Pepsi 400 Post Race Quotes -- Ford Drivers
7 July 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Ford Post-Race Quotes Pepsi 400 Daytona International Speedway July 5, 1997 DAYTONA BEACH, FL - The following provided by Ford Motorsports Public Affairs: DALE JARRETT (#88 Quality Care/Ford Credit Thunderbird) - Started 16th, finished 5th - "That's what you're asking if you do something like that. Some people laid back and got some good runs, and I got beside Earnhardt. Guys started beside me on both sides. I can't tell you exactly what happened, but I know the 22 (Ward Burton) was almost down towards the grass and he was even left of me. I think that when he got to the corner, he got up into Mark (Martin) comin' back up. There's not much room down there when you try that, when you're four and five wide. People are laying back just to see what they can do." WHAT HAPPENED ON YOUR RESTART? - "I got beside Earnhardt, and I almost passed him. But those guys back there got a run, and started fanning out by me. I was just a sitting duck. I just had to take what I could get. Unfortunately, they wrecked, but that's what you're gonna get when you try something like that. I was gonna do what could get me to the lead. Whatever helped me the most. I didn't car who won. That's what I was trying to do was win." BILLY STANDRIDGE (#78 Hanes Thunderbird) - Started 7th, finished 40th - Involved in accident on lap 33 - "Coming up off the corner, I either cut a tire down, or got into some oil. I just cranked her all that she'd crank to the left, and she drove into the wall. I thought it was oil, then I looked in front of me and saw some others start wrecking', so that's probably what it was. Somebody put some oil down. I was hitting the wall about the time that the 23 (Jimmy Spencer) and the 31 (Mike Skinner) were wreckin'." DICK TRICKLE (#90 Heilig-Meyers Thunderbird) - Started 12th, finished 25th - Involved in multi-car accident on the last lap - "It's just terrible. You know it's the last lap, and everybody's spread about four wide down there. And I was up there looking at the top three, really. I think we were running fifth or sixth there. When I was going around, I just nailed Earnhardt going into turn 3; I got right on his bumper figuring he was in the high line and that would probably be the line coming off Turn 4 to the finish. Usually, that lines comes off Turn 4 to the line and I figured that, with a little luck, I could get second or third out of it. I don't know. I guess a bunch of cars got caught up underneath me and wiped everybody into the wall. It's too bad, because we fought a loose condition all day long. The guys tuned it a little bit. We had it the best it was at the end and we were trying to get a top-5 out of it. Really, I was sneakin' up on it all the time, but then I'd get a little bit loose. But as we would tighten it up, I'd get better and better. I came from way back into the top-5 there." BILL ELLIOTT (#94 McDonald's Thunderbird) - Started 17th, finished 33rd - "Man, I'll tell you we had a strong car. This McDonald's Ford Thunderbird would go high and it would go low. It's the simple things that are giving us trouble. We had a plug wire come loose early, and it hurt our chances. One day, we're gonna get another one of these things." TED MUSGRAVE (#16 Primestar/Family Channel Thunderbird) - Started 22nd, finished 12th - "You kind of know that's gonna happen anytime you line up for a one-lap shootout at a superspeedway. 99% of the time, that's what's gonna happen. We made an adjustment and tried to loosen the car up and went the wrong way, and the car got real, real tight. It wasn't as good as I thought it was gonna be. Just a little bit of a mix-up." JEREMY MAYFIELD (#37 Kmart/RC Cola Ford Thunderbird) - Started 31st, finished 13th - "I didn't see anything but smoke, man. I went right through the middle of it; I don't even know who wrecked. I just saw cars flippin' and stuff up in the air. I don't know what happened. We struggled again, but we were just good enough to come home 13th. That's what it's all about. It's just a bad deal there at the end." LAKE SPEED (#9 Melling Engine Parts Thunderbird) - Started 10th, finished 29th - Involved in multi-car accident on the last lap - "I just saw cars turning. I saw Mark (Martin) and someone get together, and they went up the track and down the track, and I said, 'Okay. This is good.' And I went up, and they came back up the track for a second time. I'm not sure what. Whether I got hit from behind, or if I just hit them. I think I just hit them."
