---

NASCAR WCUP: Driver Post-Qualifying Notes and Quotes, Charlotte

5 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"At the beginning of the day it wasn't real good. But as the day went on it got cooler and cooler the last few runs today we really made some big gains on it. So, I'm pretty happy with that lap, to be honest. You know it will be cooler so you come out aggressive."

RICK MAST, NO. 14 CONSECO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"Well, I feel real good. Believe me, this team Conseco, every week -- I mean every single week lately -- the guys just keep getting better and better. The motors are better. This is another Evans Coyote motor out of our shop. Jamie and all the guys at the shop, this is the car they've worked on aero wise a good bit. It's just amazing to me, honestly, each week for the last month or so I'm just more and more amazed how this team has turned this thing around. A.J. gave us the team back in March to start fixing the thing. All through the whole deal A.J. is like, 'What do we have to do to fix it? What's wrong? What do you need?' And these guys have taken all that and ran with it. Each week it's just simply amazing."

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 AARON'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"I'm real happy. I'd like to be where Bobby is but Bobby always qualifies real good here. The car, in the heat was really loose but the guys did a great job. The second half of this season they've really been on fire. They made a couple of adjustments right before the end of practice and that really picked it up. During the qualifying run the car was a lot better. I am really excited about going into practice tomorrow."

DAVE BLANEY, NO. 93 AMOCO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"I don't even know what held us back. I thought we could run two-tenths quicker then that. But, I don't know -- didn't run hard enough I guess."

STEVE GRISSOM, NO. 44 HOT WHEELS PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON HIS INCIDENT) "We'd been struggling just a little bit, but still the car didn't do anything different tonight than what it had been doing today. We got a little loose there in the center, but that is what we'd been doing all day. We'd been able to just go ahead and throttle up and drive it out. But this time we just throttled up and when we throttled up we just kept getting looser instead of it straightening up and going on. It's one of them deals. You're just trying. You're back is up against the wall. We gave it our best effort and just didn't make it back around."

MIKE BLISS, NO. 27 VIAGRA PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON QUALIFYING 30TH THE FIRST LAP IN HIS BACK-UP CAR) "We tested both cars here. That's the only thing that bailed us out. I knew how that (back-up) car handled compared to (the primary). The primary was faster and I wadded it up. I knew this car was good, but I didn't know it was that good. But the guys told me, 'Look, if you crash this car - who cares? You're trying. Drive it like you've got to get in the race.' So I just drove it like I'd been driving in practice. And you stop and think about it - the first lap on the racetrack when we get here is the hardest we run. It doesn't make sense, but we just rely on our cars and our crew that we've got good stuff, and I just put it out of my head and drove it."

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"You know I think I had it screwed up a little bit early. I had it bound up pretty bad and finally there at the end we made a call to make one change and it really brought it around. So, it just didn't get many laps on it like that. But daytime to nighttime you really just throw something at it anyway and make sure you get a good lap in. One and two were really good. Three and four might have been just a little bit off, but still it wasn't bad. I will definitely have to take that."

(ON QUALIFYING AT NIGHT) "Nighttime qualifying here the track picks up a lot and the grip gets on the tires on the track. The car was good for qualifying. I struggled a lot during practice today just because I couldn't find the setup to be comfortable and we struggled a little bit. It was a good run for the Interstate Pontiac tonight. The guys worked real hard. We just didn't lose our cool. We just kept working on it. We were back in the back in practice speeds and made a few changed and made it better."

(WERE YOU SURPRISED TO RUN THAT SPEED?) "No, I kind of planned on it. I kind of figured we'd go for it. We had one good lap in practice and we had one lap to go so I gave it my best shot there to see if it stuck and it felt like it would."

(ON RACING HERE) "This track has always been good. I always have a lot of fun here. It's just been a good track for us, so hopefully we can get a good race setup. That's our goal. This is one thing tonight and tomorrow in practice and Saturday in practice we'll try and get a great setup for the race. We've run really good here in the race before. We finished second in this race last year so hopefully we can get our Interstate Pontiac running good again."

WARD BURTON, NO. 22 CATERPILLAR PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"We hit everything that's up underneath that car tonight. You're always going to go into the corner deeper at night and that's what did it. But we've got a good race car for Sunday. That's the main thing."

Text Provided By Al Larsen

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.