NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Hanes 250: Post Qual Quotes (Ford Drivers)

27 September 1997

 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
 Ford Post-Qualify Quotes
 Hanes 250 
 Martinsville Speedway
 September 26, 1997
 

MARTINSVILLE, VA - The following provided by Ford Motorsports Public Affairs:
 

MICHAEL WALTRIP (#1 CITGO Ford) - Qualified 12th - "We were afraid we weren't 
going to make it because you never know. Things were so close. And dummy me I 
come off from turn two after my first lap and I looked over at the scoreboard 
and saw a 20.96, and I said, well that ain't going to make it, so I had to 
barrel it through three and four, and it stuck thank god. We really wanted to 
race. These truck races are a lot of fun. That won't be up at the front, but 
if I've got a good truck tomorrow I can win."

MIKE BLISS (#2 Team ASE Ford) - Qualified 3rd - "I think the Robert Yates 
motor pulled us through that one. The truck was good, but for some reason I 
felt off. But the truck was good and the motor was real good. We'll have a 
good truck here for the race. I'm excited."

ERNIE IRVAN (#28 Federated Auto Parts Ford) - Qualified 2nd - "We're second, 
right? Well that's pretty good. We haven't run this truck hardly at all. 
Basically the focus has been on trying to get fast. There is just no better 
way to do it except for me to come and run a little bit. Obviously we've got 
good stuff. We're starting a new motor program today. Larry Wallace is the 
one who built this one. It's an all new package. Maybe we can look at what 
we'll do next year." 

IRVAN'S RUN PUT HIS REGULAR DRIVER, BORIS SAID ON THE BUBBLE.) - "I didn't 
know that. I didn't know where he was. He's still in though. That's 
important."

BORIS SAID (#44 Federated Auto Parts Ford) - Qualified 32nd - "Both laps were 
real slippery. I just don't think we have the setup down quite yet. I hope 
it's good enough to make the show. The next practice we'll work on it. It's a 
tough place. It looks like two simple corners, but it's hard to find that 
little bit of time."

JOE RUTTMAN (#80 LCI International Ford) - Qualified 5th - "That was better 
than I though we'd do by a bunch. If I'd have got three and four we would 
have run awfully good. I missed three and four real bad. If I would have got 
it we would have been good. We would have set it on the pole. But this was 
about two-tenths better than I thought I was gonna do."

STACY COMPTON (#86 Valvoline Ford) - Qualified 7th - "We'll take it. I'll 
tell you what these guys at Impact Motorsports put me in a good truck week in 
and week out. Sooner or later you're going to see this Ford up front. We're 
pretty excited right now."

KENNY IRWIN, JR. (#98 Raybestos/Ford Credit Ford) - Qualified 19th - "You 
know I feel sorry for these guys (motioning to the team) because it was a 
driver error. We should have qualified better. It's my own fault. We've been 
running the Cup car, and I tried to run it too much like that and you drive 
them quite a bit different. I just made a big mistake."

CHUCK BOWN (#99 Exide Batteries Ford) - Qualified 29th - "We've been kind of 
struggling all day, and we made a bunch of changes before qualifying, and I 
thought it was going to be loose, but it was tight. We're still going to make 
a few more changes before the last half hour practice so that's it. I don't 
know. It's a roll of the dice."


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