Chevy Race Notes - Gordon wins Infineon, June
27
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CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
DODGE / SAVE MART 350 RACE NOTES, INFINEON RACEWAY
June 27, 2004
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Winner: "I was so nervous all weekend that we were going to mess it up somehow. It wasn't easy. We had to fight for it. I know it looked easy, but it wasn't a gimme." More to follow
MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 4th: "I couldn't make any mistakes. I had to drive a perfect. I knew that. You can't come from the back to the front twice. So I just kept my head down and kept digging and I really liked my set-up. We came up with a set-up that I liked during Friday's
practice session and I knew I'd be good. You can just feel it when you've been doing it for as long as I have - what it needs to feel like.
"I was real fortunate not to make mistakes. I just drove a really smart race. With that set-up, I knew I was going to be fast. I could just feel it. We kind of lost the set-up a little bit in the final practice but then we went back to what we liked in the morning and it was really good."
(YOUR TEAM IS REALLY PICKING UP MOMENTUM) "If we hadn't had that deal in Pocono, I think we'd be top 10 contenders. But if we had four or five races like this in the top five, we're going to become top 10 contenders. It's not out of the realm or possibility yet, so we'll just keep working it."
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NOL. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 5th: "I had to make up for what I messed up during qualifying. I made one mistake all weekend long (qualifying) and got myself behind. Today I drove from 34th up to fifth. I just had a great race car. I was able to make my marks and do what I needed to do and make up for my mistake on Friday. I used to be pretty good at this stuff when I raced on the dirt and then I lost it for a couple of years and I'm glad to have it back."
(IT COULD HAVE BEEN A DISASTROUS DAY BUT YOU MADE YOUR OWN LUCK) "It really could have been. There was a lot going on. Twice I had to come through the field and we just had a great race car. I've got to thank all the guys on the Lowe's Monte Carlo team for all their help. They love me and support me and even when I was down on Friday they wouldn't let me do that."
(LAST TIME YOU HAD THE POINT LEAD, YOU LOST IT ON THE PACE LAP. THIS TIME THE OUTCOME WAS BETTER) "Yeah, a much better outcome. I'm very happy to come to one of my weakest tracks and pull a top five out of it. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. There isn't anywhere on the circuit that I don't feel that I can go win at. I'm very pleased with what we've accomplished today.
(ON JEFF GORDON'S DOMINATING PERFORMANCE) "He's damn good. That's all there is to it. For once, I was able to have a set-up close to his. They still weren't the same. But now that I'm finally driving one of these cars right on a road course, my set-up was a lot more in his direction. Not only does he have a good set-up, but he has a great feel for it. Last year, I had some trouble. It's really hard to tell what was really implicating the car or what I learned to help the car. But I drove easier today and finished fifth and I drove my tail off here last year."
(WAS THIS A LANDMARK DAY FOR YOU BECAUSE OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST?) "Yeah, I think there's been a few. The win at Darlington and we drove the 600 and backed up the win there. All these hurdles out in front of me we keep clearing them. I am pretty pleased with it."
BORIS SAID, NO. 36 TEAM CENTRIX FINANCIAL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Note: Finished 6th - Received hydration at the infield medical center prior to competing in the Trans Am 100
"That's the best I had today, I was digging hard and it was a blast out there. I tied my best Cup finish (Boris finished sixth here last year) and I'm getting close. I had a great racecar, thanks to Centrix Financial and MB2 Motorsports - the guys worked hard to give me first-class equipment. When you run against the best stock car racers in the world it seems to bring the best out of you. I love this (Cup) competition and can't wait for my next race."
Ryan Pemberton, MB2 Motorsports crew chief, who oversaw both the 01 U.S. Army and the No. 36 Centrix Financial teams this weekend: "We had two great cars out there today. We came out here and tested with Boris and learned a lot. I can't thank him enough for how much he helps us. He's a great competitor and he definitely proved that today.
ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 34th -
(THIS OBVIOUSLY WASN'T THE DAY YOU WERE LOOKING FOR. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE TODAY?) "I think that might be a first. Unfortunately we got on the tire barrier but we got on the tire barrier because we were missing a right front tire. I don't think I've ever had a tire come off. Oh yes I have; one time before. But not at this level. Richard Childress Racing is a great race team. I don't know what happened. They must not have torqued the left front tire, but it came off on lap 16 or 17 or whatever it was. You just can't recover from that. We stuck another sway bar on it but didn't get it on all the way.
"When the tire falls off the thing, you grind the sway bar arm off it. And we couldn't get a sway bar arm on. Then we tried to get one on and we didn't get it on good enough and it popped a tire. And you know, it just is how it goes. When you make a mistake, it just kind of snowballs. We never saw daylight again. And this sport is so competitive, you can't make mistakes."
"We had a good plan and our plan was working right into our favor. We started 24th and I think we were up to 16th or 17th and I really wasn't being aggressive. When I had an opportunity, I'd take a pass. I don't know what to say. Obviously, we don't have all the answers right now as to what happened. But this is a great race team and there is no reason why we shouldn't at least be in the top five at road course races. We'll recover from this one and go to Watkins Glen and be better prepared there. Last year when we won both races, it woke Jeff Gordon up. And they ran an awesome race and controlled the whole weekend. Back to work we go."
(ON CHANGING THE SWAY BARS) "We didn't get them on was the problem. It's the link on the sway bar and a couple of times we didn't get it on. And then we had one break. It's probably because it wasn't clocked right and it was putting too much stress on it."
(HOW DID THE WHEEL COME OFF?) "I don't know. When you find out, let me know."
(DIDN'T THEY GET THE LUG NUT ON RIGHT?) "Well, normally you have wheels come off after a pit stop. Like I said, we've got a great race team here. But to have a wheel come off before a pit stop means we didn't go over our check list good enough."
(YOUR CREW CHIEF APOLOGIZED AT THE END OF THE RACE) "They do a great job. He apologized because when we got both sway bar arms hooked up, we were the fastest car on the race track - like we intended to be all weekend long. And we stayed on old tires in practice and did things to make our car get a lot of grip. I think we did have the best car. Even after being torn up in the tire barrier, we were still turning the fastest race laps. I think that's why he's more sorry than anything else because we did have a car and a set-up capable of being the fastest."
(HOW HARD WAS IT FOR YOU INSIDE THE COCKPIT) "Hey, I make mistakes at times too. The hardest part was not pushing the button on the radio and complaining too much because there's nothing you can do about it now. We were already in trouble. As much as I complain or yell and scream, it's not going to make the outcome any better. That's what it takes to be a good team. We're going to work hard at it."
(ON HIS COMMENT ABOUT WAKING JEFF GORDON UP) "It's about how strong they were today and all weekend long. I'm just disappointed because this should have been a gimme. We should have been able to get out of here with a top five finish. We should have been able to do that with our eyes closed. We were on our way there. I had a goal of (passing) one car every two laps. Then we would have been up towards the front. Then we would have been in the top five and we would have raced from there. We didn't make any mistakes besides leaving a lug nut loose. When you do that, you get behind. You can't make it up."
JIM INGLEBRIGHT, NO. 30 AOL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 19th - "I feel really good about our run. If we didn't have that flapper valve stick open, I'm very sure we would have finished further up front. We just tried to stay out of trouble. I kept the thing on the race track all day and didn't beat the fenders in. The car ran great. Every time I asked for a change, they did the right thing and went the right way. We just kept getting the car better and better all day.
"There at the end, I think I ran the right front off of it trying to get by Kenny Shrader too hard. Maybe I should have used the nose a little bit but I don't race like that. Get 'em clean or don't get 'em."
(ON GETTING A TOP 20 FINISH) "I feel great about it. I want to thank AOL along with Richard Childress for giving me the opportunity.
BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 33rd: "We just had one of those days. We had a good car early on and had moved into the top-five, but we punctured a tire and had to pit out of sequence and went to the back. We worked our way back into the top 20, but we cut a right-rear brake line, and that sent us to the back again. It was a tough day, and I know we took a hit in the points. But, we'll see if we can come back at Daytona and try to get back on track."
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Finished 11th - "I just spun myself out trying to race with Robby. I should have just relaxed. I had a better car and I expected to come back here and improve on what we did last year. We did, but I didn't."
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO AND CREW CHIEF, ROBBIE LOOMIS - POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHTLIGHTS.
Note: Gordon's victory today was his 67th NASCAR Cup career win, 381st career start, and his third victory in 2004. Today's win was also Gordon's eighth career road course victory and fourth win at Infineon Raceway - extending the all-time NASCAR record.
(ON A NEARLY PERFECT WEEKEND) "That's the way we need to do it coming in here. We've been running really well lately. We've been running really well lately. We just haven't had things go our way. We came in here and I knew we were going to be strong. I felt things were going well for us when we tested back east. I had a lot of confidence.
"One thing I am proud about with this race team is that they don't let allow bad weekends to get them down. They know what we're capable of and they know how to forget about the past and focus on the next race. That's exactly what we did here. We didn't worry about the last weekend or the weekend before.
"I was pretty disappointed at the road courses last year when we didn't capitalize on our great cars. Obviously we didn't have quite the car we had today, but I felt like we were a good enough car to win last year but we didn't capitalize on it. We didn't get victories on road courses last year and this is a great way to get it started this year."
ROBBIE LOOMIS: "You just have to take it one day at a time. The strength of this Hendrick Motorsports team is just incredible. The support we get is just incredible. When we come in here on Friday, it's just a clean slate. Everybody keeps his head up. I still attribute a lot of that to the confidence of somebody who has won four championships (Jeff Gordon) and pinches you on the shoulder and says, 'We're going to do it this week.'"
(HOW MUCH DID THE LATE CAUTIONS HELP YOUR FUEL SITUATION)
ROBBIE LOOMIS: "I don't know if it helped the fuel as much as it helped all of our heart rates (laughs). They were huge. There was no question. It was miraculous that we finished that thing because by the numbers, it wasn't looking pretty. The cautions definitely helped us out. The guys were doing a great job on the fuel cell work."
(WITH MORE TEAMS GETTING BETTER ON THE ROAD COURSES, IS THIS WIN ANY SWEETER FOR YOU?
JEFF GORDON: "They're all good and they're all sweet. But I think every road course win we've ever had, we've had some sort of challenge whether it was the competition or fuel mileage or trying not to run off the race track. I thought Scott Pruett and Jamey McMurray drove great races today. I know that it looked like we were dominating and I know we were, but I never could let up. I had to run hard every lap. Not only was the car out of gas, but I was out of gas too. I was conserving when I got a gap. Jamie did a good job because he didn't make any mistakes. Scott started racing with him there at the end so I got a chance to relax a lap or two there at the end. But they're all sweet. I'm so beat right now it's hard for it to sink in. I'm looking forward to getting back to myself and celebrate this one and realize how special this one was."
(WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE FUEL SITUATION) "Robbie kept saying he knew I was getting tired of him saying it but keep conserving, keep conserving. I guess I learned from my teammate a little bit. I was shutting the engine off rolling down the hill under caution. I was putting it in fourth gear when I needed to and then I was short shifting under green. I thought when we had those two caution flags, we were fine. I'm not sure how close we were or how much we needed to conserve. But obviously we did enough because we made it. We had such a good race car that I was able to jump out there and then start doing a lot of the things to try and conserve fuel. But we were still running fast lap times, so you're not saving too much fuel."
(HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING TO HELP ELEVIATE HEAT EXAUSTION HERE?) "I have. Unfortunately, we didn't have it in the car today. We are tested by many things with every race win, and today I was challenged for my physical fitness because that car was extremely hot. We've been running a carbon fiber seat. The venting and the way we cool the seat was just amazing. I've felt fresher after races this year then I've felt in any race. Now I will say that road courses are more demanding on the driver - especially if you go green flag. There was barely enough time today for me to tell Robbie what the temperature gauges said or to take a drink of water or rest. You are just constantly turning and shifting.
"When you go green flag that long, it just takes a lot out of you. We did not have my carbon fiber seat in this car. It will not fit in my road course car. It will be in the car by Watkins Glen. I guarantee it."
"Last year, here, I don't remember how we got behind on a pit stop. A caution came out or something that put Robby Gordon up front. Even though we were better then him, he still did a good job because I couldn't pass him. Today, there wasn't anybody I couldn't pass.
"At Watkins Glen, I got taken out in the first corner. And then I ran a second faster a lap and ran myself out of fuel. We were much better at Watkins Glen last year than we were here.
"Let me clarify that in 2002 the competition got better (Gordon's last win was 2001). We were a little bit behind. Last year, we got our act together and I felt like we were the best car. We were the car to beat. Circumstances worked out to where we didn't win. This year, we've taken what we had last year and improved it."
(WHY WERE YOU SUCCESSFUL ON THE NEW TRACK SURFACE AND OTHER TEAMS WERE NOT?) "This was a really old surface that was very slick. I was happy to see it because I felt like you really couldn't even do anything with the two braking sections and passing zones we have on this track. You'd drive in the corner and there was no grip. If you got off line, there were ripples in the track and you'd wheel-hop. Even if you had a run on a guy, you really couldn't make anything out of it. Today, you could have some fun in those braking zones. You could drive in there deep and not break guys. The grip level, because it was so hot, just seemed smoother to me. The Goodyear tires were different also. This is a tough race track. I think guys always have trouble here. There were many moments I felt like I could have lost control. The trickiest part of this race track is the front straightaway. It's so narrow and it's tight. It you try to get aggressive at all, you'll end up off the race track. I don't why guys have trouble. I was able to get out there in clean air and just run my line and not focus on anything else."
"If the track has more grip, it puts guys in a position to be more aggressive, but you're going to make more mistakes. Also, there were some really good cars that didn't qualify up front that would have been dicing back and forth coming from the back to the front."
(WHEN DID YOU FEEL THE HEAT INSIDE THE RACE CAR?) "About half way, I really wanted a caution. We were able to get me some ice packs and some things in there to help cool me down. It was just hot. For some reason, the air system just doesn't ventilate as well with this seat. We try to build a stronger and safer seat and also a cooler seat. The way we vent it in the back, there are grooves that run up and down the seat that really help cool my entire body. Today when I turned the switch on for the cooler, I never felt anything on my back. The later cautions really helped me a lot to be able to come in and get some ice packs."
(DID YOU REALLY SHUT THE ENGINE OFF?) "I did today. I don't know, Jimmie Johnson said he did and it saved some fuel, so I tried it. You're desperate. You'll do anything (laughs). This is one place where it can work because you do run downhill for a long ways. Basically, from Turn 7 all the way to Turn 10, I just coasted."
(WERE YOU WORRIED THE ENGINE WOULDN'T RE-START?) "Well, it's going to start because you don't have to crank it over. You just put it in gear and let out the clutch. It turns it over and it will start."
(ON THE CHEERING FANS) "They were? I can't tell. I can only tell when they throw things out me. That's cool (laughs). I'm glad they were cheering. With me being from this area, I see more Jeff Gordon fans out there than any place we go. It feels awesome. It puts pressure on you too. I'm glad we lived up to that today."
(OTHER THAN FUEL, DID YOU HAVE ANY OTHER WORRIES TODAY?) "The thing that got me a little bit worried today was when Scott Pruett beat us out of the pits. I messed up coming into pit row and I didn't carry enough speed around there and he really gained on us a bunch. And then they had a good pit stop and we didn't and he beat me out and I thought, 'Whoa'.
"What I realized was that he wasn't very good on new tires. He was just really good at the end of a run. So I was able to get by him and drive away. And then at the end of a run he'd start coming back at me. It seemed like that's how we were with a lot of cars today."
(ON PASSING OTHER CARS) "There are two places to pass - going into Turn 7 and going into Turn 11. Turn 7 is a little bit riskier than Turn 11. Basically, I passed guys whenever I thought they made a mistake or I could get momentum on them. There were a couple of times I passed going into Turn 4, which was surprising. But it was always after a restart and the guys were on older tires or something like that. But that doesn't happen very often. I like to pass whenever I can. We've worked really hard on our brakes over the years. We were really getting into the corners good when we needed to. With the new surface being smoother, we have maximized our braking even more."
(WHY ARE YOU SO SUCCESSFUL AT THIS RACE COURSE?) "This is a finesse type of race track. With the type of racing I've done over the years and the type of driver I am, works well with that. You can't over-attack the corners. I just enjoy the road courses. I think they're fun and challenging. The guys put great race cars under me. I can't say what it is. In '94, we started hitting on some things. And since 1995, we've just been on top of our game at these road courses. It builds confidence in our team and the driver. There's nothing sweeter than having confidence."
