Chevrolet Continues to Lead Manufacturers’ Cup Standings
Brooklyn, MI – Six Team Chevy drivers remain in the top-12 Chase standings following today’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) with just three races remaining until the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
As is often the case at MIS, fuel mileage created a dramatic finish in the CARFAX 400. Similar to the scenario that played out in the June 2009 race, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS, looked to be on his way to victory leading six times for a total of 165 laps. However, not able to stretch the fuel to the finish, Johnson was forced to pit with less than five laps to go, finishing 33rd and dropping to third place in the point standings.
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Impala SS, finished second in the 200-lap/400-mile race, moving him up to the runner-up spot in the standings behind fellow Team Chevy driver Tony Stewart. Stewart holds a 284-point lead after finishing 17th in his No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Impala SS.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Impala SS, finished third in today’s race.
Casey Mears brought the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Impala SS to the checkered flag in sixth. Clint Bowyer battled to within 58 points of the 12th and final spot in the Chase with an eighth place finish today in his No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Impala SS.
Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Impala SS, maintained seventh position in the standings after battling back from a late-race flat tire and going a lap down to finish 19th on the lead lap.
Ryan Newman overcame handling issues in the No. 39 Haas Automation/US Army Impala SS to finish 15th today and remain ninth in the standings.
Mark Martin led four times for a total of 26-laps but also fell victim to the fuel mileage issue in his No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Impala SS. He finished 31st and dropped to 12th in the standings.
Brian Vickers (Toyota) was the race winner. Carl Edwards (Ford) and Sam Hornish, Jr. (Dodge) completed the top-five finishers.
Chevrolet continues to lead the Manufacturers’ Cup standings with 23 of 36 races in the record books.
The next event for the NSCS will be the Sharpie 500 on August 22, 2009 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Well, we were real happy with the car all weekend. I felt pretty confident going into the race. When we started the race, the car was really, really loose. We worked on it. I got it pretty decent in the middle part of the race, but we didn’t have overall speed like we needed. We decided to make a change with about two or three runs left. The car really was good after that.
We had tires on everybody pretty much in front of us on the end, that last restart. Just picked our way up through there.
THE MODERATOR: We’re also joined by today’s second place finisher, Jeff Gordon. Jeff, tell us about your run.
JEFF GORDON: It was a really good run. I mean, we started 21st. Just slowly but surely worked our way up to the front. We got in the top five there that one time. We took two tires. That got us a little bit behind. We were playing a little bit of catch up from that point on. We had a good car. We didn’t have the best car. But like you saw today, the best car doesn’t always win. We did everything we could to get the best finish we could.
I really felt confident we were going to make it, even though Steve told me we were four short when we left pit road that last pit stop. I shut the engine off so much. I felt like I got us six laps. At least with the caution, I felt like I did. Felt pretty confident I didn’t have to conserve a whole lot. Junior was pressuring me a lot at the end. I was waiting, to see if the 43 and 83 ran out. One did, one didn’t.
Q. Dale, if you had plenty of fuel and the guys in front of you didn’t, why couldn’t you make up more ground? Were they running pretty hard?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Why couldn’t I make up more ground?
Q. If they had to conserve fuel, were they running pretty hard at the end? Were you concerned with fuel?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: I was trying to catch them. I think I was there. We were the fastest car up until we got to within about 15 car lengths of Jeff. I got real tight. I’m sure by that time, they have to race for the win eventually. Somebody is going to start to try to chance it first. It looked like Vickers was the one that did that. He pushed the No. 48 much harder than probably Jimmie was wanting to go.
I think Jeff and me both were sitting there knowing we didn’t have a real shot at catching him ’cause of the way the cars were all kind of equal. But we were running pretty hard.
I think Jeff was, I don’t know, going hard the last 10 probably. So, you know, once I caught Jeff, got within 15 car lengths of him, that was it, I couldn’t go any harder. I was sliding the nose so bad through the center, off the corner, I wasn’t full throttle like I had been most of the run.
Q. Jeff, very early in the race, lap 27 or 30, it seems you and Mark Martin were running identical speeds. What was your setup? How is the information sharing among your teammates?
JEFF GORDON: The information sharing is fantastic. Felt like this weekend we came really well prepared with our notes from the last race and the run that we had and our teammates. I mean, we all have our different driving styles, likes and dislikes. You rarely ever start with the same setup.
But I would say that we were pretty close to the No. 5 and the No. 48. I felt like we ran about like them. We weren’t able to maintain the track position that one time we got it, because we were on two tires instead of four. I felt like we were one of the best cars on fresh tires, then we’d really get tight. Those guys were maybe just a little bit freer than us and better than us in the long run. I felt like the three of us were really close.
There at the beginning I saw Junior get real loose. I don’t know about where they were with their setup, but I know they had to make some big adjustments. I was pretty impressed that they were saying, Hey, the 88 is the car to beat, he’s coming hard and fast. Obviously they made some good adjustments. I’d say we all had really good cars, and probably not too far off on the setups.
Q. Dale, you won a fuel race here a year ago. You were in one here a couple months ago. Are you surprised these guys were able to go 51 laps? Did you feel you were in the catbird seat?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: The way our luck has been, I wasn’t sitting there thinking I was in the catbird seat. I was thinking maybe I’ll get on the podium.
I know every one of those guys are real good at saving fuel. And we’ve all gotten smarter I think in the last year and a half actually on some of the tricks to do, some of the things we can accomplish under caution to help ourselves.
You know, you can save a lot more fuel I think running that high line, running half throttle almost the entire lap and be able to run just about the same speed as the guy running hard on the bottom.
You know, I wasn’t too surprised they were able to make it. I was more surprised we made it last year than they made it this year I think.
Q. Dale, what does this finish do for your confidence? Obviously your best finish since April.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Well, I don’t want to get too excited. You want to be up front every week like this. You want to be there the whole race. You don’t want to just come up there through the last 50 laps and surprise everybody.
You know, we’re getting better as a team. It’s just really, really hard to be patient, be mindful and respectful of everybody, you know, just hold your tongue every once in a while.
But we’re working really hard. Never worked so hard to run third. I’ve won races working a whole lot easier than this. But, you know, it’s competitive with this car, and there’s not really a real edge for anyone right now. You just got to work hard all the time. My team deserves a lot of credit. They worked hard all weekend, got a good car, made a lot of changes, we leaned on our teammates a lot in setup knowledge. We made some good changes in the race. Just some really smart stuff we had Lance and the guys doing all weekend.
Q. Dale, you talked out on pit road about the homework or extra work you’ve been doing. How has that helped you? In the past there’s been the knock against you, fair or unfair, you guys will be good early but don’t finish off a race. Lance was saying today you weren’t as good early, you finished it off strong today.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Well, I don’t know. I think one of the most important things for me is to stay calm. Sort of every race, you know, you sort of face some adversity. You’ll make changes every pit stop. Some work and some don’t. I’m my own worst enemy I guess in the middle part of a race when I see us not going the right direction and I know how difficult and how much of a challenge it is to keep track position and gain any track position on the racetrack. So I just get so frustrated.
And I think I’ve been working since I started working with Lance, I’ve been trying to work really hard to be the same person at the end of the race that I am at the start of the race mentally. That really helps them stay focused on their job and working on the car instead of having to control me and my problems. They can think about what they’re looking at on them laptops, figuring this, that and the other, everything them engineers are telling them in their ear.
I think it just comes down to sticking with it, staying with the team, and trying to be part of a solution instead of a part of the problem.
Q. What was it like for you when you had to come in early because of the vibrations?
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: We had gotten really loose. I flipped off the right front blower. I got this real bad vibration after about 30 laps. I didn’t know whether tore the inside of the tire up or whatever. But my car had been darting around the steering head something where it has a little dead spot in the steering box or something all day under speed. It was grinding and carrying on up front. Something was laying on something.
I just didn’t know. I wanted to be on the safe side. With the new wave around rule, if we were pitting 15 laps early, they had a caution quickly after that, we would have been able to get the wave around. You’re not ruining your day by coming down, being on the safe side. We didn’t have anything wrong, at least not with the tire.
Q. Jeff, how is the back? Second now in Sprint Cup points with three races to go before the Chase.
JEFF GORDON: My back is fine. I would rather be third in points right now and had that win today. That’s all that really matters at this point for us. We’re having a great year. We’re showing that we’re strong, a great team.
I just would like to have a few more bonus points going into the Chase, a little bit more momentum. This certainly is going to help towards the momentum if we can go to Bristol next week and keep putting a strong finish out there and effort. That’s going to mean as much to me as anything.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you. Congratulations.
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