TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
GO BOWLING 235 AT THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA
AUGUST 16, 2020
RACE #23 – DAYTONA BEACH, FL
For the first time in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS), the inaugural Go Bowling 235 at the Daytona Road Course is set to debut on Sunday, August 16th at the famed Daytona International Speedway (DIS). It becomes the 23rd of 36 races on the NCS 2020 circuit.
The event was positioned in lieu of the original road course date at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The historic road racing weekend, Aug. 14-16, begins on Friday, August 14 with the ARCA Menards Series race at 5:00 p.m. ET, followed by the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 15, and is capped with a Sunday doubleheader on August 16, featuring NASCAR’s RV & Outdoors Truck Series at 12:00 p.m. ET and the Go Bowling 235 NASCAR Cup Series feature race at 3:00 p.m. ET.
While the 65-lap Go Bowling 235 will run on the same road course layout as the Rolex 24 At Daytona, North America’s premier race for sports cars, it will feature an added twist. The traditional ribbon of asphalt out of Turn 4 will sport a new chicane that transforms the design into a 14-turn, 3.61-mile, high-banked tri-oval/infield road course, which is unique to all motorsports. With NASCAR having curtailed practice sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the racing promises to be exciting and intense.
BOWTIE BULLETS
Although the Daytona Road Course is uncharted territory for the competitors, and there are no prior statistics, Chevrolet has shown success at other road courses currently on the NCS tour with a total of 31 victories, more than any other manufacturer:
Watkins Glen International – 2.45-mile, 7-turn road course = 19 Wins
Sonoma Raceway – 2.52-mile, 12-turn road course = 11 Wins
Charlotte Roval – 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course = 1 win
Current active Chevy drivers with road course wins include:
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE = Two wins at Watkins Glen (2018, ’19), and one at the Charlotte Roval (2019)
Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE = One win at Sonoma Raceway (2011)
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE = One win at Sonoma Raceway (2010)
Road Course Records:
Chase Elliott remains the youngest road-course winner (22 years, 8 months, 8 days) of all time in the NCS. If he wins at the Daytona Road Course on Sunday, Elliott will become the most recent driver with three consecutive road-course race wins.
Chevrolet driver, Jeff Gordon, holds the record for most consecutive road-course wins with six (1997-2000).
PLAYOFF PICTURE:
With 22 races in the books and just four left in the regular season, the chase to making the Playoff cutline is on. The top-16 in the standings at the end of the regular season will have a chance to compete for the title of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. As the points stand heading to Daytona weekend, five slots in the top 16 in the standings are occupied by Team Chevy drivers.
5th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE
8th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE
9th Austin Dillon, No. 3 American Ethanol Camaro ZL1 1LE
13th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE
16th William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE
Three Team Chevy Camaro ZL1 1LE drivers have secured their spots in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with wins captured this season so far: Alex Bowman’s win at Auto Club Speedway, Chase Elliott’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Austin Dillon’s recent trip to victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway.
TAKING THE GREEN:
The starting line-up procedure has been adjusted by NASCAR for the remainder of the 2020 season. A combination of finishing position from the previous race (weighted 50%), rank in team owner points standings (35%) and the fastest lap from the previous race (15%) are used to set the lineup at each race.
Here are Team Chevy’s top-20 starters:
7th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE
8th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE
10th Austin Dillon, No. 3 American Ethanol Camaro ZL1 1LE
11th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE
13th William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE
16th Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1 1LE
18th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Cat App Camaro ZL1 1LE
19th Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Victory Junction Camaro ZL1 1LE
TUNE-IN:
NBC will telecast the 65-lap, 3.61-mile Go Bowling 235 at Daytona International Speedway live at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 16th. Live coverage can also be found on the NBC Sports Gold app, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 5th in Standings:
“I am super excited just to go somewhere new. Obviously, I’ve enjoyed Watkins Glen these past couple of years. We have a new challenge ahead with the DAYTONA Road Course. I think the biggest thing is not having any practice. I think it is going to be exciting but it’s also going to be really hard for the guys that have never made a lap there before. I think it’s going to give a pretty big advantage to those who’ve run the 24-hour race and have made any laps on that track. I’ve never made a lap. I don’t even know what turns are where. I’m going to get on iRacing and try and make some laps just to familiarize myself with the track. I’ve watched the 24-hour race, but I’ve never really paid a ton of attention to it. It’s going to be really difficult for people like me who have never seen it.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 10th in Standings:
“With unprecedented times here in 2020, I think the call from NASCAR to make this unprecedented move is brilliant. With Watkins Glen not able to host a race in upstate New York, and to have the road course available for us down in Daytona; with no practice and no qualifying and just jumping straight into the race, why not? We’ve done everything in 2020 so far to overcome all these hurdles. I think the fun-factor this weekend has got everybody’s anxiety-level up; but also the challenge that’s right in front of us because it’s basically a wild card-style race, where you could see a driver and a team that don’t normally make the Playoffs, punch their ticket.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 11th in Standings:
“The good thing about this weekend is that none of the drivers really know what to expect. It is really more of a level playing field. We have been in the simulator this week just trying to learn more about the configuration and speeds in the corners. I think we have some strengths that we can bring from the ‘roval,’ so we just need to capitalize on that on Sunday.”
GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 10th in Standings:
“We are preparing the best way we know how for the DAYTONA road course. It is going to be strange, but we are doing the same thing we did when we were preparing to go to the ‘roval’ for the first time. We went into that race thinking there would be a lot of cautions, especially going into Turn 1 for the first time, but everything was good. Main difference here is at the ‘roval’, we had practice.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 14th in Standings:
Byron on racing at the Daytona road course:
“I am a bit more optimistic on how this race is going to turn out. I was at Daytona for the 24-hour race this past year. I feel like even that time gives me a good idea of what the track looks like and what the car needs to feel like based on the things I heard and saw. I know some guys have made laps on that road course in sports cars, which may give them a bit of an advantage. There are simulation tools though that I can use to prepare and get better for this race. I’m just really excited about this race overall.”
Byron on his style of road course racing:
“When it comes to road course racing, I feel like I try to find a nice balance between aggression and consistency. When I need to make fast laps, I am super aggressive by using the curbs, getting as much as I can out of the apex of the corners and using aggressive braking to pass guys. Once the race kind of goes on and the pace mellows out though, I settle in and work more on consistency lap after lap. If you just constantly push, push, push, it is extremely hard on the tires. You have to push when you’re trying to pass someone and then set your own pace from there.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 16th in Standings:
“I am so excited for this weekend at Daytona. I have a lot of reps (repetitions) and a couple thousand miles on this on this track from competing in the seven Rolex races I’ve been able to compete in, and I also did a July 4th six-hour race there – so bring it on. The challenges of this track – there will be some really high speeds and then the chicane off of four will change that to some degree. It’s going to be a balance of aero efficiency on the straightaways and mechanical grip for the tight little infield section. It’s going to be really interesting for those who have never taken a lap on this track.
“I hope we can make something happen over the next four races and get into the playoffs. I’m very optimistic we can make something happen. I will know if I don’t make the playoffs that I left it all on the track, this team gives 100% and we can all sleep at night knowing that.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 17th in Standings:
“I’ve been working on the simulator to prepare for the race. We’ve all been putting a lot of hours in leading up to the race. It’s an American Ethanol race and I can’t wait to get out there in that green number three car. I think it will be interesting having NASCAR Cup Series cars out on the track. It will be good to get to see the NASCAR Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series on the track before us so we can see how rubber gets laid down and where speed is made. There’s also a little section on the back that’s not there for the 24 Hours of Daytona race. It’s a chicane that you approach when you come off of Turn 4. You have to get slowed up really quick for it before the start finish line. It all starts in Turn 1. Obviously, blending into the area right past the area where we would normally be leaving pit road if we were competing on the oval configuration that we are all used to. You’ve got a sharp left there, a quick back and forth and then to another hard right-hander. That slow section through the middle of the track is going to be really key, I think. The cars that get through that the best are going to be your best cars of the weekend. Also getting onto the big track in Turns 1 and 2 seems to be where a ton of the speed is carried since that is the longest straightaway.
“I’m looking forward to the race. Some of the guys are going to have a little bit of an advantage because they’ve raced there before, but a lot of us have not and it will be a fun test. We’re just going to go out there and give it our all and see what we come up with. It seems like a really fun road course compared to what we usually run. It’s kind of spread out. There’s a lot of left-hand turns, which I like because that’s what I’m used to. So, we will get there and take what it gives us.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CAT APP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 18th in Standings:
Knowing that NASCAR has not run on Daytona International Speedway’s road course before, how are you preparing for the weekend?
“I’m very excited about the possibility this weekend brings for me and the No. 8 Cat App team. I’ve been taking advantage of Chevrolet’s simulator they have available to us to help get familiar with the course and start learning where passes could potentially be made on Sunday. The Chevy simulator has helped me a lot with road courses in the past. That has always been a style of racing I’ve found challenging, but I think that by using the simulator a lot last year, I was a lot closer to where I wanted to be heading into those weekends. I’m hoping to reach the same level of preparation this year by just making lap after lap on the simulator and practice hitting my marks every time. I’ve also leaned a lot on AJ Allmendinger again. He has worked with my crew chief, Randall Burnett, a lot in the past, and he helped me a lot last year too with the road courses. Randall also has a really good idea on how to set up our Chevrolets for road courses, so I’m confident he has a plan on where he wants the car to be before we even reach the track this weekend. But overall, I’m really looking forward to this weekend. There is just a lot of possibility out there to make up points on the other drivers we’re in the Playoff bubbles with, and we’ll need to capitalize on that.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 20th in Standings:
With road courses, you guys like a lot of creature comforts in there that are different than the ovals. Can you explain how you’re going to get to that without having any laps on track, and really feel like you’re ready to race when the green goes?
“I don’t know if any of us are going to feel like we are ready to race the DAYTONA Road Course. It is going to be an exciting race for sure. I am glad our Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE is not on the front row for this one to drive-off in there and find my marks. And, I don’t want to be like Brad (Keselowski) at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval two years ago and overshoot the corner. We just have to be mindful. This is the most time I have spent preparing for a road course and going to the SIM. I’m actually heading-up to jump on the SIM immediately after this press conference. I am preparing myself for as much as I can to be ready for putting corners together. It’s crazy how, just from watching the 24 Hours of Daytona, you learn which way this track goes. Obviously, turning left immediately after the start/finish line, and going through the infield there. Then you visualize, like man, I used to park here in the road course parking lot. So, it’s going to be cool to racing all around that. It will be exciting for the fans. But again, I have tried to spend so much time prepping for this; so hopefully it works out for Richard Petty Motorsports in the end.”
We were supposed to be at Watkins Glen International this weekend. What’s your take on not going to The Glen this year?
“I’m alright with it. It has not been one of my best race tracks. But I think this, with everything going on with COVID-19, I know NASCAR has been up to their necks in trying to figure-out what the schedule is going to be. I definitely don’t envy them right now. But kudos to them for coming-up with an alternative. And it’s something new. It’s new for NASCAR. I know the road course has been around for years and years. We have been able to watch that on TV right before our season kick-off at Daytona (International Speedway). For us to go in there with no practice, I remember when I was asked ‘we need a solid answer if you’re okay with no practice.’ And I was like, okay, what does everybody else think about this? The final verdict was no practice. Drive-off into Turn 1 and figure-out where you go after that. It will be cool. It’ll be a different alternative to definitely have fans tune-in for that and to be able to watch all the action on NBC. None of us really know what to expect. But, to have a good race and try to continue on momentum from there. Like I said earlier, I have prepped a lot; a lot more than I have in the past to be good here and be successful here. Hopefully it goes hand-in-hand.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO FOR YOUR BOAT CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 27th in Standings:
What is your outlook going into the Daytona Road Course for the first time?
“I’ve always felt really good going to road courses, especially in the Truck and Xfinity Series. Sonoma and Watkins Glen have been tougher to adapt to in the Cup Series, because there is so much experience by teams at those tracks. So anytime we go to a new place or specifically a new road course, I welcome the challenge where we are all in the same unique situation.”
Have you been able to prepare for the chicane at all?
“It will definitely be challenging to adapt to that corner. I’ve spent time on the simulator these past couple of weeks, so while we don’t know what it will feel like in an actual race car, that gets our GEICO team as close as we can. But then again, everything is new, so it’s just a matter of managing your day and not getting yourself in trouble early. You need to be able to attack the corners and go for it at the end of the race. It’s going to be a race full of adapting. Some guys will pick it up quickly based on experience and then some drivers will hopefully learn throughout and be in contention by the end.”
MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 28th in Standings:
“With the Daytona Road Course coming up, there are a lot of unknowns. A lot of people have never raced there before. Some of us have raced there, but it’s been many, many years ago, and a lot of things have changed since then; plus, a different chicane coming off Turn 4. So, we’ve been using the Chevrolet simulator a lot just to go out and get some reference points and try to get somewhat of a feel for it and get some good visuals, and kind of know where the corners are and the braking zones and some of the tough spots and all that. So, I think all the Chevy drivers have been there quite a bit to try and get a feel for it. Hopefully that’ll give us a little head start on getting there and hopefully make us more competitive when they drop the green flag.”
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: 3
Poles: 3
Laps Led: 1,275
Top-five finishes: 24
Top-10 finishes: 71
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 789 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 717
Laps led to date: 235,581
Top-five finishes to date: 4,038
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,350
Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date
General Motors: 1,123
Chevrolet: 789
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 799
Ford: 699
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 149Team 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.
