Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Monte Carlo SS, talked with members of the motorsports media about the tyre test in Darlington, how confidence affects him, his thoughts on the season to date and more. Gordon is currently second in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings.
Q:
How did the test at Darlington go?
Jeff Gordon:
"I think the test went pretty well. Darlington is one of those tracks where it's challenging. I don't think it was as challenging as Bristol was for the load on the Car of Tomorrow. I think because the grip and the fall-off and all that, and the tires, I didn't see a big difference than just driving the car all by itself. We didn't get to run in traffic at all, I wish I would have had a chance to do that so we still don't know what the car is going to do in traffic, but by itself I thought it went well."
Q:
Do you think you should have an extra day to test?
JG:
"Tyres fall off so much there and I definitely think the Car of Tomorrow needs some more practice. Whether they do that Thursday or Friday, I think if they could do it on Friday that would be better. I thought they had planned a little more time but no doubt about it, there's a lot of unknowns to that car. Between getting the car through inspection they need more time and getting the car tuned up for the qualifying and race conditions I think we'll need more time."
Q:
Cingular is suing Nextel of sponsorship issues: Do you think this is going to be a promotional or marketing free-for-all if some sort of order isn’t established?
JG:
"I guess that's not my category because we haven't had issues like that with any of our sponsors and that just tells me that there are companies that want to be a part of this sport and they don't like the fact that they're not able to be and that's a good thing. I hate that they're having some challenges with that but NASCAR's got to protect their best interests and there are companies here supporting our series as big as they are and the teams and the sponsors have to protect themselves. We deal with complex. we have companies and ourselves and it's definitely challenging. But I understand both sides of it."
Q:
How does your team feel being first place three races in?
JG:
"Our team is very solid. I feel like we've made a lot of ground from a year ago. We knew last year was going to be a tough building year for us and now we're starting to really see the benefits of that building year. If Jimmie Johnson or any team at Hendrick Motorsports does well like they did last year it only motivates the rest of us and I think that we knew it was going to take time and these first three races have gone extremely well. I just hope we can continue that and I still don't know if we've seen the full potential but the car's driving good, I'm having fun, I'm more confident, the team's more confident. I feel like Steve (Letarte) has done a really great job as a leader and taking on that leadership role. So that takes time. We know that this year is really championship for us or not a successful year."
Q:
Talk about confidence and how it affects you as a driver.
JG:
"Confidence is important. You gain your confidence each lap and each race one at a time. When the cars are driving good and running good like they are it certainly helps me give back good information to the race team. When you are confident you feel like you are driving the car right and you start fine tuning little things that can make you that much better."
![Jeff Gordon - DuPont Chevrolet [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/289099.jpg)
