Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Qualified: 8th
ALEX ZANARDI
I had the same problem as I did yesterday with the gearbox [when he hit the wall at turn five]. When I downshift, the transmission locks up on me. I’m unhappy, because there was more left in the car. It’s a bad deal.

	Marlboro Penske Mercedes Qualified: 16th
AL UNSER, Jr.
Today’s qualifying session was not what we had hoped for. Every time I had a fast lap going, I encountered traffic, so I was unable to significantly improve my position on the starting grid. We should have a good setup on the Marlboro Penske Mercedes for the race tomorrow--Andre (Ribeiro) and I ran a very similar setup today, and he was able to qualify in the top 10.

	Marlboro Penske Mercedes Qualified: 10th
ANDRE RIBEIRO
We did a very intense program this morning with both cars going in different directions. It turned out Al’s setup was better, so we took a look at it and went in that direction for this afternoon. The car was quite good for qualifying. It’s important to be near the front here, not because the track is so narrow like other street circuits, but because if you are too far back, no matter how fast you go, you lose touch with the leaders.

	Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Honda Qualified: 7th
GIL de FERRAN
I had too much push (understeer). I could do one [hot] lap, then I had to wait for the front tires to cool down a bit before I could try again.

	Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Qualified: 13th
MICHAEL ANDRETTI
The car is not good. We are hanging on for dear life. The car is just not happy. We made some changes with the hope that we went in the right direction, but we did not. We have our work cut out for us tomorrow morning. ON THE PASSING ZONES IN HOUSTON . . . There is really only one. That's right at the end of the back straight. If you can get a good run off of Turn 4, you may have a chance to make up some positions. But it is still going to be tough.

	Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 9th
BOBBY RAHAL
We had a good lap which was about a half second quicker than our best, but, we ran into traffic. It's a little frustrating, but it happens to everyone at some time. We made a change in the car and it actually felt better. We are struggling with the back end a bit. In qualifying it's okay, we just have to make it better for the race. I am disappointed naturally to go from first to ninth position on the grid, but it's a long, hard race, and we are still in a good spot. ON WHERE THE ACTION IS GOING TO TAKE PLACE TOMORROW . . . The long straightaway is going to be the ideal place to pass. The corner leading onto the straight is long enough and certainly wide enough to give people the opportunity to go in. There will probably be a lot of locked brakes and flat spotted tires but there are a couple places to pass. But like anywhere, it will be the places that people make mistakes that you will have to be opportunistic with.

	Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 6th
BRYAN HERTA
We had a hot lap going that would have put us on P1, but we ran into some traffic that killed us. It's just that nature of the business I suppose. It's just one of those things. We have a good car, the team is ready, so, we should be in good shape for tomorrow. This race won't go to the fastest driver Sunday. It will go to the smartest.

	Hogan Truck Leasing Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 21st
JJ LEHTO
We have no grip. We did a big change and nothing happened. We’re missing on the basic setup. A lot of things don’t seem to be working at the moment. We basically need more grip.

	Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Qualified: 5th
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI
I think we had a car capable of the pole but I think we can still win from the third row. The Omega timing showed that I was fastest through two-thirds of the track but then I ran into a little traffic during the last portion. I came up on two cars that were moving over for me but it was still enough to drop me two-tenths of a second. While two-tenths doesn't seem like much time in other sports, its everything here. I am still happy though.

	Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Qualified: 3rd
JIMMY VASSER
We had a real good car right off the trailer on Friday. We had some problems getting a good, clear lap in qualifying yesterday and that held us back a little bit, but I’ve been pretty happy with the car all weekend. It’s difficult to get a good rhythm at a street track, and to set a quick lap, but you have to put it all together. We came pretty close today, that’s the way it goes. Third’s a good starting spot, though.

	Bettenhausen Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 17th
HELIO CASTRO-NEVES
I’m very frustrated. We were working so well this morning. I don’t know what happened in qualifying. We can’t lose focus, because we were doing a great job before. We’ve started so far back so much lately. It is definitely a shame.

 

	Hollywood Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 15th
MAURICIO GUGELMIN
We’re better. We made a switch and the changes made quite a bit of improvement. We’re still fighting for grip in the medium-speed corners. We need more traction. The tires are going to go off during long runs tomorrow. I feel a lot of people will struggle with rear tires no matter what you do. To get ahead tomorrow you will have to use up your rear tires. We will have a lot of yellow flags tomorrow for sure.

	PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 22nd
MARK BLUNDELL
We had a problem at the beginning of the session which cost us time in the pits. We did improve our car, though. We didn’t improve quite good enough. We’ll work on getting ready in the morning and see what we can do in the race.

	Visteon Reynard Ford Qualified: 19th
SCOTT PRUETT
I had a major catastrophe going into qualifying. The engine failed and we had to come in and change cars. Unfortunately we had a different set-up on the car than there was on the primary. We made the best of it, but unfortunately, it was not as good as we think we should have done. ADRIAN (FERNANDEZ) SEEMS TO BE CLOSER TO HITTING THE SET-UP FOR THIS TRACK. IS THERE ANYTHING THEY HAVE LEARNED THAT YOU TAKE FROM HIS CAR? "He and I have a different enough driving style that what he is doing does not suit me.

	LCI International Tasman Motorsports Group LCI Reynard Honda Qualified: 11th
TONY KANAAN
I think we improved the car a lot from this morning. I knew we could do very well and I’m pretty pleased with theresult. The car, Honda engine and Firestone tires were all good, and once again my guys were great. I did my best.

	Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 2nd
DARIO FRANCHITTI
To be honest, I’m not really happy to be second. I’d prefer to have the pole again. But this track is very difficult to put in a fast lap, and it’s important to be starting on the front row. You’re going to have to get everything right tomorrow. First, you’ve got to have a fast car, then you’ve got to have a good race strategy, plus fast pit stops and manage your tires. But we’ve done it before, there’s no reason we can’t win this thing tomorrow.

	Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 4th
PAUL TRACY
The car was really good and I was able to bang out a fast lap at the beginning of the session. Then we made a couple of changes to the car and lost a little bit of the handling. But fourth is great, it’s the best we’ve qualified all season. It looks like all the work the crew put into the car has paid off.

	Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 25th
PATRICK CARPENTIER
The car was better this morning, but we made some changes, and they just didn’t work. On my first set of tires, I kept running into traffic. We had to back up and back up and back up to get some space to run. Then on my second set, I didn’t have any traffic. JJ (Lehto) let me go by, but then I ran out of fuel. It’s very bad because it’s so difficult to pass here. We’ll just have to run around and hope we can make something happen in the pits. We’re going to try everything because we have nothing to lose.

	Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Qualified: 12th
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ
We struggled a bit getting the power down in the rough areas of the track. We thought we were going have a much better session than we did based on practice this morning. The set-up was very similar to this morning. We have to investigate and see why we didn't improve as much as everyone else. YOU ARE SOAKING WET AFTER ONLY A HALF-HOUR IN THE CAR. HOW MUCH OF A FACTOR IS THE HEAT GOING TO BE IN THE RACE TOMORROW? It's going to be hot. But you don't push as hard during the race. You still hang it out, but during qualifying, you really hang it all out.

	Forsythe Player's-Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 1st
GREG MOORE
I’m really pleased. We’re starting up front, and we’re getting $10,000 in Marlboro money, but the most important thing is that we got that point for the pole. After Alex (Zanardi) crashed, we only had about six or seven minutes to go because we had to serve the eight-minute penalty for causing the red flag in provisional qualifying yesterday. So we just had to give it our best shot and really hang it out--if I touched the wall a little bit, that was okay. It’s going to be a long, long day tomorrow, but hopefully being 23 and working out a lot will pay off. We’ll just stay out of trouble and see how it goes.