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NASCAR BGN: Miami 300 Notes and Quotes, Post Race

12 November 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

MIAMI 300 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES RACE
HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
Saturday, November 11, 2000

Ricky Hendrick, No. 14 GMAC Chevrolet Monte Carlo (goes behind the wall): "The guys gave me a great car all weekend long. We got here and were the fastest in practice. We should have got the pole. I messed up there. Like I said, we were running in the top ten, came in and got fresh tires, and went back out. They were saying 'Go hard, go hard, you're gaining on 'em.' We were going to go for the top five. And we got going a little too hard with low tire pressure. It's a hard track when you get out of the groove and get into the marbles. There's no saving it there. I got up into the wall. Made two mistakes this weekend, but I guess that's why I've got the yellow tape on the car."

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Pepsi Chevrolet Monte Carlo (race winner): "I tell you what, what a great day for us. This Pepsi team just did an awesome job today. We adjusted on the car and it just got better and better. I didn't I could hold off Mark (Martin) there, he was pretty good at the end. We were a little tight. We just needed to free it up.

"I saw him (Martin), he'd just come there and get right on me and make a couple moves. He knew he had a better car than I did. I just held my line and protected the bottom. It was a great battle, it was a great race. It reminded me of back in the Busch Series when I was coming up through the ranks. It was awesome.

"We don't have this car set-up quite like my Winston Cup car where I can take fluids and so, it wore me out. I was so focused on trying to stay ahead of Mark and get through traffic, and just hold my line, and save my tires.

What are your thoughts on crashing Mark Martin's going-away party? "It's a little bit different when you only run five Busch races over the last year, and I ran six last year, so that's only 11 Busch races in the last couple years. I don't think that that can hold any significance over what Mark Martin has done in this series. The championship is over, and the focus should have been on Mark Martin and his last (Busch) race. I know how bad he wanted to win that last race. I'm just tickled that I was able to battle with a guy like Mark in my last Busch race. Running back and forth from the Busch garage to the Winston Cup garage is no easy feat, and I take my hat off to Mark for doing that for all these years. Not just winning races, I mean that's something in itself. But I mean what he goes through, physically, as many as he does, and to be able to win Saturday and be competitive on Sunday, really says something. It tells you a lot about Mark's character."

Tell us about the closing laps with Martin. "My car was going about the same speed. His just kept going faster, slower, faster, slower. This is a very difficult place to pass. He would run me down, and get right up on me and when it didn't stick - he's a smart race car driver - he knew he had to back off. Cool the tires down, and hope that I would use my tires up and make another run on me. The way I had to run the race track, it would have been very difficult for him to pass me because he would have had to have driven through the access lane or gone around the infield to get by me 'cause I was about in the grass. I just couldn't get the car to turn in the groove. I had to run the apron 'cause it was the only way to get my car to get off the corner good. But we had a strong car, no doubt about it. Especially on fresh tires. But I wore them out a little bit at the end and allowed Martin to close on me and make an effort to get by me.

What about lapped traffic? "There were times it worked to my advantage, and times it worked to me disadvantage. There were some guys that would work with you and move over, and some guys that made it a little bit harder. Mark was pretty good in lapped traffic. If we hit lapped traffic and had to race the traffic, he'd close on me. But if I hit traffic that was allowing us to go by 'em, if I hit it at the right time, it would help me out. But it was really all about when Mark wanted to close on me and make a run on me. When he made a run on me, I just held on tight and tried not to make any mistakes.

Talk about the car set-up. "Any other time you'd make the kind of adjustments we made, you go down the corner and crash. We made major, major adjustments. You can't just fine-tune adjustments (in the Busch car) like in the Winston Cup car. That's one thing I've found out. At the beginning of the race, I was real, real tight. Car wouldn't turn the corner at all. We just made major adjustments. We raised the track bar, we took bite out of it, we did a lot of things - about as much as you can do on a pit stop without maybe pulling a spring rubber out of something like that. They were pretty major adjustments. Luckily, we kept going in the right direction and get better and better." Jeff Green, No. 10 NesQuik Chevrolet Monte Carlo (finished 3rd): "We've got a great race team. My hat's off to them every week. We just keep putting this thing in the top five just about every week. We didn't have anything for Jeff (Gordon) or Mark (Martin) there at the end, but I just wore myself out trying to stay with them. I just had to give up a little bit. It was a great race for us here in Homestead. Last time I was in Florida, I was upside down. I'd just like to say hello to everyone at home, my family. I'm going hunting tomorrow, and we're looking forward to that.

"We wore it out all day long trying to make our NesQuik Chevy better.. We got a little better there at the end, but it just wasn't enough for Gordon or Martin. For anybody to beat Mark Martin, he's done a great job. My hat's off to Jeff Gordon. He had a great car today. But this NesQuik Chevy just never gives up. And these guys just never give up. That's been our focus every week. And it's not going to change in these next couple of months.

"Harold (Holly, crew chief) and I think alike. We want to win everything we do. That's our focus and that's our mindset each and every week. It pays off for us in the long run. We never give up. We believe in each other 110% and that's what it takes. We're going to stay together for a long, long time."

Jason Keller, No. 57 Excedrin Chevrolet Monte Carlo (finished 4th): "We had a good year, and ended it on a high note which is what we needed. The guys did a great job all day long. We just struggled a little bit in qualifying. But this is a good way to cap off a good year. Now we're going to welcome Albertson's on board and hope to do a good job for them next year."

Jimmie Johnson, No. 92 Alltel Chevrolet Monte Carlo (finished 6th): "It was fun. I just wish the car was turning a little better for us so I could have raced with (Jeff) Burton and we got around Hank (Parker Jr.) there. It was a great day all day long. The car was close at the start which is a good credit to the guys because when we unloaded down here, we were a long ways off. They worked real hard and brought us home in the top ten.

"I was a little worried about tires in the beginning, but then when we had our first pit stop they did a reading and we realized that our set-up wasn't abusing the tires that bad and we were good to go.

"Our most important thing today, after we broke last week in Phoenix, was to finish as high as possible to keep us in the top ten in the final point standings this year. A sixth place should do it for us - and that's what we hoped to do."

Text Provided By Nancy Wager

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