UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

KASEY KAHNE, #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE: Notes: Kahne was the top Raybestos Rookie qualifier at Las Vegas, earning the pole position for Sunday's race. He won his first pole in just his third career Nextel Cup Series start. The previous best start by a Raybestos Rookie at Las Vegas was second (Ryan Newman 2002 and Scott Pruett 2000). Kahne also keeps alive a most impressive streak: a Raybestos Rookie has now won a Bud Pole position in each of the last NINE seasons, dating back to 1996. The most recent Raybestos Rookie to win a pole was Jamie McMurray at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November (three races ago).

"The second lap I knew I had to go faster and there was some speed in the car so we picked up a bunch. There's definitely some more guys, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon always qualifies good here in Vegas. It will definitely be interesting. There will be some guys after us [who have a shot at the pole]. It was definitely a great run for us and we'll see if it hopefully will stay on top. The engine guys have given us so much engine here lately that I can of overdrove turn one and had to touch the brakes real quick and get it to turn and then back on the throttle. I overdrove the start of the corner a little bit but three and four felt perfect." DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD BEAT JEREMY MAYFIELD IF YOU DID EVERYTHING RIGHT? "I thought we could. I mean, we really had a good car this morning in practice and Jeremy put together a great lap there too and they have a great racecar. I thought we had a good shot at it and we've ended up getting first so far." WHAT ABOUT THE RACE ON SUNDAY? CAN YOU WIN? "That will be what we're after. One better than Rockingham will be pretty tough. This is tough competition here but I definitely think we have a shot at running good. We tested really well out here and we didn't do any qualifying runs out here testing. We just did race runs. I feel like we have a great racecar when it comes to that." YOU QUALIFIED EARLY IN THE SESSION. DID THAT WORK AGAINST YOU? "We went out early enough that it was still a little bit warm. It's going to get cooler but we'll see what happens. It was about half and half, sun and clouds, when I went out so I mean we had a good racetrack to go on."

TOMMY BALDWIN, CREW CHIEF, #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE:

"We came here and tested real well and we figured we were in good shape after testing. We didn't make any qualifying runs while we were here. We made all race runs, which is really encouraging. We'll take it. Now we're in the Bud Shootout at Daytona and now we had to build another speedway car [smiles]. It was good experience for all the guys to get that over with and take the pressure off learning how to get a pole and work on race stuff now. Las Vegas is big, one of the biggest races we run during the year. We've had some poles in some other places in the past but this is up top right now. I would've liked to have went last, if that tells you anything. We thought we were pretty much out of it especially with the 12 and the 97 going after that." YOUR DRIVER MUST HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE RIGHT NOW. "We've got a great race team here. The guys back at the shop built us a good car and it's up to us to carry it out here at the track and give those guys support back home." IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM IS A LITTLE BIT BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. "I think it's a team effort. We did a lot of testing this year and worked on a lot of different things. It's always good to have a good young driver that doesn't know any better and just goes and drives the heck out of the car." ARE MORE TESTS AN ADVANTAGE OF HAVING A RAYBESTOS ROOKIE DRIVER? "We only get three extra tests. It's not like we get a lot. It's good that you don't have a driver that knows the old tire, the old aero package, the old cars. It all adds up to that and when you get a kid that's from the sprint car days and letting that right rear hang out [laughs] it's a big help." WHAT'S GOING TO BE THE KEY TO HAVING A GOOD RUN HERE SUNDAY? "Just having it handle well. Keeping the car as a good balance as you possibly can throughout the run. We'll see what happens. Like I said, we tested real good here and we thought we tested better here than we did at Rockingham so we're looking forward to Sunday." DOES THE TRACK CHANGE A LOT FROM RUN TO RUN HERE? "The race starts so early that we will be done by three o'clock. We'll be all right."

BRIAN VICKERS, #25 GMAC CHEVROLET:

ARE YOU A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED THAT YOU DIDN'T WIN THE POLE? "A pole is definitely one of our goals. We want one so bad, especially being a Raybestos Rookie if would mean the world if we could clinch a pole this early in the season. But there's a lot of races left. I'm real proud of the guys. The Dodges are pretty tough right now." YOU PICKED UP A LOT FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING. "We didn't expect it but we were hoping that we could. Normally I seem to pick up a little bit for qualifying from practice. We were kind of hoping for that. I'm real proud of the guys. There's going to be some really good highs and you can't let yourself get too high because this sport can turn on you real quick and then you'll have a long drop down. But don't get me wrong: I'm celebrating inside. I'm real happy." DID THE CLOUD COVER MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE? "I don't think it hurt any, there's no doubt about that. These days it's tough. In the past cloud cover always helped you but these days the cars are so finicky and so sensitive and we're so much on the edge and the balance and everything, that the cloud cover may help grip a little bit but then it may tighten the car up so you go slower. You've got to be careful. If you are a little loose, cloud cover is good. If you are a little snug snide, it can hurt you." HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS RUN, TO BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE? "It definitely helps. It helps my confidence and the team's confidence. In the sport, you don't, by no means, want to be cocky but you want to have an inner confidence or you won't be able to succeed."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, #77 KODAK EASY SHARE DODGE:

WAS THAT THE BEST LAP YOU RAN ALL DAY? "It was absolutely the best lap. I don't think there was any question about that, eight tenths or something like that. Unfortunately, as I got out I saw that I was third and I thought maybe we're the top Raybestos Rookie and oh no, that's right Kasey Kahne's up there. We gained something like eight tenths and the Penske-Jasper guys just worked their tails off. They're awesome. We weren't all that good until maybe 20 minutes ago. We've been struggling. It's been loose and Buddy Baker has been helping me out and there is only so much he can help with when he goes 'Man, just keep trying to save it.' The guys just took a big gamble. They took calculated guesses like the engineers call them and we were able to stuff up a lap. I was pretty pumped up." YOU HAVE A LOT OF LAPS HERE. DID THAT HELP TODAY? "Normally it does. We've been struggling right now. The Kodak guys worked hard. At that point the experience didn't help anything. The engineers and Shane [Wilson, crew chief] and all the guys did a great job of doing those calculated engineering guesses and that's why when you get great race teams with great teammates you can go to them and fall back on their information and it pays off. We had the engineer for all three teams sitting in our trailer for about 30 minutes after practice just trying to devise a plan and it worked."

SCOTT RIGGS, #10 VALVOLINE CHEROLET:

"We picked up a little bit. We had a tight condition the whole time that we've been here and we keep making changes and made some pretty big changes trying to get it out and get the car freed up and we just can't quite seem to get it there. It was good for us to pick up that and that will be a decent spot for us. I feel like we've got a good handle on the track and I think coming here and testing we learned a lot but we still feel like we were where we needed to be." DID THE QUALFIYING DRAW WORK TO YOUR ADVANTAGE? "I don't know. We've been tight the whole time so if going later and being cooler freed the track up some that would be great but it doesn't seem to have freed the track up looking at everybody else and knowing what our car did we still weren't free enough. I think a late draw might have been good if the track would have changed a lot but I don't think these tires are that temperature sensitive. You're not happy unless you are on the pole but we'll take that and go on to tomorrow and work on our race setup."