Dodge NexCup quotes from talladega

Sunday, April 25, 2004.
Talladega Superspeedway.
Aaron's 499.
 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge) - Finished 11th

"It was all right. We finished the race and didn't tear the car up too
much, so it was good in that respect, but it's pretty embarrassing to
the sport when fans throw beer cans all over the racetrack before the
race is over. I guess it was all those Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans. I never
got a real good push the last five laps before that last yellow. I was
just kind of holding my own on the bottom. I had a good line. I had some
cars in front of me, but I didn't have anyone behind me that would push
me."

 

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 77 Kodak Easy Share Dodge) - Finished 13th

NOTE: Gaughan was the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie of the Year
driver, and his 13th-place finish was his career best.

 

"Buddy Baker kept telling me I'd learn to love this place, and  I told
him he had to be kidding. I was the top finishing Raybestos Rookie for
the first time this year, and it's about darn time. The guys have really
been working hard. We kept coming in patching things up and fixing
little things here and there. I think every single wreck happened in
front of me today and we were able to drive through it. We had a little
bit of luck. We've got a great race team, and here we are. I got here
more here today than I did last week at Martinsville, and that was tough
to do. This is a big fast racetrack. You've got to have respect for it.
Congratulations to Jeff Gordon. He did a heck of a job. Ryan was right
in front of me, and we had good runs. I'm sorry Rusty got caught up in
that one deal. It's amazing how Junior fans there are. They need to just
take a break. We may have been able to restart it and go green, white,
checkered if they hadn't thrown all those beer cans on the racetrack.
It's not my call. It's NASCAR's call. If there's time to finish under
green, then let's do it. The fans created that unsafe situation there,
and it's a shame. Have a little respect for what we do. Jeff Gordon won
that race. Sorry Junior can't win 'em all. We had a good run, and it was
a great day for us. There really wasn't a BIG ONE. A lot of guys had
little wrecks, but we all made it through it."

 

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge)

"The screen in front of the radiator came loose. Something went through
the radiator and here we sit. We were running fourth or fifth when it
happened, and I guess we cut a tire down about the same time. I'm lucky
I slowed down. It started missing, and I got in turn three and almost
wrecked. I had a flat tire and a hole in the radiator at the same time,
and it's hard to win like that."

 

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge) - Finished Eighth

"I'm happy with it. I wanted to race for it, but it could have gone
either way. We're sitting there in the top 10 and you want to race for
it. I think we could have got at least a top three out of it.
Considering how beat up this front end is, it's probably good we ended
under caution. My nose got beat up bump drafting. We were beating the
heck out of each other out there trying to get an advantage. That's
about the only way you can get an advantage.

 

"The 8 has been doing it (bump drafting) a long time, and we have never
been able to do it because we've never beefed up our front ends enough.
We have to be easy on 'em. We finally put a few bars in this time, and
it was hugely different. It helped so much. It was a good run for our
Target Dodge all the way around. I'm really happy with it.

 

"It was awesome running out front. To be able to go out and lead laps
like this and run up front at a place like this is a huge testament to
the team. I've learned a lot with the draft, and it's all showing. We're
having a lot of fun with it now. I've got donuts all over the car. I hit
the wall a little bit avoiding a guy. It's more beat up than my
Martinsville car was last week."

 

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) - Finished Ninth

"That was a lot worse than Martinsville. I've never been hit that hard
on a superspeedway. It was cool, but the 29 and 20 hit me so hard it
shoved me up in the lead a couple of times. I was trying to return the
favors, but you've got to be in the right place at the right time at the
end. I got into Casey's left rear one time. I got so tight off the
corner and of all the people top get into it was Casey. He knows I
didn't mean to do it. We both saved it and we both had good finishes
today. I wish we could have had a green flag finish, but it might have
been just a white-checkered and no one would have been able to pass.
You've got to get up to speed before you can do it, so it wouldn't have
been that exciting."

 

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

"I really couldn't tell what happened. Somebody turned somebody in front
of us. I was up high and all I could do was hope they didn't come up the
track, and that's the way they went. I'm fine, but the car is injured
pretty bad. I'm not sure what caused it, but Tony Stewart has been
running into everything all year, so I wouldn't be surprised if he did
it here, too. I get sick of getting knocked around, but it's part of
racing I guess. At these tracks you can't really do anything about it. I
didn't really cause either one of them. I was just in the middle of both
of them. We'll get our Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge fixed up and make some
more laps. It's a ton of fun until something like that happens, then
it's a lot of disappointment for everybody involved. Talladega and
Daytona are fun races until the crashes happen."

 

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)

"There was a lot of beating and banging out there, a lot more banging
than I've seen here in the past. It's always a nail-biter that's for
sure. I was all the way up to the top of the racetrack. I had a good
car. I was running up front, just hanging around at the top of the
track. I was tired of getting in that mess. I moved down to the center
for a few laps, and at that particular lap I had moved back up to the
top. When the wreck happened it got three wide and I couldn't get back
down.

 

"Racing is a lot different here. At Daytona cars get away from each
other. Tires wear and handling gets into it. Everybody's cars are
handling here. They're all on top of each other, bumper to bumper. I
couldn't believe how forceful everybody was getting. There were a lot of
people running into each other. Cars would come by me and their right
sides were torn up, noses were bashed in and they were still running
into people. It's an exciting races for the fans, but it's not too much
fun for the drivers.

 

"The racing was very, very aggressive. Cars were all over each other. I
got turned sideways one time, got hit in the rear end. The same guy that
hit me in the rear end hit another guy in the rear end and turned him
sideways. I think he's the one that caused the big wreck out there. For
some reason there's a lot of beating and banging going. I just went to
the top of the track logging laps. It just didn't look right out there.
You knew there were going to be a lot of wrecks. The cars were on to of
each other too much. They're running way to close together. There's no
rhyme or reason for what's going on at all. The racing is just too tight
with this aero package."