Dodge Charger 500 - Dodge Qualifying Quotes

Chargers on Front Row for Dodge Charger 500

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) – Wins third pole in four attempts at Darlngton; third pole of season.

“It means a lot to win the pole for a big Dodge race. The team did a great job making the car a little better than it was in practice. The engines run great, and I’m just happy to get a Bud Pole again. It’s fun to qualify at Darlington, especially when you end up up front. We have another hour of practice tonight, so hopefully we can keep working on our Dodge Charger and see what we can do. This is one of the toughest tracks we go to and one of the most fun tracks we go to. Five hundred miles is a long way here. It’s going to take a big effort by everybody to win, so hopefully we can do it. My cars have always been great here. The tires always wear out and you have to slide the car a little bit. You have to try to keep improving each lap, even though your tires are giving up.

“That was a great lap. Kenny Francis and the team did a great job to help the car. I felt like I could have been a little faster coming to the green and a little faster coming to the checkered off turn four. I just love qualifying here. I’ve had some great Dodge Chargers to qualify here, so it’s great we got another pole. Both of our wins have been from the pole this season, so maybe we can make it three for three.

“We had a great lap. It’s always fun to qualify here and see how fast you can go right up by the wall and just get all you can out of your Dodge Charger. I felt like we were able to do that today. It’s our third one (this season and at Darlington), so I’m pretty excited.

“Those two races we won we had to work real hard throughout the race, fall back and get back to the front. I know Darlington is going to be as tough as any track. Whether you start in the front or back it doesn’t matter. It’s a tough track and it can get you at any time. We’re just going to try to do everything right. We had the right starting spot and the right pit stall. We’ve done everything right on Friday. We just have to get our car better in the final hour of practice today and hopefully we’ll have a shot tomorrow night and be able to win a big race for Dodge.

“Our cars have qualified well here every year since I’ve been in Cup. It’s nice to be able to drive ‘em when they handle like that. I know if you’re a rookie and you’re younger, this is a track you like to come to. You like to be as aggressive as you can. As long as you don’t hit the wall you can usually go pretty fast.

“I think it’s a really long race. A lot of things go on during the race. Your car can be off and there’s so many pit stops because of the tires here falling off so quickly. You can help your car or hurt your car. You have to make the right decisions and keep yourself in the right place and not get frustrated. At some point in the race, every race so far, I think we’ve finished third, fifth and 13th, and I’ve been frustrated at some point. You have to keep your head. Things change quick, especially at this track.

“Something I found this year with Kenny Francis, if we can find a good balance, whether it’s for qualifying or the race, usually we find it in race practice. Like this morning, we did the first three-quarters of practice in race trim and found out what we were looking for and then just put it in qualifying trim and basically had the same balance. We just put the tape on and stiffer springs to hold it up. Basically we’ve been doing that all year by using the qualifying setup or race setup.

“My biggest difference is my team. It’s been a great team to work with this year. We started in the off season testing. I felt like we had made gains. The Charger was tough to figure out last year. The guys at the shop building the bodies have figured things out and that’s really benefited us at the racetrack. I think the off season testing and changing setups around and changing some things, finding the right balance. Last year didn’t work. We kept trying the same stuff and it didn’t work. We had to try some new things.”

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Alltel My Circle Dodge Charger) – 2nd fastest

“That was a pretty good lap, but Kasey put down an awesome lap. I’m happy to be up there on the front row in the Dodge Charger 500. Darlington is my favorite racetrack, and I’m looking forward to racing here. It was a good qualifying lap for us. We were a little too loose balance wise. It was a good effort, but it would take a perfect effort to beat Kasey He looked real good. I knew we were capable of picking up from practice. We were fortunate we made the right changes, and we should pick up more in race practice. We look forward to another opportunity to win here. I think it’s going to be a good weekend for us. We almost had it last year and that mysterious caution came out.

“I’ve always loved this racetrack. It’s fun running when the car sticks, and it’s fun running when the car is sliding around. I like the racetrack. I had a pretty good lap. I really can’t complain other than being just a little bit too loose. I think if we had our car perfect we would have been just as good as Kasey. If he was perfect or not I don’t know.

“I guess it rewards you as far as grip and being able to go fast. It feels nice, but usually nine times out of 10 you’ve got experienced guys winning races and less experienced guys going fast and winning poles. I just like the place. I can’t tell you one thing that stands out other than the grip and the way it feels. It’s a blast to drive this racetrack. When they started building cookie cutter racetracks they didn’t take this mold, that’s for sure. I wish they would have.

“It’s still a 50-50 shot. I still say if Carl Edwards wasn’t as talented a driver we would have won the race (here last year) because he would have crashed on the backstretch and there would have been a yellow. In hindsight last year, it probably would have paid off to have some kind of tires, but you never know the situations.

“They warn us here in the drivers meeting to respect the racetrack and the competition. Otherwise you’ll end up crashing. At the start of the race you respect the guy who won the pole. If he doesn’t get a jump you take advantage of him. Otherwise, try to keep it a clean start and let the best guy win.

“We did two qualifying runs today in the Cup car and none in the Busch car. We spent a lot of time in race trim, more than we usually do and maybe not as much as some. We definitely tried to put a little emphasis on qualifying because of how important track position is here.”

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) – 30th

“That’s the best we’ve run all day. That’s all you can ask for is to pick up in qualifying and that’s what we did. Our Charger is real good in race trim. Hopefully we’ll be in good shape for tomorrow night. We just worked on race stuff in practice. We picked up three tenths in qualifying, so that’s better than losing three tenths.”

DAVID STREMME (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger) – 4th

“It was a pretty good lap. The guys have been working hard. This is a borrowed car from the 41 team. I thought I could have gotten more in one and two, but we had to be a little conservative. We just wanted a solid starting spot. From here on out we’ve got to change things, and I think we can do that. I love Darlington. It’s a drivers’ track.”

BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge Charger)—11th

“It was a good effort and we’ll have a good run out of it. We made the right changes before qualifying and hopefully we’ll make some more good decisions before the next practice and have the car ready to race tomorrow night.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) – 10th

“This place is fun. One and two is completely different than three and four. We left a little bit of time on the table in turn two. It got a little tight over there. It was a great run for the Miller Lite Dodge. It feels good to be back at Darlington.”

CASEY MEARS (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger) – 21st

“If I could have got that after practice I would have been happy, but everybody else has gone so much faster in qualifying that I’m not very happy with it. It didn’t really feel that good in practice, either. We picked up and I’m happy with that. I gave it a banzai in practice, and I didn’t think we were going to be able to pick up much. We’ll be in the middle of the field, but that’s all right. We just need to come home with a solid finish. I’d be happy with a top 10 at Darlington.”