TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
SAMSUNG MOBILE 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FT. WORTH, TX
APRIL 9, 2011
DID YOU KNOW? Chevrolet posted a total of 148,197 sales in March, an 11 percent increase over the same month a year ago. That number includes an 18 percent gain in retail sales, as Chevrolet’s cars, trucks and crossovers continue to attract new customers. Calendar year to date, Chevrolet has sold 416,505 vehicles, a 23 percent increase in total sales, while retail sales have climbed 37 percent for the year.
CHEVY RACING AT THE TRACK-TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY- JEFF CHEW, MARKETING MANAGER, NASCAR, CHEVY RACING: “We always look forward to bringing the Team Chevy Racing Display to Texas Motor Speedway, because the fans are always so incredible. Racing is a very important part of Chevy’s long history, and sharing that history with our fans is very important to us. We’ve added more elements to the display this year, like the latest GM Performance Parts crate engines and Chevy accessories and performance parts that fans can purchase from their local Chevy dealer, to go along with interactive games, digital photography and other activities for fans of all ages.”
. Follow Team Chevy on Facebook to receive the latest news as well as updates with times and locations of events
. Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in two locations in the TMS Fan Midway near Gate 2 and near Gate 7
. At the Chevy Test Drive fans can take a spin in one of Chevy’s hottest new rides including the all-new Cruze, Traverse, Malibu, Equinox, Tahoe, Silverado 1500 crew or Silverado 2500 and then get behind the wheel of a Chevy Camaro Convertible and receive a Chevy T-Shirt for participating in the Test Drive. The Chevy Test Drive at TMS will be open: Thursday 7:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Friday 8:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Transportation from both Team Chevy Racing displays to the Chevy Test Drive in the Bus Lot at the corner of Allison Ave and Hwy 114 will be provided
. At the Main Team Chevy Racing Display near Gate 7, fans can check out Volt, Corvette Coupe, Camaro Convertible, Cruze ECO, Equinox, Traverse, Avalanche, Suburban, Silverado Crew Cab, Silverado 2500 and Silverado 3500
. A satellite Team Chevy Racing display will be located near Gate 2 and feature great vehicles from the Chevrolet lineup
. Activities at the Chevy Racing Display includes a variety of interactive activities for adults and kids
. New this year is the GM Performance Parts display including crate engines and an assortment of GM accessories and performance parts
. Cell Phones for Soldiers will be featured prominently in the display. Fans are encouraged to bring old cell phones to Chevy Display and donate in drop box for Cell Phones for Soldiers program
. Driver appearances for fan Q & A on the Chevy Stage:
. THURSDAY — Justin Allgaier – 4:30 p.m.
. SATURDAY – Ryan Neman-3:30 p.m.; Jeff Gordon-3:45 p.m.; Tony Stewart-4:00 p.m.
. The over-the-wall pit crew for the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet driven by Clint Bowyer will sign autographs Saturday at the Main Display starting at 2:00 p.m.
. Hours for both Team Chevy Racing Displays will be: Thursday 7:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Friday 8:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
TEAM CHEVY IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (NSCS) COMPETITION:
. Chevrolet has won 34 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Manufacturers’ Championships
. Team Chevy drivers have scored 672 wins in NSCS competition
o 2011 wins – 3
. In 2010, Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team scored their unprecedented fifth consecutive drivers’ and owners’ NSCS championships
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK-TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
* A Chevrolet driver has won 6 of the 20 NSCS races at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS)
. Chevy has 11 poles at TMS
* Team Chevy drivers have scored 36 top-five finishes and 86 top-10 finishes at TMS * A Chevrolet has led 2,464 laps (36.5% of 6,750) at TMS
. Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, has two (2) wins at TMS (’97 & ’07)
* Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 AMP Energy/ National Guard Chevrolet has one (1) TMS win * Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet has won once (1) at TMS * Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet has one TMS victory * Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet has won once (1) at TMS * Ryan Newman, No. 39 US Army Chevrolet won at TMS in ’03 * Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet has one (1) TMS win
TEAM CHEVY AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – PAT SUHY, NASCAR GROUP MANAGER, GM RACING:
“So far in 2011, Team Chevy is off to a strong start. Congratulations to Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress racing on their back to back victories. Congratulations to Johnny Sauter too, not only for his win at Martinsville, but on the birth of his daughter as well. The weekend sweep at Martinsville was a treat and is a testament to the strength of our support program across the board in NASCAR. Our GM Racing program managers and engineers work as hard as anyone in the industry, making sure that the parts and technical support we provide our teams gives them what they need to go out and win races and championships.
“Coming to Texas Motor Speedway for the first stop at the track in 2011 brings hope that our luck here will change. The teams will be running a tire combination that they’re familiar with from last season, which should allow them to use what they learned from racing on it last year to fine tune their setups for this fast mile and a half track. That, along with a lot of work behind the scenes on seven post testing and other chassis engineering projects, should allow our teams to have their usual good chance of coming away from Texas with another victory for Team Chevy. I’m looking forward to a Texas-sized celebration in victory lane.”
TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET – 3RD IN STANDINGS – HAS ONE TMS VICTORY (’07): “My first thought is what the hell are we doing with this weird schedule at Texas? We practice on Thursday night and all the other stuff that’s going on. So I’m still trying to get my head around that (laughs). But we’re excited to go back to Texas; obviously is a great spot for our circuit with a lot of great fans. Night races are always good. I hope it’s warm. We have a chance where it can be awfully cold there. But I’m looking forward to going back. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area has been very supportive of NASCAR and it’ll be good.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET – 5TH IN STANDINGS: “Texas hasn’t changed over the last couple of years, but there for a while, every year we would come back it would change a lot. Goodyear has done a good job with the tires to make them still wear out, but they’re really, really fast at the beginning of the run and they last fairly long through the runs. As far as the race track goes, it still has big bumps in the middle of Turns 1 and 2 and it still has the little bumps on the bottom of Turns 3 and 4. There’s still a big bump in that corner over the tunnel, so it has character. It wears the tires out of the car and they become harder to drive as the run goes on. It’s a fun race track to race on because you have options to move around, but you still have really, really big speed at the beginning of the runs.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 US ARMY CHEVROLET – 6TH IN STANDINGS – WON AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY (TMS) IN ’03: “We’re off to a strong start and if we’re going to continue to have success we need to do well at the intermediate tracks like Texas. In the past, the mile-and-a-half and two-mile tracks gave us problems, but so far this season we have had good results at those venues with fifth-place finishes at Las Vegas and Fontana. Texas will be another good test for our U.S. Army Reserve Chevrolet. I’ve had a mixture of results there including a win (2003), but it’s going to be more interesting this weekend with it being a night race. The balance transition at night races is key and with this being the first night race at Texas that’s the big unanswered question. It’s the same for everyone, but I feel good about how our U.S. Army team has been communicating and working through problems. I think we put ourselves in a better position team-wise and communication-wise to be more successful this year. After two years of working together, we’ve learned what we needed to work on and I think we did a good job in the off-season of doing that.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET – 7TH IN STANDINGS: “I like Texas believe it or not. Our results haven’t been that great there but it’s a track I enjoy racing at. You can run against the fence there and make up good ground especially in (turns) three and four. The racing there suits my driving style. Our program has definitely improved over the last couple of years and our Target Chevy’s are strong so I’m looking for a good points day.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – 8TH IN STANDINGS – HAS ONE (1) TMS WIN (’00): “I look forward to going to Texas — it’s a real fast place, and it’s wide. The car needs to move around, and it needs to work in several different groves. Texas has some really, really tricky transitions. The exit off of Turn 2 is a real, real tricky corner — it is real loose off if you aren’t careful.”
MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – 10TH IN STANDINGS – HAS WON ONCE (1) AT TMS (’98): “Who doesn’t like a good night race? I’m excited about it. It’s our first one of the season, and I think that everyone, the drivers, the fans, the sponsors, gets pumped up for night races. I think it’s a good call by the Texas track and I am looking forward to it.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/ OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET – 11TH IN STANDINGS – HAS ONE (1) TMS WIN (’06): “I’ve always liked Texas. I’ve been there clear back in my Indy car days in ’96. The fans in Texas and the people that come to Texas Motor Speedway are really appreciative of the drivers and the teams. They’re just really passionate about their racing. They have a great promoter with Eddie Gossage out there. It’s just a fun track, it’s a fun weekend, and it’s a place that we run really, really run fast at. It’s a fast track. That makes it one on the schedule that you look forward to because you know you’re going to get to let your legs stretch out, so to speak, and run some quick lap times.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – 12TH IN STANDINGS – HAS WON ONCE (1) AT TMS (’09): “We haven’t always run well at Texas, but I am cautiously optimistic heading into the weekend. The differences in our performances in the spring and the fall races recently is probably just different weather and track conditions at that time of year. This track has always been one of the premier facilities – if not the premier facility. There is no other place like this and it has really turned into a fantastic track. When we first came here, it was a really, really challenging race track. It was fast and the transitions were really abrupt, and it was hard just to stay out of the wall. But as the surface has worn and as we’ve gotten the cars handling better, it’s become one of the premier tracks. The race track itself has come into its own and made great racing with the groove widening out. It seems like it gets better every time we come here.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 QUAKER STATE/MENARDS CHEVROLET – 13TH IN STANDINGS: “I feel really good about heading back to Texas (Motor Speedway). We actually had a better car there in the spring race. We didn’t qualify very well, but we drove up into the top 10 pretty quickly. There was a big wreck on the front stretch, and we were involved in that. There were about 10 cars involved, and it ruined our day. Then we had a top 10 in the fall. It’s a good track for me. You drive Texas a little different than you would Charlotte (Motor Speedway) or Atlanta (Motor Speedway). There are some characteristics of TMS that I enjoy and seem to work out pretty well.”
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET – 16TH IN STANDINGS: “We’ve always run decent in Texas. It’s just sometimes things don’t work out like you want them to. There’s a lot of different things that come into play; sometimes its fuel mileage, I think we even got caught up in a wreck last year during the spring race. I’m looking forward to going there, always a lot of fun. You’re going over 200 mph, but when you turn off into the corner; you’re turning a pretty sharp turning-radius. The g-forces throw the car and slam it down in the corner up near the banking. It’s a pretty wild feeling. You’re really getting after it.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET – 23RD IN STANDINGS: “I love Texas! I grew up only about five hours from the race track so It feels like home, and it’s one of the nicest facilities that we go to. We didn’t run very well there last year, so we’re going with a completely different style of a setup. Texas has usually been a good track for me, so hopefully we’ll hit on something this weekend and bring home another solid finish for our Bass Pro Shops Chevy.
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – 28TH IN STANDINGS – HAS TWO (2) WINS AT TMS (’97 & ’07) “I really don’t remember it (first Texas race last year). I remember the second Texas race – that’s when Jeff (Gordon) and I had our altercation. That certainly was forgettable for me. That’s been a sticking point for me. It’s not something I’m proud of. It was a bad day for the No. 31 Caterpillar team and me, in particular. By the same token, Texas is a track that I’ve had a lot of success at. At this track, we’ve either done really, really well or really, really bad. I was leading the race in the spring race, had a great opportunity to win the race and drove away from Hamlin. Then, we got a red flag. We sat there for 30 minutes and I don’t know if we lost air pressure in the tires or what, but we couldn’t run a lap after that. We finished 12th. I thought we had the race won. That was kind of how our year went. If you look at Texas, we ran really well and had a chance to win the race and finished nowhere as near as where we should have. Then, towards the end of the year, we had that calamity with Jeff (Gordon). Those two races summed up my year to be honest.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FARM AMERICAN CHEVROLET – 30TH IN STANDINGS: “We’re going to Texas knowing that our luck cycle needs to change. It’s been a frustrating start for our No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team. We’ve done so many things well, but can’t seem to avoid trouble and mechanical issues on race day. We know as a team that we’ve made big gains this year even though the results haven’t been what they should be. We’ve been hit pretty hard so far this season with unexpected issues. All we can do is keep plugging away and stay positive. I’ll be driving the Farm American Chevrolet this weekend and hopefully that will change our luck. I think the last time I drove the Farm American car was in California last fall and finished 12th.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships
Total (1949 – 2010): 34
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 9 (1983 – 91)
Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Drivers Championships
Total (1949 – 2010): 27
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 6 (1993 – 98) & (2005 – ’10)
Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Event Victories
2010 Race Wins: 18
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 – 2007
2011 YEAR-TO-DATE STATISTICS:
Wins: 3
Poles: 3
Laps led: 1,072
Top-five finishes: 16
Top-10 finishes: 30
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 672 (1949 – to date) (2,288 possible = 29.3%)
Poles Won to Date: 612
Laps Lead to Date: 201,308
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,383
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 6,912
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,007
Chevrolet: 672
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 701
Ford: 601
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 456
Dodge: 207
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 34
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> .
