Bashas' Supermarkets 200 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

CHASE MONTGOMERY, NO. 27 TRIMSPA PONTIAC:

"Phoenix is different than anywhere I have ever run. We're having a difficult time finding what I need. I thought it was going to be a lot better than that. Why it wasn't I'm not sure. We'll go into happy hour tomorrow and follow some fast cars and learn something. It always helps me, following people, and I've got that person up top that can tell me where they are better and where I'm worse. I'm pulling my hair out now."

DAVID STREMME, NO. 1 MICCOSUKEE RESORTS DODGE:

Note: David Stremme was the top Raybestos Rookie qualifier at Phoenix. He will start third in Saturday's race. This is the best qualifying effort by a Raybestos® Rookie this season.

"I think that's pretty solid. The crew did a good job. We come back to a place that I came here in '99 and should have run the tour race. I'm pretty excited about running here at Phoenix. I love the place even with the change in the wall. I think we have a real good car this weekend." WHAT CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE WALL? "It allows you to carry more momentum through the corner. Off of two, they moved the wall about 10 feel back. I think that's why you look at Harvick's time and it was a couple of tenths faster than the pole last year. I think technology and the change in the track here helped out quite a bit." WHAT EFFECT DOES THE HEAT AND SAND HAVE ON THE TRACK? "I think it's the heat more than anything. The sand only affects the first few guys that qualify. We've got to look at tomorrow. We run happy hour early in the day where the track is not going to be so slimy and I can already tell that with the sun beating down, conditions change. My crew chief Jon Wolfe and I will sit down and go through some notes and plan on the track changing." YOU ARE CLOSING IN ON COY GIBBS IN THE CHASE IN THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE STANDINGS. "The biggest benefit to staying in the car is that the last three weeks that we've unloaded and been in the top-10 in practice, happy hour, and the race. We've either finished in the top-10 or we've had a little mistake that I've done or whatever. In all, I'm pretty happy with everything going on. We're just building on next year. Next week I'm going to run a car for Braun Racing, just to kind of stay in the seat. It's looks like at Homestead we're not going to put anything together. We've just got to keep gaining experience and look towards next year." IS TIRE WEAR GOING TO BE AN ISSUE HERE DURING THE RACE? "Well, anywhere you go, tire wear is going to be a factor. I've run on this tire that Goodyear brought here enough to where I learned some stuff, especially at Memphis. I burned them up pretty hard there. I've got to bring some notes of mine, mental notes that I have from Memphis, how hard to run the car will definitely come in to effect here with the heat and everything." WHERE CAN YOU PASS HERE? "Anywhere there is asphalt is going to be good to pass (smiles). This place changes so much. I learned last week at Atlanta if there is asphalt or grass or whatever you can pass. We've just got to worry about the balance of the car throughout a whole run to stay consistent." DOES THE TRACK CHANGE A LOT? "No different than any other place, really. We've got to stay on top of our game and once you get the balance right in the car conditions don't matter. It's just something that we have to work on."

JON WOLFE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 1 MICCOSUKEE RESORTS DODGE:

"We were a little bit worried because we didn't get to make a second qualifying run. We made some changes and rolled the dice. He did a good job." WHAT IS THE KEY GOING TO BE FOR THE RACE? "It's kind of like all these flatter tracks. Track position will be important. We're going to have a good qualifying run, not like last week. Hopefully we can stay up front. Tire wear doesn't seem to be too bad of an issue. DOES THE LACK OF TIRE WEAR SURPRISE YOU? "Once the cars get going around the track it blows all the stuff off there so it really doesn't come into play. The track gets slick, depending on how hot it gets."

STREMME POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE:

"I've got to thank the crew. The car was running pretty good since we unloaded. I was happy to just qualify this week. Last week we had some problems getting through tech and we had to start towards the back. We just did one mock run in practice and I probably could have done a lot better just knowing what the car did out there just a little bit ago. I'm pretty happy starting behind two champions. My first time out here at PIR I qualified fourth in a tour race and ended up finishing second by about five inches so we'll see if we can better that." HOW IMPORTANT IS GETTING THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE TITLE? 'We didn't start running until about halfway through the year. Just running the limited the schedule that I have which has broadened into next week where I'm going to run a Braun Racing car at Rockingham. We're trying to plan on running a car at Homestead but right now we don't have any plans for that. This is my last race this year in the Miccosukee/Yellow Dodge. I'm looking forward to next year. Working with the crew the last four weeks our performance has gotten better. Some of our finishes could have been better. It's just a learning curve because this is just our 16th race. We're trying to get as many races in to cancel out some of the worst race that I had earlier this season in the Raybestos Rookie battle. We'll just have to see how it falls."

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