Sony HD 500 - Ford Qualifying Quotes

MARK MARTIN - No. 6 Viagra Taurus (Qualified 2nd) - "That was an awesome lap. I don't know where that's gonna put us, but it's surely gonna be in the top 15 I would hope. It was really fast. The car was a little bit choppy, but, for the most part, it was just really good." DURABILITY AND SPEED ARE KEYS HERE, RIGHT? "That's the same as everywhere. You just have to balance it all. Some races are 300 miles and some of them are 500 miles, but you still have to balance it all. You have to say it's 500 miles plus 100 miles of practice here, so we've got 600 or 650 miles to go on our engine and we have to have it tuned for that. You've got to handle good. That's what wins races. What's under the hood this weekend, that's what we've got, and it's awesome, but you can't make that better or worse over the weekend. You can make the handling better or worse. That's what really makes or breaks you."

JON WOOD - No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Taurus (Qualified 39th) - "I don't even consider it a lap. With what happened to Ricky's dad and the circumstances leading up to it, I don't think anybody is really in the right frame of mind, and I'm certainly not in the frame of mind to go out there and run as fast a lap as I possibly could. I just kind of wanted to make sure I didn't wreck it for him, so the car is in one piece and I think he'll be able to drive it. I think the stuff we worked on during practice yesterday and today will probably be beneficial for him, so maybe it'll be a good thing." THOUGHTS AFTER THAT? "When I got out of it there was a spoiler on it and a grille, and stickers on both sides. That's all I wanted to do was make sure it was in one piece. It's very unfortunate what happened with Ricky's dad and everybody's thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. It's so unfortunate. I have always wanted to drive this car and I think I can name every reason and every circumstance other than the one to get in it now. It was not even bittersweet, I was just there filling in a space that needed to be filled. I hope the practice we did yesterday and today will be beneficial for him in tomorrow's race and we'll see what happens."

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DeWalt Taurus (Qualified 23rd) - "That was awful. I probably tried to hard. We ran pretty good in practice and didn't do a qualifying run, but I thought I could run quicker than what Mark did. What we just qualified was what we ran in practice in race trim. I just tried too hard and had a terrible lap."

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus (Qualified 15th) - "I'm ready to go racing. I've been more comfortable this weekend than I have in a couple of months. I just know we have nothing to lose. We're already on the outside of the chase, so we can't do any worse. We've come here and we need to run good. The guys we're running against in the chase are gonna run good. We need to try to win this race like we did last year. We think we've got a top 10 car and we'll keep massaging on it all night." HAPPY WITH THE LAP? "Yeah, because I didn't make a mock-up run in practice and we were just kind of guessing right there. I think that's gonna be in the top 15 or top 16 and that's respectable for not making a mock-up run. I'm proud of my guys and the adjustments they made to the car. They made it pretty good."

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 National Guard/Subway Taurus (Qualified 4th) - WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? "I don't know. We changed shocks for the race and I'm just proud of these guys. We had to abort a qualifying run (in practice) because it was so loose I couldn't even drive it, which is unusual. That qualifying run there, the thing just stuck to the race track. The track's got a lot of grip right now. I'm just excited about maybe getting the National Guard/Charter car up there in Victory Lane, but it looks like probably another good top five run for us." ANY PREDICTIONS WHEN YOU MIGHT LEAD ON SUNDAY? "I don't know. The way that thing qualified it looks like it should be pretty quick again, but we'll see. You've got to lead the last one. That's the one they pay the money on."

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 Smirnoff Ice Taurus (Qualified 3rd) - "It's great. It's just team communication. Jack came in and corralled us all for a meeting and it was like, 'Jack, we're gonna be fine.' He was worried that we were on the low end of the speed charts. This track, it's different than Michigan from a driving style, but yet the setup is still the same. So it's good stuff that we learned in Michigan." WHAT ABOUT THIS TRACK AS FAR AS HAVING INTERESTING RACES? "This track keeps getting better with age - high groove, low groove. Right now, we're gonna start the race during the day and end at night, so there are so many things that you can adjust for at California. And then with the new gear rule, you're gonna want to run the top side, so that will be interesting. It will be fast on the low side early on, but then you have to run the top side. I enjoy this place. I have fun everytime I come here."

CARL EDWARDS - No. 99 Office Depot Taurus (Qualified 1st) - "I'm not the greatest qualifier and I'm learning a lot. Our team has been working really hard and, hopefully, that will hold up for the pole. Whether it does or not, that was a great run for us. I'm really excited to get to start up front in a race that we really need to run well in." WHAT ABOUT THE POINTS STANDPOINT FOR SUNDAY? "I want to win this race. To win our third race in our first year would be awesome and I think this is a place where we can definitely do it. But, at the same time, I'm very aware of the points situation. To come out of here and distance myself on the good side of tenth place would be awesome."

MARK MARTIN-KURT BUSCH PRESS CONFERENCE

MARK MARTIN - "I love my car. It was really good yesterday. We did all of our race setup last night. This is a place where we've been really strong at the last several times we've been here, so we came in here with a lot of optimism. It's going well. We are a race team, not a qualifying team. That's definitely not been our specialty here for the last four years or so, but we typically race better than we qualify. That will be a tall order based on today."

KURT BUSCH - "It was a good run. I was surprised by the lap speed because just to feel the car's handling in each of the corners. It seems as if it wants to race that way as well. We're pleased with it. California Speedway has always been a good track for me. I enjoy coming here, but I can't do it without a great team behind me. The Smirnoff Ice team, the group that have, everybody is still pulling together. It's been fun lately just to kind of put everything aside and go race and have fun. That's what racers like to do."

MARK MARTIN CONTINUED - ALL OF THE ROUSH CARS WERE FAST THROUGH PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING. "I guess if you're referring to the whole organization, all of the drivers and all of the crew chiefs on all the teams are just really doing a fabulous job. It's kind of amazing when you sit down and look at all five cars because they're all setup with what I would say are quite different setups. To be honest with you, I think Matt Kenseth may be the guy to beat here and he's the one that missed the top five. We could have had five in a row in qualifying, but Matt's team is a little bit like we are. He doesn't specialize in qualifying. All five cars should have a shot in the race, and it is a true testament to driver and crew chief and team because each one of us have decided that we like a little something different here this weekend for setup stuff, so it's not really a common setup that we're sharing. It's just that the teams are getting it done." WHAT ARE YOU DOING AS FAR AS FITNESS AND NUTRITION FOR THE CHASE? "I haven't changed my regular fitness regimen at all. It's been a little bit tough with testing every week. For the rest of the year we're going to be testing almost every week, along with the races on the weekend and that makes it a little bit difficult. As of right now, I've sort of been battling getting enough rest. That's the one thing I don't want myself or my team to get into is to get worn out. Obviously, it might be easier for that to happen to me than it might to my young buddy here Kurt Busch, but so far we're doing OK with it. One of the things that's really helped me is to not be under quite as much stress as I was last year. Last year coming in here we were 12th in the points and battling to make the chase. With the way things are going this year, we should be comfortably in - barring two major, major problems. I feel pretty good about it. I haven't changed the routine up much. We have saved a lot of tests. We are gonna be testing a lot. I am gonna be selective with what I do extra - above and beyond the racing and the testing and the personal appearances and all for the whole program, so that we can stay focused and fresh." DO RACE CAR DRIVERS GET PAID ENOUGH COMPARED TO OTHER ATHLETES? "I'd like to answer that one first. That question is probably not one for me to answer in a lot of ways. We do very, very well, but you can do the research and look at other professional athletes and compare that. I'm not sure that we do as well as some other professional athletes, but the thing that is different about our sport than anything else is it is so expensive to put our races on versus a ballgame for example. There's a lot of revenue generated in racing, but it also eats up a lot of revenue as well. I'll let Kurt answer the rest of it. I think we do really, really well. At the same time, sometimes it kind of stings to see someone get a $75 million, five-year contract in some other kind of sports. It just flabbergasts me."

KURT BUSCH CONTINUED - "I have to agree with Mark on all of those aspects and continue to add that we're on a schedule that's longer than any other professional series - racing 38 race weekends. Then with the testing that we do, just the shear schedule, the strength that you have to find within to go to all these race tracks helps the sport continue to grow. It's great to be a part of this. To see drivers like Mark and Rusty retiring this year and passing on the torch to some of the younger drivers. With the up arrow around our sport, we have to still continue as drivers to do the autograph sessions and do the sponsor meet and greets to help ourselves grow and to help the sport to grow. So there's that demand put on the drivers, the teams, the crew guys - everybody. But yet there is only so much money to go around. You can't find these multi-billion dollar Fortune 500 companies that all want to be interested in jumping into NASCAR. It's a matter of doing the right things off the track as well as on the track and driver salaries come primarily from race results. That's something that you don't see in many other sports. If a guy is hurt on the sidelines, he's still getting 80-grand per football game per say. Where, in racing, you have to finish well if you want to make your money. It's a tough balance, but we're all having fun because we love to drive race cars."

MARK MARTIN CONTINUED - DO YOU KEEP AN EYE ON THE HENDRICK TEAMS TO SEE HOW THEY'RE DOING AND USE THEM AS A BAROMETER? "I think what we're doing is the same thing every weekend. We go to the race track and try to use every resource that we have to strengthen our program and help us make decisions on what we want to do with our team and with our cars - our hardware and what have you. That's pretty much it. We do that the same now as we did the first race or second race of the season. We actually all keep an eye on the competition. We don't keep our head in the sand. Right now, we are really at the top of our game, but I'd say maybe two or three years ago - three years ago for sure - I could say that we were definitely not at the top of our game so we were watching everything that we did as well as everything else that everyone else did in order to pull together, and we've managed to get where we are as a team." HOW BIG OF A GOAL IS IT TO GET ALL FIVE ROUSH CARS IN THE CHASE? "Well, that's gonna be incredible and I think it's gonna happen. It's absolutely phenomenal what the 17 bunch has been able to do over the past eight races. They've really turned their season around. We all assist one another and we have not done anymore now than we did a year ago right now at the same time. We all work together to make our deal stronger. Matt's a great guy. He had an off spell and his team has really rallied and put it all together and I believe that they're gonna make it in and that's gonna be pretty phenomenal to have half of the chase guys. That's gonna be interesting."

KURT BUSCH CONTINUED - "That's something within our organization that we're trying to do, but we haven't been given instructions. Everybody is smart enough to know, whether it's a crew chief or an engineer or a driver, that anytime you have a little bit of a tidbit of information that's making your car go fast, I'll slide over and say, 'Hey, Matt, this is what's working for us.' It would be wonderful to see us all in there, especially a champion like Matt is. He's got as good a shot as anybody because he's just now hitting his stride. We all go through high points and we go through low points. Everytime I turned around I saw Matt with a flat tire or a wrinkled fender and a bad finish, so it's really good to see Matt put together some solid runs and to lead laps like that at Bristol last week and dominate. He's right there. He's only 11 points out and with the way that all of us are starting up front but Matt, I know he's gonna come charging to the front to get us."

CARL EDWARDS POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

CARL EDWARDS - "We still have to deal with two really tough races. In our position with our Office Depot team, I feel like we're so close to being in it or out of it that we're just gonna do our very best. If we don't make it, we've got a million reasons why we shouldn't, but if we do it would just be awesome. It would mean the world to me." HAVE YOU HAD ANY FREAK OUT MOMENTS THIS YEAR? "If you went and asked my mom she'd be able to tell you. I went home after Bristol and I was a little bit bummed out. First of all, though, congratulations to J.J. I guaranteed he was gonna have the pole by about three-tenths. I watched that lap on TV and he was way faster the first three-quarters of the lap than I was, but as a driver, I feel like Carl Edwards is a guy from Columbia, Missouri that gets to drive these cars. I enjoy it and I take something from it. I have a good time and I'm starting to understand how guys can become a little bit too consumed or become so focused that it's not fun. After Bristol I went home and I was having one of those moments where it was like I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. I want to make this chase and I had just a bad night. I made a deal with myself and talked to my mom and my brother and stuff and I realized that I'm getting to do something that I always dreamed about doing and I'm just going to do my very best and only look as far ahead as the next race and what I can do to be as fast as I can be. If we don't make the chase, I'm gonna do my best to just be happy for whoever makes it in my place. I'm gonna try to keep that attitude, so not to be the guy that just melts down on you guys some day because something goes wrong. I think that's the only way I'm gonna be able to deal with it being as competitive as I am." WAS IT A REALISTIC GOAL TO MAKE THE CHASE? "No, it was definitely a goal but it was not a realistic goal. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year we'd have two Cup wins so far, a pole, be eighth in points with two races to go leading to the chase I'd have said, 'Man, you've got somebody else.' I just didn't expect our year to go this well. I think I've been fortunate to be driving these cars at the time that I'm driving them. Just like Mark said, three years ago Mark Martin was somebody who was struggling. He's definitely not as a driver, but the team wasn't in the place where it is now so I feel really good to be driving. No, it wasn't a realistic goal. It's almost too good to be true for me." DO YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW THE GUYS YOU'RE BATTLING WITH ARE DOING DURING THE RACE? "Yeah, I'm gonna want to know where the other guys are in relation to us, but I don't think that's necessarily the best thing. At Bristol, that was one where I just decided not to worry about it. I just went out there and drove and that didn't work real well for me, but at least I didn't have that pressure and I wasn't confused or trying to worry about their pit strategy and stuff. So I think for me personally the best thing is just to go out and drive the best I can and do the best we can to adjust our car. That's something I've seen Jeff Gordon do really well. It doesn't matter how he runs the first part of the race, he always runs up front and I think that's because he works on his stuff, so that's someone I'm trying to emulate there." HOW IS YOUR WORKOUT REGIME GOING? AND HOW IS THE BACKFLIP GOING? "The temperatures are hot today. J.J. and I are getting ready to go run the Busch race and I think that's gonna be a lot of fun. I personally enjoy the real hot races. I think it just puts an extra variable in it and makes it harder and gives you something else to work on. I try really hard to stay in shape or I try to drink a lot of water and get enough salt and things like that. I don't know. If we won a championship, it would probably just be a real big backflip. I don't think I could do much more than a backflip." HAS THIS EXPERIENCE HARDENED YOU TO THE PRESSURE? "I was trying to explain earlier that I understand how this could become an extremely tough sport in regard to the pressure. I think it's important just to keep perspective. That's what I've been trying to do. I've had some experience so far in the last year that have definitely hardened me a little bit and made me realize that I'm out here to compete. I'm not really out here to do anything other than the best I can do. However people perceive that or whatever they think of me is really not up to me to decide. I have just learned lately that the thing that's best for me is to just go out and do the best I can and be who I am and not worry about it. I think if I do that, I think I'll at least be healthy mentally and able to compete as well as I can. That's kind of my plan, but it's still hard to believe at night when you start thinking about the possibilities of being in that chase, but I'm doing the best I can." HAVE YOU HAD A CONDENSED EDUCATION? "No, I've been very fortunate. That's what's cool about Charter coming on board full time, Office Depot coming on board and having the faith behind me to run a first-class team in both series. I've gotten a lot of experience. I think J.J. can tell you the same thing, running both series has been awesome. I think that's definitely sped up the learning process for me, too."

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Qualified 37th) - "That wasn't very good. We've struggled since we've been here and it continued right there. The car is just not very good."