...within my /boot directory there is vmlinuz, vmlinuz-2.6.18.8-0.7-default and the file I mention (gz file)....vmlinuz is a link that points to the vmlinuz-2.6.18.8-0.7-default file and I believe the .gz file is an update to my kernel (left behind after the update).
I Googled the gz filename and saw several links that mentioned it as being an update from a previous kernel...so essentially its a file left over from an update/upgrade and is very small in size so I'm just leaving it as is...nothing broke so dont fix it...thanks for taking the time to reply...have a great Linux day!