Jeff Gordon Race Quotations

I wish they would have fixed the race track at the same time they fixed the curb. There are some things in the race track, some really big bumps and roughness, that would have been nice to have gotten through that area a little better.

I don't carry any grudges. I know that in order to finish in the top five you have to make as many friends as you possibly can and stay out of trouble out there. I had a pretty incident-free race out there today.

I am going to take part blame for that, (and) I think Tony should take part of it, as well. We went into turns one and two and had been real tight. We slid up the race track, left the middle wide open. I thought that I could clear him and just about the time he got to my right rear, my car just took off pushing. It was an unfortunate incident that hurt us both a lot.

He just continues to impress me. I feel like he won us the race last week. This week we had a car that got better all day long, and that's as impressive to me as our win at Martinsville.

I thought there was no way Jimmie could win the race, or I wouldn't have left. All of a sudden I hear he wins, and I go, 'You've got to be kidding me?' That was just a phenomenal win.

Our 2006 started when the (2005) Chase started. We were able to regroup and make a bunch of changes -- not just personnel changes, but changes with the race cars themselves as well.

I think having those no-bumping zones out there did make a difference. There was certainly some desperation for the guys who had to race their way into the 500, but I think we saw a heck of lot less crashes than we would have seen without NASCAR making that change.

I'm still nervous about the championship. The way our season's gone, no matter how good we're running you don't know what's going to happen. This was a race we needed to put together. And I'm glad it happened here at Bristol.

We fought back all we could. Unfortunately, we got caught up in that last deal with Kurt Busch. That really got us behind. I think we had a shot at a top-10 with that tore-up race car.

We know that after Richmond (the 26th race) comes, we've got to be in the top-10 and when we are, we'd better be set on 'kill' to go out there and lead laps and win races.

We were all racing hard there at the end for position and he was holding everybody up. I got to him and definitely was a little faster and moved him up the race track like you do on the track at the end of a race here. We went down into one and he decided to wreck me instead. It is pretty disappointing. We had a great car. I am sorry that happened. I like racing with Matt, I certainly didn't enjoy racing with him today. I showed him my displeasure. I get fired up too. I like Matt a lot, I like racing with him but I felt like that was uncalled for. We will keep racing hard against him in the future.

We're not in the top 10 battling for the championship -- it doesn't matter to me where we finish. It's where we finish each race to get ourselves prepared for next year.

It was a long day. I think we had a shot a top 10 with that tore-up race car.

Texas is an important race track for us. We struggled here last year, and we've been really focused on improving our intermediate track program.

So much calmer, from what I saw in the first race and saw in my mirror in the second race. But you're still going to see crashes, especially near the closing laps of any race.

This is definitely the smoothest that I've ever seen this place. I'm still not sure what the race is going to be like, but I think it's going to be good because the track is just really, really fast right now.

There's always pressure on everyone. It doesn't matter if you're trying to get into the top 35 in points or just trying to make the race or make the top 10, or if you're leading the points and trying to win a championship. There's extreme pressure throughout the field. You might be in a position where you don't know if you have a ride next year, you might not have a sponsor. There's always pressure on all of us.

It was a very rewarding race and gratifying. I could get up to third or fourth but couldn't make those passes to get the rest of the way. Once we did get up front, the car was flying. To be able to drive from 15th all the way to third or fourth, I knew we had a good one. Once we got out front, we were awesome. I knew we were in great shape.

I'm pleased. I guess this is what I was expecting of us at this point in the season where we were a better team. We had better race cars. Not necessarily the cars being better, but the setups relating to how I like to drive, the comfort and feel. I think it's given me more confidence. It's building confidence in the team.

I don't know how you can just pick one guy, there's strong cars out here. I felt like (Sadler) was really strong in that first race. I know that Tony and Junior and Jimmie and those guys who weren't in our race are going to be strong.

You're still going to see accidents, you always will. Especially towards the closing laps of a race.

I just feel rejuvenated in such a big way because of these race cars I get to drive.

When you're in a race car, you're going through so many different emotions throughout that race.

I want to race as long as I'm having fun, it's competitive and healthy, and who knows when that, you know, date comes when that's not happening anymore.

So much of my life is spent just focused on driving race cars.

I think we have gotten through those brain dead moments on both our parts. Now we just love to race one another hard and clean.

I think fear is what keeps us from going over the edge. I mean, as a race car driver, I don't think what makes a good race car driver is a fearless person. I think it's somebody that is comfortable being behind the wheel of something that's somewhat out of control.

There's no greater feeling than winning a race.