Camry driver Denny Hamlin earned his eighth victory of the season in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Texas Motor Speedway.  

Hamlin led twice for 31 (of 334) laps en route to victory lane to sweep both Texas races, after also winning the April event at the 1.5-mile oval.  

Toyota driver Joey Logano finished fourth, earning his fourth consecutive top-10 result in as many starts.   Other Camry drivers in the field included Marcos Ambrose (12th), Kasey Kahne (13th), David Reutimann (15th), Casey Mears (26th), Scott Speed (27th), Kyle Busch (32nd), Robby Gordon (35th), Martin Truex Jr. (38th), Mike Bliss (39th) and Joe Nemechek (43rd).  

Hamlin took control of the unofficial NSCS point standings following Texas and holds a 33-point advantage over second-place Jimmie Johnson with two races remaining in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoff.  Busch moved to the seventh position and is now 339 points behind Hamlin.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  1st What does it feel like to win the race and take the lead in the point standings at Texas? “I just can’t say enough for this whole FedEx team.  I told everyone I’d wait for three to go and I felt like that’s the most aggressive as I’ve been on restarts all year.  I did what I had to do.  I can’t thank FedEx and all their employees enough for supporting me right from the get go.  The whole JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) 11 team, the fans, Sprint and Toyota.  I can’t say enough for this Toyota Camry to be on top.  This is a big deal for everyone in the Toyota camp.  They spent a lot of money and a lot of effort to help this sport grow and be one of the top manufacturers and I’m proud to put them number one.” What is it about Texas Motor Speedway that you’ve been so successful at this year? “I don’t know.  At the beginning of the race we were struggling.  We were running 25th and I can’t go anywhere.  We just kept working on it.  Every stop we kept adjusting and as soon as it was night fall our car just took off.  That’s why you can never look at qualifying and practice, everyone looks into it, but I know what our car has.” How important was this Texas victory? “I tell you, it’s a great feeling.  It’s unbelievable to me to have eight wins in one season.  This is absolutely unbelievable.  To do it in a timely fashion that we have and beat those guys.  I had to drive my heart out to do it.  That was the first win I’ve gotten other than maybe Martinsville where I had to just drive the crap out of the car in the last few laps.  I love racing Matt Kenseth, there’s no better person I’d rather have on the inside of me.” How does it feel to take the lead in the point standings? “Well, for me, I’m going to continue to just race relaxed, and honestly, I think back to a couple years ago, and even late in these restarts and what not — I don’t get excited anymore.  I just don’t let things get to me much anymore and just race relaxed.  I’m really not nervous going into races.  I was more nervous at the very first Chase race in New Hampshire getting ready to start that race than I was from then to this point.  For me, we’re on the cusp of trying to get our first championship, and as long as we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we should be okay.” Can you take us through that last restart? “It was exciting.  I figured I had been pretty good on the top on restarts once we got our car tightened up enough that I was pretty confident I would be okay.  But restarts have been my Achilles heel all Chase long, all year long.  I just can’t seem to get it together.  So I was able to side draft the 17 (Matt Kenseth) enough on the front straightaway to keep beside him so where he couldn’t clear me off of (turn) 2, and that was going to be very important. But, when he cleared me in the middle of  (turns) one and two, he did it by gassing up really aggressive and early and I knew it was going to be a hard time for him to exit the corner that way, and he obviously ran out of race track and it opened up the door for us to cross over.  For me, it was great to win a race that way.  I love racing for a win like that.  Any driver will tell you if there’s one guy you’re going to trust underneath you, it’s going to be Matt.  Obviously it’s great for him to have a good finish and obviously go for a win, but for me it was very gratifying to win a race that way.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) How will you approach the final two races of the season? “You know, for me, I’m going to race Phoenix as if I’m 33 (points) behind to be honest with you.  There’s no comfortable margin going into Homestead because anything can happen.  So for me, Phoenix being an up -and-down race track for me, I’ve got to really be focused on practice day to get what I need to give Mike (Ford, crew chief) the information that I need and just 100 percent stay focused is all I can do.  But like I say, I’m not going to be conservative having the lead.  I’m going to want to stretch that out before we get to Homestead.  So that’s pretty much my mindset.”

MIKE FORD, crew chief, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How much work was this win for your team? “That was a lot of work.  We weren’t that good to get started, but we knew yesterday in practice we had a good car.  If we could get it close, it was going to have speed, and we fought for track position.  The last two races we haven’t qualified well here so I really wasn’t that worried about it.  The sun started to go down, two tires, got some track position, and that’s when our car really started to work good, and the last adjustments were probably the best of the day.  It’s a lot of the same that we were doing.  But we adjusted probably more than 90 percent of the races so far this year.”

J.D. GIBBS, president, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How does this win feel? “I think what was kind of fun about this race, the race starts and we’re not that good, you’re kind of waiting for them to get going.  And I kind of get panicked and you listen to Denny (Hamlin) and you watch Mike (Ford, crew chief) and they’re not worried, they’re just calm and collected, and it’s kind of a great plan, so it was kind of encouraging to watch that and just for it to pay off at the at the end of the day.  Really, hats off to those guys.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  4th Are you happy with your finish? “Yeah, we had a good day.  For me at Texas, this is great actually.   I was kind of expecting to be happy with a 12th or 10th-place finish here.  I was thinking that would be a good day for us.  Then all of a sudden I was in the lead and I was like, ‘Heck yeah, I’m leading laps.’  I thought that was pretty cool.  I’m like, ‘Man, who would’ve thought that here.’  I had a lot of fun with it.  I had a good race car, I was just a little bit short at the end.  We were good in the sun.  I think we did a good job adjusting, but I think everyone did a little bit better than us to get the car just a tad better than ours.  We finished fourth so that’s cool.  My last finishes we were seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth so that’s pretty cool.  We’re going to run out of time — we need to skip a couple spots to get to first by the end of the season.” How much momentum do four straight top-10 finishes give your team going into the off-season? “We have a lot of momentum right now and I think two consecutive top-fives is also exciting.  I’m pumped up about it.  If we were in the Chase we’d be about fourth or so right now, so that’s exciting knowing that we’d be there.   We’ve just got to do a good job next year getting ourselves in the Chase.”

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Tomb Thumb Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position:  12th

KASEY KAHNE, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  13th

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Outdoor Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  15th How was your race? “That was a disappointing day to say the least.  We had a great Aaron’s Outdoors Toyota and ran up front all day long.  We raced our way into the top-five and I thought for sure that we’d be racing for the win at the end.  Unfortunately, the car didn’t agree.  As the track conditions changed so did the No. 00 Camry.  We struggled with the car going quickly from tight to loose in about five laps and after that I was just doing my best to hold on.  We brought home a top-15 finish, but we should have done a lot better based on how we ran most of the day.  I’m proud of my entire team to keep battling all the way to the end.  We had great stops most of the day and everyone gave it their all.  I’m not happy with the end result, but we’ll work on it and do better next time.”

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position:  26th

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  27th

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  32nd How was your race? “It was a tough day.  We had a fast race car.  The guys did an awesome job.  I can’t say enough to the guys that gave me a fast race car today, but unfortunately I got spun out there trying to get to the bottom lane.  I had guys in front of me doing it before, but I got wrecked.  Then, on the ensuing pit stop there we tried to get tires on it and beat the pace car out and I wasn’t trying to speed.  I was just two lights over or something like that I guess and I sped on pit road.  Then they penalized me for it.  I’m sorry I lost my cool to everybody on this team, to everybody at NASCAR and all of my guys that support me – Norm Miller (chairman, Interstate Batteries) and M&M’s and all of the guys.  It’s just so frustrating the way that you have such a fast race car and then you get spun out and you don’t expect to lose your cool, I guess.” How much do you think the camera in your car played into your penalty? “I don’t know.  I don’t know if the camera inside the car did or not, but it’s just unfortunate.  It’s something that I lost my cool in what I was doing and I had no worries about a camera inside the car at that point.” How disappointing is this after having such a good car? “We’ve had fast race cars this whole weekend — probably had a good enough car like Denny’s (Hamlin) to try to win the race, but it’s just real unfortunate there.  I got spun out and just everything else went downhill from there.  Through the whole day we had a really fast race car and the guys on this M&M’s team gave me a great race car that was fast, that was capable of winning, but it’s just unfortunate that I tried pulling back and getting down to the bottom lane and I got spun out in doing that.  Where I had another guy earlier in the race do that to me and I let him in.  You get spun out and wrecked like that and you’re not supposed to lose your cool — I mean, hello.  I came down pit road and we got the right sides changed and then tried to get back out there.  I wasn’t trying to speed, but apparently I must’ve been a couple lights over or something like that on my tac where it was just a small speeding penalty, but it wasn’t intentional.  Obviously, I got the penalty for that and then the ensuing ones later. I apologize to all of my guys for letting them down and for getting so behind today that we could never make it up.”

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 MAPEI/Menards Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Finishing Position:  35th

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Signature Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  38th What happened to take you out of the race? “After we spun and then lost a tire, we weren’t all that bad considering how banged up we were.  I thought we had a shot to rebound and rally back.  Unfortunately, we lost another tire and the damage it caused was too much to continue on.  It’s really unfortunate.” What has the reaction been this weekend with the special paint scheme? “I was hoping for another strong run for us because this NAPA Signature Toyota means a lot to so many people.  People came up to the car all weekend looking for names of loved ones who were on the car.  Some of them came in person to see their name on the NAPA Signature Toyota.  This has been a very impactful project for everyone involved and I was hoping to have a great run to help bring more attention to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.”

MIKE BLISS, No. 66 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Finishing Position:  39th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Heat Redefined.com Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position:  43rd

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

AAA TEXAS 500

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES

November 7, 2010

Points Battle Heats Up for Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick after Eventful Race in Texas

With Two Races Remaining in the Chase, Johnson Sits Second and Harvick Third

FT. WORTH – (November 7, 2010) – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, sits in an uncharacteristic position with two races remaining in the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup after an eventful race at Texas Motor Speedway. The four-time defending Series’ champion is now second in the standings, 33 points down to the new leader as a result of his ninth place finish in the AAA Texas 500.

Sitting just 59 points out of the lead and 26 points behind Johnson, Kevin Harvick maintained third-place in the standings with a sixth place finish behind the wheel of his No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet.

Johnson, who started 17th, worked his way to the top-five by lap 40 of the 334-lap/500-mile race but after issues on pit road during several stops that lost valuable track position, Johnson could do no better than ninth at the checkered flag. Following an on-track accident for Johnson’s teammate, Jeff Gordon, that sidelined him on lap 190 under caution, the crew for the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet went over the wall to pit for Johnson in the final two stops of the race. He was credited with leading once for one lap.

Harvick came from the 26th starting spot to lead once for one lap. With 10 laps to go in the race, Harvick was racing hard in the top-three and scraped the wall twice pushing his Chevrolet as hard as he could.

Mark Martin, No. 5 CARQUEST Auto Parts/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, continued his strong showing of the past several weeks with a third place finish.

Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, also continued his success of recent weeks with a seventh place finish today. He now sits 10th in the standings.

Tony Stewart stayed out on old tires to gain track position after starting 11th in the 43-car field. The two-time champion battled in the top-10 but had to settle to for the 11th spot in the final order and dropped to eighth in the points.

Taking the biggest hit in the points were four-time champion Gordon and Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet. The two Team Chevy Chase drivers made contact on lap 192 as they were slowing for a caution. The damage ended Gordon’s day immediately. Burton attempted to return to competition but was only able to complete two additional laps.  Gordon who finished 37^th, dropped to sixth in the points order and Burton, the 36^th place finisher, is now in 12th position.

Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was the race winner and the new points leader following today’s race. Matt Kenseth (Ford), Joey Logano (Toyota) and Greg Biffle (Ford) completed the top-five finishers.

The battle for the championship continues next Sunday, November 14, 2010, at Phoenix International Raceway.

TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES:

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED 9^TH, NOW IN 2^ND PLACE IN THE POINT STANDINGS, 33 POINTS BEHIND LEADER

JIMMIE WE JUST TALKED TO CHAD AND HE SAID IT WAS A TOUGH AFTERNOON, TAKE US THROUGH YOUR DAY.

“Yeah, it was just a long day and we had speed in the car and we would work our way forward and we had some issues on pit road and I feel terrible for my guys and that we had to make a change but the 24 guys came in and did a great job but we just gave away so much track position at the beginning and it was just tough for us to get back to where we needed to and then at the end we were coming along pretty well and the caution kind of came at a time where we didn’t need it and then in front of me on the restart was the 16 missing first and second gear and a lot of guys pitted behind us and I was at the back of the guys without taking tires and we just kind of slipped from there but it is what it is and it’s a team sport and we didn’t do our job today but we’ll come back at Phoenix and give it a try again.”

YOU ARE IN UNCHARTED TERRITORY.  NORMALLY THIS TIME OF THE YEAR YOU ARE THE POINTS LEADER AND NOW YOU ARE 33 POINTS BACK GOING TO PHOENIX AND HOMESTEAD.  WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET NOW?

“Well the last four years we have been in a different position.  I have lost plenty of championships in the past and this is racing and it doesn’t come easy and you are not going to get what you want every single year and every single weekend.   I can promise you this.  I am trying as hard as I can; I know my team is, and we are doing everything we can.  Thirty-three points back is not where we want to be but we are going to work to get back on top.”

HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR GUYS ARE GOING TO REACT TO THE CHANGE MADE ON PIT ROAD TODAY (BROUGHT IN NO. 24 CREW OF JEFF GORDON TO COMPLETE THE RACE)

“It’s something new, for sure. It’s nothing we’ve done in the past. But I just watched the World Series and when a pitcher is not doing his job, they make a change and get someone in who can. We know our guys are capable of doing it. We know it’s possible. We just had some things going on today that we couldn’t rebound from in and it really put us in a bad position on the race track and it kind of led to the bad result today.”

SUMMARIZE YOUR RACE FOR US

“Well, there was plenty of hope at different times. We were running pretty competitive. We worked our way up into the top three or so and then we had some issues on pit road. We lost a lot of track position there in the middle part of the race and then we were just trying to fight back from that and it’s tough with the competition this close. The long runs seemed to help us and would work in our favor, but unfortunately there at the end, on my last restart even, I had the No. 16 (Greg Biffle) in front of me and he was missing a couple of gears and it just didn’t work out.”

IT’S SO UNUSUAL FOR A TEAM TO SWITCH CREWS IN THE MIDDLE OF A RACE, WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS WHEN THAT HAPPENED AND (CREW CHIEF) CHAD KNAUS MADE THAT CALL?

“Well, with everything on the line, we’ve got to perform. We have to do our jobs. We’ve been having some issues and today wasn’t going any better and with the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) out of the race it was a good opportunity for us to try it. It might be different to our sport in some ways but we’ve seen (Richard) Childress and other teams flip-flop crews around all the time. Man, you watch pro sports and if people aren’t getting the job done you’ve got to pull them out and put someone else in.”

NOW 33 POINTS DOWN WITH TWO RACES TO GO

“Yeah, it’s not where we want to be, but there’s a lot of racing left. There are no guarantees what’s going to happen. At some point the championship run will come to an end and I’m going to try my hardest to make sure it’s not this year, but we’ll come back next week and try again.”

DOES THE CHANGING OF THE TEAM REPRESENT A CRACK IN THE ARMOR OR DOES IT REPRESENT STRENGTH IN HENDRICK? I HEARD ONE OF THE GUYS WALKED OUT

“I’m not really sure. It’s so fresh and I just got out of the car. I’m not sure what the implications will be through the shop. We’ve been lacking and we need to get it straightened out and it was a good wake-up call for the guys, if anything, to bring the No. 24 crew in and let them do their job and let them watch. I really do care for these guys with the bottom of my heart. They’re my guys. But, man, we have to perform. We can’t come down pit road and lose 10 spots every stop. That’s just killing us.”

WERE YOU AS STUNNED AS EVERYBODY ELSE WHEN THAT HAPPENED?

“No. I knew the possibility existed and at this point in the game, you can’t have feelings. You have to go out and try to win the championship. And if somebody’s feelings got hurt, that’s too bad. We’re here to win a championship and we’ve got to do everything we can.”

DO YOU WANT THOSE GUYS NEXT WEEK? YOU TALKED ABOUT THEIR PERFORMANCE AND THEY HAVE NOT PERFORMED IN THIS CHASE

“We might not have the options that we want next week. These guys, I know they have it in them. A lot of these guys have won four championships with me. Some have won three. So I know they have it in them, but every once in a while an athlete gets something in the head that slows them down or makes them over-think things. I don’t know what the issue was. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t know what the problem was in the pit stops but we’ve got to perform.”

DOES THAT TEAR A TEAM APART WHEN THAT HAPPENS?

“We’ll find out. I have no clue. That’s unchartered territory for us.”

ISN’T IT A LITTLE LATE FOR A WAKE-UP CALL? IT MIGHT BE THE BIGGEST WAKE-UP CALL EVER

“The alarm clock has been ringing for a while. It’s been ringing. And this is a new level to that. But the alarm clock has been ringing for quite a few months.”

SO YOU KNOW THAT THERE WAS A PLAN THAT IF THINGS GOT BAD THAT YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS?

“No, there wasn’t anything discussed beforehand but when I saw the No. 24 tore up and I heard a little bit of pit chatter about collecting guys on the radio, I had a feeling what was coming.”

DID YOU JUST NOT HAVE THE CAR AT THE END TO GET UP THERE AND CONTEND?

“We weren’t the best on the short run. I would have to recover from a poor pit stop situation and drive up through the pack and really get back into a decent spot and then pit again and fall back. I feel like the long run was working well for us and we could make up time, but what really killed me in the end was the fact that the No. 16 (Biffle) didn’t have first or second gear.

“On that restart, a train of cars went by on the inside and I was stuck behind the No. 16 because I couldn’t pass him before the start/finish.”

WHEN DID THIS START BUILDING AND WHEN DID YOU AND CHAD KNAUS SIT DOWN AND SAY YOU MIGHT HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE ON THE PIT CREW?

“It just goes through the air. Everybody has kind of known in the back of their minds through the summer and all that we’ve needed a little bit of help. We’ll keep training and we’ll keep working and we’ll see what we get.”

YOU SAID LAST WEEK IT WOULD BE MISTAKES THAT CAUSE A POINT SEPARATION. CAN YOU REBOUND FROM THIS? ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH?

“Man, we’re going to try. We have two mistakes. We have the race at New Hampshire where we finished 25^th, and then this weekend. Time will tell. All I know is that I’m going to show up next week and do everything in my power to win the race and lead laps and we’ll see what happens to the other guys.”

DENNY HAMLIN SAID A FEW WEEKS AGO THAT THIS WASN’T OVER. DO YOU THINK IT’S OVER?
“What’s over?”

THE CHASE

“Oh, no; it’s far from over. It’s far, far from over.”

ARE YOU FEELING THE STRESS OR ARE YOU PRETTY COOL?

“All I can do is give100 percent on my side. I don’t train the crew guys. I don’t work on the car. There’s only so much I can do. I’m going all I can and I know Chad (Knaus) is and I know these guys are. Even though today it was an embarrassing moment for my over-the-wall guys, they’re giving all they can. Sometimes you just get beat. That’s the way it is and today it just didn’t work out.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: ON HIS DAY: “It was actually a pretty mellow day. We had a good car. I didn’t think we’d be anywhere in the hunt to tell you the truth after practice and they did a great job getting the car ready. When it got dark, our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet, we just got really loose and we got in the wall, twice actually. They fixed that and everything went as good as it could.”

CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET: ON THE DAY: “I was a pretty rough day for sure you know. We’re fortunate that it turned out the way it did. We thought we were doing really good but we lost some track position. When you get back there, you don’t know exactly how you need to tune on the car. It got a little edgy for him. After we got back up front, then it got too tight, so we just couldn’t maintain our track position that hurt us pretty bad.”

WHO ULTIMATELY MADE THE DECISION TO HAVE THE NO. 24 GUYS PIT YOUR CAR? “Ultimately it is my decision obviously, but we needed to do something. This is a team. The 24/48 shop has always operated as a team and that is the way that we see it. It is sad that we had to do that but in interest of Hendrick Motorsports and what we have to do, you have to do that stuff. It is not uncommon. We’ve seen it happen before and we’ll get home and try to get it fixed up and get our boys back.”

WHAT WILL YOU DO LOOKING AHEAD TO PHOENIX? “I’m hoping we get back with the No. 48 guys and get everybody’s confidence up and get this thing going right in the right direction you know. It’s not what we want to do, but sometimes things need to be adjusted a little bit and we had to do that today.”

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST AUTO PARTS/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3RD: ON HIS RUN TODAY: “It was a real good run for us today.  The car was stronger than we expected in practice, or stronger than I expected for sure.  It was really awesome on the long runs, wasn’t quite as sharp on the restarts on new tires, and Alan made a great, great call at the end.  I think it ran better on the ten lap tires than it would have on new tires.  It was a very good call.  Like I say, the car ran probably better there at the end by not changing tires than it would have on new tires.  It took it a while to come around.”

DID YOU NEED THOSE RESTARTS AT THE END?  “Well, we were going to be third without it, and when those two just about tangled, I was just in the wrong position to be able to capitalize.  But if had been just a little bit different mix up, we would have been in position to capitalize on it.

“My race team, CARQUEST, and Go Daddy, I want to give a shout out to them for their support through this tough summer, and it’s great to be a contender again.”

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH:  YOU STAYED OUT ON OLD TIRES AND WERE IN SIXTH WHEN THAT FINAL CAUTION FLAG CAME OUT. YOU OPTED TO PIT FOR FOUR TIRES, NO FUEL. HOW DID THAT DYNAMIC PLAY OUT? “Hindsight being 20/20, I probably should’ve stayed out, but we took a gamble, and really, what do we have to lose? We really don’t have anything to lose. We’re eighth in points, so who cares? I’d rather take a chance on doing something to go forward than worry about losing spots and going backward. I know there’s lots of teams that are grateful to run eighth in points, but we’re not one of them. It doesn’t mean anything to me at this point. I want to do everything we can to try to go forward and gain everything we can get. If that means taking a chance, knowing that we can lose points and lose spots, so be it. I’d rather take a chance to go forward. I thought that was the right thing to do, but it obviously wasn’t. We’d already stayed out once on those tires, and it worked out then, but I don’t know that I was good enough to stay out again. I might’ve finished a couple of spots better, but I’d rather take a chance on finishing better than finishing worse.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – ON INCIDENT WITH JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, LAP 192:

BURTON HAS SAID IT WAS DEFINITELY HIS FAULT. HE OWNED UP TO THAT. WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY YOU WERE SO ANGRY?

“Oh, well, I’ll walk you right through it. We went down into (Turn) 3. He went wide going into (Turn) 3. I got to the inside of him and there were four car widths between us and he drove from the wall all the way down to me; almost in the second groove up. I didn’t understand why and so the caution came out and we went down into (Turn) 1 and I just drove up next to him. I didn’t even touch him. And I don’t know, I guess he was just really frustrated with the way his car was handling or something and he just drove into my right rear and put me in the wall under caution. Of all the people out there, I never thought that would happen to Jeff Burton and me. I’ve always has a tremendous amount of respect for him. But I certainly lost a lot of respect today. I don’t think we’re going to be able to fix the DuPont Chevrolet. We were battling enough as it was but I really had confidence we were going to be able to battle back and get a decent finish, maybe a top 10 or 15, but that’s certainly not going to happen today.”

WHAT WAS SAID IN THE AMBULANCE?

“I was walking toward him and I started going through all the scenarios in my mind. Thankfully I had a long walk down there to him because I thought about the least amount that I wanted to do. I wanted to show him how upset I was but I wanted to do a whole lot more than that. But I held back and I’m just still in disbelief; I didn’t want to be in the ambulance with him, I can tell you that. But we got in there. I like Jeff. He’s a guy that’s usually very rational and I respect his opinion. He apologized and said it was his fault. He said he didn’t mean to do it and whatever. It’s over.”

WHAT WENT ON WITH YOU GUYS IN THE CAR AND THEN OUT OF THE CAR ON THE RACE TRACK?

“We were having a tough enough day with the DuPont Chevrolet and we were hoping when the sun went down that we would be able to get it tuned in there. But actually the car was about the best it had been right there. We were slowly making our way forward. We got up to Jeff and he went high going into (Turn) 3 and I kind of went to about the second lane up and he just drove all the way from the wall all the way down to my doors and said the sun got in his eyes. But I just wasn’t real happy about that and just drove up next to him going into (Turn) 1 after the caution came out to kind of say what was up with that and he just turned in my right rear and wrecked me. I mean it tore it up. I’ve experienced a lot of things in this sport but I can’t say I’ve experienced anything like that before and from somebody that I’ve had a lot of respect for. Jeff Burton is a great race car driver but and then afterwards I was just so mad I was just trying to think of how I could who him my displeasure. I wanted to do a lot more than that but I thought better of it. We had our words and a little scuffle and got in the ambulance and now we’re back there (in the garage) trying to get it fixed.

“He (Burton) went up to the wall where he was running and I went down to about the second groove where I was running and by the time we got in the middle of the corner, he just turned left and got on my door and got me really loose. He said the sun got in his eyes. Then the caution came out and we got down into (Turn) 1 and I just drove up next to him to show him my displeasure about what went on and he just wrecked us; just flat-out wrecked us and turned us right into the wall and collected himself.

“It was pretty stupid and he admitted it later. But I certainly wanted to show him how upset I was and I’m not ashamed of anything I did and we’ll try to fix it and get back out.”

THAT WAS AN INTENSITY WE HAVEN’T SEEN FROM YOU VERY OFTEN IN YOUR CAREER. IF YOU FELT THAT WAY, YOUR FANS WANTED YOU TO GO FOR IT:

“Well, he deserved a lot more than that, I can tell you that. That kind of stuff is just ridiculous and uncalled for. Jeff and I; I just like the guy too much and we’ll be able to go on and race one another and stuff like that. I just couldn’t believe how much respect I lost for a guy like Jeff to do something like that. I thought it was really stupid. Sometimes I can’t hold my emotions back and believe it or not I was holding them back right there (laughs).”

WHAT DID BURTON SAY TO YOU?

“He was trying to talk to me and explain to me what happened. He felt like I came up on him and that he didn’t mean to wreck me but I’m sorry, I will never believe that. I’ve been driving a race car long enough to know what your intentions are and I know what they were there.”

“I think maybe if a guy wrecks you prior to that but I didn’t do anything to him. I was just showing him I wasn’t happy. I didn’t touch him. And he just flat-out wrecked me. I don’t know. The last few weeks have not exactly gone our way and I feel like what happened in Martinsville, I deserved a little bit of that, not all of it but maybe I did some through the past, but I can’t think of anything me and Jeff Burton have ever had a disagreement with that should have led to that.”

DID YOU GUYS HAVE A CONVERSATION IN THE CARE CENTER? DID YOU TALK IN THERE?

“We talked during the whole ambulance ride in. When you’re too upset like that, you don’t care to hear about any explanation as to what went on. I know he’s sorry but he’s sorry because he got caught up in it himself.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT RIDING IN THE SAME AMBULANCE WITH BURTON?

“Well, I didn’t want to ride in the vehicle with him, I can tell you that. I wanted to go confront him, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t fun. He talked. He talked a lot, you know? But I didn’t say a whole lot.”

YOU’VE BEEN GETTING BOUNCED AROUND A LOT THIS YEAR. WAS THAT ANY KIND OF BOILING POINT FOR A SEASON’S WORTH OF IT?

“If somebody does something stupid, I’m going to be mad about it and I’m going to show him my frustration. If I could have gotten to Kurt Busch after Martinsville it would have been the same thing. I didn’t see him. And I had time to calm down. And I walked down there hoping I would see Jeff, and I did. I’m lucky I had a long enough walk to think about what I wanted to say and do because if I hadn’t of had that long a walk, I would have done something I would have regretted.”

DO YOU EXPECT A PENALTY FOR GOING AFTER HIM?

“No more penalty than what he deserves for what he did.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – ON INCIDENT WITH JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET, LAP 102: “Coming off of turn four, he (Jeff Gordon) drove underneath me. I should have let him go and I didn’t. The caution came out and he pulled up next to me to tell me he was upset at me and he went on. Then I went to pull up next to him to acknowledge him, to say he was right and I turned left and he was turning left and we just hung up. When we hung, off we went. I honestly don’t know what happened. It was my fault. 100% it was my fault. It was like once we got together, I couldn’t get off of him. I didn’t mean to hit him. I meant to pull up to him and tell him he was right because he was upset with me for what happened off of turn four. I should have let him go. You can’t see off of there right but you can’t see over there right now. You don’t to be side-by-side. I don’t blame him for being for mad. I’d have been mad too.”

WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARDS WHEN I SAW HIM WALKING TOWARD YOU? “Well, like I said, I knew he was going to be mad and I don’t blame and I don’t blame him for being mad. He didn’t do anything that he shouldn’t have done. He was upset and he should have been upset. I wrecked him under caution. I didn’t mean to wreck him but I wrecked him under caution. He meant to tell me he was upset and that was ok. I don’t have a bit of problem with what he did. He was mad. He should have been mad.”

DID YOU HAVE WORDS IN THE MEDICAL CENTER? “I have a lot of respect for Jeff. I think he has a lot of respect for me. We talked and he is still upset and like I said, I don’t blame him. He understands what happened more now. It is what it is.”

WHAT LED UP TO THE SITUATION? “Honestly, I came off turn four with Jeff underneath me, the sun is really bad off of turn four and it is really hard to race over there right now and I should have let him go and I didn’t. Caution came out and he pulled up next to me to express his displeasure and he was right. We don’t need to be racing side-by-side right there right now. I went to pull back up to him to acknowledge him and when we did I was turning left and I don’t know, we hooked somehow and around we went. We just got hooked up together. I think it is the stupidest thing I think I might have ever done. Like I said I was pulling up next to him to acknowledge him to say ‘Look, I’m cool, I got you’ and we just got together and wrecked both cars.”

HOW SURPRISED WERE YOU WHEN JEFF CAME AFTER YOU WITH FISTS? “I wasn’t at all surprised. I went to go see him because I knew he was going to be mad and I fully expected it. I don’t blame him. Hell, I would have been made it I had been him too. I really don’t blame him. He was mad and I was right there and he wasn’t some of it.”

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TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN OUT THERE TODAY “We had a pretty fast car all weekend and got some paper or something on the grille early in the race and got it real hot and had to pit under green and lost a lap there. We just kept adjusting on the car, actually about the best we had it was then. Everything actually lined up exactly in our favor. You know, short run, Denny gave me the inside, which I probably would have chosen if I had had to choose one, and I got actually a really good restart. I’ve been jacking that up most of the time lately, so got a really good restart. We were side by side there, and I just couldn’t quite get by him. I’ve lost a lot of close ones, like you said. I think we’ve been second here four times, and really happy to run that good but really disappointing to be going for the lead on the last lap and not come back with a win, either.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY HERE AND HOW IT STANDS WITH ALL THE STRUGGLES YOU HAVE HAD ALL SEASON? “Yeah, it’s been an interesting day. All our cars were fast today. Greg probably had I didn’t see the except race for the scoreboard, but it seemed like Greg probably had the best car if he wouldn’t have broke his transmission or whatever happened there. Our pit stops were really good today. They were better than they have been. I didn’t speed on pit road today, which was a bonus. I’ve been doing that too much lately. All day we had a mistake free day. Even when we had trouble we were able to stay calm and fix our problems and get back in the lead lap and be able to pit the race right and get tires we needed to work our way through traffic and get to the front. Everything went just right today in the pits and on pit road and pretty much on the track, too. I wish I could do the last one more time and try something different, but other than that, everything went as good as we could have expected today.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RESTART THERE AND WHEN DENNY GOT BY YOU COMING OUT OF TURN 2 AND WHAT HAPPENED? “We took off, and like I said, I got a really good restart and he pulled as close as he could to me to get the wind off of me, which in lap 100 you wouldn’t do that to somebody because they’d be mad, but over last ten laps that’s totally fair. I’d probably be trying to do the same thing as much as I could to get the inside guy loose and get him uncomfortable. So surprisingly my car was pretty stable and it lasted for a lap, and I just lifted real early because we were side by side and I wanted to actually keep him outside of me, and I thought if we left turn two at least nose to nose and I could get into three and still have him outside of me that we’d have a shot to the finish line. I lifted real early when he lifted, and then I got back to the gas real early, and he must have slipped a little bit, and I got a really good run. When Mike told me clear, I was a little surprised we cleared him, and I just pulled up in front of him and starting getting off the corner. I probably shouldn’t have been holding the wheel as much as I did but wanted to get a nice run off the corner, and as soon as he got away from my side for whatever reason and got behind me, my car just took off. It just felt like it raised the car half an inch and went straight, and I had to get out of the gas, so I had to keep from hitting the wall. Part of that is the way I tried to drive the corner and part of it was maybe from not having him outside me anymore, not having the car turning as loose as it was when he was there. I don’t know, it was a heck of a race down to the finish. Like I say, you hate it when you get beat.”

Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010

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SAM HORNISH JR, (No. 77 AAA Dodge Charger) Finished 18th “We battled all night for track position and it paid off for us. We stayed out under caution and got ourselves back on the lead lap, gambling and playing the card that we needed to play. We got the AAA Dodge a top 20. We got loose a couple of times, scrubbed the wall, but we stayed in it and kept digging to bring home the best finish that we could. I’m happy to make it to the end without controversy.”

HOW MUCH OR A “RAZOR’S EDGE” WAS YOU CAR TONIGHT? “We were exactly where we were at here earlier this spring, if not tighter. It was a super frustrating day. We need to figure out why we can’t get the car to rotate like we need too. We either get the cars not to rotate or over rotate. It’s just a really fine line that makes it awfully hard to drive. There is no in-between with the car. It will push and not turn or just spin out. We can’t get it to where you feel comfortable with the back end of the car. I’m proud of the guys on the Mobil 1/AAA Dodge team today. They did a great job sticking with it and making good changes to get us going. At the end of the day, it was all about how we could get ourselves on the lead lap and a respectable finish.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Operation Home Front/Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Finished 24th “Man, just a bit of a mystery today. We did our job on Friday to get our Operation Home Front/Miller Lite Dodge Charger a solid sixth starting position and that’s about as good as it was today. I’m just really confused on why our car was so tight to start the race. It’s really puzzling. By the time we got to the third caution on Lap 60, we had to make a complete shock change in the front, just to try and loosen the car up. Steve (Addington, crew chief) kept wrenching on it and we started to make some gains as the car loosened up. I thought that we were pretty good on the short runs, but just struggled on long green-flag racing. We started to inch our way inside the top 20, then top 15. Then all of a sudden, around the 200 lap marker, we pitted under caution and the entire attitude of the car changed. I have no idea if it was track temperature, tires, but whatever it was, we got really tight again. I scrubbed the wall and fell back to mid 20s again. Just no consistency and it showed.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (NO. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) Finished 33rd “We really struggled to get our car to run the whole corner. We had moments where we were good in the middle, moments where we were good in and moments when we were good off, but we couldn’t find the answer for all four corners. Our team, we’ll find out what we need to do to make our cars better. We’re just missing a couple of little things. We just have to figure out what they are.”

PAUL MENARD- No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion (Finished 10th) – “We had a bad set of tires somewhere in the mid part of the race and dropped back to 15th or 20th or something like that. We put some tires on and did some minimal adjustments and came right back. That bad set got us behind the eight ball. I am proud of the guys. We have had bad pit stops the last couple of weeks and they really picked it up tonight. I had a fast car all weekend long. I am disappointed with 10th place, which is a good thing I guess.”

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Finished 17th) – “That was awesome man. We had a terrible pit stall though because we were right with the guys we were racing with and I couldn’t get it in and out and got boxed in a few times. We had to pass so many cars, like 10 or 15 a run until pit stops. Finally Reutimann helped me out and stayed over to the left in his box and that really helped us. That was incredible. These things are so much fun. I wish I could do it every weekend. It was a blast to drive and to be that fast for a first run is incredible. Donnie Wingo, everybody at Wood Brothers Racing and Roush Fenway and Ford I want to thank for giving me this opportunity. I don’t really know what to say. That was as good or better than we expected so I am really pumped about it.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd) – “That was disappointing that I didn’t finish it off there. We have lost a lot of close one’s here at Texas. My Crown Royal Black guys did a great job. Doug Yates and those guys built me an awesome engine. We had a perfect restart. I really wanted the bottom and he gave me the bottom. Everything went right that whole last lap. I got on the gas and cleared him down there and I thought everything was good and as soon as I got in front of him my car just took off. I had to get back out of the gas. I am disappointed we finished second but happy we performed that well.

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Finished 5th) – YOU HAD THE TOP CAR ALL DAY UNTIL TRANMISSION PROBLEMS, HOW DIFFICULT A PILL IS THAT TO SWALLOW. “It is really tough. We know we have had this problem and have neglected to fix it. We have had numerous opportunities. We had bad drive train vibration problems and today it bit us. It shook the guts out of the transmission today and they still don’t know what it is. They think they know what it is, but I am not sure if they really know.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 8th) – YOU HAD TO OVERCOME A LOOSE LUG NUT EARLY IN THE RACE. “First off, that goes to show you just how good of a car we had today. We were running in the top 10 and that loose lug nut just killed us. We had to come back in and tighten that up and then we were in the back of the field in the high 30s. After that, we just really had to race hard the rest of the night. Towards the end, we were in the wrong lane when one of the guys missed a couple of gears, so I was glad that we got that last caution. It was a good job by Drew [Blickensderfer] and our UPS team, we just need to get better on pit road.”

AFTER HAVING TO FIGHT BACK, HOW DOES IT FEEL WALKING AWAY WITH A TOP 10? “It’s some good momentum going into these last two races and it’s good to be disappointed with an eighth-place finish. I remember just a couple of months ago when we would have loved to have had a top 10. It’s good to have a fast car and we’ll go now to Phoenix and Homestead and try to do it again.”