Sam’s Town 300 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

DONNIE NEUENBERGER, #77 BG PRODUCTS/NEVADA PALACE FORD:

"We were trying to run conservative and we were faster than the two cars in front of us and they were just kind of all over the place. We'd run them down real hard in one and two and I sat them up to get by them. The 10 car just wanted to kind of run us up to the wall there and I didn't have anywhere to go and I think that's the little bad spot off of two where it just kind of broke me loose. I hadn't been loose all day. It's too early in the race not to give us a little room; just fall in behind us and pass us back if you're good enough and it cost us a decent run. After qualifying on time after our problems we were excited. The goal as a Raybestos Rookie is to try to get better and better at running consistent laps and push yourself harder and harder and that's all we were doing. You want to fall back away from those guys just so you can do that but you just try to run hard and when you know that you are better than them you don't want to slow down. We'll come back and get 'em again."

KYLE BUSCH IN THE #5 LOWE'S/PELLA CHEVROLET WAS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT LAS VEGAS. Notes: This is the third consecutive Busch Series race where Busch has been the top rookie finisher. He is also the only Raybestos Rookie to score a top-10 finish (he placed seventh at Rockingham one race ago). Busch finished 15th, the only Raybestos Rookie to finish on the lead lap in Saturday's race.

"Not a bad day at all. We'd rather finish the Cup race in the top-15 but this Busch team worked their hearts out this weekend. They did an awesome job. The car was awesome all day. We had one set of tires that was just a little bit too tight for us. I can't believe these Lowe's/Pella guys are good at being this capable of a team. Obviously they are the champions but I'm a rookie driver and I had a car that could go out there and win the race. Kevin Harvick came out of nowhere and still won." WHAT HAPPENED ON THE RESTART WHERE YOU GOT PENALIZED? "I thought that I seen the leader go. I'm not sure, I might want to see the film, but I thought I saw the leader go and when the leader goes that means the green is out so I went to the top. I wouldn't have sacrificed the right side of my car on the wall if I didn't think the green was out. It's just one of them deals. We'll go on with it. Brian [Vickers] had one of those downfalls at Texas. He still came back and won the championship." ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE FINISH? "Yeah, being top Raybestos Rookie in the race is definitely what we wanted to do and that's our main goal for this year. Man, I really wish we could have gotten that top-five finish that we really deserved. That would have just put us that much further up in the point standings." DID THE WAY THE CAUTION FLAGS FELL IN THE MIDDLE OF GREEN FLAG PIT STOPS HELP YOU? "It did play to our favor. I was like 'Oh man, we've got a shot to win this thing' so I just wanted to get on that last restart get up on the outside of those guys and go down into turn one and once I was clear I would go back down to the bottom and pass the rest of the guys down the back straightaway on the bottom. The Hendrick department did a great job with the motor. They had awesome horsepower. Everything was in our favor until the end." WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT YOU CAN TRANSFER TO OTHER TRACKS THIS SEASON? 'It's going to be an exciting year, I can tell you that. You just saw it in this race here. Everybody was slipping and sliding on the long runs there. It's going to be worse at Charlotte and it's going to be worse at Atlanta. All the racetracks on this schedule you're going to see a whole bunch of good racing."

J.J. YELEY, #18 VIGORO/THE HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET:

"We made some changes from yesterday, just fighting a loose racecar and the racetrack tightened up a ton. We made a spring change that was just too much to overcome today. The guys kept digging, kept making adjustments on the car and it kept getting better. We pitted a little bit early on that first stop and got us down a couple of laps and that hurt us a bunch. The thing is still in one piece and we can go to the wind tunnel next week so I'm real happy about it." WHAT IMPRESSED YOU MOST ABOUT TODAY'S RACE AND THIS STYLE OF RACING? "You just can't ever give up. That's true in all of racing but especially here because the races are so long. It's easy to get down a lap and something can happen. You can be fast and get caught in the wrong situation and really hurt you. You can't ever give up. Keep trying because the situation might come around and help you." AS SUCCESSFUL AS YOU HAVE BEEN IN OTHER TYPES OF RACING, IS IT DISAPPOINTING WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR FINAL FINISH? "Absolutely, after qualifying seventh and knowing we had a good racecar. If we could have avoided that deal when we lost a couple of laps there at the beginning we'd have been a top-15 racecar. Any time when you don't run up front it's disappointing as a racecar driver."

BILLY PARKER, #66 DURAFLAME DODGE:

"We accomplished some goals but not all of them. The big thing is that we got Duraflame out here. This is the first time they've been on a racecar so we're excited about that. We come away from here unscathed and we wanted to finish on the lead lap but the pit stop sequence hurt us. I came in the pits on the first go-round and slid the tires and almost went past the pit. I got too close to the wall and got the Cone Head award for that so I messed us up there. And then we lost a lug nut on another pit stop, which hurt us for a couple of laps. Just rookie mistakes and when we get them out of the way we're going to be fast. We had a good handling racecar and that was really neat to come out here and not struggle with that. We really had a good racecar all day." DOES HAVING VETERAN MEMBERS ON THIS TEAM LIKE BARRY DODSON HELP YOU? "It does. I know a lot of guys out here. Rusty [Wallace, team owner] is a big help. I've got my brother, my crew chief, and all the guys. I known Kevin Lepage for a while and he's really tried to help me out so I've got a lot of guys that I can go to. But Rusty is a huge help. He knows everything that happening and what's going on. He's already been through it so he shortcuts everything for us and he tells me what to expect and gets me through it."

PAUL MENARD, #33 MENARDS/ENERGIZER CHEVROLET:

"We changed springs and shocks this morning and didn't have time to work with it in practice so we kind of came in the race with an unknown. But they were all for the better. The car was a lot better today than it was yesterday and we kept making it better throughout the race. All in all, I was pretty happy." DID THE CAUTIONS FALL TO YOUR ADVANTAGE TODAY? "I'm not sure how many cars pitted before us but I think it hurt us more than it helped us. On that first one, if we had stayed out two laps longer we would have caught a yellow and would have been a lap further up. So it hurt us." WHAT WAS THE MAIN THING THAT YOU LEARNED TODAY THAT YOU COULD USE LATER ON IN THE SEASON? "We've got a better idea on what we can do with the shocks. That was out biggest change from yesterday to today so we've got some pretty good ideas for that."

BUSCH RAYBESTOS ROOKIE POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

IT WAS NICE TO DO SO WELL IN FRONT OF THE HOMETOWN FANS. "It really was. We ran up front all day, pretty much in the top-10 all day. We had our good times and then we had our bad times but overall it was a strong day for the points, I guess. There could have been a better finish but I guess we're going to take this and go on to the next one at Darlington." WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT YOU COULD APPLY TO TOMMOROW'S RACE? "There really was. Some of the things that we changed on the car I'm sure Gary DeHart is asking Lance [McGrew] what we did because some of those changes really helped us out and made the car turn better and also exit the corner pretty good, too. I believe that we're going to try to go out there and have the same car that we had here today and maybe we can come out of there with a top-15 finish. That's what I wanted in the Cup side, but the Busch side we would have expected a little bit more." WHAT WAS YOUR VIEW OF THAT LAST BIG ACCIDENT INVOLVING MATT KENSETH AND JOHNNY SAUTER? "I didn't see it [laughs] or I wasn't paying attention, one of the two. I don't even know if they were behind me or in front of me, more than likely they were in front of me." WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU WERE PENALIZED? "I saw the leader go and usually when the leader goes that means the green flag is waving so I decided to go. I don't think I would have sacrificed the right side of my car hitting the fence if the green flag wasn't out but nonetheless if it wasn't then obviously I was in the wrong judgment. If it was then there is nothing we can do about it now and we're just kind of going to go on to the next one." DO YOU AND YOUR BROTHER KURT HAVE A WAGER AS TO WHO IS GOING TO HAVE THE BETTER FINISH ON SUNDAY? "No, we don't have a wager on who is going to finish better but I can tell you who is going to finish better and that will be him."

Unofficial Raybestos Rookie standings after Las Vegas:

Kyle Busch 37
Paul Menard 33
Donnie Neuenberger 24
J. J. Yeley 9
Rick Markle 9
Billy Parker 8
Stan Boyd 1
Kevin Conway 1
Brian Conz 1