Where the Raybestos Rookies will start at Phoenix:
K. Busch, 15th
T. Kvapil, 30th
TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 77 KODAK/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS DODGE: “I ran a lot better on the second lap. I used that one lap to adjust my driving style. The car was really and I just couldn’t charge the corners hard. I had to roll it in there and not use a lot brakes. You’re trying to keep it on the bottom but you’re giving up a lot of speed. I wish we were a little freer, wish the car would turn a little better for us but I was able to adjust a little bit and get a little bit more speed out of it on the second lap. That’s not where we wanted to be. We figured we could be about 15th and that was what we were really trying to shoot for and we’re not going to be that good. We’ll just have to make sure that we do a good job Sunday and maybe some pit strategy or something like that will get us some track position.” YOU SEEMED TO STRUGGLE IN PRACTICE BUT GOT THE CAR BETTER DURING HAPPY HOUR. “We haven’t been quite as good as I thought we should have been all weekend. We were very strong here in the spring, I thought, and we’ve been just a little bit off. We haven’t really hit on it yet and still haven’t hit on it. We’ll keep working on it and hopefully we can hang in there all day. The key is to stay on the lead lap and just keep plugging along and get a good finish.” COULD WE SEE TWO-TIRE STOPS IN THE RACE? “We saw a little bit of that last night in the truck race and definitely staying out didn’t look like that was the thing to do. At the same time it doesn’t seem like the tires really fall off in the long run. There’s potential to do that, but probably not.”
KYLE BUSCH IN THE No. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT PHOENIX. HE WILL START 15TH IN SUNDAY’S RACE. “It was good. I think we burned two-tenths off it because of the heat in the racetrack and everything else there. All in all it was a good enough lap where it put us in the top-15. I was hoping for a top-10 but it didn’t happen with that effort. It was a good job by the team. I was a little tight in the center and a just a little bit free off but all in all it was pretty good.” YOU WENT LATE IN THE DRAW. WAS THAT A DISADVATANGE? “That definitely hurt us. Like I said, that was worth about two-tenths and if we could have went out early in the day two tenths could would out us on
the pole right now. It’s a matter of getting the draw better when you need it. Any other racetrack you would want a late draw but any time that we get a late draw we want an early draw. We always seem to be backwards.” DID LAPS IN THE TRUCK HELP YOU THIS WEEKEND? “Yes and no. They’re completely different setups and stuff like that. I’m not necessarily sure that we learned anything from last night that can play into the car. We have enough adjustment built into the thing I think from what we learned here in the spring that we’ll be alright.” DOES THIS PLACE GET SLICKER AND SLICKER THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND? “No, not really. I think it’s just all the heat that gets put in it. The race is going to slick as all can be. Through the event you’re going to have to work with it and try to deal the best you can.”
