Chevy Race Notes - Homestead, Nov. 21

CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES

FORD 400 - RACE NOTES

HOMESTEAD MIAMI SPEEDWAY

November 21, 2004





JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - finished 3rd in the race and 3rd in the Chase: "We gave it every effort we had. We had a several opportunities throughout the day. That flat left rear tire really got us behind and we fought back all day long. I'm really proud of Robbie (Loomis) and all the guys for the race car they gave me. We started out tight and we struggled a little bit there at the beginning and got better and better and this last couple of restarts, we had a shot at least at the win - I don't know about the championship - but all in all it was a great day and a great year for the DuPont Chevrolet team. I want to thank all our sponsors and everybody that makes it happen for us. And I'm proud of Chevrolet for winning the Manufacturers' Championship. I want to say congratulations to Kurt Busch and Roush Racing. They did a great job all year and they deserve it."









JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET - PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

"I don't think we could have done much more. We put such a great effort out today and got good results, but that No. 97 (Kurt Busch) was strong. The No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was strong. I knew they would be like that all throughout the day. You've got to look back at those last 10 races and ask what we could have done. But we did everything that we knew what to do. I'm so proud of everybody on this DuPont team. It was a great year for us. I wish we could have won the championship, but we gave it everything. I was real proud of those guys for coming back from our problem with the tire and getting back up there and having a good finish."



(DID YOU TAKE MORE RISKS ON THE RACE TRACK TODAY?) "Yeah, when we got behind, we had to take some risks. And then there at the end on those restarts, we were taking some risks. I had a great run on that second to the last restart. The No. 01 got real loose on the bottom and held me up and we weren't able to get up there where we needed to. But on that last one, I took another shot at him and got inside the No. 16 and the No. 48 was inside of me. It was pretty wild out there. And then Tony (Stewart) had some kind of problems going into Turn 1 and bottled us all up and we came out of there three wide off of Turn 2 and Jimmie (Johnson) got to the outside of me. We just did whatever we could to get back in one piece and we ended up in third."



(ON THE GREEN WHITE CHECKERED FINISH AND THE LAST SIX OR SEVEN LAPS OF THE RACE) "We (Jimmie) and I were just talking about how crazy the last re-start as. It was a good day for us. We weren't quite as good as we wanted to be. We were a little bit tight but we had good track position. We were maintaining that. Everything kind of went downhill for us a little bit when we had the flat left rear but it was really a blessing that we were able to come in and get a change when we did because we would have never gotten back into it. Again it's an opportunity to work on the car and free the car up. It was real tight all day. We were pretty good. I got real, real tight there at the very end. We had some opportunities there. I don't know if those would have won us the championship but I'm going down the inside on the second to last re-start and had a heck of a run and the 01 was down in the bottom and in the way. I had to check up and we about wrecked. We lost all the momentum. Other than that, that was about our only opportunity. We would have had to won it. I don't think that would have done it because we really have the car to win but we had a lot of fun trying. We gave it a heck of an effort and I'm really proud of the guys for what they did not only this weekend but throughout these last 10 races to keep us in the Chase."



(HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO KEEP TRACK OF EVERYTHING GOING ON OUT THERE?)

"I could see the 97 in front of me at the beginning of the race. I had no idea where was. He'd be coming and he did. At the end it was the same thing. I knew Jimmie was behind me and he and I were racing for second regardless of where Kurt was. I knew that Kurt was just a position or two behind him."





(HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU THAT YOU WEREN'T ABLE TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP TO HONOR THE FRIENDS YOU LOST?)

"I'm very disappointed. I think that it put a whole different meaning on the championship for us. We wanted it for Hendrick Motorsports. We knew Rick (Hendrick) was here. We knew it was an emotional weekend for him coming back. We knew how much it would mean for us to stand up on that stage in New York and honor those guys as champions, Jimmie or myself, which ever one could get it done. It's a disappointment no matter what, knowing that we had an opportunity to do something really special like that. It made it that much more meaningful but it also makes it that much more disappointing."





(WERE YOU AWARE OF THE 97's PROBLEM AND DID YOU SEE THAT AS A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY?)

"I was just a few cars behind him so certainly saw it. I looked at is a golden opportunity and then the caution came out. That's just the way it's been. They've done a great job preparing cars - good pit stops, good race cars, everything - and Kurt did a good job driving and then they had good fortune. When they needed things to happen, whether it be a caution, whether he spun and didn't hit anything, it happened. That's what makes up a championship year for you. It's when you either run into problems and they really aren't problems or you don't have problems at all. I think they would have gotten a lap back even though there so many cautions and he was running good enough to get his lap or laps back, whatever would have happened on that situation. It said a lot to me when the caution came out right after I saw him having his problems. Of course I got a little vocal because I didn't think the caution came out but then I saw his tire rolling down the track (laughs)."





(HOW DID IT FEEL TO BE IN CONTENTION FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP DURING THE LAST LAP?)

"Yes it was that if Kurt had gotten caught up in something. I wasn't really thinking about that at that time. I was thinking about trying to win a race. I knew Jimmie was behind me and he was going to make a run at us and he did. It's exciting to know how close the points were and exciting to know that in the closing laps that we had a shot at the championship but it didn't really feel that way on the last lap. It would have been different if we were battling with Kurt like I was with Jimmie for that position in the points. That would have made it extremely exciting if that had been for the championship."



(HAVE YOU TALKED TO RICK SINCE THE END OF THE RACE? WOULD THIS HAVE BEEN THE SWEETEST OF FIVE CHAMPIONSHIPS?)

"I haven't talked to him since to him since the race is over. I talked to him before the race. I talked to him a little bit during the race. He came on our radio. With everything that's happened and I mentioned earlier, that just put that much more meaning on this championship. For me every one that I've won has gotten that much sweeter - the second one after the first one and so on. I think it's because I appreciate them that much more. I know how hard they are to win. This one with the new points system is so much harder to win so it's more meaningful in itself. Then you put on top of that everything that happened Martinsville weekend. It would have been an emotional championship celebration for us. We didn't do it. I haven't talked to Rick. I think like Jimmie also said that he's so proud of the effort that we put in to try to get it for either one of us. He's not disappointed in how the organization pulled together through all that happened and that's something to be very proud of."





(ON THE POINTS SYSTEM)

"This points system only makes careers shorten up, it doesn't lengthen them out. The intensity of this points system has increased. It's greater than it's ever been. The pressure is unreal. And the sport's not getting any cheaper. We're asking more of our sponsors and they're asking more of us. Our sport is growing so there are new race tracks coming along. The schedule is not going to be any less. As far as I'm concerned, crew members and drivers are going to have a shorter career span, but reap the benefits more because the sport is as healthy as it is. If it continues like that, guys can build a career but it'll be shorter. I don't know how many years I have left but I know right now I can't wait to get out of this race track and not see a race track for a couple of months - other than that one in Paris."



(SHOULD JIMMIE HAVE BEATED YOU WITH YOUR TIRE STRATEGY?)

"We were on equal tires there at the end. I should have beat him anyway. We had an intense re-start there. I know I spun the tires. I thought the 16 spun the tires there also. I actually ended up getting a pretty good run. I knew Jimmie was right there. He kind of got the inside of me. I was able to get to the quarter-panel of the 16. I don't know if the 16 and 20 hit. Something happened to the 20 car and he checked up and went to the inside. I had seen him coming and was underneath the 16 at the time. When I had to go up to go around the 20, Jimmie was able to keep it wide up and stay outside of me and we were three wide. I felt like we were on pretty equal terms as far as cars were concerned. The re-start before that we kind of battled but then we kind of doubled down. I thought the tires were pretty even.\