Raybestos Rookie Final Practice speeds:
Smith 18th
Hornish Jr. 36th
Franchitti 42nd

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOLLOWING THE FINAL PRACTICE FOR THE DAYTONA 500 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2008.

REGAN SMITH IN THE No. 01 THE PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN THE FINAL PRACTICE SESSION TODAY AT DAYTONA. “It got a lot better there at the end. We got the handling better and didn’t have the straight line speed that we’d like. We’re going to sit down and look at everything and then decide which direction we want to go, see what our teammates are doing and see where we want to take The Principal Financial Group Chevy for tomorrow. It’s by far the best handling we’ve had since we’ve been here. Now we just need to get the overall speed back up again and sometimes you’ve got to give up one to get the other. We’ll look at ‘em both and see what we’ve got. We didn’t start off the weekend the way we wanted to but we went and looked at our teammate’s notes and we were a little bit different than all of the other three cars and wanted to get back more like them and got back more like them. And we’re seeing some rewards from it. We’re able to get the setup in there that we wanted in there when we got here, finally. Now we’ve just got to adjust. It’s going to be hot tomorrow. It’s going to be slick tomorrow. Handling is going to be important but the sun is going to do down, too, and when the sun goes down it’s going to be a whole nother day.” HOW DO YOU ADJUST DURING THE RACE FROM HOT AND SLICK TO COOL CONDITIONS? “Just hold on ‘cause it’s going to get fast.”

SAM HORNISH, JR., No. 77 MOBIL 1 DODGE: HOW IS YOUR CAR? “It was pretty good. We just keep working away at it, trying to make it a little bit better. The big thing right now is trying to make sure that the tires last and we can keep everything going, as far as that goes. The car has so much less front grip that I think you’re always giving a little bit more steering angle, wears the tires more. I was pretty happy with it. Actually got some guys working with us a little bit. Had some of the guys trying to wear the rookie stripe off of it too [smiles]. I was pretty happy with that. The guys on the Mobil 1 team have been great so far. We’re trying to find little things and not get ourself totally out in left field. Kurt and Ryan have been good as far as helping us out as well.” COMMENT ON THE CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS IN THE 500. “The 150s, it was pretty cool and now, it’s pretty hot today. We’ve got kind of an idea of what the car is like in each different kind of condition. Now if we can just figure out where the real, exact place is to start and just keep tuning on it throughout the day.”