NASCAR Cup

Pocono II: Ford teams qualifying quotes

BOBBY GERHART - No. 99 Office Depot Taurus (Qualified 44th) WAS THERE A LOT OF PRESSURE OUT THERE? "No, not really. I just realized the situation. This is probably one of their best race cars and they didn't need a record-setting lap. It was ...

Published: Jul 25, 2005, 2:31 PM

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BOBBY GERHART - No. 99 Office Depot Taurus (Qualified 44th)

WAS THERE A LOT OF PRESSURE OUT THERE? "No, not really. I just realized the situation. This is probably one of their best race cars and they didn't need a record-setting lap. It was just pretty neat to be involved in that."

YOU ACCOMPLISHED WHAT YOU WANTED? "Sure. I actually thought I was running a pace of what I ran just an hour or so ago in my other car and almost dittoed it completely."

DID YOU HAVE ANY PARTICULAR TARGET AS FAR AS QUALIFYING POSITION? "No, I had no idea where we stood. I was gonna get a couple of laps yesterday and fell short. It's just that when I got out is when a couple of incidents happened during yesterday's practice session, so I really got no quality time whatsoever. That was basically my first lap in the car."

NOTE: Gerhart qualified for Carl Edwards, who is in Pikes Peak for today's NASCAR Busch Series race.

MARK MARTIN - No. 6 Viagra Taurus (Qualified 3rd)

"I was kind of surprised because I thought he was gonna call out a really slow time there, but it's gonna be a fairly decent starting spot. That's a product of a fast race car, I guess. It didn't feel good at all. It certainly didn't seem to be a very good lap, but it's a very good car."

WHAT ABOUT YOUR LAP? "I really thought it was terrible. The car felt pretty bad. I got really loose across the tunnel and wasn't very good in turn three, but somehow or another we managed to find a second of speed there from yesterday's lap. I thought he was gonna tell me it was worse than yesterday's mock-up run, but that's a product of a fast race car thanks to Pat Tryson and the Viagra Ford team. The car has been really strong and yesterday I just drove the car as fast as it felt and didn't try to get more because it was such a good car. After it was all said and done with, I knew today I was gonna reach for a little bit more and we did, so we've got a great car for the race."

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 National Guard/Subway Taurus (Qualified 7th)

"I tell you what, that was a great lap for the National Guard car. We've worked hard coming back here and changed our brake package around, but I didn't expect to qualify that quick. Maybe a lot of guys will end up beating us, but that was a really good lap time. That's as fast as we've gone here. We didn't make a qualifying run (in practice). I don't know, a lot of people may have, but I'm real excited about that spot. It's probably gonna be in the top 10 or maybe the top 15, but that's gonna be a great spot for us for Sunday."

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Qualified 20th)

"Everything is OK. We were good in practice and I was probably as happy with the car as what I've been in quite a while. The car seemed pretty good and seemed to be reasonable on the longer runs and that's what we were looking to try to do is get the car to where it was gonna hold on for me. That's what we fought here last time and, hopefully, it will be a lot better. I'm looking forward to the race."

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 IRWIN/Sharpie Taurus (Qualified 2nd)

"I was really surprised. We picked up over a second-and-a-half from yesterday's practice. We tightened the car up a bunch just because our race setup was so loose I didn't think we had a shot at the pole. I'm like kicking myself that I should have went for it a little harder, but if you go for it harder you probably slip. That's a tough balance and this will be a good start for us. The last time we were here we just raced too tight. The car was too tight all day. This time around we're definitely gonna be on the loose side."

WHAT'S THE KEY FOR TOMORROW? "The key is to be in position at the last pit stop to make a run at the front - to be able to get out in front and to have that car that will run those consistent lap times. At this place you don't have to be fast all the time, but just consistent all the time. It's really a challenging track to get all three corners exactly right."

MIKE GARVEY - No. 66 Jani King Taurus (Qualified 32nd)

"We feel good. We had a bad day in practice yesterday. I probably had the worst day of my life as a driver. I couldn't back two laps up. I'd mess up one corner and mess up the other, so today I knew we had a good enough car to get in the race. I couldn't make any mistakes. We got through one good and the tunnel turn good, and I was just real careful to get through three and make sure I got a good, solid lap in. The team is growing a lot. We're getting the cars better every week. We're getting them more adjustable and I think we can do a good job for Ford and Peak Fitness and everybody tomorrow."

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus (Qualified 41st)

"I just got a little loose, but we've got more problems than that. My brakes drug the whole time, so we're not really sure what that is. Hopefully, NASCAR will let us look at it. I don't know. It did not do it yesterday, so whatever we checked overnight made the brakes start dragging. That's the biggest problem we've got right now."

RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Taurus (Qualified 5th)

"This chassis is real similar. We were a little bit free in the middle of the corner and that cost us a couple of tenths. I'm just really happy. All of these guys on this Motorcraft Ford team, Fatback McSwain and the Wood Brothers gave me a really good car this weekend. It's gonna race exceptionally well. I'm more excited about race trim than I am qualifying trim. That's where we spent most of our time and I think we've got a really good race car this weekend."

HOW ABOUT THE RUN? "I'd like to be in that number one spot, but you can't get greedy. This is the car that qualified on the pole and the outside pole here last year and to come back a year later, the car has been pretty much left alone and kind of shoved aside and it came back and qualified sixth. We're pretty happy with that."

-ford racing-

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