Subway 400 - GM Qualifying Quotes

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 25 UAW-DELPHI CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"That's not as good a lap as I should have had. I got extremely loose. I don't know - going out first; there's a little bit of dew that's in the air - I don't know if it got the track a little bit slippery. But, our UAW-Delphi Chevy is good. We've been running good since we unloaded, so we're going to have a good race on Sunday."

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"I was real happy with that. James Ince - he's the man. We did a little bit of race practice this morning and a little bit in qualifying trim right at the end, and I was actually a little faster in race trim. He said, 'I'll take a stab at it. We'll be OK.' The Valvoline Pontiac is in pretty good shape. I'm looking forward to the race."

(ON SPENDING SO MUCH TIME ON RACE PRACTICE THIS MORNING...WERE YOU AFRAID YOU WOULDN'T GET ANY TIME IN TOMORROW?) "The thought was that we weren't sure about tomorrow. It's an unknown. This car is an unknown. It's a brand new race car. The new Grand Prix - we haven't tested on this style racetrack. All of it is a little unknown, so we wanted to go out there and at least get 20 or 30 laps to let us start a book, saying, 'OK, this is what we think is going to happen.'"

TONY STEWART, NO. HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"We picked up. We just didn't pick up as much as everybody else did. With the weather as bad as it is today, none of us really knew exactly what to do. We went and did a bunch of race stuff the first two-thirds of the session and switched over for qualifying. We probably didn't take as much time on the qualifying as we needed to, but I think our race setup is pretty good. I felt pretty sporty in race trim, so I'm not worried too much about today. We're more worried about Sunday now."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"That's a pretty decent qualifying effort for us. We worked on race setup this morning and only did one qualifying simulation this morning. I was really loose. Kevin (Hamlin) made the car a lot tighter, but I was still loose. When you're that loose, you don't know how far to go. We picked up four tenths from practice, which is probably about the same that everybody picked up, but we were really bad in practice.

"It's a good effort for us. It gets us in the show strong. We did our race runs, so we've got some knowledge on the race car in a long run. If it happens to rain tomorrow we should be in good shape."

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"That was a pick-up for us. The guys did a good job. We did a little race practice early and then we made one qualifying run, so that was just our second try at it. We were a little too free, but still - all in all - it was pretty good, so I'm pretty excited."

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 TIDE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"We got off-track a little bit this morning, but we're making progress. This Pontiac is going to be a very good race car. It's just going to take us a while to get accustomed to all the change with the team - new cars, new engines, new crew chief. All those things are going to help."

(AS A FORMER POLE WINNER HERE, DOES IT HELP TO KNOW YOU'VE BEEN THE FASTEST QUALIFIER AT ROCKINGHAM?) "What helps is knowing you've done it. It's the difference between thinking you can and knowing you can. That helps. This is a game of mental torture because you're always challenging yourself. If you're not, you're probably not getting all you can get."

JERRY NADEAU, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON SPINNING ON HIS SECOND LAP) "The car is fine. I knew my first lap wasn't good and I was really going for it the second lap. I just got a little too excited, but the car is good. We'll be fine in the race. I'm looking forward to it."

MIKE SKINNER, NO. 4 KODAK PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"I'm excited about our Kodak Pontiac. I think we were a little better than that. We were a little late coming through inspection and I was like, 'Where is our car? What's going on?' They got it down there with only one car to go. People were inside the car working on radios and all that. I really never got a chance to get my focus together, and I missed my marks. Our Pontiac drove good, the motor ran good - I just missed my marks."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"We came down here and tested and we had a great test, but we didn't do any qualifying runs, so we were kind of behind the eight-ball this morning with the rain and everything. But, we made some changes in between practice and qualifying and sped it up even more, so I'm pretty happy."

MORE FROM JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(FROM PRESS CONFERENCE...WAS IT AN ADVANTAGE TO GO OUT EARLY?) "I don't know if it was an advantage or not. It was starting to rain a little bit. At first when I started the car up, he (the official) stopped me. I thought, 'Well, maybe it is raining.' But, I don't know if it matters here a whole lot. It does if the sun is out. But, I guess if it's overcast -- it's overcast here. It's cool and not real windy, so I don't know if it mattered if you went first, last, in the middle - not as much as it would on a normal week."

(WITH YOUR RACE-WINNING CAR BACK AT THE SHOP, TALK ABOUT LEARNING A NEW CAR HERE) "This is a new car. It takes a little bit of time. When we unloaded we were ready for qualifying. Then, we watched the weather and switched everything over to race trim just because the car has never been on the racetrack and we were concerned about the weather for tomorrow. We spent probably 25 or 30 laps just messing with it for race trim just to see what we were going to have. But, it didn't matter. We didn't qualify that good last year. We started back in the fall. Like Mark (Martin) said - it's not really a huge deal where you qualify here, although it's nice if you're up on the front row. We were just going to take our chances. I took it and made one run in qualifying trim and wasn't that happy with the car, so we made some changes. I guess the changes were right. It was pretty good."

(ARE YOU TIRED OF DEALING WITH WEATHER?) "We get here on Thursday night and leave here on Sunday, so I guess it doesn't matter what it does in between there. Obviously, we would like to see some track-time with all the new cars and new templates and things of this nature. But, other than that, you're here the same amount of hours. We'd prefer it to be a little nicer weather, though."

(CAN YOU PINPOINT ANYWHERE IN YOUR LAP WHERE YOU MAY HAVE LOST THE COUPLE HUNDREDTHS THAT KEPT YOU OFF THE POLE?) "I don't really care. I could sit there and look at that. I've missed it by a second before, so this couple (hundredths) ain't all that bad.

"Starting up there (in second) is better than where I started in the fall. You could probably say that, and I did say, 'You know, I wish I could run that again.' But, I might have screwed it up, too, so I'm happy with my lap."

STEVE PARK, NO. 1 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

"The car got really loose on the second lap, so we decided not to push it and take our time from the first lap. This team has worked really hard to get the Pennzoil Chevrolet ready for this weekend. We knew our first lap would be ok, so we left it at that.

"I'm estimating now that we'll stay in the top-25 [qualifying positions]. That's not exactly where we would like to be, but we'll work our way to the front on Sunday."

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