Pocono 500 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

LARRY FOYT, NO. 14 HARRAH'S DODGE:

"We've fought brake problems all weekend. In fact, I never even got to fourth gear until today because our brakes have locked up every run in practice and qualifying. It was a bad weekend for us. I just wanted to get our and kind of see the racetrack, get up to speed and we did that. For fun I thought I'd lead a couple of laps. I guess now we've still got more brake problems that we didn't fix at all. It was a tough day for the Harrah's car. I hate it but at least we saw the place so when we come back we've got a place to start." COULD THIS PROBLEM HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF YOU WERE ABLE TO GET PRACTICE TIME ON SATURDAY? "You always say in a perfect world, yeah. I think it's just one of those things that we keep fighting where for some reason we're making mistakes and we're showing up at the racetrack unprepared. You can't compete at this level like that, especially when you've got a rookie like me who needs some seat time and needs to be in the car as much as possible. It kind of hurts us."

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 42 HAVOLINE DODGE:

"That's a pretty bad day for us. We really weren't that bad at one point in the race and we adjusted on the car and made it worse. It was a long green flag run and we just lost a bunch. At one point I would have swore that something broke but we came back in and made some changes and really the car was the best at the very end. I don't know if we left a lug nut loose and lost a couple of laps coming back in. Not a good day." WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT YOU COULD BRING BACK IN JULY? "The biggest thing I think is just racing on the racetrack with other guys. When the race first started, I didn't know where you could pass and where you couldn't."

CASEY MEARS, NO. 41 TARGET DODGE:

"We had a good car and it was unfortunate that we ran out of fuel to put us a lap down. That first run, we were really tight and fell back in the field. Jimmy (Elledge) did a really good call on making a change to the car. We had an excellent car. I mean, there were several times after we made that first change, from that pit stop on out we were just as fast as the leaders the whole time. We had an excellent car, just ran out of gas and got a lap down." COMMENT ON RACING HERE AT POCONO. "You get aero-tight pretty good. You definitely have to have motor for these guys out here. Everybody has got to have comparable motors and then you also have to be able to really lay back and set them up. You've got to have a good front end. If you don't have a good front end on the car, if your front tires aren't sticking good, you won't be able to pass anybody." WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT YOU COULD BRING BACK HERE NEXT MONTH? "If we bring back the same car just like we were, we'll probably be pretty good."

GREG BIFFLE IN THE NO. 16 GRAINGER FORD WAS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT POCONO. BIFFLE TOOK TOP FINISHING ROOKIE HONORS FOR THE SIXTH TIME THIS SEASON AND TWICE IN THE LAST THREE RACES. UNOFFICIALLY, BIFFLE TRAILS MCMURRAY BY TWO POINTS IN THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE STANDINGS (151-149).

RANDY GOSS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 16 GRAINGER FORD:

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END OF THE RACE? "There were only three guys behind us on the lead lap when the caution came out so we decided to come for tires and try to get some guys, you know. I couldn't even see in the back there. We missed the one wreck and then they stacked up in front of Greg and got into it. I couldn't see it down there. It wasn't a great day for us. We fought with the car back and forth. We'd be working on it and then we'd be doing as good lap times as maybe ninth or tenth right in there but we could never get there. We never could get the opportunity to get track position. It was another tough day for us, the second week in a row that we bring home junk. That was our best car; out best car that had never been to the wind tunnel so we're back to scratch, square one again. We'll have to build back up and get ready for Michigan." HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GET TRACK POSITION HERE AT POCONO? "The first time here, I thought we called the race all right, other than now that the car is wrecked, we should have stayed out. We were racing out butts off, feeling kind of crappy about ourselves, and we were racing the 48, the 18 and the 2 and we're feeling like 'Man, we suck.' But that was the best that we could do today and we're just going to go back and regroup." WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT WILL HELP YOU HERE NEXT MONTH? "I learned some stuff about gearing, maybe gear ratios, shift points, different stuff like that. I kind of had an idea how the race was going to go. Some of it is luck and some of it is skill, I guess. We'll find out." IS AERO-PUSH A BIG FACTOR AT POCONO? "It's so frustrating because as soon as those guys get within a few car lengths of a couple of guys they don't even want to drive the racecar anymore. It's the biggest, I don't want to say what they call it on radio but they don't want to drive it anymore. They hate the racecar and you can't adjust for it behind people. That was one of the reasons that we short pitted for fuel so soon. I thought well, we'll get him out in some clean air and at least he can drive the thing. And then by accident we got tied right back up with the 48 and the 18 and never did get any clean air. It's a long day for us. You can't fix it and you don't want to tune your car being tight behind somebody. It's one of those things that you can bitch about it all you want but that's a fact of life. I guess what you have to do is work harder on your program and get up in that top-10 where you are coming in with those guys and going out with them." DID THE TRACK STAY CONSISTENT DURING THE RACE? "I thought the racetrack got looser. I'm not sure because we tore the left rear bumper open, but I kind of think it did when I saw the 18 hammering their wing up when the came in for fuel so they were in trouble with something, something changing on them." DID THE WEATHER THROW YOU FOR A CURVE? "No, it was a little it warmer than this when we tested up here but I don't think it did."

JACK SPRAGUE, NO. O NETZERO PONTIAC:

"That was just miserable tight. I don't know, we tested and we weren't like that. Tony (Furr, crew chief) made a great call there at the end, two tires instead of four and that got us a lot of track position and then we ran only one lap. We probably could have got Casey but that's about all we could because we got a lap down early there. It's just too tight, tighter than I've been since he's been here." DID YOU MAKE YOUR CAR BETTER WITH EACH STOP? "I think so because it would last longer. When it first started out I could run 10 laps and then I would get nuclear tight and then it got to where I could run about 30 there at the end and then the last 10, before we had to stop for fuel, it would just get miserable tight again. It was just too tight." WHAT CAN YOU DO TO MAKE THE CAR BETTER WHEN YOU COME BACK HERE IN JULY? "I've got to turn better, I know that."

Unofficial Raybestos Rookie standings after Pocono:
Jamie McMurray 151
Greg Biffle 149
Casey Mears 126
Jack Sprague 125
Tony Raines 119
Larry Foyt 77

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