TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS
OCTOBER 22, 2017
BOWTIE BULLETS
ELITE EIGHT:
Chevrolet currently has four drivers still in contention to take home the hardware in Homestead and become the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie champion. However, this weekend at Kansas, the pressure is on as 12 will become eight.
Jamie McMurray sits at the bottom of the Playoff standings heading into Kansas. The driver of the No. 1 Chevy SS all but needs to win this weekend at Kansas Speedway in order to become one of the elite eight. Seven-time Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson is only seven points above the cut line. He will need a solid finish this weekend at Kansas in order to advance and have an opportunity to chase an eighth title. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott each have a healthy cushion (20 points or more) above the cut line, but are not locked-in to the Round of 8 and will need solid finishes in order to advance.
BREAKING THE STREAK:
The past five races in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition have resulted in a Chevrolet SS driver finishing second. This weekend at Kansas Speedway, where Chevrolet has more wins (11) than any other manufacturer at the 1.5-mile track, Team Chevy hopes snap the streak and break through to Victory Lane.
CHEVY HISTORY MINUTE:
Did you know? Career Chevrolet drivers, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are tied for the most wins at Kansas Speedway with three wins each to their credit. If Johnson were to win this weekend, not only would he surpass his former teammate in wins at Kansas, but he would collect his 84th career victory putting him tied for fourth with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list. It would also mark the 250th victory for Hendrick Motorsports.
BRINGING THE HEAT:
Last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway two Hendrick Motorsports Engine Department powerplants made up the front row. A week earlier at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Hendrick Motorsports Engine group powered Alex Bowman to his first career Xfinity Series victory. A long the way Chevrolet and the craftsmen in the Hendrick Motorsports engine department have combined to power 399 victories. One more will make the group one of the most successful engine department in NASCAR history.
TUNE-IN:
The Hollywood Casino 400 is scheduled to begin on Sunday, October 22nd at 3 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
BY THE NUMBERS:
Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships
Team Chevy drivers have scored 775 wins and 694 poles in MENCS competition
Chevrolet drivers have won 11 of 23 races at Kansas Speedway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, has three victories at Kansas Speedway (’08, ’11 & ‘15)
Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS, has visited Victory Lane at Kansas Speedway once (’03)
A Chevrolet driver has won one of the last three races at Kansas Speedway
A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Kansas Speedway 10 times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 50 top-five and 104 top-10 finishes at Kansas Speedway
A Chevrolet has led laps 2,164 (39.0% of possible 5,557 laps) at Kansas Speedway
FOR THE FANS:
Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Talladega Superspeedway
Fans can check out great a great assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: Malibu Redline, Camaro Redline, Equinox Premier, Colorado, Colorado ZR2, Silverado 1500 High Desert, Traverse HC, Corvette, Tahoe Premium, Silverado 1500 All Star, Cruze Diesel, 2500 LTZ Custom
At the Chevrolet Display, fans can view the No, 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and No. 3 DOW Chevrolet SS show cars and a specially wrapped Pink Camaro in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Also on display is a Chevrolet R07 racing engine complete with electronic fuel injection. Fans can also see a sample of engines, parts and accessories available for purchase from Chevrolet Performance at their local Chevrolet dealer
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:
Saturday, October 21st
10:00 a.m. – Daniel Hemric, Brendan Gaughan and Brandon Jones
10:10 a.m. – Justin Allgaier
10:30 – JD Motorsports
Sunday, October 22nd
10:55 a.m. – Kyle Larson
11:10 a.m. – Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
11:30 a.m. – Chase Elliott
Chevrolet Display Hours of operation: Fri. Oct. 20th – 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., Sat. Oct. 21st – 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Sun. Oct. 22nd – 8:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CHEVROLET SS – 3RD IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“I’m glad we mostly survived Talladega last weekend. Our Chevy was really good at the end of the race, and I thought we had a chance to win, but fortunate to still get a decent finish after a late wreck. The way Talladega played out, our bad luck at the end of the race didn’t really hurt our points position above the cut line too much, but we need to go to Kansas this weekend and have a solid race. We had a good race there earlier in the year, and our mile-and-a-half cars have been good this season. We just need to execute and that should put us in a good spot to advance to the next round.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – 6TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
ON WHY KANSAS HAS BEEN SUCH A DIFFICULT TRACK FOR HIM:
“I don’t know. We have had some really good cars there. We had one of the best cars I think I have ever had in the Cup Series last fall in the Chase race there. Very frustrating to have our tire go down there leading. I feel like we had another good car there this past spring, which was encouraging. I don’t know, we have had good cars there in the past, just no result ever to really show for it.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – 8TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“Obviously we are in a tight spot in the playoffs after last weekend at Talladega. We know what we need to do in Kansas.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – 12TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“I feel like we had one of the best cars at Kansas Speedway in the Spring, but the race just didn’t play-out the way we needed it too. However, our mile-and-a-half program has been really good this year. That track (Kansas Speedway), if you look historically, I haven’t had really good finishes there, but I’ve actually run really well I think. I’ve had a tire blow or parts failures while we were in position for good finishes. But, it has been a really good track and I look forward to heading back there.”
CHEVROLET DRIVERS NOT IN PLAYOFF CONTENTION:
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 UNIFIRST CHEVROLET SS – 13TH IN PLAYOFF IN STANDINGS
“I’ve always enjoyed Kansas, before the repave and now the new pavement the last few years has been really good for us, too. I think Kansas is one of our best tracks in the playoffs.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – 14TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“The track is super smooth and super-fast. It takes a lot of power and you spend a lot of time pretty much wide open. With that said, it will take a well-balanced car.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – 15TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“Man, I love Kansas Speedway. I had a really good run there two years ago and we cut a right-front tire. I’ve also had a couple of sixth-place finishes there last year. It’s fun. You can ride up by the fence or right on the bottom. Everybody kind of moves around there quite a bit, it’s a fun, fast track.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – 22ND IN STANDINGS
“Kansas is a great racetrack for me. That place has widened out pretty good and you can run against the fence there, which is a line that I like to run. It’s a very fast racetrack and very smooth – a lot of fun, so we should have a good time.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 RICHMOND/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – 23RD IN STANDINGS
“Kansas is one of the best mile-and-a-half tracks in the sport right now. It has aged quicker than we thought. It still has a lot of grip for qualifying and you have to qualify at the bottom of the track. Goodyear has done a good job with the tire to make it fall off and it allows you to move around and run different grooves. I don’t see that changing in this weekend’s event.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – 24TH IN STANDINGS
“Kansas is definitely an interesting track to visit. We go there twice each year in the NASCAR Cup Series and once in the XFINITY Series. The groove has definitely gotten wider since the repave a few years back, but I don’t think that there’s been significant change to the grip level. I’ve done pretty well there in the past in the XFINITY Series, and earlier this year I got a top-15 finish in the Cup Series. Running double duty and getting the extra seat time in always helpful, and we’ve worked hard this year to develop our intermediate-track package this year. This improvements are showing, and I’ll think we’ll have a good weekend in Kansas.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 SCOTT TOWELS CHEVROLET SS – 25TH IN STANDINGS
“We’re heading to Kansas Speedway this weekend with the final race for Scott Products, featuring Scott Towels. Kansas is another 1.5-mile track, but one of the smoother places that we go to. It’ll be a day race as compared to the night race in the spring, so we’ll be looking at keeping the heat under control and trying to figure out what we need to do to adjust during the run. Normally, as the rubber gets laid down it’ll get hotter and get slicker. Historically there, we fight a little bit of a tighter center from how fast that racetrack really is. We’ll go there and have some fun and be sure to check out the new paint scheme on the No. 37 Scott Towels Chevrolet SS.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CHEVROLET SS – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“Kansas Speedway designed a lot like Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile race track. Repaved back in 2012 so the track has been smooth, but is getting some character back in. A little bit of bumps starting to develop over the last couple of years. The good thing is over the last two years the track has really started to widen out to create three-wide racing. Fast in qualifying, if the sun is out during the race it gets really slick. Fun race track, run the bottom, middle, top, a place we have had success at and ready to go do it again.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, NO. 95 TOMMY WILLIAMS DRYWALL CHEVROLET SS – 27TH IN STANDINGS
“Kansas was a great race for us earlier this season, and we ended up finishing 13th. For a team like us, a single-car team, that’s like a win for sure. We are definitely looking forward to going back, because it’s one of the 1.5-mile tracks that we were really good at this season. Hopefully we will have similar success when we go back this weekend.”
Chevrolet Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships
Total (1949 – 2015): 39
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-2015)
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 – 2016): 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 – (in 2007)
2017 STATISTICS:
Wins: 10
Poles: 6
Laps Led: 1,951
Top-five finishes: 48
Top-10 finishes: 100
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 775 (1949 – to date)
Poles Won to Date: 694
Laps Lead to Date: 230,397
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,922
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 8,057
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,110
Chevrolet: 774
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 757
Ford: 657
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 466
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 107
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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.
