TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
FIRST DATA 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
MARTINSVILLE, VIRGINIA
OCTOBER 29, 2017
BOWTIE BULLETS
PLAYOFF PICTURE:
Heading into the Round of 8 this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Chevrolet still has two representatives in championship contention. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and nine-time Martinsville winner, Jimmie Johnson is the fifth seed as the 2017 season races toward a close. Johnson has made the final round of the championship Playoffs only once since the knock-out style format was introduced in 2014. The only time he made it – 2016 – when he became a seven-time Cup Series champion.
Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott, also remains in championship contention. Despite the fact the driver of the No. 24 Chevy SS is still looking for his first Cup Series victory, he and his team’s consistency have carried him through to the penultimate round of the Playoffs. Elliott’s best career finish at Martinsville Speedway came in April of 2017 when he finished third.
PRETTY IN PINK:
The First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway will be led to the green flag by a bright Pink Chevy SS pace car. The cars color is to honor Breast Cancer Awareness month and celebrate Chevrolet’s seven-year partnership with the American Cancer Society and their Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign. Last week, Chevrolet and Martinsville Speedway hosted a group of breast cancer survivors and their guests for hot laps and lunch at the 0.526-mile venue. Chevy SS drivers, Ryan Newman and Kyle Larson, gave the ladies the ultimate thrill ride around the iconic short track and helped the two drivers Paint the Curbs of the historic venue pink. For every lap the Pink Chevy SS pace car “leads” under caution, Chevrolet will contribute $350 to the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign (up to $50,000).
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s wife, Amy Earnhardt, will serve as honorary pace car driver this week, leading the field to the green flag.
LEADER OF THE PACK:
Did you know that Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 56 wins at Martinsville Speedway? Chevrolet has gone to Victory Lane more than any other brand at the oldest track on the circuit. Buck Baker took Chevrolet to Winner’s Circle for the first time in 1957. The winning tradition of the Bowtie Brand and Martinsville Speedway continues on; last year’s winner was Jimmie Johnson proudly driving a Chevy into the famous Winner’s Circle at the paper clipped-shaped track.
Jimmie Johnson pilot of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS is a nine-time winner at Martinsville Speedway, leading all other active drivers in wins at the half-mile of mayhem. Another victory would put Johnson ahead of former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon and place him third on the all-time Martinsville wins chart. Only Richard Petty (15) and Darrell Waltrip (11) have more victories than the seven-time series champion at Martinsville.
Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports have more victories than any other organization at Martinsville Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports earned their first victory at the half-mile venue in 1984 with Geoff Bodine behind the wheel of a Chevrolet. Since that day, Hendrick Motorsports has gone on to record 23 more victories at Martinsville Speedway – all under the Chevrolet Banner.TUNE-IN:
The First Data 500 is scheduled to begin on Sunday, October 29th at 3 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, MRN 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 694 poles in MENCS competition
Chevrolet drivers have won 56 of 137 races at Martinsville Speedway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, has nine victories at Martinsville Speedway (’04, ’06, ’07 – TWICE, ’08, ’09, ’12, ’13 & ‘16)
Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet SS, has visited Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway once (’12)
A Chevrolet driver has won two of the last four races at Martinsville Speedway
A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Martinsville Speedway 54 times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 259 top-five and 486 top-10 finishes at Martinsville Speedway
A Chevrolet has led laps 27,156 (43.4% of possible 62,602 laps) at Martinsville Speedway
FOR THE FANS:
Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Martinsville Speedway
Fans can check out great a great assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: Camaro 1 LT Coupe, Malibu 2LZ, Silverado 2500 HC, Colorado Z71, Tahoe RST, Equinox Premier Diesel, Traverse HC, Cruze HB Premier, Silverado 1500 Z71, Trax Premier, MSABC Silverado, Bolt, Corvette Stingray
At the Chevrolet Display, fans can view the No, 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and No. 3 DOW Chevrolet SS show cars and the all-new 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 race car and production car, which paced this year’s race at Michigan International Speedway in August
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:
Friday, October 27th
4:30 p.m. – John Hunter Nemechek
Saturday, October 28th
11:15 a.m. – Landon Huffman
Sunday, October 29th
10:40 a.m. – Kyle Larson
11:15 a.m. – Jeffrey Earnhardt
Chevrolet Display Hours of operation: Fri. Oct. 27th – Noon – 5:00 p.m.; Sat. Oct. 28th – 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Sun. Oct. 29th – 8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – 5TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“It’s not back to zero with all those stage points. For us to advance moving forward, we’ve got to win. Martinsville is not a bad track for us. So, hopefully we can repeat last year’s performance there. It’s pretty simple from here on out, we’ve got to get some speed in our cars and we’ve got to win a race.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – 8TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“Yeah I don’t know. I hope this past time wasn’t just a lucky weekend. Martinsville has been a disaster for me. So, this past time was really good. Needed a little bit to run with the No. 18 and No. 2, but way improved from where I have been there in the past. I feel like I learned a couple of things. The tire did change, so I hope it wasn’t just the tire changing that made me kind of luck into running well. So, we will see.”
CHEVROLET DRIVERS NOT IN PLAYOFF CONTENTION:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 FIRST DATA CHEVROLET SS – 9TH IN STANDINGS
“We’re looking forward to another race with First Data on the car, and racing with them at an event they’re sponsoring. It will be cool to see them on the car and around the track this weekend. Martinsville has not been one of my better tracks, but I feel like each time I race there I improve. We were pretty good there earlier in the season before an issue late in the race slowed us down. We also tested at Martinsville earlier this month, and I thought our No. 42 Chevy was pretty good, especially on the longer runs. We’re all obviously bummed to be out of the playoffs, but I know everyone on the team is focused on racing hard and trying to win more trophies before the year is over. We’ve had a great season, and want to keep up the intensity for the next four weeks regardless of the circumstances.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – 11TH IN STANDINGS
“I consider Martinsville Speedway to be one of my favorite tracks. I enjoy the fact that we always get to drive on a different type of track every week. These three races stretch that we end this weekend is a good example; a big superspeedway like Talladega, then a 1.5-mile track at Kansas and coming back here to a half-mile track at Martinsville. That variety makes it fun to me as a driver. With the race starting kind of late on Sunday afternoon we should have a chance to finish under the lights, so that should be cool for the fans to see. Hopefully we can turn our luck around this weekend after two disappointing results at Talladega and Kansas that bumped us from Playoff contention. We are still focused on getting our car to victory lane in these last four races and closing out the season on a high note.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 UNIFIRST CHEVROLET SS – 12TH IN STANDINGS
“To win at Martinsville would be such a challenge. To be able to put 500 laps together and win the race there – to me, it’s one of our most difficult races of the year because so much can go on between restarts, pitting and just having a car that handles the proper way to get to the finish and to be fast enough to win. There are guys who have been so strong at that track and others who aren’t and I’m somewhere in the middle. It would be really, really neat to win the race there and get the clock and figure out where to put it because it’s so big.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – 14TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“I love Martinsville Speedway. It’s always a fun track to go to. I’ve ran well there in the past, even though I haven’t qualified great. There’s always a little bit of beating and banging going on there. “Handling is key but you’ve got to be able to move a guy out of the bottom if they’re holding you up. It still happens quite a bit.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – 16TH IN STANDINGS
“The biggest challenge is keeping your fenders on your car and secondly, keeping the brake pedal pumped up and not over using your brakes. You always have at least one long run here so you need to make sure you have the car underneath you on the long run to make sure you stay on the lead lap so that you are in contention at the end. That seems to be one of the biggest keys at just keeping yourself in the game because there are a lot of repetitive cycles here with 500 laps.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – 22ND IN STANDINGS
“Martinsville this weekend should be a lot of fun. We’ve got the Grey Ghost – I appreciate everybody voting for that paint scheme so I can run it. I didn’t get to drive that car last year and I love that car, so I may have swayed the vote because I went on social media and said ‘that’s the one I’d love to run.’ I’m excited to get the opportunity to drive that car this weekend. Martinsville’s a great track for us. I love the short tracks and short-track racing.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 LIBMAN/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – 23RD IN STANDINGS
“To have a good day at Martinsville you have to have good track position all day, but also be aggressive and make the moves needed to go forward without giving up too much to the guys behind you. You really have to time the moves right or you could find yourself hung out and going the wrong way. With it being a short track, you can lean on the other guys, rub fenders, race hard and if your car gets beat up it doesn’t matter a whole lot.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – 24TH IN STANDINGS
“This past spring was my first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville. We started off a little further than we needed to be with the chassis setup, but we were able to adjust into it. We got it going how we needed to, and will be able to build off of those notes as we head into the weekend. We were a new team when we were there earlier this year, and we’ve made a lot of strides together since then. Communication is such a big part of racing at Martinsville. I think our team is in an even better place with that now that we’ve spent almost a full season together. I’m sure we are all looking forward to getting to Martinsville.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 BUSH’S CHILI BEANS CHEVROLET SS – 25TH IN STANDINGS
“We definitely have some momentum going into this weekend at Martinsville (Speedway) in our Bush’s Chili Beans Chevrolet. We finished sixth at Kansas Speedway last weekend, which ties our best finish of the season. We had a really strong run at Martinsville in the spring, just barely missing the top 10 and finishing 11th. Martinsville is a tough short track. It’s really hard on brakes. I think everyone will fight getting the car to pivot through the center. Trying to make sure we have smooth power on exit to get down the straightaway. It’s basically two drag races with U-turns at both ends. AJ (Allmendinger) always runs really well at Martinsville, so I’m hoping to lean off of him again to figure out how we can both be better and get some good finishes for JTG Daugherty Racing.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, NO. 95 JOLT CHEVROLET SS – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“Martinsville is one of my favorite racetracks – I love it! I mean, it’s just so cool. It’s tight, it’s hard to pass, and everyone is beating and banging. I like those places where if you hit someone or you hit the wall, it’s not ending your day and you’re not losing a bunch of speed like tracks where aerodynamics are so important. It’s been a really good track to me in the past, and some of my best runs have come at Martinsville. We did struggle at the race back in April, so we are going into this weekend with kind of a different mentality to hopefully make some gains.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CHEVROLET SS – 27TH IN STANDINGS
“Martinsville one of my favorite places. I’ve had a couple of opportunities to almost win there, finished second. A place that you know for 500 laps you are going to be in for a war, a grind, a tough race track, anything can happen, but a place that I just love to go drive. More importantly one of the one of the most special trophies you can get in NASCAR, the clock, going to go and try to get one.”
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: 6
Laps Led: 1,952
Top-five finishes: 49
Top-10 finishes: 103
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 775 (1949 – to date)
Poles Won to Date: 694
Laps Lead to Date: 230,398
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,923
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 8,060
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,110
Chevrolet: 774
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 757
Ford: 657
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 466
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 108
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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.
