Phoenix: Nemechek post-qualifying press conference

JOE NEMECHECK , NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET - Third

HOW DO YOU ACCOUNT FOR RYAN NEWMAN'S QUALIFYING SUCCESS?

"I don't know. He ran fast like that in practice. I asked him walking out on the starting line to qualify how he did that. He said, 'I don't know but I'm going to do it again.' I said okay, I wish you luck but not that much luck. But he poured it on. That was pretty incredible."

SO HOW WAS THE TRACK FOR YOU TODAY?

"The track feels good. It seems like we're sliding around a little bit more than normal for whatever reason. We're running pretty fast, but it seems to be a little slick. You try to do things to go faster all the time. And when you pick the throttle up to go faster around the corner, you're putting more load on the tires. It's the same race tack and asphalt that's been here for several years. It's just losing a little bit of grip each year."

A COUPLE WEEKS AGO YOU SEEMED TO BE FAST IN QUALIFYING. DID YOU FIND A SPECIAL TRICK THAT WORKED FOR YOU?

"No, and I don't know what's different. I've been trying to give Ryan and all the guys who are working on this car some good feedback as to what I'm feeling in the car. And we've been able to make some changes. Today we tried a lot of stuff. Some of it worked. But we needed to do something else. And then we worked in a different area and it was better all of a sudden. I attribute it to communication and what I know I have to feel. That's one thing that experience gets you, you tend to learn what happens at these tracks. If the sun's out, it's going to get slippery. I thought I was going to have a great opportunity when I went to qualifying because it's really cloudy and the sun was barely peeking through. But when I got out there, the sun came out. I think going earlier today might have been an advantage. But then Ryan Newman went out in the middle and it didn't matter. You try taking advantage of whatever you can. That will help you have success."

ON YOUR SEASON AS A WHOLE AND ON THE '05 SEASON TO COME

"We've been on a roll. But the tough part about that is that we've actually run better at races earlier in the year that we have here at the end of the year, but we've had crazy things happen to us.

"Whether you call it bad luck or whatever, but things happen. It's taken us out of a lot of races where we've actually run extremely well. When you're running in the top five and this stuff happens, it hurts because it puts a 33rd or 35th place finish on your report card for that week and that's not how this team is running. This team has run good. At the beginning of the year, we started off on a good note. We missed our set-up on a couple of races there. We missed our set-up a little bit. They worked on our cars and got them better. We really haven't changed a lot of the way we've done things. But we're starting to get a few breaks going our way. We're trying to make our own luck too by being prepared."

ARE YOU A TOP 10 TEAM?

"I think we are. If we would have had these finishes back half-way through the year, we would have been in the top 10. That's what's frustrating. We're not there. We didn't earn our way into the top 10, but I think this is a top 10 team. We're building on what we can do this year. I think we can take all the momentum we have and apply it to next year. Our goal is to make that top 10 for the championship cut. If we can run like we're running right now, that's not going to be a problem."

IF YOU'D BEEN STRONGER EARLIER IN THE SEASON, WOULD YOU BE UP THERE IN POINTS?

"Well, there's a lot of things that happen, but woulda-coulda-shouldas don't get you anywhere. Each week is a new challenge. We've got to figure out as a team how to get our race cars around the track the fastest, and to do it for 300 or 500 miles or whatever it may be. So I think we have a top 10 team. If we would have run like we are right now and just had the finishes we gave away when we were in the top five, we'd have been knocking on that 10th place deal. So I think by what we've shown this year we can apply to next year. The big problem that's going to throw every one of these teams for a loop next year - even the top 10 guys - is when they cut that spoiler off and when Goodyear changes a tire it changes the way these cars drive. We're going to have to learn some things really fast. Whoever can get the jump on it at the beginning of the year next year is going to have success really early."

ON THE CHASE AND THE POINT SYSTEM

"I'm sure everybody is keeping track of all the different points in the old system and the new system. It's going to be interesting. NASCAR will look at it and make some adjustments if they have to. It's all new. It's definitely added some excitement. Heck, for me, I thought it was all done and in the last week it's changed and made the race a whole bunch different.

-gm racing-