NASCAR Winston Cup Pocono 500 Post Race Quotes, Pontiac Drivers
9 June 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Pontiac Post-Race Quotes Pocono 500 Pocono Raceway June 8, 1997 LONG POND, PA - MORGAN SHEPHERD (#1 R&L Carriers Grand Prix) - Started 20th, finished 12th - "We had a bad tire there at the end. An inner liner equalized or something there, because it was bouncing up and down. It must have been a rear tire because it was extremely loose. We had a top-10 car if that hadn't happened. We came in the pits and took off and it jumped out of first gear. I put it back in and it jumped out again. We thought we had first gear knocked out, but I finally got it in second and took off. That cost us a lot of track position on the race track." KYLE PETTY (#44 Hot Wheels Grand Prix) - Started 40th, finished 14th - "I told my guys after the race that they took nothing and made something out of it. We started 40th, and we were a 40th-place car. I've used provisionals and not been that bad at the start. We never could get it right in practice. Bobby Kennedy and I sat down and talked about everything we knew we could throw at it, and nothing worked. It just plowed all week. I was running along there and saw the leader coming and I started praying, 'Give me a caution, God. Give me a caution.' We were in the right place at the right time and caught two cautions. That kept us from getting lapped, because we were lapped. The next step for this car is to take it to the wind tunnel and see what the problem with it is. If there doesn't seem to be any problem with it, it's going down to Cranford Metal Works and they're going to crush it in the crusher. We ain't gonna see that car no more." BOBBY HAMILTON (#43 STP Grand Prix) - Started 1st, finished 39th - "I had two right, front tires go down today. They just popped. I don't know what the deal is. The others looked good when we made pit stops and all. There's a lot of debris out there, little things. I noticed I was dodging a brake caliper, so I probably hit something like that. We had another great Pontiac. That's three races in a row that we had a sure top-five car. This is what we do in the middle part of the season, so I guess it's just meant to be. I thought I had that one brake caliper dodged in the tunnel turn, but I hit it and went into the wall. This is usually what happens to us in the middle part of the season. We do it every year." Provided by Performance Marketing Group: