NASCAR WCUP: Ford's Irwin Gains Pole For Pepsi Southern 500, Interview

5 September 1999

Kenny Irwin earned his second pole of the season and gave Ford it's fifth overall in 1999. Those five have come from three drivers -- Irwin, Rusty Wallace (2) and Ricky Rudd (1). The pole was the third of Irwin's NASCAR Winston Cup career.

WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH YOUR TEAMMATE GOING INTO TURN FOUR WITH A CHANCE TO BUMP YOU OFF THE POLE? "After I qualified I was walking by their hauler and he was standing up on top. I pointed to the scoreboard and pointed to two, saying that's what he needed to qualify was second. I was up on top of the 88 when he qualified and Robert told me that he got through one and two just as good as I did and you could see when he went into three he was hustling it and he got back in the throttle hard and just was pushing and got loose on the right rear tire. He wanted the pole too, which is good to see because he could have just went out there and run and probably finished in the top five, but he wanted the pole. He didn't really need to do that and he was really pushing for it."

BECAUSE OF YOUR SITUATION, ARE YOU ABLE TO HOLD YOUR BREATH A LITTLE LONGER AND DRIVE ON THE EDGE A LITTLE MORE? "I think you're saying am I trying harder. I think you can ask any race car driver, I think they race as hard as they can every time they go on the race track." WHAT ABOUT YOUR LAP? "I got through one and two, which I felt was pretty good, and then I got into three. Last year that was where I always had a problem was getting through three and four and I got through three without hitting the wall getting in. That's where I've had the problem and I knew it was gonna be a good lap then. That might have been the only hesitation I had."

DOES YOUR SITUATION SERVE AS MOTIVATION? "You could say it's motivation to get a new job or you could say it's motivation to run better. I don't know. I'm just out there running as hard as I can, which I've been doing for the last year and a half."

WHAT ABOUT TIRES. HOW IMPORTANT IS TAKING CARE OF THEM? "All week I've been talking to Doug Richert and the only thing we've talked about is our race setup. Never once did we talk about how we were gonna qualify setup-wise. Obviously, that's what we want -- to run good in the race. The changes that we're gonna make from the last race here was only race setup. We've pretty much got the same qualifying setup and that's because the tires go away. From one lap to the next in practice this morning, they drop off three to four tenths, so it's who can keep their tires under them the longest is gonna win the race."

WERE YOU SURPRISED TO WIN THE POLE? "We unloaded pretty good and the first time I was here we qualified fourth or fifth and hadn't qualified that good since then. This is a track where I probably strive to run good at more than other places. Atlanta and Texas are big horsepower tracks. That is a place where holding your breath actually kind of works better than what Darlington or Rockingham does. It was nice to get a pole on something that wasn't a high-speed superspeedway you might say."

WHAT ABOUT THE RACE? "I'd much rather be starting on the pole than anywhere else. Wearing you tires down, Doug Richert will let me know what's going on and the pace we're setting. Hopefully, we're setting the pace. That would be nice, but it just comes back to how quick you can run with 40 or 50 laps. That's the benchmark tomorrow morning when we're out there running laps. We'll make 30-40 lap runs and see where we compare to the competition. That'll really tell how good we're gonna be tomorrow."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS 50TH ANNIVERSARY AT DARLINGTON? "I remember the first time we came here and tested, it was Robert Yates and a couple of his buddies` were talking about me coming here testing and just hoping we were able to roll it back in the trailer -- that we were gonna have that much trouble. Actually, we didn't tear up anything that day, so I felt pretty good about it. To see how much it actually means to people like Robert Yates and the others who made Darlington what it is. It obviously means more to them because we haven't made as many stories."

WHO WERE YOU MOST AFRAID MIGHT KNOCK YOU OFF THE POLE? "For me it was Jarrett. Obviously, I think Gordon always runs good here, but I thought about Jarrett the most because I felt like he was probably hungrier for a pole here than anywhere because they don't have a pole yet this year. They unloaded good and so I felt like him going last that it was destined that he was gonna win the pole here today."

Editors Note: For hundreds of hot racing photos and racing art, be sure to visit The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.