BGN: Darlington race notes

• Dave Rodman
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Sun Sep 1 14:39:54 EDT 1996

MOUNTAIN DEW SOUTHERN 500 BUSCH BEER SECOND ROUND QUALIFYING

WARD BURTON (No. 22 MBNA America Pontiac) -- We had to make it on time.
We've had so many problems in recent races finishing way back in the field
that we weren't going to make it on points (provisional starting spot). The
backup car was just as good as the primary car. The track just changed a
lot, but we got in there.

DURA LUBE 200 RACE NOTES

TIM FEDEWA (No. 40 Kleenex Ford) -- (On accident coming off turn two.) It
was just one of them deals -- I don't really know what happened. I just know
I hit pretty hard. I hate it for Kleenex and Doug Taylor Motorsports. It's
been a tough year. We really didn't need this, but that's the way it goes
sometimes. It hit really hard so we're done for the day. It's just
unfortunate that it happened so early in the race.

PHIL PARSONS (No. 10 ChannelLock Tools Chevrolet) -- (On accident coming off
turn two.) I was trying to get by the 43 (Rodney Combs) and I had gotten a
run on him up off turns three and four. I had gotten by him but then Derrike
Cope passed me. The next lap I tried to pass him back but he blocked me and
that let Purvis drive up beside me. We raced through one and two
side-by-side and my spotter told me the 81 car (Todd Bodine) touched me and
turned me around. I'm really not sure if he hit me. It was light (if he did)
but it really doesn't take a whole lot of contact and around you go here. I
can't believe it -- I thought we had gotten rid of this bad luck the last
couple weeks. I just don't understand it -- if he ran into the back of me I
really don't know why.

DENNIS SETZER (No. 48 UniFirst Uniforms Ford) -- We're out. I really
appreciate the opportunity to drive this car. I'm looking at some spot deals
with different teams for the rest of this year. I'm not really locked into
anything. It felt really good to be back in a car. We advanced forward all
day -- it was a really good piece.

LARRY PEARSON (No. 92 Stanley Tools Chevrolet) -- We had a motor-related
problem. Kevin's done an awful good job for us all year long -- this just
happened to be one that didn't work out for us. The motor was pulling pretty
good and we were turning some pretty good lap times. I was running behind
Craven when he lapped me, just waiting for a caution so I could race him
back. I believe we could've got our lap back if we could've caught a
caution. It was just one of those days. It's typical of the way the year's
been for myself, Martin Motorsports and Stanley.

HUT STRICKLIN (No. 28 Smokey Mountain Chew Ford) -- I'm not really sure what
happened. I went down into turn one, and I thought I'd had a tire going down
a couple laps before. I guess the right front was cut, but anyway I lost it
and hit the wall. It just wasn't a good day! It was running real good,
though. That's the way this sport is -- one day you're a hero and the next
you're a zero.

POST-RACE NOTES

TODD BODINE (No. 81 Cape Canaveral Cruise Line Chevrolet) -- It was up and
down. It started off too tight. We adjusted it and it was too loose.
Adjusted back and got too tight again. We just missed the set-up a little
bit and it was too sensitive to change it. We stuck in there and came away
with 13th or something. We'll take it.

JEFF FULLER (No. 47 Sunoco Chevrolet) -- We kept on adjusting on the car and
it got better and better. We just had it a little too tight for the race and
we fell back a little. Hey, there's no scratches on it and it's got all four
wheels straight so we'll take that.

MARK MARTIN (No. 6 Winn-Dixie Ford) -- Terry was just in front of us there
at the end and he was a little bit better than we were off of turn two. I
just couldn't get by him. They ran good and they were out front. I missed
the set-up at the beginning. We got the car better both times (pit stops)
but we could've used a little bit different set-up. We had to change the car
a little bit yesterday to make it work good. We had it right for yesterday
but it wasn't exactly right for today. We made some changes and had it going
a lot better but we couldn't win. (ON HIS CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY.) Hah! You
either make it or you don't (with a shrug). We didn't!

DALE JARRETT (No. 32 Band-Aid Ford) -- No, we didn't have the car we needed
at the end of the race. The last set of tires pushed really bad. That wasn't
the time for it, but that's what happened. (WHAT DID HE LEARN FOR TOMORROW?)
We got some ideas on some things -- certainly tire wear and what the race
track seems to be doing and exactly what the best line is around here. We
gained a lot of knowledge.

RICKY CRAVEN (No. 2 DuPont Teflon/Krytox Chevrolet) -- The car did come and
go a little bit, but it was easily the best car on old tires. I made a real
big mistake when I didn't pit (on final caution). We were talking on the
radio and I missed the pit entrance on the first caution lap. The car
wouldn't run on new tires! It was strange, but at Darlington that's a good
problem to have. If I could get this car (NASCAR Winston Cup car) to drive
like that one (Busch car) drove, we're gonna be tough tomorrow. We've got an
hour to figure it out.

MIKE MCLAUGHLIN (#34 Royal Oak Charcoal Chevrolet) -- Our motor blew. That's
all we can say.

DICK TRICKLE (#63 DuraLube Chevrolet) -- We were really good in the long
runs.  When we started off the race we made some adjustments that were all
wrong.  The car was way too tight, but we did some adjusting and got it
better.  I was ready for 500 miles. I would have won that baby.

RANDY LAJOIE (#74 FINA Chevrolet) -- We put ourselves in a position early to
lead some, and that was good. We had a really good car at the beginning of
the race. The second set of tires was off a little bit. We wanted to loosen
the car a little and we loosened it too much. We just wanted to go back to
where we were at the beginning of the race. It was a little tight at the
end. We had a good top five race. We're looking forward to next week.

DAVID GREEN (#95 Caterpillar Chevrolet) -- Those guys who say you can't
drive when you get 50 years old need to talk to Dick Trickle. He got there
(behind us) and he was coming. Guys like that are clean race car drivers,
and you've gotta respect that.  I gave him all the room he needed. The big
battle was between me and Randy (LaJoie). We qualified 16th and in my book
that's terrible, but we got our heads together and changed a bunch of stuff
on the car. We did all of that without benefit of a practice session. It was
perfect. At the first of the race, we were just trying to make up 16 spots.
It's my first top five at Darlington and I'm pretty happy. Right there at
the end, I knew I was going to give up something when Trickle passed me, and
I was just trying to keep Randy from taking advantage. I was able to keep
him in my mirror, but those guys are tough competitors, and it'll be a
battle all season.

JEFF PURVIS (#4 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet) -- I messed us all up,
didn't I? We had a good race car. When I got off the race track, I was
trying to get it in second, and got in the loose stuff and it just came on
around. The team gave me a good race car. I came from the back to the front,
then went from the front to the back just as quick, maybe quicker.

HERMIE SADLER (#1 DeWalt Tools Chevrolet) -- We led, but we didn't lead the
right lap. We used what we had to work with, and tried to do what we thought
we had to to win the race. We had a real good car on old tires, but the
cautions just didn't fall where we needed them to. I needed a caution while
I was leading, but when I had to come in under green, as I was coming off
the banking, I got down in the sand. It got away from me, and I spun out.
That gave back everything we had gained. We had a couple of good breaks, but
more bad breaks. That's kinda been our story all year. We'll keep trying,
and hopefully Richmond will be a good race for us.

KEVIN LEPAGE (#88 Farmers Choice Fertilizer Chevrolet) -- This was a good
race for me. I really enjoy racing at Darlington. It was another top 10
finish for us here, and another top 10 for Farmers Choice, which has only
been with us for 14 weeks. Hats off to T.R. Miller, our crew chief. He's
young, and we had a bad week last week and Bristol, but he and the team
bounced back and gave me a good race car here. I put us in a bad position by
qualifying way back, then we got turned around by a lapped car, but we came
back up through.

RON BARFIELD (#94 New Holland Tractors Ford) -- We stayed out there, and
stayed out of trouble all day, and were there at the end of the race, which
is what you want. It was my first race at Darlington, and we'll take what we
learned today and come back next year. I wish that last caution hadn't come
out. We could have stayed out until the end while everybody else would have
had to take on gas. We developed a vibration there at the end, and I wasn't
sure what it was. It was better to take it easy than to tear a race car up.
It was a real thrill to get as big a cheer from the crowd in pre-race as the
Winston Cup guys did. I grew up and raced in this area, and a lot of my
friends were here today.

JASON KELLER (#57 Slim Jim Chevrolet) -- We didn't get the result we wanted.
We came in for that last green flag stop and the clutch went out. Actually
the car didn't run too bad, it was a little tight and we made some
adjustments that helped. It seems like that everything that hasn't happened
to us before is happening this year. But the guys are still working real
hard.  We just need for some things to go our way and we'll be okay.

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