Monte Carlo 400 Notes/Johnson Takes Pol - RIR, Sept. 6
CHEVY MONTE CARLO WINSTON CUP DRIVER PAIRINGS WITH THE LOONEY TUNES CHARACTERS: Driver Character Car # Sponsor Jeff Gordon Bugs Bunny 24 DuPont Kevin Harvick The Taz 29 GM Goodwrench Jeff Green Daffy Duck 30 America Online Bobby Hamilton* Marvin The Martian and K9 55 Schneider Electric Robby Gordon Pepe Le Pew 31 Cingular Wireless Mike Skinner Yosemite Sam 4 Kodak Max Film Terry Labonte Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote 5 Kellogg's Jimmie Johnson Tweety & Sylvester 48 Lowe's Joe Nemechek Speedy Gonzales 25 UAW-Delphi Gearing up for the Monte Carlo 400 with The Looney Tunes - The Rematch - eight Chevy NASCAR Winston Cup drivers and Characters competed in a special 5-lap Golf Cart Race on pit road at Richmond International Raceway. The Looney Tunes characters rode on the back of the golf carts with their respective drivers. Finishing Order: 1. Jeff Green 2. Robby Gordon 3. Andy Petree 4. Jimmie Johnson 5. Kevin Harvick 6. Joe Nemechek 7. Mike Skinner 8. Jeff Gordon Post-race driver comments: Jeff Green / Daffy Duck - No. 30 -- winner. "I think Daffy had everything to do with it. The highlight of my whole career was Jeff Gordon rolling across pit road. I've seen it all. It was pretty cool. Whoever qualified my car did a good job. I was on the inside, so I was able to miss Jeff rolling across the ground. It's an awesome feat to come here for Monte Carlo and Looney Tunes -- Warner Bros. does an awesome job for us." TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager Monte Carlo 400 with The Looney Tunes - Advance nmwager@aol.com Friday, September 06, 2002 GM Racing Communications Richmond International Raceway (727) 784-8465 Page 2 Jeff Green con't: (What did you think of Jeff Gordon falling out of the golf cart in front of you) "It was four and a half more laps of laughing, for me. When I came back and he was gone, that was a good thing. Nobody ran over him. Daffy finally got his bill going in the right direction and gave us a little downforce and we were able to go through the corner. It was a fun time." Jeff Gordon / Bugs Bunny - No. 24 - (Note: In turn one of the first lap, Jeff Gordon and his golf cart parted ways when he slipped off the seat) "Do I have burns on my back? That was quite a ride. I had the pole position and I knew that was the place to be. Jimmie (Johnson) got a little jump on me, but I was beating him going into (turn) one and I wasn't about to lift. I was more worried about Bugs falling off than myself. The next thing I know, that thing really hooked up. Unfortunately, that seat didn't have near as much grip as the tires did. Luckily, Jimmie was beside me and ran my hand over instead of my head, which was a good choice." (As you fell off the cart, did any thoughts of a lost Winston Cup championship go with you?) "No, not at the moment -- maybe later on today. We'll be happy to get those skid marks out of the way early so we can go on racing here at Richmond. We're really excited about the Looney Tunes program and having Bugs on board again this year. Last year, I finished 2nd or something in the golf cart race, but I crashed and burned on the track. So, let's hope the crash and burn stays with the golf carts this time." (How are you going to explain this to Rick Hendrick?) "I'm not. I hop nobody else tells him, either. When I left the trailer, Robbie (Loomis, crew chief) told me to be careful and not get hurt because I had told him how wild it was last year. I won't tell him about this." (Do you see that big TV camera over there?) "Oh, great. They got one of my most embarrassing moments on one of the biggest screens in the world." Jimmie Johnson / Tweety & Sylvester - No. 48 - (Note: Jimmie stopped gave Jeff Gordon a lift in his golf cart after the race) "First, I ran over the hand he writes my checks with so I figured I'd better go pick him up and bring him back. I think the seat has a lot less grip than the tires do." TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager Monte Carlo 400 with The Looney Tunes - Advance nmwager@aol.com Friday, September 06, 2002 GM Racing Communications Richmond International Raceway (727) 784-8465 Page 3 Robby Gordon / Pepe Le Pew - No. 31 - (On clipping the cone in turn 4) "I wanted to close that gap a little bit. Pepe and me, we were stinking it up out there. He held on. I couldn't believe it when I went through turn one and saw (Jeff) Gordon rolling out of his cart. I didn't want to hit him, so I got on the brakes. Somebody ran into the back of me and I looked up and Jeff Green never even lifted. He would have sacrificed Gordon for the win here. I couldn't believe it. He had a half-a-straightaway on us and the only way I was going to get any closer was to cut one of two cones each lap and you finally caught onto me." Kevin Harvick / The Taz - No. 29 - "I was very busy trying to stop laughing because it looked like a cartoon. Taz is kind of short and his center of gravity is pretty low, so I wasn't worried about him. But I just about flew out in the second corner down there. I was right there with Jeff but I had the wrong side of the steering wheel with my right hand. We had a great run here last year with the Taz on board and we're looking forward to another great run Saturday night." *Andy Petree / Marvin The Martian (relief driver for Bobby Hamilton who was injured in last night's Craftsman Truck race) - No. 55 - (Do you think you should drive the Cup car Saturday night?) "I think it would have been safer out there in the truck last night. We about busted the wall one time there too. It's a real privilege to come out here and compete with these guys - this is the best field I've ever been in. This will be one of my great memories." Mike Skinner / Yosemite Sam - No. 4 - (On winning this race last year and coming in last this year) "They figured out how to beat us. They started Yosemite Sam and me in the rear. I wasn't late for the drivers meeting so I really don't know how that happened. I want to thank all the guys back at the Easy-Go shop for giving us a great race car. The Goodyear tires stuck really good and Yosemite held on really good. We had a fast car, but somehow or another we got caught up in the tires over here and the caution flag never came out. That's my story. Hopefully we can get a Monte Carlo in victory lane this time and hopefully it's the No. 4 car." Joe Nemechek / Speedy Gonzales - No. 25 - "We needed a little more speed. I think Speedy's hat was making too much drag or something. It was a good race. We just didn't go as fast as the rest of them. I thought I was going to throw him (Speedy Gonzales) off the back. We got to turn one and everybody was checking up. I thought he was going to be going over my head. He held on. It was a good race." TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager Monte Carlo 400 with The Looney Tunes - Advance nmwager@aol.com Friday, September 06, 2002 GM Racing Communications Richmond International Raceway (727) 784-8465 Page 4 BOBBY HAMILTON, NO. 55 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Note: Hamilton was injured in Friday night's Craftsman Truck Series Virginia is For Lovers 200. For Saturday's Monte Carlo 400 with The Looney Tunes, Greg Biffle will be the substitute driver. The following are highlights of a brief Q&A session with the media: (ON HIS INJURIES) "I have a broken right shoulder blade and a cracked left wrist. I actually feel real good. I've got some places like my left leg that are hurting a little bit and stuff like that. Usually, the way my body is, I feel the maximum pain a couple of days later. I take real good care of myself and think we'll heal faster than what they're saying. I'll follow the doctor's orders. They say the shoulder is going to heal a lot quicker than the wrist. But we're going to go back home and the NASCAR doctor is going to get with my doctor in Nashville and get me on rehab. Andy Petree (team owner) has been through this before. We'll work through it and I'll come back and finish up the year out and maybe win a race. They've got me on some pretty good drugs. I slept through one term of them last night, and didn't even have to take them. I slept all night and that was the first night. I slept until 11 am this morning." (WHAT'S THE TIMETABLE FOR RECOVERY?) "They told me it would be from three to six weeks and I'm not going to push the envelope. My main concern is keeping that car up in the points, owner-wise. You get back in the points driver-wise, it's not that big of a deal. I want the race team to get the best of whatever they can get to keep it up in owners points so that Andy will have something for next year. If you don't have a chance at a top 15, there isn't a darn thing to fight about." (WHO WILL BE THE RELIEF DRIVER AFTER RICHMOND?) "I think it will be a race-to-race deal. Square D and Schneider Electric do hospitality every race. So what I'm going to do is hang out with the race team, but I'll continue to do the hospitality because I'm the face the customers are used to. But I just like hanging out with the guys." (ARE YOU GOING TO DRIVE YOUR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK AGAIN?) "No. I won't run my truck again. Not because I don't want to, but because my wife told me I couldn't." (WHEN DID THAT COME DOWN) "Last night, right over here in this infield care center." TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager Monte Carlo 400 with The Looney Tunes - Qualifying nmwager@aol.com Friday, September 06, 2002 GM Racing Communications Richmond International Raceway (727) 784-8465 Page 5 JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - BUD POLE WINNER - Note: This is Johnson's 4th pole of the 2002 season - Daytona 500, Talladega, and Lowe's Motor Speedway - The last time a rookie won a pole position at RIR was Bobby Labonte in '93. "This is incredible. This place has haunted me in the past. We unloaded off the truck and were really strong. Chad Knaus (crew chief) and the guys gave me a really good car. I don't know if Sylvester being on the side chasing Tweety helped me out, or what. But we're going to take everything we can. This is just an incredible accomplishment for this Lowe's team. (ON THE LAP) "It was a good lap. I was faster on the first lap, which was surprising to me. I thought the second lap was going to be a little better. I got real loose off of (turn) four and thought I left some on the table. But it doesn't matter. It's just a credit to these guys and the Chevy Monte Carlo. These guys have just worked their butts off at the shop and at the track. "I think it's neat that we have an all-rookie first row (Ryan Newman was 2nd fast). Hopefully we'll scare everybody behind us and they'll let us go for the first few laps to get sorted out. Our Friday's have been real tough on the Lowe's team. From crashing in practice to qualifying poorly, we've had a hard day on Friday's. But we're always able to rally back on Sunday's and have a solid finish. I'm really excited to turn around our qualifying program and get a pole here. We've got four poles now. Two of them were at speedway races where I didn't have anything to do with it. It was the team. To get a pole at Lowe's Motor Speedway, which is one of the hardest tracks to qualify at, and on a short track here at Richmond means a lot to me and this whole team." (ON THE TRACK AND THE TEST IN JULY WITH DIFFERENT TIRES) "When we were here in the spring and racing at night, I think the track was fine and we didn't have any issues. But when we were going to restart the race the next day with the heat of the cars and the heat of the day, it started to roll up the sealer. With our entire race and then with all the other races and traffic on the race track, it's worn down the sealer and we're going to have a Richmond race like everyone is used to seeing." (HOW IMPORTANT IS TRACK POSITION?) "It's real important everywhere - and also for your pit stall pick. I don't think there is a track where you can say we'll be okay if we start at the back. It's just so important to have track position. And it's just so important to have a great race team, which I do. And we made the most of it today." TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager Monte Carlo 400 with The Looney Tunes - Qualifying nmwager@aol.com Friday, September 06, 2002 GM Racing Communications Richmond International Raceway (727) 784-8465 Page 6 Jimmie Johnson con't: (WITH 4 POLES AND 2 WINS THIS SEASON, IS YOUR TEAM STARTING TO EXPECT A LITTLE MORE?) "At the beginning of the season, we probably were expecting it a little more than we needed to. We had a flat middle part of the season and this is a great way to start out the last stretch running for the championship. Hopefully we can run strong Saturday night." (ON RACING FOR THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR HONOR) "I think it's extremely important - especially when you're in such a tight and competitive battle. Ryan (Newman) is racing every week for the win. We've been up there racing for wins and have gotten a couple of wins. To win the rookie of the year battle, you're going to have to be in the top 10 - maybe even top five in points - to win. That's an incredible feat in itself. Ryan and I have a friendship off the race track and respect each other on the race track. And it's been a very competitive year. I'm sure it's going to go right down to the last race." (DID YOUR QUALIFYING RUN FEEL GOOD ENOUGH TO YOU TO WIN THE POLE?) "I was going to take my time on the first lap and let the tires get up to temp and than really get after it on the second lap. So the first lap, I took it easy. The second lap, I tried. The first lap got me the pole and the second lap I was a tenth and a half slower. So, that let's you know how slow is fast." (WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO JEFF GORDON FALLING OUT OF THE GOLF CART THIS MORNING?) "My reaction was that I was going to kill my car owner with a golf cart. He got a little loose in turn one down there and his body personally got loose from the seat. I didn't think he was going to come off of it. Sure enough, he came off the cart and started rolling toward me. I tried to avoid him and miss him and I still ran over the top of his arms. What a way to start off the day - running over your boss and teammate. I'm just glad he's okay." (ON BEING IN THE HUNT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "We're still in it. At the beginning of the season, we did a really good job of not letting the championship race enter into our heads as a team. It just creeps in. We just kept telling ourselves and telling the media that we weren't paying attention to it, but you do pay attention to it because there's so much prestige to winning a championship and being a rookie team and all. But here, the last month or so, we've really tried to forget about the points race and just get all we can when we're on the track and let the points fall where they may. TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager Monte Carlo 400 with The Looney Tunes - Qualifying nmwager@aol.com Friday, September 06, 2002 GM Racing Communications Richmond International Raceway (727) 784-8465 Page 7 Jimmie Johnson con't: "I had a bad incident at Bristol that cost us a lot of points. Last week at Darlington, we were able to come back and run up front and lead some laps and get the momentum back. We ended up 9th because of a flat tire. I think our momentum is coming back. Whichever way it's going is the way it's going to carry you. There in the middle of the season, it carried us down a little bit. I'm hoping now it's pulling us back up and we can put together 10 solid races and be in the middle of it at the end of the year." "It's all about how the points work out. Ryan (Newman) has been so consistent and he's knocking on the door to win a race. I'm surprised that he hasn't won a race yet. He's doing an incredible job and deserves some form of recognition for that. If we were to win the championship and not the rookie of the year, he's well deserving of it." TERRY LABONTE, NO 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (5TH): "It was a good run for us. I thought the car was pretty good in practice and now we picked up a little. We won here when we qualified good and we won here when we didn't qualify good. So hopefully we'll have a good run tomorrow night." MIKE SKINNER, NO. 4 KODAK CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (8TH): "We unloaded fast off the truck. I really thought we had a shot at the pole. The guys tuned hard on the engine to make it strong. I gave it all we had. This team turns a corner every week. The past three weeks have been awesome. The race track slowed down on us some. We should be in the hunt with Yosemite Sam tomorrow night." ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (11TH) "It was a good solid lap for us. I don't know if the track will get faster or not, but it was good for the Cingular Chevy." JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (10TH): "It was a good solid lap for us. I really saw that the track slowed down a bunch. So I figured that if I went out there and approached it as a good solid clean lap, that was probably the best approach. I didn't want to make any mistakes. I still brushed the wall a little bit coming off of (turn) 4 there in the final lap, but I knew I wasn't really going to hurt myself by staying in the gas. So I stayed in the gas and it probably lost me a little bit of time. But all in all, it was a good lap. We'd been tight all day. We freed the car up and it turned in the middle nice and changed the gear and the thing was really getting up off the corners."