Catchfence

Kevin Harvick Remains Points Leader with Second
Consecutive Runner-up Finish of Season

Las Vegas – February 28, 2010 - Jimmie Johnson continued to roll with momentum by taking his No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Impala to victory lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS).  His victory in the Shelby American was his second consecutive win in 2010 and his fourth victory on the 1.5-mile track.

In scoring his 49th career win, the four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) champion became the all-time winning driver on 1.5-mile tracks. The trip to victory lane moved Johnson to 12th on the NSCS all-time race win list, one race behind NASCAR greats Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson. He jumped seven spots in the standings to fifth with today’s win.

Johnson’s win was the fifth win for Team Chevy at LVMS and the third straight trip to victory lane for the BowTie Brigade in 2010.

Kevin Harvick remains the NSCS point standings leader with his second-place finish behind the wheel of the No. 29 Pennzoil Ultra Impala.  Harvick, who led twice for two laps in the 267-lap./400.5-mile race, holds a 47 point lead with three of 36 races in the record books.  It is the second consecutive runner-up finish for Harvick and his third top-10 in three races.

Jeff Gordon brought the No. 24 DuPont Pepsi/Max Impala to the finish line in third after leading seven times for a total of 219 laps, a record for laps led in NSCS competition at LVMS.  The four-time NSCS champion jumped nine positions in the standings to 13th, only two points out of the coveted top-12.

Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com Impala, finished fourth in the race and jumped to third in the standings.

Tony Stewart’s seventh place finish in the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Impala and Clint Bowyer’s, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Impala, eighth place run gave Team Chevy six of the top-10 finishers.

Bowyer remains second in the standings and Stewart climbed six spots to the 11th points position.

Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Impala, finished 11th today and is seventh in the standings after three races.

Matt Kenseth (Ford) completed the top-five finishers with Joey Logano (Toyota), Kasey Kahne (Ford) and Greg Biffle (Ford) filling out the top-10 across the stripe.

Round four of the 2010 NSCS season will be Sunday, March 7, 2010 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

WINNERS PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS IMPALA

CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS IMPALA

RICK HENDRICK, OWNER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS

THE MODERATOR:  We’re now joined in the infield media center by today’s winner, driver of the No.  48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, Jimmie Johnson.  This is Jimmie’s 49th win and his fourth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  He now sits alone in 12th in all‑time wins, just one win behind Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson.

Jimmie, tell us about your day.

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Really proud of the car we brought to the track.  We had to work on it some through the race.  But, you know, it was so fast on the long haul that we could make up ground from the 20th place starting position we had.  Worked up into the top 10.  Worked up into the top five.  At parts of the race, kind of stuck there behind the 24 and the 17.  I think we were all very equal at that point in time.  Just couldn’t get by one another.

It came down to pit stops.  I thought the race was going to come down to pit stops and who got a good restart.  Kind of turned out that way, although the four tires I think helped us more than anything.  I got a good start and got around Bowyer at one and two.  Was behind Jeff, chasing him.  I’d been chasing him all day.  Wasn’t sure I’d get by him.  Just kept putting a lot of pressure on him, hoping he’d make a mistake, hoping I could get him to overdrive his car and make it tight or do something wrong.

Finally I was able to get inside of him and committed to trying the slide job on him in three and four, was able to get by.

Great day.  Pit road, our guys had awesome stops.  One issue with the lug nut falling off, and they still recovered from that issue very well.  I think we’re pretty solid from a team standpoint from across the board.

THE MODERATOR:  Also winning crew chief Chad Knaus.

CHAD KNAUS:  It was a great day for us.  We didn’t start the weekend off like we wanted to, qualifying as poorly as we did.  Pit selection and track position was a bit of a hindrance at the beginning.  The car was ill‑handling to say the least at the beginning.  Jimmie manned up at the beginning, even with the car handling as poorly as what it was.

When we got to the first pit stop, we were able to make some adjustments to car.  It definitely got better.  I think it got faster.  It was exciting.  It was fun to be able to pass through all those cars and work through traffic, get into the top five where we could race with all the guys.

On pit road, the guys did a great job.  One pit stop where a lug nut fell off.  They rallied back from that.  I think our last pit stop was 11.9, something like, that which is just fantastic.  Hats off to those guys.

We felt as though coming into that last pit stop if we took four tires and went out somewhere in the top eight, we would have a shot to win the race if everybody else took two.  To leave pit road in third position, we were pleased.  Great job by everybody.

Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports did a great job on this car.  People back at the shop had to get this car prepared, turned over.  We were back in California when they were building this car.  To send that car out from the shop, it run as well as what it did, they did a great job.

THE MODERATOR:  And today’s winning team owner, Mr. Hendrick, who watched his two teammates battle most of the race around the track.  Your thoughts as you watched that race unfold.

RICK HENDRICK:  You know, there at the end, I knew Jimmie and Jeff were going to run each other clean.  But like Jimmie said, when you dive in the corner, you try to slide up in front of a guy, I was fearful they were going to get together and we’d have a problem.  I knew Harvick was good.  He got to start closer to the front.

It was good to get this win and Chad guaranteed me the win.  So did Jimmie.  So that was going to be good.  We had a really rough time out here a few years back.  We had all the Lowe’s people, and it was the worst we had run as an organization in the history of our company with multiple cars.  We had to go in a tent with 2,000 Lowe’s people at the end of the race.  We got that same deal tomorrow night, and it’s going to be a lot better.

THE MODERATOR:  Jimmie now becomes the all‑time leader winner at 1.5 mile tracks, surpassing Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty and Jeff Gordon, who all had 14, Jimmie now with 15.

We’ll open it up to questions.

Q. Two different types of races, last week and this week, similar results.  Are you starting to feel invincible early in the season?

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  No.  I don’t know if it’s just our makeup or mindset, what it is.  If you get off to a quick start, I think we’re both sitting here, even though we haven’t talked about it, we can’t sit still, complacency is going to kill you.  We’re looking forward to going to Atlanta with new ideas and new things.

We’re excited.  It’s early in the year.  It is a relief to know that we worked in the right areas over the off‑season.  But, you know, Richmond is a long way away from right now.  We need to keep collecting points, winning races, make the Chase, then get to work for what we’re really here for.

It’s great.  We don’t feel invincible, though.  It was nice to go out there today and really earn this one, race Jeff that hard for the win.  So, you know, I feel very good about things.  But ‘invincible,’ far from that.

Q. On the last restart, it appeared you might have bumped Clint.  Could you describe what went on on that last restart.

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, we see it a lot at California where you can actually bump‑draft down the straightaway and help your lane move like you would at a plate race.  I saw Jeff do it with the 17 at one of the restarts early in the race and it worked out well.  I knew I couldn’t let Jeff land up on the inside, get a big jump on us.

So Clint was starting the race and I just decided when Clint should go and started pushing him before he was ready.  Let’s go.  Just started pushing him.  We got to the corner.  I think when I pushed him into the corner, he wasn’t really ready for me to push him that far, and he kind of checked up, went to the outside and I went blowing by.  I was trying to help, but I think I got his attention as we got into the turn and he was going faster than he wanted to.

Q. I’ll ask what everybody is probably thinking.  Any thoughts about the ‘lucky’ comments?  It had to cross both of your minds.  Was there a little bit of attitude to this one?  I know you didn’t take that well, and you probably shouldn’t have, a week ago.  Talk about that.

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Honestly, last week I agree with everybody, we were lucky.  But where I think we were lucky was with the opportunity.  Luck didn’t allow us to win the race.  Luck didn’t keep me ahead of the 29 and those types of things.  Luck didn’t affect the great pit stop that put us in that position.  We were lucky when the caution came out.  I admitted that last week.

If people are trying to find a way not to accept the quality of race team we have, that’s cool.  We’ll just come back this week and take the trophy again (laughter).

I have to say, that’s a smart‑ass remark, but truthfully from last week to this week there was nothing in my head that said I need to go prove something to someone.  There was nothing in my said that said people are saying the ‘lucky’ comment.

We knew we went out and won that race last week.  Luck put us in the position.  We still had to run 20 laps or 30 laps and hold off the 31 and the 29.  We slept great after the race Sunday night in California.  Very happy to come here and get it done again.

Q. Mr. Hendrick, does it ever cease to amaze you that anytime there seems to be a decision late in a race, no tires, two tires, four tires, that the two gentlemen to your right always seem to get it right?

RICK HENDRICK:  You know, I can remember a couple they didn’t.  But seriously Chad studies the race as it goes along.  I’m amazed at how quick he adapts, like the call on pit road in California, to go ahead and change the tires, know where everyone is, what he’s got to do, what adjustments the car needs at the end.

And Jimmie, he’s the closest thing I’ve seen to a computer in the car.  Two of them together have developed into an awesome combination.  You know, really proud of ‘em.  They very seldom make a mistake.

Q. Chad, when you hear comments about luck, do you feel a little bit disrespected about some of the decisions you make, that people aren’t giving you credit for looking at situations, maybe taking a risk, that kind of thing?  And, Jimmie, when that caution came out, what was going through your mind, that this is maybe the opportunity we needed with the way Jeff was running at that point?

CHAD KNAUS:  You know, I think they can call it luck, whatever it is.  It doesn’t really matter.  You know, I feel that we do a very good job at Hendrick Motorsports preparing our team, preparing our cars, preparing our pit crews to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.  You know, if you’re prepared and a situation arises that you can take advantage of a top five or a victory, and you do that, I don’t think that’s luck.

You know, on the converse of that, if we’d had been out there today and wrecked on lap five because we were midway in the pack, that’s not luck; that’s because we qualified so poorly that we were somewhere where we shouldn’t have been.

Texas last year was prime example.  We qualified poorly there and we were wrecked in the second lap.  So that’s not luck.  You know, that’s just not doing what you need to do to get the stuff done.

I don’t think there’s a lot of luck.  There’s opportunities that arise throughout the race.  If you’re prepared to capitalize on them, then good for you.

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, pit stops are opportunities, chance to work on your racecar.  I felt like there would be some two‑tire stuff going on with not having a lot of laps on those tires.  It worked out well.

When I left my pit stall, there weren’t many cars on pit road.  I’m look, Oh, you’re not going to like this one, I think is what I said on the radio.  Eventually we lapped so many cars, there weren’t many cars on pit road.  So I thought we were in big trouble.  Then I saw the huge line on the track.  That was all lap‑down cars we passed with so many green‑flag laps.

In the end it obviously worked out really good for us.  Anytime a caution comes out, if you’re the leader, you’re bummed, especially if you have a gap.  For everyone else, you’re excited because it’s an opportunity to make your stuff better and hopefully gain positions on pit road.

Q. What would you accredit the success that you’ve been having over the past four years with breaking records?  Is it the cars that Hendrick makes?  Is it the driver?  Is it the pit chief?  What’s the secret here?

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It’s the people.  And Rick has built this company, the company motto, what we believe in week in and week out, year in and year out.  NASCAR has a very strict rule book.  We all have the same equipment.  The sport is closer today than it has ever been in the history of the sport.

You go through the big teams, the sponsorships are the same, the budgets are the same, we all have the same tools, we all have the same cars.  It boils down to the people that are putting the stuff together and how they’re working together.  Starting with Rick and the people he’s compiled, Chad, myself, the way it all works.  It really boils down to people.

Q. Harvick was in here.  You know how he gets when he’s running well.  He said, They know we can run with them.  I’m wondering what you see from the 29, if you think he’s going to be someone you’re going to contend with?  Chad and Rick, Jeff was in here and said that Steve was pretty upset after.  What do you say to him when you go to work tomorrow and he’s upset that you out‑smarted him?

CHAD KNAUS:  I didn’t outsmart him.  He did not make the wrong call.  I said that a moment ago out there.  There wasn’t a wrong call to make.  They came in first.  They wanted to maintain track position because track position is so critical.  Only way for us to beat them was to do something different.  I didn’t know they were taking two tires.  He didn’t know we were taking four tires.

So, you know, I went with my plan because I thought that’s what we needed to do because I assumed a bunch of people were going to take two tires.

Steve is a fantastic crew chief.  He has done a phenomenal job with that race team.  I think the way he works with me in the shop is unparalleled.  He’s a good teammate and friend of mine.  He did not make the wrong call.  He did what he thought was right to try to win that race.  They came up a little bit short, just a little bit.  So there’s no fault to him.

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  The 29, they’re definitely on it, without a doubt.  You cannot ignore the fact that the 31, the 33 and the 29 have a ton of speed.  So they’ve worked in the right areas over the off‑season and have closed the gap up a ton.  It’s going to be an awesome race.  I’m glad it’s a bunch of Chevy’s up here racing for this thing.

Q. For the number thing you like to play, Jeff led all but 48 laps today.  To be sure, Chad, your decision wasn’t based on what they did; you were going to go with four no matter what anybody else did?

CHAD KNAUS:  Yeah.  I didn’t know.  I don’t have a crystal ball.  I felt very confident a lot of people were going to take two tires.  With the way the car was running, honestly the way that we typically run on two tires, it wasn’t even an option for me.  I felt like if we got four tires, we would be in a position because of the double‑file restart that we would start in the first three rows and we would be okay.  Fortunately enough, we were able to start in the second row.  It worked out.

The 24 car was still very strong even on two tires.  If it hadn’t been for us up there pushing him as hard as what he had to be pushed, the 29 never would have caught him.  Jeff had to use his stuff up pretty hard just to try to stay ahead of us.

Q. Chad, as long as the green flag run was going, were you locked into that four‑tire call as it was progressing or had it gone longer were you still committed to it?

CHAD KNAUS:  No, you just got to go with it.  You have to watch the tempo of the race, see what’s going on.  With the amount of laps we had left, 30 plus laps, I was very comfortable taking four tires.  I felt like the people that took two tires, their left‑side tires would deteriorate pretty quickly.  So at that point I was committed to it.

Now, if it had come out with 10 laps to go, it would have been even more interesting because you would have had less people even hit pit road to begin with.  You just got to be liquid and willing to change as the race goes.  That’s the one thing about our sport I don’t think a lot of people understand, you can’t set a strategy.  You don’t have a two‑minute waring.  You don’t have quarters.  You don’t have periods.  You don’t have that stuff.  You don’t know when the cautions are going to fall.

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  We had two cautions today that were accidental.  It’s not in the cards.

CHAD KNAUS:  Somebody leaned up against the wall and hit the caution button.  You don’t know what’s going to happen in our sport.  That’s the cool thing about our sport and I think that’s why it’s so exciting.

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  We were told on the radio there were accidental cautions, at least one was an accidental caution.  I’m not sure what ‘accidental’ means, but maybe somebody leaned up against the switch and turned the lights on.  Why is everybody slowing down (laughter)?

Q. Once upon a time you won three in a row here, but the two years, Mr. Hendrick said it himself, you were so far off, our story line after Vegas was, What’s wrong with the 48?  Did you put any extra emphasis on this race in the off‑season to try to get back on track here?  Maybe talk a little bit about how you can get so far astray at a track you’ve dominated and how you come back from that.

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, in 2008, we tried to come back to win that fourth one in a row, we were just off.  Not just the 48 car, but the company.  We went to California beforehand and salvaged a good run there, then came here.  We were trying new things, trying to advance because we didn’t have a lot of testing take place pre‑season and we just missed it.  Luckily then there was testing allowed.  I think it was 26 or 27 test sessions later we found our stuff running how it should and ready for the Chase, just in time for the Chase.

So in ’08, we just got off a little bit.  It can happen to anyone in the sport.

Last year we were really, really fast.  Is that when Jeff missed pit road and…  We were leading the race coming to pit road under green.  The 24 was trying to follow us in and missed pit in, and flat spotted the left front tire, had to drive around, while he was driving around, the tire blew, got a caution.  We were unlucky being on pit road at that point.  Then I was trying to come back up through the field, hit the wall off of two.  That’s why we had such a bad finish.

Last year really doesn’t show what the team had in it.  But ’08, we were off.

Q. When Jeff was in here earlier and asked to kind of contemplate what this might mean for you, considering you won four championships in a row, he said, There’s always the fact they could be peaking early.  Any concern about that?

JIMMIE JOHNSON:  That’s legit.  I mean, from my standpoint, I love to play devil’s advocate.  I just don’t want us to be comfortable as a race team.  Even though we’ve won these two races, we can’t let it affect anything because there’s still 23 races to go until the Chase starts.

So, yes, that could be the case.  Only time will tell.  We’re certainly going to do everything in our power to make sure it’s not the case.

Q. Rick, what do you think of where the 88 is at right now?

RICK HENDRICK:  I think we made a lot of improvements.  I think we didn’t get to show the car was coming back well at California, broke an axle, and today ran up front that long green‑flag stretch.  He was good there at the end.  What did he end up, 14th?

Q. 16th.

RICK HENDRICK:  16th.  But I think to qualify as well as he did, went out first, right behind Jimmie there, broke the track record by 3/10ths, and ran up there, we had a couple of bobbles in the pits with the pit crew.  It seems like every time the car is good, the pit crew screws up.  If the pit crew is on, the car, something breaks.

So I feel they’ve made a ton of improvement.  I think we’re going to have a really good year.  I’m looking forward to Atlanta.

THE MODERATOR:  Gentlemen, thank you.

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA – Finished 2^nd

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA – Finished 3^rd

THE MODERATOR:  We’re joined pie today’s second‑place finisher, Kevin Harvick.  Kevin, tell us about your run.

KEVIN HARVICK:  It was a good day.  For us, I put us behind on Friday when I smacked the wall there in practice.  The guys did a great job fixing the car.  We just got behind from that point and were able to make up ground today.  That to me is the most promising thing we’ve been able to do the last two weeks, is go to the back and come to the front.

It was tough to pass today.  We were able to get the track position that we needed at the end of the race.  Just came up one spot short.

THE MODERATOR:  We’ll open it up to questions.

Q. Some days do you feel like ‘best in class’?

KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, you know, I feel like the beginning of the run they got out from us.  I felt like at the end of the run we were just as good as they were.  It’s just a matter of we got a little bit looser than we had been all day long the last two runs.

We can run with them and they know it.

Q. Kevin, you took two tires on the last stop.  Were you surprised that Gordon did?  They seemed to have the field covered.  Jimmie took four.  It appeared that was the difference in the end.  Were you surprised by that?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I don’t remember if the last caution was the caution where they had all the lap cars in between.  But, you know, I think, yeah, it all just depends on how your car is handling.  The balance of our car didn’t change when we put two tires on it or no tires on it.  Our car was fairly consistent all day.  I don’t know exactly what they were fighting.

Sometimes if you’re a little bit loose you put two tires on and the thing will tighten up a little bit.  I don’t know what the characteristics of his car were at that point.

Q. If you had a better starting position, better Friday, do you think you could have given the 48 a run for his money?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I mean, we had the opportunity there at the end and just kind of got ‑‑ we were fifth or sixth there on the restart, kind of lost the same distance that we were behind at the end of the race.

You know, having a better Friday would have been very beneficial for us to keep our track position where we needed it to be there at the end.  If we had been second or third, I think we could have run with him.

Do I think we could have beat him?  I don’t know.  But I think we would have at least had a shot.

Q. Can you have any idea what was going on when the caution lights malfunction?  Did your team explain what was going on?

KEVIN HARVICK:  I saw it come out the first time.  Nobody said anything.  Nobody was slowing down.  Well, we’ll just keep going till somebody tells me to slow down.  Second one they came on, spotter didn’t see the flag come out of the flag stand.  The flagman turned backwards, What’s going on?  We knew they were having some issues.  You just had to run a little bit longer than you would normally when you think you see the caution lights until the spotter said something.  We were very dependent upon him today.

THE MODERATOR:  Kevin, thank you and congratulations.

We’re joined by today’s third‑place finisher, Jeff Gordon.  Jeff, tell us about your run.

JEFF GORDON:  Well, obviously it was a great day for us, dominating performance.  The car was awesome, everything was good.  Very disappointed to get beat by a two‑ versus four‑tire stop.

You know, Steve and I talked about it all weekend long, going into today.  We came here to win.  You know, we knew we were going to have to take chances and risks, and we did throughout the day, and it paid off for us.  I think we just thought more people would take two tires.  It just didn’t work out.

THE MODERATOR:  We’ll open it up to questions.

Q. You ever have a day where you ask yourself, Why did I bring Jimmie to Rick Hendrick?

JEFF GORDON:  Today I do.  You know, five, 10 years from now when I’m cashing in on it, I’m not (laughter).  You know, somebody once told me that, you know, if you’re gonna get beat, make sure you’re getting a piece of it.  You know, that’s one positive to take out of it.

You know, it doesn’t matter to me who it is out there, whether it’s our own teammate or whether it’s a competitor, you know, you want to go out there and compete against the best and you want to beat the best.  And I feel like, you know, our best days with our 24 team over the years, we’re going up against Mark Martin when he was at Roush, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. when he was at Childress, you know, Dale Jarrett at Yates.

So while it’s coming in‑house, it’s still another competitor.  And it drives us.  It inspires us.  It motivates us.  You know, the reason you saw us perform and dominate the way we did today is because of those guys pushing us.  We don’t take that lightly.  You know, we’re just like every other competitor out there:  we are pissed off about it.

We came here today on a mission, and we did it all day long.  Unfortunately, you know, the two‑tire stop just didn’t work out for us.

Q. Can you just go through the last couple of laps and why the car maybe started giving out.

JEFF GORDON:  The last couple laps?  I mean, I knew we were a sitting duck when we got into first.  I got a great restart, which was our only chance that we could possibly have, knowing that Clint was on old tires.  So I got a good restart, got by him.

But, I mean, it was just a matter of time because two versus four, and I was so tight.  Had we freed up the car a little bit more, and we did free it up for the two tires, but I just think we needed to do more of it.  Maybe, maybe, maybe then we had a shot at it.

I ran so hard trying to get his car to tighten up behind me, you know, with dirty air, and I blocked him.  I did everything I could, and it just took everything out of the right front tire.  Took everything out of the right front tire, built the right front tire up so much I was just plowing it at the end.

I knew when Jimmie got by me, we were probably going to lose second as well.  While I ran a few laps that slowed Kevin down, where I ran in front of him on the bottom, I couldn’t maintain it.

You know, we were just fading.

Q. Can you sort of talk about the decision to take two versus four tires, why you went with that instead of taking four.

JEFF GORDON:  Well, you know, if we won the race we’d look like geniuses, Steve would have.  The fact that we lost the race, now Chad looks like a genius.  That’s how it goes sometimes.  When you’re leading, that’s the toughest position to be in, to make that call.

I talked to Steve briefly after the race.  He’s pretty upset obviously.  I think he just felt like more people were gonna take two tires.  Shoot, we were thinking for a split second to stay out.  If we’d have done that, I think we would have finished 10th.

You know, I felt like we needed to come in and get some tires, but I felt like two tires was the right call, too.  We just needed the 48 to take two.  They did the opposite of us.  That won the race for them.

Q. Jeff, on some Saturdays, do you feel a little bit like Kyle Busch last year, leading many laps and then only to lose it at the end?

JEFF GORDON:  I’m disappointed, but at the same time, you know, we haven’t dominated like this in a very, very long time.  So, you know, I’m disappointed that the opportunity got away that we dominated so much and that we had the car to win the race.  Very disappointed in that.

But at the same time, you know, I’m very really excited about this race team.  You know, I’ve been saying it all winter long.  Even the first two races, I’ve been trying to say it.  If you don’t have the results, then it doesn’t matter.

So today we showed what we’re capable of.  It gives us a lot of momentum to go to Atlanta.  So I think we’ve got more of what we showed today that, that we’re going to show a lot more.  I think we’re just starting to tap into it.

Q. Jeff, you had the field covered obviously all day.  On that last stretch before the final pit, Jimmie was gaining ground on you every lap.  Was that a factor in taking two?  Did you think you didn’t know if you could hold him off even if you took four?

JEFF GORDON:  No, I had no doubt in my mind we could hold him off with four tires.

Between the two cars, the 48 and the 24, whoever got out front at the end of that race was going to win the race if you had equal tires.  I mean, we were very, very equal.  They were better at certain stages of the run, but he couldn’t pass me.  But, you know, I’m very confident, if he had taken two, I’m confident we would have won this race.  If we’d have taken four and got out front of him, that’s the only factor.  If we took four and they beat us out, you know, then it would have come down to the restart.  Who knows what would have happened on that.

Had we been out front with four tires, I mean, he could catch me, but he didn’t have anything for me once he caught me.  You know, we were that good and they were that good and the track was real fast today.  It was real hard to pass.

Q. Everybody is going to write tomorrow, Jimmie is out of the gates, give him the championship.  What is it going to take to beat Jimmie?  Can you talk about some of the drivers that can give him the battle like yourself?

JEFF GORDON:  I don’t like giving those guys bonus points.  That’s something you don’t want to give them.  They already are very strong, especially for those final 10.

But I’m kind of hoping they peak early this year and that some of us can gain the momentum as we get to the Chase.  It’s gonna make us all work really, really hard, you know.  But who knows.  They’re very good.  You know, they haven’t had a lot of turnover in people and changes.  They’re the team to beat.

But, you know, we showed today that we can beat ‘em, and that’s what I’m more excited about than anything else.

Q. You’ve touched on this a little bit already.  I know it’s frustrating to lose.  You look at the board today, Hendrick 1, 3, 4, Junior 16.  Do you feel you have picked up right where you left off at the end of last year?  I know you work hard in the off‑season to try to keep it up, but you never know until the other cars get on the track where you stand.

JEFF GORDON:  Yeah, I mean, the Childress cars have shown a lot of strength early on already, so I’ve seen where they’ve made big improvements.  The Roush cars at times were really strong today.  And you never know within our own organization whether you’re working on the right things over the off‑season, coming to the track, if you’ve done every single thing that you feel like you could do to be competitive.

But we’ve shown already this year that we’re very strong.  I feel like our team’s much stronger than we were last year.  So you know, I feel really good about that.  I think that we’ve stepped up a notch.  I feel like the 48, it’s hard to get much better than they were already, but they’ve maintained that.  You know, the 5 is very strong.  And we’ve elevated up the 88.

I do think with this car and with what’s going on with the economy and everything, our organization has been able to maintain a pretty high level of competition.  It’s nice to know we’re doing the right things.

Q. Does it ever cease to amaze you that when it comes down to a decision between no tires, two tires, four tires, the 48 always seems to have that right?

JEFF GORDON:  You know, that’s what makes a good team.  I mean, when you’re a good team, like last week, people were talking about, Man, look how lucky they are.  That’s not luck.  You do everything you can as a team right, and when everything is clicking, good things happen.  And that to me is not good luck; that’s you creating, you know, things around you to work in the right direction.

I’ve been a part of it before myself with our team.  So that’s to me just a really well‑prepared team that executes very well when it comes to race time.  You know, that all came down to a decision.  You know, it was a very good decision.

The thing is, when you’re in the position that they’re in, they’re so strong, they’ve won so many races over the last several years, that it just gives them a lot of confidence, and that helps you continue to make good decisions.  When you’ve dominated the way that they have, you know, it’s easy to take a little more risk and, you know, when it doesn’t go your way to go, Okay, that’s all right, the majority of the time it does go our way.  It just helps you make better decisions each time you come down to that.

You got to give ‘em credit where credit’s due.  They’re very strong, a very good team.

Q. Jeff, as long as that green flag was up to the last yellow, had we continued green closer to the end of the race, would that have changed the call in any way between the two and four tires?

JEFF GORDON:  I think the more laps we ran, the more two tires would have made sense.  I think there were just a few too many laps for the two tires.  I think that’s the only thing I see that maybe went against us.

Again, if more guys had taken two, I think we were in good shape, you know.  So the fact that we only had, what, us, and I think Jimmie or Harvick came out behind me, so just a couple of us that took two that got ahead of Jimmie, we needed four or five guys to be ahead of the first car on four tires, especially a car like the 48 that ran so well.

Had we come down closer to the end, we probably wouldn’t have come in, you know.  That would have got things very interesting, too, because half the lead‑lap cars probably would have come in, some of them taken two or four, probably four.  But, you know, from a leader’s standpoint, you know, it’s so tough to make that decision.

We’ve seen this so many times.  The leader comes down pit road at the end of the race they usually get beat because the other guys just do the opposite of whatever you do because they don’t have anything to lose, and it usually works in your favor to be second, third or fourth or fifth.

THE MODERATOR:  Jeff, thank you and congratulations.

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