TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
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AUTISM SPEAKS 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
Dover, DE
May 16, 2010
DID YOU KNOW? A combined retail sales increase of 33% for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac propelled total sales for GM’s four brands in the U.S. to 183,091 during the month of April. This represents a 20% increase from a year ago. For the calendar year-to-date, combined total sales for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac are up 31 percent.
CHEVY RACING AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY – JEFF CHEW, MARKETING MANAGER, NASCAR, CHEVY RACING: “This will be the first time that the Team Chevy Racing Display has ever visited Dover International Speedway, so we are very much looking forward to this trip and meeting with all of the race fans in that area. There will be plenty for the entire family, like green-screen photos with their favorite Chevy driver, and the opportunity to drive one or more of Chevrolet’s 2010 lineup of award-winning cars and trucks.”
TEAM CHEVY IN 2010 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (NSCS) COMPETITION:
o Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet is the points leader
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK-DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:
TEAM CHEVY AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY – PAT SUHY, GM RACING NASCAR GROUP MANAGER: “Team Chevy heads to the Monster Mile with six drivers currently in the top twelve in Sprint Cup standings, along with a sixteen point lead in the Manufacturers’ Cup championship. Recently, Dover has been a good track for Team Chevy drivers. In 2009, Chevy’s took 11 of the 20 available top-10 spots and Jimmie Johnson won both events in his Lowe’s Impala.
“Dover’s one-mile concrete surface and 24 degree banking are challenging for drivers and crews alike. To do well here teams need to be at the top of their game in terms of chassis setup. One of the keys to success is to understand tire performance as it relates to changes that they can make both in practice and during the race. The teams can look back at their notes from last year’s races, but with a new left side tire that they’ve not run in a race yet, that will only help so much. They will rely on tire testing information from Goodyear coupled with their chassis simulation results to fill in the gaps. Simulation results provide information about the handling effects of setup changes that the crew chief and engineer use to fine tune the chassis settings for practice, qualifying, and during the race. Accurate simulations allow the crew chief and engineer to select an initial setup that will lead to them being fast in the first run after they unload at the track, thereby maximizing productive practice time. The cause and effect results provide guidance and help them to quickly respond to the ever-changing track conditions at Dover. Our teams are consistently ahead of the curve in this area, which is part of the story that helps to explain Team Chevy’s long term NASCAR success.”
TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET – POINT STANDINGS LEADER: “I think it was two years ago that they had the big wreck coming off of Turn 2 at the start of the race and they just keep piling in and crashing because you can’t really see because there is so much banking coming through the corner that you can’t really see what’s on the exit of the corner. And by the time the spotter says something and you see it, you’re in it. And then once you wreck, especially at the beginning of the race, it’s like you have nowhere to go on the race track because they come up on you so fast. If you’re off the pace it winds up being a really long day. The toughest part for us has been qualifying for me at Dover. I think if you can qualify good at Dover it makes your day go a lot better.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – 2ND IN STANDINGS: “There are just tracks that work for you. Tracks that don’t. I think that it was well documented at the start of the year, we didn’t have the dominant car but we really took advantage of opportunity. Here lately, we’ve been working hard to find new speed and some new stuff to make the No. 48 car strong when it is the right time of the year. I think we are getting close. I know Jeff (Gordon) and those guys have been working in some areas and it has been working well for them. Mark (Martin) has been experimenting and hasn’t really found what he needs. Junior’s stuff has been getting better. So we are all kind of massaging our packages and I hope that we get what we need out of the No. 48 car soon so we can get back to victory lane.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – 4TH IN STANDINGS: “Hold on tight—it’s a white-knuckle experience at Dover. It’s very fast, very high-banked track. The transitions are extreme there. Like I said, tons of grip and a lot of speed. You just have to be really committed, have a good car, and you have to go for it. That’s especially true at qualifying. We found that out last year when we had a shot the pole and lost the back end and got in the wall. There is that fine line between being able to really push the car hard and pushing it too far. I do like Dover. It’s a great track, a fun track. I think it’s one of the more exciting tracks on the circuit.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – 9TH IN STANDINGS: “I don’t care who you are or what you say, but if Dover doesn’t intimidate you a little bit, you’re lying. It’s a fast race track, a lot of speed, a lot of big heavy concrete walls. That place is well-named the Monster Mile. It’s hard, hard race track to get hooked up on. You have to be exceptionally aggressive. But if you cross the line, you get in trouble. It’s an incredible race track. It’s a huge challenge, but I really like going there.”
MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – 10TH IN STANDINGS: I love this place. I get excited when I know we’re coming to Dover. This is just one of those places that, man, it’s just so much fun to drive on. It’s one of those tracks that just instantly clicked with me. I loved it from the first time I saw it. And it helps that I’ve always run well here, too. It’s just a really cool racetrack. This is definitely one every NASCAR fan should go see live. When we went to Dover last June, our practices were just awful. I remember Alan and I being on SPEED channel that Friday night and it was like we were both almost embarrassed to be on there — we were that bad. But, like this No. 5 team always does, they made some changes before the race and we got a, not great, but solid top 10 finish out of it. When we went back in the fall, we were ready. Our car was a rocketship all through Saturday’s practice sessions. When we got into the race, though, we were just a tick, and I mean a tick off on the start of runs. We were great still in the long run, but just slightly off at the start. That’s what put us in second, rather than winning the race.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – 12TH IN STANDINGS: “Dover is a fast track, and it’s bumpy. For a mile-long race track, it generates a lot of speed. You have to make your car turn good to run on the bottom. The guy that runs the bottom the fastest is going to have a good day.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 US ARMY CHEVROLET – 14TH IN STANDINGS: “No question, the U.S. Army team has had some solid runs lately, but we’re better than what we’ve shown,” said Newman, a three-time Dover winner. “We’re getting close to hitting the rhythm that we’ve been looking for. Dover is one of the tracks where I feel it can all come together for our Soldiers’ car. Dover is one of my favorite, if not my favorite track. It’s a lot of fun to drive there — I really like the banking. Once you get a race car dialed in at Dover, it usually stays right all day. It’s a lot easier to produce good results when you have a comfort level with a track. Dover is a fast track and I not only like the challenge of dropping off into the corners, but also the way it pushes you down in the seat when you’re coming off the corners. Just a lot fun — I enjoy qualifying and racing at Dover.”
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 31 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET – 15TH IN STANDINGS: “We’ve had our ups and downs at Dover, but we are always running in the top five there. If you run in the top five, anything can happen in these races; we’ve seen it happen before. But if you run in the top five long enough, you’re going to get your win. I feel like Dover is a track where we’re due for a win in a Cup car. We’ve won twice there in a Nationwide car and hopefully we can get the job done.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET – 16TH IN STANDINGS: “Dover is a very unique race track and I feel that it’s the fastest one-mile track we visit on the circuit. Entry into the corner is also very different from any other track we go to because at Dover you kind of fall down into the corners. The straightaways are pretty narrow, but you have the ability to run any line there, which helps when it comes to advancing through the field. Dover is a track that I’ve had a lot of success at over the last few years and one of the most important things about Dover is being able to qualify well. Obviously Bono and the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Team have had some great success at Dover in the past, so we’ll look to continue that with this weekend’s run! He is pretty pumped up about going to Dover. It’s getting to close to where he’s from. I enjoy that place. The thing about Dover is if your car is a little bit off, you’ll get a long green flag run and you can lose a lot of time. Your car has to handle really well there.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET – 17TH IN STANDINGS: “Dover is one of the easiest tracks for me because it has a lot of grip. So you can feel like you are driving the car like what I’ve been use to with my open-wheel background. Dover typically has long green flag runs so you work on the handling throughout the day and prepare for a lot of cautions in the end. A good spot in the pits helps, staying out of the fence and making a final charge at the end is the way to survive at Dover.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET – 18TH IN STANDINGS: “We are headed into a section of the season I am definitely looking forward to. A string of tracks coming up that makes me feel comfortable that I know historically we are good at. Every week you start over on Friday. We have a fresh start Friday morning and we will work hard to make it as good as we can.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET - 31ST IN STANDINGS: “I join the chorus of drivers when I say that Dover is an awesome place to race at. I’ve only raced there a few times, but each time I am at Dover I enjoy the place even more. The Furniture Row team is optimistic about this weekend after a solid run in Darlington last week. I felt we had a top-10 car in Darlington, but ended up 17th. We’re knocking at the door for our first top 10 and I have this inner feeling that door is going to open soon.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships
Total (1949 – 2009): 33
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 9 (1983 – 91)
Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Drivers Championships
Total (1949 – 2009): 26
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 6 (1993 – 98)
Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Event Victories
2010 Race Wins: 6
Total Chevrolet race wins: 657 (1949 – to date) (2,255 possible = 29.1%)
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 – 2007
Poles Won to Date: 599
Laps Lead to Date: 197,110
Top-Five Finishes to Date: 3,304
Top-10 Finishes to Date: 6,761
Chevrolet: 657
Pontiac: 155
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 595
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Dodge: 206
Plymouth: 190
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 25
Chevrolet is one of America’s best-known and best-selling automotive brands, and one of the fastest growing brands in the world. With fuel solutions that range from “gas-friendly to gas-free,” Chevrolet has nine models that offer an EPA-estimated 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway, and offers two hybrid models. More than 2.5 million Chevrolets that run on E85 biofuel have been sold. Chevrolet delivers expressive design, spirited performance and strives to provide the best value in every segment in which it competes. More information can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
- Team Chevy, Press Release