NASCAR Winston Cup Pocono 500 Post Race Quotes, Chevy Drivers
9 June 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Chevrolet Post-Race Quotes Pocono 500 Pocono Raceway June 8, 1997 LONG POND, PA - DALE EARNHARDT - (#3 GM Goodwrench Service Monte Carlo) - Started 12th, finished 10th - "We were off and on all day. I guess we were neutral and then got a little tight depending on what tires we put on. It was better than las week, but it's still not what we're looking for. We're gaining on it, and we'll come back and try to get 'em next week at Michigan." GREG SACKS - (#40 Coors Light Monte Carlo) - Started 4th, finished 42nd - "Jeff (Gordon) just got the air off my spoiler. I got in over the bumps and the car just turned loose on me. It's pretty rough coming off that turn. Jeff was real tight on me, and the air just came off my spoiler. The car was working pretty well. The Coors team gave me a great car this week. We were real happy with the fourth-place qualifying run. We were looking forward to a long day. It's very disappointing." JOE NEMECHEK (#42 BellSouth Monte Carlo) - Started 26th, finished 36th - "My hat's off to Tony Glover (crew chief) and this whole crew. We're finally getting up front and running good for BellSouth. Something broke in the motor. I went into turn three and as soon as I picked the gas up, it started shaking pretty bad like it broke a piston or something up inside. We're getting better and better every week. It's a disappointing finish, but the crew did an awesome job with the car. We had some problems in first-round qualifying. We should have started up front but we ran up there all day. Our goal was to finish better than 15th this week. That's where we finished at Dover, but as long as we keep improving we're going to be happy. Today was a really good day. We proved we can run up there with the top five. Now we've got to finish up there, too." TERRY LABONTE (#5 Kellogg's Monte Carlo) - Started 7th, finished 9th - "We just got real bad there one time on one set of tires and got way behind and never really got caught back up. We lost three-quarters of a lap on that one run. We've got a lot of races left. We lost a few points today, but that's why there's another race every week -- at least until November." MIKE SKINNER (#31 Lowe's Monte Carlo) - Started 41st, finished 41st - "I think we burned a piston, but something happened in the engine. I really hate it for the guys in the shop. We've had some awful good engines this year, and our cars have run well. We had our sights set on a top five today. We had an awfully strong car, but this is a tough team, we'll come back. We'll be all right. We got our first top 10 last week at Dove, and that felt great. We'll be back up there soon. Don't count us out next week at Michigan." DARRELL WALTRIP (#17 Parts America Monte Carlo) - Started 8th, finished 7th - "The car was strong today. The tires didn't hook up well one time, but we cycled through and got back up front. When the sun came out, the track heated up and the nose of the car was sliding. That's when we started dropping back. As the clouds came back, so did the car. We just tried to run a smart race and let the leaders run themselves out. I thought we could be in contention there at the end, but Gordon and those five Fords were tough. This is a great day for us and a real momentum builder for the team." WALLY DALLENBACH (#46 First Union Monte Carlo) - Started 13th, finished 17th - "Our pit strategy was probably not what we needed. When everybody changed two tires at the start, we changed four and we lost a lot of track position. We were real tight. We had no spoiler on that thing today. The last couple sets of tires were real tight, but that's what we were kind of hoping for. We knew we couldn't outrun 'em, but if the yellow had come out there one time we would have been in fat city. But if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their butts. We're getting there. We're just a little bit off, but a little bit off in Winston Cup is 10 positions. We got better and better every week. We're experimenting and this was a brand new car. We probably won't come back with it next time. We're learning every race." STERLING MARLIN (#4 Kodak Gold Film Monte Carlo) - Started 28th, finished 15th - "We just never got hooked up. At the start, I thought we might have something with this Kodak Film Chevrolet. But we must have hit an air pocket or something. It's like we had a level and couldn't get off of it. I don't know. I guess all we can do is head to Michigan. After we win a couple of races, think we'll look back at all this and laugh? Nah....me either." RICKY CRAVEN (#25 Budweiser Monte Carlo) - Started 22nd, finished 16th - "That was a pretty good run. We had a chance for a top 10 finish, but we faded a little there at the end. At least we finished on the lead lap, and it's been awhile since we've done that. We're making progress. I'm looking forward to coming back here in July and trying again." Provided by Chevrolet Motor Division, General Motors Corporation Public Relations:
