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2000 Schedule and Results
MBNA Platinum 400 - Ford Post-Race Quotes JIMMY SPENCER-26-Kmart Taurus-"I just got hit from behind. I don't know who was there, but they just hit me in the left-rear quarter-panel and spun me out." ANY CHANCE YOU'LL GET BACK IN? "Yeah, just a lot of laps down, a lot of work. It didn't need to be done, it was really a tough deal. I had a really good race car. And I know what I had yesterday in the Busch race, and I put the same shocks and stuff underneath it and I knew it would be good on long runs. We're running for a top-10 in points, trying to win a race, it ain't gonna happen that way. It was just uncalled for." KURT BUSCH-97-Sharpie/Rubbermaid Taurus-"Everybody around 15th through 25th in points must've thought they were going to go to the front. I don't understand why everybody was so racy so early. I didn't want to get into the back of Mark Martin and I just checked up too hard." MORE ON WHAT HAPPENED. "Dover's either real good or real bad to you. Everybody from 15th to 25th in points, for some reason, were real anxious to go to the front. Nobody was getting out the way because the other guy had a faster car. We didn't know who was fast and who was slow." ELLIOTT SADLER-21-Motorcraft Taurus-"We were going to pick up a lot of positions on fuel mileage. I was hoping to see it go green the rest of the way. We were one or two laps down there, but we had the mileage thing going. We had stayed out a long time the time before, and we picked up a few spots there, and we were hoping to get them all back there at the end. Then we had the caution. We still were able to stay only one lap down at the end so it was a good points day. A lot of guys who ended up behind us had problems with the points so I think we'll be all right with the points and we'll go on from there." YOU FOUGHT A LOOSE CONDITION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE RACE. HOW WAS THE CAR AT THE END? "It was still loose. We probably had the wrong springs on in the front. Every time we go to a new race track it is a new deal with this team, and we are still learning how to work together. We'll just keep working on it. We just missed it a little bit, and in this deal if you miss it a little bit it shows up a lot on the racetrack. We'll just keep trying, hoping to get the points until we get it better and go from there." RUSTY WALLACE-2-Miller Lite Taurus-"It was just a bad day here today overall for us. We were loose at the beginning and adjusted, adjusted, adjusted on this thing. Then we got it too tight. We adjusted on it some more and got it running pretty good. We were as fast as anybody out there before the last stop and looked to be in for at least a 14th- or 15th-place finish, maybe even higher. But we had some loose lugs on the left side on the last stop and had to come back in. That pretty much did us in." DALE JARRETT-88-UPS Taurus-"Now we just got to go and play a little bit hurt. It was tough. It was hard for me, especially on long runs, to be able to tell him what the car was doing exactly and what it needed. I was just trying to stay comfortable in the seat. We managed to get a top-five out of it." ANY IDEA WHEN YOU'LL BE BACK TO 100 PERCENT? "I would say by the time we get to Daytona I should be okay." ANY THOUGHTS OF GETTING FRESHER TIRES ON THAT LAST CAUTION? "Not really. My car wasn't very good on brand-new tires anyway, we just had a couple of laps on them. We thought track position was a little more important." RICKY CRAVEN-32-Tide Taurus-YOU PASSED A LOT OF CARS TO FINISH WHERE YOU DID. WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU HAD A GOOD CAR? "Pretty early. Shoot, that felt good. It's just so much fun contending-and we were a contender." ON HIS DAY. "Our car was great on the long runs. If we had 80 to go instead of 30 to go, and Gordon's running the bottom and I'm running the top, we got a chance to win the race. But with 30 to go, and him running the bottom, he was too strong. Had we we got some laps on the car, we're a contender for the win. It was fun. We were running second and Mike [Beam, crew chief], is saying, 'You're six back, you're five back, you're four back.' And for a brief moment I thought, 'What am I going to say in Victory Lane?' I shouldn't have done that." HOW DID YOUR PIT STOPS GO? "Great. I mean it was just a great day. It wasn't perfect because we didn't need that caution at the end, but other than that, it was a great day." AS THIS TEAM CONTINUES TO GROW, WHAT DOES TODAY MEAN? "It's such a big boost, particularly under the circumstances. The last few weeks have been tough on us. We've run in the top 15 and got knocked out, or broke a shock mount, or had really unusual things. But, we've rebounded. That's the sign of a tough team. We've got a tough team to rebound from what we've had the last few weeks." LIKE ANY OTHER SPORT, CONFIDENCE MUST BE IMPORTANT, TOO, AND NOW YOU TAKE THAT OUT OF THIS RACE AS WELL. "Absolutely. And there's no substitute for it." MIKE BEAM, crew chief-32-Tide Taurus-"We kind of started off there and went back to the back because that first accident he ran over something. The car really stayed hooked up all day. We were just off a little bit, but it was a good effort for us. I need to work on downforce a little bit on this car, it seems like. On a long run it was pretty good, but I couldn't really get it going whenever, it just started. It was kind of like Rockingham. You know, we just keep going and keep digging." WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU HAD A GOOD CAR? "When he come to the front there at first. But I knew we got off there a little bit and brought it back, and I said, well, this is the best we're gonna get right here. I kept listening to Gordon and all them, and if we could've just kept going. He said we needed about 30 or 40 more laps to really have been good. I changed the air pressure that last run. Maybe that hurts a little bit, but still it was a good day." CAL WELLS, III, owner-32-Tide Taurus-"The engine's good, but they're always good. Ford is a good car to be racing right now. We were the first today, weren't we? YES. "That was good. We just need to keep from screwing ourselves up. If we'd stop shooting ourselves in the foot-I've got a couple of toes left-hopefully we can bring something home. I honestly thought we were in contention today. I knew we couldn't touch Jeff, other than that last stint, then we were better, but other than that he was pretty much covered. But second place-coulda', shoulda', woulda'. WHAT DOES TODAY MEAN FOR THE GROWTH OF YOUR TEAM? "We'll go back to doing everything the way we've been doing it. We're doing a good job, the crew's doing a good job. We just make mistakes occasionally and that's what hurts us, and that's what hurt us in too many races this year. That's why we are wherever we are in points. I'd be thrilled with a top-20 this year in points." ON RICKY CRAVEN. "He's a good race-car driver, he just needed an opportunity to get a full-time deal again. So often people perceive an accident somebody's in, they perceive them as being damaged goods. You know, it's so competitive here, you've got so many young stars who are coming up all the time to fight for your seat, it made it tough for him. We needed somebody with maturity to work with young Andy Houston, who we have great, great respect for. Ricky was that guy, was the right guy. And he proved it again today."
2000 Schedule and Results
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