NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA TEXAS 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES
NOVEMBER 2, 2014
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S RED VEST CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
CONGRATS ON THE WIN. NOT SURE IF YOU SAW WHAT HAPPENED ON PIT ROAD AFTER THE RACE:
“I saw a little bit on the big screen going down the back straightaway. I would definitely have to go to the tape and watch and see what happened there. I know that second to last restart I got hit from behind and I know Brad (Keselowski) got to my outside and I guess in the process of running into me and getting to the outside lane he ruffled some feathers in the process. Just and exciting night for us, we had a very fast race car, led a lot of laps. Those cautions at the end, one restart would help me the other would hurt me and in the end we got it done.”
FOUR WINS THIS YEAR, NOW FOUR WINS AT TEXAS YOU OWN THE RECORD FOR WINS AT TEXAS. HOW ABOUT IT YOU ARE NOT EVEN A CHASE DRIVER, BUT YOU TOOK ANOTHER ONE FROM THESE CHASE GUYS:
“We should be a Chase driver. We just had a slow start to the Chase and last week and this week it was and Homestead we were down there testing and really got our car under me like I look for and what I need. We brought all those things here and qualified third and won the race. We are back on track. Unfortunately we didn’t find this stuff a month or two ago, but that is the way racing goes.”
A FEW WEEKS AGO PEOPLE WERE QUESTIONING THE RELATIONSHIP THAT YOU AND CHAD KNAUS (CREW CHIEF) MIGHT HAVE. I GUESS WE CAN QUIT TALKING ABOUT THAT NOW?
“Yeah, he will be my crew chief as long as he wants to climb up on that box. Crew chief’s live in dog years so I would imagine he is going to have enough before I have enough, but just such a great run of events. Sure we were frustrated, sure we wanted to be fast, but you are going to have high emotions in any team sport when you are not doing well, especially, when you are a championship caliber team. It is just how it is. Old red got it done. We have a lot of people that wear that Lowe’s red vest each and every day that I want to say thank you to and dedicate this win to them.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
YOU HAD SOMETHING TO SAY TO (BRAD) KESELOWSKI WHAT WAS THAT?
“I mean if you are going to run into people all the time you are going to have to fight your own fight, so I helped him get into it.”
ON HIS RUN:
“Yeah, just proud of my Budweiser guys they did a great job. Everybody doing everything they can do to get all they can.”
TELL US ABOUT THE END OF YOUR RACE.
“Yeah, you just try to do all you can do. Obviously it was no-holds barred there with the 2. He was in bulldoze mode. I’m proud of all my guys on our Budweiser team. We fought all day and put ourselves in position to win. A lot happened at the end of this race, and we were able to put ourselves back in the hunt.”
SEEING THE EMOTION AFTER THE RACE, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU HOW THIS CHASE IS BEING PLAYED?
“It’s being played rough. It’s one of those deals where everybody is trying to get everything they can. You just do everything you can do to do the best for your team.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 5TH
ON HIS RUN:
“We had an up and down day. Fortunately for us we were better when the sun went down. It was really slick at the beginning. We really struggled with the car, but when the sun went down the car started coming to us. Then the strategy with the tires and two tires and no tires and the 10 cautions in a row really jumbled it up. We got a little bit of track position. I struggled on restarts all night long, but the last four or five I was really good. That is kind of what got us where we are and I was thankful to see the white flag. I did not want to do another restart.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 29TH
WHAT WAS IT THAT UPSET YOU SO MUCH?
“We drove down into Turn 1 and he just decided to body slam us and cut our left-rear tire. It ruined our night. It ruined our chances, ruined our night, might of even ruined our Chase hopes. It’s just uncalled for. I had to show my displeasure. It got ugly down there, obviously, and you know that is alright. A lot of things are going to happen in the next couple of weeks.”
IS THIS EMOTION THAT WE ARE SEEING FROM A LOT OF YOU GUYS A RESULT OF THIS NEW CHASE FORMAT?
“It’s emotion that is a part of this Chase and this format as well as towards people that make dumb decisions. He has been making a lot of them lately. That is why people have been running after him and chasing him down. It’s why his team has got to defend him over there because of what he does on the race track.”
TAKE US THROUGH THE FINAL RESTART AND THE CONTACT.
“We were sitting there on a little bit older tires. I spun the tires a little bit but got a pretty decent start. We went down into Turn 1 and I just wanted to get on the outside of the 48 and out of nowhere I just got slammed by the 2 and it cut my left-rear tire. He’s just a (expletive). The way he races, I don’t know how he’s ever won a championship and I’m just sick and tired. That’s why everyone is fighting him and running him down. Your emotions are high. That was a huge, huge race for us. We had the car and had the position. I’m so proud of my team and I’m proud of Jimmie Johnson for winning that race and not letting that little you-know-what win that race.”
YOU PULLED ON THE PIT ROAD TO TALK TO TO BRAD (KESELOWSKI). WHAT WAS THAT CONVERSATION?
“There wasn’t a conversation. You can’t have a conversation with him. He gets himself in this position and he has to pay the consequences. I’m going to race him the same way he races me. That kind of stuff is just uncalled for and I’m not going to stand for it.”
WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES AS FAR AS YOU’RE CONCERNED? SHOULD NASCAR GET INVOLVED OR IS THIS BETWEEN YOU TWO?
“To them, I’m sure it’s a racing incident. But to me, it’s just a bunch of crap. The kid is just doing stuff way over his head. That’s just uncalled for. You’re racing for a win and a championship. You don’t go slam someone and cut their left-rear tire. If that’s what it takes, then no problem. We can do the same thing to him.”
WHAT HAPPENED AT END OF RACE: “He cut my left rear tire. I went over there to talk to him.”
YOU WEREN’T GOING TO BE DENIED TALKING TO HIM, DID YOU WANT TO SEND A MESSAGE TO HIM: “I wanted to do a lot more than that.”
TALK ABOUT CHALLENGES HEADING TO PHOENIX: “We are just going to take this fire that’s inside of us and this momentum, we are going to take to Phoenix and win that race.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 15TH
WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT ONE RESTART WITH MATT KENSETH?
“We just got our quarter panel knocked in. They went three and four wide there and put me in the middle of it. There wasn’t a whole lot of respect out there. We saw that before, during, and after the race. But it was a good fight back for the Caterpillar Chevrolet to be 15th. It’s kind of a sad situation when you run out of tires like that. I wish NASCAR had given us more tires. They gave us one set, but when they keep throwing cautions like that that were totally unnecessary, and there’s not debris on the race track and no reason to throw it. We need to keep racing. And it’s sad to see but that’s the way they’ve been playing it.”
TALK ABOUT GOING TO PHOENIX WHEN YOU’RE THIRD IN POINTS
“We’re just happy the guys have done a good job of fighting back. Some guys had some misfortune and some guys are going to find out what’s going on next Tuesday. We’ll keep digging. We’ll let the focus be on them.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 11TH
ON HIS RACE: “It wasn’t anything spectacular. I kind of had high hopes at the beginning of it. It took off pretty decent there and just kind of started losing the handle of it midway through the race. The further back we got in traffic the worse that made it obviously. But, Chad (Johnston, crew chief) kept making adjustments to it and finally got it calmed back down again and got it to where we could start hustling. We just kind of had to play the strategy game there at the end; and got guys doing a lot of really stupid stuff out there the last 10 laps, just got to survive it.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS, FINISHED 6TH: ON HIS RACE: “We ran great there at the end. Our car was great those last several laps. We had a car that could pass some guys that were running up front. I’m pretty happy. I’m proud of the way our cars are running, and the way the team is performing. Tonight was really aggressive, a lot of guys upset with each other and pretty high strung. It is exciting for the fans, we are running good. We’ve had a strong car all year. We had a slump there right before and when the Chase started, but we’re kind of getting back into our groove here.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS, FINISHED 8TH: ON HIS RACE: “It was great to have a shot at the win. Tony Gibson (Crew Chief), the engineers did a great job reading my balance, and I was trying to pick up on their changes. So, it was nice to go out there and execute. We just lost too many spots on pit road, and that put us behind a few times. The strategy was to stay out, and we didn’t need all those yellows. All those yellows gave everybody with fresh tires a chance to catch me. We used the last yellow to our advantage. The last two yellows for fresh tires, and worked our way from, I don’t know, 25th to eighth. All-in-all, a great first day. I love the team; I love the guys. We are going to be good. We just have to work out the details.”
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