dodge nascar craftsman truck series qualifying quotes from martin sville; musgrave wins another pole, leffler second; Darrell Waltrip quali fies 19th

Friday, April 12, 2002				               	Ray Cooper
Advance Auto Parts 250 Qualifying  				Golin/Harris
International
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series,		803-466-9085


BILL LESTER (No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge Ram)
	NOTE: Fastest rookie qualifier will start 14th in Saturday's field.
	"We got in good and solid on our first run here. I have no
experience on these flat tracks. I had a lot of concern. I'm pretty much a
rookie. This went pretty well for us. I'm glad Bobby Hamilton took us over
to Greenville-Pickens to test. These guys worked hard and gave me something
I could work with. I'm glad I was able to reward them to some degree. We're
not up there fighting for the pole, but we're going to get there. We
definitely picked up from practice. We're doing good. We're headed in the
right direction. We've been starting out real well. Not if I can finish
where I start, I'll be real happy. Our priority this year is to win rookie
of the year and finish in the top 10 in the points."

	TED MUSGRAVE (No. 1 Mopar Performance Dodge Ram)
	NOTE: Musgrave won his second pole of the season with a lap of
92.864 mph.
	"We came out and tested at Caraway and set up the 2 truck like the 1
truck. They were both really good. When we unloaded, right off the bat we
were both pretty good. We tuned it up for qualifying and squeezed another
tenth out of it. Last year, we just worked on race setups. We didn't work on
qualifying setups. This year, we wanted to go for four poles and kinda
concentrate on that. We did that. We could maybe have done that last year,
but this year the Mopar Team decided to go for poles also. The bonus points
nicked us last year, so we're going to go for everything we can. 
	"We had a good run at Darlington and it kept the guys pumped up here
today. I've actually had to track record here for awhile in the Winston Cup
division and places like North Wilkesboro and at Richmond, Va., too. My
forte is not the short track. I really do like the mile and mile and a half
tracks. You've got to beat and bang and put on a good show here. This race
track will produce it.
	"We're going to be happy on lap 250 because that's the end of our
race and hopefully we're out front. Five hundred laps here is a grueling
deal. Martinsville is a race track where the harder you try the worse you
get. You've got to run smooth laps here.
	"They said not to touch anything (after first qualifying attempt).
We came down pit road and everybody looked at their watch and we knew
something was wrong. NASCAR said they messed up, so we went back out and ran
about what we ran the first time. We did end up on pole. When you've Darrell
Waltrip and Petree and Harvick, it takes the Craftsman Truck Series to a
different level when you get all those guys out there. We run seven times
with the Cup guy with us, so they're watching us, too. The fans get 2 for 1.
It's a great deal for us."






 




	DARRELL WALTRIP (No. 17 Duck Head Footwear Dodge Ram)
	"I thought we were going to be faster than that. We're really good
after about 10 laps. It was just really loose on new tires. We worked on
that a little bit and actually got it too tight to qualify. It was better
than I thought it was going to be. Most of these guys on stickers are losing
some. I think we'll get in the race and race great. I went out once on these
new tires and took off on turn two and turned it plum sideways. We adjusted
on it from there, and we overdid it just a little bit. I finished fifth the
last time I raced here in a truck. You don't forget how to do this. It's
about driving it down in there and having good brakes and finesse. You've
got to finesse it off the corners and you can't spin the tires. It's not
that big a deal."

	BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 62 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Ram)
	"Our Dodge has been great on long runs. We've had a problem with
sticker tires. It's more my fault. I didn't warm the tire up enough. We
should have scuffed it a little more somehow. I had no right front. It was
going away in qualifying trim. We know it's going to be great in the race.
We're just going to have to battle back from the back."

	BRIAN ROSE (No. 4 Sunclear Energy Team Dodge Ram)
	"The track hasn't changed much. I couldn't get both ends of the
track to match up on the same lap. I got off one corner real good and I was
tight on the other end. It wasn't the truck's fault. I was going after it. I
really hung it out there. We've got a great starting position. We'll drive
to the end and make some moves with about 50 to go that will hopefully put
us in contention for the win."

	CARLOS CONTRERAS (No. 43 Hot Wheels Dodge Ram) 
	"I'm happy because we found a setup for the race. The race setup
will be really fast. Qualifying setup, we've had problems. We were too
loose. It will be a long race, and we've got a good setup. We can finish in
the top 10."

	JASON LEFFLER (No. 2 Team ASE Racing Dodge Ram)
	"This isn't one of my favorite tracks, so to qualify second will be
a big plus. I might have left a little bit out there. I have a tendency to
overdrive these tracks. We took a different approach and ran a conservative
lap. I'm really happy with the qualifying lap. We picked up about three
tenths from practice."

	ROBERT PRESSLEY (No. 18 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge Ram)
	"We changed a lot of stuff before qualifying. We've got us a good
little race truck for the race. We were quickest in practice for a long
time. We just found some things we didn't like and changed 'em. Everything
should have done what it done. We got what we deserved, but we're ready to
race."