Mr. Goodcents 300 - Ford Post-Race Quotes

JASON KELLER-22-Miller High Life Light Ford Taurus (Finished 7th) - "The car stumbled real bad on that last restart and I was really trying to block the 2 car and I let the 18 get a run on me. We were trying to hold on to that top-five, but after the way we've run, that's about the best seventh-place finish that I've ever had." WITH ALL OF THE GREEN-FLAGS LAPS AT THE START OF THE RACE, DID YOU EXPECT A LOT OF CAUTIONS AT THE END? "Yeah because cautions breed cautions. When you bunch us up - we have pretty big egos - we like to attack when we can." EVEN THOUGH YOU LOST A FEW SPOTS ON THE FINAL RESTART, ARE YOU A FAN OF THE GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED FINISHES? "I like it for the fans. I lost a few positions, but all in all, it's exciting and it's good for the fans." DID THE GROOVE GET WIDER AS THE RACE PROGRESSED? "It was good. It moved up a little bit and you could race around it and it was racy."

MIKE MCLAUGHLIN-25-Team Marines Ford Taurus (Finished 11th) - "I didn't see what happened to Tony. We just couldn't go on the restarts. It was just terrible. For me, the outside was slick. I saw Michael (Waltrip) trying to run out there and I tried to run out there and I was big-time loose. We needed to run the bottom of the race track, and the more laps we ran our stuff would stay, but on the restarts we just wouldn't go." YOU TOOK TWO TIRES ON YOUR FINAL PIT STOP. WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT TWO-TIRE STOPS WERE A POSSIBILITY TODAY? "I think it was right time for us to do that. The caution had to come out when it did and I thought we'd end up decent. I don't know how it all played out for everyone else, but you never know." THIS IS YOUR FIRST RACE WITH A GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED FINISH. ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF THEM? "Obviously, when we're not going on the restart you don't look forward to them. It came out in Hornaday's favor for sure, but they're all right."

GREG BIFFLE-60-CNN America Votes/Charter Ford Taurus (Finished 2nd) - "It was something to see the 81 and 87 fight for position up there. Tony was trying to block the 87, which I guises anybody leading is going to try to do, and got him turned into the outside fence. The 87 had a great car and I got under him over there in one and two and down the backstretch, and I got under him in three and four and he just had a little more run on me in the outside. That's all we had, but he had a little more steam to stripe and that was about it."

STACY COMPTON-59-Kingsford/Bush's Beans Ford Taurus (Finished 9th) - "We ended up with a good day. I'm awful proud of the guys. Gary and the guys in the pits did a great job all day and made great calls all day. We got a lap down there early and made good calls and adjusted on the car all day. It went well. The motor was good today and everything just went our way. We had a good day. The Kingsford Ford was pretty good all day, but we just needed long green-flag runs. We didn't want to see that green-white-checkered because we were better than about fourth place back on long green-flag runs. We just needed it to stay green, but that's the way it goes and you just take what you can get." WAS PASSING EASIER THAN YOU ANTICIPATED? "I was surprised that the grooves opened up as quick as they did. We went to the top probably on the fifth lap and started working the top groove. The groove went from the top to the bottom, back to the top to the middle. There was enough room out there that you could run two wide. I was surprised. The track is really coming into its own and as we run on it, it just keeps getting better and better." WITH ALL OF THE GREEN-FLAGS LAPS AT THE START OF THE RACE, DID YOU EXPECT A LOT OF CAUTIONS AT THE END? "Yeah. Cautions breed cautions, and when a caution comes out you know that there's a good possibility that there are going to be a couple more to follow it. It was caution-free early on, and before it was over with we knew it was going to get crazy."

MATT KENSETH-9-Pennzoil Ford Taurus (Finished 33rd) - YOUR PROBLEMS SEEMED TO BEGIN ON THE RESTART. "Kasey Kahne ran me up in the marbles on that restart. He was a lapped car and he was just mad because of what ever happened to him, so he just didn't care about anybody but himself and just ran me all the way up into the junk in turn one. I lost all of those spots on the restart and then I was racing the 11 and somebody else, and Kasey hit the wall in front of me and those guys pushed me up out of the groove again and ran me into the marbles and it made me spin. There are two lanes out there but there's not three, and I just kept getting pushed up there out of the way."

GREG BIFFLE PRESS CONFERENCE

TALK ABOUT THE FINAL THREE LAPS. "It was pretty exciting the last few laps. The 81 and Joe got together going down the backstretch and it looked like Tony was kinda using his mirror there and trying to block Joe and got himself turned into the fence. But, he's blocking for the lead and he's trying to win the race and he's led the thing all day and he's doing what he needs to do, and sometimes you have to give them enough room to get up in there beside and race for position. I've been on the giving and receiving end of that part of it. It was a great run between us. Joe got tight down there in the middle of the corner. I got a run on the bottom of him and had a pretty good run going down the backstretch and into the corner. Joe, a couple of laps before that, pulled the air off of me and kinda made me loose about 10 laps earlier, so I knew to be careful getting in the corner with him on the outside of me. I did and got back to the gas as soon as I could and he just had a little more momentum on that top side, a little bit more steam heading to the start-finish line. Nothing I could really do, it was a great run for us and we're really excited to have CNN on the car this week promoting America Votes. We certainly need to get the right president back in the seat this year. I'm excited that Charter brought CNN on the car this week and got them some exposure."

WAS THE INSIDE LANE THE PLACE YOU WANTED TO BE ON THE FINAL LAP? "If I had to do it over again, I'd try the outside. That was really my strong suit and possibly I could have got a better run on the outside like he did coming off the corner. But, he had just a little bit better car than I did, Joe did. That damage is what kind of equaled it out for me. He was suffering a little bit there. But, the guy in the top groove seems to get a little better run sometimes down the straightaway. Unfortunately, the guy that's ahead, if we to come off the corner and Joe would have been a little bit ahead me, maybe a fender ahead of me, I would have won because these cars draft like at a superspeedway. When you're side by side, the guy that's behind, it will pull him up next to you or kind of shoot him by a little bit, and that's what it did to Joe. He got on my right-rear quarterpanel and it sucked him right down the straightaway and blew him right past me. I was turning down to the bottom trying to not give him the tow, but he already had the momentum at that point. It's just that his engine probably runs good, and it looked he had a little more than I did there."

WAS IT JUST GOOD RACING THERE AT THE END? "Absolutely. It was great racing and Joe had a huge run on Tony, and Tony pinched him up into the fence a little bit. Tony moved back down, Joe started to go to the bottom, Tony started to go down, and Joe went back up and kind of had the front part of his nose in there and then Tony tried to block him again. They say it looked like Joe never even lifted. Well, when these cars get sideways and you're on the outside and you've got a guy turning toward the fence, it's like putting the brakes on. Their car slows down so fast that you can't actually stop fast enough to get off of them. It was just good racing. Tony was driving in the mirror and just didn't give him enough room there and that's just the way it goes."

DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A SHOT AT THE WIN TODAY? "I didn't. I was kind of mad because I think I could have beat the 81 car. I just never had a clean shot at him, ever. I couldn't get a clean shot at the 81. I freed my car up and I was battling with lapped cars and lapped cars and then Joe got by me. I messed around with a lapped car and got slowed up a little bit and got his nose under me, and Joe got by me. I thought my hopes were over because I was going to have go get Joe again, which I had Joe passed when the caution came out; I was beside him running the top groove there. I thought that I was going to be able to beat them both when we went back to green on the top, and they kind of squirted off a little bit. My car was just too aero-tight behind those guys and I couldn't get my car to run where I needed it to. When the 81 went out and it was going again, I thought, 'I've got a chance at it.' But, Joe looked really strong. He drove up on the outside of the 81 and the inside almost in the same corner. He had a fast race car and I was surprised I got under him down there. Hopefully tomorrow. I've got a really good car for tomorrow that I'm excited about."

DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN THE 87 AND THE 81? "I had a bird's-eye view of that whole deal. Just Tony blocking the 87. The 87 had a huge run on him and kind of pinched him off coming off the corner over there and didn't give him any room. They were kind of dancing around. Joe started to go to the bottom and the 81 started to move down. Joe moved backed up and kind of moved forward a little bit and the 81 started to come up. Really, these cars, it's hard to explain, but once you make a little contact and one car turns sideways, it just darts in that direction. It's not like you're just going to bump side by side or front to rear. When you get a car turned a little bit like that, it's like a big billboard - the thing will go in the direction you turn it just a little bit. It will dart that way, and that's what happened. He's looking in the mirror trying to mirror-drive the 87, and the 87 got into him a little bit and started to turn him. It's like somebody said, it looked like Joe never let up. It's going to look like that because once that car turns sideways like that and starts heading for the fence, he probably let up and was on the brakes as hard as he could, but at that point it's too late. I saw the 81 move up. It's probably the same thing I would have done if I was trying to win the thing."