JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS EXTENDS POINT LEAD WITH VICTORY AT CHARLOTTE

Scores Second Consecutive NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Win, Sixth Win of the Season and 81st of Career in Bank of America 500

Team Chevy Captures Top-Four Finishing Positions in Bank of America 500 and Five of Top-10

Concord, NC - Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Monte Carlo SS, scored his second consecutive victory in NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (NNCS) competition in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway (LMS). It was his sixth win of the 2007 season and the 81st career victory for the four-time NNCS champion.

Team Chevy drivers captured four of the top-five finishing positions and five of the top-10 in the 31st race of the 2007 season.

Chevrolet has clinched its 31st NNCS Manufacturers' Cup and has scored 22 wins thus far in the season. It was the 11th win for Monte Carlo SS to equal the 11 victories scored by Impala SS drivers with five races remaining in the year.

The win extends Gordon's lead to 68 points over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Monte Carlo SS, in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship with five races remaining in the season.

Gordon led a total of four times for 72 laps in the race that finished with a green-white-checkered scenario that extended it to 337 laps.

It was Gordon's fifth win at LMS, the site of his career-first NNCS win in 1994, his first at his "home" track since 1999.

Clint Bowyer, No. 07 Jack Daniel's Monte Carlo SS, kept his championship on target with a second place finish at LMS. It was the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) driver's fifth top-five and 15th top-10 of the year.

Bowyer is continues a strong third in the standings, 78 points behind Gordon.

Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST Monte Carlo SS, finished third and jumped two places in the standings to sixth, 280 points down from the leader.

Jeff Burton, No. 31 AT&T Monte Carlo SS, finished fourth at LMS to move up two spots in the standings to 10th, 366 points out of the top spot.

Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Monte Carlo SS, rallied from damage received in a pit road accident to finish seventh in at Charlotte. The two-time NNCS champion remains fourth in the Chase, 198 points out of the lead.

It appeared that Johnson was on his way to another LMS victory, leading six times for 95 laps. Damage received from contact with the turn two wall on lap 232 sent the defending NNCS champion down pit road for repairs and landed him deep in the field.

Johnson worked his way back to the sixth position for the green-white-checkered restart when the car sputtered from a vapor lock at the drop of the green flag. Johnson fell in the order and fought back to 14th at the finish. He is second in the standings, 68 points behind Gordon.

Martin Truex, Jr. No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Monte Carlo SS, had a solid top-10 run going until he radioed his crew chief following the final green flag flew that he was out of fuel and headed down pit road. He came back on track in 19th and passed two cars in one lap to finish 17th. Truex is 11th in the standings with five Chase races in the books.

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Kinko's Monte Carlo SS, suffered transmission issues late in the race that dropped him to 20th in the finishing order. He is ninth in the Chase standings leaving LMS.

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Monte Carlo SS, finished 33rd in the Bank of America after suffering numerous tire issues, the first coming just 26 laps in to the scheduled 500-mile race. Harvick dropped to eighth in the standings.

The next event, race 32 of the 36-race NNCS season and round six of the Chase will be October 21, 2007 at Martinsville Speedway.

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS - WINNER:

IT WAS 13 YEARS AGO THAT YOU TOOK YOUR FIRST CAREER NASCAR CUP WIN HERE AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY. WHAT WERE THOSE FINAL MOMENTS LIKE FOR YOU? "Well, I can't tell you how many times we tried to give this one away. Oh, man. I don't know where to start. This is just an incredible day for the DuPont Chevrolet. I've got to thank all these guys. They just never gave up. Jimmie Johnson, I'm not sure what happened to him. He had us all covered. And when I saw they had problem, I thought that was an opportunity for us. We had an awesome race car. The best the car was all night was there towards the end. It was just on a rail. So, I just kept saying, 'No caution, please. No caution, no caution.' And I saw oil coming on my windshield. I saw that the No. 66 (Jeff Green) was leaking it. Everybody was going everywhere and I knew the caution was going to come. And then the thing ran out of gas. I was having trouble with the pickup. I was on the banking. And I wasn't smart enough to go around on the apron the first time. And then even on that last one, on the restart, the tires spun so bad that Clint Bowyer could have gone right b y me and he gave me a big shot in the rear bumper and kind of got me going again. So it was just a great day. This is what we've been looking for is getting us a win at Charlotte. What a great comeback.

"We need to get to the finish. We've been having such a hard time getting to the finish whether we were wrecking or having some kind of mechanical problem. If you don't get to the finish, you don't know where you can finish. This was just a great testament to this race team. We had some huge momentum coming off that great win at Talladega last week. We were really a second place car to Jimmie Johnson tonight. He had us all covered. I think the pit strategy that Steve Letarte played out just really kept us in great position. And I can't tell you how many times we tried to give this one away tonight. Between about running out of fuel there at the end and it was just crazy. I spun the tires on the last restart. I've got to thank Clint Bowyer for racing me so good and so clean. It was a great race. He's having a heck of a year. And also Kyle Busch. I ran out of gas going into Turn 1 for some reason it just didn't pick up the fuel in the tank and he could have run all over the top of me and he didn't. I guess his ran out soon after that. What a great day".

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 14th

"We had a great race car. We didn't have a clean night tonight. I made a mistake. We had mistakes through the night that kept hurting us on track position. Fortunately we had a good car and I could get back through there. I'd always come out sixth or seventh and get my way back to the lead. And then at the end there we had that problem with a vapor lock and it really hurt me from getting a good finish. But we have a great race team and we'll be back next week and try to score some points. We started off good. We made good progress through the field and got up to the front. Unfortunately the car vapor locked on that last restart and I just couldn't go anywhere so I dropped all the way back."

IT COULD HAVE BEEN A LOT WORSE "It could have. I wanted to get all the way back to sixth but I was kind of bummed out we had that problem there on that last restart. We deserved to finish in the top five tonight. We just didn't have a clean night in general. I made some mistakes that hurt on track position. We're trying to get every point we can. I think we led the most laps and to have an 18th or 19th place finish or whatever it was (actually 14th), wasn't what we expected or wanted. So we're leaving here disappointed. But we had a good performance so there is some light at the end of the tunnel. But it's just a bummer of a night."

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 2nd

YOU TRIED AT THE END THERE AND HAD A GOOD RUN GOING "Yeah, he spun the tires and I kind of backpedaled a little bit and got a good run on him and I just didn't pull it down quick enough. He slipped and I was gaining on him too fast and got into the back of him instead of going underneath of him. But nonetheless, this isn't my best race track. Gil and all the guys brought me a good hot rod. We went and tested this car and I got a lot of confidence in it and a lot of confidence in these guys. We ain't out of it. We're going to keep going and we're going to get Jack Daniels a championship.

"It was a great finish for us as far as the Chase points. I got a run on him (Jeff Gordon) there at the end, he spun the tires on that last restart, I was just thinking that was enough, but just couldn't quite get there. But we are after a championship and we are still in this thing. We just have to pick up our game a little bit more the rest of these races and I think we will be okay."

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S / CARQUEST MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 3rd:

"Our Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet was pretty fun tonight, it was a great race car. My guys did an awesome job on it. We just fought a tight chatter in the corner throughout the whole race. Never could get rid of it, we got loose there for a little while and had to make some saves, but overall I would say it was an ok night for us to come home third. We didn't gain any points on Jeff (Gordon) or anyone but a good finish."

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AT&T MOBILITY MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 4th:

"We had a really good car on long runs, all those cautions really hurt us. We would come through the field really well on long runs, we just weren't very good on short runs. We kind of thought that was going to happen toward the end of the race. We got it where I could go pretty decent at the end of the race, which was a good thing because we got all those cautions and short runs there at the end. I think being on old tires was probably a good thing for us too. I am really proud of my guys, they just kept fighting and we got a good finish."

GREG ZIPADELLI, CREW CHIEF, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS:

ON TONIGHT'S RACE: "We made too many mistakes. We had a really good race car by the half way point, it was kind of what our goal was...in the top five, running some of our best laps of the race in comparison to the other guys. I think we top-two, three car at that time. We made some mistakes on pit road and didn't get them fixed the way we needed to. Just frustrated, we should be better than that. Those things happen, but they shouldn't happen to us. We need to be a little more intense and think about everything and be aware of everything. I don't know, just seems like it is our season right now. We will keep digging; we will never give up. It is a little frustrating right now.

"With the condition that right front fender was in and all that, everybody did a really good job. Because, normally you can't even salvage something this out of that because these cars are so aero sensitive."

ON HEADING TO TRACKS WHERE TEAM HAS HAD GOOD SUCCESS: "Next week, Martinsville is a place for three, four of us that are going there in the top-five in points run really well. So, I am sure, it will come down to one of us. Hopefully we will do our work next week, have good pit stops, be able to keep good track position and do all the things we need to do and have a shot of winning."

ON HAVING A SHOT AT WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP: "It isn't over until you tell me mathematically we can't do it."

ON CONTACT WITH NO. 15 ON PIT ROAD FOR SECOND TIME DURING THE CHASE: "The blame is I don't think either one of them has any respect for each other. The kid in the No. 15, I don't know, but I do know his crew was clapping when we were working on our car. That is kind of uncalled for and unprofessional. But, I am believer in what goes around, comes around. Someday he will be good enough to be in that situation, maybe, if he is lucky, and that will probably happen to him, or he will lose something because he didn't have respect or give or take with other people, that is just how it works. We can't control what others do and how they act, all we can do is control how we respond to situations."

ON IF TONY HANDLED IT OK: "The No. 15 car was a minor thing, I think everybody got to hollering on the radio and never even saw the No. 9 car. That is what did the damage, the No. 15 just scraped the paint off, didn't really do anything else. With us rolling out, it would have been real easy for him to give us the go ahead, not that he has to; it is a give-and-take. If you have respect for people and they are racing for something you are not, you kind of usually do that. If you don't, the roles will usually be reversed."

ON IF IT IS THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING ABOUT THE CHASE TO HAVE GUYS NOT IN IT HAVE SUCH AN IMPACT: "Yes, but so do the 11 other cars we are racing. They could be in the same situation. We all started with same odds and situations that can happen, where you are on pit road, whether they picking next to us or we pick next to them. I don't even know to be honest with you or why it happened. Why twice on pit road with the same person, who knows. Obviously we need to not worry about that and worry about going to Martinsville and running really good."

POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE FEATURING
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS MONTE CARLO SS
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S / CARQUEST MONTE CARLO SS

MODERATOR: We are pleased to be jointed in media center by the runner up in tonight's race, Clint Bowyer, driver of the 07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet. Clint is currently third in the Chase in points. You had a heck of a run out there tonight. Talk about it and your thoughts.

CLINT BOWYER: Yeah, it was a good run for us. There's no secret, this is a struggle for me coming to this place. I always seem to find a place to spin out and into turn four wall. But finally finished the race here and second, it's a loser but in the big picture it's a points save for us. I didn't qualify the best and we were able to get up high. It's uncharacteristic of everything of me, I finished and ran high and I don't have do that. I'm really proud of all of the guys on the Jack Daniels Chevrolet and they basically built the car for this track and I'm always loose here and driving too loose and they built a car that's a little bit tighter. We went and tested at Nashville and put a lot of effort into it. It wasn't from lack of effort, it was a good day, good night whatever.

MODERATOR: We are joined by our third place finisher, Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 5 Kellogg's Car Quest Chevrolet. Kyle, your thoughts about tonight's race and how you thought things shaped up.

KYLE BUSCH: It wasn't bad. We had a pretty good car all night long. Just kept fighting a tight chatter through the center of the corner and got it a little bit freed up and got it a little bit too loose there but still kept it loose to keep it turning. We were just really, really loose on the short run there and that's why everybody kept running way from us for a while, especially Jeff and Clint, and they were able to do the same thing and we were able to get a little more tightened up and they were tightening up, too and we were able to run by them and Jeff was too far ahead when the race went green and then with the caution, running out of gas going into turn run, both of us, he did a little more than I did, because I was ready to go and I wasn't going and finally he moved up and I was able to move up a little bit but those guys had a significant enough run on us where we couldn't really do anything. But other than that, I don't know, easy day, third place, whatever. Didn't make up much ground in the points.

Q. Clint, speaking of being too loose, what did you think when you saw Newman pretty much steal the lead away and one lap later he parks the thing in the wall?

CLINT BOWYER: Couldn't believe it, about like you. Looked to me like he was going to go and win his first race of the year and whammy, ran out of something, ran out of grip, looked to me like.

Q. For both you guys, obviously you still want to consider yourselves still in the Chase, Clint maybe a little more so, but at this point, five races to go, is Jeff the guy to beat?

CLINT BOWYER: Well, I think Jeff has been the guy to beat all year long, not necessarily in the Chase. Both those guys have been on top of the game; the whole organization has. But, you know, for me and my team and our organization, we've just got to pick it up a little bit. It's going to take they are going to have to stub their toe a little bit for us to catch them. I've just got to go out and win races and lead the most laps and run them down because they are going to finish right behind you. So it's going to take quite a bit of luck, but, you know, we've seen stranger things happen.

KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, we were five times in that situation. So we've got some work that is ahead of us. We need to go and run strong like we have. I guess the finishes that we have had without any troubles have been a fourth and a fifth and a third. Besides that, getting dumped at Kansas and getting wrecked last week, it's tough on in. You have to go on in and do what you can and hopefully Martinsville will be a good weekend for us.

Q. Clint, did you think you would be the top RCR driver at this point coming into the season?

KYLE BUSCH: Sure, he did.

CLINT BOWYER: You hope so. That's what your job is. But not only to of course you want to out run the guys, but you have a job to do. There's a lot of other cars out there. There's 40 other cars you want to beat, or 41, whatever. But it's no different than anybody else. You want to beat them, but you want to help them, too, what you can. We've been working; Burton, he was running up front; Harvick, he was fast. I don't know what happened to him. Even a lap down he was able to run with the leaders all night. So we are picking up our game. We're coming. We've just got a long ways to go. They are obviously a step ahead of everybody right now and we have to pick up the program a little more

Q. How gratifying is it to be in this position in your second year, and how daunting is it to face guys like Gordon and Jimmie to try and win it?

CLINT BOWYER: Well, it's very gratifying. You know, only our second year together, we're running up front and doing what we're paid to do. You know, we won a race, we're running for a championship; it's been an awesome year so far. We have five races to go and we have to keep this momentum strong and keep everybody with a pep in their step and energy and stay energized. We've got to stay full court pressed and hopefully have a little bit of luck on their run and a little misfortune on their end. You don't wish that upon anybody, but right now that's what it's going to take to win a championship

Q. Might seem like an odd question but you've been drilled so often and been hit like at Talladega and Kansas, knocked out of races that are not your fault, but when it's the end of the race and you're the guy behind, how hard is it when that happens to you not to run over the guy ahead of you?

KYLE BUSCH: I don't get it. I don't get the question. I'm the guy behind who?

Q. Behind Gordon in the lead. Guys have run over you multiple times in the Chase.

KYLE BUSCH: Okay.

Q. How hard is it for you not to run over somebody?

KYLE BUSCH: That's better. We're on the same page, now, thank you. I wasn't even in the same book, really. Okay. It's pretty easy. I've got two feet and two hands and I've got eyeballs so I can look out the windshield and make sure I don't run into the back of somebody, you know. Obviously, Jeff, we got down there into turn one and he stumbled and ran out of fuel, had a vapor issue or whatever it was; we'll go back and research that more and figure out what it was but I didn't run over him and I got past by three guys and I wasn't too anxious to get going and I didn't want to dump him. If it was anybody in that situation, you don't want to wreck him. I feel like I could have done and did a pretty good job of not running into the back of him.

Q. Kyle, what does it say to some of the people that may have criticized you in the past because after everything that happened in June, some guys may have just mailed it in but you're doing a heck of an effort and you're still out there slugging away and doing a professional job. What does that say for some of the people that may not have always been in your corner in

KYLE BUSCH: That Joe Gibbs Racing is pretty excited to get me. Besides that, this is me. This is who I am. I just try to go out there and race a race car to the best of my ability week in and week out. You know, if it's getting in crashes of my own doing or not of my own doing, you know, that's a part of it I guess. And if it's good finishes like it was tonight, and the first two Chase races, so be it. It's tough to have to go through those rough times but everybody does that sometimes. For us, it was there the past couple of weeks. Hopefully we can just straighten it out and keep going the way we are right here.

Q. You were coming into that last restart; I'm assuming you obviously knew that Jeff was struggling a little with fuel. When he spun his tires on the restart, were you afraid of trying to swing out too hard to get around him? Is that why you ultimately got him in the year instead of getting around?

CLINT BOWYER: Yeah, it was like he either hit second gear right there; I was closing on him pretty good and I had my car rolling and he was spinning. You know, I was kind of closing on him, kind of how I anticipated, and just about the time I moved out, he really checked out. I think that's when he shifted and didn't give me enough time to dart low. I was trying to wait to the line before I started low to make sure I was covered by the rule. But I messed up. I ran in the back of him and had a pretty good run on him. I don't know, he probably would have sucked back by me off of two and that was going to be my only chance. I was way tight there at the end and I knew the start was going to be my time. You know, when he ran down there and won and ran out of fuel, whatever happened, you know, everybody checked up. But you know, it was there was oil down on the racetrack. Everybody I didn't know if he was in the oil and slipped up. I didn't know whether to go down low or get out of dodge because he was fixing to spin out. So everybody was kind of checking up right there to see what was going to happen.

Q. Clint, in the battle for the championship here, what do you view more important about tonight; the fact that you were able to keep pace for the most part with Jeff, or the fact that a lot of the guys who were maybe on the fringe of contending didn't have good days and are pretty much out of it?

CLINT BOWYER: I'm just thrilled that I made it through here without hitting that turn four wall, to be honest with you. (Laughing) Every time I come here, I manage to find that wall at one point or another in the race. I don't think other than the do you think I put in when I hit Gordon there's not a gouge on it. You just go to the racetrack and race as hard as you can and control what you can. It's going to take a lot of luck on our part and a lot of misfortune on their part. If that happens, we've got to be in the position to be able to take advantage of it. That's the only thing we can do.

Q. Is this second place finish easier for you to accept than in Kansas where you actually went across the finish line first?

CLINT BOWYER: Well, second, it sucks. I'm not going to lie to you. It's like, man, what could I have done different to win. This, probably got lucky finishing second. Kyle got flipped up there and he was certainly faster at the end and he had quite a bit freer car than we did and was good on the long run. I thought he would have something on the 24, but have run out of talent or something. Other than that, it was a fun night.

KYLE BUSCH: That wall scares me.

Q. When you're getting ready during the red flag, Hendrick got on the radio to both you and Jeff. When Rick is in your ear, does that add any stress or additional pressure to you or are you pretty used to him talking to you during the race?

KYLE BUSCH: I'm pretty much used to that. We had that scenario before, I think it was with Jimmie and Jeff one other time as well. He just doesn’t want to see Martinsville again from 190 whatever.

Q. What did he say?

KYLE BUSCH: Just be cool, we don't need any wrecked race cars. If Jeff feels like you've got a run on him or something like that, he'll give it to you. But no, I've had that before, so it's all good. I don't know. I mean, I'm used to it. I get told a lot of things to do, so I'm used to it.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Monte Carlo SS, crew chief Steve Letarte and team owner Rick Hendrick
Winner's Press Conference Transcript

MODERATOR: We are going to roll into our winning team tonight, Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. Congratulations to this team, Rick Hendrick and crew chief Steve Letarte.

Jeff, talk about your win out there tonight at Lowe's.

JEFF GORDON: Man, I don't know where to start. I'm fired up about this. I mean, I was fired up last week. Now because this is the final, last, duel, and this week, it's Charlotte; I was in here this week and getting asked the questions about, you know, how we haven't run or finished well here in the last several races, and it hasn't been since '99 that we've won, and just all the different obstacles that we had to overcome tonight, it really truly made this one very, very special. I had my sister here, and in 81 race wins, she's never been to victory lane. She's been there and left and a lot of crazy stories, but to have her and family and friends and to do it here in Charlotte was just really special, and of course, with the championship on the line, every win is so important today. And my goodness, if you don't win today, you know a guy that you're battling the points with is going to finish ahead of you, either Jimmie or Clint Bowyer; both of those guys are stepping it up, so it's a very special win.

MODERATOR: Steve, your thoughts about tonight's race.

STEVE LETARTE: I can't say enough about everyone at DuPont Chevrolet. They came over here and we've had good cars the last couple of years over here. We just can't get the monkey off our back. We could never complete 500 miles, self induced or just trouble. We really focused on this race to come over here and one all 500 miles and be patient. I think Jeff was extremely patient. I think the pit crew battled through a couple of bad stops and really came on strong there at the end and had some good stops when it mattered. And we were just fortunate. I think the track came to our car a little bit and that last green flag run we were real good. And even after the yellow we were decent, just had a little bit of a fuel; I think everybody was having it, but it ended up working out.

MODERATOR: This team has been on the entire year now, and as we have five races left in the Chase, definitely looks like a team on a mission. Your thoughts on this 24 team.

RICK HENDRICK: Well, I've seen it before and it always had a happy ending. So I hope that we can finish it off, five more races, and just, you know, it's been a real Jeff's always done a super job, but he's raced smart all year, and then when it counted. And we've been good every week. That's what you have to do and put the finishes together. I couldn't be more proud of the job that they have done and the way they have clicked.

Q. Jeff, just to make sure of something, you sure did take off pretty good ones Bowyer kind of rammed you in that green and white checker started waving. Any idea why you were over dramatizing your fuel situation in those last cautions?

JEFF GORDON: If I was over dramatizing it, then I wouldn't have lost the lead. I mean, what happened was when that happened; I wanted to be more to the safe side. There's a reason why those guys drove by me on the restart prior to that and I'm really thankful that Kyle, he played it really smart. I think he had a little bit of a problem, too. But he could have run right over in the back of me and spun me out so easy, because I had no power as we went into turn one, and then Newman was smoking by us on that side. I don't think anybody would have touched us had we not had that fuel issue. You know, on the last one, I just wanted to make all I really cared about was not how got tires were or scuffed in or heating. All I cared was about we got a start where the engine didn't set the fuel out of the box there, the pick up tank. And I just ran around the flat. It wasn't that we with are running out of gas. I don't want to you take it the wrong way. When I say I was running out of gas, we were running out of gas because there wasn't enough with the banking running around slow to hold it up in the box inside the tank to where I was trying to scuff the tires, spin the tires. It was just sucking it right out of it or it was draining out into the rest of the tank. So when I ran around there flat, it was to keep as much fuel into the right side of the gas tank as I could. That way on the restart, I have plenty of power and didn't suck it out. And so it took off great. It took off so good there at the end, I spun the tires all the way to the start/finish line. That's why Bowyer, he was kind of hanging back, and we were playing cat and mouse there. And when I took off, I was in trouble and spun the tires terrible. Luckily he hit me, he came to victory lane, said, "Sorry I hit you," and he said, "No, if you had not of hit me, you would have passed me."

Q. A lot of times when people win championships or major golf tournaments, there's a moment that happens that you go, okay, this is ours or we're start of destined to win this. Fred Couples hit a ball at the Masters one year that stuck on the side of a bank and made the ball stop like it had Velcro on it. Is this one of those moments, and do you think if you can pull it out, you can do anything?

JEFF GORDON: Well, I mean, there's too much racing left to go. Just like, you know, we were trying to survive at Talladega and we did, trying to get a win, we were trying to survive tonight. Our goal coming into it was to get to the end, 500 miles. I think we felt like if we could get 500 miles, we would have a Top 5 car. But you know, there's no doubt that this team has an amazing chemistry about it. We have some great things that are going our way. You know, call it luck, karma, whatever you want to call it. There's some great things happening, but there's still five races to go and all that has to continue in order for us to get this championship. So, you know, those types of things that take you out of it can happen at any time, and we don't take that for granted. We know we've got to approach next week or going track to track to track; we are going to Martinsville with the same attitude, same game plan to come out of there with a strong consistent finish. We are not going there saying, this is our place to get another win. We just want to go there and keep doing what we've been doing and stay consistent.

Q. This is kind of a small matter, but I don't know if you remember, on lap 83, I think it was, you came up on Dale Junior and gave him kind of a shove, he got loose and then you scooted past. I just didn't understand the sequence of events, whether he had done something to irk you or that was just what you needed to do at that moment.

JEFF GORDON: Yeah, no, I figured you guys would pick up on that. No, what happened, he had been running that high line, and he's just got this tremendous momentum up there on top, but it took a long time to come in. So I was closing on him and it was only a few laps after the restart and I was on the bottom. And so I drove into turn three, and he had been running the high line and he drove right down to the bottom right in front of me and so I carried the speed in there, and my car worked so good on the bottom, and his car obviously didn't, because I went to the throttle and he was like still on the brakes. And I wasn't trying to move him out of the way. I was going to try to get as much momentum as I could. But when I bumped hip, I was like, oops. Then I was able to get by him. You know, that's all it was.

Q. Jeff, congratulations on your win tonight, but I know you won the way the win transpired, the way you worked your way and the race played out tonight did, that play out exactly as you were laying it out, or did your strategy towards the end give you the opportunity to be in the right position to get this win tonight?

JEFF GORDON: Yeah, we pretty much scripted that one three or four days ago. (Laughter) I mean, come on. No, you can't. You never know how races are going to unwind. You can't lay out any set plan. You need to ask Steve. He's a game planner and he's a guy who makes the calls up there, asking about two tires, four tires, gas and goes. I just do my best to try to give races away here at the end in Charlotte and still pull it off. You want to talk about the strategy and what your game plan was and how you had that all figured out?

STEVE LETARTE: It worked good until the yellow came out after the green flag run. It's no secret when you come to these mile and a half tracks, especially with a hard tire and really grippy asphalt, it's a game of cat and mouse and when you're going to take how many tires and when you're going to stay out. We played conservative for the first 150 laps. I put the poor guy here in a bunch of bad positions because he kept giving up track position with poor tires. And we didn't want to show our hand; and you take a risk every time you put four tires on for flat tires. We cruised around for half the race and had we saw how other people had done. And we had a goal from 100 laps in, we had a strategy from there, we never took four the rest of the night. We took lefts, we took rights, and it worked out; the car was the best at the end. The green flag run I think said it all. If the yellows did not come out, it was going to be an uneventful night. And seems what always happens at Charlotte, the yellows started falling and we got a lot of story lines.

Q. I'm going to go way past the Chase on this one. Your next couple victories you're going to go by some Mt. Rushmore like names in NASCAR racing. Do you have 25 more wins left you, because that puts you past Pearson.

RICK HENDRICK: Yeah, he does.

JEFF GORDON: I'm really trying to savor and enjoy this one right now. I just told Rick when I sat down here, I don't know how we ever got to 81. That's an incredible number and an incredible accomplishment and I'm very proud of that. I'm not even thinking about 82 now. So you're going to have ask me that hold on that to that question until we can talk about it a little more. Do I have 25 left in me? I don't know. A couple years ago, I didn't think I had any left in me. So right now, we're just having one of those spectacular seasons. We're just going to try to finish it out and see what we get, and next year is a whole new season. Who knows?

Q. For any of you three, have you ever seen three races in a row that have finished that strange, and has this been by far the strangest Chase we've had?

STEVE LETARTE: I don't know about the strangest Chase. I think they all have their different story lines. Last year everyone ruled Jimmie Johnson had and he had I don't know how many top twos to win it. But I never assume I've seen the strangest race ever. This sport throws curveballs at you left and right. I can think back in the late 90s, if it can happen, it happened for different people. I mean, Dale Earnhardt cut a tire on the last lap of the Daytona 500, was a pretty strange finish. I think that's why there's such a distance; it's 500 miles, when you come into it, you have to run all 500 miles, and that's been our motto here lately. I think that's what got us behind in some races this year is maybe we got a little lax before we got to the end, me especially, got off my game and my pit strategy. So we try to finish them. It's one thing to take the lead and it's another thing to finish the game. That's what we're trying to do week in, week out.

Q. After the restart, you had Ryan Newman fly by you; you had Kyle Busch behind you; Clint Bowyer behind you; you thought you were running out of gas. To be able to make it through all that, what role does your experience in the series and being a four time champion play in being able to make it past all that stuff?

JEFF GORDON: Zero. I mean, you don't experience, talent, whatever; none of that plays a role at that point. At that point, I drove into turn one, and, you know, I had my foot flat to the floor and it was as if somebody shut the switch off on the engine. And I knew I had a pretty good idea that it was going to come back. You know, we've had this happen before. There are several times when you get late in the race and you stretch it out and you're not low on fuel or you're going to run out; you're low on getting enough for the pick up. And the pump is trying to suck so much out and it's just not enough volume; sometimes it gravitates in there. So we've had it happen before, it's been a long time, and you know, I guess I just wasn't knew enough about it to run around the apron prior to that. I wish I would have done that on the restart because I don't think we would have lost the lead. I thought we would be okay. But you know, so the other experience maybe was that it's happened before, and I knew it was going to come back eventually. I just hoped in the middle of the corner when I got into the corner, enough fuel would start to get to the right side of the tank and it was finally starting to pick it up, which it did. I went in there and saw my mirror where the five was right on me and I was just waiting for him to hit me because not that you know, I expected him to hit me. It's just he thought I was going to be going. And when it wasn't going, you know, I just thought that for sure somebody was going to stack it up or me stack it up and they were going to get the back of me. I tried to move up a little bit and that's when he got underneath me and the 12 just blew by on the outside, and I was just like, "Come on fuel, come back, please." And it came back and all the way down the back straight. I'm just looking to fuel pressure and it's just sitting there hovering on six, seven pounds, which is not very much. And I'm like, is this thing running out, or is it going to come back, what's it going to do? I went through the next corner and it was fine and just that was it. I was just like, well, hopefully it lasts until the end. That's all I could do.

Q. (No microphone.)

JEFF GORDON: I wasn't really focused on that. I was just focused on, "Please come back, fuel." I just wanted it to come back as soon as possible. Because I was telling them on the caution, "This thing is running out of fuel, it's running out of fuel." And Steve told me, "It's not running out of fuel. You've got plenty of fuel." And we talked about what to do, and we just didn't talk enough about, I guess I came on kind of late about it. I didn't do much down the back straightaway. I thought enough of it would stay there in the back straightaway, but it just was running out in turns three and four. NASCAR doesn't like me running around the apron there coming into the last restart, but I wasn't taking a chance. Luckily enough, it finally worked out.

Q. When you crossed the finish line, you made reference to a horseshoe in human anatomy. I'm not trying to get you to jinx yourself here, but the things that have happened, the birth of your daughter and passing Earnhardt on the wins list and the races like here, Darlington, Pocono, is it hard not to feel like this is your year; that for some reason, whatever reason, all of these things are happening for a reason?

JEFF GORDON: Well, I'm going to tell you right now, I don't care what happens with the championship, this is my year, just because I'm being a father. And even with the wins that we've had so far and the kind of year on and off the racetrack for me personally, it's just been the most incredible year. You know, I hope more than anything that we can, you know, seal that off with a championship because, you know, it would be just one of those dream years that I don't think I could ever even touch ever again; even better than '98 and the 13 wins in the championship. So you know, it's kind of hard to put into words and perspective, and you know, I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe that you've got to work hard to put yourself in good position to make good things happen. You know, you've got to have good karma and there's a lot of factors that play into why the chemistry of a team and certain people, you know, make special things happen; why it's some people one year and not the next. I don't have all the answers to it but whatever we're doing, we're going to keep doing it and see what happens

Q. I wanted to ask you about Clint Bowyer, how surprised are you that he's a guy in the hunt at this point, and what has he shown you in 68 career Cup races that tells you he's a guy that's going to challenge you for the title?

JEFF GORDON: Well, he's incredible. He's impressing a lot of people right now. To me, when you're going to measure a driver's talent and abilities and what they are really capable of, it's about people that are consistent, No. 1, that can run good in a lot of different types of tracks. And one of the things that he's been very good at this year is being consistent. Maybe he wasn't spectacular before this Chase started, but he's very consistent; zero DNF's, you've got to be impressed with that, regardless whether they have a failure or not a failure, just him on his own just being able to stay out of trouble. To me a real key to one of the top drivers is when the moment comes, when the Chase for the championship is on the line, is are you capable of stepping it up. And we see it every year, you know, guys step it up, take it to the next level, and they are the guys to beat, and he's doing that. You know, it's impressive.

Q. Wonder if you could just briefly speak about Kyle Busch, the fact that he's obviously a lame duck driver, and the way he's handled himself in the Chase and the way he's held his emotions in check in the last few Chase races, would you speak about him?

RICK HENDRICK: I'm really proud of Kyle. I think that you've seen that he could easily have had an attitude or lost focus, but I think he and Alan and the whole team have really stepped it up. I don't know that I've ever seen a situation in my 25 years where, you know, a guy knew he was going somewhere else, and has stayed focused and determined to do the best he can. It's been real impressive what he's done. I'm real proud of he and Alan both. They have had some bad luck the two races they were taken out of that were not his fault. He didn't do anything; he was just a victim. He put those points back on the table to me right there. I think he's done a great job, and coming to victory lane, the way he handled the end of this race tonight shows a lot of maturity in Kyle.

Q. How much of this win was preparation and how much of this win was would be tonight?

STEVE LETARTE: We make our own luck. These races are so long, that really you say it's bad luck or it's good luck, but I truly believe that some of that exists and as Mr. Hendrick was just speaking with Kyle, he's had some bad luck, but at the same time, you have to be up front and I think that's what we did today. I think preparation is 95 percent of it. There's just a little bit out there that you need a little help with, and we've definitely been getting the breaks going our way this year. But you can't win from fifth are and you can't win from tenth. You have to be up there when the chips fall.

JEFF GORDON: Steve and I have the same philosophy on this. I believe that you make a lot of your luck. Honestly, I don't even know if I believe in luck. I think that there's a lot of things that factor in having things go your way. And you can call it whatever you want to call it. Some people call it luck. To me, things don't just happen just because they just fall in your lap. You have to work hard and you have to work together as a team and you have to be well prepared, as Steve said, you have to put yourself in those positions for things to go your way. You know, we've done a good job of that this year, and you know, certainly did a great job of that tonight. And trust me, that philosophy that I have, you know, I had to question it myself several times tonight when I thought we were giving it away. But you know, I think that it was our night to win and we showed we had the car. Obviously the results speak for itself. But you know, I think that it was crazy that the 12 had his trouble, and I thought it was crazy that we had the trouble that we had, too. So, who knows.

Q. Rick, you were talking about Kyle a minute ago; how confident were you that Kyle would heed your request after the red flag, and would you have done that had it been Jimmie or Kasey running second rather than Kyle?

RICK HENDRICK: Absolutely I would have done that no matter who it was. I think in racing and it comes down between two cars and there's a caution, I believe if you just come on the radio and tell them to think about it and look at the big picture, not just the Chase, but what's made the organization what it is today, working together; think about it. And Jeff and I talked on the radio and Kyle got there; he was not going to try to block him. You know, if he was better than Jeff, they were not going to wreck, I was not going to try to wreck keeping him back there. It was to Kyle to just think. You know, good to see Steve and Alan together, and the momentum the organization has right now can only be destroyed from inside, not from outside. I believe the guys all know that, and they are using their heads.

Q. When you come off a corner like that and you see the guy who just passed you go into the wall, do you think what in the world is going on here; and did the All Star race with Mark Martin ever flash in your mind

JEFF GORDON: I mean, anything's possible. I mean, I've got to admit, I think Steve knows by the tone of my voice when I ask if this thing is out of fuel that, you know, I was questioning whether we got it all in there; or whether it was picking up all that was in there. You know, all you can do is hope that you know in those situations, that you make it to the finish. When that happened, I was made, I was frustrated, but we got that going. I was going to try to run the 12 back down. He was pushing really hard, and you know, I had a good car that was certainly as fast or faster than him. But being behind him, I didn't have a car that could pass him, and I was pretty much getting myself prepared for second. I was looking into my mirror to see what was happening behind me and looked like we in good shape there and I guess you were thinking at that point, that, well, at least it's not a guy that you're battling with in the championship and that you can still come out here with a good points day. You know, and then his car broke loose and that was it. I couldn't believe it but at the same time, I was like, don't get caught up in it. I didn't know if he was going to come back down the track, come up the wall and comeback down; I didn't know what was going to happen. So as much as I was in disbelief that it was happening, I was also thinking to stay out of it and not get caught up in it myself. And also, if there was something on the track, I didn't want to lose control of my car, too, with the oil that we had. It was a crazy chain of events and I guess I'm kind of blown away that it was happening. Probably like he was when I was running out of gas and he ran by me.

Q. Scott said... inaudible ...could that have been part of your problem, too?

STEVE LETARTE: I mean, absolutely. When you sit on the red flag, it heat up everything on the hood, the carburetor, we have some pressure regulator and other issues, when they get too hot I think we definitely need to look into it. Times are changed, you're not allowed to change pickup in your fuel cell. You're allowed to run two brands, and they are basically the same design and there's a lot of parts in the fuel system that they have taken out of our hands. I think it just goes back to a lot of what we talked about. If we would have lost the race because of that, it's because I don't think Jeff and I did a good enough job of where we were at and we could have fixed it. Whether there was something under the hood or not, I'll leave that to Scott and Max and those guys in the engine room. They have done a phenomenal job, but I don't believe that's what it is. I think it's just plain not enough gas to ride on the bank at 60 miles an hour.

Q. First of all, do you really grasp your place in history? There's only five guys that have won more times than you. That's insane. Secondly, do you remember them all? And where the hell are all those trophies?

JEFF GORDON: I'd like to know the same thing. We've got quite a selection at Hendrick Motorsports, when we built that shop, I wanted to have every single trophy displayed of our wins as we hopefully accumulate trophies with the 48 team, which we have that, we would be able to display them all. I'm not sure if that display area has been made big enough. So that's a great problem to have. You know, I really have a hard time sitting and thinking about my place and the number of wins. When you race 38 weeks out of the year, you don't have time to think about it. Now, when the off season comes, I usually get a chance to reflect on the season, my career. And once you take a breath and just kind of let it all out and hang out somewhere quiet with your friends and family, then that to me brings especially with my mom and my stepfather, because they have been there through, you know, many, many wins beyond NEXTEL Cup. It's just incredible. Even beyond NEXTEL Cup, the stuff that we did, Sprint cars, midgets, quarter midgets, go karts, it's just mind boggling. This stuff has been going on in my life since I was six or seven years old. So I look forward to that day when I always say I'm going to be sitting on a rocking chair on a porch somewhere and be able to think about it and reflect. There's going to be a lot to remember, that's for sure.

Q. It's been a long time since you won here at Charlotte.

JEFF GORDON: I know, I've been reminded of it a lot lately.

Q. Can you talk about what it means to win here for the first time since 1999?

JEFF GORDON: Well, one, this has always been one of my favorite tracks. I love this track. In 1994 to 1999, you know, I'm not saying we own this place, but we were strong. We were solid. We came to Charlotte going, yeah, sitting on poles, running up front, winning races. Somewhere along the way that, just kind of came to a halt. I want to say that, you know, it seemed like a couple of years ago, from a performance standpoint, we were really able to step it up. And I think Jimmie and Chad and those guys, their performance helped us, too. When you see them run that well, and finish like they have here, it elevates the whole organization, and it elevated up our game, too, to know that we're capable of doing this; we know what tools are there to do it. And I either have got to work with my driving or we've got massage our cars and our setups or whatever it is, and we've started running good, and that's half the battle. But just running good doesn't make it turn around, and for whatever reason, we just haven't been able to get to the finish several races here. And I didn't do anything different tonight than I've been doing the last several races. You know, it kind of went our way and worked out

Q. Can you talk about the impact of putting Tony Stewart down 198 points now with five races left, and nobody else really getting back in the hunt and is a three or four guy Chase a little easier to deal with than a seven or eight guy?

JEFF GORDON: I'm going to say the same thing I said other day about Tony. I don't care, until he's mathematically out of it, that guy is a threat, a major threat. He can win any track, any time. They are a solid, strong team, and so I never count him out. I just know how good he is and how good that team is. You know, it doesn't change my sure, I'm comfortable with where he's at but I'm not going to take that for granted. The good thing is that it's tight enough with the three of us, it's pushing us to do our job. We're not protecting or playing conservative. Yeah, we've got to be smart but we have to go and race and race hard; these guys are competitive. I'm glad with that because it doesn't change our game plan or make us think it out too much. You know, the thing that makes a Chase so difficult to be a part of and to be competitive in is that you're battling 11 other guys. And any time you're battling 11 other guys, the chances of you winning it are that much slimmer. As soon as you start eliminating or pushing those guys outside the box a ways, certainly it makes it a little more comfortable, a little bit easier. But doesn't matter, you've still got to beat five of them, and right now, you know, that's the way I'm looking at it.

Q. I remember Jeff Gordon winning Chases

JEFF GORDON: Really? I've never won the Chase.

Q. Championships. But Mr. Hendrick, do you see anything different in Jeff this time around as he heads into the final races?

RICK HENDRICK: I think I see a real happy Jeff Gordon. I think that his life outside of racing is probably the best it's ever been, especially with his little girl. But he's always been competitive. I think if you go back and look at times when he was struggling, he carried the team for several years there when we were just really not organized enough and we were not giving him the equipment. I've never seen a time in his tenure with me and Motorsports that it's been Jeff Gordon that wasn't getting the job done. We were short on equipment or we just weren't giving him his stuff. I think Steve, the chemistry there; Steve waited a year, could have been a crew chief earlier, to wait for Jeff Gordon, and that chemistry has been unbelievable. You know, when you get him right, he can get it done; he and Steve are a good combination. He, in my mind, have never seen him where he was short in any way.

JEFF GORDON: I'm short.

RICK HENDRICK: He is short. (Laughter) But not behind the wheel.

Q. How do you balance the fact that you've got one championship caliber team up here, guys that are real happy and have won the race and doing well in the Chase and you have another team that won the championship last year that wound up in the wall and finished 14th. When you're in the shop together on Monday, how do you keep everybody on an even keel, and just as importantly, how do you keep your stomach from eating you alive when you see one of those?

RICK HENDRICK: I can answer the last part real well. It eats me alive, because you want to see everybody do well. The good news and bad news is they are racing each other right now for the championship, so you hate to see anybody have bad luck, but somebody's got to come out on top. The fact that the two cars are in the same shop and most of the guys work on all of the cars, so the road crews are separate and the crew chiefs are separate, but that's a real tight group. The road crews surely they don't feel as good as the road crew on the 24 does. But each team is insensitive every time we have a win. I think we have all seen the success of meeting together, drivers and crew chiefs meeting after practice exchanging information, and we've seen it makes us better. It's tough Sunday night and the next couple of days, but I think it fires up the competition. It's not easy.

But I think the guy that finishes second I know Jeff and I, when he comes to New York and he's not on that stage, he's going to have fire in his eyes for next year and I think that works with all of the teams. I think, too, the guys know that the stuff's there, and we just have got to come out and race harder. I think it's going to be a good finish here, but it's tough. It's tough when that caution came out and seeing two cars line up like that. So you just have to deal with it, but that's part of it.