Ford Atlanta Truck Race
FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES American Commercial Lines 200 March 16, 2007 Atlanta Motor Speedway
RICK CRAWFORD-14-Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l F-150 (Finished 4th) - DID YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAD A TRUCK THAT COULD WIN TONIGHT? "I felt like I had one shot. I had one shot at Bowyer, one shot at Skinner, one shot at Bodine and one shot at Matt. I felt really good for the Ford F-150 to be competing for the lead, competing for a top five and running in the top five all night long. My hat's off to Kevin Starland in the pits for making the calls to keep that truck running up front. The Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l did what it was supposed to do tonight. It's only the second race on that truck. I'm proud of the way it ran. I'm proud of the crew. My guys on pit stops made ground up on each and every stop. It was quite a night for the 250th start for the Circle Bar Racing team." DID YOU HAVE ANY TIRE ISSUES TONIGHT? "Well, we became loose. I think we were abusing the right-rear tire, and by the next race that that truck runs we'll have that fixed, but we were abusing the right-rear tire some. We actually tightened it up there toward the end where it helped it and you saw the performance; it ran up front. So, it was just making the right calls in the pits. But, I wouldn't say any tire problems as far as Goodyear is concerned. It was self-inflicted."
KELLY BIRES-21-Bush's Baked Beans Ford F-150 (Finished 10th) - "We've got Bush's Beans on the 21 truck here tonight. We had a good run. We were just really loose and we finally got it right on the last pit stop to where I could at least run with those guys up front. We just got in the wrong lane there on the last restart and went back. We were coming back forward, but just ran out of time. We probably needed another 10 laps, and I think we probably had about a fifth-place truck. The guys did a great job on that last pit stop and picked up a ton of positions, and I'm just real proud of them. We don't have a mark on this truck, so it was a good top-10, our first top 10 in the truck series and a good starting point. It should get us some good points. This 21 truck has run good everywhere. I ran good at Daytona with it and Mark ran good with it, and we ran good here tonight. We should be better in points than where we are, but we're coming around. We're consistently running in the top 10 and that's where you need to be to win championships. We're getting better."
JOEY CLANTON-09-Zaxby's Ford F-150 (Finished 9th, Top Rookie) - PRESS CONFERENCE COMMENTS. "It was a pretty long night for me. Getting ready to go and the radios went out. We worked all night long trying just to get communication back and forth. We thought we had a lug nut loose one time and had to come, and the guys had to take the window net down just to talk to me and figure out what was going on and why we pitted when they were telling me not to. But, the guys battled back for a long night and gave us a good night for our Zaxby's Ford." YOU'VE GOT TWO TOP-10 FINISHES IN YOUR TWO STARTS THIS SEASON. ANY CHANCE THAT YOU'LL ADD MORE RACES TO YOUR SCHEDULE? "Right now, we're just scheduled to run the 16 that we had for the year, and Stacy will finish out the nine. But to carry the momentum, even with the frustration tonight, my guys week in and week out are having to battle changing a driver from one week to the next. I get to go to Martinsville now without a week off, and that's going to be exciting because now I'll get to carry my momentum into what's going on, and Stacy will be back in the truck for Kansas. For those guys to come through a change like that - every week a (different) driver and even our other team doing the same thing with Mark (Martin) and Kelly, it says a lot for what our team is able to do."
STACY COMPTON-16-Melling Engine Parts Ford F-150 (Finished 16th) - "I'm proud of the guys. We worked on it all night, and they made some great calls. We went from bad to mediocre to pretty good right there at the end. We worked on it all night. We had to start at the rear, and it wasn't the night that we were hoping for, but the second race out with this Ford, and I think the guys are doing a good job. I'm a little disappointed with the finish, but still not a bad night." DID THE COOLER WEATHER HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE RACING TONIGHT? "I don't know if it was cooler weather or just a loose nut behind the wheel. There was some pretty crazy stuff going on out there tonight and a lot of guys driving over their heads. But, that's truck racing; that's the reason it's so much fun."