DAVID RAGAN: “We ran a flat there in practice and anytime you can pick up some in qualifying is good. Our AAA Ford Fusion is really good. I didn’t want to do anything stupid to jeopardize a good racecar for the race. Anywhere in the top-10 would be great for us. If you go out thinking pole, pole, pole, sometimes that gets you in trouble and certainly I don’t need any trouble. We had a good weekend last weekend and we need to carry some momentum. I love this racetrack and hopefully we can hang in there for a top-10 starting spot.” ARE YOU HAVING PROBLEMS ADJUSTING FROM THE BUSCH CAR TO THE CAR OF TOMORROW? “Not really. I’ve learned the differences between the two. I’ve learned that one is kind of like driving a Corvette; one is like driving a Peterbuilt truck. There’s a little bit of difference but I’m learned from it. The first point is that I’ve learned the differences between the two cars but the second is that our Cup program is better than it was six months ago so the cars drive a little better and I’ve got a little better feel than what I want in the Busch car and what I want in the Cup car. Our AAA Ford Fusion is pretty sporty for tomorrow night’s race. If you go out thinking pole sometimes you overdrive it and you wind up in the back.” YOU ARE STARTING IN THE TOP-10. DOES IT MATTTER WHERE YOU START HERE? “No. If you don’t start on the pole or second, whether you’re fifth or 10th, it really doesn’t matter here. It’s a long race but it’s always cool to get that pole or even outside pole. Anywhere there in the top-10 is going to be fine.” WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH BETWEEN NOW AND THE END OF THE SEASON? “Certainly some more top-fives, some more top-10s. It’s been a pretty close Raybestos Rookie of the Year race so far and that’s still in the back of our mind. If we can get some top-fives, a top-10, and if we hit our marks just perfect one weekend we can contend for a win. We certainly want to end on a good note. It’s always good when a team starts to get a little better before the end of the year. Certainly we don’t want to fall the other way. That’s would be a long off-season.” WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR TOMORROW? “Top-15, top-10 every single weekend. We think we can finish in the top-10 or top-15 if we do our thing. Certainly if we qualify well, which that hasn’t been our strong point for the year but if we get a good starting spot, a top-10, we’ll take it.”

RAGAN PRESS CONFERENCE
“I saw the 48 picked up quite a bit. Our AAA Ford was pretty good in race trim. We switched over to qualifying trim there late in practice and we just got a good lap. I was expecting to pick up some, maybe not as much as the 48 did, but overall a good lap. That’s a good starting spot for us and we feel like we’ve got a pretty good Ford Fusion for the race tomorrow night. If you can’t get the pole or the outside pole, anywhere in the top-five or 10 there is alright. It was just a good, solid lap and hopefully it’ll carry on tomorrow.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, No. 42 TEXACO/HAVOLINE DODGE: “It was decent laps, just been too tight. We were too tight in practice and we only did one qualifying run and we were too tight in the qualifying run so we went back to race trim. I just got it loose in. It’s okay. If we end up top-15 that’s a good place to start here. It’s a shame because our car works good, it just we can’t get it to turn. It feels pretty good.” DO YOU THINK THAT ONCE THE RACE STARTS THE CAR WILL DRIVE BETTER? “We seemed to pick up a lot of front end grip as it cooled down and the car seems to be very good in and out of the corners. It should be pretty good.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 BURGER KING TOYOTA: “It wasn’t real pretty but it got us in and that’s the important thing. It was real tight the first lap and then I got a little more aggressive the second lap and made it free on getting into three. All in all it was a good enough lap to get us in and that’s what we came here to do, to start with anyway.” HOW IS THE CAR GOING TO BE AT THE START OF THE RACE? “I don’t know. It’ll be interesting. We definitely don’t have as much on-track time in race trim as we do so it’ll be like Christmas morning. You don’t know what you’re going to get. I got some race runs in practice but not as many as I’d like to.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 84 RED BULL TOYOTA: “The first lap was good, the second lap the driver choked. I felt like I got through Turn 1 pretty good and wanted to get a little more in three and screwed it up. Hopefully that doesn’t cost us getting in the race.” HOW BIG OF A DISADVANTAGE WAS GOING OUT EARLY IN THE DRAW? “We’ll find that out. It will be a little bit. I don’t think it will be a ton but we’ll wait and see. My first thing was like if I beat Brian, since he was the first guy out, we’d have a good chance. He usually gets around qualifying pretty good. So we barely beat him but knowing that I went quicker on my first lap makes me a little mad.”

PAUL MENARD, No. 15 MENARDS/PEAK CHEVROLET: “We changed a couple things. The COT drives so much different than a Busch car does and that kind of screwed me up more than anything. I kind of scared myself getting in because these things just don’t want to stop and that kind of screwed up my entry. The center off was decent. I think it’s going to race good. We made some changes and I think it turned a little bit better. If can just figure out how to get in the corner we’ll be alright.” ARE THE COT CARS STILL TIGHT IN THE CENTER OF THE CORNER? “They don’t want to turn so you can either unhook the rear end to balance it out or you can try to find front grip and obviously everyone wants to find front grip. That’s why you hear they’re tight. You don’t want to give up rear grip. We’re still learning these things and it’s a work in progress. We’re sneaking up on it.”