Rockingham II: GM - Vickers qualifying press conference

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 25 UAW-DELPHI CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

YOU WERE ASKED AFTER YOU WON THE BUSCH POLE IF THAT GAVE YOU CONFIDENCE TO WIN THE CUP POLE, AND YOU ALMOST DID.

"It's a big thanks to the UAW-Delphi team. The guys did a great job. Just like I said in the Busch car, we made a bunch of changes after practice, what you'd call educated guesses, and they worked out in both cars. Man, it was awesome. Ryan Newman--what can I say? That's twice he's knocked me off the pole by a couple thousandths or whatever it was. He's a good qualifier, and congratulations to him. I have to hand it to him. But it sure would have been nice to have gotten that pole today in the Cup series. I know it's asking too much, and I don't know if anyone has ever done that before."

HOW AGONIZING WAS THE WAIT?

"It was. We knew it was a good time when we set it. Looking at the practice times, we thought it was going to be a good starting spot, but we didn't think we were in contention for the pole. The track must have slowed down some. When he went out, I wanted to go talk to him and ask him if he'd give me one, just to get at least one more car in the Bud Shootout. There's going to be like five cars in that race because of him. But I didn't get a chance. I don't know if he'd have given it to me or not. I was standing there on the backstretch getting ready for Busch happy hour with Bobby Hamilton Jr. and he came off Turn 2 like a rocket ship. I said, 'well, we're not going to be on the pole today, unless he loses it in 3 and 4.' He is the man to beat on poles and hopefully one day when we have the opportunity to do that, it will be that much better."

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN YOUR GOOD RUN TO YOUR TEAMMATES WHO DIDN'T DO SO WELL?

"I don't know. I talked to those guys, especially Jeff, and our setups are a little different. Running the Busch car helped, not really with the setup, but just being on the race track, seat time. Last week, we were 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I don't know what happened to them in qualifying. I don't think it's any lack of talent on their part. You're talking about a four-time Winston Cup champion, a two-time Winston Cup champion and a multi-race winner. You can't win them all and I'm sure they'll be there at the end of the day on Sunday."

WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CATCH ON TO THE 400-MILE STUFF?

"That's a very good question. I don't know where the qualifying has come from. Most of my career, I've been a racer, not a qualifier. I think it's just the support and the personnel at Hendrick Motorsports that has helped me with that. Maybe because I wasn't a qualifier when I was younger, I've worked a lot harder at being better at it. As far as the race stuff in Cup, they do practice a little different and the races are longer and you have to adjust to that. Last week, a 13th-place finish was a good solid effort for the UAW-Delphi team. The guys did a good job. We started out a lot tighter than we anticipated and that was one of those learning curves as to what the track does after the Busch race that I really didn't see coming. We got it better by the end of the race, but it was too late then. It was all about track position. One thing that has caught me off-guard is how important track position is in Cup than in the Busch Series, because there are so many more competitive cars. Pit road, if that's not a jungle--I came off pit road the first time, I was stopping, turning left, it felt like I was doing 360s just to get off pit road without hitting anyone. It is a mess. There's 43 cars on the lead lap when you come down pit road the first time, or at least 30-plus anyway. There's a lot to learn there, and I think as time goes on I'll figure it out. With the help of the teammates I have, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte, hopefully it won't take too long."

HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY TO HAVE A QUALIFYING DRAW AFTER RYAN NEWMAN?

"I don't know what it's going to take. Last week we had to go out real early and I think it really hurt us, even more than it did this week. Going out early definitely didn't help this week. If we could get some of the draws he's been getting the past few weeks, that would be in our favor. I'm not going to complain right now."

HOW GOOD DO YOU THINK YOU'LL BE ON SUNDAY?

"We'll see more in Happy Hour. I feel pretty good about this team and our ability to fix the car if it's not good. That'll get better as time goes on, and I do have my teammates to lean on. Jeff has had some really good races here, so has Jimmie and so has Terry. I know this team is going to do its best."

HOW DOES HAVING A VETERAN CREW CHIEF HELP IN MAKING CHANGES OVER A LONGER RACE?

"That was part of the big debate. Lance and I communicate so well. He is a great crew chief. The only concern there was, we didn't want to break up either of the teams and Lance has never been crew chief in a Cup race, and there's a lot of difference between Busch and Cup in terms of logistics of how it works and how you have to approach the race, the changes, the length of the race and a lot of the calls he makes. Peter has done that for a long time. What we didn't want to have happen was to have me learning all these things at the same time as the crew chief. Peter has a lot of experience that I think will pay off when I'm a little indecisive or unfamiliar with the situation. He's been there and done it and he can make that call and we can go on and have a good race."

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