NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GOODY’S HEADACHE RELIEF SHOT 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES
NOVEMBER 1, 2015
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AARP MEMBER ADVANTAGES CHEVROLET SS – Race Winner
WE’VE NEVER SEEN YOU CELEBRATE LIKE THAT!
“We’re going to Homestead!”
IS THIS THE MOST MEANINGFUL WIN OF YOUR CAREER?
“It was a joke. I’m coming back next year!” (Teasing)
YOU’RE NOT GOING TO RETIRE NOW?
“No way, man. (Teasing, again). This is the sweetest, most amazing feeling. I am so proud of this team. You want to talk about holding back emotions; right now man, wow, we’re going to Homestead! I can’t believe it. What an incredible battle that was. We just stuck with it all day long and I was just trying to protect those rear tires and then that incident with the No. 22 (Joey Logano) and those other guys….
“Those last couple of laps, I give a lot of credit to Jamie McMurray. He raced me hard and clean there. Oh, man, I’ll tell you it’s just never over. What a battle. What a team. People don’t give this team enough credit and we seized an opportunity right there. I don’t think this opportunity would present itself the next couple of weeks. We’re going to take advantage of this one and I don’t have to worry about that.”
YOU SAID AT TIMES THIS TEAM WAS AT EACH OTHER’S THROATS WHEN THINGS WEREN’T GOING WELL. DID YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS COULD HAPPEN?
“Well, I believe when we went through those moments and we came through it and we were still talking to each other and still smiling and communicating and trying to be better, I knew that if we could just get in this position, we could do something special. And man, this has turned into a fairytale year. I cannot believe it. Homestead is going to be an unreal weekend and we’re going to completely focus now. We talked about this in our meeting before the race and if we could make it through today and win, all our focus is on the Homestead car.
“I don’t know who to thank first. Obviously I need to thank AARP Member Advantages and oh my gosh, Pepsi, Axalta, Chevrolet, Panasonic, Valvoline; oh gosh, I’m missing somebody. But I’m just overwhelmed right now. But thanks to this team. Rick (Hendrick), thank you, buddy, for believing in me and letting me make this my last year. And now we’re going to Homestead. Wow!”
WHEN THE KIDS WALKED UP, DOES THIS MAKE IT MORE MEANINGFUL THAT YOU CAN CELEBRATE A WIN WITH THEM IN YOUR FINAL YEAR?
“Oh, gosh….yes! It’s so nice to have them here. There’s nothing sweeter than going to work, I kind of call it work, to have them and Ingrid here to experience these moments. This is what life is all about and that’s where I realize after being in the series for 23 years that it’s these moments that you’re sharing it with the people that work hard and the people that you care about the most. There is no greater feeling than that.”
ON BATTLING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP AT HOMESTEAD
“It’s just like we did today. We’ll grind it out. We’re going to give it something to think about. First, we’re going to improve our race car a little bit for Homestead. Don’t count us out. We’ve proved that during this entire Chase and we certainly proved that today. This team is fired up; we’ve got some momentum now!”