Pop Secret 500 - Dodge Qualifying Quotes

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) – Qualified second

“We knew Bristol was going to be tough last week. We went in there and didn’t come out like we wanted to. We’ve been lucky at some of the places we thought we were going to be bad at – places like Watkins Glen. We’ve been crossing too many hard hurdles easy and Bristol put the bar back up for us. We couldn’t wait to get back here. The car was great off the truck. We’ve got a good starting spot, and I’m just glad to be here. This is one of my favorite places.

“When we first got in the top 10 and got close, you could feel pretty good. You didn’t think about it as much. Everybody is thinking about it the past few weeks, not just us. We’re racing hard together, the 88, 6, Kasey and myself. What’s cool, we can go from 13th to eighth in just one week. The credit goes to NASCAR for doing the points like they did. I love it. I think it’s great.

“The last time I was here my car handled great and we qualified in the back. It was just really good all day today. They’re working extremely hard right now, not that they never did. You can tell the intensity is up. What we need right now is to perform the whole race. Have one good race where nothing goes wrong. So far, practice is good, qualifying is good, we’ve just got to keep going now.

“Right before I went out everyone was saying, ‘don’t let the old man beat you.’ I had to beat him. I’m real excited about the lap. The guys on the Evernham Motorsports Dodge team have been working really hard. The last few weeks it’s really gotten intense and the guys are handling it well. We’re probably having as much fun right now as we ever did. It’s pretty cool to have that and for the intensity level to be as high as it is. You’ve got to credit everyone on the team. We’ve had some good runs here and some bad luck to go along with it. We really feel good about this week. I’m just glad to be here.”

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 98 McDonald’s Dodge) – Qualified Third

“It was good. I was really impressed. These guys do a heck of a job. To go from so far back to so far forward…. I don’t that ain’t going to be enough for the pole. I know it’s going to cool off and get a little better, but still, for us it’s as good as. For me not having any points and everything you’ve got to struggle through each and every week, especially when you come back on a limited deal. We unloaded and we were really bad and you ask yourself what’s wrong. Then you go out and qualify and run decent and it puts it all in perspective.

“I’m just proud for all the guys and for McDonald’s to be back for this race and Atlanta in about six weeks. I’m looking forward to doing them some good. Hopefully we can turn things around and put things better in sight for next year. Ten to 12 races is still what my goal is. I don’t know that I want to do any more than that. For this year, I’ve not really done enough. We’ve tested a good bit the last few weeks and I’ve got comfortable with the car.

“We got with the guys and sat down and analyzed where we were at. I really didn’t know what we had. This is my first race back with McDonald’s in a number of years and having them on the car, I’m really proud of that association. I wanted to do them some good. I didn’t want to get in the position where we didn’t make the race or had to do something else. I just went out there and said I’ve got to go. That’s what we ended up with, and I don’t know what we could have done to be any better.

“I think you’ve got to look at it as a twofold deal. We stay fresher by running a limited deal, but you lose a little sharpness from running every week. On the other side, you’ve got Jeremy and Kasay running every week and you can keep up with what’s going on. This stuff don’t change that much from the standpoint of week in and week out. I just get maybe a little bit rusty, but I’ve been trying to run a lot. We’ve been testing a lot and that’s kinda gotten me back where I need to be. It may take me a little time to figure out the particulars, like coming here and not running here in the spring trying to see where I am as far as the setup goes for tomorrow morning.

“We changed everything but the driver after practice. We could change the driver. We’re out of provisions. I kinda of surprised myself. I asked Sammy (team director Johns) what we ran and he told me and I thought he was kidding. The car felt good. You get those days where everything comes together, and we’ll see what happens. I know somebody is going to come up and run quicker. If we can stay in that top 10, I’m very happy with what we gained over practiced. To me that’s a positive sign. I think the 9 and 19 and some of those guys are going to be good. I feel like the track will be better, and they’ll be tough to beat.”

KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge) – Qualified 28th

“We were out to lunch before qualifying. We went back in and ran some stuff through simulation. We made a good call, and we got the luck of the draw going out late. We were out to lunch when we made a qualifying run at the end of practice. We had to go back and change trailing arms, springs, four or five things and it came out decent.

“Bill Elliott did good. I was pulling for him. If he had gone late he’d be on the pole. If he’d had the 9 or 19’s draw he’d be on the pole, but that’s Awesome Bill. He’s not old, and even if he is old, he’s been resting for about three months. He’s got plenty of rest on all of us, but he ain’t old man. Believe me, when you get out there driving against him, you think it’s Kasey Kahne driving that thing, not bill Elliott.

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Sony/ALLTEL Dodge) – Qualified 14th

“It felt pretty good. I don’t know exactly what the racetrack is going to do, but it picked up some speed for us. I’m happy with that, and we’ll have to see what we can do holding everybody else off. It’s out of our hands right now. I think we’ll have a good Sony Dodge for race trim. Usually (late races) get faster and more exciting at the same time. You see sparks when people’s eyes light up I guess. Obviously it’ll be the first time for us here at California Speedway, so I look forward to it. I personally enjoy night time racing, so we’ll see what it’s like starting in the afternoon and going into the evening. This is pretty good for a brand new car out of the box that’s never been tested. I’m happy about that. It’s a pretty pivotal point in the season to do something like that, but obviously we’ve done some homework. We’ve had a couple of new cars and haven’t won, but our last new one was the first race this year at Michigan and we won with that. We can’t stop looking at what’s behind us, but we’re starting to focus on what’s ahead of us.”

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) – Qualified 23rd

“My car drove real good. It seemed like the motor just wouldn’t run. I don’t know if we’ve got a miss or what. It had it all day and seemed to get worse actually in qualifying. It wasn’t that bad of a lap considering the way the engine felt. We’re a fast enough team to get into the top 10. I think we’re as good or better as the other teams trying to get there. You’ve just got to hope you don’t have any bad luck or DNF’s in these next two races.”

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) – Qualified 26th

“That was a pretty good run. It felt a little strange getting into turn three. It bottomed out a little bit on me and kinda jerked the wheel out of my hand. It was a good pickup from practice. I feel confident about the race, I really do. I know it’s a good car. It’s the same Dodge we had at Michigan and it ran real strong there. We’ll see what happens. A win here Sunday would be a beautiful way to top off a long week. I like the sound of that.”

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target House Dodge) – Qualified Sixth

“It was a good lap. I felt real good about it. We were eighth on the board in practice, but we felt like we lost some in the middle of practice, and I was a little worried about it. With the temperature coming down and the guys making some good changes on the car, I got a good qualifying spot out of it. We’re ready to go. This place was good to me the first race this year, and I’m really looking forward to the Busch race tomorrow and the Cup race on Sunday. We were a little tight in qualifying, but I’m real happy with where we ended up with the Target House car today. We’re supporting a lot of the kids this weekend, so it’s good to have a good run like that.”

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge) – Qualified 31st

“It was pushing off turn two. It just got tight. We picked up from practice, but it just got too tight. I think we’ll be all right in the race. We made a big gain on it. We’ll see what we’ve got. It’s a new car and we’re getting the bugs out of it. We’ll get the Coors Light Dodge tomorrow and get it dialed in and have another good race Sunday like we did at Bristol.”

JEFF GREEN (No. 43 Pop Secret Dodge) – Qualified 13th

“It wasn’t too bad. It really gripped better than I thought it would I messed up a little in three and four on my lap. I probably gave up a tenth. I should have got through there better. We’re gaining on it, and the track was getting cooler. It gave us a lot more grip. This is the best car we feel like we’ve got. The motor guys say it’s the best motor they’ve ever built. It’s a Pop Secret race, and it’d be fine if the Pop Secret Dodge won it.”

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Engines & Transmissions Dodge) – Qualified 22nd

“We’re back home on the west coast and definitely wanted to be better than that. I probably overdrove it into turn one a little bit and hurt it in through one and two. Three and four were awesome. Shane (crew chief Wilson) and the guys did an awesome job. This week we’re a lot better than we qualified. We’ll see what we can do in the race. This is the same car we had here last time, and we qualified a lot better than this. I think we were fifth or something like that. We’ll go to race trim and see what we can do with it.”

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) – Qualified Fifth

“We were a little tight in one and two. I think the wind had a little something to do with that. We just didn’t get it slowed down enough to cut through the air. Three and four felt pretty good. I think we made up a little time down there and lost a little bit in one and two. Bill had a pretty good lap. His car was definitely different than ours for qualifying. We ran out of gas with two laps to go here last time and ended up 13th. We were a top five car before that and led a lot of laps. We need to run good here and get back in the top 10 and hold our own at Richmond. We didn’t have a good first race at Richmond, but Jeremy’s team went and tested and we just missed it in a couple of areas. I like the Richmond track. We should be a lot better. We need to score as many points as we can Sunday and carry that momentum into Richmond. Tomorrow will be two critical practices to get the car where it needs to be, but hopefully we’ll be good on Sunday, lead some laps and get a good finish.”