NASCAR BGN: NAPA Autocare 250 driver Notes and Quotes
23 July 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
NAPA AUTOCARE 250 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES RACEPIKES PEAK INTERNTIONAL SPEEDWAY
Saturday, July 22, 2000
Jeff Green, No. 10 NesQuik Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "It worked out for us today, and we had to work for it. My hat's off to David Green. That team's really worked hard and they never gave up. They've had a not too good year and they never gave up. It was never easy. This car just came back around there at the end and it gave me the opportunity to get back by him. I've been saying all my career that I wanted it to come down to the end and it did today. I'd like to have been racing side-by-side there for the checkered, but I wanted to win too. His wins are coming. That team's coming around. I'm just glad for him. He's my brother and I love him to death and I want him to win too. But I know he's probably proud for me too. But he's won a few, he's won a championship, he's won enough. His time's are coming. I know my mom and my granddad, and my mom and my dad and everybody at home is very proud of all three of us, no matter where we finish. It's just a bonus to get this NesQuik Chevy in Victory Lane."
David Green, No. 34 AFG Glass Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "His (Jeff Green's) car was better all day I guess on the short runs, we were better on the long runs. Right there at the end it kind of come back around a little bit. It was way too early. I think he was being careful with the air pressure low and I had to go as hard as I could but it kinda came around there with about three to go. But I have to say a big thank-you to all my guys and our sponsors. This team has had a lot of tough luck. We've kind of re-grouped here and we've caught on to something we've been missing. So, all of a sudden now the car was a lot easier and more fun to drive. It was fun racing with Jeff. I was going as hard as I could and it was good to have him up there instead of one of the other guys. I could race him hard. He gave me about half an inch right there between the wall and his car and that's all I needed. (With) anybody else, it might have been a little bit different story, but I know I could race hard with him. I'm excited for this team now, knowing we're on the right track."
Andy Santerre, No. 25 Lance Snacks Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "Last year, we come from the back and won the thing. This year, I wasn't real sure. I didn't think we had the best car. But I'll tell you in the race, the guys gave me an awesome car in this Lance Snacks Chevy Monte Carlo. It was great. All race long it just drove real good. We didn't have quite enough for the Green brothers there, but I was giving it all I had. We come in and pitted on that last stop and we probably should have made a little bit of adjustment, but we were talking on the radio and I was pretty excited to be running where I was and I didn't want to mess the car up. So we were a little bit tight at the end, but boy I'll tell you, they (crew) did a great job in the pits. Those were the best pit stops we've had all year and the guys worked hard at that and I'm proud of 'em."
Hank Parker Jr., No. 53 Team Marines Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "You know, we started off the season kind of consistent and had some hard luck. We're going through some severe growing pains here. We're learning a lot. But today we ran pretty consistent. We started off the race pretty bad but we made some real good adjustments and the car was good in the second half. It was just a little too tight that last half. But I guess that's just the way it goes."
Phil Parsons, No. 10 Kingsford Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "We had a really good car and made some really good pit stops. We came four laps away from being one of the only a few cars on the lead lap. We end up pitting and then the caution came out. So we got a lap down but we were able to get our lap back. We were very fortunate there. Again, I can't say enough for Phil (Hammer, crew chief) and all the guys. The pit crew's been outstanding all year. We just haven't shown it 'cause we haven't run well enough. But hopefully this is a sign of things to come."
Hermie Sadler, No. 30 Little Trees Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "We still have some work to do, but we're definitely making improvements every week. We were in the top ten in all the practices. We qualified third, finished seventh. We were just a little bit too tight in the corner all day. We made an adjustment and it made me looser (going) in, but not where I needed it to be. We were just a little bit off, but definitely headed in the right direction. It (team improvement) doesn't have a lot to do with Hermie Sadler. We just have a better cars and a better group of people around us. We're unloading pretty good every week and were working on 'em and things are coming around much better. I'm happy to be back and maybe next week we'll continue to improve maybe get into the top five and maybe even contend for the win. It felt good to run up. You know we ran second for a long time and let a little bit. We were just a little bit too tight. I wanted to get up there so bad -- it's been so long since I led. We were concerned about the right front tires and I didn't want to abuse that. We took what the car would give us. We just didn't make the right adjustments at the end. At the end we had a seventh-place car and that's were we finished."
Mike McLaughlin, No. 48 Goulds Pumps Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "Yeah, it was a good run. We've had a lot of personnel changes. Scotty Zipadelli called the race for us today. We hired him at the beginning of the year as a fabricator. Then he went to a car chief and then to a car chief running the shop. Now, today, he was calling the race. So, I mean, these guys have really stepped up. We had a good car, but with that last set of tires, we were real tight and fell back. We'll just keep working and we just have to work at it little bit harder. The competition's tough. We just haven't had a very fast race car. It's handling."
Casey Atwood, No. 27 Castrol GTX Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "The car was good today. We were headed for our first top-five of the season, but a bad set of tires burned us for the second race in a row. We got a lap down but I knew we'd get it back and we did. I wasn't worried. In two races here, we've had two top 10 finishes, so we are pretty happy."
Text provided by Nancy Wager
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