Auto Club 500 - GM Post-Race Quotes

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING BEFORE THE ENGINE LET GO?) "No. It just went down to the end of the backstretch and broke a rod going into three. I just tried to get slowed down and get off the racetrack, so I didn't oil the racetrack down for everybody else.

"But, boy, we sure had a heck of a car today. This Home Depot Monte Carlo was awesome. Zippy (Greg Zipadelli) and all the guys really did a good job yesterday of taking the short amount of practice that we got and keeping me in a really good race car today. The thing was really good.

"I told Zippy - I go, 'I got real racey there with Jamie [McMurray]. I was just having fun.' We had been by ourselves the whole day and he was the first guy to come up and challenge. I wasn't just going to let him go. It was the most fun I had all day was racing Jamie.

"I think we had a shot at [McMurray]. We were going to make a couple more adjustments. We had a car good enough to beat him today, that's for sure."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"We messed up in the pits and we all got on my team pretty bad. We were able to get a lap back and finish sixth - had that wreck at the end and I got a couple spots.

"I raced a couple guys back to the caution there with 30 laps to go. I threw the 'gentlemen's agreement' right out the window there, but I was trying to get back what we could have got.

"I'm pretty happy with the finish we got. That's a real good points day for us."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"I just got real tight behind the '9' car off of turn four and got into the outside wall. Everybody tried to check up and got into the back of me and started everything. I don't think I really got hit until I got into the wall.

"The day was great. I'm just bummed that once again we had a great car, a great effort, and then we get to the very end - the last lap - and something else happens. It's no one's fault. On this deal, I got into the wall. I just want to know what it is going to take to get this monkey off our back."

TERRY LABONTE, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/GOT MILK? CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"It was (a decent day). We were off a little bit. Our car was a little bit tight in long runs. We kept working on it. We had to get it to where we started out pretty loose and then try to get it to where it wouldn't be so tight. But, it was a good, solid run for us.

(WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK, YOU WOULD HAVE A BUNCH OF TOP 10s THIS YEAR...) "I know it. We're close. We're close. I feel really good about our team. The guys are doing a great job."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"We made a lot of good calls there at the very end. If you're going to have your day come together you want to have it happen there at the end.

"Eleventh is a good finish for us, but what a frustrating day. We were decent at the beginning and then we were just so loose on new tires that we would lose several seconds to everybody. Then, the car would be halfway decent. But, we had to get it tightened up. We made a lot of adjustments, but nothing really seemed to work for us. Luckily, we put some tires on there at the end and came up to 11th - almost 10th.

"We were pretty fortunate today. As bad as we ran and as much as we struggled we had a lot of good things go our way - staying out of the wrecks and we never got down a lap, so we stayed on the lead lap and that helped us a lot."

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"It was a struggle all day. We had to work hard all day. We never got the car handling right all weekend, even today. But, they made good adjustments and had great pit stops, and we were the best we had been all day at the end."

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(ON THE RACE OVERALL) "We had a good car all day. We battled slowly, but surely, throughout the day. The cautions came out right for us and we made the right adjustments on the car. There at the end - one time there with Rusty was leading - we were running pretty fast. The '42' was coming before that caution came out, but the '97' wasn't, so I was kind of surprised that the '97' was as fast as he was there at the end.

"But, it was just a good run for us. I had a good race car, we made good pit stops. Again, it goes back to - we made some good decisions this morning because we weren't quite as good yesterday. We tweaked on it some, made some adjustments on the pit stops and worked on it all day long and came home second. We fought all day and it was fun. It was fun. I hadn't run here the past two years, basically, because two years ago we were just terrible - might as well have not even been here. Then, last year the belts fell off in 10 laps, so I really haven't run a race here in a long time, so it felt good."

(ON THE COMPETITION LEVEL THIS YEAR) "I think it's pretty tough. Over the past three or four years you've seen a lot of first time winners. You had Jamie McMurray up there today. The '48' car was coming there at the end. You had some good cars that got a lap down. Week in and week out there are more cars that could win, so your odds are not as good as they used to be. The last guy to win a lot of races was probably [Jeff] Gordon, winning 10 in one year. Scenarios aren't going to be like that for a while, it seems like."

(ON THE LAST FEW LAPS) "A lot of stuff went on there. I can tell you right now that I needed about a two-lap run instead of a 12-lap run because my car gave up in about six laps. I think I was fourth on the restart and I got by (Rusty) and I got by (Jamie). Then, Kurt was up front and I was getting on him pretty good, but I just burned up my right front tire. I was chasing him pretty hard. We got single file there and I just chased him pretty hard, chased him pretty hard. Finally, one lap I came off four - and he probably saw it - it just died on me because I couldn't get it to turn. Then, I had to worry about (Rusty). I couldn't worry about Kurt anymore because he was too far gone. But, my car just got tighter as it went.

"But, it was pretty good. It was good racing, obviously. It was fun because you could run two or three wide through the corners. (Jamie's) car was really good going in, I had to baby mine into the corner, so I could get it to turn. He could just drive in there until somewhere in a different district and then he'd get it to turn anyway. So, it was fun because you had a lot of different angles to race."

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