October 29, 2010 (Charlotte, NC) – SPEED Energy announced today that it will sponsor Robby Gordon, one of the most diverse drivers in motorsports, for two of the remaining NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season. Built for SPEED, the No. 7 SPEED Energy Toyota Camry will debut this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, one of the fastest racetracks in the world and again in the season-ender at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“This company is based on a commitment to SPEED, energy and relentless determination. No one personifies those values better than Robby Gordon, which makes him the perfect fit for our new SPEED Energy brand,” commented SPEED Energy Drink representative, Steve Nichols. “All Robby thinks about is SPEED, whether he is in his NASCAR, his Dakar HUMMER, or his off-road trucks. He’s the guy we wanted to represent the SPEED Energy brand and be a major part of the ownership group.”

“I couldn’t be more excited to announce this partnership with SPEED Energy. This is a great opportunity for the future of Robby Gordon Motorsports. Having been instrumental in bringing two of the largest energy drinks into the sport of NASCAR – first Red Bull and then Monster, we now have the chance to create something on our own. We will market throughout the world of motor sports. I know this marketing platform works based on the great companies which I have previously represented. Racing is what I do, and with racing comes SPEED,” commented Robby Gordon.

SPEED Energy is available in three flavors: Unleaded, Fuel, and Octane, which provide the human machine with the fuel it needs to keep up with the SPEED of life. Each drink contains a potent energy blend of B-vitamins, caffeine, taurine and ginseng. SPEED will be packaged in 12 ounce sleek cans that have a stylish black top and sexy body and are available in singles, 4 packs, and cases. SPEED Energy will be available nationwide in major retailers, convenience stores, grocery stores, bars and nightclubs.

For more information, please visit www.speedenergy.com.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

AMP ENERGY JUICE 500

TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 29, 2010

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 BB&T CHEVROLET met with media and discussed the hazards & strategies of racing at Talladega, working with teammates, Phoenix, and more. Full Transcript:

ON RACING AT TALLADEGA: “I’m looking forward to it. Just about anything can happen; you’ve just got to play your cards right. You know, you have to have a little bit of luck on your side too. You’ve got to be able to put yourself in position and have a car that can do that. But the right things have to move your way and the right door has to open for you to be able to win this race. But certainly the guys in the shop have given us a lot more opportunities to have in that door open with the engine program that we have at ECR and then the hard work and dedication they put in our chassis. It’s a fun race; a long race. Like I said, it all comes down to those last 50 laps.”

IF EVERYBODY DECIDES TO RIDE IN THE BACK, WHAT’T IT GOING TO LOOK LIKE ON SUNDAY? “It would be an interesting race if everybody was racing for dead last (laughs). But I don’t know. You’re not going to have everybody doing that. Everybody is on a different scenario. You’ve always got teams that have a lot to lose in this Chase and in this scenario and probably should go to the back and try to stay out of trouble as much as they can until it’s time. Then you’ve got other guys who haven’t led many laps this year; haven’t won a race this year and there are several of them; even myself. I’m part of the Chase and I’ve won a race but I still need to win another race before the end of the year and don’t have anything to lose. So you’re going to have plenty of exciting racing and three-wide racing up at the front all day long.”

YOU’VE ALREADY GIVEN KEVIN HARVICK YOUR PIT CREW AND YOU WORKED TOGETHER A LOT AT DAYTONA IN JULY. DOES YOUR ROLE IN SUPPRT OF KEVIN INCLUDE GOING OUT AND HELPING HIM IN THE DRAFT ON SUNDAY OR ARE YOU OUT TO WIN THE RACE YOURSELF? “You’re always out to win a race. If there are things I can do to help him, we’re going to try to work together. You owe it to everybody that’s involved at RCR to do that. And nine times out of 10, that package together is going to work good. All three of us need to try to hook up and work together but all three of us are on a little bit different scenario. Kevin has a lot to lose right here at this race track and this is certainly a track where he can or more importantly, lose a lot of ground in his position. It just depends on if we can get hooked up, yeah we’re going to work together; if not, you’ve got to be able to put the BB&T up front and hopefully win the race for them.”

WE HAD ONE OF THE BEST TALLADEGA RACES EVER LAST SPRING. HOW DOES THIS BEING A CHASE RACE VERSUS A NON-CHASE RACE CHANGE STRATEGY? “You’re not going to have a good points race until the end of the race. Right now that’s what you guys are following so it’s probably going to be harder for you guys to say it’s a good race, but you can’t take your eye off the product. And it’s going to be a great race. It’s not going to be your big names that are racing for a championship leading and beating and banging on each other for every lap led. I think there are just going to be new faces up there. There are a lot of cars that are fast and there’s going to be two and three-wide, more importantly three-wide racing and that’s what this place breeds and is always going to have.”

IS THIS A PLACE WHERE TEAMS CAN STRATEGIZE?  IS THAT POSSIBLE? COULD SAY ALL OF TOYOTA WORK TOGETHER TO FAVOR DENNY HAMLIN? “I guess if they wrecked everybody he could win the race. There is just so much you can do. You have to realize there are a lot of cars out there. You’re three and four-wide and it’s harder than you think to get in position to where you can help that guy. And if it’s going to hurt you to help him, he’s going to have momentum and you’re not going to be able to get behind him anyway. If you’re coming up on him with a head of steam and you’ve got help behind you, you can’t slam on the brakes and get behind him because they’re going to run over you and you’re going to wreck everybody; maybe even him. So if you can get in position to help, you need to do that. And if you can’t, you can’t. There is nothing you can do much more than that.”

FOLLOWING UP ON THAT, THERE HAS BEEN THIS TWO-CAR BREAKAWAY THING THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS. HAVE YOU SEEN ANY IMPACT OF THAT AND MIGHT THAT COME INTO PLAY WITH THE CHASE GUYS TO FIND ONE PERSON TO HOOK UP WITH, THAT MIGHT BE THE KEY TO GETTING IN THE FRONT? “Yeah, certainly; but I think everybody has learned from that and everybody is going to be trying to do that and the more people that are able to do that, it’s going to probably make it not as important and stand out as much as it did in the spring, but I think certainly you’re going to see that. We’ve been talking about it. I mean everybody has been talking it. Everybody watched that happen in the spring and was successful so you’d be a fool not to try that and experience that and see what you can get away with. But again, that right scenario has to happen again and at a place like this history doesn’t repeat itself.

“That same door doesn’t open with 10 to go as it did in the spring race and so forth and so on. In the spring race, Kevin (Harvick) and I were back there riding around and we each had a lap where we thought we could get to the front. His was 50 and mine was 30 and I just waited too long. He went up and won the race and I don’t even know where I finished. But we got up there; we just didn’t get up there far enough. I wasn’t in position when I needed to be. So, it’s just one of those things.”

LAST WEEK (MARTINSVILLE) WE SAW YOU GIVE YOUR PIT CREW OVER TO KEVIN HARVICK. IT DIDN’T SEEM LIKE YOU WERE TERRIBLY HAPPY WITH THAT. YOU SAID IT WAS ALMOST LIKE KEVIN WAS TURNING HIS BACK ON THE PIT CREW. AND THEN DURING THE RACE WE SAW KEVIN AND JEFF BURTON GO AT IT AND HAVE WORDS OVER THE RADIO. AT RCR NOW, IS IT ALL ABOUT HARVICK WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND IT’S ALMOST LIKE A SENSE OF URGENCY IN HIS POSITION BEHIND JOHNSON AND HAMLIN? “Oh, there is definitely a sense of urgency (laughs); there is no question there’s a sense of urgency. He’s trying to play catch-up and run a guys that’s just won four championships (Jimmie Johnson) in a row down and knows how to do it and doesn’t make mistakes. There is definitely a sense of urgency. We’re trying everything we can do to win a championship at RCR. Jeff (Burton) was trying everything he could do to win a race and if I would have been up there I would have been trying everything I could do. That’s just Martinsville. You’ve got to realize that. We’ve seen Jeff (Gordon) and Jimmie beat and bang on each other and get very frustrated with one another. It’s just part of close-quartered racing at Martinsville and it just so happens to be your teammate. I don’t think it had anything to do with him racing for a championship or anything else. It’s just the nature of the beast at Martinsville.”

DO YOU KNOW IF THEY’VE GOTTEN TOGETHER AFTERWARDS AND TALKED ABOUT THAT HAPPENED? WHAT’S THE FEELING IN THE SHOP ABOUT GOING FORWARD? IS THERE TENSION? “Heck; I don’t know, man. You’re writing a story (laughs); you know more about what we’re doing than we do most of the time. I screwed up and wrecked last weekend, that’s what I know, and had a miserable week because of it. I’m just trying to get to the end of this thing and hopefully have some good runs for my sponsors and patch things together as much as I can before the end of the year so we can start the year off strong next year.”

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE INSIDE THE CAR DURING ONE OF THESE BIG WRECKS? “That is the exact moment when you don’t want to be in the car anymore (laughs). It sucks. All hell breaks loose and you just cringe and hold on and it hurts. You hit hard and you bounce around and finally come to a stop and think like what the hell just happened, you know? (laughs) But it’s just one of those things that makes the fans come from all over to be at a place like this and to see that spectacle and we owe it to them to go out there and put on a show for them.”

DO YOU EVER GET THE SENSE THAT IT’S NOT GOING TO START ONCE IT STARTS? “I’ve had the throttle stick and break brake rotors and yeah, I did have that sense once. It was stuck wide open and the brake pedal went to the floor and I was like, this is interesting.”

ON LOOKING AHEAD TO PHONEIX “Well, my immediate thoughts were I just wrecked the Phoenix car at Martinsville so that wasn’t much fun. We’re going to have to bring the next best thing. But Phoenix is a great race track for me; it’s where I got my start in the Cup series and we’ve always run well out there. Again, this is a track; I get (crew chief) Shane (Wilson) back (from suspension); life will be back to normal as close to it as possible and hopefully this is a place where we can win another race before the end of the year.”

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE HERE IF THEY GAVE POINTS FOR EVERY LAP LED AND YOU GOT AN EXTRA POINT EVERY TIME YOU LED A LAP HERE? “Well, you’d be talking about a points race all day long I would say. But It’s still hard to stay up front all day long and be able to put yourself in that position time after time. Every time you get up there to the point, you’ve had to make a close call and go for it so to speak and you can only get away with that so many times before it bites you. If that was the case and you’re racing for points like that, you’re probably going to have that big one happen a lot sooner and a lot bigger I would say (laughs).”

IF YOU COULD PUT SOME PERCENTAGE ON IT, WHEN YOU’RE IN ONE OF THESE RACES, HOW MUCH TO YOU BELIEVE THAT WHAT YOU DO CONTRIBUTES TO THE OUTCOME OF THIS RACE COMPARED TO WHAT OTHERS DO? AS A DRIVER, IS IT DIFFICULT TO GRASP THE FACT THAT YOU CAN POSSIBLY DO EVERYTHING PERFECT AND STILL NOT COME OUT WITH A GOOD DAY? “Oh, absolutely. First and foremost, you’ve got to have a hot rod that can get the job done. If you have the steam under the hood and your car is fast enough to get the job done, you can go up there and put yourself in position to win the race. But you can do everything correct and everything perfect all day long and not come out of here with a win. We’ve seen it before. When they sling-shot by right there at the end and leave you out to dry; I mean if you were leading coming off of (Turn) 4 down to the checkered flag, if the checkered flag was in the tri-oval, a lot of races would be different.

“But it’s not here. And that extra room on the front straightaway gives them a chance to get a run and get the thing back out and then they come back on your again. I’ve had it done to me. You come off in the lead off of (Turn) 4 with a two or three-car lead thinking you got ’em and if it was the tri-oval, you would have ’em. But they just have that extra track to run you back down and make a move on you and they come on you so fast, you can’t block them. If you do, you’re going to be stuck in the fence like Carl Edwards was.”

AT THIS RACE LAST YEAR, FANS LIKE TO SAY IT WAS THE WORST TALLADEGA IN YEARS. FROM A DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE RACE?

“I don’t even remember last year (laughs). I think NASCAR got to the point where they were policing it too much. It’s something that’s almost too difficult to police. Opening the thing back up and letting it kind of self-police I think was a good move. I think it’s kind of taken care of a lot of things within the drivers. You still have great racing and don’t really have to stick your nose in it or have to worry with that. This is definitely a self-policing place and I think it should be left within the driver’s hands on the race track and I think that’s where a lot of the good racing has come from; not only at Talladega, but all year long.”

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.

TALLADEGA FORD FAST FACTS:
•        There are 12 Fords entered in Sunday’s Amp Energy Juice 500.
•        Ford won this race a year ago when Jamie McMurray went to Victory Lane with Roush Fenway Racing.
•        Bill Elliott is the only current Ford driver with a NSCS win at Talladega.
•        Elliott is driving the No. 26 Air National Guard Fusion this weekend.
•        Ford has 18 all-time NSCS wins at Talladega.

        Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion, comes
into this weekend 10th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings
after gaining one spot at Martinsville.  He spoke about this weekend
prior to practice.

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion – WHAT’S YOUR GAMEPLAN
HERE?  LAYBACK OR  MIX IT UP AND RACE ALL DAY?  “A lot of it depends
on where you qualify and what the race feels like once you get going.
Really, I think from the beginning of the year to right now the racing
has changed drastically overall with the cautions.  We used to get a
lot of debris cautions and other cautions that bunched up a lot of
restarts and a lot of green-white-checkers, but lately we haven’t had
that.  Even at the end of Martinsville there were cars blowing up and
trying to get to pit road and we kept racing all the way to the end.
I think you need to keep that in mind and think about that here.  It’s
happened before here, and even though I don’t think it will, but you
could go flag to flag without having a caution. You need to keep the
draft the whole time and not lose that front draft, so I think I’m
just gonna go race and see what happens from there.” 

THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT TEAMMATES AND MAYBE TRYING TO PUT A BARRIER AROUND JIMMIE JOHNSON TO KEEP HIM SAFE?  CAN YOU DO THAT KIND OF THING?  “You
just don’t know what’s gonna happen.  One year we were here and I
think Tony ended up winning, but we were running second to Tony while
Greg and Carl hung back the whole time.  Carl kept pushing Greg
through the middle of the corner and Greg ended up wrecking and
wrecking us with it and we were running second.  I thought you
couldn’t be in a safer place because I was running second behind Tony
and my two teammates were coming up on the outside with 10 to go.  So
it’s just really unpredictable because you don’t know what’s going to
happen.  You can have the best of intentions and you can have all
kinds of plans, you’re gonna want to draft with your teammates, but at
the end of the day whatever position you’re in you need to try and
make that work because you might be trying for something and it just
doesn’t work out.  Sometimes when you try too hard to force it bad
things happen.”  ONE THIRD OF THE GUYS ENTERED HAVE GOTTEN UPSIDE-DOWN
HERE AND THE LAST THREE RACES 40 PERCENT OF THE GUYS RUNNING GET
WRECKED.  AT WHAT POINT DO THOSE NUMBERS NOT BECOME ACCEPTABLE?
“Whenever we come here, especially, I’ve been doing this for a while,
I don’t know if this is my 10th or 11th year here, and there have been
some lulls, a year or two where people don’t talk about it much, but
every year you basically have the same conversation after the big
wreck.  The people that are in the wreck are upset as they should be,
and you starting thinking about, ‘Man, somebody could have got hurt.’
People leave here upset because a lot of times you get in a crash and
more times than not it’s not your fault, it’s one or two guys that
make a mistake or don’t know where somebody is at and take out 10-15
cars.  It’s just the kind of racing that is and you have to deal with
it the best you can.  You have to try to be in a position not to be in
that wreck and hope everybody is okay after it’s all said and done and
get ready to try to do it again.”  WHAT’S IT LIKE FOR YOUR FAMILY
MEMBERS WHEN YOU COME HERE?  DO YOU TALK TO THEM ABOUT IT?  “We really
haven’t.  I think everybody is different and everybody has their own
beliefs and theories about things.  I don’t really sit around worrying
about that and Katie really doesn’t either.  I think things are mapped
out for you and when it’s your day, it’s your day.  We go out and try
to do the best we can, try to make our cars as safe as we can, and
it’s not something you really think about when you’re driving.  If it
does get to that point and you’re thinking about it while you’re
driving or before you (get in the car), then you probably need to
start thinking about doing something else.”

IS THERE A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY BECAUSE
OF THE NEW CAR?  “Not for me.  It’s nice that we’ve been through a
pretty good period without any serious injuries.  That’s nice.  We
went through a horrible period for a few years where we had some fatal
injuries and some people injured pretty seriously.   We went through
that, so it’s nice that things have been better lately.  One thing
you’ve really got to commend NASCAR for is they’ve spent a lot of
their own time, money and resources to make that happen for us and
they continue to do that.  They’re not standing still.  They’re always
looking to try to make the tracks, the cars, pit road, everything
safer each week.”

NEW CONTRACT WILL TAKE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS RELATIONSHIP INTO THIRD DECADE

CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 28, 2010) – Hendrick Motorsports announced today that DuPont will continue its longstanding relationship with four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon with a three-year agreement to remain a primary sponsor of the No. 24 Chevrolet team through the 2013 season.

DuPont, which has maintained a presence on Gordon’s cars since his Sprint Cup debut in November 1992, will have primary paint schemes in 14 races annually beginning next season. The agreement will extend one of NASCAR’s most enduring sponsor-driver relationships into its third decade.

“I can’t remember what it was like to race without DuPont on board,” said Gordon, 39, who with 82 Sprint Cup victories is sixth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. “We’ve had such an incredible ride together, and I’ve learned so much about how DuPont applies science and innovation to make a positive difference in the world. It means a lot to me to keep it going for at least another three seasons.

“DuPont has supported me throughout my Cup career, and I feel like we have more wins and championships ahead.”

DuPont, which will have prominent brand placement on the No. 24 Chevys in every Sprint Cup race in 2011, 2012 and 2013, will celebrate its 20^th anniversary with Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports in November 2012.

“We are proud to continue our relationship with Jeff, Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 24 car. This continues to be a unique opportunity to showcase DuPont innovations,” said Cynthia C. Green, chief marketing officer, DuPont. “We look forward to putting the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet on the racetrack for another three years and winning more championships with Jeff and Hendrick Motorsports.”

With the exceptions of only auto manufacturer Chevrolet (1984) and tool supplier MAC Tools (1986), DuPont is Hendrick Motorsports’ longest-standing corporate partner. The 2011 Sprint Cup campaign will mark the company’s 19^th full season with a presence on the No. 24 Chevys.

“I firmly believe Hendrick Motorsports would not be where we are today without DuPont’s commitment to our company and our sport,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “They took a leap of faith by sponsoring Jeff and the No. 24 team back in 1992, and the relationship has been unbelievable ever since. They are terrific people, and it’s extremely gratifying to continue into our 19^th full season together (in 2011).”

ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS:

Since 1984, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 13 championships in NASCAR’s top three divisions and 194 victories in the sanctioning body’s premier series, the Sprint Cup. The organization fields four full-time Chevrolet teams on the Sprint Cup Series circuit with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Headquartered in Concord, N.C., Hendrick Motorsports employs more than 500 people. For more information about Hendrick Motorsports, please visit www.HendrickMotorsports.com, www.twitter.com/TeamHendrick and www.facebook.com/HendrickMotorsports.

CONCORD, N.C. (Oct 28, 2010) — When 19-year-old Trevor Bayne drives onto Texas Motor Speedway for qualifying for the Texas 500, it will not only be his Sprint Cup debut, but he will add his name to an elite list of drivers who have driven the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Bayne, a native of Knoxville, Tenn., will join the likes of David Pearson, A.J. Foyt, Cale Yarborough, Curtis Turner and Glen Wood – the team founder – who also made his first Cup start in the family’s familiar No. 21 at Martinsville, Va., in 1953.

“It seems a little surreal right now, but it’s just an awesome opportunity to get in this No. 21 Ford,” Bayne said. “The Wood Brothers have such a history in the sport, and it’s great to get to become a small part of that.

“I look forward to going out and making some laps and learning a ton. I know it’s going to be a big learning experience, and I’m just really looking forward to it and I am extremely thankful for the opportunity.”

Bayne, like many young drivers over the years who have gotten the opportunity to go Cup racing, found himself in a position where the stars somehow lined up just right for him.

He signed with Roush Fenway Racing just a few weeks ago. Not long afterward, the Wood Brothers suddenly found themselves without a crew chief. They turned to their old friend and fellow Ford team owner Jack Roush, who agreed to send veteran crew chief Donnie Wingo their way.

As Roush had originally planned to run Bayne at Texas, with Wingo as his crew chief, the logical move was to have Bayne make his Cup debut in the Wood’s No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion.

“This is the best scenario for everyone involved,” said Eddie Wood, co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing.

Bayne’s start at Texas means the Wood Brothers’ regular driver Bill Elliott will step aside for the weekend and mentor the young driver. Elliott said he will be at the track to offer Bayne any assistance he can. Elliott, who will return to the No. 21 for the season finale at Homestead, said he’s glad to be a team player at Texas.

“I’m ready to do anything I can to help Trevor with the race,” said Elliott.

Bayne comes to the Wood Brothers with impressive credentials. He started racing in go-karts at age five, before advancing to Allison Legacy cars. He then moved on to the Hooters Pro Cup Series, before entering into NASCAR’s developmental series.

But where the personable, media-savvy youngster has really excelled, is in his year and a half in the Nationwide Series. In just 47 career starts, he has five top-five and 12 top-10 finishes along with four poles. He’s seventh in the current Nationwide Series standings.

But like most young aspiring drivers, his ultimate goal is to be racing on the elite Sprint Cup circuit.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity,” Bayne added. “I’ve been looking forward to it pretty much my whole life; since I was five years old I’ve dreamed of running a Cup race. Now it’s not just a dream anymore, it’s becoming a reality.”

Qualifying for the Texas 500 is set for 4:40 p.m. EDT on Friday, Nov. 5. The 500 begins on Sunday. Nov. 7, at 3 p.m. EST with TV coverage live on ESPN.

An interview with:

TONY STEWART

DENISE MALOOF: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the NASCAR teleconference in advance of this weekend’s NASCAR events at Talladega Superspeedway. Joining us today is Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet for Stewart Haas Racing. Sunday’s AMP Energy Juice 500 is the seventh race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup event. Tony is among the 12 drivers eligible for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in the Chase. He heads to Talladega seventh in the standings with two wins this season, his latest coming three weeks ago during the race at Auto Club Speedway.

Tony, highly anticipated event this weekend where we had a record number of lead changes in April. Do you think we’ll see something similar or folks taking different tactics this time?

TONY STEWART: I think we’ve seen in the last couple of years there’s a period in the race where everybody gets in a big hurry, then there’s a period in the race where everybody calms down, settles in for a little bit and gets ready for the push at the end.

I think we’ll probably see that. But I think you’re going to see guys that are going to try to take advantage of that part of the race where everything kind of slows down a little bit and everybody calms down. I think there’s going to be guys trying to take advantage of that a little more and trying to get a second and third line going at that stage.

DENISE MALOOF: Sounds good. Let’s go straight to questions for Tony Stewart.

Q. Tony, it seems the media has a perspective on Talladega, an expectation of what the events will be. From your seat, how do you look at this event and what is your tactic coming into this weekend for Sunday?

TONY STEWART: Well, it’s obviously one, because of the fact it is a restrictor plate race, it’s no secret that it’s a very mentally taxing race. It’s not physically challenging, it’s mentally challenging.

The hard part is staying focused for 500 miles when you know you can’t make a mistake any direction. But you don’t know how it’s always going to play out. That’s the hard part. You can’t predict when there’s going to be a wreck. You can’t predict when guys are going to get in a line on the top of the racetrack, you know, do the Dale Jr. line. He’s the one that started that whole thing. You don’t know when that’s going to happen.

The hard part is trying to anticipate all those scenarios. Everybody has a different strategy for what to do to be there at the end. The hard thing is that it’s a 188-lap race, but the last 10 laps are what really matter and set the tone for what’s going to happen on the last lap. You basically in those 178 laps are trying to take care of yourself.

Racers are still racers. There will be guys in a hurry at the beginning of the race, there are guys that appear to be in a hurry, but they’re trying to see what they have car-wise. There will be guys that drop to the back, not because they have a problem, but because they’re trying to take care of themselves, not get into a position they can’t get out of. A lot of times it’s self-preservation.

Sunday, there are going to be a lot of cars that look like they just came off the racetrack at Martinsville. It’s definitely a scenario where you have to be patient, you have to let the guys that are impatient, in a hurry, you have to let them do their thing and you have to stick to your plan. It’s hard to anticipate what everybody’s individual race plans are going to be.

Q. Texas next weekend. In each of the last five seasons, a winner at Atlanta has also won at Texas in the same year. You won Atlanta a few weeks back. Does that make you feel pretty good coming into Texas? Do you feel you should unload with the right setup?

TONY STEWART: Well, you never know. The hard part is, even if you were the guy that won the Texas race in the spring, it’s such a long gap between the spring and fall race that you got to keep in mind our sport is a technology-driven sport. Guys make their programs better. Shock programs change. Setups change. The conditions that you have temperature-wise can be different. Just because you were good there before, just because you were good in Atlanta, doesn’t guarantee you’ll be good at Texas the second time around.

But it’s a lot better scenario of going into Texas knowing that we ran well there in the spring and that we did run well at Atlanta, I guess. That does give you a little bit of comfort knowing that you were good there in the previous times.

Like I say, it’s still no guarantee you’re going to be successful this time, but you have the comfort of knowing the last time you were there we were pretty decent till we crashed.

Q. A lot of drivers talk about turn two at Texas, the banking literally falls out from underneath them. Can you describe that sensation, what it feels like for you?

TONY STEWART: It does. I know when they built the track it was kind of explained why that is. The entry and exit of these corners, they’re very abrupt as far as the banking. When you turn in the corner, very abrupt getting in, and falls off very quickly. The reason for that, when they built Texas Motor Speedway, they intended to have the IndyCars race on the apron. That’s why the apron is so wide at Texas. The IndyCars were not originally meant to run on the banking. That’s why the banking on the entry of the corner and exit falls off so fast so the cars could come from the straightaway from the apron and back up with a smooth transition from the bottom.

It makes it a different challenge than what we have at Charlotte or Atlanta because of that. It does make it a lot more challenging to get your car set up for it. You can’t relax on the entry and you can’t relax on the exit of the corner. That banking, a lot of times your car, it’s hard to get your car secure on the entry because you don’t have that banking to hold it.

Once you get in the corner, it seems like it’s all right. Same thing happens on the exit. Especially like what you’re talking about in turn two, it’s the tighter of the two exits of the racetrack. You’re still trying to finish the corner there and you have to keep tugging on the steering wheel and at the same time make sure you don’t lose the back at the same time.

It definitely falls out from under you. When it does, you have to make sure your car is tight enough to make it through that transition.

Q. Tony, I wanted to ask you about strategy. I think you probably used both ways, dropping back to the back of the pack at Talladega and running up front for a while. Is there anything to that or is strategy out of window when it comes to Talladega?

TONY STEWART: Well, I think you still have to stick to your strategy, whatever it is. But you look at our stats, granted we’ve only won one race at Talladega, but we’ve run second six, seven or eight times there. A lot of those races we ran in the back a lot of the race, just taking it easy, taking care of our car, knowing that the important part of the race is later in the day.

As long as you can stay in that lead draft, that’s the important thing to Talladega. It’s not necessarily the fact that the pit stops can get very, very difficult there with guys taking two tires or no tires. If you are one of those guys that ride in the back, you have to be really careful in the pit stops. A lot of times when you’re coming in, there are guys finishing two-tire stops or took fuel and are on their way out. That’s one of the more challenging parts to take it easy and be careful.

I think guys have an idea of how they want to run their race and I think guys are comfortable with the strategy that they use. There’s a lot of guys in the field that are fighting for jobs still. Those guys don’t really have that flexibility to ride around. They’re trying to impress car owners. Those guys are fighting all day long to stay up as high as they can, and there’s guys that have done this a long time that have a more methodical approach to it.

Everybody has that different strategy. I think that’s the fun part, is trying to figure out, whether you’re watching on TV or listening on the radio, trying to figure out what each individual driver’s strategy is. I think there’s times when the fans get discouraged that their driver is running in the back.

The good thing about Talladega is you can just about be guaranteed if your driver is in the back, they’re choosing to be there at that point in the race, not because they don’t have a very good racecar.

The great thing about Talladega is you can’t count anybody out. Those last 10 laps is when everything is going to happen and guys are going to play different strategies at times, especially with Chase guys. Even if the Chase guy isn’t up front, he might take a gamble on a pit stop to get those five bonus points.

There’s a lot of different scenarios and strategies that play out during the race that make it to where I know in the past we’ve heard it was boring, not interesting to watch. I think you have to look a lot deeper than just seeing guys three-wide all day. The three-wide isn’t the cool part about it. I think the interesting part to me is the strategies being played out and trying to figure out what driver has what strategy and what their plan is to be good at the end of the day, seeing how it plays out.

To me, the whole race is exciting just trying to see and analyze what each driver is trying to think. That’s what we’re doing in the car, figure out what other drivers are doing in the race and what their strategies are.

Q. Is there anything a driver can do leading on that white-flag lap to not make themselves a sitting duck?

TONY STEWART: Only if you got somebody pushing you from behind. The sad part is, I love going to Talladega, it’s one of my favorite places to go to during the season, I get to go to the dirt track every night across the street, watch Red Farmer race, get to see a lot of my friends there. It’s a fun weekend. I love going down there.

But it’s the one place that is very nerve-wracking in the Chase because you realize a lot of your success on that individual day is going to be dictated more from the people behind you than what you’re actually doing yourself. That’s the part that makes it difficult with it being a Chase race. You’re trying to go out and have an individual accomplishment for a season-ending championship, and it can be dictated a lot by what the guys behind you are doing. That’s what makes it a little bit more difficult.

Q. Tony, you’ve had considerable success, a lot of laps between the first time you broke into Cup. You do a great job of explaining every little detail of a race. Can you compare your approach to driving, what it was like when you first broke into Cup to what it’s like this year?

TONY STEWART: At Talladega, for sure. When I first started, it was get everything you can get every lap. If somebody gave you the little bit of a hole, you took advantage of it. Then the longer you ran, the more you got to race with guys like Dale Sr., Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Dale Jarrett, those guys. You realize you’ll see guys during the race that hole opens up and they don’t take advantage of it, they let a guy get back in line and it’s going to put him in a bad spot. The guys, the longer they do this, the smarter they are about, yeah, you can put that guy in the middle, you can hang that guy out to dry, but it can come back and cost you later on in the day when you need that guy’s help.

You learn to think about what’s important during the race. Part of the strategy isn’t necessarily what you’re doing, but it’s also about how you’re running with guys around you and working with those guys to where later in the race, they’re behind you, you feel like you have their support that you took care of them early in the race and they’re going to take care of you at the end.

There’s a lot of times where you’re going to see guys that are more relaxed there and more accustomed to knowing how to be good for the end of the race that will take care of guys, not put them in bad spots just to ensure they’re keeping these guys on their good graces towards the end of the race.

Q. What tracks were the hardest for you to adjust to over the years?

TONY STEWART: Oh, God, I think all of them at some point were hard. When I came into NASCAR racing, I didn’t run a lot in the Nationwide Series. My first year I ran eight races with Harry Ranier, the second year I ran five for Gibbs, the second year was 22 for Gibbs. I probably barely ran a full season in three years before I started in Cup.

It still was a huge learning curve for me to get used to short tracks, superspeedways, intermediate tracks, road courses. They were all at different stages challenging because there’s so much variation. Just like Texas. If you look at it over the top, it looks just like Charlotte and Atlanta, but the way they race and drive are different. Each track has its own personality. It takes time to, A, learn a car that I wasn’t familiar with and, B, learn tracks I wasn’t familiar with. At some point it was definitely challenging to each track.

Q. When NASCAR starts using an ethanol blend of fuel, what are your concerns with performance given your experience with methanol or ethanol?

TONY STEWART: If you can make Jell-O burn and they decide we’re going to run Jell-O in the fuel cells, it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t build the engines, so it’s really not a concern from my standpoint. Hopefully it’s better for our environment, and obviously we’re in a world, all around the world, obviously everybody is worried about our environment and what we can do to make it better. NASCAR hasn’t stepped aside from that. They’re active in trying to figure out how we can protect our environment and at the same time keep a sport alive that we love.

So I’m proud of them for that. I’m proud of them for pushing that direction. I obviously don’t know the technical side of how that will affect the cars and everything. But the good thing is that it will most likely affect everybody evenly. It’s up to the engine builders to figure out the technical side of how to make that work.

If it’s going to help our environment and we still get to go out and do what we do in front of millions of people every week, I’m all in favor of it.

Q. Could you point out the main factors, what races you have circled on your calendar for this season?

TONY STEWART: All 38 races. We really don’t pinpoint anything. They’re all important. All the races pay the same amount of points each week, except for the two special events obviously. You have to treat each of them as important as any of the other races.

Obviously going to Indy is a big deal to me, and obviously the Daytona 500 is huge because it’s our biggest race of the year. Aside from those two, you treat them all the same. They’re all evenly important. Obviously the last 10 weeks are what it’s all about as far as deciding the championship. So you have to obviously circle those on the calendar.

But, you know, I guess I’ve always been one of those guys from day one that I came into this series I always said you take it one day at a time, one week at a time. That’s what we do. We don’t put more emphasis on any race than the one before or after it.

Q. Tony, you’re a distant seventh in the Chase, six races in. Could you talk about how disappointed you are or whether you felt like you gave it the best effort you could, this is how things came about, what your feelings are about how the Chase has gone for you?

TONY STEWART: It just kind of is what it is. Obviously the weeks that didn’t go right, I would love to be able to go back and try to make them better. But, you know, there’s a lot of guys that have had weeks they wish they can make better.

It’s just part of the sport. When you have a sport that has 43 cars and drivers in it every week, only one guy gets to go to Victory Lane, there’s 42 guys that didn’t accomplish their goals.

I can’t sit here and say that I’m happy about where we’re at, but I guess there’s 31 teams and drivers that wish they even had a chance to race for the championship and were in the Chase. I feel fortunate that we’re there. We accomplished that side of the goal. We probably aren’t going to have the reality of accomplishing the second side of it, and that’s trying to win a championship this year.

Q. Tony, a couple of months ago we talked about maybe you adding another driver to your team. I realize the economy is still on the soft side. But have you considered adding a third member to your team or is everything still in a hold position?

TONY STEWART: Well, we’re at the end of October. If we were going to do that, we would have liked to have had it started and had the decision made by the middle of summer. It’s not going to happen for next year.

We obviously would love it. The goal of the organization is to be a four-car team eventually. Yes, I mean, down the road we want to have a third team and a fourth team after that. Like you said, there’s a lot of challenges right now in the sport. It’s hard keeping the two cars that we have financed right now.

We’ve got great partners. We just added Mobil 1. I think it’s a compliment to our organization that we’ve been able to attract some major companies and still have the support of Office Depot, the U.S. Army, Haas Automation, Tornados, Coca-Cola, all these companies that are with our program, I’m proud that we have. I think it’s something that you can’t take for granted in this economy right now. To have these partners with us, I feel like we’re very fortunate and blessed to have them. But it’s not an easy task to add a team right now. You don’t see very many teams adding a car to their stable.

It is something we want to do. It didn’t work out to do for us for the 2011 season. When we get the right opportunity, and the right partner and driver, if we can get that combination, we’re definitely interested in that for sure.

Q. If things do turn around and start to look good, how would you do it? Would you look at some of the drivers that have been currently racing in the sport for a while or do you look at some of the young guys coming up?

TONY STEWART: Both. You look at all your options. I don’t think as a car owner, there’s a car owner out there they’re going to lock out one of those categories or another. You have to look at what all your options are.

I think a lot of it depends on the partner that you bring in. If it’s a partner that wants instant success, you have to look at guys that are proven commodities in the sport. If you have a partner that is willing to let you take somebody and take a chance on somebody that you think has a lot of potential, that frees you up even more to look at somebody that’s upcoming and deserves a good chance.

I think a lot of that somewhat can be dictated by the partner you bring in, kind of get their temperature on what their expectations are.

Q. Tony, next year I know you love Indianapolis, but how about the series coming to a spot not too far from your home, the Kentucky Speedway?

TONY STEWART: Excited about it. It’s almost as close to where I grew up in Columbus, Indiana, as Indy is. It’s a little bit further obviously. We have a lot of friends down in that area. A lot of dirt track friends. It’s cool to be racing in their backyard. Hopefully some of those people we know all of our life will get a chance to come watch us there.

You look at the progress that the speedway and the determination they’ve had to get a Cup race there, they definitely have deserved one. From the day it was announced they got it, they started tearing ground up right away to add and make improvements to the facility to try to accommodate more people for a Cup race.

Very happy that they got it. I feel like it’s a part of our country that has deep racing roots and is very deserving of a Cup date.

Q. You making some more improvements next year at El Dora?

TONY STEWART: Always. The thing I’ve learned about racetracks and life is you’re never satisfied with what you’ve got; you always want to do things to make it better. That’s the fun part for me as a track owner, sitting down at the end of the year and discussing with our staff what ideas we have to make it better for the fans, to make it better for the drivers, the owners, and see how we can try to help grow the sport.

All three of those areas have to grow at the same time. So it’s fun to sit there and try to figure out what kind of improvements and what our plan is for the upcoming season to try to make it better for everybody.

Q. Pick for the World Series?

TONY STEWART: Not yet. Too early to tell. I’m just looking forward to it. The cool thing is we got two teams that are definitely hungry for a championship. It’s going to be fun to watch. I’m not going to miss a game.

DENISE MALOOF: Tony, we really appreciate your time today, as always. Thank you for joining us and best of luck at Talladega.

TONY STEWART: All right, guys. Thank you.

DENISE MALOOF: To all the media who joined us, we also appreciate your time. We’ll see you again next week.

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