Food City 500: Chevrolet Quotes
By Chevrolet Motor Division Busch Pole Qualifying Food City 500 Bristol Motor Speedway April 11, 1997 DARRELL WALTRIP (#17 Parts America Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 42nd fastest - "I'm extremely disappointed. This is the same car I've run here before, but it sure doesn't drive like it. Something's not right and we've got to go to work and find out what it is." DAVID GREEN (#96 Caterpillar Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 27th fastest - "We popped a lifter out of the motor and they chose to fix it instead of putting another one in there. We ended up with only three or four laps of practice, so I'm as happy with that as I can be I suppose. We almost ended up in the top 25, but at least we're going to be in the race." TERRY LABONTE (#5 Kellogg's Monte Carlo) - Qualified 17th - "We didn't get a lot of practice. We don't have any brakes. We changed everything on the brake system, and we don't have 'em fixed yet. I don't have a pedal. At least we made it in the first round. I was sweating it. That's by far the quickest we'd run. I didn't even get to run the last practice, but we're on the front straightaway, so we'll get ready for the race. I hope it doesn't rain Saturday because we need the practice." JACK SPRAGUE (#25 Budweiser Monte Carlo) - Did no qualify; 43rd fastest - "The team is working real hard, and hopefully by Sunday we'll have a handle on it. I just didn't get in a very good lap today." KEN SCHRADER (#33 Skoal Bandit Monte Carlo) - Qualified 16th - "That was a decent lap. We're on the frontstretch, and if you can't be on the pole, that's the next goal." MIKE SKINNER (#31 Lowe's Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 28th fastest - "I just about spun out at both ends. Mike Dillon came over and told me that was probably going to happen and it did." STEVE GRISSOM (#41 Kodiak Monte Carlo) - Qualified 9th -"We ran just a tick quicker in practice and we made some adjustments. It was a decent job. I wish we could have run faster, but the main thing is we made a couple of adjustments and went out on new tires and got in a decent time. We got our first top 10 of the season last week, so hopefully we can continue that this week at Bristol." DAVE MARCIS (#71 RealTree Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 39th fastest - NOTE: Marcis wrecked his primary car during practice and had to go to a backup car for qualifying. - "We didn't get a lot of practice with the backup car. The guys did a great job getting it ready for qualifying, but we've got a lot of work to do. I hope we get some time on the track Saturday." ROBERT PRESSLEY (#29 Cartoon Network Monte Carlo) - Qualified 15th - "We're pretty happy with that. We wanted to get a top 15 this week, especially after missing the race last week in Texas." JEFF GORDON (#24 DuPont Automotive Finishes Monte Carlo) - Qualified 5th - "That wasn't a bad lap. I wasn't expecting the car to push. I didn't expect to have to run hard that second lap but I had to because the first lap was so bad. Luckily, we got in a good second lap and hopefully, we'll end up in the top five. I ran almost the same in qualifying as I did in practice. We thought we would pick up, but the car pushed and I couldn't pick it up any. It's a little warner right now. That could have something to do with it. It's always a tall order to win here. You've got to have everything going your way. You've got to stay up front and stay out of trouble. You've got to have a good race car and make smart pit stops. I just want to be able to pick a good pit stall. I think we're in good shape." STERLING MARLIN (#4 Kodak Film Monte Carlo) - Qualified 2nd - "I walked into the truck and the first thing I heard from Larry (team manager McClure) is 'why didn't you win the pole?' He was kidding. He was as tickled as the rest of us. We were a little loose in practice but felt like we had a pretty good car. We worked just a little bit with the air pressure, and I guess we were just loose enough for our qualifying lap. I hate it we missed the pole, but we're feeling pretty good for Sunday. This will be a good place for us to run well. I'm from Tennessee, and this is Morgan-McClure's home track. We've had some pretty decent runs here. Darlington was good for us, except for our luck. We were eighth last week at Texas, so maybe this is the place where we'll break loose. The car hooked up real good in qualifying. I didn't think we could beat Rusty. He runs good here, so we've got to work on the car and hope we can be around at the end Sunday and have something for him then. We haven't run this car in about two years. We sat on the pole with it at Phoenix in '94 and we haven't run it since Michigan in '95. I think we finished third with it then. It's a good car. We're starting up front with it, and that's a big deal here. Maybe we will get lucky and stay out of trouble." ROBBY GORDON (#40 Coors Light Monte Carlo) - Qualified 20th - "I didn't get back int he gas quick enough on the first lap. The tires were off just a little bit, but we're happy to get in on the first day. We thought we might struggle here, but to be this competitive out of the box is great. I've got to give credit to the guys on the team. To get in on the first day is pretty exciting. I think we could work on the car and get it even better." DALE EARNHARDT (#3 GM Goodwrench Service Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 29th fastest - "I really don't know what happened in qualifying. We picked up a little on the second lap, but it still wasn't great. Just wait until the race. We'll be all right then. Don't write us off yet."
