FUNNY CAR

“The first lap was pretty much of a mess, for nearly everyone. It was very hot, very humid, and the track was particularly loose from 660-feet on. Only the fact that John Force made a full pull kept me from thinking it was impossible to do, or at least improbable.” -- Del Worsham after Friday’s first round of qualifying

“It’s really cool to do this for the first time with my dad on Father’s Day weekend. To have him working side-by-side with me and to drive the car he tunes is just tremendous. It’s great to give him a Father’s Day present like this.” -- Eric Medlen on earning his career-first number-one qualifying position

“We put our lucky tires on the car, the same ones that got us in the show in Topeka, and it worked out great.” -- Jeff Arend after qualifying in the 10th spot for raceday

“It’s a great opportunity. They’re a tough team. It’s an opportunity for us to go out and put more ground between them than we would otherwise be able to do.” -- Whit Bazemore, points leader heading into the E-town race, on facing second-in-points Worsham in the opening round of eliminations

“Running each other makes quick work of it, and we’ll all know after round one who is going to be leaving here in first place.” -- Worsham on the ramifications of his first-round pairing with Bazemore

“Several of the cars before us were having trouble in the left lane so I think lane choice was definitely a factor. John (Force) and I both had decent reaction times and we were a little faster to the 60-foot but the car just didn’t stick.” -- Arend on his first-round loss to Force

“It was real tricky out there; it’s strange. I was very impressed with John’s (Force) 316-mph run. I don’t quite understand how you go about running that today.” -- Tim Wilkerson commenting on Force’s win over Arend

“I wanted to do my part for this race crew and I did this time.” -- Tommy Johnson Jr. on his holeshot win over Medlen in the opening round

“Something went wrong with one of our timers and one of them didn’t go off at the right time. In this game, as tight as the competition in the Funny Car class is, it could cost you a tenth of-a-second, which out here is like a mile.” -- Ron Capps on falling victim to Wilkerson in round one

“It’s certainly not the championship at this point, but it was an important round to win. We overpowered the race track after half track and they came around us and they won. It’s frustrating, but it’s racing.” -- Bazemore on losing to Worsham in round one