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NASCAR WCUP: Driver Notes and Quotes, UAW-GM 500 Post Race

9 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

MIKE BLISS, NO. 27 VIAGRA PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON WHAT HAPPENED IN HIS INCIDENT) "I don't know. I went down in there and it got loose a little bit and then all of a sudden it turned right real hard. I don't know why it would have turned right real hard like that. We weren't loose. We were real good at the start. I don't know, but it hit hard."

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

(ON HIS RUN) "It was good. Good run for this Aaron's Pontiac and the crew all day long. A little slipping and sliding there at the end but all in all everybody did a good job. I hated that we got that penalty early in the race. I'm still trying to figure out why we got it, I mean I know the reasoning, but I mean the penalty itself. I'm not sure why a bunch of the other guys didn't get it. But, I think we recovered ok, and it didn't seem to be a factor later in the race anyway."

(TAKING ON FOUR TIRES DURING LAST CAUTION) "The guy that won it took on four so we had to take on four. The car was working good on it. We weren't sure how it would do on two and we didn't want to take that gamble. We figured we would finish in the top ten and maybe get in the top but it just didn't happen."

WARD BURTON, NO. 22 CATERPILLAR PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"We just couldn't find a happy medium all day. There were one or two sets (of tires) that we were as good as anybody. But there were a couple other sets where we were trying to adjust the car just like we normally would and I was having a hard time with it. Our guys did a good job adjusting on it. Tommy (Baldwin) and them got it better - there is not question they got it better. They kept digging. It's just the last set, when we needed to be good, we weren't."

(ON THE DECISION TO TAKE FOUR TIRES ON THE LAST STOP) "I think they made the right call. We weren't good enough at times to put on two."

(ON GETTING A DECENT FINISH) "After three DNFs in a row, which some of that was beyond our control, this gets us back where we're supposed to be."

(ON BEING OPTIMISTIC HEADING TO TALLADEGA) "The guys have worked real hard on the Talladega car and we've been real competitive at the restrictor plate races all year. Obviously the rules are going to throw a little different punch in it for everybody. But we'll got down there and try to keep our nose clean like we did today and mechanically run all day. We'll get a good handle on it and see if we can get back in the top five."

JOHN ANDRETTI, NO. 43 CHEERIOS/STP PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON HIS DAY) "If this had been a boxing match we would look beat up. But, we never gave up."

(ANY TIRE CONCERNS TODAY?) "No - no problems with the tires. I didn't know (anybody was having problems) and it didn't really concern me because we were loose. We worked on it and got a little tight. Then we worked on it some more. It was kind of a balancing act.

"I just don't concern myself with the right front tire because we run so conservative on the right front, there is just no reason for the thing to ever fail. The only time we ever have tires fail is when we cut them or something like that."

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

"Trust me, I'm happy. This is the best our car has driven. I wish that last set of tires would have been consistent with the set before, but that's what we ended up with. It's a shame. Our car was really good right before that last stop and we had a shot at this thing until that. We didn't make any changes. We just put four tires on it and the car was totally different. To come out of here with fourth, I'm really happy with that."

(ON RACING HIS TEAMMATE AT THE END) "It was great. It's always fun to race Bobby. The hard thing was I kept wanting to duck out of line. I needed to stay in line and try to draft, but at the same time I wanted to pull out of line and see where he was and see if he was catching Jeremy or not. If we can't win we want him to win every week. This helps him a long way in that points championship. It was a great day for the Interstate Batteries Pontiac team and it was a great day for the Home Depot Pontiac team. To come out of here with two cars in the top four, that's a good day for Joe Gibbs Racing."

(ANY DEBATE BETWEEN TAKING TWO TIRES OR FOUR TIRES ON THE LAST STOP?) "No, not really. We stuck to our game plan. If we would have known the tires were going to be like they were at the end we probably would have put two on and that would have freed the car up a little bit. You can't hardly tell. They all look alike, but they aren't the same."

Text Provided By Al Larsen

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