KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger)

NOTE: Kahne won his second pole of the season and the eighth of his career in 79 attempts.

“It was a great run. The team did an excellent job of getting the car ready, and it was a great draw. It was better than going out early like Scott Riggs. The car was a little bit better than it was in practice. We made a few small changes, and it felt like we got all we had out of it out there.

“Some of it does (translate from Atlanta to Texas). We brought the same car we had at Atlanta. It was brand new at Atlanta, and we brought it here and qualified first. Some of it definitely does, but the way you transition here in the corners where it’s flat and you get into a lot of banking when you come off the corners it’s the same way. There’s a lot of banking and then it gets flat real quick. Those are two big differences, and we’ll really have to work on that tomorrow in practice. We made some changes today in race practice and felt like we’re gaining on it. We look forward to getting it figured out again tomorrow.

“I’ve been happy all year with the way things have gone. We’ve had momentum all year, even with last week at Martinsville. I wasn’t even that mad when we left there. I was disappointed we didn’t finish in the top five. We had a car that was capable of probably running in the top three. Things like that happen, and it was nobody’s fault and it’s been fixed since then. Qualifying first, starting on the pole, we did that at Atlanta and won the race. That’s momentum, that’s a lot to look forward to. We’ve got a great Busch car for tomorrow, too. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.

“It was a great lap. We had a great draw. It’s always good to draw late with the sun going down a little bit. I think we’ve got a good shot to win Sunday, as good as anybody else. Our Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger felt awesome just coming to the green flag. I knew with no mistakes it was a car that could sit on the pole. I was pretty pumped up coming to the green, and I just had to put together a good lap. I was waiting for Kenny (team director Francis) to tell me where it was. I was going to go again if it wasn’t good enough and try to get a little more. It was a great effort. These guys are building great race cars for me right now.

“It’s tough to wait. You want to get out there, but at the same time you know the sun is dropping and the track is cooling off a little bit. It’s not too tough when you know the track temperature is going down. (A weekend sweep) sounds great. The Busch car is good, too. Hopefully we’ll have a good performance in both cars and make some gains in the points.” CAN THE CAR BE AS GOOD AS IT WAS AT ATLANTA? “I think it can come close. You’ve just got to make the right changes. Everything has been so close this year each week with 15 or 20 cars. I think if we do all the right stuff I think we can run up front. We’re starting in the right place anyway.”

BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge) – 10th

“We got down to the bottom of the track and it wouldn’t stick. I’m just glad I got the car back in one piece. I should have been better. We just never got the car quite as comfortable as it needed to be for my liking. It’s the same car we ran at Atlanta, and I think we’ll be good in the race. I just wish we could have qualified a little faster.”

KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge Charger) – 19th

“Our car is really, really good, and I just tried a little bit too hard in one and two and I messed up. I’ve been messing up and qualifying 39th, so at least I messed up this time and I’ll be somewhere in the top 25 (19th). That’s better.”

REED SORENSON (No. 41 Target Dodge Charger) – 13th

“That was a good run for us. We picked up a little from practice and any time you do that it’s a plus. This is a brand new car. We’re excited about it. It’s got about 14 laps on it now, and we’re excited to get it in race trim to see what it has. I know Casey is excited about coming back here. We got a good run at Atlanta and Martinsville. We want to go after top 10s. If we’ve got a car that’s good enough to get a top five, we’ll go for it. If not, we’re going to go after our goal of a top 10.”

CASEY MEARS (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger) – 20th

“We were just loose. I’m not sure what happened. That’s about 15 spots better than we qualified here last year and we ran fourth. You always want to qualify better, but obviously it isn’t critical.”

SCOTT RIGGS (No. 10 Stanley Tools/Valvoline Dodge Charger) – 22nd

“I think we did good. I think we got it all. We made some good adjustments, and considering how hot the track is right now, I think everybody did a good job. I think we made some good runs in qualifying trim in practice and learned from those. We went back and applied it and got a good lap. The guys did a good job. We unloaded this car, and it was good today. We ran it at Vegas and it’s the second time we’ve brought it to the track. This is the first new car we built as a team. It was good at Vegas, but we had a lot of trouble on pit road. Going out first was the worst position we could have. We don’t care where we start. We just want a good, solid finish. We needed a good, solid finish. We struggled all day at Martinsville last week. We put a bad set of tires on and got a lap down. Then we got the lap back and survived. That was good because we didn’t survive the week before at Bristol. We need to get our momentum back, and I think we’ll be able to show our cards here. I think we’ll be better than we were at Atlanta. This is the best car we’ve built. We’ve got a lot of faith and effort and hard work in this car. This is the kind of car Kasey won with at Atlanta.”

DAVID STREMME (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger) – 28th

“I think it’s showing what our team is doing. We haven’t got off to a good start, but things are turning around here. This is the same car we ran at Atlanta, and I think it’s going to be a lot better here. We’re working a lot better together, so we’ll get going here and we’ll feel real good. A top 20, top 15, that’s all we’ve got to do. We’re making jumps. We didn’t start out so great, so we’ve got to work up and walk before we run. I used to hate coming here with the Busch car, but I actually love it now. I’ve learned some stuff, and it’s a fun, fast place to race. I like that.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) – 7th

“We were a little loose in practice and a little tight right before our qualifying run. I think we’re on top of our setup and that’s good to know. Everybody is pumped up and we’ll see what we can do with our Miller Lite Dodge on Sunday. We went out a bit early, but Biffle did run a superb lap. If guys bump us later, no problem. This is Texas and it’s very fast. It’s a 500-mile race and there’s plenty of time for things to happen. I’ve always had mediocre cars and turned them better as the race went on. This weekend the car feels good already. We’ll see what we can do to dial it in in race trim.”

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Alltel Dodge) – 14th

“That was our first qualifying run of the day in the Alltel Dodge. We just wanted to work on race trim. We’ve been real good here in qualifying. We didn’t feel as good in practice as we needed to be in race trim. We intended to make a couple of qualifying runs, but we never made it. It was a good effort by the guys to do what we did and be on the mark for one qualifying run and be as close as we were.”