Dodge/Save Mart 350 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

HIDEO FUKUYAMA, NO. 66 KIKKOMAN FORD:

"Something happened to the differential. At first I thought it was a driveshaft but maybe I broke a gear; it might have been the driveshaft. We're planning to get it fixed and go race in the race." HOW WAS YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCE ON A ROAD COURSE? "I was having a hard time because the ball on the shift level broke off. I was basically driving with the rod."

TONY RAINES, NO. 74 BACE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET:

"It started with a flat tire and I got a little help from somebody and got spun out. It's just a rough day at the road course. I tire went flat and we had to drive all the way around and I lost a lap early on and with the single file restarts there is nothing that you can do. It just make a long day longer. I learned a little bit out there today so hopefully when I get back here next year we'll be a little better off." WHAT HAPPENED TO CUT THE TIRE? DID YOU RUN OVER DEBRIS? "The spotter said I ran over something and the 24 ran over it and kicked it off the track. As I went into turn three it just turned around. It was flat before I got there. It's just my luck."

CASEY MEARS, NO. 41 TARGET DODGE:

"It wasn't too bad, considering the kind of rough qualifying that we had. This place is tough, no doubt. It's something that I definitely have a little bit to learn here. I think our third run out there we were really good. The car was really good and then the track sickened up on us a little bit. I think we had a little too much rear spring in it so I know coming back here I'll know a little bit better what to do. Our power down was horrible the whole race but we had a good solid run. I got into it with a couple of guys. I was trying to stay out of trouble as best I could but I got into a couple of guys. Other than that, I feel pretty good about it. We got a finish, gained us some spots in the points, I think. We keep trucking along and hopefully we'll get better and better." DOES THIS RUN GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE? "We raced pretty good all day long. At the beginning we fell back pretty good, but then I really learned what I needed to do. I'm just used to cars that are so much lighter. I've been overdriving it all weekend. Running with some of these guys, they really go a lot easier into the corners and I learned a lot today so that's the key thing."

GREG BIFFLE, NO. 16 GRAINGER FORD:

"We just ran out of gas. We had a good car before the race started but it went downhill on us. Nothing went away on the car. The car was still running strong. I think I got spun out in turn 11, but I'll have to watch the tape and see what happened. I can't really say much about that until I see what I did or what happened. And then we just run out of gas. WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT WILL MAKE YOU BETTER HERE NEXT YEAR? "I learned a lot about chassis setup, I think. Our brakes were decent. They gave up a little bit at the end. I'm not sure what else I learned."

JAMIE MCMURRAY IN THE NO. 42 HAVOLINE DODGE WAS THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT SONOMA. MCMURRAY TOOK TOP ROOKIE HONORS FOR THE SIXTH TIME THIS SEASON.

"I would say it was a successful day. I think we had a better car than where we finished. The way the pit strategy works out it's a struggle to time that out and we do not get good gas mileage. The caution where we had to pit really hurt us, put us way at the back. I think Donnie (Wingo, his crew chief) made a good call with putting tires on there with 19 laps to go. We were able to pass a few cars. We pretty much rode around all day and then raced the last 20 laps." AS TIGHT AS THIS COURSE IS, HOW EASY IS IT TO GET IN TROUBLE OR HIT SOMEONE? "What you struggle with is when you get in and you wheel hop or you lock a brake up. You don't necessarily mean to hit a guy but you just slide into him. I was fairly fortunate. We had really good brakes today in the face that they didn't lock up and our car slowed down really well. No one ran into the back of me but I saw it happen all day long. I saw a few mad guys and I think my teammate may have even made somebody mad but that's the way it goes at these places. This is almost like a short track type race. You are only going 30 miles per hour over there and it's just easy to run into somebody." WHAT DID YOU LEARN HERE TODAY THAT WILL HELP YOU HERE NEXT YEAR? "I guess just how you pass. Really, once the race started, we passed cars right on the get-go. It works that way sometimes. We went to Pocono and I ran a whole race and I don't know that I learned anything (laughs). I had a good car here. I feel good about coming back. The road courses are fun just because it's something different. When you don't run off and you don't tear anything up, it makes your day a lot more enjoyable." HOW EASY IS IT TO TEAR THE REAR END OUT OF THE CAR? "We actually broke three gears when we tested here. They said that it was a bad batch of gears, I was hoping. But today everything went pretty well. I wheel hopped it a couple of times and missed a couple of gears like everyone else, I suppose, but fortunately nothing broke and we had good durability today. DO YOU LIKE ROAD COURSE RACING? "Like I say, it's something different. I think that they guys that come in here with a bad attitude don't finish well so I'm going to try and keep a positive attitude."

JACK SPRAGUE, NO. O NETZERO PONTIAC:

"I was trying to be patient and not make any mistakes. We got a little screwed up in the pits on our first stop and got blocked in, but we were coming back from it. The NetZero Pontiac was tight in and loose off but we probably had a top-25 car. Kyle (Petty) came out of nowhere and just tore up our front end. I don't know what happened. I guess he didn't see me. After that, it was over."

DONNIE WINGO, CREW CHIEF, NO. 42 HAVOLINE FORD:

"There at the end, he flat spotted a tire but we had a little bad stop there. We just have to get a little bit better fuel mileage than those guys. You have to keep track position here. We thought we could make it there and we checked the mileage and we were going to be short so we had to pit anyway. WAS IT HARD TO KEEP UP WITH WHEN TO PIT AND WHEN NOT TO PIT? "Everybody kind of had it figured out where they could stop and make their last stop and they came in then. We thought when that caution came out we could make our last stop then too and we were going to be just a little bit short. We couldn't quite make it from there. That's one reason we came back in because we knew all the guys behind us were going to pit and we came out about where we thought we would." IS IT ENCOURAGING TO HAVE A GOOD RUN AT SUCH A DIFFICULT TRACK? "I thought he did a great job. We came out here and tested and we've been out here the whole week and I don't think he's got off the course except when he had to dodge somebody today. He beat a lot of good road racers and maybe just a few of them right in front of him. If we could have got a little bit better track position there toward the end, I think we would have bee in a lot better shape because he did a heck of a good job."

Unofficial Raybestos Rookie standings after Sonoma:

Jamie McMurray 173
Greg Biffle 165
Casey Mears 146
Jack Sprague 141
Tony Raines 135
Larry Foyt 77
Hideo Fukuyama 17

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