FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Ram Tough 200 Truck Race

April 29, 2006 Gateway International Raceway

MARCOS AMBROSE-20-Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Ford F-150 (Finished 34th) - WHAT HAPPENED? "I saw him (Skinner) go up into the wall and I tried to stay low, but I just couldn't stay low enough; he came back down the track and I had nowhere to go. I guess that's an introduction to NASCAR and what it's all about. These cars are strong because that was a decent lick. We've taken a pretty tough start with two crashes in two races, so we want to bounce back a bit from this."

ERIK DARNELL-99-Simply Wow Ford F-150 (Finished 31st) - WHAT HAPPENED? "I felt like I got turned around by the 22 getting into the corner. That's about all I can say. I don't think he was underneath or anything like that. I think I just got hit square from behind entering the corner. Unfortunately, it turned us around and put us up in the wall. I've really got to thank John Quinn (crew chief) and all of the guys. We weren't that great in practice this morning and they threw some stuff at it before the race. The truck was really pretty good. We ran up front there for a while, we pitted early and came back through and we were running up front again. I just hate it for all of the guys. We had a really good truck out there. We worked really hard. I've got to thank Simply Wow for coming on board with us tonight. Our Ford was strong, we just didn't make it to the end."

TERRY COOK-10-Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l F-150 (Finished 6th) - "I wish we wouldn't have had any cautions because I thought we were better on long runs, especially with running a little bit different pit strategy. Pitting earlier than those guys, we needed long green-flag runs to drive away from. I think if we could have got out and got away from the guys that were coming with fresher tires, we would have been fine, but unfortunately all of the cautions bunched everybody back up." DID WEATHER - ESPECIALLY THE WIND - HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE RACING TONIGHT? "No, I don't think so. I think the weather wasn't a big deal. The track eventually worked in a decent second groove. I've seen a better second groove in years past, but it wasn't bad. We just were way too tight the whole race long. I felt like we may have been just a little off on the front shock package, but there's nothing you can do about it once the race got started. I think the abbreviated practice session may have hurt us in that regard. We needed a good, solid finish - it's our best finish of the year - and we ran competitive all day, and that's basically all you can ask for to build momentum." DID YOU THINK THIS RACE WOULD GO THE DISTANCE? "Never in a million years would I have thought we would have gone the entire distance. We were very pleased with that. This morning Wayne Auton (series director) told us that we were going to get this race in, and I laughed at him, but I'll be darned, he was right."

DAVID RAGAN-6-Scotts Ford F-150 (Finished 28th) - WHAT HAPPENED? "It was just one of those racing deals. The 11 and I were racing pretty hard. I knew that he was on a little fresher tires than I was, and it was one of those racing deals. It happened a few times tonight between some guys in front of us, and it's just short track racing. I don't want to point any fingers, and it definitely wasn't his fault at all. It was just two of us racing hard for the same spot and I just came out the unfortunate one. I like this place and I enjoy all of short tracks where you have to hustle one. I probably, realistically, we had a 10th-place truck. We were decent in practice, and I don't know where we got off our baseline at. Mike Beam (crew chief) and Hal (Rolston, engineer), they make great calls and I wasn't able to tell them what we needed to do to make the truck better, as I should throughout a long run. I wish we would have had a long run. I think we were a little better once we got some heat in the tires and once we got going, but I just couldn't keep it on the bottom. The first few laps we just had trouble getting it to roll through the center, and most of the race night. I hate it especially for the guys; they work real hard. We have an awesome race team here and this is nothing that is going to slow us back. We'll keep digging. It's a shame it happened, but we have a lot more to look forward to."

BOBBY EAST-21-State Fair Corn Dogs Ford F-150 (Finished 12th) - "It was fun. We had a good night. We were happy. We've got a couple of things to work out, but we're all learning. We probably just wore out our front tires too much there. Gary Cogswell (crew chief) called an excellent race. Everybody back at the shop should be proud of themselves. We've got good trucks here, and we just have to figure out a few different things and we'll be right there in the top 10 week in and week out." DID WEATHER - ESPECIALLY THE WIND - HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE RACING TONIGHT? "Yeah, mainly just shoving you down into turn three pretty good and stalling the motors out going down the frontstretch. It probably made the draft a little more important." DID YOU ENTER THE RACE WITH A STRATEGY TO MAKE IT TO HALFWAY OR DID YOU ANTICIPATE THE FULL DISTANCE? "We planned for the whole deal. I think you have to. Like I said, we had a good night, and I'm real proud of everyone on the team and real proud of this Ford F-150."