Tony Stewart Wins at Atlanta; Fourth Victory This Season Follows Crowning as IROC Champion on Saturday; Chevy Captures One, Two, Three Finishing Positions in the Bass Pro Shop 500

Jimmie Johnson Moves to Second in the Chase, 26 Points Out of Lead; Four Chevy Drivers in Top-Five in Standings Separated by 84 Points with Three Races Remaining

Hampton, GA - Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Monte Carlo SS, scored his fourth victory of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (NNCS) season in the Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS). It was the second trip to victory lane this weekend for Stewart. He captured his first International Race of Champions (IROC) title on Saturday with a third place finish in the final IROC event of the season. The win is the 28th of Stewart's NNCS career and second at AMS. Team Chevy drivers crossed the finish line one, two three and scored six of the top-10 finishing spots today. Stewart's win is the 21st win of the 2006 season. It is 33rd victory for Chevrolet at AMS in its 95-race history and the fifth win for the Bowtie brand in the last eight races at the 1.54-mile track.

Stewart led seven times for 146-laps of the 325-lap race and claimed the bonus points for the most laps led. He remains firmly in 11th position in the points and on target for the $1 million year-end points' fund check at season's end.

"This is pretty special because this is Home Depot's headquarters," said Stewart. "I look behind me and see this eight-foot tall trophy that we get to take home. I don't know how we are going to get it in the airplane but we will figure out something. Maybe we will have to ship that thing home; it is bigger than half my plane. It is cool.

"Our Home Depot Chevrolet was a good car all day. The No. 24 was really good early in the race but we didn't have the car as good as I thought we could get it. We were just about even with Jeff (Gordon) I hated to see that happen to him. I would have liked to race with him there at the end. Jimmie (Johnson) came on later in the race when the sun went down and so did Matt Kenseth. We did what we wanted to do. We got up front early and stayed up front all day. Jimmie Johnson is a good friend and came up and congratulated us which means a lot to us. Just to be here in Home Depot's back yard is special for us."

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Monte Carlo SS, finished second and moved to second in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings, just 26 points behind the leader. It is the 11th top-five finish for Johnson this season.

"It was a great run for this Lowe's Monte Carlo," said Johnson. I have to thank the guys for working so hard all day long. When the sun was out, our car was a handful. We could still hang in the top-five all day long. We made great adjustments and got some speed in it. It was a lot of fun there racing with Tony Stewart, as hard as we did. Both cars were pretty equal. We had an awesome awesome day on the race track. This team has never given up. We had a lot of speed in the Chase but unfortunately we didn't have the finishes at first to show for it. Now it is coming our way. We will see what we can do three more times."

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Monte Carlo SS, finished third. He jumped two spots in the standings to sit in fourth, just 84 points out of the lead.

"We took a shot out there with the tires on that last yellow," said Earnhardt, Jr. "Yes, well have been gambling a lot and trying to win a championship from 90 some points back. It takes some gambles to do that. We gained maybe five points, I don't know. I am real proud of my car, my team, they did a great job building it, it drove great. They did a really good job on pit road. Martin (Truex, Jr.) had a great car all day too except had the unfortunate incident at the end. Real good weekend for DEI as far as the points."

Current points' leader Matt Kenseth (Ford) finished fourth and Greg Biffle (Ford) rounded out the top five finishers in today's race.

Raybestos Rookie Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Monte Carlo SS, moved to third in the standings with another solid top-10 run. He finished in today's race in eighth place.

Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Monte Carlo SS, sits fifth in the standings, tied with Earnhardt, Jr., 84 points out of the lead, following his 13th place finish in today's race.

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Monte Carlo SS, struggled handling issues to finish 31st today, dropping him to sixth in the standings, 121 points out of the top spot.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/Nicorette Monte Carlo SS, jumped two positions to seventh in the Chase, 146 points out of the lead with today's sixth place finish.

Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg's Monte Carlo SS, remains 10th in the standings, 249 points behind after finishing 27th in the race.

Chevrolet has locked up the 2006 Manufacturers' Cup. The standings following today's race are: Chevrolet, 255 points (21 wins); Dodge, 189 points (7 wins) and Ford, 183 points (5 wins).

Race number 34 of the season and the eighth race in the Chase will be November 5 , 2006 at Texas Motor Speedway.

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS: - VICTORY LANE "This is pretty special because this is Home Depot's headquarters and Coca Cola's headquarters and my good friend Johnny Morris from Bass Pro Shops sponsored the race. I look behind me and see this eight foot tall trophy that we get to take home. I don't know how we are going to get it in the airplane but we will figure out something. Maybe we will have to ship that thing home, it is bigger than half my plane. It is cool. "Bob Nardelli, the CEO of Home Depot is here and lots of Coca Cola executives so it is cool. It is a real sponsor's dream tonight. All of our big sponsors are here and this is a race I have always wanted to win since Johnny and Bass Pro Shops started to sponsor it."We had a good car all day. The No. 24 was really good early in the race but we didn't have the car as good as I thought we could get it. We were just about even with Jeff (Gordon) I hated to see that happen to him. I would have liked to race with him there at the end. Jimmie (Johnson) came on later in the race when the sun went down and so did Matt Kenseth. We did what we wanted to do. We got up front early and stayed up front all day. Jimmie Johnson is a good friend and came up and congratulated us which means a lot to us. Just to be here in Home Depot's back yard is special for us. "I am fine with Atlanta being my second home, it is a little warmer than Indiana is right now.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS: - "It was a great run for this Lowe's Monte Carlo. I have to thank the guys for working so hard all day long. When the sun was out, our car was a handful. We could still hang in the top-five all day long. We made great adjustments and got some speed in it. It was a lot of fun there racing with Tony Stewart, as hard as we did. Both cars were pretty equal. We had an awesome, awesome day on the race track. This team has never given up. We had a lot of speed in the Chase but unfortunately we didn't have the finishes at first to show for it. Now it is coming our way. We will see what we can do three more times."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/NICORETTE MONTE CARLO SS: - "It was an eventful day for us. What an awesome race car we had in our DuPont/Nicorette Chevrolet. I had a lot of fun there at the beginning. I came up on Joe Nemechek, I was going to the outside and he moved down and he just got super loose and came up in to me. There was nowhere I could go. After that we were fighting the handling and cut a tire and Jamie McMurray got in to the back of us. I don't blame him, he couldn't see anything going in to one with the sun at the angle that it was. It was blind corner going in there. We are pretty fortunate to come back and finish sixth."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS: - "We took a shot out there with the tires on that last yellow. Yes, well have been gambling a lot and trying to win a championship from 90 some points back. It takes some gambles to do that. We gained maybe five points, I don't know. I am real proud of my car, my team, they did a great job building it, it drove great. They did a really good job on pit road. Martin (Truex, Jr.) had a great car all day too except had the unfortunate incident at the end. Real good weekend for DEI as far as the points. "It is absolutely great news that we made up some points tonight. It is obtainable. We are probably pretty close to second. We will just have to look at the points. I had a good time, I love Atlanta and I am glad I could continue to run well here. "

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (FINISHED 9TH): - "I wish this was the beginning of the season and not the end. The Army Chevy was solid from the get go. Overall, it was probably our best effort of the year. The only downside was that we let a few spots slip away at the end. With two top 10s and four top 20s in the last four races I think it's safe to say that we're coming out of our slump. We're still not where we want to be but we're getting there. Tonight was fun...the car responded to the adjustments, we had excellent pit strategy and the over-the-wall guys did another outstanding job. I can't wait for Texas."

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS MONTE CARLO SS: - "We, for whatever reason, put a set of tires on and chunked the right rear, blew all the rubber off the right rear and the thing wouldn't handle at all and we lost all of our track position. We put another set of tires on it and it drove great; and I drove it in the wall, cut a tire and got us behind again. But we were going to be ok and then they threw a caution because of a roll bar pad. NASCAR should stop every car on pit road and check for roll bar pads and who ever threw their's out should be fined 185 points and $100,000 because it was a huge impact on the race. It is ridiculous. It is starting to happen just too often and NASCAR gets on everybody when it happens. Well, they should find out who did it and penalize them

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS, FINISHED 3RD, AND JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS, FINISHED 2ND:

DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
ON THE RACE:
"We had a real good car at the start of the race. It was really fast on new tires and really slow on old tires. But we could get a big enough lead there that at the end of the run we could kind of siphon back to third and be okay once the caution came out and the pit stops were ready to be made.

"We tried to adjust on the car in the middle of the race to try to fix the long run set-up and we took away the speed that the car had at the start of the run, but we were able to kind of maintain better. There at the end, Tony (Stewart) and the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) were just really, really good and we weren't quite as good. Me and Matt (Kenseth) had a great battle and me and him had really competitive cars with each other and that's where we kind of ended up."

WAS THE SUNSET A PROBLEM AT THE END OF THE DAY?
"Yeah, the sun sets down over in Turn 2 so it's kind of cool. Like at California it sets at the end of the straightaway, which is a mother."

JIMMIE JOHNSON:
ON THE RACE:
"It was a good race for us. We struggled at the beginning of the race. We ran decent on track position, but I wasn't a threat for the win. I ran with the No. 8 (Earnhardt Jr.,) and the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) and the No. 20 (Tony Stewart). We kept working on the car all day long. When the sun went down I think it helped me out a little bit and I became a little more competitive and was able to race with Tony and race him for the win. So it was a great night for us."

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOU MOOD RELATIVE TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP? ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC NOW BECAUSE YOU'RE CLOSER THAN YOU'VE BEEN THE LAST 2 YEARS?
"I'm certainly optimistic. I'm closer than I've eve been, number-wise, to the lead in the Chase. So I'm very excited about that. There is still a lot of racing left and the points are so close that you can't afford to have a problem or anything. So I'm excited. I'm optimistic. I'm looking forward to the tracks we have coming up. I think all three of them are good for us. We'll just race hard and see what happens."

DO YOU THINK THIS IS GOING TO BE A TREND WHERE ONE OR MORE OF THE MOST POPULAR DRIVERS IS GOING TO BE OUT OF THE CHASE?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
"Well, obviously you're not going to see the same 10 in the Chase every year. So that means somebody's got to sit out. Tony was in the Chase without much of a worry at one point in the season and then he had a couple of bad runs and it just took him out of the Chase. I was in that situation at one point. It's tough to get in the Chase. It's tough to get in there. It's unfortunate for Tony, but they're making the best of it. Obviously have the bragging rights with all the points and wins that they've gotten during the Chase races they love kind of making their points. So I'm sure they're having a good time with this."

JIMMIE JOHNSON:
"I'll just add to that and say the sport is really tough and there are more than 10 teams that are capable of winning the championship. Last year Junior didn't make it and Jeff (Gordon) wasn't in it. This year it's Tony (Stewart). I think it says a lot for our sport and the competition that's out there. It's what we've all wanted is to have 15 or 20 cars that are capable of winning a race in the championship and we have it."

WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU SAW THE LEADERS DIVE ONTO PIT ROAD AND YOU WERE STUCK OUT THERE. HAD YOU DECIDED TO STAY OUT? WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
"Well I was thinking surely we weren't going to pit. But everybody's looking like they were going to pit so I pulled way up the track trying to be like, 'Yo, everybody, no. Up here. Don't pit.' (laughter). And they just went on. And I wasn't in any position to go to pit road. I'd have tore the left front off the car if I had drove off the race track at that angle.

"So I was sitting there thinking I guess I'm going to have to do this by myself. I wish I had got tires. I wanted to get tires if the leaders had gotten tires. It was a long race and maybe I just, you know, the duration of the race kind of got to my decision-making process a little bit. I wasn't in any position to get to pit road. So I started thinking too, you know, during practice if you come in and make a change and go back out, you can run pretty close to what you ran on new tires for a lap or two.

"So I obviously wasn't as good as Tony or Jimmie and didn't think we would be able to hold them off and hadn't anticipated holding them off. I just wanted to at least finish fourth or better where I was when I was thinking about pitting in the first place."

YOU APPEARED TO MAKE A HARD LEFT TURN AND FOLLOW THE NO. 20 DOWN PIT ROAD. WERE YOU GOING TO DO WHAT THE NO. 20 DID, OR WERE YOU GOING TO COME IN ANYWAY?

JIMMIE JOHNSON:
"I think we were all trying to look around and see who was going to pit and who wasn't going to pit. I got confused and thought the No. 31 was still on the lead lap so I saw the No. 8 and the No 31 up; Tony wasn't all the way committed to the bottom and I could see the guys behind me thinking and wondering what was going to go on. And then when I saw Tony hit pit road, the rest of the guys in my mirror behind me were moving in that direction as well. And I barely got on pit road. Luckily I didn't clip the end of the cone that's parked down there in the end. I almost hit that thing and I almost hit the back of the No. 20. So luckily I got on. I just about threw it away getting to pit road because it was such a last minute decision."

WHAT IS YOUR GUT TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW?

JIMMIE JOHNSON:
"I feel great about it. But I'm sure every team feels that way though. I'm sure Junior feels he's got a great shot. He's close, mathematically. Matt (Kenseth) is coming up to some good tracks. I think that everybody is in a good spot. I don't think anybody is really worried about not performing. It's just going to come down to luck and maybe who can outscore one another on the track."

YOU SEEM TO HAVE THREE SEASONS THIS YEAR WITH 17 TOP-10'S IN THE FIRST 21 RACES AND THEN YOU WON A BUNCH OF RACES WITHOUT A TOP FIVE AND THEN IN THE LAST FIVES WEEKS YOU'VE REALLY PICKED IT UP. WHAT'S BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TURNAROUND?

JIMMIE JOHNSON:
"We typically are slow in August for whatever reason and this year we were able to win the Brickyard. I felt like we were more competitive in that month or two in the summer than in other years. I don't know why. Maybe it's just tracks that don't fit me, or the team. As we get into the final 10 races, these area all good tracks for me. That would have more to do with it than anything. We as a team, don't pick certain parts of the season to try to perform better. Obviously, if we can hold onto anything we want to save it for the final 10. But making the final 10 is a challenge all it's own. I think it's more about the tracks and our style than anything."

SHOULD THERE BE AN EXEMPTION FOR A GUY WHO IS DOING REALLY WELL BUT DIDN'T MAKE THE CHASE, BE ELEVATED TO THE CHASE? RIGHT NOW, TONY STEWART WOULD BE 2ND:

JIMMIE JOHNSON:
"There's got to be a number. There's got to be an ending point. It's top 10. It's what it is. If you ask Tony, he wouldn't have been in a position to win the championship anyway - even on the old point system. I've been lucky enough to be in the Chase, so it's easy for me to sit here and say there should only be 10 cars. But I feel there's got to be a cutoff somewhere. I think 10 cars is more than fair and more than enough to give the fans a shot to watch a good Chase for the Championship. It's kind of how it is. If you're in 11th and didn't make the Chase, you wouldn't have been able to win the championship anyway. It stinks that you can't advance up to the top five. That argument has been battled for years. But it's just how it is."

DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
"I have to agree. If those are the type of things that are going on, I'd have a hard time getting up and going to work on Sunday. If they was half-way through the Chase and they said oh hey, we're going to let this guy in and kick this guy out. Making the Chase is not only an opportunity to go for the championship, but it's an opportunity to stand on stage at the end of the season at the Waldorf Astoria and I think that's something that Kyle Busch is really looking forward to. To take that away from him or from anybody for that matter and hand it to someone else over a span of what they've done for five races would be ludicrous."

ON THE SUN SETTING, WAS IT A PROBLEM?

JIMMIE JOHNSON:
"I think the glare was better in this race than what we have in the spring race with the sun's position. This was easier. In the spring race, it's not as bad as California as Junior pointed. The sun sets far enough around the corner that the billboards pick it up, but in California you're staring right at it."

DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
"I had a close call. The No. 24 blew the right front I guess going into Turn 1 or hit the wall or whatever. I saw it happen and we were on old tires so I just couldn't really just drive down the race track because I barely missed him and the guy behind me didn't see him. So it was like I pulled out and was going down the interstate and there was a parked car in front him and he ran right into the back of Jeff. It looked like a hell of a wreck but I guess Jeff was able to repair his car.

"It was Jaime McMurray who plowed right into the back of him. So that was a close call."

ON GOING TO TEXAS NEXT WEEK:

JIMMIE JOHNSON:
"It's been a decent track for us. We've been learning some things on the 1.5-miles lately and have been a lot more competitive. So, I'm excited going there. Hopefully we can get up there and race for the win. But of the three tracks remaining, I guess I'm not really sure on Phoenix and Texas. But I feel really strong about Homestead. Coming into Martinsville and Atlanta, I felt like we were going to be competitive for the win. Going into Phoenix and Texas, I feel like we'll be competitive for a top five."

DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
"I'm looking forward to going to Texas, obviously. We've had a lot of success there with wins. But if I could have a moment to point out an issue with that race track in the center of Turns 1 and 2, the tunnel that goes under the race track - the earth that goes over the top of the tunnel is eroded a little due to rain and compacted a little bit. And there's a huge massive bump up the track in Turn 1 and 2. And we'll never be able to run two and three wide through there as that bump gets worse every year. If they could repair that, that would be awesome. But it's a fun race track. It's starting to age a little bit. In Turns 3 and 4 you can run three wide move around a little bit and it's a lot of fun. But with the springs we're running in these cars now, you're basically forced to run at the bottom in Turns 1 and 2 with the bump you have."

ON GOING TO HOMESTEAD:

DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
"I don't know how many of you covered the test, but if I could have Martin's car (Truex Jr.), I'd be feeling pretty good about it. It was really fast. We just have to look at what they did. My car was okay, but his was really fast and very comfortable. I'd like to get up underneath his car and look around and see what he's got in there so I can compare it to what I have and we'll probably be able to do that. I ran okay in the test, but we need to do a little bit more work to be able to compete."

RACE WINNERS TONY STEWART AND GREG ZIPADELLI, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS

ON THE RACE:

TONY STEWART:
"I'm really happy. This is an important race for us with Home Depot's headquarters here in Atlanta and also Coca-Cola, so this is always a big weekend for us. Last night we had an event at Bob Nardelli's house (CEO of Home Depot) and a cookout for all the team guys. We were able to give him his 2005 Nextel Cup Series trophy that finally came in. So it's just been a big week. Obviously winning the IROC championship yesterday was huge. Even before that in Happy Hour, the car was really good. Zippy and I were talking about the lap times and how consistent they were. We were really optimistic. I told Bob Nardelli we had a top three car. It was just a matter of how the weather was going to be different today and how the track was going to change during the race.

"So when the green flag dropped today, the car drove exactly like it did at the end of Happy Hour yesterday. That's real uncommon. I was encouraged at that point that we had something good to work with. It was just a matter of fine-tuning all day. I don't think we ever made any big adjustments. We just kept making small adjustments all day and trying different combinations to find exactly what the car liked to do in long runs. We got up front early and held good track position all day. The guys had good pit stops. At the end, track position was going to be really huge because everybody was really fast at the end with the cool temperatures. I was really proud of my guys and of Zippy most of all for making the call to come in and get four tires. He let me know that we had lost six tenths of a second between our first lap and our 10th lap on our 10-lap run before the caution came out. We needed to come in and get tires. I just didn't know how many he was going to put on. He made an awesome call putting four tires on. The No. 99 car was the only on that beat us out and he took two. We got by him before the caution came out.

"That gave us a buffer between us and Jimmie (Johnson) that let me focus more on the No. 8 car. I pretty much knew all day where he was going to go on the restart so I knew he was going to give me the bottom and I got a really good run through Turns 1 and 2 and got underneath him on the backstretch and it was just a matter of making sure I could get clear of him before we got to Turn 3 because if he tucked down on the right rear, it was going to make us really loose. So I just tried to drive it in really hard for one lap and know that I was sacrificing the tires; but I just needed to clear him.

"Then it was just a matter of running our pace at that point and watching for the next couple of laps and Junior was still in second but we were pulling away. So it was just a matter of pacing ourselves. Being Atlanta, you can really hurt your tires early if you try to overrun them too soon. So it was just a matter of running the pace we needed to run to keep the interval that we had."

ON THE RACE:

ZIPPY:
"Well like Tony said, with this being Home Depot's headquarters and with Bob and his family here it was a great weekend and a great win for us. And with our relationship with Bass Pro Shops, we couldn't ask for a better day. Everybody did a great job this weekend. This is the car that we won Kansas with. We brought it here and now we'll take it to Texas. It's been a good car. We unloaded and we were good. We didn't make a lot of changes all weekend. It was a fun weekend. The pressure was off because we unloaded and we were so good. The pit stops were awesome when they counted. We made some aggressive adjustments on the first stop because I wanted to see how the car would react. We had to put it all back and by the end of the night we were able to put it all back to just the way we were after the first stop when it was too free. It was a great car and a great job by Tony of keeping track of the tires and the tire-wear and that's what it took was protecting that track position. We stayed in the top three or four all day and staying in position and that's what we were able to do."

ON THE DEBRIS CAUTION FOR THE PIECE OF ROLL BAR PADDING

TONY STEWART:
"Well, it's better than them throwing lead out, I guess. I guess at least if you hit it, it's not going to hurt anything. That's somebody that just needed a caution. That's not unheard of. There has been roll bar padding laying on race tracks for probably 50 years now. So that's a quick way to get a caution. It was on the race track and was a legitimate caution. It would just be nice to know who threw it out. How many laps were left?"

ZIPPY:
"I think it was about 30 (laps) to go. We were all going to have to stop at 25 to go and take tires and fuel."

WHEN GORDON AND EARNHARDT JR. DIDN'T MAKE THE CHASE LAST YEAR, THEY USED THIS TIME TO GET READY FOR THIS YEAR. IS THAT YOUR APPROACH?

TONY STEWART:
"We're strictly just trying to win races. We come out with a new car next year with the Impala SS and the flying brick next year with the Car of Tomorrow (laughter). So we've got two totally new cars to run next year. I can't believe I said that out loud. I was thinking it. That thing ought to be interesting. We've got two new cars anyway. The way technology changes, it would be lovely to say that what we're learning right now is stuff we'll be able to use right away next year, but it changes so fast that for us, it's just a matter of going out and winning races. We couldn't script this weekend better. It's been an awesome weekend for us."

IS THIS LIKE SUMMER VACATION?

TONY STEWART:
"It's just that the nice thing is you don't have to worry about points. I didn't worry about anybody but ourselves. I'm sure Kenseth and Junior and those guys were thinking about where the other guys in the Chase were in relationship to them tonight. It just takes the pressure off of us and lets us go back to doing what we do best and that's just going out and trying to win races. So, at this point in the Chase, those guys are singling out who is closest to them and trying to figure out what they've got to do to go to Homestead and try to win the Cup. We don't have to worry about that. We're strictly just worried about what it took to win tonight and do a good job for Home Depot and Coke and Bass Pro."

ON SOMEONE'S CALCULATION THAT HE WOULD BE SECOND IN POINTS NOW IF HE WAS IN THE CHASE:

TONY STEWART:
"But we aren't in the Chase, so it doesn't matter does it? It isn't any more frustrating because after Richmond was over, we just weren't in the Chase. The focus changed at that point. Please, do not start trying to turn and twist this thing and make it a media frenzy on would of's, could of's, should of's and all that. Leave it the way it is. It is what it is. Don't make a circus because of it. If we were in the Chase, we would not have been able to do what we did at Kansas City. Tonight would have been the same night but Kansas City might have turned out totally different because we would not have been able to take that chance. We wouldn't have gotten as many points probably.

"We just missed the Chase, guys. Once we missed the Chase in Richmond, that was it. The guys that are racing for the championship are racing for the championship. There is a lot of pressure on those guys. Sometimes it gets you off your game a little bit, sometimes it forces you to be a little more conservative and sometimes because of the pressure, you make mistakes. Those guys are in a totally different situation than we are. It is easier for us to just go out and try and win races. It is not frustrating at all to me that we have gotten more points than these guys. We are out there to win each race. Those guys are in a totally different situation. It is just two totally different scenarios right now."

ON NOT HAVING PRESSURE AND YOU RUNNING WELL VERSUS GUYS IN THE CHASE UNDER PRESSURE AND HAVING PROBLEMS:

TONY STEWART:
"I can't speak for those guys obviously but I think we have been working really, really hard to get caught up to Richard Childress Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Racing in the things they have caught on to again this fall.

"A similar situation last year, minus RCR, we got kind of behind a little bit in the middle of the summer so Zippy and the engineering staff at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) did an awesome job. When we went to Homestead, we learned a lot, I think some of the things we learned there, we used here and we will use at Texas, Phoenix and obviously at Homestead. It is stuff we can use this year, but it is one of those things we just have to do our homework just like everybody else does. It shows you how important it is to find something.

"You look at RCR and where they were last year. About mid-point in the summer they really got on stride and really started running well. Not just one of the cars; but all three cars are good. They obviously found something that worked. It is like I talked about earlier. Technology in this sport is in a constant state of change. What is good right now might not be good in February. It is up to us, even as good as we were last fall and last summer, you can get behind very easily. Winning the championship helps you get behind because you think you are on top and you believe you are doing everything right. But everything goes through the cycle of technology and change, you have to fight really hard to stay up on what is going on."

ON LOOKING AT CHASE FROM WHERE THEY SIT:

ZIPPY:
"You see Jimmie Johnson doing a great job rebounding from the issues he had earlier. You see a rookie Denny Hamlin and that team not as good as they would have wanted tonight, but doing a very good job to recover and get a top-10. They are obviously the underdogs but I think they have shown week in and week out that they can run up there and that is who I am rooting for. Other than that, it is kind of confusing to look around and see who is there one week and then who is not there the next week. I guess that is just the way it is this year. We have seen that in the past, it is going to come down to Homestead and that is going to be the interesting thing."

ON FAKING COMING DOWN PIT ROAD UNDER CAUTION LATE IN THE RACE:

TONY STEWART:
"My plan was to come in, I just didn't want to show them until the last minute that I was coming in. We have been caught in situations where I have had to make a split second decision and most the time I made the wrong one being on the race track so, we knew we were able to set the tone for what everybody else was doing. If we caught somebody out, that was somebody that was going to be a wounded duck, on the restart after that. It paid off for us, I am not sure I really faked anybody out but, I would say Junior's strategy was to stay out no matter what we did. It almost caused Jimmie Johnson a penalty because he almost missed getting inside the cones. To a certain degree it paid off."

ON BEING EASIER TO CLIMB FENCE WITH WORKOUT REGIME HE IS UNDER:

TONY STEWART:
"Didn't you see how short of time it took me to get up there? I thought I got up there pretty dang gone quick for a semi-fat kid, I am not as fat as I used to be. (David) Poole already put me on probation for the eating team. I have to be careful about what I do from here out, I could lose my membership and team status with Poole. On nights like to night, 500 miles is a long race and especially when the pace is fast as it is. We are running 29.5 seconds around here and that is pretty fast for a mile and a half track. To run that pace and run it all night, when I got out of the car, you saw how fast I got up there. I thought I got up there pretty quick. If you go stand underneath it, it isn't as easy of a climb as it looks. To do what we did, I feel like I feel good. Obviously adrenaline is a big factor in it too but on a night like tonight when you have everything go your way in front of your sponsors and some of your best friends, it is a nice night."

ON HAVING MORE FUN NOT BEING IN THE CHASE:

TONY STEWART:
"As a team we knew it wasn't the end of the world. When it happened, we were obviously devastated; but when you look at the season we had and the adversity that we overcame, to just be in a position to where we could race to get in the Chase and stay in the Chase, that was a pretty big accomplishment for us. It didn't work out our way, it didn't work out for two of the biggest names in NASCAR last year. It is just part of the sport, it shows how competitive the series is and when we didn't get in, it wasn't the end of the world; we just switched our focus. We didn't have the goal of trying to win a championship anymore, so it was to do what we did tonight, which was go out and try to win races. It hasn't changed the focus and attitude of our team. The smiles on the faces of those guys showed that. We are happy because the plan we set out for the remaining 10 races, we are on schedule with. We won two races. Last year we didn't win any races when we were in the Chase.

"At least since the Chase has started, we have won two races. I think that is a good accomplishment for our team. We have won four races this year. I think we have a lot to be proud of."

ON HAVING A FAVORITE TO WIN THE TITLE:

TONY STEWART:
"Honestly I don't even know what the points are after tonight. Like Zippy said, the No. 48 team is doing a great job. Jimmie and Chad are doing an awesome job. I am really proud of our teammate, Denny Hamlin. I don't know where everybody is right now. The thing that is exciting for me that I think there are seven teams that have never won a championship before and it really exciting to know that there is a good shot that one of these teams, that have never won one can get their first. I know what that meant to me, and I would be excited if one of those teams that has never won a championship won it. Not that I am rooting against the three teams and drivers that are in the Chase that have won a championship, but to see one of these guys get their first, that is something that would be really cool."

ON KNOWING IF YOU COULD PASS ANYBODY:

TONY STEWART:
"No, not necessarily. Track position was very important. When Dale, Jr. went by us, on that one run, we had a hard time staying with him and up to that point, we had been a stronger car than he was. I think it was a situation where you had to be really patient and not overdrive the car at the front of the run, and get in a situation where you started building a lot of heat in the right front tire and getting the air pressure up. You kind of had to let guys go when they got in front of you like that. It wasn't a deal where you could just pull the pin and drive by guys. As fast as we were running tonight, it made the aero side of it even worse. I was so happy with our guys on our pit stops tonight. We only lost one position in the pits the whole day, it was one of those early stops Zippy was talking about. For us being able to maintain track position was huge. My car was best when it was out front in clean air it just really drove well. So having that track position was huge."

ON GETTING THE MONSTER TROPHY BACK TO COLUMBUS INDIANA: "The plan has been set that as we speak, they are disassembling the trophy and put it in the cases and put it in the hauler. It will go back to Joe Gibbs Racing and be reassembled and leave it there on display until I built my new log home in Indiana. Then we will disassemble it, transport and reassemble. A lot of work, but shoot, I would rather have lot work carrying something that cool around. That is a cool trophy. If you look around at all the trophies we get in the Nextel Cup Series, Bass Pro Shops has one to have some of the coolest trophies in the history of the sport."