Coca-Cola 600 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

JOHNNY SAUTER, #30 AMERICA ONLINE CHEVROLET: "I just lost it I guess. I don't know what happened. It's too bad because we had a really fast racecar. It took us a while to get it going, about the first 100 laps. We were running really good lap times, top-10 lap times there and we were going to have a good day but obviously not now." DID THE TRACK GET TIGHT WITH THE CLOUD COVER? "That's what's crazy. I had been loose all day and actually started to get good there at the end so I don't know. I really believe I lost a tire or something because it just came around and when it did it went. The AOL Chevrolet was awesome today. It took us a while to get going but we knew yesterday in happy hour that we had a car that was really good on the long runs. Our lap times were good enough to run in the top-10 easily. I hate it. We've been getting better every week. This is our first wreck of the year. The guys work too hard. We had a really good racecar and it's too bad that it's torn up."

KASEY KAHNE IN THE #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE WAS THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT CHARLOTTE. Notes: Kahne finished 12th and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the sixth time this season. This is the sixth race of the season that Kahne has led at least one lap. Unofficially, Kahne leaves Charlotte with a 42-point lead (158-116) over Brian Vickers and Scott Wimmer in the Raybestos Rookie standings. Unofficially Kahne is 11th in the NEXTEL Cup championship standings, 78 behind 10th place Kevin Harvick. He is the only Raybestos Rookie in the top-20 in the points chase. At least one Raybestos® Rookie has led at least one lap in each of the last SIX 600-mile races at Charlotte.

1999: Tony Stewart (three times for 13 laps)
2000: Matt Kenseth (twice for 31 laps)
2000: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (five times for 124 laps)
2001: Kevin Harvick (once for one lap)
2002: Jimmie Johnson (five times for 250 laps)
2003: Greg Biffle (once for one lap)
2004: Kasey Kahne (once for five laps)

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END OF THE RACE WITH BOBBY LABONTE? "Ever since that last pit stop we were bottoming real bad on the left side. He was passing me on the outside. I got into the corner, bottomed real bad, and it was pushing up. There was a bunch of cars there and I was tight. It pushed up, that's why we couldn't stay with the leaders. I got on the brakes and still hit him. I apologized. It was completely my fault. My car bottomed out and I run into the 18. It was all my fault." THIS WAS THE LONGEST RACE OF YOUR CAREER. "It was a long race but it went by a lot quicker than I thought it would. About halfway through we got real good and we were excellent on the long runs. The race went by pretty quick there and we just lost it at the end. We got too tight at the end and couldn't stick with those guys." MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY, WAS IT LONGER THAN YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE? "Actually it went by quicker than I thought. Right now, yes, it seems like it was a long time but during the race it wasn't that bad. It was shorter than I thought." AT ONE TIME DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A CHANCE AT CATCHING JIMMIE JOHNSON? "I knew I could catch him. He was faster than us for about 20, 25 laps and then we would real him in the next 30 or so. If it had went the last 60 straight we would have definitely reeled him in and we would have had a good race at the end but with it going the short spurts he was the class of the field by far." WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN DID THE CAR GET BETTER? "We just started off so loose that I had to wait and wait and wait and then finally the sun went down and we were pretty decent then. I learned a lot." WHAT DID BOBBY SAY TO YOU AFTER THE RACE? "He just asked what happened. I told him my side of the story. I apologized to him, it's all my fault." WHAT HAPPENED ON THE LAST RESTART? "We were just so tight that we got clumped up in a bunch of cars. I bottomed out, pushed up, and took out the 18. It was completely my fault but definitely unintentional. I didn't want that to happen by no means. I hit the brakes and tried to slow down and you could probably see that on TV. I was going too fast and there was too many cars in there to really avoid it once it did bottom out." PRIOR TO THE LAST CAUTION YOU WERE RUNNING GREAT. "After 30 laps we were the best car hands down but the first 30 the 48 was bombing it. There was nobody even close to him. We needed 60 straight and he got a couple of 20 lap spurts or so." ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF RED FLAGGING THE RACE FOR A GREEN FINISH? "I think that was fine. At the time I was pretty mad because I knew we didn't have a shot at it anymore. I knew we were too tight getting into the corner and had no shot. It was definitely good for the fans and definitely the right thing to do."

TOMMY BALDWIN, CREW CHIEF, #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE: "We adjusted on it all day. Everybody did a good job. It was a 50-50 decision on what to do. We knew that a lot of the fast cars were going to come in and put tires on. In order to try to win the race we were going to need to as well. We should have just settled saying that we were going to run for second tonight and stayed out there, probably would have ended up second. All in all, it was a good day. We still accomplished our goal, top-15. We'll just move forward. Our car would not run on fresh tires for some reason. All weekend it would not run. I figured it was going to bite us in the butt. I thought the way the cautions were coming out we might get a break and be able to run the last 60 laps under green flag and it just didn't work our way. That's racin'. It'll come, our day will come." DID CIRCUMSTANCES JUST WORK AGAINST YOUR TEAM TONIGHT? "It seemed like it but like I said, that's racin'. There's nothing that you can really do about it. Just go back to the shop and regroup and head to Dover." ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF RED FLAGGING THE RACES FOR A GREEN FINISH? "Yeah, that's good for the fans. Tonight I'm not just because of us but another time I might be. It wasn't their fault. We're here to put on a show and that's what pays out bills and that's fine." YOU JUST NEEDED A LONG GREEN FLAG RUN AT THE END OF THE RACE. "We needed to go long. If we went long we would have been all right, no worse than second. We just didn't get it and that's just the way that it is."

Unofficial Raybestos Rookie standings:

Kasey Kahne 158
Scott Wimmer 116
Brian Vickers 116
Brendan Gaughan 115
Johnny Sauter 108
Scott Riggs 95