Well we saw two races today that ended with some close finishes. Congrats to Kevin Harvick for winning the Sprint Cup race and Brad Kesolowski for winning the Nationwide race.
Kevin Harvick #29 Shell/PennZoil Chevrolet
“We were really tight on gas there toward the end of the race and was able to save enough gas for all the green-white-checkereds and we wound up in a position exactly where we wanted to be, right up against the car in front of us coming to the trivial and he made the one move to the right and I went left and it just worked out really good.
“We knew we needed to be the second car pushing coming to the start-finish line because you can make that one swipe pass there coming to the finish line. It was just a matter of timing. Our day worked out really well for us. We planned on riding around in the back to miss the wrecks and racing with about 50 to go. All of that worked out and we were able to work our way there and have the move that we planned on trying to be in position to make at the end of the race.
“I think the package NASCAR brought here worked out great. It is very forgiving. You can let out of the gas. You just don’t want to be the very last car in the pack. While you are in the middle of the pack, you can do what you need to do and push and shove. It is more fun when they let us race the way we want to race.”
DESCRIBE THE RACING
“I think it was very typical Talladega. I think there was a lot of pushing and shoving, two and three-wide. The spoiler made it so you could pull back up on somebody if you made a mistake. You just didn’t want to be the very last car. It was very interesting day and it played out perfect for us.’’
HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO MAKE YOUR WINNING MOVE?
“He made the move to the outside and I jerked left, so I was going the opposite way that he was going. It’s kind of like that old theory, if you’re the car leading the race, you don’t want to be the one that makes that call. He made the move to the right and I just went left.’’
WERE YOU WAITING ON HIM TO MAKE A MOVE?
“I was waiting on him to make a move.’’
DID YOU HAVE THAT IN YOUR MIND THE WHOLE TIME?
“I was really waiting for him to make a move, but I knew I couldn’t make it more than halfway through the trivial and he made the move going about halfway through the trivial and I made mine the other way. It worked out perfect. You couldn’t have scripted it any better.’’
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
“I think it’s great karma with everything that has happened this week with the sponsor and everything. I think it’s kind of funny in itself. I think, all in all, it was really good for our team, good for all the cars that have been running well all year and we’ve been really close to winning races, but the karma thing is the best part.
YOU MADE THE CHOICE TO TAKE A CHANCE ON THAT LAST LAP, WALK US THROUGH THAT LAST LAP “Yeah, I tell you what. Everything just played out just right for us. We had a plan to ride in the back….wait till 50 laps to go and then push forward after that. This Impala was great. I have to thank Jimmie John’s, Reese’s, SKF, Coke-Cola, Champion, Sherwin-Williams, Shell-Pennzoil, Team Realtree and everybody who helps us on this car and the fans that come out to support us every week and get to see finishes like that so………and Sprint for everything they do for this series and we broke that drought. “
ALL THE WINS ARE SPECIAL BUT WHEN YOU HAVE THE CONTROVERSY AND THE STRUGGLES THAT YOU GUYS HAVE HAD TO GET BACK TO VICTORY LANE, HOW SPECIAL IS THIS? “Well, I think the best part of it is that our sponsor is leaving….and the best part of it is that they can leave while we are winning so that is the best part of the whole thing.”
DID THEY HAVE TO CUT THE WINDOW NET TO GET YOU OUT OF THERE? “Yes they had to cut the window net off with a knife, so that was a first but winning here at Talladega……that was a first too.”
Kurt Busch – #2 Miller Lite Dodge
“We had a really good Miller Lite Dodge. It was a very competitive car, a top-10 type car. You just hope to find yourself in good position at the end. I messed up coming off pit road (speeding on exit during green flag stop on lap 146). We were speeding, 60.55 (mph) in the last segment. So, I was off by a half-mile-an-hour on exit. We needed a yellow. We got down to the bitter end before we got in position for the lucky dog and got the yellow to get back on the same lead lap. There were a bunch of wrecks at the end. We were able to escape enough of them. We had enough fuel and we came home eighth. We didn’t lose any points today.
“To escape a bad situation like what we had today (damage to the right side near the door in a 10-car mishap on lap 83), we could have gotten hit four feet further back on the car and been put nose first into the outside fence. We didn’t’ get wrecked there. We didn’t do ourselves any favors by speeding on pit road, but we finished eighth. These are the type of days you have to bounce back. I hope we didn’t use up too much luck.”
JAMIE McMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET – Finished 2nd:
“We had a another really good car. We rode around towards the rear at the beginning of the race and I really thought there would be a wreck with the way the spoiler is and the way the cars suck up. Not intentional, just guys getting into each other a little too hard, but everybody drove a really clean race. We were just able to put ourselves in a good position in the end. You’re coming to the checkered flag like that, you only get to go one way and I really thought he would go to the outside, so I guarded that more. When he went to the inside, it really pulled my car around and you just don’t have the momentum he has.’’
TALK ABOUT THE RACING
“It was actually a lot of fun out there. We had such a good rules package with the wing here, you didn’t know how this was going to work. They did a really good job of picking the blade and the right (spoiler) and made the cars racy.’’
ARE YOU FRUSTRATED OR HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MOOD NOW?
“I’m just glad that I finished. We’ve had cars close to that fast all year and haven’t been able to finish. You want to win, but there’s nothing you can do. I did all that I could.’’
ANYTHING ELSE YOU COULD HAVE DONE AT THE END?
“No. You make your move there. You hope you go the way he does.
DID HARVICK PASS YOU BY GOING BELOW THE YELLOW LINE?
“I was racing the car. I was more concerned with trying to side draft him then I was where we were on the race track. I don’t know. I didn’t see it.
YOUR MOVE AND HIS MOVE
“You really only get one direction to go and I thought that I was low enough that he couldn’t get underneath me so I was more guarding the outside and when swerved his car to the left, it pulled my car around. As soon as I realized he got underneath me, I was more concerned with side drafting to the start/finish line. I wish they could have crashed on the last lap when I got the white flag this time. I was thinking, surely they’ll do it again. It’s a good day for our Bass Pro Shops Chevy. I’ve got Johnny Morris here from Bass Pro Shops and his son and they’re taking me turkey hunting in Missouri tomorrow. This will be a great race to talk about tomorrow.’’
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – Finished 22nd:
WHO WAS AT FAULT TO THE ACCIDENT OUT THERE?
“Which one (laughs)?”
THE BIG ONE THAT YOU WERE IN
“Well, I got collected. I don’t know what happened. I’m just excited that we finished on the lead lap, to be honest with you. I think it’s been a while since we finished on the lead lap. We got a huge push down the back straightaway. I don’t know who it was; maybe the No. 39 (Ryan Newman) or somebody gave me a big shove. And I was coming 10 mph faster than anybody and the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) is testing my patience, I can tell you that. It takes a lot to make me mad and I am pissed right now. You know, when a car is going that much faster, I don’t know what it is with me and him right now, but whatever. But the guys did a great job of fixing it. I don’t know what happened in the wreck. I just know the No. 31 (Jeff Burton) came across after getting turned and came down in front of me and we got collected, so we just did everything we could to finish at that point and we finished on the lead lap.
“I will say this; that was one heck of a race. I thought all day the racing was amazing. Yeah, there were times it got a little wild. We all knew it was going to go wild at the end but I don’t think you could have asked for a better race. I applaud that rear spoiler!”
ON THE BIG CRASHES AT TALLADEGA
“Yeah, that’s kind of how it goes here. I mean it doesn’t matter until two or three (laps) to go. And that’s what I was so excited about is I kind of got shuffled back there and I got a shove from somebody. I’ve still got to find out who it was. I know it was a black car; that’s all I could tell. But I got a huge hit. And the momentum and I was just gone. We were going to drive by some cars and the No. 48 decided to change three lanes and keep me from going by him. And that’s just not cool when you’ve got cars going that much faster than you. So maybe he just didn’t know it but we’ll just take what we can get out of here and go onto the next one.”
DOES IT GET A LITTLE OLD KNOWING THAT THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN AT THE END OF THE RACE?
“Well it’s now a lot of fun from a driver’s standpoint to know that. You’re just kind of holding on tight. Even when we didn’t have any wrecks for the majority of the race, you just know that in those green-white-checkereds and closing laps that you’ve got to start pushing and shoving and getting so aggressive it’s the only way you can make a pass and win the race, that you just know it’s going to happen. You just hope that you don’t get caught up in it. But we’ve been caught up in it I don’t know how many times now; a lot lately.”
DID THE SPOILER CHANGE THE RACE HANDLING MUCH?
“I think that the driver attitudes, how we approach the race and just trying to mix it up but use our heads and you can credit the spoiler or whatever you want to credit, but it was great. There were a lot of strategies going on out there. There were guys who wanted to get up there and do the two-car draft thing and try to take the lead. We wanted to lead a lap or two so we got some bonus points but didn’t feel like it was worth the risk to get the most laps led. So there were times when I could stay up front there. When I could, I stayed there. When I got shuffled out of line, I just went in the back and rode. There were a lot of different strategies that played out. It’s a totally different restrictor plate race these days. It’s something we all have to embrace and get used to because this two-car draft thing is what’s going to win these races these days.”
DIDN’T THINK YOU LIKED BUMP-DRAFTING
“I think it’s the dumbest thing you can do. For 90 percent of the races, it just makes no sense to me to sit there and just pound on a guy’s bumper. They dropped the green and they were doing it. I don’t think that’s smart. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t know how you expect to get to the end of the race or what you’re really accomplishing by doing that. I’ve always expected it toward the end of the race. And there is no getting around it. It is what it is.”
AFTER TALKING WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON, HOW DISAPPOINTING IS IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN THIS QUICKLY?
“Yeah, it’s disappointing. I don’t think it was a very smart move. These cars sometimes get such a shove and sometimes you get so much momentum it’s just more of a coincidence that it was him. But I mean, you turn the wheel left like that when a car is coming and somebody’s going to have a problem. I did everything I could to keep from wrecking him. I did. I saw what he was doing and I know I couldn’t go underneath the yellow line to pass him so I did everything I could to check up but somebody was still pushing me and turned me and I actually got into him. But he’s been testing my patience and it’s about reached its boiling point.”
DID YOU THINK YOU WERE OKAY AT THAT POINT AFTER YOU GOT SHUFFLED BACK AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE THING WITH JEFF BURTON
“I didn’t know what kind of right front damage I had after I hit him. But I thought the car felt like it was still fine and a lot can happen here in two or three or four laps. So I didn’t think we were out of it by any means at that point. And I knew green-white-checkers would be coming into play as well. And then I saw a car out of the corner of my eye get sideways and then go across my hood and then the No. 31 (Jeff Burton) came across there and I couldn’t miss him.”
ONLY 13 PEOPLE DID NOT LEAD A LAP TODAY. THERE WERE MORE LEAD CHANGES AND MORE LEADERS THAN ANY OTHER NASCAR RACE IN HISTORY. WAS IT CRAZY OUT THERE?
“It was a lot of fun for the majority of the race. It was crazy at the end like it always is. But the thing I think we’re all trying to embrace here is that we’re competitors and we all want to win the race and want to get ourselves to the end of the race. We can’t forget the dedication of these fans to travel as far as they travel to go out there and pitch tents in the infield when tornados are coming and just sit there and ride single file to get to the end of the race. And that’s what I think was cool about today. There was a very short period of time that that happened. Most guys when they got single file said ah, let’s take a shot at it. And this two-car thing allows you to do that.
“But I think it’s driver attitude and I think our attitudes are just going out there and putting on a good show and keeping it entertaining and then go racing. Let’s be honest. This race only needs to be 10 laps (laughter). So you’ve got to figure out how to entertain yourself and the fans and try not to wreck for the rest of the race.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – Finished 31st:
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
“There were two or three cars off the pace and there was a big group of us going by them. And the No. 33 (Clint Bowyer) and maybe the No. 6 (David Ragan) were on the inside and then the No. 16 (Greg Biffle) was kind of in the middle and we were all going around them. And as I trying to fish my way through the center of those three cars, unfortunately the No. 16 I just slightly touched and it knocked me a little sideways and then I lost control of the car.”
DO ALL SMARTS GO OUT THE WINDOW WITH 20 OR 25 LAPS TO GO?
“Yeah, without a doubt. So there will be something exciting coming up for the finish. It’s just part of it. I was trying to squeeze through those guys and the hole closed.”
WITH ALL THAT’S GOING ON, DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHO LEADS THE RACE AT ANY GIVEN TIME IN THE RACE?
“No, I mean we’re just putting on a good show and having fun. The package allows you to pass for the lead a lot. I’ve put the responsibility for all the racing we saw and the lead changes due to the fact that NASCAR created a certain package. So from there, we saw the lead changes.”
IS IT JUST GETTING OLD THAT THESE BIG WRECKS HAPPEN AT THE END OF THESE RACES?
“You know it’s going to happen. We all do. I’ve been fortunate to miss a lot of them. I just hope to miss the fall when the points are really on the line.”
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