Race No. 4
Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota
Nazareth Speedway — Nazareth, PA
April 30 - May 2, 1999
Saturday Quotes from Nazareth: | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 10th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| We're not exactly where we want to be, that's for sure, but we're in the top 10 and ready for the race. It's going to be a long, long day tomorrow. With the yellows, I expect we should only have to pit twice. Pit and fuel strategies will probably make the difference. The Blue Crew is tops at this game and we should be right up there. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Qualified: 14th |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| It's going to be slow. Everybody is just scratching their heads wondering what is going to happen. The race pace is going to be slow. We are probably going to be lapping the track about three seconds a lap slower than we qualified. | |
 | MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Qualified: 17th |
| CHRISTIANO DA MATTA | |
| Qualifying shows what we need to do for the race tomorrow. I think the race will be hard for everybody. All the drivers need to be patient since there's not much room for mistakes. I predict a lot of yellows for this race, because the cars are really affected by traffic. We worked hard to prepare the car for qualifying, but we really had to think more about the race. Running on the short oval in traffic is tricky, and with the new wings it's even harder. So we will focus on making the car comfortable with as much grip as possible, and we'll hope for a good race tomorrow. | |
 | Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Qualified: 21st |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| The car had a lot of push throughout qualifying. We've been working through handling problems during our sessions, but we weren't where we wanted to be for qualifying. Our main concern now is making sure the car handles well through the turns and in traffic, which will be a much bigger factor tomorrow. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Qualified: 12th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| I am a bit disappointed in our qualifying position. We really didn't get a good balance in the car. The car was pushing quite a bit and we are struggling with grip right now. But, it's a long race and we just need to stay out of trouble tomorrow and continue to build on our early season success. | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford Qualified: 22nd |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| We have been working on bringing the car along but then we had to work on preparing the backup car and it was not exactly the same car. We were improving a lot and I think we could have been even more competitive if we had a little more time. But, we will go out tomorrow and try and get some points. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 7th |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| I tell you, we gave it all we had. I went into turn three on lap two and slid up a little too much. I thought I was going to be a little better than my time showed. I felt like a sprint car driver out there at times. If I would have been able to make it stick it would have been a great lap. I am really pleased. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 3rd |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| We spent yesterday working on the race car and this morning we worked really hard on our qualifying. I was very happy with the way the car worked on the first lap, you could say it was perfect, I just didn't take advantage of it. On my second lap the understeer came in a little bit, but Team KOOL Green gave me a good car. The race is going to be hard. It's very difficult to feel the limit with this setup, you've got to be cautious. There's no reason to sugar coat it, there's going to be very little passing in the race. That means it might come down to pit stops and Team KOOL Green is the best in the pits. However the race conditions turn out, everyone will have to deal with it. Whoever deals with it best, is going to come out on top. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 4th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| My goal was a 19.5, but I caught myself out a little bit. The Team KOOL Green car was working great. On both of my qualifying laps I got off of Turn 2 so well I kind of went back to my driving style with the big wings and drove into Turn 3 too hard. That washed the front end out and I couldn't get back on the power when I should. I was trying to tell myself not to go back to the old style, but the car was working so good I couldn't help myself. These wings are so tricky to balance that you've got to go into turns slower. But it's great to be starting up front. I know it gives us a big advantage in the race. There's going to be a lot of traffic and turbulence, and with these wings you don't have a lot of downforce, so it's really slippery out there. I think you're going to see very little passing and the cars will be bunched up and I can use my experience here to pick my way through the traffic. | |
 | McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda Qualified: 20th |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| It's been very difficult. We have not found the right setup yet, and we will continue to try to improve where we are at with the car. That's the strength and attraction of ChampCar racing -- the variety of conditions we have to race under. Two weeks ago we were the engine. Now we're the caboose. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Qualified: 9th |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| Yesterday we were sixth fastest but for us the most important thing is to get a good balance in the car. This morning it was impossible to get around here. We couldn't get a clean lap and I didn't want to jeopardize the car. So, we knew what we had and I just wanted to get as far up front as possible because it's going to be a tough race. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 6th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| We thought we could do better today because we adjusted for the difference in track temperature between this morning's practice and the qualifying session this afternoon, but we didn't put in enough wing and we had a heavy push in corners 1 and 2. [On the new wings] I don't believe in demolition derby predictions. We (the drivers) all know what's it about and that's enough to make us cautious out there. | |
 | Patrick Racing Visteon Swift Ford Qualified: 8th |
| P.J. JONES | |
| I am pretty excited. It's been a pretty good weekend so far. We are going to keep working on getting the car right. I think we have a pretty good car. The car is coming along and if we can just keep the momentum we should be in good shape for the race tomorrow. | |
 | Team Gordon Reynard Toyota Qualified: 24th |
| ROBBY GORDON | |
| We're a little behind, aren't we? I actually felt like the car was pretty good this morning. We made gains from yesterday and I thought we might have something more for qualifying. We decided to make a few changes, but they just didn't pan out. The car ended up with a big push on the opening lap, so I took it a little more conservative than I would have liked to on the second. But hey, it was good for a thousand bucks! We just need to try and have a good race. I'm not going to hide anything. We're off - but you never know. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while! | |