Team Chevy’s Race to the Championship
By Alba Colon
GM Racing program manager for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
Throughout the NASCAR Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship I will be writing a weekly blog post about the latest happenings in the NASCAR garage.
As some of you may know, GM Racing’s role is to provide our Chevrolet teams with the engine parts, engineering technology and the know-how to ensure our drivers have the best possible performance in the Nextel Cup Series in their Chevy Monte Carlo SS race cars. During the Chase for the Championship, one of the responsibilities of GM Racing will be to make sure the parts we are supplying to the teams are in good supply and of the highest quality. It’s critical that we make sure our teams competing in the Chase do not experience any performance issues due to parts.
Even with the best plans and extensive preparation, issues can and will arise. Sometimes those issues mean we need testing. We currently have one official test session remaining in October at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the track that will host the final race to determine the 2006 Nextel Cup champion. Some teams contending for the championship may decide that additional testing is necessary at tracks in Kentucky, Nashville and Milwaukee. Our GM Racing team will be proactive in attending those tests and working with teams to help solve any engineering issues they face.
We have seven out of 10 drivers in the Chase, so the mathematical odds are in our favor to win the championship. But I always say it only takes one driver from the opposition to make our lives miserable. Last year, Chevy was the underdog when Tony Stewart took the title. Chevy had its only two drivers in the top two up until the last race, even when the odds were against us. Our strong performance this year and 15 wins this season clearly show the depth of our Chevy teams, and we look forward to contending for more victories throughout the Chase.
As the championship battle gets underway we are still conducting our other usual business with the 2007 engine that we just submitted to NASCAR and our efforts to help develop and test the Car of Tomorrow. Additionally, we’ve been speaking with all of our teams about the upcoming race weekend. Our Chevy teams are prepared and ready for Loudon and will be bringing their best vehicles. We’ve been very good at New Hampshire with Kyle Busch winning there in July. We are prepared as we can be but we’ll also be relying on a little bit of luck to make sure our Chevy drivers are in the right place at the right time.
Stay tuned for further information on the happenings at New Hampshire and other GM Racing developments in my coming blog posts.
Download Denny Hamlin’s interview
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Download Jimmie Johnson’s interview
Download Kyle Busch’s interview
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BRE
GOOD Luck GM, I will be pulling for you, big time. Thanks for the info and keep up the good work Alba.
jamie
I love NASCAR!
But I do have one bug. The cars that race in NASCAR aren’t true production cars.
Monte Carlo, is after all, a FWD coupe. Yet NASCAR perpetuates RWD on its versions. So I am somewhat miffed at the delusion.
How about the Monte Carlo and Impala returning to RWD? That would solve my little dilemma nicely.
Racedriven
Yeah I love NASCAR and I even write about it too.
I will be pulling for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the #8 Budweiser Chevy.
See Yeah in New Hampshire
Mike
I love NASCAR as well but also have a bug, why is it GM is the only car that is actually a 2 door model? Ford and Dodge get to alter their cars to be 2 doors, iIthink they should have to run a 4 door sized car or get out.
indi500fan
GM has had a GREAT year in Nascar. I hope that this continues in the future and we put up strong competition to Toyota as they enter the series next year.
Dennis Gallagher
Why waste so much money and resources on nascar?
None of the cars racing bear any relationship to showroom models. What is being promoted is not manufacturer based racing, but a media based(France family directed) circus. Why the waste?
motorman
the chevy 2 door MC will also be missing from the lineup soon because the NASCAR “car of tomorrow” will not need any production cars to be used
Paul
I don’t care for NASCAR, but it would be cool if GM had an E85 fueled NASCAR team with biodiesel fueled trucks. And bought carbon offsets to make the entire thing carbon-neutral.
You want to change your perception abotu caring about the environment? That would be a good step.
Bryan
I liked NASCAR when the cars looked like cars we drove. These cars all look alike and only the names are different. So what is the big deal if its a ford, chevy or kia? Go back to racing “stock” looking cars please.
john dejesus
First off alba I just read the article in the la times about you and I wanted to tell you I am proud to be a puerto rican and to see anyone can do whatever they want if they stick to it.
Also when in california you now have family to contact for whatever,maybe you miss some good boricua comida.
Please feel free to email if you get a chance.
classicdiscjock at a o l dot com.
Keep up the good work mamita and continued success in your all you endeavors.
GO GM RACING……
I was never a big racing fan but you brought me into the fold.