Tony Stewart
#20 The Home Depot Chevrolet
2nd place
PRESS CONFERENCE
We finally got the temperature down where we could start racing again and got working our way through. We had a good finish. We got a really good push from DJ. If we couldn't win, I was glad to see him win it for sure. But we did what we needed to do. We needed to get ahead of the No. 17 (Kenseth) and the No. 12 (Newman).
WALK US THROUGH THE FINAL FEW LAPS
We had to take our lumps there. We had a water temp issue and had to come in and lose track position with that. But everybody on the Home Depot team did an awesome job. And I got a really good push there at the end from Dale Jarrett and it worked out good to where when we got up there, he got back by us. But we did what we needed to do for the points and got ahead of the No. 12 (Newman) and the No. 17 (Kenseth) today. So I'm just really happy with the day overall.
IN THE BIG PICTURE, ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE BIG PICTURE?
Yeah, the big picture is what we were worried about today -- even if we finished 10th and gained points, that was the big thing. I wish we could have won it. We had an awesome car. But second place, we'll take it.
ON THE END OF THE RACE:
I can't remember exactly where I was at from one minute to the next. You shuffled around so much there at the end. I forgot that I'd missed a shift during that period. It's just so hard because so much was changing there and everybody was taking any run they had and trying to take advantage of it and make it work for them. When the caution came out, I'm glad I was where I was at. And I was there luckily because Ryan (Newman) gave me a good push trying to get us both through there. I don't know if we could have caught DJ there at the end, but I had a good push from Ryan to at least start that process.
IS BUMP DRAFTING GETTING WORSE AND IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT?
I didn't think it was any worse, to be honest. At least in the situations I was in I thought it was probably a little tamer than it has been in the past -- at least from where I was for the majority of the day. Even when I was up in the lead or in spots where we were getting bump drafted, I think everybody was pretty conscious of what was going on really.
AT THE END, WHEN DID YOU KNOW THEY WERE ALL CRASHING BEHIND YOU AND WHERE YOU WERE RELATIVE TO DALE JARRETT?
The spotter said the caution was out, so at that point it didn't matter where the light was. They've got all that information up there. We were all wide open and were told the caution was out so we just went ahead and kept going straight just to not check up in front of everybody. So we figured NASCAR can sort it all out.
YOU BOTH (RYAN NEWMAN AND TONY STEWART) WERE USAC RACERS AND YOU FINISHED 2ND AND 3RD. HOW UNIQUE IT WAS TO DO THAT IN THE PAST AND THEN AGAIN TODAY?
Watching Ryan sideways through the tri-oval when I was inside of him was a true testament of what we learned in USAC and Sprint Cars and Midgets and Silver Crown cars. Like Ryan said, car control. A lot of guys would not have saved it like Ryan did there. That's something I think we're both proud of as far as where we came from and what we brought to this series from those series that's helped us so far.
ON THE RADIO BROADCAST WHEN DJ WENT PAST WERE, 'WHERE DID HE COME FROM?' DID YOU FEEL THE SAME?
I'm glad we're getting out of here (in one piece). That's the main thing. Nobody knew. From one minute to the next, guys were getting so much of a run that you didn't know who was coming from where. You knew there were guys two and three wide behind you so you never knew what to expect from behind like that. I thought DJ was still somewhere around Ryan and me. I didn't know he was on the outside there, for sure. It was definitely a surprise when he went by us on the outside like that. But that's a guy who when you look at how much he's struggled here in the past couple of years, it's nice to see him get back on track like that and get back with Todd (Parrott, crew chief) and to have the success they had today. It's tough when you struggle like that. We struggled early in the year. We struggled last year. To see him -- as hard as he's worked and bad a time as he's had in the last two or three years -- have a day like today. You hated to see anybody go by you, but (it was good) to see him go by and know that when the caution came out he was the winner of the race. If you can't win it, you want to see a guy like that win it.
HAVE WE REACHED THE POINT AT THIS TRACK WHERE SOMETHING DRAMATIC HAS TO BE DONE -- CUT THE BANKING OR TAKE THE PLATES OFF OR SOMETHING?
I think the thing you guys (the media) have got to realize is that four times a year we go to a track like this where it doesn't matter what the handling of your car is. It's strictly an aerodynamic chess match. It's not racing like we had last week or what we've got next week. When you're running as close as we are for the duration of time that we're running and when the air is manipulating your cars and you're are manipulating other people's cars with the air like it is, 180 laps is a long day around here. It's more mentally taxing than it is physically taxing. You're happy to get through a day like this when everything is all right. When two guys going different directions get together and cause a wreck -- we didn't get caught up in that and I think that's something we're grateful for. To a certain degree, you are happy you're alive when you come out of here. But at the same time, you're happy you're alive when you walk out of every race track. It's not that this race track is any tougher or any different than the others. And that's what makes the racing so exciting. When we were here on Wednesday, people were coming in with their campers. They come here early because that's one of the races they want to see because of that excitement. But as exciting as it is to watch, it's every bit as exciting in the car but at the same time it's just very mentally taxing on you. When you get through a day like this, you're happy it's over because your brain has had all it can stand for one day of this.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE WAY YOUR CREW SALVAGED YOUR OVERHEATING PROBLEM DURING THE DAY?
We got in a situation where we were somewhere around 10th I think and I guess we got back up toward the top five and I looked at the water gauge and it was about 265 (degrees) at the time and it kept climbing to 275 and we had the fan on and everything. I couldn't do anything else inside the car. I had the fans on already. We could never really get a handle on it. I kept trying to duck out and get some fresh air to it but it never brought it down like it typically does in practice. But we just kept coming in and kept peeling a strip of tape off at a time. We finally ended up peeling all the tape off the car. I'm sure that slowed it down a little bit but at the same time at least we got the heat issue under control. And they did a good job. I'm sure when the temp got up to 275 like that it pushed water out. So when we came in on the stops, we knew we were going to have to give up track position but they filled it back up with water and cooled it off each time. We just kept a positive frame of mind like we did last week at Dover when we were struggling. We knew we were going to have to do it the hard way today. We just kept doing what we could do to take care of the car because if you get that thing to where it hurts the motor at all, you're really in bad shape here. So to be able to get through that was really a good job by the guys.
COULD YOU PLEASE LOOK AHEAD TO THE FINAL 7 RACES?
Absolutely. I'd much rather look forward to the next seven than the last seven.
THIS WAS YOUR FIFTH SECOND-PLACE RUN. IS IT FRUSTRATING TO COME SO CLOSE TO FINALLY WINNING AT THIS TRACK?
No, there's still 41 guys that were trying to be ahead of me that didn't get that done. You've got to look at the big picture. When you come to a place like this where you have to rely on everybody else's help -- anytime you can finish in the top two here, that's a pretty good day. There are a lot of those days that we finished second here that we probably had a 10th place car. But we got ourselves in a position and got with a partner of ours that has won a lot of races here that when we get together, we always run well together and we have the trust for each other and that's why were able to do that so much. But considering the circumstances and what the big goal is at the end of the year, second place was fine today.
Brian Vickers
#25 GMAC Chevrolet
6th position
It was definitely a good race for the GMAC Chevy team. The guys did a good job. We had some luck on our side for once at the speedways. We missed a couple of wrecks and had a couple of friends out there. You know, the #97 worked really well with us. The #1 car worked really well with us. And as time goes on and you get more experience at these tracks, you get more friends.
You know, no matter what we didn't want to end up on the bottom. It didn't seem like the place to be all day. The outside of the middle lane is where you wanted to be. We ended up there for a second, but we got out of it fortunately. You know, the high lane probably would have been a safe place to be. You know, you weren't going to win the race there, because that's where everybody else was going to be.
Joe Nemeckek
#01 U.S. Army Chevrolet
9th position
TELL US ABOUT TODAY?
Defniitely survival. I mean, there was more beating and banging going on in that race than we've had in a long time. Just to finish feels good. The last time here we didn't get to finish well because we were all tore up. It was definitely a good day-a good day in the points. I wish we could have had a top five out of it, but we'll take it and go on to the next one.
HOW WERE THOSE LAST RESTARTS? THOSE CAN BE PRETTY HAIRY
Yeah, it was but it wasn't. Everybody is trying to go. Once they get three wide, you can't go no where. Everything's blocked, so we were just riding around.
WHERE WAS THE BEST PLACE TO RACE TODAY?
It just depends. Most times it was either low or middle.
Robby Gordon
#7 Menard's Chevrolet
23rd position
HOW WAS YOUR DAY?
I don't know. I guess we have a car we can kind of work on for Daytona. The nose and tail are all mashed up but we've got to change those anyway. It wasn't a good day. We weren't as good as we were yesterday in practice. We changed the rear gear, changed some jets in the carbuerator. We overheated all day long and we were expecting a lot better run that we had with the Menard's Chevrolet.
WHERE WAS YOUR CAR BEST ON THE TRACK TODAY: LOW, MIDDLE OR HIGH?
I couldn't run anywhere. We overheated the whole day.
Jimmie Johnson
#48 Lowe's Chevrolet
31st position
Note: Involved in accident Lap 64
RE: THE DAMAGE OF THE CAR
The car is hurt pretty bad. I'm not sure (what happened). Just some guys got together in front of me and before I knew it the hole was clogged and boom, boom, boom. Before you know it, you're in a wreck. It's restrictor plate racing.
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE FIRST CRASH OF THE DAY ON LAP 18?
It was pretty easy. I was getting a huge push from behind. I've got my hand up waving off the No. 8 (Earnhardt Jr.) and I was on the brakes, trying not to get into the back of the No. 38 (Sadler). And I don't think I got into him but I think I got close enough to him where it loosened him up getting into the turn. But there is only so much you can do when you're getting a push. I'm on the brake trying to get the car slowed down and waving the guy off behind me. I'm not trying to blame the No. 8. There is energy built up behind all these cars and one guy up there on the brakes isn't going to slow it down and the No. 38 got turned around. I feel horrible for it. If I got into him, I'll take responsibility. It's not a big deal to me. I can accept that. But when you're getting pushed, there is not a lot you can do. But it's a little tough when you've got somebody tucked under your butt pushing you as hard as that. I was on the brakes and I just hate that it took out so many cars.
THIS HAS BEEN A TOUGH PLACE FOR YOU
It certainly has. It's real easy to sit on your couch and point fingers and say so-and-so did something wrong. But until you're out there in these cars at these speeds and seeing all the near misses and what is really going on, it's not worth forming an opinion. I don't know what happened there but all anybody can say is that this is Talladega.
Mike Bliss
#0 Best Buy Chevrolet
32nd position
Note: Involved in accident Lap 55
WHAT HAPPENED
It felt like we cut a tire. Right rear felt like, right in the middle of turn 1 and 2, and I just took off.
Jeff Burton
#31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
35th position
Note: Involved in accident Lap 64
We weren't the only one to make a mistake today. There's a lot of stuff there, but we all make mistakes. It's way too aggressive for this part of the race. This caution and the first caution, just everybody just being too aggressive. I'll tell you something, if it doesn't calm down, it's going to get worse.
Scott Riggs
#10 Valvoline Chevrolet
36th position
Note: Involved in accident Lap 64
I don't know what happened. It seemed like somebody got into the No. 41 car and Casey turned around and I thought I was about three car lengths by him and all of a sudden got hung -- clipped in the right rear by somebody or some thing and turned me into the wall. After that we were upside down. I was still bracing myself even though I was upside down and I felt somebody hit me again and we tumbled again. I just hate it because that was probably the best car we had. A lot of guys wouldn't work with us right now. I was just trying to be careful and be in the right place at the right time and let those guys beat each other up and maybe me and maybe miss the big wreck and be there at the end. It was working our way until we got caught up in it. This was probably our best shot at a win or have a great finish. I thought we had a pretty strong car. I didn't see anybody who had a car any stronger than mine, that's for sure. If I'd had a little help there, I could have done it. I hate it for all the guys. But tell everybody back home I'm okay.
Jeff Gordon
#24 DuPont Chevrolet
37th position
Note: Involved in accident Lap 64
Just a lot of craziness. It's Talladega and you expect that, but, it just seems like every time we come back here and the cars are driving like this, it just gets more and more out of control with the bump drafting on the corners and tri oval. You're going to have a lot of wrecks when it comes to that. You know, a lot of blocking that goes on in a race like this. If you block a guy too late or too aggressively, you're going to see a big wreck.
REGARDING THE WRECKS
I don't know what you can do about it. It's in our hands, the drivers' hands, to control. I think the bump-drafting is ridiculous. And I hope we can learn a lesson from things like this, but it doesn't seem like we do.
IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THIS?
Like I said, I think it's in the drivers' hands. We're the only ones who can really prevent our front bumper from driving into the back bumper of the car in front of us. It's one thing to do it on the straightaway. It's a whole other thing to do it through a corner or through the tri-oval. And it's really getting way out of control on the straightaways. There was one time when my front bumper was pinned to a guy in front of me and the guy behind me just was pushing me. And I really wasn't even driving the car anymore. And that's a pretty scary feeling at 190-some miles an hour.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
#8 Budweiser Chevrolet
40th position
Note: Involved in accident on Lap 19
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW?
I don't really know what happened, but the car is tore up pretty bad. The 48 car had to slow down for something, and I had nowhere to go. From what I'm told he got into Elliott (Sadler) in front of him and turned Elliott around. I haven't had a chance to see a replay, so you'd have to ask them. I went down in the corner and everybody stopped. Then I saw in the mirror cars on their roof. I'm glad everybody's OK. I'm glad Michael (Waltrip) is OK. He took a wild ride.
IS THIS A PRODUCT OF RESTRICTOR-PLATE RACING, AND RACING TOO HARD TOO EARLY?
Racing is what we get paid to do. The 48 got into the 38, and I ran into them. That was an accident, and accidents happen. That wasn't a case of bump drafting. It was just hard racing right there. We're all together, so it's hard to miss something when you're going so fast. You can turn left, but the car is still going to go straight. It's just frustrating. The car was super-fast. These guys worked really hard on it. They cut the whole body off it and built it back together in two weeks, and it's pretty much destroyed again now.
Michael Waltrip
#15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
42nd position
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
The #48 drilled the polesitter-that's what I was just told by the polesitter. He was not happy about it. I, on the other hand, did everything I could to get through it. I went the right direction and Rusty and I just happened to come together, knocked me into somebody else and I flipped over. I didn't get hurt. I got a good luck charm today-it's a pearl necklace, so I'm wearing that, bracelet. You can't do anything about it. Choose not to worry about it. You just go race and do your deal. If you wreck, you wreck. If you don't, you don't. Thousands and thousands of people love to watch this stuff and I love doing it. Just chalk this up to one of them deals.
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO FLIP OVER OUT THERE?
The world's right, no, it's wrong, it's right, it's wrong again. You know, you're just hanging on and hoping you don't hit anything hard. The flipping part when I was doing that, was alright. When I started sliding I thought, okay, don't let anybody hit me. What hurt is those sudden stops. NASCAR does such a great job with the safety of these race cars and then also the SAFER barriers. That takes away a lot of worrying when you have these things on your side. Then you just pray a lot.
