The follow press release was supplied by Ford Motor Company:

Martinsville, VA (April 7, 2000)- Of the 14 Ford F-150’s in the field of 44
NASCAR Craftsman Truck teams that lined up for Bud Pole Qualifying on
Friday afternoon here at Martinsville Speedway, all 14 have qualified and
will compete on Saturday in the NAPA 250. The crowning jewel of
qualifying was Mike Wallace, in the #2 Team ASE/Ultra Motorsports Ford
F-150, sits on the pole for the second race in a row. Sitting inside of the
second row is the #66 Carlin Burners & Controls sponsored Ford F-150
piloted by Rick Carelli. The final top-10 F-150 is the Line-X sponsored
F-150 driven by Bobby Gill.

MIKE WALLACE—02—Team ASE/Ultra Wheels Ford
F-150—(Qualified 1st)—“This is the first place I came in a Busch Grand
National car in 1990 after I won the Winston Racing Series. Our whole
family runs very well here, maybe because of all of the short track racing we
did growing up. We tested this week at Greenville, SC on Wednesday for
here. I told the guys in practice we were good and to leave it alone for
qualifying, but they didn’t believe me. I don’t really know if going out late
really helped. This is a track that really needs heat in it to run good, but I
don’t think that the temperature has varied 10 degrees all day. I think it was
more the effort that was put into it to qualify well. We’ve tried some things
and hit on some combinations that have seemed to work well. If this will
hold up for just a few more spots we can win two poles in a row.” POST
QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE MARTINSVILLE SEEMS TO
BE PRETTY GOOD TO THE WALLACE”S, YOUR”E THOUGHTS. “I
love Martinsville. This is the first track I came to back in 1990 after winning
the Winston Racing Series and finished seventh. I have always been fond of
the racetrack. Both of my brothers have been on the pole here and it has
always been good to the Wallace family. YOUR’E A LITTLLE SLOWER
THAN THE RECORD, ARE THE TIRES SLOWING THE TRUCKS
DOWN? “The tire really is an entirely different tire configuration, but I
haven’t really sat down to figure out why the trucks are slower. We just try
to work the best with what we have. We tested earlier this week and
worked a lot with tires as far as air pressures, etc. and set the truck up the
best we know how.” MIKE, THE LAST THREE RACES HERE YOU
HAVE FINISHED IN THE 20’S, WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO
DIFFERENT TO FINISH BETTER HERE? “Primarily, don’t break a rear
end gear or axle. It had been the demise of me everytime I’ve been here.
We were leading the race last year and broke an axle leaving pit road. This
is a very hard racetrack, as everybody knows on axles, gears, etc.
Everything should be brand new so we shouldn’t have anymore of these
problems on Saturday.

GREG BIFFLE—50—Grainger Ford F-150— (Qualified 12th )-- I
thought it was pretty good. We made some wholesale changes just before
qualifying and I know my crewchief Randy is just not believing it. I’ve got a
pretty good feel for the truck and thought I knew what I wanted it to feel
like. We’re pretty close, the guys have built me a great truck. The engine is
running great. Pulling off of the corners is really important here and the #50
Grainger Ford F-150 really feels strong.” KURT BUSCH—99—Exide
Batteries Ford F-150— (Qualified 22nd)— “We needed a little more track
experience and qualifying experience. We didn’t click off a bad lap but
we’ve got some work to do. We got it in the show and we’ll work on the
rest in happy hour.”

RICK CRAWFORD—14—Milwaukee Electric Tools/Circle Bar Motel &
RV Park Ford F-150—(Qualified 18th)—“The truck felt really good. It
was a couple of ticks off of our practice this morning when it was cool, but
we’ve got a really good truck here this weekend. A lot of preparation has
gone into this weekend with a lot of rethinking into the organization. This has
been a very difficult week for all of us with what happened to Mike’s
(Cheek, Crewchief) son. Every day there is a little bit better news, so
maybe the spirit and power is really working. Our thoughts and prayers are
with Mike and his family. We’re really looking forward to Saturday with the
Milwaukee Electric Tools Ford F-150. Like I said, it feels good and there’s
not much you can do about that.”

RICK CARELLI—66—Carlin Burners & Controls Ford F-150—
(Qualified 3rd)—“I hope we can stay there through qualifying. Everybody
stepped up this week and everybody just got better and hopefully at the end
of the day, we’re still there.” POST QUALIFYING PRESS
CONFERENCE “It doesn’t take much to go from the front to the back
here. You just try and get it into the show and go as quick as you can, but if
you drive it in too deep you’re going to lose a bunch of time. I’m really glad
to be here and to be running fairly well. We have finally had some time to
work hard on the truck and we think we found something this week, so we
hope to do well for the rest of the season.”

KENNY MARTIN—98—Premier Truck Parts Ford F-150—(Qualified
23rd)— “Qualifying was not too bad. The track has freed up quite a bit
since practice this morning. We adjusted to it trying to figure out what we
thought it is supposed to do. We would have liked to pick up a little more,
we picked up a few tenths form practice and everyone else seems like they
are slowing down. It’s coming to us. For the limited amount of laps we have
around here, I think we’re doing as well as expected.”

ROB MORGAN—46—Axicom/AbiliTec Ford F-150—(Qualified 33rd
on Provisional)—“The truck felt pretty good. I just need some more laps
here to be able to qualify well. I don’t have enough laps around here to
know how to qualify well at this place. I had some laps this morning, but
they weren’t really good quality laps. We didn’t get the truck sorted out
until really late in practice. I just need more laps around here.”


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Ken Payne
Ford Truck Enthusiasts Admin
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