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DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH:
TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“We weren’t very good. We got two bad right side tires and right rear tires, I don’t know, it felt the damn wheels were coming off. We pitted and the wheel was fine, but the car was vibrating so bad I couldn’t hardly see. I should have not pitted but I thought the wheel was loose and I have had them come off here and that isn’t fun. I should’ve just stayed out there and waited for it to come off.”
DID YOU SEE ANYTHING OF THE KESELOWSKI WRECK?
“I’m glad Brad is all right. It looked like a bad deal and I am glad he is ok. What happened there is between them (Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards) I’ve got nothing to do with that.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3RD:
“It was good. It was a pretty quiet day until the end. Before that first caution, I thought we had a chance at winning; we were catching him (Kurt Busch, race winner). He took off pretty fast there, We needed to have a good finish, it is getting closer.
“I was hoping we would finish second but he caught my surprise. You know we have those two lines we are supposed to start with and he went for it like 40 yards before the first one. It really surprised me. It is not a big deal, he deserves to win. I am not going to say, Oh we should have won because he did that here. I just want to make sure for the next time NASCAR knows about it, but it is ok. We were a lot better in the long run, in the short run he was good. I spun the tires there at the end, but it was so tight, it wouldn’t turn at the end. It is ok, we needed this. We have been there every week, just a lot of things happen; it is nice to get a clean result. Car is in one piece. Ran against the fence all day, I’m pretty proud.”
Q. Juan, you worked on the car all day today. Was this a good day for you in terms of being able to keep up with it?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: We kind of got lost in the middle of the race a little bit, made some changes. Didn’t make a lot of ground on the car, then we kind of understood where we needed to go. And it worked out pretty well.
Q. Were you disappointed that it had to go to a ‘green white checkered’? You thought you might be able to catch him. Did you think you had a realistic shot?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I was within three car lengths just coming two to go. I was, you know, taking 3 or 4/10ths a lap. So definitely I thought if I got anywhere close to him, I’m sure I could make a move.
It’s one of those deals. It’s okay. It is what’s. I told the guys anyway at the end, We need to finish, we need the points. It’s a good points day for us.
Q. Juan, tires weren’t an issue for your team, but how did you feel about the tires on the track?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I think when you have a good balance, I think you can look after the tires a little bit better. I struggled. I’m one of the cars that used to blow tires here always. To be on the other side is actually kind of nice.
It’s a very hard racetrack. The pace is really hard. You know, Goodyear improved the hell out of the tire from what we had last year. It’s still going to drop away and you’re still going to be sideways.
It’s fun. For me this is probably one of the better races if I would choose to go to one. It’s so much fun seeing everybody. If you get a ticket out of turn four, you’re going to see a lot of sideways racecars going very fast, so it’s fun.
Q. Juan, at the end of last season you told the 12 crew chief to bring a couple of old cars to the racetrack because Keselowski needed to watch his rear end. Is there something that was involved with having a bit of honor today on the racetrack?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I tell you the truth, I was ahead of it, so I have no idea what you’re talking about. I said that last year because he wrecked a lot of people. I’m sure a lot of people wanted to pay him back. Looking at the TV, somebody did.
Q. Juan, you indicated on the radio after at race that you thought Kurt went a little bit too early on the last restart. Could you comment on that.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: We have those two lines we’re supposed to he restart on. To be honest, the lines are very short between them. I don’t know. I need to ask NASCAR exactly how the rule is. If you’re within three car lengths of it or four car lengths of it, can you go? Do you got to really cross the first line, how they’re going to police it.
I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve the win because he did. I was on the outside. I was probably destined to finish second there. When you have the bottom, you can hold it wide open between one and two, you have the bottom in three, you’re done.
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 29th:
“Obviously, we wish that could’ve ended a bit differently. I am very proud of my guys for taking a top fifteen car and giving me an opportunity to bring home a top five. Things just got a little wild there at the end as to be expected with a green white checker finish. We will take a week off, take a deep breath, and come back looking to rebound at Bristol.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET - Finished 18th:
ON THE TIRES:
“I think it’s one of those things where when they come here and test, you expect them to build a tire that we can abuse and that we can race hard with. That obviously wasn’t the case. There is a good chance we were too aggressive, but until we go back and analyze everything it’s hard to say.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO DURING A RACE ONCE YOU HAVE THOSE PROBLEMS OR WHAT DID YOU TRY TO DO?
“Slow down.”
YOU JUST HAVE TO RUN A SLOWER PACE?
“We actually freed the car up to get it off the right front and the right front got worse. So you’ve got to look at everything.”
DID YOU SEE THE KESELOWSKI/EDWARDS INCIDENT?
“No.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TORNADOS CHEVROLET - Finished 17th:
TOUGH DAY:
“Man we could not catch a break until the very end there. But either way it was a hard-fought 17th place finish for the Tornados Chevrolet. It looked like we were going to be 31st there for a long time and to get that break there at the end was really nice. But we’ve just got to work a little bit more on it. It’ll be interesting to see what the replays look like, but I’m glad this is the last fast race track with the wing.”
ON TIRE ISSUES
“Goodyear’s got some work to do. It’s a safety situation. We popped one. There are a lot of guys who popped one. It was too sensitive for the guys who didn’t get it right. The guys who had their cars just right, yeah, they didn’t have any issues. But either way, they’ve got a little bit more work to do here. This is a challenging place for Goodyear and we’ll come back and test for them if they’ll let us.”
IS THIS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
“No, we blew tires today. Last time we didn’t blow tires.”
NO, I MEAN FOR GOODYEAR IN GENERAL
“No, not when you’re blowing tires. We didn’t blow tires last time here. We just had really bad inconsistencies. We went from inconsistent tires to tires that were popping in the right front and that’s not good. It’s not any gain; especially a safety issue. Inconsistent tires are still safe. Tires that blow out are not safe.”
GOODYEAR WAS SUGGESTING IT WAS AGGRESSIVE SET-UPS THAT WERE LEADING TO THIS
“Sounds pretty par. That’s what they always say, right? I guess the drivers should probably slow down too and save their tires.”
DID YOU SEE THE KESELOWSKI/EDWARDS INCIDENT?
“No. I just kind of pictured it from what happened on the wall. I could see the marks.”
ONCE WE GO TO A SPOILER, DO YOU THINK THAT WILL SOLVE THINGS?
“I hope NASCAR’s got that sorted out. From what I’ve been told it looks just like what happened to me at Talladega. I said after Talladega it’s going to happen at an intermediate track but that window of opportunity is only at the end of the straightaway. At Talladega it’s all the way around the race track. I guess I proved myself right. Luckily it wasn’t me this time.”
WITH DRIVERS WRECKING EACH OTHER, DOES NASCAR NEED TO CHANGE THIS ‘HAVE AT IT BOYS’ IDEA?
“I think it would have been a whole lot better if they’d got back and got to fight it out a little bit. That would be a lot more interesting than getting black-flagged. But I don’t know entirely what all happened and who hit who first and if it stems from six years ago or not. But either way they’ve made their call and it is what it is.”
MIKE BLISS, NO. 36 WAVE ENERGY DRINK CHEVROLET - Finished 24th:
“That was a tough race. We learned a lot out there. Glad we brought it home in one piece and I’m proud of how hard all the guys worked in the pits, up on the spotter stand and the pit box. Gotta thank Wave Energy Drink for all the support they give us—hopefully, this finish will be enough to give as a good boost in the points.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET - Finished 14th
“You can look at it any way you want, but we put ourselves in a position to take advantage of an opportunity. The cautions at the end definitely played in our favor. We were fortunate to avoid the wrecks at the end and sneak in there for a pretty good points day. When we needed a quick stop on pit road, the Furniture Row over-the-wall crew came through with flying colors. We had issues during the race, but the guys on the pit box, led by Ryan (Coniam, crew chief) never gave up and made the car as good as they could make it. This is a hard race track, and we’ll take a 14th-place finish.”
RYAN CONIAM, CREW CHIEF NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET
“The cautions fell when we needed them to fall and we got lucky. As they say, I’d rather be lucky than good. But what I am most proud of is that we capitalized on a big opportunity. The driver did a heckuva job at the end. He drove the Furniture Row Chevy as hard as he could and did a brilliant job to avoid the wrecks. He didn’t have a good enough racecar today, but he stuck with it. He kept his composure. We had a throttle hang up, and with all the other adversity we had to deal with a lot of cars would have been in the high 30s. A great points day—just can’t say enough about these guys. I am just thrilled.”
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