Where the Raybestos Rookies will start at Auto Club Speedway:
Hornish Jr., 7th (2007 Owner Points – 7th)
Smith, 17th (2007 Owner Points – 17th)
Franchitti, 26th (2007 Owner Points – 26th)
Carpentier, 46th DNQ (2008 Owner Points – 48th)

Rain washed out today’s qualifying session for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at California Speedway and the starting lineup for Sunday’s Auto Club 500 was set per the NASCAR rulebook. Raybestos Rookie Sam Hornish, Jr. will start seventh in the Auto Club 500, followed by Regan Smith (17th) and Dario Franchitti (26th). Patrick Carpentier was the only Raybestos Rookie that failed to qualify for the event.

PATRICK CARPENTIER, No. 10 CHARTER DODGE:

“I’ll tell you now I don’t agree with that rule of top-35 anymore too much [smiles]. It puts us behind a little bit and for us we were kind of banking on these tracks because we tested here the first three and after that we go to tracks that we haven’t tested at. I said that I knew it was going to be a challenge but I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a challenge. We’ll see. For me, I firmly believe that we’re going to get out of it, going to come back in top-35 but it’s going to take time.” HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO COME OUT HERE AND NEVER GET ON THE TRACK? “Yeah, it’s frustrating. Like I said to the guys, I think I’m going to start hitchhiking and get a ride for the race so at least I feel what it is. It’s just a rough day for Charter and we had a new sponsor this weekend again so for us it’s tough. You cannot even fight it, you know, so you cannot even try to get in so you just come, you leave. So that’s what's the sad part about it. You know if at least if you give it a shot and you don’t make it you gave it a shot.” IT DIDN’T RAIN FOR SEVEN HOURS WHILE THEY WERE TRYING TO DRY THE TRACK. “Yeah, it was like they had a couple of guys go look at the track and see if it was okay. That’s what we were talking about. Maybe they should have a couple of go or go homers go look at the track and see if it’s okay [laughter]. It’s sad. All these guys that keep running and running and for me I don’t get track time either. It’s kind of a catch-22. But we’ll do some testing Monday and Tuesday. I’m going to go down to North Carolina and we’re going to test at Rockingham and get back to Vegas.” WHAT WILL THE ROCKINGHAM TEST PREPARE YOU FOR? “It’s similar to Vegas. It’s smaller, a lot smaller, but it’s very similar track to Vegas as how you enter the corner and how you approach it so for me that’s the best. Hopefully, no rain; it’s going to rain Tuesday-Wednesday but Monday is supposed to be clear. But I just need to sit in that car. I’m not sitting in that car anymore and it’s going to cost us in the long run. I just need to drive something. I tried to get in the Nationwide car but Elliott already has agreements with sponsors so I couldn’t do it. Yeah, as long as I can drive something, that’s all that matters now.”