Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Where the Raybestos Rookies finished at Kansas:
Ragan 16th
Menard 27th
Montoya 28th
Reutimann 31st

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, No. 42 TEXACO/HAVOLINE DODGE: “I guess we cut both right side tires going into three. I felt it was starting to go down and just radioed the guys ‘I think it’s starting to go down.’ I even backed off the engine into three. I just never turned. I thought it was an issue with the rear tire but I went to turn and it didn’t turn so I guess it was both and I couldn’t down into the pits. I thought ‘I don’t want to be running the bottom’ and then all these guys coming and all of the sudden the car will go straight up. I decided to stay high and just rub it against the wall [smiles]. THE RACING SEEMED WILD WHEN IT RESTARTED LATE THIS AFTERNOON. “Yeah, but for me it was good. We had a terrible race up to there and if it wasn’t for this we would have finished like 21st or 22nd.” THE CAR HAS A BIG HOLE NEAR JUST PAS THE DOOR ON THE RIGHT SIDE. “The hit wasn’t hard. When the tire broke it just ripped everything off.”

DAVID RAGAN IN THE No. 6 AAA INSURANCE FORD WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN TODAY’S RACE.

Ragan UNOFFICIALLY finished 16th and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the 13th time this season. He has claimed top rookie honors in four of the last five races.

UNOFFICIALLY Montoya is 20th in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings, 46 points ahead of 21st-place Ragan.
RAGAN: “Not as good as we wanted. We got a little greedy there at the end. When we got there in the top-10 or 12, I really thought we could finish up there. We were good. We decided to come down and take four tires and it drove just a little too good there at the end, just a little free. First time we’ve been free I think all weekend here. The track went from soaking wet to no rubber to a lot of rubber to as cool as we’ve seen it. We were off a little bit there at the end but still a decent finish, a top-20, and we gained a few points. Not as good as we wanted but we’ll take it and move on.” HOW CRAZY WAS

THAT LAST SEGMENT OF THE RACE? “We would have been fine if we wouldn’t have had any cautions. When we put four tires on we were hoping the race would go green the rest of the way so we could have some time to race. Everybody is racing hard. We’re ready to get out of here, the track’s got a lot of grip, it’s fast and things just seemed to happen. I’m glad we weren’t in any of that excitement. This is one of the ones that I’ll remember. To have two rain delays. The last one wasn’t a rain delay; it was a monsoon almost and to come back and somewhat finish under the moonlight and the parking lights. It was crazy but it was fun. Just to be a part of it is something that I can think about one day and learn from and if we’re ever going through something like this again maybe we’ll be prepared.” HOW DARK WAS IT AT THE END OF THE RACE? “It was dark. I’ve raced in places that even with lights wasn’t this bright. You get down to some of those dirt tracks in the Midwest or short tracks in South Georgia and it’s pretty dark. I’m sure some guys like Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, they’re used to it. It was dark. We could have finished it up, I think but I’m happy to finish in the top-20. I’m glad our teammate got him a win and we’ll see what we can do next week at Talladega.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 DOMINOS.COM TOYOTA: YOU HAD A GOOD CAR TODAY. “We did. We were going to be alright. We made a really bad call and pitted when it was starting to rain, pitted, and got caught a lap down. Then we were trying to get in position to get our lap back and they had that deal coming off of two. I’m disappointed but we’re making headway, small gains so I’m encouraged by that [smiles].” HOW WILD WAS THE FINAL SEGMENT OF THE RACE? “Yeah, the first part of the race was pretty uneventful and then all of a sudden it’s like man, somebody flipped the switch and it got crazy. I’m glad we were able to avoid most of it. It could have been a lot worse that what it was, I guess.” COMMENT ON THE DARKNESS AT THE END OF THE RACE. “It was getting pretty dark. The TV makes it look like it’s light out, you know, but it gets really dark. I think they did the right thing. It’s hard enough to do everything right when you can see. When you are hindered a little bit it’s tough. They made the right call. It mercifully ended our day earlier because we were struggling pretty bad there at the end with a damaged race car.”