Aaron's 312 - Rookie Practice Quotes

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER PRACTICE DAY QUOTES FOR THE AARON’S 312 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY, MARCH 18, 2005.

Carl Edwards was the fastest Raybestos Rookie in the first practice session for the Aaron’s 312 at Atlanta. Edwards logged the third best time of the session (30.010 seconds, 184.738 mph) behind Greg Biffle (29.868 seconds, 185.617) and Matt Kenseth (30.005 seconds, 184.769 mph). Edwards leads Reed Sorenson by three points (59-56) and is second in the Busch Series championship standings, 80 behind leader Kevin Harvick.

CARL EDWARDS, No. 60 CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS FORD: “We’re going to put some tape on it and try to make the race trim work in qualifying with tape. That’s going to make it really free so we’re going to do everything we can to make it not be too free. I think Brad [Parrott, crew chief] will get it right.” ARE YOU SURPRISED HOW WELL YOU’VE RUN AT EVERY RACE THIS SEASON? “I feel like this Charter team is just such a great team, they’ve made it easy on me. Even our backup car at the road course ran great. They’re level of performance is high enough they’re really making me step it up and I think that’s making us run real well.” YOU HAVE A GREAT SHOT AT RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AND THE BUSCH SERIES TITLE. “That’s what we’re here to do and that’s win this championship. It’s just going to take solid and consistent effort. Guys like Martin Truex and Reed Sorenson, Clint Bowyer, and all the guys who are running for this championship are great competitors and it’s going to be tough to beat ‘em on our best days. Our worst days are going to define who wins this championship.” ARE YOU SURPRISED TO BE A CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER IN THE BUSCH SERIES? “No, not at all. This is what we set out to do. The team has proven that they can win championships and that Charter car won five races last year. That’s what we’re here to do. We feel like we can compete at that level.” HOW DIFFERENT IS YOUR DRIVING STYLE VERSUS GREG BIFFLE WHO WON FIVE RACES IN THIS CAR LAST YEAR? “It must not be that much different because I’ve worked well with Brad, the car runs fast. I tell you what, if I can drive like Greg Biffle I’ll be all right.”

Raybestos Rookie Brandon Miller will make his debut with Richard Childress Racing in the Aaron’s 312. Miller was 11th after the first practice session for the Busch Series cars on Friday afternoon.

BRANDON MILLER, No. 21 REESE’S CHEVROLET: “I’m really happy with it so far. We had a real good test and I’m looking forward to the race. My main goal is to try and stay out of trouble and run all the laps and hopefully come out of here with a top-10, top-15 finish.” THIS WILL BE YOUR FIRST START WITH THIS TEAM IN 2005. DO YOU FEEL ANY PRESSURE OR ANXIETY? “Really, it’s not bad. I’m not really the type of guy that gets nervous at all. The biggest thing that really helps is knowing that I’m in good equipment and it’s top notch every time I go to the track no matter when I go. I’m just looking forward to the race.” HOW DID THIS OPPORTUNITY COME ABOUT FOR YOU? “Last year I practiced and qualified Robby Gordon’s Busch car a couple of times and had some pretty good runs and the guys at RCR asked me if I’d like to come run a race at Kansas. Everything went really well at Kansas. Actually, I had a really good run going. I probably had a top-eight run going and I slid up and got into the wall a little bit. I just kind of limped around for the second half of the race. I ended up finishing 15th or 16th so that’s just kind of really what helped get my foot in the door was doing that deal for Robby when he couldn’t make it due to his Cup schedule. That’s kind of how it all came about.” IS IT FRUSTRATING TO RUN A LIMITED NUMBER OF RACES AND NOT BE IN THE CAR EVERY WEEK? “It’s frustrating watching sometimes, but for me it’s a great opportunity because I get to work with Kevin [Harvick] a lot, more one-on-one than I probably would be able to otherwise. And he’s really open and free to answer my questions whenever I want. I can run over the Cup garage and ask him something and he’ll always answer my questions. It works out and it’s a pretty good deal.” IS THERE A LOT OF PRESSURE TO RUN WELL? “I don’t think so. I’m not going to put any extra pressure on myself. I’m going to go out and do the best I can and see what happens and go from there.” DOES RUNNING A PARTIAL SCHEDULE SLOW DOWN YOUR DEVELOPMENT AS A DRIVER? “I’m going to be in the car a lot. I’m going to test seven times this year and really with the way the schedule works out, after this first half, the longest break I have is only like three races and I’ll be testing in between there. I’ll still be in a car quite a bit.” HOW ACTIVE ARE YOU WITH THE TEAM? “Whenever I’m not racing or not testing, I still go to all the races. I have a headset on. I do a lot of spotting. I like to spot and that way when I get to the tracks I know what to expect. I still go to all the races.” DOES SPOTTING GIVE YOU AN ADVANTAGE? “I think it’s definitely an advantage to watch races, especially at a track that you haven’t been to and kind of see how races play out; what happens, where the lines go. Like here at Atlanta, I went up on the spotters stand at the race at the end of the year last year because I had never seen this place in person. It was good to see how the lines moved around throughout the race and towards the end everybody moves up toward the top. If I can just learn one thing every time I go up to the spotters stand that’s even better.” WHAT OTHER RACING DO YOU DO OTHER THAN THE BUSCH SERIES? “This year I think I’m just going to mostly concentrate on this. Like I said just do a lot of testing and do as well as we can.”