JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Qualified 19th) - "We've been off since we've been here, so it's hard to tell exactly what it's doing. We're just missing it. I don't know where we're a little bit off, but we just can't seem to find." ARE THE TRACK CONDITIONS ANY DIFFERENT FROM THIS MORNING WITH WINSTON CUP PRACTICE ADDING RUBBER TO THE TRACK? "No, I don't think so. We're just missing it right now."
BOBBY HAMILTON, JR.-25-Team Marines Ford Taurus (Qualified 9th) - "We're happy with it. We just lost a little bit of the race track. It didn't have a whole lot of grip that it had this morning, which we knew that. I don't know what else we could have done. It drove good on the gas, wide open. It just didn't have the grip. I think that will definitely will be in the top 10, so we'll take it and go with it." HOW HAS THE PRESENCE OF HAROLD HOLLY HELPED THIS TEAM THIS WEEKEND? "We're fine with the changes. We could tell it was going to be OK this morning the first lap on the race track. We're just looking forward to the rest of the year. We're looking at this weekend as the start of the rest of the season. I don't think I would have been able to do anything different with the car with the way we have it now."
STANTON BARRETT-60-OdoBan Ford Taurus (Qualified 6th) - "It was good in race setup this morning, but it was a little iffy in qualifying trim in practice. But, the car felt good unloaded and we haven't had that in three or four races, so it's nice that we felt good when we unloaded. Regardless, I think it was a good run, and hopefully it will be in the top five. The car felt good and there was probably a little bit more. Your first lap is usually faster and we picked up on the second lap. I learned some things on the first lap that helped on the second lap. We'll take it, especially after the last couple of weeks." HAS THE TRACK LOST ANY GRIP FROM PREVIOUS YEARS? "The track always seems the same. The concrete tracks have a little more grip, but it could be the tire a little bit. You have the banking that holds you in. The track gets tighter and tighter as the race goes, and we're preparing for that. I think we have good race setup and we'll keep plugging away at it. You always think you can get more, but if you drive that little extra bit sometimes it bites you ands sometimes it doesn't. You never know. At Nashville I thought I could get the pole easily and I tried to get it by two or three tenths and it cost me the pole. You never know."
KASEY KAHNE-38-Great Clips Ford Taurus (Qualified 2nd) - "This whole team made big changes after practice. They changed the car all around and it surprised me. I had to get off the gas coming off of turn 4 and that's why I didn't run two laps, but it still went cross the line fast enough." WAS IT A LEAP OF FAITH IN QUALIFYING FOR YOU TODAY? "We made big guesses. We changed nose weight a whole percent. We changed about 300 pounds of right-front spring, a bar and 150 pounds of left-front spring. We made a lot of changes right there and it helped us a lot. I trust these guys a lot on what they do. You need to have trust when you're qualifying to run that hard. I just hoped it stuck in turn 1 on the first lap and it did. I was just happy that they made the right choices."
MATT KENSETH-17-Alka-Seltzer Morning Relief Ford Taurus (Qualified 3rd) - "I think the track is about the same as it was this morning. We have a real good car, but we've been having fuel pressure problems all day and the motor didn't actually run at all in qualifying. I think we have a lot better car than we showed. I don't think the track is losing grip. The times are a lot faster today than they were last time, so I think it's a little quicker this year."
SCOTT RIGGS-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Qualified 4th) - "I was trying hard. We were actually a little tight in practice in our qualifying mode and we freed the car up a little bit and sat here and watched all of these guys qualify and talked ourselves into freeing it up a little more. Man, I had my hands full. It was way too free to use the throttle you need to use here to sit on the pole. But, all of the guys did a good job. I put the car into the wall on the seventh lap out there, and we had to come in and change a truckarm and beat the side back out. This just shows how good this team is right now. Everybody is rolling with the punches and keeping up and doing what they have to do to keep that car up front. It was a good qualifying run for us and that shows off. I think that's due in large part to a better line of communication that me and Doug Randolph are building and all of these guys. All of these guys are more focused right now than I've ever seen them before. They might have been this focused when they won the championship in 2000, but it's hard to believe that they could be any more focused than they are right now. They're working hard, they're happy and everybody is having fun again."
KASEY KAHNE PRESS CONFERENCE
"It was a pretty good run for us. We gained a lot from practice. We changed a front spring, a bar and nose weight. We made a lot of changes and it worked pretty good. I was real happy. I was surprised that it was that good. I had to lift coming off of turn 4 coming to the white flag, so I only ran one lap because I pretty much ruined my second and I thought it hurt my first one, but it still ran pretty fast."
WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE AT DOVER? "Last year I raced both races here. I think we finished 18th in both of them. This is definitely my best qualifying effort here. It just has a lot to do with my team. The Great Clips team does a good job. Every time that I go to qualify, the car is comfortable. It was probably the most uncomfortable today. I'm pretty surprised with that. They make it comfortable and when you get that confidence in your guys, it just makes it that much easier to drive into the corner."
WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAST SEASON AND THIS SEASON FOR YOU? "It feels real good. I'm with a new team, Akins Motorsports, and Great Clips is the sponsor. It is night and day. The main thing is the team. The people behind it that work on the car and Wes Ward crew chiefing it. It just gets better every week that we get to work together. It's mainly just the team and the cars that they prepare me and I have a lot more experience now also."
DID YOUR CONFIDENCE GET DOWN LAST YEAR"? "It wasn't up. It wasn't down, but we didn't get to race a full season. I still raced my Sprint Car and Midget on the side and we could win races in that. I had pretty good confidence. In the Busch car, it wasn't quite as good as it needed to be. It was not as good as it is now. I don't know, but it's definitely up now."
DOES THE POTENTIAL FOR RAIN TOMORROW AFFECT THE WAY THAT YOU ARE PREPARING FOR THIS RACE? "I don't think so. I hope it doesn't rain. I don't want it to rain, but if it does, I guess we'd race on Monday. We still have Happy Hour today and who knows what the weather will be tomorrow or the next day? We'll take Happy Hour the same way we would any other week."
