"We didn't have a lot of data on this track, and the track itself was green. That's why we get four passes to work on it. It just took us a pass longer than we would have liked."— Melanie Troxel after qualifying 11th, on not getting into the top 16 until her third attempt
“Doug has some great lights, but even that is kind of out there. As far as I'm concerned, it kind of falls under the bad-luck category; he really pulled one out of the hat."— Troxel on her first holeshot loss this season due to Doug Kalitta’s .038 reaction against her in round two
"His reaction times are right on the mark and despite a hot track and slick conditions he's been able to keep the car in the groove. You can't ask any more from a driver than that."— Lee Beard, crew chief for Rod Fuller, after they secured the number-one starting position with a 4.551 at 328.30 mph
“This one’s special. Any time you deal with these elements, this weather and these conditions, and any time you can beat the Big Dog in the final, that's a good weekend.”— Tony Pedregon on beating former boss John Force to earn his 32nd career win and third event title this year
"Unfortunately, I heard something funny in the engine as I backed up from the burnout, and by the time I staged I knew it was sick. I went ahead and hit the throttle, which might not have been the perfectly smart thing to do, but lifted almost immediately. Had I left my foot in it another half-second, we would have blown it up pretty well.”— Del Worsham on his third qualifying attempt on Saturday afternoon
“It was so smooth and happy until it dropped a hole, and unfortunately, that's all you can get out of a seven-cylinder car.”— Tim Wilkerson after his 4.996 final qualifying attempt wasn’t good enough to keep him from being bumped out of the raceday show
“That was a great run, but we can't use that info until the later rounds. We've got to be on top of our game in the early rounds and then you'll see some good times in the later rounds on Sunday."— Tommy Johnson Jr. after qualifying 3rd in Saturday’s last session, referring to eliminations beginning in the heat of the day at Gateway, but lasting into the cooler evening hours
"We've been fighting ignition problems. Too much timing, not enough timing, in late, just kept doing everything it wasn't supposed to be doing. So, last run we changed engines, the complete wiring harness, all the ignition, all the MSD boxes, everything. And it finally acted like it was supposed to and it ran what it was supposed to run.”— Gary Scelzi on being outside the field going into the final qualifying round, but breaking in to start from the 8th position
