"The thought of both of us missing the show here was like a block of lead sitting on my shoulders in there. It was kind of hard to breathe. But, my guys gave me a lap I could work with, which was quite an accomplishment out there, and I just focused on the finish line and got it there. I was still nervous until I heard the time.”— Jeff Arend on watching teammate Worsham bow out just before securing the 16th starting spot with his fourth and final qualifying attempt
“You go through a series of emotions when something like that happens. First frustration, then disappointment, and then acceptance. It happens to every team, and it never gets
easy. These are mechanical pieces of equipment and you have to face the reality that this kind of thing happens.”— Mike Ashley on his car’s clutch breaking after the burnout for round one, preventing it from going into reverse and forcing him to idle down the track and forfeit the round to Tim Wilkerson
"The car went out there and kind of surprised me when it smoked the tire and got away from me and got her too sideways and tried to get it to recover, but I got over by the wall and it just was an animal. I couldn't get it to respond. And when I finally got it to go, it blew the tires off again, and we lost by .0095 of a second.”— Gary Scelzi on coming up just a little short of Gary Densham after a first-round pedaling contest
“I really felt bad that I got over in Gilbertson’s lane, because he and I are friends.”— Ashley Force after taking out the top-end cones in her first-round match against Bob Gilbertson
“The starter wouldn't come off. We started the car and I could watch Motel 6 Vision. I saw Force backing up. I know he was watching the screen as well. He could tell that we couldn't get the starter off the car because the camera was on him. So, about the time we finally got it off they were about to send a guy over to tell us It was too late. I got on the radio and said, ‘Drop the body, get out of the way.’ I rolled up and did a quick little burnout, got back. With the amount of respect you have for those teams you don't want to hold them up. We would have shut it off had we waited too long but I was surprised. I got back, we lifted the body, Ace did his adjustments, lowered the body and I was right in behind Force lighting the pre-stage light. So, I flipped the pumps on, went right in and the car just got out there and jumped sideways and I thought I would cross the centerline. I did everything I could to keep it in our lane. I was surprised because I could hear Force's headers right out my side as we were going along. I didn't know he was kind of having the same problems. I pulled the parachutes and he went flying by, and I said, ‘Oh, boy, it must have been close.’ I turned the corner and the camera guys came my way. So, that was a good thing.”— Ron Capps on his first-round win over John Force
“I saw his nose, then he disappeared, then he came back. I thought I won, but got all confused down there at the end.”— Force on his view of the race against Capps
“It was interesting. I don't want to say it was fun, but it was pretty exciting out there.”— Beckman after losing a pedaling match against Eric Medlen in the first round
