FORD FAST FACTS:

• Aric Almirola will be driving the No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion this weekend, replacing Kasey Kahne.

• Travis Kvapil has the task of trying to qualify the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion on speed today while David Gilliland and Tony Raines have guaranteed spots for Front Row Motorsports.

• The last Ford NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Martinsville came in 2002 with Kurt Busch (15 races ago).

• There are no current Ford drivers in this weekend’s field with a

NSCS victory at Martinsville.

• Richard Petty has the most race wins (15) as a driver at

Martinsville and the most victories as an owner (19).

Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards all held Q&A sessions Friday at Martinsville Speedway in advance of Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500. Transcripts of each interview are below.

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Black Ford Fusion – THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF RUMORS THIS WEEK ABOUT RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS. IF RPM WERE TO GO AWAY, HOW WOULD IT CHANGE THE FORD EFFORT AND WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING? “Losing Kasey and Kenny Francis, Slugger and some of the other guys is gonna hurt to a certain point, but everybody is gonna have a different opinion on that. I usually get in trouble when I give my view on it, but I will just say that I don’t think bigger is always better. I think sometimes you can be smaller and really focus on going racing, instead of just being so huge and running around trying to manage the huge company. I think sometimes maybe from a driver’s perspective we could be more competitive.”

KASEY IS CLIMBING IN A NEW CAR THIS WEEKEND. YOU HAD TO DO THAT ONCE WHEN YOU SUBBED FOR BILL ELLIOTT. HOW TOUGH IS THAT? “It’s always different when you go and work with different people or people that you’re familiar with aren’t there anymore. It’s always a little bit different, but I don’t think it’s gonna be that big of a deal with these cars.”

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS THESE LAST FIVE RACES? “We haven’t had a win for a long time, so we certainly would like to get back to Victory Lane and get back to winning with the 17 and finish as high as we can in the points and be ready for next year.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK THIS WEEKEND? “So far we’ve started out pretty well. Our qualifying practice was decent. I think that we have a good shot at qualifying well and getting a good starting position. We’ve yet to see how we’re gonna run in race trim, but the last time we were here we ran pretty well. Matt Kenseth ran really well. I thought he had a chance to win the race, so we’re going off of our best car from the last race with some improvements, so hopefully we can have a good run.”

YOU STARTED YOUR CUP CAREER WITH 17 RACES LEFT IN THE SEASON. HOW HARD IS IT TO START IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEASON WITH A NEW TEAM? “For me, I can only speak from my experience, but we had to weigh whether or not I should just run the seven races to try and retain my rookie status, or if we should just go for it and try to build for the 2005 season. We decided that the more time we could get with me in the car, working with Bob and working with the guys, that that would be the best thing.

If you’re talking about right now, yeah, if you have to change teams right now, right now would probably be a difficult time to do it, but if you’re preparing for next season there’s no better time than as soon as you can start working together. With the way the season is structured, what’s gone on this week might turn out to be the best case for everyone involved performance-wise for next year. To be clear, I know nothing about the details of what’s going on. All I know is Kasey is in the 83 and he’s not in the 9. That’s truly the extent of what I know about the deal.” DAVID RAGAN AND DREW HAVE CLICKED ON THE 6 CAR. ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO FIGHT FOR HIM AFTER THE YEAR IS OVER? “Yeah, they’re great on the chart here. They beat us at Charlotte. They’ve really stepped it up. That’s great for David Ragan, but we’re gonna have to sit down at the end of the year and decide where Drew is gonna go. It’s really up to Drew, but I would take him in a heartbeat, but it depends upon his analysis of what’s going on with that team and what him and David determines the best. If it’s the best for Drew to stay there, then I guess he’ll stay there. But, yeah, I was a little nervous about that when we moved Drew that I wouldn’t get him back and I guess if I don’t, that’s a sign that the best case is happening.” DO YOU FEEL THAT YOUR SIDE IS PLAYING CATCHUP IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES BECAUSE RESULTS WITH THE NEW CAR HAVE NOT BEEN AS GOOD AS YOUR OPPOSITION? “Yeah, definitely.

Charlotte was a huge struggle. I’m not sure when the last time was we raced that hard for 13th or wherever we finished, but that’s pretty frustrating. The reason I can have hope is that I believe our engine program will be better for next year, if we’re able to institute the FR9, to run it and develop it. That’s all I can hope for. I know how good our guys are. I feel very confident that my abilities to run those Nationwide cars and I feel like, yes, we are playing catch up.

If we can catch them, that would be great, but we’ve got to do it.

But I think the engine will be a big deal. I think if we can get a little help there, it’ll be good. If not, it’s gonna be a tough season and we’ll have to use everything we can, but there’s still a lot of time between now and then. A lot can happen.” HOW MUCH HAS RPM HELPED ROUSH FENWAY AND HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THAT THEY SURVIVE AS A TEAM? “Like I said, I don’t know the details of the relationship entirely. I don’t know exactly where all the money goes and things like that, but for me personally, for Bob and for our team, when we sit down in our competition meetings and are able to use things not only the drivers say but the crew chiefs and their strategies and things they’ve learned over the years, it’s been hugely helpful to me.

I feel like it’s a big help. I feel like if they were to go away or that relationship were to dissolve that it would be bad for our Aflac team’s performance. So I think we need to do everything we can from the performance side to keep them going. That is my opinion. That doesn’t take into account the business side of it.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – HAD YOU WORKED WITH AJ ALLMENDINGER BEFORE HE CAME TO RPM? “No, but my trainer, they worked with him a little bit, so I knew of AJ. I knew of his talent and then I worked with a guy who was like his team manager or something at one of the road courses we went to, so I was aware of him and had some knowledge of AJ. We see him running really well now and people that are close to him have been telling me for a couple years now how massively talented he is and if he figures this out how good he’s gonna be and it shows now.

He’s able to run up front all the time, but I didn’t work with him first-hand before this. There was a road course we went to, it’s like a guy who coached him or worked on his team helped me and I can’t remember if AJ and I talked or not, but I remember that gentleman helped me and I think it was when we went to Montreal for the first time.” HOW DO YOU RECONCILE WHAT JIMMIE JOHNSON HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO?

“It’s just pretty amazing. I guess there are a lot of other words for it, but it’s amazing. They’ve just been able to perform at a level, we’ve been at that level and have performed at that level before, but we haven’t been able to perform at that level for five years. To be able to constantly perform at that level is the thing that’s pretty spectacular to me. We’ve just got to go beat them. We’ve got to figure out how to do it better than them, but, right now they’re able to perform better on the race track better than anyone else over a long period of time. It’s pretty spectacular.” HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THE SPORT NEEDS A DIFFERENT CHAMPION? “It’s a sport, so the best man wins. That’s how it goes. If Jimmie is the fastest and he wins, that’s okay. It’s a sport. What is the other option?

What do we do? We go out, we have the rules set, we all race under the same rules, we race at the race track and when it’s over, whoever wins, wins. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. People are always gonna resent a certain level of success. I respect Jimmie for what he’s done, more importantly I respect him as a person. He’s a decent guy to compete with. I really enjoy racing against him. Win, lose or draw he comes over and shakes your hand afterwards. You get beat by a guy like that because he did better than you that day, that’s just the way it is.” DO TEAMS RACE DIFFERENTLY NOW AS OPPOSED TO IN PREVIOUS YEARS WHEN IT WAS A SEASON-LONG POINT SYSTEM? “Yeah.

I like to think that. I like to think, ‘Boy, I really won the championship in 2008,’ but I didn’t. I scored more points, but they didn’t make the chase format after the last race was completed. The chase format was the whole season, so you can’t really go back with hindsight and say, ‘Would it have worked out this other way,’ because we would have been racing under a different format. So, yes, I believe that teams race a little bit differently because they know what we’re doing here. It’s like boxing. If you know you’ve got 12 rounds, you might box a little bit differently the first few. I think that it’s hard to say that. As much as I’d like to say that, considering we all have the same rules and we all know what they are before the season starts, I don’t think that’s completely fair to say.

It’s an arguable point, I guess.” DO YOU PREPARE FOR THE LAST 10 RACES DIFFERENTLY? “I think if you’re good enough you can do that.

If you’re struggling, you’re just hanging on and running everything as hard as you can for the first 26, but I think there are teams that once they realize they’re fast enough at the beginning of the year, they might do some things that short-term might not be the best, but at the end they’re better. I think that is possible.” EVERY YEAR THE

48 DOES WAY BETTER IN THE CHASE THAN THE REGULAR SEASON. “That might be evidence of their superiority. Maybe they’re the only team that is capable to run well enough to be confidently in the chase and then change gears and be a little more aggressive at the end. I don’t know. I would say that if our cars were as fast as they were in 2008 every year, I would say that there would be some interesting things we could do strategically, we could afford to do some things that maybe we couldn’t do if we were just hanging on to make sure we’re in the chase. It’s all speculation, I don’t know what really goes on in their shop, but the proof is in the results there. They’re just able to do it.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – DO YOU SEE ANYTHING WITHIN ROUSH FENWAY’S SYSTEM THAT SHOULD BE CHANGED? “I’ve won 16 races at Roush and I have a ton of respect for Jack and Robbie and the way they do things, and I’ve never driven for anyone else, so I don’t have anything to compare it to. It is interesting to me that Jamie has had the level of success he’s had this season considering how much he struggled at Roush. I don’t know if that’s specific to Jamie and how he interacted with the people there, or the circumstances he was in, I don’t know.

But it is interesting and it’s almost shocking in a way how people can move in this sport and go somewhere different and perform completely differently. I don’t know what that is.” CHILDRESS MADE CHANGES WITH MANAGEMENT AND THINGS HAVE GOTTEN BETTER. “I know from my limited experience I have about four employees and it’s very difficult to manage that, so I don’t know how guys like Jack Roush or Richard Childress or Chip or any of those guys do it to begin with and then to do it well seems very difficult. But the other thing is I don’t know if that’s the difference between running really well or not. There was a stretch a couple weeks back 10-12 races where our 99 team scored more points than anybody in the sport. Right then I said, ‘Okay, we’re doing everything perfectly. We’re on top right now. We’re actually performing better than anyone else.’ That comes and goes and our management didn’t change. I just don’t know. That’s a tough part about the sport, but it’s spectacular what Jamie has been able to do this year and it definitely makes me look and my crew chief and everyone over at Roush look and say, ‘Hey, are we missing something?

If Jamie is able to go run this well with some different circumstances, maybe there’s room for improvement with our team.’ I think we just have to talk to Jamie about that, if he’d tell me. I don’t know if he would (smiling).” HOW IMPORTANT IS TO YOU TO POSSIBLY WIN THE LAST RACE AT GATEWAY? “Gateway would be spectacular to win tomorrow. The races that we’ve won there have all been really special to me. The one in the spring was a little more exciting than I would have liked, but it was special nonetheless. To be able to win the last race, like I said last week, I’m still in denial. I don’t think that will be the last race there. I hope we can work something out and run there again because it’s close to home. That track has provided some really, really great racing. In the Truck Series and the Nationwide Series it’s been, I think, one of the most exciting tracks we go to. Whatever is going on with trying to get fans there it’s not working, so hopefully someone can come in there and understand how to fix that and maybe in the future we’ll race there again. But that will be a bittersweet race tomorrow no matter how it turns out.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – HOW WAS PRACTICE AND WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WEEKEND? “The first practice went remarkably well. I don’t know what happened, but I think we finished up near to the top 10 or the top 5. I’ve either figured something out or the track is being good to me, or we’ve got our car a little bit better than it’s been in the past. All kidding aside, it seems like it’s decent for the first part of it. Hopefully, we can qualify up there and then tomorrow work on trying to get it to run like that on long runs. That’s going to be the important part, so I feel pretty good about it so far, and I’m looking forward to Sunday.” HOW MUCH HAS ROUSH FENWAY BENEFITTED FROM THE RPM RELATIONSHIP? “I think that we’ve benefitted greatly from the relationship. I would have to say we’ve probably benefitted a little bit more from the relationship than they have. That may not be a true statement. We’ve gotten our cars better and more competitive because of some technology that they had, but I think we’ve been able to help them on parts and pieces and producing their cars and manufacturing and all those, so I think it’s been a two-way street, but we’ve benefitted speed-wise, which competitiveness-wise we’ve got a greater benefit out of that part of it. They’ve probably got a greater benefit out of having more durable pieces and not having stuff breaking on the race track.

GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED – “It’s important for them to survive because the relationship between our company and their company, they can bring information to the table that we can learn at the race track, and it helps us, I think, to be able to manufacture parts and pieces for them, similar to what Hendrick does for other people, and Gibbs, so I think it’s important they survive, and for Ford. We’re the only Ford team – the two of us – so I think it’s important we keep their presence in the sport.” DID ALL THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES FALL INTO PLACE FOR DENNY TO WIN THIS RACE IN THE SPRING? COULD THAT HAPPEN AGAIN? “Well, I think a little of both. I think tires are important here. Tires are worth a lot of speed, but you’ve got to be able to pass. When the cars are side-by-side it makes it difficult to pass here, so there were some unique circumstances with bumping and banging and the cars got slowed up, he got some lane choices there that worked for him. Can it be done? Certainly. There will be guys that do it again this year. I tend to like to have tires on it and to have grip, so you can really go, but track position is nice as well, so you’ve got to juggle between one another on track position or tires.” WHAT DO YOU DO WITH 15 TO GO? “Fifteen to go I’m probably thinking about two, and a lot of it depends on how many laps I have on my tires. Do I have 140 laps on my tires or 125, or do I have 60 or less? That makes a big impact as well. The other thing is when was the last caution? There’s so much that goes into it. Let’s say there was a caution 10 laps earlier, or 15 laps earlier and everybody stayed out.

Well, from 12th on back everyone stopped for tires. Now we went another 12 laps and the caution comes out again. If we pit, 12th on back are staying out because they got tires 15 laps ago, so now you’re gonna start eighth with cars that have pretty good tires. If you stay out, you’ve got eight cars behind you that you might be able to stay in front of that the new tires are stuck behind, so there are so many scenarios that can happen and that’s what a crew chief has to determine – all those scenarios and what if, what if, what if.” HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CHASE SCENARIO RIGHT NOW? “It’s frustrating that you work all season and it gets down to you pitted and the caution came out and trapped you, and then it comes down to we had the engine too lean and we blew up. Therefore, we’re out of the hunt and we’ve got to wait until next year to make another go at the title.

First, we’ve got to make the Chase and then we’ve got to perform again. That’s a lot to think about and a lot to look towards. As far as the championship goes, the reality is that if you’re not in it, I don’t really care. If I can’t win it, then it really doesn’t affect me. If Jimmie wins it again or Denny wins it or Kevin Harvick or Tony, it’s not gonna impact me that much. I’m just gonna compete and try to do the best I can and see where I can get to in the points and just see what happens.” YOU’VE HAD TWO TOP-10 FINISHES AT TALLADEGA IN THE LAST THREE RACES. HAS SOME STRATEGY WORKED FOR YOU OR IS IT LUCK? “I think both. Stay out of the wreck and stay out of the wreck. That’s gotten us top-10 finishes. We’ve got good cars. We almost won the Daytona 500. We’ve been right there restrictor plate racing, it’s just a matter of some you get through and some you don’t.

I like restrictor plate racing, but I don’t like being in the wreck.

Hopefully, we have another top 10 run coming up. I’m looking forward to it and maybe the tides will change if the 48 wrecks and Mulhern will have something to write about when he’s 60 points behind (laughing).” IF YOU WERE JEFF GORDON AND 156 POINTS OUT OF THE LEAD, DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE OUT OF IT? “No, he’s not out of it because if those three wreck at Talladega, where is he at? That’s very possible. Now, ask me that question after Talladega and I’ll tell you whether I think he’s out of it or not, but at 150 points, he’s not out of it. The thing you’ve got to remember at Talladega is about every car finishes, so we’re coming to the white and those guys wreck, they get 36th place. It’s not like you’re gonna get 21st. You spin out on the white flag and you’re in the gutter. Now, if they all run in the top 15 or top 10 at Texas, Phoenix and Homestead, yeah, he’s out of it. But next week is gonna determine how far. He’s got to gain points next week on at least two of those guys that are furthest ahead of him.”

GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED — SO THAT IS THE WILD CARD RACE? “I think so, and here. You could have your brakes go out. You could burn a gear up. Normally, we don’t really see engine issues here. If you get spun out here or you get involved in something, normally you can keep going, so it’s not so much of a wild card, but I think next week clearly is because we know there are wrecks at those race tracks and it’s just the bingo machine of who is going to be in it.”

AT SOME POINT THOUGH DON’T YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE 48 AND NOT BANK ON A WILD CARD ? “Yes. There’s no doubt he has to beat him. His question was, ‘Is he out of it?’ And I would say no. He’s not gonna be in front of him after Talladega. Let’s say Jeff Gordon finishes in the top five and Jimmie gets involved in a wreck and he’s in the high 30s, they’re gonna be real close. Now, yes, Jeff Gordon will have to outperform Jimmie Johnson at Phoenix, Texas and Homestead – not every race – but he’s gonna have to perform at the level of him. Now maybe Jeff Gordon feels like they can’t perform at that level. Maybe that’s possible. I would say my odds here of performing with the 48, the 11 and the 24 are less than the other three race tracks. The other three race tracks I feel like I can beat them, and Jeff Gordon has to feel like he can beat him here and maybe one or two of those other race tracks.

I’m speculating on what his thought process would be.” KASEY KAHNE IS TAKING SOME CRITICISM FOR NOT GETTING BACK IN THE CAR LAST WEEK. KYLE BUSCH WAS SIMILARLY CRITICIZED IN 2007 AT TEXAS. IT USED TO BE DRIVERS HAD TO BE RESTRAINED FROM GETTING BACK IN THEIR CAR AFTER A WRECK. HAVE THINGS CHANGED THAT MUCH? “In my eyes, no, because I’m gonna have to be physically restrained not to get back in that car. I will have tears in my eyes if I can’t drive it. That’s all there is to it. That’s what they pay me to do. I take pride in that, to do my best whatever it is. I’ll admit I’m not the best driver at Martinsville, but when I go out on the race track I give it 110 percent whether I’m running 28th or fifth or wherever I’m at – I give it 100 percent all the time and I’ll never quit on my guys or myself until I can’t do it anymore. I find it ironic that Kyle was driving for Rick Hendrick when he decided not to get back in the race car and that’s who Kasey is going to drive for. I don’t know. It’s weird. I don’t know all the circumstances around it, but I didn’t know he was sick before the race or during or whatever. I wasn’t in Kasey’s shoes, so I can’t criticize whether he was physically able to get back in or not. That’s Kasey’s call, but I would be there too. I would be scratching and clawing. There are times I don’t want to go back out, but when I’m asked to go back out on the track, I do the best I can do.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

TUMS FAST RELIEF 500

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 22, 2010

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Martinsville Speedway and discussed his car for Martinsville, team ownership and other topics. Full transcript:

HOW IS YOUR CAR? “I think it is decent. We won there at the end of the session so I think we are ok right now.”

TALK ABOUT THE PRESSURE ON TEAMS TO STAY SOLID FINANCIALLY AND WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF RICHARD PETTY’S NAME IS NO LONGER ON A TEAM IN THE SPORT: “I’ll be honest, it is hard to think about because it is hard to imagine if there wasn’t a Petty. We’ve sat here and done interviews about this story before and Richard (Petty) always finds a way to stay here. He’s been here a long time. He is smart enough to know how to stay here. He’ll be ok.”

DOES IT CONCERN YOU AS AN OWNER THAT THERE ISN’T THAT FRANCHISE-TYPE VALUE IN THIS SPORT? “We are all independent contractors, that’s the way its always been and that’s the way it should be.”

EVERYBODY TALKS ABOUT TALLADEGA BEING A WILD-CARD, CAN MARTINSVILLE BE THAT? “I don’t think so. No different than anywhere else we go. You can get in trouble here, but it’s not normally 15-20 cars deep in getting in trouble. If you get in a problem, it is normally because you are a root of it or directly involved in it.”

DID YOU MAKE BIG GAINS IN THE LAST FEW MINUTES OF PRACTICE? “We always do that, that is what we do every week.”

IS THE STRATEGY OF THE SPRING WINNER TAKING FOUR TIRES NEAR THE END HERE, IS THAT NOW A WAY TO GO? “I think we’ll know more tomorrow in practice and seeing how they fall off and seeing how our cars handle. The crew chiefs will decide. They will know because they will look at the lap times every lap. They’ll know what the pace is and they will know when they start falling off.”

FAST-FORWARD TO TALLADEGA, WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE WITH FIVE LAPS TO GO? “I don’t know. I’m not ready to fast-forward next week. I’m still at Martinsville. Next week ask me when we get to Talladega where I want to be with five laps to go. And you can only ask me that when I am about eight laps from the end. I won’t know until I get there. Everybody wants to fast-forward and look forward to everything. We’re still trying to work on what we are doing this weekend. We’re on Friday at Martinsville and next week is a better time to ask me about Talladega. I’m not worried about it right now, we’ll worry about it next week. I appreciate you asking but I am a single dimensional person, I want to work on today and worry about that only.”

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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

TUMS FAST RELIEF 500

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 22, 2010

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET met with media and discussed his Martinsville battle with Denny Hamlin, running for the championship, Talladega, tire strategy, and more. Full Transcript:

YOU HAVE A 41 POINT LEAD COMING HERE TO MARTINSVILLE TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS ON RACING HERE ON SUNDAY

“Yeah, you know we are excited to be back at Martinsville.  Martinsville has been a great track for the 48 team over the years and there is a certain rhythm to this track that took me a while to figure out but once I found the rhythm the results have been really good for me here and its just a fun place to race.  It can be frustrating at times and there is no doubt about that but when you get in the right rhythm and things are clicking off like you would hope you can have a lot of fun on this race track. It’s cool and I am glad to be back and we will just see how the weekend unfolds.”

YOU AND DENNY HAMLIN HAVE WON BETWEEN YOU THE LAST 8 RACES AT MARTINSVILLE.  DOES ONE OF YOU HAVE TO RUN WELL AND ONE OF YOU HAVE TO HAVE A TOUGH DAY TO CHANGE MOMENTUM?

“Yeah, I know there is a lot of hype coming into this race but at the end of the day there are four more races left and there are so many points to be won and lost in those four races and I still can’t stress it enough that Talladega can equal this whole thing up and its an eight car race or a ten car race for the championship so at this point its really about doing the best job I can do here as possible and if that’s eighth, then so be it. We did all we could and we finished eighth and we have to go to Talladega and do our best there.  But I am not going to get caught up in just worrying about one guy.  Its just not worth it at this point.

“After we get out of Talladega there will be more of a clear strategy kind of unfolds and we know who we really need to race and what to do from there.  Hopefully we are in a position to protect.  That’s the position I want to be in.  I want to leave here with a win, there is no doubt about that.  But I want to go to Talladega and win that race, but you just don’t know. I just want to keep a realistic approach to all this and score every point I can and then after Talladega, I know what I need to do then.”

YOU HAVE RACED DENNY HAMLIN AT THIS TRACK SO MUCH IS IT DIFFICULT TO COME UP WITH A DIFFERENT MOVE TO GET BY HIM OR TO KEEP HIM BEHIND YOU?  JUST LIKE BALL PLAYERS WHO PLAY AGAINST EACH OTHER SO MUCH THEY GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER’S MOVES, IS IT KIND OF LIKE THAT AT THIS PLACE AND HARD TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

“Yeah, I mean so much of it depends on how a driver’s car is handling when you get to them.  There are certain things you do when you catch someone who has a tight race car or a loose race car so, it’s really hard to say that there is one particular move.  In a way I find its kind of easy coming here because I know I need to have the best car I can.  I mean it’s not like you are going to beat the 11 and it’s not just the 11, but I think the RCR cars have an awful lot of speed here and my teammate Jeff is really good at this track and you know you can’t compromise on ‘hey, I think we are close’, it makes it easy because you have to make sure your stuff is right. And that is our goal today and tomorrow.”

IS THERE A MENTAL ADVANTAGE OF BEING IN THE LEAD WITH JUST A FEW RACES LEFT IN THE CHASE KNOWING OTHER PEOPLE HAVE TO BEAT YOU?

“Yes, there definitely is an advantage and I have said this before, I think that the teams are strong enough, the drivers are fast enough that a four point lead isn’t going to intimidate anyone. The larger the points lead, the better that can happen. I think the thing that sends the larger statement is how you have been running lately.  And I think the worse we have been since New Hampshire is third and I think that sends a statement and that works in our favor.  If it’s really in their heads right now, its really hard to say. There are still five races left and I think all of us drivers look at it and say, ‘it took us five races to get to this point and certainly five races could swing it the exact opposite direction. So it’s a little too early for anyone to fret all that much. I could be wrong and I hope that I am because I need any advantage I can possibly get and I think here in the next two to three weeks if we are able to keep running like we are then that will start to work for us, but I just think it’s a little early yet.”

If you are way out then you have to win races, if there are a couple guys you are worrying about then your focus gets more narrow and you really focus on two or three cars and where they are at. So it changes all the time and the other thing that I am guilty of just like anyone else, is that you never want to give up and you want to have hope that you can come back so even if the situation is terrible. You and your team are building around something and you’re not go down without a fight and you do what you can and you find a way to be optimistic and you find a way to find some hope.  And I think that also plays into the fact that we are also only five races into this thing and there are a lot of guys who have a lot of hope, and they should. There is a lot of racing left and I guess that is why I don’t have a lot of earth shattering statements at this point because there is a lot of racing left.”

IS THE RUN FOR THIS CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR ANY DIFFERENT THAN ANY OF THE OTHERS THAT YOU HAVE WON?

“Yeah, I think that every other championship has helped me be more confident in my abilities, what my team is capable of; and there are probably some other emotions

that are wrapped up into it that all lead to the fact that I am much more relaxed fighting for this championship than any other championship in my life.  So experience really helps out a lot and I have enjoyed these last five races more than I did the last year and the year before, and so on. 

”I feel like I am in a really good place where some guys that are fighting for their first championship, there is so much on it.  I have been there, so I know exactly what those feelings are like. I feel like it’s helpful for me to be this relaxed and to come in and not obsess over things during the week and to come into the track with a fresh mind and a ton of energy and go to work.  So I really hope that the experience gives me an upper hand through the championship battle.”

ON THE BUMPS BETWEEN YOU AND DENNY HAMLIN IN THE PAST BATTLING FOR THE WIN AND WHETHER THAT CHANGES WITH THE CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIO OR IS THAT JUST SHORT TRACK RACING?

“Yeah, for me it’s more short track racing.  It’s taken me more time to try and move someone out of the way…….and my experience has been that it takes more time to try and move someone out of the way than to get position on them to pass them. Usually when I move somebody out of the way…..I wreck them.  I just don’t have that soft touch and all the time it takes to set it up for the soft touch, I could just be inside of the car and have position on them and go about my business. 

And the contact that Denny and I had getting into turn three here before, it was really just a racing thing.  I was in there deep on the brakes and he thought he was clear to come down and we rubbed a little bit but everybody has their own style and at the end of the day I guess what I am getting at is that some guys are good with the bump and run and the casual contact but for myself I like to climb out of the car – especially at Martinsville and I have done it in the past – without a tire mark on the race car and we are sitting in victory lane.  I take a lot of pride in that and I think that the way that I race people pays off in the long run and there is no sense, five races into this thing when I get around the guys I am racing and laying tire marks on them and roughing them up.  Again, what is it going to do?  Once again it’s just not time to do that stuff.  There is a time and a place for it and certainly if it comes my way, I can’t just let it happen, I have to interact the same way that guys are treating me but there is nothing better than pulling into victory lane with a clean race car and holding the trophy.”

ON MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY SPENDING MONEY TO IMPROVE THE FACILITY

“It’s always great to see track owners and operators putting back into the facility. This race track, for me, is fun to come to because it is a time warp back with today’s world and the big race tracks. We’ve kind of lost the feel of the old school racing that we’ve had and I always appreciate coming here because it helps me understand a little bit more and takes me back to that point. I hope it keeps its character but at the end of the day it needs to be easy to get in and out and the fans need a great experience when they come to the track. They’re here for days on end and at the shortest bit they’re here for six or seven hours. It really needs to accommodate the fans to give them a great experience.”

EARLIER THIS WEEK DENNY HAMLIN SAID AT TALLADEGA HE’S GOING TO KEEP YOU IN FRONT OF HIM THE WHOLE TIME AND IF HE’S GOING TO BE IN A WRECK, YOU’RE GOING TO BE IN IT. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THAT? IS TALLADEGA A PLACE WHERE A GUY CAN GET INTO YOUR HEAD PUSHING YOU THROUGH THE PACK ALL DAY LONG?

“I don’t really think that there’s any type of head game to be played at Talladega. I think it’s really about playing your odds. Knowing Denny like I do, he’s a man that likes to play the odds. He’s really sharp with that stuff. He’s into numbers. He’s into stats. He’s into all that stuff. And it’s not a bad strategy. Ideally you put the No. 29 (Harvick) and the No. 11 (Hamlin) and the No. 48 (Johnson) all in a group and if we all leave there with the same amount of points and we race in, it is what it is. So I certainly understand that approach. I think it’s more of a smart decision based on odds than it is any type of mental tactic. At that track, you can pass people at will and it depends on the lane you’re in and it’s really not a driver performance, car performance situation. It’s really being in the right lane at the right time. I don’t read too far into that. He’s just trying to think through his options, you know, on what to do.”

I WORRY THAT YOU OVERDRIVE SOME TOO MUCH. YOU WENT AGAINST KURT AND KYLE BUSCH LAST SATURDAY NIGHT AT CHARLOTTE WAY TOO HARD FOR 5 POINTS; AND THEN I WAS REFLECTING ON TEXAS WHEN YOU AND KENSETH WENT SIDE-BY-SIDE WHEN YOU WEREN’T REALLY RACING HIM FOR THAT MANY POINTS. ARE YOU WORRIED THAT YOU MIGHT JUST TAKE YOURSELF OUT BECAUSE YOU’RE A RACE DRIVER AND YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO RACE HARD?

“Man, we fight with that battle every day, every lap. Every race car driver does. And the thing I’ve found is that there is a sweet spot that I operate well in. And there’s no doubt, earlier in the year I was stepping over that line. I say all that and I did spin out at Charlotte (laughs) in stepping over the line. But that’s the internal struggle that every single driver has. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the local short track or it’s all the way here on the Cup level. Like in baseball and football and any other pro sport, when you start defending and you lose your rhythm, you make mistakes. So there’s an argument that says yeah, is it worth the risk? At the same time, if you back off and don’t do things that you typically would, you create problems then. The five points with Kyle the other night? I could have forced it a little harder and tried to get to his outside a couple of times, but I was trying to think big picture there. That’s when I was having the argument. You can watch it each lap; I’d kind of roll up to him in the center and had maybe a little bit more throttle than I wanted to and I’m like all right, maybe he’ll make a mistake; I just want to be in position that if he makes a mistake I can try to pick up those five points. So, I was in a full-on argument in my own head out there. And that’s what we do.”

SIX YEARS AGO THERE WAS A RACE HERE WHERE YOU WERE LEADING WITH LIKE 40 OR 50 TO GO AND THERE WAS A LATE RACE CAUTION AND THERE WERE 14 CARS ON THE LEAD LAP. YOU PITTED AND NOBODY ELSE DID. IT ALWAYS SEEMED LIKE THAT USED TO BE THE LATE RACE STRATEGY WAS TO JUST TO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE LEADER DOES IF YOU’RE TOWARD THE BACK. IS THAT NOT TRUE AS MUCH ANYMORE OR DO YOU WANT TO DO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE GUYS IN FRONT DO IF YOU’RE TOWARD THE BACK?

“I have to agree that it has changed. In the past it was much more of a numbers game. If you were in the minority, you probably made the wrong move. If you’re in the majority, things worked out for you. Now it’s a little bit more unclear what works. When I won my race at Bristol, I think I restarted 6^th on tires. I thought I was dead in the water. No chance. I would have to believe that Denny (Hamlin), when we were here in the spring, when he restarted deep in the field I thought that four tires wasn’t the call. But it worked out. I don’t know if there is a clear cut easy decision for the crew chiefs to make, but trends are kind of showing that tires are more important with these double-file restarts. And truthfully, the worst position to be in is the first couple of cars near guys with tires. That’s the thing; a crew chief doesn’t want to put his driver or car in that situation. If you think they’re coming and you’re around that cutoff point, you’re better off just coming to put road so that you’re not that first car on old tires and end up losing 8 or 10 spots.”

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

TUMS FAST RELIEF 500

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 22, 2010

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET, met with members of the media to discuss racing at Martinsville, switching pit crews, and more.  Full transcript:

YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF SUCCESSFUL RUNS AT MARTINSVILLE OVER THE LAST FEW VISITS.  YOU HAVE TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT COMING BACK HERE:  “Yeah.  We put a lot of emphasis on this track two or three years ago.  We’ve worked really hard at getting better at this place and I feel like we have.  I mean, we finished seventh in the spring, but certainly we ran a lot better than we finished.  Kind of all hell broke loose there at the end—two tires, four tires, no tires—and then out of nowhere he came out and won the race; there were a lot of wild things that had been happening, but that’s what makes racing great.  It is what makes a short track what it is.  The fans got their money’s worth right down to the last lap.”

KEVIN WAS IN HERE EARLIER TALKING ABOUT PIT CREW CHANGES AND I UNDERSTAND THAT ALSO INVOLVES YOUR TEAM—COULD YOU ADDRESS THAT?  WHAT’S GOING ON?“There is no question that my team is arguably the best team at RCR—they’ve been together the longest.  With us being out of the championship deal; Kevin is the last shot at RCR at basically bringing a championship home.  We owe it to everybody involved—all the employees who try to bring that championship back home.  Certainly I’m going to miss them, but we’ve got a brand new racecar built for here, it’s an exact replica—as close as we could get it—to the New Hampshire car so it should be fast again.  I think we can win with his pit crew as well.  There is certainly no slouch with what he had, and if he needed my crew to be better I was going to give it to him.  I owe it to him as a teammate.”

IS THIS A PERMANENT SWITCH?  “We’ll see.  Obviously if he is out of the championship contention then I’ll get them back, but as long as he’s in that thing and he can win a championship for RCR, why not?”

TALKING ABOUT THE END OF THE RACE EARLIER THIS YEAR WITH PITTING AND NOT PITTING AND TIRES—HAS IT GOTTEN TO THE POINT WHERE YOU CAN’T SIT DOWN WITH YOUR CREW CHIEF AND COME UP WITH A GAME PLAN ANYMORE?  HAS THE COMPETITION MOVED PAST THAT? “You can do that all you want, but you’d have to go through a thousand scenarios of what could happen.  You have to put yourself in position for the win.  There is no exact theory or recipe for that. 

It takes something different almost every race.  Denny Hamlin put four tires on and was able to root and gouge and get back up there, but the things that happened at the front—with Kenseth and Gordon getting in each other and creating a lot of havoc in front of him that he was able to get up in there and use his tires to win the race.  Had that not have happened, he probably wouldn’t have won the race, but it did and he won.  You just have to be able to have a little luck in that scenario, play the best cards you can and make the smartest decision that you can and with a little luck at all you can win the race with it.” 

THE PUBLIC HAS THIS IDEA THAT JIMMIE JOHNSON HAS THIS CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE BAG EVEN THOUGH HIS POINT LEAD ISN’T THAT BIG—WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT? “The public can sit in the stands and watch him do it for four years in a row—if you think about it, that’s a long time, that is a lot of races.  They have a reason to think that.  Believe it or not, they [the No. 48] are pretty good at it.  I hope somebody beats them for my sake and for being in this sport; and I love Jimmie Johnson, he’s a great guy.  I enjoy hanging out with him off the race track.  I had more fun with him than I’ve probably had with a lot of racers at Eldora and places like that; but by no means do I want him to win this championship.  I think it’s bad for everybody.” 

HOW HARD IS IT AS A DRIVER WHEN YOU SWITCH PIT CREWS—IS IT MORE OF AN ADJUSTMENT FOR THOSE GUYS THAN IT IS FOR YOU IN THE CAR? “Well, the ones that it is hard for is the guys that have been with him all year long and with five races to go you turn your back on them—that’s who it is hard for.  It’s difficult for those guys, but it is what it is.  We’re in this business to win championships and if he thought that he needed that to win a championship then we’ve got to give it to him.  A championship is a huge thing and that is our only shot a doing so.”

ARE SOME OF KEVIN’S OLD CREW MEMBERS ON THE TEAM TODAY, OR IS THAT A HIRED CREW THAT YOU BRING IN? “They’re the guys that I plan on winning this race with, so I’m fine with it.  We’re just switching the whole crew.  It is what it is.  That was the decision that was made and I’m fine with it.  I’ll get my guys back, I know that.  A lot of my guys work and build my racecar, so we all work together week in and week out at the race shop and at the race track.  I wanted to be the one.  They called and told me that that is what they wanted to do and I owed it to those guys to go in and tell them that.  On Tuesday morning, I went in myself and got my guys together and I told them what was going to happen, and that I thought we owed it to all the employees—there are 400 employees at RCR, not just those over the wall guys—we owed it to everybody at the engine shop that has been doing an awesome job all year long, from the fab shop to everybody involved, even the guy that mows the grass.  We owe it to them guys to bring a championship home and do everything we can do to that.”

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

TUMS FAST RELIEF 500

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 22, 2010

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, met with media and discussed short track racing, the upcoming Chase races, tire strategy at Martinsville, and more. Full Transcript:

ON RACING AT MARTINSVILLE THIS WEEKEND:

“Performance-wise, I feel like it (Martinsville Speedway) has been a good race track for us. We enjoy coming here and feel like we run well. We just need to get the finish this weekend we feel like we can get. I feel good about that. I feel good about where our car should start today and the car that they brought and everything. Everything on the car is better than what we raced the first race and aside from a parts failure, we ran really well. We’ll just go out and do what we know how to do and start going forward over these last five weeks. I think they’re good race tracks for us. We’ve got through Charlotte and Dover without any major disasters, so I’m looking forward to the next five.”

ON THE TUMS GRAND MARSHAL PROGRAM WHERE ONE PIT CREW MEMBER FROM EACH OF THE 43 RACE TEAMS WILL BE HONORARY GRAND MARSHAL FOR SUNDAY’S RACE AND THEY ARE A VITAL PART OF YOUR SUCCESS

“Yeah, and for us, Mark Williams, our truck driver is going to be the guy representing our team this weekend and he’s from a mile from here, so this area is obviously a big area for a lot of the team members with the Wood Bros. been near here, they’ve produced a number of good team members and guys that have been a part of this sport for a long time. Also, with the Petty’s and Childress and all the teams that are centrally located away from Mooresville and kind of up near this area, it’s cool to see those guys get a little recognition that have been a part of this sport for a long time.”

WHAT’S YOUR PERSPECTIVE AS TO WHY THIS TRACK SEEMS TO BE SO DIFFICULT FOR EVEN GOOD DRIVERS TO GET ADJUSTED TO?

“I think it just goes in streaks. It’s no different than any race track. You go through three or four or five years where you run good and for some guys it’s probably like Charlotte is for us. It’s just a race track where you just can’t get everything figured and so you just never have a good feel for what you need in the car.

“And that’s probably one reason why it’s so hard is everybody did grow up on short tracks so the tolerance for being off is very small. And you wind up, when you’re off, you’re off a small bit, but it’s a lot here. You’re looking at a hundredth of a second here in qualifying and a lot of the same times. When you wind up with the competition being that close, when you’re off it’s a mile here. It’s a lot of spots. It’s not just four or five spots, its 10 or 15 when you’re off a tenth.”

DO YOU HAVE TO HIT SOME HOME RUNS TO CATCH JIMMIE JOHNSON, OR CAN YOU JUST KIND OF TRY TO HOLD ON TO HIM?

“Or, just hit him! (laughter). No, I’m just kidding (laughs) kinda (more laughter). It’s a decent race track for us. Obviously those guys (Johnson and Denny Hamlin) have got the results to back it up, but we’ve gone from the beginning of the Chase and over-achieved on everything that we’ve done. This has just been a good year for us and we’re not going to do anything different. If we hit a home run this weekend, we hit a home run. If we don’t, there is no reason to worry about trying to force anything. And we just keep plugging away. I feel like we need to win a race in the next five to make it happen, but when you start forcing things to happen, you’ll wind up with a 35^th (place finish) and then you’ll be done. To be in the game, you have to be close enough to be a part of the game. And we’ll just keep racing.”

YOU ARE RUNNING A BLACK PAINT SCHEME SOME NEXT YEAR, IS THAT A TRIBUTE OR SIGNIFICANCE TO DALE EARNHARDT?

“Nope.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON AND DENNY HAMLIN HAVE WON THE LAST 8 RACES AT MARTINSVILLE, IN NASCAR YOU DON’T REALLY HAVE A ONE VERSUS TWO SHOWDOWN BUT DOES THIS RACE HAVE A ONE-TWO SHOWDOWN?

“I think it has a spoiler feel to it. We’ll spoil the one-two showdown this weekend, hopefully.”

DO YOU HAVE A MINDSET FOR WHAT YOU WANT TO DO THIS WEEKEND OR A CERTAIN POINTS GAP THAT YOU WANT TO CLOSE?

“I just told you what I wanted to do this weekend. I want to do what we’ve been doing. I want to do what we’ve been doing. I want to go out and race as fast as our car will go and race my own race.”

IN THE SPRING RACE, DENNY HAMLIN WAS HELPED BY HAVING ANOTHER CAUTION AT THE END. DOES THAT MAKE PEOPLE RECONSIDER WHAT THEY MIGHT DO IN THOSE SITUATIONS OR DO YOU JUST LOOK AT IT AS HE GOT AWFULLY LUCKY?

“We’ve looked at the tape a lot this week. And we look at the strategy of tires versus no tires versus track position and it seems like the tires, well they obviously mean something, but I think if you look at the circumstances where; I think if that wasn’t the No. 20 car that let Denny (Hamlin) in, he probably gets wrecked by somebody else. If that was me, he would have been wrecked because he wouldn’t have got in the hole and we probably both would have wrecked because he forced his way down on his teammate and that’s really what allowed him to win the race. The circumstances played out exactly how they needed to for him with the No. 17 and the No. 24 having something brewing there as far as a feud at that particular point and running into each other and it all just played out for him. I don’t think in circumstances, without the No. 20 car being there, I don’t think tires would have made it all the way back to the front. So I think if that circumstance played out again and the No. 20 car is not there, I don’t think he makes it back to the front. That’s what we analyzed this week anyway.”

ON MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY SPENDING MONEY TO KEEP THE TRACK UP TO DATE AND THE FANS HAPPY AND BRINGING FANS IN THE DOOR

“I think for everybody in the garage, we all grew up on short tracks and we all enjoy coming here. I think it’s a race track that kind of brings us all back to our roots. This particular race track has been a part of NASCAR for a long time. It’s fitting that it’s in the Chase and it’s kind of that wild card feel as far as you can get caught up in something here just like you can at Talladega, maybe not to the magnitude of Talladega, but there’s always that little bit of unknown. It’s a great place. They’ve done a good job with upgrading the facilities and continuing to do that and it’s a fun little race track.”

(INAUDIBLE) ON THE TRUCKS KHI IS RACING THIS WEEKEND

“Actually it’s a different truck than we raced the first race; it’s the same truck we raced at Loudon and it’s something that’s been a good race track for us and obviously we have pretty much the same setup that we had in the truck and I just look forward to it. We come here with the intentions of having a chance to win the race and putting ourselves in position to do that. We’ve got some things that have changed around and putting Butch and the whole No. 2 team on Hornaday’s truck this weekend and bringing David in to do my truck is going to be good. Anything less than one of those two trucks winning the race will be a disappointment for the weekend, but its fun for us to come race and see where we stand.”

TO GO BACK TO THE END OF THE RACE SCENARIO, CAN YOU GIVE ME A SENSE OF WHAT TIRES MEAN IF YOU COME IN AND GET FOUR? I KNOW YOU’VE GOT TRAFFIC AND OTHER ISSUES, BUT HOW MUCH MORE VALUABLE CAN FOUR OR TWO TIRES BE OVER SOMEBODY WITH OLDER TIRES?

“If you have four tires, I mean it’s going to fall off over 100 laps, it’s probably going to fall off a second. But in the first 50, it’s going to fall off four to five tenths and so it’s just a matter of how many laps. If’ there’s 50 laps left, everybody is going to come in and put four tires on. If there is 25 laps left and there’s 10 cars on the lead lap, most everybody is going to some in. But it’s just a matter of how many of those guys are on the lead lap and with 20 laps to go and you’re eighth, unless it plays out absolutely perfect like it did for him (Hamlin) last time, you’re not making it to the front; especially if you start on the outside on the restart because it’s going to be tough to get down when you’re in the middle of the pack like that.

“So it’s a crap shoot. It’s as much of a guessing game as it is anything when you put yourself in that position because the guys up front are going to do everything they can to hold their track position. They’re going to stay two-wide and if that leader gets out there you’re just not going to catch him unless there are multiple cautions and you can catch a break on the restart. If you start seventh you probably have a better chance that eighth and it’s just part of the gamble here. It could play out any way.”

(INAUDIBLE)

“It’s just pretty much the last couple of laps and you know it just all played out with the No. 24 and the No. 17 pushing each other and then the No. 17 pushing whoever it was up the race track. I think it was actually the No. 24 and the No. 11 just squirted down and he just forced his way down in front of the No. 20 and the No. 20 lifted. That was the only way he got down.”

SIX YEARS AGO THERE WAS A RACE HERE WHERE JOHNSON WAS LEADING WITH LIKE 40 OR 50 TO GO AND THERE WERE 14 CARS ON THE LEAD LAP. HE PITTED AND NOBODY ELSE DID. IT ALWAYS SEEMED LIKE THAT USED TO BE THE LATE RACE STRATEGY WAS TO JUST TO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE LEADER DOES IF YOU’RE TOWARD THE BACK. IS THAT NOT TRUE AS MUCH ANYMORE OR DO YOU WANT TO DO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE GUYS IN FRONT DO IF YOU’RE TOWARD THE BACK?

“I think it all depends; a lot of times if you’re the last car on the lead lap and you’re 14^th or 15^th, obviously your car is probably not handling very good. So you might come in and put two tires on or just stay out but you’re probably going to get run over. But usually what happens is if the leader pits and there are 14 cars on the lead lap, 7th and 8^th will be in the worst spot because those are the guys who are going to be the first ones vulnerable to the new tires. But if you’re 14^th through 10^th, you’re coming in regardless and probably 9th and 8th will come in too because they know they’re going to be in that spot and they’ll be the first ones on four tires. So it’s just a matter of where everybody breaks off. But the ten on the lead lap are coming regardless, and usually those guys that are in the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, or whatever it is, if there’s 20, the halfway will be 10^th, and those guys are the ones that are most vulnerable to losing spots. So, usually if you’re at the back of the lead lap you’re going to take a chance and come in probably regardless and those guys in the middle, if there’s 20, you’re going to have 8^th and 9^th probably stay out hoping that somebody stays out with them. It’s just that with the double-file restart, so much of that has changed; especially here because I think you see more guys pit just because the tires fall off more. But when you get inside that 25-lap window, it’s hard to make yourself come onto pit road if you haven’t been out there for a whole fuel fun, and come in and pit and say, all right, I’m leading the race and I’m going to come in and pit and there’s 20 laps to go, because you know there’s probably going to be a couple more cautions.”

EVERYONE SAYS THEY’RE GOING TO TAKE IT ONE RACE AT A TIME AND WE’RE GOING TO DO THE SAME THINGS WE’VE DONE AT THIS POINT. BUT HOW CAN YOU HOPE, BY DOING WHAT YOU’VE DONE ALL YEAR, TO BEAT A GUY WHO EVERY YEAR, DOESN’T DO WHAT HE HAS DONE ALL YEAR? EVERY SINGLE YEAR, JOHNSON IS BETTER IN THE CHASE THAN HE IS IN THE REGULAR SEASON. HOW DO YOU MATCH UP AGAINST THAT BY DOING THE SAME YOU HAVE BEEN DOING?

“That’s a good question. The first races don’t match up; really a lot of the races in the Chase, statistically haven’t matched up. They don’t match up well for us. If you look at average finishes and you look at the things that have happened in the past, we’ve been way above average over the first five races for us. The next five are particularly good race tracks for us as far as Homestead, Phoenix, and even here. We’ve run well here. But you look at those statistics and they don’t show that. So, for us, its do the same things that you do; and for us it’s been on certain weekends doing that same thing. You look at Michigan.

“Michigan was a race track that statistically was horrible for us and we didn’t look forward to going there, but we kept working at it and we go there and we dominate the race. And those are the things that when I talk about doing the same things that we’ve done all year, that we have to do. I’m not saying that we don’t have to win or we don’t have to be better. We have to be better than we’ve ever been in the Chase before. We have to be as good as we have been all year and some of that comes with winning a race and finishing in the top five. I agree. You’re going to have to beat the N. 48 because they do get better in the Chase; but for us, we’ve had a good year so doing those same things during the Chase would be just fine because those include winning races and running up front.”

HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES YOU’VE HAD ON PIT ROAD? IF THEY DON’T GET ADDRESSED, ARE YOU GOING TO BE ABLE TO CONTEND OVER THE NEXT FIVE RACES?

“Those issues have been addressed and I believe everything will be fine this week. Richard (Childress) made some huge changes this week.”

THREE YEARS AGO WITH THE NEW COT, YOUR CAR CAUGHT ON FIRE AND THE FAMOUS FOAM ISSUE. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT AND HOW FAR YOU THINK THE CAR HAS COME SINCE THEN?

“They have done a phenomenal job with the car. I don’t think it was any secret in the beginning that the fans didn’t like the cars; the cars had a lot of trouble. And you look at the cars now and they’ve got the spoilers back on the cars and I think the racing on the race track is as competitive as it has been since I’ve been a part of the sport and I think everybody has done a good job to fix a lot of the mechanical problems. The foam issue just goes along with a lot of things that have happened to us here at Martinsville. It’s just weird things like that. I think the foam caught on fire twice. But we’ve addressed, and I say we as a sport and NASCAR in general, have addressed so many issues that came about with the car and I think next year is just another progression of where the car is going to be by fixing the front nose to get rid of the splitter braces and make the car look sportier, much like the Nationwide cars do. From that particular time to now, it’s all come a long ways.

“From a driver’s standpoint, sitting in this car is like night and day compared to the old car because your head’s not sitting against the roll bar and you can move around in the car and not have to worry about hitting anything from a driver’s standpoint. So it’s just a way better race car than it was three years ago. They drive much better than they used to because we figured out the bump stops and things that just make them drive better. So it’s come a long way.”

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

TUMS FAST RELIEF 500

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

October 22, 2010

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Martinsville Speedway and discussed racing at Martinsville, changes in pit crews at RCR, thoughts on remainder of Chase and other topics.  Full transcript:

TALK ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT RACING AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY: “Certainly for me, is an important race for a lot of reasons. We have got ourselves in a position we don’t want to be in the Chase thing for sure. But, this is an important race. It means a great deal to me and we feel like we have some unfinished business from the spring. For us, we feel like this creates an opportunity.”

TUMS, THE RACE SPONSOR, IS HAVING A DESIGNATED MEMBER FROM EACH CREW TO START THE RACE SUNDAY, YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE CREW: “It is cool. It is cool that the crew members are recognized. They work so hard and put a lot of effort in. Obviously, the drivers get a tremendous amount of notoriety and attention, but the crew guys put a lot of work in. Every person’s effort is important and it is always cool when they get recognized.”

BIG STORY OF KASEY KAHNE CHANGING TEAMS EARLY, YOU WENT THROUGH THAT SEVERAL YEARS AGO, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU AS A DRIVER TO GET FULLY UP-TO-SPEED AND FULLY COMFORTABLE WITH A NEW TEAM? “I think the best thing is for practice to start. When that thing starts, the best way I know how to describe it, is when the buzz starts, it is like there is so much attention, there is so much anxiety, there’s no way that people leave each other without there being hard feelings. Without there being pressure obviously to different degrees. You want to watch what your old team is doing. You want to make sure you are doing better than them. Everybody is going to be comparing. There is a lot of buzz that goes on around that. The best thing is when practice and you can get in the car and now start focusing on the performance. The questions begin to go away and the thought process is beginning to go away about the transition. Now, it is no longer a transition, you are doing it. It is a real stressful time. I honestly believe that for the Red Bull group in particular, it is a great opportunity for them to start working. I’m not sure how it benefits the other group, but for the Red Bull group, it certainly puts them in position to get five races under their belt and go into the Daytona 500 without the buzz. Now you are going into the Daytona 500, you are already a race team. You are already a group. You are already together and I think that makes that transition a lot easier for Kasey. He has another one coming. You know, he’s got another one coming at the end of next year. I think it is a big, big advantage for those guys.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR A DRIVER AND A CREW CHIEF LONG TERM TO BE ABLE TO BE JUST DEAD-ON EACH TIME THEY MAKE A DECISION ON PIT ROAD. HOW IMPORTANT IS THE COMMUNICATION, ESPECIALLY BEING IN THE CHASE? “I think it is crucial. I think you have to have faith in each other. I think that at the end of the day, if you don’t trust each other and don’t know that each of you is capable and has the right intentions, then it can’t work. I think that communication and that trust is invaluable. There is no way to have success if you don’t trust each other.”

ARE YOU LOOKING AHEAD NOW TO 2011 EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE IN THE CHASE? ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED? ARE YOU HAPPY? “I’m both. I see a lot of bright spots. I see a tremendous amount of promise. But, I also see a lot of missed opportunities and a lot of disappointments. I have to tell you, everybody knows me, I kind of tell you the way I feel. I’m as disappointed right now about this Chase as I was when we came here leading the points and broke an engine the year I thought we had a really good shot to win the thing and this race really, really hurt us. I am real disappointed that we haven’t been able to put five races together that I feel like we are capable of putting together. Our season, I don’t care what anybody says, is defined by the numbers. The numbers is a story that is deeper than the numbers. But at the end of the day, the numbers are the numbers. When it was time to get it done, we didn’t get it done and I’m shocked about that, I really am. I really believed we were poised to make a solid run and I am confused and disappointed all at the same time. I’m not disappointed in the effort. I’ll tell you that my team has done, I couldn’t ask my team to do any more from a preparation standpoint and from an effort standpoint. I’m telling you, that makes it even that much more disappointing.”

KEVIN HARVICK WAS IN EARLIER AND SAID RICHARD (CHILDRESS) MADE SOME HUGE CHANGES THIS WEEK REGARDING HIS PIT CREW, DOES THAT INVOLVE TAKING ANYONE FROM THE NO. 31 AND THE NO. 33 AND IS THAT WHAT RCR HAS TO DO AT THE HALF-WAY POINT OF THE CHASE? “I’m not 100% sure what the changes were as it pertained to the No. 29. I know that the No. 29 and the No. 31 have not had good pit stops all year. It’s been a weak point for both teams. There’s been a tremendous effort to address it; to get it working better. I know that as we entered the Chase, there was a tremendous effort to take the next step again and for neither team, the results weren’t there. Richard indicated to us a couple of weeks ago that as it the Chase continued, and if we had one team that was still available, if we had two teams there had to be something done about shoring that problem up because it was really affecting us in a negative way. So I’m not 100% what the changes are. But, it doesn’t surprise me. I know as it relates to the No. 31, there has not been people taken off the No. 31 and applied to the No. 29. I know there has been an effort to make the No. 31 and No. 29 pit stops better. I don’t know exactly what the major changes were.”

DO YOU SUPPORT THOSE KINDS OF THINGS? “That is a tough one. As a company guy, yes. We have to put three A-team efforts together. In a short-term scenario, when you have one team that has a shot, then it is ok, it’s not great, but it is ok to take something from somebody to give to the other on a very very temporary basis. If we ever position ourselves as a company of having an A, B. C team, we have major trouble. I don’t want to say it is an act of desperation, but if something like that goes down at our team or any team, it is kind of a sign of ‘ok, we’ve done everything else we know to do, this is all we got’. I don’t want to say it is a sign of weakness, but it is a sign of saying we have no choice. That is not the position we want to be in. If the No. 31 isn’t in position to win the championship, we have to be willing to do the things, as long as they are ethical, we have to be willing to do the things we need to do to help the No. 29 win the championship which clearly the case we appear to be in.”

WHEN THERE IS A ONE VERSUS TWO SHOWDOWN IN SPORTS, PEOPLE GET REAL EXCITED, HERE BECAUSE OF THE WAY JIMMIE (JOHNSON) AND DENNY (HAMLIN) HAVE PERFORMED, IT KIND OF HAS THAT FEEL, DO YOU THINK IT DOES? “They, as of late, have been the two best, there is no doubt in it. They both have an extreme amount of confidence going into the race about their ability. I read some quotes from Denny Hamlin this morning, he pretty much made it clear how confident he was. (LAUGHS) I think it is kind of a shootout. I will say that it is motivation for everyone to go be one of the guys that knocks the two of them off especially at this race. Numbers don’t lie and those are the two that have been doing it the best most recently.”

IS IT GOOD FOR THE SPORT?  “I think it is good for the sport. Anytime you can match the favorites against each other head-to-head, I think that is always good for the sport.”

JIMMIE AND DENNY HAVE WON THE LAST EIGHT RACES HERE, BUT AT SOME POINT, EVEN IF THEY BOTH RUN WELL, DON’T DENNY AND KEVIN NEED TO BEAT JIMMIE JOHNSON HERE AT SOME POINT, WHETHER HE IS LEADING BY FOUR POINTS OR 40 POINTS, BECAUSE AS LONG AS HE IS THE GUY IN FIRST, JUST BEING CLOSE DOESN’T REALLY CUT IT? “Points are points. There are five to go. You are going to take all the points you gain over the next five races, add them up to what you have already accumulated and that is going to be the champion. You can run 15^th here and still win the championship. There’s not something that says the key to winning this championship is you have to beat Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville. Chances are, assuming they don’t have a problem, if you beat Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville; you had a good day because they typically have good days here. I see that point. The record book doesn’t count up the points and say…it doesn’t know if you got points from Martinsville or from Talladega, it is just points.”

HOW DO YOU RECONCILE IN YOUR HEAD WHAT JIMMIE HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO? “A lot of people, I think, resent him for it. I think you hear that in people’s voices. I have a hell of a lot of respect for what they’ve done. Don’t get me wrong, I wish it me and I wish it was my team, but it’s not because they’ve done a better job. I’m not one of those guys that believes they have lucked into it. I’m not one of those guys that believes all the stars lined up and everything happened just right. I think they went out and won. I have a lot of respect for that. I know how hard it is because I have been trying to do it for 16 years and haven’t been able to do it and they’ve done four in a row. That is an unbelievable feat. Anyone looking at it with anything other than respect, I think, doesn’t understand and doesn’t give them the due that they deserve. I’m disappointed that I haven’t been able to win one yet but that doesn’t diminish the fact that they’ve won four in a row. That makes it even more special to be quite honest.”

WITH FIVE RACES TO GO, IS THIS CHAMPIONSHIP A FOREGONE CONCLUSION? “I think it is far from a foregone conclusion. I just don’t believe this thing is over by any means. I think there is a lot of racing left to go. A lot of things happen in five races. I just don’t see that it is a foregone conclusion by any means. Matter-of-fact, I’ve been watching it from my perspective, obviously, but when I step back and look at this year in particular, I just think anything can happen. I just don’t by any means think it is a foregone conclusion. They are going to be hard to beat. But one race changes many things. There are so many teams still, I know everybody says Jeff Gordon is out and Kyle Busch is out, but you know, you have Martinsville, you have Talladega, you have got Phoenix, you have got some races coming up that stuff happens in. I just don’t think by no means is it a foregone conclusion.”

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.