NASCAR WCUP: Qualifying Notes and Quotes
3 June 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(ON RUNNING .002 SECS. FASTER IN QUALIFYING VERSUS PRACTICE) "I tried to
save the best for qualifying. It seemed like we were a little loose down
in
(turns) three and four earlier, and I tried to tighten it up a little bit.
But that might have hurt me a little bit here (one and two) and still
didn't
fix it down there (three and four). I don't know that we could have run
much faster, but it's a good lap for us. Everybody has worked real hard
today. But we'll take that lap and work on our race set-up from there.
We've got a lot of work to do, I think."KEN SCHRADER, NO. 36 M&M'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "It's quicker than where we had practiced. I guess it will probably lock into the top 25, and they way I've been qualifying this year, we'll take that right now. The guys worked awful hard on it today. We were really slow when we unloaded and they got it a lot better, so we're looking forward to it."
RICK MAST, NO. 14 CONSECO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: (ON SLOWING DOWN SO MUCH FROM PRACTICE) "We're pretty upset right now. We're trying to figure out exactly what happened. The car had been so good. We just kept adjusting on it all day a little bit. Then when I went to qualify the car it was like it was on three tires - extremely loose. The only thing we changed was the third set of tires. Maybe I should have run the tires in. I did run them through a corner just to knock the glaze off, and they felt loose then. But a lot of times new tires will do that. I guess in hindsight I should have gone ahead and made a run on the new tires to make sure they were OK because sometimes you run into that. But we thought we had a shot at the pole and I didn't want to give up anything if the new tire meant that much. But I think it bit us this time."
JOHN ANDRETTI, NO. 43 STP/CHEERIOS PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "We changed the car quite a lot before qualifying because the first three runs today (in practice) I was pretty useless. The trainer started working on me and got it (the soreness in his rib) down to where I could concentrate more on the car. Then we got the car working a little better. But we just missed all that time. The lap felt pretty good and I feel pretty decent in the car. You know I'm not happy with it because I usually qualify pretty decent at Dover. But I'm more concerned about here on out than I am today." (HAS THE PAIN IMPROVED SINCE LAST WEEK?) "Oh yeah. Last Saturday they were real tender. Now it's just sore."
WARD BURTON, NO. 22 CATERPILLAR PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "That was a little bit better than we practiced the second practice. It's definitely not what we're looking for. We're working real hard. We just seem to be struggling a little bit qualifying. But it's a good race car. We'll get it right on Sunday."
DAVE BLANEY, NO. 93 AMOCO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: (ON HIS QUALIFYING CRASH) "I was just loose the whole run. The track has loosened up here this afternoon. I knew it. I qualified my (No. 20) Busch car and it was loose. We knew it and we made some changes. But it just wasn't enough. I was loose through (turns) one and two, and I went down into three and four and tried to run it as easy as I could and still make a decent lap, and it still got away. Stupid."
Text provided by Al Larsen
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