Mark Martin and Martin Truex, Jr. Scored Top-Three Starting Positions at Richmond

A Total of 15 Impala SS Drivers Set to Start CROWN ROYAL PRESENTS DAN LOWRY 400

Richmond – May 2, 2008: Dale Earnhardt, Inc. teammates Mark Martin, No. 8 U.S. Army Impala SS and Martin Truex, Jr., No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Impala SS will start second and third respectively in Saturday night’s CROWN ROYAL PRESENTS DAN LOWRY 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

A total 15 Chevrolet Impala SS drivers will take the green flag for the 400-lap/300-mile race scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 11TH:

“Our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet was just a little bit tight, but not too bad. In practice we felt like we were pretty good in race trim so we should start off pretty good tomorrow night.

WHAT DO THESE IMPOUND RACES DO TO THE ROUTINE? “They just pile a lot of work on our guys and they thrash. Then we wait for hours to do anything. You just mentally have to know you are going to give up something in qualifying to have the setup you are going to need to start the race.”

POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

MARK MARTIN, NO. 8 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS – QUALIFIED 2ND ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:

“My car was pretty good in practice. But that doesn’t always translate out. It’s so easy to make a little slip or a mistake or whatever. I was really proud of that. We were the third car out, so we felt like we got a disadvantage on the draw, but at the same time, I was really pumped because we really had a good race car. If you got a bad draw, and you have a bad car, you’ve really got your hands full. So at least we had a really awesome car. And to be real honest with you, I was really surprised that it could hold up and that the time held up as well as it did against the shade coming over Turns 3 and 4.”

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED THIRD:

“I am pretty happy. We started off really well in practice, really good right off the trailer. Both us and the No. 8 (Mark Martin, his Dale Earnhardt, Inc. teammate). We worked on it and got it better and better, we were really happy with it in race trim.

“We made one qualifying run there in practice and we were a little off a little bit from where we thought we should be so we fixed a couple of things and got it better. I am real happy with it. I was excited that we had an all DEI front row there for a while. That would have been a big day for all of us. All in all, a good day for us.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT ALL THAT HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT YOUR CONTRACT STATUS AT DEI? “Yes, there has been a lot said about it. It seems like there are a lot of people who seem to know more about it than I do these days.

“We really haven’t gotten in to discussions about it. This week was the first time we actually started to talk about next year and the future. Just, trying to get my season back on track. We started off, and we have had pretty good cars all year long but we haven’t been able to get good finishes out of them. I have been focused on that. We will just have to work through what we need to iron out and I’ll let everybody know when I found out.”