NASCAR MBNA 500 Qualifying Newman Wins Third Straight Pole

Friday, Oct. 29, 2004.
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 Qualifying.


RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Mobil 1/ALLTEL Dodge) - Wins third straight pole,
eighth of the season, leads Jeff Gordon 8-6 for season-long Bud Pole
Award with three races remaining.

 

"It was definitely a team effort tonight. Brand new racecar. We have
great horsepower, and it just feels good to have the streaks going that
we do, whether it's at Atlanta or just in general. We unloaded off the
truck pretty quick. The first lap was a 28.91 and then we backed it up
with a .97 in qualifying. I thought we would have gone faster, but the
humidity and dew and everything else slowed the cars down a little bit.
It was definitely a good run for us in our ALLTEL/Mobil 1 Dodge. I look
forward to the rest of the weekend.

 

"That's the toughest part. We have no excuse now. We've proved we're the
fastest racecar on a given lap. You have to be able to do that for 60
laps in a row here. It's definitely not an easy task to be fast
throughout a long run and keep the back end of the car underneath you.
It's a place I don't mind being a little tight, but you can't stand to
be a little bit loose, primarily because it's so fast. We're going to do
our best. We've had a really fast racecar here. We were fast in the
spring and stayed out late on the last stop and lost some track position
for being out on older tires a little bit, but still got us a top five
run.

 

"I won't say worried about it, but it's a part of racing and I think
it's good. It's healthy for the sport even if cars are going home. It
shows there's a point to qualifying on Friday and that point is to be in
the top 38. I don't have anything against anybody as far as who went
home, but it's part of what our sport is about. It's part of qualifying,
and it's good to see our sport healthy as far as car count goes.

 

"For the last two years we've had a shot at the championship, and I've
always said until we're mathematically out of it count me in. I still
feel that way. I think we're 266 points out, and I think we're about 60
points out of fourth. I think fourth is 200 points out of the lead, so
we still have a shot with how many points are available. Bonus points
are at a premium here, especially these last four races. Just one step
at a time, one lap at a time and we'll do our best. It's going to take
some bad luck for the other teams. I'm not wishing that, but it's going
to take that for us to get back in the hunt at least as far as the
championship goes, but we're going to continue to strive to do our best
for each and every position that we can."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "We'll see how that works out. It was a good lap for us. I don't think
the track was as fast as everyone thought it was going to be, but it was
definitely a good lap for the ALLTEL Dodge. I look forward to the
weekend and being No. 1 the entire weekend. That's our goal. I thought
we would have been quicker than that, but I don't think the track has it
in it tonight. The 6 car was fastest when he unloaded. We'll have to see
what he's got. If we get this one (pole), it'll be hard for him (Jeff
Gordon) to beat us. We'll just have to see. We always look forward to
coming here because you can race. It's been a good place for us as far
as qualifying goes. Race results have been good but not great. Hopefully
we can turn that around on Sunday."

 

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 77 Jasper/Kodak Dodge)

"I told Shane (crew chief Wilson) that I'd try to get six tenths for
him. I got four. The track didn't change for us. It was loose to start
and loose in qualifying. We'll take it. We were 40th in practice and I
didn't want to take a provisional. I've only taken a provisional once in
my life, and I don't want to take another one. I just closed my eyes,
turned left and grabbed a Red Bull from Robby Gordon."

 

KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Georgia Pacific/Brawny Dodge)

"In the last 10 years I haven't qualified that good, but it wasn't me.
It was these guys. It was this car. Our stuff has picked up since we
went to the Arrington engines. It's a pleasure to go qualify because
there's always something left. When we missed it we missed it with the
chassis. These guys made the call and it stuck good. I didn't have a
clue what to expect when we went out. After watching Michael he was so
fast in practice and he gets around this place good. For him to go out
and the racetrack to be that loose and him miss it, it kinda scared me.
It was quick prayer, but it was a 29 or 30-second prayer because I
prayed the whole way around here just to get back."

 

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge)

"It was loose and it had been loose in practice. We made a banzai run
and were loose. We thought we had tightened it up enough, but we were
still loose. Everybody is having a lot of trouble with grip. I don't
know what changed. We started practice, and it felt like the tires had
50 laps on'em already at Darlington. We were slipping and sliding. This
is the car we ran 12th with at Charlotte. We'll get it right for
Sunday."

 

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

"I'm real happy with that, especially considering we weren't that great
off the truck. We made a lot of changes, and from where we started to
where we are now, we're pretty happy with that. This is an EMS chassis
that runs real good, and we're excited about that. I think it's going to
be good for us. We went from a car you couldn't drive to an 11th-place
qualifying car."

 

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge)

"On the get-go lap, I got going real fast. It was wide open through
three and four coming to the green and I thought it was going to be
really good. I went into one and two and it started jumping out sideways
on me. I stood in the gas long enough to keep some momentum. I got into
three and four and it felt pretty good, but I stayed in the gas and it
got crossed up four big time. I thought I'd try the second lap just in
case, but it wasn't any faster. I think if we had it tight enough we
could have been a top-five qualifier, but you always think things like
that afterwards." 

 

 JEFF GREEN (No. 43 Bugles Dodge)

"We just couldn't get any grip in the qualifying mode. We ran as fast in
race mode as qualifying mode when we tested here. We just haven't got
the grip to run as fast as those other guys do. We've got a good race
package. I know we'll run well Sunday."