Chevy Happy Hour Notes-Chicagoland

CHEVROLET/TEAM MONTE CARLO NOTES AND QUOTES
TROPICANA 400
CHICAGOLAND
JOLIET, ILL.
NO. 18 OF 36 EVENTS
NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES
SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2002

HAPPY HOUR NOTES

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (quickest in Happy
Hour practice):  IS THIS A BREAKTHROUGH FOR CHEVROLET ON INTERMEDIATE
TRACKS?  "No, Jimmie¹s run good on this track before.  You go to some tracks
and you just click.  And we tested here, spent a lot of time, put a lot of
effort into our test when we came here and that¹s how we¹re fast."

IS THIS A TWO-GROOVE RACE TRACK?  "Yeah, there¹s enough room to pass.  If
you have to pass a slower car on the high side you can do it.  You ain¹t
going to be able to race up there.  Everybody wants to be on the bottom."

 IMPROVEMENT FROM QUALIFYING:  "We were pretty good in qualifying, but we¹re
really good now.  Our car¹s really great for the race."

DO YOU LIKE THIS RACE TRACK?  "It¹s all right.  They¹re all about the same."


JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (26th in Happy Hour
practice):  "All in all, this track is still a fun track, a nice track and
we hope that that groove will move out a little bit, but I¹m not sure it
will happen this time or not."

ON SCUFFING TIRES:  "A lot of guys did scuff tires.  We¹re really just
working and focusing more on our setup and just trying to get the car as
fast as we could.  I went out on stickers a couple of times I didn¹t think
the stickers were too bad, so I pretty much stayed with the sticker tires."

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO BREAK THE WINLESS STREAK?  "I think we just need to get
a little bit of racing luck.  We¹ve really performed well, the team¹s done
an excellent job and the cars are fast.  We¹ve led laps, we just can¹t seem
to put all those pieces together and get us to the finish and have a shot at
winning.  If we can start to get the car to the end in the top five, I think
we¹ll have a shot at winning that thing. We just can¹t seem to do that.  We
have a cut tire or a broken rear gear.  We just have a lot of little things
that are happening to us and at the same time we¹re not having great luck."

TALK ABOUT JIMMIE JOHNSON¹S TEAM¹S FINES AND PENALTIES:  "They said at Dover
that they¹re going to possibly start doing things like that.  I think that
they do need to do things to get the teams¹ attentions and points certainly
are a good way to do that.  I guarantee you that got our attention.  It¹s
not the first time they¹ve ever done it, so it¹s not necessarily surprising.
It¹s effective."

USUALLY IT¹S DONE AFTER A CAR HAS RACED:  "It might have been more points
had it been something like that.  That was the one thing I think we thought
was the mostŠthat it wasn¹t something that was found after qualifying or
after the race.  I think there is a big difference between those two."

IS THERE A SECOND GROOVE HERE?  "There¹s no second groove."

SINGLE-FILE RACE AGAIN?  "Definitely.  It¹s all about getting a guy to make
a mistake.  It¹s all about just pushing the guy in the corner so that maybe
he¹ll slide up in the second groove so you can get underneath him. A lot of
it is entry into the corners.  I think you might be able to run side by side
middle-off, but the entries of the corners are just so temperamental here,
that there¹s just not really much of an outside groove there to really carry
speed in there and get to the outside of a guy.  Track position is going to
be extremely important."

DALE JR. IS RUNNING REAL GOOD:  "Yeah, he¹s fast."

HAS HE CONQUERED AERO PUSH ON INTERMEDIATE TRACKS?  "Just Œcause he¹s fast
doesn¹t mean he¹s conquered aero push.  He¹s fast, but I don¹t know if that
means he¹s going to be able to drive up and pass and blow by guys.  He¹s got
his car turning in the middle of the corner real, real well.  He starts out
real loose,which typically means that you¹re going to be good on the long
runs, but if you can hang onto it in the beginning it will certainly help
him, maybe, make some passes. I think you¹ll be able to pass; it¹s just
going to be real, real hard to do it."

DID YOU FIND ANYTHING?  "Just real soft front springs, real big rear springs
and getting that air dam nailed down to the ground.  That¹s the key."

WILL YOU BE ABLE TO DRIVE UP TO THE FRONT?  "Yeah, I think we¹re going to be
good.  In 400 miles I think we can drive up to the front.  I don¹t think
we¹re going to do it in 15 laps.  Just depends on how close these other
guys¹ setups are.  I think we¹re going to be pretty good.  I don¹t know how
good we are on new tires; some of these guys can go real, real fast.  When
the tires get a little bit older, our car seems to be pretty good."

IS THE WINLESS STREAK NOT A BIG ISSUE?  "It¹s a big issue because I want to
win.  Were in the thick of this championship and a win would do a lot for
us.  We probably don¹t make as big a deal out of it as you guys (media) do,
just because for us we are up there in the points, we are running well and
leading laps and doing all that we can do.  So, the wins, if we keep doing
that, should come, hopefully."