DAVID RAGAN: “That was a good, solid run. The AAA Ford Fusion was good since we unloaded and just a lot of fun to be able to unload with some notes from the last race and then be able to be fast in the race. We had good pit stops and everything just worked out good. We’ve had some good cars this year. But for pit stops to go right, for us to not have any mistakes on restarts, several things have just got to go right and it was just a good night.” YOU RACED JEFF GORDON AND TONY STEWART DOWN THE STRETCH. “Considering that you are in the Chase and fighting for that championship, you’ve got to race ‘em with a little bit of extra caution. You don’t want to do anything stupid to jeopardize their good run for the night. It was fun. They gave me some good racing room but when you have a good car, everything just works out pretty easy.” HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THIS GIVE YOU? “We’ve had some awesome racecars this year and we’ve had some bad luck or got caught up in wrecks or one thing after another. So it’s good to have just a good solid night. In this Cup racing, you just can’t have any mistakes. A good car might get you a 15th-place finish. Everybody on the AAA pit crew did an awesome job on pit road tonight and it shows they can hang in there with those top five or 10 teams. Like I said, when you have a good car everything is just a lot easier.” WAS YOUR CAR STILL JUST AS STRONG AT THE END? “If we would have had a caution, it took a few laps for the AAA Ford to get going and I think that if we could have restarted up there second or third, yeah, maybe we would have had a shot. But you know restarting back there 10th or 11th plus a few lap down cars, that just made it tough. It was a lot of fun getting back up through the field. Our wins will come.” IS THIS THE BEST RACE YOU’VE HAD ALL YEAR? “The race in Daytona was a lot of fun. Luck plays a lot at what happens at Daytona. We just happened to be lucky and have a good car. As far as tonight, to be able to be back there in like 20th and then drive back to the front and back and forth, that just shows that we do have some good racecars and we had a lot of fun.” HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE SUCH A GOOD RUN HERE TONIGHT? “It means a lot and like I said, it just shows us and everyone else that we can do it. We knew we could do it, it’s just a matter of doing it and learning the right way how to do some things.” YOU HAD A RUN LIKE A VETERAN TONIGHT. “Just a nice solid run for the AAA Ford Fusion. We had a great night on pit road. The AAA Ford was handling well but when you have a good car that just makes everybody’s job a lot easier. We got back in the back after getting squeezed up into the wall by the 25 car about halfway through it. We rebounded pretty nicely. That was one of our best races of the year. It’s good to get another top-five. After getting that first top-five at Daytona, I thought these things were easy to get [smiles]. But here in NEXTEL Cup racing, they’re pretty hard to come by so we’re excited.” YOU RACED JEFF GORDON AND TONY STEWART HARD IN THE CLOSING LAPS OF THE RACE. “I don’t think my name belongs up there in that list [smiles]. It’s pretty cool to be able to race with ‘em. They’re racing for a Chase spot, they’re racing for a championship and one day, hopefully, we’ll be up there. You’ve got to give them a little bit of extra courtesy on a night like tonight but when you have a good car it just makes everything easier. We got in the back one time and were able to fight out way up through. It was just a lot of fun. Richmond is a great racetrack. The temperature was perfect. We just had a lot of fun passing some cars, inside, outside and we just fine-tuned on our AAA Ford all night. A little bit of air pressure, maybe just a half a round of wedge or something like that but nothing much so our car was pretty good from the get-go.” WHAT DOES THIS FINSIH SAY FOR YOU AND WHERE YOU’RE GOING AND WHERE YOUR PROGRAM IS RIGHT NOW? “We can just show everybody that we are capable of running in the top-five or top-10. We knew that we had some great racecars but here in NEXTEL Cup racing it takes a lot more than just a good car. You’ve got to have good pit stops. You can’t have mistakes on restarts. You just have to have a solid night and that’s what it takes. I feel like the last three or four weeks we’ve had some awesome racecars, racecars that could win races. It’s all about qualifying well, just putting yourself in position so hopefully we’re another step toward that first win.” HOW SATISFYING IS YOUR TOP-FIVE? “It’s very satisfying. A top-five in NEXTEL Cup racing is excellent. A top-five in any top division, Busch or Craftsman Truck is great. This is a good momentum booster for the team. We’ve got 10 more races left. Certainly we want some more of these runs before the end of the year and then next year we want to come out strong and kind of make this a habit running in the top-10.” IS THIS THE BEST RACE THAT YOU’VE EVER DRIVEN? “I don’t know, I’ve driven some pretty good Legends car races at times [smiles]. But it probably don’t matter as much as this. It wasn’t like we qualified on the pole and just rode in the top two or three. At one time we were like 20th and I was feeling pretty disappointed there for a little while. We had slapped the wall and did this and did that then all of a sudden we’re back there in 25th. I’m like ‘Man, I’ve taken a good car and we’re back here in the back.’ But things always seem to work out. It was a long race and a lot of fun.”

RAGAN PRESS CONFERENCE

“It was just a good solid night. It takes a lot more than just a fast racecar to finish well in the NEXTEL Cup races. We’ve learned that firsthand so to be able to have good pit stops, we were pretty good on restarts, we were good on the long runs. We got shuffled back to like 20th and we were able to drive our way back up to the front. Just a lot of fun and I certainly enjoyed it. Our car was pretty good all night, pretty good all weekend. We had a lot of fun and it was certainly deserving to the team to have a good night.” HOW MINDFUL DO YOU HAVE TO BE OF ALL THAT’S GOING ON AROUND YOU WITH ALL THIS CHASE STUFF? “Yeah, certainly, and that’s something that we talked about before the race and we don’t want to be the bad guy to jeopardize someone else’s year or making the Chase. So we tried to be a little careful or just acknowledge the guys that we were racing around and certainly there at the end in the last 50 laps when you are around guys like the 8 and the 2 and the 24, you certainly don’t want to do anything to jeopardize their runs. You do pay a little more attention to that and certainly the last 10 races of the year I’m sure we’ll keep that in the back of our mind.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 BURGER KING TOYOTA: “It ended up being alright, considering how bad we were the last time we were here. We weren’t even remotely close. It was a good effort. Pit stops were pretty good and the car was good. We got off on trying to make it better there that one time and we just kind of over-adjusted it a little bit and kind of toward the end put it back sort of where it was, a little bit closer to where it was when we were running earlier. And it ended up coming back to life. I’m a little disappointed. I felt like if maybe I had did that a little earlier we could have had a better effort but all in all it was a good effort. I’m pretty happy with that and we got to race against a lot of the heroes so that was a good feeling [smiles].” HOW IMPORTANT TO GET SOME MOMENTUM IN THESE LAST 10 RACES AND FINISH THE SEASON STRONG? “We haven’t had a whole lot of positive to happen this year. We could get into races and wouldn’t run well and stuff like that. And then lately, over the last couple of weeks, pit stops were good and the cars are better off the trailer. Everybody at the shop has done a phenomenal job closing the gap. We’ve still got a lot of gap to close but when you can come out here in the top-15, you’ve got to start somewhere, so you concentrate on getting in the top-15 and then top-10’s and whatever else you can get from there. I’m pleased with the result. It was fun and I enjoyed myself tonight. I didn’t enjoy myself at all last time I was here and I had a lot of fun this time so it was a big difference.” HOW DIFFERENT IS RACING NEAR THE FRONT OF THE PACK VERSUS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD? “Usually I’m having to wave those guys by because they’re better than us. So for the shoe to be on the other foot, that’s a good feeling. Racing those guys earlier in the year paid off like that because when you get to ‘em they cut you a little more slack and stuff because when I was struggling I did that to them. Those guys remember that stuff so it’s pretty neat to see that.”