NASCAR BGN: Ford Racing GNC Live Well 250 Qualifying Notes & Quotes

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

June 30, 2001

GREG BIFFLE-60-Grainger Ford Taurus (Qualified 2nd) - "The car was a little looser than it was in this morning's practice. What's happening is the sun is heating the asphalt up. The track has more grip when it's hotter and the track has cooled way down. The sun went away and the temperature dropped real fast when the first guys went and the track was still hot, retaining temperature. Then after a while, I think it's cooled down and the track doesn't have as good of grip. Look at all the guys that qualified 30.7 (seconds). That's a half-a-second off of their earlier practice time. I think we could have run a 20 (30.20 seconds). We just slipped in the front and we had no grip in the back. There wasn't any grip at either end of the car. Downforce could have been a lot of that. The Chevys have bigger front fenders. The 2 guys are masters at aerodynamics, and that could have played a factor, too. They looked like they were able to get it dug into the race track for two laps." YOU DROVE A TRUCK LAST WEEKEND AT MEMPHIS AND THEY'RE HERE THIS WEEKEND. ARE YOU RUNNING BETWEEN THE TWO GARAGES TRYING TO HELP THOSE TEAMS WITH WHAT YOU LEARNED IN MEMPHIS? "I'm helping them the best I can. I might drive the 50 truck in Happy Hour to see if I can't help them get the trucks dialed into the track. They have Kurt (Busch) here this weekend, and I know he's giving them ample feedback. Kurt and I have talked in general conversation, but we really haven't traded notes, but if they need them they have access to them."

JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Qualified 3rd) - DID THE CARS WITH EARLY QUALIFYING NUMBERS GET LUCKY TODAY? "Well, they may have had it a little easier, but we made our car a whole lot better after practice, so I'm happy with my guys. That should keep us in the top five, and any time we can start up front we put ourselves in a better position for the race. We made some changes on what I was telling Steve (Addington) and what he was thinking we needed to do, and it was definitely some positive changes. Regardless of exactly where we end up, we know that we made the right changes and gave ourselves a shot a going after the pole." YOU STRUGGLED EARLY IN THE YEAR WITH QUALIFYING, BUT YOU SEEM TO BE MAKING PROGRESS. "We've made a huge improvement. We were lucky to get in the top 25 there for a little bit, and now we have a shot to stay in the top five, and that's what it takes to win races. If we're going to continue to be in this points battle, that's what it takes." DO YOU CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY WHEN YOU START IN THE TOP FIVE RATHER THAN 20th? "I don't know if you change your strategy, but it will sure make me sleep better tonight."

JEFF GREEN-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Qualified 4th) - "I about spun out on my first lap coming off of 2 and it wasn't like that in practice. The only thing we did was put four Goodyears on it. The track just got cooler or it got hotter; it just didn't agree with my car. We just ran two-tenths slower than we did in practice, and that's no good." THE CLOUDS ROLLED IN AFTER PRACTICE. DID THAT HAVE AN IMPACT? "I would have thought that would have made us better. We didn't do anything to the car after practice thinking we would have more grip in qualifying, but it must have got worse." YOU'RE STILL GOING TO START IN THE TOP FIVE. "Yeah, but we need to start on the pole every once and a while, but we haven't gotten one yet."

ELTON SAWYER-98-Starter/University of Wisconsin Ford Taurus (Qualified 9th) - "That was faster than we ran in practice, so I was happy with that. We had a problem earlier trying to make the car turn in the center and we seem to have solved that, but we gave up some forward bite. But, all in all, it was a good effort. I'm proud of the team, they did a great job today. We've got a pretty good starting spot and we'll just work on our race car and get ready for the race." YOU TEND TO RUN WELL ON THE FLAT TRACKS. DO YOU HAVE A BASELINE SETUP YOU USE? "This is the same car we ran at Loudon and the same car we ran at Richmond, and ran well there, so it's some basic stuff. I think the big thing for us is that we're getting comfortable with what we need to do with our cars for me to make the tire work. It's not anything magic. Obviously, Cosworth has done a great job of getting us more power, but for the most part it's the guys working on the chassis. The chassis is better now than it has been all year."

Text provided by Greg Shea

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