|
|
| Busch Grand National Series |
|
|
In-Car Radios | Silly Season | Forum | Photo Gallery | Newsletter | In the Pits
Autolite Platinum 250 - Qualifying Quotes RYAN NEWMAN-02-ALLTEL Ford Taurus (Qualified 2nd) - "I knew we had a good car in practice, but we never got to knock off a real good lap. We were fortunate to beat Jimmy (Spencer) by what we did. I don't know if it will hold up because Jeff Green was pretty fast in practice and I think Jason Keller has something up his sleeve. I'm just happy to pick up what we did and it should be a top-five starting spot. Now we look forward to Happy Hour and the race." YOU SEEM TO QUALIFY WELL NO MATTER WHAT THE TRACK. "It's just a lot of good teamwork. We didn't get a chance to test at all here this year, but I guess that proves that we don't have to test to be fast. I attribute it to a lot of hard work, good horsepower and my crew chief does an excellent job getting me a car I like to drive and balancing it out." DOES THE TRACK HAVE PRETTY GOOD GRIP RIGHT NOW? "The track has a lot more grip than it did for the first race, which I think is good because as the race goes on I think it will wear away, and it such wear away. That will give us more room to race with. It will definitely be a good race." HAVE YOU LEARNED THAT MUCH FROM THE SPRING RACE? "I learned a lot, but mostly about the race car. I got to run a Silver Crown race here in 1996 and that helped me with the line. If you get a fast line around a race track, it usually doesn't matter what kind of vehicle you drive." ELTON SAWYER-98-Hot Tamales/Starter Ford Taurus (Qualified 14th) - YOU COME INTO THIS WEEKEND RIDING A WAVE OF MOMENTUM. "We just hope we can keep it up. We weren't very good in practice and we made some adjustments and it was better. We're trying to get the car to rotate better in the center. We didn't quite go as far as we needed to, but it was still a good effort. That should hopefully get us in the top 15." HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY CHANGES TO THE TRACK IN TERMS OF GRIP SINCE THE FIRST RACE? "It doesn't seem to be a whole lot different. I know that they did some patchwork to it, and even after our practice and the trucks ran, I don't notice a chance with more rubber. I haven't seen a problem with it so far." DO YOU FEEL ANY ADDED PRESSURE RACING SO CLOSE TO YOUR HOMETOWN? "No, but it's more fun. We want to run good every week and with the type of success that we've had the past two months, we want to continue to have it here. I can't think if a better place to run well than Richmond." JEFF GREEN-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Qualified 1st) - "That was a good lap for the Nesquik Ford. We haven't sat on any poles this year and we needed to do that. My teammate has a shot at it, but that was about as good as we could do today. If they can beat that, they can have it. We need to sit on poles and we need to run better. We've been running good, but we just need to be a little better in qualifying and we did that today." YOU STARTED ON THE POLE AT DOVER, BUT THAT WAS DUE TO RAIN. WHY HAS YOUR QUALIFYING NOT BEEN UP TO YOUR STANDARDS? "Well, it's just all the changes. The Ford has a little bit to do with that and the tires have probably had the biggest impact. You can't get after them like you used to be able to. You have to finesse them a little more because you don't have as much grip. I'm not a very good finesser sometimes, so that may have something to do with it." HAVE YOU SEEN ANY CHANGES SINCE THE SPRING? "It has a little more grip in some places and it's a little slicker in others. It's going to be interesting tonight to see what the guys in the truck race are going to do when they get two and three-wide. We'll see if that comes back. We had it in the spring, and hopefully that will come back. It makes for good racing. I hope that it's not gone away, but if it has gone away, it will take a little time to get it back. Hopefully after tonight's race, we'll have a second groove, or maybe even a third." YOU TESTED HERE IN AUGUST. COULD THAT HAVE BEEN THE DIFFERENCE TODAY? "Well, we tested a whole different car and a whole different team. We tested the Cup car here, so other than me getting laps on the race track, I don't know. They're still race cars even though they're different and we can learn from both cars." GREG BIFFLE-60-Grainger Ford Taurus (Qualified 6th) - "It wasn't a bad lap. It was pretty close to where we practiced. It was slick on the first lap, but it stuck on the second lap. I think all that means is that there's a chance the preferred line will move around during the race. The race tonight should also impact that." WILL YOU WATCH THE TRUCK RACE TONIGHT? "I will definitely watch the truck race to see if the track changes. I haven't seen anything yet, but we haven't put that much rubber down yet. We'll certainly watch it, but it will be more of how we can prepare for tomorrow." YOU HIT THE REV CHIP GOING INTO TURN 1. "Yeah, but I don't think that hurt us. We want to be careful not to hurt the engine and if I kept on the throttle, we would have really been pushing the RPMs. It's better to put it against the chip, and I think it helps to keep you from overdriving the corners, too." HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS WEEKEND TO BUILD POSITIVE MOMENTUM? "We've just had some bad luck lately. This will be a hard place to try to change that, but we know we have a good car, and as long as we can stay out the wrecks, we'll be fine. If we can keep a top-five starting spot, that will be good for us." RYAN NEWMAN PRESS CONFERENCE "Obviously, it was a pretty decent lap. We picked up almost two tenths from where we practiced this morning, so we're really happy with that. I told the guys that I knew I had a little left in my back pocket and I thought that we could do a couple of things to the car and we did that and made it a little better. It was a pretty decent lap overall to pick up two tenths and end up second from being P9 in practice. It was definitely a big change and a big step in the right direction for us." THIS IS YOUR SECOND TIME HERE. HOW DO YOU THINK THE TRACK SEALER IS WORKING? "The track has a ton of grip today, more so than the spring race. It feels really nice. I was actually a little loose in my qualifying run, but that wasn't at all due to the sealer. The track feels like it has a lot of grip. You can see the sealer wearing off a little bit. I think it's going to be really good racing. It's for sure right now almost a two-groove race track." YOU'VE QUALIFIED UP FRONT MOST OF THE SEASON. "It's just a lot of hard work by the team in order to be able to qualify like that. For me as a driver, I always say in a position like that in qualifying, you have the car in perfect conditions. You have nobody in front of you, you've got all the downforce on the car, the tire pressures are up and you can just race the race track for one lap or two laps, whatever it is. That's just been one of my stronger points this year as far as qualifying goes. It's definitely a team effort and having the car prepared to go that fast." WHAT'S THE PLAN FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR AND NEXT YEAR? "We have three more Winston cup races that we're doing this year at Kansas City, Charlotte and then Phoenix. I think there are five or six or seven Busch races and we'll finish up in Homestead. So, Busch races this year and three Cup races, and then next year, a slated schedule for full Winston Cup and hopefully Rookie of the Year." GREG BIFFLE PRESS CONFERENCE "It's exciting to have the Grainger Ford end up sixth here today. That about where we practiced, but I was maybe hoping for a little bit better than that. But, sixth is OK and it will be a great place to start tomorrow." TALK ABOUT THE TRACK CONDITIONS? "The track is in pretty good shape, it seems like. It was a little slick that first lap, but there was a lot better grip for me on the second lap. I just really made my marks. I overdrove it a little bit in 3 and 4, but it was pretty decent for us." JEFF GREEN PRESS CONFERENCE "I think I did leave a little bit out there, but it's still a good lap for us and it was good enough for us to get it. I was able to pick up a little from my practice speed, and it's always good for me to do that; it makes me feel a little bit better as a race car driver. It's my birthday today, so I had to get my own present, I had to get a pole. We had a little bit of a brake problem right off the bat, off the truck, but other than that, our Nesquik Ford has been awesome. I owe it to my guys. They're the ones who do that hard work and it's easy for me to do what I did." IT'S YOUR SECOND POLE OF THE YEAR. "Well, actually it's our first pole. That one we got at Dover was because of rain. This was the first one we earned. We had seven last year. We were really ticked with ourselves because we couldn't get on the pole. We've had several second places, but none on the pole. It's exciting for us to do that. It's very exciting for me because my guys are still working as hard as they can for me as a driver even though I leaving them this year. They're still working hard to try to win races and win poles. That's exciting for me, but yeah, we really do need to get back in Victory Lane. We've really run good here the last month and a half, but we just haven't had the finishes to show for it. We ran second at Bristol and had a good car there. We had a great car last week and we shot ourselves in the foot there right at the end. We had a shot of winning and we didn't do that. I love this race track under the lights, it's just awesome and I'm looking forward to getting back to Victory Lane here." DO YOU FEEL HARVICK IS TOO FAR AHEAD OF YOU IN POINTS? "First of all, we're not going to give up on the championship. Anything can happen. I don't want to see anybody have bad luck, but something can happen for you to fall out of a race, and we'll be right on him. Right now we're racing for second basically, but my focus as a driver, and I think my team as well, is to try to win each and every event. If we can do that then we'll get the most points and definitely get the most trophies if we can do that. That's what it's all about. The points championship was just a bonus last year. I'm still focused on winning the championship, but firsthand is to try to win each and every event, and the next one is tomorrow night, and hopefully we can do that." ARE YOU GOING TO BUST SPENCER'S CHOPS TOMORROW NIGHT? "Leave it to Barney Hall to come up with a question like that. I enjoy racing Jimmy; he's a great racer. He won't give you anything, as you know, and that makes him that good. I enjoy that. We have had some arguments, but because we race each other as hard as we can and that's what you're supposed to do. I'm sure that if it comes down to us that we'll be beating each other up on the race track like we always do. We can look at each other and smile about that. I don't think that any of us does anything intentionally. We just try to win races and that's what he's trying to do, too. I enjoy that about Jimmy Spencer and I think everybody does. He's a class-act on the race track and off, and we enjoy every minute of it." IT APPEARS NEWMAN IS THE MAN TO BEAT FOR THE POLE EVERY TIME YOU GO OUT. DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT HE'S DOING? "Ryan is a great race driver and he has a great team. It seems to show up, he's better on bigger tracks. Why? I don't know. Yeah, there are a lot of guys. Kevin Harvick, Jason Keller and all of those guys, you have to beat every week. I don't look at him any different than anybody else other than he doesn't run with us every week. Yeah, we have to tend with him when he's here, but he's going to have a bright future in this sport, hopefully like all of us. He has a great team, so put all that together, and he has the results to show for it so far. He beat us up pretty bad at Michigan, but that's a big race track, and last week, he ran really well, too. I'm sure he'll run good tomorrow night and we'll have to contend with him all night." GREG BIFFLE IN THE GRAINGER FORD WAS HIGHEST QUALIFYING RAYBESTOS ROOKIE CONTENDER. BIFFLE CLAIMED THE SIXTH PLACE STARTING POSITION, BEST OF ALL FRESHMAN DRIVERS. HE HAS BEEN THE HIGHEST QUALIFYING RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN 16 EVENTS THIS SEASON. BIFFLE LEADS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS BY (318-210) OVER SCOTT WIMMER. ARE YOU PLEASED WITH YOUR RUN? "It's a little bit faster than we had run earlier. We need to start working our qualifying a little bit more. I'm happy with that. A sixth place start will be great for us here at Richmond. We didn't get as many qualifying runs earlier in the day as we would have liked to. That's not a bad lap for us here. IS THE TRACK VERY SLICK? "It was the first lap but the second lap the car stuck real good. DO YOU THINK THE GOOVE WILL MOVE AROUND IN THE RACE FRIDAY NIGHT? "Yes, definitely. The truck race tonight will definitely impact that a lot." SCOTT WIMMER, JANI-KING PONTIAC, WILL START 31ST. "I actually slowed down from practice. I don't know why we did that. The car felt all right. We've been struggling between turns one and two all day. We just can't get through there real good. I think we'll be good for the race. We'll work on it and get better." LARRY FOYT, HARRAH'S CHEVROLET, WILL START 32ND. "We picked up from practice but we've been struggling all day. We should have had a little bit better lap. I screwed up a little bit in three and four. We picked up so hopefully that will make the race. "Richmond is a place where you have to hit everything right. If you overdrive it you're going to be slow and it's easy to under-drive it too. I'm still a Raybestos Rookie and don't have a lot of laps here. I'm in a lot of pain too. We'll see how this weekend plays out." FOYT WAS INVOLVED IN A HARD CRASH WITH STEVE PARK LAST WEEKEND AT DARLINGTON. HOW ARE YOU FEELING? "Yeah, for the most part I am. It was a pretty good shot. I had some trouble with a knee getting up into the steering column that caused me a lot of pain. I had a head on wreck and my neck feels great, better than the rest of my body. I can't say enough about the Hutchins device. We're contemplating right now whether it's worth me taking getting in another wreck We might have Mark Green step in. He's going to be standing by and will be standing by and will probably practice the car in 'Happy Hour' tomorrow afternoon. I'll probably start the race but if I'm in a lot of pain lap after lap I'll probably let him get in." JAMIE MCMURRAY, WILLIAMS TRAVEL CENTERS CHEVROLET. MCMURRAY WAS INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT IN PRACTICE AND WAS FORCED TO QUALIFY IN A BACKUUP CAR. HE WILL USE A PROVISIONAL AND START 37TH. "We wrecked our primary car in practice and we were just trying to get a lap in."
In-Car Radios | Silly Season | Forum | Photo Gallery | Newsletter | In the Pits
©Copyright 2001 Race 2 Win |