NASCAR Truck Series Dodge Notes and Quotes from Richmond

TED MUSGRAVE (No. 1 Mopar Performance Dodge Ram)
Started third, Finished seventh
"It was just tight all night. It never would turn in the center of the corner. We changed the air pressure and wedge and things like that. It would never turn. :Pit strategy got us to the back. We put on four tires and some guys didn't pit. Some guys put on two. Track position meant everything. You can look at the scoreboard and see that. A bad call in the pits and a bad setup and we came out of it seventh. I guess we got a lucky break on that last lap. Everybody else wrecked and we made it through. I don't know how I got through it. I'd like to see a replay. I wish I'd had an in-truck camera. I went high. I went low. I got hit in the back. We got hit in the front. I was down shifting. I was turning left. I was turning right. I about spun out a couple of times, but somehow I gassed it up and got some forward motion. We raced Stacy Compton around the corner to get seventh. Maybe experience helped a little bit. Bliss' guys are doing everything right. They're winning races. Their pit strategy is right. Their trucks are always good. They're a championship caliber team right now. We've got to get smarter. We've got to get our calls better. We've got to get our trucks better. We're getting our butts kicked everywhere. It's not just one little thing. It's everything. We've got to do it now. We lost 20 points again tonight and slipped to fourth in the points. Every race we're going further back, and that's not right. This team should win the championship. There's no doubt about it. I'm just not happy about the way it's going. Let's put it that way."

ROBERT PRESSLEY (No. 18 Dickies/Square D Racing Dodge Ram)
Started 11th, Finished 15th
"I don't know what happened out there. I got down into turn one and I saw Bobby (Hamilton) going head-on into the wall. Everybody just went everywhere. I thought we were clear and there it went. I thought we were going to salvage a top 10 out of it. Track position was everything. If you got out there in a clean race track you were good. If not, it was terrible."  

BILL LESTER (No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge Ram)
Qualified 18th, Finished 36th
 "I was going into turn three and as soon as my spotter said somebody is down low, I get hit in the left rear. I thought it was going to be a nice, long 200-lap race and we would all mind each other's business and take care of each other. I guess that's obviously not the case. I'm just not sure what to think."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 62 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Ram)
Started 30th, Finished 16th
"There was an opening in the middle there. I think I saw Bobby Hamilton go high and David Starr go low. Jason Leffler and everybody else just went everywhere. My spotter called me and said there was a hole right through the middle. I aimed for it and hit some oil. There was nothing the NAPA gang could do. They had great stops for me. We battled back and forth. I made a mistake and nudged the wall and put us back there. If I hadn't done that, we wouldn't have been back there. I can only blame myself. I had a great night going. I made one mistake, but Richmond is a great facility. We had great power. We had it turning good. I like this place. I hit some oil, and there was nothing I could do about that. I saw some glory. I saw five spots and a top 10. I hit the gas and away she came. I actually made it past the first three guys. Whoever dumped the big oil, I spun and hit Compton. Somebody hit me and spun around. I guess they said my NAPA Dodge looked the worst. It didn't hurt the worst. There was just nothing I could do at that point."

JASON LEFFLER (No. 2 Team ASE/Carquest Racing Dodge Ram)
Started on the pole, Finished 12th
"I saw the 4 and the 75 to got together and the 4 hit the wall pretty hard and came across the track at a diagonal and I clipped him. Everybody else was racing to get back to the checkered and kept piling in there pretty hard. We had a pretty good truck early on. I put a hole in the car passing a lapped truck, about the third lapped truck I got to. He was trying to do the right thing by getting out of the way. He practically came to a stop and I clipped him. Then we got behind. Any time you get behind with these Dodges, especially with a hole in the nose, it's going to hurt."

STACY COMPTON (No. 17 Duck Head Footwear Dodge Ram)
Started 20th, Finished eighth
"I'm actually pretty disappointed with our finish. We had a good truck all night. When the race started, I had eight laps in the truck this year. I'm pretty happy with the progress we made. The Joey Arrington motors pulled us through. We had a good truck all night. It was a decent night. I wish we would have pitted earlier when everybody did. They sort of outsmarted us. That's the way it goes. That's all part of it. I had that last wreck missed. The 62 got us from behind, but he didn't have anywhere to go. It was just one of them deals."

KYLE PETTY (CEO Petty Enterprises)
"We had three trucks in the race tonight. Carlos, Adam Clarke and Scott Kuhn. Carlos qualified 17th and then wrecked in practice and had to go to a backup. He finished 19th, and that was a good job. Adam qualified 15th and finished 23rd, and this is the first time he's ever raced on a paved track. They went to Lakeland, Fla., and they had a really good test. He works at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Barry Graham is part owner in the Driving Experience and Adam is his son-in-law. He's raced sprints and midgets in Australia all his life. We've got a guy from Mexico. Why not a guy from Australia? We got a guy from Brazil coming, too."