ROBBY GORDON – No. 7 Jim Beam Ford Fusion (Qualified 25th) – YOUR TEAM WORKED HARD TO GET THE BACK-UP CAR OUT AND THEN DECALED LATER. “We made it back out in 35 minutes. From the time we stuck one in the wall until the time we were back on the race track was 35 minutes. We were prepared. The reason our cars come black as back-up cars is because if I don’t have to use them this weekend, then they’ll go the next time we use as a back-up car as well. We’ve got wraps to make our car look like a Jim Beam car or a Menards car or a MAPEI car or a Motorola car and we can do that all before it comes time to put it back out for qualifying or the race.” WITH WHAT WE’VE SEEN IN QUALIFYING AND PRACTICE, WERE YOU CONSERVATIVE WITH YOUR LAPS? “We talked about it before. We got the car back on the race track and I drove it a couple of laps. I think I did four or five laps and we didn’t really get a good qualifying run going. At a race like this, where you don’t have to qualify and you’re not using any past champions because it’s really just for the fun of it, yeah, we’re not gonna qualify up towards the front like we’d like to, but I think we’ll be OK when it comes time to go racing.” IS IT JUST A CASE WHERE THE TRACK IS SLICK AND THE TIRE IS HARD? “The tires just don’t have a lot of feel. They just don’t have feel until they’re gone, like you saw with Michael (Waltrip) and like you’ve seen with Stremme. How many have been in the wall today? There’s just not a lot of grip on the tires. Our first lap on the race track put us like 15th or 16th in practice, so I think our car is pretty good in race trim and we’ll just keep working on it throughout the race and try to learn as much as we can going into the 600.”

CARL EDWARDS POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion – “It was a lot of fun. I was a little bit nervous about the lap because of the guys that had trouble right beforehand, and it just shows how much the track changes. It got a lot different when it got cooler. I’m really happy the guys had the car really good, and I think it’s gonna be important, obviously, to start up front because it’s such a short race and we really want to be in the all-star race.” HOW WILL THE PIT STOP BETWEEN SEGMENTS CHANGE STRATEGY? “I haven’t gone over our exact strategy with Bob yet. We’ll go over it tonight and then tomorrow again. If we have to pit, then the first 20 laps is gonna be able to analyze what the car is doing and communicate that to Bob is gonna be key and it’s gonna be huge. If it’s a deal where your pit speed determines where you come out on the race track and it’s not a thing where you line it up where you were after 20 laps, then it’s gonna minimize the amount of changes. You’re gonna have to do things that are quick. You can’t be adding spring rubbers or some shock adjustments or whatever. It will be a lot about tire pressures and wedge and paying attention to how the track changes. It seems to change a lot. It’ll be interesting.” WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH ANY MONEY YOU WIN? “What I decided to do was I was so bummed out about making it in the all-star race that I thought, ‘Man, if we make it in it’s just gonna be icing on the cake.’ It’ll be a fun time, so I’m gonna donate whatever money I make from that deal to Speedway Children’s Charity and Victory Junction Gang Camp. I’m gonna just split it, so hopefully we win the thing and donate a bunch of money. That would be cool.” THE WHOLE MILLION? “Well, I don’t think I get the whole million. Whatever I get, I’ll donate.”