Commentary and Interviews from NASCAR on TNT Live: Lenox Industrial Tools 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway
30th June 2008
NASCAR on TNT Live
Announcers: Marc Fein, Larry McReynolds and Kyle Petty
Petty on the impact of NASCAR’s Silly Season on the drivers: “It depends on what position you’re in. What I mean by that is Casey Mears was asked to leave the #5 car (at Hendricks Motorsports). That tells him that that team doesn’t have any confidence in him, so that’s a strange position when you have to finish out a season with a team that has no confidence in you as a driver, and they let it be known by saying they want another driver. Now, when you’re the bigwig and you’re making all the calls and saying ‘he’s got to do this or that for me to be able to perform my role or I’m going to greener pastures.’ That’s a different position for the team and that motivates them to say ‘Hey, I’m going to show this guy that we’re better than he thinks’, and the driver is motivated because he knows he is going to greener pastures and can drive the wheels off the thing.”
TNT’s Pride of NASCAR Series profiled Harry Gant, one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers
Gant on appearing in the film ‘The Cannonball Run’ with legendary entertainers Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin and Burt Reynolds and having lunch with them on set: “I was going to sit with the crew and they said ‘come on over and have lunch with us.’ To be able to sit down and eat with them, that was special. They’re just regular people. People talk about wanting to be a movie star and when you get down to it, that’s a hard job, it’s much easier to be a race car driver.”
Allstate Countdown to Green
Hosted by Bill Weber
TNT pit reporter Ralph Sheheen spent some time with Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford, at the track for a private party hosted by Target and Guitar Hero
#40 Dario Franchitti, who is married to actress Ashley Judd, on the allure of the rock star life: “I’d love to spend a week in your (Whitford’s) shoes. Everybody wants to be a rock star.”
Kyle Petty took the TNT pre-race show to break by playing the guitar and singing a live rendition of a children’s song called ‘Belly Button Monster’ which included the line ‘He leaves stinky things way down in your belly button, way down in belly button land, because the belly button monster, he’s a very funny man.’
Lenox Industrial Tools 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Announcers: Bill Weber, Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty
Pit Reporters: Marty Snider, Matt Yocum, Lindsay Czarniak and Ralph Sheheen
Petty using a basketball analogy to describe how #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. was planning to pass #29 Kevin Harvick for the lead: “This is like basketball. If you’re a basketball fan the #88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) is trying to use the #70 (Johnny Sauter) for a pick and roll (past #29 Kevin Harvick). He’s going to pick him on the #70 and roll right past him if he can get him in the right box.”
Dallenbach on racing at New Hampshire: “If you’re going to have your car working, especially here in New Hampshire , you want it to be at the end of your run. That’s when you want to go faster, because it does go green for a long time.”
Petty: “When everybody is on equal tires, everybody is trying run on the same places on the race track. If your car works at the end of the run, and you can control which direction it does in, and turn left and turn right, and step on the gas, then when those guys start to slip and slide you’ll be able to cut around them on the outside, under them on the inside no matter what. Tires are the great equalizer in this sport in a lot of ways.”
Petty on the frustration #29 Kevin Harvick must be feeling after being stuck in traffic between lapped cars: “The first three cars are re-lapped cars and the next few that are side-by-side racing are lapped cars, and then you’re caught behind them and just chewing on your steering wheel trying to get around them.”
Petty using a golf analogy to describe the impressive turnaround by #83 Brian Vickers and his team: “It’s like getting that one or two good shots every round (in golf), it just keeps you coming back, and what they didn’t do last year is get that one or two good races and really gets them pumped up, especially for Vickers.”
McReynolds on Tony Stewart’s decision to take four tires with 36 laps to go, costing him five positions on pit road and dropping him to sixth place: “It’s like he’s restarting in 28th place. I don’t think the #20 can win the race now.”
Dallenbach on #42 Juan Pablo Montoya wrecking points leader #18 Kyle Busch: “This is about as intentional as you can get to turning a car. Montoya completely did that on purpose.”
Petty: “That was intentional, man…These guys are very, very fortunate they didn’t take somebody else out. They are lucky they didn’t end someone else’s day.”
#2 Kurt Busch who was the race leader when the rain stopped the race on getting the win: “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. We might not have been the fastest car, but we got the win.”
#20 Tony Stewart on his disappointing season and race at New Hampshire: “It’s just been the oddest year I’ve ever seen for this team…it’s just frustrating.”
Source: TNT
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