Sam’s Town 300 - Steve Grissom Notes

Steve Grissom Notes, Quotes: Sam's Town 300

'The Highs and Lows of Las Vegas'

A team starting to turn heads in the NASCAR Busch Series, Steve Grissom of Gadsden, Ala., and the #36 DCT Motorsports Chevrolet team head to the 1.5-mile Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway for Saturday's Sam's Town 300. Grissom and the team come into the race after a 25th-place finish in the season opener in Daytona and a strong 11th-place finish in their last outing at the North Carolina Speedway.

DCT Motorsports is led by championship veterans Grissom and crew chief Ricky Pearson. Named for the idea "Dreams Come True," owners John McGill and Carl Natale - "two guys from Cleveland building a future in motorsports," as they refer to themselves - have developed the sport's most cost-efficient, sponsor-friendly marketing setup. It is based on giving full value to sponsors, and utilizing the many business-to-business contacts McGill, a developer, and Natale, a major earthwork contractor, have in place.

DCT Motorsports, seeking sponsorship for next year, plans on running a 29-race schedule in 2004, hitting all of the major NASCAR Busch Grand National events and markets. One of the most comprehensive sponsorship packages in any form of motorsports, DCT offers a complete package of top racing equipment, hospitality, public relations, publicity, appearances and show cars.

The thoughts of DCT Chevrolet driver Steve Grissom heading into Las Vegas:

"Starting up a team, like this DCT team, is sort of like taking a trip to Las Vegas. You are going to have your highs and you are going to have your lows. You're always looking for things to come up aces, but you also know that the joker is there too. So far, we've have been getting some decent cards dealt our way. We're just hoping that we don't see that joker this weekend.

"Like anything in Vegas, we want to maximize our highs and minimize our lows. You can't win every weekend, but you can't have a lot of really bad days either. You want to keep building as the season goes on. We have had some good runs early, and that is tough to do that when you start from scratch.

"Any time you start a new team you need to align yourself with good people, quickly. Ricky (crew chief Ricky Pearson) and I have been around long enough in both Nextel Cup and in the Busch series to have developed relationships with some really smart racing people. We have good people helping this team out right out of the box. The chassis, the engines, the equipment are all from top-notch companies and people who have been around for a long time. I think that has made a difference early. It gives us an advantage over a lot of the other teams in this series.

"This weekend we are going to a very different track from Daytona or Rockingham. Las Vegas is a new track, a fast track, and a track where handling is going to be a big deal. I have never raced a Busch series car at Vegas, but I have experience in a Cup car. I do know it's going to be another challenge for us. We've done a really good job of tackling each challenge we've faced this season. This weekend will be no different. It's just the next step.

"We want to keep our racing luck rolling in Vegas. We did a good job in Rockingham of staying on top of the race and the car. We made all the changes we needed to make and kept moving to the front. It was only a long clean up after a bad wreck that cost us from pitting to get some gas and a better finish. We still had a fast car and good finish. A lot of good things happened, and we want more good things to happen for us this weekend. Preparation is important.

"Rockingham was a good weekend for us, and with an extra week to work back at the shop, that gave us a chance to be better prepared for Vegas. Having extra time at the shop was good for us. There wasn't much time between a week at Daytona and then going into Rockingham. It was nice to get a breather and get our cars ready for the next few weeks.

"Las Vegas is going to be a big weekend for us. It's an exciting new venue, and for this one weekend out of the year we take center stage in a city that never sleeps. It's a big deal for us to do well. We have had some good runs, but we know there is room to get better. I think we've done a good job so far of getting things in place, now we are heading to Vegas play our next hand. Hopefully we'll have a full house this weekend.