NASCAR Winston Cup Miller 400 Post-Race Quotes from the Winner
16 June 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Winner Quotes Miller 400 Michigan Speedway June 15, 1997 BROOKLYN, MI - The following provided courtesy of Ford Motorsports Public Affairs: ERNIE IRVAN (#28 Texaco/Havoline Thunderbird) - Started 20th - YOUR LAST WIN ALSO CAME IN THE MILLER 400 AT RICHMOND. - "Well, I kinda like drinking Miller beer. Do you think you guys might can put me on a deal to get a few cases of beer or something? Rusty gets it all, and he drinks it all. "There is no doubt that that pit stop was phenomenal. If I had gotten back there racing with Bill (Elliott) and Mark (Martin), who knows what would have happened. I know they are great competitors, Mark and Bill and Teddy (Musgrave). They were having a great race today. It made my job a lot easier to get out a little bit ahead of them. It was real hard to stretch it out if they could get your draft. That was something that I was able to do, and stay out of their draft. "Marc (Reno, crew chief) is really quiet. He didn't say much. We were just talking about how to make our car better. I actually talked to him about not even changing tires, because our car was so good, if we could just get a splash of fuel, enough to make it 25 laps. That's what it's all about. Goodyear brought a tire here. I think it would have run half the day. It seemed like we could run 200 miles with the same set of tires. That's what Winston Cup racing is all about. It's about being able to leave it to the competitors, not the tire manufacturers and the car manufacturers. It's the competitors. That's what has made Winston Cup racing so great. It was amazing how many people were here today to watch this race. We're going to go to Fontana next week, and we know it's going to be a phenomenal race at that race track, because of what this race track brings to us. "I don't remember anything about that day. The only film I've seen is after the wreck happened. Nobody has ever had any film that actually showed me hitting the wall. I'm glad I don't have that and couldn't see that. God works in mysterious ways. This win just shows that I'm blessed by God, because I'm able to do what I love to do. And I'm able to still do it, and be able to honor Him, too. "I almost spun out on the backstretch. I almost spin out about every lap. Sometimes they tell me, 'Maybe you need to let off earlier.' But I know that you go faster pushing on the gas pedal. That was really about the only close call I had. "I think my car was just a tick better than Bill's. It's real hard to say. Maybe I had a little less gear than Bill had, or maybe I could get a little bit of draft. Our cars were so close. Mark's was really good. He had a little bit of trouble, but he was able to pull off a really good run. It was a matter of the right chassis setup, the right engine combination. They are going to find out when they chassis dyno those cars. Hopefully, they won't do ours, because they are going to find out that we have more power than just about everybody. "I didn't really have a whole lot of thoughts about coming back to Michigan. This has been a great track. I have made a lot of really good friends. That's what this racing is all about. We're able to have our families here. With what they've done with the race track, we are able to stay in our motorhomes in peace and quiet and be able to relax. It just makes our jobs a lot easier. Whatever has gone on at this race track was really not in my mind. It's just a matter of being able to come here and compete in this facility. "With everything that has gone on this year, every time I get close to winning, something happens. There is nothing more exciting than it would have been to win my first race back here at Michigan, but I'm not going to take those away. We've had some really good runs since I came back racing. It's just a matter of time before I think we can put some good runs together, and I think this is the start of it. "Robert Yates has told me that there isn't a problem. It's just a matter of getting the paperwork done. I plan to be here a long time. "I think we are going to have a good car for the Fontana race track, because it's going to be this one. This is a brand-new car. The last time we ran a car exactly like this one was at Darlington, and then we crashed it at Texas and kinda killed it. It was a great car the whole time, and it was a great car today. It's really good when you bring out a new car and you win with it. That gives you a lot of confidence in what you have. We unloaded this race car and it was brand-new and we were in qualifying trim right off. The slowest lap I ran was just about qualifying, so there's no doubt that this team is capable of producing unbelievable cars. We didn't touch it. Maybe they did, but In never asked them to do it."
