O'Reilly 300 - Ford Qualifying Quotes

KASEY KAHNE-38-Great Clips Ford Taurus (Qualified 20th) - "I feel pretty good about that run. We gained about four tenths right there, so that's real good for us. We weren't real good when we unloaded today. These guys made some good changes there and we gained about four tenths. That's not going to be the pole. We were 20th in practice, so if we finish top-15, top-12, I think it would be awesome." DO YOU FEEL THAT YOUR EARLY QUALIFYING DRAW HURT YOU TODAY? "I really don't see why it would. Depending on if the wind stops or something like that it could. Right now, the Great Clips Ford Taurus is a lot better than we were this morning. We gained four tenths. We were 20th this morning. I think that should put us top-15 hopefully and that's good from where we started." HAS THE TRACK SURFACE LOST ANY GRIP FROM LAST YEAR? "It seems real consistent. That was the best car, right there that I went out in, since I raced here last year. This thing felt the best, so I'm excited if we can build off that and get better for tomorrow's practice and that will make us better for the race."

MATT KENSETH-17-Alka-Seltzer Morning Relief Ford Taurus (Qualified 11th) - "We never really got to make a mock-up run or scuff our tires and I think that hurt us a little bit, so I'm real happy where we are. Hopefully that will get us in the top 10 and that will be a good spot to start." HOW MUCH HAS THE TRACK SURFACE CHANGED FROM LAST YEAR? "It's doesn't seem like it's changed, but it's hard to tell. It seems like it's the same old Texas, but I didn't get to practice as much as I would have liked to this morning, and really didn't learn a lot today. I wish I could have got a little more practice in, but we didn't, so I'm happy qualifying as good as we did for our limited amount time we had on the track." IS THERE A SECOND GROOVE ON THE TRACK? "I don't know. I think you'll see a race like you see all the time. I think the groove will be on the bottom getting and through the middle, and by the end of the race, it will widen out up off a little bit. People will start pushing and going wide and you'll be able to drive under them. I don't think that you're going to run side by side at speed all the way around the corner. I don't think that we'll see that tomorrow. Maybe we will, but I don't think we will."

BOBBY HAMILTON, JR.-25-Team Marines Ford Taurus (Qualified 3rd) - "That should get us in the top five and that's what we needed to do with the Marines Ford. We had another awesome motor from Robert Yates. The 57 is going to be tough. He was pretty quick today in practice, but whatever. A top-five, we'll take it. If it holds out it will be an awesome day. Now, we got through the tough part. We got the car with all of the fenders on it and now it's time to go get it sideways. We brought our best car in the shop and hopefully we can turn thing around here. It's getting cooler and that's one thing that's helped us. It getting cooler, but 57 has the same advantage. Unless the 57 blows it on getting too tight or too loose, he'll be the one to beat." HOW IS THE TRACK SURFACE? "It's fine. You'll see two-wide racing here."

JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Qualified 1st) - "That is definitely a little bit of an advantage to have a late draw, but we had a good lap. I'm not sure it's going to be the pole, but all in all, that's a good lap. We've run good the whole time we've been here. We haven't been in race trim yet, so we'll get in it race trim and we'll be OK. I haven't really noticed the wind that much, but the temperatures are definitely cooler and that's where the speeds are coming from. We still have some fast cars to go. We gave them a good lap to look at, but we'll just wait and see." WILL THERE BE SIDE-BY-SIDE RACING ON SATURDAY? "I hope so, and all things indicate that, but only time will tell. I haven't been in race trim yet, so I'm not real sure what the car will do in race trim. But, it should be a little bit wider."

STANTON BARRETT-60-OdoBan Ford Taurus (Qualified 2nd) - "The car worked great. I just pushed it a little too hard and probably cost us. I wasn't able to get in the gas in turn two. But, the track conditions are cooling off and we came here with the wrong gear completely, so we kept stepping up on that in practice, and I think that was a big help. We knew we had a little bit in it, but not that much. The cooler temperatures helped that out, but it's still good." YOU'VE RUN WELL AT THE MILE-AND-A-TRACKS ON THE CIRCUIT. "I like this style of track. It's a rhythm style of track, and it adapts to my style. I'm excited for my guys; they're the best."

SCOTT RIGGS-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Qualified 4th) - "We had a good car in practice, and we just keep working on it. It was just a little bit uncomfortable and I wanted to be a little loose getting in, and that's what bit me there in practice. The last minutes of practice, I got off the throttle getting into three and it just got loose on me and I turned it around and backed it in the wall. We pushed this backup car out. We tested it at Vegas and really didn't think it was our best piece, and that's why we brought that other piece. That one lap that I made, it stuck in the corner. I got back in the gas and it never wobbled. I told them that I think if we could have had this car the whole practice session we could have dialed on it and maybe held it wide open around this place. We tested this car a couple of times and both times it just didn't feel real stable and we were just keeping it as our backup. The other car that we had our here, our primary car, it was just wobbling around a little bit. We kept messing with it and dialing on it, and it was pretty good. We were third on the board, and we thought we might have had a shot at the pole. We crashed it, of course, the last minutes of practice. It got loose with me getting in the corner and backed in the wall. We got the backup car out. The very first lap on the race track was the pole, so far. The good thing about it was that it felt a lot more stable. I think we have a lot better race car now than we had in our primary." DID YOU PUT THE SAME SETUP IN THE BACKUP THAT YOU HAD IN THE PRIMARY CAR? "We measured every little thing out and changed every little thing to be exactly the same as the other car. Still, it handled, drove and ran faster than the other car. All of the guys wanted me to take it sort of easy on my first lap and throw it out, and the second lap try to go for it and not wreck. We couldn't stand to tear two cars up in one day. I told them it's harder for me to back up and go slower than just go as hard as I can and find that limit. The second lap, I thought it would have been quicker, but we didn't want to take any chances."

STANTON BARRETT PRESS CONFERENCE

TALK ABOUT YOUR LAP. "The car was great. The OdoBan Ford definitely stuck to the track. I pushed it a little bit hard in one and two and had to lift longer than I wanted to, but I was surprised. I knew it was a good lap. I didn't know that it was going to be that good. If I would have had the time a little bit early I think we could have duplicated just a little bit better because we did leave some on the table in one and two. You can't complain with second place."

"I've had a little bit of difficulty in practice; it wasn't comfortable at all. It was good, but not perfect by any means. We came with the wrong gear completely because the times dropped off so much. Every time, we stepped up gears from when we showed up to qualifying, even qualifying we went up another step. We knew we had a pretty decent car, but the temperatures were a contribution too for the last guys there to set a good time. We definitely had a top-10 car either way, I think."

"I don't know what everybody is experiencing, but we're flying in more gears tonight to change for the race. I believe we're nearly a second off from last year from the research. We brought that up in practice, and I think we need more gear because we're not coming close to running out. I think that the Winston Cup guys will find that out, too. I think more Winston Cup guys had the opportunity to test versus the Busch guys, so quite a few of them already have the data on that situation."

"It's great to always perform in front of a big crowd. But, crowd or not, I want just want to race. I'm just happy to be racing this year."

BOBBY HAMILTON, JR. CONFERENCE

TALK ABOUT YOUR LAP. "The cool weather was perfect for qualifying. It was taped. We got the perfect type of air. I think if we would have got our qualifying run right at the end of practice - one of those guys wrecked - so we just took a chance. It's a credit to all of my guys. The car had a ton of side bit and Robert Yates motors just tug down the straightway. The perfect scenario, it started to cloud up when we were going out so it worked to our advantage."

"We brought an '02 back this year. We didn't bring our '03; we're a little bit behind on getting those ready. We knew it could work, but we had too many unknowns. But now that we have this car, we knew what it would do. It was the car we had at Homestead, and it ran so good there and it's one of my favorite places. It wasn't like we struggle here being lost. We knew what we had when we came here. I think that after last week's run, dodging the bullet there and moving up a couple of spots in the points, hopefully we can leave here and do the same thing."

"Each year, coming back here it gets better. Of course, it loses grip and that's why the speeds are about a second off. The plus side of that is that you can run two wide and I guarantee you that you that this weekend. You'll see two wide and you'll probably see three wide in the Cup race and stay that way. It's going to definitely be a plus every time you come back. Also, we have the type of car we're looking forward to. The Marines Ford is fast untaped, so it's one of those things that if we can't win here, everybody will definitely know that we're here."

JASON KELLER PRESS CONFERENCE

"We're just really excited; this is Albertsons country. We knew that there are a lot of Albertsons employees as well as Albertsons grocery shoppers here. Any time we come into a market that has a big presence of our sponsor is great. To have the Albertsons Ford on the front row is fantastic. Hopefully we can stay there on Saturday."

"I think the late draw was an advantage, but that's the luck of the draw. I've been on the other side of that coin, and got the bad draw. Everything went right. We were real fast in practice, second fastest in practice and we were able to pick up a little bit qualifying and it showed. We haven't been in race trim yet, so I'm really eager to get the front of this thing untaped and get in race trim and see how we do tomorrow. Hopefully the groove widens out. I know that Bobby was talking a little about it when I came in. The older surface should lead to a little more side-by-side racing, a little bit more passing, so hopefully that's the case."

"Stanton has been starting on the pole and I've been starting on the outride for a little bit. Our race team is getting better and better. Qualifying up front does so many things for you. It's really a morale booster as well because you get to pick a good pit stall on pit road as well. Hopefully all of those things lead to a good day on Saturday. My success here has been very little, so hopefully we can change that. This is our first 2003 body that we ran. We ran this same car in Las Vegas and this is only the second time that we've run one of the new bodies. It seemed to do well in Las Vegas, so I'm looking forward to it on Saturday."

"We kept wanting to change the gear. I kept telling Steve (Addington) we needed to change the gear. My car was a little loose getting in and he didn't want to change the gear because he felt like it would change the setup a little bit. We chose to stay with what we had last year. I can't second-guess ourselves, it was the eight move by Steve. We chose to stay with what we had last year just to keep the chassis from being upset getting in the corner as you let off the gas. It's just a great day for us. All in all, we had to make some changes setup-wise from last year, from our qualifying setup, so I was proud that we were able to change and adapt like we did."

"This place is fast. Last year felt fast and to me this year felt fast. It's still got a lot of grip compared to some of the race tracks that we go to. So when we say it's lost grip, we're not saying it's slow now. It's extremely fast and with the cloud cover coming, it really got grippy. I found it, even on sticker tires, it still has a lot of grip. It will probably slicken up on Saturday. The more the cars get on the race track, it will slicken up. As far feel, it still felt fast to me."

©Copyright 2003 Race 2 Win