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NASCAR WCUP: Roush Racing team talks about Bristol

25 March 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

) ROUSH RACING QUOTES
Food City 500 First-round qualifying
March 24, 2000

First-round qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway began shortly after 3:15 p.m. EST, and all seven Roush Racing drivers circled the .533-mile high-banked oval in Bristol, Tenn., with two cars locking into the top 25, guaranteed of a starting spot in Sunday's race. Jeff Burton was the eighth of 47 entries to qualify, Kevin Lepage 14th, Chad Little 30th, Matt Kenseth 35th, and Mark Martin was the 47th competitor to make his two laps of qualifying.

Jeff Burton, No. 99 Exide Batteries Ford Taurus (15th quickest, 15.389 seconds): "We were not as good as we needed to be. We were slower than practice and it seems that the track has changed a little bit, too. We are going to make some adjustments and hope to have a good race."

Kevin Lepage, No. 16 FamilyClick.com Ford Taurus (41st quickest, 15.550 seconds): "That wasn't a very good lap for the FamilyClick.com team. We were real loose and I was just hanging on during both laps. But it's only a starting spot. We think we've got a good race package under the car. We'll probably take a provisional, and we'll work on it Saturday. We'll just need to stay out of trouble on Sunday, and see if we can't get a good finish."

Chad Little, No. 97 John Deere Ford Taurus (30th quickest, 15.480 seconds): "You always go into qualifying with high expectations. Here our goal was to get on the frontstretch. We had a good car in practice that was running where we needed it to, but we got a little loose during qualifying. We'll have to see if the track changes tomorrow, and based upon track conditions we'll change our setup and get ready to race."

Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford Taurus (22nd quickest, 15.421 seconds): "That's a decent lap for us. We couldn't expect to go out here our first in Cup and qualify in the top 10. That will get us in the race, but probably put us on the backstretch. It was tight in the center and loose off, but it was about what we expected for this DEWALT team."

Mark Martin, No. 6 Valvoline/Cummins Ford Taurus (32nd quickest, 15.430 seconds): "I don't have much to say. We would have done better if we could have, but we'll be starting in the back."

Text provided by Kevin Radvany

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