RAGAN: THIS IS A PRETTY GOOD STARTING SPOT. “Yeah, if we can just stay there now. Six hundred miles is a long way to go. Certainly there’s a lot of great cars back there in the mid-20s and 30s. I don’t know if we have a 10th-place car or 15th-place car but we’ll certainly work on it and hopefully we’ll get a good pit stall selection. I don’t know what to think. It’s a good lap but we’ll just have to play it by ear.” A LOT OF GUYS WERE SPINNING AND WRECKING DURING QUALIFYING. DOES THAT PLAY WITH YOU BEFORE YOU GO OUT? “It does a little bit but that might help me. I was a little conservative and we went faster so maybe I need to learn a lesson. If I would have went out there and tried to go too fast and pushed up the track we might be sitting 35th now so maybe I need to remember that conservative act every week before qualifying. But, you know, this was out plan all along to bring this car, the same car we tested out here and this has been our main car on the mile-and-a-halfs and two-mile tracks this year.” We’re pleased with that but we want to get a top-15 finish on Sunday.” THESE TYPE TRACKS LIKE DAVID RAGAN. “I like these tracks and I like the speeds. The biggest thing is just a good car to drive. A guy that’s running 30th can get in Jimmie Johnson’s car here and go fast. All the drivers in the Cup garage are good drivers or they wouldn’t be here so it’s totally what kind of car you have and what setup you have for that given night. Some of it’s me but a bigger percentage is the team and the engine shop and the crew chief.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 84 RED BULL TOYOTA: YOU ARE RUNNING WELL HERE AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY. “You know, I just think we’ve got a lot of laps on it. It’s kind of like Bristol and Richmond and these places, all these things are new to me. I’m able to come here and be comfortable and at least understand the track and get after it. I’m happy we got in the race for the guys. Honestly I’m still a little disappointed about where we ended up and how we did. The early draw killed us for sure. I think if we’d have ran as late as some of these guys we’d have been up there further. The lap felt okay and wasn’t anything fantastic. I didn’t want to have to cut it this close and have to wait but the important thing is that we’re in the race and we’ve got 400 laps to figure it out.” HOW DIFFICULT HAS IT BEEN TO GO FROM WINNING RACES IN CHAMP CAR TO NASCAR NEXTEL CUP? “It’s not that hard because, you know, this is the best of the best. It’s how you set your goals. At a Champ Car race if you didn’t run top-five or get on the podium in top-three that was a bad day. Heck, to make the race you’re happy and it’s all in goals. We know how tough this is and we understand what we’re up against as a new team, as a new manufacturer. To make the race, run top-20, top-25, if I could come out of Sunday night with a top-20 finish to me that is a win. That almost gives me more satisfaction and excitement than if I were to go win a Champ Car race because there’s 50 tough guys and unfortunately they only take 43. And when you get against the 43 there’s no ‘Oh these guys will fall to the back.’ You don’t know every weekend. It’s all about how you set your goals.” YOU QUALIFIED FOR RACES AT MARTINSVILLE, BRISTOL, DARLINGTON AND HERE. YOU SEEM TO BE GETTING BETTER AND BETTER AT DIFFICULT TRACKS. “I think the reason that we’re better than early in the year is just laps. Fontana, maybe not the toughest place but it was my second track. Atlanta, I think we could have been in we just didn’t get a chance and Vegas, we should have been in if we didn’t get an early draw again. But it’s just comfort level. I’m kind of understanding what I need to feel. When the car gets loose it doesn’t scare the living daylights out of me anymore. It still scares me but at least now I stay in the throttle instead of hitting the brakes. It’s just comfort. I don’t expect when we go back to places like Vegas and Fontana and these places that we shouldn’t make those races too just based on experience.” WHAT WOULD A GOOD RUN HERE SUNDAY NIGHT MEAN FOR YOU AND THE TEAM? “I think although tonight was close in qualifying, we’re starting to figure the qualifying thing out. We need to get better in the race. I need to get better and understand how long these races are and pace myself early on. I hate getting passed, and in the Champ Car races if you’re getting passed it was a bad day. In this, I’ve got to understand that it’s okay to get passed. You’ve plenty of time to fix it and go again. We need to get the car better to start races but, like I said, top-25 would be well done. Top-20 would be fantastic so if we could do that, just more momentum our way.”