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NASCAR Busch Series
Chevy Notes and Quotes for Qualifying at Mexico City
By
Mar 4, 2006, 14:03
DENNY HAMLIN, NO. 20 ROCKWELL AUTOMATION CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:
"I'm pretty excited about it. I know a lot of the guys have picked up a second or more in their qualifying runs. Our Chevrolet is really, really fast. I'm excited about road racing. It's something I love to do. And everybody knows how I like short tracks and flat tracks. So this is a mix of all three. I'm looking forward to the race on Sunday. We've got a really good car." (more below)
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 2 ACDELCO CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:
"By no means would I consider myself an ace road course racer (laughs). This will be my third race, so there's lots to be learned yet. But we're getting better. I remember last year down here I was off the track in the grass and in the rocks. I spent more time in the dirt out there than I did on the race track. So we're at least getting in on the race track and learning some things and we're about 15 positions better than we were last year. This ACDelco Chevrolet is pretty good. It's been a lot of fun down here."
RON FELLOWS, NO. 33 OUTDOOR CHANNEL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:
"We were pretty good in practice yesterday. All the guys on Kevin Harvick's team have done a great job. And it's been a lot of fun. They rolled in a brand new car for this race. We've got to get in on time and we hope we get in the top 10 and beyond that, we'll see. I think this qualifying format will help a little bit and try to get one lap in the race and then see what we can do on the second."
J.J. YELEY, NO. 18 HOME DEPOT / VIGORO CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:
HOW COME YOU'RE GOING SO FAST? IS IT THE TONY STEWART UNIFORM?
"Yeah, I'm trying to be like Tony. I'm just a shaved, thinner version. But it must work because the car is really fast. The guys have been doing an excellent job. It's the same car we had last year. I've just been driving real smooth. I think that's the biggest thing to road course racing is just not going out there and trying too hard. It's been going pretty good. I'm trying not to do anything real spectacular here. But I know I'm fast enough that I could maybe get the pole. But the biggest thing is not down-shifting too hard and not getting the thing off course. If we can get a top five, that would be spectacular for the Home Depot / Vigoro car and we'll just take this thing one at a time and try to get in the race."
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 21 U.S. COAST GUARD CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:
"So far this weekend has gone really well with our U.S. Coast Guard Chevrolet. It's always fun on the road courses. I think it's more
confusing for the TV guys than it is for me. But everything has gone good. We're just having fun down here on our off-weekend."
BURNEY LAMAR, NO. 77 DOLLAR GENERAL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:
went off course during qualifying lap.
WAS THAT AGRICULTURAL RACING?
"It was. I can't say enough. I didn't get a whole lot of time on the track yesterday. I got frustrated, but the Dollar General crew slowed me down and we got a good night's rest and came back. So far, we're going pretty good."
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 LOWE'S / HITACHI CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:
"My teammate, Adrian Fernandez, gave me a few pointers. In first practice, we were decent. We weren't excellent. But I was able to
debrief with him and talk to him and get some of his racing points and some of the things that he was doing. And we picked up about a second after that. So that was pretty good. I'm happy with that. I think that'll be a top start, which will be pretty good for us. And all we've got to do is stay out of trouble and keep it on the track."
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ, NO. 57 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS:
"It was a good lap. In the first lap, the brakes were not there. When they told me my time, I knew it wasn't very good. So I pushed harder and just wanted to make sure I got into Turn 1 very good after the chicane and I did all that very good. So from there to the end I just needed to make sure I didn't make major mistakes. And it was pretty good. I didn't want to make a third lap and I wanted to conserve my tires for the race."
NASCAR Busch Series Post Qualifying Press Conferences:
DENNY HAMLIN, NO. 20 ROCKWELL AUTOMATION CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS -
Qualified 2nd:
"It was a good run for us. It was a little bit disappointing, but you can't be too disappointed about starting on the front row. I'm looking forward to it. We really didn't make a qualifying run yesterday (in practice), so it was kind of unknown where we were going to stack up. We definitely have a good car. If we can just keep it up front, there is no reason why we can't have a shot at winning. I like short track races, road courses, and flat tracks and this is a combination of all three of those. So it kind of plays into my driving style quite a bit. The best way to try to explain this -- it's like stealing the car and running from the cops in the city like you wish you could do. You're wide open and it's really a fun race track."
ON THE CHICANE:
"I remember last year when everybody must have gone through there at 50 mph compared to 150 mph. You just can't go through there three-wide. I'm very lucky that I'll have a clear view other than maybe Boris (Said, pole-sitter) on going through the chicane the first time because last year I was mid-pack and you could not see anything following other cars. So it is a concern. Once the race gets going and spread out, it won't be such a big issue. But at the start of the race, it'll be a big issue."
JOHNNY SAUTER, NO. 00 YELLOW TRANSPORTATION CHEVOLET MONTE CARLO SS -
Qualified 3rd
"It was good. It was definitely more car than there was driver, I'll tell you that. The race track was a little bit more slicker than I
anticipated it would be. We probably didn't adjust enough. We were trying to do just one lap and get out of there before I flat-spotted my tires. It was pretty awesome. We qualified fourth at Daytona and to be able to come here and qualify third is pretty good for everybody."
ON RACING AGAINST THE MEXICAN DRIVERS
"I don't like it (laughs). They're fast. They're too competitive. They're good. I beat Adrian (Fernandez) by one one-thousandth of a
second I think. I know he's going to be good. Jorge Goeters is going to be good. They're tough. We're having fun. This is a lot different than what we do week in and week out. The fans are awesome. I get chills when I hear them introduce Adrian out there because the place just goes crazy. We're looking forward to tomorrow and trying to keep out car in one piece."
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