KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 McDonald's Dodge Charger) -- 3rd

"Kenny Francis made some good adjustments, and the track was in better shape
than it was in practice. The car felt awesome. I've sat on poles before with
that type of feeling. Jeff Burton just put down a killer lap today.
Everything felt really good. The McDonald's Dodge Charger was good. They made
some good adjustments. It was better than practice, and the track conditions
were almost perfect. It felt like a top five. I was hoping we could have been
first, but Jeff Burton put down an awesome lap.

"I think we'll be ready to race Sunday. The team has done an awesome job, and
we're ready to go fast. I think with no problems we should be able to run up
front, and hopefully we'll be in position to get another victory. A lot of
things have to go right, but we'll see how it shakes out. The team has been
working really hard and preparing great cars. They've put a lot of effort and
dedication into what they do. We've been working well together and it seems
like we get better every race.

"I feel like I've made some strides, and hopefully that will help us in the
long run. We've been on a roll all season long, and hopefully we can keep it
going and get in The Chase. After that it's anybody's race. I love being in
the car as much as possible, and running The Busch car is just more seat
time. I don't feel like it'll help me a lot for Sunday's race, but it can't
hurt, either."

***

BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 Cheerios Most Popular Driver Charger)

"The guys made some adjustments between practice and qualifying. We picked it
up a little bit, and obviously the track is cooling down a little, too. We
got a lucky draw, and hopefully we're going to have a good racecar for
Sunday. We've got to practice the Busch car, but if we make it, I'm going to
throw out the first pitch at the Sox game.

"All in all the guys did a great job today. I feel real good about the car.
We've run it about all year long. I might have got a little smarter as the
day went along, and we got a little better lap out of the car in qualifying.
We're finding our groove. Hopefully we can keep plugging along and get
better. We're knocking on some doors. We're working hard to get there, and
we're going to get there. We've got to get our car handling good for Sunday.
The grip is going to go away, so we've got to get it handling.

"Qualifying like this is great for the team. If you go back to the hotel
tonight and you've qualified 35th, it doesn't matter how good the car is.
You're still 35th. Hopefully the guys will come in tomorrow morning, geared
up and feeling good. It is a good momentum builder. We've been pretty good,
and I think we're knocking on some doors. We've just got to put it all
together. It's just now half over, so it's looking good."

***

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)

"It was interesting coming from the Busch car over to the Cup car. I drove
the Miller Lite Dodge like a Cup car, but it was like I was a little anxious
in the center of the corner being a little loose. One lap and that was all it
was going to be. We'll see where we stack. I don't think it was all that
special going out first, but we'll see where we fall in. I don't think it
hurt us, but on the mental aspect I think it did hurt a little bit."

COMMENT ON RECENT STRING OF FOUR STRAIGHT TOP 10 FINISHES "It's a good
feeling. There's still more work to be done, and I think this is a good track
to test our ability. The mile and a half tracks are where you have to be
successful if you want to win a Nextel Cup Championship."

***

KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Wells Fargo Dodge Charger)

"We had a little bit of a pickup, and that was good. The guys worked hard
getting the car ready to qualify. We went through three setups in practice,
and we were basically just doing race stuff. I had to pick up a little for
them today. I couldn't lose anything this time."

***

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

"The guys on this Valvoline Dodge did a good job of making changes. The car
was a little loose getting in the corner and tight in the center and off.
They made some adjustments and kept a cool head. Going out early is going to
hurt us for sure, but it'll give us a good idea of what our changes did and
give us a good jump for tomorrow. We'll probably end up about 15th. The team
thinks it'll be better, but I'll stick with 15th. We've already got a pole.
Now we need to win a race."

***

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Mobil 1/Alltel Dodge Charger)

"It was a good improvement from practice so that was a good thing. We'll have
to see what we need to do to this Mobil 1 Dodge to make it faster in race
trim and be competitive all weekend. We picked up almost three tenths from
practice, so we made some gains. Only getting one qualifying run hurt us a
little bit, but being where we are halfway through is pretty good I guess.
Hopefully we'll get a top 10 starting spot, lead a bunch of laps and win this
race. The track is pretty good. It's got a few bumps here and there, and
that's good. It gives it character. In general I think we'll see a pretty
good race with the track widening out. It's really a fun-shaped race track. I
look forward to the race. We're looking from the outside in instead of the
inside out right now. We'll have to see. I know we have the potential to be
in The Chase and run better. It's just a matter of making it happen. This
will be a good opportunity for us, based on the size of this race track where
we've struggled in the past to know if we've turned things around or not."

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