Where the Raybestos Rookies qualified at Martinsville:
Reutimann 19th
Allmendinger 25th
Montoya 26th
Menard 35th
Ragan 43rd
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, No. 42 TEXACO/HAVOLINE DODGE: “Pretty tight and I lost quite a bit of time in one and two, and at first off I went in really hard and was trying to use the tires and everything and I was just very tight. The second lap I backed up and even like that I still couldn’t get out of the corners. Little disappointed but I ran about the same as we run the first race and running so early I think it’s pretty good.” COMMENT ON THE LIMITED AMOUNT OF PRACTICE TIME TODAY. “We did about seven laps, seven or eight laps straight and that was it, one run. It’s a little crazy to run that short and they expect you to go out and qualify. If I would go out again you would do something a little different but you cannot forget. You’ve got to be so easy here.” YOU RAN QUICKER ON THE SECOND LAP. ARE YOU SURPRISED? “No, I should have been quite a bit quicker. I was lot better in three and four. When I went through one and two I kind of sacrificed the first lap to get a good exit to start a good second lap so I was expecting the second lap to be faster. I was expecting it to be a little faster than that. If we can start in the top-20 I’ll be more than happy.”
DAVID REUTIMANN IN THE No. 00 DOMINOS.COM TOYOTA WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT MARTINSVILLE.
Notes:
Reutimann will start 19th in Sunday’s race at Martinsville. He started 43rd in the April 1 Goody’s Cool Orange 500.
AJ Allmendinger (25th) qualified for all six short track races this season.
REUTIMANN: ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT LAP? “I guess. We made no mock runs in practice because everybody just ran out of time. It was just tight on the throttle. I just hope it’s good enough to get us in.” COMMENT ON THE LACK OF PRACTICE TIME TODAY. “Off the trailer it wasn’t bad. We run some decent times but we were just trying to do some race runs because we just figured there’d be some time to do some qualifying runs and when we switched to qualifying mode it rained. We’ll just have to wait around here and hopefully it’s good enough.” ARE YOU BETTER HERE THE SECOND TIME AROUND? “Yeah, definitely. I still don’t know that you’ll get in alright. The good part is that we were late getting to the line so I didn’t have as much time to think about it.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 84 RED BULL TOYOTA: “It was good. We were just bit tight overall. All the credit goes back to everybody back at Team Red Bull, especially the test team because we may have got in this race [in April] but we weren’t very good when we were here and they worked really hard throughout the past couple of months getting ready for here. The car is way better. We still need to be a little bit better but overall, just a great job by everybody on the team. I pray it doesn’t rain now.” YOU RAN WELL WITH VERY LITTLE PRACTICE. “The car was very good to start with. Like I said, we may have got in the race but it was so bad when we were in the race…I’ve never made a pit stop during green just to tell ‘em to fix it because that’s how bad it was. Everybody just worked really hard back at home getting read for this racetrack specifically. It’s the short flat tracks that we struggle on and the car, from the first lap, was way better. I actually passed a guy. I was like ‘Whoa, that’s pretty cool around here.’ I really didn’t see the bottom lane most of the first race because I was getting passed by everybody. It’s a lot better. We still need some work but it’s good. Hopefully it doesn’t rain.” YOU WERE COMPETITIVE LAST WEEKEND AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND AGAIN HERE TODAY. “We’re definitely getting better. Places like Kansas where we should have made it, both cars, and I barely missed it and Brian, he wasn’t really close. That stuff, we’re still inconsistent, but we’re getting better. These are the cars that we’ve got to worry about. We’re getting better.”
PAUL MENARD, No. 15 MENARDS/PITTSBURG PAINTS CHEVROLET: “We got just as much practice there as we did in practice. Really, really tight when we unloaded this morning. We only did one run, like three laps, and freed it up and still tight in the middle and buzzing the tires off. I think we helped it turn a little bit. We just have to hook it up now on exit.” WHY DO YOU THINK YOUR CAR WAS TIGHT? “It’s tight corners. I think everybody always gets tight here and you just try t unhook the rear end. There’s only so much the front end can do so you unhook the rear end then you get loose off. You’re kind of like damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” COMMENT ON THE LIMITED PRACTICE TIME TODAY. “We just did that one run and we did like three or four laps and right in the pack of everybody and just really right and I just bailed out to make a quick adjustment and then it started raining. We really struggled that first run so I just wanted to come in and make an adjustment and it started raining and we lost practice.”
