TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS
OCTOBER 20, 2019
BOWTIE BULLETS:
CATCHING UP WITH CHEVROLET CONTENDERS
Four Chevrolet drivers are among the 12 that remain in contention for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship through five of 10 playoff races. Heading into Round 6, a look at their start/finish in the last race – on the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway oval – and the May 2019 and October 2018 playoff race at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway oval:
* Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
At Talladega: Start 1, Finish 8 At Kansas (May 11): qualified 32, finish 4
At Kansas (Oct. 21, 2018): qualified 13, finish 1
* Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1
At Talladega: Start 12, Finish 39 At Kansas (May 11): qualified 35, finish 8
At Kansas (Oct. 21, 2018): qualified 27, finish 3
* Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1
At Talladega: Start 2, Finish 37 At Kansas (May 11): qualified 5, finish 2
At Kansas (Oct. 21, 2018): qualified 10, finish 9
* William Byron, No. 24 UniFirst Camaro ZL1
At Talladega: Start 3, Finish 33 At Kansas (May 11): qualified 3, finish 20
At Talladega (Oct. 21, 2018): qualified 17, finish 38
BIG MOVERS IN MAY AT KANSAS
Seven Team Chevy drivers finished in the top-10 at Kansas Speedway on May 11, including three of the four playoff competitors. Alex Bowman was the race runner-up, Chase Elliott drove from the 32nd starting position to place fourth and Kyle Larson advanced from the 35th starting spot to finish eighth. Other big movers in the Bowtie brigade were Tyler Reddick from the 21st starting spot to ninth and Chris Buescher from 18th to 10th.
YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE
Entering the third and final race of Round 2 of the playoffs, which will whittle the championship field to eight, there’s a bright immediate future for the Bowtie brigade. The average age of the four Chevy title contenders is 24.25. The average age of the other playoff participants is 35.4. In October 2018, Chase Elliott became the youngest (22 years, 10 months, 23 days) winner of a MENCS race at Kansas Speedway. Another win would guarantee a spot in the next round. “You have to have the mindset to go out there and control what we can control and do everything we can to get a win,” he said.
TAKING IT STAGE BY STAGE
Each of the first two stages at Kansas Speedway will be 80 laps. William Byron won the first stage on October 13 at Talladega Superspeedway for his second stage victory of the season. Chase Elliott leads Team Chevy drivers with 214 stage bonus points, which includes five stage wins, 20 top-five and 36 top-10 finishes. Kyle Larson also has five stage wins along with 16 top-five and 36 top-10 finishes for 204 points. Kurt Busch (3), Jimmie Johnson (1), Austin Dillon (2) and Ty Dillon (2) have also contributed stage wins.
TUNE-IN:
NBC will telecast the 267-lap race live at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 20. The NBCSports Gold app will stream the race and live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
BY THE NUMBERS:
* Victories by current Chevrolet drivers at Kansas Speedway:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, has three wins (May 2015, October 2011, September 2008).
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1, has one win (2018).
* Johnson is tied with career Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick for most wins at the track.
* Johnson is the active and career leader with 18 top-10 finishes at the track in 26 starts.
* Johnson needs one win to tie Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip (84) for fourth on the all-time list.
* Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 12 wins in the 27 races at Kansas Speedway, including the first two in September 2001 and ’02 by career Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon.
* Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 10 pole awards at Kansas.
* Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Camaro ZL1, has been running at the finish in the past 40 races. At Talladega, he drove from the 21st starting position to finish 10th.
* Team Chevy drivers have earned 14 pole starts this season, led by William Byron with five.
* Chevrolet needs two top-10 finishes to crack 100 for the season.
* Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships.
FOR THE FANS:
· Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Kansas Speedway
· Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: 2019 Corvette 2LT Z06, 2020 Equinox 2LZ AWD Premier, 2020 1500 Trail Boss, 2020 2500 HD LT Diesel, 2020 Traverse AWD Premier Redline, 2019 Blazer RS AWD, and Pink Camaro ZL1 (Sunday only)
· At the Chevrolet Display, fans can also view Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Mountain Dew Camaro ZL1 show car
· 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 18
· 12:45 p.m. – Michael Annett
Saturday, October 19
· 9:30 a.m. – John Hunter Nemechek
· 9:45 a.m. – Tyler Reddick
· 10:00 a.m. Ray Black Jr.
Sunday, October 20
· 9:25 a.m. – Kyle Larson
· 9:45 a.m. – Bubba Wallace
· 10:10 a.m. – William Byron
· 10:30 a.m. – Alex Bowman
· 11:00 a.m. – Chase Elliott
Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation:
· Friday, October 18th: 12:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
· Saturday, October 19th: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
· Sunday, October 20th: 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – 9th IN STANDINGS
BOWMAN ON GETTING BACK TO KANSAS:
“I can’t wait to get to Kansas this weekend. I feel like I gave that one away in the spring. I know that car we are taking there is really good. That’s one of my favorite tracks, regardless of everything. I am looking forward to getting there and it definitely is a race that puts on a great show. This track is probably the best place to showcase the current rules package.”
BOWMAN ON THE SPRING RACE:
“At the end of the race earlier this year, we had all of those cautions. Some guys took tires and some stayed out. We were on much older tires than the guys we were racing, so that definitely didn’t help us. I went to the bottom behind a lap car, lost the nose and had to lift. That ultimately gave Brad (Keselowski) the opportunity to get around me. He was faster than we were at that point, just based on him being on fresher tires. I would have likes to put up a better fight than I did.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – 10th IN STANDINGS
“We are going to head out to Kansas and try to get a win. That’s about all we can do now. We just have to have the mindset to go out there and control what we can control and do everything we can to get a win. I feel as confident going there as I do anywhere. Just going to hope for the best. That’s all we can do.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1 – 12th IN STANDINGS
EVERYONE SAYS KANSAS IS A COOKIE CUTTER 1.5-MILE TRACK. IS IT?
“I don’t think so this year. I think it will be interesting to see how things play out with how our mile-and-half packages have evolved just throughout the year; whether it continues that trend this weekend or whether it reverts back to how it was in the spring at Kansas. I’m just interested to see how that is since the cars have come a long way since that race. I’m also interested to see with it being an elimination race, I think it will open things up for different strategies. It’s a bit of an unknown at this point.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 ROLAND CAMARO ZL1 – 22nd IN STANDINGS
HOW IS KANSAS UNIQUE COMPARED TO SOME OF THE OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS?
“Kansas Speedway has done a really good job with their banking. There’s a line right up by the fence that has a little extra grip. There’s an angle up there that I don’t think many tracks have figured out yet, but Kansas got it right. You can run from top to bottom there. The bottom groove is the preferred groove at the beginning, but it becomes too tight to try and run around there in turns one and two sometimes depending on what the balance of your race car is. I’ve enjoyed that track a lot ever since they repaved it. I wish every track could do as good as a job as Kansas has with repaves.”
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: 7
Poles: 14
Laps Led: 1,950
Top-five finishes: 39
Top-10 finishes: 98
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 786 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 713
Laps led to date: 234,160
Top-five finishes to date: 4,008
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,270
Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date
General Motors: 1,120
Chevrolet: 786
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 785
Ford: 685
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 139
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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.
