Waltrip Second and Highest Chevy Qualifier at The Glen

CHEVROLET/TEAM MONTE CARLO NOTES AND QUOTES
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO @ THE GLEN
NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2002

POST-QUALIFYING

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (seventh): "I
didn¹t overdrive the car at all. We were nervous about not qualifying up in
the top five because track position is worth so much and I should have
pushed a little harder. Mikey (Waltrip) did a good job and he knocked us off
the pole, but qualifying and racing are two different things. We came here
focused, we had a good run. We were a little conservative in qualifying and
I knew I was conservative half-way through the lap. Since I was conservative
first couple of corners I figured I¹d stay conservative all the way through,
and not put a wheel wrong. We lost about six 10ths from what we ran in
practice, and it was 72.1. It will be a good starting position and we¹ll
race good."

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA PARTS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (second): IT LOOKS
LIKE YOU PICKED IT UP THROUGH 10 AND 11: "I did? I go into a fog when I
leave for the track here; I forget everything that I¹m supposed to know or I
think I¹m supposed to know and then I get done and they tell me what I run
and I try to regroup and think about it. It¹s nerve-wracking a little bit. I
almost spun out in the esses. I think I¹d had a great lap if I hadn¹t done
that. I kind of got a little bit up on the curb and the thing just snapped
on me and I had to back off. That hurt my overall lap; that¹s probably why I
was behind in 10 and 11. Just had a really good-handling Napa Parts Chevy
all day, and I¹m really proud of all the boys that worked so hard on this
Chevy." ON ROAD-RACING ACE RON FELLOWS HELPING YOU: "I¹d run a 72.09 in
practice. I thought it was better than that. I made a big mistake in the
esses and got sideways and had to back off the gas and then Ron Fellows has
been with us this weekend and just giving some points and pointers here and
there and Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) and all the boys that worked hard on
the Napa ChevyŠwe tested here, we learned a lot, so I¹m not surprised at all
with my .92. I¹m just disappointed about the esses; I think I could have run
quicker than that." HOW DID FELLOWS HELP YOU? "He just emphasized some
things that I already believed, which was cool. I felt like I knew what I
needed to do to be fast here. Most of it at Watkins Glen is momentum, Œcause
there¹s a lot of grip here. You can really lay on the gas and you just
really need to make sure you don¹t ever wait on the gas. It¹s like an oval
almost, where if you go into the corner too deep and you wait on the gas in
the center then you¹re wasting time. It¹s better to roll of it a little bit
early so you can get back after the gas hard. That, and he reassured me that
from what he could see when we tested here what I was doing and the boys
were doing (were) the right things with the car. It just was a lot of
reaffirmation that we were on the right track, nothing we really had to red
or undo."

RON FELLOWS: YOU¹RE NOT DRIVING HERE:  "The last bit of sponsorship just
didn¹t come through. It¹s frustrating, for sure. It¹s painful to be here
watching. Maybe some good will happen from this. You have to remain
optimistic. I know I would have quit a long time ago otherwise." HOW DID YOU
HELP MICHAEL WALTRIP? "I¹m flattered that he thinks so. He can drive this
place plenty good enough on his own. We just had some conversation how to
carry momentum, the kind of things that I do driving that he might be able
to apply. He needs to trust his instincts on setup, and he¹s bang on from
what I could see at the test and what he was telling Slugger. And they were
both going in the right direction, and it¹s paid off. I felt all along,
based on what they had this morning, that they had a really good car to race
on Sunday and anything they got in qualifying would be a bonus."

STEVE PARK, NO. 1 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (36th): YOU SPENT SOME TIME
TODAY CHASING YOUR REAR END: "Little bit, only 15 times a lap. The Pennzoil
car is just a little bit too loose. You heard guys complaining that the
track got looser and we were loose at the end of practice. So we did a
little adjustment, tightened the car up. We just didn¹t go far enough.
People are slowing down from their practice times, but there are some guys
that are going faster and we¹re unfortunately one of those people that
slowed down. I wouldn¹t say it¹s unfortunate, but the Pennzoil car is not
running real bad, it¹s just a little bit loose. And with the heat and the
track conditions it got looser, and it¹s just hard to qualify that way."

JEFF GREEN, NO. 30 AOL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (16th): "The track¹s heating
up. Qualifying is two hours later than we practiced. We tried to do the
things we needed to do to make it a little bit tighter; we just didn¹t go
far enough. The AOL Chevy is pretty good; everybody¹s calling me a
road-racing expert since Sears Point. I just got a good car and these guys
are taking care of me pretty good and that was a pretty good lap for us."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (21st): "We were
not real good this morning. We had some problems with the rear end, threw
the axle out, spent a lot of time fixing some things, trying to chase the
car. Luckily enough, we had a teammate, Michael Waltrip, that was running
some good times and right before we went out and ran that lap Tony Eury Jr.
and Tony Sr. put a lot of things onto the car they thought would help it.
I¹m real happy with the lap time. Seven 10ths faster than we practiced; we
never really went that fast in qualifying before. We always raced good;
we¹re really looking forward to it." YOU WERE ALSO DEBRIEFING WITH SLUGGER
LABBE, WALTRIP¹S CREW CHIEF: "We¹re all just trying to improve ourselves as
a unit. We have, first and foremost, a company to look after and then it
breaks down to the teams. We¹re trying to do what we can to finish out a
good year so we can have a solid season next year and get one of these teams
up in the points battle."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE¹S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (12th): "It¹s been real
loose. I was loose on entry into the esses and I started swapping ends. I
almost didn¹t make it out the top, so I know I left a lot of time on the
table there. We had to overcome a lot today with this Lowe¹s Monte Carlo.
Second lap on the track we blew an engine; just a part failure, something we
would never expect with the type of engine program we have at Hendrick
Motorsports. The way the rules are shaped it really hurts us. Regardless of
where we qualified we¹re going to have to start dead last and come up
through there." ON WATKINS GLEN: "It¹s a place that I love for a lot
reasons. I¹ve run well here a lot and then I think everybody now knows that
you can go off turn 1 at 150 miles an hour and hit the wall and you¹re going
to be OK (Jimmie crashed here in a Busch car). I drove safe and I still like
charging hard. This is a great race track for me, because I¹ve been here in
the Busch car a few times, tested here two years, so I¹ve got some
experience here. When I went to Sears Point I was just shooting blind. We
had an OK day going; we were going to finish in the top 10, but busted a
rear gear. I think we¹re going to be real good if we can have a couple of
track position issues work our way Sunday afternoon in this Lowe¹s Monte
Carlo."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (23rd): "Starting where
we¹re going to be starting we¹ve got our work cut out for us and it stinks.
I¹m not really happy about it. We made some adjustments to tighten the car
up and we just didn¹t go far enough. Very disappointing. The car was loose.
I didn¹t think it was that bad. I drove as smooth a lap as I could, but I
couldn¹t get aggressive. And to run a fast lap you¹ve got to be aggressive.
The track just didn¹t seem to offer me the grip that we were hoping for.
It¹s unfortunate, it¹s a shame. We¹ve won from 13th or 14th here before;
hopefully we can do it again. The DuPont Chevrolet is good; it was good all
day. But that¹s pretty disappointing."