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Autolite/Fram 250 - Post-Race Quotes GREG BIFFLE-60-Grainger Ford Taurus (Finished 35th) - WHAT HAPPENED THE SECOND TIME WITH JAY SAUTER? "Well, I think it's pretty obvious, the 43 wrecked us back. He picked up the throttle over there and the car got loose and I already had the throttle down trying to make a pass on him. I got in the back of him and that was my fault. That's just short-track racing and I guess him paying me back was short-track racing. That's what it's about." MORE BIFFLE. "Early in the race the 43 picked the throttle up. He got loose and I was in the throttle already and got in the back of him and turned him around. I felt really bad about it. I didn't mean to get in the back of him, obviously, and it was a bad deal. And then they told our crew that they were going to put their car back together and come out and wreck us, which they did. I guess he wanted to pay me back this race, right away. Not everybody drives like that, but some people do. That's all right." WHAT DID YOU SAY WHEN YOU WENT TO HIS WINDOW? "I was just asking what had happened there. It was pretty obvious. I didn't know that he would make it that obvious because people get in trouble for doing it that obvious. You know, in the corner and it pushes up a little and gets that guy that's different." WAS THERE AN ALTERCATION AT THE CAR? "A little bit. We exchanged words, but we'll just see what happens." JEFF GREEN-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Finished 22nd) - THERE WAS SOME PHYSICAL RACING TONIGHT, "Yeah. We got caught on a green-flag stop there, again. I don't know how many times we've had that happen this year. Hornaday just spun me out and tore my car up. We had a good enough car to finish second or third. I don't think I could have beat Spencer. It was good enough that we were going to be in the top five again." WERE THE CUP GUYS THE CULPRITS? "I think Spencer was pretty kind. He left me room when I needed it. Hornaday, he doesn't have a clue anyway. He just wanted a caution so he could get his lap back and I was just the guy in his way. That's just the way he drives." JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Finished 13th) - YOU GAINED POINTS ON KEVIN HARVICK. "The pits caught us there. You can't really second-guess yourself. We were running there about sixth the whole time and it was time to pit. Unlucky for us, the caution came out. I really felt like we had a good car. We got a whole lot better there at the end." DID SEEING HARVICK IN THE PITS SERVE AS ADDITIONAL MOTIVATION? "No, I figured it would have been like Bristol or something and he would get three laps down and get them back or something. It's not over until it's over. I don't worry about him. I don't race him. They're 41 other guys out there, so we need to keep going." DOES THIS CHANGE YOUR OUTLOOK ON THE POINTS RACE? "Barely nothing. We just have to distance ourselves, really, from the guys behind us. If Harvick has bad luck then he has bad luck. We'll just have to take it as it comes." WERE THERE SOME GUYS BEING TOO AGGRESSIVE? "It was tough and cautions breed cautions. That's just the way it goes sometimes. It's one of those short-track racing deals." JEFF BURTON-9-Gain Ford Taurus (Finished 9th) - "We ran OK to start and then in the middle we didn't run any good for some reason. At the end, they just knocked the heck out of us. The 02, I don't know what he did, but he just knocked me and caused me to get into somebody. I just survived it and then I hit somebody and knocked them in the wall. I was really excited when it started because I thought we were going to be good; the car drove great. And then, when we put that second set on, and we were no good." WAS IT A LACK OF FOCUS BY SOME DRIVERS THAT CAUSED THOSE CAUTIONS? "It was just people not being smart. It's so competitive and everybody is just trying to get what they can get. It boils down to being responsible for the car you're driving. If you don't take responsibility for the car you're driving, then you tend to hit people. We really don't need to be hitting people." RYAN NEWMAN-02-ALLTEL Ford Taurus (Finished 7th) - "We definitely used the body up on the race car tonight. We had to battle pretty hard. We started second and fell back a little bit early. We kept getting it better and better; it was just that track position and timing was a little off. We ended up running seventh, though, so it wasn't bad. We were 21st yesterday in Happy Hour and to bring it home in the top 10 is good. We finished twice better than we did in the spring. We were 14th there and if we keep learning and doing better, then we're succeeding as a team." WHAT HAPPENED WITH JEFF BURTON? "I just plain got in the back of him. I apologized to him, but I don't know how much it matters. I just ran out of brakes going down into 3 and misjudged it and got him. I did what I could do to wait for him because I knew it was my fault, but he got squirreled and messed up there with the 20 car. It was all my fault, but I guess that's part of short-track racing, too." JAMIE MCMURRAY IN WILLIAMS TRAVEL CENTERS CHEVROLET WAS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE. MCMURRAY FINISHED 14TH, ONE LAP DOWN TO RACE WINNER JIMMY SPENCER. THE RICHMOND RACE WAS THE SECOND TIME IN 2001 HE HAS TAKEN HOME TOP FINISHING ROOKIE HONORS. "Starting off the race, the car wasn't all that great but we adjusted on it all day and it kept getting a little bit better and there at the end it was really good. We really drove hard trying to stay on the lead lap but couldn't do it. We're really not all that disappointed. Anytime you can start with a bad car and make it better for the race, that's good. We've had a hard time making our car better in the races. That's a big deal to us, to be able to start bad and actually make the car better. I'm pretty happy. Richmond is a tough place to pass. We had a bad pit stop and lost like eight or nine positions. We had a little bit better car than where we finished. To start where we did and finish where we did, I'm happy. We didn't even put a fender mark on it this weekend." WE SAW A LOT OF TEMPERS FLARE TONIGHT. DID YOU HAVE ANY CLOSE CALLS? "Not to jinx myself, but I haven't had any problems with anybody all year long. When I have a good car I charge and try hard, but if I didn't have a car I didn't try to press the issue. I already signed my deal for next year so I'm guaranteed a ride. I think a lot of these guys are wanting to make sure they keep their ride and show their owners they are trying their heart out and sometimes on a short track like this you do things." RAYBESTOS ROOKIE POINT LEADER GREG BIFFLE, GRAINGER FORD, 35TH. BIFFLE WAS SIDELINED BY AN ACCIDENT ON LAP 180 WHEN HE MADE CONTACT WITH JAY SAUTER. BIFFLE AND SAUTER MADE CONTACT EARLY IN THE RACE WHICH SENT SAUTER INTO THE TURN TWO WALL. SAUTER SPENT SEVERAL LAPS IN THE GARAGE AREA WHILE HIS TEAM MADE REPAIRS TO HIS CAR. NEITHER DRIVER WAS INJURED IN THE ACCIDENT. "Early in the race the 43 (Jay Sauter) picked the throttle up and got loose and I was in the throttle already and got in the back of him and turned him around. I felt really bad about it. I didn't mean to get in the back of him, obviously. It was a bad deal. Then they told our crew they were going to put their car back together and come out and wreck us, which they did. I guess he wanted to pay me back in this race. Not everybody drives like that but some people do. I think it was pretty obvious. The 43 wrecked us back. I got in the back of him and that's my fault, but that's just short track racing. I guess them paying me back is just short track racing. That's what it's about."
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