FIVE CHEVYS IN TOP 10 AT BRICKYARD; HARVICK TOP CHEVY DRIVER IN FIFTH

Kevin Harvick, driver of the GM Goodwrench Service Chevrolet, led the way
for Team Monte Carlo with a fifth-place finish at the Brickyard 400 at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Five Chevy drivers placed in the top 10, giving
Chevrolet slots five through nine in the finishing order. Raybestos Rookie
of the Year contender Jimmie Johnson, rallied from his 37th starting
position to
finish 9th. Johnson moved into 2nd place in the Winston Cup Series point
standings - just 93 points behind the leader, Sterling Marlin. Post-race
comments follow:

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (top Chevrolet of
the day - finished 5th): "We were just a little bit tight. We played our
cards right and got a good finish out of it. We were really, really tight.
If we would have gotten up front, we probably would have been really good.
We played good track position and did what we had to do. So all
in all, to come away with a top five today wasn't bad."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (sixth): "We had a good car
there at the beginning and we kind of lost a handle on it but it got real,
real tight. We¹re fortunate to get back up and get some good track position
and get a pretty good run at it, I¹m real happy sixth, best we were all day
and it was a fun time. I was pleased with that." SEEM LIKE NOBODY WAS GOING
TO CATCH BILL ELLIOTTŠCongrats to Bill and Ray and those guys and that team.
They came prepared and were in a league of their own and we¹re in trouble in
a lot of places for the rest of the year if they keep running like that."
WHAT KIND OF TOLL DID THE HEAT TAKE ON YOU IN THE CAR?" It was hot and it
put a lot of rubber down on the track and it was slick. And you thank God
for the cautions, and if we hadn¹t had as many cautions as we had it would
have been as much tougher to get through. But I had just enough to come in
and get something to drink and cool myself off and take a breather and then
get back out there and get back to work." WAS IT FUN RACING AGAINST TONY
STEWART AGAIN? "Oh yeah. I like racing this place, but I can¹t seem to get a
qualifying run too good. But once I get out there in the raceŠ it¹s fun
setting guys up, especially when the car is running right and you know you
have to take advantage of any opportunity you can. And every time those guys
get side by side, especially by the end of the race, I¹m gonna take them
three wide. It¹s a bit disappointing the way things turned out because we
wanted the win, but there was really only one car out there that was fast
enough and that was Bill.  If he would have fallen out it would have been a
heck of a race. We¹re real proud of the Dupont Chevrolet and what we did
today, coming back from 21st and fought hard all day, had good pit stops and
come home sixth. WE HAD HEARD SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH YOUR OIL GAUGE,
PERHAPS IT WAS BROKE?  WHAT IMPACT DOES THAT HAVE ON YOU WHILE DRIVING? "I
didn¹t even notice it until the caution came out and I looked down and it
was just zero.  I said, Œuh oh..¹ (laughs) The motor was still running and I
kinda knew by the way the gauge was reading it wasn¹t pegged to zero -- it
was pegged over 100 which is going the opposite way. So it was a good
indication that it was a broken gauge and we just stayed after it.  It¹s
been a good week for us. That was a good solid run and that¹s what we needed
today. We never gave up and had good pit stops good strategy and made smart
calls and really pretty much came home about the best we were all day." IS
THIS THE TOUGHEST CONDITIONS YOU¹VE RACED UNDER? "Oh, yeah, it was so hot
out there. Indianapolis is not a real demanding track from a drivers¹
standpoint with it being a flat grade as it is. It was so miserable hot."

STEVE PARK, NO. 1 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (seventh, highest finish
this season and best finish since his crash in Darlington, September 2001):
"It was hot.  But the reason why we eat right and work out is for days like
today. I don¹t feel bad, I just felt elation. This team I felt last week
turned a corner and we didn¹t get a chance to race the whole race; we got on
our roof, but the same kind of deal here, we qualified good and raced good
all day long. My hat¹s off to this whole Pennzoil team. I said it even last
week; we turned a corner last week. We found some things in the car that
really are to my liking and it¹s totally different than what we had last
year. We can¹t look at last year and say, Well, we finished 10th with this
setup and this car and bring it back Œcause we know it don¹t work. I¹m real
happy for this whole Pennzoil team; they worked hard for this; we all did,
and it is a moral victory for all of us." THIS WASN¹T A ONE-LANE RACE TRACK.
YOU HAD TO WORK OUT THERE: "It was just one of those deals where you could
race. If your car wasn¹t set up right you would lose the handle and jump
back a little bit, but you could pass on the outside and we seen some
three-wide down the back straight and stuff. I just love Indy. I think it¹s
a great race track. We love coming here to race and the Pennzoil Chevrolet
was a really good race car all day today. Track position was key right there
at the end. I don¹t know how the leaders felt, but as soon as I got behind
the 24 car I could roll with him but I would get too tight." TWO TIRES, FOUR
TIRES, NO TIRES AT THE END? "We took four with 30 to go and then when
everybody pitted right there at the end for two we stayed out. We gained the
track position we needed.  Paul Andrews did a really good job in the pits
calling the race and calling the tires. Right there he said, ŒWe got enough
gas and tires to go to the end, so have a good day. We¹ll see you when it¹s
over.¹ We¹re just glad to be here and have a top-10 finish." WHAT DOES THIS
DO FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE? "All of us. The whole team. Last week at Pocono was
the first time that I seen people walking around with their heads up a
little bit, a little skip in their step and we qualified good and ran good
and ended up on our roof. So to come here and qualify and run so good is
definitely a morale booster, not only for myself, but for the whole entire
Pennzoil team."

PAUL ANDREWS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 1 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:  "Š(He had)
scrapes and cuts from trying to get out.  Other than that he was in topnotch
shape.  We¹ve all worked really hard on our safety equipment and NASCAR has
done a lot with that, and we followed everything to the letter on the safety
deal and we can¹t complain about that. Our driver was ready to go; I wasn¹t
worried about him at all.  This heat, Man, let it get hot, the hotter the
better, I like it. Usually, the better-handling cars show up at the end in
hot races. I think that¹s where we¹re the strongest." WHAT WILL A GOOD,
SOLID FINISH DO FOR STEVE¹S CONFIDENCE? "That¹s everything. It¹s all about
finishing these races. It¹s all about finishing these races with good runs.
We definitely had some good runs in the past that didn¹t quite make it, but
we also had just plain hell of a lot of bad runs; we just didn¹t run good
like we needed to. There¹s been more of that than others. A good solid run
is what Steve needed for his confidence and what everybody on this team
needed." IS THE TEAM RALLYING AROUND STEVE TO KEEP HIM IN THIS CAR NEXT
YEAR? "Well, we¹re just trying to get through this year. We want to work
with what we¹ve got and we¹re happy to have Steve and we¹d love to have him
back for next year but that¹s not up to us. That¹s up to Steve and DEI and
we just want to finish this year on a good note. We just want to get Steve
back to where he was. He¹s a good friend of ours and everybody on the team.
We¹ve been through a lot together and we want to see him back where he needs
to be."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (eighth): "Good
day all day. Kevin (Hamlin) gave me great pit stops; track position was key.
I¹m real happy with everybody here. Richard (Childress, team owner) kept me
calm; I got real mad there for a while, and he kept me calm. I¹m just
extremely proud of everybody here at Richard Childress Racing because we
have turned this program around. Too bad we weren¹t this strong at the
beginning of the year; we might have been there for the championship." YOU
WERE STRONG IN THE BEGINNING THEN FELL BACK: "Had to get out of the gas one
time; thought I was going to run into Kevin (Harvick) and got
freight-trained by four or five guys. After that it was track position." HOW
ARE YOUR FEET? "Feet didn¹t give me a problem; I think we¹ll be strong at
Watkins Glen next weekend. I was kind of hoping we¹d start the ball rolling
here but it looks like we¹ll have to start it next weekend."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (finished 9th and moved
into second place in the point standings): "More than anything, our good
stops all day long really kept moving us up to where we could race with the
good
guys and end up with a top ten (finish).

(On Sterling Marlin and Mark Martin having troubles) "That definitely helped
us move up in the points. I was going along and saw the No. 40 (Marlin) slow
down and then the No. 6 (Martin) and the No. 99 (Jeff Burton) slowed down on
the same straightaway. It made me start thinking about my power plant. I
know the Hendrick group has great strong engines. We didn't have any
trouble. You don't wish anything (bad) on anybody, but when we saw that
happen, it made me realize that the No. 40 car is human. Those guys have had
a pretty solid year and this is there first real hiccup."

(On the hot track) "This was my first time here, so I don't really have the
experience about the track conditions and the heat, but I think it stayed
relatively similar to what it was yesterday in final practice. We adjusted
from there last night and were able to come back today and have a solid day
today."

(How did you handle the heat?) "It wasn't too bad. The cautions were hard,
but we worked hard to keep the inside of our cars cool. I had an
air-conditioning box blowing air to my back and into my helmet. Don't get me
wrong; it was hot. But I feel pretty good right now."

RICK HENDRICK, TEAM OWNER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS (NO. 24, NO. 48, NO. 25, NO.
5): THIS TEAM HAS BEEN STRUGGLING: "We¹re not winning, but we finished today
sixth and ninth." YOU WERE THERE AT THE END: "Well, that¹s what you¹ve got
to do. I think we were in race trim better than we were in qualifying trim
and we had a problem at Pocono. I think we just missed it a little bit. But
Terry¹s (Labonte) coming on good. I think the ChevroletsŠthey either need to
do something to help the Chevrolets or they need to do something to take
away from the Fords or the Dodges, because last year when they made that
adjustment to penalize us and give to them they went too far and they¹d
never really done anything about it. I always said, when we were the first
Chevrolet, then we could complain. We weren¹t the first Chevrolet, there was
one in front of us, All in all, today, we had a good race. Jeff (Gordon)
looked good in the beginning and worked his way up to the top 10. And from
where Jimmie started to where he finished, he was competitive there all day.
Terry (Labonte) had a good day; Joe (Nemechek) finished the race in 20th.
Hey, we¹ll just have to take it and go on." CHEVROLETS ARE NOT ALWAYS THERE
IN THE BEGINNING, BUT THEY MOVE UP TO THE FRONT AT THE END LATELY: "I think
that it just shows you that track position is tough and the cars don¹t take
as much power to run fast. The cars were built as race cars and we¹re racing
a car that¹s basically off a production-car model. Until we get a new Monte
Carlo under those templates, we¹re going to be giving up. I think they made
too much of an adjustment last year and I don¹t think Chevrolet¹s ever had a
chance to come back. It¹s like you see Tony Stewart up there driving his
butt off with the Pontiac and Jeff Gordon up there, Kevin (Harvick) and all
of them sideways and rooting and gouging for all they can. When you run
against guys that can run on used tires faster than you can run on new tires
there¹s not a lot you can do.  I don¹t know anything we can do. We¹re doing
all we can. This is it."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (22nd); "It was
tight all day; we went to the back real quick; couldn¹t get any side grip
getting out of the corners. It started all right, and then went away after
the first couple of stops. We¹ve got to figure it out; don¹t know what we
have to do." ON THE HEAT, HOW DID COOL SUIT WORK? "It worked pretty good; it
was pretty hot, though. It was real hot. Hottest I believe I¹ve ever been in
the car, probably. That¹s part of it. I¹m still hot." WHAT WAS WRONG WITH
THE CAR TODAY? "There was no grip in the front; it pushed real bad." WERE
YOU THINKING, IT WAS A LONG DAY, IT¹S HOT, MY CAR¹S RUNNING BAD: "I was
hoping we¹d get the car back underneath us, but we never did, never." WAS
THIS THE TOUGHEST RACING CONDITIONS YOU REMEMBER? "I don¹t think so. I¹ve
been in some pretty tough ones. St. Louis is pretty hot." WHAT DID YOU DO TO
DEAL WITH IT? "Bring as much air to the car as we could, inside the car
itself, move the air around inside the car. It wasn¹t too bad; I¹m still
alive." NO ADJUSTMENTS WORKED? "Yeah, we tried everything. Nothing worked. I
don¹t know what was wrong with it. Tough, frustrating deal. We should have
run better."

MIKE SKINNER, NO. 4 KODAK FILMS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (finished 36th -
engine failure): "We lost a motor - started losing a cam or something
yesterday in practice and we had to change the engine. The Kodak Max Chevy
was really
good. We hit on something finally. We put on four tires and the car got a
little bit tight. We felt like on the next stop, we could put it back like
we had it the stop before. And the stop before, it was pretty fast. We were
catching a lot of really good cars. It looked maybe we could get back and
get us a top-10 finish - maybe a top 15 if nothing else. But it wasn't meant
to be today. Something in the motor cut loose."