Jeff Gordon Wins at Talladega to Score Fifth Victory of 2007 and Retake Lead in Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship Standings

Six Team Chevy Drivers Bring Impala SS Race Cars Home in Top-10 in First Superspeedway Event for New Generation NASCAR Race Car

Talladega, AL - Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/Pepsi Impala SS, only needed to lead one lap in the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway - the last one - to capture his fifth win of the 2007 season and sweep both races at the legendary Alabama race track.

In reality, Gordon only led the last 1/3 of the final lap around the 2.666-mile tri-oval to score his sixth win at Talladega, more than any other active driver.

Other than one round of green flag pit stops, Gordon spend the majority of the 188-lap/500-mile race running around 35th position to save his equipment and be ready for the blast to the front of the field at the end.

Gordon's win in round four of the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup, race 30 of the 36-race NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (NNCS) season, is the 12th superspeedway victory and 80th win of his career.

The 2007 sweep at Talladega by the four-time NNCS champion is the first since Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet did it in 2002.

It is the 21st victory of the season for the Bowtie Brigade in 30 NNCS races and the 11th win by an Impala SS driver in the 14 races for the new generation race car so far this season.

Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Impala SS, led five Team Chevy Impala SS drivers to top-10 finishes behind Gordon with a second-place finish. The defending NNCS champion is second in the standings, just nine points behind the Gordon with six races remaining in the season. Johnson led twice for a total of six laps in the race.

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Impala SS, finished fourth despite receiving damage to right rear quarter panel during a late-race multi-car incident. Hamlin now sits ninth in the standings, 262 points down to the leader. Hamlin had his Impala SS race car at the front of the field five times during the race for a total of 40 laps.

Casey Mears, No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Impala SS, finished sixth, his fifth top-five finish of the year. Mears is in a tight battle for the coveted 13th place in the standings, currently in 15th spot.

Two-time NNCS champion Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Impala SS, finished eighth in the final order after leading four times during the afternoon for a total of 38 laps. Stewart if fourth in the Chase standings, 154 points behind leader Gordon.

Tony Raines, No. 96 DLP HDTV Impala SS, scored a season-best ninth in the final finishing order to give Team Chevy six drivers in the top-10.

Clint Bowyer, No. 07 Jack Daniel's Impala SS, finished 11th to stay strong in the championship battle. He continues third in the standings, just 63 points down to the leader. Bowyer was credited with leading once for one lap to collect the valuable five bonus points.

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Impala SS, finished 20th after losing a cylinder with 50 laps remaining in the race. Despite running on only seven cylinders, Harvick stayed on the lead lap, was credited with leading one lap during the race to collect the valuable bonus points. He is fifth in the Chase standings, 165 points out of first place.

Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST Impala SS, finished 38th after being involved in an 11-car, multi-car accident on lap 144 of the 188-lap race. He dropped to eighth in the Chase, 260 points behind HMS teammate Gordon.

Martin Truex, Jr., No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Track Boats Impala SS, retired from the race on lap 113 with motor failure. He is now 10th in the standings, 300 points out of first.

Jeff Burton, No. 31 AT&T Impala SS, was the first car in the garage when the motor let go on lap 91. Burton is now 12th in the Chase standings, 336 points down to Gordon.

The next event for Team Chevy in NNCS competition will be the Bank of America 500 on October 13, 2007 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Charlotte, North Carolina.

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AT&T IMPALA SS - Sidelined with engine failure on lap 92:

"We just broke something in the engine. Certainly we didn't come here knowing we were going to have a problem., We felt secured with our engine package, it just didn't work out for us. We certainly don't need to break parts and pieces but we are in unchartered territory turning this many r.p.ms for this amount of time is something we have never done and it bit us. It is our job to do better than that and we will.

"It was a little boring out there for us to. Just going around that top lane single file is not what any of us want. The drivers don't want that, the fans do want that and I don't think we are going to see a whole lot more of that. What we just learned on that stop there is that is enough people went to the bottom, the bottom will work. You can't do it with two or three cars, you have got to have a line of cards. I think enough people got enticed by what they just saw to go try and make something happen. I think from this point forward we are going to see a lot of racing.

"I suspect this is just too much for us to overcome regarding the championship. We will go and fight, do all we can and get all we can. But it is two finishes in the high 30s or high 40s isn't going to get it done.

"We didn't suspect any problems. I think a lot of unknowns turning 8,500 all day long, which is something we typically don't do. So we learned something today hopefully. I am extremely disappointed but I am not disappointed with our effort. Our engine guys and our car guys, everybody has put in a tremendous effort out here.

"Obviously this about wraps it up for us for the championship, we will keep fighting. We will go next week and strap our boots on and go fight and see what we can make out of it.

ON ENGINE PACKAGE TEAMMATES ARE RUNNING TODAY: "I don't know that we are the exact same package, nobody is experimenting. We don't have anything in anybody's car that we were worried about but there are a few little differences, but no valve train stuff, that is probably what we broke. I certainly hope they don't have a problem. I think our car was fast enough to get some business done to get in the right line at the right time and miss the inevitable thing that is going to happen.

"Everybody is getting bored out there and it was starting to get wild out there again which is what Talladega is all about. Again, disappointing for us, but I am not disappointed with our effort.

"We were good on all of our water and oil temps. I am proud of my guys, we had a fast race car, fast enough to get our business done. Great pit stops, we had a solid day. Just meant to be for us right now. We just seem to put one foot forward and two feet back. We won't quit working."

"It's a tough break. Everybody has worked really hard. We just broke something. When it blew up, it blew up big. At least it wasn't small. What are you going to do? We worked hard. Everybody put a lot of effort into it. We had a fast race car. I was real proud of the speed. I thought we had enough speed to get our business done. And it just wasn't meant to be for us."

MARTIN TRUEX JR., NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER BOATS IMPALA SS - Sidelined with engine failure on Lap 113:

"I'm not sure what happened. But the motor was running good. The car was really good. We got in a little altercation there one time and lost some track position. We were getting back towards the front and the car was really, really fast. I was really happy with it. It's just frustrating. The last three weeks we've had great cars capable of winning every race and we just can't seem to find any luck. We'll just keep going and try to win races from here on out and just do the best we can. We're way back in the points and that's not looking good. But we can still win a bunch of races. So we'll just go have some fun."

YOU HAD A STRONG CAR TODAY. WHAT HAPPENED? "It's just unfortunate. These guys have been doing a great job with the engines. We had some awesome power today and we had a car capable of easily winning that race. We were just riding around biding our time and trying to get to the end. I'm real proud of them, but it's just unfortunate. The last three weeks we've had nothing but bad luck and cars that could have won all three races. So it's just frustrating. It's tough to swallow. But we'll go on to Charlotte and try to turn it around."

ON RACING HERE WITH THE COT? "It wasn't any different at all. I thought it was more fun to be honest with you."

HOW WAS THE RACING OUT THERE? "The racing was great. Guys were being real smart and being patient. We were having a lot of fun out there. It was hard to lead the race unless you're on the high side and guys kept trying to go to the bottom and get runs. But it was a lot of fun to race up top. The cars were great. I didn't see any issues at all. A lot of guys were using their heads and being real patient. It was going to get exciting toward the end. But I guess we'll just have to sit back and watch it now."

IS IT WHAT YOU EXPECTED WITH THE COT? "Yeah, it is. It's a lot like the Busch cars were. You'd get really huge runs. It really sucked up well. You'd pull out and think you could drive by three or four cars, but you'd just stop. So you've got to have help. It's a lot of fun."

ON HIS CHANCES FOR THE TITLE "Well, without any freaky luck for anyone else, we're pretty much out of it. It's a shame. I hate it for these guys because we've been so good. Our cars have been awesome. We've been doing exactly what we needed to the last three weeks. We've been so fast and our cars have been really good. We can't get anything to go right for us and if you can't have good luck, there is now chance for a championship. So, we'll just go on and do what we can and try to win some races."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER IMPALA SS - Sidelined with engine failure on Lap 136

"We had a good car. We had a good motor. But we have some sort of a gremlin. As you can see the No. 31 (Burton) and the No. 1 (Truex Jr.) and myself have failures. So we have a gremlin in there. At the test here I saw a low of working back and forth between DEI and RCR. I want to thank everybody on both sides for all the effort trying to come in here and give us all a good opportunity. We had good power. We all had good cars. And I'm sad for Martin (Truex Jr.) more than anything. That team just has so much pride. We'll be all right. Tony Jr. is going to be unemployed for about four hours. I'm looking forward to the next five weeks with Tony. We worked well together earlier this season and I'm looking forward to that. But, it was a tough day today. It's real emotional."

HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU THAT YOU COULDN'T GET A WIN FOR THE FANS? "Well there are 42 other guys out there. You know the odds. But I had a good enough car. I love leading laps and they like that too. I'd look in the stands as I'd go by and they'd be cheering. I get excited about that. I just try to keep it up front as much as I can because that's what they come to see - as least my fans so (laughs). So we're trying really hard. We just had a failure there on the motor."

DOES THE FRUSTRATION GET MORE AND MORE WITH EVERY BLOWN ENGINE? "No. You don't blow motors that often. You can go a year or two without blowing one. The first one you blow is really the shocker. But we've fought a lot of different curve balls with the fuel change and everything else. Changing our engine package with our new Chevy motor and just a lot of curve balls this year, I can totally see and understand how we are in the situation we're in."

YOU ARE STILL MANAGING TO SMILE "Oh, it ain't that bad if this is the worst thing that could happen. We had a good day and we're all in one piece. We had a string of motors fail today but they build good stuff. We tested down here. We all work really hard together and try to bring a good package. We're really proud of all that effort and how our car ran today. I'm proud of my team. We had a good car. We led some. We got the people on their feet. I was hoping to win it. I thought I could win it. But we just had some tough luck. I'm a little more concerned and feel really, really bad for Martin (Truex Jr) because they've got a great team. It hurt worse actually seeing his motor break. But we'll be all right."

ON RICHIE GILMORE "He's probably glad he's not here today. I genuinely consider him a good friend of mine and I just hope he takes care of his health. I'm sure that everything is going to be fine. I'm just glad that it wasn't any worse than it was."

ON THE EMOTION OF THE DAY "Just blowing up. I want to be out there running and working and everybody is really emotional about that. These guys are going to give me a good effort the rest of the year and I'm going to work hard.

STEVE HMIEL, DEI COMPETITION DIRECTOR

ON THE ENGINE FAILURES: "When you open the hood, now you know what to look for. We had two, now we have three. The hole is in the same place in the oil pan. It's breaking something inside and it's breaking it in all three engines.

COULD IT HAPPEN TO THE OTHER CARS WITH RCR/DEI ENGINES? "Oh sure. Richard and Ritchie built the engines and they are doing all they can. They are all the same, so you have to be nervous about the others. The No. 15 was in a wreck. The hole is coming from the rod breaking. All three have had the same failure and the rod is out the oil pan.

"You don't want to have anything go wrong but you hope that your program is consistent enough where you say if one breaks, there's a good chance we'll break them all. You're not happy about it but it shows everybody is getting the same stuff."

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/CARQUEST IMPALA SS, Involved in a 11 car multi-car incident on lap 145

"Just a product of restrictor plate racing. Everybody bunched up in to a pack. I guess Bobby (Labonte) lost a tire or something like that. Nothing of his doing, just came right across the race track. We were the first one that hit him. It is a shame, not only for us and the Kellogg's/CARQUEST Impala SS but all the other guys that got involved in the wreck as well. Unfortunate for our Chase changes, but we knew that Talladega was going to be our Mulligan. We circled it on the calendar that this was the one we were going to wreck in because We were hoping that last week wouldn't happen but it did. Now this week again. We will just go on to Charlotte and the go on to places where we don't run too good and do the best we can. We will just keep going, that is all we can do.

"The team wants to be optimistic and they want me to be optimistic, but I am sorry, it is just the realism of what has happened that sets in and you try to realize you are so far back, it is going to take a lot to get back in this deal. Especially when you have great racers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart who are up front in the points and haven't had much bad luck in this Chase deal."

ON HOW CHASE HAS PLAYED OUT SO FAR: "It is just a product of racing, if we knew what was going to happen we wouldn't be here. It would already be written on the wall.

"It is just so frustrating, but part of the deal."

ARIC ALMIROLA, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS (retired from race on Lap 156 due to an engine issue)

"Obviously some of our other teammates with the same motor package had some issues. I am not really sure why. But I am sure all the guys in the (DEI) engine department will do their homework and figure out what happened. I felt like we had good strategy going -- hopefully to get fuel only at the end and trying to get ourselves in position to get a good finish. I am disappointed, but it's not because of a lack of effort. These guys on this Army team worked really hard all day and had great pit stops."

JEFF GREEN, NO. 66 GARMIN / BEST BUY CHEVROLET - Finished 13th:

"It was a pretty good day for the Garmin / Best Buy team. We stayed out of trouble, avoided the wrecks, had some really good pit stops and pulled out a top-15. If I could have gotten anyone to work with me there at the end, I really think we could have gone to the front, but anytime you can even finish at Talladega, you have to see that as a good day."

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS IMPALA SS - Started 11th, finished 23rd:

WERE YOU WORRIED THAT YOU WOULD HAVE ENGINE FAILURE LIKE BURTON? "When you see everybody having trouble out there and you're the last car to be out there, but we were just conservative on everything. I knew he was conservative on the gear and tape on the nose and everything. We just did the best we could of trying to run cool and it paid off."

DID YOU FEEL VIBRATIONS OR SOMETHING GOING ON WITH THE CAR? "We had a wheel weight come loose in the left rear, but finally to get out of here without crashing the Jack Daniel's Chevrolet is a good day for us."

DID YOU HAVE ANY ENGINE PROBLEMS? "Yeah, it wasn't as strong as it needed to be but hey, it did its job and got me to the end and that's what we needed to do here."

KEVIN HARVICK WAS RUNNING A CYLINDER DOWN, WERE YOU TRYING TO NURSE IT HOME? "Well, until you've got a problem, you can't nurse it. With the position we're in, we've got to go out and try to win races. We tried the best we could there at the end and didn't have quite enough."

IN PRACTICE, YOU WERE RUNNING HOT. DID YOU THINK THAT WOULD BE AN ISSUE IN THE RACE? "It was definitely hotter today but like I said, Gill (Martin) and everybody got their heads together and did a lot of conservative things to make sure that we ran cool. So that was a good job on their part."

YOU AVOIDED A BIG WRECK HERE TODAY. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? "Oh, good. We didn't win. We didn't have a top five. But we avoided a lot of crashes and so it was a good day."

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR SPLITTER? "Actually the No. 00 damaged his splitter and it flew up and stuck in the nose of my car. So I just got lucky."

ON THE RACING "It was uneventful until everybody gets going. It was pretty wild after that."

ON THE BATTLE AT THE END "We were trying the best we could. We just didn't have a good enough weapon to be in the fight. The bottom line was that we needed to get out of here with a good finish or a solid finish and we did that. We'll be just fine."

IS IT GOING TO BE REALLY TOUGH TO CATCH JIMMIE JOHNSON AND JEFF GORDON? "We just have to pick up our program a little bit more. We're not out of this thing by any means. Charlotte is a good track for those guys and certainly will be a concern on my part, but we've been coming through these things a lot at these tracks with concern and we've been getting good finishes, so we'll be just fine."

DID YOU HOLD YOUR BREATH AT THE END? "Oh, yeah. That was nerve-wracking. I kept patting the old girl and praying."

CASEY MEARS, NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS, Started 29th, Finished 6th:

"We worked really hard and it is good that we came back with a sixth place finish. I don't know how all that happened there at the end, but we got it. We just keep reeling off these top-five finishes and top-10. I am just so proud of all of my guys on this team."

TODD BERRIER, CREW CHIEF, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL IMPALA SS:

"For the most part, we finished. With 50 laps to go, we dropped a cylinder and managed to stay on the lead lap for the rest of the race with seven cylinders. After seeing the No.8, No. 1, No. 01 and the No. 31 and us starting to drop a cylinder, you are just waiting for it to happen. So we finished, not blow up and home in the garage is good. You don't like to run 20th place but at the end of the day, it could have been a lot worse. It was a lot worse for 23 other guys.

"Just like Steve Hmiel, we all were thinking the same thing, that all our RCR/DEI engines might blow. We will all go back and look at laps ran in practice and things like that to figure out why ours didn't and someone else's did. I know we didn't run a lot of laps in practice and Clint didn't run a lot of laps either. Maybe there is something to learn from it. When you have that many go bad, it is part of the deal. Two or three years ago, the same thing happened to Hendrick, every one of theirs went bad, so it is what it is."

ON IF THERE WAS ANYTHING TO HMS/JGR USING SB2 ENGINES WHERE RCR/DEI USED R07 ENGINES: "Not really. I talked to Richard about that and he said no time better than the present to find out it was going to go. We had to run them next year, so, again, hindsight now looking back at it after having failures, you can go back and say we probably should have played something different."

ON THE NO. 48 AND NO. 24 JUST KEEPING ON HAVING GOOD FINISHES IN CHASE RACES: "Well, you have to have luck, and you make a lot of your own luck. They did what they had to do again, just like the normally do. It is going to take a really big push from some of us other guys to get up there doing the deal."

GIL MARTIN, CREW CHIEF, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS IMPALA SS:

"I told my guys, coming out of here with 11th, I would have taken 11th and not even come down here. You have too. Sure you have a chance to win, but you a greater chance of running 33rd here than you do of winning, everything to be perfect. We had a great opportunity to finish in the top-10 there, but we had a little bit of an issue when the splitter came off the No. 00 car and stuck in the nose of our car. We had to fix it and it cost us 10 spots on the track with 20 to go. We were able to capitalize and get 10 of those back."

ON KEEPING CLINT BOWYER CALM: "We just kept assuring him that we had done everything before the race to be as conservative with the engine package as we could, we didn't lean on the motor which was evident in qualifying. We didn't lean on it hardly at all just because we knew we had to finish this race to be in contention to win this championship. Coming out here with this kind of finish gives us momentum heading in to the mile and a half tracks coming up."

DENNY HAMLIN, NO. 11 FEDEX GROUND IMPALA SS, Started 18th, Finished 4th:

"It was pretty exciting those last few laps, a lot of pushing and shoving going on there but everyone did a good job of holding their line there at the end. Everyone was driving kind of crazy, but it was cautious at the same time. We just got behind there when we got a little bit of damage but, this whole FedEx Ground crew did a good job putting it back together. We were able to march our way to the front there at the end.

"We know we are going to have the Impala SS new generation car here in the future, so I definitely think we are heading in the right direction."

STEVE LETARTE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 DUPONT / PEPSI IMPALA SS - RACE WINNER:

"Everybody on this DuPont Chevrolet did a great job; 550 employees at Hendrick Motorsports provide unbelievable speedway cars. We kept our chins up through qualifying and knew we'd be good in the race."

ON THE PIT ROAD PENALTY, HOW DID YOU KEEP YOUR DRIVER CALM? "That's the beauty of working with a four-time champion. We usually don't have to keep him calm. We've just got to let him know how many laps to go. We got really lucky with the yellow. We need to quit making mistakes so we don't need so much luck. But the Chase is four races over. We hope we have six more good ones."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI IMPALA SS - WINNER

HOW DID YOU GET TO THE FRONT? "I have no idea (laughs). This guy right here (crew chief, Letarte) builds an awesome race car and has put together a heck of a race team. We lay in the back. We didn't want to have to do it that way but this car is just a lot of unknowns. It's hairy out there. We just wanted to play it safe until it really counted. And what I don't understand is how I ever got by my teammate (Jimmie Johnson) because I was there behind him and got a couple of pushes. But when the No. 12 (Newman) and I think the No. 2 (Busch) were on the outside of me, I really was just kind of stuck there. But when they got three-wide, I thought this was my opportunity. I got pushed from the No. 22 (Blaney) and I went with the momentum. Luckily when I got high and Jimmie tried to block me, the No. 20 (Stewart) was there and had nowhere to go. He drilled me and he's the one that pushed me to the front. So that's what you've got to do. You've got to put that rear bumper in front of those other guys' bumpers at the right time. I know I'm talking too much, but man, I'm excited. That was an awesome win.

YOU LED ONE LAP. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE IT WAS TIME TO JUMP TO THE OUTSIDE? "Like I said, I was kind of stuck down there on the bottom. I knew we had a good car if we just got the right push. The No. 22 was trying really hard to give me some pushes, but I kept getting blocked on that side and it just wasn't time yet. I just go with the momentum. When the momentum is there and the opportunity is there, I go with it. I really thought Jimmie Johnson was going to win that race. I didn't think anybody could get by him, let alone me. I've got to go back and look at the video. I'm still kind of shocked. I'm really excited to win this race and I'll tell you why. It's because while I love coming to Talladega; it's awesome here, I didn't think I could win with this package. This reminds me of the roof rail package with the wicker on the back we used to have years ago. I just never felt like I knew what it took to win. And it's a little bit different than that. We found that out today. But I'm just excited we could still win with this package."

ON THE STRATEGY OF RIDING AROUND IN THE BACK DURING THE RACE "That was the hardest three-quarters of a race that I've ever had to run before. We talked about it. Basically our qualifying determined what our strategy was going to be. I knew there was going to be a bunch of bumping and banging with this new rules package. I didn't know what to expect. We've got a championship on the line. I've watched guys do it from the back. We avoided the wrecks and all of a sudden we found ourselves up in the top 15 with about 25 or 30 (laps) to go and held on there. We got shuffled back there a little bit but once they started getting inside of us, it was time to go with nine to go and it all worked out."

ON HIS CONCERNS ABOUT THE PASS-THROUGH PENALTY AND WHETHER HE WOULD GET A CAUTION "You know what? As uneventful as it was back there in the back, I was concerned every single moment of every single lap. I was concerned when we were back there riding around wondering if we were going to wreck among the ten of us. I was wondering are we going to lose the draft? Then we had that problem on pit road. It was our day. It was just meant to be. Sometimes those things work for you and sometimes they work against you. That one worked for us because it kept us out of that big wreck over there off of Turn 4. I don't know. It was kind of crazy but it could have really bit us and put us completely out of this race. We were fortunate to be back in it."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S IMPALA SS - Finished 2nd:

WALK US THROUGH THE LAST LAP OF THE RACE: "Well I was doing all I could on the bottom to defend that bottom lane and not get caught in the middle or anything. It would have been a problem too on that last lap trying to defend and block the No. 24 (Gordon). But there was more going on behind me than I could really see. Evidently the No. 20 (Stewart) had a big run. Jeff moved up in front of it and it was a strong enough run to push him by me and I couldn't even side-draft him and slow him down. I'm happy with our performance. When you get that close to winning, it's tough. But our big picture racing today was really smart. We paid close attention to where the action was on the track and kind of held out in the back and then went up there and raced for the thing at the end and almost won it."

HOW TOUGH WAS IT TO HOLD OUT IN THE BACK? "It's tough. But I haven't finished a fall race here in a long time (laughs), so it was pretty easy for me. I felt comfortable doing it because I had the No. 07 (Bowyer) close by and the No. 24 (Gordon) and guys right there around me in points. So I'm glad it worked out."

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Impala SS, Post Race Second Place Finisher Press Conference Transcript at Talladega

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Impala SS, met with members of the media post race following the race at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed strategy for today's race, implication for the remaining Chase races with both himself and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon running so strong; healthy competition between the No. 48 and No. 24 teams at HMS and first superspeedway race for Impala SS new-generation race car:

Jimmie Johnson Talladega Post Race Second Place Finisher Press Conference Transcript Audio File

Selected quotes from driver interview:

ON TODAY'S RACE: "For us, today's race went exactly as we planned and hoped. So, I am very pleased with that. I think it is pretty rare that that takes place and happens. We decided to ride at the back and try to avoid to problems and it took a long-time before we had a big problem. At that point we were relieved. Then we kind of worked our way back up through there, but at that point, for whatever reason there was only about 25 or 27 cars still out on the track and the energy from that type of draft is much less risky than a 43-car draft. At that point, I felt comfortable to get up there and race. I could see the guys close to me in points had the same philosophy going, so it helped me stay back there and be comfortable with kind of riding. Once we took off and got going, I had a great race car and almost won the thing."

ON DECISION TO LAY BACK UNTIL LATE IN THE RACE BEFORE MOVING FORWARD: "It is tough, I have tried it before but I would only go part of the race and got in a big hurry to go get in the crash, was right in the middle of it in the past. This time our patience worked. I started to feel like we may have made a mistake until we got that big caution pretty late in the event and then it was like, all right, our patience has paid off today and now it is time to go racing. I did see that a lot of people were worried and concerned about the bump drafting and guys were being very cautious on the track, which was helpful too. So I think the guys did a good job out there today.

"It is tough to hit on the right strategy here. I think this is one of the few I remember, probably not the only one, that a driver held off in the back and was able to win. Outside of today's race, was Dale Jarrett. There are so many other circumstances that have to go your way. If there isn't a big wreck or you have a caution free race like we have seen here or very few cautions; single car incidents, you are riding around in the back, then you end up with 30 or 40 great race cars you have to get by. So I think circumstances really dictate how that strategy really plays out, today it worked. It worked out well for us. But you look at the No. 20 and the No. 11, I don't know for sure where the No. 11 finished, but it looked like the No. 20 was up front all day long and it worked out great for him so that was kind of flipped strategies there."

ON HIS GRADE OF FIRST SUPERSPEEDWAY RACE FOR IMPALA SS, NEW GENERATION NASCAR RACE CAR: "I can't really give it a fair grade, because I wasn't the meat in the sandwich throughout the day today, I was in the back just kind of riding. At the end, the pack was small enough and there was only 15 or 20 good cars, it was pretty controlled and pretty easy to draft with people. So I can't say that I was really involved enough in the race to give a good opinion of it."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT / PEPSI IMPALA SS, AND CREW CHIEF STEVE LETARTE POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Jeff Gordon/Steve Letarte Talladega Winner's Post Race Press Conference Transcript Audio File

YOU AND CHAD KNAUS (CREW CHIEF, NO. 48) HAD A STRATEGY TO LIE BACK FOR MOST OF THE RACE. WHY?
LETARTE: "A lot of things went into the decision. The new car was definitely one of them. We didn't know what the race was going to be like. There were a lot of predictions but nobody really knew. The other thing is that with this new car, just like the roof fins we used to have, the draft creates such a huge vacuum that you can safely hang back and not lose the pack. With the old car, if you made one mistake back there, your day is kind of over. And then there's the Chase. It's only 10 races. When you come here out of a 36-race schedule, a DNF isn't quite as a crucial as a 10-race schedule. It worked out. I'm sure it looked like the smart way to come now but there were some guys who ran up front all day long who had good days as well. It seemed to work for us."

DID THE PASS THRU PENALTY TURN OUT TO BE A BLESSING IN DISGUISE?
LETARTE: "Yeah, it's unfortunate. I hate to make mistakes. I hate when our crew makes mistakes. They hate it. They're a top-notch group of people. We need to clean those mistakes up. We got lucky with the yellow. It was definitely fortunate. I think we would have been hanging back anyway, so I'm not sure if we would have been in it (big wreck), but we can't have mistakes like that in the Chase and expect to be lucky like this every week. There are definite areas we need to work on. I give NASCAR credit. I didn't see the infraction initially, but it was clear as day when I saw the tape. So, they did a good job officiating; it was just unfortunate. It just shows that there is always something to be worked on. Our pit crew is great. Something as small as that can change your weekend. I would say yeah, we definitely got a little lucky missing that big accident."

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO GO TO THE SB-2 ENGINE WITH ALL THE INCIDENTS DEI AND RCR HAD TODAY WITH THE RO7 ENGINE?
LETARTE: "I honestly don't know. That's one thing I've learned at a company the size of Hendrick is when Jeff Andrews calls you on the phone and tells you you're going to run an SB2 at Talladega, I just nod and agree and make sure I have the right oil lines in the car. They do a phenomenal job. I know we had concern with just the package. I don't think we've ever run it here. I know we had a couple here to test, so I think they made the good decision. I know we had great power all day long; great reliability. I'm looking forward to having the RO7 at Daytona. I just think we have enough to work on in our company. We just didn't find that as a higher priority. We thought we were very competitive with the SB2 the last time we were here. I just don't think we saw an advantage to bring the RO7 yet, but I know by Daytona in February, our RO7 will definitely be a huge advantage."

DID THIS CAR SEEM TO BE MORE FORGIVING AND NIMBLE?
LETARTE: "I don't think I'd use the word nimble with this car. It has just so much downforce. There is nothing you can do to take it off. The rules are the rules. It's the same car we would race at a place like Charlotte or Martinsville. That obviously has a great deal more downforce than any car we would have brought here in the past. So I think with a smooth track and the tire Goodyear brought had some pretty good grip. They increased the stagger, which helped the cars roll through the corner. The overall downforce probably contributed to that."

ON THE WIN:
YOU AND CHAD KNAUS (CREW CHIEF, NO. 48) HAD A STRATEGY TO LIE BACK FOR MOST OF THE RACE. WHY?
GORDON: "It was the hardest race to be in that type of mindset. I've never had to do that before where you're back there in the back just kind of riding along. I was running half-throttle. We were getting amazing fuel mileage. Based on what we found here in testing, and on where we qualified, that pretty much answered what our plan was for today. I've never done that before here. But knowing the way these cars draft, I believed in it. I told Rick Hendrick earlier this week that some guys were talking about that strategy and I said, 'I can't do it.' I think we've good to go out there and race and just let the chips fall where they may. I changed that after talking to Steve and seeing other guys. It was tough. I don't like just riding in the back. I want to be up there battling for the lead and leading laps and all that stuff. I knew we could get up there; I just didn't know how far up there we could get. And the cautions just fell right for us there at the end. And it wa s a great run with nine or eight (laps) to go to be able to work with our teammates to get up there. I really thought Jimmie (Johnson) was going to win the race. I was riding there in second and I really wasn't getting the momentum I felt like I needed to even make a pass on him if I wanted to. But when everything shuffled coming to the white flag, it changed everything."

WOULD YOU BE DISAPPOINTED TO KNOW THAT ONLY ONE BEER CAN WAS THROWN WHEN YOU WERE DOING YOUR BURNOUT?
GORDON: "I've got to admit I'm a little big disappointed in that (laughter). They might be throwing Mountain Dew cans next year. To me, I love coming here. I love when you can battle with 10 (laps) to go and it's wild and crazy like that. I don't like doing it for 500 miles, but I like doing it with 10 to go - especially when it turns out like that. The fans here get to see an awesome show. Honestly, I know I've got such a fan base of support out there that I'm okay if they're throwing things or booing as long as it's when we're doing a burnout and we're winning."

THE RACE TURNED ON TWO THINGS: EARLY, WHEN TONY STEWART SWOOPED WAY DOWN TO THE BOTTOM AND LOSING TRACK POSITION AND ON THE FINAL LAP, WHEN YOU WENT FROM DOWN TO UP ON THE TRACK IN FRONT OF STEWART IN A MOVE THAT PROBABLY WON THE RACE FOR YOU.
GORDON: "Interesting. Well, I didn't really see the move that Stewart made. I just saw where he lost the lead. And I was surprised with that. I'm guessing he went to go get in front of the line that was coming down the bottom. The reason why I didn't do that when they were coming up to me is that I wanted to get in front of them but they were coming with so much momentum, I felt like I would just get stuck three-wide and go backwards. Maybe that's what happened to him. But the closing rate on these cars is so drastic when you don't have someone pushing you; it's so drastic that you take a huge risk by getting out of line. And that was a risk worth taking on the white flag lap. But not maybe a risk worth taking earlier than that. I wish I could say that was all skill there at the end (laughs). My spotter played a very important role in that win there at the end. He was giving me a lot of information. I was sitting there with some good pushes and momentum, but the No. 12 and th e No.2 were just locking me down. They were on my quarter and on my outside and I couldn't really go anywhere if I wanted to. When they said they got three-wide, the momentum shifted and I was able to get clear of the No.12. I got a push from the No. 22 and I just went with it. And then I heard him say that the No. 20 had a run on the outside and it just happened when I made that move on Jimmie, he couldn't block me enough to the outside and I got to the outside and I looked at my mirror and here's the No. 20. So sometimes it works for you and sometimes it doesn't. But if you wait until the white flag, maybe you only go back five spots instead of 10 or 20."

TO CLARIFY, ARE YOU SAYING THAT UNLIKE IN THE DAYTONA 500 WHEN YOU STOLE SKINNER'S PUSH AWAY FROM EARNHARDT TO WIN, THAT THIS WAS HAPPENSTANCE THAT YOU CAUGHT THE DRILLING FROM STEWART?
GORDON: "Well it's a little bit of a mixture. I didn't necessarily see it, but my spotter told me. So I give him a lot of credit for telling me. What happened, was as we were going into Turn 1, I was stuck right behind Jimmie and the No. 22 or whoever that was lined up behind him. We had a pretty good line of cars there pushing quite a bit. And so then they told me there's a run coming; they're three-wide like behind you, outside of you, and so that told me that everything was going to shift. I didn't know if that lane was really going to push forward or not, but I had the momentum and I just wanted to at least just get up beside Jimmie. If you look at a lot of my wins that I've had on these tracks, what happens is I just try to get to the outside or to the inside on the last lap if I possibly, or with a couple laps to go if possible, and then let the line behind me dictate whether we win the race or not. And today was another one of those moments where that line behind me ha ppened to be Stewart with a lot of momentum. And he had no choice. He either was going to hit the wall or hit the cars on the inside of him or push me. He pushed me."

WHEN YOU ARE RIDING AROUND IN THE BACK, HOW HARD IS IT TO NOT GO TOO SOON?
GORDON: "It was terrible. I'm telling you, that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in a race car. I like to think that I've got pretty good patience. But that's beyond patience. There is just nothing fun about that. But I knew it was the smart thing. I knew that if we never lost the draft that we could work our way back up there. We proved it one other time earlier in the race right before the green flag stops came, we started marching up there towards them. So, I knew we could do it. It was just a matter of when we got up there to them, were we going to be able to do anything with it? But man, being back there; I've never yawned in a race car in my life. I yawned back there just riding along. And I still think we need to work on this car a little bit. I think we would never race like that if we didn't have the closing rate that we had and the bump-drafting being so drastic that I think we need to make a few adjustments here. I knew the race was going to be spectacular at the end. It's always going to be spectacular at the end here at Talladega. But to me, that wasn't the kind of race that we want to see up to the 10 or 20-to-go mark, with guys riding single file and riding in the back with a group of 10 cars. It was just the cards that we were dealt by qualifying and sort of the box that we're in with this car."

AT MARTINSVILLE IN APRIL, YOU AND JIMMIE RACES THE FINAL 20 LAPS HARD AND YOU WERE UPSET WHEN YOU GOT OUT OF THE CAR. IT DIDN'T AFFECT YOU GOING FORWARD. NOW YOU GOT THE BEST OF JIMMIE HERE. HOW IS IT THAT YOU CAN RACE EACH OTHER AS HARD AS YOU DO WITHOUT AFFECTING YOUR RELATIONSHIP?
GORDON: "It has a lot to do with the communication we have. We're very fierce competitors, trust me. We love to beat one another and race one another. We have a lot of respect for one another. I think he's a tremendous talent. He's got a good head on his shoulders and I'm proud of him. He's going to win more championships and he could win it this year. But the way he came into it, he sort of looked up to me and came to me for advice. That started out a relationship. I respected him on the race track; he respected me. And then we became friends. One of the first things I told him when he was coming to HMS is that we're good enough friends and we have similar personalities that no matter what happens on the race track, we should be able to always get through it and put it aside off the race track. And yeah, I was mad at Martinsville. I was probably more mad that he beat me. He did every thing he should have done. No matter who that would have been, I probably felt it would have been the same way. I think that we've had some great battles and great wins and he's probably gotten the best of me here recently; a lot more than I have of him. Today it wasn't about teammates, it was about great competition and trying to win the race."

DID THIS CAR SEEM TO BE MORE FORGIVING AND NIMBLE?
GORDON: "How about that 10 of the cars were riding around in the back, single file; and another five or six were single file ahead of that. I think that in some ways we set the tone. The fact that a lot of Chase drivers were riding around at the back, single file, just knowing we've got to get to the end. I think we saw some guys battling for position at times up front, but most of the time, once we got going, they were like hey, I'm content. Let's get single file and ride along here like those guys are doing in the back. But we'll do it up front. The problem is, when you're in a pack that big, all it takes is a blown engine or blown tire or the slightest little thing and boom, you can get caught up in it just as easily. And I was worried about that every single lap being back there with the eight or 10 cars that something was going to happen to one of us or the caution was going to come out or that somebody was going to check up and we were going to run over one another back there. So, yeah, I don't know. These cars are stuck pretty good. They drive good but I didn't have any problem with the way the car drove before here. They drove plenty good. They just didn't have the closing rate that these cars have. And the bumpers didn't line up quite as good."

WHAT ARE YOU IMPRESSIONS OF WHAT JACQUES VILLENEUVE DID IN HIS FIRST CUP RACE?
GORDON: "I'll be honest. I wasn't around him a whole lot. The fact that he didn't run into anything and that he had a clean race and finished on the lead lap says a lot. Today wasn't a typical Talladega race. Today, guys were being a lot more careful and you didn't see the tight packs that you normally see here. I'm glad this one is out of the way. I'm glad he was here and he got to run here. I hope he got to mix it up there at the end to see what it's really like and get this experience and move on."

HOW DO YOU THINK YOU AND JIMMIE JOHNSON AND YOUR TEAMS WOULD HANDLE A HEAD-TO-HEAD BATTLE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
GORDON: "Let's wait and see. It's too early to really say that. We've just got to keep going race to race. Steve and Chad get along really well. It starts at the top in how your leadership handles things. And between those guys and the way that me and Jimmie handle ourselves, I think that says it all. It is tough. Each team wants to get it done. Those guys get certain bonuses when they win and we get certain bonuses when we win. They get bigger bonuses though (laughs). The Lowe's guys. They really perk it up there. I think it's really about what goes on in the shop. Steve should answer this one."

LETARTE: "Well, the biggest thing is the misconception in your question is that there's two separate teams. There are only two people in our shop that wear one sponsor and that's Chas (Knaus) and myself. The other 85 employees all wear Lowe's and DuPont on their shirts and they work on both cars. The gentleman that jacks our race car builds the brakes for Chad. His gasman builds the brakes for the No. 24 car. They are such intermingled; I wouldn't even know where to draw a line to have competition. Make no mistake about it, when we drop the green flag, there is a specific group that has a No.24 fire suit on or a No. 48 fire suit on and we're here to win. We work to get here to win. But the 85 people we have there do an amazing job. They are extremely mature. They've taken a very difficult situation and they've made it a very successful situation and they deserve a lot of the credit. Chad and I lead that, but Jeff's and Jimmie's friendship and the way they communicate shows a lot. We love to see guys race. At Martinsville I wanted to win and he wanted to win, but it was the next day or so when we were testing somewhere and everyone was still okay. We do a very good job as a group to leave it on the race track."

YOU BECAME THE ALL-TIME LEADER ON RESTRICTOR PLATE RACES TODAY. DO YOU VIEW YOURSELF AS THE BEST?
GORDON: "I don't believe that. I think you guys missed something along the way. I thought (Dale) Earnhardt had so many it was ridiculous. I'm blown away by that. That includes 125's and all that? No, to me, he's the man on restrictor plates. I'm blown away that we won this race today. The package that we had here early in the season, I could say that if you kept that package going back, I think we could win quite a few races. I like that package. It really works well for me. I feel like I use the momentum in the mirror as good as anybody. I feel like I learned so much of that from Dale. I watched him do things and I knew they were cheating or there was something in his carburetor and then I maybe pulled a couple of those moves throughout the moves and I say, 'Ahhh. Now I know what he was doing.' And I was fortunate. My very first restrictor plate race, I was racing Dale for the win at the Daytona 500, even though I didn't have a chance to win it, I was there in the batt le watching. That education started very early for me. HMS has always given us cars capable of being up front there. I like to draft. It's a lot of fun and there's a lot of thought that goes into it. And there is some luck that goes into it. But I'm pretty blown away that we've been able to win that many restrictor plate races to be honest with you."

ON CONVINCING JEFF TO HOLD BACK IN TODAY'S RACE AND IF IT WAS HARD TO KEEP HIM IN THAT MODE
LETARTE: "To start, our strategy wasn't really planned out until we qualified. Once we knew where we qualified there was just no reason to do anything else. And then, the Roush cars kind of put a hint out about what they were going to do in last practice Friday. We saw them line up and go out and see how fast they could run. So I took that information. I knew how fast they could run lined up and we figured we could probably run with those guys. I don't know if they wanted us with them or not, but it worked out good. It gives you a good safety valve to have those cars back there like that. If you make a mistake, they can catch you. But a lot of the talking I do on the radio, I'm talking to both of us. I'm a very competitive person and I hate riding around. I hate just clicking off laps, but I know what our goals are and what we need to be. I have the advantage of walking off the pit box and getting a water and walking around and cooling off and thinking about it, where he does n't."

GORDON: "I had time to do that today (laughter)."

LETARTE: "Yeah, today maybe. But it gets frustrating. The two of us don't really do anything unless we agree on it. It's kind of always been a democracy on those sorts of things. And if we pit, he believes us. If it doesn't work, he still supports us. It's the same way on the race track. If he pulled out today and finished 7th, I still think he's one of the best drivers to ever sit in a restrictor plate car. So, it's just a good relationship. The writing was on the wall. It just became evidently clear that it was the only choice we had."

DOES A SUPERSPEEDWAY WIN MEAN MORE?
GORDON: "Oh, a win's a win (laughs). The restrictor plate races always seem to be exciting right down to the finish with battles among the cars. They are just as exciting, but at the same time a restrictor plate track is about drafting and getting that push. The Daytona 500 is our biggest event, but winning at Martinsville or Atlanta or Darlington, to me, you look at who has won at those tracks and to me, you're talking about a totally different type of racing and the kind of racing we're really brought up to do. Restrictor plate track racing is this thing that you have to learn and be taught and it's a totally different mindset and philosophy of things."

LETARTE: "I agree; a win's a win. The one thing about plate racing that I've seen is that you have your instances where people maybe that would be their first or only win. But if you look at the guys that have won consistently at plate tracks, be it Dale Earnhardt Sr. or Jeff Gordon, or Tony Stewart, or second place finishes here, there is a reason they win at a plate track. It's the same reason they win at a short track or intermediate track. People really underestimate how much thinking is involved in these races. It's not how everyone thinks. It's not just drive as hard as you can all day long. These guys amaze me every time I watch them race with the decisions they make in a split second. People always talk about a quick decision a crew chief has to make, but we still have 15 or 20 seconds inside the pit. These guys are doing it in fractions of a second and I think you see the consistent front-runners of the plate tracks are the same consistent front-runners, if they have good enough equipment, at all the other races."

GORDON: "I would just add that if the only race I ever won was on a restrictor plate track, then I'd be disappointed. The fact that we've won at just about every track out there and that we win at the restrictor plate tracks, makes this win as exciting as any of the other ones."

ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LETARTE AND GORDON
LETARTE: "The reason our organization and our relationship works the way it does is really simple. It's the owner we have. Mr. Hendrick is the leader of the ship. I don't think there is any other one else in the garage that could get away with having the superstar lineup or drivers that he has, the team he has, the equipment he has. He sets a tone where it's a very, very distinct pyramid. He's the boss. I work for Rick Hendrick and everybody at that company works for Rick Hendrick. He does it in an interesting way. He's definitely not an iron fist. He's the most kind guy you've ever met. He knows a lot about you and I think what that's allowed is that I've gotten to grow up in that organization and see how he leads. I've seen other crew chiefs that have had this position. I just don't know what it is. It has a lot to do with him and a lot to do with how my father raised me and the driver is a tool. The crew chief is a tool. We're all just tools. We just make good decisions an d do the best we can. And we leave a lot of the personal stuff off the race track. I feel I can tell him whatever I need over the radio or in the truck after a practice or after a race. I think he feels the same way with me. It's a lot like a marriage. You can only cover up problems for so lone and eventually they're going to blow up to where you can't recover anymore."

GORDON: "How do you know? You've only been married once (laughter)"

LETARTE: "But you've got to believe that person. It's like pitting or not pitting. We have very distinct roles. We admit what our roles are and no one encourages me more to make decisions than he does and I encourage him the same way on the race track. As long as we keep them separate, I think we'll remain successful."

GORDON: "Rick is great, he reads people's personalities so well. He knows whether things are going to work or not plus to get to learn from him. I just saw something in Steve several years ago, if I was sitting there, I don't think I have a big ego anyhow, but, I guess sometimes, since I have had success, it does come out. (laughter). In every role he played at our shop moving up through the ranks, he excelled at it. Every time he was challenged, he took it to the next level and I was impressed with that. I have always felt he had great common sense and to me common sense will out so many more times than being book smart in this business. We have had communication and worked together for years. I have always respected Steve. I didn't know what it was going to be like having him a crew chief until we put him in to that role. But I did tell him right from the beginning, if you treat me like I am a four-time champion and won however many races, then I am going to wal k all over you. If you treat me like any other race car driver out there and I am, like he said, a tool, we have to respect one another, but, if there is something that I am doing then you have got to put your foot down on me. If there is something that you are doing, then I have to put my foot down on you so that is the only way we are going to keep a common respect and he does that. He hasn't had to do that many times, but I know he is not afraid to do that. As young as he is that impressed me more than anything is the confidence he has that he believes in what he is doing, he believes in the people around him and he has made the most of that group of people."

ON WHAT MIGHT BE DONE TO IMPROVE RACING SINCE RIDING AROUND IN THE BACK ISN'T TYPE OF RACING HE WANTS TO DO: "This car needs a little bit of work, I agree. We were here testing for two days and I don't feel like we did enough, I can tell you that. We went to a smaller wicker from where we started and a smaller restrictor plate from where we started. I was pushing hard to see us continue down that path. I don't know if we ran out of time, that wasn't what the test was about, but we ended up with this package. We get here; I think a lot of guys would have liked to have seen something like that. That wicker creates so much drag that when you lose the momentum you stop. You just slow down and go backwards so fast, that I think that it is too much. I think we need to take that down. Now, you take that down, it makes the car go faster, not as much drag, now we need to do something with the restrictor place. But, we can't do that without testing it. You have to test it and thi s package might work great at Daytona, but I just don't it is perfect for here. If the fans in NASCAR want to see us three wide lap after lap after lap, then we got to tone things down a little bit, so we have something that we can manage. I think today, everybody was so worried and afraid of not being able to manage that momentum shift, then unless NASCAR is hard on us about the bump drafting, which they should have been, it forced us to have to get single file like that. But still, it was a great finish. Regardless of whether I won or not, I knew it was going to be wild at the end."

ON HAVING HIS DAUGHTER IN VICTORY LANE FOR THE FIRST TIME: "That was cool, Man, that brought a tear to my eye. I hope one day I win a race and her actually be able to say "You won Daddy." That would be the coolest thing ever. Just having her there was amazing and that made this win that much more exciting and memorable."

ON IF DESTINY IS SHINING ON HIM AND TEAM AFTER OVERCOMING PIT ROAD PENALTY TODAY TO WIN: "Well, you can call if whatever you want. Good fortune, whatever. We definitely had some good things go our way. You have to have that to win a championship. We have that right now and hope we can keep that going. But we also have to perform. We did that today. We did it at the end of the race last week. I feel like we have done it everywhere except for Dover and I hope we can keep that up. But, like I said, we had our problems today, but we were able to battle through them and get fortunate with caution, but we had to drive up through that pack. It didn't come that easy. Luckily we didn't go down a lap. We are still in the thick of things. It is not going to be handed to you; it is not going to be easy. You aren't going to get out there and lead every lap and win the race. It is not going to happen this weekend, not next weekend, all the way to Homestead. Long as we keep putt ing up this kind of fight, I don't care what happens, with the points, I am just proud of this team."

ON WHAT IS DIFFERENCE ON A SEASON LIKE THIS WHEN THINGS COME TOGETHER: "It is the people. When you have the people and the cars working well, it works. When Robby (Loomis) came on board, we had to fight through some things that were lacking in the team and make some changes, which we did then we went and won a championship in 2001. We kind of fought that same thing when Robby was leaving, the last year we struggled and Steve came on board. He brought some things that got this whole team fired up. One of them was getting the cars to drive where I am comfortable and can go fast. So I have great cars out there and I like that. I like the way he leads this team. I like the way the guys rally around him and believe in him. I like the calls he makes on the box, he is confident about it even though I know he is nervous as heck up there. He doesn't act like it on that side. He makes a call and believes in it and I believe in him. I believe team chemistry means a lot but you hav e to have those race cars too and some times one makes the other. Not really sure which it is. Sometimes, you make calls and they don't go your way, but they are going our way this year. I have been saying this for a while. I don't think you just have luck, you make luck. The way you do that is you put the right people together, the best people, they have to be people who like to work together and work with one another and then you have to built good race cars and a good race team. Then you go out there, you are well prepared. You put yourself out there in postions to do good and to have that good luck, have that good fortune. Have that No. 20 car with the momentum to hit you in the rear bumper and push you in to the lead. That is what we have been doing this year. It is actually not just this year, it has been happening the last year, it is just now we have been able to fine tune some of the details."