NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Federated Auto Parts 400

Topics:  Federated Auto Parts 400

Clint Bowyer
Kyle Busch
Jeff Gordon
Jimmie Johnson
Kasey Kahne
Brad Keselowski
Tony Stewart
September 8, 2012

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Q.  How did you guys do it?
JEFF GORDON:  Thank you.  As disappointed as I was an hour and a half ago, however long ago you spoke to me, I was de freighted.  I felt like this weekend has gone amazing and I knew we had a good race car, and to go backwards like that was really frustrating.
But man, that was an awesome effort.  I tell what you, I'm so fired up to get this Chase started, I don't care where we are starting points, we're in it.  I have to thank Chase Credit Card Services and all that they are doing for our Drive To End Hunger; it's such an awesome program; and Chevrolet, Dupont, Pepsi, Quaker State.
Man, that was so much fun there at the end to be able to drive up through there.  They did it.  I mean, Alan is such a great crew chief and he never gave up.  He kept me fired up, this whole team, we never got out of it as bad as it looked and we made this car good enough to go up there and run up front and almost win the thing.  That was amazing.

Q.  Kyle, you knew this was going to come down to the very, very last lap, your thoughts on night, Kyle?
KYLE BUSCH:  We missed.  That's it.  Plain and simple.

Q.  I saw Job Gibbs lean in and say something to you; what did he say?
KYLE BUSCH:  Handled it the right way.  There's no rate way to handle this situation.

Q.  Kasey Kahne drove his 5 car into the Chase, congratulations, what's the mind‑set now with you and this team, not the momentum you wanted, but a lot of smiles about being in the Chase?
KASEY KAHNE:  I think the big thing is we made the Chase, we came from a long ways back, and thanks to Hendrickcars.com, Rockwell Tools, Quaker State, Farmers Insurance, all of the guys have been a huge supporter of ours this year and Chevrolet, and that feels really good.
Tonight we had a car that was capable of running second to Denny probably and first if we could get it a little better there.  Just we took a chance to stay out, it backfired on us but actually helped Jeff make the Chase so it's great for Hendrick Motorsports.  Our engine ran awesome and all of the HMS cars are in the Chase and they rebounded from a ways back tonight.  So it was a big night for them and I'm just happy we're all in.

Q.  Brad, what kind of momentum do you feel like you're taking into these next ten weeks?
BRAD KESELOWSKI:  A lot.  If we repeat the last ten weeks we'll be in great shape for the Chase.  Got our work cut out for us, a lot of great teams, but Miller Lite, Dodge, everyone at Penske Racing has done a great job as well.  I'm just excited to get going next week in Chicago and proud of where we're at this season.

Q.  Clint, you finally ran it out of gas.
CLINT BOWYER:  Last couple of times we walked it in, at Sonoma we ran out of gas and burned out, too.  Just thank you to these fans, this late at night and they stuck it out with us.  You know, went through the weather just with all of us.  Unbelievable.  Thank you, Juan Pablo for wrecking me and then winning me the race, thank you.  Unbelievable for 5‑hour ENERGY, all of our partners, Sprint; to win this last race before this Chase cutoff.
We had a bad race last weekend and had a lot of adversity we had to bounce through, was kind of bummed out as a team, as a whole, coming into this race, it's a good way to get things bounced back headed into this Chase.  You know, you can't ask for a better race team, my teammates, MWR, everybody that's a part of this, it's just unbelievable.

Q.  Tony Stewart, seeded third once this Chase gets underway next week, last year you set the standard for Chase performances, how does this run tonight set you up for the next ten weeks?
TONY STEWART:  I'm really proud of our team.  I think we probably gained the most from yesterday to today.  So you know, just came up short but real proud of the effort from the guys.  They did an awesome job tonight.

Q.  Jimmie, typically when the lights come on for the Chase, you're geared up to go win the championship, how confident are you that Championship No.6 starts next week at Chicago?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I feel good about.  It these last three weeks we have not had the best performances.  We've been running well but we've had some different issues take place off pit road, we got off sequence, luckily we got back to a decent finish.  The tracks in the Chase are really good for this 48 team, won a lot of races at the ten tracks, really probably eight of the tracks in the Chase.
We are looking forward to it.  Tonight has been a long night and I'm glad we got this in and really happy, looks like all three of my Hendrick teammates are in the Chase, so they are happy about that and look forward to the Chase.