NASCAR WCUP: Ford drivers speak out on one lap qualifying at Loudon

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

July 17, 2001

Prior to the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, NASCAR announced that, beginning at this weekend's New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, qualifying would be based on one lap at every Winston Cup venue except the short tracks of Martinsville, Richmond and Bristol, and the two restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega. At the short tracks and the restrictor plate tracks, teams will be allowed two laps. Ford drivers gave their opinions of having only one lap to make the field.

JEFF BURTON --99-- Citgo SUPERGARD Ford Taurus -- "I don't like the one lap qualifying thing. I think that's wrong. When we go to these race tracks and there are 48 cars trying to make a race, and you get one lap to go make a race and people are going home, I think that's ludicrous. We're not at the racetrack any less time than we used to be. We're still there three days. We used to have two rounds of qualifying and now we have one round of qualifying and we don't have time to do two laps? It's ludicrous. If so much emphasis is gonna be put on qualifying because we have more cars than there are spots, you ought to have a chance to make a mistake and still have a second chance. In the Busch Series they've run two laps forever. When they went to one round of qualifying they've always run two laps. We've done it for half a year and we're changing it. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. For one round you've got to have two laps. I am totally against having one lap of qualifying. I think that's crazy. If you want to have one lap of qualifying, then you need two rounds. You've got to have a second opportunity. It's not fair for the guys that are 25th in points and below because it puts them at such a disadvantage. I just don't think it's right. I don't understand why we don't have enough time to do two laps. If you don't want to run your second lap, just don't run it. At Pocono, a lot of people didn't run their second lap. That's okay, send the next car out. At Pocono, we did run our second lap and we picked up three or four-tenths on our second lap. At Charlotte we picked up three or four tenths on our second lap because I didn't have a good first lap. We were far enough back in the points going into Charlotte that if I didn't hit a good second lap we could have gone home. Well, I hit a good second lap. That's a perfect example of how you've got so many competitive cars and one round of qualifying that you've got to have two laps. It's crazy not to have two laps."

RICKY RUDD --28-- Texaco Havoline Ford Taurus -- "I personally don't like the idea of one lap of qualifying at Loudon. The reason is that for some reason that track is very, very greasy when we go to qualify. It sits for a little period of time and then we've got to go qualify. A lot of times your first lap is pretty much a throwaway there. If there's ever a racetrack that could use a second lap for qualifying it would be New Hampshire, and of all places we don't get that second lap. It's not as big of a concern for someone like us because we're pretty much guaranteed to be in the race by points, but you can take someone who is on a very good race team that might not be well off in points. It's gonna put a tremendous amount of pressure on them to get qualified. Again, my reason is that it's an unusual surface there. It's very greasy." WHAT ABOUT AT OTHER TRACKS? "It's not a big deal anywhere else. I think what NASCAR has probably done is they've gone back and looked at where we've been to this point. A single lap really probably wouldn't change anything. I can't think of anywhere that we needed that second lap. Chicago was a little unusual in that it was a new track surface and a lot of guys ran faster on their second lap, including us. We probably could have worked on going faster our first lap and if everybody had to do the same thing, you'd just jockey your air pressure around a little differently or set your car up a little looser or a little tighter knowing you don't have the second lap. But Loudon is the only place I can think of on the circuit where it would be nice to have a second lap. Everywhere else up to this point, I would agree that a single lap is fine."

BRETT BODINE --11-- Ralph's Supermarkets Ford Taurus -- "I spoke to Gary over the weekend and brought up the fact that I didn't think it was a good idea, and I think he's going to take that into consideration. They might change that, I think. I disagree with it. I voiced my opinion. It's particularly tough at Loudon. That's a hard enough track to get a hold of, let alone have to do it in one lap. One round, I understand the reasoning behind one round as far as scheduling, but then to chop it down to one lap, I don't understand the reasoning when you consider putting the pressure on someone to go out there and perform one time absolutely perfectly. That doesn't make any sense to me. Give us the opportunity to run two laps and then it's up to us if we want to use the second lap or not. You saw it at Pocono. Some people ran two laps and some people didn't. I just don't think that's in the best interest of keeping the playing field level and I voiced my opinion. I think it's up for consideration right now."

TODD BODINE --66-- Blue Light Special Ford Taurus -- "I don't agree with it. When we went to one round of qualifying, they said two laps and that's good. If you mess up one lap, you've still got a shot to get the second lap. When we had two rounds of qualifying, it was one lap. Well, at least you were getting a second chance and getting the opportunity to try it again. With one round and one lap, you don't have a second chance. If you mess up or your car slips or something happens, you're done. The position we're in, back in points, if I mess up we're not gonna get a provisional and we're gonna end up going to the house. I don't agree with it. I don't know what the big deal is and why it's only one lap. Hey, for Loudon it's 24 seconds more per car -- big deal. It's not like it's a time factor."

KURT BUSCH --97-- Sharpie/Rubbermaid Ford Taurus -- "It's a bit of a dramatic change. Going to one day qualifying, I thought, was a proper thing to do based upon the time we spend at the track and to open up different practice sessions at different times, and just to have the whole weekend flow a bit smoother. To go to one lap qualifying, we experience that at Sonoma, and it bit us really hard. Now, I don't know if many people agree with it or not, but I seem to think it's gonna affect rookies in a different manner than it will veterans, and it's gonna affect teams that are lower in points than it will guys that are higher in points. You're gonna see more of a dramatic swing when it comes to one lap, one chance and that's all you've got to make the show. For us, we're hopefully gonna be in the top-25 fairly solidly so we won't have to worry about that situation, but you could have four to five veterans up front just that little bit in one lap, whereas they had two laps to make it up before. It's gonna hurt guys that are lower in the points." YOU SEEM TO BE AGGRESSIVE ALL THE TIME. WILL THIS HURT YOUR STYLE AND FORCE YOU TO BE MORE CONSERVATIVE? "Yeah, it's gonna change the approach for sure. You look at last weekend at Chicago. The first lap I made was a conservative-type lap. The second lap that I made I tried to pick it up a little bit and do something different and we got loose in one and two and I had to throw it away. That's an option I'm going to lose and it's gonna be more of a conservative-type lap just to make the show. At a track like Loudon, it's gonna be brand new for me in a Winston Cup car, but I've got some experience there. But a track like Indy and Kansas, I've never seen them before, so it's gonna change that a little bit and I really don't think it's the right thing to do."

ANDY HOUSTON --96-- McDonald's Ford Taurus -- "To be quite honest I don't really understand it. I understood it when we had two rounds of qualifying, but this is gonna be especially tough on the rookies. I mean, it's gonna make it even harder than the way it's already been with only one round of qualifying. I don't really understand why they're going to just one lap. That's gonna make it tougher yet and you're really gonna have to have your stuff together and get everything just right on that one lap."

Text provided by Greg Shea

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