Auto Club 500 Qualifying Quotes
Written by John Davison · February 26, 2005
Fontana, CA - Here, courtesy various sources, are Saturday’s quotes and notes from drivers and crew in qualifying for the Auto Club 500.
TONY STEWART, NO. 33 OLD SPICE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO BUSCH SERIES POLE-WINNER: ‘We’re really excited about this Old Spice Chevrolet. It was really good yesterday in long runs. We felt that it really didn’t have a lot of speed up front but that it was really good in the middle and in the end of a run, so hopefully that’s going to hold true today. And with the speed we showed in qualifying, hopefully we’re going to be fast all the way through the run. So, we’re pretty excited about this car.’
TONY STEWART (cont’d:) (YOU JUST TOOK THE BUSCH POLE, CAN YOU DO IT IN THE CUP SERIES?) Qualified 29th “We’re working on it. Our car is not quite as fast as we want it to be, but the guys made some big changes last night with the Home Depot Monte Carlo. We’ll see. Track conditions are pretty similar to what they were during Busch qualifying. Even if we don’t get the pole but if we can just gain from where we were yesterday, it will be a big gain for us.”
DAVE BLANEY, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - PRIOR TO QUALIFYING ATTEMPT: “We aren’t completely happy with our race set-up from yesterday, but this format it a little different so you’ve got to take a stab at it on Saturday and hope it works on Sunday. Hopefully we’ve got something we can adjust on and make it good by the end of the race on Sunday.”
(DO YOU LIKE THE NEW SCHEDULE?) “Well, it seems like we’ve got a lot of time to waste. It’s a little boring. But I’m sure we’ll get used to it. It doesn’t matter really. I don’t think it’s going to affect the race on Sunday.” -
NOTE: During his qualifying attempt, Blaney hit the wall in Turn 1 and will go to a back-up car for Sunday’s race. “It just got loose on me.”
ROBBY GORDON, NO. 7 HARRAH’S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 25th: (ON HIS LAP) “I think that’ll get us in the show. We’re happy about that. That was our goal for the weekend - to post a time that would be good enough to get us in the show. We’re excited about getting the Harrah’s Chevrolet into the game here at Fontana. We missed out bigtime down there at Daytona. We had a good race car there and finished 7th in the 150’s and found ourselves sitting on the sidelines watching. But that just made my guys more hungry and more determined. They spent the weekend at the shop building these cars here. We’ve got two brand new race cars. This car has never hit the race track and missing the first session yesterday was a big thing for us. I think this car has maybe 20 laps total on it. So we’re real excited about our qualifying effort.”
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 1st: (HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP TODAY?) “It was pretty good. The Car Quest Chevrolet was definitely running there. It really went down the straightaway great with Hendrick horsepower. I have an awesome crew chief, Alan Gustafson, him and I are just trying to gel together and try to get out chemistry going. To ran that lap here, just our first time out at a downforce track in California, is pretty impressive as far as our team goes. We’re just looking forward to all the success hopefully later on this year. Man, that was a pretty fun lap to lay down. I knew when it was winding down that as soon as I got that first one, I was thinking, ‘you know what, that’s about it. If I do it again, I’ll probably wreck.”
(IT SEEMS SOME TEAMS ARE WORKING ON RACE SETUP SO MUCH IT MIGHT HAVE AN EFFECT ON THEIR QUALIFYING RUNS. NOT SO FOR YOUR TEAM? “No, we only made one qualifying run yesterday. We were working and working and working on race trim, just trying to get a balance for our car. We really couldn’t get it to turn all that well through turns 1 and 2. You know, we tried working on that all day. And we just made one qualifying run like I said. But in order to come out here with just our second qualifying run and run that kind of time.you know, I was just hoping for a seventy or a sixty, thinking that would be great. You know, a top 10, maybe top 15 somewhere in there. To run a twenty, if that sticks, I’ll be tremendously happy with that. That’s pretty cool.”
BOBBY HAMILTON, NO. 32 TIDE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 26th: “We left a little bit on our qualifying run. So hopefully we’ll be in the top 15 someplace. (ON THE NEW QUALFIYING FORMAT) “It’s good but it’s weird. Yesterday we could have had at home and we could have done all this today and be done with it. But NASCAR has a reason for everything and it’s less pressure on the guys and that’s a good thing. They’re here at six in the morning every day and now they come here at six and can run two laps and go relax for the rest of the day and be ready for tomorrow. So it works out for everybody.”
BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 2nd: “I think this says a lot about Hendrick Motorsports. It shows a lot. Hopefully we can stay on the front row. I thought we really had a shot at it (the pole) because I was going sideways coming off of Turn 4 coming to the green and it absolutely killed the lap. But it’s still a good starting spot for us and we’re looking forward to the race.”
(DID YOU SET UP THE CAR FOR RACE TRIM OR QUALFIYING TRIM?) “Definitely in race trim. It’s funny. This new procedure is not affecting qualifying as much as I thought. We just need a little bit of room to put some wedge in the car and do some different things to tighten up the car after we tape up. So It’s not too bad. We set up for the race. This is one lap. The race is 500 miles.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 32nd: “We changed a lot of stuff today. Hopefully we’ve made it better. It’s a lot of work; a lot of effort. It’s not because we’re not trying but we didn’t unload with what we wanted. We’ll see what we get.”
SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 12th: (YOU’VE HAD A GREAT START TO THE SEASON) “We just put the right people in the right place on this Valvoline Chevrolet. Everything has been working really well. I’ve had a great car here at California. It’s a brand new cars but the guys back at the shop did a great job. I’m just hoping to get a good start.”
(YOU’RE ONE OF THE LAST PEOPLE TO GO OUT, HOW DOES THAT AFFECT YOUR RUN?) “Well, I still wish it was cooler. The longer the sun stays out, the harder it’s going to get and the slower we’re going to have to go. I’m just going to give it my best shot. If it was in the top 5 it would be surprising to me.”
JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 4th: “It’s tough to qualify - especially in conditions today. The first 20 cars went out and it was overcast and cool. And then we went out 36th and the track has heated up and the sun is out. To run that type of lap right now and only be a tenth off the pole is pretty good. It says a lot for our crew. This is a brand new car. We came out here and tested and had two different cars testing. They went back and built something new and they built it better. They said we’ve got to take the best car back. It took us a little while to figure it out but we’re feeling good now. But we’re going to have to see what happens when we get 20 cars packed together. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens.”
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - TAKES HIS FIRST CAREER CUP POLE: “This is exciting. All the guys have done an awesome job. Congratulations to Brian Vickers, my teammate, for sitting on the pole up there with me. We’re both in the same shop. It’s just a great opportunity for us to help both our teams excel. We’ve got a pole now.all we need is a win. We’re looking forward to all the successes we can hopefully accept this year.”
(CAN YOU WIN THIS RACE?) “We think so. We’ve got a pretty good race car. We’re just looking forward to the race. We’ve just got to make sure we’ve got it turning good down there in Turns 1 and 2. That seems to be the problem end at this race track. But overall we’re just excited to be on the front row this week. If we can keep this chemistry and momentum going this year, in our rookie year, that would just be awesome.”
BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Post Race Press Conference Highlights: “The GMAC race team did a great job. Congratulations to Kyle (Busch). We’re all excited about both being on the front row because this year we went through a lot of changes and the No.25 and the No. 5 came to the shop together. Brian Whitesel came on board as the architect of the No. 24 and the No. 48 to head that shop and I think it’s all made a difference. Lance (McGrew) is the crew chief on the No.25 now and Alan (Gustafson) on the No. 5 car and obviously they’ve both done a great job this weekend along with all the guys on both teams. The Hendrick engines are great. They’ve done an awesome job over the winter.”
(HOW DIFFICULT WILL IT BE TOMORROW TO ADJUST TO RACE CONDITIONS WITH THE CARS BEING IMPOUNDED TONIGHT?) “We did all the race stuff yesterday, so our car should be pretty much like it was. I felt real good about it. I know the conditions will always change after the Busch race, but we got it as good as we could possibly get it. You can always work on it during the race and go from there, but I don’t think there will be any drastic changes between now and tomorrow.”
(ON HAVING LANCE MCCREW BACK AS HIS CREW CHIEF) “I’ve said this and I’ll say it again. Peter (Sospenzo) is a great crew chief and I’ve worked with some really great ones, but having Lance back on board is amazing. He and I have a communication I’ve never had with anybody else. I think it’s shown in the past and so far it’s showing if we continue this momentum. Everybody is excited. I think all this is a step in the right direction - not only for this year, but for years to come.”
(ON HIS ROOKIE SEASON COMPARED TO THIS NEW SEASON) “We went through some struggles last year. We had some great times. We’ve won a couple of poles. But it’s given me some confidence. Just having a year under your belt helps too. There’s a lot to be said for experience. Even though I didn’t learn always what to learn last year, I learned a lot about what not to do - that’s on the race track and off the race track. The Cup series is very demanding. Everything is ten-fold compared to the Busch Series.”
(ON THE TIRES) “During the test, the tires we falling off quite a bit. That was by design. Goodyear has done a great job with the tires. They have built a perfect tire in the past. We saw it a couple of years ago. But a perfect tire doesn’t make for perfect racing and that was the problem. They’ve taken a couple of steps back and built a tire that does fall off. A couple of years ago, we had a tire that you run as hard as you wanted to the whole time and have amazing grip. But it didn’t make for good racing. This is a step in the right direction as long as they don’t wear out so much that we have tire issues. What we’ve seen so far doesn’t seem to be a problem. So I’m excited about it. I think it’s going to make the racing in the NEXTEL Cup Series more exciting.”
(HOW ARE THE CARS PERFORMING WITH THE NEW SPOILER HEIGHT?) “I will have to admit that I probably over-estimated what the change would be. Looking at the last year and since I’ve been in the series - I ran four races in 2003 - and since then I’ve lost two inches of spoiler and I haven’t liked any of it. I wish I could have all of it back. But at the same time, with the engineers we have these days on these cars, we’ve gained a lot of the downforce back anyway. I thought it was going to be a lot worse. It is different. Now that said, we haven’t had a chance to race yet. Tomorrow will be the tell-all. This is a perfect track to see it as fast as we’re going here. I think in the race, when you’re side-by-side you’re going to be real loose.”
(ON THE YOUNG AGE OF THE DRIVERS ON THE FRONT ROW) “There’s something to be said there. It’s not that big of a deal. When I came along, people made such a big deal about my being so young, and that Kyle is so young. It is a big deal, but then it’s not. More than anything, it says a lot about Hendrick Motorsports and the leadership from Rick Hendrick and all the people there. But then again, there’s a lot to be said about experience too. We’ll see how it is on Sunday.”
KYLE BUSCH and ALAN GUSTAFSON, NO. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - POLE SITTER - POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: “It’s definitely an awesome opportunity for the two of us. Obviously, to sit on the pole at the first downforce track of the year here at California, and our second race together, hopefully it means there are many more successes to come. It’s a tremendous opportunity that Mr. H has given us and we look forward to all that’s come about. Kellogg’s and Car Quest and everyone that’s on board. It’s just going to be fun in order to bring it out for those guys. The lap was pretty good. It was a little bit free, but overall you always have to be able to get to the gas here in wide speedways like California and Michigan, so, we’re able to do that today. It meant a lot and what also worked out well for us was going out early in the morning and being able to sit on our first pole.”
GUSTAFSON: “Obviously it was a good lap. Things worked out well. I was worried about the early draw at first, that could have gone either way. I saw a forecast for rain so we thought there might be cloud cover today but it worked out well with the draw. We kind of had to balance the impound procedures; we didn’t want to bias too much towards qualifying or impound procedures. We mostly worked on race setup this morning, so we were real pleased that we could make the adjustments back to work well in qualifying. We got the pole and that’s obviously what we came here to do. We want to win the pole and the race, so to get the pole is huge. We didn’t think we could do it.”
BUSCH “Just pick a good pit”
GUSTAFSON “One!”
BUSCH “That’s the one we want!”
(IS THIS FRONT GRID A MARK FOR THE YOUNG GUYS?) BUSCH “I definitely hope so. It’s great for Brian Vickers and myself to be on the front row this week. You know, we’ve moving into the same shop together and we’re trying to get all that organized. With Brian Whitesel coming over from the #24/48 team, he’s just done an awesome job. You know, it goes out to all of Hendrick Motorsports. The chassis shop, the body shop, the engine shop. You’ve got to bring some awesome horsepower around this place and everybody’s done well with that. It’s fun to be able to go out and win your first pole and obviously, I’m elated, don’t get me wrong. Still, you’ve got to thank everyone that makes it all possible for you. It’s a whole team effort, it’s not just one or two people.
(HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE TOO YOUNG TO SAMPLE THE POLE SPONSOR’S PRODUCT?) BUSCH “I can sample their product: I can go to Busch Gardens! But, no, the drink-you’re right. It’s cool but all in all we take it in stride and just got about how it is we can. It’s neat to be able to sit on our first pole. You’re excited if you sit on any pole. Last year I think I had six of them and hopefully this year we can get six of them again in the NEXTEL Cup Series. This is the upper echelon of NASCAR racing and we’re here doing it so hopefully we can continue our successes.
(DID YOU THINK IT WAS GOING TO COME THIS QUICKLY?) BUSCH “No, I didn’t think it was going to come this quickly. We figured that most of our success was going to happen more towards the middle to second half of the season. If we can get ourselves in place for the Chase, it would be an awesome goal for this year. If not, we’re shooting for a top 15 or so finish in the point standings. All that’s happening, if we can just keep it rolling and keep it consistent, we’ll be better off, obviously. It’s just all about how you can keep the chemistry going.”
(DID YOU FOCUS ON RACE OR QUALIFYING SETUP?) GUSTAFSON “Yeah, I thought I leaned towards race. So, that could be good. We were tight yesterday in race trim and we made a lot of adjustments for race trim, so I was little worried about qualifying but the guys, body wise, car wise, we put a lot of adjustment in our chassis. We were able to put it off. We were working on race trim. We were struggling with race trim. I think we made some gains on race trim and obviously did on qualifying trim. We’re biased towards race, so to have this result is good.”
(DOES THIS HELP MAKE UP FOR QUALIFYING HERE IN 2001?) BUSCH “Nobody knows but that’s my father asking that question. It’s pretty cool. I just put the spotlight back on you, bud. It’s great. Obviously, you remember we were back here in 2001 and we had to leave the Truck Series that day. It was just a tremendous devastation. We were fastest in practice that day. We weren’t fastest in practice yesterday, but if we’re fastest here today, it doesn’t matter. We’re on the pole. It’s our award, we’ve taken it home and going to the house with it. I’m looking forward to running up front tomorrow.”
(DOES THIS NEW FORMAT GIVE A BETTER CLUE AS TO WHO WILL DO WELL IN THE RACE?) GUSTAFSON “I think that’s yet to be seen. It may actually lend itself to the opposite. If you’re a car that has to make it in on time, you can just bias your setup to qualifying. So that could give you an advantage there. It’s tough-we don’t know. We’re guessing right now. We usually practice a lot closer to race time after the Busch cars have run a lot more. The conditions are going to change a lot from where we made race practice. It’s hard to say.”
(DID KURT GIVE YOU ANY ADVICE?) BUSCH “Yeah, he got me on the pole. No, I’m just kidding. He’s helped me out tremendously. He’s just been great as far as on the track and off the track advice. On the track, being as though, helping me out with certain things that they’ve tried. He just kind of gives me a heads up on that. Last night we were talking about his practice versus mine. He was saying how his car was loose and I was saying, ‘Did you try this? Did you try that?’ and he said, ‘We tried that, but we didn’t try that’ so it’s a give and take. We pass a little information back and forth a little bit. It’s not the numbers we pass back and forth, it’s just different ways you kind of have to look at things. He may be looking at one thing to change the car to make it better, and yet I’m thinking of another. So, both of them together might work or one of them might work. It just goes down to how you go about working on your race cars.”
RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge Charger) - Qualified 9th “Some duct tape came off the car when we hit the track, at least I hope that’s all it was. It was definitely not the lap we wanted for the ALLTEL Dodge Charger. I was loose, but I think we’ll have a good package for the race and that’s what’s important. Kenseth got what he wanted. He’s up there. He usually goes for the Waste Management Award and we go for the Bud Pole Award.
“I wouldn’t say I’m happy or disappointed. The track is losing a lot of grip and it’s getting a lot warmer than anybody anticipated. I think Kyle has a lap that’s going to be almost impossible to beat. I guess race trim is the ultimate goal here, how we qualify in race trim, and we still don’t get points for that for some reason. We’ll see how everything works out.
“It’s turned out to be a big waste of time really. I haven’t seen anybody with a smile on their face, really throughout the entire weekend. We’re just playing the cards we’re dealt. Everybody is getting dealt the same cards right now. We’ll just make the best of it. We’re spending an entire day doing nothing. Showing up for a day at the racetrack for two laps is kinda pointless. It’s not laid out with the competitor in mind. There is no politically correct version. I just tell it like it is. We’ll see how it turns out. I just hope there’s a lot of fans in the stands on Sunday.
“I think no one really has a clue about the race. I think everybody is doing their best and I’m not calling anybody stupid. I just don’t think anyone has a clue what to anticipate as far as what the racetrack is going to be like, as far as what they can do with their racecar in race trim versus qualifying trim. Everybody is trying to use their best educated guess.
“We’re going to play paintball now. We’ll waste our time doing something else. It’s fun, but at the same time it’s not what our purpose is this week here in California. This is the first time (for paintball). I’m looking forward to doing it, but it’s not our primary goal when we came out here to California.”
BILL ELLIOTT (No. 91 Stanley Tools Dodge Charger) - Qualified 22nd “I’m happy it’s over. That’s the biggest thing. Now we’ll just worry about getting ready to race. We’re ahead of a good many guys there, so we’ll see what happens. The car will be like it is right now to start the race. What it is, it is. We’ll see how we stack up.”
CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge Charger) — Qualified 16th “I’m real happy with that. We ran a .39 flat in practice and picked up almost three tenths. That should get us a real good starting spot in the race. Hopefully we got it right yesterday because that’s all we’ve got. I think for the most part the guys who knew they were in were focusing on race setups. Right now, I don’t feel good about the car, but we’re not bad. It’s so hard to tell until you get in the race and get in a big group. It’s hard to anticipate how it’s going to be in the race because it’s such a different package. We’re pretty much how we’re going to race. We’re just going to pull off a little tape and go.”
JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) - Qualified 3rd “I think the cars are freer and moving around a little more. We feel like we’ve done all we can do to get it balanced. The true test will be in the race tomorrow. It wasn’t too wild in qualifying, but it was a little freer than I wanted it to be. It was fast and we picked up a ton. I feel good about that. This is one of my best tracks. I like it, and I’ve got a lot of confidence here. I didn’t know I was going to run that fast in qualifying after the way we practiced yesterday. We were good yesterday. I just didn’t get in a good lap and really we didn’t know what we had. We’re ready to race. We’re happy with that. This could be a good deal for everybody.”
RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) - Qualified 23rd “We picked up more than four and a half tenths from practice. It’s crunch time now. We’ve just got to get her down in there. I’m proud of the guys. That’s better than I thought we’d run in qualifying, and the car feels great for the race. I don’t like staying here all day and into the night. No, I don’t like this new qualifying procedure a lot. Yesterday I was at the track all day. If you’re a Busch driver, the practice would end at 1:10 and Cup started at 1:20. There was no time for nothing. Everybody was running back and forth. I went to bed at 9:30 last night. I was beat. I feel good about the race. We had some good runs in practice, and we got a good solid qualifying run.”
STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger) - Qualified 13th “We were off yesterday and found out what was wrong with the car this morning. We got all the springs in it right, and it was a good lap for us. We used to qualify and race on Saturday night short tracks, so this is no different. I think we’re ready to race. If we’re not, we’ll find out soon enough tomorrow. Nobody really knows what to expect until we get in the race and see how the car acts around other cars with the shorter spoiler. We were loose qualifying, but loose is fast. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the race.”
JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger) — Qualified 15th “That was a lot looser than we were in practice, but we changed a lot of stuff and feel like it should be good when we take the tape off of the front for race trim. We were 20th in all the other practices, so that was a good pickup.”
KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) - Qualified 17th “That wasn’t too bad. We were going for the pole and I got too loose to do it. I had to back pedal and lost probably three or four tenths, but our car is going to be awesome in the long run. It turns and cuts good in the center and really good off and that’s what we’re going to be looking for tomorrow. We went for it, and that’s what we got. We didn’t get the lap we wanted, but it’s going to be good for 500 miles tomorrow.”
JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) - Third place qualifying interview “We had a good lap. We thought we had a good car yesterday in race trim. Obviously how we qualify is how we race now, so that’s a good sign. We went out early, so that helped us. Brian went out a little later, so he must have a good car, also. We had a good lap. The Dodge Charger is running good. It’s balanced good, so we’ll see what happens.
“We pretty much did all the race stuff yesterday, so it should be just like it was. I feel real good about it. I know the conditions will change after the Busch race and on Sunday, but it’s as good as we can possibly get it. We can work on it during the race, but hopefully there’s not going to be any drastic changes going on with the weather or racetrack.
“The tires are good at first, which allows a lot of speed for a lap or two. Then they slow down, which should bring pit strategy and all that stuff back into play. Every stop you’ll have to decide whether to take two or four. Most guys will be taking four all the time. It should be interesting. It’s part of the deal and part of what makes NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing exciting.
“Right before we started to qualify my crew chief said ‘get us a good lap and you can have the rest of the day off.’ I said, ‘if I give you a good lap we’ll all take the rest of the day off.’ It’s pretty neat. It’s more of a relaxed practice session for me. You’re not stressed during practice because you’ve got to qualify right after. I think practice helped us a lot and that should help us a lot on Sunday, too. It’s been pretty cool. Is there a difference between the track now and when you last tested here? “Yes. There’s a big difference - speed for one and the winds were another. I’m not sure if all of you here are familiar with what happened with the test, but we had like 60 and 70 mph gusts going on in all different directions. About the time you thought you knew which way it was going to go, or you’ve got it figured out, it would change on you and blow the other way. It was a tough way to test. We didn’t really feel like we gained anything at the test. But we went back and learned a lot more than what we thought. When we came back and there wasn’t any wind blowing it was like an added bonus.”
How are the cars performing with the different spoiler height here? “We’ll know more about it after the race tomorrow. But that’s going to be something that, I think, if you went and asked everybody in the garage area - if this was the end of last year - and you said, ‘Do you want to add an inch to your spoiler, or do you want to cut an inch off your spoiler?’ I’m pretty sure that you’d get, ‘Add an inch to the spoiler we had last year.’ And we cut an inch off. I don’t know how the racing is going to be. I know that the cars are pretty free right now. Then you have to tighten the chassis up and all that to overcome that. And then when you get in traffic and you take the air back off your car, you’re even going to be looser or tight-loose or something. We’re not sure what’s going to happen yet, but we’ll know tomorrow.”
MATT KENSETH - No. 17 USG Sheetrock/DeWalt Taurus (Qualified 6th) - THIS NEW FORMAT SEEMS TO AGREE WITH YOU. “I guess so. I never liked really just working on qualifying setup all day on Friday and qualifying Friday afternoon. To me, it almost seems kind of silly because it’s just a starting position and you’re not really working on the race. But this was kind of fun because you can come out and work on the race setup all day Friday and basically go tape it up and qualify it. So that part is fun. The way the schedule is though, I wish we could do more on Saturday and less on Friday - do some more race practice. It’s kind of weird. If you’re not in the Busch race you sit around all morning, run two laps, and then sit around all afternoon. It’s kind of a weird schedule, but I like qualifying what you race. I think it’s a good idea. I think eventually it’ll save everybody money and we won’t waste time working on qualifying. We work on the race and that’s what’s important.”
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP? “It was nice and solid. There was probably a little more time out there, but it was a nice, easy, solid lap that will hopefully get us in the top 15. I’ve been happy with our car. It’s been surprisingly fast the whole time we’ve been here and it’s been driving good, so I’m looking forward to the race.”
MARK MARTIN - No. 6 Viagra Taurus (Qualified 18th) - “I kind of messed us up yesterday on our mock run. I was a little over-optimistic and caused the car to push real bad, so we over-adjusted a little bit with the sun and everything. I got up higher than I meant to and then I had to go through the dirty stuff there where Blaney’s car was and I just couldn’t give it any gas until we got clear of all that. It really isn’t gonna be that pathetic considering we fumbled and stumbled. It’s still gonna be 15th-20th, so you know you’ve got a good car when you can stumble and fumble and still be respectable.”
YOU HAD A GOOD BUSCH RUN. “The Busch car is killer. It’s gonna be bad-fun, but this car is good, too. It’s 500 miles. We start 20th every week anyway, so we’re not gonna be far from where we’re used to starting.”
JOHN ANDRETTI - No. 14 VB/APlus at Sunoco Taurus (Qualified 24th) - 2-FOR-2 IN QUALIFYING THIS YEAR. “I’m sweating but not because it’s hot. I’m glad that’s over with because we were really, really loose. In qualifying that’s as loose as we’ve been during testing and everything. I was really concerned because I brushed the wall coming to the green even. I got sideways coming to the green, but it’ll be good for the race. It’ll turn now for the race.” DID YOU HAVE A QUALIFYING SETUP IN THE CAR OR RACE SETUP? “We had a race setup and that’s why it’s so loose. The whole point is that we have a starting position. That’s the most important thing being outside the top 35. I’m just happy to be in. It’s sort of a downward spiral kind of a thing. If you set up only for qualifying, you make the race but then you don’t run good enough in the race to get the points to be in the top 35 and you never actually get out of the hole. So we’re trying to do both sides and play both sides of the table. It’s not any fun, but you know what? I think it’s right. I think NASCAR has done the right thing, it’s just not right for me right now.”
KURT BUSCH - No. 97 Sharpie/IRWIN Taurus (Qualified 20th) - “That was our first clean lap at qualifying. Yesterday we had trouble with traffic out on the track, so it was a good run. It’s just a new program and everybody is trying to figure it out so today wasn’t too bad for us.”
THE FORDS ARE DOING PRETTY GOOD COMPARED TO DAYTONA. “This isn’t Daytona. It’s our downforce-style race track and we’ll see how it balances out. It’s still a little too early to tell.”
YOUR BROTHER ON THE POLE RIGHT NOW. “That’s pretty early in his career to be sitting on a pole and he’ll probably get it because it’s gonna get warmer and I don’t think anybody can challenge him.”
FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Auto Parts 500 Qualifying, Page 2 February 26, 2005 California Speedway DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Qualified 7th) - “The car drove really well to me in race trim and that’s what we were concentrating on. We had already decided coming out here that if we gave up something qualifying that’s fine. We’re not gonna be too concerned about that. It’s a 500-mile race and you’ve got plenty of time to adjust your car and work your way to the front. I didn’t really expect that lap to come out of there, but I knew with the adjustments that Mike had made for qualifying that I could be a little bit more aggressive than what I was yesterday when we made the one attempt that we made. It’s pretty exciting.”
DAYTONA IS A DIFFERENT ANIMAL, BUT WILL THIS BE BETTER FOR THE FORDS? “We can only hope it will be better. I started on the pole and didn’t get the chance to lead a lap and it was unfortunate. We obviously have some work to do there. We thought we’d come a long way, but we’re still getting beat at those places, but now we’re at California and this is what we have to worry about. I think our package is much better here and I think that it gives everybody - no matter what make of car you have - you have the opportunity to run well here. If you get your balance right and can work the traffic, then you’ll be in good shape. It’s gonna be interesting to see as we get into traffic how those spoilers make the cars drive, so it should be an interesting day tomorrow.”
GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 Post-It/National Guard Taurus (Qualified 5th) - HOW WAS THE LAP? “It was perfect. I tell you what, I’m so excited. I can’t be more excited for the race tomorrow. This Post-It/National Guard car is a car that can win here. It’s just a little bit on the free side and that’ll be just right on the money tomorrow. Hopefully, we’re gonna have the same kind of run we did at Miami. I feel like we are.”
MORE ON HIS LAP. “The Post-It/National Guard car is good. The sun came out right there and that’s not what we needed, so it was a little bit too loose right there. What that tells me is that race car couldn’t be better for tomorrow. There’s no way you can qualify and be the best and in race trim be the best. I think we’re the best in race trim here and I think it’s gonna show tomorrow.”
CARL EDWARDS - No. 99 Office Depot Taurus (Qualified 19th) - “I was just loose. The track is slicker than it was yesterday and I felt like that’s about as good as I could do. That’s as fast as I could go and it was a handful, but we feel really good about our race setup. That’s what we took a stab at right there and it just didn’t go as fast as we needed it to. If we would have been just a little bit tighter, we would have been better.”
RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Taurus (Qualified 21st) - “They worked on it late yesterday afternoon and made a chassis adjustment. I was real happy with it in race trim and I know Fatback said that’s gonna help us in qualifying trim. I didn’t realize it was gonna help us that much, though. It was a big pickup.”
HOW WAS THE LAP? “We’re still learning this qualifying situation like a lot of guys. Some guys seem to have it figured out, but that was much, much better than we had run yesterday in practice. We worked on race setup all day yesterday. I was really happy with the race setup, but we didn’t really do much with qualifying. You get real aggressive with your qualifying setup and you go down in the corner and grind your front air dam off, then you’re not gonna be able to race good. So we haven’t quite got all that figured out. This is sort of the best compromise on qualifying. We’re gonna end up somewhere around 17th or 18th and I know we’re gonna race well.”
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How do I find the race lineups for today, for the Auto Club 500 at 2 p.m. at the California Speedway