“I really don't know if it's a big benefit. We've been running it trying to see if there's any magic in it and it really doesn't seem that there is. There is supposed to be this magic in that cylinders stay the same and blah, blah, blah. Well we're still chasing the idle all over the place. We have a lot of family and friends and LRS guests coming to Joliet this weekend and we'd really like to run good for them, so I have to decide what we're going to do."—Tim Wilkerson before the race, on the setback blower he first used in competition at the previous event in Dallas

"We're looking okay, but it's not over. If I had done my job, we'd already have clinched."—John Force on leading the points chase, but referring to his three red-light disqualifications this season

“Waiting to get in the show on the last run is getting to be normal for this team.”—Arend after going 4.854 seconds at a career-best 320.36 mph to qualify 14th in the quickest Funny Car field in NHRA history

“Well, we absolutely have a fast car and we plan on running it well tomorrow. The problem is everyone else. When the bump is 4.86, who do you want to run? Everyone's fast!"—Worsham on qualifying second with a 4.730-second pass at 328.54 mph, both career bests for him

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"I definitely didn't expect that. That was a jaw-dropper and it just goes to show that all of us a re being out-classed by John Force right now, no question about it. They have flexed their muscles, and I'm telling you, they're on another planet. That was just incredible.”—Scelzi expressing genuine awe after Force became the first flopper pilot in the .60s with a 4.697 pass at 332.75 mph to qualify number one

“Congratulations to Force and his team for being the first to run in the 4.60s. It was something that we all wanted to do, quite honestly, and conditions were certainly there for it. For us it's kind of frustrating that we weren't in a position to contend for that today. We had bigger problems and bigger challenges to get our car to go down the race track without hurting itself and go quick enough to qualify.”—Bazemore comparing Force’s efforts to his own after qualifying 12th at Chicago

“The car picked up the front end out there a little before the 330-ft. mark. It picked the nose up and carried the front wheels for about a half of a second. When it came down it darted a little bit. I dragged it back over in the groove, but it caused it to black-track a little bit, and there wasn't really anything I could do about it because the front tires were about six inches off the ground.”—Johnny Gray on his first-round loss to Cruz Pedregon

"We don't get embarrassed here at the Matco Tools team, we get frustrated and disappointed."—Bazemore on losing a very close race to Gary Densham in round one

“We had a good lead off the starting line and the car shook the tires. I pedaled it and it hooked up and made a pretty good run, but just not good enough to beat a 4.76.”  -- Johnson Jr. on the 4.867 he posted in the opening round of eliminations against Worsham

"I don't have any answers. I don't have a magic wand to know what to do to fix it."  -- Scelzi on striking the tires right off the start in his first-round match against Toliver

“We don’t have anything to be ashamed of.”—Tony Pedregon after losing in the second round to former teammate Force

“As good as I felt about beating Whit (Bazemore) in the first round, that's how bad I felt losing to Cruz (Pedregon) in the second."—Densham on his early exit from eliminations