Chevrolet Notes & Quotes - J.Gordon & NHIS Qualfiying, July 19

TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
New England 300 Post Practice  nmwager@aol.com
Friday, July 19, 2002 GM Racing Communications
New Hampshire International Speedway (727) 784-8465
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Jeff Gordon, three-time winner at NHIS and driver of the No. 24 DuPont
Chevrolet Monte Carlo, talks with the media:

(On the track): "It's the same old racetrack, just a groove higher. I hope
it opens up some opportunities during the race, but it's hard for me to
evaluate it right now. It's still a really narrow groove. I appreciate the
effort that was put out to make a wider, side-by-side racing groove, but I
don't know if it's going to happen or not."

(Same old track is not too bad for you, a three-time winner here?) "Yeah, I
don't mind that part. We have run real well here before and the last time we
were here was pretty good. So I didn't want to see any changes, obviously,
with the way things were last time. We're just trying to get used to the new
groove here and figuring out whether or not you want to come across the
apron getting into the corner or if you just want to stay up on the banking.
Everybody is finding a different way to make it work right now."

(When you formulate those plans?) "Right now, we're just concentrating on
qualifying. So right now we're just going to make our adjustments based on
what the car was doing out there. I'm going to watch some cars when they go
to qualify. I didn't get a chance to watch many and I want to see what some
of the faster guys were doing out there and see if I can incorporate that
into my qualifying run. We'll start running all over the track tomorrow to
see where we want to run in the race."

(Is this a workable situation to take this track from single racing to
two-wide racing?) "It's hard for me to come up with an opinion right now but
if I had to come up with one, I would say that no, it's a great effort but
it's maybe better than what we had but not the best situation because now
you don't have as much grip. There is less banking on the bottom and when yo
u go in there, you're going to slide up into the outside groove. So if you
do get inside of a guy, basically you're going to make the pass by sliding
into him and pushing him up out of the groove. I think it's something worth
playing around with but I think it's going to take some time. It's a good
theory. It's great that they're trying. I just don't know if this is the
perfect solution yet."

(Would you like 10 degrees more banking?) "I'd like that a little bit
better, maybe. It's just that the transition is a little bit too much.
People don't realize how little banking transitions make a huge difference.
For us right now, when we drive in the corner and we come across that new
section that's less banking, it feels like it's off-camber. It feels like
there's absolutely zero banking. If we can find a way to get just tiny, tiny
transitions - maybe not that drastic - maybe those are the types of things
that might work. So we're
TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
New England 300 Post Practice  nmwager@aol.com
Friday, July 19, 2002 GM Racing Communications
New Hampshire International Speedway (727) 784-8465
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learning for this situation. This is the first time anyone has ever done
this. It's a great idea. We'll learn from it and see if we can't improve on
it."

(Have you had to throw every note out the window?) "No, because the banking
is the same in the groove. Where we're qualifying and where we're running
today is basically the same as what we had last year. It's just a lane
higher."

(In light of the tracks getting 65% of the TV money, should more tracks look
at doing something like this?) "If we go to a racetrack where we can't run
side-by-side and it's a one-groove racetrack, I think they should consider
trying to do something. I think what we need to do is go to some of these
paving companies and see if they can make a paving machine that does it in a
radius where there is no transition, it just arcs up. Kind of like these old
board tracks that they used to have. Those things started at one degree and
went up and got pretty steep at the top. I'm not saying we need 80 degree
banking or anything like that but, if we could go in there and not feel the
difference when we go up to the different grooves of pavement would be the
ultimate. If we could find a way to do it where its just small little steps,
it would be great.

"Some places just have it by accident. Michigan is one of those places where
it just happens to be by accident that it happened that way. I don't know
how they did it but the bottom is flatter than the top and you can hardly
tell it. But it's a shorter way around. You drive down in there and it's
still got pretty decent grip. If you know how to keep your momentum in the
middle in the high grooves, you'll go faster that way."

(What other tracks would benefit from this?) "Homestead. Here and Homestead
are the two number-one places where we have difficulty in passing and
getting a second groove."

(What doe this track need?) "I don't know the solution. If I did, I'd be a
track owner. I'm just trying to give my opinion based on the competitor's
standpoint. I really think I'd be better off evaluating it on Sunday after
the race."

(How important is track position here?) "It doesn't get any more important
than at a track like this. Track position is so critical and so important.
Even with this extra groove down on the bottom, it's extremely important to
have good track position. We all put every effort out on qualifying day."


TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
New England 300 Post Practice  nmwager@aol.com
Friday, July 19, 2002 GM Racing Communications
New Hampshire International Speedway (727) 784-8465
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(Would you care to comment on what Kevin Harvick had to say after his move
at last week's race at Chicagoland?) "No, probably not. Hey, he won the
race.  Don't take that away from him. A lot of guys do stuff out there that
we don't agree with or that I don't agree with. But I don't hold that
against him. Some guys are more aggressive than others. I'm sure there are
things that he would disagree with me on. I'm not trying to get in a battle
with Kevin. People ask me a question, I'm going to answer the question. Then
they take it back to Kevin and start something up. It's not about that."

(Are there places where making a move like that isn't such a big deal?) "I
just think it's not so much Kevin's fault as it is NASCAR's for letting us
go down there. That's a really dangerous place to be passing. If a guy has
enough guts to go down there or he takes out half the field, who's fault is
it?  (Is it) the guy that took it down there or NASCAR for letting him go
down there when we already asked about it at the drivers' meeting. They need
to decide where they're going to have out-of-bounds and where they're not
going to have out-of-bounds at some of these tracks."

(Should this be something at every track?) "That part of the track is built
to give room for cars that are slow or cars that just want to ride around
the apron during practice and stay out of the racing groove. To me, it's not
an area where you'd want to pass on or where you should pass on. I've been
down there before and I just about lost it myself. When I saw Kevin go down
there and that thing go sideways, and you're looking at the back bumper or
the door and he's completely sideways and you don't know if he's going to
spin out and you've got cars all the way around you, it's not a comforting
feeling. If they give that option for a guy to go down there, some are going
to do it and somebody's going to wreck and somebody's going to take a lot of
guys out."

(Would you go down there?) "I've been down there. I saw how dirty it was the
other day. If it's for the win, that's one thing. But when it's just trying
to pass lapped cars, I'd try to stay away from going down there - put it
that way. I saw some other guys trying to do down there. At that racetrack
(Chicago), I don't think it's a good idea to go down there.

(When people say that Jeff Gordon has done that before) "I did it at
Daytona, on a flat, but it didn't make the car go completely sideways.  That
was for the win.  I think that guys do certain things for the win -
especially if it's the Daytona 500. I don't knock a guy for trying something
like that. Have I ever taken anybody out for doing that?  Not that I
remember."

TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
New England 300 Qualifying   nmwager@aol.com
Friday, July 19, 2002 GM Racing Communications
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Joe Nemechek, No. 25 UAW/Delphi Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "This UAW/Delphi
Chevy has been running really good in practice. We thought we had a shot at
a top-ten in qualifying. I just don't know where all the speed is. The sun
has come out a little bit. It's a different racetrack than we've ever run on
before and it's very difficult to get in the corners right and I thought I
had a pretty decent lap. But it's not very good."

Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "I about spun out on the
straightaway coming off (turn) two. I carried so much speed through there it
just didn't stick. When I got up on the straightaway the thing just jumped
out from underneath me. And I let off on the second lap. I let off to save
it, which I had to do. I know it was so close. I did a decent job. It was
too much speed for the conditions. The track sits for a while and some of
the grips gets out of it, it seems. I'm real pleased with the job Slugger
and all the boys did. But we want to get a pole pretty bad. We've been
nipping at it. We've probably got one of the best average starting positions
in the sport this year without a pole. We just keep at it and we'll get
one."

Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "The car was a
little nervous getting into the corners and stuff. This ain't one of our
favorite tracks or one of our better tracks. I'd like to have a better
starting spot."

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "I was just going for it
in the first lap. I drove down in (turn) three and everything felt pretty
good and I just got a little loose right in the middle of (turns) three and
four. It messed up the first lap quite a bit and probably hurt the second
one a little bit too. I didn't have as much momentum coming to the line as I
needed to. The guys did a great job on this DuPont Chevrolet. It was fast.
We had a good lap there and we'll take what we can get. I know it won't be
in the top five, but hopefully it'll be in the top ten. We'll be happy with
that."

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Service Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "It was a
pretty good lap. We struggled a little bit in qualifying trim in practice.
We concentrated on race trim the first half and got a little bit behind. We
changed everything underneath this GM Goodwrench car before qualifying and
we were a lot better than we were in practice. We ran the same speed, which
was good. That should get us close to the top twenty and we should be good
to go from there."



TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
New England 300 Post Practice  nmwager@aol.com
Friday, July 19, 2002 GM Racing Communications
New Hampshire International Speedway (727) 784-8465
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Mike Skinner, No. 4 Kodak Max Chevrolet Monte Carlo (qualified 2nd): "We
pretty much backed up what we run before. It's kind of like you don't mind
when you miss a putt by a foot, but when you miss one that close it kind of
makes you mad a little bit. The guys did a great job tuning old yellow up.
We've had some tough months. I think some good times are ahead of us.

"This Kodak car was pretty good right off the truck. We struggled a little
bit during practice. It's been pretty loose getting in the corner. From the
center off, it was pretty good. On cold tires, the car was really loose on
entry and on exit. I felt like if we could come to the flat pretty good, we
could get a pretty good lap. I watched the weather change a little bit. And
in the middle of qualifying, started questioning our car a little bit. Maybe
it would have been better to go out first. But then the weather started
getting better. I feel like that had a little to do with it.

"Our car drove really good last week. We really struggled. We haven't had a
lot of good finishes. But our car has been a little bit better than it has
been finishing. We had a really good car at Daytona but got took out. But
we've got a good car here for this weekend, and hopefully it'll race half as
good as it qualified.

"I think in Winston Cup nowadays, it takes a little bit of everything (to do
well). They (crew) did a really good job tuning up the motor. I don't think
the racetrack was as quite as fast as it was this morning in practice. We
backed up our lap. Chris Carrier and the guys did a really good job and we
had a good set of Goodyear tires on there and I think it's just a bit of
everything. The motor ran good. They usually tune it up and are really
aggressive with the valve train for qualifying. I always beg to go ahead and
race that stuff, but they'll be unbolting it. They'll slow it down a little
bit for racing.

"I think they've done a good job of making this place a better place to
race. It's gotten a few rough breaks in the past couple of years and I don't
think they're deserved. But it's a good racetrack. Actually, I watched the
(Craftsman) Truck practice and the fast trucks. I watched (Kevin) Harvick
and some of the other guys that were out there. I saw that they were pretty
much running the line that we ran before they put that bottom groove in
there. And I thought maybe the best thing for us to do was to try to run
where we ran in the past. I thought maybe we could use that very bottom lane
during the race."




TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
New England 300 Post Practice  nmwager@aol.com
Friday, July 19, 2002 GM Racing Communications
New Hampshire International Speedway (727) 784-8465
Page 9

Robby Gordon, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "We're fairly
pleased. We ran about the same time we did in practice and that was our goal
to run a little faster or come back and repeat. Last time we started 31st
and came back to win the race."

Bobby Hamilton, No. 55 Square D Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "We were pretty happy
with that. We unloaded and we had a couple of problems and lost almost a
full hour of practice. We had a shot at the pole today but we didn't get it.
The guys worked real hard today. This is the car that we run so good with at
Martinsville, and we don't run it nowhere but Martinsville. I decided to
bring it here and it seems like it's paying off."

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "It was a good lap. We
thought we had a shot at the pole but I think my inexperience cost me. There
was really nothing for me from practice to qualifying to remember for
reference points getting in the turns and I made some mistakes on both my
laps getting into the corner. It was a lot of easier in practice when I was
out there time after time and had it memorized. But sitting for a couple of
hours and then going back out there, I just made some mistakes going into
the turns.