Chevy Notes - Vickers Wins Pole, Sept. 3
CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
POP SECRET 500 - QUALIFYING NOTES
CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY
September 3, 2004
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 16th: "It was a great lap. We worked on some things and corrected the car from what we had in practice and made it better. The thing is that it went through the beginning of the corners so good that then I ended up tight off. So unfortunately we didn't expect the tight off so we didn't address it. And I came up a little short. I think that's a good lap for us. Our qualifying record hasn't been the best here so we're definitely excited to have this Lowe's Monte Carlo hopefully in the top 10. Come race day we'll be in good shape."
(IS THERE A WAY FOR PEOPLE TO GET INVOLVED IN THE HURRICANE EFFORT THROUGH YOUR SPONSOR, LOWE'S?) "Lowe's is once again showing the quality company they are. They've partnered with the American Red Cross, myself, and one of the cabinet members. We're trying to raise awareness. One way to do it is to go to lowe's.com and there's a way to donate to help support our friends through the American Red Cross with all this hurricane trouble we've been having. We had one just a couple of weeks ago and now here comes another one. We're looking out and praying for everyone down in the Florida area and hope everybody is okay."
BOBBY HAMILTON JR., NO. 32 TIDE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 24th: "It's a great lap. It's hard work for everybody. This morning we were 40th quickest in practice. We never got to put a sticker run on. We kind of knew we had a little bit of something to run that quick. We hoped that would be in the top 25 is what we were shooting for and hopefully that was it right there. The hard work by the guys paid off and they gave me a great car. It turned and it just needed a little bit of work on it and it was perfect."
(THIS IS YOUR FIRST EVENT IN THE TIDE RIDE. DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE TO UPHOLD THAT LONG TRADITION OR IS THIS A CLEAN SLATE FOR YOU?) "Myself and Harold Holly are building the race cars. It's the same guys. The guys are all pumped up. We're just trying to do the best job we can do for Tide and Chevrolet and for everyone. We'll go from there."
MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 21st: "It's cooling off so the guys going later will have a bit of an advantage. We picked up some over practice and I'm proud of that. It just didn't quite handle the way I wanted it to and I didn't quite do the job behind the wheel that I wanted to. We'll just have to work on it a little bit harder and get ready for practice tomorrow."
(SINCE YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE IN THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP, WHAT ARE YOUR OBJECTIVES FOR THE LAST 12 RACES OF THE YEAR?) "To win some races and finish 11th in the points. Our objective isn't any different than it was a year ago whether there was a chase or not. You just have to try to fight for what's realistic and to get all you can get. Realistically, right now, we could get to 11th and finish the season on a strong note and head into the '05 season like we know how to race for the championship."
SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 9th: "It should have been a better lap actually. The first lap was better than I anticipated, which is why I took that second lap. I thought I could go a little bit quicker. I wish I could have gotten it all on the first lap. I felt like I left a tenth on the table there with those sticker tires. I don't know if it's going to hold up for the pole, but it'll be a good starting spot for us."
JOE NEMECHEK, O1 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 10th: "We've been getting stronger as the years has gone on. It's good. We kind of messed up a little bit. We didn't change our rev limiter chip and the wind has changed since practice. Now we have a tail wind down the front and I was on the rev chip for probably two seconds going into Turn 1 and it's a lot of speed right there. It's our mistake but we've got a good race car. Our Chevy is going to be tough."
BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Pole: "I hope it stays.
All the guys did a great job. We came out here early and saw the Ditech folks. They're based out here in Costa Mesa. They're a good group of guys and we've gotten a lot of support from them along with GMAC obviously. But the car was awesome. The guys did a good job with it. It stuck. What else can you say?
(HOW MUCH INFORMATION GOES ON BACK AND FORTH WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS BETWEEN PRACTICE AND QUALFIYING ON A DAY LIKE TODAY?) "A lot of stuff goes on. We try to communicate as much stuff as possible and it works even better because we're not only teammates, but we get along and we're friends as well. That goes for the drivers and crew chiefs and everybody involved. And when we come out here, the California fans really support us."
BORIS SAID, NO. 36 CENTRIX CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 36th: "We made a lot of progress all day. The Centrix team and all the guys at MB2 gave me a great car. I'm a little behind the eight ball. I only got about an hour of practice with where you are in the tech line. You miss a lot of practice. I just hope that's good enough to make the race and I can just learn in the race and get a good finish."
(DID YOU FEEL THE WIND OUT THERE?) "No, because I've never done this before. How the hell do I know? I don't know any better or any worse. In qualifying, that was the fastest I've gone and there was a lot more left in the car. They gave me just as good a car as Joe Nemechek has. I'm just not quite used to it yet. You're going so fast through the corners than what I'm used to. It's just a little different."
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 8th: "I'm very happy with that. I think we got the luck of the draw today. The guys made some great adjustments on the car today. I just tried to take advantage of that late draw. The car drove good. I got a little loose off of Turn 2 and that's what's going to keep us from being on that front row. I'm proud of Brian Vickers and hope he gets it, but for the DuPont Chevrolet it was a good run."
(YOU'VE WON HERE THREE TIMES IN THE DAY, WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE LIKE TO END THE RACE UNDER THE LIGHTS?) "Track temperature is everything. Look at right now what we're dealing with. Conditions are great and I can't wait to see what this place is like under the lights. It should be just a fantastic race for the competitors as well as the fans."
ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 35th: "I'm just a little disappointed because it is hard to pass here. It's a big race track. The groove will open up come time for the Cup race. But when you start in the back, you just put yourself behind the eight ball all day and you've got to work all afternoon to get yourself to the front. I have a great group here with Richard Childress Racing and Cingular Wireless and the pit crew, so I'm sure we'll gain spots in the pits. We have to work on our car a little bit in the middle of the corners to make it turn a little bit better."
BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 WELLBUTRIN CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 37th: "It's about what we ran in practice. We ran mostly race stuff this morning so we didn't give it that much effort. We probably should have given it a little more effort but we didn't. So that's what we ended up with."
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 12th: "Winning Bristol was real big for the team. We were kind of in a slump and really needed to win. But I think it woke this team up and will hopefully give us the confidence we need to go into the shootout in the last 10 races and give us a good run for the championship. Of course we're thinking about it this weekend. We were 15th on the practice sheet earlier today, but I think it's going to race really good. It's a lot better car than we brought here last time. We need another couple of good runs.
"I was really happy with our lap. Obviously we would have liked to be a little closer to the front. But we were struggling a lot with the car in practice, but we got a lot of those problems out. I feel a lot better about what kind of race car we're going to have. So I'm really pumped. The wind is going in a different direction right now than it was in practice this morning. So I gave up some time. But it's a great race car."
BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - WINS BUD POLE:
"It means a lot to be up front - especially at a big track like this. We knew Ray's (Evernham) cars were going to be a challenge for us. But we got 'em. Chevy is on top today and we're happy about that."
(YOU WERE ACTUALLY TWO-TENTHS QUICKER THAN SECOND PLACE QUALIFIER, JEREMY MAYFIELD. HOW MUCH EMPHASIS DO YOU PUT ON YOUR QUALIFYING SET-UP THESE DAYS?) "I've always enjoyed qualifying. I don't think we put any more or any less than anybody else in this garage. In the Busch Series, it's funny. We have the same amount of time for the first practice, but everybody spends a lot of time in race trim in the Busch garage. In the Cup garage, everybody runs in qualifying trim. So we run the same amount of time really as anybody else here. But right now, the qualifying is behind us and we're happy with it. It's awesome to get the pole. Right now we've got to re-focus on Happy Hour and get the car good for the race."
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 27th: "I just never got the car down low enough to get through Turns 1 and 2 like I wanted to. I don't know if I didn't arc it as much as I should have or what. The GM Goodwrench Chevy was really good through Turns 3 and 4 and I thought that might have made up for what happened in the first couple of turns. It's getting windy on the frontstretch, so that's going to help with some of the speeds later on. That could hurt us a little bit going out as early as we did. Still, we should be in good shape for Sunday."
BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET - POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE:
(YOUR SECOND POLE OF THE SEASON IS A GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT) "It really is. It's just been a pretty exciting year. It's definitely had it's ups and downs, but all and all, this team has stuck together and we've had great sponsors behind us. It's been a really neat year for us. Whether we've learned from the good things that we've done like this week with the pole, or to the mistakes we've made or the team has made and we've learned as a whole, we're going to carry that on next year. Right now, as far as the points are concerned, it's not very probable that we're going to be in the top 10 but that's fine. You've got to use that to your advantage. You've got to look to the good side of everything. And the good side of that is we don't have to worry about points. We're going to go for the win and go all out and go after them."
(WITH YOUR TEAMMATES FINISHING ONE-TWO AT CALIFORNIA EARLIER THIS YEAR, HOW CAN YOU TURN THAT INTO A FIRST OR SECOND PLACE FINISH FOR YOURSELF ON SUNDAY?) "We've worked together a lot as teammates. I've learned a lot from those guys (Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson). I've learned a lot on my own just making mistakes and just running. Any time you're out there you can learn. It's still just getting the car right. It's the team's job as a whole, not just one particular person's job to get the car right for Sunday. We got it right for qualifying today. If we get it right for Sunday, it'll show."
(DO YOU FEEL ANY EXTRA PRESSURE DURING THE NEXT TWO RACES TO STAY OUT OF THE WAY OF THOSE GUYS RUNNING FOR THE TOP 10?) "I don't necessarily feel any pressure to cut them any breaks. I don't want to upset their chances to be in the championship. I don't want to wreck them or make stupid mistakes like I have done in the past. But I'm not going to cut them any slack. I'm not going to pull over for them or anything. I'm going to race them just as hard as I race everybody else. I'm going to respect their situation, but I come here every week to win just like they do. When it comes down to it at the end of the day, they're going for a win just like I am."
(WERE YOU CONFIDENT YOU HAD A CAR THAT COULD WIN THE POLE?) "I felt pretty good about it. The car was good. We made a couple of changes after practice and we weren't exactly sure how they were going to affect the car on sticker cars. There was going to be a big difference in temperatures and times of day from practicing and qualifying. We were guessing on a lot of it and it worked out. We were definitely optimistic. If you asked me before qualifying if we were going to sit on the pole by two-tenths, I would have just told you we were going to do our best. And we did. We had a great car and we had an awesome run."
(WITH THIS RACE GOING UNDER THE LIGHTS FOR THE FIRST TIME, HOW WILL YOU PREPARE WITHOUT ANY NOTES?) "It's going to be difficult. It's going to be different. There are other races like the Coca-Cola 600 where it goes from day to night. It's going to be a big difference. Even though this race won't go completely into the night - depending on how many cautions we have or if we have a red flag
or not - it'll probably still end with a little bit of daylight left. But it's going to be a big difference. I wasn't sure at first. Earlier today I was thinking it wasn't going to be that big a difference. But then the difference I saw from practice to qualifying, I realized it is going to be a big difference. It might not go completely dark, it's going to give it a lot of grip and the characteristics of the track are going to change. We don't know what it's going to do exactly, we've just got to guess."
(DOES IT MOTIVATE YOU EVEN MORE TO COME TO A TRACK WHERE YOUR TEAMMATES HAVE HAD SUCH SUCCESS?) "We definitely communicate as much as we can. The No. 24 and No. 48 are in exactly the same shop. We're in the same complex and we try to communicate with them. The fact that they have been successful here means we'll lean a little bit more on them than other places. But every track we go to, we want to be successful no matter what."
(DURING THE LAST 10 RACES, WILL THE DRIVERS BE DRIVING ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN THEY HAVE IN THE PAST?) "They do the Chase to make it exciting for TV. I think it's going to work. We've seen that already. It's much more exciting. But I think you're going to see a switch. For the top 10, knowing that one mistake might drop them out of the championship, I think you're going to see most of the excitement and go-for-broke driving from 11th back. They're out of the championship. That's how we're going to look at this. We're just going to go for all the wins and not have to worry about points at all."
(YOUR TEAMMATES ARE FIRST AND SECOND, DO YOU THINK YOU'LL GET ANY TEAM ORDERS?) "No. This isn't Formula 1."
(TO WIN TWO POLES AS A ROOKIE, DO YOU HAVE SOME SORT OF ADVANTAGE?) "We've just got a good team, good equipment, and good support from a lot of people. It makes a big difference. We're young and we don't know any better. We haven't hit the wall maybe as many times as the veterans have. That can be an advantage or a disadvantage. It's just a combination of everything. It's a bunch of people working together and getting it right."
(DID YOUR LAP FEEL LIKE IT COULD WIN THE POLE?) "The lap felt really good, actually. The car felt great. It really stuck to the track. When you cross the line during a lap like that and everything goes off, it means one of two things. You either wait for the call that says you just ran an awesome lap, or you're just really slow and that's why it felt so good. It felt like a good lap and it was a good lap."
(SINCE YOUR TEAMMATES HAVE HAD ENGINE PROBLEMS. DO YOU HAVE THE SAME ENGINES THEY HAVE OR SOMETHING EXPERIMENTAL?) "No, we have the same stuff every week. On Monday morning, if Hendrick Motorsports finds 10 more horsepower but they don't have enough power or parts to only give it to one engine, then nobody gets it. Nobody. When we go to the race track, they do everything they can to make sure everybody has the most they can and that they're the same engines built the same way with the same amount of power. It's been that way all year and I'm sure it'll continue to stay that way. If a crew chief gets something that has more power, it's actually somewhat - I wouldn't say that dangerous is the word - but it could possibly break during the race. If a crew chief wants to run it and the other crew chiefs don't mind us doing that and taking the risk, I guess we could do that. But for the most part, we run the same engines built the same way. Every team does. We have the same horsepower every week."
(WITH THE TRACK CHANGING FROM START TO FINISH, HOW DO YOU SET YOUR CAR UP TO HANDLE THAT?) "You're probably going to stay up in clean air a little bit more in practice and not worry about getting in traffic so much. There's a big difference for setting the car up for when you're up front compared to when you're in traffic. The car will be a lot tighter when you're in heavy traffic. When you start up front you don't have to run it quite as loose."
