Cabela's 250 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

JOEY CLANTON, NO. 27 TRIMSPA PONTIAC:

"I don't even know what happened down there. I was going along the back straightaway and all of a sudden, bam. To me, it's brain-dead. It's stupid running that fast and do something like that. We had a good run going. We were coming up through the field and might have had a top-15 there for the first time at Michigan. The car was starting to really come on there. We were going to play fuel strategy; we thought we might be able to make it all the way. It would be close but we might. We were going to take a chance with it. You come up on a situation like that and you get taken out. I would have sworn that the 2 car (Ron Hornaday) lost it. You are going along down the straightaway and all of a sudden he's up over the right-front fender, or into the door over the right front."

CHAD BLOUNT, NO. 26 MILLER HIGH LIFE DODGE:

"The Miller High Life Dodge was really strong today. They knew we were here. We just needed one extra pit stop there to make some more adjustments. We started out the race actually a little free in so we tightened it up on the first pit stop and then we could never get caught back up with it because the track tightened up immensely all day long. My hat's off to these guys on the Miller High Life Dodge. The really did a good job this week. To come through with what we had in qualifying and start in the back and everything, I think we got the hard changer award today, I'm not sure." WHEN THE RACE WAS CALLED, WAS THAT GOOD TIMING FOR YOUR TEAM? "Good timing but bad timing. Good timing because we were going to need to pit. We were going to run out of fuel but bad timing because I needed to make some adjustments on the car. I wish we could have gone back green here. It wasn't meant to be. We'll take the Miller High Life Dodge and load her up and get ready for Michigan."

DAMON LUSK IN THE NO. 6 STA-RITE PUMPS DODGE WAS THE HIGHEST FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE AT MICHIGAN. HE FINISHED 12TH, HIS BEST CAREER FINISH IN 12 CAREER BUSCH SERIES STARTS. LUSK'S PREVIOUS BEST CAREER FINISH WAS 18TH IN JULY'S NEW ENGLAND 200 AT NEW HAMPSHIRE INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY. HE TOOK TOP RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE HONORS FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THE PAST FOUR RACES.

"That's pretty good. It's better every time I see you, I keep saying that we get better and better. We started out just way tight in the center and we kept talking and talking and finally I hit on something that it triggered my mind to tell them. It's all part of being a new team, new driver, and a crew chief that hasn't worked together before. That last run we were like 'Holy cow, we hit on it.' We'll be fast at times when we hit on what we need to hit on. I wish the rain wouldn't have come. We probably would have finished in the top-five, top seven or so. It was a good run for us. We ran strong all day long and stayed on the lead lap and raced hard all day." DID THE TRACK CHANGE WHEN THE CLOUD COVER MOVED IN WITH 50 LAPS TO GO? "I don't know. Our car was better. We adjusted on it quite a bit so I'm not sure if our car was that much better or the clouds helped us that much more. We definitely improved on it, the best run of the year. That's two weeks in a row that I've got to talk to you so we'll keep at it." CAN YOU TELL THAT THIS TRACK IS MORE DIFFICULT THAT IT LOOKS? "I was running about the middle of the track to the bottom, trying to get forward bite down on the bottom. Michael Waltrip went by me at about 400 miles per hour on the outside and I followed him for about 20 laps and I'm like 'Oh my gosh, he's two inches off the wall.' I ran up there and ran behind him for 30. 40 laps, and we were passing cars left and right and I couldn't believe it. It's easier to say now but now I know and now the spotter knows and the crew chief knows that that's where we need to run." IS THIS AN INDICATION OF HOW MUCH THE TEAM HAS IMPROVED? "Every week we just roll with it. We're either feast or famine: we're either real good or real bad. That's all part of the race team's getting better and me getting better communication. It's just a little at a time and our sponsor has been great. Sta-Rite has stuck beside us thick and thin and they have really showed that they are in racing for the long run and I can't thank those guys enough. We're going to hopefully build on this."

TOMMY BALDWIN, OWNER, NO. 6 STA-RITE PUMPS DODGE: "We got the car better and better as the day went on and Damon did a good job. Rick (Ren, crew chief) did a good job making the calls on pit road and adjusting on the car. We didn't quite start off where we needed to but I think we ended on a positive note. It's important that we had a good finish today for the Sta-Rite folks. They are looking at next year for the program. All in all, I'd probably grade it a B for the day. I would have liked it to got to the end because we could have made it all the way. We probably could have got a top-five or six out of it but we'll take it." WAS THE RAIN A GOOD BREAK FOR YOUR TEAM? "No, we were hoping that it would go to the end because we could go all the way. We knew there were seven cars ahead of us that couldn't. We were hoping that it would go to the finish. We would have been on fumes but we would have made it."

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