DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 3rd

"This is a typical run for us. I'm real proud of my guys. It was just a great effort with the pit crew and the car they brought this weekend. It was a lot of hard work. I'm just trying to do the best job I can. They gave me some great cars already this year and I'm glad we could get a good run."

HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT FOR YOU TO GET A GOOD RUN AT ATLANTA TODAY? "You just like to run good everywhere you go. But I like this place. It's one of my favorite tracks. So when I don't run good here, I get a little more frustrated than normal, but they got it handling good, man. I could make some passes, which was great. I was just real proud of everybody's effort." (see post-race transcript)

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:

Note: NEMECHEK EXTENDS FINISHING STREAK
Joe Nemechek extended his streak of running at the finish to 36 consecutive races and one year. It's the longest active streak for finishing a race in the Nextel Cup Series. The last time Nemechek didn't finish a race was here at Atlanta Motor Speedway last March due to a punctured radiator.

"I really haven't given the streak a lot of thought," said Nemechek. "But I think it says something about the way this Army team goes about its business. We never quit and have a lot of talented people working on the team. We're very competitive, hang in there, take care of whatever needs to get fixed on the car and always try to run a smart race."

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S RACE? "We should have been better - Atlanta is a good track for us and we were aiming for a top 10 or better. The car started off tight, which was weird because it was never that way during our practices. We did have some good green flag runs, but lapped traffic hurt us today. A couple of times I was trying to pass and I made contact with either the car or the wall. We had some damage to the car and that didn't help our cause."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 4th

LOOKING AT YOUR RIGHT FRONT TIRE, WERE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR TIRES TODAY? "I don't think I could have made it another lap. I know I would have lost two positions if we ran another lap. But the DuPont Chevy team did a great job today. We were back and forth and back and forth. There were times when we had the best car and there were times when we had a 15th place car. We had great pit stops and call making by Steve Letarte and the guys in the pits. We got some track position there at the end. We just weren't very good on new tires. We just lost way too many positions there on that last restart and we were playing catch up the whole time. Really, I'm just proud of this whole team. We got another top five -- back to back top fives on the l.5-mile and I'm proud of that."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 5th:

"It's been a while since we had a top five in Atlanta. I'm just happy -- especially since Home Depot is based down here in Atlanta. We just fought all day. We didn't have a very good car at the beginning. Zippy and those guys just kept working on it and we got a top five out of it. So it was definitely a pleasing day."

THAT'S WHAT CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS ARE MADE OF, ISN'T IT? "I told Zippy, that's how we got there last year was with days like today. That's how we won a championship last year. The good thing is that these will leave the track today excited about the performance about how we ran today. They won't be excited about how where we finished, obviously, but we'll look past that and see the big picture. Last year when we were here at this time, we were in bad shape when we left and we had a lot of work to do. So I think we showed today that we're right on top of our game again coming into the season. We don't normally run this strong early in the year, so I'm really excited about where we're at right now."

WAS TODAY ALL ABOUT BEING PATIENT? "We were just working on the balance all day. I don't think we ever got it happy, but we got it good enough to get us in the top five. With (Matt) Kenseth having a problem and Robby (Gordon) having a problem, it got us into the top five there. But we had a top 10-car for sure. But we just got some breaks there today that went our way there at the end it looked like and got ourselves in the top five."

ON THE TIRES: "To be honest, I don't know if it's just Zippy or what, but our team has never had tire problems. We cut down two at Pocono last year, but historically we are not a team that has trouble. I wasn't concerned about it. Zippy just kept me abreast there of how bad they were wearing just so we knew early in the day. But once we got through about the second or third pit stop we never even talked about it anymore. We knew we were in good shape.

WAS IT GOOD TO FINALLY FINISH A STRONG RUN WITH A STRONG FINISH? "Yeah, we didn't have a top 10 car by any means, but we ended up with a decent run. Anytime you can end up with a top five here at Atlanta, that's a pretty good day."

DO YOU FEEL THE TEAM IS STRONGER AT THIS TIME THIS YEAR THAN AT THE SAME TIME LAST YEAR? "We're definitely starting off the year better than we did last year. So if we can do like we did last year, at Bristol we'll be all right.

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 7 HARRAH'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 28th

IS THIS ONE OF THE BEST RUNS YOU'VE HAD ON A TRACK LIKE THIS? "No, we should have won this race two years ago, but the brakes failed. I've got the worst luck in the world. We came down pit lane and the caution comes out and we lose a lap. We drive ourselves all the way back up to fourth again. And they said we were speeding in pit lane. But even so, Matt Kenseth finished 13th. So we gave up 13 spots or something. I don't know. The other cars make in on fuel, but we can't. We weren't going to make it on fuel mileage and we had to stop."

YOU WERE RUNNING THIRD AND MADE A PIT STOP. WAS THERE A VIBRATION? "No, there was no vibration. We were going to run out of fuel. We weren't going to make it to the end. Everybody else made it."

YOU STILL HAVE TO BE PLEASED THAT YOU WERE RUNNING THIRD AND HAD A SHOT AT WINNING THIS THING "It still doesn't matter. At the end of the day, it still shows us with a 28th place finish. Now we're 19th in points, and that sucks."

YOU GOT A LOT OF TV. THEY TALKED ABOUT YOU ALL DAY "Thanks. We've worked really hard. I can say one thing, there is nobody in this garage that has worked harder than we have to get competitive. For a one-car team to be able to run with these guys, I'm proud of my guys and proud of what we're doing. I'm just disappointed with the result we got today."

YOU DROVE LIKE CRAZY TODAY. WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT TIRES AT ALL TODAY? "No, if anything, it was going to be a front. It wasn't going to be a rear. We kept loosening the car up. We got it to where it was drivable. It was real good on the long runs. Dang, just 28th place. I can't believe that."

DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING FOR THAT NO. 9 CAR? "Yeah, I think we did. I was cruising when we were running third. Maybe I should have backed off and just rode around a little bit. But we were going to miss it by two laps on fuel."

WILL YOU TAKE THIS CAR TO TEXAS? "Yeah, this will definitely be our Texas car. It'll be good for us."

OVERALL, YOU HAD A GOOD DAY "Obviously I'm disappointed and the guys are disappointed. It's sad. But they've done an awesome job of getting us competitive this year. To run that many laps and have a 28th place finish just blows me away. It shows just how competitive NASCAR racing is."

Note: JOHN SLUSHER, CATCH CAN / TRAINER, NO. 7 HARRAH'S MONTE CARLO DRIVEN BY ROBBY GORDON was hit on pit road by the No. 41 Dodge driven by Reed Sorenson on lap 193. He was taken to the local hospital for possible back and neck injury, but was checked and released.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

Q. Dale, great run there. You were 8th with 40 to go and then made a real strong run at the end. Talk about that

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: We had about the same scenario as Mark (Martin), real good on long runs. I was just hoping the caution didn't come out there at the end so we could hold our position. I didn't think we had anything for the two guys in front of us.

We had a hard day; we had got a flat tire and got the lucky dog and came back. With 100 laps to go we were outside the top 30, so I was happy to get all the way back up to 3rd. It was a real good car to drive today and I was real proud of my team for working hard on it and staying after it. Tony (Eury) Jr. called a good race on the pit box with the changes they made.

It was a tough day, a long day, but good finish for us, just real -- we like to run good here, so it was a good run.

Q. Dale, you came into the season with a lot of optimism. Do you feel like your results so far have backed up what you thought you had, and do you think six wins before the Chase is that still kind of a possibility

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Yeah, I mean, anything is possible. The cars have been driving great this year compared to last year, obviously last year. But compared to '04 when we had such a great season, the cars are driving better. I had a top 15 run going to Vegas before I sped on pit road there, 11 places in California, just some big improvements. We were able to maintain kind of our consistency in the top 5s here in Atlanta, and I just think we're going to be fine.

It's a good start for the season. I'd have liked to have that Vegas finish if we could have got it. But it's a great start to the season for us, and I think we can just -- I mean, my cars are way better, my people are better, my guys are better, the attitudes are better. Everything about it is just better. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

Q. We've got some guys who are digging themselves some holes a little bit. Is it too early to get worried about points?

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Somebody told me on pit road at this race last year and the year before, eight guys in the top-10 that are in it right now were still there at the Chase. You've got to -- you can come back. I mean, I've had some crappy starts to some seasons and come back and finished in the top 5. Mark (Martin) probably knows better than I do about all the history and stuff.

You can still do it. I mean, you've got some strong teams out there.

Q. The tire wear today was sort of reminiscent of a Rockingham or a Darlington in that slower cars would come out of the pits and were obviously faster past the leaders. I'm assuming that you guys think that's a really good thing?

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Old tracks get wore out, it's getting slick, but it's still fun to drive.

I never really enjoyed going around Rockingham or Darlington, they were a little too wore out for my taste. But this place, I wouldn't consider a paving job for several more years. It's really starting to come into its own. It's got some great characteristics and it puts on a great show. There's a big difference when you put tires on, but that's the way it should be.

Q. Could you comment on your teammate Paul Menard's top-10 finish?

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Yeah, I was real happy about that. Paul did a great job. It's hard to remember, he has quite a bit of racing experience prior to running stock cars, and he's just a real professional on the racetrack. I've been around him and watched him run several races. He doesn't make any mistakes, he doesn't put other people in jeopardy, or himself for that matter, just runs smooth and gets what he can out of the car. He drives the car really good when it handles well.

I'm just real proud of him. He's a cool guy, and the more I get to know him, the more I like him, and the more I'm proud to have him as a teammate.

Q. Junior, in a way, your finish, it was kind of at the cost of Robby because of the pass through penalty. Do you feel for a guy like that? He had a great run, he had a DEI motor in there, then he finishes 28th?

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: My race was a cost to Robby?

Q. Because he was running 3rd and then because of the penalty?

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: I was happy to finish in the top-10, regardless. Obviously 3rd is a great -- I love coming in here and talking to you guys after a race.

But Robby had a good run. I think he had a right front tire he thought was going down. I'm not exactly sure what the issue was, if he had a motor problem or whatever. He had an awesome car, and I'm sure that was pointed out throughout the telecast. He had a great run. He's been doing great this year. That team is starting to get some speed and some momentum. I'm not surprised myself talking to him and knowing how he runs his company.