ALEX BARRON (#51 Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara/Toyota/Firestone): (About qualifying time and conditions): “We were a little slow, but we backed up what we thought we were going to do, within half of a mile an hour. We hit the gearing right. Conditions changed some from what they were this morning.” (About his setup): “We have focused mainly on qualifying during practice, so we knew kind of what we had coming into today.”

DARREN MANNING (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz/Toyota/Firestone):  (About conditions): “(With) these cold conditions, there’s a lot of downforce and a lot of horsepower. These are pretty good conditions and pretty stable.” (About starting position): “This race is so long. Anything can happen from anywhere on the grid.”

(About his run): “This was the best I could do at the moment with the downforce level that we have on the car. This was the first time I’ve been in the car since the accident on Thursday, so I just wanted to make sure I had a good, confident car underneath me – something that wasn’t going to put me in the wall again. I know we’ve got a bit of downforce we can take out of the car to go a little bit faster. So, we’ll just see if we need it. We’ve got two more attempts also if we need it. We were quite lucky to go out pretty early on. We can definitely get one or two more runs in that. This morning in the practice session, it took me a while to get up to speed, just getting back up to speed in qualifying trim. So we know we’ve got a lot of downforce to take out of the car. Maybe not as much as what Ryan (Briscoe) did. I think 2 mile an hour later on this afternoon might be something to go for.”

(About going out after the accident): “Going through Turn 2 this morning, it took me a while to put my foot to the floor through there, I’ll tell you. That SAFER wall is definitely not soft. Whatever anybody tells you, it’s not soft, but it’s safe, so that’s good.” (About going out to qualify again): “I know there’s more time in the car. I know there’s a couple more miles per hour. We’ve got to sit down with Chip and the engineers. The only way to go faster for me now is to take downforce out of the car, and that’s obviously risky, given what Ryan’s just done. I’m in the show now, I think, pretty much guaranteed, I would say, in the top 22. So, is it going to be worth while taking another 2 mph to get two places further up the grid? We’ll have to wait ‘til the line’s gone through once.”

SAM HORNISH JR. (#6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone): “We were not really happy with our run, but we’re glad to be back out there. It wasn’t very good. It wasn’t what we’d thought it could be. The weather has changed a little bit, and the wind’s picked up. It’s turned just a little bit. We were obviously much quicker on our fast lap. We ran around 226.6. I don’t know why we slowed down quite as much as we did. It’s a pretty big deal to pull a car out of the field. You never know. You could pull the car out and it could rain or hit the wall. We’re going to see where we’re at. We know we don’t have to be on the pole or in the first two rows to win this race. You just have to be patient and have a good-handling race car. We’ll just go out there and do the best we can. We’ll just have to make sure our race car is good. That’s about all we can do.”

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA (#36 Newman Haas Racing Team Centrix Panoz/Honda/Firestone): “I’m happy. I knew that was the speeds that the car could do. We worked on the car a little. We ran really consistent laps. Maybe not the fastest position that we wanted, but we’re going to be ready for the race. I think the cooler track makes it really fast. It’s windy, but my car is good handling-wise, so we were flat all the way around for four laps. We tested race setup most of the week. We were going to go for the qualifying setup Friday, but we didn’t get much because of the rain. We didn’t have that great of qualifying knowledge, and that’s why we’re not that fast.” (About the new qualifying format): “I think it’s going to be a lot more exciting for the fans. With the rain yesterday and qualifying for three days, it’s going to be very exciting. Especially next weekend.”

SCOTT SHARP (#8 Delphi Panoz/Honda/Firestone): “The cold air makes more downforce, but more drag on the car, so it’s pretty impressive. Really, unless the conditions change, I don’t see why we’d come back out. Historically, later in the day, sometimes the winds do die down, the sun peeks out and warms the track up a little bit. If we have a little window of being faster, unless that happens, I wouldn’t see us coming back out. We’ve all seen what other guys have done, we all saw the speeds this morning, a lot of those guys got those times by drafting. Everyone knows, pretty much, what they can do, and I think only if someone is a surprising amount off, maybe then they’ll come back out. The run that we’re running, the speeds that we’re running, the car’s pretty edgy. It’s a bit of a handful, so I don’t think people are dying to do that again.”

TONY KANAAN (#11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “We had a chance to try the car this morning, and I liked it. We made a couple adjustments to pick up more downforce so we’d have more grip around the track. I’m pleased with my run. I think I pushed too hard too soon, but I’m pleased with the run. I don’t know if it’s going to be good enough to sit on the pole. I’m going for the pole, but you have to be realistic. I think the first two rows would be good.” (About new qualifying format): “I like it. It makes it exciting. I have two more chances right now. The car is running good, and I could go out two more times and go quicker.”

TOMAS ENGE (#2 ROCKSTAR Panther Racing Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone): “We found some small things to improve on the car this morning. Overall, I’m happy with the run, and happy for the guys. Now we can just focus preparing for the race.” (On the Chevy engine): “They have made a great improvement from last year. The engine is very strong and we are very happy to be with Chevy.” (On having veteran teammates): “They are great to work with. It helps us to improve our car even more. Buddy and Tomas are very knowledgeable. I try to gain as much information from them as possible.”

KOSUKE MATSUURA (#55 Panasonic ARTA Panoz/Honda/Firestone): “I was pretty happy. This time, this is what we were expecting. We expected the same time. Low 226 (mph), which is not bad. I think we can be second or third row. My teammate Scott (Sharp), Tony (Kanaan), and Danica (Patrick)—those guys a little bit faster than me. I think we did our best. I don’t think will go back to the track in a little while. We are done today.” (Is there more speed in car?): “I don’t think we can have any speed.” (About his second year): “Of course, every race is getting comfortable and comfortable. The second time at the Indy 500 race is a lot comfortable. Very comfortable to get up speed. This year, the track surface is different. It is just a different drive, but the racetrack is good.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (#37 Newman Haas Racing Team Centrix Panoz/Honda/Firestone): “This morning, we were faster than that, and we were a bit faster than Bruno (Junqueira) pretty much the whole time. I definitely said that the Centrix car #37 was going to put 25.8 or 25.7 as Bruno (Junqueira) did. We are going to be in the show. It is the most important thing for the Centrix car, but it is always disappointing when you don’t know why you are not fast enough.”

(About qualifying effort): “It was flat all away around. Not much I can do. The Centrix car was good. It was just lacking some speed. Bruno Junqueira had a better package. Now we are in the show I think, hopefully.” (About weather): “It was very cold, so it gives you a bit more downforce. I don’t know quite what to say about all of that. I thought we were going to be a lot faster than that, but we are in the show.” (Are you satisfied?): “I am not satisfied with the speed. The Centrix car is in the field. I did five laps in a row. We took even more downforce out of the car than Bruno did, so I don’t really feel that we had anything left on the racetrack. We worked very hard on the race setup, and the Centrix car is pretty good. We were really able to follow nose to tail, and we will see if it is good enough. We spent three days on race setup and nothing on the qualifying setup, so we were not expecting to be on the pole.”

TOMAS SCHECKTER (#4 Pennzoil Panther Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone): “It’s good enough as long as we’re in the field, but I’m not satisfied. Sometimes you go out on a hot and windy day, and you post some unbelievable times. Sometimes you go out on another day, and it just doesn’t come. Before we were a lot stronger. I expected a little bit more, but we’ll take what we can get. We don’t know why we didn’t go as quick. We’ll have a look at it. I’d like to maybe have another go at it, but I’m not sure. The Chevy’s done a great job. I’m a little disappointed with my time, but that’s the way it goes. I have to thank everybody at Panther, Pennzoil, and Chevrolet. They’ve worked very hard. Hopefully, we can be sort of stuck in the field and not have to worry about it and just concentrate on the race car.” (Regarding new qualifying procedure): “It is great pressure. You’re taking time off, so you’ve got the potential to go worse. And that’s the risk you’ve got to take. It’s the gamble you take.”

(About Danica Patrick): “My sense is she’s very comfortable. She’s got her head screwed on straight. I think she can do well. She’s got a great package and good people around her. I think she’s going to be on top of it.”

ROGER YASUKAWA (#24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “I thought it was going to take about 223 mph to be in the field, and we ran 224 mph so I am happy about that. Now we can focus on getting a setup for the race.” (About the track): “Indy is definitely my favorite track. I finished 10th both in 2003 and 2004, so I am hunting for a better finish than 10th this year.” (About the month): “Our week didn’t start off as well as we had hoped because we didn’t get to run much before qualifying. We just worked to get into the top 22, and hopefully we have accomplished that today. I have to thank Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for giving me this opportunity to run again at the Indianapolis 500.”

PATRICK CARPENTIER (#83 Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara/Toyota/Firestone): “We still have all week. It was such a tough week for us, tough year so far. We’ve got no speed, but it was a joy to drive. I love this place and the track. The car was pretty much perfect. No push, no loose, just need a little bit more power. We need to bring the thing a little bit more forward. I was flat out the four laps, and that is all we can do.”

(About confidence of staying in top 22): “No, I am not confident that it is good enough to keep me there. I know this is what we got. It is the fastest we’ve done this week by ourselves. It’s not very much, but we will leave it there. We are going to start preparing for the race. In the race, everything evens out. If we have a good car, we can keep it flat out around the track. We stand a chance, and that’s all we’re going to do.” (If he can get anymore speed): “Man, we’ve done everything, and even at one point, I didn’t even have to turn the steering wheel in the corner to go around, so you cannot do much more than that. The car was as free it could be, and that’s it. Power is key. It is a long track, two and a half miles and to push this thing in the wind you need some ground.” (On if he will qualify again today): “For us, we are not going to go back out there. The speed was pretty much it. We tried everything on the car. We even raced it really hard, and it is still going flat out around the track and gained .4 miles per hour. The wheels are straight. There is nothing else we can do. There’s nothing left on the car. We’ll go racing, and hopefully in the race everything will even out and we’ll be able to race with these guys.”

(On not being able to get more speed): “It is unusual. It is the first time in my career. It is very difficult, but that is the way it is. I knew it coming here. I was hoping we could make it a little bit better, and I am still hoping we can make it a little bit better. We are going to keep working very hard, and maybe one of these days maybe we’ll go back up to the front. If you stop working, then there’s no point doing it. Every time I go back, I’m hoping that we find a solution and find something and get a little bit here and there. I think we are going to get back to the front. If we get back on those tighter tracks, maybe we’ll start going out and the team will start getting a bit excited and try to get the wheel going. It is very difficult to do at this time, especially for the 500.”

DANICA PATRICK (#16 Rahal Letterman Racing Argent Pioneer Panoz/Honda/ Firestone): (About making another attempt): “We’re going to have to decide whether or not anyone goes any faster. Wheter or not it’s worth sacrificing a front row start or not. But I don’t know. I want to be on pole, so it is tough; it’s tough to decide.” (About the first lap of qualifying): “Just oversteer, the balance is a little bit off. Just got loose and almost spun. I was not expecting to turn right on my qualifying attempt. It’s a good car, but the balance is just one lap off. We’ll have to adjust that and work on it. But it was frustrating from me as I really wanted the pole.” (Did you know how fast you were going during those laps?): “Actually, no, I didn’t know how fast I was going. I had lap times set on my (steering) wheel rather than the speed for the first time on my dash. So I was just doing my best to keep my foot as far to the floor as I could and be smooth.”(What has been the Indy experience so far?): “I’m trying to stay focused, keep my head down and stay on the job. It means a lot that so many people are being supportive.”

RICHIE HEARN (#70 Meijer/Coca-Cola Racing Special Panoz/Chevrolet/Firestone): “We’re pretty low on the speed chart, so we’ll have to see whether or not I survive the day. I’m pretty disappointed in how I ran. I ran faster earlier in the week with full tanks, and I just don’t know why. No one on our team knows why we lost so much speed. We’re going to wait and see if we need to go back out. I’ll only go back out if I get bumped. I don’t even really know what I’d do. It wasn’t like I had a problem to fix. I mean the thing is trimmed out, and I just don’t think I can go any faster than what we did, so we’ll see.” (About Chevy’s improvement): “They’ve run well this year. I know they haven’t had the finishes that they’ve wanted, but they’ve had some good runs. They qualified on the pole at Motegi, and a lot of guys are running really good here, just not us, so we’re going to have to figure out why we’re not and put together a good race car.”

BRYAN HERTA (#7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (Will you go out again?) “I don’t know. If it’s up to me, we will.” (About the run): “It’s obviously a little disappointing, or a lot disappointing, but for some reason this month, we really haven’t ever really been able to get the speed out of the XM Satellite Radio car that we were hoping for. So we’re still searching for it. I didn’t have any particular problems during my run. Obviously, it just wasn’t quite as fast as Tony’s. So, at this point, we’ll probably have to evaluate what we’re going to do. I wouldn’t mind taking another shot at it. The team has to evaluate it and see where we’re going to go. We need to get the track open for practice a bit. We need to make a couple runs, make some adjustments and try to find some speed. We didn’t have a big imbalance in the car or anything that I know we could just put a turn of front wing in and go back out and go faster. So, we’d really have to probably put a whole new set up on and go out and try and see if we can find any more speed that way and that would require some practice time.” (Why are so many drivers disappointed with their runs?): “I don’t think we’ve had so many cars on the track at one time all month as we had this morning because obviously there was a short session, and we had a day off and the track conditions were a lot different. So, everybody was trying to maximize their track time, and the more cars you put on this track, the more draft there is even if there’s five cars on the backstraight. It seems like the wind just swirls and creates more speed.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (#3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone): Had a slip-up on the second lap, otherwise we’d be in the second spot right now. You know you can’t get greedy. It could always be much worse so we are happy.” (You always seem to do well here): “When you respect this place, even when you know you are in good shape, you receive respect back. Suddenly it is a mutual thing here.” (About making another attempt at the pole?): “We’re close right now. I don’t think we can get more out of it the way the weather is right now, the way the weather is changing. We’re very surprised at the times. I know what happened during the last lap. Had a little trouble and unfortunately had to lift. That’s why our average was a little lower than we expected. I believe if we can keep this position we’re not going to go out.” (About Danica Patrick): “It’s all about history. When I was (trying) win my third one, but unfortunately, didn’t make it happen. A lot of people get into it an!d give me a lot of support because of history. Come on, it would be phenomenal, a woman getting a pole position. I know my buddy (Tony Kanaan) would be very upset. I don’t want to destroy that, but that would be great and I’ve said too much.”

DAN WHELDON (#26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (About the run): “Since the start of the month, we just lost a lot of speed, and we have no idea why. Extremely disappointing. The Indy 500 is way too special for me to sit on a time like that, so, yeah, I’ll be back out. We need to do whatever we’ve got to do to try to go quicker because that’s an extremely disappointing speed for the team and for the engine manufacturer. The organization that I’m in and having the partnership with Honda, you’d certainly expect more. We have no idea, to tell you the truth, why we’re so slow. It’s extremely disappointing. The Indianapolis 500 means a great deal to me and to put in that performance is unbelievable. The guys are working hard. I feel bad for them because they’ve been working left and right. We started out the month with a very fast car, and it’s the same car, the same everything.” (Will you go back out?)  “The Indy 500 is way too special for me to sit on a time like that.

I love this place and I think I can drive around here quickly, and that’s not the case right now. My laps were pretty much flat out, but we’re just not getting any speeds on the car. Obviously, you’ve got another couple of attempts to beat it, but I think they just wanted a time in the bank just in case anything happened. Although it’s pretty dismal, it is what it is, and we can go out again and try to work on that. I’m normally pretty confident that they can work out what it is, but I don’t think anybody really knows why we’re so slow. If this was the old format, I can guarantee you I would have waved off after about the first warmup lap. I think it’s going to make the field a little bit more competitive because more people can have more attempts, and there’s perhaps not the risk factor that there was the last time. I personally believe you’ve got to stick with the history and tradition of the Indy 500. That’s what makes this race so special, and I personally don’t agree with some of the changes that they’ve made. I really liked it the way it was. I think what you will see is some really close competition, like I’m going to go out again. People are not going sit on their times like they perhaps would have done before. Certainly for me, the pole is pretty special. I mean. this is the 500…The Indy 500 means a lot more to me than the championship. I’m desperate to win it, and I’d love to have my face on that trophy one day. Judging by today’s performance, I’m not gonna get the pole, so we’ll have to work on race stuff.”

BUDDY LAZIER (#95 Panther/Jonathan Byrd’s/ESPN 950 AM Dallara/Chevrolet/ Firestone): “The wind caught me once in Turn 2. I circled 227 mph as a target but didn’t get it. For the conditions, it was a good run. I hate to get greedy, but I wanted a little bit more. The conditions really have a lot to do with it. This is really a rocket ship of a race car. We have a great engineer, Andy Brown, and a great race team. Come Race Day, I think were going to be tough.

(About taking another shot at qualifying?): “We need to talk about that. We wanted to get our cars in (qualified), then sit back to see what the conditions change to. Humidity is a big factor. If it goes way down, then the speeds are going to go way up. I think the whole Panther team has cars that are potential front-row cars, so if the conditions are right, we may go for it. It’s up to the team owner. It’s kind of fun, it puts a whole new twist in it. With yesterday being rained out, it’s 22 cars qualifying vs. 11 cars. It’s neat to be able to re-enter a car that has already qualified.” (The Byrds are back. You’re back. Things seem to be going pretty well. How does it feel?): “It feels wonderful. I feel like I’m in the best shape in my life. I just love this place. I love Indy car racing. The big payday is just two weeks away, and we’re doing a lot of work this week in practice for Race Day. It’s all about the 500 miles. But the pole is pretty exciting, too.”

VITOR MEIRA (#17 Rahal Letterman Menards Johns Manville Panoz/Honda/Firestone):  (About qualifying attempt): “We actually had a very very slight leak, which got a just a touch worse during the attempt.” (What was the problem that pushed you back?): “It was a leak that was nothing. It would have been fine, maybe but we didn’t want to take any chances here. We decided to solve everything and come back again.” (Do you like this different way of qualifying?): “Yes, I like it. Right now I like it. If I was on pole, I would have to say a big NO. We get another chance if we decide to. The weather is changing again. The wind is going to change. So we have to look into it. It all depends on the forecast.”

ADRIÁN FERNÁNDEZ (#5 Investment Properties Of America Panoz/Honda/Firestone): “It went better than I thought; I didn’t think we’d get 225 (mph). We just didn’t have enough time on the car this year. With a new car and a new team, it’s just tough. It takes time. We couldn’t catch (teammates) Kosuke (Matsuura) or Scott (Sharp) in that respect. We’re satisfied. We’re solid on the grid, and I don’t think there will be a problem if we bump out, so we’ll just focus on the month and try to have a strong car. It feels very good to be back in a race car. It feels very positive. Very positive after being in Mexico, in the NASCAR car. It’s like, ‘Whoa, this thing is fast!’ I think we’re fine in the field, though. I don’t think we want to go back out. We don’t want to risk, maybe crashing the car. Unless the conditions change a lot. We know we don’t have a shot at the pole, so we don’t want to be in the position of maybe putting the car in the wall. It’s not really worth it. We’ve got the car on the grid, so we’re just going to focus on the race and watch for who gets the pole.”

SAM HORNISH JR. (#6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone): (About new qualifying format): “I am liking it a little bit better than the old one. We knew we had good car. We just missed a little bit on whatever the first qualifying run we did, gearing or whatever it happened to be. We are just really happy with what we just got out of the car right there. Hopefully, it will be good enough to keep it for the first two rows. There are still quite a few of guys that could go and be fast. I don’t think we will be going out there and trying that again. I don’t know if we are going to take our third attempt.” (About decision to re-qualify): “We were just looking at it. We were like, ‘If we can get up to 226.5 mph average, that is going to move us up to, I think at that time, it was inside the top six or fifth.’ That is a big amount for what we had to gain. We had a lot to gain, and we only had a little bit of time that we really needed to get up there. It was a lot of reward !that we had to get and not much as far as risk.

After our first run, we were like, ‘We may be out there running again.’ We wanted to make sure that it was not raining. It actually brightened up for a little bit. We were like, ‘Hey, this is going to be good for us, we’re going to get out there and get some practice in.’ These guys just did an awesome job at getting the car turned around and everything. From the time we came in off the track to the time we went out, I don’t know, like five or six minutes for our qualifying run. I was fresh in the car and ready to go.” (About his last two laps being slower): “I think the wind started picking up a little bit, and we got too much push. We knew that we were going to get some push, but we wanted to go back out there and run. It looks like it could rain right now, we wanted to make sure that we got back out on the track and got that run. We knew that it might not be the optimum and might not be the pole run, but we can go out there an!d qualify ourselves up quite a bit.”

SCOTT DIXON (#9T Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz/Toyota/Firestone): “It is not bad. We just took a bit of the front grip out of the car just to make sure we could make a good run. It was a little bit too far. We had quite a bit of understeer. We ended up going all the way to the left on the weight jack(er) and a lot stiffer on the rear. It was bad just to get the thing to steer on the last couple laps. At least it was a good, solid effort. The guys have been struggling big time this couple of weeks, so it was good to get it in for Team Target.” (About his year): “I don’t know. You seem to go up and down, up and down. It seems like we are right on the fence. They’re making the car pretty good; then it is not so good. I can definitely see that we are trying.” (About qualifying): “It’s not quite what we were expecting this morning. It was a little bit of a tailspin. We had a lot of understeer and couldn’t even go around the track flat.”

(About team’s preparations after first attempt): “I think most of the time, it’s getting a little more confidence after you have a loose car or if you crash to that extent. You sort of go back a couple of steps and make sure that the car has got some understeer in it, and then start working forward again. That’s what we had to do. It doesn’t take too long. It’s a little hard out there when there are people jumping in line and the track is closing again and things like that. It takes a little bit of time. We were trimming out again and trying to jump a few more spots and we sort of sent ourselves in another tailspin. We just started being conservative and put a car in there considering we do not have a ‘T’ car.” (About struggling lately): “I think if we could point things out, then it would probably make things a lot more easier and we should know what to fix. We are trying everything. All of us are definitely putting it on the line as you can see with the occasional crashes that we do have. It is not something that we like to do, but we are working as hard as we can. There might be a couple key things to get on top of and move ahead, but we don’t know what exactly it is at the moment.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (#3T Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone): “Obviously, I’m not happy with the result, at least I can sleep nice tonight. I had to try. When we did a (practice) run, we did like 227 (mph) and then 228 (mph) all of a sudden. I said, ‘I think we’re gonna be close, but hey, it’s worth a shot.’ Suddenly, I tried and I was a little disappointed, obviously, but I would not sleep tonight if I had not tried. Roger (Penske) came to see me and said, ‘What do you want to do?’ Right there in the middle of the signing thing! He said, ‘It’s your decision.’ Great! It’s my decision! So, I said, ‘Hey, I want to try. I have to try.’ That was a good decision. We only lost one position, so it’s not going to hurt. I tell you they say drama is in NASCAR, I guess drama is here. I mean, this is drama.”

(Are you happy with the result?): “With the result? I don’t think so, but I’m happy with me. No doubt about it, it was a tough call and at the last minute. I guess it makes i!t fun for the fans, but whew, thank God we made it. Qualifying is one thing, and the race is another thing. Now it’s over. The first race is over. Let’s put it this way and now we’re going to focus on the real deal.” (Was the T-car in line as insurance?): “Exactly. Makes sure that if something happened during our run, not a crash, but just like a wiggle or a lift-off or a problem, we wanted to make sure that everything is covered, and that’s why it took so long to go out there. Thank God we didn’t need that.” (What would it mean to win number three?): “If we believe in numbers, so far everything works to myself. I turned 30, my car is number 3, and I’m going for my third. So hopefully, it’s gonna happen.”

JEFF BUCKNUM (#44 Investment Properties Of America Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “We just needed to get in that top 22, so we could just take this next week and concentrate on the race car. I guess it made it pretty exciting to have yesterday washed out and not get any practice time for me, which I only had one day (of practice) before this. And that is just a testament to the crew and the Honda engines, which clearly have an advantage. But now that we are in, we’re in, and that is it. We will get to concentrate this next week on the race car, which, to be honest with you, that was pretty much race trim right there doing 221 (mph) no problem. We already have a good race car.” (About possibility of getting bumped on Day 4:) “No, this isn’t the most cars ever trying to qualify for the Indy 500 this year. There’s only so many cars that are going to try, and there’s just a few that have the speed that we have with the Hondas.”

(About getting into field): “It is super satisfying I have to say. I knew that we would be in this field. Coming in at the last minute like that was a little nervous for me. Although, it didn’t really hit me at first because I didn’t realize how close the time was at first. We’d just done a practice time that was actually right around where we were qualifying at. I just had to keep reminding myself that it is just another four practice laps, just keep that in my mind. Fortunately, it went really good and we just had a setup and turned out the car just enough to get in that top 22.” (About difficulty with past week): “It made it really easy, I guess. I was listening to Sebastien Bourdais say, ‘Man, we got a break yesterday’ from the rain. I’m thinking: ‘What are you talking about? I got breaks all the time.’ It was very comforting with the team, even with the sitting around. Dennis Reinbold and Robbie Buhl obviously have been here just so many times. The engineers, Ben (Bretzman), all the guys in the crew, all the way down the board. !

I’m not even just saying this. They knew how to just talk to me, keep me at ease, and say: ‘We are going to be in the field. If it happens today, great. If it doesn’t, we have got next week. We are going to be in there.’ That was our approach the whole way. At the end there, once you are sitting there and you know that you are going to be the last car out there, you can’t help to get a few butterflies. Once you rolled onto the track, as soon as you launched the car up there and got on the track, now you’re just driving.”

DARIO FRANCHITTI (#27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (On decision to withdraw and try again) “Our gamble paid off. Not a lot but we did move up one spot on the pole. Really, that was all the car had. I went flat out. The run before we made one change and made it a little bit worse. Glad we managed to make that last run. Pretty stressful, you hang out on the edge during qualifying. To do that for two and a half times, I’m ready for bed tonight.” (This format where you can go right back out and try it again is great fun for the fans. But I would think for the racer would be would be a great deal of stress?): “The first time I heard about it this is the exact scenario that ran through my head. Then it turns out that way. We took our full allotment run, and we didn’t quite have enough for Tony (Kanaan) or whoever might be up against us on the pole.” (How about having your teammate Tony Kanaan get the pole?): “I think he’s buying dinner for everyone tonight. I’m happy for him, an! d he deserves it!” (About day): “This morning the car was very quick. We went out, the first lap wasn’t particularly quick, and then we had a fuel pressure issue, basically we lost all the fuel pressure, so we had to cancel that run. So we came back in, did a bit of practice, and again, the car felt very good. We made one change, went back out and that made the car a little bit too nervous.

It was scrubbing speed. So, we came back in. I wasn’t too happy, but I was going to take it. Then, I see Michael (Andretti) and Kevin (Savoree) and Kyle (Moyer) and all those guys huddled in the corner, and the next thing the car is headed down pit lane. OK, I guess we’re going for another one! By that point, Brian Barnhart was leading the car and he said, ‘I know.’ It was the third time I’ve seen him today…The car was good. I think we got the most out of it. I’m reasonably happy. It’s a good place to start.” (How did you like getting three shots to qualify today?): “I didn’t. I think it’s really good for the fans. It’s exciting. When they talked about this new format, in my head, I’m thinking, I could picture myself, 6 o’clock, Pole Day, going on my third run and sure enough.

For me, we improved. I think it’s a better system. I think it does make for more excitement.” (About the car): “It’s high pressure because the car is absolutely on the edge. It’s risky. To do it once is hard enough, but to do it three times, it takes a lot out of you, let’s put it that way. You have to be inch-perfect. You can run around here and do a half-reasonable lap time, but to be quick you have to be absolutely inch-perfect. One small mistake, and you’re going to be in the wall.”