Chevy Qualifying Notes - Subway 500

Chevy Qualifying Notes
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Subway 500
Martinsville Speedway
Oct. 22, 2004

Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet (Qualified 3rd)
(ON THE NEW PAVEMENT HERE) "I'm kind of surprised. We kind of picked up where we left off. I thought we might struggle just a little bit in qualifying. I figured some guys would really be quick. We had a good car today. We were able to hang on to it in qualifying and I'm pretty proud of my team."
 
(WILL THE TEMPERATURE OF THE TIRES PLAY A KEY ROLE IN THE RACE?) "I don't know really. One thing I think a lot of people are missing the point on is before they ground the older surface here, you'd have rubber sticking to the bottom groove up to an inch and a half think of rubber patches sticking to the bottom groove. That happened in the late model race here. That's one of the things that I had a lot trouble with. I'd see other guys run right through it. I think that's going to be the concern. We'll probably have a second groove more forcefully than willingly. That's one thing I think you're going to see. When they ground the surface it would quit sticking to that for some reason. I think we'll see that. I'm a little bit worried about that. I see a lot of tire debris and stuff up on top of the race track. I don't think tire wear or anything is going to be a problem - just the build up that we had here two or three years ago."
 
(WITH THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP, HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING?) "The first thing that comes to mind really for qualifying is your pit selection. When Ryan (Newman) lays a lap like that down, pretty much the only thing you can look forward is trying to get better pit selection than everybody else beside him. This is a very difficult pit road especially on the front straight away. If you can get a pit down in the corner in turn one it's a little easier in and out. The angle in and the angle leaving the pit stall is a lot better. If those guys are forced into stalls here on the front straight away, they can run into people, get run into, have all kinds of troubles and things that can happen to them in the race. I think they may have a little bit of concern there. When you talk about Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon, qualifying position is not a factor. Kurt qualified 36th here when he won last year. Those guys can have several pit strategies in the first 50 laps of the race to get them right in the top five. I'm not expecting that that is going to hamper their ability on Sunday other than just pit selection."
 
(WITH THE NEW SURFACE WILL YOU WATCH THE TRUCK RACE FROM THE HAULER TOMORROW?) "I've watched the truck race here in the past. They don't use the race track like the Cup cars do. You don't see that in the Busch Series either. At other tracks we really widen the groove everywhere we go more so than any of those series. We'll watch a little bit and kind of see if some other instances pop up with the new surface."
 
(WILL MARTINSVILLE BE THE MAKE IT OR BREAK IT RACE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?) "Any of these races are pitfalls for any of us. Anything could happen. Motors break here. They break in Atlanta and they break in Phoenix just the same. My main position is, I run really good here and Atlanta and Phoenix. I'd like to go into the last two races with at least an 80-point lead because I don't have a stellar statistic at Darlington or at Homestead. Those are my two concerns. Hopefully we don't have any mistakes where we hope to run good like here." 
 
(ON YOUR RIVALRY WITH JEFF GORDON AND HOW CLOSE IN POINTS YOU WOULD BE WITH THE OLD SYSTEM) "I like racing Jeff. I probably will get plenty of that in the next several years. I'll try to race Rusty (Wallace) and all these other guys as much as I can over the next 12 to 18 months. We have a lot fun when we're out there. These are the guys that were either racing with my father or coming into the sport when he was here and guys that I looked up to. I remember when I raced one of my first Busch races in St. Louis. I pulled on to pit road for my first practice and Terry Labonte was beside me in his car. I didn't even feel comfortable going on the same race track as him because I hadn't paid my dues or whatever. It was really uncomfortable I guess to be with those guys because they are so much more intimidating at that age. I like racing Jeff. I don't really think much about racing the old system. I know that's going to be beat into everybody's head whether you want to think about it or not. By the end of the season, we're all going to be tired of hearing about it. Hopefully the new system works out and we have a big ending at the finale in Homestead and somebody is celebrating and everybody is pretty happy with the result."

(HOW WILL YOU RACE WITH NON-CHASE CONTENDERS?) "When you're out there running right behind somebody or you got somebody in the mirror, you're not thinking about where they are in the points system. You just worry about how their car is handing and how your car is handling and whether you need to get them out of the way or give them a shot in the ass or whatever. We just deal with one race at a time, one guy at time whoever you're racing against. I think too much has been made out of that - the guys that are in the Chase and not in the Chase and how they race and how we race. Everybody races the same. Dale Jarrett is not going to move over for me. I don't expect him to. Everybody is out there racing as hard as they can."
 
(WERE YOU FRUSTRATED BY THE RESULTS OF YOUR APPEAL OF THE 25 POINT PENALTY?) "I was really frustrated by the appeal. I really felt pretty strong about it. I wouldn't have went all the way down to Daytona if I didn't feel like it was worth the trip. They made you feel like they were listening to you while you were there. I think the decision was already made from when the wheels hit the ground. The appeal system could use a little revision but I'm not in charge of it. It was really pointless to have it. They just kind of made you feel like they were listening to you the whole time you were there. It's a little frustrating to go through all that. I feel kind of foolish now because I felt like I was getting a fair trial. It was not quite fair I guess. It'd be like NASCAR losing at appeal that we held at DEI (laughs). It was kind of tough. I've never done an appeal before so I didn't know what to expect or how they work. The whole time I was going 'what's next?' and 'what's the next step, who are we talking to here and what do you do and what influence does this particular instance have?' I tried to state my case. I thought exactly what I said and that anybody would have turned it over on the drop of a hat. I guess I feel more strongly about it than everybody else. I guess John Darby had a better argument than I did anyways. It was fun. It was interesting."
 
(ARE YOU OVER IT?) "I was over it when it happened. We have to race on and not worry about it. It really kind of pushed my team to race harder. We had a really good weekend at Charlotte. I'd been backing up there a little bit over the last couple of races and we pushed real hard in practice. We're just pushing harder for some reason. Everybody is stepping up a bit. If we do lose a championship, I hope it's by more than 25 points because I don't want to talk about it all winter."
 
Ward Burton, No. 0 NetZero Chevrolet (Qualified 4th)
"It was a pretty good lap. All the NetZero Chevrolet guys and Bill Ingle (crew chief) made some good calls right then. I needed a little bit more grip right past the center of the corner. I think it's going to be a pretty decent, solid run. Although I do think as time goes on the track is going to start giving more grip because it's going to start getting more rubber on it here in this cool weather so the times are going to get better."
 
Jeff Burton, No. 30 America Online Chevrolet (Qualified 12th)
"It was pretty good. I messed my second lap up a little bit unfortunately. The car drove well. I just didn't hit the second lap. The first lap I got. The second lap I just didn't roll through the middle over here like I needed to."
 
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet (Qualified 15th)
"We stepped it up. The car felt great. I thought it was going to be better than that but everyone stepped it up. We tested really good here. The new surface is definitely different. We're being challenged by it right now. We're good but we're not good enough. We'll just keep working on it until we get the DuPont Chevrolet where it needs to be."
 
(BEING THIRD IN POINTS, IS THE RACE WHERE YOU MAKE THINGS HAPPEN AGAIN?) "This is a great race track for us. I don't think it's going to happen overnight for us. It's just like what we did last week in Charlotte - never give up until it's over. We're going to do it this weekend. We're going to do it next weekend. We're going to do it all the way through Homestead."
 
(HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS WEEKEND'S RACE?) "I they all are (important). Everyone is so critical to where you're going to be in the points. The competition is very tough and somebody is going to step it up here and have a good finish. You have to make sure you maintain that and keep that consistency going. In the past this has been a great race track for us. I'm kind of wishing they hadn't repaved it yet. I would have liked that for next year. I felt like we had a little bit of edge on the competition. This is a track with a lot of cautions on it and accidents and you got to survive that in this race."
 
(IS THIS RACE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE UP SOME POINTS?) "You have to look at who we're competing against in the championship. Kurt Busch has won here. Junior has run really good here. I don't know if we really have an edge but it's a track we feel good going into. We'd certainly like to. I think that this is one of our best tracks in these last five races. We proved last week that you just got to dig deep and work hard and never give up all the way to the finish. Even with last week's second place finish, we didn't make up any points. We just got to keep doing that and if we make up points - great."
 
(ON YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP BASED ON THE LAST FIVE TRACKS) "Darlington is a good track for us. Atlanta is a good track for us. Here in Martinsville is a good for us. We tested at Phoenix and we tested at Homestead. I think we've got a really good game plan. I think our past experience at these race tracks plus our experience in the championships is important. It's going to play a role but it's all about performance and having the breaks go your way. We had that go our way Saturday night and let's hope we can keep that going."
 
(ON KURT BUSCH'S CONSISTENCY) "It's more frustrating that we haven't been consistent more so than they have been. They're doing their jobs. They're doing it well. You got to take your hat off to them for doing that. It's our job to put the pressure on them to make sure they keep doing that. We're not out of it by all means. We're very close. If we can put some string of races together. I don't feel like we have so far. At least not the first four (races) but this last race was a great one. If we can continue to do that here in the next five, it's anybody's race."
 
(COULD THIS BE A THREE MAN RACE AFTER MARTINSVILLE?) "I think it's easier to say that. Someone could have trouble. Someone else could go on a streak of great runs. Jimmie Johnson won last week and could just keep it going. There's Mark Martin. With the way this points system is, it's really hard to predict what is going to happen."
 
(WITH THE POSITION YOU ARE IN, IS THIS RACE CRITICAL?) "It is, not to mention our competitors were running good in practice today. We sat on many poles here and know what it's like to have that number one pit stall advantage. It could make your day. It's a whole lot easier. We're working hard for that. We didn't get the best results in practice. We got to pick up a couple of fifths. I'm looking forward to doing that in qualifying."
 
(A LOT OF DRIVERS IN THE TOP TEN ARE IN SUPPORT OF GEORGE BUSH. DO YOU GET INTO POLITICS WITH THE UPCOMING ELECTION?) "That's why I'm not on that list. I choose to keep that private. How I vote and who I vote for is up to me. I don't think it's right for them to be putting pressure on the drivers so they can use them to promote them (the candidates). I know we promote a lot of things but when it comes to the elections I've very supportive of our president. I think Bush has done a great job. As far as what is going to happen in the next election, I'm keeping private of what I'm going to do and who I'm going to support."
 
(YOU INFLUENCE MANY PEOPLE. BY KEEPING PRIVATE ON POLITICS, COULD THIS PREVENT SWAYING PEOPLE TO VOTE IN ONE DIRECTION OR ANOTHER?) "Politics has never been my thing. I'm not big into politics. I like to voice my opinion on things I know a lot about. I encourage people to vote. I encourage people to have the right to choose that. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to go out there and promote one or another."
 
(ON THE ATLANTA RACE) "I'm looking forward to Atlanta. It's been a great track for us. I love racing there. That track has matured so much. We've really been strong there the last couple of times. We hopefully will have something good for it. Plus we have a little promotion going with the "Racing Stripes" movie. The whole race that weekend is going to be promoting that. It's going to be a lot of fun."
 
(ON THE NEW SURFACE HERE) "I tested here. It's nice and smooth. I think they should have concreted the whole race track. I don't think there is any reason to have pavement here. It should be all concrete. Other than that, they did a great job with it. It's got a lot of grip. It's very fast. We should see some great times today."
 
Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet (Qualified 17th)
"I wish we could of run a little bit better obviously. I just couldn't quite get on the gas like I needed to. That kind of goes back to what goes a little bit faster. I just wasn't able to do it. Hopefully we'll be able to be good in the race and we'll see. I haven't qualified good here in a long time. We'll see where this ends up after everybody runs and we'll worry about tomorrow."
 
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet (Qualified 18th)
"The car drove good. It was a good clean lap. We had a loose condition we were fighting in practice. I thought we adjusted out of it. We wished we would have been faster than that. We'll take it and go from there."
 
(DID THE TRACK GET SLICKER?) "I think it just started to get temperature in the tires. It seems like the air temperature has gone down a little bit more. It's real hard to get any temp in the tires so you can count on them and believe in them to one, use the breaks and two, to carry any center speed. I think it may be a little bit of that. It's a new surface and I think it's got a lot of us trying to sort it out right now and tomorrow is going to be an important practice for all of us."
 
Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet (Qualified 19th)
"It wasn't terrible. We were just spinning the tires up off the corner. We fought brakes. We didn't come up here and test. We made a lot of changes during practice and did what we could. It was just a little bit too free off the corner."

(ON KEVIN HARVICK AS A TEAM OWNER IN THE BUSCH SERIES) "It's a lot of fun for me. It's kind of my hobby. Tonight we're going to announce it. It should be fun for next year."
 
Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet (Qualified 29th)
(HOW IS YOUR SHORT TRACK PROGRAM?) "We came up here and tested for a day. We had a really great test. Ryan Pemberton (crew chief) and his whole crew is working really good and making some good decisions. We've just been making good decisions and we're finally having a little bit of luck going our way right now. We're finally getting the finishes this team deserves."
 
Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet (Qualified 34th)
"We changed a lot of stuff in practice. We were not anywhere where we needed to be when we cleared off the truck. But we didn't get far enough. The car was extremely tight off in practice and it was still that way in qualifying. You can't stay in the throttle. The guys at GMAC did a good job. We got a lot changed and went through a lot but we didn't go quite far enough." 
 
(ON HIS HARD HIT LAST WEEKEND IN CHARLOTTE)  "I think I was blessed on that one. It was combination of the good Lord looking after me and everything NASCAR and the race tracks have done for safety equipment - from the HANS to the safer barrier. I was very thankful for everything they've done because I feel great."
 
Bobby Hamilton Jr., No. 32 Tide Chevrolet (Qualified 35th)"We just need to get it out. I'm sure it's going to take a provisional or whatever. We didn't have time to come and test but what do you. We did the best we can do with the information I gave my guys and everything they wanted to know. I'm lost. I'm not used to running here. Anywhere else we go I can kind of say what I need but here I don't know if I'm doing right or wrong. We'll just get it together and try to survive Sunday."
 
(ARE YOU STILL ON A LEARNING CURVE WITH THE NEW TEAM?) "Oh yeah. It's a learning curve every week in a Cup car then to come to a place you've never seen. You feel like you're driving your heart out and you're taking a spot. It's frustrating. We can't give up. We got to keep digging. So give me some laps in a truck tonight for happy hour and then happy hour tomorrow in a Cup car. Maybe I'll figure out where I'm at."