GM RACING NOTES & QUOTES--SOUTHERN 500 POST-QUALIFYING

RACEWAY; AUG. 29, 2003

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Qualified 11th: "You
always try to back up what you did in practice, but this being Darlington
and as hot as it is, you're never sure that you can. If we backed it up, I'm
happy with that. We started off in a little bit of a struggle, and really
made a lot of changes, so I feel pretty good about how we qualified. I felt
if I got through 1 and 2 I'd be OK, and I managed to get through there. I
might have given up a little bit coming through Turn 3, but I'm happy with
that no matter where it ends up."

JASON LEFFLER, NO. 0 NETZERO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Qualified 36th: "It wasn't
all that good. We were really tight. We tightened the car up too much. We
were afraid of being too free. We'll be good in the race."

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: qualified
5th: "I just can't get a good feel for a qualifying lap. The last time here,
I was good in practice but slowed down in qualifying. This time I picked up.
It seems like as fast as I went, I was a little bit out of control. We didn'
t test here, and we're much better than we were here last time. Hopefully we
'll wind up in a good spot."

TERRY LABONTE, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/got milk? CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Qualified
3rd: "It was a good run for us. We picked up from practice, made a couple of
adjustments on it. The car was awful good." TALK ABOUT THE HISTORY HERE. "It
's an incredible place to come race, and fortunately, my first victory was
here [1980]. I think this team is getting awful close to winning again and
we're hoping Sunday might be the day. This is a tough track, and it's going
to be hot and slick. That's how it's supposed to be down here." MORE T.
LABONTE TO FOLLOW.

MIKE SKINNER, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Qualified 12th: "We lost
an awful lot of time in Turns 3 and 4, but this Hendrick engine really ran
well. We turned an awful lot of RPM, more than I've ever turned qualifying
anything without missing a gear, that is. It hit the chip awful early in the
backstretch and caused me to drive into Turn 3 awfully deep. I got loose and
stayed loose all the way through 3 and 4. That really hurt us. She really
cooked it through 1 and 2 and I said, 'that's gonna be a real good lap.' But
when it hit the chip so early, it kind of messed up my rhythm a little bit."
HOW MUCH DOES A DRIVER HAVE TO BE ON HIS GAME HERE AT DARLINGTON? "In this
series, you have to be on your game everywhere. It doesn't matter where we
are anymore. We had an awfully good handling car, and I think I overdrove it
a little. Ryan Pemberton and the guys wanted to make some changes on the car
and I wouldn't let them. I said, 'I know what I have. If I can just run a
.40 again, that will put us solidly in the field, and that's all we
really need to do.' I probably hurt us a little bit. We're still getting to
know each other. I'm really proud of this team and this Pontiac. I'm real
proud of that Hendrick engine. Man, that thing was smokin'!"

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Qualified 2nd: "That's
a great run for us  There's still a lot of guys yet to go and the track is
probably going to cool down a little bit, so hopefully that will keep us in
the top five. We picked up almost two tenths from practice to qualifying. We
didn't get to enjoy being on the pole very long before Ryan came out and
knocked us down, but we have a good car here and this is one of my best
tracks." MORE JOHNSON TO FOLLOW.

KEVIN LEPAGE, NO. 4 KODAK PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Qualified 41st: "We picked up
from what we did in practice, but it wasn't enough. We thought this Perfect
Touch Kodak Pontiac would be a little better than it was, but we made some
educated guesses. This is the first time I've worked with this team this
year and there are some new faces. We'll just see where it stacks up and
hopefully get ready for the race on Sunday."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Qualified 12th:
"I wasn't real happy with my lap. We really struggled all day to get the car
comfortable. We think we're going to be great in race trim, but we're just
really loose. I didn't expect to run a .30 even, so I guess I ought to be
happy that we ran a .30. We might lose a lot of spots here at the end of
qualifying." WHAT DOES THE LAST LABOR DAY RACE HERE MEAN TO YOU? "Well,
everything changes. Whether you like it or not, things are going to change,
people come and go, places come and go. It's just something you have to get
used to in life, no matter where you're at or who you are. To hear that they
're going to put lights up, that would be pretty cool to race here under the
lights."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Qualified 18th:
"Boy, it was hot out there, and it seems like it's getting hotter. It wasn't
a bad lap, but it could have been better. I stayed in the gas too long in
Turn 2 and had to let off just a touch so I didn't hit the wall. That made
me miss my exit because I had to breathe the throttle. It's tough going out
first here because the track gets so much faster as qualifying goes on. I
should have run a .30, which would probably have put us in the top 10. Now,
we'll probably end up with a top-20 start."

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 GIVE KIDS THE WORLD/TIDE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: Qualified
8th: "You would think that it would be harder to get a hold of the track,
but it doesn't quite make sense. Everybody speeded up and we speeded up a
little bit, but when the 12 car runs a 29.09, you know we can do it. It got
me in a little bit of trouble, because I drove fairly deep into Turn 3, like
I thought we needed to to win the pole, and I just lost it. Turns 3 and 4
did not have the grip that Turns 1 and 2 did. All in all, we're going to
start better than we did in the spring, which resulted in some pretty good
hardware. I'm looking forward to it."

TERRY LABONTE POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE:

TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN. "It was a good run for us. Our car was good off the
truck and we had some pretty good practice runs. We made about three runs
and then made a practice qualifying run. We made some more adjustments and
got it ready to qualify. It's just typical Darlington. You make two or three
runs and hope you can get it right before qualifying."

IF YOU WERE TALKING TO A ROOKIE, WHAT DO YOU SAY TO MAKE HIM LEARN HOW HARD
THIS PLACE IS TO DRIVE? "I don't know. I haven't talked to a rookie in a
long time. When I was a rookie and came here the first time, it's changed a
lot since then. You used to have to pass a rookie test and there was a
rookie meeting and all this. I never will forget.I went in this little room
there and Cale Yarborough was in there along with four or five of us that
were rookies. I was driving Billy Hagan's car. They had made a video of the
previous Southern 500, the highlights of all the things not to do. The car I
was driving was the highlight of the video. At the time, I decided the
biggest goal was not to make next year's video. It's a place where if you
run 500 miles, if you run the whole race and don't hit the wall, you're
pretty lucky. It's pretty easy to get in trouble here."

DOES IT MATTER TO YOU WHEN YOU RUN DARLINGTON, OR DOES CHANGING THE DATE
TAKE SOME OF THE TRADITION AWAY? "Yeah, I think it takes tradition away from
Darlington, the Southern 500. It's the oldest track and this race has been
here for a long time. This is how it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be
hot and the track's slick and everything. This is a perfect Darlington
weekend. I'm one of the ones that hates to see it leave."

THERE WAS A CERTAIN CHARM AND MYSTIQUE ABOUT WINNING THE RACE ON LABOR DAY
MONDAY. YOU DID IN 1980. TALK ABOUT THAT. "For years we came down here and
the race was on Monday. We'd come down here on Thursday and race on Monday.
Everybody would have Sunday off, the garage wasn't even open. That was a
little different. Then they switched it to Sunday, and that was OK. It's
going to seem different coming down here in November. It's just a race that
a lot of times, if you stay out of trouble you'll have a good finish. The
first race I ran here, we finished fourth. I remember riding around  and I
couldn't believe all the cars that got torn up during the race. Some of them
take care of themselves. The key to finishing well here is first you have to
finish. It really isn't much different today. It's still a tough track, the
cars go awful fast and the track's awful slick. It's easy to get caught up
in somebody else's wreck."

YOUR SOUTHERN 500 VICTORY CAME AT THE EXPENSE OF DAVID PEARSON. THAT WAS
CONSIDERED QUITE AN UPSET AT THE TIME. "We were coming for the white flag
and headed into Turn 1 and we hit oil. I was running third or fourth, and
David hit the wall and I think Benny Parsons, myself and Earnhardt, we got
through. Benny hit the wall too. I got by Earnhardt and I beat David back
off Turn 4 to take the white and the caution."

ARE THE PATCHES IN THE TURNS ALL RIGHT? "It's pretty rough. It was pretty
rough before and the patch is just as rough as it was. I'm not sure exactly
why they patched it."

DOES THIS SURFACE MAKE THE CAR FEEL LIKE IT'S SKATING ON ICE? "If you're
running more than one lap, it feels that way. The track, the asphalt, is
just real porous and it really wears the tires. You slide a lot on it. Tire
wear is as bad as any place we go, and it's due to the asphalt and the
condition that it's in. But it's been that way for a long time. I don't
think they can make a tire that wouldn't fall off. It's just like running a
cheese grater over that tire."

DOES THE FACT THAT THIS TRACK EATS TIRES CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY? "We talked
about that before we ever went out on the track. I said, 'well, one thing
about it, we don't have to worry about whether to get two tires, four tires,
just gas, whatever. You're going to get four every time here.' That's the
way it should be. You can throw all that other stuff out the window that
takes place 90 percent of the time anymore."

JIMMIE JOHNSON POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE:

TAKE US THROUGH YOUR LAP. "This is a great effort for the Lowe's team. This
has been a track that I've always raced well at and qualified well at, going
back to the Busch Series and coming here in the Winston Cup Series. I'm very
excited about today and everything we did. I was so close to Ryan. I left a
little on the table in Turn 4 getting back in the gas. I didn't realize it
until after I had gotten into the gas. I thought, 'man, there was just a
little bit there.' It ended up being that all I needed was just a little
bit. Everybody can go through and say that on their laps. I'm very happy.
Track position is very important here and we're doing the right things by
starting second."

YOU HEAR THE OLD VETERANS TELLING THESE WAR STORIES. DO YOU YOUNGER DRIVERS
APPRECIATE OF WHAT THEY WENT THROUGH? "I think there's a mixed bag on that.
There are a lot of things that went on when I was up to six years old that
there's no way I can appreciate or remember. I know the names, know who they
are and respect what they've done, but some of that is before my time. To
hear the stories, that's amazing stuff. In the future, with where Winston
Cup racing is going, the names and drivers that are here, the stories will
be relative down the road. That's why our sport is as strong as it is,
because it doesn't matter if it was 25 years ago or today. Look at what
happened with Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven here earlier this year. You're
going to have great racing."

DO YOU THINK TRADITION MEANS THAT MUCH OR IS IT JUST ANOTHER RACE? "From my
perspective, Labor Day and all these other holidays we have, I've kind of
forgotten about in general, with the schedule that we have. Not being here
and not racing on Monday as they did in the past. Being a part of the
Southern 500 as the veterans have, it doesn't have the same thing to the
younger guys that are coming into the sport. We just haven't had the chance
to be around it and to be a part of it. It's not that we don't respect it,
it's just we've not been around it enough to form that respect. I do respect
everything about this track and the minute you let your guard down, it's
going to eat you up. That's what we all know about the place."

YOU AND RYAN HAVE BEEN FREQUENT RIVALS THROUGH YOUR ROOKIE YEAR AND PRETTY
GOOD FRIENDS NOW. IS THERE A RIVALRY? "I think there's a rivalry between all
of us out there. I think it's neat when you have different guys that you get
along with, you can hang out with and race side-by-side with and have a good
time racing and being competitive and having that rivalry. Ryan and I have a
little more defined rivalry due to the fact that we both ran for Raybestos
Rookie of the Year last year. It's a little more defined in that respect. He
's tough and is going to be tough for a long time. We're very close in age
and we're going to be a thorn in each other's side for a long time."

ARE THE PATCHES IN THE CORNERS ROUGH? "It's pretty similar. Jeff [Gordon]
went out and made a race run and he said that where the patches were, there
was grip to be found there. You'll slide into the corner with a certain
handle on the car and knowing where you're going to end up. Then you drive
across this patch that has a bunch of grip and it grabs the car and turns it
away from the wall. He said that it was a handful, real loose. You have the
car set up, and your line and your rhythm set up for one thing and then you
hit the patch, get a lot of grip and it's upsetting the car a lot."

LABOR DAY WEEKEND NEXT YEAR WILL BE AT A TRACK NEAR YOUR HOME. WHAT DO YOU
THINK ABOUT THAT? "I haven't really thought about that, to be honest with
you. The way the schedule goes and what goes on and holidays that come and
go, I really don't pay any attention to it. It's just another race weekend
and I'm going to have to be on a long flight to the West Coast just like
everybody else."

HOW SLICK IS IT? "You're driving at the edge of traction the whole time, and
we could be doing that at 100 miles per hour or 190. It's a challenge to us.
We have our hands full inside the car. Being on this track versus another
track, it is more work here because the tires fall off so much. The thing
that carries over is the consistency and how long the car stays fast. You
feel like you're going 300 miles per hour and you're really running half the
speed you were at the beginning."