Coca-Cola 600 - Ford Qualifying Quotes

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 Rubbermaid Taurus (Qualified 12th) - "Today is only Friday and there's a big-time auto race on Sunday. I think we're geared up for that already. Everything is OK. The Rubbermaid Ford has always been off a little bit in qualifying here, but we know how good Roush cars are on Sunday during the 600."

DAVE BLANEY - No. 77 Jasper Engines Taurus (Qualified 8th) - "It wasn't bad. We went about a half-tenth quicker than we did in practice, but I thought I really butchered the lap in practice. I thought I could get a couple tenths more. I don't know. We'll just see how it shakes out compared to everybody else. I don't think it's real good, but it should be in the top half." WITH 600 MILES ON SUNDAY DOES IT MATTER WHERE YOU START? "Qualifying in the front half of the field will give you a little better pit selection. These daylight to dark deals, if you're really, really bad the first run of the race, you have a real chance of getting a lap down. So the further up you start, the lesser the chance that's gonna happen if you're way off. I don't know. You come out here to run good in qualifying, you don't come out here to qualify in the back."

TODD BODINE - No. 54 National Guard Taurus (Qualified 15th) - "That's better than we were in practice for sure. There's something wrong, but we just can't figure out what. It's the same setup that we had last week that was so good off the truck, but today it isn't even close." THE TRACK IS SO TEMPERAMENTAL. COULD IT BE QUALIFYING DURING THE DAY AS OPPOSED TO NIGHT? "Yeah, that's usually the case but that's not the case here. There's just something wrong."

JEFF BURTON - No. 99 CITGO Taurus (Qualified 35th) - "We ran a lot slower than we ran in practice. There were like three or four cars that went out right with us and the sun came out. It looked like to me that the track just slowed down. The balance on the car wasn't that bad, we just didn't have the grip that we had earlier today. The track is real temperamental for speed and everybody around us went slow - some pretty decent cars all slowed down from what they had run in practice by quite a bit and it was all like three or four in a row. I don't know if the track slowed down some there or what, but the balance in the car wasn't that bad. It just didn't stick as good as it did before." AT LEAST YOU HAVE 600 MILES TO GET TO THE FRONT. "We're gonna need it."

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Qualified 23rd) - YOU WERE SLOW IN PRACTICE, BUT THAT WASN'T TOO BAD. "That's because of the hard work and effort that was put in. Shawn and Jason got together and came up with some great ideas for us and really made the car feel a lot different. We just had to give this car what it was looking for and when we sate down and looked at shock travels and everything, we saw that we needed to go in another direction than where we were with our springs and shocks at that time. So I had a car that I could get around and hustle around a little bit, so, hopefully, it'll be good on Sunday."

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 Grainger Taurus (Qualified 26th) - "We learned a little bit over there on the Busch car and brought a little bit of that info over here. It's a little bit different shock package. I was really struggling with this car. Our car we brought here for The Winston was really good. Even though I spun out qualifying, it was a really good car and a lot faster than this one. But, maybe we'll get something figured out here. Hopefully, this thing will get better. Six hundred miles is a long race, so we'll see what happens."

MARK MARTIN - N0o. 6 Viagra Taurus (Qualified 21st) - "That was awesome. I wish I would have hit it perfectly because there was probably another tenth in it, but that's probably gonna be better than we had hoped for. We started 25th last year and we had a car that could contend to win and I know this car can do it, if we get the right setup under it for Sunday night."

RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Motorcraft Taurus (Qualified 42nd) - "We made an adjustment before qualifying. I think we were 33rd going into qualifying and we were loose qualifying. Maybe we overadjusted a little bit, but I don't think it hurt us tremendously. We were borderline being good enough to get in on speed when we got here. This is a different race car. We all thought it would be a better car than we had last week, but it's not. We're here. We've made our bed and we have to lay in it here and see what happens when we get it in race trim."

KEVIN LEPAGE - No. 71 Fast Boys Wings Taurus (Qualified 27th) - A WEEK AGO YOU WERE STRUGGLING. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST WEEK? "Robert Yates horsepower. We worked hard all week long trying to find a motor, but everytime we turned there was a door closed. I called Doug Yates late on Tuesday afternoon and told him I needed a motor to go to the 600. He just told me to come on down and said they had one for me. I can't say enough for the guys with the CLR team and all the crew we picked up, including a couple of the guys that work full-time for me. Fast Boys Wings, they're the only ones that have stepped up so far to help me out. It's a small amount, but it's a big help to me and a big amount in my pocket. If there's somebody else out there that wants their name on the quarterpanel for the 600, we've got room because, right now, we need to try and find some tire money." CARL LONG A FEW YEARS BACK MADE THE RACE. YOU'RE KIND OF THE CINDERELLA THIS YEAR. "Well, I tell you, it's hard sitting at home watching these guys race in both the Winston Cup and Busch Series and knowing that you're not part of it. I knew that this was close to home. We didn't need hotel rooms. There's not a lot of travel expense. This is my wife and I - this is our deal - we bit the bullet on the motor rental and the cars and everything. This is our ticket. This is all we've got. We needed to make this race and in order for me to continue, we've got to get some sponsorship. I don't care what it is. Any little bit will help me get through the 600 and maybe get back to another race somewhere down the road."

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus (Qualified 2nd) - "We've got plenty of horsepower. This is a great race car. It's the same car I had at Texas and led the most laps with. I think the worst its qualified all year is third, so it's a great car and I'm looking forward to a good 600. We had an awful week last week. Both the 38 and 88 made a lot of changes this week. We had a lot of brainstorming sessions and I hope that will pay off for us come Sunday." CAN YOU WIN ONE ON SUNDAY? "I hope so. It would mean so much to me to get Pedigree and M&M's into Victory Lane. Plus, Robert and Doug Yates for taking a big chance on a young guy. They've given me great equipment and Raymond and I are trying to make it work. We'll see what happens. I'm so proud of my race team each and every week and this is a great race car. I'm looking forward to trying to be up front on Sunday."

ELLIOTT SADLER PRESS CONFERENCE - IS THAT WHERE YOU EXPECTED, SECOND? "We were kind of expecting to be somewhere in the front like that. I qualified second here last year and really wanted to get the pole here this year. The worst this car has qualified is third, so we knew we had a good qualifying setup for this car and knew we had a good package. We had a good motor combination in it and went down the straightaways great. I got through one and two perfect. I could not run that lap again if I had to through one and two, but gave up a little bit in three and four. All in all, it was a great lap. I'm proud of my guys because when we unloaded we were very loose today. I think the ARCA race threw us for a loop and a lot of teams had to make adjustments. We made the right ones. Raymond did a great job and we're gonna start second, so I'm very proud of my guys for that." CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE JOB RAYMOND HAS DONE? "I tell you, I am so impressed with Raymond Fox. He's a first-year crew chief and he and Shawn Parker communicated so well and had such a dialect. Of course, that changed two weeks ago so it's like we're starting over again. We had a pretty awful weekend last weekend at The Winston. We did not run at all to the capabilities we're supposed to, but instead of beating ourselves up and kind of putting our head in the ground, Raymond held meetings all week long to get our communication back and came back with another great call today and gave us a good setup. I am very impressed with this guy. As young as he is - a first year crew chief - and what he knows about a car is pretty good. We've just got to get somebody in there to work with him. Right now he's trying to do both deals. Last weekend and this weekend he's trying to be the car chief and the crew chief and in NASCAR Winston Cup racing these days, that's a lot to ask of a young guy in his first year of doing it. So to come here and qualify second, I think he did a great job." DO YOU KNOW HIS DAD AT ALL? "No, I do not know him as well as everybody else did. I just knew how long he worked for Yates and I knew about his grand dad and what he's meant to this sport. He's definitely got the right name and to be as young as he is and where he's at, and his mentality of racing, I mean he's a competitor. I love pulling in my garage and, if we're not running fast, I see my crew chief throwing the stopwatch. Hey, I love that. He's sharing it with me. He knows how competitive I am too and we're both very, very young, so I'm glad he's on my side. We had a long winter together. We learned a lot about each other. I moved back to Charlotte to spend time with him and get that communication going and I think it's paying off." IS THIS AN OLDER CAR? LAST WEEK YOU HAD A NEW CAR DIDN'T YOU? "Last week was a new car with a new style of body on it and that's why we brought it to The Winston. Yeah, it's running for a million bucks, but, hey, when it gets down to it, we're all trying to points race also and we just missed it. It was embarrassing how we ran in The Winston last week to Raymond and I. We changed everything on that car that we could, but just couldn't get me comfortable enough in the race track. It had something to do with the new tire that Goodyear brought. We really weren't used to it and I think some of the body changes we've made. So now we've had to go back to the drawing board. Let's carry the car we ran at Texas, which is this car, we led a lot of laps with it. We're not gonna get tricky with it. Let's put it exactly like we had it at that race track and see what we've got and it came back and qualified second. So maybe we're starting to think that maybe we just need to fine-tune on what we had, instead of trying to open up another can of worms. That's something now that the guys are dissecting right now in the truck - where we got beat at, where we were good at, where we were bad at - and we'll go from there for Sunday. You've always got to try and go in a new direction. We have not been as competitive as we need to be this year - me or the 88 - so you've got to open up a new can of worms every once in a while and try new stuff to see if it helps. Sometimes you take a step back to try to take two steps forward, so that's what we did last week. We were both horrible, so we went back to the shop and re-grouped. I've run new cars for the last month and a half. This is the first time. We've actually raced this car twice before, so we've got some old notes with it and I think we're gonna be in good shape with it." HOW IMPORTANT IS THE CHASSIS AND BODY ON SUNDAY? "The chassis and the body is gonna be a big influence on the crew chief starting the race at 5:30 and it gets dark. So we're gonna have a lot of adjustments in all of our cars, I'm sure, tomorrow during practice so we'll have something for Sunday. But I still think the guy that's not gonna sleep at all Saturday night is the engine guy. I know I keep referring back to that, but 600 miles on the engine, you know what kind of RPMs we're turning on these cars nowadays compared to 10 years ago. The body is probably gonna be up to us if we don't knock it in. Chassis-wise, the crew chief a little bit, but, still, the engine guy is gonna be the most important guy here come Sunday. He'll be the guy that's gonna have the biggest relief and probably the first guy's hand we're gonna shake Sunday after the race if it makes it the whole race. He's still got the biggest influence, I think."

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