UAW-GM Quality 500 - John Andretti Notes

John Andretti Notes, Quotes: UAW/GM 500
“I’m excited’

John Andretti and the #14 VB/APlus at Sunoco Ford team run their inaugural race Saturday night in the UAW/GM 500 at the 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

ppc Racing fields the car driven by the winning NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver. The VB/APlus at Sunoco Ford was the fastest in Lowe’s NASCAR Nextel Cup Series testing a few weeks ago and, even though its first event, should be among the favorites for pole qualifying Thursday evening.

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 Lowe’s:

“I’m excited.

“I know most press releases always have that quote in there somewhere, ‘I am really excited about such and such,’ but I am honestly and truly excited about getting started with ppc Racing and this VB/APlus at Sunoco Ford team.

“We have a great start to what is going to be a very competitive program. I’m not saying that just because we were the fastest in testing a week or so ago. I’ve been in this business long enough to know there is a reason they don’t hand out trophies for testing. But I know, too, that being second-fastest or 10th-fastest isn’t as good as fastest, so we’ve shown ourselves we have some positive things going.

“There is plenty of work in front of us, and we know that. There isn’t any room for error, especially as we get started. There are no points to fall back on, no provisionals for us. Rain on Thursday night would be disastrous for us but, at least right now, the weather forecast looks pretty good.

“We’re running the five races this year with a lot of seriousness but we’re running them, too, to put ourselves in solid position for 2005, when we run a full schedule. We’re learning about each other, we’re learning what it takes to make our race cars fast, we’re learning how to work together, and we’re putting up points to give us a solid start to the 2005 season.

“We have an idea but we really won’t know how we’re going to do until things crank up Thursday at Charlotte. That gives us our first shot at competition on a completely level playing field. By the end of the night Thursday, we’re going to know some things about ourselves and, while one round of qualifying won’t make or break us as a race team, it will give us an initial baseline. It will show us where we stand.

“Greg (Pollex, team owner) and Dave (Charpentier, team manager and crew chief) have put some good people in place at the shop, and they have been working pretty hard to get things going. ppc is letting their Busch team pit us, and those guys have been pretty good in the pits all season. I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about our pit stops.

“This is a big weekend for us, obviously. This is our chance to thank VB, APlus, Sunoco and Ford for the faith they have shown in us. And it’s our chance to show where we are as a race team. It’s just the first time out but it’s big.

“Like I said, I’m excited.”