NASCAR Winston Cup Jiffy Lube 300 Post Race Quotes -- Pontiac Drivers
15 July 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Pontiac Post-Race Quotes Jiffy Lube 300 New Hampshire International Speedway July 13, 1997 LOUDON, NH - The following provided by Performance Marketing Group: KYLE PETTY (#44 Hot Wheels Grand Prix) - Started 7th, finished 13th - "We were good, and then we had one pit stop that was just a touch off. We lost track position. My car ran hot all day. I've got to give it to Rick Mann and those guys that build our motors. We ran 240 degrees all day long. We took tape off and it started pushing real bad, and that's when I got lapped. The caution came out and I got back around Ernie. Instead of a 16-second pit stop we had a 16-and-a-half second pit stop. We still had a good pit, it was just a little bit off. It was a combination of that and taking the tape off and making the car push us a little bit behind. It took me the rest of the day to make it up, and I never did." BOBBY HAMILTON (#43 STP Grand Prix) - Started 2nd, finished 31st - "I had a flat, and it knocked the sway bar loose, and we were junk the rest of the way. They kept hollering out times like I could do something about it. If these things didn't need sway bars they wouldn't weld them on to start with. When it's gone, it's junk. I couldn't get into the corner or anything. We weren't as strong as the Yates cars, but we didn't break a motor, either, so we might have been there. I've pretty well given up. I figured by this time of the year the bad luck would have stopped. It looks like it's going to keep happening, so we'll let it keep happening. It will stop sometime." CHAD LITTLE (#97 John Deere Grand Prix) - Started 4th, finished 30th - "I'm still real excited about the qualifying run and it was a great accomplishment for the guys. I think that shows where our program is going. This Pontiac was fine at the beginning of the race, especially on new tires. We stayed in the top-10 through the first pit stop. It seems like the track got more and more loose after that, and we just didn't get it adjusted accordingly. It was just extremely loose the rest of the day. We tried to make in on gas there at the end, and we ran out with about four laps to go. We had nothing to lose. It only cost us one position." JERRY NADEAU (#1 R&L Carriers Grand Prix) - Started 9th, finished 39th - "Well, at least I had a great qualifying run. At least I got a lot of experience in today. Brakes were our deal, and with 50 laps to go, we totally lost all brakes. I about wiped the car out. I'd go into the turns and go, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa.' We brought it in and had to cut one of the lines off. You got out there with three brakes and that is not fun. You'd go into the turns and the left front grabs and you'd about spin out. I'm sure a lot of guys would have brought it in, but I didn't because this is what I'm here for. We passed some cars. We had some good times and we had some bad times during the race. It's just a matter of learning. We only have two cars that are actually complete. This is one of them. We cannot take any chances of wiping out any cars. We brought this Pontiac home in one piece, so I'm excited. Now we got to Pocono, then we have a week off, and maybe we can get some more cars ready to go. Maybe I can start running harder a little more towards the end of the year. I'm learning. I had a good qualifying run, and we brought the car home in one piece, and that's all we're here for."
