WITH YOUR 77TH CAREER VICTORY, YOU MOVE INTO SOLE POSSESSION OF SIXTH PLACE ON THE ALL-TIME WIN LIST, BREAKING THE TIE WITH DALE EARNHARDT SR. THIS IS YOUR SECOND VICTORY IN 2007. YOU ARE THE POINTS LEADER FOR THE FIFTH STRAIGHT RACE. YOU NOW LEAD JEFF BURTON BY 203 POINTS. TALK ABOUT THE DAY:
GORDON (JG) = “Obviously, we’re thrilled. It was one of those days where it seemed like we couldn’t anything wrong and then at the end, I didn’t feel like were going to be anywhere close to the front. That’s how this race is. You try to maintain track position. I knew we had a strong car. We seemed to be able to get some help to get out there and stay there. But the race got really unique and different there at the end. The way those guys were lined up, nobody was able to pass and nobody seemed to want to get out of line. There were a bunch of cars that were pretty far back. I kept asking Stevie to tell me how many laps there were to go. It was hard to have patience. I wanted to get out of that line. I knew how fast my race car was. I thought if three or four of us could get together, I knew we could go up there. But it was really hard to be patient. The only thing that helped us one time was when Steve was asking me to save fuel, so we were just sitting there riding.
“But after the restart when there was about nine (laps) to go, I knew things would get shuffled up and that’s when the whole race started to come to us at that point. Everything did get shuffled up and we were bumping and banging all over the place. I just happened to get a great push from Jimmie (Johnson) and we drove from about 5th or 6th all the way to the lead. I don’t know who was behind him, but he must have had a pretty good line of them behind him as well because we had a heck of a run. And then the caution came out. It was all about that last restart. I knew those guys were going to be tough. They were laying back doing all kinds of things. It felt like we were pretty good once they dropped the green. But then when I saw Jimmie get inside of McMurray, I thought oh boy, we’re in trouble. I knew how good his stuff was and how good he is on these restrictor plate tracks. So that caution sort of saved us. I hate to win one like that. But I felt like we really earned it to get up there to be in that position. So I’m real proud of it. “
STEVIE LETARTE: “I think Jeff said it the best. It was a very odd race for about the second two-thirds of the race. In the beginning, it was normal Talladega with two or three-wide most of the time. The new surface really promotes great racing. It’s really smooth. The caution fell at a really odd time - right around a fuel window. It’s a rare occurrence when you see everybody ride around until the end of the caution and then pit. That really set the tone for the whole race. And then I think everyone was forced to save fuel, including us. But it was very frustrating that nobody was making any moves. I thought at that point maybe we made a poor decision to lose our track position. It ended up working out okay. The caution, with about 12 to go, was like Jeff said, the turning point for the whole race. That forced everybody to show their hand and make their move. I can’t say enough about our teammate. Jimmie Johnson gave us a couple of unbelievable pushes to pass some of those lapped cars and some of those faster cars. To get up there like that was really just a good day. “
IT SEEMS LIKE EVERY TIME YOU OR HMS WINS A RACE, THE FANS COMPLAIN ABOUT THE OFFICIATING. DOES THAT BOTHER YOU TO GET THIS REACTION FROM FANS?
(JG) = “You’ve got to look at the source. When Dale Earnhardt Jr wins and we don’t, then my fans say ridiculous things. The majority of the fans out there - especially here - are huge Earnhardt fans, or just not Gordon fans or Hendrick Motorsports fans for that matter. You’ve got to be rational and use common sense. When somebody has a legitimate issue, I’ll give it to them. But when somebody complains because their guy didn’t win or somebody they don’t like doesn’t win, then that’s when it gets a little bit silly. All I know is I was leading when the caution came out. I didn’t know what happened or when it happened or when the caution should have been thrown. I can tell you that if NASCAR was ever going to fix things or lean in any direction, you’d think they would lean toward the majority. You’ve got to love the fans and the passion they have. You’ve got to let them express their feelings but you also have to use common sense. They’ve invited Steve and other people up to their booth for Busch races to see how they officiate a race and I’m sure that’s for any driver or car owner or whoever wants to go up there. I think that’s a good idea to see what kind of job they have because I don’t think it’s an easy one. And sometimes it works in your favor and sometimes it doesn’t. We have them go all ways. We take them when we can and try not to complain about them when they don’t. “
CAN YOU DETAIL THE KEY MOMENTS IN THE CHARGE TO THE FRONT AND DESCRIBE HOW CHALLENGING THIS STRETCH WAS?
(JG) = “I’ve got to go back and watch the video. So much happened. When there are three or four (laps) to go and there is so much going on and your spotter is in your ear saying all kinds of things and Steve is saying how many laps to go and guys are making moves and swapping moves. It’s a blur. Your job is to put your foot on the floor, pick the right lane with momentum, and push or get a push from the right guy. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is that we cleared the two or three wide, I got a pretty good push. Stewart was behind me and Jimmie was behind him and I came up on Stremme. And Stremme moved up the race track a full car width. I had momentum and I was coming. He came down on me and our fenders touched. I went onto the apron and I actually had to check up just a little bit. When I did that, Stewart jumped to the outside and when he did that, Jimmie had a great run coming. When Jimmie came, he had nowhere to go but to push me and he hit me pretty good and pushed me and all of a sudden, all the momentum I had lost, was just regained. I actually was leading by the time we got into Turn 1. That’s how big of a push I got. But it was because that momentum was broken, I was going to have a hard time getting to the lead at that point. I might have gotten to third or fourth and didn’t know what would happen after that. Usually that kind of momentum change kills you. But because I had a guy like Jimmie behind me, it propels us to the lead. That’s all I remember. Other than that, it was just crazy. “
ON SPEAKING UP TO NASCAR DURING THE DRIVERS MEETING
(JG) = “I was waiting for them to address what we all saw in the Busch race, which was out of control. I didn’t hear it addressed. And so it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. After I watched the Busch race, I wanted to go see them before the driver’s meeting. I didn’t get a chance to. But I just had to say something. I don’t know if that made a difference or not. But today was one of the best days. Guys, yesterday, were bump-drafting. But they were doing it in a way that wasn’t out of control. There were still crashes and things happened. When you get to the end of the race, all bets are off. It’s going to get crazy. I wasn’t surprised by the reaction from NASCAR saying we’ve got to police. It’s going to be an ongoing battle we’re going to have as drivers and competitors with NASCAR. How do we manage that? You want them to make the call to force us into a box, but then you don’t want them to make a judgment call. You want to be able to police it as a driver, but your mindset is not capable of doing that out there on the race track. We’re certainly not thinking rational. But it had nothing to do with trying to set an example for others of how you go about it. I always try to go about saying things to NASCAR as gingerly as I can to try to get my point across, but not put anything down or take away from anything or anybody. “
AFTER HAVING ALL THOSE BEER CANS THROWN AT YOU, YOU STOPPED AND DID A BURNOUT. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
(JG) = “It was probably a bad decision looking back on it and the safety of the fans. I can’t get past remembering when I won this race with the battle with Junior and having the pictures of the car been showered by cans and things. I wanted to do a burnout and I felt like that was the best place to do it so I could get to pit road, but it was probably wasn’t the best decision to do it where I did it. “
ON LAP 123 YOU WERE LEADING A FIVE-CAR TRAIN, YOU WERE CLOCKED JUST A LITTLE UNDER 200 MPH. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE AT THAT SPEED?
(JG) = “It was a very rare situation. There were two or three cars that were a little bit slower than us that I was drafting and at that time, I had a couple of guys lined up that were giving me a really good push at that time. So I got the draft off the cars ahead of me and the push from behind. I could see the rpm’s really increase. At this track, we’re always in control and comfortable when we’re going in a straight line.
“It’s not about safety of racing. I don’t know if I’m the best one to address and decide that. These teams do such a good job that the cars have really picked up. We have a smaller restrictor plate. I don’t know where they find the speed, but they seem to find it. The Car of Tomorrow can take care of a lot of those issues here at this place. We’re not going to be able to run restricted like they were trying to do at Daytona, but I think with the right plate on it, as boxed as that car is, that should police itself.
“And Daytona is not an issue. One of the biggest problems you run into is that they want to run the same restrictor plate here that they run in Daytona and they’re like two opposite race tracks. One is a very abrasive, narrow race track with handling being an issue. We’re in and out of the gas. Here, it’s smooth as glass, lots of grip, big sweeping corners, and maybe we need a little bit smaller restrictor plate. But I felt very comfortable out there. I thought everything was good other than maybe the speed we ran that lap. “
ON YOUR BURNOUT, WHEN NASCAR TOLD YOU TO COME ON TO VICTORY LANE, IT LOOKED LIKE YOU MIGHT JUST GO ON ALONG THE FENCE AND LET THEM HAVE THEIR FUN. DID YOU CONSIDER COMING ON DOWN OR WERE YOU GOING TO GO ONTO PIT ROAD ANYWAY?
(JG) = “Well, I kind of got a message about coming to Victory Lane. I thought they meant not to go out on the grass and spin around and all that stuff. I’m horrible at burnouts anyway, so I try not to do them very much anyway. I have my fans out there too. My fans want to see me celebrate. At that point, I wasn’t thinking about the safety. I admit it was a bad decision. “
TALK ABOUT WHAT 77 WINS MEANS TO YOU
(JG) =“I’m thrilled to death to drive for Rick Hendrick. He’s provided me and so many people awesome opportunities to go out there and have a lot of fun. I want to appreciate it and enjoy it and I also want to keep it going (laughs). We’ve got some tough competitors. I just don’t think at this point I’ve taken enough time to really reflect on it. In the next days I’ll think about and think how cool it is to have 77 victories. But I can tell you that shortly after that, it’s going to be business as usual. I’m going to the shop after that - probably on Tuesday - I’ve got a bunch of stuff going on Wednesday and we’re preparing for Richmond. But one day, I hope I’ll have the opportunity to look back on every one of them and realize just how special it’s been and the career I’ve had and the wins I had. “
HOW EMOTIONAL IS ALL THIS FOR YOU? DID YOU EVER THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN AT TALLADEGA?
(JG) = “On one side I want to just jump up and down and be fired up about winning 77 here at Talladega - knowing that three-quarters of the grandstands are pulling against us. And then on the other side, I respected Dale (Earnhardt) so much and learned so much from him and today being his birthday and knowing how many of those people up there would have loved to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. win this race today, it’s tough. We come out here to win. And I’m trying to do the best job I can with the equipment that I’ve got. And these guys are giving me too good of stuff right now to not try to get everything out of it that I possibly can. I certainly didn’t want to start a riot today. Hopefully nobody got injured with what happened. But I wanted to break that record and it’s pretty awesome to do it here today. So I keep going back & forth. It’s cool. Oh, man. Why did it have to happen at Talladega you know? It just goes back & forth. “
DID YOU GET EMOTIONAL IN THE CAR? WERE YOU EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTED?
(JG) “I’ve got a headache, I’ll admit it. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. I really just don’t think it has. I think you hit right on it that this race is so mentally draining that you’re just looking in your mirror, just trying to do everything right. You just feel like so much of it is in your hands as to the decisions you make that you have to live with. Throughout the race you’re making good decisions, bad decisions and you’re going forward or backwards. And it’s amazing to me that you could be up there leading and everything’s just going perfect and one little thing. All of a sudden I’m like ‘uh oh, I’m going backwards’. That’s frustrating and draining and I really don’t think what today really means and what we accomplished, I can’t say that it’s sunk in just yet. I’m looking forward to taking a few breaths and getting away from the race track and really starting to think about it. To me, one of the things I look forward to the most in my life is that day where I can reflect on everything that’s happened because it’s been an incredible life. Don’t get me all emotional now (laughs). Now it’s starting to sink in a little bit more. “
COMMENT ON WHAT YOU SAID AT THE DRIVERS’ MEETING:
(JG) “I think the thing that NASCAR struggles with the most is that they want to police it but they also know that it’s hard to stop it. I think that if you look at the Busch race yesterday, you just had guys slamming into one another through the corners and just doing silly things. Getting a run from 10 car lengths back and carrying momentum and never checking up and driving into the back of a guy and turning him into the wall. I think my whole point was that even though I knew it wasn’t going to stop bump-drafting altogether, I was hoping that it would make guys in NASCAR think about if they see someone being aggressive that they get on top of it right away and as drivers, we can use our heads to do it in a softer manner, to do it not through the corners or tri-oval. I saw a lot of that today. But I can also tell you that you can say all that and do all that all day long and with five to go, that’s all out the door. It’s going to happen. It’s just part of restrictor-plate racing, part of Talladega and you’re probably going to see some accidents because of it. I can tell you that when it comes time to get that push to win the race at the end, absolutely I want it to come. But as long as NASCAR does not stop that then it’s going to continue to happen and that’s the way you’re going to have to win the race.
I’m just glad that all the way up to maybe the last lap or two, guys really used their heads very well and realized that you didn’t have to slam into the guy ahead of you to make a pass, to make a good race out there. “
HAS THIS BEEN AN UGLY WEEK FOR THE SPORT? WHAT HAS BEEN THE EFFECT OF THIS WEEK?
(JG) “Personally I think it’s an issue that we have in America and the world today period. Controversy draws more attention. Look at the shows on TV - reality shows. It’s the way our marketing and entertainment world is changing. Let’s be honest. To us, this is hard-core racing but it’s still entertainment. People are looking for ratings; people are looking to get the attention. I don’t think that was necessarily Tony Stewart’s intentions with some of the things that he said but to me the downside to a lot of this is that because it’s gotten so expensive - the whole sport in general - we have to have companies that sponsor this sport and they need to get their value worth of it and it’s got to be entertaining. Sometimes, unfortunately - and it seems to be more and more - controversy is drawing more attention than anything else. I wish more than anything, great finishes like what happened at Martinsville is what got the most attention and people doing positive things in the world instead of the people that do the negative things. I don’t think that’s in our control. It’s whatever people want to see and want to hear and what gets ratings. “
HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO WIN UNDER YELLOW? SOME PEOPLE WERE SAYING THAT THEY WERE FRUSTRATED THEY COULDN’T FINISH UNDER GREEN
(JG) “I think maybe you’re talking to the wrong people. NASCAR makes up the rules and it used to be that the first caution would have been the end of the race and we would have never even seen a green/white/checkered. I commend that NASCAR had at least given us one opportunity do a green/white/checkered and put on a show and put on a green flag finish for the fans. That was attempted and that didn’t work out either. I think eight times out of 10 it might work out. At restrictor-plate tracks, maybe not so much. It’s tough with as tight as these cars are down at the finish. I think they’re doing the right thing. If we had multiple green/white/checkereds, who knows how many cars would be tore up before we leave here. I think NASCAR has a good balance on it and sometimes it works in their favor, sometimes it doesn’t. “
IS KYLE BUSCH ON A BAD ROLL?
(JG) “I don’t think yesterday was his fault at all. I don’t know what happened to him today. The toughest thing for a young, talented guy like Kyle is the frustration level and sometimes it gets him eager and wound up. But that’s his personality and I’ll leave those things to Rick. Rick’s the best at dealing with the young guys. What are you going to do, Rick? “
Rick Hendrick: “Going to build two new cars (laughs). He didn’t cause those accidents. He was a victim and I think he’s done well this year. We’ve talked to him - Jeff’s talked to him. He likes to run flat-out and he likes to lead and that’s just part of it. He’s figuring it out and I hate he’s had the bad luck. I’m glad he wasn’t hurt. That speaks a lot for the safety in the cars, to go through what those two. that crash Saturday was a pretty bad crash. What do you say when it’s not his fault. “
WHAT HAPPENS TO GORDON’S RACE CAR NOW?
STEVIE LETARTE: “Might have to ask Mr. Hendrick who gets it. He owns all the cars but I think this car will go to Daytona. We have three speedway cars and we destroyed one in the (Daytona) 500 and we chose not to build one to come here and so we re-bodied that one. It’s something that Jeff and I will discuss… “
(JG) “We’re going to talk about that. This car is great for here but I don’t know how good it’s going to be at Daytona. We need a handling race car at Daytona. We can fix this one though. “
STEVIE LETARTE: “That’s the difference. If this car does go to Daytona it won’t look anything like it does here. The first thing we would do when we get home is cut the entire body off of it and start over. As they were saying earlier, Talladega and Daytona, they’re as different as Martinsville and Bristol. They’re both half-miles but they’re nothing alike and these are both superspeedways but they’re nowhere near the same track. “
Rick Hendrick: “I do like to keep those cars but if they need to race it, the chassis is the most important thing. “
STEVIE LETARTE: “It’s historic that it’s the first time this car finished. Out of six times” (laughs).
CAN YOU FORSEE ANYONE CATCHING UP TO YOU ANYTIME SOON?
(JG) “I’m still trying to figure out how I got to 77. If you go through some years, we went through three years in a row where the least amount of races we won were 10. When you have three, four years like that where you win seven to 13 races a year they stack up quick. I think that it’s competitive. I’ve been saying this for years, people ask ‘can you win 10, can you win 13 races? Can anybody in a season? ’ I’ve always said it, as competitive as things are, that yes, if the right driver and crew chief and team combination get on a roll and have things going their way, yes, it’s still possible. Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus have that capability and I think we have that capability this year. There’s a time where Ryan Newman and Matt Borland had that combination. I think Tony Stewart and Greg Zipadelli. There’s certain guys that have that combination that can still do that and if they put some years together like that, yeah. Absolutely. Who knows what’s going to happen when I’m long gone - there’s some young hotshoe that Rick’s going to hire and he’s going to win a lot of races and I look forward to watching it. I’m just still blown away. I just don’t know where they came from. I have no idea. I haven’t been able to reflect to even understand where 77 have even come from. It’s pretty unbelievable. In the 15 years I’ve been in this series we’ve won races 14 seasons and that’s to me, one of the impressive things that we’ve done and continue to do. Those are what build championship teams; those are what put those win numbers up there. It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of it and I hope we can keep it going for a little bit longer. If someone else can do that as well then I’m going to applaud him and enjoy watching him do it because it’s been a lot of fun for me to be a part of it. “
YOU SAID YOU HAD SO MANY THINGS WORKING AGAINST YOU TODAY.
(JG) “I guess I just meant that the majority of the fans out there I’m pretty sure weren’t pulling for us. The other competitors I’m sure weren’t pulling for us. Then to get back in the field, when we were anywhere in the top three, four or five, I thought we had a shot at it. When we were sitting back there in 20th and couldn’t seem to put a run together or a group of cars to get up to the front, that was seriously working against us, I can tell you that. I knew that if we could ever get to the front we had what it took but I just meant all those factors. “
YOU’VE BEEN WITH THE TEAM FOR MOST OF THE WINS JEFF HAS HAD. CAN YOU PUT THEM INTO PERSPECTIVE?
STEVIE LETARTE: “I’ve been there since 1995 so I missed a couple wins in 1994 but have been there for most of them. It’s different for me because I’ve got to win at different levels of employment. I was just a parts runner when I started, then I was a tire man, then a mechanic and then a car chief. So they all have different significance to me. But it means a lot. We make a living doing this and I enjoy it. I was kind of raised here. I’m 27 years old and have never gotten a paycheck from any other company in my life. So to come and win, it’s more the winning. When you have someone like Mr. Hendrick who’s kind of taken you in and raised you up as a young kid in high school and taught you everything about racing, it’s hard to give those guys anything so to win for them, that’s really the only thing you can do. I think that drives a lot of the employees at the company and I think that’s what a lot of people underestimate. It’s motivation from within. You don’t have to put prizes or goals up, people want to win because they want to see the people around them happy and I think that’s what makes a difference. “
HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY THOUGHT ON HOW LONG YOU WILL KEEP RACING?
Rick Hendrick: “A long time” (laughs).
(JG) “I’ve got to be careful what I say when I’m sitting next to the boss (laughs). No, I don’t even want to think about it right now. Life is good on and off the race track. I know that having a child is certainly going to change my perspective on a lot of things and I’m curious to know which way that changes it, whether it only makes me that much hungrier and more driven to do things and appreciate what I have. Opportunities that I have on the race track might make me want to do it longer, might make me want to do it shorter. I’m not really sure. I’ve always said if I’m competitive and healthy and enjoying what I’m doing out there then I want to keep doing it. I’ve never put a date on it or an age or anything like that. I do think that careers are shorter today. I think you’re gradually going to start careers being shorter for a couple reasons. It’s intense on and off the race track. I think the competition is really intense. 38-week schedule and then everything that happens off the race track, I don’t think guys are going to have a quality of life that they’d like to have or be able to enjoy some of that which they’ve worked so hard for as long as they used to. Because we’re getting paid pretty darn good now too so we can have this life after racing. Some way, somehow, I always want to be a part of Hendrick Motorsports and I hope that I’m a competitive driver for Hendrick for a long time. I just don’t know when that’s going to be so I haven’t thought about it a whole lot. ”
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