 | | Tony Stewart (20) and Kurt Busch (97). Credit: Autostock |
Compiled by Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
November 7, 2004
09:12 PM EST (02:12 GMT)
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Comments from the 10 drivers in the Chase for the Nextel Cup following Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway: 1. Kurt Busch, 6,191 points Finished 10th despite stalling his car on pit road  |  | CHASE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP | |
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"It's a team effort. You can't ever give up, and today it just seems like we never reached our full potential, being able to run up front. "These were two tough races for us, with the motor failure last week and then today. just not being able to reach out full potential with track position and struggling with a couple of circumstances on the track, to have those and to put them behind us, looking forward to Darlington ... it's a great way to breathe in some fresh air, and, of course, move forward and focus on what the big picture is." 2. Jeff Gordon, minus-41 Finished third, leading 100 laps "We certainly didn't start out the way we wanted to. We got real loose. We made some adjustment there but we really didn't have track position. "We really run good everywhere we go, which is something we hadn't done in the past. And that really gives me a lot of confidence in this team. I'm just really proud of the year we've had and hopefully we can fnish it off with a win or two." 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr., minus-47 Got his second consecutive PIR victory |  | | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
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"It's just great to win here. The team did a great job. We had a great race car all day. I was really surprised at how good a race car it really was. There at the end, to get by those guys was effortless. "We haven't dominated those racetracks, Darlington or Homestead, but with the team we've got now, I feel like we can go in there and have a weekend like we've never had at those tracks. We've got a lot to gain. These guys ain't going to be easy to beat." 4. Jimmie Johnson, minus-48 Finished sixth, did not lead a lap |  | | Jimmie Johnson |
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"It's great to come back. We went down a lap and got our lap back and we were able to work our way back up there to sixth. If we'd had a few more laps there at the end... "We had a good car, we just had to fight back from going down a lap from having to deal with a wheel left loose. Once we got going, we were fine. We just ran out of laps." 5. Mark Martin, minus-102 Finished 15th, spent just five laps in the top 10, was involved in a multicar incident on Lap 128 "This whole Chase, we've finished worse than we've run in every race but one. And we need to finish better than we run. We haven't had any disasters, and that's a good thing, but we run better than that every week. "Everything goes against us. We just didn't recover from that spin. It looked like we might, and then we had a bad pit stop. Every time I turned around I was at the end, almost, at the back. We'd work our way up into position and something else would happen. That's the way it goes, I guess." 6. Tony Stewart, minus-142 Finished eighth, did not lead a lap "That's two weeks in a row where we've worked and worked and worked to get the car better as the day went, and that's something we haven't been able to do for a while. "Today wasn't good enough, but we got better as the day went and got some breaks there at the end that got us back in the top 10 after we got a little out of sequence on our pit stops." 7. Ryan Newman, minus 150 Finished second after starting from the Bud Pole for the ninth time this season |  | | Ryan Newman |
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"We had a great racecar. We just came up short. We've got it going on, just a little late. The team did a great job fighting back. We look forward to the next two races, especially Darlington. "We had a great racecar. We just needed track position and we had to get it first and Junior got it first. We're happy to come home with second, not as happy as we would to come home with first, but happier than third." 8. Elliott Sadler, minus-322 Finished 38th after hitting the wall on Lap 154 "Just whether it's in the pits or on the racetrack, we've been having the bad luck the last few weeks. It's just tough. It's tough to swallow, tough to live with, but we'll keep doing the best we can. "My guys are working their butts off. It's just a shame. I'm man enough to say I messed up. It's just one of those deals." 9. Matt Kenseth, minus-336 Finished 36th after suffering a second consecutive engine failure "We just broke. We just broke something in the motor. I don't know why or what, we just broke something." 10. Jeremy Mayfield, minus-355 Finished 21st, spent 69 of 315 laps in the top 10 "We ran good all day, but things just didn't go our way. We were out of sync on pit stops all day and couldn't make it up. Then we got that flat, but overall I'm proud of the guys. "Everybody worked hard today and we made great improvements. I can't wait for Darlington. That's my favorite track. I can't wait to get there. We couldn't get a break today, but we made a lot of gains and got a lot better today. "I used a lot of luck up at Richmond, but we're going to Darlington and we should do well there." | 
