35-TIME MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPION – NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
SEPTEMBER 8, 2012
DID YOU KNOW? General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) reported August sales of 240,520 vehicles in the United States, up 10 percent compared with a year ago. GM increased its sales to retail customers by 11 percent, making August its best retail month of the year. Sales to fleet customers were up 6 percent compared with a year ago. All four GM brands posted higher total and retail sales.
CHEVY RACING AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY– JEFF CHEW, MARKETING MANAGER, CHEVY RACING: “The Team Chevy Racing Display has something for everyone in the entire family. Fans this week can ask questions of Team Chevy stars Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray, Regan Smith, Paul Menard, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne, and get autographs from the No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet’s race-day pit crew. You also can spend time with one of our friendly product specialists and learn more about Chevy’s great 2012 vehicle lineup, and take a test drive at our test drive facility in selected Chevrolet vehicles. Also on display are Chevrolet Performance Parts crate engines and an assortment of accessories and performance parts for fans to purchase from their local Chevy dealer. We hope to see you there.”
TEAM CHEVY SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow Team Chevy on Facebook and @TeamChevy on Twitter to receive the latest news as well as updates with times and locations of events
TEAM CHEVY FOR THE FANS AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY:
· Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Richmond International Raceway fan midway area
· Fans can check out great Chevrolet vehicles including: Malibu ECO, Sonic, Cruze ECO, Equinox, Silverado, Camaro Convertible, Corvette, Volt, Traverse, Spark and ZL1
· At the display fans can see a variety of show cars including: No. 88, 14 and 29 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars as well as the No. 57 Grand-Am GT.R Camaro
· Team Chevy Test Drive – This weekend at Richmond International Raceway the Team Chevy Display will feature the Team Chevy Test Drive area located next to the Chevy fan fest. This is a space where fans can climb behind the wheel of an array of featured Chevrolet vehicles and take a test drive on site. The featured vehicles fans can test drive include: Sonic, Malibu, Cruze, Volt, Camaro SS, Camaro Convertible, Corvette Grand Sport, Equinox, Traverse and Silverado. The Test Drive Area will share the same hours of operation as the main Team Chevy display.
· Also on display is a Chevrolet R07 racing engine complete with electronic fuel injection that will power all of our NASCAR Sprint Cup series Team Chevy drivers in 2012. Fans can also see a sample of engines, parts and accessories available for purchase from Chevrolet at their local Chevrolet dealer
· Other activities at the Team Chevy Racing Display include a variety of interactive games for adults and kids
DRIVER FAN Q/A APPEARANCES:
· Friday September 7th – Austin Dillon will visit the Team Chevy stage at 1:30 p.m. followed by Danica Patrick, Justin Allgaier and Brad Sweet at 3:10 p.m. Austin Dillon’s No. 3 over-the-wall pit crew will be out to the Team Chevy display to sign autographs following the driver appearances.
· Saturday September 8th – Jeff Burton will stop by the Team Chevy stage at 3:20 p.m. followed by Paul Menard at 3:45 p.m. Jamie McMurray will stop by the Team Chevy stage at 4:00 p.m. followed by Earnhardt Ganassi teammate Juan Pablo Montoya at 4:10 p.m. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon will share the Team Chevy stage at 4:20 p.m. Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart will visit the Team Chevy stage at 4:30 p.m. Ryan Newman will stop by at 4:45 p.m. followed by Kasey Kahne at 5:00 p.m. Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 over-the-wall pit crew will visit the Team Chevy stage at 5:45 p.m. Regan Smith will visit the Team Chevy stage at a time to be determined.
· NASCAR Artist Sam Bass will be signing autographs at the Chevy Fan Fest at the UAW Buy American Mobile Display from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. both Friday and Saturday
· Hours of operation: Fri. Sept. 7th – 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. and Sat. Sept. 8th – 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
TEAM CHEVY IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (NSCS) COMPETITION:
· Chevrolet has won 35 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Manufacturers’ Championships
· Team Chevy drivers have scored 698 wins and 627 poles in NSCS competition
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK—RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY:
· Chevrolet drivers have won 35 of 112 races at Richmond International Raceway. Wins by active drivers are:
o Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet, has three (3) wins at RIR (’00, ’04 & ’06)
o Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, has gone to Victory Lane three (3) times at RIR (’07 – TWICE &’08)
o Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, has (3) trophies from Richmond International Raceway (’99, ’01 & ’02)
o Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet, has two (2) victories at RIR (’96 & ’00)
o Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, has two (2) wins at RIR (’06 & ’11)
o Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, has one (1) victory at RIR (’98)
o Kurt Busch, No. 51 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, has made the trip to Winner’s Circle at RIR once (’05)
o Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Quaker State Chevrolet, has one (1) trophy from RIR (’05)
o Ryan Newman, No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, has one (1) victory at RIR (’03)
· A Chevrolet driver has won four (4) of the last 10 races at Richmond International Raceway
· A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole 44 times at Richmond International Raceway
· Team Chevy drivers have scored 207 top-five and 422 top-10 finishes at RIR
· A Chevrolet has led 14,124 laps (33.7% of possible 41,890 laps) at Atlanta Motor Speedway
TEAM CHEVY IN THE GARAGE RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY– PAT SUHY – MANAGER, CHEVROLET RACING – OVAL TRACK GROUP: “Congratulations to Richard Childress Racing’s Ty Dillon for collecting his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win last week in Atlanta! It’s always exciting to see Team Chevy’s talented young drivers get their first one. And speaking of talent, there’s a great Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship shaping up. As of now, there are four Chevy drivers locked into the Chase and it seems that we’ll have at least five after the regular season-ending race this weekend in Richmond. All of the wild card contenders will be racing to win in an effort to secure one of the two available spots.
“Richmond International Raceway is a fitting place to end the regular NASCAR Sprint Cup season. It’s a great short track with a little bit of big track feel. Drivers can work the high line, the low line, or a combination of both to search for speed and work their way through traffic. In typical short track fashion, completing a pass can take several laps; and the width of Richmond allows for some great door-to-door battles. With its aging track surface, tire falloff will be something that teams need to deal with. It’s safe to bet that teams will ‘take 4’ at every opportunity, giving the pit crews plenty of chances to show their speed on Saturday night.
“With everything that’s at stake, it promises be an exciting race under the lights. I’m hopeful that we’ll see another Team Chevy winner crowned when the checkered flag flies.”
TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT: DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – 2nd IN STANDINGS: “I like short tracks. Richmond has been a good one for us for a couple of races. I have always enjoyed running there, and it’s a fun track. It’s not your typical short track with the way the front straightaway is. It definitely makes each corner unique from the other and the way you drive the track can change throughout the race. It’s a lot of fun for a driver.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – 4th IN STANDINGS: “Richmond is unique just because of how racy it is. The shape of the track, the banking, size, good side-by-side racing it is a very racy track.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET – 9th IN STANDINGS: “Richmond (International Raceway) is a good track for me in general. Since I started racing, it seems I’ve been successful on the flatter-type race tracks; they really seem to fit my driving style. On paper, this is one of our best tracks. Over the past two weeks our team has really been stepping up our game and avoiding big mistakes. As long as we stay focused, avoid mistakes and make the right calls, we should have a shot to get the Budweiser Chevrolet back to Victory Lane.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET – 10th IN STANDINGS: “It is my favorite track. It’s not one of them; it’s the favorite track of mine on the circuit. I’ve just always thought it’s the perfect-sized track for a Cup race. The other short tracks we run – Bristol and Martinsville – they’re cool in their own right, but there’s a lot of congestion at those two tracks. But at Richmond, it just seems like that extra quarter-mile, and that three-quarter-mile shape, and how wide the groove gets there, allows for good racing. It seems like we have to race ourselves and race the racetrack versus racing each other a lot of times. You do have to race each other, obviously, but there are a lot of times during the race when you have the flexibility to move around on the racetrack and try to find a spot your car likes better than somewhere else. A lot of times on a short track you don’t have the flexibility. You’re more narrowed down with what groove you’re going to be in.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET – 11th IN STANDINGS: “We had a solid finish at Richmond in the spring, and we need another one this weekend. Our cars have been really fast on the short tracks all year. We need to put together a full race and get ourselves into the Chase on Saturday night.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET – 14th IN STANDINGS:
“We’re going with guns loaded ready to do battle. This race is always intense and I expect it to be a pretty crazy night. It’s a little bit different because it’s a short track (compared to last week’s race on the 1.54-mile Atlanta track). I think everybody expects there to be a little more pushing and shoving on the short track. I’ve been saying all along that I think it’s going to come down to the last lap at Richmond – and we’re going to fight all the way down to that last lap.
“Our focus won’t be on what ‘this team’ is doing or what ‘this driver’ is doing. We’re just going to focus on our own program like we always do. We’ll focus on tuning the car, communicating and working the setup the best we possibly can to try to have the fastest race car. I’m not going into the race thinking that we’ve got to finish 12 positions ahead of Kyle (Busch). I’m thinking we have to win.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET – 15th IN STANDINGS: “The biggest thing at Richmond is, it’s pretty high braking, so you have to keep a brake pedal in the car all night. But, like I’ve always said, using that brake pedal is one of the reasons I enjoy short-track racing so much. As a driver, it’s important for me to be smart on the race track and keep my head about me in the Quicken Loans Chevrolet. Track position at Richmond is typically pretty important. It’s hard to make up a lot of ground there. You can go from the back to the front, but it takes a lot of the race to do it. It’s also a place where strategy, as far as getting off-sequence on tires, has potential to make a big difference. So this is a big race where, not only is it important for the driver to be at his best, but the pit crew has to be on top of it all night. We need to maintain and gain positions in the pits.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/MOEN CHEVROLET – 17th IN STANDINGS: “Richmond (International Raceway) is a three-quarter mile short track, but it races like a track much bigger than that. You carry a lot of speed into turn one, you get hard on the brakes and then the groove opens up as you exit turn two and you can run where your car wants to run. You don’t have to stick to the bottom of the race track; you can run the middle and three-quarters of the way up the track.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/ALLSTATE CHEVROLET – 19th IN STANDINGS: “Richmond always seems to be an exciting race. I like racing at Richmond, because you have all the action of Saturday night short-track racing action. We continue to work hard on all facets of our program. It seems like we have been non-stop with racing and testing the last several weeks, but I feel like we are making strides in the right direction. We just need to focus and stay patient while that process evolves and we start seeing the determination payoff with good finishes for our Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – 20th IN STANDINGS: “The thing about Richmond (International Raceway) is that is has narrowed. We used to go there and have multi-groove racing, but not in the last few years. It was better multi-grooved in my opinion. You need that second groove. We just haven’t had it for whatever reason. I’ve asked NASCAR and track officials to go back to the Sawyer family to ask what they used to seal the track because they had a way of creating that second groove. The quality of racing was better with a second groove.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET – 21st IN STANDINGS:
“We should have had a better finish at the spring race in Richmond but 12th wasn’t too bad. We got run over on the last restart and we lost a ton of places. Overall it’s been a pretty good place for us; we normally can qualify pretty well. I think the Target team will be pretty good there. We made a lot of changes in the car lately so I’m pretty encouraged. You just need to keep up with the track changing and keep in mind that when you go at night there is a lot more grip than when we practice during the day.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/FARM AMERICAN CHEVROLET – 23rd IN STANDINGS:
“It looks like it’s going to be an exciting weekend at Richmond with all the Chase scenarios. The fans and television can’t ask for a better script. Though I am not in contention for a Chase spot, I am pumped about the weekend. I will approach the Richmond short track race as if I need to make the Chase. I guess I could play a spoiler role, but my only focus is to run up front in our Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet. After seeing a top-10 slip away in the overtime shootout at Atlanta, I can’t wait to get back in the car and prove that we are capable of knocking off top 10’s on a regular basis.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 51 HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET – 25th IN STANDINGS:
“You know, this has always been a tough place for me. Even with the win there, I still just find it to be one of the more difficult tracks to get a handle on. It’s a short track but it’s pretty unique because, other than the fact that it’s under a mile in length, it really doesn’t compare to a Martinsville or Phoenix. It’s pretty wide whereas, at some of our other short tracks, you are dealing with one-lane racing grooves. It’s almost like a 1.5-mile track that has been packaged into a three-quarter-mile track. It’s a place where you can get caught in the outside lane on restarts but you won’t necessarily fall back 10 or more positions like you would at a Martinsville because, if your car is handling, you are able to maintain position. The last few times we’ve been there, though, the bottom is the place to be. Aside from it being the shortest way around the track, you can get more aggressive on the bottom lane and, if you have to, you can move people to advance your position.”
DAVID REUTIMANN, NO. 10 TMONE CHEVROLET – 36th IN STANDINGS: “We didn’t really have a good run the first time out at Richmond. We ended up coming up with some things throughout the race. We have been really good at making progress at the track, which has improved our program all around. I really like Richmond and its layout. It always has interesting races and is cool to race there at night. We are thrilled to have TMone on board celebrating their sixth listing on the Inc. 5000.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships
Total (1949 – 2011): 35
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 9 twice (1983 – 1991) (2003-2011)
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
Drivers Championships
Total (1949 – 2011): 28
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
Event Victories
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 – (in 2007)
2012 STATISTICS:
Wins: 11
Poles: 7
Laps led: 2716
Top-five finishes: 54
Top-10 finishes: 107
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 698 (1949 – to date); (2,341 possible = 29.8%)
Poles Won to Date: 627
Laps Lead to Date: 207, 818
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,501
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 7,157
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,033
Chevrolet: 698
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 710
Ford: 610
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 464
Dodge: 215
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 46
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
