TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
POCONO RACEWAY
WINDOWS 10 400
AUGUST 2, 2015
CHEVROLET ON A HOT STREAK AT POCONO RACEWAY
Bowtie Brand Looking for Seventh Consecutive Win at the ‘Tricky Triangle’
DETROIT – (July 28, 2015) – Chevrolet is looking to continue a six-race winning streak this weekend at Pocono Raceway. Currently Team Chevy holds the longest active winning streak in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with six consecutive victories at the 2.5-mile track nestled in the Pocono Mountains. Veteran Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon began the six race stretch of wins at the fall race in 2012 held at the track known as the ‘Tricky Triangle’.
Gordon holds the record for most wins by an active driver at the 2.5-mile track with six victories to his credit. This weekend’s race will mark the four-time series champion’s last race at Pocono as a full-time Sprint Cup Series driver.
Chevrolet has been the dominate manufacturer at the ‘Tricky Triangle’ with 31 wins in 75 races held at the uniquely shaped track. The most recent Pocono winner, Martin Truex, Jr. is looking to repeat what Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was able to accomplish in 2014 by sweeping the races at Pocono.
Despite the fact that drivers and teams competed at the 2.5-mile track only 55 short days ago, much has changed since. The series has competed with cars built under rules for two new and very different downforce packages at Kentucky Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This weekend they will be back to the normal 2015 aerodynamics package established at the beginning of the season.
When drivers and teams arrived at Pocono in June, they were met by a severe bump in the ‘Tunnel Turn’. The track has fixed the imperfection in the racing surface and it will be a non-issue for teams this weekend.
With only six races remaining until the Chase cutoff race at Richmond International Raceway, four Team Chevy drivers can rest easy. Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt, Jr. and Kurt Busch have all officially clinched berths to compete in this season’s Chase. Chevrolet SS driver Truex, Jr. will be a Chase competitor as well with a win to his credit. However, Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Kasey Kahne are all on the Chase bubble. They are all currently in contention via their points position, but a win this weekend at Pocono would seal their destiny as Chase contenders and extend Chevrolet’s winning streak to seven at the ‘Tricky Triangle’.
All 43 drivers starting this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway will follow a Chevy SS pace car to the green flag. The Chevrolet SS will pace its sixth race of the season as it leads the field for the start of the Windows 10 400.
As fans wait to take their seats to watch 400 miles of racing at the ‘Tricky Triangle’, Team Chevy has lots happening within the Team Chevy display. The Team Chevy stage will be bustle of activity starting when the display opens on Friday at 9 a.m.
Throughout the weekend fans are encouraged to visit the Team Chevy display to check out the great lineup of Chevrolet cars, trucks and SUVs on exhibit in the midway. Fans can ask questions of their favorite drivers while at the Team Chevy stage. Ray Black, Jr., John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Hemric, Spencer Gallagher, Grant Enfinger, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson will all be on stage visiting with fans throughout the weekend.
The 160-lap/400-mile Windows 10 400 at Pocono Raceway is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday August 2. Live coverage will be available on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), MRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
TEAM CHEVY IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (NSCS) COMPETITION:
· Chevrolet has won 38 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Manufacturers’ Championships
· Team Chevy drivers have scored 749 wins and 675 poles in NSCS competition
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK—POCONO RACEWAY:
Chevrolet drivers have won 31 of 75 races at Pocono Raceway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet SS, has six wins at Pocono Raceway (’96, ’97, ’98, ’07, ’11 & ‘12)
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 KOBALT Tools Chevrolet SS, has three victories at Pocono Raceway (’04 – TWICE & ‘13)
Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, has visited Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway twice (’05 & ‘07)
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 Microsoft Chevrolet SS, has two victories at Pocono Raceway (’14 – TWICE)
Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Aquafina Chevrolet SS, has two wins at Pocono Raceway (’08 & ’13)
Tony Stewart, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, has two trophies from Pocono Raceway (’03 & ‘09)
Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS, has gone to Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway once (’03)
Martin Truex, Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet SS, has earned one Pocono trophy (’15)
A Chevrolet driver has won six of the last six races at Pocono Raceway
A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Pocono Raceway 32 times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 155 top-five and 325 top-10 finishes at Pocono Raceway
A Chevrolet has led 6,350 laps (43.8% of possible 14,469 laps) at Pocono Raceway
TEAM CHEVY FOR THE FANS AT POCONO RACEWAY:
· Fans can check out great Chevrolet vehicles including: Cruze, Malibu, Impala, Corvette Stingray, Equinox, Trax, Silverado HD Duramax Diesel and the 2015 Motor Trend Truck of the Year Colorado complete with accessories
· At the display fans can see a variety of show cars including: Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS and Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS. Fans can see several special edition Chevrolet vehicles will be on display at the Team Chevy display including the production version of the Chevrolet SS, Chevy City Express Van and the Silverado Specialty Edition
Fans can see a sample of engines, parts and accessories in the Team Chevy Display 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 ON THE TEAM CHEVY STAGE:
· Friday July 31st:
o 11:15 a.m. – Ray Black, Jr.
o 12: 00 p.m. – John Hunter Nemechek
o 12:15 p.m. – Daniel Hemric
· Saturday August 1st:
o 8:45 a.m. – Spencer Gallagher
o 11:00 a.m. – Grant Enfinger
· Sunday August 2nd:
o 9:45 a.m. – Jamie McMurray
o 10:00 p.m. – Kyle Larson
· Hours of operation: Fri. July 31st – 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.; Sat. Aug. 1st – 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sun. Aug. 2nd – 7:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
DID YOU KNOW? Chevrolet announced it is investing $5 billion to strengthen its business in global growth markets through the development of an all-new vehicle family that will meet the rapidly changing demands of customers in these markets. By creating one all-new vehicle family to replace several existing vehicles, Chevrolet expects to substantially improve competitiveness and profitability by delivering what customers expect in each market while taking maximum advantage of the benefits of global scale.
ENGINEER EXPERTISE FROM THE GARAGE AREA – ALBA COLON, CHEVROLET RACING PROGRAM MANAGER – NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: “Team Chevy is looking forward to this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway, which is known as ‘The Tricky Triangle’. It’s our second trip this year to a track that it is very beloved by our teams. On our last visit in the month of June, we grabbed both the pole and the race win; and Team Chevy is looking forward to doing the same this time around.
“On our last visit, all the teams struggled with the new bumps in Turn 2 (the tunnel turn). This time around, the track has fixed them, which is great news for everyone. Pocono is an oval track that feels like a road course. Shifting, wide corners, and high speeds lead to potential peril during each lap. Also, this track requires heavier use of the breaks than most big tracks. It not only puts extra wear on the brake components, but also on the engines, gears and transmission, much like a road course. For sure, it makes for a race full of challenges.
“With only six races left to determine this year’s NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup contenders, the intensity at each race is heating up. Drivers and teams are willing to take more risks to get a win that will lock them into a Chase position.
“I am looking forward to some exciting racing and to visiting Victory Lane once again on Sunday at Pocono.”
TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S/BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – POINTS LEADER
“The tunnel turn is difficult just because you try to carry so much speed through there. It’s not an extremely hard corner, but it’s an extremely hard corner to carry speed through there without having the front end push or the back slide out or whatever the case may be. It’s not an extremely hard corner until you try to go through there as fast as you can lap after lap. It’s an easy corner to make a mistake and you can give up a lot of time there, but you can also make a lot of time.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 MICROSOFT CHEVROLET SS – 3RD IN STANDINGS
“You’ve got to be real aggressive on the pit calls and I think that is what is going to put you in position to win. You call this race in reverse, like a road course, and put yourself up front like we did last year. Everything has kind of got to fall in the right place to allow you to make those choices. It worked out great for us last year. We also had a fast car.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – 4TH IN STANDINGS
“Last outing at Pocono we finished third and I got out and my car was torn up. It’s such a unique track, but it suits my driving style and we enjoy going there. We’ve had some work to do the past few races but I can’t say enough about my team – working long hours and giving me fantastic race cars.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS – 5TH IN STANDINGS
“After winning there last month how can you not feel good and upbeat about returning to Pocono? We’re going to have a big target on our back but that’s ok. We’ll use everything we learned last time and more to hopefully achieve a Pocono sweep. Our Furniture Row guys have been working hard to find more speed for this weekend. All the teams are also working harder as we get closer to the Chase. The toughest thing about Pocono is to find the right balance for all three corners. The three unique corners at Pocono are all different and the challenge is to figure out a way to make your car work in each of them. Conditions for this Pocono race will most likely be different, especially with the weather being hotter than in early June.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – 8TH IN STANDINGS
“I love the Tunnel Turn – Turn 2. It seems like it is the easiest place to gain speed and lose speed. Every time that I have won a race there or competed well I had a good car in the Tunnel Turn. It’s a challenge every time you go through there on how much speed can you really carry. Over the years they have changed the shifting pattern for us. Sometimes you shift, sometimes you don’t. So there are always options when you go into the Tunnel Turn.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 LEXAR CHEVROLET SS – 9TH IN STANDINGS
“I think we learned a little bit there during the first race in June. Setup wise, I think it will be close for both races at Pocono. We ran okay at the first race, we were really good on restarts, which is really good to setup for passing. I don’t know if they fixed the bump in turn two or not; that was the hardest challenge, trying to get the car good in all three corners, then on top of that be able to get across that bump in turn two. I personally don’t mind, I thought the bump was good, but certainly the biggest challenge.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AARP MEMBER ADVANTAGES CHEVROLET SS – 11TH IN STANDINGS
“I heard Pocono did a little bit of work to the tunnel turn since we were there last month. It was manageable in June, but I’ll be interested to see what was done, if it’ll be much different and how it might affect the racing.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – 12TH IN STANDINGS
“I feel like we have unfinished business at Pocono Raceway. We left that track back in June with a wrecked car and a finish not indicative to the quality of car we had. We were on pace for a top-five finish before the accident. Now having Luke (crew chief – Lambert) and the guys back with us, I feel confident we can be a contender there. I like our chances this weekend.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 SYLVANIA/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – 13TH IN STANDINGS
“I enjoy going to Pocono Raceway. It’s a challenging and distinctive track. We’re used to having four corners almost every weekend and only having three at Pocono changes things up. All the corners are very unique, so you have to approach each one differently. Pocono also has very long straightaways, so we carry a lot of speed going into the corners. We had a decent Menards Chevrolet earlier in the year, but had some bad luck with several pit road penalties and a tire going down early in the race. Hopefully we have some better luck this weekend. I know Justin (Alexander, crew chief) and the guys will be working hard this week.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 AQUAFINA CHEVROLET SS – 14TH IN STANDINGS
“I think we learned a little bit from the June race. We learned some things not to do and I feel like with the less power and the shifting and how all of that worked, we can take our notes back and understand that a little better going into the race this week. Those notes hopefully will give us a little better balance. It was different this last trip with no power. The bump in the tunnel turn was tough. It was much different than how it had been, it was much bigger. The car moved around quite a bit, so when you were on the throttle or off throttle or where your braking was, things like that really made a difference on how fast you got through that area. The track really changed a lot over the winter. I doubt it will change much from then until now, so I think now it will be a really similar track to what we had in June. There might be a different grip level because of time of the year, but as far as the roughness, it should be exactly the same.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CHEVROLET SS – 19TH IN STANDINGS
“It’s really tough. Off of turn two, there’s a long straightaway. You can gain a lot going through there. Turns one and three are where I like to make sure we’re running well and have a lot of speed. If you can get through turn two, it sets up three very nicely. It’s just one of those places where if you have good balance, it really rewards you.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 SUAVE MEN CHEVROLET SS – 20TH IN STANDINGS
“Pocono is a track where I enjoy racing, and am looking forward to getting back there this weekend. The track has a lot of character, bumps or no bumps, which makes it a fun place to drive. I think racing at Indy the week before is a good warmup for the long straightaways and at least one of the corners at Pocono. We’ve had pretty good finishes there in the Target Chevy, and got the pole at this race last year, so hopefully our good runs can continue.”
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – 21ST IN STANDINGS
“For the second week in a row, the guys at the shop have prepared a brand new race car for us. This weekend at Pocono Raceway, chassis 521 will make its debut as the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS. I always look forward to racing at this track. It’s a unique oval that we get to shift on. We had a pretty decent car there last time and I am very excited to see what we are able to do with our brand new GEICO Chevy on Sunday.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – 22ND IN STANDINGS
“It’s a neat place, definitely a unique track. It’s still a place I don’t have a ton of experience at. It’s just an odd place to set the car up because the corners are so different. If you are really good in turn one, then maybe two and three are a little off. Or if you’re good in three, maybe one and two are different. I will say that the straightaway is enormous. There’s a lot of distance between turns three and one.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 BUSH’S GRILLIN BEANS CHARCOAL CHEVROLET SS – 23RD IN STANDINGS
“Pocono Raceway is a place where track position is critical just like any other place. Hopefully, as the last couple of weeks have went on, we have learned some stuff about our race cars. We have got to make them better for sure. Slowly, we are making progress. Hopefully, we can take that back to Pocono. It is a day that you have to playout through the course of the race and see how it is going. We were kind of early 20s going middle of the race last time and made some good restarts battling inside the top seven or eight there before we had an incident. A yellow flag, a right pit call, a wrong pit call can really change the course of the day and with the wave around rule you are really never out of the race or out of an opportunity of having a good finish. That’s a place you have to dig for 400 miles and get everything you can.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 RUSH TRUCK CENTERS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“Well, all three corners are very different from each other. You have turn one that has a lot of banking in it for a flat track. Turn two is a very short duration and flat corner and then turn three is a very, very, long sweeping flat corner. So there’s a lot going on but every corner on the track is totally different from each other. It’s a big challenge for the crew chiefs to not only try to find a balance, but to also figure out what to do when they’re making changes. They have to figure out the corner they’re trying to fix without messing up the other two corners.”
JUSTIN ALLGAIER, NO. 51 FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES/SWITCH HITCH CHEVROLET SS – 30TH IN STANDINGS
“Pocono [Raceway] has been pretty good to me in the Sprint Cup Series. I’m a fan of non-symmetrical race tracks and Pocono fits right into that category. I know the track has done some work on the Turn 2 bumps. Those bumps were a big challenge for the teams at the race earlier this year.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships
Total (1949 – 2014): 38
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 12 (2003-2014)
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
Drivers Championships
Total (1949 – 2014): 30
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
Event Victories
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 – (in 2007)
2015 STATISTICS:
Wins: 11
Poles: 9
Laps led: 3620
Top-five finishes: 60
Top-10 finishes: 124
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 749 (1949 – to date); (2,437 possible = 30.0%)
Poles Won to Date: 675
Laps Lead to Date: 223,431
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,769
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 7,700
Total NASCAR Cup wins by Corporation, 1949 – To-Date
GM: 1,084
Chevrolet: 749
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 734
Ford: 634
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Chrysler: 466
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 72
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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.
