Ford 300 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookies will start at Homestead:
P.Menard, 3rd
K. Busch, 5th
C. Bowyer, 23rd

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOR THE FORD 300 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES RACE AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2004.

CLINT BOWYER, No, 21 REESE'S CHEVROLET: "It's still loose in and we're fighting that. I had a really good test here and got a lot of really good notes. I think we'll be really good. We started out good in practice and just kind of went the wrong way and got it too tight. I think if we come back off that we'll have a really good car for the race." HOW MUCH HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO TRANSFER FROM THE TEST TO PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING HERE TODAY? "It's pretty well the same. We unloaded really good and kind of got worse. We had to try some things and get it out of the way. We got that and now we can go back and get after it here in happy hour tomorrow." YOU'VE BEEN ABLE TO RUN HERE AT VARIOUS TIMES DURING THE DAY. DOES THE TRACK CHANGE ANY? "Definitely. It will pick up at about 4 o'clock, maybe 3:30, it will pick up and you really start getting it. But it's the same for everybody. I just think you've got to work on getting it to turn in the center of the corner, just like any track, and that's what we've got. We've got a good package and I think it will race really well."

KYLE BUSCH, No. 5 LOWE'S/SHOP VAC CHEVROLET: HOW WAS THE LAP? "We're all right. We came down here and tested and we kind of struggled for a day and ¾ and then finally found something right at the end. We've been kind of messing around with the same ideas that we came here with. We came here a little bit different, try this and try that and we've been kind of heading in the same direction. It's something to keep working on. We'll get it better and hopefully have a decent race car." HOW DIFFERENT IS THIS RACE FOR YOU? YOU ARE NOT CHASING A CHAMPIONSHIP THIS WEEKEND. "It's easy. We can just go out there and do our job and do what we've done all year long, obviously. There's no real pressure on us to try to win anything. We're stuck in second in points; doesn't matter if we finish first or 43rd, we're not changing spots. I'm looking forward to this weekend. This is my last run in the Busch car for this year. It's a shame to say that but it's also a good thing that we're moving on next year to the Cup Series." IS THIS YOUR FIRST VISIT TO HOMESTEAD? "I tested here last year when they had the open day for the Cup deal. I was going to run the Cup race then we got booted out because we had an illegal car. The track's different. It's got a lot less grip, maybe not a lot, but significantly different that you can tell. I didn't run the Cup car here this year and I didn't run the Busch car here last year so it's kind of different in my sake for that. I've only got a few laps so it's kind of like a new track that I had to learn, actually." IS THERE A CRITICAL PORTION OF THE TRACK? "Turn 1. I've found that turn 1 is the critical point here. You've got to be able to turn in that corner."

PAUL MENARD IN THE No. 11 MENARDS/PITTSBURGH PAINTS CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER. Notes: Menard will start third in Saturday's Ford 300. This is his best start since he won the pole at Kansas Speedway (race number 28). This is just the second time all season that Menard has claimed a top-five starting position. "So far, so good. It definitely looks like a top-five starting spot. Martin [Truex Jr., his teammate] beat us so we'll have to get him tomorrow." YOU RAN WELL AT KANSAS, STRUGGLED AT CHARLOTTE, AND RAN WELL TODAY. WHY DO YOU STRUGGLE AT ONE MILE-AND-A-HALF AND NOT AT ANOTHER? "And it's all with the same car, too. Charlotte is just a different place because it's so bumpy you have really have to have a good shock package there. Charlotte is pretty finicky and we just missed it by a little bit and that's all that it takes." ARE YOU FRUSTRATED NOT TO WIN THE POLE? "It was just a little bit loose getting off of four and that made me think twice about going wide open as soon as I could have. Had I been able to pick up the throttle where I thought I probably should have, I think we would be on the pole right now." YOU'VE GOT TO BE EXCITED ABOUT THE RACE HERE. "We'll have happy hour tomorrow morning and we've got a good starting spot and a good baseline on where to start. The happy hour is going to be in the cold of the day and the race is going to be in the heat of the day so we're going to have to play our cards right. It's definitely going to be a fun place to race on, multi groove." HOW FUN HAS IT BEEN AT DEI THIS WEEK? "Actually, I haven't been at the shop all this week. I had to go back home for some store appearances. I'm really happy for those guys and hopefully one of us can repeat next year." WHAT POSITIVES DOES TRUEX JR. WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP BRING TO THIS TEAM? "It's a free lunch, for one, for everybody [smiles]. Knowing that you have the best stuff out there, the best equipment out there, and both our teams work pretty close together, helping each other out, if somebody finds something that relates to the others. Like when we were pretty good in practice this morning, Bono was down there getting our setup and it worked out for him. It's a win-win situation." HOW MUCH DID THE TEST HELP YOU? "A lot. The track itself is pretty easy to drive. It's not very line sensitive. You drive it in and wherever the car goes, it goes. The big thing is to just pick up the throttle early and staying in it. We worked a lot with springs and some shocks but mostly springs and bars and got dialed in. That's a know now, not a variable." HAVEYOU BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A RACE RUN WITH OTHER CARS ON THE TRACK? "A little bit in testing, not this morning. We were by ourself the whole time this morning but hopefully tomorrow we'll mix it up a little bit. I don't know if you get aero-loose getting in the corners here if you're side by side. That's what happy hour is for."

MENARD PRESS CONFERENCE

"We started off practice pretty good. We mainly made qualifying runs all day. We really wanted that pole but Casey beat us so congratulations. Our qualifying run was a little bit free from the center off and just couldn't get to the gas as soon as I wanted to. If I could have picked up the throttle maybe 50 or 20 feet sooner, I probably would have had the pole. But you live and learn." AS A RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE, HOW MUCH TIME HAVE YOU HAD ON THIS CONFIGURATION? "The first time that I saw the place was last week when we were down here two days testing. It's a pretty easy track to drive. You just kind of drive it off in the corner and the car basically goes where it wants to. The big thing that I found is that you've got to get on the gas early and stay in it. Pretty good grip. I wasn't here last year but I guess the groove wore down quite a bit. I'm looking forward to happy hour. It seems like it's going to be muli-groove so it should make for a good race on Saturday." CONSIDERING THAT YOU ARE A RAYBESTOS ROOKIE, ARE YOU GOING INTO SATURDAY'S RACE LOOKING FOR A WIN OR TO GET A GOOD SOLID FINISH? "A win is always nice, but we need a good solid finish. Obviously a win is a good solid finish, so we'll go for that. We've been bitten at the end of races lately and we just need a good solid finish."