Carpentier keeps it off wall to get it in race at Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Patrick Carpentier is quickly learning that a loose racecar can be a fast racecar, if you can keep it off the wall.

After a slow first lap in Friday's qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Carpentier realized he had to pick things up to hang around for the rest of the weekend. He did just that, sliding sideways and barely nicking the SAFER barrier on his exit from Turn 4 to record a lap of 181.331 mph, good enough for the 21st starting position in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500.

Carpentier

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He was the second-fastest of the 13 cars who needed to make the field on speed.

"I gave it everything I had," Carpentier said. "I knew the first lap was not quick enough. I had nothing to lose. I gave everything I had on the second lap. In [Turns] 3 and 4, I entered really fast and I came out loose and rubbed the wall.

"I'm so happy. We were so far off [Friday] morning. We came back with the teamwork and all the guys made it happen."

Carpentier's 2008 season got off to a slow start when he crashed in his qualifying race and missed the Daytona 500, then was left on the outside looking in when rain canceled qualifying at Fontana. He finally made the field at Las Vegas, only to crash just past the halfway mark and finish 40th.

"I'm calling these Freaky Fridays, because it's so tough and stressful," Carpentier said. "I'm happy when I get to run the whole weekend. For us, honestly, there's nobody to beat. We just need to get a lot of points. We need to finish in the top 25 every race and start doing that, perhaps by Talladega we'd start getting closer to getting locked in."

Based on his practice times (speeds), the Quebec native's chances of making the show at Atlanta seemed remote at best, but he said having the opportunity to test here this past fall helped build his confidence.

"We changed so many things on the car [Friday] morning and I didn't get a lot of run time," Carpentier said. "Just a couple of laps, here and there. The testing we did before, that's what locked me in. I knew the track and remembered that it was kind of similar to Las Vegas and I did the same things there."

Now Carpentier can work on getting used to running in traffic.

"I can do one lap and I seem to be able to do that," Carpentier said. "I need to practice [Saturday] and make the car a little bit better and run with guys. We need to start accumulating some points. I wanted to do that at Vegas and we had bad luck in the race, so we don't want to be too far behind."

The open-wheel veteran said his goal Sunday is to learn more about how to make the car comfortable for long runs. Carpentier said it's all about patience.

"I just want to be there at the end of the race," he said. "It seems like with these cars, it's so difficult to battle and fight with these guys. I thought I was comfortable and we backed it into the wall.

"You've got to be so patient, even if you want the learning curve to go faster. It just takes a lot of time. This weekend, I just want to run some laps and get points."

In addition to Carpentier, Joe Nemechek, Michael Waltrip, Kurt Busch, David Reutimann and both Red Bull Toyotas -- Mike Skinner and Brian Vickers -- got in on time. Dale Jarrett will start 43rd with a past champion's provisional.