Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman Notch Top-Fives at Pocono Raceway; Team Chevy Drivers Capture Five of Top-10 Finishing Positions
LONG POND, Penn (August 7, 2011) – In a hard-fought battle at Pocono Raceway, five-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup (NSCS) champion Jimmie Johnson brought his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet home in fourth place in the Good Sam RV Insurance 500. Starting in 19th position, Johnson and his Chad Knaus-led team methodically worked their way through the field in the 200-lap race that was halted by a one-hour, 40-minute rain delay on the 125th lap.
With the strong performance, Johnson sits second in the standings moving to within nine points of the top spot with 21 races in the record books.
Ryan Newman, No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet, was fifth at the checkered flag after starting 12th in the 43-car field. Newman sits eighth in the standings with five races remaining until the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Four-time NSCS champion Jeff Gordon brought the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet to the sixth finishing position. It was a strong performance and finish for Gordon given he started deep in the field, in 31st position. Gordon remains seventh in points.
Starting 18th, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, battled through the field to finish in ninth place. Earnhardt, Jr. sits 10th in the point standings.
Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard, No. 27 CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet, had another strong run, bringing home the 10th finishing position. He sits poised for a wild card berth in the Chase currently sitting 14th in the standings, the first driver out of the top-12 with a victory.
Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, battled a loose race care throughout the 500-mile race but was able to salvage a 14th place finish at sits fifth in the standings.
Tony Stewart, No 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, battled back from a flat tire that put him a lap down to the field to finish 11th in the final order. The two-time NSCS champion remains ninth in the standings.
Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, sits 12th in the standings after finishing 18th in the point standings.
The unlikely winner was Brad Keselowski (Dodge), Kyle Busch (Toyota) was second, and Kurt Busch (Dodge) finished third.
Next up on the Series’ schedule is the second road course race of the season at Watkins Glen on August 14, 2011.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GOOD SAM RV INSURANCE 500
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES
AUGUST 7, 2011
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED 4TH TELL US ABOUT THOSE CLOSING LAPS WITH KURT BUSCH. IT WAS QUITE A FIGHT. “It was a good battle; man, I worked hard to get by him. I got to the outside of him off of (Turn) 2 and I don’t know, he ran over the side of me off of (Turn) 2, which I didn’t really understand as I took a lot of patience and gave him a lot of courtesy throughout the course of the day running him down. I could have run into him. I could have moved him a lot of different ways to get that position, but I didn’t, you know? I went down there and passed him, and off of (Turn) 2; he ran me up into the wall, or tried to. And I held my ground so I wouldn’t get smashed in the fence.”
THOSE CLOSING LAPS GOT REALLY CRAZY. IT SEEMED LIKE YOU WERE RIGHT THERE FOR A MINUTE, AND THEN IT SEEMED LIKE THE NO. 2 AND THE NO. 18 GOT AWAY AND IT WAS YOU AND KURT BUSCH GOING AT IT HOT AND HEAVY “Well, track position is everything. I have no problem racing hard. And we raced really hard all day long. I just don’t understand why, when I finally get position on him, he’s got to run all over the side of me down the straightaway. It was a great race. The thing is here, track position is everything. And every driver is at 10/10ths, trying to get what they can, when they can, because you can’t pass. And it took me that entire fuel run to set-up that pass on him and I finally got it done and then that problem happens. So that’s where my frustration comes in.”
HOW ABOUT THE CONVERSATION THERE WITH KURT AND WHAT WAS THE MESSAGE YOU WERE TRYING TO DELIVER? “It was more like a lot of yelling. Man I worked him over for 10 or 15 laps and had the opportunity to screw him up and had the opportunity to run into him and never did it. Then off of (turn) two he claims I turned down on him off of (turn) two and I don’t have clue. He ran over me on the corner exit and that’s where it all started.”
THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THE RACE AS YOU STALKED HIM DID YOU FEEL LIKE NOW IN HINDSIGHT MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE HANDLED IT DIFFERENTLY? “No, I’m not going to run people over to pass them. That’s just not me. I worked on him for however many laps trying to get by him clean, fair and square and as I got next to him we had that issue off of (turn) two. I just keep filing things away. I’ll remember this stuff. There’s a couple of other guys out there that have been pushing their luck too.”
TONY GIBSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 39 TORNADOS CHEVROLET – RYAN NEWMAN FINISHED 5TH: TOP FIVE FINISH FOR YOUR TODAY; YOU WERE VERY STRONG EARLY AND THEN STRONG AGAIN AT THE END. TELL US ABOUT IT “Yeah, we kind of made a mistake there; at least I made a mistake. I stayed out there with the No. 20 and the No. 22 on two tires. Everybody else took four. It kind of put us in a bad situation there and those guys all took four behind us. I didn’t think they were all going to take four with 10 laps on their tires, but they did. It kind of ate us up there. We fell back to 12th or 13th. But everybody on the team kept digging all day long and we got back inside the top 10. And then that last stop right there, we took on rights and I think we came out 11th, I think it was, and then (Ryan) Newman just did his normal deal; man, he got after it and drove up through there to a top five finish. I’m proud of everybody on the Tornados Chevrolet and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing; and thanks to Hendrick for their great chassis and engines. Like I say, it wasn’t pretty but we’ll take it.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: ON HIS RACE: “I’m happy with our finish considering the way the day started and where we started, deep in the field. Once we got up there in the top six or seven, I really thought we would have a shot at getting further to the front. I don’t know, we were just missing a little bit of something. There at the end it came down a little bit to pit strategy so we fell back one position with the No. 39 (Ryan Newman) getting up there pretty quick with his two tires. Had a shot at getting back at him then Jimmie (Johnson) and the No. 22 (Kurt Busch) got together and we just ran out time.”
DID YOUR CAR CHANGE A LOT AFTER THE RAIN DELAY? “The car was tighter after the ran than I thought it would be. I thought the car would be loose if anything. We were a little bit tight before. So, yes, I think we guessed wrong a little bit on that and made some adjustments to make it better. I don’t know, we were missing just a little bit but still a good day for us.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9th: ASSESS YOUR DAY OUT THERE: “We had a real good car and we had some real good speed in the car. We had some struggles on pit road, and I know the guys on the AMP Energy/National Guard team will get that sorted out and sometimes we just have mistakes. Sometimes the driver makes them, sometimes – there’s so many guys on the team it’s rare when everyone is kind of clicking. We’ll get it sorted out. We had good speed though, we had a good car all day long and real happy how that worked out.”
TALK ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS RIGHT NOW, ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH WHERE YOU ARE? “I don’t know where we’re at (in points). I haven’t seen it. I’m comfortable though, trust me. (Laughs) I’d rather be second or first or third, whatever, but I’m good with how things are working out.”
DID THE CAR CHANGE MUCH BEFORE AND AFTER THE DELAY? “The car changed a lot, and we expected it to. Everybody’s in the same boat there. We tried to adjust on it there the few times we got the opportunity in the last 80 laps and we never really got it better, but the car was still pretty good. We had great speed on sticker tires, new tires. I was real happy with how the car ran. We were good Friday and I was hoping it would be good today and we had good speed.”
WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR NEXT WEEK AT WATKINS GLEN? “Well, we’re just going to try and go up there and steal a good finish – like everyone else, you know. You’ve got to do different strategy at the road course races and pit once you get inside the window and it’s all kind of craziness. It’s not really much fun, but that’s the way it is”.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT BRAD (KESELOWSKI) GETTING IN THE CAR AND WINNING THE RACE?
“He apparently could mash the brakes pretty good today. He’s a good driver and a great guy and he’s not going to let his opportunities pass him by. He’s not going to give up the opportunity to anyone else. He wants to drive every lap he can drive. I bet it was tough for him to not run the Nationwide race, but probably what made the difference today for him.”
AFTER NEWMAN GOT BY YOU AND YOU LOST THE POSITION ON PIT ROAD HOW BADLY DID YOU WANT TO GET BY HIM ON THAT LAST RUN? “I don’t know, I really wasn’t even thinking about him much. I was trying to race as hard as I could and get what I could get. Everybody is scrambling on restarts and that’s when you really try to get everything you can get and you can’t be very friendly out there.”
IS IT NICE TO GET OFF THIS SLIDE A LITTLE BIT? “Yeah. Our car had speed, I was like, ‘Heck yeah man.’ I drove up to fifth there one time and was racing around the top four, that’s how we were running at the start of the year. I’m kind of happy about that. Hopefully we’ve got it figured out. I know the road course could be feast or famine for us. If we have a bad day there I really won’t be too concerned, but as far as oval racing – what I love – I think we’re getting better at it again.”
THE HENDRICK CARS ON A WHOLE LOOKED REALLY SOLID, BETTER AS A GROUP AS THEY HAD IN A LONG, LONG TIME. DID YOU FEEL THAT AS WELL? “I felt good about how we all ran, but I think we all feel like we ought to be a few steps ahead of where we are. Our qualifying is very poor, so we’ve got to work on that.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 CERTAINTEED/MENARDS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: ‘It was a good follow up to last week’s win. We fought hard for this top-10 finish. The 27 pit crew gained us some spots on that stop coming off the red flag that really help out a bunch. The race for the final Chase spots is shaping up to be really competitive and we’re fighting hard to put ourselves in position to take one of those spots.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11th: THAT WAS A HARD-FOUGHT BATTLE FOR A GOOD FINISH NEAR THE TOP-10: “We didn’t quite get there, we missed it by one. Proud of our guys. We had the bad luck of the tire there and came from the back. All the spots we got, we earned them today. Proud of Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and all these guys. They never gave up today and we won’t give up until it’s over.”
WAS TRACK POSITION THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TODAY? “I think at the end it was kind of a toss-up. There were guys that didn’t take tires, fell back a little bit. Then guys that had four (tires) that were faster than guys on two. It was kind of a mix I think. It was all a matter of what your balance was. If you car was good, I think taking no tires and track position was the way to go but we weren’t quite there. We needed to take four every time. I didn’t know what to do. Darian said if everyone else stays out come in, if they come in. About half came in and half stayed out so I had to make a decision at the last second and I was wondering if I was going to be the cause of us having a bad day again, but I’m pretty happy about it.”
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 120 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 www.chevrolet.com .
