Chevy Notes - 125 Qual. Race Notes

       

CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES 

GATORADE 125 #1

DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

February 12, 2004

 

SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 10 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Everybody is complaining 
about the right front (tire). It's hard to really get the car freed up enough. 
We've made a lot of changes, but we're just going to have to get more drastic 
for the 500. I thought we were going to be in trouble because it seemed like 
the car was pretty good on new tires. I knew if it wasn't free at all in the 
beginning, but was going to get pretty tight. Everybody fell to the high side 
trying to save the tires. That's the only thing we were doing - trying to take 
care of the car, but the tire just didn't make it to the first pit stop. 
Nobody likes blowing out a tire, but at the same time it gives some of the 
battle back into the driver's hands. It's not just who can hold it wide open 
and have the best car. We had a good car. Our Bud Shootout car is not as good, 
but it's okay. We've learned a whole lot, obviously, about how much we just 
really need to free the car up and make it better for the 500. This is definitely
not the good first impression that we wanted to have with the No. 10 Chevy."

ROBBIE LOOMIS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "Handling is 
going to be exciting, that's for sure. We got in that accident on pit road and 
it kind of dented in the grill. From there we just ran hot. (WHAT HAPPENED ON 
PIT ROAD?) "It looked to me like Kasey Kahne just about missed his pit. 
He was out on the outside. When he realized it, he slammed on the brakes and 
got into us."

TONY EURY JR., NO., 8 CHEVROLET CAR CHIEF: "We still have a lot of 
work to do. That wasn't the best performance by the Budweiser crew, but we're 
going to do better and maybe we can get this 500. (DID YOU MAKE A LOT OF 
CHANGES ON YOUR PIT STOP?) "Yeah, we made a lot of major changes. The car was 
really tight. I had to make a lot of changes. You've got to be free here with 
this tire situation the way it is. He did a good job to hold him (Tony Stewart)
off."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We didn't have a second
place car, but we got it up there. These guys aren't going to quit working on 
this thing. We're going to keep making it better. This car drove good. That's 
what's beating these guys. We aren't beating them under the hood. These guys 
have worked really hard on this chassis and on this body of this car to make it 
go good. A lot of guys are having to lift and a lot of guys are having to run 
in places where we don't normally run here, which is making it fun. We actually 
have to drive these cars for once instead of just riding them around like we've 
done in the past. The good drivers are going to get themselves to the front."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "It's hard to pass the leader.
The cars are pushing so bad. Everybody is real right. I was running on the top 
just in case the right front (tire) blew out so I wouldn't have too far to go 
before I hit anything. I knew when we got new tires that if I was going to get 
past Michael (Waltrip) I was going to have to do it real fast. I couldn't waste
time and get behind him. I was real lucky there to be able to get under him after
the tri-oval there, and he got backed up behind Jeff (Gordon). I had a great car. 
I've just got to be out front. Hopefully we can win the 500."

(ON THE PASS FOR THE LEAD) "I thought Michael (Waltrip) was going to shove me 
below the line and I might have dipped the tire under there. He kind of blocked 
me just a little bit but he moved back up when he saw I was there and gave me 
the lane back. It was kind of hard to set him up. I'd been trying to set him up 
for four or five laps and I couldn't get anybody pushing behind me to get a good
run at him. He's got as good a car as I do. I got lucky there when he got behind
that lapped car of Jeff Gordon. Jeff was nice enough to let me go there after a 
few laps. Once I had clean air on the front of my car I knew it was going to be 
a bad day for the rest of them because that's how it was for me when I was back
there."

(IS YOUR CAR THAT MUCH STRONGER THAN TONY STEWART'S?) "I think I've got an 
awesome car. It's the best car here. But I don't care how good your car is. 
If you're not in clean air, you can't do nothing. Hopefully we have a better 
race on Sunday. Everybody was just kind of hanging out. We couldn't really 
set each other up or work around each other much."  

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "A good handling car will 
pay dividends on Sunday. We had a really strong car. It handled well and I was 
really pleased with it." 

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - finished 2nd  - 
Comments from the media center: "Even if we had guys behind us, we weren't 
going to get by the No. 8 (Dale Jr). He was the tough today. He was by far 
the class of the field again. We've been so slow all week, it's nice just 
to get in the top two here. You've got to rely on so many people to do anything 
here, that it's hard. Today, we're finally seeing a situation where handling is
 coming pack into the equation. Guys who have good driving cars and who are 
figuring out how to get runs on people can actually pass and do something with 
them."

(WITH THE TIRES AND THE HANDLING, WILL THE PACKS SPREAD OUT?) "Yes, definitely.
I think we saw it today in this 125. It'll be interesting to see what happens 
in the next (125 qualifying) race what happens. I think we're finally in a 
situation where guys can race. I think it'll separate the track to where we can
actually race each other instead of feeling like we're at the mercy of air and 
horsepower. We actually get to race here. I'm somewhat excited for the rest of 
the week. I still don't feel like I'm in any better position today than I was 
yesterday as far as our situation with our team. At least for the race, the 
drivers can actually drive and decide who wins the race by who out drives whom.
Finally. That was evident in that first race."

 
(WHAT MAJOR CHANGES DID YOU MAKE FOR THE CAR TODAY?) "You've go to keep in mind
that during practice, you can pull in whenever your car starts feeling bad and 
let them work on it. Here, you've got to run what you've got. The guys who can 
drive what they've got --  even though it may not be right and can figure out 
how to make it work for them - are the guys who got to the front today. Guys 
who have to rely on aerodynamics and horsepower are the guys who struggled. 
It's nice to see that guys actually have to drive here to win this race again.

"I was just trying to get in the top 14, let alone have a shot at getting up 
to second. Once we got about 10 laps into the run, it was plain to see that 
guys were struggling with handling. We did too on the first run. It's just a 
matter of who wants it bad enough and who can figure out how to make their car
do something it doesn't want to do. We just stuck with it and ended up second."

(HAVE YOU FOUND MORE HORSEPOWER?) "They're probably working 16 hour shifts back
at Joe Gibbs Racing to try and get us more power. We weren't any better today. 
We had the same combination today that we had in practice yesterday. Today we 
didn't have the luxury of coming in and pitting every 10 laps to work on your 
car. You had to stay out there in the heat and make do with what you had. The 
guys who could drive them got to the front."

DALE EARNHARDT JR, NO. 8 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Race winner - 
Comments from the Media Center: "It was hard for anybody to get the lead. Once 
you got it, you could keep it real easy. The cars were just real tight. From 
second on back, you would just push real bad behind the leader. I told Tony 
(Eury) Jr. to just do all he could to get the car as loose as he possibly could
 for that second run so I could try to pass."

(HOW HAS THE HANDLING FACTOR CHANGED THIS RACE NOW?) "You really can't run as 
hard as you want. I knew the right front tire was going to blow on somebody's 
car before we got to the end of the fuel run because of how bad the tires were 
wearing out in practice. Being hotter today and us being out there in race 
conditions was just a little harder on the tire under those circumstances. 
And sure enough, somebody's tire blew out. Tony Jr. made some changes and they 
were pretty good but the car was still pretty tight. I just lifted every corner."

 
(ON THE POST-RACE COMMENTS BETWEEN TONY EURY JR. AND MICHAEL WALTRIP) "Well, 
they're both real funny. I don't get too involved in it. I'll just tell you as 
honest as I can tell you. With this tire and how tight everybody is behind the 
leader, me and Michael can't sit there and say all right we're going to team up
 and go around everybody. Michael made a decision early in the race to go to 
the bottom. At one point I was thinking we've got a pit stop to go and he could
 just sit here and push the right front off of me. But he made the decision. 
He wanted to go up there and try to take the lead. And he made the decision 
to win the race. He's got a team back at the shop just like I do - not to help
 people, but to go win - just like I do. I got a lesson in that a couple of 
years. When it came time I decided to try to pass Michael if I could. And I 
got an opportunity. I got a run. There was a hole. I went under him and made 
a good pass on him. I wasn't happy about him leaving me by myself, but I know 
he wasn't happy that I went to pass him.  

"But with this combination, if I'd have sat behind him and run behind him for 
the rest of the race, I'd have gotten so tight that I would have probably lost
second place - maybe more than that. And it was either battle tooth and nail 
for second on through fifth or whatever, or go for the win. I knew as soon as 
my car got out front nobody could get by. I knew how it was to run second. I 
knew it was impossible back there. They'll argue. It's just common-place for 
Michael and Tony Jr. to argue. When you run two smart-asses into each other 
head-on, they're liable to go off on each other."

 
(WILL THIS SITUATION CARRY OVER TO SUNDAY - NOT BECAUSE OF MICHAEL WALTRIP AND 
TONY EURY JR. BUT BECAUSE OF THE TIRE?) "On that other tire where we could just
run forever, now you can't help each other. You're not really helping anybody. 
You're just trying to turn and not push into the wall. When I was running high 
and Burton was behind me, he really couldn't help me go anywhere. He was having
to lift and he was having to lift. I was lifting leading. That's how tight it
was. Tony Stewart told my spotter if I would give me a foot to get some clean 
air on the left front of my car and move up a little bit, I'll stay right here.
Which basically meant that if you don't I'm going to do whatever I can because
he's making me so tight I can't stand it. It's pretty tough right now with this
package we've got. The tire is not a good tire. Imagine if we had full fuel cells.
This would be awful. I couldn't imagine it. Everybody would be bouncing off the
fence."

 (IS THIS GOING TO BE A DRIVERS RACE?) "Maybe its not as bad as I think it is. 
In that second run, I just decided I was going to lift even if I can run 
wide-open so I could be as easy as I could on that right front tire. 
I lifted from the drop of that green flag to the end of the race. We're 
all so used to running wide open around here. But maybe you've got to lift. 
Maybe that's going to be part of racing at plate tracks. I'm complaining 
because I want it to be a lot easier, I guess. Maybe I shouldn't complain
so much. But it's fun having a challenge like that. Some guy is worse than 
you are. That's one thing that you don't think about. There are some guys 
in the field who are having worse problem than you are. It's just a huge 
difference from how these cars drove here last year."

(WILL IT COME DOWN TO THE TALENT OF THE DRIVER ON SUNDAY?) "The driver 
can only do so much with a car that won't turn. I can't tell you that it 
would make a bigger difference. Now you can hardly hang on to the bottom 
line. You're not going to see that racing like you say in the Bud Shootout 
because it's too hot today. If it's cool during the 500, you might see some 
better racing. But it's too hot for these tires. The 500 is just going to 
be a bunch of guys hanging on to the cords of the tire."

(DID YOU GET SATISFACTION FROM THIS VICTORY WITH ALL THAT YOU HAD TO DO?) "Yeah,
it wasn't that big of a deal. We just passed Michael (Waltrip). We're just not 
as excited as we were last year. We're back again with the same car and we feel
 like we just need to concentrate on winning the 500. The only thing that I'm 
excited about is that I just got one step closer to winning more races than my 
daddy ever did here."

  (WAS THERE A POINT THAT CHANGED THINGS REGARDING HOOKING UP WITH MICHAEL WALTRIP?) 
"There was one point in the race where I was running the top. Michael and two 
other guys were up front. I was so tight, I couldn't run directly behind them 
because the air was too dirty. I started running the top to get clean air on 
the nose of my car. I was starting to make up some ground. But none of us was 
going to run up there and pass the leader. Michael started running the top and 
took all the air and I told him to just pick one lane or the other. That's what
that was all about."

(HOW DOES THIS TIRE RUN WITH YOUR BUSCH SET-UP?) "I can't give you a good idea.
 You don't know until you've got 10 or 15 guys pushing you down in the corner 
about 5mph faster than you normally go into it by yourself. That's when you're 
seeing the tire wear is when we all get in the draft together and pick up a 
little more speed going into the corner and run those speeds consecutively. 
They do the tire test out here with two race cars. What sense does that make? 
When they took all the Busch cars to Talladega, maybe they should have brought 
them here and tire tested at the same time. I don't think they did a good job, 
in my opinion. I'd be glad to do the tire test for them if they want to."

(WHEN YOU RACED WITH JEFF GORDON EARLY IN THE RUN, DID YOU GET A CHANCE TO EVALUATE HIM?) "I can't 
recall running with him that much. As far as the concentration level out there,
 you can only fit so many laps in your memory bank. I forgot all but maybe the 
last three laps."

(MORE ON THE TIRES) "Basically we all got what we were wishing for. We complained 
all last year. Maybe that's just the drivers. We complain about everything. 
Until you give us a car that will basically just drive itself, we'll all 
complain. The racing was easier and it wasn't any better. You can pass a 
little more. They put a little larger spoiler on the rear of the cars that 
we've never run here. The last Talladega race was the first time we ran it.
 That gives you a better closing rate and you're able to draft up on the guy
 in front of you and pass him. You can pass the leader a lot better than you
 could with the other package. We just need a better tire. That's not to say 
that this tire is a poorly made tire. It's just not the tire we need here today. 
It might be a great tire for the 400 because it seemed to do pretty decent with
 the Shootout at night. But I think they went just a little bit too far when they
 changed the tire.

(WILL THE DRIVERS HAVE TO DO MORE?) "When the tires start to go away and the car
starts to push around or slide around, the driver starts to do a lot more than
he normally does as far as letting off. He's setting himself up for a better 
exit or entrance. He's trying to change the poor handling by moving around. 
So the driver has more to do and is more involved in making a better lap time. 
But at the same time, when the car won't turn the car won't turn. So it doesn't 
matter how good you are if you're stuck behind some guys late in the race on
old tires. I don't know what amount of magic would take the guy into the lead." 

 
(AFTER TODAY'S RACE, WHAT CHANCE DO YOU GIVE YOURSELF ON SUNDAY?) "I feel like 
today we made some things happen on the race track to give that some substance 
as far as claiming to be the favorite of the race. But Michael (Waltrip) has 
won two out of the last three and I feel like he's at the top of the list No 
matter what happens during the rest of Speedweeks. He had a great car and he 
could have just as easily have won that race as anybody else. That was maybe 
more of a mental error - if an error at all. That was more mental than any 
kind of car vs. car thing out there today. He just left a small hole open that 
he probably would have wished he'd have covered up. That didn't have anything 
to do with one car being better than another. I think he's got a great race car.
His is as good as mine. I couldn't tell you which one is the better of the two.
I'd like to think mine is. If you put my car out front, it's a beast.  But I'm 
just the same as everybody else from second on back trying to pass the leader. 

"When I was out front, my car just took off. Normally when you get pushed into 
the lead, you try to lift a little bit so you don't get so far out front that 
they just mow you right over. But it maintained its speed. That's one thing 
that car has always been good at. When it gets a run, it keeps it a little 
longer. That's what we can't seem to find in the Shootout car that we ran 
earlier this week."
 

WARD BURTON, NO 0, CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:  "The Chevrolet was 
really tight.  I was as good as the 15 car, but I had to get out of the throttle
going into the corner and getting off and that hurt us.  We lost a couple of 
spots there in the last two laps because the car was pushing so bad."

JOHNNY SAUTER, NO 30, CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:  "The Chevrolet
was good after the pit stop.   I really learned a lot for Sunday.  The bottom 
is only good for about 15 laps, and then the top is way better.  I tell you what;
 I really learned a ton for Sunday.  We're going to be real good for the 500.  
The Chevy was real fast at the end."
 

ROBBY GORDON, NO 31 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:  "We just got 
caught in a bad position behind the 4 car when they lost their motor and we 
couldn't get a break but it just was what it was.  We were a little tight and 
I don't think we had a car good enough to win this race but we just got 
ourselves in a bad place, which we can't do on Sunday.  The tires, I don't 
know but they are junk and they are junk because this is what NASCAR wanted, 
not because Goodyear brought a bad tire.  I just don't know if we have enough 
grip to run three wide and do the things we have to do.  It is important to 
get your car set up because it isn't going to be a horsepower race or an aero 
race as it has been in the past.

(ON THE FLAT TIRE) "Fortunately the tire popped when I touched the brakes to 
come down pit road it so that didn't set us back any more than we were but that
tells me the car was tight from the start. We will just have to be a little 
more prepared.  We will go back to the garage and do what we will need to do to 
the Chevrolet for Sunday.  It doesn't matter where you start
here, we're fine."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:  "It was either go or 
go home so we tried but we just got going so fast there.  It was a good day for
the GM Goodwrench car.  We just couldn't find anyone to help us along.  
I couldn't get by Elliott and we weren't going to settle for second, we were 
going to try and win it. If we start 8th or 10th, that's fine. 

(ON TIRE WEAR) "We didn't have any problems. We didn't have to let up all day. 
We had a really good handling car today.  I am just really excited about the 
500 because the GM Goodwrench car is really good. Just didn't want to sit there
and run second."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO 48 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:  I think that was the most 
strung out 125 than anyone's ever seen.  But inside the car now there is a lot 
more going on in the car, you have to drive it more like you would on a mile 
and half track.  You saw guys running by themselves.  We were one of the cars 
that could run the bottom by themselves and didn't need a drafting pushing us.
I was able to catch the guys in front of me.  Its nice having to control it a
little more from the drivers seat and not be in a big pack but then again you 
can't make any moves cause you don't have the energy of the pack with you.  
It was a great effort from the Lowe's team today.   

"In some ways having a good handling car hurt me 'cause I just could pull in 
the corner and pull away from Mark Martin and then we couldn't get to me and 
give me any push down the straightaway.  But I really predict you will see a 
race Sunday similar to what you saw in the 80s where cars were strung out and 
you could go down a lap just from handling. I have never been a part of or 
experienced anything like that here because we have always run in huge packs.   
And with a tire itself that gives up a lot more and the bigger spoiler on the 
restrictor plate tracks, it just aggravates that push and so before you know it,
you are three laps into the race and your front tires are beat up and you have 
to breathe it like you would on a mile and half track so its essentially a new 
game and is going to be about handling and not about drafting."