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feeling pretty good about the way things are going about the car and about
the team and performance. We've had some wins, so we're hoping we can carry
some of that momentum and bring that here to the Brickyard in August." (About
the track): "Obviously, tires are an issue right now and with this track
being as green as it is. This tire gives up a lot of speed, which should be a
good thing for the race. We saw some guys having some tire issues after seven
to 10 laps, but as we went on, it seemed to get better. So, by the time we
get back here we should be in good shape." Select quotes from pre-practice
press conference): "Yeah, it's a very important test. You know, the Brickyard
is a big, big event. Every team wants to be here and have as much track time
as we possibly can, not to mention Goodyear has a little bit different tire.
So, with as much as has changed with the setups of the cars from last year to
this year and then the tire being different, we all are very anxious to get
out there on the track, not to mention we don't have many more days left in
the schedule to come back here." (How much time do you think it's going to
take you guys to get rubber back on the racetrack? That was a concern Monday,
to get to where you can test certain things. Does that impact your testing
plan for today?): "Definitely. We heard about the guys that were here Monday
and how it took quite a while. I know some of them said at the beginning of
the day it was only six or eight laps before the tires were almost down to
the cords. Obviously, that's because there wasn't any rubber on the track.
That's important. For us, I think just getting two or three laps is crucial
to get telemetry for the team, just to see if there's any new bumps, just
traveling, those types of things. It's that important just to get a couple of
laps at speed. But as far as getting good, solid information that we can come
back here with, yeah, we need to run several hours and get a lot of cars out
there with a lot of rubber down." (A couple weeks ago, Michael Schumacher won
his fifth event here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some people are
wondering how to compare what he's done to the guys at the Indy 500. How do
you compare what you have done here at the Brickyard to the long history of
winning four times in the Indianapolis 500?): "Well, I've never felt like
there's a real good comparison there. I mean, if you look at the history, how
long the Indy 500 has been going on here, the competitiveness of that race
for so many years, to me, and as a kid just growing up as a fan of the Indy
500 and looking at Al Unser and A.J. Foyt and Rick Mears, those guys as
four-time winners, even when we came here for the Brickyard and I'd won a
couple of Brickyard 400s, as much as I love this race and am glad that I've
won here, I still don't compare those wins to what those guys have done in
the Indy 500. Same way I kind of look at the F1 race, as well. It's just a
totally different event and totally different types of cars. I think that you
have to take each series and compare everything to that series. If you look
at that, obviously Michael Schumacher's in a totally different field or
comparison range. I mean, he's just set a bar that's going to be a lmost
impossible for anybody else to match."

KYLE BUSCH (No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet): (About the important of testing the
new tire compound): "Well, they're going to bring another one back (that is)
different than what we've got here today. Just to be able to get on the
racetrack and get a feel for it again, try some different things we've
learned over the past year and get a basis on the knowledge we've learned
over the past year. The biggest thing is trying to accompany what the car
wants with the racetrack and with what the tires are telling us, which isn't
much, so hopefully they'll come back with something better. We hope it will
be better when we get back here, that's for sure. We're kind of all over the
board. We could never really find something that would handle well for us the
whole time we've been here. We've been back and forth an awful lot."

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge): (About how much the team could
accomplish despite all the rain): "It was more of an abbreviated test. We
really thrashed through some of our items we wanted to have done in more
detail and eliminated some of the other things just so we could get it done
in one day. We had a lot on our plate with two cars with the time we had
today, but it was generous of the Speedway to open up early and to let us go
later." (The No. 2 team has had some good history here, though it never made
it to victory lane. Are you leaving the test with a good comfort level?):
"It's (the No. 2 car) good definitely by itself in qualifying. That's where
we feel very confident, but we still have to go make a lap. It could be a lot
warmer when we get back, so we still have some more work to do when we come
back, but I think now there's four hours of practice so there's plenty of
time to do that." (Is it typical of a test to say at the end of the day, 'I
wish we could have tried this or that?'): "Yep, that's definitely the case.
But we think we've got a good base of notes to allow the engineers to go and
look at different things and quiz me about and hopefully come back with a
better Miller Lite Dodge."

BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 Cheerios Dodge): (About the importance of getting in a
second day of testing): "Weather-wise, I'm sure it will be a lot different
when we get back here. But, it's real important to get laps in the
racetrack." (You're a former winner so how does it help your new team?): "I
don't know, I guess in a way, yes, but nowadays it's week-to-week. You could
be good one week and not the next, so years to years is different. We've just
got to go out there and do the best we can week in and week out."

KEN SCHRADER (No. 21 Little Debbie Ford): "We had a really good two-day test.
We focused a lot on race setup, then made two qualifying runs at the end of
the day today, so it's not like we dwelled much on qualifying. The car was
good -- simple as that. We look forward to coming back."

CHAD KNAUS (Crew chief of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet driven by Jimmie
Johnson): (About how important even a brief test at IMS is for the team): "As
far as preparation for the race, it's pretty important. A lot of guys were
here Monday before the rain hit and got a full day's worth of testing in, and
a couple other teams were able to come up here and take part in the Indy tire
test, so they have quite a head start on us. Getting out on the track today
is going to be pretty important just for us to be able to gather some data
and be able to take it back to Hendrick Motorsports and go through the
information and see how we can get it to apply here in August." (Conditions
here in August likely will be sunny and hot, so does a cooler, cloudy and
humid day like today still hold value?): "Yeah, it will give us what we
need." (Last year's race here was a bad one for you guys, so what would it
mean for you personally to do well here?): "It would be nice just to run
halfway competitive. We've never run very well here, and it's always been
kind of a sore thumb to us, to be honest."

KEVIN HARVICK (No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet): (About after getting a full
day Monday, how important is today's abbreviated track time?): "Not very
much. We felt like we got a good day in Monday. With all the rain it will
take a couple hours to get all the rubber back on the racetrack, so we'll
just run through a bunch of things we did Monday and just re-evaluate where
we're at. But hopefully we can get the track rubbered in for this afternoon.
That will be the most important part." (Come race weekend it will likely be
hot and sunny, so will you guys have to come in with a whole different game
place for that Friday's practice?): "I don't think so, everything we've been
doing has seemed to work right off the bat, so just stick to our game plan
and do the things that we've been doing and put ourselves in track position
at the end of the race, with a chance to win. But, it's a long ways to get to
that point and we'll just approach it like we have every week." (Only two
guys are multi-time winners of this race, what would it mean to you to become
the next two-time Allstate 400 at the Brickyard winner?): "This place is
important to me. Growing up an open-wheel fan and wanting to win at Indy and
being able to win once. Winning it twice would be really cool."

BRIAN VICKERS (No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet): "(Today) has been valuable, especially
this afternoon. Took a little while for the rubber to get on the track, it's
rained so much. Track was really green this morning, but this afternoon was a
good test. These days, getting two days in is great, but one decent day or
even a half a day is enough usually because you're going to run through a
test matrix, try some stuff (and) get the data on it, then go back to the
shop, go through all the telemetry you have and let the engineers do their
job. They don't necessarily need two days of runs."

DAVID STREMME (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge): "Monday wasn't very great. (About)
the fifth lap I got in the fence, tore the car up so Monday we weren't very
good, but they repaired the car and did some work. Today's been a lot better.
I felt a lot more comfortable on the track. It is cool to get to run here at
Indianapolis." (How important was this test for you and the team?): "It was
huge because my team's going through a lot of changes right now, but the
other thing is I've never been here. So all the track time was better for us,
and we feel we're pretty competitive right now. Obviously, the weather
conditions were a little different today, with cloudy and overcast than
probably when we race here, but it's still pretty hot and muggy and the
track's losing a lot of grip."
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