J. Gordon first Chevy in Sears Point Qualifying

CHEVROLET/TEAM MONTE CARLO NOTES AND QUOTES
Save Mart 350
Sears Point Raceway
112 laps, 350 kilometers
2-mile road course
Race16 of 36
NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES

POST-QUALIFYING:

RON FELLOWS, NO. 87 CELLULAR ONE CHEVY MONTE CARLO (19th):  "(Qualifying is)
very different than practice.  It was not a very good lap for us.  I don¹t
know if it was the stuff on before us; it was very, very slippery.  It
didn¹t have any rear grip.  I¹d have to look at the lap times, but I think
overall (the early qualifying times were not so good.)  Ryan Newman¹s off
from where he was.  It appears to be a bit of a crapshoot.  We were sliding
around, spending way too much time looking out the side window."  TRACK
SLIPPERY?  "This is just the track surface.  Sometimes you have
compatibility issue when you¹ve got a different series out there that runs
on a different kind of rubber and you go out there first (in qualifying
after an SCCA race) and it tends to be pretty slick.  I suspect the track
will get better as qualifying goes along.  You have some sunshine and the
track temperatures go up and it makes it greasy, and that¹s pretty typical."
WHO ARE THE BEST WINSTON CUP ROAD RACERS?  "There are some awfully good road
racers here, trust me.  Jeff Gordon is the best, Mark Martin is very, very
good, Ricky Rudd, Tony Stewart is one, Steve Park. Jimmie Johnson tested
really, really well, so I look for big things from him.  Ryan Newman is
obviously getting around here.  Rusty Wallace (is good) in terms of the
race.  It¹s sort of the the veteran regulars (who are good) and the new kids
are obviously doing well as well."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVY MONTE CARLO (ninth):  "It was
pretty good.  I¹d like to have been a little better, but I had a hard time
getting the tires temps up.  Didn¹t get of turn 11 last time very good and
just didn¹t have enough tire temps through the first couple of corners,
We¹re happy where we¹ve qualified and we¹ll probably end up in the top 10."
SLIPPERY? "I don¹t think the track is as slippery as much as the tire temps
weren¹t up.  I think it was more of a tire temp issue.  Guys are used to
getting a full lap of tire temp on sticker tires and then going and
qualifying."  TURN 11:  "We¹re pretty good on 11, but I didn¹t do 11 very
good today."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVY MONTE CARLO (fourth, first Chevrolet):   ON
THE FANS SCREAMING HIS NAME AFTER QUALIFYING:  "Yeah, we¹ve got the fans out
here, which is great.  I love coming up to this area.  Growing up as a kid
out hereŠso it¹s a lot off fun.  Unfortunately, I didn¹t get to make many
laps here at Sears Point , but I¹m enjoying the laps I¹m getting to make
right now."  BRAND NEW RACE CAR?  "We got limited on time this morning.  I
would have liked to have some more time.  There are definitely some things I
would have done different if we would have had more time.  The car all in
all is pretty darn good.  I made a really smooth consistent lap there.  I
just saw guys struggling with some times out there and I said, you know I
think it would be better if I made sure to keep all four tires on the track
and not be over-aggressive.  I felt I was a little too aggressive in
practice.  It was a decent lap, but I know we¹ve got more in the car."
SOME OF THE ROAD RACERS SAY YOU¹RE THE GUY TO BEAT HERE:  "That¹s a
compliment.  We have certainly been real strong out here, won a lot of races
and won a lot of races on these road courses and have been the guy to beat.
I hope that¹s again this weekend.  I hope we disappoint these guys because
we don¹t let them get into victory lane.  If they do beat us I hope they
have to work hard for it and we¹re right in the thick of things." ON THE
ROAD COURSE INTERLOPERS:  "It¹s hard to beat these (regular Winston Cup)
teams.  These team and driver combinations that run every weekend -- man,
it¹s hard to beat that.  These guys certainly give it a great effort and I
love racing with some of these road racers because they know what they¹re
doing and I get to learn from them.  But I still put a lot of faith in race
teams like ours and the guys that are up front in points always seem to find
a way to get the most out of their cars and drivers no matter where they
go."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE¹S CHEVY MONTE CARLO (15th):  "I didn¹t realize
that I was trying so hard and through practice and everything and I was just
over-driving the car.  I went out there to drive (in qualifying) sensibly
and had a great lap going, blew turn 11 there, got a little greedy getting
into 11 and it also would have been a much better lap.  I¹m very happy to
turn it around, picked up a lot of speed from practice.  Once I get in race
practice on Saturday, get back into the rhythm and remember how to drive out
here I¹ll be in good shape."  AFTER THIS MORNING¹S PRACTICE: "I was just
overdriving the car.  I was trying really hard and was over-driving the car
everywhere around the track.  Trying to adjust on the car for being so
tight.  The problem was I was driving it in so hard there¹s no way the car
was going to turn.  So we put the car back the way it was from the test and
tried to drive more sensibly and put a better lap on the board."

###