Q. You sort of answered my question before, but I’m wondering, do you feel sort of hour glassed to your career, sort of running down? And is there a frustration that your opportunities are limited going forward and getting this close? One other thing I wanted to ask you about, you mentioned a few weeks ago it’s hard to compare different eras. And I’m wondering, is this becoming the Jimmie Johnson era?
Jeff Gordon: There is no doubt that I look and one of the reasons why I think this championship was so important to me this year is because as you do get older, you look at your opportunities as becoming slimmer and slimmer. So here’s a great opportunity for us to get it done.
I feel like I’ve got more good years left in me. But I’ve got to admit, we’ve put together one heck of a year. It’s going to be hard for us to top this type of year that we’ve had. Six wins, all the Top 10s, Top 5s, consistency, you know. A great, solid team. I feel like, well, maybe I haven’t had the speed at times that Jimmie’s had. I feel like I’ve made really good decisions on the track as well as Steve on the box.
So this has been one heck of a year. And to have a year like that at this point in my career and not be able to get it done, there is no doubt in the back of your mind there is some frustration and thoughts of how many more of these opportunities are going to come our way? How many more years like this?
So, yeah, I hope there are more.
But it’s hard to say. Yeah, you know what, Jimmie is I mean, I can’t speak highly enough about this guy. Again, I know the equipment, I know the people, I know the set ups, I know everything, and he flat out can drive. He’s been showing it ever since he came to Hendrick Motorsports. And while he’s been there, he’s been learning from me. I’m going to have to learn from him now if I’m going to step up to what he’s put out there on the racetrack.
So this is definitely, if you look at the last five years, nobody has performed five or six years, however many it is, nobody has outperformed Jimmie if you look at wins you look at championships. I guess Stewart has maybe won more, but he’s been in the sport longer.
But I really think nobody has been able to step up to what Jimmie’s been able to do. And I think Hendrick has played a big role in that.
I remember in ‘98 when we won our 13 races and the championship that year, you know, everybody wanted to question or find who is the greatest? And I always said no matter how good you are, there is always somebody better. No matter how great your team is, there is always a team that can be better, and you have your time. And I’ve enjoyed my time. I hope it’s not completely over. I don’t think it is. It’s been a great year, and I think we’ve got more left.
But Jimmie is definitely on top of his game. He sets the mark. And he’s the mark that we all have to aspire to and look towards. I’m just glad that Hendrick Motorsports, and I can see his driver data and try to learn from it.
Q. Jeff, last I looked, you’re the owner of the 48 car. So if you wanted to not enter it in the race this week could you do that?
JEFF GORDON: Well, unfortunately, they don’t allow you to put on the entry blank co owners, because I think Rick would definitely have something to say. I went over there this week to the shop and looked at the 48 car, the engine a little bit, made sure everything was nice and tight (laughing).
You know what, to me, this surpasses when I think back when Rick and I were talking about the 4 teams of Hendrick, I don’t think, and I know for a fact he wasn’t thinking that this opportunity would ever present itself or he would have never included me in on it.
But I think, yeah, we all thought about this and tried putting this together, this would surpass having these two teams battle for the championship and, you know, certainly as a competitor, I want to win more championships. And really, the whole reason that we wanted to bring this team on is because we looked at the way Gibbs is doing it, and a couple of other teams out there where had he had two teams under one roof, and it’s not like that was the future, and that’s what was going to help continue the 24 Team to battle for championships.
As well as the 48 has done, they’ve outperformed us the last several years, here we are battling for a championship. And I don’t know we could say we’d be battling for this championship without that 48 Team being in there and continuing to take it to the next level and pushing all of us at Hendrick to excel and be better. It’s a good problem to have, let’s put it that way.
Q. Just want to ask you, if Jimmie wins the championship a second year in a row, how does that impact the sport? In a sense of what does it do for a driver? How do you try to beat this guy? What does it do for crew chiefs and opposing teams you earlier talked about how he’s setting the mark, and the question about this being the Jimmie Johnson era. So looking beyond this weekend to 2008, this guy wins it two years in a row, how do you top it? What are the challenges out there for drivers, crew chiefs and owners?
JEFF GORDON: It’s funny, because from that side of it is it is you’re in a better position one because you know every single detail about their car, their set up, how Jimmie drives it, because you have all the data right there. On the flip side of it, you have all that right there, and you’re still running second.
So I think that most of it is going to come down to Steve and myself of our communication. How we can break down the segments in the corner, each racetrack, each race car, and get the most out of it. And I think that is one of the things that Jimmie and Chad do very, very well. Is how they break it all down to his driving style, to that set up.
Certainly Chad is bold and pushes the limit there. And Jimmie’s, you know, a driver that can push the limit of the car with the set up. So, obviously, I think one thing that we worked on this year from last year was to be more consistent. To qualify better, and run up front more.
We’ve done that, now we’ve got to perform even better. We have to make the cars faster. And I’m going to have to look at all the details. Things that I’m doing, thing that’s Jimmie’s doing. Any of our teammates that they’re finding success with and see how we can push those limits as well. From the performance standpoint of the set ups.
Obviously, we’ve got Car of Tomorrow next year, so a lot of things are going to change. But there is definitely room for improvement, because we’ve got the mark right there. And we can use that to only benefit ourselves
It goes back to the whole reason why we have four teams. You know, it’s because we want these teams to push one another in order to make all of us better. In order for at least one of us to be the champions at the end of the season. And here we are, back to back championships. Hopefully we can utilize that to come back next year and make it three in a row for Hendrick
But it’s hard to say. Yeah, you know what, Jimmie is I mean, I can’t speak highly enough about this guy. Again, I know the equipment, I know the people, I know the set ups, I know everything, and he flat out can drive. He’s been showing it ever since he came to Hendrick Motorsports. And while he’s been there, he’s been learning from me. I’m going to have to learn from him now if I’m going to step up to what he’s put out there on the racetrack.
So this is definitely, if you look at the last five years, nobody has performed five or six years, however many it is, nobody has outperformed Jimmie if you look at wins you look at championships. I guess Stewart has maybe won more, but he’s been in the sport longer.
But I really think nobody has been able to step up to what Jimmie’s been able to do. And I think Hendrick has played a big role in that.
I remember in ‘98 when we won our 13 races and the championship that year, you know, everybody wanted to question or find who is the greatest? And I always said no matter how good you are, there is always somebody better. No matter how great your team is, there is always a team that can be better, and you have your time. And I’ve enjoyed my time. I hope it’s not completely over. I don’t think it is. It’s been a great year, and I think we’ve got more left.
But Jimmie is definitely on top of his game. He sets the mark. And he’s the mark that we all have to aspire to and look towards. I’m just glad that Hendrick Motorsports, and I can see his driver data and try to learn from it.
Q. Jeff, last I looked, you’re the owner of the 48 car. So if you wanted to not enter it in the race this week could you do that?
JEFF GORDON: Well, unfortunately, they don’t allow you to put on the entry blank co owners, because I think Rick would definitely have something to say. I went over there this week to the shop and looked at the 48 car, the engine a little bit, made sure everything was nice and tight (laughing).
You know what, to me, this surpasses when I think back when Rick and I were talking about the 4 teams of Hendrick, I don’t think, and I know for a fact he wasn’t thinking that this opportunity would ever present itself or he would have never included me in on it.
But I think, yeah, we all thought about this and tried putting this together, this would surpass having these two teams battle for the championship and, you know, certainly as a competitor, I want to win more championships. And really, the whole reason that we wanted to bring this team on is because we looked at the way Gibbs is doing it, and a couple of other teams out there where had he had two teams under one roof, and it’s not like that was the future, and that’s what was going to help continue the 24 Team to battle for championships.
As well as the 48 has done, they’ve outperformed us the last several years, here we are battling for a championship. And I don’t know we could say we’d be battling for this championship without that 48 Team being in there and continuing to take it to the next level and pushing all of us at Hendrick to excel and be better. It’s a good problem to have, let’s put it that way.
Q. Just want to ask you, if Jimmie wins the championship a second year in a row, how does that impact the sport? In a sense of what does it do for a driver? How do you try to beat this guy? What does it do for crew chiefs and opposing teams you earlier talked about how he’s setting the mark, and the question about this being the Jimmie Johnson era. So looking beyond this weekend to 2008, this guy wins it two years in a row, how do you top it? What are the challenges out there for drivers, crew chiefs and owners?
JEFF GORDON: It’s funny, because from that side of it is it is you’re in a better position one because you know every single detail about their car, their set up, how Jimmie drives it, because you have all the data right there. On the flip side of it, you have all that right there, and you’re still running second.
So I think that most of it is going to come down to Steve and myself of our communication. How we can break down the segments in the corner, each racetrack, each race car, and get the most out of it. And I think that is one of the things that Jimmie and Chad do very, very well. Is how they break it all down to his driving style, to that set up.
Certainly Chad is bold and pushes the limit there. And Jimmie’s, you know, a driver that can push the limit of the car with the set up. So, obviously, I think one thing that we worked on this year from last year was to be more consistent. To qualify better, and run up front more.
We’ve done that, now we’ve got to perform even better. We have to make the cars faster. And I’m going to have to look at all the details. Things that I’m doing, thing that’s Jimmie’s doing. Any of our teammates that they’re finding success with and see how we can push those limits as well. From the performance standpoint of the set ups.
Obviously, we’ve got Car of Tomorrow next year, so a lot of things are going to change. But there is definitely room for improvement, because we’ve got the mark right there. And we can use that to only benefit ourselves
It goes back to the whole reason why we have four teams. You know, it’s because we want these teams to push one another in order to make all of us better. In order for at least one of us to be the champions at the end of the season. And here we are, back to back championships. Hopefully we can utilize that to come back next year and make it three in a row for Hendrick.
| 
|