NASCAR Winston Cup Series NAPA 500: Post Qualifying Quotes (Pontiac Drivers)
16 November 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Pontiac Qualifying Quotes NAPA 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway November 15, 1997 HAMPTON, GA - The following provided by Performance Marketing Group: WARD BURTON (#22 MBNA Grand Prix) - Qualified 2nd - "That was a pretty good lap. I'm pretty happy with that. I think we can go a little faster. I think we know what we need to do when we come back here to go a little faster. I've got an awesome motor. We're looking for a good weekend." JOHNNY BENSON (#30 Pennzoil Grand Prix) - Qualified 12th - "I didn't lift. That's all she said. That's as fast as she'd go. We're going to go for it tomorrow. We need to run good. We need to finish in the top-10, preferably top-five. We're going to run hard all day." DERRIKE COPE (#36 Skittles Grand Prix) - Qualified 14th - "That's about as good as we've been. I might have been a bit more conservative than I should have been. But I didn't think we were going to be on the pole by any means, so I though discretion was the better part of valor there. I wanted to get a good, solid lap in because a lot of guys are struggling. I knew the car was good, and it stuck really well in both corners. Maybe I could have been a little more aggressive, but I haven't raced here in two years. We missed this race by making a poor choice on our car here in March, and when I left Bobby Allison we didn't have a crew chief, and we had one car left there at the end. I wanted to leave this team with a good effort. I really don't have a whole lot to lose in the race, to tell you the truth." KYLE PETTY (#44 Hot Wheels Grand Prix) - Qualified 20th - "We ran a 28.69 yesterday, and this morning I ran a .72, a .71, and a .74, and I ran a .74 when I qualified. That's about all we expected to do. That's about four-tenths quicker than what we practiced down here, so we're pretty pleased. I don't think I was any more cautious having to go out second, but you don't like to be the first or second go out on a brand new race track, I don't care who you are. This is the last race, we're fast enough to get in the race, and that makes our goal complete that we made all the races." BOBBY LABONTE (#18 Interstate Batteries Grand Prix) - Qualified 21st - "The best lap we ran in practice was an .80, so at least we picked up a little. I wish we could have picked up more." CHAD LITTLE (#97 John Deere Grand Prix) - Qualified 24th - "This is a good way to end things up. I think the Pontiacs as a group did really well, and I'm glad I'm in one here." MORGAN SHEPHERD (#1 R&L Carriers Grand Prix) - Qualified 36th - "That was the most we could get out of it. I ran flat out just about all the way around. That's just about all we had. We just really haven't had the speed from the time we unloaded. I was concerned about getting in, so I'm happy. It was kind of looking doubtful."
