Hornish Jr. Scores Runner-Up Finish as Accident Mars Race Ending

SAM HORNISH JR. – No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang – “The only thing I saw was coming to the white the 33 and I got separated and got back together.  I pushed him up there as far as I could.  It took some dicey moves and I guess the 22 and 7 got tangled up there.  I tried to get off the back of the 33 so I didn’t push him into anything and as soon as I got clean air I was right in the back of the 22, so it’s unfortunate that we did get a little bit torn up, but I guess it was a second-place finish.  I’ll take that.  It’s a lot better than the 20th that we had last year.  I’m real happy with the Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang.  I’m looking forward to this year.  I knew today was gonna be a crapshoot and I feel like we’re gonna be better when we get to some of the actual handling tracks, so we got through this and I’m looking forward to Phoenix.”

 

BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – “We made a move to try and win the race.  We were in the catbird seat.  Regan was in a good spot.  He was first and I was second and we were pushing.  I kind of had the run and the move to win the race and Regan obviously tried to block it and that’s understandable.  He wants to win too and at the end it just caused chaos.  There was obviously a big wreck with a lot of debris and cars torn up.  I really hope everyone in the grandstands is OK.  I think that’s the most important thing right now.  From my view, it was a shot to win the race and I had it, and I wanted to get the Discount Tire Ford in Victory.  It’s the first run for 2013 at Daytona and I made the move to do it, but it just didn’t turn out right.”

 

TRAVIS PASTRANA, No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang – YOU SAW TWO INCIDENTS IN THE CLOSING LAPS.  WHAT ABOUT THE FIRST ONE THAT RESULTED IN A RED FLAG? “I saw the 43 take a hard, hard right about an inch in front of me at about 190 and, I tell you what, if that doesn’t get your heart going, nothing will.  It was wild.  It’s a really frustrating race when it’s a lot about aerodynamics and I just don’t know enough about it to put myself where I need to be yet.  I feel like my goal here was top 10 and to not crash, so I got 11th and I made it across the finish line, so I’m not sure if I really accomplished either of those, but it was pretty close.  I can’t say enough about this Roush Fenway team.  They got me up to the front, which was awesome to start up there and the team told me where to fall back to, so I ran with Tony Stewart and those guys most of the race, so I felt really good.”  

AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED NEAR THE FINISH LINE?  “I was right in the middle of it going backwards through the grass.  I’ve got a lot of grass on me.  I was told this wasn’t a dirt race, but I always seem to find a way.”  

WAS THERE A POINT DURING THE RACE WHERE YOU FELT MORE COMFORTABLE?  “Without a doubt.  I felt a lot more comfortable.  As soon as people started banging off me with about 18 laps to go I said, ‘OK, we’ve got a good car.  It’s stable.  They can take this kind of beating.’  I was more nervous about not crashing than I was about trying to position myself, so I’ll learn from that and hopefully when we get in a similar situation we’ll be OK.”

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 Cargill Beef Ford Mustang – “Every now and then things break. I think our rear end gear burned up a little bit. It isn’t normal or anything we were trying. It was a normal rear end deal and the seal failed or the rear end burned up and caused the seal to fail. It lost its grease and then locked up. It is really unfortunate for our team. We were so fast running up front. You hate to start it out this way. I know I have got a good race car and great group of guys and we will go after them.”

THE GOOD NEWS IS YOU HAVE ALL SEASON TO MAKE IT UP. “Yeah and there were only a few guys up there that were racing for points. For the most part they didn’t have great days. That saved us a little bit. We will be alright.”

DID YOU SEE THE BIG WRECK AT THE END? “I didn’t see it. I didn’t see what happened. I saw the aftermath of it but not what happened. It looked pretty gnarly.”

DID YOU ANTICIPATE A BIG WRECK COMING? “Oh yeah. Coming down the last I kind of thought they might make it and then there was big smoke and a big wreck and everything was piled up. I hate seeing cars like that because that is scary stuff. I sure hope everyone is okay.