CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES AARON'S 499 RACE NOTES

April 25, 2004  

 

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 TIDE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Well, we obviously have an engine problem. I don't know. I'm just puzzled. It's been such a slow start for us. And it's not just one thing. We just continue to have some strange circumstances. It's the same Tide team that went to victory lane at Darlington and Martinsville. I've got a lot of confidence in this group. We've just got to battle through it."

 

WARD BURTON, NO. 0 NETZERO CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "The motor had been running a little hot in the draft. The drafting obviously heats them up a little bit if you don't get clean air. We took all the tape off it. It took a little bit of the ability of the car to suck up away, but still the NetZero Chevrolet has been running well. Hendrick normally has done a great job with the motor, but for some reason or another we're having some trouble today. We're just not sure what it was."

 

KENNY WALLACE, NO. 27 AARON'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Tony Stewart is a very good friend of mine so I'll plead the fifth because I like Tony. I hate it for Ken Butler and everyone at Aaron's. It just turned out that we wrecked, so we'll just go on from here."

 

SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "The guys did an awesome job on the Valvoline Chevrolet today. I just hate that we got into it today. I was doing a lot of giving out there. A lot of people were taking a lot of risks. I was just trying to keep the fenders on it and see the end of this thing. There's I was really waiting until the end to do all my taking and have a good finish to this thing. I just saw the No. 97 car spinning down low. We were up top. We rode down and almost got stopped. I was just waiting for everybody to slide to the bottom and somebody hit me from the rear and knocked me down the race track right through the mess. I just hate it."

 

(THUMBS UP OR THUMBS DOWN ON TALLADEGA?) "Thumbs up because the guys gave me such a good car. Thumbs up for the tires even."

 

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We were having a real good day and then the water temperature pegged. Something either went through the radiator or it was an internal problem. I looked down and the gauges were upside down. We were going from the back to the front all day and I thought we were going to have a pretty good chance there, but obviously today's not the day."

 

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO

(THERE WAS A LOT GOING ON OUT THERE TODAY. IN ALL FAIRNESS TO YOU, EARLIER IN THE DAY KURT BUSCH AND SOME OF THE OTHER DRIVERS POINTED A FINGER AT YOU. WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE WHOLE AFTERNOON AND THAT INCIDENT IN PARTICULAR?)

"I got underneath him (Busch) and then got him in a compromising position and I started to back out. I just didn't back up enough to get him out of it. Everybody can say what they want and the fans are going to say what they want to. This is a product of restrictor plate racing. If they want to script us a script and tell us where they want us to run each lap, that's fine. We can do that too. But Kurt and I get along good. I sure didn't want that to happen to him or anybody else. If you look at our track record in restrictor plate racing I don't think we've caused to many wrecks in our career here in restrictor plate racing."

 

(YOU HAD A GREAT RUN GOING AT THE END OF THE RACE BUT GOT TURNED AROUND AND DID A GREAT JOB OF SAVING THE RACE CAR)

"It's just part of racing. Jimmie (Johnson) and I are good friends too. I know Jimmie didn't turn me on purpose. That's just a product of what we have to do here for 188 laps. We've got to do it twice a year here and twice at Daytona. I don't feel any ill feelings toward anybody. He was just racing - trying to get every spot he could get. If you look at all these cars here, you're going to see a lot of them that look like they just left Martinsville last week. I don't think I'm the only one who got in any scuffles today.

 

 

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

"We just got everything all over the windshield there and couldn't see and had to come in and pit. We got back up there and we were just battling it out. Whoever got in the best line won. We all got to shuffling around. I thought we were third. But they'll get it all straightened out shortly. It was a great day for the GM Goodwrench Chevy. We've run so good these past two years on these restrictor plate tracks that sooner or later we're going to get a win. We've just got to keep clicking away. It was a great points day for us. We'll just go to California."

 

(ON RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS, IS IT ALL ABOUT BEING AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME?)

"It is. And if you don't have a good car, you can't do anything. The main thing is that these guys at RCR and this GM Goodwrench team work extra hard on our speedway stuff and take a lot of pride in it. I'm just hoping one of these times we'll be in the right spot to come to the checkered. But it was a great day for us."

 

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Man, I'm just sorry we didn't get to go back racing because we had a really good car and I had a shot at it. But we took four tires there at the end and did the best job we could. We kept the car on the race track all day long. We led some laps and had a great weekend down here at Talladega. It's a lot of fun to come down here and race."

 

(HOW STRONG WAS YOUR CAR?) 

"I think we were the first car in line that stopped with about 20 (laps) to go and put four brand new tires on it and topped off with fuel. I think that helped us. It gives you more weight in the trunk which pushes the spoiler down and we had four fresh tires. I'm just disappointed that we didn't get to win this race today but maybe we'll get one next week in Fontana."

 

 

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 WELLBUTRIN XL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: 

"We set a top-10, which is good. That's two in a row for us. It was a long day, but we stayed out of trouble and finished well. I had to go through the stuff at one point to avoid a wreck and that caused a little bit of damage to the left front. But, the guys worked hard and we were able to come home in the top 10."

 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:  "It feels real good to be in victory lane. Beating the DEI cars is so difficult to do. We did everything we could. I didn't know if we were ahead there in the end, but I knew I was ahead of him going into (turn) three. We're going to let NASCAR make that call. But what an awesome effort by this race team - Robbie Loomis and all the guys on this team. We're just really happy for Rick Hendrick and Pop. I know they're watching back in the hospital back there in Charlotte. Our prayers go out to Pop and to Robbie's mom too. She's been under the weather. I know it's going to be controversial, but I don't care."

 

(IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE YOU'VE WON A PLATE RACE)

"It seems like a long time since I've won any race. I can't think of a better one to win. We run so darn good on restrictor plate races but those DEI guys have just been embarrassing us. I didn't now what was going to happen there. I knew I got ahead of him (Dale Jr.) going into (turn) three. I passed him but I wasn't passing him. Luckily right before I put the after-burner on, the caution must have come out. I'm going to go with NASCAR on that one. I don't know if everybody here agrees but I certainly do."

 

(THERE WAS A LOT OF DEBRIS ON THE TRACK TOO)

"I don't know if they were Pepsi cans or beer cans. But there were a lot of them out there. I did a burn out over all those cans. If just feels great to get back to victory lane. These guys did a great job. It was a great day for us." More to follow

 

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"We should be taking the trophy, but we'll just see how it works out."

 

(WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND JEFF GORDON THERE AT THE END?)

"There wasn't no difference. I thought I was ahead of him before the caution came out. But apparently NASCAR has a different opinion. But we'll just see what they show us and go from there." 

 

(WAS NASCAR'S DECISION CORRECT? DID JEFF GORDON WIN THE RACE?)

"Well, I'm biased of course, but I felt like I was ahead of him. But I don't know. I couldn't see the flag stand. I don't know exactly how they make their decision on freezing the field or exactly when they freeze it. But I thought I was miles ahead of him. I didn't even thing it was close. But it was a great points day in either first or second. We don't' make the decisions or the rules and I think Tony (Eury) Sr. wants to see the film and how they made their decision. So we'll go with that. We've learned in the past to keep our mouths shut and keep a better attitude about it. 

 

"I had a blast. There were a couple of times I shouldn't have finished the race. We were real fortunate just to be where we were there at the end." 

 

PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

(ON THE RACE OVERALL)

"It was a wild race. It was a lot of fun. I was really looking forward to today. I love running on this race track. This package is pretty cool. The new tire is really nice because it wears out and your car slides around and you can make some driving moves instead of just drafting all the time. It was fun regardless of the decision there at the end. We had a real good car. We had a good day. We weren't as confident in this car as we were in the won we won at Daytona with that's in the museum. Yesterday we were real disappointed with how it ran in practice. 

      

"We didn't really make a whole lot of changes. We just did what we felt like we'd been doing here in the past to get success.  The race started and the car was great. We went to the front and led some laps. We raced three-wide and I worked with my teammate a lot today. I worked with the RCR car of Gordon (Robby) and (Kevin) Harvick too. It was great. We were all working together. Everybody was really having a lot of fun out there regardless of all the beating and banging I think we were all smiles. 

 

"There at the end, I was trying to motion on the restarts for Mark (Martin). When I was getting into the gas, he didn't really get that good of a start that last time. We kind of got jumped by a couple of guys. The next thing I knew, we were running about fourth or fifth on the inside. Harvick was leading. We got shoved back to the lead. It was just a lot of racing and a lot of passing. I thought it was a great race for the fans. And there at the end, we were on the outside. I got shoved from the No. 48 (Johnson) down the back straightaway. I thought I was ahead of Jeff (Gordon) in the corner when the caution was out. But NASCAR had the opposite opinion on that and went with Jeff and gave that team the victory. It was kind of disappointing but it was a great points day for us. 

 

"I'm just disappointed we didn't get the win. I haven't seen NASCAR's evidence as far as their piece of videotape or whatever to show me I was not ahead of Jeff when the caution came out.  I feel like I was. I was a car length past him going by a caution light that was not on. So I had to have been ahead of him when the flag came out because the flag comes out before the lights, I believe. But not very far ahead of it. If anything, I at least had half a car length on Jeff. But apparently NASCAR says I didn't. But we'll see what they've got to show us. We're not going to stomp our feet and argue and moan about it. NASCAR makes the rules. This is a difficult decision for them, I do understand, due to the new rules they've implemented into the sport. It's a tough call. I feel bad that they have to make a tough call that hands one guy over the other the win, but that's the way it is today."

      

(DID WE WASTE 5 LAPS UNDER CAUTION AND COULD WE HAVE FINISHED UNDER THE GREEN?)

"Obviously NASCAR had a reason to leave the caution out. Apparently there was something hampering our ability to get back to racing in some form or another. I thought maybe a one-lap dash was a possibility, but there is more to the story that you and I know. So I'm not sure I'm the guy who can answer that question. It looked in order to me, but I've been wrong about that in the past."

 

(WOULD YOU HAVE WANTED TO SEE A ONE-LAP DASH DESPITE OF THE DANGER?)

"Well, yeah. I want the win, so give me a lap and we'll see what happens. I understand that it is dangerous - maybe not for a guy in first, second, third or fourth - but this guy coming from 10th that's trying to get a top five and somehow somebody gets on his roof every time. So it's maybe not a good idea overall for everybody. But I'd have liked to have a shot at it. There are a lot of guys who were probably happy to have it end under caution."

 

(WHAT ABOUT THE GREEN, WHITE, CHECKERED RULE THAT THE TRUCKS HAVE?)

"It would have been nice today. But if you bring that into the sport, and a lot of times you'll have three or four green, white, checkereds - kind of like a double or triple overtime deal -- where we just keep running over each other. So, maybe that's not something you'd want at this level of racing. To keep harmony, the way things are is pretty good. I don't want to complain. I just feel like I was ahead of him. That's my only argument. Other than that, I thought it was a great race."

 

(ON RACING NOSE TO TAIL WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON)

"It was a lot of fun. Jimmie is pretty evasive out on the race track. He's real aggressive when trying to hang on to the lead. There were times when I felt like if he wanted it bad enough, I'd see how bad he wanted it in the corner (laughs). But he had a real strong bumper on the back of his car.

      

"I could push him through the corner. There are only one or two cars on the track that you can do that. A lot of guys you scoop up under them and you can pick them up. So pushing them through the corner of the tri-oval was not an option. But Jimmie's bumper was strong enough where I could hit him in the corner and it didn't really upset his car too much."

 

(WERE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW WELL KERRY EARNHARDT RAN TODAY?)

"My team has a nickname for Kerry. We call him Lamont. I don't now why. Tony Jr. and Tony Sr. gave it to him. We were running and I got caught in the middle and I saw that dang fish on the hood coming at me (No. 33 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet). They said (on the radio), 'Here comes Lamont up the middle to help you.' And he pushed me all the way up there. Aside from a couple of races in the mid '90's, we have hardly raced against each other. So that was a blast. I couldn't wait for him to get back up there because he was having a great time, I'm sure. He put on a great run for his team. They really accomplished everything they set out to by making the race and running strong. Unfortunately he was a victim there in his accident and it cost him the ability to finish the race. He has to really be pretty happy with what he was able to show today. I was proud of him.

 

"I think Michael (Waltrip) was getting beat around by a couple guys and turned down there across the middle lane on somebody and ended up running into the side of Kerry and taking him out of the race. But Kerry has nothing to be upset about. He had a great day. He really showed a lot of promise. I can't wait to see him in the other four races he's going to run this year."

 

(WHEN DID YOU FIND OUT NASCAR SAID YOU FINISHED 2ND?)

"I thought they said the No. 8 car was ahead right off the bat. They said No. 8 and No. 24. About a lap later, they said No. 24 and No. 8. Apparently they were looking at their tapes. They were pretty much staying with that story."

 

      

(ON PEOPLE SAYING THESE RACES ARE RIGGED SO JR. WINS)

"Well, as bad as is not to win the race and not get the trophy, I'm real glad that one of these calls finally went against me. It's going to shut up a lot of people. All my fans can now voice their opinions. It'll be a good day reading the paper tomorrow.

 

"I've been on both ends of this - getting the call to go for you and getting it to go against you. It's just like the other day with the No. 21 and the No. 2 in the Busch race not getting sent to the back for violating some rules. We've bent a few rules on our car too. If we pulled the covers back on everything we've got I'm sure you could find something you don't like about it. That's the way it is for this call. Last year, I was racing below the yellow line and they called it fair. This one didn't go my way. So, big deal. All in all, it's a positive good finish for us. We have a lot to be happy about."  

 

(WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO THE FANS THAT WERE THROWING BEER CANS ON THE TRACK AT THE END OF THE RACE?)

"It's just that people have been here all day long having a good time. A lot of times you do things you regret or shouldn't do. In a way, I look at it as a pure form of expression which I really rare in this sport. It's really the only outlet left of telling it like it is.  A side of me really likes to see the reaction whether it was pro Earnhardt or anti-Earnhardt. I've seen a lot of people holding up No. 24 banners and hats that were happy Gordon won the race. A lot of people may have been disappointed just because they didn't go back to green. 

 

"But we can only speculate. But each little beer can out there has a little message on it. What that message is, we don't all really know for sure. I don't think they really trashed the place. They were expressing themselves in the only manner they saw fit. You see one beer can go on the track and you can expect to see more following it."

 

(ARE NASCAR FANS LIKE GERMAN SOCCER FANS WHEN THEY GO WILD?)

"It's ridiculous to coin that phrase. NASCAR is really putting itself out in a different market. We're on a different stage now, so you're going to have more people talking about what they think is right or wrong - especially in this sport when there are as many judgment calls and gray areas. The fans want answers. I feel bad for NASCAR to be in this situation. But they're trying to figure out how to make it more black & white. 

 

"There is not another race on the circuit where the fans are as pumped as they are at Talladega for the whole duration of the race. Every lap you run, people's arms are in the air. I love it. And with the side by side racing, it builds up emotions with everybody. You've got to expect some type of emotions. Luckily, it wasn't seat cushions like we had at Daytona. They were difficult to climb over with your race car. The beer cans were easy to dodge."

 

(IS IT WORTH IT TO TURN YOUR WINNING DAYTONA 500 CAR OVER TO THE MUSEUM?)

"I was disappointing that we couldn't bring what we felt was the best car. I wish we could have gotten that car out of the museum and then put it back when we were done. But that's not the way it works. We had two cars to choose from. Both of them ran the Bud Shootout - one in 2003 and one this year. One car won in 2003. We didn't like the car we ran in 2004 that pushed Dale Jarrett to the win. We brought that car. 

 

"Tony Jr. wouldn't change his mind. He worked on it. He cut the sides and fenders and nose off of it. He's worked on it since February. We qualified pretty good. I wasn't really happy with the car on Saturday. It was great today. So I'm not worried about the car going into Daytona in July. It's just as good as the one we won the 500 with."

 

 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO 

PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

(ON RACING NOSE TO TAIL WITH DALE EARNHARDT JR.)

"I had a great race. I could tell, when I looked in the mirror, all I would see is the windshield - usually you see a little bit of a hoot -- and Dale's eyes staring through at me. He was on my bumper pushing me around. Fortunately we had a good balanced car and a good bumper. We learned our lessons in the past few speedway races to make sure we had a good strong bumper so the car would be stable when somebody was pushing us. 

 

"But I was just trying to hang on with everything I had. But when you're the leader, the cars behind you are generating a lot of energy. They're bump-drafting and hitting each other. Leading is probably one of the hardest things to do. Running second or third is probably one of the easiest things. We just held on for as long as we could. We got shuffled out, but still came back for a good finish."

 

(ON ENDING THE RACE UNDER YELLOW)

"I couldn't tell what was going on in front of me. I was stuffed up behind the No. 8 (Dale Jr.). I was looking next to me at the No. 29 (Harvick) and racing my race. I was more worried about where I was. They make it very clear in every drivers meeting that after a certain point they will not red flag the race. NASCAR, I'm sure, had valid reasons why they didn't go back to green. There is no way in the world they're going to want to deal with all the criticism they're going to have. They don't want to upset the fans."

 

(DID YOU SEE ANYONE CLEANING UP THE DEBRIS IN TURNS 3 AND 4)

"I saw trucks in the grass. I didn't see anybody on the track. But maybe with one or two to go, I saw a few beer cans come over the fence before there was even a sign of us not going back to green."

 

(WHAT WAS THE DEAL WITH TONY STEWART WHEN HE CUT YOU OFF A COUPLE OF TIMES?)

"There was nothing there. It was just a racing incident. He may have cut me off a few times. I cut Dale Jr. off a few times. Its just part of restrictor plate racing. But I had a good run and got inside of him off of (turn) 4. I got to about his wheel and I saw him jerk it down to block me but I was already there. I can't go below the yellow line, so I just kind of held my line and let off the gas and just clipped him and sent him down on the inside. It never fails when you're out there racing with one of your friends, you end up running into those guys and you'd rather run into a few other people than your buddies."

 

(IF IT WERE EARLIER, WOULD YOU HAVE BACKED OFF?)

"No, I was there. I was inside of him. Until I saw what was coming, I had about a half a second to figure out what I was going to do and I bailed out of the gas. You have to make moves like that, especially with Tony because he's good at drafting and you have to look to any little hole you can get."

 

(WITH DEI'S SUCCESS AT RESTRICTOR PLATE RACING, HAVE THE OTHER TEAMS BECOME MORE COMPETITIVE?)

"I think we've closed the gap. We've formed a crew of people at Hendrick Motorsports that are focused exclusively on building speedway cars -- something like DEI has had for a while. They're making us all go to work a lot harder for four races. We're all tired of getting beat up. The RCR cars have made huge gains. I was also surprised to see the No. 42 and the No. 41 running so well."

 

PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

JEFF GORDON AND ROBBIE LOOMIS -- NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"It was pretty exciting. I had no idea what was going to happen those last nine laps. They dropped the green and I just wanted to get the best start I could. Jamie McMurray said he was going to push me as far as he could. He pushed me at turn one and when I went to the outside he left me. Luckily by that time I had so much momentum that I went to the outside and hoped it would carry me. Michael (Waltrip) and Jimmie (Johnson) got together and it stalled everybody up and allowed me to shoot up there. Once I got towards Junior, I was working the momentum the best I could. 

 

Luckily, I had some help. I got a huge push down the back straightaway and I knew there was no way that Junior was going to be able to block the momentum and I got to the inside of him. But we went back and forth and he'd get a shove and I'd get a shove. When we went into turn 3, I knew I'd gotten ahead of him but I wasn't completely ahead of him. When the wreck happened, I knew I was ahead of him but I didn't know when they threw the caution. But he did come back and get ahead of me pretty late off of turn 4. I had no idea how they were going to judge that. You never know when the caution comes out."

 

(WHEN DID YOU FIND OUT THAT IT WAS YOUR SPOT?)

"First they said the No. 8 was ahead of the No. 24 and when I got to turn 2 they said the No. 24 was ahead of the No. 8.  And I said, 'Really?' Okay (laughs. Cool. He rode next to me because obviously he wanted to fight the call. Neither one of us really knew. They I was waiting for them to drop the green and for us to go back to racing for one lap but they didn't. They kept it under caution. With the breaks we've had lately, I still wasn't going to get excited until we crossed that line. Once we did, it was an amazing feeling."

 

(WHAT WAS YOUR TAKE ON THE WHOLE THING?)

ROBBIE LOOMIS: "I was watching it on the monitor and I clearly felt that Jeff was ahead of Junior going into turn 3. But it's not only the flag but it's the light. Either one of those dictates that the caution is out. Evidently one of them must have been out when we were in front. I was very thankful. I thought for sure we'd win in Texas or Martinsville, but we didn't. And here we are now. It feels great."

 

(DID YOU TAKE SATISFACTION FROM DOING DONUTS OVER BEER CANS THROWN BY THE FANS?)  JEFF GORDON: "I took a lot of satisfaction out of a lot of things from that moment. And that was one of them. Anytime Junior doesn't win here and he has a shot at, I think it's controversial. There are so many people pulling for him. He has a huge fan base. It was controversial because of that and because we didn't go back to racing. I think they wanted to see him have a shot at it. But we've had this Dupont/Pepsi car for a few years not and never gotten it into victory lane. So that was very gratifying. And, it was our first NEXTEL Cup Series win. 

 

"It's not the same if they just stand up and turn around and leave. You want some stuff. You want some action. I don't mind a little controversy either. When they were throwing all that stuff out there, it made me smile and laugh. I wanted to enjoy it. I actually stopped so they could throw it on me and hit the car. And then I did a burnout to spit as many cans out the back of the car that I possibly could."

 

 

(DALE JR. SAID HE NEVER SAW THE CAUTION. DID YOU?)

"I never saw a light. I couldn't tell you where the light is down there. But I wasn't looking for a light. I was trying to stay ahead of him. I don't know how they decide. I went with the decision last week that I didn't necessarily feel was the right one, and I'm going to go with the one this week that happens in my favor and I'm going to say it's the right one."

 

(DO YOU FEEL THE NORMAL JEFF GORDON FAN IS BETTER BEHAVED?)

"Well, let's just say this. My fans are drinking Pepsi. They're not drinking Budweiser. So that automatically puts them in a different position when it comes to decision-making."

 

(WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THE INITIAL CALL?)

"I knew I was ahead of him when they said the wreck happened. And then it seemed like there was a long pause before my spotter said they had thrown the caution. I wondered right then why they waited so long to throw the caution. We would have been ahead of him right then. When they went back and reviewed the tape, they must have felt like the caution was thrown right as the wreck was happening or right after. When I first heard that the No. 8 was ahead of the No. 24, it could have gone either way really. With the HANS device and head supports we have, it's hard to look over and know whether you're ahead or not ahead. So I just accepted it and hoped we'd go back green."

 

(ON NASCAR'S FEELINGS THAT ONE-LAP SHOOTOUTS AT DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA ARE DANGEROUS)

"I absolutely agree with that. This is a unique place where the restrictor plates are involved and we are three and four-wide. It's nothing but trouble. You saw how hairy it was out there today. We certainly didn't need to add to that."