"The track is tricky and everybody's performances are off. The top qualifier today wouldn't have made the field in Columbus. These are totally different conditions than we've had before.”— Mike Ashley on the effect 90-plus degree temperatures had on the track in Friday’s qualifying sessions
“This place is just anemic. There's no air here, and you can tell by the rest of the times. Were all thinking there's something that's not there, but that doesn't make me feel any better.”— Tim Wilkerson on the challenging conditions after finishing in the 15th position with a 4.99 on Friday night
"For a 4.91, that was actually a pretty hairy ride. It was dancing the front end and tough to steer, but luckily for me it was going straight so you just keep your foot down and hold on. I know these are ancient history numbers, and we're probably going to slow down tomorrow if we have to run in the sunshine twice, but it's not bad racing. There's a lot to be said for having the whole field bunched up and making it hard to run big super numbers. What it does is tighten the competition and take away the advantage some of the big boys have. If the racing is loud, close, and exciting, the fans love it and that's what counts.”— Phil Burkart Jr. after placing 10th on Friday, on the hidden advantage of less-than-ideal racing conditions
"This track has so many bumps in it that the car just chatters all the way down the race track. The left lane is worse in the beginning. After the first 60 feet both lanes are pretty equal. It's getting the car to go 60 feet without unloading and getting the driveshaft fast and controlling the power. It's going to be a day from hell tomorrow."— Gary Scelzi after securing the 8th qualifying slot
"It is what it is, and we're not going to cry about it.”— Worsham on ending his 97 consecutive events qualifying streak with a DNQ at Topeka
“We made a good run, it just wasn't good enough.”— Tommy Johnson Jr. after falling to Whit Bazemore in the opening round
"Instead of slipping the tires and getting the drive shaft speed up, the tires just stuck and that pulled the motor way down. We never got the snap back in the motor after that, because it was just trying to labor through the slow start. Basically, without getting the tires to slip we couldn't create enough snap, which means we didn't have any momentum and we had a dog on our hands."— Burkart after his first-round loss to Scott Kalitta
“I don't thing we are snake bit, we are just working through some problems that every team has.”— Eric Medlen on the engine explosion he experienced in the second round while leading Tony Pedregon that cost him the round, 10 points, and a $1,000 fine under the NHRA’s oil-down policy
"The Matco Tools Dodge got a little loose in the middle and moved around some and that certainly scrubbed off a little ET—whether it was eight thousandths (of a second), I don't know."— Bazemore on the margin of victory his teammate Capps posted in their round-two match up
"I'm not upset.”— Gary Scelzi on seeing improvements in his team despite a round-two loss to Robert Hight
It's hard to complain about getting to the semifinals … I like the fact that we got down the track and we didn't beat ourselves.”— Hight after losing a close one to Capps in the semis
"At 300 or 400 feet I had to pedal it a little and that made us throw a belt.”— John Force explaining what went wrong in the final against Capps
“I don't know what happened to him, but my car vibrated, moved next to the wall and I thought, ‘Baby, just stay in here, stay in here, don't pull the tires loose.’ And my win light was on down there. I couldn't believe it. (I'm) Just shaking my head in disbelief."— Capps on what went on in his lane for the final