NAPA Auto Parts 200 - Ford Post-Race Quotes

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion – (finished 7th, qualified 5th) – “I’m just pleased I’m racing in America, road racing against the best America’s got and we’re holding our own.” DID YOU KNOW NASCAR TOLD ROBBY GORDON TO GO TO THE BACK? “Yeah, I knew that and I knew that he was going to try and hit me. We were talking whether we should pull over and let him pass, but you know, I’ve got two laps to go and I’m trying to win the race. If somebody is going to take me out, they’re going to take me out. If they feel strong enough, they’re going to do it. I’m not going to go into it. I’m disappointed; I promised myself that I wouldn’t get mad. This is an opportunity for me over here. I’m thankful for what I’ve been given and today is a bad day, but tomorrow we’ll look to next week. I’m pleased that I’m here and holding my own against some of America’s best.” WHAT WAS THE STRATEGY FOR TODAY? “Conserve tires, conserve fuel until the end and it’s a shame that we didn’t get to show it.” HOW HARD IS IT TO NOT BE MAD? “I’ll be in therapy for about two years I think.” WHAT WAS THE EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU? “He was mad and showed it.”

ROBBY GORDON – No. 55 Camping World Ford Fusion – (finished 18th, qualified 11th) – WHAT DID THEY SAY IN THERE (NASCAR HAULER)? “They said here’s the rule book. WERE YOU AHEAD OF MARCOS (AMBROSE) WHEN THAT YELLOW FLAG WAS ON THE CORNER? DIDN’T THEY SAY THAT IF THE YELLOW FLAG WAS OUT… “You always go back to your position, if you get spun out. And Marcos spun me under the caution, or whatever his name is. They originally told me to go back to second place and I went back to second place. Then they said to go back to 13th place or 14th place or something like that. I was never running 13th or 14th, so I don’t know what to say.” DID YOU WIN THIS RACE? “I completed the most laps, I was first car to complete them. I won the race. You guys can say that I got in the back of him over here, he got in the back of me over there. It’s just a huge disappointment. We worked real hard on our road course program and we came here to win the race and that’s what we did. If they’re going to say we finished two laps, I guess we finished two laps down; they make the rules.” DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU BUMPED HIM TO GET THE LEAD? “The first time I got side-by-side with him pretty clean and he got loose on the gas, but I got off on him and got inside of him going into turn three. It’s a huge disappointment.” WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED FINISH? “On the last lap, he completely missed the apex of the turn one and I got into him in turn two. I had my apex and I had more speed.”

STEPHEN LEICHT – No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion – (finished 5th, qualified 9th) – “We had a great run. I’m really proud of all of my CitiFinancial Ford guys they did a good job today and all week. We’ve been good since we’ve been here our Fusion was running good. We were getting better and better. We were running up front and both times going down pit road they penalized us. It’s a team sport and we all made a mistake. If that didn’t happened, we probably could have won this thing.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 Discount Tire Ford Fusion – (finished 19th, qualified 22nd) – “Cutting the tire and having to pit under green was probably our biggest problem of the day. We just couldn’t seem to rebound and had two cautions after that so we were on the wrong side of the pit strategy. Once you get down that one lap or two laps here on the road courses, you just can’t seem to rebound. With a top-20 finish, we brought the car home in one piece. I guess we’ll go to Pocono and show them what we’ve got there.”

TODD KLUEVER – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – (finished 21st, qualified 31st) – “We were as good as we were going to be here and road around all day and finished the race. I think the car was better than the driver. Eddie (Pardue, crew chief) and the guys did a great job putting our 3M Ford Fusion together and I’m looking forward to next week. It seems to take me a little while to get used to these road courses, so hopefully next week I’ll still be in road course rhythm and we can start off a lot better. I’m a little disappointed, to be honest, after the 11th place finish in Mexico City, I thought we’d be able to do better here. It seems like it takes me one time at these tracks to really get a handle on it. Last year in Mexico City we were bad and came back and ran ok here next year.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Scotts Ford Fusion – (finished 30th, qualified 15th) – “We just had a truck arm mount break-off on the curbs and it ended our day early. We had such a fast race car, it’s a shame our day ended early. We just lost eight laps trying to repair it.”