Channellock 250 - Ford Qualifying Quotes

SCOTT RIGGS-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Qualified 4th) - "After what we did in practice, I felt that if we're not sitting on the pole, we're not going to be happy today. I just hate not being able to back up what we did in practice. This time in qualifying they're giving us an extra half of lap for qualifying, a half of a dead lap. I tried to take it easy that first half of lap in qualifying and maybe that hurt us because our fast lap ended up being our last lap. Maybe that's something I shouldn't have done. It's heartbreaking to me to come here with intentions of getting the pole. We had the fastest car on the race track in practice and just couldn't duplicate it. It's frustrating, and the way everyone else is picking up, I don't know if we can hold on to third. We have a good race car for the race. I feel pretty good about it. It was real fast in race mode, too. We didn't win the pole, so now we have to win the race."

KASEY KAHNE-38-Great Clips Ford Taurus (Qualified 9th) - "We are a lot better than I was here last year. I think that's just the Great Clips team. Wes Ward has a great setup here. I actually expected to be faster than that. We started to get tight at the end of the two laps. I guess the clouds are out and that had something to do with it. I expected to be a little freer. If we would have been a little freer, we'd be first right now." YOU GREW UP RACING ON SHORT TRACKS. ARE YOU MORE IN YOUR ELEMENT AT A TRACK LIKE BRISTOL? "I wouldn't say it makes me feel any more comfortable. So much goes on here and so fast, I'm probably a little more comfortable on the mile and two-mile tracks. I guess this is closer to what I've done, being brought up on short tracks. It's pretty exciting and I enjoy racing here. I'm excited we made the race. Last year, I didn't make this race. I'm excited we're in the race and we have a good race car, too."

JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Qualified 2nd) - "We felt like we made our car better since practice. That wasn't a perfect lap, so I'm not sure that it will stay on the pole, but it will give us a good starting spot anyway." YOU HAD AN EARLY DRAW TODAY AND WITH THE CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS AT THE START OF QUALIFYING, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE AT A DISADVANTAGE TODAY? "I wish these clouds would go away. I know it's a concrete track, which means it's not quite as heat-sensitive as others but every little bit helps, and today at Bristol, a little bit is going to make a big difference. Hopefully the track conditions won't change and we should be OK." YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO RUN BETTER HERE IN THE SPRING THAN IN THE FALL. "We always just have to after it and do the best we can. We've never been able to do all that great in the fall race - we finish second in the night race - but I don't know if I can't see at night or what. I don't know what it is, but we still have a couple of months to figure that one out."

STANTON BARRETT-60-OdoBan Ford Taurus (Qualified 12th) - YOU WERE FORCED TO QUALIFY IN A BACKUP CAR AFTER AN INCIDENT EARLY IN PRACTICE WITH THE NO. 19 CAR. WHAT HAPPENED? "I didn't see anything. I was on the apron, a couple of feet from the inside wall, about 20 feet from pulling in behind the wall, and all of a sudden I hear, 'go faster, go faster,' over the radio. I was wondering what they were talking about because I was coming into the pits, and then all of a sudden I got hit in the back really hard. I guess he just lost it or got spun out, I'm not really sure. He ran into me and the wall. That ended the day for our primary, but my guys are killer over at Roush. Kevin Starland (crew chief), I can't say enough for him. They put the backup car together and we got to at least practice it some." YOU'VE FINISHED EIGHTH HERE IN THE PAST, YOU FINISHED EIGHTH AT LAS VEGAS A FEW WEEKS AGO, AND YOU'VE STARTED ON THE POLE TWICE THIS SEASON ALBEIT DUE TO THE WEATHER. IS YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH IN TERMS OF YOUR RACING CAREER? "It's definitely right up there. It's because my guys are so good. It's such a good crew and they're so positive. They have direction and they concentrate on our task. We set a game plan each week and they stay with it. It's awesome. I can't be more happy than where I am right now, and my guys are the reason for that. I hope our deal will last and we can stay together for a long time."

JASON KELLER PRESS CONFERENCE

"It was a real good day for us. We were fifth in practice and we felt like we made some changes late in practice that were going to help us with speed, and it did. Another second-place start this year, but this one wasn't because of rain. It's just always a joy coming here to Bristol. It's going to be tough. I'll tell you what, there's a big spread in the speed of the cars, so hopefully we can keep our nose clean for the Albertsons Ford and do good tomorrow."

ARE YOU CONFIDENT AT THIS RACE TRACK? "Any time you come back to a place that you've had success or won at, it's definitely nice. But, I was running second here in the spring and got caught up in an accident, so I know that anything can happen as far as accidents and lapped cars. There's nowhere to hide on this race track, so the lapped cars are going to be tough."

"This is the same car that finished fifth at Rockingham. It's a 2002. We still haven't quite got the handle on the '03 stuff yet. We feel like we're getting closer. We tested Nashville and feel like we're getting closer. After what we went through last week at Darlington, we just opted with the 2002 and went with some old notes. We're having to move around a little bit. We can't just use our 2002 notes. We're having to search around and hopefully we can find the balance that we need."

HOW DO YOU AVOID WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU LAST YEAR? "You've got to attach. You've got to stay in the top two or three. We felt like we were doing what we needed to do last year, so to do anything different, I don't know what to do. Trouble finds you here. I don't want to say 'be lucky,' but there is a lot of luck involved here in Bristol. You just have to be in the right place at the right time and hopefully you are fortunate enough to miss the accidents. It kinda reminds me, I see David (Green) with that Budweiser hat on there. David used to beat me all the time for these poles in '94. I think I finished second to him in these poles for about five times in '94; I have to pick up the pace a little bit. But, he's probably one of the best qualifiers there's every been here, so hopefully we can pick up the pace."

HOW DO YOU APPROACH LAPPED TRAFFIC HERE, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT? "I don't know, and you have to be politically correct in your answers and this probably one of those times. We were in lapped traffic on lap 12 or 13 last week at Darlington, a mile-and-a-third race track. Here on a half-mile race track, you're probably going to be in it on lap two or three. The only thing that I will say is that I hope, especially at a place like this, that NASCAR will really be aware of the minimal speed rule. There's nowhere to hide. I did the rookie meeting this morning. I was talking to the rookies and if you're having a bad day and go to the top of the race track, the cars are going to come to the top off the race track, so you're going to be in the way. If you go to the bottom and let the fast cars go around the top, it's going to mess you up going into the corners. There's nowhere to hide here. I don't know if there is a solution. There's just a large spread in speed. Hopefully as we catch slow cars, the guys that you're racing with will get sorted out and get past the lapped cars and then race, and not use the slow cars to their advantage or disadvantage. I just hope that whatever the minimal speed is - they always come up with it after happy hour - whatever that minimal speed is stuck to tomorrow. If they can't meet minimal speed, if I can't meet minimal speed get me off the race track because you're in the way here pretty early and pretty quick."

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