Chevy NASCAR NEXCUP Notes - Lowe's Motor Speedway, May 30

      
CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES 

COCA COLA 600 Race Notes

LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY

May 30, 2004      

 

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET - Note: Gordon's Indy 500 efforts ended in a red-flag rain-delay on lap 29.  Jaques Lazier took over the driving duties but parked Gordon's No. 70 Meijer/Coca-Cola Dallara-Chevrolet on lap 89 with mechanical problems for a 29th place finish.  When Gordon returned to Lowe's Motor Speedway, he watched the Indy 500 on pit road until it was time to get in the car for the Coca-Cola 600. The crew has not told Gordon about the outcome of the Indy 500. Prior to the start of the race, he made the following comments to his at-track public relations representative: 

 

"I am obviously very disappointed that I didn't get to finish the Indianapolis 500.  We worked hard all month to have a good race car and felt good about our chances for a solid run in our Chevrolet powered Dallara.  But now we are at Lowe's Motor Speedway and our focus is totally on this #31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet Monte Carlo.  I had a good practice here yesterday morning so I feel comfortable we will have a good race tonight." More to follow

 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - WINNER:

"That car was so good. There were times when some of the guys were better, but we just stuck to our game plan and changes that we were going to make and knew what we needed to do. Chad (Knaus, crew chief) was on top of it and this Lowe's Monte Carlo was awesome. How can you beat this winning at home? Kyle (Busch) did it in the Busch race yesterday and we did it today. The employee owners at Lowe's have got to be freaking out right about now.  

 

(ON THE MOVE WITH 25 LAPS TO GO - LIKE THREADING A NEEDLE  BETWEEN THE NO. 31, ROBBY GORDON, AND THE NO. 9, KASEY KAHNE)

"Yeah, I had some urgency. I knew I needed to get going. I knew those guys were on old tires but I still I needed to be quick. I was able to get through there and get going."

 

(ON WINNING LAST YEAR AND THEN AGAIN THIS YEAR)

"It was rain-shortened last year and there was some controversy about that. There were some people said that maybe we weren't the best car. So to come back and back it up this year is great.  I can't believe it. It's nice to deliver when you have the dominant car and we did that today. I wish we would have had a shot at the All-Star race last weekend. But this was still an all-star performance for this Lowe's team and I can't thank everybody enough."

 

(WHEN THE CAUTIONS KEPT COMING OUT LATE, WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND?) 

"I knew if a caution came out that we were going to pit. So I was trying to get all that I could and tried to run to get away from the No. 9 (Kahne) because over the long haul he seemed to catch back up to us. I was just trying to get out of town and get going and then the cautions came out and there's nothing worse than breaking your stride with a caution." More to follow

 

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 3rd: 

(WHAT LED TO THIS GREAT RUN TONIGHT?) "Slugger and the boys did a lot of wind tunnel work.  They did a great job tonight. The NAPA crew stuck with me. We kept working. We changed the downforce and made it more like the car I had last year and there we were."

 

(ON THE LAST FEW LAPS AFTER THE RED FLAG)

"We just did a nice job on the re-start. Slugger made a good call in the pits to get two tires. It got us some track position. I didn't work Jamie (McMurray) over before the red flag, but got a chance to get him there afterward. I was real proud to get second place tonight."

 

(THIS IS A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR YOUR AND THE TEAM, ISN'T IT?) 

"Not a lot of teams were capable of running of running like we did tonight for 600 miles and stay in the Top 5 all night long. Call Domino's tomorrow night and ask for the Waltrip family special and they'll give you $5 off a large pizza. They do a nice job of sponsoring us." More to follow

 

 JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (Finished -30TH) (Started - 3rd )

(HOW FRUSTRATING WAS TONIGHT?)  "It was really frustrating, but more than that , it was just a handful.  I was just holding on trying to keep control of it.  You know the sun is going to go down and you are going to be able to make adjustments. We needed a caution really really bad and we didn't get it. We needed big big adjustments and we just didn't get a chance to do that.  Once the track cooled down, we were better. But that just wasn't a lot of fun."

 

(DO YOU GUYS HAVE TO SET IT UP REAL LOOSE HERE AND ADJUST ON IT?) "Not that loose.  The 48 car was good all day."

 

 (DID YOU GUYS HAVE A SIMILAR SETUP?)

 "I don't know, we are going to go back and look at everything. I'll tell you what, if he won with that setup, he needs a gold star (chuckles). We don't normally have the same setups but I want to go back and compare to see if we can figure out where we were off and where they were at-that looks like it makes good sense."

IS THAT THE HARDEST YOU HAVE EVER HAD TO RACE AT CHARLOTTE? "Yes it is and it figures it would be 600 miles and as hot as can be and no cautions."

 

 DALE EARNHARDT, JR, NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (Finished - 6th) (Started 10th) 

(TALK ABOUT THE END, YOU JUST MISSED THAT ACCIDENT) 

"Yes, we gained some spots there at the end. We came in and got just two tires and took advantage of some of those guys there at the end.  It wasn't a good day for us though, we struggled with the handling all day.  We were really a 10th place car, we were lucky to get a couple spots there at the end."

 

(TALK ABOUT HOW YOU FOUGHT BACK ALL NIGHT, YOU GOT A LAP DOWN AND WERE ABLE TO GET THE LUCKY DOG AND LEAVE HERE A FEW POINTS AHEAD OF JIMMIE JOHNSON) 

"I'll take it.  This is one of his better tracks, we didn't lose a whole lot to him and we leave here with the points lead.  That is important.  But this is his racetrack, he does good here."

 

(DID YOU GET HOT IN THERE?)  "It is one of the hardest races we run no doubt.  My airbox quit half way through the race, I didn't have any air in the car.  I wasn't tired, I just got hot, and it isn't any fun. But it is still a good finish for us."

 

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (Finished -9th)(Started - 6th) "The car felt worse than I did. (Tony Stewart battled feelings of nausea during the last 150 laps) We just missed it tonight. It was nobody's fault.  I think we tried too hard to make sure that we didn't get tight at the end of the race, and instead, we just ended up with a car that just drove bad all night.  Zippy (crew chief Greg Zipadelli) kept diggin and I kept digging and we finally got the 'lucky dog' and got a ninth-place finish out of it."

 

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 14th

 "We missed the setup early and that put us in a deep hole by falling two laps down. But I am very proud of this Army team on how we fought back to finish 14th. This was definitely a workmanlike performance by everyone. We made some good calls as the race went on and the Army Chevy was really hauling at the end. Our problem in the beginning was compounded because Jimmie Johnson had a rocket for a car and there weren't any cautions. Considering the bad luck we've had recently it was sure nice to finish a race and get a decent result. We know we're better, but when you're in a slump you take 14th and go to the next race with more enthusiasm and confidence."    

 

MICHAEL WALTRIP - POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: (ON THE RACE IN GENERAL) 

"We had a good race. We stayed in the top five right from the start. I knew I had a good car. We were able to pass a bunch of guys and get up there and stay there. Late in the race we got just a little bit too tight. Slugger and the crew kept adjusting on it. They made a great call when Jamie (McMurray) stayed out, we pitted and got two tires. It didn't seem like anybody was going to beat Jimmie and it put us in a position to get the best finish we possibly could."

 

(ON HIS BEST FINISH OF THE SEASON)

"We were confident coming here. It's just nice to get results. We noticed after Richmond that we were only 100 points out of the Top 20.  When you see realistic positions in the points to be made up, it kind of pumps you up. So we came here trying to make sure we capitalized on the little bit of momentum we have with our NAPA team."

 

(ON THE STRENGTH OF JIMMIE JOHNSON'S CHEVROLET)

"He was a lot better than us. You don't see that very often."

 

(WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A FAST CAR LIKE THAT?)

"I had one at Loudon last fall. I was going to drive off and win that race in pretty convincing fashion but had some trouble in the pit late. It seems like when you have a car like that - I've had those a couple of times - but it never worked out for me.  Jimmie not only led and dominated the race, but when people tried to pull pit strategy on him, he was able to overcome that as well."

 

(GIVEN THE TROUBLES YOU'VE HAD THIS SEASON, WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST THOUGHT WHEN YOU CROSSED THE FINISH LINE?) 

"I just don't think there are a lot of people in this world who can run second in a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race. I know I have the talent and ability to do the job. It just reaffirms that. It's so easy for me to get down on myself. It's just my personality. But it's nice to be reaffirmed. Jamie (McMurray) and I were talking today before the race and he said, 'Dude, I never see you any more'.  And I said, 'Well, when I'm 30th in the points, I try to hide from everybody'.  And so maybe I can raise my head up and look some around this week."

 

(HOW PHYSICALLY DEMANDING WAS THIS RACE TODAY?) 

"It was hard. It seemed hot. I was way worse off. It's weird because yesterday in the Busch race I got out and told Buffy that was the coolest car I've ever driven. Today I got a little hot. I didn't notice I was hot until the red flag. A lot of times when you have those, all of a sudden you know you're hot and you know you've got all these other guys lined up behind you trying to get your spot. Red flags are a little bit challenging, mentally, for most all of the competitors."

 

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (Finished - 20th) (Qualified - 20th, dropped to rear of the field prior to start) 

(DESCRIBE YOUR DAY )- "We had a decent run down here.  We couldn't get a hold on the racetrack early, but we started out really good. The car got up on top of the racetrack, and slid four tires until the sun went down.   After the sun went down, we got pretty good but obviously not good enough.

 

"At Indy we had a good race car.  We started out and hung with the leaders for a while but then we went back to like 16th at one pit stop.  I was kinda hoping it would rain all day there.  If it would rained there a lot more, we would have been a lot better off.  I was kinda hoping it would be like '97.  It rained after about lap 19 so we went back and raced on Monday morning. That is what I was hoping for. It is disappointing that we didn't get to run as good we had hoped for and as well as our sponsors wanted us to but I want to thank everyone who supported up: Meijer, Coca-Cola, Grill-to-Go, Cingular Wireless, Chevrolet and Dallara for helping us with the efforts and Red Bull for helping me through the night tonight.  

 

(HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE YOUR EMOTIONS THIS MORNING?) "I thought we were lucky, when I left the racetrack, it looked like storms the rest of the day.  I heard they called it early too.  I am disappointed that Jaques couldn't stay on the lead lap, I am not sure what happened to car.  I haven't talked to those guys, they were racing when we were getting ready to start the race here.  I am real proud of everyone here on the Cingular Wireless team.  We didn't lose any points, we didn't gain any.   We will continue to go on the next few weeks."

 

(ARE YOU GOING TO DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR?) "We'll see.  We will be competitive if we show up there."

 

(HOW ABOUT YOUR RUN HERE TONIGHT?) "All of us have a lot of work to do.  I think we finished three laps down.  Kevin (Hamlin), myself, Johnny (Sauter), all the crew chiefs and all the engineers have some catching up to do.  They say when you get down, you get tough and we have a tough race team here.  I know that Richard (Childress) gives us the tools to do our jobs, so we have to find out why we aren't as competitive as the others."

      

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (Finished - 13th) (Started - 9th)

""I asked him (Kasey Kahne) what happened, and he just said he bottomed out when he got on the brakes going into Turn 1 and got into us in the left rear. Thought we had him pretty much cleared, but we had older tires on, and I think he had two (new) tires on or something like that. It's one of those situations a lot of times when you have a red flag and you've got guys that came in (to the pits) behind us that had, by virtue of the lucky dog, got their laps backer earlier tonight and they had new tires on and I was the last one that didn't have new tires on. It's probably my fault for not pitting and putting new tires on, but hindsight is 20/20. They got jumbled up on the restart and we started getting passed left-right, left-right, but then we got back around a couple of them. Got into Turn 1, got into the fence, then got back around." 

 

(WAS THIS A TYPICAL COCA-COLA 600?): "Just without caution flags. Early on it was sunshine and real bright and then it's gets dark and the lights come on. It usually happens here." 

 

(DID YOU WOULD THINK THERE WOULD BE MORE CAUTIONS THAN THERE WERE?): "A lot of times when cars are handling really bad, nobody races each other, which is not a bad thing. I like that, because you can either make your car better or worse, you don't have to worry about everybody running the same speed. When the lights came on and the sun went down, we had a good car and were in seventh-place, but were as fast as the second-place car. The guys third through sixth were half a tenth slower than me, so you still couldn't catch them, still couldn't pass them. When the sun was out, at least people where slipping and sliding and you were able to make your car better or worse." 

 

(YOU HAD A TOP-EIGHT CAR AT LEAST, DOES THAT MAKE THE ACCIDENT THAT MUCH MORE DISAPPOINTING?): "Yeah. Obviously, it wasn't what we wanted to see. We had a good car and got up to third, but we could never catch back up to it. All in all, it was still a good restart. We were going to finish eight if that didn't happen. It was good night until that happened. I've never had a run-in with him, and probably won't again. It was just one of those situations tonight."

 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, CHAD KNAUS, AND RICK HENDRICK - POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

(ON THE DAY AND HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED FOR HIM)

"It really was a lot of fun. But in some cases it's almost better to be in second or third trying to move forward. When you're up front and you have the bullseye on you and all the other teams are trying to outdo your times. Plus there is a lot of pressure inside the car. There's a lot more pressure leading the race and leading that much of it than anything. Luckily we were able to not make any mistakes in the pits or on the car and all around and were able to win the race. In my first 600 here we had a similar situation where we led a lot of the race but I slid through my pit stall. So I'm glad we pulled it all together and had a clean day. I'm just glad we had a clean day. It was just an incredible day for this Lowe's Monte Carlo and Hendrick Motorsports as well."

 

(WERE THERE SOME TOUGH PIT CALLS AND DECISIONS YOU HAD TO MAKE TONIGHT?) 

KNAUS: "Yeah. There were a lot of tough calls. On that last pit stop, I really didn't want to pit. But we needed to in order to stay up here. The No. 42 car stayed out. But we knew if we got Jimmie some fresh tires, we'd be all right. The Lowe's Chevrolet was running great tonight. I can't say enough to Mr. Hendrick for supplying us with what we've got. It's 20 years for him. We're here at Lowe's Motor Speedway and we sat on the pole and then dominated the Cup race. It's just incredible. I'm very proud of everybody on our team."

 

(IT MUST BE VERY SATISFYING TO HAVE A RACE LIKE THAT AT YOUR HOMETOWN TRACK)

HENDRICK: "The last two days have been pretty much unbelievable. This is home. We work a mile from here and all of our guys are here with their families. Charlotte is very special and we want to win here. Jimmie and Chad did a heck of a job tonight in dominating the race. We're glad we could pull it off."

 

(DID CHAD FLASHBACK TO MARTINSVILLE AND CONSIDER STAYING OUT THIS TIME?) 

KNAUS: "You have no idea. Yes. I knew were kind of a sitting duck. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't. But we knew if we got some tires on there and didn't lose too much track position that we'd be okay. I was really concerned about people staying out and I knew some people would do the two-tire bit. And they did. But we knew the consequences. If we had a decent pit stop, we'd roll back out there in the top five - eight. It was just time to buckle down then and get after it."

 

(WHEN YOU DOMINATED FOR SO MUCH OF THE RACE, DID YOU FEEL YOU MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE WHEN THE RACE WAS RED-FLAGGED?)

JOHNSON: "Fortunately it came late enough that there wasn't a big decision to be made as far as pitting. If there were 10 - 15 to go, we would have been in a hard decision about what to do.  When the caution came out and I was worried about things, and I counted out the laps and what it would take to get back to green I figured it was three or four laps that we'd have left to go and we'd be in good shape and there wouldn't be any pit stop stuff necessary or any decisions that needed to be made."

 

(WHAT MADE YOU SO DOMINANT?)

JOHNSON: "I really think it's everything. Our engine department has been working very hard to build reliable horsepower. Today, in 600 miles, there wasn't anybody beating us down the straightaway.  And then through the corners, the car handled really well. Chad has been working hard to find some advantages. We're finding some things. It's really a team effort. I'm just the lucky guy who gets to get in it and wheel this thing - especially when you can be that aggressive and be that sideways and still run a fast lap. It's a lot of fun."

 

(HAVE YOU EVER DRIVEN A CAR THAT GOOD IN ANY RACE?)

JOHNSON: "I had one here like that in the first 600 I ran and then I blew it. Usually when you have one this good, you make a mistake. Today, it's very satisfying to finish up and close the deal."

 

(WHAT HAPPENED ON THE LAST PIT STOP WHEN THE NO. 9 BEAT YOU OUT?)

KNAUS: "Our pit stop definitely wasn't as smooth as it needed to be right there, but it wasn't a bad stop at all. Where he (Kahne) definitely got the advantage on us was his pit selection. He was a little further down pit road and was able to get up to speed before we were and actually gain a little speed on pit entrance. They had a better pit selection than we had but we opted for the very first stall just for safety's sake. At Lowe's Motor Speedway, for whatever reason, there are a lot of collisions that happen on pit road throughout the event. We went with a safe bet and picked that pit."

 

(WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHEN JIMMIE MADE THE PASS BETWEEN THE NO. 31 AND THE NO. 9)

KNAUS: "We just all looked at each other and said, 'That's sick'. It was like a keyhole and he just slid it in there."

 

(ON THE NO. 48 TEAM'S SUCCESS)

HENDRICK: "If you listened to the race yesterday, Kyle (Busch) gave Jimmie credit for helping him. He talked to him before the race. Chad just does a great job. Everybody works hard. I think we've got great motors and the guys have stepped it up. But you've got to give these guys credit. We had other guys in the field and they didn't run like that. Lowe's is a big sponsors and this is their track. It was neat to run well at both races. I think this year our whole group is working better together than ever before. They've been working harder and the competition is stiffer. But I think it's the whole package. You can't be short anywhere anymore. You can't be down on power or downforce, or pit crew, or crew chief, or driver, or anywhere on the team."

 

(DEI SEEMS TO HAVE DAYTONA FIGURED OUT AND YOU SEEM TO HAVE CHARLOTTE FIGURED OUT. HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?)

HENDRICK: "I don't know. These guys seem to have it figured out. We run good every time we come here. It's neat because all our people are here and it's home. You want to do well at home."

 

(HOW DOES IT FEEL TO COME BACK FROM LAST YEAR'S CONTROVERSIAL WIN AND WIN AGAIN?)

JOHNSON: "We all have big egos - all of us in these suits, crew chiefs, drivers, and everybody - and you feel you can beat people and that you're better than them. The way it worked out last year was in our favor. To come back, it is nice to go the full distance and win the race. Our team is strong enough week in and week out that the respect is there. We are considered one of the guys to beat everywhere, all the time. We took some criticism last year and this year nobody can say a thing."

 

(IF THE RACE HAD STAYED GREEN, WOULD KASEY KAHNE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CATCH YOU?)

JOHNSON: "It worked out that way the stop before that - he got to us right when it was time to pit. We cycled through a green flag stop and came back out and took off and ran away from him. We were a little better at the beginning, I'd say until about half or three-quarter way through a run. We were a lot faster than he was and then he'd make it back up. The way the runs worked out at the end, they were all short runs. But if it did stay green, it would have been interesting. We were cycling out right near one another. At the end of a tire run, he was right in my mirror. From my standpoint, I'm glad it worked out the way it did and I didn't have to worry about the No. 9."

 

(TELL US ABOUT THE CAR)

KNAUS - "It was actually the first car that was every built for Jimmy to race.  It has been a good car for us.  It has lead a lot of laps."

 

(IF THIS RACE HAD BEEN 800 MILES, WOULD YOU STILL HAVE WON IT?  YOU LOOKED LIKE YOUR FAR WAS ON A RAIL)

JOHNSON: - "I am not going to set a precedent by answering that! There was some comment last year about how the race went so we just came back this year well prepared."

 

(TALK ABOUT THE MOMENTUM WE ARE SEEING YOU GUYS CARRYING REALLY STARTED LAST YEAR WITH THE CONSISTENT 2ND AND 3RD PLACE FINISHES.  YOU HAVE HAD A GREAT FIRST 1/3 OF THE SEASON SO FAR IN '04.)

 KNAUS - "Before we started the '2003 we really decided to pace ourselves throughout the whole season and make sure at the end the end of the season that we had enough strength in the team, everyone was rested enough and we had enough cars available to us that we could make a really strong, hard charge for the championship at the end of the year.  So, the new points system is actually playing into our system we in place last year.  We weren't able to accomplish it last year, hopefully this year it will work out for us..  The thing that is key right now is that we don't feel a whole lot of pressure.  We don't have to be leading the points right now, all we have to do is be in the top 10 after the first 26 races.  So that take a lot of the pressure off of us, it allows us to get aggressive when we want to get aggressive.  It allows us to make calls we might normally make and then it also brings the reality that we don't need to do some things that we might do otherwise that will put us in a position to lose a lot of points.  So it is really playing out pretty well for us.  I am really really intense about everything. I want to qualify first, win each practice and win each race and the balance Jimmie brings to me is that he does a good job saying 'Look, right now we don't have what we need, but we will keep working on it and get what we need and be there at the end.'  That is one thing we have worked on together and I think that is something that other drivers and crew chiefs don't have.  Maybe they are both aggressive,  both of them are too easy going.  The pairing that Lowe's and Rick Hendrick did with us is pretty amazing.  I think it is a good fit and that has got a lot to do with it."

 

HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR FLEET OF CARS?  YOU RACED AND WON TONIGHT WITH ONE OF THE OLDER CARS.  DO YOU TO FIGURE OUT WHEN TO BUILD NEW CARS AND ADD THEM TO THE FLEET?

KNAUS - "Yes, cause we keep wrecking them. (Chuckles) Oddly enough we have finished in the top five or top ten the last few races but just about every car we have brought home, we have destroyed.   So we are definitely trying to build our fleet back up a little bit.  We've got a really good plan, we want to make sure when we get to the last ten races, we have a cars slated for a particular track and we don't have to use them over and over again so we will have a little bit of a cushion in case we do wreck a car".