NASCAR WCUP: Ken Schrader Interview: Improving in 2001

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

September 2, 2001

KEN SCHRADER, NO. 36 M&M'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON RUNNING BETTER THIS YEAR) "As far as our finishes go, we've gone downhill. We got in a slump. But we've had finishes that didn't show how good the run was - which, at the end of the day when they pay you and award you points, don't make no damn difference. But as far as myself and the guys on the team, it makes a huge difference. You come out of Bristol 22nd, but everybody knows we weren't 22nd. Last year we had a lot of races where we wound up 18th and were a strong 28th place car. Attrition was our friend and we wound up 18th. You go home and it's like, 'Oh boy.' When you go home 22nd, but you know you really weren't, it's a little better feeling."

(ON TRYING TO IMPROVE THE TEAM'S PIT STOPS) "Pit stops can obviously hurt or kill anyone's day. We've had three runs that I can think of right off the bat where pit road wasn't real friendly to us. Our pit crew - and I hate saying anything about the pit crew because I don't even know how to do that job and I know it's hard - but, our pit crew has been 95 percent right and solid, but those couple of mistakes were costly ones for us. But we don't have a pit crew where you need to bring everyone in and start moving everybody around and replacing them because they're good and they're solid and they're 95 percent there."

(HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH A PIT ROAD MISTAKE DURING THE RACE?) "I don't say too much about it on the radio because when I run into the damn wall, I don't hear a lot of stuff from them. It isn't like mistakes happen every week, you know? If I ran into the wall every week I know that I would hear about it. If they screwed up every week I would say something about it. But, they don't."

Text provided by Al Larsen

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