NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 14, 2015
A BANNER DAY FOR CHEVROLET
Kurt Busch Wins at Michigan to End a Successful Day for Team Chevy
BROOKLYN, Mich. – (June 14, 2015) – It was a banner day for Chevrolet. It began with Cole Custer winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in the wee hours of the morning at Gateway (Ill) Motorsports Park. Corvette Racing ended a 24 hour campaign to reign victorious in the prestigious 24 Hour of Le Mans for the eighth time since it’s 2000 debut run. At New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire, John Force drove his Chevrolet Funny Car to his second win of the season, and Greg Anderson took his Chevrolet Pro Stock Camaro to Victory Lane. At the Streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place, Josef Newgarden powered Chevrolet to their eighth Verizon IndyCar Series win of the season.
Kurt Busch capped the day for Chevrolet by winning the rain-shortened Quicken Loans 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway (MIS). Behind the wheel of his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevy SS, Busch captured his third win at MIS and 27thCup Series career win in 519 starts. This is the Las Vegas native’s first multi-win season since 2011.
Additionally, Busch’s win also rewarded Chevrolet with the Michigan Heritage Trophy for the third consecutive time at MIS. The trophy was specifically designed by MIS in 2013 as an ode to the spirit of the automobile and its importance to the race track.
“It’s been an outstanding day”, said Pat Suhy, Manager of NASCAR Competition for Chevrolet Racing. “I’m very proud to say that Chevrolet gets to hang on to the Heritage Trophy for another few months at least. It’s been displayed prominently in our offices for the last year, and now we get to keep it until at least August. I’m planning on keeping it beyond that, as well. Roger Curtis and the guys at Michigan, and the folks at Michigan International Speedway, did a great thing in putting this together. I think it’s nice to recognize the manufacturers when we do something special in our backyard here, and it’s a great way to cap off an awesome weekend of racing for us.”
Team Chevy finished 1-2-3 in the Quicken Loans 400. Two-time MIS winner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 AMP Energy Chevrolet SS took second place, which was his 13th top 10 finish in 32 races at the 2-mile track. Last week’s winner at Pocono, Martin Truex, Jr. earned a third-place finish in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet SS. He became the first racer to score 14 top-10 finishes in the first 15 races since Richard Petty accomplished the feat in 1969.
Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS, continued his run of consistency at MIS. His seventh place showing was his seventh top-10 finish of 2015. He remains seventh in points and still in contention to make the Chase via his point position. Paul Menard, No. 26 Moen/Menards Chevrolet SS ended the day in the eighth spot to give Team Chevy five of the top 10 finishers overall.
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was fourth and Joey Logano (Ford) was fifth to round out the top five finishers.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action in two weeks on the road course at Sonoma Raceway.
PAT SUHY, CHEVROLET RACING NASCAR COMPETITION MANAGER, ACCEPTS MICHIGAN HERITAGE TROPHY ON BEHALF OF CHEVROLET
POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
THE MODERATOR: Now we have a special recognition that Michigan International Speedway instituted a few years ago. Congratulations goes out to Chevrolet, Pat Suhy, representing Chevrolet, he’s Manager of NASCAR Competition for Chevrolet Racing, and Chevrolet wins today’s race here at Michigan International Speedway. That means they’re going to take home the Michigan Heritage Trophy, which Pat has right here today, and I probably can’t recite all the things that Chevrolet has won over the last 24 hours, but I know that Pat probably can. But you guys and gals and men and women and everyone associated with that great brand has had one terrific weekend, so congratulations, Pat.
PAT SUHY: Thank you, Kerry. It’s been outstanding. The 64 Corvette won at Le Mans this morning, finished off a long 24‑hour race there. We had the IndyCar race we won in Toronto this afternoon, probably should have finished after this race, but as it was with the rain we had to wait here to see how we did; and I’m very proud to say that Chevrolet gets to hang on to the Heritage Trophy for another few months at least. It’s been displayed prominently in our offices for the last year. We get to keep it until at least August and I’m planning on keeping it beyond that, as well. Roger Curtis and the guys at Michigan, or the folks at Michigan International Speedway did a great thing about putting this together. I think it’s nice to recognize the manufacturers when we do something special in our backyard here, and it’s a great way to cap off an awesome weekend of racing for us.
THE MODERATOR: Certainly the victory here today is an exclamation point on all the other victories that Chevrolet had over the weekend. We’ll take some questions.
- Pat, how much bragging rights go with winning this, especially since Ford is headquartered nearby, and this is a big race for Toyota to try to win, too.
PAT SUHY: Well, I think it’s always had bragging rights to win at Michigan, like being here in our backyard, it’s our home racetrack, and having the trophy to commemorate the win with and to see it every day as we walk into the office and for our visitors to see it and to explain what it is and what it means to us, plus the that fact it helps out a charitable cause, I think it’s very special to be able to get something for us and give something back at the same time.
THE MODERATOR: When you’re able to go to Victory Lane and win in all these different series, that’s got to be a thrill and a testament to all the hard work and efforts and smart people and so forth that Chevrolet has on its side, so I can’t thank you enough, congratulate you enough. This is just a huge win here for you all, and just hope you keep it up the rest of the season.
PAT SUHY: Thank you, appreciate it.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS, TONY GIBSON, CREW CHIEF, AND CAR OWNER, GENE HAAS – Race Winners
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
THE MODERATOR: Joining us now fresh off of victory lane is our winning crew chief, and that’s Tony Gibson. He’s the crew chief of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, and car owner Gene Haas. Kurt Busch wins today’s 47th‑annual Quicken Loans 400. It’s his second win of 2015 and his 27th win overall during his career.
First time Kurt Busch has had multiple wins since 2011, so that No. 41 team is on its game. I’m going to ask you, Tony Gibson, certainly kind of an atypical weather that we saw out there today. You had to fight it, you had to battle it, you had to think about it, you had to plan it. Just talk about all of that and then yet, with I think five laps to go, you guys raced to the lead and got the win today. Just talk about how everything unfolded.
TONY GIBSON: Well, it started on Friday. It was kind of crazy. We wrecked our primary fairly early there in practice, so the guys did a great job getting the backup car out. We had tested that car in Vegas so we felt comfortable it would run pretty good. So we didn’t qualify all that great. I know the first round was good for us, but second round we just got too tight. But Saturday went fairly well, made some adjustments that helped the car. It was probably a fifth‑ to eighth‑place car and then overnight we kind of worked on it a little bit more.
We were just guessing on the weather. Looking at the weather, we knew it was going to be rain off and on, but when the sun pops out, it just makes this place really slick, so we kind of gambled on the track getting slick and loose, so we may have overachieved a little bit to start with, but I think our car was tight enough at the start to where we could pass cars and other guys were a little bit too free. It worked out that we drove our way up to 12th I think it was, and then from there my plan was to do right sides. Last night my plan was to do right sides at the competition yellow no matter what anybody did because I was planning on having to get a lot of track position, but once we got to 12th I’m like what do I do now because I’m passing cars pretty good.
I stuck with it. I knew if I could get to lap 77 I would be fine, so I ran it light of fuel, we didn’t run all the fuel when we stopped that time. We just put enough in it to get us to lap 77, and that got us up to sixth or seventh, I think, at that point, so that little bit of gamble worked out for us.
And then from there the car was really strong. He drove himself up into the top 5, and we knew from there it was just going to be pit the least amount of times that we needed to pit because of the weather. We could see the storms were starting to build and back build and come. It’s stressful when it rains like that, when it’s off and on and off and on. You’re looking at a radar screen but you don’t know exactly when it’s going to hit. It was pretty stressful for everybody but everybody stayed calm and cool. Rick Carelli did a great job in the spotting stand keeping Kurt informed. I would keep him informed on the weather and he would tell Kurt. Everyone just worked good as a team today, and it kind of paid off.
We just made the right adjustments overnight to pick the track where it was going to be, and that’s why we were able to drive up through there.
THE MODERATOR: Gene, congratulations on this win here this afternoon at Michigan. Certainly a big win not only for your race team but obviously Chevrolet’s backyard here and wins the Michigan Heritage Trophy and kind of tops off a huge 24 hours for the manufacturer, all the things that they’ve won here. Congratulations. Just talk about the significance of today’s win.
GENE HAAS: Well, you know, actually it started yesterday when the Chevy truck won with Cole Custer.
THE MODERATOR: Last night at Gateway, another win.
GENE HAAS: So that was a great start to the weekend. The weekend didn’t start off so great when Kurt slid up into the wall. I had talked to him about that a little bit, you know, you’re a great race car driver, you shouldn’t be doing things like that. So he just kind of explained it like, well, I’m just trying to find the limits, and the tire pressures were a little bit low, and I guess he drives that car within a millimeter of the wall all the time, so it’s like, boy, what a whack job this is going to be.
The primary car is always a lot better than your backup, so I thought this was not going to be a very fruitful weekend. But then when I saw Harvick qualified second, I go, well, there’s something here.
Watching the race today, you know, obviously Harvick was strong all day and Kurt Busch was needling his way up through the field, and he’s really good at that. He’s really great at that. If we can give him the right cars and the right gear ratios, there’s nobody that can out‑jump him on a restart.
I knew that that was going to be critical, and a few times he just drove it right through the middle and made it stick, so you have to sit there and congratulate him for that.
I don’t know how Tony got the rain to come out, but he did that, and you know, that’s all it takes to win a race is you just need about 4,000 or 5,000 things to line up, and you’re there.
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined now by our winning driver, Kurt Busch. Kurt has won three times here at Michigan. Kurt, just talk about this victory here today. We’ve heard from Tony and from Gene and certainly it was a team effort here today for the 41 team.
KURT BUSCH: It was a fantastic group effort. To be able to pull the backup car out and to have it as prepared as it was and then to have the extra work that went into it, all the crew members that Tony Gibson leads rolled up their sleeves, jumped right on in it, and we made it a race‑winning backup car. That shows you the depth of Stewart‑Haas Racing. It gives every crew member that much more confidence to know that we’re doing things right, and today the way the race unfolded for us, to come up from 24th and work our way through and have those restarts, everything unfolded perfectly for us with changes to the car, the restarts, to not break momentum, to end up on the outside lane most of the time, and then to have a shot up front, our car just kept getting better and better the closer we put it to the front, and that’s what you set up for. You set up for the wins, and you don’t set up for the dirty air, you set up for running out front, and that’s what Tony Gibson did. I believed in it, and I just took my time but also had to keep working on each of those restarts to get the car towards the front.
Excellent pit stops, excellent team chemistry. This is what it’s all about. Winning in Chevrolet’s backyard is all that much more special. Especially Michigan, they get to keep the Manufacturer’s Cup in their front office, so I hope all the top execs love that trophy because I do, too.
- Kurt and Tony, what’s more important with getting this victory, the three bonus points or start working on momentum as you get closer and closer to the Chase?
KURT BUSCH: Any time you win, it comes with a basket full of goodies, and the way that more of what is the unknown is what comes from this, and that is the pep in the step of the crew members, the genuine chemistry and the feel on the shop floor. There’s so many tangibles that come up from a win, and bonus points for the Chase, we’re not really thinking of that, but any time you win a second race, it really gives you that stamp on you’re in the Chase, now let’s work through these summer months to continue to make the team better.
The best part about winning on a day like today, there’s an off week next week, so everybody will take this win and enjoy it for an extra week, recharge, and that will give us the gas we’re going to need because we’re going to try to go all the way to Homestead.
- I’m assuming I’ll see you at the United Center tomorrow night for Game 6?
KURT BUSCH: I might try to make it there.
- Can you talk to the mental aspect of having to stop, start, stop, start and then get ready, and Tony, can you tell us how much the race car changed over the course of the day today?
KURT BUSCH: It’s tough starting and stopping. I tried to just nibble on some sandwiches. These guys were making fun of me because I didn’t get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the first red flag, and they’re like, I like mine this way. It was hilarious. They were making fun of me in the car because I didn’t get a snack.
But with the next rain delay, there’s a group of kids that came by our pit box and they wanted autographs, and I’m like in my zone, but yet at the same time it’s kids, they wanted pictures and selfies, and you’ve got to just roll with it. You’ve got to have fun. You don’t know when the rain is going to stop. You don’t know when the track is going to be dry, and then if rain is going to come again. You’ve just got to be ready. Any time they tell you to go to your car, that’s when it’s game time, and you race hard, you race to win. It’s tough starting and stopping, but that’s part of our sport, and how you never can challenge Mother Nature. She’s in charge.
- Tony, how did the car change with all the different weather changes?
TONY GIBSON: Well, obviously he’ll know more about what it did for change, but we kind of sat down yesterday as a group, me and Kurt and Klausmeier and Cook, our engineers, and talked about ‑‑ because we weren’t a great race car after Saturday. We were probably a fifth‑ to 10th‑place car at best so we had some work to do for sure.
But we’re working on how to get better going from Saturday to Sunday predicting races and pace and all that kind of stuff. We’re nowhere near where we need to be, but we talked to Kurt, and then when he left the truck yesterday, we had a pretty close game plan to what we were going to stick to going into today as far as changes and we stuck to that. I was a little nervous that we would be a little bit on the too‑free side, but we’re learning. We’re learning as a team, and you know, sitting down and communicating with one another and our engineers on going forward to try to keep the balance of the car a little bit closer. We haven’t been so good at that here lately.
I thought we hit it pretty close today. I know we had a decent car. I think there was a couple cars that may have been a little bit better than us, but I think the adjustments we did today were based off of stuff we did at Pocono, which helped us, but I thought our balance stayed pretty good and our speed was really good all day.
It comes down to this Chase deal, it’s like we want to win every week. People ask you, are you going to go lax, are you going to take it easy? And you can’t. It’s like everything we do is ‑‑ whether it’s an adjustment or whether it’s the right way or the wrong way or predicting weather, what the car is going to do, all that’s going to help us in the Chase when it comes time. We’re still working hard on it, and like I said, we’re nowhere near where we need to be, but we’re working hard, but we’re working together as a team.
- Kurt, why were you giving ‑‑ obviously I know your relationship with (Rick) Carelli, but why was he such an integral part of this because you kept mentioning him in the post‑race. What was it about the strategy between the two of you during the race that you really felt the need to bring him up in the course of your comment?
KURT BUSCH: I can go with an analogy or I can just define it on when I’m driving down the straightaway at 200, and he said, hey, Harvick went to the low groove and has made some time, I just commit to the low groove and then the car stuck and the car drove faster, and then he’s like, well, Junior just passed this guy on the outside, and I’m going down the straightaway at 200 and I go apply that and the car stuck and I drove around the outside of a guy. It’s like a coach telling you, swing, because the pitcher is going to throw it to your inside, swing because the pitcher is going to throw to the outside. You make contact, you make a hit and you score a run.
We went around guys, passed guys, and it was a whole different car when Carelli, a great mind as a racer as another set of eyes to help Gibson, I know he radios other information to him that I don’t even hear, and the way that the team works together, it’s like calling signs and going for it. And that’s when you don’t ask questions, you just do it, you execute, and that’s the trust we all have in one another.
- Gene, when you put this team together, you said what you wanted to do was win races and have fun and that winning was more important than points or anything else to you. Has this gone the way you envisioned it? Are you having fun? Is this what you wanted it to be when you put it together?
GENE HAAS: Well, you know, racing is a hard sport. As anybody will tell you, these guys really work hard. I think the run for the championship, that’s what it’s all about. I’m absolutely clear that I think Kurt Busch has the ability to win another Cup for us and for Stewart‑Haas Racing, and that really was my vision, and that’s my goal.
I tell you, when you see Kurt out there driving the way ‑‑ when it comes down to it, when he needs to pull ahead of another driver, there’s some skills out there that they just don’t teach you anywhere. That’s what it’s all about, and I think Stewart‑Haas Racing has a very, very good chance of winning another championship in NASCAR.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations on this win, your second win of 2015, and continued best wishes, and hope everybody enjoys the open week, and we’ll see you at Sonoma.
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET SS – Finished 2nd
MARTIN TRUEX JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS – Finished 3rd
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
THE MODERATOR: We have Dale Earnhardt Jr., our race runner‑up in today’s 47th‑annual Quicken Loans 400, and he drives the No. 88 Amp Energy Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Dale, certainly the race today, we battled those pop‑up showers throughout the afternoon and early evening, and just talk about that and how ‑‑ just how big of a factor all that was here today as you competed for the win.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I mean, you just had to wait on the weather to get moved out, wait on them to dry the track. You know, it didn’t give you a whole lot of opportunities to understand your car and know exactly how to adjust your car and what to work on, so we were still dealing with some issues that we wanted to improve when the final shower came. But we had great long‑run speed. We didn’t really get a good qualifying effort in. We haven’t qualified well all year, and we got a good long run in and the car took off and passed a lot of guys. I was working the track bar and passing a lot of guys. I probably couldn’t have passed all the cars without the track bar adjusting. The track bar adjuster helped me today get around a lot of guys, and then we ‑‑ so I got some good track position.
When it came to the restarts, we didn’t take off as well as the 41. We saw the same thing at Charlotte, the 78 and the 41 take off real good. We were just kind of tight waiting on the front to work, don’t have the good speed that they have the first three or four laps, and that was the difference today, and the 4 having the trouble he had. He had the field covered. I think on the long run, again, we were one of the best cars. Us and the 4 seemed to match each other into that last run and found some good speed running the very top of the groove, had the car turning.
I was behind Truex at one point, and he was fast, and he was loose, so I said, I’ve got to get loose, and ran my track bar up and then went forward, started passing cars, so it was good.
THE MODERATOR: Finishing third in today’s race is last week’s winner, and that’s Martin Truex Jr., and he drives the No. 78 Furniture Row / Visser Precision Chevrolet for Furniture Row Motorsports. Today was your 14th top‑10 finish out of the first 15 races of this season. No one in the sport has accomplished that since 1969 when Richard Petty did that, so congratulations on that accomplishment. That is a very, very ‑‑ it’s hallowed ground that you’re racing in right now. Talk about the 78 car, again, very strong throughout practice, qualifying, and here today at Michigan.
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Yeah, just honestly a good weekend for us. Didn’t qualify as well as we would have liked to, and right at the start of the race we kind of drove up there and got through traffic pretty good, got to the front and felt like we were in good shape. I think the biggest thing that hurt us today was the first pit stop. We had to wait on fuel, and we came out ‑‑ I think we came out 7th or something and I had to restart on the bottom and the bottom was tough to restart on today. Lost a lot of track position and fought the rest of the day trying to get it back, and ultimately lost spots to the 41 and Dale in traffic there with ‑‑ I don’t know, 40 or so to go, I got inside the 41, had him passed, and he got back to my outside corner on the front straightaway in traffic and then he brought the 88 around the outside with me, and once they got me by I couldn’t get close enough to get back by them.
The race for us was really ‑‑ that was really the turning point for us, but awesome race car and another great job by the team. Just missed it a little bit today, but really proud of our season, really proud to have obviously my name mentioned next to Richard Petty, The King, is pretty special, so thankful for my team and what they’ve done this year, and hopefully we’ll keep this thing rolling.
- Dale, this is kind of an off‑week question, but can you talk about your decision to go to Germany and what you look forward to doing over there?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Well, I got some specific towns that we’re going to go visit that we understand that my ancestors are from. I’ve been searching my genealogy for about five years now, and I made a promise to myself then that I would go to Germany and understand more about my ancestors when I turn 40, so here I am. I’m real nervous about flying over there. I haven’t flown commercial since 9/11, so it’s been a long time. My friends tell me I’m in for a treat, and just hopefully it’s just a good trip. I’m taking my sister and LW, her husband, Larry Wayne, and Amy is going with me, of course, and the lead IT guy at JR Motorsports, Martin Frederick, he’s from Germany, so he’s going to go with us, as well, and really kind of help us understand how not to insult anybody.
Should be a lot of fun, and I’m really looking forward to it.
We should come back with some great stories. Hopefully I’ll get pictures, and we’ll certainly share.
- This question is either for Dale or Martin. During those first three red flags, you can’t touch the car. You’re kind of limited. How do you kill time during that downtime?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Honestly, you just go to your pit box and talk to your guys about the race car, and that only lasts a few minutes and then you talk about everything else, what we’re going to do on the off weekend and all that kind of stuff. Really just trying to kill time.
There’s really not a whole lot you can do in the rain delay, so it’s all about, like I said, a few minutes to talk about the race car and then just really anything else to kill some time.
- Beginning of the season, all we hear is how important it is to win, get yourself locked in. Junior, when you won Talladega you talked about how relieved you are. Now as you start to move closer to the Chase, is it more important to get these top‑two, top‑three finishes to keep your momentum and confidence up as a team?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I don’t think so. Over the last several years we’ve been as good or better than anybody during the regular season and never ‑‑ just haven’t showed up in the Chase. I told my guys after Pocono when we run 11th with about a third‑place car that I wasn’t going to worry about finishes and I wasn’t going to worry about trying to get everything I can on finishes. I was just going to go to the track, try to win, try to learn. We need to make sure when we get to the Chase, we understand everything we can about the car and how to deliver the best car every week.
Trying to be as consistent as you can and finish as well as you can can kind of mask some of your weaknesses, I guess. You can forget that you need to work. Everybody is trying to catch you.
I just ain’t going to worry about it. We’ve always done well during the first 26 races and never done well in the Chase, so I’m just concentrating on the Chase now that we’re locked in. We go to win these races, we don’t win them, it doesn’t really matter to me where we finish just as long as we’ve got fast cars and we’re understanding how to get better.
- Is it mentally taxing with the stopping and the starting? How do you stay up while that’s happening?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: More than anything it’s just a pain in the butt. I mean, you get in there, you get ready to go, and you’re like, all right, here we come, getting ready to go green, and it’s raining again. It’s just a pain in the butt. Once you get in the car and get the helmet on and get mentally prepared, you’re ready to go, it’s kind of just a big letdown when you’ve got to stop and get out of the car again.
More than anything, we just want to get out there and get racing and put on a good show and then get to go home and spend some time there.
THE MODERATOR: Guys, thanks for being here this weekend and putting on a good show for us. Dale, have a great trip to Germany. Martin, keep it up.
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