Gatorade 125s - GM Post-Race Quotes

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"I would've like to race better. I struggled at the beginning of the race trying to get up through there. The outside groove just was not moving and I got stuck going to the back, and so it took me a little while to get back up front. With five to go, I had a heck of a run. I'm going to try to get as far forward as I can and try to win the race, but a lot of guys just wanted to stay in line. Sometimes you play the conservative way and it works out for you and sometimes you've got to be a little more aggressive. I got lucky. Spencer got into my left rear and about wrecked me. We got lucky, straightened it out and kept going. I got another run on Joe [Nemechek]. I wanted to push him up to the front, but he didn't want to get out of line and I did. That's just what happens when you're teammates, working together, and you're not thinking on the same wavelength. Once the cars started getting single file and the handling started going away, I was able to work my way up through there - but we've got to get the handling a little bit better and then maybe find some drafting partners."

(DO YOU FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT SUNDAY?) Absolutely. We've got a great car, we've got a fast car. We've just got to get a little bit better handling race car. We were capable of getting up front there, I just didn't have anybody that wanted to work with me which is typical. I thought Joe and I could do it, and once we got up to fourth and fifth I think he just wanted to stay in line. I hurt myself at the end because I thought I'd get somebody to go with me. Biffle did try to go with me, but nobody else. I'm just not going to sit there in fifth. I like to win. I probably lost a couple positions because of it, but I'd rather know what my car's going to do, who's going to work with me and who's not going to work with me."

(WOULD YOU HAVE RATHER SEE GUYS TRY HARDER TO WIN THIS RACE?) "Absolutely. That's what I'm trying to do. I want to win the race. I want to see what my car has. I don't want to just see those guys ride around there all day long and win the race. I want to get up there and battle with them. Unfortunately, we couldn't get up there a little sooner."

(HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO GET OFF TO A FAST START THIS YEAR?) "I'd love to get off to a good start, but we've also found out in the past that you don't have to win the Daytona 500 to win the championship. This is a big race and we all came here to win, and we're going to work hard and hope we get some momentum to start the year off right. We were good last year, but we weren't great, and I think we've made some improvements this year to be great."

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 25 UAW-DELPHI CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(HOW WAS IT?) "Typical - typical Daytona. What's bad is that the guys that got in the outside lane went back. Normally, the outside lane is pretty decent, but it wasn't that way today. If you got in that outside lane you were going to the back. Earlier in the run I tried to help Terry [Labonte]. Man, as soon as we got out there - it was like it just killed our car. We just had to stay on the bottom. It was hard to pass. It's even - very even. We had a top four and where we finished I think kind of stinks. We had a really good car and Jeff (Gordon) tried to go on the outside there at the end and it cost me a lot of spots. I don't think he gained any, it just cost me a lot of spots getting hung out. But we learned a few things, it's just hard to pass. They wanted equal cars, and by gosh they've got 'em. My car drove great all day, my Chevy was good, we just ended up seventh when we should've been third or fourth."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(FROM VICTORY LANE) "We (Jeff Green and Robby) decided we were going to work together from the beginning. Obviously, he was going to get the jump at the start, so I jumped in behind him and then it was pretty much going to be who got out of the pits first. I was fortunate enough that the Cingular Wireless crew gave me a great pit stop. I got in pretty deep to the braking zones, so we were able to get him coming out of pit lane. Jeff worked with us the whole time, too (at the end), so I want to thank everybody over on the AOL team. It looks like they did a great job."

(HOW SIMILAR ARE THE SETUPS OF THESE TWO CARS?) "I believe they are very similar. That's one thing - even if you look back last year and where we finished in points - you can see that we all work together because we were all right back there together. Hopefully, this year it will be different with the new Monte Carlo. We're learning this new body."

MIKE SKINNER, NO. 4 KODAK PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(WHAT HAPPENED ON PIT ROAD?) "We made a routine pit stop there. It was a good stop and I killed the motor. I know why it died. I still don't know why it wouldn't start. It just wouldn't start."

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 TIDE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(HOW WAS IT?) "It was really, really tight. It was the debut for the new Pontiac and I was really encouraged the first five laps. By lap 10 I started to tighten up. I really think I was a little too patient behind the '42' car. Jamie's a good racer, but he wasn't very aggressive. He was pretty casual there and I really should have gotten after it early. But, the way the balance was, it probably wouldn't have mattered because the car got miserably tight. But, we know what we've got to do for Sunday, so I'm encouraged that we have a direction."

JEFF GREEN, NO. 30 AOL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(IS THIS GIVING YOU A LOT OF CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THE 500?) "Mike Beam and all my AOL guys have given me a lot of confidence, since we came down here in January. Our car is really, really fast. We had the car to win the race. We just got blocked in on pit road. The one pit stall that we didn't need, we got and I think Mike is kicking himself right now for picking that one. But, that is racing. We learned a lot. I learned a lot on the racetrack today about where to be and where not to be, where I can be to help the people I need to help and not the other guys I need to help. I'd like to congratulate Robby. He's got as fast a race car as I've got. We're starting one and three in the Daytona 500 and I'm hoping we can do the same thing Sunday."

(ON HAVING EVERYBODY LINED UP BEHIND YOU) "That's a very good feeling. When you've got a fast race car people want to be with you. If it had been a normal 125, with a normal-size fuel cell, I think we would have won the race hands down with not having to pit. But, just putting a pit stop in there gives the guys another opportunity to change tires before the 500 gets here Sunday. That's going to help those guys. What we learned about our race car on the 50th lap will help us Sunday, too. We never run over a 20-lap run all week, so that was really the first race run we've run. That AOL Chevy stayed the same, the last lap as it was the first, so I'm very proud of what they've done and very excited about Sunday."

(DO YOU THINK THE SMALLER FUEL CELLS WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON SUNDAY?) "I'm sure it will have an impact, when things happen like that on pit road. We didn't lose that much time. We just lost enough time for Robby to get in front of me. We lost like a second, but a second is lot of feet on this racetrack on pit road. We'll just take that, make a mental note of it, try not to let it happen again and learn from it. That's what you have to do to win these things."

(WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE PITS?) "The '99' was in front of us. I think everybody else on the racetrack, other than me had an opening in front of them. We had an opening coming in, but we didn't have one getting off. I came in just a little bit hot and slid to the side about two or three feet and that was the difference between turning the steering wheel hard right, taking off or having to wait a little bit. I could have took off, but I was afraid I was going to bend my left front fender on the '99' and I did get him just a touch, but it didn't hurt my fender. It's just unfortunate. But, we try to learn every lap we make and that is the big learning process I went through today. Hopefully, we can keep that from happening during the '500.'

(ON THE ROLE OF TEAMWORK ON SUNDAY) "There is no doubt Robby really stuck with me on Sunday. We had that planned on the start that if I could get just a little bit of a jump on Ricky (Rudd) he could jump back in behind me. I don't think anyone would have passed either one of us if it would have gone all the way to the end. But, when I got back behind him I did the same thing and really helped him. We have to hold Kevin (Harvick) down now and see if he'll do the same thing come Sunday. That's what teammates are for. We have to learn together. We have to experience downfalls together. We've done a lot of downfalls, so hopefully we can learn some ups and wins. One RCR car gets into victory lane on Sunday, it's going to be worth every one of us - what we've done down here in testing and this week. Hopefully, our AOL car will. We're looking forward to that."

(DOES THE SMALLER FUEL CELL PROMOTE GREEN FLAG RACING?) "The race is 200 laps long, so that means 40 laps a piece - if you can run 40 laps. Today we ran 34. We'll go back and process that and see if we can run that many. We don't know if we can or not. But, that's our objective, to single out a pit stop. That's what happened at Talladega. Some people won't be able to do that and hopefully we will. We just didn't want to push the issue today of running out of gas. We just have to get a baseline to see how far we can go. We never put our car in that situation in practice, to run that many laps to see how good of fuel mileage we got or how many laps we can go.

"I don't know if it broke the field up today, but I think it will. The more pit stops you have the less cars are going to be up front. Handling comes into play so much. It's so much a different racetrack than Talladega ever was. It really pushes the front end off the corner and if your car is handling, that singles cars out, too. It's going to get down to maybe 10 cars you have to race instead of 40."

(HOW HARD WAS THE CONTACT WITH RICKY RUDD AND WAS THAT AN AGGRESSIVE MOVE?) "I guess it was. I had so much of a run on him coming off of pit road. I had so much speed on him - he was just trying to get up to speed. I guess it was an aggressive move. I got around him there. I thought I left myself enough room, but about the time I got beside of him it was like he turned right a little bit. It's just tire marks (the damage). That's basically all it is. They'll wipe off pretty easily. If that's all the damage we get on Sunday, I think we'll be over in victory lane, so we're looking forward to it."

JACK SPRAGUE, NO. 0 NETZERO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"Our pit stop was awesome. The guys did a great job. I passed a lot of cars coming into the pits - not by design. I was just smoking all four tires, but I didn't tell Dennis [Connor] because I didn't want them to change all four. I just wanted them to change the outside ones and hoped the left-side ones lasted. We gained a lot of it there. It seemed like the farther it went on, other cars were losing the handle worse than I was. I was just tight off, but I think we'll have a good car for the '500.'

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

"I felt like we had one of the strongest cars. But, without having a teammate out there it wasn't helping us any. I thought we struck a deal and was going to work with some guys when we got up to the front. We got there and everybody was fending for themselves and I was still under the impression we were going to try to win the race, so we fell back to sixth. But, the car was really good."

MORE FROM ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(HOW IMPORTANT WAS YOUR PIT STOP IN THE FIRST RACE?) "We knew the pit stop would be everything. I figured the only shot I had of getting by Jeff Green was by out-braking him going into the pits. The key was not to be speeding when I did it. The guys gave me a great pit stop. We got down off the jacks and Jeff kind of got blocked in a little bit. His guys might have beat our guys just a little bit because I was stopped before he was. He got going and he tried going to the fast lane, which then got me out with two tires in the grass. But, it was good enough to get out of pit lane first and I think that was the key to winning the first 125."

(ON THE STRATEGY AT THE START OF THE RACE) "One time I jumped Jeff Gordon at Bristol when I was on the outside of the front row, so there was no way that I was going to take a chance on jumping Jeff (Green) before the line. I figured that if Jeff got a good jump on the throttle when they threw the green and left a big enough hole I would duck down to his line, just because he is my teammate and that is the right thing to do. I got down into his line and he worked with me the first 32 laps. My car was a little bit tight and I asked Jeff to move two feet up off the racetrack, off the bottom, so I could get my nose down and get clean air on it, which he and that kept my right front tire alive - probably my left front tire alive, too, because we knew we were only going to change two tires, unless there was a caution. I made a deal with him that I wouldn't stick my nose in and try to come off the corner and get side by side with him if he would just move up a little bit so I don't grind the front tires off my car and we'd stay together and work as a team. The only deal we didn't have is if we positioned each other to be first back on to the racetrack. Either he was going to work with me or I was going to work with him. We were fortunate enough to out-brake him getting in and the guys gave me a great stop and we got out first, and Jeff stayed with me. I was really impressed that he got by Ricky Rudd because when I looked back I was like, 'Oh man, Rudd is going to split us here and we'll have Rudd in a sandwich.' Jeff did an awesome job getting around him. Coming off turn two I kind of moved up to Jeff's line to give him some turbulent air on his nose, and allowed him to suck up behind me and get by Rudd. Then we ducked back down and all three of us stayed in a line." (MORE GORDON TO FOLLOW)

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

(HOW WAS YOUR RACE?) "That was fun. That's the way I like it. The cars were sliding all over the place and it was fun. The biggest thing was just make sure we didn't get ourselves in trouble, and I got in the middle once to see what I had there, then ran on the top for awhile and then the bottom."

(WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES FOR SUNDAY?) "If I knew the answer to that question, I'd be a bookie in Las Vegas. But when you've got 43 players here at the poker table, it's a little harder. But I'm pretty happy. If I could've gotten up to the 8 car and the 15 car, it would've been pretty interesting to see how fast we could've run together, but this Home Depot Chevrolet's pretty strong right now."

(HOW WAS THE CAR?) "The car was good. I just wanted to try and be patient there at the end. I wanted to make sure we didn't put ourselves in too many positions where we were compromised and keep that thing in one piece. Once we got through our pit stop and got that thing strung out a little bit that helped. I need to work on my chassis, that's for sure, that's probably the biggest thing we need to do. But the car was pretty sporty at times."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"Sure not the way we wanted to finish the day. We had a great car from the start and I was content to run 2nd there behind Junior with Michael behind. He got out of line and I just felt good enough to run out front."

(WHAT HAPPENED ON PIT ROAD?) "I don't know what happened. I think Busch came in at about 500 mph and couldn't stop himself. I didn't even see him come across me until it was too late. It pushed our right front fender in and our day was done. He was driving way over his head, and it ended up costing us big, but it'll be okay. We've got a lot of guys from the fab shop here who will make this car better than it was. Now you get to watch us race from 31st to 1st."

MORE FROM ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(WHAT IS THE DISADVANTAGE OF PITTING ALONE?) "There are a couple things that happen. If you pit alone you don't have anybody to draft with to get back up to speed. Let's say you decide to stay out an extra lap than everybody else. If you do that, your five to eight miles an hour slower than everybody else by yourself compared to the line and you can't just pull up in front of that line and block the people. If you do you're going to get turned. I was going to pit with Jeff. We were going to pit as a team. I was real excited when they said, 'I talked to the 21 car and he is coming with you, too.' I figured three cars was all we needed. On lap 32 when the three of us came in the key was just getting back out first. If Rudd would have beat us out, I don't know if we would have gotten by him, as well, either."

(DOES THIS MAKE A STATEMENT IN YOUR CAREER?) "I don't know what it really means, other than we have a fast race car. Perception is kind of reality in this garage. If people believe you have a fast race car I think that is going to help us on Sunday. I think that is something Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip have going for them. Everybody understands those cars are really good, so everybody gets in line with them. Well, it's not that those cars are just. It's the help from somebody getting in line behind them and helping get by the next car. You can't do it by yourself. I think what this does is it might mentally help me with the other competitors because they understand that we have a fast race car. I'll duck out and hopefully they'll go with us. What's the saying in racing? 'Assume nothing and trust nobody,' so nobody will probably go with me when I pull out."

(IS SUNDAY NOW RCR VERSUS DEI?) "I don't know if it's RCR versus DEI or not. I just know that we've worked real hard. I know that the RAD program has dissolved, so we really don't have the information sharing going back and forth. I just know that our engine shop and our body shop and everybody have worked really hard over the winter. I don't think it's us against DEI. I think it's us against everybody. It just happens that DEI has dominated restrictor plate races lately and I'm just proud to be able to start to move RCR back toward the front, and I'm not doing it by myself. I'm doing it with a great group of guys."

(WHAT HAS THIS WEEK MEANT TO RCR AND DID YOU THINK YOU WERE GOING TO BE THIS STRONG?) "Everybody thinks they're going to be strong. Until you show up at the racetrack you never really know. Then, when you go to qualify you never really know, as well. The key is we qualified well. The car raced real well. I'm excited to be starting in my best position ever in the Daytona 500 - third. I think that has now equaled my best start in the Indy 500. It would have been nice to be on the front row with my teammate. But, it's our best start here. I've got a great race team and the guys have worked real hard. They key is I can't make any mistakes. You saw what happened in the second race coming down pit lane. So many things can happen and you just have to be on top of your game the whole day.

"You look at it and say, 'Restrictor plate racing - what does the driver really have to do,' because it is a lot about the race car. The key is you have to put it in the right position. I'm going to work real good with my spotters. My crew chief Kevin Hamlin was on me this morning about not taking unnecessary risks and I think that is the same thing we're going to have to do on race day is not make any mistakes in the pits, on the racetrack, etc., to position ourselves to win the Daytona 500."

(HOW PREMATURE DO YOU BELIEVE THE TALK OF A DEI VICTORY CELEBRATION IS?) "I heard Junior say that he hopes he can sweep this deal. My goal is that he doesn't sweep the deal. He and Michael have been real strong in restrictor plate races. RCR has a great history at restrictor plate races, as well, and I'm going to do everything I can to give Richard his second Daytona 500 victory."

(HOW MUCH MORE ARE YOU PREPARED TO RUN UP FRONT WEEK IN AND WEEK OUT THAN SAY THREE OR FOUR YEARS AGO?) "Last year was my full consistent year in Winston Cup. I learned a lot and know what it takes, kind of for a championship. I know where we made mistakes last year. The key is not make those same mistakes this year. We've already got a lot of momentum going. We've got a lot of team momentum going and hopefully we'll be able to continue that. Our goal is obviously to win the Daytona 500. If we can't win the Daytona 500, I at least want to come out of here with a top 10 finish and try to score some points. We finished 20th last year. I want to do everything I can to try to slide into the top 10 into the championship this year."

(WERE GUYS MAKING RISKIER MOVES TO TRY GET ON AND OFF PIT ROAD?) "I kind of looked at the second 125 and saw what you saw. To be honest with you, that is where I knew I would have to capitalize was under braking and not lock up the left front tire. I knew I was going to change the right tires, but the key was not to lock up the lefts. Actually, Kurt Busch did an awesome job getting stopped for pit lane. He wasn't speeding when he got there. What I don't understand is why he didn't move to the left earlier if his pit was right there. The second thing was maybe why Kevin started to try to pass him because his pit was way on down pit lane. Kurt would have been in a position to win the race by getting in. I think he passed four cars under braking which was real impressive. The problem is either Kevin didn't know where he was or he didn't know where Kevin's pit was. Part of the equation here that I look for is where the other guys are on pit lane and then you can kind of understand when they're going to peel off, so you don't stick your nose in a position to get taken off like that."

(DO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE A LOT OF COMPLAINING ABOUT THE CHEVROLETS?) "The only thing I can say is congratulations to all the Chevy engine shops. What's happened is we've raced cars that have had more drag than the Ford and the Dodge in the past and now we've got an equal package to them. It just shows how much we've complained about our straight-line speed. Now, when we have same or similar drag numbers...it just shows how hard the Chevrolet engine shops have worked. (MORE GORDON TO FOLLOW)

"Our engine shop at RCR and obviously DEI's engine shop, once you come with an equal-bodied car, it shows that we might be up on them a little bit on horsepower. That is only that we had a lot more drag before."

(ARE OTHER TEAMS STARTING TO EMULATE THE DEI TEAMMATES?) "Obviously, they have worked real good together. I'm sure that was Dale Sr.'s plan when he put those programs together. He put them where they were in shops side by side working together. It's obviously paid off for them on restrictor plate races. They've worked together. They share information and I think that helps when you have two and three car teams."

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

(DO YOU SEE AN RCR, DEI FACE-OFF ON SUNDAY?) "I'm sure that's what I'll read in the paper. Not really. It's just a hell of a race up front. I'm not going to say that first and second are just going to sit there and ride out front, and then you're going to race hard from there on back. But, that is what is going to happen for the majority of the race and that is what happened for the majority of these two races. What I think you'll find very interesting are the pit stops and how it strings the field out. It really does string it out - not so much at Talladega. You really strung everybody out and it seems like they stayed there for the most part. The packs would close back up, but wouldn't get side by side and whatnot. So, I think in the race if we get some long green flag runs you're going to see guys all over the racetrack. It was funny when we came off pit road and were way out in front of Michael, I was thinking to myself that it was kind of bringing up memories of watching old highlights from races here in the '70s and '80s when guys would just drive away. Kind of crazy.

"It was exciting to win the 125. It's just tough because we're doing so well. I didn't expect to come down here and do this well. This is really good."

(DO YOU THINK YOU AND MICHAEL HAVE MORE EXPERIENCE WORKING TOGETHER THAN THE RCR GUYS?) "Yes. Michael and I would definitely whoop them in a tag team drafting match."

(WHAT IS IT GOING TO BE LIKE TO BATTLE WITH RCR ON SUNDAY?) "It's kind of tough. It's really hard to decide, if you were going to lose, who would you pick to lose to? That's one of the toughest things because you have guys that are sentimental favorites, even for me. I'm a tick of a fan in this deal, too, even though I'm out there competing. There are some advantages and disadvantages to RCR's programs. I've been able to get to know them even more by running that Busch race with them last year and got to see some of the good personalities within the shop and the program itself. I always will wish Richard well. I don't necessarily see eye to eye with every one of his drivers, but they ain't been there that long and they might not be there for much longer.

(DO YOU SEE AN RCR, DEI FACE-OFF ON SUNDAY?) "I'm sure that's what I'll read in "It looks like Jeff (Green) has a strong, strong car. I saw a lot of that in practice the other day after qualifying. I didn't expect them to be able to back it up in race trim like they did their qualifying efforts. They normally haven't been strong, strong contenders. But, he was real fast, so I was really expecting him to lead and do well. I was surprised the '31' won the race. I expected somebody else to win the race."

(HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT SWEEPING THE WEEK?) "I thought somebody had already done that. It seems like to me every time we do something good it stacks the odds against us even worse to win the '500.' I feel like we've got as good a chance as anybody else and I hope we win it. The Busch car is really good. We've got a competitive Busch car. We didn't come down here and dominate like everybody expected us to do from our test session. But, I think we've got a good car. We can do well in that race and do well in the '500.' The '500' is all about parity and trying not be part of it. A lot of things happen while you're out there running. It's a long, long race. It seems like it's probably the longest race of the season and it has so many parts to it. There are sections to each race that are defining moments in the outcome. The guys that I saw up front last year, I didn't expect them to be contenders, so I'm going to try to figure out what the equation is to end up up front. But, it ain't just 'run your ass off,' I'll tell you that. It's play it smart and stay in a good, safe position and don't tear your car off. Don't race on and off pit road as hard as you can for a spot. Why do you want to tear a brake caliper off just to beat somebody down pit road? Stupid stuff like that happens and that is when it happens. It doesn't happen in practice or qualifying. It happens in the race. When something stupid like that is going to bite you, that's when it's going to happen. You've just got to be patient and I think we've got a good chance. If we win it, we win it. It would be great.

"I want to win anything I'm competing in. I'm a terrible loser. I'm competitive in everything. I was disappointed we didn't get the pole, especially to get beat by Jeff Green, who wasn't somebody you expected to get beat by. Congratulations to him - nothing against or taken away from him. But, that's just my competitiveness. We go into the '500' being the favorite to win the race and somebody who is going to get a lot of exposure in the first, early portions of the race and we just want to be able to back it up. We're in a good position. We're in a good position to win.

"I want to win the Busch race and the Cup race. We spent an awful lot of money to come down and try to run second."

(IS THIS YOUR RACE TO LOSE?) "We lost it last year. It was our race to lose last year. We ran over something that came out from under Michael's car. There is not much you can do about that. I can't say I knew it was coming. It's just so weird. Everybody puts so much emphasis on this race and you talk about the favorite to win. It's not easy to win it. You're singling out one event that you'll run 20, 30 times, maybe, in a full career. What are the chances that you're going to win the race with everything that can happen in 500 miles? That's like saying, 'Before my career is over I'm not going to be satisfied unless I win at Watkins Glen?'

"What are the odds there? You really stacking yourself up against some pretty strong odds. I realize that reality. But, again, I know our potential. We can win this race. We go in there with a good attitude and we go in there and make good pit stops and I take it easy on the car, no matter whether I'm pitting or drafting or side by side or three wide - I've got to keep in mind that I need to see the checkered flag. I hope we're fortunate. I hope we get the breaks to win."

(HOW MUCH DOES THIS RACE MEAN TO YOU, KNOWING YOUR FATHER'S HISTORY HERE?) "It means as much to me. The strange thing about it for me, though is that I have a chance to win it so early and dad came in for years and years. He had a great car when he ran for (Rod) Osterlund, but from there on out he really came down here with less of a chance to win. Once he got with Richard they started improving and improving and it got to where they could come down here and run great in Speedweeks, but just couldn't wrap up the '500.' I'm remember as a kid or as a teenager, I'm remembers how hard it was and, I mean, it hurt. When he cut the tire in front of [Derrike] Cope that year - those were tough, tough times. It was awful. It just ruined the whole deal. But, everybody here can look back at that day and remember what it felt like and you can imagine what it felt like for him. Going through that I realize how big this race is. But, it's weird for me because I've got a chance to win it so early and don't know what to think about that. I don't know whether to appreciate it. I don't know what to think about it. It's like it's something that - you earn the chance to win this race. I'm probably going to look back 10 years or 15 years from now and wish I had a chance to do it all over again if I don't win this race because I'm going to have all this experience and go, 'Man, what the heck? If I wouldn't have done that...I had the chance to win the Daytona 500 only in my (fourth) year in the sport. Hopefully, I'll win it and I won't have to worry about that."

(ON THE TEAMMATES AT RCR) "I don't have a problem with any of them guys, but they've just got a volatile little situation over there. It's tough having a teammate. Teammates can be good, teammates can be bad, teammates can be worse to you or for you than just a regular other competitor. You've got to know how to compliment each other. You've got to know how to work with each other. What I was upset with last year was how they worked against each other and didn't compliment each other. Jeff and Harvick were too competitive with each other at times. You've got Richard Childress over there busting his ass for all these years to get what he's got and I don't think those guys appreciate what the man is in this sport and the opportunity they have in his race cars."

(HOW IS THE NEW GARAGE ACCESS POLICY WORKING FOR YOU?) "I've seen a massive difference - a huge difference - in the new policy. They made a change and it's evident. When you walk into that garage during practice or just before practice, it's very easy to get around, very easy to work and talk with the guys. I can get out of the car and talk to the team and not look around and have people piercing in on the conversation with stares and whatnot, and just kind of being apart of a conversation that doesn't pertain to them. It's a lot of fun, us working together. As easy as it is for mine and Tony (Eury) Jr.'s fuses to get short with each other, this has really helped us out."

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(ON TEAMWORK AND TEAMMATES) "Teamwork is necessary to be successful here and it doesn't have to come from a teammate. Todd got pushed right up to the front because he was able to get a big bunch of help from Jimmie Johnson. A lot of times people misunderstand working together because they think that because someone helps you they like you. But what it is is that you help someone because you're trying to help yourself. That's the difference between teamwork and teammate. Because with the teammate that I have, we understand the importance of the three cars sticking together no matter what. And short of getting late in the race and causing ourselves a chance to win, we're not going to bale out on each other. There was a point in the race today that I gave Jr a push and it knocked him sideways and he got up out of the groove. I could have drove under him but I wouldn't do that to him for a 125. So teammates is a lot different than teamwork."

(WOULD YOU GO UNDER HIM IN THE 500?) "Oh yeah. But if there's 50 to go it might be the time to make the winning pass. You have to figure out when you're going to make the winning pass. If it's 50 laps into the race you're not going to make the winning pass then. There's a lot of stuff that's going to happen. So that's the difference. You just don't do those things early no matter if it will benefit you. You just wait until it comes down to where you think that you can win the race by passing your teammate you go for it. Just like we saw Dale Jr. do here last July."

(IS THERE ANY CONCERN OVER PARK'S ENGINE?) "I think that there is concern right now to try and figure out what happened. That's the great thing about being involved in an organization like Dale Earnhardt Inc. Because they'll know exactly what happened to it tomorrow and we'll take care of any concerns that we have right now by then. We have an unbelievable engine room. I wish everybody could come see it but you can't."

(IS SUNDAY SHAPING UP TO BE A WAR BETWEEN DEI AND RCR?) "I can see where you would say that but there's so much stuff that is going to go on between the start of the race and the finish. That's the cool thing about Dale Jr. We've never made plans. We've never one time figured out that we're going to do this or that. It changes. Every time a caution flag falls you change your strategy. Every time you understand what your car is doing 50 laps into the race, your plan needs to change. Todd Bodine's car was as fast as anything I saw. Mike Wallace was a rocket. You can't rule out anyone at a plate race because they get the right push and hit the right setup and they're right up in there fighting with you. I was impressed with Mike's car when it blew up behind me. A lot of time you can tell how fast a guy is when he gets behind you because he really speeds your car up. Mike and Todd's car both really gave me some options with Dale Jr as far as trying to get a run on him. I did once but I couldn't finish it off."

(WHAT WOULD IT TAKE OR WHEN WOULD YOU SEE YOURSELF PASSING DALE JR?) "To win the race. Everybody understands that we're teammates and we're going to help each other survive and help put ourselves in a position to win but I was going to pass him today. I tipped you all off to this last year and I hope you remember the reason why I didn't is because his car is faster. I just couldn't. But I wanted to really bad. It's kind of silly to think that we're here at the Daytona 500 and we wouldn't pass each other. It's just very difficult. The second race was cool because you had lots of options. You had people blowing up and a lot going on. After the first race they kind of laid there in line. We didn't have that at all in the second race."

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