NASCAR WCUP: Pocono 500 Post Race Notes, Jimmy Spencer
22 June 1999
23 JIMMY SPENCER Team Winston Taurus "We had a loose lugnut that cost us a lap, but we got it back. Then when we were leading the race the car was really good by itself. Anybody that was leading the race was in good shape. You needed to be in the lead because of the aerodynamics. We hit oil in the tunnel turn and fell back to third. I was pretty hard on my tires too. They had three or four laps less on their tires than I did, but I was happy with that. I feel like we had an opportunity to win.""I realized I had some of the best drivers in the world to beat, they were right behind me. They all raced me good. It was a good clean race for me on that end. I just came up short with Team Winston, but we've always got next week at Sears Point."
DO YOU THINK YOU HAD A CHANCE IF YOU DIDN'T HIT THE OIL? "That's what you consider racing. I think I had a chance. I can't give up on it by any means. Man, they had some strong cars down the straightaway. They could really beat me bad there at the end of the straightaway, so it would have been tough to hold. I wanted no cautions the rest of the way. That was the advantage to me, but when we kept getting those cautions it was taking the advantage away. We weren't a factor in this race all day and to get back in that situation that we were, I don't know where we finished, it just felt good to lead the race with 15 laps to go and be a contender. That really pumps my crew up. I think that's important and that's what we need to do right now is get the confidence level back of everyone on this team."
WOULD YOU TAKE A MORAL VICTORY AT THIS POINT? "This is definitely a moral victory. The guys did good. The pit stops were good, the calls were real good, the car performed well. All in all, everything went really good for the day. We didn't finish where we wanted, but we finished pretty decent."
WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE TODAY? "I don't know. We were just getting down on ourselves. We're really pounding on one another more than we need to. We want to do the best we can and maybe we're putting too much pressure on ourselves, I don't know. The guys are working really hard and we're working as hard as anybody in this garage area. We're working as hard as the guy trying to win the race, we're no different they are, so it's one of those situations where I think it helped a whole lot for every guy on this team, including me."
HOW DID IT FEEL TO BE LEADING AND HEARING THE CHEERS FROM THE CROWD? "It was really special. When I came by my spotter said, 'You oughta see this crowd, they're going crazy.' That makes you feel good that they know you're out there and that you're from Pennsylvania. I couldn't believe it. I said to myself, 'There are only 15 laps to go and we're leading this race.' We hit some oil over there in the tunnel turn, but I still don't think we were good enough to win the race, but we were gonna give it our all."
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