MBNA America 400 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookies will start at Dover
B. Vickers, 3rd
S. Riggs, 18th
K. Kahne, 20th
B. Gaughan, 25th
S. Wimmer, 29th

BRIAN VICKERS IN THE #25 GMAC CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT DOVER. "I'm still a little sore after that first hit. It was a hard hit but the GMAC crew did a great job to get this Chevy ready and get back out there. The car was good. It was just a little bit off, got a little bit loose off of turn 2 and that's where we lost a little bit of our time. For a backup car and the little bit of time that we had, I'm real proud of the guys." YOU MADE SOME LAPS IN THIS CAR WHEN YOU TESTED HERE A FEW WEEKS AGO. "Actually, we ran only one lap in this car. We ran one lap and then we put it up. I think more than anything we didn't really go that hard in it. We just shook it down and made sure everything was OK with it." IS THIS A BIG CONFIDENCE BOOST TO RUN WELL IN A BACKUP? "I think a big confidence boost would have not been wrecking the first one. Getting back out there and having a good solid qualifying run definitely makes a difference to get me and the team back going. It's not a pole but in one sense it is. The guys worked hard. They got the car ready and we took it and made a good qualifying run." WHAT HAPPENED? "I don't know to be honest. The car just came out from under me. It just happened so quickly. I don't know if there was something on the track or not but it doesn't matter at this point. We've put it behind us and we're starting over." IS THAT THE HARDEST HIT YOU'VE EVER HAD? "It's not the hardest hit I've ever had but it's one of the hardest ones I've had in a while. What hurt was for one, there was no safer barrier and for two, the fact that it was such a solid hit. I don't know what it was about the hit. I've had hits where I ran out of brakes and hung throttles and it didn't hurt that bad. It really hurt. All the way up and down my right side, my neck, I'm sore a little bit all over. It was just the way the car hit. It's one of those instances where we've seen people from Kyle Petty to Jerry Nadeau where they didn't look that hard but it was just such a solid hit with the chassis. There was no deflection in the G-hits or spike or whatever you want to call it."

SCOTT RIGGS, #10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET: "That's not too bad. That's about the same thing that we ran in practice and we backed it up. We're still fighting the car being a little too tight in the center of the corner so we'll keep working at it and keep throwing things at it. The bad part about it is that everything you learn in qualifying really doesn't apply in race trim. You change so many things in qualifying trim to race trim. We're just trying to go out here and do the best that we can. I hope that's a decent qualifying spot for us. We want to finish better than where we start." THIS TRACK HAS BEEN PRETTY GOOD TO YOU OVER THE YEARS. "I've always liked the concrete surface having a lot of grip. I always liked the high bank and the high speeds. That's something that I've always liked and appreciated. We had a win here in the truck and ran pretty decent here at times in the Busch car. I didn't have a great run here in the spring race but we were lucky enough to miss all the wrecks and that gave us a decent finish there. We want to earn a top-five finish this weekend by being fast."

KASEY KAHNE, #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE: "I'm not really happy with it but I'm happy that we had a car that was normal right there. We were just loose and that's all we were. In first practice this morning we were tight-loose, tight-loose through the corner and we couldn't never figure it out. Finally Tommy [Baldwin, crew chief] made some changes and at least it was just loose. It was a lot better than being both." YOU PICKED UP ON THE SECOND LAP. "I was just looser on the first lap. On the second lap the tires had built up a little bit more and it just tightened up a little bit and I was a little faster. We struggled a bunch in qualifying the first race so I never really got going the first race in qualifying trim. Kind of like we were today."

SCOTT WIMMER, #22 CATERPILLAR DODGE: NASCAR ALLOWED YOU TO MAKE TWO QUALIFYING RUNS TODAY. "We had a little problem. NASCAR puts tape over the cowl after tech and for some reason ours didn't get pulled off. NASCAR was good enough to give us two laps and that's really, really good of them to do that. You don't have to rely on provisional and all that. We got in the field. I was kind of rushing around there to get in the car and didn't have my steering wheel on just where I wanted it so I think we could have run a little better than that. We're in the race solidly and I think we'll have a pretty good racecar. With it taped off, we probably choked off 100 horsepower and you really need that at Dover to get out of the corners. NASCAR looked at it and said 'They had a problem' and it was a big disadvantage so they decided to give us two more laps and for that I thank 'em because it sure is nice not using a provisional."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, #77 KODAK EASY SHARE/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS DODGE: YOUR NAME HAS RECENTLY BEEN THROWN INTO THE RUMOR MILL. "It doesn't affect us because most likely like all reporters they haven't asked anybody that question. All they do is make up what they want and use anonymous sources. Right now the team is getting ready to move into the new shop at the end of the year and get through this year and finish it out strong and try to get a couple of wins. We think we're good enough to win a race." ARE YOU HAPPY THAT AT LEAST YOU PICKED UP IN QUALIFYING? "That's the goal always is to try to gain from your practice time. I just wish we were better in practice time to be a little further up. I was still a little loose in three and four. It got loose on me going in and I had to run up the racetrack so to gain on it we're pretty happy. We're just working hard at it. The guys are working their tails off."