Patrick Carpentier claimed Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors last week at Texas, the first time this season he has accomplished the feat. Carpentier qualified for the 2007 Checker Auto Parts 500 here at Phoenix, claiming the 24th-place starting position.

PATRICK CARPENTIER, No. 10 LIFELOCK DODGE: HOW BIG OF AN ACCOMPLISHMENT IS IT TO BE THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN A SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE? “For me that was big. I mean, just to run that good with the car and we kept running fast. It’s still not fast enough but for me it was a much improvement compared to Atlanta where I go lapped and I was not even close to being fast. I could hang with the guys and I was with Kurt Busch for quite a while so it was not too bad. I was really happy, actually. For me it was good. We make the race, we make the race but now we got a bit better in the race and that’s what counts so it was good.” YOUR PERFORMANCE LAST WEEK SEEMS TO BE A BUILDING BLOCK FOR YOU AND THE TEAM. “We’re really happy. For me that was one of the good weekends for me. We made the car a lot better in the race. It’s always hard when you’ve got to qualify in on Friday because all you do is spend time on that qualifying setup and then you’ve only got a little time on Saturday to focus on the race and usually takes half the race to get it right and get it going. I’m really happy. The guys did a good job pit stops and everything and gained some more experience and I’m still learning with the car and being smoother a little bit. I’ve got to improve a little bit on my restarts, you know, just keep up with these guys. Sometimes I think I’m driving it too hard and making it too loose and push and I’m just killing the tires and they all go by so I just got to smooth that out a little bit and it’ll come. I’m really happy. So far we’re keeping on our objective. We’ve got the LifeLock car this week. We’ve got a different one every weekend [smiles] but hopefully we get the car in the race this weekend [laughs].” WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE HERE AT PHOENIX? “Last year we raced here. That was my first race ever with these cars [Sprint Cup] and we made it. We qualified 21st and that was good but we had a test here last month and it was bad. We had absolutely no speed so hopefully we pick it up and we’re good today and we make the show. We just got to keep making the show. If I’m in the race Sunday I’m really happy.” WHAT MAKES THIS TRACK SUCH A CHALLENGE? “Flat track. It’s a flat track and I like the tracks that are banked a little bit and this one is a bit flat and for us it’s been a little bit of a challenge so hopefully we found a few things after the test and we run well and the car is comfortable because I hate those freaky Fridays [laughs].” HOW BIG OF A FACTOR IS THE HEAT GOING TO BE? “We run at night so it’s not going to be too bad. We’re going to run qualifying at night and practice basically in the day but the race at night so hopefully we can compensate and run good. But we’ll have more grip at night so that’s good at least the race late in the day.” THE FIRST THING YOU HAVE TO CONCENTRATE ON IS QUALIFYING TODAY. “For us it’s only today. We don’t even think about the race and what we’re going to do for the races. Just today, today, today and put the car in the show and that’s all want to do. We’ll see how it goes and hopefully we do that and then after that we’ll think about the race. For me it’s the first time that I’ll practice in the day and race at night so it’s a new learning process again. But at least raced the track here last year so I kind of know what I need for the race but for qualifying I don’t think it helps that much. We just need to get a good car and a good lap.” DO YOU HAVE A COMFORT ZONE BECAUSE YOU RACED HERE LAST FALL? “Nothing for me, honestly. It just depends how we fair out if we send it in the right direction and adjust the car properly. I think it’s going to help a lot for the race but I don’t think for qualifying. For qualifying it’s just pure speed so we’ve got to put our things together and I’ve been here before. It’s not like last year was my first time at that track so I don’t think there will be that much help for qualifying but for the race I think it will.”