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NASCAR WCUP: Pontiac driver notes and quotes, Pepsi 400

30 June 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 LYCOS PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: (ON SLOWING DOWN FROM PRACTICE) "We did. If we matched what we had been running we should have run a '50' (48.50 seconds), and we didn't. We had been fourth quick. On the sheet we were second, but we got a little help on that. It's just a matter of what plate you get and we just didn't get one that we thought we were going to get."

DAVE BLANEY, NO. 93 AMOCO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "That was a great lap. The car has been really fast all day. I can't say enough for the guys. They made a great engine for this thing and a real quick body, and that's what it takes here. I just can't say enough for them. Gil Martin, our crew chief, has spent a lot of time with this car getting it lined up good and it showed. It was really quick tonight." (WHY WAS HIS FIRST LAP SO QUICK?) "I don't think I ran clear up the racetrack like they did. It just depends where you run that first lap. I kind of run through the middle of the racetrack instead of going clear to the top. It's just a preference. I don't think running the top maybe helps you get to the line any faster. I'm just afraid if something happens to you on your second lap you don't have a first one to rely on. I don't like to completely kill the first one."

MIKE BLISS, NO. 27 VIAGRA PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "This car is pretty good. It's not going to sit on the pole, but it's going to make the race, and it will race good. But we just don't have time to go to the (wind) tunnel and work on these cars, and trim them out. We've just got to work on them and get them better. Next year we'll be great." (WHAT WILL BE HIS BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN SATURDAY'S RACE?) "No friends. That's the way it's been both times we've been on these tracks. You just help other people out and hope they remember it the next time you come back. You've just got to gain respect."

WARD BURTON, NO. 22 CATERPILLAR PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "The Cat team did a great job. This car finished eighth in the (Daytona) 500 and 10th in the Talladega race. We're looking forward to Saturday night. We actually thought we would pick up a little bit more than that (in qualifying). But the guys have been working awful hard. I'm real proud of them."

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: (ON PICKING UP A LITTLE SPEED FROM PRACTICE) "Not quite enough to sit on the pole, that's for sure, but better than we were in practice, so that wasn't bad. We ran about a 90 (48.90 seconds) earlier and ran about a 70 (48.70 seconds) now, so we'll se where it ends up." (WILL THE CAR RACE GOOD ON SATURDAY?) "Hope so."

KYLE PETTY, NO 44 HOT WHEELS PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "That's really good. These guys worked really hard. The first time out (in practice) we had a little bit of a miss. They kept working with it and working with it, and it got worse in practice. The last lap we ran in practice was almost a second slower than that. We've just fought it and chased it. They changed a little bit of everything. I think a combination of them working their rear ends off and the weather getting a little bit better kind of picked us up a little bit, so we're pretty pleased with it."

KEN SCHRADER, NO. 36 M&M'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "We threw away the first lap to get a better time on the second lap. They made a bunch of changes because we kind of struggled in practice. But the little M&M's car did good."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: (DOES HE HAVE A BETTER PACKAGE THAN HE HAD AT TALLADEGA?) "I don't know really, to be honest. "We had a motor failure that happened to both Bobby and I in qualifying at Talladega. That started us in the back. It was three-wide and 10 deep. You had 30 cars stacked there. It looked like the start of the Indy 500 for 100 laps, so there just wasn't anywhere for us to go. We stayed in the back and tried to be patient in case the big wreck happened. We wanted to make sure we could stay away from it. It just worked out that we didn't stay out of it. We got caught up in it and tore up two race cars. "So it's nice to come here and get a good starting spot. If we can do that, hopefully it will keep us out of trouble for the day."

RICK MAST, NO. 14 CONSECO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "We're in the race and that's good. We thought we'd pick up more than that, but we didn't. But we're in the race. This is the same car that missed the race in Talladega. Richard Childress and that bunch did us some motors to come here with, and that helped. We'll just take it and race. Here, if you can hold it wide open for 400 miles, you can go to the front."

Text provided by Al Larsen

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