NASCAR Cup
Dover: GM teams qualifying quotes
JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 48 Lowe's Monte Carlo SS What happened with that spin out there? "The car was a little bit loose and I knew I was only going to make one lap. I just lost it off of (turn) four and somehow, someway kept it off the wall. I knew I ...
Edited: Jun 4, 2006, 12:04 AM
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JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 48 Lowe's Monte Carlo SS
What happened with that spin out there? "The car was a little bit loose and I knew I was only going to make one lap. I just lost it off of (turn) four and somehow, someway kept it off the wall. I knew I lost it and I was trying to keep it uphill up towards the outside wall. From there I just got lucky and kept this race car. I'm shocked. My guys are happy. It's like we won the pole the way everybody was jumping up and down. I looked on pit road and everybody was giving me thumbs up and shaking their arms and stuff. If I can't win the pole at least I can put on a show."
Did you think you could save it? "No. I think one of the commentators said this is the self-cleaner race track and it is so that. Somehow I didn't hit the outside wall. I don't know how."
***
RICKY RUDD, No. 20 Home Depot Monte Carlo SS
"We just worked on race setup the entire practice. We didn't really get too concerned with qualifying. We really didn't know what we had exactly. I think I left a little bit on the table. This is a very fast race car. I just didn't want to dent it up for Sunday. We got a pretty good starting spot out of this and hopefully we'll have fun on Sunday.
"I didn't know how far I could push this car. It's been a long time since I've been in a Chevrolet and I didn't really know the characteristics of the car. Actually I overdrove turn one just a little bit but I was afraid to bend the wheel. If I bent the wheel I was afraid I was going to hit the back end. That was a difference of a couple of tenths we gave up."
***
JEFF GORDON, No. 24 DuPont Monte Carlo SS
Why are you so good here? "I don't know if it's because DuPont is right up the road in Wilmington and we get a little extra incentive or we just like this race track. It's been a great day for the DuPont Chevrolet. I'm very happy with the way things have gone from the start of practice to the end of qualifying there. The car has been really comfortable, good grip, good balance and we're having fun out there. I don't know where we're going to end up there but I think we've gotten on the front row with the 12 car (Ryan Newman) here before so I'd love to stay there."
On Jimmie Johnson's spin during qualifying: "He was driving and going backwards. That was unbelievable. Call it luck or skill, I don't know, but man that was pretty awesome to stay out of the wall. I hate that he spun but that was pretty awesome."
***
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 01 U.S. Army Monte Carlo SS
What are you and your team doing to combat some of your bad luck this year? "I'll tell you what, the team is working really hard. I can't thank Ryan Pemberton (crew chief), Jay Frye (team owner), Nelson Bowyers (team owner) and all the guys back at the shop. I know people say that every week but when you see behind the scenes how much work goes on cutting bodies, moving stuff, going to the wind tunnel. An incredible amount of time is spent getting these race cars better. Here at Dover we're having a decent qualifying run. Hopefully we're going to end up about 15th."
***
DALE EARNHARDT JR., No. 8 Budweiser Monte Carlo SS
"I'm pretty happy right now. I don't know if the guys are going to be quicker (coming up) with the weather and all but my team worked real hard today. To run a lap like that, we're really pleased."
-gm racing-
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