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 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