NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
2011 DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DUEL AT DAYTONA NOTES AND QUOTES – DUEL NO. 2
February 17, 2011
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, WINNER OF DUEL NO. 2: YOU AND CLINT BOWYER HAD A PLAN, YOU WORKED TOGETHER, YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN STRONG SINCE YOU’VE UNLOADED.: “It’s a shame two cars can’t fit in here you know. With the way this thing is going its really important to have somebody to work with you. Clint and I decided we were just going to find each other early and it worked otu well for both of us. I didn’t know who won but it was a good race.”
YOUR KIDS ARE STICKY NOW. “That’s good, now I know where they are. For us, this was a great start. What went on with the Cat team last year was really frustrating. To run as well as we did the other night and run as well as we did tonight and get in Victory Lane is a great deal. Cat deserves this, Chevrolet, SKF, Menards, everybody involved in this deal. The Sprint Cup Series is going to be strong this year and we’re looking forward to it.”
DID YOU KNOW HOW CLOSE IT WAS WHEN CLINT STEPPED OUT AT THE START/FINISH LINE? “He did exactly what he was supposed to do. He is a shame two cars can’t fit in here honestly. There ought to be two cars in this victory lane today. He knew I was going to stay on the bottom and I knew he was going to shoot on the outside. It is amazing how much it dragged my car down. But, we worked really well together. He pushed me really well, I pushed him really well. We just got really committed. Where ever he went, I went, where ever I went, he went. That is the same thing we had the other night. All of us are really committed to working well together and being the best teammates we can possibly be. It is a shame there is not room enough in here for two. This is a good start for us after last year as frustrating as it for the Cat team to get in victory lane early. I know it’s not a point-paying race, but none-the-less we are here and feel real good about it.”
ON SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT, YOU RAN BETTER WITH KEVIN HARVICK THAN CLINT, WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE TODAY? “I think we all learned a lot on Saturday night. There were some things I didn’t do very well on Saturday. I think there were some things that all of us have been finding our skills a little bit as this week as gone on. I learned how to be pushed a little better and I learned how to push a little better and I think all of us did. We all talked a lot about what we did well and what we didn’t do well. There were times today that I made a few mistakes and got us in trouble. It is just a matter of going back and really paying attention. The small mistakes make a big different here. I made a few mistakes here today and got by with them.”
WHEN WE PUT 43 CARS OUT THERE WITH ALL THE TOP CARS TOGETHER, WILL IT GET PUNCHED UP A LITTLE BIT MORE? “I think it is going to be a real wild race. This is not going to be a stereotypical Talladega four-wide the entire race. What you are going to see when the field gets full of quality teams, you have to remember at the end of the Shootout last week, there was only 12 cars really in the race at the end. There were a lot of cars that fell out. We are going to have a lot more cars going for the 500 win and it is going to be wild. You get such a big run and there is nowhere to go. Sometimes it is just plain and simple nowhere to go. It is hard to find a hole. This one time I almost led into a wreck. It is really really hard. It doesn’t look very hard on TV, but it is really hard to do.
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: ON THE RACE AND PUSHING JEFF BURTON TO THE WIN: “It was fun to push my teammate to the win. We worked together a lot and used teamwork. That is what it is all about. The ECR engines worked well. That second Duel was definitely a lot more intense than the first one. I watched that first one and about fell asleep on the couch. Second one kept me up a little bit.”
HOW MUCH DIFFERENT WERE THE CARS THAN THEY WERE ON SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT? “Just more of the same. It is interesting though. As a race car driver, you are watching that first one trying to figure it out, you know the sandbox you are playing in now and now you have to try and figure out how to make the best of it.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN TO CARRY OVER TO SUNDAY’S 500? “I don’t know. Learned a lot of things. I don’t know if there will be another rule change but everybody is trying. We want this to be the best Daytona 500 ever. Certainly spent a ton of money trying to make sure that it was. It was fun out there. Obviously you always want to win but the way they were making those runs there at the end and the caution kind of caught me off guard, I probably should have made my move a little bit earlier, but certainly this isn’t the one you want to win.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: ON THE RACE: “We had a really good car out there. We struggled when we came into the pits to get fuel and that got us in the back. A partner is more important than ever. You just have to really commit with somebody when they have their restarts. You kind of make deals with everybody but if you don’t restart near that guy or the other guys doesn’t work with you, I lost the draft and we were going to get lapped. Fortunately the caution came out and our race turned around there. Our car is really fast. I feel like we have really good speed. It pushes well and that has always been important, but it is more important more than ever now that you can push and not get hot. I think we have both of those. But, Sunday will be different when we get all [43] cars out there and all the good cars in one race. It is different if half good and half bad, it will be different.”
IT LOOKS REALLY INTENSE OUT THERE, WHAT IS IT GOING TO BE FOR 500 MILES? “It is way more fun than what Talladega and Daytona has ever been. It is different and it used to be, especially at Talladega, kind of a boring race for the drivers for a little bit. But now every lap is intense but it is actually a lot of fun.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET – FINISHED 12TH
WHAT HAPPENED THERE AT THE END? “I just could not get going on the restarts. I really had a blast working with Trevor Bayne. He’s a good kid. He’s a heck of a race car driver. They’ve got a fast race car. We just couldn’t get going on the restarts though. I’m not sure why we couldn’t get that momentum. So we lost a lot of spots on every restart and then once we got going, we were fast; real fast. There at the end, we lost so many spots we were just trying to make up a few. A couple of guys looked like they lost momentum and got disconnected and I had to go three-wide around them. It’s a vulnerable spot. We’ve already seen that in practice at the some other races and it turned me. And when it did, I was lucky that we didn’t have worse damage than we did. But I got in the wall. So, we’ll have to see if we can fix it. I was just thrilled with the car and thrilled with the team. I thought everything was going really, really good with the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. Unfortunately it didn’t end very well and we’ll just go to work and see what we have to do for the 500.”
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE RACING THAT’S GOING ON OUT THERE? “Really intense. It’s actually really fun from inside the car once you get going under green and it gets spread out a little bit and you’re just racing with four or six other guys. Those restarts are not a lot of fun. But no restart at Daytona or Talladega is a whole lot of fun. But once you get going, I think it’s pretty cool. Trying to figure out how to pass a guy and looking at your temps and trying to find a partner. There is a lot of strategy involved. You’ve got to drive the car, because it’s not easy. And we’re seeing some great finishes. I don’t know. It is kind of what it is and we’ve got to try to figure out how we’re going to get through 500 miles of it.”
ARE YOU FINE WITH IT, OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THEM MAKE A CHANGE OF SOME SORT? “I don’t think there are any changes that need to be made or can be made. Am I fine with it? It’s not what I prefer. I prefer to go back and race like we did in 2005 (laughs). But you know that’s not going to happen. But I think NASCAR has done pretty much all that they can do, but maybe they’ll do more. I don’t know. I just want to go race and I think we’ve got a fast race car. We’ve just got to get hooked up with the right guys and see what we can do from there.”
HOW MUCH DAMAGE IS THERE? “I don’t know. They’ll look at it. That right-front fender has got me concerned. We’ll go from there.”
Note: Team Chevy press releases, high-resolution images, and media kit can be downloaded from the Team Chevy media website:
About Chevrolet: Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com ce5&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chevrolet.com%2f> .
