Carquest Auto Parts 300 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookies will start in the CARQUEST 300:
Edwards 3rd
Sorenson 6th
Walker 10th
Hamlin 11th
Sherman 17th
Jourdain Jr. 29th
Wood 31st
Davis 34th

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUALIFYING QUOTES FOR THE CARQUEST AUTO PARTS 300 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES RACE AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY, MAY 27, 2005.

REED SORENSON, No. 41 DISCOUNT TIRE COMPANY DODGE: WERE YOU SURPRISED TO RUN SO FAST IN THE HEAT? “I didn’t really know what to expect. We ran a .30 in practice earlier but I knew we could be a little bit better than that, but I really didn’t know what to expect. There’s still 40 cars left and I’m sure somebody will probably knock us off but that was a good lap for us. I think it will be in the top-five or somewhere close to there. After the past couple of weeks that we’ve had, we’re happy with that. We know we’ve got a good racecar so we were just hoping we’d qualify somewhere near the front.” WERE YOU AT A HUGE DISADVANTAGE GOING OUT SO EARLY? “I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as it was for the Cup guys because it was getting cooler and cooler as they went. I think it will be the same for everybody until probably about six o’clock and then once it gets toward 6:30 it might start getting a little bit cooler out here.” COMMENT ON THE TRACK CONDITIONS IN PRACTICE. “It was definitely a little slimy out there but that’s just kind of what you expect here at Charlotte when the sun is out. It’s not a big surprise. We knew it was kind of going to be like that and I think a lot of other people did too.” WERE YOU CAUTIOUS IN PRACTICE? “You’ve got to be cautious about it. I had some close calls over in 1 and 2. You’ve got to be aware and kind of creep up on it. You can’t go out there and maybe go as hard as you want to right off the bat. You’ve got to kind of ease up onto it.” YOU ARE QUALIFYING ON RACE SETUP TWO HOURS BEFORE THE START OF THE RACE TOMMOROW NIGHT. “As far as changing the setup, we unloaded just like we tested. We didn’t do any qualifying runs when we tested. This is our race setup. Basically, all you do is tape ‘er up, bolt on some new tires and pump the air pressures up and hope you run a good lap.” IS THE PREFERRED LINE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACETRACK? “In 3 and 4 it’s on the bottom. In 1 and 2, it’s not really what I would say the middle. It’s about a lane up.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 20 ROCKWELL AUTOMATION CHEVROLET: “I just got loose. I didn’t know my first lap was that good until after the crash. I wish I had known a little sooner. We’re getting in a car now that I don’t know anything about. It’s not even my car so who knows what we’ve got now.”

CARL EDWARDS IN THE No. 60 NATIONAL GUARD/CHARTER FORD WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT CHARLOTTE. HE WILL START THIRD IN SATURDAY NIGHT’S RACE. HAVE YOU EVER NOT HAD FUN IN A RACECAR? “Well, yeah I have not had fun before but man, that’s was cool. The car was really fast and it’s just too loose. I think it’s going to race really well. I couldn’t go any faster than that. It was hung out on the warm-up lap, sideways on the first lap, sideways in three. I mean sideways, like steer to the right, and then over there I thought it was over with. I’m just glad the car is together and we made it through that and I think we’ll still be top four or five, I think.” DISAPPOINTED THAT YOU DIDN’T GET THE POLE? “Absolutely. But I’m telling ya that disappointment is all but erased after that close call off of 2. You’ve got to have some sort of excitement. If you can’t get the pole you need to find something fun about the lap. I had a good time saving it there, that was fun.” A LOT OF CARS WRECKED IN PRACTICE. “I can tell why they wrecked. The track is so different temperature-wise. You drive into 1, a ton o grip, and then you get into the sun and it’s a whole different racetrack. I think what’s going on is that it’s hard to chase the temperature-sensitive nature of the racetrack. If it cools off 25-30 degrees, it’s a whole different animal so that’s why I think it’s really tough.” ARE YOU SURPRISED TO SEE A LOT OF CUP GUYS NEAR THE FRONT? “I think a lot of that is the fact that we got to work so hard yesterday with this exact qualifying trim for two hours. Guys like Greg and Kasey are always fast. I don’t think it’s coincidence.”

BRAD PARROTT, CREW CHIEF, No. 60 NATIONAL GUARD/CHARTER FORD: “That was an exciting lap and we’re real excited for this race. We’re coming off a win at Richmond. We’ve got us a small lead in the points right now and I promise that if we do good tomorrow I won’t do any cartwheels. Carl is an unbelievable driver talent and I’m real proud of the whole Charter team for what they’ve done so far this year. It’s a long race, 300 miles/200 laps. We were terrible here in testing and we went home and worked on the car and he thought we were going to come back with a bad car and he’s really surprised. He said we’re going to have great car.”

TYLER WALKER, No. 38 GREAT CLIPS DODGE: “I probably had a little more in there. It didn’t feel that good earlier today so it was a good lap. I was a little bit cautious of making sure that we didn’t wreck the car. I tried to drive it as hard as I could as well. Tenth is close to our best qualifying run so I’ve got to be real happy. We’ll keeping working on it for tomorrow and have some fun.” WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD RACE FOR YOU AND THE TEAM? “Ideally, run every single lap and not hit another car and finish in the top-five. That would be a good finish for me.”

BRENT SHERMAN, No. 58 CONSORT FOR MEN DODGE: “I don’t know if we’re going to beat our 15th starting spot in Phoenix. The field definitely wasn’t as stout as it is here. This is unbelievable, the amount of competition this place has. I hate to say that we were junk in practice but we were bottoming out so bad. We wanted to go as soft as possible in the front and we just kept bottoming out so we basically wasted almost a practice and a half. We got in a decent qualifying run at the end of the second practice and knew that I had a good car and I had to trust it and trust my guys. I just drove it and they gave me something that worked good and that’s all it takes. I hope every weekend it gets better and better. This is a great place to run well with a lot of stellar competition out here. I’m really excited.” DID GOING OUT LATE IN THE SESSION MAKE A DIFFERENCE? WAS IT COOLER? “The track felt very similar to what I ran this morning in practice. I didn’t go out earlier but I know that some guys who went out pretty early were complaining. Reed went out seventh or eighth and he’s sitting in the top five so I don’t know. I didn’t really get that many laps. We were mainly doing qualifying runs this morning. The track felt good. I like the changes they made to it. We ran well here in the ARCA race so hopefully we can keep up with these guys tomorrow night.” WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD RACE FOR YOU AND THIS TEAM? “We didn’t qualify at Richmond which was really hard to swallow. I’ve got to be honest with you, I think this team and I would be pretty happy with a top-20. You’ve got to take baby steps and with what this team has done in the last couple of weeks with the new ownership, Scott Glynn the new owner, it just takes a little bit of time. We’re a single car team. I just got a new crew chief, Chris Wright and it just takes a little bit of time to blend and get everyone on the same page. If we ran in the top-20 and stayed on the lead lap, it would be a good night for us.” THERE WERE A LOT OF ACCIDENTS IN PRACTICE. ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO BE EXTRA CAREFUL IN THE RACE? “I think that everyone knows that it’s going to be so tight and from what I saw last weekend it’s going to be kind of tough to pass. Everyone wants to do well here. This is the track where you want to show off in front of all your hometown fans. I think people know that in the back of their heads and they give it a little bit extra and sometimes the car isn’t ready for it. Luckily we were able to keep it in one piece.”

JON WOOD, No. 47 CLOROX/WISK/PIGGLY WIGGLY FORD: “We haven’t been any good since we got here. That was no surprise. Our only hope now is to stay out of wrecks because I don’t think we have a very good racecar.” CAN YOU PASS? “No, you can’t pass.”

KERTUS DAVIS, No. 0 RACEGIRL CHEVROLET: “There’s a lot of smiles. I haven’t been paid in two weeks. This will make a good homecoming when I come home and cash those checks. I can’t thank my guys enough, especially my father. It makes me real proud because my handicap brother is here and we don’t really know how much longer he is going to be with us. He’s up there in the lounge of the truck hooked up to oxygen and it’s good to see a smile on his face.” WHAT IS YOUR GOAL FOR THE RACE? “We know we don’t have a top-15 or top-20 car but we’re going to race as hard as we can with what we’ve got. I’d say if we finish 20th to 30th that would be good. If we do anything better than that, that will be an added bonus for Davis Motorsports. We don’t buy many sets of tires because we don’t really have the money but my father and the guys in the pits will do what they can for me. I’m real excited to be in this race at Charlotte. This is my second trip to Charlotte. Last year I missed the race by four thousandths and this year I barely got in. It’s pretty exciting for me.”