— Gary Densham on going red against Worsham in round one |
We had the better car today, it was the hot-shoe driver who was a smidgeon too quick on the trigger. 
“I didn't even want to race this weekend, but Eric wouldn't have wanted it any other way. This trophy is going straight to John Medlen, and I'm gonna’ have another one made for his mom.”— Ron Capps after downing number-one qualifier Cruz Pedregon in the final
“It seemed awfully empty without the Force cars here. And even when you look on the qualifying ladder the first thing you normally look at, and I think everybody does, is who's got a Force car and how they end up, who's got to run them and when you've got to run them. No matter where they qualify or what, those guys, they're the guys.”— Gary Scelzi on the sad absence of Force and his teammates at Houston
“You're not going to learn much spinning the tires at the top end, other than how to replace yet another motor after the run.”— Del Worsham on his team’s relatively conservative approach to qualifying after placing 7th for raceday
"We weren't being nuts, but we definitely had it hopped up just a little too much.”— Jeff Arend, who started 8th based on the strength of his first pass, on losing traction at half-track in his second qualifying attempt
“It did definitely hurt us only having two qualifiers due to the rain, but Saturday was a perfect example why every run has to be treated as the real thing—sometimes we just don't get the chance to put ourselves in better standing.”— Tommy Johnson Jr. on starting from the 13th position
“We're a top-five car sitting 14th right now and it's really not even that good because four great John Force cars aren't here this weekend.”— Jack Beckman after qualifying poorly, referring to the absence of not only Force and Medlen, but their teammates Robert Hight and Ashley Force
"That makes us happy anytime we beat the Pedregons. It makes me feel good because we've both been racing for a long time.”— Jim Dunn, car owner and crew chief for Tony Bartone, after scoring the upset in round one against Tony Pedregon
"It was making more power than we thought, obviously.”— Tim Wilkerson on losing traction off the hit in round one against Jim Head
“To beat him, I would have needed something like an .058 light, which is something I can do but that's a little quicker than what I'd call normal. I don't like to go up there trying to slay the tree, because that takes you out of your routine and you can end up beating yourself doing something stupid.”— Arend after losing a very tight race to Bob Gilbertson in round one on raceday
— Mike Ashley after leaving too soon in the second round against Head |
"It's really interesting when you get three team Funny Cars with three great crew chiefs and we all have access to everybody's information. The end result was that Ron's and my runs were pretty darned close. They had lane choice. They got after it a little bit more early in the run, we got after it a little bit later in the run, but the numbers read almost the same if you looked at the scoreboard—just 26 thousandths of a second apart.”— Beckman after losing a squeaker to teammate Capps in the opening round
"These guys have worked so hard, and haven't had a chance to get into the hype of going rounds on Sunday. As hard as they work all week, and all through qualifying, the payoff is the chance to win rounds, go a little nuts at the starting line, and then dive into the service work between rounds. That's the adrenaline rush that makes all the other stuff worthwhile. I'm glad they got to go three rounds.”— Del Worsham on making it to the semis against Capps after a disappointing start to his season with two DNQs in the first three races
“I'm just happy to be in a final round. It's been a tough year, but this is turning it around."— C. Pedregon remaining upbeat after falling short of Capps for the race win