McMurray and Montoya Bringing Great Cars to Budwesier Shootout

Budweiser Shootout Drawing Party: Drawing for the starting positions in the Budweiser Shootout will be featured on the Budweiser Shootout Drawing Party live on SPEED 8PM (ET) on Friday February 17th.

A Fresh Start: Notable changes to the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (EGR) organization include a new Team Manager, Max Jones and Technical Director, John Probst. Jones most recently oversaw the merger of Yates Racing and Petty Enterprises in 2009-10 as President and General Manager. Probst comes to the team from Red Bull Racing.

Jamie McMurray and No. 1 Bass Pro Shops® / Tracker Boats Team:

Jamie McMurray is 15/1 to win Bud Shootout (Getty)

Opening New Doors: Jamie McMurray returns to EGR for the 2012 season in the No.1 Bass Pro Shops®/McDonald’s Chevrolet. The team will once again be led by crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion . The No.1 Chevy will have a new look for three races in 2012. LiftMaster, Banana Boat and Belkin will each have a primary paint scheme for one race.

Year in Review: In 2011, McMurray finished the season with one pole, two top-fives, four top-10s, 15 top-20 finishes and led 106 laps. In 36 starts, he completed 9,584 of 10,650 (90%). He had an average starting position of 17.8, average running position of 20.6 and average finishing position of 22.2.

Superspeedway Stats: In 37 starts in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) at superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega) McMurray has accumulated three wins (Daytona 2007, 2010 Talladega 2009), eight top-fives, 10 top-10s and led 201 laps.

Shootout Success: In 2011, McMurray matched his best Budweiser Shootout finish (2009) with a second-place run, making it his third consecutive top-three finish. Among active drivers he yields the fourth best driver rating in the shootout with a 96.3. In his six Budweiser Shootout attempts (2004, 2006, 2008-2011) McMurray has claimed three top-fives, four top-10s and five top-20 finishes with 19 laps led. His best starting position came during his first attempt (2004), when he started third.

Driver Highlights:

* · 2012 will be McMurray’s tenth full season in the NSCS
* · McMurray will have Bass Pro Shops and McDonald’s as the primary sponsors on the No. 1 for the third consecutive year
* · McMurray has a total of 330 career starts in NSCS heading into Daytona
* · Won a career-high three NSCS races in 2010, including three of the series biggest events, Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Bank of America 500 (Charlotte Chase Race)
* · With his 2010 victory in the Brickyard 400, McMurray became only the third driver (Dale Jarrett-1996, Jimmie Johnson-2006) in NSCS history to record wins in both of NASCAR’s marquee events (Daytona 500, Brickyard 400) in the same season. McMurray’s win at the Brickyard also gave owner Chip Ganassi the Triple Crown of American auto racing – winning the Daytona 500 earlier in the season, and teammate Dario Franchitti winning the Indianapolis 500 in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Bass Pro Shops: Bass Pro Shops, of Springfield, Mo. will enter their seventh season in the NSCS as the primary sponsor of the No. 1 Chevrolet. With 59 retail stores in 26 states and Canada, Bass Pro Shops are visited by over 100 million people annually. Bass Pro Shops also includes Tracker Marine Group, Resort Group and Restaurant Division featuring 30 unique locations.

Juan Pablo Montoya and No. 42 Target Team:

Montoya is 30/1 to win Shootout (Getty)

A Fresh Start: Juan Pablo Montoya returns for his sixth full NSCS season at EGR in the No. 42 Target Chevrolet. The 2012 season has brought a lot of changes in the Team Target line-up, with one of the most prominent changes being the addition of Chris Heroy as the Crew Chief for the No. 42 car. Heroy was previously an engineer on the No. 88 team for Hendrick Motorsports. He also has minimal crew chief experience in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with JR Motorsports.

Year in Review: In 2011, Montoya finished the season with two poles, two top-fives, eight top-10s, 20 top-20 finishes and led 125 laps. The team had no DNF’s (did not finish) and had the highest number of laps run out of any driver with 10,593, including all 12 of the chase contenders. He had an average starting position of 18.2, average running position of 17.2 and average finishing position of 18.5.

Superspeedway Success: In 20 superspeedway starts in NSCS competition Montoya has a best finish of second (Talladega, 2008) three top-fives and seven top-10 finishes with 77 laps led. Team Target performed well at Daytona International Speedway in 2011 with two top-10 finishes.

Target Shootout History: Montoya returns to the 34th running of the Budweiser Shootout for the third time in his career. Last year, Montoya finished 20th after being collected in an on-track incident just four laps into the second segment. In five Bud Shootouts, the Target car has never placed outside of the top-20. In his premier Budweiser Shootout performance in 2010, Montoya finished 10th after starting from the 20th position.

Driver Highlights:

* · Montoya will enter his sixth full-time year in the NSCS in 2012 with Target returning as the sponsor.
* · In 2011, Montoya had no DNF’s and had the highest number of laps run out of any driver with 10,593 (99.5%) including all 12 of the Chase contenders.
* · After his 2010 victory at Watkins Glen he became the first foreign born driver to have multiple wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
* · Only Latino, only Formula 1 driver, and only Indianapolis 500 winner to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
* · Three wins and seven poles in his stock car career (ARCA, Nationwide, NASCAR) with 22 top-five and 53 top-10 results in 206 combined starts. 1,039 laps led.
* · One of only three drivers to win in Formula 1, IndyCar and NASCAR Sprint Cup (Dan Gurney and Mario Andretti).

Target: Minneapolis-based Target celebrates its 23rd season in motorsports with Chip Ganassi in 2012. The partnership continues to rank as one of the longest current sponsor relationships in motorsports. Target serves guests at 1,763 stores across the United States and at Target.com. The company plans to open its first stores in Canada in 2013. Since 1946, Target has given 5 percent of its income through community grants and programs; today, that giving equals more than $3 million a week.

CHASSIS INFO

No. 1 Bass Pro Shops® / Tracker Boats (NSCS): Chassis #808. The No.1 Bass Pro Shops® / Tracker Boats team will bring chassis #808 to the Budweiser Shootout. This is the same chassis that McMurray drove in the Budweiser Shootout in 2010 and 2011, crossing the finish line in third-place and second-place respectively.

No. 42 Target Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #1101. Heroy and the No.42 team are bringing chassis #1101 to the Budweiser Shootout. This is the chassis that Montoya drove to a sixth-place finish in the 2011 Daytona 500.

- Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

EGR Preview: Chip Ganassi Goes For Sixth Win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

A Jamie McMurray repeat win could bring some happiness to 2011 (Getty)

Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing Brickyard Preview
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Advance Notes
Race: Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 31
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Location: Speedway, Ind.

NOTES

Follow EGR on Twitter: Continue to follow Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates on their official team Twitter page. Follow the No. 1 and No. 42 teams throughout the 2011 season @EGRTeams.

Sprint Summer Showdown: The Sprint Summer Showdown presented by HTC EVO 3D is putting $3 million on the line for fans, drivers and driver charities. Any driver that wins an NSCS race between Indianapolis and Bristol will qualify to win $2 million if he is able to win the race at Atlanta during Labor Day weekend ($1 million for the driver, $1 million for their charity). One lucky fan paired with the winning driver also has a chance to win $1 million. Visit www.sprint.com/speed for more information.

Kissing the Bricks: With a victory this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing would join Hendrick Motorsports as the only organizations to win back-to-back Brickyard 400’s (Jimmie Johnson 2008, 2009).

Twice as Nice: If either Jamie McMurray or Juan Pablo Montoya takes the checkered flag at Indy, they will become the first driver to win more than one race at IMS for team owner Chip Ganassi. Montoya won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 giving Ganassi his second of four Indy 500 victories, while McMurray won last year’s Brickyard 400.

McMurray has a 14.3 average finish in 8 Indy races

Jamie McMurray and No. 1 Bass Pro Shops®/ Tracker Boats Team

Indianapolis History: Sunday will mark McMurray’s ninth Sprint Cup Series start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His best start and finish at the famed 2.5-mile oval came in 2010, when he won after starting from fourth-place. McMurray became the third driver to win the Brickyard 400 and Daytona 500 in the same season (Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jarrett). In his eight prior events at Indy, McMurray has an average starting position of 15.2 and an average finishing position of 14.2. He has completed 1260 of 1281 laps (98.4%) and has led 38 laps. Including his win in 2010, McMurray has two top-five and four top-10 finishes at IMS.

Defending the Brickyard: McMurray returns to Indianapolis as the defending champion of the Brickyard 400. McMurray took the green for the 2010 Brickyard 400 in fourth-place and raced inside the top-six throughout the 160-lap event. After the decision to take two tires on the team’s final pit stop, McMurray was able to drive away from the field and take his first career victory at the Brickyard.

Two-Timing: With a victory, McMurray would join elite company in becoming only the fifth driver to win two or more Brickyard 400’s. He would join Jimmie Johnson (2006, 2008, 2009), Jeff Gordon (1994, 1998, 2001, 2004), Tony Stewart (2005, 2007), and Dale Jarrett (1996, 1999) in this exclusive club. Also, McMurray has the chance to be only the second driver to win back-to-back Brickyard 400s (Jimmie Johnson 2008, 2009).

With Ganassi at Indy: This weekend, McMurray will be making his fifth start at Indy for team owner Chip Ganassi. In his four previous starts at the Brickyard in Chip Ganassi owned race cars, he has notched one win (2010), both of his career top-fives (2003, 2010) and three out of his four career top-10s (2003, 2004, 2010). He has 38 laps led and has never finished off of the lead lap while driving for Ganassi at IMS.


Taking the Checkers: McMurray has been running at the finish in all eight of his career starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He has also finished on the lead lap in seven of those eight races.

Loudon Review: After qualifying 25th, the team made significant gains during Saturday’s practice sessions and felt that the car would be strong on Sunday. The first caution of the day waived on lap 30, but the No. 1 team decided to stay out and gain valuable track position. McMurray restarted as the race leader and stayed among the top-10 until he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 116. After the final stop of the day, Crew Chief “Bono” Manion told McMurray they were several laps short on fuel. The situation became more tenuous, when the team lost radio communication with 50 laps remaining. The fuel pressure eventually dropped as the Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet ran out of fuel with three laps remaining and dropped from eighth to finish 31st.

In the Points: Jamie McMurray sits tied for 28th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings after finishing 31st at New Hampshire.

Montoya was Brickyard runner-up in 2007 (Getty)

Juan Pablo Montoya and No. 42 Target Team

Ride Shotgun with Montoya: This weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 42 Target Chevrolet will be featured on DirecTV HotPass. To ride along with the Montoya and experience the race in heart-pounding HD, DirecTV customers can tune in to Channel 796, starting at 1pm EST on Sunday afternoon.

New Voice on the Radio: The No.42 Target team has made a crew chief change, naming Jim Pohlman interim crew chief heading into this weekend’s Brickyard 400. Pohlman has been with the organization since 2006 and has worked in various roles. “We are pleased to have someone of Jim’s caliber to be able to place into this role. Jim has been with us for a number of years and I have confidence in his abilities to move the team forward,” said team owner Chip Ganassi.

Brickyard 400 History: Montoya has made four career starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Brickyard 400. In those starts he has one top-five, one top-10 and has led 202 laps (116 laps in 2009, 86 in 2010). Montoya’s best start came last season when he qualified on the pole, and his best finish of second at IMS was in his first NSCS start at the track in 2007. With three front-row starting spots in four races, his average starting position at the Brickyard is 4.5.

A Familiar Place: In 2007, Juan Pablo Montoya made history by becoming the first driver to compete in all three major events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indianapolis 500, United States Grand Prix and the Brickyard 400). Montoya had six starts in the U.S. Grand Prix with a best start of third in 2001 and a top finish of fourth in 2002. He scored a victory in 2000 in his one, and only start for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Indianapolis 500, and has a best finish of second (2007) in four Brickyard 400 starts.

Doubling Up at Indy: If Montoya wins Sunday’s Brickyard 400, he will become the first driver in history to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. Also, when he takes the green flag at IMS this weekend, he will have competed at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 12th consecutive year, racing in three different series.

Top of the Charts: Since his rookie season in 2007, Montoya has been a factor at Indianapolis Motor Speedway every time the NSCS has raced there. In only four races at the famed track, he has moved to the top of multiple statistical categories including “Fastest Driver Early in a Run”, “Number of Fastest Laps Run”, “Fastest Car on Restarts” and “Number of Laps Led”. He is also second in “Driver Rating” (Tony Stewart 109.3) with a score of 106.4 and fourth in “Average Running Position” with an average place of 11.53.

Loudon Recap: Juan Pablo Montoya was looking to continue a streak of strong performances at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and gain some valuable points toward reaching the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The team appeared to be on the right track as Montoya was second fastest in final practice and followed that up with an eighth-place qualifying effort. The crew spent most of the race playing on pit strategy, expecting the finish to come down to fuel mileage. The Target Chevrolet pitted a total of seven times for fuel, tires and adjustments. The team ran as high as third and as low as 30th throughout the race. While running 13th with two laps remaining, the Target Chevrolet ran short on fuel and coasted back to the finish line for a 30th-place finish.

In the Points: Following Juan Pablo Montoya’s 30th-place finish, the No. 42 team dropped four positions to 17th in points. Montoya now sits 59 points out of 10th, the cut-off for Chase contention.

New cars for both teams; each tested at Indy in June (Getty)

CHASSIS INFO

No. 1 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #1112. Jamie McMurray will pilot chassis #1112 for the first time in a race this season when the NSCS heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This only other track time that this car has seen was back in June for the Goodyear tire test at Kansas Speedway.

No. 42 Target Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #1107. Juan Pablo Montoya will race chassis #1107 for the first time this season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This chassis was tested earlier this season at the Goodyear tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

- Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Press Release

Montoya Gets New Crew Chief Beginning at Indy on Interim Basis

Jim Pohlman takes over as crew chief for the No. 42 car 

CONCORD, NC (July 19, 2011) – Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates announced today they have made a crew chief change on the No. 42 Target Chevrolet driven by Juan Pablo Montoya. Effective immediately, Jim Pohlman, who has been with the organization since 2006 in numerous roles, was named interim crew chief of the No. 42 team.

“We are pleased to have someone of Jim’s caliber to be able to place into this role on the No. 42 team. Jim has been with us a number of years and I have confidence in his abilities to move the team forward,” said Team Owner Chip Ganassi.

The No. 42 team is currently 17th in the point standings, 59 points out of the 10th position.

For more information log onto www.earnhardtganassi.com.

- Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Press Release

Montoya Fastest in Richmond Happy Hour; Driver Quotes Following Practice

JPM tops final speed charts at Richmond

Top-5 Speeds from Friday's Final Practice Session:
#42-Montoya 125.360
#29-Harvick 125.354
#99-Edwards 125.145
#78-Smith 124.867
#33-Bowyer 124.378
slowest: #46-Yeley 113.203 & #7-Gordon 120.773
incident: #46-Yeley lost an engine early in the session.(Jayski.com)

The teams will return to the track at 5:35 PM (EST) this evening for their scheduled qualifying session, and then won’t return to the track until Saturday for the drop of the green flag at 7:30 PM (EST).



JAYSKI.COM PRACTICE SPEEDS PAGE






DRIVER QUOTES FOLLOWING FINAL PRACTICE AT RICHMOND

Edwards debuted new car Friday, looking for first Richmond win (Getty)

CARL EDWARDS ON BEING SECOND FASTEST IN THE FIRST PRACTICE SESSION AND LOOKING FOR HIS FIRST WIN AT RICHMOND: “Yeah, a win at Richmond would be huge. We have had a great year so far and it has been a lot of fun. Our car is pretty fast. We are going to go do a solid qualifying practice here in a minute and we will find out how fast we are in qualifying trim compared to everyone else. We did make a qualifying run which is why we were so fast on the board. This is a fun weekend. I think all the drivers like racing here as far as I know. It is going to be a fun race tonight and a good race tomorrow. We are glad to have Scotts on board. I just got a bunch of grass seed from them that we are going to plant here in the next couple of days and find out exactly how well the stuff works. I am excited. They have been a lot of fun this year. We have had some good races and hopefully we can come out of here with the points lead. We are enjoying leading the points. It is fun for everybody on our team.”

CARL EDWARDS ON WHETHER THE DIFFERENT TIRES FROM WEEK TO WEEK HAS IMPACTED HIM: “I kind of quit asking what tires were on the car or if NASCAR changed them or not because it seems like they change them every time we come to the race track. It is easy to get lost when you focus on stuff like that too much. As a driver I focus on getting my car set up and working the best it can. I know it is a challenge. It makes it challenging when you come back to a track and the tires are different and what you had before isn’t even close. There is a lot that goes into trying to predict how things are going to be with new tires. As a driver I just go drive the thing as fast as it will go and try not to focus to much on that other stuff. I used to pay a little bit more attention and it just didn’t seem to help me. It is important to understand it but if you get mad about it because it doesn’t help.”

CARL EDWARDS ON WHY HE THINKS GOODYEAR IS CHANGING TIRE RECOMMENDATIONS SO FREQUENTLY: “Is this a different kind than we ran last time? Did you ask them that? I really don’t know. You know you can go ask them, they are right outside. It is a good question really but I don’t know what the deal is. It seems like they have had very safe tires lately and that is the most important thing. I don’t know why they are changing them.”




Kenseth's car rapidly improved from first to final practice session (Getty) 

 MATT KENSETH ON WHAT TO MAKE OF ALL THESE TIRE CHANGES? “I have no idea. It is the same for all of us when we show up and I don’t know all the differences all the time. There are some tracks we have been to this year where maybe they missed it a little bit like Bristol where we had a different tire. They are always trying to make it better I think and make the racing better. I believe it is the same tire we ran at Phoenix so I don’t think it is that different. Weekends when you run good you are wishing you could run that tire more and weekends you don’t run well then you won’t want to run that tire.”

MATT KENSETH ON HIS TWO PRACTICES FRIDAY: “The last practice was a little bit better. When you really don’t get on the track again except from qualifying you kind of go off what you felt like after your last practice and we hadn’t practiced very well. This one was a little better and we made some improvements and progress to get a little hope. It was looking grim after the first session. It wasn’t looking very good."



Busch looking for third Richmond win

 KYLE BUSCH ON WHY HE'S BEEN SO SUCCESSFUL AT RICHMOND: "I don’t know. It’s just been a really good race track. Somehow we’ve been able to figure it out in the races. Sometimes we don’t practice great, sometimes we don’t qualify great, but we’ve always been able to come up through there. The qualifying stats aren’t as pretty as the race stats, but you don’t put too much emphasis on that. Certainly you’d like to qualify well and have a good shot at staying up front and staying out of trouble, but we’ve been able to make our way up through there. I think the long green flag runs suit my style pretty well and I like being able to get out there and kind of get strung out and run at your own pace — run at your own agenda.”

KYLE BUSCH ON WHETHER HE FEELS YOUNGER DRIVERS GET PSYCHED OUT BY HIM aFTER RUNNING HAMLIN'S RACE THURSDAY NIGHT: “You’d have to ask them. They might not really admit it. I would say that has a little bit to do with it. I would say they put a little bit of added pressure on themselves going against myself at that particular moment. They may have just screwed up a little bit. If people just concentrate on being consistent and running their own race and not worrying about who’s around them they can sometimes be a lot better off.

Darrell (Wallace Jr.) he ran into me under the caution coming to the green trying to force me higher up to get my right sides in the stuff. I’m like, ‘Kid, what are you doing.’ You know, I’m a little bit smarter than that. I know what’s going on here. And then he about wrecked us both. Luckily, I held on to it. But, apparently he got hit from behind. I don’t know.”

KYLE BUSCH ON IF HE FEESL LIKE A MENTOR: “Well, I can talk to them, as much as they want to talk to me. I think they’re either intimidated by me or they just feel like they don’t need the help. I’ve never talked to Max (Gresham) or to Darrell (Wallace Jr.). I was kind of the same way. I always hated calling a Jeff Gordon or a Jimmie Johnson about stuff like that. You know, those guys have their own agenda and are doing their own deals, so it’s kind of tough sometimes to feel like you’re being bothersome to them. So, I can imagine they’re the same way.”




Strong in Q-trim early

  PAUL MENARD ON WHAT HE WAS WORKING ON IN PRACTICE — RACE OR QUALIFYING: “We were working on race trim the first practice. We started off in qualifying trim. The track was cooler than it will be this next session so we wanted to get a good number and get a late draw. Probably 10 or 15 guys did the same deal. We’ll have a good draw for qualifying I think. I’m not sure anybody’s going to go a whole lot faster in the second practice. Now it’s a short practice and we’ll work on qualifying trim.”

PAUL MENARD ON HOW HIS CAR WAS IN PRACTICE?: “It was okay. Qualifying trim was good. We switched over to race trim and it was pretty good. Made a couple changes and it was not good at all. Really kind of got behind. Basically just went back to how we unloaded, reset it and it was back to being okay. We’ll learn some things here. I don’t think we’ll change a whole lot.

Bowyer looking for a return to Richmond's victory lane

CLINT BOWYER ON HIS TWITTER PARTY AND HIS SURPRISE RICHMOND WIN FROM 2008: “It was. First of all, that win was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in Victory Lane because it was a surprise, you know? We had a fast car all day long and we put ourselves up there and put ourselves in position. That’s what you have to do. But nonetheless, the right circumstances played out and we were able to win the race. There was so much! You couldn’t help but to laugh about it, you know? I could kind of see it coming, and I knew that I needed to put myself in position and then it happened, and it was like, oh my God. I could see it coming. It happened! It was just an incredible feeling and an incredible win for us. To put BB&T in Victory Lane and everybody, I’ll never forget that day. It was a pretty wild and exciting time. I was actually worried about Kyle Busch (laughs). I didn’t know how I was going to get him out of here.

“And the Twitter thing? What a joke! Oh, my. I was involved in a Twitter party. Did I host the Twitter party? I attended a Twitter party. I don’t know why we just didn’t get on the phone and talk to each other (laughter).

Ask him this question and then type this answer and then see what he thinks about this and they said this and type that. It was a mess. I was mad (at his PR representative); and I’m still upset with him that he made me even participate in such a goofy thing. I’d better not say any more.”