[media-credit name=”www.mispeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”175″]
[/media-credit]35-TIME MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPION – NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN
JUNE 17, 2012
DID YOU KNOW? The all-electric vehicle range of the 2013 Chevrolet Volt will be 38 miles on a single charge, providing owners with a three-mile EV range increase from the 2012 model. The miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) will increase from 94 miles to 98 miles and the total range, including extended range operation, will be 380 miles.
CHEVY RACING AT MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY– JEFF CHEW, MARKETING MANAGER – CHEVROLET RACING: “The Team Chevy Racing Display will have something for everyone who visits Michigan International Speedway this weekend. Fans can ask questions of Team Chevy drivers Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick, Jeff Burton and a host of other drivers who will be stopping by the Team Chevy stage. Fans can also 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 MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:
· Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Zone area at Michigan International Speedway
· Fans can check out great Chevrolet vehicles including: Sonic LS, Cruze ECO, Camaro 45th Anniversary, Equinox, Tahoe, Traverse, Volt, Silverado 1500, 2014 Impala, Camaro ZZ1 and Spark
· At the display see a variety of show cars including the No. 88, No. 29 and No. 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup cars as well as the No. 57 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 at their local Chevrolet dealer
· Team Chevy Test Drive – This weekend at Michigan International Speedway the Team Chevy Display will feature the Team Chevy Test Drive area. This is an area where fans can climb behind the wheel of an array of featured Chevrolet vehicles and give them a test drive on site. The featured vehicles fans can test drive include: Sonic, Cruze, Malibu, Volt, Camaro, Corvette Grand Sport, Equinox, Traverse and Silverado
· 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:
· Friday June 15th – NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie-of-the-Year contender will visit the Team Chevy stage for a question and answer session at 5:30 p.m.
· Saturday June 16th – Johanna Long will visit the Team Chevy stage at 10:00 a.m. followed by defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart at 12:30 p.m. Danica Patrick will visit the Team Chevy stage for a question and answer session at 1:20 p.m. followed by James Buescher at 2:30 p.m.
· Sunday June 17th – Jeff Burton will stop by the Team Chevy stage at 9:05 a.m. followed by the No. 42 Chevrolet over-the-wall pit crew at 9:30 a.m.
· Hours of operation: Fri. June 15th – 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.; Sat. June 16th – 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. and Sun. June 17th – 7:30 a.m. – 1:30 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 693 wins and 623 poles in NSCS competition
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK—MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:
· Chevrolet drivers have won 19 of 85 races at Michigan International Speedway (MIS). Wins by active drivers are:
o Kurt Busch, No. 51 Phoenix Construction Services Inc. Chevrolet, has two victories at MIS (’03 & ’07)
o Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, has two (2) wins at MIS (’98 & ‘01)
o Ryan Newman, No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet, has gone to Victory Lane twice (2) at MIS (’03 & ’04)
o Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/The Dark Knight Rises/National Guard Chevrolet, has one win at MIS (’08)
o Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet, has one victory at MIS (’10)
o Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, has one trophy from MIS (’06)
o Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, has one victory at MIS (’00)
· A Chevrolet driver has won three (3) of the last 10 races at MIS
· A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Michigan 23 times
· Team Chevy drivers have scored 142 top-five and 293 top-10 finishes at MIS
· A Chevrolet has led 6,090 laps (36.1% of possible 16,892 at Michigan International Speedway)
TEAM CHEVY IN THE GARAGE MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY – PAT SUHY –MANAGER, CHEVROLET RACING – OVAL TRACK GROUP:
“The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will get to experience their second week in a row of racing on a newly repaved track when the tour arrives at Michigan International Speedway this week. As with last week at the repaved Pocono track, there will be time for testing before the official race weekend gets underway. The teams will get six hours of track time on Thursday to learn as much as they can about how the new surface interacts with the new left and right-side tire codes that will be run here. The few teams that participated in Goodyear’s tire test in April will already have a leg-up on the competition given the fact that they’ve already experienced the new combination of pavement and tires.
“Tests like this are a mixed bag for the teams. On one hand it allows them to make only one trip to the track and is probably more cost-efficient. On the other hand it becomes a ‘fire drill’ for the teams and engineering groups to gather as much data as possible in the six hours of track testing on Thursday. They will provide the data to their engineers, who will be expected to perform their analysis and possibly some physical testing on the seven post rig back at the shop; and then have results packaged-up for the crew chiefs and car engineers before the official race weekend gets underway the very next day.
“Our line-up of Team Chevy Sprint Cup teams has shown over time that they’re the best in the business when it comes to getting it done on the race track. I’m confident that we’ll see at least a few of our teams running up front and putting themselves in position to collect Chevrolet’s seventh win of the season on Sunday.”
TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW/THE DARK KNIGHT RISES/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – 2nd IN STANDINGS
“I’m looking forward to going to Michigan and testing there for the day. With the repave some things might be similar to Pocono. We learned a lot during the five days up there and hopefully we can go to Michigan with some of that stuff we learned and have a strong car.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – 5th IN STANDINGS: “I talked to Matt Kenseth. He was at the test and Jeff Gordon was there, too. There are different ways that we describe things and the expression that both Jeff and Matt had on their faces when they described the speed at Michigan; I know it’s going to be exciting! So, I’m looking forward to the test. Testing will be helpful for all the teams. And then we’ll see what it does. And it’s just going to be blistering fast. I’ll know more when I get there. I want to make sure I have plenty of coffee to be awake when I get on track (laughs).
“The speeds and the shapes of the tracks are different, of course. But any more, the airflow over the car is where we find the bulk of our grip. So the fact that the speeds at Pocono are very high and the same with the speeds at Michigan, there will be some things that crossover (between the two tracks). So, we will leave the Pocono test and race, and go to Michigan and actually it will probably be closer than it would if we came from a short track, because the speeds in the way you set the car up due to the aerodynamics would be the same.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER FOLDS OF HONOR CHEVROLET – 6th IN STANDINGS: “I think it will be more wide open. With the test at Pocono the week before, I think a lot of what we learned there will apply as we go to Michigan, but I think the speeds will be a little bit higher at Michigan. I think you’re going to have to move around. The bottom is probably going to be the fastest as you go through the race, but it’ll be a little bit easier for the cars to move around at Michigan just because it’s more wide open with different degrees of banking than Pocono. I still think the bottom will probably be the fastest though. I think everybody knew with the race tracks being repaved that you were going to have some pretty high speeds and everybody was prepared. You just go do the same things that you would do at any other race track and try to acquire as much information as you can on Thursday and apply it as fast as possible for the rest of the weekend.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET – 8th IN STANDINGS: “I don’t think so. The safety of these cars have come a long way and race track safety too with the soft walls. I don’t think you are ever really concerned about it until something bad happens. But, I’ve been to racetracks and I’ve seen crashes at 60 mph that hurt people a lot worse than 160 mph. So, I feel pretty confident with the safety package that we have, with both the racetrack side and with what NASCAR has done with the cars.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/DURACELL CHEVROLET – 13th IN STANDINGS: “No, absolutely not (will the track be as wide open as before). I think it is going to take a little bit for it to burn in. Much like Pocono (Raceway) and Phoenix (International Raceway) which were also repaved, it has a single groove for a little while, but as we test and as we run more laps it does open up. I’m looking forward to going there; it is going to be exciting. I think it’s going to be the fastest track on the schedule.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET – 14th IN STANDINGS: “As far as I’m concerned, we all like the old asphalt. That and the tire combination made for some of the best racing. But those places have to be repaved. It’s not the first time that Michigan has been repaved, and it’s probably not going to be the last. Even going to places like Daytona, we would rather have it where the cars slide around and the tires are softer and they fall off, and then you really have to drive the race car. That’s just a factor of the change and the use that we have of the race track. Just like every other racetrack, it will change the grip and the tire combination, which will have an effect on the racing. I don’t think we’ve ever gone to a newly surfaced race track and run three-wide or had three grooves to work with, so it changes the characteristics of the racing. In saying that, it’s something that has to be done for the future of our sport from a safety standpoint. I know they also work pretty hard there, too, with the weepers and the water drainage, so there are some things I think they’ve learned at other racetracks that they can apply to Michigan to help with the drying process and the safety aspect of it, as well. As drivers, I never like to see them paved. I love them when they’re old and they have character and they’re lacking grip and we can take a tire there that’s pretty grippy and falls off, and that is a good combination for us as drivers, especially for the racing and for the fans. It’s going to be another work in progress for Goodyear to bring and build a tire for a new race track of this shape and of this caliber.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET – 16th IN STANDINGS:
“I’m excited to see the new surface at Michigan. It’s always been a good track for us, and it should be really fast with the repave. You could always run so many different lines there in the past. I hope that’s still true on the new pavement.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – 18th IN STANDINGS: “I think it is going to be really fast. I am more concerned about how many racing grooves there will be. Until we get there and start running, it is really hard to know. Sometimes with new asphalt, there is only one groove. One groove at Michigan International Speedway would be hard to deal with restarts and everything else. We need to figure out where the grooves are going to be and will there be multiple grooves. All those things we need to figure out during testing on Thursday and practice throughout the weekend. Right now, I just don’t have that answer. I have to keep an open mind going there until we can figure out what we need to do. It is more of a constant speed at Michigan International Speedway. You’ve got a two-mile race track and you run at a high speed consistently. We have to be careful to not get going too fast. Not just from a safety standpoint, but from a quality of race standpoint. Races tend to be better when the speeds are down just a little bit. The cars drive better when they are going fast, but from the quality of the race standpoint, I’m not sure that more speed out of the track would be a good thing.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET – 19th IN STANDINGS: “I am looking forward to getting to Michigan this weekend. Our teammates on the Target team went up for the Goodyear test a few weeks ago and the reports are that the track is really smooth and fast. I’m glad that we will have the one extra day to test on Thursday to help us adjust to the new conditions for the weekend. We had a really strong car last weekend at Pocono and we will look to back that up this weekend with our McDonald’s Chevrolet.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET – 21st IN STANDINGS:
“We tested in Michigan a couple of months ago and that place is fast, I mean, fast, fast. Our minimum speed was over 180 mph into the corner and we are doing over 210 mph at the end of the straight. For a car like this it’s really, really quick. It’s a lot of fun and should make for some really good racing.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – 22nd IN STANDINGS:
“I am not a big fan of repaves, so the fact that I am talking positive about it – and still enjoying the race track as much as I always have – is a sign that I think they did a great job. Whatever it is about this track, it has always had a great feel to it, and instead of having to go in and ‘recreate’ [that feel] like some tracks have had to do, they were basically able to pave over the top of what they had – and fix whatever they could – to keep it lasting as long as possible.
“It’s a very fast track but a very comfortable feeling pace the cars drove well and they stuck to the race track. The track drives so similar to the way it did before and I believe it’s going to have multiple grooves. We just need it to widen out a little bit, and that is only going to come with laps.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET – 24th IN STANDINGS
“I’ve always liked racing at Michigan — it was a track where you could pass and feel you had plenty of room to make moves. Now that the track has been repaved, I am hoping some of the old characteristics will be the same, but we aren’t going to know for sure until we start testing there on Thursday. What I do know is that the track is going to be faster — that’s a given. How much faster is hard to tell. The weather will have a lot to say about what kind of speeds we’ll produce over the weekend. We went through the same process last week in Pocono with its repaved track and I think we all did a good job adapting to the new conditions. I anticipate the same at MIS.”
DAVE BLANEY, NO. 36 TOMMY BALDWIN RACING CHEVROLET – 33rd IN STANDINGS: “Michigan is a very cool track. It has the widest grove that varies more than anywhere we go. There is a huge difference in width of the track, and you can run well in any line and be competitive. It will be fun to see what the new pavement will be like to race on. Obviously, it will gain some speed and be a challenge to get going. I’m glad we have the opportunity to test on Thursday. It is always fun to go out there because it is the closest Cup track from where I grew up, so the track is a bit of a home track.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 33 AMERICAN ETHANOL CHEVROLET – MAKING FIRST NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES START OF 2012 “Truthfully, Michigan International Speedway is one of my favorite tracks. The bigger tracks always seem to suit me well because there is a lot of room to slide around and some of the sensations are similar to dirt track racing, which is my background. Our team always seems to run well at Michigan International Speedway and it’s a big, fast, fun and very smooth track. I’ve heard that the speeds are really up there now that the track has been repaved, so I think it will be fun to see what it’s like. I’ve been told that the corners are very smooth and fast but the track still has the bump that it previously had, so there is still some character to the track. There is a test session for the Sprint Cup Series teams on Thursday, so that will provide us with an opportunity to gain some information before the race weekend officially begins, and I hope that will give our team an extra edge for both the Sprint Cup Series race and the Nationwide Series race.”
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: 6
Poles: 3
Laps led: 1996
Top-five finishes: 27
Top-10 finishes: 59
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 693 (1949 – to date); (2,330 possible = 29.6%)
Poles Won to Date: 623
Laps Lead to Date: 207,098
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,474
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 7,109
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,028
Chevrolet: 693
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 708
Ford: 608
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 463
Dodge: 214
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 43
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.
