Hershey's Kisses 300 - Rookie Red Flag Quotes

Note: The Hershey's Kisses 300 was halted by rain after 31 laps Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. The race will restart Monday at 11:00 a.m. eastern time.

PAUL MENARD, #33 MENARDS/PITBULL/PITTSBURGH PAINTS CHEVROLET:

WHAT HAPPENED? "I guess they were going three wide in front of me. It's tough to tell because when you are so close on everybody else that you can't really see a whole lot. They were three wide and I saw a bunch of smoke. Everybody checked up and I thought we'd be out of there all right and then I think the Yellow car started spinning and everybody just got into one another." HOW HARD DID YOU HIT? 'It was a fairly hard hit. I haven't really talked to Andy [Petree, car owner] at all to see what the extent of the damage is but it looks like it's fixable, anyway. Hopefully we can get back out there and not dig ourselves in too big of a hole in the first race." WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY? "That restrictor plate racing sucks, basically."

THE HERSHEY'S KISSES 300 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES RACE AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY WAS REDFLAGGED AFTER 31 LAPS BECAUSE OF RAIN. KYLE BUSCH IN THE #5 LOWE'S CHEVROLET WAS RUNNING FOURTH AT THE TIME OF THE DELAY. HE IS THE ONLY FIRST-YEAR DRIVER IN THE TOP-10.

KYLE BUSCH, #5 LOWE'S CHEVROLET:

YOU MUST BE HAVING A GOOD DAY. "We really are. Everything has been going really good so far today. The Lowe's guys did a great job on the pit stop. I came in a little bit too far and they did a good job of pushing it back. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the race. Hopefully this rain can kind of leave us alone. We were having fun out there." WAS THE RACING INTENSE? "Actually, it's been really calm so far. There hasn't been any close calls or anything kind of up front where we've been at. I'm sorry to see all the rest of those guys get caught up in that. It kind of hurts their start to the year but I guess you'll have that with some of the guys. We're having fun up there racing with Junior and all the guys and then Junior dumped me but that's just Junior's way on a rookie. I've got to thank [Jason] Leffler. He's been really helping me out this whole time so far. We're trying to get back out there but it seems though it's coming down a little more." HAVE YOU TROUBLE GETTING PEOPLE TO DRAFT WITH YOU? "Not so far. Actually, I've had Leffler like I said behind me so he's been the one pushing me the whole time. Since he's not behind me anymore and I try to pull out I might have that problem. I'll have to just follow probably for the first little while after this restart." HOW DIFFICULT, MENTALLY, IS THE RAIN DELAY FOR A RAYBESTOS ROOKIE? "It's just a break in the middle of the race where you can get out and got to the bathroom if you have to [laughs]. Otherwise it's not a huge deal. I think the caution flags are more boring because you can't mingle with your guys sitting here in the pit area. Running around there under caution in about a minute and whatever seconds at a time is just kind of boring."

LANCE MCGREW, CREW CHIEF, #5 LOWE'S CHEVROLET:

"The rain doesn't affect our strategy our how we approach a race at all. As early in the race as it is, you still have to strategize that it's going to go the distance so I'm not shooting for 'Okay, we've got to make it to halfway on fuel mileage' or anything like that. It's just kind of hurry-up-and-wait. We're just kind of sitting in the trailer." WITH THE RESTRICTOR PLATE, DO YOU WORRY ABOUT MOISTURE GETTING INTO THE CARBURATOR? "Not any more than usual. NASCAR actually had us drill two holes in the front side of the air filter housing. Water runs to the lowest spot, obviously, and it would run out of those holes. Basically anything that goes into the cowl opening is going to drain out." IF THIS RACE ISN'T FINISHED TODAY, WHAT LOGISTIC CONCERNS DO YOU HAVE? "We were fortunate enough to kind of forecast a little bit of the weather and we went in and reserved our hotel rooms for another night but as anybody knows, as hard as hotel rooms are to get in Daytona, adding another Saturday night stay is like really expensive. My late guys that fly in on race day will have to go home because we don't have rooms for them and they will have to fly back whenever. There are some logistical problems with getting people here and there. I don't use any of the guys that go over the wall for the Cup teams. There's no other commitments that they have to do except for the stuff that we have to get done in the shop to go to Rockingham." IF WE HAVE TO STAY HERE ANOTHER DAY, HOW MUCH WOULD IT THROW YOU BEHIND FOR ROCKINGHAM? "It's probably going to mean a late night or so at the shop. The Rockingham primary car is actually done at the shop and setup. We have to setup the backup car and do some decal work and that kind of stuff. It's going to drag the days on a little bit when we get back to the shop."

DONNIE NEUENBERGER, #77 UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND/JENKINS & JENKINS FORD:

"We're good. We had a game plan. When the 22 [Jason Keller] and 25 [Bobby Hamilton Jr.] decided to lay back it was perfect for us. We passed a bunch of cars at the beginning of the race and just kind of fell in with them. We knew exactly what was going to happen. We got rid of the accident and we're sitting [25th] right now. We know we can run up to the front we just need to make sure that we don't lose too much of the draft and make sure that we don't get caught up in the stupid accidents. It's a long race and we're excited about where that car can finish. The University of Maryland car is definitely on the money. We can't lead the cars but we can hang on and run with them."

JIMMY MEANS, GENERAL MANAGER, #77 UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND/JENKINS AND JENKINS FORD. MEANS MADE HIS FIRST TIP TO DAYTONA AS A CREW MEMBER FOR WHAT IS NOW A BUSCH SERIES TEAM IN 1973. TODAY HE HANDLES MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITES FOR THE JOSEPH REILLY OWNED TEAM.

HOW WOULD A POSSIBLE RAINOUT AFFECT THIS SMALL TEAM? "At this particular place, in Daytona Beach, we're quite lucky. We have a friend here that has a big place and we've stayed there for the last 30 years. We don't have an issue with that. It's not a problem whatsoever. I wish it wouldn't rain so we could go home, but it's not an issue. We've still got our beds. It's not a problem." HOW MANY GUYS DO YOU HAVE ON THE ROAD? "We bring five from the shop and we've got the volunteer people that will show up at different areas of the country. They might not be here but next week at Rockingham they'll be a couple more people and when we go to Richmond there might be a couple more people. We bring five and we rely on people we've met through the years. We still have a have a lot of ol' guys that help us that's been around since I drove. We're fortunate in that aspect that everybody is not on the payroll and we have volunteer people still and without those we couldn't do it." HOW MUCH DOES IT COST YOU TO STAY AN EXTRA DAY? "It's a deal where it's not going to make us or break us if it is rained out. I worried about that a lot more when I drove and I owned my own team because it was out of my back pocket. I still don't want to waste money but it's not coming out of my back pocket. At a normal place it's probably going to cost you $500 to $1,000 for us to stay where a big team that brings 15 people it's probably going to cost them $3,000. In the old days, I fretted about it because it was out of my pocket, but now, just go with the flow." HOW IMPORTANT WOULD IT BE FOR THIS SMALL TEAM TO GET A SOLID FINISH AT DAYTONA? "You need to finish the race so after the first four races you need to have points. It looks like it's going to be a little more competitive this year than it was last year. I've heard they've got 53 cars for Rockingham. We need to build our point base. Right now we're sitting good in points and that's good for four races but after that we need to rely on what we've done the first four. Naturally we want to get a good start here and have a good finish and that's just a stepping stone to hopefully a top-20 in the points at the end of the year." ARE YOU HAPPYY? "At times. It's just gotten so frustrating to do without enough money to do it and all the rules that they are coming up with and how tight they are on all the templates. It's quite a job just to get the car to the racetrack just to get through tech, much less try to be competitive and race with it."