NASCAR Cup

Sears Point: Chevrolet Saturday quotes

Saturday practice quotes, including a lap of the Sonoma circuit with Robby Gordon Robby Gordon ...

Published: Jun 26, 2005, 9:09 AM

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Saturday practice quotes, including a lap of the Sonoma circuit with Robby Gordon

Robby Gordon #7 Harrah's Chevrolet

TAKE US THROUGH A LAP OF THIS CIRCUIT Turn 1, you have to back a little bit early, downshift into third. Head up into turn 2, downshift into second. With my Harrah's Chevrolet, I stretch turn 2 all the way to turn 4a. I back off a little early getting into turn 3, second gear still, up the hill in second gear all the way up to 4a and make the 4a right hand turn. There are some rumble strips and I kind of pop over on the other side of it to just carry a little more speed there. And I don't know how we go from 4a to 7, but here we go all the way to turn 7. I stay in second gear there as well, downshift to first in 7, up to second, up to third gear by turn 8, roll through turn 8 and turn 9 as fast as I possibly can. You can't really be full throttle - you're part throttle through 7 and 8, shift to fourth gear through turn 9, downshift to third gear before turn 10. And then I stretch third gear all the way to turn 11, when I get down to turn 11 I downshift all the way to first gear, roll through the center as best I can, let the car take a set and go to power and launch off the corner in first gear. Then second gear, third gear, fourth gear before I get to start finish line.

WHERE ARE THE TRICKIEST PARTS OF THIS TRACK The trickiest parts of this race track are passing zones. Turn 1 is a very trick corner, turn 11 and 7 are tricky. Those are passing opportunity places. You've got to be able to brake in a straight line hard, get a clean line underneath somebody and make a pass.

HOW IS THE SURFACE HERE? THEY PAVED IT LAST YEAR, HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM 2004? About the same. Seems pretty good all in all. They have repaved the place. I think I would have thought the track would have slowed down with a year on the pavement, but it doesn't seem to have done that. Still has a lot of good grip and it's fast. It's going to be hard to pass, though. There are a lot of cars running 1:17:0, 1:17:20s, and that's kind of where we fit into the mix. Pit stops and strategy will definitely come into play. We've got a good race car.

Ron Fellows #32 Tide Chevrolet

Note: Fellows had an accident in second practice at turn 3 and brought the car back to the garage for repairs.

WHAT HAPPENED IN YOUR ACCIDENT? Yeah, we're still chasing it loose a bit. I got loose into Turn 3 and just lost it. I was hoping to catch it and stay on the race track. Fortunately there was a tire barrier there.

ARE YOU GOING TO TRY TO GET THE CAR BACK OUT? Yeah, I hope so. When I drove back it felt fine, but I couldn't see the front fender, so I thought it was pushed in. I had no idea how bad the back was. Keeping pressing on here.

Brian Simo #33 Korbel Chevrolet

Yeah, it felt pretty good. We're making some ground now. We struggled a little bit yesterday but I think we're starting to get that stuff right now.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST THING YOU'RE WORKING ON TODAY? Right now we're still looking for grip. We need that long term grip. Longer into the fuel run and more green time, we're looking for that longer grip.

HAVE YOU SHAKEN THE RUST AFTER FOUR YEARS OUT OF RACING? Yeah, it's starting to come back there a bit. I had to get off the couch for a while.

Mike Wallace #4 Lucas Oil Chevrolet

Note: P.J. Jones will be driving the #4 Morgan-McClure Lucas Oil Chevrolet for this weekend's race.

The team released a statement which stated: "This one race decision is no reflection whatsoever of Morgan-McClure and Lucas Oil's commitment to Mike Wallace as the driver of the #4 Lucas Oil Chevy. The team is looking forward to having Wallace back in the car next week in Daytona."

GIVE US THE UPDATE ON THE DRIVER SITUATION FOR THIS WEEKEND IN THE #4 LUCAS OIL CHEVY They made a decision this morning. P.J. is going to race the car. I don't understand any of it. It caught me pretty much off guard. We race hard to get ourselves inside the top 35 and we're in the 35th spot. I guess management feels that P.J. can do a better job than me here.

ARE THEN LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT WEEK AT DAYTONA? Well, I always look forward to racing. I'm a little caught off guard on this thing right here. A little numb to the situation. But, Daytona, yeah. I won the Busch race down there last July. My picture is all over the tickets for the Busch race. Hopefully have a chance at two victories as I'll drive one of Ray Evernham's cars down there in the Busch race and then the #4 Lucas Oil car.

WE WISH YOU WERE RACING HERE Yeah, I appreciate that. I don't understand it really. We've raced hard to get ourselves inside the top 35 and we're here, and then we get replaced for this race.

Bobby Labonte #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet

HOW WAS PRACTICE? It was pretty good. We had two good practices.

YOU'RE IN A BACKUP CAR. HOW HAS THE IT BEEN? Yeah, it's pretty balanced. We made it better throughout the day. I was pretty happy with it.

Terry Labonte #11 FedEx Chevrolet

HOW WAS PRACTICE? It was okay. We need to be a little bit better, but we're going to make a few changes on it for tomorrow. We're working on grip. Mostly grip. It was a little bit loose in the back. We need to be a little bit better there. I think we have a pretty good car and we'll have a good run if we stay out of trouble. Try to get these guys some points.

-gm racing-

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