makes it easy right now to stay relaxed is that we’ve only had two races in the Chase. You can see in two races how easily you can fall and how easily you can rise and we left Loudon in 25^th and then left Dover in second.

“So someone can have a big race this weekend and be right back in the middle of it, on top of the fact that there are a lot of cars very close in points. So, it’s just not time to stress in my book yet; and if other people are stressing, great. I hope that they are. But in my world it’s just not time to yet.”

I WAS AT HOME LAST WEEK IN DOVER AND WAS ABLE TO WATCH DOVER POST-RACE FROM MY TELEVISION AND IT WAS INTERESTING BECAUSE THERE WAS THIS ONE MOMENT WHEN YOU COULD KIND OF SEE THAT YOU LET YOURSELF REALLY ENJOY THE MOMENT AND GET EXCITED. HOW LONG DO YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO CELEBRATE A VICTORY BEFORE YOU START THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO NEXT WEEK?

“You certainly try to absorb it and enjoy it. But 42 other guys went home mad; especially the 11 other guys in the Chase that went home mad. And you have to stay focused on your job and I know that (crew chief, Chad) Knaus was there (at the shop) first thing Monday morning and my guys were and they were doing everything they can to be prepared for this weekend. So, you let it in at times. But I guess maybe in our situation, we know that we have high expectations for ourselves. We know that our goals are really lofty and we’re going to try to win a fifth championship, so yes we won a battle, but we know the war is still ahead and it’s time to look forward and keep doing what we’re doing.”

YOU’VE DONE THIS FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW. IF YOU STEP BACK AND LOOK AT THE EIGHT RACES REMAINING, IS THERE MORE OF A CONCERN ABOUT SOME OF THE TRACKS LEFT ON THE TOUR, OR IS THERE MORE OF A CONCERN ABOUT HOW WELL SOME OF THE OTHER TEAMS ARE RUNNING?

“Really, think it’s both. We, on the 1.5-mile tracks, have not been what we wanted to be during the summer months. So for us, Atlanta was really an important race for us and we ran well and it paid off and maybe after this weekend we’ll have a little better feeling of where we are on the 1.5-mile tracks and how competitive we are compared to the guys that we’re racing for the Chase. But then at the same time, when you look at tracks like Talladega and know the threat that exists there, and then I look back on last year’s experience and go to a really good track for us, (with) a really fast race car and qualify 11^th or something, and I get crashed on the first lap of the race. So, I guess that’s where it comes down to worrying about things that you can control because you can be up all night long for 10 weeks straight, stressing about components, tracks, competitors, and things that can go wrong. You can just lose a lot of sleep over it. So, again, I’ve said this for years, blinders on and focus on the things I can control and hopefully it’ll work out for us.”

KEVIN HARVICK AND DENNY HAMLIN APPARENTLY CAME TO AN UNDERSTANDING THIS WEEK. WHEN IT’S TIME FOR A DRIVER TO REACH OUT AND TRY TO DO THAT, ARE THERE WORRIES THAT HE’S NOT GOING TO WANT TO TALK TO YOU OR HANG UP ON YOU AND THE GRUDGE IS GOING TO LINGER? IS THERE A DELICACY TO THAT WHEN IT’S TIME TO BURY THE HATCHET WITH SOMEBODY ELSE?

“Yeah, in my experience, I had something going with Ward Burton at Loudon in 2004 or ’05 or something like that. I guess it was ’03 when we won both events there. We had an issue on pit road with our guys being hit when the No. 24 and the No.15 came into the pit and lost a lot of track position and was coming back through and I got on the No. 22 and spun him out and he crashed. He spent the rest of the afternoon trying to crash me. So then, obviously I knew he was upset. And I tried reaching out to him all week long and I couldn’t catch him or he wouldn’t take my call and finally I got his cell phone number and when I had his cell phone he answered and didn’t know the number code to lock the number, called in and once I told him who I was, I think he was cussing at me. But he went on and on for a minute just yelling and screaming and it’s tough to understand Ward to start with, but I believe they were cuss words and he just vented and finally, I’m like, ‘Do you feel better? Can we talk about this?’ You know, it wasn’t intentional and you try to move on. So, there’s a wide variety of ways that it can be handled. I guess at the end of the day if you can’t make contact with someone, you hope that they know you tried. And you hope that your history with that driver or your reputation within the sport speaks for itself and that you can move through those issues.”

YOU SAID YOU WEREN’T QUITE AS STRONG ON THE 1.5-MILE TRACKS. KNOWING THIS IS THE FIRST OF FOUR 1.5-MILE TRACKS, INCLUDING CALIFORNIA NEXT WEEK WHERE YOU’VE WON MANY TIMES, ARE THESE TWO WEEKS GOING TO BE A BAROMETER FOR THE TEAM? DO YOU HAVE A SENSE OF WHERE YOU MIGHT BE OFF, AND IF SO, IS THERE ENOUGH TIME TO CATCH UP?

“We have an idea of what’s been going on. The weird thing is that although we had a tough summer on the 1.5-mile tracks, we had a lot of speed; especially the first half of the race. So, looking at what we’ve been doing and the balance of the car and the directions we were working on, there was enough that went wrong that we know not to go down that road any longer. So I feel that we’ve made a good change. Atlanta went well for us but Atlanta is a pretty unique track with a lot of fall-off on the tire and it’s not what we see here (Kansas) or Charlotte and so on. So I’m optimistic and I feel that we’ve come to a good conclusion with things. But we’ve got to get on the track and really prove it and be in the hunt. And if you have a couple bad races, you don’t know. It depends on what the other 11 guys do. Some may argue it’s down to maybe eight guys now. But it just depends on what your competitors in the Chase do around you; and if you have a bad race do they allow you back in?”

ON BEING ABLE TO CHANGE AND IMPROVE DURING THE WEEKEND COMPARED TO OTHERS NOT BEING ABLE TO DO THAT

“As a driver you always have to search around on the race track and try to find a line or some type of rhythm that will help the balance of your race car. That’s what we do. I feel that growing up on the dirt (off-road racing) really helped me with that skill set. You don’t have a chance to come in and adjust on your car or work on it and it a lot of cases on the dirt, especially in the stuff I raced, all you worried about was going in a straight line over jumps. The corners, you had to figure that out as a driver. I think I fall back on that experience a lot. Last weekend was great for our team because last-minute decisions before qualifying gave us the speed we needed to win the race. Decisions that we made Saturday night in the motor home lot working on our race car, gave us the car to win the race on Sunday. So, I’m very proud that amongst the pressure last second, we made the right decisions and made the right calls and won the race. It was a good weekend for our race team; a good lift for us.”

FOR FOLKS THAT ARE NOT AT THE RACE TRACK, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE (CREW CHIEF) CHAS KNAUS? AND IS THERE MUCH VARIATION BETWEEN THE CHAD WE SEE AT THE RACE TRACK AND THE CHAD WHO PUNCHES OUT AND GOES HOME?

“You talk about an extreme. People want to say that I might be a little closed here and more open in my private life. That guy is all business here and then all fun at home. So he’s a man of extremes in that department (laughs). But for people that don’t know him, he’s just a guy that enjoys working oddly enough and isn’t afraid to work. He commits himself to our team and our sport and has done a great job for us over the years. I think he has grown a lot in his role as a crew chief and becoming more of a people person. He doesn’t have a filter between thoughts and mouth and laced a lot of guys over the years that have worked for him and has really worked hard on that to communicate better and to be a better leader of the race team and grows a little bit each year. So I’ve been proud of his progress.”

DURING THE SUMMER SOME PEOPLE HAVE SAID THIS MIGHT NOT BE THE YEAR FOR THE NO. 48. WERE YOU EVER WONDERING THAT? WAS THERE A TIME DURING THE BAD MONTHS WHEN YOU THOUGHT MAYBE THIS WASN’T YOUR YEAR?

“Yeah, not only this summer but the summer before and other parts of other seasons. There was on year we got off to a really slow start and you naturally think it’s not your year. But I think all the guys that have been in the Chase before know that when you go to New Hampshire, whatever that gap is, closes up and you’ve got a second chance. You may not be starting off with as many points as you want, but you’re a hell of a lot closer than you were the week before. So, you find some new life and you get going from that. And there definitely were points this year where we were concerned; and still looking forward there are a lot of good teams. I still have concern. I’m not sure if we’ll have enough pace to win the championship. I don’t know if the championship is going to be decided on a guy that runs you know a really low finishing average or if it’s a guy that’s going to be based on consistency because the fast guys have a bunch of issues. You just don’t know. All I know is that we’re going to show up and do everything we can this weekend to get maximum points and do that again the following (weekend) and just kind of see where things fall.”

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.

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion, enters the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway with one pole, two top-five’s and three top-10’s under his belt all time at the track. Entering the third Chase race of the year, Kenseth stands in 11th place in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship and talked about what he will need to do this weekend and beyond to climb back into contention.

HOW DOES YOUR CAR LOOK THIS WEEKEND? “I don’t really know yet until we get on track. We will find out here in a little bit I guess.” THIS TRACK IS COMPARED TO CHICAGO A LOT. ARE THERE THINGS YOU CAN TRANSFER OVER FROM CHICAGO TO HERE? “I think they are pretty close. This track is a little bit flatter than Chicago. They were built at the same time, sort of have the same climate and have aged the same. I think they are pretty similar. They are probably as similar as any two tracks on the circuit.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHASE RIGHT NOW? DO YOU JUST GO OUT WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT? “That is what we have been doing every week for 10 years. Every week we try as hard as we can and try to finish as high as we can. You hope every time you go to the track is to try to win. My outlook is not really a lot different. We didn’t run very well to get into the Chase really. To be honest we really made it because we completed all but seven laps this year. We haven’t broken or been in a lot of wrecks. We know our performance hasn’t been good enough, so we will keep working on it and try to get it where it needs to be. We want to finish as high as we can in the points and get some momentum and direction for the end of the year and going into next year.”

SO DO YOU USE THIS TIME TO PREPARE FOR NEXT YEAR? “Yes and no. You are always working on trying to make your cars better, make your team better and make your driving better. You are always working on that. I wouldn’t say we are using it to prepare for next year necessarily. We are trying to do the best we can this week and at the same time think ahead to how we can make things better.”

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK TO CALIFORNIA AND A TRACK WHERE YOU HAVE HAD SOME SUCCESS? “I am looking forward to going there but honestly there are a lot of tracks I am comfortable at and have had success at in the past but I haven’t been able to repeat it lately. You have to be able to perform every week. Tracks like Dover last week, Kansas, California are places we have performed well in the past so you feel good about the race track stuff and being able to get around there but you still have to figure out what your car needs to go fast and put together a complete race.”

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT CALIFORNIA? “California is pretty similar to Michigan. Your car has to handle well, that is the main thing. The corners are really long, so you have to get your car handling good to get off the corners the best you can and get down the long straightaway’s. You can spin the tires a lot more off the corner than you used to be able to and the groove has moved around. Having the races spread that far apart, you really go there and really try to find the feel and the balance to make the car drive the way you want it to.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

PRICE SHOPPER 400

KANSAS SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 1, 2010

 

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed the appeal decision, spending time with fans in Kansas and other topics.  Full transcript:

 

HOW HAS YOUR WEEK AT HOME IN KANSAS BEEN?:  “It’s been a lot of fun.  Got here back to my old stomping grounds and back to my old friend’s Tim Karrick’s house and worked on my dirt car, putting engines in and things.  Felt like the old days.  Late model boys were cleaning their cars up and working on the Modifieds and having fun.  Had our annual fan club gathering last night, it was a lot of fun.  That is a neat thing to do if you ever think about it – those are your fans.  Those people – you mean as much to them as they do us and it was a fun deal.  It was the annual go-karting and had a lot of fun racing everybody and interacting.  What’s fun about coming back home, I was in Topeka and Lawrence and all over and Kansas City.  Just enjoy this race track and racing out here in front of the home town family and friends and everybody that gets to come here and enjoy this fun weekend for all of us.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE DECISION BY THE APPEALS COMMITTEE AND DID YOUR FANS ASK YOU ABOUT IT?:  “Everyone of them, obviously they’re your fans and everyone of them supports you on it and wish you the best.  Just like anybody else, they don’t understand, you know.  I’ll just save everybody’s breath in asking me.  Here’s my answer to that – I’m very disappointed, not surprised at all.  I’ll just leave it at that.  I’m looking forward to getting that behind me.  This is an important weekend.  I made some mistakes on the track last week that were uncharacteristic of myself, we made some mistakes as a team that were uncharacteristic and our heads weren’t 100 percent in the game.  I don’t want this mess to bother us anymore.  I’m at my home track, I’m having fun and that’s what I aim to do.”

DO YOU STILL THINK YOU CAN GET IN THE CHASE BEING 235 POINTS BEHIND THE LEADER AT THIS POINT?:  “No, I think the championship hopes are done for myself.  The thing that I have to do is be the best teammate I can be.  We have to bring a championship home.  We still have two shots at that, but for myself and our race team, I’ve never finished out of the top-five in the Chase and I want to continue that streak and want to continue that consistency in the Chase and I think that’s an attainable goal.  The biggest thing is to be the best teammate I can be.”

HAS THE PENALTY DAMPENDED YOUR HOMECOMING TO KANSAS THIS WEEKEND?:  “It hasn’t bothered me a bit.  I’ve always looked forward to coming here.  It’s just a lot of fun.  It starts Tuesday night which is my only night that I can go out and enjoy ourselves.  I took my dirt guys and everybody kind of went out on the town and went over to Harrah’s and just had fun and enjoyed Kansas City.  This is a fun area.  To sit back and think of this area and Wyandotte County and what this race track has done to this area.  This used to be a housing development and a bad part of town.  Now this is the best part of town and it’s all due in part to this race track and this whole area has turned around.  The Legends, the new soccer complex is going to be awesome, the casino when it gets done is going to be unbelievable and as a race fan, how can you do any better than this?  It’s easy in and out of this place, it’s within walking distance.  You can come watch qualifying and then walk over and eat dinner, do some shopping and it’s just a great family atmosphere for all of our fans and it’s something that I’m proud of being from Kansas.  I think all of us in NASCAR are proud of this place because it’s a lot of fun and everybody looks forward to coming here.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE SUPPORT FROM RACE FANS?:  Absolutely.  Times like this is when you really realize it.  When things are good you don’t realize or feel the support of your fans as much as you should.  When something comes up like this, you really feel the support, that it’s there and I think that’s important.  That’s what fans are all about and that’s why we appreciate them and they’re loyal.  They’re loyal to this sport and loyal to the drivers.”

WHY WERE YOUR HEADS NOT IN THE GAME LAST WEEK AND IS THAT PRESSURE GONE THIS WEEK?:  “You just have to get it out of your mind, you know?  That’s the best thing about coming here is there’s so much distraction, so much other things that I don’t have to worry about that.  We’re going to Lakeside tonight, we’ve had thousands of fans that we’ve already seen this week and those things get your mind off what you’re doing.  I’m looking forward to unloading that race car and having a good day today, starting up front at what is one of the most important races of my year.”

WOULDN’T IT BE EASY TO TEAR A TEAM APART AS A DRIVER IN THIS SITUATION?:  “Absolutely and that’s what I’m trying to say is I’m not going to let that happen.  I’ve told Richard (Childress, team owner), it’s not worth fighting.  In my opinion, their (NASCAR) minds are made up, it is what it is and if you want to be a part of this great thing we call a sport, you better just go on and enjoy what it is.  He’s fighting hard and I’m proud of the case that they put together.  I think they worked very hard on it, they put a lot of time and energy and money into presenting a case that could prove less than a 16th of an inch how that car could be out.  At the end of the day, if you’re going to pick that, it is what it is.”

DO YOU HOLD NO HOPE FOR THE LAST APPEAL?:  “What would you do?  Answer that.  I asked you.  You asked me.  Did you have any hope?  You didn’t answer – that’s what I thought.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE IN THE CHASE WITH A CHANCE ON A SUNDAY AND 72 HOURS LATER TO BE OUT OF IT?:  “That sucks.  That’s an emotional roller coaster that nobody wants to ride, trust me.  It is what it is.  This sport is very humbling sport, I can promise you.  This is the first time that I’ve seen that kind of thing and in this sport, in racing in general, I can remember back racing at Lakeside, you can win three or four races in a row and blow up the next week and struggle to even get to the race track.  That’s just the way racing is.”

HOW EXCITED WERE YOU FOR TY DILLON TO WIN THE ARCA RACE YESTERDAY?:  “Absolutely.  Ty (Dillon) is very quiet, not like the other one that’s exactly like this father.  He’s very quiet and never says much around the shop and just kind of keeps to himself.  I knew how excited he was and what he was going through and I was just excited for him.  He’s a good kid – they’re both very good kids and Mike (Dillon) and Tina (Dillon) have raised good kids.  I think Tina did most of it, but I was just very happy for him.  He deserved it.”

DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO RACING AT CHARLOTTE AND DO YOU THINK THE TRACK HAS WIDENED OUT?:  “It really has widened out.  A cool race track, it’s very close to home, you get to sleep in your own bed every night – that’s a plus.  The fan base there in Charlotte, that’s where everybody’s at.  Not only your fans, but your family.  Everybody on the crew’s families and everything are there.  Mine are obviously here in Kansas, but that means a lot to those guys to be able to have their family there and have them proud of them for that weekend.  It’s a special and important race for us.  I’m looking forward to that big screen or whatever he’s putting on the back straightaway, I think.  Does that mean you’re going to have a facial?  If it’s a 200-foot screen, that makes you look pretty big on there.  Put Kasey (Kahne) up there full time on it or something.”

DID YOU LOSE TO ANY OF YOUR FANS ON THE GO-KARTS?:  “Yeah, I did.  I don’t know who won.  I about caught him on the last lap.  We kind of had a tournament-type thing where you qualified and broke it down that way and it kind of got narrowed down to the last 10 guys, the fastest and then I raced them.  It’s a neat place, that is one of the neatest go-kart tracks in the country and the cars are fast and everybody races hard.  I had my dirt guys out there at the end and we had a lot of fun.  Of course they get to beating and banging on each other and they got thrown off.  Ruined all the fun for everybody, imagine that?  Leave it up to a bunch of dirt racers to spoil it.”

HAS THIS ORDEAL CHANGED YOU?:  “I like that, it is an ordeal isn’t it?  I don’t think any ordeal, joke or whatever you want to call it could change you.  You just have to go about doing what you do.  If that changes who I am, you would be fake to begin with.  We’ll get through it.  We’ve got to get through it this weekend.  I’m here to win this race.  I’ve gotten close a couple times and I can promise you, if we win this thing it will be a big party.”

 

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.