Catchfence

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DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A SHOT TO WIN THIS RACE?

“I thought we had a good car in practice, but I’ve got to thank Tornados for coming on board and helping us out with what Tony Stewart and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing has given us an opportunity with. I’ve got to thank the fans and Sprint and Chevrolet and Coca-Cola and U.S. Army. Man we’ve been working so hard for those guys to get into Victory Lane and everybody at Haas Automation. It’s been a long time coming for me to get in Victory Lane. I’m missing my mom and dad right now. They’re back home taking care of my grandfather. Man I couldn’t believe it. I saw the right flag and I’m like, I ain’t got that far to go!”

TALK ABOUT THE FINAL SHOOTOUT

“Well, every restart I’d been on the inside. I couldn’t get going. But I held my line and got a good shot off of Turn 2 and it was all we needed. Track position was real important. I think the two tires were a good call because the track cooled off there was a little more grip with two tires. Two tires earlier in the day weren’t good enough. But Tony Gibson and everybody did a great job. We’ve come so far as a team. To get to this point obviously is a great thing.”

WE SAW TONY STEWART CONGRATULATE YOU. WHAT DID HE SAY?

“He’s so proud of me. He told me he loved me and I told him I loved him back, ’cause it’s his name, I’m representing him and a lot of people behind us. Everybody at Stewart-Haas, I thanked them for their help. I’m so gracious to be here right now. It’s the most emotional victory I think I’ve ever had in my entire career just because it’s been so long and I’m glad to do it here in Phoenix. It’s my first Cup start here; I won four poles, and now I finally get my first win.

“It was a long time coming for me personally. Tony Gibson, Tony Stewart, all the people that make such a big difference here, Tornados, US Army, Haas Automation, Chevrolet, Sprint and Coca Cola, it is a great family to be in and I am having a lot of fun being here right now.”

THE CALL FOR TWO TIRES, TALK ABOUT THAT: “I kind of threw Gibson under the bus because he wanted to put four on and I said just give me two, I like the track position. I would rather block. I was in a good position there obviously. I restarted on the bottom side earlier in the night and could not get going a couple of times. So on two tires I was kind of impressed. We had a lot of guys behind us on two tires so it was a good situation to be in.”

IT SEEMED LIKE YOU JUST KEPT MAKING THE CAR BETTER ALL NIGHT: “We have had good cars all along throughout the last year and a half but we actually struggled to make them better throughout the race. We started good and struggled to make them better. Tonight the guys did a great job of making the race car better. We had a good package to start with and made a lot of changes throughout the night. It is good to finally be back in victory lane. I can’t even begin to tell you how great that feels.”

TONY GIBSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 39 TORNADOS CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER – “This is awesome. The driver, the pit crew, everybody was awesome. This Tornados Chevrolet was good all night long. Driver, he drove his heart out. We gambled on two. We had a decent car all night, but man, he is a wheel man. He just put it all on the line.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: “That was a great call for two tires. Just an incredible effort by this DuPont Chevrolet team. I felt like Steve (Letarte, crew chief) made the right calls here these last two races to put ourselves in position to win, I just couldn’t get it done for our team. I spun the tires on the restart and Ryan (Newman, race winner) had a good jump on me getting in to one. It was pretty much game over at that point. We had a good car, we were the second place car, we finished second, I’m still pretty happy and proud of that effort. We made the car better throughout the whole race and that is something we didn’t do as well last year so real happy with that.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED 3rd

ON THE FINAL LAPS

“I was really to see where we came out. I actually made the call for four tires. It seems like lately four tires work in a lot of races in the closing miles. I was hoping for one caution. I felt like if there was one caution that would bunch things up I’d had a shot at it. I restarted seventh and with another lap or two, we would have been there. But it was a great night all in all. I was excited to see the caution. It gave me the opportunity to race for the win and leave with the points stretched out a little bit.”

ON TEXAS NEXT WEEK AND THE NEW SPOILER

“Well, based on tonight’s race and how the cautions went and how we were able to run side-by-side and catching each other, it seemed business as usual. So I’m thinking that NASCAR made some good changes and the cars are driving like they did before. So Texas will be the final test for that but so far things are looking good.”

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – FINISHED 4^TH

“We didn’t qualify very good and we struggled around in 18^th. And as the sun went down, the track came to us and Alan and the guys made great adjustments and we moved up from 18^th to 12^th to 10^th and I think at the end we had a very competitive car. And then the two tires worked out for us. So, we got a top five out of it. That’s what you need to do when you don’t run good. We ran real good the last two weeks. We need to finish good when we don’t run good.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET – FINISHED 5^TH:

“We had a great car. We were a little faster with the sun out. But we were a top five all day; even a top three or two. But we kind of got lost there a little bit at the end. But I don’t know. In those green-white-checkereds, it’s all about luck and about timing. You take two tires and you get three restarts and you finish 15^th, you know? We thought we did the right thing and we still got a top five out of it. So I was very happy. We needed this; we really needed this. I think everybody knows we can do it. I like this. It’s very important. Going to the next couple of races if we can get a couple more top fives we’ll be looking pretty good for the Chase.”

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET – FINISHED 9^TH:

“The No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet was fast tonight. The pit crew kept us up front with quick stops and Shane Wilson (crew chief) did a great job calling out the adjustments to get our Impala to handle better. We were a little tight on that last long run, but all in all, it was a great team effort. We’ll try to improve on this top-10 finish next weekend.”

Chevrolet is one of America’s best-known and best-selling automotive brands, and one of the fastest growing brands in the world. With fuel solutions that range from “gas-friendly to gas-free,” Chevrolet has nine models that offer an EPA-estimated 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway, and offers two hybrid models. More than 2.5 million Chevrolets that run on E85 biofuel have been sold. Chevrolet delivers expressive design, spirited performance and strives to provide the best value in every segment in which it competes. More information can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

- Team Chevy, Press Release