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USG Sheetrock 400 - Chevrolet Post-Race Quotes
"We cut a right front tire down. I don't know if I ran over something or what happened. But by the time I realized it going into Turn 1, it was too late and it got up in the wall.
(THERE IS A LOT OF SPEED HERE IN THESE CORNERS, ISN'T THERE?) "Yeah, you just can't get it slowed down quick enough. But the time you do, you've got a problem. It's too late."
"We lost the right front tire when we entered Turn 1 there for some reason. I hadn't seen any problems with the right front. We'd been tearing up the right rear a little bit. But, the NAPA Chevy never really felt as good as it did yesterday all day today. We were working on it. We just kept having a little bit of tire problems here and there. The left front would be flat one time. The right rear would be blistered and then the right front blew out. So there is really no trend; just a bad day."
"Mike Bliss had a lot to do with that one (wreck). There was nowhere I could go. I don't know what's going on. We've been struggling really bad. It's very frustrating. When we get up to the front, hopefully that kind of stuff won't happen."
"If we would have stayed out like I wanted to, we would have won the race. But we didn't want to take any chances. Zippy wanted to be conservative. We've had four top five's in three weeks here, so I can't complain. The guys did an awesome job this weekend with J.J. Yeley subbing for us and this whole race team getting this back up car out and getting it as good as it was today. I'm tired, but I figured I'd be a lot worse than this after the race. It was just a good enough car that it made it easy to drive today."
(A STRONG RUN TODAY..ARE YOU SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?) "We had an awesome car today. We probably gave up a win or a second place run, but I'm really happy. To have crashed the car on Saturday and be as sore as I was this morning as I was when I got up, the crew did an awesome job. I've got to thank J.J. again for coming in and riding this thing on Friday for us. They did a great job. The car was real good all day and I felt a lot better at the end of the race than I thought I was going to. So to get a top five finish for us I'm really happy about it."
(WAS THERE ANY PAIN FOR YOU DURING THE RACE?) "I had pain the whole race. When you grow up in the Midwest racing Sprint Cars and Midgets, you race hurt and you race with black eyes and you race with bloody eyes and you just do what you've got to do and we got it done today.
(ON WORKING HIS WAY TO THE FRONT) "We really got to the front pretty quick in all reality. We got by a lot of cars in that first segment before they did the mandatory caution. The crew gave us some track position after that and we just worked our way forward from there. Once we got in the top 10, every restart we were picking off two or three in the first two laps or so, so that really helped us out. Once we got in that top five group, clean air was a big help once you got out there. We had nothing for the No. 17 (Kenseth). We were probably about as good as the No. 25 (Vickers), but we just kept hanging in there and should have had a top two finish today for sure, and if we had stayed out, maybe a win. But that's why they call it gambling when you come in the pits there. Some took two (tires), some took none and some took four. We did what we thought was right. Whether it was right or wrong, we still got a top five finish so that was pretty good."
(WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT FIRST PIT STOP) "We just got boxed in. We were one car ahead of the No. 88 and behind the No. 43 and we came in behind the No. 48 and got turned in and then the No. 43 turned in after us. The angle that I was, I had to back up to get out.
"And by the time I backed up, they were ready to go forward again, so we lost seven or eight spots. But I got them back pretty quick."
(ABOUT DRIVING IN PAIN) "You just do it. The good thing is our car drove really good and that's a credit to the guys. When you get the car driving good it helps you save energy and makes it a little less painful to drive. But I'm not going to lie. It wasn't the most fun thing to do today. But I feel really good leaving here with everything that's happened this weekend with a top five."
(THE TEAM REALLY PULLED TOGETHER) "The most impressive part is that's what it takes to win championships. If that happens in the last 10-week stretch and we can pull out a top five in a situation like this, that's what it's going to take. I'm just really proud of everybody. This was a very key weekend for us to backup our performance in Michigan. I think we showed that we've caught up with the Roush and Hendrick teams a little bit. We didn't win the race today. We never led a lap, but we were a contender all day and we were right in that mix with Hendrick and Roush cars. That hopefully will solidify our name at Joe Gibbs racing in that list of two or three now that have a shot at winning this thing at the end of the year."
(HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW?) "I'm sore. After 267 laps as fast as we run at this place it would be foolish to expect not to be sore."
(WHAT DID ZIPPY SAY AT THE END?) "I think he knew I was frustrated with our decision on the pit stop. It's the what-if syndrome. If Matt would have gone up there in three laps and got back in the lead and drove away from the field then four tires would have been the perfect thing. We did what we thought was right. We didn't win the race but we got a top five out of it and with the circumstances, I think that was all right."
(DID YOU HAVE ANY TIRE PROBLEMS TODAY?) "To be honest, historically we never have tire trouble. That blown tire the other day was a freak deal. We just don't have the tire problems the other teams tend to have. It makes it feel good as a driver when you know tire problems are there that you normally don't have to worry about it."
(DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU DIDN'T HAVE PROBLEMS?) "We scuffed less than anybody. I went out and ran one lap and came in on all my sets. A lot of guys ran two or three laps on their sets and then got more heat in them. But I don't know what the problem is. Our set-up is a little easier on the tires. It may not be the fastest set-up. We might have been able to be a little more aggressive, but I'm not sure the result would have changed anything. We probably would have just had more problems like everybody else."
(ON THE 23 MINUTE FLIGHT HOME) "If I could click my heels three times and just be there, I'd skip the 23-minute flight. The bad thing is I'm going to get in the airplane and fall asleep and I'll want him to circle for an hour and let me keep sleeping. I'll be nice to sleep in my own bed."
(IT LOOKED LIKE YOUR RACE CAR WAS AS GOOD AS ANYBODY'S FOR MOST OF THE AFTERNOON) "Yeah, it really was. These GMAC Chevy guys did a good job. We got all we could out of it there at the end. It just got tight and we just didn't have anything for them."
(WHAT ABOUT THE CALL TO GET TWO TIRES TO GAIN TRACK POSITION THERE AT THE END, DID YOU OR LANCE MCGREW MAKE THE CALL?) "It was (crew chief) Lance (McGrew). He made a good call. Track position meant everything. It was real important there at the end."
(IT LOOKS LIKE YOU FOUND SOMETHING ON THE OUTSIDE THERE AT THE END THAT WORKED PRETTY WELL FOR YOU) "Yeah, without a doubt. We finally got things working right with the car. We had a fast race car but I had to take care of it on new tires. We would blister a right rear tire off after about 25 laps. Actually, I had to pit under green because of that one time. During the pit stops we kept moving spring rubbers around and changing the wedge and trying to get the weight off the right rear tire and finally got it to where it was good for 30 or 40 laps and got back on the lead lap and went to the front from there."
(TALK ABOUT RACING FOR THE WIN) "It was a lot of fun all day long. There were a lot of young guys up there really racing their hearts out. It's fun to be able to race with these guys and everybody is giving each other the respect we need but we're still racing hard."
(ON THE DAY) "It was really a good day for us. We had some issues with the right rear tire blistering on the first pit stop. And we thought we had figured out a way to cycle the tires and keep them from blistering and add some life to the tire, but unfortunately we had a longer run and the right rear blistered again and started to come apart so I had to hit pit road. When we were down a lap, (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) started moving things around like I said. Then we started bottoming out the front. Once we got our lap back we came and lifted the hood and tried to pick the front of the car up a little bit. It was really just a ton of work. We worked our way up to 11th and was on the jack getting ready for four (tires) and Chad saw a lot of guys taking two. He called two tires and the guys responded right. We got some track position. Then we just made some flatfoot moves on the outside of Turns 1 and 2 and made up some good spots and got some position. I really thought I was going to have a shot at the No. 8 (Earnhardt Jr.) but once Matt (Kenseth) got to me and got by that he would probably going to go up there and take the win away, but he didn't."
(ON JEFF GORDON'S CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE) "Yeah, this weekend wasn't very good for him. The car was really out of control throughout the weekend. It always seems to happen that you have bad luck and then your bad performance is mixed in with it and unfortunately he had another bad day. I'm not sure how he crashed off of Turn 2. But it's going to be tough to bounce back in the points. If anybody can rebound back, it's him. And there is still a lot of racing left."
(WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE AT LOUDON AND DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF MOMENTUM GOING INTO THE LAST HALF OF THE SEASON?) "Yeah, it's nice to finish well. Our 1.5-mile program has been a little off. Today was a nice way to get up there and lead in the top five throughout the day. We did have tire trouble so we have a little bit of work to do still with the intermediate tracks. But at Loudon, we were up there testing last week, it's a tough little track to race on. It's going to be a track position race and hopefully we learn the right things at our test session. I can't say we went there and found what we did in '03 when we won both races. My car just doesn't drive the same there right now and we're trying to get that back, but the test session did help us out a lot."
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO AND CREW CHIEF, STEVE HMIEL - Race winner:
STEVE HMIEL: (0N THE TWO-TIRE CALL) "It was no brainer. Matt Kenseth and Robby Reiser and the Jack Roush team had a great car. It was the best car all day. When you have the best car, you come get four tires every chance you get. On the other hand, they beat us all day on four tires, so with 20 to go, we gambled. We were pretty happy to be in the top eight at that point. So we just took two tires and thought we'd just see if we could hold them off. And then we got lucky caution when the No. 24 had some trouble. To be honest, our car was not as good as it looked. Junior drove the wheels off it. I could see how high his elbows were. He was in there wheeling the heck out of his car. That's the kind of thing you have to be able to rely on a driver to do. You can't mess up, you've got to run hard, and you've got to protect your position. Junior knows how to do that and everybody knows that. But the capper about this thing for me this week is that we went to Daytona and ran well. People didn't know we were going to run well at Sonoma two weeks ago because we broke a transmission.
STEVE HMIEL CON'T: "Things had started to change. We had a good race car. We went to Daytona and that's a no-brainer. Junior is going to run in the top five in a Chevy Kobalt. I didn't really look at that as a huge success on our part. But we needed to come to Chicago and drive a stake in the ground and say hey guys, we're back. And the way we came back was by taking all the resources that Teresa Earnhardt and Richie Gilmore have given us - all the help from our sponsors and GM and the wind tunnel guys and engineering and engine guys and fabrication. This car was in the wind tunnel last Tuesday. Wednesday, it had the whole front end cut off it. Our truck drivers left late Thursday night - it's about a 15-hour ride. This whole company has worked very hard to prove that it's a company that works together. Tony Jr. helps with the set-ups. Tony Sr. is back home building new things and trying other stuff. We would like to be known as a company that has 350 people that work together. Today was certainly a sign that it will work if you do it correctly. But most of the credit goes to Dale Jr. His name is on the building. He's the cornerstone of the whole thing. I tell him he's the franchise and when it comes down to it, he's the guy I want in the seat."
JUNIOR: (HOW DOES IT FEEL TO SHOW EVERYBODY YOU CAN WIN?) "The car was really good. We made some changes. We found this one little combination of changes that was just about fixing it just right each time. As the track got a little tighter, this combination seemed to be enough to keep us with the track. At the end, I was worried about it being real tight but the car just took off. Of course when you get toward the top three, you know you're going to see a lot more speed out of your car because the air is a little better up there. We've got to give a lot of credit to the car because we've been beat so bad about how we've been running and we haven't been leading races or up front. As we got closer to the front, your confidence in your equipment gets better. When we don't run good, you don't know what you're going to step in the next day. You feel like you have an idea, but if you weren't very fast in practice you don't know. As the race went on, I think we all felt better about our race car. So the car did a lot of work today and we were able to take advantage of an opportunity to put ourselves in position to win. I've never really won a race like that. I've been beaten like that a lot. So we took a chance. I was amazed it paid off."
(ON PASSING SCOTT WIMMER AND ON HIS DECISION TO TAKE TWO TIRES) "I didn't know how he'd been running all day and I thought it was a good chance for him to try to get a top 10 finish out of something that had been rather dismal. That's all you can do. I was aggravated that he was there because I wanted to be in the lead. But he was doing what he had to do. I was wondering how I would get by him because we only had two tires, not four. I thought we might be tight. But we were able to get around him on the outside of Turns 1 and 2."
(WITH JUST THREE WEEKS SINCE MICHIGAN, ARE YOU SURPRISED TO BE SITTING IN VICTORY LANE THIS QUICKLY?) "I've struggled a little bit here. But I like these kinds of tracks. I won my first couple of races at Texas this one is similar. When Steve came on, he saw a lot of things. And it took three or four weeks for him to change what he saw. Tony Jr. and Steve have a real good working relationship. Tony Jr. and that team deserve the credit. They've been innovative and found a lot of things while we were steadily getting further behind in our predicament the first three months of the season. They were gaining and learning. Steve asked Tony Jr. some questions and applied some ideas. The first time I felt like we were going to the race track with some footing was at Michigan. The car was strong. We had a fast car. We were starting to get some grip and see some improvement and that's exactly what happened. I couldn't believe how good my car was at Sonoma. When we go to practice, most of the time we're making gains. That makes you happy and positive about what you're doing. So I'm not real surprised. Obviously we can all stand here and say this is a fifth place car today. We would have been happy with that. We gained all day. We just made the calls that a guy with this much experience can make. We put ourselves in position to win. Today it paid off."
(ON THE RESTART, YOU TOLD YOUR CREW ON THE RADIO YOU WANTED THEM TO PUSH YOU) "That's exactly what you need. It's just like a jockey on a horse during the last stretch. He's getting all he can out of that horse. That's what I expect out of my team. I like to be calm throughout the day. I don't like to get overly excited. But at the last stretch of the race and they know there's a guy in front of us that's faster, I want them to say, 'Come on, drive it harder. Do something, Let's go'. We don't have many opportunities to find ourselves in the hunt and be excited about it. I wanted to enjoy the hell out of it and get the whip out and see if we could gain another spot. I needed somebody to get me up on the wheel. Not all drivers will admit to that. But it helps. We think we're in there doing all we can, but you never are. There's always more. There's always another gear, another level, another step. There's always harder and harder - until your head explodes or something. I just wanted to be pushed."
(WAS THAT THE DIFFERENCE IN THE RACE..YOUR LAST THREE PIT STOPS WERE REALLY INCREDIBLE) "I'll put my team up against anybody on pit road. They're the fastest. They've always been the fastest. They are just unsung because they haven't had the credit for being as good as they are. They know what they can do. They make mistakes when there is no pressure. It seems like they make them then. As the race goes on and it gets more intense, they seem to perform even better. They always have performed well in the shop and at the race track. I haven't seen one guy take a break or let up. That's how we got here today."
HMIEL: (HOW DIFFERENT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP NOW THAT YOUR IN THE ROLE YOU'RE IN?) "It's no different. I remember Dale Jr. when he was a young fellow and destined to be a race car driver. I watched him come along and was tickled to death when he had all his Busch success. I was glad that Dale Sr. had an interest in me being around Dale Jr. Certainly he didn't need any help driving. It's a matter that 30 years from now I'll look back and say I was pretty lucky that I won some races with Mark Martin and Richard Petty and Terry Labonte and now I can add Dale Jr. to that. And that means a lot because I think he's one of the premiere race car drivers I've ever been around. It's been fun to watch him grow up. He may never mature (laughs), but he's going to grow up. But to be part of DEI as DEI tried to force itself forward into the ranks of Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush, that's the single most important thing. But Dale Jr. is certainly the most important thing."
JUNIOR: (WAS THERE A POINT WHEN YOU THOUGHT MAKING THE CHASE WAS HOPELESS AND HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT NOW?) "You try not to ever be hopeless in this sport. But right before Daytona, I changed my attitude a little bit and quit worrying about it. I started thinking more about each lap and each position and being a little more basic about it. It helps. It keeps you motivated. Races like this helps. But even before the Daytona race, I had all the confidence in the world in my team and in Steve. It's been a pleasure to work with Steve. I've always had a lot of respect for Steve. I didn't know if we'd ever really work hand in hand like we are today. We always worked around each other in the company some. But this is a neat experience. Hopefully we can do this more often and be successful. What do I like and what does Steve know about what I like? You have to mold it all into one set-up. I'm optimistic about the Chase. Our opportunity to make the Chase is still there, officially, after the gain we made today."
JUNIOR: (HOW DOES THIS WIN RANK ON YOUR SATISFACTION SCALE COMPARED TO OTHER WINS YOU'VE HAD?) "I don't know if anybody else sees it, but every time we win there is always some circumstance. We've never really gone somewhere and picked up a win and quietly walked out. Today's circumstance for me is obviously winning with this team that has been beat up so bad all year long by the critics. I never expected that. I told them there was going to be pressure when they put the red uniform on, but I didn't think it would be as cruel as it has for them. I've got the easiest job in the whole company. We're starting to figure it out and put it all together. That's the satisfaction of this win. To see what they feel today means more than taking the trophy out and setting it on the mantle."
JUNIOR: (HOW DO YOU MOVE FORWARD FROM HERE?) "This is definitely different for this team. We'll just drive as hard as we did these last 10 laps - we'll drive them all that way and see what happens. We've got to stay up on top of the race car all day long. Steve's got to be up on that pit box ripping the cushion off with his fingers, you know what I mean?"
HMIEL: "You just have to stay consistently pushy. That's been one of my greatest attributes. You want it all. But you've got to show up with good stuff. For example, we have a brand new car that didn't exist 10 days ago going to New Hampshire this weekend. We'll work night and day to build another one like it. The biggest thing that as hard as we have all pushed each other the past six weeks, nobody has gotten mad or stormed off. We've worked together as a team. When it's all said and done, I think we'll be happy about it come September."
JUNIOR: (YOUR TEAM MEMBERS HAVE FACED CRITICISM FROM THE MEDIA AND THE FANS, WHICH HAS BEEN TOUGH. WHAT HAS BEEN THE TOUGHEST PART FOR YOU?) "I don't think the 'boos' bother me. That kind of solidifies me in the sport because if everybody cheers for you, people feel like you never pay your dues. So if I'm getting booed a little bit, I'm paying my dues a little bit. So that's okay. This is the honest truth. As bad as some of the finishes are that we've had - as hard as they are to stomach sometimes and to understand - I've had a good time. I've had fun with this team. I never anticipated them being as good a bunch of guys as they are. They all like each other and get along. They don't put me in a bad position by putting me in the middle of a dispute. I feel like part of them. Steve does a good job of leading them. They trust him and believe in what he says. They are all genuinely giving their best. I feel like I can read people real well. They seem like they're giving their best. As hard as it's been to run like we've run, I've enjoyed it and look forward to going to the track. You can't turn your back on it because days like today will happen when you work as hard as you work. There really ain't nothing that hard about it."
HMIEL: (WHAT AREAS HAVE YOU WORKED TO CORRECT?) "The guys have worked hard all winter. They didn't sit on their hands and rely on Junior to carry them to the front. Michael Waltrip's driving style is more conducive to this new tire. Tony Jr. took that with his guys and went farther down that road. Junior had never really shown an affinity for that kind of set-up. You have to move your suspension points around and there are a number of mechanical things you have to do. That took a long time. And it's not like somebody had gone in there and messed everything up. The business changed and it coincided with us making a change with Junior. I had seen a bunch of things from being on the outside looking in that could be made better based primarily on the success that Michael Waltrip and Tony Jr. had."
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