Sam's Town 300 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookies finished at Las Vegas:
Sorenson, 6th
Edwards, 7th
Hamlin, 12th
Wood, 17th
Hemphill, 29th
Wolfe, 30th
Sherman, 32nd
Crosby, 39th
Jourdain, 40th
Davis, 42nd

UNOFFICIAL Raybestos Rookie standings (top-five)
Edwards, 59
Sorenson, 56
Hamlin, 32
Wood, 26
Jourdain, 23

KERTUS DAVIS, No. 0 RACEGIRL CHEVROLET: WHAT HAPPENED? “Another engine. Ben Barnes has been putting together some pretty good engines for us in the past. He built Harry Gant’s engines when he ran the Busch Series back years ago and he’s just now getting back into the business on this side of NASCAR with the Busch Series and everything. The motor just shook and went like a grenade right on the frontstretch. We were extremely tight at the first part of the run there and then we got the car freed up and felt like it was going to be pretty decent. We were just making laps, learning this track and getting the competitors used to running around me. It’s just unfortunate. I’ve got to thank RACEGIRL and Raybestos for sponsoring the rookie of the year program.”

KIM CROSBY, No. 7 BOUDREAUX’S BUTT PASTE CHEVROLET: “This is our first race of the season. We got out there and had some trouble at the beginning with handling. It was pushing up out of four and pushing up out of two. We did what we had to do. We brought it in and made a whole lot of changes on it. We went back out and it was running great. It felt great, handled great, and unfortunately being a lapped car you have to go a lane down. I was trying to stay a lane down coming off of two. I was carrying a lot of speed through there and I’m not going to put blame on anybody. I could have gone up or he could have come down, who knows. We learned a lot today so it was a good learning experience. I’m ready for Atlanta.” WAS THIS WEEKEND SOMETHING YOU CAN BUILD ON? “This whole weekend was something we can build on. I made a really careless rookie mistake in California. I knew better than to go out on cold tires and try to drive it in deep. I was making a bonsai run and just wasn’t smart so I took total blame for that. Every week I learn something new. I hope the car that kind of got into it with me is okay and that he’s still out there running. We take everything and learn from it and that’s why we’re here.”

MICHEL JOURDAIN, No. 10 ppc RACING FORD: “The car felt very good at the beginning. I was passing cars very, very easy and I just had no indication. I saw everybody have to slow down, down low, and I went for the outside and I lost it. It sucks because we were no good yesterday in practice and they made some good changes for qualifying and the car felt very good in the beginning. We passed many, many cars in a few laps until I dilapidated the wall. I feel very bad for my guys because they are working so hard. This is two weekends in a row. Last time it wasn’t my fault. We got put in the wall but still it’s too much work for these guys.” DID YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO RUN ENOUGH TO LEARN ANYTHING? “Yes, if I feel like I have a good car not try to go to the front in one lap. I learned that.”

REED SORENSON IN THE No. 41 DISCOUNT TIRE COMPANY DODGE WAS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE IN THE SAM’S TOWN 300 AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY. Notes: Sorenson finished sixth, his sixth top-10 finish in nine career starts and third top-10 of the 2005 season. He took top rookie honors for the third time in four Busch Series races this season. Sorenson became the first Raybestos Rookie to score a top-10 finish at Las Vegas since Scott Riggs finished fourth in 2002. Other Raybestos Rookies to log a top-10 finish in the Sam’s Town 300: Steve Park (eighth in 1997), Ron Hornaday (eighth in 2000), Greg Biffle (second in 2001). THIS IS ANOTHER CONSISTENT RUN FOR YOU AND THIS TEAM. “I think we could have had a little bit better shot there but we had to come in and when you have to come back up through the field you usually have to use your car up pretty good. I think it was a good points day for us and at least we pulled that off out of the day. I think we had a shot to win there about midway through the race but that’s all right.” WAS THERE ANY ADJUSTMENTS YOU NEEDED TO MAKE TO HAVE A BETTER CHANCE TO WIN? “It hurt us when we had to come back in. I think we had to go back to like 24th but we came back up there pretty good, I think. Maybe if we hadn’t done that we would have had a little better shot at adjusting on our car and trying to get a little bit better for the end.” WAS THE CAR PRETTY GOOD ALL DAY? “It was really good in the middle of the race and that’s when I thought we had a really strong car. After about 20 laps I could start running people down and picking them off and then there at the end it got tight.” WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT THE CAR GOT TIGHT AT THE END OF THE RACE? “A little bit. The last two sets of tires were tighter. The first set of tires we were as loose as could be for 30 laps. I was really surprised that it came a complete turnaround to that. The last stop there we were going to try to adjust a little more but it was a green flag stop and we didn’t have much time.” DID YOU HAVE STICKER TIRES WHEN YOU NEEDED THEM TODAY? “We were trying to but everything changed. When I had to come in and go back out and come through the field that used them up pretty good so that kind of set us back on our strategy. We had five sets for the race and usually that’s plenty for a 200-lap race and it ended up being enough.” YOU HAVE A LOT OF MOMENTUM GOING TO YOUR HOME TRACK, NEXT WEEK. “It’d be nice to take a car there that we know is a contender to win and get a win, that’d be nice.”

CARL EDWARDS, No. 60 WORLD FINANCIAL GROUP FORD (Note: Edwards finished seventh in his first Busch Series race at Las Vegas. Today’s race is the first time TWO or more Raybestos Rookies finished inside the top-10 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.) “I can’t say enough about World Financial Group for coming on board, Brad Parrott [crew chief], Charter Communications, and all our sponsors. I’m just lucky to be driving for this team. This thing was terrible yesterday. Brad got out all his notes and I’ve never seen so many notes in my life. He swore that it was going to work and I could not believe how great this car was. We’re going to lose races like that and that’s okay. I can’t say congratulations enough to Mark Martin. He’s a hero of mine and he deserves wins and that team worked really hard. I’m proud that Roush won and I’m sorry that it wasn’t us.” YOU HAD SUCH A GREAT RUN BUT IT WAS DISAPPOINTING THERE AT THE END. “Yeah, but that’s a real confidence builder, you know? Everybody on the car [his sponsors] got behind me 100 percent this year. I had no Busch experience and Jack [Roush, his owner] put me in this car with a great crew and crew chief, Brad Parrott. Man, it really showed how good this team is today. That was awesome. We were terrible in practice and Brad made a bunch of changes. If it wasn’t for that tire, I think it would have been close to victory lane, I’d bet on it.” WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE TIRE? “Something must have just punctured the tire going down one of the straightaways. I can’t remember if it was the back straightaway or the front but it drove into the corner and it was loose. It’s every racer’s worst nightmare right there. You could see the end of the race.” YOU HAD SUCH A GREAT CAR TODAY. “I’m so fortunate to be driving for Roush Racing. I can’t say enough about the engines, Brad Parrott, Ryan McKinney, Darrell Marlow, and our whole crew. These guys swore to me that it would be fast. It wasn’t good in practice and they swore it would be fast and it was just awesome.” WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHEN THE TIRE LET GO? “I’ve watched a lot of race and I haven’t had that exact experience happen before but that happens in racing. Goodyear builds a great tire and there must have just been something on the racetrack. If we had had a set of stickers in the pits, a set of brand new Goodyears, we still would have been looking great. We had 18-lap scuffs. I was thinking a lot of bad things at that moment.” HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO PLAY THE TIRE GAME AND MAKE SURE YOU HAD STICKERS WHEN YOU NEEDED THEM? “It wasn’t really difficult because we were just going with the leaders on tires. I didn’t know for sure if we were doing the right thing. I think there were 80-something laps left and we had two sets and I thought man, if it comes down to a short run to the end, which it did for us, it would have been better not to take tires. It would have been better to stay out. You’ve got to do what the leaders are doing and if it wasn’t for that little bit of bad luck we would have won that race.” WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHT BEFORE THE TIRE PROBLEM? “I was so good. I’ve been fortunate enough to have six Craftsman Truck Series victories and I don’t think any of them were runaways where it was easy to drive the truck. Today the World Financial Group car was easy to drive and I was just cruising. Man, it’s sad to see it end like that but hey, that’s racing and Mark won so that’s cool. That’s the best racecar that I can every remember.”

SORENSON PRESS CONFERENCE YOU LOOKED VERY COMFORTABLE ON THE TRACK TODAY. “We had a really good car there at the beginning. It was loose there on the first run and the second run it was really good on the long runs, right there when I was running around David [Stremme]. The car was really good, it was coming to me, then we had to come back in. We left a lug nut off of the left front so we came back in and that was right before that big wreck and we just barely made it through there and that was a good break for us. There at the end we just picked our way through there and got up into the top-six.” WHAT HAPPENED WITH J.J. YELEY OUT THERE? “I’m not sure. Out off four on the flat, it seemed like we were hitting there and I had all four on the flat and it was almost a wreck there. I was pretty sideways there and I don’t know we kept it out of the fence but I’m not sure what was going on.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 20 ROCKWELL AUTOMATION CHEVROLET: “Our car was terrible. It was the worst of worse. We just got lucky and got that pit strategy where we just came in and topped off with like 90 to go and it let us run that extra 10, 15 laps over the guys so when they had to pit we just stayed out and luckily the caution came out when it did. We’ve definitely got to get to work on our mile-and-a-half program, for sure.”

JON WOOD, No. 47 CLOROX WISK FORD: “I had an awesome car. We had a bad set of tires and we put them on like the second run. Well, maybe the first pit stop we put them on and we knew that we had to run them but we were hoping that we could run them when we would run the fewest number of laps and it ended up being the longest run and we went a lap down because of that. All in all, it’s cool to see the Clorox car run up front. I’m just happy to be driving it.” DID THE TRACK STAY CONSISTENT ALL DAY? “It did, it didn’t really change a bit. I really couldn’t have asked for a better racetrack. It was a perfect day but it just turned bad with that one set of tires.” HAVE YOU SEEN THAT A LOT THIS SEASON? “These Goodyears are really good about being consistent. Maybe we ran over something, I’m not sure. I’m coming out of here smiling because I know that we have fast racecars.”

RYAN HEMPHILL, No. 4 GEICO/PET BRANDS DODGE: “The guys worked awfully hard on the Geico Dodge. The motor ran good. We broke a header early in the race and it was popping real bad. Fortunately we didn’t burn up a valve or anything but it got real flat. We had one stop there where the car was decent and other than that it was really tight and really loose. It was really, really unbalanced. The guys did a good job today on pit stops and we’ll just try to do our homework and figure out what we’re missing.”

PAUL WOLFE, No. 6 RAGU DODGE: “The team did really good this week rebounding back from a bad week last week and turned it into a good qualifying run. We were really good in practice yesterday and felt really good about going into the race today. We started off tight, which a lot of cars were. I had no grip in the front tires and kept working on it and working on it and all of a sudden it went to loose. We couldn’t find that balance and I don’t know where we’re missing it and then at one point I had all I could do to drive the thing. I’m like ‘You’ve got to put it back to the way it was or something, at least we can finish the race here.’ It’s a tough day but we’re still learning. We’ve got to figure out what this new Dodge Charger wants. We brought another car home in one piece. The pit crew did a good job today. Everybody is learning. We’re just not getting the finishes that we want. We’ll keep working on it until we do.”