TODD KLUEVER – No. 06 Post-it/3M Fusion (qualified 35th) – “Our 3M Ford Fusion was – you know, we tested it a few weeks ago and it was really good. We got here today and it didn’t feel right and the brakes didn’t seem to be working right, and we really struggled through that first practice. You only get an hour and a half, so it was really a struggle. Honestly, it was probably good for me. It took a little bit of pressure off of me. I didn’t have high expectations coming into qualifying here, but I knew if we gave it a real good honest run, we were going to be close to making the show. And, I can’t say enough about Frank Stoddard and Jimmy Fennig and all those guys, Mark Catania [Roush Racing Busch Series head engineer]. They’ve worked so hard, just from practice to now. I was over with my Busch team. Man, they really got it turned around. The brakes were really good this time. I got in the corner just like I wanted to; that’s what we were struggling with.”

WHY PICK THIS WEEKEND TO ATTEMPT TO MAKE A CUP RACE FOR THE FIRST TIME? “Honestly, 3M asked me which ones I wanted to do, and this is the closest track Nextel Cup goes to to my hometown in Madison, Wisconsin. My birthday was yesterday, and my mom’s birthday is Sunday, so it’s a great birthday present for me, great for her if we make the race, and it’s close to home.”

YOU SAID THE BRAKE PROBLEMS IN PRACTICE TOOK SOME OF THE PRESSURE OFF. IS IT DIFFICULT TO NOT TO THINK ABOUT THE SITUATION YOU ARE IN THIS WEEKEND OR IS IT JUST ANOTHER RACE CAR? “It is really just another race car, and I’ve always been confident in myself, which helps, but it’s nerve-wracking. 3M, obviously, and Post-it have a huge hospitality tent outside, you know, anticipating our first Cup race, and I’ve got a bunch of friends and family here from home, and my mom’s birthday is on Sunday. This has been built up for almost a year now, since last October, whenever Atlanta was, and it got announced that I was going to take over the 6 car. So, this has been building and building and building, and, of course, you want to look good on your first time out.”

(AFTER MARK MARTIN STOPPED TO SHAKE KLUEVER’S HAND AFTER HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT.) WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? “A lot. Mark’s a great guy. I was just a little nervous all morning and I was just over before qualifying, asking him for some advice, and he’s been giving it all day. I was over with my Busch car and couldn’t get back over here so I called him on the phone and asked him some more advice. He’s been a great guy for me, especially this year, but last year, too.”

IT HAS BEEN ONLY ONE DAY, BUT HAS THE EXPERIENCE, SO FAR, BEEN WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE? “Well, I’ve been busy today – back and forth between garages. I think that’s been really good. Like I said, I think I would’ve been a lot more nervous. Once qualifying is over, if it works out and we’re in the show, that’s when I’ll relax and I’ll really start to enjoy this. My mom, my dad and my brother, who have been huge in my racing career, are all here, they’re here right now, my mom’s birthday is Sunday, like I said. I’ve waited 28 years for this, and I know my family has worked really hard for 14 to get me here. If we make it in I want to sit back and enjoy this event.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 National Guard/Subway Fusion (qualified 27th) – “I don’t think it was very good. I don’t think we’re going to be very good there. But, we changed our car after we did our two qualifying runs, which is a big no-no. You know what to expect, and that’s part of practicing, that’s part of doing qualifying runs; you know what to expect. And, we went out and changed the race car and I went out there and didn’t know what to expect and didn’t drive very good, so to speak. We’ll see. Maybe it’ll be 15th or so here – maybe a little bit better than that. We’ll have to wait and see.”

ELLIOTT SADLER – No. 38 M&M’s Fusion (qualified 32nd) – “We would’ve hoped it would’ve been better. We were pretty decent in practice. Just frustrating. We made a few changes and probably didn’t go the correct way on them. But, we’re still trying to learn about this new stuff that everybody’s running, and we’re trying to learn a lot about it. So, we’ll keep working on it. Hopefully, the car will race good. It drove pretty decent in race trim, so hopefully we’ll get it close and have a little bit better day on Sunday than we’ve had in the past. We’re coming off two top-10s and we want to try to keep that streak going. We’ll keep working on it.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 USG/DeWalt Fusion (qualified 8th) – DID YOU MAKE ANY QUALIFYING RUNS AT ALL IN PRACTICE OR WAS THAT ALL RACE TRIM? “We made two runs, but we weren’t real close. We did make a couple of runs and tried to get a little better, so it was good.” WHAT ABOUT THIS QUALIFYING LAP? “It was a good lap. Hit one and two as good as I could get it and just kind of dropped the ball a little bit down there in three and four.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Office Depot Fusion (qualified 21st) – “That’ll be fine. I just got a little greedy there and got a little loose. But, you can pass here and I think our race package is really good, so this should be great.”

JAMIE McMURRAY – No. 26 Lenox Industrial Tools Fusion (will start 42nd) – YOUR BACKUP CAR IS A PRETTY GOOD ONE… “Yeah, it’s the car we ran second with at Dover, so we’ll just have to wait and see. We didn’t get a lot of practice. It’s a good car, it has a good history for us.” WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM DURING PRACTICE? “A swaybar bolt rubbed a hole in the right-front tire and lost all the air and hit the wall.”