CARL EDWARDS -- No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion (Qualified 28th)
"I think
that's actually gonna be a pretty poor effort, but some of my
teammates -- Greg in particular -- are really fast in qualifying trim.
So it's just a matter of us getting the car right and me driving
right. The good thing is knowing our cars can do it and these Fords
can be fast. Now we'll work on the race trim. We've got 500 miles
and this has been a really good track for me, so I'm just excited to
race now."
***
DAVID RAGAN -- No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Qualified 29th)
"Our qualifying
lap wasn't too good. I'm afraid that's gonna be back in the thirties
somewhere. We didn't make it any better from practice because we only
picked up a few hundredths. I don't think the track is gonna really
speed up or slow down much. I think it's gonna kind of stay the same,
so I don't think that's gonna be very good."
***
GREG BIFFLE -- No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Qualified 23rd)
"I just
overdrove it. I drove it in the corner like I thought I needed to run
a flat and I was just too hard. I overdrove the corner and hit the
race track and went up the track. I tried to do a second lap, but the
car was just a little too tight. With the Nationwide rubber getting
put down, the car just didn't hook the bottom like it needed to, but
we've got a really great car for Saturday night so far with the laps
I've made. I'm super, super happy with the car because I know for a
fact I could do a 20-flat right now and be second, but I tried for the
top of the board and will probably end up 15th or 20th, but we've got
a great car."
***
JAMIE MCMURRAY -- No. 26 Jeremiah Weed Ford Fusion (Qualified 20th)
"Actually, I thought we were gonna have a shot at the pole. I felt
really good about it. We didn't get a lot of practice, but our car
was good. Coming to the green my car was awesome. I thought, 'This
is gonna be a good lap,' and then it bottomed out real bad in one and
two. You pick up a little bit of speed and the car bottomed out and
then in three and four, I had a lot going on. I had the tape blow off
the windows on the right-rear quarter and it started blowing this
frigid air on me, and then my visor fogged up. I really couldn't see
much going into three and it freaked me out, so I pinched the car off
a little bit getting in because I couldn't see, and it made the exit
way too tight. So for my 28.5 seconds, it was pretty exciting."
***
BOBBY LABONTE -- No. 96 Ask.com Ford Fusion (Qualified 24th)
"We
started off really, really loose on entry for some reason or other,
which might be good for the race, but it wasn't what I needed for
qualifying. We got it better and better and, for the lap that we ran,
it was a little bit wiggly. But now that this is over I think we'll
be OK. Now we can get to the race and, for whatever reason it's
turning better on entry, so I hope that bodes well for the race."
***
MATT KENSETH -- No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion (Qualified 4th)
"At times
it feels like things are getting better, but some days it feels like
there's a big leap and we're running better, and other days -- like
most of the race at California -- we start off good but then by the
middle of the race we're running 25th again. So it seems like we're
learning and we're kind of hit-and-miss a little bit, but it seems
like the whole DeWalt team is getting better. That's a really good
lap for us in our Carhartt car and that will be a good place to start
Saturday because we know track position is gonna be important."
DID
YOU THINK YOU HAD THAT KIND OF LAP IN YOU AFTER PRACTICE? "No, but I
kind of told them what the car was doing and I got to the green well
and the car felt 100 percent better. After I got through one and two
I knew we were gonna have a good lap, but I was surprised it drove
that good. I don't even know what they did to it, to be honest with
you. I just told them what the car was doing and we worked on it
some, then we had to do the Nationwide deal with the way the schedule
worked out, so I didn't really talk to them before they set it up."
DOES QUALIFYING WELL HERE TRANSLATE TO RACING WELL? "It really
depends. There are so many things that can change in a race. If you
have a trouble-free day and you get a good pit position, and you can
stay up there and keep your track position all day, qualifying is
really important. If you have trouble before your first stop and you
go to the tail-end of the lead lap, then qualifying didn't mean a lot.
So it certainly helps these days. It is hard to pass and with the
speeds here, how fast we're going, and with this good asphalt, it's
difficult to pass here, so it does help to be up front."
ARE WE TOO
FAST HERE? "No. You can never go too fast, can you? I think it's
alright. I think the pace is gonna back up a little bit in the race.
Yeah, you're going fast right now qualifying, but if something happens
and you hit the wall at 190 or 188, I'm not so sure there's a huge
different to that. It's not like we're at a plate track, where the
cars are flying in the air. Yeah, they're going pretty fast right
now, but they feel good."
***
BILL ELLIOTT -- No. 21 Warriors in Pink Ford Fusion (Qualified 36th)
"We struggled from the time we started and we just never hit on
anything. The bad thing is just the way practice got all messed up
and then we were all messed up. We changed a lot of things right
before qualifying and we just never started out decently for whatever
reason. It just compounded our problem all the way up to qualifying.
I'm just glad we got it in the show. There are a lot of heavy hitters
here tonight and those are the things you have to fight. You just
have to keep digging and go from there, but this is a tough deal."
-credit: ford racing
