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Silly Season | Newsletter | Racefan's Rave | In the Pits | Fire and Ice News and Results | Point Standings | 2003 Schedule | 2003 Teams | 2002 Schedule and Results
Auto Club 500 - GM Qualifying Quotes
(ON REPORTING TO HIS CREW THAT HE ALMOST WRECKED ON HIS FIRST LAP) "We
definitely made some improvements to the car. I hadn't been able to get back
to the gas that early all day. I got back into it early and then it pushed
really bad late off. I got out of the groove off of two, so I had to give up
the first lap. So, I just tried to come off of four and get as much momentum
back to the line to make the second lap good. Then, the same thing happened
to me up off of four on the second lap, so to be in the 38-second bracket is
definitely an improvement over practice."
"I didn't go as fast as I thought I was going to go. The guys did an awesome
job - I screwed up. I lost in turns three and four on the first lap and it
killed me going to the start-finish line. I lost almost 500 rpms coming off
of turn four. I just got too excited. I had an awesome lap going and I got
into three and I just buried it in there and it wouldn't turn. It was my
fault."
"I'm pretty happy. That was a pretty decent lap. We probably could
have gotten a little better, but the driver over-drove the corner just a
little bit. But, the guys did a good job getting the car fast. We got it
comfortable in practice and I'm pretty happy with the lap."
(DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN RUN UP FRONT EACH WEEK NOW?) "To us, as a
team, we've always been that good and it's been a case of getting the
finishes to prove it to everybody else. We're starting to get that now. I
feel like we've got an opportunity this year of having some great runs and
some great finishes and a great end in the points championship. Hopefully,
it all works out for us."
"I thought that was a very good lap. We unloaded here and our UAW/Delphi
Chevy has just been pretty strong. When you can unload good and you kind of
stay right there in the front it gives you high expectations."
(HAS THIS TRACK CHANGED MUCH SINCE YOU WON THE POLE HERE IN '97?) "It has
changed a lot. The asphalt has actually lost grip. But, due to all the
aerodynamic changes we've made to the bodies, we gained so much more
downforce on the cars and that adds grip back. Plus, the motor shops are
making so much more power. We probably have 100 more horsepower than we had
here in '97 - or probably even more than that. So, there are things that
slow down, but the technology just seems to keep speeding up."
"We're making progress. We tried a really 'off-the-wall' setup getting
started and aborted late in practice on it and went back to something more
conventional, but didn't really have time to fine-tune it. We're going to
put it back like we were for the race last year. Obviously, we won here, so
we're going to go back to that. It's just hard to know where to come back.
Technology changes so much every four months. We went out on a limb here and
we really didn't get it 'scienced out' right. But, I'm sure we'll get it
figured out by the time we get to Michigan and use this stuff there."
(HOW MANY GROOVES DOES THIS RACETRACK HAVE?) "Every year it seems like it
widens out more and more, just like every other racetrack we go to. It seems
like the newer racetracks, it takes time for the bottom groove to wear out
to where as tire wear comes into play it slows down enough to where you have
to move to a different groove. It's hard to say. In the past, it seems to
have moved up to where it's three or four lanes wide. Now, you don't
necessarily race three or four lanes wide, but it seems like it's always
moved that direction."
(ARE YOU AT A COMPETITIVE DISADVANTAGE HERE BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT RUNNING THE
BUSCH RACE?) "I don't think so. I don't think that is going to have a lot
to do with our race, to be honest. If we need track time by now, we're in
the wrong business. The guys that have gotten to the Winston Cup Series have
gotten here because they've already supposedly figured things out. If I have
to have the Busch race to figure some things out, then I am in big trouble.
It's two different cars. You have to drive them a little bit different
because of the horsepower difference and the weight difference, so I really
don't think it makes a lot of difference, in all reality."
"All year long, we haven't really qualified good at all. I think the press
sometimes thinks that we don't know that. They have to remind us that we're
not qualifying good. We worked extremely hard to make sure we qualified
good. If you don't qualify good at Martinsville you're not going to have a
good day on Sunday.
"I think people get tired of hearing, 'I want to thank the guys back at the
shop.' But, we have 250 employees. So, if you don't think this is a team
sport, it truly is. These guys, when they were asked to work 20 hours a day
to make a car that is capable of qualifying better, they were up to the
task. That just shows me that they have the confidence - not only in this
race team, but in my ability, too, to put this car up front. Today we proved
that. All the hard work the guys did back home, that the guys did in the
engine shop, and even the truck driver did just getting the car to the west
coast - it showed today that all their effort is not wasted effort."
(DID YOU PUT ANY EXTRA EMPHASIS ON THIS RACE?) "No special emphasis was
put on this race. We just looked at the first nine races and we knew we
struggled qualifying, so the emphasis was put on making a race car that is
not only going to race good, but qualify good. That's what the guys did.
When you ask these people to work 20 hours a day, if they don't believe in
this team and they don't believe in my ability, then it's very hard. You'll
have people quitting and you'll have people saying, 'I don't want to work 20
hours a day. What for?' It just showed today that through all the hard work
and all the effort that was put in, that if we can do this I'm going to put
the car on the pole. They help up their end of the bargain. I help up my end
of the bargain. Among all the media rumors about me losing my job and me not
being with DEI - like I said, our contract is up at the end of the year. I
guarantee you I plan on being in that race car until the end of the year. I
don't race to finish 20th. I race to win. If I don't have the confidence in
my team to win, then I need to go somewhere else. But, I have the confidence
in Tony Gibson, all the new people that we hired, the engine shop, the whole
team that we had that we can do stuff like this - like we can sit on poles
and we can win races. We're not going to stop this year until we do that.
That'll quiet all the critics that we have and everything else. If the
driver doesn't have the confidence in the team, then he is not going to do
well. I have all the confidence in the world that this Pennzoil team is a
team that can qualify on the pole and win races. Among all the hogwash that
I have to read that all the press puts out there - I mean, I have broad
shoulders - just dish it out because I can take it all. You know who is
going to look like a fool when all this is done? All the press people
because when I'm in victory lane winning races, everybody that has had a bad
thing to say about this race team is going to bite their tongue. I'm going
to put it in their face and show it to them that not only were they wrong,
but if they expect Steve Park to be polite to them and honor their wishes
now that things are going good, that is not going to happen. We can all
decide our future. My future with DEI is one that is strong right now. We
want to qualify on the pole like we did today. We want to win on Sunday. Our
goals haven't changed. That is something that we want to do. To not run well
is something that hurts us all as a team, as a driver. It makes us more
focused to go out, work on our race cars and make them a car that can not
only qualify on the pole, but win races. We're not going to stop until we do
that."
(DOES THIS POLE STRENGTHEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH DEI?) "It doesn't make a
difference. What makes a difference is your thinking of it. I feel like our
team is solid. Our relationship is one that dates back to '96 when Dale
Earnhardt hired me to come to this race team, so it's a long standing
relationship that I've had with Ty Norris and Teresa Earnhardt and the late
Dale Earnhardt and it's one that I'm not giving up on. If I drive the
Pennzoil car for 20 years, that's great. That is something I want to do. The
main thing I want to do is win races and get back to the form that this team
was heading for before I got hurt. We're not going to quit until that is
done.
"Again, contract negotiations are something that is publicized in the press
and sells newspapers, but our main focus hasn't changed. My shoulders just
got broader for the fact that no matter what people say, my main focus, my
main goal is to sit on poles and win races. I've got the confidence in the
new Pennzoil team that we built - Ty Norris and Teresa Earnhardt gave us the
opportunity to put the tools together to give us the opportunity to do stuff
like this. All your confidence has wavered. My confidence hasn't wavered.
Our team's confidence hasn't wavered. They've worked tirelessly to make us a
car that can sit on the pole."
(HAVE THERE BEEN TIMES THAT YOU'VE FELT LIKE 'THE OTHER DEI CAR?') "No,
nothing hurts me. I've been through a lot in the last year and a half. I'm
telling you what, nothing hurts me. People need to remember that on
restrictor plate tracks that DEI has a third car and we showed that at
Talladega. This team - I've never seen this team work so closely and so well
together with the '8' and the '15' that it has this year. That starts with
Tony Gibson and his leadership. Even though we have three race teams, we
have one team. We have one team with three race cars. That's the best I've
seen it work in the last four years. Again, the Pennzoil team is a team that
is just getting stronger and stronger and it's working together with the
other teams to make it a team that is capable of running up front on
restrictor plate tracks like Daytona, like Talladega. We had a car that I
thought could win the race at Talladega and really got DQ'd in the pits
because the spoiler brace got knocked off when the '12' car hit the wall and
NASCAR made us sit for two or three laps to fix it, instead of letting us go
back out and not lose a lap. But, with all that said, the finishes have not
been indicative of how the car has run. The car has been strong at times in
the races and the finishes just haven't showed that. We need to get poles.
We need to win races and we know what we need to do.
"I'm telling you right now as we sit here, I'm fixing to win races. That's
the only way it's going to quiet all the critics down. I have all the
confidence in the world in where I'm at and the team that I'm with that we
can do that."
(HAS ANYBODY AT THE TEAM COME TO YOU AND TOLD YOU THAT YOU ARE UNDER FIRE?)
"Nobody has put their finger on, 'You have to do A, B and C in order to stay
in the race car.'"
TY NORRIS, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, DALE EARNHARDT, INC.:
(ON PARK'S STATUS) "Steve and I talked about three weeks ago and
said...'Let's pull for each other, let's help each other.' When that
happens, no matter what anybody says outside these walls, we're not going to
concern ourselves with it.
"Steve Park has to get every single thing he can possible get from us this
year. At the start of this year we felt like he was in the best position to
be competitive again that he had been in a while. The poor guy - he lived
with me for a while. It's not like we're not good friends. It's a personal
thing.
"We just said, 'Let's believe in ourselves, in each other, in Tony Gibson
and everybody on that Pennzoil team. And, Steve, you believe in those guys,
then we'll be successful. If there is a point that you don't believe in them
and they don't believe in you, then we'll all sit down here like men.' We're
not going to handle it like we did last year because we flat out butchered
it."
STEVE PARK, NO. 1 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:
(ON BEATING RYAN NEWMAN FOR THE POLE) "That was the bullet we were trying
to dodge. When we looked at the lineup of how we were going out, we had a
lot of things working for us - going out late. Then I looked and Ryan was
going out even later than we were, so I knew if we did have the opportunity
to be on the front row that we'd have to beat Ryan. Beating him says a lot
for this race team because Ryan has just been strong all year long. He
qualifies great, so we knew it was a bullet to dodge. Thankfully, we dodged
it today. We just did everything we could in our power to put that Pennzoil
car on the front row - as close the front we could. We knew we had a shot at
the pole if everything went right. Then, when I pulled out on the racetrack
and the sun popped out I was like, 'Oh man.' Just when you thought
everything was going in your favor the sun popped out, but it really didn't
affect us. We backed up our speed and Ryan just fell off a little bit. Thank
God we were able to sit on the pole.
"I think this is the beginning. I'm so glad and I'm so confident in the guys
that I have to be able to work so hard. You wouldn't believe how hard they
worked this week to not only to bring the car to the wind tunnel, but to
work on it in the shop and make sure the tires don't hit it. They just put
so much effort into making this car into a car that we could qualify that it
just rewards not only myself, but the whole, entire team. It just went to
show them that with the hard work, it is definitely going to pay off. It
showed me today, too, that with the confidence I have in the team and the
confidence I have in myself and my ability that if given the car to put on
the pole, we're going to put it on the pole. You've got to remember, it has
been a year and a half since we sat in here. It's been a long time. You can
just imagine what has transpired in the last year and a half for me. It's
been a tremendous amount. But, I'm resilient. I'm like an old pair of shoes.
You can just keep tossing me to the side and I'm just still fitting good
every time you put them on. We want to put injury and everything else behind
us and just get back to our old ways and that is winning poles and winning
races again."
TY NORRIS, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, DALE EARNHARDT, INC.:
(DOES THIS POLE MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE RELATIONSHIP?) "Not really. We
have always said that you don't need to win races, you need to compete to
win races. Once you compete to win races, then eventually your wins will
come.
"If he qualified outside pole and Ryan Newman would have beat him or Tony
Stewart would have beat him we would have qualified third - the momentum of
a good run and knowing you have a good race car and knowing when you do have
a good car that your driver steps up and performs - that's what would have
thrilled us. Pole, second third - the pole is definitely a bonus. But, in of
itself is not exactly what he needed. What we needed was to come out here,
unload fast like we did, have the confidence that the car is going to be
there, have the confidence that Steve is going to be there when it counted."
STEVE PARK, NO. 1 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:
(WHAT DID IT MEAN TO YOU TO HAVE OTHER COMPETITORS BE SO HAPPY FOR YOU
TODAY?) "I think they read the same stuff y'all write. It's been highly
publicized what we've all been through as a team in the last year. It's just
nice to see. Ricky Craven came over and he was just so happy and ecstatic.
He was like, 'Man, hopefully it's just going to get easier from here.' And,
that is what I'm hoping, too. But, if it doesn't, I'm ready for that, too.
The main thing to quiet your critics is just winning poles, winning races,
competing for races, putting yourself in a position to win.
"This isn't a 'Cinderella Story.' This isn't the, 'You won the pole -
everything is going to be OK from here on out.' It' just a first step that
we needed to take to lift this whole team up to where it needs to be. We
haven't qualified good all year long, so we knew that. It wasn't like we
needed people to tell us that. We knew that. These guys had the confidence
to work twice as hard to get this car that qualified good with. It just goes
to show that hard work paid off.
"Now, the next step is to run good. We need to run good on Sunday. We need
to qualify and run good all year long. This race team - if you come around
and look at it - is nine races old and it's all brand new people except for
one. It's not the Pennzoil team you've seen around for the last four or five
years. It's a brand new race team, but it's a team that I have the
confidence in that is going to be able to do things like we did today and
win races. I'm pretty happy about that."
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