HAMLIN: “It’s pretty good right there. We missed Turn 1 quite a bit but hopefully it’s a good enough lap to get us somewhere in the top-10.” DOES IT MATTER WHERE YOU START HERE? “Yeah, I definitely think it matters. It kind of dictates where you’re going to be at the first quarter of the race so we’ll see where we stack up, top-five hopefully and top-10 at worst.” A LOT OF TIMES AT AN IMPOUND RACE YOU QUALIFY WELL BUT DON’T RACE WELL. “We’ve got enough adjustability in this car, with the adjustments that they allow, that we should be in pretty good shape.” WILL THAT TIME HOLD UP? “I don’t think it will hold up by any means. I think there will be three or four guys that will get around us. It’s still a great run for us. I think we were 20th in practice and we definitely picked it up. We’ll just see where we end up. It’s still a great effort for us.”

HAMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE

“Actually I overdrove Turns 1 and 2 but at the same instance we hit 3 and 4 pretty good. It was good enough to hold on and I guess that’s all that matters.”

JEFF BURTON: “You said there was no way you were going to sit on the pole.”

JEFF GORDON: “Yeah, what was that all about?”

HAMLIN: “I don’t know [Burton laughs]. There was a lot of good cars behind us, both Penske cars, and we all know how they run.”

BURTON: “You were just being superstitious [laughs].”

HAMLIN: YOU’VE ACCOMPLISHED A LOT THIS YEAR. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU ARE IN THIS POSITION GOING INTO THIS RACE? “I don’t know. I mean, I kind of find it hard to believe I’m racing with the guys for points that I am, especially as inexperienced as I am. A lot of these racetracks, had I not run those last seven races at the end of last year, I’d be going to some of these racetracks for the first time if I’m in the Chase racing for the championship. It was good of us to do that last year and I feel like if we do make it in it’s going to be a big help for us that we do have something to fall back on. I think qualifying up front is going to be a big deal. Hopefully we can get out there and hopefully at least lead one lap and hopefully then we can finish 17th instead of 16th [to clinch a spot in the Chase].”

DAVID STREMME, No. 40 LONESTAR STEAKHOUSE DODGE: “It’s not bad. We only made one run in practice so I feel better about our race car more than anything. I’m proud of all my guys. I think we come in here next week with a good short track program and hopefully we can capitalize on it.” THE CAR HAS BEEN GOOD ALL DAY. “All three of the Ganassi cars are pretty good. We put a lot of emphasis in the short track program earlier this year and it’s paid off. Again, it’s a building process and we’re working on some intermediate cars but I’m real proud of all my guys.” THIS HAS BEEN A REBUILDING YEAR FOR THIS TEAM. ARE YOU STARTING TO SEE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL? “Yeah. We fell into a slump here the last three weeks and it’s hurt us. Some of our own doing, some of other’s doing. We’ve got to work on it and get better.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET: “We had an awesome car today in practice. We were a little tight on our mock-up run and we were third fastest. We were just a little bit off what the fastest car ran but I was just a little too tight and it was magnified here. It was just a little too tight. I think our race car is really good. It ran real consistent lap times on really old tires and it’s driving really good. That’s all I can ask for. We were a little tight but we probably should have took a little more of a swing at it for qualifying. We didn’t know that it would be this cool this early in the deal. It’s a good run.” YOU’VE BEEN IN A BUILDING PROCESS ALL YEAR. ARE YOU STARTING TO SEE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL? “Well I think so. We qualified well last week. We had some trouble in the race but we came here today and off the trailer we were really fast. We were in the top-10 all practice and ended up third, real close to the top of the sheet.” The car’s driving really good, that’s the main thing. We had a really, really good practice today. Communication was good. Every time we changed something the car went better and that’s all I can ask for.” ARE YOU STARTING TO BE CONSISTENTLY BETTER EVERYWHERE YOU GO? “I think I’m a little better, obviously, from getting beat every week. You’ve got to critique yourself and find ways to get better. I think I’m a lot better at just getting out there and going now than I was before. I think I’m a lot more comfortable in these cars. When they’re not driving good I can still get in there and hands full or not I can get out there and drive it around. We’re all getting better as a team. It’s a big team deal. If the cars were perfect from the start I think I could have drove them and vice versa. It’s been a long time coming but we’re getting there, slowly but surely.”

REED SORENSON, No. 41 NICORRETTE/TARGET DODGE: “We’re just a little free. We’ll be okay.” WAS THE TRACK DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING? “No, I don’t think so. It’s faster, I think. We did our qualifying run and we made a little mistake there and didn’t fill it up with fuel so during our qualifying run the balance was good. We put fuel in it and were going to do another run and we started leaking oil. We were going to do our second qualifying run and never got to do it. We kind of went in the dark there a little bit. I’m sure we’re not going to have a very good lap but the car was really good in practice. The lap times were really good. We’ve got 400 laps to get up there.”

J.J. YELEY, No. 18 IMITREX CHEVROLET: “The car was real tight in the center and real, real loose off and I couldn’t get to the throttle. I was loose coming to the green. It was not a good combination. We felt pretty happy with our mock qualifying run and just weren’t very good so we’ll have to go back to the drawing board. I think the thing is going to drive good in the race.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 07 JACK DANIEL’S CHEVROLET: “I just didn’t get a good lap in.”