Pepsi 400 Post Race Quotes -- Pontiac Drivers
7 July 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Pontiac Post-Race Quotes Pepsi 400 Daytona International Speedway July 5, 1997 DAYTONA BEACH, FL - The following provided by Performance Marketing Group: KYLE PETTY (#44 Hot Wheels Grand Prix) - Started 38th, finished 7th - "I'm real happy with our run. I'm going to give this to Bobby Hamilton and God. I've been praying all week because this thing has driven so bad. We couldn't get qualified, so we never really had much time to work on our race stuff. Bobby and their guys felt like they were pretty good, so we put everything that was under the 43 car under this one. We started off loose, but Bobby Kennedy (crew chief) and our guys kept adjusting and adjusting air pressure and wedge, and it kept getting better and better. That allowed us to at least run with them. We had three of the most incredible pit stops I've ever had. One we came in running 17th or 18th and we came out running right behind the leader and passed him and led a lap, so that was good. It's been a long time since we've led a lap. We had a really good day to come from that far back and finish decent. "With a lot of prayers, I avoided it (accident on the last lap). I didn't get a great start, but I got a great start compared to the 99 (Jeff Burton) behind me, so I wasn't really concerned about him. Instantly they went about three or four wide, and somebody ran the 22 (Ward Burton) off in the grass going down the backstretch. Some car was up high and Mark Martin was between him and Ward, and Mark just got sandwiched." JERRY NADEAU (#1 R&L Carriers Grand Prix) - Started 41st, finished 30th - "I hit the wall on the back straightaway pretty early. I was loose coming off of turn two and tapped the wall. It's really not good to ask the drivers that question about restarting the race with one lap to go. It was a stupid deal, I guess, it happens all the time here on the speedways. I guess you can just call it restrictor plate racing. I was out of it. I was in the grass just rolling along, and all of a sudden, Nemechek came down the track and went through the grass, and in the grass you can't steer quick enough so he got us on the inside and in the front." BOBBY LABONTE (#18 Interstate Batteries Grand Prix) - Started 20th, finished 10th - "I got a bad restart and shuffled in the back, and just happened to miss it. We were pushing so bad early. We couldn't get it to turn. Finally, we did some air pressure changes and that helped it out."
