2009 NSCS Martin Truex-jr - (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The team was penalized for violating Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-I (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-12.8.1B (front of the car did not meet the required height specification; too low in post-race inspection).

Crew chief Kevin Manion was fined $50,000 and remains on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31, 2009. Car owner Teresa Earnhardt and driver Martin Truex Jr., were penalized with the loss of 50 championship owner and 50 championship driver points, respectively.

- NASCAR, Press Release

No. 21 Motorcraft/Wood Brothers Racing PitBox

On Saturday the team was back at it for two practices. During Saturday’s first practice, the car still needed some work. By the second practice, Bill posted the 5th fastest lap. With the car posting consistent lap times, it was also experiencing a small vibration.

On Sunday morning, the team replaced the transmission. Because of this change, the #21 was forced to start the race in the rear of the field.

As the race started, the car felt a little loose. The team made adjustments for the loose condition. The adjustments coupled with the cooling condition of the track caused the car to become too tight.

By the half-way point, Bill was running laps as fast as the leaders – unfortunately two laps down. On lap 172, the team made the decision not to pit under caution and take the “wave around.” The gambled paid off when the caution flew again on lap 178. The team had gotten one of its two laps back.

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With only 22 laps to go misfortune struck as fourth gear broke, forcing the team to retire from the race. Bill Elliott and the #21 were finally scored in 34th place.

The Wood Brothers #21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion will make its final 2009 appearance in two weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Ford 400.

- Wood Brothers Racing, Press Release

NSCS Red Bull Racing Teams No. 82 & No. 83

Who:

+ RED BULLS OFF PACE IN TEXAS

Only six cars finished on the lead lap Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Scott Speed wasn’t driving one of them, and neither was teammate Brian Vickers.

Speed snuck into the top 20 in the Dickies 500 by virtue of fuel mileage. As several cars ran dry in the closing laps, Speed’s No. 82 Red Bull Toyota kept going and ended up 18th at the checkered flag.

It was the rookie’s best showing since he finished 15th on Aug. 22 at Bristol, and his No. 82 remained 36th in the car owner standings — 117 points out of the top 35 with two races to go.

“I think we would have run on the lead lap all day. We were fast enough to,” Speed said. “We had a great car all race. There was one run where we were way off, but we fixed it and there at the end we were as fast as the leaders, I mean really holding our own. It’s great for all of us. It gives us more momentum and we’re figuring it out and reassuring us that yeah, we are getting it and we can go fast.”

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“When I put rear brake into the car, it started acting like it was supposed to. I can’t explain it,” Vickers reported halfway through the 500-mile race. “We are still really loose in. The biggest problem by far is entry.”

Vickers radioed the car to be the “best it has been” during the last run of the day – which was unfortunately too little, too late.

He still ranks 12th in the Chase — 80 points behind 11th-place Carl Edwards and 121 behind Kasey Kahne in 10th.

+ UP NEXT

Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, Sunday, Nov. 15, Phoenix International Raceway

- Toyota Motorsports

Robby Gordon

Toward the end of the first run, Gordon called into his crew to express his concern about his right side tires. The crew called Gordon down pit road on Lap 54. After diagnosis of his tires, it was noted that the cord was slightly exposed on both the right front and rear tire.

As the race progressed, Gordon discovered that the handling condition on his Camry began to get continually tighter throughout the center of the turns. When the caution fell on Lap 86 for an on-track incident, the No. 7 team decided to pit for four tires and fuel. Unfortunately, the No. 7 MAPEI / Menards Camry got boxed in their pit stall after a chain reaction on pit road caused by the caution car, and Gordon lost nearly ten positions.

As soon as the race restarted, Gordon immediately reported that he had a vibration that shook the car violently throughout the turns. Gordon was able to hold on to the MAPEI Camry until the team’s next stop under green flag conditions. However, he was not able to prevent the team from losing a lap to the leader.

The long green flag runs and dominance of the leaders left a lot of competitors at least one lap down, which meant increased competition for Gordon while racing for the Lucky Dog. The team continued to use every opportunity possible to perfect the handling on their car and position themselves to regain their lost lap.

The team came down pit road on Lap 266 as the entire field cycled through green flag pit stops. Gordon conserved fuel and the crew hoped for a caution period that would enable them to make it to the finish. As the end approached, they were more than ten laps short like several of competitors and had no choice but to come back down pit road before the finish.

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“We had a really great car to begin the race,” said Gordon. “By final practice, we had worked our way into the 7th position, and it looked like we were going to have a really great run this weekend. We took off immediately after the green and started moving our way up through the field. Unfortunately, things just didn’t go our way. Once the car developed the tire chatter and we went a lap down. The long green flag runs stretched the field and left many cars one lap down. We did all that we could to rebound for a good finish, but strategy just did not play out as we had hoped. Even though we didn’t get the finish in which we had hoped, we had the opportunity to run strong at the start of the race and compete in the top 15.”

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will travel to Phoenix International Raceway for the second-to-last race of the season. ABC will have a live television broadcast of the 500-mile event beginning at 2:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, November 15. MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will broadcast radio coverage of the event beginning at 2:45 p.m. EST. Qualifying will be broadcast on SPEED Channel beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST on Friday, November 13.

- Robby Gordon Motorsports, Press Release

Clint Bowyer No. 33 - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

FORT WORTH, Texas – Clint Bowyer’s strong performance in Sunday’s Dickies 500 resulted in a seventh-place effort and the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper team’s 15th top-10 finish of the 2009 season.

Bowyer maintains the 15th position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings with just two races remaining in the 2009 season.

Bowyer recorded the fastest time in Friday’s opening practice session and, later that afternoon, ran a lap of 28.428 seconds at an average speed of 189.954 mph to place him 10th on the starting grid for Sunday’s race. Bowyer continued to show the strength of his Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet in Saturday’s two practice sessions, recording the 12th- and 17th-fastest times, respectively.

The Emporia, Kan., native kept his Impala SS running inside the top 10 from the onset of the race, and ran as high as sixth at lap 53 before hitting pit road for a scheduled green-flag pit stop. Happy with the handling of the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper machine, Bowyer ordered no changes, just routine service of four tires and fuel.

As the sun began to set over the 1.5-mile speedway, Bowyer’s Chevrolet began to push in the center of the turns. Crew chief Shane Wilson called for adjustments that kept the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet in tune with the changing track conditions, and flawless work by the Helping Hands pit crew helped Bowyer keep his track position over the course of the 334-lap event.

As the race neared the finish, Wilson made a gutsy call to bring Bowyer to pit road for their fina

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Kurt Busch was able to stretch his fuel mileage to pick up his second win of the 2009 season. Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin and Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five finishers.

Bowyer’s other RCR teammates Jeff Burton and Casey Mears finished ninth and 21st, respectively.

As the season winds down, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series continues west as the division returns to Avondale, Ariz., for the penultimate stop on the 2009 schedule.

ABC’s live television coverage of the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 from Phoenix International Raceway will begin Sunday, Nov. 15 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The event will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 35th points-paying race on the 36-race tour is scheduled to take the green flag on Friday, Nov. 13 at 5:30 p.m. EST and will be telecast live on ESPN2. MRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will carry live qualifying updates.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTE

“Our Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy was tight all day. Shane (Wilson, crew chief) made a call to short pit for fuel in order to make it to the end. The cards fell in our favor and were able to grab a seventh-place finish. Wish we could have had a better finish but, all-in-all, it’s a good result and another top 10 to add to our 2009 resume.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release

No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet (Ryan Newman) (Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation/U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), fought through persistent pain as he maneuvered a loose-handling racecar to a 12th-place finish in Sunday’s Dickies 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

It was Newman’s 12th top-12 finish this season and his fourth top-12 result in 14 career Sprint Cup starts at Texas.

“We just struggled with the car being loose on entry at the beginning of every run throughout the race, and that is what hurt us in the end,” said Newman, who said he was still sore from last week’s horrific crash in the closing laps at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. “Tony Gibson (crew chief) and the guys tried a lot of different things to help the car not be so loose on entry and to help me get a better run at the start of each run, but we just couldn’t get the right changes. They did a great job today. I was sore all weekend, but it was good to be back in the racecar.”

Following practice on Saturday, the Haas Automation/U.S. Army team made numerous changes to the No. 39 Chevy in hopes of finding a setup that would help them improve upon their 26th-place starting position. With the drop of the green flag, Newman began patiently working his way into the top-20.

Newman reported that the No. 39 machine was loose on entry into the track’s corners, particularly at the beginning of the run. He also told Gibson that he needed to cut through the center of the turns better. Newman made his first green flag pit stop of the day at lap 55 for four tires, fuel and track bar and air pressure adjustments.

Back on the 1.5-mile oval and still running in the top-20, Newman once again complained of being loose at the start of a run. The loose-handling issue at the beginning of the run was hampering his efforts to gain spots on the track, but as the run wore on, the handling of the No. 39 Chevy would tighten up, which helped improve the car’s overall handling.

Under caution at lap 85, Newman pitted for four tires, fuel and track bar and air pressure adjustments and then restarted the race at lap 91 in 19th-place.

By lap 150, which was shortly after the team’s third pit stop of the day, Newman was running in 15th-place. As he battled for position he again told Gibson that the car’s tendency to want to spin out on entry into the corners early in the run was killing his momentum and preventing him from advancing.

“I’m way too loose getting in, and then about 10 laps into a run it snugs up,” Newman said. “I just need to be tighter at the start of the run, but I don’t want to make it tighter throughout the course of the entire run.”

Over the course of 500-mile race, Newman’s crew went to work and tried a variety of air pressure, track bar and wedge adjustment combinations in hopes of finding a cure to aid the car’s handling woes.

Newman’s final, four-tire stop of the night came at lap 266. The crew also made another series of chassis adjustments. Newman returned to the track and was in 15th-place by the time the green-flag stops had cycled through. Gibson told his driver that they would not have enough fuel to make it to the end of the 334-lap race, so they would have to pit once more.

The team pitted at lap 318 for right-side tires and fuel and finished the race in 12th-place.

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Newman’s Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate and owner, Tony Stewart, came home sixth to score his 23rd top-10 finish of 2009.

Kurt Busch stretched his fuel mileage and beat Denny Hamlin by 25.686 seconds to win the Dickies 500 and score his 20th career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his first at Texas.

Matt Kenseth finished third, while Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five. Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton and A.J. Allmendinger comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were five caution periods for 26 laps, with six drivers failing to finish the 334-lap race.

Both SHR drivers are represented in this year’s Chase for the Championship. Stewart remained fifth in the standings and is now 178 points behind Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, who was involved in a lap three accident and finished 38th. Newman fell one spot to ninth and is 324 markers out of first.

With only two races remaining before a champion is crowned following the season finale Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the top-12 drivers competing for the title rank as follows:

1. Jimmie Johnson (6,297 points) +/-0

2. Mark Martin (6,224 points, -73) +/-0

3. Jeff Gordon (6,185 points, -112) +/-0

4. Kurt Busch (6,126 points, -171) +2

5. Tony Stewart (6,119 points, -178) +/-0

6. Juan Pablo Montoya (6,061 points, -236) -2

7. Greg Biffle (6,050 points, -247) +/-0

8. Denny Hamlin (5,975 points, -322) +3

9. Ryan Newman (5,973 points, -324) -1

10. Kasey Kahne (5,898 points, -399) -1

11. Carl Edwards (5,857 points, -440) -1

12. Brian Vickers (5,777 points, -520) +/-0

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Nov. 15 Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. The season’s penultimate race starts at 3:15 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.

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

Tony Stewart - Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

The good news for Tony Stewart during Sunday’s Dickies 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth was that he spent the majority of the 334-lap race comfortably in the top-10. The bad news for the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) was that he had difficulty cracking the top-three en route to a sixth-place finish, which is his 23rd top-10 finish of 2009.

“We missed it a little bit today and it was one of those changes that we couldn’t do on a regular pit stop, so we just kind of had to work around it,” Stewart said. “I’m really proud of Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and these guys. They had good pit stops today and Darian and I kept talking about what we thought we could do to make the Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy better. I thought team-wise we had an awesome day working together and making gains at it. We never said, ‘Well, we just can’t get it any better.’ We kept throwing things at it to try to make it better.”

Stewart’s car went from one end of the spectrum to the other during the course of the 501-mile race, for in the beginning of the race, his car was tight and by the end of the event, he was communicating to Grubb that his car needed to be tightened up because it was loose.

Grubb and the Office Depot/Old Spice crew worked to find a solid balance on the car throughout a series of wedge, tire pressure and track-bar adjustments, and while the car was a top-10 mainstay, Stewart never could find his way to the front of the field.

Despite not contenting for the victory, the No. 14 team locked up its top-10 finish with a stellar pit stop with 18 laps to go. The race had been caution-free since lap 213 and nearly every driver needed to pit for fuel in the final 20 laps. Any issue with the stop, which included a splash of fuel and two tires, could have dropped the team outside the top-20.

As they’ve done all year, the Office Depot/Old Spice crew delivered a flawless stop and Stewart brought home his 10th top-10 finish in 16 career Sprint Cup starts at Texas.

Stewart’s teammate, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation/U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, finished 12th to score his 16th top-12 finish of 2009.

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Matt Kenseth finished third, while Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five. Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton and A.J. Allmendinger comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were five caution periods for 26 laps, with six drivers failing to finish the 334-lap race.

Both SHR drivers are represented in this year’s Chase for the Championship. Stewart remained fifth in the standings and is now 178 points behind Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, who was involved in a lap three accident and finished 38th. Newman fell one spot to ninth and is 324 markers out of first.

With only two races remaining before a champion is crowned following the season finale Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the top-12 drivers competing for the title rank as follows:

1. Jimmie Johnson (6,297 points) +/-0

2. Mark Martin (6,224 points, -73) +/-0

3. Jeff Gordon (6,185 points, -112) +/-0

4. Kurt Busch (6,126 points, -171) +2

5. Tony Stewart (6,119 points, -178) +/-0

6. Juan Pablo Montoya (6,061 points, -236) -2

7. Greg Biffle (6,050 points, -247) +/-0

8. Denny Hamlin (5,975 points, -322) +3

9. Ryan Newman (5,973 points, -324) -1

10. Kasey Kahne (5,898 points, -399) -1

11. Carl Edwards (5,857 points, -440) -1

12. Brian Vickers (5,777 points, -520) +/-0

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Nov. 15 Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. The season’s penultimate race starts at 3:15 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing/Office Depot Racing/Old Spice Racing, Press Release

2009 NSCS Matt Kenseth - (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Short on finishing the race on fuel, crew chief Drew Blickensderfer opted to pit for two tires and fuel while running fourth with 21 laps to go. The move paid off with Kenseth fighting back to the third-place finish; the first car that pitted and did not gamble on fuel.

“These guys did a really good job on this DEWALT team this weekend,” said Kenseth “We were pretty slow when we got here. We qualified 30th and had an uphill battle all day and I think we would have finished about third or fourth on performance and the way everything shook out, we still ran third, so, overall, I’m happy with that.

“We were 10 laps short so we did everything we could,” added Kenseth. “I thought when we knew we were short on fuel and we came and got tires with 25 to go and fuel that we actually had a shot to win, if some of those guys didn’t make it. But the No. 2 was real fast all day and Pat Tryson is famous for calling fuel-mileage races.”

The team struggled in qualifying and started on the outside of row 15 in 30th position. Kenseth’s Fusion was tight on the initial run and loose on the second. He needed 60 laps to move his No. 17 into the top 20, but the car picked up after an air pressure adjustment during the team’s second stop on lap 89.

As the track conditions changed later in the day, Kenseth’s car continued to pick up speed. The No. 17 over the wall team, who would gain over 10 positions on pit road during the race, put Kenseth inside the top 10 for the first time with a 12.78 second stop their fourth trip to the pits.

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“I’m happy Kurt won because at least he was really fast all day and it wasn’t like somebody running 20th ran around half-throttle and won the race. They were able to go a couple extra laps and be fast, and be able to stay out there. We just got tires and raced as hard as we could all day. I thought we had a third or fourth-place car on performance and even though the fuel mileage thing, the way it worked out when we had to pit and all that, we still finished third. So overall, it was a really great day for us. We started 30th and really had to battle hard for it all day long.”

“It’s been better. We’ve been gaining on it. Here, Charlotte, Dover, and Kansas we had really good runs going, so it seems like we’re gaining on it. We’ve got to keep it rolling. Next week will be a good test for us. We’ve been terrible at the flat tracks, so that’ll be a big test for us and then I’m looking forward to Homestead.”

With two races remaining in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, the series returns to Phoenix International Raceway next weekend for the 35th race of the season. Kenseth has posted one win (2002), five top five and six top 10 finishes in 14 career-Cup starts at PIR.

– Roush Fenway Racing, Press Release

Farm Bureau Ins. Racing

The No. 02 Farm Bureau Insurance Toyota rolled off the grid from the 21st position this afternoon. Immediately from the drop of the green flag David Gilliland and the Joe Gibbs Racing team battled an ill-handling Toyota Camry. David came on the radio early telling the team that the Farm Bureau Insurance Toyota was really tight and was pushing in the corners.

Crew chief Wally Brown assured his driver that changes where coming on the next stop. Unfortunately the early stages of the race produced long green flags runs, which resulted in the team going a lap down early.

“The Farm Bureau Insurance Toyota didn’t handle the way we needed it to early. It just started out really tight and they tried to get it loosened up on the first few stops but by then we’re already so far behind on the track,” said David Gilliland after the race.

From that point the team fought an uphill battle to get the car handling better for David and by the races conclusion the team had made remarkable progress, as David ran lap times comparable to the leaders.

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Continue to watch for Farm Bureau Insurance Racing and David Gilliland at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale Ford 400 on November 22, 2009. More information can be found on the Web at www.farmbureauinsuranceracing.com.

About Farm Bureau Insurance: Farm Bureau Insurance was founded over 60 years ago. The Company is represented by over 4,200 Farm Bureau Insurance agents across 10 states, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The family of Farm Bureau Insurance Companies offers full lines of auto, home and life insurance, as well as a host of other services.

Farm Bureau Insurance Racing, Press Release

Paul Menard

FORT WORTH, TEXAS (November 8, 2009) – Paul Menard’s No. 98 Vertis / Menards Ford Fusion received damage early in this afternoon’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Menard started the race from the 29th position and was part of an accident that happened on lap three of the 334-lap event. Menard’s No. 98 Ford Fusion incurred damage to the front end/nose area, as result of the damage Menard struggled with the handling of the No. 98 and was relegated to a 29th-place finish.

Weather was not an issue in Texas and teams were able to run both practice and qualifying on Friday, as well as get in two practices on Saturday morning.

Pole winner Jeff Gordon led the 43-car field to the green flag shortly after 3:15pm (EST). Menard, who started 39th, picked up a handful of spots during the first two laps. However, as the field exited turn two, points leader Jimmie Johnson was struck in the rear quarter panel by Sam Hornish, Jr. The contact sent Johnson spinning down the race track as the field quickly slowed behind him. Menard made hard contact with the rear bumper of another race car, denting in the nose of the No. 98 Vertis / Menards Ford Fusion.

In order to maintain track position, crew chief Larry Carter instructed Menard to stay out during the first pit stop. However, during the next green flag run, Menard noted the car’s handling was not very good and it was very tough exiting the corners. On lap 50, Menard was lapped by race leader and eventual race winner Kurt Busch.

As the field began to make green-flag pit stops on lap 52, Carter called Menard down pit road on lap 53 for service to their Ford Fusion. Carter called for fuel, four new sticker tires, and a track bar adjustment to help Menard with the loose handling off the corners. Since the team pitted under green flag conditions, there was not enough time to fix the damage that had occurred just 50 laps prior.

The team had to wait for the next caution flag to really work on their race car. After being lapped again by Busch, the caution flag was displayed on lap 86 when the No. 77 spun coming off turn two. During the extended pit stop, the No. 98 team changed four tires, added two cans of fuel and did extensive work to the nose of their Ford Fusion. Following the pit stop, Menard exited the pits in the 34th position.

Entering the midpoint of the race, the handling had not improved and Menard was scored two laps down from the leader. Carter and the entire No. 98 team continued to make changes to their car, but nothing seemed to gain them any grip on the track.

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“We got pretty behind on our car after we were involved in the wreck early on,” said Menard following the race. “Other than pit earlier, I don’t know what we could have done. The guys did the best they could to get the nose fixed, but it was pretty beat up. That will and can easily change how your car drives. Mine was horrible at times and decent at others. I thought we had a pretty good car going into this afternoon’s race, but when we were caught up in the wreck early, that really knocked us out of contention.”

Next week, the No. 98 Johns Manville / Menards team will make their final west coast trip of the season with a stop at Phoenix International Raceway. ABC television and MRN radio affiliates will carry the live race broadcast beginning at 3:00 p.m. (EST).

NEXT UP:

Checkers / O’Reilly’s 500

Phoenix International Raceway (One-mile speedway)

Avondale, Ariz.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

ABOUT MENARDS

Well-known as the place to “Save Big Money,” Menards is a family-owned home improvement retailer with 252 hometown hardware stores in 12 Midwestern states. Menards carries all the tools, materials and supplies for all your home improvement needs from just needing a light bulb to building a new house. Most Menards stores also carry name brand appliances, pet products, lawn and garden supplies and even groceries as your one-stop shopping experience. There is something for everyone at Menards from the beginning do-it-yourselfer to the experienced contractor. The company’s strength and success can be seen in the well-stocked and maintained stores, the lowest prices in the area and the way guests are always treated like family in a hometown hardware store atmosphere.

For more information, visit www.menards.com or www.menardsracing.com

ABOUT YATES RACING

Yates Racing currently operates three motorsports teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Formerly known as Robert Yates Racing, the team is owned by Doug Yates, who took the reins after his father, Robert Yates, retired following the 2007 season. In 2008, Doug partnered with Max Jones; a former road racer and long-time race team championship General Manager. During Yates Racing’s 21-year tenure in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, the organization has earned a total of 57 wins, 49 poles, 270 top-five finishes, 433 top-ten finishes, and a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. In 2009, Hall of Fame Racing has teamed up with Yates Racing to field the No. 96 Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Sponsorship opportunities are available; please contact Jon Sands with Yates Racing at 704-720-4621 or visit www.yatesracing.com.

- Yates Racing, Press Release

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, celebrates by performing a burnout, followed by a reverse lap with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas. This is the first win at Texas Motor Speedway for Busch, who outran -- and out-gassed -- his brother Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M's Toyota. Busch gained two positions in the Chase for the Sprint Cup to fourth, 171 points behind points leader Jimmie Johnson. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Race Winner
“Unbelievable! I’m proud of our team and everybody pulling together hard. Racing my little brother head to head for the win is bitter sweet. I was rooting for him, but at the same time, we wanted to put our Miller Lite Dodge in victory lane. We raced hard. It was cat and mouse on those restarts. Then it came down to the crew chief, Pat (Tryson) putting in the right calls and getting us the fuel mileage to bring it home.”

Q: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT TONIGHTS WIN?

KURT BUSCH: “A full team effort all the way around. From the pits stops to pit strategy to the guys back in the shop building a fast race car that I was a little apprehensive to bring to the race track. It shows what I know and what they know. Just keep me in the car and let them do the engineering. And in the end, this makes a real solid team. We were well rounded tonight with power, downforce, handling, and in the end, strategy is what played out for us to come out on top. A small bit of fuel mileage we had to play, but it wasn’t very much. For us, just one lap shy (of making it to the end). Our Dodge (R6) engine gave us the fuel mileage we needed to come out on top of everybody.”

ROGER PENSKE (Team Owner, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) “I think it’s a real credit to Kurt. Great job tonight. He had to pick up a lap on fuel. We told him early on, Pat, it’s your call there to stay out. Kurt had a little vibration, but stayed out longer. It gave us not very good track position when we came out, you could see that. He had to race pretty hard to get back up there. But we were really picking up on the 18 and the 00. He took his time. At the end, I really wasn’t concerned because the guy said we only needed one lap. I knew he could make at least one lap. You could see that.

“Pat, great job for you. Appreciate the commitment you made in these last races. I want to say that publicly. I know you’re a first-class guy. What a great win for you and for the team.”

Q: WAS IT AN EASY DECISION TO STAY OUT CONSIDERING WHERE YOU ARE AT IN POINTS, OR IS IT ALWAYS A DIFFICULT DECISION WHEN YOU PLAY THE FUEL MILEAGE GAME?

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PAT TRYSON (CREW CHIEF, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) “This biggest thing is when you’re doing that, worrying about a caution falling late because you’re giving up track position. That’s how Kyle got the lead from us the first time, by short stopping, making up half second a lap there for three or four laps, gets him by us. You know, the only concern was a caution falling before everybody had to pit.”

Q: WHY ARE YOU NOT WEARING A COWBOY HAT?

ROGER PENSKE: “I don’t know. Sorry about that. I got my Dodge hat on. I don’t know where it is.”

KURT BUSCH: “He’s got the more important one (Dodge hat) on. Any hat that he wears is more important.”

Q: HOW MUCH FUN WAS IT TO RACE HEAD-TO-HEAD AGAINST YOUR LITTLE BROTHER KYLE FOR HE WIN?

KURT BUSCH: “You know, it was quite a bit of fun. I felt it early on in the way that each of us would beat each other out of the pits, and then, we would play cat and mouse on the restarts. The way we would take off and separate ourselves from the pack. I knew it was the 18 and the 2.

To have him going for his sweep this weekend, I was rooting for him. But it’s bittersweet because we took the sweet part, which is the victory in Cup. Sundays, you want to win on Sundays. I think it takes five wins, Nationwide and Truck, to equal one win in the big time show.

“But we raced him hard. It felt like old times, the way that we raced Legend cars with each other, coming up through the ranks of racing. To do it at the Cup level for a win, this one’s definitely one of those fun days. Not to mention Michael McGee, from Dickies’ sponsorship, won a million dollars. I had an angel riding along with me. A million bucks for a fan and beat my brother on the sweep.”

Q: THE FUEL STRATEGY GAME STARTED BEFORE THE LAST STOP?

PAT TRYSON: “Yeah, it was pretty much made the stop before the last one. So, it was two stops. You know, you’re sitting there figuring if it stays green, how far you can go. We had to stretch it a little bit that first run. I think we picked up just about everything we had in the cell.”

ROGER PENSKE: “You could see the 00 pitted four laps before we did. The 18 pitted. I think we ran two laps longer than they did. We knew if everything went to the end, with Kurt having to pick up one lap, we were in pretty good shape. We weigh the fuel after every stop so we know exactly what the fuel mileage is. I think he ran probably a little more of a fuel mileage run at the end, the last 10, 15 laps.”

Q: HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO SAVE FUEL AND NOT HAVE A HEAVY FOOT ON THE THROTTLE?

KURT BUSCH: It’s definitely challenging in all aspects. You have to make sure when you’re letting off the throttle that you do it a proper way or when you pick up the throttle you’re doing it a proper way. Maybe there isn’t the right way to do it, other than I worked with my dad racing cars at an entry level. We had to take care of our equipment. We had to race it for what it was worth, ginger it, make it to where it could be brought back next week. That’s the mindset that you go into. I asked Pat, I said, ‘Do I have to worry about the 18?’ He said, ‘No.’ I don’t even know that he exists on the race track is my thought process. I just have to be in front of the 00. Then I radioed in and said, he told me I was a lap ahead of him. We really didn’t conserve fuel till the last 20 laps. Otherwise, we were hammer down, Get our car back the track position that we lost. That was the give-and-take. We lost a lot of track position by stretching it an extra two laps. We had to really hammer down, get those spots back on the track. We had to pass Mark Martin. We had to pass Matt Kenseth. We had to pass the 00. We were as far back as sixth place on the racet rack. We hammered down to get through these guys.”

Q: WITH WHAT HAPPENED TO JIMMIE TODAY, IT LOOKS LIKE HOMESTEAD IS NOW IN PLAY. DOES THAT SPEAK TO THE POWER OF THE CHASE WHERE ONE BAD RACE CAN DERAIL YOU OR DO YOU THINK THE POINT’S SYSTEM STILL NEEDS TO BE LOOKED AT?

KURT BUSCH: “It’s very competitive, no matter who is in the lead or who is behind trying to gather points. We hope it always goes to Homestead and there’s five, six guys eligible, like the first year, 2004. Jimmie Johnson, they’ve won an incredible amount during this Chase. A couple years ago, we thought the Chase format needed adjusting, so we gave more points to race wins. Now he’s so far ahead, we’re thinking we have to adjust it again. We can’t keep doing that. They’re that good. For them to stumble today puts everyone back in the picture, within a reasonable amount. For us, I’m kicking myself for what happened to us last week at Talladega. Running sixth place with a lap and a half to go, I put the car on the hauler at 30th. I didn’t do my job last weekend. We find ourselves too far behind, but we’re still within a reasonable distance.”

Q: JIMMIE TOOK A BIG HIT IN THE POINTS. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEXT TWO WEEKS WILL BE LIKE FOR HIM?

KURT BUSCH: “I don’t want to give all of the mental approach on what Jimmie Johnson has to do because his game has now changed. They definitely have to look over their shoulder at who is around them, who is behind them, because the other guys feel like he’s vulnerable now. Who knows. I mean, we race the races. That’s why we do it. We don’t do it off paper. We go challenge ourselves to be the best at Phoenix and challenge ourselves to be the best at Homestead in two weeks to try to see how we can move up in points. We don’t wish any bad luck upon anybody else. I have a great car owner, great crew chief by my side, great engineering staff. We’re doing what we can to put ourselves in position.”

Q: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR RECENT PERFORMANCES?

KURT BUSCH: “You know, I didn’t quite hear your full question. I’ll go with a report card type status. If we can get 10 grades, we got an A-plus tonight. If we grade ourselves throughout the Chase, I would say we’re a B-plus. We had some A-plus runs so far. We had a C at Martinsville where we finished 17th. But that so far is our worst finish, but we did finish 30th at Talladega. That kills you. Talladega, overall we came from two laps down and battled back. That’s what you have to do as a Chase contender. But right now, I can’t give ourselves A-pluses in all categories. Right now, the 48, they have A-pluses all the way till this weekend.”

Q: YOU PUT BRAD IN THE 12 CAR THIS WEEKEND. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE STRATEGY BECAUSE YOU HAVEN’T NAMED A CREW CHIEF FOR THE 2 CAR FOR NEXT YEAR?

ROGER PENSKE: “I think from a crew chief perspective, we’re focused on Phoenix and Homestead. Pat is fully committed. We got some great guys internally. Right now, we’re looking at internal candidates and external. For one thing, we’re not going to announce what we’re going to do until after the season, right, Pat? “

PAT TRYSON: “We’re going to go finish it off.”

ROGER PENSKE: “I think we’re going to finish it off. I think the guys have done a terrific job. This gives us some momentum for the last two races, and certainly some direction from a car, from an engine. And certainly the driver lineup we have, we think we’re going to have a great shot to do even better next year.”

Q: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHY YOUR WIN IS BITTER-SWEET?

KURT BUSCH: “It’s fun having a sibling out there to race with and to challenge. For us to do it at this top level, there’s just so many emotions that go with it. For him to be going for the sweep this weekend, winning the Truck and Nationwide race, for our car to be competitive, for him to be competitive, it’s that thought that you have as a young teenager growing up in racing. I see my little brother, my dad is helping us out a lot. Maybe we’ll make it to the top level one day and be able to race each other for a win. It wasn’t quite the door to door, nose to tail, fender banging, ‘green white checkered’ like we would have hoped, but it came down to strategy and it came down to who could persevere with their team. Right now, with the way that we’re situated, it’s bitter sweet because, hey, Pat is leaving. We wish that we could stick together. We want to get the best we can out of these last few races. It’s bitter sweet to beat Kyle. He was going for the sweep. We took it away from him. I don’t think he could have picked a better driver to lose to tonight. So it’s fun (smiling). It’s really fun. We race each other to the bone, but we pat each other on the back at the end of the day.”

Q: A 73-POINT LEAD FOR JIMMIE IS STILL A BIG LEAD. ARE WE (MEDIA) CLAIMING THE POINT’S RACE IS TIGHTER THAN IT ACTUALLY IS?

KURT BUSCH: “We’re not the guys 73 points out. That might be better served for Mark Martin, who is in that position. For us, we have nothing to hold back. We may as well go for broke and see if we can’t bump up in points before the last couple races.”

Q: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DODGE R6 ENGINE AND HOW IT WILL HELP MOVING FORWARD FOR YOU GUYS?

ROGER PENSKE: “I think if you go back, you really got to go back to last year. Kurt agreed, we’d started running the R6 last year. We’ve really been running it all season. I think we had to get it to a level of power of the R5. You can see Kasey Kahne has had some good runs with the R5 even this year. I think each step has been a little bit, we saw it in the restrictor plate last week with Stremme. Kurt didn’t have one because we were worried about reliability here. We had probably the best engine we’ve had all year. I think that, along with the new car, it gave us at least a piece he could drive. There’s no question in his ability to drive it. We just need to give him a car that’s competitive. The engine side looks good. We got a lot of work to do to make it better, to be competitive every weekend with the top teams. But I think overall, we’re very happy with the Dodge commitment.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release

Both brothers were on a mission of sorts. Kyle was trying to become the first NASCAR driver to ever win three national series races at the same track on the same weekend after winning Friday night’s WinStar 350 Camping World Truck Series event and the Nationwide Series’ O’Reilly Challenge on Saturday.

Older brother Kurt, meanwhile, is in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and was trying to claw his way back toward the top. - Full Story by Amanda Vincent – Louisville NASCAR Examiner

Toyota Motorsports Logo

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

How were you able to conserve fuel and finish second?

“Mike (Ford, crew chief) said we were half a lap to good, even if I ran hard like I did the previous run. I got in the wall and just made a mistake. We struggled on pit road today and really got ourselves back in the pack. Mike (Ford) came through and had a great pit strategy. All those guys were short-pitting and he decided to put our FedEx Office Camry out there for a while. When we decided to pit, it was just in time.”

How badly did you need this second-place finish?

“We needed it — we definitely did. Hats off to Mike (Ford, crew chief) and this whole FedEx Office Camry team. We have a really good car, we just had to learn to stay in the pits. We just lost too many spots on pit road that we couldn’t overcome that track position. I was trying to make something happen and got in the wall which ended up killing our car. The good part about that is I was able to save fuel because there was no pressure from behind. I was able to save fuel and our Camry got the best fuel mileage it got all day.”

Did the race come to you today at Texas?

“(It) played out in our favor, for sure. Usually, these fuel mileage races don’t go our way. Obviously, we gained some spots today on the fuel mileage thing. Felt like we had a really, really good car. But, we just hurt ourselves real bad on pit road today. We lost a ton of spots. Track position meaning so much at this race track, it killed us. I was frustrated and we were behind, so I tried to make something happen, got into the wall, and hurt our car. As soon as that happened, we were just in fuel save mode. Luckily, it went green the rest of the way.”

Did Jimmie Johnson’s early wreck change your race or Chase strategy?

“Not mine. I’m so far back, it really didn’t matter. I got my three DNFs. It was kind of a moot point for myself. It just shows anything can happen. Just the beginning of the race, guys are antsy — anything can happen. You never know.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 11th

DAVE ROGERS, crew chief, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How would you describe today?

“We’re disappointed. This 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry deserved to be in victory lane. I thought we had one of the best cars throughout the entire race, but it just didn’t work out that way. We were a little short on fuel. We had Kyle (Busch) back down and we thought we’d save enough fuel – we missed the numbers somewhere or we didn’t get it full or we didn’t pick up all we could pick up. I can’t explain why we ran out. We’ll take it back to the shop and have a look at it.”

Did you and Kyle Busch find the right direction today?

“Yeah, definitely. Mike Ford (Denny Hamlin’s crew chief) and Greg Zipadelli (Joey Logano’s crew chief) helped us out a lot. They gave us a lot of pointers. We unloaded with the same set-up the 11 (Denny Hamlin) car did and worked on it from there. I think we learned a lot today. Right now it’s hard to think coherently because of the disappointment we felt, but we’re pleased.”

How concerned were you with fuel at the end of the race?

“Looking at our numbers there and the lap time that he’d (Kyle Busch) fallen off from what we had previously run – I thought for sure that we were going to make it until off turn four in the final lap. I don’t know if we didn’t get the car full or the fuel cell just didn’t pick up what we thought it could, but we had several green flag runs this race so we were pretty confident we knew what we had for fuel mileage. I’m not sure what happened. We’ll take it back and we’ll look at it, learn from it. We’ll try to focus on how well we ran and not where we finished today.”

What kind of conversations did you have with Kyle (Busch) during the last few laps?

“We were committed to staying out. Like I said before, we’re out of the Chase and we’re not points racing – we didn’t really have anything to lose. If we would have pitted, the 2 car (Kurt Busch) certainly would have beat us. Our only shot at winning it was to stay out. So, we gambled. Sometimes when you gamble you lose. We lost today, but we had a really fast car. I’m really proud of this M&M’s Toyota race team and pleased with our effort on the track.”

What was Kyle Busch like in the closing laps?

“He’s (Kyle Busch) frustrated. He didn’t say nothing. He said we were out of fuel and after the race, he took his helmet off and went to his motor home and calmed down. I think he handled it well — it’s tough. You lead all these laps and he could have gone for the clean sweep this weekend, win all three in a row. He deserved to win all three in a row and to get beat — it’s tough.”

Did you feel a lot of pressure on your first weekend as Kyle Busch’s crew chief?

“Welcome to the club, hah. You know, it’s part of the game. It’s what you sign up for. Someone’s got to do that job and I raised my hand and said I wanted to do it — and here I am.”

When did you start to save fuel?

“He (Kyle Busch) started saving fuel at the very beginning of the (last) run. We were looking at lap times and this was definitely our slowest run of the race. Everyone was saving fuel. When he backed up to the front bumper of the 2 (Kurt Busch) car, that’s all he could do. If he slowed down enough to let the 2 car go by then he might as well have pitted. Kyle (Busch) did everything he could do — just come up short.”

Did Kyle Busch want to take a chance and stay out or did he want to pit for fuel?

“We didn’t really talk about it. I told him (Kyle Busch) my plan was to stay out and he trusted me and it didn’t work. You’re going to have days like this. It’s discouraging for Kyle (Busch), it’s hard for myself. We have a lot of our VIPs from our sponsors here as well. There’s a lot on the line and today would have been a miracle if we could have won it. It just didn’t happen.”

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

What was the end of the race like for you?

“Just really disappointing. I thought we were two laps short so I was trying to save two laps and I just didn’t save enough fuel. The guys were screaming on the radio. I guess I didn’t realize how close we were on fuel, so I feel pretty bad. We had a strong day. We ran in the top-10 all day and we had a chance to win. I ran out (of fuel).”

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

Can you talk about your race?

“It was a good race and it ran me out of gas. That’s it.”

Were you involved in the incident with Jimmie Johnson and Sam Hornish, Jr., on lap two?

“I got in there underneath the 77 (Sam Hornish, Jr) and he slid up a little bit in the middle and I started underneath there. I don’t — I might have gotten into him there and screwed things up. Didn’t have any damage, not that I know of.”

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Finishing Position: 18th

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 19th

Do you consider Texas a difficult track?

“This place sucks. Everyone did a good job and we worked hard all day. I got caught down a lap one time and never had an opportunity to get the ‘lucky dog’ back. The time we went down a lap we could have waved around and we had 20 laps on our tire already. When we chose to get the ‘lucky dog’ the air gun broke when we tried to do that. That put us way back there and then of course the caution came out two laps after that. If we would have waved around and the air gun didn’t break we probably could have got ‘lucky dog’ back and gotten on the lead lap. We missed out on that opportunity. As the track cooled off and got more grip we started getting more speed. By the end of the race, our speeds weren’t that bad, we were just farther behind from during the day. We have to figure out how to get around these less grip race tracks.”

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 23rd

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Finishing Position: 26th

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 MAPEI Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Finishing Position: 27th

DAVID GILLILAND, No. 02 Farm Bureau Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 28th

MICHAEL McDOWELL, No. 36 WAVE Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Tommy Baldwin Racing
Finishing Position: 41st

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 NEMCO Motorsports Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Finishing Position: 42nd

- Toyota Motorsports, Press Release

WIX Filters Lap Leader Logo

· Kyle Busch led six times for 232 laps to earn WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors in today’s Dickies 500. Busch claimed the honor for the seventh time this season.

· DID YOU KNOW? Only one driver has led more laps in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas than Busch: Tony Stewart, who led 278 laps in the 2006 Dickies 500 (fall race). Four drivers have led over 200 laps in 18 previous races at Texas: Stewart, Busch, Greg Biffle (219 laps in the 2005spring race) and Carl Edwards (212 laps in the 2008 fall race).

· Busch and Tony Stewart are tied for the lead (7-7) in the overall WIX Filters Lap Leader standings with two races remaining in the 2009 season.

· Busch surpassed the 1,000 mark in laps led this season in today’s race at Texas. He has now held the top spot 22 times in 17 races in 2009 for a total of 1,156 laps. Busch has led 62 times for 2,468 laps in 124 career superspeedway starts.

· Busch posted an 11th-place finish in today’s race. UNOFFICIALLY he is 13th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings, 32 points ahead of 14th-place Matt Kenseth.

· DAVE ROGERS, CREW CHIEF, No. 18 M&M’s TOYOTA: “Looking at our numbers there, looking at the lap time that he had fallen off from the previous run, I thought for sure that we were going to make it until maybe off Turn 4 on the final lap. I don’t know if we didn’t get the car full or the fuel cell just didn’t pick up what we thought it could but we had several green flag runs in this race so we were pretty confident we knew what we had for fuel mileage. I’m not sure what happened. We’ll take it back and look at it, learn from it. We’re trying to focus on how well we ran and not where we finished today.”

WAS THERE ANY CONVERSATION IN THE FINAL LAPS ABOUT COMING IN? “No, we were committed to staying out. Like I said before, we’re out of the Chase. We’re not points racing. We really didn’t have anything to lose. If we would have pitted the 2 car certainly would have beat us. Our only shot at winning it was to stay out so we gambled. Sometimes you gamble you lose. We lost today but we had a really fast car, really proud of this M&M’s Toyota race team and pleased with our effort on the racetrack.”

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD STANDINGS

Tony Stewart 7

Kyle Busch 7

Denny Hamlin 5

Juan Pablo Montoya 3

Kasey Kahne 3

David Reutimann 3

Ryan Newman 2

Martin Truex Jr. 2

Jeff Burton 1

Kevin Harvick 1

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE

EVENT DRIVER
Daytona 500 Kyle Busch, 88 laps

Auto Club 500 Tony Stewart, three laps

Shelby 427 Jeff Burton, 61 laps

Kobalt Tools 500 Ryan Newman, three laps

Food City 500 Kyle Busch, 378 laps

Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 Denny Hamlin, 296 laps

Samsung 500 David Reutimann, 40 laps

Subway Fresh Fit 500 Tony Stewart, 19 laps

Aaron’s 499 Kyle Busch, 42 laps

Crown Royal 400 Denny Hamlin, 148 laps

Southern 500 Martin Truex Jr., 61 laps

Coca-Cola 600 Kyle Busch, 173 laps

Autism Speaks 400 David Reutimann, 25 laps

Pocono 500 Tony Stewart, 39 laps

LifeLock 400 Kyle Busch, nine laps

Toyota/Save Mart 350 Kasey Kahne, 37 laps

LENOX Industrial Tools 301 Tony Stewart, 40 laps

Coke Zero 400 Tony Stewart, 86 laps

LifeLock.com 400 Kasey Kahne, two laps

Allstate 400 at The Brickyard Juan Pablo Montoya, 116 laps

Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 Denny Hamlin, 91 laps

Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Tony Stewart, 34 laps

CARFAX 400 David Reutimann, four laps

Sharpie 500 Kyle Busch, 68 laps

Pep Boys Auto 500 Martin Truex Jr., 68 laps

Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Denny Hamlin, 299 laps

Sylvania 300 Juan Pablo Montoya, 105 laps

AAA 400 Ryan Newman, 29 laps

Price Chopper 400 Tony Stewart, 37 laps

Pepsi 500 Juan Pablo Montoya, 78 laps

NASCAR Banking 500 Kasey Kahne, 67 laps

TUMS Fast Relief 500 Denny Hamlin, 206 laps

AMP Energy 500 Kevin Harvick, 28 laps

Dickies 500 Kyle Busch, 232 laps

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit www.wixfilters.com.

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

Team Chevy - GM Racing

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Impala SS, was one of a handful of cars that gambled on fuel mileage in the closing laps of the 334-lap/500-mile race. Despite coasting to the finish line, Harvick finished fifth in the Dickies 500.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Impala SS, was involved in a multi-car incident on the third lap. The three-time and defending champion’s car was severely damaged and remained in the garage for over an hour and a total of 113 laps but went on to finish the race in 38th place, 129 laps down.

Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Impala SS, maintained fifth in Chase standings with a sixth place finish in the 34th race of the season.

Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Impala SS, brought home a seventh place finish. Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Impala SS, finished ninth in his backup car after having an accident in practice on Friday.

Jeff Gordon, No. DuPont Impala SS, fought handling issues throughout the race to finish 13th and maintain his third place position in the standings. The four-time NSCS champion is 112 points behind Johnson and 39 points down to Martin.

Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Dream in Color Impala SS, suffered damage to his Chevrolet in a lap 175 multi-car accident. He finished on track and finished 37th, 103 laps down. Montoya dropped to sixth in the Chase standings.

Ryan Newman, No. 39 Haas Automation Impala SS, finished 12th after battling handling issues to drop to ninth in the points order.

Kurt Busch (Dodge) was the race winner. Denny Hamlin (Toyota) and Matt Kenseth (Ford) completed the top-three finishers.

Race No. 35 of the 36-race season will be November 15 at Phoenix International Raceway.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S IMPALA SS – Finished 38th:
“I just wish he would have waited a little longer and didn’t take me out in the process. But it’s just one of those things. There’s not a lot we can do about it. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guys did a great job to get this car back out on track to pick up some more spots. And we’ll go to Phoenix and race.

“We’ve got two great race tracks for us (coming up, Phoenix and Homestead). We didn’t want this by any means but we’re still in a great position and we’ll go to Phoenix and race.”

YOU REMAINED IN THE CAR FOR OVER AN HOUR AS THE TEAM WORKED ON THE CAR IN THE GARAGE. WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND?
“I just played back through the crash and what happened and if I could have done anything differently. I could have maybe given him more room, but I would have had a more direct angle at the wall and would have hit the outside wall. So, when I think back, I was just hoping he’d get out and hoping there would be some cautions and we could make up some spots and the first report Chad (Knaus) gave me wasn’t good. He thought we were going to have to put the car on the truck because it was so tore up. So, as time went on I could see their spirits lift and I knew we could at least get back out on track. I started to focus on things I needed to.”

IT DIDN’T LOOK VERY GOOD, BUT WHAT WAS THE CAR LIKE TO DRIVE?
“It wasn’t very good either. That thing was beat up. That was not a fun car to drive. We kept up to minimum speed and made it.”

TALK ABOUT HOW YOUR TEAM REPAIRED THE CAR AND WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT WHILE YOU WAITED
“I just wished that Sam Hornish didn’t lose control of his car. I wish he could have waited a little while longer to hit something. It was so early in the race and it was taking me out in the process. But it was one of those racing things. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and had it saved, kind of, off of Turn 2 and there was just really nowhere to go. And it’s just a small back straightaway with the walls close by and got in the inside fence and that was it.”

OBVIOUSLY YOU ARE UPSET. BUT IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE THE CREW COULD GET THAT CAR BACK ON TRACK
“We knew we had to get out there and make up some points. The car was destroyed. Chad’s first report to me was that there was no way we’d get the car back out. But the guys got it done and we got back on track.”

YOU SAID ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN TONIGHT, AND IT DID. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BEING 73 POINTS AHEAD OF MARK MARTIN?
“It was definitely not the day we wanted. We did not want to lose points like that. Luckily we had a big margin. We’re going to two great tracks for us here and we’ll just keep racing. We’ve been saying all along that anything can happen, I just wish the Sam (Hornish) could have waited a little while longer before he hit something. Instead, he lost it and hit me and off we went.”

WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE CAR AS YOU WAITED FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR FOR THE CAR TO BE REPAIRED?
“The first report to me was that the car was done and we were going to put it on the truck. And then luckily the guys were able to massage some things around up front and get the suspension to work and sway bar to work and off we went.”

ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC FOR THE FINAL TWO RACES?
“Very much so. I’m definitely disappointed about tonight. I felt like we had a chance to win the race today. I felt like at least we could stretch the margin or keep it like it was. But it wasn’t meant to be. We still have a nice lead and we’ll take it from here.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET DREAM IN COLOR IMPALA SS, was involved in a multi-car accident on lap 175, Finished 37th:
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? “It was just really close racing. I think Carl (Edwards) was really close to me and drove right beside me and the car got loose and I lost it. With these cars, that is just going to happen. Everyone on the Target Chevy is doing an amazing job. This week we didn’t have the car we wanted, but we were getting better and better and the day went on. It kinda sucks, but things like this happen.”

“Having him right beside me just got me loose and I lost it. I just had a little slap and when I got the slap, he was so close to me I actually hit him and ended up taking each other out. This Chevy runs really great here. It has been a amazing year having Chevy onboard.

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 KELLOGG’S/CARQUEST IMPALA SS – Finished 4th
TURNED OUT TO BE A PRETTY PRUDENT MOVE TO COME IN AND GET FUEL AND GOT YOU A TOP-FIVE: “Well we had to have some gas. It worked out good. Alan Gustafson (crew chief) and everybody on the No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s team were on it today. We were junk yesterday in practice and they threw some new stuff at it today. Wasn’t very good the first half and then magically mid-way the car became a top-five car. That what it was the last three runs.

YOU SAW WHAT HAPPENED TO JIMMIE JOHNSON EARLY IN THE RACE, DID THAT CHANGE YOUR THINKING? “No I still have got my hands full for the top-six positions (in the points) with all those guys. Two guys that knocked me out of championships are breathing down my neck so the race is still on. I don’t know why everybody tries to cap this thing out and doesn’t just wait and watch. There are still two races to go and still things that can happen.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA SS, FINISHED 5TH: A VERY GOOD DAY FOR YOU GUYS: “The Shell-Pennzoil Chevy was a good car all day. I think we were running seventh or eighth there and just decided to go for it at the end (on fuel). Came up about a lap short there but a great call by Gil (Martin, crew chief) to just give it a whirl and see what happened in the end.”

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE IMPALA SS – Finished 6th “We missed it a little bit today and it was one of those changes that we couldn’t do on a regular pit stop, so we just kind of had to work around it. But I’m really proud of Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and these guys. They had good pit stops today and Darian and I kept talking about what we thought we could do to make the Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy better. I thought team-wise we had an awesome day working together and making gains at it. We never said, ‘Well, we just can’t get it any better.’ We kept throwing things at it to try to make it better.”

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER IMPALA SS – Finished 7th:
“Our Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy was tight all day. Shane (Wilson, crew chief) made a call to short pit for fuel in order to make it to the end. The cards fell in our favor and were able to grab a seventh-place finish. Wish we could have had a better finish but, all-in-all, it’s a good result and another top 10 to add to our 2009 resume.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR IMPALA SS – Finished 9th:
“What a heck of a run with the CAT Racing team. These guys fought hard after we had to load up or primary No. 31 Caterpillar Chevy when it received too much damage when I hit the wall. Todd (Berrier, crew chief) did a great job dialing in our back up for the race and what a great way to end the weekend.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION IMPALA SS, FINISHED 12TH: “We struggled with the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevy being loose in throughout the course of the race. The guys did a great job working on it in the pits but we never could get it quite right at the start of a run and that is what hurts us.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA SS, FINISHED 13TH: “Our finish is thanks to the hard work by Steve Letarte (crew chief) and this DuPont Chevrolet team. Never giving up. I am just really disappointed in this day. A total missed opportunity that completely got away from us. We just didn’t have it today. We had more of our typical Texas race where we needed our spectacular Texas race like we had in Texas.”

CASEY MEARS, NO. 07 CHOCTAW CASINO/RESORT IMPALA SS – Finished 21st: “Starting in the back really hurt the No. 07 team today and we were too tight to start off. We got the car dialed in during that third run, but by then, we were already a lap down. We definitely showed faster speeds as the race went on, and if we had got back on the lead lap, I think we were anywhere from a eighth- to 15th-place car. We’ll try and rebound next weekend at Phoenix.”

MORE…..JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S IMPALA SS:
WHAT’S YOUR REACTION TO HAVING YOUR LEAD SHRINK DOWN TO JUST 73 POINTS? “You know it’s still a respectable lead. Seventy-Three with two to go is still a good position to be in. I hate that we gave up all these points tonight. Sam (Hornish) just lost it inside of me and I wish he would have waited a little longer to lose it. I saw he lost it later on in the race and he can do that from time to time. I just wish he would have waiting a little while longer and didn’t take me out in the process. It was just one of those things. There’s not much we can do about it. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“The guys did a great job getting this car back on track to pick up a couple more spots and we’ll go to Phoenix and race. We’ve got two great race tracks for us. We didn’t want this by any means but we’re still in a great position and we’ll go to Phoenix and race.”

WHAT WAS GOING ON IN YOUR MIND DURING THE TIME THE TEAM WAS WORKING ON YOUR CAR? “Just trying to play back through the crash and what happened and if I could have done anything differently. I could have maybe given him more room but I would have had a more direct angle at the wall and would have hit the outside wall. I think back, I was just hopeful we’d get out and hopeful there would be some cautions that we could make up some spots. The first reports Chad (Knaus, crew chief) gave me wasn’t good. He thought we were going to have to put the car in the truck the car was so tore up. As time went on I could see their spirits lift and I knew we would at least get back on track and I started to focus on the things I needed to and quit worrying about points.”

WHAT WAS THE CAR LIKE TO DRIVE FOR THOSE LAPS DURING THE COURSE OF THIS RACE? “It wasn’t very good either. That thing is beat up. It was not a fun car to drive. We kept up to the minimum speed and made it.”

MORE….MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 KELLOGG’S/ CARQUEST IMPALA SS
WOULD YOU EVER HAVE ANTICIPATED YOU COULD MAKE UP ALL THOSE POINTS THIS WAY? “It happened this way in reverse last week. I’m not really sure why everybody counts everything out. When it comes right down to performance you know you can’t beat those guys, Jimmie Johnson and those guys. It’s not over yet. The top six, I’m still kind of baffled why everybody is so preoccupied with first and second. The top-six spots are being raced for like a dog fight. I’ve got to past champions that knocked me out of championships breathing down my neck so the race is still on for all of us.

“I just want to brag on Alan Gustafson and everybody on the Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet. We were junk yesterday. Fair at the start of the race and half way through the race they hit on something and it was a top-five car. We clawed our way back into the top-five. I can’t believe it, it is so much fun to drive the race car.”

SEVENTY-THREE IS A LOT TO MAKE UP IN TWO RACES, HOW IS YOUR PERFORMANCE AND DO YOU THINK YOU CAN GO AT LEAST HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH THE NO. 48 AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS? “Yeah, we can go head-to-head with them. No doubt about it. In Phoenix we led the most laps and won the last time there and we have no reason to think we can’t run strong at Homestead. There could still be swings in the points. There’s two races left, you never know what’s going to happen. I’m really blessed to get to drive their stuff and be in this position. No matter what the outcomes is we’ve raced our guts out and I’m so proud of this team.”

MORE KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL IMPALA SS: Finished 5th
HOW DID YOU GET HERE? “We had a solid top-10 car the second half of the race. I think we were running seventh or eighth there toward the end and we were a couple of laps short so we just kind of went into fuel-conservation mode because we had a big gap with our Shell-Pennzoil Chevy. We gave up a couple of spots and those guys ran out of gas and we kept going and we ran out with one to go. It was still a good day and those are the chances we’re supposed to take right now.”

YOU GUYS ARE MAKING A LOT OF CHANGES OVER THERE, SO THINGS TEND TO SHUFFLE FROM WEEK TO WEEK BUT IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAD EVERYTHING TOGETHER TODAY. “Yeah, the speed in the cars are coming back and now we’re just looking for that consistency that we’ve always had before. We got speed back in the cars and that’s what the first step needed to be and now we need to get that top-10, top-five mode back and that’s when you start winning races again.”

MORE JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA SS
YOU FINISHED 13TH AND PICKED UP 80 POINTS ON JIMMIE JOHNSON IN THE POINTS BATTLE BUT I KNOW IT WASN’T THE KIND OF DAY YOU HAD HOPED FOR, HOW WOULD YOU ASSES IT? “I think more than anything a missed opportunity. I’m just terrible at this place. I don’t know what it is. I can qualify and the guys gave a real good car on Friday but I just don’t have the feel for this place. I don’t know what it is. It just challenged us all day today. We seemed to be the best at the beginning of the race and we made some adjustments trying to make it better based on what I was telling them and we just went backwards from there and lost some track position. So it was a frustrating day. Kind of a more typical Texas day for us rather than what we had in April. So it was a missed opportunity when the No. 48 had trouble so I’m bummed about that. Steve Letarte did a great job getting us to 13th, the whole team did. Great call there at the end. We’ll go to Phoenix and Homestead.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S IMPALA SS – CHASE FOR THE NASCAR CUP POINT LEADER, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

KERRY THARP: Also joining us at the podium is our points leader, Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie, talk about how things unfolded. Certainly big challenge there at the beginning of the race, but you had to have been impressed with how the race team got the car back together, back out on the racetrack.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Definitely. I just tried to play through my mind what could have done differently at the start of that race. I don’t think I could have done anything different. 77 lost it. I wish could have waited a few more laps before he lost control of his car. Think he did the second time. Wish I wouldn’t have been around the first time. Definitely it took us out. Not much we could do.
Luckily we have a big points lead. All along we’ve been trying to tell everybody this thing is far from over, what our mindset has been. Luckily we’ve raced for every point throughout this Chase. We still have a decent points lead right now. We need to dust ourselves off, head to Phoenix, get a good one in the bank there.

KERRY THARP: Questions for Jimmie.

Q. Jimmie, after this hour long ordeal, what is your feeling? Is there still an ouch to it?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: There’s still an ‘ouch’ to it. Again, this could take place at the start of the race next weekend. You just never know. That’s the stuff that worries me. It’s a nice points lead. We just need to follow the 5 in a sense and everything would be fine.
As we saw today, anything can happen. It still is ouch. It’s not as bad as it could have been. We could have been 43rd. At one point Chad told me to hop out of the car, it was done, we’re going to have to put it on the truck. They were able to get it fixed. Mark didn’t win. There were a couple small things that helped us in the end. It’s still a big ouch.

Q. How early was it after you pulled in the garage that Chad told you that? Were you in the garage? Was it just a few minutes after?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, just after a couple minutes of him looking around up front. The sway bar had been slammed shut. The mounts and everything, the A frame is bolted to, everything was twisted up so bad, he wasn’t sure we were going to be able to get it back straight, hang suspension on it.
At that point I just stayed in the car. I didn’t want to hop out and let the crew guys think it was done. I was going to stay in it until he pushed it up on the ramp. I wanted them to keep working on it, find a way to get it on the track.

Q. Jimmie, I guess we could see the value of having a full race’s worth of points lead on your nearest competitor because you were able to endure what happened today and not really go out of here in too bad of shape. Talk a little bit about how that’s an unusual feeling for the points leader to have with this format, basically have a lap on the field in the Chase.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, it was an unusual situation, one that I really liked. Hoped we could have left Phoenix in that situation, as well.
We’re still in a great position. Like I said, we’ll dust ourselves off. There’s really not much we can do, reflect back on this, say it was a bad car, a bad pit stop or something I did wrong. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wrong place at the right time, depends where you want the points to go (laughter).

So it was just one of those things. We’ll go to Phoenix.

Q. Jimmie, obviously you have had lows before in the sport. Is there a way to compare this to some other experience in the sport? What were you doing in the hour in the car? What does somebody think of? How did you calm your emotions at that point?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I guess at the end of Homestead I will be able to really understand how these emotions, what they mean. Right now I’m still optimistic. We still have a nice points margin. Hopefully we don’t need the points we lost tonight to win the championship.
I don’t think the sting from this race will really show up till the checkered falls in Homestead and we see where we’re at, how the points shake out.
Just sat in the car, was thinking through what went on, how I could have done something different. On the outside lane, driving by a couple cars, and I didn’t really even see the 77 get loose. I got clobbered from the side. Around I went. I thought about those things sitting in the pits. Watched the guys, hoped that they could get the car fixed and on track. I could see the televisions, was watching the race. Just kind of paid attention to where the 5 and 24 were on track.
I guess after enough time sitting there, I finally calmed down some and caught my breath and relaxed. But the first 20, 30 minutes of that were pretty painful.

Q. Jimmie, did you have the slightest inclination to say where you are right now, the famous words before this race, I told you so? Is this a good opportunity to maybe point out that we don’t have the best perspective sometimes about things?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Are you calling yourself out right now (laughter)?

Q. I’m giving you a chance to do it.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: No (laughter).
It could have been considered lip service if everything went great this weekend. A lot of people predicted, like we had hoped. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t shut down the possibility of something going wrong. This is racing. You got to drive the race. We’ve heard it from other sports: you have to play the game.

I guess there is some of that in there. It’s really not for me to sit here and say that. I just think it’s a good lesson for everybody. We’ll learn a lot as a race team from this. I think the media side, as well, you have a much better understanding why Chad and I have been so nervous. Even after winning races, fielding questions, the possibility was out there. It’s still out there. There’s no telling what’s gonna happen.

Q. You expressed a little frustration at how early the incident happened in the race. Given that it happened so early, it did give you an opportunity to fix the car and come back out. If it’s going to happen, would you rather something like that happen earlier in the race?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I guess if we picked up three or four spots, it did help. I just wish the 77 could have ran the bottom and held onto his car. Seems to lose control of that thing a lot and hit a lot of things throughout the course of a race. My focus is more on that aspect of it. Realized it was just lap three or four, whatever it was, just drive his car.

Q. I think he got clobbered from behind.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I need to watch it. I don’t know what happened. All I know is I got hit by the 77. I don’t know what happened. So I guess I could be a big dick for saying that about him right now. Just frustrated. All I know is I got clobbered from the side from the 77.

KERRY THARP: Jimmie, thanks a lot. Good luck at Phoenix.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Thank you.

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