NASCAR WCUP: Jeff Gordon wins 'The Winston' in backup car
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
May 20, 2001
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"If they'd let us do that another weekend, we might be able to do it again. But I'll tell you what, it just says a lot about this race team. They just work their tails off to not only put great primary cars out there, but to have a great back-up car in the truck. I just can't say enough for them and their effort. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports contributed to this whole effort. There was a lot of work to be done to get this back-up car ready in a short period of time and I just want to thank each and every one of them. I'm so proud to be a part of Hendrick Motorsports.
"I want to thank God for such a great night and for keeping me safe out there when I hit the wall. That was a hard hit and there's nothing sweeter to come back and win. I said earlier to come back and win in the back-up car would be quite a story, and it is."
(Were you concerned that you didn't have your primary engine in the back-up car?) "Those guys in the engine shop worked extremely hard to give us as much horsepower and reliability as they can. I've got the utmost confidence in them no matter what's in that car. But we had a great motor we wanted to put in this thing, but we didn't have a long enough delay there. We went with this one, so we had to make up for it in the corners. Really, The Winston is all about not only having a great racecar and a great race team, but it's about positioning. And it couldn't have been positioned any more perfect than it was for me. I wanted to start on the outside front row of that last 10-lap segment. Jarrett gave Ward quite a push there and I thought they were going to get away from me. I just hung with it up on the outside. Ward only had two tires, so I knew four tires would be real strong. It was just great call, great positioning. Everything just worked out perfect. Couldn't have asked for more for the Dupont Chevrolet."
(At what point during the second segment did you think you had a chance to win?) "The first segment, I knew the car was good but we were stuck back there in traffic and a lot of dirty air. We worked our way up there on new tires once we got that pit stop. In the segment, they dropped the green, and I just knew the car was really strong. The adjustments that Robbie Loomis made were just great adjustments and I've got to thank him, he does such a really great job. It was just great calls all night tonight.
"I was running in Tony's (Stewart) tracks and he was making me just a little bit tight when I was up behind him. I thought it would come down to me and him. Unfortunately, he got hung up there on a pit stop. I thought if I could get in front of him, I thought I had as good a car as he had."
(Talk about the "pass for the cash"): "Hey, every pass we made tonight was for the cash. Let me tell you, that's what all this is about. I've got to thank RJReynolds and their Winston brand. They do so much for our sport. It's so exciting to be a part of NASCAR Winston Cup racing right now. All these fans came out here to see an awesome event and I hope they saw that. I need to take advantage of these cheers. Oh, there's a few there. We've got to say a lot about them. They waited out as long as we did tonight to see this race. It was raining and they didn't give up on us. They stayed here and I hope they got their money's worth because we certainly got ours out of RJReynolds because we certainly got ours. $500,000. We'll take it."
Text provided by Nancy Wager
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