Clint Bowyer Scores Career-First Win at New Hampshire International Speedway

Clint Bowyer Scores Career-First Win at New Hampshire International Speedway; Starting from the Pole Led Six Times for 222 Laps to Move from 12th in the Chase Standings to Fourth, Just 15 Points Out of Lead

Impala SS Drivers Grab Top-Five Finishing Positions and Eight of Top-10 in Sylvania 300; Top-Five in Chase Standings are Members of Team Chevy; Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon Tied for Lead

Loudon, NH - Clint Bowyer, No. 07 Jack Daniel's Impala SS, scored his career-first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (NNCS) win in dominating fashion leading six times for 222 laps in the Sylvania 300.

Starting from the pole, Bowyer was clearly the class of the field in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet scoring the 20th win for Chevrolet in 2007 In addition, Bowyer's victory is the 10th win for Impala SS in 2007.

Bowyer was 12th in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship coming in to the second race of the season at New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS). Following collecting the points for winning the race, plus the bonus points for leading a lap and leading the most laps, Bowyer now sits fourth in the order, just 15 points behind the leader.

Team Chevy drivers claimed all top-five finishing positions in the round one of the Chase and the 27th race of the season. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Impala SS finished second followed by Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Impala SS in third. Kyle Busch, No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg's Impala SS and Martin Truex, Jr., No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Impala SS finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Four more Impala SS drivers captured top-10 finishes with Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Impala SS in sixth. Casey Mears, No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Impala SS came home in eighth and J.J.Yeley, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Impala SS in the 10th finishing position.

Johnson and Gordon leave NHIS tied for the top-spot in the Chase for the Cup standings with 5,210 points each. Stewart sits in third spot with 5,200 points followed by Bowyer. Busch sits fifth to give Team Chevy the top-five spots in the standings with nine rounds remaining in the Chase.

Round 28 of the season and the second round of Chase is scheduled for September 23, 2007 at Dover International Speedway.

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS IMPALA SS - Winner:

YOU WALKED TO VICTORY LANE. WHERE IS YOUR RACE CAR? "Well, it must have been the burnout. I think I blew it up. That's what it's all about."

WHAT A GREAT RACE CAR. YOU HAD 300 GOOD LAPS. TALK ABOUT THAT "Absolutely. And it all starts back at the shop and with everybody back at RCR. I wish they were all here with me. This says a lot about our race team and the Jack Daniels Chevrolet."

IT TOOK 64 RACES TO GET HERE. HOW DOES IT FEEL? "This is unbelievable. I can't believe it happened here. This has always been a good track us. We just could never get the finish. I'm just so excited to celebrate with all these guys. They deserve it."

UNOFFICIALLY, YOU HAVE MOVED FROM 12TH TO 4TH IN THE POINTS. WHAT A GREAT WAY TO START THE CHASE "That's what you've got to do. You've got to start off on the right foot. I knew this was going to be a good track and to be able to get out of here with a good finish is really great."

CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 LOWE'S IMPALA SS:

YOU FINISHED 6TH. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THAT? "No, not really. We set goals to finish in the top five. We're a little disappointed with finishing sixth. But the guys did a good job. Jimmie (Johnson) did a good job. I just didn't do a very good job of adjusting the car today. So we weren't able to get that top five. It feels good to be able to come out of here a lot better than we have the past couple of years at this point, coming into the Chase; and we're looking forward to Dover."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA SS - Finished 2nd:

"It was a real good day. I'm so proud of this race team. That was a great effort to come from 18th and fight our way up to finish inside the top five. I know this DuPont Chevrolet is absolutely worn out. We drove the brakes, the tires, and just everything completely off this thing. Clint Bowyer, my congratulations to him. He was the class of the field today. And we just lost track position. We were very good on new tires or cold tires I should say. And that one group of yellow flags just really got us behind so we had some catch up to do. We had great pit stops. I'm very happy to set the Chase started off like this."

ON RACING WITH TONY STEWART "I was just having fun racing with Tony. He's a great driver and a class act and we were mixing it up for sure there a couple of times. It was a good race."

TONY STEWART, No. 20 HOME DEPOT IMPALA SS - Finished 3rd:

TALK ABOUT THAT LAST GREEN FLAG RUN "We got going there. We really just got settled in and we got by Kyle (Busch) and we could close in on Jeff a few times and then he would get away from us. But we can't be disappointed with a third place run here today."

YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE FACT THAT THERE WERE TWO GUYS IN THE CHASE THAT FINISHED AHEAD OF YOU "That's why they got in the Chase. It doesn't take much rocket science to figure out why they're all there. The top seven (finishing) drivers are all Chase drivers. It doesn't take much to figure out why and how they all got here."

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S /CARQUEST IMPALA SS - Finished 4th:

"It was a good day. This CARQUEST / Kellogg's Chevrolet bunch of guys did an awesome job for me and gave me an awesome race car to keep up front with these guys today. We got back a little bit there in the beginning part of the race which just wasn't the best thing but we kept getting better and better and making more and more adjustments to where we could get up front and we did a pit deal there so we could keep it up front."

WE SAW YOU GOING SIDEWAYS A COUPLE OF TIMES TODAY. DID YOU HAVE TO WORK ON THE CAR VERY MUCH OR IS THAT JUST NEW HAMPSHIRE? "That's just the COT. They're always evil. We were still trying to make it better. I guess it just doesn't fit my driving style or whatever. But I'm trying to get accustomed to it and we're trying to get it accustomed to me. To come out of here with a fourth place effort today definitely means a lot to these guys and this team and myself and being able to hopefully go to Dover next week and have another good run and go on to Kansas and then to Talladega and see what it brings us."

MARTIN TRUEX JR., NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER IMPALA SS - Finished 5th:

ON YOUR TOP FIVE FINISH AND GETTING THE FIRST CHASE RACE BEHIND YOU? "I wish the race was longer. I usually don't say that. But we had a good car at the end of the race. It just took us a while. We started the race real, real tight and it took us pretty much all day to get the car working where we needed it to. It was a great day for the Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet though to come home fifth at one of my favorite tracks. We love coming up here to New Hampshire. I'm just proud of my team. They did a good job. We did what we needed to do. We didn't have the best car today and we got a great finish."

ON GOING TO DOVER NEXT WEEK WHERE HE WON IN THE SPRING "We're looking forward to it. We're hopefully taking the same car and hopefully have the same results. But I know everyone here is better then they were last time. We're going to need to get better too. The guys have been working hard. They've been working all weekend getting ready for Dover still. So we'll see what we got when we show up there on Friday."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA SS - Started 8th, Finished 17th. 10th In The Chase Standings:

"We really had a decent car, started out tight but Todd (Berrier, crew chief) and the guys had a good adjustments and we got better and better. We just couldn't come back from two flat tires in one race. So we go on from here to Dover."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR. NO. 8 BUDWEISER IMPALA SS - Started 19th, Finished 16th:

"We had a really good car at the beginning of the race then we kind of out thought ourselves on the adjustments and car just went away, it got it so loose I couldn't hang on to it and I spun it out. We got it a lot better toward the end, but there was just too much track position to make up and not enough time. I am real proud of my guys cause no one on this Budweiser team has given up at all."

CASEY MEARS, NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS, Started 15th, Finished 8th:

"It was a good day, we needed a run like that. Kinda of struggled the last couple of weeks and didn't get the finishes we needed. Fortunately there, we led a lap or two and got some points for that and finished in front of everybody. That is the biggest thing we needed to do is to continue to finish in front of everybody we are racing up to 13th position in the points and hopefully get that 13th spot by the end of the years. That is definitely our goal and I th9ink it is a very realistic goal. We keep closing ground and to come back from 35th at some point in the season to rally back to where we are at now and have a shot at getting 13th is a really good job for this team. We just struggled a little bit too much at the beginning of the season but we definitely could have been in this Chase if we hadn't."

J.J. YELEY, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES IMPALA SS - Finished 10th:

TALK ABOUT YOUR SECOND TOP-10 FINISH IN A ROW "It's just a lot more fun running up front. Obviously you are racing with the better guys and they're a little more courteous and the car runs better because you are running towards the front. All the Interstate Batteries guys did a really good job. We were on the right pit sequence for the good part of the race and made the right decisions. There was a point there where could have come in and were worried about a tire going down, but we stuck it out and it turned out it wasn't and all was well. It was definitely a good run and happy to log two top-10 finishes in a row, but you always wish you could have been better.

DO YOU WISH THAT MAYBE YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A CAUTION NEAR THE END TO CLOSE UP TO THE GUYS IN FRONT OF YOU? "I didn't want to see any cautions. The car was really good but it was so hard to pass. I watched the 12 (Ryan Newman) car trying to wreck the 25 (Casey Mears) the last 10 laps and I could see Jamie McMurray was catching me when I was trying to get through lapped traffic. There are so many things that can happen. I had a fast race car but having a open track versus trying to pass everyone was another story. I'm happy with 10th and this is what we need. We want to win a race before the year is out, that's the main goal. But at the same time if we continue to finish in the top-10 we'll peck away at the guys in front of us in points and it would be cool to get back into the top-15 in points before the year is out."

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS IMPALA SS, AND GIL MARTIN, CREW CHIEF
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

WE ARE JOINED BY OUR RACE WINNER, CLINT BOWER, OUR RACE WINNER, DRIVER OF THE NO. 07 JACK DANIELS CHEVROLET. IT'S HIS FIRST CAREER NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES VICTORY. HE BECAME THE FOURTH FIRST-TIME RACE WINNER THIS SEASON JOINING CASEY MEARS, MARTIN TRUEX JR., AND JUAN PABLO MONTOYA. HE ALSO BECAME THE 18TH DRIVER EVER IN NASCAR TO POST VICTORIES IN ALL THREE OF NASCAR'S TOP SERIES.

ON WINNING THE SYLVANIA 300 AND THE OPENING RACE IN THE CHASE:
BOWYER: "It's just incredible to even be a part of the Nextel Cup and to be able to drive these cars and have a team like (crew chief) Gil (Martin) has put together and the Jack Daniels Chevrolet. It's an honor and a privilege and it's something I owe (team owner) Richard (Childress) a lot for and I wish he were here to celebrate with us. But nonetheless, we finally got it done for him and we did our job and did what we were supposed to do. It's just such a fun thing to be able to celebrate with those guys. These guys have worked so hard week in and week out and their families and everything else. And to be able to finally win a race for those guys and celebrate that means a lot."

GIL, YOU HAD A STRONG RACE CAR OUT THERE TODAY. DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE ANY ADJUSTMENTS, OR DID YOU JUST SAY LET'S ROLL?
MARTIN: "The only thing we did today was fire Goodyears at that thing. We didn't make any air pressure adjustments or anything. The car just liked everything it had under it today."

GIL, CLINT WAS REALLY WHINING A LOT THE LAST 50 LAPS. IS HE NORMALLY LIKE THAT?
MARTIN: "I would have to say you haven't listened to us very much. I didn't think he whined at all (laughter). Nah, at the end of a race like that, there's a lot going through your mind and a lot of things going on. When you've got a car that fast, it's your race to mess up. So it makes it that much worse when you're passing lapped cars and everything else at the rate of speed he was doing it. It's harder to hold yourself back. He did a great job."

WERE YOU HEARING AND INVENTING GREMLINS IN THE CAR?
BOWYER: "Absolutely. It's just like Gil said. The only thing that could have beat us was ourselves right there. The sun came back that last run and I just couldn't run the line I had been running all day. I had to switch my line. Once I calmed down and did that, we got back to running good lap times. But man, it was really chattering the front tires bad and I kept looking in my mirror to see where they were. He kept trying to calm me down.

But you know, it's a big deal. It's very important. It's important to me. I didn't want to mess up again. I felt like I definitely messed up last week in Richmond and let one go. To be able to start the Chase in 12th, nobody really counted on us to do anything. And to come out and fire one right off the bat feels pretty good."

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU JUST KNOW THAT YOUR CAR WAS SO GOOD THAT EVERYBODY ELSE WAS GOING TO HAVE TO CATCH YOU?
BOWYER: "In the first corner (laughs). When I came off the first corner and Martin (Truex Jr.) kind of slipped up. I was loose, but I just had that feeling that you need, you know? It rolled in the center awesome all day long. That was our strong point. That's what you've got to have here. You've got to be able to roll the center and carry momentum up off and beat them to the gas and I was able to do that with just about everybody. The No. 2 (Curt Busch) car really hung with us for quite a while on that one run and (Tony) Stewart got two tires and he was able to stay out front for quite a while. There was definitely some good cars, but on the long run I think we definitely prevailed."

BEFORE YOU CAME IN THE MEDIA CENTER, JEFF GORDON AND TONY STEWART SAID YOU WERE SO FAR AHEAD THEY COULDN'T EVEN GO DOWN TO CONGRATULATE YOU. HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL TO FINALLY GET THE CUP WIN?
BOWYER: "Well, those are your peers. Those are the people you've looked up to racing and those are the guys you wanted to be like three or four years ago. I never would have dreamed that I would be able to race against them. And to be able to beat them and have these guys roll into victory lane was really gratifying. I have a lot of respect for those guys and for them to have a lot of respect for me feels pretty good."

YOU LED MORE LAPS TODAY THAN IN YOUR TOTAL CUP CAREER. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE THIS DOMINANT IN ANY RACE?
BOWYER: "I tell you, it was right here in a Busch car. I'll never forget it. We dominated here. I think it was here last year in the spring race, I believe it was. We led all the laps and came in and pitted and the caution came out. We were a lap down and never could get it back. We got up to about fifth. But that was a dominant race car. All day long we had them covered. My good buddy Carl ended up beating me with a smile on his face. It feels good to finally come back to this place where I've had good runs. We haven't had good finishes. To finally get one here really feels good."

IF THIS HAD BEEN A CINDERELLA STORY, YOUR FIRST WIN WOULD HAVE BEEN IN TWO WEEKS AT KANSAS. HOW DO YOU FEEL GOING BACK HOME WITH A WIN UNDER YOUR BELT?
BOWYER: "If you couldn't get it before then, certainly I wanted to get it in Kansas. But to start out the Chase with a win and sitting on the pole, it just says so much about our race team. I'm proud of these guys. We worked hard. We were consistent. We did the things it took to be in this Chase. I've got good teammates that have been coaching me all the way along. Together we can do this. You're only as good as the people you are surrounded with and I am surrounded with pretty good people."

WAS THIS ONE OF THE CARS YOU HAD SET ASIDE FOR THE CHASE?
MARTIN: "This is a car that we just built. We built it for these last 10 races actually, for the COT races. Not that we've been holding back, we had some things we wanted to try that we weren't for sure how they were going to work out. And with limited practice times, you don't know. We didn't want to take that gamble leading into the Chase because this was the big picture (just) getting there. Now that we're here, I think some of the things we've wanted to try; we've wanted to implement throughout the last three or four races, we were able to put into the car now. I think that's the same with the engine program and everything else. Anybody who has been around Richard knows that his conservative approach about everything that we do ends up paying off in the long run. You have to really be able to look at the big picture to be able to go down that path."

YOU GUYS SAID WHEN YOU WERE GOING INTO THIS THAT YOU DESERVED TO BE IN THE CHASE. DOES THIS WIN REALLY LEGITIMIZE YOU?
BOWYER: "Well, even without the win, I definitely believe we earned a spot in this Chase and we belonged here. We did the things it took to be in the Chase. Once you get in the Chase, you've got to go for broke. Last week, I come up broke. But finally, we did what we were supposed to do and didn't make any mistakes. I didn't make any in the car. And Gil called a perfect race. And the guys did perfect over the wall. This engine is running on all eight cylinders. It's got a lot of horsepower."

CONSIDERING THE CRITICS, DO YOU CONSIDER THIS ENTIRE WEEKEND A STATEMENT IN A SENSE?
BOWYER: "Yeah, I think so. I read all the magazines. I'm always pretty upbeat and excited until I read the magazines and articles and realize that man; we'd better be doing better. Its kind of fuel for the fire, so to speak. It makes you want to come and win and run up front and prove to the media and every body else that you belong here."

ON THE FACT THAT HE KNEW HE HAD A STRONG CAR RIGHT AWAY
BOWYER: "Yeah, and it was through practice sessions. I really think experienced crew chiefs like Gil Martin have paid dividends throughout my career. Ever since I got partnered up with Gil, I just felt comfortable with him and I like his style. We enjoy racing with each other and it makes it fun. But he made a good call. In the first practice session we stayed out and ran a lot longer race runs than we usually do. I was actually concerned about it because I like making a lot of qualifying runs because I know how important it is and I make a lot of mistakes (laughs). It was very important to stay out there and make those race runs because he thought it was going to rain and sure enough, it did. I thought he was crazy at first but he was pretty smart after all."

RICHARD CHILDRESS WENT ON A LIMB WHEN HE HIRED YOU. HAVE YOU TALKED TO HIM TODAY?
BOWYER: "I haven't. Who knows where he's at? (laughter) That man goes to some pretty crazy places. We just pray he comes back safe (more laughter)."

YOUR TEAMMATE KEVIN HARVICK OPENED WITH A WIN HERE LAST YEAR AND WE THOUGHT THEY WOULD MAKE A RUN AT THIS BUT HE FALTERED. WHAT DO YOU DO TO MAKE THIS STICK AND CONTINUE THE MOMENTUM?
BOWYER: "That's exactly what this team needed is a win. We need to get that cocky attitude toward you, you know? What I mean by that is the elite teams have that, you know what I mean? They have confidence going into the weekend that they're going to run good. Everybody, not just the drivers but also, the crew chiefs and everybody have confidence in every move they make. I saw it with Martin Truex. It catapulted him right into his Chase spot. He won at Dover and followed up with three good runs right in a row. I think this team definitely can do the same thing."

YOU ONLY GET SO MANY FIRST WINS. CAN YOU REMEMBER FIRST WINS WHEN YOU WERE JUST STARTING OUT IN RACING ON MOTORCYCLES AND DIRT CARS AND ALL THOSE THINGS THAT YOU'VE RACED TO GET HERE?
BOWYER: "I remember the first win and I'll give you the short version because it was awesome. In a street stock car it was a '78 Camaro in Junction City, Kansas. There was a huge fight. I was like 16 years old. We were sitting on the scales. I was small when I was 16. And the guy crashed me. He ran into me under caution and knocked my left rear tire down and they black-flagged him. They let me go in and change my left rear tire and put me back out front, which was not supposed to happen. But nonetheless, we went back out and won the race. The old boy wasn't too happy about it. There was a huge fight. He went out and got in a fight with the flagman and the flagman was hiding in the concession stand (laughter) and it was awesome. It was quite a show. I never will forget pulling on the scales in that car and that guy coming up to me - a big old burly guy - and here I was looking for a place to hide. I didn't take my helmet off, I can promise you that (laughter)."

DO YOU REMEMBER HIS NAME?
BOWYER: "I don't remember his name. Crazy."

YOU WERE SCREAMING A LOT ABOUT LAPPED TRAFFIC IN THE LAST 50 LAPS OR SO. WERE YOU MORE WORRIED ABOUT THE GUYS YOU WERE TRYING TO GET AROUND THAN THE GUYS WHO WERE BEHIND YOU?
BOWYER: "I was tight. I was really tight. But first things first. You guys listen (on the radio) a lot more than I thought (laughter). The biggest deal is you know, when you're driving down the Interstate and people cut you off and it makes you mad and you say something to yourself but you don't really realize it but you do say it. And it's so easy to just reach over and hit that button. It's so handy. It's like the pop-off valve for me. It's a vent button."

WHAT WAS THE DEAL ABOUT NOT DRIVING YOUR CAR TO VICTORY LANE?
BOWYER: "I think I blew it up. I thought the more smoke, the better. I didn't get the memo, I guess (laughter). I saw the temperatures going up. When I was done and going back in, it wouldn't start. The motor guys aren't going to be happy with us."

THE NO. 48 (JIMMIE JOHNSON) REALLY WANTED TO WIN THIS RACE. THEIR ANSWER WAS THAT YOU GUYS JUST KICKED THEIR BUTTS. WHAT WAS YOUR MINDSET THIS WEEK AFTER NOT GETTING A WIN AT RICHMOND?
BOWYER: "Oh, certainly. I rode my motorcycle back from Richmond, which took five or six hours and I thought about that mistake. Its just fuel for the fire. You learn from your mistakes. Last year I made a ton of mistakes and learned from them. And as we kept getting better and getting closer, I'd make mistakes. But the biggest thing, I believe you have to make those mistakes and learn from them and be able to capitalize on them to be a better race car driver. As I make mistakes I try to learn from them and be better from it."

WHAT STANDS OUT ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE OF BEING IN VICTORY LANE FOR A CUP RACE?
BOWYER: "It's just awesome. These guys work so hard week in and week out. That's what you're paid to do. That's what you live for and more importantly, that's what you're paid to do. We've all been given an unbelievable opportunity to be given jobs and getting paid for what we love to do. To be able to pull into victory lane, in the elite division of all motorsports, it's very gratifying."

WAS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT VICTORY LANE?
BOWYER: "Oh, well once the car got there it was kind of different. It was very different walking into victory lane (laughter). I've never done that before."

WEREN'T YOUR PARENTS THERE?
BOWYER: "Oh yeah. They've been there from the beginning. That's just so much fun. They've given up four or five retirement programs to get me to where I'm at. To be able to celebrate that with the old man (is great). There's a lot of hard days and hard nights arguing and butting heads to get this far. It's very neat for both of them to be a part of it."

COMING ACROSS THE FINISH LINE, WHAT IS RUNNING THROUGH YOUR HEAD?
BOWYER: "Oh, there is so much emotion. It was hard for me. I was obviously hoping the caution wouldn't come out. But even to have a shot at that and having a shot at that and even with three laps to go, it was all I could do to keep my emotions in tact and make a lap. Kevin Harvick came on the radio and told (Mike) Dillon to tell me to slow down. That's what teammates are all about. These guys work hard and provide you with a good race car week in and week out and they give it their all. To be able to do that for them means more than anything."

COMING INTO THIS WEEK, DID YOU THINK YOU WERE A CONTENDER FOR THE TITLE? AND NOW, AFTER TODAY, HAS YOUR MINDSET CHANGED AT ALL?
BOWYER: "It just reminds me back in 2002 when we were racing and to maybe be able to make a living doing this; we started out and it was just for fun. We were hobby racers and we went to the race track as a family and just had fun with it. We won two track championships and things really picked up and you realize, man, you know, we might be able to make something of this. That's the same thing with this. So we went into it having fun and to win the first race out and now all of a sudden, the role has changed. It's not too far to the front now."

YOU'VE RACED VIRTUALLY ANY VEHICLE WITH WHEELS. IS THIS THE MOST DOMINANT PERFORMANCE YOU'VE HAD AT ANY LEVEL? WHAT'S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH NHIS? HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN A TRACK YOU'VE FELT COMFORTABLE ON?
BOWYER: "I love short tracks. I'll start with that. I'm comfortable with this place. I like being able to guide and keep control of your own destiny and move around if you're car is not working on the bottom (to) move on up top or dive in a corner. You can do so many different things to pass people and keep control. It's always a fun race track and I'm just excited to win. It's awesome."

ON THE ABC TELECAST, IT WAS MENTIONED THEY WERE DANCING IN THE STREETS IN EMPORIA, KS. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY ARE DOING THERE AND ARE YOU NOW THE MOST FAMOUS PERSON FROM EMPORIA?
BOWYER: "I don't know about that. There have been a lot of famous people. But they are probably drinking quite a bit of Jack Daniels now as we speak."

WAS THERE SOMETHING LIBERATING ABOUT GETTING YOUR FIRST WIN?
BOWYER: "Oh, yeah, there is just so much pressure in this sport no matter what. There is a lot of pressure for qualifying into these races for those guys not in the top 35. There is just so much pressure everywhere. There are a lot of sponsor dollars coming down on you if you have a bad run. Gil's mad at you if you crash. Richard is mad at you. Just everything. There is a lot of pressure. There is no getting around it. As you move forward in this sport and keep getting better and better, there is pressure along with it."

THERE ARE 10 RACES IN THE CHASE, WHICH IS A LONG WAY TO GO. WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET GOING INTO NEXT WEEK NOW THAT YOU'VE GOT THIS WIN UNDER YOUR BELT?
BOWYER: "Well, I just want to sit back and enjoy this first win. But hopefully, he (Gil Martin) will want to bring this same car. I'll be pretty adamant about that and I'll be at the shop with the wax out, waxing it. But it's moving forward. We've got a legitimate at this. Not saying that we didn't, but it just opens your eyes. It opened a lot of people's eyes and it certainly did for us as well."

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RACE YOU DROVE TODAY AND HOW THAT IMPRESSED YOU? ALSO, PEOPLE WILL SAY YOU HAVE THIS SECRET WEAPON THAT YOU UNVEILED IN THIS RACE CAR TODAY. WOULD THAT BE OVERSTATING IT?
MARTIN: "I think it would be overstating it. There is only so much you can do with these COT cars and a lot of it is just paying attention to detail. And as far as pressure and everything like that being on us, I think you get pressure applied to us if you're not prepared. And this team has been prepared. So the pressure really hasn't been there. In a big sense, it really hasn't. He drove like a veteran today. That's the race that I've seen him drive in the Busch car. That's the race that I've seen him drive where we've made some mistakes. We may have made them in the pit. I may have made a bad call, or anything. But that's the race I knew he was capable of running out there today. We did that. The guys in the pits did their jobs. And when everybody does their job like they did today and just throw caution to the wind, that's the result you're going to get. And that's the way we're going to have to go into these next nine races is with the same attitude. We can't put any pres sure on ourselves because as long as we prepare ourselves every week, we'll have a good result."

WITH SUCH A GREAT CAR AND DRIVER, CAN YOU EVER REMEMBER ANYBODY DOING SOMETHING LIKE YOU DID THIS WEEKEND?
MARTIN: "We did the same thing at Memphis with the Busch car two years ago. We had the same kind of result. We had an incident in practice and messed the car up a little bit. And he vowed to make it up and we came through the back and sleighed them there. In Nashville we did the same thing. He is plenty capable of doing this deal. Anybody who has written him off or says we don't have a chance to be there, we've played this same game under the same rules as everybody else has played and they made mistakes and didn't get here. And I think today shows that he is solidly in this deal and we've got a shot at it."

WHEN YOU GOT DOWN TO THOSE LAST FEW LAPS AND HEARD ALL THOSE GREMLINS, HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DID YOU HAVE IN YOUR SPOTTER, MIKE DILLON?
BOWYER: "I don't know (laughs). Do you know Mike Dillon? (laughter) He's been the guy in my ear since I started and we're both loud and outspoken people. That's normal for me to have him chirping in my ear. He spotted for (Jeff) Burton and he hated him. He fired him the first day on the job (laughter). That's what I'm used to. Every time he doesn't spot for me in the Busch car or somewhere else, I miss him. I know it probably takes a lot away from our organization having a GM spotting for us, but he does a good job. He speaks my language. We're close. We race dirt cars together with his kids. It's just a good combination."

HOW SICK WERE YOU OF HEARING THE QUESTION ABOUT HOW SOON ARE YOU GOING TO WIN?
BOWYER: "Oh, well, you ask yourself the same question every time you get close and you make a mistake and come up a little bit short. But it's definitely frustrating. But it is what it is. And they were right. We hadn't won a race. We were the only ones in the Chase that hadn't. But we can't say that anymore."

YOU HAD TALKED ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU MESSED UP AT RICHMOND LAST WEEK AND THAT YOU HAD TO PLAY THINGS RIGHT TO MAKE SURE YOU MADE THE CHASE. COULD YOU HAVE WON EARLIER IF YOU HADN'T HAD TO BE SO CAREFUL?
BOWYER: "I don't know. You go to the race track each and every week and give it your best. The last month and a half, we've had some pretty good runs. And we weren't able to make that gamble that it may have taken to get track position and be in contention to try to win that race in the end. But never had we had a dominant car like this. We've had good cars and wasn't able to win. But that's the thing that makes you more nervous is when you know you've got the best car and you don't win with it. It's very frustrating. That was why I was so amped up at the end of the race. I just didn't want it to come down and steal another one from us."

MARTIN: "I've got to follow up with that a little bit. He can't take all the credit for doing that. We should have been a little bit more in his ear at that race in Richmond because he had a good car, just like what we had today, and we just let him run a little too hard right there. We've made that mistake before in the past, watching his lap times versus everybody else and I think we also learned a little bit from it too. We won't make that mistake either."

Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart

Post Race Press Conference Transcript

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Impala SS, Leader in the Chase Standings
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Impala SS, Finished Second
Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Impala SS, Finished Third

Jimmie Johnson:
ON TODAY'S RACE: "Really today was a race for second spot. The No. 07 was so much better than everybody else. Obviously big congratulations to Clint (Bowyer) for winning his first one. There were times when I felt like we could run second and beat the No. 24 and the No. 20. Then other times like at the end, we just lost a little bit trying to adjust on the car. I just didn't have the speed that we needed. But still to leave here with a sixth place finish we are real happy about that. Last year we left here 39th or something like that, so we are off to a much better start than the last time."

ON HOW DOMINATE BOWYER WAS IN THE RACE: "I think watching him in the Busch Series and now in the Cup Series, he has been aggressive when he needs to be, and smart and points races other times when he needs to. I remember watching him win at Phoenix earlier this year in a Busch car in a real strong fight I think with Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton. At that point I recognized that Clint really picked up what he needed to and had the confidence he needed to get in to the Chase and that would be someone we would be fighting with. Today it all came together for him and I made a trip to victory lane to congratulate him because I just know how sweet that first victory is and he is a great guy, we have similar backgrounds and is a lot of fun to be around so I am very happy for him."

ON IF IT IS A SURPRISE THAT SOMEONE CAN JUST CHECKOUT ON THE FIELD: "We have been in that situation before. When you get everything right, especially on a long haul like that, you have to look at how long that last run was. If you have a tenth of a second on the field after 50 or 60 laps, you are going to have a six second lead. It happens. We have had good cars like that before. We have run away. I think of Richmond when we won last week, we had a huge lead at the end. When things are right and you hit it right, you can make the other guys look pretty far off."

Jeff Gordon:
ON TODAY'S RACE: "I look at the entire race and for us starting 18th got us a little bit behind. I was a little disappointed in how we qualified, but the effort put out today was fantastic. I couldn't have been more happy to be able to drive up through there, had great pit stops, I thought Steve (Letarte, crew chief) called a great race and the car was really good. It wasn't quite good enough for Bowyer, but congratulations to him. He did a great job. Would have liked to have been a little big closer to him, we made a few adjustments there at the end. I just wasn't very good on short runs, we made some adjustments to get better on the short runs which worked out but then over the long run, we gave up a little bit there. I had a real tough time with lapped traffic, a lot of guys were battling for position so it is kind of understandable, but made it really tough for some of the leaders to get through there and come home second. How do you complain about that? This is a great way to get the Chase started for us."

ON IF LACK OF PRACTICE HELPED LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD: "I was actually happy to not see practice. To me it is better for us, when we have less practice. There were a couple of things I felt like we needed to work on to make ourselves better, but overall I was pretty happy with the car today and we were able to base off of our setup the last time we were here and the little bit of race practice we did on Friday. Obviously, we weren't the best car today, but to be second best, I am pretty happy about that. I don't know if that is a leveler or not. To me practice the more time you have on the track, sometimes, the more spread things out and guys get a chance to really find something great and sometimes, it just gets everybody closer together. I don't know how you can really weigh that out."

ON IF IT DEPENDS ON THE TRACK IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH LESS PRACTICE OR MORE PRACTICE: "No, I just think we have a good team, good communication and to me, I think the less practice that we have, the better off we are. I just think that is the way our team works and maybe it just fits our driving, it just seems to be the case where ever we go."

ON SEEING THIS WIN COMING FOR BOWYER: "I am real happy for him, I think everybody is happy for Clint. To see a guy, especially when you are up in New York and nobody gave Clint Bowyer a shot at the championship. I think today was a real statement for him. I am sure he has a little grin going as well. I think it just proves that anybody in the top-12 can win this championship. If you are going to win your first one, man, this is the way and time to do it. That was pretty cool. He was dominant; he was so stong today. That one time when Tony and I both took two, he came out there and I was impressed that Tony was able to stay in front of him as long as he did. But, man, once he got that lead, man, Wow, it was incredible."

Tony Stewart:
ON TODAY'S RACE: "The No. 07 was the class of the field for sure today. It is pretty neat for him to win. It is fun to have watched guys in the last nine years get their first wins; it is normally a real dominant performance. That is what really makes these first wins special. You look at somebody like Clint who has had good cars and really has made a big step from last year, his rookie year, he has been in a couple positions to actually get a win this year, or at least a to9p-five and a shot at winning, then something has always happened. But a day like today, there was nothing going to happen to him. He was just rock-solid and strong all day. It is fun when you have got a car that drives like that, it makes that first win very memorable."

Jeff Gordon:
ON BEING TIED NOW FOR THE POINT'S LEAD: "I am just happy with the day that we had. I don't care who we would have finished second to, I would have been pretty happy to come home second today. To me, you have to capitalize on the tracks you run good at. This is a good track for us and I was just glad to do that and stay out of trouble. Wherever the points fall right now, it is what you do over 10 races, not what you do in one race. We did what we needed to do today; hopefully we can carry that next week to Dover and try to pull off another top-five. You guys can make up all the stories and create whatever you want out of that whole losing the points lead thing. I am pretty sure that is what it said in the rule book when we started the season, that that was what was going to happen to the points situation. I won't be surprised if they change it next year though. They always seem to tweak it a little bit; it will be funny if they do that. You know what, I am just ha ppy to be where we are at. "

Tony Stewart:
ON HOW MUCH BETTER A CAR LIKE BOWYER HAD TODAY THAN THE GUYS HE BEAT: (Gordon to Stewart - "You are the educator, I couldn't keep up with the math, so I don't know how I am going to educate anybody here'' LAUGHS) "You are right, I think it shows how competitive the series is now. It doesn't take much for somebody to really stand out if they have hit on something. Jeff, myself, Kyle (Busch), we all weren't that far off, we were just enough off every lap, like Jimmie said, five seconds, it doesn't take long in 50 laps to get a five second lead. To think about 43 cars out there and having the top-five guys that close to each other, it is pretty impressive to see. There was good racing out there on the track today (laughs) for the exception of Clint - everybody else all had good races. Jeff and I had good races. Kyle and I did. Kurt Busch and I did, everybody did. There was a lot of action going on out there today. When you got in lapped traffic those guys were busy with their own races.

GORDON INTERJECTS:
"I swear those lapped cars must have come out of the pits right behind Bowyer because they were all racing for position so hard between him and us."

STEWART CONTINUES:
"You never caught them single, you caught them in groups three-wide. But that just showed there was good racing all over the race track today and it was just spread out between the field. I mean, it wasn't just two or three guys that had good battles all day. There were good battles all the way through the lineup."

Tony Stewart:
ON CATCHING BOWYER, HOW IMPRESSIVE HIS ABILITY WAS TO JUST PULL AWAY: Gordon interjects to Stewart: "Did you catch him? Who caught him? (Laughs) I never even saw him."

Stewart continues: "That was the only thing we caught was lapped traffic all day. "

Tony Stewart:
ON STATEMENT BOWYER MADE WITH WIN: "That he can win a race at the right time. I don't think he was trying to make a statement, I think he was trying to do what we try to do every week, and he tried to win a race. It is you guy's job to figure out what the statement he just made. Or wait until he comes in the media center, he can tell you what statement he is making."

Jeff Gordon:
ON IMPORTANCE OF A STRONG FINISH AT NHIS IN THE CHASE: "Yes definitely. You have to look at who you are racing, not for just race wins, but for the championship. I think Tony will second this. I think the brakes, tires, engine; everything is about gone on those cars, even though it was a short race. I were driving really, really hard today it just seemed like every single lap, we were driving as hard as we could. I think it just shows everybody is stepping up because you know now that the real race is on and you have to get everything you can out of the car every single lap. You have to keep the guys in your sites if you are, who you are racing. Hopefully, you can put them in your mirror. When it is a day like today and there are so many of the Chase guys up front, then you have to race with them and be there and do it week in and week out. It just seems to me that the hardest thing about consistency over 10 races is when you get to a Talladega, or you get somew here and one little thing happens, you find yourself 25th or 40th or something like that. That it where you realize just how hard it is to be consistent over 10 races."

Tony Stewart:
ON IF YOU ARE PARANOID AND WORRIED IN THE CAR GOING FOR THE FIRST WIN: "Yes."

Jeff Gordon:
Same question: "Heck, I was in second thinking I thinking that I had a flat tire one time, I am just glad to hear he (Bowyer) was complaining about something. I am sitting here thinking I would have liked to have been in his car complaining about something. He was complaining and driving away, that is the best kind you have got. Yes, there is no doubt. But it really doesn't matter how many races you have won, you are out there and until you have seen the checkered flag, it is not over. It can be taken away from you in a matter of seconds, I am sure there were a lot of things like that going through his mind, feeling vibrations and the car not handling and whatever things that were happening in there. That is very common, especially your first one.

Stewart interjects:
"Yes, I guarantee that is exactly what is going on. You are just praying that everything is going to go all right, especially when you have a day like he had where you have been so dominate all day. You are so fearful that something that is out of your control is going to happen and it is going to take it away from you. It is not uncommon, I don't think any driver is psycho, but it is hard to not start imaging things that aren't happening with your race car. Thinking things are worse than they really are, especially when it gets close to the end like that. I think that all of us on our first win had those same thoughts exactly to the tee of what you said, everybody hears something that is not there, feels a vibration or thinks their car is worse than what it really is. Especially when you tend to overdrive it at the end, especially when you are working your way toward your first win. Like Jeff said, it is not uncommon for anybody to have that on your firs t run for a win."

Tony Stewart:
ON BEING MORE RELAXED AFTER HAVING A GOOD RUN UNDER YOUR BELT TO START THE CHASE: "Ok, we all had to go to Talladega for two days which we would have all rather have mowed our grass or stained our decks or done something, or had to do some kid's paper route than have to be at Talladega for two days. Then they sent us to New York to deal with a bunch of media and we all had to wear suits. So you can imagine by the time we got here, we were all pretty stressed out being in places that we really didn't want to be. I think we are all pretty much relaxed now knowing we are out of there for the week."

Jeff Gordon:
ON REMEMBERING TAKING HIS FIRST CHECKERED FLAG: "I am an emotional guy, I was crying with two laps to go. I doubt whether Clint was doing that, maybe he was, we might have wiped the tears off before he got there. Man, that was along time ago. A long time ago. It is one of the coolest experiences, as race car driver, to get to this level and race against the best drivers, the best teams, it sends a chill up your spine that first time you do it, because you have worked so hard to get to this level, there isn't a greater feeling, except having a baby, there isn't a greater feeling than getting that first checkered flag."

Tony Stewart:
ON IF THIS RACE IS OVER HYPED: "Last I checked, every race is 10 percent of the Chase so they pay all the same points. It is not like this race pays more points than anything else, but you are the ones that create the hype, not us. You have to answer your own question in all reality. It is kind of a transitional period. The 26 races are over, the 12 drivers are set and locked in and then it is the question of how everybody is approaching the Chase. I guess it is not so much it is how it is over hyped; everybody wants to know if your approach to the next 10 weeks is different from the last three or four weeks. Some of us were locked in, some of us weren't. Some of us were racing two or three guys just to get in the Chase and others were just trying to race for bonus points. So obviously, this week is a different week, the approach is different but I am not sure it is over hyped. It is the week leading up to the first of 10 big weeks so we kind of settle in the rest of the Chase."

Jeff Gordon:
SAME QUESTION: "I thought we were hyping the Chase, hyping the next 10 weeks, 10 races and the Chase for the Nextel Cup. I didn't realize we were just hyping New Hampshire. Stewart Interjects: "I mean it is Bob Bahre's place and that is pretty cool and that is a pretty cool place."

Gordon continues:
"It is a cool place and this is the first step to your championship. I don't think it was over hyped or under hyped, it was all about the championship and like Tony said, this is one-tenth of that."

Tony Stewart:
ON FEELING AFTER THRILL OF FIRST WIN SETTLED IN: "I felt like it was a huge...it wasn't just a win..it put me in a group with guys that had won NASCAR Cup level races. Going through the garage, I think the neat thing is, when Clint gets back to the garage, it doesn't matter what team these guys are from that will still be in the garage area, when he goes by, they are going to congratulate him and everybody knows how hard it is to get that first win. I know Jeff pulled up along side of him, he was so far ahead of us when he took the checkered flag we had to bust our butts to get to get down there just to get to him. I never did get to him, I never did get caught up, Jeff you were ahead of me, you got to him before him. I just walked down to victory lane, that was the only place I could catch him where he wasn't moving. (Laughs) You recognize that somebody has worked that hard for that accomplishment and he has going to have a lot of pride in knowing he got that f irst Cup first and never has to answer that question of when you are your going to get that first win, doesn't have to be asked ever again. You have that feeling of pride and you have that sense of accomplishment that you finally got to that huge goal just to win a Cup race, let alone be in the Chase and have opportunity to run for a championship."

Jeff Gordon:
Same question: "There is just something unique about your first win. That one is extra special everybody is happy for you. If he goes and wins next week it won't be the same, I can tell you that. (Laughs) The coolest thing not only your first one, but especially your first one, but every one win, from today until next Sunday, he is the Man. He is going to flip through the channels, he is going to see if face and name up there on ESPN and every other racing show, if he reads the papers, he is going to see it there. But more importantly, when he comes back to the race track, people are going to look and talk to him a little bit differently because they are happy for him. He is the last guy that has won on the circuit and first guy to win in the Chase, so there is something special about that, so he will feel that until next Sunday unless he does that again."

Tony Stewart:
ON WHAT WAS COMBINATION THAT MADE BOWYER SO DOMINANT TODAY: "If we had been able to see that, we would have fixed our junk. He was first and we weren't. Honestly, I don't think you can see it. It is the same theories that we go to every week. It is who can get their car to roll the center of the corner, who can get in the gas first, why he was able to do that, we don't know. He seemed like he could go anywhere he wanted to go. He could run the bottom, the middle. His car just had a good balance to it that none of us could get our cars to do. Gordon interjects: "The only time I saw him out of control was when he was behind you that one time and it made me at least feel like he was still human."

Tony Stewart:
ON IT BEING EASIER TO ACCEPT GETTING BEAT BY A CAR THAT WAS SO STRONG? "You guys are really starting to over think this whole thing. Gordon Interjects: "Way, way - oh man. What other choice do you have but to accept it? It is what it is. I guarantee you if we had run 7,000 laps unless he had blown up, we still weren't going to beat him. You just have to accept it. Honestly, I am happy with second, I really am, it was a good day for us."

Tony Stewart:
ON LEVEL OF COMFORT RACING EACH OTHER HARD FOR POSITION KNOWING HE ISN'T GOING TO DO SOMETHING STUPID: "I can speak for my side and say absolutely. I have the confidence to you you around somebody you don't question where he is going to go. We got around, one guy in particular with yellow stripes on the back of the car, I am not going to say any names, but it has a bull on the side of it, you don't know where he is going when you get there most of the time. He is getting better. When you run with somebody like Jeff, we have run so long with each other, we have raced with each other for nine years now.

Gordon interjects:
"We pretty much know that if we touch one another, it wasn't an accident. (LAUGHTER)"

Stewart Continues:
"When I do, it is a lot of times it is an accident. There have been a couple of times it has not been (LAUGHTER), but occasionally I will slip and it is an accident.

Gordon Interjects again:
"I am not saying I didn't have it coming!" MORE LAUGHTER

Stewart Continues:
"Let's go back to this confidence thing we have in each other, shall we. No, seriously, I feel a lot better running with the guys that you run up front with every week than you do than the guys you don't run with every week and don't run a lot of laps with. I run around each other enough and have been around up front with each other enough, we understand each other, and we know what is going on. If Jeff slips and bumps in to me, I know what the situation was, you don't freak out and panic, where some of these other guys, you don't know when they hit you if they were trying to wreck you or what they were doing. I think at this level, there is a high enough amount of respect and confidence in each other, that if something happens, knowing what the circumstances were leading up to it. We can tell when we run in to each other if it is intentional or not. We can tell if that much."

Jeff Gordon:
Same question: "I have the utmost respect for Tony. I think he is one of the best, if not the best out there. I think until it gets down to game time, the final run, or getting in position there toward the end, we know when one another is better than the other. And my car didn't take off very good on cold tires. All those cautions killed up, Tony got some good runs, got underneath me, I let him go. I got back up to him; he would let me go. I had a little trouble getting away from him. My car was real loose for a couple laps. Finally it came back and it was from that point now that who had the better car. And that is usually the way it is. We have had our hi9story and our times, but I think we have gotten through those brain dead moments on both our parts. Now we just love to race one another hard and clean."