NASCAR BGN: Ford drivers talk about their day at Charlotte
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
May 27, 2001
SHANE HALL-63-Lance Snacks Ford Taurus (Finished 41st) - ARE YOU OK? "Yeah, we're great. The Lance car is not doing as quite as well as we are. We had a heck of a restart there, and passed a bunch of cars on the outside. We got into 1 and everybody started checking up and spreading out. I was going a lot faster than those guys getting in, and I caught the 14 car on the right corner. Probably should have been more patient on my part, but when you get a restart like that, you try to take everything you can get. We're going to back here, think about it and see what we could have done different."
CHRISTIAN ELDER-38-Great Clips Ford Taurus (Finished 37th) - THIS WASN'T THE KIND OF RUN YOU WERE HOPING FOR TODAY. "I was going over the top 14 and he twitched a little bit, so I had to give up a little bit and there wasn't anything else to give. We're done. We're not racing for points and this thing is wrecked too bad to even try to get it back out." DID YESTERDAY'S RAIN-SHORTENED ACTIVITIES HURT YOU? "It hurt us real bad because I would have bet you that we would have qualified in the top 25. Starting in 40th with all the squirrels is just setting you up for trouble. I'm not saying that I'm usually one of the fastest guys out there, but I usually drive pretty clean."
STEADMAN MARLIN-95-Shoney's Inn Ford Taurus (Finished 39th) - YOU DIDN'T HAVE AS MUCH LUCK HERE AS YOU DID IN NASHVILLE. "No we didn't. I had a faster car than Brad (Baker) and we were racing; it was rookie stupidness on my part. I just drove in and got underneath him and he kinda pinched down on me a little bit and took the air off my spoiler and I turned around in the wall." THAT WASN'T THE FIRST TIME YOU MADE CONTACT. "I think we touched once or twice before, just playing with each other. I race with Brad back home in Nashville, and I know he didn't do anything intentional. It was just hard racing." WHAT'S UP FOR THIS TEAM NEXT? "I guess we're going to go to Michigan or Chicagoland, either one."
JEFF GREEN-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Finished 1st) - "It was pretty fun; it pretty death defying. Matt had me jacked up and wasn't letting off for nothing. He was going to have to spin me out to get back me. Lapped traffic let him catch back up to me. It was just an awesome day of the Nesquik Taurus and Tollhouse; god bless them. I couldn't be here without them. We weren't that good, but we were good enough to beat them and that's all that matters." TALK ABOUT YOUR LAST LAP. "I knew that he was going to try to get a run off of 4, and I stuck it on the white line; he was pushing me. He still had me jacked up sideways going under the flag stand, but I wasn't letting off for anything. I almost ran out of ran and hit the wall, but he did what he had to do. He's a great friend and I love him to death." HOW DOES IT FEEL TO FINALLY GET TO VICTORY LANE AT CHARLOTTE? "It feels good and we deserved it. It feels really good to win here because this is home court. I get to sleep in my bed tonight. I just have to thank Nesquik. They've been behind me for two years and we've now won them a race at Charlotte. We won them a championship last year and we're well on our way for a second one and hopefully we can do it."
JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Finished 3rd) - YOU AD A QUITE RUN AT THE FRONT TODAY. "It was just a great day for us. We kept the Albertsons Ford out of trouble and that's kind of the way that my tendencies are, I don't storm up to the front. I had a great race car and we had great pit stops, and I've never finished in the top five here. The challenge like this, I just got a little tight at the end.' WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY? "I really feel like we're going to battle for the championship. And in order to battle for the championship, we have to run well at places like this; it just solidifies that we're a contender. These Fords are pretty good. They keep giving the Chevrolets a little help, but these Fords are pretty good. I can't say enough about how much we've come, especially at a place like this. I really wanted to do good at places like this this year. This is our weak point and to come of here with a top five and to race with these guys is great. I would have rather have won, but my teammate did good, too. He seems to be where he was last year. "
GREG BIFFLE-60-Grainger Ford Taurus (Finished 6th) - "It was unbeatable for 150 of the 200 laps. The last pit stop, I just made some adjustments and they probably were the wrong ones. I tried to free it up a little bit with air pressure and that was going to be the right thing to do, and then the weather played a little havoc with us. We've never been here before, so this is the first time around for us. We learned a lot, and we were way too loose at the end. Way too loose in, tight in the center and then a little free leaving. We just gained a bunch of valuable experience with a first-year team and rookie driver. This is my first time here and we'll learn what we need to do in October." YOU GAVE HARVICK A LAP BACK EARLY, BUT DIDN'T YIELD TOWARDS THE END. "We're racing for a points championship, and you have to give a guy a break every once in a while. I didn't know how many laps down he was; I thought that would but him on the lead lap. I let him go twice, or three times, to get him two laps down and I couldn't help him any more than that."
KEVIN LEPAGE-71-State Fair Corn Dogs Ford Taurus (Finished 12th) - "We had a real good car early, but once the sun came out, the State Fair Brands Ford just got way too tight on me and we decided to give up track position to work on it. We were fortunate and caught a couple of yellows. We were running 13th anyway, so we decided to come in and make some changes. We made our way back up to 12th, but that was all I had. The guys in front of us had a pretty good day in the pits. We'll just have to get them in Dover." DID WINSTON CUP HAPPY HOUR HELP YOU TODAY? "We just had a real, real good car in the clouds and once the sun came out, we didn't plan on it. We worked all day yesterday in the clouds and that's what we thought we would have today, but Mother Nature had other plans. The track temperature went up about 15 degrees at the end, and we couldn't adjust for it; we didn't have it in the car."
Text provided by Greg Shea
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