Ford Teams Daytona 400 Qualifying Notes, Quotes

Mark Martin Wins the Pole at Daytona; Team Chevy Drivers Capture Six of Top-10 Starting Positions

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla (July 1, 2010) - Mark Martin powered his No. 5 CARQUEST/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet to the pole for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

It is the 50th time the veteran driver has won the pole in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and puts him eighth on the all-time list.

Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Wheaties FUEL Chevrolet, will start third in the 43-car field with Jeff Gordon, No. 24 PepsiMAX Chevrolet, in the fourth starting position to give Team Chevy three of the top-five starters in the 160-lap/400-mile race.

Trevor Bayne, Wood Brothers Racing Ford

Photo by: Ashley Dickerson, ASP Inc.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard Heritage/AMP Energy Chevrolet, will roll off in the sixth starting spot with Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Summer Salute Chevrolet in eighth place at the drop of the green flag.

Paul Menard, No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet, was 10th fastest to give Team Chevy six of the top-10 starters.

Trevor Bayne (Ford) and David Ragan (Ford) complete the top-five qualifiers.

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TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion

“It’s so hard to tell. Even just doing qualifying runs yesterday you still don’t know where you’re gonna stack up because it’s so hard to get a good, clean lap when the track is covered with cars. I thought we were gonna run a little bit faster lap time than that. Obviously, we’ll take it because it gets us in the race, but we expected some more so we’re a little bit disappointed. The main thing is we’re in the race. I know our Ford is gonna be really fast, just like it was at Talladega. This is the same car and I’ve just got to thank the engine shop. They’ve done a great job and always getting better every time we come to these tracks, so I’m optimistic and excited about tomorrow night’s race.”

ANDY LALLY – No. 71 Interstate Moving Services Ford Fusion

“This is the same car we ran at Talladega and we didn’t have it exactly right then, but with the little bit of down time the guys have had since then they’ve been massaging on this and it’s a testament to their hard work. I’m thrilled and proud about the effort these TRG Motorsports guys have put into this. It’s great for Interstate Moving Services to be a little further up the grid and for us we’re showing progress. This starts an important part of the season I’ve been looking forward to because almost every place we go to from here on out I’ve been to at least once, so I can look at my own notes instead of trying to interpret other peoples’ feelings on how to go about things. For the most part, we’ll be able to go back with the same car and that’s huge, so I’m looking forward to that.”

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TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion

SO THIS IS A BETTER CAR THAN FEBRUARY? “That’s what they always tell you. They always want you to think you’ve got a better car than you had before and you still want to go out there and win, but I’m starting to believe them. We qualified really well there, but I still wish we could get the one out of the Daytona museum here, but if they could build another one that is equal and they say it’s better, then I’m proud of them. It’s really fast. We’re on the pole right now, but most of the good cars are still left, so we’ll see what happens. Either way, I think it’s gonna hold up for a solid starting spot. We’re in on time now and we can just worry about the race.”

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GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion

ARE WE GOING TO SEE THE SAME KIND OF RACE OR WILL IT BE TWEAKED? “I think it’ll be tweaked a bit. I think it’ll be slightly different, but really the same old thing goes – it’s gonna be two-by-two, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I think the 3M Ford Fusion car was really good in practice. Even though it was a brief amount of practice, I think the car is driving well. We worked really well with Carl out there, so we’ll just wait and see what the race has to offer. It’s a long race and a lot of stuff can happen. We’ve run really good here, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

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CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion

“I think this is gonna work out perfectly for us. Greg Biffle is my partner for tomorrow night, and it looks like the 16 car will be starting right behind us. It’s gonna work out perfectly as far as qualifying is going. Obviously, we’d like to be up there in P1, but a Ford is still up there, so that’s good. We’ve got great cars. It’s a fun race tonight. We’ve got Subway on the cars both nights – breakfast sandwiches tonight and regular sandwiches tomorrow. We’re hoping to win that race for them tonight. We’ve got some Little League All-Stars here from Orange City, so it’s cool to have them here. It’s just a fun overall weekend. I’m glad we’ve got the points lead, so I don’t have to stress too much about this race. I can just go and have a good time. My team has been doing great. We’ve had some really good luck and we’ve had some great runs. When you come to a race track like this anything can happen. Everybody knows this is a track where you can lose a ton of points, so it’s nice to come here and not worry about it. We can just go out there and race and however it works out will be fine.”

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DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion

“It’s a very nice run. That just means that our guys did a little bit extra massaging on this thing. That’s what it’s all about on qualifying day here at Daytona. You have to have a car that can go through the air. The engine department has been doing a great job. It’s cool to see those two Fords up there on the front row. You don’t have to worry about a lot of the grip here at Daytona like you do the wind. I think the wind matter more so than the sun just because you’re already flat out. We’re not having to worry about lifting and getting back to the throttle like we do at the other race tracks, so the wind probably hurt us more than anything. I know it’s a little windy all over the track, but our UPS Ford is fast. We’ve got a good plan for Saturday night. We just need to be there at the end and try to win this thing.”

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DAVID GILLILAND – No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion

“Our main focus has been being able to push and our cooling system and everything. That’s worked for us the first two speedway races of the year, so that’s where our main focus is and being able to work and push well is gonna be the key to a great finish. We drafted with Tony out there yesterday and the cars had really good speed together. I feel like we’ve got a great car for the dance.”

DO YOU TALK WITH TONY TONIGHT AND COME UP WITH A PLAN FOR GETTING TOGETHER? “Yeah, we’ll get that all figured out. There are so many things that can happen in these races. Traditionally, it’s a little bit safer back there. There’s no perfect place to be on the race track, but traditionally it’s been a little bit safer back there, so we’ll make some decisions on what we’re gonna do. At Talladega we went from the back to the front two or three times together and we have confidence that our cars work really well together, so we’ll just make a plan and execute it tomorrow night.”

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AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion

YOU AND MARCOS QUALIFIED PRETTY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER. “We’ll be hooked up together. I don’t know what we’re gonna do. We’ve talked about kind of falling to the back and riding there, but we’re race car drivers and that’s tough to do, especially when you’re starting this close to the front. But it’s cool. I’m proud of everybody. We’re building better race cars. Doug Yates and everybody are building a lot more horsepower. All of the Fords are up near the front and when it comes to qualifying at this track, it’s all about good cars and good horsepower. We’ll keep working on it and pray to the racing gods that we get through everything tomorrow.”

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MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion

“We’re lined up pretty close and just about as good as anyone can. We’re actually even in the same lane, so I feel good about it. He’ll just drop back to me and we’ll get after it. I’m really proud of my DeWalt team. Todd Parrott cut the nose off this car about 10 days ago because he wasn’t happy with it. I’m just really proud of my guys and it was fun going out there last, so I’ll take it and look forward to the race.”