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Sunday, April 14, 2002

By Chris Dolack

Jeff Gordon is coming off his best of the season. He answered questions during a conference call Tuesday to announce changes in the format of the Winston:

Q: Do you feel your second-place finish Sunday at Texas is a momentum builder?

A: Our finishes haven't been an indication of the way we've run. We've run pretty well the past four or five races. But that stuff doesn't matter if you don't bring it home in good position. We've had our problems, but second at Texas, which hasn't been very good for us, is something that can turn around our season. We're sixth in points and we're in position to win the championship.

Q: Because the Winston is a non-points event, do race teams stretch the rules with cars, like your team did a few years ago?

A: I think if we had to do it all over again, maybe we wouldn't have brought that thing out. That was an interesting time for us. We brought a couple of new people into our research and development department and they read that rule book word by word -- and that takes a while -- and they basically did build a race car that was built around the rulebook. Now the rulebook is a little different, but it did get us a Winston win.

Q: What was different about that car?

A: A lot of it was fuel cell location and the way some of the structure was built. A lot of it was center of gravity types of things. That thing was a bear to work on. You couldn't even change the rear-end gear without pulling the fuel cell out. It wasn't a fun car for our guys to work on, but it did well for that event. NASCAR said it was legal, they just said they didn't want to see it come back.