NASCAR Cup
Sonoma: Dodge teams qualifying quotes
KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Starts 3rd "It was a great qualifying lap for our Miller Lite Dodge. We were slipping around too much earlier today and couldn't get the car underneath me. The Miller Lite guys made some great ...
Published: Jun 19, 2010, 4:13 AM
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KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Starts 3rd
"It was a great qualifying lap for our Miller Lite Dodge. We were slipping around too much earlier today and couldn't get the car underneath me. The Miller Lite guys made some great adjustments between practice and qualifying which really helped the car with forward bite. I didn't think that we were pole material, we were just shooting for a top-10 starting spot and nailed it.
"I think that the best thing that helped us was that we went out for our second qualifying run (during practice) and learned what not to do. We were thrashing pretty hard to make sure that we got back out for that second qualifying run. We spent most of our day in race trim just fighting the car trying to find grip - whether it was turn-in or corner exit or right hander or left hander. With Steve (Addington, crew chief) and my guys, it just seems like when you find a good rhythm and when you're looking at somebody and know what they're thinking without even saying something (you) make good adjustments. I feel that's where our team is really doing well right now...making good adjustments and making the Miller Lite Dodge a little better."
IS TRACK POSITION MORE IMPORTANT HERE AT INFINEON THAN AT AN OVAL? "It's important especially at specific times during the race. You just want to qualify as best as you can so you can get a good pit stall and start up front. It really comes down to the strategy of when you're going to pit and sticking with those fuel mileage numbers."
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO GET REAR GRIP ON THIS TRACK? "I'm not sure what's up because this new spoiler has added downforce everywhere we've been. This weekend the tire says the downforce is about the same, but it just feels like were running on four right-side tires right now."
***
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) Starts 34th
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP? "Our qualifying run was decent. We spent most of our time earlier today in race trim trying to get the car ready for Sunday. I just wanted to make a clean lap, not drive it off-course try to hit my marks. I'm still learning how to drive these road courses and gave it my best shot. I like our car in race trim. Our Penske Dodge seems pretty fast."
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INFINEON AND ROAD AMERICA FOR YOU? "The biggest difference is the track. The more that I think of it, everything is different (laughs). The only thing that is the same is the shift lever and the race car. The way the car drives is different. The way that you sit in the car is different. There's way more horsepower with the Cup car. Sonoma takes a lot more finesse and you can't get up to full throttle all the time. Road America is much faster. Your braking has to be really smooth. Road America just takes a lot of guts. You drive it off into a corner at 180 mph and then slow it down to 70, 80 miles-per-hour on the next one and that's not easy. It's two completely different feels inside the race car."
WHAT KIND OF CHALLENGE IS IT RUNNING AT ROAD AMERICA AND INFINEON THE SAME WEEKEND? "It's a huge challenge. To be running as well as we are in the Nationwide Series is great. Our Dodge's are fun to drive. I'm not going to kid you, it's not easy. I love what I'm doing. We're leading the Nationwide Series and have a fast Penske Dodge here at Infineon. It's cool."
-source: dodge motorsport
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