???: Its hard. Today we had a decent car all day we just couldnt make it better. We tried all kinds of things and thats all we had.
HOW EXCITED ARE YOU FOR NEXT YEAR?
???: I think were going to start a lot better. I think as a whole team we need to improve a lot of things. The Texaco/Havoline Dodge was a pretty good car all year long and Im just looking forward to next season.
HOW WAS YOUR CAR TONIGHT?
???: It was good. It was fast. We just couldnt balance it. Ive been tight in all the time and loose off all the time and when we would fix it I would be a little better in the middle and worse in the out. Itd be worse in the middle and good off. We never managed to balance it. We tried.
YOU WERE VERY GOOD IN THE SUNLIGHT EARLY IN THE RACE.
???: It was good. It got dark and it got looser. It was hard. I could never get back to the gas. It was like before when it was daylight I could get it wide-open in the middle of the corner, no problem. It got dark and every time I got to the end the car just stepped out on me. It was just hard.
HOW DIFFICULT IS STOCK CAR RACING? ARE YOU GETTING THE HANG OF IT AFTER 36 RACES?
???: I would think were really getting the hang of it. Were running pretty competitive. I think there is still a ways to go.
WHATS THE MAIN THING THAT YOUVE LEARNED THIS YEAR?
???: Bring the car home every week. Whether its 35th or first, bring it home. Thats very important.
PRESS CONFERENCE
COMMENT ON YOUR RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR SEASON.
???: I think it went pretty good. Its a big of every now, up and down. I think everybody at Ganassi did an amazing job. Its one of those deals I think it was more us to lose than win so I think it came out pretty good. I think more important we had a race win. I think for the record books and stuff I think its pretty good that I won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year.
CAN YOU COMPARE BEING A ROOKIE IN NEXTEL CUP TO BEING A ROOKIE IN ANOTHER SERIES?
???: I think Ive been the rookie before in a lot of series but being a rookie with the experience I had its very different. I had no stock car experience but I think from my open wheel background I raced pretty much about everything you can race. I think its pretty cool. I think its good for the team. I think its something to cheer about in the team. I think more important is how the performance of the team came up through the whole year. Where we started and where we finished is a big difference.
HOW HARD IS MAKING THE SWITCH TO STOCK CARS COMPARED TO OTHER SERIES?
???: I think its very difficult going from four wheels to two wheels. I think the bigger thing is I ran 10-15 races on ovals before I came to NASCAR the two years that I did in Indy cars. And coming here, getting back to the ovals, getting into a big car, big horsepower, very little grip, Ill tell ya its a handful. Its really a handful. In open wheel when youre good you have a lot of grip. The car does whatever you want it. It does it all the time where here, when youre good itll do that for about 10 laps. It keeps you busy.
DONNIE WINGO
?????: I think we had some ups and downs. Today we kind of struggled. We were good through the sunlight and when it got dark and got cool we just got real loose and just never could get it back. Once we tried to get it back then wed get too tight in the center. We just kind of struggled with it through the night. We were making small adjustments. Wed gain on it one time and lose on it the next. It was one of those deals where we were kind of chasing the racetrack and we just never could get it where he needed to be. It was too loose off pretty much from the beginning but it was pretty good through the middle to start with and then we just got loose off and tight in the center.
HOW MUCH HAS JUAN PABLO MONTOYA LEARNED IN THESE CARS OVER THE LAST 36 RACES?
?????: I think today being able to run it as loose as he could run it today is a big improvement from where we started. At the beginning of the year we were really, really tight and today we were just too loose. We struggled a little bit with it today but all in all we had a good car and everybody did a good job. And to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year again, its pretty much the same group that won it with McMurray so were still hanging in there [smiles].
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU ARE WORKING ON THIS WINTER TO MAKE THIS TEAM BETTER?
?????: The COT is going to be the biggest thing. I think we gained some from the beginning of the year to now with the COTs and weve just got to continue to gain with that because thats what were going to be running. Everybody is pretty much fighting the same thing. We just have to get out of the gate to a good start.
HOW MUCH TESTING CAN YOU DO THIS WINTER?
?????: We wont do that much in December but when January rolls around well hit it pretty hard. Weve got the Daytona test and then the test at Vegas and California at the end of the month.
HOW MUCH CAN YOU LEARN TESTING AT KENTUCKY ON A COLD DAY?
?????: Really not that much. Its just different scenarios you try to go through, certain situations and what its like and thats basically what we work on.
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