NASCAR Winston Cup Series DieHard 500: Post Qualifying Quotes - Chevy Drivers
11 October 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Chevrolet Qualifying Quotes DieHard 500 Talladega Superspeedway October 10, 1997 TALLADEGA, AL - The following provided by Chevrolet Motor Division, General Motors Corporation Public Relations: KEN SCHRADER (#33 Skoal Bandit Monte Carlo) - Qualified 14th - "We slowed down a tenth from practice, but it was stable all day. We didn't pull out a wonderful lap, but we were pretty good. This is the same car we've run in all the plate races this season. We should have it just about right by now. We'll see where it winds up. We'll have a decent starting spot for the race." TERRY LABONTE (#5 Kellogg's Monte Carlo) - Qualified 6th - "That was a pretty good lap, but it's a little slower than we practiced. It's so hard to get a good clean lap in practice because so many cars are out there. We were good in practice, and hopefully that'll put us in the top 10. I think we've got a good team. We're really working on getting ready for next year." WALLY DALLENBACH (#46 First Union Monte Carlo) - Qualified 24th - "I'm happy with that lap. That's about two-tenths faster than we practiced this morning. We were hoping by that board this morning that some guys were getting help or we were going to be in trouble. Hopefully we can qualify in the first round and worry about practicing for the race on Saturday. The car was running a little warm. It was getting a little toasty out there. The water got hot on that lap." DAVID GREEN (#96 Caterpillar Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 45th fastest - "That's about three tenths off practice. Everybody that went out before us slowed down a little bit, too. We didn't know what was going on. The clouds have been over the track pretty good, but maybe when you go through that room of doom (NASCAR inspection) you get another restrictor plate and all that stuff. I'm kind of disappointed. The car drove OK. It felt like it should have been a little faster. In practice, it's real easy to get a little help and not mean to. I thought we had a clean lap. Any time a car is on the race track, it could be on the other side of the track, air is getting turned around. Who knows? We all might have been getting a little help." DAVE MARCIS (#71 RealTree Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 31st fastest - "That was a little better than we practiced. I just hope we can get in the top 25. If we can make the show this weekend, we'll be pretty happy. A lot of people fool themselves in practice. We try not to. I think our best lap in practice was a 50.42 and we ran a 50.29 qualifying. We try to keep up with what's going on so we don't get any surprises. We caught a little cloud on our lap, and that never hurts anything." JOE NEMECHEK (#42 BellSouth Monte Carlo) - Qualified 13th - "It seemed like we fell off a little bit, but we've worked hard on qualifying. Getting into the 49-second bracket at Talladega is quite an accomplishment. The guys did an awesome job. I'm happy. Tony Glover did a good job making some calls at the last. Hopefully we'll race good. It's the same Talladega, but it's hot today. I'm sweating pretty good, but it's a lot cooler than it would be in July. We slowed down a little from practice, but that's not unusual here." DALE EARNHARDT (#3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Monte Carlo) - Qualified 12th - "We were honest in practice. The car feels great. It's a good car. I think it'll cool off for the weekend, but the race conditions will be the same. It's going to be a racy race. That was a lot better than we'd practiced, and you always hope for a better run. Hopefully that'll be a top five or top 10, but we'll go racing Sunday wherever we end up starting." JEFF GREEN (#29 Cartoon Network Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 28th fastest - "We've been behind a little bit. We tested here a couple of weeks ago, and we're getting a lot better. We'll get some experience for next year, and that's what we want to do. We ran a little better this morning, but that's all we had for qualifying. I think we've got a great motor. We just need to work on our body a little bit. We're learning. We'll get there." DARRELL WALTRIP (#17 Parts America Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 32nd fastest - "That wasn't that bad. We didn't slow down like a lot of guys did, so that was a plus. We'll see where it ends up. We'd like to be in the top 25 today so I can sleep tonight. I haven't slept for a week. A top 25 would really help me get some sleep. The shocks and all you have to run makes it a pretty bumpy ride. They make the rules to slow you down then allow you to do all the things we're allowed to do to speed back up. It's kind of crazy." STEVE GRISSOM (#41 Kodiak Monte Carlo) - Qualified 22nd - "That's definitely as fast as we've run by ourselves. It's hard to tell. We had as legitimate of a lap as you could get out there in practice. I could see some cars up there, so I'm sure we got some help. When it comes to qualifying, it's about the same whether it's in July or October. I don't believe it'll be as bad Sunday. The guys did a good job. We'll see where we wind up and look forward to Sunday. When you go out to qualify, you're the only car on the track and that's quite a difference from the way it is in practice." ED BERRIER (#95 Sadler Racing Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 47th fastest - "We've got a lot of work to do. We can't find the problem with it. We had a little miscue going through inspection. We'll go to work and see if we can't get a little better." STERLING MARLIN (#4 Kodak Gold Film Monte Carlo) - Did not qualify; 29th fastest - "That's kind of how our year has gone. We had been a lot faster than that in practice, and that's about how we unloaded off the truck. We just slowed down when we got ready to qualify." RICKY CRAVEN (#25 Budweiser Monte Carlo) - Qualified 15th - "That was better than we had in the spring. I really owe a lot of credit to the guys. They built a brand new car. They've built a lot of cars this year, and they did an exceptional job with this car. This is about the same as we practiced. We got a little drafting help at the end. It was rush hour at the end, so we were a little suspicious." JEFF GORDON (#24 DuPont Automotive Refinishes Monte Carlo) - Qualified 8th - "That's about what we ran in practice when we were out in the open, so we backed that up. That was a pretty good lap. This is the car we wrecked at Daytona in July, and it's a good race car. I'm looking forward to the race on Sunday. I don't know if that's going to get us in the top 10, but we should be somewhere around there. I've got the car capable of doing it (winning race). I know I've got the team capable of doing it. We're just going to have to wait and see. If we can get it up front and stay there, it sure would be nice." MIKE SKINNER (#31 Lowe's Monte Carlo) - Qualified 16th - "We'll take that. We're just happy to be in the show. We've got a better race car than that right now. I don't know exactly what happened. We didn't really got to fender test. We left a lot of cards on the table. The engine got real hot in (turns) three and four and we lost a lot of speed coming off four down to the line. I'm just happy for this team. We got in the race, and we'll be good come Sunday. I wanted to put a Chevrolet on the pole, but we couldn't make it three in a row."
