TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
FEBRUARY 23, 2020
BOWTIE BULLETS:
CHEVROLET AIMING FOR EIGHTH VICTORY
The event will be the 25th NASCAR Cup Series race Las Vegas Motor Speedway since 1998. Chevrolet has seven wins at the 1.5-mile oval. The Bowtie brigade recorded its first victory on March 4, 2001, when Jeff Gordon drove a Monte Carlo to the winner’s circle for Hendrick Motorsports after starting 24th. He led 33 of the 267 laps. A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole four times at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In the two races in 2019, Chevrolet earned six top-10 finishes and led a total of 43 laps.
RETURNING HOME
Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, holds the NASCAR Cup Series one-lap qualifying record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway of 27.505 seconds (196.328 mph), set on March 6, 2016. Busch also has a pole start on Feb. 28, 2010, and 14 top-10 starts in 20 starts overall. In the March 3, 2019, race, Busch drove from the 28th starting spot, led 23 laps and finished fifth. It was the second of four-consecutive top-10 finishes in early season races.
JOHNSON’S VICTORY CIRCLE
Chevrolet career driver and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson announced that 2020 would be his final full season of competition. A look at his success at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: Johnson has four victories – the most of any driver — including three in a row in the March race from 2005-07 (the last on the new racing surface). He also won in February 2010. In the March 12, 2006, race that went three laps of overtime, Johnson won by 0.045 of a second in the closest margin of victory for the NASCAR Cup Series at the racetrack.
Johnson is the only driver to win multiple times (2007, ‘10) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the season following claiming the NASCAR Cup Series championship. He is also the only series champion to win the Las Vegas race and championship in the same season (2006, ’07, ’10). Johnson leads active drivers with 595 laps led at the track. He does not have a DNF in 20 starts.
ONE FOR THE BOOKS
At Daytona International Raceway, Johnson, driving the No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, moved to ninth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series consecutive starts list (tied with Ryan Newman) with 580. Their streaks started at the start of the 2002 season. Career Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon holds the record at 797.
IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR
At Daytona International Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the pole for the Daytona 500 in the No. 47 Kroger Camaro ZL1 1LE. William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE, won the second 60-lap Duel. Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE, won Stage 1 (Elliott had five stage wins in 2019). Chevrolet had two top-10 finishers and led 53 laps.
TUNE IN
FOX will telecast the 267-lap race live at 3:30 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 23. Live coverage can also be found on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
BY THE NUMBERS:
* Victories by current Chevrolet drivers at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, has four wins (March 2005, March 2006, March 2007, February 2010).
* Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE, has two runner-up finishes in eight starts at Las Vegas.
* Johnson needs one win to tie Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for fifth on the all-time victory list with 84.
* Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 7th IN STANDINGS
ARE YOU EXCITED TO SEE HOW THE CAR PERFORMS AT LAS VEGAS?
“I’m super excited, yeah. We had an opportunity to make something better. Chevrolet put a lot of effort into it. As a group, collectively, from the team side, I know Hendrick did. I’m excited to see where it is. It’s an exciting thing to be able to have an opportunity to make something better. This sport is always evolving. There’s always people out front, you’re trying to catch them. This is an opportunity for us to catch up, do better, improve. That’s all we want to do, is just improve from where we were.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 LLUMAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 20th IN STANDINGS
“Our intermediate program at Hendrick Motorsports is one of our best programs, other than superspeedways. Every time we go to a superspeedway like last week, we have great cars. At the end of last year, our intermediate program was our strongest in my opinion. We had a lot of great success at those tracks last year.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 26th IN STANDINGS
“Obviously Daytona didn’t end how we had hoped for but that’s behind us now. I’ve already moved on to thinking about this weekend in Las Vegas. Last year, the spring race was okay for the No. 24 team but it was early on in the season for us as a team working together. The fall race was much better and probably one of our best overall races from start to finish. If we can pick up where we left off then, I think we will be in really good shape for this weekend. I’m excited to see how we unload.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 TAME THE BEAST CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 27th IN STANDINGS
LAST TIME YOU WERE AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, YOU WON IN THE XFINITY SERIES. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE FROM THAT EXPERIENCE TO HELP PREPARE FOR THIS WEEKEND?
“Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a crossover between the two cars. That’s what makes the cup cars so challenging. We’ve got less horsepower and a lot more downforce than the Xfinity cars. The most important change for me is the fact that we have at least 25 other teams out there that are competitive. We’re not used to that in the Xfinity Series, so that’s an adjustment we’ve been dealing with. I do have some confidence entering the weekend though. I remember what my comfort level was when I won in the Truck Series there a few years ago, and while the cup cars aren’t quite the same as the truck, there is a little more crossover between the handling of those two. I’ll also be able to lean on the Chevrolet simulator and log some laps in a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE before we actually arrive to Las Vegas, which will help my TAME the BEAST team figure out what we’re wanting our car to be set up with. In the end, we just really won’t know what we have until we get 15 to 20 laps on our tires during the first practice session.”
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: 0
Poles: 1
Laps Led: 53
Top-five finishes: 0
Top-10 finishes: 2
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 786 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 715
Laps led to date: 234,359
Top-five finishes to date: 4,014
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,284
Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date
General Motors: 1,120
Chevrolet: 786
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 786
Ford: 686
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.
