Chevy Rock & Roll 400 - Chevrolet Qualifying Quotes

Kevin Harvick takes pole position at Richmond

Kevin Harvick
#29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet
Pole Position

GREAT LAP OUT THERE
Yeah, we made some adjustments right before we went out based on Jeff Burton said on his qualifying run and I think they were probably the right ones. It was a good qualifying run. Hopefully that lands us somewhere in the top 5.

WHY IS THIS A DRIVER'S TRACK?
I think it's just the fact that you can race two and three wide and make your car move around a little bit if your car isn't handling correctly. You can move around a little bit.

PRESS CONFERENCE

WERE YOU NERVOUS?
Well, (Ryan) Newman goes (qualifies) last, you'd better be nervous. It was a good lap for us. It's been a good weekend for us so far, and hopefully we can put it all together tomorrow night.

TALK ABOUT WAITING IT OUT UNTIL RYAN NEWMAN QUALIFIED:
That's definitely a test to your nerves when it comes to qualifying time. But I've got to say thanks to all my GM Goodwrench guys and everybody who works on this car. My teammates were going before me and they told us what their cars did and we made a few adjustments. And we were able to put together a good lap.

HOW KEY IS AN UPFRONT STARTING POSITION AT RICHMOND?
Well, it definitely helps. It doesn't hurt anything to start upfront anywhere. You can win the race from anywhere in the field. But it definitely helps to have a good pit stall and do what you need to do at the beginning of the race.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR LAP:
Well obviously we didn't know if it was going to be good enough until right there at the end with Ryan (Newman) going there at the very end. But it was a good lap. We made some adjustments off of what our teammates said and just hit our marks and we were fortunate enough to have it all stick.

YOU'VE HAD SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR ENGINES AND YOUR TEAM THIS YEAR. DO YOU THINK THOSE THINGS WILL BE RESOLVED OR IS THIS STILL SORT OF AN UP IN THE AIR SITUATION FOR YOU?
We're still working. So we'll just keep doing what we can and go from there.

WILL WE SEE SOME REALLY AGGRESSIVE DRIVING IN SATURDAY'S RACE?
I think everybody, from eighth to 13th, will probably be doing whatever they can do to gain every spot they can. But I think there is a lot of over emphasis put on a lot of things as far as people driving over their heads or doing something that they wouldn't do on a normal week. We all go out every week and race as hard as we can and try to win the race week in and week out. So, I don't think you're going to see anything out of the ordinary for a short track.

Jeff Gordon
#24 DuPont Chevrolet
6th position

HOW WAS THE TRACK OUT THERE?
Definitely had some more grip. To get those kind of speeds you have to put it on the edge. Wasn't the best lap I've ever made but got a decent time for right now.

GOT YOUR WORK CUT OUT FOR YOU IN THE RACE
Oh, yeah, just because we've got to make gains. But, that's a good start. It's a good way to start off the weekend.

Kyle Busch
#5 Kellogg's/Delphi Chevrolet
7th position

That was a decent effort. Of course the guys did an awesome job for me. I was really, really loose in the corner. I'm actually surprised it ran that quick of a lap time. I'm proud of the guys though. They gave me an awesome piece. I'm really looking forward to the race. I know it's going to be good. After qualifying up front, we will have good track position.

Joe Nemechek
#01 U.S. Army Chevrolet
11th position

My U.S. Army Chevy wasn't too bad. We weren't that good in practice so we changed a lot of stuff. The car ran good. It's still fighting too tight in the middle of the corner and then I spun the back up off and almost hit the wall there off of (Turn) Two. It cost me a little bit of time but overall we're way better than we were in practice."

Jeff Burton
#31 Cingular Wireless/Big & Rich Chevrolet
12th position

I'm very happy with it. The Cingular Chevrolet was really good there. I wish we had a do-over again. It drove so much better than it did in practice. I don't think I got as much out of it as I could of. I'm really happy with the car. The Cingular Chevrolet on long runs is really good. We only made one mock qualifying run in practice so I'm really optimistic about our weekend.

ON RACING AT A SHORT TRACK:
We have not been good on the mile-and-a-half (tracks). We've worked really hard and made it better but it's just not doing what we need it to do. When we get into these environments, it seems like that's when we can do our best. I'm very excited about the weekend. I came in here excited and I hope I leave here excited.

Brian Vickers
#25 Green Day/GMAC Chevrolet
22nd position

I think we could have done a little bit better. We got loose in and loose out. We never made a qualifying run in practice. We had some other issues like brakes in practice so it cut our practice short by about 40 minutes.

Bobby Labonte
#18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet
23rd position

HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
It was alright. The best we've been. Good balance. Good grip. IT will be good for tomorrow night. We did one qualifying run and picked up a lot from that, but so did everybody.

RE: THE AGGRESSIVE DRIVING OF SOME OF THE CHASE COMPETITORS TOMORROW NIGHT
Not going to worry about it. It is what it is.

Jimmie Johnson
#48 Lowe's Chevrolet
24th position

We didn't make a qualifying lap earlier today like a lot of guys. We just focused on race runs. It's a nice pickup. I didn't expect to really pick up that much. I guess the track is cooling down. Picking up some speed. We'll take it for the Lowe's team and hopefully keep it in the top 15 and get a good pit stall for tomorrow night.

Tony Stewart
#20 The Home Depot Chevrolet
25th position

I got a little loose over there in (turn) three. It's just one lap. We've got 400 of them tomorrow.

Mike Wallace
#4 Lucas Oil/MusikMafia Chevrolet
26th position

We were a tenth and a half or two-tenths quicker than we had practiced. We were in the top 10 in practice. I don't think we'll end up in the top 10 in qualifying. I'm pleased we were able to pick up the speed. Of course you'd like to run a little quicker than that and you'd like to be in the top 10, but we're happy with it.

Dave Blaney
#07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet
27th position

I think we made some gains (since practice earlier). The track is a little cooler and a little better right now. We'll just see where it ends up. The car had a little bit more left in it. I made a little mistake that cost me but that's good enough for the Jack Daniel's Chevrolet.

Michael Waltrip
#15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
28th position

We've been struggling. I had a couple of problems. We had good speed in the car but haven't been able to get the push out of it. It's a bit frustrating but the guys will adjust whatever they allowed to for tomorrow night. It's fast, just needs to turn a little bit better.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
#8 Budweiser Chevrolet
29th position

HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
The track is in great condition. The car had a lot of grip. The car got a little bit free going into the corner. Overall, the car felt really good.

HOW WAS PRACTICE?
About the same, it was real hot, though. It was real slick. We fought a push in the center of the corner all day and at the end of the practice we solved 90% of that. I felt pretty good about my lap times all day. I feel like we have a car that can be real competitive.

Mike Bliss
#0 NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet
31st position

That pretty much sucked. We've been rubbing the front end since we've been here. The first lap rubbed so I gave up a little bit on the entry and then got on the gas and then broke loose and clipped the wall a little bit.

Bobby Hamilton, Jr.
#32 Tide Chevrolet
33rd position

It was okay. We were really, really tight all day long. Something in the front suspension that got it to cut better and it did. It just really lost forward bite. I think overall it got us in the show. Brand new car and everything. We're in the show, I think, so that's all we can ask for.

Scott Riggs
#10 Valvoline Chevrolet
37th position

It was okay. A little bit of a pickup for us but never got a chance to make a qualifying run. Got one try at it and had a left rear tire go flat on us the first lap. We put another set of tires on, went out there with five minutes left to go to scuff them in for this run. Never really got a chance to do a qualifying run. Just worked on race trim the whole time. We'll take but I think everyone will pick up a little bit. We'll start a little bit back but work our way up to the front.

Robby Gordon
#7 Jim Beam Black Chevrolet
38th position

That lap was okay. I think we picked up two and half tenths from where we were in practice. We did okay and now we've got to play the waiting game given that we're outside the top 35. Our car is really good in race trim which is most important but unfortunately we're outside the top 35 and we've got to get in the show.

Terry Labonte
#11 FedEx Kinko's Chevrolet
39th position

That wasn't very good. We don't have the car working good right now. I guess we're just stuck with it since you can't do any work on it after qualifying. We kind of struggled all day.