NASCAR WCUP: This Week in Ford Racing

NASCAR Winston Cup Series
 
The NASCAR Winston Cup Series returns to North Carolina Speedway for the 
second time in 2001 with the running of this weekend's Pop Secret Microwave 
Popcorn 300.  Ford drivers spoke about returning to "The Rock" and why the 
track in the North Carolina sandhills is such a unique place.

JEFF BURTON --99-- Citgo SUPERGARD Taurus -- "Rockingham is one of the more 
fun race tracks we go to because it's a shorter track but it has a lot of 
banking.  The grip goes away really quick with the tires and the rubber just 
gets peeled off the tires, but it's a fun race track because you can run from 
the wall to the white line.  It makes for really exciting racing because 
everybody is running in different positions, so I think it's one of the best 
race tracks we go to."  

IT'S SLIPPERY TOO.  "Yeah, it really is.  On new tires you feel like King 
Kong, you can do anything, but once you get about 15 laps on 'em they start 
to go away, and then you get 60 laps on 'em and you're just kind of hanging 
on.  The guys that can run well early in the run and still run well late in 
the run, they're the ones that will be hard to beat."  

CAN YOU GET A PERFECT RACE CAR THERE?  "You can, but it's hard.  Rockingham 
is the kind of place where if you can get a car that's really, really good, 
it's going to be a big plus because there won't be many people that are good. 
 On race tracks that are extremely slippery and that are demanding on tire 
wear, if you're pretty good that's almost perfect.  You can really put a 
hurting on other people because it's so hard to get hooked up."
 
BRETT BODINE --11-- Ralphs Supermarkets Taurus -- "Rockingham offers multiple 
grooves and that's what makes that place so much fun.  You can run anywhere 
on that race track and make your car work, whether that's up along the wall, 
at the bottom or in the middle.  That's what's fun about Rockingham and I 
think that's what makes it such a tremendous track for the fans.  There's not 
single-file racing by any means.  It's spread out and you can run anywhere 
you want to run."  

WHAT ABOUT TIRES AND GRIP?  "That's why we end up all over the place because 
we're looking for the spot that our car works the best.  You're always 
looking for more grip and it changes.  That's what's pretty unique about 
Rockingham.  We'll start off around the bottom and then work to the top and 
then sometimes the bottom will get better again.  It's really a lot of fun 
because you can be creative as a driver and find a spot that works the best." 
 

IS THIS A TRACK WHERE THE DRIVER HAS SOME SAY?  "I feel like at Rockingham I 
can make a difference.  I can pick the line I want to run or searching to 
find a line that the car wants to run and work that to your best advantage.  
Now that it's a 400-mile race at Rockingham, you've got to go hard all the 
time.  You can't just hang around.  You've got to run hard all the time 
because usually somebody gets hooked up really good in the front and it's not 
hard to find yourself slipping and falling in the clutches of being a lap 
down."  

THE SERIES HAS BEEN TO A COUPLE OF NEW TRACKS SINCE ITS LAST VISIT TO 
ROCKINGHAM, SO IS IT NICE TO GO BACK TO A PLACE THAT IS SO FAMILIAR?  
"Rockingham is one of the old stand-bys and one of the regular stops on the 
circuit.  It's close to home.  You don't have to take a big, long trip to get 
there.  It's just one of those places that I think most drivers look forward 
to going to because it is a lot of fun to race at Rockingham."

RICK MAST --90-- Donlavey Racing Taurus --  "Rockingham is a fun race track 
for me because I always seem to run good there.  I used to hear from some 
guys that they absolutely hated it, but I don't hear that as much anymore 
because I think a lot of these guys detest the new tracks we go to -- the 
cookie-cutter tracks where you really can't race side-by-side.  The good part 
about Rockingham is that once the race starts and you run about five laps, 
all of the good grip has gone off the tires and you really start slipping and 
sliding.  That's when you can start running from the very bottom of the white 
line in the turns all the way up to the wall on both ends.  After you're 20 
laps into the race, you've got like five grooves of race track all the way 
through each corner.  That's what makes racing fun, when you can search all 
over the race track and try to find different lines to make your car handle a 
little bit differently.  When you need to race somebody, you can run the top 
side or the low side, whereas at some of these cookie-cutter tracks, you've 
got one little groove you've got to run in and if you try to pass somebody, 
you just can't do it.  That's why, to me, Rockingham is so enjoyable."  

IS THIS A TRACK WHERE THE DRIVER MAKES A DIFFERENCE?  "Yeah, you can because 
you're always searching for a line.  I do it for 400 miles.  I search every 
lap.  If you watch me, sometimes you'll see me running against the wall in 
one and two and be on the white line in three and four, or vice versa.  The 
tires can sometimes make the car act differently, but at Rockingham you can 
move around on the race track and find a spot where that set of tires might 
work better.  You do that for 400 miles -- from the time it starts until the 
very end -- you're always searching.  That's what makes it fun.  At other 
tracks you're sometimes hemmed into where you can run -- you can run only one 
groove and that's all you can do."  

IS THERE A COMFORT LEVEL AT ROCKINGHAM COMPARED TO OTHER TRACKS?  "I don't 
look at it that way going in because when I get in the car and I'm racing 
it's old hat to me -- you kind of know what you've got to do there and what 
you've got to do to be successful there.  I've lost an awful lot of races at 
Rockingham that we coulda or shoulda won.  There are probably four or five 
races that we had legitimate shots at winning over the years, but it didn't 
happen.  I ran second to Earnhardt there once, the year he won his last 
championship.  I had one race that I was leading and felt like it was in the 
bag and then I broke a timing chain.  I had another race there that I felt 
was in the bag, I was leading and broke a valve.  That stuff happens, but I 
still enjoy going there and I'm looking forward to giving it one more shot."