NASCAR
Dale Jr. Continues Chevy Winning Streak in Phoenix
By Nancy Wager
Nov 8, 2004, 11:15 PST

Photo Copyright Dorsey Patrick

DRIVER COMMENTS WHEN THE RACE WAS RED-FLAGGED ON LAP 111 DUE TO RAIN:

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "I got loose getting in and really couldn't do much about it. We just hung on there and then made a few adjustments and the car was better. We just didn't have the track position. So we got the two tires to get track position and we'll see how it works."

(YOU SEEMED TO HAVE A LITTLE TRACK POSITION BATTLE WITH THE NO. 29, KEVIN HARVICK, THERE FOR A WHILE. WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?) "You'll have to go ask him. I have no idea. I think he took his frustration out.....  His car wasn't that good right then and I think he took it out on me because I felt like I passed him pretty clean. I had to slide up in front of him a little bit off of Turn 4, but he just pounded me all the way down the front straight. He pounded me into Turn 1 and about wrecked me there. And it was kind of on from that point. My car wasn't the same after that and so it kind of cost both of us. But we're going to forget about that and work our way back up to the front or keep the car up at the front hopefully."

(WERE YOU HAVING HANDLING PROBLEMS EARLY ON?) "We certainly didn't start out the way we wanted to. We got real loose. We made some adjustments there, but we didn't have track position. So now we've got track position and we'll see if we can hold on with these two tires and get the car where we need to be. But I feel like we're making gains on it. The track is changing quite a bit as we go here."

(THIS YEAR, YOU SEEM TO GO FROM HAVING A BAD WEEK TO A TOP FIVE AND A WINNING RUN THE NEXT WEEK. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE ON THAT PATH AGAIN.) "Yeah, well we really run good everywhere we go, which is something we hadn't done in the past. And that really gives me a lot of confidence in the team. And we've got a lot of guys - a couple of them are wanting to get off the road - and hopefully we can get people in there that are as good as they were next year and keep the team as competitive as it is now. I'm just really proud of the year we've had and hopefully we can finish it off with a win or two over the next three weekends."

GREG ZIPADELLi, CREW CHIEF, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We've been way too tight. The Home Depot Chevrolet seems to be much tighter today than it was yesterday. The car is rolling in the center. We just made a bunch of changes there and hopefully we can get it a little bit better before the end and then get ourselves back up to the front." 

(WILL THE RAIN CHANGE THE TRACK WHEN WE GO BACK TO RACING?) "I don't think it'll change much. We didn't get that much rain so hopefully it will get back to the way it was yesterday afternoon with all the rubber from the truck race the night before and our happy hour. If it gets back to that then hopefully our car will be a little bit better."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - sidelined with engine problems: "This is kind of how our year has gone all year.  If you look over there on the charts and you look at the top 10's, there are about ten of them that have slipped away just like today. We've got a great race team here with RCR and I've had a great time driving for them for the past three and a half years, but I can't wait to get to next year."

(THIS HAS GOT TO GIVE YOU A LOT OF CONFIDENCE KNOWING YOU CAN RUN UP FRONT) "We've run up front pretty much every weekend and something happens. It's just the way it goes. We ran up front yesterday with our Busch car and finished 4th. We're trying to build on that. I don't know what to say. This is the first engine failure I've had in three and a half years driving for RCR. They've done a great job with their engines. The competition is getting so close that you just push every little element of it and unfortunately you push it until it breaks. But they do a really good job in the engine department and I know they'll continue to do that."

JEFF BURTON, NO. 30 AOL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We couldn't get the car to turn like we needed to.  I'm real disappointed with the way we ran. I thought we were going to be a lot better than that. But we managed a decent finish (11th) and just kept fighting. We probably got a little more than we deserved today. I don't know. We didn't really change anything from yesterday and maybe that's what we did wrong."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - "We needed it to go green the whole way. It was great pit strategy by Robbie Loomis and all the guys on this DuPont Chevrolet because I didn't think we had any shot at winning this race today. We got out of sequence that paid off for us and we came home third. I thought I could hold off Ryan (Newman) there at the end. I got real tight off of Turn 2 and he got a run on me and there wasn't anything I could do. I tried to race him on the outside, but we'll take third today." More to follow

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We had the best run we've had in a while. The car was pretty good all day. We'd have liked to finish a little higher. But we'll take the top 10 and try to get a win in the final two races."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO.29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOU AND THE NO. 9 KASEY KAHNE THERE AT THE END?) "We were just racing hard at the end there with our GM Goodwrench Chevrolet and I got into him a little bit and I think it ticked him off. He started running into us after the caution and so I just wanted to stop and ask him what the problem was. It's one thing to race these things under green, but it's another thing to wreck them under caution. We're not the ones that have to fix them. But I just wanted to stop and ask him if I should have done something different. I just thought we were racing hard.

(IT WAS A GREAT RECOVERY FOR YOU TODAY) "Yeah, it was a great recovery. I thought we were super tight at the beginning. But man, I just love this stuff. It's exciting to run good and just a lot of fun to come out here to Phoenix and have a good run.  We battled back. This whole GM Goodwrench Chevy team did an awesome job. I told them let's just fix it and we can get back up there and do what we have to do to race hard. And we raced our way back up there and got a little bit lucky with the pit call and for once things went our way. So it was a good day for us."

TONY EURY SR., CREW CHIEF, NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "It's been a good car. We've been happy all weekend. It's been kind of an easy weekend and we're not used to that. We're used to working real hard to make our cars run good."

Photo Copyright Dorsey Patrick

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Winner: "This is a great place to race and we appreciate doing this for all the fans. We've just got to do this the rest of the year so we can gain on Kurt (Busch) because we know he's going to run strong. We've got to get this title for these fans here.

(WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS RACE TRACK FOR YOU AND THIS BUDWEISER TEAM?) "Well, it's that trip out here and back. If you don't bring home the trophy, it's a long ride home. When we come to the west coast we want to showcase our abilities and our talents out here. It's just great to win here. The team did a great job. We had a great race car all day. I was really surprised at how good a race car it really was. There at the end, to get by those guys was effortless. The car was just awesome. I just had to make sure I didn't get run into or spun out or do anything foolish like I did last week. I had a great car and we won the race and I'm real proud of my team. I can't say enough about this effort."

Photo Copyright Dorsey Patrick

(WHEN YOU WERE BACK THERE IN 11TH POSITION, WERE YOU A LITTLE BIT CONCERNED?) "Yeah, I was really concerned because it seemed like we drove from a 14th starting position right up to the lead. But once I got back there again, it wasn't quite as good and I wasn't able to pass people. The cautions kept coming out one right after another. My car was really good after about three or four laps. Tony Sr. made a couple of adjustments and we had some awesome pit stops. I'm really proud of my team. I'm really lucky to race and make a living with people I enjoy being with."

(ON BEING IN 3RD PLACE IN THE CHASE GOING INTO DARLINGTON AND HOMESTEAD) "We haven't dominated those race tracks, Darlington or Homestead, but with the team that we've got now, I feel like we can go in there and have a weekend than we've ever had at either one of those tracks. We'll be in Homestead all week really working our guts out every day in testing and trying to get it right. We thought about it last weekend and want to put ourselves back in position to win. I knew we had a car that could win. I just didn't want to make another mistake like I did last week and wanted to put ourselves back in position to run for the championship. We've got a lot to gain. These guys ain't going to be easy to beat." More to follow

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "That's two weeks in a row where we've worked and worked and worked to get the car better as the day went, and that's something we haven't been able to do for a while.  It's not what we want, but that's why we've been champions in the past.  We expect more out of ourselves than what we had today.  Today wasn't good enough, but we got better as the day went and got some breaks there at the end that got us back in the top-10 after we got a little out of sequence on our pit stops."

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Holy Moley -- we came back to salvage a respectable finish. That was a heckuva comeback. We had a tough day up until the end. The U.S. Army/USG Chevy would get really tight in the middle of the corner and kept on tearing the front tires. The car was a handful to drive. At times we got the car decent, especially on new tires, but as the run went on, the tires would tear up again. I don't know where we missed the setup, but we missed it somewhere. Believe me, the guys really worked on the car throughout the race, but we never found the right grip. With all of those crashes and our grill being caved in that put us in the back of the pack and it was hard to make any kind of move. But at the end of the race, I was able to drive both the inside and outside lanes. My car would go anywhere and I would shoot right by them. The doors opened up and I took advantage of the situation. Despite the problems we had today -- and there were many -- we still found a way to manage a decent result. That says a lot about this team." 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(EVEN THOUGH YOU WANTED TO DO BETTER, THIS IS PRETTY GOOD CONSIDERING EVERYTHING TODAY) "It's great to come back. We went down a lap and got our lap back. And we were able to work our way back up there to sixth. If we'd had a few more laps there at the end. We had a good car, we just had to fight back from going down a lap from having to deal with a wheel left loose. Once we got going, we were fine. We just ran out of laps."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

"The car was really good and I don't know....I just drove right up through there. It just gives you chills to have a car that capable of winning and that fast. I was just getting ground on those guys in the center of the corner. I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe them guys couldn't get their cars to drive as good as mine. Mine was perfect. It pushed real bad through the center but other guys must have been worse.

"It's really cool and satisfying I guess - it's a relief to come back and win after a bad week, but it's not what you want. You don't want to have a bad week and then a good week. Last week will still bother me. I made a personal error that cost us a lot of points. It's not a habit I want to continue or anything I want to become a habit. I thought those types of mistakes were in my past. But I guess you'll have those from time to time when you put yourself in a position of racing really hard with somebody. But we came in here with no idea the car was going to be as good as it was. We didn't come in here with Talladega confidence, if you know what I mean.  We came in here thinking we might possibly have a good day. We had a good car here last year, but it wasn't as fast at the start of the race. We worked on that car to get it as good as it was at the end. Today, it was just flying. We went from 14th to the top five in no time. It was incredible."

(ON HIS DISCUSSION WITH THE CREW ABOUT NOT COMING IN FOR TIRES) "Obviously I wasn't convinced. The thing about being in the pit box and being on top of that box is that you can see a lot more than the driver can see - and even how good the race car is. I might not think I've got as good a car in practice, but I'll come in there and they'll say it's good. And I'll say, 'Really? I didn't pass nobody or catch nobody. I didn't think it was that good.' And they'll say it's great.  One thing I wasn't thinking about was how on a restart, the leader and the top three or four can get a straightaway in front of everybody. And that's hard to drive back to those guys even it you're starting 10th and you've got new tires.  So that was one point. If they get out in front of us by a wide margin we might not get the caution we need with only 19 laps to go. We might not catch them.

"Jeff Gordon's car was terrible at the end. I was really surprised and impressed that he got a third place finish. I was disappointed that Kasey didn't get what he deserved. He had a good car. After one restart, Kasey was better than me. He got bottled up behind Jeff. I actually got into Kasey a little bit but we got is straightened out and we got going again and I passed him clean. But he had a good car. I was really hoping he would finish at least 2nd or 3rd. But he had some trouble at the end. It was a fun race. We argued and carried on but that's the way we ought to do it because we had a lot of success."

(ON THE FINAL RESTART) "That's the good feeling. That's what you want to see. I was worried that with two to go, I could go in the corner and get loose or tight. You have an unknown of how much liquid was down in the corner or how they cleaned it up. Was cooling Jeff's tires down going to give him an opportunity to charge underneath me and give me some trouble for at least a half-lap or so?  Anything can happen. You're sitting and sitting there on the back straightaway waiting for the restart. When we took off, I didn't get into Turn 1 good at all. I slowed down too much. I got on the gas and pushed off the corner. I thought he was going to say, 'car low'. I looked out the mirror and they were about five or 10 car lengths back. I just couldn't believe it. But Jeff's car was terrible at the end. I'm sure he was really disappointed. But he's a professional. To finish third, I don't think I could have done that."

(IN VICTORY LANE, DID YOU THINK ABOUT TALLADEGA AND ABOUT WHAT YOU SAID?) "I was really scared that I might slip up because I have a lot of bad words in my vocabulary and so I'll will always from here on out be nervous about that. It's just a mistake. It's honest being human. Tony Sr. came up to me before I got out (of the car) and said, 'Now, don't cuss.' I was glad he reminded me because you get excited. Yeah, I will be worried. It's hard even when you're trying not to. Maybe that's when you do it more often -- when you're trying not to."

(IF NOT FOR THE PENALTY, YOU'D BE IN 2ND PLACE ONLY 22 POINTS OUT) "Well, being in second still ain't first, so it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to dwell on that. It would be great exposure for my team and my sponsor if we do lose the championship -- we are trying our best to lose it by less than 25 points. That will give us all kinds of exposure, I guess, all throughout the winter - probably more so than winning the championship (laughter). We all have our secret agendas. But really, I don't worry about it too much. I don't feel any pressure going into these last two races. We've already had things like the penalty and the mistake I made last week. We've got our reasons for why, in the end, we lost the championship.  All we can do is just race. We came here today and tried to win. We win. That's great. We go to the next race and do the same.  Darlington and Homestead are not tracks I've excelled at. I'd love to win the championship, but it's going to be really hard to beat those guys. We've got to be realistic."

(ON RACING JEFF GORDON AND THE REACTION OF THE FANS) "It's amazing to be racing Jeff. I have a lot of respect for him. We've known each other for a very long time. When he first started racing in the Cup Series against my dad, my dad introduced him to me on pit wall at North Wilksboro at some point. I think it was 1994. We didn't guarantee ourselves, but we knew there was a possibility of us racing each other one day. It's awesome to be in a race with him. He's one of the best. He's one of the drivers 200 years from now they'll look at in the history of NASCAR and he'll be in the top 10. To go out there and race with him is an honor. It's probably come to light to me more now than in the past because of all these guys who are retiring. You start to think about what an honor it was to share the track with Terry Labonte and Rusty Wallace over the last couple of years. How many more races will Jeff and I have before one of us is gone? To be able to pass him today and win this race is really means a lot to me. I'm sure he'd rather it have been the opposite. I don't think there's anybody else I'd rather beat. Coming to a shootout like that with the best car, I'd rather have him be the one in front of me."

(A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO YOU SAID YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A FARILY LARGE LEAD GOING INTO THE NEXT RACES, OTHERWISE YOU WOULDN'T HAVE A SHOT. DO YOU STILL FEEL THAT WAY?) "Well, that would have been the best scenario for us. That was if we did falter like we have in the past at those two tracks, we'd have something to give up. Now, we can't really worry about that. We're not in that situation. We'll just run our race like we normally do. We'll race as hard as we can and get what we can get."

(DO PEOPLE NEED TO GET THIS PENALTY THING GO BECAUSE YOU CAN ALWAYS PLAY THE WHAT-IF GAME) "It's not my place to tell anybody to let it go. But people are going to talk about it. What are you going to do? I should consider myself so lucky that people are concerned about it. I shouldn't really complain."

(SOME PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO SEE AN INTENSE RIVALRY BETWEEN YOU AND JEFF GORDON. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?) "I would love to come to every race track and have it come down to a five lap shootout between me and Jeff. What you're asking for was easy to find 15 or 20 years ago in the sport. But with the diversity you have amongst the whole field now, it's anybody's race every week. You can't really manifest a rivalry with anybody. Jeff don't run up front every week and neither do I. It's hard to manufacturer a rivalry - even if we wanted one - that the fans could enjoy. We can't attract a rivalry when me and him aren't racing for the lead every week. With what you have now in the sport you have guys you don't like. But even with the way things are right now you're not going to do enough to spark a rivalry with them."

(WITH TWO RACES LEFT, YOU ARE IN POSITION TO HAVE A SHOT AT THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "Being 47 points back sounds a lot better than ninety-something. We were really looking bad there when we were 125 points out after Martinsville - even with what happened in Atlanta, we gained. We've got an opportunity but I'm not going to get all worked up over it. We're just going to try to race smart and finish good. It's not just racing Kurt anymore.The points race is too difficult to worry about. There is too much going on. So we'll just race each lap at Darlington and get out of there. We'll know after Darlington what kind of opportunity we've got."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

(ON DRIVERS NOT PITTING BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINY OF THE RAIN SITUATION WHEN THEY NORMALLY WOULD PIT) "We weren't going to pit no matter what. Anybody who had track position was going to stay out. The rain just really solidified the fact that we were going to stay out. I don't know what we would have done if we were further back. It just depends on where you were. Track position was so important today. It was so hard to pass. I really knew we were a sitting duck. The No. 8 car was so strong. On that long run when we were leading, I saw him in my mirror coming and I knew I had used up all the tires. I was pretty loose at that point. And there at the end, I wanted it to rain, actually. And then he got underneath me and there was nothing I could do to keep him behind me."

(ON KURT BUSCH STAYING IN THE LEAD FOR THE PAST FEW WEEKS) "We don't mind chipping away at it. The final outcome is what we're looking for in Homestead. It's tough. I've been in positions where we've been out front pulling away and you just see it being knocked away. It's tough. It's frustrating. They're doing a good job. They're finishing good. They had their troubles last week. But they're racing hard. Today was a 'must finish ahead of those guys' day. We came into the day saying we have to win. But we finished third and we made gains. It was a good day for us. Anything you can do to break the momentum of the guys in front of you is what you want to do."

(ON TRYING TO GET THE SET-UP BETTER AT THAT START OF THE RACE) "We were loose again. Again, we started off tight and about 10 laps into it......  Of course it didn't help what happened with me and Harvick. That loosened me up a lot. I just couldn't get it back. I got loose getting in and getting off. We did a ton to tighten that car up and it was still loose at the end of the race. I was happy with the car for the most part, but we still have to get a little bit better at the start of the race."

(ON DALE JR'S 25 POINT PENALTY AT THIS POINT) "It doesn't matter what we look at right now. It's really after Homestead. If he looses it by less than 25 points, you guys will have a lot to talk about. Until then, I think it's got to be a forgotten issue. He's got to move on. It doesn't mean we agree with it or disagree with it. I don't know if penalties need to be made in points like that. But if they want to fine somebody, they need to fine somebody. But I hope that one of us wins it by more than 25 points so it's a non-issue - or he wins it. I don't think it needs to draw too much attention and hopefully it won't."

(WHAT KIND OF RACING DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS?) "Aggressive, hard racing. On one hand, you've got guy who've got to be careful. I kind of like the position I'm in right now because the No. 97 has to be more cautious than I do. So it's not a bad position to be in. But just like when we let up to Richmond getting into the Chase, it gets intense. Anybody who has a shot at it is going to be on edge and feel more pressure. They're going to be driving aggressive or they're going to be thinking about it too much and make a mistake."

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