NASCAR on TNT Live: Comments and Interviews from the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma
22nd June 2008
The following are comments and interviews from NASCAR on TNT Live crew for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Racing from Sonoma. TheToyota/Save Mart 350 from Infineon Raceway
Announcers: Marc Fein, Larry McReynolds and Kyle Petty
Petty on Jeff Gordon’s early season struggles: “I think last year they caught a lot of breaks, starting with the (rain shortened) first TNT race at Pocono. If he has a connection with the weatherman I can’t race against that. This year they’re not catching any breaks.”
This week’s Pride of NASCAR series featured 94-year old Raymond Parks, who won NASCAR’s first two championships (1948 & 1949) as an owner, in his first national TV interview.
Parks on one of his former drivers, NASCAR founder Bill France: “One time he tore it (Parks’ car) all up, he just about demolished it.”
Fein, pretending to be Kyle Petty to sneak into a winery, asked by the hostess what happened to his ponytail: “That ponytail thing, that was so 80’s.”
Last year’s winner in Sonoma #42 Juan Pablo Montoya, who joined the pre-race set, on the difference between last year’s car and the cars of tomorrow the NASCAR drivers are competing in this year: “I think the good cars are still good cars, but the average cars have gotten a lot better.”
Allstate Countdown to Green
Hosted by Bill Weber
TNT pit reporter Lindsay Czarniak interviewed Dale Earnhardt Jr. at a training camp site in North Carolina for the National Guard
Earnhardt Jr. on how fleeting his win last week in Michigan , his first in 76 Sprint Cup races, is: “I’ve got about four weeks before they ask me when I’m going to win again…then they’ll crank up the championship talk.”
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Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Infineon Raceway
Announcers: Bill Weber, Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty
Pit Reporters: Marty Snider, Matt Yocum, Lindsay Czarniak and Ralph Sheheen
Dallenbach on pole sitter #9 Kasey Kahne’s early struggles: “He’s been driving like a rock here…it looks like he has no grip going around the turns.”
Petty on how the first caution (lap 30) impacts the entire field on a road course: “This is what kills you about this (fuel mileage) game, you come here and these guys had a strategy and they are following it and then you get a caution. Now there are two groups out there; one group that had a strategy and has stayed out there and the other that has already pitted and had gone another way, and it’s not going to be until the end of the race before we see how this all plays out.”
In-car audio from #24 Jeff Gordon, whose car was losing multiple positions per lap, on what problems he is facing: “I don’t know where to begin…It’s like we just wore the front tires completely out and their gone. I can’t go into the breaks without locking the fronts up.”
Dallenbach on the “wheel hop” by #11 Denny Hamlin, whose car jumped in the air costing him 15 spots: “You know how you get out of a wheel hop, and it’s really hard to do when you’re crashing, is you punch the gas. You just punch that gas a little bit and it gets that car to stop hopping and gives you traction again.”
Dallenbach on how a caution on lap 70 does to #99 Carl Edwards: “This kills the #99 car. Carl had a very fast car and it was working for him. This caution came out at the absolute worst time for Carl Edwards.”
Petty on racing at Sonoma after #42 Juan Pablo Montoya got spun by #21 Marcos Ambrose, who was battling for position with #26 Jamie McMurray: “That happens so often here, you concentrate on the car you’re racing and forget about the next car.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr’s in-car audio as he rides the bumper of #42 Juan Pablo Montoya, a road course specialist, with 15 laps to go: “Tell Juan to go, he’s a pro!”
Dallenbach on a multi-car crash caused by #29 Kevin Harvick getting loose that took #20 Tony Stewart and #26 Jamie McMurray out of contention to win he race with five laps to go: “Harvick just got in there way too deep, got it loose and tried spinning it down. He tried avoiding the #26 (McMurray), but there is no way, he’s just sitting there.”
Petty: “It’s like bowling pins, when the ball hits it’s a chain reaction.”
#24 Crew Chief Steve Letarte, interviewed by Marty Snider, on the reason he has been able to get the car of Jeff Gordon back in contention to finish third: “Jeff Gordon. You know he is fabulous out here, we didn’t give him a very good car…He’s smarter than the rest of them, he’s staying on track. He hasn’t made any mistakes. You’re talking about a four-time champion, five-time winner at this track showing how strong he is.”
Source: TNT
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