Q&A: Ken Schrader.

Ken Schrader, driver of the No. 36 Pontiac Grand Prix talks about his fourth place finish at the Bud Shootout; drafting and a lot more:

Q:
Tell us about your race... How was the No. 36 Ponitac Grand Prix?

Ken Schrader:
The little M&M's Pontiac was good, but when we got in the lead I knew we were in trouble. When you're running second you know where you're going to go; when you're the leader you try to figure out where they're going to go. I screwed up and let Tony back by. He pushed us through the tri-oval to get the lead, and that was kind of fun. Hey, it was the Bud Shootout and we ran fourth. We know what we need to do for Thursday now, and we're looking forward to Thursday and Sunday.

Q:
What do you need to do for Thursday?

KS:
Make it go around that circle a little faster.

Q:
How does this drafting compare to other years?

KS:
It's just like in the past. It's not like it was the last couple trips with those aero rules, but it's like it used to be. I like it. I don't know about the people sitting in the grandstands, but from where I was it was plenty exciting.

Q:
Does the driver have a lot more to do with it now?

KS:
These cars and crews are real important, but Jeff Gordon said once that 'someone has got to sit in that thing, too,' so no matter what rules they make, someone has got to sit in that thing.

Q:
What were you thinking during the last five laps or so?

KS:
I thought something would happen between first and second, and that was going to dictate what we did. I was way loose. Jeff [Gordon] got on my right rear and I couldn't hold on, so I just fell back in line. I looked at maybe trying to do something in the last turn, but still we were racing for third. But, we'll take it. We've done a lot worse here before.