O'Reilly Challenge - Rookie Friday Practice Quotes

Raybestos Rookie Reed Sorenson posted the second best speed during the final practice session for the O’Reilly Challenge. He was the only Raybestos Rookie among the top-10 in the practice session.

REED SORENSON, No. 41 DISCOUNT TIRE COMPANY DODGE: “Hopefully we can do that a little later on tonight. We were a little loose at the beginning of practice. We were pretty good in qualifying trim and then we were a little tight there at the end. We’ve got to get in somewhere in between there and we should be good.” IT MUST BE GOOD TO BE BACK WORKING WITH BRIAN PATTIE. “I think he’s happy to be back. He’s the one that’s been off for seven weeks so he’s pretty happy to get back here and get to the track. He wants to come back big. He wants to win and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

KERTUS DAVIS, No. 12 HOT TAMALES DODGE: “I’m happy, without a doubt, ever since we got the opportunity from Armando and Bradshaw and Dodge. It’s a total team effort. I’m really excited about the opportunity that they gave me. It’s a one-race deal but who knows, it could lead to more. I’ll be in the car this week at Texas and Kauffman is going to be back in it the last two races. The main thing is that I want to be smart about the whole deal. We brought the car back in one piece after practice and we’ll keep working on it to get more speed out of it. The times are tight. Another two tenths and I’ll be up there around 20th so we’re right where we need to be. I just want to be smart about it and bring the car home in one piece and finish on the lead lap and see where we wind up.” HOW DID THIS DEAL COME ABOUT? “Joel Kauffman was going to drive for them and he’s going to be their full-time driver next year. But to keep your Raybestos Rookie status, you can only run seven events and he’s already run five. He’s only got two more left, so they want to run him at Phoenix and Homestead so that made the seat open. I think Tracy Hines was going to drive for Armando, but he decided to drive for Glynn Motorsports so that opened up the seat. They were talking to a couple different drivers and my name got mentioned by Dodge and the next thing that you know Armando called me up and wanted to see what kind of person I was. He showed me around the shop and the next day called me back and said ‘You’ve got the job. You’re hired. Bring your seat on up and get it in the car and let’s go to Texas and see what we can do.’” WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD DAY FOR KERTUS DAVIS IN THE RACE? “To finish on the lead lap and finish in the top-20. That would be good. This is a good race team. All three teams are working well together. They’re over here trying to help me and we’re trying to help them. We’re working like a three-car operation should be and when you’ve got those kind of people behind you it just builds your confidence to another level.” WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR? “I’ve got some real good possibilities for next year. I guess that’s another added pressure on me for this weekend being in Armando’s car is not to tear it up enough because a lot of these Raybestos Rookies have torn up a lot of equipment this year. I’ve torn up some myself, I’m not going to lie. The main thing is to run hard and run all day long and finish and I think that’s what a lot of car owners are looking at now. These young kids, they’ve got what it takes, talent-wise, but a lot o them can’t finish and I think a lot of them are looking for results. We figured it up at my shop the other day that if you could have finished 17th or better every single race, you’d be leading the NASCAR Busch Series points right now. We did the math at the shop. Seventeenth or better and not fall out of any races and you’d be leading the Busch Series points right now. A lot of them are looking at finishing the races and keeping the car in one piece and being there at the end and obviously that’s what the 8 car has been doing all year. When they have bad days, the don’t push the issue and do anything stupid and at the end of the race he’s usually right where he needs to be.” WHAT IS THE STATUS OF DAVIS MOTORSPORTS? “Eric McClure is driving this weekend. It’s his car and our number and it’s still under the Davis Motorsports banner. We’ve got some of our guys over there and his guys also and they’re kind of working together. We’re going to go to the last two races, Phoenix and Homestead, and make a stab at it and try to finish out the year.”

BRIAN PATTIE, CREW CHIEF, No. 41 DISCOUNT TIRE COMPANY DODGE: “I was at Atlanta last week for the Cup race but this is the first Busch race.” REED SAID EARLIER THAT YOU WANT TO COME BACK “BIG.” “That’s how I’ve grown up. That’s how I was when we left. We were getting on a hot streak there the end of July, first of August. We had a couple blown motors but were running really good at Bristol and all the stuff went down. I just want to prove to everybody that what we did wasn’t illegal in racer’s terms but it was illegal, obviously, to NASCAR’s eyes.” DID YOU SCUFF ANY TIRES IN PRACTICE? “The same as what we did in the spring. The practice went just like it did in the spring. We started in race trim and thought we were really good in race trim considering the amount of rubber on the track I think we were where we needed to be. And then we did some qualifying runs just to make sure that we qualify up front because it’s hard to pass here.” DID YOU SEE ANY EXCESSIVE TIRE WEAR? “No, everything looks great. This car is a sister to the one we had here in the spring, the car that he wrecked at Charlotte. Off the truck it ran good. We put all the same stuff in it and he seemed pretty happy with it.” DID THE WRECK AT CHARLOTTE PUT YOUR TEAM BEHIND HERE AT TEXAS? “I wouldn’t say put us behind. That was his favorite car. All of them are mine. It doesn’t matter. This car has never finished outside the top-five so it’s not like it’s a bad car, by no means. I don’t think we have a bad car in the fleet, really.” WOULD IT BE EXTRA SPECIAL TO HAVE SUCCESS THIS WEEKEND? “Coming in, it’s kind of like Nashville the week after Atlanta where we missed the show and come back and sat on the pole and won the race. Week to week, we don’t change the way we approach things. We prepare the cars the same way at the shop and bring them to the track and prep them the same way here. It’s team morale, driver, confidence and right now practice went well and we’ll see how well qualifying does.”

TIM SHUTT, CREW CHIEF, No. 10 HICKORY FARMS FORD: HOW HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH A RAYBESTOS ROOKIE DRIVER THIS SEASON? “It’s a challenge because with a veteran driver you expect certain things and you get certain things and it’s hard to remember that you’re dealing with a Raybestos Rookie. With a veteran you go out and you expect him to run the same line every lap, no matter what and give you great feedback every time, no matter what. With a rookie, for some reason, you still expect those same things yet the experience level isn’t there so why should you expect it. It’s a challenge. You definitely have to get inside the driver’s head I think a lot more with a Raybestos Rookie than you do with somebody who is experienced.” HAVE YOU FOUND WHAT YOU THINK IS GOING TO BE A LONG-TERM SITUATION HERE WITH THIS TEAM? “I doubt it. I haven’t talked about anything about next year. To be honest with you, I used to think I’d be here for two, three, four or five years, maybe even retire here, but unfortunately I haven’t felt that kind of security in a long time. It’s just the way the sport is. You’d like to and if owners in my mind were smart, they would try to promote longevity, but it doesn’t happen, for whatever reason. I think it’s the nature of the business but when you look at the teams that have long-term success, they have a long-term history with their employees. But at the Busch level, when you’ve got people ‘climbing’ to the top, you’re going to have more disparity as far as that goes and people and the longevity of their jobs go. Who knows what’s going to happen for next year, though?” IS YOUR PERSONAL GOAL TO GET TO THE NEXTEL CUP SERIES? “Not necessarily. I’ve been there. It’s a little different over there but the bottom line is no matter what you’re racing, trucks, Busch, Cup, you’ve got to be with a good team if you’re going to enjoy yourself. You get a good team with a good bunch of guys and you can have fun racing and be successful at it, too. But it doesn’t matter what level it is, if you don’t have a good team, it’s going to be miserable. You just run too many races and you’re gone too much and if you’re not with a good bunch of guys, it makes it really tough.”