Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 - Ford Qualifying Quotes

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 Rubbermaid Taurus - "We started behind the eight-ball today with a distributor problem. We weren't quite hitting on all eight cylinders, but on that run there we hit on all eight. We've got new car. These new downforce rules are applying weight differently to all four corners, so we're doing the best we can with it. The 18 has got it figured out and the 12 has always gotten it figured out. We're third right now and we should be in the top 10 with the Rubbermaid Ford." THIS TRACK IS FAST FOR QUALIFYING. "There are elements about this track that you never feel secure with, but once you run more often and you've got a comfortable crew chief that gives you valuable information, you're able to build a rapport with the track. This track will challenge you just because you need so much throttle-on time here to be fast. You'll see a wide range from first to last in time, whereas at Vegas you won't because there's so much that can happen here with momentum." DID THAT MAKE YOUR HEART SKIP A BEAT? "It will challenge that, for sure. It will make you take a deep breath and you've got to make sure you focus. You don't want to slip and you want to look really far ahead of you because you get there pretty quick."

DAVE BLANEY - No. 77 Jasper Engines Taurus - "We were horrible. We were really good this morning in practice, but we didn't know what was gonna happen with the conditions changing a bunch. The sun came out and warmed things up. We were so loose I couldn't even run the throttle at all, so I'm pretty disappointed in that. That's all we've got."

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 Pedigree Taurus - YOU'VE GOT A DOG ON THE CAR THIS WEEK. "I hope we scared it with as fast as we ran. I'm very happy with these guys. This is a brand new race car. We came and tested here a couple of weeks ago and did a bunch of race runs. We didn't do anything with qualifying, but this Pedigree Ford Taurus is fast and I'm looking forward to Sunday. We've had a lot of good race cars the last few weeks, we just have not had the good luck to go with it. Hopefully, we'll have an uneventful day on Sunday and see if we can get this thing in Victory Lane." DOES IT TAKE GUTS TO QUALIFY AND RACE HERE? "The track doesn't change for the race. I mean, it's still a very fast race track and you have to move around a little bit to find the different areas on the track that you think might make your car work better. It's a scary track to race the whole time, but it's fun, it's fast and that's why I like it here. The one good thing about Atlanta is that if your car isn't working good on the bottom, all you've got to do is when you stop you can adjust your car a lot as a driver. At a lot of tracks we go to you can't do that, but that's why I enjoy coming here to Atlanta."

RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Motorcraft Taurus - "We really didn't know what we had when we went to qualify. We were only like three or four cars from the bottom of the speed chart, so we needed a lot of help. I tried to give Pat the feedback and he made a big change. I wasn't sure if it was the right way or not, but I knew when I drove into turn three coming to take the green that he went the right way because the car was a lot quicker. We had problems that were a lot bigger than the clouds and the sun. They took a stab at it and they hit it pretty close. We obviously could have been better. I told them we needed one more of those changes again and we would be right."

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus - "That wasn't bad. We weren't real good in practice. That's about the time we ran in practice, but everybody has slowed down a little bit. We didn't lose anything there, but we made a lot of adjustments. We made one at the end that we probably should have left alone, but we heard a lot of people being loose, so we took the track bar down a little and should have left it there. I was a little tight in one and two. That's where I felt I lost a little speed, but in three and four it was great. I don't know if you ever get both ends perfect, but that wasn't bad. That will get us a decent starting spot."

BRETT BODINE - No. 11 Hooters Taurus - "I'm disappointed. I felt like we should have run better than that, but we got a tight set of tires that just seemed to make the car awfully tight in qualifying. That's as fast as it would run, but I think we'll have a good race car. I'm real proud of the guys for rebounding after Daytona. This is a tough group you're trying to race against. This whole garage area is full of great people and great race cars and we're just proud to be part of it." IS TODAY A BENEFIT OF TAKING A COUPLE WEEKS OFF AND MAKING SURE THE CAR WAS RIGHT? "It's our plan. We're nowhere near completing our plan and that's why we're not gonna race Darlington next week. We're gonna try to be better prepared for Bristol and Texas and Talladega. We're just a small race team trying to do the best we can against these Goliath's and, hopefully, we can show that we can do something on Sunday."

ELLIOTT SADLER PRESS CONFERENCE - "It was a great run for us. We came in here and tested a couple of weeks ago and learned a lot about the car in race trim, but never really did any qualifying stuff. We went off a lot of the 88's notes from last fall. The guys built me a brand new race car, it's got a good body on it and we've got a new paint scheme with Pedigree this week so we want to do well for those guys. Things seemed to work out good. To start third here for us is great. We're still young working with each other, still learning a lot about each other and I'm really happy with these guys to bounce back from such a disappointing finish last week at Vegas with some engine problems. To come back and to qualify third today is good. This kind of gets some momentum back in our step and we'll see if we can have a good day on Sunday." HOW GOOD WAS THE TEST? "It was a really good test. We brought two great race cars with us and learned a lot about the cars in race trim, so I'm actually looking forward to Sunday. I never expected we would really qualify this good here because all we did was race runs, so I think we're gonna have something for everybody. We just need an uneventful day on Sunday. We've had bad luck at every race. We've been running good, it's just that things haven't been going our way. So if we have an uneventful race, we'll do good on Sunday." WHAT IS THE SENSATION OF SPEED LIKE HERE? "It's a lot here. We pull a lot of g's here and when you go down into turn one, you seem like you're going from a five-story building all the way down to the ground floor. It seems like the elevation changes that much at 200 miles an hour, so you're really holding on and you just kind of hold your breath for one lap. When I came across the start-finish line on the white-flag lap, I saw my number pop up second and I was thinking, 'That's not the pole, but that's good enough for me right this second.' So I went ahead and shut it down. One lap here is enough for me." WILL THIS BE THE FIRST PLACE TO SEE WHO HAS WHAT WITH UNRESTRICTED ENGINES? "I think Rockingham showed us. It's amazing what you can do with that type of horsepower. Even if your car is not right, if you get it close you're gonna have a pretty good day. I learned a lot about that at Rockingham and again at Vegas and, hopefully, again this weekend. It's a lot different than what I was used to having and I'm still learning how to drive it. Hopefully, I'll get better with that each and every week." WHY ARE THE RACES SO GOOD HERE EVEN THOUGH YOU GO REALLY FAST? "I think because Atlanta offers so many grooves. If your car is not working exactly right on the bottom, this is one of the tracks you can move up against the wall or get in the middle groove and just move around. Each driver has more control of their finish here because if your car is not quite right, you can move around and find a spot. At most tracks, you might have to just run on the bottom or run up high, whatever the track is built for, but, for some reason, Atlanta has been great to us - kind of like Charlotte. You start moving around a lot and find where your car works the best. Man, we've had some great finishes here. Some of the closest races in NASCAR Winston Cup history have come on this fast mile and a half." IS THAT BECAUSE THE ASPHALT IS STILL KIND OF NEW? "I don't think so. I think the more it wears out, the better it's gonna get. Most places, like Texas this year, is gonna be a lot better race than last year as far as moving up because the asphalt wears out and you have to move up. That's why at Rockingham everybody moves up. The asphalt wears out, you lose grip, the cars slide more, so you just need more race track for the cars to slide around on. So I think the older this track gets, the better it's gonna get for racing. I know it's probably hard to imagine, but I think that's what I see coming." CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE 38 AND 88 WORKING SO WELL TOGETHER? "I've said this a few times this year, this is not the same team at all I signed with six months ago. Since they moved us in the same shop and since DJ and I are the exact same size, we're one team with two drivers. We have the exact same seat, steering wheels, mirrors, shifters - everything is in both cars. I mean, if you looked inside the cars, you couldn't tell whose was whose and I think that's helped us a lot. We've also learned that we like each other's car about the same, so we can go to Rockingham and test and share notes and we're gonna be pretty close. Hopefully, that same thing is gonna happen with us this weekend again. I tested all the race stuff for both teams down here so, hopefully, both of us will be good in race trim. No, I didn't see us working together that good this early, but for some reason we've hit it off really well. The crew chiefs are hitting it off good together and DJ and I have hit it off perfect so far. It's working out good for us. They helped us a ton at Vegas after happy hour to get our car better and we helped them at Rockingham, so we've been going back and forth. Hopefully, that will continue as the year goes on. It's neat to see two teams working that close together. I'm very proud of them for that." CAN YOU HOLD IT WIDE OPEN? "I was close in three and four, but if somebody can do it - Ryan probably did it in one and two as fast as he ran - but everytime I do it in one and two I push, I slide. I haven't figured it out yet either, if you can do it." HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS TRACK COMPARED TO THE OLD ONE HERE? "I got to run on it one time and I really liked the old track better. There was a lot of passing going on. You couldn't get as wound up with the way they put the straightaway in. More handling was involved, more driver, and that's the way we like it."

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 Grainger Taurus - RAYBESTOS ROOKIE PRESS CONFERENCE - "It was a pretty good lap for us. I thought it was gonna be a better lap because I just barely breathed the throttle in three and four. I almost got across there flat. It was a little bit tight coming up off and I thought for sure I was gonna do at least a .20 because I did a .40 the first lap, but that wasn't the case. We're pretty happy with where we qualified. We're in the race and we're second out of the Roush cars, so that's a pretty good starting spot for us." HOW MUCH PRESSURE DID YOU FEEL? "Not really a lot because we've run good here before and had a lot better car here. Our Vegas car was just not as fast as it needed to be. It wasn't any good in the wind tunnel and it wasn't any good on the race track. We're paying the price for being behind, but we're starting to get caught up right now." YOU WERE CLOSE TO GETTING IN LAST WEEK. "Yeah, there were so many things involved with why we didn't make it. For one, I didn't know if I didn't qualify in the top 36 that I wouldn't have got in because the numbers changed over with the points that other teams brought to that number. So I never imagined that I'd go home. The first lap I did a 32-flat and I thought, 'Dang, I need to go a lot faster than that,' and I kind of overdrove it the second lap and got loose down in one and two. If I knew I needed to do a .90 to get in the show, I was trying for a .60 - not just a .90 to get in the race. That's what I did here today, just try to get something good to get in because we were a lot faster than that. You saw we were a lot faster in practice. I don't know if I could have won the pole, but I might have been in the top 10. But if I spun out, I'd be going to the house again and I couldn't take that chance."

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