JIMMIE WE JUST TALKED TO CHAD AND HE SAID IT WAS A TOUGH AFTERNOON, TAKE US THROUGH YOUR DAY.
“Yeah, it was just a long day and we had speed in the car and we would work our way forward and we had some issues on pit road and I feel terrible for my guys and that we had to make a change but the 24 guys came in and did a great job but we just gave away so much track position at the beginning and it was just tough for us to get back to where we needed to and then at the end we were coming along pretty well and the caution kind of came at a time where we didn’t need it and then in front of me on the restart was the 16 missing first and second gear and a lot of guys pitted behind us and I was at the back of the guys without taking tires and we just kind of slipped from there but it is what it is and it’s a team sport and we didn’t do our job today but we’ll come back at Phoenix and give it a try again.”
YOU ARE IN UNCHARTED TERRITORY. NORMALLY THIS TIME OF THE YEAR YOU ARE THE POINTS LEADER AND NOW YOU ARE 33 POINTS BACK GOING TO PHOENIX AND HOMESTEAD. WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET NOW?
“Well the last four years we have been in a different position. I have lost plenty of championships in the past and this is racing and it doesn’t come easy and you are not going to get what you want every single year and every single weekend. I can promise you this. I am trying as hard as I can; I know my team is, and we are doing everything we can. Thirty-three points back is not where we want to be but we are going to work to get back on top.”
HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR GUYS ARE GOING TO REACT TO THE CHANGE MADE ON PIT ROAD TODAY (BROUGHT IN NO. 24 CREW OF JEFF GORDON TO COMPLETE THE RACE)
“It’s something new, for sure. It’s nothing we’ve done in the past. But I just watched the World Series and when a pitcher is not doing his job, they make a change and get someone in who can. We know our guys are capable of doing it. We know it’s possible. We just had some things going on today that we couldn’t rebound from in and it really put us in a bad position on the race track and it kind of led to the bad result today.”
SUMMARIZE YOUR RACE FOR US
“Well, there was plenty of hope at different times. We were running pretty competitive. We worked our way up into the top three or so and then we had some issues on pit road. We lost a lot of track position there in the middle part of the race and then we were just trying to fight back from that and it’s tough with the competition this close. The long runs seemed to help us and would work in our favor, but unfortunately there at the end, on my last restart even, I had the No. 16 (Greg Biffle) in front of me and he was missing a couple of gears and it just didn’t work out.”
IT’S SO UNUSUAL FOR A TEAM TO SWITCH CREWS IN THE MIDDLE OF A RACE, WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS WHEN THAT HAPPENED AND (CREW CHIEF) CHAD KNAUS MADE THAT CALL?
“Well, with everything on the line, we’ve got to perform. We have to do our jobs. We’ve been having some issues and today wasn’t going any better and with the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) out of the race it was a good opportunity for us to try it. It might be different to our sport in some ways but we’ve seen (Richard) Childress and other teams flip-flop crews around all the time. Man, you watch pro sports and if people aren’t getting the job done you’ve got to pull them out and put someone else in.”
NOW 33 POINTS DOWN WITH TWO RACES TO GO
“Yeah, it’s not where we want to be, but there’s a lot of racing left. There are no guarantees what’s going to happen. At some point the championship run will come to an end and I’m going to try my hardest to make sure it’s not this year, but we’ll come back next week and try again.”
DOES THE CHANGING OF THE TEAM REPRESENT A CRACK IN THE ARMOR OR DOES IT REPRESENT STRENGTH IN HENDRICK? I HEARD ONE OF THE GUYS WALKED OUT
“I’m not really sure. It’s so fresh and I just got out of the car. I’m not sure what the implications will be through the shop. We’ve been lacking and we need to get it straightened out and it was a good wake-up call for the guys, if anything, to bring the No. 24 crew in and let them do their job and let them watch. I really do care for these guys with the bottom of my heart. They’re my guys. But, man, we have to perform. We can’t come down pit road and lose 10 spots every stop. That’s just killing us.”
WERE YOU AS STUNNED AS EVERYBODY ELSE WHEN THAT HAPPENED?
“No. I knew the possibility existed and at this point in the game, you can’t have feelings. You have to go out and try to win the championship. And if somebody’s feelings got hurt, that’s too bad. We’re here to win a championship and we’ve got to do everything we can.”
DO YOU WANT THOSE GUYS NEXT WEEK? YOU TALKED ABOUT THEIR PERFORMANCE AND THEY HAVE NOT PERFORMED IN THIS CHASE
“We might not have the options that we want next week. These guys, I know they have it in them. A lot of these guys have won four championships with me. Some have won three. So I know they have it in them, but every once in a while an athlete gets something in the head that slows them down or makes them over-think things. I don’t know what the issue was. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t know what the problem was in the pit stops but we’ve got to perform.”
DOES THAT TEAR A TEAM APART WHEN THAT HAPPENS?
“We’ll find out. I have no clue. That’s unchartered territory for us.”
ISN’T IT A LITTLE LATE FOR A WAKE-UP CALL? IT MIGHT BE THE BIGGEST WAKE-UP CALL EVER
“The alarm clock has been ringing for a while. It’s been ringing. And this is a new level to that. But the alarm clock has been ringing for quite a few months.”
SO YOU KNOW THAT THERE WAS A PLAN THAT IF THINGS GOT BAD THAT YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS?
“No, there wasn’t anything discussed beforehand but when I saw the No. 24 tore up and I heard a little bit of pit chatter about collecting guys on the radio, I had a feeling what was coming.”
DID YOU JUST NOT HAVE THE CAR AT THE END TO GET UP THERE AND CONTEND?
“We weren’t the best on the short run. I would have to recover from a poor pit stop situation and drive up through the pack and really get back into a decent spot and then pit again and fall back. I feel like the long run was working well for us and we could make up time, but what really killed me in the end was the fact that the No. 16 (Biffle) didn’t have first or second gear.
“On that restart, a train of cars went by on the inside and I was stuck behind the No. 16 because I couldn’t pass him before the start/finish.”
WHEN DID THIS START BUILDING AND WHEN DID YOU AND CHAD KNAUS SIT DOWN AND SAY YOU MIGHT HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE ON THE PIT CREW?
“It just goes through the air. Everybody has kind of known in the back of their minds through the summer and all that we’ve needed a little bit of help. We’ll keep training and we’ll keep working and we’ll see what we get.”
YOU SAID LAST WEEK IT WOULD BE MISTAKES THAT CAUSE A POINT SEPARATION. CAN YOU REBOUND FROM THIS? ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH?
“Man, we’re going to try. We have two mistakes. We have the race at New Hampshire where we finished 25th, and then this weekend. Time will tell. All I know is that I’m going to show up next week and do everything in my power to win the race and lead laps and we’ll see what happens to the other guys.”
DENNY HAMLIN SAID A FEW WEEKS AGO THAT THIS WASN’T OVER. DO YOU THINK IT’S OVER?
“What’s over?”
THE CHASE
“Oh, no; it’s far from over. It’s far, far from over.”
ARE YOU FEELING THE STRESS OR ARE YOU PRETTY COOL?
“All I can do is give100 percent on my side. I don’t train the crew guys. I don’t work on the car. There’s only so much I can do. I’m going all I can and I know Chad (Knaus) is and I know these guys are. Even though today it was an embarrassing moment for my over-the-wall guys, they’re giving all they can. Sometimes you just get beat. That’s the way it is and today it just didn’t work out.”
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