Martinsville Ford qualifying quotes
ROBERT PRESSLEY - 77 - Jasper Engines Taurus "Well, it wasn't as good as we practiced. I knew it was gonna be hard to back that lap up because we hit everything perfect there at practice. That right there is a little bit off, which, I think, the ...
ROBERT PRESSLEY - 77 - Jasper Engines Taurus
"Well, it wasn't as good as we practiced. I knew it was gonna be hard to
back that lap up because we hit everything perfect there at practice. That
right there is a little bit off, which, I think, the track is gonna be a
little slower than it was earlier today. We're glad, that's gonna get us a
good starting position come Sunday."
BRETT BODINE - 11 - Ralphs Supermarkets Taurus
"I thought we could run a little better than we did in practice, but it
looks like conditions are going away. I think we slowed up the least of
the guys here in the beginning. Just a little bit loose, that's a good
sign that some of the grip's going away in the race track."
AND THE PRACTICE LAP WAS GOOD.
"We run a .23 in practice and a .29 in qualifying, hopefully we'll gain a
few spots if everyone here keeps slowing up."
RICKY RUDD - 28 - Texaco/Havoline Taurus
"That's about what we run in practice, I think a lot of guys have slowed
up qualifying. We worked real hard to get to speed with cold tires. That's
the key. Tires need a lot of heat here. I'm pleased with the run."
ON THE NEW TIRE.
"The new tire is gonna be really good as you run it, a long run it's
tremendous, but the concrete track, cold temperatures, they don't like
each other that well. So, you got to be careful to get heat in the tires,
and then it's ready to go, and I think a lot of that's the way you do your
air pressure and so on."
ON THE TIME STANDING FOR THE POLE. "I don't think that's gonna do it.
We'll see, though, it's kinda hard to say, but based on everyone running
slower than they practiced then we might have a shot at it."
HUT STRICKLIN - 90 - Hills Brothers Coffee Taurus
"I'm disappointed, we wanted to be a lot faster. Basically, we just ran
out of time. We made a lot of changes before qualifying and picked up a
couple of tenths over what we've been practicing - actually a little bit
more than that. I don't think that's going to be good enough to get us in
- on time, anyway. All we can hope for right now is a provisional."
TODD BODINE - 66 - Blue Light Special Taurus
"Pretty good lap. We didn't have the car exactly perfect but it was
pretty close, and it'll give us a good starting spot.
MANY TEAMS ARE SLOWER THAN IN PRACTICE, BUT NOT YOURS.
"That's one thing we're happy about. We definitely maintained compared to
the rest. We only made one small change from practice, but if we would've
had more practice time we probably would've changed the car more and made it
a little better. But, we're pretty happy with that."
JEFF BURTON - 99 - CITGO SUPERGARD Taurus
"We picked up some. We hadn't run as well in practice as far as running
on new tires as we thought we needed to, made some changes and it seemed
to help us."
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING. "We made some changes on
the car, and the changes we made were what we needed. Had a great shot at
it, got pretty loose getting into one and that just really slowed the
speed down in the middle of the corners, so that hurt us some on our
qualifying lap."
MIKE WALLACE - 7 - NationsRent Taurus
"That was better than we practiced, so anytime we can improve on our
practice speeds - you know, I think we're safely in the race, that's our
biggest concern right here right now. We got a new crew chief with Jim
Long running the show here this weekend, and we're just happy. We weren't
quite that quick in practice and anytime you can improve, they tell me
that's what I'm paid to do."
ANDY HOUSTON - 96 - McDonald's Taurus
IT'S A GOOD THING WHEN YOU GET OUT OF THE CAR AND THE CREW CHIEF PATS YOU
ON THE BACK. "Yeah, and you know something? He patted me on the back and I
even slowed down from practice, so I was a little disappointed. We ran a
.45, we had run a .37 in practice. Don't really know why. The car felt
like it was under me real good, felt like it got through the corner pretty
good, it just slowed down a little bit on speed. I think we're in the
field safely there, which at this point in time that's all really we need
to be worrying about, is just digging ourselves out of this deep hole we
got ourselves in. The McDonald's Ford, we're just looking forward to 500
laps here on Sunday, and we're starting to see someday light here."
RICKY CRAVEN - 32 - Tide Taurus
"We brought a brand-new Tide Ford here and really struggled with it in
practice, and I don't think I've ever been involved with more changes
before a qualifying run than what we had there. It wasn't the pole, but it
was a damn good improvement. And, that's really what this team's made of,
I mean, all year long, they just keep working and working and working - a
lot of confidence in one another. I feel like if we continue to work this
hard, by mid-season we're gonna be a contender."
MATT KENSETH - 17 - DeWalt Tools Taurus
"I'm really happy with that. I've always run really bad here at
Martinsville, it's our worst track besides Sears Point, so for us to be in
the top 25 or close to it, wherever we end up, is a really good effort for
us. That's a little quicker than we ran in practice so we gotta be happy
with that."
JEREMY MAYFIELD - 12 - Mobil 1 Taurus
A STRONG MONTH CONTINUES.
"It is, man, I'll tell you, I'm proud of this whole team. We made a lot
of decisions, I think we changed everything on this car for qualifying -
it was the right direction, from engine tune, to gear, to shocks,
everything. That's what this team's all about. I'm just real proud of
them. For once, we got the Mobil 1 Ford up front qualifying at
Martinsville."
MORE ON HIS TIME.
"That's probably a pole for us - that's more than a pole."
ELLIOTT SADLER - 21 - Motorcraft Taurus
"Just another tough day at Martinsville. The motor we put in was a lot
better and just kinda pushed a little harder in the corner than I wanted
to go, just made it a little tighter. The same old Martinsville for us, we
struggle here and we're struggling again. Hope we get in. We'll get a
provisional and see how we race on Sunday."
JIMMY SPENCER - 26 - Kmart Taurus
"I think we were like 38th and I said, 'Man, guys, I hope we don't have
to use a provisional here.' They never gave up and I didn't either, we
kept working on the car. We unloaded it and we were really, really loose,
and then we got it really, really tight. Then we talked to Todd a little
bit and Larry and those guys on the 66 Kmart team and Donnie and I talked
it over with some of our guys and we made some decisions and got a lot
better. I messed up on the second lap - I know I lost a good tenth, tenth
and a half, we might've run in the teens. We'll take that with the Kmart
team, we've been having and up-and-down season and we just need to get
back in that top 10 again like we've been and that's what we're hoping for
on Sunday."
DALE JARRETT - 88 - UPS Taurus
"I thought we could run a little quicker than that. Got a little loose
getting back in the gas off of four on the second lap - think I was pretty
good until then, better than we normally are here so at least we're making
gains. We got a good car, just wish I could've got a little more out of
it."
JEFF BURTON PRESS CONFERENCE -
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN.
"That's a pretty good run for us. We were 15th fastest in practice, I
believe, and made some changes to the car to make it turn a little bit
better, and the changes that we made, the car reacted to it, so we ended
up with a good run."
CONSIDERING YOUR SEASON, WAS THIS A MAJOR LIFT?
"Our season certainly hasn't been worth a crap, but one decent qualifying
run isn't going to change our season, nor would one bad qualifying run
change our season. Having a good finish wouldn't hurt us any, golly at
this point we just need to finish. Qualifying, I'll go to sleep tonight
not worrying too much about the way we qualified, but thinking about what
we need to do to do well on Sunday."
-Ford Racing
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