Checker Auto Parts 500 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookies will start at Phoenix:
B. Vickers, 2nd
K. Kahne, 9th
S. Riggs, 11th
J. Sauter, 30th
S. Wimmer, 38th
B. Gaughan, 40th

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUALIFYING QUOTES FOR THE CHECKER AUTO PARTS 500 NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RACE AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2004.

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET: THAT'S BETTER THAN YOU RAN IN PRACTICE. "It really was. The GMAC crew did a great job. We came off the truck pretty fast. The last run that we made on stickers was not really what the car was. I messed up turn 3 a little bit; tried some different stuff and it didn't work out. I was still happy with the car. I don't know if it will be the pole or not. I hope so. Newman seemed pretty quick but I think the track has slowed down a little bit so we'll see." HOW IS YOUR CONFIDENCE RIGHT NOW? "Pretty good. I think everybody on the whole team is. I feel like we have more motivation, the 25 team and Hendrick Motorsports as a whole, that we ever have. I know I do after what happened recently so we're looking forward to the race here. I like the racetrack and I love coming out here to Phoenix. The fans are great and it's a lot of fun." ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT YOU PICKED UP SO MUCH? "Honestly, no. The reason being that the second sticker run that we made there at the end of practice I was really happy with the car but I tried something and it didn't work and really messed up the lap so I knew we were faster. How much faster I wasn't sure but I knew we were a good bit faster than we were in practice." IS THIS TRACK HARD ON THE TIRES? "It is and I think there's a lot of things to add to that. Out here the track surface is getting a little bit older and things like that is definitely not easier on tires by no means." DOES THAT MAKE IT SLICKER WHEN THE RACE STARTS ON SUNDAY? "A little bit, especially on long runs, not as much as some but more than most, probably." IS IT CRITICAL TO START UP FRONT HERE? "I think it's very important. It's really important to start up front anywhere, really, but probably more so here than Daytona but not as much here as Chicago, you know what I mean? It's important but there's tracks that are more important and there are tracks that are less important." WILL THIS TRACK CHANGE A LOT DURING THE RACE? "It did for us last year. I wouldn't expect for it to be any different this year but we'll see."

KASEY KAHNE, No. 9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE: "It was all right, it just slid around a little bit. It wasn't great but it was a decent lap, hopefully a top-15 maybe." WHICH IS THE MOST DIFFICULT CORNER HERE? "For me it's one and two, just getting through that whole corner the middle and off there for sure." IS THIS A PLACE WHERE THE BUSCH CAR WILL HELP YOU? "Nah. I don't know how much that helps right now. The cars are so much different on some of these racetracks it's tough to say that helps at all." YOU WERE ABLE TO BACK UP WHAT YOU RAN IN PRACTICE. "That's good that we backed it up. We were hoping that we could pick up some time. I slid around a little too much there. It just wasn't quite the lap that we wanted but it will work. I guess that will be top-15."

SCOTT RIGGS, No. 10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET: "It was good for us, a big pick up for us. This was a good learning experience. It shows how a few very small changes on the racecar can be huge on the track. We made a couple very small changes there and working with our teammate and with those guys and putting our heads together and trying to make smarter decisions than we made last week. A couple small things that we did really picked the car up makes all the difference in the world from going home like we did last week verses having a top-10 qualifying effort this week." HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT LAST WEEK? "Last week was the most difficult pill that I've ever had to swallow in my career. In all the racing that I've ever done, from motor cross to late models to here in the Cup series, I've never missed a show and had to go home like that. That was a big pill to swallow. It's good to get over it and it's good to come back and be pretty strong this weekend. I think that the biggest thing that we didn't do was point fingers. I think the one thing that probably helped me more than anything else was the thing about the Hendricks. I was fairly close with Ricky and Randy [Dorton] and to think what kind of loss they suffered just a week earlier, me missing the show was very minute. You want to scrap it all and never do it again. You want to know why. It wasn't one thing that said this is what we did wrong. It was several things that we did wrong that made us go home. I'm just glad that everybody kept the faith in each other. I hope we can get over it and just learn from it. I think what doesn't kill you is going to make you stronger for sure. It almost killed me but it didn't. I'm tougher than that. WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE SEASON? "We're just going to try to end on a high note. In the Busch Series the last couple of years it's been tough at the end of the year. We seem to struggle and fall down and I don't know if that's confidence or the team getting worn down or trying to reinvent the wheel at the last minute to make something happen. This year we're trying to stick to basics and keep it simple and hopefully finish on a positive note and hopefully go into next year hopefully a lot stronger than we even showed anybody this year."

SCOTT WIMMER, No. 22 CATERPILLAR DODGE: "We lost some speed there from practice. We got real loose and the sun broke out and the track heated up a bit and lost a lot of grip. They guys have been working real hard. We had a real good practice, went through a lot of things and got a lot better. For some reason qualifying always hurts us a little bit. At least we'll make the show this weekend and we'll get it right for the race." HOW TOUGH HAS THIS WEEK BEEN? "It's been pretty tough. It's tough whenever you miss a race and these races are hard to make when you have 58 cars there and your car is a little bit off and you're not going to make the race. We unfortunately didn't make it and it kind of motivated the guys. We'll get it right, we'll get it fixed up, and we'll get it better. Tracks like this are real good for us. Hopefully we can run real good on Sunday. We ran real good here last year. We'll get back to Darlington and places like that are real good for us."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, No. 77 KODAK EASY SHARE/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS DODGE: YOU HAVE STRUGGLED HERE ALL DAY. "The thing won't turn. We started out a little loose but it was loose and tight, just like the Kodak team has been a lot this year. Loose in, tight in the center; the right front is pushing. We got rid of the looseness so Shane [Wilson, crew chief] and guys did a good job getting rid of that. It's just tight, man. It won't turn. We can't get the Kodak Dodge to turn today. I want to be the top Raybestos Rookie here and I want a shot to have a good racecar and right now it doesn't look good."

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 09 MICCOSUKEE RESORTS DODGE: "We qualified and we're in the show and that's all that matters. We're not where we wanted to be. We were 20th in practice and figured that we could have probably been top-20 pretty easy. We didn't back it up so we'll start 30th." HOW DIFFICULT IS IT GOING TO BE TO PASS HERE DURING THE RACE? "I think it's going to be really hard. All these flat short tracks are pretty hard to pass and sometimes you've got to use the bumper. I'm fully prepared to do have to do that if I need to. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Busch race. I'll learn a lot tomorrow about what the racetrack is going to do. It's just going to be fun. I can't wait." WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD DAY FOR YOU HERE SUNDAY? "I'd say 15th or somewhere between 10th to 20th. Somewhere in there would be a good day for me. I think we can do it. This is pretty good short track car that Finch has got. I'm just disappointed. I thought for sure that we'd back up what we ran this morning but we didn't." WAS THE TRACK A LOT DIFFERENT FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING? "It was for me. I don't know exactly what they did to the car but they freed it up because I was complaining tight and the racetrack sat for a while so maybe it got a little bit loose."