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BUSCH: Charlotte: Ford drivers qualifying quotes

STANTON BARRETT-60-OdoBan Ford Taurus (Qualified 32nd) "We were really good in one and two and I went into three and four and, man, that thing tore up loose. As soon as I lifted I thought I was coming around reminiscent of this same race last year ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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STANTON BARRETT-60-OdoBan Ford Taurus (Qualified 32nd)

"We were really good in one and two and I went into three and four and, man, that thing tore up loose. As soon as I lifted I thought I was coming around reminiscent of this same race last year in qualifying. The same thing happened last year and I crashed the car and it felt the same way that time. Fortunately I saved it and the next lap I kinda screwed up one and two and was a little bit tight, but on the second lap, three and four were pretty good. I didn't go in quite as hard, but I didn't think I went in that hard on the first lap either. We're making improvements and I think we're going to be good in the race. I like this track and I think we'll get the setup all right."

YOU HAVE A TEAMMATE THIS WEEKEND WITH GREG BIFFLE RUNNING THE NO. 9 CAR. HAS HIS PRESENCE HELPED YOU THIS WEEKEND? "Not really. They're separate than us. We kinda go back and forth with who has what, but it's a different deal. It helps when people are running week to week and you can compare what you're doing. One race is hard because you don't know what the differences are where you can kind of compare."

DAVE BLANEY-31-Whelen Engineering Ford Taurus (Qualified 11th)

"These Whelen cars have been fast every time that I've gotten in them. I'm really impressed with their stuff. We were probably a little bit too conservative there and a little too tight, but it's going to be a decent start and it's all about running good tomorrow."

YOU HAD A GOOD QUALIFYING RUN IN YOUR CUP CAR TODAY. HAS THERE BEEN A SHARING OF INFORMATION BETWEEN THESE TWO CRS TODAY? "Today we have been doing the same things with the two cars. We got to test this car here a couple of weeks ago and we got to run the Jasper car last week in The Open so we've got a little it of time to improve things, but so far so good."

JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Qualified 22nd)

"We had to go to our back-up car for qualifying because we wrecked in practice and that left us with a lot to do before qualifying. It was unfortunate. We had a radiator bust on us in practice. It's unfortunate. You just take a shot in the dark when you have to unload your back-up car like that. We'll just work on it and get it better for tomorrow."

DO YOU HAVE THE SAME SETUP IN THE BACK-UP CAR THAT YOU HAD IN THE PRIMARY CAR? "We tried the same setup and it was pretty close. Each car is just a little bit different and it takes a little bit of a different setup. It was just one of those shots in the dark in qualifying today."

BOBBY HAMILTON, JR.-25-Team Marines Ford Taurus (Qualified 19th)

YOUR TEAM IS IN THE MIDST OF SOME CHANGES THAT INCLUDE A NEW CREW CHIEF, BUT IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE IT'S BEEN A DISTRACTION THIS WEEK? "Harold (Holly) has really picked the program up right off. He knows a lot of the wind tunnel stuff. We've got some new cars that he has built that are coming. It's going to take us a couple of weeks. Our first new car should be there at Nashville. He came to the shop and set this thing up. It's one of those cars that is just superior on race stuff. We tried it this morning. Once again, we just taped it up and qualified. If we can get in the top 10, we'll be happy. We haven't missed anything this week, and if anything, we're already making gains."

WITH HAROLD FINISHING OUT FOR TEAM AMICK THIS WEEKEND, HOW MUCH WILL HE ABE ABLE TO HELP YOU? "It's one of those deals and it shows his loyalty. He didn't want to hang out Jeff (Green) and Team Amick out. We know that we get our turn with him on Monday. Newt Moore and my dad took time out of their week to come up here and go back to old times where we used to run Late Models together. It's working great. Newt and Harold have been working together hand-in-hand, and so far they've got the car perfect. I can't wait until the race because that's the type of race car that we've got."

WHO WILL MAKE THE CALLS FROM THE PIT BOX TOMORROW? "Newt because it's his deal this weekend. Harold has some responsibilities with the other car, so this is Newt's deal this weekend. We're here to win the race. We have the stuff to do it."

KASEY KAHNE-38-Great Clips Ford Taurus (Qualified 6th)

"This team has given me a lot of good qualifying race cars and we've been qualifying in the top 10 a lot. When Harvick ran that lap I thought we might not have a shot at the pole anymore but on that first lap I thought we did. We were real close and we have a good ca for the race."

YOU RUN REALLY WELL ON THE MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACKS THIS YEAR. "I've enjoyed them this year. Last year they were the places that I struggled at the most out of everywhere. I told Wes (Ward) that at the start of the year and that's where I wanted to test. This year we've had our best races at those kinds of tracks and bigger. It's been fun. I enjoy qualifying. It's fun to really go for it all taped up and have all of that downforce and go for it."

SCOTT RIGGS-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Qualified 3rd)

"It was pretty hard there. That wasn't an easy run. It was against the grain there to put the throttle back down. The car was pretty uncomfortable feeling but I had confidence in it and I had confidence in the guys. We were in pretty bad shape in three and four in practice. I was getting through one and two so good, but I just kept losing the front end across the bumps in three and four. We made a little bit of a shock change and some air pressure adjustments and it ran pretty good. We picked up a half of a second and that's good for us. It's a good solid run for us."

MATT KENSETH-17-Aleve Ford Taurus (Qualified 9th)

"That's fine. We just work on race setup in this car. With just one hour this morning we worked on race setup first and then we got interrupted by rain. We didn't work super-hard on our qualifying stuff and I'm just happy with that lap I ran. That was much better than what we were in practice. We made improvements to the car so I'm happy with that. If we start in the top 10, it's long race, so that's good."

GREG BIFFLE-9-Uh-Oh! Oreo Ford Taurus (Qualified 12th)

"I felt really good to be back in a Busch car. The car just bottomed out pretty hard; I wasn't expecting it. It upset the car real bad and it jumped all over the place. Everyone ran so much faster than we practiced we didn't know what to expect. That's good. A top-15 starting spot for me is going to be good."

THIS IS A DIFFERENT TEAM, A DIFFERENT CAR AND A DIFFERENT CAR NUMBER FROM LAST YEAR. "The only thing we have from last year is our notes, but we've got a really good car. It's one that Jeff Burton ran in Vegas. These guys are really working good. This is the first time that I've worked with John (Monsam) and we're hitting it off pretty good so I'm having a lot of fun."

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