Nextel Open - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

Where the Raybestos Rookies finished in the NEXTEL Open:
Kvapil 3rd
Busch 4th
McClure 26th

TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 77 KODAK/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISIONS DODGE (FINISHED 3RD): “I knew we had a great racecar and everybody on the Kodak team did a great job. We were fast all weekend. It was evident to me right away that the outside lane was going to be faster lane, especially on restarts. All the fast guys would run right in the middle of the racetrack. Nobody would run around the bottom. I know that I was better than Mike [Bliss] there but the only way that I was going to get around him was to get to the bottom. I would get to the bottom of him and my car would get too free, not as much grip, and he’d have momentum on the outside and be able to pull me. I wish it would have got down to just me and the 0 but the 25 was right there and he ended up getting by me too once I lost my momentum. I was able to get back around the 5 but we just ran out of time at the end there. In the first segment I got to Mike’s bumper and he let me go and I was like ‘What’s he doing? We’ve got to win here’ and then it clicked. I realized that we were going to have another restart and on all three or four restarts the car on the outside, the second place car, had the advantage. The last few laps I tried slowing down and see if he’d take the bait but as much as I slowed down he slowed down with me. I wanted to finish second on lap 20 but it just didn’t work out.” COULD YOU TELL WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN BLISS AND VICKERS AT THE END OF THE RACE? “The 0 was really tight in the middle of 2 and the middle of 4, off the corner. I could get to his bumper and it would just make it worse and from what I saw the 25 did the same thing, got right on his left rear bumper and the 0 got really tight and couldn’t get in the gas off the corner and just didn’t have a lot of speed off the corner. The 25 probably had a run and I don’t think he was going to beat him to the line so the next best thing to do is to turn him and that worked out for him [laughs].” THE PREFERRED LINE HERE AT CHARLOTTE IS NO LONGER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CORNER NEXT TO THE WHITE LINE? “Not at all, not from what I’ve seen, not what the Kodak Dodge needs. It’s looks like we’re up a lane, even a lane and a half I thought and higher in 1 and 2 than 3 and 4. As the race goes on guys start wearing their tires out and you’ll probably be able to make some passes on the bottom.” YOU MUST BE PLEASED AT HOW STRONG YOU RAN HERE TONIGHT. “I know the car was super. We were super all weekend and looking at our lap times in practice I thought it was going to come down to me or the 5 car. I’m happy with it. The guys did a great job all week. We tested here last week and they made some great changes to come back. We know we’re going to have a great car for the 600. We’re going to bring the same one and tweak on it a little more and make a few changes. We had a great Kodak Dodge. The problem was lap 12 or 15 or whatever it was when I got the 0 car, he let me go and I thought ‘Man, the winner’s got to win this thing’ and then I realized that we’re going to have another restart. It was pretty evident that the car on the outside had the advantage on all the restarts and could really carry the momentum off of turn 2 and get the lead. So I was pretty disappointed those last few laps before that mandatory caution. I was actually trying to back up and hopefully let them back by me but he wasn’t taking the bait. Mike did a great job and I wish I could have got back up there and duked it out with those guys because my car was pretty fast I just got a little too loose when I got pinned to the bottom of the 0 car and I could never get back to the gas and a few of them got by me. I’m happy with my Kodak team. This is the same car that we’re going to run next weekend so I think we’re going to be pretty strong. I feel like the Kodak team is right on the verge of turning the corner. We’ve had some really good tests these last couple of weeks and all weekend long I feel like we’re a top-5, top-10 car here in practice and we showed it tonight. Next weekend is going to be a different story for sure but looking at lap times I think we should be able to run with the big dogs, too.”

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, No. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET (KYLE BUSCH FINISHED 4TH): “We were coming there. We practiced during the day and we were so good in the heat. We were a little too happy, got complacent with it and the night came out and his car was real tight. We had to come in and make those adjustments from the back and tried to get up there and race those guys. We learned our lesson and I hate it because that was an awesome racecar. We should have won that thing. I think we made the wrong moves there. We’re not going to bring this car back but the car that’s coming back is a twin to it. We know what we’ve got to do now from day to night and that’s Charlotte. It’s a tough ol’ place. Now we know about how much we need to loosen it up.” YOU CAME FROM THE BACK OF THE FIELD TO FINISH FOURTH. DID THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS HELP? “I don’t think so. That’s a scary proposition to me [laughs]. It may hurt us because it gives people time to get strung out. If you’re single-file you can kind of go in there and get to work. Double-file, you just slow down so much running side-by-side. That’s hairy. I would want to do ‘em every week.”

SHANE WILSON, CREW CHIEF, No. 77 KODAK/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISIONS DODGE: “We had a good run tonight. I wish we could have finished it off but we learned a lesson tonight. You just need to be in the upper groove here now but we had a good car, probably good enough to win, and that’s all you can hope for every week. Racing is racing; the 0 and 25 had a good move on us. I wish it was a little longer race [laughs]. With the way the track is ground, there is so much more grip in the second groove in 1 and 2. We just can’t hold a guy off if he’s even close to you and once you get behind you just can’t get back by him. That’s the way it goes. That’s racing.” WHAT CAN YOU DO TO MAKE THIS CAR BETTER? “We were good but we were tight, though. The car will have to be a little mechanically freer, aerodynamically freer if we can do anymore for it. We’ll definitely bring that car back for the 600. We have a good piece to start with. We just need to massage on that car a little bit and come back and should have a good run.” HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO THE TEAM TO RUN WELL HERE AT CHARLOTTE? “It’s awesome. That part of it was awesome, leading some laps is great. All these teams in the garage, no matter if you’re running 30th or if you’re running first, the crew guys are working hard. It was good to see our Penske-Jasper guys have a little fun tonight.”