NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Federated Auto Parts 400 |
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Topics: Federated Auto Parts 400
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Jeff Gordon
September 7, 2013
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
Q. The adversity that this 24 team fought through tonight, the ups and downs just like last year. What is this emotion like missing it for just the second time?
JEFF GORDON: Yeah, it's unfortunate. We haven't had the kind of year that this team is capable of, and that's where our focus is these next 10 races is just to know that we put in every bit of effort we possibly could. We fought through a lot of things. It wasn't pretty but we were getting it done until that caution came out, and you know, we still could have made it in. The restart just didn't go the way we needed it to, so that's unfortunate. But yeah, it's tough. I'm just bummed for this team. They worked so hard, and I don't know why we've had the kind of rough year that we've had. We're going to do everything we can to go these next 10 races and step it up and get ourselves in position to be more competitive. Hopefully we can win a race or two and get ourselves in position to go be in a better position when it comes to Richmond at this time next year.
Q. I know the emotion for just us watching and listening to you on the track. What is it like being at Richmond and racing literally for every single position?
JEFF GORDON: I don't know what it is about this track lately with me and this race team. We started off so great and we've done this before, and then all of a sudden we start fading, and I was getting pretty frustrated at that time because it was that kind of condition where you're real tight landing and real loose off, and we're like, how do we fix this. I don't know how to drive it any different and I don't know what to tell them. But they did an awesome job. We stayed calm, and we got a lot done, had a loose wheel, had all these things thrown at us, and yet we come back and finish eighth. I'm blown away that we finished eighth. I think that's a testament to this race team and the fight that we have in us, and it was fun to fight back like that. I wish we could have got a couple more.