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NASCAR BGN: Food City 250 Driver Notes and Quotes, Post Race

26 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Ted Musgrave, No. 82 Channellock Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "I don't know exactly what happened. Not quite sure. Coming out of (turn) 2, it looks like the guys got pretty antsy down there trying to get somewhere early in the race. Got somebody turned around in front of us. Typical Bristol here.

Kevin Grubb, No. 37 Timber Wolf Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "It's not looking real good for the Timber Wolf Chevy right now. It's hurtin'. I think I love and hate this track at the same time. I've always had good runs here, but at the same time you've gotta stay out of trouble. Any time you finish here, it's a good night. But it's not happening for us tonight."

Kevin Harvick, No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "Man, what a car, what a night, what a re-start - we just had it all working. This ACDelco Monte Carlo was just flat-out awesome from the day we got here. The guys did an awesome job. I've been here a couple of times. But when you've got Richard Childress stuff under you, well, those guys made it look easy tonight. We ran good here at the last race earlier in the year. And then our car just kind of went away. Gil Martin came over to the Rockwell team and Mike Dillon's car, and we tried a couple of things, and it made the car last a lot longer. So, my hat's off to my guys. They're the ones that make this whole thing go 'round. We're racing for experience for next year. Right now, our (Busch Series) goal is to get second (place) and to win as many races as we can. When Jason (Keller) got up underneath us with about 9 laps to go - that was probably the key moment in the race. I was hoping we didn't use up too much tire during that part. Anytime there's five (laps) to go....nobody paid for a ticket to see it end under yellow, and that's one of the real good things NASCAR does....the fans wanted to see some racing.....but anytime there's a caution with only five laps to go, all heck usually break's loose. Everybody's racing for everything they've got. The closest moment was with the No. 12 (Spencer) and the No. 27 (Atwood) cars there. When they red-flagged the race, there was definitely a lump in my throat."

Jason Keller, No. 57 Excedrin Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "I had a lot of help from my teammate (Jeff Green) there to get me rolling, and that's what teammates are all about. We didn't win the race, but we came a long way tonight. I owe a lot to Jeff Green tonight. He was awesome. It could have been a whole lot worse. There were a lot of fast Chevrolets out there in the front. I got to be smarter than that there at the end. I almost cost myself one, but luckily I didn't. They told me that the red flag wouldn't be out that long, so I left it (the car) running. When the pace car came back, I put it in gear and I had my foot on the clutch and I was really concentrating on what I was going to do to (get by) Kevin (Harvick), and what happened was that it engaged and got stuck between two gears. That's why Jeff couldn't push me fast enough to get me going. I actually thought I was doing right and I thought we was going to go green next time by. I was actually trying to help NASCAR, and NASCAR helped me. I gripe at these guys some. They could have been strict on me tonight and cost me a lot."

Jeff Green, No. 10 NesQuik Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "We were better on long runs than on short. But this was a good weekend for us. Last weekend pretty-much sucked, basically. So this weekend was pretty good. We didn't qualify where we wanted to, but we run good all night and that's what it takes to win a championship. My car was tight. Everybody's car was tight. At the first there, we was just pushing our car so hard that the Goodyear tires just couldn't hardly hang on, but they were doing a great job. Like Jason (Keller said, somebody had to make a mistake for somebody to pass. I was right on Jason, hoping he wouldn't make a mistake but hoping he would so I could pass him. I was kind of between two there. I wanted a shot at Kevin (Harvick). I had a shot at him. But the only way I could get that was to get by Jason. It was a good night for us, to get two of the top five. We didn't tear anything up. I think the only scratch I got on my car was when I tried to push Jason to get him started. Even though we didn't win, we had a great time. I'm just very, very proud of the Busch Series. The crowd we had here tonight just makes my heart beat."

Kenny Wallace, No. 25 Lance Snacks Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "This was a great race. I got up on the right rear of Harvick's quarter-panel and the 36 car of Fedewa - he didn't mean anything by it - but I was hoping he'd go up to the wall and let me go on. We had a shot at the win there, but you know, that was vintage Bristol. We were stopping and going all night long. I couldn't get no rhythm. As soon as I'd get going, a caution would come out. That was a good run for me. I love Bristol. I just want to win. I want to win bad. We're content with fourth."

Sterling Marlin, No. 01 BellSouth Mobility Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "Everyone on the BellSouth Mobility Chevrolet team did a good job tonight. That wasn't the car I run with in the Spring. I kinda wanted it. We started, and it was a little bit too tight. We just kept hammering. I thought we had a real good shot at the (Winston Cup) pole today. We were fast in practice and I just got too loose qualifying and wound up eighth. We run real good here in the Spring. We had a real good car."

Jay Sauter, No. 43 Quality Farms & Country Chevrolet Monte Carlo: "I'll tell you what, these guys did an awesome job today. We've run good a lot of times here at Bristol. We had some troubles here in the Spring. But we got our stuff together. We weren't quite good enough here tonight, but we'll take a top six. We've run good lately, but we've just had different stuff happen. No fault of anybody's. My hat's off to these Quality Farms & Country guys. Chevrolet Monte Carlos are pretty stout. I'm looking forward to Darlington next week and on to Rockingham and Richmond. I think the guys have just worked harder. We've paid more attention to detail before they leave the shop, so the stupid things don't happen. Sometimes you can't control them, but a little extra attention to detail goes a long way and it showed tonight."

Text provided by Nancy Wager

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