Chevy Race Notes - LVMS, Mar. 7

  

CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES 

UAW-DAIMLER CHRYSLER 400 RACE NOTES

LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

March 7, 2004

 

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 84 CARQUEST CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "We started off the race extremely tight and I touched the Turn 4 wall twice in those first few laps. The first time, I just nudged it, but I pretty much flat-sided it the second time. We were actually loose in practice, so I'm not sure how to explain it. I literally had my arms crossed, trying to make it turn and not go a lap down. It's not the way I wanted my first NEXTEL Cup race to play out, but we'll put it behind us and come back strong with the CARQUEST Chevy at Texas next month."

 

ON HIS HOMECOMING WEEK IN LAS VEGAS

"Overall, it was a great experience. Coming home to race in front of these fans was just awesome. They treated me so well all week, I just can't say enough. My family and I really appreciate everyone that came out to support us. I promise to give them a better show the next time around."

 

KEVIN LEPAGE, NO. 4 YOKE TV.COM CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"We were having a good day. We don't have motor failures and that was just a freak thing. We were in the top 15 all day long with the possibility of a top 10, so it was pretty disappointing. But little things like this we've just got to overcome and we'll be ready for them next week in Atlanta.

 

"I want to thank all the guys back at the shop. They just did a tremendous job. We struggled yesterday in both practices. We went home. We thought about it. We worked hard. We came in this morning and threw some ideas together and put them underneath this car. And this car was probably one of the best cars I've had with these guys in a long time. Something happened in the motor. We were just out there cruising basically until about 100 laps to go and picking them off one at a time. It's pretty disheartening when you run in the top 15 all day long. This proves to everybody in NASCAR-land that this No. 4 team is back."

 

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - finished 3rd:

"The tire that Goodyear brought has made this racing fun again. You can't go out and just run real hard. That's how we lost second (place) to Kasey Kahne there. I busted the tires off trying to get by (Kevin) Harvick. If I'd known he was going to run out of gas, I'd have taken it a little easier (laughs). I just busted the front tires off. But the car was pretty good all day.

 

"The hard thing is that we got so good so quick that we really don't know where we really need to be. We keep working on the car but every time these guys get a chance to come in and pit it gives them a chance to get caught up to us. But nobody could catch Matt Kenseth today. He was awesome. 

 

"I was pretty happy with the Home Depot team. When we came and tested here, we were pretty discouraged when we left. We tested really bad. It was just one of those days when we needed to be a little better than what we were earlier in the race. We didn't really get lazy, we just really didn't know how much we could go with the car. The day kept going on and we just kept getting a little tighter and tighter. All in all it was a good day. 

 

"To be honest, with the race we had at Rockingham we really needed a good week here. This just keeps proving what I've known all along and that's this team is always able to rebound and come back."

 

IS ROUSH'S DOMINANCE HERE AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY SIMILAR TO DEI'S AT DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA?

"I think if you look at different teams throughout the year, there are different tracks that guys are just really good at. Matt Kenseth has always been very strong here at Vegas. We were in a similar mode when we'd go to Richmond and Dover. But there are different teams that find different packages that work for them really well when they get to certain venues. This is one place where Matt and Robby (Riser, crew chief) always have a good package for and they just keep making it better and better. It's just up to all the other teams to try and find out what we've got to do to get caught up to them."

 

FROM YOUR TEST HERE IN JANUARY, DID YOU THINK YOUR CAR WOULD BE BETTER, AS GOOD, OR WHAT?

"I'll tell you, I was nervous - especially with the way we ran at Rockingham. I didn't worry about it too much until we ran Rockingham. When we tested bad here and then had a bad weekend at Rockingham, I was really nervous coming into this weekend. 

      

"I didn't know if it was something we were missing or what.  So that's why this race was so important to us to rebound from Rockingham and to answer questions about whether there was something in our package that we're missing or if it was just a bad race at Rockingham. I think there is a little weight lifted off the team's shoulders now - knowing we just missed it at Rockingham.  We still don't know what it was we had going on there, but we just missed it for that week. It gives us some confidence now that two out of three races we finished in the top three twice and that we just had a weird day at Rockingham. Now we're pumped up and getting ready for Atlanta. After a good day here today, it gives us a lot to look forward to at Atlanta because we normally go really fast at Atlanta also."

 

NOW THAT THE WEEKEND IS OVER, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW RULE PACKAGE?

"I think I'm going to wait one more week for sure to know. This track has always been a track where the tires give up. I felt like I could race better with guys today than I was able to do in the past. It used to be that you could only get up so close and you were done. There was just nothing you could do. Today you could move around on the race track a little more. You could do things driving-wise to keep yourself close. There were still times when Matt (Kenseth) had a straightaway lead on us and we had half-a-straightaway lead on third. But as far as the guys in the pack, it seemed like you saw guys all day in groups there were a lot closer than what we've seen here with the other tires. I think the package is working. I think we're really going to get our first true test of it in Atlanta. At this track, the performance of the tires has typically fallen off anyway. My gut feeling is that our package is better and it's going to make the racing better for the fans and they're going to actually get to see us actually be able to race and not have to worry about fuel mileage."

 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"We had a really good car until that incident in the pits (with Kevin Lepage). From there, we just had to keep working on the car and working our way back as best as we could. We'll be okay. We just really need to get it into first gear. It seems like with Rockingham and then now here, we've had a lot of little things take place. But it's a very long season. Last year in the middle of the season, we had some hiccups. And the year before that, we had them at the end of the season. So that stage comes along for all the teams - if you can just make a decent day out of it, that's the thing you try to do. We finished 16th today and that's decent. If we can build on that from there, we'll be okay. We just can't have any more DNF's."

 

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: 

"What can you say?  We had a top five car and we finished 21st. I can't believe we ran out of gas with that many laps to go. We need to throw out our computers that figure that stuff and start over. We had a great run going with awesome pit stops but all that is for nothing because we ran out of gas. It's frustrating and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

 

TODD BERRIER, CREW CHIEF, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET:

IS THE RULES PACKAGE WORKING?

"I don't know. I'd have to go back and re-watch this race from a year ago. But I think it's pretty atypical for this race. It seemed to me that you could pass. The fall off on the tires wasn't a terrible thing. It's still going to come to gas mileage again.  We knew we were going to be short, regardless. There isn't anything we could do about that. We just run out. But we were coming in on that same lap. We were just half-a-lap short. I don't know why all the rest of them could make it and we couldn't. So we've got to re-figure some things."

 

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"I'm not sure what happened out there at the end. Something gave up at the end, and it felt we went from an 1/8th of an inch of tow to 2 inches of tow. We had a great car throughout most of the day, it was just at the end that we started fading. Still, it was a good day for the Interstate Batteries Chevrolet. We got our first top 10 of the season, so we've got something to built on for Atlanta, where we've had a lot of success."

 

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"Yeah, it's really disappointing. We were about a second off the pace, no matter what we did. I know it's going to be a black Monday at the shop, but I also know we're going to do an awful lot of laps in testing this week at Kentucky (Speedway) to figure out what was wrong. 

 

"We've always been good at Atlanta, so we should be OK. I mean, we started last year with two finishes like this and came back strong the rest of the year. Yeah - we should have tested here, but it's too late now. I know we're going to do what we can to figure out what we need to do to correct whatever was wrong."

 

ROBBIE LOOMIS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"All in all, we felt like our car was really off. We had kind of been behind the eight ball since qualifying. We adjusted the car and we got a lot better. We actually felt real good about the race car about three-quarters through (the race). And at the end, our car just fell off something terrible. I don't know, there seem to be a lot of inconsistencies out here. We've got some things going on shock-wise that probably hurt us. And I think with these new tires, you're not going to be able to abuse them as much as we have."

 

ON THE SPOILER:

"We couldn't carry the entry speed like some of those guys. I think that's where a lot of them were quite a bit better than us was carrying the speed into the corners and still getting the car to turn in the middle. So we've definitely got some work to do on this Dupont Chevrolet. But all in all, we feel good about it."

 

WILL THAT BE A PROBLEM GOING INTO ATLANTA?

"I think it'll definitely be interesting. Obviously some of the cars were pretty good. The No. 20 car did a great job of getting up there. We've got to get to work on being the best Chevrolet out there."

 

ON MATT KENSETH:

"I'll tell you what, they've finally got some motor. Kenseth is real good at getting the car driving good. All the years he ran without motor, he had to make it handle good and now he's got motor and it drives good."