Gurney comments at end of his first stint in Daytona

Alex Gurney: I think we were going along well. I made up a position on the start got around (Ryan) Dieziel on the outside of the first horseshoe and just tried to settle into a pace. I think we were going along well. I was behind (Richard) Westbrook for a while and finally got by him. He got caught up in traffic and got by him, so as far as the Corvettes concerned we were thinking we were looking pretty good. A little farther into the stint (AJ) Allmendinger I think went off in front of me, I think that was him; it was one of the (Michael) Shank cars, in the kink all the way through the grass. When I was coming around the second horseshoe I thought he was maybe come into me, but that worked out okay. After the first pit stop I got caught for speeding. I just went a little early; I know they extended the pit lane speed limit area. That was a shame because I didn’t get to try it in practice, just went too early. That didn’t help our cause fell back to tenth. It looks like the guys did a really good pit stop. After the pit stop we got up to sixth.”

AFTER 23 LAPS THE BMW’S WERE 23 SECONDS AHEAD. IF THEY DON’T BREAK DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY SPEED FOR THEM? “Well, it’s hard to say. That is a pretty good stat there. We saw from qualifying there is an awfully big gap. We are at minimum wing angle so we can’t do much as far as going down the straight any quicker than we are. We would like to think that we can get the car working well enough to challenge them at the end, but we will after to wait another 22 hours or so.”

HURLEY (HAYWOOD) WAS IN HERE EARLIER AND WAS TALKING ABOUT THE BUTTERFLIES YOU GET BEFORE THIS RACE AND HOW HE WAS MISSING NOT HAVING THEM. COULD YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE BUTTERFLIES STARTING THIS RACE AND MAYBE ABOUT HURLEY (HAYWOOD) MISSING THIS EVENT? “I understand the sentiment there. I think every driver gets it. I certainly get it especially at a race so important and with so many fans all around. I don’t know. So many great drivers on the grid there I got (AJ) Allmendinger in front of me and (Ryan) Dieziel next to me and I think (Max) Angelelli behind me and (Stephane) Sarrazin I guess so a lot of big dogs. You want to be nice and clean, don’t make mistakes and try and hang in there. As far as Hurley (Haywood) missing it, I mean I definitely understand that. I have been on the sidelines. If you feel like you can do it you want to be out there racing.”

IT WAS MENTIONED EARLIER DID THEY ADD SOME RESTRICTION TO YOU SINCE QUALIFYING TO THE CHEVYS AND WHAT WAS THAT AND HOW MUCH DID IT COST YOU? “Well actually added it before the start of the weekend. It costs us dramatically. I don’t understand why they did it. I think they felt that a lot of guys were sandbagging and it turned out they weren’t. In my view they put a penalty on the slowest car on the straight. I don’t get that. They halved that difference after qualifying. So, we are a little closer.”

Chevrolet Racing