“All those years of driving for Paul (Smith) made me what I am today, and I've used a lot of it to keep from hurting cars needlessly, to leave first most of the time, and all sorts of things that help the team win and perform. In this case, it's on me for being too careful. If I could do it over, I'd have jumped right back on it. I don't know if we would've caught him, and I don't know if it would have just smoked the tires, or blown up, or been perfectly fine, but we would have had a better chance. I'll make this one up to the guys, and I told them that."— Arend after a close loss, on his history with tight-budgeted Paul Smith influencing his hesitation in entering a pedal-fest with number-one qualifier Robert Hight in the opening round
“I thought maybe it shook, but when I looked at my computer data, it told me that we just plain overpowered the track. We were just trying a little too hard again.”— Wilkerson after losing traction against Capps in round two
“We had a flat tire against Robert in round two. That’s not normal.”— Medlen after losing to teammate Hight in the second round
“I was real surprised. I don't think my brain even said go. My foot was down, and it was already past the tree, and I saw the red light, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God.’ In that moment
between pre-stage and stage for a driver, no matter what class, you're in the utmost concentration. I didn't have any lack of concentration; it just felt like another round. Next thing I know, my foot was down, and away you go. I let my guys down.”— Capps on suffering his career-first redlight start in the semis against Hight
“I was getting ready to stage and it showed 40 pounds of oil pressure and I’m like, ‘Oh, this isn’t good.’ But what’re you gonna’ do? Then, when I did the burnout, there were sparks and I said to myself, ‘I hope this thing doesn’t come apart.’ When I hit the throttle, the thing turned sideways. It put four cylinders out on one side all at once. What happened was that one of our switches malfunctioned and the slide valve didn’t return any fuel back to the tank. All the fuel was going to the motor all at once.”— Hight on getting out of shape and having to shut down early in the final against T. Pedregon
"Anytime you can qualify well, set a national record, and win the race with the two quickest cars in the class going at it in the final, I'd say it's a great weekend. The fans sure got their money's worth.”— T. Pedregon summing up an almost perfect weekend
PRO STOCK
“For the final, we just concentrated on doing the best we could. Fortunately, I did my part behind the wheel, and we ended up in the winner's circle. It was just a great day in the desert."— Kurt Johnson after riding a holeshot to a final-round win over Jason Line
"It (the car) was great in low gear, but rough after that and in the middle, but the numbers don't lie. The numbers say it was a good run.”— Line on going a track-record 6.635 to earn his 12th career number-one starting position
