NASCAR Winston Cup Series NAPA 500: Race Notebook
16 November 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Race Notebook NAPA 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, GA November 16, 1997 STELLAR DAY FOR PONTIAC Six drivers who finished in the top 10 in the Winston Cup season finale, including winner Bobby Labonte, were sitting behind the wheel of a Grand Prix giving Pontiac its best showing of 1997. The previous best effort by the car manufacturer was four top tens at Richmond International Raceway in March and again at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October. NASCAR instituted rule changes for the Pontiac in early September in an effort to increase downforce and in the eight races since then, Grand Prix drivers have recorded two victories and eight top-three finishes. "I think the Pontiacs stack up pretty good," said Labonte during his post-race interview. "I know with the rule changes NASCAR made a few weeks back have added to that. When we made the decision to go to Pontiac last year, this is the way (the rules were then). Over the winter they took that away. Towards the end of the year they came back to the way it was last year when we tested the Pontiac. It kind of got us back to where we were." COPE RECORDS SEASON-BEST FINISH Derrike Cope gave MB2 Motorsports a going away present in the form of a fifth-place finish -- his best of the season. "We were just a little bit tight, and then in one section of the race it was really tight and we had a bad set of tires," said Cope who will be moving to Bahari Racing for 1998. "We just lost a lot of track position. Our car wasn't good early on runs. It was a good end to the season and I can carry something into next year." The Washington state native felt that his good showing in today's event should be enough to quiet the people who have questioned his abilities to drive a race car competitively. "There's been a lot of ridicule and a lot of stuff said about me driving here and things," he said. "I just kept my mouth shut and tried to keep doing what I was doing. It's nice to reinforce the fact that when I get something good to drive I can get the job done. I had a good race car today and I drove hard all day. I kept it up there when a lot of people couldn't." Cope finished the season 27th in the overall point standings. TEMPERS FLARE EARLY Just 33 of 325 laps had been put on the board when Brett Bodine and Buckshot Jones, competing in his first Winston Cup event, tangled in turn two to bring out the second caution of the race. Brett, taking great exception to Jones' driving tactics, jumped from his car and ran directly to the mangled No. 00 Aquafresh Pontiac to let the youngster know just what he thought about the incident. After having words with Buckshot directly, Bodine blasted him again over the airwaves. "That guy is ridiculous," said an obviously irate Bodine. "In every division he's in he wrecks people. I have never seen anything like it. I got in a little pit road mishap and had to come back in and fix the race car and got back there with some people that don't deserve to be on this kind of race track evidently." Bodine then went on to reference the numerous penalties that have been handed to Jones this season in the Busch Series for various actions deemed to be detrimental to the sport by the sanctioning body. "All of the penalties and fines and everything in Busch obviously didn't mean nothing to him, because he comes over here and does it again. It was early in the race and we're running at the back, just trying to stay on the lead lap. I don't understand. The kid doesn't use his head. He's always had a fast race car, but he don't use his head." The youngest of the racing Bodines, who is still seeking sponsorship for his team for next season, was credited with a 41st-place finishing position and ended the season 29th in the season point standings. Buckshot Jones finished dead last in 43rd was quick to defend himself and shot a barb back in the direction of Bodine. "All we wanted to do was run all the laps. We were just trying to follow Brett around and see how these cars react when you run behind people. I went down into (turns) one and two and I don't know if he slipped or he lifted a little. I wasn't trying to get around him but I barely got into the back of him apparently. I don't know because everything happened so fast. I don't care too much for what he said on the radio. Everybody's got a right to be out here. Everybody makes mistakes. I'm not saying I did, I'll have to watch the tape first and see. If I did, I didn't mean to. Comments like that he makes is probably why he doesn't have a sponsor right now. He ought to be careful of what he says." Lori Vizza -- The Auto Channel
