BUSCH: Fontana: Billy Parker qualifying notes

Parker Sets California Ablaze
--Duraflame RWI Racing Driver Garners Top Rookie Honors in California Qualifying--

FONTANA, CA (April 30, 2004)-For the first time in the young history of the team, Duraflame RWI Racing and driver Billy Parker received honors for being the fastest rookie in qualifying for a Busch Series race. Parker's lap of 39.936 seconds (180.288 MPH) around the 2.0 mile California oval will place him 11th on the grid for Saturday's Stater Brothers 300. The lap represents Parker's career-best Busch Series effort and the best qualifying effort in the three-race history of the team.

Said Parker, "That was a good effort for our team. We struggled a little bit in practice, but Blake and the boys did a good job of making the car drive well for qualifying. The car was still a little bit free, but we'll take that. I'm really happy to have such a good qualifying effort at Duraflame's home track."

In Friday's pre-qualifying practice, Parker was ranked 23rd on the speed chart with a lap of 39.979 seconds (180.095 MPH). This represents the only time this season that Parker has been outside the top-10 in pre-qualifying practice.

"We laid down a fast lap early, but as the track got hotter, we couldn't go any faster. We began to wonder if something was going on with the car because we couldn't back up our first run. I guess it was just a matter of the track getting warmer and everyone slowing down in general," said Parker.

Duraflame RWI Racing General Manager, Barry Dodson, the 1989 NASCAR Championship-winning crew chief with driver Rusty Wallace, was very positive about the run.

"Billy Parker can flat out drive a race car. It's the classic case of having to slow a driver down. That's just the way it was with Rusty (Wallace). I'd much rather have a driver that I had to slow down than one I had to speed up. Billy's going to be a good one; I'll promise you that. It's just a matter of time before he's in victory lane."

-dwi-