Fontana: Pontiac Racing race quotes

KEN SCHRADER, NO. 36 M&M'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (43rd):

ON BEING SIDELINED WITH AN ENGINE FAILURE ON LAP FOUR "Our engine program - I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been fantastic. But, every now and then a piece of metal is going to break.

"This car has had a lot of speed this year, but we haven't been able to put it together for a whole day. That is what we really have to focus on. We just have to keep digging.

"This is the 10th race this season and eight of them we've had a pretty, damn good car. But, the best we've got to show for it is a 22nd place finish at Bristol)."

WHAT BROKE? "One of those important pieces that goes real fast."

STACY COMPTON, NO. 14 CONSECO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (41st):

WHAT PUT YOU OUT TODAY? "Something broke in the motor. We had motor troubles from the start and never could figure out what was going on. We switched boxes and pulled the rev chip out, but the motor just never would run from the start.

I think something happened in the bottom end. We thought we had it fixed. We thought it might have been an electrical problem. We got everything changed over, but it was something internal."

GREG ZIPADELLI, CREW CHIEF, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (29th):

"The Heim joint broke on the throttle linkage. I don't know why. This car has only been run twice. It's not like something that's been abused. This car has never been wrecked. I don't really know. I just know that it's pretty frustrating because this team has been doing a hell of job on this Home Depot Pontiac."

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (15th):

TALK ABOUT YOUR BATTLE TO STAY ON THE LEAD LAP LATE IN THE RACE... "I held those guys off as long as I could, but there was a point when they just got right there. Not that I was going to let them by, by any means, but once they got beside me and around me - man, they just drove off. There was no way to stay with them once we were behind them."

JAMES INCE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"I'm a little frustrated. This is a brand new race car and we missed it a little bit at the start of the race. It was a top five race car by the halfway point, but when you get lapped that early it makes it pretty hard to overcome.

"I just feel like we've been off a half a step all year long. I thought we were getting a grasp on it, but I don't guess we have, yet. But, we're gaining. We're making progress."

JIMMY MAKAR, CREW CHIEF, NO. 18 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (34th):

WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF YOUR MECHANICAL PROBLEM EARLY ON? "We had a water pump belt that turned over. The water pump quit turning, so the motor got hot. That stopped the power steering belt from turning. Bobby [Labonte] noticed that the power steering went away and noticed that the temperature gauge was going up, so we had to come in and change all the belts and get the belts back on it."

DOES IT TURN INTO A GLORIFIED TEST SESSION AT THAT POINT? "That's basically what we did. We hadn't been good all week here. We started the race with a completely different setup in it than what we had in it in practice. We just decided every chance we got we'd make some major changes and see if we could figure out some things - what worked and what doesn't work. That's what it really did end up being, was just a big test session for us."

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