FW: Team Monte Carlo Adv. - Atlanta (Childress & Hamlin)

TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
NASCAR Teleconference
MBNA America 500 Advance Material GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, March 05, 2002 nmwager@aol.com


This week's NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference featured Richard Childress
Racing (RCR) owner, Richard Childress, and Kevin Hamlin, crew chief for the
No. 29 GM Goodwrench Service Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Kevin Harvick.

Harvick is the defending race winner for this weekend's MBNA America 500 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), which also marked his first Winston Cup career
victory (Cracker Barrel 500 3/11/01).  Hayrick's .006-second margin of
victory over four time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon was the closest win
of any race since July 1993 at Talladega.  Jerry Nadeau crossed the stripe
in third to give Chevrolet the top three spots on the podium.  Harvick
returned in the fall to capture a third place finishing position in the NAPA
500.

In addition to Harvick, the RCR stable of drivers features the No. 30
Chevrolet driven by Jeff Green and the No. 31 Monte Carlo driven by Robby
Gordon.

Chevrolet, the most successful manufacturer in NASCAR Winston Cup racing,
has scored 26 Modern Era victories at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  Ford has 15,
Pontiac has six, and Dodge has four.

The following are highlights of the Media Q&A's with Richard Childress and
Kevin Hamlin:

Comments by Richard Childress:
(With 72 wins as a NASCAR Team owner and a trio of young drivers housed this
year at RCR, what has been your approach this season?) "We're basically
trying to have one team with three drivers. So far, the unity is good. The
drivers have worked real well together.  The crew chiefs are going to all be
in once office together. We're building a bigger facility to house all three
teams in one building. We're excited about it."

(What does it take to be successful as a multi-team owner these days?) "The
biggest thing is the people. You've got to have great race drivers and good
people behind you.  You've got to have everyone dedicated for the cause.
Communication is a huge thing that we've learned about over the past few
years as a two-car team with our Busch cars. With the way they worked
together, it told us it would work great (on the Winston Cup side)."

(Do you think Robby Gordon has a different approach now than he has in the
past?) "He's got a totally different approach. He's dedicated to doing stock
car racing and is still going to try to do some other forms of racing.
We've got a lot of confidence in him. The team has confidence in him. The
other drivers feel comfortable working with him."

(What kind of advice have you given him?) "We don't have the time it would
take (to answer the question). When I went to Indy last year and did the
deal with AJ (Foyt), I watched a different Robby Gordon than I saw five
years ago and even when he was here with the other teams.  I watched how he
and AJ worked with each other and they have a lot of respect for each other.
I've seen how he handles the media and the race fans and I think he's going
to be great for Winston Cup racing. He's been competitive this year. We've
had a couple of little problems, but we're going to have that. He's running
at a different level than he's ever ran at in Winston Cup before."

(When you were a driver, do you wish you had a guy like Richard Childress to
come along to guide you?) "Yeah, if I would have had somebody to sit me down
and tell me what would happen and what could happen, and also the things
that I would have needed to do to be successful, I would probably have had a
totally different approach to my driving."

(Would that have delayed your entry into team ownership?) "It could have if
I would have had a ride. But basically, I drove for myself the whole time. I
could see the writing on the wall with all those new owners coming in, I
knew it was time for me to move on if I didn't get one of those rides."

(On the number of crashes Robby Gordon has had) "I think Robby knows his
mistakes.  For example, at the end of the day at Rockingham, we were running
seventh. We discussed what we could do there. Robby is a bright young man
and he knows when he makes a mistake or when he should wait. He's at a
different level in Winston Cup. He's a bright enough young man that he will
be able to adjust to where we having him running this year."

(On the multiple personalities of the three drivers) "If we're winning
races, I can handle the personalities.  They're dedicated to winning.  When
you've got drivers like Green and Harvick and Gordon that are that
dedicated, they have to have a personality. You can't just take a nice guy
and a guy that's happy-go-lucky and win races every day with him."

(Is the one-engine rule having any affect on the teams at RCR?) "I think
we're kind of limiting ourselves to a little less practice than what we
normally would practice if we had a practice we could run. NASCAR's done a
great thing. I think it's going to save money for the car owners and
sponsors and everybody at the end of the day. But we need to have a practice
engine.  (As I see it), you'd qualify with your race engine and you pull it
out and put it back in on Saturday evening or Sunday morning.  If we had a
practice engine, we would have run it at Rockingham and Las Vegas and then
at Atlanta, we would have torn it down and build it back again.  With
qualifying engines, we'd run them 25 miles at Rockingham for instance, and
you'd have to come back and throw have the engine away. A practice engine
would be a tremendous savings for car owners."

(With your young drivers, is having more practice time important to you?)
"It would be better to be able to run a lot of long runs and to know exactly
the direction your car is going. It's hard to go out there and make two
50-lap runs plus at each Happy Hour plus qualifying and practice.  First
thing you know you've got 200 miles on it. We try to only put 100 miles on a
race motor - maximum."

(On Kevin Harvick for 2002) "Everything is great with Kevin Harvick. We had
great Daytona 500 other than the crash, and I feel that was out of his
control. At Rockingham, we were a little too loose at qualifying and got
behind early in the race.  Once we got in a (better) position, we had a
second or third-place car all day. It was similar situation out at Las Vegas
(last weekend). We pitted and two laps later the caution came out. It's very
competitive right now.  It's tough - especially with the Chevrolet."

Comments by Kevin Hamlin:
(Do you think NASCAR should establish a consistent rule for the red or
yellow flag in the late laps?) "We try to base some of our decisions on
NASCAR being consistent.  Going back to Rockingham, I don't know why they
weren't consistent then. They didn't think they had enough time to get the
race organized to finish the way they wanted to finish. It would be great if
they'd put something in black and white so we actually knew what would
happen if there were a 10 or 20 or 25 restart. It would make the crew
chief's job a lot easier when deciding whether to pit or not pit."

(Short of going to a common template, is there a way to stop all the griping
and complaining about which manufacturers get rules changes?) "Over the last
few years it's definitely changed.  Everybody looks to their manufacturer to
get things taken care of for them.  The smarter we get, the harder it is for
NASCAR to make the rules even.  Aerodynamics is a big part of this sport
now. In the early '90's it wasn't as big an issue is it is now.  Everybody
knows it and the public knows it. There are a lot of little things that they
check on our cars that the public doesn't see or understand. Maybe they say
they'll give the Chevrolets two and a half inches of  kickout and the Dodges
get an inch, but they don't understand what that inch means from where
they're measuring it and total length and all.  Some of those numbers are
deceiving to the public.

"To have somewhat of a common template might make the job easier for NASCAR.
It's a tough job that they have right now in trying to balance this thing
out every time somebody seems to think the scales are unbalanced. Last year,
everything seemed like it was pretty good and the Dodges had a brand new car
that they were working with, and they gave them something on the nose that
really picked it up and made it good.  Well then, Ford thought they wanted
that and now Chevrolet thinks they need to balance that back out a little
bit to make things more even."

(On the new safety measures for 2002?) "Everybody is always concerned about
safety, but obviously after last February (Earnhardt's accident) it made
everybody more aware. Every time something unfortunate happens, it would be
stupid on our part not to learn and try to make things better. And that will
be an ongoing thing - just like it is with the racecar.  If you can't take
what you learn to the next level, you're probably not doing your job."

(What has the sport gained on the use of the black boxes?) "That's an
ongoing information gathering thing.  If we had had it last year with some
of the accidents, we would have more data right now to look at. Now, after
some of the crashes we had at Daytona, they can try to review and make sense
of everything that happened. They can try to make decisions on what they
need to do to make these things to where they could hit the wall and still
absorb the impact and make it safer for the drivers."

(Do you believe in disadvantages and if so, were the Chevrolets at a
disadvantage at Las Vegas?) "I hate when people whine about the rules. But
as far as the race, sometimes we miss the set-up a little bit and it's even
harder for NASCAR to make a decision on what's right or what's wrong. The
No. 31 (Robby Gordon) ran pretty good at the beginning of the race and they
got their front fender tore up. The No. 48 car (Jimmie Johnson) ran pretty
good.  They were pretty much the best running Chevrolets.

"But now with track position as important as it is, and the way aerodynamics
play into today's racing, maybe the whole aerodynamic thing needs to be
reevaluated for everybody - not just one make - to try to make the race
better.  But I do feel that Chevrolet is at a big of a disadvantage
aerodynamically right now."

(Would a new nose be something that could help you short-term rather than
having a complete re-design of the vehicle?) "Without actually putting that
thing on the car and going to the track and trying to run it and evaluate is
hard to say.  Going to the wind tunnel doesn't always tell you the true
story.  You almost have to put that thing in traffic and be around other
cars to tell what's really happening.  There is a possibility that it could
help balance things out, yes."

(On protecting the pit crew during close calls on pit stops) "It's always
been that way.  We've taking steps to try to protect these guys with
helmets.  Hopefully that's going to help with head injuries.  Pit road
speeds have made it a lot safer. It's always been real close on pit road and
always will be. The drivers do their best to miss these guys. Some of the
racetracks where the pit stalls are a little bit smaller and pit road is a
bit narrower, it just becomes another hazard."

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