BUSCH: Curtis Markham interview

>From NASCAR Public Relations NOTES AND QUOTES Darlington Advance March 19, 1996

MARKHAM OFF TO HOT START: Hensley Racing is off to one its best starts in the NASCAR Busch Series since Chuck Bown won the circuit championship in 1990. Driver CURTIS MARKHAM, in only his second season on the circuit, has posted three top-five finishes in five starts. He's third in the series' point standings behind David Green and Bobby Labonte. Markham finished second in last year's race for circuit rookie of the year honors behind Jeff Fuller. Markham scored six top- 10 finishes and captured a pole at South Boston.

CURTIS MARKHAM (No. 63 Lysol Pontiac Grand Prix) We're not doing anything different. The only thing different is that I have a year of experience, and the biggest thing, I believe, is the new Pontiac body. It's really made the car a lot more stable. I didn't realize how Inch a difference the air would make going around the car. When we unloaded it at Daytona to go test after I ran two laps I couldn't believe it. There was that much difference. The car is real stable, and it actually feels smoother even going down the straightaway. When you yet to the corner it sticks so good The balance of the car is so good. The air pushes the nose and the tail down, and the car is just a whole lot more stable."

ARE YOU SURPRISED WITH YOUR HOT START? "We set some goals last year, and we decided over the winter with the new car coming out and not knowing what to expects we decided not to set any specific goals. We're going with the attitude when we leave the race shop that we've done everything we can do to qualify up front and run up front. We're just going to take what it gives us "

HOW CLOSE: ARE: YOU FROM CAPTURING YOUR FIRST WIN? "Hopefully, not too far. It's definitely on all of our minds. That's what we're here for, to win races. But the first thing you have to do is be consistent. You have to consistently finish in the top-five so you can put yourself in a position to win a race. I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't say when we're going to win. but if we keep running, the way we're running, I feel sure we'll win a race or two before the year is over."

WHERE HAVE YOU COME: CLOSEST? " Probably this past weekend at Nashville. The car was good all day long. When the sun went down it tightened up a little bit, and we got hung up behind Joe Nemechek there at the end and lost two spots. He got loose and I had to back off for just a second to keep from running in the back of him. That enabled a couple of cars to get by me, and that kind of ruined our shot there. We led some of the race, and I think Kenny Wallace and I had the fastest cars out there It's just a matter of getting in the right position. We were close to i eating ill the right position, but didn't quite make it."

TALK ABOUT YOUR TEAM "They're a great bunch of guys. They're hard workers, and they I do anything that needs to be done. They don't hesitate. They jump right on it. We're working good together as a team, and it's like any other sport, if you're not working together like a team it's not going to work. I think that's one of the biggest reasons for our success so far. Jeff (Hensley) is the leader. He's the owner and the crew chief. He's the coach, I'd guess you'd say. He keeps everybody informed about what they need to he doing, and the f net decisions come down to him He's doing a good job."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DARLINGTON? "I really like Darlington, and we ran decent there both times last year. I think we had trouble there both times, but we rare decent We can't wait to get there with the new Pontiac. I'm excited If we ran pretty good there with the old Pontiac, I can't wait to get there with the new one. Every other speedway we've been to where aerodynamics come into play, we've been a lot better. We can't wait for the race to start."

Jack Durbin indy500@freenet.tlh.fl.us Motorsport News International jackd@motorsport.com (Moderators for "rec.autos.sport.info") Homepage http://www.freenet.tlh.fl.us/users/indy500/index.html