>From NASCAR Public Relations


FORD MOTORSPORT NOTES AND QUOTES
Friday, April 12, 1996

BUSCH POLE QUALIFYING -- FIRST UNION 400.
North Wilkesboro, N.C.


ELTON SAWYER -27- David Blair Thunderbird -- "That's good for now,
but we'll have to wait and see what happens. Mike Hill and his
guys did a great job, as they always do. Bobby Hamilton and a few
other guys that will have a chance at that still have shots at us.
But that's a good lap for us and all the credit goes to the team."
AFTER LABONTE QUALIFIED: "Well, on one hand it's disappointing not
to win the pole when you're that close, but when you look at the
lap Terry ran, we weren't that close. That's an incredible lap and
I congratulate him for that And this isn't a bad start for our	f
team either. We'll have to be satisfied with a front row starting
spot."

MARK MARTIN -6- Valvoline Thunderbird -- "Most second laps are a
little slower today, so we made it count on the first one. But,
heck, it didn't stay on top very long. Elton beat it pretty
quick."

TED MUSGRAVE -16- The Family Channel/Primestar Thunderbird -- 
"It's
a pretty good day for the three Roush Fords -- and it nice to have
all of us in good pit spots. That could make a difference when it
comes time to sort out track position So, we'll see what happens
from here."

JEFF BURTON -99- Exide Batteries Thunderbird -- "I didn't know you
could run as fast as Terry did. This isn't my best track, but
Buddy Parrott taught me a lot when we were up here testing. I can
tell you, this proves how good a teacher he is "

JEREMY MAYFIELD -98- RCA Thunderbird -- "It's been running good
since we've been here, and this is a big relief, because we missed
both races here last year. This is a big relief."

RUSTY WALLACE -2- Miller Thunderbird -- "I hope it stays up there
near the top. I'm not the best qualifier, so I hope that sticks up
there. We've got a good car and good engine this week, so I think
- we'll have a good race car, but I'd like to start up front. It's
whoever slips and slides the least on a day like today. Ricky
(CRAVEN) slipped less than we did today."


DERRIKE COPE -12- Straight Arrow Thunderbird -- "That's pretty 
good for us.  My hat's off to Jimmy and all his guys for getting 
us up to speed today.  I'm not sure where it will end up, but 
that's OK."

WALLY DALLENBACH Jr.-15- Hayes Modems Thunderbird -- "That's about 
what we ran this morning and I'm pretty sure the track's getting 
slower this afternoon, so yeah, I'm pretty happy.  I'm fairly 
certain that will keep us in the top-25, so yeah, you could say 
we're happy with that "

KENNY WALLACE -81- Square D/T.I.C. Thunderbird -- "That was a good 
lap.  I don't know where it will end up but it will be in the top-
25.  We keep getting after this qualifying and doing OK, working 
on our pit stops.  Things are progressing."

JOHN ANDRETTI -37- Kmart/Little Caesar's Thunderbird -- "I'm 
really happy with that   Right now we're under a lot of pressure.  
Our backs are up against the wall and the guns are pointed at us.  
And we respond well to that kind of pressure.  This is a good run 
for us, and that follows our test up here that wasn't great, but 
it was certainly worthwhile.  We've got a couple of short tracks 
before Talladega, where we're really looking forward to running, 
so things are looking up for us after a real downer at Bristol."

BRETT BODINE -11- Lowe's Thunderbird -- "That's better than we ran 
in practice, but the car's not right.  We didn't hit on anything 
today.  Maybe it will be top-25.  We're not where we need to be."

DALE JARRETT -88- Quality Care/Ford Credit Thunderbird -- "That's 
the best we've run all day, and a fairly big improvement over all 
our earlier laps.  But it's still not fast enough to be 
competitive.  We're putting the race engine in now, but the key 
will be getting the car to handle better in the corners."

RICKY RUDD -10- Tide Thunderbird -- "If I knew what to tell you, 
I'd tell you what's wrong, but we're really scratching our heads 
right now.  I'm pretty sure we'll have to stand on it and take a 
provisional and try to work on it for the race.  We'd scrub the 
tires we've got right now just trying to find an answer and still 
wouldn't pick up many spots, so we better get focused on the race. 
This wasn't the car we wanted to bring here.  We were going to 
bring the Martinsville car, but we tore that one up in the test 
earlier this week and didn't have any options."

BILL ELLIOTT -94- McDonald's Thunderbird -- "That's definitely not 
what we wanted.  We struggled last week in qualifying at Bristol, 
but raced OK until --   We'll just have to see what happens."




Jack Durbin                                   indy500@freenet.tlh.fl.us
Motorsport News International                      jackd@motorsport.com
(Moderators for "rec.autos.sport.info")
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