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JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI IMPALA SS, FINISHED 2ND:
“It was fun, fun on those restarts. Even when I would get the lead on him (Jimmie Johnson), I knew how strong he was. I tried to run the bottom there in three and four. On one of those last restarts, he just drove right by me on the outside. We are putting great efforts out. It was a great day in the Pepsi 500 for our DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet coming home second. We had fun but second is pretty much all I think anybody had today.
“It got slick. We definitely a point in the race when the handling started to go away and we had to make some bigger adjustments. I’m really proud of Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the whole team. The pit stops were great. The communication was great. I was real happy with all the adjustments. We were about an eighth place car when this started and got ourselves up to a second place car. I am very proud of this team. We are making slow gains in the points. We got to make more gains but we have a lot of racing left.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE ON THOSE RESTARTS?
“We were just trying to make it interesting because nobody else seemed to be able to do that for the No. 48. We certainly couldn’t on that last run. It was a great day for our DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet. We really fought hard all day and all weekend to get ourselves in that position. Had a couple of good restarts but I mean they’re in another category and we’ve got to find out what we’re missing. I’m real proud of Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and all the guys on this team they had great pit stops, very solid effort. To come home second today is definitely something we are very proud of.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET IMPALA SS, FINISHED 3RD:
“It was ok. The Target Chevy was pretty good all day. Half-way through the race and at there at the end, I probably could have gotten more, but just ran out of room. It was a good run for us.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU OUT THERE TODAY?
“It was fun. The Target Chevy was good all day. We were really good when it was cloudy. When the sun came out we started sliding too much and couldn’t really find the balance between how much grip I wanted to have in the corner and how much I wanted the power there, I just couldn’t. There at the end it cooled down and I got a little better but it was too late.”
