Ford Racing

Great Clips 300

September 3, 2011

Atlanta Motor Speedway

EDWARDS GIVES MUSTANG 10TH WIN OF 2011

• Carl Edwards won his sixth NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the season.

• The win was Mustang’s 10th of the season, more than any other car
make in 2011.

• Ricky Stenhouse maintained his points lead over second-place Elliott Sadler.

Ford Finishing Results:

1st – Carl Edwards

3rd – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

17th – Matt Carter

33rd – Trevor Bayne

35th – Clay Greenfield

36th – Timmy Hill

41st – Carl Long

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 16 Ford Drive One Mustang –

“That’s the best mile-and-a-half car we’ve ever had, I believe. We had a shot to winthis thing on a short run. I got a little bit free after about -25 laps and we were at a run that was gonna be 20 laps. It was gonna be perfect. We should have been around fifth and we came out 11th and
you just get back there where you shouldn’t be and get around some guys that are racing really hard and end up getting wrecked. That was a hard hit and I hate it for this Ford Mustang because I think it could have had confetti on it tonight, but I’m really proud of what my guys have done – Chad Norris and everybody for giving me a great car – so we’ll just take it to them at Richmond, I guess.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 6 Blackwell Angus Ford Mustang –

“Our Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargo Mustang was strong all night. We struggled there in the pits in the middle part of the race and were able to overcome it. We caught a right-front tire that almost gave us some trouble there. It almost went down, but I’ve just got to thank all the fans for coming out. We had a good crowd tonight, and Nationwide Insurance. I’m just glad to have this Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargo Mustang paint job back on this thing.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW –

“I’ve got to say Happy Birthday to my grandma, Phyllis. They’re watching the race from Kirkwood, Missouri and we’re gonna take the trophy home to grandma. Thank you guys, I love you. I’ve got to thank Fastenal. This was a big week for Fastenal. We announced a big partnership for next year. That’s huge. I’ve got to thank Ford, Valvoline, the Nationwide Series, all the fans here, Wiley X and Aflac. We had a big day yesterday and I was inspired by the kids at the Aflac Cancer Center, so if you folks want to donate, Aflac will double your donation at Aflac.com/friends, so it’s a big weekend for us here. I can’t believe we got the pole and the win. What a heck of a race.”

YOU TRIED TO STAY POSITIVE AND KEEP YOUR TEAM IN IT EARLY ON

“I’ve got a great team. These are great guys. Man, everybody raced really well. That was as hard as we could race out there. Kyle and I, Kevin. I raced Kasey. That was a lot of fun. This track is as good as it gets. This is a blast. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. PRESS CONFERENCE –

“The race itself was fun. This race track is a lot of fun. It’s old and it wears the tires out and it’s rough. That’s my kind of race track. I like to get up on the wheel and drive it hard and it worked out for us tonight. Our Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargo Mustang really ran well. We struggled in the pits and got behind and had to make some time up, but once we did we were okay. We caught a good break and caught the right-front
tire, it shredded but it didn’t blow, so we caught that. If we would have stayed out one more lap it probably would have blown the right-front and there at the end it was just fun racing with Kyle and Kevin. I wish we could have had a little more for Carl, but it was a good weekend for Roush Fenway. The last few laps there, the last run, I think we had a tire coming loose, so I kind of had to take it a little easy and made sure we finished and it was a good points night for us.”

DOES THIS TRACK REMIND YOU OF RUNNING YOUR SPRINT CAR AROUND THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY?

“Definitely. I think that’s one of the reasons why I like this place. You can move all over the race track. You’re sliding no matter what. There are other race tracks you can slide, but not everybody is sliding so it doesn’t pay off. When everybody starts slipping and sliding and you can turn right going through the corner most of the time it reminds me of any sprint car race track that I’ve run on. I think that’s where it helped us out here tonight.”

DID YOU FEEL PRESSURED KNOWING SADLER WAS STRUGGLING OR DID YOU JUST TACKLE THIS RACE AS YOU ALWAYS DO?

“When you have a good race car it’s really fun to drive and when you have an opening it’s tough not to take it as a race car driver. It seems like if you take that chance and kind of take control of it, you feel a little bit better instead of just riding. So I felt a little more in control making some of those moves, a few I probably shouldn’t have made, but they worked out.”

CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE –

“The car was spectacular from the first lap on the race track the car was great. Mike and Scott and all the guys did a really great job with it. It’s amazing how these cars have progressed over the last year to year-and-a-half. They’re really fast. Trevor was fast. Ricky was fast. Our car was great. It was just a fun race. I love this race track. Whatever it is about this race track that makes it so much fun to drive we need to figure out if we can engineer that into some other race tracks. This is as good as it gets, so I’m excited for tomorrow. I’m really excited to go run 500 miles here.”

MIKE BEAM, Crew Chief – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang –

“I thought we had a good strategy there and then we got penalized with the air hose, so we had to start at the rear. Then we wanted to go to lap 131 where we could go from there and then some of those guys started pitting, but we stuck to our plan and then the caution came out. It was
nerve-wracking there for a while, but, like Carl said, the car wasgreat and the engine ran great. It was just a lot of fun.”

JACK ROUSH, Car Owner – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang –

“I welcome the opportunity to share the stage here, to be subordinated by my real fast teammates. To be in the company of fast drivers and fast crew
chiefs is a great honor for an owner like me. Mike is the unsung herohere. He’s kind of bucked the organization some and he’s provided leadership for this Nationwide team this year and he had really fast cars here and I know that he won an argument in the shop to get the car the way he wanted it here and we won’t talk about that, but Mike has really done a nice job this year. He has carried it to them and I’m real proud of Mike and I’m real proud of Carl.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE BACK AND FORTH WITH KYLE AND KEVIN AND RICKY AND DO YOU ANTICIPATE THE SAME THING
TOMORROW?

“I think we’re gonna have just as good a racing tomorrow. I think the way the tire works with this track surface you can slide the cars, you can go in the corner and make a big mistake and get really sideways and you can save it. That was some door-to-door, hardcore racing out there. I don’t know what it looked like on the television or from the grandstands, but from the driver’s seat there was some really, really hard driving and I hope we get to see that tomorrow. We don’t race here enough. This place is a lot of fun. It’s really neat to race on a track like that.”

WERE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT BEING SHORT ON FUEL?

“I was concerned then because one time we were supposed to make it to the end and we were half-a-lap short and that one got us. I’m just giving him a hard time because it’s not a perfect science. Jack explained it to me, you know he’s a mathematician and there’s a lot that goes into it. It’s very difficult with this new fuel system to determine exactly how far you can make it and that’s why we came down that second-to-last time. We
went ahead and came for fuel just to make sure and, yeah, for a driver it’s important to really know. I don’t want him to lie to me because
I know they wanted me to go out there and race really hard on the restart, so they didn’t want to tell me we were short, they wanted to
tell me we were short 10 laps after the restart, but I said, ‘You’ve got to be honest with me. You’ve got to help me out here,’ so that
was why.”

MIKE SAYS.

“You’ve got to give us time to calculate it.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – KYLE SWEPT ACROSS YOU NOSE AT ONE POINT AND YOU OBJECTED TO THAT. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT INCIDENT?

“Yeah, that was almost really ugly. I wasn’t very happy about that. He apologized through his spotter and then he raced me really clean after
that, so that was just hard racing. It was getting really aggressive out there. Everybody was racing really hard and that was a case where
he started coming up and I almost hooked his right-rear. It was all I could do to kind of get out of the way and he stopped and then I ran
into his back bumper. I wasn’t very happy right then, but it was still early enough in the race that it didn’t tear anything up and
since he apologized I figured we’d have a good, clean race at the end. Fortunately, he wasn’t able to catch us those last few laps.”

MIKE BEAM CONTINUED – WERE YOU WORRIED AFTER THE PENALTY AND DID YOU CHANGE ANYTHING AFTER QUALIFYING?

“About the air hose, luckily there was like only 14 cars on the lead lap, so I knew that we had plenty of time to make it up if things went our way. You just don’t ever know, but when you get in the dirty air you don’t know how it’s gonna react, but, luckily, the car was pretty good in traffic and the lap times were real competitive, so I just knew that if we kept our heads straight that we could get back to the front, so that worked out well.

As far as after qualifying, we just did our normal deal, especially at a place like this. We didn’t run a lot in practice. We ran really
30 laps on the tires, but we just took a shot at it there. We figured the race track was gonna be loose at night and it worked out. We did tighten it up after qualifying a little bit and then we tightened it up during the race also.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED – HOW NERVE-WRACKING IS IT TO BE BACK IN THE PACK AROUND CARS THAT AREN’T AS IN CONTROL AS YOURS?

“My car was really, really good and it was still a handful to drive, and there were some guys back there that their cars were not handling well. I
thought everybody was doing a pretty good job for as tough as this race track can be. It kind of takes the wind out of your sails to get a penalty like that. Most of them lately have been because I’ve been speeding on pit road. I thought when he said we had to do a stop-and-go that I had sped again. I figured Mike would be throwing stuff at me when I stopped there in front of the box, but, in a way, it was early enough in the race. We had a fast enough race car. I tried to just look at it as a challenge and something fun. I think sometimes everything happens for a reason. I thought that run, trying to come through the field, I learned a little bit more about my car than I had running up front, so, in the end, it may have helped me a little bit at the end. So I thought that was good.”

JACK ROUSH CONTINUED – DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR STEVE TURNER AND CAN YOU TALK ABOUT STENHOUSE HAVING A 13-POINT LEAD?

“Working backwards, this is the first race in the last three or maybe four that we’ve been able to pad or add some to our points lead. I was watching it slip away and I’m glad we stopped that. As far as the Turner organization is concerned, it’s always a risk when you’ve got a championship-contending car and another car that needs to race for its sponsor with great enthusiasm and with great effect, but when the cars come out of the same shop, if they’re done correctly, they’ll have about the same amount of speed in them and then it becomes a question
of whether the driver and the crew chief have made the same decisions on the car, either good or bad, to keep them the same. But it’s not a
surprise that team cars run that close together, but my advice is, and it’s just advice, is that the guys that are not in championship
contention should consider the needs of the car that is in championship contention to make sure you give them plenty of room.”

ARE YOU BACK FLYING 100 PERCENT NOW?

“Carl hasn’t been brave enough to fly with me yet. I’ve just had my medical for about 10 days, so people should leave me alone for a while and just let me do my own thing. I flew from Detroit to Charlotte the other day by myself in my premier jet and it was fun. It was the first time in a year I haven’t had an argument with another pilot in the airplane.”

- PCGCampbell Press Release

No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry

· FINAL RACE OF THE YEAR ON TAP: This weekend’s 300-mile event at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Southern Florida marks the end of the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series season for the GameStop Toyota and driver Joey Logano. This season has been one to remember for Logano. Through just 24 events, Logano has amassed two wins, 15 top-five finishes and an astounding 23 top-10s. The only race Logano finished outside of the top-10 was earlier this year in Nashville, when pit strategy and fuel mileage cost the team a sure top-five finish.

And despite missing 11 races in the Nationwide Series, Logano still finds himself seventh in the point standings. Logano’s average finish in 2010 of 4.8 is the best of all Nationwide Series drivers who have run more than one event. Logano’s 4.8 average finish is better than most of the other top NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers, including Kyle Busch (5.2 average finish), Brad Keselowski (5.3), Kevin Harvick (6.4) and Carl Edwards (8.0).

· DOGS, BEARS, BIRDS & SUNGLASSES FOR HOMESTEAD: Two companies, Mastiff Games and Wiley X, will share time with GameStop on Joey’s No. 20 this weekend at Homestead. Mastiff Games is a developer and publisher of video games and a licensee of Sony Computer Entertainment, Microsoft and Nintendo of America. They take a great deal of pride in producing some of the very best localizations in the video games industry, together with original products. Some of Mastiff Games’ most popular titles include Remington Great American Bird Hunt, Remington Super Slam Hunting North America and Reload. Also on the car is Wiley X.

Wiley X® Eyewear is a leading provider of protective eyewear and ballistic products for the U.S. military, outdoor sports enthusiasts and the safety and shooting industries. Wiley X continues to be well represented by top drivers who depend on the company’s superior optical clarity and High-Velocity Protection (HVP™) technology. In fact, Wiley X is the only premium sunglass manufacturer that has official ANSIZ87.1-2003 high velocity and high mass impact standards certification on its entire product line.

· LOGANO EARNS SEASON-LONG POLE AWARD: When Joey earned the pole at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend, he wrapped up the award for most NASCAR Nationwide Series poles in 2010. The top-qualifying spot at Phoenix earned Joey his seventh pole award of the season and the eighth for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team (they also won the pole at Darlington Raceway with Denny Hamlin earlier this season).

Newly crowned NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Brad Keselowski has the second most poles in 2010 with five. The pole in Phoenix also gave Logano 14-career Nationwide Series pole awards, moving him into 16th place on the all-time pole awards list, tied with Greg Biffle, Harry Gant and Dale Jarrett.

· JOEY GETTING ALL DRESSED UP WITH SOMEWHERE TO GO: And that somewhere is the NASCAR Nationwide Series Banquet at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel on South Beach in Miami on Monday, Nov. 22. Logano will attend the banquet to celebrate his 2010 campaign and to help honor all of the award winners in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for 2010. Logano also hopes to celebrate with his JGR teammates should Kyle Busch and the No. 18 team hold on to the Nationwide Series owner’s championship following this weekend’s race at Homestead. Heading into Homestead, the No. 18 team is up by 41 points over the No. 22 in the owner’s standings.

· STAT OF THE WEEK: 20. In the ever-present, yet often under the table, battle of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Logano has bested his JGR counterpart Kyle Busch on 20 different occasions in their NASCAR Nationwide Series career. Of those 20 races where Logano has finished better than Busch, four have been for the win when Kyle has finished in second-place.

· FEATURED ON THE No. 20: GameStop #806 in Norfolk, VA will be the featured store on the lower rear quarter panel of the No. 20 GameStop Toyota this weekend in Homestead.

Joey Logano - Photo Credit: Motorsports Images and Archives

“Well, the season is almost over, but we’ve got one more shot to grab another pole and another win this weekend at Homestead. Homestead is a cool place, but it is one of those tracks that so many people forget about, because we only race there once a year and it’s always at the end of the year. On top of that, there aren’t a lot of other tracks like it. Homestead is a 1.5-mile track like so many others, but its shape is a lot different than most of the other 1.5-mile tracks. Most tracks have a curved front stretch or a dog-leg front stretch, where Homestead is straight. That makes it much more like some of the one-mile tracks we go to.

“Homestead always has a cool feel to it too though because it’s the last race of the year. Everyone wants to win the last race of the year to end their season on a good note and can carry some momentum into the next season. We’ve got a shot at picking up our eighth pole and third win of the season, and I can’t think of a better time for it to come. I’ve been good in Homestead before. I’ve got a pole and a top-five finish there. And I’ve always been strong on the 1.5-mile tracks. So there is no reason that we shouldn’t be able to go out there and end the year on a high note.

“It’s very cool that we have two separate companies on the car this weekend along with GameStop. I’ve had Mario and a lot of characters on the hoods of my car before, but I’ve never had a big dog’s head. It’s a bright cool-looking car and it’s hard to miss with the big head of a dog on the hood. Then, to have Wiley X, who has always been a big supporter of me, on the car as well is cool. It’s great when GameStop gets a chance to work with these companies and all three of them can promote their products together.”

Kevin Kidd Quotes:

“I’m pumped to end the year at Homestead. I’m always excited to get back to the 1.5-mile tracks, because Joey has always excelled at those tracks. We’ve always had some pretty good setups and cars that handle really well at those tracks. We’re taking chassis 2073 this weekend, which last ran at Kansas Speedway when Joey won the pole and the race. And there is no doubt we can do that again this weekend. In its three races, the car has two poles, a win, a second and a third. So we know the car is good and we know Joey is good, so that gives this team a lot of confidence going into the weekend.

“Then again, it’s always bittersweet to end the season. At this point, everyone is ready for a break and ready to spend a few weekends at home, but the camaraderie of the guys on the team is something that we all miss when the season is over. This is our job and this is what we do for a living. We enjoy spending the time with everyone on the weekends. But, before you know it, the 2011 season will start, and we’ll be back at it again. So in the end, a little R&R time is good for everyone.

“If we can walk out of Homestead with a pole and a win, and Kyle can finish second and wrap up the 2010 owners title for JGR, that would be the ultimate weekend right there.”

- Joey Logano, Inc. / Joe Gibbs Racing Press Release

Ron Hornaday Jr. and team owner Kevin Harvick celebrate Hornaday's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship and Harvick's Ford 200 win at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The championship is Hornaday's fourth in the series and the second for Kevin Harvick Inc. (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

“I just can’t believe it,” said Hornaday following the race. “This has been a dream season. To win five races in a row, then win the championship not only for myself but for KHI as a whole is pretty awesome. There are so many people to thank, Longhorn, Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW), Turtle Wax, Copart for coming on board, Georgia Boot, Rheem, Hungry Man, Miller Welders, Merit Pro, Wiley X, all of our great partners who made this year happen. I can’t think Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) enough for all that they have done. They give me the best equipment to drive hands down. I’m really lucky to be able to be apart of it all. It’s so cool for me to be standing here as the champion and Kevin to be in victory lane. It says a lot about the team work and effort everyone puts into this truck program at KHI. Wow, I just can’t believe it this is awesome.”

Hornaday started the Ford 200 from the fourth position, immediately behind boss Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Georgia Boot Chevrolet. As the race started Hornaday battled a loose-handling truck and tried to find a line his truck would work well in as he battled Matt Crafton for the fifth position. While Hornaday fought with his truck, his KHI teammate Harvick moved into the lead and began to pull away from the field. The first caution of the race waved on lap 31. The No. 33 team brought the truck to pit road on lap 33 for four tires and an air-pressure adjustment. The team had a problem with the jack on the right side resulting in a slow stop. The following lap the team came back down pit road for fuel and was able to gain back a few positions lost on pit road during the previous stop. On the restart on lap 36 Hornaday was scored in the eighth position.

The air-pressure adjustment helped the No. 33 truck as another caution waved on lap 38; Hornaday had gained two positions on the restart moving him to sixth. Hornaday tried multiple lines on the race track, but as the tires wore, the No. 33 truck continued to turn to the loose side. The third caution waved on lap 59. The No. 33 team brought the truck down pit road for four tires, another air-pressure adjustment and came back the following lap for fuel. Several of the leaders chose different pit strategies taking two tires, fuel only and some stayed on the race track, miring Hornaday back in the 11th position for the restart on lap 63. By lap 72, Hornaday had moved back into the seventh position and Harvick had made his way back to the lead.

On lap 86, Busch cut down a tire and was forced to pit road. Three laps later he was back on pit road for a tire violation. Hornaday continued to struggle with the handling of his truck as it would go from loose to tight and back to loose all around the track. On lap 115, the No. 33 truck came to pit road during a round of scheduled green-flag pit stops for fuel only. The last caution of the race waved on lap 129 forcing the season finale for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to end with a green-white-checkered finish. The No. 33 was scored in the 10th position at the time of the caution and made the decision to come down pit road for four tires. The tires paid off as Hornaday moved up two positions to take the checkered flag in the eighth position to solidify the 2009 NASCAR Camping World championship for himself and KHI, while Harvick went on to win his second consecutive Truck Series race in as many weeks.

The championship marks Hornaday’s fourth title recording championship wins in 1996, 1998, 2007 and 2009. This is the second championship for Kevin and DeLana Harvick and KHI. Over the course of the 2009 season the No. 33 team recorded six wins, 15 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes. Hornaday also recorded four poles and set a record for consecutive wins with five in a row joining Richard Petty and Bobby Allison as only the third driver to achieve this benchmark.

- Kevin Harvick Inc. Press Release

Ron Hornaday Jr., driver of the No. 33 VFW.org Chevrolet Silverado, celebrates with the series championship trophy after clinching the title with a fourth place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13, 2009 in Avondale, Arizona.

“I couldn’t think of a better track to clinch the championship, I love Phoenix” said the newly-crowned champion. “This is a compliment to the team. It takes a lot of people to accomplish something like this, all these team guys and everyone back at the shop. But, we aren’t done yet. We still have to get the owner’s title too. Kyle (Busch) is pretty close to us. I can’t say enough for Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) and the whole KHI organization. These trucks are awesome. I don’t know what happened during the pit stop, or how we rallied back, but Rick Ren (crew chief) and the entire team did a great job. It is so much fun to drive for Kevin and DeLana, I just can’t believe it. I just want to thank everyone who has been apart of making this happen this year, VFW, Copart, Longhorn, Turtle Wax, Georgia Boots, Rheem, Hungry-Man, Wiley X, Indian Motorcycles, Miller Welders, Merit Pro everyone. It is unbelievable. This is a lot of fun.”

Hornaday started the Lucas Oil 150 from the third position, immediately behind boss Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Longhorn Chevrolet. With only eight laps complete, a lap truck began to lay down liquid on the racing surface. Harvick brought out the first caution of the night when he hit the moisture and spun off of turn four to the entrance of pit road sustaining no damage. Hornaday emerged from the smoke unscathed for the restart on lap 13 after NASCAR cleaned the racing groove. Hornaday battled with Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch for the race lead, but settled comfortably in the third position until the second caution of the race on lap 35.

The No. 33 team decided to come to pit road for their first scheduled pit stop of the night. Initially the plan was to take on four tires on the first stop and come back the following lap for fuel. However, with the leaders taking fuel only, the team made a quick change to fuel only. A lap later the team was called back down pit road by NASCAR for a pit-road violation and decided to make the most of the penalty which put them at the tail end of the longest line. On lap 37, the team took on four fresh tires and restarted the race in the 23rd position on lap 38. Hornaday began to work his way back through the field, but it was slow going on the one-mile track. By lap 60, the point’s leader had moved his way back into the top 15, but his truck had become too loose through the center of the corners to be able to get back to the gas when he wanted. As Hornaday battled Todd Bodine for the 15th position and worked his way back toward the front of the field, his KHI teammate Harvick ran in the second position chasing Almirola for the top spot.

The third caution of the evening waved on lap 91 and the No. 33 team took full advantage, giving up the 10th position to bring the truck down pit road for four tires and the following lap for fuel. Two quick stops gained Hornaday three positions on pit road placing him in the seventh position for the restart on lap 96. The “restart king” was able to use his four fresh tires to move back into the top five as Harvick took the lead from Almirola. Hornaday gained one more spot before the checkered flag waved to finish in the fourth position. Harvick held off a hard charging Kyle Busch through four late-race cautions and a green-white-checkered finish recording his second Truck Series victory of 2009 followed by Busch, Almirola, Hornaday and Johnny Sauter.

Hornaday was crowned the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion with one race remaining in the 2009 season next weekend at the Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway. The owner’s championship will be decided next weekend as DeLana Harvick continues to hold a 60-point advantage over Billy Ballew.

- Kevin Harvick Inc. Press Release

Chevrolet Logo

Hornaday secured the unprecedented feat with a fourth place finish in tonight’s race. Heading in to the season’s final race next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the battle for the 2009 NCWTS owners’ title is still undecided. DeLana Harvick holds a 60-point lead over second place.

“ I couldn’t think of a better track and I love Phoenix,” said the newly-crowned champion. “This is a compliment to the team. It takes a lot of people to do this, all the guys back at the shop. Just had another great truck Mark Smith with the motor program and what he has done and with Chevrolet and everything they do including the wind tunnel and all their support and Pratt and Miller. It just takes a bunch of people and I am just fortunate enough that my wife and I are old enough that we are just at the race track and having fun.”

Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Fun Sand/Rodney Atkins/Curb Records Silverado finished fifth in the race scheduled for 150-laps but a caution on lap 149 forced the race in to overtime for a green-white-checkered finish.

Matt Crafton, No. 88 Australian Gold/Menards Silverado, finished eighth to give Team Chevy four of the top-10 finishers in tonight’s race. Crafton is second in the standings, 150 points ahead of third place as the season winds down to one race to go.

Kyle Busch (Toyota) and Aric Almirola (Toyota) finished second and third respectively.

The final event of the 2009 season will November 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

LUCAS OIL 150

PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

No. 4 Longhorn Chevrolet Silverado Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw, Getty Images

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 LONGHORN SILVERADO, RACE WINNER:

HOW MUCH FUN IS IT TO HAVE A GREAT TRUCK?

“It is pretty awesome to have a vehicle like this. I mean, from the time we unloaded it, it was just flat awesome.

“To have (Ron) Hornaday clinch the drivers’ championship and me win the race is pretty cool. I mean we got to do twin burnouts out there. I couldn’t hardly do a burnout; he definitely had me topped on that one. I couldn’t get my tires spinning. That was not good. But it was pretty cool anyway.”

Kevin Harvick wins the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw, Getty Images

“Well Ron has been the catalyst of everything that has turned this team in to championship caliber. You know you don’t have worry about what is happening from the driver’s seat, you know that everything is coming out of the driver’s seat that is absolutely possible. From there, we have built a team around him that was capable of giving him the trucks that he needed. Like I said, he gets everything out of them that he can. It is fun to watch and Ron is a great friend of mine. Meant a lot to me coming up through my career. To win a second championship with him is pretty cool.”

Ron Hornaday Jr., driver of the No. 33 VFW.org Chevrolet Silverado, celebrates with the series championship trophy after clinching the title with a fourth place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13, 2009 in Avondale, Arizona. Photo Credit: ToddWarshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

“We aren’t done yet. We have to get the owner’s title too. Kyle (Busch) is pretty close to us. KHI, I can’t say enough for them. These trucks are awesome. I don’t know what happened during the pit stop, but for them to rally back…and Rick Ren (crew chief) with that short gas just to keep us out in front of that No. 88. It is so much fun to drive for Kevin and DeLana (Harvick), I can’t believe. VFW, Copart, Longhorn, I can just sit here and name everybody, it has been great. Turtle Wax, Georgia Boots, Miller Welders, thank you for all the help. Wiley X, Indian Motorcycles. It is unbelievable. This is a lot of fun.

“I am glad Kevin won this race, that is cool. This is a compliment to the team. It takes a lot of people to do this, all the guys back at the shop. Just had another great truck.

“Our favorite truck got wrecked, it really ran good here. These guys brought this truck back, I knew I didn’t have a winning truck, but I had to play it smart in points.”

A GREAT START TO THE SEASON, CONSISTENT, FIVE WINS IN A ROW MID-SEASON, HOW DID YOU STAY FOCUSED DURING THE LAST HALF OF THE SEASON?

“We had the post lead and then we ended up wrecking at Dover. These guys never say quit. Kevin kept building me new truck each week. Kevin had a brand new truck here which will be for 2010. He is going to run one next week. I can’t say enough for everyone.

“Jack Sprague, buddy, I wish you were out here racing me. I got four so now you have to come back and get another one.

“This is unbelievable. Four. We still have hard work to do. Kyle is pretty tough. We have to stick with him at Homestead to get that owner’s”

Matt Crafton

“No I felt like we had a top-five truck. We didn’t have a winning truck tonight for sure, but I felt we had a top five truck. We just lost a lot of spots there on that last deal. The crew guys said they dropped a lug nut and we got behind on that and some of the guys beat us out on the fuel stop and I don’t think they took but a splash and there were some of the Toyotas saving fuel there in the end. They must have put just enough in it to make it.

“For some reason we were really good at the beginning……..I shouldn’t say really good but pretty good. And then on the last two runs we got really off for some reason. I don’t know if it was air pressure or what we did but it was definitely off at the end. I don’t know. Not a horrible day but not a good day.”

HOW ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIP? YOU LOST TO ONE OF THE BEST.

“I’m over it. I want to win races. I mean congratulations to Ron and the whole deal. They were good the whole year and they were winning races and we got out fuel-mileaged and beat on that. I look forward to the new……I should say the old pit rules the way it should be done and I definitely think we are going to be a lot better next year.”

(L-R) DeLana Harvick, team owner Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday Jr. (C), driver of the No. 33 VFW.org Chevrolet, Linda Hornaday, and crew chief Rick Ren, celebrate after Hornaday clinched the series title with a fourth place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13, 2009 in Avondale, Arizona Photo Credit: Getty Images

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP

“Thank you. I couldn’t think of a better track and I love Phoenix. It looked pretty grim for a while. But its not over by far because we are racing Kyle Busch for the owner points and that is the true goal. That shows how good our team is and Kyle has been really racing strong and has six or seven wins this year. So we are going to do what we can to hold them off down there but we are going to go down there and have a little fun and race a little different.”

WAS YOUR GOAL TONIGHT TO RACE SMART AND TO NOT MAKE ANY MISTAKES?

“You didn’t watch the race because we tried to race smart but we left the gas can out the back and that put us in the back and I was sweating it out because we got behind the 11 and I started pushing real bad and I thought my right front tire started going. I put about five turns of brake in and I started sliding and I learned something.

“On the third to the last restart it wouldn’t turn and started shoving the tires and I had to put more rear brake in it just then. Luckily that kind of happened in that run because it kept us in the top-five and Johnny Sauter was really coming strong so…….we came home in the top-five and that’s what we needed to do to keep Matt behind us. He’s a heck of a racer and I am glad they turned the program around and gave us a run for our money all year long and there are just so many people to think and you guys have been following it all year and see what it takes to go racing with Copart, Longhorn, VFW, Georgia Boots, and Turtle Wax. It really takes a lot and having all those sponsors to work together and do what they have done is just great.

“Mark Smith with the motor program and what he has done and with Chevrolet and everything they do including the wind tunnel and all their support and Pratt and Miller. It just takes a bunch of people and I am just fortunate enough that my wife and I are old enough that we are just at the race track and having fun.”

HOW SIGNIFICANT AND HOW BIG OF A DEAL IS THIS CHAMPIONSHIP TO YOU TO SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM SPRAGUE AND BE THE FIRST 4 TIME CHAMPION?

“You said it right there. I got one up on Sprague and that’s all that counts. I said it out there, that Sprague needs to come back and try and get a fourth one and just keep me racing. Jack and I have been fighting for wins and championships back and forth and Jack had to quit and give me a little head start so we went back and forth and he had 23 then I had 24 then he had 25 so its just been a fun battle with Jack and I wish he was still out there because he is a heck of a little racer. I don’t know. Maybe I will have to build another trophy case. I only have five so maybe I will have to move one over and put two together so.

“Its been a long week because Lindy’s mom went through surgery and she came out of that real well and they had given her a thirty five percent chance of surviving it and she is doing real well and at home today. So it will be good to get home and see her tomorrow.”

YOU HAVE TALKED BEFORE ABOUT GUYS COMING AND SLEEPING ON YOUR COUCH. BUT HOW COOL IS IT TO THINK THAT YOU HAD JIMMIE JOHNSON, WHO MIGHT BE A FOUR TIME CHAMPION, YOU ARE NOW A FOUR TIME CHAMPION AND YOU GOT HARVICK IN THE MIX. YOU LOOK BACK ON THAT AND COULD YOU IMAGINE THAT GUYS WHO WERE SLEEPING ON YOUR COUCH WOULD HAVE AS MANY CHAMPIONSHIPS AND YOU WOULD HAVE AS MANY CHAMPIONSHIPS AND ALL THAT STUFF BACK THEN?

“My wife made me sleep on the couch just last week. (laughs). Its kind of cool and I think this is kind of the payback with what Kevin and Delana have done for me and like I said its not over. We have to win that owners point championship. They definitely deserve it because they have given me great trucks all year. And the truck that Kevin built tonight was a 2010 that we are going to run next year and we have had a lot of help from Chevrolet and because Kevin never quits. I went into the shop a couple of weeks ago and there were like fourteen trucks and then I came back and there were like five trucks. I said, ‘where did all the trucks go?’. He said, ‘Kevin sold them all and you are getting all brand new trucks again next year. And when we won five races in a row they were all brand new trucks and so my hats off to the boss man right there. He has what it takes to win them and oh, here is the boss lady…..I forgot. But its been fun and we are not done. As long as Kevin and Delana has me, we are going to win some more of them.”

RON – IT IS UNUSUAL TO WRAP UP A TITLE WITH ONE RACE TO GO, THAT HAS TO BE A NEW EXPERIENCE FOR YOU:

“It took me 30 years to do it. If you look at the year, we had a pretty good points lead and then we ended up blowing a tire at Dover and Matt caught us. Then we had another bad race and ran out of fuel. Like I said, we’re not done racing. We have to go down and race Kyle Busch. Those owner’s points mean more to me than a trophy because it says the whole team worked hard and we beat everybody. So we are going to go out and do what we have got to do. Kyle is on a roll. He almost won three of them last weekend. We are going to go out there and get the owner’s championship…so we are going to keep racing.”

RON – TALK ABOUT HOW SPECIAL THIS TRACK IS TO YOU FROM YOUR SOUTHWEST TOUR AND WINSTON WEST DAYS:

“Kevin was telling Carmichael (Ricky) that I was racing here when it was dirt, before they even started it. Oh, fresh asphalt. It is cool. I am not totally talking about the championship. It is cool for me to win it, but it isn’t over yet, it is not even close. Kevin and DeLana deserve a lot more because of the equipment, the people they put in places. It takes a lot. Without our sponsors that work together and the program they put together to make it happen, this is what it is all about.”

RON – IS THERE AN ADDED SENSE OF BEING SPECIAL IN THE VFW TRUCK WITH BEING SO CLOSE TO VETERAN’S DAY AND COMING ON THE HEELS OF THE TRAGEDY AT FT. HOOD? “

I appreciate that. The last few have been VFW races it is hard to go out there and see all those soldiers and see the tragedy at Ft. Hood. A lot of support from VFW. I can’t say enough about them. I had the opportunity to go to Iraq and see what the men and women do first hand. TV, newspaper, they really don’t do it justice. I brought pictures home and tried to explain it to my wife. About the smells and everything else. My hat is off to all the men and women. It is pretty cool and it is special and thanks for bringing it up.”

RON – TALK ABOUT HOW UNIQUE IS THE RELATIONSHIP IS BETWEEN YOU AND KEVIN:

“I’m mad that I didn’t get to go up there and race him for the win. We had to play it smart and do what we had to do to overcome a pit stop failure. Rick Ren made a great call to only put one can of fuel in to beat the No. 88 out of the pits. It worked out great. It is always fun to race Kevin because you know he is going to run 120 mile an hour faster than you. I remember the first time I ran his Nationwide car, he was in the second car and he turned me sideways to pass me. I was like “Doesn’t he know he owns this car? I couldn’t go run into the back of him just cause he did that. That was the first experience I had with Kevin, he doesn’t really car whose car it is he is going to move you out of the way to race it.”

KEVIN – SAME QUESTION:

“For me, I came up through my career. I was thinking back to races at Mesa Marin, the nights the he and Rick Carelli and Mike Chase and all the guys that used to race in, it was open comp back then, then Southwest Tour. I was sitting in the grandstands. And now I have Ron and Rick and Ernie Cope and a couple of kids from the West Coast, and Andy Houston that came up through the Truck Series, so it is just a lot of us that raced together. It is about the race vehicle. These guys go out and race it and enjoy it”

About General Motors:

General Motors, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 209,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications Press Release

Photo Credit: NASCARMedia.com / Getty Images