Food City 250 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookies will start at Bristol:
K. Busch 8th
P. Menard 15th
J.J. Yely 28th

KYLE BUSCH IN THE #5 LOWE'S/ BRIGGS & STRATTON CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT BRISTOL. "It was all over the place. We made some changes there from the last practice and thought it was going to be good for us. We really couldn't turn the wheel the way that we wanted to and thought the changes that we made would help us do that. It was kind of skatey all around the corner, really didn't dig in the way that we wanted it to." WAS THAT BECAUSE YOU WENT OUT FIRST? "It could easily be, but honestly we made one run on the way that we changed the car and it didn't act right that time either. We thought it might have been tires. We probably should have done one of the two changes that we did back. Other than that, I think it will be a top-10 effort which will be good, somewhere up front." COULD YOU TELL THAT THE TRACK CHANGED FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING? "Not really. If anything, like I said, the last two runs that I've made on the racetrack have been just a little bit skatey. I don't think it changed all that much. I know the air temp changed a little bit but the clouds just rolled in so I don't think it was a huge difference."

J.J. YELEY, #18 VIGORO/ THE HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET: "We're pretty happy with it. We're a little bit loose in the qualifying runs. We tried to make a couple small adjustments for the qualifying there. It was better but we might not have gone quite enough. This place is very tricky and I'd rather be a little bit slower and be in the race than maybe push it too hard and test out that concrete. It don't really matter what racetrack you go to, those fences don't normally move very much." IS THIS THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE BEEN HERE IN A BUSCH CAR? "This is my first attempt to race here. We tested here a couple of weeks and ago and other than that, this is first time I've been at this facility and it is an awesome place. I'm looking forward to coming back here for many years. I know there's a trick to getting around this place. I just need to find it." WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE RACE FRIDAY NIGHT? "I think the biggest thing is that almost all the cars are so close in speeds. I think it comes down to being consistent and definitely staying out of trouble because one little bobble can cause a heck of a backup. I've just got to dodge all those possible crashes." CAN YOU COMPARE BRISTOL TO ANY TRACK THAT YOU'VE DRIVEN IN A SPRINT CAR? "Winchester Speedway and Salem Speedway, both in Indiana and both are real high-banked, half-miles. They have as much or more banking all the way around the racetrack that what Bristol does, but the first time in a stock car on this racetrack definitely gets your attention. The crew reminded me to make sure that I breathed out there and so far the only problem I have is blinking. I stay so focused that my eyes start watering. I couldn't figure out why and then I started paying a little bit more attention. I was staying so focused I forgot to blink."

PAUL MENARD, #11 TURTLE WAX/ MENARDS CHEVROLET: "I had a much better car in practice this morning that I think I just didn't drive it hard enough on my qualifying run. Tony [Gibson, crew chief] told me that's perfectly all right because on this track, it's so easy to overdrive the car and lose a lot of time. We definitely have something good to build on for the race. I think it's going to be a lot of fun tomorrow night."