REGAN SMITH: “That was a real good run for us here. We started way back and we moved way forward. I’m proud of Doug [Richert, crew chief] and all the guys on the Principal Financial group Chevy. I’m happy to say that because it’s been a long year up to this point but we’re going to try to do all we can to build on that momentum and take it to Texas. I don’t know if we’re locked in or not [in the top-35 car owner standings] but we’re going to take that momentum with us.” HOW MUCH PRIDE DO YOU TAKE IN RUNNING THAT WELL AT THIS TOUGH TRACK? “Quite a bit. It was a tough race just fighting the lucky dogs and stuff like that, a lot of lap down people with us that were fighting for it and we finally got it. And once we got it and I could go race people the car wasn’t that bad. I was pretty happy with it. We take a lot of pride to come here and run well and we just need to continue it on now.” IS THIS THE BEST RACE YOU’VE RUN AS A SPRINT CUP DRIVER? “Yeah, I think definitely. I run some other really good one and had something bite us at the end. I know Talladega we were running fourth and ran out of fuel at the end and stuff like that but from the standpoint of overall racing and everything, definitely.” YOU AND THE TEAM HAVE HAD SOME UPS AND DOWN THIS YEAR. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE SOMETHING POSITIVE TO BUILD ON? “It’s very important. You want to get your guys pumped up and you want to have something you can go to the shop and keep your head high about and they haven’t had much that they could this year to this point and now hopefully they can. Hopefully there can be a little spring and everybody’s step come Monday morning.” HOW CAN YOU RACE RESPECTFULLY HERE? IS THAT POSSIBLE? “There was a number of situations where I could have stuck my nose in there behind a guy like Harvick or Stewart or somebody like that. I could have stuck my nose in there and maybe rooted them out of the way but it’s going to come back at me 10 times worse, I’m sure of that. Just trying to be fair and get respect but get a good run also.” MOISTURE FELL DURING MOST OF THE RACE. WAS THAT FACTOR AT ALL? “It was slipper at the end. You could tell it was getting slicker at the end and I got into Juan Pablo a couple of times there racing with him really hard. I hate that I did that but I was locking my left front brake up and slipping and sliding up by the curb there. We were just racing hard. Nobody got wrecked or anything like that so no harm, no foul.”

DARIO FRANCHITTI, No. 40 KENNAMETAL DODGE: “I think all the fenders are on it just none of them are the shape they were at the start of the race. We finished 22nd and it was a great job today by everybody on the Kennametal team. The boys did a good job with the car and called a great race, great pit stops. I just stayed out of trouble and got as quick as I could and that was it. We’ll keep working at it.” IS IT POSSIBLE TO RACE WITH RESPECT HERE? “You can race with a certain amount of respect and sometimes it’s just such close quarters you make mistakes. I hit a couple of guys today and that I didn’t mean to and likewise a couple of guys hit me and you could tell it wasn’t on purpose but it’s just one of those deals. I’m really happy.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 00 AARON’S DREAM MACHINE TOYOTA: “I was super-nervous about just doing 500 laps, you know, wear and tear on tires, fatigue, all that and everything was good. The 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine guys did a good job with the shocks and getting seats and everything ready. The car was great all day long. I beat it up maybe a little bit too much but it’s Martinsville. It’s pretty tough.” ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR DAY? “I am happy. I’m obviously upset there at the end that we lost some spot and got spun there and had to come in. But I think all in all it was a good day. I think we showed that we can run with these guys and it’s a building block for the future.” HOW DO YOU RACE WITH RESPECT HERE? “You can’t and that’s the tough thing. You get beat and banged enough out there you kind of get fed up of it so the biggest thing was just trying to stay calm and cool and run hard because every time you tried to give a little bit you ended up getting taken advantage of. You’re just racing hard the whole time. It was a lot of fun for me.” COMMENT ON THE LEADERS COMING UP ON YOU AT THE END OF THE RACE. “I was just focusing on trying to get around the 28 and trying to stay on the lead lap. The 11 got by and we were able to run with him and the 31, when he got to us, when he finally got underneath us I tried to give him up as much as I can, but at the same time the 11 is racing the 28 and You don’t hear the 11 complaining about the 28 right now.”

SAM HORNISH, JR., No. 77 MOBIL 1 DODGE: “We got a lot of experience today. It was unfortunate that the car wasn’t any better. We struggled to stay on the lead lap at first and then we were doing a pretty good job of staying one lap down when we were there. We were able to start moving around some guys and we made a bad call as far as a change that we wanted to make and ended up getting hit and spun and then got two laps down and then everybody that was a lap down basically got their lap back then. It was a tough day for us for sure but I’m real proud of all the guys in the Mobil 1 Dodge. They don’t ever give up. We’re just going to keep working at it and try to do the best we can.”

PATRICK CARPENTIER, No. 10 CHARTER DODGE: YOU RAN WELL DURING THE MIDDLE STAGES OF THE RACE. “I’m really happy. I mean, it’s a learning process. It’s something to do one lap but to learn to run with these guys for the race, that’s the problem. At first I was running not too bad and then I started getting spin out and I was lucky I didn’t hit the wall and spun me twice and we kept going. I was ‘Man, when is this going to stop [laughs]?’ It seemed like it was getting from bad to worse and I was in everybody’s way until I understood at the end that I needed to roll the center a lot faster than what I was doing. I was kind of like driving it like qualifying which is very different than what it needs to be. At the same time, when you drive it like that, the setup is very different so I’m learning to understand. That’s what it is, you know, all those three races you miss you get behind. You don’t learn that stuff. You stay home, you watch and you don’t learn nothing. So making the race this weekend was an amazing thing, especially for a short track.” A LOT OF TIMES THE YELLOW STRIPE ON A BUMPER HERE MIGHT AS WELL BE A BULLS-EYE. “Montoya was having a ball. Every time he’d see me he’d hit me and then he’d wave at me once he passed. I knew the guys were just having fun but I was trying to stay out of everybody’s way. We just needed the points. Some guys were in everybody’s way and they finished about the same place we did. We didn’t make anybody mad and we had a decent day finishing in the top-30. That’s what we wanted and it’s good experience. These guys, they know what they’re doing. You’ve got no computers, no nothing so you’ve got to learn, you have no choice to know what you need in the cars.” DID YOU GET MAD TODAY? “At one point I was like, I think it was like lap 350, I was like ‘Man, am I going to leave home and just get spun out and lapped and lapped. Man, I came here to race.’ It was a bit tough, you know, but we picked it up in the end. And the last 30 laps that’s when I understood what I needed in the car and actually was still too tight for the way you need to drive it in the race. But I took a chance and said change it and it got better so it was good.”