BUSCH: Ford Racing Bristol II qualifying notes

JEFF GREEN-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Qualified 3rd)

WAS YOUR EARLY DRAW A DISADVANTAGE TODAY?

I don't think so. It might be a little bit faster at the very end, but the concrete doesn't change much. If it cools off, it might make the motors run better, but the track should stay pretty much the same for everyone. It was a pretty good lap for us. We qualified better than we practice, but I never dreamed anybody would run that much faster; Skinner ran a tenth quicker than I did. I don't know where I could have made that up because my first lap was pretty much flawless."

THIS IS THE FIRST TRACK THAT THE BUSCH SERIES HAS REVISITED THIS YEAR. WERE YOUR NOTES FROM THE SPRING HELPFUL TODAY?

We were so bad in qualifying here in the spring, that we didn't even go by them today. I tested a Cup car here a couple of weeks ago and I think we used some of that information today. I think that helped us. We ought to stay close to the top five with that, so it's a lot better than 25th where we stated in the spring."

DOES NOT HAVING HAPPY HOUR TONIGHT LEAVE SOME GUESSWORK?

Unfortunately, it doesn't allow us to get it at night. We race at night and it would be nice to practice at night, but this track is concrete and we know the trends that it's had over the last few years. I don't think those trends have changed any, so we'll have to work back on our notes a little bit and guess a little bit. We've been pretty good at that lately."

TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN.

We're a little disappointed because we thought we had a shot at the pole, but third is better to second than me. It's a pretty good starting place for us. We're a lot better than we were in the spring, so hopefully we can stay out of what we got in here in the spring and have a good finish tomorrow night."

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH NASCAR'S REPORT ON DALE EARNHARDT'S DEATH?

It's like Mike (Skinner) said, I think we all knew what happened and it probably comforted more Earhardt fans and the general public more than it did us because we felt we knew what happened. It just put it in a statement for us. My hat's off to NASCAR for what they did to put together a series of shots and what went down in that whole deal, to explain that to the general public. A race driver and all the guys that work on these cars can read between the lines and get information they want to get out of what they said, but for the general public, I think that really put some closure to it."

KEVIN LEPAGE-71-State Fair Corn Dogs Ford Taurus (Qualified 19th)

"I wasn't here in the spring, so this is my first time here on this tire and we're kinda playing catch up right now. I'm pretty happy with the way the car performed with the little amount of practice we had today. We dropped off just a tick from where we were in practice, but we went out early, and the sun is pretty hot right now. Of course, running this race at night, it will still take some guesswork to put the right setup under the car. I'm just looking forward to a great 250 tomorrow night."

ARE YOU USING THIS WEEKEND TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME IN THE SPRING?

That's once nice thing about doing both divisions here. Hopefully, we can learn something today and apply it to tomorrow, and then learn something tomorrow and apply it on Saturday. I just love this place and I found Victory Lane here in 1998 and I look forward to getting back there."

JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Qualified 7th)

"I thought it was a little better than that. It surprised me that it wasn't faster. We've been right there all morning in practice; we were just a little bit if there. At least we'll be able to see the green flag wave when the race starts. I think we'll be OK."

IS THIS A PLACE WHERE YOU EXPECT TO PICK UP TIME FROM PRACTICE?

I don't know. We did the best we could, and those were two, consistent laps. They were really close and we could never go any faster, but I'm happy. We came here in the spring and really struggled, but we tested a couple of weeks ago, so it seemed like that helped. At least we'll be pitted on the frontstretch."

THIS IS THE FIRST TRACK THAT THE BUSCH SERIES HAS REVISITED THIS YEAR. WERE YOUR NOTES FROM THE SPRING HELPFUL TODAY?

It looks like we are because we qualified 30th and ran terrible all day here in March. I think it's going to be a little bit better than that."

DOES THE LACK OF A NIGHTTIME HAPPY HOUR LEAVE A LOT TO CHANCE TOMORROW?

Everybody has to do it, you just have to guess right on your car. I just hope we don't get it real good tomorrow and then get it way too tight when the sun goes down. We'll have to wait and see."

ELTON SAWYER-98-Hot Tamales/Starter Ford Taurus (Qualified 6th)

YOU PICKED UP TWO TENTHS FROM PRACTICE.

Obviously, we weren't very goo in practice. We made some changes in practice and we thought we made it better, but we made it worse, so we just kind of backed it up. We had a late draw, which may have helped a little bit; the race track is probably a little cooler. We really worked hard on our race setup early in the day, so although we're racing at night, we felt like we needed to get some laps on it."

DID YOU USE THE SPRING RACE AS A GAUGE FOR THE NEW TIRE?

Maybe a little. I didn't think that we were all that special when we were here in the spring, so we kind of started in that same spot and worked around a little bit. Ricky (Viers) and the boys deserve the credit because they worked on this car and got it a lot better than it was in the spring, and, obviously, a lot better than it was in practice."

[Greg Biffle was forced to go to a backup car after hitting the wall in turn 4 on his second lap of qualifying. Biffle did, however, post the fifth fastest time of the qualifying session, but will start tomorrow's race at the tail end of the field.]

GREG BIFFLE-60-Grainger Ford Taurus (Qualified 5th)

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN.

Well, the car's wrecked and we we've got to start in a backup car, which might be a positive because we've never been that good here. We qualified fifth on the first lap and the guys forgot to turn the radio on, so I had no idea where we were at, so I tried a little harder the second lap. It was just a comedy of errors that continued to happen for the Grainger team right now. We're short a guy and we're trying to fill a spot, and it's just that things aren't going as good as we wanted to right this second. But, our backup car is a BSR car, so I'm pretty excited about that. That will be the first time that I'll get to drive something other than the chassis we're using. Maybe it's a chassis problem that we've had here. The car has been predominantly loose in. The last race here it was the same way, and this race, morning practice, morning qualifying, this qualifying, that's what wrecked us. We're free in and we can't get it to drive right. You have to overdrive the car so much to even get a fifth-place lap time. Hopefully, we'll work out some of our problems by having this thing happen. We didn't want to start at the back for tomorrow, but it may be a positive overall."

ARE YOU STILL RACING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP? WHEN DO YOU START RACING FOR SECOND?

I've been racing for the championship since the green flag dropped and when it's not feasible for me to catch him in the points, and that means there's two races to go and he's more than 200-and-some points ahead, that's when I'll settle for second."

WHY ARE YOU A GUY SHORT?

One of our crew guys decided that he wanted a career change a few weeks back and he's not in the racing family anymore; it's not like he went to another team. He's a younger guy, a tire changer, a pretty good mechanic that decided he wanted to pursue other opportunities, I think."

-Ford Racing