NASCAR WCUP: Jeff Gordon compliments Stewart's race winning move at Sears Point
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
June 25, 2001Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet Monte Carlo (finished 3rd):
"Tony Stewart had a good car here last year and got knocked out and didn't show what he was capable of but today he did. He made a good move there getting by the No. 7 car (Robby Gordon). He was held up there with the No. 29 car (Kevin Harvick) messing with him. I think we had a pretty good car there in the long run but I don't think we had one quite as good as Tony's. I made some mistakes out there. I got into (turn) 11 too high a couple of times. Both times just happened to be when second and third was behind me. That kind of messed up our day, but hey, I'm happy with a third place. It was a good day for the Dupont Chevrolet. It was a good points day. We'll take it."
(On recapping the day): "We got a solid finish. And that's all I was asking for. I know you guys (the media) had me winning the race before it started, but I didn't expect that. We brought a good car out here and put it on the pole and took off early. The car was real tight all day long. I knew if we got behind anybody, we were going to be in trouble. Our track position changed there just because of some pit stops early. So we were behind. And then we got back up front. Our guys in the pits were just awesome. I was real proud of them. I was just struggling with a little bit of a push all day. Robby (Gordon) was coming and he put some heat on me. I made a mistake and he got underneath me. Same thing with Tony. I think Tony had the best car there at the end, but I don't know if he could have gotten by Robby out in clean air. So for the most part it was good. We led a bunch of laps. We finished third and I made up some points. That's what we want to do is take advantage of the places that are good tracks for us and this is one of them. To come out of here in third, I'm pretty happy."
(What kind of mistakes did you make out there today?) "You'd be surprised how many mistakes I made out there today - you just didn't get to see them. That was just one of the bigger ones when someone got by me. The unfortunate thing that I'm disappointed about is that I made it right in front of the second-place guy and then I made it right in front of the third-place car. But those guys were pretty good in turn10, but coming into turn 11, they could really get a good run on me. And so I had to run in there a little harder than I wanted to, and brake as late as possible. I just got in there just a little bit deeper and got on the brakes, and the back wheels just slid a little bit - it's what we call 'wheel-hop' - and all I could do was just hold on from there."
(What was your view of the Stewart, Harvick, Gordon moves in front of you?) "It looked like a good move by Tony (Stewart). I don't know what Kevin (Harvick) was doing, but he wanted that position pretty bad. I think it's unfortunate that he was put in that much pressure. But if that was me, I'd have let him go by a lot earlier because there was no reason for him to be putting that much pressure on - he was pretty upset about whatever penalty happened on pit road. You just let a guy like that go. I think in open track, I think that Robby could have held Tony off. But I don't know if Kevin got into Robby or what, but they both got out of shape pretty good there and Tony capitalized on it. That's what you've got to do."
Text provided by Nancy Wager
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit
The Racing Photo Museum and the
Visions of Speed Art Gallery.