>From NASCAR Public Relations

North Wilkesboro Speedway. 
First Union 400.
Chevrolet notes, quotes  

TERRY LABONTE (No  5 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet Monte Carlo)
"I knew I couldn't make any mistakes there. Our cars 
(Gordon's and Labonte's) were awful even. We beat him out of the 
pits and that was the difference. If he had beat us. he would have 
won the race. The guys did a great job. We had great pit stops all 
day. they did a great job with the car. It handled awful good for 
us. Rusty had us beat I felt like. I kind of used up my tires 
trying to get by him. I didn't know if I had anything for him or 
not. I thought when we got in traffic lie might have a tough time 
and that would be my only chance, but then you saw what happened. 
The car would go away after some long runs, It would wear out the 
right rear tire some and we would back up after that, but we kept 
adjusting. The guys kept getting it better for me all day long."

DARRELL Waltrip (No.. 17 Western Auto Chevrolet Monte Carlo)
"The car was pushing off the corners early in the race. 
We made some chassis adjustments during our early pit stops. and 
we went the wrong way with it. After correcting that, the car was 
running as fast as the leaders, but we had lost so much track 
position that we couldn't make up the ground. Martinsville is the next 
stop, the last of the short tracks for awhile, and I believe we 
can produce the results that this team has been working for."

JEFF GORDON (No. 24 DuPont Automotive Finishes Monte Carlo)
"We weren't a second-place car yesterday. That just shows how hard 
this team keeps working. They put me out in great track position, 
and I just kept getting it. I was right behind Terry (on wreck 
prior to red flag). I saw a bunch of smoke up ahead of me. I was 
getting ready to put my nose underneath Terry to try to pass him. 
I saw that big wreck happening. I didn't know if Rusty was in it 
or not, but me and Terry just slammed on the brakes and went right 
through the middle of it. Somehow we got out of it. Sometimes luck 
plays a major role, too. I hated to see Rusty get caught up in it. 
It looked like it was going to be a great race right before that 
wreck happened, not that it wasn't a great race anyway. I could 
have put the bumper to somebody, but it doesn't pay to do that.  I 
am not going to be doing anything somebody that they hadn't 
already done to me.  I  race 'em as hard as I can. Sometimes I get 
criticized for racing too clean. That's just the way I drive. I 
put the bumper to 'em just tapping 'em letting 'em know I'm  
there, but I didn't get 'em sideways. I worked as hard as I could 
getting to the inside of Terry. We gave 'em a heck of a run, and 
it was a lot of fun. It was a big day and a big weekend for Terry, 
and I want to congratulate him. I wasn't going to take him out by 
any means. I never had any plans to do that. I just wanted to get 
him fair and square, and I couldn't do it. We gained a lot of 
points. Terry was fifth, so I knew we weren't going to pass him. 
Right now, we're really happy. Our team deserves a lot of credit. 
You just can't thank those guys enough. I couldn't be up there 
without those guys '
 

DALE EARNHARDT (No. 3 GM Goodwrench Service Monte Carlo)
"I've got to hand it to David Smith and Bobby Hutchens 
and all the guys who worked on this car. They did a great job. We 
just messed up in qualifying and didn't get a good starting 
position. We just didn't have that first run edge. They had a 
little bit more speed when we first took Off. We sort of leveled 
out to 'em after about 15 or 20 laps. We adjusted air pressure, 
and I wanted to pull a rubber out of one spring, but we never 
could get it done. The car was getting hot, and the starter hung 
up and wouldn't crank. I had to turn it off. Then it vapored 
locked when we got going because it had been sitting there (under 
red flag) and the gas lines got hot. We got a third place out of 
it, and we keep gaining points. The bad thing is Gordon gained 
some points on us today. We'll get 'em back. We've got a lot of 
racing to go, so we'll just try to get 'em a little bit at a time. 
Our car just wasn't as good as it needed to be today. 
Congratulations to Terry. He tied the record and won the race at 
the same time. That's pretty neat."

JOE NEMECHEK (No. 87 Burger- King Chevrolet Monte Carlo)
"John Andretti got spun out there and we were ill Life 
clear and then somebody decided to go three wide underneath and 
pushed me up into him."

STERLING  MARLIN (No . 4 Kodak Film Chevrolet Monte Carlo)
"The car was good on long runs, but we were tight on new 
tires. The front two or three could get away from us on new tires 
heat then we'd reel 'em back in. We took a gamble on that last 
stop trying to free up the car. It didn't work out on the new 
tires, and we wound up fifth with a car that could have probably 
won the race at the end of a long run. The car was perfect at 
first then it got tighter end tighter. We just couldn't run on new 
tires. We were just too tight. I got to Robert at the end, but we 
just ran out of laps. If it had gone green the last 80 laps, we 
might have been there. We had a good car at Bristol and had a 
piece break. This is the same car we ran at Bristol and now we're 
going to Martinsville with it. I hope we can get up there and have 
another good finish."

ROBERT PRESSLEY (No. 33 Skoal Bandit Chevrolet Monte Carlo)
"Andy Petree had a harder job than I did today trying to 
keep me calmed down. I would light it up with the new tires, and 
he would come on the radio and tell me to take care of 'em. He 
really drove the car today. I was just turning it to the left. The 
track kept changing. Andy told me to drive it like I was driving 
on ice, but I haven't done a lot of driving on ice. The car was 
perfect the first 200 laps. The last 200, we were really loose. It 
was great running up front, but I'll be glad when they pave the 
track. We've had some good runs all year. We've run up front a 
bunch, but we just haven't had any good luck. That's our best 
finish ever, so maybe we're turning things around."

RICKY CRAVEN (No. 41 Kodiak Chevrolet Monte Carlo)
"We had a fifth to 15th-place car today, and our guys 
just made great pit stops. I drove it hard every lap, and we're 
just racing differently. We're racing with confidence. The car 
wasn't real good after lap 50. You take that over the course of 
the day, and that's where the other guys got a lap on us. That's 
three straight top 10s, and we could get selfish, but we're not 
going to. We're going to be thankful for what we've got. You can't 
buy confidence, and it's very important. We need to race with 
authority, and that's what we're closing in on. It's important to 
have guys around you that believe in you. The character of this 
team is incredible. It's fun. I honestly sat out there in the car 
this morning and couldn't wait to start the race. There have been 
times when I honestly couldn't say that. The attitude this year is 
that whatever we face we're going to face it head-on. Charles 
Pressley did a great job today. The first part of the race I spun 
the tires and didn't do a very good job. Charley worked on it and 
did a great job. We kept adjusting and kept getting better. When I 
was younger I used to race these races all night long after I got 
home and went to bed. I still do, but I'm happy with the way I've 
handled things. I'm happy with what we've got, but it's not 
overwhelming me. I want it, and I know if you get too excited and 
want it too bad, it's worse than not wanting it bad enough, I just 
want to stay focused and take a realistic approach."

TERRY LABONTE (No. 1 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Monte Carlo)
"Everybody keeps asking me about tying the record, and I 
haven't had a good answer for it yet. This is the best team I've 
ever been with, and to come here this week with a chance to tie 
the record, I felt like we had a chance to be a real contender and 
win the race. Everything went our way all weekend. I didn't feel 
like we had the fastest car in practice. We made some changes on 
it and won the pole. I didn't feel like we had the quickest ear 
yesterday in practice, but we made some changes on it this 
morning, made some great pit stops and everything went our way 
Today. Our spotter is buying all the crew dinner tonight. He told 
them if they beat everybody out on the last pit stop he would buy. 
Those guys had a great pit stop. That made the differences. If 
Jeff would have beat us off pit road, he would be sitting up here 
and Dale would have been the same thing. It's so hard to pass, and 
the cars are so close together, and especially with just 15 laps 
to go and everybody had new tires. I knew I you there first. I 
knew I beat him by a foot.

"I was close (to wreck prior to red flag). I saw the 
smoke I knew there was a car sitting there. It was close. I knew 
it was going to come down between Jeff and I because he had caught 
us. Rusty and I had pulled away from everybody. Then we got in 
traffic and had used our tires up. Jeff caught us, and I knew he 
had got his car running better as the race went on. I knew it was 
going to be important for us to try to beat him off pit road."	
 
"We asked if pit road was going to be open the first time 
or second time or what (after the red flag). That was just an 
unfortunate mistake that happened at Bristol. A lot of times you 
make mistakes and learn from it. It was handled correctly today.

"We've got a different car next week at Martinsville. I 
was sitting there ready to qualify and Gary DeHart (crew chief), 
he's a great guy and probably the greatest crew chief I've ever 
been able to work with, he made some changes before qualifying. He 
told me he thought he helped the car and it should stick when it 
went down in the corners. He said if it didn't, I think the backup 
car is better than this one. The Martinsville car is the one we 
had on the truck this week. We raced it at Martinsville last year 
and finished second with it. It's a good car.

"I knew I couldn't give him (Gordon) an inch because he 
was going to take it if I did. I'm glad it was him behind me 
because I knew he was going to race me clean. I was  going to keep 
my line. It took my car a little while to get going. We didn't 
make any adjustments on it for the short runs. We were kind of 
geared up for a 50 or 60-lap run. I was a little concerned there 
trying to hold him off. It was close

"I went as hard as I could, and the car handled good. I 
knew we could catch some people going into the corners. He (Rick 
Hendrick) said to be careful. I think he was telling Jeff to be 
careful, too.

We started out and pulled away good and then got in 
lapped traffic and the car went away and here comes the 33. Then 
the 2, 3, 4 and 24. We got where we could outrun the 4 late in the 
race and the 33, but there was someone to race all day."

RICK HENDRICK (Car Owner Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
"This was a special time for Terry. He's been so close 
this year. I think he think he could have won every race so far 
this year. Sentimentally, you wanted to see him do good today. I 
was just concerned there at the end that we might have another 
Martinsville where we totaled two cars. I told Terry to use his 
head and be careful, then I switched to Jeff and told him to use 
his head and be careful. Then I went down and stood in the 25 
pit."

TOP FIVE SWEEP FOR CHEVY -- Chevrolet drivers combined 
for a royal flush Sunday in the First Union 400 at North 
Wilkesboro speedway. Monte Carlo drivers Terry Labonte, Jeff 
Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Robert Pressley and Sterling Marlin 
finished 1-5 at the .625-mile track. It was the first top five 
sweep by a manufacturer since Fords finished 1-5 in the 1965 
spring race at North Wilkesboro. It was only the third time in the 
35-year history of the track for a top five sweep. Fords also 
finished 1-5 in the 1963 fall race. Labonte's victory was the 
sixth straight for Chevrolet and gave the Bowtie Brigade a 60-45 
lead over Ford in the manufacturers' championship standings after 
seven races.
	


Jack Durbin                                   indy500@freenet.tlh.fl.us
Motorsport News International                      jackd@motorsport.com
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