"We're going to put this oildown situation behind us. We're not even trying to make up points for that. We're just trying to win races." -- Whit Bazemore on the oildown penalties he received at the previous race in Bristol, TN, that bumped him from 4th to 6th in the points

"It's disappointing but understandable. It's a new team, working with a new tire, a new car and new people so it's going to take a little time to get used to. With every run we're learning something and the more runs we make the quicker we can figure it out. Paul Smith is a smart guy and he'll get a handle on it, it just takes a little while to sort out."
-- Jeff Arend after going up in smoke in each of the four qualifying sessions and missing the race

"It was one of those runs that everything just went right." -- Tony Pedregon on his 4.765-second pass at 329.83 mph in the second qualifying session that set an unofficial top-speed record for the nitro floppers

"It's disheartening, but we've had to back up a little bit. We can run 330 mph. I'm not going to worry about it." -- Gary Scelzi, the current national speed record holder (329.18 mph), on Pedregon's accomplishment

"The injector plates held open and the engine was idling really high which builds temperature in the clutch, causing it to drop a cylinder." -- T. Pedregon explaining what went wrong in his first-round match against Bob Gilbertson

"We can't quite get everything lined up at once. Once we get me driving right and the car running right, it's going to be big." -- Tommy Johnson Jr. on recent improvements in his team's performance, but after dropping his first-round match against Jerry Toliver

"It was nice to see the car run so well on the first pass with the new setup. I didn't see Whit until half-track." -- Ron Capps on his first-round loss to Bazemore

"These machines are absolute living and breathing monsters, and when any one little tiny thing goes wrong, you can do something simple like smoke the tires or you can blow it up big time. It's just the way it is, and no one is immune to it. That's why we wear these fire suits." -- Del Worsham on the engine explosion in round two that seriously damaged his new Monte Carlo body

"We gave her a little too much motor and a little too much clutch, and like all weekend long, she did just what we told her to. This was one time we would have liked her to have

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a mind of her own, but instead she had to obey us." -- Wilkerson on his semi-final loss to Bazemore

"It looks like the clutch was really aggressive. It got hot. We were up there running for a lot longer than we normally do. And for whatever reason it was just really aggressive when he stepped on the gas and it smoked the tires. We tried backing it down from the prior runs today just to be safe, to make sure we got off the starting line, because I didn't feel the left lane was quite as good as the right lane. But for whatever reason we just had a hiccup in the clutch and it was just too aggressive and came loose." -- Mike Neff, crew chief for Scelzi, on their final-round loss

"It was as close as you can get to having a great day without getting there." -- Gary Scelzi on losing to teammate Bazemore in the final

"All the conditions are a challenge for you. I don't think I'm really a specialist at hot tracks or cold tracks. The thing about the Funny Car is it has a very narrow window for error; you have to tip-toe under conditions like we had today in those later rounds where we had 125-, 130-degree track temperatures." -- Lee Beard, crew chief for Bazemore, on what it took to win at Atlanta Dragway

"To win here twice is unbelievable. This is the place where I saw my first drag race, where all my dreams started. It's emotional. The points are the same and the money's the same, but some races mean more than others to the people involved and Atlanta means a lot to me." -- Bazemore on backing up his 2002 win at "Georgia's House of Speed"