Austin Prock: 'I felt pretty confident going that we were going to have the car to beat'
Paul Lee: 'It’s going to be great just to see our friends and the fans'
Jack Beckman: 'I don’t know if anyone wants to get back more than me'
Tim Wilkerson: 'I don’t think they’re ready for my attitude. It’s gonna be fun'
Kenny Delco: 'We were fast, we qualified fourth at Pomona and Phoenix'
Steve Torrence: 'You’ve got to come out and swing for every one of ’em'
Cristian Cuadra: 'I think I’m doing well, but I have a lot of room to improve'
Tommy Johnson Jr.: 'I’ve not wanted to win a championship more than this year'
Brittany Force: 'We’re ready for all this to be over so we get back to what we love'
Robert Hight: 'I can’t wait to get back and try to defend our championship'
Alex Laughlin: 'All we have to do is shove the car back in the trailer, and we are ready to go racing'
Shawn Langdon: 'I’m trying to stay as fresh as I can so we can be ready to go'
Chris McGaha: 'We’ve come up with some new ideas and we’ve beaten on some things'
J.R. Todd: 'I have all the confidence that we will be in contention when it counts'
Clay Millican: 'I can’t wait to stomp on that loud pedal ... it’s been way too long'
Bob Tasca III: 'Trust me, this Motorcraft car is going to have its day in the sun'
Antron Brown: 'I’ve been doing everything I can; I’m gonna come back hungry and ready'
Jason Line: 'It doesn’t matter what track we start with, the cars will all be ready to go when we get the call'
Fernando Cuadra Jr: 'We’re applying many of the things we learned from the first two races'
John Force: 'I’ll be ready. I know the car. I could drive it with my eyes closed'
Rahn Tobler maps out plans and goals for the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car team
Leah Pruett: 'This is not the time to test or play; it’s time to run with what we know'
Ron Capps: 'It’s going to feel crazy the first time any of us steps on the gas for the first time'
Doug Kalitta: 'We’re all just really hungry and ready to make it happen'
Bo Butner: 'I feel like when we all come back racing we’ll be stronger than ever!'
Jeg Coughlin Jr: 'It’s time to go. Every round will be as important as the last'
Matt Hartford: 'We have a car that can run for the championship—bar none'
Alexis DeJoria: 'I just hope that everybody makes it back to the track safely'
Justin Ashley: 'Having a break like this really puts things in perspective'
Erica Enders: 'Our great start proves the organization’s hard work is paying off'
Paul Lee: 'It’s going to be great just to see our friends and the fans'
PAUL LEE | Global Electronic Technology Dodge Charger
Current points position: Tied for 10th | Best season e.t. to date: 3.898
Early-season report card: In his debut with new sponsor Global Electronic Technology, Lee and crew chiefs Jim Oberhofer and Donnie Bender qualified an impressive sixth but backfired the blower while leading Alexis DeJoria in round one. In Phoenix, the team qualified just No. 13 with a 4.25 but made his best pass of the year on Sunday with a 3.89 in a losing effort to eventual race winner Tommy Johnson Jr.
Looking back: “We were trying to run 3.84 or 3.85 in that first round in Pomona, and it was on a career-best pass when it blew. We were winning the race and pulling away and it broke an intake valve; just a freak thing. We didn’t qualify well in Phoenix and just got outrun in the first round.”
Looking ahead: Even though we lost first round both races, we’re still No. 10 [in points] so it’ll be nice to go out there and just do like the old way without the Countdown. I’m more excited about that than anything, so I can go just go race at not worry about making the Countdown. If we do good, we’ll just keep racing. For a small team like us, having to only make two qualifying runs, it’s going to allow us to make more races. We didn’t plan on racing all the races but now –- depending on what the schedule looks like and, with the two-day races, we’re going to be able to afford to race more -– we’ll do as many as we can do.
Shop talk: “We run out of the DSR shop, which was closed for a while, but Donnie had been working on stuff in his home shop and he got the body fixed that we hurt in Pomona. At home. I’m actually busy with McLeod and FTI. It’s pretty much business as usual; sales have been really good. McLeod is mostly in the street market and people are buying parts for their projects because they’re cooped up at home and working on their cars while they›re quarantined and FTI is mostly the bracket racing crowd and those guys started racing already, so we’ve been pretty fortunate.”
The final word: “I’m happy with the car and our team and car wants to run 3.85, so whenever we get back out there, we’re ready to race. We’re looking forward to getting back to racing and not just the racing part. It’s going to be great just to see our friends and the fans. We’re excited to go back.”