Talladega: Jeff Gordon and Brain Scott accident quotes

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – Involved in a multi-car crash on lap 138

TOUGH DAY AFTER HAVING WHAT LOOKED LIKE A PRETTY GOOD LOOKING RACE CAR: “Oh man, we had a great car. The car always looks really good. This Drive to End Hunger Chevy SS looked good and it was super-fast. (watching replay) Yeah, that is not the best angle and that’s what I saw. I could see where the 2 came from the outside lane and came back down to the inside lane, or middle lane, then wiggled and got turned. I would like to see a different angle to see what turned him. Not exactly sure why he was driving the way he was driving to begin with but obviously he was trying to get his lap back and felt that was the way to do it. It was unfortunate what happened to him early, but more unfortunate what happened to many of us in that incident.”

CAN THEY FIX THIS CAR AND GET YOU BACK OUT THERE? “Oh yeah, we will it fixed. That is what these guys do and they fix these cars when they are in this situation, but we are going to get a terrible Talladega finish out of it and there is no fixing that.”

DID YOU FEEL IT WAS AGGRESSIVE EARLY BY ANYBODY? “Danica (Patrick) made a mistake early. I don’t think that was an aggressive move I think it was just a mistake that got the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) turned (earlier in the race). She just misjudged him. Other than that I saw a fairly respectable race going on out there. We were battling up toward the front and everything was great. Our Drive to End Hunger Chevy SS was really good. Once we got shuffled to the outside lane and feel back it wasn’t worth it to me, we went to the back. We just felt like we were getting closer and closer to needing to get our way further to the front to get ready for that next pit stop. From that pit stop on it is on. You have to go for it. We got caught up in the wreck at that time.”

WHAT DID YOU SEE IN THAT ACCIDENT? “Not much I just saw the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) get turned. I had seen him for several laps driving over his head being pretty aggressive I guess trying to get his lap back. I knew he was laps down, but he wasn’t doing anybody any favors, nor himself. Then ultimately that was a wreck. I would like to see the video to know exactly what happened. Somebody might not have given him an inch there, but he was certainly taking probably more than he should have been in the situation he was in. I’m disappointed myself that we have all talked that we needed to get further to the front for that next pit stop. I don’t know if I had of waited a couple of more laps we might not have been in that one. We were making our way up there so I was pretty happy the progress we were making. Of course all it takes is one little incident like that and then you are in it.”

BRIAN SCOTT, NO. 33 SHORE LODGE CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 138

WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? “I don’t know what happened. That is the part about Talladega, they start wrecking in front of you and if you are behind it you really can’t do anything. You don’t have any time to react. I just noticed that the No. 78 in front of me he slowed down real bad. So I got on it then I saw smoke and we were still kind of straight. Then it was kind of just a pinball effect. I ended up going into the inside wall me and (Tony) Stewart took a pretty good shot there, but everybody is alright.”

HOW WAS THE RACING? WERE GUYS BEING PATIENT? “It was only a matter of time. It seemed like for the most part we were able to run three-wide, but I could tell that it was starting to turn up. Everybody started making tighter moves and was side drafting tighter. It just felt like we were getting ready for something to happen. Unfortunately it did and we were in the middle of it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI SAID HIS CAR TURNED AROUND AND YOU ENDED UP BEING ONE OF THE VICTIMS, WHAT HAPPENED? “I think that is exactly what happened. When they wreck in front of you and you are right in the middle, there is no where you can go which is unfortunate. I felt like our Chevy SS was good and we were just trying to ride it out, get in position, make one last pit stop, and then go here and race like they are doing now. But unfortunately this Shore Lodge team is not going to be able to finish. And that is Talladega I guess.”

Team Chevy