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| Rookie Qualifying Notes: Daytona
02-15-2007 | TruckSeries.com Report
Tyler Walker in the No. 36 360 OTC Toyota was the Top Raybestos Rookie Qualifier Tonight at Daytona. "I'm real happy with that. The Toyotas are real fast and there are a couple of Fords up there. I've got to thank my team and Doug Wolcott and everybody at Bill Davis Racing. I'm just glad to be at Daytona, man. This is a dream come true, especially to be able to work with a team like Bill Davis and have a crew chief like Doug Wolcott and such good guys that are working with me. I'm on cloud nine and can't wait for tomorrow night." How was your truck in the draft? "I think we were better in the draft than we were in qualifying trim so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow." Aaron Fike, No. 1 RFMS Toyota: "I figured we'd run faster than that. We ran like a 50.90 in practice and we had the brakes pulled back there so I figured we'd run at least a .70. But everything's cold, the rear end oil, everything. I'm a little disappointed with the lap but it's all right. We should be in the top-15 somewhere. We'll get a good pit box; that's all that matters." Most Cup drivers pick up a lot on their second qualifying lap but that's not the case in the Truck Series. "I think you're running out of rpms. You're already up to max rpms by your first lap and you kind of run out of steam. The Roush trucks seem to pick up the second lap. Everybody else seems to not pick up that much." Joey Clanton, No. 09 Zaxby's Ford: "I've been gone for two-and-a-half years and it's a great opportunity. To be back and be with a team that wants to win. The Wood Brothers and Tad aren't about just being here. Tad with his marketing approach was the right person to bring a great sponsor like I've got to. I want to race and this is the right opportunity to showcase my abilities. This planned to be our backup truck when we came down here and tested in January. It ended up being faster than our brand new truck. We tried to make a slick body for the primary and it just didn't handle the right way. This thing is awesome in the draft. I can get up behind 'em and just me getting up behind 'em seems to make them want to move around more and I can hold it wide open for the whole fuel load. All we have to do now is keep all four fenders on it and keep it on all four tires and be there with a lap to go. I've got my dancing partner and I know who I want to tag on with." Tim Sauter, No. 07 Lester Buildings Chevrolet: "That's the best we were as far as the way it drove I guess since we've been here. I hope it's good in the draft. We struggled all day, yesterday and today, so we'll see what happens. I think it's our setup combination that we're kind of missing on but we'll see what happens." Did you get any drafting practice at the test? "I ran over 100 laps when I tested here and we were really good. We didn't make any major changes. We brought it back and we missed it somewhere and I guess that's what's got me baffled." Willie Allen, No. 13 National Pork Board/Silver Floss Chevrolet: "For the first time down here, I feel like that's pretty good. We've got better every time and we knew it was going to race better than it was going to qualify. The Chevy package seems a little bit down here at Daytona but I think our Silverado will hopefully get up to the front. I feel like we've got a good race team and package and I'm looking forward to the race." How was your truck in the draft? "It was extremely loose at first. We've been fighting that. I don't know if it's the new tire split or what but from notes in the past to this setup it's just really loose coming off the turn. We've thrown a lot of stuff at it and of course it felt good out there then [in qualifying] and we'll see in the race. I think it'll be good. I have confidence in the guys." Kelly Bires, No. 21 U.S. Air Force Ford: "We've been working it. That's the first qualifying run we've made this whole week. We dug real hard in practice to get the thing to drive good in the draft. These trucks are very loose and that's what we're looking for, is just a good race truck, and I think that's what we've got. You see some people going fast and I'm not sure they're going to be good in the race. I'm real happy with the way the guys worked this weekend. We've got a good race truck and I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow night." How much time have you had in the draft? "The last two days are as much as I've drafted. I ran one ARCA race, which helped quite a bit. But this truck racing is totally different with the way they move around and stuff like that. I've probably got 40 laps in the draft here the last two days. I'm still learning." Blake Bjorklund, No. 8 Blue Ox Chevrolet: "That's right where we figured we were going to be. We gave up a lot of speed for drivability in the draft. We worked a lot on drivability. I got a little bit more nose weight to it so it'd steer a little bit better in the draft and got the blade a little bit more up in the air and slowed us down a little bit. Overall, I think it's going to draft really well and I have no excuse for tomorrow. All we've done is work on the draft. We didn't have any problems or concerns about getting into the race so we figured we'd work on it in the draft." Jason White, No. 63 gunbroker.com Ford: "We slowed up like four or five tenths from practice. I don't know what happened. We'll just take it from there. We'll get in the race and go from there. We drafted, got behind Skinner and Bodine and those guys and hung right with them. It drafted well but just got to get a little faster by itself but it doesn't matter in the race. The truck was real good in the draft and we'll see what happens with it."
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