NASCAR Cup

Daytona Shootout: Jeff Gordon press conference

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS (LATE IN THE RACE, WOULD IT HAVE MADE SENSE FOR YOU TO GO WITH GREG BIFFLE?) "No, I would have never gone with him. I was more concerned with me just giving ...

Published: Feb 14, 2005, 7:36 PM

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JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

(LATE IN THE RACE, WOULD IT HAVE MADE SENSE FOR YOU TO GO WITH GREG BIFFLE?) "No, I would have never gone with him. I was more concerned with me just giving him a big enough push to get beside Jimmie. I really didn't want him to get beside Jimmie and have a shot to let somebody else stack up there and give him a push. There were one or two times when I got a good run and I gave him a big push. He had the momentum but he was smart where he felt like it was too early to make that move and he stayed in line. After that, that's when I just started working on Biffle trying to get by him. If he would have gotten midway inside or outside Jimmie, I would have definitely gone with Jimmie."

(HOW IS THE TIRE SITUATION?) "I thought ours were good. Everything looked good. We had no issues. I'm not sure who had a problem. So far from what I've seen, all of us looked good. I think the wear is a little bit more than what we've had in the past and handling is a little bit more of a premium. We're lucky right now we have the fuel cells that we have that keep us in short stints because the tire is so soft we couldn't run a whole lot further that what we're running right now."

(ON WHY THERE IS SUCH A PREMIUM ON LEADING?) "Anytime you take away power from the cars, the way we do with restrictor plates, then it makes it that much harder to get momentum and to get the push from behind to get inside or outside of the car. It's always been a premium leading. Every since they went to restrictor plates, it's been a premium. There's sling shot moves and all of that stuff where it hadn't been the case. When we had the roof rails and punching a big whole like that, it didn't matter where you were at, you could pass. If you're up front, it's almost a bad thing. With these rules, I like it like this. I think these are great rules. You saw how much bumping and banging went on tonight. If we were with our old rules, we'd just be spinning one another out. They got to do something to slow that momentum down a little bit. What it does do is make it a little bit tougher to pass that leader."

(ON HOW THE 1/64th DIFFERENCE IN THE NEW PLATE AND HOW IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE) "It's about 15 horsepower. We may have gained a little bit of that back. It just drops the power down. I think it's pretty self explanatory."

-gm racing-

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