{"id":14682,"date":"2018-02-16T19:39:11","date_gmt":"2018-02-17T01:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14682"},"modified":"2018-02-16T19:39:11","modified_gmt":"2018-02-17T01:39:11","slug":"optimism-abounds-for-chevrolet-owners-and-the-debut-of-the-camaro-zl1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/16\/optimism-abounds-for-chevrolet-owners-and-the-debut-of-the-camaro-zl1\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimism abounds for Chevrolet owners and the debut of the Camaro ZL1"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 It was billed as a preseason Chevrolet news conference to discuss the manufacturer\u2019s expectations and excitement for the 2018 season, but it also had a distinct vibe \u2013 as much like a NASCAR Hall of Fame meet and greet as a launch for Chevy\u2019s new race car. And positive on all accounts.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Chevrolet 2018 Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup Race Car makes it’s world debut Thursday, August 10, 2017 in front of the General Motors Renaissance Center Global Headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. The Camaro ZL1 will make its competition debut during Daytona Speedweeks, which kicks off the 2018 NASCAR season. (Photo by John F. Martin for Chevrolet)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hall of Famers and Chevrolet team owners Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick and Richard Petty sat alongside future Hall of Fame sure-bet Chip Ganassi and Jim Campbell, Chevrolet\u2019s USA vice president – to discuss the make\u2019s current state of affairs in NASCAR and the highly-anticipated Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season debut of the Camaro ZL1.<\/p>\n

Good tales and many laughs made for must-see moments. The hope being, of course, that one of those men hoists the big trophy Sunday evening and the season championship trophy in November in Homestead, Fla.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real honor to race with these four Chevrolet team owners,” Campbell said as he glanced at the four accomplished men sharing the stage with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely incredible.”<\/p>\n

Legendary: if you think about the wins and championships represented there.<\/p>\n

All the team owners were enthusiastic about the season and encouraged already by the new Camaro. Hendrick driver Chase Elliott won the second Cam-Am Duel Thursday night with Petty\u2019s rookie driver Darrell \u201cBubba\u201d Wallace Jr. finishing third in the first Duel.<\/p>\n

Another Hendrick driver, Alex Bowman will start Sunday\u2019s Daytona 500 (on FOX 2:30 p.m. ET) from the pole position.<\/p>\n

And of course, there\u2019s that seven-time Cup champion Hendrick has too, Jimmie Johnson pursuing a historic eighth.<\/p>\n

\u201cChevrolet did more work on this car than any car they\u2019ve ever brought into this series,” Hendrick said. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing car, iconic nameplate with Chevrolet. As a dealer, I am more than excited to be able to have this car on the showroom floor and to race it on Sunday.”<\/p>\n

Throughout the discussion the men shared recollections of earlier times in NASCAR but also were optimistic and \u201call-in\u201d sizing up the upcoming season. For Petty, this is a return to Chevrolet after almost a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cSort of a new chapter in Richard Petty Motorsports\u2019 book,” he said, donning his trademark cowboy hat and dark sunglasses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a new shop, we got a new car, we got a new driver. Had a pretty good night last night (Wallace\u2019s third-place finish in the Duel). I was very appreciative of how everything went for us last night. Everything was brand new to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to the rest of the year, like everybody else.”<\/p>\n

All the men voiced optimism regarding the change to the Camaro for the 2018 season. Certainly the reviews have been promising at Daytona International Speedway this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one was really important to us, number one, to make sure we connect the track and the showroom together,” Campbell said. \u201cWe want authenticity. Fuel-injected rear-wheel drive V8 in the showroom, that\u2019s how you race it on the track.”<\/p>\n

And the product has not disappointed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kept saying it\u2019s going to be like the showroom car,” Ganassi said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all heard that for a long time and it actually is. It really was.”<\/p>\n

The vibe Friday was definitely high expectation \u2013 of course that\u2019s something these team owners have felt and delivered on for decades.<\/p>\n

And although all these gentlemen \u2013 with the exception of Ganassi \u2013 are in their 70s and safely beyond retirement age, they insisted with smiles they had no plans to step away from the sport. There are still some more trophies to hoist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been going to the races since I was 11 years old,” Petty said. \u201cDrove the race car, it was a hobby. Now basically, it\u2019s a hobby. Trying to make a living out of it too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in your blood. I wouldn\u2019t know what to do if I didn\u2019t do the racing part. I guess when my toes turn up, I\u2019ll still be at the racetrack somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, he added later that he felt very reassured about his family team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got about 25 people with the name of Petty on the end of it,” Petty said with a grin. \u201cThey\u2019ll be here for a while.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 It was billed as a preseason Chevrolet news conference to discuss the manufacturer\u2019s expectations and excitement for the 2018 season, but it also had a distinct vibe \u2013 as much like a NASCAR Hall of Fame meet and greet as a launch for Chevy\u2019s new race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[231,16],"class_list":["post-14682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-chevrolet-camaro","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/NASCARCamaroZL108.jpg?fit=3000%2C2000&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3OO","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14685,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14682\/revisions\/14685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}