NASCAR Trucks: Ford drivers comment on Adavnce 250 Auto Parts race
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
April 8, 2001
RICHARD LANDRETH-84-Lemon's Auto Parts Ford F-150 (Finished -st) - "We came in for two tires early under yellow and that put us at the back of the field. We were a lot faster than some of those slower trucks, I got to the outside of one and I guess he didn't know we were there and sent me into the wall." IS THAT A CASE OF INEXPERIENCE? "Yeah, I've been here before, but a lot of these guys haven't. I knew what to expect but they didn't, and it took us out of the race."
JON WOOD-15-Mark Warner 2001 Ford F-150 (Finished -st) - "I'm not really sure what the problem is. I think it's the same electrical problem that we had yesterday; it's still there. I didn't have a chance to be competitive, I was just trying to stay out of trouble. The truck ran good on old tires because I didn't have any motor coming off the corners and couldn't spin the tires. There's something wrong with the rear end now, there's smoke coming out of it. I don't know what it is."
RICKY SANDERS-19-TruckTrix.com Ford F-150 (Finished -st) - "We slowly lost the brakes. The most it's going to go is another 20 laps on the floor, so we decided to park before we tear it up any worse or somebody else."
MICHAEL DOKKEN-31-SignatureRaceTeam.com Ford F-150 (Finished -st) - "We dropped a gear, but I want to thank 104 WTQR for helping us out. We ran a promotion with them that allowed us compete here this weekend. We were running OK, but not as good as we thought we would. We'll just get 'em next week."
LANCE HOOPER-9-Time Critical Freight Ford F-150 (Finished -st) - "We started running too hot, the oil temperature was well over 300 degrees. We decided to park it before it blew up." WE'VE SEEN A LOT OF CAR RUNNING HOT. IT THAT TYPICAL HERE? "It is when you punch the grille in."
NATHAN HASELEU-99-Roush Performance Ford F-150 (Finished 10th) - DID THE CONTACT WITH THE NO. 94 HURT YOU AT THE END? "Looking at it now, I can see that the front end got tore up pretty good. It did move the steering wheel way over in the truck. The guys did a good job; we didn't have the best truck, but we still got a top 10 out of it. We wanted to run all the laps and get used to stuff, this is a tough place. I'm really looking forward to going to Gateway with the Roush Performance Truck. I've been there before and it's a track that fits my driving style. We're making progress. Each week we keep getting better, and we just need to keep going." COULD THIS BE YOUR BREAKTHROUGH RACE? "I don't want to say that. It's 10th place and there were nine other trucks ahead of us at the end. We've just got to keep working and we'll get there."
TERRY COOK-29-K Automotive Ford F-150 (Finished 3rd) - "We brought it home in ninth with a few scratches, you'll get that at Martinsville, but this is good momentum, we haven't finished out of the top 10 this year. We're just looking to build a championship team." WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR THE CONFIDENCE OF YOUR TEAM? "I think this will make a believer out of most people. We're needing a sponsor and we're a team to put it on. We're running up front each week and it's going to happen. We know it is and the whole K Automotive crew made the commitment to run the entire season with or without a sponsor, but we can win a whole bunch of races with a sponsor." HOW DO YOU LIKE MARTINSVILLE? "Good, real good. We've been fast since we unloaded here. Bob and Ron Keselowski put together an awesome truck. We did some testing this past week, and I think that paid dividends. We unloaded fast and we've been fast all weekend. We haven't changed a spring all weekend, we haven't changed a swaybar all weekend. All we've done is spring rubbers and air pressure, and we couldn't ask for a better truck." YOU HELD OFF RUTTMAN AT THE END. DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR TRAVIS? "We were running them down at the end and I thought we might have something, but we went with a left-side, right-side tire strategy. We were anticipating a three pit-stop race, but unfortunately it didn't pan out for us and we had to do it in two stops. That still worked out good, but we didn't have the tire combination we wanted at the end of the race."
RICK CRAWFORD-14-Milwaukee Electric Tools Ford F-150 (Finished 7th) - "That was a good points day for the Milwaukee Electric Tools team. My hat's off to our spotter, Fat Boy, and the guys for beating on this truck all weekend and giving us something to race with. We started 23rd and ended up in the top 10. It was a good points day, and we'll get with Roush to see if we can't hammer on these motors before St. Louis." HOW IMPORTANT WAS TRACK POSITION? "It was everything. We stayed on the lead lap all day, and didn't have to battle from a lap down; we've done that before. That's a hard way to do it at Martinsville because it's hard to pass. The Ford did its job, it's a little beat up but that's what it's build for and that's what the fans want to see at Martinsville." HOW WAS YOUR PIT STRATEGY? "It was perfect. We lost one spot two times and then gained two spots the last time. The boys redeemed themselves; it's a good bunch. It's a good bunch of guys that I'm working with and an awesome team. I think that will show its strength in the long run." WHAT DO YOU NEED GOING INTO ST. LOUIS? "More horsepower under the hood. We need to get some more horsepower from Roush. I know they can do it. They know they're with a strong team and they'll hammer on it."
JASON WHITE-86-National Wild Turkey Federation Ford F-150 (Finished 13th) - YOU STARTED WITH ARGUABLY TWO OF THE TOUGHEST TRACKS. DOES IT GET EASIER FROM HERE? "I hope so. We just know that we're not going to bring this truck back any more. We kinda rode around out there and tried to keep it in one piece because we didn't have the truck right. We guessed wrong." DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS BETWEEN NOW AND THE NEXT RACE? "We'll probably go test. We take a different truck and see if we can't learn some things for Gateway."
CHUCK HOSSFELD-50-JR's Garage Ford F-150 (Finished 18th) - "I have what could be a Winston Cup pit crew. They did an awesome job getting me back out there. I'm not sure what happened, but it tore our front end off. The guys up front slowed down and there was no where to go. We got tore up on the restart, put it behind the wall, changed the radiator and some suspension parts and only lost 40 laps. We ran good up until that restart, but I think we showed our new sponsor that we have some potential. I look forward to the next race." THE NEXT RACE IS A MONTH AWAY. HOW DO YOU STAY PREPARED? "We can't test at tracks we race on, but we can test some tracks that are similar to the ones that we will be visiting. We plan to test each week to stay in the groove. We're all racers and that's what we want to do. A month is a long time, though."
TERRY COOK-29-K Automotive Ford F-150 Press Conference
HOW HOT WAS IT? "It was a lot hotter than I thought it was going to be. We had about a $3,000 real nice air conditioning system we were going to put in the truck before the race and elected not to, but now I'm kind of wishing we would've."
HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TRYING TO CATCH THOSE GUYS? "It was pretty tough. All day long - the key here at Martinsville is track position. I mean, obviously, you've got to have a good truck to stay up front all day, which we had, but the key here is track position. Last night we talked for over an hour on race strategy, and we were going to do a two-stop race and then we talked ourselves out, went to a three-stop race, we've got a good truck and we could see early in the race that our competitors were taking two tires for a two-stop deal, and that made us do it, to go for track position. And, unfortunately we took on left-side tires first and right sides on the second stop and later on the race we just couldn't get the truck to pivot through the center, we needed the fresher lefts, and kind of out-tricked ourselves there on pit-box strategy but still brought home a third place."
WHAT ABOUT THE INCIDENT IN WHICH YOU GOT MIXED UP WITH SCOTT RIGGS? "Oh, the incident there in the pits? It's standard policy when you're coming down pit runway to stay as far as you can against the wall. I understand Scott was in the middle of the track, and they dropped the jack and the spotter never said anybody was coming because they assumed Scott was going to go up towards the wall there, and I'm on pit runway up top and unfortunately when I came out, he came down and we came together. I guess I helped Scott win the race, by the looks of it, because it changed his strategy a little bit and changed his track position and he went on to win the race, so I think I'm going to have to talk with him about splitting that first-place money with me."
Text provided by Ford
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