Sam’s Town 300 - Rookie Friday Quotes

TIME TRIALS FOR THE SAM'S TOWN 300 WERE RAINED OUT. THE STARTING LINEUP WAS DETERMINED BY 2002 AND 2003 CAR OWNER POINTS.

CHRIS BINGHAM, NO. 49 REALITY ENTERTAINMENT FORD, STARTS 28TH (2002 OWNER POINTS):

"We're here, we're going to run, and do the best job we can. We have a good car and we have a good motor this weekend. I still will get the setup pretty close. Derrick (Cope) has been great. He's helped me out a lot on what I'm supposed to be doing and the transition from what I'm used to to here. I'm looking forward to working with him more. I think mostly for me it's just getting through this race, getting approved for the next level. We want to do well but we are only going to push the car and work with what we have to work with. At this point right now, we're going to work on race strategy. Go out there and run in the beginning. If we have a car that we can improve some positions and work our way through the field we'll do that but right now our main focus is to get through the race, get points and start getting caught back up because we missed Daytona. We're behind the eight-ball right now."

REGAN SMITH, NO. 22 COPPERFIELD & CO REALTORS CHEVROLET, WILL START 32ND (2002 CAR OWNER POINTS):

"I'm happy to be in the show. Hopefully we'll get a 'Happy Hour' and get a few laps and kind of learn a few things about the cars maybe and not go quite so much cold turkey into the race. If not we will go with a little bit tight race car to start with and see what happens." WHERE WILL YOU START SETUP-WISE DURING PRACTICE? "The crew chiefs have obviously been to places like this a lot and they take their notes from the past and they'll maybe tweak on them a little bit here and there and help tighten the car up and then go at it from there. If we get the last practice in we're probably going to make some long runs: number one to get me some laps because I've never seen this place before and number two to see what the car is going to do on the long run. You can go a lot of green flag laps here in a row and if we can be good on the long runs we'll be happy with that."

CHAD BLOUNT, NO. 19 APP PRE-PAID GAS CARDS DODGE, STARTS 38TH (2003 OWNER POINTS): "That's a little disappointing but there's not a whole lot you can do with Mother Nature. You have to take it how your cards are dealt out herein Vegas. That's another story; we're not doing very well at the card table but we're doing a little bit better here. To be in the race, man that's really good. Hopefully we can get a good finish. I know we have a good car but maybe we can take this Dodge up front and keep it up front all day long." WHAT DID YOU LEARN HERE TESTING THAT WILL HELP YOU ONCE PRACTICE STARTS? "First off, I had to learn the racetrack. Not only that, but I'm still adjusting to these race cars, the Busch cars. Man, it's a big step. We learned a little bit and I think that will help us going into tomorrow's race. Hopefully we will hit it right."

COY GIBBS, NO. 18 MBNA CHEVROLET, STARTS 40TH (2003 OWNER POINTS):

"I'm excited. We came out here and tested and obviously that's going to be a big benefit and the weather was somewhat similar. I think we'll have a good run at it. We're starting way back in the field but that's not our fault. We'll see what we can do." HOW MANY ADJUSTMENTS CAN YOU MAKE DURING THIS LAST PRACTICE? "If we get an hour, we'll be good. If we get like a half an hour, you can probably make about two big changes, definitely a set of shocks. If you are way off chassis-wise, you are going to springs right off the bat but I think that we'll be pretty close. We should have a good run." HOW MUCH MOMENTUM DOES THE GOOD RUN YOU HAD LAST WEEK AT ROCKINGHAM GIVE YOU? "Honestly the way we tested at Rockingham I was kind of upset at the way that we were running. We just couldn't get the thing to handle. We just stayed on the lead lap, fortunately, and stuck it out. We changed a bunch of stuff and couldn't get the car to respond and I don't know why. That place is different, man. That's a weird track; that's going to take a couple of years I think on that place. I'm glad we finished on the lead lap and that was the first time I have finished on the lead lap in a Busch race. That helps a lot, just to know that you can do it."

DAMON LUSK, NO. 6 STA-RITE PUMPS DODGE, STARTS 41ST (2003 OWNER POINTS):

"I was just talking with Tommy (Baldwin) and Eddie (D'Hondt) the owners here and they said that 'We've been to four races. All four of them we haven't tested. Three of them have gotten rained out and the fourth one was like it is here now.' We're in the race so we'll work on the car and get up to speed in race trim. I came here with the Winston Cup team and tested with them and they had a really good test with (Jimmy) Spencer. A lot of their information is going to relay over for what we're going to do here in a couple of hours. I'm happy that we're in the race but we have a lot of work to do. We've got 40 spots to go. We'll do everything we can to get up there. We just want to run in the top-15. I need to get some seat time here. We'll give it our all."

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