EA Sports 500 - Ford Qualifying Quotes

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus (Qualified 1st) - "I'm pretty happy with that. You've got to go through the room of doom and you have no actual help at all on the race track, so to run a 50.41 I'm pretty happy with that. The guys did a great job tuning the motor. The fab shop did a good job and I just want to start up front. This is the same car we finished third with in the spring and it's driving very, very well. We'll see what happens and see if that will hold out." YOU AND DJ WERE THE ONLY FORDS IN THE TOP 20 IN PRACTICE. ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT SUNDAY? "I think that says a lot about our fab shop. Gary Beverage and his guys do such a great job. It seems like they spend 24 hours a day on these speedway cars, plus the motors we have are just unbelievable. They put so much emphasis on this restrictor plate program. We know we're at a disadvantage right now with the Ford. Everybody knows that and that's why there are only two of us in the top 20 (in practice), but we're definitely making the most of it here at Yates."

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DEWALT Power Tools Taurus (Qualified 43rd) - "We knew it wasn't gonna be very fast in qualifying, but it's raced good for us the last three times we've run it. They were trying to build something that we thought would qualify faster, but we didn't know how it would draft so we thought we'd bring what's drafted good for us the last couple times. We thought we'd try that and see where we end up." WITH THE NEW RULES AND ALL STARTING FROM THE BACK IS NO BIG DEAL? "Yeah and if you're gonna start from the back anywhere this would be it. You can go from the front to the back and the back to the front within 15-20 laps and with the bigger spoiler it's gonna be harder to lose the draft. So unless it goes green all day and the pack somehow gets separated, we should be OK."

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Qualified 6th) - YOU DID WELL AND JASON DID WELL. "It's a really good feeling. Like I told him before he went out, 'Just get the thing in high gear. That's your job right now because you know what to do on the race track. Make sure you don't over-rev it and make sure you don't miss a gear or anything.' That was really the only thing. He had a good race car. He came down here and tested and tested well, so that would be the only thing that could keep him out and he went out and did his job and did a great job of it. It's gonna be pretty fun." A GOOD DAY FOR RYR. "Yeah, how about that. We haven't had many smiles at restrictor plate races lately, but thanks to Jason and a lot of hard work and effort on everybody's part at Robert Yates Racing. It seems like it's gonna be a pretty good day for us, so I'm pretty excited." YOUR CAR IS PRETTY GOOD. "Yeah, it is. I wasn't really expecting a whole lot when we came here because this is a car that really hasn't qualified that well, but it drives good whenever we get in traffic. That's why we chose to bring it, but with a lot of the things Jason learned here testing we were able to implement those into this car and it picked it up speedwise."

JASON JARRETT - No. 98 CHI Overhead Doors Taurus (Qualified 25th) - "This is as nervous as I've been at Talladega in a long time, but I guess when you have an opportunity like the one Doug and Robert have given me, it's pretty exciting. It's nice to have a good chance to be solidly in the field. I think the number we put up is gonna be right there with some good cars." YOUR DAD SAID HE GAVE YOU SOME ADVICE ABOUT JUST GETTING IT IN GEAR. WAS THAT ON YOUR MIND? "I did, especially after he came over and told me that. He said to just make sure to get it in gear because you get up to speed in two laps, especially running the first two laps high. We picked up from practice on our timed lap, so I'm happy about that. I hope everybody is happy about it and I think it shows that the testing has paid off."

TODD BODINE - No. 54 National Guard Taurus (Qualified 47th) - "That's a little on the slow side to say the least. This car has never really qualified that well and it's never run a fast lap by itself, but it runs great in the draft and in races. Unfortunately, you've got to get in the race first and that's gonna be close. That's gonna be real close as far as making it."

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 Grainger Taurus (Qualified 36th) - "It's what we expected. We're not that good in qualifying trim at restrictor plate tracks. That's known, it's company wide. Hopefully, I don't have to take a provisional. That's all I care about. If I do, I do. If I don't, great. It's a long race and the car drafts well. We'll see what I get dealt." DO YOU FEEL HANDCUFFED IN QUALIFYING HERE? "You are here. It's just whatever the guys can do to the race car to get it to go fast. It's just slippery - the engine, transmission, rear end and drag on the body is all it is."

MARK MARTIN - No. 6 Viagra Taurus (Qualified 15th) - "That's awesome. This team deserves such better results than what they've gotten this year. This is such a great race team and it's an honor to drive and work with them. I'm so sad that this year has turned out to be so ugly for us, but if we can keep it all together, maybe we can go into next year and have another fairy tale year like we had in 2002. It's a great bunch of guys and they keep on digging. We tore this car up last time here and they pieced it back to be just as good as it was and that's pretty hard to do. They always seem to keep their chin up and they've done a great job. We have had some good cars this year and some cars that weren't good, but we've never had a string of misfortune like what we've had. Things could certainly go a lot better for us in the future. I think we've learned a lot this year and when things start going our way, we'll be able to put that to good use."

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 Rubbermaid Taurus (Qualified 41st) - "We try to build the best car that we possibly can everytime we come to a plate track. Obviously, aerodynamics has the biggest role within it but the draft seems to equalize the cars. We usually can't wait until Saturday morning most of the time when we can get out there and practice and see what we've got."

RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Motorcraft Taurus (Qualified 32nd) - "That's what we ran in practice and we didn't have anything special for qualifying, so what we ran in practice is what we ran in qualifying. I wish we were faster, but we knew going in that we'd be lucky just to get back to what we ran in practice and that's what we did. I'd love to sit here and tell you how fast we're gonna be on Sunday. I think we will be fast. I'm sure we'll race good. We finished third in Daytona with some smart race strategy and the car was pretty racy. This is a different car and it seems to be faster than our other car by itself, but, again we'll know a whole lot more tomorrow morning when you run that practice. Race trim and qualifying trim have nothing to do with one another. Obviously, we're not a great car in qualifying, but in race trim I've seen cars worse than this be able to run up front. I thought we had a real racy car last time here and we got in a second lap wreck. The only thing I don't like is starting in the back of the pack because of the first couple of laps. I'm not a big fan of that."

TRAVIS CARTER, Car Owner - No. 54 National Guard Taurus - NOTE: Todd Bodine qualified 47th out of 49 cars and missed making the field for Sunday's race. "We haven't done all that well qualifying all year for restrictor plate races. We've had a good race car that's raced real well, but given all the circumstances you can look back and say, 'I wish I would have done a little something different preparing,' but you kind of feel like at this time of the year you'll be in pretty good shape in points. And given the circumstance with all the work we've had to do and the accidents we've had and had to re-build cars, we felt it was in our best interests to try to focus on the other cars and try to make them better. We've had to build and re-build a lot of cars and felt we had to let the restrictor plate thing kind of sit on its laurels because we knew we could come and race well. Unfortunately, you had some guys that knew they'd be in the race with a provisional and it kind of bit us in the butt." WHEN YOU SAW SOME OF THE MULTI-CAR TEAMS WERE BRINGING AN ADDITIONAL CAR TO QUALIFY WERE YOU CONCERNED? DID YOU SEE SOME POTENTIAL TROUBLE? "Yeah, we did, but it is what it is. It's a hard lesson learned and we'll just have to move on."

ELLIOTT SADLER POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

NOTE: This is Sadler's second pole of the season and the first for Ford since Sadler's pole-winning run at Darlington in the fifth race of the season. That does not count poles that were awarded by points due to qualifying being cancelled.

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus - "I think it's pretty cool. This is the first time since I sat on the pole at Darlington that a Ford has been back on the pole anytime this year, so that's two out of three poles for Ford and two for me. I'm really glad that happened today. I think the Fords have been lacking on the restrictor plate program a little bit, so Doug and Robert have really stepped up their program with testing and things - working day and night to make sure DJ and I have had some great restrictor plate cars when we showed up and it's paid off. We qualified third here in the spring and that wasn't good enough for Doug and the team, so we went home and did some more homework and came back. I was just the lucky guy driving the wheels today. I think it was an advantage to go early while all of the greases and oils and things were still hot, so we used that to our advantage and it seemed to pay off for us." DID YOU THINK IT WAS AN ADVANTAGE TO GO EARLY AT THE TIME? "Yeah. When I came in I was like, 'Where did we draw to qualify,' and when they said fourth, I said, 'Good.' We went out early here in the spring and I think the top here in the spring qualifying were in the top 12 to go out and qualify. It's never a disadvantage to go out here at Talladega because handling is not an issue as far as the heat is concerned. But keeping your oils and greases and wheel bearings and everything warm - hub grease and things - is a big advantage. We actually went out second behind Bobby Labonte and that was a good advantage for us. It was not really windy at the time and we were able to back up pretty close to what we ran in practice and everything worked out OK." WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER YOUR LAP? "As soon as I got out of the race car on pit road and finished the interviews, I went directly to my coach. We did not watch it on TV. We did not have any radios on. Actually, EA Sports just sent me the new 2004 NASCAR game, so we played that for two-and-a-half hours. We just took our whole mind off of it and did that. Then Amy (Walsh) came and got me and told me, 'You might ought to get dressed. You might have to go do some interviews.' I was like, 'I'm not moving until that 48 car goes out. After he goes out, then I'll go get ready.' So that's kind of what I did to take my mind off things. I've got enough gray hair as it is. I don't think I can sit through two-and-a-half hours of qualifying waiting for the 48 to go out, so I kind of just did that to make my mind off of it." DID YOU RACE TALLADEGA? "Yeah, we played Talladega a few times. I won one and my PR guy wrecked me on one of them, so I didn't really do too good the second race." WHAT CAR DID YOU RACE? "I was driving my today. It was fast, so I picked mine." WHAT ABOUT NASCAR'S RULES JUGGLING. WILL IT MAKE FOR A BETTER RACE? "I think it's gonna help the drivers with the throttle response. I think before with so much horsepower taken away from the motors, we felt like if we had to lift any and got out of line any at all that we could not get back in line or we would be left too far behind. Now with the way the spoilers and the restrictor plates are done, I think we can be a little more patient. If we have to lift to let a guy in, we're not gonna get freight-trained because we do have the throttle response left, plus the bigger spoilers are gonna put a little bit more of a hole in the air so we'll be able to suck up a little bit better. I think it's gonna be a tighter pack, but I do think the driver's will be able to make better decisions because of the package we have now. I'm just speculating right now until I get in practice tomorrow morning. The closure rates are gonna be a lot different this time than what they were in the spring racing around guys, so we just have to go off that and make some adjustment and, hopefully, that will affect us for Sunday." IS IT A TOUGH BALANCE TO GET CLOSE AND SAFE RACING HERE? "It is at Talladega. No rule changes that we're gonna see in restrictor plate racing is gonna really affect you at Talladega. This place is as wide as a football field and you're in the corner so long and it's so high-banked that handling is not an issue. I think they could come out here and shave half of our spoilers off and it's not gonna affect us here like it will at Daytona. I think they're just gonna try something here, see if it affects us, see if we like it and then they'll have a good idea of what to do for the Daytona 500 next spring. That's our best race of the season, so we don't mind trying stuff here to make sure we have a good race when we start there next season." TWO CARS HAD THEIR TIMES DISALLOWED. HOW MUCH OF A DISADVANTAGE IS IT FOR THEM TO GO TO THE REAR? "I don't know. I don't think it's a disadvantage at all. It seemed like to me he (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) started last here in the spring race because of an engine change and the next I know he was up there leading on lap whatever. He got up there and won the race, so that's definitely the car no matter where he starts. That's who we're gonna have to outrun - him and the 15. Yeah, I know he would like to be up a lot closer to the front so he could get his own pit selection and things like that. I'm sure they'll have the problem cured for Sunday - Tony (Eury) and the guys will and he'll be the guy we're gonna have to beat. Yeah, he's gonna probably have to take his time the first few laps, but he did it in the spring and missed the wreck and he was the man at the end of the race and the guy you've got to beat. He's probably not gonna like where he's got to start, but we all know he'll be up there at the end of the race and he'll be the one pulling the train around the most. We've just got to figure out how to get around him." IS IT OK FOR THE FANS TO BE SKEPTICAL THAT EVERYBODY IS GETTING A FAIR SHAKE WITH ALL OF THE INCIDENTS HERE AT THIS TRACK WITH THE 8 CAR? "I don't know if I would go that far. I think the fans will hopefully think that NASCAR is doing the best they can to give everybody a fair shake. But as a driver and a competitor in this sport, I would like to see if anybody breaks the rules - no matter who it is - we all get the same fines. We all get the same suspension or whatever. I don't care if you're a 16th/32nd low or whatever the rules may be - what color the car is it doesn't matter - just everybody get penalized the same. That's all we care about. Fined or points. I think points are better than anything. If they start taking away more and more points from these teams, I think they'd start using their heads a little better when they show up at race track and stop all this nonsense. Hopefully, that's the route they'll go with in the future, but I hope the fans know that NASCAR does everything they can do. They have the worst situation as far as we have 50 different teams showing up with 50 different engineers and 50 different ideas of different ways to bend the rules and they're catching up. The best way they can find out about it is after they've already found it at the race track, so they're kind of in a hard position right now. They usually act pretty quickly, but I think if they make this stuff a little harsher and the penalties a little worse, that some of these teams will use their heads a little better." WAS IT ASKED LAST WEEK ABOUT HOW THE YELLOW WILL WORK THIS WEEK? "Yeah, because we asked them at Dover about here. We're gonna be three-wide and things like that. As the caution comes out, they want us to use our heads and try to figure out what car we're behind. We know Sunday it's gonna be hard because we're gonna be three wide the whole race. They said they're gonna try to use every camera angle they've got, transponder, whatever they can use to figure out where everybody is gonna be. That's the best situation we're in at this moment. Mike Helton said it the best, 'This is a brand new rule for everybody. We're gonna have to tweak with it some and if the drivers use their head and work with everybody, this should be fine.' I just hope the guys are gonna keep in their head that safety is the number one issue. That's why we're doing this - to quit trying to take advantage everytime the caution comes out. I think as drivers, you kind of know where you're gonna be at when the caution comes out. We all, I would think would know where you're gonna be at or they shouldn't be driving. Hopefully we won't try to take advantage of each other and everything will work out smoothly Sunday. The only question in my mind that's gonna be tough is that this is a big pack in Talladega - we take the white and then we're coming back it's gonna be tough to figure out how to let off, who to race back, who not to. That's probably gonna be a tough question here at Talladega, but, hopefully, we won't have that happen here."

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