Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

Unofficial Raybestos Rookie standings

Kasey Kahne 76
Scott Wimmer 52
Brian Vickers 43
Johnny Sauter 42
Brendan Gaughan 40
Scott Riggs 36

KASEY KAHNE IN THE #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE WAS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT DARLINGTON. Notes: Kahne finished 13th and took top rookie honors for the fourth consecutive race. He became the first Raybestos® Rookie to lead a lap in the spring race at Darlington since Matt Kenseth in 2000 when he led the race four times for 24 laps. He unofficially leads the chase for Raybestos® Rookie of the Year by 14 points (76-52) over Scott Wimmer.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH TONY STEWART NEAR THE END OF THE RACE? "I kind of pinched him a little bit. Everybody checked up off of turn two. I didn't see him but I didn't realize he was there but he was on the outside of me. I pinched him a little bit and he lifted and let me in and then spun me when we got to the corner. I think I made him mad when I pinched him. I'll talk to him sometime. I like Tony." YOU CAME FROM THE BACK OF THE FIELD TWICE TODAY. "We had a lot of positives. We had some negatives but it was a good day. We ended up with the Raybestos Rookie of the race, which is one of our goals every weekend, and we finished top-15. I think our Dodge Dealers car was as good as anybody's, maybe better than everybody's but I made a mistake and missed pit road and after that we just didn't have the pit stops we needed. We fought back and got back to 13th which was a good run but we just didn't have quite the day after I missed pit road." WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU MISSED PIT ROAD? "I tried to enter just as hard as Ryan. He was sliding, I was sliding, he hit the cone and I didn't know if I should go around it or what to do so I just gassed it and went around another lap. We lost a lot of ground when that happened." WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU SPUN AGAIN LATE IN THE RACE? "I got into Tony a little bit. Everybody checked up off of two and I got low and he got a little bit on the outside of me. I wasn't sure if he was there or not and I squeezed him into the wall probably a little bit and he let me go and spun me when we got to turn three. I don't think he was too happy about me squeezing him going down the straightaway but I didn't realize he was there." AFTER THESE GOOD RUNS THIS SEASON, YOU CAN'T GET DOWN ABOUT TODAY. "We still ran in the top-15. That's Tommy Baldwin [crew chief] goals every race: top-15. So we did that and we got Raybestos Rookie of the Race and we'll go on to Bristol, another tough track." WHEN YOU SPUN EARLIER IN THE RACE, DID YOU HAVE A CUT TIRE? "When I left the pits, it started going down. It was going down, down, down, and the car was getting worse and worse. I ended up getting into the wall once and it just kept getting worse and finally it crashed."

TOMMY BALDWIN, CREW CHIEF, #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE:

"We made a little mistake getting on to pit road and that cost us. We had a flat there that cost us, we had a bad pit stop there at the end that cost us, but we still ended up 13th. A bad day finishing 13th is pretty good. We got Raybestos Rookie of the Race so we'll keep moving on, man. We've four in a row here and we've got Bristol coming up. We're excited about that and Texas after that." DID KAHNE SAY ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN TURN THREE LATE IN THE DAY? "When Stewart spun us out? Stewart just spun us out. There's nothing you can do about that. He did a great job saving it. We'll take it. Like I said earlier, our goals are top-15s and we ran 13th today so we'll take it."

SCOTT WIMMER, #22 CATERPILLAR DODGE. Note: Wimmer finished 16th and was the only other Raybestos Rookie to finish on the lead lap at Darlington.

"The guys worked real hard. We just couldn't get our car to change the whole race. We had the same thing: we were fighting tight, tight, tight. It was a long race. We had a lot of chances to change on it but we just could never hit it right. We stayed on the lead lap all day and kept fenders on it for the most part. I'm pretty excited because that will probably help us in the points a little bit, too." ALL IN ALL, A PRETTY DECENT WEEKEND FOR YOU? "Yeah, not to bad. We qualified well, a lot better than we had been and we finished a lot better than we have been, too. I think we had a competitive racecar. We finished right about where we should have. We'll just work on it and when we come back here in the fall we'll be real good."

JOHNNY SAUTER, #30 AMERICA ONLINE CHEVROLET:

"This place is always hard. We weren't very good yesterday in happy hour so we thought we'd change everything. We changed sway bar, rear springs, so we guessed at it this morning. All in all I didn't think it was that bad but I think we had a spring collapse during the third quarter of that race. Three-quarters of the way through the race the left front spring gave up and we got really, really tight and could never get it back out of it." WERE YOU ABLE TO TRANSFER ANYTHING FROM THE BUSCH CAR TO THE CUP CAR TODAY? "I finished better in the Cup car than I did in the Busch car yesterday so obviously not. I called [Kevin] Hamlin [crew chief] last night and said whatever I had in my Busch car let's make sure we don't have anything close to that. That thing was horrible. It was a long weekend but both cars stayed in one piece and we'll go on."

BRIAN VICKERS, #25 GMAC FINANCIAL SERVICES CHEVROLET:

"We did finish. We've been finishing races. We've just got to work on our race stuff a little bit. We'll get there. Maybe it's just going to take a little time." IS IT JUST A MATTER OF GETTING LAPS IN THESE CARS? "They drive just like the car I was in last year. There's really not that much difference. I really don't think that's the biggest problem. It's a whole new team. They've got to learn what I need; I've got to learn what they need. We'll grow and figure it out."

SCOTT RIGGS, #10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET:

"My spotter didn't say anything, I didn't see anything in front of us, and all of a sudden the 32 just hit the brakes and stopped. When Ricky [Craven] hit the brakes and stopped, I got into him and as soon as I got into him, and it turned him down and the 25 was behind me. He went by us both and when I got into Ricky and turned him down the racetrack he hit the 25 and it shot him back up the racetrack in front of me into the wall. I didn't see any smoke or anything until after Ricky had slowed down and I got into the rear of him then I saw smoke ahead. The spotter never said anything. I didn't see it like I said until after he had already stopped. I think Ricky will go home and cool off and know that I didn't run into him on purpose. I'm sure his spotter was on top a little bit better than mine, maybe; said it a lot quicker and got him whoaed down a lot quicker. I think we would have been okay if the 25, if he would have saw it and slowed down, too, but to keep from hitting me the 25 went low and that got him and Ricky together. I hate it for him. We all have bad days. We didn't have a very good day ourselves. I hate it for all of us."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, #77 KODAK DODGE:

"One of the biggest positives is how many teams can come onto pit road and change an A-arm slug? We came down there and Kevin Kidd and Rodney went over the wall and changed the A-arm, changed the camber, basically. I like that, you know? The guys don't quit on this team. They really work hard; had great pit stops all day. They're doing their part and I did all I could. Buddy Baker up there said 'Keep going, keep going.' We're not looking good in the Raybestos Rookie thing but I think I'm still okay. That and it's a good think I had Mountain Dew and Sirius as sponsors because I think I have more on my car from the wall. Every time I hit it, it was Sirius and Mountain Dew right where I hit it. I think that's more on the quarter panels than Kodak is left on the right side of the car. It's a good thing they are out sponsors. We wouldn't want to pick up anybody that's not a sponsor." IS THIS TRACK AS DEMANDING AS PEOPLE SAY IT IS? "This is a fantastic racetrack. This is a fun place to race but when your car is not handing, it's a nightmare. I've been here in a truck two times, once as a Raybestos Rookie and had a great run until we had a lug nut fall off and then one run we finished third. This is a fun place and I still say it: I like this racetrack. It's my style track. Off roaders were first and fourth. This is our style place. We'll get the Kodak Dodge running and we'll come back and we'll be good at the fall race."