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News and Results | Point Standings | 2005 Schedule | 2005 Teams | 2004 Schedule and Results
Sony HD 500 - Chevrolet Post-Race Quotes
(ON WINNING HIS FIRST NASCAR NEXTEL CUP RACE): "It's unbelievable. But I wouldn't be able to do it without the support of all those people down in Louisiana and Mississippi. This is fun and joyful for us, but they're going through some hardships and hard times right now and I dedicate this win to them. I want to thank my awesome team. They kept me in the hunt all day long with pit stops and everything else. They did an awesome job for me. On that last pit stop, I really didn't think we were all going to come but everybody followed me. Alan (Gustafson) made an awesome call in order to just put two tires on there. That's what gave us the win. We were able to beat Greg Biffle and of course Brian Vickers. It was great racing with my brother out there and all the rest of the guys too. The No. 9 and the No. 6 and the No. 17 raced me especially clean. That's just unbelievable -- it's awesome for us."
(ON THE LATE RACE CAUTIONS) "My nerves were getting to me. I think I've had enough of that. That was just unbelievable. It's kind of like my first win in the NASCAR Busch Series. You’ve got Greg Biffle hunting down your rear spoiler -- and he's just working there and working there. To be able to beat all 42 competitors out here on the NEXTEL Cup Series level. It's just amazing. It's been a great task. It's been a hard road for us. But these No. 5 team guys deserve it so much. We should have been here at least five times or so but we haven't been able to close the deal. But tonight we did."
(AFTER HAVING ONE GET AWAY FROM YOU AT MICHIGAN MOST RECENTLY, IS THERE SOME EXTRA SATISFACTION WITH THIS WIN TONIGHT?) "Yeah, it is. This is the same car we ran at Michigan. I can't say enough about any other car that Hendrick Motorsports builds. It's just been amazing for all they've been able to do for us to get these cars prepared."
(ON THE LAST COUPLE LAPS IN THE GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED FINISH) “It was no different, same as always.”
(ON GOING OVER TO VISIT BRIAN VICKERS AFTER THE RACE) “I told him good job. He had an awesome day today. He needed that. It was just telling a kid that’s needed a top five here and hadn’t had one for a long time, good job.”
“Him and I have had a rocky past. We’ve kind of made up and become buddies now. I’m just really happy that he had a good day like that. The kid’s needed a top five finish and he got him one tonight so I feel happy for him.”
(ON GOING TO A PLACE HE LOVES – RICHMOND) “That’s a good thing we get to go there. That’s one of my favorite tracks. I’m excited. I’m going to do a triple this weekend by running the Truck and the Busch car. I’m really excited about the weekend.”
(DID YOU NOTICE A DIFFERENT IN THE HANDLING OF THE CAR WHEN THE SUN SET?) “It probably got a little bit tighter but we were still really fast when it got dark too. Every time you come in you make the cars better. We kind of just got to the point to where we were pretty much as good as we were and kind of had to live with it. I think we had the third best car really. If the caution doesn’t come out, we’re going to run third. We had a good day. We just had a situation there where (you have to decide) four tires, two tires, no tires. We thought we made the wrong decision again but we went the safe route and got another top five out of it. I’m really proud of this Home Depot team.”
“It was a hell of a night. It’s just one of those nights. You’ll have those good nights when things will happen. We thought we had it at one time. I don’t know if we just got a bad set of tires, over adjusted or what. We were really looking good and then things just went backwards. We struggled back and forth all night.”
(REGARDING HIS COMMENTS FROM FRIDAY THAT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED IN CALIFORNIA, HE’D STILL HAVE TO PERFORM IN RICHMOND) “We’re definitely the ones that are behind. We’ve got to attack really hard. I don’t see how we can do anything more than what we’re doing. We’re already attacking as hard as we can and that hasn’t been working. There’s nothing more we can do than what we are doing now.”
(WAS THE CAR EDGY AT THE END?) "The last run at the end, it was really out of control. I was holding on -- trying to do what I could. I lost some track position and then when everybody came in at the end and we lost track position."
(ON GETTING READY FOR THE CHASE) "We've just got to get some emotional control going on our team and get things all pointed in the right direction. We've got the tools and the stuff necessary to win races, we've just got to get everything back in line and get it firing on all eight cylinders."
(DID YOU HAVE ANY INDICATION THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE MOTOR?) "No, not really, other than it ran like crap. We struggled all day and all night down the straightaway. I don't know if something was wrong with it from the start of the race. We ran it hot in qualifying -- I did -- and might have burned something up in the motor and it just finally broke. But it's real disappointing. The car ran good there at the start of the race. We were real loose after that and tried to change the car around all night. It's unfortunate that the motor broke."
(NO WARNING?) “No warning. The motor blew up. If it hadn’t blow up it would have gone to hell.”
(ON HAVING MORE RACES TO STILL WIN THIS SEASON) “We’re going to come to the last 11 (races) and try to see if we can win a couple of them. It should be all right. We just had a bad night tonight, plus all year. We haven’t had a good year all year. I’m surprised. I bet you all are surprised. That’s the way it goes.”
(WILL THE REST OF THE YEAR BE R&D FOR YOU?) “I don’t want to run any worse than I’m already running. You’ve got to get in the car and get no worse and try to do good.”
PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
RICK HENDRICK, ALAN GUSTAFSON, KYLE BUSCH
Q. Can you talk about your recollections of when you were a little younger, the Truck race, your problems, what year was that, and I remember seeing you in that trailer when all of that was going on.
Q. Can you review for a minute on how important this win is for each of you in very different ways.
Q. Two-tire call there at the end?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, that certainly was -- we came down pit road not even wanting to come down pit road there at the end. I was going to fake everybody but everybody followed so I just decided to stick to it and decided to go for two tires because we were not going to be able to get the jacket that quick on the left side. That was the racing move right there, that was the call that was able to provide us the great track position in order to keep us up there in the first part off pit road so that was awesome on his part.
Q. Alan, you saw the car was in bad position?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: He got into the a bit shot and we were close to the inside wall. Little bit slow getting around and then we just switched off the two, we were prepared, we knew we were going to watch the guys around, 17 was in eyes' view of us and we're paying attention so all of the guys were ready to go. The guys did a very good job. I'm screaming in their ear and they are trying to do a great pit stop without any mistakes so it's huge on their part.
Q. As Kyle became increasingly dominant, did you adjust the car to the track or did the track come to you?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: We were pretty good to start there. We got up front there and we were saying maybe around lap 80 or 100, that was the first time we led, I thought we were looking pretty good. We went in, came out fourth or so and our competitors left us and we made a small adjustment there after that which was a little bit too much and came back a little bit off it and probably the last three stops got the car.
Q. Was it infectious for this young kid to fight off the Roush army? Last time we talked, he wanted to drive for you and you were talking forever about that.
RICK HENDRICK: I guess the first part of the question was the Roush army. I was -- we were thinking about who was going to run fifth, and looking back tonight, they looked so strong last night in the Busch race and the qualifying, we knew we had our work cut out for us.
But Alan and Kyle were very confident when I got out here that they were -- they didn't like the qualifying lap, but they really felt good about the race, I think the second part was after Kyle led it, to watch Kyle at Milwaukee run out of gas -- I think we lost the championship that day, he was half a second before anybody out in the truck, and so, yeah, it's fun to watch him race, and just happy we got him in the stable.
Q. Kyle if you could take us through the final restart?
KYLE BUSCH: The final restart is one of those deals where I mean there is about three of us, three too many, and you know after that pit stop there, I figured we were in pretty good shape, I'll go back to the second to last restart first, where I was running third behind Robbie Gordon in the 43 and I wanted to make sure I got a good enough restart where I was able to get rid of both of these guys in 1 and 2. 43 was generous enough to point me whatever way I wanted to go before the green flag and Jeff Green did an awesome job for me on that one and Gordon got real loose where I was able to drive on the outside and everybody racing toward the rear-view mirror and you're thinking, set, we'll be all right now and then that caution came out, threw my nerves so far out the window I could not believe it. I was able to keep myself a little bit more composed than maybe some other persons would.
I thought back to Richmond actually and racing over the Richmond told me I beat Greg Biffle for my first Busch Series and I wanted to do the same thing today. And we were able to just not spin the tires, get a good enough jump on those guys and get a good enough run through 1 and 2 where I was able to put a little distance on them where I was able to conserve there for the last three corners and wanted to make it.
Q. Earlier you were talking about when Kyle might get his first win and he had said that Michigan and California were really good places for him, why was that?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: I think we got a little bit of jump in California here, we were able to test here in the winter. That made a big difference. And Kyle, he's just unbelievably good. He's good everywhere but he's really unbelievably good at these momentum tracks. He's willing to drive the car with the setups we need to get the speed on them and he's willing to go out and do that stuff.
I thought Michigan would be a good place, everyone knows how dominant he was there in his Busch car. I think we could have potentially done the same thing, but the traction on the grill overheated.
Q. Earlier this year at Vegas, Kurt said that he predicted your first win this year and he said when you got that first one you were going to take off; what does this do for your confidence now?
KYLE BUSCH: The confidence has always been up. The confidence has been up with the race scene, with the equipment that we had with my team owner Rick Hendrick, with the setups we've an able to run with Alan.
Last week I kind of blew up and over-evaporated everything as far as what we've all built throughout the year as far as an overwhelming situation but came back this week and talked to the guys in the shop for at least a few hours and then came out here this weekend trying to put everything behind us.
The cars are fast week-in and week-out. At Charlotte we were fast, Darlington we were fast, Michigan and here this weekend. There's just numerous places. Bristol we had a really good race car and it just all -- we tried to make it come together but it's one of those deals where the final piece of the puzzle was so hard to find. Every once in awhile, it's a blind -- today we were just able to get there and do it. It's unbelievable as far as how the team has just kept composure on everything.
Q. You were talking about your grandmother there in victory lane, how nervous she was?
KYLE BUSCH: Oh, yeah, grandma. She probably was 50 million times worse than I was inside the race car. It just comes down to that point, I remember watching Kurt race in the Truck series days when he first started in Cup and stuff and he's had good runs and stuff and sitting there and grandmother would be watching and stuff like that and I would be cheering him on and if something bad happened or a caution came out and he's leading or something like that, she would throw her arms up in the air, "gosh darn it, what are we going to do here, let's get something to go right here once that while." I knew her nerves were just absolutely rolling. I just wanted to tell her I knew that and I was thinking of her during the race and I knew how I was feeling in the race car and how she was sitting at home. I bet she wasn't even sitting, the dogs were probably barking; probably wore out right now.
Q. This is the first win for the 5 and 25, winning in the five car, what that means to you, can you talk about that a little bit?
RICK HENDRICK: I guess the last couple of years, we would say the 48 and the 24 run so well and the 5 was our first car, my first number. And again Ricky and I talked about it and designed a shop, put our offices in there and we got Brian Weitzel who was an architect really of the 24/48 coming together. When we put the two teams together, we promised him a bonus when they won their first race and they worked together as one big team with two cars.
You know, to see both cars run well this year, you know, it's really outstanding. I mean, looking at the youth with Alan and Kyle and Brian and Lance and then Brian Weiztel, it means a lot because we know the equipment is the same, and these guys have really just done an unbelievable job. I didn't know it would come together as quick as it has this year. 5 was kind of the car that was my rookies and 25 and those two cars, Pop's and Ricky's, they are here, BCI has done a super, super job.
Q. Kyle, did you talk to Kurt?
KYLE BUSCH: He came over and got in the window and said "congratulations, I know how it feels," and he asked me how it felt and I just told him, I can't believe it. I mean, it's kind of like this championship, we shared emotions there, we couldn't believe it that he was able to come through on that day and I was able to come through today. I also told him it was a blast racing with him, it's so much fun racing with him and Matt Kenseth, the 9 car was up there a little bit and of course the 6 as well. It's just so neat to be able to race those guys and Kurt and I traded positions a little bit and I was getting aggravated and finally took off, and I had to chase him back down and wasn't quite able to do that. That's the answer to that question, but I want to talk one second about what Rick had to say. He came up to us at the beginning part of the year and told the team, Brian Vickers and myself or the crew chief, we're not in on that, we're not in on that award. Rick will give $100,000 to the team if we're able to win a race with 5. If the 25 wins as well that's another one 100,000 or both of us were able to get in the race to the NEXTEL Cup. We know that's out now but that was going to be another $100,000. So the guys all had a chance to win $500,000 including the 44 if they were able to win a race.
Q. One of the perks of being the winner is that you don't have to worry about the shootout, you're in the Nextel All-Star Challenge.
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, exactly. I finally thought about what when I was giving the speed interview, so overwhelmed here, not thinking straight about anything. The coolest thing, I don't have to worry about the Nextel All-Star Challenge. I'm in that thing. I'm looking forward to it and hopefully will be able to get a piece there next year like we have this year.
Q. As thrilling as the win was tonight with this team, the 24 team had struggles again, outside the Chase; what do you think needs to be turned around?
RICK HENDRICK: I can't get a break. I can't keep the bumpers together. You know, it's driver comfort and searching for different setups, and you know, I think all of the ingredients are there, the setups tonight, they looked okay, not as good as Kyle down the stretch or even Brian. We just got to go back to the drawing board.
You know, really when we run like we ran tonight, we don't need to be in the chase. It won't make any difference. If you can't be in it and win it or have a shot at it, you know, I think it's more important for us to find the handle and get the momentum back in these last ten and I think we've been trying some different things and trying to get Jeff the feel that he wants and we just have to go figure it out. All of those pieces are there, these two cars running well and we share everything, setups and the whole deal, just have to get that feel that the drivers want. So we've got some work to do.
We started off so well and we had this terrible luck, you know, run going and wrecking, running second out here and wrecking a motor. That team shouldn't be -- that's what's driving us nuts right now, we'll fix it. We talked, we've got a lot of good people and we'll just kind of suck it up and go to work.
Q. Kyle, when you're young and talented, there's a tendency that you want to win so bad that you stick your nose in and try everything that you possibly can, but when you do that, first of all -- you try everything, and patience is -- are you still going through trying to curb your aggressiveness on the racetrack?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, being a rookie you try to find all of the edges you possibly can so you can get it out of the way. The tough races are putting yourself -- either wrecking or getting loose, spinning back and doing whatever you do. Here today, I was able to have a piece where it was underneath me and tonight was on the restarts, Jeff let me go on the straightaway and I thought that was awfully nice. I would rather pass him the right way but you always try to learn as much as you can and week in, week out you learn so much, like here tonight, I didn't really have a good line in practice, I didn't really have a good line in qualifying and screwed ourselves up there. And here tonight I was just running around there a good part of the race and kind of clicked on something and I just kept on digging with it and it kept on working and I stayed with it. It's just one of those deals where I was able to find that luck for me and it worked good enough where I was able to keep it up front.
Q. I can remember when you came on as screw chief and they were like, "who is that kid who is crew chief," and we often celebrate the driver who wins, but this is a big win for you, too, will you walk taller in the garage now that you have your win?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: I don't want to think that I will. It's so much of a team sport and Mr. Hendrick should be the one walking tall because he gives us the opportunity. It speaks volumes of Hendrick Motorsports that a rookie crew chief and driver can come in here and win. The chassis department, all of those 500 employees, that's what makes this so special, that is what makes this so good. That's why you tee these running better, I count my blessings every day that I have it and just proud to represent Kelloggs and Hendrick Motorsports.
PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
BRIAN VICKERS
Q. Brian, can you just talk about your run over the last ten laps?
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