Coca-Cola 600 - Ford Post-Race Quotes

MARK MARTIN - No. 6 Viagra Taurus (Finished 36th) - "What can you say? I don't run my mouth much, but I feel like we backed up what I said and that feels good. I've waited a long time to have a car that good and I hope I don't have to wait that long again. I don't think I will with these guys. They're really, really good. I like these guys a lot. I believe we can have a really sweet summer, but we've had such horrendous luck I don't know." WHAT HAPPENED INSIDE THE CAR? "We killed one ignition box and switched to 'B' and then killed 'B'. They just went out. When I tried to restart it, it just smoked."

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DEWALT Tools Taurus (Finished 3rd) - "All these guys on the Smirnoff Ice team did a great job. We started way in the back because we qualified bad and didn't get a lot of cautions to work on it. We made the right adjustments finally at the end. We lost the handle in the middle of the race real bad. We lost the handle when the sun went down and the guys were able to get their heads together and make some good adjustments and got it real competitive at the end." HOW WAS THE NIGHT? "When the sun was out we ran really great. We had a little miscue in the pits and lost a lap, but we were able to overcome that and get our position back. We had great pit stops all night, but as soon as the sun went down we just lost the handle and we ran really bad. The guys put their heads together and made some great adjustments and I got real competitive the last couple of runs." WHAT ABOUT THAT LAST DASH? DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU FINISHED? "I know where I finished (laughing). You know how it is, you're not supposed to race back. I know exactly where I was, I was third. Michael was up on the 42 a little bit, which he should on the last lap racing hard. I could have gotten a run on Michael and maybe got by him, too, but we were gonna be three-wide and that would have put him in a bad position off of turn two, so I kind of just waited an extra second to get in the gas. I was able to carry my momentum past Jamie, but it was real close down there. It was exciting enough. I didn't need to quite be in there. I feel like if we would have made it to the finish line we maybe would have gotten one more spot, but, overall, it was a great run." WHAT ABOUT JIMMIE JOHNSON. "We were so far behind that I never got to race with him honestly. He had a great car. Congratulations to those guys. They've done it two years in a row. That's a tough feat to do here at Lowe's, so that's pretty cool for those guys." A GOOD POINTS NIGHT. "Yeah, we had a great car in the beginning of the race and at the end of the race, but in the middle section we just lost the handle and got ourselves way behind. So, overall, it was pretty good."

JEFF BURTON - No. 99 Roundup Taurus (Finished 22nd) - "The 48 was just ridiculously fast. He put a hurtin' on everybody. We ran out of gas coming off of turn four under green and that cost us a lot. There were times tonight we had a good car and there were times when we weren't. We had about a 15th-place car, which isn't good enough, but that's about what we had. We ran it out of gas and that killed us. We were never gonna get a lap back from Jimmie because he was just too fast and we just kept falling behind."

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus (Finished 5th) - "I'm so proud of my guys. I've been sick a little bit this week and, man, we got to lap 156 after that long run and I said, 'There ain't no way I can make it.' But they kept giving me cold water and I had a great race car. We got a little bit out-adjusted there at the end, but I am proud of my guys. I am so proud of my guys. It's a top five finish with a great race car. We got a top five for Pedigree and this really helped us in the points. This is really good for this race team. I'm so proud of them right now."

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 Sharpie/IRWIN Taurus (Finished 11th) - YOU WERE IN POSITION TO GET A LAP BACK EARLY, BUT NEVER GOT THE CAUTION WHEN YOU NEEDED IT. "It was just unfortunate that we were in that position. We've been on the lead lap most of the year and you never want to rely on that. We should be able to race our way back on the lead lap, but we just struggled with a brand new car trying to find the handle. When we were in position to get the free pass, we were too loose on that ensuing run so it took another set of cautions to help us get our position. At the end of the race we had a great idea with our pit stops. Those were fantastic all day, but the car got way too tight at the end after it was too loose all day. We couldn't find a sweet spot for the car, but to finish 11th, we survived."

RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Air Force/Motorcraft Taurus (Finished 26th) - "We were probably a 15th-place car at the end of the race, but we were about a 40th-place car when the race started. They made some major adjustments that came in and did about 10 different things that helped it. It needed more, but that made it better. We ended up 26th and gave up a bunch of laps. We were really suffering. At the end we got going quite a bit better." HOW ABOUT THE ENGINE? "The motor was good, but you've got to have a chassis that complements the motor. We were bad in the corner, so we couldn't take advantage of the motor. This motor liked to go, but we were losing about 300 rpm more in the corner than we should have been and that didn't really complement the motor that much, but it held together."

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Finished 18th) - "We got to a point and then I just wasn't quick enough freeing my car up. We stayed a little bit tight as it got to the night time. We were probably at best a 15th-place car and we finished 18th."