Auto Club 500 - John Andretti Notes

John Andretti Notes, Quotes: Auto Club 500
New Impound Procedure Welcomes Andretti, VB Team

Leaving Daytona, this weekend John Andretti and the #14 VB/APlus at Sunoco Ford head to the second race of the season, the Auto Club 500 at the two-mile California Speedway located in the city of Fontana.

Andretti and the rest of the Nextel Cup garage will be looking to tackle a different weekend schedule to be introduced for the first time this weekend. NASCAR officials have created an “Impound Weekend” for 2005. Teams will practice only on Friday in race setup and then qualify on Saturday. After qualifying, all cars will be impounded and will not be allowed to be adjusted until the race on Sunday.

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.

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 California:

“I think the idea is to save some money for the teams. Some of it is because you are not on the race track burning up extra tires, burning off fuel or other different things. I think on the other hand you are not working as hard doing specialty setups just for qualifying. You are not spending time with qualifying lubricants or hubs, and all the kinds of things you do to make the car its absolute quickest. That’s all good and hopefully will cut cost.

“The only problem that I might see is for a team like us. I don’t think it’s really good to be used for any of the first five races. Under the current rules, and the qualifying procedures that we have now, I think it would be better if it was the other way. I don’t think there should be any impound races in the first five races. I think it’s unfair for the guys outside the top 35 in last season’s owner’s points.

“You know, we are still trying to earn our way in. After the first five races I think it’s everyone on their own terms, but for these first five races to have an impound weekend really hurts you. You are going to have guys show up that are just going to put qualifying stuff on their car to make the race- not even worried about the race itself. They are going to say, ‘Well we are just going to go out and qualify.’ Then, here we are, a team that is concerned about having a good race car too. I don’t know if it’s the greatest way to go about it, but it is what it is, so we’ll live by it.

“I think we’ve got an awfully good car for California. Hopefully as we come out of California, we’ll learn how to make a good car for Vegas too. We had a much better test at California. I think we have a lot more to gain than others as we head into California too.

“We have had three or four cars taken to the wind tunnel. We know where this car is at and we know the balance of it. We’re also coming along with other cars that will be more aligned because they will be more updated to what everyone else tested. I feel like we should be getting better.

“At California in January I really felt good about that test. I thought we had a great car, and I thought we had a great test. I’m looking forward to getting back there. However it shakes out, I think we’re going to be in really good shape. We’re out of Daytona and we’re looking ahead to California, and seeing what we can do with this VB/APlus at Sunoco Ford.”