Darlington Post-Race Quotes

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)

"Gordon looked like he was just out there riding at the end. Me and Ryan and Sterling were doing all we could do, and we were just hanging on.

"He (Jeff Gordon) is always the man to beat. Past history tells you that. Jeff is coming up on a good stretch and that team is really strong. If they don't have any bad luck, they'll be hard to beat. Sterling's got a good lead, too, so there's 11 races left to go. We've got to be a little bit better than we are all the way around. I think this team has progressed 1000 percent since last year. It seems like all the way across the board we've been a lot better. We've got to stay that way the next 11 races and we've got a lot of catching up to do. You've got to have extreme good luck and they've got to have bad luck. The odds of that happening and doing it race in and race out is pretty tough. Right now we're just concentrating on a race at a time and trying to get our stuff better so we can turn around and come in next year right off the bat and come in and run good in each and every race.

"Last year we were decent at a place or two and bad at some places. This year we've got our consistency better. We're whittling away at it. We're running in the top five and top 10 and that's what it's going to take to stay competitive. Now they're kind of on a roll. They've got the momentum behind 'em. Looking at the races coming up, Jeff runs well at all of 'em coming up. Compare Sterling's record versus Jeff's record, but there again, you've got to have the luck. Eleven races with as many cars running as well as they are, you could gain or lose 100 points in a heartbeat in today's environment.

"It was a long day, but it was a good day. We had a pretty good piece. We got a little behind here and there in the middle of the race and picked it back up there at the end. We pretty much adjusted all day long. We still missed it there at the end, but all in all I was proud of the guys. They worked hard and got me back in a position to be pretty decent at the end of the day. The team is doing well. We've really come a long way.

"We got a little better as the race progressed, especially on long runs. Track position here kills you because you've got to fight the lapped cars."

"You're going from a mile and three-eighths (Darlington) to a three-quarter mile track (Richmond). To me, that's very little difference. We didn't run that well at the last race at Richmond. I think Mike (crew chief Ford) and the guys have expanded on our setup and hopefully we'll be better this time around. It's a raceable track and it's a pretty enjoyable Saturday night even though last time it turned into a Sunday afternoon."

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