Jeff Gordon
#24 DuPont Chevrolet

Winner

A VERY SPECIAL SET OF MEMORIES TODAY FOR YOUR WIN
Well, you know it brings back a lot of tough memories, with what happened here a year ago. We just want to keep honoring those folks that were lost and I can't think of a better way to do it than to pull this DuPont Chevrolet into victory lane and celebrate here. I know they're looking down on us and really smiling. And I hope we honor them properly. What a great, great effort by this DuPont Chevrolet team. It's been a tough year and we certainly could use a win and today was just phenomenal. I just want to thank Steve Letarte and all the guys on this team. They work really hard. And that was a great call he made to stay out that one time-that's really what won us the race today.

TELL US ABOUT THAT LAST CAUTION FLAG AND RESTART
Well, we were really good through the middle and off. I was a little bit loose all day getting in. You know, he did what he needed to do. I thought he and Jimmie were going to battle a little more there at the end-I saw where he got into Jimmie. So, I didn't know what was going to happen behind me. I knew Tony was going to be tough and that he'd come after us. And I got a good restart, but he could just drive in a little bit deeper than me and he could get to me, but when I got on the gas I could really drive away. So, I was just thankful we didn't use up my rear bumper because it looked like he was awful close a couple of times.

©Bob LeSieur

IS IT TOUGH NOT TO BE THE GUY IN THE SPOTLIGHT?
Gordon
Well, you know, I feel like the only way you should be in the Chase is if you've earned it. Bottom line (is that) we didn't earn it this year. Whether it be that we had back luck or whether it be that we didn't run well enough or I didn't drive good enough-whatever it is, it just wasn't meant to be. The way the Chase is structured, it gives you hope all the way until the last race. Of course, for us all the way up until Richmond-it gave us hope that we could still make it into that Chase. I felt like we never really performed in a way that we're capable of. I'm more disappointed about how we've run that I am about not making the Chase. In some ways it was relief not to make the Chase, because we just needed some things to work on and I'm so proud and happy that we've been able to put Steve in place, get him this experience, now a win. That's going to do a lot for him and his confidence, confidence with the team and it's going to give us something to build on for next year and I love being competitive and I love being up front and we can still go out and try to win races and not being in the Chase is a little bit disappointing, but I'm really thinking more about next year and right now it's kind of refreshing for us just to sit back and work for next year and it doesn't matter where the point fall for us. And then go into the offseason with some fire in our eyes and momentum to build on. And I think today is a great way to do that. Now, if we come out of this season with a top-5 at a mile-and-a-half, we're really going to be on fire during that offseason.

DO YOU SEE ANY SIMILARITIES WITH STEVE'S WIN WITH YOU TODAY AND WHEN YOU CAME HERE WITH BRIAN WHITESELL AND WON AFTER EVERNHAM LEFT?
Gordon
Yeah, I don't remember all the details. Steve might remember better than me. You know, of how we won that race that day-whether it was on a call that Brian made and it may have been. Yes and no. I think when we put Brian Whitesell in that position, we knew it was in an interim position because Brian was really, I think, that his skills are so good in the managerial role that he's in the position he belongs in. He's so good at that and I think we would have been able to utilize his talents but at the same time would have been missing out on some opportunities in some other places, so we kind of knew that was an interim job. This is not interim. Steve is here for, I hope, a long time. I'm so proud that I am a part of him getting his first win and I hope that I can be a part of him getting his first championship, too.

 
RE: LAPPED TRAFFIC
Gordon
As far as lapped cars go, it doesn't matter how much experience you have or not. If you're trying to stay on the lead lap, I think everybody expects you to race hard. Once you get several laps down, yeah I think you've got to show some respect and courtesy for the leaders and those who are battling for the win. I hated to see Denny Hamlin get caught up in that wreck on pit road because I thought he really showed a lot of talent out there. This is a track that he really knows well and he was getting around there really well. He could have been a factor there at the end, so that was unfortunate. When he did get laps down, there was a couple of times I felt he was racing a little bit too hard, but you do kind of expect that in younger, less experienced drivers out there. But I think he's really going to something to watch, especially here in the future.

RE: WOULD YOU HAVE GIVEN JIMMIE THE FIVE POINTS BY LETTING HIM LEAD?
Gordon
Well, if we had been like, on that long green flag run when we were out front, if Jimmie had been close to me, absolutely. With 20 laps to go, he had his hands full just battling with the #20 car. I had my hands full trying to win the race. That wasn't really the proper time to do that. Under different circumstances earlier in the race-absolutely. I would have loved to have given Jimmie those five bonus points. Even there at the end, I wasn't guaranteed I was going to be able to keep him behind me. So, if he had gotten them it wasn't because I had gave them to him. But I think it was too late in the game for us to just move over and give up a win.

RE: IS THIS THE PROOF YOU NEED, OR IS THE REST OF THE SEASON, INCLUDING THE MILE-AND-A-HALFS, BE MORE INDICATIVE OF THE TEAM TURNAROUND
Gordon
Well, obviously we had a past performance at Martinsville. I think more than anything it's just expectations on Steve - 'They won here a bunch, they won here the last race, if you don't win here' - I think it would have been tough for Steve. Critics would have been tough on Steve. I'm just happy that he was able to withstand that type of pressure and also make the call. This is a great win for us, but I think that any win right now is just something to boost the morale of the team. There's no doubt when you've gone through what we've gone through and especially with a team that has these kind of expectations on them, that morale is up and down. As much as Steve can try to boost them up, as much as I can talk to them, there's nothing like a win. And we know that Martinsville is not resolving anything or fixing our problems. We need a good, strong finish at those mile-and-a-halfs. I think we were happy with the way we ran at Kansas. We were happy with how we ran at Charlotte. We had a good test at Atlanta and look forward to going there. We're not saying we have to win there but we're definitely looking for some improvement. A lot of improvement. And that will get us excited about going into next year strong.

ANNIVERSARY OF THE PLANE CRASH
Gordon
Well, I talked to Rick yesterday and I knew that he was going to stay at home and he said he spent time with his family and I just thought that was fantastic to spend time and surround himself with close family. I know that meant a lot to him. I know that today was a very tough day or this weekend was a very tough weekend for them. All we wanted to do was to go out there and try to put a smile on their face or honor those who were lost and I can't think of a better way for us to do that than to pull into victory lane the way we did. I was hoping for a one-two finish with me and Jimmie, but we got the next best thing. I think it was definitely on all our minds the whole time we've been here and you know, I think that there's just no better way for us to remember them than to come out of here with a win.

 
THIS IS A PLACE WHERE A STRATEGY CALL CAN LOSE A RACE, SO DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD THAT YOU FIRST WIN COMES AS A RESULT OF YOUR STRATEGY?
Letarte
Well, it definitely helps you confidence making the right decisions. We were fortunate to get a yellow and we were fortunate enough to be in a position to make those aggressive calls. I knew the #20 and the #48 both were racing for points and trying to race for a top 5. Our goal coming here was to win and anything short of a win, we probably would have been a little disappointed. That helped the decision. I'm just kind of one player on the team. We have a great team with Ken Howes and Doug Duchardt-really smart guys that help with those decisions. I was right on this one and I hope I have the timing with a different race coming up where we can make another decision like that again.

RE: GETTING ADJUSTED. WAS THIS CALL YOU MADE SOMETHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE THREE OR FOUR WEEKS AGO, OR IS THIS PROOF OF YOUR DEVELOPMENT AS A CREW CHIEF
Letarte
Well, it just seemed like an obvious call. I don't know if that means I'm developing or it was just lucky, but like Jeff said we rode for 300 and something laps and we had a good car, we just couldn't get by them. So, I had seen everybody else stay out and it looked like they were running pretty well and I heard Jeff make a comment that he thinks our car would be really good in clean air, so we just stayed out. Whether I could have made it a couple of weeks ago, I don't know. I feel like I made a pit blunder at New Hampshire and the race was kind of a blur. And then we came here and I felt like the race moved a little bit slower, so I would definitely say the experience in these ten races are definitely going to help us for next year.

 
RE: WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR YOU PERSONALLY AND HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO TALK TO RICK TODAY?
Gordon
I haven't had a chance to talk to Rick today. You know, I will as soon as I get done with all the victory-lane stuff. I think I always carry a little bit of confidence and the whole team does coming into a Martinsville or a road course and other tracks that we've run good at. Even at Darlington or something like that. Anytime you get into victory lane, it's definitely going to help. I think for me personally, my goal to help me for the offseason and next season-I'd like for us to lead laps at the mile-and-a-halfs. And I don't even know if Atlanta is a good judge of that-it's pretty abrasive and tires go away fast. Texas, Homestead, those kind of tracks. That's where we need to build the confidence. You know, not just for the team but for myself. We've got some tests coming up. We tested at Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and felt like we learned some things. Those are the things I think we need to work on to be in contention for the Chase next year and that would complete what's been kind of a tough year for us. It would be a kind of a completion if we could come out of this thing with not only just a win today but a top 5 at one of those tracks.

IT BUILD CONFIDENCE
Gordon
That's what building confidence and chemistry is, it's that you've got to do it on a consistent basis and you've got to walk before you can run. Just going out and getting a win isn't enough. You've got to show that you're capable and running with the guys that have been fast all year long. And holding your own or even being better than them. It's not just going to happen next week or the week after that. We want to see us building towards some consistency by the end of the season and that's going to build our confidence for the offseason, not just this month.

 
WHAT'S THE TOUGHEST PART ABOUT RUNNING A RACE TEAM?
Letarte
Well, I think the toughest part in all racing is the personel. It's become really competitive. There are owners out there that have money and resources to go run good. With Hendrick being the size it is, that kind of helps me in that position. You know, the toughest part for me has probably been on Sunday, calling the race. There's no way to practice. You're either doing it or you're not. You can play all the roles out in your head but every race is different. Every track is different, so I can't thank the guys enough. The guys on the DuPont team have supported me like I've been there all year, like I've been there forever. That's really been great for the transition. You know, our goals chang week in and week out. They can't be the same for every track. Our goal here is to win and we came here and won and now our goal is move on and get better at the mile-and-a-half. That's what I think is going to happen.

PRESS CONFERENCE WITH JOHNSON AND STEWART

Jimmie Johnson
#48 Lowe's Chevrolet
3rd position

TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY
Johnson
It was a great performance for us today. We ran in the top 10 throughout the whole day. You know, played the game smart, did what we needed to do and got the track position to get behind the #24. I didn't feel I was better than the #24. I think I was one of the better cars in the long run and short run. It took me a little bit to get going. Just really, all in all there was a lot of guys in the Chase that had some problems and it's going to be a battle to the end. The way it looks, I'm not sure how the points lay out but I'm sure we're down by five or ten now and we'll just go on to the next one.

Tony Stewart
#20 The Home Depot Chevrolet
2nd position

TELL US ABOUT YOUR RACE AND GETTING BY GREG BIFFLE
Stewart
Yeah, the unfortunate thing is I think Greg (Biffle) was a lap down. I don't really understand why he held up Jimmie first and then held me up. So, kept both of us from having a chance to close in. It was a solid day for us. Obviously starting up there on the pole and a good pit selection. Just a solid day, we just never could get it 100% right. When the track started cooling off, Jimmie and Jeff really started getting it going good. Late in the race, we got by Biffle there and we got a chance to get by Jimmie on the restart. (I did) the same thing that Jeff did in the spring and the same thing that Jeff did to me at Bristol I think in 2000, just get that fender underneath there and that's all you need. Just enough for us to get underneath Jimmie and got him loose and we went under and that was pretty much the end of it. There was no catching Jeff. I don't know what makes him so fast at the end of the day like that, he was just too strong to keep up with.

RE: GETTING BY BIFFLE AT THE END
Johnson
Yeah, I was wondering what he was racing for. There wasn't any other car up there close to being the next car to be one lap down. And I felt a little bit better when I noticed him giving everybody else a hard time and realized it wasn't just me. So, I was a little confused but maybe his strategy was to race hard and a caution would come out in the process. But just that, I'm not really sure.

ARE YOU GETTING THE FEELING IT WILL COME DOWN TO A RACE BETWEEN YOU TWO?
Johnson
I think as the weeks wear on, it's going to be a smaller group of cars. I still think it's too early to count anybody out. There's a lot of good tracks for the #16, #97. The #6-I don't know where he ended up today but still a lot of racing left. When you think of a DNF taking 100+ points out or 130 out, anything can happen. Right now we're racing as hard as we can. There are a lot of guys to look at. Tony's been very strong. He's going to continue to be very strong. Those are some good tracks for him. And we've just got to live week to week. That's how it is for us for now.

Stewart
What he said. It's easy to follow Jimmie when he speaks because he's pretty much on the money. You know, at this point I think everybody looks at Jimmie and us as two of the guys. Like Jimmie said, you can't count any of the other guys out either. Anything can happen. We've had two bad races and got us in this position. Jimmie's had one bad race. You know, everybody is going to have little things happen. With four weeks to go, you can't narrow it down yet. It's too early. The math is how you do it. Mathematically, everybody is still in it. As long as everybody is mathematically in it, I don't know how you can count anybody out of it.

RE: PRE-RACE DISCUSSIONS AROUND YOUR TWO TEAMS, MIND GAMES, ETC?
Stewart
I'd say it started yesterday. We were listening to Jimmie's frequency. And it wasn't Jimmie. It was, of all people, his crew chief, trying to play games like we used to do in seventh grade. And what I used to do in sprint car racing to get in those guys heads. You know, you're smarter than that. Like I said, somewhere down the road it's going to catch up with him. I wouldn't do it to Jimmie, but when you got a guy with the things like Chad was saying on the radio, it's like being inside a kindergarten room listening to it. It definitely doesn't make you want to work with somebody, but at the same time, when you've got a friend, it's hard not to put that above what his crew chief is doing. You know, like everybody knows, the two of us are going to be two guys who are racing for the field and hopefully it will be between the two of us for sure. It's just too early to count anybody out. Good teams are probably going to hurt each other to open up the door to let somebody get a run on them.

Johnson
Well, I'm not sure what was passed onto Tony what was being said, but I have to say we wanted to go out and see how we were against other cars. His car was fast, so we got out and ran behind him, ran with him. He let us by, we went by and did our thing. Being positive and trying to pump the team up, stuff gets said on the radio like we've got a better car or we've got those guys frustrated. It's stuff that takes place all the time. If there's somebody out there in practice that is running better than us, we want to get out there and run with them and run around them. So, that's what yesterday was and it's your guys' job to twist it and turn it and find something to write about it and have fun with it.

ARE THERE ANY MISGIVINGS ABOUT WHAT CHAD SAID?
Johnson
What did he say?

APPARENTLY CHAD SAID THAT HE WANTED IT TO BE KNOWN HOW STRONG YOUR CAR WAS RELATIVE TO TONY AND WANTED TO GET INTO TONY'S HEAD
Johnson
Like I said, you try to go out and practice and run with good cars. You see, especially on a short track, you don't have any aero issues to deal with. I can learn a little bit what he's doing behind the wheel. I did that a couple years ago with Tony and followed him around and found three or four tenths around this track. So, if we can run with them and get them thinking about us or talking about us, I guess we're doing our job.

AROUND LAP 300 WITH A RESTART WITH A DISABLED CAR, DID YOU KNOW THE CAR WAS THERE AND HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?
Stewart
I saw it. The spotter said 'green, green, green' and told us the car was there. That's probably the scariest restart I've ever been a part of. I don't know how they could throw the green flag like that. I don't know if it's just miscommunication with race control. Ask NASCAR about it. Luckily he was down to get by safely. But, it really surprised me when my spotter said they threw the green.

Bobby Labonte
#18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet
4th position

TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY
It was up and down. We started tenth and we were up there for a long time and we ran good. Then we got caught for speeding on pit road for exiting the pits and had to go to the back. We came back up there and it's about ninth or tenth, and then I hit the #4 car when the #38 spun out. Hit the nose up a little bit and had to come in and pull some tape off because we ran hot. Then I got caught for speeding on pit road on exit, just because the first gear, the rear end gear's that we've got, you barely law on the throttle and you're going faster than you should be going. So, I screwed up twice. So, to come back fourth is really pretty good.

MUST FEEL GOOD TO GET THIS TOP 5 TODAY FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM
It really is. The guys have done a great job. We just need breaks. Stupid things like that on pit road don't help; we could have had better track position than that, probably. It was going to be hard to beat those guys, but somehow someway if we could have been closer to them, maybe I would have been better off. My screw-ups hurt us but we fought pretty hard today.

Jeff Burton
#31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
5th postion

GREAT DAY FOR YOUR TEAM (AND RE: HITTING #2 CAR)
Well, I'm proud with how we ran. We ran well all day. I don't know what I could have done though-I guess he got into the #41. I couldn't get stopped. He was the last person in the world I wanted to hit-he's a good friend of mine and I know he's racing for the championship. And I have a lot of respect for those guys and certainly don't want to be in the middle of any of that. But, if I had to do it all over again I don't have a clue what I would have done different.

IS IT HARD WHEN YOU'RE INVOLVED WITH SOMEONE LIKE THAT WHO IS IN THE CHASE?
Well, it is big and it does matter but we know we're here racing for ourselves. I hate getting into anybody. I try to drive clean and respect all the time-not just the guys in the Chase. That's the way I try to race all the time. I hate it, but it was a great day for us in the Cingular Chevrolet. All the sponsors and everybody with us, it's been a tough year and we're not going to quit.

Denny Hamlin
#11 FedEx Chevrolet
8th position

IT'S BEEN A GREAT COUPLE OF LAPS FOR YOU IN CUP
Yeah, it's been a good couple of weeks and we just had a good, solid day. We got behind there, almost two laps down early in the race and had to come in under green. I really had to drive my guts out to try to get those laps back. We got them back and just slowly worked our way through the field every run. We got two or three cars every pit stop and finally worked our way into the top 10 again.

YOU'RE A NEWCOMER BUT YOU'RE SHOWING LIKE YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE. ARE YOU GETTING MORE COMFORTABLE?
Yeah, I definitely do. It's just really feels good to me being in the Cup series and just the way everybody races and everything. It's just good racing with these guys and I'm definitely happy to be here.

SO, CAN YOU GUARANTEE A 7TH-PLACE FINISH IN ATLANTA IF THE LAST TWO WEEKS ARE ANY INDICATION?
I don't know. Atlanta's going to be, probably, my biggest challenge. It seems like the big tracks are really throwing curve balls at me. But we did run good at Charlotte and the tracks are very similar, so hopefully we can carry it on to Atlanta.

Kyle Busch
#5 Kellogg's Chevrolet
9th position

TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY
Yeah, this is only my second run but overall it was a good run for us in the Kellogg's Chevrolet today. We were able to mire around there and had some solid runs. We were able to get up there in the top 10 for a little bit of the day and then we got caught speeding on pit road. So, we ended up having to drop back to the tail end of the field and then we ended up dropping back a little bit. We got up to the top 5. We did pit with 150 to go thinking that we may be able to go the rest of the way, but had such a long run there and just burned off all our tires and brakes and stuff more than everybody else. When they came in we just decided to follow with them

Brian Vickers
#25 GMAC / ditech.com Chevrolet
36th position

Note: Brought his smoking #25 car to the garage for repairs on Lap 118 after reporting problems with the car's rear end.

TOUGH DAY OUT THERE
Yeah, it really was. We had a good car that first run. I don't know where we got up to, but we followed Jeff all the way up there. And then the car started to get a little bit tight at the end of that run. The next run the car went real tight. I thought I had a tire (problem), to the point I thought something was wrong. I came in (to the pits) and I had a little bit of smoke in the cockpit. With the way our helmets now, they are so sealed off from the outside air coming in, I couldn't really smell anything. I came in and it wasn't the tire. We were still really tight, especially on the throttle and then we just kept running and the smoke got worse and then I realized that it was the rear end. We had something going. I don't know what it was. They've got to check it out. But something happened with the rear end and broke something. It made the car extremely tight for about two runs before it finally let go.

IS THIS AN INCIDENT PARTICULAR TO YOUR CAR OR DO YOU THINK IT WILL AFFECT THE OTHER HENDRICK CARS OUT THERE?
NO, I think it was just us. I don't know what happened. I may need to look at it before I can say specifics, but it got really tight the second run to the third run. And I had a little bit of smoke and I could smell the rear end. Shortly after that the rear end just let go. It just locked up on us.

Mike Bliss
#0 Haas Chevrolet
41st position

Note: Accident on Lap 172, retired.

WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
Well, we got 'K-O'-ed by the #10 again, two weekends in a row he's ran into us. You know, Tony was coming and we had the #10 blocked on the bottom. And I don't know. Off of Turn 4 I don't know if he got loose, turned right and corrected and put us right in the wall. It really took us out and it's too bad. Took out a couple of leaders. But, what can you do?