Auto Club 500 - Dodge Post-Race Quotes

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge) – Finished Third, Moved to 7th in series standings. Ranked 25th in the standings after 10 races in 2003.

“The ALLTEL/Mobil One Dodge was pretty good all day. We struggled for one run there, but Matt (crew chief Borland) and the guys did a good job in the pits. We came out with a top five because of a little bit of fuel strategy. It was a good finish for us. We had a really good car at the start. I think the track changed a little bit and we had to catch up with it. I think we were pretty conservative on fuel. We were all right at the end, but you never know how it’s going to work out sometimes. Sometimes the driver uses a little too much, but you never know for sure until it’s over. We came away with a top five at a place we hadn’t finished in the top 10 before, so we’re pretty happy with that.”

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No.77 Kodak Easy Share Dodge) – Finished career-best sixth, top Raybestos Rookie of the Year finisher.

“Anybody that wants to say that racecar drivers aren’t athletes needs to come see me. I played four years of college basketball, and thank you John Thompson. These guys did a great job on pit road. The driver had to apologize to them because he actually got a little bit tired today. I burned myself up a little bit, but it’s part of the sport. Each week we’re getting career-best finishes. That’s the third in a row. We finished sixth, top Raybestos Rookie and there’s no place better to do it than the west coast.

“Me and Mr. Penske are going to Rochester, N.Y., on Tuesday, so that’s good timing. We’ll go up to Kodak headquarters and have a big party. We’re bringing them back to the front. I wish we could have got a top five, I’m a greedy dude, but I’ve got to thank my boys. They never gave up on me, and I drive hard for ‘em, but I got a little tired today.

“It’s hot in there. It’s a tough sport. Nobody can make fun of anybody first to 43rd today. These are professional athletes, and they prove it each week out there.

“We’re getting that good Dodge engineering. We’ve had 18 trips to the wind tunnel. I’ve got two great teammates, Rusty and Ryan. Nice job by Ryan Newman today. I had a good battle going with him today. It was fun to race my teammate for a change. Our guys are pumped up and our confidence is growing.”

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge) – Finished 8th in a backup Dodge

“We’re real happy with that finish after crashing our primary car. The guys did an unreal job getting that thing ready to go. The last time we used this car was in the ARCA races we won last year. It wasn’t a bad car, and we were pretty happy with the body going into the race. We weren’t real happy with it at the end of practice, but I knew if we made a couple of small changes and it helped us where we needed that we would be all right. Jimmy (crew chief Elledge) did a great job tuning the car. The guys did a good job preparing it and we had decent stops all day. Our guys did a good job packing it with fuel on that last stop. We took an extra second or two on pit road to make sure it was topped off. We were close, but we made it.”

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge)

“It was a long, hot day at the office. We never got the car right. We were playing catch up all day and we never got caught up.”

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge)

“It was a very good day. We were either tight or loose. It was a little hot out there, but it was hot for everybody.”

JEFF GREEN (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge)

“The motor vapor locked or something and miss after it got hot again. After a couple of laps under caution it would run all right then it would stop vapor locking. Then it blowed all to pieces. It’s frustrating when you’ve got a car that’s capable of running up there and you can’t get up there and run with those guys. We showed it in qualifying (third) and we showed it early in the race. We had a problem yesterday. The fuel pressure was fluctuating. I guess it was trying to tell us something, but we never got it fixed. It’s (heat) not too bad. It all depends where you are. If you’re in the back it’s hot. If you’re out front, it’s not too bad.”

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

“I’m not sure what happened out there. We just got tight after that last stop and that impacted our fuel mileage. That’s why we ran out of gas. I’m fine just a little burned, that’s just part of racing on a hot day. It is disappointing. We just got too tight after that final pit stop. I don’t know why that was, but it killed the fuel mileage for the Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge. It got pretty hot in that car. Our ice pack burst and we kind of started boiling.

“Once we win the first race, it will make it a lot easier to win the second time. We’ve put ourselves in position in a lot of races and have come out short. We would have run fourth today, and that’s pretty decent, but it didn’t work out that way. The track was good, but it was hot. We slid around a lot. We were getting tighter and tighter, and on that final adjustment we went to free the car up, but it got tighter.

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

“I had no idea we were running out of gas. I just didn’t know we were that close. I thought we were just barely going to make it. Our Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge was good today, and we were on our way to a top-five finish, but we just didn’t make it.

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)

“It’s Stewart. I don’t know what’s wrong with the guy. I like the fellow. He’s a good friend. I don’t know. He’s really screwing up a lot lately. He got me in the back really hard at Bristol. He got me in the back at Martinsville. He caused a huge wreck last week at Talladega and then he runs me right through the fence this time. I’m on the outside right up against the wall and he comes flying up and drives through – knocks the ball joint off, knocks the side off of it. He completely ruins the car. Then he pulls up beside me and starts flipping me off on the restart. I wanted to get out of the car and whip his rear end. The kid needs to calm down a little bit. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. He’s really frustrated for some reason.

“I’m not sticking up for him right now. I’m about sick of his childish actions. The boy needs to grow up a little bit. He’s frustrated I guess, but he’s got to keep his emotions in check. I’m tired of getting taken out by him. It’s ridiculous.

“I had a real good top 10 car. I don’t know why he’s driving like that out there. He needs to get his act together. He’s a good driver, and he needs to act like it now instead of driving like an idiot and taking a bunch of cars out. I’ll talk to him. I’ll talk to him right now. He needs a good talking to by somebody. He needs to get his emotions in check. He’s a good kid, but I’m not respecting him at all right now and half of the garage is not respecting him. He’s going to have to get out there and start earning the respect of his peers again. He’s screwed up a lot of good cars here because he’s pouting.

“I don’t know if he didn’t see me or what, but he just drove right through the side of my car and stuck it in the fence. I was right up against the wall and he drove right through it. It tore me all to heck. On the caution flag he starts flipping me off for some stupid reason. I don’t know what that’s all about. The deal with Kurt Busch, he got up on top and lost it and that’s it. He got in the oil dry and got the car sideways. I saw him coming. I tried to stay in the throttle and clear him, but I couldn’t clear him.

“We’ll get the car fixed and get back out there. I don’t know if we’ll gain any spots or not, but we’re going to try real hard to gain four or five if we can.

“I’m going to do a lot better job talking (to Stewart) than NASCAR will. I think I can help him a lot more driver to driver. He’s in a ditch right now. He needs some help.”