Dale Jr. in top Chevy in Richmond qualifying-second

TEAM MONTE CARLO NOTES AND QUOTES
PONTIAC EXCITEMENT 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
2002 NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2002

POST-QUALIFYING

THREE MONTE CARLOS IN TOP FIVE: EARNHARDT JR., J. GORDON, PARK

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (second):  "It
changes because they reseal the track every time we come here.  It¹s a good
thing; it really adds a lot of grip.  It allows for the second groove;
that¹s the only reason we¹re able to run two grooves here in a Cup race.
It¹s a little different every time you come here and you just have to be
ready to adjust the car."  ON THAT LAP:  "It really drives about like it
always has for me.  We have a real conservative setup.  It seems to really
be in the ballpark every time we come here."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (fourth):  "The track was
so awesome fast in practice.  We were running some extremely fast laps.  The
DuPont Chevrolet felt good.  I just couldn¹t get after the throttle as hard
as I wanted to and I heard a lot of guys saying the same thing.  The track¹s
lost a little bit of something and we¹re just out there getting as much as
we can.  That¹s a pretty good run for us; we¹re pretty happy with that.
Ward (Burton, polesitter) made a good lap."

STEVE PARK, NO. 1 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (fifth):  "This whole
Pennzoil team.  They gave me a great race car and the first few guys that
went out were complaining about lack of grip in the track; we made a
last-minute air pressure adjustment. A lot of guys just slowed down, I think
the Busch cars made the track kind of lose a little grip."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE¹S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (26th):  "I¹m very
happy, also very tired.  Theres a lot that goes with winning a Winston Cup
race these days.  There¹s been media, friends and family, phone calls,
trying to get my normal life back together. There¹s a lot of things you
wouldn¹t think you¹d have to do, but I do.  But that lap was OK.  This track
seems like it¹s changed a lot."  ON YOUR SEASON:  "It looks pretty cool on
paper; it hasn¹t hit my head yet and I don¹t want it to.  Just want to keep
chasing these guys down the racetrack every week."  TIMES ARE DOWN: "The
times are a little bit off practice; I¹m not sure exactly why.  I guess
we¹ll find out. One of the bad things about going out so early, you don¹t
know if (your time) it¹s good or bad, and you have to sit around and wait.
But these guys have done an awesome job with his Lowe¹s Monte Carlo."

MIKE SKINNER, NO. 4 KODAK CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (19th):  "The first lap we
knew it was just going to slip and slide and for some reason the race track
has lost a lot of speed right now.  It will probably get it back later on in
qualifying, hopefully not.  We knew the first lap wasn¹t really good.  We
really had a great 1 and 2 on the second lap and really got in this corner
(4) good, the car turned good, got back on the gas good, everything was all
good until it got right up to the exit, the backend just broke loose.  We
had to let completely off the gas.  I know that cost us a tenth or two, but
we¹ll just have to race them from there, wherever we end up." ON THE NEW
SEALER:  "I love this place; the sealer is always going to be an issue here.
They¹re going to run that race tonight; it¹ll knock the sealer off the
bottom; we¹ll start getting a second groove about 30-40 laps into the race
tomorrow night."

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (27th):  "The track has
slowed down a little bit.  A .45 isn¹t good, but a .35 would be acceptable.
That¹s a tenth of a second so I refuse to hang myself over a tenth of a
second.  We¹ll just get ready to race."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (34th): "We¹ve been
running really good on these Southern short tracks; qualified outside front
row in Bristol; qualified ninth in Martinsville and then back as far as we
are (20th out of 26 at that point) is not good.  I expected a lot more; I
know the team did too.  These guys are working really hard.  You know, we
had to fight from the back last week in California, it looks like we¹ll have
to do the same here."


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