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NASCAR BGN: Driver Post Race Notes and Quotes, Nazareth

17 July 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Todd Bodine, No.66 Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "I don't know. I had him from behind. Kevin (Harvick) run into me for some reason. On the second lap of the race, I don't know. I didn't miss a shift or nothing like that. He just run into me. I don't know what happened. It's a shame. Had a really good race car again. I had something to run with Jeff Green with, I think. It felt good in happy hour, it felt good in those two laps. It's a darn shame for this Phillips team. I guess it's just not meant to win the championship. It's the third time I've been in this championship race and this luck-thing keeps getting me every time. We're going to fix it and get back out there and run some points. We've got a good team. It's a shame that we can't be there with Jeff but we'll just laugh it off and go out and race every week. Have some fun. Life's too short to let this kind of stuff let you down, so we'll just keep on digging."

Mark Green, No. 63 SuperFlo Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "We're fine. I'm okay. It was a pretty easy hit for getting back into the wall like that. It's not really bad. I want to thank the guys on the crew for doing a really good job. The car was really good. We were just a little loose there and come in and had just got our tires. We're just really disappointed for the whole team."

Dick Trickle, No. 5 Schneider Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "Well, I got position under the No. 82 car going down the short-shoot into (turn) one and he just went across my front end to the bottom and spun me out. I think I had enough room. He just shut the door on me and I ended up turning around. We'll try to get it together so we can make some laps for points."

Mike Dillon, No. 21 Rockwell Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "This Rockwell team's really been busting their butt and really got me a great car. We had to get a back-up (car) off and they fixed it to where we were fast. I was on the outside up there and got into the marbles and just lost it. I hate it for the guys on the team. They've really been working hard."

Lyndon Amick, No. 35 Powertel Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "I thought I gave him enough room (No. 1, Randy Lajoie). I'll just have to see it on TV. The team was doing what we needed to do. We were running in 6th place. Man, it really is terrible when you're running like that and something small like that happens. We missed all the wrecks, but it was just something we couldn't control."

Austin Cameron, No. 82 Channellock Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "This is a rookie race here and I'm just trying to get myself around here in a decent order. We had bad luck in the beginning. We changed all four tires and the crew worked really hard. We were going to finish this race. Being a lapped car, a couple guys got a little impatient and wanted to go underneath us. But all I can do is thank Channellock for this opportunity to drive this car."

Jason Keller, No. 57 Excedrin Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "It was a great run for us - for everyone involved. It was just a great day. It was a team effort. We had a great pit stop. Whenever the crew has a great stop, it kinda gets my juices flowing. It was just a great finish for us today. It's all we needed. Any time we come home in the top five, we're okay.

"I didn't want to come in (for a pit stop) and I elected to miss pit road on purpose. We had a great Chevy there at the end. It was just a good day. We ran hard and just kept knocking 'em out. It was just a real good day for us. That mid-race pit stop under green was a 14 or 15-second pit stop, which was really great. It really made a difference to give us track position. We were at least able to line up in the top 10 there.

"We want to continue to finish in the top five. I haven't looked at the points. Todd (Bodine) and his race team are going through a little trouble and I don't wish anything bad on any team. We've been getting over-shadowed a little bit by the No. 10 car. We just need to not think about those things and just play our own game and do the best we can."

Jeff Green, No. 10 NesQuik Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "We were a little bit tight and tried to loosen it up there. I don't know if the changes didn't agree with it or the tires didn't agree, but we were way too tight. Harold (Holly) got us four more Goodyears, but we were just too far back fighting those lapped cars and fighting those guys on the lead lap too, to be able to get back up to Ron (Hornaday) was just too much. I wish it would have been 250 laps. Todd Bodine has the worst luck of anybody. Thank god Mark (Green) didn't get hurt and that he's all right."

Kyle Petty, No. 45 Sprint Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "The car was really good. It was a little bit tight. They made a great adjustment and it ran great all day. It was just a little bit tight at the end. Again, Joe Ruttman deserved to win the race yesterday, and he didn't win it. Jeff Green had the fastest car here today and he didn't win it. That's two races in a row that the faster vehicle hasn't won it here at Nazareth. Adam finished 4th up here last year and I always said he was a lot better race car driver than I was and I guess he proved it. Coming to the same race track, he beat me again."

Ron Hornaday, No. 3 NAPA Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "I hate to brag but these NAPA Chevrolet guys deserve all the credit. They had awesome pit stops and they've been awesome for the whole year. I finally qualified deep enough to get these guys to where they can show their talents and they showed 'em. We've been struggling. These guys have been working their guts out. This whole team has never said die yet.

"Everybody thinks that just that No. 3 car you can jump in and win it. It's taken me a while to figure out what this thing needs. I'm just so proud of this whole team and Ron Hutter with his motor program and with everyone for sticking with us. Everyone is working on their motors for next year and we've just been making some gear changes and stuff on our motors.

"We were just a little tight and we've bit ourselves in the foot a few times. Jeff (Green) definitely had one of the dominate cars. He had an awesome car through traffic. We were a little better in traffic. He's in a points championship right now. We're so far down in points that we've got to catch these guys.

He (Green) went high and I went low and I just got by him. It was exciting. Then they start talking about you. I really liked that move. When it came down to it, I ain't got no points and I was just trying to win one. We took some air pressure out and that Chevy -- it was a rocket shop.

"I've had a good outlook for the last month. We've just got to do better. You've got to run in the top five. I just hooked my tires and threw a little grass or gravel or whatever it is in that turn over there, and it worked for me. I stayed ahead of 'em. We showed that we can run a hard race and these shocks and tires will stay underneath our car. We finally got one of these things (win) and it's pretty exciting."

Text provided by Nancy Wager

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