Brickyard 400 Post-Qualifying Quotes
July 24, 2010 | By
JEFF GORDON (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, eighth): “We’re still learning the spoiler a little bit. You should see some great racing. This is the only time all year that you want to draw an early number. As we saw, the track temp went up to 140 degrees yesterday, and it’s close to 100 now. It’s going to continue to go up, and every five cars is probably 4 or 5 degrees of track temp and at the speed the grip is going to go away. Once you get out there in the race, it’s the same for everybody. It might be slicker if it’s hot, but I think it is going to be a little bit cooler on Sunday than it has been.”
SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge, 25th): “The earlier you can go out and qualify here, the better off you’re going to be. We were just way too tight. We were too free getting into the corners yesterday (Friday), so we worked all through our second session trying to make our car better on entry, but we screwed it up on exit. The one good thing about running here at Indianapolis is that we have four practices instead of two, so that will give us a little more time to get exactly where we need to be. I’m not happy with my qualifying run. It definitely could have been worse. With the way that everything works out – how the cars handle, pit strategy – there’s a lot of things we can do to negate that qualifying a little bit. We’ll have to work real hard to make the Dodge car better in traffic. This race is long enough. There are enough pit stops where you can definitely make a difference.”
DAVID STREMME (No. 26 Air Guard/gtwgps.com Ford, DNQ): “It's just hot, and we've been just fair all weekend.”
JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, fourth): “It would be incredible to win both races (the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400) in one year. We’ve got really good cars here. We put in a solid qualifying lap, so we’ll see what happens this afternoon when we get all of our final practices in. We thought yesterday our race trim was really good. But at this race, if you make one mistake, you can’t overcome it. We just have to have a mistake-free day on the driver and pit crew, and we should have a good car. We’re good, but these races are long and it doesn’t take a lot to take that away from you. I led this race with 16 laps to go and dominated this race in 2003 and finished third. So it’s about not making any mistakes.”
TONY STEWART (No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet, 15th): “We’ll take what we can get and get ready for tomorrow. It was slick, actually a lot slicker than I thought it was going to be. We had the perfect draw and we wanted to capitalize on it, but it's been a hot week here in Indiana. We thought we had a perfect run, but it was still hot and slick out there.”
KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Ford, 24th): “I think the conditions are fine. We just really missed it with our car, but it seemed like the conditions were fine. My car was just tight. It wouldn’t turn. I couldn’t get the car to turn as good as it needed to. We just have got to keep working on it.”
CLINT BOWYER (No. 33 Wheaties Fuel Chevrolet, sixth): “We were fourth in practice, but I thought the draw (23rd) was going to hurt us pretty bad. Our car was fast, and I had a good lap. I messed up Turn 2 a little bit. I gave up a tenth over there. All in all, it was a good run for our Wheaties Fuel Chevrolet. This place is definitely tricky, but everybody has stepped up their game on this race team, and it was up to me to do the same today.” (About making the Chase): “Our cars are good enough, and the boys are working really hard. Just a little bit of Lady Luck, and we’ll be right there. I feel like, not only can we beat the 12 car but on up and beat the ninth- and 10th-place cars.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 Penske Dodge, 11th): “It’s a lot of work, but it's always a lot of fun when you have two fast race cars. Our Penske Dodge cars over here on the Cup side (with teammate Sam Hornish Jr.) ran some good laps, actually better than we were in practice, and I'm really encouraged by that and I'm confident it will carry over to the race. We'll keep working on it and see if we can have a good run in both cars.”
GREG BIFFLE (No. 16 3M Ford, seventh): “It was a good run, and it’s all because of these guys (pit crew). Our car wasn’t that good yesterday, and they kept working on it. This is our latest and greatest chassis and one of our best cars coming out of the race shop. And I’m happy for them. I’m excited. The engine ran really good. Last year we qualified up front, and we ran up front. That was a perfect lap for us. I was a little nervous. I had been watching on TV and I knew going out late the track would be hot. That was a conservative lap. I think this car could go faster, for sure.”
BOBBY LABONTE (No. 09 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet, 36th): “Not, it's really not that much tougher even with the heat. It's just hot. It wasn't quite what we had hoped for, but I think it's good enough to get in.”
MAX PAPIS (No. 13 GEICO Toyota, 35th): “This is my second attempt (to attempt to qualify for his first Brickyard 400). I’m really proud of getting the Geico Toyota in the race. I feel it is a really, really special opportunity for me, and I am proud of everybody. We were solid like a rock. It’s not easy to go out there and be outside the top 35, knowing that if you make a small mistake you’re going to go home. I drove the car exactly like I did in practice, but the track allowed me to go a little harder. We came here with one goal in mind – making the race. We did it, and now we’ll see the true colors of the Geico Toyota race team come race time. I’m excited. This thing is fast.”
RYAN NEWMAN (No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, fifth): “It was a good time, given the time of day we went out. Man, it’s hot here; I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if it’s global warming or El Niño. This is like Darlington on Labor Day weekend. The draw means so much here. As hot as it was at 10 o’clock, 84 degrees (ambient temperature), that is ridiculous in itself. It’s just the luck of the draw every year we come to Indy. I wonder, “What if?” but Mark (Martin) went out and beat me, so he could “what if?” it more than I could. We’ve got a couple of hours to work on it. We have a couple of good starting points based on our practices. We’ll see what we can think up.” (Top-10 finish?): “That’s my thought. Effort, man, spot effort is what it takes – aerodynamics and horsepower – obviously Chevrolet has done their homework. We brought a special race car here, and I think it’s paying off. It’s just a matter of putting the best race car on the track that you possibly can.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR. (No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, 12th): “I would have liked to have picked up more than we did. I’m pretty disappointed in myself because I had a pretty sloppy lap. The car drove pretty good, and the track has a lot of grip right now. We had a good draw. This is the track where a season turns from a decent season into a good season. We’ve got to keep working hard to get into those Top 10s and pick up some top-five finishes.”
KEVIN HARVICK (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet, ninth): “I made four co