Tony Stewart will start his No. 20 Home Depot Monte Carlo SS in the fifth position with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, No. 12 FedEx Freight Monte Carlo SS starting along side.
Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Reese's/GM Goodwrench Monte Carlo SS, will start seventh giving Chevy four of the top-10 starting positions.
Bobby Labonte (Dodge) and Matt Kennseth (Ford) will start third and fourth respectively.
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 25 GMAC Monte Carlo SS - Qualified 20th:
"We made only one run on new tires in practice. We weren't really worried about it. We were good on old tires. We still need to be a little bit better. That is probably the best Cup qualifying car I have ever had here. I have qualified good in a Busch car here but never really able to find it in a Cup car. Our car is really good getting in the corner and good getting off, just a little tight in the center."
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., No. 8 Budweiser Monte Carlo SS - Qualified 40th:
"We can still get a good car for the race tomorrow night. With the lucky dog deal, you really don't have to run that hard to stay on the lead lap. We are going to have to start in the back. But we have some work to do, we don't have a good enough car to get to the front. It isn't showing any signs of having a car that will run in the top-10, so we have some work to do.
It is the same car we had here in the spring, but something else isn't the same, we just have to figure out what it is."
TONY STEWART, No 20 Home Depot Monte Carlo SS - Qualified 5th:
"This car has always been good here. It is a lot warmer here this time. It was 50 degrees and snowing here in the spring. I am a lot happier when it is warm here. It seems to separate everybody a little more. I hope it stays like this. I like it when it is hot and slick just like this. The drivers have to work a little bit harder. It is a crew chief challenge to make the adjustments from the spring to now in the 90s. It is definitely going to make it a challenge for all of us tomorrow night.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 48 Lowe's Monte Carlo SS- Qualified 18th:
"It is pretty slick out there and I got a little loose and jumped up off the corner and cost us a tenth of a second. It is a little hard to recognize exactly where it is out there. On a bigger track, you can recognize it a little easier, but on a short track, especially here, it is tough to know where you are off. It doesn't take much to put yourself off the mark."
JEFF GREEN, No. 66 CERTAIN TEED / BEST BUY MONTE CARLO SS - Qualified 16th:
"That was a pretty good lap. I'm pretty happy with that. The car was a little loose getting in, but it was good through the center and off. We had a good finish the last time we were here, so we're hoping for good things this time around as well. We started a lot farther back last time, so maybe a better starting spot will translate into a better finish, too."
JEFF BURTON, No. 31 Cingular Monte Carlo SS - Qualified 2nd
"These guys are doing a great job with the Cingular Chevrolet. Unfortunately, I got us too tight. I asked to tighten it up a little bit but I got it just a little to tight. It hauled butt in one and two but it just got tight in three and four. It is a good lap, I hate getting beat by that little bit, but we will take it.
ON COMING BACK AND HAVING A GOOD WEEKEND AFTER DISAPPOINTMENT AT MICHIGAN:
"It is imperative, it is absoutely imperative."
MEDIA CENTER PRESS CONFERENCE:
"It was a pretty good lap but we were just a little too tight. We went really fast in one and two but were too tight in three and four. It is my fault, in practice we just got a little too lose. I really thought the track would free up, I didn't think it would tighten up here based on the weather. But it did tighten up, but we really lost a lot of speed in three and four. But good run for us and hopefully we can take advantage of it."
ON IMPORTANCE OF QUALIFYING WELL HERE:
"This track is certainly one of the most volatle tracks we go to as far as stuff happening, getting in to a wreck that you didn't cause, causing a wreck, things like that. Things go wrong here pretty easy and we understand that. And at the same time, we come here to do a job. We didn't execute last week but that stuff happens. I am really proud of what we have done so far -- although we haven't reached our goals yet. I think this is a very important race for everybody who is racing to get in to the Chase. Hopefully we can come out of it in good shape. All we can do is go out and do our job. Race hard, race smart, the same thing we do every week. We aren't going to change anything that we do, we are going to keep doing what we do. That is what got us to this point and that is what will get us to the next point."
