Winn-Dixie 250 Presented by PepsiCo - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

JOEY CLANTON IN THE NO. 27 TRIMSPA PONTIAC WAS THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT DAYTONA. HE FINSIHED 11TH, HIS BEST FINISH IN NINE CAREER BUSCH SERIES STARTS. THE DAYTONA RACE WAS HIS FIRST EVER START IN A RESTRICTOR PLATE RACE. CLANTON TOOK RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE OF THE RACE HONORS FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON.

"We learned a lot. I messed up in the pits. I was watching the official when I was coming in and slid in and hit the wall. These guys just don't give up. Every week they are behind me; every week we are trying to get better at this thing. Yesterday I had never seen this place as far as being on the racetrack. I've only seen it one time in February. Yesterday was my first lap around this place and we learned a lot tonight." HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO RACE HERE? "You've got to have a good spotter. I should have had a mirror in the left side. That's where (Greg) Biffle got me. The car was a just a little tight all night long especially on the longer run but the guys stayed with it. They adjusted it out and got it a ton better there at the end, even after the front-end got knocked in. I knew it was up to me to get it done. We got a good run with (Shane) Hmiel there. He carried us right to the front and we came on." HOW HARD IS IT TO PIT AT DAYTONA? "The first time I came in the tires didn't slip like that and when I came in the second time, I don't know what the difference was, but the tires just didn't have the grip and when I touched the pedal I locked them up and I was going straight for the wall. It's not really any different. It's a little higher for the speed that you come through pit road at most tracks. I just got in there and made a rookie mistake." WHAT ABOUT DRAFTING? "Drafting was fun. You can't do anything but hold it wide open and hope that you have a better car than the guy in front of you. We just never could really get a pull up on them all the way to get by them. We just had to let somebody pull us." ARE YOU MENTALLY TIRED AFTER THIS RACE? "Actually, physically, it's not. Physically, it's one percent. It's 99 percent mental. I made a mistake there and got a little high there a couple of laps and Biffle got by us and he got into his own thing right there and we made the move back. That's a good run for the whole team." DID YOU HAVE ANY CLOSE CALLS? "When the 28 spun down there we were just trying to keep this TrimSpa Pontiac up front. In fact, we were watching Days of Thunder today and when it started happening I just held it down and went on by them. That's one thing you learn: when they start wrecking just go for where the clear spot is and hopefully you make it." DID YOU THINK THE RACE WAS PRETTY CLEAN? "We got spread out so far I think the race got real clean so I think it was a real good run."

DAMON LUSK, NO. 6 STA-RITE PUMPS DODGE:

"We're getting it. We're getting closer and closer every week. We went from a team to a contending team now. We're gaining respect with every team on the track. We ran up front today again. The guys are working better. The pit stops were good today. I made a mistake in the pits today. I'm not making any excuses, I did. Everything can be better all the time. We were just a little tight. We're gaining on it." YOU WERE IN THE LEAD DRAFT FOR MOST OF THE RACE. WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT YOU RAN SO WELL TONIGHT? "We were there, it's just that nobody works with you when you get up to the top-10. They think 'Who's in that car?' Every week you start running there and it gets better and better every week. We're gaining respect from the other drivers and that's what we needed to do. We're doing a good job. Sta-Rite is on board with us this week. I'm looking forward to Loudon in a couple of weeks. Same as Milwaukee, we're going to go there and run in the top-five so we're not ashamed to say that. The guys are doing it." WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU SPUN LATE IN THE RACE? "I think it was the 28 car went spinning and I went high and low, everywhere. I got through the wreck and cars were everywhere. I went right through the middle, grabbed third gear, and someone hit me from behind. We didn't get in the wreck. The racetrack hit the valence and knocked the fender in. After that, you're just riding around. COULD YOU TELL THE DAMAGE HURT THE CAR? "Yeah, we were the last car on the lead lap and we didn't have nothing to gain so just back off and finish. There's no reason to wreck the car."

CLANTON POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE:

"The whole TrimSpa Pontiac team needed this run. I thought our night was over when we had to come in and make two stops right there at the last stop and we went all the way to the back again. I got a good run, stuck behind the 48 car and he pulled us right back to the front. It's just a good run for the whole team." IT'S BEEN A TOUGH SEASON BUT THIS HAS TO BE A CONFIDENCE BUILDER FOR THE TEAM. "We've just been working hard trying to figure these cars out. They are so much different than what I'm used to. I've got Sandy Jones as crew chief and he's been with the rookies a lot. He's teaching me a lot. We're just trying to get confidence on these racetracks and this is the type of run that you need to build confidence, especially going into Chicago next week."

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