BOBBY HAMILTON, JR., press conference
BOBBY HAMILTON, JR., – No. 25 Smithfield Ford Fusion (finished 3rd) – “It was really wild. And, that was the wildest wreck. It was pretty wild as far as how it happened. The only other thing, too, that was really mind-blowing was that you couldn’t get nothing done on the outside. You had to have a ton of help. The track has just so much grip. But overall, like I said, you had to, once we got past that big one eliminating a lot of the cars, it was who could stick around the bottom and who’s going to make the move at the end. A lot of those guys took off for the high side. Matter of fact, I asked the 64, ‘What’s he doing? Is he going to go? Is he going to stay right there?’ And they said he’s going to wait until there’s two to go, and it happened with one to go. But, overall, it worked out for us. Overall, it was a pretty good day. Talladega is simple: Put yourself in position and you’re going to have a shot at winning – well, maybe not at winning, because I don’t think anybody could touch the 20, but put yourself in position and you’re going to have a good day.”
WHAT WAS THE MOST MIND-BLOWING THING ABOUT THE WRECK? WAS IT THE GUY TRYING TO GET INTO TRAFFIC AND NOT UP TO SPEED? THAT’S THE TERM YOU USED. “If I was going to blame anybody, it was the car that was coming on the race track. I mean, the field was coming and you’re already a lap down, so what’s the big hurry? It was an honest mistake. There’s no way Carl is going to take his stuff out like that. I don’t think was the spotter’s fault. I just think, I don’t know, impatience, as far as, ‘I’ve got to hurry up and get back out there and make up a lap.’ I mean, you’re already laps down, who cares? The coolest thing is Morgan Shepherd finished 10th (actually 13th) riding around, so he could’ve done the same thing, and not be in a big hurry and cause a big wreck. You can sit here and rear-quarterback it all day long as far as what he should’ve done, but Talladega is one of those places – it’s emotional, it’s frustrating, it’s all of the above. And if you can, like I said before, put yourself in position, you can have a good day.”
IT LOOKS LIKE DALE JUNIOR STAYED BACK THERE ON THE START OF THE LAST LAP AND TRY TO MAKE A MOVE. WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT HE COULDN’T FINISH IT OFF, OR WAS THE 20 JUST TOO STRONG? “It was pretty evident the 5 was pretty strong because he could push the 20 plum away from the field when he wanted to, and they would let off and let us catch up to where it wouldn’t look so bad. So, it was, as far as being surprised, was the 5 going to jump out and do something? No. He’s here to win the race, and friendship aside, that was the deal. The couple of guys that were helping me that are really good friends, I mean we hang out all the time, but at the same time, when you get here, it’s what your supposed to do is do the best you can do. So, it doesn’t surprise me at all. Now, leaving the bottom open like they did for some of us guys, I didn’t see it coming. I figured they were going to make a run, but am I surprised? No. And did he have fastest the car? I don’t think he did. It’s like David said, whoever had the guy behind him was going to win this race.”
THAT LAST PUSH AT THE END; DOES THAT MOMENTUM CARRY OVER FOR YOUR TEAM WHEN YOU GET THAT CLOSE AT THE END OF A RACE AS BIG AS THIS ONE? “It gives momentum on everything. For instance, I guarantee you both guys moved up in points. The teams both have race cars that aren’t tore up. And to walk away with a top-five and a top-10 finish, it just steamrolls. And then you go to Richmond and if you can do decent there, then all of a sudden you’re just passing cars left and right, you’re doing everything – that’s how momentum gets started. Like I said before, if you could’ve told me that I was going to come in here and run in the top 10, I’d have laughed at you. ‘I’ll be the first one in the big wreck,’ because that’s the way my luck goes, but, yeah, it does. I guarantee you my guys have a different pep in their step when they go to Richmond, and then all of a sudden that bleeds off to your race car. And then the driver is pumped up from the week before. And then you look at the points and everything, it just builds your race team. It makes everybody more confident, and when they’re confident, they’re hard to beat.”
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion (finished 11th) – I just picked the wrong line at the end, I guess. It happens. You know, I had a pretty good car, I just got hung out at the end.”>
BUT YOU WERE IN POSITION THERE. IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANTED TO BE. “Yeah, I was. They got all to swapping lanes in front of us and the guys in the back just stayed straight and got a lot of momentum, and there was nothing we could do about it.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WORKING WITH MIKE WALLACE AT THE END? “I could push him really good. My car had a lot of power, a little bit draggy but a lot of power, and his car was real stable looking, so I could push him real well. It’s all I could do, just find a good guy to work with.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 Discount Tire Ford Fusion (finished 18th) – “It was just a long day. That very first wreck that happened, we had some damage and had to come down pit road and we lost track position, but this Discount Tire Ford was really fast. It picked back up pretty quick, and we were able to get back to the front. Then it just all went downhill from there. We kept cutting tires and just stayed down pit road the rest of the day, and we were still going to be in good shape for a top-10 run, and then we cut those two tires at the end. It was just a long day. These cars are really slow and so easy to drive, nobody has any give and take out there. We all just race – not only the other guys, but myself too. Just run too hard, too early in the race, tear up a bunch of stuff.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Save-a-Lot Ford Fusion (finished 31st) – “I just want to make sure that I don’t say some kind of stupid statement before I see a replay, but in my mind, unless it shows otherwise, it just looked like somebody, I think it was the 61, Kevin Lepage, I think he just pulled up right in front of the field. I don’t know. It’s too bad. The Save-a-Lot guys were all here, and the last time we had a great race car we wrecked in Vegas. I’m just glad I didn’t get hurt there, glad I didn’t get a piece of roll bar or something like that stuck through my floorboard.”
HOW ARE YOU FEELING? “I’m great. I’m just really frustrated. This whole restrictor-plate deal is a great spectacle, it’s great for the fans, but stuff like that can kill somebody. That’s just the bottom line.”
MORE. “I’m fine. I’m real fortunate all the safety stuff they do. That was wild. Just driving along and that car was right there in front of me. I did not expect him to pull up. I don’t know what the miscommunication was. But, that’s real bad for Save-a-Lot. We’ve had two great cars with them and wrecked both of them. It’s just too bad. That was a very interesting wreck.”
THE 61 CAR HAD BEEN IN THE PITS AND BLENDED UP. “Yeah. I think he assumed – you know, Kevin has a lot of experience. I think he assumed that everybody kind of knew he was there, but there’s so much going on at that time in the race. My spotter said he was on the apron. Then, all of a sudden, he moved up and there wasn’t even enough time to call it. So, that’s just a very, very dangerous situation right there. I’m glad nobody got hurt.”
KELLY BIRES – No. 47 Clorox Ford Fusion (finished 36th) – FIRST OF ALL, ARE YOU OKAY? “Yeah, everything’s cool.”
WHAT DID YOU SEE? “I saw a car coming off of pit road and going about 100 miles an hour slower. It’s just a bummer. There were a lot of good race cars that got torn up right there because of that deal. But it’s alright. We had a great Clorox Ford Fusion all day. It would’ve been good. He had a flat tire there under green and had to pit, put a left front on it, and went back to the rear and was just going to ride there until caution came out and get our lap back, but we just didn’t want to be in it. But, it was good. We had a really good race car. It would’ve been a top-10 car, for sure.”
