Ford Racing Bristol II qualifying

RUSTY WALLACE --2-- Miller Lite Taurus (Qualified 9th)
"We had a bad draw to go out second. The track was just in terrible shape when I went out there and I was just sliding all over."

TODD BODINE --66-- Route 66/Kmart Taurus (Qualified 10th)
"The first lap was decent and I knew it. I tried to get a little more on the second lap and made it push a little bit up off of two. I got in the throttle a little bit too hard. Here, when you're pushing up off it breaks loose on the straightaway. That's not gonna be too bad. It might be top 10, but I doubt it. That's not quite as good as we wanted."

BRETT BODINE --11-- Ralphs Supermarkets/RedCell Batteries Taurus (Qualified 20th)
"We needed to just make sure we got this thing in there. I think we'll be in decent shape. Now if we can just get Geoffrey in there we'll be all set."

AFTER GEOFFREY QUALIFIED
"Oh man, what a relief. We got him in the show. That's great. Geoff and all the guys at the shop has done such a good job. We're such a small team to try to be preparing four race cars to go to one event, but everybody did a great job. I'm real happy for Smirnoff Ice. This is their first event and they're gonna be in it. That's the main thing."

ROBERT PRESSLEY --77-- Jasper Engines Taurus (Qualified 19th)
"I'm not happy with the time, but everybody, evidently, is in the same boat here. The race track has gotten real, real slick, but we'll take it. Hopefully, this will get us on the front straightaway and get a good Bristol finish."

RICKY RUDD --28-- Texaco Havoline Taurus (Qualified 5th)
WAS THE TRACK SLICK IN QUALIFYING?
"To me it was slick in practice when I spun out. I didn't really see a lot of difference now from when we practiced. Obviously, it wasn't too bad because that was faster than we had run in practice so I didn't notice a slippery race track."

WHAT HAPPENED IN PRACTICE?
"I just lost it. We made an adjustment to try to free the car up a little bit. I made a call to take some wedge out of it. I told 'em afterwards, 'Whatever we do, from now on, don't ever listen to me when I tell you to take wedge out of it.' I didn't think we were that loose and I spun out. Luckily, we didn't hit anything. These guys sat down and put their heads together really good and made a few changes right before qualifying and it helped us."

ELLIOTT SADLER -- 21 -- Motorcraft Taurus (Qualified 4th)
"It was a good lap and all. We 're going to be on the front stretch. But, man, we had a shot at the pole. Just way too tight. Some of the guys looked to be a little loose on TV, so we made an adjustment. Man, we had a shot at it, just way too tight."

WHAT'S IT LIKE COMING BACK HERE AFTER YOUR VICTORY IN THE SPRING?
"Pretty cool. I think this is the best place on earth. There's nothing like it. It's pretty cool coming back here anyway, and coming back as a race winner makes it that much better."

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE TO GET A SWEEP?
"Pretty cool. We're the only ones that can do it, and we're going to try."

MORE ON HIS LAP.
"Everybody was getting loose so we tightened the car up some. That's the best shot I ever had at getting a pole. I left a ton on the race track, just pushed way too much. I can't believe I'm third, so far. I'll probably end up fifth or sixth. The Motorcraft Ford Taurus guys have been working their butts off here lately on qualifying -- qualified fourth at Michigan, and we'll have us a good starting spot tomorrow night."

GEOFFREY BODINE --09-- Smirnoff Ice Taurus (Qualified 13th)
"We're happy. You've got to be happy to run that good with a rag-tag team like we've got. I mean, these guys all work for Brett but most of them stay in the shop all week long and they don't come to the track. I've just got to thank Brett and Diane and, of course, Smirnoff, and this team. Mike Hillman and everyone with Brett's team and the guys that are here have worked really, really hard to put this car out here. It was just up to me to go out there and drive it good and I guess we were good enough today."

WAS IT JUST LIKE GETTING BACK ON A HORSE?
"It really does, yeah. I feel right at home. This is where I should be and this is where I want to be. Hopefully, we can stay here."

MARK MARTIN --6-- Pfizer Taurus (Qualified 31st)
"I'm pretty disappointed with that lap. Where you start makes a big difference in where you finish. Pitting on the backstretch will be a disadvantage, but at least we'll be in good company. The track changed a lot since practice. I guess it was the Busch happy hour. I don't think we've ever had that before our qualifying. We were loose, so I guess the guys that normally have tight setups were in better shape."

JEFF BURTON --99-- Citgo SUPERGARD Taurus (Qualified 22nd)
"It's real slippery out there. It's not gonna be good enough for the front. It's a decent qualifying lap, but I think it's ridiculous this place has two pit roads. There's really no excuse for having two pit roads in 2001. It's a joke. If you can't have one pit road, we shouldn't even be here. There's a way to do one pit road, but nobody seems willing to do it for whatever reason. That's not a bad lap. It's gonna be better than half the field and it'll be hard to do anything from there because we'll be on the back. We slowed down about a tenth from what we had run in practice. That's probably a little less than most people slowed down, so we made a little gain maybe, but not enough to get us on the front I don't think."

DALE JARRETT --88-- UPS Taurus (Qualified 7th)
"Both teams got together after the practice and we looked at what we had done and evaluated at what we thought we needed to do and it really made a big difference. There was a lot of effort put forth there. There was a lot of talking back and forth and, thank goodness, it paid off because we would have both been looking at being on the backstretch if we hadn't picked up. Just give me a pit stall over here (on the front) and I think you give me a chance to win the race. That's the main thing. As long as it's somewhere in the top 15 I'm happy."

-Ford Racing