NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II: Chevy Thursday quotes

Qualifying for the UAW-GM Quality 500 was postponed due to rain, and will resume at 8 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 11. The following are comments prior to the rain delay: JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "That's the best we've been all ...

Published: Oct 12, 2002, 1:38 PM

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Qualifying for the UAW-GM Quality 500 was postponed due to rain, and will resume at 8 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 11. The following are comments prior to the rain delay:

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"That's the best we've been all day long. We laid down everything we possibly could tonight. It's just not enough. We really haven't been a pole contender at a lot of these race tracks. I think we picked up from practice, so we're happy with that. We made some gains down in (turns) one and two, and lost a little bit coming off of turn four."

BOBBY HAMILTON, NO. 55 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"I feel good. When I got put out of it, I said I wasn't coming back until the doctor said I could. Everybody feels like I'm 100 percent and I definitely feel like I am. I've rested up good. You don't realize how tired you are for doing this - all of you, the media and everybody - until you've been away from it a couple of weeks. I was wore out. I slept like 13 hours a day and now I feel good again. I missed my guys. I like hanging around them.

"The car is really driving good. It's been off a little bit speed-wise. I'm really excited about getting to the race because the thing is really driving good in the corners. That's about 90 percent of it here. I ran 540 laps at Martinsville, 150-something at Nashville, and 280-something at Nashville over the last two weeks. My good arm is the one that's getting tired. The re-hab people have worked me so much on my hurt arm that I'm probably in better shape now than what I was."

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"The speeds are up and the excitement is high for qualifying. I was all tensed up. But I got it done now. I can go relax and get ready for the race. My car is really good. It handled perfect. I love the way it handles. We just must have missed a little somewhere, but it really handles good. I couldn't have done any better tonight. Generally the track peaks right around 7 o'clock. It doesn't really get any better. I don't see it changing a whole bunch. We went out early last spring and still qualified well. I think Jerry Nadeau has a good shot at the pole and Joe Nemechek. My teammate, Jr., probably thinks he can do it a little bit better than me."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"We were better on our second lap. Bill Elliott picked up on his second lap. I watched him do that right in front of me. There were a couple sprinkles. You don't get another opportunity. Once you take the green, you accept it. We are pretty pleased with our lap. That was our quickest lap all day long. I saw a couple of tiny sprinkles on the windshield. I wasn't too concerned about it. You've got to make it happen. This will get us in the show."

ON GOING AFTER STACY COMPTON CRASHED DURING HIS QUALIFYING ATTEMPT: "It makes you a little bit nervous while you're sitting there waiting. You wonder what debris is out there on the race track. I was just a little bit concerned."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"For the way the day started off, it was a pretty good lap. We came here and tested. We came here and unloaded and fought all kinds of problems in practice this afternoon. We were just trying to make everything quit vibrating. It was vibrating so bad you couldn't see out the windshield. The guys did a good job. They changed everything underneath the car. Once practice was over, we were ready to start. But we had a good test here and we're looking forward to this weekend. As long as we get in the top 15, we'll be happy.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR CHANCES AT CHARLOTTE?

"We like our chances everywhere the second half of the year. The last two weeks, we've led laps and ran up in the front and just had a couple of little problems in the pits. But this is a good race team, a championship caliber race team. I told them to get all of their mistakes out of the way this year, because we can't do that next year."

-team monte carlo-

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