Charlotte: Newman qualifying press conference

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge) -- Qualified Second

"We picked up a lot from where we practice, which we hoped, but you never know what's going to happen until it actually does. The ALLTEL Dodge was strong off the truck. We were second in practice, and I guess that's our number of the day. Jimmie had a great draw. I knew we were hurting, but it was a good effort and a good starting spot and hopefully we'll have a great shot at the victory Sunday night.

"It's kind of funny. He was so shook up. He wanted to fight the guy he pulled the pill from. It's not really like him. He's a pretty laid back guy. We didn't fire him, but he knew when he pulled fourth it wasn't going to be a good qualifying spot.

"We'll talk about that (track record) when we come back in October and make an effort to get it back. We had the all-time track record for the longest time with a .91 in the ARCA Series. I think we ran a .93 or .95 last year and beat Junior's record. Now Jimmie's got everything. It's just a lap, but I'd like to have it.

"I told (Dick) Berggren that I was going to run a .62 because of his age and all that. We know the track picked up, but you've got to tune to it. You can lose the tuning of the car and not have it right so that you don't pick up near as much as you should.

"I knew Jeff was going to have a good shot at it because he's always good at busting off a good lap here. Brian ran a pretty good lap. I knew after some guys ran as fast as they did that the track was picking up. That was pretty much it. You just had to wait and see. You can't to anything about it.

"I'd say the mileage on the motors is probably a bigger issue than the time we practice and the quantity of laps we practice. It's the crew chief's call and I'll do what he says, but it is pretty crazy to be practicing when we're practicing. We'd be better off not practicing. Personally, it's kind of crazy to show up here on Thursday and get a day off. We could do this Friday night and practice on Saturday and race on Sunday like we usually do. I'm sure it works out the way it does for a reason."

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