O'Reilly 300 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

DAMON LUSK, NO. 6 STA-RITE PUMPS DODGE (FINISHED 43RD):

"We blew a tire and hit hard. That hurt; that's the hardest hit that I've ever had. I ran over something wide open and right into the fence. I hope we don't have too many more of those because that hurt. It sucks to happen so fast. We'll get it fixed and go to California. I needed a lot of track time today but didn't get it. What can you do?"

DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING? "No, just full throttle right into the fence. It hurt, it was a hard hit. I'm sure it knocked the heck out of the car is all I know. I've got to go check it out. It was a rough day for the whole Sta-Rite team. We'll load up and get them next time."

ARE YOU FEELING OKAY? "I'm fine. I have a little bit of a headache and a little sore neck. I think I hit my knee on the steering wheel or something, too. It was a rough day at the office. We'll get them next time."

CHAD BLOUNT IN THE NO. 19 APP PRE-PAID GAS CARDS DODGE WAS THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT TEXAS. BLOUNT FINISHED FIFTH, HIS FIRST CAREER TOP-FIVE FINISH AND THE FIRST TOP-FIVE BY A RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE THIS SEASON. BLOUNT'S PREVIOUS CAREER BEST FINISH CAME AT DAYTONA THIS PAST FEBRUARY WHEN HE FINISHED 11TH. BLOUNT TOOK TOP FINISHING ROOKIE HONORS FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS SEASON.

"I just can't say enough about these guys here. They worked their butts off here today. This APP Dodge was really good. This is a big turnaround from last week and hopefully we'll keep the car up front all year long. That's a great run for these guys. I can't say enough about these guys. They worked their butts off today. This is the right step. The race team is kind of struggling a little bit but heck, we're a beginner team. And how about that Dodge with Ernie Elliott power? We built a brand new race car to come here and I can't say enough about the guys. I feel like we've really turned our program around in the last week, I guess."

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BIG RESTART? DID YOU SPIN YOUR TIRES? "We spun our tires and learned a little bit there, but these guys kept plugging. The driver got up on the wheel today and you are going to see a lot more of that this year."

WHAT IS YOU UNDERSTANDING OF THE RESTART RULE IN TERMS OF PASSING? "Pass to the right until you get to the start finish line and then it's fair game from then on. You stay behind them and pass to the right. You can have somebody miss a shift and you just have to move to the outside and get around them. I raced everybody else how they raced me."

TODY IS PROOF THAT YOU HAVE TO RACE HARD REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY LAPS ARE LEFT. "Definitely. We're racing back to the yellow there, me and Jimmy (Spencer) and he raced me clean. I mean, he could have easily tried to beat us back there but he didn't."

CHASE MONTGOMERY, NO. 27 BREWCO MOTORSPORTS PONTIAC, FINISHED 12TH :

"We had a real strong car and I think we were actually a little bit stronger than what it showed. We got caught there on that long green when pit stop strategy and everything kind of bit us there and got us caught a lap down when that caution came out. We had a great race car. These guys worked hard all week and really I learned a lot in the beginning stages of the race that I think helped us."

WERE YOU CLOSE TO THE BIG WRECK THERE AT THE END? "I was right behind Jimmy Spencer and he checked up. I got into the back of him a little bit and I pulled it on the apron and was hoping that I would spin out. We were pretty close. I was fortunate, I guess, to start on the inside because we were a lap down. Spencer checked up and I pulled around the apron and I think a couple of cars may have followed us down there."

HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THIS GIVE YOU? "I think it's a huge confidence booster. I think anytime that you have a good run it's a confidence booster and we are heading into Talladega. We were running strong at Daytona so I'm really looking forward to that. After that we are going to my home track in Nashville so we've got some good races coming up and we are really looking forward to them."

WHAT DID YOU LEARN MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE TODAY? "Following these guys I pick up on little stuff here and there. It's hard to say that I learned this or that. I was behind Ashton Lewis for a while there and picked up some stuff."

COY GIBBS IN NO. 18 MBNA CHVEROLET FINISHED 10TH, HIS BEST CAREER BUSCH SERIES AND FIRST CAREER TOP-10.

"It wasn't pretty. It was not a pretty deal. I hear a lot of people talking about the rookies causing problems but this was not their day. That was all veterans being idiots. We'll take a top-10. I'm happy for MBNA and I'm sure we got some pretty good TV coverage and it might get us some more Raybestos® Rookie points. We're definitely happy with a top-10 the way we were running. It just kind of fell into our hands there. I was hoping for something better, like a top -five or something, but at least we had a shot at it."

WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT RESTART? "I didn't see it. I guess, I heard, that it was the same ol' guy that wrecks everybody wrecked the 20 (Mike Bliss). I just got knocked around in there and then luckily we could finish. That's about it."

AT ONE POINT DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A CHANCE TO WIN THE RACE? "I guess that you always do. I had Nemechek behind me and he had new tires I think. We were decent and I was hoping to hold on to a top-five. That was my goal. The 92 (Todd Bodine) beside about wrecking me off the corner, he was pretty fast; not blazing fast but decent. I figured I could have stayed up in the mix a little bit. We didn't have a great car. We worked on it and got a good car. We have to be happy with our first career top-10, I guess."

ARE YOU STILL DISAPPOINTED? "Heck yeah. I don't think we were that bad but track position here is so important. We could never get enough positions before it started pushing so bad and everybody was tight. If we could have started up there we would have had a better shot at finishing up there. We stayed out on the long gas run. It was Doug's call (Hewitt, his crew chief) and it was a great call. It got us up there where we could have a good finish. That's what is disappointing: we could have had a top-five."

DOES THIS RUN GIVE YOUR TEAM MOMENTUM? "I don't know if it's a big momentum builder (laughs). When we look back on it, it will be but right now we're still mad."

SELECTED QUOTES FROM BLOUNT RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE PRESS CONFERENCE

"It started off all right. We had a tight race car from the green flag. The guys kept plugging and getting better and better. We still had a little bit of a tight race car there at the end. It's just a shame that it couldn't have went green the whole way because I think we were the only car sitting there with a new set of tires. We took a gamble but I think it was all right. Things don't always go your way. To come out with a top-five finish is great."

TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED ON THE RESTART WHEN BRIAN VICKERS GOT PENALIZED. "We got a little bit loose but no more than any of the guys in front of us. To be honest, I hurt him there but he knows the rule. I hate for it to happen that way. I guess things don't always go your way."

COMMENT ON WINSTON CUP DRIVERS RUNNING IN THE BUSCH SERIES. "I kind of look at it the same way Scott (Riggs) does, except for me to be able to run with the Busch regulars is big for me. I think it will make all of us that much better of a race car driver. I know Joe (Nemechek) was at the right place at the right time but he still won the race and he had a good race car all day."

UNOFFICIAL Raybestos Rookie points after Texas:

Chad Blount       64
Coy Gibbs         63
Regan Smith       40
Chris Bingham     38
Chase Montgomery  28

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