BOWYER: “I tell ya, I got out of the plane in Amarillo, Texas with Harvick and found a heads-up penny. It just happened to be 1979, the year that I was born and my old dirt number from back home. The first thing I did was tape it on the dash so hopefully we can make some use out of that and get some luck. I tell you what, this hot rod keeps doing the way it is like Indy, Michigan and here. She’s proving to be a pretty good piece.” HAS IT BEEN FRUSTRATING TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE GOOD CARS BUT YOU HAVEN’T GOT THE FINISHES? “Yeah, absolutely. We’ve been frustrated this last month. We’ve had good cars, just can’t seem to pull it all together. We’re working hard. It’s not a lack of effort, I can promise you that. Gil and all the guys, we just need a little pep in our step, a little bit of momentum, and we’ll be fine.” DID THE LATE DRAW HELP YOU? “Oh yeah, definitely. And that just goes back to luck. The last five or six weeks the draw hasn’t been on our side whatsoever. We’re just working on it.” HOW WAS THE LAP? “It was good. We finally got a little bit of a good draw. We were able to go out late, 36th. That helped a little bit. We can see the front from right there. Even if it’s top-five we can do some good with that.” DID THE WIND AFFECT YOU MUCH OUT THERE? “It blew me into a second-place car. I thought I had it [laughs]. It was just fine.”

GIL MARTIN, CREW CHIEF, No. 07 JACK DANIEL’S CHEVROLET: “That was pretty good. That was a good run right there. The lap that the 2 car laid down was an impressive lap. Clint did a really good job. The Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet has been in the top-10 all day. That ought to hold up for a top-five. There’s a couple more cars that are going to go that are going to be really good. Clint has done a good job. We’ve had a rough couple of weeks but the cars have been good and we’re going to recover from it and it’s all going to be good.” HOW BIG OF FACTOR IS THE HEAT GOING TO BE? “I think it’s going to be the biggest factor tomorrow when we’re practicing the cars, trying to set it up for Sunday night. I don’t think the heat’s going to be that big of a factor Sunday night. But tomorrow afternoon, trying to get these things set up in the daytime, that’s when it’s going to be tough.” HOW DO YOU DO THAT, PRACTICE IN THE DAYTIME AND RACE AT NIGHT? “You’ve got to be good at guessing. If you guess right you should have been in Vegas instead of here [laughs].”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET: “It’s all these guys working hard. They gave me a good car and we’re fast. I’ve just got to thank them and Bass Pro for sticking it out. It’s been a tough year but I feel like we’re starting to turn a corner and today is a perfect way to show that.” YOU HAVE SOME NOTES FROM THIS TRACK FROM THE FEBRUARY RACE. HAS THAT HELPED YOU THIS WEEKEND? “It did, yeah. Being here once and knowing the feel and knowing what we’re looking for is a big thing, especially with the Cup cars. They’re different. The biggest thing is that we’re taking things from Michigan and from Pocono and some other places that we’ve ran well and applying them and that’s what we did here today. We worked really hard on qualifying trim for the first time all year. We started out practice in qualifying trim and made three or four runs and really worked on it. We sat there and really looked at our car and critiqued it and made good adjustments. Bono [Kevin Manion, crew chief] did a good job of taking what I was needing and translating that into my race car and giving me what I need.” ONCE YOU START WORKING ON RACE SETUP, YOU CAR GETS BETTER THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND. “We’ve been decent at times [qualifying]. The bottom line is that we’ve been inconsistent everywhere, qualifying and racing. We’re run really well at a lot of places. We don’t have a lot of good finishes but there’s a lot of times that we haven’t run well and we’ve created our own problems as well and we’ve created our own problems as well, too. We just need to take this and work hard tomorrow and hopefully this is a sign of a race car that’s going to be competitive all weekend and we have a little something to work with tomorrow and something to race ‘em with on Sunday.” YOU HAD A LATE DRAW IN QUALIFYING. WAS THAT AN ADVANTAGE? “I’m not really sure, to be honest with you. Qualifying started and those guys were picking up a lot from what they practiced and I was really surprised. It kind of showed throughout qualifying so I’m not sure if it was the draw. Obviously, later draws are better, mentally more than anything, I think. It seemed like everybody was picking up from practice so I don’t think it was that big of a deal.”

BOWYER PRESS CONFERENCE

“It was pretty good. It was a little bit loose in both corners and just couldn’t quite get to the gas as quick as Kurt, obviously did or Brian. It was a good day for us. It’s the same hotrod that we brought to Indy and Michigan so we’ve got a lot of confidence in this car. We ran good at Michigan, we just qualified bad so hopefully we can qualify good and run even better.” YOU RAN THIS CAR AT INDY, A FLAT TRACK. IS IT EASY TO MAKE THAT SWITCH IN THE CAR? “Well, this is a fairly flat track. It’s the same characteristics. You need a ton of downforce and a good balance, good handling race car at any of the big racetracks like this. It has a good body on it. We’re just trying to keep all the fenders on it and keep using it as much as we can.” COMMENT ON THE HEAT. WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR YOU IN THE CAR? THE RACES ARE AT NIGHT AND HOW DOES THAT AFFECT THE TRACK? “It’s hot. It’s no different than you guys. You’ve got to bear with it and tough it out. We’re the same way. We get paid to put on a show here and that’s what we’re here for.” WOULD YOU LIKE A NIGHT QUALIFYING SESSION? “You’d be sailing around here pretty good at night qualifying, I’m afraid [laughs]. It’d get your attention. It’d be spectacular.”