Kevin Harvick
#29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet
2nd-place qualifying lap was disallowed, will start 42nd
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
It was a good lap for our GM Goodwrench Chevrolet. I don't know if it's good enough or what. We've got plenty of time to sit around and watch. Our guys always do a really good job preparing fast cars for us when we come to superspeedways. I'm just looking forward to trying to get this car into Victory Lane on Sunday.
IF YOU GET A GOOD PIT SELECTION, WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR HERE?
I think you also have to think about taking off under green flag pit stops and being able to get your pit road speed. So there are a few things you need to take into consideration.
PRESS CONFERENCE
I know I feel very fortunate to drive the cars that I drive when we come to these superspeedways. They're always really fast and they have a lot of tricks up their sleeves for qualifying. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy it. I know some people don't enjoy it and sometimes you wreck. But it's still pretty fun to go out and go around.
DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE OVERDUE TO WIN A RESTRICTOR PLATE RACE?
We've been really fortunate to run well and finish well here and I think we've finished second a few times here. We haven't quite had the luck on the superspeedways that we've had over the past couple of years. I think we've wrecked every race this year. But luckily we've wrecked late and still finished okay. So hopefully it'll come soon. But we can't make it happen. We've just got to keep trying.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN PIT SELECTION HERE?
I think this place is a little bit different just for the fact that you're probably going to do some green flag stops and you want to be able to get your car up to speed by the time you get to pit road.
BEING OUTSIDE OF THE CHASE, WHAT ARE THE GOALS FOR THE LAST 10 RACES?
There are some good goals. I think a lot of people read too many Lee Spencer columns and don't really know what's going on. It's one of those things where we have a good goal to battle for 11th and I think it's realistic and we can go forward.
WITH TALLADEGA BEING PART OF THE CHASE, IS THERE MORE EMPHASIS PUT ON DEVEOPING YOUR SUPERSPEEDWAY PROGRAM?
We develop our superspeedway programs year round. We constantly build new cars. We constantly wreck cars. So we have to build new cars. It's an evolution process. The engines get better. The cars get better. And ever time it seems like you find a little bit here and there to make everything better. It's something that never ends. Most of the teams have full time dedicated people to just the restrictor plate stuff. So if this race was in or out of the Chase, it doesn't matter. We'd still put the same effort into it.
USING DOVER AS AN EXAMPLE, DO YOU GENERALLY FAVOR A STRICT FOLLOWING OF A RULE BOOK? OR IS NASCAR DOING THE RIGHT THING TO HAVE A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO FACTOR LOGIC INTO THE RULE BOOK?
The frustrating part of this is the car that won the race last week (No. 48 Johnson) has already been through this issue once. It was pretty obvious (reference to Dover). You could stick your whole head inside the left rear fender. You could go around the race track and the things were two or three inches higher than the rest of our cars.
Jim Hunter
NASCAR spokesman
Addressed the media following qualifying with the following comment:
"The No. 29 car's qualifying time has been disallowed. He (Harvick) will start Sunday's race from the rear. There were a couple of things in the rear area of the car did not comply with post-qualifying inspection. The trunk area was not sealed properly. It was not vented to the outside as prescribed in the rulebook. The shock doors inside the trunk area were opened and not secured. So there were several violations in the trunk area of the car. So there will probably be penalties coming out the first of the week. But that's why."
Tony Stewart
#20 The Home Depot Chevrolet
5th position
This is the same car we won the 400 with, so it drove really good. It's the same package and everything, so I think we're going to be alright.
HOW HAS YOUR COMFORT LEVEL WITH RESTRICTOR PLACE RACING CHANGED SINCE YOU ENTERED THIS SPORT?
I don't know. I've always been comfortable with it. I haven't always liked it. But, I've always been comfortable with our package and the way our cars have driven. Dale Jr. and I have always had a lot of success at this place, so we hope we can have a similar weekend like we have in the past. If we can't win, hopefully we can get in the top two.
Joe Nemechek
#01 U.S. Army Chevrolet
6th position
That's not a bad lap for us. We definitely wanted to go quicker, but I think the wind is blowing a little bit harder now down the backstretch and that really seems to affect the times more than it did this morning. I think that's where our speed went.
ON A GOOD PIT SELECTION FOR SUNDAY'S RACE
It's definitely a good run. Hopefully we'll stay there in the top 10. A lot here doesn't matter where you start as long as your car drives good. You're going to have a good day. I'm really proud of this whole US Army team and all the men and women out there who are serving our country and protecting our freedom.
Bobby Labonte
#18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet
7th position
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
It was good. I just can't thank enough everyone who works on the Interstate Batteries Chevrolet. They did a great job testing. They've been down here and worked real hard at it and I hope the other Gibbs cars can be faster and faster. That would be really exciting for the whole team. Hard work by the guys and the speedway program is getting better and better.
Jimmie Johnson
#48 Lowe's Chevrolet
10th position
GOOD LAP OUT THERE
I'm very pleased with it. The guys went back and worked on the car and found some things to pick up some speed, so I'm very happy with that. Now the key is, hopefully nobody else picks up some speed and we can move up the speed charts. But, we'll see. Great effort for the Lowe's team and we'll see where we end up.
AFTER LAST WEEKEND, IT APPEARS YOUR TEAM IS BACK
Yeah, definitely. It's been a slow few months but we've been strategically working on our testing and what we were going to test to get in the final 10. We've got a lot of help from our teammates; a lot of help from the #48 Lowe's shop. We've got things where we need them. We won last weekend and we're where we need to be.
TALK ABOUT THE SHOCKS FROM LAST WEEKEND AND THAT NASCAR MIGHT MAKE A RULE REGARDING THEIR FUTURE USE
You know, there is a lot hard work that goes into things to find an advantage and find something, some speed, some something. And evidently they saw something in there that they don't want to be out on the track, but I think the fact that there weren't any repercussions. We had a perfectly legal car through tech and went on. And it's just part of it. If you look at other crew chiefs, especially Chad over the years with springs and things, he's a very sharp man and he was able to develop things before other teams have been able to figure it out. So, we'll just go on.
DOES THIS MESS YOU GUYS UP FOR THE REST OF THE CHASE? WAS THIS TECHNOLOGY YOU GUYS WERE COUNTING ON?
No, not really. It's something we've been working with. To look at other cars, there are other people doing other things and what NASCAR is able to look at what they're doing as well, there might be rule changes to some cars. We've got a very good idea what our competition and we've got plenty of speed left. We've got a lot of test sessions left and we've been working hard to get things right.
Jeff Gordon
#24 DuPont Chevrolet
13th position
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
Well, it wasn't very good. That's really exactly the way we unloaded and we picked up a bit as it went on. I thought we could fast that we did run, so I was a little disappointed.
WILL WEATHER BEING COOLER CHANGE MUCH AS TO HOW THESE CARS DRIVE ON SUNDAY?
Today's qualifying day so it won't really affect much what happens on Sunday.
RE: DIFFERENCE IN DRAFTING AROUND OTHER TYPES OF CARS
It doesn't matter. Any car out there. I've never noticed whether a Chevrolet or Ford or Pontiac or whatever is out there, I've never noticed any of them to be different to draft around. Some cars push, some are a puller, some are better leading, some are better drafting. I hope our car is good out front.
Kyle Busch
#5 Kellogg's Chevrolet
14th position
It's been a good year for us, but you know we have some other competitors out there that just don't like the way we're going about things. We just have to work a little harder than they do and we'll get back after it.
HOW DIFFICULT IS RESTRICTOR PLATE RACING FOR A ROOKIE?
You just hold it to the floor and qualifying is pretty easy. Racing is a different story, of course. I'm just trying to get out there and get some time with the rest of the guys in drafting and things like that and gain some experience with the veterans out there. It's real tough when you don't have a very good car and you're back in the back of the field. Hopefully this week we'll be able to run somewhere in the middle -- maybe somewhere in the up front areas and how the skills are behind the wheel. Hopefully we'll be all right and get some experience. We're just trying to earn some respect from the veteran drivers getting to Daytona next year for the Shootout and the Daytona 500.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Well, it was a good day for us. It was very uneventful really. You go out and make your laps in practice and then you go out and make your laps in qualifying. You kind of see what you have. I wasn't expecting to be that good really, honestly. The guys did an awesome job with the Kellogg's Chevrolet. It's been kind of hard on those guys to come back to every restrictor plate race and build new cars. This is our fourth new restrictor plate car this year and it's the best one so far this year, too. I'm looking forward to the race on Sunday. It's just going to all come down to patience and having everyone play patience and being able to be there at the end and just riding around for 450 miles or so and then racing for the last 50. Keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble and everyone always talks about the Big One. Hopefully there isn't one or we stay out of it. So, we just want to run up front if we possibly can and help out our #48 teammate.
HAVE YOU TAKEN ANY ADVICE HERE FROM JEFF OR YOUR TEAMMATES REGARDING HOW TO FINISH AT RESTRICTOR PLATE RACES?
Well, it's not really the advice that's going to help out. You can use that to try to make yourself better but the main way to run well here is to have drafting partners out there and have friends and stuff like that. I've tried to use Jeff before and he dumps me off after about two laps with me getting him up with a couple of spots. And then Jimmie and I worked a little bit together but it's so hard to find your teammates out there and be able to work with them. So, at Talladega I didn't have anybody with me. At Daytona in July, we were running with Jeff there a little bit and like I said, he dumped me off. And then we found Jimmie for a little while and I ran with him. But it's so hard to run together in these races because you're trying to get yourself forward and not necessarily go backward. So you have to find some cars that you're able to run well with.
RE: ON THE TECH BULLETIN THAT'S COMING REGARDING THE SHOCK, SUSPENSION SETUP FROM LAST WEEKEND
I have not heard of a bulletin coming out, I have not seen one, so honestly I cannot comment about what exactly is in the bulletin or what exactly is supposed to be in the bulletin because it's not out. It's just one of those deals that everybody has to go through. It seems as though the DEI gang..this is a perfect scenario. The DEI gang has found something that really helps them on the restrictor plate races and they're able to dominate and do so well here and at Daytona. Probably three years or so they've been able to use whatever they use and win races and be the most dominant force. And know that we've caught up a little bit on our aero package, I'm not necessarily sure we're still as good as the DEI guys, but the downforce races, which plays most of the season, we've found a little bit of an advantage there. It's not necessarily that the other teams don't have the opportunity to find that,, it's that they haven't worked as hard as we have in order to find that. For any advantage to be taken away from me is honestly silly and I wish that they wouldn't come up with a bulletin. The reasons, whatever they may be, are plenty within the rules. Every shock piece that was in the body was legal. I have actually say there with them and watched them build it, so I know what's in it. I know the process of going through it. It's a pretty cool process. Nobody else is smart enough to figure it out.
RE: HELPING YOUR TEAMMATES ON THE TRACK. WHEN DOES THAT STRATEGY END AND WHEN DOES IT BECOME KYLE BUSCH'S RACE?
It becomes Kyle Busch's race when there's ten to go and I'm leading. That's how it happens. The #48. You know, trying to win my race at Dover last weekend which in essence, Jimmie was able to get the victory there. Of course, congratulations for him. I wanted to win that race for everyone on my team. But, it's cool to have Hendrick Motorsports finish one-two in any time. You want to help out your teammates as much as you can, especially since we have one car in the Chase. It's not necessarily a disadvantage, we just didn't have the opportunity to have the other three cars in the Chase as well as the #24 ran last year. But, I'm out there to help the #48 this week. This is one of those places where you can help somebody more so than you can at Dover. So that's the main reason I'm saying that-being able to get in behind Jimmie or maybe in front of him, however our cars work together. We'll try to pull each other up to the front and help each other out in some respect.
RE: YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS RACE AS OPPOSED TO IMPOUND
Impound races on a speedway are thumbs up-that's the way to go. This procedure here is not necessarily a favorite of mine. There is a disadvantage of that. If you're out there in the pack and drafting around and stuff like that in practice in an impound race and something happens and you bang up a race car and you're not able to get back out with enough time, you won't have any practice with it. That's the only downfall to it. The same thing can happen to tomorrow in final practice. You can get banged up and have to pull out your backup. In all respects it's a better procedure on a superspeedway than a place such as a Michigan or California or even a Charlotte or Texas. Those places are pretty difficult to qualify on in an impound procedure. Because you don't have the car feel you need in order to rip off a fast lap with comfort.
Martin Truex, Jr.
#1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
18th position
The guys did a good job. They put a lot of hard work and effort into these races. All we do is sit in there and hold the wheel and hold it to the floor. They've done a great job. They've found some speed. I think more than anything it's just holding a lot back. I'm real proud of the guys and proud of they're efforts because this is the car we wrecked here and so it's pretty much brand new. I look forward to racing on Sunday and having some fun with no pressure this weekend.
HOW IMPORTANT ARE THESE CUP STARTS FOR YOU IN PREPARING FOR A FULL SEASON NEXT YEAR?
Well, they're real important to get our feet wet and see how we stack up against the competition and see what we need to work on over the winter. We ran real strong in our few other outings this year in the Cup series and hopefully we do that again on Sunday.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
#8 Budweiser Chevrolet
21st position
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
Yeah, we didn't think we'd pick up at all, so just to pick up a little bit helps. We haven't been fast today by ourselves but we'll be real good in the draft tomorrow. We'll be fast in the race. But, the car don't run good by itself for some reason. We're not too worried about it. We'll just have to hope there's no big crash and we can drive to the front there in about 10-15 laps.
WHAT ABOUT THE SPOTTERS HERE?
Well, they just have to have a lot of patience, because their drivers are going to cuss at them a lot. They just have to be able to let that stuff bounce off of them and try to work together with the guys in the pits and the driver on the race track.
RE: GETTING AN EARLY START WITH TONY JR. FOR NEXT YEAR
You know, it's good to be working together. He's got a lot of setup stuff that he's ran this year that I haven't had a chance to be involved in and it gives me a chance to run some of that stuff. Hopefully it will be better for next year.
Robby Gordon
#7 Menard's Chevrolet
23rd position
We're pretty happy with that. The Menard's Chevrolet is a lot better than it was when we were here last year. The engine shop has gotten better. We've gotten a little bit better with our preparations and the way we roll through templates and stuff like that. It's been a pretty smooth weekend so far.
HOW IMPORANT ARE THE LAST EIGHT RACES AS YOU LOOK AHEAD TO NEXT YEAR?
There are a lot of things that are important for us right now. Building our team for 2006 is important and trying new players. We want to keep the ones we feel are very valuable for our company as well and just try to get the best result we can and try to build some momentum so we can start the 2006 season with a little bit of confidence. We started the 2005 season without very much and we went home from Daytona.
Brian Vickers
#25 GMAC Chevrolet
28th position
This is the second time we've run this car. We ran this car at Daytona. We've had it for a while. It's turned out good. We knocked the fender in on it at Daytona. Ryan Newman came across pit road and hit us. I think it will race good. It raced really well last time. It wasn't the best qualifying time. I think that's what we're going to see this time.
Mike Skinner
#00 Aaron's Chevrolet
32nd position
We got the luck of the draw. We had shadows on the front stretch. I just can't thank Michael Waltrip enough for giving me the opportunity to drive the Dream Machine. I know he's got family that he don't even let drive the Dream Machine, so I feel really honored to have this opportunity.
A LATE DRAW HERE CAN BE PRETTY BIG, CAN'T IT?
Oh, absolutely. If you've got a good car, it's not near as important. But if you're borderline, a tenth is what you need. Toward the end of practice, we only ran a .58 so when we ran the .51, it was early in the practice. So the race track lost a little bit of time. And then it got it back. I feel like the track was good for us. The wind wasn't bad. The car drove pretty good. They never drive good in this qualifying trim. So hopefully we'll get to race on Sunday. Man, that's really cool.
