Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

LARRY FOYT, NO. 14 HARRAH'S DODGE:

"We've been fighting the handle all day, hit the racetrack real hard down in the corner. It got me screwed up. It's not as good as I thought we'd run but that's all we got." YOU PRACTICED IN THE AFTERNOON AND QUALIFIED AT NIGHT. DOES THAT MAKE QUALIFYING EVEN MORE CHALLENGING? "I don't think so. The guys here who have notes hear from a lot of years have a little advantage on that maybe if they've done that before. I really don't know. I didn't really know what to expect. The track has a lot of grip right now. We just hit the racetrack too hard."

GREG BIFFLE, NO. 16 GRAINGER FORD:

"I had a flat left rear, I guess. I ran over something. Our car has been terrible since we got here. It probably isn't going to get any better." WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN? "I only ran one lap so I'd have to say that it happened leaving pit road or something. It may have been losing air and could have caused it to be too free. It was a little bit too loose to get anything out of it. That hasn't changed much. We've been like that all day. I don't know what we're fighting, if it's aero-balance or what but we can't get our cars to go." HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO RUN THE BUSCH CAR AND KEEP YOUR CONFIDENCE UP? "It's pretty important. You always know that you can drive. I think that I'm a lot better driver than a lot of guys in this garage area that beat me every week. That's something that I keep my head up about. We get some good racecars someday and we'll be running for a win every week."

CASEY MEARS, NO. 41 TARGET DODGE:

Note: Casey Mears was the top Raybestos Rookie qualifier at Atlanta.

"It's better than we ran in practice. I really felt like we were a little bit too tight. If I could have just got through one and two a little bit better my first lap I think we probably would have been around 28.90 or maybe even an .80. We just didn't hit it just right. It was a big pickup from where we were in practice and I'm real happy with that. I think it's going to put us solidly in the field anyway so I'm happy with that but I think we could have been a little better." YOU PICKED UP ON THE SECOND LAP. "We picked up just a little bit. I just rolled it in a little bit easier into one and two just because the front end blew out on me. Three and four, it was awesome. I mean I barely lifted at all going into three and four. In one and two it bottomed out just a little bit and I lost the front end. We didn't hit it just right but it was good qualifying." HOW HARD IS IT TO BE PATIENT THROUGH THE GROWING PROCESS? "It's tough for me, because I want to win races. I'm not real happy with being mediocre and that's what we've been this year. I guess that's what is making us better. The team is not happy with that and I'm not happy with it. We've got to keep getting better and we want to win races. We all do. We'll keep working hard at it and we'll get it someday."

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 42 HAVOLINE DODGE:

"It bottomed out real bad and we were kind of worried about that. In practice we had that problem and as long as we didn't bottom out in practice we were okay. The track got a lot faster. You get in there and the car just travels more. I don't even know what hit because they said it didn't spark but it hit pretty hard, just made me tight. Not a bad lap. If it sparks it means it's hitting like steel. If it's not sparks, I'd say it's like bell housing aluminum or something." HOW HARD IS IT TO ADJUST THE CAR FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING? 'I don't think it's that big of a deal. Our car was just balanced well, it just bottomed out. In three and four it didn't bottom out and it was balanced really well. I guess I should have listened to the shock guy a little bit more (laughs). I just bottomed out, nothing you can do." DO YOU THINK YOU WILL RACE WELL? "That's the same car that we've raced a lot. It doesn't usually qualify very well. It was going to be good here. It seems like when you untape it the car handles as well as it does with tape, which is rare. It will race well." YOU WON THE BUSCH RACE HERE LAST YEAR SO YOU MUST BE PUMPED UP FOR THE RACE. "I'm pumped up just because of our season. We've run well every weekend and there's no reason why we shouldn't put ourselves in contention to win at this place."

JIMMY ELLEDGE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 41 TARGET DODGE:

"We had a real good qualifying effort. We kind of chased the thing a little bit in practice and kind of stumbled on to some stuff on our last run. We felt like we'd be okay and then the first time here qualifying here at night and not really sure what the balance was going to be, if it would go one way or the other. We made all the right decisions and Casey did an outstanding job once again. I'm real excited and proud of everybody." HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO YOUR TEAM TO HAVE SOMETHING POSITIVE HAPPEN? "Qualifying has been one of our strong suits. Casey does a good job with qualifying. It seems like things are starting to get to where instead of picking up and being 20th now we're starting to get to where we're getting a little more consistent and it does set the tone. It gets you good pit selection and obviously there is speed in your racecar then if you are qualifying that well. It kind of gets everything going in a little more positive direction. That's been one of our more stronger suits we've felt like all year. We've not really worried a lot about qualifying because we always did okay. I think we get him figured out a little bit more I think we'll be one of the consistent cars to beat up front." ARE YOU GUYS PAST THE GROWING PAINS? "No, not by no means. You've got to realize that this is the truest rookie in the field this year. He has zero races compared to these other guys that he's racing against. We're going through some growing pains. If you look at where he's at in his racing career in Winston Cup versus his total amount of race, the kid is going to be really, really good. I think we've come a long ways this year and I think we still have a ways to go. The main thing is to stay together and keep after it and we'll get there." IS THIS WHOLE PROCESS ON SCHEDULE? "It's hard to say because we really didn't have any idea what to expect. You got out there and do what you can. I think as far as qualifying goes, Fridays we're ahead of where you expect. Racing, I don't think we're where we need to be yet. I think we're getting there. There was a point in the year where we were doing progress, progress, progress and then we went to a point where we stalled out. Now I think the progress is starting to pick back up again and I think we are starting to see a little more results from it. I'm really looking forward to just going into next year and getting through the year and sitting down and being able to establish goals and then figure out 'Are you where you need to be?' We'll have a better idea of that next year." IS IT FAIR TO SAY THAT ALL YOU NEED IS TIME? "He needs time driving the racecars but we've always got to get better. You've got to build better cars and build better shocks and have better setups and all that. It's going to be a time thing. It's not going to be a slow process but what happens with guys like him is one day the light switch flips. All of a sudden it's like 'Man, where did he come from? He's running in the top-10, top-15. It'll happen, it's just a matter of when and I think we're on the verge of having it. Glover and I talked about it last week. The switch is not off anymore but it's not on. I think it's right in the middle. I'm just looking forward to getting more races in, getting through the year, and sit back, regroup, and get ready for next year."

TONY RAINES, NO. 74 BACE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET:

"It's not good enough but it's the fastest lap of our day. That's three tenths quicker than we ran in practice. This is a brand new car, brand new body. It's been a little bit of a struggle to get the car to drive right. As much gas as I have on the floor, it ought to be running faster and I'm kind of frustrated at why we're not running better lap times. Larry (Carter, crew chief) and the crew made a few changes and the car drove better. It's not out of control, it just doesn't bust the stopwatch fast." DOES THAT MEAN IT'S AN AERO PROBLEM? "I think it's a little bit, because like I said it's a brand new body and we haven't had it in the wind tunnel yet. The front end is just not sticking through the center. When I'm in the gas, I've got to let off to get it to turn and when you let off here you slow down. It was a lot better there but I still needed a little bit more. A little bit of a change here is worth a couple tenths. It doesn't take much." DID THE CAR BOTTOM OUT MUCH? "The second lap it drug a little bit but it didn't really hurt me or affect me. It just made it look a lot more exciting." HOW ARE THINGS SHAPING UP FOR NEXT YEAR? "It would look a lot better if we had some paint on this car. I think that's our biggest hurdle. This is a good race team and to make it better it just needs a little fortifying. A little financial assistance would go a long ways because we have the foundation here. For the first year and a rookie driver and a rookie team, I think we've done better than what most people expected us to but at the same time we've under performed knowing what we could do and what we are capable of. Some days have been good and some days not so good but more good days than bad." ON THE GOOD DAYS, IS THERE FRUSTRATION THAT THE QUARTER PANELS ARE BARE? "There is some frustration because this is obviously a good race team that could do a sponsor a good job. It does make it a little more fun racing when you're trying to do somebody a job, when you are trying to promote their product or entertain their guests. It does make it a little more special. There are days when you are frustrated when you are in a white car but when you are in a white car and you are passing some really big sponsors that is a good day, too, because then you feel like 'Well, if we had what they had then we would really be whipping up on 'em.' Racing is very, very difficult. It changes a lot in a couple of months. You can be on the top and on the bottom next, but with that aside, with a little bit of sponsorship on this car we could raise our level of competition, our repeatable level, and that's what you need to do to get better in the long run in Winston Cup." WITH A COUPLE HIGH PROFILE RIDES AVAILABLE, HAVE ANY OWNERS BEEN TALKING TO YOU? HAVE YOU TALKED TO RICHARD CHILDRESS? "I've heard that I've been talking to him. I don't know how to answer that, you know, because I really enjoy what I'm doing. That would be an honor if someone thinks I'm capable of driving one of those cars. I don't know that any team in here is better than the other, talent-wise, but obviously, multicar teams have a little bit of an edge over single car teams. I hope that I'm racing well next year and if it's not in the 74 car it will be in another car that's hopefully good also. Is that enough of a circle for you?" HAS YOUR OWNER DISCUSSED FORMING AN ALLIANCE WITH OTHER TEAMS? "He has talked with Rick Hendrick and we're running their motors right now. We get a little bit of fallout from them, information wise, but not as much as one of the teams fully backed by Hendrick. A lot of people are trying to help us without their program. Like I said, we get a little bit of money and hire a few more people and build a few more cars, I don't think there is any limit to the potential of this operation." HOW BIG OF A FACTOR IS HAVING FUN? EVERYONE ON THE 74 TEAM SEEMS TO ENJOY WHERE THEY WORK. "Part of that is because we don't have a sponsor and we're not supposed to be doing this so when we do well we feel pretty good. Now that might change if we get a sponsor on the car next year and when we qualifying bad and then the sponsor is over there with a really big frown. It might make it doubly bad. That might be a nice problem to have compared to what we've been doing all year."

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