EA Sports 500 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

CASEY MEARS, NO. 41 TARGET DODGE:

DO YOU GIVE THAT LAP A THUMBS UP OR THUMBS DOWN? "It's definitely better than what we ran in practice and you usually improve from practice to qualifying. We probably would have like to have been a little better but that's a good lap for us. We'll see where it stacks up here at the end, you don't know who is going run way faster than they were in practice and who's going to run slower. It's not a bad lap but it's not a great lap. We'll see where we end up." YOU HAVE TO BE HAPPY WITH YOUR PLATE PROGRAM THIS YEAR. "I think we were like eighth out. I think we went early so there are a lot of guys left to go to find out where we qualify. It's a decent lap, I just don't know how fast everybody else is going to run." BECAUSE YOU WENT OUT EARLY, IS THE WEATHER GOING TO HELP YOU OR HURT YOU? "I don't know, I really don't. Restrictor plate racing, you just don't know. Sometimes it heats up and helps people. Sometimes it cools down and helps people. You don't do a whole lot as a driver. Hopefully you've got the best line that you think you think you can have and you just try to do the same thing every time. The guys have done a good job building this racecar and the motors were good. We had a really good car in practice. I don't see why we couldn't be top-10 but it just depends on how fast and how much everybody improves." IS THIS A NEW CAR? "It's a car that we have ran in the past. I don't know if it's the one that we ran here last time or not because we crashed here last time so we had to repair that car. I'm not positive but we have ran it before." NOTE: This is the same car that Mears ran in July at Daytona and last April at Talladega.

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 42 HAVOLINE DODGE:

"This is the same car that we ran at Daytona and ran well there. We've got a really cool paint scheme on it this weekend. We've got maybe a little special emphasis on this weekend, not just for the whole Havoline race team, but for all these Talladega fans. Davey Allison was huge at this racetrack and actually won with this racecar in 1987. It's a very, very special weekend for us." ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THE RULE CHANGES FOR THIS RACE? "They are just trying stuff to make the racing better and I'm all for that. It was really hard to pass the way it was. We really won't know anything until tomorrow but they are going in the right direction from what everybody is telling me. I'm just a racecar driver, I don't really know a lot about everything else that goes with it (laughs). From what everybody is saying, we're going in the right direction and hopefully the race will be better." WILL THERE BE A BIG ADVANTAGE TO GOING OUT LATE? "Probably a little bit, but it's hard to say. At Daytona we all went out at night and we slowed down but this place is typically a little better in the evening." HOW WAS THE LAP? "Really good. They made good changes. I think they saved a little bit because we picked up two or three tenths. It was a pretty good lap. I think they saved a little bit, I think everybody does, so hopefully we saved more than some of the others. It was a really good lap for the Havoline Dodge. We've got a neat paint scheme on this weekend. It's the paint scheme that Davey Allison ran in 1987 when he won here. We've got a lot on our shoulders this weekend to keep these Talladega race fans on their feet." DID YOU FOLLOW DAVEY ALLISON'S CAREER? "It's funny. I told this story last year when I signed to drive the Havoline car: that was really my first diecast, not this car, but the car with the big orange start that we are going to run next year. I remember that I had quite a few Davey Allison collectables. I'm living a dream right new getting to race in Winston Cup with the best sponsor there is." HOW SPECIAL IS IT TO CARRY THESE COLORS HERE AT TALLADEGA? "You couldn't have picked a better racetrack. This is Alabama Gang land (laughs). It's really special. I got to meet Davey's kids, Robbie and Krista and Liz (wife) so it's been a real special week. We hung out with Bobby Allison and Judy yesterday. We got to do a lot of cool stuff this week." HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO START UP FRONT? "It doesn't make any difference when we get to turn one (laughs). It won't matter."

GREG BIFFLE, NO. 16 GRAINGER FORD:

"It's what we expected. We're not that good in qualifying trim at restrictor plate tracks. It'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, and if I don't, great. It's a long race and the car drafts well." DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE HANDCUFFED? "You are here. It's just whatever the guys can do to the racecar to get it to go fast. It's slippery, engine, transmission rear end, and drag on the body is all it is." DOES IT PUT ANY EXTRA PRESSURE ON YOU IN THE RACE? "Yeah, but there again, you can only do what your car will do. And really the cars you see up front qualifying are going to run fast. The cars you see run at the back are going to run at the back because they are draggy cars. We just have to try and get as much drag as we can out of our car and just hope that we will be decent in the race." DO YOU LIKE THIS CAR? "This car has run well in the past. We're going to get that same setup back in it and just let her rip again. Hopefully we'll keep the right front fender on it again."

DONNIE WINGO, CREW CHIEF, NO. 42 HAVOLINE DODGE:

"I'm tickled to death. It's nothing that we've done; it's the guys in the fab shop. All those guys worked really hard on the speedway program. It's been good all year. We've been able to qualify good. We've been unfortunate and got in the middle of all these pileups in these races. This is the same car that we had Daytona but it's different than what we ran at Talladega and Daytona in February." THAT CAR WAS DAMAGED IN AN ACCIDENT AT DAYTONA IN JULY. DID YOU HAVE TO DO A LOT OF WORK ON THE CAR? "No, not really. Mainly, it was mostly front-end damage. It really wasn't tore up that bad so they didn't have to do a lot to it. We made a few changes to it since Daytona but not much. It's pretty much the same car." AS MUCH AS YOU STRUGGLED QUALIFYING THIS SEASON, THIS RUN MUST BE BIG BOOST FOR THE TEAM. "It is but the way these races are here, it's better to be up front. A couple of the races that we've got in a wreck we've been up front when we got in the wreck. The closer to the front that we are going to be this time the better off we'll be." IS THIS THE BEST CHANCE YOU'VE HAD TO WIN A RACE THIS SEASON? "I think that we've had three or four chances we could have won races. We've lost them in the last 25 laps but sure, I think we've got as good a shot as anybody to win this race."

TONY RAINES, NO. 74 BACE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET:

"That's so-so, I guess. I don't know if that will get us in or not. There's a lot of cars here. The team put in a good effort. It was a new car that had never been raced so that was a little bit of an unknown. We picked up a couple of tenths from where we practiced so maybe if we get one more we'll pick up two more, who knows."

LARRY FOYT, NO. 14 HARRAH'S DODGE:

"This was awful. I've been back to the motorhome, back over here. You've got so many cars showing up at these racetracks now; we've had trouble qualifying lately. And of course, our sponsor isn't happy, as they're not going to be. It just puts the added pressure on even more. We need to get in these races and it looks like we're in this one so that's just awesome." YOU'VE HAD TO MAKE SOME CHANGES TO THE TEAM RECENTLY. "My dad brought some guys in this year that he really wanted to make it work but them and I never jelled. It came down to the point where it was me or them because I just couldn't take it any more. That's when my Dad said 'Well, I'm behind you' and we made the change. Of course the sponsor wanted the change too because it just wasn't working. We tried really hard to make it work and it just wasn't there. You'll see that with drivers and crew chiefs. It's got to jell and that just wasn't happening. We made some changes and I'm going to try a couple of different guys. I'm not going to jump into one guy because, like I told my guys, 2004 starts right here. Let's just start rebuilding for next year. I'm going to try some different people and see who I really jell with." HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GET THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THIS POSITION? "It's really tough when you are on such a tight, tight budget because you can't go throw money at somebody or go hire somebody that you know has won races because they usually come with a pretty high price tag. I have to maybe find the diamond in the rough that's maybe unproven yet, kind of like me, hopefully, that really doesn't have the credentials but that maybe you have faith in and you just work well with. I'm really trying hard to sell some sponsorship for next year, too, so we can go racing with these guys and do it the right way. It's been a fight all year. You can't blame everything on money but it sure would help if you have a problem you can just go fix it with money sometimes." YOU ARE PLANNING TO RUN THE FULL CUP SCHEDULE IN 2004? "Yeah, that's the plan right now. As long as Harrah's stays on board and they are under contract. I'd love to sell the quarter-panels to make it really feasible because I know my Dad has been in his pocket a little bit this year."

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