KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) – 2nd fastest

“There’s a ton of grip in the track right now. I probably should have had the pole. I think the track is definitely faster now than when the top six or seven went out. Jeff made a great lap, all these guys did. We had a really good track, a really good Dodge Charger. We just missed it a little bit. I’m really looking forward to Sunday. We did some race runs today. The car felt decent. We’ll make some more adjustments and make it better tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll get a good result on Sunday and gain some points.

“This race has a 12:30 start and that’s going to make a huge difference in how the cars handle. We led laps when it was light and we led laps when it was dark last year when we won, so I think we can do it. We just have to figure out how to be good in the sun.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger) – 9th fastest

“I think it went pretty good. It’s hard to say what’s good or bad. I think it was a pretty decent qualifying effort. We had a really clean lap. I didn’t overdrive the car, and I made sure I got out of the corners good. To be ninth here is pretty good. It’s a tough track. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be.

“I think it will be horribly hard. It’s going to be tough. It’s a tough race. I was watching the race from last year. I think you’ve got to have really good balanced cars. It seems the cars get really tight and there’s a lot of drop off. It’ll be really good experience. Our goal for the first five races is to make sure we bring the car home in the top 20. If we can do that, after five races we can really go for the championship and you won’t have to worry about qualifying.

“That was a good lap. The car is awesome. The guys on the Texaco/Havoline Dodge have done an excellent job. Maybe there was a little bit more in it, but I don’t know how much more. Jeff Gordon’s lap was as well, but it’s great to see our team doing well. I told Chip I could probably run a flat and I did. With the experience I have that’s pretty good. It was a clean lap. I’ve raced here before in open wheel, but it’s very different in these cars. There’s a lot of hard work in these cars. This is probably the hardest track for me so far. It’ll be a tough race Sunday. I think the guys that have raced here before have a big advantage over me. Hopefully we can improve the car as the race goes on.”

REED SORENSON (No. 41 Target/Energizer Dodge Charger) – 20th

“We brought a brand new car, and we’ve got about nine laps on this car. We were off this morning and really picked it up. It was too tight, but we got a decent starting position.”

SCOTT RIGGS (No. 10 Stanley Tools/Valvoline Dodge Charger) – 30th

“We were a little loose. Turns three and four were our trouble spots all day today. I know I probably overdrove three on the first lap and it cost us a ton.”

DAVID STREMME (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger) – 24th

“We overadjusted. Guys either hit it or miss it bad. We had a lot better effort than last year here, so we’ll be here Sunday and have some fun.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) – 18th

“We were loose, loose, loose in practice. We tightened it up for qualifying and went too far. We were going for our third straight pole here, but that’s OK. Maybe if we take a little off qualifying we’ll do a little better in the race. I’ve won here before, and it’d sure be nice to do it again.”

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger) – 19th

“We improved from practice, and it’s not easy to do that here later in the day. It was a decent run. I don’t think we’re going to be top10 material, but we were 19th in practice, and I think we’ll be better than that. I think the track is going to get faster toward the end, but it all depends on what the wind does. If the wind blows a little harder it might make it a little more difficult.”

KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Wells Fargo Dodge Charger) – 37th

“That wasn’t bad. We pushed up off turn two, but we were good in three and four. That was as close as we were going to get it after the changes. That was good. The guys did good to gain some ground today.”

BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge Charger) – 43rd

“The track was OK when we went out. We made some air pressure changes, and that helped us. In fact, the changes helped the car out a lot. We were just a little behind today.”

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) – 38th

“That sure wasn't what we wanted. We've got some work to do before Sunday. But, it's a long race and we'll be OK."