MBNA America 400 - Chevrolet Post-Race Quotes

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet (Finished 3rd)

“We made big gains for sure. I’m real proud of these guys for that effort. We had great pit stops. We just never gave up on it. Early on, I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t have given us a shot at a top 20. We kept fighting on it and fighting with the car and we finally got it pretty decent there and got some good track position. I’m really proud of Robbie (Loomis, crew chief) and all the guys on this DuPont Chevrolet. That’s the type of effort it’s going to take for us to win this championship.”

(HIS THOUGHTS ON THE RACE) “It was a pretty up and down day for us. We started off great. We started off driving to the front. Then the next couple of runs we were way off and were really struggling. I was pretty happy to stay on the lead lap and be able to make some adjustments. Robbie (Loomis) and those guys in the pits did a great job. It was a great fight for us. Team effort wise I couldn’t have been more happy with the way things turned out for us to come home third. Because that team effort we did come home third. We weren’t as good as we really needed to be. There were times when we were but not consistently enough. I thought that maybe I could give Mark (Martin) a run for his money there at the end on that last re-start. Today was one of the worst I’ve seen with aeropush here. We had to set the car up so loose to run behind somebody. If you didn’t get around somebody or they got away from you, it was just a handful. We fought that most of the day and especially there at the end.”

(WHAT WILL YOU FOCUS ON NEXT WEEK GOING TO TALLADEGA?) “Obviously we have some momentum from our two restrictor plate runs. As good as our program is and as good as our cars are, we’re going to be doing the same thing as Mark is going from the front to the back, front to the back. It’s Talladega. That’s the nature of Talladega. You can say you’re going to try to stay out of trouble but usually it’s out of your control anyway. You’re just along for the ride there and hope you make that surge to the front there at the end when it really counts. I feel good about our performance and how well our car is going to run but that doesn’t guarantee anything.”

(IT’S BEEN SAID THAT IT TAKES CONSISTENT TOP FIVES TO WIN THIS CHAMPIONSHIP. WILL YOU DO THAT AND HOW?) “I agree. Top fives, what more can you ask for than top fives every weekend? That would do it. We talked about if you have one bad race , you’re out of it. But if Ryan Newman does what he did today anymore then he’ll be right back in the thick of things. You can afford to have a bad weekend if you can come back and dominate like that. Other than that, I think it’s absolutely about consistency. Ten races are a lot of races believe it or not. We finished seventh last week, third this week and we’re leading the points right now. That pretty much says it right there.”

(EIGHT OUT OF TEN DRIVERS IN THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP ARE IN THE TOP TEN FOR TODAYS RACE. IS THERE ANYTHING TO THAT?) “I think so. That’s why they’re in the top ten in points. I think what you’re seeing happen at this point in the season is everybody is in their groove. Everybody’s got their stuff together. The guys that are in the top ten should be the best right now going into these last ten races. You normally see that late in the season anyway. The guys that are top ten in points are the guys usually the guys that are battling for the wins. Everybody in the top ten have won a race this year. That says something for itself right there. I would think just about every weekend, other than a couple surprises that will be thrown in there, you’re going to see guys in the top ten up there battling for those top ten spots. Then some guys are going to hit on some things and put together a race where they battle those top ten guys. I think that’s why they’re at where they’re at in the points.”

(HOW BAD IS THE PIT ROAD ENTRANCE?) “I would just comment that it is a very very difficult entrance no matter where those cones are at. It’s a tough entrance. It certainly would be nice to make some improvements there but it is the same as it’s always been. Now the cones are moved back. I think the cones are moved back for a reason. If they were further up there, guys would still be trying to challenge it. It gives them a little bit more flat area to be able to slow it down. Knowing that they’re back there means you’ve got to be more conservative. You can’t take changes there. It’s not worth it. Certain tracks you really attack the entrance of pit road. Certain tracks you can’t. This is one that I don’t even try. I get out of everybody’s way. I slow down. I’m like Mark. I’m at granny pace when I get on to pit road. I know I get beat there on the green flag stops but I’d rather get beat there than lose the race or a shot at the championship.”

(ON LAST WEEK’S SEVENTH PLACE FINISH AND BATTLING BACK TO THIRD PLACE TODAY) “I do feel fortunate. That’s for sure because I don’t think it’s been our best two efforts. I know that we’ve got to step it up a notch. I’d like to think that we got a notch to step up with. I’m somewhat excited and optimistic about tracks that are coming up that we can do that at. At the same time we recognize that we got beat out there today.”

(SHOULD ELECTRONIC TIMING BE USED AFTER THE INCIDENT WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON BEING CALLED FOR SPEEDING ON PIT ROAD?) “If you don’t have anything nice to say, you’re not supposed to say anything at all. Right? Regardless whether there is a championship on the line, they need to go to a totally different system on pit road. I can’t believe we’re doing it the way we’re doing. I’ve been questioning it for years. I’m not a big fan of it. I sit there and try to hold myself at the pit road speed they tell me I’m supposed to be running or I pace myself on the pace truck and I see guys running 700 rmp over what I’m running and not getting a thing. And then Jimmie gets it today. I have no idea how they’re going about that, how they could possibly keep track of all those cars pit road, who’s speeding, who’s not? I’m certainly not in favor of how it’s being done.”

“There’s no way you can change anything now. The answers that I get are that they don’t feel confident in the systems in place to be able to do that. I don’t know. I don’t know if they’re checking into it or what the deal is.”

“It is high-tech. I’m hearing that they’re concerned with those type of electronics being in the car that there is possible ways to hide traction controls and other things like that. There’s got to be a way to do it. There’s got to be a better way than we’re doing it now. I hope they look into it.”

Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet (Finished 6th)

(ON TAKING A DAY THAT SEEMED TO BE HEADING DOWNWARD AND PULLING OUT A SIXTH-PLACE FINISH) "It could've been worse because the car was much worse all day. But the guys kept working on it and we kept battling back and we finished sixth."

(AFTER LAST WEEK’S DISAPPOINTMENT THIS MUST BE A BIG GAIN FINISHING SIXTH?) “If you say so.”

(WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE RIGHT NOW?) “Kicking Robby Gordon’s butt to be honest. It’s racing. We’ll get ‘em back next week.”

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet (Finished 10th)

(WHAT WERE YOU TALKING ABOUT IN THE NASCAR TRAILER?) “I was just trying to understand the whole pit road thing. It’s a weird situation to be in. I guess they thought we were speeding. It’s pretty odd. We sit down and take the first pit stall and I guess we stick out like a sore thumb if anything looks wrong or bad we’re the only one moving at that point in time. We got hit by something today that I don’t think was fair. I don’t think we were speeding and I don’t think was right. They don’t have any computer system in place to back it up. It’s just a stop watch. Let’s take it from here. At least we established a good day out of it and got a top ten. We didn’t lose too much ground and we’ll be strong on the next one.”

(WHAT DID NASCAR TELL YOU?) “They said I was speeding. I said that I wasn’t.”

(ON YOUR PEFORMANCE DURING THE ENTIRE RACE) “It was a good day. We had one set of tires where we got really tight, blistered the right front tire. It hurt us. We went down a lap at that point. Rather than that, we were probably a top four, top three car. We just got some bad track position with that call on pit road and then that set of tires after we had that penalty. Something was wrong with them. We got really tight and lost a bunch around then.”

(IS IT SURPRISING A STOP WATCH IS STILL BEING USED?) “It is. If you pit down on the turn one side, everybody is running 500 to 1,000 rpm over. You’re in a group with 15 guys and no one is going to get nailed. I’m down on the turn four side and leave my pit box strong like I would any other time and didn’t even pass a car on the track. I left pit road the same place I went it and I’m speeding. I’m just dumfounded.”

(DO YOU SUSPECT THAT THOSE MEASUREMENTS AREN’T CONSISTENT WEEK TO WEEK, CAR TO CAR?) “The measurements definitely are not consistent on the race track. And then the hardest thing is you have people with stop watches in their hands at start finish line and I’m at the other end of the race track a half mile away. They’re at the start finish line looking down trying to look when their nose crosses the timing line to time it. We have enough technology where I think we can put something in place. They’ll be a lot of people nailed for speeding but at least you have something valid and proven telling you why and what you did wrong. Right now it’s all speculation. I feel I was right. They feel like I was wrong.”

(DID NASCAR GIVE YOU ANY INDICATION THAT NEWER TECHNOLOGY WOULD BE COMING IN THE FUTURE?) “No, nothing was said.”

Rick Hendrick, Owner of Hendrick Motorsports

(ON CURRENT METHODS USED FOR GUAGING PIT ROAD SPEED) “With the age of electronics we ought to be doing it with a wire. Take the guess work out of it. You don’t want somebody up there with a stop watch making a decision on the championship. That’s what you got. Maybe they’ll get it fixed.”

(IS IT SUPRISING THEY’RE USING STOPWATCHES?) “It really is when one of our sponsors, Delphi, went to them over a year ago with technology to fix that. But if it came to putting some stands here or selling some more tickets, they’d be doing it. Spending a little money to take the guess work out of it, I guess the tracks don’t want to do it.”

(DOES IT SEEM LIKE THEY WANT SOME WIGGLE ROOM?) “I would hate to be the guy that cost a guy a championship because his finger was a little quick on a stop watch. Look at where they’re standing and they’re trying to use a stop watch. Everybody is human. I just think we ought to take the human element out of it.”

(DID YOU HAVE A STOP WATCH DURING JIMMIE JOHNSON’S PIT STOP?) “No. I wouldn’t trust my time anyway. That’s my point.”

(DO YOU THINK THE REASON THEY USE A STOP WATCH IS BECAUSE OF MONEY?) “I don’t know why. You’ll have to ask them. I don’t know. I just know that Formula One and so many other sports, you can see it on pit road. It’s precise. You’ve got the information. Here’s a tape. All the teams can use that later to know what they’re doing.”

(WHAT WAS NASCAR’S RESPONSE TO YOUR COMMENTS?) “Not going to do anything this year. Maybe next year. Hey, if we win a race next year. I would hate to be NASCAR. They’re getting scrutinized in certain areas. If you can do it electronically, then do it electronically. Take all the guess work out of it. We’re like living in the 50’s. We used stop watches back when I started 20 years. It’s telemetry now. You don’t see a crew chief out there. They don’t carry those old stop watches because they can’t get it down. The real deal is we got telemetry now. Maybe if CBS and FOX says they need them in the cars they’ll get them.”

(WERE YOU CLEAR WITH WHAT YOU SAW ON YOUR TACHOMETER?) “Absolutely. I’m more scared on pit road than anyone. I’ve got guys out running me and I’ll speed up to fudge with them when you’re in a pack and you can get away with it. I left pit road. I was on my marks running my pit road speed. They said I was fast. It’s just he said, she said thing right now because we don’t have anything solid to prove otherwise.”

(HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU BEEN NAILED FOR SPEEDING BY NASCAR?) “That’s my very first time in six years.”

Bobby Labonte, No. 18 MBNA Chevrolet (Finished 14th)

“We had a good run. We’re getting a little bit better, and we learned some things this weekend. We were pretty fast at the end. We lost one of our laps when we spun entering pit road (Lap 264) and had to come in for a drive-through penalty. I looped it after the commitment line and that cost us a little bit. I think that’s only my second pit road penalty in my career. We had one at The Winston a couple of years ago during qualifying. Despite that though, we still had a good run compared to what we’ve had the last few races and that’s encouraging. We’re learning and gathering information and that’s important. The guys are working hard and we’ll continue to work hard.”

Jeff Burton, No. 30 America Online Chevrolet (Finished 33rd)

“We must of run over something and cut a right front tire. It’s a bad day for us. We had a pretty good race car. We certainly didn’t have a winning car but we were a sixth, eighth place car. We kept tuning on it. If we kept tuning on it, who knows what would have happened. We got a lap down early because we got penalized. That really hurt us. It was hard to get our lap back. We were finally in position to do that and we had a bad break. We’ll get digging and get this AOL Chevrolet in Victory Lane.”

(DID YOU HAVE ANY INDICATION BEFORE THAT SOMETHING WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?) “No, not really. The car wasn’t as good as the run before. We made an adjustment. I thought it was just the adjustment. We had gotten slow, not terribly slow, but we were a little slower than we needed to be and that was the only indication there was a problem. If you slowed down every time you got slower than you wanted to be, you’d spend half your time in the pit. We must have run over something and had a slow leak or something because Goodyear builds awesome tires. I hate it. We got behind early. We pitted out of the box and that was cool we got penalized but NASCAR penalized us and put us a lap down when the field was coming around. We were essentially two laps down. That wasn’t right. We deserved to pit but we didn’t deserve to be penalized when they penalized us. That was a huge problem for us. The way they penalized us was wrong. They should of penalized us but they shouldn’t of penalized us when they did and that put us where we never could get our lap back. We had a seventh, eighth place car but it would have been impossible to get our lap back because the way they imposed the penalty.”

Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet (Finished 38th)

“We were pretty bad loose at the start of that race. I was just trying to move around and find the line that would work. Up high was working pretty good. I just kept going higher and higher and finally I just went too high. I got up in the marbles and went up and around. It was my bad.”

“We were too loose. We were way too loose. We should have went in at the first stop but I didn’t. In hindsight it’s 20-20. That’s just part of it, especially when you’re loose and running real high like that. We were getting better especially up high. The car felt so good. I kept going higher and higher and finally got in the marbles.”