JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA SS met with media and discussed
teammates Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin going for the championship,
the strength of Hendrick Motorsports, the Alpha male of the garage, and
more.
Q. What is your approach to these last two races?
JEFF GORDON: I mean, it really doesn't change. Nothing changes for us.
It's the same as usual. Go out, try to get the best qualifying effort we
can here on qualifying day on Friday. And approach practice tomorrow,
trying to be better than we were the last time we were here.
You Know, try to be one of the best cars out there, and hope that that
pays off on Sunday and then execute the best that we possibly can on
Sunday. Try to learn from our mistakes in our past, and try to, you
know, make any of those things that we've learned from, make them
better.
Q. What the 48 did last week with them rebuilding that car to get back
on the track to get 15 or so points, does that kind of symbolize the
strength behind not just that team but Hendrick Motorsports? I can see
the guy from your team going over there to help. Kind of the behind the
scene guys that we don't see about or know about that make Hendrick what
it really is?
JEFF GORDON: Yeah, we're a very deep organization, and we work together.
That's why you see the three teams at the top right now and why you've
seen the 48 win the last three seasons in a row.
You know, it's an organization that works extremely well together,
shares a lot of information. I don't think many teams do. And when it
comes to times like that, like what you saw at Texas, everybody chips
in, you know. Even though we're competitors and battling against one
another, when there's times like that we don't think of ourselves as
competitors. We think about what would we need in our situation and how
would they contribute and we know they'd do the same for us.
Q. In the position that you're in, do you go into the weekend maybe a
little more on the cautious side on the race? I guess more race day, or
aggressive side?
JEFF GORDON: It's definitely more the opposite. When you're behind
in points and the races are narrowing down, you get more and more
aggressive. You know, you've got to go out there and gain points. You've
got to get good track position. You've got to really try to capitalize
every moment you're out there on the track to try to get the most out of
it.
I mean, honestly, I don't know how we can do things any different
than we do all year long. We really work hard at every race to be as
aggressive as we can to put ourselves in a position to win the race. I
can't say we've really done anything different in the Chase than what
we've done every weekend.
The difference is when I say "aggressive," it's maybe in the pit
strategy. It might be taking a little more risk on fuel mileage, you
know, it might be thinking a little more outside the box under set-ups
if what we had the last time we were there didn't work so well. You
know, those types of things.
Q. We know how you feel since you won the title. But we want to ask you
as a teammate and a race fan, how cool would it be if Jimmie wins his
fourth in a row, and how cool would it be if Mark Martin wins his first?
JEFF GORDON: Well, either one of those scenarios, including myself, are
all very cool. You know, I think you have to look at each differently.
I think what Jimmie and Chad and that team has done over the last
four years has been phenomenal. It's something to be respected and
appreciated.
And I think even more so from within the organization when we know on
what we're up against and that we've been getting beat by them.
With Mark Martin, I'm such a huge are Mark Martin fan, always have been.
I battled with this guy in championships. He's such a tough competitor,
and I feel like he deserves it. And I think it would be fantastic for
him and the 5 team and Rick Hendrick and everybody. For us we've been
doing the drive for five for so long that, you know, I'm tired of
hearing about it. But we're close this year. I feel like we've been very
competitive and consistent. Obviously, we'd love to pull that off.
Q. Do you get any sense that the fans are rooting for Mark?
JEFF GORDON: I think at this point what people are rooting for is to it
to be a race down to the wire in Homestead. I can't really get a sense
-- I think that Mark Martin is a sentimental favorite, for sure. I think
that people, you know, I don't think you find anybody that dislikes
Mark. You know, it's just everybody. They like Mark. So I think that
that would be a positive to see that happen.
But I think right now, you know, just like what we saw last week, people
want -- they don't want to see the 48 have a problem. They want to
see the gap closed up. However that happens I think that's what I'm
sure the media and the fans, a lot of people are hoping for, even the
competitors.
I know I want to get closer to the 5 and the 48 going into next week's
race also.
Q. After going through your practice laps, how do you expect you and
your car to handle the track here?
JEFF GORDON: Well, I feel like our car has a pole possibility in it. We
never really got the lap that we were looking for in practice, so we're
ninth or tenth, I think. But it's in there. The car has it. It has the
speed. That's all we focused on today was qualifying. We won't know what
we have for the race until tomorrow.
Q. Why is Hendrick so good here?
JEFF GORDON: Well, I mean, I don't know if I would -- I mean, Hendrick's
good everywhere. I feel like our stuff's good everywhere we go. I don't
really isolate to this. I know you're saying that because you look at
the stats and it says we've won the last five races in a row. I give
a lot of credit to that 48 team. They won like three in a row. That's
impressive.
I think this is one of Mark's best tracks. Has been before he came to
Hendrick, and they've given him great equipment. It's a track that we've
always been consistent at. You know, we've had a tremendous amount of
Top 10s here, and a pretty decent Top 5 and we finally got a win. You
know, we need that kind of performance again this weekend.
I don't know, you know. We focus so hard on putting the best equipment
out there every weekend that we don't really look at why are we good at
this track. We kind of say, you know, How do we get better?
Q. What are the moments or instances with Jimmie that you've seen that
kind of defines why he's had the success that he's had? That there are
things that you see that the fan doesn't see, that I don't see, whether
it's stuff that you have seen over the career or even things you've seen
this year?
JEFF GORDON: I'm not trying to take anything away from Jimmie, but you
say "Jimmie," I say "team." To me, all the success I have at winning
championships is because we were the best team. And I did my part, and
Jimmie, he focused really hard on being prepared and giving his best.
That's a huge part of a team, you know. Not every driver out there does
it, you know, puts that much effort into it.
But not all crew chiefs put the effort that Chad puts in. Not all team
members put in that effort, and not all organizations put in the effort.
So it's a total team effort.
Q. What is an example of that effort that you see that maybe you see
behind the scenes that others don't see that kind of defines?
JEFF GORDON: I don't know what they do at other organizations. I just
know that the lights basically don't ever get turned off at Hendrick
Motorsports. The people never stop working. They never stop creating
new ideas and thinking outside the box. You know, second is never good
enough. We have those expectations upon us all the time, but we strive
to build those expectations as well.
Q. If Jimmie wins this championship he'll be obviously tied with you.
You will have more wins. But some people will look to him more as the
Alpha male of the garage. I wonder, you know, every driver has to have a
personal ego and believe in themselves. But if the perception starts to
slide away that you're no longer the Alpha male position, I think it's
probably fair to say.
JEFF GORDON: I've been off that position for the last four years in my
opinion. I mean, you can't control where you're at in popularity. You
can't control how you're perceived by the media. You build that up over
time through your actions, your accomplishments, the stats, all those
things.
To me I'm always an actions-speak-louder-than-words type of individual.
So in my opinion we've been chasing the 48 for the last three, now going
on four years if not longer than that and even prior to that. They're
the team to beat. Jimmie's the guy to beat from the driver's standpoint.
I mean, I've accepted that a long time ago. It just makes me work harder
to try to get ourselves back up to that level I think we're capable of.
Q. I hear what you're saying. I just think that you always had the
championships over Jimmie. And even though you had the wins and had the
greater success lately, you were still, I think, a lot of people still
looked upon you as, like you said, in some ways the Alpha male or one of
the states men of it. And I just wonder now that he's tying you, that
takes away a position of power or perceived power?
JEFF GORDON: I mean, it depends on what type of power position you're
talking about. From an equity partnership in Hendrick, I still have
that. And the experience that I have in the sport in my position in the
sport as well as Hendrick Motorsports, I don't feel like that's going to
take away from that.
And there's going to be a day that Jimmie stays long enough at Hendrick,
that's going to get turned over to him as well, you know. I think that's
sort of how he's positioned himself. He's smart.
Listen, if my ego was a problem, I would have never hired the guy and
gave everything that I had to give. I wouldn't do that with my other
teammates. You know, to me I look at how can we make our organization
better? I've accomplished more than I've ever dreamed of and I want to
keep doing that, but I also know that if you put the right people in
place they're going to have a lot of success.
We did that with the 48 team and look at what they've done. We've got
to recreate that with the 24 team, and we made big strides from last
season to this season. But that's, you know, the bar that is set. I
think that's great for our organization because it makes the other three
work that much harder to try to strive for that, you know.
So I don't allow my ego to get in the way of where I sit. In my opinion
I've always been underneath Richard Petty and, you know, Dale Earnhardt
in championships and Pierson and so many others as far as wins go, that
I've never looked at that as a competition. I want to keep winning
races, and I want to get as high up the list as I possibly can before I
no longer am driving full-time.
Wherever I end up, even if it stops today at 81 or 82 (wins), I'm still
pretty darn proud of that.
Q. You're able to capitalize on your success with advertising deals and
TV things. Has Jimmie not been able to do that as much do you think?
JEFF GORDON: I mean, right now the economy is definitely playing a role.
But I feel like they're working at it. It took a long time for those
deals to really materialize for me. I had some of the best opportunities
marketing-wise that I've ever had after I won my fourth championship.
Actually, not necessarily this year, but the last four or five years,
you know, the Tag Heuer deal and the Georgia pacific and some really,
really good marketing opportunities. Not to mention our position with
our sponsors like DuPont and Pepsi.
I think the longer you stay in the sport, the more consistent you stay,
especially towards the top. The more respect you get, and the more
you build your brand up to have those opportunities there that might
not always -- you want to capitalize on it while you're winning your
championships, but that's not always the way it works.
Q. Is it different in NASCAR than other sports like LeBron comes out
high school and has the Nike deals or Tiger Woods with American Express
right from the start. Is it different? That's why you have to build
that?
JEFF GORDON: It is a lot different. But there could be a young guy that
comes along that just has so much marketability as well as talent that
it might change all that. It could change all that next season if that
person came along.
But it does seem like it's a lot different in our sport than in others.
Especially the ball and stick sports because you have kids playing those
sports in school. They want to wear those shoes, and they want to use
that mitt or that bat or whatever type of equipment that those guys use.
We don't have that.
I mean, you don't have kids walking around going I want to wear that
Alpine Star racing suit, you know? Unless you're a race car driver
(laughter).
Q. During the race are you going to be asking for updates on the 48 and
5 or are you just going to focus on what you're doing?
JEFF GORDON: I didn't even know he wrecked last week to be honest. I
knew there was a wreck. I didn't know he wrecked and they didn't say a
word to me. I like it that way.
I prefer not to know because it really doesn't change how -- it could
change if I know too much of how we focused on the race. I want my focus
to be on driving the race car. Getting in and out of pit stalls, you
know, and our whole team really are focused on doing our job. Not being
distracted by what the other guys are doing.
Q. Looking ahead to next week, is it a big confidence builder for a
team or driver to be able to go bragging being the last winner? Is it
nice to win the last race and carry that through?
JEFF GORDON: Definitely. I think it gives you momentum over the
off-season to, you know, what you're working on. It gives you
confidence. It gives you bragging rights. It's just a great feeling to
end the season right whether it's the last race that you win or one of
the last couple of races that you win.
Those are no different than the pole last week at Texas. That was big
for us to get that pole. But a win, you know, is huge, especially at
Homestead, because it is the final race. It would be huge for us. We've
never won there before. I think that everybody feels that way.
Q. just curious. Does it matter or factor in how the Chase format came
into play? That Jimmie has his titles under that format?
JEFF GORDON: No, there's no doubt that's changed the history of our
sport. I've said all along ever since the Chase came along that the
championship, you know and how it's looked at and how many numbers
people have, you can't compare.
I think Richard had some championships under a different format. I just
don't think you can compare the two in any way. They're really totally
different. But I still think the best team still wins.
While we might have had a couple of extra championships under the old
format if they still existed, you know, that's the truth of the matter
is it doesn't matter.
We've got the new format, and I like the new format. I think it's
exciting. I think it's challenging. So I think there are more positives
than negatives. But you can't compare what anybody wanted to be in the
old format to anybody that's won it in the new format.
Q. Do you feel like Jimmie's going to have trouble for mark to catch him
or are you guys close enough to where they could have just a bad enough
race and you guys have a good enough race to make it?
JEFF GORDON: Those guys don't give up 80 points, talking about Mark.
They don't give those points up easily. But 80 over two races are
doable. 112, I think, not necessarily without them having trouble.
But mark making up 40-plus points per race is not completely out of the
question. But those guys run too good to just finish there. It would
have to be, you know, it came down to a fuel mileage race and they
didn't have the fuel mileage, or it would have to come down to a really
bad pit stop or come down to them actually having trouble in my opinion.
-credit: gm racing
