NASCAR Cup

Richmond II: Ford - Dave Blaney press conference

DAVE BLANEY --77-- Jasper Engines Taurus (Qualified 3rd) -- WHAT WAS YOUR MINDSET AFTER THE WRECK? "It was funny because we had a short track car that we had run one time before at Loudon. We qualified fifth with it, so we thought we had a real ...

Edited: Sep 8, 2002, 12:06 PM

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DAVE BLANEY --77-- Jasper Engines Taurus (Qualified 3rd) --

WHAT WAS YOUR MINDSET AFTER THE WRECK?

"It was funny because we had a short track car that we had run one time before at Loudon. We qualified fifth with it, so we thought we had a real good short track car coming here and I crashed it the second lap this morning. We dragged one out of the trailer that we really didn't have much experience with and we ended up qualifying good. They got it better and better in practice and only had a few runs with it. No doubt the late draw was good and I got to watch everybody. You could overdrive it to easy and run it too hard, especially the way the tires are here. They come in after a few laps, so it's tough to get a good first lap or second lap, so I kind of went easy into the corner and really tried to get it off the corners. That's what I tried to concentrate on and it seemed like that was a good deal for us."

STARTING UP FRONT IS IMPORTANT HERE.

"I think so. The tire stays so good here that everybody kind of gets in a groove and runs kind of the same speed for a long period of time. Yes, staying up front and keeping kind of on the same sequence as the leaders as far as pit stops go is a big, big deal. Hopefully, we can have a mistake-free race and when it comes down to it, we'll be in the mix."

DOES YOUR SPRINT CAR EXPERIENCE HELP ON A SHORT TRACK LIKE THIS?

"I don't know, sometimes I think it hurts. This morning, my first run on the track we were way too loose and I didn't do anything about it, so I went out and wrecked it the next time. I guess it didn't bother me that it was loose, but it should have. Sometimes I think it helps and sometimes it hurts, but you've just got to pay attention to what you're doing at that moment and do the right thing."

SHOULD YOU BE MORE CONSERVATIVE WHEN YOU'RE DOWN TO ONLY ONE CAR?

"Like I was saying, I actually did. I could see guys overdriving, especially the first lap when they'd miss the corner and slide up the track. We got the backup car plenty tight in practice, so I knew it was gonna be safe. If I overdrove it, it was just gonna push. I didn't think I was in any big danger of losing it, but, even if I was, they've got another one on the way so we've got lots of them."

WILL THIS TURN THE TIDE FOR YOUR TEAM?

"We've had some unfortunate things that have taken us out of contention. You get in contention for a solid top 10 and get a flat tire or knocked out or something happens. It's hard to keep building when stuff like that happens and that's been going on lately. I still think Ryan Pemberton and I are improving together and getting better and better. He made some great decisions today in a short period of time, so I'm still excited. We're improving and now we need to have a shot at some of these races down the stretch."

-ford-

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