"I never saw him; it was real close. We struggled all weekend getting the car to run early. I know [crew chief] Mike (Green) and the guys made a lot of changes to get the car to try and perform better early, but it didn't respond and we lost by nine thousandths.” — Johnson Jr. on his oh-so-close semi-final loss to Eric Medlen

“Even though we didn’t win, I think we showed them something about this team and its heart.” — Medlen on the effort put forth by his own team members, team owner Force’s crew, teammate Robert Hight’s crew, and several other volunteers, including chassis builder

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Steve Plueger and Funny Car rival Tim Wilkerson, to put his car back together for at least an attempt in the final after he suffered a major engine explosion in the semis that ended with his car in the sand, the body severely damaged, and its chassis broken in four places

“It was the last round where I had to work the hardest to keep my focus and do my best. I was being told I had a single, but I went through something similar just last year in Chicago, but John (Force) jumped out of an outhouse and got me—so I knew better.” — T. Pedregon on the thrash to put Medlen’s car back together after its excursion to the sand trap in the semis

PRO STOCK

"The guys deserved this. If effort won trophies we'd have earned a bunch of them this year.” — Jeg Coughlin Jr. on ending a two-year winless drought with a final-round victory over a redlighting Tom Martino

“The parachutes didn't open and by the time I realized it, I was running out of racetrack. I tried to slow down and keep it straight, but we made it exciting for a few seconds. Stop by the pit area at 10 o'clock and see if we're still there." — Jason Line on ending up in the sand and seriously damaging his car after going a track record 6.677 seconds at 206.83 mph to qualify number one in Friday evening’s session

“The hard part is over, with the fun part beginning tomorrow.  The crew has done their job, and the car is ready—it’s time to let the clutch out and head to the finish line, making sure we get there first.” — Kurt Johnson after qualifying third

“This is as good a car as we’ve had all year. We can win this race with this car; I have no doubt about it.” — Jeg Coughlin Jr. with a particularly prescient statement after qualifying fifth

“I changed glasses, we revved the motor up, put in a new transmission, and put some clutch in it. All of this compounded the fact that we were going to have a better reaction time. We just ended up eleven thousandths too good.” — K. Johnson on going red in the semis after feeling the pressure of opponent Martino’s stellar lights in the previous two rounds

"I hate losing on a holeshot. But when someone straps a light like that on you, there isn't too much you can do about it.” — Erica Enders on the .005 light by Tom Martino that led to a win over her in round one

"He was living right today.” — Mike Thomas on Mark Pawuk’s perfect .000 reaction that led to a holeshot win over Thomas in the opening round