BRISTOL, Tenn.--Selected quotes following Busch Pole Qualifying Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday's Loadhandler 200:
Ron Hornaday
No. 16 NAPA Brakes Chevrolet: "You can't ask for more than that. We haven'ttouched that truck since we tested with (crew chief)Fred Graves. He's the one who made that truck so goodfor Jimmy Hensley (in the inaugural NASCARCraftsman Truck Series race in 1995, when Graves wascrew chief for Grier Lackey). We changed a coupleshocks this morning and we got it back to where it was.Hat's off to the whole crew -- I'm just the driver. It's mybirthday today and I just put the candle on my cake!"
Fred Graves
Crew chief, No. 16 NAPA Brakes Chevrolet: "That's a weight off my shoulders tonight, that's for sure! Wepracticed good all day and we were sure hoping for the pole. The trackconditions changed a little bit and we were hoping we could call the shotsright. Ron did a great job. He came off the corner over here (turn four)sideways on the first lap and most of the guys had gotten even looser onthe second lap, so I said He's really gonna have his hands full here!' Buthe managed to pull it off for us! We're gonna practice a little bittomorrow and get it good for the long runs and we'll be OK."
Boris Said
No. 44 Federated Auto Parts Ford: "To be second here is amazing to me. That's cool. That's pretty goodqualifying. Jay (Smith, crew chief) and them have been giving me goodtrucks. I was on the phone with Ernie (Irvan, truck owner) last night andhe helped me out with some good tips. I just sucked it up and took arollercoaster ride. It worked out for the best. The whole Federated teamjust gave me a great truck and when the trucks are that good, it's prettyeasy. I honestly didn't think I'd be where I am at this stage of the year.I was hopeful that some time in the year I'd be able to run in the top-5,t I'm completely shocked it's this early!"
Rick Carelli
No. 6 RE/MAX Chevrolet: "We ran pretty decent. I got the nose of the truck up a little bit onthe first lap. I chattered it a little bit but it stopped and it cameright around. The truck's going to be pretty decent tomorrow night and ifI could repeat here at Bristol in this RE/MAX Chevy I'll be a happycamper."
Bryan Reffner
No. 66 Carlin Burners & Controls Ford: "This feels good. It's something we needed as a team. Now we've got torace. Qualifying's one thing, but at Bristol it means a lot. If you canstart up toward the front you don't have to fight a lot of people, andthat's a good feeling."
Tony Raines
No. 19 Pennzoil Dodge: "The truck was a little tighter than I thought it was gonna be and Itried extra hard and I think I just got carried away. I don't know if thatwas the pole lap or not (second lap).
(ON SPINNING ACROSS THE FINISH LINE TO FINISH QUALIFYING.) I probably got lucky (not to hit anything). It started to get away from meand it was NOT going to come back. I said I can't save it, so let's try tomake the best of it.' I tried to get it to come around so it would rollbackwards. Fortunately we didn't hit anything. The back end got loose. Iwas chasing it and I was thinking I got it.' Then the next thingI thought was I don't got it.' When I looked back toward the flagstand allI saw was smoke from my tires. I could hear the crowd cheering. (DID HE HURT THE ENGINE WHEN HE SPUN?) It turned about 87 or 88 (8,700 or 8,800 RPMs). It didn't turn too much,but we hurt the set of tires, so we'll get another set to start on. We'llbe all right tomorrow. We made the race so we'll work on the race set-upand be OK. "
Kenny Irwin Jr.
No. 98 Raybestos/Ford Credit Ford : " I think it was pretty good because I scared myself a little. Usuallywhen we do that we're pretty good."
Ron Barfield
No. 55 Tom Gloy Racing Ford : "Pretty good truck. We run real good. I cost us the pole because I rundown into three and got way sideways! We had a good lap in one and two,but in three I got it about 90 degrees sideways, but we still run us a16.1. If it had stuck we'd have been on the pole. Good team, good truck,good owner -- heck of a deal."
Rich Bickle
No. 17 Sears DieHard Chevrolet: "Well, it's better than it has been. It was a little tight forqualifying. All we were looking for was a good lap so we could start upclose to the front."
Michael Dokken
No.18 Dana Dodge: "We had a team meeting about our practice runs because the team lostour rhythm. So before I went out on the track tonight I just thought aboutwhat I did before in the first part of the season and ran a good lap."
Tammy Jo Kirk
No. 7 Lovable Ford : "We were too tight. Man, we give it away today. We was good. We got alittle scared there at the end (of the second practice) and tightened itup because everybody was spinning out. We just put a little bit too muchwedge in it."
Blaise Alexander
No. 62 Lisa Express/Rescue Chevrolet: "We got a little loose (and spun in turn three on second qualifyinglap). The same thing happened in practice. There's some bumps coming offof two and if you get up high and you're not hooked up it just throws thetruck sideways. The first lap put us in the field pretty decent. Comingoff the corner we were just a little bit loose. I think we can get itfixed and if we get in the race we'll be all right. We've got to replacethe lower a-frames and steering link and some sheet metal damage. It's nottoo bad."
Bob Keselowski
No. 29 Mopar Performance Dodge: "We're only two tenths off the pole. That's competitive. Thecompetition has more than tripled in the past two years at this track. Thefield will be bunched up tomorrow with all the trucks running so closelytogether."
Andy Genzman
No. 25 De's LP Gas Ford: (ON HIS ACCIDENT ON SECOND LAP OF QUALIFYING.)"I'm going over to see of we can put it back together and go out tomorrow.Well, there's a bump coming off of turn four, I think I hit that when Iwas a little sideways, and it put me even more sideways. There wasn'tanything to do but hang on, then (Genzman hit the inside wall near the pitexit).
Jimmy Hensley
No. 43 Cummins Engine Company Dodge: "We haven't hit it just right. We'll come back tomorrow and retry our run at qualifying. Tonight we were just junk around the track."
Brian Cunningham - No. 57 Cunningham Historics Chevrolet:
(ON HIS ACCIDENT ON FIRST LAP OF QUALIFYING.) "My tires weren't warmed up enough on my first lap. We'd been loose goinginto turns one and three all day long and we thought we had it solved andwe thought it'd be a little tighter with the cooler weather. I turned into(turn) three and it just went sideways, I wasn't able to hold it and Ibacked it into the wall (rear truck bed was pushed back to the rear wheelsbut Cunningham drove back to the pits). We've got a Talladega ARCAcar on the truck and I don't think that'll work out here. We should be allright."
