Ford 300 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

DAMON LUSK, NO 33 OUTDOOR CHANNEL CHEVROLET:

Note: Damon Lusk (18th) and David Stremme (14th) were the only two Raybestos Rookies to finish on the lead lap at Homestead.

"We had a problem with the rear end, a shock, or an axle. I almost wrecked every lap after a restart. I don't know what it was. The guys did a great job. I owe it to them. If not for great calls in the pits we would have been about 25th or 26th. I can't thank everybody enough for the opportunity. We'll get them next year." HOW MUCH OF A CONFIDENCE BOOST IS THIS RUN FOR YOU? "I ran all day and got to work with the guys a little bit and figure out how everything works. They got to see what I like and what not. Everybody did a great job. We finished on the lead lap and you can't ask for much more than that." HOW MUCH DOES WORKING WITH THE TEAM THIS WEEKEND HELP YOU FOR NEXT SEASON? "I hope a lot. We'll see what happens."

DAVID STREMME, NO. 30 SPORTCLIPS DODGE:

Notes: David Stremme officially clinched Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the Busch Series with a 14th place finish in Saturday's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He took top Raybestos Rookie honors for the 15th time in 2003. Stremme won the Raybestos Rookie title by making only 18 starts this season, establishing a record for fewest starts ever by the Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the Busch Series. His best finish was a third place effort at Milwaukee in June (race number 17) while is best start was third at Phoenix (race number 32). He finished the year with three top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

"That's a good day for this team that we had, being that it was thrown together the last two races. Overall, I felt like we were better than where we ended up. I ended up getting into the fence and had a lot to overcome but we did something that we wanted to do, and that's finish in the top-15. This isn't the team that I've run with the whole season so a finish like that is pretty decent. I had races at the beginning of the year with the Phoenix team trying to get the chemistry right and we didn't run this good. I'm looking forward to next year working with Jon Wolfe and driving for James Finch full time. It's something that we're looking at trying to run for that championship and we're just doing all we could to see what we need to build on for next year. Bobby Hamilton, Truex, a lot of guys will be tough but it's like that every year. We'll just have to work harder." YOU SPUN OUT DURING THE MIDDLE PART OF THE RACE. WHAT HAPPENED? "Those restarts are so wild. We got outside of some guys and ended up getting into the fence. It was just a screw up on my part. I've got to learn to just calm down and that's part of my rookie season. I can't use that excuse anymore (smiles). We're looking forward to next year, a lot. We came here to get some testing in so basically we don't have to come here next year and test. Jamie obviously had a really fast car and I'm looking forward to running it next year. We've got some good notes. They're going to change some things but still overall I think we'll be pretty good." WHAT WAS THE MAIN THING THAT YOU LEARNED THIS YEAR? "I think a lot is just patience and teamwork and that's something huge, relying on my teammates and everybody on the crew. It's something that you can't go buy. It's something that you've got to learn. We're going to do quite a bit of testing to try to be patient a little bit more and finish better in our races so we can get better points." WILL YOU FEEL LIKE A ROOKIE NEXT YEAR, DESPITE RUNNING 18 RACES THIS SEASON? "I definitely will at a lot of places. You look at Kasey Kahne and Vickers. The first part of the season they were kind of mediocre and then all of a sudden they come on strong. I think it's just the experience and working with the team. It was only a matter of time before Kasey won and Brian has already won. I'm kind of in the same boat that they are. They ran a limited schedule last year and that's why we run this year. We were fortunate enough to capture the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. That was a goal that we set out and it's something that we accomplished and hopefully Jamie can accomplish it tomorrow. I will feel like a rookie because I've never been to Darlington or Michigan or a lot of those tracks. We're going to have to concentrate on testing there but I have 18 other racetracks that I have been to. Every time I have gone back to a place, like Nashville, we end up third and never ran in the top-three."

JON WOLFE, CREW CHIEF, PHOENIX RACING (Note: Wolfe was Stremme's crew chief for 15 of his 18 starts this season and will lead Stremme's full time Busch Series effort next season):

ON WINNING RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR. "That's awesome. When we started with David that was never even a thought in our minds. We were going to run him in and hopefully he can do a good job and get some experience for next year. It was never a thought and to do that I think is a major accomplishment and builds a lot of momentum for next year. Once we realized it was within reach, then we said 'Let's go for this goal' so now we can go for some goals for next year." DOES THIS GIVE THE TEAM MOMENTUM GOING INTO NEXT SEASON? "Oh yeah. I spent some time with the 18 car (Bobby Labonte) and we'd go to Atlanta every fall and win the race and you've got all winter to sulk on it. To come and run that good, and to win the week before, and run that good today, everybody knew that we were here. It gives you huge momentum going into the winter and gets everybody pumped up." CAN YOU FINISH IN THE TOP-FIVE IN POINTS NEXT YEAR? "I really think so. Right now, I'm not really sure what we can do. I don't think there is anything unattainable right now." WHY IS THIS TEAM SO GOOD? "James Finch and Marc Reno have assembled an awesome team. When they were in Florida they were a good team and when we made the move we were able to attack better people out of the Charlotte area. It's just all coming together."

STREMME POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

SUM UP YOUR SEASON. "It was a pretty good season, just managing to run 18 races like we have. We set out this year to just get experience and then we got caught up in the rookie battle. The last two races I was able to run a Braun car. I've got to thank Yellow Transportation and James Finch for all they've done this year and Chip Ganassi for giving me a job. I'm looking forward to next year. Jamie obviously had a good car today. I told him before this weekend 'Make sure you get that car pretty good because I want a good setup for here next year.' I'm looking forward to the year 2004 running the full season with Yellow as a sponsor. This year was just a building year and to get the Raybestos Rookie of the Year is pretty nice. Hopefully Jamie can clinch it tomorrow. It would be good for the Ganassi organization to have three of their drivers get rookie of the year." YOU REALIZE THE ECONOMICS OF THE BUSCH SERIES MORE THAN ANY OTHER DRIVER. "We're thankful having a good sponsor with Yellow. We came into this season having two drivers splitting the ride and one having experience and one you've never even heard of. Chip and James Finch came to an agreement and I was fortunate enough that Yellow stuck their neck out for me to get in the car and we've accomplished a lot. I feel like we can win races and we just set out this year to get ready for next year. I went to a lot of places that I'd never been to and never seen. I worked with my crew chief Jon Wolfe and the whole team there, even thought I wasn't in the car the last two weeks we still worked pretty strong together. We've got a lot of testing ahead. We had a pretty good chemistry going and we look to keep it going. We had a lot of people behind us though the whole Ganassi organization and through the Yellow team also that's helped out quite a bit."

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