“I’m glad I’m in the playoffs this year and have an opportunity to see how far we can go. We just need to get the best results every week and make no mistakes and see where we end up. I think with everybody all-in, hopefully we can come out of nowhere and really make some noise throughout the next 10 races. We just need to do the best we possibly can, give a lot of effort and put a lot of time into it. If we do all of that I think we’ll get our best result and I’ll be happy with it.”
Kasey Kahne on making the playoffs
“Anything is possible. I know that everyone is really going to start pushing it next week and I hope our group is leading the pack when it comes to performance and the things that we need to do. Now is the time of the year to get in the right direction if we are going to do it. So, we will see.”
Chase Elliott on beginning the playoffs
"I feel like we have been talking about our summer slump a lot lately, but I am confident going into these next 10 races that the ‘slump’ is over. No one steps up to the challenge better than my No. 48 Lowe’s team. I’m looking forward to Chicago, we had a great test there and I’ve always wanted to give (No. 48 team crew chief) Chad (Knaus) a win at his home track.”
Jimmie Johnson on racing at Chicagoland
“We should’ve run well all year and gotten ourselves into the playoffs for all of our fans. I’m proud of how we did last weekend and I hope we can continue to run like that the rest of the year. Chicago should be a good track for us. One of our teammates went out there and tested, so we’ve got some information that we can look at. (No. 88 team crew chief) Greg (Ives) is going to be back. T-Mack (Travis Mack, served as interim crew chief last week at Richmond) is still there as a car chief. I told all my guys at the end of the race last week that this is the team that Greg needs underneath of him to be successful. All of these guys stepped up a little bit and we need to be that way all year long. We should be able to do this going forward, at least that’s what I think we’re capable of, so we’re going to keep working hard for these last 10 races.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on entering the final stretch of the season