FW: Ford Mansfield Truck Qualifying
FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES UAW/GM Mansfield 250 Qualifying, Page 1 May 14, 2005 Mansfield Motorsports Speedway RICK CRAWFORD-14-Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford F-150 (Qualified 4th) - "I never would have thought we'd get qualifying in and get such a good run. Cowboy Starland, Roush/Yates engines and everybody involved today, rough weather makes for a hard day on the mechanics. They did a good job and it's typical qualifying on the short tracks; you just get all you can get. Luckily I grew up on 'em, so I got all I could get." HOW WAS THE RACING SURFACE FOR QUALIFYING? "We had a late draw and that helped big time. The track sort of dried out, and these jet dryers I think left some fuel out there for the first few or maybe it wasn't dry enough. Last race we went out first and started 19th, so this week we go out 39th and start fourth." WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR THE RACE TOMORROW? "They just had an auction across the street from the speedway and sold a lot of sheet metal and they're probably going to have a lot to sell next year. There's not going to be a whole lot of passing going on, and the only way to pass is to mess up your buddy." TERRY COOK-10-Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l Ford F-150 (Qualified 21st) - "I'm surprised at all to get qualifying in; I didn't think that would happen. Obviously, I would have liked to have qualified better, but I think we have a good race truck. I think that we'll race good tomorrow, but I really thought we could at least back up what we ran earlier. We ran in the 40s earlier and ran a 60 tonight. I thought that having a late draw might play into our favor too, but it just wasn't meant to be." YOU GOT A THIRD-PLACE FINISH HERE LAST YEAR USING PIT STRATEGY. WILL PIT STRATEGY BE AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN THE RACE AGAIN TOMORROW? "There will definitely not be a lot of passing. It's going to be very similar to last year's race from what I'm seeing, although I'm seeing a little bit higher groove in one and two than last year. We'll have to wait and see how the race develops tomorrow, but, yeah, it might be a track position race, so you might want to pit out of sequence." TODD KLUEVER-50-World Financial Group Ford F-150 (Qualified 20th) - "I expected a lot more from qualifying today, but we're fine. The truck is really good, and I overestimated the first lap and underestimated what I was going to get the second lap. That's the inexperience thing I guess, but we'll be good."' IS THE SHOE ON THE OTHER FOOT THIS WEEK BECAUSE YOU'VE RACED HERE BEFORE IN ASA AND RICKY CRAVEN HAS NOT? "I told him a little bit about what I know, but he's been racing for a long time and he knows how to adapt pretty quickly." HOW DIFFERENT IS IT RACING A TRUCK HERE VERSUS A CAR? "It's pretty much the same, it's just that vehicles are different and I have a lot more horsepower than when I was here last time. The track is pretty much like I remembered it, a little bit rougher, but they do that." WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IN THE RACE TOMORROW? "I think it's going to be tough to pass, but a good truck will be able to make the pass. Passing will be easier in the middle of the pack, but the front five or 10 trucks will be fast, and that's where it's going to be tough to pass." RICKY CRAVEN-99-Superchips Ford F-150 (Qualified 2nd) - "We had a good first practice and then we had a terrible second practice. It was just a terrible practice - nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't that we didn't have a good truck, we didn't get on the track, and we didn't get another set tires on the truck. So, we put it back to where we were happiest and made a few adjustments from there, and it was pretty darn good in qualifying." A LOT OF THE DRIVERS HAVE COMMENTED THAT IT WILL TAKE SOME BUMPING TO GET PAST SOME TRUCKS. "I expect that we will see a lot of it, but there's reasonable and unreasonable ways to do it." HOW WERE THE TRACK CONDITIONS IN QUALIFYING? "The track was good. It was really good by the time we qualified, so it wasn't an issue for us. I'm really quite amazed. I never would have thought we would have gotten qualifying in. We'll start second instead of third and we earned it. We kind of ran into the same thing at Martinsville."