©Bob LeSieur

Jeff Gordon
#24 DuPont Chevrolet
Winner, started 16th
Note: UNSCHEDULED PIT STOP ON LAP 47 AS RESULT OF VIBRATION.  PROBLEM WAS LOOSE WHEEL RIGHT FRONT.  CAME DOWN PIT ROAD TWO ADDITIONAL TIMES UNDER CAUTION TO CHECK FOR ADDITIONAL DAMAGE.  RESULT WAS 3 LAPS DOWN AT RESTART. 

GREAT RESULT FOR YOU AT A SPECIAL TRACK FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS
There's something special about this place and we lost so many incredible people out of this organization and the racing community. I think it's only fitting for us to get this victory today. I know how much it means to Rick Hendrick and his family and all those other families. It means a lot to this race team. What a great, great race car this DuPont Chevrolet was today. My goodness. It was incredible. We just never gave up that fight, you know? That's what it takes week in and week out, especially here at Martinsville. WE had a problem where we got down, but we fixed it and we never lost sight of winning this race. I'm really excited to get another one of those grandfather clocks.

WHAT DID HAPPEN TO THE CAR EARLY ON?
I'm not really sure. We just had the right front come loose. Maybe we didn't have enough threads over there on the right front, maybe had it spaced out too much. But all I know is they fixed it and didn't have that problem again the rest of the day. I knew before how our race car was and I just knew that if there was anyway we could get those laps back.one thing about running here and winning here, it takes a good car, it takes a good team, all those things, but it takes luck. And we were pretty lucky today to get those first two laps back and the positioning of the cars and the track position just worked out for us.

©Dorsey Patrick

WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE CONTACT BETWEEN YOU AND KURT BUSCH?
I'm sorry that I hit him. I didn't mean to get into him. I think we were just going for the same territory. And it was late in the race and battling hard and I dove inside of him and I felt that I had my car inside and I'm sure he would say the opposite. You know, we're just two people fighting for one position and neither one of us was going to give it up.

©Dorsey Patrick

 

Jimmie Johnson
#48 Lowe's Chevrolet
8th position, started 37th
Note: Lap 91: AFTER PIT STOP UNDER CAUTION, JOHNSON HAD TO STOP AT THE END OF PIT ROAD. PADDLE WAS RED TO ALLOW ON-TRACK TRAFFIC TO CLEAR PIT EXIT BEFORE CARS LEAVING PITROAD ALLOWED TO CONTINUE TO RE-JOIN FIELD.  JOHNSON LOST A LAP AS A RESULT. ON YELLOW ON LAP 105, HE GOT LAP BACK AS RECIPIENT OF FREE PASS

YOU CERTAINLY DID HAVE AN UP AND DOWN DAY
It certainly started out very frustrating.  But Chad made huge huge changes to the car.  We finally got the car to where it would turn and had everything all sorted out.and got back on the lead lap and things were good from there.
 
THIS IS A BIG VICTORY FOR THIS TEAM EVEN THOUGH YOU WEREN'T THE RACE WINNER
It was a little win though and that is was championships are all about.  Granted probably not huge in the big picture when we get down to the final ten races, still it is a good thing for the team to battle through.
 
THIS IS A GREAT WIN FOR YOUR TEAM MATE OBVIOUSLY
Absolutely. When I won here in the fall, we didn't celebrate in victory lane so to have a Hendrick car go victory lane today and celebrate is a big thing for our entire organization.
 
HOW DID THE DAY ACTUALLY GO THAT YOU GOT DOWN A LAP AND THEN BACK UP
I think we were down two or three times.  Part of that starting in the back with our poor qualifying effort and then after that, just trying to get the car going.  We just had some troubles with it and didn't get it right until about 3/4 of the way through the race and then we had a top ten car. I just have to say that I don't think I can be more proud than I am today of my crew guys.  Every stop it was like six rounds on the trak bar and six rounds of wedge huge huge chances but they brought the car around and we got a good finish.

 


Joe Nemechek
#01 U.S. Army Chevrolet
10th position, started 10th
Note: Nemechek's 10th-place finish was a career best in 22 races at Martinsville Speedway.  It was also his best finish of 2005. On Lap 255, flat right front tire goes down as a result of contact with the outside wall. He rejoined the field one lap down.
 
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RACE
We grinded our way to a top 10 today. The Army car was strong early and then it got really loose and we went to the rear of the field. Once we put on four new tires the car started to haul. We were on a move and then the right front tire went down and I got into the wall. That was another setback that we had to overcome. But we stayed patient. The guys did a great job in the pits and we managed to avoid any big trouble. Hopefully those demons that plagued us in the past four races have gone someplace else. This was a big lift from a team morale standpoint. This team has plenty of fight and character and there's going to be better finishes for the Army team as the season progresses.

Jason Leffler
#11 FedEx Express Chevrolet
12th position, started 12th

GREAT WEEKEND FOR YOU AND THE TEAM
Yeah, it was a good momentum builder for the FedEx Monte Carlo and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. I had an awesome car, just got behind there, caved the nose in and ran hot so we had to come back down and fix the nose and got a little behind on our adjustment. The guys did a really good job in the pits. The car was really good right from the start.

THE CONDITION OF THE CAR ISN'T THAT BAD
No, the car is in good shape. The nose was caved in and it was running hot so we had to come in.

HOW DO YOU FEEL GOING INTO TEXAS?
I feel great. This isn't one of my better tracks, so to have such a great car and have a great run is awesome.

Pete Rondeau
Crew Chief
#8 Budweiser Chevrolet
13th position, started 26th

HOW WAS THE WEEKEND FOR THE #8 CAR?
It's a good one. Quite an eventful race. We came out of quite a couple of holes there today and ended up good. I'm pretty happy with a 13th here and the car is pretty tore up, but another decent finish for us.

WAS IT A TOP 10 CAR TODAY?
Yeah, I think it would have been a top 10 car. The circumstances kept putting us at the back all day.

IT SEEMED LIKE HIS POSTION KEPT GOING FROM THE BACK TO THE FRONT TO THE BACK, ETC
Yeah. I think we would have been a good, solid top 10. We got in that wreck there with about 50 to go and pushed some metal on the right rear tire and heated the heck out of that tire. We just about made it. That right rear tire was just about cut down.

HOW DOES HE FEEL ABOUT HIS FINISH?
Yeah, he thought we had a top 10 car and he had fun. He likes to run around here and he like short-track racing.

Jeff Burton
#31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
16th position, started 30th
Note: UNSCHEDULED STOP ON LAP 163 UNDER GREEN FOR VIBRATION, LOOSE RIGHT FRONT WHEEL CAUSED FLAT.  LOST 3 LAPS.

We had a tire go down there with a few laps. We didn't have a winning car but we certainly had a top 8 car. We just can't catch a break right now. Sooner or later it will work out for us. 

 
Scott Riggs
#10 Valvoline Chevrolet
21st position, started 1st

NOT THE FINISH YOU WANTED TODAY AFTER YOUR GREAT QUALIFYING EFFORT
We just could never get a good handle on the car.  We fell back there in the beginning but we kept working on the car and working on the car. We had that long green flag run, and we got really tight in the center of the corner and that got us a lap down. That hurt us.  And then, to make matters worse, we burnt a plug wire in half so we ended up on seven cylinders.  And that got us another lap down and we struggled some more.  The guys were finally able to get the plug wire back on it.  We were adjusting on the car the whole time, and didn't still have it where we wanted it but we learned a lot and I think when we come back in the fall, we will be a lot better.
 
We survived and when you get back there in the back, the guys back there in the back do stupid stuff, they start punting you and doing a lot of things they don't need to do.  When you run closer to the front, they race you clean, they run you hard but race you for position and don't just race you for position and not just to push you out of the way.
 
DID THE POLE BUILD TEAM MOMENTUM?
It was great for us, a great momentum builder for the team. We wanted to get through these two short track races finishing which we did, we got a 10th and 21st, so we have a 15 1/2 average finishing.  We survived, we finished and didn't get a DNF so we met and exceeded our goals. We will go on Texas, cause he know we have a great program for there and we will be good.

Greg Zipadelli
Crew Chief
#20 The Home Depot Chevrolet
26th, started 7th (led for 247 laps)
Note: LUG NUTS WERE NOT TIGHT ON PIT STOP.  WHEEL WAS THEN LOOSE, WOBBLED BACK AND FORTH ON THE HUB UNTIL THE CENTER BROKE OUT OF THE WHEEL

DO MISTAKES HAPPEN ON PIT STOPS BECAUSE THERE IS A LOT MORE PRESSURE WHEN YOU COME IN AS THE LEADER?
No, I'm just mad that it happened.  But hey, we are all human, we all make mistakes. Nobody did anything intentionally.  The pressure is on them to do the best they can and get us out.  We had been coming in and leaving in the lead all day long.  We expect nothing less.  We feel we have the best people in this garage area and we all need to stand up and do our jobs and do it right. It is just that simple.

THERE WERE A LOT OF RIGHT FRONT TIRE PROBLEMS FOR MANY CARS TODAY. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHY?
 
No, I don't know.  Ours looked beautiful.  That is the disappointing thing.  We took our tires off and they looked like they didn't even race.  It was amazing. We were graining up our left sides a little bit but today our stuff looked really good.  It is just too bad.  This Home Depot Chevrolet was good all day but we don't have anything to show for it.
 
HOW IS TONY?
He is doing alright, he is just bumped like the rest of us. That is just the way it is.
 
Tony Stewart
#20 The Home Depot Chevrolet
26th, started 7th (led for 247 laps)

IS IT HARD TO HAVE YOUR HOPES DASHED LIKE THIS?
 I can't even describe it right now.   I guess the thing I am proud of is that I am handling it the way I am handling it right now. It's bad. But it is like I told the guys, on the radio and told them again after we got out of the car, we have a lot to be proud of.  When the emotion of the disappointment goes away, we are going to have a lot of good things to look forward to. This is the best car we have ever had here. We can't change it now, it is all over with now but the thing that won't be different tomorrow is the fact we had a good car-We had the best car here.  Everybody knows who had the best car here today. Jeff is going to get the trophy, Jeff is going to say he had the best car all day but all you have to do is look at the lap times. So that is the win for us today I guess.
 
All you have to do is look at the finishing order to know this isn't what we wanted but we had the best car all day so we have a look at that.  We are all frustrated and we are all mad but that is because we are all competitive.  We have rallied around each other in the trailer after the race was over.  We are strong, we are a team.  We are leaving here with our heads up high knowing we had the best car at Martinsville we have ever had. I am leaving here excited about what happened here.

YOU GUYS WERE SO STRONG TODAY, IS THIS A TURNAROUND POINT FOR THE TEAM?
For this place it sure is.  Maybe it will be for Richmond and a couple other places but we just needed a day like this.  Even though the outcome wasn't what we wanted, hopefully when the emotion goes away tonight, hopefully everyone will be high five-ing each other because we had the best car.

©Dorsey Patrick

 

Jeff Gordon and Robbie Loomis (Crew Chief)
#24 DuPont Chevrolet
Post-race press conference


YOU OVERCAME A LOT TODAY. HOW DID YOU DO IT?
Gordon
It's never one things. It's always a combination no matter what, whether you have trouble or don't have trouble. Obviously, with the wheel coming loose, there was a big obstacle for us and Robbie.when he gets here maybe he can explain a little bit better what happened. I just know that I picked up a vibration and it got worse and when you have a vibration, things get worse and it's not a good sign. We came in right as the wheel was probably getting ready to come off and lost two or three laps that we came in and had to fix the problem that was making it come loose. Three laps down. Luckily it happened fairly early in the race. Our car was so good that we were able to get good track position on the leaders and then get ahead of them and make up a couple of the laps and then work our way back up there to get the lucky dog. Certainly that didn't seal the deal for us. Being in the back of the pack, the tail end of the longest line on the lead lap when we did get that lap back, and it was just an incredible race car and good pit stops. I mean, the car was just so good all day long. Robbie made some adjustments but really, I don't think we needed to make any adjustments. It's just trying to keep up with the track. It might change a little bit. Good fortune and like I said, good race car really helped us get that victory.

WE'RE ALSO JOINED HERE BY ROBBIE LOOMIS. ROBBIE - DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS TO ADD?
Loomis
He probably covered it good. I missed it. I've had to go to the bathroom since about lap 80 when we had the wheel loose!

ROBBIE, TELL US WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE WHEEL
Loomis
Well, actually, we've got to look into it a lot. We broke a wheel last week at Bristol and there is just so many parts and pieces to a race car. The hub, the studs, the spacers in the wheel.you know I don't want to call out one thing to any one area. Today when we had the failure there at about lap 50, we knew we had to do something serious to fix it. And that's why we lost that other lap there on pit road, taking some spacer off trying to get back or we had some better threads where hopefully.it's just a miracle that thing stayed tight the rest of the day. Usually when it happens that early, you're in trouble for a long day.

WAS IT THE RIGHT FRONT?
Loomis
Yes, it was the right front tire.

I KNOW YOU DON'T WANT TO FORGET THE PEOPLE THAT WERE LOST IN THE ACCIDENT LAST FALL, BUT DOES TODAY KIND OF CLOSE THE BOOK A LITTLE BIT ON THAT?
Gordon
Well, I think that definitely was on our minds, coming here. This being the first race back since all that happened..it's one of those things where those memories are never going to go away. The thoughts of those people are never going to go away. But, there's just some extra meaning, I think, that comes to Martinsville for us every time we come here that those thoughts are in our minds and this being the first one back I know it was an emotional win for all of us and Rick Hendrick poking his head in the window and being emotional tells you how much it meant to him and his family as well. We're excited to be able to pull it off for Hendrick Motorsports. It's an honor.

JEFF, YOU'RE ONLY FIVE VICTORIES BEHIND WHAT DALE EARNHARDT HAD IN HIS CAREER. YOU NOW HAVE 71 WINS AND HE HAD 76 WINS
Gordon
That's unbelievable when I think about that. I remember in Daytona when we won that one and that was 70, I was just amazed. Through all the wins and all the experiences I've had, I feel like it's been such a whirlwind and it seems like it's happened overnight. I feel like I really haven't had the opportunity to really spend time and think about what all I've accomplished, what we've accomplished as a team and sitting here at 71.I think that Daytona was one of those moments where it kind of hits you.Wow! You know, 70. Here at 71, it's incredible. I look forward to that day, I always say, one day I really look forward to in my life is sitting in that rocking chair on that porch and thinking about all those wins and moments and even going back to what got me into the Cup Series. A lot of great wins and things that happened to me then, too, that are great memories. And to do anything, coming close to anything that Dale Earnhardt accomplished is always something that means a lot to us as drivers and me personally.

ROBBIE, CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT EXACTLY A SPACER IS? ALSO, WHEN YOU SAID YOU HAD TO DO SOMETHING SERIOUS TO FIX IT, CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE NATURE OF THE REPAIRS?
Loomis
Actually what we have is.we have the hub which has the five studs go through it. What slides over the studs is a hat. And when the hat slides over it, we have bolts that go on there. And then there is the spacers that go on the outside of that. Steel spacers. When we had the loose wheel and put it on there under green, we started having the trouble there again. I think we had a caution then quick. And we knew the studs looked really bad. Corey looked at them and he said, 'Hey, we've got a problem, these studs look really bad.' We knew we weren't going to make it, so it was actually like putting a longer stud in there. What we did is under green we came in and we used a battery-powered drill and took the bolts out, took the ¼-inch spacers off and got back to more stud and then it held on the rest of the day.

That's why we were being real cautious on all our pit stops with the right front. It took longer because we had a lot more threads it had to go down on, and also we were being real conscious to make sure they were tight.

DID YOU GET A SENSE THAT ON YOUR VICTORY LAP THERE WERE MORE CHEERS AS OPPOSED TO PEOPLE ROOTING AGAINST YOU IN THE PAST?
Gordon
Yeah, I don't know what brought that on. I just know that when I got out of the car, there were an awful lot of cheers. It feels good. For years I hear a mixture of boos and cheers and even going out for driver introductions today, I know they make a lot of noise and that's great but you see and lot gestures and you hear a lot of things and you hear the good and the bad and you try to block it out. When you with the race, I think.I didn't know if it was because we came from three laps down and had a great race or because it was also in the back of their minds about the tragic thing that happened here last year.

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH RICK HENDRICK AFTER THE RACE
Gordon
I think that's what makes today so special is that when you've got a guy like Rick Hendrick that you respect so much and you've seen what he's been through.the ups and the downs in his life and especially here last year, for him to poke his head in there and just thank you, thank you, thank you, and with that tremble in his voice, that impacts you. That tells you how meaningful this was. You get so caught up in the moment of driving the car and just trying to win the race, that kind of pops in your mind once it's all over. When he poked his head in there, it hit me like a ton of bricks of what this meant today.

Loomis
I think Jeff hit the nail on the head. When I came down off the box and there was Mr. Hendrick.you know he does so much for all of us in this sport, especially Hendrick Motorsports and all the employees. You know, everybody in that garage loves him. From all the competitors, drivers would especially like to be in those cars. You know it was more a moment of silence with each other. You know, it's the same thing as Jeff said that he's thanking me and I'm just blown away. It was just an incredible day.

WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS COMING UP ON KURT BUSCH AFTER YOU HAD TAKEN THE LEAD?
Gordon
Just when you think you've got this one.Um, I didn't know what he was going to do. It didn't surprise me that he was upset. We were racing hard. I certainly didn't want to get into him. He had a good car. You know, he had a car capable of winning today. You know, it was two guys just going for territory that neither one of us wanted to give up. I knew he was one of the guys to beat and he probably knew that I was one of the guys to beat as much as what we had fought through and overcome. At the end when I was leading, I'm sure in the back of his mind was, 'I'm upset at this guy and the last thing I want is for this guy to win this race after what happened' and you always have your sides. I'll have my side and he'll have his side. I don't know what his intentions were-I was a little bit nervous because I got a run up underneath him coming off of turn 2, and he wasn't going to let me go to the inside of him. He basically just turned right down across my hood and made me go to the outside of him. At that moment, I knew I had to go to the outside of him if I was going to pass him. But I didn't know what he was going to do to me. Sure enough he ran me up the race track and then down the front straight he just drove.turned right into me. I was concerned it was going to cut the left side.left front or left rear tire down. So, with all that, I let him go in the corner and I didn't know what he was going to do from that point on. I looked in my mirror thinking, 'How many laps do I have to mess with him before the guys catch me?' Had somebody been behind me, it could have cost us the race. So, we were really fortunate that we finally got by him and there were no issues after that.

ROBBIE WHAT WAS THIS WEEKEND LIKE FOR YOU AND THE CREW, COMING HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME?
Loomis
I just think we were just very, very focused and believed in one another and the only thing that changed for me is that I had my Dad here. It's the first time he's been at a race live with us. So, that was kind of cool taking him to victory lane. We're just focused. We all believed in one another and it stayed that way the whole day.

JEFF, WHAT ABOUT THE WAY JIMMIE JOHNSON CAME BACK
Gordon
Yeah, definitely. I was impressed about that because I saw they were struggling a lot throughout the day. Not only did they have a rough weekend and qualifying, they were struggling throughout the day. They just never gave up on it and to get back in the top 10, was pretty amazing. I think they were one or two laps down. I think they went one lap down, got it back, went another lap down and then got it back. I always have my eyes on Jimmie anytime I can see him, see what's going on. Not to mention he's one of the guys to beat every weekend. I know Martinsville hasn't always been his best place even though he won here last time, so I'm certainly proud of him and it was a great effort.

HOW MUCH ANXIETY DID YOU HAVE ABOUT LOSING THOSE LAPS?
Gordon
I think I only lost it one time. We had the loose wheel and I came in, we changed it, went back out and I felt it start to come loose again and I asked Robbie what happened the first time and he said the wheel was loose. I screamed at him. But that was it-just that one time. Then it was over. Because, even at that moment that I was upset about what was going on and didn't understand it, I knew how good our car was. I think that's probably why I was most upset about it.I know we've got a car to win this race, so how in the world are we going to come from this far back and we can't have any more issues or problems of coming in and losing that lap in the pits to fix it. Instead we'll just continue to try to stay on that lap and probably not get it fixed completely and I think that's why we were able to get ourselves in a position to get two laps back and then get the lucky dog later.

ROBBIE, WAS THERE ALSO A FLAT TIRE THAT LED UP TO THAT VIBRATION AS WELL?
Loomis
No, there wasn't a flat tire.

WAS TODAY'S DETERMINATION TO DRIVE GREATER BECAUSE WHAT THIS VICTORY WOULD MEAN?
Gordon
I don't always know what drives the determination of me or any other on this race team or why we accomplish things sometimes. You know, I can't really put my finger on what that was. Once I get in that race car, I'm thinking about nothing else except driving that race car. I think my determination came from: this is Martinsville, we run good at Martinsville, the car was amazing and I knew that we couldn't give up. We couldn't quit. And every other guy on this race team knew that and they weren't going to quit. And I wasn't either. That's why we came together. Any race, but especially the short tracks, we have a team meeting before the race and we say: there are going to be obstacles,  hurdles that we've got to overcome no matter what. No matter how good the car is, whether we're leading the race or whether we're dead last. We think those things are going to be thrown at us to test us. Today was one of those days where we met those things head on and nothing was going to stop us.

RE: CLOSE CALLS, HOW CLOSE WAS IT WHEN THE #8 SPUN AND WHEN YOU AND KURT GOT TOGETHER
Gordon
That's why I never try to wreck anybody because I always get caught up in it myself. Every time I've gotten mad at somebody and I'm going to take him out, I always take myself out or damage my fender or my bumper or bump and cut a tire. The last thing I wanted was to intentionally get into anybody. I would hope that Kurt would understand that that's hard racing, that I've seen other guys do it, that I would do it and it's just us two racing for that position when we drove down in there, because I drove down in there so hard and tried to avoid him, that I was afraid that when I saw he was coming down and he wasn't checking up, he wasn't going to straighten out and I knew we were going to hit. I just held onto the wheel. The #8 car, I kind of saw him getting out of control and I didn't know which way he was going to go. Also, the #99 lost it right in front of me and I didn't know which way he was going to go either. Yeah, you're always going to have close calls like that at Martinsville, you're going to have contact with guys, you'll have people upset at you. I felt like I drove, for the most part, one of the cleanest races that I have here in a long time or any of the short tracks. But with that said, there is always going to be controversy. It's going to be part of it.

JEFF - WHEN YOU GET DOWN IN THE DEPTHS YOU WERE TODAY, DO YOU STARTING THINKING YOU NEED TO PICK OFF CARS WITHIN A CERTAIN WINDOW?
Gordon
You just pick off the next one in front of you (Jeff Chuckles).  One of the moments that I thought was frustrating was when we were trying to get the lucky dog back, I think Tony was leading, I think, but I am not sure, the 19 was in second and those two were going back and forth and I was third in line even though I was still one lap down. They started lapping cars.  So Robbie would say 'The next guy you have to pass is such and such.' So I would go and pass them and then he would say 'Now you have to pass such and such cause they just lapped him' and it just kept going.  Every time I would pass a car, they would pass another car and so we actually didn't get the Lucky Dog back right away because the 45 went a lap down and he got it. So we had to wait until the next time. So that was frustrating because I didn't want to run out of time because I knew how good our car was.  I knew we would be going all the way to the back when we got our lap back and were on the lead lap and we were going to have to fight our way through lapped traffic. Any time you get down like that you are going to get frustrated.  But it helped with the frustration because we had such a good car. If we couldn't have passed anybody, it would have been a much bigger issue, but as difficult as it was to pass here, we were able to pass pretty good which is an indication of just how good our race car was.  But you just focus on the next car ahead of you and run the fastest laps you can.  I mean, I wasn't thinking about brakes, tires, nothing. And just going as hard as I could.  When we got on the lead lap, I had a little bit of an issue with the brakes, I thought we were going to melt them down.  Once we got on the lead lap, I couldn't run as hard as I did trying to get the laps back because I was in a different traffic situation with a much were in a much bigger group of cars running the same speed.
 
DO YOU EVER RECALL FROM YOUR EARLY DAYS TO NOW EVER BEING BEHIND THAT MANY LAPS AND COMING BACK TO WIN THE RACE?
Gordon
No, I don't think so.  We were a couple laps down in Bristol and made those up and thought we had a good car but got caught up in the wreck.  But no, I can't.  In my racing, the early days for me was before Busch, if you got a lap down, you were done.  Because we didn't run long races and there was no way to make your lap up.  When the caution comes out, you don't get lineup next to the leader and get your lap back, that isn't how it works.  So I guess, no, I don't remember ever doing that.
 
WHERE DOES THIS WEIGH IN COMPARISON TO ALL YOUR WINS WITH THE CHALLENGES YOU FACED TODAY?
Gordon
I think they are all special, I think they all have their obstacles.  I don't know, the last one was the Daytona 500 and it is kinda hard to beat that one.  This one is special but that one was pretty incredible.
 
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR PASS ON STERLING MARLIN?
Gordon
I don't remember? Do you mean for the lead? Ok, yes, I think he either stayed out and didn't get tires or came in and only took two tires.  You know passing Mark Martin was much tougher.  Once I got to Sterling, I knew my car was working better than his because the tires were starting to catch up with him. Or rather the lack of tires that he had.  I just remember going into turn one and arcing the car out and getting a really straight shot up off of two and getting underneath him.  I think that is what I did but I honestly don't exactly.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON SAID YESTERDAY THAT HE PLANNED ON BORROWING SOME OF YOUR SETUP BECAUSE HE HAD BEEN HAVING SO MUCH TROUBLE THIS WEEKEND, DID HE THANK YOU AFTERWARDS FOR HOW MUCH HELP THAT WAS?
Gordon
I will guarantee you he wasn't thanking us half way through the race (Jeff Chuckles) .  I saw that they were struggling and I thought to myself that if they were using that setup, it wasn't working out too well for him.  Everybody has different driving styles.  We talked about sharing setups all the time, and that is why sometimes you might see the 48 car wearing the field out and we might have the same setup and it doesn't work as well for us and vice versa.  They did a great job today.  I talked to Jimmie there after the race and asked him what the problem was he said, they were so tight and pushing really really bad.  They had to free the car up a ton and if we had similar setups which I think we did, for some reason it was a lot tighter for him than it was for me.
 
SOME OF YOUR HENDRICK TEAMMATES WERE TALKING IN THE INFIELD THAT THEY WERE SOMEWHAT SURPRISED THAT RICK HENDRICK CAME TO THIS RACE, AND IT KIND OF CAUGHT THEM A LITTLE OFF GUARD THAT HE CAME HERE.  WHAT IT IS ABOUT HIM THAT HE COULD DO THAT?
Gordon
Honestly, I was surprised too.  Someone told me, I think it was Robbie shortly before the race that Rick was here and I wasn't expecting it and was surprised.  But it was happily surprised.  I think one of the things about Rick is that he is such a well grounded person and so down to earth, I think he recognizes how the world works.  I think he recognized that this was maybe something that he is the kinda guy who wants to face it head on.  I certainly can't speak for him, but if I were to guess, I think that would be his thought process to deal with it head on because that is how he has gotten through life and it hasn't always been a cake walk for him.  He has had to deal with a lot of adversity, but nothing quite like this before, but I think it is just that he has that kind of personality and kind of drive within him that he felt he needed to be up here and needed to deal with this with by being here but I am not positive.  I wish I had what he has.
 
THIS TRACK AND TEXAS HAVE LITTLE IN COMMON, BUT THE WAY YOU OVERCAME EVERYTHING TODAY AND WITH YOUR RECENT RUNS AT TEXAS, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN NAIL YOUR FIRST WIN THERE?
Gordon
Oh man, I sure hope so.  I thought maybe we were going to get it last year but you just never know what is going to happen until the checkered flag waves.  I felt like we were in perfect position to win last year and had an ignition problem  So we just go back there knowing what we know now about these cars and hopefully we will be good or better as we were last time.  It would sure be nice to get some momentum back on our side.  We have been a little up and down here lately, probably more down than up.  We are sill riding high on the Daytona win, but that is going to run out eventually.  The fourth we had at Vegas was good, we have had great runs with great cars, but haven't put the finishes together so this win today is definitely nice.  So hopefully this will give us good momentum to go to Texas and get it done.
 
CAN YOU RANK THIS WIN BASED ON HOW HARD YOU HAD TO WORK TO GET THE WIN-FOR EXAMPLE, THE 99 DAYTONA RACE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A RACE WHERE YOU HAD TO WORK ALL DAY LONG TO GET IT.  DOES THIS RANK UP THERE WITH THAT ONE OR ANY OTHERS YOU CAN THINK OF?
Gordon
Well I think there is a difference between mental determination and physical determination because this is so much more of a physical race than Daytona so they don't even compare there when it come to that.  I just know that you have to push and shove, you have to set cars up to pass them, you aren't dealing with a resitrictor plate or any of those things.  So as far as I am concerned, there is no comparison, I would have to think about it for a while to think of another race this compares with where we had to fight hard to get the win. They all compare as far as the hard work that goes into each race and none of them are easy but it seems like lately, they have been making us work hard for everything we get.
 
IN THE BIG PICTURE, YOU WENT FROM 12TH TO 6TH IN THE STANDINGS, I WOULD HAVE TO THINK THAT WOULD MAKE YOU AS HAPPY AS ANYTHING ELSE THAT HAPPENED TODAY LOOKING AT THE SEASON FORWARD.  HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO GET THAT BOOST IN THE STANDINGS?
Gordon
We talked about before the weekend about trying to get solidly in the top-ten.  You don't want to get to race 20 and be teetering on being outside the top ten.  This is a step in the right direction for that.  A win at this point in the season is definitely going to be taken positively and hopefully we can roll with this and get some momentum going back with us and get away from that inconsistency.  And stay up in the points and work our way in the top-five, that would be the ultimate if we had our wish."
 
WITH JIMMIE'S WIN AT ATLANTA AFTER THE CRASH AND YOUR WIN HERE AFTER BEING THREE LAPS DOWN, DO YOU EVER WONDER IF THERE IS AN OUTSIDE FORCE WORKING?
Gordon
Robbie and I talk about that all the time. You never know how things are going to happen or why they happen the way they do.  All you can do is concentrate on the things you have control over and we have control over how that car is prepared, the communication that we have, the teamwork that we have and then there are just things that happen you can't explain.  I don't know if we will ever have the answers as to why things happen but obviously it was meant to be today."
 
DID YOU INVITE JIMMIE DOWN TO VICTORY LANE CAUSE HE DIDN'T GET TO CELEBRATE LAST YEAR?
Gordon
Jimmie and I are both headed to New York so maybe we will get together and celebrate his win from last year and mine from today.  He definitely came down there to victory lane but I can't say we celebrated a whole lot.