TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
O’REILLY AUTO PARTS 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FT. WORTH, TEXAS
APRIL 8, 2018
BOWTIE BULLETS
LEADER OF THE PACK:
Seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) champion and career-long Chevrolet driver, Jimmie Johnson, is the leader of the pack at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). Johnson has seven wins, 15 top-five’s and 21 top-10 finishes, more than any other driver in the series.
BACK WHERE IT ALL BEGAN:
The all-new Camaro ZL1 is the first Chevrolet racecar to have no on-track testing before making its season debut. In January, at a Goodyear Tire Test, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver, Chase Elliott took the new ZL1 out for its first laps around a racetrack at TMS. Since those laps, the Camaro ZL1 earned its first victory in the season-opening Daytona 500.
PACING THE FIELD:
Chevrolet has a long-standing tradition with TMS. From the time when the first race at the venue commenced in 1997 to today, Chevrolet has served as the official pace car and truck. This weekend, Chevrolet will proudly lead the field to the green flag for the seventh Cup Series event in 2018 campaign with a production version of the Camaro ZL1. Eighteen of the 38 starters will compete in a racecar version of the Camaro ZL1 to try to earn the nameplate its second victory of the 2018 season and first on a 1.5-mile track.
TIEBREAKER:
Chevrolet is currently tied for all-time wins at Texas Motor Speedway with 13 victories. This weekend, the Bowtie Brigade will work to break away from the pack to become the all-time wins leader at 19 of the 23 unique venues the NASCAR Cup Series visits annually.
TUNE-IN:
The O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 is scheduled to begin on Sunday, April 8th at 2 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on FoxSports1, 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 776 wins and 695 poles in MENCS competition
Chevrolet drivers have won 13 of 34 races at Texas Motor Speedway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s For Pros Camaro ZL1 has seven victories at Texas Motor Speedway (’07, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15 – Twice & ‘17)
Kasey Kahne, No. 95 Procore Camaro ZL1 has one victory at Texas Motor Speedway (’06)
Ryan Newman, No. 31 Grainger Camaro ZL1, has one cowboy hat from Texas Motor Speedway (’03)
A Chevrolet driver has won one of the last three races at Texas Motor Speedway
A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Texas Motor Speedway 14 times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 63 top-five and 151 top-10 finishes at Texas Motor Speedway
A Chevrolet has led laps 4,129 (35.7% of possible 11,566 laps) at Texas Motor Speedway
FOR THE FANS:
Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Texas Motor Speedway near Gate 4 next to the NASCAR Trackside Live stage
Fans can check out great a great assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: Silverado 2500, Silverado Crew, Silverado Crew 4WD, Colorado ZR2, Tahoe, Equinox, Traverse, Trax, Malibu, Cruze, Camaro, Grand Sport
At the Chevrolet Display, fans can view the No. 48 Lowe’s for Pros Camaro ZL1 show car and the 2018 Camaro ZL1 race car show car and matching Camaro ZL1 pace car
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, April 6th
Noon – Daniel Hemric
Saturday, April 7th
9:25 a.m. – Spencer Gallagher
9:40 a.m. – Matt Tifft
10:15 a.m. – Matt Mills and Vinnie Miller
11:30 a.m. – Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, Jr.
12:40 p.m. – Ryan Truex
1:00 p.m. – Garrett Smithley and Greg Stumpff (Off Axis Paint)
Sunday, April 8th
9:30 a.m. – Kyle Larson
10:00 a.m. – Alex Bowman
10:15 a.m. – Ryan Newman
10:30 a.m. – Chase Elliott
Chevrolet Display Hours of operation: Fri. April 6th– 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.; Sat. April 7th – 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sun. April 8th – 8:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – 9TH IN STANDINGS
“It was nice to have a break last week and take some time to relax with family and friends, but I’m excited to head to Texas this week and get back to an intermediate track. We’ve been pretty good on the mile and a half tracks this year, but still have some work to do to catch the guys at the top of the points right now. We had a really strong car at this race a year ago, and hopefully that’s the case again this weekend. We just need to keep building on the speed we’ve had in our Camaro ZL1 and put our team in a position to contend late in the race.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 SYMBICORT CAMARO ZL1 – 13TH IN STANDINGS
“Texas just has so much grip now. It’s quite a bit different and then the banking has changed a lot from the old track to the new track. So, maybe some stuff we can take from Las Vegas we can take to Texas, but probably not from Atlanta.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – 14TH IN STANDINGS
“Texas is different now because Turn 1 and 2 are so different since they paved it. It’s so weird and I don’t know, you don’t even run out to the wall getting into Turn 1. It’s definitely different. The bottom is so much shorter than the top. There is no way to run anywhere except the bottom. It’s definitely different now that it is paved. It’s really edgy with the new pavement, so I think that will work its way in over the next couple of years. (Turns) 3 and 4, you go so slow through (Turns) 1 and 2 that (Turns) 3 and 4 is like almost wide open, at least it was when I ran the Wheel Force car there last year. It will be really interesting to see that. I haven’t raced there yet with the new pavement, but I remember driving down into Turn 1 and being like ‘why is the bottom so far down there?’ It’s definitely weird.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 GRAINGER CAMARO ZL1 – 16TH IN STANDINGS
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – 17TH IN STANDINGS
“We had a great vacation and Easter break so we are recharged and ready to get back to it. We left Texas scratching our heads last fall but again have been making small gains this season with the new Chevy Camaro ZL1 and are ready to get back to work. Eddie Gossage and his team do a great job promoting the race. We have close friends of our family in the area so we look forward to seeing them.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – 18TH IN STANDINGS
“As far as Texas goes, I was glad we got to get out there and test in January, especially with the new Camaro ZL1. A lot has changed since then and we’ve been learning a lot while out west. I hope that is going to help our cause at Texas and we can try to get rolling in a good direction.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – 19TH IN STANDINGS
“There’s always little things that we can take from Atlanta (Motor Speedway) and Las Vegas (Motor Speedway). Since the repave, Texas Motor Speedway is very different now. I think we’re still learning the new racetrack. Tracks that go through these repaves change a lot for the first couple of races. The winter months can definitely change a new surface and getting the cars back on the track and putting the rubber down again makes it a new racing surface. The track changes a lot, but more than anything, there’s a lot that no matter what race you go to, you can learn something good or bad. Texas last year, both of our cars had some good speed so hopefully we can go there and get some speed again out of the racecars and have good runs.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – 20TH IN STANDINGS
“Texas is always super-fast, especially with the repave. It’s a little different on both ends, and you have to handle well in (Turns) 1 and 2 especially. You need to carry a lot of speed, and that’s going to make it exciting. It’s a fun track and I think it’s starting to widen out a little bit, so that’s good.”
DARRELL ‘BUBBA’ WALLACE, NO. 43 CLICK N’ CLOSE CAMARO ZL1 – 23RD IN STANDINGS
“This is a big weekend with us because we’re right in the backyard of Click n’ Close and their parent company, Mid America Mortgage. We are returning their purple colors to our No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, so that’s pretty cool. For us, the Easter break came at a good time. It just gave us time to regroup a little bit. We wanted a lot more at Martinsville, but that makes me pretty anxious to get to Texas. Hopefully a second or third groove opens up and we can pass, but track position will be important. We feel that our Camaro ZL1 will be pretty fast. We have some more experience with our car and look forward to getting to Texas to see what we can do.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1 – 24TH IN STANDINGS
“Usually I get to talk about how excited I am to get back to Texas and see family and friends. With the wedding last weekend, it’ll be nice to see everyone for a few weeks. It’s always nice to get back to my hometown and see the evolvement of the area. It’s crazy to see how much that area has grown. It’s always fun to go back home and now the track has a racing surface that I’ve run better on so I’ve been probably the biggest fan of the repave there.
“The repave at Texas (Motor Speedway) has been really good to me. I’ve been better on the newer surface for whatever reason. We had a really good car there for the spring race last season, and we got turned on pit road and it ruined our day. Looking at the speed we had, I’m really confident going back to that racetrack. That’s a place we can go and have a really good run for an intermediate track. I would say that there’s got to be some stuff from Las Vegas Motor Speedway that we can overlay. I feel like some of the bumps at Las Vegas that are getting worse, Texas doesn’t have them in Turns 1 and 2 right now. Turns 3 and 4 did keep some of the character there that were in the old surface. There’s just a lot more grip in the asphalt. We’ll be able to carry some of the things over, but Texas is an extremely fast racetrack right now. In Turns 3 and 4, you’re barely off the throttle for any period of time, and you’re right back in it wide open way before the center of the corner.
“That’s hard to convince yourself to do, but it is cool. There are definitely different factors that are going to come into play. We’re constantly learning this season. We had so many changes in the offseason and everyone at JTG Daugherty Racing has done such a great job. Everyone back at the shop has worked really hard to figure out what we needed to do better this season that we didn’t have last year. It showed pretty early on that we made those big gains. We need to keep fine tuning it, keep working on it and keep getting it better.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CAMARO ZL1 – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“It was nice to have a little break, but I think we are all ready to get back to racing this weekend at Texas (Motor Speedway). I get to be back in the Xfinity car this weekend too, so it will be fun to have lots of track time. That really helps the weekend go by fast, because you stay so busy. We have had couple of decent runs at the 1.5-mile tracks so far, we just need to be more consistent and start scoring some stage points. Texas would be a good place to get that turned around. This is a fast track and pretty challenging. Can’t wait to get back to the track.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 95 PROCORE CAMARO ZL1 – 27TH IN STANDINGS
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – 30TH IN STANDINGS
“Texas is really becoming its own beast because of the repave. There’s not much that we can take from other intermediate tracks and apply to Texas because it is so different. It is almost flat in Turns 1 and 2 and is high-banked in Turns 3 and 4. When the repave first happened, the racing really suffered for a bit. But, as a driver, I get a sense that the racing will be much better this year as the groove widens and the grip starts to wear down. I’m ready to get our GEICO Camaro ZL1 down to Texas, and I think that we are going to see some great racing there this weekend.”
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)
2018 STATISTICS:
Wins: 1
Poles: 1
Laps Led: 109
Top-five finishes: 6
Top-10 finishes: 15
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 776 (1949 – to date)
Poles Won to Date: 695
Laps Led to Date: 87,908
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,938
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 8,083
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,111
Chevrolet: 776
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 762
Ford: 662
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 466
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 112
Connect with Team Chevy on social media. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TeamChevy; follow us on Twitter @TeamChevy; and follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/teamchevy
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.
