NASCAR Winston Cup Bud at Watkins Glen: Post Race Quotes from the Winner
11 August 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Winner Post-Race Quotes
The Bud at the Glen
Watkins Glen International
August 10, 1997
WATKINS GLEN, NY - The following provided by Chevrolet Motor Division, General
Motors Corporation Public Relations:
JEFF GORDON (#24 DuPont Automotive Refinishes Chevrolet Monte Carlo) -
Started 11th - Gordon scored his circuit-leading eighth victory of the season
and his first career road course win in Sunday's Bud at the Glen. Gordon
ended Ford's four-race winning streak and helped tighten the NASCAR
manufacturers standings. Ford leads Team Monte Carlo 154-136 after 20 of 32
races.
"I knew this Chevrolet would be strong if we could just get out front,"
Gordon said. "It took a few laps. Geoff and Rusty gave me a run for my money.
That makes it even more special to race guys like that who are good on a road
course. I sure would have like to been racing Mark Martin because he's so
good here. It was an unbelievable day for me and the team. We really tried to
come out this year and win on a road course. When we qualified 11th, I
thought maybe it wasn't our weekend, but the car was strong. I just tried to
keep it out of the grass and out of the dirt. I made a few mistakes there at
the end and they got back up to me, but I just tried to keep it smooth and
hit my marks.
"I think I missed a shift a little bit and had to get on the brakes too
early. Geoff closed up on me. It's a mental thing. You do it every single
time. You have a problem and all of a sudden you get a wake-up call. Maybe I
was paying a little too much attention to my mirror seeing what they were
doing. Ray kept telling me to pay attention and look in front.
"Geoff was strong. He was really running in deep on those last laps. Ray said
they were using their stuff up pretty good trying to catch us. I was trying
to save my brakes and not use 'em up and not use up the tires too much. Once
I got a rhythm going and got some laps on the tires, we were able to pull
away.
"The time before Rusty tried to jump me. I waited to come off and he was
already on the outside of me. The next time I told myself I wasn't going to
let that happen again. I took off a little earlier on that last restart and
got a great jump. I need it because those guys were really strong. The longer
we ran, the better we got.
"Honestly, I think this is one of the most satisfying wins I've ever had. For
me personally, this has been a very difficult transition to race on a road
course. Ray and the guys have worked really hard to try to give me a good
road course car. Every time we go to Watkins Glen or Sears Point, we make
notes to try to better ourselves. We didn't qualify as well here as we would
have liked, but we were strong, stronger than we showed. This means a lot to
me and the team. They put a lot of work into it.
"We made some final gear adjustments yesterday. Some guys were getting up off
the corners better than I was. I was surprised today. One of my best corners
was through the carousel part coming through the right-hander. That was
probably the worst place I was yesterday (Saturday). I found something by
running with some guys who were faster through there.
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