Race 2 Win: Coca-Cola 600 - Rookie Saturday Quotes

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Coca-Cola 600 - Rookie Saturday Quotes

J.J. YELEY IN THE No. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET WILL START FOURTH IN SUNDAY NIGHT’S COCA-COLA 600 AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY.
Notes:

Yeley posted his fourth top-five start in 12 NEXTEL Cup races this season. He has been the top Raybestos Rookie qualifier in six times in 2006: California, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Texas, Martinsville, Talladega and Charlotte.

Yeley’s No. 18 Chevrolet carries associate sponsorship from WIX Filters. Raybestos and WIX Filters are corporate siblings in the Affinia Under Vehicle Group.

YELEY: YOU QUALIFIED VERY WELL IN YOUR BACKUP CAR. “Backup car? This was the primary car from last week [smiles]. You know, I wish you guys gave Raybestos Rookie points for qualifying because then I would be dominating the rookie standings. It’s all a tribute to the crew. Like you said, I got in trouble and crashed the primary car, which aero-wise was probably better than this car. This is the same car that we ran in the Open. This car is very good by itself. It was a little bit tighter in traffic I’m sure that’s going to hurt us once we get into the race but this race is so long that and it’s going to get so strung out that we’re going to be just fine. Anymore it doesn’t matter, especially on the Cup side. The backup car is still the primary on some other racetrack so it’s not like you’re going from a 100 percent car to an 80 percent car. They’re all great racecars. We put the same setup in it. They guys worked really hard to get thing ready to go out there. The racetrack changed so dramatically from day to night that everyone was basically getting into a new racecar to go out and qualify. The last thing that I asked the crew chief before I went out to qualify was ‘Is it going to stick?’ and he said yes, so if I crashed it all the blame was going to be on him.” EARLIER IN YOUR CAREER YOU RACED IN THE INDIANAPOLIS 500. DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE RACING IN THE 600 ON MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND? ARE YOU HAVING WITHDRAWAL? “No, there’s no withdrawals [smiles]. I got to go to the IRL because that was the first opportunity that I got a chance at. If I had gotten the opportunity to choose between going to a stock car, NASCAR, and going to the IRL and Indy cars, I would have chosen NASCAR, only for the fact that you get to race more and that it’s a better fit for the kind of racing that I’m used to doing. I’m glad that I got to do the Indianapolis 500. It’s a dream come true and it will always be one of the greatest accomplishments that I will ever be able to do in racing. But I’m not disappointed by any means not being there this weekend. I’m definitely more proud to be here running the Coca-Cola 600 than running the Indianapolis 500.” YOU ARE THE SURPRISE OF THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE CLASS. ARE YOU PLEASANTLY SURPRISED WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE ON THE TRACK THIS SEASON? “No, I’m not surprised at all. I know this is a great race team and they’ve been together for a long time, other than Steve Addington being a new addition to the team from when Bobby was still here. The equipment is the same between all three teams. It’s just a matter of trying to find the right combinations and I think me and Steve work very well together. I wish we could have some of the finishes back that we should have. We should have three more top-10 that we lost from getting taken out in the last 50 laps of races that weren’t our fault. There were a couple of mistakes that I made at Texas that cost us a good finish. We’re still in the hunt for Raybestos Rookie of the Year. I think if everything would have went as planned we would be leading or close. Denny hasn’t had a lot of misfortune. A lot of things have gone his way and that’s why he’s leading the points. He’s been more consistent than any of the Raybestos Rookies.” ARE YOU TO THE POINT WHERE YOU ARE DISAPPOINTED IF YOU DO NOT FINISH IN THE TOP-10? “Absolutely. I’m going to be satisfied to run in the top-10 but I want to run in the top-five and I want to get to where we can run top-10 every week to where I can be disappointed with a ninth-place finish or eighth-place finish. I think this team is more capable of it; it’s just a matter of getting back to that. We’ve had some bad runs and gone to some racetracks that weren’t my favorites or racetracks that I haven’t been to and I’ve been looking forward to getting back to the mile-and-a-halfs. Michigan is coming up and that’s probably my favorite racetrack of the racetracks that I’ve been to. We’re coming to the racetracks that are going to be a lot of fun for me, but I know that we’ll be able to perform very well at.”

STEVE ADDINGTON, CREW CHIEF, No. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET: “This is the car that we brought for the Open last weekend and felt pretty good about it. That’s why we took it back and turned it around to be a backup car and felt really confident in the car. J.J. did an awesome job.” AS A CREW CHIEF, IS THE 600 GOING TO BE A STRANGE RACE? “I think everybody is kind of wondering what’s going to happen here. There’s going to be stops with no tires, stops for right sides only. Everybody is going to be in the same boat trying to figure out how it’s going to play out.” YOU MUST BE PROUD OF THE TEAM FOR PREPARING THE BACKUP CAR SO QUICKLY ON THURSDAY. “I’m really proud of the whole team. Everybody stepped up to the plate. We had guys from the 20 and the 11 over here helping get stuff off that car back up on to the backup car. It was a big team effort by Joe Gibbs Racing. We even got Jimmy Makar’s hands dirty this time. I’m really proud of the race team. We brought a different car back for the 600 and we thought it was a little bit better, aero-wise. We put a setup in it that we qualified impound race last weekend for the Open and put the setup in it for what we thought this car would take to make it better qualifying. It worked out for us.” IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP THIS CAR AERODYNAMICALLY? “We were real conservative with our tape and just tried to get our fenders and out aero balance right with our springs and shocks. I think we can make it better. It’s a long race and we’ll get to play with our air pressures. That was a sprint race the other night and it was one shot at it and we never pitted. I think we can make the car better tweaking a few things there.” IS TRACK POSITION GOING TO BE CRITICAL? “You’re going to get out there and just don’t want to give up anything. Be smart and not make any dumb moves and be there at the end of the race and start getting yourself in position. With 150 laps to go, you’re going to have to start working yourself into position to win the race.” IS IT A SITUATION WHERE THE DRIVER AND TEAM HAVE TO BE GOOD ALL NIGHT ON THE PIT STOPS? “Our guys that go over the wall, they’ve been doing an awesome job. They just lack a little bit of consistency and we’ve got to be consistent all night long just to maintain our track position that we have and we’ll see how it works out. They’ve been working really hard and they should be ready for the test.” WILL THE TRACK CHANGE A LOT AS NORMAL? “Oh yeah, yeah. There’s a lot of people slipping and sliding. But we’re just going take the first session and scuff our tires and get ready to tune our car for the second practice.”

PETER JELLEN, TRUCK DRIVER FOR THE No. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET WON THE MOST RECENT SEGMENT OF THE PILOT TRAVEL CENTERS TRUCK DRIVER CHALLENGE EARLIER THIS WEEK. “I won the last chicane race down at Fort Mill at Knight’s Stadium. I’m hoping that the win this past Monday get me up closer to the lead in the standings. I want to capitalize on this contest so I can send my daughter Jennifer to school down the road. That’s where the winnings are going to go, to her college fund. Pilot offers a chicane course, a safety course, they check driving records, logbooks, and check throughout the year a different variety of things that truck drivers are required to do and you get various points for that. The competition is stiff this year but hopefully I can get one up on them.” IS THAT A FAIR MEASURE FOR WHAT YOU GUYS DO? “I think it’s very fair. I think Pilot did a very good job. Some guys are good at the driving course; some guys are better and other stuff. It opens the doors for everybody. It’s not just a set thing. Everyone has a different skill level. I know we’re all good at our profession and Pilot is a great company that supports the program.” IS THIS A CONTEST THAT EVERY DRIVER WANTS TO WIN? “Well, everybody want to win money [smiles] but it’s the ones that go after it. It’s there for the taking and if you don’t go for it, you don’t get it. The best man wins and it’s there for the taking.” HOW SPECIAL WOULD IT BE FOR THIS TEAM IF J.J. YELEY WINS RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR? “It would be very special. I don’t think the championship is in our grasp this year so Raybestos Rookie of the Year is the next best thing. It would be a good feather in J.J.’s cap.”

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