Dodge Chargers Qualify 1-2-3 at Watkins Glen

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) – Wins Pole

“It was pretty nerve-racking, especially with the car that went out before us having an engine problem. We just wanted to go out there and do it, and it turned out to be a good lap. I’m proud of the effort. Roy McCauley gave me a great setup, and it all turned out great for the Miller Lite Dodge. I felt really comfortable, especially with Roy McCauley’s road racing background.

“You’ve got to let it rip when you’ve got a chance. The team gave me a car capable of sitting on the pole. Maybe it’ll stick and maybe it won’t. It just feels good to see my crew chief Roy McCauley in his element. He likes road course racing. We sat on the pole at Sonoma. We’ll see what we get here today, but that turn 10, you hang it out there because it’s a left-hander. All the other turns here are basically rights. You just deal with that left-hander.

“That was a pretty solid lap. It feels good to run the Miller Lite Dodge that fast through the hills and straightaways at Watkins Glen. Our car ran well at Sonoma earlier this year. We’ve got to work on the pit stops a little bit and if we can have a little bit of that fuel strategy, which is definitely key to winning at Watkins Glen we might be able to pull off a good finish at Watkins Glen Sunday.

“It’s just a matter of making sure we have good communication back and forth. We can’t get confused because the car is fast right now. We still have to get it dialed in tomorrow in practice. We’ll take it one step at a time. Then we have the Grand National car, the Penske Truck Rental Dodge, running fast, so hopefully we’ll gain some information over there.

“I was just hoping to back up our time from practice and we did that. We added something to it and that creates some pressure for some of the fast guys that are left. The little delay we had wasn’t something we needed, but I just sat there and ran through the track in my mind, the shift points. I just didn’t want to overstep any of them and say I underdrove it. If you overdrive it, it’s easy to see. It was a nice balance and we had great Penske Power down the straightaway. We’re fast. We’ve just got to throw some tires on it tomorrow and go out there for a long, long run and see what our tire temperatures are.

“I’ve always felt more comfortable at Sonoma. It just takes more time to get used to this track. I ran a truck race here before I was a rookie in Cup and that helped out a ton. Last year has been my only good finish here in a Cup car. Prior to that it was flat tires, transmission, engines. When we do get good runs, it turns out OK. It’s just a matter of staying on the track and getting the points we need. There’s a big potential of gaining points. We’re here. We’re poised for a good run. Now we just need to go do it.”

KASEY KAHNE (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) – 2nd

“I was real happy with the run. It was real fast up the hill getting through the esses.”

COMMENT ON THE HIT LAST WEEK AT INDY “I hit pretty hard. I’d never hit a wall that straight in. It took all the air out of me. I’m just happy with the HANS device, the SAFER walls, all the things that NASCAR has done the past several years to make it a safer sport. I felt pretty good Monday considering I’d run straight into a wall the day before.”

COMMENT ON THE POINTS “I’d like to think we could stay up there. Tomorrow is going to be a big, big day in practice figuring out the car, figuring out the brake setup and figuring out things for Sunday. We definitely need to run in the top 15 and leave here with a decent finish. If we don’t we’re in trouble.”

COMMENT ON THE COMMERCIALS “I don’t know, whatever they want to do. If it works, it works. It’s worked so far. We’ve had some great Allstate commercials with some girls, and I really enjoyed it. It’s been fun, so as long as NASCAR fans are laughing when they’re watching TV I think that’s a good thing.”

ARE YOU COMFORTABLE AT THE GLEN? “Yeah, it’s my third time here. We made a good lap today, and we need to make a lot more if we want to have a good finish on Sunday. Making a lot of good consistent laps and keeping the tires on the car will be the keys. We’ll just try to stay on course and bring it home in one piece.”

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger) – 3rd

NOTE: Newman qualified fourth and finished second earlier this season at Sonoma in the same Dodge Charger.

“Kurt is coming up and I guess if you get beat by a teammate it’s a good thing, but it was a good run for four Alltel Dodge. I’m just looking forward to the race. Track position means everything here throughout the entire race and when you start out with it it makes your Sunday a little bit easier. Matt (crew chief Borland) and the guys and everybody at Penske Racing has done a great job. We’ll see how we stack up, but that was a good qualifying run for us. We’ll see if it holds up. It’s the same car we had at Sears Point, but I think I’ve always been a decent road racer. You guys just have never picked up on it. I finished second here my rookie year with no power steering. It’s a little more difficult when you don’t have power steering. I think Kurt is going to be really strong. I think Stewart and both Gordons will be really tough, but it’s nice to be included in that group right now.”

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

“Most of the guys are falling off pretty bad from what they ran in practice. I don’t think going out early is going to help. I think it’s going to cool off quite a bit. This qualifying takes awhile. I was hoping to back up what we ran in practice, but we were five tenths slower. I’m not really happy with it. If I was sitting on the pole I would be happy, but we’re not really horrible, either.”

SCOTT PRUETT (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger)

“You’re not satisfied unless you’re first. Our racecar was pretty good this morning. We put new tires on and put tape on and it was really, really loose. We made a bunch of changes for qualifying and that’s the best the car has been, but it’s still really loose. We’ve got to make an improvement there, but we’re reasonable. We’re going racing, and I think our racing car is better than our qualifying car. We know what we need to work on in practice Saturday morning, so we’ll see if we can tighten it up.”

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

“I didn’t know what it was going to be like in qualifying, but I thought it was going to be better than that for sure. I’m proud of all the guys on tr5he team for working hard with me and trying to teach me all they can about road course racing. I’m still trying to catch all these guys that have so much more experience. We need to have a solid day on Sunday and take care of our car and be there at the end. I think we’ll have a good car in race trim. I just thought we could qualify a little better. Boris Said has been helping me the last three years, and I think he’s done a good job. We’ve just got a little more to learn.”

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger)

“That lap was ok, but it could have been a little better. It felt pretty good. It's a lot tougher to come back to a road course. You've got a lot more corners to mess up. We tested this car earlier this week at Kershaw to get a feel for it. The guys have really done a great job getting ready for this weekend. I'm just here to drive the car and maybe help bring some stability to this team. It's all about earning some owners' points and getting this team where it needs to be.”