Daytona 500 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 77 KODAK/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS DODGE: “That’s a pretty big disappointment. I think we ran a 49.0 and if that’s the case we slowed down almost a second. We really didn’t do nothing to the car but change oil so it’s a pretty big disappointment. I don’t know why it would slow down. All those laps we ran yesterday were clean and legit but I guess that was yesterday. I don’t know. The motor didn’t seem like it turned the RPM that it did yesterday so obviously we did something to slow the car down.” DO YOU THINK IT MIGHT BE THE WIND? “It’s hard to say. It wasn’t real windy yesterday, either, so we thought we were going to be okay. It doesn’t really matter. We were actually running better yesterday than we anticipated so it was kind of a plus. This is kind of more the speed that we expected to run when we tested. It’s disappointing after running so good yesterday but it doesn’t matter. We’ll be good in the 150s. We don’t know why we slowed down. All those laps we ran yesterday were real clean and we never turned a screw on the racecar so we’re definitely confused. It’s no big deal. We came here to run the 500 and I think we’re going to have a good car in the race and I can’t wait to run the 150.” WHAT HAS WEEEND NUMBER ONE BEEN LIKE IN YOUR RAYBESTOS ROOKIE SEASON? “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a big learning experience and it’s kind of neat to be out here on the qualifying grid for the 500. It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of good times. This is probably more of the speed that we expected to run. We were surprised to run as good as we were yesterday but I think we’ve got a great racecar and that’s where we’ve put most of our emphasis, on race trim. We’re excited for Thursday and then on to Sunday.” ARE YOU RELIEVED THAT QUALIFYING IS OVER? “I think so. Of all the places that we go this year, this is going to be one of the easiest places to qualify for, knowing that we’re in the race and there’s not much in the racecar that I can do to make it go any faster. It’s pretty easy qualifying out here in Daytona but it’s nice to get it behind me and know that we’re all done with it and we can go on to look at race setup and race trim and figure out what we need to do to make the car draft good and handle good for me in the 150.” HOW MUCH TIME AND EFFORT DID YOU SPEND THIS WINTER ON PREPARING TO QUALIFY FOR THE 500? “We definitely did some while we were testing here but we built this car with intentions of racing. We built downforce in the car and we wanted to make it a car that would drive good and handle good throughout the whole run. That was our biggest emphasis. We knew that we were in the field, we knew that for a fact, so we really didn’t put a lot of emphasis on qualifying. But hopefully the hard work that they put into it to work on race mode will show up Thursday and Sunday.”

SHANE WILSON, CREW CHIEF, No. 77 KODAK/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS DODGE: HAVE YOU NOTICED EXCESSIVE TIRE WEAR? “Not yet. During the test we actually looked pretty good, we were pretty happy with it. Just doing qualifying runs we won’t know until Wednesday if we’re having any issues so we’ll see how it goes. Everything looks good so far. In the test we didn’t have some problems, some other people did. We still feel like we have a good racecar. I don’t know what happened to us in qualifying. We’ll put it in race trim and go from there. The only thing that we changed was some fluids, some better fluids in to squeeze a little more speed out of it and maybe it was the wrong thing to do.” IS IT A RELIEF TO GET QUALIFYING OUT OF THE WAY? “Yeah, I’m glad to have it out of the way then we can get going to racing and get after it.”

ERIC MCCLURE, No. 73 ARC DEHOOKER CHEVROLET: “We’re real disappointed. I don’t know what happened. The was real darty. It was good yesterday and with what we did to it we should have picked up quite a bit. This kind of makes the rest of the week a little harder but we’ll overcome it. We’ll try to race our way in; that’s all we can do. It’s go or go home so we’re going to go and go hard and we’ll have to see what happens but it’s real disappointing. We are a lot better than this.” DID YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE WIND? “I don’t think so. The car just felt like it had a lot of drag to it. It wasn’t going. It drove okay, felt like it was a little darty. I had to work the wheel a little more than I’d like and obviously that scrubbed speed off. You’re going to look at the rundown and it’s going to show Eric McClure at the bottom but we were a lot better than this. We’ll have to put our heads together but we’re going to come hungry Thursday and they better watch out because we’re going to go. We just hope we go far enough.” ARE YOU GLAD TO GET QUALIFYING BEHIND YOU? “Not really, knowing that we are so much better than this. I’m a competitive person and this eats at me. It just isn’t good. We’ve got a day off tomorrow and we’ll think about it and get over it and then we’ll come back ready to go on Wednesday.” DOES THIS MAKE THE PRACTICE SESSIONS ON WEDNESDAY THAT MUCH MORE CRITICAL? “Definitely. We’ve got to get the car where it’s real racy. We’ll come work hard on Wednesday and see what we’ve got.”

KYLE BUSCH IN THE No. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING. Note: Busch was 16th overall with a speed of 186.486 mph (48.261 seconds). Busch will be making his first Daytona 500 start on February 20. “I’m real happy with that. That was really good. I planned. I planned for a .30 and I bet a couple of guys in the truck that we’d get a .35 or a .25 and I went with a .35. That was pretty good and I’m happy with that.” THE HENDRICK CARS ARE STRONG HERE SO THAT MUST BE ENCOURAGING. “Obviously Hendrick horsepower is a big deal and we’re really looking forward to getting down to the race. The body shop, fab shop, chassis shop, everybody has been doing an awesome job back there at Hendrick Motorsports. Everybody working together is how you achieve results and being able to have such a great team as what we have.” ARE YOU GLAD TO GET QUALIFYING BEHIND YOU? “Qualifying behind us is one big step. We’re in the show not matter what, top-35, but having a good qualifying effort, that’s pretty impressive and for these guys coming back out here it’s a good way to get it started off with Kyle Busch and the number 5 Kellogg’s car.” DOES YOUR TIRE WEAR LOOK PRETTY GOOD SO FAR THIS WEEKEND? “So far so good this weekend for us. We haven’t had any problems but of course we’ve only made short runs, too, qualifying. We’ll tell the big deal on Wednesday when we get down to practice.” HOW IMPORTANT ARE THOSE PRACTICE SESSIONS GOING TO BE? “I think it’s going to be real important, obviously, for myself, coming into it having to gain some friends and stuff like that, just basically riding around and getting the drivability of the car so it will drive really well so we’re not juking around and all over the place looking stupid. We’ll make sure we look good.” DID GOING OUT LATE IN THE SESSION HELP YOU? “Maybe a little bit. Jimmie was never as good as he was. Jimmie ran a good lap. He was second, I believe, and Jeff went out earlier and didn’t turn out as well as he wanted to so it might have helped a little bit. I’m really surprised that the wind isn’t as bad today as I thought it would be so that was really good.”

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, No. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET: “That is a good solid qualifying speed. We struggled when we tested. If we would have came back the way we tested we would have been in the high-30s so everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and the Kellogg’s car worked hard and got us a 16th place qualifying. That’s not bad. It’s solid.” THE HENDRICK CARS WERE STRONG AT THE TEST AND THEY ARE STRONG AGAIN TODAY. DOES THAT SURPRISE YOU? “No. I’ve worked at Hendrick Motorsports for six years and the place still amazes me. We have so much talent and so many good people. It starts with Rick, he’s the best, and on down through the driver talent, crew chiefs, employees, everybody, so it doesn’t surprise me that we run as well as we do.” WERE YOU HAPPY TO RUN LATE IN THE QUALIFYING SESSION? “At the beginning I was like it could go either way because the wind is so important, not as much as temperatures. It seemed pretty consistent through the day and it worked out for us so we’re happy.” HAVE YOU HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH TIRE WEAR? “No, not yet. We made 100-lap race runs testing so we didn’t have any problems then and we haven’t been in race trim yet here and our teammates haven’t either. I think we’ll be okay.” HOW IMPORTANT WILL WEDNESDAY’S PRACTICE SESSIONS BE? “Huge. Used to be you had a long time, three days, to get your car right for the Gatorade races and now you’ve got one so you’d better be ready. You’ve got to be on your game plan.”

BUSCH PRESS CONFERENCE

“We came down here testing and we never thought we had a shot in order to qualify in the top-20. We had some cars that were pretty decent but they need a lot more work in order to become top-10, top-15 compatible. They guys went back to the shop and they cut on them a bunch and we were able to come back down to Daytona for the 500 with a pretty decent car. I feel our car drove really well when we were down here testing in the draft. There were only eight, 10 cars sometimes but getting out there with the full 42 other competitors, it’s going to be a lot of fun and we’re looking forward to it. As far as today goes, we’re glad that we’re the top Raybestos Rookie qualifier and hopefully we can be in here many more times but I’m sure Travis will have something to say about that.” ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE GATORADE DUEL RACES? “The Gatorade Duels are going to be a big race for us. We’re in the show, being in the top-35 in owner’s points from last year with Terry being in the seat. I’m looking forward to the Duel races. It’s going to be a lot of fun and we’re looking forward to getting out there and hopefully we can earn some respect from some of the veterans out there during practices on Wednesday in order to prepare ourselves better for the Duels on Thursday, just trying to get some help so we can run up front.” HOW MUCH BETTER IS THE TEAM COMPARED TO YOUR OTHER CUP OPPORTUNITY LAST YEAR? “It’s difficult to say. The cars have been doing a lot better for me this year. I’ve been getting used to them a lot quicker. I’ve got a great crew chief in Alan Gustafson. He’s been around the Cup series level for a long time, I think even when Gary DeHart was the crew chief of the 5 car he was there with him by his side being the engineer for the team so he’s been along for a while. As far as everything goes this year, the whole team has now moved in. We’re all one team: the 5, 25, and 44 are all together like the 24 and 48 have been successful with. We’re looking forward to trying to make sure that the 24 and 48 did. Brian Whitesel is the key operator there. He’s going to be the main guy trying to make sure that all the people are together and of course Alan Gustafson and myself, Lance McGrew and Brian Vickers hopefully we can make the most of our opportunity with Mr. Hendrick.” WHY SO FEW RAYBESTOS ROOKIES? “You tell me, I don’t know [laughs]. I guess it’s the limited opportunities out there that there’s not many rides that became open this past year. There were a lot of great rookies last year. I think there were six last year and they were really good and obviously showed potential: Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers had a few strong runs. We’re looking forward to this year, myself and Travis Kvapil, and Boris Said is going to make a few starts, and I believe Eric McClure is making most of the starts as well too. With the few of us it’s a lot easier to pay attention to just a couple guys instead of maybe eight guys.” KNOWING THAT YOU ARE IN THE 500, WHAT KIND OF STRATEGY DO YOU HAVE FOR THE 150? “Keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble, obviously. We want to make sure that we get through there and just salvage a finish in order to get to the 500. If we can finish somewhere up front that would be great. That’s a better starting position for us but seeing as though the front row is the only row that’s set when you come down to Daytona, if you don’t have a pole winning car, you’re not overly excited for qualifying. You’re just ready for the dual races so that’s what we concentrated more so on in testing when we were here knowing that we didn’t have a car that was able to go for the pole. We made it drive good for the race so hopefully we can work on it a little bit more in practice to get it to run better.”