Winn-Dixie 250 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

NOTE: Kyle Busch will start eighth while fellow Raybestos Rookie Rick Markle earned the 34th starting position. They are the only Raybestos Rookies entered in Friday's race at Daytona.

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUALIFYING QUOTES FOR THE WINN-DIXIE 250 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES RACE AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, JULY 1, 2004.

KYLE BUSCH IN THE #5 LOWE'S/GLADIATOR CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT DAYTONA. BUSCH WILL START EIGHTH IN FRIDAY'S RACE. "I'm happy with it. It's the best speedway car we've had all year. I think the guys spent a lot of time on it and definitely prepared it well. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it up within the top-10 tomorrow and maybe come out of a speedway race with a decent finish and keep up in the points somewhat with the DEI car." IS RESTRICTOR PLATE RACING FRUSTRATING? "It's difficult but sometimes it's fun. You're out there for a long time and you're bump drafting people and all the kind of stuff. Being a Raybestos Rookie, it's sometimes hard to hang out and get somebody to draft with you and play with you but you try to do the best job that you can and do what you need to do to keep up front." IS IT DIFFICULT TO GET PEOPLE TO DRAFT WITH YOU BECAUSE OF THE YELLOW STRIPE? "It's been a little bit of a factor. I mean, it's kind of been bad but on the other hand I think we'll be all right with it. It's hard to say. You definitely don't get veterans to play with you as well as you would if you were a veteran." DO YOU LIKE TODAY'S SCHEDULE? "To get in here and get out of here, it's definitely different but I think it will be all right as soon as we get into the race tomorrow. It will definitely be what it needs to be and you try to get through it as quickly as you can." DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN WIN THE RACE? "I hope so. I think the DEI cars are going to be pretty dominant but we'll see what we can do with them."

BUSCH PRESS CONFERENCE

"It was definitely pretty good for us, obviously our best superspeedway qualifying effort so far this year. The guys did an awesome job bringing an awesome Lowe's/Gladiator Garage Works Chevrolet to the racetrack. We spent a lot of time on this one. We were able to bring it home in one piece from Talladega. They cut up on it a little bit and made it better and went to the wind tunnel and definitely made it a great piece to come down here and be in the top-10. The day didn't start off so well. I didn't think we were going to have a good car for the race but the guys really turned it around and made it drivable for me." HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HAVING NO MORE PRACTICE TIME, JUST THE RACE? "Lance [McGrew, crew chief] and I, we kind of decided on the wrong gear choice maybe but I think we'll be all right. We qualified with this gear here in the spring and raced it too, so we should be okay as far as that goes. With the cooler temperatures, we kind of forgot about that that would play into effect of getting faster times throughout the night. I think we'll be all right. Hopefully we'll be to continue on our success this year and maybe get another top-10 finish this weekend and come out of here with a good one."