Chevy Qualifying Notes - Tropicana 400
Chevrolet Notes and Quotes
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Tropicana 400 - Qualifying Notes
Chicagoland Speedway
July 9, 2004
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet (On the pole)
(ON BREAKING THE TRACK QUALIFYING RECORD) "Goodyear changes tires. Teams increase power and increase downforce every year. We pretty much knew the track record would go to the wayside. I say this every weekend how shocked I am to be here, but I am. We were putting out our best effort today like we do every weekend and were the fourth or fifth place car. It was by a few tenths. I didn't know how we would find that speed. We never stopped focusing on what we could do to get the balance of the car a little better, to get the car a little bit more comfortable. I was struggling a little bit through three and four all day today. I had one and two down pretty good. The late number certainly helped up especially with the delays. The track temperature came down. The adjustments that Robbie (Loomis) and these guys made after we talked were great adjustments. I went into three coming to the green and the car stuck like glue. I really put the gas pedal down fast and hard and it did what I wanted it to do. I knew that it was one of those laps that you hold on tight and hope that sticks because you know you get a car that is capable of getting the pole if you can hit your marks. We hit our marks. We got through one and two and followed that up by getting the car really good through three and four. I knew it was a good lap and I hoped that it was since I couldn't make a second one. I shut the engine off and came in. I knew we had to watch out for a few more laps."
(ON WHAT THE TEAM IS DOING TO PERFORM SO CONSISTENTLY) "It's no secret that our engine department has really picked up. We had our problem at Michigan but they feel very confident. With each week that we sit on another pole, that we win another race, the confidence level continues to get higher and higher. When the driver comes in, he is the computer and information to the team. The team is the fix and the ones to make the adjustments to make it do what you need it to do. All they can go off of is what you say. All you can go off of is what they do to it. Whatever I say the car is doing, they look at me an say 'absolutely.' They don't question. My confidence level in them goes right back up. The results are showing."
(ON DRIVERS PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME) "I'm certainly a little bit concerned with that right now. We needed to get on this type of streak to keep ourselves in the top ten in points. We were falling back and found ourselves sixth in points. We needed to get on this type of run to do that. It kind of exceeded our expectations. I knew we were capable of winning races, top fives and consistently finishing up there, but I had no idea we were getting on to this kind of streak. I wanted to be on this kind of streak coming into the last ten races, but I don't know if there's any reason why we shouldn't be able to maintain. It goes further than good cars and confidence with one another. You've got to have the good fortune and the good karma. I hope we can have this type of run in the last ten. This is what it's going to take to win the championship and it's what we we're doing right now. Right now it doesn't matter whether we do this other than staying in the top ten and having a lot of fun."
(ON HIM AND ROBBIE PERFECTING COMMUNICATION OVER TIME) "From the first time that I talked to Robbie on the phone about the job, there was something that I liked about him. We talked at length on the phone before we hired Robbie about how I go about analyzing or giving information on the car and how he goes about making the adjustments. I liked the answers that he had. I think he liked the way I described the car. What Ray (Everham) and I had, we had from the Busch Series and we transferred over to the Cup Series and it was very good. I think it did take a little bit of time for Robbie and I to get to that level. Even with Ray it was easy to break down at times. Robbie and I go through the same things. I think the one thing that Robbie and I have that Ray and I had is respect for one another. That is what keeps the longevity of it together is when you respect one another. You know you're going to go through good times and tough times and you're always going to be there for one another and working hard to get it back or maintain it."
(WERE YOU EVER ON A STREAK LIKE THIS?) "I know it's the first time I've ever won four poles in a row. I've been very fortunate to have some good streaks along the way. This one is pretty amazing right now. I look at this sport and how competitive it is and how difficult it is to win. I was talking with Dave Burns (NBC) and he said I remember this time last year we were trying to figure out when you were going to win a race. It's pretty funny how things go up and down. I just want to try and maintain this one as long as I can."
(ON CHEERS FROM THE FANS) "We have a huge fan base but you don't always see it depending on where in the country we are. Out in Sonoma I've never heard so many people cheer for me but I'm from there. I can win the pole in Charlotte or Talladega and probably not get that kind of applause. I can't hear them. I can only hear from crew chief tell me how good I am. It's the look in the eyes of the guys on the team that you really focus and strive on. Those are the heart and soul and what goes on week in and week out. You learn how to respect to their opinion because they're entitled to that, but you don't always put everything into what they're reaction is because in a lot of ways they're on the outside looking in."
(ON A PREVIOUS COMMENT FROM DARRELL WALTRIP) "I don't pay too much attention to what Darrell says. I love him. I think he does a great job. A lot of times I hear Darrell saying what he thinks what people want to hear or whatever kind of mood he's in. I know what motivates me and that's winning. I feel like I'm on top of my game but I don't think there's been any lighting bolt strike that has changed that."
(AS A TEAM OWNER DO YOU EXPECT THE SAME CONSISTENCY OF THE 48?) "You build expectations based on what you do out there. Because of great performances and the great team work and job that Jimmie and Chad have done, people expect more out of them. It's no surprise to me they've had the year they had but anything less would be a disappointment. It's the greatest way to be a car owner. You don't have to get involved. You just pat them on the back, say great job and they do."
(WOULD AN F1 CHAMPIONSHIP BE THE PINNACLE OF YOUR CAREER?) "Formula One is an amazing thing. I'm a big fan. It's know as the worldest greatest championship. The more that I've learned about racing, the more I realized the more far away that is. I've gotten myself into a position with Hendrick Motorsports that is very difficult to walk away from. I've made a commitment to Rick Hendrick as a partner, as an equity owner in the 24/48. I love where I'm at. I've got a group of guys that work extremely hard. They look up to me and I look up to them. I've had talks and interests there, but I've had no offers. Going to Formula One is one thing. Going to a competitive that can win is another thing. Winning the championship is whole different thing. The steps that it takes is beyond what anybody can imagine. I think that it's too late for that. I don't know if the opportunity is really even there because it hasn't been presented to me. Even if it was, me and Rick and would have blows over it. He and I have never fought in our entire 11 years we've been together. I really don't think it's a realistic thing."
(HAVE YOU REACHED YOUR PRIME?) "I don't know if I've reached my prime or not. I'm very comfortable with where I'm at in racing and life. I'm enjoying life. I'm enjoying driving the cars. There are times when youth can really pay off. I try to learn from that. It's hard to say. It comes and goes. There's time when I think I've reached my prime. There's time I think I'm passed my prime. There's times like today when I think I haven't gotten there yet."
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet (Qualified 3rd)
"The lap was good. No complaints with that. Obviously I wish we could have been fast enough to get the pole. My car was a little looser through the center than what I needed. The car drove well. I knew both laps were strong laps especially the second one. We were just a little slow getting back to the gas and sliding the car above the turn a little bit too much. It's a great effort for this Lowe's team. Hendrick Motorsports is on a roll when you looking at scoring pylon and you see those three Hendrick cars up there in the top four - that's pretty amazing. It's a great day for us and hopefully we'll have everything right on Sunday afternoon for this Lowe's Monte Carlo."
(ON HIS FIRST BUSCH SERIES WIN HERE IN CHICAGO) "I have fond memories of this race track. I was able to win with my close friends Stan and Randy Herzog in their Busch car, the 92 car. It was a special day and this track has been very good to be. Hopefully I can come back here on Sunday afternoon and take another trophy home. I had a great time celebrating then and I look forward to doing it again."
PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
(ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP) "The car was a little looser than what we expected so I had to run a second lap. The car usually tightens up for the second one for us. Not a bad effort. We definitely had our hearts set on winning the pole. I'm glad to see a Henrick car was able to win the pole. To have three Hendrick cars in the top four is pretty impressive. I know Rick (Hendrick) is smiling in Charlotte right now. We were a little bit off but still to be a little off and only a tenth of a second off of the pole in the third spot is something we are very happy with and should be awesome come Sunday."
(HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS RACE FOR YOUR TEAM?) "It's kind of a weird scenario. Leading the points in years past meant a lot more. Right now it does mean a lot. It still does. We still need to win races and be competitive. You can't get too excited from race to race where you are at in points right now because in nine races that points lead will disappear. I think there's an advantage to being the leader and showing the rest of the garage area that your team has what it takes to lead over a long period of time. You also get used to that pressure of being the points leader. We're learning a lot of lessons right now. Hopefully we can hang on to the points lead for the rest of the year. That's what we are shooting for. Life has been good. We've been able to win three races this year and hopefully another one on Sunday. This track has been great to me. I think I've had two top fives in a Cup car and also a win in a Busch car. It's been a very good track for me. I hope to improve on my Cup races and win on Sunday."
(DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAMMATE JEFF GORDON IS THE GUY EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT?) "I think so. I think Jeff is hitting a peak in this season for himself and the whole 24 team. If you look at different drivers at different periods of the year, I think the 9 came out of the box. He didn't get a win out of it but was the dominant car for a few week stretch. We had our reign at having that title. Now it looks like the 24 is having that stretch. That's what makes the final 10 so unpredictable. Whoever is peaking in those final 10 will be the champion. It may not be the guy who has lead the points all year long or who has had the best cumulative points for the season. My goal and perspective on everything is try to pace ourselves, still be competitive, win races, lead the points, but make sure we peak again when that final ten really counts."
(DO YOU EVER WISH YOU WEREN'T RUNNING HARD AGAINST YOUR TEAMMATE? "I couldn't pick anybody better, maybe (Brian) Vickers or Terry Labonte. When you're able to be behind closed doors and see all the hard work and dedication that Hendrick Motorsports put into a race, that's the only guys I want to be racing against. It's not that you like the fact that you're going to lose or that you ever do lose but if you lose to a teammate that's a little different. I'm very proud of what my teammates have been able to accomplish. Brian has been really fast. I think he is a race or two away from getting his first win. Hopefully there are three or four Hendrick cars battling it out every week."
(ARE YOU SURPRISED WITH YOUR CONSISTENCY?) "I'm really surprised. We've been able to ride the rollercoaster up and down through different seasons and different phases of the season. We've been able to have a bad day and turn it around and have a top five. That's something that really surprised me and something I'm very proud of. In California we crashed one in practice and were able to finish second. There's been a lot of stories like that that have taken place throughout the year. It's nice to rally back and turn bad days into top fives. I think that's what you need to do to be a champion in our sport and hopefully we're able to prove that this year."
(ON HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS' SUCCESS) "I think with 24 putting the 48 in their shop and in a sense having us use their equipment, their cars, their engine combinations, it's shown the whole complex at Hendrick that if we all have the same baseline to work from we can help each other. There is a proven package there that the 24 has been able to use and win a lot of races and championships with. I think you're seeing all the cars develop more of that direction and more of a company standard car - engine package, downforce package. We're a lot closer than what we've been in the past. When we talk to each other about our driving styles or the crew chiefs talk about changes we're making to the cars, it's something that my crew chief and all our crew chiefs can use. We're a lot closer so we can all communicate better. Rick has done a really good job of pushing all of his teams to work closer together. It's raising all of Hendrick Motorsports to a whole new level not only with the 24 and the 48, 25 is knocking on a win, Terry has been very strong and can win at any moment as well. I think it has been working very well."
(WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE TODAY WITH YOU AND JEFF GORDON?) "He's definitely not better. I'm better. (laughs) When Brian comes up and makes comments to me and I walk away from a conversation with Brian and I say 'he's young, he doesn't know any better yet, I know what I'm hanging on to and when it counts I'm going to put it out there.' I know Jeff is still doing that to me. It's funny when I see Brian at times and he comes up to me and talks to me about things, I turn away and see Jeff and say 'now I know how you felt when I was a rookie and came in with these bright eyes and great ideas and all this excitement.' I do understand that he did save some at all times and turned that loose when he needed it. I know in practice he was happy with his car but didn't feel like he got exactly what he needed to. I know Chad and Robbie were talking about things and I think they made some adjustments to help their car out."
(COULD THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP BE OVER QUICKER WITH DRIVERS HAVING THESE WINNING STREAKS?) "I don't think it will be over sooner because it's ten races. I don't think it will be a run away situation. I think that maybe somebody that comes into the Chase eighth, ninth or tenth in points, like Ryan Newman, if his streak is in the final ten and comes in and lays out ten great races and hits a stretch like he did last year and wins, then now he's the champion. That's what I would see as the wildcard that exists out there right now. We're trying to make sure we peak again when it counts."
(ARE THERE RISKS ON WORKING TOGETHER?) "The biggest risk that we run is that our teammates like the package that we're developing and you're beat by your own equipment at times. That's a good problem to have. Peter Sospenzo (Brian Vickers crew chief) is really thinking hard and working on new ideas. He's a lot like Chad (Knaus). You have Robbie Loomis (Jeff Gordon's crew chief) that uses his proven equipment. You have a good balance. Chad and Peter are real aggressive and you have Robbie who doesn't let them get too far out there. I feel comfortable especially with Chad. He's always looking for the next thing to apply to our race cars so we won't be caught behind. Brian can go test somewhere and bring back the data. Chad can look at it and it looks like something we would run and we would learn from that. It's all a big snowball effect. Once you get the momentum of the teams working together, it just keeps feeding on itself."
Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet (Qualified 4th)
"I hope it holds up. I don't know though. I was on it pretty hard. It probably should have been a 28 lap or in the 90s maybe if not the 80s. I had to get out of it quite of bit, more than I wanted to, down in three in four because of the rain. The rain got us pretty good. If we can run that fast in the rain and me getting out of it, then I'd be surprised if somebody else doesn't go faster. We'll see. I hope it holds up. The GMAC Chevy Monte Carlo ran really well. We tried a lot of things in practice. We were kind of all over the board in practice. At the end of practice we put them all together and that's what we came up with was that lap. I know it could have been better. I still hope it's good enough to hold up but in the rain I'd be surprised."
Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet (Qualified 10th)
"It shows what kind of faith I've got in my team and especially Greg Zipadelli (crew chief). We got a half lap of a run on that thing before the session was over this morning. I'm pretty proud of those guys to take the information I gave from that little half of lap we got to make and make the adjustments and make it that fast."
(ON THE WOLRD OF OUTLAWS SHOP GETTING HIT BY A TORNADO) "As far as Tony Stewart and Tony Stewart Motorsports is concerned, it's one of those weeks of when it rains it pours. Between our Outlaws shop, having the oil leak today and the crash in the primary car, it's been one of those weird weeks. Everybody at the shop was all right. It happened in the middle of the night luckily. It just tore up a lot of things. I'd much rather have to pay for equipment than I would have to deal with one of guys being injured. That would be a lot harder to deal with. All the guys are all right. They're racing this weekend. We'll get the shop fixed and they just have to go out there and do their jobs."
Bobby Labonte, No. 18 WellbutrinÔ XL Chevrolet (Qualified 11th)
"The guys on the Wellbutrin Monte Carlo did something to it because it picked up a little more speed than I expected it to. I was out there on the line thinking 'I wish I knew how fast this thing was going to go.' I think I gained a lot of speed through one and two this time compared to practice. I pushed a little bit off four in the last lap but still a good run for us. That should get us somewhere in the top ten. I'm looking forward to the race on Sunday."
(ON DIALING IN TURNS ONE AND TWO AND MAINTAINING GOOD SPEED IN TURNS THREE IN FOUR IN CHICAGO) "I think what happened to me was that I got going too fast in three and four. I didn't lift much in one and two. I got out of three and four and should of lifted a little bit more and maybe my car wouldn't have pushed so bad. It was kind of hard. Sometimes you can get going too fast."
Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet (Qualified 25th)
"Every since we went through and changed the first set of tires the car has been real loose. We just haven't been able to dial it in. We got to work on it. Tomorrow will be better."
"We've tried a little bit of everything. We've been on all over the map on the right rear today. That car just lacks a lot of grip. I don't think it's necessarily the track. This new tire has really been tough on us all year."
(IS THI S A DIFFICULT TRACK TO GET AROUND?) "We've run here about three times so it's kind of hitting me. We had a pretty good car here a couple years ago and got a pretty decent finish out of it. Everybody has got their cars figured out and some of us don't. We're a little bit behind on some of these tracks. We just got to figure out what the set up is. We need to go fast and we're still working on it."
(ON CHANGES MADE TO THE DEI TEAM) "There were a couple people moved around. Fortunately we didn't have to fire anybody. We just moved a couple around and tried to put them in better situations and try to make it good for everybody. We'll see if it works out. We made some changes and hopefully it helps the team where it needs help."
