John Andretti, Driver of the No. 34 Window World Chevrolet, Fast Facts:
Andretti has two top-five finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) in Sprint Cup competition (1999, 4th place, No. 43 Petty Enterprises Pontiac; 2001, 2nd place, No. 43 Petty Enterprises Dodge)
Andretti has led 51 laps of Sprint Cup competition at BMS
John Andretti Comments on Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway:
“We were guaranteed starters in the first five races this season. I think we’ve done a good job of proving ourselves better each race. But, Bristol (Motor Speedway) and Daytona (International Speedway) become the two wild cards for everyone. You just never know what’s going to happen at those races. Sometimes your results are not of your own making.
“The unpredictability of these tracks is tough to make the cutoff for the top-35. You have to cut it off somewhere, though. Seeing how we’re in the top-35, I would like to see them make the cutoff in June or July. That way we can get into the Brickyard 400 (smiling). I think it’s really tough. You look at guys like Mark Martin or Ryan Newman. If they have two more tough races, they could be going to Martinsville (Speedway) and have to qualify to make it in. Will they qualify? Yeah. The point is, it’s a different mentality when you walk through that gate and know you have one shot to make it. One wrong move and that could be the end of your whole week.
“When you’re on the bubble of the top-35, you have to play smart. Every driver wants to win races. Every sponsor wants to win races. There were fifty-some cars that showed up at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) and only 43 got to race. Of course, everybody that got to race wanted to win, but only one guy gets to win. So you just hope for a good solid race. If you hit the wall, you hope that the hood flies up, so that everyone can see the sponsor’s logo. I think when it comes down to it you just have to follow your own plan. Hopefully everybody buys into that plan and it creates a solid future.
“The track configurations play a big part in determining who makes it into the top-35. If you look at the first five races, you’re looking at a superspeedway, Daytona (International Speedway), which is a crapshoot. Then you go to three intermediate tracks and if your mile-and-a-half program is strong, then you’re in. If your mile-and-a-half program is struggling, you’re out. Then you go to Bristol which is a slam, bam race. So you really have to be strong on the mile-and-a-half tracks to like the first five races because it’s really not about Bristol or Daytona. If you’re fortunate, you can have a good result, and you have to be fortunate if your mile-and-a-half program isn’t up to par.”
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