UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 - Chevrolet Saturday Quotes

Dave Blaney #07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet

HOW HAS YOUR WEEKEND GONE THUSFAR? Well, in qualifying trim we weren’t very good at all. We could never get the car tightened up enough to make a good lap, so we just kind of took what we could get and didn’t want to do anything stupid like at California. So, we were probably pretty cautious yesterday. But in race trim today, now, the car feels really good. Ten laps into the run we’re really good, we feel like. We’ll find out tomorrow but I think we’ve got stuff in the car pretty similar to what our teammate’s got and I think our cars are pretty good right now.

Jeff Burton #31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet

HOW HAS YOUR WEEKEND GONE THUSFAR? Pretty good. We worked on race stuff all day yesterday and made one qualifying run and ended up 24th. I thought we’d be a little bit better than that, but the car is good. It’s reasonably fast. There are a few cars a little bit better but we’re a top seven car for sure. It’s a matter of making the right changes between the practices and trying to learn more and applying that again on Sunday. But, I’m pretty happy with it right now.

CAN YOU REALLY FEEL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE RULES PACKAGE HERE AS OPPOSED TO CALIFORNIA? Oh yeah, you can feel it here more for sure. These tires go away so fast here. California is bigger and faster so you think the spoiler would show up more there but it really shows up more here because handling goes away so badly.

WHAT CORNER REQUIRES THE MOST EFFORT AND COMMITMENT? Well, it would depend on the way your car is handling. But for me, it’s turns three and four. The workload there is much higher than it’s been in the past just to go a certain speed. It’s a bigger difference here than it’s been in California.

DO YOU FEEL THE RCR CARS SHARE A COMMON THINKING FOR THIS WEEKEND? Yeah. We’re all set up almost identical and we’ve been working a lot together. It’s really good. All the drivers and crew chiefs are really working well together and we’re talking the same language. We’ve got three top 10 cars right now and I feel pretty good about that.

Todd Berrier (Crew chief) #29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet

WHAT HAPPENED DURING QUALIFYING YESTERDAY WITH KEVIN HAVING TO MOVE TO THE BACK? "Wrong is wrong. We tried something we felt was in the grey area and NASCAR felt otherwise. We have a really good car, so we'll just have to race our way to the front."

Ken Howes Competion director, Hendrick Motorsports

HOW HAS THE WEEKEND BEEN FOR HENDRICK? So far I’d probably call it okay. In qualifying we were reasonable. We took a severe beating from the #12 car, but then so did a lot of others. As a group we’re all fairly close. Brian Vickers had some problems qualifying. This morning, everyone is trying to get to grips with the smaller spoiler and different tires. Track temperatures change from one practice to another.

THE NEW RULES SEEM TO HAVE AN EFFECT DIFFERENT HERE THAN IN CALIFORNIA Yeah. It’s probably something to do with the banking of the track. It’s a flatter track than California and a different style. Everyone expected that so we’re having to deal with that.

YOUR NEW ROLE IS COMPETITON DIRECTOR, CORRECT? It really means the race teams are my responsibility. I’m really here just being a granddad, I guess to those teams and just watching over everything.

WHAT IS THE FEEDBACK YOU’VE RECEIVED FROM THE TEAMS THIS WEEKEND? It varies, each driver and as the practice session goes. We’ve got a lot to talk about this afternoon. We’ve got loose tires, tight cars and they’re changing within the practice session. We’re learning, rapidly. Hopefully we’re learning fast enough.

Jeff Gordon #24 DuPont Chevrolet

HOW DID HAPPY GO FOR YOU TODAY? Well, I was pretty happy in the first practice. I though the balance was good. We knew the track temperature was going to warm up for the second practice and the track was going to be a bit slicker. And it did. That definitely threw us off. We’ve got a lot of notes to go over and we’ll put our heads together to get better. I think we’ll be in good shape tomorrow.

YOU’VE GOT SOME GOOD TRACKS COMING UP, WITH ATLANTA AND MARTINSVILLE. WHAT ARE YOU THOUGHTS ABOUT WHAT WE’LL SEE AT ATLANTA? Jimmie Johnson went testing with Goodyear there. He said it was a handful, so I’m expecting Atlanta to be one of our biggest challenges with these new rules. It’s one of those places where it’s hard to go there and test to get good information from. I think that you’re going to see a lot of people struggling there and hopefully we’ll get it figured out.

HOW ARE YOU FARING OFF THE TRACK IN VEGAS? I’m faring extremely well and I usually do because I don’t go to the tables when I’m here, so I know I’m going to leave with all my money.

Brian Vickers #25 GMAC/ditech.com Chevrolet

ON THE CAR DURING FINAL PRACTICE We made some gains from the first to second session. Our biggest problem right now lies in the center of the corner. If we can get the car to rotate and turn at that point, I'll be happy for tomorrow. I think some of the changes we discussed following final practice may give us just what we need. We were running out there on old tires when some of the other guys had put new tires on, so I know some of the laps times may be deceiving.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR SUNDAY? I think everyone is going to be chasing the track big-time tomorrow. Thankfully, we were able to practice during the day when it was hot and the sun was out. The slick conditions can throw at curveball at teams’ setups.