DENNY HAMLIN AND CREW CHIEF, MIKE FORD POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE:

DENNY HAMLIN SWEEPS POCONO
DENNY HAMLIN, NO. 11 FEDEX MONTE CARLO SS, COMPLETED THE SWEEP AT POCONO RACEWAY BY WINNING TODAY'S PENNSYLVANIA 500. THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE STARTED FROM THE POLE, JUST AS HE DID IN THE JUNE RACE, AND PROCEEDED TO DOMINATE BY LEADING 151 OF THE 200 LAP EVENT.

THE MODERATOR: We are pleased to be joined by the winner of today's Pennsylvania 500. He swept both races here at the Pocono Raceway. I'm told it's the first time in the history of the track that a driver has won both races in the same season from the pole. Bill Elliott won both races in '85, but he did not sit on the pole. Daryl Waltrip sat on the pole, but that pole was disallowed weeks later because of a disqualification.

Take us through your championship race out there today.

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, we really had a really strong car all day. You know, we just made fine?tune adjustments all day. We were a little bit tight at times, and Mike and the whole crew just did a great job of making really small adjustments all day.

I knew when I went out there what kind of car I had because, you know, we weren't really in left field and had to make a lot of changes. It was really good for us. We unloaded really good, and, you know, just continued our run through Sunday.

You know, we went as hard as I've needed to at times and it seemed like the competition got better at times. It kind of had us sweating a little bit at the end when Kurt kind of broke even with us. When I heard that he was breaking even, I stepped it up a little bit more and I pulled out a little bit. So it was really good. We got to improve on that and come back next year with an even stronger car.

Q. Mike Ford, take us through the pit calls that you made out there today. What did you say?

MIKE FORD: It was pretty simple today. It was straightforward, you know. The car the first 20?lap run was really strong. We knew that we'd make small adjustments and, you know, from there we were making quarter pound tire pressure adjustments and quarter rounds on wedge, and the car reacted early. The track did seem to tighten up at the end, but we were still fast and really didn't want to adjust much at the end. We were still fast enough to hold on.

Q. Denny, how confident are you now going to the Brickyard? And I assume you're taking this car?

DENNY HAMLIN: Well, after our test, I wasn't very confident. I felt like going into the test that we were gonna be, you know, really fast, but, you know, I seemed to struggle when I was there. Don't know exactly what we were fighting. Just overall grip really.

But that's kind of been the trend of, you know, all the Gibbs cars over the testing throughout the year. Every time we go to test, we're not all that good. We come back to race, we're really good.

So, you know, we didn't have the car that we have now. It kind of just sat in the corner and waited for this race. I'm sure we're gonna use it up pretty much the rest of the year and, you know, the Brickyard being especially.

Q. Denny, had an awfully fast car. Were in front a lot of today. Perhaps there wasn't as much pressure on you. Did it occur to you that you're a rookie? For a lot of people watching the race, it seemed like you were the only guy who had any sense out there. There's a lot of pressure in this regular season going down to the end.

DENNY HAMLIN: Well, I mean, if you really got to, you know, do a lot of extreme things to get track position and put yourself out front, then, yeah, you do things that you probably wouldn't normally do on the racetrack. But our car was so good that, you know, we took four tires when a lot of guys took two just 'cause there was no sense in risking it. We took our time getting back towards the front. You know, just our car wasn't as good in traffic as it was out front for sure, but, you know, it's just one of those things where when you unload a great race car, we got plenty of pit stops here to just fine-tune it. That's what we did.

Q. Denny, even though it's a six?week break between the first Pocono race and this one, a lot of times drivers say that the track is completely different. I was wondering, was the track similar to the first one? Also, sometimes because it's so different, the winner sometimes tinkers with the setup. How different was the setup from the June race?

MIKE FORD: We unloaded with the exact same setup we ran in June, knowing that the track could be a little different, and we had a different left?side tire. We wanted to kind of quantify how different the track was and the tire. So we made a short race run right off the truck, and was pretty close. The speed came back. Seemed like we picked up right where we left off in June. The car was a little bit tight, so we knew we needed to free it up. We freed it up in qualifying trim and hit it very close. We made the same adjustments in race trim and obviously hit that very close.

Q. Mike, I believe you said last month when Denny won that you enjoy working with a rookie after some of your previous experiences with veteran drivers. Could you tell us what your first impressions of him were as a driver and a person, and, you know, what does he have that is making him so successful?

MIKE FORD: Well, he enjoys sitting in the race car every day, you know. The last couple weeks, seems like every day he's been in the race car. He gives good feedback, and we talk a lot the same language. We come from, you know, similar backgrounds. And, you know, very competitive. You try and pair yourself with someone that has that as equal as you do, and when I first started working with Denny, I saw that with Denny. The feedback he had was really good. You could make small adjustments, and the car would react to it, so you know he's putting the car on the edge. You know, for a crew chief, that's very rewarding, the fact that you know when you make an adjustment that you're gonna see a result.

Q. You're the sixth guy to sweep. You join names like Bobby Allison, Tim Richman, Bill Elliott. What does it mean to you to be included amongst those drivers?

DENNY HAMLIN: Well, my name sticks out like a sore thumb with all those guys.

I don't know. Just to accomplish that so early in my career that I hope is a long one, it means a lot. It's just a testament of the good stuff I'm in. I mean, everyone knows how good, you know, Tony runs week in, week out. I got the same thing, so there's no reason why I can't run the same as what he does. And, you know, his stuff was good enough to win the championship last year.

So, you know, at Gibbs, we're really working together as a whole right now. Things are really good between the three teams and the communication. We're bouncing a lot of stuff off the 20 and the 18, and at tracks like this, they're coming back at us.

You know, I think the three teams at Gibbs are closer than what they ever have been in history, and it's definitely shown on the racetrack.

Q. Denny, are you still looking forward to having this weekend off, or do you wish you could take this car and this momentum and just go straight to Indianapolis?

DENNY HAMLIN: Either/or. It's good that you get to ride a win for two weeks. That's a good thing.

But on the other hand, you definitely want to keep that momentum going. When you get back on the racetrack, you still have the confidence of, Hey, you know, you just won the last race. And we're going to a very similar racetrack. Gonna be in the same car. So we definitely, you know, are tending for a great run. If the driver figures out the racetrack, we'll be in good shape.

Q. I have two questions, one not really serious. Could Pocono be in the Chase?

DENNY HAMLIN: I don't know. It's hard ...

Q. From your perspective.

DENNY HAMLIN: Of course I'm gonna say yes (laughing). But I don't know. It seems like they've got a pretty good balance of racetracks there in the, you know, Chase. They've got pretty much everything but a road course. We only run that twice a year, so there's really no sense in that.

But, you know, I think they're gonna twist the schedule around a little bit, and hopefully we come back here twice.

Q. When you've got a car that's this good, and I'm sure maybe there's some short tracks back in your career you had a car that you knew if you didn't mess up, you would win, and that had to be how you were feeling today. Is that tough for a driver in a different kind of way? It's obviously a great problem to have, but do you think about, Okay, I can't mess this up? Do you get a little defensive maybe?

DENNY HAMLIN: I tell you, it's amazing that I was getting upset when guys were running within a tenth of my lap times. I really was. I was getting in the car, I was like, Man, I can't believe those guys were running that fast.

It's just ? I don't know. It's just part of it. You know, I knew coming into this race that it almost felt like just a normal short track race. I got the pole. As long as something doesn't happen, I'm gonna cruise to a victory. It's not that easy in Cup. Guys, these crew chiefs and everyone in the garage, are smart enough to get better. They did throughout the race. We had some challengers there at certain parts of the race, different cars. We just need to make sure we were on our game the whole time. We couldn't just sit back, you know, count down laps and plan on winning. We definitely had to work on it.

Q. You start here twice, two wins. What is it about this track that makes you so successful at it? Does it suit your driving style?

DENNY HAMLIN: On the flat tracks I tend to excel. That's basically just because that's what I've been running throughout my career. You know, the more seasons I have in Cup, I'm sure my track stats will probably go up. It's closer, what I've been running, than the past few years, so I can adapt to it quicker. It's gonna take a while before, you know, places like Atlanta and places like that, that I'm gonna just get out there and go full?on. This track I feel like I can because I have a feel for that edge on the flat tracks. It's gonna take more experience for me to do it on the other tracks.

Q. You put this car away for five weeks, and now you're gonna run it real hard the rest of the season. Was there some reason for that five?week lull? Because your car was so successful at the track, or because the tracks you were going to weren't adaptable, or the car wasn't adaptable for the tracks you were going to?

MIKE FORD: Yeah, the schedule that we had right after Pocono, you know, we had severe damage to the car when we left here, or we would have taken it directly to Michigan. We could not turn the car around in that amount of time and, you know, the preceding races were not places where we would run this car.

We built two brand new cars and took both of those to Indianapolis to test, knowing that we would race this car here and if it survived it, it would be a very strong car at Indianapolis.

So, you know, we used that test to try and improve our fleet of cars. I think we fell a little bit short, and this one still holds the record, if you will, for downforce in the tunnel. And, you know, obviously it shows that on the racetrack.

So we were working on the car, trying to improve it from the last time, and trying to duplicate it as well.

Q. A humorous question. How does it feel to be a guy named "Ford" working on a Chevy?

MIKE FORD: (Laughing). I get reminded of that quite frequently. Something I've had to live with all my life because I've been working on cars all my life. You just learn to laugh and roll on.

Q. For both of you, Denny, you almost make this seem easy. Does any of this really surprise you about what you've done? Mike, what do you see in him that surprises you?

DENNY HAMLIN: You know, I'm not gonna say that I was surprised about this one. I was surprised about the other one, for sure. But, you know, it's just I felt like that somehow with the Racing Gods, we just hit on that magic setup when we unloaded here in June. You know, it's worked so far through these two races.

You know, it's just all I could pray for today was no problems, nothing out of the ordinary happening, and, you know, if we could do that, I felt like we had a really good win coming to us.

On the other hand, you know, we said before the race started, you know, Let's not kill ourselves if we don't win this race. If we get top 5, that's a step in the right direction for what we want to do as far as getting in this Chase. You know, if we do that, then it's still gonna be a great day for us.

Now if that would have happened and we would have not won, yeah, I probably would have been banging my head on the door. You have expectations from yourself and definitely want to succeed at them.

MIKE FORD: From my side, you asked what I see in Denny. Obviously, first part of that question, when you win at this level, it's never easy. It is even harder to duplicate because when you do win in a dominant fashion that we won before, guys do work harder trying to catch up to you. So, you know, we had to work hard at it, you know, to hold that as well.

But what I see with Denny is he's very patient. Outside the car, not always so patient when we're in the hall or talking about things. But inside the car, he's a points racer, and he knows that he needs to finish in order to move forward. That always comes first. When it comes time to race, you know, he always saves a little bit for the end. So that's a good combination to have in a young driver.

Q. I am going to ask this question, Mike. I don't mean this as any kind of an accusation or anything. But a lot of times when a guy dominates a track like this, the first thing people in the garage say is you've got some kind of trick or gizmo, whatever it is, some kind of secret that if you took that away, your car would be junk. As a veteran of this sport, you know that's gonna happen. The guys you ran with in Pocono, guys will be guessing what your gimmick is or secret is. One, is that good? And, two, does that bother you at all that you have people guessing, What the hell have they got in that car?

MIKE FORD: Yeah, kind of look back and this isn't the first time we sat on the pole and won the race here. Did it with Bill Elliott a few years ago and we turned around and won Indianapolis, so guys really were guessing at that.

From my side, I don't really worry about what anybody else thinks. You work on your own stuff. And I'm a gear head and I try and think about our car. If I'm worried about what other people think, it's just a distraction taking away from our program.

So, you know, you know whenever you run good and you kind of nail something down, that people are gonna cast stones at you and make accusations. From my side, I don't really worry about it. I think it's good from the competition side because, you know, it's taking their mind off of what they really need to be thinking about, and that's catching up.

At Gibbs we don't have any gimmicks, we just have good race cars and good race car drivers and good people working on them. You know, we've been able to nail this track here this year, and, you know, we've absolutely missed some. So we've got a lot of work ahead of us, but really don't spend any time worrying about what others think.

Q. (Inaudible question).

MIKE FORD: Yeah, that works in your favor. To be honest with you, the more we run a car and the more, you know, time we spend on the racetrack, we've still got things we want to work on. We didn't have a very good test at Indy, and I think some of that comes down to the cars that we had there. We haven't have as good a caliber of cars, what we're going to take to race. So I think that's where some of the speed was.

So we've still got work to do, as well. If we can take, you know, this car which we know is capable of winning on a fast race track, then, you know, that takes that question out of our mind, and we just get to work on setup and Denny gets to drive the racetrack.

Q. Denny, you said when you first got to the track you kind of waited around and you look for veterans like Mark Martin, go out, follow them to get the good line around the track. I'm looking at the points, you're 8th in points. Mark Martin is 6th in points. Talk about that, you're kind of following him around as well.

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, I mean, if you always look at Mark over the years, he's been in every Chase. Well, that's because he knows how to points race. He knows that finishing is the most important thing and then getting the most out of your race car at the end is the next thing. That's what I try to do.

You know, even at points today when, you know, we had big leads, I tried to save as much as I can, brakes and all that, for the end of the race when I really, really needed them. So, you know, it's all about patience. Tony has really taught me, you know, and talked to me about it over the last 10 weeks or so that it's so important, you know, not to use your stuff up early, run those fast lap times at the beginning of the race because at the end when you try to do it, it's not gonna happen.

I definitely just try to pride myself on finishing, and, you know, doing the right things on the racetrack.

Q. You talk to Tony about being patient?

DENNY HAMLIN: I know, it's an oxymoron.

Q. Denny, sometimes when a driver has such a great car like you did, the mind plays some games. You think you're hearing a noise or feeling a vibration or something. Did you experience anything like that today? Did you have any close calls at all where you thought maybe something might happen?

DENNY HAMLIN: I was behind the 99 coming up to lap end, something fell off his car. You know, at the speed that I was going, it felt like a dump truck just hit the front of my car, and I thought it caved the whole front end in. But it was just something stuck to the front end. It really didn't get in on the grille or anything like that, so it really was a non issue.

But the guys just did awesome pit stops all day. We didn't really have to come from behind except for that one run where we took tires and other guys didn't. So it was a pretty uneventful day.

Q. You said on Friday you did a video game coming into the race. Did you play last night by chance?

DENNY HAMLIN: No, it's only something I can do when I'm at home. I can't bring that whole system on the road with me. This week, due to the schedule, I wasn't able to get on the game at all. But, you know, we ran a faster time in qualifying, eleven more laps. Maybe I need to stay off of it.

Q. You come in as a rookie with confidence, being an athlete, of course. When you sat here a year ago thinking about this upcoming season, did you in your wildest dreams think you'd be sitting here with two wins at this point?

DENNY HAMLIN: No. Realistically, I didn't. I felt like, you know, in my mind, I says, you know, If I can have the same stats that I had my first Busch season in the Cup side, which is just one top 5 and nine top 10s, I was like, I'll be pretty happy with that.

But to be in the situation that we're in right now, no, I really didn't expect it. I mean, we got three wins with the Bud Shootout. It's like, you know, we're only about half?way in the year. So, you know, if we can double all of our stats, we'll definitely be in good shape.

Q. You said something came off of the 99. Do you have any idea what it was?

DENNY HAMLIN: It looked like just a piece of tape. They were taping their car back together from whatever happened, and, you know, whatever it was, it was just a big, you know, black ball.

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 3rd:

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

JEFF GORDON: It was a great run for us. We had good pit stops all day, good pit strategy. We lost some track position early on because we had a problem with a lug nut hanging up. That cost us. We had to fight back from that. But we had a pretty good race car and didn't have any brake failures, so we were able to work our way up through there.

I thought Steve Letarte just called a great race today to keep us at track position. Then, finally, the caution came at the right time for us where we could get on even tires with the rest of the guys there. At that time I felt like we had a 3rd place car. To come home 3rd, you know, I was real happy.

JEFF GORDON: Well, obviously, we had a failure here the last time we were here, so a lot of our efforts here this time were to, you know, make sure that that didn't happen again.

We were decent here the last time, but kind of the same thing, we lost track position and were never able to get back there. This time we lost track position and we had a car good enough to get up there.

We shared a lot of notes. We got a lot of notes from the 25 and the 5 car which we felt like they were better than we were the last time we were here. I think it paid off for us. We weren't exactly the way they were, but we were a lot closer to their setup. And from what we've learned over the last month or so, it has paid off for us. To even be able to see the 11 and the 2 is, you know, something that's special for us, to come here. We've been off quite a bit the last few times we've been here.

Q. For both of you, the room's kind of empty right now because everybody's chasing Stewart and Carl Edwards. Were you aware of the penalties that NASCAR issued on those two items, and what did you think about what was going on?

JEFF GORDON: I was behind a little ways. I saw the 99 and the 07 go spinning down the inside. I didn't even think the 20 was involved with that, so I have no idea.

Q. DO YOU AGREE WITH THE PENALTY?

JEFF GORDON: Yeah, I mean, if they penalize you down a lap and then you get the lucky dog, they just put you tail end in the longest line.

To me, I think that when they make those calls, that's pretty consistent with what they've been doing. They've been doing that where when they penalize you a lap, they know you're going to just get the lucky dog the next time, they hold that back from you at least for one time.

Q. Would you like to see the races here reduced to 400 miles?

JEFF GORDON: Is that even a question? I mean, I think that we've known that for years. This is way too long of a race, you know. I think you got to really hand it to the fans to come out here, and the people at home to watch this race, you know, because it's not the most exciting race and it's certainly too long.

I think we'd all love to be here 400 miles. I think it would make it a better race, and more exciting for everybody to cover.

Q. Six of the top seven guys are all guys who are fighting to get in the Chase. Were you looking around, see who maybe you were picking up points on and saying not really picking up on a lot of guys?

JEFF GORDON: You know, you just got to race as hard as you can and let the points fall where they may after your results and your hard work. I mean, that's all you can do.

I mean, it's not like you're pushing harder than you already are. You're pushing so hard to get every position you can, and you hope the points fall in line with that.

Q. Tony Stewart just said that if you ask any of the veteran guys in this garage that they'll tell you that he races fair. I guess I'm asking you, does Tony Stewart race fair?

JEFF GORDON: All but one or two times that I've been with him. You take that for however you want. Other than Watkins Glen and Dover, that's I'd say the only two times I'd say no to that. But other than that, he races pretty fair.

Q. Is there a better way...obviously he's always talking about the need for more respect on the track...is there a better way of going about it instead of sort of taking action into his own hands like he did today?

JEFF GORDON: I mean, I think he's got a tremendous amount of respect on the racetrack. I know I respect the heck out of him. I think he's one of the best race car drivers I've ever raced against. He's a true racer. It's evident from what all he drives, it's the dirt cars and everything else.

But the only thing that Tony has going against him is he's got a little bit of a temper, and sometimes that gets the best of him, you know. That doesn't have anything to do with respecting him on the racetrack.

JEFF GORDON: You know what, though, the cars have gotten more downforce. The tires have gotten harder. It's harder to pass than its ever been. It's more competitive than it's ever been. So it's not like you catch the guy and you're able to just shoot to the outside and go right on by him. You got to race a guy lap after lap after lap after lap, and guys aren't giving up those spots and giving an inch. So sometimes you got to take it into your own hands.

I don't know if....a little bit of that is respect, but at the same time, that's just the way the racing has evolved.

Q. You talk about the 400-mile race instead of 500 miles. I guess I've just been around too long, but you kind of get accustomed to it. This is the fastest 500 miles have ever been run around here. Is there some special reason that a 400-mile would be better?

JEFF GORDON: Well, I just think that this race is so long and drawn out, and it might not be. 400 might not be the magic number. You want to make sure that it doesn't turn into a fuel mileage race even though they all can. But if you just ran 400 miles straight without a green flag, you'd need to look at how many laps you can run and your pit stops because you'd hate to see that happen.

I definitely think this race should be shorter just because you get so strung?out here and then, you know, the race just sort of becomes a different race. It's just not the excitement.

The Mattiolis do a fantastic job. We love coming here twice a year. It has nothing to do with that. This is just a racetrack that doesn't offer the best side-by-side racing that we have on the circuit, and it's a two and a half mile, you know, racetrack that is flat.

It's not like Daytona or Talladega where it's high banks two and a half miles and then flat. You have to look at the lap time. It takes us 55, 56 seconds I think is the end of a run that we're going around this track. I mean, that's almost as long as it takes us to go around some road courses, and we don't have 500-mile races there.

I'm just thinking that we do a lot for entertainment in our sport, to keep everybody excited and into it and a good show, as well as, you know, the core racing of it. I think, you know, less than 500 miles would only make that a better show.

Q. Jeff, talk about the pressure you feel now to stay in the Chase versus the pressure you felt when you won your other four championships, and how much is that pressure going to escalate with each successive race until Richmond?

JEFF GORDON: That's the thing about the Chase, is that there's two different races that are going on right now. Those guys that are wanting to stay up there, you know, and be in the top of the points; those guys that are battling to try to be in the Chase; those guys on the outside that are trying to get themselves up there into the top 10; and then you got guys trying to be in the top 35 in points. It's really made it exciting and put a lot more pressure on a lot more drivers at this point in the season.

You know, I think in the past it was always just a prestige thing to try to be in the top 10, but now you know that if you just get in the Chase, you got a shot at the championship, not just the Chase. And so there's a tremendous amount of pressure. For us not making it last year, there was even more pressure on top of that to try to get into it this year.

DENNY HAMLIN, NO 11 FEDEX MONTE CARLO SS FROM VICTORY LANE

ON TODAY'S RACE "Pretty uneventful for once. It was really great to come here and do this again. Man, the car was strong. We did just quarter-turns and this that and the other all day. It was just a pretty good day for us."

ON WINNING AT POCONO AS A ROOKIE "It is just a great race car. This is more about the team than it is anything else. I am proud to be with all the people I am with at Joe Gibbs Racing and I can't help that Mike (Ford) is such a great crew chief. He prepares the car perfect every single week and it is up to me to get the job done."

ON RACE STRATEGY "Our FedEx Chevy was so good that no matter what we did, whether it was two tires, four tires, no tires, it was the best car on the race track. At times other cars started to catch up to us a little bit and tune in on us but we were good."

ON NOW BEING EIGHTH IN CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS CHASE "We have to keep plugging along. That is all we can do. Fate is going to decide this Chase. It is just going to happen. Some guys are going to have bad luck and we are in right now, we are just going to try and stay there."

MIKE FORD, CREW CHIEF NO. 11 FEDEX MONTE CARLO SS:

ON SWEEPING POCONO "Man for Denny's first two times here, undefeated is pretty incredible. Two poles, two wins, he really adapted to this track well. We had a really good race car and the team really excelled today. We didn't have the dilemma we had here in the first race to overcome, it was really a pretty smooth day all in all. Hats off to this whole crew. We came to Pocono and believe we got a pole and a win. Turned around and took the same car to Indy and won there with Bill Elliott. This car is going back in the truck to Indy."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 6TH:

YOU HAD A GOOD DAY, BUT SOME BRAKE ISSUES THERE NEAR THE END? "We had an issue with an official on pit road. We went to take two tires and we were running third or fourth and he was standing in front of the car and I actually hit him. So I'm glad he's all right. But it kicked the fender in and we lost probably 15 spots on pit road. We recovered from that and got up into the top five and ran there throughout most of the day and then had brake trouble at the end. It looks like I just wore the brake pads out."

DID YOU NOTICE ANY OVERLY AGGRESSIVE DRIVING TODAY? "No, I didn't see anything. I raced with Tony Stewart through a lot of the day. Sometimes things are an accident and things happen. I hope that people aren't over-reacting. There's a knee-jerk reaction when there's contact thinking that somebody is mad at someone..paybacks..or whatever it may be. I didn't see anything where I was today and I came through the pack once or twice. There was just some hard racing. We had a good day."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 7th

DID IT FEEL GOOD TO COME BACK THROUGH THE FIELD AND GET A GOOD FINISH TODAY? "Oh, yeah. It's just like I told everybody last week, just because we're outside of the top 10 for a week, don't get too upset because we're going to get ourselves back in the top 10, so don't even worry about it."

ON THE PENALTY, DID THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO MAKE IT UP TO THE TEAM? "I didn't even want to have to get the penalty, but if we get some of these young guys. If the run the Busch Series on Saturday and they race that way on Saturday, if we can ever get it into their head that Sunday's a totally different deal with these 500 miles races..all we had to do when we got to him was let him go. I mean I didn't have any problems with Jeff Burton or Bobby Labonte or any of the rest of the guys all day who have been here doing it a while. All of a sudden these that are one and two year drivers that think they know everything about Cup racing. They've got a lot to learn."

WHAT HAPPENED ON PIT ROAD WITH CARL EDWARDS? "That was only one of two times he run into us. I don't know. We never touched anybody. I don't know why he's running into us. If he's mad about something, he should have said something after the race instead of trying to take our race car out. We never touched him."

CARL EDWARDS GOT CAUGHT UP IN THE ACCIDENT WITH CLINT BOWYER AND MAYBE THINKS YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE "What happened with me and Clint had nothing to do with Carl. I'm sorry he got into it, but it all started with the 07 car. If he would have just used a little give and take at the beginning of it, none of us would have been in that position in the first place. So instead, we had two guys that had driving penalties and two other guys that got their cars tore up. So one guy that's not being patient and using give and take cost four guys a rough day."

WAS THERE A POINT WHERE (CREW CHIEF) ZIPPY WAS FRUSTRATED? "No. We all stayed calm and we all did what we had to do. We're a pretty good team about doing that and we've been doing it for a long time.

All I know is if the No. 3 car was here (Earnhardt), a lot of these problems we have with these drivers wouldn't be happening because he'd have had it all settled by now and we wouldn't have to worry about this now."

YOU APOLOGIZED TO YOUR CREW ON THE RADIO AND SAID YOU'D MAKE IT UP TO THEM WITH A GOOD FINISH. DO YOU THINK YOU DID? "Yeah, I think this was as good as we were all day. But it was an awesome job by Zippy and the guys had awesome stops all day getting it back to the front there. I just wish we wouldn't have had to race that hard that early in the race to have to get ourselves in position to do that."

TALK ABOUT THE 07 RACING HARD "He was racing too hard at the beginning of a 500-mile race. The problem is they don't learn give and take in the Busch Series and they run the Busch Series on Saturday. They came from Martinsville yesterday and they come here to Pocono today and they're still racing like they're at Martinsville in the Busch Series. This is the Nextel Cup Series. If they would all learn a little give and take, none of us would have been in this position. Carl (Edwards) ended up with a bad day because of it. The No. 5 car ended up with a bad day. I ended up with a bad day. Four cars ended up with a bad day because one guy couldn't have patience and use give and take like they talk about at the drivers meeting every week."

ON WORKING HIS WAY BACK INTO THE TOP 10 "I never doubted we'd be in the top 10 one week after we got out. I'm not worried about it. Everybody else seems to be more worried about the top 10 than we are because we know we're a top 10 team. We just need to do what we did today and keep digging and we'll be where we need to be at the end."

BOTTOM LINE, AT THE END OF THE DAY, SHOULD YOU HAVE BEEN MORE PATIENT? "Should I have been more patient? I don't think so. I think if the No. 3 car was here, I don't think we'd have as many problems in the series as we have because he always had a way of letting the drivers know where they stood and when to be patient and when to move and when not to move. So I'm not saying that everybody's got to get out of everybody's way, but when it's a 500-mile race and they guy behind you comes up faster..Mark Martin and the rest of those guys let everybody go it just the first year and second year drivers that can't seem to get into their heads to do a little give and take."

AND YOU ARE BECOMING ONE OF THOSE VETERANS NOW..MAYBE SHOULD YOU PUT IT ON YOURSELF AND MAYBE INTERVIEWS LIKE THIS WILL HELP YOU GET THE MESSAGE OUT? "I talked to Ryan Newman last week. Ryan and I got in the wreck last week and that cost us (from) being in the top 10. Ryan gets it. Kyle Busch gets it. There's only a handful of these guys who don't get it. But the problem is they're in good race cars and they run up front, but they don't run up front enough to learn from the rest of the veterans to learn how to race up front. When we got up front with everybody that is used to running up front, we never had a problem like we normally don't have a problem. It's when we get around the guys that we don't normally race with."

DID EARNHARDT EVER COME TO YOU WHEN YOU WERE STARTING OUT AND GIVE YOU ADVICE? "We just need to do something a little different here and that's how you learn things. You learn from guys who are veterans in the series. You've got so many of these guys who are running Busch on Saturday and Cup on Sunday and they don't use their heads on give and take and then we end up in the wall because a guy won't let us go and then he ends up in the wall. It's the same thing the guy in the No. 3 car would have done. He'd have done the same thing if the roles were reversed. Eventually these guys figure out you know, hey, I had a bad day because I didn't use my head. It just sucks when you got to have a bad day yourself and get penalized for it. I don't know what point does NASCAR step in and say listen you guys either got to learn it or they've got to learn it from other drivers on the race track. But it's kind of tough when you're babysitting all day long."

IS THERE A WAY TO GET THE MESSAGE ACROSS? "Do you have any ideas?

NO. "I'm asking you. I don't either then. I don't know. Go sit with them next week and go talk to them and tell them how it works because I'm so tired of talking with guys. I'd sit down and talk with them all day long but the thing is, they look at you like you've got three heads and they don't pay attention and they don't care. They just do it their way. If Earnhardt Sr. was here, you wouldn't have any of the problems that we have in the series right now with the drivers who are first and second year drivers."

WOULD IT BE EASY TO SAY I'LL JUST LAY LOW? "Let me ask you this. If Clint (Bowyer) was faster than me, I'd have let him go. That's the way I do everybody. But is it fair for me to let him go but then not let me go coming up there. I just want to be raced. I expect to be raced the way I race other people. And I think I'm pretty fair. Ask some veterans and ask the guys that I run up front with every week and I think I'm a pretty fair driver to those guys. If I'm wrong on that, I'll quit. I'll give you my hard card and retire tomorrow. But I'm pretty sure that those guys are going to say I race pretty fair 99 out of 100 times. When it comes down late in the race like this, you've got to race hard. I didn't expect Jimmie (Johnson) to give me anything at the end.

"I didn't expect Harvick to give me anything. At the end you've got to race hard. But it's 500 miles, guys. When you're 40 miles into it.you're got 460 miles..you've got all day to work on your car you know. So what are you accomplishing when you're going to pit five or six or eight times, you know?"

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 5th:

"It was a good race today. We had a solid car all day. We got really loose there at the end for whatever reason but we were able to stay in the top five there. So it was a good day for the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet.

ON TODAY'S RACE "It is pretty big for us. Our GM Goodwrench Chevrolet was good all day long. Coming to Pocono, we always wonder what is going to happen. Today we had a really good car all day long and were able to run up front and keep the brakes underneath the car. We made good adjustments all race long. Good day for us. Hopefully we can do six more just like that."

ON BEING A GOOD OMEN HEADING TO INDY "I think so. Our test there went really well. Everybody still have a question about the tires, you know, are they going to run far enough and are they going to wear out. Our car seemed to be pretty good compared to others. I am looking forward to the Brickyard and also having only one race next weekend. It will be fun."

ON MOMENTUM IN POINT STANDINGS "I think we have been consistent performance wise all year. We have a lot of things go wrong for us, a lot of crazy things happen - a rock through the radiator at Darlington and just a few things like that. But all in all, the performance has been there week in and week out and that is what we have to keep doing."

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 4th

ON TODAY'S RACE "We were a second to third place car all day. We ran in the top group. We lost some track position one time, that hurt us, it was real important today. There were times when we had the balance spot-on. But we were still lacking a 1/2 of a tenth to a tenth on the 11 car, he was just dominant all day. That is the kind of speed you have to find in practice, you can't find it during the race. The guys made good calls in the pits. We had a good solid day, moved us up in the points. It was a good day for us."

ON NOT HAVING PRACTICE ON SATURDAY "I felt like we obviously had a good base setup to start with. We ran well here in the past and ran well here in the first race in June. Obviously the 11 had a better starting point than we did. Practice probably would have helped us, but we were still ok."

ON WHAT THIS FINISH MEANS TO THE TEAM "It feels really good. We had a good car last weekend, just being a little off on pit strategy kind of hurt us a little and then getting caught in some wrecks. We have had some really good cars here lately and to finally get some good solid runs to show for them and move up in the points, that always helps a team. It makes you feel good when you run well."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS: Wrecked on lap 88

YOU SEEMED AWFULLY CALM ON THE RADIO, BUT YOU SEEMED KIND OF UPSET AND NEEDED SOME TIME TO COOL DOWN "Well, I really didn't know who wrecked me and then I found out it was Dave Blaney. I didn't do nothing to him on the race track. I don't think he meant wrecked me. I don't know why he would do that; he's a pretty nice guy. We always got along as friends. But it's a pretty weird deal. I just got run over on the straightaway and I tried to save it but just got too far behind on the wheel there."

AFTER LAST WEEK, YOU DIDN'T NEED A POOR FINISH AGAIN THIS WEEK: "You're are telling me. But what am I supposed to do? My motor blows up and now I got wrecked. I don't know what else to do. I mean, we didn't have a great car. We didn't bring a good race car to the race track, not a good product. I am disappointed in my team on how the car drove, but we will just have to keep tryin."