DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 AAA Insurance Ford Fusion (qualified 6th) – “This has been a good place for us – Talladega and Daytona have been good for us. It’s just a testimony to how good the guys back at the shop work. Our engine department, our chassis shop and the fab shop – they really do a good job preparing these race cars, and certainly we have to go out there and hold the lead a little bit, it makes our job a lot easier when we’ve got good cars with good speed. So, I’ve been very fortunate to have good stuff here at Daytona and Talladega. It shows again; we’ve got a good car for the Coke Zero 400. I’m excited about qualifying, but even more excited about the race tomorrow night.”
MORE ON HIS LAP. “We’ve got a great AAA Ford Fusion. I’m excited about this thing for Saturday night. We’ve got a car that drives good, it’s fast, good speed. You know, qualifying is just a bonus here. We can move up, we can pass when they drop the green flag . But we’re happy to be down here at Daytona. It’s a good track, and we need to get some points back, and we might as well try to win one of these things.”
BORIS SAID – No. 60 No Fear/Advance Auto Parts Ford Fusion (qualified 7th) – THERE ARE NO RAIN CLOUDS THIS YEAR. (SAID WAS THE FASTEST QUALIFIER LAST YEAR, BUT DIDN’T MAKE THE RACE WHEN THE SESSION WAS WASHED OUT WITH JUST A FEW DRIVERS STILL SCHEDULED TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT.) “No. They were hovering all around today and I was so nervous about it. Thank goodness we got in and got a chance to qualify. We’ve been snake-bit so much by weather with oue small team, you know, it’s just the bad luck of Mother Nature. We always perform, we’ve got great cars. Our relationship with Roush Fenway is priceless, and Frankie Stoddard, this is his deal is qualifying. I just sit in the seat and don’t so much in qualifying here, but I’m really proud to be driving here.”
YOU MENTIONED THAT THIS IS A SMALL TEAM. YOU DON’T RUN A FULL SCHEDULE, SO CAN YOU PUT IN PERSPECTIVE THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING RACES WHEN YOU DO ATTEMPT TO QUALIFY AT A TRACK? “It’s huge. At Infineon, it was such a disappointment on lap five to have an o-ring go on your master cylinder and lose all the front brakes, and when you don’t get to race every weekend – we’re only doing eight races this year – it’s heartbreaking, especially at a race track where you have a chance of winning. So, to make this race, it’s a big race. A few years ago when we sat on the pole and finished fourth, I tell everybody that was my 10 minutes of fame, and I’m hungry to relive that again.”
TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 28 Ford Drive one Ford Fusion (qualified 11th) – “That’s okay. I mean, we definitely didn’t put any emphasis on trying to get the pole. An impound race, obviously, I’m more concerned on how the car is going to drive tomorrow night in race trim. So, there are a few things you need to do to make the car drive better for 400 miles than to make it go good for one lap. So, we’re pretty happy with that. If we settle in at 15, that’s kind of what we were shooting for, and it looks like we’ve got a shot at that. Overall, the car drives good and we’re proud to have the Drive one paint scheme on again, and we’re just looking forward to Saturday night.”
MATT KENSETH – No. 17 R&L Carriers Ford Fusion (qualified 19th) – “Without practicing qualifying stuff, you don’t have any idea what you’re going to do – you pretty much work on the race, so I’m happy that we had that much speed in it.”
JON WOOD – No. 21 Air Force Ford Fusion (qualified 22nd) – ON THE 21 MAKING THE RACE AFTER IT DIDN’T MAKE IT IN FEBRUARY. “As much as I’d like to claim the credit for what the difference was and why we made it, it really was a matter of preparation. There were no mistakes this weekend, and we were able capitalize on that. It was a good car in February, but due to circumstances, it never showed up. So, at least we did what we needed to do here, and that was make the race.”
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 freecreditreport.com Ford Fusion (qualified 27th) – “We didn’t make one single qualifying run yesterday, we really just based everything off of race trim. With this being an impound race, with people having to qualify in, they can really do more stuff to go for the pole. So, we’re really, really happy with our freecreditreport.com Ford Fusion in race trim. We’ve got it driving really good. We’re really excited and looking forward to Saturday.”