NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GOODY’S HEADACHE RELIEF SHOT 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 26, 2014
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
THERE ARE A LOT OF REASONS TO WANT TO WIN TODAY. WHAT STANDS OUT TO YOU TODAY?
“Oh, man. We’ve been trying to win here for so many years. And this place is so special to me. I’ve wanted to win here so bad. We brought the good cars. I’m out of breath from celebrating more than driving. It’s a real emotional win. This team on pit road was great and Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the guys did a real good job all day. They gave me a great shot at it there with the call at the end to take tires. I can’t believe we won here. This means so much to all of us. It’s just real emotional.”
BACK IN 2004, YOU LOST SOME FRIENDS THAT DAY (HENDRICK PLANE CRASH). AS A HENDRICK DRIVER NOW, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN HERE?
“I just wanted to support Hendrick Motorsports during that time. Everybody in the garage at that time was wearing Hendrick hats. This sport came together. I lost my daddy a long time ago and I know how hard that is. I can’t imagine losing the magnitude of people that Rick (Hendrick) lost. My heart goes out to him during this weekend. I love that his cars are good here to get to victory. So, this honors them. I’m just real proud to be able to win at Martinsville in a Hendrick car. They always win here.”
AFTER LAST WEEK WHEN YOU HAD TO SAY GOODBYE TO A CHAMPIONSHIP RUN THIS YEAR AFTER HAVING SUCH A GREAT SEASON, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SAY HELLO TO VICTORY LANE?
“I could care less about all the points right now. We love winning races. Winning races is the best thing. I want to thank National Guard, Diet Mountain Dew, Kelly Blue Book, Chevy and Sprint; and obviously Nationwide coming on next year and all the sponsors. I ain’t worried about points no more. I’m trying to get trophies. I’ve wanted that grandfather clock ever since I was a little boy and I got is today. My team, we all came together and made it happen. I couldn’t be prouder. We’re going to drink a lot of beer tonight. That’s what’s going to happen!”
TALK ABOUT THAT LAST RESTART AND YOUR PASS OF TONY STEWART:
“I just really had to get aggressive under Tony and I think he would have done the same thing. I had to go because I had the 24 behind me and coming hard and I couldn’t give up anything. So we had to go real hard right there. The team did a great job on pit road and pit stops are what did it. Great pit stops by this team. This is the best pit team on pit road. Guys gave me a great car and obviously the car had the speed when we needed to run hard and the car was there. Steve did a great job of strategy to put me in position to be able to make a run at the end. This is very special to me because I love racing here. I have come here since the early 80’s as a kid, never missed a lot of races here and always wanted to win here. I grew up in a house that had a Grandfather Clock in it from this place – and I get to take one home today.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO SCORE THAT FIRST VICTORY HERE AND TAKE HOME THAT GRANDFATHER CLOCK?
“I wish I could have done it sooner but I finally got with a great combination of guys and we work well together and we are having a great season. It was the pit stops man, the pit stops were right on today and the car was there when we needed it. When we needed to run hard, we could run hard and when we needed to save we could save. The car made the job a lot easier, the guys on pit road made the job a lot easier, and they put it right there in front of me for the taking and I was able to hang on to it there. I thought Jeff was going to get there but we ran clean and good, smooth laps there at the end.”
YOU HAVE A VERY SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH MR. HENDRICK, THIS IS A SPECIAL WEEKEND FOR HIM, AND WHAT DID HE SAY TO YOU HERE IN VICTORY LANE?
“Coming here and winning here at this particular track means a whole lot to this entire organization. I have come to know exactly how much all those people are missed in being around Rick and seeing how the tragedy has really affected the organization. They really try and come here and get this win every year. This is a difficult weekend but yet they want to be victorious. I have watched all the other drivers win here…..Jeff and Jimmie and now I am able to put my name on that list.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
GREAT POINT DAY FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM, A GREAT DAY FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AS WELL. WALK US THROUGH YOUR EFFORT HERE TODAY:
“Well first of all I have to say what an incredible tribute that is. A 1-2 finish. We know how much the fans love to see Dale (Earnhardt), Jr. win. They certainly got that today. He did a great job, but for all of those at Hendrick Motorsports that lost friends and family members, people that paid an important in Hendrick Motorsports and in this sport. A 1-2 finish is the best way you can pay tribute to them. It was great effort for our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet today. I’m proud of the guys. We got behind. I made a big mistake on pit road and was speeding. I knew it. We had to go to the back and claw our way back up in there, so that was a great comeback and a total team effort by everybody.”
WE KNOW A WIN MOVES YOU ON, BUT YOU SAID YOU NEEDED TO COME OUT OF HERE WITH A GOOD POINT DAY:
“The good news is that a Chase driver did not win the race today. Finishing second isn’t as big of a deal today, it’s actually really a good finish and good points day compared to if a Chase driver would have won. I wanted to get that win to get ourselves locked in, but we have two more great tracks coming up and yeah, today was a great overall effort by the whole team.”
A GREAT RUN FOR YOU AND FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS. HOW DO YOU LOOK AT TODAY?
‘It was a great performance and a really good finish. I about threw this one away on pit road. I made a mistake there and was speeding. So that’s a great comeback. I thought we had the car to beat. There at the end we were kind of stuck on the outside on one of those restarts and those guys got out there on us.
“At that point it was just about clawing our way back up there and me and Denny (Hamlin) were having a great battle and then late pit stops and those last couple of laps were just wild. Congratulations to (race winner) Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. That’s the best way you can possibly pay tribute to those we lost here 10 years ago. To have a 1-2 finish is pretty awesome. I would have love to have gotten that win to move on to Homestead, but this is surely a great start for us. We’ve got two more great tracks coming up. I’m really proud of him and I know that means a lot to him and all his fans here.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
INCREDIBLE AFTERNOON FOR YOU GUYS, BUT WHAT WERE THOSE LAST FEW LAPS LIKE THOUGH?
“It was kind of chaos with the guys up there that stayed out and we had two tires. Some guys we knew were going to be coming on four like the 22. It was a good run for the Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS and a great start to this bracket of the Chase. Got to thank all the fans for coming out and what a beautiful day here in Martinsville and had a lot of fun. I have to thank everyone at RCR and ECR for giving us a good piece to work with and we are digging and we are going to keep digging.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 4TH
THE CALL NOT TO COME TO PIT ROAD FOR TIRES PAID OFF, BUT WE KNOW YOU WANTED TO GET BACK TO THE LEAD:
“I don’t think it was a gamble by any means. I think if we were in that position 100 times over that is same call we would do. It felt like it was the right thing for this team. Running fifth there or fourth there I guess before the caution. I felt like it was the right call for sure. I didn’t feel like it was a gamble. I thought we gave ourselves the best shot to race for the win. I don’t think it we would have restarted fifth of the guys that pitted we could have raced through those guys to get where we were. If three or four more lead lap cars stayed out and gambled like we did it may have put enough cars in between us to make it pay off. I thought the risk versus reward was worth it for sure.”
YOU LED 18 LAPS TODAY AND CAME IN 4TH. SUCH A TOUGH CALL ON TIRES. DO YOU COME IN OR STAY OUT AND HOPE THAT THE TRACK POSITION IS ENOUGH. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE DECISION AND HOW SPECIAL IS IT TO HAVE THIS KIND OF DAY, TODAY?
“If we had to do that 100 times over, we’d do the same things. We didn’t have anything to lose. It was worth the gamble. Where we were at, in fifth, you didn’t know who was going who was going to do two tires or what could happen. Something could happen on a pit stop. There are just a lot of variables that could have gone wrong there. I’d rather have taken the chance and had to fight at the end like that. We still ended up a lot better than we were before the caution came out. I think that’s about all you can ask for on this Bass Pro/Mobil 1 Chevy and (crew chief) Chad Johnson and all these guys. They did an awesome job.
“This car was pretty good all weekend. It was better today than it had been on both Friday and Saturday. I just can’t thank Johnny Morris (Bass Pro Shops) and Rusty Rush and everybody at Mobil 1 and Eric (Bagdikian) from Code 3 Associates and his staff; and most of all, our fans. They have been plowing a tough road for the last 18 months and this top 5 is for the fans more than anybody.”
DESCRIBE THE DECISION TO STAY OUT, AND HOW HARD IT WAS ON OLD TIRES TO HANG ON TO THE TOP SPOT:
“I don’t even think it was a gutsy call. To me it was a no-brainer and if we were in that spot 100 times, that is the choice I want to make. I want to give ourselves a chance to fight for it like that. I was hoping a couple more cars would have stayed out, because that would have been the key. I would rather be in that position a 100 times over and that is what you want with five to go. You want to be leading the race and have a shot at it. It wasn’t like we were a 25th place car and stayed out and got fourth out of it. We were fifth before that caution and still gained a spot. So I look at it as a gain still.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 CLOROX PRODUCTS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 9TH
GREAT RUN FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM. I KNOW RCR TESTED HERE WAS THAT OF GREAT HELP TO YOU GUYS HERE THIS WEEKEND?
“Having the notes was a help. We went a little bit different direction, but just having that to fall back on. They had a strong test. Once again the alliance and ECR motors, I got a lot of damage early on in the race there. That motor ran hot all day. For the thing to stay alive and actually never even puke a drop of water out it shows the effort that RCR is putting in. Thank you to them and Chevy. Good day, honestly maybe one of the best days we have had all year just in the sense of not great early on, fighting hard. The guys had good pit stops and then a couple of adjustments there Brian (Burns, crew chief) really kind of clicked in and the car was really good. Actually, I was sad to see all those yellows come out because I thought once I figured out the long run, my car was really good. Even there before that last caution I was trying to be nice to the No. 31 (Ryan Newman) knowing he is battling for the championship. But I was way quicker than they were, in a way ninth is a little bit disappointing. But overall just really proud of the team that was probably one of the best efforts we have had all year.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 33RD
ON BEING INVOLVED IN AN EARLY ACCIDENT AND FINISHING 33RD:
“The good thing about this format is you have two more weeks and two race tracks that we can win on. Everybody was so worried about us starting in the back and we wrecked at the front. Unfortunate.”
YOU HAD MADE YOUR WAY THROUGH WAS THERE A SENSE THAT ‘OKAY WE HAVE GOTTEN INTO THE CLEAR NOW’?
“Yeah, I mean definitely thought that we had worked our way into where we needed to be. In a good position and wound up back in the fence.”
IT SEEMED LIKE A FRUSTRATING DAY ALSO WITH THE NO. 20 (MATT KENSETH) CAR GOING BACK AND FORTH A COUPLE OF TIMES AFTER THE FIRST INCIDENT:
“Yeah, he won’t win this championship. If we don’t, he won’t.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY BREAST CANCER AWARENESS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 34TH
“We had a good day going. The GoDaddy Breast Cancer Awareness car was in the top-20 most of the day and I think we could have had a top-10 finish. I’m not sure what happened with the 2, but the 13 hit him and I hit the 13 with the right front of my car. We got back out, but we brought it to the garage so they could look it over and we decided we were done. It’s a shame because we had a really good car. Thanks to Tony Gibson and all his guys for a great two years. They were great to work with.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined with mechanical failure on lap 424 – FINISHED 36TH
WHAT A GREAT RACE CAR YOU HAD FOR A GOOD PART OF THE DAY AND THEN SUDDENLY WE SAW SMOKE. WHAT HAPPENED?
“I think we ruptured an oil line. That’s what I’m hearing. Whether it was the fitting or the line itself, I don’t know. But we had a really good run. We were in the mix. We were running up front with the Haas Automation Chevy and we were in that spot where we won that race this spring; which meant 70 to go. If there were still another yellow, we would have been okay. If we were going to run to the end, that was going to be the run. And we were running P7. When we won the race, I think we were P3 on the restart. Inside is the king. You’ve got to get to the inside and everybody is ‘elbows out’ right now running hard. This is a great race. It’s a great race track. And then you’ve got Chase guys and you don’t have Chase guys. And so you’re trying to manage that while you are out there. But, thanks to Chevrolet and Monster Energy and all of our sponsors this year. It’s been a good year. I was hoping to get off the broom, but instead we’ve got our broom cleaning up our kitty litter right now.”
A CREW CHANGE IS COMING NEXT WEEK. HOW MUCH DID YOU WANT TO GIVE YOUR TEAM SOMETHING AS A PARTING GIFT TODAY?
“It’s very sentimental. We won here early in the year and we wanted to build that consistency. Today you could feel exactly what we’ve built all year long. We can’t give them a grandfather clock but we just had one of those mechanical failures that pops up and bites you. We’ll give it our best these next three weeks. But, thanks to all these guys on the No. 41 team and Stewart-Haas for giving me this chance. Thank you, Gene Haas.”
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 436 – FINISHED 37TH
WHAT PUT YOU IN HERE (THE INFIELD CARE CENTER)?
“I was behind the No. 43 (Aric Almirola) and I guess the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) was just backing up on the outside, I don’t know what happened. I saw the No. 43 go a little bit low and I was just using up all the track and right when I hit the No. 2 my spotter said the No. 2 is backing up. I just plowed him. I ran into him hard. I didn’t realize he was backing up that fast. When I was lined up behind the No. 43 I couldn’t see anything. I was just using the rest of the track and he was stopped up there. I don’t know what happened or what made him stop.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 436 – FINISHED 40TH
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?
“Yeah, I’m all right. I just didn’t really see him (No. 2, Brad Keselowski) slowing down. I think my spotter was spotting me and I think he saw it last second. As soon as he said it I hit the brakes, but it was way too late. I was just looking at the No. 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and then he started slowing up and then I was into him too. It was a pretty good hit. I thought we had a great car early. Our Great Clips Chevy was tight at the start and we were getting it better. And then the incident with (Brian) Vickers and then we were behind and we never got going. But I think we had a much better car than where we were running, for sure.”
WHAT WAS THE SITUATION WITH BRIAN VICKERS FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“I was actually passing him off of (Turn) 2 and he didn’t give me room and I was going to hit the wall so I lifted a little. And then he kind of went high into (Turn) 3, and that’s where I was entering so he blocked. So I went low to pass him and then he chopped low across and spun himself out. I was surprised that he thought he could use the whole race track right there. So, he spun himself out and then later on I didn’t really think he’d be mad at me. I didn’t think I did anything wrong in this situation. But that’s the way it goes.”
ON ACCIDENT THAT PUT HIM OUT:
“I didn’t see anything, and I was following the No. 78 (Ryan Truex, Jr) and I see him start to hit his brakes and by then it was way too late. I didn’t really have a clue that anyone was stopped up there. You can’t see through the cars so just plowed in there about as hard as you can at Martinsville about half way down the straightaway.
ON VICKERS INCIDENTS EARLY IN THE RACE:
“He was using up the whole race track so I was going high, then he went high. Then I decided to go low, and he went low and spun himself out on my front end. I was confused as to why he would want to do that. Then later on he crashed me. I don’t know what his deal was he was using up the whole track. You get one lane you don’t get all of them.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 436 – FINISHED 38TH
WHAT DID YOU SEE COMING OFF TURN NUMBER 4?
“The guys in front of me turned left. When they did the cars that were slow were right there on the front straightaway. Just didn’t have enough time to turn, just nowhere to go. Just the wrong place at the wrong time, but all in all it was just a rough day for us. The car wasn’t very good and we were just battling our tails off to stay on the lead lap and we were doing that. It wasn’t much fun out there today.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, INVOLVED IN A CRASH ON LAP 487
WHAT HAPPENED? – FINISHED 30TH
“I was terrible all day. I’m just not very good at this track. There at the end, I think I started to finish Martinsville out a little bit. The No. 9 (Marcos Ambrose) was holding up my teammate (No. 1 Jamie McMurray) and every time Jamie would go to pass him, he would block him and block him and block him. He finally raced hard and Jamie got by him. I got to the No. 9 and he tried to do the same thing to me. So I wasn’t going to lift and he ran me all the way down to the apron and I locked it up and got sideways. I’m not sure how I knocked the radiator and the oil pan out, but that is what ended the race for us.
“I kept running into the back of people when cars five or six in front of me would check up, then it would get to me and I’d hit them. I had quite a bit of nose damage already. It was a really bad race for me. I’m just not good here. Then the last 100 or so, I thought I was a top-15 car and was chasing the guys in front of me, and maybe could have got a top-10. I feel bad for Target and everybody that helps on this team.”
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