NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 12, 2015
NINE CHEVROLET SS DRIVERS IN 2015 CHASE FOR THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP
10-Race Playoff Will Determine 2015 Champion
RICHMOND, Va. – (September 12, 2015) – The first 26 regular season NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races are in the books. After 400-laps/300-miles of racing at Richmond International Raceway, the 2015 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup field has now been set. Chevrolet will have nine drivers, the most of any manufacturer, competing for the championship – Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kurt Busch, Martin Truex, Jr., Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Paul Menard – will all vie to be the driver and team hoisting the hardware in the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, heads into the 10-race playoff as the top-seeded driver by collecting four wins throughout the regular season. Johnson is the only driver who has made the Chase every single season since its inception in 2004.
Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, makes the Chase for the ninth time in his career and will defend his title. Harvick earned wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway to earn his position in this season’s Chase.
Twelve-time most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS makes the Chase on the strength of two wins in 2015. This is the eighth time in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career that he has made the Chase.
Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch brings his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS team into the Chase for the second consecutive season. Busch earned two regular season wins at Richmond and Michigan to earn his Chase spot.
Martin Truex, Jr. has had an impressive 2015 season. A single-car team out of Denver, Colorado Furniture Row Racing and the No. 78 Chevrolet SS team earned the victory at Pocono Raceway and have seven top-five and 17 top-10 finishes through the first 26 races.
Two Chevrolet-powered drivers will be making their first career Chase appearances – Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet SS and Paul Menard, No. 27 Libman/Menards Chevrolet SS. Both drivers have been models of consistency in 2015, which allowed them to secure their first Chase appearances this season.
In his final full-time season as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver, Jeff Gordon led the No. 24 3M Chevrolet SS team into the Chase. The 24-year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran has made the playoffs in11 of the 12 years it has been in existence. He and the No. 24 Chevrolet SS team will make one final run to try to earn his fifth career series title as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver.
Ryan Newman joins his Richard Childress Racing teammate Menard as a championship contender. After finishing second in last year’s Chase, Newman and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS team will once again navigate their way through the 10-race playoff system and try to be one of the final four teams competing for the championship title at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series officially starts next Sunday, September 20 at Chicagoland Speedway. The format will feature 10 races consisting of three elimination rounds and a final four-driver battle for the title in the final round of competition. Since the inception of the Chase in 2004, Chevrolet has powered nine drivers to season-ending championships and earned 11 consecutive Manufacturer titles.
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER/JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS:
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Kevin Harvick. Thank you for taking the time to be with us tonight. Talk a little bit about being the reigning champion and securing your spot in the Chase, clinching it early on and being here at Richmond, looking ahead to Chicago next week.
KEVIN HARVICK: Well, we didn’t do anything exciting here. It’s been a great 25 weeks leading up to this. I think the team has done a great job of putting fast cars on the racetrack, doing the things we do. We were a lot better than we were last year as a team. I’m looking forward to the next 10 weeks.
Love the pressure. Love the excitement. Just ready to go.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Kevin.
Q. I know you’ve been good and Penske has been good, but JGR has kicked into this whole other gear. What is it going to take for other teams to pass them?
KEVIN HARVICK: Well, you can’t be good once every three weeks. You got to be good for 10 weeks. I know those guys have run fast. It’s been a different Gibbs car that we’ve raced against for the last 10 weeks. As a company, they’ve had some good success in winning races, but it hasn’t been the same car.
Hopefully they’ll be peaky like they normally are and we can capitalize on the solid momentum we’ve had throughout the last two years and do what we have to do.
Q. You’ve been leading the points all year for the most part. Now you’re maybe six points back of some of the top guys. Does it matter? Do you feel like the guy to beat?
KEVIN HARVICK: I mean, I feel like we’re as good as any team out there. I feel like we can beat any team on any given day if it all goes our way.
I don’t know that we’re the team to beat. But I know that we can beat anybody as we go through a week‑to‑week basis on any style racetrack. It’s just a matter of having the circumstances and things go your way.
This deal is, A, about having fast cars and not making mistakes. But there are going to be some things happen as we saw last year, circumstances you have to overcome, situations, people are going to gamble.
That’s what this deal is all about. It’s really not about having the fastest cars week in and week out, it’s about capitalizing on situations. The guy who makes the least amount of mistakes is going to be the one who keeps advancing.
It’s not about stats or what’s pretty or not pretty, it’s about three weeks and making it to the next round, three weeks, making it to the next round, trying to get yourself in position for Homestead.
The one thing I know that we can do, we’ve been in pressure situations, we’ve succeeded in both of them at the end of the year and we’ve been there, done that. I didn’t see anybody around us do the same thing.
It’s going to be fun and I know that we’ve had our backs against the wall and know how to deal with those situations. It’s a whole different ballgame now.
THE MODERATOR: Kevin, thank you very much for your time. We’ll see you in Chicago.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS:
JAMIE McMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS:
THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by our top seed in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie, you’ve been in this position before, but tell us how you’re feeling tonight looking ahead to Chicago.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Excited to get to the post‑season. Honestly excited to get to the Chase. They’re great racetracks for the 48 team. We’ve been able to find some speed and consistency for the last couple weeks, that’s been nice. Definitely have not had the summer we would have wanted to have. Many of you know we’ve been in this position before through different years we’ve been able to win the championship.
I don’t think it’s a true sign of where we’re at. But we certainly want to be better and looking forward to getting to the tracks that we really perform at.
THE MODERATOR: Also joining us a newcomer to the group, Jamie McMurray. Jamie, we had you hanging for a little bit last week at Darlington.
JAMIE McMURRAY: That was mean.
THE MODERATOR: You earned your stripes tonight by starting the race. Congratulations on your first Chase. Tell us how you’re feeling tonight.
JAMIE McMURRAY: I’m super relieved. I’ve been the guy on the outside trying to fight my way in, and I’ve also been in this a couple times and been knocked out at Richmond.
A much different night, laid‑back weekend. I brought my family with me this weekend so we could all enjoy it together. My little girl had a fever when we got here; my little boy has a fever now. It’s been raining with my wife and two kids in a bus. It’s been a party.
I’m actually next to Bowyer, but it’s much different than what he has going on now.
No, it’s awesome. I’m thrilled to get to be a part of it. Our team has been super consistent this year. It’s been great. Matt McCall has done a phenomenal job coming in being a rookie crew chief. I’m super proud of him and our whole team. Yeah, a nice job.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll take a couple of questions.
Q. Jimmie, you go into the Chase as the number one seed. Why do you think no one is talking about your prospects for a seventh championship? Are you content to fly beneath the radar?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: No (laughter). I was supposed to give a yes or no answer, so…
Truth be told, we haven’t run like we should over the summer months, so that’s why we’re not in the conversation. But we’ve been here before. Final 10 races are good for us, good tracks. I think in some scenarios this championship battle is a bit more forgiving. If we were consistent through the first nine, be a chance to be in the final four, we have 10 more weeks to get our stuff straightened out and find the speed we need.
I don’t think we’re in too bad of shape. That 4 car is running our equipment, been up front a bunch. We just got to make a better mouse trap with our race cars. Working hard to get there.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you. Congratulations. See you in Chicago.
CHIP GANASSI, TEAM OWNER, CHIP GANASSI RACING WITH FELIX SABATES:
THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Chip Ganassi, car owner. Thank you for joining us. I know you’ve had an interesting couple of weeks. First and foremost, congratulations on making the Chase with Jamie. He was very excited. We want to congratulate you and talk a little bit about how you’re feeling. It’s been several years since you made the Chase. Talk about your thoughts and looking ahead to the next 10 races.
CHIP GANASSI: Obviously it’s a little sweeter tonight with Jamie. I know with Jamie in the past, when they took 10, I could be wrong on these numbers, seems when they took 10, we were 11th. When they took 12, we were 13th. When they took 16, we were 17th or something. So this was a little sweeter to get him punched in there pretty solid.
Really, really happy for the team. The guys worked hard, Max, Matt, Roy, all the team, Tony, all the engineers. They worked tirelessly under the radar week in and week out. My hat is off to them for the job they have done with the team.
Like Jamie said, been consistent all year. We had speed at times, not when we needed it most. Like Jimmie said, the components are there to win the race. We have all the same components as some of those guys that can win. We just need to make a better mousetrap, as he says, with what we have to work with.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up to questions for Chip.
Q. Chip, you won the IndyCar championship. Surprised people with that one. Can you do that again this year? Do you think your team can take that next step?
CHIP GANASSI: Yeah, I mean, obviously it’s what we prepare for. It’s what we prepare to do. Obviously we haven’t done it in the past. I mean, you put all your ingredients into your team each year and you do the best job you can with what you have to work with, the resources you have.
You know, I think we can give it a shot here. I think we can drill ourselves deep into it. The final four, looks like it might be one team the way I’m looking at it lately after the last couple of races. I noticed for a while we were running first and second in class, but I think we were fifth and sixth.
It’s going to be a challenge, but I certainly think we can drill deep into it. We’ll have to see from there. We’ll need a little bit of luck from there.
Q. Chip, comment on how happy you are for Jamie, what this means to him. He’s had some moments, but making the Chase is something he needed to cross off the bucket list.
CHIP GANASSI: Obviously Jamie has had some big wins, but we haven’t had the consistent speed that you need I think to win at any time. I think we can run well at any track, but I don’t think we’re in a position to win right yet at any track.
We have to work on that. We’ve obviously won some big races, but we need to do a little better job of that. We need to work a little harder, dig a little deeper.
For Jamie himself, I couldn’t be more pleased. I don’t think there’s anybody in the Chase that is more deserving of being there, that has worked so tirelessly over the years, been under the limelight, has had a couple disappointments along the way at times.
In past Chase scenarios, he’s had some disappointments. So really happy for him. Really happy.
Q. Chip, Kyle Larson, what were your expectations for the season? Coming into this race, did you think you had a shot at getting in there?
CHIP GANASSI: I’m not one of these guys that gets disappointed because one guy’s in and one guy’s not. When you can punch somebody into the playoffs, that’s good for the whole team.
We had an IndyCar championship a few weeks ago. That’s good for the whole team. That’s good for everybody. That just builds upon itself. Success is a snowball type of thing in the sports business. It’s an infectious thing. People gravitate to those kinds of events and those type of people that are successful in those events.
Sure, would I like to have two cars in the Chase? Yes, who wouldn’t? It’s not to be. I probably don’t feel any differently than the other team owners that don’t have all their cars in. You’re happy for the ones that are in and sad for the ones that are not. The fact that you have one in there makes it good for the entire team.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Chip. Congratulations.
Connect with Team Chevy on social media. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TeamChevy, follow us on Twitter @TeamChevy, and add +TeamChevy into your Google+ circles.
Team Chevy racing photos are available at:
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 115 countries and selling around 4.8 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.
