Duel at Daytona - Post-Race Transcript
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12TH:
HOW WAS IT?
"It was great. Real happy with the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS. The car is fast; drove really good. Of course, I was out front the whole time, but there are two things that I take from this. This is why you want to qualify on the front row, because of a little incident like that (pit road speeding penalty). As well as, that is why we race this race. It's nice, because we need to learn that now on the tach, and on pit road to make sure that doesn't happen in the 500."
DID YOU HAVE A TACH GUAGE PROBLEM?
"I think we just missed on...you want to maximize everything you have out there. Every opportunity. You don't want give up anything on pit road, and we were just a little bit too aggressive with our setting. I ran it spot on where it needs to be. They gave us the numbers, it was just a tiny bit over in three segments. It wasn't that we had a problem or anything like that, we just pushed it too hard."
IS IT DIFFICULT TO PASS THE LEADER? "I would have liked to have been up there with Kasey Kahne. You have got to have somebody go with you; you can't do it by yourself. But you can get a run, definitely. No doubt about it. I knew Kasey was just sitting there behind me just waiting for the right moment and opportunity late in this race. This is a real thinking race now. It comes down to the way it used to. You get yourself in position. Everybody kind of rides, and thinks about what they have. You have to have your car handling pretty good, which is tough to do further back in traffic. It looked like a few guys had a few small issues; nothing major. But it is hard to make it up through the field, and everybody is working together like that in that single file lane. That is the way it used to be. Long enough runs, especially when it's a little warmer and sun out, you are going to be able to make some moves. I was happy to see Kasey get up there at least to second. I think in the closing laps of a run, you start to see some moves happening."
WERE YOU ABLE TO LEARN SOMETHING OUT THERE THAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW?
"I was out front, but I learned we have a very fast race car, which is the best thing to learn. Car handled good. Drove good. But, we were out front. The only thing you kind of wish is that you got a little bit further back to see what to expect. But, I feel good. We had a great day. Brought the car, our Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS back in one piece. We're starting on the front row of Sunday's Daytona 500 with a very good race car."
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