TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
BANK OF AMERICA 500
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA
OCTOBER 8, 2017
BOWTIE BULLETS
ROUND OF 12:
Following the first cutoff race in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Chevrolet has four drivers still in contention to take home this year’s championship title. Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray will reset this weekend and begin their quest to advance from the Round of 12 to the Round of 8 taking on the challenges of Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, followed by Talladega Superspeedway and Kansas Speedway.
CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE:
Chevrolet leads all other manufacturers with 45 total victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Charlotte is one of seven tracks (Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway) in which the brand has 40 or more victories, a feat no other manufacturer can claim.
RECORD SETTERS:
Seven-time MENCS champion, Jimmie Johnson, and career-long Chevrolet driver, has the most wins of any driver at Charlotte Motor Speedway with eight victories at the 1.5-mile venue. Pilot of the No. 31 Chevy SS, Ryan Newman, has the most pole wins of any active driver with nine first place starting positions at Charlotte on his racing resume.
ON THE CUSP OF A MILESTONE:
Hendrick Motorsports has more victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway than any other organization making 19 trips to Victory Lane at the track located less than two miles from their headquarters in Concord, North Carolina. This weekend, if a Hendrick Motorsports driver is victorious at Charlotte the team will record its 250th MENCS win, all of which have been powered by Chevrolet, for Rick Hendrick.
TUNE-IN:
The Bank of America 500 is scheduled to begin on Sunday October 8 at 2 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
BY THE NUMBERS:
Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships
Team Chevy drivers have scored 775 wins and 693 poles in MENCS competition
Chevrolet drivers have won 45 of 117 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Wins by active drivers are:
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet SS, has one victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway (’17)
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, has seven victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway (’03, ’04 – TWICE, ’05 – TWICE, ’09 & ‘14)
Kasey Kahne, No. 5 go90.com Chevrolet SS, has visited Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway four times (’06 – TWICE, ’08 & ’12)
Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Sherwin-Williams Chevrolet SS, has two trophies from Charlotte Motor Speedway (’02 & ’10)
A Chevrolet driver has won two of the last three races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway 32 times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 201 top-five and 398 top-10 finishes at Charlotte Motor Speedway
A Chevrolet has led 13,745 laps (33.5% of possible 40,974 laps) at Charlotte Motor Speedway
FOR THE FANS:
Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Fans can check out great a great assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: Equinox, Trax, Silverado 2500 HD, Colorado, Traverse, Cruze, Tahoe, Silverado 1500, Malibu, Bolt EV, Corvette Stingray and the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Silverado
At the Chevrolet Display, fans can view the No, 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and No. 3 DOW Chevrolet SS show cars. The 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 race car and the 2018 Camaro ZL1 production car that paced the 2017 Brickyard 400
Also on display is a Chevrolet R07 racing engine complete with electronic fuel injection. 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
TEAM CHEVY QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS AT THE DISPLAY:
Saturday, October 7th
10:30 a.m. – Spencer Gallagher
10:45 a.m. – Brandon Jones
11:00 a.m. – Brendan Gaughan & Daniel Hemric
11:15 a.m. – JD Motorsports
Sunday, October 8th
10:10 a.m. – Kyle Larson
10:40 a.m. – Ryan Newman and Luke Lambert
Chevrolet Display Hours of operation: Fri. Oct. 6th – 2:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., Sat. Oct. 7th – 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. and Sun. Oct. 8th – 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – 3RD IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“Even though we started the playoffs with a pretty nice cushion, and looked good to make the next round, I was glad to see our Chevy’s were strong throughout the first round and we had three solid finishes. It’s great to have both me and Jamie through to the second round, but I know things are going to get more intense for us in this round. Charlotte has been kind of a hit or miss track for me, but I’m usually pretty good during the day there, so hopefully a day race will favor me. We obviously want to win in each round and not have to worry about the points, but if we can continue to be consistent and finish around the top-five, we should put ourselves in a good position to move on. We just need to stay focused and work to be mistake free this weekend.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – 5TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“We were so fast off the truck last weekend in Dover and the third-place finish we will have some good momentum heading into Charlotte. We’re still looking for that sweet spot and need to start leading some laps but I have a ton of faith in my Lowe’s team. They never quit.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 SUNENERGY1 CHEVROLET SS – 10TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“Charlotte challenges you with just a little bit of everything. When the sun goes down it is the great equalizer amongst the guys who are pretty close. When the sun is out, I feel like you can really move around and have some options with your race car which is nice. To me, that is the biggest challenge is just managing those two things.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CHEVROLET SS – 12TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“I’m really excited for our team to advance to the Round of 12 for the NASCAR Playoffs. Heading to Charlotte this weekend, I feel like this is a really good track for us. Our 1.5-mile program has been really strong this year. Hopefully we can get back on track with a strong qualifying result compared to last weekend. I think that we will need to win in this round to advance, but Charlotte is a place that I have been fortunate enough to win a couple of times and anything can happen next week at Talladega. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, so just focused on a strong weekend here at home.”
CHEVROLET DRIVERS NOT IN PLAYOFF CONTENTION:
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – 13TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AAA CHEVROLET SS – 14TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“Charlotte is a slick track during the day. It’s hard to get a grip on which I think is an advantage for us. It’s obviously one of those places where I’ve run well at in the past. We have won in both series there and knowing kind of what I want in the car I’ve got a good concept and feeling every time, we get there.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 go90 CHEVROLET SS – 15TH IN PLAYOFF IN STANDINGS
“Charlotte is nice because it’s so close to home. Obviously, I have a few wins there, but for whatever reason over the past couple of years it’s been one of the harder tracks for me. It’s been tough to figure out the bumps and figure out how to keep the car turning.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – 22ND IN STANDINGS
“The challenge at Charlotte is not landing too tight in Turns 1 and 2 and being too tight in the center there. Something that I think we all fight and we all have to work on there is trying to get your car to roll the middle of the corner, have that front grip and keep the car turning in the middle. You get into the corner so fast in Turn 1 and transitioning into that banking, the car really lands hard and gets tight, so trying to make that transition is a real challenge. Charlotte is our home track and I haven’t won a points race there yet, so that’s certainly something I would like to do. We have been seeing some improvements in our performance and our speed, so I’m looking forward to Charlotte.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – 23RD IN STANDINGS
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – 24TH IN STANDINGS
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, NO. 95 PROCORE CHEVROLET SS – 25TH IN STANDINGS
“Charlotte is tough. It’s the second mile and a half of the playoffs, so everyone will be pushing hard to get as much out of bodies and aero packages as possible. It’s still a mechanical race – you have to have good grip, and tires fall off there. It’s a home race for us in that our shop is right there, so we will have lots of friends and family guests. It will be good to be home for a weekend.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 GAIN CHEVROLET SS – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“We’re heading to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend with a new sponsor, Gain, on a very bright, green No. 37 Chevrolet SS. It’s one of my favorite paint schemes of the season. We’re racing 500 miles at Charlotte this weekend in a day race versus the night race it’s been the last several years. It’s going to be very hot, and very slick. Charlotte has some of the most abrupt, large swings in adjustments than any of the other tracks that we race at. It’s a very difficult racetrack and at the end of the 500 miles, starting in the late afternoon and finishing in the evening, the adjustments and strategy calls are going to make for a very interesting race.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CHEVROLET SS – 28TH IN STANDINGS
“Charlotte Motor Speedway a 1.5-mile race track that is probably one of the most challenging 1.5-mile tracks we go to. Very temperature sensitive. Having a day race although the last couple of years it’s been a day race even though it was supposed to be a night race. One of these places that a cloud cover, hot or cold makes the race track real tricky, you can run the top, middle, bottom. A race track that over the last couple of years has gotten rougher and rougher as we went to, but a challenge. We had good speed there the first race there this year in the 600, so, hopefully going back we are going to be really strong and put in a strong 500 miles.”
Chevrolet Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships
Total (1949 – 2015): 39
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-2015)
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, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Drivers Championships
Total (1949 – 2016): 31
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, 2013, 2014, 2016
Event Victories
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 – (in 2007)
2017 STATISTICS:
Wins: 10
Poles: 5
Laps Led: 1,873
Top-five finishes: 45
Top-10 finishes: 92
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 775 (1949 – to date)
Poles Won to Date: 693
Laps Lead to Date: 230,319
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,919
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 8,049
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,110
Chevrolet: 774
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 756
Ford: 656
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 466
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 106
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About Chevrolet:
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
