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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Chevy drivers give their thoughts ahead of New Hampshire race


RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 ASPEN DENTAL CHEVROLET – 14th IN STANDINGS:
 “I think the track is the key when it comes to being aggressive and patient all at the same time. There is a different style of driving that you have to have there. You can’t really be overaggressive at that racetrack. It’s kind of a combination of patience and aggressiveness. You want to take what the car will give you because the track is flat. With banking, the faster you go, the more it pushes the car down into the racetrack. We don’t have that there, so it’s just a matter of feeling that razor-blade-edge of grip and getting everything you can and I’ve been successful at it there. It’s kind of clicked with me since the beginning. I really like the racetrack and obviously know how to drive it, which is a big part of it. It’s a good place to start up front because it’s a short race, and it’s not the easiest place to pass.”

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/SYLVANIA CHEVROLET – 16th IN STANDINGS:
"We had our best race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when we were there in July of this year, and we still weren't where we needed to be. At New Hampshire you need to find the right package. You're hard on the brakes there. The track is flat with tight corners and long straightaways. You need to have the right setup on the car in order to get down the straightaways and through the corners."

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 WHEATIES CHEVROLET – 19th IN STANDINGS:
“New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a very challenging track. It’s one of those places where if you are off a little bit, it shows a lot on the leaderboard. There is a fine line between being really good and not very good. It’s definitely a tough race track. The car must turn in the middle of the corners at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Rear grip has become less of an issue since we first started racing there. When we first started going there, rear grip was everything. If you could accelerate off the corner before your competitor, you were in good shape. Throughout the years, that has really changed. You must rotate in the middle of the corners. If it doesn’t rotate, your lap times will suffer. To me, rotation in the middle of the corners is the most important key to being strong.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 LIFTMASTER CHEVROLET – 20th IN STANDINGS:
“New Hampshire will be an exciting weekend for us.  We will have LiftMaster on board as the primary sponsor for the No. 1 car this weekend.  It seems like forever ago that we announced in January at media day that LiftMaster would be on the car for this race.  We will look to improve on our 20th-place finish from the race in July.  We had a decent car, but with some long green-flag runs in that first race it made it difficult to make any major adjustments without losing too much time on pit road.  I enjoy racing on flat tracks like New Hampshire, so hopefully we can have a good result for LiftMaster and all our partners.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 ENERGIZER CHEVROLET – 21st IN STANDINGS:
“To tell you the truth, New Hampshire was terrible for the Target team earlier this year. It was a tough race; we never had a decent car to balance. If you have a good car to start out with you’ll have a good car all weekend. It’s a matter of how well prepared you are when you get there. We’ve done a little bit of testing before we go there so hopefully we found some new things to help us run better this time around.”

REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/FARM AMERICAN CHEVROLET – 23rd IN STANDINGS:
"I always like going to New Hampshire. This is a type of race track where most of us cut our teeth on.  We had a pretty good run at New Hampshire last year with a top-10 finish. We need to instill some fire into our team after mediocre outings the past two weeks at Richmond and Chicago. I think we should be in good shape at New Hampshire, but we especially need to have a good starting position.  While our race results weren't that stout the last two weeks, we did have strong qualifying efforts of third in Richmond and seventh at Chicagoland."

KURT BUSCH, NO. 51 PHOENIX CONSTRUCTION CHEVROLET – 26th IN STANDINGS:
“New Hampshire is a track that has been pretty good to me since I started racing in the top series of this sport. I raced there for the first time in the Truck Series and won that race. Then it’s a track where I have three wins in the Cup cars and, when you’re able to go to a track where you’ve had that kind of success, it just gives you that confidence. Because of the wins and everything, it’s a place we go to where I feel like I especially know what it takes from the car and the driver to be successful.”

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