Talladega II: Jarrett post-race press conference

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Finished 3rd)

"We were peddling hard, but we have work to do, obviously, to try to keep that type of momentum and get our cars to go that fast. Most of the day, I saw a lot of give and take out there, which was a good thing. As Kevin (Harvick) said, it may have looked calm from the outside, but when you were out there it was pretty wild all day. It was like you couldn't get away from anybody at anytime, so it was typical. Everybody used their heads quite a bit there until right at the end and I guess things got pretty wild, but you expect that. You've got competitive people out there and when you get down inside five laps to go, you just go as hard as you can. We just didn't have enough. I was dead behind the 29 and the 31 and peddling hard and the 8 just drove by me. It wasn't like I lifted or anything I can assure you, so we'll keep working."

DID ANY TEAM ORDERS PLAY A ROLE?

"Elliott and I talk before each of these races and we realize that there are gonna be times that we can help each other and there are gonna be other times that we may be helping each other and then a hole opens up for one of us and you just go and do what you've got to do at that point in time. You're not gonna get upset about it. We both had some problems midway through the race - a little later than that even - of running hot. If we didn't keep the tape on my car, it was a situation where the nose would just fly going into the corners and then I couldn't ride wide open. We had to try to keep the air to it as much as we could and I knew Elliott was having some problems, so as far as team orders, no, Robert just kind of tells us to do what we can do and we know that if we can help each other we'll try."

WAS IT NICE TO HAVE PEOPLE TALK TO YOU AFTER THIS RACE, UNLIKE LAST WEEK?

"I don't know that I said nobody came to talk to me, I said nobody printed what I said so that's two totally different things. It just wasn't mentioned and, again, that's with me. It's a matter of our sponsors getting their due and my guys that work their tails off getting theirs. I'm sure at a race like this and finishing that you all are gonna take care of everybody that's not in the chase - two of us sitting right here - so you can talk about us - not necessarily us, talk about our sponsors because they're the ones that appreciate it. Hopefully, it will and if we keep running like this we can't be ignored, I don't think."

ISN'T IT IRONIC THAT EVERYONE FOLLOWS DALE, JR. AT THIS TRACK?

"You can talk about lining up and following him, but when he passed me I was behind two fast cars and he passed me with no help. He didn't have any help. I know they line up behind him and you think back a little while ago and his dad was the same way. If people don't feel like they have a fast enough car, they're gonna line up and go there, but he passed me with no help. There wasn't anyone pushing whenever he went by me."

IS YOUR ATTITUDE JUST DOING THE BEST YOU CAN?

"Yeah, I think as long as the efforts there and we see progress being made. We're not just saying that we're gonna go do and take whatever it gives us. We want to do well because we have to build for next year. That was the one thing that we said that could possibly be beneficial to our race team in not making the top 10 because we would just have had to be focused on what happens in the last 10 races. Now we can do that and try some different things and not worry about it, but we can also get ourselves prepared for next year. That's the most important thing. I say the most important thing, the second most important thing right now is next year - making sure we're ready for that. The important thing is to try to get this race team into victory lane again and we're a lot closer. I mean, it's been a long time since we finished in the top five back-to-back, so I feel like we're gaining and maybe Kansas will be that place next week."

DID THE CAUTION COME OUT AFTER YOU TOOK THE WHITE FLAG?

"No, it did not come out at that time. No. They told me right as I took the checkered flag that there was a crash behind me and it was Elliott, but they never said anything about the crash on the backstretch. But, no, the caution never came out."

BASED OFF THE EXPERIENCE IN THE SPRING, DO YOU THING NASCAR IS MORE CAUTIOUS WITH THE CAUTION LIGHTS?

"I'd have to say with that being on the backstretch we could race back and nobody is in danger because we're gonna get slowed down before that. That allows us to race back and not have to use the caution. Of course, it might have saved Elliott over here at the end if they would have done that, who knows? But I'm sure that was their thinking, that it was far enough way that we weren't gonna race back through it and they didn't need to worry."

ANY CONFUSION WHEN THE 40 AND 18 WRECKED WITH WHAT WAS GOING ON?

"I was on pit road when Kevin and them started coming. We were coming with them and it's one of those lucky situations that you get. We were in the right place at the right time."

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