Gatorade Duel at Daytona - Chevrolet Post-Race Quotes

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - WINNER:

(WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY?) "It's a little too early to tell. Dale Jr. said that everything would be clear after Thursday, and I think he's right. We've got fast cars. I'm proud of the guys. We worked real well and I'm so happy. I've got a set-up in here that I've never raced before and it feels great. They've got us more power coming. People wanted to see if they could do anything else, so more power is on the way.

(ON THE MOVE TO WIN THE RACE) "I knew when I got up to second with Dale Jr. that I had a shot because Skinner had a fast car. So coming down the back straightaway I just rolled out of the gas and blocked and hoped they would get to my bumper and when they did and I got to Turn 4 and the front end just stuck enough for me to keep a good line. I thought Dale Jr. was going to go in the grass. But what a great teammate. I'm just so blessed. It's been a great off-season. The Las Vegas Marathon was a huge success and we raised $1 million for Victory Junction Gang Camp. We've got a new team with smiles all around. These guys feel like we can win a lot of races. Everything just seems to be falling into place with our team." MORE TO FOLLOW

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 2nd:

"We've got to work on this car a little bit. Michael has a real good car and he did what he had to do to win this race. He helped me a lot to get up there and I feel lucky to finish second. We were hanging on there in the middle of the race. It was getting so loose I couldn't drive it. I was really happy to finish second. I was hoping I could have won it but Michael made the right moves.

"But I just couldn't stay in front of them out there. They were three-wide behind me when everybody wrecked there. I felt like I was holding them all up. We tore the car down from yesterday. We had a real good car in practice yesterday."

(IS IT HARD TO PASS?) "I was surprised how bad the tires got. The tires went away real bad and real fast. I got real loose and almost crashed a couple of times. The tires just got real terrible after about 20 laps, so it would be pretty easy to pass. Guys will be coming in for four tires every stop and every chance they get."

(ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE DAYTONA 500?) "I've got to get my car a little bit better, but yeah, I'm looking forward to it." MORE TO FOLLOW

TONY EURY, JR., CREW CHIEF, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: (MICHAEL DID A GREAT BIT OF DRIVING AT THE END) "Yeah, I mean Michael did what he had to do. Our car is just a little bit off, Dale Jr.'s was off a little bit. It was good to see them working together. You know, we try to get these two teams to work really hard together. "

(ON THEIR STRATEGY FOR THE 500) "We just have to get a little bit better. We're going to work on the chassis a little bit. The car is fast. We've got some better motors coming down. The motor shop has been working night and day since qualifying so we've got some extra steam coming down. They'll be here in the morning so we're just looking forward to the beginning of the 500."

JASON LEFFLER, NO. 11 FEDEX CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - FINISHED 4th (DESCRIBE YOUR NEAR SPIN) "I think the 24 got squeezed up into me. I thought for sure that the old Fed-Ex Express was going to be in a big old pile of rubble. But we just pulled through and it was pretty wild. I can't really describe how I saved it. I just corrected and one time I was sure it was going to come around. Then it straightened back out and thankfully nobody's car got tore up really bad."

(YOU MADE A FEW FANS BECAUSE IT LOOKED PRETTY EXCITING ON THE TV SCREENS) "That's good. It was very exciting. You know, we don't like that type of excitement but I was glad we didn't spin and I didn't hit anything.

(HOW WAS THE CONDITION OF THE CAR AFTER THAT NEAR-SPIN?) "No, we put four new tires on it. We came back and the #16 and I had a good run on the outside and then the #33 pulled up and we pushed on him. I think he ended up transferring. I think if we had kept our head of steam we would have been back up there at the front or at least a top 5. The car is fast and we're looking forward to Sunday.

KENNY WALLACE, NO. 00 AARONS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - (YOU'VE MADE THE DAYTONA 500) "I am so emotionally drained right now, I started to cry. I took a deep breath. I cannot believe it. There was so much pressure. Michael Waltrip did the best he could. You know, my car is a used DEI car and a DEI motor. We've been beat up so much this week and I'm so glad Michael won the race. And we're just going to celebrate tonight like we should. You know, I made the Daytona 500! Only two spots left. I'm 41 years old but I feel like I'm 17 years old right now. I am so excited."

(MIDWAY THROUGH THE RACE IT DID NOT LOOK GOOD. WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS WHEN THAT CAUTION FLAG WAS WAVING?) "I was depressed beyond belief. I couldn't believe how bad I felt. I love Randy LaJoie to death but he blew a motor right in front of me and I thanked the good lord. He wasn't going to be in it, he was down a lap, so when he blew that motor I thanked god. And I made it around his oil but I didn't think I was going to be able to catch him because I was behind Stanton Barrett. And then we had the caution and I barely made it past the caution. If you watch it again my quarter panel barely made it past the caution. And then I had a run on the white flag lap and I must have been running about 220 mph! And I jerked that thing up like Dale Earnhardt did in an IROC car one year. And I looked in my little mirror on the side and I said, 'I can do it.' I made it four wide, Casey Mears didn't chop down on me. You know, I beat the #33 by a hundred feet. That was something."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

(TAKE US THROUGH THAT LAST CORNER WHERE MICHAEL GOT PAST YOU) "We got a lot of help from Michael there on those last couple of laps. He was just right on me through the corners. He pushed me into the lead and I thought I might be able to hold onto it, but he got a run. It was the last corner on the last lap and I wasn't about to throw a block on him in a qualifying race. He got alongside of me. It was a lot of fun....a lot of excitement. I'm glad we finished first and second and glad we got to race for the win. We got a little bit more work to do. Our cars are obviously good cars. I knew we'd prove that today. We had a good practice yesterday.

"About mid-way through the race I was fighting a handling issue. My car was really loose. We put tires on it and adjusted it a little bit. We've got to work on it some more. We fought it real bad in the test in race trim this car is really loose. It showed up again today in the middle of the race. Other than that, it was pretty cool."

(ANY TIRE CONCERNS?) "We didn't tear any up. I don't particularly like the tire myself, but we didn't tear any up so that's good. I slid the left front coming in for that two-tire stop. It held up for 15 laps there at the end. It's a good tire but it could last a little longer. About 20 or 25 laps in, you just lose all the grip. It makes it a lot more exciting. It seems like passing the leader becomes easier at that point, which is good. You just have to get the balance right. If the balance is a little bit better in my car and it handles a little bit better and it's not so loose, I wouldn't be concerned at all."

(DO YOU THINK YOUR CAR IS AS GOOD AS IN PAST YEAR AND IF NOT, IS THAT EVIDENCE THAT DEI IS NOT WHERE IT ONCE WAS IN PLATE RACES?) "It cycles. There was a time when Dale Jarrett was dominant for four or five years. We had our run and we've all known that they've been closing the gap over the past couple of years. It's been more of a challenge to win these races. Yet, we're still competitive. We haven't fallen off to the point where we can't compete. We just peaked. When you're out front and leading the pack in any type of category, everybody else is working hard to catch you and eventually they will. And they have. We've seen it coming. We just have to go home and work hard and get back to where we want to be. Richie (Gilmore) went home for a couple of days. There are a lot of things they thought they could do to help the cars. We're going to install our 500 motor with some of those changes and hopefully it'll be a little bit better."

(WHAT DID RICHIE GILMORE SPECIFICALLY DO WHEN HE WENT HOME?) "He went home to work with the engine guys."

(WHAT WERE YOU DOING TO TRY TO PREVENT MICHAEL FROM GETTING BY YOU ON THE LAST LAP?) "A car punches a hole in the air much like the wake of a boat. It doesn't just go down the side. It's not like you've got this perfect little slot that you draft in. It makes a wake so the air comes off the nose of the lead car at an angle away from the car.

"So there's as pocket back there at the quarter panel that's as easy to draft off of as the back of the car. And so that's what you see us doing all the time on the side of each other's cars and taking the draft off each other's cars and then pulling away and jumping the wake and not run head-on into the wake because it slows you down. That's why you see guys running real close. But if you draft the quarter panel and jump the wake, you can get out and get away from a guy. I knew that was coming. I knew that's what he was going to do. I knew if I'd blocked him I would get spun out. I just did what I could to try to get away from him."

(CAN YOU ADDRESS THE ACCUSATION OF SAND-BAGGING - REFERENCE TO THE NO. 24 CAR) "I don't know what the benefit of that would be. If there is one, I'd do it. We're just running as had as we can run. The cars have been slow. We've changed some things, but I don't know if we've helped our car. If we qualified all over again it would be just as poor. I swear on the Bible that we haven't been sandbagging."

(WHAT DOES THIS RACE MEAN AND ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO SUNDAY?) "We're going to address the handling issues we had today and try to come up with a better balance. We changed some things in our pit stops. The car reacted, but it's not where I want it to be. We need to do a few more things. We're going to put a motor in that's got a few changes that we know will help the car. Speed-wise, I want it to pull up on people. I think it's a real good car. I want it to draft up a little bit better."

(ON THE QUALIFYING PROCEDURE AND KERRY EARNHARDT MAKING THE FIELD ) "What I was told is that Borid (Said) and Andretti have got to finish to finish bumper-to-bumper somehow or something. They've got to finish first and second? If those two make it, Kerry's in. Oh, no matter where they finish. He's just got to beat them other guys? I don't understand man. It's so damn confusing. It's the most confusingist thing. I'm sure the guy who drummed it up knows it all. But I can't figure it out."

(ON WORKING WITH PETE RONDEAU AS HIS CREW CHIEF) "It's been a lot easier for me to just relax. Tony Jr. builds great race cars and you see his car today to be very strong. I drove it last year and it was strong. So, I understand they had the better car today. But still, working with Pete has made the whole week really relaxing for me. We talk and make a decision and that's it."

(BY MAKING ALL THOSE CHANGES, DOES IT HELP MICHAEL MORE THAN YOU?) "If that's the question that comes to mind after watching one race, that's a quick assumption. But it's obviously going to help Michael a lot. He gets in a car that won six races last year. For me, I don't look at it as going backwards at all. I never would have done it if I felt that way. I don't feel like I've given up anything or depriving myself of anything. I've made a lateral move that's better personally for me. Just to be able to get along with somebody and not have to take every question and worry back to the bus...... I trust and believe in what he says and over time I'll know more about his knowledge and how we'll work together. But it 's been a breeze."

(CAN YOU ADDRESS GOING BELOW THE YELLOW LINE ON THE LAST LAP) "I didn't improve my position nor was I blocking. I wasn't really worried about it at that point. Are you accusing me of any type of infraction? What's the question? Yeah, I went below it."

(THE QUESTION IS WHY DID YOU DO IT?) "They never said the leader couldn't unless he was blocking somebody and I wasn't blocking Michael because he was already beside me."

(DID YOU HAVE ANY EMOTIONS ABOUT SEEING YOUR OLD CREW IN VICTORY LANE?) "I was really happy. Obviously I knew that Tony Jr's car was going to be really strong and I could see Michael was tough. He had the race won if the caution wouldn't have come out. He and those other boys were leaving us behind. I was real happy. We made the changes not to benefit just me, but everybody. It's good to see it's working out. We finished one-two up front where we want to be. I pray to the Lord this off-season that I'd trade all my success at restrictor plate races for good runs everywhere else. I don't know if he makes trades, but hopefully he did."

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

(ON THE FINAL LAPS) "As I went through Turns 1 and 2 and I came up off the gas and got a couple of car lengths between he (Dale Jr.) and me and watched my mirror and noticed they (Skinner and Earnhardt Jr.) were side-by-side so I knew Skinner couldn't' just fly up and pass me. He would be forced to get behind me. It had a shot at working and it did. When I came up off Turn 4 my car just handled so well. It stuck in the corner and I was able to just leave the gas right flat on the floor and just aim my way around the outside of Dale Jr. I never really dreamed it would work. I come up with all kinds of plans that never work. But that one happened to. It's pretty cool coming across the start-finish line side-by-side at Daytona even if it is just a qualifying race."

(ON ALL THE CHANGES BETWEEN THE NO. 8 AND THE NO. 15) "This win was cool because we didn't have flat out straightaway speed in qualifying. We had to figure out a little bit different combination to race. The new team has worked out well for me. I really needed something to be different with the NAPA car for 2005. There wasn't any real optimism or any reason that we were going to do like we're capable of doing this year if we just stayed status quo. I'm really grateful to Richie (Gilmore) and DEI for having the confidence in me to put me with those guys and know that if they did, I would perform. That's what testing this off-season has proved to all of us. We're real confident."

(JUNIOR SAID HE THOUGHT YOU HAD A BETTER HANDLING RACE CAR. DID THE CREW CHIEF CHANGES HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT?) "I like a car to feel a little different than Dale Jr. and I got that feeling with my car. I've won here before with those guys who tune on Dale Jr's car, so they're perfectly capable of getting their car to feel that way too. It just happened today with the temperature the way it was and the track hot and slick, what I like maybe worked a little bit better. It is for sure by far and away not an indication that Dale Jr's guys are not as smart as my guys. What we were looking for at DEI when we made the swap is chemistry. Everybody uses that word, but nobody knows where to find it. We think the people we have are talented enough on both teams to win races. And in thinking that, we're going to switch drivers to try and make a better combination that way. They didn't get rid of anybody. They just rearranged us all. I think that should tell you how smart all the folks are at DEI.

"They're on top of their game. It just so happened I had a better car today. I think a lot of times people read too much into these plate races. A lot of times it's circumstantial. The good cars always rise to the top."

(ON AERO AND THE DRAFT) "We build our cars to be as quick as they can be in the wind tunnel and get the lowest drag co-efficient number that we can possibly obtain. Why we've struggled so much qualifying is really a mystery. When I won Talladega in 2003, I qualified 19th. We felt like maybe the smaller plate messed us up a little bit here. But when we got into the draft and mixed it up with the other cars, we thought maybe it didn't hurt us as much. You really need more power to run by yourself in qualifying conditions. A littler plate maybe took some of our power advantage away when we were by ourselves. But in the draft, when the wind is blowing and the circumstances were different, our cars were as strong as anybody's. Dale Jr. and I both thought in testing in January that our cars were as strong as anybody's."

(WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ON SUNDAY?) "Our car was good from the word go. It handled good all the way through a tire run. It's done that in every practice. That'll be key to staying up front. Generally you can avoid trouble if you're out in front. You saw both races really get strung out quicker than normally here. Cautions got us all back together for the craziness. We strung our race out pretty quick. That's what happened in the 500 a year ago. Tony Stewart and Dale Jr. were able to drive away from everybody and settle it themselves. Not the greatest for TV, but certainly a load off a driver's mind to battle two or three guys instead of a whole pack of them. You'll see a great race on Sunday."

(CAN YOU COMMENT ON THE WRECK IN THE SECOND RACE) "The No. 48 lost a little momentum for some reason and the No. 29 spun him out. And I agree that at any point, someone's libel to slow down and it was Harvick's option not to run him over. If you watched it on the TV, he ran him over. You don't get runs like he got on Jimmie without the other guy losing a little bit of momentum, but if you're in the turn then don't hit the guy."

(CAN YOU COMMENT ON TERESA EARNAHRDT?) "She's a great boss. She and Richie work well together. We had one-two in our qualifying race today. And if you don't have all the resources it takes to build a race car, you're not going to see that no matter who is driving them. She makes sure we're well funded to have the right people and parts."

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "I don't know. I haven't looked at the car yet. I want to say what happened until I know for a fact. And I haven't got a chance to look at it yet. But we had the same problem in the Shootout and we've got to figure out what it is. It's going to hurt us but I'm sure this GMAC Chevrolet will be back. We've got a lot of good guys on this team and we're looking forward to Sunday."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We were just going along and he (No. 29, Kevin Harvick) pulls his head off his shoulders and starts bump drafting in the center of the turn. I guess all those years of watching TV like he said he did, he didn't watch much of it to realize you're not supposed to bump draft in the middle of the turn. It's a shame. He just tore up six or seven good race cars. I hope that Childress either fires him or does something about him or the NASCAR does something about him because this is ridiculous - absolutely ridiculous.

"It's pretty simple. The #29 was a total idiot and came down from the center of the turn. I'm just thankful our car wasn't destroyed. Luckily it's not in that bad of shape. It's just the way it is, you have to realize who you're racing. You'd think that up front you'd be in safe hands but you can't put your guard down around the #29."

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO "I think you need to ask Kevin Harvick -- he drove stupid -- totally ridiculous. He caused a bunch of people good racecars, hard work, a lot of money and they ought to make him pay for it. I had a good racecar and I'll have another good one on Sunday - the same car I drove in the Shootout. He's just drives stupid. He'll get it back. It was totally uncalled for what happened out there. Everybody is racing and he's trying to turn people around in the middle of the corner. It's ridiculous."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CALRO: "I just got to him and he checked up and I got to him and I couldn't get off of him. I just spun him out and I feel sorry for the teams and everybody involved. It's not something where you want to bump draft in the middle of the corner. But, I hate it for all these GM Goodwrench guys. But, I just got to him and he slowed down and got sideways and I got the back of him."

BORIS SAID, NO. 36 CENTRIX FINANCIAL CHEVROLET: "I feel like I belonged out there - I didn't make any enemies and didn't wreck anybody. It was the first time in those conditions - the car was better than where I finished. Once in a while I got into a suspect situation and when that happened I took the cautious route and went backwards. I went into the race thinking it was a practice session - I needed to learn. But this wasn't anything like practice - the guys were a lot nuttier in a race. It was a blast and the car is in one piece. The team did a great job and I think I met every expectation and earned respect. Finishing 10th here is like finishing 20th on Sunday and that's my goal to be in the top 20." Note: Said finished 10th, the same position he finished the last time he raced a Cup car here -- at the 2004 Bud Shootout.

JEFF BURTON, NO 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MOTE CARLO - Finished 2nd "I was right where I wanted to be. The problem was that Tony had a teammate behind me. Part of the deal down here isn't so much having the guy behind you who wants to pass you, but he's not on the offensive. So, Tony could do things with his car that he wouldn't have been able to do if there wasn't another car behind him that wanted to pass him. Bobby stuck with him and he got such a run on me in the front straightaway. I blocked him pretty hard but I couldn't get him slowed down. When he did pull beside me, the line went with him. But you know, I thought I drove a good race. I put myself in a position to win and I'm proud of that. We were running second before the caution there. Before the pits, the #48 got really slow and I about ran over top of him. The #29 got by me and that kind of messed with our pit stop a little bit. We came out fourth and got lucky to miss that wreck. But, a good day. I'm proud of our pit stop and how the way we ran and I'm really proud of the way our car drives. We're wide open every lap. That feels really good."

(DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE KEVIN HARVICK'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY?) Oh, not at all. Kevin is a great race car driver. He's really fired up about this year. He thinks he's got a great chance to win a lot of races. I can help Kevin in some areas and he can help me in some areas. I don't think that Kevin is a guy that's aggressive.

"He wants to win in the worst way. And because of that, sometimes he gets himself in some positions he may wish he hadn't have gotten in. But, he got there for the right reason. I have the utmost respect for Kevin. Kevin's been the perfect teammate. He has been unbelievable as far as working with me, working with Dave. I will defend Dave and I will defend Kevin because he's a racer. And he wants to do the right thing and he wants to win. And like all of us, he doesn't always do the right thing, not because he doesn't want to. But he's trying hard and he's racing and I will defend him. But I think he defends himself just fine."

(WHOM DO YOU BLAME FOR THE ACCIDENT DURING THE RACE?) "Well, you've got to understand that I'm running fourth when that happened. The #48 got up the race track a little bit and I saw the #29 under him. The #48 was really loose. When he was out there out front a few times I thought, 'Good god! That thing is loose' and I don't know if that was just the momentum that got the thing going where the #29 drove under him. I didn't see what actually started it. I did see the #48 get slow. When you put 43 race car drivers on a race track, and you say there is a 500-mile race, and the first one to do it the quickest wins a lot of money and a trophy, you're going to have wrecks.

"That's why we wreck-because we're competitive and when we try to do things we are competitive. And if we didn't care where we'd finish, there would never be a wreck. You know what I mean? If nobody cared how fast you went, there would never be a wreck. So, whose fault it is, I don't know. But I can assure you the wreck happened because there were two people trying to position themselves to win a race. And that's why the wreck happened."

(WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU FELT THIS GOOD ABOUT YOUR CHANCES IN THE DAYTONA 500?) "I don't know. I've seemed to have a lot of top 5's in these 125 qualifying races. I don't know why. I have a lot more top 5's in these than I do in the 500, I don't know why. So, I've gotten a little bit pessimistic about the results from 150s and 125s than what they mean on Sunday. I'm tickled to death at how good my car drives. I don't have to lift, I can run wide open every lap. I can run on the bottom, I can run on the middle, I can run on the top.

"That's going to be huge on Sunday. If this track gets worse and worse and worse as the week goes on, then it will be worse Sunday than it is today. And the setup that worked today won't work on Sunday. It won't handle good enough. I heard there were a lot of cars not handling well and ours was.

"That's all I cared about all winter long. I told them, 'give me a car that handles well and I can give us a chance to win the Daytona 500.' And they've given me that. I'm very optimistic. I know that it's 500 miles and a lot of things can happen. There are pit stops, cautions, there are all kinds of things that can happen. But I feel good about it. We've got to find a little bit of speed.

"We could be just a little faster than we were today. But I think that we've got that. I pulled the speed out of it a little bit yesterday and I think we can put that back in. Kevin Hamlin's got some great ideas and we're going to work really hard Friday and Saturday and I think we'll be in good shape."

KYLE BUSCH IN THE No. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN THE FIRST GATORADE 150. HE FINISHED NINTH AFTER LEADING THE RACE ONCE FOR ONE LAP. "It was decent. We had a good time out there. We were able to hook up with a few cars and we found that we could run with them. I think the 97 was the best car out there that would push us and we got up to the front. Jeff was helping as well, too, he just a little sideways through the trioval and fell back. Overall it was a decent run. We're happy with that finish. I think we had a shot to finish third or fourth."

(WAS THE TRACK SLICK?) "It was real slick. You could go out there after that pit stop, I think it was about 12 or 15 laps in, and you'd start sliding everywhere. It's pretty bad but everybody has got the same situation. I think ours was one of the top handling racecars because everybody would start sliding up to the top of the racetrack and running up there where I could still stay on the bottom and hug the bottom and pass some cars through the corners. Sometimes I wouldn't be able to fall back in line coming up off. They kind of had the line plugged but overall the car handled decent."

(IT SEEMED LIKE THE INTENSITY LEVEL PICKED UP OVER THE LAST 20 LAPS) "That's always how it is in the 125s or the 150s. Even back when they were the 125s you just ride around in the beginning of it and kind of put yourself in position to where when 20 laps come down it's game on, dude. It's all over from there."

(WERE YOU SURPRISED HOW PHYSICAL THE RACE WAS TODAY?) "Not really. It was a really good race. The Busch races are a lot worse because you have the wickers and you're beating and banging and the draft and the slingshot comes in real bad. We had a good time. Bumping around and hanging out with these guys was pretty fun. Hopefully I taught a few of them that I'm able to go out there and ride and we're able to show those guys that we are a car to work with on Sunday."

(DID YOU HAVE TROUBLE GETTING PEOPLE TO DRAFT WITH YOU?) "I did. I knew I would. I had an issue not knowing how many laps to go there coming down to the finish. Kurt was stuck up on the outside by himself and then Jeff had a head of steam coming and I think that was with two to go and Jeff pulled out from behind me to go on the outside with Kurt. If I would have known there was two to go I would have done the same thing because it's go time. You can't ride anymore but I didn't know."

(DID TWO TIRES MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE, HANDLING-WISE? "A little bit. If you put on four tires and go out there it takes about 15 laps for them to start falling off. With two tires it starts in about 10 laps. I think we went about 10 laps on those stickers and then we came in got our right sides so we had only 10-lap old lefts. If we had 30 lap old lefts, it would be a different story."

(WHAT'S THE MAIN THING THAT YOU LEARNED TODAY THAT WILL HELP YOU ON SUNDAY IN THE 500?) "Basically I have all the knowledge that I've known from the Busch Series stuff. I didn't really learn anything exceptional today. You're just trying to learn about how everybody's car works.

"The race that we had today with all the guys that we had I learned their cars and what their cars do and stuff like that. You're familiar with that when you get back going on Sunday. I couldn't tell you whose car did what exactly, but you get familiar back with the rhythm when you get going again."

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, No. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET: "I did learn a lot. We knew we had a good car. We just wanted to get up there and see how good of a car we had. It seemed like we could work on the bottom real well and some other guys may have been struggling with handling and were running on the top and we really couldn't get help. I wanted to get up there with the good cars that could run the bottom and run with us and see what we had. We got up there with Jeff and he gave us a big push to the front and then Kurt gave us a big push to the front.

"I think if Jeff wouldn't have got loose maybe the outcome would have been a little different. You can't say enough about the Jeff Gordons of the world. He's a super racecar driver and a super person and just running up there with those guys is good."

(WILL WE SEE A LOT OF TWO TIRE STOPS HERE SUNDAY?) "I don't think you will; maybe coming down to the end just for that track position. It didn't work out bad for us. It wasn't a bad situation. We washed about the same, we probably would have finished the same either way, with four or two, but it gave us that shot to win. I think when you come down to the end you may see some of that. Somebody may take that shot to win the race."

WERE YOU HAPPY WITH THE TIRE WEAR AND TEMPERATURES? "The tires were good. We had that one problem yesterday in practice with a tire rub that cut our tire down. Some people thought we had tire wear issues but it was just a tire rub. Goodyear tires have been great for us. We've had no issues at all. It was good."

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: (IT MUST FEEL GREAT TO MAKE THE DAYTONA 500) "Yeah, it was pretty crazy out there. We had a really good hot rod. The tape blew up off the grille on us. And we ended up having to free our car up because we lost grip. It was really out of control at the end. But, I've got to thank Scott (Riggs) in the #10 car for getting a push really good. I can't wait for Sunday

(DESCRIBE THE TWO-CAR BUMP DRAFTING GOING ON OUT THERE) "It all depends on where you at, who is behind you and who is pushing you and how hard they are pushing you out of the corner. My car was really awesome in the beginning. It surprised the heck out of me. We ran to the front there and then the tape blew off and we got really tight. We could never get the tape back on during the pit stop. So, I'm really excited for the 500 on Sunday."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Winner: "We wanted to work on this thing, so we came in and put four tires on it and tried to free it up a little bit. That helped it. I got the green flag stop which helped it again and went back out and ran five laps and got a caution and came back in and worked on it some more. We just got a really good run on Scott, got by Scott and thought Scott was going to be strong enough to go by him and I intended on going with Scott but when he got up there, for some reason, it really stalled his car out when he got to the outside there. Jeff got a really good run already. So we ducked down and got in Jeff's line. I didn't intend on going by that early but we got a really good run. To be honest the key to winning the race was my teammate Bobby Labonte. We got such a good push from him into turn 1 that it got us by. I thought he was going to get clear by also and be able to keep going. But you know it shows what kind of teammate he is. He knew it was probably going to hurt him to hit me as hard as he did. But he did it to help Joe Gibbs Racing and like I said we probably couldn't have won the race without Bobby there today.

(WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ON SUNDAY?) "I feel we need to work on our car. I feel we can make it better. It is what it is, but obviously it's not a terrible race car with the way we ran today.

"It's just a matter of doing what everybody else is going to keep doing. We've got to keep working harder every session we get on the track and we'll keep trying to make it better and better.

(WHAT WAS YOUR TAKE ON THE ACCIDENT) "I didn't see what happened. I was about four cars back and I was watching what was behind me as well as what was in front of me. I didn't see what caused it but when we got to it, it was a matter of trying to find a hole. That was the biggest thing. I didn't know where to go. I just saw open opening there before the smoke got so thick you couldn't see anything and aimed for that and it was good enough to get us through.

(DO YOU THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE DIFFICULT TO WIN THE RACE HAD THE OTHER CARS STAYED IN?) "I'm sure it would have been more difficult. We only had two cars to pass but having Mark and the #29 and the #48 in front of us were all strong cars. Those were really strong race cars that got taken out there. I'm sure it would have been a lot harder to get up there.

(HOW CLOSE OF A CALL WAS IT FOR YOU TO GET THROUGH THAT WRECK) "It was pretty close. Mark was the one we were having to dodge there. He was getting turned around. He couldn't help what was going on with his car, but we had to make a pretty big left-hand turn there to dodge him and then once we got through there we had to get it gathered back up."

(IS THERE A FINESSE OR A GOOD PLACE TO DO BUMP DRAFTING) "Here is my answer to that: we shouldn't even be doing it, period. I mean we shouldn't have to be doing it. It's stupid that we're even in this position where we have to do bump drafting. That's what the key is to winning a race. It's pretty stupid that that's the position we're put in, but it's exciting for everyone obviously. Whatever happens, happens, I guess."

(IS THERE A WAY TO GET AWAY FROM BUMP DRAFTING BESIDES TAKING THE RESTRICTOR PLATES OFF?) "I'm not an engineer, really. If there's a way, I'm sure somebody would have thought about it by now. But I'll be honest, with all the technology we've got now and SAFER barriers and the safety improvements everybody has made, I don't know why we couldn't take the plates off. We could figure out another way, whether it is harder tires or something where we have to lift in the corners and this race track is wide enough where you can still race and you don't have to be two wide and 18 rows deep to do it. I'd at least like to see that option tried. Everybody is worried about us going too fast but I think there are ways to slow the cars down without having to put the restrictor plates on?"

(KEVIN HARVICK HAS RECEIVED A LOT OF FLACK FOR WHAT HAPPENED TODAY. DO YOU THINK IT IS JUSTIFIABLE?) "Well if I didn't see what happened I don't know whether it is justified or not, wouldn't you say?

(GIVEN TODAY'S VICTORY HOW DO YOU ASSESS YOUR CHANCES FOR SUNDAY'S RACE?) "To be honest, Sunday is another day. Today's race is today's race. There's a lot of practice that's going to happen between now and Sunday. I would love to say that what happened today is what's going to happen Sunday but I can't do that. We only raced with half the field. The guys that crashed today are going to have backup cars on Sunday. It's a whole different race on Sunday. It's 500 miles versus the 150 miles today. It's hard to say. Like I said, that's what I'd like to say is going to happen Sunday also."