NASCAR Cup

Texas: Ford teams qualifying quotes

CARL EDWARDS -- No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion (Qualified 37th) "We won from 30th last fall and we didn't want to do that, but I think the Roush-Yates engines just make too much power. It was loose. I was spinning the tires. I told my guys, ...

Published: Apr 8, 2006, 4:49 AM

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CARL EDWARDS -- No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion (Qualified 37th)

"We won from 30th last fall and we didn't want to do that, but I think the Roush-Yates engines just make too much power. It was loose. I was spinning the tires. I told my guys, 'That's all I could do.' We're all in this together. We're gonna go out and hopefully have a great race on Sunday. I think that Henkel car -- I put it in the fence yesterday in qualifying and I wasn't about to do that again, so I took it easy."

CAN YOU WIN HERE AGAIN? "Absolutely we can win here again. We've got a great Office Depot team. I think our qualifying effort is gonna be about the same as it was in the fall. Hopefully we're 30th. We're just too loose, but that looseness is something we'll be looking for on race day, so I'm excited about Sunday. I'm glad I didn't wreck the car, so now we'll just move on."

***

GREG BIFFLE -- No. 16 National Guard/Subway Ford Fusion (Qualified 5th)

"I tell you what, these guys did a great job on the Subway car. I just had to have some courage and some faith in my race car there and I just drove off into turn one. I really drove it down in there and got back to the gas early. I just sat there and focused in my mind on pit road what I needed to do to get it in the show here. We weren't that great, but I really laid one down there. It's hard to hold your breath that long, but I was able to do it."

HOW FUN WAS THAT? "I'm still shaking a little bit. The car wasn't that good and I only got one qualifying run and the guys worked really hard on the Subway car. I was just thinking down at the end of pit road about what I needed to do to be solidly in the show. I drove it down in there and just hoped it was gonna stick. When I pushed the throttle down it started shoving the nose in the middle of the corner down here and I had to breathe it for a minute, but it was a really, really good lap. I'm glad I don't have to do that again for a while."

HOW DOES THE FUSION COMPARE TO THE TAURUS AT A TRACK LIKE THIS? "There's no doubt in my mind that the Fusion is a better car. We're still learning ins and outs about it, but we know it's a better car and we're starting to figure it out."

***

MARK MARTIN -- No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion (Qualified 3rd)

WHAT WAS PAT YELLING TO YOU ON THE RADIO? "He didn't want me to wreck it. After qualifying that good it's a really bad deal to wreck on the second lap, so I was laughing at him when I came in because instead of giving me my lap time like usual he just blurted out, 'That's second,' going into turn one. I was done anyway. I felt pretty good about my lap. The AAA Fusion is really good in qualifying trim. We still have a couple of hours tomorrow to get it really wired in. We did a little race trim, but we've still got a little work to do to get it ready for 500 miles."

YOU WERE TALKING TO BRUTON SMITH. ARE YOU TRYING TO PUMP UP THAT DEALERSHIP IN ARKANSAS? "We've got sell these Fusions and those F-150s."

HOW WOULD IT BE TO BE THE FIRST TWO-TIME WINNER HERE? "It would be really cool. We were pretty close last time here and had a great battle with Carl Edwards. We've just got such a great team together this year and our AAA Fusion has just been working good. We're off to the best start I've ever had. Maybe this is the Cinderella year for us."

***

MATT KENSETH -- No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion (Qualified 6th)

"That was really good, especially after I saw what Kasey ran because there was no way I could have ran what he ran. I felt like we could have run second or third if I would have hit it perfect, but that's a good lap."

-ford racing-

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