Hendrick first Silverado in Silverado 350 qualifying

SILVERADO RACING NOTES AND QUOTES
SILVERADO 350
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES -- ROUND 21 OF 24
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FT. WORTH, TEXAS
THURSDAY, OCT. 4, 2001

RICKY HENDRICK THIRD IN SILVERADO 350 QUALIFYING; FIRST SILVERADO

RICKY HENDRICK, NO. 17 GMAC SILVERADO (third):  "It¹s not bad when you have
to compete against something that has 30 pounds less drag than yours (the
Dodges).  For us to come out and be the top Chevrolet, that¹s cool, that¹s
really neat.  I¹m happy for Chevrolet and GMAC.  We¹ve got happy hour and
hopefully we¹ll pick up some more.  That¹s all we got.  When you¹re wide
open like at Talladega and you got your brakes pushed back -- if that¹s all
you got, that¹s all you got.  I guess we would have been better off if we
had our Daytona truck here." HOW DO YOU LIKE THE TRACK?  "It¹s great.  It¹s
a lot like Kansas and we had a good time at Kansas.  But the Dodges weren¹t
this good at Kansas.  I believe we¹ll be racing (Scott) Riggs (polesitter)
and (Ted) Musgrave (second) all night long tomorrow night."

TRAVIS KVAPIL, NO. 60 CAT RENTAL STORES SILVERADO (seventh):  "That was the
best we ran all day.  We picked up four tenths from what we ran in practice.
We were really happy with it.  After practice we knew  we had to go to work.
We changed a bunch of front-end geometry on the Silverado.  And I think
we're about 90 percent there. We know we went in the right direction so we
are just going to keep going with it and hopefully we will have a good truck
in the race."  ON THE TRACK:  "The track is great.  It's really smooth.
There's not a bump out there.  It's got a lot of grip. I think it 's going
to be good for some easy two-wide races."

JACK SPRAGUE, NO. 24 NETZERO SILVERADO (ninth):  WHY ARE THE CHEVYS
STRUGGLING HERE?  "I don¹t have any idea.  We¹re wide open.  That¹s all
there is.  I don¹t know."  I like it fine, but I have to find some speed.
I¹m struggling."  BEING ON TOP IN THE STANDINGS WITH FOUR RACES TO GO, IS
THIS COMFORTABLE OR STRESSFUL:  "It's not that stressful to me.  We won this
thing (championship) twice.  If we don't win it it's not the end of the
world.  That's not to say that we're not trying.  The trouble that we've had
is unbelievable that we're even in this situation.  We've lost at least six
races we should have won, from blowing motors or dragging oil lines off or
whatnot.  We kind of put ourselves here.  In one sense it was uncontrollable
but we put ourselves here with the trouble we had.  We couldn't control it
or it was just due to the rules change and we got blindsided by something we
never even took into consideration.  To be in this situation with the
trouble we had is certainly a year you could write a book about.  If we win
it, great.  It's certainly been a hard-fought one.  If we don't we still had
a great year."

BILLY BIGLEY, NO. 75 SPEARS MANUFACTURING SILVERADO (10th):  "It was about
as perfect as we have ever had a Silverado.   I run wide open for two laps
and it was right on the bottom of the race track, nice and free.  It didn't
do anything irregular.  We made three or four little changes right before
qualifying.  They woke it up.  It just made a huge difference.   this track
is like -- I don't know, I don't want to jinx myself -- but it's like
ultra-smooth.  It's perfect.  You can't ask for any nicer race track.  I
know once the second groove gets worn in, there will be two-by-two racing
around here."

LANCE NORICK, N0. 90 AVENTIS BEHRING CHOICE SILVERADO (11th):  "We went out
second.  I think our Silverado is going to be a lot better than is showing
on the board.    The guys worked their butts off.  The Chevrolets are a
little down here on the board, but I think we will have an awesome race
truck.  I think it would have been nicer if we could have gone out about now
(6:45 p.m.); it's about 15 degrees cooler.  We ran what we did in practice,
a little bit quicker.  That's about all we can expect for going out second."
ON THIS TRACK;  "The track is awesome.  The new surface is really smooth,
it has a lot of grip.  It's going to be a good race track.  It's going to be
a good, exciting race tomorrow, I'm sure."  HOW MANY GROOVES?  "Right now
there's one.  But I'm sure the second groove will come in.  This place has
so much grip right now that I'm sure the second groove has a lot of grip too
it;'s just a matter of getting up there and getting it cleaned off."

DENNIS SETZER, NO. 46 ACXIOM/COMPUTER ASSOCIATES SILVERADO:  "Our Silverado
is handling good.  It just seems like we're lacking a little something.  We
don't know exactly what.  We're still searching for something on the Acxiom
Chevrolet.  It looks like the Dodges have a little advantage here.  I don't
know what the deal is.  I don't know if it's aero or engine.  I think maybe
they had an advantage all along, it just showed up at different times.
Maybe it really shows up on a track like this that's so good.  It's a wide
open track, no lifting anywhere for anyone.  So maybe it shows up when those
guys have so much power."

MATT CRAFTON, NO. 88 XESIGHTING SYSTEM SILVERADO (20th):  "We're not happy
with it.  We have been real loose.  It's been a pile of junk all week.  We
got loose in qualifying on the second lap.  I had to completely lift and
that wasn't good. The track has a lot of grip.  Well see how it is in the
race.  We'll see if it has two grooves more than they had last time we raced
here."

COY GIBBS, NO. 20 MBNA SILVERADO (27th):  "We broke the motor in the middle
of 3 and 4.  We are struggling.  We'll put our backup (motor) in and
hopefully get 10-15 laps in happy hour.  I feel pretty good about it.  We
ended up ninth in first practice.  We wouldn't have been on the pole, but we
would have had a good run at it.  We're looking forward to next year
already."

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