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NASCAR WCUP: Pontiac Notes and Qutoes, Pocono Rain Delay

19 June 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

[The following are quotes from Pontiac team members discussing the rain at Pocono Raceway and the impact it would have on this week's trip to Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., if today's race were pushed back to tomorrow.]

PETER JELLEN, TRUCK DRIVER, INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC RACING TEAM:

(HOW TOUGH WOULD IT BE IF THE RACE WERE HELD ON MONDAY?) "The team has already planned for this. They didn't plan for the rain, but they had already planned for the trip. "(Car chief) Butch (Hylton) already has the cars done at the shop (for Sears Point), so that's a big plus. Mark (Cronquist) has already planned with our motors, so now it's just a matter of getting the truck turned around. But yeah, it will be miserable. We'll have to do it when we get back (from Pocono) and then leave Tuesday morning, so it will be tough. But we were scheduled to leave Tuesday morning anyway. It's going to suck a little bit. We lose our cushion. What hurts us now is that NASCAR parks us a day early (at Sears Point), so any cushion we had, we basically lost. But the guys back at the shop are prepared regardless."

(ON DRIVING CROSS-CCOUNTRY WITH NO TIME CUSHION TO DEAL WITH A PROBLEM) "You can't have a flat, you can't have scale trouble, can't have truck trouble. It will make it a nerve-wracking trip. It always is anyway, but it will be more now. But it helps that I was assured before we came up here that the cars were done and the motors are ready."

(HOW FRUSTRATING IS THIS FOR HIM?) "I'm hitting the rev limiter a little bit. But I can't change the weather. It's upsetting to have to stay another night. But you've got to have a good attitude. The guys are in the same boat I'm in basically. I mean they are going to fly, but still we've all got to get back tomorrow and switch everything around. You've just got to try to keep a positive mental attitude. We've done it before. This will just go to show which team has got their act together."

NOTES:

* The Interstate Batteries Racing Team has a complete second set of uniforms at the shop for driver Bobby Labonte and the crew in preparation for a turnaround quicker than what can be accommodated by a dry cleaner. * Beginning this season, the team started using a second identical transporter specifically for test sessions to make it easier to keep the race transporter stocked and race ready.

BARRY DODSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 27 VIAGRA PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(HOW PREPARED IS EEL RIVER RACING FOR A QUICK TURNAROUND?) "Our primary car (for Sears Point) is ready because we know how the weather has been up here in the past. We got that ready before we came. We've got a little work to do on our back-up car. But overall, we're prepared. I don't know that everybody else is, but we certainly are.

"We looked at that before we left home and have been working toward our road course events for several months. You never know. You can't control the weather, but if it does rain - it sounds crazy - it's probably to our advantage because we're in pretty good shape."

(HOW DO THE TEAM'S TRUCK DRIVERS HANDLE THIS WEEK?) "We have a little cushion built into the turnaround and we use two transporter drivers. We've just got to get it home from here and turn it around. We basically just get the Pocono stuff off, the Sears Point stuff on, swap it out and hit the road again.

"I'm sure the truck driver that brings it home from here will probably be in the sleeper when they head west with the other guy driving the first shift."

Text provided by Al Larsen

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