Chevy Notes - Dover Qualifying, June 4

CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES 
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES 
MBNA 400 "A SALUTE TO HEROS" Qualifying Notes 
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY 
June 4, 2004 

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET (Qualified 3rd) 
"I'm satisfied.  I'd be happy if we were on the pole.  We were real close.  You have to have a perfect lap and set up to get a pole in this series.  The GMAC Chevy did a good job.  Ryan (Newman) did beat us.  I think he focused on qualifying all of practice.  We focused on race trim for half of practice.  That probably hurt us a bit right now but hopefully it will pay off at the end of 400 miles.  All in the all the GMAC Chevy No. 15 did a good job and we got another solid starting spot."


COMMENTS FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH BRIAN VICKERS, QUALIFIED 3RD AND FINISHED TOP ROOKIE 
  
(TAKE US THROUGH YOUR QUALIFYING RUN:) "It was a definitely a good lap for us. One thing that those guys probably got us on, and that was our choice to make, was they were in qualifying trim all day.  We ran seventy-five to eighty percent of practice in race trip.  We only got two laps in qualifying trim.  That obviously didn't help us in qualifying but hopefully it will pay off in the end 400 miles on Sunday.  That's what really counts and that's we wanted to focus on this week.  I'm happy with it.  The GMAC Chevy guys did a great job.  We're proud to be the top qualifying Chevy.  We'll take it and get a good pit stall for the race."


(DID YOU HAVE A SENSE DURING YOUR LAP THAT IT  WAS A TOP THREE RUN?)  "Coming off of turn four I asked Peter (Sospenzo - crew chief) how good was it since I thought it would be a good lap.  Mayfield had an awesome lap and a great job by those guys. (Jeremy) Mayfield and (Ryan) Newman spent pretty much of all practice in qualifying trim.  We spent eighty percent in race trim.  If we did the same we would have had a more legitimate spot at the pole."  


(ON RACING FOR RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR HONORS:) "Qualifying is really important.  This is our fourth top ten start in a row.  Qualifying has been going well for us.   We want to continue that momentum and focus more on the race this week. That's where it counts. All this stuff - the first practice lap, the qualifying, the happy hour, the 399 laps around the race track - it's all just to get to the last lap.  That's the bottom line. All the other ones are just to get there."


(ON HIS PERFORMANCE AND CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THE RACE:) "Yeah it definitely does (help my confidence).  I'm real proud of the team. They did a good job all day.  Being the top qualifying rookie means a lot.  When you can come in here and be the top qualifying rookie and also come in for third place, that's pretty cool.  We're proud of that.  I've always enjoyed coming here.  It's a lot of fun.  The Monster Mile is a great race track or the fans and drivers.  That's what makes it so neat.  It's a great combination. We got a win here last year in the GMAC car.  I like the race track. Hopefully we'll have just a good of a day Sunday."


MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET (Qualified 8th - Crashed on second lap coming into Turn 2) 
"I don't know what happened. I just lost it. It's really disappointing.  What are you going to do?  We'll get the back up car out. The car we're going to race now is the one that I finished tenth at Bristol. It's a good car. I'm disappointed I made that mistake."  NOTE:  Waltrip was examined and released from the track infield care center.  The team will revert to the backup care as a result of the crash.  Waltrip will drop to the back of the field prior to the start of the race.


JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET (Qualified 13th) 
"I do like this track.  I would like to have more time on the track.  We did some race runs this morning.  We made the right adjustments.  The car had been tight all day.  It was good, just not free enough."


JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET (Qualified 14th) 
"We worked on race practice.  We found some good things.  We didn't spend a lot of time on qualifying practice.  Right now we're at 12th.  We're not in the top ten, we were hoping to be better than that.  I think we'll be a lot better in the race."


  
COMMENTS FOLLOWING FIRST PRACTICE SESSION 
  
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET 
(ON PREPARING FOR THIS RACE:) "We've got a new tire.  The speeds change every time we come here.  We get more power and more downforce and the new tire. It's all about getting the car to work. It's all about the corners.  I felt like we were a little too tight in practice.  We're going to try and clean the car up to get the right balance."


(DOES IT MAKE IT EASIER COMING TO A TRACK YOU'VE HAD SUCCESS AT?)  "There's not many tracks we haven't run well at.  I'm excited about being here at Dover.  We ran well here last year. Jimmie ran well here last year.  We've got great notes, a good car and a great team right now.  I don't think it matters where we were going.  If we had to pick, Dover is one (track) we'd like to go to right now."


(ON WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEKEND:) "We had one bad weekend.  We've had so many good ones this year and the team has thrived on that.  We missed.  If anything it makes you pay attention to the details and make sure we've analyzed every single thing on the car before we race on Sunday.  We made some mistakes and we need to make sure they don't happen in the future.  We pride ourselves in being able to fight back and get back on top.  I'm really good at blocking out what happened last week and the team is as well.  I'm very confident we can come here and run good."


(DID YOU FIND ANYTHING WITH THE CAR AT THE SHOP:) "Nothing major, maybe a few minor things.  For the most part we were too loose.  We didn't have the ability and time to work on the car to make it better.  When we did and got it better, we lost all the track position."  


(WILL YOU THROW THE CAR AWAY?) "It's the car we won California with, so no. We missed. It happens.  It happened to (Dale) Jr. this year as well. You don't get down, you look back at all the great runs you had to get back on track."


(ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS AND JIMMIE JOHNSON'S CAR AT THE COCA COLA 600:) "You have to understand how the set ups work.  If you don't understand that, then it's easy to say they should be identical every time.  We bring the best car we can to the race track.  Again, we brought our California car. We knew what everybody had for set up.  Based on the way my car was reacting, we put the set up we thought we should.  We thought the track would tighten up.  I don't think we had any idea we were going to be that far behind at the beginning.  Not every weekend Jimmie (Johnson) and I don't run the same set up.  He drives a lot different.  He uses a lot more brakes.  We share notes but we have to be careful in putting the same set up in.  His set up was actually looser than mine and in some ways tighter than mine in others.  Robbie (Loomis) and I have a great line of communication and the team chemistry is good so we went off of our best guess."


DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET 
"I think we run real good at this race track. It's trying not to over adjust on the car. We always seem to start out good and run good in the race. We've got some good runs here."


(ON SUFFERING AN INJURY HERE LAST YEAR AND IF IT'S ON HIS MIND NOW:) "Not at all.  I've been knocked out and broke a couple of bones. That stuff doesn't bother you. The first time you ever get knocked out in a race car, the next time you get a little nervous.   You get older and more mature and a little more confident so you know what you're doing. It doesn't really bother me."


(ON WHERE YOUR TEAM STANDS RIGHT NOW:) "You never can tell. You don't know what you are going to get from one week to the next.  I feel pretty confident with my ability and the team's ability. We can overcome a couple bad races and be up front in the championship and that's where we are right now."