AGR NOTES - MEIJER 300 QUALIFIYING NOTES

Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone "It is really unfortunate that the Motorola car is starting in the last row. We were running well in both practice sessions and then something broke causing us to hit the wall. We decided not to qualify. It's not ideal, but it gives the guys more time to get the back-up car ready for tomorrow. It is going to be a challenge getting through traffic, but I'm confident in my team and looking forward to the race."

Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone "I don't think our qualifying run was strong enough today but it is a long race so I'm not worried. We had the misfortune of totaling a car here last week during a test with Rafa (Matos) and that cost us a lot. Unfortunately this Team 7-Eleven car doesn't have all the nice pieces we need for a superspeedway so we're just hanging in there right now."

Marco Andretti, #26 Meijer Dallara/Honda/Firestone "My run was quite easy because there wasn't a lot more to go from a downforce standpoint. Unfortunately we just didn't have the speed today in qualifying. I'm confident that the Meijer car will do the tow as it showed today in practice. It will do a good time and we know we have a good race car."

Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream Dallara/Honda/Firestone "The Formula Dream car has been very consistent and easy to handle this weekend so I am very happy with the car. I wish my time was a little faster and I hope I will be able to stay close to the front. I won the Firestone Indy Lights Series race here last year so I hope the race tomorrow will be as good as last year."

Raphael Matos, #27 AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing Dallara/Firestone "It's very important to start up front at this track because it's so difficult to pass. We tested here a couple weeks ago and we had great speed. It feels so good to put everything together and get the pole. I was a little bit concerned because we went out so early, but the entire AFS/Andretti Green team worked so hard all day. It feels so good to bring the boys the pole."

Arie Luyendyk Jr., #26 Targus/AGR/AFS Dallara/Firestone "The Targus/AGR/AFS car has been a pleasure driving this weekend but we just didn't have enough to get my teammate. We could end up defending each other until the end of the race, though. I know our car is very strong so I hope I have a good performance tomorrow and win the race."

Franck Montagny, #26 XM Satellite Radio Acura "This is really good for the team. I think we've been able to learn from each other over the past races, which helped us get to this point. This is a great improvement for us and hopefully we'll get the XM Acura a good result tomorrow. We've got to work hard between now and tomorrow in order to get a better finish than we did in the past two races. (ON SETTING A NEW LMP2 QUALIFYING RECORD): I think Acura did a great job improving the car. It just shows how hard they have been working to give us good equipment. Now we need to get them a good result in the race."