NASCAR WCUP: Pontiac Racing quotes - DirecTV 500, Texas
3 April 2000
JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 LYCOS PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (42nd - Accident): (ON HIS INCIDENT) "I'm fine. It was a pretty bad hit. The guys have just done a tremendous job on this Lycos Pontiac. I don't understand what happened. Coming off two there it just got away from me for whatever reason. Then it just took back off the other way and hit the wall. I could tell from sitting in the car that it (the car) was pretty bad." JEFF FULLER, NO. 27 VIAGRA PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (38th - Accident): (ON HIS INCIDENT) "I don't know. I just got down there in the corner and the thing just snapped out. I'm not really sure what happened. But I'm fine. I don't think we hit all that hard. But it was hard enough. I just hate it for these guys." KEN SCHRADER, NO. 36 M&M'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (18th - Running): "We started out way too loose, and we kept making changes the first few stops until we got the car where we needed it. It was probably the best the car had felt all weekend. The biggest thing that hurt us was that we had that left rear tire go down. When we pitted to get four new tires we went a lap down and never got it back." RICK MAST, NO. 14 CONSECO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (20th - Running): "Well, we got A.J. his first top 20. But we were way off with the chassis when we started. No testing here. No practice yesterday. We helped it a lot throughout the day but we never did get it right. But maybe we can take this, go on to Martinsville and build on it." A.J. FOYT, CAR OWNER, NO. 14 CONSECO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX: "Rick did a great job. I know he is hurting. The car wasn't performing 100 percent like I thought it should and we all know that. But we're in a learning stage this year. Like I said, I think Rick did a fantastic job for us today." DAVE BLANEY, NO. 93 AMOCO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (22nd - Running): "The car was going OK most of the day. I thought I had a flat tire one time, dove in the pits and it wasn't. I don't know. I kind of heard a bang and the car flew sideways. I just must have run over something I guess. It wasn't flat and that cost us. The car wasn't bad most of the day as far as being competitive with about a 10th place car. We were pretty happy with the car. We got it better and better. It was just too many mistakes on my part. But this is what we're here for this first half of this year - to get laps and see if we can get the car better. We're gaining on it slowly but surely." JOHN ANDRETTI, NO. 43 STP/CHEERIOS PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (32nd - Running): "First of all we had some confusion as to who the leader was and we lost a lap. We had slowed down. We thought we were on the lead lap and I'll be darned if they didn't say somebody else didn't pit. That cost us a lap. Then the 10 car spun right in front of us. It was unfortunate for him and it was unfortunate for us because there was no where to go. He just kind of blocked the whole track. He did a 'backwards' and then a 'nose in.' That's just the way it is." BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (3rd - Running): "We were OK. We just didn't quite have enough for those other two in front of us. We ran decent, but just not quite fast enough. We had about seven-eighths of the puzzle. NASCAR's got the other eighth. They are holding it for us. We'll just have to work on it and get a little bit better. I wish we had a little bit more. "We just weren't as good as we needed to be. Sometimes it looked better than what it was. I think we just had some track position. The guys did a great job in the pits. They made good calls all day long. We just kind of didn't have it all there today. We had about 50 cards out of a 52 card deck, and I think NASCAR is holding the other two cards from us. We'll just have to play with what we've got. We had the best race car in class. It just wasn't quite fast enough." (WAS HE BETTER OVER LONG RUNS OR SHORT RUNS?) "It would run good for a lap or two, and then it may be good later on long runs. It just depends on what other people do. It was pretty critical. We were loose, loose, loose one time and we were tight another time. We changed tires and would make a pound adjustment here and a quarter-inch on the track bar adjustment, and it would go from one to the other." (WAS IT A DAY OF ADJUSTMENTS) "We did a lot of adjusting. We didn't adjust right every time but we did most of the time. It was a fun day. At least we finished in the top three. That car has never finished out of the top three. It's a good little race car." (ON DALE EARNHARDT, JR., WINNING THIS EARLY IN HIS CAREER) "It didn't surprise me any." (WHY HE RUNS SO WELL HERE) "I haven't got a clue. That's just the way it is. For whatever reason, these types of racetracks I like. We just work really hard on it. The guys did a great job today on the Interstate Pontiac. We just got a little too tight there at the end. We needed to turn better and it stayed tight off. It's kind of what we fought the whole time we were here. It's still a great day for us. Congratulations to Dale, Jr. He drove his butt off today. That thing was hooked up. It was just a fun day. We hate that we had so many yellow flags. We thought we were a little bit better at the beginning on long runs, but there at the end it really didn't matter." (HOW WAS THE TIRE STRATEGY TODAY) "It was pretty screwed up. Four was actually worse than two for the most part most of the day. It was just one of those deals." TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (9th - Running): "I'm really proud of the guys. They did a really good job. They worked really hard in the pits to get us position on the racetrack. We got a little help from the 8 car in getting our lap back.. I'm really glad to see him get his first win today. We just had to keep working hard all day - especially Greg (Zipadelli). He kept making changes on the car and we kept chasing the racetrack like everybody else did. We had a pretty good car. But at the end we got a little loose and gave up a couple spots that we didn't want to give up. But all-in-all, with a top 10 I guess we can't complain here." (ON DALE EARNHARDT, JR., WINNING SO QUICKLY) "I thought it would have been before this. I think he is right on schedule right now and I don't think that is the only one he'll get this year." WARD BURTON, NO. 22 CATERPILLAR PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (14th - Running): "The guys never gave up. I wish I could blame it on feeling bad, but I just can't do it. We just flat missed it. Obviously we would have been better, but a lot of people would have been to, if we had run 'Happy Hour.' The car would not adjust. It's been very rare in the last year and a half when I've been with Tommy Baldwin and this team that we couldn't get the car to adjust. We improved on it the one time we got our lap back when we needed to. And thanks to Dale Jarrett for cooperating with us a little bit. I owe him one. The caution came out and he didn't try to race me back. He cooperated with me. That's the kind of friend you want on the racetrack. I guarantee you I'll do the same for him. "But we were just horrible. I asked them one time because I about wrecked the car, I said, 'What do you think about taking it behind the wall?' It wasn't that I was trying to give up. It was just that I was so bad I about wrecked. I was just inconsistent. One minute I'd be a little snug going into the corner. The next minute I go in a little high around a lapped car, and I'd be sideways. You don't want to wreck anywhere, but this place is kind of fast. I found that out Friday. "But the team did a good job. To run like a three-legged goat and still finish in the top 15, that is saying something for our Caterpillar team. It's just 'never die.' Tommy said on the radio, 'Never die.'" - 30 -