Ford 400 - John Andretti Notes

John Andretti Notes, Quotes: Ford 400
‘Preparing for 2005 - Today’

This weekend John Andretti and the #14 VB/APlus at Sunoco Ford team prepare for the last race of the 2004 Nextel Cup season at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway. It will be the final attempt for the new team before preparing fulltime for a full 2005 schedule.

Andretti is one of the most well-known drivers in NASCAR racing, with race victories at two of the most difficult speedways on the circuit – the tight, fast 2.5-mile Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and the demanding .526-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. In 1994, he became the first driver to run both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. And he is one of just a handful of drivers in history with major race victories in the top three forms of motorsports – NASCAR Nextel Cup, Indy car and major league sports car racing.

Based in Mooresville, N.C., ppc Racing is one of the most accomplished racing organizations in NASCAR history. Greg Pollex, owner of ppc, has competed in NASCAR for 11 seasons. In five years of competition, ppc has garnered 27 wins, 150 top-fives, 235 top-10’s and has finished in the top five in the NASCAR Busch Series championship standings for four consecutive years, including the 2000 national championship. ppc Racing will enter the 2005 season fielding cars in each of NASCAR’s premier racing divisions - the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Victory Brand LLC, headquartered in Coldwater, Mich., produces VB Made In The USA, a premium high-quality blend value price cigarette, with scheduled national distribution beginning in October.

APlus, the Official Pit Stop of NASCAR, is a convenience store chain with over 700 franchise and Sunoco company-owned locations in the Eastern half of the U.S.A. APlus is the exclusive home of Gulliver’s premium brand of coffee, Tobacco Zone, City Deli and Parlor Pizza. Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA and is the Official Fuel of NASCAR.

The thoughts of VB/APlus at Sunoco Ford driver John Andretti heading into Homestead:

“It was harder to get ready to run these last five races than what it would have been to get ready for next year. Next year we can develop. We can say, ‘OK, we’re going to build a speedway car and do this or that.’ You can really lay things out. In some ways we were thinking that we were somewhat putting ourselves at a disadvantage in trying to do too much this season. I do think, however, that after going to some of the races we’ve been able to identify areas where we can improve the most. We now have a winter to concentrate on those areas and hopefully come back stronger. That will be the goal.

“I don’t think that there are a lot of areas we need to do a lot of major work on. It’s just that in Nextel Cup, when you are at this level, there is no margin for error. You have to be ‘spot on’ in every area. I think that in some areas I’d have to say that I’m absolutely enthused about how good we are. I would have expected us to have to get better everywhere because we were new out of the box in September.

“We were a brand new race team, everyone was learning how to work with everybody, but so many things have happened seamlessly that it has really been great. Now we can focus even harder on the areas where we know we have to get stronger, and we have time to do that. We also have the ability to see the over-the-wall guys. They get to do pit stops together -it’s a whole different thing when you have to go and do something under pressure rather than just go somewhere and go through the motions.

“There is not going to be an off-season for us. I don’t think there is an off-season for many people. That’s the part of the sport that people don’t see on a regular basis. Even coming to the track, obviously, there is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes. We have the most educated fans of any sport because they get so involved in what we are doing. Our sport allows them to get more involved. I think there is an understanding of how much is going to go on.

“People show up at Daytona, and every team has worked hard. It’s also not just about working hard, but it’s about working smart. I think that’s where we have really come to. The guys on this team have worked extremely hard and have never let down. They aren’t just going through motions. They are making a lot of things happen. I think that’s where we are ahead of the curve.

“We’re looking forward to Homestead right now, but honestly I might be one of the only drivers to have liked the old track better. The one thing that I do like about the new Homestead is that it reminds me of the old Atlanta track. I think that the old Atlanta track was a cool track. The new Atlanta, now that the pavement is wearing down, is getting racier. I think that’s the way Homestead is. It will be really, really racy this time - probably even more so than last time. From what I understand, even though they laid black top, it bleaches itself white. We’re going to be racing on a white track. That’s going to be pretty exciting, and we’re excited about this weekend. This #14 VB/Aplus at Sunoco team has worked hard these last two months. We’re prepared for this weekend and looking forward to 2005.”