Aaron's 312 - Ford Post-Race Quotes

SCOTT RIGGS-10-Nestle Nesquik Ford Taurus (Finished 6th) - IT APPEARED THAT YOU WERE RACING FOR THE WIN WHEN YOU CAME IN FOR TWO TIRES AT THE END. "We were. We were trying to get the win there. It was probably the wrong decision. This place is such a momentum race track, the 7 car got up on the outside of me and really pulled me loose on purpose, and I had to check up and catch it and they freight-trained me there and lost a bunch of positions." DID VICKERS' EARLY RACE MISFORTUNE HAVE ANY IMPACT ON YOUR STRATEGY? "No, we pretty much threw strategy out of the window a couple of weeks ago. We needed to just run as hard as we can and win as many races as we can and do as good as we can. No strategy there. The only strategy we played there was two tires and that probably hurt us." YOU STILL MANAGED TO RETAKE THE SECOND SPOT IN THE POINT STANDINGS. "Points-wise it was a better day. We're happy with it and I wish we could have finished a little better. We had a pretty good race car, but this is how we need to perform. We need to be racing with the leaders for the next three races."

KASEY KAHNE-38-Great Clips Ford Taurus (Finished 7th) - "We should have probably been second or third at one point. We drove all the way up through there and they ran me out of gas. That screwed us up again once we had something going and we never got it back the rest of the race. Once you get behind all of those cars, it's hard to get it back., but on that long run we could on old tires." WAS LAPPED TRAFFIC A PROBLEM TODAY? "When you're racing around it was easy, once everything gets spread out because there aren't many cars together. But when anybody was in packs, it just kills you, and lapped cars are racing like it's for position."

JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus (Finished 15th) - "We want to run better. We really struggled today and fortunately for us we didn't hurt too bad in the points. We just missed it all weekend. The only good thing, we had good stops on pit road and that kept us as far up as we were. It's just a tough, tough day." THERE AREN'T ANY MORE SHORT TRACK RACES LEFT. ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS WITH THE SPEEDWAY PROGRAM HEADING INTO THE FINAL THREE RACES? "We usually run good at Rockingham and Phoenix, so I'm looking forward to getting back at those, and Miami is an unknown for everybody." IS IT MORE OF A SIGH OF RELIEF TO GET THE MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACKS OUT OF THE WAY? "No, I was really looking forward to coming here. We finished seventh here the last two years and we felt like we were going to be OK. My teammate seemed to do pretty good with his setup, but we just seemed to really miss. I wish I had an excuse but I don't." THERE WASN'T MUCH PIT STRATEGY TODAY BECAUSE OF TIRE WEAR. ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT A TWO-TIRE STOP WASN'T A VIABLE OPTION THIS YEAR? "We tried to take two there at the end and grasped for everything we could. All in all, that was all we could expect. I give us an A for effort, but we just didn't get the result we wanted."

MATT KENSETH-17-Express Personnel Services Ford Taurus (Finished 2nd) - "We had a great car and great pit stops, bur we just couldn't quite get it done today. We've got Express Personnel Services on the car this week and it's exciting to give them their first ride. I thought we were going to have a shot at the win, but on new tires there was no way I could keep up. If we had a 40-lap run, I could deal with them all I thought, but on a short run I just couldn't do it." IF YOU COULD HAVE STAYED OUT FRONT ON THE FINAL RESTART DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A SHOT AT THE WIN? "I don't know. I needed to carry off a lot of momentum. I was doing everything I could do and they were just driving by me. On new tires I was just a sitting duck. Once the tires wore out I could run with them pretty good, but on new tires they were pretty fast." WHAT DID YOUR CAR LACK AT THE END? "Just speed. I was handling awesome. I don't think I could have had my car any better. On short runs I would just get eaten up with everyone on new tires; they would just kill me. Once the tiers would get warm, we were real competitive. I'm happy how competitive we were. We were much better than we were all weekend, but we've just got to upgrade our stuff and get some stuff that will run with all of the rest of the guys that have all of the backing out here. We're just a little bit short. We're close, but if we would have had a little more power I think we might have been able to win today, but we jus couldn't quite get it done."

WALLY DALLENBACH-89-Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash Ford Taurus (Finished 36th) - WHAT TOOK YOU OUT OF THE RACE TODAY? "The motor started running flat and we blew up. It's pretty disappointing. I've only had two or three races with these guys with the motor deal; it's getting old already. It's pretty disappointing."

BOBBY HAMILTON, JR.-25-Team Marines Ford Taurus (Finished 3rd) - "The 7, he was so free and got clean air and was gone. All of the guys made great adjustments and what a cool call with just a handful to go and come in and put tires on. The car was great. At the end, behind those guys I was tight. I tried to move up top to get some air, but they were just as good as we were. We'll take it."

BOBBY HAMILTON, JR. PRESS CONFERENCE

"We were about a fifth-place car all day long and just came in with the group and put tires on and ended up third. The 7 was obviously the best car, the 17 was second best and I was third. We got Michael just on the tires. That's the way it goes."

MATT KENSETH PRESS CONFERENCE

"We had a great car today on long runs. It wouldn't take off super-good on restarts and short runs, so we tried to tighten it up and get some air in the tires and do something to get it to run like we needed to at the end. I knew we were in trouble when we had 15 laps to go. I thought we had a chance because we were the first one in line with four new tires, so I thought if I got by the leaders first, I thought maybe we would have a shot. But, Greg (Biffle) got by them first and I couldn't catch them."

IT SEEMED LIKE TIRES ARE FALLING OFF QUICKER HERE. IS THAT THE CASE? "Yeah, the older the track gets the more they will fall off and that's a really great thing I think. It seems like all of the complaints that you hear are about people staying out and not getting tires. Today it showed that you needed four tires on your car. I think that's a good thing. In a way it makes it easier to call the race and it usually makes the fastest car win. Michael Waltrip probably had the fastest car today, but you had to have new tires, and I thought that was a great thing. In practice you saw it drop off and in the race it's dropping off, too. It's maybe a little bit more than it was in the spring, but not much. It usually drops off a second and a half or so."

YOU MADE SEVEN LAPS IN YOUR CUP CAR TODAY. ARE YOU CONFIDENT OR IS THERE A PROBLEM? "We ran quite a bit in the first practice and I was real happy with my car; I was real happy with the times. We have almost the same setup we had in the Busch car. They both felt similar and we did a lot of practice with the Busch car. Atlanta, historically, has been hard on engines, especially ours it seems like. I was trying to keep some miles off it. I was really happy with my balance. I took off in Happy Hour and ran seven laps. It wasn't the fastest on the sheet, but it was really, really neutral and it drove exactly what I wanted. I just quit and figured that would be a good place to start tomorrow. It might not be right on the money when we start tomorrow, but I know it has a decent baseline in it."

WAS THE MOTOR PROBLEM IN THE RACE TODAY A LACK OF HORSEPOWER? "We didn't any problems. Everything was running OK, I jut couldn't run with the best guys. I'd get beat on new tires two or three car lengths down the straightaway it felt like to me. I just said it was something we need to go back and work on. I thought we had a great car and I don't know how we could have made it much better in the corners, especially on the long run. I needed to get down the straightaway and whether that's drag or horsepower or what it is, we just need to figure it out and get it a little better next time."

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