Pocono 500 - Ford Qualifying Quotes

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 Sharpie Taurus (Qualified 2nd) - "It was really a good race track. I was surprised. I drove it in deep and it stuck. I'm glad you're interviewing me now because I'm still on the pole. I might not be later. There goes Greg Biffle. We're having a great time with our team and making the right adjustments and trying to search for what we need. Here at Pocono we've been close - two second-place finishes - we'll see if we can get the Sharpie Ford dialed in on Sunday." HOW IMPORTANT IS TRACK POSITION HERE? "It's still key. With the gear change rule it's definitely gonna be different in understanding how you're gonna be able to pass cars, whether it's off of one, two or three. Whoever got off of three the best down the front straightaway was the car to beat, but now since we're not shifting all of the corners are up for grabs on who can get the best run to pass a car. I still think track position is key, especially with these tires." DO YOU FEEL IN POSITION TO BE UP FRONT WITH THAT LAP? "I hope so. We were quick yesterday, but I didn't think many people made their 'q' runs, and then today we made some small adjustments and got her freed up. It was definitely on the free side, which is good because with this impound system you have to be loose for qualifying." DOES THE CAR FEEL SLOW COMPARED TO LAST YEAR? "It's tough. I don't know what the actual tenths of seconds that we're behind last year's speed, but you're given a new set of rules and you have to balance it out with the best that you can feel it. So if you're tight on all the corners because you can't shift, then you loosen the race car up and now you're more sideways through the corner, so you have to work just as hard. It's not necessarily with the gearing, but now it's with the setup of the car." THERE'S BEEN CONTROVERSY THE LAST FEW WEEKS. CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? "It's one of those deals where everybody is racing hard. The guys that are locked in, but they're not locked in, and then there are guys on the outside looking in just trying to make the chase. It's tough competition right now and it's very difficult to win. If you hit the setup just right like Greg Biffle is hitting it right now, you ride that wave."

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 National Guard/Subway Taurus (Qualified 23rd) - "I think we got a little cloud cover, but the car was just so loose I couldn't really get a lap. I about wrecked going across the tunnel coming up to speed, so that will sort of take the wind out of your sails to lay down a lap. But this is a great race car. It's really fast in race trim and I just wanted to not wreck the race car. It didn't really matter if we qualified here or not because the track is so big. We're gonna be deep in the field, there's no question about it, we're gonna be 25th or worse but that's what we've got." IS THERE A LOT OF GRIP ON THE TRACK NOW? "Yeah, I think so. You've got to be pretty tight to run fast right now. That's just all there is to it. How tight do you want to be to run as fast as you want to run right now, and how are you gonna be in the race?"

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Qualified 16th) - "I wasn't loose. We worked hard on this car between two different setups in the two practices yesterday and we think we got something that was the best of what we've been so far. We made it, obviously, very adjustable so if you need to under a caution you can make a lot of changes and change a lot of things if you need to. I think we're a lot better and a lot faster than what I ran yesterday with the track hotter. I know other people are running faster, but it was a pretty significant pick-up for us. I feel pretty good. It'll be interesting to see where this goes tomorrow and what direction we have to go with it." ANY URGE TO SHIFT OUT THERE? "Yeah, it was difficult. I felt like I wasn't doing my job yesterday. I'm riding down the straightaway here with two hands on the steering wheel and that's not normal. I'm supposed to be doing something. When you get to the corner all you have to do is brake and then turn and that doesn't seem right. It's been a long time. Five or six years ago we qualified a couple times and didn't shift and that was strange, but yesterday in race practice I didn't do anything but drive the car. I guess you can't say you didn't hit your marks because you had all this other stuff to do. That excuse is out the window now."

CARL EDWARDS - No. 99 Stonebridge Life Taurus (Qualified 29th) - "That was extremely loose. The Stonebridge Life Ford is really great in race trim. I had a blast yesterday. Bob Osborne and I both knew it was gonna be a little bit free, but that was pretty wild. Trying to get back to the throttle is just really difficult, but, hopefully, that's a sign of a great car for the race on Sunday. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun." YOU WERE ON THE EDGE? "Yeah, it would be fun if they weren't timing those laps, but they are. I think to qualify really well we would have had to have our car really tight in race trim, otherwise come up with some sort of trick and we don't have one in our bag. We just went out there and qualified the best we could. I think we're gonna race really well, though. Stonebridge Life is on board and it should be a fun race for them, too." YOU ARE GOING TO NASHVILLE AND THE RAIN AFTER QUALIFYING HERE TODAY. "Yeah, Jack Roush is gonna fly Sterling Marlin and myself down there. We're gonna try to run the Charter Ford. We had a great test there. Hopefully, they get the race in tonight. It looks pretty bad and if they don't get it in tonight, we're gonna be in a little bit of a predicament unless they have rain there tomorrow. So if it rains tonight, we're praying for rain on Sunday in Nashville so we can run that Busch race on Monday."

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus (Qualified 25th) - "We kind of knew we were gonna qualify a little bit worse than we used to here, but we think we're gonna be good in the race. We just need to keep working on these impound races qualifying. It's not what we wanted, but we think the car will be good for Sunday. We don't really know what's gonna happen with the new gear rule and stuff. I think it's gonna be a little bit harder to pass, so the guys are gonna have to make some great decisions on pit road. We'll be fine. The M&M's Ford drove good yesterday and now we just have to wait for the race to start." WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE ISSUE WITH THESE IMPOUND RACES? "I don't know. We're just struggling with our qualifying. We're not getting enough runs in, maybe it's hurting me a little bit not knowing what to expect. We just need to keep working on it. The Goodyear tire is a little bit different. At each track we go to they're calling for something different and maybe we haven't hit on it yet like some of the other guys have. We'll just keep working at it. We've got a long road to hoe ahead of us Sunday, but maybe we'll be OK."

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DeWalt Taurus (Qualified 10th) - THESE IMPOUND RACES SEEM TO AGREE WITH YOU AS FAR AS QUALIFYING. "Yeah, I like the idea of impound races. I mean, to come to the track and work all day just on qualifying is kind of silly, so it's nice that we can just come and think about racing and work on the race. It seems to be working out OK for us. We usually have an easier time getting our race setups decent than our qualifying setups for some reason." HOW WAS YOUR LAP TODAY? "I think if you're tight enough to go really fast, I think you're gonna be way too tight for the race. Our car was really loose and still ran a reasonable time, so I was real happy with that because it was real, real loose. But I think if we would have been any tighter, I don't think we would have raced very good so you just have to compromise a little bit."

MARK MARTIN - No. 6 Viagra Taurus (Qualified 13th) - "The Viagra team did a great job on our Ford there getting it tightened up. It wasn't really bad loose. I had to watch myself there and I drove a little bit over my head there in turn three and lost a little bit of speed, but it's so spread out right now that it's not how fast you drive your car it's how fast your car will go, really. My car was good enough that even with a small mistake it's gonna be a top 15 start. I know it's gonna race a lot better. We still have brake problems. I'm incredibly concerned about the problems that we have with our brakes and now we can't work on the car, so we're gonna have to try to suffer through it. We made it through Phoenix with this same problem. I hope I can make it through this one and maybe we won't have to again."

RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Taurus (Qualified 32nd) - "I don't know what to say. These guys have busted their butt all week we just haven't hit it very well here. We've been good every week. We had a great run at Charlotte and were gonna have a great run at Dover, and I guess you can't get greedy, you can't have it every week. In practice we were like 23rd-fastest and I knew we weren't good for race trim so they just changed the complete setup under the car for qualifying. The balance is quite a bit off for qualifying. I was pretty loose, but you've heard a lot of people talking about it. I think you want to be loose when you un-tape the grille, and that will put you about neutral when it comes time to go. But I don't think we're quite as bad as the picture looks here because we weren't good yesterday. The car was very violent over the bumps. There's no way we could have run 500 miles like that. Today the car is more conventional. It drives right. It drives good. The balance is just a little bit off, so I think they've got something they can tune during the race."

KURT BUSCH PRESS CONFERENCE - HOW IS YOUR CAR? "So far it's been a good car for us. It's shown potential in race trim and in qualifying trim and I was real happy with it in practice yesterday. I didn't think that many people made qualifying runs, so we didn't know where we were gonna shake out. But we were able to post a really strong lap. It was a career lap for Michael and I was surprised, but yet I expected it from Michael. He drove away from us in practice, so I think he's got a strong car for this weekend. Our Sharpie Ford, we need to start up front. Track position is key here and with the way the tires have reacted to the track lately, we just need to make sure that we set up our race car so that we can be competitive at the end of the race." DID IT FEEL FUNNY NOT SHIFTING? "Yeah, it doesn't feel like we're stretching the car to its full limit. When you're shifting twice a lap, four times a lap, it feels like you're on the ragged edge - downshifting, upshifting, sliding tires. Now with it in fourth gear the whole time, it seems like you're running at a slower pace and you're tighter, so you have to loosen up the race car. I had those hand glitches. I just kept jumping over there wanting to grab the shifter so I could come off the corner stronger, but that's the new rule package. Whatever we're given as far as the competition value -- the race within - you just have to find the right combination to go fast. I think last year the qualifying speed was like a 52.4, but right now we're nine-tenths or eight-tenths slower than that. That's exactly what it's done to the setups. You just have to change and go with the change of time." DID YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFICULTIES IN PASSING OR SIDE BY SIDE RACING IN PRACTICE? "Our car was primarily by itself. We didn't get into any groups of cars. One thing that I do think will happen with no shifting is that if you get a couple of cars side by side and they hold each other up quite a bit that the third car behind will get a tremendous run. It'll be three-wide and then if he doesn't clear there's gonna be more congestion going into the next corner. What will happen is if you're in front of that congestion point, you're gonna be able to stretch out. But if you're behind it, you're gonna catch it quick and then you're gonna be in it. So you're gonna see guys racing side by side. Cars are gonna be sliding in and then up the race track, and then the guy that waits for him to slide in too hard will cut underneath him. So it'll provide some great side by side action after restarts and when there is a congested bunch of cars, but I think if you're in front of it you'll be able to stretch out and stretch your lead." WHAT ABOUT CLEAN AIR HERE? "Clean air is always important, especially at Pocono. The straightaways are long and some guys gear up for straightaway speed and some guys gear up for corner speed. This place always challenges both of those qualities. I don't think it's gonna hurt passing. I think it's just gonna take a different approach. Turn three used to be the big focus to get that good run off of three and down the front straightaway. Now I think all three corners have a strong potential for passing somebody. If they goof up that corner, you really can't downshift and save yourself now. You really have to carry your momentum." HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR PROGRAM NOW? "Each of the races we've shown potential to finish well and lead laps, and then we've had some run-ins with blown-up tires. We were in good position at Martinsville to finish well and got tapped from behind. At Charlotte, I really don't know what happened there. Obviously, I'll have to go and test with the new surface there for the fall race, but to be eighth in points I think we're a little bit behind where we thought we could be. There are guys with the same statistics as us with a win and a top five and a top 10 and they're in the top three or four in points, so with us being eighth it doesn't leave much margin for error. We still have to continue to run hard and make sure that we're solidly in the chase. We still have plenty of races to go for people to have bad luck. I think we've gotten ours out of the way and we'll be underway with what we call the stretch leading to the chase. You can't really use up your tests, but you still want to run hard to make your way in. We're definitely a little bit off pace, but we've shown some great strength already this year with a win and the top 10 finishes that we have." DO YOU REMEMBER MICHAEL'S LAST POLE IN 1991? "This year I've qualified second twice now. The other time was to Gordon in Phoenix and I think that was his 74th career pole. I went up to him and I said, 'This shows how long you've been around.' So I'm gonna say the same thing to Michael when we go have driver introductions on Sunday." WHAT DO YOU THINK TRACK CONDITIONS WILL BE LIKE WITH THIS BEING AN IMPOUND RACE? "The Hoosier rubber from the ARCA cars will plague us a little bit with the way the track is filled in and greasier and then it changes over to the Goodyear rubber once a quantity of cars go out there. So the beginning of the race will definitely be interesting. I know Michael is gonna charge hard to lead that first lap, and if we can get in a nice groove and have long green-flag runs, I think that'll be better for everybody because I want to go see the Cubs play the Red Sox tomorrow night." WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE ROUSH ORGANIZATION THAT MAKES IT SO STRONG THAN OTHER TEAMS? "It's a combination of both - you have to have the men to build the right cars and then you have to have the right drivers to drive those great race cars. To start off the year, I think the Roush team did a better job than most teams of balancing out the new spoiler. Some teams were hurt by the downforce that they lost, but I think we were able to maintain a great deal of downforce from that change. And then Greg Biffle, I caught kind of a hot streak like this at the end of 2002 leading into 2003 and if you can ride that wave you ride that wave. You get on those hot streaks, and my little brother is doing real well in all of his races - Busch, Cup and Truck. You just ride that wave and you for as long as you can and hope that it lasts for a long time." ANY CONCERNS ABOUT THE DURABILITY OF THE ENGINES? "We had a competitive combination of transmission gears, both rear end gears and rpm from last year, but to hear some of the numbers that his camp ran last year - the Hendrick cars - about 10,000 rpm, what it's done is it's brought everybody back into a closer box. It doesn't necessarily take away Jimmie Johnson's advantage that he had last year, but he's definitely more within reach this time around. I know we were near 9500 last year and he was about 600-700 rpm above us. This year we've been able to close that gap, so it's definitely gonna be an interesting race on Sunday." ARE YOU GOING TO SING AT THE CUBS GAME? "I'll sing, but I'll be in the grandstands in the bleachers with the regular crowd. But I do have the opportunity the first of August to go up there. They called our PR department to have the 2004 champion come up and sing, so I'll have my chance. Maybe I'll take Gordon along with me for a few pointers (laughing)."