NASCAR WCUP: Lepage Enjoying Atmosphere at New Hampshire
11 July 1999
16 KEVIN LEPAGE -- TV Guide Taurus -- WHAT'S IT LIKE FOR YOU TO COME BACK TO THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY? "We were in town early on Wednesday in Concord for a big race show where they shut down the streets. We were invited to come up and do and autograph session and what a tremendous feeling to be there. I started signing at six o'clock and they had to shut the line down at eight o'clock because the fans kept piling in. A lot of fans recognized me from when I started my career in the early eighties at some of the local tracks in Vermont, and the support I've gotten from these fans is a tremendous feeling for me."ARE THE NEW ENGLAND FANS MORE LOYAL TO THEIR LOCAL DRIVERS? "Right now there are a handful of us from the north. You have Ricky (Craven) and myself. Nadeau is from Connecticut and the Bodine's are from New York, so that's five of us that are up from this way. If you look through the starting lineup and look at where all these drivers are from, very few are from the northeast. I think anytime somebody from places like the state of Maine or Vermont can come down and be successful in the sport, and when I say be successful I mean being a Winston Cup driver, it's a big deal. Yeah, we all want to win races, but to be part of an elite group and be one of 43 drivers to start every race, that's a pretty elite group. To be a part of it and representing your home state is just phenominal. When I go home to Vermont for Christmas just walking through the malls or whatever, fans will come up and just ask how you're doing. It's a great, great feeling. I'm proud to be able to have accomplished what I've done. I'm a little disappointed in our performances, but that will come with time."
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS THIS WEEKEND? "We brought a car that I've never been in. It was a car that had run well here. It's a good car. We thought we were decent in practice, but in qualifying we just had no grip on the car. We went out so late the temperature dropped. I think we were the third or fourth car from the end to go out and that hurt us there, but I started 33rd here last year in the fall race and finished 17th. I think we've got a great race car to race. This is a deal where if you just look at qualifying, if you mess up one corner you mess up the whole lap because the track is so finicky. I think the Roush organization is disappointed in their qualifying effort. Our best car is 27th and that's not good for us, but, all in all, this is just one race. It's my second time here with the Roush group and it's my third time here at the race track in a Cup car. The first time was in '97 and I missed the race and last year I only ran one of them, so I'm a rookie here. Even though a lot of guys in the garage area think this is my home track, I've raced five Busch South races here and that's it. If this was one of the old five-eighths of a mile tracks in Vermont, then I'd have plenty of laps around here, but it's not. This is the New Hampshire mile and we don't have a lot of experience here, but whatever this weekend will give us -- in words I can't describe what it's gonna be like to start on Sunday in front of all my family and friends. This is a great opportunity to come home. We don't get an opportunity during the year to get back here as much as we'd like to, so to come here to New Hampshire and put a show on is pretty special. The good thing is they'll be rooting for me if I win the race or if I finished 20th or 30th. Those are the kind of fans that we as northerners have up here in the area and I'm really proud to be part of it."
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