Chevy Race Notes - GFS Marketplace 400

Chevy Race Notes and Quotes
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
GFS Marketplace 400 
Michigan International Speedway
Aug. 22, 2004

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet (Finished 7th)
"Obviously the 6 and the 16 were really strong and a couple of other guys there. They seemed to get better and we seemed to get worse. We're just kind of happy to finish today. We've got to figure out what's going on with the engines. Mine didn't feel great there since like the last the 60, 70 laps. We certainly had some concerns."
 
"The points lead is good when you're racing for it. It doesn't matter if you're in the points lead right now. It doesn't really mean a whole lot. I just hate it for Jimmie (Johnson) and those guys that had trouble today. I look forward to those last 10. Hopefully you'll be seeing that at the end of those 10."
 
(ON PROBLEMS WITH THE 48 CAR) "They're not a factor if they're not finishing races. Nobody is. Right now they're not finishing races for whatever reasons. We got to make sure we change that and figure out what's going on there. We didn't really have that big of an issue but we definitely had some problems. I'm not real happy with where my engine ended up today either."
 
(IS THIS DUE TO MORE EXPERIMENTING?) "No we're not experimenting. We had too many problems the last time we were here. We don't want to experiment right now. I don't know if it's just this track. I know this place is very hard on equipment and we're pushing the limits. We certainly shouldn't be having these problems."
 
(ON NOT BEING EXCITED ABOUT THE POINTS LEAD) "It doesn't mean anything. If it was more significant, I'd be excited about it. It really isn't. Right now the story is about those guys that are getting into the top 10. It's about leading this thing at the end of those 10 races. It doesn't really matter where you start. I'm happy to have it. I just wish it weren't under the circumstances with Jimmie having the problems. Right now all I'm thinking about is how bad we got beat today."
 
Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot/USA Olympics Chevrolet (Finished 9th)
"It wasn't a good day. We fought a tight condition. We've been running these things long enough to know that we weren't going to get it fixed but we were just going to have to dial around it and try to get the best balance out of it that we could. I thought Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) and the guys were busting their tails. We threw big changes at it every time we came in. Considering the amount of work for each stop with the number of stops we had, I thought they did a really good job helping us get where we ended up."
 
Greg Zipadelli, Crew Chief for the No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet/USA Olympics Chevrolet
"We gave up track position twice. You give up five, eight spots here late in the run and they're really hard to get back because everybody's got the opportunity to work on their car. Overall, for us to have run in the top 10 for most of the day, give up the track position, go back to 20th and work our way back in the top 10 under some green flag runs - we'll take it. We passed some cars and made up some gains. Overall it's disappointing because I thought we should be better than that here. For the way our day went, it wasn't bad. We'll keep our momentum. It's another top 10. It keeps everybody uplifted and believing in each other. We had to work on it today. We had to do quite a bit. We made gains."
 
Jeff Burton, No. 30 America Online Chevrolet (Finished 12th)
""We're going to do better than that I hope but that's a good start for us.  We fought tight all day after being nervous about being tight from our practice. Just kept fighting.  We made some good changes during the stops.  Helluva pit crew - these guys are fast!  We'll keep working and make our cars better.  We'll get where we can race better.  The engine is running really good and the cars drive really good, we just need to turn a little better.  There were times in the race where we were real fast and there were times we were real slow.  We need to be a little more consistent, but we made it our best when it counted and that's not a bad start."   
 
Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet (Finished 16th)
"We were just super tight and couldn't go anywhere. That pretty much sums it up. That's how it was all day."
 
Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet (Finished 21st)
"That was actually a better finish than I thought we'd get. I don't know, it ain't that bad. We were just tight all day. I couldn't get the car to turn in the middle of the corners and it just killed us. What are ya gonna do about it? We're busting our ass right now and that's all you can ask for. We struggle at tracks like this for some reason but we'll figure it out."
 
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet (Finished 40th)
"I was going down the straightaway on the backstretch and it acted like it was running out of fuel. I looked down at my fuel pressure and everything was fine.  Then right away I could smell some oil and knew we had dropped a cylinder.  It's a shame.  Three weeks in a row of DNF.  The system works in our favor right now and we just can't have any more of this.  We've got to finish races.  You look at the progress we were making with moving forward on the race track and probably would have gotten the lead before long.   We made some adjustments to the car and were going forward.  Some little things keep biting us and we have to get that off our back right now."     
 
(ARE THESE LAST FEW FINISHES TOUGH ON YOU?) "Definitely. It definitely gets tough. We have to look at our performance. We're doing good on the race track and moving forward. That's all we can really look at. The only thing we can really look at is what you can control. Inside the car was going well. Adjustments were well. Pit stops were awesome. I'm proud of those things."
 
(THIS COULD COST YOU THE LEAD IN THE CUP STANDINGS. DOES THAT WORRY YOU?) "No. You never want to lose points but it's not the important stretch."
 
(KEEPING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE, YOU'RE STILL IN THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "Yeah, absolutely. The big picture is one thing. Two, three, four weeks of things not going as you're used to it going, it kind of messes with things. We'll get it back. This thing is way too good. I'm glad it's a freak deal but we just can't have any more of those."
 
Chad Knaus, Crew Chief for the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet
"We were hoping for a solid top five run. That's kind of what we need obviously right now. It's part of it. The engine shop does a great job at Hendrick Motorsports. It's good to have the support from all the Lowe's employee owners and these guys behind us 100 percent. I'll tell you what, this team is not going to give up."
 
(ON THIS HAPPENING BEFORE THE PLAY-OFFS) "Yeah if we'd of had three like this in the so-called playoffs or whatever they want to call the game we're going to play here at the end of the season, we'd be done."
 
(THREE WEEKS IN A ROW, IS THIS RELATED?) "I don't know. We're just now getting the valve covers off it. I'll let you know tomorrow."

(HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN THE MOMENTUM OF THE TEAM?) "It's not an issue. We come to the race with the same focus and determination every single week. This a top notch team. This is the best team in Cup racing right now and I feel like we can up to Bristol and get a good top five finish and then we'll start spanking them from there on out."