#24-Jeff Gordon met with members of the media at Phoenix and discussed last week’s post-race incident with Brad Keselowski, the transcript in part:
Q) LOOKING BACK TO LAST WEEK THE AFTER THE RACE INCIDENT. DOES THAT ESCALATE THE WAY IT DOES IF (KEVIN) HARVICK DOESN’T HELP YOU OUT?
Gordon: ‘Well, it escalates because Brad (Keselowski) didn’t want to face the situation. Those pit crew guys were kind of in the middle of that. The thing that I feel terrible about is getting my guys involved with it. I feel like if we could have just had a face-to-face there would have been no incident. But Kevin (Harvick) played a role; there is no doubt about that. I didn’t realize who it was at the time. I thought it was him, but it wasn’t until I went back and saw it later on video and got a good chuckle out of that one that I realized what had happened. It certainly played a role. Let me address this. I think there is a little bit of misunderstanding. I have no issue with a guy being aggressive and making a bold move. If you win the race and the guy that you slam finishes third or fourth I will be the first one to stand up and say that was awesome, that was a great move. But when you don’t win the race and you ruin a person’s day then there are consequences that you are going to have to deal with. How you handle yourself after that is a part of that. To me if you are going to compare to the greats of this sport that have been aggressive over the years, you also have to compare how they handle themselves in those situations afterwards. The ones that I have had to deal with on that, they know how to not make enemies, they might not have a lot of friends out there, but they also don’t have a lot of enemies. If they do they seem to find a way to patch that up fairly quickly.’
Q) OBVIOUSLY YOU ARE STILL MAD ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED SO HOW DO YOU RACE BRAD (KESELOWSKI) GOING FORWARD?
Gordon: ‘I’m not mad about it. I’m ready to move on and focus on Phoenix. I race people the way they race me. If I am in a situation that I feel like I can make a bold move that I think is going to help me win the race and he stands in the way then I’m going to do the same thing that he did to me last week. The difference is if the same results happen how I’m going to deal with it afterwards and face him on that. So, my goal is to make sure that we have the fastest race car that we possibly can in qualifying, practice and the race. To go out there and win this race, that is our goal. I can’t think about what may happen, what might not happen, how I’m going to approach each restart and all that stuff. You just don’t know. But, I also know that the way I have raced over the years have gotten me here is that balance between aggressiveness and patience’s and feeling like when it is worth taking the risk and when it’s not worth it.’
Q) WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN A SITUATION WHEN YOU APPROACH SOMEONE ON PIT ROAD LIKE YOU DID BRAD?
Gordon: ‘To be able to just have a conversation to discuss what their decision making process was at that time. Yes, it ruins your day; you want somebody to have a little bit of sympathy. Doesn’t mean you have to take back what you did’¦it means you have to understand what it did for the other person. And that certainly is not the way that one was handled.’
Q) SO JUST TO CLARIFY, NEITHER YOU NOR BRAD KESELOWSKI HAS REACHED OUT TO THE OTHER SINCE LAST SUNDAY?
Gordon: ‘No.’
Q) ARE THE MODERN DRIVERS JUST GETTING AWAY FROM SOME SORT OF ‘CODE’ OR WAY OF SHOWING REMORSE?
Gordon: ‘Well, I don’t believe in the whole texting thing and calling. I like face-to-face. But there’s a period of time that needs to go by before; sometimes you can do face-to-face. But typically, I want it to happen immediately on both sides. And then, if that doesn’t occur, then I’d like to wait until the next weekend when I can see them face-to-face. Or, if I run into them somewhere, I don’t know. But I’m not one to do the calling and texting. That’s just not the way I believe it should be done. I can’t speak for what other guys say and do and how they should do it.’(Team Chevy)(11-8-2014)
