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2013 Daytona 500: Jeff Gordon NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying Quotes
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS - QUALIFIED 2ND GREAT LAP. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON TODAY’S QUALIFYING SESSION? "I’m excited about seeing all of those Chevys up front there, certainly those Hendrick engines as well. This is a bit of a surprise we have not been as good as I was hoping in practice. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and our team they work so hard and they know how to qualify here at Daytona and on these restrictor plate tracks and they proved it again today."
I KNOW YOU DIDN’T HAVE AS MANY LAPS LAST NIGHT AS YOU WANTED TO, BUT DID YOU LEARN ENOUGH TO SEE HOW YOU THINK THURSDAY IS GOING TO SHAKE OUT IN THE DUELS? "I don’t really feel like we learned much. There was a couple laps where I was back in traffic and feeling the car move around and seeing some things that were happening handling wise. I think that the conditions are going to be so much different. There is not going to be a night race and it’s going to be warmer. I think the handling is going to be a bit more of a factor for Thursday and for Sunday."
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 | HOW WOULD YOU JUDGE THIS AS A START? "Anytime you come down here and you put down a good lap, everybody puts in an extreme amount of work for Daytona, but not everybody gets the rewards. That is a great lap. It would be awesome to be on the front row. We will see what happens, the No. 5 car is going to be tough and a couple of others there too. No matter what that is a lot better than I was anticipating after testing and practice yesterday. Great job to the team, the just continue to do impressive things that build confidence with me and with themselves and make for a great combination."
HOW MUCH OF A BOOST IS WINNING THE LAST RACE OF LAST SEASON? DOES IT KIND OF INSPIRE THE GUYS BACK AT THE SHOP AND YOURSELF TO GET OFF THE GROUND RUNNING? "It’s been a long time since I’ve done that. I can honestly tell you it’s been big. The guys are just fired up all winter long. It’s the little perks sometimes. When you call into Hendrick Motorsports there is a hold radio communication and broadcast from whoever won whatever last race they won. Every time I called into talk to somebody at Hendrick Motorsports or my dad or somebody I was listening to the final five laps of Homestead all winter long. That was pretty cool. The team I think with this new car all the hard work that is going into getting them built we needed as much energy boost as we possibly could to get us through the winter. It’s been great."
HOW BIG A DEAL WOULD IT BE IF DANICA (PATRICK) IS ON THE POLE? "I think it would be huge. I think between (Dale Earnhardt) Junior and Danica that is about as much exposure as this sport could possibly get. In this case being history making I think this is about as big of a deal exposure wise as you could possibly get. I’m not surprised they have been fast in testing, fast in practice and that is a heck of a lap."
SHE HAS LIMITED CUP EXPERIENCE WOULD EVERYBODY BE COMFORTABLE WITH HER LEADING THE FIELD TO THE GREEN FLAG? "Yeah, I think that everybody exploits inexperience and disadvantages in this race as it progresses. It might happen on lap one, it might happen in turn one, and it might happen on lap 170. It’s just to me you’ve got to take advantage of any opportunity that you have. If somebody has a lack of experience then they leave that door open somebody is going to exploit it and take advantage of it."
PaddockTalk Perspective
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