MONTOYA: “I got into the corner too slow and came out sideways. I knew the second lap wasn’t going to be faster. All we practiced in the morning was one lap and that was good. It was a little bit on the loose side and some of the guys were tugging the wheel coming out of four. The last time here we started 30-something and we’re second right now so it’s half-decent, I guess. I’ve got to be pleased with that. The car is handling pretty good today. We were quick from the get-go today. It’s a bit of a shame because we got a little too tight there that last corner.” HOW BIG OF A FACTOR IS JUST GETTING MORE LAPS AT THIS TRACK? “That’s a lot. A lot is me and a lot is the team. The team is just stepping it up every week and we’re running stronger and stronger. This is a nice disappointment. Some days you are disappointed when you qualify 35th and now I’m disappointed because I’m second.” DO YOU HAVE ANY STRATEGY FOR THE RACE? “You know, starting out here is so much easier. You don’t have to worry about getting lapped. I think you can just get in your own rhythm and let the laps go by.” DO YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE IN THE TRACK? “Oh yeah. I don’t know if you saw my car but I’m running way high and it worked. In race trim I tried the bottom and high and you can run everywhere. Before if you weren’t in the bottom you stunk. I think it changed a little bit the way you get into the corner. Where the back starts is a lot nicer for racing.” WHAT DO YOU THINK OF JACQUES VILLENEUVE COMING OVER HERE? “I think it’s cool. I think it’s nice to see Jacques and hopefully he does well. If I can help in any way I will. He’s a nice guy.” DO YOU THINK HE’LL ADJUST TO THIS QUICKLY? “I don’t know. For me, I think he’ll adjust pretty quickly. Hopefully he does. He’s going to have a bit of a shock his first few races but when he gets used to it he’ll like it.” IS EVERTHING COOL BETWEEN YOU GUYS? “Yeah, the first few years were rough but at the end we had a good relationship.” HAVE YOU OPENED THE DOOR FOR MORE F1 GUYS? “I think I opened the door for a lot more people, not from Formula One but people that are afraid coming to NASCAR because they thought ‘Aw, it’s so much different nobody can do it.’ Myself being competitive I think people are saying ‘Man, this is the sport to be in’ and I think in a way it’s good for NASCAR because it’s going to become the sport to be in and I think it is. I think I was smart enough to come here early enough.” DO YOU THINK VILLENEUVE GOT TIRED OF THE LACK OF PASSING? “He was a little bit like me. You know, he likes racing and he’s an aggressive guy and I think he’ll like it. I’m sure he will like it.” YOU GUYS WERE IN THE SAME BOAT WHERE HIS REPUTATION TOOK A HIT UNFAIRLY. “We both run hard and people don’t like that. I guess people here like it. Some do, some don’t but I think the fans love it.” IS THERE ANY ADVICE THAT YOU WOULD GIVE HIM? “Just be patient. You’ve got to be patient. There’s going to be weeks where you’re going to run bad and you’ve got to learn that that’s all you can do.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 6 AAA INSURANCE FORD: “That’s a little pick up from practice. When you get that close you want to get a little better and have a shot at the pole but a top-five, top-10 qualifying effort here at Bristol is always good. I feel like our car is pretty good in race runs too so time will tell. We’ll see how this final practice goes and hopefully our AAA Ford keeps turning good and keep some good speed in it and it’ll be a fun 500 laps on Saturday.” THE FACT THAT YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF LAPS THIS WEEKEND IN THE BUSCH CAR MUST HAVE HELPED YOUR CUP PROGRAM. “It’s a new track. It’s Bristol, it’s a half-mile concrete but there’s a lot of new characteristics and I’m sure guys like Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch, guys like that that get around this place pretty good, they’ll tell ya that the track’s is a little more forgiving to an ill-handling car. If you don’t have the perfect car you can move up or move down or touch the apron or run up high so I look forward to learning some in tonight’s race and using it in Saturday night’s race.”

SELECTED MONTOYA PRESS CONFERENCE

COMMENT ON JACQUES VILLENEUVE MOVING TO NASCAR. “Yeah, we have a lot of history together and at the end we have a very good relationship and I think it’s nice. I think he’s going to like it. He was the same kind of guy like me that I think he hated all the amount of BS involved in F1 and how stiff everybody was in a way. I think here people are a little more friendly. All the drivers, you can talk to people. You can go to X-guy and Y-guy to the motorhomes and you talk to them and you see them and I think that’s really nice. There is not like this team is here and I think the way they do with the points that every week you’ve got nearly every week with somebody different beside me. And I think that’s really nice because you get to know everybody. You’ve just got to be patient. There’s going to be good, bad and evil races. Especially at the beginning, I think at the beginning you’ve got to give a lot and see how people run and you’ll learn. People at the beginning don’t give you too much room and then when they see you give your room they’ll give you room and it works pretty good.” YOU ADAPT QUICKLY TO TRACK CONDITIONS THROUGH THE WEEKENDS. DO YOU FEEL THAT THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON IS GOING TO BE THAT MUCH EASIER FOR YOU? “In a way it’s easier because when we’ve got to places and we’ve got a bit of an idea of what we run there before so the starting point is better. I know what I need to go in or what part of the track not to go to. Learning a new racetrack for me was like ‘Ooh, they run all the way to wall. How do I get all the way up there?’ Honestly, and man, once you get there, you get comfortable. I’ll give you an example. Most of last few races we’ve been running the bottom and Michigan I couldn’t get all the way to the wall. I was a lane from the wall and I think ‘Whoo, that’s close enough for me.’ It’s interesting.” THIS TRACK IS KNOWN FOR AGGRESSIVE DRIVING. WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH TO IT? “Where I’m starting I think is great. I think everybody is in the front and nobody wants to get in trouble. You know, if you’re up there you’ve got to have a smart race and that’s the plan, to stay up there all day and run our race. And if we can do that I think we’ll be fine. I think the aggression starts from like the guys running 30th to the back because when the leaders are coming it’s like ‘Man, I don’t want to get lapped’ and people start getting desperate. And I think when you run in the front the pace is faster and you’re easier on the car and hopefully we can stay up there for the whole race.”