With five races remaining in the Race to the Chase.
Team Chevy is once again flexing its muscle, by showing the other manufacturers how to dominate a series by putting six drivers in the top-12 so far this season.
General Motors Company, one of the world's largest automakers who traces its roots back to 1908.
Boasts a whopping 979 cup wins, with Chevy picking up 644 of them. With Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick having also contributed wins under the General Motors name.
Chevy has also won a total of 32 manufacturers championships, dating back to their first win in 1958.
Chevy also brings to the table 25 drivers championships, with the first win coming in 1957 by Buck Baker As the Sprint cup series heads into Watkins Glen International for this Sundays road course race.
Team Chevy still continues to lead the series with 11 victories out of the 19 races that have been run.
While at the same time leading 2,855 out of the 5,821 laps that have been completed so far this season.
Leading the Team Chevy charge will be Sprint cup points leader Tony Stewart.
Stewart who has four wins of his own at this 2.45 mile road course, talked about how much he has enjoyed racing the road courses.
“I’ve just always liked it (racing on road courses)."
"I won a national championship racing go-karts on road courses, so the concept of what it took to win races on road courses wasn’t totally unknown to me."
"But driving cars with suspension, and definitely driving cars that you had to shift, that’s something that came relatively easy to me."
"And still comes easy to me as far as knowing how to synchronize the gears without having to use the help of the clutch.”
Jimmie Johnson who has finally gotten his first road course pole.
Is once again showing the racing world why he and the 48 team, are strong contenders to win their fourth championship in a row.
Last weekends race at Pocono, was a strong indication just how focused they are to continue in their winning ways.
After going three laps down because of engine problems, the team was able to make up the ground and still come home with a very impressive 13th place finish.
But their biggest win of the year came at Indianapolis, when Juan Montoya was caught speeding on pit row giving the win to Team Chevy and the 48 team.
"I think we're making great gains (on road courses)."
"I'm becoming much more aware of what these cars need on road courses.” “We were very fast at the race last year at The Glen, so I think we have a shot; our best shot yet."
One of the biggest differences between Sonoma and Watkins Glen is the speed,” said a very enthusiastic Johnson.
Jeff Gordon who also shares a love for the road courses with Stewart.
Has also shown how dominant he can be while picking up four of his own wins, which also includes a three in a row win streak from 1997-1999.
Gordon who is sitting third in points, had already begun preparing for this Sundays race when he tested at Road Atlanta earlier in the year.
"We tested at Road Atlanta, which is a better track for Watkins Glen and we're certainly hoping that pays off for us at Watkins Glen."
"The keys for success there is that it's a fast road course and you've got to get up through the esses really well."
"You've got to get through the carousel good and you've got to get into all the braking zones good. It's the same concept it's always been.”
Another Team Chevy driver who is still winless this season, despite having come so close to victory just a couple weeks ago.
Juan Montoya who was just about to win the biggest NASCAR race of his career. Was caught speeding on pit road at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
Montoya who only has one Sprint cup victory back in 2007 at Infineon Speedway, is by far having his most productive season in the series.
Montoya showed a lot of maturity with his second place finish last weekend at Pocono, by putting his heartbreaking loss behind him from the previous weeks race at Indianapolis.
So just how focused is the number 42 team at making the chase?
“For us going to a road course is good, especially Watkins Glen."
“In Sonoma our car never runs good. Watkins Glen we normally got a really good car.”
“For us, if we can get a top five out of there, I know we can probably win the race, but if we get a top five out of there, the points for the Chase would be huge."
Ryan Newman, who’s last chase appearance was back in 2005, when he finished sixth with eight poles and one win while driving for Penske racing.
Newman has once again found himself back on familiar ground sitting in the number nine spot in points, after leaving Penske racing last season to become Tony Stewarts teammate at Stewart Haas racing.
Newman has a second place finish at this track while driving for team Penske, during his rookie year in 2001.
But since then, he has only been able to lead a total of eight laps during the next six races.
Newman spoke about coming back to a track where he has had limited success. “The physical race on Sunday."
"We’re not in the position we want to be, but we’re in position that we can expand upon being ninth in points."
"If we have a good run on Sunday, it will kind of set the tempo for the next three or four races and how we get in to the Chase.”
Mark Martin who seems to have found the fountain of youth.
Has been able to mysteriously freeze the hands of time, in order to get himself in contention for another try at his first cup championship at the age of 50.
Martin who is no stranger to finding victory lane here at the Glen, with three wins in a row of his own dating back to 93, 94, and 95.
Martin also holds the record for most top fives with 12 to go along with his record setting 16 top 10 finishes.
Martin also has the most poles by any active driver with three, which also happens to coincide with his three race wins.
“Not only did we win three in a row, but we ran second maybe the year before to Ernie Irvin and then, you know, things just changed.”
“It’s good to be back to the Glen. It’s been about three years, so I’m pretty excited about it."
"To me this is the superspeedway of road course racing so it should be fun. I’m looking forward to it and can’t wait to get out on the race track and get started.”
So as Team Chevy gets ready to invade Watkins Glen International this Sunday, the list of drivers who have helped the manufacturer to take a 38 point lead over Toyota in the manufacturers standings.
Are ready to once again do battle as our racing season continues towards the chase for the Sprint cup championship.
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Nice 3fan. I have always thought it would be more fair if they would take into account the number of teams driving for each manufacturer rather than just sheer wins. Chevy has so many teams it is hard to beat them just on sheer numbers alone.
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