NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES UAW-GM QUALITY 500 - QUALIFYING NOTES

      October 14, 2004

 

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 GMAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 17th: "I think we got the car a little bit better.  It was definitely better than it was in practice."

 

BOBBY HAMILTON JR., NO. 32 TIDE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 11th: "The car is driving good. It was fast right off the truck. I'm going home tonight and spend the night at home with our new baby, Haley, and be back tomorrow. 

 

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 25th: "I don't think we've got a good one (car). It wasn't very fast in qualifying trim. We ran a lot of race stuff during practice and we're concentrating on having a fast car for Saturday night."

 

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 34th: "We always seem to have pretty good race cars. We had a little trouble earlier in practice. We tore up one car. But hopefully this car is as good as that one.  We only had two laps of practice in the back-up, which was close to the other car. We'd like to be a little faster than that, obviously, but hopefully we can figure that out and get better."

 

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 8th: "I left a lot of time out there. It's just not knowing how much grip there is in the race track. We were tight and then we were loose. We went through some changes there in practice. I just didn't know how much it was going to grip and it gripped so good and I didn't stand on the gas hard enough. It's just one of those things. I should have been on the throttle a lot more and I just wasn't quite there. But our U.S. Army Chevy is strong. We've got some momentum on our side. I'm pumped up. My guys are pumped up and I think we're going to have an excellent race here Saturday night."

 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 23rd: "Well, yes it's disappointing but it can always be worse. We were definitely better than that. And the lap felt a lot better than that. I'm amazed that we only picked up that much from practice. I knew I got a little bit loose coming to the green but once I went into Turn 1, it was by far the best lap I've run all day long but not by near enough."

 

(CHARLOTTE HAS BEEN KNOWN TO SHAKE THINGS UP.  WILL THINGS BE ANY DIFFERENT ON SATURDAY NIGHT?) "No, not at all. This is an exciting event. There's just going to be excitement no matter what. But when you put this Chase and the guys running for the championship on top of that, it should be a good one."

 

(CAN ANYONE KNOCK RYAN NEWMAN OFF THE POLE?) "No. The guy is in a different atmosphere than the rest of us. He's really got some magic here at Charlotte. Jimmie (Johnson) knocked him off last time, and he's going last, but I really don't think anybody can touch that."

 

(WHAT ABOUT YOUR MISSION THIS WEEKEND?) "We'll that (qualifying run) put a damper on it right there. We should be a lot better than that. I don't know what happened to the lap. It felt like a good one."

 

SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 4th: "My crew chief and talked a lot about positive results producing positive results. I was just sitting out there in the car saying this place has a lot of grip. It's cooled off. I know the track is there and we need to pick up a lot. We were way back in practice and we don't need to be. I just made myself do it.  I just made myself use more throttle. That's good for us. Hopefully it'll be a pretty decent starting spot."

 

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 7th: "It was a great lap for the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet.  The car has been really good since we unloaded it off the truck.  This is the second time we've run this car and we've got the throwback scheme from the Wrangler days on the car this week. We're celebrating RCR's 35th anniversary and it's quite a feat to have GM Goodwrench around for 20 year. That's pretty awesome. It's a good starting position for us."

 

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 9th: "It was not a terrible qualifying effort at all. It's tough that things have changed since we were here earlier in the year. Our car worked really good. I feel very comfortable in the car and in the lap, but the time was not what we've had before."

 

(ON THE CHASE) "I don't think the control is in our hands. With one race problem in the final 10, we were still having to count on people having bad luck. And then with two problems, we definitely need some people to have some bad luck.  But our sport is crazy. At one point in the year, I think we looked pretty much unbeatable. Now that's not the case. A lot can change in a short period of time. Our Lowe's team is just going to keep fighting and working and show up next February with a smile on our face and try to win next year if we're not able to win it this year. But we're working hard and still having a little bit of fun. We're just trying to get that magical speed back that we had earlier in the year."