Where the Raybestos Rookies qualified at Kansas:
Ragan 18th
Montoya 21st
Menard 23rd
Reutimann 25th
Allmendinger DNQ

DAVID RAGAN IN THE No. 6 AAA INSURANCE FORD WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT KANSAS. “That was a good lap. In practice you’ve got guys that unload in qualifying trim and as the track gets hotter as the day goes on the track is going to slow down a little bit so it’s tough to back up at the end of practice what those guys ran in the beginning. We looked really bad on the sheet all practice long [Ragan was 39th] but I felt like our AAA Ford Fusion was driving pretty decent. We do 99 percent of practice in race runs and then throw a qualifying setup in it the last minute. We were very pleased with that lap. A lot of guys are slowing down and we picked up a little bit and it always helps to qualify up there in the top-15 or top-20 and we’ll go race ‘em on Sunday.” DID THE DRAW HELP YOU? “Oh yeah, the draw helped us a little bit. We were right there in the middle. I think the track temperature was 108 when qualifying started and it was 107 when we went out. A lot of times that just plays with your mind. It probably helps us in our mind more than it really helps us on anything else.” YOU ARE GOING FROM TRADITIONAL NEXTEL CUP CAR TO TRADITIONAL BUSCH CAR. “Yeah and we’re working really hard on trying to setup our Busch car like we do our Cup car. Certainly the guys on the Cup team do an excellent job with chassis work and bodies and stuff and we’re trying to incorporate that on our Busch car so both of them drive somewhat similar. This is a good weekend for us. We need to kind of rebound after somewhat of a tough weekend last week.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, No. 42 TEXACO/HAVOLINE DODGE: “Terrible, just tight. In practice we were really good. The last run in practice we did some changes and it went really tight so we went back. It just washed out in three and four. One and two was pretty decent but it’s been like that all morning. The track is starting to get faster and if it actually does we’re in trouble.” COMMENT ON JACQUES VILLENEUVE’S PLANS TO MAKE HIS NEXTEL CUP DEBUT AT TALLADEGA NEXT WEEK. “I’m surprised they do it so early, especially at a place like Talladega. But, hey, it’s not my problem. I think he has that experience level. I think he’ll be fine. When you go four-wide around him it’s a very different experience, from anything he’s experienced because what he experienced he hasn’t experienced it before. The Car of Tomorrow is probably easier than these cars.” IF YOU HAD MADE YOUR DEBUT SO EARLY, WOULD THAT HAVE STUNTED YOUR LEARNING CURVE? “I would have been surprised that they would have taken me to Talladega that early. But what we did is what we did, what they want to do is what they want to do. If they feel they’re comfortable enough to take him there then they should do it.” COMMENT ON YOUR QUALIFYING RUN. “I thought it was pretty decent, just really tight through three and four. Even at the start of the lap, I knew we were going to be really tight through there. But hey, it’s the same for everybody, I guess. You always try [to qualify well]. One of our focus is race trim, to be competitive in the race, where like the 48 today and last week, the only thing they’ve done is qualifying runs.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 DOMINOS.COM TOYOTA: “You tape it up and stuff so it’s only going to run one lap and the tires fall off so bad that one lap is all you’re to get anyway. I just hope it’s good enough. We just have to wait around, I guess, for some of other guys to go. Hopefully that sun stays up there and doesn’t get any cooler because if it does we’re probably going to suffer some. We’ve got to outrun four and we’ve outrun two so far. Two down and two to go, I guess.” IS QUALIFYING WITH THE TRADITIONAL CAR LESS DIFFICULT VERSUS THE COT? “Naw, it’s all difficult no matter what you’re driving. The pressure is the same. The COT stuff is a little bit more unforgiving because of the configuration of the cars. I just pray that’ll be good enough.”

PAUL MENARD, No. 15 MENARDS/JOHNS MANVILLE CHEVROLET: “It’s decent. A lot of guys slowed down a lot more than we did. We slowed down about a tenth and you see a lot of guys slow down three or four tenths. Early draw is never good but it’s pretty decent. We got the car driving better. Like I said, the draw hurt us. With THE COT car we qualified good at New Hampshire and we could run about 20th all day long where Dover we qualified in the back and we ran in the back all day long. Doesn’t matter where you are, track position is big, especially a big, fast track like this where aero comes into play.” DOES THE EXTRA TRACK TIME IN THE BUSCH CAR THIS WEEKEND HELP YOU OR PUTS YOU AT A DISADVANTAGE? “I think a little bit of both. It kind of distracts you a little bit from your number one objective which is the Cup car but at the same time you learn a little bit. You can’t translate setups but you can translate what the right rear spring does or what air pressure does pretty thoroughly.” WILL TIRE WEAR BE A FACTOR HERE IN THE RACE? “It seems like tires drop off quite a bit. I don’t think they wear out but they get hot and loose sticky. New tires will be good.”