Jarrett posted the second-fastest lap of the day at 187.118 mph.
YOU'RE PRETTY FAST FOR THE FIRST DAY.
"We just got through testing at Talladega, so
there's not a whole lot that you can do. You
just get in and go and see if you can find a
little something, but it's pretty much a case of
what you come with is probably what you're gonna
have."
THE CHEVROLET GUYS SEEMED TO BE CONCERNED
THAT THE FORD TEAMS WOULD BE FASTER. ARE YOU
PROVING THEM RIGHT?
"We'll see in a couple of weeks. Those guys
are pretty good at playing the game and getting
what they need, so we'll see whenever it comes
time to race. I don't even know that they'll
show us everything they've got in qualifying. I
think that they'll play the game right until it's
time to go racing."
HOW ABOUT THE SHOCK RULE?
"It's a lot better to come here and test.
You didn't even look forward to testing because
you knew just how bad it was gonna be. Before,
you could possibly put on a set of shocks and
barely make it out of the pits before you knew
that you weren't gonna like that and before you
felt like you were gonna wreck. This is a lot
better, it'll be a lot better for everybody and
now you go to work on your engine, you go to work
on your body and get as much as you can out of
that, and what chassis stuff you can do working
around that."
DO YOU THINK THIS IS THE RIGHT THING TO
DO?
"I think they've (NASCAR) done their
homework. They realized that something had to be
done because way too much money and time and
effort was being spent on these four races. We
can better utilize that money and those efforts
in other ways. These races are gonna be
competitive, so it doesn't really matter what you
do. I think NASCAR went in the right direction
and I think it's a lot better. I think it's
gonna be a lot better for everyone."
HOW WILL THE CARS BE ON THE TRACK?
"I don't see how they're gonna be looser and
how they can be closer than what we had at
Talladega. That was the best race I'd ever been
a part of and ever seen, so it remains to be
seen. I think we always have concerns anytime
something different is done you have those
concerns, but lets get into the races and see
what we've got and how it goes there."
NOW I GUESS THE FOCUS IS TO TRY AND REPEAT,
RIGHT?
"Yeah, that's the goal but there's no
relaxing. Everybody is paying attention now and
it's a new season. Everybody is starting out on
the same foot and we want to try to win another
championship. I think our experience last year
in winning the championship and learning how to
win one will certainly help us to be better, but
there are a lot of other teams that are better,
teams that were better than us at places last
year, so we've gotta continue to work hard and
try to make sure that we're at least in the
battle for it."
IS IT DIFFERENT COMING TO THE TRACK AS THE
CHAMPION?
"No, it's the same thing. It's a great
experience, but we're no better than anybody else
or anything. We're here to do what we enjoy
doing."