HARVICK WINS CHEVY ROCK & ROLL 400 AND 7 CHEVY DRIVERS MAKE THE CHASE

RICHMOND, VA - Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Bare Naked Ladies / GM Goodwrench Chevrolet wins the Chevy Rock & Roll 400, and Team Chevy puts Monte Carlo SS in 7 of the Top 10 spots in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

The seven Monte Carlo SS drivers are: 2nd place - Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevy; 3rd place - Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevy; 4th place - Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg's Chevy; 5th place - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Chevy; 6th place - Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevy; 8th place - Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevy; and 9th place - Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevy.

ED PEPER, CHEVROLET GENERAL MANAGER: "The Race to the Chase culminates at the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway. It's been a great day and a great win by our own GM Goodwrench Chevy Monte Carlo SS driver Kevin Harvick. We couldn't be more pleased to have seven of our outstanding Team Chevy drivers make it into the Chase to contend for the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship. I couldn't be prouder. It's been an exciting season so far where we've faced worthy competitors on the track. We look forward to seeing Chevy in the winner's circle and contending for our 30th manufacturer's championship.

Chevrolet maintains the lead in the Manufacturer's Cup Chase with 195 points, and 15 wins. Ford is in second place with 151 points and 5 wins and Dodge is in third place with 148 points and 6 wins.

The 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup title begins next Sunday, September 17, 2006 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, which is scheduled for a 1:10 p.m. green flag start and will be aired live on TNT.

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
JEFF BURTON, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Monte Carlo SS
JEFF GORDON, No. 24 DuPont Monte Carlo SS
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 29 Bare Naked Ladies / GM Goodwrench Monte Carlo SS
KYLE BUSCH, No. 5 Kellogg's Monte Carlo SS

KERRY THARP: Ladies and gentlemen, we're pleased now to be joined by our eighth-place finisher in the points standing right now, driver of the number 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, that's Jeff Burton. Jeff, congratulations on making the Chase. Tell us your emotions right now, talk a little bit about the race, but your emotions about getting into the Chase for the first time.

JEFF BURTON: Well, I'm relieved for sure. Today was a long day. The last two weeks have been pretty long. Glad to have this behind us. Now it's time to, you know, get focused and go again. I mean, the next ten weeks will be pretty pressure-filled all weeks, but I'm looking forward to it, excited about it. I think we need to step it up just a little bit. I've got to do a better job of explaining what the car is doing so we can make the car better during the race. But I feel good, we're in, we've done a nice job. 29 comes in with a tremendous amount of momentum, and feel really good about that. So proud to have two RCR cars in there and we're just going to go and do the best we can.

Q. You've contended in championships before. Compare this one with what you've done in the past, if you can. JEFF BURTON: Well, these are really interesting. This is my first shot at being in one of these, and it is different. It's different because, you know, if you go to -- there's more finality in the other old points system with four or five to go, you know what I mean. There's like three or four to go, you kind of know you're out of the deal or you know you're still in it.

And this deal, I mean, it's like there was 11 -- well, there was seven people, maybe eight people, that were racing for a championship tonight. I mean, this was -- this is what we saw Alan Kulwicki and Bill Elliott, that deal in Atlanta years ago. That's what this was tonight, because although the champion wasn't crowned tonight, any one of us has a chance. So there was -- there wasn't two people. There's not three people, there was seven or eight that were racing for a championship tonight, and that's a hell of a lot of stuff going on out there.

It is different. I think it's better. I think it's more -- I said this a few weeks ago, I'm not so sure after tonight that I'm a big believer in what I said. What I said was the more pressure-filled and the more excitement and more tense it is, the better it is for the fans, but damn, I'm not sure I want that. Because it is pressure-filled, but you know, that's what it should be. I mean, that's what this race should be, and that's how it's shaked out.

Q. You talked about the pressure and sort of the -- does it ever turn into frustration like you're trying to cling to the end of a vine or the end of a rope? Can you just talk about the emotions you went through just waiting for this race to start at the end of a long day?

JEFF BURTON: Well, this was a long day. I thought it was a long day, anyway. Maybe these guys didn't, but I thought it was.

JEFF GORDON: If you'd been driving my car, it's been a long day.

JEFF BURTON: Three nights in a row and then the long afternoon there, it takes forever. We've had three night races in a row and it's a lot of waiting around. I don't like night races myself because of the waiting around, and then you add all the stress and the pressure of this deal, you end up spending a whole lot of time sitting in the motor home, walking around trying to find something to do to pass the time, and it's very difficult to pass the time and not think about it.

Again, that's what sports are about, and this -- as crazy as I thought this system was when I first heard it, it sure has produced a hell of a lot of excitement with ten races to go in the year.

KERRY THARP: We're pleased to be joined by our ninth-place finisher in points standing, Jeff Gordon, driver of the number 24 DuPont Chevrolet and he raced in tonight finishing tenth in the points standings. Talk about getting into the Chase, you're not in it last year but you are this year, talk about your emotions.

JEFF GORDON: That's the king that's keeping me smiling right now is that we're in it. You know, we know what it feels like to not be in it from last year. You know, we've had to fight hard all year long, and we've really come together as a team. And tonight wasn't, you know, really a showing of that; we're struggling here and having gotten something figured out here at Richmond. So, you know, it was a long night for us.

But luckily, the last three, four weeks have been good for us, good enough to get us a little bit of padding in the points there to be able to, you know, fall back as far as we did tonight and still make it.

KERRY THARP: We're also pleased to be joined up here, he's fourth in the points, he finished second in to night's race, driver of the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet, Kyle Busch. Your first time in the Chase. Talk about it, talk about your race tonight.

KYLE BUSCH: Well, for us, it's definitely exciting to be not only in the Chase, but to have the kind of run that we did tonight with the Kellogg's Chevrolet was very strong, led a lot of laps there. Knowing how Kevin Harvick felt in the spring race, leading so many laps and wasn't able to come away with a win, just shows these guys keep preparing great race cars for me and I'm excited to drive them. Looking forward to the final ten, seven of the ten, one is a crapshoot and the other two we need to work on. See how we do with it. Overall tonight's race, it was pretty much a dominant car but not quite enough there in the last lap.

Q. Jeff Burton, did you ever feel, it seemed pretty smooth ride for you in some respects, did you ever feel precarious in any moment during the race, and the other question, considering where you've been in recent, last few years, how much does it mean to you to crack this Top-10 and what would it have meant if you had?

JEFF BURTON: Well, it always looks smoother than it really is. You know, we had a bad pit stop there one time and we lost a bunch of spots, and that was pretty stressful because the 6 got in front of me and I knew Kasey was running really well. I didn't understand what Tony's situation was. I was pretty nervous about that.

And the points were really close. If you look at them, good God, it's really close. But you know, I've run like crap for three years in a row, and it's been embarrassing to be quite honest. You know, I care a great deal what my peers think about me from a competition standpoint and from a personal standpoint. It's kind of hard to walk through the garage when you're running 20th and look Jeff Gordon in the eye and expect him to respect you for what you can do on the racetrack. Over the last three years, I haven't been able to get it done and that's not felt very good. This year, we've been able to step it up. Certainly, from where we've been over the last three years. You know, it feels good. I went to RCR, a lot of people thought I was crazy when I went to RCR, I went there not because I was trying to finish my career but because I was trying to start it over again. Hopefully we've been able to do that.

Q. Jeff Gordon, you were kind much plummeting there at the end and it looks like you just made it in by three points; were you at all panicking there? (Laughter)?

JEFF GORDON: Thank you.

Q. And I have a second question, too.

JEFF GORDON: You're only getting one for sure with that one. (Laughter).

Yeah, it was pretty obvious to me and everybody else, we were struggling. We had two problems, I mean, one, the handling, we really tried about five different combinations here the last five times we've been here, and none of them have worked. So, you know, certainly have to look at what I'm doing versus what we're doing set-up wise, and then we had a brake issue there at the end. I was just concerned, the weight, I felt a little grinding in the brake pedal and steering wheel and I wasn't sure we were going to make it to the end. I probably slowed the car down a little bit more there at the end than I actually had to. But luckily, you know, there wasn't really anybody around me those last ten -- well, I was racing Joe Nemechek one time but something happened to him and he faded. I mean, I couldn't keep cars from passing me, so, you know, it's a very helpless feeling when you're in that situation. You know, they are going by you left and right and you're just holding on, hoping that you've got enough to make it to the end.

Q. My second question; you were a champion and you missed the Chase last year; can you sympathize at all with Tony now, who didn't make it tonight?

JEFF GORDON: I can absolutely sympathize with Tony. I mean, you know, we experienced what that was like last year. It was a tremendous amount of pressure and, you know, I think for us because we were on the outside looking in for several weeks leading to this race last year, you know, it was just a constant burden and it was tough. It only made it tougher when we didn't make it.

But at the same time for us last year, it's somewhat of a relief to just start focusing on the next year. I really believe those ten races of last year are what turned this team around to get us in this year.

But I know that, you know, you don't think Tony Stewart's not going to be in it. He's one of many guys that I would have thought would have definitely be in there.

Q. Jeff Gordon and Kyle, last year we saw Roush get five in and I see Hendrick get three; what does that mean for Hendrick, and is there any big picture difference from last year?

KYLE BUSCH: I was looking for the expert to answer that one for you guys. You know, I think the biggest thing for us is that as an organization is the team meetings that we've been having. You know, I think they have really paid dividends. Jimmie Johnson came up with the concept, I think he heard it from Casey Mears in the Ganassi organization. After happy hour and all that stuff we would get together in Rick's motor coach and talk, the crew chiefs, engineers and drivers and just talk about how the things were going through the weekends and about how different -- know our cars, what are what kind of changes we made and what kind of changes they made and put it all together.

As far as having three cars in the Chase, we've just been working all that much closer together and it proved dividends there.

JEFF GORDON: I'll just add, I know Rick's really proud of that effort. I think he was as nervous as anybody else. I saw him before the race, and, you know, I know it was a real goal, after seeing Roush do that last year. He takes a lot of pride in the teams he has and for them to be able to perform at a level for all four to be able to make it in the Chase and to have three of the four is really a great accomplishment, and I know how excited and proud he is to have them in there.

Q. Seven Chevrolets in the Top-10, does that mean that Chevy can dominate? What are your thoughts on that?

JEFF BURTON: Well, I think that, I mean, the rules aren't really different this year from last year. I think, you know, last year Roush did a great job with what Ford gave them and this year Hendrick and RCR have done a nice job with what Chevy has been able to give us.

You know, I think that the manufacturers have a huge influence on how well we perform, but it's more I think what matters here most is how the teams use what the manufacturers have available to us. I think that Chevrolet does a tremendous amount of good stuff to help us and a lot of tools but at the end of the day, it's up to us to use them. Hendrick stepped up their program this year, RCR stepped up their programs this year and the teams show it.

Q. For anybody, were any of you surprised about how relatively clean of a race this was with so much at stake, a la Bristol, too, a pretty clean race?

JEFF GORDON: It certainly was for me. I'm going to go talk to Clint Bowyer, that guy, he gave me like way too much room. He could have passed me ten times, I swear we ran side-by-side for 20 laps because he had a car width between me and him every time we came off the corner and he was on the inside. I was like, wow, that's pretty generous right there.

I know the guys raced me pretty clean, and obviously there were not many cautions. That tells you something.

I think that, you know, the guys that weren't in it seem to be pretty respectful for the guys who are battling to be in it, and the guys that were in it knew that they didn't want to take one another out of it; they had to race for it. So maybe guys were being a little extra cautious tonight.

KYLE BUSCH: Ask Jimmie Johnson how clean it was. He got knocked up twice. (Laughter).

Q. Kyle you mentioned earlier just about the Chase upcoming, you like seven of the tracks and one is a toss-up, obviously Talladega; what are the tracks you feel are a concern and what can you do between now and then?

KYLE BUSCH: Texas and Atlanta are two concerning tracks. We always tend to finish 12th at Atlanta, been there three times and finished 12th three times. We can run well in the middle part of the race and pass for the lead and do all of the great stuff that we can normally do at Charlotte or whatever, but at the end of the race for some reason we just fall off and can't be as good at the end.

Texas is a place that's always hindered my performance, especially in the Cup series. The Busch Series I had that one strong run of second place earlier this year, finished fourth, but have not quite been able to get the run in the Cup series yet. Hopefully that will turn around at the end of the year. Not sure what it is about that place to not run so well. Maybe just the banking falls off too much after throughout the exit of corners, but all in all, we'll just see how it goes and hopefully we can run well at the seven others where we can take care of just a finish with those two.

KERRY THARP: We are also pleased to be joined by our race winner, driver of the number 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, Kevin Harvick. Take us through your run tonight and you're also third in the points, talk about that.

KEVIN HARVICK: Obviously we had a good car all night and kind of lost the handling a little bit, third or fourth run there and made some good adjustments and were able to get the forward drive there back in the last run. Everything worked out there toward the end and we were able to get position off Kyle and get up off of four and get to the white flag. It's a last minute but in the end it all works and we're excited to go into the Chase third where we came in. That was our goal tonight, was to leave here ten points behind and going into the Chase as close as we could.

Q. Jeff Burton a minute ago was talking about not expecting you to sort of reciprocate with as much respect because he wasn't running well in recent years. Had your perception of him as a competitor changed at all and has it possibly changed again this year because he is sort of back?

JEFF GORDON: Well, there's no doubt that, you know, the thought goes through everybody's mind, you guys included that, you remember the times when he was with the number 99, and I remember battling with him for a lot of race wins, championships, you know, and it just seemed to fall off. They had some members of their team sort of shuffle around and all of a sudden the performance wasn't there. I never doubted for a second that it was Jeff Burton. I always thought he was one of the top drivers. You know, it just seemed like it was there and they were just, you know, right on the edge of winning the championship, and then it was gone and then you didn't even hear about him.

You know, I think it's a bold move on his part to make the move to RCR and obviously that's paid off. I never had a lack of respect for Jeff, because I've battled too hard with him over the years so I know what kind of a competitor he is. I think it's refreshing to see a guy go through those types of times and be able to come back the way he has.

Q. Kevin, really, what this is looking like, as well as you've been running, you could conceivably win both series, and I know you've been asked about this but it's really looking a lot more legitimate for you now. Do you just not even think about that at this point or do you take the success you're having in both of them?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think you have to take the success and just kind of be happy. It's something where we're fortunate to be in the position that we're in, with the way our Cup car is in, we have a realistic shot of doing what we need to do to run for the Cup championship. But it's going to come down to, you know, not having a bad break or something going wrong and the guy that wins it is going to have ten good weeks. If we can keep the momentum up, obviously we have a chance. We understand it's reality and compared to where we were the last couple of years, just to be in that position, we're really fortunate to have turned everything around and just excited to have the opportunity to race for both of them.

Q. You mentioned momentum. Do you feel it when you go back to the garage and also, since you made the decision to renew with Richard, can you talk about that a little?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I think all year everything has gone really well, even in the middle of all the contracting stuff and everything that we had going on. Richard and I were on the same page pretty much throughout the whole process, and understood where each other were coming from.

It's nice for everybody to be on the same page and pulling in the same directions. I have two great teammates that I get along really well with. You know, we respect each other and push each other and try to make each other better. So it's something to where the guys, they are pumped up and we feel like -- we feel like, you know, we can race for the championship and feel like we're capable of being able to compete for that.

So if we can keep the momentum up and not have the bottom fall out one week and something go wrong, I feel like we have as good a chance as anybody.

Q. Why not just ride at the end? I mean, you had the Chase won, I know everybody is going to ask you that -- why not just take what you had?

KEVIN HARVICK: I'd rather flip over and run tenth in the Chase than give up a chance to win a race. You know, with five to go, I started dialing a bunch of rear braking. We were pretty much even, and Todd and I and Richard and everybody - we've talked about it before - if you have a chance to win the race, you have to win the race. They are too hard to come by. You know, everything else is secondary at that point.

You'll suffer the circumstances if something goes wrong, but it's too hard to put yourself in that position to go out and try to win. So like I say, I'd rather flip over backwards and start tenth in the Chase than give up a chance to try to win.

Q. Kevin, in the past when you've talked about trying to make it in the Chase, you had said before that you thought that the last ten races were good races for you if you get in. Now that you're in, can you just talk about what you like about these last ten races and then how you typically run pretty well in them?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think our results in the past probably don't show up as well as we feel like we can perform at those particular racetracks. You know, I think Dover is probably a question mark for us just for the fact that, you know, we've kind of been up and down there, but we had a chance to win a race there at the beginning of the year. It's all going to come down to circumstances. I don't feel like we have a weak point. I think you're going to show up and have an off-weekend, that's going to be the weekends -- everybody is going to have an off-weekend but those are the weekends that dictate who is going to win the championship just for the fact of recovery and making something out of those bad weekends.

Q. Having a teammate with you in this Chase, how important is that, or is that any kind of advantage for you?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I think it's definitely something to where Jeff and I communicate well and help each other as much as possible. I think it's definitely good for the company. I think that's the most important thing is it's great for RCR to have both of our cars in there. I feel like both of us have run well enough to be in the Chase this year and earned that. You know, we're going to give it everything we have. I know we've got a pretty good plan going in as far as cars and engines and things like that as far as what we're going to race. We'll just let it all hang out and see where it all winds up.

Q. You were discussing how you and the 31 have run so well. You guys seem to be able to sustain that throughout an entire race. They are very fast early and sometimes towards the middle of races, but they seem to fade at the end. Do you have any sort of explanation for that?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I think sometimes when you're as fast as they have been at the beginning of races, I think sometimes you get behind on your car because you're out in clean air and you're out in front.

I think when you're able to run in a little bit of traffic and make the adjustments, you need to make the run better, I think that's somewhat of an advantage toward the end of the race.

Sometimes you get out there and lead and think, "I don't want to touch my car," and everybody else is making adjustments, and I think they have just kind of been in that position a couple of times and haven't had the chance to make their car better when everybody else was.

Q. Your teams is just overflowing with confidence right now, a lot of momentum. Was there a race you could think of or a time during the race where everything kind of changed, the momentum changed, the level of confidence changed? KEVIN HARVICK: I'd have to go back and really think about that. I know the first part of the season was kind of filled with some bumps in the road. At Daytona we had some carburetor trouble and then wound up crashing.

You know, Atlanta, we got into a little wreck and wound up going several laps down. I don't think that there's one particular spot. We really have been pretty relaxed and just kind of taking it one week at a time and really not worrying about what happened last week or whether it was good or bad. You have to get over that and go on to the next race. So you know, Todd and myself have been together for the most part of seven years and a lot of our team has been together for, you know, a fair amount of that time as well.

You know, from our original Busch team, all of the guys that came out of that shop are still in the shop. So it's a pretty close-knit bunch of people and we're all good influences on each other to help pick each other up. That's what it's all about, team morale and keeping everybody moving in the right direction.

Q. What is the journey been like over the last couple years to get back to this platform for this organization; people are going to look at two years happen quickly but what was it like for you?

KEVIN HARVICK: I've left competition meetings before with everybody looking at me like I was the biggest butt in the whole entire world because they didn't like what I had to say. But I think in the end, I may not know how to express it the correct way, but I think they all heard where I was coming from and it wasn't just me. You know, at some point you have to stop and reevaluate everything that's going on and nobody was pointing fingers and everybody just stopped and Richard said, "Here is what we're going to do. We're going to come up with a new plan."

We stopped about halfway through last year and built all brand new cars, redid a lot of things in our engine shop, reorganized personnel and reorganized personnel through the whole shop.

Jeff came in about a year and a half ago, and there's just been a lot of things that have taken place that Richard is so into it, it's not even funny. He's excited to be at the racetrack. He's at the shop too many hours during the day. He drives himself crazy over every situation, but I mean, that's what it takes. I mean, this is a full-time business. I always tell the guys, they go on vacation, there's no time for vacation during the year. That's not how it's supposed to be. I give them a lot of grief over that but it should go to where there's not just one thing you can point out, just a whole bunch of things come together.

Q. You said a lot of reevaluation; what did you reevaluate about yourself?

KEVIN HARVICK: I'll be honest with you. I would have fired my butt three or four years ago. (Laughter) But, you know, Richard is the type of person that he gives you a chance and let's you explore the world and try to realize who you are. As you get older - I think a lot of people in this room understand - as you get older you become more mature and you understand situations. I think understanding my race team has helped me understand a lot of situations in different circumstances with Richard and where he's coming from and understanding how important the personnel are on your teams and how hard those people are to come by and you just can't go out and scream and yell and make them mad every week. Eventually you're going to run out of good people, but when you have good people, you need to hang on to them and treat them right.

Q. You raced with Kyle for about 60, 70 laps towards the end; describe racing with Kyle and tell me how you timed your move.

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, we were pretty even. You know, I got up under him a couple times and spun the tires up off the corner. As the run went on there with about ten to go, I said, "Man, I just really am out of things to try here." His car was tight, I could see that but my car was as tight as his. Todd came on the radio and said, "Try to put some rear break in the thing and get to rotate a little sooner." I put a couple rounds in back and I started catching him. At that point I was winding him in as fast as I could wind him in coming down the straightaway and the thing would slide getting into the corner and pulled across the center about two laps, I was on his bumper. Got to him one and two, rolled the center pretty good, kind of got up against his back bumper, got up underneath him going down the back straightaway and at that point I knew we were coming to the white flag. So it was either going to be -- how should I put this -- it was going into turn one as far as I needed to go to take the position, so it was one of those deals where you see the light and you just do whatever you have to do at that point.

Q. Did the Bare Naked Ladies decals help you win tonight?

KEVIN HARVICK: I had that extra second that those Bare Naked Ladies gave me with their decals (ph), they were really worth it. (Laughter)

RICK HENDRICK, OWNER OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS WITH THREE CARS IN THE CHASE - NO. 48 JIMMIE JOHNSON LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS - FINISHED 23RD IN THE RACE AND SECOND IN POINT STANDINGS; NO. 5 KYLE BUSCH KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS - FINISHED SECOND IN TONIGHTS RACE AND FOURTH IN POINT STANDINGS); NO. 24 JEFF GORDON DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS FINISHED 31ST IN TONIGHT'S RACE AND NINTH IN POINT STANDINGS):

ON BEING CAR OWNER WITH MOST CARS IN THE CHASE: "It feels great. I will tell you; it was a nail biter tonight. This is just a whole lot of pressure. We wanted to see the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) and No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) run better but Kyle (Busch) was good, we are in the Chase and that is all that counts right now. We will get ready to go to Loudon and start the fight."

ON IF THIS IS THE TOUGHEST CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE HE HAS EXPERIENCED: "Well, you think you have a great shot at it, but anything can happen. That is why it is so exciting for the fans but it is pretty much a nail biter for us. Getting them in the Chase is what we wanted to do, and we accomplished that tonight. They have worked together all year and it is a tribute to the company and the organization the way they shared information and worked together. I am just glad tonight is over and we can look toward next weekend. I don't think that next weekend will be nearly as tough as tonight was. I am looking forward to it."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO 8, BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS - FINISHED 17TH IN THE RACE AND SIXTH IN POINT STANDINGS:

ON TONIGHT'S RACE: "We had a brake problem there at the rear of the car, we lost all of the rear brakes, then the front brakes with about 50 laps to go. We just lifted at the flag stand trying to stay out there and finish the best we could trying to make it in the Chase. I am just having a beer here with my boys; they had a lot of hussle this year. I am real proud of their effort. Tonight is a credit to all these guys efforts, I just drive the car and they gave me great cars all season."

ON TEAM BEING IN CHAMPIONSHIP FORM: "Tony Jr. (Eury) has done a great job all year of keeping me calm in the car, that makes his job a whole lot easier. He is doing a great job leading this team. These guys are all behind him. I can't say enough about the people I have been surrounded with this year - from the top down in our organization. From all the guys in the shop, the guys building the motors - we have had a heck of an effort there. No matter what happens, we are going for it. But I am really appreciative of what they have done for me this year."

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS - FINISHED SECOND IN THE RACE AND FOURTH IN THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP

ON FINISHING SECOND AND BEING IN THE CHASE: "Yeah, that's the biggest thing is we're in the Chase. We did have a great race car tonight and it was kind of a shame that we led that many laps and weren't able to come out on top. I now know how Kevin Harvick felt here in the spring. He had a very good race car and led a lot of laps and lost it there towards the end of the race. I'm not so sure he wasn't playing possum with us tonight, just letting us all show what he had or what we all had we were showing him. The biggest thing for us though is that it was a goods points night. Fortunately we were able to come out of here with a top five again at Richmond. That's four top fives so we'll see what we can do here coming up next week with our favorite car going to New Hampshire.

ON THE RACE: "Our car was so awesome tonight. We should have won that race. We gave it up on the last lap. It's just a shame for the way we ran tonight but overall a great nice for us being able to lead that many laps. To come home second for the Kellogg's Chevrolet, that was pretty good. This was Twisted Sister tonight. Everybody watch out for the Punisher next weekend."

YOU HAD ASKED WHEN THE 29 CAR FALL OFF. DID THAT CHANGE THE WAY YOU WERE RUNNING AT ALL? "No, it didn't change the way I was running. I was just hoping that he'd fall off because I knew our car was better. I think he was playing possum with us all night. I think he was just hanging out knowing that he had a great race car and just kind of letting everybody go show their stuff and wear it out. I guess we did that and he was able to prevail."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS:

"It takes 26 weeks to get to this point. We just missed it tonight. We couldn't get it to turn in the center and all we did was make it loose in and on the exit. I'm real proud of this Home Depot team, they've done a great job. We've still got 10 more races to go out and win and I wish the guys that made the top 10, good luck this year.

"This is proof of how tough this season is and how tough it is just to make this chase. It's a big letdown obviously, but at the same time, there's 10 guys that earned their way in there too. So, we've just got to wish those guys luck.

"We just never could get it to turn in the center of the corner. It's been an up and down year and the day we needed to be on, we just couldn't get on."

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS MONTE CARLO SS - Finished ninth in the race and eighth in the Chase for the Championship

ON IMPROVEMENTS AT RCR AND HAVING TWO RCR DRIVERS IN THE CHASE: "Now we have to prove that we deserve to be here. This is a whole lot better than it's ever been there (at RCR) since this format. Now we've got to step it up and prove we deserve to be here. In order to do that we've got to be a little better than we've been the last few weeks. Not the 29, they've been on it. But we have to step ours up."

DO YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO THINK ABOUT CHASE STRATEGY? "I don't think there is any strategy. I think you just go run the best you can and you do the very best you can every single week. I think that's the strategy. I think it's way too early to talk about strategy. If you try to do something different than what you know, I think that's a mistake. For us, we are who we are. We know where we need to be better. We know where we need to improve and we're going to focus on that."

ON HAVING SEVEN CHEVROLET DRIVERS IN THE CHASE THIS YEAR. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT TEAM CHEVY? "The teams have been working really well together. Chevy has given us a lot of tools to work with. I think the teams have done a really nice job of using those tools. Chevy has done a really nice job providing us with a lot of stuff. It's a real benefit to have an organization like Chevrolet that will give the teams so much. It's also a compliment to the teams that they can utilize it and know how to use it. It's real rewarding and it's been a good experience."

ON HAVING THE CHEVY ROCK & ROLL BE IN HIS HOME STATE AND MAKING THE CHASE FOR THE FIRST TIME. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? "It's mean a lot. I love this race track. I think it's one of the best race tracks we have on the circuit. To have everything that was on the line tonight at a race track like this, I think that's as good as it gets. It's a lot of fun to come here and race. It was a pressure filled day, there's no question about it. I though 7:40 (p.m.) would never get here. When it finally got here things went pretty well for us. We ran really at some parts and not so well at others but all in all it was a pretty good night."

ON MAKING THE CHASE NOT BEING THE END FOR HIM: "That's the thing, it's the end of the first part but it's the beginning of the next part. We've accomplished a lot of goals that we set for ourselves so far. But the big ones in front of us and the things we haven't been able to do is win races and we haven't won a championship yet. Those are the things that we're focusing on and hopefully we can make it happen."

ON RCR HAVING SOME TOUGH YEARS COMING UP TO THIS BUT NOW SEEING THIS KIND OF PROGRESS: "We came into this year feeling really good about the work we had done to get ready this year. I think we've executed fairly well. We've done a few things that we certainly could have done better but all in all I think we've done a nice job. But again everybody that is on this stage is a tough competitor with great race teams and we've got to find a way to step it up."

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS

DID YOU ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU SET OUT TO DO TONIGHT? "Yeah, definitely we did. We wanted to make the Chase and we made it so now we have to redo our roles and try to set out for a championship. We're capable of it enough, I believe. The team is strong. They're determined. They're ready for it. They want to show who the big team is. That's the No. 5 team and they're ready."

ON BUILDING MOMENTUM THE LAST 15 RACES: "We really did. Pocono was probably our biggest struggle. Overall I feel like we've run strong. We've had a car capable of running in the top 10, top five pretty much every week. We get to go to my favorite race track next week with my favorite car."

ON HAVING TWO TEAMMATES IN THE CHASE THIS YEAR. HOW WILL THAT HELP YOU? "It helps out a lot actually. After happy hour we have our team meeting. We all sit down and talk about things and the way our cars are running. It's going to be cool. Not only are they in there and they're going to be racing their hearts out, they're probably not going to give too much room especially to the younger campaigner there for Hendrick Motorsports, myself. I'm looking forward to it. I want to race them just as hard as I would race anybody else for this championship and prove that Hendrick Motorsports' 21-year-old can get in done."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS

ON BEING BACK IN THE CHASE: "It is exciting. It's hard for me to be excited right now from such a poor performance tonight but it's what we did all year long to get ourselves in this position. I'm really proud of the guys of the DuPont Chevrolet. We know what it's like to be on the outside looking in last year and it wasn't fun. Because of it, it allowed our team to get turned around and get us in this year. I'm happy.

"Once you experience what it's like not to be in it, it makes you appreciate it that much more and it sucked. It's not easy to get in. You have to fight every single weekend just like we had to fight tonight. We've had to fight a lot to get ourselves positioned into this Chase. We're in it and now we can breathe a little easier but that's all going to stop once we get to New Hampshire next week. It's going to be intense the next few weeks."

DESCRIBE YOUR EVENING. IT WAS A SHOCKER FOR MANY PEOPLE ESPECIALLY AFTER YOU QUALIFIED THIRD: "Let me just say this; I'm really glad Richmond is not in the final. I don't know what it is we're missing. Obviously we'll go to the notes of the 5 (Kyle Busch). They were very good tonight but we just could not hit it. It's been like this the last four, five times we've been here. Man, I don't know. From handling problems to brake problems, it was a real struggle for us tonight. I'm excited about the next 10 races and putting this one behind us."

AS THE LAPS WERE WINDING DOWN THERE WAS SOME CONCERN ON THE RADIO. CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT IT WAS LIKE? "Well nobody came on and said you have to maintain that position so I felt like we weren't in a real comfortable position but that we were maintaining. I'll be honest, if I had to push any harder I don't know if we would have made it. We had such an issue with the brakes there at the end that I was just trying to get it home in one piece."

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE CHASE: "That's the nice thing about the Chase, it's what you do for those first 25 or 26 races even though we didn't perform tonight. It was disappointing. We were just way off and had a lot of problems. We did survive and we're in the Chase and we're excited about that. These next 10 race tracks are great ones for us. I'm really excited. I can't wait for them since the guys on the DuPont Chevrolet fought hard all year long and had to fight real hard tonight. We're going to plan on doing a lot more fighting over the next 10."

ON TWO TRACKS HE FEEL GOOD ABOUT IN THE CHASE AND TWO TRACKS HE ENTERS WITH SOME TREPIDATION: "With as well as we ran at Chicago I'm really looking forward to Kansas. I think those tracks are similar and it's been a good track for us in the past. Who would have thought that the intermediate tracks would be the ones we're looking forward to and struggle on some of these short tracks. I'm certainly looking forward to that one. I'm looking forward to Homestead at the end of the year and of course Martinsville."

HOW BAD DID YOU WANT IT AND WERE YOU SWEATING IT OUT THERE TODAY? "We definitely were sweating tonight. Tonight was not a great performance for us. Our performance over the last 25 races has been good enough to get us in. I feel like our team is only getting better even though we didn't show that tonight. Richmond has not been a good track for us for whatever reason but look at these last 10. A lot of them are good tracks. The most important thing was making it in. Being out of it last year was very disappointing. It was certainly our goal to get ourselves in there with the DuPont Chevrolet and it was a goal at Hendrick Motorsports to get as many as the Hendrick cars in there. We were hoping for four. We have three of them in there and now maybe one of us will win that championship."

WAS IT A SURPRISE THAT TONY STEWART DIDN'T MAKE THE TOP 10? "It is a big surprise. You knew somebody was going to be in and somebody was going to be out. You were just hoping that you could make it in. When I heard Stewart was out, I was shocked. I would have never guessed that Tony Stewart wouldn't be in this Chase this year."

HOW IMPORTANT IS MOMENTUM AT THIS TIME GOING INTO THE CHASE? "I think it's important and that's what I'm most disappointed in with our performance tonight. We didn't carry the momentum into New Hampshire that I really wanted to. Kevin Harvick certainly has it. Matt Kenseth has had it the last couple of weeks and so has Kasey Kahne. It can happen at anytime to anybody in this top 10. It's going to be very interesting. I hope we can put it together next week and get the momentum early."

ON HIS CHANCES FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP: "I do like our chances. I like the last 10 tracks. I like our intermediate program right now. Our restrictor plate program is good. Martinsville is one of those tracks. I look at Texas and New Hampshire and Phoenix maybe a little bit. Other than that, I feel really good about all the other tracks."

IS THERE ONE TRACK THAT IS A TELL TALE TRACK IN THIS FINAL 10? "Any track can be the one that wins it for you or the one that doesn't. I think a lot of us want to get through Talladega with the restrictor plate track. I like Talladega. We run good there so I'm looking forward to going there but at the same time you never know what you're going to have coming out of there. It's getting started off right at New Hampshire. We weren't very good there last time. We're going to go back with a totally different package but it's been a good track for us in the past. Then Texas, we've struggled there, not as bad as here at Richmond but we've struggled there and we'll try to turn that around."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS

ON TONIGHT'S RACE: "Well we are in the Chase, we are happy about that. It was just a wild and crazy night. We had a good car, we just kept getting hurt on track position. We got trapped in the pits twice. We got spun out twice and then unfortunately got in to the back of Jeff Green's car and spun him out. It was hard racing, my fault. An accident on my part when I got in the back of him and spun him out. Then he came back and ran in to me under the caution and bent the toe out on the race car and it wouldn't turn. I know he is upset and mad, but hopefully we can get it all straightened out before we go to Loudon. It was just a wild night, I am glad we were locked in weeks ago and didn't have to worry about tonight.

"It was just a bad night for us, I think we had a car that could run in the top-15, maybe top-10. But with the No. 49 car coming in late, we kept getting trapped on pit road, which put us toward the back. We weren't fast enough to run away from the leaders when they came up behind me, I held them off a couple of times and we finally went a lap down. It was just a tough night of racing, we just couldn't get any luck or get anything going tonight.

"We just had a lot of things happen out of our control tonight."

ON RACES IN CHASE LOOKING FORWARD TO AND RACES NOT AT FAVORITE TRACKS: "It is a hard thing to tell because everyone in the top-10 has strong track sin these final 10 races. It is 10 guys for 10 races. That is just the way I am looking at it. I just have to worry about those other nine guys.

"If there is one wild card or a race to worry about it would be Talladega. We just need to get out of there clean. Next I would say New Hampshire and Phoenix would be the weaker tracks for us. But every place else are good places for this No. 48 team. I can't wait to get to Martinsville. It is a tough track on some guys but it is a good track for myself and the No. 24. I am just looking forward to it."

ON THE CHASE FINALLY BEGINNING: "It is here and it is going to be exciting. There are 10 really great teams, 10 great drivers. I am just focused on that 10-car battle. I have a great race team. I couldn't be more proud of what they have done all year. We have been well prepared and really shown a lot of strength I am really proud of this race team and we are ready for the Chase.

"It you look at this team's months of August, this has been by far our best August. For whatever reason, we have hit a little slow spot for us. But we have got in to the final 10 and things will really pick up. I know we haven't been winning races or leading a lot of laps, but as I look back we are a heck of a lot better than we were in past years and are a much better race team. We are smarter than we were and a stronger race team. This final 10 races is a totally different animal than the first 26. It is time to get out there and go after it."

ON HAVING TWO HMS TEAMMATES IN CHASE: "I think it will help us. I am sure the intensity is going to ramp up, and guys might keep things a little closer to their vest. We do a great job of communicating, so I don't see that as a problem. We are going to be racing really, really hard. The thing I am so excited for is for Rick (Hendrick). He has given so much to this sport and to his organization we want to get him a championship.

"I think I have at least as good or even better chance to win a championship now as I ever have. What I have learned from the final 10 is so does everyone else. When you re-rack this thing and there are only 45 points between first and tenth, everybody has a shot. It will come to who can deal with everything and have the best car.

"If you get off to a slow start in the Chase, if you aren't a stong team, the pressure of the Chase can knock the wind out of your sails and hurt you. I feel in the last couple of years, the champion has had a bad race. The goal is to not have a bad race. If you have one at New Hampshire, then you have to have nine perfect ones after that is what is boils down to, but this year I think it is a stronger more competitive top-10 than before. Maybe that mindset won't work and you need to focus on having all top-10s or top-5s.

ON STEWART MISSING THE CHASE: "There are going to be good guys that miss this thing, that is just the way it is. I think that makes it all that more important for the final-10. You can't feel sorry or bad for someone who isn't in the final 10. We have all had ups and downs this season. It has been a long 26 races that is just the way it worked out. I hate it for Tony and Zippy and their guys but I don't want to see this thing expand to 10 guys plus guys who won the most races or 10 guys plus whatever another condition might be. I think it is what it is."

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

"The pressure is on now because in the Chase, you have to win the Championship. We have to go home and put our best effort forward."

"It feels good, my guys gave me such an effort. I wanted to make the Chase because they deserved. We race hard every year but we have had a lot of misfortunes in the past. This year, we have had a great season and a great effort. I am just really happy for my guys right now because they deserve to have a championship to run for these 10 races."

ON TONY STEWART MISSING THE CHASE. "The race just got done and I am sure that will sink in a little while. He is a good friend of mine and I am sure they are dejected and disappointed. But JGR has an effort in the Chase with Denny (Hamlin) so they will put all their resources behind that and find some retribution with that."

ON THE SUPPORT FROM FANS "I want to do what ever I can do to give them a lot of enjoyment when they come to the races. This way they can brag all week long, hopefully we will have a lot of luck during the chase and keep it exciting.