Dodge Charger 500 - Chevrolet Post-Race Quotes

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 2nd:

"I think the restart was probably the wildest part of the race. It looked like (Ryan) Newman started to go and I don't know if he spun the tires or if he just checked up, but it pretty much caused a wreck with of us behind there. It's amazing that we got into Turn 1. But it was wild and crazy out there. I hope these fans enjoyed that show because it can't get any better than under the lights here at Darlington and a green-white-checkered finish. Greg Biffle (race winner) did a great job. I've gotta say one thing about Carl Edwards. I got him loose up off of Turn 2 and I don't know if he checked up or if I just got into him, but he saved it and it was one of the best saves I think I've ever seen in my life. And I'm sorry that I hit him, but it was a great run for this DuPont Chevrolet. I'm real proud of these guys here tonight. We didn't have a second place car, but we just kept working on it and working on it and there at the end we got it a lot better and got ourselves into position."

(THIS WAS THE FIRST FULL RACE UNDER THE LIGHTS AT DARTLINGTON. HOW MUCH DID THE TRACK CHANGE TONIGHT?) "It didn't change that much for us. We were loose right from the get-go and just stayed loose all night long. The track may have tightened up a little bit and come to us, but certainly not a whole lot." More to follow

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

"I had about as much fun as you could have at this track. I tried not to push it too hard at the beginning. It was a decent finish for us. It was wild. Some of those guys -- their strategy was wishy-washy you know -- no tires, two tires, and it tore a bunch up at the end of the race. But it was all right."

(ON THE TEAM'S CONFIDENCE RIGHT NOW) "Everything is pretty decent. We're just working real hard trying to get the finishes we know we can get at the tracks we feel confident at. We know we're going to Pocono and Michigan and Infineon and places like that where I don't have a great track record and if I have to give up anything, I want to be able to do that comfortably.

"But you've got to work real hard you know. You've got to keep working. We can think it's good enough. We've just got to work harder and keep working. We're looking forward to going to Richmond next week. I love that race track. I'm looking forward to the next couple of race tracks - there and Charlotte."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 7th:

"It was a good night. We unfortunately had a wheel come loose in the later stage of the race but we rebounded and came back. I felt a vibration and had to come in. That set us back. We had enough good pit stops in time to still get us a solid finish. I think we would have been fourth or fifth there at the end but something happened on the restart. Somebody stood on the brakes and stacked us all up. I was lucky to even finish. It was really wild. I got hit from behind so hard I almost spun out. But it was a good day for us."

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 16th:

"This is a very challenging race track. It's probably my favorite on the circuit. I hope we keep it (on the schedule). It was pretty hard on us at the beginning of the race. We were just out to lunch. We were horrible. But this GMAC Chevy team did a good job working with it all night. We pulled and stuffed more rubbers and did more things to that car than I've ever done in my life and we came out with a decent finish. We made our lap back up and came out 16th. But considering how we started, I'll take it. I'm excited about going to Richmond. We sat on the pole there the last time and set a track record. I like that race track and we've always had good runs there. And I'm excited about going back there."

(HOW HARD WAS IT TO REMAIN CALM AND REMEMBER TO RACE THE RACE TRACK ITSELF AND NOT SO MUCH THE OTHER GUY?) "It was really tough. Unfortunately, I've run here for several years now and that helped a lot. But I think the biggest thing was having that voice in your ear of your crew chief and spotter to just have patience, patience, and take your time over and over and over again."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 10th:

(ON THE RACE) "We got lucky getting three spots coming off (turn) four there at the end with them wrecking. We knew it was going to be a wild finish, for sure, with a green/white/checkered like that. Two guys up front that didn't take tires, one guy that took two tires and then a bunch of us that all took four. We knew it was going to get pretty hairy there. The start by itself was hairy let alone coming down for the checkered. We never were really any good all night, but we just kept working on it and kept going back-and-forth and kind of got stuck with what we could do with it."

(WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF THE NIGHT?)"I guess it was more frustration than anything because we just kind of got in a spot where we were could only get it so good without having to go back and change a bunch of things. We just kept teetering back-and-forth across the fence between tight and loose. Even when we were really good it really wasn't that good, but it was probably good enough to get into the top-10. It was just a matter of trying to keep the balance right."

(ON BEING PATIENT) "I had a pretty good night from the standpoint of being patient. It was just one of those nights where it seemed like once everything kind of strung out a little bit we were alright. We just needed traffic to thin out a little bit."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE:

(YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T HAVE A SECOND PLACE CAR, SO HOW DID YOU END UP FINISHING THAT WELL?) "Well, we never gave up on it, that's for sure. But it was a frustrating night because we were pretty far off. I don't really even know how we stayed on the lead lap at times. But you know, this is just one of those tracks where even when the car doesn't feel right or the grip isn't there, everybody else is fighting a lot of the same thing. We certainly weren't the best car. With some great work by the team and some good pit stops, we were a top five car there at the end. And then we were sitting there in third and it was going to be a green-white-checkered (finish), and we all came in. My tires were shot there at the end. I was getting ready to go backwards in a hurry. So the best thing that could have happened to us was that caution. We came in and got those fresh four tires and man, I wish we could have beat (Greg) Biffle out because I think it would have been ours. The first guy on four tires was the guy to beat. And he got out there and we took off and got wild and crazy on the restart. Eventually we were able to get up to second and that was it."

(WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT RYAN NEWMAN DIDN'T TAKE TIRES?) "Well, the lead in a situation like that is the toughest place to be. We were contemplating staying out ourselves and we were in third. We knew there were 18 or 20 cars or something like that on the lead lap. I'm sure he didn't think that many guys were going to come in and take tires. But I know what my tires felt like and I was really happy that Robbie (Loomis, crew chief) wanted us to come in. He (Newman) had some lapped cars in between him and (Greg) Biffle, so it wasn't like he was able to make a last minute dash down there. We all kind of hung out there as long as we could, and when we went, I don't know if they said, 'Hey, we're just staying out here no matter what,' or what, but I know he couldn't have made it anyway. When that many cars come in, you're in trouble. But if he had come in, maybe some guys would have stayed out. So you never know."

(HOW CRAZY WAS THAT LAST RESTART? WAS THAT AN ATTEMPT BY RYAN NEWMAN TO THROW EVERYONE OFF?) "I'm not sure what exactly happened. I noticed when we were coming off of Turn 4, he started to roll faster than we had been running to the restart. So I thought he's going to do an early start here. So a lot of us took off. And then I don't know if he spun the tires or stopped or what he did but it almost worked if that's what he was doing (laughs) because we almost had a huge wreck there. They only do one green-white-checkered so I don't know if that's what he was thinking. But that was pretty smart, actually. We were lucky to actually get into Turn 1 because I didn't think we were going to make it to the start/finish line."

(WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE RACE WITH KURT BUSCH?) "I never touched him. I was behind he and Rusty (Wallace) and he was racing pretty hard. He got real loose and slid up into Rusty. He was trying to stay off of Rusty and the car just went around. It looked like I was real close to him or maybe even touching him because I wasn't sure if he was going to come back up the track. So I actually gassed it and closed up on him and went around the corner of his bumper, but never touched him."

(DID THE LIGHTS CHANGE THE RACING HERE AT DARLINGTON?) "The toughest conditions I've seen here at Darlington is a hot, cloudy day where the sun goes in and out add the temperatures up and down. I like consistency in the race track and I'd say we had that tonight. I can't really say the track really changed much. Maybe it tightened up a little bit. But I was so loose from the beginning to the end that there wasn't a single adjustment we could make on that car that would keep the rear tires on the car. I was like that for me all night."