NASCAR WCUP: Rockingham post race notes and quotes, Dale Jarrett
25 October 1999
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
DALE JARRETT --88-- Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Taurus
(Finished 4th)-- "We were just good on long runs. That was where
we could beat everybody. There at the end, we made an adjustment to make
the car a little bit better to go on the restarts. It made the car worse.
And we had bad pit stops. So all that together we ended up (fourth). But
were OK. We ran hard; we led some laps. We just cant seem to get the car
right at the end of this race. But well keep working on that. It was a
good day. We came here to win, and we thought we had the car to win. There
again, we just have to learn to make to see what this race track wants at
the end of the race. But points wise, it was a really good day for us. We
just made a slight air pressure adjustment and a little bit of bite, and
the car just didnt like it. We just needed long runs. We werent good on
short runs at any time, from the very beginning of the day. The track
changed a little bit there at the end, and we didnt have such good pit
stops, and that puts us in a bad position whenever you do that. Those guys
get away. We made an adjustment on the last pit stop, trying to make the
car a little better, and it made it worse. So we just took what we could
get. Thats the gamble that you take. We had a good car all day. It was
just good on long runs. We never were very good on fresh tires. But I
thought that this race a lot of times it goes green late, and we were
hoping that was going to be the case. And actually, the set of tires I had
before the last ones we had the car adjusted just about right, and I
thought I was in good shape to win the race there. Then we had a caution
and we changed tires. We made a little adjustment and it bit us. We didnt
make a lot of adjustment, but the car just wasnt nearly as good. Thats the
chance you take making an adjustment there. But Jeff Burton did a great
job adjusting his car all day, and ended up winning. We did what we needed
to do for points. But wed like to have been in Victory Lane.
YOU HAD A VERY GOOD DAY IN THE POINTS, AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP IS LOOKING EVEN BETTER"Were getting a lot closer now. As we knock these races off, and dont lose any points, or even gain a few, its looking a lot more promising. The team has worked awful hard to get to this point, and were excited about the prospects of these next three (races).
HOW ABOUT PHOENIX? "Phoenix is a good race track for us. It seems that flatter race tracks seem to work to our advantage a little bit. But you know the 18- is gonna be good also. I know they were just there testing, and they had a good test. Were just gonna have to do our job, and not be concerned with them. It really doesnt matter what they do, its what we do. And we know that if we do our job, were definitely a top-five car. And thats all we need to do."
WEVE HEARD THAT THERES BEEN SOME DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW CONSERVATIVE TO RUN. ROBERT HAS COUNSELED YOU TO BE CONSERVATIVE, AND YOU GUYS HAVE WANTED TO BE A LITTLE MORE AGGRESSIVE"Were trying to reach a happy medium. We still want to race to try to win these races. We dont want to give up the end of the season here. But you know the championship is awfully important. And thats the value of having someone like Robert Yates, whos been there before to help Todd and me and the rest of the guys. Hes guided us, and I think that between all of us, weve hit a pretty good mix. Weve raced hard, but we havent put ourselves on the edge to get ourselves in trouble."
THE TEAM SEEMS TO BE HANDLING THE PRESSURE WELL"Theres a certain amount of pressure. But our guys are more excited than they are looking at the pressure. Theyre just excited about the prospects of us winning a championship. The hard work and the efforts that they put forth, not only this year, but the three previous years, and it would certainly be well-deserved for these guys and certainly for Robert Yates. I think were more excited than nervous."
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