Ford Texas O'Reilly Challenge 300 Busch Race

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES

O'Reilly Challenge 300 (Busch)
November 4, 2006
Texas Motor Speedway

CARL EDWARDS-60-Ameriquest Mortgage Ford Fusion (Finished 7th) - "It's a good day. We had it way too loose to begin with and we had to pit that first time, otherwise we were going to be in deep trouble. We tightened it way up, and from then on we had a great car, just track position killed us all day." A GOOD POINTS DAY. "I thought Clint and I were going to have a battle to the end, and then he had to pit one more time, so it was good for us in relationship to Clint to finish in front of him by 10 spots or so." ANY FUEL ISSUES AT THE END? "No, we got great fuel mileage. They do a great job with the carburetors and it wasn't an issue for us. We were going all the way."

MARK MARTIN-6-Ameriquest Ford Fusion (Finished 4th) - "We were a fourth-place car, and these guys did a great job with it. We just didn't have it wired in quite good enough to run with those first three. It was a good run for us. These guys did a great job and we were a fourth-place car all day and that's where we wound up. We couldn't ask for better than that." HOW MUCH OF A CONCERN WAS FUEL AT THE END OF THE RACE? "I guess they miscalculated because we were super-early on pit road, way before everybody else and we still made it, so we were getting really gas mileage. So, we really pitted way too early the first time. I don't know how they miscalculated because as soon as I left they said I could go all the way." WERE YOU IN A FUEL CONSERVATION MODE AT THE END? "Well, we did, yeah, but we were going to run fourth no matter what, so the last 15 laps I slowed down a little bit and just brought it home."

STEPHEN LEICHT-90-CitiFinancial Ford Fusion (Finished 19th) - YOU HAD A TOP-10 CAR MOST OF THE DAY. "Well, we just got unlucky. We ended up about five laps short on fuel. I don't know, for some reason we just didn't get very good fuel mileage this week, but the CitiFinancial Ford was awesome all race long and we ran top-two, top-five for the first part of the race and we then we kind of fell back there to the back of the top 10. We had a top-10 car and we were working on it trying to get it better, and a couple of time we had it pretty decent. We were pretty much tight in the middle all day long and not enough forward bite, but I just feel bad, we had a 10th-place car and came home 20th, but that's just the way fuel mileage plays out some times." BUT THE PERFORMANCE WAS THERE. "Absolutely. That's the first race this year that we've run that strong all day long. Up until that point, I think when we had to pit with five to go for fuel, I think we hadn't gotten any farther back than 11th place. That just shows how strong this team has gotten in the last few weeks."

JON WOOD-47-Clorox/American Red Cross Ford Fusion (Finished 12th) - "We're still not where we need to be, obviously. But, I guess given where we've been over the past several weeks, at least we're improving. We started the race pretty bad off and just kept working at it and seemed to make all the right decisions. Everybody did a really good job. It was really nice having Fatback on the pit box to help out. Jerry Pitts is doing a wonderful job and just having Fatback there I'm sure was added reinforcement." FATBACK IS A GOOD CHEERLEADER. "He is that. Any time I was close to easing up, I guess, it's almost like you don't want to, not because you're getting fussed at, but because you just don't want to let him down."

TODD KLUEVER-06-MSC/3M Ford Fusion (Finished 10th) - "Our day today wasn't so bad. I really thought we had a tip-five car yesterday, and the driver made a decision to change the right-front spring and it probably hurt us in traffic. There was a while there I didn't think we were going to get back to the top 10, and these guys definitely deserve a top-10 finish, for sure, after how hard they've worked the last couple of weeks. I was driving my heart out trying to get there. It was a good day for us, not as good as I think we were all hoping, but like I said, I made the wrong call with the right-front spring and hurt us a little bit. To come out of here 10th, I'm still pretty happy with that."

TODD KLUEVER PRESS CONFERENCE

"It was a solid day for us. We just had a really good car yesterday in practice, and I made a decision to change a right-front spring and it really hurt us today. I was pretty disappointed in the call that I made. Just a hard day with a good finish. We qualified 26th; the driver messed up the qualifying lap trying to be overaggressive. We just worked real hard and my guys gave me a great effort all day long, and I drove my butt off and we finished in the top 10. We've had a lot of good runs lately and not any of the finishes to go along with them, so I'm just happy for my guys."

"Well, there's always pressure, I guess for me. I'm not at Tony's (Stewart) level; I don't have championship and stuff at my house. I just race as hard as I can and that's what I can do. Until I prove that I can belong, not that you ever get to take it easy, but then maybe you can relax a little bit. I'm still very much driving as hard as a can and there's no relaxing."