Food City 500 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

SCOTT RIGGS, #10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET:

"We need to be better than that. We just made some adjustments out there; freed ourselves up a little bit and got a little too free. That slowed us down a lot so we tightened it back up and didn't never get a chance to run that last mock-up run out there because someone lost an engine. We sort of left it there and went with it. I think with the sun and more rubber down and a little hotter I think we were just a little too tight." SEVERAL DRIVERS SPUN WHILE QUALIFYING. DID YOU SEE ANYTHING ON THE TRACK? "I did the same thing on my first lap. I think it's the cars not turning and we're trying to get back to the gas and make all the time we can and it's easy for it when it comes off the high banks and comes off the corner, the transition, it's real easy to make the car get loose."

JOHNNY SAUTER, #30 AMERICA ONLINE CHEVROLET. Notes: Sauter will start 10th in Sunday's race at Bristol. The qualifying run was the best of his 11-race NEXTEL Cup Series career. His previous best effort was 20th last July at Chicagoland.

"We started qualifying at three o'clock and it's going to get cool at four o'clock and the guys at the end are going to go faster but I'm happy. We ran faster than we did this morning. We found out that we have a couple problems in the rear end so we'll fix that. We couldn't fix it for qualifying. We didn't have enough time. I think it's all right. It's not going to be great, but it's decent." DO THE LAPS YOU HAD TODAY IN THE BUSCH CAR HELP THE CUP EFFORT? "It seems like the more laps I make the worse off I am. I'm better off when I just get in. Like this morning, right off the truck I ran a .30 in this thing and the rest of the day we were slower. To some degree it helps but I haven't had a whole lot of luck correlating back and forth between chassis setups. I guess I would have to say no." IS THIS ONE OF YOUR BETTER TRACKS? "When the car's good, they're all good [laughs]. When the car feels right they're all fun racetracks but I like this place a lot. I haven't had a lot of success here; been caught up in a lot of garbage and had a lot of bad luck. We ran good here last fall in the Morgan McClure car. We broke a gear with 70 to go running 11th. I'm looking forward to a good run on Sunday." IS THIS A TRACK WHERE THE BETTER THE CAR IS THE MORE LIKELY YOU'RE GOING TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE? "It makes your job a lot easier, that's for sure. You're on the edge here the whole time as it is and if the car's right, it makes life a lot easier. Anything can happen here. It just happens so fast. I've thought that I'm Mr. Cool Cat and thought I was through wrecks before and the next thing I know I'm backing it in the fence. You're never safe here." YOU'VE HAD SOME BAD RACES THIS SEASON. IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOUR TEAM TO HAVE SOMETHING POSITIVE HAPPEN? "We've finished every race and that's been our goal so far: finish races. We haven't had the finishes we've wanted but for the most part we've kept cars in one piece. We had good cars and had some trouble. We're just building points and gaining momentum. I think we'll be fine."

KASEY KAHNE IN THE #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT BRISTOL. Notes: Kahne will start fifth, the fourth time in his six-race NEXTEL Cup Series career that he has started in the top-five. Kane was one of three Raybestos Rookie to qualify in the top-10 at Bristol. This is the second race in 2004 where three or more Raybestos Rookie have started inside the top-10 (Las Vegas was the other).

"I think the track is pretty good right now. It's a lot of grip, as good as the morning or maybe better. We'll end up in the top-10, probably right there. We were just a little bit tight getting to the center of the corner." WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED WITH THE LAP? 'No, I'm not disappointed. We were free in practice and I thought we'd be a little bit better than that. That's a good lap for the Dodge Dealers Dodge." ANY IDEA WHY SO MANY DRIVERS HAD PROBLEMS DURNG THEIR QUALIFYING RUNS? "No, I don't know why. I felt like the track had as much grip or more right there. Maybe everybody was trying to step it up a little bit."

SCOTT WIMMER, #22 CATERPILLAR DODGE:

"I thought we were going to be a little better there. We were carrying more speed but we ended up freeing up quite a bit. I think we lost the track a little bit; it seemed like the track freed up quite a bit. That will probably be in the top-20 and if we can stay up there we'll be pretty happy with that." HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO QUALIFY HERE? "It's real tough because you don't have many opportunities to screw up. You screw up once and you pretty much blow the lap. The first lap we got real loose off of four and the second lap we got real loose off of two. I kind of blew it myself on both laps. We got a solid run in and now we'll work on it for the race." WHAT IS THE KEY TO A GOOD RUN HERE? "Staying out of trouble. That's all I've done my whole career here with my Busch car. If I had good finishes I had fenders on the Busch car and didn't have a smashed in nose or radiator ductwork out of it. If we can finish 500 laps here we'll have a good day."

BRIAN VICKERS, #25 GMAC FINANCIAL SERVICES CHEVROLET:

"I was hoping that we'd be a little bit quicker but that's all right. That's not where we wanted to be but the GMAC guys did a good job with the car. We'll get it better for the race. We came up here and tested and got good race runs but we didn't get a chance to practice qualifying, though. We haven't got the car handling exactly where it needs to be right now."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, #77 KODAK DODGE: Notes: Gaughan will start seventh in Sunday's race at Bristol, his best qualifying effort in six career NEXTEL Cup Series starts. His previous best effort was eighth at Las Vegas.

"The guys have been working hard. When you've got Rusty Wallace as a teammate, Ryan Newman as a teammate, you learn how to do something right. The guys helped the Punisher Dodge this week. It's the best Dodge that we've had all year. This is the best qualifying effort that we've ever had now so we'll take it and see if we can't finish up there now. When they're running well, that normally means that we've got some help from them and with us being the Raybestos Rookie program, we always get help from our teammates and Rusty helped us a ton here. Ryan going out and getting the pole, we had some of his knowledge, we had some of Rusty's knowledge and they came here and helped us get a seventh. We're going to keep relying on them and they did a great job helping us here and the guys in the Kodak shop of the Penske Jasper team did awesome. It's the best Dodge that we've had yet." ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE LAP? "Yeah, I kind of chocked it on the second lap; I got real loose. I always a second lap type of guy, too. A few more races as a Raybestos Rookie and maybe that first lap will start turning into it. I like second laps and I blew the second lap." WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR YOU TO HAVE A GOOD RUN HERE SUNDAY? "The same thing that I've heard from Buddy Baker and Rusty Wallace the last two weeks: stay on the bottom. We're going to try to get this thing on the bottom. Seventh means that it's on the bottom groove and we'll stay there. Actually, I'm kind of glad McMurray got me there in the end because it put us on the bottom so that way we can start on the bottom, stay there, [and] try to follow my teammates. My guys will have great pit stops. We've had them all year. We're going to stay there and try to be up front for a change." DO YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN IN THE TOP-10? 'I certainly hope so. The Punisher scheme here is a one-time deal. The movie debuts April 16 so I don't have much more time to run the Punisher scheme except here so I've got to make it look good now. Maybe I'll have this made my nickname for the rest of my career."

SHANE WILSON, CREW CHIEF, KODAK DODGE:

"This is great. The guys worked hard. We came here and tested and it was probably our first test that everything went good. We unloaded good and we got to work for a few days on just little stuff and it makes all the difference in the world. We've got to thank Penske and the motor room, chassis room, everyone involved. We've got a good car here today." HOW BIG WOULD IT BE FOR THIS TEAM TO RUN WELL ALL DAY HERE SUNDAY? "That's what we need to keep everyone pumped up. Morale is so much in this business, especially as long as the season is in the NEXTEL Cup Series. If we can run good here in the first half of the season and get everyone there believing in us I think it will make it a lot easier for us." HOW BIG OF AN ADJUSTMENT HAS THIS SEASON BEEN FOR YOU? HOW BIG OF A CHALLENGE? "Definitely the biggest of my life, but I'm up for the challenge. I've been working hard trying to figure it out. I feel like I'm a little bit behind the learning curve but it's a great challenge. If you race, when you start out in the street stocks at your local track, that's what it's all about: the challenge and this is the next challenge." HOW LONG HAVE YOU WORKED WITH BRENDAN? "About four and a half years now and it's going well. We've had a rough few races but we're still doing okay. As long as we keep morale up and these guys still work hard for us we'll have a good year." HOW DIFFICULT HAS IT BEEN TO KEEP THINGS POSITIVE FOR THE TEAM? "That's probably what I've been working on the hardest. In this business, you've got hundreds of people back at the shop that are going to make the difference for you. You've just got to try to be personal with them and give them the reality. We did this and this wrong and it's not your guy's fault. The car was good and the motor was good. We'll keep on trying to get better." WHAT YOU BE A GOOD DAY FOR THIS TEAM SUNDAY? "Top-15, stay on the lead lap. That would be a great day. There's nothing more enjoyable than to race up front in the best division in the country right now."