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[/media-credit]35-TIME MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPION – NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
KOBALT TOOLS 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
MARCH 11, 2012
DID YOU KNOW? In February, Chevrolet passenger car sales were up 13 percent. The all-new Chevrolet Sonic had its best month ever, with sales of 7,900 units. Chevrolet Cruze exceeded 20,000 units for the sixth time, marking its sixth-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains. The small and compact car portfolio, which includes the Chevrolet Sonic, Cruze and Volt, was up a combined 43 percent versus February 2011.
CHEVY RACING AT THE LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – JEFF CHEW, MARKETING MANAGER, CHEVY RACING: “The Team Chevy Racing Display has something for everyone in the entire family. Fans this week can ask questions of Team Chevy stars Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman, and get autographs from one of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s race-day pit crews. You also can spend time with one of our friendly product specialists and learn more about Chevy’s great 2012 vehicle lineup, and compete with other fans on our video race simulators. Also on display are Chevrolet Performance Parts crate engines and an assortment of accessories and performance parts for fans to purchase from their local Chevy dealer. We hope to see you there.”
TEAM CHEVY SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow Team Chevy on Facebook and @TeamChevy on Twitter to receive the latest news as well as updates with times and locations of events.
TEAM CHEVY FOR THE FANS AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
· Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Fan Midway area
· Fans can check out great Chevrolet vehicles including: Volt, Equinox, Silverado Crew, Silverado HD, Camaro, Cruze, Sonic and Malibu ECO
· At the display see a variety of show cars including the No. 88, No. 29, No. 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup cars, plus the Grand-Am Camaro
· Also on display is a Chevrolet R07 racing engine complete with electronic fuel injection that will power all of our NASCAR Sprint Cup series Team Chevy drivers in 2012. Fans can also see a sample of engines, parts and accessories available for purchase from Chevrolet Performance at their local Chevrolet dealer
· Other activities at the Team Chevy Racing Display include a variety of interactive games for adults and kids
· When fans register at the Team Chevy Racing Display they will receive a 35 Manufacturers’ Championship t-shirt
DRIVER FAN Q/A APPEARANCES:
· Sunday, March 11 – Juan Pablo Montoya will appear on the Team Chevy stage at 8:45 a.m. followed by Ryan Newman at 9:15 a.m. The EGR over-the-wall pit crew will also hold an autograph session at the Team Chevy display during the race weekend.
· Hours of operation: Fri. March 9 – 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Sat. March 10 – 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m and Sun. March 11 – 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
TEAM CHEVY IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (NSCS) COMPETITION:
· Chevrolet has won 35 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Manufacturers’ Championships
· Team Chevy drivers have scored 687 wins and 620 poles in NSCS competition
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK—LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
· Chevrolet drivers have won 5 of 14 races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS)
· A Chevrolet driver has won two (2) of the last five (5) races at LVMS
· A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at LVMS one time (2003)
· Team Chevy drivers have scored 28 top-five and 50 top-10 finishes at LVMS
· A Chevrolet has led 1,275 laps (37.8% of possible 3,373) at LVMS
o Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet, has four (4) consecutive wins at LVMS (‘05, ’06, ’07 and ‘08)
o Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont 20 Years Chevrolet, has one victory at LVMS (’01)
TEAM CHEVY IN THE GARAGE LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – PAT SUHY, MANAGER, GM RACING, OVAL TRACK GROUP: “As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series tours head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, our Chevy teams will be looking forward to seeing how their 1.5-mile programs stack-up against the competition. With eight 1.5-mile tracks on the circuit for 11 Sprint Cup points’ races, the teams that are expecting to vie for championships must be competitive. These tracks, even though they’re not all the same, place high demands on chassis, engines, and aerodynamic platforms.
“Our engineering group, along with our teams, dedicate a lot of resources to continually learn from and to improve upon past performances. With the maturity of the Impala and the Chevy R07 engine that powers it, improvements in drag, downforce, grip, and horsepower are often measured in fractions of a percent. Finding even the smallest gains like that requires sophisticated engineering tools and equipment to calculate or measure those attributes. Complementing our Chevy Teams’ engineering resources, our GM engineers are up to the task; using state-of-the-art chassis simulation and physical testing tools to stay a step ahead of the competition. Those efforts resulted in Chevrolet drivers celebrating wins in six of the 11 races on this group of tracks last year.
“Given how strong our teams were in 2011, and knowing the effort they’ve expended over the short off-season, I think there’s an excellent chance I’ll get to visit victory lane in Las Vegas this weekend”
TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET – 3RD IN STANDINGS
“When they redid the race track, it’s just a really fast race track. (There are) several bumps in the track and you have to make sure you are pointed in the right direction to go over it straight. It’s a really fast race track and you’ve just got to have a lot of grip in the car to keep the pedal on the floor. It (the track) hasn’t seemed to change a lot. It seems like it’s still really fast and every time we go out there during that time of the year it’s always pretty cool so the cars seem to grip well. The way that they paved that particular race track, it started off rough and it’s still rough. I think everybody’s adapted and it adds character to the track. You can move around the race track and you have options. It’s a different race track than most everywhere else we go.
“I think you have to be (a calculated gambler) to a certain extent. I also think there’s an ‘I may not make it this time’ type of move that you have to try to accomplish every once and a while to try and win a race, or put yourself in position to win a race. I think on a week-to-week basis, it’s a good description (drivers as calculated gamblers) of who we are.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET – 5TH IN STANDINGS
“We ran good at Vegas last year and did well on the intermediate tracks so we feel pretty good going in. The team definitely wants to go there and put on a good run. I like the racetrack, I like racing there, and it’s a good area, too. It’s a fast track and has a lot of bumps, but it’s a fun track.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – 13TH IN STANDINGS
“Running on intermediate tracks was our weak point last year. We just weren’t good on them for whatever reason. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is typically a place I run well. I haven’t won on the new configuration in the Sprint Cup Series, but I’ve led a lot of laps and been in a position to win several times. It’s a place I fully expect to run well there. It’s very racy. I thought they were screwing it up when they put banking in it and repaved it, but they made it better. They did a much better job than I anticipated and it is a much better race track.
“I don’t think the participants should be doing it (betting on races), but if the fans want to bet on it then I think they should. It’s part of pulling for your favorite driver or pulling against another guy. It’s all about the experience of being in Las Vegas. I don’t think the people involved in this sport should be betting on it by any means, but for the fans, it’s a part of being in Las Vegas.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/SCHROCK CHEVROLET – 14TH IN STANDINGS
“I love the track. It’s a really fun and racy track. It’s coming into its own a lot and the progressive banking is really nice. It’s pretty damn fast, too, so that makes qualifying really interesting. We actually did a tire test last fall and even with just the few cars that were there, we could rubber in the second groove and run it. Which as a race fan and a race driver, you want to have options to pass people. There you can run the bottom, run the middle and at times, run the top there. It’s a really fun race track.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET – 15TH IN STANDINGS
“It’s no different at Las Vegas than anywhere else (regarding his outlook for the race). You have to get the car to rotate through the corner, but still stay tight enough on entry and exit. There’s no unique challenges there. The track is really smooth and that lets you work on the attitude of your car, and I think that’s a luxury that we have there that we don’t necessarily always get everywhere else because every track has its unique set of bumps. Vegas has bumps too, but for the most part, it’s so smooth that you can really fine-tune the attitude of the car.”
DAVE BLANEY, NO. 36 TOMMY BALDWIN RACING CHEVROLET – 16TH IN STANDINGS
“Vegas will be a good test for our new engine package on the mile and a half tracks. We’re looking to have a good point day this weekend like the last two races. That way if we get into a position where we have a bad day or can’t compete because of sponsorship, we should still be solid in the top-35 in points. It doesn’t feel like it will be my 400th start. I’ve probably made more than 1,700 starts in sprint and stock cars throughout my career, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. I’m just very lucky to be able to do what I love every day.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET – 18TH IN STANDINGS
“It’s like Tony Gibson has said several times, it’s like a snowball effect. Good finishes and success will improve the confidence of everyone on the team and that just builds momentum with each and every race. We’ve had really good racecars at Las Vegas the last few years. The first year, we qualified sixth and we were really fast during the whole race. Unfortunately, we had a loose wheel and that ended up costing us, but it was a race we left feeling really positive about what we had. We came back to Las Vegas last season and we qualified third, but we had a couple of issues on pit road during the race that hurt us so, again, we didn’t get the finish we were looking for last year, either. Last year, we were finally able to put a good start and a good finish together at Las Vegas. We really battled with the car during the race because it was too loose but, once we got the handling right, we had a super-fast racecar and ended up with a fifth-place finish. It was one of several mile-and-a-half tracks on the schedule where we ran really well and, hopefully, we can put together another good run at Las Vegas this weekend. We need a good finish after the past two weeks that we have had, and it would be nice to get some momentum going in the right direction for us.
“Personally, for me, I really like Las Vegas. I always say it’s my kind of racetrack because I like the ones that have hills, and this track has some great banking. As far as the track goes, they’ve made some changes to it over the past few years. The track is higher-banked. It has a rougher surface in that there are more bumps. The track has some character to it. Over the past couple of years, the bumps in the track have typically been pretty tricky, but that’s something I like. We have some good notes from what we’ve done there the past few years and I really hope we can build on those.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/FARM AMERICAN CHEVROLET – 19TH IN STANDINGS
“Judging from the first two races we know if we can finish without something happening like being collected in an accident or running out of fuel, we’re going to come away with a good result. The performance is there with our Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet. We just need to capitalize on what we have and bring home a solid finish. Las Vegas is a mile-and-a-half track that we like and this will be a good test to see how we fare at an intermediate track, which makes up the bulk of our races.
“Squandering top-10s in Daytona and Phoenix is unsettling. But considering what happened to our team in the late stages of those races our finishes aren’t that bad. We got collected in an accident in Daytona and ran out of fuel in Phoenix. As I have stated — our goal in 2012 is to make our bad or hard luck days better than they were 2011. So far we’re on track with that goal.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT 20 YEARS CHEVROLET – 22ND IN STANDINGS
“I’m excited about the race this weekend because I think we will have a great race car. And running the new paint scheme will be cool because it signifies a great relationship that is now 20 years strong. Back in 1992 when all this began, it was good news to hear DuPont was interested in sponsoring the car. While I knew it offered me a chance to race for checkered flags in the Cup Series, I didn’t know much about the company then. It’s been interesting and educational to learn about their global reach in science and innovation through these two decades. And that education for me continues to this day. It’s been a great 20 years, and I hope it continues well into the future.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 CLOROX CHEVROLET – 23RD IN STANDINGS
“Las Vegas is a hit or miss track, we can either be really fast or really slow. We’ve never been average there. It’s an exciting race. I’m looking forward to it, because we’ve done a lot of work in the wind tunnel on our cars. I know we’ve gotten the cars better. Normally we run really good on the mile and a half’s, so it should be a fun race. I’d like to get the Clorox Chevy up front and stay there.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 51 TAG HEUER EYEWEAR CHEVROLET – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“I’d have to say that (the toughest part of racing at LVMS is) getting the car to handle in turns three and four is the hardest part. The way the track is situated the sun really bares down on turns three and four and the tendency is for that to make those particular turns pretty slick. Turns one and two are in the shade for the biggest part of the race. So your car may be handling really well in turns one and two and then you can end up sliding in three and four so it’s a challenge to find a nice balance between the two ends of the track.”
DAVID REUTIMANN, NO. 10 TOMMY BALDWIN RACING CHEVROLET – 29TH IN STANDINGS
“I love the mile and a half racetracks. I like going to Vegas. We have a good car, so I feel good about the race. I hope we can shake the bad luck we had last week and get a good finish. I think Vegas will be a good racetrack for us. Our focus right now is getting in the top-35, so we don’t have any issues qualifying later in the season. We’ll go into Vegas and try to make up the points we lost last week.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET – 32ND IN STANDINGS
“The guys are working so hard, and we’re unloading fast cars. We’ve had a rough start, but we can turn it around. My best tracks are still ahead of us, and we’re going to keep bringing great equipment.
“Las Vegas really kicks off a huge part of the schedule. The intermediate tracks have been the stronger tracks for us, and we are looking forward to getting back on track this weekend in our Farmers Insurance Chevy.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET – 37TH IN STANDINGS
“We have not had the start to 2012 that we hoped for, but there is no lack of effort from this team. We have put a lot of emphasis on testing and will actually be in Nashville to test on Wednesday of this week before heading to Las Vegas. I feel like our team has made lots of improvement and we look forward to going out to Las Vegas this weekend and proving that with a solid finish.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET – 38TH IN STANDINGS
“I always enjoy Las Vegas. It has been a good track for us, at times. There always seems to be a lot going on. Kobalt Tools is sponsoring the race, so we will have a lot of stuff going on and it will be a busy weekend. I’m enjoying a little down time with the family but am looking forward to getting to Las Vegas and continuing on the good momentum we had at Phoenix. Obviously, it was very important (to have a good run at Phoenix). I’m really proud of the way the Lowe’s team came together. My guys worked hard and we focused on what we needed to do. We had a great car – a car that could win – but we had a little hiccup. We were able to come back from that and were able to pull off a top-five finish. It was exactly what we needed. We just need to keep doing that week after week. No, no strategy change (regarding his standings in the points). The end result is winning races. The worst-case scenario would be fighting for a wild card spot (in the Chase) and that boils down to winning races. It is no different than if we won the Daytona 500. We want to go to the racetrack and perform as well as we can each and every week and win races. That is our agenda.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships
Total (1949 – 2011): 35
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 9 twice (1983 – 1991) (2003-2011)
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, 2011
Drivers Championships
Total (1949 – 2011): 28
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005 – ’11)
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, 2011
Event Victories
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 – (in 2007)
2012 STATISTICS:
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Laps led: 200
Top-five finishes: 4
Top-10 finishes: 7
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 687 (1949 – to date); (2,320 possible = 29.6%)
Poles Won to Date: 620
Laps Lead to Date: 205,302
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,451
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 7,057
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,022
Chevrolet: 687
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 707
Ford: 607
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 461
Dodge: 212
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 40
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
