Chevy Notes - Daytona 500 2004 Qualifying

  

CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES 

DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING

DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

February 8, 2004

 

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (PRE-QUALIFYING REMARKS) "It's real windy right now, and chances are that the wind's going to die down near the end of qualifying. So I don't know if we'll do real well. But you never know so we'll just go out there and run and see what we end up with I ain't really too worried about it. It's going to be real tough to get the pole. The best thing you can hope for is just to get into the 125s. I'd like to get the pole. But I don't know if were the best car here in qualifying. We've never run that great in qualifying at plate tracks except last year. So if we get lucky and get on the front row, great."

 

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (POST-QUALIFYING REMARKS) "We're pretty happy with the lap. It's just a little windy out there. Tony Jr. and the guys did a good job on the car, and that's all you can do, you know, is build a race car and take it out here and see how it works out. Hopefully the wind doesn't die down for them guys at the end of the line and everybody's got the same disadvantage "

 

KEVIN LEPAGE, NO. 4 YOKETV.COM CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO "It's pretty disappointing to come here for testing and then two good days of practice and then get up this morning and see, I'd guess about 40 mph winds in our face coming out of turn two. But my hat's off for the guys at the engine shop that built the motor for this YOKE TV Chevrolet Monte Carlo. What an off-season going in without a major sponsor. We were able to put it together to come here, be in the top 10 in both practices we had yesterday. 

 

"All we're looking for right now is a top 10 start here as far as where we end up in qualifying. But it's about 250 rpm we lost going down the backstretch compared to what we did down the straightaway. But we've got a good little Monte Carlo here, so we'll see what happens next week."

 

SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO "I thought the wind was blowing pretty hard. That's the only bad thing. But that's about where we anticipated the Valvoline Chevrolet to be. We thought we'd probably be somewhere around mid-pack, and that's probably where we'll wind up. Now the only thing we need to concentrate on is making sure the car sucks up well in the draft, and we can race our way close to the front of the 500."

 

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We lost a little bit of rpm because of the wind, but that's part of it." 

 

(HOW MUCH DO YOU AND DALE JR. PLAN AHEAD REGARDING WORKING TOGETHER IN THE 125'S?) "We don't even know if we're going to be in the same 125's so we don't talk about anything. When we ran one-two last at Talladega last September, I don't even think we said hello during the weekend. We kind of get on our own agendas and we're there to race our cars. We understand the job and how to be successful at the job and there's really not a whole lot to say about it."

 

MIKE SKINNER, NO. 33 RCR CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We've been pretty slow ever since we got here. But Richard (Childress) said that Johnny (Sauter) used this car in drafting practice here and the car drafted real well. But they've never been able to get any speed out of this car for a qualifying run. So we'll take that and see where we line up in the 125's and try to race our way in this thing."

 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Everybody slowed up two or three tenths and we it happened to us as well (due to the wind). But it was a great effort. We're definitely trying to go faster. We're also focusing a little more on the 500 and on the downforce of the car for the 500. We would have loved to be on the pole and be on the front row and not have to worry about the 125's, but that's not the way it turned out."

 

(IT SEEMED LIKE JEFF GORDON STRUGGLED WITH QUALFIYING. WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE HENDRICK CARS RIGHT NOW?) "I think there must have been something wrong with Jeff to have the time that he's getting. Our time will hopefully get a top 15 with it, but we just slowed down like everybody else did."

 

(ON THE COOL AND WINDY WEATHER) "It's cooler so the engine is going to run better. I don't know how fast the wind is blowing, but it's got to be 20 or 30mph. When I came off of Turn 2, I watched the rpm drop almost 200 rpm just down the back straightaway alone. So it's pretty strong."

 

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 TIDE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO (WITH THE HEADWIND GOING DOWN THE BACKSTRETCH, WHEN YOU COME INTO THE TRI-OVAL DOES IT HELP OR DOES IT JUST BALANCE OUT?) "I think it balances out for everyone. So it's a tradeoff."

 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO "We're really disappointed right now. I'm not sure what really happened. We just went through the room there and our heights and everything were really good. We're pretty much baffled right now. We expected to lose two-tenths. But we were running better first laps yesterday than what we were running there. Wait until we get the car back and really look at the transmission, gear and engine. Obviously something happened. I didn't see much rpm and I knew it wasn't a very good lap while I was running. And I knew it even slowed down, or didn't pick up at all, on the second lap. So, it's pretty disappointing."

 

(HOW DIFFICULT IS THE WORK YOU HAVE AHEAD OF YOU FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS?) "Now the work gets easy. That was the hard work - getting prepared to do those two laps. It's nice to get a good starting position for the 125's, but it really doesn't mean anything. We've got a great team and a great race car --- especially out there on the track as well as it handles and drives. I'm really looking forward to getting that car in the race and working our way through there in the 125's. The nice thing about Daytona is that if you don't qualify well, you've got that qualifying race to get you a good starting position. 

 

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO "Yeah, I made a good lap there. I had a good car there, and I did everything I could, and it was a good lap for us, and we'll race hard in the 125." 

 

(LAST NIGHT ON THE WHITE FLAG YOU WERE LEADING THE BUD SHOOTOUT WITH ONE LAP TO GO. IS THAT THE PLACE YOU WANT TO BE?)  If I had it to do over again, I'd do it the same way. So you run second and I'll run first and we'll see how the percentages fall; I think a 50-50 shot, and the outside lane was just a little bit faster."

 

JOHN ANDRETTI, NO. 1 POST/MAXWELL HOUSE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO "When you come here to qualify you just never know what you're going to get. It might be a good lap and it might not be such a good lap. That wasn't such a good lap, so, I'm disappointed. But I'm not disappointed in the work that the team has done. For everybody who doesn't run what they want, they say 'We'll get 'em in the 125.' So, that's what I'll say."

 

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC FINANCIAL SERVICES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO "The team did a great job. I'm real proud of them. The Chevy pulled well on the backstretch. They made a gear selection that I think worked out and kept my speed up in that head wind. But all in all I'm real proud of the guys. We had a couple of problems in practice. But they never gave up. They worked through it, and we got out there and had a good car in qualifying."

 

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "I'm kind of disappointed for the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet. We ran that 47.9 yesterday morning and we put the car away. We thought we would easily come back and run a 70 or faster. The guys on the Cingular Wireless team worked really hard over the winter time, so we'll take it and hopefully come out stronger next year."

 

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "It's kind of disappointing, obviously, for these two laps of qualifying. But last night in the Bud Shootout we ran pretty good. So we'll just see how it does in race trim and we'll go from there."

 

(ON THE WIND) "I don't think the wind helped us a lot, but I don't think it hurt us that much either. We weren't that good yesterday in practice either. We just need to work on our qualifying program as far as getting the speed out of it. We need to get it better for Talladega, that's for sure."