Funai 250 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

KYLE BUSCH IN THE #5 LOWE'S/PELLA CHEVROLET WON THE POLE FOR FRIDAY'S FUNAI 250. Notes: This is Busch's third pole of the 2003 season, tying him with Martin Truex Jr. for most poles. The Richmond race marked the seventh time this season Busch has been top qualifying Raybestos® Rookie. He is also the youngest driver to win a pole in the Busch Series at Richmond and he set a new track record with his qualifying lap.

"We wish we could have been better. These guys did an awesome job all day with the Lowe's Chevrolet. It could have been that much better on the first one and maybe that much better on the second one. We'll just have to see how it plays out for us, hopefully it will put us there somewhere up front where we can kind of hang out there all day during the race." YOU DON'T THINK THAT'S GOING TO HOLD UP FOR THE POLE? "I don't think so. I think it's probably going to be in the low 80s or maybe even a 70 so we'll have to see. I hope I'm wrong, to tell you the truth." WHY ARE YOU SUCH A GOOD QUALIFIER? "For some reason Kurt and I have always been pretty decent on cold tires and when you go out to qualify you don't have much heat in them. You try to go out there and spike a lap and see what you can get out of it. It's a lot of fun to go out there on cold tires and try to slip around right on the edge." HOW MUCH DID THE TEST HERE HELP YOU? "That helped out a tremendous amount because when we came here during that test in the morning we were absolutely out to lunch. It was definitely good that we were able to learn some things in order to come back with so when we had a baseline to come back with we knew that we were going to be pretty decent. All we did was make a few minor changes at the shop, splitting the truck arms or this or that, and we came back and it was pretty good." DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE A SECOND GROOVE DURING THE RACE? "It's going to be tough. When you go to a racetrack that just been repaved it's always hard to get a second groove right away. They're going to put cones up in happy hour and make us run in the top groove so we'll see how long those cones last. I doubt very long (smiles). I hope it comes in so we don't have to root and gouge as much and we can race two by two." DO YOU THINK THERE MIGHT BE SOME TIRE PROBLEMS IN THE RACE? THIS TRACK HAS ALWAYS BEEN HARD ON TIRES. "I hope not, but it's real easy to see those problems, like you said. The right front does get a lot of abuse here getting into the corner. You have the brake heat and the heat of it getting into the corner. You're going into turn one for a long time because of the arch of the straightaway. The right rear does very little work here. You've got to get your car rotating and if your car is tight in traffic then you hurt it even more. It's just a fine balance." DID YOU NOTICE HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE RIGHT FRONT TIRE DURING PRACTICE TODAY OR IN THE TEST? "We've actually been pretty good. We've been taking care of that tires and trying to get the thing freed up enough where it will rotate for us and we can stay off it a little bit so we've been pretty good."

J.J. YELEY, #18 VIGORO/THE HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET: "We actually had a really good lap going in practice and had a car pull out in front of us and still ran that 29. We had a little bit of a problem earlier and with the clouds coming out that probably hurt us a little bit. It's nice that we backed up the time but we left a lot of time on the racetrack between three and four with the car sliding around. I know we have a really good racecar here, it's just disappointing to throw away these good runs." WITH THE NEW PAVEMENT, WILL THERE BE A SECOND GROOVE HERE IN THE RACE? "I hope so. In the silver crown car here it was pretty tough to do, but that's when they had the sealer on it. I was watching the race last year and it looked like there was a lot of two-groove racing. It will be a lot more exciting race with two grooves out there."

TRAVIS GEISLER, #36 TUCSON/DCT MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET: "We've been struggling with the brakes since we got here. We tried changing the master cylinder, we've changed the front pads, the front calipers, and we just haven't found it yet. I cut it off here going into one and it just about stopped itself on the backstraightaway. I had to start it up again. We came in here and couldn't even push it into the pits. We'll get to work on it and hopefully get it squared away during happy hour." WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD RACE FOR YOU HERE FRIDAY NIGHT? "Finish with all the fenders on it and a top-20 is probably what we're shooting for. Starting way in the back here, we're probably going to go a lap down early even if you are good. We'll just try to keep the fenders on it. This is a pretty racy place to start that far back but I guess I'll get my rookie experience."

BUSCH POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE

"It's really cool. The NASCAR Busch Series is an awesome series to run in and I always enjoy coming to Richmond. It's my first time here in the Busch car so it's pretty cool to not only sit on the pole but to go out here as a Raybestos Rookie and try to run well with all the rest of the veterans out here. It's been a lot of fun." YOU DIDN'T THINK THAT LAP WOULD HOLD UP BUT IT DID. "I didn't think it was going to hold up. My lap inside the car didn't feel all that good. I felt if someone was just a tick better than I was they would be able to beat me. I guess if I would have sat on the pole by a little bit more then it would have been by a big margin. We'll just see what we can get in the race. Starting up front is definitely a big bonus and we'll take the Lowe's Chevrolet and hopefully keep it there." WHAT IS YOU STRATEGY FOR THE RACE? "Keep the nose clean. If we can stay out in that clean air until we get to lap traffic we'd be pretty decent. It's a lot of fun to run here at this place and you try to stay up front the best you can. The veterans are going to be back there wanting to lead, too, so if we have a good car maybe we can keep it up front. If we have a car that's good enough to stay in the top-five then we'll just try to make the most of it and hang out for most of the race in order to get there at the end."

"The track has a lot of grip and the new pavement obviously brought that to it but the Cup cars I think can go that fast. They have the horsepower in order to do it. I believe they have at least 150-200 more horsepower than the Busch cars do. They'll be getting down the straightaway a little bit more and maybe they can work on their shock packages a little bit too because they are allowed a little bit different shock packages than the Busch cars. Maybe that will pay dividends and they'll be able to pick it up and maybe even run a 20-flat or something like that."

"Every time you pave a racetrack there's not going to be a second groove. It's hard to pave a racetrack and get a second groove. Homestead-Miami was probably the only racetrack that we've seen ever do that because they did the progressive style banking. You just look at the results from Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, and Kansas when all those places repaved their racetrack or came into the circuit as new tracks. You were on the bottom at least for the first two years but hopefully at Richmond you'll be able to move up a little bit quicker because you are going to have run side by side here in order to get some passing down. It might take rooting some guys out of the way in order to pass."

"As far as when the sealer was down and you'd wear the sealer out and you'd have to move up? I honestly don't think that's going to happen this year because it's so fresh. It will probably take maybe even by the fall or maybe even by next spring in order to get the weather cycles through it, get the new off it."

"We're really working hard toward that. These guys want to get it done. I guess it's probably harder on them than on me because I'm only a Raybestos Rookie. I try to do what I can out there every week. It's just around the corner and we all know that. Lance [McGrew, crew chief] and I have discussed it. It took Brian until Indy last year to get them into Victory Lane and we've been a lot closer so far this year a lot quicker. It's just a matter of time. I'm sure we'll get there this year hopefully, knock on wood."

"It helped us out a tremendous amount. When we came here and unloaded testing, if we had came here and unloaded like that today, we certainly would not have been the pole sitter. It was definitely good to come here and get a test underneath out belt, not only when I struggled here in the trucks a couple of years back but to get myself confidence coming back here with the Busch car and a base foundation of a setup for Lance and myself. We changed a couple of things at the shop, like three or four things, and those changes really helped us when we came back here."

"It's a lot of fun, of course it has been in past years you're able to get side by side when the track wears out and things like that. I hope this place really does progress into a two-groove racetrack and when it does it's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be really fast here, too. Hopefully it will progress into two groove racing because you don't want to have to root the guys out of the way because they will try to retaliate back at you. It will be a lot of fun here come raceday."

"I can't say that quite exactly, true, but I hope it will. The speeds are definitely there and the grip is definitely there so it's just a matter of time before some guys start moving up and getting in that upper groove and putting some rubber down. I think that's really going to help us out when we do that."

"To tell you the truth, no. In the beginning of the year we circled this place as a place that we needed to come to and test because I didn't look that good in the truck a couple of years ago. I told Lance 'You know, I ran okay at Richmond but I think we should go there and test in order to get a feel for the place' and when they decided that they were going to repave it, I said that's definitely the ticket that we needed. We're definitely going there now. It was definitely a good decision on both Lance and myself's part to come here and test in order a baseline like I said before. It wasn't a track that we circled in order to get our first win at. I think Nashville was our best opportunity this year. Texas was probably our second and Vegas was also really well. It will come to us sooner or later."