Dodge Bristol II qualifying notes

WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We had some things happen in practice that we didn't find until real late in practice. It wasn't really a productive practice. That qualifying lap was really our first decent lap all day with something that wasn't messing the race car up. We finished fifth here last time and we've got the same car. Hopefully we can have a little luck and get the car to handle pretty good."

DAVE BLANEY (No. 93 Amoco Ultimate Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"That was good enough to get in the race. We just haven't been very good all day. We made two or three runs with this car (after switching to backup), but we haven't been real good with either car. It got loose on me this morning in practice, and the same thing happened in qualifying with this car. We'll have to work on it from here."

JASON LEFFLER (No. 01 Cingular Wireless Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"That was really disappointing. Those were the best two laps I'd run all day, and it really felt faster than that. It was a tiny bit loose, but at least we're in the race this time."

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I never made a qualifying run in practice. That wasn't that good. We picked up from practice and everybody else slowed down. I wish we could have picked up a little more and got a front stretch pit, but we'll take it and go on from here."

STACY COMPTON (No. 92 Kodiak Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We just got too loose this morning and lost it. We'd been too loose ever since we got here. We hadn't run this backup car this year. The first laps on it were those two qualifying laps. We finished 11th here in the first race this year, and we were really looking forward to running under the lights here Saturday night. I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We were loose. I knew it was going to be loose. We've got to learn to make adjustments when the sun comes out. We had time. We were one of the last cars to go. We've just got to be smarter. It's been a long time since I've driven a red car. It was probably 1985 in Earl Sadler's car. I love red cars. That's all my cars used to be at home. It'll show up good under the lights. At least we've got a front stretch pit, so maybe we'll be able to work our way through traffic and have a shot at making it two in a row."

CASEY ATWOOD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"Track got a lot looser. I got into three and in the center of the corner it just came around on me. We'll know next time that the track gets a lot looser in qualifying and we'll adjust for it. We were 23rd in practice and we thought we could pick up a little bit, but the track changed so much we didn't adjust for it."

BUCKSHOT JONES (No. 44 Georgia Pacific Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I was holding my breath when Stacy Compton went out. Those were the best laps we'd had since we've been here, but it still wasn't exactly what we wanted and I wasn't sure it was going to be good enough to make the show. We got lucky this time, so we'll take it and try to have a good race."

-Dodge Motorsports