Friday, Sept. 24, 2010
Denny Darnell
Scott Sebastian
Dover International Speedway
Dodge Motorsports PR
AAA 400
Post-Qualifying Quotes
KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Qualified 9th “A solid run for us. We did a good job keeping up with a hot, slick race track. We improved from our practice qualifying run to our actually qualifying lap. It’s tough when it’s this hot. I noticed that I couldn’t get back to the throttle fast enough. I got back in the gas between Turns 3 and 4 and our Miller Lite Dodge just wouldn’t come back down the track quick enough. I was waiting for the front-end to stop sliding and when you have to do that, it costs you about a tenth of a second. To be inside the top 10 is pretty solid.
HOW MUCH DOES THIS HEAT PUT YOUR CAR ON A FINE LINE TODAY? “A lot. It’s like you get the front a little bit too tight or you’re a little bit too loose in the rear of the car. Ten years ago today was my first Cup qualifying attempt and I was 10th. Ten years later and I’m ninth. It took me 10 years to improve one position (laughs).”
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT FIRST QUALIFYING ATTEMPT 10 YEARS AGO? “It was out of control. I remember driving the John Deere car into the corners as deep and hard as I could because that’s what I thought that you needed to do. Afterward, Dale (Earnhardt Sr.) came up to me and said, ‘Son, I didn’t think you were going to lift heading into the corner.’ Maybe after 10 years, I learned that you don’t have to overdrive the corners here.”
SAM HORNISH JR (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) Qualified 22nd “Not a bad lap for the Mobil 1 Dodge. Just a little bit too free on landing coming out of the corner. I just couldn’t stick with it like I wanted to. The car is just moving around a lot more than I want it to. This tire that Goodyear brought is just a lot more flexible and it really never feels like your stable. We’re trying to get use to that and figure out what’s too much. Track conditions are going to change throughout the weekend with the weather cooling off a bit. We’ll keep tuning on it and get ready for Sunday.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) Qualified 32nd “We gained very little today. The track will be way different on Sunday. Hopefully, the changing conditions will allow our car to race better. That just wasn’t what we were looking for with our Penske Racing Dodge.”
