Where the Raybestos Rookies qualified at Darlington:
Reutimann 14th
Allmendinger 20th
Menard 23rd
Ragan 24th
Montoya 41st

DAVID REUTIMANN IN THE No. 00 DOMINO’S TOYOTA WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT DARLINGTON. “That’s a really good lap for everybody on the whole Domino’s/Michael Waltrip Racing team. We were off a little bit. We were a little bit tight there and it kind of cost us some speed. Other than that it was pretty cool. I’m happy with my guys. They brought me another great car and hopefully we’re going to get in the race. I’m thinking that’ll be good enough to get us in, I hope. If that’s the case our main goal is just to race on Saturday. We’ve been able to qualify for these deals but we haven’t run very well in ‘em. If we can consistently get in these races more and more, we’ll start running better more and more. My guys have been really working hard. Even in the bad times they have never given up on me and I’m certainly not going to give up on them so we’ll keep digging here and see if we can make something happen out of this deal yet.” DO YOU LIKE DARLINGTON? “No [smiles]. I mean, I can’t say that I don’t like it, it’s just a racetrack that I don’t have any experience at. And racetracks that you don’t have any experience at generally you tend to shy away from a little bit. I hope I’ll like it a whole lot better come Saturday night.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, No. 42 TEXACO/HAVOLINE DODGE: “It was just too loose. It was good in practice and we even tightened it up a little bit. In the middle of 1 and 2 when I went to get out of the gas it just got out of my hands and was just way too loose.” CAN YOU COMPARE RACING THESE CARS AT DARLINGTON TO ANYTHING YOU’VE DONE ON THE PAST? “Ah no, not really. It’s just very different. It’s fun.”

PAUL MENARD, No. 15 MENARDS/MOEN CHEVROLET: “I don’t know. The 22 and the 10 were both ahead of us in practice and we beat them. The big factor is if it’s going to cool off and if the track is going to pick up speed. Everything we’ve seen it’s supposed to be hotter around 5 o’clock yet. So hopefully the sun stays out and the track doesn’t get any faster.” THE EXTRA LAPS YOU GET HERE THIS WEEKEND IN THE BUSCH CAR MUST HELP YOU. “That’s what we’re thinking. The cars are totally different, setups are totally different but laps around this place can only help you. I think our Busch car is awesome and if we get in this race we’ll happy hour the Cup car and try to make it awesome.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 84 RED BULL TOYOTA: “It helps when you close your eyes and you just hold your breath. My God, I’m shaking still. I don’t even know what to say about this place, honestly. I had to hold my breath. I got out of the car and I was shaking, trying to get my breath back. I’m just happy to be in. I just want to thank my whole team. The 84 crew, they’re awesome, everybody back and the shop, Toyota. It’s a lot of work in progress. We’ve still got a lot of work to do but hey, the way we’re going to do that is make races and we’re in.” CAN YOU COMPARE RACING HERE AT DARLINGTON TO ANYTHING YOU’VE DONE IN YOUR CAREER? “I would say jumping off a cliff, basically, because that’s about what it feels like. You dove off into Turn 1 and it’s sliding. They’re telling you that you should get back to throttle and you’re telling ‘em there’s no way in hell you’re going to get back to throttle. Sitting watching everybody run into the wall while I’m sitting in my car probably wasn’t helping. This is crazy. This is ridiculous that we have to qualify at this place. I’m just so happy to be in. I made Richmond and Bristol and a lot of it was because we tested. Martinsville I couldn’t tell you why. I don’t know how we got in that race and here just because we’re working hard and we’re testing. We’re getting it better. We still need some improvement but we’re getting better.”

FRANKIE KERR, CREW CHIEF, No. 00 DOMINO’S TOYOTA: “We thought we’d be just a little better than that. We practiced better than that and it was just too tight and he had to roll out of the throttle just a little bit. We can home here and actually race tomorrow so I’m happy with that.” YOU HAVE RUN WELL HERE FROM THE FIRST LAP IN PRACTICE. THAT MUST BE ENCOURAGING TO THE TEAM. “It really is. We unloaded fast and this is a brand new car. I’m really happy with that. I think things are coming around for the Domino’s car. David has only driven what, five or six Cup races in his life so it’s a big thing for him, too. I think everything is coming around.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 6 AAA TRAVEL FORD: “Our racecar is pretty good and I didn’t want to take any crazy chances out there and rearrange any right-side decals just yet [smiles]. I probably left a half a tenth or a tenth out on the table but we’ll take that. Certainly 500 miles here you can start deal last and still be alright I think.” HOW DIFFICULT IS THIS TRACK? “It’s easy to go fast but it get difficult by lap 3 and then you throw a couple more cars on the racetrack and it gets really difficult. If it was just us here at a test session it would be fine and with plenty of tires, but we’ve got a 500-mile race and we can’t make pit stops every 10 laps. It’s going to be tough. It will be, mentally, the toughest race that I’ve been a part of this year. It’ll be right up there with Bristol and Daytona. It’s going to be tough but we’re going to have some fun.” YOU ARE COMPETING IN THE BUSCH RACE THIS WEEKEND. DOES THE EXTRA TRACK TIME HELP YOU HERE MORE THAN ANY OTHER TRACK? “It’ll help, I don’t know how much because the Busch cars do drive a lot better. They’ve got more downforce, less horsepower so you’ll have a better tire at the end of the run. The biggest thing is just going out there racing with Tony Stewart and Kenseth and Carl Edwards. It’ll be cool racing with them.”

REUTIMANN PRESS CONFERENCE

“I’m glad to make the race. That’s all we came here to do to begin with. We kind of had thoughts that we might have an opportunity for a pole after practice but the reality of it all is that you have to be conservative and try not to knock the wall down, which I’m prone to do at any racetrack we go to. It was a good lap. It was little bit tight but we’re in solid so that’s kind of what we’re trying for.” YOU HAVE HAD A LOT MORE SUCCESS QUALIFYING THAN YOUR TEAMMATES. “I don’t know. I’m not real bright so I tend to overdrive stuff everywhere so maybe a run a little faster in qualifying. I don’t know. I don’t have an answer. I’m sure we all wonder why. It’s just unfortunate for our organization that we haven’t been able to get the cars into the field because when we have all three cars in the field then we’re able to learn more rather than just me. I don’t know how much I’m helping our cause. It’s just unfortunate.” YOUR DAD IS HERE THIS WEEKEND. DOES THAT HELP YOU? “It’s always good to have my Dad around. He’s really good at telling me what I’m doing wrong, even though he’s never driven a Cup car or anything like that [smiles]. He’s here helping my cousin. My cousin ran second in the Silver Crown race last night and I just enjoy having him around. He’s a great guy. He just turned 66 the other day and I bought him a new dirt car for his birthday so he’s all ready to go. He likes it when I get in these races because that’s more money for his racing program.”