Chevy Qualfiying Notes - Infineon, June
25
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CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
DODGE / SAVE MART 350 QUALIFYING NOTES, INFINEON RACEWAY
June 25, 2004
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (DO YOU THINK YOUR QUALIFYING TIME WILL HOLD?) "No, I don't. We went out early and I think that's going to hurt us. I got off the track a little bit over there in Turn 2. I can't seem to get away from that spot on the race track. That's the same thing we did last year. I tried to compensate for it but I don't think that's going to hold up. I hope that'll be a top five. It was a good lap but that little bit I got off there certainly give the guys an opportunity to put us back a few spots."
(FOLKS ARE BEGINNING TO ASK WHEN THAT 'OTHER GORDON' IS GOING TO WIN A ROAD COURSE RACE AGAIN) "Yeah, you know Robby (Gordon) was really good here and at Watkins Glen last year. I still feel like we had the car to beat but you've got to be out front and really can't afford to make mistakes on those road courses in order to get those wins. That was one little one there and hopefully we'll get through that and be able to put this DuPont Chevrolet up front the whole day on Sunday." More to follow.
BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We worked on the car a lot today in practice. We worked on race trim more than qualifying trim. I was happy with it."
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "I think our car last year might have been a little bit better. It's a little bit better than it was in the middle of practice. My car was a little bit loose. But hopefully it's a little better and a little quicker and it has a little more grip and we can get a little more out of it."
(ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT THAN YOU HAVE HERE BEFORE?) "No, I'm trying not to. I'm trying to be smooth. It's different because the track is a lot faster. You've just got to try to take it easy and not get over your head. It's real easy to get over your head."
AUSTIN CAMERON, MCMILLIN HOMES / NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "I'm really happy. Things couldn't be happier. This is a pretty amazing deal. This is like
my present for putting stuff (cancer) back in remission."
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - (YOU'RE RUNNING SOUTHWEST AND CUP, CAN YOU FIND ANYTHING ELSE TO DO THIS WEEKEND?) "Yeah, we're going to run to Las Vegas on Saturday night and run Late Models. We always try to do that once a year. This GM Goodwrench Chevy has been really good since we've been here. I just didn't get into Turn 2 with enough speed like I needed to and gave up a lot of time right there. But all in all, it was a pretty good lap. As long as we're in the top 10 we can have a chance in the race."
ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINCULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We tire hopped down there and when it's doing that you can't turn. You just have to keep going straight. We got lost a little bit in practice. The car was so tight we made some changes. I never thought we'd have to turn the brakes back. We should have just given it more front grip. But we gave it enough that it picked the rear tires up and it started chattering." (DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO BE OKAY ANYWAY?) "Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's one lap. I think we'll start somewhere around 14th." (WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR GOING FROM 14TH TO THE FRONT?) "You just keep the fenders on the car. It'll make it exciting, for sure." (YOU SAID THE CAR WAS TIGHT BUT IT LOOKED LIKE YOU GOT A LITTLE LOOSE AT TIMES DURING THE LAP. DID YOU GO TO FAR?) "We went too far. It wouldn't turn. (Jeff) Gordon and those guys were having problems with it turning. I was having the same problem. We made a big adjustment and it didn't work."
JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We've been struggling a little bit with our U.S. Army Chevy. We never really got a good fast lap in practice. It looks like the track has lost some grip. You just can't overdrive it. Goodyear has got a little different tire now. You go back three or four years you could hustle pretty good but your tires would wear out at the end of the tire run or gas run. Now, it's different. They repaved it. And when the guys were out here testing - I didn't come, Scott Riggs came out and Boris Said came out to help him and they said the track had a ton of grip. Well, when we came back today, there has been so much rubber put down that it's totally different. It sat there and baked and the track got hotter and it's definitely slower right now. You have to take what it'll give you. If you try to take to much, you're asking for trouble."
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - POLE WINNER - POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
Note: Collected his fourth career pole at Infineon Raceway - his third pole of the year. He has won from the pole at this track twice.
(ON POSTING A NEW TRACK RECORD) "The track record is because of the track being repaved. It's got a lot of grip. I think they've got just a little bit different tire out here also. But I was really disappointed when I made the run because I felt like I left the door wide open for other guys to knock us down the list. I knew I made a great effort on the rest of the race track and got everything I could get out of it until I got to Turn 10. As it turned out I think the conditions were much trickier than we anticipated. I thought going out early that was the case. But the wind really kicked up and everybody had trouble with Turn 10. I was just more disappointed because I did the same thing last year. Last year I went off a lot further than I did this year. But we've had an awesome car all day long. We're on a mission. We're not happy with the way things have been turning out for us lately. All we can do is just attack, attack, attack. This is a great opportunity and place for us to do that.
"I was shocked. I'll be honest. I was talking with Robbie Loomis (crew chief) and watching were the guys were ending up - Robby Gordon and Boris Said and Rusty Wallace. I said I couldn't believe we were going to get this pole. We kind of dodged a bullet there. We've got to make sure to keep that thing on track the rest of the weekend. We've got a great car."
(IS THIS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN PICK UP SOME POINTS?) "It's hard to start thinking about that right now. All we can focus on is getting here tomorrow morning and getting this car dialed in for this race. Pit strategy can bring guys from the back to the front in a hurry. Jimmie (Johnson) certainly entertained us all. I don't know how he runs that thing and gets it so sideways and doesn't spin or wreck or hit things. It's pretty amazing to just bring that car back.
"With the new pavement, starting up front is more important than it ever has been before. It's already tough to pass. There are only two passing zones at this track: going into Turn 7 and going into Turn 11. With the new surface and being able to driving in so deep because of the good grip under braking, I think it's going to be even harder to pass."
(HOW CLOSE WERE YOU LOSING IT GOING INTO TURN 10?) "It really wasn't about losing the car, it was about losing speed. I knew I had a great lap going. I got into Turn 10 really good. I felt the car starting to push there and we'd been struggling with that all day long and had freed the car to compensate for that. That's why I think that wind really was playing a role. I got in there and I felt it get tight. I hesitated to get back in the throttle because I knew it was going to do that. I felt like I really turned it and got it where I needed to be. I started to accelerate up off there and the car just kept going and kept going and I just couldn't bring it back. I got the left sides off there. I really didn't have to get out of the gas that much, but there was wheel spin there and slowed me from accelerating as much as I wanted to. My next thing was what to do about Turn 11. I knew I had lost some speed and had a little bit of dust on the tires. That was what I was really happy about was getting into Turn 11 really deep and got the car slowed down and hit my marks and still recovered for a good lap. Some guys looked like when they did bobble they weren't able to do that. The next corner got them behind or something happened where they lost speed. That corner could have cost us but luckily we recovered well."
(ON GERMAN KLAUS GRAF BEING HERE AND BEING THE FIRST EUROPEAN-BORN DRIVER TO OPEN THE DOOR FOR FOREIGN DRIVERS) "I'm excited. This is a great opportunity. If it were Michael Schumacher, we'd be in a little bit of trouble if that were the case. It's so hard for anybody outside the U.S. to come in and be up to speed right away because there are no other cars like these in the world. I like to think that we excel at what we do. I wish him all the best. I just wish that if we were going to get more Europeans - just like Formula 1 wants more Americans - you've got to start at a young age. You've got to start racing on ovals. You've got to do a lot of different types of racing than what they do anywhere else in the world. It makes us very unique and makes our drivers unique."
(ROBBY GORDON WANTS TO KNOW IF JEFF GORDON LIKES HIM) "Number one, I'm not here to like anybody. I have no problem with Robby. I think he's got a lot of talent. The facts are the facts. I don't think he always uses his head. But I think he's got a lot of talent and he's going to be one of the guys to beat here on Sunday. He's not anybody I'd go hang out with. But I've seen him away from the track and I think he's a super nice guy."
(CAN YOU APPLY ANY OF YOUR FORMULA 1 RIDE AT INDY TO DRIVING THIS RACE TRACK?) "I wish there was one comparison. There are zero comparisons. It's not even close. You can't attack the tracks. They don't accelerate. I wish I had traction control, I know that. But I think it's like comparing apples to oranges. There's no comparison. I love driving these cars around this race track. This is a finesse track. We certainly saw that today in qualifying. If you were willing to take risks, you'd better be prepared for what can come with that. I got a little bit risky in Turn 10 and it almost cost us the pole."
(ROBBY GORDON STARTS24TH ON SUNDAY. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT GOING TO BE TO GET TO THE FRONT?) "It's going to be tough, no doubt about it. If it were me in that same position, it would be very difficult for us. If we were at Watkins Glen, it's not as difficult. There are a lot more passing zones there. There are only two places to pass here. So he'll have to be aggressive, which already puts you at risk. And then you're going to have to be risky in your pit strategy. Those factors work against you but it doesn't make it impossible."
(WILL YOU MAKE ANY MORE ADJUSTMENTS IN YOUR PIT STRATEGY OR ARE YOU SET FOR SUNDAY?) "We're going to know more tomorrow. We'll see what our fuel mileage is and our tire wear and what the car is doing and how it's giving up under longer runs. Until then, it's really hard to say what our pit strategy is going to be. Typically on the road courses we focus more on our own strategy instead of what the other teams are doing. You just try to run until you need fuel. If you have track position, you can get away with that. The neat thing about road courses is that you want to get caught on pit road under a caution. You want the caution to come out as soon as you're in the pit box. So you don't want to pit too late, obviously. You've got to stick to your own plan."
(ON MANY DRIVERS HAVING TROUBLE STAYING ON THE COURSE -ESPECIALLY ON THE BACK HALF) "I think staying on the race course is going to be the key to Sunday's race. This has always been a track that's not an easy track. It's very finicky. You can't really max-brake anywhere. You can't attack the race track. You have to have a lot of patience. Today, the higher grip level gave you that feeling that you could attack a little bit more. Every time you did, it reached out and grabbed you. To me, this is like going from Martinsville to Bristol in comparison to Infineon to Watkins Glen. They're just two totally different types of race tracks. The track we tested at - VIR in Virginia - reminds me a lot of this race track. It's not the shape or the size or the turns. But it's a track where you have to have finesse and be smooth and not go off the track."
(WITH THE CHANGED CURBING IN MANY PORTIONS OF THE TRACK, WILL YOU BE MORE CONSERVATIVE?) "I would like to be involved with them when they're doing the curbing because I'm not a big fan of some of the curbing we have out there. I haven't been able to use the curbs as much today as I have in the past, but I think most of it is because of the new pavement. There is so much grip. You used to really have to bounce around on these curbs here because the track was worn out and there wasn't a lot of grip. You'd use the curb to plant the outside of the car. Now we've got grip and you've got to get on them easy. They're pretty abrupt. They're not small curbs. I think there are some that are a little too steep. I did have to be more careful of the curbs throughout the whole lap early. I would have liked to have gotten on that curb a little bit better in Turn 10. I needed the help of that one."
(BY WINNING THE POLE POSITION, YOU HAVE YOUR CHOICE OF STARTING ON THE LEFT OR RIGHT. WHAT IS YOUR CHOICE AND WHY?) "I've learned my lesson on that one. I've picked two different ones before and still wasn't leading in Turn 1 on either one of them. We're going to take the left side, which I guess is the inside. They call that Turn 1. But the real turn is at the top of the hill to the right. It's very tricky to get into those first couple of corners side-by-side here. I don't think it really matters. But I chose that outside one time and it didn't work out for me. So I'm going to choose the inside."
