Nicorette 300 - Ford Post-Race Quotes

ASHTON LEWIS, JR.-25-Team Marines Ford Fusion (Finished 17th) - "I had to race a couple of guys a little bit harder than I felt I should have, especially at that time in the race. As competitive as this deal is now, I was telling the guys, you drive your heart out and you're 17th. It just goes to show how competitive this series is right now. I think we had a great race car, but when we qualified as badly as we did, we fought track position, and for whatever reason it wouldn't go on restarts, but I was extremely good on long runs. We just gave up too much ground initially in a run. Another really good race car, and I think it's a lot to build off of and make us better for Texas and just go from there."

JON WOOD-47-ArmorAll Ford Fusion (Finished 13th) - "Sometimes adversities are easier to overcome than others. Today it seemed like we had everything that could possibly happen, happen. To bounce back and still finish in the top 15, the Busch Series is tough now. It's almost like what Grand Prix racing is. You almost have to consider yourself best in class and then see where you finish overall because the Cup guys have such an advantage. I like it. There's a lot of people complaining about Cup guys in this series, but all they do is make you better."

CARL EDWARDS-60-Henkel/Dial for Men Ford Fusion (Finished 24th) - THERE SEEMED TO BE A NUMBER OF TIRE ISSUES TODAY. "Kyle Busch had the first one. I had one come apart and had to pit. It's so frustrating, but it's better to be sitting here with a straight race car than a flat one and a hurt neck." DO YOU EXPECT A PROBLEM WITH THE TIRES TOMORROW? "No, they don't go as fast through the corners, so I think we'll be all right tomorrow. I hope so." COULD YOU FIND A DIFFERENT LANE TO HELP PRESERVE THE TIRES? "When my car was loose I couldn't go easy enough on the right rear. I just killed it."

TODD KLUEVER-06-3M Ford Fusion (Finished 18th) - "We made some gains, and it was looking like a good day for us. The last two sets of tires, we lost something and I don't know what it was, but it was pretty big. I wasn't having any kind of success there at the end, and we just fell off the last two runs and I can't explain it yet." DID YOU HAVE ANY TIRES ISSUES TODAY? "Like I said, that second-to-last run, we didn't have any tire problems all day and then all of a sudden we came in and the right-front tire was showing cords. We went back out and we were a little bit better, but not a lot. It was just really, really tight at the end and I didn't see it coming, and I don't know why."

KENNY WALLACE-22-AutoZone Ford Fusion (Finished 19th) - "Today was a big gain for us. We've really embarrassed ourselves at the start of the year and we still have so much work to do. The guy that won today, I know what he had. It used to be years ago where everybody asked what kind of rear-end gear are you running. Nowadays, people want to know of you're coil-bound or running conventional springs. And these guys, when they get these coil-bound cars working, they wax you. But, we got in trouble the first two races because we couldn't figure it out and we ran so poor. Today we went back conventional, but we're still a long ways off. At least we didn't make fools out of ourselves today."

GREG BIFFLE-16-Ameriquest Mortgage Ford Fusion (Finished 3rd) - "The Ameriquest car was really good and Eddie (Pardue) and all of the guys did a great job in the pits, phenomenal pit stops. They kept picking me up spots in the pits. It was great. We were off just a little bit today all day. Off a little bit from the 21 and the 9, but overall, a great run for us." DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING FOR TOMORROW? "I think so. We have a really good car for tomorrow, so I'm pretty happy about it."

MATT KENSETH-17-Ameriquest Mortgage Ford Fusion (Finished 4th) - YOU HAD A GOOD CAR UNTIL LATE IN THE RACE. "It's the story of my life lately. The Ameriquest Fusion was pretty good. These races start so late and it got so dark at the end of the day, and we just didn't make enough adjustments on the last stop and we were too tight. Jeff had a great car. It was really awesome to see Jeff Burton win; it was pretty cool." WHAT DID YOU LEARN FOR TOMORROW? "Well, there's a tire problem; that's what we learned. We've got to think about that tomorrow. If these cars wear tires, the Cup cars will be worse. They have a lot more power and a lot more spoiler and they'll take the tires off quicker. That's a little bit of concern, and other than that, if we race this way tonight, we know it's going to get tight."

GREG BIFFLE PRESS CONFERENCE

"It was a great run for the Ameriquest car. I thought we might have had a car to lead with early, but we got in a little bit of an altercation that changed the right-rear quarter panel a little bit. It was just hard racing and close quarters out there. Overall, it was a good day for us. I'm really happy with this brand new pit crew. They're getting me spots every time on pit road. That's enjoyable in the Busch Series. It was really an uneventful day for me. I just worked my car, quarter to right rear one time, and I had to back off a little bit. I was kinda waiting for the end and then made a run at Kasey there, and thought that if I could get in front in him, maybe I could get him in dirty air and see if I couldn't catch those other two guys a little bit. I was just pushing it a little too hard and I could feel that the right rear was going to be a problem, so I just eased up and figured I'm going to be satisfied with fourth."

"I think it's going to be real similar to today. We're pushing the envelope always on speed and downforce and how fast we're going. If you have a car that's pretty loose, you're going to have to be watching the right rear. If you have a car that's tight, you're going to have to be watching the right front. That's just the way it is. It's almost the way it is everywhere, but when you're running close to hurting the tires you have to be more conscious of that.