NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Hanes 250: Post Race Quotes (Ford Drivers)
28 September 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Ford Post-Race Quotes
Hanes 250
Martinsville Speedway
September 27, 1997
MARTINSVILLE, VA - The following provided by Ford Motorsports Public Affairs:
MICHAEL WALTRIP (#1 CITGO Ford) - Started 12th, finished 35th - Waltrip hit
the wall following an altercation with Jack Sprague early in the first
segment of the race. - "We messed up something in the back end because it
started making an awful racket right after that. Also when I got hit knocked
the toe off. We had a good truck."
ARE YOU GOING TO RUN AGAIN THIS SEASON WITH THE TRUCKS? - "Yeah, I'm going to
take this truck to the west coast. If there isn't too much damage we can get
ready and go out there. I don't know if I'll go to Vegas (where he ran last
year). Right now we're scheduled to go to Homestead with the Busch car so
we'll do one or the other."
MIKE BLISS (#2 Team ASE Ford) - Started 3rd, finished 3rd - "We just used the
tires up on the restart. I spun the tires on the start and Ernie (Irvan) got
by me. Ernie wanted second I guess. Third is worse than second. It don't
matter. We couldn't have won anyway. They (Bickle) were fast. All in all it
was a pretty good day. The ASE Ford was good and the Robert Yates motor was
strong."
RICK CRAWFORD (#14 Circle Bar Motel & RV Park Ford) - Started 34th, finished
24th - Involved in accident on lap 75 involving Tony Raines. - "We were
trying to impress the Cup side of the fence. We started way back, but the
truck was running real good, and we were moving to the front I guess. We come
off of four side-by-side with another truck and there was the 18 (Tony
Raines) truck dead. I did all I could to miss him and not cause a big
accident, but we were caught up in it. We'll be all right."
ERNIE IRVAN (#28 Federated Auto Parts Ford) - Started 2nd, finished 2nd - "We
had a good truck. This Federated Auto Parts Ford, the guys did a good job. It
just shows we've got good trucks. Boris (teammate Boris Said) has been doing
a good job. Mike (Bliss) was just a little better than I was. Any time you
had a caution it got a little slippery. I just happened to make a good run on
him on that restart. We had a third place truck today, and we were happy to
come home third, but we got second. The truck got real tight. We tried to
loosen it up during the half time, but it didn't work."
WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST COUPLE OF LAPS? - "These truck deals always end up
like that you know. We had a good run. Mike kind of left the door open. He
got real loose on the restart so he left it wide open."
JOE RUTTMAN (#80 LCI International Ford) - Started 5th, finished 12th -
"About ten laps into the race I was down in the dumps. It ran about 25 or 30
laps just super bad. We lost a lap, and then it decided to start running
again. We haven't figured out just what the problem is. We though about
coming in but decided no. Then we kind of threw the dice in the second half
and changed it, and probably shouldn't have. We hurt ourselves when we were
trying to et our lap back against Bickle, but he was really hooked up. We
would have had to put a miracle to it to get him back. But we finished."
STACY COMPTON (#86 Valvoline Ford) - Started 7th, finished 9th - "We were
pleased with it (the finish). Of course we always want a little bit better. I
can't say enough about Troy (Selberg) and this Impact Motorsports team. We
brought a new truck up here, we had a good run. We ran in the top five the
first segment, and we just basically sat there and rode. We were trying to
figure out what the truck was going to do for the second segment. We felt
like
we were in good shape so we just made some minor adjustments, air pressure
adjustments. It looks like we had a right rear shock go bad. I hate it
because like I say, we really had a good truck up here. We come up here;
there were 51 trucks here. We'll bring this Ford home in ninth place any
time. It was a top-ten finish. We'll build on it this week and try and
improve on it."
YOU CAME IN RIGHT AT THE END OF THE RACE. WHY? - "We were right at the end of
the lead lap trucks, and we thought we could get it tightened up. We didn't
realize it was a shock. We put some rounds of bit in it trying to get it
tightened up so that hopefully we could have a shot at Kenny (Irwin) right
there at the end. But it just never would take a set. We were just way too
loose."
KENNY IRWIN, JR. (#98 Raybestos/Ford Credit Ford) - Started 19th, finished
8th - "It was an okay race. We didn't have that good a truck at the start,
but we didn't get in any trouble. We didn't go a lap down. That's what
actually made the day pretty good. We come away with a top-ten finish. About
the middle of the first half I didn't think we stood a chance of doing crap
today, but it just worked out. We were just bad loose. We got it tightened
up, but we needed something else. I still don't know what I'd change if we
went back right now."
CHUCK BOWN (#99 Exide Batteries Ford) - Started 29th, finished 16th - "We
were kind of hanging in there on the lead lap. Pretty far in there was a
caution. We didn't have very good track position so we stopped to make a
little chassis adjustment thinking we weren't giving up anything anyway. They
stopped me at the end of pit road so that I wouldn't gain track position,
and it stalled. I couldn't get it refired. The starter motor wouldn't work.
By the time the guys could push me we were a lap down, and from then on we
just never had track position and struggled. There will be better days. It
could have been worse, but I would sure have liked it to be better."
###
