GM RACING NOTES & QUOTES--SHARPIE 500 POST-RACE

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: NOTE: Waltrip, who had run in the top five all night, was involved in a lap-91 crash with DEI teammate Jeff Green coming off Turn 4. Waltrip spun, hit the wall and slid down in front of Rusty Wallace. His Monte Carlo was severely damaged, putting his streak of 33 straight races without a DNF. "We got squeezed down a little bit tight and just messed up. I got on the apron a little bit, got sideways and spun out. Jeff [Green] was doing his job. I hate it for Rusty and for our whole NAPA team. It's a shame to have a setback like this, but we'll go win Darlington and this won't seem near as important."  

 

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We broke a rear gear. I don't know why we broke a rear gear, but it's Bristol. We haven't had very good luck here, but I love this place. We'll try to get back out there and get some points."

 

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Finished 2nd: "Yeah, I hate losing to old Rubberhead (Kurt Busch). His car was a little bit better than ours. We just could not get going on the restarts for some reason. We had a tough time. Those cautions were really killing us. Once we got going, we could hold our own. This team has really come together. Todd Berrier and Gil Martin have got a solid foundation under us and we just have to keep it going to the end of the year." MORE HARVICK TO FOLLOW

 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Finished 5th: "We just tried to be smooth and consistent all day long. We were playing a game of give and take, and we were around a couple of cars that were playing a game and we played it back. We just tried to stay out of trouble. It was a great day for the Lowe's Chevrolet. I wish we could have had last week's points to go along with this week's, but still, it was a great day. We made up a lot of ground on the guys in front of us and anytime you can come out of Bristol with a top-five finish, you have to be happy with that."

 

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Finished 9th: "We didn't have a hold of it too much all night long. We finally got it decent there at the end. Tony Jr. (Eury) and the guys, they just couldn't gain on it. I'll take a top-10. I wish I could have finished better. We could have run better here. We're going to come back in March and get better."

 

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Finished 14th: "From where we started (32nd) it was a good run for us. The guys kept making adjustments on the Valvoline Pontiac to make it better and better. We kind of got off-sequence there a little bit. There was one time where we probably should have pitted and we didn't. I don't know if it hurt us or not, but it was a deal where maybe it would have ended up a little different. I wish that last green-flag run would have stayed to the end, because we could have finished right up there. We came in and chanced putting tires on it because we were getting beat by it. We just didn't get back to where we wanted to. It wasn't a bad day for us. We feel like we're starting to get back up on track, starting to learn something for once. I'm real proud of these guys. I've managed to get us in some holes this year and these guys have dug us out of it. I'm really proud of them."

 

KEVIN HARVICK PRESS CONFERENCE

 

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR RUN. "It was a good night for the GM Goodwrench car. Cautions killed us. We'd get going and it felt like the right front tire was flat. One time I 

went in there and went to turn the steering wheel and Kurt [Busch] drove right underneath me. All in all, it was a good night for us, a great points night. When you're frustrated about finishing second, third, fourth or fifth, your race team is really strong. Todd [Berrier] and Gil Martin have put a great bunch of people and a great bunch of race cars together for us. It's a lot of fun to go to the race track."

 

WAS THE PASS BY KURT BUSCH FOR THE LEAD A CLEAN ONE? "Yeah. The only thing I saw was a little blood dripping out of his nose as he went by. Nah, it was perfectly clean. My car just wouldn't get going on the restarts and his car was really good on the restarts."

 

WHY WOULD PEOPLE BOO KURT BUSCH? "Because he's a cocky, arrogant punk. That would probably be my guess. Great race car driver, he just has a really, really bad attitude. Sometimes he just spins people out, runs into them and drives like an idiot, but he can wheel a race car, there's no doubt about it."

 

AS SOMEBODY WHO HAS HAD RUN-INS ON THE TRACK, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO KURT BUSCH? "I think I read this morning that was it was the media's fault, that everything is where it's at because of you. I've been at that point, and when you get there, it's downhill because all the media turns against you. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you want to look at it, you guys can be used as a tool of plusses or minuses. When he starts blaming stuff on you guys, all those people sitting in the grandstands that are already booing him when he's winning races are going to be 100 percent against him because everybody in the country is writing negative stuff. I've been there, I've done it, I've blamed you and I promise you, it's not easy."

 

IS THIS STARTING TO REMIND YOU OF YOUR BUSCH TEAM OF 2001? "A lot of it is my Busch team from 2001. I said recently that it's good to know when you get out of the race car and know that you've been a part of building something and know that those guys are there because I'm driving the race car, and want to be a part of the team and I want to be a part of their race team and we all get along real good. Slowly, but surely, and this no negative on anybody, but it doesn't feel like it's Dale Earnhardt's team. It feels like it's my team. Not that Dale Earnhardt didn't build RCR or help Richard build RCR and is responsible for where we all are at today in our sport. But it's like a burden lifted off your shoulders when you get out of that car and put your arm around those guys and know that those guys are all there because of Richard and you and all the people around you that support everything we do."

 

IS YOUR CONFIDENCE AS HIGH AS IT'S EVER BEEN IN WINSTON CUP? "Yeah. This team is as good as our 2001 Busch team and better than our 2001 Winston Cup team. If we run good at Darlington next week, we're really on top of our game. We struggled there at the beginning of the year, but right now, it's a lot of fun to go to the race track. The Busch car is running well, we had a chance to win all three races this weekend. We got no darn trophies, but it was a lot of fun just being in contention week in and week out."

 

WHAT'S CHANGED WHEN TODD COMES BACK TO THE CREW CHIEF ROLE? "The unique thing about what's going on is, Gil is in a managerial position. Todd worries about the race cars. Gil worries about all the headaches, all the people, all the nitpicky stuff that's going on around the race team. He can go fight fires while Todd is working on the race car at the track. He can worry about dealing with the politics and the officials and things like that. When you have one guy concentrating on your race car, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that's all Todd and Gil do is concentrate on these race cars.this is a match that was made in 2000, I believe, or right at the beginning of 2001. It worked really well in the Busch shop. They compliment each other well, and the whole organization.our bodies and our engines have really stepped up. That's the biggest key, communication."

 

MIKE SKINNER, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Finished 18th: "We took advantage of our track position at the beginning but we never had the right balance. The car kept getting tighter in the center and loose off. I'm not happy with the finish, but it's better than the alternative. I guess it's a consolation when you're not in a wreck and finish on the lead lap at Bristol."

 

TERRY LABONTE, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/got milk? CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Finished 11th: "It was pretty much two different races. We made a lot of adjustments. It wouldn't turn in the middle of the corner. We finally made some adjustments and got it better."

 

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 TIDE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Finished 8th: "It was a great effort from the entire Tide Pontiac team. We were strong all night, and we fought back from some adversity after some contact. The pit stops were awesome all night, and I felt like I could have caught the 88 and the 12 if we had had a little more time on that last green-flag run. It was nice to finish the job. That's what it's all about. You can have good runs but you have to have the finishes. We've had the runs, but we haven't been able to get the finishes."

 

"This gives us some momentum going into Darlington, where we hope to be a repeat winner. Winning the Southern 500 would be almost as nice as winning the Daytona 500 because of the tradition, and also because this will be the last Southern 500 on the traditional Labor Day holiday." 

 

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