TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
TOYOTA 500
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
MAY 20, 2020
2020 NASCAR CUP SERIES CONTINUES WITH RACE #6:
The NASCAR Cup Series will make a return visit to Darlington Raceway for the circuit’s next event, the Toyota 500, on Wednesday evening, May 20th at 6:00 p.m. ET. Following the sport’s successful return to active competition at the track nicknamed “Too Tough to Tame’ just three days ago, NASCAR continues with its revised schedule of five Cup races in a 14-day span.
BOWTIE BULLETS:
· Chevrolet leads all other manufacturers with 41 all-time wins in NASCAR’s premier division at Darlington Raceway.
· Jimmie Johnson, who pilots the No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, tops the win list for active drivers with three NCS wins at Darlington Raceway (2012, and the sweep in ‘04).
· The youngest Darlington Raceway pole winner to-date is set by Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE, who captured the pole for the 2019 Southern 500 (21 years, 9 months, 3 days).
TEAM CHEVY MOMENTUM:
With a solid return to action following a two-month pause in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Bowtie Brigade has momentum on its side. In Sunday’s race, Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com NOCO Camaro ZL1 1LE, spent 204 laps in the top-two positions, earning an average running position of 2.8, to capture a solid runner-up finish. Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, and Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE, were right behind in third and fourth, making it three Chevrolet’s in the top-four.
Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Caterpillar Camaro ZL1 1LE scored a career-best Cup Series result with a seventh-place finish. In his return to full-time racing, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE, posted a solid tenth place in the order to give Team Chevy five of the top-ten overall.
A PAIR OF CAMARO ZL1 1LE’S ON THE FRONT ROW:
Without qualifying or practice, the starting lineup for Wednesday’s race has been determined by the finishing order of the Real Heroes 400 event. The top-20 finishers from Sunday’s race will be inverted, which puts Ryan Preece, No. 37 Tide Power Pods Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the pole.
Ty Dillon, sporting a special ‘Hump Day’ paint scheme, will start on the outside front row in his No. 13 GEICO Camaro ZL1 1LE, making it a Chevrolet front row to lead the field to the green in the mid-week event.
The starting order for the remainder of the 39-car field will mirror the finishing positions of the May 17th race.
TUNE-IN:
In compliance with the pandemic guidelines, the Toyota 500 will run without spectators, but you can view the live competition on Wednesday, May 20th, at 6:00 p.m. ET on FS1. Live coverage of the 228-lap, 311-mile race can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM / NOCO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 2nd IN STANDINGS
“Everybody at HMS does a really good job of getting all our cars extremely close. I think we can take what we ran (Sunday) and have a pretty good idea of some adjustments we couldn’t do on pit road but I felt like would really help what I needed in the racecar there to be a little better on long runs and help me in some areas. I’m really looking forward to it. I think we have a good game plan for it. Our cars are really strong right now.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 4th IN STANDINGS
“I’m looking forward to Wednesday. I am excited to keep this trend going. I think it’s super fun showing up and racing. It adds an element of excitement for me that I haven’t had in a while so I thought that was really cool. I am looking forward to getting back and going back over there and racing Wednesday night under the lights. Such a cool race track to race at in general, but I think the night time brings another element that’s going to be really cool, always has been in the past for me. We will see how it goes Wednesday and hopefully we can finish a few spots better. Hopefully just try and improve on Sunday.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 13th IN STANDINGS
“As far as heading back to Darlington, three days after a race. This is that that moment that we always have in team meetings, where we ask one another. “if we were going to go back there tomorrow, what would we change?” Now it’s time to put our money where our mouth is and make the changes and capitalize, with these two events being so close to one another. It is similar to the All-Star Race and then going back to run the 600 at Charlotte. Only this is even closer in comparison, because of the stage lengths and the approach to the race. Also, with our starting positions, we pulled the random draw to start 22nd for the first Darlington race and then with the invert, following the third-place finish, will be starting 18th in this second race. Both of our races are very similar, the stages and the set-ups are pretty close. We could go along with no yellows in between stage one and stage two, but we’ll see how it pans out. This is definitely one of those moments where it’s like “boom” make quick changes and head straight back to the track and go for the win!”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 19th IN STANDINGS
“Returning to the Darlington Raceway for race number two – I feel more confident going into this one. Having the first race under our belt, and figuring-out what we need to be better. Our Richard Petty Motorsports team had a good debrief to get our Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE better as a whole. We have a good balance read and balance update, so we have some ideas of what we could do to be more competitive. Darlington Raceway, no matter how many times you run on it you will still show-up and be intimidated by the track. I’m looking forward to the challenge when we get down there Wednesday.”
JERRY BAXTER, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE
“We’ve got the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE just about ready to go for the second race at the Darlington Raceway. We learned a lot down there, last weekend, and we made quite a few changes on the current car. We’ll go down there and fight the rain for a little while, and we’ll see how we can do.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 21st IN STANDINGS
“I’m looking forward to going back to the same race track in the same week. I think it’s a unique situation that we don’t normally get, for us to be able to go back to a track for a second time and so soon. I’m excited to see what we can carry over from our speed that we showed in our Axalta Chevy on Sunday. I think it’s going to be difficult from where we’re starting the race, but I’m looking forward to moving through the field and hopefully getting back up towards the front again.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 23rd IN STANDINGS
“Well, hopefully we’ve got that bad luck in the rearview mirror now. Yesterday’s race obviously didn’t go how we had hoped or planned, but the only thing to do now is to keep moving forward. We’ve got a little bit of a challenge ahead of us since we didn’t get any track time on Sunday, but everyone at the shop has worked really hard to get our cars ready and prepped for us to race. Our teammate had solid speed, so we can learn a little bit off of what he was feeling in the car on Sunday and take those notes to apply to our car on Wednesday. Wednesday’s race will be at night, which will affect the setups from Sunday and is a little bit more of what we’re accustomed to racing at Darlington Raceway. We have speed on our intermediate track program on this No. 47 Kroger Camaro ZL1 1LE and I’m ready to makeup what we lost on Sunday when we get back to Darlington.”
RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 TIDE POWER PODS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 30th IN STANDINGS
“I was pretty happy with how our race went on Sunday at Darlington Raceway. We definitely had speed in our No. 37 Chevrolet, and earning stage points was huge as we continue to turn our season around from a rough start. Racing on Sunday was really good to build notes for Wednesday night’s race. While the track conditions will be opposite racing at night than it was during the day, we definitely have a lot of things we learned that we can apply. We were really good in Turns 1 and 2, but just needed a little bit more front turn in Turns 3 and 4. Starting on the pole for the shortened race on Wednesday night will be really important for track position. I’m proud of everyone at the shop and on the road crew for adapting to this new normal and giving us a car we can continue to build on, and put on another great race on Wednesday night in our No. 37 Tide Power Pods Camaro ZL1 1LE.”
MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 34th IN STANDINGS
“I had a lot of fun in the car on Sunday and enjoyed getting to work with all the guys for the first time, and we ended with a great finish. It was a really good way for us to start, and I hope to just improve a little bit on everything we did during Sunday’s race. It was a quick turnaround to get ready to get back on track and the conditions will be a bit different for this race, but the CGR Chevy’s run really well at Darlington, so I’m looking forward to another good race and another chance for us to work together as a team.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2019): 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 (1949-2019): 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)
2020 STATISTICS:
Wins: 1
Poles: 2
Laps Led: 429
Top-five finishes: 10
Top-10 finishes: 21
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 787 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 716
Laps led to date: 234,735
Top-five finishes to date: 4,024
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,303
Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date
General Motors: 1,121
Chevrolet: 787
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 789
Ford: 689
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 144
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.
