Pop Secret 500 - Dodge Post-Race Quotes

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) – Finished 2nd, Fifth Runner-up finish in 2004. Moved to Ninth in Series Standings.

“Mark was pretty strong on the long runs, so I guess second is the best I was going to get either way. I was getting tired of ‘em (runner-up finishes), but I guess it’s a good thing. We have to keep running second until we get our win. It was exciting. I was real surprised the 38 was as good as it was. I was thinking the 6 was going to be real strong. Elliott was pretty darn good there at the end. It made for an interesting finish. I had a lot of fun. I wish we had had a couple more laps to see if we could have raced with ‘em. I wish the car could have been a little looser, but that’s all we had.

“We’ve got the same story, different week next week. Every week has been so close. Everybody has been within just a few points there. I know Jamie gained some good points there, and Mark Martin is right there. I’m there, Jeremy, Ryan Newman, we’ll see what happens. It’ll be exciting. It’s going to be that final finish that decides the top 10.

“It was a great race. We had a great car all day. We had great pit stops. The car got better every pit stop. We just never got it quite loose enough, quite fast enough for the long runs. It took off pretty good a few times, but the last time we were a little bit tighter than I wanted it. Elliott got away there. He started coming back to us at the end, but it was a little bit too late. Elliott Sadler was really good at the end, and Mark was right there. A few more laps there would have been three cars battling for the lead.

“I was thinking that (Texas finish) on the last lap. I was thinking I was going to catch him again. At least here we weren’t quite as dominant as we were in Texas. Mark had the dominant car here on the long runs for sure. We were right around with Elliott most of the race. We were the second or third quickest car and we got second so I was pretty happy with that.

“Mainly they just did air pressure and tried to free the car up some more (on final pit stop). We were trying to make it cut through the corner better. On the restart I was just hoping it would and I could get on the outside of some of those guys and pass ‘em. Elliott moved up a little bit and blocked me from going on the outside, and it put me at the bottom. I couldn’t do anything at the bottom. We were too tight to run down there, especially early on. He did a good job by moving up. It just killed our momentum, and he ended up winning.

“It’s going to be where you finish (at Richmond) if you’re going to make the cut or not. I really don’t know where the points are right now. We’re ninth, so that’s an improvement. We did what we needed to do here today. It would have been nice to win, but second is darn good. We led some laps, got five points there. We’ll go on to Richmond and keep all the fenders on it, hopefully in the top 10, and we’ll have a shot at making that top 10.”

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) – Finished 4th, Moved to 11th in standings, 25 points out of 10th place.

“Donnie (crew chief Wingo) made some real good changes there, and I’m really proud of him. The pit crew did a good job tonight. We had struggled a little bit there. Really, all-in-all it was a good night for our race team. We came from 18th with about 75 laps to go to get a top five. We had to make huge adjustments (after the sun went down). Our first run we were great. The next run was pretty good and then I couldn’t believe how tight the car got. We made huge changes.

“I heard Ryan (Newman) say if you could finish in the top five in the last two races you could more than likely make it. I don’t think either one of us were thinking everyone else would finish in the top five with us, but it was a good night. I thought after Happy Hour we had a top-five car time-wise, and it drove great. We changed a lot of stuff, and Donnie earned his year’s salary tonight.”

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Sony/ALLTEL Dodge) – Finished 5th, moved to eighth in standings, 20 points ahead of 10th-place Mark Martin.

“We fought the balance for a little while, but we had a good racecar, and that kept us in the top 10, top 15. I didn’t feel the greatest, but getting track position and trying to outrun those guys was pretty tough. I’ve had a cold all week, and that didn’t help tonight.

“It was pretty eventful there at the end. It was a good run for us to get the Sony Dodge up in the top five. It was a good team effort. We got some good track position there at the end, passed a few cars and got a top five. The track got a lot faster. We fought the same balance issues from the beginning until the end of the race. The car just got faster.

“We’re still as much on the bubble as we were before. We’re going to Richmond to win. We can still be 13th or 14th after Richmond. We’ve got two shots now. We’re eighth and 404 out of the lead, so if we can just finish in front of the points leaders we might still have a decent opportunity no matter how everybody else does eighth-12th.

“It was definitely hairy running three wide there at the start of the race because the track was so greasy. There at the end it was hairy again and the track was stickier. Guys were running a lot harder and there was a little less give and take. I know I had to check up a few times and a few times people had to check up for me, but we had a decent race it seemed like.

“Not a bit (surprised at the problems Hendrick cars are having). I’m pretty sure they’re experimenting right now, and they should be. They have the ability to because of the points. We would if we were in their position.”

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Engines & Transmissions Dodge) – Finished 42nd

“Our guys build safe stuff and all those things are very well put… Bill Simpson’s helmet, the impact helmet, I’m fine. I’m very upset. This is a kid (J.J. Yeley) that will go back and drive a sprint car and be a superhero, but he comes out here and won’t have a clue how to save a racecar, how not to turn it back up the hill. Either leave it at the wall or bring it down. He had a chance to leave it at the wall and do no damage. He tried to bring it down, I went low. He brought it down and I went high. He came right back up in front of me. He’ll be in that ride next year, and he’ll be the superhero, but cost some of us our jobs going out here doing it week in and week out. The Kodak car was a pretty good car today. We got a penalty, went to the back and didn’t get to finish.

“When you’re running back there with guys like him, sometimes it happens. Unfortunately for us, that’s the story of our year, little mistakes. This is a great race team. Shane Wilson and Matt Lucas, our crew chief and engineer, they do a great job on pit road calls. We just keep having those little things bite us in the butt, and this is one of those things. I didn’t look over to the flag honestly (to see if pit road was open). I here things in the helmet and follow people depending on what’s said. Enough people came in that I came in. I should have had my eyes open a little better and looked at the pit road open and closed flag probably.

“He’s a superstar. He’s a World of Outlaw winner or whatever he is. He’ll be cleared for Daytona. He’ll come and race next year full time. He’ll make his mistakes, and they’ll be rookie mistakes. I’m glad I didn’t do it to anybody.”

JEFF GREEN (No. 43 Pop Secret Dodge) – Finished 27th

“The guys did everything they could do tonight. Everyone was sliding around. We just couldn’t get off the corners. That hurt the Pop Secret Dodge all night. I’m still proud of everyone on this team for sticking with it tonight and getting a decent finish.”