Friday, Oct. 29, 2010

Dodge Motorsports PR

Kurt Busch Open Interview

AMP Energy Juice 500

Talladega Superspeedway

Tweets by TeamDodge

www.media.chrysler.com

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) A COUPLE DRIVERS WERE OVER 200 MPH IN THE DRAFT TODAY. DO YOU ANTICIPATE A TWO-CAR BREAKAWAY ON SUNDAY? “Yeah, there’s something about when two cars hook up with each other, they can really gain speed. The third car can’t keep up. It’s as if the air comes off the first car, clears that second car and lands straight on the third and slows it up. You’re going to see two-car breakaways. Whether you see it in the middle portion of the race or towards the end, there’s probably going to be two or three different groups of two-car tandems because that seems to be the magic number.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PUSH DRAFT HERE AT TALLADEGA? “Talladega is just so wide and so generous that it really doesn’t challenge the setup as far as how much grip you have. You’re going to have plenty of grip, so it’s easy to draft and bump around pretty hard. You just hope that you have a smart guy behind you holding the wheel because if the guy behind isn’t connected to the guy in front properly, then big things can happen in a big way with somebody getting turned in front of the entire field. So we hope that things go smooth, yet in practice you have to be able to handle it. Everybody looked very stable and nobody was stepping out of line.”

IN 2004, DID YOU FEEL PRESSURE AND HOW DID YOU DEAL WITH IT? WILL JIMMIE JOHNSON FEEL PRESSURE? “This race (at Talladega) was earlier in the Chase schedule back in 2004. Now, it’s more towards the end. You have to always think that things can go wrong here; you just go in with the best attitude that you can have. This is the race where we were able to take over the point lead for the first time and never looked back. I believe Talladega is that big turning point in the Chase. You never know what can happen. If you survive this race, if you can come home with a good solid finish and you’re in the point lead or lead group, you don’t look back. You take off and run. Guys like (Jimmie) Johnson, (Kevin) Harvick, (Denny) Hamlin, those three have separated themselves and they want to stay out of trouble this weekend. They want to breathe a breath of fresh air afterwards, if they survive. Then they can attack the final three races because that’s what the Chase comes down to.”

“Can Johnson feel pressure? Of course and it’s up to others to do such. We’re too far behind. You have to have Hamlin in there, Harvick in there pushing hard and to make Johnson feel that he’s got some competition that he hasn’t had before. In ’04, we had the tightest Chase race; we had the most guys (still in the championship picture) going into the last four races. When you have more guys in the mix, there’s a lot more going on.”

DO YOU FEEL THE ‘HAVE AT IT BOYS’ MANTRA HAS BEEN POSITIVE THIS YEAR? “The racing action has just been better on the track. The times that you’ve seen great short-track racing or even the high speed superspeedways and mile-and-half tracks where you have chassis configuration versus aerodynamics, guys have challenged each other and raced hard and raced well. Yeah, some guys run into each other or bump here and there. Whether one guy gets spun out or ends up wrecked or it’s just good door-to-door, all of it has to be taken into consideration.

“Sometimes you get to the end of the year and you go, ‘All right, my slate is clean.’ You hope that you go down to Daytona with as many friends as you can find. You don’t really need to get together with others to see who’s on what side or who isn’t. It’s more or less every man for himself.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU STILL KEEP SCORE IN YOUR OWN HEAD? “I learned from the Honorable Jimmy Spencer on how to keep track of things over time. So yeah, you keep track of guys.”

WHO DO YOU DECIDE TO PAIR UP WITH DURING THE RACE FOR A TWO-CAR RUN? “That’s tough. With this new configuration car and Talladega, definitely two guys break away. That’s something Ryan Newman and I saw back in 2008 when we were teammates. We were practicing in practice how to do the move. Teams and different guys have seen their pattern with it and how long you can stay with it. You start to overheat if you stay behind somebody too long. I made a move last year to jump up in front of my future teammate Brad Keselowski and he ended up timing it just wrong to where I ended up in the inside fence and a big wreck started. That was with just a lap and a half to go. You have your final pit stop and after that, you digest who you’ve been running with all day. Who’s been good all day? Who can you trust? And who would you want to team up with on the frontside or backside of the two-car draft. It really happens after the last pit stop, but you’ve been taking notes all day.”

IS TE TYPE OF CAR NOT AS IMPORTANT IN CHOOSING A DRAFTING PARTNER? “Some guys just have the overall raw speed and those are the ones that push really well because they can carry a car that’s a little slower than them to that two-car speed and take off. If you have a mediocre car pushing you, it doesn’t seem to hook up as well.”

IS IT WEIRD TO THINK THAT ROGER HAS NEVER WON A NASCAR CHAMPIONSHIP YET? “Absolutely. It’s amazing to think that he hasn’t won one and that it can happen just around the corner. We’ve got to have Brad do even better than those Gibbs guys because (they) have the overall owner’s championship lead now where Brad has the driver’s championship lead. I hope that Brad wins it. I hope that he wraps it up at Texas next week. We still need to push hard for Roger to give him his championship. It would be really odd that Brad would win it (driver’s championship) and not get the owner’s championship brought home.”

DO YOU CHOOSE A DRAFTING PARTNER BASED OFF THE RACE ON SUNDAY OR OTHER FACTORS? “It comes down to the day’s events; who’s got the fastest car that day. You put those guys in a category of who you’ve run well with in the past. A guy like Kasey Kahne right now, you look for him in the 9 car and he isn’t there, he’s in the 83. Are those guys up to speed with their program on that 83 to draft with? We’ll see on Sunday. A guy like Kasey, I’ve always drafted well with. Right now, I don’t know if he has the normal package in the 83 car.”

A LARGE MAJORITY OF GUYS (40%) HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN CRASHES HERE AT TALLADEGA, IS THAT ACCEPATBLE? “That’s what makes our sport exciting and fun to enjoy. The excitement level that is part of restrictor-plate racing, it’s the Russian roulette atmosphere. ‘Hey, is my number going to get pulled today. Am I going to survive?’ That’s the whole Talladega atmosphere. Daytona will fit into that next year when it has fresh asphalt and we’re all bunched up in tighter packs. Daytona used to separate a bit and handling was more of an issue. It’s just part of the game. I’ve said that this is the toughest race in the Chase because you can’t predict what’s going to happen. You don’t know how to avoid the big one. And this is that wild card. That’s what wild cards do; they create statistics that don’t match other tracks.”

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion, is looking to bounce back from a 33rd-place finish at Martinsville last weekend. He spoke with reporters about a variety of issues after practice.

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – “I’ve had restrictor plate cars that are just as smooth as glass and then some that have a vibration.

It’s weird that our cars right now, whether it’s the gear, the driveshaft, the angle – whatever is going on – there’s extreme vibration, a real high, harmonic vibration which is kind of aggravating inside. We’re working on it. We got it better, but we’re gonna look at a few more things, but I think we got most of it out of it.”

CARL SAID HE FELT IT BEFORE, BUT IT’S HARD TO DUPLICATE AT THE SHOP.

“We’ve had some issue with our cars vibrating on about every race track. We’ve complained a little bit about it, but here it’s been extraordinarily different. It’s a different vibration and it’s a real high frequency, meaning it’s a real fine vibration. It almost hurts your body being in the seat, it’s transferring the vibration through your body so much. We don’t know what it is, but it’s obvious we don’t have something happy inside there. Something is not lined up perfect.”

HOW BIG OF A DEAL WOULD IT BE IF GANASSI MOVED TO FORD? “I think it would be great for Ford to have more teams in the sport. That being said, I don’t believe there would be a technology alliance between them and us. It would purely be them using the engine. I don’t think there would be any communication between the teams at that point, similar to a Hendrick and another Chevy team. They pretty much keep their information to themselves.”

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT VIBRATION? “You just have to deal with it inside the car. We know it has to do with speed also because when it’s vibrating it takes energy. It’s not as smooth as it can be. I doubt whether we’re gonna have it all the way fixed. We’re just gonna have to work harder with straight line testing and some other things to figure out what it is before we come to tracks like this.”

IS IT ANYMORE PHYSICALLY DEMANDING? “A little bit. Depending on the vibration it blurs your vision a little bit because your head is vibrating against the headrest, or you’ve got to hold your head off the headrest. You forget about it after they throw the green flag, but in practice you’re more sensitive because you’re more relaxed, but the car does have a lot of vibration.”

ARE THE SPEEDS ABOUT WHAT YOU EXPECTED? “Yeah, I think so. We’ve kind of been faster and slower. I think the speed is okay.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

AMP ENERGY JUICE 500

TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 29, 2010

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET met with media and discussed car speeds during practice, have at it boys, drafting partners, re-paving at Daytona, and more. Full Transcript:

HOW WAS THE CAR IN PRACTICE?

“I think it’s pretty decent. I guarantee we’re a lot better than we were in the spring here. So I’m pretty excited about it so far.”

WHEN YOU’RE SEARCHING FOR A DRAFTING PARTNER, IS IT MORE ABOUT HOW THE GUY DRIVES OR HOW HIS CAR CUTS THROUGH THE AIR? HOW DO YOU GO THROUGH THAT PROCESS OF FIGURING?

“It’s both. It’s both. It can be the best driver out there but if his car is not fast, you’ve got to pick somebody who is quick. But you can have the fastest guy out there but if he’s somebody that you’re nervous around, you might choose somebody else. So it’s an evaluation that you go through the whole course of the race. You don’t really make that decision necessarily before the race starts as much as you watch what guys are doing during the race and kind of evaluate it as you go.”

SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE?

“Absolutely. And without warning too (laughter)”.

DENNY HAMLIN AND KYLE BUSCH BOTH WENT OVER 201 MPH DURING PRACTICE. SOMETIMES 200 MPH SEEMS TO BE NASCARS POINT WHERE THEY MIGHT MAKE A CHANGE TO THE PLATE. DID YOU FEEL ANY MORE UNCOMFORTABLE OUT THERE THAN NORMAL?

“I never got pushed so I never got up there. I don’t think it’s any different than it was in the spring so to me it’s a non-event right now.”

ON THE DAYTONA REPAVING PROJECT, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO BE LIKE?

“It’s a lot different. It’s nice. It’s very similar to here (Talladega). That’s how smooth it is. It’s the same construction company so they’re doing a really good job on it. It’s going to have some imperfections in it but that’s what adds the character back into it and that’s what was so special about Daytona in the first place but they have done an excellent job. It’s pretty amazing to think we raced there in July and that they are as far along as they are.

“It just amazes me; the engineering side, and watching the equipment work. To sit there and think about putting a roller on top of a 31degree banking and have to figure out how to keep that roller even pressure left to right is pretty remarkable to see who they do all that.”

HOW DO YOU THINK NASCAR’S “HAVE AT IT BOYS” HAS WORKED OUT? DO THE FANS SEEM TO LIKE IT? WHAT ABOUT THE DRIVERS?

“I think it’s been fine. The good thing is that the drivers are always pretty good about policing things. The more corporate America was involved, and it’s not a bad thing, but I think NASCAR tried to protect everybody on that standpoint and I think we lost the balance in the equation. So this year I think what NASCAR has done has kind of put it back to where it should be.”

WAS THERE AN OCCASION OF ‘HAVE AT IT BOYS’ THAT WAS FUN TO WATCH?

“Well, it’s never fun because you can get caught up in it. But you understand why it happens and it’s nice to know that you don’t have to rely on NASCAR to settle petty disputes. We can do it amongst ourselves and the good thing is NASCAR is there in case it doesn’t get resolved and it gets out of control and that’s the way it always was.”

HAVE YOU BEEN SCRATCHING YOUR HEAD OVER THE SPEEDING PENALTIES?

“No, not at all. We know where it was at last week and we know why it happened. We made the adjustment and we didn’t have it the rest of the day. But you know it just shows everybody is pushing to get everything they can get. Nobody wants to lose anything; especially on pit road. So, we’re pushing that envelope as far as we can.”

AT TALLADEGA IT WOULDN’T MATTER AS MUCH AS A PLACE LIKE MARTINSVILLE, RIGHT?

“No. not at all. This is a place where you don’t mind if; you know, the last stop is the one that you’re really the most concerned about. The rest of them during the day are really a non-event. Guys are going to get shuffled back and forth so much that this is the one weekend that I probably lean on the crew guys the least except for that last stop. That last one is when I want a good one.”

IS THIS THE LAST REAL CHANCE FOR THE CHASE TO GET SHAKEN UP? ONCE WE COME OUT OF HERE ARE WE GOING TO KNOW PRETTY MUCH WHO IS IN IT?

“Well, I would think so. But you look at some of these races this year, week to week there are places that you wouldn’t think would be a big mix-up deal and there’s guys that have had problems. That’s the thing. Every week is an opportunity for it but this is a bigger opportunity than most.”

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., 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 Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). 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, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

AMP ENERGY JUICE 500

TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 29, 2010

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed racing at Talladega, tight points battle, the role of teammates and other topics. Full transcript:

YOU HAVE A SIX POINT LEAD IN POINTS HEADING INTO TALLADEGA, YOU HAVE SAID ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS THIS YEAR THAT THIS IS A “WILD CARD”, YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE RACE ON SUNDAY: “It definitely is the wild card. There is a lot of risk at every track we go to but at this, we’ve all been here enough to see it, there really is no safe place to be on the track. It seems like you can prolong your opportunity to crash until later in the event which is a strategy we’ve played over the years. But at the end, when everyone is still trying to get the best finish they can, it’s just full chaos at that point. I think coming to the checkered last year, Mark (Martin) and I were nose to tail, obviously in a tight points battle, the crash collected him and fortunately it didn’t collect us and we went on. So, with all that being said, we are excited to be here. I really, really do enjoy racing at this race track. I had a blast here in the spring, when you come back at the end of the year and the points are on the line, it is a more stressful event. If we come out of here close to the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin), I know we have a great chance to race in from there. If things go our way and we have a gap or something at that point, then we just have to be smart in the final three races and race accordingly. So, we’ll know a lot more Sunday afternoon. We’ll all have a better understanding of how the final three races will go. We’ll just do our best until then and try to stay out of trouble.”

CONSIDERING HARVICK’S RECORD ON PLATE TRACKS THIS YEAR, WINNING TWO OUT OF THREE, LED THE MOST LAPS IN THE DAYTONA 500 AS WELL, IS THIS HIS BEST CHANCE TO BREAK OUT IN THIS CHASE AND TAKE A LITTLE COMMAND AWAY FROM YOU AND DENNY AND ALSO COULD THIS BE HIS LAST CHANCE? “Gosh, I think with both the No. 11 and the No. 29, this track is really anybody’s race, anybody has a shot to win. In the past, I know our record doesn’t show as a favorite but a lot of it has been because of the strategy we’ve run. We just haven’t been at the front; we’ve been at the back trying to be smart. But, if I take this race out of it and look forward, the No. 29 is going to be great at Phoenix, their mile-and-a-half, two-mile program has been awesome and there are two mile-and-a-half tracks left on the circuit. You look at the No. 11 and the fact that he has won at Texas and also at Homestead, and it is no slouch on the flat miles, he’s going to be competitive there too. I don’t think this is anyone’s last chance to break out. I think that all three drivers that are in contention right now have four really good race tracks, especially the final three for all three teams.

“I don’t think so; I really don’t think this is Kevin’s best chance. I think that the three tracks remaining, in my eyes, I think more about Phoenix than anything because of his success there over the years and how many laps he has at that track. That is probably the track he is smiling the most about, I would expect.”

BECAUSE OF THE REPAVE AT DAYTONA, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TESTING, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A MODIFICATION OF THE CURRENT TESTING PROGRAM OR IN TODAY’S ECONOMY WOULD THAT SEND THE WRONG MESSAGE? “I understand the economy and the difficult situations that puts the race teams in. We’ve talked about it for years and there are a few options that would work but at the end of the day, I think a handful of test sessions for all of the race teams at different tracks where we can collect data would be beneficial for everyone. There is arguments that say come in a day early, let the teams have the day and go about it that way. At one point, we had I think five test sessions that were open test session for the sport to come in and run. That would be an option. Or, you open it up and let teams travel to maybe five tracks of their choice to collect information. Either way, I think if they regulate it and keep it a low number, it will be better for everyone. Yes, it is going to cost a little bit of money, but teams are going to get so much out of it from a technical standpoint. I think it will help improve the racing, or at least take it in the right direction and make all the cars competitive.”

DRIVERS AND CREW CHIEFS ARE CONTROL FREAKS SO GOING TO A PLACE WHERE YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER ANYTHING, WHO IS THIS RACE TOUGHER ON, YOU OR CHAD? “I would have to think that it is more difficult for the crew chief, because at least in the car, you are occupied and feel like you are connected to what is taking place. I know from watching my younger brother race, I’m more worried for him and worried about the race watching someone I care about being in a race than I ever have been being in the race. So, I would have to think it is along those lines because all he has is a button to push really connected to the car to talk to the driver and outside of that there is not much he can do. His hands are really tied from where he is sitting.”

BECAUSE OF THE RANDOM NATURE, IF YOU HAVE A BAD DAY HERE, ARE YOU ABLE TO BE MORE PHILOSOPHICAL ABOUT IT THAN YOU WOULD BE THAN IF YOU HAD A BAD DAY AT ATLANTA OR MARTINSVILLE? “A bad day here, is easy to kind of write off. You think ‘well, guys didn’t work with me; I picked the wrong; caught up in the big wreck’. You can kind of write it off. The cars are so equal here, there are small little gains in performance the teams can find but it’s not like Texas. If you are off at Texas and finish 25^th, that is probably because you had a poor performance and went down a lap or two because of running slowly where you won’t see that here.”

BEFORE THE CHASE STARTED, YOU SAID YOU WOULD GLADLY TAKE A 10^TH OR 15^TH PLACE FINISH HERE AND BASICALLY WATCH THE RACE FROM YOUR COUCH, NOW THAT WE ARE HERE AND AS CLOSE AS THE CHASE IS, DO YOU STILL FEEL THAT WAY OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO USE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO  TRY TO GAIN SOME POINT? “I always want an opportunity to gain points. Especially the past three years we’ve left here, this has been a very good track for us in the points.

I’m hopeful for that but the worrying that is going to go on over the next few days, especially during 499 miles of the race really, even 500, because I think Mark (Martin) was within a mile of the finish line when he got taken out last year running in the top-10 and ended up sliding across the finish line on his roof. There is a lot of stress that goes on leading into it. As tight as the points are, we’re going to have to race and I’m excited for the opportunity to race for this thing. At the end of the day, max points would be ideal, but we’ll just see how things shake out.”

WE SAW TEAMMATES COME INTO PLAY LAST WEEK WHEN KYLE BUSCH RACED YOU PRETTY HARD AND TOOK AWAY THAT POSITION, IS THIS A PLACE WHERE TEAMMATES CAN STRATEGIZE AND HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CAN SORT OF FOCUS ON THE NO. 48 AND WHAT THEY NEED TO DO TO GET WEDGED IN THERE BETWEEN THE CHALLENGERS? “Your teammates can help you on a restrictor-plate track probably more so than anywhere else. The way that the bump drafting works now if you can just have one of your teammates push you at the end of the race, be in the right position to push you, that can really be helpful. It is so difficult to find each other and get linked up at the end of the race, so I don’t think you can really strategize on how you get together. You just look for one another. I’m hopeful that my teammates will keep an eye out for me and if I need to get into a slot, will cut me some slack. At the end of the race, if they have a decision to push two or three different cars, that they would pick pushing me and help us out. I also think that it is important during to race to make sure that you have other friends on the track just to increase your odds of someone pushing you given the opportunity comes along. I feel good with my three teammates and hopefully the Stewart-Haas cars as well. I will just try to build more relationships on the track during the first 400 miles.”

IF IT IS A WILD FINAL 10 LAPS AND YOU HAVE THREE HENDRICK CARS UP THERE ALONG WITH YOUR CLOSEST COMPETITORS, DO YOUR TEAMMATES HELP YOU THEN AND TRY TO WEDGE THOSE OTHERS OUT OR ARE THEY RACING FOR THEMSELVES? “I would think that if they are up there racing for the wins, I would expect, I don’t mean this in negative way, I would expect about my teammates to be thinking about winning for their own reasons. If they are fighting for the win, they shouldn’t be thinking about where is the No. 48. At the end of the day, if they are taking the win away from the No. 29 or the No. 11, then they are helping me with that 10 point margin that they can take away. If you are mid-pack and really don’t have a shot to win, then I think their mind would activate ‘hey, there is the No. 48 how can we help’. But, if they are racing for the win, they are going to stay focused on that.”

TWO-CAR BREAKAWAYS HAVE BEEN THE COMBINATION IN THE LAST TWO SPRING RACES WITH CARL EDWARDS AND BRAD KESELOWSKI AND THEN KEVIN HARVICK AND JAMIE MCMURRAY HERE, DO YOU THINK THAT WILL COME INTO PLAY SUNDAY? “We can all make it happen and we do it at different points during the race. Being in the right situation at the end of the race is really the key. The examples you mentioned, those guys played it right and were at the head of the line essentially and got hooked up and got going. It’s tough to do it and every driver through the field is trying to make it happen with two or three to go. It is just tough to create the circumstances because once you get hooked up, if the road is full of cars in front of you, you have nowhere to take that speed and momentum. Circumstances really have to be correct to make it happen. That is one of the few tools that we have and that position, the guy in second place, most times comes out on top. You’re looking for that opportunity as well and you are thinking ‘ok, at worst, I might finish second here, but I have a really good chance of winning the race so let’s lock bumpers’. At some point, you seem to become disconnected so you know you can hold on for maybe a lap or two laps connected and you take your chance and go. At that point, just hope you don’t get disconnected because if you do, the speed and inertia of the pack coming it’s going to eat you up and you are going to finish 15^th or something.”

DENNY (HAMLIN) HAS SAID HIS STRATEGY IS TO BE WHEREVER YOU ARE ON THE TRACK, HOW WELL DO YOU RACE WITH THE NO. 29 (KEVIN HARVICK) AND THE NO. 11 (DENNY HAMLIN) AT RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS? “I’ve had a lot of good luck and success over the years with both guys. When it comes to the end of the race, I guarantee you that everyone, we’re all going to scatter from one another and try to not help, say the No. 11 is behind me, he’s not going to push me to the front, there is no chance or the No. 29, it’s just not what you are going to do. I think for the first 70%-80% of the race, it is probably smart to ride together and if something happens to one guy, it happens to all of us. I also think there Is another angle that you may want to stay away from one another. That way if you take three cars out, now it brings fourth, fifth and sixth back into the equation. There are so many ways to think through it and I’ve said all along that I really don’t get caught up in all of that. Denny loves playing the odds and is very focused on that side of things and it works for him. For me, Chad and I have a great strategy in mind, we know what we are going to do and we will get out there and race. At the end of the day, you have to race here for a finish and we need to make sure we race at the right time and with the right cars.”

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., 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 Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). 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, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

AMP ENERGY JUICE 500

TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 29, 2010

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL CHEVROLET met with media and discussed upcoming team plans, strategy at Talladega, winning at Talladega, and more. Full Transcript:

ON SPONSORSHIPS FOR 2011

“Yes that is really just the beginning of a lot of things that are going to happen over the next few weeks.  Really excited to have Rheem and Menards on board really for myself and Clint and Paul, and Austin to have some fun in the Nationwide car so we are excited to get all that going and obviously RCR is going to be a big part of that and those are things that took so long in the contract negotiating phase really from the driver’s side on the Cup side was to just get a lot of things situated that would make both companies better and I believe that with everything we have at KHI and everything that happens at RCR it’s just going to make things better and easier.”

WITH YOUR DOMINANCE IN RESTRICTOR PLATE RACES THIS YEAR IS THIS RACE SORT OF YOUR CHANCE TO TAKE COMMAND OF THIS CHASE RACE?\

“We have gone through so many…….what we thought were speed bumps in this Chase…….with the first one being Dover and the second one being Charlotte and the third one being Martinsville. We feel really comfortable about the next four weeks but obviously at this place anything can happen whether you are leading the race or running last you can wind up in somebody else’s mess but I enjoy the restrictor plate racing and its obviously something you have to think about a lot, there is a lot of strategy involved in it, and you have to have fast cars.  We have been able to put all those things on the race track this year and if this was the last race of the year, I would be pretty excited about it.”

YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE TO LET IT ENTER YOUR MIND THAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF RUNNING UP FRONT WHILE YOUR COMPETITORS COULD GET BEHIND IN THE MESS AND GET COLLECTED?

“You have the possibility of having a breakout or having a disaster.  We go into this race with the same attitude that we have had for the rest of them.  Just go out and race as hard as we can and try and put ourselves in position to win the race and if you are not going to win, take the most points that you can. 

So if we wreck, we will come in and fix the car as fast as we can and take the most points we can and when we get done we will see where everybody else is at and assess what we need to do for the next week.  So it’s just one week at a time, one lap at a time, and otherwise it would be just way too stressful.”

ON HOW RACE STRATEGY COMES INTO PLAY AT TALLADEGA DIFFERENTLY THAN OTHER RACE TRACKS

“A lot of it is going to depend on today and how we think our car is performing.  How we feel like our car is pushing people and how we feel like we get pushed.  And then the second thing that will dictate that is qualifying.  So we really won’t have a firm decision on how we will race until Saturday afternoon and Gil and I will sit down and decide on how we want to approach the race.  How we approached it last time…………we may approach it that way or we may not.  It just depends on the performance of the race car and where we qualify.”

JEFF BURTON SAID THAT YOU AND HE MET ON TUESDAY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEKEND.  HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THAT MEETING?

“Well, a lot can be made out of things that we say on the radio and obviously neither one of us did a very good job at that.  The thing about Jeff and I is that there is a lot of respect there and we have had those spats before and we can handle those things in about five minutes.  So it’s very easy for the two of us to talk about those things and figure out how we can make that situation better for not only us but our race teams and try to do better next time.  So very simple, very convenient, very easy meeting and that was it.”

WHAT’S THE DYNAMIC FOR HAVING THREE RCR TEAMMATES IN THE CHASE?

“For us right now, as a team, everybody wants to win. Everybody knows that right now we all want to win the championship. I think obviously with Clint (Bowyer)and the Cheerios team move to help us out with the pit crew showed how badly they want the whole company to win. I think Jeff (Burton) is the same way. He wants to win a race but everybody wants to do the best they can but we want to win the championship too. They’re going to do whatever they can do to help us and I don’t think there’s any question about that.”

IS WHAT YOU DID WITH THE PIT CREW CHANGE LIKE FOOTBALL CHANGING OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE?

“Yeah, you have guys that are performing better than others right now on pit road. And those guys happen to be the group off the No. 33 car and we were having trouble on pit road and Richard (Childress) made the call to change those things around and that’s what we did.”

WITH ECR ENGINES BEING DO DOMINANT ACROSS THE BOARD AND IN PLATE TRACKS THIS YEAR, DO YOU EXPECT THAT YOU WOULD GET HELP FROM YOUR OWN TEAMMATES AND FROM THE NO. 1 (MCMURRAY) AND THE NO. 42 (MONTOYA)?

“I think if you go back and look at history, Jamie McMurray and I have drafted together a lot and we wind up at the front of a lot of these races and usually together. I feel comfortable around certain guys and he’s one of those guys that I feel comfortable with him pushing me and pushing his car. More of it is just coincidence than it is anything, but there has to be something to the fact that I know those group of guys that I’m comfortable with and you look for those guys during the race and hope that they’re around the same spot you are.”

ON SUNDAY, HOW AWARE ARE YOU GOING TO BE OF WHERE JIMMIE JOHNSON AND DENNY HAMLIN ARE ON THE TRACK AND WHERE THEY ARE RUNNING?

“Well I think the only thing that would change how we race is if something happens to both of them. For us, we’re going to run our own race and how we feel is the best way for us to win. There is really no other way to do that. I’m pretty sure that I know what their strategy probably is going to be and I don’t know if I fall into that category quite yet. So, it’s just a matter of doing what we think is right for our race team and we’ll have that decision come Sunday morning.”

ON THE TRUCK SIDE, WHAT WAS THE DECISIVE FACTOR FOR YOU TO PUT BUTCH (HYLTON, CREW CHIEF) AND RON HORNADAY TOGETHER?

“They just need to win. That’s really about it. That was our most solid team and Ron’s the guy we have that’s racing for the championships year in and year out and we tried a lot of different things and I felt like we had built the two-truck team with Butch and those guys into a winning team and I had been a part of that all year and as we go to the end of this year we need to be ready to go when we drop the green flag at Daytona. So it was time to start working on next year and try to get some wins this year, but really, to build the foundation for 2011.”

OVER THE COURSE OF TIME, HAD YOU NOTICED ANY CHANGES IN EITHER OF THEM THAT WOULD LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE THEY’D WORK TOGETHER SO WELL NOW?

“They’ve definitely both changed a lot. Butch worked for us back in 2005 and his approach to things is a lot different than it used to be. I like to, a lot of times, take the things that happen on the other truck that I drive on occasion to build things, and in this particular instance we built the whole team and just put it over there.”

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT TALLADEGA?
“A lot of luck and a fast car (laughs). No, I mean it’s just one of those places where it definitely takes a fast car and you have to have a little bit of luck on your side to be successful here. But it’s just a big, high-speed moving chess game and you have to put yourself in position for the last couple of laps to try to be able to make the move that you think is right to win the race. it all worked out just as you would planed it out in the spring. I don’t know that it will ever work out that smooth again, but for us we were able to dodge the wrecks and put ourselves in position for those last couple of laps to make that slingshot move but you just never know if it’s going to come down to a big pack or if it’s going to be a two-car breakaway or are you going to be racing another two-car breakaway; so a lot of it is circumstances as to how you adjust. But a fast car makes things a lot easier.”

IN THE CLOSEST CHASE EVER, DO YOU FEEL LIKE JIMMIE JOHNSON CAN FEEL PRESSURE?

“He’s got to feel pressure. There is more to it than there has been in the last couple of Chases. The thing that has happened this time is we haven’t let him get too far away and the No. 11 (Hamlin) is right there with him. It’s not just put it into cruise-control and just get decent finishes and finish up front, you have to finish in the top five if you’re going to keep touch with the three cars that are up front. it’s just the way that this Chase has shaken out. If we don’t, one of those two guys are going to and I think it’s probably a good possibility over the next four weeks, that somebody will finish in the top five every week. So, if you’re not that guy, you’re probably going to lose ground.”

HOW WILL THE ALLIANCE THAT YOU HAVE WITH RCR IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES IMPACT YOUR TRUCK SERIES TEAMS?
“Right now it’s the same type of deal. It’s chassis for all of our teams and they already share all the information that they have as far as wind tunnel. We use the same engines and they share notes every week. So that stuff is already taken effect on the truck side and has for several months actually, as they’ve gone through the season. So that’ll just stay the same.

TO A LARGE DEGREE THEY’RE ACTING ALREADY AS ONE TEAM EVEN THOUGH MAYBE ON PAPER THEY’RE NOT.

“Exactly. That was the whole intent of everything was to run more laps on the race track when you have more people; you have more parts and pieces. You keep the money in the same house as far as chassis and engines and things like that. It should make everybody stronger.”

ON THE DAYTONA TESTING IN JANUARY

“I’ve got to find somebody to drive my car. That’ll be boring (laughs). No, I think it’s going to be a necessity. I’m not a huge fan of testing but that’s going to be one that you’re going to have to go to because the track’s going to be so smooth and so much different I’ll apply to a lot of the things that happen here as far as set-ups and the way that you do things. The track is going to be the same Daytona, but a lot different. It’s definitely going to be necessary to go down there and test to make sure the tires are right and make sure the things that we thing will apply from here actually apply there.”

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE WITH THE RCR TRUCK CHASSIS FROM WHAT YOU HAD AT KHI THAT WOULD MAKE IT BETTER; THAT’S CAUSING YOU TO SWITCH?

“Really it was just about keeping the financial situations under the same roof. Nothing wrong with a Ronny Hopkins chassis like we ran. We’ve won with both of them this year. Obviously for us it’s much more convenient because it’s so much closer to our shop. But really, it’s a matter of keeping the funding in the same house.”

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., 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 Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). 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, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion, sits sixth in
the point standings and trails leader Jimmie Johnson by 213 points.
He spoke about returning to Talladega after Friday’s first practice
session.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion – “We’ve got the Subway Ford
this week.  The car ran pretty well, but we’ve got a vibration that
we’re working on and trying to figure it out.  It’s not as bad as it’s
been, but we’re working on that.  I noticed when I sat down here this
stand right in front of me says ‘vibration reduction stand.’  I
thought that was pretty humorous. I should take that with me when I
leave.  That’s what we’ve been working on, but it’s a fun day for me
today.  We get to practice a couple of practices and then I’m gonna go
over to a Subway in Pell City and we’re gonna sign some autographs.
I’ve never been to Pell City, so we’ll go over there and maybe get
some lunch and meet some people at Subway, and then come back and do
Trackside Live tonight.  We haven’t tried any qualifying trim yet, so
I don’t know really what to expect for qualifying tomorrow, but we’ll
do that tomorrow.  For me, this race is an opportunity for us to cut
into our points deficit.  Most of you know my love-hate relationship
with this place and right now I’m really looking forward to it, just
because it could shake things up and it could work out in our favor,
so we’ll just go run.”  WHAT WOULD YOU THINK IF YOU GOT ONE POINT FOR
EACH LAP LED HERE?  “Are you trying to make it more dramatic?  I guess
that would be pretty interesting.  I’d have to think that through.
You can already wreck up there in the front and I think if you were
paying points for leading, there would probably be a series of wrecks
with guys leading and you still might be better off to sit in the back
and wait it out.  So it just comes down to how much risk guys are
taking.  It might even be more riskier to run up front, but that’s a
good question.”  WAS THERE A VIBRATION WITH ALL THE ROUSH CARS?  “I
was just speaking with someone on the way in and they said that, too.
I didn’t realize that Matt was having trouble.  I knew that Greg was,
but it seems like something we’re all fighting and it’s such a
difficult thing.  They always give me a hard time in the meetings
because I’m always screaming about how my car is vibrating and it
makes you just want to give up.  You’re like that guy on TV that
swears he saw a UFO and everybody is like, ‘Yeah, okay,’ because they
can’t duplicate it in the shop and they can’t duplicate it on the
chassis dyno, so it’s one of those things you chase around.  In the
race car, it feels like it robs horsepower and it robs speed, so it’s
important to me, but I’m the only one who knows that it’s going on.
In a way, I’m glad all of our cars are doing the same thing at least,
so we can maybe work on it.”  WHAT DOES YOUR MIND GO THROUGH HERE WHEN
IT’S INTENSE?  “You’re thinking a lot of things, but here the tough
part is to understand exactly where your car is, and that’s normally
what you work on – you’re at a race track and you’re worrying about
your car and the way you’re positioning yourself on the race track,
but as important here you’ve got to have your peripheral vision
working and watching your mirrors, listening to your spotter and
understanding where everybody else is going and how much momentum they
have, and then you also have to – at the same time – think about their
possible intentions or what they are trying to do.  If you can kind of
keep that all going in your head, you can pick the right spot to move
and that’s what makes it intense – these little bitty split-second
decisions can dictate whether you go backwards or forwards.  It all
comes down to that last lap and you’ve got to make sure you pick the
right one.”                

DO YOU STRESS UNTIL IT’S DONE?  “I don’t
stress about it, I just try to really focus.  I’ve watched enough of
these things and I’ve been involved in enough of them to realize that
you just do the best you can and, at the end, one guys is gonna be in
front when you cross that finish line.  If you can separate yourself
like Brad and I did a couple of years ago, if you can separate
yourselves from the group at the end, you’re obviously doing yourself
a huge favor because then you’re only dealing with one guy – so that
would probably be the goal.  I think that’s what you’ll see.  I think
you’ll see breakout groups at the very end of the race – guys that
just commit to pushing another guy.  Everybody is getting really good
at that, so it could be pretty interesting.”  TEAMMATES SEEM TO GET IN
IT AT MARTINSVILLE.  WHY?  “I don’t know, I think it’s just
coincidence.  Usually, you leave there mad at somebody and everybody
has enough teammates now that there are gonna be times when you’re
really mad at your teammate, but that’s just racing.  You’ve got to do
the best you can to work with your teammates.  I think that’s really
important.  I’ve learned that lesson over time. Obviously, I haven’t
always worked the best with my teammates, or we haven’t gotten along
the best, but I feel like that’s one of the strongest things we have
on our team right now is I’m there to help Matt and Greg and David and
I feel like they’re doing the same with  me.  I’m just glad we’re not
having trouble and those guys can go do whatever they’re doing.  On
our team we are not ‘having at it’.  We’re doing okay.”  HOW MUCH
DIFFERENCE IS THERE BETWEEN QUALIFYING SETUP AND RACE SETUP BEING AN
IMPOUND RACE?  AND ARE WE GOING TO SEE TWO GUYS DECIDE THIS RACE BY
BREAKING AWAY?  “We’re not gonna go into qualifying trim, I believe,
or make a run by ourselves so we’ll just get the car the best we can
to  run the race and then we’ll go run our laps tomorrow.  As far as
the way the cars work together, the deal is if you can push someone’s
bumper, your car gets in a little void of low pressure behind their
car and you can just lay into it.  You guys see what happens, but I
think it’s too difficult to do that with three cars because the guy in
the middle gets choked up and wrecked, so it’s hard enough to do with
two.  I think you’re right, like we talked about earlier, it’ll be two
cars breaking away.  If you look at the last laps of the last couple
of these races, it’s been two cars breaking away – two cars over here
and two cars over there – kind of separating themselves.  If there are
a couple groups of those two-car things going on during that last lap,
it could be a pretty amazing race.  But everybody realizes that’s the
deal now, so that’s what everybody is gonna be looking for, I think.
They’re gonna be looking for somebody’s bumper to push on hard for the
last lap.”  WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PHOENIX?  “Phoenix has been one
of my favorite tracks to go to.  That was the first place I ever raced
on pavement, so that was a big deal to me to go out there in the USAC
Silver Crown cars, so I spent a lot of nights laying in my bed
thinking about Phoenix and how to run that place.  I’ve had a lot of
success there in the Nationwide Series.  I think we sat on the pole
there maybe in the Cup car or qualified second and led a bunch one
time and that was good.  It’s a driver’s race track.  It’s a track
that the driver can make a big difference on.  Obviously, your car has
to be set up really well, but once the car is perfect, that’s a track
where it truly comes down to the driver.  If you win that race, it’s
one you can be really proud of, so I’d love to win a Cup race out
there.  That would be great, and the Nationwide races have been really
good.  I’ve really enjoyed running there.  It’s such a unique track.
It’s got bumps and it’s really unique.  I like it.”              

WITH THIS TWO-CAR BREAKAWAY CAN YOU WORK
WELL WITH JUST ABOUT ANYONE?  “Yeah, and  because of this two-car
breakaway thing and how well the cars match up bumper to bumper, it
leaves a lot of options out there.  When Brad and I had our race
there, I was in line like sixth or eighth and he just pulled up behind
me and started pushing and we pulled out and we passed everyone.  In
two laps we were however many yards ahead of the field and we were
just screaming.  We hadn’t worked together all day.  I’d never drafted
with him before and that went really well.  That could happen with
anyone.  I think you could have guys running under the white flag in
eighth or ninth position and they get matched up the right way and
pull out and go, I don’t think it matters what manufacturer the car is
and whether they’re teammates or not, it’s just gonna come down to who
gets teamed up together and if they can keep their cars together and
not wreck one another.  They’re gonna be really fast.”  THERE HAS BEEN
TALK ABOUT THE RPM ISSUES AND THE POSSIBILITY OF GANASSI COMING TO
FORD.  HOW MUCH OF A BENEFIT WOULD THAT BE HAVING WORKED WITH JAMIE
BEFORE?  “I don’t know what’s going on with RPM.  I asked the question
in the hallway there 15 minutes ago and nobody there really knew what
was going on.  That aside, the more Ford teams we can have the better.
Ford is doing a great job in the marketplace and they’ve got a lot of
resources at their disposal right now, and the more teams we can have
running Fords, the better off we’d be.  If the Ganassi guys want to
switch to Fords, that would be huge for us.  I would love to be able
to work with Jamie and Juan and their engineers, and all the people
over there.  They’ve made some really big gains and their cars are
really fast, so that would be huge for us to be able to work with
them.  The more the merrier.”  WOULD IT GIVE THE ROUSH CARS
COMPETITION IN THEIR OWN RANKS?  “I think it would help us.  I don’t
know if I’d call it competition, but maybe it would be.  It always
helps me when one of my teammates is running better than me.  It makes
me faster.  If those guys were able to come over and able to be part
of our group and they had things that were working better than us,
that’s definitely good for us.  Hopefully, we could learn from them.
Just like we talked about last week at Martinsville, we looked at
Jamie’s situation and we say, ‘Here’s a guy who changed teams and all
of a sudden can run very, very well.’  What I wouldn’t give to know
exactly what’s different.  That would be huge for us to be able to
understand what is different with Jamie running at Roush and Jamie
running at Ganassi because we would hope we could apply that stuff to
our cars and make them faster too.  So if you could have people like
that, that are close and competitive, that are close to you, that
would be great.”  HOW DO YOU THINK THE ‘HAVE AT IT’ PHILOSOPHY HAS
WORKED THIS YEAR?  “I think it’s worked out pretty well.  I haven’t
noticed a huge difference, except for maybe in the penalties and
that’s been nice for NASCAR to let us police things out there.  I know
I’ve pushed the limits of it personally, not intentionally, it’s just
that some of the results weren’t intentional – that’s for sure.  I
think it’s good and I think it says a lot for NASCAR to recognize and
stand behind the fact that the guys on the race track can police this
as well as anyone.  I think it’s a good thing.  I think it’s good for
the fans and good for the sport, and probably, in the end, better for
safety.”