KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)

“It was a really good lap for the Miller Lite Dodge. I didn’t really think that we’d have a shot at the pole. I was just looking for a nice consistent run. After we got done with practice the number that we thought we had didn’t show up on the scales and so we just changed it here, changed it there. We threw a set up at it that we thought would be close to where we wanted to be and low and behold we’ve got a pole. It’s really interesting how today worked with all of the heat and how hot it was just trying to get a read on the racetrack. I’ll go back to just thanking the racetrack because it’s been kind to me with the poles that I have here. I think it’s just a tribute to being in contention for the pole, and that’s just due to the team giving me good cars to go out there and do it. It feels great with the Miller Lite Dodge to lead the field on Sunday and get those five bonus points. We’ll start moving on from there.”

HOW SEVERE WERE THE CHANGES THAT YOU HAD TO MAKE? “When you look at scale numbers and your nose weight and your cross weight distribution, we were off by about one percent. That’s odd. Normally we’re just a couple tenths of a percent. So when we got the sheet back we were really loose on one end and really tight on the other and the sheet showed that we were opposite. We scratched our heads a little bit and said alright lets back up one step and go back to where we were for our first qualifying run of practice and just go off of that. It made it interesting. We didn’t know where we needed to be because the car was acting different than what the scale numbers said. It’s hard to explain. If you think you are on the loose side and we came in and the scales said that we were tight. That’s where we started scratching our head. We were like why is our car so tight when we were actually loose? That’s where we just had to shoot for the middle and hope for the best.”

IS IT TOUGH WHEN YOU GO TO A NEW MANUFACTURER? “It can be difficult in some aspects and then it’s easy in others. Learning the people is most important and I’ve met some great people at Dodge. There are great people at Ford. When a team switches that’s a big step. Not just when a driver leaves one auto manufacturer and goes to another, but when a team changes I think that really mixes it up more so then when a driver changes. They have to go and compare what the manufacturers numbers are in the wind tunnel, but then the wind tunnel is less important these days because of the Car of Tomorrow coming up around the corner. The manufacturer thing is interesting for teams, but I don’t exactly know how to comment on what they’ll go through, but for me I just had to learn new people and learn the new feel of the car.”

DID THE CLOUD COVER MAKE MUCH DIFFERENCE LATE IN QUALIFYING? “Yeah, there was a little bit of a cloud cover when we went out and then as the session progressed there towards the end there was a lot more cloud cover and the temperatures dropped even more. We were nervous. We didn’t think that we’d have the pole. We dodged a few bullets and it feels really good to get the pole and get locked in the Shootout. The people up in Milwaukee love that, so we’re having fun with that, but we got big picture racing going on as well.”

HOW HOT WAS IT OUT THERE? “It’s warm. It reminded me of the days when I raced back in Las Vegas when it was 110 degrees outside. When I had a late model it was tough racing it, but I loved hopping in my modified because it didn’t have a windshield in it. It just had a barbeque grate up front. You have open air and open cockpit in that modified. We don’t have that. We have a tough race ahead of us and we’ll be looking forward to when the sun drops down around 7 or 8 o’clock. I know the race starts and more than half of it is in the sun, so we’re looking forward to when the shade comes.”

IS THAT THE SAME CAR THAT YOU WON AT MICHIGAN WITH? “This is our Pocono car. We won at Pocono with it and we thought that it would be a better fit with the flatter banking that we find here at California Speedway than what the Michigan car had for its balance a couple weeks ago.”

WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THE CAR IF YOU WON HERE? “The car already has a name. It’s called the PT special. It’s Pat Tryson’s first car that he really got his hands on at Penske Racing and just to win at any track is special and when your boss builds a racetrack out of a dream, ambition and hard work Calfornia Speedway is a special place. Since he sold it Jillian Zucker has done a tremendous job with it sense and it’s just a pleasure to come out here and race.”

DO YOU FEEL MORE AT PEACE NOW THEN YOU HAVE IN A WHILE? “I feel like right now the team still has more to prove, but we’re just running with our back up against the wall. We’re not locked in the Chase so you have that feeling each week that you just go do your business, get through the next practice session and just play it calm and cool. That’s how we are reacting whether it’s at the media center or out on the track. We’re just playing it cool and trying to get locked in. We’re not going to have a shot at this championship unless we get locked in. Everybody is saying that we’ll be fourth or fifth overall if the points were to end now, but the problem is that they haven’t, and so we still just feel like we need to get locked in so we are just playing the conservative route.”

IT SEEMS LIKE YOU WOULD BE MORE UPTIGHT BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT LOCKED IN, BUT YOU SEEM CALMER? “I know. I confuse myself sometimes. I’m just going out there everyday just trying to take it one step at a time. I can’t do it all myself and I now have a great crew chief that’s balanced the ideas of Penske racing. Just to have his comfort has put me at ease. Just the whole program coming together at this opportune time, there’s no telling. We can say the sky is the limit, but it just feels like each and every race there is more weight taken off our shoulders, but the funny thing is when the Chase starts – Boom – your right back in it and the pressure is back on. It’s just one race at a time.”

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

“It was a good lap. It was a great draw. The fastest three cars went out right after the sun went away, so the track gained a lot of grip. I slid a little bit too much. I think I may have overdrove in one and slid up just a little bit and didn’t get to the throttle soon enough in one and two and lost a little bit of speed. Other than that the car was really nice. We keep qualifying good. We’ve been doing that for probably two months now qualifying up front. We just have to work on our setup for Sunday night. I hope we can figure it out and have a great race on Sunday night. I really like the picture on the back wall – it’s pretty cool. I’d like to get up there again.”

YOU WERE INDUCTED INTO THE CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY HALL OF FAME. YOU ARE A LITTLE YOUNG TO BE GETTING INTO HALL OF FAMES? “Yeah, I got that because I won both races last year. That’s the only reason that I can figure out why I would get to be into that. It’s cool. It should be fun. I haven’t played in wet cement in a long time. I guess I put my footprint of my Puma racing shoe in the cement and it’ll be pretty cool. It’s exciting.”

HOW HOT WAS IT OUT THERE IN PRACTIVE AND QUALIFYING? “It’s been warm all day in the sun in both the Busch cars and the Cup cars. We tried to stay hydrated. It was warm last week, the same as this week. It’s probably a little warmer this weekend, but it’s going to be like that all weekend long. It’s good the races are at night so it cools off some. The track will be much better at night I think when the track has a little more grip comes back on the track and you can race maybe a little bit better than you can do right now in the 107 degree weather.”

ANY BIG CHANGES THAT YOU GUYS MADE BEFORE BRISTOL? “Well Bristol was the COT car. We’ve been putting a lot of time into that car. We were good there the first race in April and we were good again this race. They’ve been working on that car. That’s what we have all of next year and we don’t want to have another performance like we did this year so they put a lot of time into it. Hopefully it’ll be better next week at Richmond also and we’ll just keeping working on it.”

REED SORENSON (No. 41 Target Dodge Charger)

“We were alright, but we have been struggling all day long. We started out in race trim and it was pretty good. In qualifying trim we just haven’t been that good all day. It’s just really slick out there for us. It’ll be okay. It’s a 500 mile race, so as long as it’s good in race trim we’ll be happy.”

“Anytime you get these 2 mile tracks five degrees can make a big difference. It makes a big difference, but everyone is dealing with the same situation, so as long as cool off later it’ll be fine.”

BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 Target Dodge Charger)

“I believe that we were a lot better than we were in practice. We really didn’t hit upon the right thing in practice. We could just never get any speed out of it . Made a few changes and it was definitely better. My gosh, thank you, thank you. It was good for a starting spot on Sunday.”

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Dodge Dealer/UAW Dodge Charger)

“It was okay. We qualified pretty good. We used a lot of Kasey and those guys notes. My guys worked hard. It’s the same car that we qualified fifth with in Michigan, so to come back here and get a top 10 start was good for us. It was good for our team. It’ll give us good track position for Sunday. It’s good for us. We’ll go to work and make us as good as we can for a 500 mile race.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)

“I’m ecstatic for the Miller Lite Dodge and this team. We didn’t expect that good of a lap. We made big adjustments so I wasn’t sure where we were going to end up and then they told me that we were on the pole. Then he said okay, I’ll tell you when I get in what we have.”

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

“It was good. It was a pretty good pickup for us, but I think everybody is picking up a lot. The car is really, really loose across the center and off the corner. We made a lot of adjustments in practice to fix it, then we made some little adjustments, very small adjustments, for qualifying. I think with the track changing and the adjustment we made it really seemed to tighten us up across the middle and through the corner that time. It was a little bit of over-adjustment but it’s hard to know what the track is going to be like. Man, I just hope it gets us in – that’s the main thing.”

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

“It was pretty close (to being the fastest). It felt good that the sun went away. The sun went away so that helped everybody from here on out to beat the other guys. It felt good. The Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger is pretty quick. We just hope it holds up for a top five, but I think there are some pretty good cars to go still.”

DAVID STREMME (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger)

“It was a whole lot better than it was in practice. It’s a brand new Dodge that the guys built and we just haven’t had a whole lot of time to work on it. It stuck a whole lot better than I thought it would. I could have run a lot faster. It’s just disappointing. All in all it’s pretty good. I was happy with it. It’s a top 15 starting spot it’d be good for us.”

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Kodak Dodge Charger)

“It was a good run for the Kodac Dodge. I mean obviously the track was a little bit better there and everybody seems to be picking up, but we did better compared to where we were in practice than some of the other guys we beat. It was a good run for us and we’ll see where we end up.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 42 Big Red Dodge Charger)

“It just blew up. In practice it just popped out of second gear and over-revved a little bit. They checked everything and thought it would be okay but just let go. It’s a bit of a shame. We were one of the first few cars out so I don’t know. The track was cooling down a little bit. It’s hard to know how fast we were going to run. I think up to there we looked pretty good. We were ahead of David and everything. That’s the way racing goes, racing comes, you know how it is.”

HOW BIG OF A FACTOR IS THE HEAT GOING TO BE HERE IN THE RACE? “None. If you’ve got a good car you go forward. If you don’t, you don’t.”

WHAT HAPPENED? “We just lost our engine. In practice it came out of second gear leaving the pits and it over-revved and they checked it and thought it would be okay. I’m glad, actually, it blew up today and not in race day.”

WAS IT GOING TO BE A QUALIFYING RUN? “I thought it was going to be. It was a lot better than practice and I thought we had something there.”