Aaron's 312 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

Raybestos® Rookie Clint Bowyer will start from the pole in Saturday's Aaron's 312 at Talladega. Bowyer won his first career pole in just his third career start. He becomes the second Raybestos® Rookies to win a pole this season, joining Kyle Busch.

CLINT BOWYER, #21 REESE'S CHEVROLET: "I'm definitely smiling. These boys will put the pressure on you [smiles]. Hats off the guys back home in the shop, the fabrication shop and the engine shop. This was their day to shine. These superspeedways are what they are all about and I tell you, they've put together the best program there is. The guys in the garage here have been working their tails off on this car and got it just unbelievably fast. For a Raybestos Rookie like me, who doesn't know what he's doing out here on these superspeedways, they make me look really good. My hat is off to those guys. I'm just looking forward to this race. It's going to be wild, a lot of learning. You've got to gain a lot of respect of those veteran drivers. They don't like a rookie coming in and sitting on the pole by any means and you've got to realize that. It's a give and take deal out there and it's going to be a lot of giving at the first of this race. If they get around you, they get around you and if you get shuffled to the back, you get shuffled to the back. The main thing is to stay in line and keep that car up front as much as possible. You probably won't see much racing out of me until the last 20 laps or so. The game plan is to keep this Reese's car up front, stay in line and gain respect, and hopefully by the end that respect will pay off." IS THIS YOUR FIRST RESTRICTOR PLATE RACE? "I raced an ARCA race in Daytona but I can tell you it's not anything like racing this deal. In the last two practices I got into a couple of wild predicaments. They're racing hard, or what I consider racing hard. Maybe that's the normal and that's the way that it's going to be. If that's the way that they are going to race this whole race, I don't see 'em making it the whole way without a caution. We're going to try to keep this Reese's car up front and stay away from that accident and hopefully the last 10 laps we get a good finish and be up front to where we can race hard. The main thing is that we got the points headed back in the right direction from the mishap in Texas and we've just got to keep building on that; use our heads and keep this car in one piece." WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD FINISH FOR YOU? "There's a lot of luck being at the right place at the right time. It's an equipment track in qualifying but I think it's a lot of driver when it comes to drafting, just a lot to learn. Hopefully we can get this Reese's car in the top-10 by the end of the day and keep building on that [owner] points deal. I think we'll be satisfied with that." HAS RICHARD CHILDRESS [OWNER] OR RICKY VIERS [CREW CHIEF] GIVEN YOU ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO AVOID THE "BIG ONE?" "The main thing is to stay in line and obviously try not to make anybody mad. You've just got to gain respect. You're out there as a Raybestos rookie and you set it on the pole and they're not happy about that by any means (laughs). You've got to help them when they need help and hopefully when it comes time to for them to help you when they can they will. You've got to try and keep that car up front and gain respect and stay in line."