Chevy Happy Hour Notes - Homestead, Nov. 20

CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES

FORD 400 - HAPPY HOUR NOTES

HOMESTEAD MIAMI SPEEDWAY

November 20, 2004





JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(WAS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR CAR TODAY IN HAPPY HOUR?) "I don't think it's anything major. I just felt a little bit of a vibration there at the end. We should be alright."

(BECAUSE OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP, IS EVERYTHING WITH THE CAR MAGNIFIED MORE?) "Definitely. I'm much more concerned with getting the right balance on the car and getting the car to handle the way we need it to to win the race more so than that. Every weekend you get a little something in there and it takes a little tuning on. My guys are the best there are. They'll go through it and replace anything that needs to be replaced and we'll have a car that will run 400 miles here tomorrow."

(WHAT KIND OF RACE CAR DO YOU HAVE?) "We have a good race car. We were really good this morning. I think temperature went up and grip level went away and we struggled a little bit in that second practice. We definitely have to make some adjustments and get better. Robbie (Loomis - crew chief) and all the guys are going to do their homework tonight. They've been doing a phenomenal job all weekend. It's been a fun weekend for us so far. I'm enjoying driving the car. I think we're going to have a good car tomorrow."



(DESCRIBE YOUR EMOTIONS GOING INTO THE LAST RACE?) "It's just focusing on getting the car the best we can and going out there and doing our jobs. It's not about anything else. It's intense because you want to do everything right. It's not about just thinking about the championship, it's thinking about the race. If we do our best in the race then hopefully the results will come along with that and maybe even a championship."

(ON THE NBA INCIDENT LAST NIGHT AND GETTING THINGS THROWN AT HIM IN TALLADEGA) "It's a little bit different than when you're on a basketball court. When you have a helmet on and a loud engine underneath the hood, you don't really hear much or see too much especially when you're going 200 miles per hour. I've always said that I'm fortunate because of the comments or the reaction of some of the fans towards me. I don't really get to see it one-on-one because I'm not close enough to them because I am inside that race car. The guys on a basketball court or a hockey rink, that's a totally different deal."

(WHEN PEOPLE THROW THINGS AT YOU DOES THAT STIR UP ANY KIND OF ANGER?) "It's a lot different for me. I love it. I know that if they're throwing stuff at me, we did something good."



(ARE YOU SURPRISED AT THE SUCCESS OF KURT BUSCH?) "No. He came in with a good team. He's a talented driver. There's a lot of young guys that have come into the sport that have done very well over the last several years. It's all about taking a talent and putting it with a good organization and good equipment. You're going to see good results and they have."

(ON THE SUCCESS OF NASCAR IN THE U.S.) "I think it's a combination of things. Obviously race tracks are spread out throughout the country, the accessibility, the brand loyalty of the fans with the sponsors and the marketing that NASCAR and the sponsors have done. We put great racing out there on the race track. I think the network television groups have done a great job presenting the sport to the fans bringing them in closer to the sport and educating them and making it fun for them."



(ON WHY FORMULA ONE OR CHAMP CAR FANS WOULD FIND A NASCAR RACE EXCITING) "In NASCAR it's about the competition. It's about a car that can start at the back of the field and pass cars and finish up front. It's about pit stops. It's about very close, tight racing of a more average and normal car that you can find on the street that is souped-up and makes a lot of horsepower and is very fast. It's really more about the side-by-side racing for us. The Busch Series goes to a road course in Mexico and I don't know that they're necessarily going to see that. We'd love to see a nice oval like we have here in Homestead down in Mexico or even up north into Canada. Those would be good moves for NASCAR and I think the fans would enjoy it.\