TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
SOUTH POINT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
BOWTIE BULLETS:
CHEVROLET’S STARTING FIVE IN PLAYOFFS
Five Chevrolet drivers qualified for the 10-race Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs that will determine the champion.
Seed Driver
7 Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Filters Camaro ZL1 (2 wins, 11 top 10s, 3 poles)
8 Kurt Busch, No. 1 Gearwrench Camaro ZL1 (1 win, 14 top 10s)
9 Kyle Larson, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1 (12 top 10s, 1 pole)
10 Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1 (1 win, 7 top 10s)
13 William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 (4 poles, 9 top 10s)
Busch has qualified for the postseason in each of the six years of the current elimination format, with a best championship finish of seventh in 2016 and ’18. … Elliott, Bowman and Byron are Hendrick Motorsports drivers, while Busch and Larson drive for Chip Ganassi Racing. … At 21 years, 9 months, Byron is the youngest of the 16 playoff qualifiers. Elliott, 23, is the next youngest. Team Chevy drivers’ average age is 27.6; the other 11 qualifiers’ average age is 31.2 years.
RETURNING HOME
Las Vegas native Busch holds the MENCS qualifying record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway of 196.328 mph, set in 2016. Busch has two pole starts (March 2016, February 2010) and 13 top-10 starts in 19 races. In the March 3 race, Busch drove from the 28th starting spot to finish fifth. It was the second of four-consecutive top-10 finishes in early season races. Overall at the track, Busch has six top-10 finishes.
TAKING IT STAGE BY STAGE:
Team Chevy drivers have registered 17 stage victories. Elliott and Larson both have four stage wins to lead the way. Elliott has also 18 top-five finishes and is fourth among drivers with 189 bonus points. Larson has 13 top- five finishes and 166 points.
BACK IN THE DAY
Chevrolet recorded its first victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2001, when Jeff Gordon drove a Monte Carlo to the winner’s circle. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, leads all drivers with four victories, including winning the March races in 2005-07. Overall, Chevrolet has seven wins at the racetrack.
TUNE-IN:
NBCSN will telecast the 267-lap race on the 1.5-mile oval live at 7 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 15. The NBCSports Gold app will stream the race and live coverage can also be found on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
BY THE NUMBERS:
* Victories by current Chevrolet drivers at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, has four wins (February 2010, March 2007, March 2006, March 2005), the most of any driver in the 23 races at the track.
* Johnson leads active drivers with 595 laps led at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (13.5%) and green flag passes (1,062) in 19 starts. He’s tied for most top-10 finishes (9).
* Team Chevy drivers have earned 12 pole starts this season, led by William Byron with four.
* Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1, is third among drivers with 99.72% (7,181 of 7,201) laps completed this season.
* A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole four times at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
* Team Chevy drivers have registered 48 top-five and 91 top-10 finishes at the track.
* Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA FILTERS CAMARO ZL1 – 7th IN STANDINGS
“Just hopefully having a nice, smooth, uneventful race at Las Vegas would be good. These past couple of weeks have been wild with just a lot of stuff happening. So, we just need to get out there and I have confidence that we can have good cars. We’ve just got to get going in find a little consistency and just get things started off, uneventfully, would be great.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – 9th IN STANDINGS
BOWMAN ON PLAYOFF OUTLOOK:
“I think consistency is the key improvement that we are going to need. We go to a lot of places that we are really strong at and there are a lot of good tracks for us in the playoffs. At the same time, we are hit and miss sometimes. We have a lot of work to do I think, but I think that the tracks that suit us can be very good. Starting at a place like Vegas, going back to Kansas and Dover, we are going to a lot of tracks that are good for us so we should be really strong.”
BOWMAN ON THE INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM:
“I think our intermediate program is our best program, other than our superspeedway program. Our cars are extraordinary every time we go to a superspeedway. But our 1.5-mile program is our strongest program right now. We have had some pretty good success on these tracks this year and I am really looking forward to getting back to Vegas and Kansas.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 – 11th IN STANDINGS
“I’m looking forward to the Playoffs getting going. It felt like for a good part of the regular season our team was hovering right around the cutoff line, but over the last 10-12 weeks we’ve been racing pretty strong and are much better than when we saw some of these tracks earlier in the season. I thought we were pretty good at the first Vegas race, but a late penalty cost us some spots. Overall, Vegas has been good for us, so we just need to focus on having a solid start to the Playoffs and not forcing anything. The tracks should be hot and slick, so that hopefully will play into our favor. I think right now we are equal to or better than we were in 2017, and we’re excited to be a part of the playoffs and having a chance to chase a championship.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – 13th IN STANDINGS
“I think this weekend’s race will be a good one for us. This is the second time I’ll be going to Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Chad (Knaus) and this group on the 24 team. We had an okay showing in the spring race for just our third race as a team and I definitely think we have improved since then as a group. We’ll just approach this weekend like it’s any other weekend though. You don’t want to change anything up because that’s when mistakes happen. We had an almost flawless race last weekend at Indy, so if we can execute like that again for this race, it should be a good result.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 NATURAL LIGHT SELTZER CAMARO ZL1 – 20th IN STANDINGS
“I’m looking forward to getting back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. We had a decent run, and I feel like our speed and cars have only gotten better since then. While it’s a returning track, the first Las Vegas race was a long time ago, and a lot has improved for our JTG Daugherty Racing team since then. We’re also fortunate enough to have a new Natural Light Seltzer paint scheme on the No. 37, and I love that we get to showcase the Aloha Beaches flavor. The Natural Light team always does a great job giving us paint schemes that embody Las Vegas, and this one is only fitting. It’ll be hot and slick, and a whole different setup from the spring race. I know we’re up to the challenge and can continue to finish out the year strong.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 – 23rd IN STANDINGS
WE GO TO LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TO START THE PLAYOFFS AND IT SEEMS LIKE THAT TRACK IS GETTING MORE AND MORE WORN AS THE YEARS GO BY. HOW CAREFUL DO YOU HAVE TO BE WITH YOUR TIRES THERE NOW COMPARED TO YEARS PAST?
“You definitely have to take care of them. We took a car that was really good there last race and qualified well but didn’t really race as well as we would have liked. I think we had a penalty that got us behind. You have to keep track position and have a car that holds on for the long run. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is becoming much more similar to Chicagoland Speedway in terms of the amount of tire wear you see. Hopefully, we can take our package that we had at Chicagoland Speedway and apply it to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.”
RYAN PREECE, NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 – 26th IN STANDINGS
“It took several months, but I think we’re finally on an upward swing for our No. 47 Kroger team. We’ve built up a great notebook since the spring race, and I think we’re really getting into a groove and bringing fast cars to the track that we can make better throughout the weekend. It’ll be really hot this weekend and we’ll be sliding around, but I think it’s going to make for a fun race. We’ve been slowly but surely improving, and I know we can build on that and improve since the first race and keep working towards that Rookie of the Year goal at Homestead-Miami Speedway.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 – 27th IN STANDINGS
“So, now we start our Playoff stretch and I’m excited to go to Vegas. It’s a fast track. It’s smooth. It’s fun, it provides some interesting characteristics with the tunnel-bump, through (Turns) 1 and 2 and how far the groove moves up from top to bottom. You’ve got some options there and it’s starting to become a little bit more racy than in years past. It’s Vegas. And, I like going to Vegas. It’s beautiful out there. But the time of year we go the second time is so hot. That race last year was 100 degrees outside. Luckily, it’s a dry heat. But for a person who likes Vegas and wants to have a little fun on Sunday, it’s a good time.”
Chevrolet Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2018): 39
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)
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 (1949-2018): 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 (2007)
2019 STATISTICS:
Wins: 5
Poles: 12
Laps Led: 1,604
Top-five finishes: 34
Top-10 finishes: 81
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 784 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 711
Laps led to date: 233,859
Top-five finishes to date: 4,003
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,253
Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date
General Motors: 1,118
Chevrolet: 784
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 783
Ford: 684
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 137
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.
