Race 2 Win: O'Reilly Challenge - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

NASCAR Busch Series

O'Reilly Challenge - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookies qualified at Texas:
Leicht 3rd
Andretti 11th
Kluever 26th
O’Quinn Jr. 39th

TODD KLUEVER, No. 06 MSC/3M FORD: “I think we’re better than that. I just got greedy and I was going to hold it wide-open there on the second lap. I got in and the car wouldn’t take the wide-open so I had to get out of the throttle and then I was too loose through the center. I would have been better off if I’d have just drove it how we did in practice. But that’s all right. We’ve got a pretty good car and I’m pretty excited about it. Same car we had at Charlotte a couple of weeks ago and ran good with. We’ve just got to get a little luck on our side and get the finish we deserve with it one of these times.” HOW MUCH HAS THE TRACK CHANGED TODAY? “I think it’s probably faster. I think a lot of these guys are going to go faster tonight. We race in the day so I guess it’s cool that we can qualify at night. That will put us somewhere more respectable than the starting spots that we’ve had lately. The problem is lately we’ve had really good cars and just haven’t been able to qualify at all with them. That will put us better than 35th so I’m excited about that [smiles].”

JOHN ANDRETTI, No. 10 GLOBOL DEHUMIDIFICATION SOLUTIONS FORD: “We’re real happy with it. They told me not to lift so I didn’t lift. They’ve got to rebuild it [smiles]. I’ve run wide-open around here in a Cup car and when obviously the cars weren’t as good. I’m really happy. That’s the first time that I’ve qualified that I’ve been loose or free. That’s where I needed to be in 3 and 4. I like to be a little optimistic about tomorrow and think that we’re going to race pretty good because we didn’t do a qualifying run. I think the guys have done a great job. It’s just frustrating to get to this point. Who knows what it’s going to run like tomorrow and who knows what adjustments we need to make?”

DANNY O’QUINN JR., No. 50 WORLD FINANCIAL GROUP FORD: “Definitely not the lap that I wanted but the car is a whole lot better than it was in practice. It was going to be a good lap. I messed up in the center of 1 and 2 there. It got out from under me and I had to roll out of the throttle. It was pretty much wide-open the rest of the way so it definitely hurt us. But we’ll be fine. I think the car will race good.” QUALIFYING WAS HELD AT NIGHT BUT THE RACE WILL BE IN THE DAYTIME. “It makes a difference. You’ve got more grip overall tonight so if you’re tight you’re still going to be tight. If you’re loose you’re still going to be loose. You’re just going to be doing it while you’re going faster, I think. I think we’ll be fine, though, from the way the car drove right there.”

STEPHEN LEICHT IN THE No. 90 CITIFINANCIAL FORD WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT TEXAS.

Leicht will start third in Saturday’s race. He was the only Raybestos Rookie to qualify inside the top-10.

This is Leicht’s best start in 20 Busch Series races. His previous best starting position was fourth at the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (race No. 18).

This is Leicht’s second top-five start of the 2006 and third in the top-10.

DID YOU KNOW? A Raybestos Rookie has now qualified in the top-five for both fall races at Texas. Jon Wood claimed the fourth-place starting spot in the 2005 race.

LEICHT: “The team did a great job. Since we unloaded the car it’s been fast and we’re really happy with our race trim stuff. We ran a decent lap in practice when we mocked-up and we didn’t know really what it had. The first lap I burped it in 1 and 2 and I was like ‘Man, I could have held it wide-open. The second lap I held it wide-open and ended up running a pretty decent lap. The citifinancial team has been working hard these last few weeks toward the end of the year trying to get our program ready for next year and I couldn’t be happier. The car is awesome.” IS THE TEAM GETTING BETTER AND BETTER EACH WEEK? “Every week that we’ve brought our cars to the track it’s been even better. Every time we unload the car it’s better right away. We change not near as much as we have been in the past. I tell you what, if we keep piling up these top-15s, top-10s, hopefully we can get a top-five before the end of the year, we’ll be ready for next year.” IS THE GOAL TO RUN IN THE TOP-10 SATURDAY AFTERNOON? “I think this is a top-five car. We were more happy with our car in race trim than qualifying trim so to run that good of a lap, that’s just a bonus. Our car during the day was pretty good and we were going out on old tires and it felt good. We’re ready.” DOES QUALIFYING AT NIGHT THROW YOU OFF WHEN YOU RACE IN THE DAYLIGHT? “No, no because we practiced all day today in the heat with the sun out so it’s not going to be a problem. Hopefully it won’t rain [smiles].” HOW MUCH IS YOUR EXPERIENCE A FACTOR HERE IN THE RACE? “I’ve raced here in the spring, obviously, but I still have a lot to learn. I don’t know these tracks left and right. It’s good to come back to a track that you’ve been to before. Obviously, it’s going to help. I’ll still be learning throughout the race but I think they’ve given me a good enough car that I can at least stay in the front.”