Samsung/Radio Shack 500 - Dodge Qualifying Quotes

Dodge Chargers Sweep Top Three Qualifying Spots

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge Charger) – Wins Pole

“We tested here a couple of weeks ago, and I was pretty sure then that we had a good car. We brought back one of the cars we tested and unloaded off the truck and hoped the track was like it was when we tested. I was pretty sure it was because we unloaded fast. The sun came up before qualifying, and I think it threw everybody for a little loop. The track lost some grip, and the people weren’t sure what the grip was going to do, whether it was going to make the track tight or loose. We were fortunate to get our quick lap in first. Jeremy had a great lap and I’m just happy to get the pole. We ran 190 laps here in a one-day test. That was quite a few miles.

“It wasn’t as comfortable as practice. The track had heated up quite a bit. I think it was 20 degrees hotter than when we practiced. That made it a handful. I almost lost control of the car coming to the green flag. I was disappointed in me doing that knowing that my first lap was going to be the fast one. It was good enough to hold on.

“The guys on the team. For me it’ll be whether or not the track has multiple grooves and where the fast line is. If it has multiple grooves obviously you’ve got to go where the car isn’t in front of you. We’ll do the best job we can to get the car good on a short run as well as a long run.

“I don’t think anyone is super happy this year with the balance of their racecars. It seems like the Dodges are struggling a little bit more with a couple of things. They’re working better than they were at the start of the year, and I think that showed up in qualifying today. We’re happy to be able to beat ‘em, but I think we’ll have a pretty good car in race trim, too.

“We had a better racecar at Atlanta and Vegas than we finished. I think I’m a little more confident now. I wouldn’t say we’re hands-down or worse. We’re just going to do our best and stay focused on getting the car as balanced as we can. If we feel the speed, that’s fine. If we don’t, we’ll go back to the drawing board. I don’t think it’s fair to talk about being “caught up” in qualifying mode. I think in race trim you’ll see the true answer, and I think you’ll see that on Sunday.

“Our effort toward qualifying hasn’t changed from the first year we started in 2000 to right now. We stay focused on getting the weekend started off right. We work hard in qualifying trim to get results. We also work hard in race trim. I don’t think we sacrifice anything in race trim for qualifying trim. It’s just two laps are easier to complete than 500 miles. I definitely don’t hunt as much as I fish. I’m not an avid hunter, but I enjoy watching and visualizing the animals.”

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) – Qualifies 2nd

“We slid the nose a little bit off both corners. The track got a little slicker. We used up all the racetrack. It could have been a little freer, but we didn’t want to take a chance on messing up the car. These guys did a heck of a job giving us a great car. We’ll keep working on it any maybe we’ll beat Ryan for the pole one of these days. We’re getting better and better, and we’re going to be up there before long. You’ve got to run so hard here. It’s pretty intense, but it was a good run for us.

“That’s the cool thing about this. We’ve had some good things going on the past four or five weeks. We started out kinda slow, not as good as we thought we were going to be, but that shows the kind of strength this race team has to come back. The guys have been working hard. They changed all the cars around, made major changes on ‘em. I think it’s just now starting to show up. For us to be here in the top three today and both of us be real close to the pole is pretty cool.

“I had a real good lap. We were a little tight off both corners, but the way everybody was slowing down I was concerned about the track getting slick. Newman cut a fast lap, but even he slowed down a tenth and a half or so. I wasn’t real sure what we were going to have, but to go out and run like we did and barely miss the pole was pretty cool for us. If the car was a little bit tighter maybe we could have had the pole, but you can always go back and say something like that after you didn’t win.

“It’s good to be able to come to practice and get our cars ready for Sunday. I think it’s good for the sport to have that. If you’re going to be here three days, why not do something for three days instead of letting your guys sit home and not do anything. I think it’s good we came to Texas and it wasn’t an impound race. It’s a place we can work on our race setups and qualifying setups. I think it’s always better. It’s not good for the guys to leave the cars sitting around on Saturday and not work on them. They don’t have anything to do. It’s good to keep everybody busy and keep things going.

“Our guys have worked hard getting our stuff back where it needs to be. It’s almost like they started all over again in February. They’ve done a great job. I think we showed last week at Martinsville that it’s paying off. Kasey ran second and I ran up front until I messed it up and got caught speeding on pit road again. We ran good at Bristol. There’s a lot of good things coming up for us in the future.

“I think our race setups should be really good for Sunday. That’s what Kasey and his team worked on during the test. Bill tested here also and did a lot of work on race stuff. I think we’re going to be in good shape. It’s not an impound race. We’ll get a chance to get a good feel for it tomorrow. I feel good about it.”

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) – Qualifies 3rd

“It was a good lap. We were too tight getting in on both ends. We got off pretty good, but we had to wait too long to get back in the throttle, so that’s why we didn’t get the pole. It was a good run for us. Jeremy is up there, so hopefully we’ll both have good days on Sunday. It was pretty slick out there. I was sliding a little bit through the center of the corner, but I was tight getting into the corner. We were fighting that same thing in practice and we didn’t get it fixed good enough, but we got it fixed good enough to qualify in the top three. We’ll get a couple hours of practice tomorrow, so we’ll go to work and get ready for the race. We’ve got some good engines and good racecars. Everybody is doing a good job.

“Over the last three races we picked up a lot of points, and we’ve been finishing the races strong. That was a good run. That’s about what we ran this morning. We slowed up a little bit, but when I ran my fastest lap it was a lot cooler out. I was pretty happy with that. I was a little tight getting in both ends, especially turn three, and I had to wait to get back in the throttle longer than I wanted. Other than that, the car felt good.

“I’d much rather have two practices tomorrow than not have them. I like to be on the track as much as we can to get our cars as good as possible for Sunday. This is a good track. It’s one of my favorite tracks and it’s good we get to practice tomorrow.

“We learned some things at the test. We didn’t practice any qualifying runs. We learned a few things about the car, trying to make our Dodge Chargers better than they’ve been on these aero racetracks. I feel like the car is better today than when we tested, and that’s from the teams working hard to bring a better package back.

“I feel good about the race setup. It’s better than it’s been on these faster tracks. The teams have worked hard to put different bodies on these cars. The bodies we had on them would have been awesome if we’d had two more inches of spoiler. When we got into the season we realized we just missed it a little bit, and they worked hard to give us a better feeling in the racecar. I think that’s what we had today.

“Three more feet or one more lap, there’s a lot of ways we could have won last year. We had a great car last year, and if we can get it adjusted as good as we had it last year we’ll have a great shot to win on Sunday. I have a lot of faith in these guys to do that. They’ve been doing a great job lately.”

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 91 Stanley Tools Dodge Charger)

“The main thing for us is to make sure we’re good and solid in the show. You go out this morning and you can get away with a lot of things because the track is cool. The sun comes out and it gets hot and it’s a whole different deal. We just can’t make mistakes. We’ve got to get in the race first. Then tomorrow we’ve got practice and we can get ready to race. If you have any problem on the racetrack in qualifying it could easily send us home. I just wanted to get in a good, solid lap. We only lost a tenth from practice, so I feel good about that. We usually qualify well here. We led the race and did everything right and blew up two years ago. Last year we cut a tire. I sat on the pole here two years ago and last year we were on the outside pole.”

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge Charger)

“That was a handful. The track lost a lot of grip and it was difficult to gauge. We had the drama of the zero car hitting the wall just before we went out. That didn’t help things. We were skidding around, loose-tight. It just wasn’t sticking as well as it did in practice. We slowed up some, but we didn’t slow up as much as everybody else. I thought we were in good shape. That was more driving than I wanted to do on those two qualifying laps.”

KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge Charger)

“I’m pleased. When we came down here and tested we did mostly race stuff. We brought back a better car and Ray gave us a better engine, so we’ve got a better car and better engine. I guess we should be better than we tested. This is a good test for us because we didn’t run well at Atlanta or Vegas. We’ll see what happens.”

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger)

“We broke a steering box in practice and didn’t get to make a banzai run. It looks like everybody slowed down and we ran about the same. We were real free. We made some adjustments, and I’m pretty pleased with the way things worked out.”

TRAVIS KVAPIL (No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Dodge Charger)

“You’re never satisfied unless you’re on the pole. The track heated up and we knew we’d slow down. The car drove pretty good and stuck pretty good, and I was pretty pleased with it. We haven’t been right all day. We’re still trying to find it. We kind of expected to run like we did.”

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Kodak/Miller Dodge Charger)

“I’m pretty happy with that. I didn’t know what to expect. We only slowed up a little, but not as much as most of them did. It was a good lap. We’ve got a good car. I’ve got a lot of comments about the car, but no one has really got us mixed up yet.”