Koolerz 300 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

CHAD BLOUNT IN THE NO. 19 APP PRE-PAID GAS CARDS DODGE WAS THE HIGHEST QUALIFYING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE AT DAYTONA. HE WILL START NINTH IN SATURDAY'S RACE. "The guys really worked their tails off on the APP Dodge. I just can't say enough about them. We come here kind of as the underdog: a rookie team, a rookie driver. I think we are fourth right now but I don't know if it will hold up. We'll be ecstatic to be in the top-10. We know that when Saturday comes we're going to have a real good race car for the draft. We'll just take it one step at a time. I just can't thank those guys enough back at the shop that worked their tails off. I have Jimmy (Vasser) as a teammate this weekend and Steadman Marlin is going to run some races with us. We're really looking forward to this year. I know with the two car team it will help me as a driver and the team itself. It's like two heads versus one; two heads work better than one. That's what we're hoping for and we can't wait to get the year going. Coming into this season we ran really well in ARCA. I knew that taking this next step here in the Busch Series was going to be tough. I know that I have really good equipment underneath me so hopefully it's not as tough as I'm thinking it's going to be." WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH IN THE RACE ON SATURDAY? "I would like to win the race but realistically we'll be happy with a top-10, top-15 finish and come out of here with some seat time and hopefully gain a little respect from all of these guys."

COY GIBBS, NO. 18 MBNA PONTIAC, QUALIFIED 11TH. "That's a great lap. I honestly was thinking that we would run a .00. Jerry, my motor tuner, thought we would run a .90 and then Doug thought we were going to run a .84. They didn't tell me that. I thought we picked up a ton. When I first heard that I was like 'Man, we ran a 49.8, what happened?' and then obviously I was off quite a bit. I think it was a good lap. I'm excited about it. I saw Mike (Bliss, his teammate) knock me off. I think both of us will be in the top-10, hopefully. I like being next to him, that's for sure." WHY DID YOU PICK UP SO MUCH FROM PRACTICE? "They just got everything right. We were kind of running in and out of here (in practice) and then finally we took the time to get everything right before qualifying."

DAMON LUSK, NO. 6 STA-RITE INDUSTRIES DODGE, QUALIFIED 25TH. "For us it's okay. We want the pole; we came here to win the pole. This is a small little race team and we got to take one race at a time. We didn't get to test and that hurt us a little bit. That's nobody's fault; we're just working around it. We've got a great sponsor and everything. The car drives really well. We used a little of Tommy Baldwin's expertise for the race and we'll be right up there. We're going to surprise some people." ARE YOU GLAD QUALIFYING IS OVER? "I am. I hate this. Being here as a rookie you think I'm running for Raybestos® Rookie of the Year you've got all these things going and you're thinking what if it rains? If it rains you are not in the race. You have a lot of stuff to think about just to get qualifying out of the way and now that we are going to go racing is what you think about and what you come down here to do. This stuff is just ridiculous. It feels like you are riding down the highway but that's restrictor plate racing."

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