Aaron's 312 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

Unofficial Raybestos Rookie standings (top-five) Kyle Busch 120
Paul Menard 77
Donnie Neuenberger 50
Clint Bowyer 35
J.J. Yeley 24

RICK MARKLE, #68 MARKLE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET: "We thought that we'd go with the same strategy as the 1 and the 25. We came down pit road and put gas in it and went back out. I couldn't hang with them. I shuffled myself out, made a bad move, and they shook me so I ended up stuck in a group that wasn't quite fast enough to keep the draft. They were good cars; they just weren't fast enough to keep the draft. I was pulling that draft and it started to go a little flat on me and they were right on me and we weren't going any faster so I just pulled up to the outside and it got worse. I came down pit road and we took a look at it and went back on pit road and it started to make noise so I shut it off. It's a shame. I think we had a really good car. I don't know if we had the strategy working for us or not but I think we had a pretty good car."

KYLE BUSCH IN THE #5 LOWE'S/ BRIGGS & STRATTON CHEVROLET WAS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT TALLADEGA. Notes: Busch finished fourth, his third top-five of the season and fifth of his 15-race Busch Series career. Busch has been the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in seven of the eight races this season. A Raybestos® Rookie has finished fourth or better in each of the last FOUR Busch Series races. A Raybestos® Rookie has now scored a top-10 finish in each of the last FIVE Aaron's 312 races at Talladega: Mike Borkowski (10th in 2000), Greg Biffle (sixth in 2001), Casey Mears (fifth in 2002), and Coy Gibbs (tenth in 2003). Unofficially, Busch stretched his lead to 43 points over Paul Menard (120-77) in the Raybestos Rookie Standings. HOW CLOSE DID YOU GET TO THE "BIG ONE?" "Pretty close. It wasn't scary-close but it was pretty close. These guys do an awesome job every week I can't thank the Lowe's guys enough. We've got the vice president here this weekend and it's great to have him here. We're really looking forward to the rest of the year but this was one of those loopholes that we kind of had to get over before we could get any further." AT THE END OF THE RACE, WHAT DID YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN? "I think we needed a few more green flag laps. Hornaday was really working over Junior and he was definitely going to wear him out and be able to get by him and then once we got by him then it wasn't DEI power up front anymore so then we would be able to get there. I think more than likely Hornaday would have won the race." YOU RAN VERY WELL HERE THIS WEEKEND. "We had a top-five car there in Daytona but just couldn't work over the overheating issue. Once we were able to get that fixed here today we would be able to run up front. I don't think we had a leading car. We could follow really well, that's just because of the grill opening." YOU MUST BE HAPPY WITH THE CONSISTENCY. "We need to be a tad bit better on the speedway program but we definitely have something going for us. It's always exciting to be able to run good and to be able to finish here and bring home a car." AS A RAYBESTOS ROOKIE, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE A THEAT TO WIN THE POLE AND THE RACE EVERY TIME YOU COME TO THE TRACK? "Being a Raybestos Rookie and trying to go after that with a veteran team, it's definitely difficult for myself. But it's great to have the team standing behind you that gives you the great equipment to be able to do that. It wasn't a bad day. There in the beginning we were kind of down. We fell back there and kind of rode around. We had an overheating problem so we had to come in and cut a hole in the nose and put another grill in there. We just can't seem to figure out what we need to do to be able to run a small grill opening here but we'll get it done for Daytona. I'm excited that these Lowe's guys were able to give me a top-five car. It's pretty awesome. We definitely came close to one of the big ones but we were glad we were able to come out of there okay. Being a Raybestos Rookie you've got to do what you've got to do to finish up front." HOW WAS YOUR DAY? "It was definitely a lot of fun. These Lowe's guys do an awesome job every week. Briggs & Stratton was on the side of the car this week and I'm real excited for those folks. We did a great job out there and we had a lot of turmoil to overcome but we were able to make it through it." THE CAR WAS OVERHEATING AT THE START OF THE RACE. "We were trying to figure out what we could do to make it calm down and obviously that was to pull out of the lead draft and just try to get fresh air. Once we were able to do that it came down a little bit and then it kind of stabilized and we were able to come in and cut another hole in the grill and be able to make a bigger opening so we were able to get some air in there."

CLINT BOWYER, #21 REESE'S CHEVROLET: WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END OF THE RACE? "The last couple of laps it's every man for himself. I was just trying to stay in line and somehow come out with a top-five finish and I think we had a good chance at it. You've got to watch that mirror and watch that guy coming behind you. I blocked him but he got below the yellow and when I looked in my side mirror his whole car was down there and I knew he was going to have to do something. I just didn't think he'd do that [laughs]. YOU RAN AT THE FRONT OF THE FIELD FOR MUCH OF TH RACE. HOW MUCH DID YOU LEARN TODAY? "I got shuffled back and got back up through 'em so I learned a lot. There's a lot to this drafting stuff. I think we had a good car all day, a top five car. I was just trying to real hard to get it back up there for a top-five finish. It's just unfortunate right there at the end I had a little help. I'm just lucky that we brought it home in one piece, just a little scratch on it." DID YOU KNOW WHEN THE GREEN CAME OUT WITH FIVE LAPS TO GO THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE WILD? "That's exactly right. I blocked him a little bit and it forced him to make a decision: outside or inside and he went to the inside and went below the yellow [laughs] but I guess that's racing. We had a good car, I think top-10 most of the day and got shuffled to the back and got a chance to get up through 'em and learn how to draft a little bit. On my end of it, I learned a lot. I just wish we could have brought that Reese's 21 car home in a top-five finish for the guys."

PAUL MENARD, #33 MENARDS TURTLE WAX PLATINUM CHEVROLET: YOUR CAR CAUGHT A LITTLE BIT OF DAMAGE IN THE BIG ACCIDENT. "Typical restrictor plate stuff, I guess. I had a really good car and so did everyone else in the draft. It doesn't take much skill to run up front in this deal. I guess DEI has got the best restrictor plate package and they won so hat's off to them. We could have had a shot at it as well as 30 other people. We're going to California next and I'll get to drive the car there." YOU QUALIFIED NEAR THE FRONT AND RAN WELL ALL DAY SO THAT'S GOT TO BE ENCOURAGING. "I guess my pedal went down to the floor harder than anybody else's. You just run around here wide open and like I say, we actually get to drive the racecar next weekend."

BUSCH RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

"To be a Raybestos Rookie and come out here and finish fourth and basically have a strong day at a restrictor plate race is definitely what you need. Pushing Ron there at the end was pretty fun. I was watching him root and gouge a little bit, trying to get those guys moved over so we could get by them. I think if we would have had Junior broken up the DEI string we would have gotten by Truex. Nonetheless Ron would have probably won the race but we had an overall good day. The Lowe's Chevrolet ran awesome all day. We had to come in early and try to fix the overheating problem. We cut another hole in the grill and that really helped it and we were able from then on to keep the pedal down and be able to be tucked up behind cars." COMMENT ON THE AERO PACKAGE FOR TALLADEGA. "I think it's a great package to run with as long as all the drivers respect it. I think that's the main key, right there. You can keep the pedal down the whole time and run into the back of people but then you are going to lift their tires off the ground and spin 'em out and cause wrecks. If you just learn how to back off a little bit and just hold your groove and what you need to do and just try not to be too impatient then the whole package will work out just fine. More than half the race I was probably half-throttle,"