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Silly Season | Newsletter | Racefan's Rave | In the Pits | Fire and Ice News and Results | Point Standings | 2003 Schedule | 2003 Teams | 2002 Schedule and Results
Daytona 500 - GM Post-Race Quotes
(ON THE EARLY-RACE SPIN ON THE BACKSTRETCH) "We had put two tires on
it and got loose. We caught a bunch of cars. When we caught them, I went up
to the outside. Some guys behind me got the car loose, I guess, and spun
around."
(ON THE SECOND INCIDENT) "The wreck happened out there in front of us. I
saw the '12' car flipping. We came down pit road, and got down to the end of
pit road, and I was to the inside of a few cars that were down there. I had
already told the guys that it looked like I made it through there, and the
49 car came sliding across. I don't know, he was in the wreck I guess and
probably didn't have any brakes or steering, and I centered him."
"We had a great car today. This is better than what we finished last year
here. I think I had a
fast enough car and Kevin (Harvick) had a fast enough car, and I tried to
work with him a lot there and we moved up through the field. Tony Stewart
was also fast behind us. It looked like guys were getting tight and that's
how we were able to get cars on the outside late in the run, but the biggest
thing was staying on the bottom.
"The Cingular team is really happy with our finish today. It was pretty
hairy out there so we're glad the car is in one piece. I just wish we'd had
a little more time because I think Kevin and I could've made a move for the
lead and one of us won the race. But we showed that the Cingular team is
strong and we've worked out all of the kinks from last season. It looks
like RCR is back. We just need to keep running like this the rest of the
year."
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI, NO. 33 MONACO COACHES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:
(ABOUT YOUR FIRST DAYTONA 500.) "I learned a lot. It's a shame we lost a
lap early
on. We had a small problem and I had to come in under green, but still I'm
very thankful to Andy (Petree) and Monaco Coaches for giving me this chance.
I wish another Daytona 500 could start all over again tomorrow."
(YOU'VE GOT A BUSY SEASON AHEAD OF YOU WITH DIFFERENT OPPORTUNITIES WITH
PETTY ENTERPRISES. WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITY IS IT FOR YOU TO GET A CHANCE
TO RACE IN STOCK CARS WITH ONE OF THE GREAT TEAMS OF ALL-TIME?) "It's very
nice to be together with those guys. I'm pretty sure that I will be able to
learn a lot. With what I did in my past racing, there's a lot that I can
bring over with me, but there's a lot that's completely new to me and I have
to learn. I'm competing against guys that have been doing this for 15, 20
years, so I'll try and cut that down as quick as possible and try to be
really competitive. Sometimes it's hard, but we did a decent job today and
kept the car in one piece."
"We had a fast race car, and the longer we ran the better we were, the
better the handling, the
further to the front we could get. I tried to make a move to get up to my
teammate Jimmy Johnson so we could push one another, but guys didn't want to
go with me. But you don't expect them to - I made a move, it didn't work
out and I fell back to 12th."
(WAS IT FRUSTRATING TO NOT HAVE SOMEBODY GO WITH YOU IN LINE AND HANG YOU
OUT?) "Yea, everybody protected the bottom all day long. I didn't want to
push Michael (Waltrip) past Jimmy (Johnson). I wanted to get behind Jimmy
and run with him. I felt the momentum change when Michael was coming back
and I had a head of steam, and I thought I could get all the way by him, but
they had a strong race car and then Tony (Stewart) and all of the rest of
the guys went to the bottom and he went right by me, so I battled to get
back to 12th."
(WHAT HAPPENED?) "I just blew a right rear tire right in the middle of the
corner. We really got our car a lot better. We were really way off. I don't
know why we were that way. We were so tight the car wouldn't turn in the
corner. It wasn't that way all week long.
"We got a lot better. Mike [Beam] did a great job of adjusting. We were
coming up through there, but we can't do it on three tires.
"I guess it just wasn't meant to be. The good thing is we're going to
Rockingham, where I can pass by myself and not have to have a buddy to help
me, so we're looking forward to next week."
(FROM MOTOR RACING NETWORK...HOW WAS YOUR PIT STRATEGY WORKING TODAY?) "We
were just doing what we could to stay up front and keep the car handling
good - kind of like yesterday in the Busch Race. I was pretty happy with the
track position we had. We were just going to try to keep track position all
day and not really get messed around by getting there in the back.
"I'm telling you, though, even when I was a couple laps down (due to a
battery problem), I could go right to the front. My car was really, really
good."
"The competitor in me wants to have it go back to green, but obviously that
is not going to happen. The GM Goodwrench guys did a great job. We came from
dead last and all the way to the front. It's a great start to our year.
"I really think we had the car to win the Daytona 500. We were that close to
clearing him, but that's just the way it works here. But, it's a great day
for us. We'll take it, after tearing our car up in the 125, and go on with
it."
(ON HAVING TO COME FROM THE BACK OF THE PACK AFTER A PRE-RACE ENGINE CHANGE)
"The car was fast enough to where it would come right from the back of the
pack. It's still hard to get through the pack, though. We got up there and
then Kurt Busch slid through our pits again. We got back in the middle again
and then worked our way back up there. It's been a great day. We kept all
the fenders on it. The guys did a great job repairing the car after
Thursday's mishap. It actually came back and ran great."
(IF IT HAD COME DOWN TO YOU VERSUS A DEI CAR, DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE
GOTTEN TO THE POINT?) "It's hard to say. The DEI cars were good. The RCR
cars were good. I guess we'll just have to take our little superspeedway
battle to Talladega."
(WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE '97' IN THE PITS TODAY?) "He came in there, hot as
usual. I don't know what happened, but he was sitting in my pit and I was
sitting on pit road stopped. That's about the third time (he's done that).
Then, he about ran over our jack guy, running through our pit stall and ran
over our jack. They just need to put a restrictor plate on his foot because
obviously his foot doesn't register with his brain."
(ON STARTING THE SEASON WITH A TOP FIVE) "It's great. Last year we started
with a a 40th or a 41st or whatever it was. To rebound after Thursday and
have a good finish today is...like I say, the competitor in me wishes it
would have run all the way because I think we had a chance at winning the
race. But, the smart guy in all of us wants to just take a fourth place and
roll on with it."
RICHARD CHILDRESS, OWNER,
NO. 29, NO. 30 AND NO. 31 CHEVROLETS MONTE CARLOS:
(ARE YOU HAPPY WITH A FOURTH AND A SIXTH TODAY?) "Yeah. It's like Kevin
said. The competitor in us wants to start back (and race) because we know
we've got good cars. But, then on the other hand, a lot of things can happen
at Daytona."
"Well, we aren't thrilled, but to walk out of here 19th with all the
obstacles we have overcome this week is pretty cool -- not too bad a run for
the backup Valvoline Pontiac. We've been down here before and run well and
then been wrecked, so leaving this place with an undented car is an
accomplishment for us. James and the guys will go back to work Monday or
Tuesday or whenever we get home and start working even more on our
superspeedway program. Now, we have to figure out how we can get back to
North Carolina since the storm closed the airports. Sounds like we are going
to miss the Daytona weather.
"I'm glad Mikey won. I don't think me and [Ken] Schrader will ever get a
word in on our show Monday."
(HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE STRANDED DOWN HERE TONIGHT WITH A WINTER STORM
HITTING CHARLOTTE RIGHT NOW?) "We're all a little stranded right now. I'm
not sure if the big airport (Charlotte Douglas International) is closed or
not. But, for us flying the private deal, we're probably better off waiting
until tomorrow."
"Our Home Depot Monte Carlo was good. It was just a matter of making sure
that you knew who to run with and who not to run with. We were up there
where we wanted to be. We just wanted to wait until a little closer to the
end to get racey.
(ON COMING OUT OF HERE SEVENTH) "It's our best Daytona 500 finish, so I'm
excited about that. But, we ran in the top three all day and led at one
time. We had a better car than a seventh place car today. Part of me is
really happy and excited, considering where we were at this time last year.
But, at the same time, a little bit on the sad side knowing that we should
have finished better than this."
(YOU WERE RUNNING IN THE TOP FIVE AND LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD A REALLY GOOD CAR
TODAY. BUT YOU HAD A MISHAP ON PIT ROAD, WHAT HAPPENED?) "It was
unfortunate what happened today. I'll tell you what -- the U.S. Army car ran
great today. The Pontiac Grand Prix was superb. Everybody in the pits did a
super job. We were running fifth and came in for a pit stop. We got blocked
in by Kurt Busch. I backed up and couldn't get it back into first. Then, he
backed up and it was just a whole mess from there. When I finally got back
onto pit road I got into Mike Skinner and tore a fender up. We came back in
and fixed it.
"I hate it for all of my guys. But, we'll just take it and go to Rockingham
next week and try to win there. I am excited to be with this team. It's a
great team, a solid team. With the U.S. Army backing us and Pontiac, I think
it's going to be a superb team this year."
(finished 14th, highest finishing Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate):
(WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE DAYTONA 500 FINISHING UNDER CAUTION?) "Both
ways, I guess. It's a shame that the Daytona 500 had to finish a little
over halfway. This is the big race that everybody comes to see. They saw
half of it. On the other side of that coin, we stayed out there all day,
stayed out of trouble, rode around, stayed on the high side. Just kind of
out of sight, out of mind. Came home 14th. That's a great accomplishment
for this team. This is a brand-new team, the NetZero Pontiac Grand Prix.
That's definitely a good finish for us. You don't get a lot of help with
that yellow stripe on your bumper anyway. I guess bittersweet, like Kurt
(Busch) said. We would have liked to see the race go the rest of the way.
Maybe something would have happened to one, both of us, neither of us, who
knows at this point. We know he ran 2nd, I ran 14th. He's pretty happy,
I'm pretty happy."
(TALK ABOUT YOUR ROOKIE STRIPE POSSIBLY HURTING YOU FRIDAY LAST WEEK, THEN
CARRYING OVER TO TODAY.) "It wasn't Friday. I don't know what day we
qualified. It was Monday. It's one of those deals. Like I said, I'm not
going to talk about it anymore, I've talked about it enough. I could have
stopped the situation from happening, but I didn't start it. But I learned
a lot through that whole ordeal, how some of these guys race. Therefore
today I kept my nose clean, stayed out of trouble, rode around, didn't push
any issues, stayed up by the wall. My car was a little tight, but it ran
faster on the top. It cycled around. I was last three or four times, I was
in the Top 15 three or four times. It just so happened when the rain
decided to sock us in, I was 14th. I'm tickled to death with that. Like I
said, nobody wants to help the dude with the yellow stripe. These guys have
been through it before. I'm going to go through it. That's cool because
I'm going to put somebody else through it later."
(AS THE HIGHEST FINISHING ROOKIE OF THE DAY, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE
OVERALL GOAL FOR YOU TO WIN ROOKIE OF THE YEAR TITLE?) "Probably not much.
This is the first race, man. There's a hundred to go or whatever we run in
this deal. You know, like I said, there were rookies in front of me
throughout the day, they would cycle around back and forth. There was
probably only three or four cars or five that you saw that stayed in the
front, four or five all day. At one point I saw Jimmie three cars ahead of
me back around 15th or so. I mean, to come out of here with a straight race
car, something we can take to Talladega, at least test against a new one to
see if we can build something better, that's a plus. Not to be wrecked 43rd
in points, that's a plus. These first races are tough on a new team without
points to fall back on to get in the race. That fifth race logging points
will help me. We certainly don't want to go home from a race. That's the
big thing right now. We want to keep the NetZero Pontiac in every race and
learn. This is a little different than a Busch car, probably back closer to
the truck I'm used to. I'm relating on things with these cars that we've
been testing over the winter, more back to a couple years ago. I'm getting
older so my mind's not as good as it was trying to remember all that truck
stuff.
"That stuff seems to relate more than the Busch stuff does to these cars.
We had a great test at Rockingham. We're looking forward to going there in
a few days, then on to Vegas.
"The rookie deal is a long, drawn out deal. Jimmie has been through
it. I don't know how they decided that one. That's a tough deal. I know
it's a strange point system. I'm not going to worry about that part of it."
(YOU DECIDED TO ONLY TAKE GAS ON THAT LAST RESTART. TALK ABOUT THE RESTART
WHEN WALTRIP PASSED YOU.) "We knew that we were probably going to be racing
to halfway or somewhere thereafter. (Crew chief) Chad's (Knaus) idea was to
keep putting tires on the car, take the penalty early with the track
position. When it came down to the end, we could be in a position to do two
tires or no tires, depending on what was going on and how much fuel we
needed. Chad called an awesome race. It played into our hands. It worked
out. We were in the lead, then the restart with the 8 starting next to us,
the 33. I had a couple options, either jump the start and get ahead of
Junior, but I wasn't sure how that was going to work out. My best option
was to try to box Michael (Waltrip) in so Junior and the 15 couldn't get
hooked up. The 33 had a terrible start and allowed Michael to drop down.
When that happened, everything I could do at that point was over and done
with. I was happy to fall back in line where we did and was able to hang on
from there."
(ARE YOU UPSET THAT IT ENDED THIS WAY, WITH THE RAIN?) "No, I'm not upset.
You know, of course, I would have loved to race 'till the end. I felt we
had a shot to win the race. We've been here for two weeks. This pays the
same amount of points as Rockingham does next week. We need to get home and
get ready for that. I wish we could have finished under green and been out
there. That's kind of a double-edged sword. I told Kurt (Busch) I was
going to try to push him for the lead, and we would have been first and
second, or maybe 21st and 22nd. To come out of a restrictor-plate race with
a race car, top-5 finish, I'm happy with that."
(DID IT LOOK LIKE THE 15 AND THE 8 WERE HOOKING UP OR WAS JUNIOR ON HIS OWN
OUT THERE?) "When we got the one (lap) to go, I looked in the mirror and I
saw the 15 and 8, hands out the window, hand signals, pointing, thumbs up.
I knew I was in trouble then."
(THE LAST PASS, THE WAY THE 15 CAR DUCKED BEHIND THE 8 CAR, TEAMWORK MADE A
BIG DIFFERENCE IN THAT PASS. IS THAT FAIR? IS THAT THE WAY RACING OUGHT TO
BE?) "The older I get and the more experiences I go through, nothing's
fair. It's just how it is. It's how restrictor plate racing is. You
cannot do anything on your own out there. You need someone, teammate or
not, to work with you, to help you get a run, to help you finish passes.
You need someone. You know, I wish that I had the 24 or the 0 or the 25 or
the 5 behind me there at the end. Possibly would have been a different
situation getting started on that restart. That's how it is. Those guys
have done a very good job to find a way to work together all the time.
We've been trying very hard at Hendrick with all of our cars to try to find
a way to make it work.
"It usually benefits one person, the lead car, and everyone else pays the
consequences. Somehow, the 8 and 15 can both pull through situations which
is really hard to do. I think it shows how strong their cars are.
Hopefully we can find out wherever they're hiding that speed at, and we can
do it ourselves at Hendrick."
(FOLLOW-UP TO THAT QUESTION - IS TO HAVE A CAR THAT WAS TWO LAPS DOWN AND
PLAY A ROLE IN THAT FINISH. DOES THAT MAKE IT EVEN MORE NOT FAIR?)
"You know, fair or not fair, I knew what the situation was going to be. You
know, I would wish and hope -- you know, what Junior got the jump, Junior
wasn't back there pushing the 15 past me or anything. I would assume he
would. His name is on the race team as well, let alone being a teammate and
partner in it. I really don't have any feelings on it one way or not, if
it's fair or not. It's just racing, what you have to deal with on a
restrictor-plate race."
(ON WINNING THE DAYTONA 500, ON THE RAIN DELAY AND ON THE PASS AROUND
JIMMIE JOHNSON FOR THE LEAD) "The rain delay deal was pretty cool. I never
really imagined that it would actually work out and keep raining. I thought
it would quit and we'd have to go back to racing.
"I told Buffy, I said, 'That's fine. I think I can win if we do that.
We led the most laps, we're leading now. But I don't want to. I want it to
stop right now. We've won it right now.'
"It did rain. I was so thankful for the fact that we were leading
when the rains came. It's crazy enough to try to figure out a way to win
the Daytona 500. But who would have ever thought you had to figure out a
way to win it after 109 laps."
"So, I mean, I just feel blessed that we were in the right place at
the right time.
"As far as the pass goes, I had a plan. I hoped that Junior would
jump the 33, and that Jimmie would try to race Junior, I could get over to
the left behind Junior ahead of the 33 and get by Jimmie.
"You know, it worked. That's exactly what happened.
"But you can only really control what your car does. You know, I
couldn't control whether Junior would jump the 33 and get ahead of him where
I could fit in there, or Jimmie Johnson would try just to lay back and get
behind Junior.
"I couldn't make those guys do that. But that was my plan, and it
worked. I got lucky there."
(WITH THE WAY THE WEATHER WAS DEVELOPING, DID YOU ASSUME WHATEVER
HAPPENED ON THAT RESTART WAS GOING TO WIN THE RACE?) "I didn't assume it
would be the race. I knew, just like on the first lap of the race when I
attacked and got the lead, I knew it was important to lead. I knew the best
chance to pass would be on the start.
Really my mentality was just to get the lead, not to think that -- I
mean, they had a caution, you know, then it started raining. None of that
was ever factored in. The main thing was just to get to the lead. That was
my only thinking."
(YOU SAID IN VICTORY LANE SOMETHING ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT'S HEART WAS IN THIS
PLACE, AND THAT'S WHY WINNING HERE IS SO SPECIAL TO YOU. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT
THAT A LITTLE BIT?) "Well, I've been coming down here ever since I was five
years old, watching speed weeks. I would drive down in the back of a Chevy
with my parents, hang on that fence and watch Darrell. A lot of my life, a
lot of things that are important to me, are encompassed in speed weeks. The
history and the significance of this race took 45 years to build. I feel
like at least for the last 30 some of those years, I've been right here
watching it grow.
"When Darrell won it, that made it more special. When I won it, that
made it more special. And when Dale Earnhardt won it in '98, it made it
more special.
"So when he lost his life, that's just another chapter in the book of
Daytona. You know, I loved Dale. He was my friend, so that made it even
more endearing to me that he was doing what he loved to do and had that
wreck.
"It didn't make me hate Daytona at all. I think it just made me
understand that he was doing what he wanted to do when he had headed off.
"I think everybody hopes to be able to do that when they leave this
world. I think if you ask Junior, this place is more special today to us
because of his father. So what's cool is when you're at DEI, you understand
that Dale wanted fast restrictor plate cars. That was his gig. He knew it
took a fast car to have success here. People just have a little bit more
bump in their step when they get ready to come to Daytona. They knew they
better have, that's what Dale would expect. So many times his presence is
felt at that place to where people are still motivated and driven by Dale's,
what seems to be, presence."
(ON THE RESTART...WHEN JUNIOR GOT SUCH A GOOD JUMP ON THE 33, FITTIPALDI,
DID THAT SURPRISE YOU? IT ALMOST LOOKED LIKE IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN BY DESIGN.
WAS THERE ANYTHING WORKED OUT AT ALL OR WAS IT JUST BY CHANCE? "No, I
didn't expect it. I just knew that Dale Jr. wanted his lap back and would
be ready. I knew Christian hadn't raced here much, and might not be.
"So while it was luck that it worked, I also, you know, had a little
bit of fact to back up my thinking. Then the main thing was, could I get
in the hole fast enough, see if Jimmie had have left off, got behind Junior,
then my fate would have been sealed.
"There was a point going into Turn 1 where he could have probably forced
over, but I was close enough where he couldn't tell. That was my main
concern, was if Junior did get a great start, would Jimmie throttle off and
try to squeeze in a hole, I wanted to squeeze in.
(YOU HAD SO MANY STRUGGLES IN YOUR CAREER. THE ONLY RACE YOU HAD WON REALLY
DIDN'T COUNT. YOU'VE COME TO DEI, YOU HAVE THREE WINS, INCLUDING TWO IN THE
DAYTONA 500. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT? "I had so much fun in the winter of
2000/2001 getting ready to drive for Dale. He'd say, 'You'll win in my
cars. You better win in my cars, my cars are good, you'll win in them.'
"I was just in awe of the fact that it worked out for me to get in
such a great ride. You know, I was just thankful that Dale -- Dale might
have been the only one big enough in this world to get me this ride.
Anybody else might not have been able to pull that off, short of
omebody -- you know, I might have struggled along for a long time. I was
good enough to start, you know, 462 races, which I always finished decent in
the points. A team never did better after I left; they always did worse.
"So, you know, people that were insiders would say -- would probably
tend to say, "He can do the job if he gets in the right situation." But it
was pretty big that Dale started a team and convinced our sponsor, NAPA Auto
Parts, that that's what we needed to do.
"I'm not thinking many people could have went to NAPA and explained
that they wanted to start a new team and put Michael in the car and have
them buy it.
(JIMMIE JOHNSON OR KEVIN HARVICK SAID WHEN THEY SAW THE 8 CAR GO OUT, THEY
SAW EVERYBODY PUSH HARDER. HOW DID THAT AFFECT YOU WHEN YOU SAW JUNIOR
HAVING PROBLEMS? "It just inspired me. It just made me say, you know, they
say we can't win without teammates. Dale Jr. won on Saturday without me.
It inspired me to win today without him, just to show people that, you know,
they don't all know what's going on exactly.
(WITH ALL THE ATTENTION BEING PUT ON YOUR TEAMMATE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, THEN
LATER IN THE WEEK THE LITTLE VERBAL SPARRING BETWEEN DALE AND THE RCR
DRIVERS, DID THAT ALLOW YOU TO DO WHAT YOU NEEDED TO DO WITHOUT REALLY
GETTING DISTRACTED, YOU WERE ABLE TO WORK IN THE BACKGROUND A LITTLE BIT? "I
don't think we are -- I don't think I am ever distracted by anything. I
understand what I have to do in order to be successful, and I try to make
sure that I'm mentally, physically, perfectly ready to do the job.
"When you're winning races, then you're happy. So I would have rather
won every race like Junior did, and today. But it didn't affect me one way
or the other. I thought it was kind of interesting that those folks got to
arguing back and forth. I didn't really see any sense in all that.
"You know, you don't get these opportunities very often, to come to
Daytona and be in the position that Dale junior and I were, or Jeff Green
and Harvick and Robby were. So I thought that we should have just been
relishing in the fact we had that opportunity and not arguing with each
other.
"But if Jeff Green is on the pole and nobody's really paying him any
attention, I guess he finally decided he better say something so everybody
would know he's here.
(FOR A LONG TIME DURING THE SECOND RAIN DELAY, YOU SAT OUT IN THE PIT BOX
WITH YOUR WIFE, WITHOUT ANY UMBRELLA, COVER. WHY? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND? "We just were enjoying a day in the rain
in Florida. She was setting there. When I saw her, I just wanted to join
her, ask her what she was thinking. We tried to call Helton to tell him
that the state troopers and all the folks that worked the track were
probably going to be tired if we waited much longer. I don't think we have
his real number. I don't think he wanted to hear from us.
"We just were goofing off, laughing about the opportunity that we had
here to be winners of the Daytona 500. That's when we talked about, you
know, we don't need it to go on, we won, let's just stop now. Then I tried
to explain to her that I'd win it anyway because I wanted to comfort her,
but I didn't really know if I would or not.
(WITH ALL THAT THIS RACE MEANS TO YOU, THE HISTORY OF THIS PLACE, WERE YOU
GETTING NERVOUS?) "No, I wasn't nervous. I try to be a person that doesn't
worry about the weather because it either is or it isn't, it's going to be
what it's going to be, so I don't ever try to predict it. I didn't know if
it was going to keep raining or not.
"I looked over that way. Some big clouds coming. That made me smile.
I watched Bob Stokes, Kristen Dodd, all the folks on the Weather Channel
today, weather expert Paul Kocin and they seemed to think it was going to
rain in Daytona, and once it started, it would be a lot. I'm a fan of the
Weather Channel. I think it's funny that they can make a living talking
about the weather, when I don't even really understand. It's like, "Let's
go to Salt Lake City. It's sunny again in Salt Lake. Let's switch over to
Reno, see what's going on over there."
"I guarantee, you Paul Kocin hadn't been able to sleep two days
because of this storm heading up the East Coast. That's big, when they get
a storm, they have something to talk about. That's my thought on the
Weather Channel. Not really relevant, I'm sorry (smiling).
(YOU'VE DRIVEN WELL, BEEN VERY COMPETITIVE AT SO MANY TRACKS OVER THE YEARS.
YOUR ONLY POINT WINS ARE RIGHT HERE. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE REASON FOR
THAT?) "I won a Busch race last year at Michigan, dominated the Busch race
in Atlanta and Rockingham some. I almost won some races at Darlington and
other places earlier in my career, Atlanta. It just didn't ever work out.
"I feel like I am wrongly called, you know, only able to race on plate
races. I don't think that's fair. It will just be a matter of time before
I prove that that's not valid.
"I don't worry much about it. People have got to talk -- it's like
when I won the Winston, I mean, the Winston is one of the biggest nights of
the year, it's huge. The first thing someone asked me was, "This isn't a
points race." When Jeff Gordon wins it, ask him if he gives a crap whether
it's a points race or not. It's the Winston (laughter).
"I think that we will fare much better this year at other tracks.
We're prepared to do so. But it ain't a bad place to win until you can get
everything else worked out.
(YOU'VE BEEN IN A LOT OF THESE DAYTONA 500S. DID THIS HAVE A STRANGE FEEL,
DIDN'T FEEL LIKE THERE WAS ANY CONTINUITY, BIZARRE THINGS HAPPENING?) "It
did to me leading up to it because, you know, I think the drivers were all a
little bit nervous about not being able to pass. Then Dale Jr. comes from
the back and wins the Shootout. The first 125, everybody was lined up in a
line, nobody passed except entering pit road. "Yes, there it is." Second
race, we raced all over the top of each other.
"I don't think the competitors had a good feel or idea as to what to
expect exactly today other than it was important to be in front.
"Mine and Slugger's realization of that, significance that we put on
that, I think is the reason why we won the race, because we got gas-and-go
one time, we just got two tires. We were not going to spend any more time
on pit road than absolutely necessary.
"The only thing we knew for sure was we needed to be in the front. I
took pit on four tires yesterday, had a great car, got it wrecked. I wasn't
going to let that happen today. Thankfully the car was handling so well
that I didn't have to worry about putting tires on it. I could just go on
down the road. It was loose, which everybody was pushing. My car was push.
Gave me a lot of options as far as what I wanted to do with my pit stop
strategy.
"But, yes, it felt crazy because I don't think anybody really knew
what to expect. Wound up to be typical, with the exception of the rain.
But I heard that it hadn't had one shortened by rain since 1966, so I felt
pretty good, like we might be due. When we were sitting down there and it
was raining, you know, I thought maybe it was time to put another one
shortened in the books.
(YOU'VE EXPERIENCED SO MANY RANGES OF EMOTIONS HERE, WITH THE VICTORIES, THE
SETBACKS. DOES THIS KIND OF CLOSE THE CHAPTER IN A WAY FOR WHAT HAPPENED
TWO YEARS AGO? DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS VICTORY WAS ALL YOUR OWN?) "That
chapter will never be closed. That's just part of my life. It's a part of
who I am. That will never be considered a great race because of what
happened.
"But, you know, I'm okay with that. I'm at peace with what occurred
that day. When I won last July, it felt good to party here and celebrate
and win. When I won today, it felt the same.
"But I will never close that chapter. I'm thankful for that. I think
God has placed on me a real consciousness of how I got to this point.
That's just another piece of the story, and I'm thankful that I have that
consciousness. I never want to close a chapter on any part of my life -
especially not when it comes to losing my friend like that."
(REGARDLESS OF WHETHER HE WAS YOUR TEAMMATE OR NOT, THE 8 HAD THE OTHER FAST
CAR ON THE TRACK. WAS IT GOOD TO SEE HIM SITTING ON THE INSIDE LINE
THINKING, "IF I CAN GET AHEAD OF THIS 33, I'LL BE HARD TO BEAT"? WAS THAT
PART OF YOUR STRATEGY?) "No, I wasn't happy to see the 8 have problems. I
was happy that he was in that position because I knew that it might be my
chance to get the win, or get the lead. But, like, I almost was beating
myself up a little bit. We caught the 48 going down the back straightaway.
The 8 tried to push me around him. But I didn't have the run that I felt
necessary to pull -- I could have probably cleared the 48 and been leading
at the caution, but I just didn't feel comfortable with what we had together
as a duo clearing the 48. This is on the restart prior to the one that I
got the lead.
"Junior tried to push me by the 48 to get his lap back. I didn't go.
Junior dove to the outside. The caution flew. I didn't feel good about
making that move. I didn't think I could be successful at getting us both
by the 48 and I didn't want to bring a whole bunch of other guys up into the
mix, you know. So I laid behind the 48. Junior shot to the outside. The
caution came back. I kind of rode around under caution because I thought it
was going to start raining, the 48 was going to win, I thought, 'Man, I
should have tried that.'
"A lot of times -- maybe I was just being a little too critical, a
little hard on myself. Maybe it wouldn't have worked. When we went back to
racing, I knew I had to jump early. I knew that there was going to be two
things that would happen: I could get the lead and Junior could get a lap
back. I would have liked to see him get them both back. Y'all know, I've
been a team player. I'll always be a team player. There's too many people
that work so hard in order for DEI to be successful for me to have -- for
anybody to have a chip on their shoulder and not want to help each other."
(WHEN YOU WERE PONDERING THE END OF THIS RACE BECAUSE OF THE RAIN, DID YOU
THINK IT MIGHT GO INTO THE NIGHT OR DID THE DRIVERS HAVE AN ASSURANCE?) "I
mean, yeah, I knew that it could. But, man, we were going to race had that
second shower not have come. It looked like it lightened up to the west and
we were going to have some time to dry the track.
"But I was surprised when they said, "That's it, it's official." But,
you know, they had more information than I had. They knew what the radars
looked like. Mike Helton and all the folks from NASCAR were in touch with
the weather people. I knew that we could be here for a long time.
"Like I said, I really wasn't going to worry about it. It was going
to be what it was going to be. I was going to climb back in that car and
try to lead some more."
(HOW HARD WERE YOU PRAYING FOR RAIN ON THAT LAST LAP?) "I was praying for
rain when we were under caution and we came by, they had the wreck cleaned
up, and then someone said it was sprinkling on the back. I said to myself,
"That would be a really good thing." When we went back over there, it
indeed was.
"But I have this deal, when I pray, I'm a goofball sometimes, and I just
ask God to help me be smarter, a better person, forgive me of my sins, then
I ask him what I want. I told him I'd like for it to rain for 40 days and
40 nights. That's just my heart's desire. I wanted it to rain. I think
anybody else probably would have been the same way if they were leading; I
just happened to be the one that was (smiling).
(WAS THIS WIN A LITTLE DISAPPOINTING BECAUSE IT WAS RAIN-SHORTENED?) "Oh,
yeah, it's just ruining me (laughter). You know what I heard? They're
still going to pay me the whole amount (smiling). That's kind of crazy,
isn't it?
"No, this is the Daytona 500. Wow, I mean, I about went -- I about
couldn't talk earlier because I just tried -- I'm not smart enough to
explain the significance of this event. I mean, this is Daytona, and this
is the Daytona 500. I'm just honored to be the champion of it again. I
mean, that's two. I'm just so thankful that we have a team and we did all
the things to make it happen - no matter what the official distance is. We
did lead the most laps, I think. We probably would have won it anyway, but
I don't want to take that chance."
(DALE JR. HELPED YOU ON THE FINAL RESTART. WAS THERE SOME DISCUSSION
BETWEEN YOUR TEAM AND HIS, ABOUT HIM HELPING YOU OUT?) "Well, I don't know
what y'all were watching, but, you know, he didn't really help me. He just
took off, and I got behind him. We didn't talk about it. You know, that
wasn't -- if that had been anybody else, I would have got behind them and
done it.
"Just circumstantial that it worked out that way. I knew that he had
a fast car, and I knew that I needed to get behind him because of it. But
it didn't matter that he was my teammate. He darn sure didn't do anything
to help me; he just did what he was supposed to do, and I took advantage of
it.
"You know, I think that people that are saying Dale Jr. helped me are
missing -- that's not correct, that's not the proper way to state what
happened. It turned out that he helped me, but it was not premeditated. I
just took advantage of a situation."
(TOMORROW YOU'LL BE GIVING UP THAT CAR. IT'S A WIN THE RACE, LOSE THE CAR.
IS THAT THE GOOD, THE BAD OF WINNING THE DAYTONA 500?) "We tested two cars,
No. 14 and No. 21, when we came down here. No. 14 was the car I won
Daytona with in July. No. 21 was a brand-new car.
"I never asked Slugger which car we were going to bring down here for
the Daytona 500 because they were equally as fast. I would have been fine
with either one of them. I didn't really care which one he brought.
"They can have No. 21, and we'll race No. 14 again. No. 14's got a
pretty impressive record. She ran second at Talladega, she's ran fifth at
the Daytona 500 last year, she won in July. She was leading a lot at
Talladega in August or October, and she finished eighth. We'll have to
bring her out, give her a chance to continue. I like her (smiling)."
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