NASCAR Winston Cup Miller 400 -- Post Race Quotes from Ford Drivers
16 June 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Ford Post-Race Quotes Miller 400 Michigan Speedway June 15, 1997 BROOKLYN, MI - The following provided by Ford Motorsports Public Affairs: BILL ELLIOTT (#94 McDonald's Thunderbird) - Started 26th, finished 2nd - "We would have had to be pretty good at the end to beat Ernie. I don't think I could have beaten him at the end, but it just got real tight at the end. That's the way it goes. I'm tickled to death. A year ago, I was watching this on TV. I knew the 28 (Ernie Irvan) was good and I knew the 6 (Mark Martin) was good. It was just going to depend on what your tires did at the end of the race. When we changed two tires, I got tight there at the end. I was just having to fight it. The longer I ran, the better I got, but it was just to the point that I ran out." IS IT JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU WIN? - "I feel like that's a fact just form the standpoint of the way we've been running, even from the first of the year. We ran so well at Daytona. We've run well everywhere we've been, we've just had some bad luck. Maybe that monkey will get out of our car." HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ERNIE WINNING HERE? - "I would be happier if I had won the race. It has been a long streak for my guys. It was just kinda one of them days. I guess Daytona was more disappointing than this. All in all, I feel good. The thing about it is, we keep gaining week in and week out, and we're running with the guys who have been running good. For it to be our own deal and to run like we ran today, I'm tickled to death." TED MUSGRAVE (#16 Family Channel/PRIMESTAR Thunderbird) - Started 5th, finished 4th - HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE DID NOT HAVING FRESH TIRES MAKE? - "Not much, just a little bit. We've got to gamble and try to do what we can. It really showed up the last six laps That's where it really came into effect. The car was pushing so bad at the end there, that it really built up some air pressure and I got too tight. Jeff Gordon was coming, so I'm glad the race was over, because these guys needed a top five. At the beginning of the race, it was great. And we didn't change the car. The race track conditions were changing. At the beginning of the race, the cars were really, really loose, and mine wasn't. I had it just right. Then as the race track changed and got rubber on it, it got a little tighter and a little tighter. As the race progressed, I started getting too tight, and I couldn't get it out. We tried some things, but we just had too much spring rate in the right front. We just needed to do that, but we couldn't do that on a (green flag) pit stop. We couldn't gamble. We couldn't afford to take that gamble, because track position meant so much today. Our guys did really good. They did everything they could for the car, and I did everything I could for them. We sure want to win one of these, but we're coming close, and we're going to get one soon. We're disappointed knowing that we've got a car capable of winning, but we just didn't quite get it. But then again, you look back and see what kind of season we're having, if we can keep running in the top five, it's a good day for us, too. We led a lot of laps and we showed 'em what we're made out of. We just need to keep getting these runs. Look out California." GEOFF BODINE (#7 QVC Thunderbird) - Started 13th, finished 40th - LOST ENGINE AFTER COMPLETING 121 LAPS - "It just blew up. It wasn't running good all day. It didn't really give any warning that that was going to happen. I was going down the back straightaway and it just broke. I don't know what it is yet, but it put us out of the race. We'll load up and head to California. Maybe there will be a gold rush out that way. Maybe we'll find a pot of gold and it'll change our luck." MARK MARTIN (#6 Valvoline Thunderbird) - Started 11th, finished 3rd - "Ernie has been due a win. He's been running good enough to win. He just hasn't been able to pull it off. Today was his day. They put it all together at the end. We kinda had it together there in the middle, but they had it at the end. And Bill (Elliott) ran awful good, too. We ran good, we just didn't quite have enough at the end. We had a good car and we had good pit stops. This is our eighth straight top-five finish and we're gaining in the points, so I'm really happy about that. We're looking forward to going to California. We'll go out there and try to win and try to keep this going." MICHAEL WALTRIP (#21 CITGO Thunderbird) - Started 38th, finished 16th - "We started way back, and early in the race our power steering went out, so I had to manhandle the car pretty much all day. We gained a lot of positions in the pits. Five or six laps into my tires, I was pretty good. But after that, I couldn't do much, so 16th isn't bad considering where we started." JOHN ANDRETTI (#98 RCA Thunderbird) - Started 40th, finished 37th - "Something happened and it blew the brake caliper up. It was a weird thing, whatever it was." DALE JARRETT (#88 Quality Care/Ford Credit Thunderbird) - Started 1st, finished 6th - "It was just tight all day. We missed the chassis setup some. We just never could get it adjusted. We got it pretty decent at times, but it just wasn't good enough to contend. We did OK. We did what we had to do, and made the most of it. I'm glad Ernie won. It was a good day for Robert Yates. It's pretty exciting for Ernie. Just a couple of years ago, he almost lost his life here, and now to win a race here, I'm pretty excited for him." KENNY WALLACE - (#81 Square D Ford Thunderbird) - Started 33rd, finished 43rd - LOST AN ENGINE AFTER COMPLETING ONE LAP. - "It blowed up. I can't believe it. That's three motors in one week." JEFF BURTON - (#99 Exide Batteries Thunderbird) - Qualified 9th, started from the back, finished 14th) - "I'm pretty sore. The car was a lot better than I was. It was frustrating, because I wanted to go and I just couldn't go. I just couldn't feel the car like I need to feel the car. It progressively got better, but it never was the way I need to be. Morgan (Shepherd) is a very capable driver. For me to get out and Morgan get in would have been a decent compromise, for sure. We had dodged a bullet of staying on the lead lap. I was terrified about losing a lap, and I was running OK. We had some misfortune. We ran out of gas. We were going to finish in the top-10. If we had left here 10th, we would have been ecstatic. Leaving 14th, I'm not too disappointed, but 10th would have just been a great day. But we led a lap and got those five points. Morgan probably could have done a better job, but it's important for me and my team that when times aren't perfect to stick it out. We've got four or five days to recover. I don't know if Morgan could have won the race or not. If I thought he could have won the race, I would have surely gotten out. The first 30 laps were awful. I had to come in and make some changes on the seat and stuff. I didn't think I could make it. After the changes, it was a lot better. I had this electronic thing on and I took a bunch of Tylenol during the race. The muscle in my back is going to take a long time. It's going to be a long process. I can see that right now. I'm a little disheartened about that. I'm glad we're going to a big race track, one that I don't think will be too physically demanding, and then we get a week off, then we go to Daytona. If you hit again, those aren't the places you want to hit, but those are the places you want to drive."
