Old Timing and Scoring Suite at MIS Becomes A Special Destination for Select Race Fans

A recent example was the partnership between Michigan International Speedway and Walldinger Racing, NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger’s management company, as the two joined together to convert an unused space at the track into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for race fans during the recent NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series event weekend.

When Michigan International Speedway track staff found out that NASCAR officials would not be using the area traditionally reserved for timing and scoring, the question of what to do with the now-vacant space was one that didn’t take long to answer.  The space, which sits  directly above the start/finish line, has long been used for NASCAR officials to keep track of every lap of every session from high above the 2.0 mile circuit just outside of Brooklyn, Michigan.

But with NASCAR timing and scoring moving into a different section of the track, the space was slated not to be used during the recent Carfax 250 and 400 race weekend. Which got Michigan Speedway’s Vice President, Consumer Sales & Marketing Dennis Bickmeier thinking.  Instead of letting that space go unused, Bickmeier had an idea–why not make this area, which gives visitors a near blimp eye view of the race track, a special destination for select race fans?

Teaming with Walldinger Racing, MIS established a creative way to give fans a truly unique race experience, utilize a space in a new way, and create an affiliation with the track and the driver that will not be soon forgotten.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series Carfax 250 event saw the “Timing Tower Suite” host its  inaugural event with AJ Allmendinger Fan Club members as well as members of the MIS “Champions Club.” Additionally, MIS made the opportunity available to members of the MIS ticket buying family-those who had declared AJ as their driver.

The event was no fly-by meet and greet, as the affable racer was on hand and hamming it up, for the entire Carfax 250 Nationwide Series race. Not shy by any measure, AJ bounced between taking questions  from the fans and offering play by play as the group enjoyed the impressive view from high atop the stands.

“This view is one that you previously wouldn’t have been able to get unless you literally worked for NASCAR,” said Bickmeier, who also oversaw the recent debut of the track’s state-of-the art media center. “We had been talking with (Allmendinger’s management company) Walldinger Racing about different options for a fan club event, and when this space became available, it was a perfect fit for the kind of outing that we were planning with them. So  we’re very excited about this launch and we were really pleased with how much the fans enjoyed the afternoon.”

With the area providing a breathtaking view and room for at least 60 guests, the fit was an ideal one for Walldinger Racing.

“We were working with a number of tracks on creating a special experience for AJ’s Fan Club members,” said Walldinger Racing VP Tara Ragan. “Dennis, Roger (Curtis, MIS President), and the entire staff at MIS have been so great to work with. They really understand how the motorsports marketplace has changed and are open to finding innovative and effective ways to utilize the resources at hand, but also really focus on delivering the most we can for our race fans.”

The Allmendinger Fan Club  gathering is one of several initiatives that Walldinger Racing has undertaken to develop the young Richard Petty Motorsports driver’s relationship with fans as the easygoing Californian loves doing things in new and different ways.`

“Anyone who has met him can tell you that AJ isn’t like all the other drivers, and we wanted to have an experience for our supporters that reflected that. When Dennis came up with this idea, we jumped on it immediately because there is just nothing else like it, anywhere. You can see everything. It was something very special for our fan club members, who have been with us from the start.”

With some fans driving over 1000 miles to be a part of the event, the initial launch for the Timing Tower Suite was very well received by the fans.

AJ Allmendinger with AJ Allmendinger Fan Club members

“For our first NASCAR event, this was INCREDIBLE!” Carol & Gary, Bonfield, Ontario, Canada. “AJ was informative, funny, and awesome! We love the Insignia car and AJ is our new favorite driver!”

“It was a great experience!” Amanda John, Houston, Texas. “It was such an awesome view and we got to spend the ENTIRE race with our favorite driver! We would do this again in a heartbeat! We drove over 1000 miles to take advantage of this deal!!”

The strong launch has MIS and Walldinger Racing already planning on what might be possible in 2011…

About Walldinger Racing, Inc.: Walldinger Racing was formed in 2006 to support AJ Allmendinger’s motorsports career by developing commercial opportunities and partnership programs.

- Walldinger Racing, Inc., Press Release

Kevin Harvick and team owner Richard Childress celebrate the win in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway. - Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

An interview with:
KEVIN HARVICK
RICHARD CHILDRESS

Our guests today are Richard Childress, owner of Richard Childress Racing, and Kevin Harvick, driver of RCR’s No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet.

Gentlemen, welcome.

RCR is in the midst of rejuvenation I think it’s safe to say this season. It’s led by Harvick who won for the third time this season last Sunday at Michigan. He also has led the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standing for the past 14 weeks.

Audio: Richard Childress & Kevin Harvick Press Conference

Richard, all of your three teams are Chase eligible. You and Kevin made an important announcement earlier today. Do you mind updating us?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: It’s great coming in off of a win like Kevin had at Michigan to any announcement. This one was special today. Budweiser will be our sponsor for the next three years on the 29 Chevrolet. We couldn’t be prouder to be associated with a company that has such rich history in our sport. They’ve been in our sport for three decades. Kevin has won two of the Bud Shootouts, Busch championship, which is Anheuser-Busch. We won our first race at Riverside with Ricky Rudd. He was sponsored by Budweiser. We’ve been in their family for a while, but to have them in our family today is great.

DENISE MALOOF: Kevin, you’re the first driver to clinch a Chase berth. You did it Sunday at Michigan. I know it’s early, but you must be pleased to be a serious contender for the championship this year.

KEVIN HARVICK: It’s been a great start to the season. Obviously it’s nice to go into this week’s race and not have to worry about a Chase spot – better than anything going into Richmond without having to worry about a Chase spot.

The next three weeks are going to be a lot of fun, to go to three racetracks we’ve won at before and run well this year, to try to get more bonus points and get prepared for the Chase.

Obviously, the last 10 weeks will be as stressful as they’ve ever been. We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing, having fun with it. The next three weeks is kind of a reward for everything we’ve got to do at the beginning of the year.

DENISE MALOOF: We’ll go straight now to media questions for Richard Childress and Kevin Harvick.

Q. Kevin, you’ve been Mr. Consistency all season long, leading the points for 14 weeks. How do you maintain that going into the Chase? For your crew, how do you keep them motivated and pumped up?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I think winning races helps keep everybody pretty motivated. I think everybody knows what we need to do. A lot of us have been in this position before, whether it’s the Nationwide championship, racing for wins, whatever the case may be. We’ve all experienced things before and know what we need to do. We just got to finish the deal with the championship hopefully at the end.

Can’t really do anything different. Everybody is doing a great job of getting the cars prepared. They built some new cars for the Chase. They’ve done a great job in the engine shop of continuing to have great power and trying things hopefully for the Chase, as well.

You can’t sit on your hands in this sport or you’ll get passed pretty quick. Everybody is doing a great job. We just have to keep doing the things we’ve been doing to get us to this point.

Q. Richard, what a difference a year makes. The performance issues last year, rumors of Kevin possibly leaving. How did you manage to right the ship?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: Well, I didn’t do it alone. It took a lot of people to do it. We all really started working on it really hard about May or June. We knew we weren’t going down the right path with a lot of things. We pulled everyone together, put ideas together, came up with what we needed to change. We knew we had to work on things to become a championship-caliber race team.

It started to turn around with eight or nine races to go last year. The performance of the car started picking up. I felt good about starting this season out.

Q. Kevin, it sounds very simple to say what changed. But really with all that went on last year, for you to come out and lead the championship, it’s one extreme to another. Can you put your finger on what changed? Was it just the technical stuff or was there the intangible of you feeling good about things again?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think the easiest thing to tell you, it would be easier to tell you what didn’t change to be honest with you. I think everything from top to bottom. Richard came in and made a lot of restructuring changes, restructured a lot of personnel on the race teams, moved Scott Miller into competition director.

After the personnel changes took place, I think we came up with a different direction. The engineering department has become more involved. We’re able to use the tools, our seven-post, simulation, all the things we already had here, just using them correctly and more often.

Really getting the cars to where they needed to be from that standpoint with the new direction is something that probably obviously means the most on the racetrack. But all the off-track changes are what make the on-track changes take place.

Really everything has changed. Still the same people; just working in a different direction.

Q. Kevin and Richard, we all know that Budweiser adds a lot of marketing and visibility. Not that Shell didn’t provide that. Richard, what about the marketing and the visibility that Budweiser provides? Kevin, how does life change being the Budweiser driver, the visibility there, the people you’ll meet in the bars as you promote the product?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: From my part, it’s an honor to be with a company that has such a great activation program. They do so much around the racetracks. They do so much for the fans. They’ve got some really neat stuff coming next year for our fans.

To be part of that and to be Kevin, to see the car in so many places, the things that Budweiser does with their program, it’s an added benefit to Kevin and RCR.

KEVIN HARVICK: The more visibility you get from your sponsor activating your sponsorship is good for everybody. For me, I think the best thing about Budweiser coming onboard is the fact just it’s a real casual sponsor as far as the atmosphere and the things that come with it. They like to have fun. They like to be relaxed. They put so much behind it. It’s just a fun, fun brand to represent.

I don’t think much is going to change. They like who we are or they wouldn’t be here. I think as we go forward, it’s going to be something great to see on the 29 car.

Q. Kevin, as you said, you can’t really savor the wins, you have to move on really fast. When do you sit back and really get to enjoy those wins? Is handling the wins as important as handling the losses?

KEVIN HARVICK: Absolutely. I think you can’t let the highs be too high and the lows be too low. You have to find an even ground of how you react to things. It’s no different than shaking off a bad week. Your good weeks, you have to shake off as well, focus on the next week when you get to the racetrack. You have a couple days to enjoy it.

After the season we had last year, I think it’s important that everybody enjoys Victory Lane. You never know when you’re going to be back so you might as well enjoy this one like it might be the last one because you just never know.

I think we’ve all learned to enjoy the situations a little more than we probably would have in the past. You just got to stay cool about the whole thing. You just have to go out and race the car each week and stay relaxed, having fun, keep doing the things we’ve done up until this point.

Q. It’s been talked about that Iowa Speedway, which you both enjoy being at, could get two Nationwide races next year. If that is, in fact, the case, do you think they’ll be able to sustain that, and how much are you kind of rooting for them to get that, given how much you’ve enjoyed being there?

KEVIN HARVICK: Iowa is a great racetrack. I think we all have enjoyed our time there. Obviously the racing has been great. The bottom line is, though, when you see the people come out to support a particular event, I’ve been there for east/west series races, I’ve been there for the Nationwide races and watched the truck races on TV. Any time you’ve seen a race happen at the racetrack, it’s sold out. The fans are very supportive of the facility.

If they get two races, I don’t know what the schedule is going to look like you, to be honest with you. If they get two races, I think the fans will come and support it.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: Same here. I’ve really enjoyed going up there. The fans up there, they’re going to support the races. I think they’ll do really well getting two Nationwide races. It’s going to be neat to see that. The racing up there, it’s a really fan-friendly atmosphere when you go up to Iowa.

Q. Kevin, you did something on Sunday at Michigan, you took the lead away from Denny Hamlin by passing him on the outside of the turn. I talked to you at Michigan. You said you studied film of Dale Earnhardt because he used to do the same thing. Can you explain to us what really caught your attention out of that film.

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, it’s Dale Earnhardt, Jr., not Dale Earnhardt.

As you look at the film, running the high line is not something I particularly like to do. You go to certain racetracks and you have to explore the groove to be competitive.

At Michigan you want to have options. That’s never been an option that I’ve really concentrated on in practice or we haven’t really practiced right to make our car work for the high groove. Usually if you can run the high groove at Michigan, later in the run you’ll have a car that will be a little bit better.

It seems on Sunday or car worked better on the high groove than anywhere else. You were able to carry a lot of momentum down the straightaway, use the good power we have in our cars and make them look even better when you’re running up top.

Just felt like we needed to broaden our horizon on what types of lines and things we were using at that particular racetrack. When you look at the tapes, it’s more just technique than it is anything.

DENISE MALOOF: Richard and Kevin, thank you for joining us today, we appreciate you taking the time to do your media duty and congratulations for Sunday and today’s announcement and good look at Bristol. Thanks very much.

KEVIN HARVICK: Thanks for having us.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: Thank you.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

- NASCAR, Press Release

NASCAR Logo

Martin’s latest DirecTV Crew Chief of the Race Award puts him ahead of Dave Rogers (No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota) who has four and Kevin Manion (No. 1 Philips Norelco Chevrolet) who has three. Darian Grubb, crew chief of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice team, won the 2009 award, which is presented to the team who demonstrates the best qualifying and race efforts based on the average of qualifying and finishing position.

Harvick led 60 laps at Michigan, capturing his third WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race Award of 2010. As the race winner, Harvick also captured the Sunoco Diamond Performance Award as the highest finishing eligible driver.

The awards are part of the NASCAR Prize Money and Decal Program, also referred to as the Contingency program, which provide teams prize money and weekly awards based on performance in several categories.

The win was Harvick’s third of the season but his first at Michigan in 20 starts. He has seven top-10 finishes there. His previous best finish was second in August 2003.

“It’s a lot of fun to come to the race track right now,” Harvick said after the race. “Everybody is doing a great job of not only continuing to press but to put better things on the race track and put things together correctly and just do a great job at the shop.”

After starting eighth, the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet stayed near the front of the field, biding time and working the high side of the two-mile track. The second half of the race proved to be the time to move. Harvick took the lead briefly on Lap 102 then stayed up front for more than 40 laps.

A series of restarts put Harvick back into a battle with Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart. A strategic call with 30 laps remaining to stay out when most of the field pitted, kept the No. 29 car in clean air. Working the high line, Harvick passed Hamlin with 10 laps to go, the 17th lead change of the race, and took the checkered flag.

“Clean air was a big bonus today,” Martin said post-race. “With Tony (Stewart) staying out, knowing we had somebody to draft with, and not having any cautions at the end, led us to where we could stretch out. If we could get four or five laps, let the tires heat up, we could stretch it out, because we were probably on average about 2/10ths better than the field most of the run.”

“It was a great day for us for more than one reason. The season has gone so well from last year, but to come to Michigan, be able to run the way we did today, after the way we’ve run here the past three years, this shows how far the organization has come as a whole, not to mention the fact that Kevin did a great job today running the high line all day long. It takes a lot to do that here, to make that happen. Everything that happened in the pits today, the engines, the cars. I can’t say enough about the whole organization.”

Heading into Saturday night’s IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Harvick continues to lead the standings.

Official winners of this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Prize Money & Decal Program special awards include:

• COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Kasey Kahne, 187.183 mph, 38.465 seconds
• DIRECTV CREW CHIEF OF THE RACE AWARD: Gil Martin (crew chief for Kevin Harvick)
• GOODYEAR GATORBACK BELTS FASTEST LAP AWARD: Jimmie Johnson (183.983 mph, Lap 2)
• MAHLE CLEVITE ENGINE BUILDER OF THE RACE AWARD: Greg Biffle
• MOBIL 1 “COMMAND PERFORMANCE DRIVER OF THE RACE” AWARD: Juan Pablo Montoya
• MOOG CHASSIS PARTS PROBLEM SOLVER OF THE RACE AWARD: Todd Parrott (crew chief for Elliott Sadler)
• NASCAR SPRINT CUP LEADER BONUS: Kevin Harvick
• O’REILLY AUTO PARTS POSITION IMPROVEMENT AWARD: Denny Hamlin (31 places)
• SUNOCO DIAMOND PERFORMANCE AWARD: Kevin Harvick
• TISSOT “PIT ROAD PRECISION” AWARD: Tony Stewart (205.605 seconds)
• WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD: Kevin Harvick (60 laps)

About the NASCAR Prize Money & Decal Program

The NASCAR Prize Money & Decal Program, commonly referred to as the contingency program, is administered by the NASCAR Automotive Group. The program strives to build strong relationships with high-quality, performance-driven brands that are leaders in their respective categories and award money to NASCAR teams via per-race and year-end postings. Competitors become eligible for awards money by displaying partner decals on the front fender of their race vehicles and, in some instances, use of a sponsor’s product. National series contingency sponsors will contribute over $8.8 million to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams in 2010.

- NASCAR, Press Release

2010 NSCS No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy (Driver Tony Stewart) - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

It was the first Tissot win of the season for Stewart’s No. 14 crew and the 15th different winner of the weekly pit-road competition.

Stewart’s Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet spent the least amount of time on pit road – 205.605 seconds — during the 200-lap, 400-mile race. The speedy pit stops helped Stewart post a sixth-place finish.

Placing second was Kevin Harvick’s Pennzoil/Shell Chevrolet – 208.766 seconds and third was Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota – 214.896.

“I’m really proud of Darian Grubb (crew chief) and the pit crew on this Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy,” said Stewart. “They’ve been doing an awesome job on pit road all year and our run at Michigan was another example of that.”

The No. 14 over-the-wall crew consists of: Kelly Kellis (front-tire changer), Todd Drakulich (front-tire carrier), Daniel Smith (rear-tire changer), Mike “Shrek” Morneau (rear-tire carrier), Mike Casto (jackman), Jeff “Gooch” Patterson (gasman), Rick Pigeon (catch can). The team’s pit crew coach is Joe Piette and the crew chief is Darian Grubb.

The weekly-winning crew receives $5,000 from Tissot plus a Tissot V8 Quartz Chronograph watch. The team with the most Tissot Pit Road Precision Award wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule will receive a $105,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the over-the-wall crew members and driver.

After 23 races Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 crew leads the Tissot competition with four wins while Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 crew is second at three wins.

Tissot has been the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR since 2006. The company is also the official timekeeper for a number of other sports, including the MotoGP World Championship, the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Cycling World Championship.

__________________________________________

2010 Tissot Pit Road Precision Award Standings

Pos   Team No.  Pit Crew For        Wins  Prize Money

 1    24        Jeff Gordon         4     $20,000
 2     1        Jamie  McMurray     3      10,000
T3    56        Martin Truex  Jr.   2      10,000
T3    17        Matt  Kenseth       2      10,000
T3    18        Kyle Busch Team     2      10,000
T6    42        Juan  Pablo Montoya 1       5,000
T6    12        Brad  Keselowski    1       5,000
T6    33        Clint Bowyer        1       5,000
T6    88        Dale Earnhardt Jr.  1       5,000
T6    00        David  Reutimann    1       5,000
T6    39        Ryan  Newman        1       5,000
T6     2        Kurt Busch          1       5,000
T6    26        Boris Said          1       5,000
T6    16        Greg Biffle         1       5,000
T6    14        Tony Stewart        1       5,000

2010 Tissot Pit Road Precision Award Winners

Daytona,  2/14       Juan Pablo Montoya Team
Fontana, 2/21        Jeff Gordon Team
Las Vegas, 2/28      Martin Truex Jr. Team
Atlanta, 3/7         Martin  Truex Jr. Team
Bristol, 3/21        Brad Keselowski Team
Martinsville,  3/29  Clint Bowyer Team
Phoenix, 4/10        Matt Kenseth Team
Texas, 4/19          Dale Earnhardt Jr. Team
Talladega 4/25       David Reutimann Team
Richmond, 5/1        Ryan Newman Team
Darlington, 5/8      Jamie McMurray Team
Dover, 5/16          Matt Kenseth Team
Charlotte, 5/30      Jeff Gordon Team
Pocono, 6/6          Kyle Busch Team
Michigan, 6/13       Kurt Busch Team
Sonoma, 6/20         Boris Said Team
Loudon, 6/27         Jeff Gordon Team
Daytona, 7/3         Jeff Gordon Team
Chicago, 7/10        Jamie McMurray Team
Indianapolis, 7/25   Jamie McMurray Team
Pocono, 8/1          Greg Biffle Team
Watkins Glen, 8/8    Kyle Busch Team
Michigan, 8/15       Tony Stewart Team

- DMF Communications for Tissot Pit Road Precision Award, Press Release

2010 NSCS No. 1 Philips Norelco Bodygroom Pro Chevrolet Impala SS

The team sat on the outside pole for the June edition of the Michigan event and looked to have a fast race car, as they quickly laid down the second-fastest lap, out of the truck as the NSCS took to the track for practice on Friday. However, the race-trim speed didn’t transfer to the team’s qualifying setup and the No.1 Philips Norelco Bodygroom Pro Chevrolet would qualify in the 19th-postiion for Sunday’s Carfax 400.

As the 400-mile event started, McMurray would quickly complain of handling issues, which went from “extremely loose” early, to “too tight” as the race wore on. This was the story of the day for the No.1 Team, but their continued fight to keep their driver in the hunt for a top-20 position would allow McMurray to finish ahead of two competitors that he is currently competing with for a berth in the top-12. McMurray would finish in the 20th position, ahead of Mark Martin (28th) and Ryan Newman (23rd), (currently 13th and 14th respectively in the points). The finish helps McMurray inch closer to the two competitors ahead of him, but the team would not be able to gain on their deficit from the coveted 12th position-the cutoff for the chase.

The finish maintained McMurray’s position of 15th in the 2010 NSCS point’s standings, now sitting 105 points back from 12th-the cutoff for the chase. Competitors Mark Martin and Ryan Newman, 13th and 14th respectively, now sit 35 and 103 points back from 12th. The No.1 Team towards “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile,” in Bristol Motor Speedway. McMurray and the No.1 Team will welcome partner Bass Pro Shops back to the hood as they look to best their 8th-place finish at the “Roman Coliseum” of auto racing.

The Irwin Tools Night Race is Saturday, August 21 at 7:30 pm (ET) and will be broadcast live on ABC. Radio listeners can tune-in to stations affiliated with PRN beginning at 6:30 pm (ET).

No. 1 Team “Fast Facts”

· – 2010 Marks the first season in which Jamie McMurray has won more than one race (Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400).

· – McMurray currently has two wins, three poles, six top-five, and eight top-10 finishes in 23 starts this season.

· – McMurray has led 233 laps, nine more than his previous best of 224 (2004 with Ganassi), and ranks 10thh of all drivers in 2010.

· – The No.1 Team currently leads the Coors Light Pole Award competition with three poles for the season thus far, marking the most in McMurray’s career. This number matches the total for McMurray in his previous seven seasons of NSCS racing.

· – Crew Chief, Kevin “Bono” Manion has won the DirecTV Crew Chief of the race three times this season and currently sits third in that race.

· – Jamie McMurray currently sits second in the Mobil 1 Driver of the Year standings behind Kurt Busch, teammate Juan Pablo Montoya is third.

· – The No. 1 Team’s pit crew currently sits second in the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award, winning three awards thus far in 2010.

· – Earnhardt Ganassi Racing is currently the only team, other than Joe Gibbs Racing, to have put more than one driver in victory lane this season.

· – In the NSCS only Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing have won more races than Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

· – Jamie McMurray helped owner Chip Ganassi to become the first owner to have won the “Triple Crown” of American Auto Racing by winning the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400. IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti won the Indy 500 as well, giving Ganassi the triple.

- Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Press Release

WIX Filters

Gastonia

Harvick beat Denny Hamlin to the checkered flag by 1.731 seconds to win the CARFAX 400 at Michigan International Speedway.  He clinched a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.  He scored the first victory for Richard Childress Racing at MIS since 1990.  And he has firmly established himself as the leading championship contender.

Cars equipped with WIX Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, have now won 15 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins in 2010 (including the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 plus the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorade Duel special event races).

“It’s been obviously a great day for us,” Havick said immediately after the race.  “It’s really been a great weekend all around and a great year, for that fact.  It’s a lot of fun to come to the racetrack right now.  Everybody is doing a great job of not only continuing to press but to put better things on the racetrack and put things together correctly and just do a great job at the shop.

“That’s really all you can ask for right now is to have a chance.  You’re going to have the flat tires, the miscues, stuff happen.  It’s just a matter of how you rebound.  Today we didn’t have to do anything.  We were able to take advantage of a really fast racecar and put it where it was supposed to be and that’s in victory lane.

“I think the quality control we have at the shop is really good as far as analyzing the parts, making sure that the cars are within the tolerances.  In the wind tunnel, the guys are doing a great job of making sure the numbers are what we need to be as to what Gil [Martin, crew chief] thinks they need to be for me to drive.  The people touching the cars right now are doing a good job of making sure that the right stuff is leaving the shop.  That’s really what all these cars are all about.”

Richard Childress, Harvick’s car owner, was proud of his organization and the job done by both Harvick and Martin.

“To come up here and win in Detroit, in Michigan, for GM, to win in that Chevy Impala is big for us,” Childress said.  “It’s been 20 years since RCR won [at Michigan].  Kevin almost had the race several years ago.  We broke a distributor.  I can remember that one.  We’ve had some really good runs.  But to be able to put it together today, Kevin, he’s figured out how to make this thing work in the groove.  He’s got his own groove better than anyone.”

Martin made a gusty pit call with just 30 laps to go in the race, choosing to keep Harvick on the track during the final caution and not pit for tires.  Martin said that Tony Stewart staying out plus the absence of cautions near the end of the race play to their advantage.

“Clean air was a big bonus today,” Martin said.  “With Tony staying out, knowing we had somebody to draft with, then hopefully a lot of guys would get two in between us, and they the way everybody fanned out, it almost gave a parachute effect to the back portion of the field, that the tires couldn’t overcome the aero push.  Not having any cautions at the end led us to where we could stretch out.  If we could get four or five laps, let the tires heat up, we could stretch it out, because we were probably on average about two tenths better than the field most of the run.  When it got deeper in the run, it came more than that.”

The victory was Harvick’s third of the 2010 season and he stretched his lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings to 293 points over second-place Jeff Gordon and 353 over third-place Denny Hamlin.  Harvick won for the first time in 20 races at Michigan and grabbed his 14^th victory in 345 career starts.

Harvick averaged 144.029 mph in a race that took 2 hours, 46 minutes and 38 seconds to complete.  There were 17 lead changes among nine drivers in a race that was slowed by five cautions for 25 laps.

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- Camp & Associates, Inc., for WIX Filters, Press Release

NSCS No. 21Motorcraft/Quick Lane Pit Stop - Wood Brothers Racing

Elliott started 30th and maintained a spot on the lead lap until he fell a lap in arrears due to two long stretches of green-flag racing. But when the caution flag flew for an incident between Joey Logano and Ryan Newman with 51 laps to go, the Woods opted to take the wave-around and rejoined the lead lap.

But for the wave-around to be of much help, a team needs the caution flag to fly again fairly soon so they can get fresh tires and fuel since teams that opt for the wave-around can’t make a pit stop during that caution period.

Jeff Gordon’s flat tire and the resulting caution flag provided the No. 21 team that opportunity just six laps later, and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew was able to service their car and send Elliott out with fresh tires and a full tank of fuel for the final run to the checkered flag.

Elliott restarted 25th and drove to 22nd at the checkered flag.

“It was a good day,” team co-owner Eddie Wood said. “At the end of the race, we were running good lap times, but we just couldn’t get the track position we needed to capitalize.”

Wood said the over-the-wall pit crew had a good day, and Elliott did a good job getting on and off pit road as quickly as possible and without incurring a speeding penalty.

“Bill’s one of the best at getting on and off pit road,” Wood said.

Race day at Michigan started with a ceremony on pit road in which the Wood Brothers were honored with a permanent plaque commemorating the team’s 60 years in NASCAR.

Michigan International Speedway President Roger Curtis unveils a permanent plaque celebrating the 60th anniversary of Wood Brothers Racing in NASCAR as Leonard Wood, Eddie Wood and Len Wood attended events Sunday morning. - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

The Woods are tied with fellow Ford team owner Jack Roush for the most wins at MIS (11) with three drivers, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Dale Jarrett.

Yarborough won the first NASCAR race at Michigan back in 1969 driving for the Woods, and Dale Jarrett got his first Cup win, also with the Woods, at Michigan in 1991.

“It’s a real honor,” Eddie Wood said. “The only other plaques there are commemorating NASCAR on its 50th year and Richard Petty for his 1,000th start.”
And the fact that the honor came at Michigan made it even more special.

“It’s the home track for Ford Motor Company, and it’s like home for us too,” Wood said.

Elliott and the Woods return to action at another home track of sorts, Atlanta Motor Speedway, on Sept. 5-6. AMS is the home track for Elliott, and it’s also a place where the Woods have scored 12 Cup victories, more than any other team in the track’s 50-year history.

- Wood Brothers Racing, Press Release

Kevin Harvick cheers as he records his third win of the 2010 season and first at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday. - Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

“It’s been seven years since I’ve been in Victory Lane here, but my first in the Sprint Cup. I’m not sure how to even get there,” Harvick excitedly said over his radio.

Harvick eventually found Gatorade Victory Lane and celebrated his first Sprint Cup Series win at MIS. His only other victory at MIS was in a Nationwide Series race in 2003.

“This has been a very bad track for us and to come here and do what we did today says a lot about where Richard Childress Racing is,” Harvick said. “This win means a lot. To come here to Michigan and win is very important.”

With his victory, Harvick becomes the first driver to secure a spot in the 10-race ‘Chase for the Championship.’ He currently holds a 293-point lead over second place Jeff Gordon with three races to go before the Chase.

The victory also gave owner Richard Childress his first Sprint Cup victory at MIS since Dale Earnhardt Sr. won here in 1990, a span of 20 years.

“You know that was 20 years ago. I remember winning here and how proud we were to win for GM Goodwrench back in those days and to win in a GM product up here,” Childress said. “There’s a lot of pride. It’s great to be here today and win.”

Denny Hamlin posted another strong second-place finish in the CARFAX 400, following up his victory in last June’s race at MIS. Carl Edwards made a large charge to finish third, followed by Greg Biffle in fourth and Matt Kenseth in fifth, giving owner Jack Roush three driver’s in the top five in his return to the track.

Roush was injured in a plane crash back on July 27 and finally made his first appearance at a racetrack since being released from the hospital earlier in the week.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing returns to MIS in June and August of 2011. Take advantage of great pricing in 2011 by placing a $30 deposit by calling 800-354-1010.

- Michigan International Speedway, Press Release

2010 NSCS No. 39 Tornados Chevy (Ryan Newmaon) - Photo Credit:Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Ryan Newman saw the possibility of a top-10 finish disappear in a cloud of smoke after a late-race spin caused him to finish a disappointing 23^rd in Sunday’s CARFAX 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

Newman, driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), was in 14^th and battling for position with Joey Logano on lap 148 of the 200-lap event when Logano’s car got loose in turn three and the right front of his No. 20 Toyota made contact with the left-rear of Newman’s machine.

The nudge caused Newman to spin halfway around in turns three and four, and he managed to keep the Tornados Chevy off the wall. Nonetheless, Newman’s car still suffered damage on its left-rear from the contact with Logano, which had to be repaired throughout two pits stops while the race was under caution on laps 149 and 150.

Newman restarted in 30^th and one lap down to the leaders due to the spin and subsequent pit stops.

Newman and the Tornados team didn’t give up, as they rose to 28^th and became the first car one lap down, putting them in position to get their lap back if the race went under caution again. Sure enough, the yellow caution flag waved again on lap 167 for debris, and just like that, Newman was back on the lead lap.

When the green flag flew for the final time on lap 172, Newman was able to move from 28^th to 23^rd by the time the 200^th and final lap clicked off the board. However, Newman and the Tornados team were left to wonder what might have been as they departed the 2-mile oval, where their SHR teammate, Tony Stewart, finished sixth.

Stewart jumped four spots to fourth in the Sprint Cup championship standings after round 23 of 36 at Michigan. He now has 3,020 points and is 380 markers behind series leader Kevin Harvick and 300 points ahead of 13^th-place Mark Martin, the first driver on the outside looking in at the 12-driver Chase for the Championship, which will be decided in the next three races. Newman remained 14^th in the standings. He has 2,652 points and is 103 points back of 12^th-place Clint Bowyer, who holds the final spot in the Chase.

Harvick bolstered his championship lead by winning the CARFAX 400. It was his 14^th career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his first at Michigan.

Denny Hamlin finished 1.731 seconds behind Harvick in the runner-up spot, while Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five. Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler and Logano comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were five caution periods for 25 laps, with seven drivers failing to finish.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Aug. 21 Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

Kevin Harvick and team owner Richard Childress celebrate the win in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway. - Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

With three races remaining until the start of the Chase, the victory added valuable bonus points to Harvick’s tally when the 12-car field is seeded for the 10-race run for the Series’ Championship.

Harvick led five times in the 200-lap/400-mile race for a total of 60 laps and extended his lead in the standings to 293 points.

His win is the 12th NSCS win for Team Chevy this season.  Chevrolet holds the lead in the Manufacturers’ Cup Standings by 30 points with 13 races remaining on the schedule.

After leading three times for a total of 36 laps, Tony Stewart brought the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet to the finish line in sixth place. Stewart jumped four position in the point standings to the fourth position.

Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, finished seventh today. He remains 19th in the standings.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, finished 27th today after he suffered a flat tire following on-track contact and had to pit for repairs.  He remains second in the point standings.

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, battled handling issues throughout the race and was scored 12th at the finish.  Johnson is fifth in the points.

Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, also sustained damage in an on-track incident that relegated him to a 24th place finish in today’s race and now sits seventh in the points order.

Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, moved up to 12th in the Chase standings with a 13th place race finish. He leaves Michigan with a 35-point lead over 13th place Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

Martin made contact with the outside retaining wall early in the race and finished 28th today.

Denny Hamlin (Toyota), Carl Edward (Ford), Greg Biffle (Ford) and Matt Kenseth (Ford) complete the top-five finishers.

Next stop for the Series is the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 21, 2010.

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

KEVIN HARVICK AND CREW CHIEF GIL MARTIN, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL CHEVROLET – RACE WINNERS

RICHARD CHILDRESS, OWNER, RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING

HERB BRANHAM:  We’re joined by our race winners, Kevin Harvick, crew chief Gil Martin, and in a few minutes Richard Childress will join us.

Guys, you win the race, still lead the points and you’ve made the Chase.  Pretty good day.  Kevin?

KEVIN HARVICK:  It’s been obviously a great day for us.  It’s really been a great weekend all around and a great year, for that fact.  It’s a lot of fun to come to the racetrack right now.  Everybody is doing a great job of not only continuing to press but to put better things on the racetrack and put things together correctly and just do a great job at the shop.

That’s really all you can ask for right now is to have a chance.  You’re going to have the flat tires, the miscues, stuff happen.  It’s just a matter of how you rebound.  Today we didn’t have to do anything.  We were able to take advantage of a really fast racecar and put it where it was supposed to be, and that’s in Victory Lane.  So a good day.

HERB BRANHAM:  Gil?

GIL MARTIN:  It was a great day for us for more than one reason.  The season has gone so well from last year, but to come to Michigan, be able to run the way did today, after the way we’ve run here the past three years, this shows how far the organization has come as a whole, not to mention the fact that Kevin did a great job today running the high line all day long.  It takes a lot to do that here, to make that happen.  Everything that happened in the pits today, the engines, the cars.  I can’t say enough about the whole organization.

HERB BRANHAM:  Questions for our race winners.

Q.  You have been pretty much great everywhere this year.  There haven’t been any weak spots.  How come you’re the one team that hasn’t stumbled anywhere and doesn’t have any weak spots in your game now?

KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, I think it’s a lot like we talked on Friday.  I think the quality control we have at the shop is really good as far as analyzing the parts, making sure that the cars are within the tolerances.  In the wind tunnel, the guys are doing a great job of making sure the numbers are what we need to be as to what Gil thinks they need to be for me to drive.

The quality control, the people touching the cars right now are doing a good job of making sure that the right stuff is leaving the shop.  That’s really what all these cars are all about.

Q.  Kevin, you mentioned today, the next couple weeks, is really vacation, almost like a vacation.  Besides Victory Lane, where else do you go on vacation?

KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, tomorrow I’m going to embarrass myself at the PGA TOUR event this week in Greensboro, Wyndham Championship.  We have our foundation’s golf tournament tomorrow morning.  Hopefully I don’t hit anybody.  This will be a fun week.  Become good friends with Jason Gore.  To see those guys play is going to be fun.  To hang out with them for a week, it’s like a vacation, but that’s what we’re going to do for this week.

Q.  Can you talk about what kind of a testament this is to Richard Childress and how you have rebuilt this organization in the last year?  20 years ago was the last time that a Childress car went to Victory Lane.  What were you doing at that point?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I told him a story today on the post race.  The first time I came to Michigan was 1999.  We announced our AC Delco sponsorship.  That was the first time that I actually had met Earnhardt.  I walked up in the lounge.  Richard is, Come up in the lounge.  Earnhardt is changing.  Looks at you like, Who the hell are you?

I sat down in the lounge and just kind of didn’t really have much to say.  Then we went out and watched the race.  To see all the people, I think we were in the last pit stall that day, watched the race, watched Earnhardt I think race at the front that day, just took it all in.

So that was a pretty cool moment just to get to spend some time with those guys.  I’ll remember that first day for a long time because it was something that everybody doesn’t get to do every day.

But to come here and win is, like Gil said, great for RCR for the fact that this hasn’t been our best racetrack.  Our cars had run good here before, but I hadn’t.  Last couple times we’ve really committed ourselves to driving in different spots on the racetrack and doing different things from inside the car and trying to manage the practice as well as we can to not fool ourselves.

I think last time we fooled ourself at the first race, I think we did a good job of managing that this weekend as far as where to run in practice.

Q.  And Childress, rebuilding the company?

KEVIN HARVICK:  You can speak more to that, Gil.

GIL MARTIN:  The commitment that Richard has given us all as far as whether it’s financial support, moral support, equipment, everything that we’ve got right now as far as I’m concerned, there is not a better place to be right now as far as things that are going on, as far as technology in the sport.

I think we’re on the cutting edge on a lot of things.  Without his commitment and his drive and just being the racer that he is, I don’t think we would be at the level we are right now, especially not rebounding from where we were last year to be here right now.  It’s a testament to how hard everybody has worked and the commitment that has been made.

HERB BRANHAM:  We’re joined by team owner Richard Childress.  Maybe give us some opening thoughts about this day and we’ll go back to questions.

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  I’m just really proud of our whole organization.  To come up here and win in Detroit, in Michigan, for GM, to win in that Chevy Impala is big for us.  Like you say, it’s been 20 years since RCR won.  Kevin almost had the race several years ago.  We broke a distributor.  I can remember that one.  We’ve had some really good runs.  But to be able to put it together today, Kevin, he’s figured out how to make this thing work in the groove.  He’s got his own groove better than anyone.  He gets a lot of credit for today, too.  Gil did a great call.  Two tires (smiling).

Q.  You seem to be a better driver now than perhaps anytime in your career.  Any reason?  You look very comfortable, more mature.

KEVIN HARVICK:  It’s like living everyday life.  As you get older, you experience more things.  As you race more, you get to experience more things and go through situations, understand how the world turns.

I think I’ve learned to relate it to everyday life.  When you talk about this particular subject, just for the fact that’s the truth.  You learn how to deal with things better and you learn what to do, what not to do, when to do it.  I think it’s just a natural progression of listening to the people around you and trying to take everything in and learn by your mistakes to go forward.

That’s really all we’re doing different, trying to get away from racing during the week to take my mind away from things, relax more.  Other than that, it’s fun.

Q.  Gil, did you do any significant changes from qualifying to the race with the car?

GIL MARTIN:  Well, from qualifying to the race, there’s quite a few changes you make just to make a qualifying lap.  But basically we had a game plan that when we got here what we were going to practice with, race trim, for a little while on Friday, then what we were going to do on Saturday.  We went through a couple different scenarios trying to see how the car was going to react in the sun and clouds.  We had both situations on Saturday.  We kind of had an idea of what we were going to do.

Luckily this is one of the weekends that a lot of preparation, a good game plan and our engineering staff, the simulation they did, a lot of that stuff played out good this weekend.

Q.  You’re on the verge of making a sponsor announcement.  You’ve been leading the points all year.  You won two of the last six races when neither Hamlin or Johnson have won any of those six races.  The Chase is three races away.  Can your timing be that good or is this just a matter of getting better and reaching it at the right time?  Can you orchestrate something like that, the fact you’re so good at the right time, is that an accident or intentional?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I think the reason for it is is we were so damn bad last year.  That’s probably the reason (laughter).  For everybody to know that and work towards getting better, it all started in Indianapolis last year.  Everybody in every department, and Richard was on ‘em pretty hard, along with everybody else.

So I think it’s just a matter of everybody was embarrassed last year.  We’ve really been running pretty well since probably the last six or eight weeks of last year.  It didn’t just happen today.

One of the best things that we all went through last year was the fact that we I realized everybody didn’t like losing as much as I did and we all wanted to achieve the same goals.  We were headed in the right direction to do those things.  I think it’s just coincidental timing.

What do you guys think?

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  I agree.  We got way off last year, started coming back towards the end of the year.  Kevin and I talked.  We knew a lot of things we wanted to change, work on, fix.  We fixed a lot of ‘em.  I’m just happy to have him back here for three more years.

We’re gonna be contenders, for sure.

Q.  How much more confident does a win like this, at this track, give you in the big picture?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I think it’s really been a lot of the places we would classify places we don’t run good, we’ve ran as good as those places this year as we do at the short tracks, road courses, the places you can typically count on us running good.

The really the worst race we had was the first one here.  That was just because we felt like we made a couple mistakes from practice and the way we practiced.  It just led to some bad decisions we made with the car over the course of the day.  We just got off and never could fix it in the race.

I don’t feel like there’s anywhere we go right now that our cars should be off just because I know we’ve run good on every type of racetrack.  If it’s off, the information I’m giving ‘em is not right or I got to give ‘em the right information to lead them down the road to get it where it needs to be.

We can be off, but our cars are all capable, no matter where we’re at, to get ‘em right.

Q.  Gil, going back to earlier points about few weaknesses and quality control.  Did it ever bother you that the wins didn’t come with more regularity this year as good as the cars have been?  Is this a validation that you can do this beyond restrictor plate tracks?

GIL MARTIN:  Of course, everybody wants to win every week.  The bottom line is there’s a lot of good race teams out here.  It’s hard to win at this level.  The things that we do, the preparation we do every week, the 33 and 31 prepare just like we do.  Sometimes the breaks just don’t happen like they need to or, like Kevin said, the road you go down on Friday and Saturday lead you into Sunday.  You’ve got to be extremely careful not to fool yourself on leading into Saturday morning.

We’ve done that better this year.  We’ve prepared ourself better for Saturday practice than we did probably last year.  I think we’ve also looked forward and looked back into history more and have prepared a race strategy I think that’s been better, too, because I think last year maybe we played it off the cuff a little too much on some of our decisions we made on pit road.  This year we’ve really looked at them.  Before we go to the race, we have a meeting every Monday, try to replay what we think is going to happen, what has happened in the past, and that’s worked out for us.

KEVIN HARVICK:  I think the other thing you have to look at, too, we started out winning the Bud Shootout, the Daytona 500, circumstances, we had a chance, leading the race when the 500 miles ended, we were leading the race when the 510 ended.  You go to California, and I think California should have been for sure the first win.  We hadn’t won so long that I forced the issue.  That for me was the best point the year, remembering and telling myself, You can’t force winning; winning just happens, it comes in cycles.  Those circumstances all of a sudden start going your way.

When I tried to force it at California, waited two laps, drove right by him, that would have been the first win.  I tried to force it too soon.  That was what got me going back on the right path, trying to think, not force those things.

Q.  Gil, 30 laps to go, you don’t pit, everybody else does.  We’re thinking, They might have made a mistake.  Kevin, you faded a little bit.  Any second thoughts or did the computer simulation say this is right on and everybody else is screwing up?

GIL MARTIN:  Heck no.  I had somebody right here next to me that would have killed me if I would have pitted.  Clean air was a big bonus today.  With Tony staying out, knowing we had somebody to draft with, then hopefully a lot of guys would get two in between us, and they d the way everybody fanned out, it almost gave a parachute effect to the back portion of the field, that the tires couldn’t overcome the aero push.  Not having any cautions at the end led us to where we could stretch out.  If we could get four or five laps, let the tires heat up, we could stretch it out, because we were probably on average about 2/10ths better than the field most of the run.  When it got deeper in the run, it came more than that.

HERB BRANHAM:  We’ll go ahead and excuse Gil and continue with questions for Kevin and Richard.

Q.  Richard, Kevin talked a little bit about the maturity factor that he has shown during the course of this year.  I was wondering if you could talk about some of the differences you’ve noticed in Kevin maybe on and off the track.

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  I mean, Kevin’s always had his head into it good as a racer.  I think he’s bringing more and more to our whole organization now.

Last year he talked to me about areas we needed to work on, we needed to fix.  We went in there and we all worked on them together.  He’s a big reason we got our engines running where we are today.

It’s not complaining, it’s how he came to us and said it’s how we got to get them fixed.  We just worked through a lot of those things.  Today he’s a big role at RCR as well.

Q.  Do you see yourselves as the team to beat going into the Chase?

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  I said at our luncheon, Somebody has to beat Jimmie this year, and it might as well be RCR.

You never say, We’re the team to beat.  You got to have confidence, but so many factors play in.  We know we’re going to be a contender.  That’s all we can ask for is to be a contender.  If we’re that, we’ll have a shot at winning it.

Q.  Richard and Kevin, this is the No. 29′s first victory on a track of at least one and a half miles in length with an unrestricted engine since 2003.  Can you describe any significance to that given that five of the tracks in the Chase are similar?  Is it good to get the win on a track like that heading into the Chase?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I think it’s good to get it out of the way.  Like I say, there were opportunities to do that.  You just can’t force it.  I think that’s more coincidence than anything.  We won the All Star Race in ’07 on a mile and a half racetrack in Charlotte.  We’ve been in contention to win a bunch of ‘em this year.

You just go racing.  If they come at Daytona, I’m happy.  If they come at Talladega, whatever.  If they come at Martinsville, fine too.  It’s okay.  I’m glad to win here today.  But wherever they are, I’m happy in this deal.

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  Like he said, we had won at Charlotte, the All Star, Atlanta till that caution came out there right at the end, mile and a half, he was the class of the field there.  We just couldn’t take off on that restart.  Indy we were really good.

We’ve had some great opportunities, but we’re able to capitalize right now.  If we keep being able to capitalize, we’ll be a contender.

Q.  Richard, a little more than a year ago there was a lot of fighting going on, the team lost its way, you had to do a couple rebuilding jobs over the last decade.  When something like that happens, how the hell do you know where to start and how hard is it to get a ship turned where you have 400 or 500 people and it’s not really working, in short order get it moving in the right direction?

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  It actually started mid season or before.  My story on what happened last year, 2008, Kevin was one of the contenders for the championship.  The Hendrick group had phenomenal years.  2007, Bowyer was there.  2008, Kevin was there.  We were contenders at that point for the championship.

We went down a road going into 2009 with some people and some things.  We ended 2008 well enough.  We took the wrong path.  When NASCAR pulled the testing, our simulation program would not work anymore.

It’s just accumulation of so many things.  Done a lot of changing in personnel.  Changed our engineering.  You see your weak points.  Kevin and I talked about the areas we knew we had to work on.  Jeff Burton played a big role.  I asked him what he thought on some things.  It’s a big team effort.  I don’t get the credit for it.  It’s everybody going in there trying to turn that ship and we all turned it together.

Q.  Kevin, a couple times where you were getting ready to take the lead, your spotter or crew chief said just keep doing that and you’re going to leave everybody behind.  Are the engines just that strong now?  Do you have a better package better?  Is it different than you’ve had for the rest of the season?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I think the good engines are coming.  They’re all good, but I think the other ones are coming still in the pipeline.  The engine program has been so strong over the past couple years since those guys have really got their stuff together.  Now it’s just a constant evolution of better stuff always in the pipeline.  They do a great job of doing all that.

You know, today it was a combination of a great engine, a great car.  When you run the top like that, you’re able to make it work, it looks like you have a hundred more horsepower.  We probably do have as much horsepower as anybody, and today it looked like we had a bunch more because we were able to run the top.

Q.  Richard, your first win here since Dale in 1990.  Would you share some of your more vivid memories of that day.

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  1990?  You know, that’s 20 years ago.  Memory isn’t as good as it was.  I remember winning here, how proud we was to win for GM Goodwrench back in those days, to win in a GM product up here.  There’s a lot of pride.  It’s great to be here today and win today.

But that was a great win, too.  Like I say, we’ve been in a position to win here before.  They just always seemed to slip away.

Q.  Richard, Clint Bowyer got back in the top 12, 35 points up on Mark Martin.  How would you assess his chances to get in the Chase and how big was it for him to get back in the top 12 today?

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  That’s going to be a battle.  It’s not just racing two guys.  It’s about four guys that can still win that.  Clint still is pretty wired.  Like Kevin said, you got to mature through these things.  That’s one thing that Clint’s working on, we’re working on with him.

The pressure that goes along with where he’s sitting now, we’ve sat in that situation before going into Richmond.  It’s a tough deal, tough on the drivers.  He and I are going to talk tomorrow.  Hopefully we can do some things that will get him focused in on what he’s got to accomplish these next three races.  It’s a lot about being right there and having the focus and concentration.

Q.  What is the game plan now for the 29 for the next three weeks?  You’re in the Chase.  Is it go out and win and have fun?

KEVIN HARVICK:  Do you think it would go over well if we went on vacation?  Probably not (smiling).

I think it’s to do the same thing we did today.  It’s fun.  I mean, right now we’re in a fortunate position to be doing what we’re doing.  I’ve been in that 12th, 13th place battle and it sucks, to be honest with you.  You can’t sleep at night, you can’t do anything to get your mind off of that.

We’re going to enjoy it.  We’re going to go and race hard.  We’re going to try to gain 30 more bonus points.  Hopefully we can have a couple things that we can try.  For sure now, whether it’s engines, parts, pieces, over the next three weeks, try to get a little bit better.

We’re going to enjoy it and we’re going to hopefully be ready for the last 10 weeks.

Q.  Kevin, you went after Denny on the high side, passed him on the turn.  Here at Michigan, how did you figure that out?

KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, it’s just a lot of years of getting beat by people running up there to be honest with you.  I never really could figure it out.  So probably end of last year, middle of last year, first or second race of last year, I went home and watched some tapes of Dale Jr., to be honest with you, some of his previous races here, because he always seemed to have a good handle on running the top groove.  It was just more of a rhythm thing and some things that I needed to change in my approach to run up there.

For us, I think the biggest change was not only the racecars being good, but just the approach to where we ran on the racetrack during the race and making that commitment.  It worked out for us today.

Q.  You talked earlier about learning from the California experience.  Was that learning from your own self when you were flying back or somebody talking to you?  Can you relate how that helped you with chasing down Denny?

KEVIN HARVICK:  Yeah, the California thing was just more of a wake up call.  If you’re going to have fast cars, there’s no reason to ruin them.  We were going to win the race hands down if I was just patient.  You want to force the issue, take advantage when you can.  That was just a huge reminder for me that these things go in cycles.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  You can’t let the highs be too high and the lows be too low.  Sometimes you just finish second.

When you’re that much faster than the guy in front of you, you got to take your time until the laps are out.  That’s kind of what I did today.  I didn’t want to make a mistake by running into the wall.  When Denny rolled up to the top, I didn’t want to do the same thing I did behind Jimmie and push into the fence off the corner.  I tried to take care of my car and just kind of let time take care of his.  Mine got better as it progressed, I knew that.  There was no reason to force it until it was very clear we were going to make the move and go by.

So that was a big key in the way that the year has gone so far.  There’s been instances where we could have pushed the issue a little bit more, but it really wasn’t worth the risk at that particular time just for the fact you got a lot of laps left in the race and today we had a lot of time to work Denny over and try to get by.

Q.  Why wouldn’t you say you’re the team to beat at this point?  You’ve led the points.  Those other guys have a couple more wins.  You’ve shown improvements from the last race here.  Why wouldn’t you put the gauntlet down and say, Hell, yeah, we are the team to beat?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I think over the last four years, you can look at the 48 and they’ve done the same thing and won the championship.  Until you beat the guy that’s won the last four championships, you know, we’re fast enough to beat ‘em, but the circumstances and all the things have to go your way over the last 10 weeks.  It’s not about a whole season anymore; it’s about 10 weeks.

They’re going to start pretty much dead even or a little bit ahead of us.  Hopefully we can keep doing the same thing that we’re doing.  It’s like saying you’re going to beat somebody that’s won the last four Super Bowls.  Until you beat that guy, there’s no reason to put that pressure on ourselves, I don’t think.

RICHARD CHILDRESS:  Yeah, that’s just saying    I don’t ever want to be cocky and sit up here and say we’re the team to beat.  Then you have to put your head between your tail when you leave Homestead.  We don’t want to do that.  We want to let our teams keep talking and put ourselves in a position to win.  Sure, we think we’ve got the cars and everything to contend for the championship.  But we ain’t going to be cocky about it.

Q.  It’s a cyclical sport.

KEVIN HARVICK:  That’s a big word for me.

Q.  It goes in cycles.

KEVIN HARVICK:  Okay, thank you (smiling).

Q.  One year ago when you left here, could you ever have imagined that it would have cycled this well for you; that you would be in a position where you had these victories, look like a legitimate shot to win your first title?

KEVIN HARVICK:  Not really.  I think you guys would all look at us.  I think you still have a hard time believing it turned around.  We got over that the first few weeks of the season and realized we were headed down the right path.

When you look at the statistics, you look at the situations, all the things that you take from a year ago, it’s hard to believe.  But it’s from a lot of effort and from a lot of people doing their jobs, making changes on Richard’s part, me trying to do things differently.

It’s so deep with the people that it’s hard to explain how much effort goes into turning a company of the magnitude of RCR around in a different direction when basically it’s a huge factory of producing stuff and you basically shut the factory down and say, Okay, you can’t build anything else until we figure out what you’re going to build, then we want you to build 60 of ‘em in the shortest amount of time you can, then we have to change all the processes, all the things, all the people.  It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking.  For me owning a race team, I understand that.  It’s hard to fathom how big that turnaround is when you really get into looking at it.

HERB BRANHAM:  Thanks, guys.  Congratulations on a great day.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

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.

- Team Chevy, Press Release

2010 NSCS Regan Smith - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

Smith, who sent out a tweet prior to the race saying that he had a strong Furniture Row Chevrolet, was right on with his statement. He was positioned in the top-10 and as high as fourth as the 400-mile race was winding down.

“When we were running in the top-10 it was a combination of sound pit strategy and a fast Furniture Row Chevrolet,” said Smith. “It was getting a little dicey out there and I scraped the wall which caused enough damage to affect the car’s aerodynamic package. These cars are very sensitive and it doesn’t take much to throw the aero off. But we managed to hang on and finish the race. We had a solid weekend of racing and it was a big step for our program.”

A key moment for the Furniture Row team came when crew chief Pete Rondeau called for fuel only during a pit stop on Lap 156 of 200. The pit-road elapsed time saved by not taking fresh tires resulted in Smith vaulting from 17th to 10th in track position.

“Pete made a good call and it sure made it exciting for us,” said Smith. “We gave it everything we had today and almost came away with the top-10 finish.”

The Carfax 400 race winner was Kevin Harvick. Rounding out the top-five in order were: Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth.

The next Sprint Cup race is Saturday night (Aug. 21) at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

- DMF Communications for Furniture Row Racing, Press Release

Date: Aug. 15, 2010
Event: CARFAX 400 (Round 23 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn (2-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 4^th/6^th (Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
Winner: Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)

A win is just around the corner for Tony Stewart, and proof can be found in Sunday’s CARFAX 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

Stewart started fourth – his best starting spot at Michigan since he qualified third for the track’s 2005 June race – before leading three times for 36 laps. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) appeared ready to notch his first victory of 2010 and the 38^th of his Sprint Cup career until a caution for debris came out with a little more than 30 laps remaining in the 200-lap race. It ultimately spoiled Stewart’s potential victory run and left him with a disappointing but respectable sixth-place finish – his 10^th top-10 result in the last 12 Sprint Cup races and fifth straight.

Stewart was leading handily after taking the point from David Ragan on lap 167. He had enough fuel to go the distance, and with his fiercest challenger – Kevin Harvick – mired in traffic, Stewart was poised to take his second Sprint Cup win at Michigan.

But when NASCAR displayed the caution flag for debris two laps later, it put Stewart in an unenviable position. Sure, he was the leader, but with 30 laps remaining a crucial decision had to be made – pit for new tires or stay out and keep your hard-earned track position. Those behind Stewart got the benefit of seeing what Stewart did and then reacting. As the leader, Stewart had no one to gauge. If he pits, perhaps everyone stays out and he drops out of the top-10. If he stays out, perhaps everyone else comes in for either two or four tires and emerges stronger thanks to the newfound grip from their fresh Goodyears.

It turned out to be the latter, with only Stewart, Harvick and Denny Hamlin staying out while the rest of the lead-lap cars pitted for tires. As soon as Stewart saw the cars behind him peel off the racetrack and onto pit road, he keyed his radio and said, “We’re in big trouble here.”

When the race restarted on lap 173, Stewart was at the point, which he held until Hamlin zipped by him on lap 178. Harvick passed Stewart for second on lap 180, and then Carl Edwards took over third on lap 195. With an Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet that only became looser as the race reached its closing moments, Stewart did all he could to hold onto fourth, but it was to no avail. On the penultimate lap, Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle powered past Stewart, dropping him out of the top-five and into sixth.

“We were just too loose there at the end,” said Stewart, who now has 16 top-10 finishes in 24 career Sprint Cup starts at Michigan, which includes his win in June 2000. “We were good most of the day, but when we were getting beat, it was because guys could get off the corners better than we could. We stayed on top of it most of the race, and when we got out in clean air, we were the car to beat. But that last caution really messed up our strategy. It’s a tough situation because you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. We just couldn’t make old tires work there at the end.”

Harvick did, as he took the lead from Hamlin on lap 190 and never looked back. It was his 14^th career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his first at Michigan. It was also the first win at Michigan for Richard Childress Racing since the late Dale Earnhardt proved victorious at the 2-mile oval on June 24, 1990.

Hamlin finished 1.731 seconds behind Harvick in the runner-up spot, while Edwards, Biffle and Kenseth rounded out the top-five. Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler and Joey Logano comprised the remainder of the top-10.

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished 23^rd after running in the top-15 for much of the first half of the event. Mid-race contact with Logano caused Newman to spin and lose a lap. While he eventually regained that lost lap, he became stuck in traffic and was unable to crack the top-15 again.

There were five caution periods for 25 laps in the CARFAX 400, with seven drivers failing to finish.

With round 23 of 36 complete, Stewart jumped four spots to fourth in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He now has 3,020 points and is 380 markers behind series leader Harvick and 300 points ahead of 13^th-place Mark Martin, the first driver on the outside looking in at the 12-driver Chase for the Championship, which will be decided in the next three races. Newman remained 14^th in the standings. He has 2,652 points and is 103 points back of 12^th-place Clint Bowyer, who holds the final spot in the Chase.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Aug. 21 Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

Kenseth notches 100^th-career top-5 finish in Sprint Cup Series; Edwards moves to sixth (tie) in points

Jack Roush - Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

“It is great,” said Carl Edwards after the race. “We really wanted to get a win for (Jack Roush) today, but that is a strong performance for us and for Ford. It meant a lot to perform that well for him today.”

Edwards led the way at the finish line for Roush Fenway with a strong third-place showing. Greg Biffle dominated the majority of the event, leading a race-high 66 laps en route to his fourth-place run. Matt Kenseth posted his 100^th career top-five finish with a fifth-place run, and David Ragan – who also led in the race – rounded out the Roush Fenway effort with an 11^th-place finish.

It was a strong points day for Roush Fenway, with Edwards moving up two spots to sixth (tied with Jeff Burton for the spot) in the Sprint Cup point standings. Kenseth moved up one spot to ninth and Biffle held steady at 11^th. With only three races remaining before the Chase cutoff point after Richmond, three Roush Fenway cars are inside the 12-car cutoff point and all three hold at least a 193 point advantage over 13^th position.

Edwards, who celebrated his 31^st birthday on Sunday, has now finished sixth or better in six consecutive races. Biffle has finished top five in three of the last four races.

The Sprint Cup Series travels to Bristol, Tenn. next weekend for one of the most exciting events on the schedule, Bristol Motor Speedway under the lights.

- Roush Fenway Racing, Press Release

Team Chevy Logo

GIL MARTIN, CREW CHIEF, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER

HOW DID YOU DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH THAT FINAL YELLOW-STOP OR NOT STOP? “Well, we came to our decision by what we’ve done in the last 21 weeks. We came in with 180 point lead. We could gamble staying out hoping that clean air was the way to go. And, it was, because if you get in the back, you got mired in. The tires just didn’t send you up there like we needed to. We knew if we could get the clean air we’d be ok. I would like to say hello to my Mother-in-law, her sister just died. I want to tell her I am thinking about her and I love her and love you guys at home.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN TODAY IN GETTING THIRD WIN OF YEAR AND LOCKING YOURSELF IN THE CHASE: “First off, I want to thank the fans and Sprint and all these people for coming out and watching us race today. Shell-Pennzoil, Reeses, SKF, Jimmy Johns, Champion, Sherwin Williams, Realtree, everybody that helps us with this car. Chevrolet. We had a good car in practice. This has been a very bad track for us and to come here and do what we did today says a lot about where RCR is; where our cars are and hopefully what we can do in the last 10 weeks of the season. Really proud of everybody. Just gotta thank all the guys on this team for working as hard as they do and putting up with me. It is a lot of fun right now.”

TALK ABOUT THE BATTLE WITH DENNY HAMLIN: “I knew Tony (Stewart) was a little higher than Denny, I wanted them to start working the bottom and Denny moved up in (turns) one and two so I moved down and got even better in one and two down there. It just took a while; once the bottom went off of his car, our car just kept getting better and better. A lot of fun racing with those guys. Even more fun beating them.”

WAS FUEL AN ISSUE? “I don’t think fuel was the issue, the biggest concern I had was the tires and obviously there was enough cars in between us for us to get out there. Once we got past those first three, four or five laps, the new tires kind of evened out. Our car was so good up on the top, we were a little off on the restarts. What a great day, this hasn’t been the best track for us. Just want to thank all the fans and everybody for coming out and supporting us today. A lot of fun when you are running good.”

YOU TOLD SOME PEOPLE THIS MORNING THAT YOU DIDN’T HAVE ANY PRESSURES AND IT WAS LIKE ON VACATION, DID IT FEEL LIKE VACATION THOSE LAST 10 LAPS?

“No. I didn’t need a restart. We weren’t as good on the restarts as we needed to be but we were so good after 10 laps that it was hard to make any adjustments. Three more weeks of vacation then we can go back to the pressure cooker for the last 10.”

SO YOU ARE LOCKED IN THE CHASE, SO NEXT UP IS THE CHAMPIONSHIP RUN: I’m just really excited. It could all go wrong, but it has been such a great turn around for the year that we’ve had. To finally get this down force victory out of the way, we have been close a lot this year. Now they can’t just say we won on superspeedways this year.”

WHAT DOES THIS VICTORY MEAN TO YOU? “It means a lot. To come here to Michigan and do what we did today is very important and this is what we think is our worst track. So to do what we did today is awesome and it shows where our cars are.

“It has been a great year for us. Last year was a tough year. To start the year off with winning the Shootout and then win three more races and now to win on a down force track where we have been so close to winning so many times this year is important. At the end of the year, we have got to make it happen in the last 10 weeks and that is what we are trying to prepare ourselves for.”

YOU ARE FIRST GUY TO CLINCH A SPOT IN THE CHASE, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO THE BONUS POINTS AND BEAT DENNY HAMLIN? “I think it is important just for the fact that they won the first race here. Obviously they have won five races on the year and they are going to be somebody you are going to have to race down the stretch. It is a lot of fun racing the way we did today. He took my life away a couple times and I was able to move down and find another line and then eventually get by him on the top. Just a great Shell-Pennzoil Chevy today. The top is what made it happen for us today.

“It just my car a little bit to get going and once the bottom kind of slouched off for Denny, he started losing grip, he didn’t really have a good car up top or not as good as our car up top. So, it was a lot of fun to have a car like that and run around up top.”

DID THE CLOUD COVER AFFECT YOUR CAR? “A lot. Our car was too loose in the run and perfect in the cloud cover. As it came in and out, our car seemed to be a little more consistent than everybody else’s.”

HOW DO YOU PLAN FOR THE LAST THREE RACES BEFORE THE CHASE? “We have won at all three of the race tracks in the Cup Series. Hopefully we can do it again. They are really good race tracks for us. We’ve run well there over the past few years along with winning there before. So hopefully we can put ourselves in position to win and have a car as strong as we did today should have a chance to win a couple more. Any of the bonus points we can get, we’re happy with. We just want to race like this the last 10 weeks.”

RICHARD CHILDRESS, TEAM OWNER, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: WHAT A BIG CHANGE FROM A YEAR AGO, WHAT A CHANGE: “We actually started a little earlier. A lot of people get credit. We made some changes in personnel, engineering, a lot of different things. Kevin has been so rock-solid. He is into it this year. The whole team is. Clint (Bowyer), Jeff (Burton). I can’t say enough and the sponsors and the fans. What would we be without our fans.

THIS HAS NEVER BEEN A GOOD TRACK FOR RCR, DID YOU KNOW KEVIN WOULD BE THIS GOOD? “Yesterday I knew he was good up high which we were the last race here and we kind of lost it part way through the race. Today, he just stayed solid all day long.”

DO YOU THINK ABOUT WINNING THE TITLE YET? “You just have to be solid to win championships. We contended in 2007 and 2008, with Clint and Kevin in 2008. We are going to give it our all this year.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED 12th

“We overcame a lot today. We started the race good and faded a little bit and in the middle of the race when things started to slip from us, we did a good job of keeping our heads in the game and not letting it beat us down start making bad decisions. It’s definitely not the finish we wanted but I think it was a big victory in a lot of other areas. At a few races this year we’ve had some struggles and you can all get frustrated and start making mistakes, but we kept our head in the game.”

SO IT’S MOVING FORWARD NOW?

“Yeah, when we lose our cool, we would miss an adjustment or two due to being frustrated and then we were an adjustment or two behind and could really never recover; and today we all kept our heads in the game and we did a good job of that.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 27^TH:

ON THE DAY

“We had a great run going and I was really excited about how good the car was to be able to drive up from 36^th and I really thought we were going to give those guys a run for the win there. But, everything that could have of happened did happen. We cut the front tire and got damage to the right rear (tire) the vacuum system we had a problem with that. I don’t know if we caused that or if the system failed or what. We’ve never had a problem with it. Everything just went wrong there at the end.”

ON THE CONTACT WITH JEFF BURTON, HE THOUGHT YOU WERE HAVING AN IGNITION PROBLEM; HE HEARD SOME POPPING

“No, that was the cut tire. I just went in the corner; actually it was about halfway down the straightaway when I felt it go. I tried to pull to the inside but I couldn’t steer it and yeah, I hated that. Jeff and I were having a great race all day and that ruined both of our days, probably. But that caused damage to our right rear and the car was just never the same after that. But then we started having the electrical problem or vacuum problem.

ON MAKING GAINS EARLY IN THE RACE AND PEOPLE SAY IT’S HARD TO PASS HERE AND YET YOU GAINED SO MUCH WITHOUT THE HELP OF A CAUTION

“I don’t think it’s tough to pass here. I think this probably is the best place to pass on of all the tracks we go to because it’s so wide and there are so many options of lanes. So, you’ve got to have a good car and we had an awesome car. We really did. But we also found out how important aerodynamics are here. All you have to do is look at that race car and the slight damage to the right rear made it so loose that I couldn’t drive it. Mark Martin got in the wall early and I want to see what kind of characteristics the car had after that. But you know, it’s a big, fast race track. Who knows what would have happened had we not had that cut tire. But the other vacuum brake system might have failed us anyway. So, who knows what would have happened.”

ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RCR CARS

“They’re strong. They showed it all day. All three of their cars are pretty strong; especially Kevin (Harvick, race winner). This is the time to get momentum going into the Chase and leading the points. They’ve shown strength. They haven’t gotten the victories on these types of race tracks and these are very important race tracks to win on right now. I think that was a huge win for them and I’m obviously disappointed for us.”

DO YOU HAVE A STRATEGY FOR THE REST OF THE RACES?

“Oh, yes; on finding a golden horseshoe out there somewhere. I don’t know. We’ve just got to work hard and keep putting good race cars out there and you just hope that things turn around and come your way. That’s the thing about the Chase. Your momentum can shift at any time. And it doesn’t matter what you do. If you show that your cars are fast and you’ve got a good team, even if you don’t win races, you can get one or two wins and all of a sudden the momentum is on your side and confidence and everything is there.”

KNOWING YOUR CARS HAVE BEEN STRONG, DO YOU STILL HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE IN THE SEASON?

“Definitely. Oh, yeah. I think we’re one of the best teams out there, honestly; especially on the 1.5-miles this year. But we’re already 50 points down here and we’d be starting 8^th or something like that if the Chase were to start tomorrow. We’ve got to get those bonus points and cut into those 50 that (Denny) Hamlin and Jimmie (Johnson) have and hope we can battle them to keep them from even getting more as well as the NO. 29 (Kevin Harvick). And now there are a lot of important battles going on to really get yourself seeded correctly in the Chase, but heads up, I think we can beat anybody in 10 races; especially the 10 tracks that are coming up in the Chase.”

WERE YOU ABLE TO LEARN A LOT TODAY?

“You always learn from things that go wrong. But our car was fast. So, I know there were some guys that struggled but that was not our issue today.”

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 GODADDY CHEVROLET – FINISHED 28^TH

“I ran into the back of the No. 82 (Scott Speed). He lifted for Juan (Montoya) and I didn’t know it was time to lift yet and I pounded him pretty hard and that really messed it up. But I put us behind anyway earlier in the race getting up against the outside wall. So we got a little behind because of that too. It was, oh, I’ll call it my mistake but we are racing hard. And that was a case of me racing too hard, too early for sure. But that would have been too hard even late because it messed me up; it would have messed me up late or early. I was charged up and excited and amped up when the race started and had to hammer down a little bit more than I control.”

WHAT ARE YOUR CHASE CHANCES?

“I don’t know what they are. We’ll keep digging. I don’t know. Every race is a new race.”

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP THE DAY?

“My guys did an awesome job. The car was really fast the last run but it took us the whole race to fix up my mistake. I was real aggressive early in the race and got the damage in the front. It got us a little bit behind first of all and then got the damage in the front end. We going to race hard like we did today and try not to have any more scrapes but we’re going to go down swinging and that’s what we did today. I’m real proud of the rebound that the guys made; we were pretty fast in that last run.”

DID THAT SPEED LATE IN THE DAY GIVE YOU ENCOURAGEMENT?

“I think we had a decent car. I don’t know what we had because things started going wrong from the start. It was a great team effort and we’ll keep pounding no matter what. We were racing hard.”

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.

- Team Chevy, Press Release

Toyota Motorsports

Denny Hamlin (second) was the highest-finishing Camry driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Michigan International Speedway. Hamlin started 33rd and led once for 12 (of 200) laps in the event.

• Martin Truex Jr. (eighth) and Joey Logano (10th) also recorded top-10 finishes for Toyota.

• Camry drivers Marcos Ambrose (15th), David Reutimann (16th), Kyle Busch (18th), Scott Speed (25th), Reed Sorenson (26th), Robby Gordon (37th), P.J. Jones (39th), Max Papis (41st), Michael McDowell (42nd) and Joe Nemechek (43rd) were also in the field.

• Camry drivers Hamlin (third) and Busch (eighth) remain in the top-12 in the unofficial NSCS point standings with three races remaining before the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

• Reutimann (18th), Truex (20th) and Logano (21st) are also in the top-25 in the unofficial NSCS point standings following Sunday’s race at Michigan.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 2nd

Are you happy with finishing second? “It’s win or nothing for us. This was a great fight by our FedEx Express team. This is the kind of run we needed to get back in the swing of things, but we still have to get better. The 29 (Kevin Harvick) was strong down that straightaway and so it was hard for us to beat him. It was a good battle. I haven’t had that much fun racing someone for a win in a long time.”

How did the electrical problem in your car impact your race? “It was a warm day, for sure. We keep having voltage problems with our FedEx team. Don’t know what it is exactly, but hopefully we just keep fixing these problems and eventually we’ll be alright.”

How was it racing with Kevin Harvick at the end? “It was a battle, for sure. We are definitely happy with that run. We are trying all we can to get 10 more bonus points, but Kevin (Harvick) had a really strong car. It showed all day. We just kind of snuck up there. I knew we had a good car, but we never had really good track position. We were just hanging around eighth or 10th all day. I knew the capabilities of the car once we got out front. Mike (Ford, crew chief) made a great call to stay out there and luckily it gave me a shot to win it anyway.”

What were you thinking at the end of the race? “Win or wreck — that was the only thing I was thinking. We’re in a situation where winning is everything. I tried everything I can and almost wrecked a couple times. I could only drive the limits of the car and that’s all we had.”

Are you surprised the second-place finish after starting 33rd in the race? “I felt like we were better than 33rd. We were not a 20th-place practice car. Those are all about single, one-lap fast speeds. I’ve never really been good at getting overall speed out of the car. I said last year in Homestead after we won, in order to win the Chase next year, we were going to have to qualify better. Right now, we are just struggling so b ad with qualifying. It takes us the entire race to get to the front. That’s going to be a tough road to travel if we’re going to try to win the championship.”

Is Kevin Harvick as your primary threat for the championship? “I tell you, I don’t think that you can put together any 10-week stretch during the course of the year where Kevin (Harvick) has been off. He’s always been solid. Even when we had that 10-week stretch where we won all those races, there were a few bad races in between. I’m sure probably Kevin scored the most points still in that 10-week stretch. Through the course of the regular season, he has just been really, really good. Really reliable. He’s been a guy that’s been super solid. I really don’t see how he can’t be really the favorite going into it as solid of performance as he’s been. Really not tapered off — he’s actually gotten better.”

What do you think about NASCAR taking 18 engines to the dyno this week? “I’d love to see it. We heard that they were coming with the engine stuff this week. We’re not the best out there. I think the RCR (Richard Childress Racing) camp has the best engines. So, I mean, we’ll see with the dyno numbers. These guys, they’re tough. They really got everything working right now. Their cars are handling really well and they’ve got horsepower. Those are two things that are tough to beat. For us, we feel like we’re off a little bit in our camp in a couple different areas. Meeting with the guys Monday, we’ll figure out what we’ve got to do to be better.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 8th

How was your race today? “Pretty good day for us. After the first pit stop we were real strong. We drove up there to fourth and were catching (Jimmie) Johnson and them guys for the lead. I was a little too loose there, we made some adjustments and got looser and really throughout the day we could never catch it. We stayed too loose all day long and battled that. Overall, it was a good day for the NAPA Toyota. Pat (Tryson, crew chief) did a really good job calling the race. We stayed out that one time and got track position and then were able to get our four tires and we were able to stay up there. We had a really good car on the long run. It took us a while to get going on the short run and that hurt us. We were as good as anyone on the long run. It just took us too long. It’s something to work with. We were a lot better than we were here last time. The guys are working good and making the cars better and we feel good about that.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 10th

How did the handle change on your race car today? “The thing that kind of messed with me was when we started in dirty air, we would get tighter and when we were in clean air, we would get looser. The track temperature was going up and down and it just kept screwing with me all day. It made it really hard to adjust on the car. If you had clean air all day and were up front then you definitely had a more consistent car and easier to work with. We finished with what we had. That was basically all we could do with it. We finished top-10 and that’s good after the last few weeks, we definitely needed a solid top-10. We need to start moving ourselves back up towards the top-12 in points. If we can’t make the Chase, we need to be as good as we can. We’ll keep pushing.”

What happened between you and Ryan Newman on the track? “He (Ryan Newman) races me way too hard, he races everybody too hard. I’m not the only one that complains about it every week. And he just went in there and door-jammed me. I was down there trying to save it and trying to save it. When someone is right on your side it takes your air off. I’m down there just hanging on and hanging on. I saved it three times before I’m like, ‘I can’t save this one, he should have given me room by now.’ I will have to call and talk to him about it because I know I’m not the only one that complains about it, but I don’t know why he races everyone so hard. I hear it from too many people.”

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Little Debbie Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position: 15th

How was your car in today’s race? “We hung in and around the top-15 most of the day. We didn’t qualify well, but we were able to drive our way up into the top-15. We started off tight in the center and loose off. When we had that bit of cloud cover, we were tight center off. The crew made some air pressure adjustments, which seemed to help. A little over halfway we were really free. With about 35 (laps) to go, we were tight in the middle before we took two tires. All in all, we had a respectable finish and look forward to Bristol this week.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 16th

How did your car handle in the race? “We just fought it all day today. We’d work to correct one thing and it’d hurt the other. We tried some pit strategy to gain track position toward the end, but really we just did the best we could with the Aaron’s Dream Machine. The track conditions were tough, but on a day like today you just do what you can to gain every position. We’ll take it and head to Bristol.”

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position: 43rd

- Toyota Motorsports, Press Release