Raybestos Rookies in Daytona 500 qualifying
Speed 17th
Logano 21st
RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUALIFYING QUOTES FOR THE DAYTONA 500 AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2009, PAGE 1. “It was not near as exciting as last night anyway [smiles]. But hey, we picked up a lot. The guys did an awesome job. I think we’re all a bit surprised we picked up so much from practice.” “Pretty confident everyone kind of hits the marks here. When you’re out there by yourself it’s flat out. It’s honestly not that difficult. I mean, it’s more about getting the car right. Qualifying here I think is more of a test of teams than necessarily the drivers hitting their marks right.” AFTER THE SHOOTOUT LAST NIGHT, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THURSDAY’S DUEL?
“My thoughts are I’m very glad I can have the Duels, more practice time racing before the 500. There’s a lot that goes on out there. It’s a lot more difficult than it looks. I think we had to work on our car to get it to draft a little bit better but I have all the confidence in the world that by the time it comes to the 500 we’ll be good.” HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT ANY RACE STRATEGY FOR THE DUEL? THERE ARE SO MANY GUYS WHO MUST RACE THEIR WAY IN.
“My strategy is not to crash and to spin it [smiles]. And so far that’s proven to be harder than it looks.” DO YOU FEEL HELPLESS WHEN YOU ARE OUT THERE QUALIFYING HERE AT DAYTONA?
“A little bit, yeah, but then again you knew your part to be is smooth as possible on that thing, let it take the bumps. It’s certainly not the same as qualifying at a mile-and-a-half.” WAS THE WIND A FACTOR DURING YOUR RUN?
“Not really. I mean, honestly, I’m just sitting there and I stare at the tach the whole time. I’m like 81.1, 81.2, and I’m like come on baby, let’s get it [smiles]. That’s pretty much my job in there is just to just will the car faster.” JIMMY ELLEDGE, CREW CHIEF, No. 20 RED BULL TOYOTA:
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT LAP?
“Yeah. I’m really pleased with that because not knowing what to expect at all with no testing and stuff and still being relatively new to this team. It’s like the second speedway race but I’m real happy with that. At Talladega the 83 was probably a little bit better than what the 82 was. Today we hit everything right and was just a tick better. I think the Chevrolets are really fast and to be honest I didn’t we’d be that close to ‘em so I’m real proud of it.” “That’s why it’s such a surprise ‘cause really not any. And I think one thing that might have made our car better was something I was doing to try to learn something for my Bud Shootout car for last night during 500 qualifying practice. We didn’t think we had a shot at the pole so the rest is really irrelevant so I was fooling around with some stuff to try to get a direction on what I wanted to do in the Shootout last night and I think it felt like it was maybe a little bit better and I think it might have been.” “It might make a difference if the wind picks up later on this afternoon, which typically it can here at Daytona. It was better from the aspect you can keep more heat in the car and stuff like that. If the wind picks up then yes. If not, no big deal.” JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 HOME DEPOT TOYOTA:
“It’s exactly what we ran in practice yesterday, so I didn’t pick up any but I think it’s solid and we’ll be all right there and have a decent starting spot in the Duel and try to go from there.” DID YOU HIT YOUR MARKS OUT THERE AND DO EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO?
“I felt like I did. It’s so tough around here. Your watching different lines and it all seems to be about the same, whether you’re on the top or the bottom. We were like, whatever, so we just kind of went out there and kind of did similar to the same thing that I’ve been doing and just where we end up, ran the same thing.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS NOW AFTER THE PRACTICE THAT YOU’VE HAD AND THE RACE LAST NIGHT?
“Preparing myself is the biggest deal right now and not getting a lot of laps in the Shootout didn’t help any last night. It is what it is. We’ve got to put it behind us and focus on the 500 now.” DO YOU HAVE A GOAL FOR THURSDAY? YOUR FELLOW RAYBESTOS ROOKIE SCOTT SPEED JOKED THAT HIS GOAL WAS TO START AND NOT CRASH, WHICH IS NOT AN EASY FEAT.
“With these things it is. I was in that Shootout practice the other night. That was a rude awakening I’d say with these cars. They are a handful out there. Just get out there and gain some more respect from these guys. I didn’t really get to do much the other night so kinda just keep getting a feel for it. Same thing I’ve been doing.” THE WEATHER WAS COLD FOR THE RACE LAST NIGHTAND IT MIGHT BE A LOT WARMER ON THURSDAY.
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s going t make it a little more slick out there. But, you know, it’s the same for everybody [laughs].” DO YOU FEEL HELPLESS WHEN YOU’RE QUALIFYING HERE?
“It’s not much as a driver I think you can do so just kind of go as hard as you can and hope for the best [smiles]. You weld it to the floor and you go for it. It is what it is when you come across the line.”
Raybestos® brand brake and chassis parts are produced by affiliated companies in Affinia’s Global Brake and Chassis Group, the leading manufacturer of braking systems and chassis parts in the transportation industry. The brake line includes everything from brake drums to rotors, pads, shoes and hydraulic parts, while the chassis line features tie rods, ball points, idler arms and sway bar links. Raybestos brand braking and chassis systems are also the only systems used by NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing in competition. For more information about Raybestos brakes, visit Raybestos.com. For more information on Raybestos Chassis visit RaybestosChassis.com
Affinia Group Inc. is a global leader in the on and off-highway replacement products and service industry. In North America the Affinia family of brands includes WIX® Filters, Raybestos®, AIMCO® and BrakePro® brake products, and McQuay-Norris® and Raybestos™ Chassis parts. South American and European brands include Nakata®, Filtron®, Urba® and Quinton Hazell®. For more information, visit affiniagroup.com.
*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.
Camp & Associates, Inc., For Raybestos
WAS IT AN ADVANTAGE TO GO OUT WHEN YOU DID?
HOW MUCH OF AN EMPHASIS DID YOU PUT ON QUALIFYING?
DID YOU HIT ALL YOUR MARKS?
SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 RED BULL TOYOTA: