P
pettyfan4life
Guest
KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Georgia Pacific/Brawny Dodge Intrepid)
COMMENT ON DRIVING BELOW THE YELLOW LINE
"The rule used to be we couldn't go below the yellow line until we went to Talladega and Junior went below the yellow line, so I don't know what the rule is. When they penalized Sterling here for going below the yellow line, that was wrong. A rule is a rule, and I understand that, but sometimes you've got to use a little common sense. If the speed limit is 55 and you've got to run 80 to avoid an accident, don't give me a ticket. When the car in front of Sterling ignition went out and he had to swerve to keep from running into the back of it, you've got to use a little common sense. That was wrong. When Junior went below the yellow line, that was wrong, too. To compare the two issues, he was guilty, in my mind he was anyway."
"Unless you put a wall up down there, people are going to go below the yellow line. That's how simple it is. You're going to have to put up an inside wall, and that's dangerous. I say take it away and let 'em just go through there. Don't have anything. You've got grass. Nobody is going into the grass because you can't get back to get in line, so just take it out. Go back and watch a race from 15 years ago. Everybody ran up against the wall. Now everybody runs next to the white line because they know nobody is going to pass them down there. All they did was just take a move away from everybody. They just took the race track away. You won't pull to the inside of anybody because you're afraid they'll run you below the yellow line. If they run you below the line, you're the guy who gets penalized, not the guy who ran you below the line. They've not enforced that yet. They didn't go back and say, 'he ran him below the line, let's penalize him.'
"The total way we run restrictor-plate races changed when they did the line thing. I understand it's a safety issue, believe me, but it did change the way we run restrictor plate racing. Sometimes you drop a pebble in the water and you create ripples. They dropped a boulder in this one, and it created a lot of different issues. It solved a little bit, but it did create some issues."
COMMENT ON TWO PETTY ENTERPRISES CARS NOT MAKING FIELD
"Our engines didn't run from the time we got down here. We came back with the same stuff we came down here with in February. I qualified 10th on speed in February. John had some trouble when he qualified, but he had been in the top 15 in practice. This time we never got out of the bottom third of the field. Our engines just didn't run. From the time the season started, we've struggled all year long and we put ourselves in this position. We were put in this position for a couple of different reasons. I know the story, and that's all that really matters. That's just the way it is."
HOW DO YOU KEEP EVERYONE PUMPED UP AT PETTY ENTERPRISES?
"My problem is we struggled in 2001. We got better last year and now we're struggling again. That kind of surprises me that we're struggling again. We've got a really good group of guys that work on these cars, back at the shop and all the way through. We've been further down that this. This is not a major issue. There's always another day. The sun came up this morning and we all came back to the race track. We'll all go to Chicago and start on equal footing again. That's just the way it is. Everybody complains about how long the Winston Cup schedule is, but that's one good thing about it. There's always another race and you've got a chance to redeem yourself next week."
HOW'S THE 5-YEAR PLAN PROGRESSING?
"We're two and a half years into it. In a lot of respects we're exactly where we want to be. In a lot of things we've laid out with our engineering program and where our cars are aerodynamically, we're exactly where we want to be. Some things have taken a leap forward, and some things have taken a leap back. Our engine program has taken a leap back. That's how simple it is. You look at how we qualified last year and what we did last year compared to where we're at this year, and we ain't even in the ball game this year. We've struggled to make races. That's right back where we were in 2001 when we struggled with our engine program. We're going to have to keep discussing what it's going to take to make it better. You can't just throw in the towel and not come back again. We'll keep plugging along, keep having conversations and keep working at it. Nobody is working harder than Mike Ege and those guys over there in the engine shop. It's not that they're building engines to come to the race track not to perform. They do the best they can. It's like all of us. Sometimes we get in a place where the best we've got just isn't good enough. It's not an option right now (building his own engines). I made a commitment to Mike and made a commitment to where we're at. It's like sitting in traffic. If you change lanes too many times you still get to the same place at the same time. You need to just stick with something and just ride it out. Sometimes it's a tough decision, and it's a tough way to go, but once you make that call you've got to live with what you did. We made that call a couple of years ago, and we're going to live with Mike. Mike's done a really good job for us. Right now he's just run on some hard times and they're just not running like they should be, but they'll come back."
HAVE OTHER ENGINE PROGRAMS PICKED UP?
"I think some engine programs have picked up. Some have stayed the same and some have gotten worse. I think ours is one of the latter. When you look at it like that, we've not maintained. That's as much as a death nail in this sport as anything else. Maintaining, you fall behind. When you go backwards, you fall double behind and I think that's what we did."
COMMENT ON SHANE HMIEL
"Shane did a great job for us. We let Shane down. That's how simple it is. How the 43 car ran and what we did here is no reflection on Shane Hmiel's ability or talent. I hope he goes out here and wins this Busch race and show everybody what he can do. We know he can drive a race car. That was us letting him down. He didn't do anything bad for us. He's been around this sport with his father long enough, and he knows what's up and what's down."
WHY HAS IT BEEN SO TOUGH QUALIFYING PETTY CARS AT DAYTONA RECENTLY?
"If we had run the way we wanted to the first part of the year, we wouldn't have this trouble right now. You don't just come to Daytona in July and miss the race. You missed it way back early in the year. That's our issue now. We got behind then. We didn't get behind last week. We've got to get caught back up. We had cars that were good here in February. To come down here and use a provisional the next race is uncalled for by any stretch of the imagination. You should never be 10th at a race track one time and come back six months later and not make the race. That's unacceptable in any business."
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN THE RACE?
"Just ride. That's what everybody does here. Let's be realistic. If you look at Daytona and Talladega with restrictor-plate racing, you've got four or five cars racing up front and everybody else just rides around. In February this year, you saw Bill Elliott, who qualified well here, you see Bill and those guys go t ...[Message truncated]
COMMENT ON DRIVING BELOW THE YELLOW LINE
"The rule used to be we couldn't go below the yellow line until we went to Talladega and Junior went below the yellow line, so I don't know what the rule is. When they penalized Sterling here for going below the yellow line, that was wrong. A rule is a rule, and I understand that, but sometimes you've got to use a little common sense. If the speed limit is 55 and you've got to run 80 to avoid an accident, don't give me a ticket. When the car in front of Sterling ignition went out and he had to swerve to keep from running into the back of it, you've got to use a little common sense. That was wrong. When Junior went below the yellow line, that was wrong, too. To compare the two issues, he was guilty, in my mind he was anyway."
"Unless you put a wall up down there, people are going to go below the yellow line. That's how simple it is. You're going to have to put up an inside wall, and that's dangerous. I say take it away and let 'em just go through there. Don't have anything. You've got grass. Nobody is going into the grass because you can't get back to get in line, so just take it out. Go back and watch a race from 15 years ago. Everybody ran up against the wall. Now everybody runs next to the white line because they know nobody is going to pass them down there. All they did was just take a move away from everybody. They just took the race track away. You won't pull to the inside of anybody because you're afraid they'll run you below the yellow line. If they run you below the line, you're the guy who gets penalized, not the guy who ran you below the line. They've not enforced that yet. They didn't go back and say, 'he ran him below the line, let's penalize him.'
"The total way we run restrictor-plate races changed when they did the line thing. I understand it's a safety issue, believe me, but it did change the way we run restrictor plate racing. Sometimes you drop a pebble in the water and you create ripples. They dropped a boulder in this one, and it created a lot of different issues. It solved a little bit, but it did create some issues."
COMMENT ON TWO PETTY ENTERPRISES CARS NOT MAKING FIELD
"Our engines didn't run from the time we got down here. We came back with the same stuff we came down here with in February. I qualified 10th on speed in February. John had some trouble when he qualified, but he had been in the top 15 in practice. This time we never got out of the bottom third of the field. Our engines just didn't run. From the time the season started, we've struggled all year long and we put ourselves in this position. We were put in this position for a couple of different reasons. I know the story, and that's all that really matters. That's just the way it is."
HOW DO YOU KEEP EVERYONE PUMPED UP AT PETTY ENTERPRISES?
"My problem is we struggled in 2001. We got better last year and now we're struggling again. That kind of surprises me that we're struggling again. We've got a really good group of guys that work on these cars, back at the shop and all the way through. We've been further down that this. This is not a major issue. There's always another day. The sun came up this morning and we all came back to the race track. We'll all go to Chicago and start on equal footing again. That's just the way it is. Everybody complains about how long the Winston Cup schedule is, but that's one good thing about it. There's always another race and you've got a chance to redeem yourself next week."
HOW'S THE 5-YEAR PLAN PROGRESSING?
"We're two and a half years into it. In a lot of respects we're exactly where we want to be. In a lot of things we've laid out with our engineering program and where our cars are aerodynamically, we're exactly where we want to be. Some things have taken a leap forward, and some things have taken a leap back. Our engine program has taken a leap back. That's how simple it is. You look at how we qualified last year and what we did last year compared to where we're at this year, and we ain't even in the ball game this year. We've struggled to make races. That's right back where we were in 2001 when we struggled with our engine program. We're going to have to keep discussing what it's going to take to make it better. You can't just throw in the towel and not come back again. We'll keep plugging along, keep having conversations and keep working at it. Nobody is working harder than Mike Ege and those guys over there in the engine shop. It's not that they're building engines to come to the race track not to perform. They do the best they can. It's like all of us. Sometimes we get in a place where the best we've got just isn't good enough. It's not an option right now (building his own engines). I made a commitment to Mike and made a commitment to where we're at. It's like sitting in traffic. If you change lanes too many times you still get to the same place at the same time. You need to just stick with something and just ride it out. Sometimes it's a tough decision, and it's a tough way to go, but once you make that call you've got to live with what you did. We made that call a couple of years ago, and we're going to live with Mike. Mike's done a really good job for us. Right now he's just run on some hard times and they're just not running like they should be, but they'll come back."
HAVE OTHER ENGINE PROGRAMS PICKED UP?
"I think some engine programs have picked up. Some have stayed the same and some have gotten worse. I think ours is one of the latter. When you look at it like that, we've not maintained. That's as much as a death nail in this sport as anything else. Maintaining, you fall behind. When you go backwards, you fall double behind and I think that's what we did."
COMMENT ON SHANE HMIEL
"Shane did a great job for us. We let Shane down. That's how simple it is. How the 43 car ran and what we did here is no reflection on Shane Hmiel's ability or talent. I hope he goes out here and wins this Busch race and show everybody what he can do. We know he can drive a race car. That was us letting him down. He didn't do anything bad for us. He's been around this sport with his father long enough, and he knows what's up and what's down."
WHY HAS IT BEEN SO TOUGH QUALIFYING PETTY CARS AT DAYTONA RECENTLY?
"If we had run the way we wanted to the first part of the year, we wouldn't have this trouble right now. You don't just come to Daytona in July and miss the race. You missed it way back early in the year. That's our issue now. We got behind then. We didn't get behind last week. We've got to get caught back up. We had cars that were good here in February. To come down here and use a provisional the next race is uncalled for by any stretch of the imagination. You should never be 10th at a race track one time and come back six months later and not make the race. That's unacceptable in any business."
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN THE RACE?
"Just ride. That's what everybody does here. Let's be realistic. If you look at Daytona and Talladega with restrictor-plate racing, you've got four or five cars racing up front and everybody else just rides around. In February this year, you saw Bill Elliott, who qualified well here, you see Bill and those guys go t ...[Message truncated]
