Hendrick third; first rookie & Silverado in Dover qualifying

SILVERADO RACING NOTES AND QUOTES
MBNA E-COMMERCE 200
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES -- ROUND 8
DOVER DOWNS INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2001

RICKY HENDRICK TOP SILVERADO QUALIFIER; TOP ROOKIE

*  RICKY HENDRICK, #17 GMAC SILVERADO, qualified third today with a lap time
of 24.055 at 149.657 mph.  He's the top rookie and the first Silverado
driver, behind the Dodge of polesitter Scott Riggs and the Ford of Rick
Crawford.  Hendrick was third in the first practice; first in the second
practice.

HENDRICK:  "It's fun.  This place is neat.  We were doing very well last
year and the alternator went out and we didn't get to finish like we wanted
to.  The guys obviously came back with a strong machine for me.  We should
have been on the pole.  We were just too conservative.  They tightened us
up, because Jack (Sprague, teammate) was a little loose.  That's part of
having teammates, you get advice from one another.  It bit us a little bit.
If the GMAC Silverado had been like it was in practice we would have had the
pole. I don't see any problem with having a shot to win this race."  ON
DODGE TAKING THE POLE:  "Dodge is still on top.  It's still the same deal.
The Dodges are just real strong.  They have won everything but one pole, and
we're a third through the season."

*  KEN SCHRADER, #52 FEDERATED AUTO PARTS SILVERADO, was the next Silverado,
in sixth:  "We were third in one [practice] session, seventh in the other,
and we wound up sixth.  We qualified fourth here last year and we didn't
know where that came from.  We're fine, we're just worrying about the race."

*  JACK SPRAGUE, #24 NETZERO PLATINUM SILVERADO (seventh):  "It was just
loose.  It will be all right.  I like this track, but we had only five laps
in practice.  It could have been a lot worse.  We had a lot of mechanical
problems.  The Silverado drives good, though.  We will find out in happy
hour; that's all I care about.  I think I had a shot at the pole, but it was
just too loose; couldn't get the handle down.  Now I just have to pass six
of them.  We can do it."

*  BILLY BIGLEY, #75 SPEARS MANUFACTURING SILVERADO (rookie, eighth):  "I am
tickled to death, considering that the first time I saw this place was this
morning.  This track reminds me a lot of a bigger Bristol; how you drive it,
how you enter the corner.  Mark (Blessing, crew chief) and the guys said it
was a lot like Bristol but bigger, and they're exactly right.  Bristol and
here are the only 'concrete' tracks I've raced on."

*  RANDY TOLSMA, #61 TEAM RENSI MOTORSPORTS SILVERADO (10th):  "We're
improving on qualifying with the Team Rensi Silverado.  We're happy, but not
satisfied.  The Silverado drove real well.  I just overdrove it.  I felt we
had a better shot for a better qualifying.  I drove it extremely hard into
the corner and never got the grip it needed to get to have a good lap.  It's
not a bad starting spot; it could have been better if I had driven the race
track a little bit friendlier."

… Note:  Randy and wife Tiffanie announced today that after 13 years of
marriage Tiffanie is pregnant with their first child, due in January.

*  TRAVIS KVAPIL, #60 CAT RENTAL STORES SILVERADO (rookie, 12th):  "I feel
real comfortable on the race track.  It's just we're having a hard time
finding the right setup.  We are having a hard time getting the Silverado to
really hook up and drive up off the corner.  It just got a little bit loose
on me in practice and just scuffed the wall.  No big deal.  The biggest
thing is we're trying to hit on the combination and we can't find it right
now."  ON DRIVING ON CONCRETE:  "It's got a lot of grip.  I haven't really
noticed anything substantially different other than it's white, basically.
It's real smooth; I haven't noticed anything abnormal.  So far, so good.
Just so we don't hit the other concrete anymore."

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