Sirius at The Glen - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

Note: Greg Biffle won the pole and the race in the 2000 Craftsman Truck Series event at Watkins Glen International. He started second and finished fifth in the 2001 Busch Series race.

GREG BIFFLE, NO. 16 GRAINGER FORD:

WAS THAT A PERFECT LAP? "No, not even close. I was big-time sideways off of four over here. I debated second gear. I'm the only car here using first coming on to the main stretch. I tried second coming around and I didn't think it was as fast so at the last minute I decided to use first and I got sideways and up on the curb. I probably left at least a tenth on the table coming back to the checkered flag so I'll probably get beat and that will be the reason why. I'm really proud of these guys. We came up here and tested and it was really good and they've got me a good car to come back here with. I'm still shaking from that lap so maybe I'll be on the pole." IS THIS A NEW CAR? "No, this is the car that we ran at Sears Point. We were off a little bit there. We went and tested Road Atlanta before we went to Sears Point and that could have got me some bad habits because they are not a lot alike. We decided to come here and test instead and I think it's going to work out for us. We're excited because our car is just as fast in race trim. It was putting down minute-twelve flat laps in race trim when were here testing. I'm pretty excited about that." IS THIS AN INDICATION OF HOW MUCH THE TEAM HAS IMPROVED? "Yeah, it is, and we've always been pretty good at road racing, Randy (Goss, Biffle's crew chief) and I. I love to road race even though I don't have a big background in road racing but I like it." YOU HAVE TO BE SATISIFIED WITH THAT LAP. "If you had saw me coming off of four coming to the start finish line I certainly wouldn't be satisfied. It's at the top right now and the track has a lot of grip right now. There are some cars that are going to probably be faster but I hope not. I made a small mistake coming on to the main stretch there. I was undecided what gear to come back to the start finish on. I'm really proud of the guys. They gave me a good car here to race this weekend. We're pretty good in race trim and I'm excited." WHY ARE SOME GUYS RUNNING FASTER LAPS HERE AT THE GLEN THAN IN YEARS PAST? "Goodyear has got some really good tires for us right now and the track has really cool temperatures right now. It's unseasonably cool for this time of the year up here and no sun and so the track has a lot of grip right now. Good tires, a lot of grip, and these guys are making good downforce with these cars nowadays and that obviously has something to do with it." DID THE TRACK CHANGE FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING? "It doesn't feel like it changed really to me at all."

RANDY GOSS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 16 GRAINGER FORD:

"That was a really good lap. I was proud of the way he drove the thing and proud of the whole Grainger team. They built a good car for here. I was a little disappointed in the weather. Last week, the sun came out when we went out and this week it gets cooler and I was hoping the weather would finally turn around and give us a chance maybe to get in the Bud Shootout but it didn't work out for us." ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED? "Oh, I'm huge disappointed. You don't get a shot at a pole very often at one of these Cup races so I'm huge disappointed. I know the car is capable of it. The weather didn't help us at all, like I said before, and I feel like we gave our shot away. Maybe we'll get another chance this year to get a car good enough to sit on the pole." BIFFLE SAID THE RACE SETUP WAS AWESOME WHEN YOU WERE TESTING HERE A FEW WEEKS AGO. "I think it's going to be all right. Actually, we had kind of two setups so we have to guess if it's going to be sunny or not so we'll see." WHY IS THE CAR SO GOOD THIS WEEKEND? "He's always been a good driver up here. We came here with the trucks and won and we came here with the Busch car and ran second. We've come up here quite a bit so we've got some experience on this track. I knew that we would struggle more at Sears Point than here and there's grip here so the driver can drive the racecar. Sears Point, you have to get so soft on the back if flops all over the place and none of them like them." WILL THIS GIVE YOU A TRACK POSITION ADVANTAGE ON SUNDAY? "Obviously, it depends on how the yellows fall and how your fuel mileage is. But I think it can't hurt when everybody plays the game and comes to pit road to be up in the front when it happens. We'll see."

CASEY MEARS, NO. 41 TARGET DODGE:

"We improved over practice. I told the guys that we could a mid-eleven; I know we can, at least that, and we ran that. I thought we ran a 50 or 60 and we ran a 50, barely, which is good. These guys did a really good job preparing this car; it's very well balanced. We had a very good test here and applied to race weekend. This track is fun and I really enjoy it compared to Sonoma. It's just a lot more high speed, keep you momentum up rather than stop and go and it's a track that suits me a lot more than Sonoma." DOES THE DRIVER MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE HERE, MORE THAN AT SONOMA? "I think at Sonoma and here the driver makes a big difference on what you can do with the car. I think the car has to handle better here than it does at Sonoma to run a good lap, just because it is a higher speed corner that's got to handle all the way through the corner. I was just off at Sonoma. I learned a lot throughout the race and I think if we had to do that race over again I'd be a lot better. I learned a lot there that I could apply to here and also this is a lot easier track for me. We ran well so that's good." WHERE CAN YOU PASS? "Several places: going down into one, going down into the chicane and the bus stop. After the long right-hander after the bus stop, there is a short stretch there where I think if you get a good run off of there you can pass. There's three good passing zones.

TONY RAINES, NO. 74 BACE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET:

"We're terrible. The car is driving fine, it just isn't going anywhere."

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