NASCAR (BCS) - FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES - Pepsi 300

April 6, 2007 Nashville Superspeedway

David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, is in a three-way tie for 11th place in the Busch Series driver point standings. A full-time competitor, and rookie, in both Nextel Cup and Busch Series competition this season, Ragan spoke about adapting to three different cars and his season to date.

DAVID RAGAN-6-Discount Tire Ford Fusion - TALK ABOUT YOUR PREVIOUS RACING EXPERIENCE HERE. "I've got some ARCA RE/MAX Series experience here and in the Craftsman Trucks. I've never made any laps in a Busch car here, but I think that this is probably one of the more fun tracks that we go to. Certainly, living here in the Nashville area a couple of years ago driving for the 31-W team in Goodlettsville (Tenn.), it's kinda like a second home to me."

DO YOU EXPECT TO TAKE IT EASY FOR THE FIRST COUPLE OF LAPS ON THE TRACK BECAUSE OF THE COOLER TEMPERATURES TODAY? "Well, not necessarily because of the weather. You'll take it easy because of the Hoosier Tire rubber that's out there now. That's kind of an iffy subject. I don't know if it's good to go out or if you need to wait a few laps and maybe get that top layer of Hoosier rubber off. We'll do the normal deal. We'll go out and run five or six laps and kinda feel the car out. We won't look to break any track records the first few laps. We think we have a real good Discount Tire Ford this weekend. I think that the second and third time out, we've got some things to try. We've got an extra 30 minutes of rookie practice this weekend, and I'm a little relieved that I'm not running the Cup car. It's nice to just focus on the Busch car."

HOW DIFFICULT HAS IT BEEN TO TRY TO LEARN AND ADAPT TO THREE DIFFERENT CARS THIS YEAR BETWEEN BUSCH AND CUP COMPETITION? "It's been tough at times. I try to keep good notes from race track to race track, keep some good notes on the cars to just try to help myself out before practice or before qualifying. But, it's been tough. In the past you just had to worry about the Cup car and then the Busch car, but now you throw the Car of Tomorrow in, and it definitely drives different than all of the cars. It's been tough, but it's been the same for everyone."

DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU'VE GAINED SOME RESPECT FROM YOUR FELLOW COMPETITORS THIS YEAR? "You know, time helps everything. I'm sure that I have some more respect than I did a year ago at this time and than I did two years ago at this time. Hopefully we'll keep progressing as a race team and I'll keep progressing as a race car driver, and another year down the road when we're back here again next year, I'll have a little more respect. That just comes with time, and as long as I take care of the things that I can control, that will be all right."

WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT DARLINGTON WILL BE REPAVED IN THE FUTURE, TALK ABOUT GONG BACK TO A TRACK AFTER IT'S BEEN REPAVED AND HOW IT CHANGES YOUR LEARNING CURVE. "Las Vegas was one of the toughest races that I've ever been a part off this year. We had a real good test there and we went back and, obviously, the temperatures of the tires were a lot different. That was really a struggle for me; to just not overdrive the car and just trying to get everything I could get out of it. That was a struggle, but coming back to tracks like Nashville and Kentucky, places that I've really run a lot of laps with and ran well with in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, it' kinda like coming home. Going back to Martinsville last week was so much fun. That was a track that I've had a lot of laps on during the Gong Show, during truck races and practicing Carl's Busch car there last year. I felt normal going to Martinsville, but when we go to places like Texas or go to places like California, I've been there one time or maybe twice, and that makes it tough. But, it's the same for all of the rookies, and it's just a matter of finding our line and working hard to get faster."

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Pepsi 300 Advance, Page 2

April 6, 2007 Nashville Superspeedway

(RAGAN CONTINUED)

"If we're going to a track that's freshly paved, it's new for everyone. I think that would be a plus. Going to Las Vegas for the test, it's a new track for everyone, so we were up to speed fast. We go to a track - I've run a lot of laps around Michigan - but when we go to Atlanta, it's a track that I've got a couple of truck starts at, but all of these other guys have been racing there since the early to mid-90s when they paved the place. Going to Darlington, I've got a few laps around there from the Gong Show in 2005, but I think it will even the playing field out a little bit."

OF THE THREE DIFFERENT CARS THAT YOU'VE RACED THIS YEAR, IS THERE ANY ONE THAT YOU FEEL BEST SUITS YOUR DRIVING STYLE? "I've really liked the Busch cars. I wish I had a little more time to spend with the Busch team, testing and talking setups and stuff. I feel like my focus is on the Cup car, not necessarily more than the Busch car, but it is a little more. The Cup car is number one and that's what we're working hard on. The Busch races have been so much fun and it's basically like Cup racing. The top 10 in the Busch race every week are the top contenders that you're racing on Sunday. I think it's equally as hard to run in the top 10 in a Busch race as it is a Cup race. You're racing the same guys. You're racing Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart; you're racing the same guys on Saturday and Sunday. I've really had a great time racing the Busch car this year. The Car of Tomorrow has definitely made me and Jimmy Fennig (Cup crew chief) work harder together to get them driving better. I've had a lot of fun in all three cars this year and I'm looking forward to going to Phoenix, the home of Discount Tire in Scottsdale, and really looking forward to the Talladega race in a few weeks."

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Pepsi 300 Advance, Page 3

April 6, 2007 Nashville Superspeedway

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, currently holds a 197-point lead in the Busch Series driver point standings heading into Saturday's Pepsi 300. Edwards, who won the June race at Nashville Superspeedway last season, shared his thoughts entering the weekend.

CARL EDWARDS-60-Dish Network Ford Fusion - A LOT OF TRACKS HAVE THEIR OWN UNIQUE PERSONALITIES. WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT THIS RACE TRACK? "Well, the thing about Nashville Superspeedway is that it's in Nashville, which is such a fun town. The fans are always really excited here, but the surface of the track is a lot like Dover. It's not quite as straightforward as Dover because of the tri-oval, where each end is a little different. I've had races here where we've run really well, and I've had races where we've been just awful. I think we fought with some guys for 20th or 25th in the truck series one race here, and you just have to have everything perfect. It's really a track where I think you lean on the guys a lot, and if you've got a great race car you look like a hero here, and if you don't it's a rough day."

IS THAT ATTRIBUTED MAINLY TO THE RACING SURFACE? "Right. The surface is so smooth and so perfect, and the turns, the radii of the corners stay the same the whole way around, so you just glue the thing to the bottom and you've got to be able to put the throttle down. If your car is a little bit off and somebody is better than you, they're going to beat you. It's a really precise race track."

SOME DRIVERS COMPARE RACING HERE TO RACING AT A SHORT TRACK, YET THE TRACK MEASURES 1.33 MILES. WHY DO THEY SAY THAT, AND DO YOU AGREE? "I think that the reason it feels a little shorter than a mile and a third is because it does get kinda slick. You can pass here a little bit more because the differences between the good cars and the bad cars are usually pretty far apart. If a guy's out there and he's struggling, you can't really make up for it here. It's such a slick, on-or-off surface that you end up getting your nose under people pretty easily if they're struggling, and so it enables you to do a little more passing. I know Clint (Bowyer) and I had a great race here the last time we were here. We passed each other back and forth, and I think that's because, like we said, if you slip up a little, the surface has so much grip that you take off and you slide up and the guy gets by you."

HOW IS THE WEATHER GOING TO AFFECT THE TRACK CONDITIONS? "The weather will kind of accentuate everything because the Goodyear is going to have so much grip and the cars are going to be running really well. It's going to make, I think, the difference between the real good cars and the bad ones farther apart. There are going to be guys who are just screaming fast. I'm really hoping that we're one of them, but you don't know until you get in. I thought I forgot how to drive the second time that I came here. I won the first race in the trucks when we came, and the second time I thought, 'I must not be as good as I used to be because no matter what I do, I can't go.' So, it's tough."

IS THIS A RELAXING WEEKEND FOR YOU JUST FOCUSING ON ONE CAR FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND? "Nextel Cup is blast because the feeling of accomplishment is so huge when you do well there. It's the pinnacle of the sport and it is fun to race in other series, no matter if it's the Busch or whatever. To have a weekend where you just go racing is something different. (Ken) Schrader is out racing dirt cars this weekend. It's just a little different. I was just over at my motorhome goofing around, and I don't have the weight or the pressure that you have at most places, but you also don't get the reward. So, it's a trade-off. I love racing Nextel Cup, but this is kind of a neat weekend."