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Q. One other quick thing about another team moving, it seems like while we were all enamored with how well Hendrick was doing earlier in the year, in the background was also poor old 4, and poor old Roush. They can’t go anywhere they’re so far behind. Now Michigan to Daytona and even Sonoma, it seems like, wham, all of a sudden Roush is there again. Do you think now they are back? Or has that just been circumstances for them these last few weeks?
JEFF GORDON: Hey, I never count those guys out. I feel like Carl Edwards has been strong sporadically throughout the year. But when he’s strong, he’s real strong. And they have had some things that have kept them out of being in contention to win more races. Of course, Matt Kenseth is the most consistent guy out there. I mean, you never count those guys out. I mean, they’re always there and fast, no matter what kind of season they’re having. So I always think that they’re going to be a factor.
JEFF GORDON: I think to me the biggest gainers here recently have been, the DEI cars especially Truex. I mean, he’s been really strong. I think they can be a real serious factor in this chase, as well as, I think, that the Penske cars seem to be getting better and better. So I mean, it’s anybody’s game right now as far as I’m concerned.
What you do early in the season is nice to maybe help you get into the chase, but it doesn’t mean anything once you get into the chase. It’s really about the teams that get through the summer months that are August, September, the teams that are strongest there, those are the guys and teams that I look at are going to be the real threat for the championship.
Q. Talk again a little bit about the team work thing. Racing isn’t like football or basketball. I mean, you guys are out there and you’re pretty much alone in your car in a lot of ways. You have contact with other people, but how big is this team work thing, even in a race like Daytona? I mean, how much do you even think about it when you’re going into these races, the restrictor plate races or other races? You know, after listening to Tony Stewart, and Danny Hamlin get on each other after that race and Kyle complaining, it sounds like it’s very important. But how important is it, really?
JEFF GORDON: I mean, to me the most important part, when you’re on a restrictor plate track, yes, it’s important. You need to have a drafting partner, you need to have that push if you’re going to win the race. And we’ve seen that with the win that’s I’ve had in the past, when I’ve had, whether it was Scott Riggs or Jimmie Johnson or one of my teammates that helped push me. I mean, that’s what you’ve got to have. And everybody has that. And, you know, even Jamie McMurray had that this past weekend. But I think that as far as other tracks, the team work that goes on is the communication between practices, the debriefing sessions that we have after the final practice on Saturday, fine tuning the cars. And then the real thing is the team chemistry that you have within your own team, and you don’t want anything to really get in the way of that. If there’s rivalries that are going too far within your own organization that start to disrupt the chemistry, then that can be bad.
You know, it’s good to have other teams pushing you within your own organization. It makes you more competitive. I think one of the reasons we’re more competitive this year is because Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knauss and that team won the championship last year. It only motivated us that much more. So there are good things that come from that. But at the same time, you’ve got to be able to find ways to work together. You know, once you get out there on the track, it’s all about you and your team, except for those restrictor plate tracks. But it’s what happens during the week leading into Sunday’s race or Saturday’s race.
Q. You started this call mentioning the tragedy yesterday.
JEFF GORDON: Yeah.
Q. Every time something like this happens, we can’t help but think about how many times you guys are in the air.
JEFF GORDON: Yeah.
Q. Especially traveling back and forth from New York to Charlotte, as you mentioned. Does something like that make you think twice, especially now that you’re a dad, how you do that?
JEFF GORDON: Well, I was in Pittsburgh yesterday when I heard the news, and I was getting on a plane coming back home and I mean, I couldn’t help but the thoughts be on my mind. We’re on helicopters, we’re on airplanes. And it’s definitely that lifestyle and that schedule, it’s a necessity more than just a luxury. I mean, we really, truly have to get to places as fast as we can. But you’ve got to focus on the safety of it as well. And I think that, you know, through the whole tragedy that we have at Hendrick, it made all of us step up our safety and just really try to look at fine tuning everything.
And so, I feel very confident in the way that, you know, I travel. But there are holes out there. And they can happen to anybody. And you do the best that you can, and, it’s a part of life, unfortunately. I drive a race car 200 miles an hour every weekend, and it’s dangerous. And it can happen there. Or it could happen walking across the street, you know. And all you can do is try to be as preventative and try to be as structured and organized as possible to make sure that those things don’t happen. But there’s never any guarantees.
Q. Did you have to reassure your wife yesterday that you were okay?
JEFF GORDON: I mean, she has been introduced to my lifestyle, through, you know racing, and I think she got to know me early on through some things that I said to her that, you know what, I live a great life. I’m very fortunate. And I know that it’s dangerous out there, but I choose to be out there. I choose this lifestyle and I love it. And something could happen to me, and, you know, we’ve had those discussions to where it could happen to me, it could happen to our family, and we’ve got to be prepared if it does. And that is the best that we can do. And she’s very understanding towards that.
Q. In following up the violations and so forth a couple weeks ago. I’m just curious do you want to know everything that’s on your car or that’s being done to your car? Or would you just rather get in it, and practice, and qualify and go race?
JEFF GORDON: I mean, I like to know what’s in there, you know. I don’t like any surprises. I knew all about what our fenders looked like at Sonoma. And I didn’t have an issue with it. I didn’t think it was a big deal. You know, I felt like the worse that could happen to us was that they asked us to fix it and maybe we’d lose 15 minutes of practice because we didn’t get through inspection on time. I mean, that was the mindset of everybody.
And it goes back to, you know, what I was saying earlier about, you know your competition’s stepping up and getting better. And we try to do the same. You know, the one thing that really bothers me about this whole thing is I saw where, you know, the cover of U. S.A. Today and cheating and all of these things. And it really bothers me that not just us, but any team in our series that does something similar to what we do, and they’re considered cheaters.
When, you know, in racing ever since I’ve been racing, you’re always trying to get a competitive edge. You’re always trying to push the limits. And if you’re in football, if you’re in basketball, it’s no different than an offensive lineman holding a guy from getting to the quarterback, and they say okay, well, that’s a 10 or 15-yard penalty for holding. They don’t say, Well, you’re a cheater, and we’re going to take your coach and suspend him. I mean, it’s just our sport is looked at so much different. And I don’t think it really should be in these situations.
I commend our team finish pushing the envelope. We’ve learn aid valuable lesson with this new car that that envelope is a much tighter thing to push. And we’ve got to be extremely careful in the areas that we try to find advantages. That obviously, we know that the body on the car, and the aerodynamics of it are not an area that we can do it in. Not by doing it to the body. We’ve got to find other ways that NASCAR, has been clear about on what we can and can’t do. And now we’re very clear on what we can, and can’t do, and we’re going to go to work in those areas now and push the limits there.
Q. You mention aid while ago that the most important part of team work could be the communication between your teams, between practices and during the week and things like that. Has that change in relationship to Kyle and his team? Are they still full members of the communication society?
JEFF GORDON: Yeah, absolutely. Nothing’s changed there. Again, I go back, you know, I know some of the things that Kyle said after the race. I think a lot of it had to do with being frustrated. Because he probably feels like he should have won that race, and he was so close to winning it.
And I think he just said some things that, you know, that really didn’t add up. Because, you know, he’s been in every team meeting. There’s not been one conversation about him not being in team meetings. And, you know, we’re doing everything we can to win the championship this year.
And we’ve got, you know, we’ve got three teams that are right now in there. We’ve got the 25 team has really been running strong lately, and we’re doing everything we can. Because the better that the 5 and 25 are and the 48 are, then the better we are with the 24. So it’s only in our best interests to make sure we give as much information to them, and we get as much information back from them to make ourselves stronger and make sure that they’re stronger as well. Because that’s the only thing that’s going to elevate the whole organization.
Q. Good morning, well, might be morning, with the baby, that was one of the things I was going to ask about.
JEFF GORDON: I’ve lost complete track of time, so I’m not sure what time of day it is. All the shades are closed. And we try to do whatever is going to work for her to sleep as much as possible. Q. Understood. Two quick questions, one regarding the newborn, with not just yourself but all the athletes and all the celebrities having kids the last couple of years. Is there a little inside network with you guys? Where you exchange with -
JEFF GORDON: A baby boom going on?
Q. I’m guessing you probably don’t have babysitters right now. But do you exchange notes or be prepared for this, be prepared for that? Or are you almost absolutely on your own?
JEFF GORDON: Well, I mean you’re on your own as much as anybody else is. You have your parents. You have plenty of books that I’ve read as well as friends. I have a good friend of mine who just had a baby girl about three months ago. So, he’s been giving me a lot of information. They’ve just been two or three months ahead of us throughout the whole process. I’ve been leaning on him quite a bit.
It’s funny because as soon as the baby was born, I didn’t hear much from him. I had to contact him. So that was my first sign of what’s to come for myself that you’re just too busy with everything, and caught up with everything, to even, you know, really touch base with your friends and give them advice with what’s going on. It’s a great experience. It’s been awesome. But you know, it’s gone very well. I mean, Ingrid’s fantastic. She’s doing such a great job. And you know, our little girl has been great. And we go through our tough times as well as the great times. But we did have a baby nurse that’s been helping us, and we will taper off with her over the next couple of weeks.
