Earnhardt Ganassi Racing - Auto Club Speedway Advance
Notes
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Auto Club Speedway Advance Notes
Race: PEPSI 500 on Sunday, Oct. 11
Track: Auto Club Speedway (2.0-mile oval)
Location: Fontana, Calif.
Earnhardt Ganassi Media Contacts at Auto Club Speedway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Jarrod England No. 1 Guitar Hero(r) 5 Chevrolet
Shayna Keller No. 42 Target Chevrolet
NOTES
Martin Truex Jr. and No. 1 Guitar Hero(r) 5Team
California Dreaming: Truex will be making his eighth NSCS start at the
two-mile D-shaped oval. Truex has an average starting position of 13.4
and an average finish of 19.0 at Auto Club Speedway. Truex's best finish
came in back-to-back events at the speedway when he finished sixth in
both the final 2007 race and the first 2008 race at Fontana. Truex's
highest qualifying effort was fifth back in September of 2006. He has
also led four laps at the track located just east of downtown Los
Angeles.
About Kansas: Truex Jr. had positioned himself inside the Top 10 early
on at Kansas Speedway, but an untimely caution flag during a pit stop
would place the team further back in the 43-car field Sunday afternoon.
Truex and team would fight hard for track position the remainder of the
day and eventually bring home a 16th-place finish at Kansas.
Guitar Hero(r) 5 Returns: The #1 best-selling video game, Guitar
Hero(r), returns to the track at Auto Club Speedway as primary sponsor
of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates' No. 1 Chevrolet driven
by Martin Truex Jr. The paint scheme first debuted at Atlanta Motor
Speedway on Sept. 6, 2009, coinciding with the launch of the popular
video game on Tuesday, Sept. 1. The video game returns as primary
sponsor of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing for the seventh time this season
after sponsoring Aric Almirola and the No. 8 Team for four races,
including the 2009 Daytona 500, and the No. 1 team with driver Martin
Truex Jr. at Indianapolis and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
About Guitar Hero(r) 5: Living room legends will rock any way they
want in Guitar Hero(r) 5. The entire set list is at your finger tips
from the start, featuring genre-defining hits from some of the biggest
rock artists and bands of all time, including The Rolling Stones, The
White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Santana
and Vampire Weekend. You will take complete control as Guitar Hero 5
allows you to personalize and customize how you experience music by
being able to play with any in-game instrument combination -- multiple
vocalists, guitarists, bassists and drummers, in any game mode. With the
game's all-new Party Play Mode, getting the band back together has never
been easier. You can now jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly,
without interrupting their jam session. Elevating the Guitar Hero(r)
series to new heights with unmatched social gameplay, an enhanced style,
new in-game artists and more rock legends, Guitar Hero 5 features new
surprises and challenges that will fire-up long-time fret board fanatics
and create a new generation of addicts.
Our Partners on the West Coast: Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif.,
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a worldwide pure-play online and console
game publisher with leading market positions across all categories of
the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry.
Activision Blizzard's portfolio includes best-selling video games such
as Guitar Hero(r), Call of Duty(r), and Tony Hawk, as well as
Spider-Man(tm), X-Men(tm), Shrek(r), James Bond(tm) and
TRANSFORMERS(tm), leading franchises such as Crash Bandicoot(tm) and
Spyro(tm) and Blizzard Entertainment's(r) StarCraft(r), Diablo(r), and
Warcraft(r) franchises including the global #1 subscription-based
massively multi-player online role-playing game, World of Warcraft(r).
More information about Activision Blizzard and its products can be found
on the company's website, www.activisionblizzard.com
<http://www.activisionblizzard.com/> .
Juan Pablo Montoya and No. 42 Target Team
MEDIA ALERT: Juan Pablo Montoya will be available in the media center
for a brief media Q&A session on Friday, Oct. 9 at 10:15 a.m. ET
followed by a Hispanic media Q&A session in Terrace Suite 8 above the
media center.
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup: The fourth-place finish at Kansas
marked Montoya's third consecutive top-five performance in the Chase.
Through the three Chase races, Montoya is the only driver to finish in
the top-five in all of them. In addition, his Kansas finish helped him
maintain third place in the point standings and cut his points deficit
to 51 behind leader Mark Martin heading into California.
The Chase Stats: After three Chase races, the statistics for Montoya
are impressive. Compared to the 11 other Chase drivers, Montoya has the
best average starting position of 5.7, the best average running position
of 4.69 and the highest percentage of laps run in the top-15 with 99.4%.
He is ranked second in the best average finishing position with 3.7 just
a .4 difference between him and Martin with 3.3. In addition, Montoya
has the second best driver rating in the Chase with 122.2 compared to
Johnson with a 128.4.
California History: Juan Pablo Montoya will be making his sixth NSCS
start at Auto Club Speedway this weekend. This marks the fourth race of
the Chase. Montoya has an average starting position of 22 and an average
finishing position of 22 in his five prior NSCS starts. Montoya's best
finish of 11th occurred at the spring race earlier this year. He has
completed 99.6% of the possible laps at California; 1245 out of 1250.
About Kansas: Starting from the 14th position, Montoya wasted no time
moving through the field as the green flag waved and by lap 20 the No.
42 Target Chevrolet was sitting in the top-10. When the grooves on the
race track expanded, Montoya found his rhythm and was frequently the
fastest car on the track. From lap 20 on, the Target Chevrolet never
looked back and consistently ran among the leaders. All but three of the
267 laps were run in the top-15 and Montoya had an average running
position of seventh throughout the race. The Target Chevrolet led one
lap and gained five valuable bonus points towards the Chase standings.
At the end of the day, Montoya crossed the finish line in the fourth
position and gave the team their fifth top-five finish of the season and
third in the last three weeks.
Get Geared Up!: Fans should be sure to visit www.earnhardtganassi.com
to get their Exclusive and Official 2009 Juan Pablo Montoya Chase for
the NASCAR Sprint Cup gear. Fans that spend $42 will receive free
shipping, just like buying your favorite No. 42 Team Target gear
trackside!!
Going for Three: The NASCAR Sprint Cup, IndyCar and Grand-Am Rolex
Sports Car Series are all in the stretch runs of their seasons and Chip
Ganassi has four cars competing for three titles as the racing world
prepares to crown its 2009 champions. Scott Dixon is currently first and
Dario Franchitti second in the IndyCar Series point standings coming
into the season finale at Homestead this weekend. In the Rolex Grand-Am
Series, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas are third place in the title hunt
with one race remaining at Homestead on Saturday. Now with Montoya
making the Chase for the Sprint Cup and sitting third in the points,
Ganassi has drivers vying for championships in each series that he
participates in.
2009 In Numbers: Montoya and the Target team have accumulated two pole
awards, five top-fives, 15 top-10 (51.7%) and 19 top-15 finishes this
season. In the 29 Cup races run this season Montoya has earned 23 top-20
finishes. He has led 270 laps and averages a starting position of 12.1
and a finishing position of 12.8 for the season. They have completed
8286 of out 8303 possible laps (99.8%) this season which ranks third for
active drivers.
CHASSIS INFO
No. 1 Guitar Hero(r) 5 Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #803. The No. 1 Guitar
Hero(r) 5 team will bring chassis #803 to Auto Club Speedway this
weekend. This chassis was last used for the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series events at Pocono (6/7/09 and 8/2/09).
No. 42 Target Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #819. Pattie and the No. 42
Target team are bringing chassis #819 to Auto Club Speedway this
weekend. This is one of the favorite chassis' in the Earnhardt Ganassi
Racing stable. It has run at Atlanta in September (3rd), Michigan in
August (19th), Pocono in August (2nd), and most notably Indy where
Montoya led 116 laps and had a win in sight until a late race penalty
eliminated his chances (11th). .
2009 STATS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Starts Wins Poles Top 5s Top 10s Ave Start Ave
Finish Pts. Pos./(Prev)
Martin Truex Jr. 29 0 2 0 3 17.0
23.1 25/26
Juan Pablo Montoya 29 0 2 5 15 12.1
12.8 3/3
CAREER STATS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Starts Wins Poles Top 5s Top 10s Ave Start Ave
Finish
Martin Truex Jr. 146 1 3 12 34 18.0
20.0
Juan Pablo Montoya 102 1 2 10 24 19.5
20.4
TEAM ROSTERS
Tony Glover - Team Manager
Steve Hmiel - Director of Competition
No. 1 (NSCS) Hometown Hometown
Crew Chief: Kevin Manion Boylston, MA Rear Tire Changer:
Coleman Dollarhide Hickory, NC
Chief Mechanic: Gary Putnam Vernon, CT Rear Tire Carrier: Mark
Kennerly Salisbury, NC
Front Tire Changer: Dennis Terry Mozbur, NC Gas Man:
Preston Cordell Middleburg, FL
Front Tire Carrier: Shannon Keys Byron, GA Catch Can: Eric
Hoyle Asheville, NC
Jack Man: Jeff Kerr China Grove, NC Spotter: Joey Meier
Marathon, FL
No. 42 (NSCS) Hometown Hometown
Crew Chief: Brian Pattie Zephyrhills, FL Rear Tire
Changer: Chris McMullen Troutman, NC
Chief Mechanic: Heath Silver Asheville, NC Rear Tire Carrier: Chip
Goode Statesville, NC
Front Tire Changer: Trevor Lysne Fergus Falls, MN Gas Man:
Mike Bodick Norwalk, CT
Front Tire Carrier: Eric Bilyeu Waterford, MI Catch Can:
Heath Silver Asheville, NC
Jack Man: TJ Ford Charlotte, NC Spotter: Tab Boyd
Pensacola, FL
For more information log onto:www.earnhardtganassi.com
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