Ford teams qualifying quotes
 
BOBBY EAST-21-State Fair Corn Dogs/Edy's Dibs Ford F-150 (Qualified 14th)
 
YOU WERE ABLE TO PICK UP QUITE A BIT OF SPEED FROM PRACTICE. "We've just got
a good truck. In practice, we were just trying to prepare ourselves for the
race and that's usually what we do. We didn't tape it up and make a mock run
in practice because we just weren't worried about it, basically because we
feel like we have a pretty good race truck."
 
YOU ARE A YOUNG DRIVER THAT DOESN'T HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE IN RACES OF THIS
LENGTH. IS THE HEAT A CONCERN FOR YOU TOMORROW? "From inside the truck, not
really. I've just been preparing myself for it in the off-season. I got a
little taste of it last year, and it gets real hot. I've just been preparing
real hard for it, just like these guys prepare real hard at the shop, and I
just try to hold up my end of the deal and I just look forward to racing that
State Fair Corn Dogs Ford."
 
***
 
ERIK DARNELL-99-Woolrich Ford F-150 (Qualified 13th)
 
"We were looking for a little more than that. Our Woolrich Ford was real good
in practice and I don't know what happened there in qualifying. The speed
wasn't there, but I'm not really worried about it, though, because I know the
thing is going to race real well. It doesn't really matter where we start
because this is a wide race track and we'll be good in the race."
 
DO YOU EXPECT THE RACE CONDITIONS TO BE DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE IN
QUALIFYING? "I'm hoping it's going to be cooler when the race starts tomorrow
night. I'm assuming that track is going to tighten up a little bit, but I
don't know because I've never run here before. We had a real good truck in
race trim today and I think that will carry over into the race tomorrow
night."
 
***
 
TERRY COOK-10-Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l F-150 (Qualified 2nd)
 
DID YOU GET EVERYTHING OUT OF THE TRUCK IN QUALIFYING? "Yeah, we did. We just
had to lift off the throttle to three-quarters throttle just for a hair in
the middle of three and four. It was just a little tight, but as I told them
I was a little tight, I was putting that much wheel to the right, too. We
were a little tight, a little loose, but we got out of it everything we had
in it. The Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l crew just did an awesome job. It
rolled of the trailer and it was almost perfect. We worked on it the entire
practice sessions to make it even better than perfect. We felt like we got
off on a tangent at one point and then we got it back to where it needed to
be, which was real good. It's on the outside pole, and that's a great
qualifying effort."
 
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALIFYING FOR AN IMPOUND RACE? "Qualifying means a
lot because track position is pretty huge here. I think there are some good
trucks back there that didn't qualify as well, but I've always seen it here
where typically if you have a good race truck, you'll qualify well. I think
at this track if you qualify well, you'll race well; that's a product of this
track. I think our truck may have been a pinch tight during qualifying, but
they'll make the impound adjustments to free it up for the race, so we're
pretty good."
 
ANY CONCERNS WITH THE HEAT? "Not really. I don't think it will be a big issue
because we're racing at night, so the sun's not beating on the track. It's a
mile-and-a-half track so you're going to get plenty of airflow into the race
vehicle as well as into the motor area. With those two aspects, I don't think
heat will be as big of an issue at this track liked it would be at Memphis,
where don't air flow into the race vehicle. It's a lot more comfortable
heat-wise than it was in Dover and I think we're 10 degrees warmer."
 
***
 
MARCOS AMBROSE-20-Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Ford F-150 (Qualified 21st)
 
"We're really pleased. We're just trying to turn laps right now. We're in a
hole with three wrecks in three races, and we want to ride through the next
couple here and get as much experience as we can and stay out of trouble
again if we can."
 
IN TERMS OF SPEED, IS THE FASTEST TRACK ON WHICH YOU'VE COMPETED? "No, Dover
felt pretty quick. This place is really a challenge, too. I've been a little
bit limited on laps here and I haven't quite done enough laps in practice.
We're really excited about the race and the future. I've got a great team and
a great opportunity, and I'm having a blast."
 
***
 
MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR-50-Roush Racing Ford F-150 (Qualified 30th)
 
CAN YOU TAKE A DEEP BREATH NOW THAT YOU KNOW YOU MADE THE RACE? "Of course,
that's good. I struggled myself a lot early in practice and we made so many
changes, so we're starting to come back on them. This truck just drives quite
a bit different from the Busch cars, so I'm just trying to get used to it.
The guys are doing a great job, and this is the first part of it. We've made
it into the race and we'll see how it goes tomorrow."
 
WERE YOU ABLE TO RUN WIDE OPEN IN QUALIFYING? "We were a little bit too tight
to run wide open in qualifying, and I lifted a little bit. We were just too
tight. I could have probably, but I would have had to turn too much and bind
it up."
 
***
 
RICK CRAWFORD-14-Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford F-150 (Qualified 5th)
 
FIFTH IS NOT A BAD STARTING POSITION. "No, it's not. I've started a lot worse
than that here, and this is our home race track here in front off Circle Bar
Truck Corral. The Ford F-150 came on strong there in the second hour of
practice, and those qualifying laps were two pretty good laps and that's what
you needed on the second lap. I wish we would have been first, but we'll take
fifth and we'll try to win tomorrow night. We have something we can probably
win with."
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS TRACK POSITION HERE? "It's big because we have that safe
tire, and if you've got that track position that means you don't have to pass
them. Here, this race track is getting wore in to where it's going to have
more than one groove. I'd look for that tomorrow night. If you can't beat
them on the bottom, you can go upstairs and beat then."
 
ANY CONCERNS WITH THE HEAT? "Heat an issue for me? I don't think so. The sun
will be down by the time we get started."
 
##MMR 2.61(beta).  (copied MP MMR 2.61(beta), was  6-09-06 (0xae)AS:E01/027
NASCAR - All Levels(0xaf)) 


--- GTMail 1.26