Chevy completes successful 2-day test of 2003 Monte Carlo Winston Cup car

CHEVROLET/TEAM MONTE CARLO NOTES AND QUOTES
Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400
North Carolina Speedway
Rockingham, N.C.
Round 34 of 36
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Saturday, Nov. 2, 2003


CHEVROLET COMPLETES TWO DAYS OF SUCCESSFUL TESTS WITH THE
2003 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO

Chevrolet and Pontiac completed two full days of testing last week at
Talladega Motor Speedway with the all-new 2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo and
Pontiac Grand Prix "speedway" cars which will compete in the 2003 NASCAR
Winston Cup Series.

We talked with Alba Colon, GM Racing¹s Chevrolet program manager for the
NASCAR Winston Cup Series following these tests:

WHICH TEAMS ATTENDED THESE TESTS? "We had 11 2003 models, seven of them
Chevrolets and four of them Pontiacs. On the Chevrolet side we had
representation from Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Dale
Earnhardt Inc., and Joe Gibbs Racing."

WHO WAS DRIVING THE CHEVROLETS? "Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip, Dale
Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Green and Steve Park. David Green was there for the
Hendrick team and Ron Hornaday was there for RCR."

HOW MANY DAYS DID YOU TEST? "We spent two full days testing. It was a
private test, not open to the public. The teams had an opportunity to test
different things in the new car and there were representatives from NASCAR
there, who were watching what we were doing."

HOW WAS THE TEST? "We are very, very happy with the test. We had an
opportunity first for the teams to do some qualifying runs, try different
things that they wanted to try. NASCAR was there, so they were happy with
what they were seeing. We had an opportunity on the second day to do some
drafting and NASCAR was happy with that. The teams continued to try
different things that they wanted to try."

FROM A GM PERSPECTIVE, WAS IT A SUCCESS? "It was a very successful test. We
are happy with the teams that were there; there was a lot of communication
and the teams cooperated with each other, including the Chevy teams with the
Pontiac teams. And the Pontiacs and the Chevrolets were pretty much the
same. We were very happy with the response from the teams and to have 11
cars there, that was great. GM is very pleased with the test."

WHAT DID YOU FIND OUT? "GM was there as a facilitator for the test, to see
how we could help. Of course, we had people there who had been working with
the teams in the wind tunnel, so we could relate to what we had been seeing
in the wind tunnel with the car. Every team did their own tests; every team
had their own agenda, and we were there more as a facilitator; to help if
there was anything they needed from us. Three aerodynamics engineers were at
the test, who were more hands-on with the team, and they had an opportunity
to talk with them after the test. The aero engineers were Terry Laise,
Dwight Woodbridge and Kevin Golsch.

"We were happy with the test and when NASCAR left yesterday they said they
were happy with the tests and with the car."

WHAT¹S THE NEXT PLAN? "We will just keep testing at the wind tunnel, and our
next track test is at Homestead (with the downforce car) Monday and Tuesday
after the Homestead race. We will just keep developing the car."

ANY MAJOR CHANGES MADE DURING THE TESTING? "No."

ANY WEATHER ISSUES? "It was a little bit cold on the second day, compared to
the day before, but nothing major. We had our full time of testing."

WERE ALL THE CREW CHIEFS THERE?  "All the crew chiefs from DEI, all the crew
chiefs from RCR and Joe Gibbs Racing. Pretty much all the crew chiefs were
there except the ones from Hendrick. The development team from Hendrick
Motorsports was there. The Hendrick teams were testing at Homestead at the
time."

ON THE TEAMWORK AMONG THE CHEVY AND PONTIAC TEAMS AND NASCAR: "NASCAR was
there all the time to check what we were doing; they were studying the times
car by car, and studying what they were doing. Everything went very
smoothly, And there¹s a lot of responsiveness between the teams; the
Pontiacs and Chevrolets were working together. We are happy with the
results. We have a very equal package between Pontiac and Chevrolet."

DRIVER COMMENTS:

JEFF GREEN, RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING: "I think we¹ve got a better race car
than we had. I think we all know we¹ve got a better race car on the
intermediate tracks and the downforce tracks, but the restrictor plate
tracks we were concerned about. What we saw the last couple of days was that
the car reacts to a lot of changes. I think we¹ve got something that we can
really build on and make it probably a better car than we had." HOW MANY
MILES DID YOU RUN? "I ran 500 miles the first day. We probably did 400 miles
the second day. We tried a lot of body stuff, panels, trying to make the
body more aerodynamic or try to slip through the air better and we tried a
lot of chassis stuff the second day. I think it was a very productive test.
The 31 was there, Ron Hornaday was driving it, and I think they learned a
lot of stuff too. When we do go test Daytona or Talladega in January I think
we¹ll be a lot more prepared than we would have been if we hadn¹t had this
test." DID YOU TEST DRAFTING? "Ron did. We really worked on speed on our
car. The 15 (Michael Waltrip), 8 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and 31 were together a
lot. The 15 was still fast. Whatever they do to their car to build that
thing they do it right. It transferred over to the new car too. We¹ve just
got to figure that out."

DAVID GREEN, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS: "Number one, it was quite an honor to
just go down there and help those guys out. We actually went to Kentucky
three weeks before to do the downforce car and I ran it. The car really
responded well. To go to Talladega and spend two days and be around Hendrick
Motorsports¹ R&D program, what an education. Everything was so positive. The
guys were so relaxed, knowing that every bitty, minute change to the car
responded greatly. It¹s been hard to do that over the years with
superspeedway cars. But this car here shows that, with every minute change
that we made to the car, it responded. In our terminology at Hendrick
Motorsports, it¹s going to be a fantastic car and we came out of there with
just a lot of good information and high hopes for next year. It was just a
neat deal. I was more overwhelmed at just being the guy that they picked to
go do that stuff, and to be able to be one of the initial guys to give some
feedback on the car was like Christmas in October." HOW MANY MILES/LAPS DID
YOU RUN?  "I think we actually ran close to100 laps, about 50 each day, and
did a lot of basic groundwork, aero stuff and whatnot. And, again, the R&D
team, as well as everyone else, know that at Daytona and Talladega, Jeff
Gordon, the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) , the 25 (Joe Nemechek), the 5 (Terry
Labonte), all those guys have been top-notch. To see a big smile on those
guys¹ faces, I thought we were all headed in the right direction. The car is
fantastic."

STEVE PARK, DALE EARNHARDT INC.: "We¹re excited about it. We felt just
testing it that the car is definitely better than what we have right now. A
lot of positives have come out of testing; the car is going to be better
than the great race car we have right now, so we¹re actually looking forward
to next year."

MICHAEL WALTRIP, DALE EARNHARDT INC.: "We were way off our times from the
2002 car, but we figured we would be; that was our first try. The thing just
drove so good; it was real balanced. Now we¹ll go home and work into the car
everything we learned from the test and look forward to our test at
Homestead." HOW MANY LAPS DID YOU RUN? "I ran a bunch. I probably ran close
to 300-400 miles; we got a lot of information, and that¹s the cool thing
about our team. We gather a bunch of information and then we can go back and
sort it all out and come back with a better plan next time."

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