Where the Raybestos Rookies qualified at Chicagoland:
Kvapil 16th
Busch 24th
Garvey 44th (did not qualify)
MIKE GARVEY, No. 66 JANI-KING FORD: “That’s not going to be enough. Man, I thought we picked up more than that. That won’t be enough. We just can’t get the car tightened up. To run as close to wide open as they are running, that was every bit that I could do right there. I was sliding it around, wiggling it around right there. I don’t know what else to do.”
ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, No. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET: “We were a little loose. We didn’t run as good as we wanted to but I think we’ll be okay. The car was loose in and we were behind it all day and never got caught up with it. It should be good for the race with those conditions but for qualifying we were just a little too loose.” YOU HAVE TWO PRACTICE SESSIONS SATURDAY MORNING. WHAT IS YOUR GAMEPLAN? “To get it right [laughs]. That’s the game plan. I think we’ll be a lot closer. We’ll get the tape off the nose and it will turn good and we’ll be in good shape.” IS THIS WEEKEND A LOT DIFFERENT VERSUS AN IMPOUND WEEEKND? “I love these weekends. They are way better. Impound is terrible. I like the impounds the least of anybody. You just don’t have any time. You have no time to work on your cars. You get to work your guys to death to get them in line, you don’t have any time to go home and think about it. You just have to be right when you get off the truck and when you’re a rookie and have a 20-year old driver who has never seen a lot of these places and have never driven them in a Cup car, it’s tough to do.” WOULD IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON IMPOUND WEEEKNDS IF YOU AND THE DRIVER HAD MORE EXPERIENCE? “I think it would. But then we’re 20th in points and there’s 23 guys behind us who’ve got a lot more races and a lot more time. So I think it would in our situation but I think it hurts a lot of people. They change the cars, the spoilers; the template line now takes so long now that as soon as you’re done with practice you practically have to get your car in inspection line. You just don’t have any time. I think it becomes a little bit of a safety factor too because you’ve got to thrash and rush and you’re in line thinking ‘Gee, did we get everything right?’ so it’s tough.”
TRAVIS KVAPIL IN THE No. 77 KODAK/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS DODGE WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE IN BUD POLE QUALIFYING AT CHICAGOLAND (WILL START 16TH). “We’re definitely happy with that. It’s a couple tenths better than what we practiced. On the very last run of practice I felt like we hit on something and gave us some direction and we took it a step further here for qualifying. I think it paid off. That’s the best that the car has felt all weekend. The car felt really good off the trailer. We were pretty decent but we could never get faster and we finally found something there to get me more comfortable down in the corner and get a little more speed out of it. I’m definitely happy with that and it gets us a decent spot. This is what we’ve looked forward to do the last couple of weeks is be able to qualify in the top 20, top 15 and get ourselves in the front half of the field and hopefully we can keep it up there all day Sunday.” THIS IS YOUR FIRST RACE AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY. “I’ve tested a Craftsman Truck Series truck here last year here for a day. I like it. The place has got a lot of grip and it’s unique. I feel very comfortable here. We’ve got a good racecar. This is the car that we ran at Las Vegas and Charlotte so we’ve had some of our better runs in this car.” WHAT MAKES THIS TRACK DIFFERENT THAN KANSAS OR CHARLOTTE? “It’s in between banking, it’s middle of the road as far as banking goes. It really puts a premium on aerodynamics and getting that nose down and tail up and that’s something that we’ve been able to find with this particular car. It’s just a neat racetrack. It’s got a little bit different backstretch. It’s kind of an oval all the way around instead of having a straightaway. It’s got it’s own characteristics but it’s a pretty cool place.” WILL THIS TRACK HAVE TWO GROOVES ON SUNDAY? “I think it will. I’m thinking the Busch race is going to open the groove up a little bit more and be able to get some cars jockeying around in two lanes. Right now it’s like a lane and a third almost out right now so hopefully with getting more racecars out there racing guys will start coming off the bottom after their done qualifying and be able to get some good racing in.” WILL YOU HAVE TO STAY AT THE BOTTOM ALL DAY? “I think the fast cars and the cars to beat are going to be digging around the bottom. I do believe that the second lane will open up and who knows? There might be some grip out there.”
