DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 Discount Tire Ford Fusion (Finished 9th) – “Considering the last couple of weeks that was pretty good. We unloaded and we were average, but we just kept working on our Discount Tire Ford Fusion and there toward the end of the race I think we were pretty good. If we could start the weekend all over again, I think we’d be alright. We’ve got to keep working. It was nice to get a top-10 out of this thing, but we’re still off from where we need to be. We improved from the drop of the green flag, but we’ve got to get to where we can unload better, start better, qualify better and just kind of clean up our act a little.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Save-a-Lot Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd) – “Kyle and the 18, those guys were spectacular. That car was unreal. I was real proud of my guys. We did a good job. It was a great points night for us. I just wish we could have got up there and raced him a little bit and made it a better event for everybody, but he just checked out.” YOU GAVE A LITTLE SHOT TO KYLE AT THE END UNDER CAUTION. JUST FOR FUN? “Oh yeah, I was just messing around with him. I couldn’t get to him to hit him all day. Even if I wanted to wreck him, I couldn’t because he was so fast. It was a good race and tomorrow’s gonna be real good. We’ve got a great car for tomorrow going for three in a row, so that should be a blast.” A GOOD RACE. “Yeah, it was a good run for us, but nobody was gonna touch Kyle. That thing was unreal. We just did the best we could to get the most points we could and that’s a good points night for us. I don’t know how many we closed on Clint, but that’s what we’ve got to do every week.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion (Finished 15th) – “We lost laps in the pits. We were just out of position there at the wrong times. We had a pretty good car to run back in the top 10, so we probably finished two or three spots behind where we should have. That being said, we had a decent night for the points. It wasn’t a standout night for us, but not every night is going to be great. We just got lapped in the pits and then we couldn’t get ourselves back in position because there was another long green flag run to get the lucky dog. Then we went another lap down when we did our pit stop and that hurts. The cautions just came at the wrong time for us. You can’t follow the race. Some days it goes your way and some days it doesn’t.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY – No. 17 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion (Finished 5th) – “It was a good night. We had really good pit stops, so that was encouraging. We had one bad one and then the guys did a great job. They recovered and we gained two or three spots on pit road, so that was cool. I thought maybe we had a car that could win tonight, but when the race started the balance was good, we just didn’t have quite enough speed in our car.” NOT MANY CAUTIONS. DID THAT HURT AT ALL AS FAR AS NOT BEING ABLE TO WORK ON YOUR CAR MORE? “No, we used all of our tires up, so we got all of the cautions we needed. We were tight and then loose and just not fast enough.” WERE YOU PLEASED WITH YOURSELF TONIGHT? “I thought we had the second-best car in practice and I thought we had a shot at the pole and we qualified seventh and finished fifth, so you want to run better, but for a part-time deal this team doesn’t run very much and I’ve only run two or three races this year, so that’s pretty good.”
KELLY BIRES – No. 47 ICP Ford Fusion (Finished 13th) – “At times in the race we had a faster car and we were just a touch tight and then went to the extreme loose side. With the tire rule, we had to use an extra set of tires yesterday in practice, so we were a set short. We couldn’t take tires on one stop and had to take fuel only and the car got really off-balance and we lost a ton of speed and track position. We played the rest of the race trying to make it back up. All in all it was a solid night. We were real close to where we needed to be, we just need to go back and make it a little bit better.”
CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE – “The guys did a really good job. They got the car as fast as we could get it. I mean, we were just no match for the 18. Those guys were in a whole different league than I think everyone else tonight. Second place is not good. We don’t come here to run second, but the points were great for us and that’s something we can take out of here as a big win. Last week we took a big hit, so I was really proud of my guys. I think they did a really good job.”
HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOOKING AT POINTS WITH THE NUMBER OF RACES LEFT? “I think we were 240 behind Clint coming into this, so I guess 30 a night would be great, but it’s hard to pick up 30 points on Clint every week. I think we picked up probably somewhere in that neighborhood tonight, so that’s real good. That’s our mission is to win the championship. That’s what we run this 60 car for. That’s what we’re trying to do, so that was a positive night for us. Last week just hurt us so bad.”
WHY IS KYLE SO GOOD ON RESTARTS? “He does a great job, but that car had a ton of steam and however they had their manifold set up or whatever to make power at certain RPM, there wasn’t anything I could do. Even if we stepped on the throttle at the same time, that thing would still pull away. I was doing the best I could. Obviously, they’re doing everything they can to make the most power.”
IS THERE A FEELING IN THE GARAGE THAT WITH WHAT THEY DID WITH THE MAGNETS THEY’RE STILL THE FASTEST? “Yeah, it’s real frustrating. I know those guys have suffered their penalty for that, though, and that’s been talked about and I think they’re obviously doing a good job, but that car was spectacular tonight. They just did a great job. I don’t know where the advantage is exactly, but that car was amazing. I don’t know if there’s a feeling in the garage. I think everyone was just a little bit, on our side and our team, kind of disappointed with what was found there, but I think Joe and J.D. and those guys, I believe that they are good people and I think they’ll step up and make sure that kind of stuff doesn’t happen again.”
WHAT MAKES BOB OSBORNE SO GOOD AND CAN YOU COMPARE HIM TO CHAD KNAUS? “I think Bob’s strongest qualities, and I can’t compare him to Chad. I really like Chad. I get along with him. I don’t know him. I haven’t worked with him, but Bob’s strongest qualities – the ones I can’t see anyone being better at – is he is really focused and determined and you can’t shake Bob. You can’t rattle Bob. He’s one of those people that could stand along with his own opinion. If he believes he’s right, he can stand along no matter what anyone says and not sweat a bullet or not sweat a drop. That’s what I think the best quality is about Bob. Once he makes a decision and decides what we’re gonna do for the reasons that he thinks are right, he sticks with it and he doesn’t get flustered.”
WHAT IS IT THAT WORKS BETWEEN YOU AND BOB BECAUSE YOU STRUGGLED WHEN HE LEFT FOR A SHORT TIME? “I really believe I can get along with most anyone, but Bob and I really are so different – our personalities as far as how we say things and how we do things. I think the thing that’s really good about us is he thinks of things a different way than I do, so I can kind of be all over the map and have all these ideas and thoughts and be kind of sporadic and Bob really sticks to a plan, so that’s the thing that when Bob came back – being right there – that’s the thing that I think separated him from some of the other guys I worked with. Really, when Chris Andrews was there, Chris is a lot like Bob and he had Bob right there working with him, so it wasn’t that big of a change. We had good success with Chris.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CHASE TRACKS LIKE TEXAS AND HAVING WON THERE? “It’s great going back to tracks that you’ve won at already. There’s a lot of confidence, like coming here. We just ran so well here in the spring and everything was good, so going back to Texas will be good. I love that place.”