NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AUTO CLUB 400
AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
March 25, 2011
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Auto Club Speedway and discussed practice, qualifying and rivalries and other topics. Full transcript:
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE FRUSTRATION OF RACING LUCK?: “I guess I have a different opinion. I feel like you control your own luck based on having a fast race car, having a solid team, having good communication. Maybe it doesn’t change all your luck, but it adds to it greatly. I look at Bristol and we were off. We were off on our setup — we salvaged the best finish we could out of it and I was proud of that. That’s why we finished 14th. I look at Daytona and where we finished at Daytona and what I could have done to have prevented getting caught up in that wreck. Some people would look at that as bad luck, I look at it as I could have done a couple things to maybe help. A blown tire at Vegas, I don’t know if that’s bad luck. I feel like there are things that make a tire blow. Sometimes it’s the tire and sometimes it’s you contributing to it. Sometimes it’s both. I guess I’ve always looked at it different. I think you can make your luck better by being a really good race team.”
HOW WILL THE WEEPERS IN THE TRACK AFFECT YOUR TEAM WITH THE SHORTER PRACTICE SESSION?: “We had so many issues in that short practice that the weepers were the least of our issues. I definitely felt the seams were playing havoc, but if we did our job right then I wouldn’t have to be worried about the seams. I did see how I could have gotten into some water down on the apron and the white line in the middle of three and four and I think that’s what happened to him. The biggest thing is just how limited we were on time. For us, the unfortunate part is that we were off and we needed to make some fairly significant changes and we didn’t have enough time to do that. We’re just kind of rolling the dice for qualifying. Then with the new qualifying line-up, it’s a double whammy. We have to go out early so we’re shortened on time preparing. It’s been a rough morning or day so far for us.”
SO THE TEAMS THAT ARE STRONGER WILL GET MORE TIME VERSUS THE TEAMS THAT STRUGGLED IN PRACTICE: “It’s important to show up right. We worked so hard to make sure that we got everything right, but sometimes there’s things that you can’t predict. We just missed some things. Sometimes it’s the tiniest little thing that makes a difference. Absolutely. To qualify on the pole and up front these days, what you have to do is you have to be, especially your last run or your last couple runs in practice need to be close. When you go to qualify you have to step it up. You need to be able to go back to your trailer and talk to your crew chief and your team about the fine tuning adjustments that need to be made to go faster, not huge changes.”
IS IT TOO EARLY FOR THE WILD CARD TO BE PART OF YOUR THINKING?: “We’re not
