Tropicana Twister 300 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookie finished at Chicagoland:
J.J. Yeley 9th
Kyle Busch 12th
Travis Geisler 23rd
Billy Parker 37th
Clint Bowyer 42nd

Top-Five Raybestos Rookie standings
K. Busch 268
P. Menard 139
J.J. Yeley 113
C. Bowyer 110
B. Parker 69

CLINT BOWYER, #33 MONACO COACH CORP. CHEVROLET: "We've been struggling with this car all weekend. This is the car that Paul [Menard] wrecked at Charlotte and something is wrong with it. I don't know what else we could do. We did everything that we could to tighten it up and it was still spinning-out loose. I got into the 27 there, I was just sideways up off the corner and had to use him to gather it up or I was going to crash everybody. It's just unfortunate. I hate it for Monaco and all these guys that work their tails off for Andy [Petree, car owner] on this deal. We're working on a skeleton crew anyway. I'm proud of their effort. Hopefully we'll get the test done and figure out what's wrong with this car. I think it's a little bit of an aero issue. I know they'll bounce back and do good."

J.J. YELEY IN THE #18 VIGORO/THE HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET WAS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT CHICAGOLAND. Notes: Yeley finished ninth, his second top-10 finish in 11 career Busch Series starts. He took Raybestos® Rookie of the Race honors for the first time this season. His other top-10 finish came at Nashville in June, where he placed eighth. Yeley led the race twice for 25 laps, the first laps he has led in the young Busch Series career. "That last set of tires was horrible. I don't know what it was, but the thing was so tight it wouldn't turn for nothing. We actually freed it up on that stop. I guess it's probably more disappointing because we had those guys covered that stayed out. I think we let one slip away from us today but all in all we led some laps and kept the Vigoro/Home Depot car out front. I'm just disappointed." HOW BIG OF A CONFIDENCE BOOST IS IT TO BE ABLE TO RUN UP FRONT LIKE YOU DID TODAY? "It's definitely good for the confidence, for me and the team. They've been doing a lot of things differently here and it's really helped my progress as well as Bliss'. Both cars have been really fast the last four or five races. They've figured out some things that work good for both of us. You hate to let 'em get away from you like this. Unfortunately it will be another month before I can come back and play again so I've got a lot of time to dwell on it." WAS THERE INDECISION REGARDING WHETHER TO PIT AT THE END OF THE RACE? "There was a little bit of indecision. We just couldn't figure out if we wanted to do it or not. It was one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't things. The safe bet was to come in and put tires on it. I stalled the engine leaving; that's the first time I've done that since I've been in one of these things and it cost us a couple of positions but as tight as the car was on this set of tires I don't think we could have done too much better." THERE IS A WRINKLE ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE DOOR. WAS THAT AT END OF THE RACE? "That was actually earlier. On the last pit stop when we were coming out from the gas and go. I had a car stuck on the outside of me and I was about the middle of pit lane and Bliss came out and got into me. Me and Mike keep everything close between the two of us. Oh well, we'll just have to go on to the next one."

DOUG HEWITT, CREW CHIEF, #18 VIGORO/THE HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET: "We should have stayed out or just took on two. We took a first-place car and made a 10th place car out of it. He did good, the guys did good, just made a bad call at the end there and it bit us." WHAT WAS THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS ON THAT LAST STOP? "I don't think there really was one. I thought two might be too tight and I thought more guys would take on four, and the smart ones were the guys who didn't take on any." WERE YOU SURPRISED MORE DRIVERS DIDN'T PIT? "Everybody was OK on fuel with that caution. We should have stayed out. That was the best that our car was. I was just afraid that we we'd get eat up on new tires and that wasn't the case. It was a good run, it's just disappointing because we had a car to win and made 10th place out of it."

KYLE BUSCH, #5 LOWE'S/BRIGGS & STRATTON CHEVROLET Notes: Busch trails point leader Martin Truex by 52 points after the race at Chicagoland. He leads the Raybestos Rookie standings by 129 points (268-139) over Paul Menard. "It's a good thing that we were able to finish. That's probably the best part that came out of the whole day. It was a tough day overall for the Lowe's Chevrolet. We got down early and had to fight back, got back to the lead; we were going to win the race, then down a cylinder. What else do you want to happen in a day? All in all, it's a shame what happened but we look forward to next week." WHAT PUT YOU BEHIND EARLY IN THE RACE? "I saw something that we ran over but I just thought it was a piece of rubber from another car that was in front of me, a lapped car. Obviously, it must have been something different because about 10 laps later it started getting tighter and tighter. I knew we were losing the right front and as soon as Kenseth got by me it wasn't worth wrecking a car. We had to come down pit road and put tires on it and then go back after 'em and chase 'em." WAS THERE A LOT OF VIBRATION IN THE CAR AT THE END OF THE RACE? "There was a little bit but it wasn't anything like the motor was going to blow up. I think we just dropped a valve spring. Nothing else was hurt." WAS IT DIFFICULT TO KEEP THE BIG PICTURE IN MIND? "It was. There toward the end of the race when we were trying to come back from being down all day we had to make sure that the Lowe's Chevrolet stayed together for the rest of the race. I kind of bogged 'er down on that last restart to make sure that she would last. The Hendrick motor department puts out awesome horsepower and with everything else they've done so far this year, just to have a valve spring go bad which isn't any of their fault at all is pretty tremendous on their behalf." YOU STILL ENDED UP BEATING MARTIN TRUEX. "He had a bummer day all day. It's a shame to see your rival competitor stink but on the other hand it's also good to see him stink." ON THE HIGH ATTRITION RATE. "I was just hoping there toward the end of the race we could get a couple more cars between us and Martin but it wasn't able to happen out that way. We'll go on to next week and make sure that we have everything together then."

BILLY PARKER, #66 DURAFLAME DODGE: "The same old, same old. I was racing a group there early on and just got sideways racing hard. It hadn't been run in up top yet. When you are side by side and everybody is racing hard and you've got to go or you'll get run over, you've got to go. When you get up there sometimes you save it, sometimes you don't. It stepped out and I thought I had it saved but it kept whipping sideways and got into the fence."

YELEY PRESS CONFERENCE

YOU'VE GOT TO BE HAPPY WITH YOUR RUN TODAY. "I don't know about happy, but definitely better than what we've been running. The car was a lot better out by itself. Kyle Busch was real fast out there but he had an engine problem. Once I got out front, the car was really good. Anytime someone was in front of me the car was just too tight. There at the end when you are leading, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't situations. We thought the safe thing to do was to put four tires on and that set of tires was real, real tight. The car was a handful. We just couldn't make it back through the pack. It's just that much more disappointing after those guys stayed out and no one put tires on and go out and win the race." DID YOU AND THE TEAM TALK ABOUT PITTING? "We did a little bit. Going into the middle of the back straightaway we were going to stay out and by the time we got to turn three we were coming in. It changed four or five times and just as we were coming to turn four last second it was 'Let's go ahead and pit or we're going to get beat here.' We got a little bit lucky there. Like some of the other guys, we stayed out just long enough where the yellow came out that put us back up to fourth there. We got near the front and the car was really good. Stuck back there in traffic, it was pretty bad. Unfortunately that last set of tires just tightened up the car too much. We just couldn't get the traffic." DO YOU KNOW JUSTIN LABONTE AT ALL? "I do a little bit. He's he guy who finished first while the rest of us are up here. I talked to them a lot at Dover and we tested together. He's got a lot more laps than I do and we were just kind of bouncing stuff off each other. There wasn't anyone else there who could really help us. It's a great thing to see a team like that that doesn't run full time, and I don't know what kind of sponsorship they've got, but I think this is his first win here. Good for him but bad for the rest of us." WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE NOW WITH YOUR TRANSITION TO STOCK CARS? DOES TODAY'S RUN GIVE YOU MORE CONFIDENCE? "It definitely gives me a lot more confidence. Here in the last three or four races, the team has really learned a lot of different things. They've been to the wind tunnel. Me and Mike Bliss have both been getting great racecars here of late. He has a real fast racecar here today. I think he had some engine problems. They've figured some things out. They're giving me a little bit more to work with. The car is more consistent so it's easier to take the thing and run down in the corner and know that it's going to stick. I was having a ball running on the outside of guys and no one seemed to want to go out there. That reminded me the most of what I'm used to doing: sticking the thing up there on the edge of the dust and giving it the old yahoo."