Catchfence

Where the Raybestos Rookies qualified at Auto Club Speedway:

Carmichael 3^rd

Malsam 11^th

Buescher 16^th

Sauter 18^th

Fitzpatrick 22^nd

Austin 24^th

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUALIFYING QUOTES FOR THE SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY 200 AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2009, PAGE 3. 

RICKY CARMICHAEL IN THE No. 4 MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER TODAY AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY.  “I’m still shaking.  You know, just the adrenaline ‘cause you just got to throw it out there, man.  I can’t believe it.  The team is so awesome.  When you’re going wide-open like that you really have to lean on them in truck setups.  If we don’t get the pole, I’m still excited so I can’t complain.”  DID YOU FEEL THAT YOUR LAP WAS VERY GOOD?  “No, I didn’t feel that it was a good lap.  I just knew that I was keeping my fingers crossed.  I was on that edge, you know what I mean.  I wouldn’t have wanted to go any faster and that’s it.”  YOU RAN THAT LAP ON RACE SETUP.  “This race setup, yes sir.  We’ll see what happens, you know.  I just want to get through the race, you know what I mean.  I just want to finish the race and get the best finish we can, make it past halfway and see what happens..”  THIS QUALIFYING RUN MUST BE A BOOST FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE.  “Absolutely.  I mean, boost for my confidence and just says so much for the team.”       

TAYLER MALSAM, No. 81 ONE EIGHTY TOYOTA:  YOU RAN WELL IN PRACTICE YESTERDAY AND BACKED IT UP WITH A GOOD QUALIFYING RUN.  “This One Eighty Tundra is good.  We’ve got a really good race truck.  A little bit loose in qualifying but it’ll be good for the race.  Everything tightens up here and we get such long green flag runs we’ll be fine.  I could have pushed a little more but I didn’t want to throw it up into the wall in qualifying but this One Eighty Tundra is real fast this weekend.”  WITH LIMITED EXPERIENCE, HOW DIFFICULT IS QUALIFYING ON RACE SETUP?  “It’s pretty hard but what Slugger and Doug has helped me out so much and this Randy Moss team has put such a good truck under me and Toyota engines, it makes it a lot easier on me.  I’m real happy with how everything is going and we’ll get it figured out by the end of the year.”  YOU HAD A GREAT RUN AT DAYTONA SO YOU HAVE SOME MOMENTUM HERE AT THE START OF THE SEASON.  “Definitely.  Daytona is a crapshoot but we finished there top-10 first time there.  It’s definitely pleasing to whole team and me and now we’re just looking for another top-10, top-five this weekend and just keep on rolling.”

JAMES BUESCHER, No. 10 INTERNATIONAL MAXXFORCE DIESEL FORD:  “It’s not bad.  It’s three tenths faster than we were in practice yesterday.  We had a little more tape to the grill and planned on doing just one lap ‘cause our fastest lap was our first lap both times we did a mock run yesterday.  That was the plan.  I let it get away from me a little bit down in one and two.  We probably had a little bit more but had to back out of it ‘cause I arched it out too wide.”  

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 FUN SAND/RODNEY ATKINS/CURB RECORDS CHEVROLET:  “Considering the fact that we went about a second-and-a-half faster than we did in practice yesterday I’m going to say a considerable pick up.  We just got off a little bit and I think we know where we’re going so that’s obviously exciting to me.  Granted, it’s not near the lap that I wanted, but if we would have ran the same speed that we ran yesterday with as much stuff as we changed I would have said maybe change the pilot.”

J.R. FITZPATRICK, No. 7 MAMMOET CHEVROLET:  “We made improvements for sure.  We just didn’t get the speed that we wanted.  I held it to the matt the whole way around it just had no grip in the front.  First time here and all we’re improving.  I think we’ll be pretty decent in the race.  We’ll see how it goes.”       

CHASE AUSTIN, No. 32 TRAIL MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET:  “I mean I had no idea what I was doing when I came here and that was my best lap on new tires.  I mean, as long as I’m in the race that’s all I care about.  I always race better than I qualify.  I’ve always hated qualifying anyway.  If I’m in the race I know I’ll do good in the race.”  QUALIFYING ON RACE SETUP IS ASKING A LOT FROM A YOUNG DRIVER.  “Yeah, what really hurt me, I mean, it spooked me that I haven’t gotten to run all day.  I ran 47 laps on an intermediate track then I have to go out and qualify one day out of a random day.  It’ll be all right.  I just want to qualify for the race and I’ll be all right.”  

NOTES:

• Ricky Carmichael will start third in Saturday’s race here at Auto Club Speedway.  This is his best qualifying effort in two Camping World Truck Series starts.  He is the only Raybestos Rookie to start inside the top-10.

SELECTED CARMICHAEL PRESS CONFERENCE

“Pretty crazy.  We came here for practice yesterday and it’s such a fast track for me, way harder than Daytona, you know, less banking.  You depend so much on grip and all these guys, they have so much time out here and just qualifying they go out and hold it wide open.  And they have so much confidence where between trying to get the confidence and the tires and everything and just trying to learn the track in general, had a lot to digest. Just happy to be up here and want to bring it to the finish tomorrow.  We went out there and it was a long night because I knew we were going to have to hold ‘er wide pretty much the whole time and was just able to do it.  I can’t say enough for the team.  Those guys, we all know they’ve got great equipment and it definitely showed, especially when you are depending on your equipment so much at a bigger track like this.  Really excited and like I said want to make it through halfway of the race tomorrow and then bring it home to a best finish we can bring it to.”  HOW HAS THE TRANSITION BEEN FROM TWO WHEELS TO FOUR?  “It’s been a real steep transition, absolutely, but that is what it is.  I can’t change it.  I’m finding out real quick that you don’t have too many chances and like I said I’m racing against guys that have been doing it for a long time and are so good at it.  It’s very steep and very hard but I knew that before I got into it and was up for the challenge.  Like I said I still have a long way to go but having good equipment and a good team I can see really helps.  I don’t think I’m coming in here and trying t act like I know everything.  I’m here with open ears and really trying to learn and make smart decisions.  There’s probably things I could have done out there in qualifying but I did what I felt was comfortable and that’s what we’ve got.  It’s pretty amazing.  I’m sure it will soak in.  I just feel like it’s great that we qualified good and I’m really happy, mainly for the team, because Kevin [Harvick, team owner] could have got in it and did a little bit better.  But I want to see them do good just as bad as I want to do good.  The one thing that would make me happy for sure is getting a decent finish tomorrow.  That would complete the weekend.  We’re slowly getting better, I’m getting better, and qualifying is usually is my weakest link.  I will be happy with a good finish tomorrow night.  These guys are so good at just laying a lap down and I think one thing that even Johnny [Benson] could tell ya, when you’re wide-open I feel you really have to depend on your equipment.  When we’re all going wide-open it’s equipment.  I mean, there’s a couple things you can do as a driver, arching it in, but if I’m up here when we get to a smaller track, then I’ll pat myself on the back but until then I definitely got to give it up for the team.”  

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

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Camp & Associates, Inc., For Raybestos, Press Release