NASCAR Winston Cup ITW DeVilbiss 400: Post Race Quotes from Chevy Drivers
18 August 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Chevrolet Post-Race Quotes
ITW DeVilbiss 400
Michigan Speedway
August 17, 1997
BROOKLYN, MI - The following provided by Chevrolet Motor Division, General
Motors Corporation Public Relations:
JEFF GORDON (#24 DuPont Automotive Refinishes Monte Carlo) - Started 17th,
finished 2nd - "Luckily we had good track position and those Fords couldn't
really gang up on us at the end. I can't wait to get back to the short tracks
so we won't have to worry about aerodynamics. They (Fords) certainly have us
covered. Nobody had anything for Mark Martin, and I was actually surprised I
could stay ahead of Ted. Today was a great finish for us. We weren't very
good on new tires, but we were pretty good on old tires. I thought if we
could get some good track position we might be able to hang with 'em. I think
Mark was pretty much toying with us. Once he got out front, he pretty much
had control of the race. Today really was a big day for us. As dominant as he
was, he could have made up a lot more points than he did (10). We're just
glad to get out of here with a good strong second and go to the short tracks.
I'm looking forward to Bristol."
DALE EARNHARDT (#3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Monte Carlo) - Started 28th,
finished 9th - "Those Fords have more horsepower and more downforce. It's
time for it to stop. I'm tired of it. It's so damn unfair I don't know what
it is. I'm driving my butt off, hung out loose, sideways and I still can't
keep up with them (Fords). We were better than we were here last time and
still finished worse. We were pretty good on that last run. We put more tape
on it running the motor hot trying to get some downforce on the front. The
Fords would just drive off from you."
LARRY MCREYNOLDS (Crew chief, #3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Monte Carlo) -
"Our results were about the same here last time. There's something missing
and we've just got to figure it out. You can't work three-tenths off all day.
We've got to figure it out. You can't work this hard and not figure it out.
It was pretty bad today (four Fords in top five), but a Chevrolet finished
second. We can't cry too loud.
"We were a little tight there at the end. I don't know if we just used up our
right front tire trying to get to the front or what. Other than that, we
never made an adjustment all day long other than just adding tape. The
temperatures were pretty cool. I'm looking forward to all these races coming
up because I've been there one time. We're carrying a chassis we've worked
pretty extensive on to Bristol and Darlington. We're carrying the Loudon car
to Richmond. We can't go to Bristol and qualify 32nd. We're going to have to
qualify up front and get a good pit on the frontstretch. Track position is
important everywhere, but if you start 25th or worse at Bristol you're on the
middle of the backstretch when the leaders take the green.
"Dale sounded like and Earnhardt today that I've monitored over the years. He
was raising cain about everything and everybody. That was a good sign, I
think. I wish my confidence was as good as Dale's confidence in himself. If
anyone needs to figure out his confidence, it's probably me. It just comes
with not running up front.
"I told Richard Childress that it's day like this that I'm not bashful about
going to get my paycheck. It's pretty mind-boggling. You're mixing minds with
the best in the racing business out there. Everybody's got a different
scenario. Some people can go further on fuel. Geoff Bodine is out there
looking at it as not going back to racing. I'm running back and forth between
the radar and the calculator and everything else. I wouldn't have done it any
different today.
"We came in on lap 109 because we could only run 49 or 50 laps on fuel. We
had pitted on lap 90, so when we got the caution again, we came in based on
we only needed to stop one time. A lot of other people already had themselves
in that position. We went back racing at 113, we were in good shape to make
just one more stop, like everyone else. When the caution came out for the
rain, we went to 137 and that put us in a window if we went back racing right
away, we only needed one can of fuel at the end. That probably beat us here
in June. We probably went from a fourth or fifth-place car or a seventh-place
car. We had to get in our second can of fuel then, and it takes a lot of time
to do that. Once we got to that window, we came in and made that happen. Then
when it kept going and cars started topping off, we knew people were going to
make it happen on no more stops. We were running second, but with 17 cars on
the lead lap and 15 behind you that don't have to stop, second ain't worth
nothing if you're going to go back racing. It's great if the bottom falls
out. The radar was telling us we were going to go back. Once we got to 150,
we knew we could make if from there.
"We started 16th on the final restart. The way Dale was coming. I don't think
we could have caught Mark or Jeff or Musgrave, but we were running down the
28 and 88 at a pretty high rate of speed. We might have used up our right
front trying to get to those guys. The last 10 or 12 laps, we just kind of
held our own."
STERLING MARLIN (#4 Kodak Gold Monte Carlo) - Started 19th, finished 43rd -
"A lifter seized up in the engine. The same thing happened to us here last
year. The guys really worked hard this weekend. We moved up and had a really
good car. It got a little tight. We needed to adjust it, but I think we could
have had a real good day. We just keep losing engines. We'll keep working on
it and try to get 'em next week at Bristol."
DARRELL WALTRIP (#17 Parts America Monte Carlo) - Started 26th, finished 15th
- "I had a good car and a great engine today. We sacrificed a bit on mileage,
but we were able to maintain our track position because of the rain. I picked
up a terrible push coming off the corners later in the race and that hurt
because I thought we were poised to get a top-10 finish. I'm pretty sure that
came from the change in track temperatures. We ran real well when it was
cool, but after the rain it seemed to warm up and the car didn't handle as
well. The crew did a great job today in the pits and also helped us in the
long run. It was a good day, and I'm ready to get to Bristol."
GARY DEHART (Crew chief, #5 Kellogg's Monte Carlo) - Terry Labonte started
14th, finished 10th - "There were a lot of good cars out there at the end and
most of them were Fords. I don't know if anyone noticed that or not. We kept
trying to calculate our fuel window with the rain and all the caution laps.
You never know if you're going to get there or not. It didn't turn out to be
a fuel mileage race, but it could have been. I knew when Jeff Burton let Mark
back on the lead lap it would come back and haunt him, and it did."
RICKY CRAVEN (#25 Budweiser Monte Carlo) - Started 3rd, finished 12th - "It
was just miserably tight through turns three and four. It's really hard to
figure it now. We found our way to the back, so we pitted early under caution
and it worked out good for us. We were up front when we started back racing,
but we weren't good enough to stay there. We've managed to lead laps in every
race we've used this car. Maybe we should take it to Bristol next week even
though it's not a short track car."
KEN SCHRADER (#33 Skoal Bandit Monte Carlo) - Started 8th, finished 14th -
"We had a pretty good run, but I wish we could have had a better finish.
That's a lot better than we finished here last time, so maybe we're gaining
on it. We had a pattern going. In the last four races we'd finished
11th-14th-11th-14th, so we were supposed to finish at least 11th today. I
hope we're not going to get hung up on 14th.
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