Federated Auto Parts 300 - Rookie Practice Quotes

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER PRACTICE DAY QUOTES FOR THE FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 300 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES RACE AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY, JUNE 10, 2005.

Raybestos Rookie Brandon Miller (158.565 mph) was second quick after the first practice session at Nashville, just behind Jason Keller (158.874 mph). In four career Busch Series starts, Miller’s best qualifying effort was 13th in March at Atlanta Motor Speedway. His best career finish came at Kansas Speedway in October 2004 where he placed 16th. Miller started 28th and finished 25th at Nashville in March.

BRANDON MILLER, No. 21 REESE’S CHEVROLET: “We didn’t test here but we made some changes from the last race here and I think the Reese’ car will be good in the race.” HOW MUCH WILL THE TRACK CHANGE FROM THE HEAT OF THE DAY TO NIGHT? “I don’t know because I haven’t raced at night here. I’m thinking that it will change quite a bit so we’re going to make some changes in this practice session. It’s a good thing this session runs later in the day. Hopefully it will give us some kind of an idea of what to expect Saturday night.” IS THE KEY TO KEEP THE CAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE TRACK? “You’ve got to stay on the bottom. That’s the quick way around this place. I think we’ve got the car to do it in the race. We’ll have to see what happens.” IS IT TRICKY COMING OFF THE CORNERS HERE? “It narrows up pretty good off of 4 down there but it’s nothing to worry about too much. We’ll have to wait and see.” WHAT WOULD A GOOD RUN HERE DO FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE? “That’s the biggest thing, so much of this whole deal is mental. A good solid top 10 finish would be great, for me and the whole team and for the points, as well.” WHEN WERE YOU LAST IN THE CAR? “My last race was Texas, which was probably a month and a half ago. But we did some testing at Kentucky and that’s the next race coming up. I haven’t been totally out of the car; at least I’ve been doing some testing. Granted, it’s not the same as racing, but at least I’ve been in it.” HAS SITTING ON THE SIDELINES BEEN DIFFICULT? “It is a little bit but the good thing is that I’ve got Kevin [Harvick] as a teammate so I can learn a ton from him just listening on the radio. I go up and watch on the spotter’s tower and just try to soak up as much as I can.” HAS IT BEEN DIFFICULT BECAUSE HARVICK IS AT POCONO? “Yeah, but luckily I’ve got Clint Bowyer, too. Clint and I actually get along really well. We go to all our tests together, whether he’s testing or I’m testing, so we actually learn quite a bit from each other so it works out well.”

JON WOOD, No. 47 CLOROX/WISK/PIGGLY WIGGLY FORD (5th after first practice session): “We didn’t do any qualifying runs. We were good here in the spring and knew that when we came back if we improved on a few things we’d be even better and we are. There’s two guys that did qualifying runs in practice and I think other than that, we’re right there with them.” HOW DIFFICULT IS THIS RACETRACK? “You have to have a lot of finesse here. This is a unique racetrack, not like most; because the harder you try to drive the slower you’re going to go. It’s not like your Charlottes or Dovers. You kind of have to backup and just cruise along. You think that you’re a half-second off and you’re at the top of the board.” HOW SORE ARE YOU FROM THE WRECK AT DOVER? “I’m fine. It hurt my feelings. It tore the car up pretty good and that’s not fun. We’re already short on cars as it is. I’ve got no lingering affects and I’m good to go.” WHAT HAPPENED AT DOVER? “Typical of what’s been going on early in all these Busch races: everybody is running like it’s three to go. I don’t know who got into the 40 car, but somebody wrecked him and I had nowhere to go and ran into him.”

Raybestos Rookie Ryan Hemphill was eighth after the first practice session at Nashville. He will be making his ninth career Busch Series start here Saturday night. Hemphill’s best qualifying effort is 29th at Bristol and best finish is 17th at Mexico City. He started 39th and finished 31st at Nashville in March. His most recent start came at Texas Motor Speedway in April.

RYAN HEMPHILL, No. 4 PETBRANDS/GEICO DODGE: “I forgot how much fun racing was, to be honest with you. I’m just in awe of the difference how much a car to a driver feels and what I’ve been used to feeling all year to what we just had. Man, it just feels really good. All the guys on this team have been working really hard. Matt Chambers [crew chief] from Ganassi has been really helping a lot. We’ve got a great group of guys here that are really pulling together and have been working hard. We’ve still got great Ernie Elliott motors and I’m just happy to be back in a good car.” WHAT WOULD A GOOD RUN HERE DO FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE? “That would be huge. I know that I can get the job done. It’s just a matter of other people thinking that I can. A good run here would be a big boost for this whole team and for myself, absolutely.” HOW BIG OF AN ADJUSTMENT ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE FROM PRACTICE IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY TO RACING AT NIGHT? “Not much. I’m really happy with the balance of the car. If I remember right last year from the ARCA race, the track was a little bit better at nighttime than it was during the day. I don’t know how much difference the tires make but I’m really happy with the car. We just need real, real fine adjustment right now but I’m hoping once the sun goes down that we should be pretty close.” BECAUSE THIS TRACK HAS SOME AGE ON IT, CAN YOU PASS HERE? “David Green might be better to tell you because he’s ran here a lot more than I have. It seems like the racing groove has really widened up so if your car is a little off you can use more of the track and in essence it’s more room to pass and better racing. I love this track. It’s far and away one of my favorite tracks and it’s a lot of fun racing here. It seems like from my first time here to now it’s a lot easier to pass.” IS TURN 2 A TROUBLE SPOT HERE? “I find it’s easier to get in trouble off 4 for some reason. It seems to me that it’s tighter off turn 4 than it is of 2. Off of 4 it seems like it’s a lot tighter in the middle and once you start to get out you loose more grip and it seems like you really back it down and get back in the racing groove.” WHAT IS YOUR SCHEDULE LIKE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON? “I don’t know what the schedule is. Everybody has been working so hard. Everybody has got the same goal in mind. We need to take one step at a time and come out of here with a good finish.”