Golden Corral 500 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

BRIAN VICKERS IN THE #25 GMAC CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT ATLANTA. HE WILL START SECOND IN SUNDAY'S RACE.

"This is a fun racetrack, man. I'm real proud of the GMAC Chevy crew. They did an awesome job. They gave me the car we needed for the pole. I not very happy with myself right now. We should have been on the pole. It was a pole lap all the way until I got to the center of three and four and I got on the apron a little bit and the car shot up the racetrack and I had to get out of it. Lifting and still running a 70-something I knew we had the pole but we'll get them next time. I'm proud of the guys. We have a good starting spot. I got the apron a little down there in three and four and the nose washed out on me and I had to lift. We still ran a .70. If that wouldn't have happened we would have been on the pole. It's a good starting spot. We had the car; we had everything that we needed. I just got the apron a little bit down there but I'm proud of the guys. They did an awesome job and hopefully we'll have a good car for the race." WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO BEAT RYAN NEWMAN? 'In the past we've come close. We've come close together, I've come close and so has the team but this time I think the team beat Newman and I just messed it up a little bit. It's still a great lap but I'm frustrated with myself. I got on the apron down there and the car just washed out. Maybe I could have stayed in it but I probably would have stuck it in the fence." ANY CONSOLATION IN THE FACT THAT YOU ARE SO YOUNG YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO BEAT NEWMAN IN ANOTHER YEAR OR SO? "It won't be another year, but I guess it is some consolation being 20 and this is what the third, fourth race of the year? So we've got plenty of time left." ARE YOU STARTING TO GET FRUSTRATED BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T WON A POLE YET? "I think so. It seems like sometimes you loose by an inch or a tenth makes it that much worse." WHAT DID YOU THINK OF YOUR LAP? "The GMAC crew did an awesome job. They gave me a pole car this time and it was a pole lap all the way until I got to the center of three and four and I hooked the apron a little bit and the car washed out on me and I had to lift. We probably would have stuck it in the fence otherwise. Second is better than last." WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING SO STRONG IN QUALIFYING THIS YEAR? "It's nice. The whole 25 team did a great job at the end of last year at the end of the year. We've got our qualifying game down pretty good so far. We've got to keep that intact. We don't need to loose our focus there but we just need to pick up our race program and we'll be there every week."

PETER SOSPENZO, CREW CHIEF, #25 GMAC CHEVROLET:

"You can't complain with second, that's for sure. We were real close with him to getting the pole and sooner or later we're going to get that pole, no doubt about that." AS WELL AS BRIAN HAS QUALIFIED THIS SEASON, ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED NOW IF YOU DON'T WIN THE POLE? "No, not really, honestly because there are 41 other guys that wish they were outside pole. I wouldn't say disappointed but excited about getting one, that's for sure. It's not really being disappointed. We'd be disappointed if we were fastest in practice and went out there and ended up 25th. That would be disappointing. You can't complain with second and we're not going to do that." HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO WINNING A RACE? "That takes a lot more work for race practice than it is just for qualifying so we've got to get our cars better for Brian at the beginning of races that way he could run and maintain that way he could be able to run and maintain and just have a better car for him on Sundays." WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO BEAT RYAN NEWMAN? "Just hope that he slips up one of these times. That's about all we can do because he's going to be tough. We'll keep chipping at it and sooner or later we're going to get us a pole, no doubt about that."

KASEY KAHNE, #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE:

"That was a good lap for us, for where we came from this morning. We gained a lot there. I'm pretty happy with the lap, from where we started this morning we gained a lot there and made a lot of good changes. To come out 12th, that's a good start. It will be a different view, that's for sure. I was the first car last week and we'll be back in the pack this week but it's definitely a great spot. At Atlanta you can pass a lot and I think our car is going to be better in race trim and that's what we tested when we came here." YOU WERE ABLE TO PICK UP A LOT OF SPOTS QUICKLY AT LAS VEGAS. CAN YOU DO THAT AGAIN THIS WEEK? 'I think we can pass. I like passing. I like having to race people. It will be fun. Starting 12th, we will have our work cut out for us but Tommy Baldwin [crew chief] has always ran good here so I'm excited to get to drive one of his cars." WHAT KIND OF FACTOR WILL THE TIRES BE? "They'll be just like Vegas, start sliding around more and more. Atlanta you always loose your tires so that's something that's not going to be different other than here the car will probably slide a little bit more on four wheels than the back. It will be fun."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, #77 KODAK EASY SHARE DODGE:

"This isn't a brand new team. It's got one of the Raybestos Rookie drivers but it's not a new team but it is. It's kind of an odd deal where it's all brand new equipment and each week we get better. This feels like the best Dodge that we've built. We're getting better and better each week. It's just not all the way there yet. At least we've got half the things we had really wrong at Vegas fixed and maybe a couple more weeks we'll have it all dialed in. I don't know where that's going to put us in the Raybestos Rookie battle but I know we were like second or third in practice. I know Brian Vickers was pretty quick but maybe I can catch Riggs. We'll see." IS THIS GOING TO BE A FUN PLACE TO RACE AT ON SUNDAY? "I notoriously like these places, you know? When I was a Raybestos Rookie in the Craftsman Truck Series we won both races at Texas my rookie year. I like these big fast places. We've just got to get our Kodak Dodge to handle and it's getting better each week. Like I said, it's all brand new stuff and it take awhile, even with all the great Penske engineers and Dodge engineers and all that it still awhile."

SCOTT RIGGS, #10 VALVOLINE CHEROLET:

"We always want to go faster. You're not happy until you are sitting somewhere on the front row but considering where we were at and things that we were missing on the car, things I was missing on the racetrack, it seemed like when I finally hit my marks just right we were able to get the most out of the car. The car was just silky smooth and we ran a lot faster than we did all day. I'm happy with that. I feel like we're steadily learning and growing and getting better. This weekend we just need to seal the deal and put this whole deal together and have a good finish. I think what we learned in qualifying is going to help me tomorrow in practice and by helping me tomorrow in practice will help me be more specific about what we need to do to the car to make it faster and I think we will have a better racecar that what we've had in the last couple of weeks."