NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

GATORADE DUEL RACE #2

DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

February 17, 2011

Jeff Burton Wins Gatorade Duel at Daytona Race No. 2

Daytona Beach, Fla (February 17, 2011) – Jeff Burton powered his No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet to the win in the Gatorade Duel at Daytona race No. 2. After working the entire 60-laps in tandem with his teammate Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, the pair thrilled the crowd with a drag race to the start/finish line. Burton scored the victory by 0.005 seconds over Bowyer.

With the win, Burton will start the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 in the fourth starting position.

A total of 17 Team Chevy drivers will start Sunday’s Great American Race. Dale Earnhardt, Jr, No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet is the pole sitter but will drop to the rear of the field on the final pace lap as a result of going to a backup car. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, will start on the outside of row one.

Regan Smith, No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, will start fifth with Bowyer alongside in the sixth starting position.

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, will roll-off seventh to give Team Chevy six of the top-10 starters.

Other Chevrolet starters are: Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet – 13th; Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet – 14th; Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet – 17th; Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Peak Chevrolet – 19th; Ryan Newman, No. 39 US Army Chevrolet – 21st; No. 48 Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet – 23rd; Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet – 25th; Bill Elliott, No. 09 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet – 29th; J.J. Yeley, No. 46 Red Line Oil Chevrolet – 33rd; Andy Lally, No. 71 Super Eco-Fuel Saver Chevrolet – 37th and Dave Blaney, No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet.

FOX TV, MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio will bring fans all the live action when the green flag flies at 1:00 ET on Sunday.

JEFF BURTON AND TODD BERRIER, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET

RICHARD CHILDRESS, OWNER, RCR RACING

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

KERRY THARP: Our race winner for the second Gatorade Duel, leading into the 53rd running of the Daytona 500, is Jeff Burton, for Richard Childress Racing. He’s joined up front right now by his team owner Richard Childress.

Jeff, your first Speedweeks win at Daytona, second time in Victory Lane at Daytona, but this Caterpillar car has been here in Victory Lane before for the 500. Your thoughts leading into your first crack at winning that big trophy on Sunday?

JEFF BURTON: We have to keep in perspective that this is not the Daytona 500, it’s great to be in Victory Lane, real proud of that. Last year obviously was very influencing toward the end of the year. Kept ourselves in position to win races but never made it happen. Put ourselves in position, I thought we were in great shape to win the other night, but to win tonight means a great deal. That’s what drove us nuts last year. It’s good to get that off our back and prove to ourselves we can do it. Looking forward to this year.

I think obviously the Daytona 500 is the first hurdle. There’s the Daytona 500, a championship, two biggest things on my list I want to get done. Hopefully we’re just one step closer to that.

KERRY THARP: Richard Childress, congratulations. Your thoughts about looking ahead to Sunday’s running. Got to be pleased today with the performance of the 31 car.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: Yeah, I am. All of our cars performed well. It came down to having the right teammate with him pushing. He was really proud of Jeff and Clint, how they worked together. Came down to that last lap. Clint made a move. That’s what he was supposed to do. We were able to win it. I knew one of them won it, I couldn’t tell at that time.

But it’s really neat. Our guys and everyone at the shop has worked so hard this winter to put a package together to come here and perform, not only here but everywhere. Glad to have Jeff in the Winner’s Circle and couldn’t be happier for him.

KERRY THARP: Questions.

Q. Richard, I don’t think any of the leaders took tires in either Duel. On Sunday are you going to change tires at all or just once?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I’m sure we’ll change tires at some point. Right now, the tires look great all day long for 150 miler. I’m sure Todd Berrier could answer that better than me. I think you’ll not see a lot of tires being changed.

Q. 150 miles today, 500 on Sunday. Are there any concerns for engine wear? Do you think we’ll see a lot of blown engines? What do you think the mechanical issues are going to be?

JEFF BURTON: I’m just a driver.

KERRY THARP: Todd, any insight on that?

TODD BERRIER: I feel pretty comfortable about the package that we’re running now, the temps we’re running now. I think you can overdo it. At the end of the day, we’re all smart enough to know it’s a long race and you have to be there at the end to be in a position to win it.

Q. Jeff, how much more deliberate in this style of racing can you be about picking a teammate, finding a guy to work with, than you could in the big pack drafting?

JEFF BURTON: You know, it’s an advantage to have a teammate, there’s no question about it. Everybody can see that. The difficult part is getting with a teammate.

We worked diligently today to make sure we were with a teammate. There’s no question about that. We tried very hard to be with Clint. Everywhere he went, I went. Everywhere I went, he went. Todd said it best, it’s a shame there wasn’t room in Victory Lane for both cars.

It doesn’t always work out. You can have everything lined up and get a restart. Now you’re side by side instead of front to back. You can try to get in front of each other, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to work out, like happened to Kevin and I on Saturday night.

It’s important. Everybody is going to try really hard to be with a teammate, but there’s times it’s not going to work out. You’re going to have to go and make it work with someone that is willing to work with you as hard as a guy that is your teammate.

Q. Is it fair to think of Kurt Busch as a favorite for the Daytona 500 or nobody has separated themselves yet?

JEFF BURTON: Hell, I just thought we won.

You know, I don’t know how you would call anybody a favorite. I mean, nothing against what Kurt has done. He’s won the two he’s been in. But looks to me like the Roush guys have their package, their cooling package. Probably they’re ahead of the game on everybody. I wouldn’t turn my head on them because it seems to me they could push longer than anybody else.

I thought that could have been an advantage for them. But, listen, there’s a lot of quality teams and drivers. There’s a lot of people like Todd that are staying up till 2:00 in the morning thinking about how to make this thing work. I don’t know who you would call a favorite.

Q. You seemed to be a little upset about the rule changes the other day. Are you satisfied with the package you have now in terms of RPM cooling, the plate size? Do you expect more changes before the 500?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: Anything’s possible. I don’t think they’ll make any more changes. You know, yeah, I was a little disappointed in some of the changes because not just us, but a lot of teams had spent a lot of money from our tests down here to come and put a cooling package together, engine packages and everything.

But that’s the way it goes. We’ve been through this for many years in the past. It’s just another Daytona 500. Hats off to NASCAR because they had to do something. We can’t run 205, 204 miles an hour. I told Mike Helton this morning I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes making his decisions. They’re doing the best they can. Everybody’s not going to be happy. I wasn’t happy. Somebody else is happy. They’re doing a great job with what they’re doing there.

Q. Jeff, can you talk a little bit about the side drafting. I know your spotter told you at one point the 99 was coming up beside you, taking air off you. Can you talk about that sensation and will it be a strategy on Sunday?

JEFF BURTON: I think we’re all learning as we go. I thought that Saturday night Kevin and I got on it pretty quickly and learned a lot really quickly. As the week has gone on, every practice, every race, we just keep getting smarter and learning more.

Certainly I saw more side drafting today in the race than I’ve seen in the Shootout. I think that’s just an example of learning. I mean, we’ve done this tandem thing before, but never with this much. So we’re all learning a lot and we’re learning quickly. If you’re not learning, you’re going to be left behind because it is a different kind of an art to make this happen.

Q. Jeff, you talked a little about you’ve done it a little before. Is there any way you can put into laymen’s terms what you thought of this lengthy two car tandem around this Superspeedway?

JEFF BURTON: Well, when it’s just two of you and there’s nothing going on, it’s not all that hard. You can be more effective if you’re doing it right than if you’re not doing it right. There’s no question about that.

On the other hand, when stuff starts happening, it starts happening quick. The wrecks we saw today, several of them were just because you get such a big run, sometimes there’s nowhere to go. The guy that’s leading the tandem, he can see it, but the guy behind him can’t see it. You can drag the brakes, do whatever you want, but when there’s 3,500 pounds pushing you, you’re not going a slow it down all that quickly. You can get into stuff that you didn’t mean to get into.

It’s very hard. You got to really be looking ahead. You got to really be thinking about where am I going to go, when am I going to go there. I know one time, I was on the radio, I said, I’m going in the middle. Okay, go in the middle. Got to stop, got to stop. Okay, go. It was all in one second. Happening quicker than I could explain it.

When you’re catching somebody five miles an hour faster than they’re running, they’re side by side, there’s times there’s not going to be anywhere to go. It’s harder than you think.

Q. Jeff, I’m still trying to figure out how this is going to work with 43 cars.

JEFF BURTON: Me, too (smiling).

Q. Are we going to see the big one?

JEFF BURTON: Oh, yeah.

Q. It used to be a crapshoot of whoever survives till the end. But now it seems whoever is in that tandem from the start is going to be there.

JEFF BURTON: You want me to tell you what’s going to happen?

Q. Yes.

JEFF BURTON: We’re going to have about 400 miles of some stuff happening, and we’re going to have 100 miles of more stuff happening than you can keep up. We’re going to have six or seven cautions in the last 100 miles. A short race till the end of the checkered. That’s what’s going to happen.

It’s my prediction it will be the same Daytona 500 we’ve had the last six or seven Daytona 500s. It’s going to be different getting up to that point. But when somebody has a chance to take the Daytona 500 trophy home, you do things that you weren’t going to do 100 laps before that. It’s the same thing every time we come down here.

I can almost guarantee you that’s the way the Daytona 500’s going to break. We could have some crazy thing where it doesn’t happen like that. But I can almost guarantee you, that’s what’s going to happen.

Q. Even though you have built this super team, championship caliber, I know you probably both remember to when you had to stretch pennies and you dreamed of the Daytona 500. When you have a story today like Brian Keselowski getting pushed into this race by his brother, what would that have been like for you when you were stretching pennies?

JEFF BURTON: I get really frustrated and perturbed and upset when I hear people say our sport doesn’t have personality, there’s no personalities in our sport. They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Things like that are what our sport’s about. Our sport’s about passion, it’s about desire, it’s about staying up till 4:00 in the morning worrying about what’s going to happen. It’s about having dirt underneath your fingernails working.

The man sitting next to me, there’s no one in the garage that’s worked harder, there’s no one in the business that’s worked harder than him to get to where he is. There’s a lot of people that say, Look at him, he’s got this, that. Okay, you work 20 hours a day. You take the risk, do all the things he did to get to where he is. People don’t understand that.

That’s what our sport is about. If you look at the drivers, the car owners, the crew chiefs, the guys changing tires, there’s people that had a dream and busted their ass to make it happen. It’s for every sport, for every business. But it’s what separates and makes our sport special, is it takes heart, it takes desire, and it’s passion.

That’s when people say there’s no personalities, there’s none of that, man, come to the race, pay attention, you know.

Q. In a general way, what do you think of the new surface? How does it affect the way you race?

JEFF BURTON: Well, obviously the new surface has allowed us to do what we were doing at Talladega. The crew chiefs and the people with the teams saw what we did at Talladega and they all had a plan coming down here to do this tandem thing. We saw what it took to win Talladega. So the surface has allowed us to do that.

The old surface, you couldn’t do that, because you couldn’t have somebody touching you. You would have spun out. There just wasn’t enough grip. The new surface has allowed us to do the things we were trying to do at Talladega. The teams, the technology has allowed us to come down here and do it, too. Those two things together has had a major impact on the kind of racing we’re seeing.

Q. Jeff, can you go through that last half mile? How long did it take you to realize that you had won?

JEFF BURTON: Clint told me we won (laughter). I said, Good job, Clint. I don’t know who won, but it was you know, thanks for working with me. He said, Oh, I think you won.

Q. You didn’t know?

JEFF BURTON: Typically he’s wrong, so I was assuming that he won (smiling).

Q. It’s been a little while since you won. People like to say, These races don’t count. A trophy is a trophy. What is it like to be back in Victory Lane?

JEFF BURTON: Well, I mean, it does count. It doesn’t count as much as it will on Sunday or it will next Sunday. There’s no denying that. We’ll keep that in perspective. I’m pretty sure everybody out there was trying to win as hard as we were. I’m not trying to downplay it. At the same time, we understand that this is a qualifying race, it’s not the 500.

You know, I think it’s pretty clear the way our year went in the Chase, we became very frustrated. We did not conduct ourselves the way that we’re used to conducting ourselves. A lot of that was frustration. Looking back on that, a lot of that was frustration. To be in the position we were in over and over and over. Richard kept telling me, Don’t worry about it, you’re going to win a lot of races. You didn’t deserve to win. After this year, it’s going to get paid back to you. Over time it wore on me and I didn’t do a good job of responding to that. I’m disappointed in myself for doing that.

At the same time, to put ourselves in position to win the first two events, then to close one of them off, means a great deal to us as a team because, you know, we did do it. I never thought we couldn’t do it, but we weren’t doing it. It does feel good to get it done.

Q. How important, considering the significance especially to your team of this weekend, is a win like today? How important would a win for you or any of the teams, especially you, Jeff, since it’s been a while since you won a points race, how important is that, especially this weekend?

JEFF BURTON: We have to win. Our team’s about winning. You know, Richard makes it really clear to us in his actions and in his words, we’re here to win. That’s what we have to do.

You know, we put all our cars in position to do really well the first two events. You know, 31 in particular. We had a luncheon before the year kicked off. There was a video of all the wins. The 31 wasn’t in that video. That’s enough to piss you off, to be quite honest.

You know, it’s important for us to win, it’s important for our sponsors, it’s important for Caterpillar, it’s important for Chevrolet, all of our sponsors. It’s important. That’s why we wake up in the morning, to be part of a winning race team.

Q. Jeff, when the race ended on the cool down lap, your spotter came over and said, I don’t know if I can do this for 500 miles on Sunday. How concerned are you for the spotters lasting for up to four hours?

JEFF BURTON: He’s all right. He’s going to get some rest between now and then. That was our second event together. You know, he did a phenomenal job today. I was really impressed with the job he did. He really, really, really proved his merit today.

It’s going to be hard. But you know what, it’s plate racing, it’s always hard. It’s hard no matter what. He stepped up to the plate, figured out really, really quickly that he had to be spotting for two cars. He really did a great job.

I’m real proud of him. But, you know, we race 500 miles. That’s what our jobs are. He’ll be fine.

KERRY THARP: Richard, Jeff, congratulations and good luck on Sunday with the Daytona 500.

DAVE BLANEY, NO. 36 TOMMY BALDWIN RACING CHEVROLET –

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

KERRY THARP: Dave Blaney got in based upon last Sunday’s qualifying time. Congratulations.

KERRY THARP: Dave Blaney, talk about your racecar, your team, your chances on Sunday and being able to get in there on your qualifying time, had to feel good.

DAVE BLANEY: It did. Came down to the last second for us. We didn’t have a good enough time to lock in, but it was something to fall back on. We didn’t get it done. We didn’t finish in our top two. We lost a drafts partner, kind of were stuck. But then Michael finishing top two in the other one saved us last minute. That was pretty brutal to sit there and watch and hope something good happens to you, but that’s what we had to do today.

KERRY THARP: Questions.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the side drafting. They said when the cars got up front, other guys side drafting could take the air off of you and almost pull you back.

DAVE BLANEY: I saw a couple guys, like if one pack was trying to pass the lead pack, they got right down to the right door of the pusher in the first pack, they could separate the cars a little bit. That’s all it took for that pack to keep going.

There was some of that. I don’t think guys showed it too much today. I think you’ll see more of it Sunday.

DAVE BLANEY: All the guys in the garage know what Brian (Keselowski) has to work with. It’s not much. To come down here and make this race, I don’t care how you make it; to make this race is awesome. It’s something you’ll never forget.

KERRY THARP: Congratulations.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

Note: Team Chevy press releases, high-resolution images, and media kit can be downloaded from the Team Chevy media website:

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TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes Gatorade Duel 150s Race #2 — February 17, 2011

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 15 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 3rd How much fun did you have running in today’s Duel race? “It was real fun to race up near the front mixing it up with Clint (Bowyer) and Kyle (Busch). I’ve got to explain to Clint that I’m a little old. I couldn’t quite see whether I was clear of him or not yet. So, I got in him a little bit, but he seemed to keep going in a good direction and it worked out for all of us up in the front. I drug the brake a little bit for a lap or two. I could’ve got up beside Clint and those boys, but I didn’t know what to do. I thought maybe on the last lap that I would make that run and then they just squirted away a little bit too much.”

How excited are you to be racing in your 25th Daytona 500 on Sunday? “A quarter of a century of running this race — I don’t take that lightly. I never took for granted running one of them let alone 25 of them. It’s quite an honor to not only be in it, but it looks like we can be a part of the show. The car was really fast and it handled great. The end went really well. I feel good about our car — I really do. And we’ve got more power coming — that’s a great feeling too.”

What do you think about the racing on the new surface? “I raced here when you ran 207 (mph) and you had to run in a line and you couldn’t get near anyone. Then I raced here when you ran 180 (mph) and you’re on top of each other. Now, we have a variation of the two. We’re in line, but we’re all over one another and it’s crazy. From the drivers seat I don’t know if it’s ever been any wilder. It’s just different, but we sure do make it entertaining with the run to the checkered. I’ll tell you that.”

What do you expect for Sunday’s Daytona 500? “We know what it’s going to look like now. Everybody has been hung up on this I don’t know, I don’t know stuff. And, we know now what it’s going to look like. It’s going to look like cars pairing up and fighting toward the front. Just like the move Kyle (Busch) made at the end to give me the spots so he could push — that was smart. You need partners and you need teammates. I have three teammates so maybe that means we’ll be two pair.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 4th What were you able to take away from today’s Duel? “You try to find partners and work with people. When it comes down to crunch time, sometimes your cars don’t work together anymore. (Jamie) McMurray and I — we had a great, strong run there the whole beginning part of the race for about 15 laps or so. Then we just couldn’t get it there at the end. Denny (Hamlin) and I — we had a hard time hooking up today unfortunately. When we’re in practice it’s fine, it’s easy, it’s simple. There when you have everybody mixing it up and getting around each other, the side draft just screws the air up so bad that it’s hard to get locked up again. I don’t know what I learned. You just have to get in the right position and it’s a lot of technique and getting things to where you’re not looking so far ahead in your windshield, you’re more looking in your mirror. When you can back up to that guy and get locked up and take the time to do that and then go you’re a lot better off than thinking, ‘I’m locked up — let’s go.’ Then you fall apart. It just doesn’t happen.”

How difficult it is to remain patient in this type of racing? “Very difficult. The biggest patience though is when you’re trying to get locked up with somebody. You’re watching out your windshield and you’re watching those guys just drive away or people blow by you and you’re like, ‘Man, I want to go, I want to go, I want to go.’ You have to take the time and be patient to get locked up with that guy behind you and then go forward. It happened to me and Jamie McMurray a couple times. Then Denny (Hamlin) and I had a hard time getting hooked up there at the end of the race. Fortunately, there Michael (Waltrip) and I, we got hooked up and just stayed glued to each other and knew that was going to be our only shot to finish up front. Great team effort by all the guys on this Joe Gibbs Racing M&M’s Toyota. Just good to come back here, have a strong run today and get a good fourth-place finish. We’ll start the Daytona 500 and see what chaos can happen on Sunday.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) How can you apply what you learned today to the Daytona 500? “It’s everything in a nutshell. It’s so hard to determine what all you learn or what all you see. There’s so many different things going on that it just makes it crazy. Overall, I felt really good about our day and our performance. Our car was really good and we worked a lot with a lot of good cars too. There at the end of the race when things got more mixed up, discombobulated or whatever you want to say, it seemed to screw up people getting locked up together. We couldn’t get together as easy as you could in the beginning part of the race when there was less cars around you. The turbulence was definitely a big deal, but felt really good. Overall, a good day today to get back to kind of how I would like to see Speedweeks go rather than what happened in the Budweiser Shootout. We’ll see what happens on Sunday.”

Was there a combination of styles of racing today? “I got behind there at one point and I was like, ‘We are going to have a hard time catching back up.’ Then Denny (Hamlin) and I, we kept chipping away and chipping away and finally got back towards it a little bit. Then we got separated again with whoever we passed and we kind of swapped partners there and then the caution came out. It’s just weird, it’s wild. Your spotters are probably doing way more work than you are so it’s going to be a real big spotter’s game on Sunday. Those guys are going to be tired.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 8th How are you dealing with your results of Speedweeks? “I have to have a sense of humor I’ve learned this weekend. What’s so crazy is the fact that we were spun out and three laps later we go from dead last to second or something like that. This has been an amazing ride and hopefully our weekend is steadily improving. We finally did finish. No black flags or anything like that and we ended up eighth. Starting in the back — it was just amazing to see how this thing works. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens from this day forward.”

What do you feel you need to work on for the Daytona 500? “I feel like we need to work on cooling. We have to get that a little bit better. This kind of racing that we’re going to have — it’s just going to be interesting to see if this is the type of racing we will have throughout the 500. With more cars out there, the pack is going to run a faster speed. That two-car draft is just so dominant right now that it’s kind of taken over Speedweeks.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 9th How important was it for you to pair up with a partner in today’s race? “That’s the only thing that matters is having a partner. A dance partner — we’ve been talking about all week. If you don’t have somebody you’re really just done. You can’t run. We had a good thing working with the 11 (Denny Hamlin) for the first part of the race and then we got separated and he got with the 18 (Kyle Busch) and I was left out by myself until that caution. Then after the caution I was able to get up through there on a restart and kind of back myself up in front of David (Reutimann). I kind of found David, got in front of him and just backed up to him. Just backed into him and then he started shoving and we stayed together the rest of the day. It’s just your friends are where you find them, I guess.”

How important will it be to have another partner in the Daytona 500 with your team owner Michael Waltrip? “It will be better to race because we’ll have four cars. We were an odd number there, which is difficult because at some point one of the guys is going to get left out, trying to find another partner. That’s where the hard part is. When Denny (Hamlin) and I got separated the first time he went and found Kyle (Busch) and Joey (Logano) was out of the race so they had two team cars. They got together and I was like, ‘Okay, Michael (Waltrip) and David (Reutimann) are working together,’ And, I’m like, ‘I’m screwed. Who is going to work with me?’ I was able to snake my way up through there on one of those restarts. Then I got in front of David and then he did an awesome job the rest of the way sticking on me. We made a couple runs to the front to the lead, we just didn’t have it timed right. We just got here a little bit too early and at the end they came back and caught us again.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing (continued) Were there any differences with the changes that NASCAR made? “You can’t push the guys long, but it’s not a whole lot different. I still think we’ll see some changes coming — that’s just my opinion. Maybe, maybe not. I’ll tell you one thing, when you get all 43 of them out there it’s going to be nuts because it was nuts with 15 or something racing there at the end. The guy behind you is pushing and he don’t know when he should lift, when he shouldn’t lift. The problem is if he lifts then he gets off you everybody blows by you. He doesn’t want to lift and that puts you in a bad position because you are getting pushed and you’ve got to find a hole to get through once you get there. It’s crazy.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 11th Did you notice any changes to the car with the new rule changes? “Other than they get hotter quicker. They feel more sluggish coming up to speed on the start. You are still running pretty quick and it’s hard to tell the difference from 205 (mph) to 189 (mph) — it’s just hard to tell the difference. The motors just get hotter quicker because of the grill opening being so small now.”

How happy were you to know that Michael Waltrip made it into the Daytona 500? “We were thrilled with that before the race even started. It was a big relief for everyone in the organization to be able to get Michael (Waltrip) in and to know he’s going to be in the 500 on Sunday. That is a big deal for everyone involved. Thankfully, we didn’t have to try to put that into effect during the race.”

DERRIKE COPE, No. 64 Sta-Bil Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 14th

TODD BODINE, No. 60 Tire Kingdom/Valvoline Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 21st What happened to take you out of the race? “Steven (Wallace) hooked me. It’s just the nature of the beast of this stupid racing. This is totally ridiculous. This isn’t racing. Take the front bumpers out of it so nobody can hit each other and you’ll have good racing. I feel sorry for the fans. One pack catches the next, you pass them and you have to switch — you go back. It looks pretty cool, but it’s ridiculous. This ain’t racing.”

STEVE WALLACE, No. 77 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 22nd

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 23rd What happened to take you out of the race? “It was really no ones fault there. I just had a run on Kyle (Busch) there and really nowhere to go. The cars underneath just broke up and they were trying to reattach, but they had no speed. I just checked up a little bit. It wasn’t Michael’s (Waltrip) fault, we just got shoved around. It’s just a product of the racing we’re having right now. Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield. Today I was the bug so that’s not good. Wrong place, wrong time.”

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 24th

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

2011 DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS

DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

DUEL AT DAYTONA NOTES AND QUOTES – DUEL NO. 2

February 17, 2011

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, WINNER OF DUEL NO. 2: YOU AND CLINT BOWYER HAD A PLAN, YOU WORKED TOGETHER, YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN STRONG SINCE YOU’VE UNLOADED.: “It’s a shame two cars can’t fit in here you know. With the way this thing is going its really important to have somebody to work with you. Clint and I decided we were just going to find each other early and it worked otu well for both of us. I didn’t know who won but it was a good race.”

YOUR KIDS ARE STICKY NOW. “That’s good, now I know where they are. For us, this was a great start. What went on with the Cat team last year was really frustrating. To run as well as we did the other night and run as well as we did tonight and get in Victory Lane is a great deal. Cat deserves this, Chevrolet, SKF, Menards, everybody involved in this deal. The Sprint Cup Series is going to be strong this year and we’re looking forward to it.”

DID YOU KNOW HOW CLOSE IT WAS WHEN CLINT STEPPED OUT AT THE START/FINISH LINE? “He did exactly what he was supposed to do. He is a shame two cars can’t fit in here honestly. There ought to be two cars in this victory lane today. He knew I was going to stay on the bottom and I knew he was going to shoot on the outside. It is amazing how much it dragged my car down. But, we worked really well together. He pushed me really well, I pushed him really well. We just got really committed. Where ever he went, I went, where ever I went, he went. That is the same thing we had the other night. All of us are really committed to working well together and being the best teammates we can possibly be. It is a shame there is not room enough in here for two. This is a good start for us after last year as frustrating as it for the Cat team to get in victory lane early. I know it’s not a point-paying race, but none-the-less we are here and feel real good about it.”

ON SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT, YOU RAN BETTER WITH KEVIN HARVICK THAN CLINT, WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE TODAY? “I think we all learned a lot on Saturday night. There were some things I didn’t do very well on Saturday. I think there were some things that all of us have been finding our skills a little bit as this week as gone on. I learned how to be pushed a little better and I learned how to push a little better and I think all of us did. We all talked a lot about what we did well and what we didn’t do well. There were times today that I made a few mistakes and got us in trouble. It is just a matter of going back and really paying attention. The small mistakes make a big different here. I made a few mistakes here today and got by with them.”

WHEN WE PUT 43 CARS OUT THERE WITH ALL THE TOP CARS TOGETHER, WILL IT GET PUNCHED UP A LITTLE BIT MORE? “I think it is going to be a real wild race. This is not going to be a stereotypical Talladega four-wide the entire race. What you are going to see when the field gets full of quality teams, you have to remember at the end of the Shootout last week, there was only 12 cars really in the race at the end. There were a lot of cars that fell out. We are going to have a lot more cars going for the 500 win and it is going to be wild. You get such a big run and there is nowhere to go. Sometimes it is just plain and simple nowhere to go. It is hard to find a hole. This one time I almost led into a wreck. It is really really hard. It doesn’t look very hard on TV, but it is really hard to do.

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: ON THE RACE AND PUSHING JEFF BURTON TO THE WIN: “It was fun to push my teammate to the win. We worked together a lot and used teamwork. That is what it is all about. The ECR engines worked well. That second Duel was definitely a lot more intense than the first one. I watched that first one and about fell asleep on the couch. Second one kept me up a little bit.”

HOW MUCH DIFFERENT WERE THE CARS THAN THEY WERE ON SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT? “Just more of the same. It is interesting though. As a race car driver, you are watching that first one trying to figure it out, you know the sandbox you are playing in now and now you have to try and figure out how to make the best of it.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN TO CARRY OVER TO SUNDAY’S 500? “I don’t know. Learned a lot of things. I don’t know if there will be another rule change but everybody is trying. We want this to be the best Daytona 500 ever. Certainly spent a ton of money trying to make sure that it was. It was fun out there. Obviously you always want to win but the way they were making those runs there at the end and the caution kind of caught me off guard, I probably should have made my move a little bit earlier, but certainly this isn’t the one you want to win.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: ON THE RACE: “We had a really good car out there. We struggled when we came into the pits to get fuel and that got us in the back. A partner is more important than ever. You just have to really commit with somebody when they have their restarts. You kind of make deals with everybody but if you don’t restart near that guy or the other guys doesn’t work with you, I lost the draft and we were going to get lapped. Fortunately the caution came out and our race turned around there. Our car is really fast. I feel like we have really good speed. It pushes well and that has always been important, but it is more important more than ever now that you can push and not get hot. I think we have both of those. But, Sunday will be different when we get all [43] cars out there and all the good cars in one race. It is different if half good and half bad, it will be different.”

IT LOOKS REALLY INTENSE OUT THERE, WHAT IS IT GOING TO BE FOR 500 MILES? “It is way more fun than what Talladega and Daytona has ever been. It is different and it used to be, especially at Talladega, kind of a boring race for the drivers for a little bit. But now every lap is intense but it is actually a lot of fun.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET – FINISHED 12TH

WHAT HAPPENED THERE AT THE END? “I just could not get going on the restarts. I really had a blast working with Trevor Bayne. He’s a good kid. He’s a heck of a race car driver. They’ve got a fast race car. We just couldn’t get going on the restarts though. I’m not sure why we couldn’t get that momentum. So we lost a lot of spots on every restart and then once we got going, we were fast; real fast. There at the end, we lost so many spots we were just trying to make up a few. A couple of guys looked like they lost momentum and got disconnected and I had to go three-wide around them. It’s a vulnerable spot. We’ve already seen that in practice at the some other races and it turned me. And when it did, I was lucky that we didn’t have worse damage than we did. But I got in the wall. So, we’ll have to see if we can fix it. I was just thrilled with the car and thrilled with the team. I thought everything was going really, really good with the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. Unfortunately it didn’t end very well and we’ll just go to work and see what we have to do for the 500.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE RACING THAT’S GOING ON OUT THERE? “Really intense. It’s actually really fun from inside the car once you get going under green and it gets spread out a little bit and you’re just racing with four or six other guys. Those restarts are not a lot of fun. But no restart at Daytona or Talladega is a whole lot of fun. But once you get going, I think it’s pretty cool. Trying to figure out how to pass a guy and looking at your temps and trying to find a partner. There is a lot of strategy involved. You’ve got to drive the car, because it’s not easy. And we’re seeing some great finishes. I don’t know. It is kind of what it is and we’ve got to try to figure out how we’re going to get through 500 miles of it.”

ARE YOU FINE WITH IT, OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THEM MAKE A CHANGE OF SOME SORT? “I don’t think there are any changes that need to be made or can be made. Am I fine with it? It’s not what I prefer. I prefer to go back and race like we did in 2005 (laughs). But you know that’s not going to happen. But I think NASCAR has done pretty much all that they can do, but maybe they’ll do more. I don’t know. I just want to go race and I think we’ve got a fast race car. We’ve just got to get hooked up with the right guys and see what we can do from there.”

HOW MUCH DAMAGE IS THERE? “I don’t know. They’ll look at it. That right-front fender has got me concerned. We’ll go from there.”

Note: Team Chevy press releases, high-resolution images, and media kit can be downloaded from the Team Chevy media website:

About Chevrolet: Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com ce5&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chevrolet.com%2f> .

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Gatorade Duel 150 – Race #2, Page 2 February 17, 2011 Daytona International Speedway

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion (Finished 19th) – YOU HAD TO BE HAPPY WITH THE FIRST 59.5 LAPS. “Yeah, I really was. Gordon and I worked awesome together and it was just down there at the end. Everybody is racing like it’s the last lap of the big race, so when we got down to it we were three-wide at the end with a big run and I think we just ran out of real estate there and he came off the wall and got us. That kind of stinks. I hate it for all these guys because we were doing awesome, but that’s part of it, I guess. We knew when we were passing those guys three-wide on the outside we were gonna be in trouble, but that’s racing. We’ll get there.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN? “I learned a lot. I learned how to keep it cool and when I could duck out. We learned a lot about unplugging the other guys, but I think it’s more the leaders – the leader kind of controls your group. The pusher is just the engine and keeping it cool. That’s his only duties, but also on restarts getting to him as quick as possible, but the leader’s duties are to make sure you protect the high side, so you don’t get unplugged – as we call it – and then unplugging the other guys, putting his left-front on the right-rear of the back guy and unplugging them so you can get around them. But I think it was awesome for our first one until the very end, so I think we’ll get it.”

YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY THAT JEFF GORDON WAS YOUR BOYHOOD HERO AND HERE YOU WERE PUSHING HIM ALL DAY. “I know. It’s crazy. We were running up front and leading the race for a while. That’s awesome for him to have that kind of faith in me to let me work with him because that takes a lot for these guys when they’ve got 20 other guys out here that they’ve been racing with their whole life – to say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take a chance with this kid, let him push me and see what we can get to.'”

NOW YOU HAVE TO START FROM THE BACK. “I think Jeff Gordon is starting in the back with us, so we’ll just work together again and wear them out.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion (Finished 10th) – “I worked really well with Greg and we did great. We got split up at just the wrong time. We fell back and then the caution came out and mixed us all up, but I feel like we’ve got something for the 500. If we work with these other Fords, it’s gonna be really good.”

DO YOU FEEL THE FORD FR9 ENGINE IS AN ADVANTAGE? YOU DON’T SEEM TO HAVE TO SWAP WITH THE CAR YOU’RE PUSHING? “It feels like the FR9 is working really well. The cooling system works well and I think we’re gonna be good. I think for the 500 it’s gonna be an all-day, whose car can last longest, whose engine is the strongest and which drivers can work together the best. I think that’s gonna win it and I feel like we’ve got a good enough team to do that.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Finished 15th) – “It was about the same as the Bud Shootout. We had to split the guy in front of us a little bit, which slows us down. It was kind of the same. Maybe it will be a little different when we get some more cars out there. I think when we add more cars on Sunday it will draw bigger groups forward. We will just have to wait and see how it all turns out.”

YOU GUYS SEEM TO BE ABLE TO DRAFT LONGER THAN MOST, IS THAT ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE FR9 ENGINE? – “It could be the engine, or the way we have our grille opening, although most everybody has that set the same. I don’t know what that contributes to. I think we are definitely cooling better. Maybe we spent more time on the engineering of it, I am not sure. I know that it is definitely an advantage to be cooler longer, so that is a good thing.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 20th) – “We were just riding there and someone clipped me in the right rear. I think the 24 got me, but we’ll have to look at a replay. It’s just a shame to run the whole race like that and get wrecked at the end and it’s not even a points-paying race. Our car was fine, but it all just depends on who is pushing. It’s kind of a difficult way to go out there and race, in my opinion, but our backup car is gonna be great. We’ll be fine. A car that’s a second off can be fast if the right person is pushing, so we have no worries for the 500. We’ll be fine.”

TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion (Finished 13th) – “That was my first chance at racing with this two-car draft, so it was really different. It is a way different kind of racing. It is critical that you get locked up with two drivers. If you don’t, you lose the draft and are a lap down in no time. You have to be aggressive and get with a partner and just lock on. If you don’t do that, you are in trouble.”

TRAVIS KVAPIL PRESS CONFERENCE – HOW DOES IT FEEL TO KNOW YOU ARE IN THE DAYTONA 500? “It feels great. This team, last fall, we missed Talladega, getting in on speed. We worked really hard in the winter getting some better equipment and got the new FR9 Ford engine. Bob Jenkins and everybody have made good investments over the winter time to get us better equipment. It paid off for us. It is great for our team. Our three cars are locked in the field, so we are really proud of that. This is my first time doing the two-car stuff in competition. We practiced it, but in practice it’s different. It is a craft. It takes a little bit of time to figure that out and what you can and can’t do. I feel pretty pumped. It is cool.”

DO YOU HAVE TO FIND A PARTNER TO DRAFT WITH ALL DAY AND ARE THE SPOTTERS GOING TO HAVE TO HELP YOU FIGURE OUT WHEN THE SWAPS WILL HAPPEN? “It is a lot longer race. I think there will be time to sort through that a little bit. I had three or four guys that I worked with throughout the day today. After a restart, the guys I was with previously weren’t around. Maybe he was too far forward, or too far back. You need to go and go hard on the restarts. If you are looking in the mirror and thinking you are going to lock up with a guy, the field is going by you. You have to go on the restarts. I wasn’t toward the front where those guys probably had more of an idea of a play of what they were going to do. I was back mid-pack or so. For me, it was run hard for a lap or two and then hope there was somebody I could hook up with and go. I was able to do that for the most part. I think that in order to keep up, you are going to have to do all this two-car stuff. If you don’t and you try to run in line or get singled out, your lap time will be too slow. The guys that are hooked up in the front, running two cars, they will click off laps pretty quick. You are going to have to attach to somebody. For me, I had just enough grille opening where I feel like I can push all day long. Down the straightaways I kind of have to straddle a little bit, which slows the lap time down a half a second, but then I could get back in line in the corners. My water temperature would get hot, but it wasn’t to the point of where I needed to bail out.”

WE SAW THE 92 CAR FINISH FIFTH WITH A SHOT TO WIN. DO YOU THINK WE COULD SEE AN UNDERDOG WINNER SUNDAY? “To do it right, making these switches, is tough. To swap positions like that takes experience and guys that have had a lot of laps. I guess anything can happen though. We saw Brad do that at Talladega a few years ago. It was an underdog team then for sure. I think we have a lot similar situation now. At that time, however, the two-car draft there was pretty new. I still think it will come down to guys that have the experience on the track and have fast race cars.”

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011

Daytona Int’l Speedway      

Dodge Motorsports PR

Daytona 500

Gatorade Duel #1 Post-Race Quotes

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series                          

 http://twitter.com/teamdodge

www.media.chrysler.com

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Race Winner YOU’RE TWO FOR TWO THIS WEEK IN DAYTONA.  TALK ABOUT THIS VICTORY AND WHAT IT TOOK TO GET THE WIN?  “This is sweet.  It was just an overall team effort to get this victory.  To have Shell/Pennzoil on board and start this strong with the double-deuce Dodge, I’m beside myself.  The teamwork that it takes at the shop and the teamwork that it takes on the race track, this new draft is something different.  I think it’s pretty special how Daytona can be repaved after 30 years and you see something completely different, yet it’s still the same old Daytona.  You have to have a partner.  The slingshot is there.  Regan Smith, awesome competitor.  He’s been strong on these restrictor plate tracks and he was a great teammate today.”

WHEN THE LAST CAUTION CAME OUT, WAS THERE ANY THOGUHT OF TEAMMING UP WITH ANYBODY ELSE?  “There’s so many thought going through your mind.  What are the two front row guys going to do?  Who’s been teamed up all day?  Who’s been there trying to get to their buddy?  There are so many different scenarios, it’s almost like a roulette table spinning and you wait to see if the marble land on your number.  And today was our day.”

HOW ABOUT THE WATER TEMPERATURE SITUATION AND THE TWO CAR SWAP?  “It’s tough.  It’s going to continue to get warmer as the week progresses.  NASCAR tried to mandate how long we could stay behind another car.  My car was hot many times and I was trying to protect it.  It’s going to be a whole different game when we have to come out here and do this for 500 miles because the mental fatigue is tough.  You have to know where your teammate is going to be and what you have to do to win this bad boy.  Hey, two for two so far, we want that big one next weekend.”

Post-Race Media Center:  Talk about your performance here at Speedweeks?

BUSCH:  “It’s the double deuce power right now.  Great ride through these Speedweeks, being in the right place at the right time.  To be in those positions, you have to have a good drafting partner.  I had that with Regan Smith today, had it with (Jamie) McMurray on Saturday night.  You can’t be in those positions if you don’t build a great race car.  My guys have put together an awesome Dodge for me.  The cars we brought down here, all of them have great strength to them.  The engine department knows they’re going to bring us even more for Sunday’s race.  So I’m really excited.  Again, I can’t get too far ahead of myself because this is Daytona and this place can jump up and bite you pretty quick.  But we are going to ride this wave.  We’ve made the right decisions so far with all of our adjustments on our car, adapting to the rule changes with restrictor plate sizes, grill opening sizes.  This is a new era at Daytona in my mind.  Right now, I feel like I don’t know anything about the draft.  I’m trying to latch myself onto somebody to learn with.  I’ve had a great teammate with Brad Keselowski in testing to do that with.  We’re going to keep going.  It’s bright, it’s yellow, it’s fast.”

STEVE ADDINGTON:  “It’s been awesome.  I think that goes back to what went on over the winter, this group of guys that come to the racetrack every week.  They’re a great support group.  They work really hard.  They do anything that I ask out of them without any bickering or anything else.  They just get in there, keep their heads down and dig.  That’s the kind of group of guys that you need to go to the racetrack with every week. Really proud of them.  They’ve been doing an awesome job with making changes, like Kurt said, in grill openings and stuff like that.  They’ve took it to the next step and did some extra things that I asked out of them.  No complaining, so I’m really proud of that group of guys.”

Steve, can you talk about at the end or overall in the race how you worked with the spotter and how important that was?  Kurt, there was a time where you thought you were going with Kenseth, then back.  How did all that play out?  How much of a role did the spotter play in all that?

STEVE ADDINGTON:  “I stay in contact with the spotter the whole time.  I’ve got guys scanning and listening.  They give me feedback to give to the spotter from what other guys are seeing trying to help me make decisions.  Chris Osborne is doing one hell of a job every week.  He did it every week last year.  He just stepped up to the plate here with all that’s going on down here this week.  Hats off to him.”

BUSCH:  “Chris Osborne, our spotter, deserves quite a bit of credit to how he’s adapted to this as well, with his communication with other spotters. The way you think you have alliances, you’ve watched guys work together throughout the race; it’s not necessarily a chess game, because chess takes too long.  You have to react in thousandths of a second, split second decisions.  We had a general idea of what was going to happen on that final restart.  It’s almost like you see everybody get their deck of cards, like you’re playing Texas Hold ’em.  You’re looking around to see who is betting with who, who is going to hang around and wait to see the flop.  Has a lot to do with split second decisions, if you’re in or out with a certain group.”

Kurt, in 2008 you manned up, did the teammate thing, got on Newman’s bumper and pushed him to victory.  You’ve been somebody who is always fiery, competitive.  You never complained when you took second for the team.  Do you feel the fact that two guys who have pushed you and sacrificed themselves for your benefit was kind of this whole thing coming full circle this time?

KURT BUSCH:  “Yeah, absolutely.  I mean, when you do good onto others, you hope good comes back to you. Just with the way the draft is, one race can’t define how you’re going to work with somebody.  It happens over time.  I would get frustrated, like 2002, 2003, it was only my second or third year out on the circuit.  I thought I knew enough to kind of hang out and ride.  Shoot, I finished second in the Daytona 500 back in 2003.  Nobody ever wanted to latch on and to be that drafting partner. So over the years, friendships develop, rapport develops with other drivers.  To be a pusher as many times as I’ve been, hopefully this time around we can be a pushee.  Things do cycle back around.  You can’t expect it, though.  You hope it does with the goodness and kindness in your heart.”

Kurt, all these years you’ve been coming down here, you weren’t able to win a restrictor plate.  You changed sponsors.  Now you’re two for two.  Is it almost like that new driver’s suit is a Superman uniform for you?

KURT BUSCH:  “It was here at Daytona.  It was Harvick’s past success.  The way Shell Pennzoil people are excited about Daytona, it’s neat to be able to deliver for them right away.  To have this double deuce in Victory Lane again, new car number, new sponsor, there’s a new look around our program, and we’re going to ride this wave while it’s in our sails.  It’s neat to have the group of guys we have.  It’s the same program.  Just could never figure out why the Miller Lite Dodge couldn’t pull into Victory Lane here, but they were a great sponsor, as well.”

Q.  It sounds like you’re saying the new drafting system is learn as you go and you do everything on the fly?  And, do you like it?

KURT BUSCH:  “Yeah, there’s so many things I’ve learned each and every drafting session, whether it’s the practice or the race Saturday night and today’s Thursday race.  I’ll get back with Addington, my guys, they’ll analyze what they saw as well, what other teams are doing, specific types of moves.  You just try to bank as much information as you can in your mind to know what to do when.

Page Three – Kurt Busch Gatorade Duel #2 Post-race Transcript

“You’re kind of flying by the seat of your pants ’cause you haven’t put those ideas into an actual experience just yet.  Today, we went through quite a few more.  But there’s still more to learn.  I hope Sunday can be our day.  It’s a matter of leaning on your teammate that I have in Brad Keselowski, leaning on my crew guys, and Roger Penske.  I’m having dinner with him tonight.  He’ll come off the spotter’s tower and have a whole bunch of insight from there.”

Q.  Every Speedweeks we have someone who asserts themselves.  Is that you now?  Are you the favorite for the Daytona 500 now?

KURT BUSCH:  “Yeah, I would say we’re hard pressed not to be the favorite.  We’ve got the pectin target here.  The Shell/Pennzoil is out front right now.  The guys are going to be gunning for you.  We have the pole, the starting position, we won our Duel today.  I don’t like to be a favorite, I like to be an underdog.  When you’re tabbed or dubbed the favorite, you try to block the outside emotions what the day is going to be on Sunday and focus on what’s important.  I’m going to lean on Steve and my guys to keep me in check and get me through these 500 miles.  I didn’t mean to confuse everyone, the Shell logo is called a pectin, p e c t i n [pecten] (Laughter).”

Q.  NASCAR has always been a fan friendly sport.  Do you expect your fans to get used to the idea that someone they do not like in the past is helping you in this particular system?

KURT BUSCH:  “You know, there’s been quite a few lessons I’ve learned with being the villain or being the guy that everybody loved to hate.  Our fans are the most vocal fans in all of sports.  They’re a great group.  They’re very loyal.  They love the sponsors they see on these cars.  We hope they support those, the manufacturers that are involved as well.  You go through cycles with fans on having your good days or having your bad moments.  Sometimes, it takes longer to get over those bad moments.  Then there’s those good days where you drive to Victory Lane and get to celebrate and to be able to be born again, so to speak. This has been a great Speedweeks for me.  It’s not over.  We have a big race on Sunday.  The fact of driving a new car with a new car number, it just feels like it’s a whole fresh opportunity to start over with something new.”

Kurt, I just wanted you to address the added bonus of    correct me if I’m mistaken, but you get to slide into that prime starting position because Junior goes back, you’ll slide up and take the green as the pole sitter.  Can you talk about the advantage that presents you?

KURT BUSCH:  “It’s just going to be one of those moments in time that I’ll remember for a long while, to lead the field to green.  You know, it was somewhat by default.  So was Saturday’s win with Hamlin going below the double yellow.  These are the rules.  I’ll make sure I massage my right calf so when I go full throttle, it doesn’t cramp up, because I’ll have Regan Smith behind me pushing up and hopefully settle into this Daytona 500 early on once all the emotions get in check.”

Steve, can you give me the breaking point of these engines?  How hot can you go before the relief valve gives up?

STEVE ADDINGTON:  “We went up to probably 270 yesterday by accident.  We had a gauge go bad.  We didn’t lose any water.  Our guys have our engine spec, what they want to see us run, not go over.  That was a little bit too warm than what they wanted to see.  I don’t know what the breaking point is.  I heard Steve tell Dale Jr. to run it up to 290 yesterday right before he wrecked.  He was pushing water.  I was scratching my head on that one.  I don’t know what the breaking point is.  I’m afraid that some of these guys are going to find out.  But I don’t know.  You don’t want to see it up around 290, 300, that’s for sure.”

When you came down here and tested last month, Kurt, you mentioned that you and Brad, all you worked on was this two car tandem thing.  At the time you were doing that, was it we think this is what is going to happen in Speedweeks or were you sure it was?  Looking back now, how smart does this make you look?

KURT BUSCH:  “We’re not all the way through Sunday yet.  What I’m excited about is I haven’t even teamed up with Brad yet in a race.  Did we think this was going to be an important factor?  Yes.  Did we  think it was going to be as strong as it is right now and as potent?  “No.  But we thought this was going to be an interesting part of what the new draft was going to be about and how can we learn as much as we can in this short amount of time.  Brad and I spent a lot of time to work with one another and to have Addington and Paul Wolfe get together with ideas.  We felt if this is track time, we need to be out here plugging away, and so far it’s paid off.”

STEVE ADDINGTON:  “The good part about them spending that afternoon doing that, we learned a lot about brakes, brake packages.  Nothing like we ever ran here before or any Speedway race I ever ran.  We just stepped up our brake packages because you have to stay in contact with the guy behind you and use brakes now.  It’s kind of crazy.  We learned stuff like that.”

Steve, the idea of blowing engines on Sunday, how big a factor do you think that’s going to be?  Kurt, how much more strategy wise does it add worrying about engine temperature?

STEVE ADDINGTON:  “Honestly, I say that, but I think everybody in that garage area is a smart group of people.  All 43 drivers and crew chiefs will be in communication.  You’re going to have to back out of it, pay attention to your water temps and back out of the situations.  You have to be there at the end to finish this deal.  Trying to take the lead at lap 100, burning the car up, it’s not worth it.  I hope that everybody pays attention and we have a good race with all 43 cars running at the end.”

KURT BUSCH:  “The management of being the second car pushing, you have to keep track of the guy in front of you, you have to absorb if he’s coming up on a pack, stay with him, not give him too hard of a push in a sense.  At the same time, you have to keep peaking that grill out to keep it cool if you want to stay attached.  There’s a lot that goes on.  It’s tough.  Right now, I think the key element to all of Speedweeks thus far is the fact we had a Shootout with 24 cars and we had the Duels today with 23 cars apiece.  We’re going to throw 43 out there on Sunday and it’s going to be a different game again.”

Your move up the middle was tough.  The guy leading is being pushed like a cannonball; the guy behind you is running blindly.  There’s no room if somebody moves up.  Do you have to be confident out there that you’re going to hit the hole?

KURT BUSCH:  “That’s the risk involved.  You have to keep track of the guy behind you if you’re the lead car.  You can’t make any erratic movements with the steering wheel.  You can’t second guess yourself.  The moment you second guess yourself, turn the wheel the other way, when you zig, the other guy is going to zag, and you’re going to get in trouble.  We’ve seen a lot of guys getting spun in this two car deal.”

Steve, from a technical standpoint, why are we seeing this?  Is it a pavement thing?  Is it an aerodynamics thing?  A combination?

STEVE ADDINGTON:  “You look at it, it started at Talladega when it got repaved.  You saw Denny (Hamlin), guys like that, started this back then when they repaved Talladega.  I think the race track is so smooth, the guys can stay hooked up together.  There’s a ton of grip out there.  There’s no way this would have happened on the old track with the asphalt the way it was. The repave has brought that to Daytona, just like we were doing at Talladega.”

Steve, how much of a thrash is it when NASCAR middle of the week tells you you’re going to run restrictor plates and smaller front end openings, change this, change that?  How much effort and expense and stomach churning goes into that?

STEVE ADDINGTON:  “It’s the same for everyone.  You call back to the shop, talk to the guys.  You have fabricators working their tails off getting stuff together.  You have engine guys putting them back on the dynos, different scenarios, getting them back down here, letting us know what adjustments we need to make on the car for plate changes.  Timing and jetting in the engines for plate size. To put a price on it, I wouldn’t want to do that.  I’m not into that.  I just want Roger to give me what I need to go racing and win races.  I don’t ask him about the budget.  But, no, a lot of people back at the shop support that and send parts and pieces down here to make it easier on us.”

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 Denny Darnell Scott Sebastian Dodge Motorsports PR Daytona Int’l Speedway Daytona 500 Gatorade Duel #2 Post-Race Quotes NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Finished Seventh “What a day. I pushed my brother to the Daytona 500. That’s pretty cool. It feels good for him. We really wanted to win, but it was nice to do that with Bryan. Our objective is always to win, but we just weren’t there today. We got a solid run out of it. We just have to keep working on it. I’m excited to finally get the chance to work with my teammate on Sunday. I think that we can do some good things together.”

DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH YOUR BROTHER BECAUSE OF YOUR SPIN? “Ya, it lined us up. I said, ‘Heck, I’ve got a great guy to work with back here after the spin and at least I know that he’s not going to dump me’. The next thing you know we’re running fourth, fifth and then second. I put the pedal to the floor and kept on pushing. I restarted on that last restart ninth or 10th, drove up there to sixth or seventh and just kind of stalled out. It’s a great feeling.”

GROWING UP WITH BRYAN, DID YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT RACING IN THE DAYTONA 500 TOGETHER? “I’m not sure if we dreamed about it, but I did dream about the day that we didn’t beat each other up (laughs).”

BRYAN KESELOWSKI (No. 92 K-Automotive Dodge Charger) Finished Fifth “We wouldn’t have even made it here if it wasn’t for him (brother Brad Keselowski). When he had his accident, I’m not really sure what happened, but it put him back there with us just enough to get up behind us. A couple of times, the caution came out and we could line up (together). We worked together trying to get a hole. He jacked me sideways a couple of times, but that’s just the two-car draft. That’s how it goes. You can’t lift. You can’t stop for the guy in front of you or you are going to get wrecked by the guy behind you. I owe everything to everybody, Ernie Elliott for helping me with the motors, Dodge for helping us on the car. This is an old Evernham car built in ’06. The old dog would just not hunt and I’m like we have no chance, but you get out in this draft at Daytona and get a guy that knows what he’s doing pushing you and, man, he can get you to the front.”

ROBBY GORDON (No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge Charger) Finished 17th “The strangest style of racing I’ve been involved with in a long time. We bump drafted so hard, we dented in the left rear quarter panel. It’s tough. If you don’t have a drafting partner, you’re left out there on your own. Our SPEED Energy Dodge was pretty good. We just need to take it back to the shop, fix ‘er up and get ready for the 500.”

Multiple rule changes, restrictor plates, pushing….pushing….pushing, overheating, two-car tandems and bump drafting equals nothing but failure at Daytona.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]This years Daytona Shootout and the Gatorade Duels are everything except the excitement expected from the “Great American Race”.  NASCAR’s new attempts and new changes have failed miserably.  The changes only prove to be a different look and style of racing, but still lack in any excitement.

Heading into speedweeks, the two-car tandems appeared to be a new exciting style of racing.  But that was quickly dissolved after a few laps in Saturday nights shootout and you quickly realized that yes this is a different look, but it’s still horrible racing and the new rules did nothing but “smoke and mirrors” to the real problem, the restrictor plates along with unsatisfactory rule changes.

With speeds exceeding 205 mph, on Wednesday, NASCAR made yet another change by trimming the restrictor plate openings by one-64th of an inch, reducing engine output by about 10 horsepower in attempt to lower the speeds for safer conditions.  The change reduced speeds by approximately 5-6 mph but did nothing to provide adequate racing that fans come from all around the world to see.  1–2–3 strikes………..your out!

On Saturday night we also witnessed another huge issue at Daytona, the yellow line rule.  The rule that was implemented for safer racing, but only yet again handicaps racing and either results in a horrible finish or very unsafe conditions (if a driver gets spun out because they do not want to go below the line).

So what’s the answer?….. I have no idea except this is not it!

New for 2011 is the SpeedwayMedia.com Pick ‘Em game! Each week, our panel of writers will make their picks for Sprint Cup Series races, picking a driver they really think will win, a darkhorse driver and tell us why they picked the way they did.

Throughout the season, we’ll collect, tally and tabulate the points. They’ll get five points if their “Who I Really Think Will Win” pick wins, three points for a top-five finish, one point if the pick finished 6th through tenth, and no points if they finish outside of the top-ten. The same points apply for darkhorse picks, except points are doubled. So, if the driver the writer thinks will actually win does win and the writer’s darkhorse pick finishes second, they will earn 11 points.

Every Thursday, the Pick ‘Em column will be posted along with updated points standings.

RACE: Daytona 500
DATE: February 20

Last week: Only four writers sucessfully picked a driver who finished in the top-ten and each received one point for doing so.

1. Jeffrey Boswell – 1
1. Kyle Brandt – 1
1. Kyle Ocker – 1
1. Mark Odor – 1
5. Ashley McCubbin – 0
5. Barry Albert – 0
5. Ben Gunby – 0
5. Ed Coombs – 0
5. Matt LaFlair – 0
5. Roberta Cowan – 0
11. Ryan O’Hara – NP

KYLE OCKER

Who I Really Think Will Win: Kevin Harvick

Dark Horse Pick: Trevor Bayne

I’m resisting the strong urge of picking Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win this race, while it pains me to do so. The Earnhardt Childress Racing engines are as close to the best as they can get, it’s tough to pick a driver who hasn’t won in I forgot how long that moved to a new shop and has a new crew over a proven setup in Kevin Harvick. Trevor Bayne was quick in qualifying, quick in practice.  On these restrictor plate races, you never know who is going to win.

Ryan O’Hara

Who I think will really win: Jeff Gordon

My Dark Horse Pick: Greg Biffle

Comments: Gordon is motivated to get back into the winner circle and Biffle was ever so close of winning last year.

Roberta Cowan

Who I Really Think Will Win: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I think he and Steve Letarte are out to make a point. They both have one to make.

Dark Horse: Kevin Harvick

Ed Coombs

WHO I REALLY THINK WILL WIN: Jeff Burton

MY DARK HORSE PICK: Dale Earnhardt Jr

COMMENTS (optional): I think that the winner will be someone who is running second through sixth when they take the white flag. Will one of my two picks be there? Who knows if they’ll survive the numerous wrecks cause by the bumper drafting that has them attached all the way around the track.

Jeff Burton had a strong car and drafting partner for the shootout and could win his first Daytona 500. I would not count either guy on the front row both some of the best restrictor plate guys out there BUT, it’s a new draft and as we saw during the shootout, it all depends on who you pair up with at the end as to where you’ll end up.

Jeffrey Boswell

Who I Really Think Will Win: Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Dark Horse Pick: David Ragan
Comments: Junior pays tribute to Senior with a convincing win in the 500, then celebrates in the infield, spinning out and forming the number “3” in the grass.

Kyle BrandtWho I think will win:
Jeff Gordon – I was really impressed with the 24 in the Bud Shootout. The
Hendrick stable really seems to have their cars dialed in this year at Daytona.

Dark Horse Pick:
Juan Pablo Montoya – I think the 42 has chance to make a statement for himself
here. His experience with the high speeds and full throttle racing will put him
somewhere towards the front come Sunday Afternoon.

Matt LaFlair

Winner: Jeff Gordon. Besides being a three-time winner of the Great American Race, Gordon has been strong throughout Speedweeks thus far and will be starting on the front row for Sunday’s race.

Dark horse: Tony Stewart. I’m again riding the dark horse train for Stewart again this week. Restrictor plate racing has been feast or famine for him, but when it’s good- it’s really good!