Gordon takes second in race at NHIS, tied with teammate atop points
Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Impala SS finished second on Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway in the first of 10 races in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson and Gordon leave NHIS tied for the top-spot in the point standings with 5,210 points each.
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA SS - Finished 2nd: “It was a real good day. I’m so proud of this race team. That was a great effort to come from 18th and fight our way up to finish inside the top five. I know this DuPont Chevrolet is absolutely worn out. We drove the brakes, the tires, and just everything completely off this thing. Clint Bowyer, my congratulations to him. He was the class of the field today. And we just lost track position. We were very good on new tires or cold tires I should say. And that one group of yellow flags just really got us behind so we had some catch up to do. We had great pit stops. I’m very happy to set the Chase started off like this. “
ON RACING WITH TONY STEWART “I was just having fun racing with Tony. He’s a great driver and a class act and we were mixing it up for sure there a couple of times. It was a good race. “
ON TODAY’S RACE: “I look at the entire race and for us starting 18th got us a little bit behind. I was a little disappointed in how we qualified, but the effort put out today was fantastic. I couldn’t have been more happy to be able to drive up through there, had great pit stops, I thought Steve (Letarte, crew chief) called a great race and the car was really good. It wasn’t quite good enough for Bowyer, but congratulations to him. He did a great job. Would have liked to have been a little big closer to him, we made a few adjustments there at the end. I just wasn’t very good on short runs, we made some adjustments to get better on the short runs which worked out but then over the long run, we gave up a little bit there. I had a real tough time with lapped traffic, a lot of guys were battling for position so it is kind of understandable, but made it really tough for some of the leaders to get through there and come home second. How do you complain about that? This is a great way to get the Chase started for us. “
ON IF LACK OF PRACTICE HELPED LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD: “I was actually happy to not see practice. To me it is better for us, when we have less practice. There were a couple of things I felt like we needed to work on to make ourselves better, but overall I was pretty happy with the car today and we were able to base off of our setup the last time we were here and the little bit of race practice we did on Friday. Obviously, we weren’t the best car today, but to be second best, I am pretty happy about that. I don’t know if that is a leveler or not. To me practice the more time you have on the track, sometimes, the more spread things out and guys get a chance to really find something great and sometimes, it just gets everybody closer together. I don’t know how you can really weigh that out. “
ON IF IT DEPENDS ON THE TRACK IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH LESS PRACTICE OR MORE PRACTICE: “No, I just think we have a good team, good communication and to me, I think the less practice that we have, the better off we are. I just think that is the way our team works and maybe it just fits our driving, it just seems to be the case where ever we go. “
ON SEEING THIS WIN COMING FOR BOWYER: “I am real happy for him, I think everybody is happy for Clint. To see a guy, especially when you are up in New York and nobody gave Clint Bowyer a shot at the championship. I think today was a real statement for him. I am sure he has a little grin going as well. I think it just proves that anybody in the top-12 can win this championship. If you are going to win your first one, man, this is the way and time to do it. That was pretty cool. He was dominant; he was so stong today. That one time when Tony and I both took two, he came out there and I was impressed that Tony was able to stay in front of him as long as he did. But, man, once he got that lead, man, Wow, it was incredible. “
ON BEING TIED NOW FOR THE POINT’S LEAD: “I am just happy with the day that we had. I don’t care who we would have finished second to, I would have been pretty happy to come home second today. To me, you have to capitalize on the tracks you run good at. This is a good track for us and I was just glad to do that and stay out of trouble. Wherever the points fall right now, it is what you do over 10 races, not what you do in one race. We did what we needed to do today; hopefully we can carry that next week to Dover and try to pull off another top-five. You guys can make up all the stories and create whatever you want out of that whole losing the points lead thing. I am pretty sure that is what it said in the rule book when we started the season, that that was what was going to happen to the points situation. I won’t be surprised if they change it next year though. They always seem to tweak it a little bit; it will be funny if they do that. You know what, I am just ha ppy to be where we are at. “
ON IMPORTANCE OF A STRONG FINISH AT NHIS IN THE CHASE: “Yes definitely. You have to look at who you are racing, not for just race wins, but for the championship. I think Tony will second this. I think the brakes, tires, engine; everything is about gone on those cars, even though it was a short race. I were driving really, really hard today it just seemed like every single lap, we were driving as hard as we could. I think it just shows everybody is stepping up because you know now that the real race is on and you have to get everything you can out of the car every single lap. You have to keep the guys in your sites if you are, who you are racing. Hopefully, you can put them in your mirror. When it is a day like today and there are so many of the Chase guys up front, then you have to race with them and be there and do it week in and week out. It just seems to me that the hardest thing about consistency over 10 races is when you get to a Talladega, or you get somew here and one little thing happens, you find yourself 25th or 40th or something like that. That it where you realize just how hard it is to be consistent over 10 races. “
ON IF YOU ARE PARANOID AND WORRIED IN THE CAR GOING FOR THE FIRST WIN: “Heck, I was in second thinking I thinking that I had a flat tire one time, I am just glad to hear he (Bowyer) was complaining about something. I am sitting here thinking I would have liked to have been in his car complaining about something. He was complaining and driving away, that is the best kind you have got. Yes, there is no doubt. But it really doesn’t matter how many races you have won, you are out there and until you have seen the checkered flag, it is not over. It can be taken away from you in a matter of seconds, I am sure there were a lot of things like that going through his mind, feeling vibrations and the car not handling and whatever things that were happening in there. That is very common, especially your first one.
ON REMEMBERING TAKING HIS FIRST CHECKERED FLAG: “I am an emotional guy, I was crying with two laps to go. I doubt whether Clint was doing that, maybe he was, we might have wiped the tears off before he got there. Man, that was along time ago. A long time ago. It is one of the coolest experiences, as race car driver, to get to this level and race against the best drivers, the best teams, it sends a chill up your spine that first time you do it, because you have worked so hard to get to this level, there isn’t a greater feeling, except having a baby, there isn’t a greater feeling than getting that first checkered flag. “
ON IF THIS RACE IS OVER HYPED: “I thought we were hyping the Chase, hyping the next 10 weeks, 10 races and the Chase for the Nextel Cup. I didn’t realize we were just hyping New Hampshire. “It is a cool place and this is the first step to your championship. I don’t think it was over hyped or under hyped, it was all about the championship and like Tony said, this is one-tenth of that. “
ON FEELING AFTER THRILL OF FIRST WIN SETTLED IN: “There is just something unique about your first win. That one is extra special everybody is happy for you. If he goes and wins next week it won’t be the same, I can tell you that. (Laughs) The coolest thing not only your first one, but especially your first one, but every one win, from today until next Sunday, he is the Man. He is going to flip through the channels, he is going to see if face and name up there on ESPN and every other racing show, if he reads the papers, he is going to see it there. But more importantly, when he comes back to the race track, people are going to look and talk to him a little bit differently because they are happy for him. He is the last guy that has won on the circuit and first guy to win in the Chase, so there is something special about that, so he will feel that until next Sunday unless he does that again. “
ON LEVEL OF COMFORT RACING EACH OTHER (STEWART) HARD FOR POSITION KNOWING HE ISN’T GOING TO DO SOMETHING STUPID: “I have the utmost respect for Tony. I think he is one of the best, if not the best out there. I think until it gets down to game time, the final run, or getting in position there toward the end, we know when one another is better than the other. And my car didn’t take off very good on cold tires. All those cautions killed up, Tony got some good runs, got underneath me, I let him go. I got back up to him; he would let me go. I had a little trouble getting away from him. My car was real loose for a couple laps. Finally it came back and it was from that point now that who had the better car. And that is usually the way it is. We have had our hi9story and our times, but I think we have gotten through those brain dead moments on both our parts. Now we just love to race one another hard and clean. ”
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