Talladega Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Written by John Davison · April 30, 2006
Elliott Sadler won the pole for Talladega Superspeedway’s Aaron’s 499: “It’s a great qualifying effort for us. This is my Daytona car that we qualified pretty well with at Daytona and won the Duel race with and finished in the top five with it in the 500, so we knew coming down here we were gonna be pretty close. We made about a 20-lap run yesterday in race trim and we thought, ‘Man, this is as good as we can get it.’ I knew the guys, when we rolled off today, we were gonna be in good shape. Going early was an advantage because it was not as windy and to be able to get the pole like we did is just great. I’m the lucky one sitting up here talking to you guys, but Doug Yates and his engine shop are just doing an unbelievable job. I think he’s got three out of the top five and six out of the top 10 are his motors, so that’s just a lot of hard work. Tom Gant and the guys have done a good job back at the shop in getting these motors prepared for this race. I’m the lucky one to drive it today. Today shows off how much hard work is going on with all the engine stuff and all the body and chassis work that these guys do. It’s just an honor to be able to drive a car that’s that fast.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 2nd: “Qualifying is just a formality. This is where the teams get to shine and show off. This is where all the preparation at the shop and everything that the crews do here at the race track is more of a testimony of their hard work than it is us (the drivers). The hardest thing I’ve got to do is not miss a shift three times during the run. It’s pretty easy for us to do. It really doesn’t matter for tomorrow. They’ve got nice long pit boxes here at Talladega. So I’m looking forward to it. I get to run the Old Spice Chevy car in the Busch race and the Home Depot Chevy tomorrow. So I’m looking forward to two fun days.
“Like I said, the drivers don’t do anything. All we do is make sure we shift it three times at the right rpm and then just ride it around there. It’s a testimony to the Home Depot crew and what they’ve done. They did an awesome job getting ready for this race. Hopefully tomorrow will be as good, obviously. I was surprised. I didn’t think we were going to run that quick — especially with the way the wind is gusting right now. So I was very, very happy with the way it ran.”
YOU’RE UP TO 5TH NOW IN THE POINTS. HOW CONFIDENT IS THIS RACE TEAM? “It’s the best start to a season that we’ve ever had since I’ve been in the Cup Series. Obviously, the team is really excited. This is the first year that we haven’t been trying to crawl back from outside the top 20 to get back in the top 20. So I’m really happy with our start to the season. We just take it one week at a time right now and keep trying to do what we’ve been doing the whole time. We’ve led a lap in every race so far. So that’s something our team is really proud of right now.”
HOW MUCH DID YOU LEARN RACING FROM DALE EARNHARDT SR.? “We always miss racing against him. The amount of stuff that we all learned racing against him, especially at these restrictor plate tracks, is where we miss him the most. Knowing how good he was, you don’t miss having to race against him, but we miss him as a person. The two years I got to spend around him. he was a great friend and really nice to me. That’s something I’ll always remember and appreciate.”
JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 6th “It was a pretty good lap for our whole U.S. Army team. I’m proud of all these guys. I’m proud of who I represent out there. We just can’t do enough for our men and women in uniform. Since we’ve unloaded our U.S. Army Chevy from practice yesterday (in) race trim, (it’s) incredible. I think it’s one of the best cars I’ve had here in Talladega in race trim. Qualifying trim we thought we were going to be a lot closer to the front guys than we were but that’s just part of it. The wind has picked and I think it slowed some guys down. We were off a little bit on a couple of things on the car. We’ll take it and I think we’ll be great for the race.”
HOW ANXIOUS ARE YOU FOR THE RACE WITH SUCH A GOOD CAR AFTER WHAT HAPPENED FOR YOU IN DAYTONA? “I’m definitely ready to get going. Our goal is just to finish the race. If we can finish it without having any issues, it will be a huge accomplishment for our team. It just seems like this year we’ve been caught up in wrecks and if debris will fly off somebody’s car, it normally hits ours. It’s been a crazy year for that but my team never gives up. We’re strong, we’re proud and we’re here.”
J.J. YELEY, NO. 18 GSK ASTHMACONTROL.COM MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 11th: “It was definitely a good lap. The wind seemed like it picked up a little bit as we were making our run. That might have hurt us a little bit but we were flying blind in qualifying today. We didn’t make any qualifying runs yesterday with the Cup car. Racing is more important to us than what qualifying was. Hopefully it hangs in there for a top 10 but most importantly it’s going to be a good race car.”
WHAT DOES A DRIVER DO HERE TO HELP THE QUALIFYING TIME? “The best thing you can do is make sure you hit your check points and try to keep the steering wheel as smooth as possible. The more you move the wheel the more the speed you’re going to scratch. As along as you don’t hit anything leaving or coming in pit road, that’s about all you’ve got to do.”
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG’S MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 13th ON THE EFFORT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS PUTS INTO RESTRICTOR PLATE RACES: “I have the utmost confidence within these guys and the whole Hendrick organization and the way they go about doing things and the way they give us race cars. It’s not a problem of mine to go out there and try to win the race. To try to make it to the end, that’s what it’s about. Basically trying to make sure that we can keep everything under ourselves until we get to that point and try to race them at the end.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 14th ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH YOUR QUALIFYING TIME? “No, not really. We certainly would like to qualify a little bit better than that this early in the qualifying session. We feel like we could be up there towards the top. We didn’t focus a lot on qualifying yesterday. We had a great car in the draft so I’m really excited about the DuPont/Pepsi car and this special paint scheme for this weekend’s race and hopefully we can have the type of success we’ve had here in the past with it.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 16th “It was a good lap for us. The car did a good job. The guys did a great job. (It’s) a brand new race car with no time on it before we came and it looks like all the Hendrick cars are right there around one another in speed. That’s kind of all we can ask. We wish we were a little bit better. It was an impound race so I really feel like we’ve done the right thing so we have a good race on Sunday but not really the speed for today.”
ON THE EFFORT OF YOUR TEAM TO PUT YOUR RACE CAR TOGETHER: “I do have to thank our entire organization at Hendrick Motorsports. We have some guys that are dedicated just to do speedway stuff at the 24/48 shop and they’ve done an amazing job as well. It’s just been a lot of work. We’ve worked so hard to get two of our cars ready for the (Daytona) 500. Fortunately we lost one of them and it’s in Daytona USA. We had to get to work and build another car along with all of downforce stuff that was coming along. The guys definitely have been working a lot of hours at the shop to get everything ready and they’ve done a great job.”
ROBBY GORDON, NO. 7 MENARDS MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 19th ON BEING ABLE TO LAY DOWN A LAP WITHOUT HAVING TO QUALIFY ON TIME: “I think if we were in a position where we were outside of the top 35 and we really had to get in the show, I think we could have been quite a bit quicker than we were. We were very quick in drafting practice yesterday. The car seems to suck up pretty good. We didn’t spend a lot of time in qualifying mode. Being inside the top 35, that’s one of the opportunities you don’t really have to focus so hard on. If you really had to go and lay down a number for qualifying to get in the show obviously you could do a lot of different things to get yourself in the show but you’re probably going to pay the price once you got in.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 27th TODAY WOULD HAVE BEEN YOUR DAD’S 55TH BIRTHDAY. HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS SPECIAL BLACK & SILVER PAINT SCHEME? “Yeah, I like it. It’s been a lot of fun building the race car. A lot of the fans enjoy it, and a lot of the guys at DEI take a lot of pride in it and the guys at RCR too. We’re just having some fun. It’s been a good weekend for Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt fans and everybody in relation.”
YOU HAVE 5 WINS HERE. IT SEEMS LIKE YOU MAKE GOOD DECISIONS DURING THE RACE. WHY ARE YOU SO SUCCESSFUL ON THIS TRACK? “Well if I ain’t in the front, I just try to get there. You got to keep the car moving and know exactly where you need to be going to get to the front. I just have a way of getting there. We’ve struggled here lately, but we’ve worked real hard to try to make some improvements. The guys in the engine shop have made some improvements. So we’ve got a little bit better car and a good package — a better package than we had in Daytona. I’m real happy with how we practiced.”
YOU DIDN’T QUALIFY PARTICULARLY WELL HERE, BUT THAT DOESN’T MATTER. YOU’VE WON HERE 5 TIMES. IS THERE ANY REASON TO BELIEVE YOU CAN’T WIN HERE AGAIN ON SUNDAY? “We got a good car. I don’t know why we qualified so slow. We ran about three-tenths faster than that yesterday when we made our run. You just can’t never tell what you’re going to get here in qualifying. I ain’t really worried about it. The car will be fine and we’ll have a lot of fun on Sunday.”
SCOTT WIMMER, NO. 4 AERO EXHAUST MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 35th “As far as driving the car, it feels real good but we didn’t have very much speed there. I don’t know, that doesn’t look too good. It’s a shame. These guys have worked real hard since Daytona. We missed that speedway race and that’s going to be real tough. Hopefully the wind is hurting everybody else too. It’s going to be a long wait now.”
HOW TOUGH IS IT TO GET IN THESE RACES IN THE NEXTEL CUP SERIES? “It’s real tight especially just trying to get into the race. It’s going to be tight today. Like I said, hopefully the wind hurts everybody else. These guys did an awesome job getting this car ready. They worked real hard. If we don’t make it here, we’ll be back at Daytona.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 REESES MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 42nd ON NOT PRACTICING IN THE SECOND PRACTICE SESSION YESTERDAY: “We practiced in the first practice. We did everything we needed to do. And there’s no reason to practice if there is nothing else you have to try. It pretty much is what it is. The Reeses Chevrolet should race good. We didn’t do any qualifying runs or anything so we’ll go from wherever we start and have a good day.”
ON RICHARD CHILDRESS RETURNING FROM AFRICAN SAFARI: “I think he’s been taking a lot of grief about being gone for the last couple of weeks and us winning. But it’s good to have him back and hopefully we can keep it going while he’s here.”
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KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) - 5th, fastest Dodge “This is a great car. The crew gave me a good Miller Lite Dodge to work with. I tore it up at Daytona, so they had to rebuild it and they’ve done a good job. I’m happy to have Roy McCauley back this week. When I first started coming to Talladega it was tough on me as a rookie, but as I’ve raced here I’ve really enjoyed it. I think it’s great racing four wide. It’s a challenge to try to win one of these things. Dale Jr. is tough, Jeff Gordon is strong and Tony Stewart has been good of late. I think this is a good top five car. If we’re there in the end, we’ll see. Ryan and I hope we can work together tomorrow without saying a word like we did at Daytona. We just have that acknowledge of being a racer, and we know we can’t do this alone. I wish I had been there to push him to the end at Daytona, but we’ll try to get that shot again. That’s all we can ask for.”
KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge Charger) - 28th “The wind hurt us a little bit, but we weren’t much faster in practice. We ran a little faster than the 43, but we’re pretty close. It really doesn’t matter where you start at Talladega. You could start up front and be running last in a couple of laps and vice versa.”
CASEY MEARS (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger) - 25th “We were out there running around and what it does is what it does. In race trim the car is really good. This was typical for us in qualifying. We haven’t qualified good for restrictor-plate racing since my first year here. We’ve got the speed in race trim, but it isn’t there in qualifying trim.”
DAVID STREMME (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger) - 17th “My right foot was shaking so bad. It wasn’t because it was on the floor. It was just making it in. I really think our team is turning it around here. This is a hurdle we had to leap as far as qualifying to make it in. Steve Lane and all the guys are doing a great job. I’m excited. It’s a little different atmosphere, but I think it’s in the right direction. We’ve got good people and good cars. We’ve just got to start showing results. I believe we can.”
BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 STP/Cheerios Dodge Charger) - 31st “It was slower than yesterday. I don’t know why. It was the wind or something. The wind is affecting some more than others, and I think it affected us.”
KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) - 38th “I was hoping we could go faster than that, but you never know about these tracks. You get what you get. Hopefully we’ll have a better racecar tomorrow. I think we will. It felt real good in the draft yesterday, and I think the Dodge Chargers are real good restrictor-plate cars. Hopefully our engines run great and we’ll be up front.”
RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger) - 18th “It’s hard to tell when you go out early. The wind change could make a second difference here. It was a good lap. We’ll just have to see where we end up. I think we’ve got a pretty good racecar for tomorrow based on drafting practice yesterday. It’s nice to start up front, but here it probably matters least of all places. You never know what’s going to happen. There could be a big crash in the first two laps. It’s not hard to plan, but it’s hard to make happen (drafting with a teammate). Once you get together it’s hard to stay together, probably more so here than at Daytona.”
SCOTT RIGGS (No. 10 Stanley Tools/Havoline Dodge Charger) - 32nd “We didn’t put any emphasis into qualifying. We just made sure it drove good in the draft. We put the gear in we needed for the draft. We knew it was going to hurt us for qualifying, but it doesn’t really matter where we start. We just want to stay out of the wrecks and have a good run. The car pulls up pretty good. In practice you always get big runs trying to catch up with the pack. We didn’t put a lot of emphasis on those stats from yesterday. We just want to make sure it drives good and we’re in the right position to have a good finish.”
JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) - 37th “We’ve been working hard to get things turned around. I guess it’s just going to take a little more luck. It’s just like today. We didn’t qualify good and that hurts, but we’ll get it turned around.”
COMMENT ON SOFT BUMPERS “I’m not going to try to hit anybody if it’s going to tear up my front end. They had to do something. I guess that’s really the short-term fix. Probably the long-term fix is if you’re going to hit anybody you’re going to tear up your bumpers, front or rear. It became a deal when you got hit it would knock you out of shape or pick you up or whatever. It might require a little more finesse. You might not be able to pull up and slam ‘em, but you might be able to hit them a little bit.”
COMMENT ON YOUR SEASON “We’ve been down before, but we’ve been able to come back. Our deal is we’ve got a lot of new people. We had a great car at Daytona and got in a wreck and it set us back. We had a decent car at Atlanta and cut a right front tire down. We blew a motor at Martinsville. That’s three out of eight races that just killed us. Now we’re 34th in points and it looks a lot worse than it’s really been. It’s not the team chemistry as much as it is bad luck, too.”
COMMENT ON NEXT WEEK AT RICHMOND “I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t pull another one out of the hat. We’ve got some good things going on after this week. It’s going to be pretty exciting for us. I’m looking forward to Richmond. We had a good test there. We were actually better than the 9 or 10 at Richmond. Who knows? We might turn it around there.I’d like to see us be competitive again. I feel real confident that Richmond is going to be the place. We’re testing Charlotte on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think you’ll see a big difference there and at Richmond, probably from here on out. I feel real good about that. As long as we’re headed in the right direction, I’ll feel good about it. For me to stand here right now and tell you we’re headed in the right direction right now, we haven’t been. We’ve been having bad luck, but we haven’t been running like we wanted to, either. I feel like the next couple of weeks will tell the story.”
ARE ANY TEAM CHANGES PLANNED? “I don’t expect any changes other than we might add a few people. Chris (team director Andrews) and I have started to come together. It hasn’t showed up yet, but it’s better than it was a couple of weeks ago as far as him understanding what I like and me understanding how he does things on the car. It’s just like Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip when they switched up. You saw what happened on that deal. Dale Jr. couldn’t hit his butt and Michael took off running good. That’s just part of what we’re going through right now.”
DID ADDING THE 10 TEAM HURT YOUR TEAM? “I don’t see how. Ray added that deal and it slowly got added into our program. It wasn’t like it was a big shock. If anything, I think it might be helping us a little bit. Scott is doing a great job. Scott and Rodney (team director Childers) have been together. They kind of built that team around Scott. I think what has hurt us is a little bit of luck and chemistry. I get all the help I want. It’s just a matter of applying it to the racecar.”
ARE YOU USING LAST SEASON’S SETUPS? “We’re searching around a little bit. We’re searching quite a bit. We know what they’ve got, and they know what we’ve got. It’s just about getting the most out of your equipment, and so far we haven’t got the most out of ours yet. The car is sitting there and it’ll run fast. We’ve just got to get all of it out of the car. That could come down to one little thing.”
ARE YOU OUT OF THE CHASE? “I don’t know. I’m not going to stand here and tell you we’re going to be in it now. We’re going to do our best, and that’s all we can do. It was a pretty big setback for me having to learn everything all over again. I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to roll over. If we can come back and win a race or two this year and finish in the top 20 in points or top 15, then I’m happy with that. Are we going to reach our goal of being in The Chase again? Right now, it looks pretty slim.”
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MARK MARTIN
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