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NASCAR WCUP: Pontiac drivers qualifying notes and quotes, Bristol

25 March 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

WARD BURTON, NO. 22 CATERPILLAR PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"That was pretty good. That gets us safely inside the top 10. That's a good starting spot for us." (ON THIS CAR, WHICH HAS THREE STRAIGHT TOP THREE FINISHES) "This car is a great race car. It has performed well for us ever since they built it last year. It's just a really good race car." (WHAT MAKES A CAR FEEL GOOD TO A DRIVER) "It's all the work that the guys do back in the shop that makes a car feel good to me when we get it here. It's not just the car. These things have a great foundation to start with."

DICK TRICKLE, NO. 14 CONSECO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"That was a pretty good lap.. I hustled it the best I could but it slipped around just a little bit. It pushed up a little bit in one and two. But you've got to drive it in there. I just wish it would have turned a little bit better in one and two. I needed every little bit of grip I had coming up off. We were close. We turned as good a lap as we turned all day. Hopefully that will get us in the race. But, who knows? We've got a lot of guys ahead of us." (ON BRISTOL) "It's fun. In this league, you've got to give it everything you've got.

KEN SCHRADER, NO. 36 M&M'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"That ain't gonna be good. It won't be last, but it isn't going to be good. It will be close. The first lap, we messed up, bottomed out and moved up the racetrack. The second lap was by far the best."

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"You've got to hold your breath here. It's kind of like talking on pit road here. It's hard to talk to you. It's hard to drive it. You just hold on. We picked up about a half of a tenth from practice. I wish we could have picked up a little more, but that's all we could ask for. We'll be alright."

JEFF FULLER, NO. 27 VIAGRA PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"I just got down into one and slid the nose up between one and two, and lost our time there. We tried to use our first practice session today as a test to get me feeling comfortable in the cars. We were gaining on it. We still are gaining on it. We're not out of it yet."

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 LYCOS PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"I don't know. I thought we would go a lot quicker. We just couldn't get a hold of the racetrack. It's just real slippery and we didn't go as fast as we needed. I see some guys have had that and some guys didn't. I don't understand why. We were faster in practice and thought we would maybe go a little quicker in qualifying and we didn't." (ON BRISTOL) "I like Bristol. I just don't like it that much today."

Text provided by Al Larsen

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