BRAD COLEMAN, No. 18 CARINO’S ITALIAN GRILL CHEVROLET: “It wasn’t bad at all [laughs]. The Carino’s Italian Grill Chevrolet was really good. This team has been on the pole at superspeedways for the last two and a half or three years. Hopefully we can keep the streak going and get another banner up for the shop.” HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “Watching it on TV I thought it didn’t mean a lot but you’ve got to be really smooth here. I thought that was my smoothest lap I’ve done all weekend. I put the wheel in place and I held it there all the way around the corner. I kept it straight on the straightaway and it didn’t wonder. We did good.” HOW WAS THE CAR IN THE DRAFT WITH THE SMALLER PLATE? “It’s pretty intense. The car is really good in the draft. It sucked up nice. We should do pretty good in the race. Hopefully we can qualify first and just stay there the whole time.” DID YOU GET HELP IN THE DRAFT? “Some people gave me bumps. I don’t know if it was to help me or intimidate me or what, but I got bumped from Montoya and Reutimann. Hopefully that will help me tomorrow but I doubt it [laughs].” WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD DAY FOR YOU IN THE RACE? “First to finish and not get in the big wreck and second to get a top-10. I think this car can get a top-10, even a win. That’d be good. I want to finish with all the fenders on it.”

JASON RATCLIFF, CREW CHIEF, No. 18 CARINO’S ITALIAN GRILL CHEVROLET: “I think the most impressive thing is that this is not the car that sat on the other four poles. It’s not a new car but it’s a new body and all the guys in the fab shop worked hard and it showed a little better drag number than the other car did and that’s the reason we brought it here. So yeah, to work hard and have a completely different car and come out there and run that kind of lap is awesome. Brad did a good job and I’m happy with that.” WHY IS THIS TEAM SO GOOD AT DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA? “A lot of it is just the work done back at the shop. Our fab shop is awesome and the engine department is second to none and that’s what you’ve got to have to run here. You’ve got to have a lot of smoke under the hood and a good body and we have a lot of that. We don’t do it here at the track. It’s all done back at the shop.” WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD DAY FOR YOU IN THE RACE? “I think it’s Brad’s first plate race in the Busch Series. Our last two runs with him we’ve been right at top-15s so if we could get a top-15 tomorrow would be great. I think the car was really good right off the truck. Once he settles in and gets his rhythm going, you never know. We might get us a top-10 out of it.”

BRAD COLEMAN PRESS CONFERENCE: “First off I’ve got to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because without him I wouldn’t be able to do this. I wouldn’t be able to drive at Talladega and put down that lap. And without my team I wouldn’t be able to do it either. Joe Gibbs Racing is such a great organization and they just do such a great job back at the shop and at the track. I have an awesome sponsor, too. Carino’s Italian Grill with all their good food that gives me energy. Great day for us.” WHEN DID YOU RUN AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK IN THE AUBURN CAR? “That was two years ago. Man, it’s going by fast. That was awesome. We raced at Barber Motorsports Park in the Auburn University Daytona Prototype, me and my teammate Colin Brown and Team 16. It was just a great experience.” HOW GOOD IS YOUR CAR? “This is actually a brand new car that they built. They didn’t know how it’d be here but obviously it’s fantastic. The team knows what they’re doing. This is a great car. It sucked up well in the draft. We didn’t get to draft when the changed the restrictor plate but we’ll see what it’s like tomorrow. We’ll have plenty of time to gain some experience in restrictor plate races and gain as much respect as I can.” THIS HAS BEEN QUITE A WEEK OF EMOTIONS FOR YOU. “First off, my grandfather passed away and it’s been really tough. It’s been tough on my whole family, on my Dad. I dedicate this pole to him. I definitely had a guardian angel out there with me today. He was with me helping push that car from behind. What can I say?” HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL WORK WITH YOU TOMORROW? “I hope they do work with me. Being a Raybestos Rookie on the pole I don’t know if the whole field is going to go training by me or if the bottom line is going to get going. I’m just going to stick on that bottom and see what happens. But in practice, surprisingly a lot of people worked with me and I hope that carries over to the race.”

ROBERT RICHARDSON, No. 28 CHECKERS/RALLY’S CHEVROLET: “It’s a little slower than what we ran the other day but it’s also warmer than what it was yesterday. We’ve got a great handling car and I’m happy to be here. I ran the truck race here last year and got Raybestos Rookie of the Race in that race. Coming back here just makes me that more anxious to get back in the car and come out here and race.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 6 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD: “It was pretty good. We thought we could run like a .20 and we run a .25. It’d be cool to be up there on the pole but we’re up there in the top-10 or 15, top-10 hopefully and I think we’ll be all right. It drafts really good. We couldn’t tell much with the smaller plate. It just didn’t quite have the get up and go but these Busch cars punch a little bigger hole in the air with the wicker bill on top. They draft a little better than the Cup car but our Discount Tire car is pretty sporty. I wish it could have a little more speed but we’ve got what we’ve got and try to make the best of it tomorrow.”

JUSTIN DIERCKS, No. 70 FORETRAVEL MOTORCOACH CHEVROLET: “I’m actually happy with that because in Daytona we screwed up. We kind of overtaped the front end and we didn’t back up what we ran in practice. Today we ran what we thought we could run. I’m extremely with the guys. The car is handling good in qualifying trim and in the draft. The big thing now is to stay out of trouble and hopefully come home the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, No. 42 TEXACO/HAVOLINE DODGE: “You could have done the same lap time as me in that car. Here qualifying, hell, anybody can do it. It’s pretty straightforward. For some reason it just didn’t run as fast as expected. Hopefully it’ll be good tomorrow but that’s what we had today.” IS QUALIFYING HERE FRUSTRATING FOR A DRIVER? “It’s qualifying. What counts is the race. Points are given after the race. We’ll be fine.”

KYLE KRISILOFF, No. 14 CLABBER GIRL FORD: “It was all right. We were hoping for a little bit better. We think we might have had a little bit more wind than some other guys. It didn’t really matter. If it’s not the pole, I mean, who cares, right? I think we’ll have a good car tomorrow. We drafted well yesterday. I got to the front a couple of times and I seemed to be able to stay there. Our car is not a brick. It’s raceable and it goes through the air pretty good and I think some people saw that yesterday and hopefully we’ll have some guys work with us. I worked really well with some Fords and Casey Mears; I worked with him a lot. I think we’ll be all right tomorrow. Just have to miss that wreck and hopefully be there at the end. I think we can get a top-10.”