FORD RACING NOTES & QUOTES Subway Fresh 500

Saturday, April 22, 2006 Phoenix International Raceway

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 Pedigree/M&M's Fusion - "I'm alright. I don't know what happened. I can't really comment on it. I just looked up and the race track was blocked, the 55 was sideways, and then we just all kind of piled on top of each other. So, I don't know what happened. It's just a rough day at Phoenix. Nothing good to talk about. Just a rough day.

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DeWalt Fusion - "It was a great finish. We really didn't run very good, but we finished really good. I'm proud of all these guys. I didn't think our car drove good today, and they did a good job of coming up with some adjustments that made it decent." HOW DID THE CAR REACT TO THE TEMPERATURE CHANGE AFTER THE SUN SET? "We just got better. It's hard to explain. We didn't just get tighter, we were just able to get our car better. The track changed, but I'm not so convinced it got tighter, it just changed." EARLIER THIS WEEKEND YOU SAID ALTHOUGH THIS IS A FLAT TRACK, YOU DO LIKE IT. OBVIOUSLY, WITH TONIGHT'S FINISH, NOTHING HAS CHANGED? "I do love it. I know we finished really good, we just really struggled almost all night, and that long run was just what we needed. We were tight enough to be good in that long run. We almost got up to second there, and I just couldn't quite get by Tony. It was a great race at the end. It was fun slip-slidin' around a little bit." BIGGER PICTURE, THE SEASON CONTINUES TO GO WELL... "Yeah. I don't know how it could get much better. We had a car about like we had at Martinsville, I thought, today. I thought we had a eighth- to 12th-place car, and through pit stops and good adjustments and some people having bad luck and running out of gas, we were able to get a good finish."

CARL EDWARDS - No. 99 Office Depot Fusion - "My fan club gave us a horseshoe and we mounted it on the tool box. I think that really helped a lot. I just got to thank all my guys. This is great. A good run for us." WHEN YOU STOPPED ON PIT ROAD, YOU HAD A BIG SMILE... "Oh, yeah. The way things have been going, we got in that deal on pit road and I thought, 'Man, not again,' and we ended up running well. That's great." IN CONTEXT OF THE SEASON, THIS HELPS IN TERMS OF POINTS. "In context of the season, this is perfect. This is a Great day for us." WHAT ABOUT NEW CREW CHIEF WALLY BROWN, WHO MADE HIS DEBUT WITH THE 99 TEAM TONIGHT? "Wally did a great job. He had to do a lot of decision making tonight. He had to do some things - fuel mileage, with adjustments, he argued with me and made the right decisions. It's cool."

WALLY BROWN - crew chief, No. 99 Office Depot Fusion (Brown made his debut as crew chief of the No. 99 Fusion tonight) - NOT A BAD START... "That was a great way to get started. Had a lot of problems tonight, ran into a guy on pit road and had us come back from the back once, so that was a lot of work tonight, but that was a great day for the Office Depot guys, and we're all happy." STILL, THE RECORD BOOKS WILL SHOW A TOP-FIVE START... "We got lucky there with fuel mileage, guys dropping out. We had a really good car. It was probably a top-five to -seven car, but we'll take fourth." WAS THERE ANYTIME DURING THE RACE THAT YOU STARTED FEELING COMFORTABLE IN YOUR NEW JOB? "Yeah, actually once the race got started, 10 laps in and we weren't dropping to the back, I felt like we'd be okay and I felt a lot better about it, and was getting a lot comfortable." IT'S TALLADEGA, BUT WILL THE SECOND RACE BE EASIER FOR YOU? "There's not much you can do there, it's Talladega. These are all Bob Osborne's cars, so he's got a good car for there and we're just going to take it and see what happens."

KEN SCHRADER - No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Fusion - "We were too screwed up Friday morning and made wholesale changes and got us closer, but didn't get to where it needed to be, and couldn't pull a rubber out of the right-rear to get it where we wanted it, but we hung in there."

NOTE: Wood Brothers Glen and Leonard Wood were inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in Portsmouth, Va., earlier this evening. Leonard accepted the honor for the both of them. Glen was unable to attend; he is currently recovering at home at in Stuart, Va., following hip-replacement surgery last week.

MATT KENSETH press conference

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DeWalt Fusion - "The finish was really good. We didn't start off very strong at all. We really struggled for some reason, and we were able to get it better and the track kind of came to us a little bit and had good, solid pit stops and good, solid mechanical car. I'm really surprised to have finished in third. Obviously, some guys ran out of gas and we were real good on the real long run when we needed to be. But, really, if you would've told me we would've finished third on lap 10 I would've told you you were crazy. I didn't think we had a very good car, so it feels great to come home with a great finish because I definitely didn't think we had the car to do it." HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE POINTS LEADER? "Didn't even really think about it. It's better than being second, I guess. You know, it's really early in the year, but I think when you're leading the points or when you're solidly in the top 10 it definitely gives you a good feeling and it gives the guys a good feeling, there's a little bit more comfort, being in the top 26 races, being in the front. So, if we can keep running like this and stay solidly in the top 10 until we get to the Chase, that's really our goal, and to keep working on our cars and trying to keep our cars competitive. This is a brand-new short-track car, we had high expectations for, we finished really good, but I was a little disappointed in how it drove all night, so we still a little work to do on this stuff. I feel like our mile-and-a-half stuff is really good, two-mile stuff, downforce stuff, and our speedway stuff was great at Daytona. We just got to work on our short-track stuff just a little bit more to be able to run with them top few guys." ON GREG BIFFLE'S LUCK THIS SEASON... "I thought he was going to win for sure because every time we carpool and ride together to the race track he seems to win almost every time - almost 90 percent of the time. I feel bad for Greg, but it's hard to look at the good side, if you're him, but he's been leading these races. He had a car good enough to win three or four races this year and he just had things happen, and really none of it's his mistake, so I think the main thing when you're in that situation is - we were kind of in that position last year, we weren't running near as good - I mean I have no doubt Greg's going to make the race. He's running so strong there's no doubt in my mind he's going to be in the top 10 at the end of the year. He's got cars that can do it and he's not doing nothing wrong, so I don't think he needs to change any of his approach or the team needs to change their approach, they just need to keep going racing and eventually the averages will work out and things will start going better." WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS YEAR AND LAST? "Over the winter, I think our engineering staff and Robbie and everybody, they were able to figure out some things on our cars and make our cars better, make our bodies better, Doug Yates and everybody at the engine shop always do a great job. I feel this year, with moving some people up and moving some people around helped our team. I think it energized it a little bit. When you have the same thing for a long time sometimes - just like going to work every day - and I think this made a new enthusiasm. Nobody's been in this position and they're just fired up. They're doing the work properly as well as anybody else can do it, plus they're fired up and a lot of fun to be around. So it's been a fun start to the year, that's for sure."