GM RACING NOTES & QUOTES--INFINEON RACEWAY--QUALIFYING

GM RACING NOTES AND QUOTES - DODGE/SAVE MART 350 

INFINEON RACEWAY; June 20, 2003; 

BORIS SAID, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Note: Said, filling in this week for Mike Wallace, who in turn is filling in for the injured Jerry Nadeau in the MB2 Motorsports Pontiac, was fastest for a while in the pre-qualifying practice session for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series event before the gearbox let go coming off Turn 11.

WHAT HAPPENED? "The gearbox just blew up. There was no warning. It was just like turning off a light switch. We were doing pretty well, just working on race setups. The tires were old and we weren't taped up or anything (when he set the fastest lap in practice)."

Following an extended time in the garage for repairs, Said came back out and promptly set the fastest lap on his second circuit out of the garage. Said is pulling triple duty here this weekend. In addition to running the U.S. Army Pontiac in the Dodge/Save Mart 350 on Sunday, Said will pilot the No. 99 Federated Auto Parts/Valvoline Chevrolet in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series as well as take a turn with the Trans-Am Series on Saturday.

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 TIDE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: NOTE: Ricky Craven, coming off three straight top-15 finishes in the Tide Pontiac, suffered through mechanical woes in the two-hour practice session prior to qualifying. According to the team, a bearing problem in the lower end of the engine forced them to change the engine in the No. 32 Tide Pontiac. 

STEVE PARK, NO. 30 AOL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Note: Richard Childress Racing put Trans-Am driver Brian Simo in the cockpit of the No. 30 Monte Carlo during the middle stages of Friday's practice. Simo, who is very familiar with the Infineon Raceway course from racing sports cars, shook the car down for Park and turned it back over prior to qualifying.

NOTE: As of 1:15 p.m., the top five in practice were: 1. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 92.576 miles per hour; 2. Robby Gordon, Cingular Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 92.553; 3. No. 01 U.S. Army Pontiac Grand Prix, 92.543; 4. Kurt Busch, Ford, 92.533; 5. Kevin Harvick, 92.497. Interestingly, both Gordons, Said and Harvick are all native Californians.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

At the end of practice on Friday, GM cars swept the top five. Boris Said was fastest at 92.721 miles per hour, followed by Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon and Robby Gordon. Kevin Harvick wound up 7th, and 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart was 11th, giving GM cars seven of the top 11 spots headed into qualifying.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Everybody's trying real hard. We had a great lap going, and I'm pretty disappointed in myself (for spinning in Turn 10). You've got to hit everything here, and when you're pushing so hard. I got to Turn 10, and I'd been loose throughout the day and I drove it in there like it was going to stick and it didn't. I'm just thankful I didn't hit anything. I apologize to the guys, because I think we had a top-10 car and now we're going to start in the back."

BORIS SAID, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: NOTE: Won the pole for the Dodge/Save Mart 350. It is his first career NASCAR Winston Cup pole and the first for Pontiac this season. "That was a good lap. This is big for the sponsor, but it's big for me too. It's huge. Every year, I come here, I overdrive the thing and I go off the road and wreck and spin out. Ryan Pemberton gave me a great car, and so did everybody at MB2. This Pontiac was fast. I'm tickled. I don't even care about the race right now. I'll worry about that on Sunday. My goal coming in was a top 10, and a top-five is like a victory for me. If I can get the pole and show up at Daytona in February, that'd be a great vacation for me in the winter!"

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "It was better until I got to Turn 7. I wheel-hopped the rear tires under braking, which was strictly driver error. I was a little timid into Turn 11 because of the wheel-hopping, and I made mistake there too that cost us some time. But, we made the car better than it was in practice, but we just didn't gain as much as we would like to have gained."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Well, we ought to have been a little quicker, but I messed up. I'm real happy. Practice was great, we were able to run a decent lap in qualifying, but I could have been so much better. I just made a few mistakes. The car was better than the time is. ARE YOU LIKING THE ROAD COURSES BETTER? "I'm liking that my guys are getting happy about. We've come here before and not had anything to be excited about. It's just like my Enterprise commercial: having the right car makes all the difference."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DuPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "It's pretty obvious huow fast I would have gone if I hadn't driven off the race track. It's so deceiving. You go out there and they don't even give you half a lap to get the temperature in the tires. The cars are moving all over the place, and you think, 'man, I'm a lot slower than I was in practice,' but actually I was a lot faster. I came into Turn 10, and the car had been loose before that, and it actually pushed a little. It went off into the dirt and I had to get out of the gas to keep from wrecking it. I can't believe we still ran that lap. I'm amazed."

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "It was pretty smooth. Everything felt pretty good. We just didn't go as fast as I wanted to."

RON FELLOWS, NO. 1 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: NOTE: Fellows was 36th in practice, but was on the pole for some time before being knocked off by Robby Gordon. He wound up third fastest. "We just changed it back to where it was when we tested. We struggled in practice, but we were anticipating the track would have less grip. We went softer with the car setup, and that was not the hot ticket. I made a little mistake in Turn 10 over there, but it was still much better than it was. Pinch me!" MORE FELLOWS TO FOLLOW

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "It was a good lap for us. The GM Goodwrench car has been good since we unloaded, but I left a bunch on the table getting up the hill into Turn 1 and Turn 2. I guess it's better to be too slow into one corner than too fast into another. I have a lot of fun coming to the road courses, Infineon and Watkins Glen, and we have a pretty good car in both divisions this weekend. I left a little sitting out there, but that's a lot better than I did last year, in screwing up the lap and not getting anywhere close to what we ran."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "It's the best lap we ran all day. We knew we needed to save a little bit here, because there's not a lot of room for mistakes. We were able to pull off a good lap. It seemed like it slid from apex all the way to the edge of the road every single time about perfect. I didn't overdrive it, I didn't under-drive it and I probably did about a perfect lap. We'll see if it stands." MORE GORDON TO FOLLOW

NOTE: Said's first careern Winston Cup pole came in a track-record time of 76.522 seconds at 93.620 miles per hour, bettering Tony Stewart's mark of 93.476 set here last year. Said is the 1998 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winner at Infineon Raceway. He placed 11th here in 2001.

YOU KNOW THIS TRACK PRETTY WELL. THINGS WORKED OUT WELL HERE TODAY. "I have a great team. It's unfortunate for Jerry Nadeau, it's terrible the circumstances under which I have this ride. He almost won this race last year. But this team can race, the Hendrick engines were great and Ryan Pemberton, I've known for a long time and he knows how to make a car go fast. It's been a dream. Everything has gone really smooth. It's great for the Army. They're celebrating their 228th year in business, and that's really cool. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd win one of these poles. The regulars always come through at the end. It's completely different in the race, but if I can finish in the top 10 on Sunday, I'll be pretty happy." WHERE ON THIS TRACK DO YOU HAVE TO BE THE MOST PATIENT? "In the 11 corners, I think all 11. It's a tough track." IS COMING TO A RACE HERE AND A RACE THERE A DISADVANTAGE TO YOU? "The disadvantage is not being used to working with the team. In the past when I've come, the team is running a second car and they've just thrown together some guys. When you can do it with a top team with their normal guys that are in week-in and week-out, it makes it a lot easier. This team this weekend has made it real easy." HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO DRIVE THREE CARS IN THREE RACES HERE THIS WEEKEND? "Each car is like a different girl, with a different personality. You have to treat them a little different to get them to act nice to you. You know that getting into each car, you drive them completely different." YOU SAID YOU'D BE HAPPY WITH A TOP-10 ON SUNDAY. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT? "This is my seventh Cup race, and it takes a lot of experience to figure out how to make these cars good at the end of the race and keep them on the road. That was my goal coming in, to get a top-10. If I get a top-five, it'd be like a victory for me. It doesn't mean I'm not going to try to win the race. I try to win every race I'm in, but it's a lot to try to go out and beat guys like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart."

NOTE: Gordon will start second in Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350, his best starting position of the season. YOU KNOW THIS TRACK WELL. HOW DID YOUR LAP GO? "We came here to try to qualify on the pole and we let it slip away. At this place you have to be careful not to be too conservative. On the other side, you have to be careful that you don't drop two tires off the track, lose 

three or four tenths of a second and wind up 11th or 12th. It's real hard to pass here during the race. Last year we probably had the fastest car most of the race, but we had bad pit strategy and never recovered from it. So this year, qualifying was one of the most important things, but a good consistent race car for the whole distance of the race is going to be more important than just one lap." HOW WILL YOUR STARTING SPOT PLAY IN THE RACE? "I'm very happy with where we qualified. How is it going to play in the race? Obviously, the inside line going into Turn 1, I need to give that to Boris. It's going to be give and take for a couple of laps, and I'll try not to burn the tires off it. If we can stay there, great. If we need to let a couple of guys go early, we will, so we can tune on the car during the next pit stop. I really think we're going to be in good shape. I think the car is going to be really strong in race trim. We could not get enough rear weight in the car. But once we put fuel in the car for the race, it's going to help out our situation." HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ROAD RACERS WHO ARE HIRED TO RACE IN WINSTON CUP? "I think they shouldn't be allowed to. If they weren't allowed, I'd have about four or five tenths on the field. They come out and keep me honest. All joking aside, those guys are both really good racing drivers, and they should be able to come here and race with us. If they get in good cars, like both these guys are with MB2 and DEI, I see no reason they can't come here and play. Obviously, they do a lot of road racing, and they can come and test. A lot of us are afraid to use a test for a road course. We can go test at VIR and places like that." COULD YOU HAVE BEATEN BORIS IF YOU'D RUN THE PERFECT LAP? "We had him all the way until the last two turns. To be honest, I got through everything else as good as we could, but I kind of backed off a little bit because I didn't want to make a mistake in Turn 10 like Jimmie Johnson did. There's not a lot of room there for error. I probably lost a tenth and a half there and coming off Turn 11. It's a good lap. We don't have a problem with wheelspin, and the car hooks up real good and goes forward. I think we'll be in good shape when it comes time to go racing." WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM IN TURN 10 AND HOW DID YOU AVOID IT? "I think what happened is, there used to be a bridge there and markers where you have to get on the brakes and where you have to turn. Now it's all flat there because they took the wall down, and I think a lot of the guys are missing those reference points and drove in a little too deep. I drove in a little conservative because the rest of the lap was so good and I didn't want to throw it away. The pole was what we came here for and we got beat today. But at the same time, we haven't put a mark on the car all weekend, haven't been off in the gravel and we only did four laps before qualifying. We only focused on half-laps in qualifying. We didn't really work on doing a whole, complete banzai lap because we didn't want to show what we had. I was really surprised that Boris picked up as much as he did. We picked up six tenths and I think we were ahead of him."

GM RACING NOTES AND QUOTES -QUALIFYING--DODGE/SAVE MART 350 

YOU TESTED HERE IN APRIL AND WERE FASTEST IN THAT TEST. THE WEATHER IS A LITTLE WARMER NOW. "We got caught out by the weather a little bit. The track temperature is about 50 degrees warmer than when we were here in April. During practice, we kind of misread the car a little bit and got behind. We basically went back to what we had in April and it helped us in qualifying." DID THE FACT THAT YOU RACED LAST WEEK IN LE MANS HURT YOU AT ALL? "No. It's only a nine-hour time change. The trouble you have coming from Le Mans is you've got the time change, coming out west and whatnot., but you're also coming off having been in a serious number of sprint races over the course of a 24-hour race. You're up for a little over 40 hours by the time you get to sleep. It takes a few days to recover from that. But you get in the car and your adrenaline starts to flow and you're set." WHAT WORKED IN THE CAR TODAY AND WHAT DIDN'T? "I made a mistake in Turn 10 and that cost us a little bit. I got in there a little too hot. We're going continue to work on getting more traction. I've got tremendous power, and we've got to work at getting it on the ground a little better. That's going to be key on Sunday." YOU'RE A ROAD-RACING SPECIALIST WHO HAS NEVER WON A WINSTON CUP RACE. CAN YOU CHANGE THAT THIS WEEKEND? "I think it's possible with the type of team we have. I'm going to be completely reliant on them in terms of strategy. We'll try and get the best race car we can, and rely on them for track position. Hopefully, we can get the car good through a tank of fuel." HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF DOING WINSTON CUP FULL-TIME? "As great as Winston Cup racing is, I'd be lying if I told you I hadn't thought about it. I had a choice a few years ago to stick with GM in their road racing program. I was really excited about the opportunity to do a factory Corvette deal to try to win the class in the biggest road racing events in the world, which we've accomplished. I love road racing. Obviously, an opportunity with as good a team as DEI is, that'd be awesome. Is it realistic? Who knows?"