KEVIN HARVICK'S WIN IS 20TH DAYTONA 500 VICTORY FOR CHEVROLET, 5TH CONSECUTIVE FOR MONTE CARLO SS

In what can only be described as a hair raising, crowd thrilling finish, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Monte Carlo SS crossed the finishline two one-hundredths of a second over fellow Team Chevy driver Mark Martin, No. 01 U.S. Army Monte Carlo SS.

Harvick's win is the 20th Daytona 500 victory for Chevrolet and the fifth consecutive trip to victory lane for Monte Carlo SS.

It is the first Daytona 500 victory for Harvick and the second for Richard Childress Racing (RCR), the first coming in 1998 with the late Dale Earnhardt. Harvick also won Saturday's Orbitz 300 for the NASCAR Busch Series to score his career-first win on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.

Harvick's RCR teammate, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Monte Carlo SS, finished third and Mike Wallace, No. 09 Miccosukee Resorts Monte Carlo SS crossed the line fourth giving Monte Carlo SS the top-four finishing postions in the race. With Joe Nemechek, No. 13 Certain Teed Monte Carlo SS, ninth place finish, and with Jeff Gordon's 10th place finish, six of the top-10 in the final order were members of the Bowtie Brigade.

After a red flag on lap 195 for a multi-car crash, Harvick, Martin and the remainder of the field sat idly waiting for the restart to decide the 49th running of the Great American Race.

When racing resumed for a green-white-checkered finish, Harvick charged hard on the outside and was side-by-side with Martin when contact behind the leaders triggered the last-lap accident. Neither driver let up as they charged ahead waiting for NASCAR to throw the caution and checkered flag.

The next event for Team Chevy in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series is the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway on February 25, 2007.

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

Yes, I am ok. Not completely sure what happened out there. All of a sudden it took off on me. I haven't seen it on film, so I am not sure what happened. Pretty impressive to go all the way to the back and come up all the way to the front of the field like that. I was really happy about that. The Home Depot Monte Carlo was awesome today. We fell back and came back. We were kind of in a bad position that one pit stop, when Robby Gordon was coming and I stalled it trying to get out ahead of him. Then him and the 38 get together and wreck on pit road and I was just in a hurry to get out of there and wasn't paying attention to pit road speed. That was my fault and I got us behind.

"I got us to the back and was proud how we got back to the front, I thought it would be a little quicker than it was getting to the front. It took a little longer than I anticipated; the car was just so tight back there. It was so hard to drive back there without clean air. I'm just so proud of these guys. They never got worked up;, I never got worked up and we drove our way back to the front.

YOU'RE STILL SMILING. ARE YOU CONFIDENT ABOUT THE SEASON? "I am excited about our season. These guys have done such a good job all week. Man our Chevy was fast, every time we went on the track it was fast. Just had good speed today. I am just proud of everybody at Home Depot, all 350,000 associates that were rooting for us today, we will just come back next year and get one. I was just in the middle of the corner and all of a sudden. It didn't take off easy, it took off pretty big. I'm not sure, I haven't seen it (the tape). You can't leave here disappointed. Any time you can win two out of three events, we've got a lot to smile about."

WHAT'S THE RACING LIKE OUT THERE? "If you're up front, it's not too bad. If you get in the back, the tire is so hard and you get in dirty air, it's hard. It took a long time to fight our way back. It's just not as easy as I thought it would be. You just get back there and your car is wicked tight. I'm just glad we got back to the front. We had a problem in the pits. It started with my mistake and then I just made the mistake worse even. I stalled it trying to get ahead of Robby (Gordon) who was coming in the stall ahead of us. And then the No. 38 and him got in a wreck. It took me a while to get going and then I was speeding and wasn't paying attention. But we had a really strong car today."

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

YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO DEFEND YOUR DAYTONA 500 TITLE: "Yeah, that's definitely disappointing. These guys worked so hard at Hendrick Motorsports. I can't thank them enough for the race cars they give me. Unfortunately we crashed today. We got loose from the center. I thought I had it saved but it snapped back to the right. A disappointing day. This was a hard hit, but everything did its job inside the car and I'm fine.

"It was certainly disappointing to lose control of the car like that and then getting caught up in that wreck and cause that big pile up. We were trying to come up through the center and make up some time. I got lose in the center and fought it for most of Turn 2 and unfortunately lost control in the exit and got in the wall and took us out."

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE WAY THE YEAR IS BEGINNING FOR YOU? "This is one race of many. This race is so different than what the bulk of the season is. We certainly wanted to get off to a good start and not have a DNF coming out of the gate, but there is still a lot of racing left and we have a very strong race team."

HOW HIGH WERE YOUR EXPECTATIONS COMING INTO TODAY? "They were high. I knew that they guys would put me in position to compete for the win. I just didn't make it to the finish, unfortunately. We had a problem with the car being really tight. We finally got it turning a little bit better. That caution came out and we were starting to make up some ground and get up close to the top 10 and unfortunately had a crash."

MARK MARTIN, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 2nd:

TAKE US THROUGH THAT LAST LAP. IT LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD THE NO. 5 (KYLE BUSCH) COVERED AND THEN OUT OF NOWHERE COMES THE NO. 29 (HARVICK) "Well, we saw him up there. We were just doing everything we could, you know. It was the Daytona 500 man. I just want to thank Bobby Ginn and especially the U. S. Army team. I'm so proud to be a part of this team. They gave me a chance at the Daytona 500 and that's all I ever asked. I really hate that I let them down. I gave it what I would, but I didn't get it done. I really thought they were going to throw the caution. I was still ahead; then they were wrecking behind. If they would have thrown the yellow, it was in our fingers. But they waited and waited and they waited and I didn't have any pusher there at the end and he was in the preferred for second back forward. But I just want to thank everybody for all their support. I wanted to win that thing and they were going to have to pry it out of my fingers, man. I was looking back to see if we had any help, but I didn't see any back there. It was just short."

DO YOU THINK MAYBE THIS IS THE YEAR? "Hey, this is a green-white-checkered at the Daytona 500. I knew the race was on. And man we got so far down the line. I saw him (Harvick) get that run. I tried to block it. And then I got back down and you know, minus the wreck and everybody coming through there good with a good pusher, we would have still had it done. I really still thought, as we entered Turn 3, that we were going to get it done. And then they started wrecking and we were still ahead of him. But it just wasn't meant to be. I didn't get the job done."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL MONTE CARLO SS:

WHERE DID YOU GET THAT HEAD OF STEAM AT THE END OF THE RACE TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500? "I had Jeff Burton behind Matt Kenseth and Kenseth just pushed the hell out of me there. This Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet got a little hot. We had to come in and take some tape off. We had a hole in the nose. Man, my go-kart experience over the winter paid off. We were just bouncing off everything. But man, this is the Daytona 500."

CAN YOU BELIVE IT? "I can't believe it. We were 30-something there with 15 laps to go and we came up through there. I've just got to thank Richard and everybody for an awesome race car."

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

"I was behind the No. 88 and couldn't see what caused the wreck, but I had nowhere to go. The No. 88 slowed down and I ran into him and got ran into. I don't know. We just wrecked. I couldn't see what was happening in front of me. We were coming off Turn 2 and I just saw sparks on the wall. I couldn't see what was happening in front of me because I was tucked in behind the No. 88."

DO YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD SOMETHING FOR THE LEADERS HAD THAT NOT HAPPENED? "No, I don't think so. We were trying everything we could try. The race wasn't over with, but we didn't bring enough bullets tonight."

ARE YOU GUYS GOING TO CHANGE UP YOUR ENGINE PACKAGE WHEN YOU GO TO TALLADEGA? "I would like to. We didn't bring a good bullet to the fight. We didn't have everything we needed to have. We're normally a lot better than this, and it's very frustrating to try to get out there and make things happen when the car just wouldn't cooperate. I made some moves too. I wasn't just the race car. Everybody was three wide and you didn't know which lane to be in. I just seemed like everywhere you went it was the wrong lane. It's just frustrating. We've had really, really good stuff down here. We need to look back. We used to really be good. I think if we looked back and tried to get our motors back in that kind of range and the rpm we used to run, we'd do better. But we ran a little more rpm this weekend with a higher package and it just didn't work for me."

YOU GO 150 LAPS AND EVERYTHING IS CLEAN, AND THEN WHEN YOU GET TO THOSE LAST 50 LAPS, EVERYTHING GETS MORE CONFUSING AND CRAZY. WHY DOES THAT HAPPEN YEAR AFTER YEAR FOR YOU? "It's a 500 mile race. The first 400, you are really just kind of cruising around making laps and trying not to wreck. And then when it's 30 or 40 to go, you know you're good on gas and you don't have to pit anymore, everybody lets it all hang out and you see a lot of smoke and bumping and tire-rubbing and carrying on and it's really, really nerve-wracking. I like being in front of it."

YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T FEEL LIKE YOU HAD A BULLET TO WIN. HOW DOES YOUR EQUIPMENT COMPARE NOW TO A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO? "We're not where we used to be and I think that's pretty obvious. The motors make good numbers. It's not a problem with the engine builders. The guys are building good power. It's how the car gets run in the draft and how the car holds the run for several laps. We're turning more rpm's with this package we've got down here. I'd get a run and I'd run out of rpm's. I get near the rev-limiter and the car won't turn anymore and the car won't run any faster. So we need to back it down a little bit and get the power in the torque range back down in the low 7000 range and see if that'll help."

JEFF BURTON, NO 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS MONTE CARLO SS FINISHED 3RD:

"I had my eyes closed the whole time from the restart! Man, I tell you, it was crazy out there. It was two wide, three wide, four wide, my car looks like we were at Martinsville. I am really, really happy for Kevin Harvick and that whole team and every one at RCR, but as happy as I am for him and his team, I disappointed for Mark Martin. He is a great guy that deserves to win the Daytona 500. He is a class act, one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen. So disappointed for him, but the same time really elated for Kevin.

"Great finish for our team, to come out of here with a good solid finish and for everyone at RCR."

MIKE WALLACE, NO. 09 MICCOSUKEE RESORTS MONTE CARLO SS, FINISHED 4TH:

"I am incredibly thrilled. I want to thank Kyle Petty first of all; he kept me in the race early on. We were so far behind, he backed up and helped us draft. With two to go, they told me do not get off the bottom. Everybody always ends up getting beat if they go to the top. Harvick went in there, he beat on me. I have never seen so many cars run into each other on a restart in my life. I can't say enough great things for the whole Miccosukee Resorts Monte Carlo SS; it was great. Great job for our team. Great day for Kevin Harvick, disappointed for Mark Martin. Fourth place in the Daytona 500 is pretty cool for our race team. I can tell you that. I just like this race track. I pay attention to what the cars do, what the air does around cars, where I can put myself. I only put myself where I know my car can go somewhere. We were horrible for the first part of the race. I drove around so long not seeing any other cars, I was bored."

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIEL'S MONTE CARLO SS:

ON THE RACE: "We had a good car but I just kept making mistakes. I made a mistake on pit road and got us a lap down but hey how about Harvick your teammate winning the race."

WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU WERE UPSIDE DOWN? "Just a lot of mud coming in." (laughs)

HAVE YOU SEEN THE REPLAY YET? "No."

WHAT HAPPENED THERE AT THE END? "We were just racing hard. Everybody was going for it. It's the Daytona 500. I really thought there's a lot of cars up on the board right there that we were ahead of but we need to get to looking into that because when the caution came out I felt like I was ahead of quite a few of them. It sucks that everybody was going for it and I saw them all wreck and I thought I was clear and then somebody clipped me and turned us over but oh well."

DID THE FIRE START WHEN YOU WERE UPSIDE DOWN? "I think so. It was fairly uneventful other than the mud coming in."

ON THE ROLLOVER: "It was quick. You know I flipped over and then here comes the mud. I tell you much more mud would have came in and I wouldn't have got out."

WERE YOU MAD AT SOMEBODY? "I was mad that I wrecked my race car. It's pretty much junk."

IS IT DISAPPOINTING TO NOT COME OUT OF DAYTONA UNSCATHED? "Oh yeah. It's disappointing knowing your 18. I think we were a lot better than that but we need to get to looking into that."

ON MARK MARTIN'S RUN: "That would have been bummer for Jack Roush if he would have been with him all that time and then win that race. But man, how about that teammate of ours? That's unbelievable. That's cool."

CASEY MEARS, NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD / GMAC MONTE CARLO SS:

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END OF THE RACE? "It looked like we were going to have a top 10. There at the end it would have been nice. I couldn't really see what happened. I don't know what started it but everybody kind of started getting crazy there at the end. I noticed the 38 got shuffled to the middle. I think he didn't like that and then he got bounced into somebody and I don't know how it all ended up from there. We just got caught up in it."

TONY RAINES, NO. 96 DLP HDTV MONTE CARLO SS:

"It was just three-wide restrictor-plate racing. Somebody got into the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and caused a wreck. I don't know. Three-wide, with forty to go, I kind of expected that to happen. We had nowhere to go."

HOW WAS THE CAR UP UNTIL THE ACCIDENT? "We had gotten it better. The car was getting better. That was the best that it had been so far. It's disappointing. It's a long couple of weeks to be down here for it to end up like that. Mostly it was tight off of (Turn) 2 all day. But, we got it better and I was optimistic that we'd get a good finish."

ROGER STAUBACH, CO-OWNER, NO. 96 DLP HDTV MONTE CARLO SS:

"It's disappointing. We were obviously hoping for a better finish. We got caught up in a wreck, and Tony didn't have anywhere to go. Hopefully, we can come back next week at California and rebound a little bit. It's a setback to start the season this way, but we need to put this behind us and get ready for California."

JEFF GREEN, NO. 66 BEST BUY MONTE CARLO SS:

"It looked like Jimmie (Johnson) got up into the wall and then came down into us. There was nowhere for us to go. We never should have been back there to begin with. The Best Buy Chevy was awesome today. It was honestly one of the best cars I've ever had here, but our pit stops just killed us. We lost positions every time we came to pit road. We were in the top-five, came in to the pits, and lost something like 12 or 15 spots. On the one hand, it's exciting to know we've got really good cars this year, but we've got to get it done in the pits. We'll talk about it tomorrow back at the shop."

J.J. YELEY, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES MONTE CARLO SS:

"It was chaos is what it was. Just from the get go we had a really good car. I think we only had one run where we got really, really tight. Steve (Addington) got the car tuned back in. It's all about having a dancing partner here and I couldn't find anyone that wanted to draft with me. I could always be the pusher; I just couldn't get enough people lined up behind me to where we could take the car to the front. It was a really good race car. There at the end I just got sick of not having any help and decided that I was going to be selfish to do what I could for myself and got a good run at the end, got passed a bunch of cars and then coming off turn four they all started wrecking. Without the wreck we'd still probably finish about 14th but I picked up a bunch of positions and the car doesn't have a scratch on it. We can take it and run it in July."

JEFF GORDON #24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:

"It was pretty uneventful out there tonight other than bad handling for most of the race for the DuPont Chevrolet. We were fast, we had a good race car but we couldn't show it because the handling wasn't that good at the start of the race and we could never get to the front. But then the green lights came on and it went crazy. We had short runs and everybody was handling good and with that green-white-checker you knew it was going to get wild. I couldn't see exactly what happened in front of me. I saw three cars in front of me - I was trying to push, I think, the #38 car through there - but they closed the gap and all of a sudden there were cars going everywhere."

WE HEARD 'TIRES, TIRES, TIRES' FROM EVERYBODY. HOW MUCH DID TIRES AFFECT THIS RACE TONIGHT? "Obviously you saw the race get strung out right until the end. Had we had gone long runs at the end, I think we would have seen the same thing. Tires are really hurting us all from putting on a good race but all we need tires that will drive a whole green run. Handling was a big issue today and there at the end it was all about getting a big push. I was quite happy - I had a good push going. I know that I helped Harvick win - he should attribute it to the three or four guys that were stacked up pushing him, all hoping that we could get the best push and end up with a top five or six. Even with the wreck I think we didn't end up too bad. We didn't have a great race but I'll take it as that's the best we were all night."

YOU GOT INTO THE WALL EARLY IN THE RACE. DID THAT AFFECTED YOUR HANDLING TO GET YOU BACK UP FRONT? "No, not at all. It didn't affect the car. The car was still fast and we made the car handle well at the end there. The trouble was that we didn't have any long runs then to show for it."

YOU STARTED AT THE BACK, MADE IT ALMOST ALL THE WAY TO THE FRONT AND THEN DROPPED BACK. WHY? "I was pushing really hard to get the best track position I could. Actually what happened was that it was handling badly. We had a really bad push. We had to adjust and jump on the car big time. We got the handling decent enough where we were back in the top ten, but then it was short run after short run after short run and then, of course, the green-white-checker at the end.

HOW ABOUT THE RACE STARTING IN BRIGHT SUN AND ENDING UP UNDER LIGHTS. HOW WAS THAT? "I like it. The wind was a factor but as far as the nighttime conditions - I liked that part.

WERE YOU CONCERNED WHEN THE RED-FLAGGED IT? "No not at all. I had a teammate behind me. We had a great lineup, I had a great restart and got a big push from behind, go to the outside, my teammate went with me and I saw Harvick and others jump up there too. We were driving to the front and I was pretty happy. I knew that we weren't going to win as that line that got stacked up in front of us I was banging off their bumpers and couldn't get that line to go. I was going to go but no-one else was. And everyone was going so crazy. It's typical of what's going to happen with a green-white-checker here at Daytona."

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO HOLD OFF GUYS WHEN YOU'RE AT THE FRONT LIKE MARK MARTIN? "It's very difficult. You really have to watch your mirror more than what's in front of you. You've got to have a really great spotter that can help you with the momentum of which line's moving and which car's coming forward. And you've got to block every move you can. And you can't get out there too far in front. You can't let them push you where you get away from them. I hate to see Martin not win but obviously Harvick did a great job. I'm a great Mark Martin fan - it would be awesome to see him win his first Daytona 500.

WAS IT A MATTER OF SURVIVAL AT THE END? "It was very disappointing. It was about survival because it was so wild and crazy out there. I couldn't even see out of my windshield as I had oil all over it. Just being able to see was something good. Although I'm not sure I did want to see what was in front of me on that last lap."

WHAT DID YOU SEE? "I saw them crashing. I saw them going every which way. By then, when you see the start-finish line, or you know the start-finish line's up there, you're never letting off. Everybody's trying to get there."

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

ON THE RACE: "I thought we were pretty good. It took longer than I thought to get back through there. The further back you were in traffic, the tires were so hard it was hard to work your way back up through there. But we had a car that was good enough to get back there. We got back to the front so I was pretty proud of that."

WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE PIT STOP? "Robby Gordon was coming in. He was toward the back of the pack and we were finishing our stop and he was getting ready to come in. I tried to beat him out and I dropped the clutch too fast trying to get going and killed it and then I guess him and the 38 got together. They were wrecked right in front of us and then when I went down pit lane, it was my fault. I screwed up again making two mistakes in one stop and it was speeding at the end of pit lane. It did show how strong a car we had to run with both grooves and come from the back like that, I was pretty impressed by that."

WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED? "I'm still disappointed but we got a lot to be proud of. We had an awesome Speedweeks. We had two of the three days go absolutely perfect so this is the only one that didn't go right.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed right now but if when we look back a week or two from now, to win two races this week is a pretty strong week."

IS THIS SITUATION HARD BECAUSE YOU HAD SUCH A GREAT CAR? "Yeah, the closer we got to the front with fresh tires the better we were obviously. When we started in the back I couldn't pass anybody. It was hard to keep up for about the first four or five laps. You just got in such a hard push. But I really didn't think it would be that bad but that's exactly what we talked about when you make the tires harder."

WAS THAT JUST A MISTAKE BY KURT BUSCH? "I don't know because I haven't seen it yet so I'm not blaming anybody because I just haven't seen what's happened yet. I need to watch it before I make any judgments on it."

ON IT BEING A HARD HIT: "Yeah, it scared me a little bit because it kind of reminded me of the Earnhardt hit but that's why we got the safety equipment we've got. I'm fine but I just feel bad for our guys obviously. I mean this was the best shot I feel like we got at winning the 500 and going to the back like that I thought we had the car to beat."

ON KURT BUSCH TAKING RESPONSIBILITY AND SAYING IT WAS HIS MISTAKE ON LIVE TV: "I haven't seen it yet so we'll just wait and see."

ON HAVING THE FIELD PRETTY MUCH COVERED: "Yeah, I think we did. We had the best car by far all day. I felt like when we led I think we ran the better lap times. It's hard to say. Two out of the three days went exactly the way we wanted so I really can't complain but I'm still disappointed."

ON HIM BEING CALM AFTERWARDS: "There's nothing that I can do about it now so I can hang my head. I can be mad. I can be whatever but it's not going to help at this point until I see what happened on the TV."

STERLING MARLIN- NO. 14 WASTE MANAGEMENT MONTE CARLO SS:

"We had a heck of a day. I have to give a lot of credit to my spotter (T.J. Majors) because he did a great job saving me from every single accident-- and there were some big ones. We narrowly escaped them all, including the last one, but then the 25 car (Casey Mears) hit the wall and shot back down the track into us and there was nothing we could do. I just took my foot off the brake and slid across the finish line.

"The Waste Management Chevrolet was super tight early in the race. But as the sun set, the car came to us and we were able to drive our way through the field. Slugger (crew chief Slugger Labbe) did a great job calling the race, we had some speedy pit stops, and again, the spotter did an incredible job.

"With the car being so tight early and with the number of big accidents, I'm not too disappointed with our finish."

JOE NEMECHEK- NO. 13 CERTAINTEED MONTE CARLO SS:

"Once we took care of our problems, the CertainTeed Chevrolet was actually pretty good today. I started feeling something wrong with the car and the problem turned out to be a faulty power steering pump. We were struggling with poor track position. It was all I could do to drive the car without power steering -- every time I hit a bump it would pull the wheel out of my hand. We just got way behind from that problem and by the time we figured it out and fixed the power steering we started to be competitive. This team showed plenty of pride and spirit today. We hung in there and pulled off a pretty good finish. I'll take a top-10 after all we've been through during Speedweeks. This was a good way to start the year. And it was also a good day for Ginn Racing with Mark (Martin) coming so close to winning and Sterling (Marlin) hanging in there with a good finish (17th)."

Post-Daytona 500 media center interview transcripts with:

MARK MARTIN, No. 01 U. S. Army Monte Carlo SS

JEFF BURTON, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Monte Carlo SS

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Monte Carlo SS

RICHARD CHILDRESS, Team Owner, Richard Childress Racing, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Monte Carlo SS

TODD BERRIER, Crew chief, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Monte Carlo SS

KERRY THARP: We are pleased to be joined in the media center by our third place finisher today in the Daytona 500, and that's Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet.

Jeff, talk about the run out there that you had today and what you saw there at the end.

JEFF BURTON: Well, I was ecstatic with how our car drove all day. We didn't have the fastest car in the race for sure. That's the thing we lacked was speed. But what we didn't lack was being able to drive the car wherever I wanted it to be. We ran really well. To be honest, we ran well.

I still don't know the whole story, but we had a jack man, came in running third, I think, and our jack man injured his ankle. I'm not sure what happened, I just saw him limping around the car after the pit stop. But he toughed it up. Went ahead and did the pit stop. Went around the front of the car literally hopping on one foot carrying the jack, got the left side up. We lost all our track position with that, but he got it done and he kept us from going a lap down. Really proud of him for doing that.

And then it was kind of fighting our way back up. I think I passed somebody for third with maybe five or six to go, and I drove into turn three, and I just was completely sideways and backed up the racetrack in front of everybody, and we were four-wide, people banging on my doors, and recovered from that and then missed another wreck.

So the last 40 laps were just crazy. I mean, I cannot tell you guys how wild and aggressive those last 40 laps were. I mean, it was insane, as all the carnage proves.

So glad to get through it. We had a good start to the year. I'm real proud of Kevin and his guys and equally disappointed for Mark and his guys.

Q. It seems like it's two races: the first half of the race everyone is just kind of riding around, and the second half. Is that how it turns out?

JEFF BURTON: Well, what happens is as the track temps cool down, the track gets a little more grip. As the laps wind down, the risk versus reward ratio starts to change and people do things that they otherwise wouldn't do.

It's really wild. The first part of the race, people are racing hard, but the last part of the race, they race -- we race harder than we should, if that makes any sense.

So we're at a point where we're racing and everything is cool, but then we try to take it the next step. There's just not enough grip to take it that next step and therefore you get people running into each other and all the carnage that we had.

I hate late-race cautions on restrictor plate races. I hate them. When that last caution came out, I was really glad because that got us caught back up, but I was really disappointed because I knew we were 40 to go at Daytona for the Daytona 500, it's going to get ugly.

Q. I hate to put a little downer on this, but in your mind should the caution have been thrown before it was, because Mark is saying that he thought he would have won the race if the caution would have come out?

JEFF BURTON: I haven't seen a replay of it. I mean, I can't comment because I just have not seen a replay. The only thing I did see was it looked like Harvick got way in front of him, then Mark got a little bit in front of him, then Harvick got a little bit in front of him.

I don't know if the caution -- when the caution would have come out, where everybody was at that point. Honestly, I just saw that one brief thing because I saw it live. But I haven't seen a replay.

I think throwing a caution at that point, turn four, last lap, doesn't do you any good anyway. Nobody is going to do anything different than what they otherwise would.

Before I really comment, I'd like to see a tape of it.

Q. Was the cold temperatures and the wind a factor at all in the beginning?

JEFF BURTON: Yeah, I thought the wind was a factor. I hope it was. We believe that we worked on our race car because of the wind and we did a lot of setup stuff based on the wind.

Yeah, I think that the biggest thing that happens at the end of the race is just, like I said, that risk versus reward ratio changes, and people start trying to get more than perhaps they should. It just gets wild.

It's hard to even describe. The cars don't drive good enough to be three-wide consistently. You can for a little while, but early in the race when you're three-wide, people lift a little bit, get a little more room. Late in the race, nobody gives any room, and it just gets bizarre.

Q. Kevin is your teammate and Mark is your long time friend. If you're sitting there and assuming yourself you can't win, what are you rooting for?

JEFF BURTON: As good as I feel for RCR and Kevin, I feel that bad for Mark. I'm going to tell you that Mark Martin is a champion. I don't care if he ever wins a championship. He's a champion. I don't care if he ever wins the Daytona 500, he's a champion.

But it would be nice for Mark Martin to be able to see the hardware on the trophy case - for him. But to the competitors, he has so much respect - and not only as a competitor but as a person. He is a world-class individual and driver and mainly person.

You do a whole lot more living than you do driving, and when Mark Martin steps away from the race car, he'll have friends and he'll go on and live a really good life. So disappointing for him, but at the same time, I'm so ecstatic for RCR. To get another Daytona 500 means a great deal. It's huge. But it's exceptionally disappointing for Mark and all the things that he was close to doing.

KERRY THARP: We are joined by another competitors today. Our runner-up in today's race, driver of the No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, and that's Mark Martin;

Mark, a great run for you out there today. Talk about it. Give us your viewpoint.

MARK MARTIN: Well, first of all, you know, I've got several things I want to say before I talk about the race. First of all, I want to thank the race fans for supporting me so much because if it wasn't for them, I might not have got my dream ride with Ginn. And I also want to thank, you know, that team that worked so hard to give me this deal.

It gives me such great pride to represent the U.S. Army and to work with people who want to win so bad as this group and who gave me a chance to do it the way I wanted.

I also want to say that I didn't ask for a win in the Daytona 500; I asked for a chance. Those guys gave me exactly what I asked for, and I let it slip away, slip through my fingers, and I'm fine with that. I did my best.

When I looked up there at the end, I was minus any pushers. I didn't have any help to get it done, and that's the way it goes. It was really looking good. I told this team through Speed Weeks when we qualified 35th, that we still -- we came down here for Sunday. We came down here to win this race. Ryan Pemberton and all these guys, they got it done. They got it done on Pit Road, they gave me the car, huge horsepower with Hendrick Chevy horsepower, and they gave me the tools to get out there, and we came up a little bit short.

JEFF BURTON: Before I leave, I do want to say one thing that Mark Martin told me this winter. This would be his best chance of winning the Daytona 500 ever, and he was right. He knew what the hell he was doing. I know a lot of people scratched their head, Why is he doing, why is he going over there?

He's not a dumbass. He's a pretty smart guy (laughter).

MARK MARTIN: Thank you. I appreciate that, Jeff.

KERRY THARP: Questions for David Ragan.

Q. For Mark, on the last lap when you saw the car spinning behind you and saw the smoke, what were your thoughts? Did you think you had won the race? And secondly, obviously NASCAR allowed you to race back to the caution. Should they allow you guys to do that on the final lap?

MARK MARTIN: You're asking tough questions there. NASCAR was doing their best to get an exciting finish for the Daytona 500. I have no idea what happened behind me. I was ahead when they were wrecking -- my spotter said they were wrecking. I did notice that there was some smoke and stuff. But my focus was basically on beating the 29 to the line. And I knew that we were in good shape being on the inside line when I had Kyle behind me because he had been so strong. I didn't even realize, until I saw a replay afterwards, that I lost Kyle.

Gosh, I was kind of -- that outside line usually gets us up forward just there in the short chute behind the start/finish line. And it was my hope all the way down to the line that I was going to get a push. But I see there was nobody left back there.

No, I didn't think it was over. It isn't over till it's over, and I never saw a yellow flag and I kept racing with everything that I had.

Q. For Mark, I've got to keep belaboring the point, but when y'all came to the line and you crossed it, I think the first words on the radio from you was, They waited, they waited, I can't believe they waited. Did you really have no expectations based on the information you got either from your mirror or crew chief or spotter or anybody else? Did you have no expectation that you would look up at the line and see a yellow there?

MARK MARTIN: You know, I've been racing for over 30 years, and I know one thing for sure, I'm real dumb, so I do stupid stuff. So I sure as heck aren't going to quit racing.

I never thought twice about the prospect of the race going yellow. I could hope because we were ahead at one time. Coming off the corner, I think we were still ahead. And even at that, I thought, Hey, this is a no-brainer. I've got the inside line. I've got Kyle back here, he's fast as all get-out. We're going to zoom back.

But we never picked that speed up, and all I was looking at was the start/finish line. Obviously that's what you do. And that's how it works out. I took a Pepcid Complete before the race, and that took care of my heartburn. And I had a Coca-Cola afterwards, and everything's good (laughter).

Q. When Kyle was behind you, it looked like he might have just been kind of waiting for the right time, but you really felt like you had him beat. What was it that gave you that confidence in Kyle Busch? You felt confident with him behind you, although you made it seem like he was waiting to set you up. Why were you able to be confident you would finish up?

MARK MARTIN: Because when we were side by side that meant Kyle couldn't pass me. He wasn't going to pass me on the inside and he wasn't going to pass me on the outside because there was an outside line, so he would have been caught in a box where he had to push me to get the most positions he could.

Look, y'all saw more of it than I did. I don't know. I knew Kyle was behind me. I knew he wasn't going to get under me because I was on the yellow line. And I thought that Kyle's car was really fast, and I thought he was trapped on the inside line and he was going to be pushing me come off of four. But, you know, I wasn't doing a whole lot of thinking about anything but trying to beat the 29 to the line. You know, that's what happened.

I'll say again: I didn't ask for that trophy; I asked for a chance at it. And I'm very proud of what this team did for me this weekend.

KERRY THARP: We are pleased to be joined by the winner of the 2007 Daytona 500, and that is Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet. Kevin, congratulations. What's it feel like to win the Daytona 500?

KEVIN HARVICK: I'm cold right now. They got me with the water there. I smell like I have a heavy alcohol problem.

But it's just hard to put into words. I mean, we got ourselves in a little bit of trouble there with a hole in the nose and got really hot and had to drop out of the draft there with about 20 to go. Luckily we got a caution and were able to come back in and fix the front of the car.

Just Daytona 500, it's hard to believe. I knew I was going to be the bad guy there at the end with Mark leading. But we just held the pedal down and hoped for the best.

Q. This is for all three of you. All three of you have varying levels of experience in this sport. Is this the wildest finish or the wildest final 40 laps all three of you have ever been involved in?

KEVIN HARVICK: I know for me I told them on the radio, I says, I don't know what's happening out here but I'm putting myself as close as I can to the wall so I'll hit something as least hard as possible.

There at the end, people were dragging the walls. I know I hit the wall two or three times there at the end of the race. I think I hit the back end of the 17, straightened him back out there, in the next to last caution. It was the wildest thing I've been a part of in a long time.

MARK MARTIN: I was ahead of it all (laughter). It was pretty decent up there where I was sitting.

KEVIN HARVICK: It was very entertaining behind you.

MARK MARTIN: I'm sure it was. I'm usually back there bouncing off of everything, so I was enjoying myself.

Q. Kevin, you talked yesterday about what the win meant for RCR, with the success you've had here in the past. What does today's win mean as far as what this team has done in the past?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think obviously RCR has a very deep history here with everything they've done, and with Dale winning the 500 in '98. They've won a lot of races here, and we've been close to winning a lot of races here. And it always seems like something happening.

We had things happen today, and I think it just shows the maturity of our team and all of us coming through and putting everything back together and coming back up through the field.

Q. Kevin, you brought I don't know if the right word is 'redemption' to Richard, winning back at I think it was Rockingham in 2001. What did he say to you today right after this win?

KEVIN HARVICK: He just kept looking at me saying, Man, this is the Daytona 500, can you believe it? It's the Daytona 500.

Knowing the history of Richard and RCR and everything that he's done in NASCAR racing, it's hard to put into words the history of RCR and how much they've meant to this sport. And to be part of that history is something that is just hard to put into perspective. And until we get further down the road, it's hard to put it all into words right now.

Q. This is for Kevin and sort of for Mark, too. You have such a respect for the history of this sport and the guys who really built it, so is any part of it just a little disappointing that Mark didn't get that win? And then for Mark would you have been disappointed had Kevin not raced you as hard as he did to maybe give you that win?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I think, like I told you earlier, I knew when I got out of the car I wasn't going to be the good guy. But that's just the way it works. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. And unfortunately today -- fortunately today was our day to win.

MARK MARTIN: In this sport, no one ever races less. But had that been the case hypothetically, it would have broke me in half. That's what I love about this sport, because it's hard. It's what's driven me for over 30 years, and that's what I love about it, and that's why I'm here, was here today, because I had the choice of whether or not I wanted to race the Daytona 500. I wanted a chance -- I wanted a shot at it, and these guys gave me a shot.

Q. Mark, do you go home tonight feeling like, Oh, I came this close and feeling bad, or do you go home and say, I had the best Daytona 500 I ever had in my life and I feel great ?

MARK MARTIN: I've got a feeling it'll be a little of both. We were very close, and it wasn't a fluke. It was a two-month-long drag. We've been down here a week and a half. We haven't shown anybody any real pizzazz, and we methodically worked our way into the position. We didn't back into it or anything else. I'm very proud of the effort.

I probably will feel some sadness somewhere along the line. Right now I was focused on my job. My heart wasn't broke. I've done this stuff a long time, and I've had a lot worse happen than what happened there in the last 200 yards of this race happen to me, and you guys know it - a lot worse. If I'm lucky, Bobby Ginn might put me in a car in the 500 again next year.

And I want to say one other thing, too. This was an awesome effort today and this week and this month, but we still have work to do. It's not all golden. The challenge that they've given -- that I have and that we all have at Ginn Racing is out there for us, and we have -- we do have many more challenges.

It's not all going to be as golden as today, and I know that. I'm going to continue to roll my sleeves up and work at it.

Q. Mark, you said you were looking for a pusher there at the end. Does it make it any worse that your old Roush teammate kind of pushed Kevin to victory, Matt Kenseth?

MARK MARTIN: No, no. I haven't even seen the finish. It is what it is. We were inches or feet or whatever we were short. It was so close, but it was second.

I couldn't expect Jeff Burton to have come behind me. I thought Kyle Busch was behind me. I didn't know until just recently. I felt confident. Kyle Busch's car was really fast and I thought he was going to be trapped on the inside, he was going to have nowhere to go and have no option but to push me. His car was fast. And we both had Hendrick power, and I still thought we were going to be all right.

But then I didn't realize that he was in the wreck. I wasn't looking back very much. I had my eye on Kevin.

Q. Can you talk about what was going through your mind during that 11-minute red flag period where you're just sitting there lying in wait?

MARK MARTIN: You know, I didn't -- I stayed focused and I ran over the restarts and scenarios and thought about what I needed to do and how I need to do it. I'll be real honest with you. I'm very proud of the effort I made on the final restart. I was very proud at the middle of the backstretch coming for the checkered flag to have Kyle where he was and contained, I felt, which was the most immediate threat because his car seemed so fast. At that point I felt like I had done -- I had done everything that I could do. And when I get done here tonight, I probably will feel like I did everything that I could do.

I don't know of any particular scenario that I could have changed that would have changed the outcome. I expected a push from behind as I exited the corner. I still felt like I was in the catbird seat in that respect and never looked back. I didn't realize that we were in that position.

Q. Mark, yesterday you said that it would be huge to win the Daytona 500, but you wouldn't waste your time dreaming about it. And then out on Pit Road just a little bit ago you said you had a dream. Did you have that last night or were you daydreaming out there today?

MARK MARTIN: I think I was referring to when I signed the deal with Ginn. I didn't do it -- I didn't sign the deal with Ginn with consideration of their restrictor plate cars. Immediately after I signed it, I reminded everyone that they had really fast restrictor plate cars. And I have not been particularly in position to win these races in the 6 car, especially in the last several years.

And so that's basically what I was referring to, that I knew that I might have the best chance ever the day after we signed the deal, and it came true. That was true, I did have the best shot ever.

Q. This entire week has been all about this cheating. Does a finish like today's help heal things a little bit?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, there has been a lot of things go on this week. You know, I think some of them were probably a little bit further than the rest of us ever thought it would go. But I think anytime there's a good race on the racetrack, it helps mend things. But I think it's still going to take a little bit to get over some of the issues that happened.

Q. You sound as if you're perfectly okay with the racing back to the green, almost you would have rather it been decided that way. Is that what you're saying? You could raise a little more hell and turn this into a big controversy it seems like. Do you not want to win it this way?

MARK MARTIN: No, that's not it. Nobody wants to hear a grown man cry, all right? That's what it is. And I'm not going to cry about it. This is what it is, and that's it. That's the end.

Their decision, they made the decision, and that's what we're going to live with.

KERRY THARP: Thank you, Mark. Congratulations on a great race out there tonight.

We're also going to call up our championship team owner Richard Childress and crew chief Todd Berrier.

Todd, talk about the race from your vantage point in the pit box and maybe some of the strategy you guys utilized there towards the end.

TODD BERRIER: The race was pretty unbelievable, the finish was. Everything else was pretty typical from our side of things. Seems like every race we have overheating problems, we have stuff to fight back from, we always end up at the back and end up at the front and end up at the back. Seems like we always have wrecks.

It was just historic, seemed like everything was just the same as it was. He got them runs there coming back from all that, which was -- it was four wide, three wide all the time. It was just hard to believe that we actually made it all the way back to the front, and then for the finish to be like it was, it was pretty awesome.

KERRY THARP: Richard, what's does it feel like to win another Daytona 500?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: It's great. It really hasn't sunk in yet. I'll wake up in the middle of the night and scream. It was unbelievable to see the moves that Kevin made. I've seen a lot of these Daytona 500s, and this had to be the wildest Daytona 500 I've ever watched. I told Kevin, we were talking at one time, I said I kept my eyes shut there a little bit, it was so wild.

Just proud of everybody at RCR and Kevin Harvick and Shell/Pennzoil, everybody that's involved, Todd Berrier and his group, our restrictor plate engine guys did a great job, as well.

Q. What is your feeling right now? Six years ago today, to this date, Dale passed away. What are you feeling about that today with this win?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: You know, it's just -- it's a great win. You know, it gives me thoughts back to our win here in '98. And it's just -- we're cherishing the moment of winning this Daytona 500. And I know Dale is proud of everything that we've done, and Kevin jumping in there and doing what he done for us. It's just been an unbelievable ride.

Q. Is there an irony because it's the same date do you think?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I don't know, you know, really. It could be, you know. It's just unbelievable to be sitting here tonight.

Q. Kevin, as I watched the replay or watched it live and then the replay, I was a little bit surprised with all the momentum you had coming out of turn two. As you came halfway down the backstretch you could tell that line was really flying. Were you surprised nobody else jumped out in front of you to try to stop your momentum to try to use that to push you guys through?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, the 5 started to come up there, but we were just going so much faster than they were, that I had the 17 and the 31, and we just had such a run back there, that I was coming like a freight train I guess you could say, and we were up against the wall. At that point it was take all you can take and there wasn't any give.

I think that they just realized how fast we were going. I apologize for quivering because I'm cold.

Q. What did you think about what Mark said about not seeing a grown man cry? What did you think about that reaction, and then you shook his hand?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I've got to know Mark over the last few years, and there's not a more competitive person in the garage. You know, he used to get a bad rap for sometimes speaking his mind and coming out and saying things. And Mark is one of the best people you'll ever meet. But he is one of the best race car drivers that's ever sat in the seat of any of these NASCAR races.

To get to race against Mark Martin is an honor, and just for the fact that he will drive that car as hard as it'll go every lap and won't ever give up. You know, it's a lot of fun to race against those guys.

Q. How soon or at what point did you know that all that crashing was going on behind you, and when you did know it, did you expect there to be a yellow flag?

KEVIN HARVICK: I saw the yellow come out right after we crossed the start/finish line I believe. I don't really know when it came out. I was concentrating on -- Mark got back in front of me for just a split second there. I had him not cleared but I was in front of him coming off of turn four and he side drafted. And usually when you get the side draft back right where you can get back by. So that was what I was concentrating on the most.

Q. Were you aware of how close Kyle Busch came to running into the side of you going into turn three, and did you guys see that?

KEVIN HARVICK: I knew I was going so much faster than the momentum would carry him down the track. I saw him coming up, and at that point I was committed to it. It was just going to be one of those deals where either he doesn't come all the way up or we probably all crash. We had taken so many chances at that point that -- it was the last lap of the Daytona 500, and you've got to go.

Q. You talked about what the new colors and the new sponsor, a chance to establish your own identity a little bit more, finally emerge from the shadows. How big a step is this win in doing that?

KEVIN HARVICK: We've been extremely focused on our race cars and let them do the talking for us. We've laid low this week and over the winter and just really trying to do things kind of on our own agenda, and we felt like we really stuck to our agenda and our plan and did things as we wanted to.

Shell and Pennzoil have been great to work with. And coming into the sport, first race, and winning the Daytona 500 is pretty big. No matter what the colors, GM Goodwrench and Dale Earnhardt and Richard, are all the people that got RCR to the point that it is today. Things change and sponsors change, and we had to move forward. But winning is what makes the shadow less, and being successful on the racetrack and making things happen. That's what makes it less.

Q. This is for Todd and Richard. Kevin said earlier that when he was in the back of the pack and he had the problem with the nose, it was the new maturity of the team that really kept you guys in there. Can you talk a little bit about the involvement of the team and coming close to the championship last year and not winning help to make that team more mature?

TODD BERRIER: I feel for sure that just having the year we had last year makes you realize that you can do a lot of things you knew you could do, but you just proved that you can do them. So it gives everybody more initiative, more drive and more confidence to go out and do it.

And then I think having that happen, it's happened several times, I think there was 20 some laps to go in the race, and it's not unusual to have cars come from 30th back up to the front in 20, 30 laps in these kind of races.

It's just our team has been together a long time and work really hard together, and it's just pretty nice to have all that hard work paying off.

Q. Richard, you took a team that had been questionable and turned it around, changed the employees and put two cars in the Chase, and now you've won the Daytona 500. Can you tell how that feels? What a statement about not quitting.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: It feels great, but it isn't about that I done this or that. It's the team work of everybody at RCR. We made a lot of changes that was for the better. You know, I'm just proud of where we're at today, and we're looking at tomorrow and looking at next week.

I think this team, like Todd said, has matured. They've been together -- he and Kevin have been together now for quite a few years, and that's what it takes to win championships, is having a team to mature together. These guys know what they're thinking before they even do something. I'm proud of what they've accomplished in winning the Daytona 500.

Q. Could you just comment a bit on how it seemed the entire complexion of this race changed and seemingly the players changed when you had the accident when everything got strung out and the 20 and the 2 got together?

KEVIN HARVICK: A bunch of demons came out when it got dark, I know that much. All hell broke loose after that. The complexion of the race changed when it got dark because everybody's car started handling so much better. It got anywhere near the end of the race, and I think it was 50 laps to go, and everybody was three wide, two wide, beatin' and bangin', and it was just kind of survival of the fittest at that point.

We were fortunate to be a part of the race in the beginning of the race and be a part of the race when it counted at the end, too. That's the most important thing.

Q. Richard, you've been here before. What does it mean to a team to win the Daytona 500 as far as the year goes? And for Kevin, where does this rank in comparison to your Brickyard 400 victory?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: You know, it's a momentum builder. It's kind of payday for everybody that worked so hard all winter. I know how much Todd and his group has put in it and everybody at RCR. And to come here and win the Daytona 500 just gives you a boost and a jump-start going into the rest of the year. You know, it's a confidence builder.

Q. You've got a new sponsor here, and you kick off kind of a new era of you starting off on your own with this sponsor. Richard, can you talk about what it means to have Pennzoil, what it means for them to get their first outing a win? And Kevin, no longer being the guy in black and starting a new era as a winner?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think, like I said earlier, none of us ever want to get rid of anything that ever has happened at RCR. You don't ever want to see things change. But things do change and things have to go forward. And we're just excited to have everybody from Pennzoil and Shell to be a part of our program. And they've been huge supporters of everything that we've done. Their activation has been just incredible to be a part of. To see them get involved and be a part of that and know how enthused they are.

But like I said, winning is what it's all about. And that's the best way to create your own identity, is to be successful. And we've been fortunate to have some success over the last couple years. We've won the Brickyard 400. But I don't think there's anything that can match a Daytona 500 in stock car racing. This is what it is, and this is as big as it gets. I'm just glad that we're able to accomplish that.

Q. This is for Kevin and Richard. This was obviously a wild and spectacular race, one that will be remembered for a long time, and you guys have come out on top. Do you think this will also help wipe out the memory of some of the problems that went on this week, scandals or whatever you want to call it?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I mean, you know, I'm glad we weren't a part of any of it. It's hard to start off Speed Weeks with everything going the wrong direction with points and people having to take a vacation. It's hard to continue forward like that.

So we're excited that everything has gone really good for us. And hopefully -- I don't know. I mean, there's a couple things that were pretty big, but I'm just glad we weren't a part of it.

Q. In Victory Lane you said something about you thought you broke your wrist. Can you explain that a little bit?

KEVIN HARVICK: I got so excited at the end of the race, and I knew we had won the race, and I guess I just didn't realize how excited I was. I punched the dang mirror out of the car. It just kind of hurt my hand a little bit. Just overexcited, I guess, knocked the mirror out.

Q. You talked about the demons coming out in the dark that changed the complexion of this race. What about when Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch went out? How did that change the complexion? It seemed like they were pretty strong cars.

KEVIN HARVICK: You could see that one coming from about lap 10. The 2 was running down on the apron a couple times, and the two weren't completely thrilled with each other. They were racing pretty hard. And when they got tangled up, the 20 had a really good car. But the end of the race was so much different than the first part of the race because it was just two and three wide and everybody all over the place. But it was a very enthusiastic race after it got dark.

Q. You were courted rather heavily last spring to go over to the Toyota, and I know that you gave it a lot of thought before you decided to stay with Richard Childress. Just talk about how well you feel about your decision to stay with Richard now that you've won the Daytona 500?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, it wasn't all my decision. I mean, it was our decision as a group. We wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page and pulling in the same direction. We wanted to win races. I mean, that's what we wanted to do. That's what I wanted to do, that's what Richard wanted to do, that's what Todd wanted to do.

You know, we just -- you have to follow your heart and let it guide you sometimes and let things happen how they're supposed to happen. I've got a lot of friends and a lot of loyal people that were behind me at RCR and felt like that's what I needed to do, and that's what we did.

Q. The hole in your radiator, there was so much going on, I just want to make sure I know, what incident or which one of the incidents caused you to get that at the end and at what point in the race did that happen?

KEVIN HARVICK: That's a good question. I know it was probably three cautions from the end. All of a sudden the water temperature just went crazy and we just put a little bit of tape on, and I think it probably got that hole knocked in there and probably just wasn't cooling right.

TODD BERRIER: Just had a hole knocked through the nose, and it was kind of disturbing what was happening in there with the duct work. Once we got it patched up, it was fine. There was no hole in the radiator, just the nose itself.

KEVIN HARVICK: Just kind of screwed up the way the intake of the air was coming into the radiator.

Q. Richard, can you talk about the healing process and what all this means tonight?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: You know, winning tonight is great for today's deal, but I don't think anything will ever replace a friend, Dale Earnhardt, a great American race driver. Winning the race with him was great. I think the healing started for me when Kevin won in Atlanta, the third race. I think when Junior won here in July the 4th, that was some healing. And today, to win this race, just everything is healing.

But we still all miss him today as much as we did the day we lost him.

Q. With the unusually cold weather, the winds, what type of setup changes, anything different you guys did with the car for the race, any changes during the race?

TODD BERRIER: Yeah, we made a lot of changes during the race. And I think a part was a track change. I think us and the 5 got together and knocked the right front fender in about the same time it was starting to get dark. We got a lot tighter, so we had to make a lot of changes to the car up to that point. We kind of knew we wanted to pull the fender out but knew we were going to be back in 35th, 39th position or something. As it turned out we ended up back there anyway with the water temp. We would have been back there twice if it weren't for that.

The practice yesterday was very similar to what the day started out being, and then we were having to chase the track for the night conditions. We weren't really sure what that was going to be, so we kind of kept up with it as we went.

Q. I mean, this is the second straight day you're in here. Yesterday was your first win as a driver here. Can you just take us through what your emotions were this weekend?

KEVIN HARVICK: It's been a really calm week for us. Like I said earlier, we've kind of tried to do our own deal and just really concentrate on getting our cars to handle. It's pretty incredible, to be honest with you, to finally break that wall down and then win two days in a row, and then win the biggest race of the whole season.

It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of hard work that our guys have put in over the winter and over the past years to get to this point. I've probably screwed more of them up than I have done good.

You know, it's been a lot of fun to be a part of this weekend. To win the Saturday and Sunday race just makes it that much sweeter.

Q. And then just for Richard real quick, yesterday when you came in here you said you wanted to scream and jump on the table, so how are you feeling right now?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: The same deal. I may do it anyway (laughing). This is such a great race and so much goes into it. You know, it's such an international event, everyone all over the world watches it. To be a part of it and to win it, I think it's great. Whoo.