ERIK DARNELL – No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 – (finished 4th, qualified 13th) – “I don’t know exactly what happened at the end. We just didn’t keep up with the track as well as we needed to. Our Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 was really good in the middle of the race. After our first pit stop we took tires and were able to drive right up into the lead and drive away from everybody. At that point, I thought the truck was doing really well. I thought we were in pretty good shape. We just weren’t good on the longer runs. We started sliding backwards a little bit. On that last pit stop we tried to hit it with some adjustments and new tires and missed it by a little bit. We weren’t quite as we good as we were in the middle part of the race. We just rode it out and finished fourth.”
RICK CRAWFORD – No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 – (finished 8th, qualified 2nd) – “I gave one away. That’s my responsibility to drive pit road speed no matter what anybody else says on the radio. We got caught exiting pit road and if we just have left him alone down there and not try to race out of the pits, we had the truck to beat. Johnny [Benson] knows it; everybody here knows it. So I just gave it away. I hate it for the Ford Power Stroke people down there in the suite. It was a big attendance tonight for those guys. Everybody did a great job. The pit crew did a great job; everybody did a great job setting up the truck today. They worked really hard, but we just gave it away.”
BRENDAN GAUGHAN – No. 10 International MAXX Force Diesel – (finished 16th, qualified 5th) – “We had really high expectations for the race here, especially after practice. Our MAXX Force Ford F-150 was really good. We just never had a chance to adjust on it in the race. We got into a deal where we were okay off the start but those six guys locked everybody down a lap and then you’re in the melee. We made an adjustment and it didn’t help us, so we got pinned a lap. Then we made the right adjustment and felt like we were going to be all right, but then got into a wreck and spent the rest of the night playing catch-up. Thanks to the boys for not quitting. We got the Lucky Dog twice. We got back on the lead lap, which gives you a chance to do well. My boys don’t quit. They don’t give up and that’s what I love about them. We were on the lead lap after the red flag and we had one set of stickers left and we were like ‘Hey, let’s go for a top-10, come on!’ but it didn’t work out for us. We had good power; Roush Yates wasn’t our issue tonight. Bryan Berry [crew chief] did a great job. We just didn’t have a chance to adjust it, which is his forte and keep us front. But Rick Crawford led; he looked really good. Our Fords were good.
KEVEN WOOD – No. 21 Air Force Ford F-150 – (finished 21st, qualified 28th) – “Well, we started off bad and it showed pretty early but we kept working on it. We started going up on the track bar. We didn’t adjust the air pressure too much and we started changing the brakes a little bit. But that still wasn’t our biggest problem. We were still making small gains out of it. At one point there before the red flag came out, we were about as good as I think we could have been for the night without going home and redoing some of the geometry. Other than that, I’m still pleased. It was my best finish so far. We were 23rd at Mansfield and 27th at Memphis last year. We’re getting better. It’s just taking time. It was great to have Jon here this weekend. I can’t thank him enough for his input on the race this weekend. He came up here and helped look after all of us. I really appreciate him being here.”
JON WOOD – ON KEVEN WOOD’S RACE. “I think the leap from local track racing to this level is a much bigger step than a lot of people give credit for. I would almost go out on a limb and say that the transition from a Late Model to a Nationwide Series car would be easier than racing in the truck series. It’s a tough bunch of guys to race. The truck series might be having a difficult time having a full field each week, but there are still 15 to 20 solid, solid trucks. It’s a tough bunch to race. I feel his [Keven] frustration. This is the second time for him and it’s a tough place to cut your teeth on. This is a very technical race track and with minimal experience, you can’t expect anything but the learning curve to get the best of you.”
COLIN BRAUN – No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 – (finished 31st, qualified 4th) – “We got caught down a lap there when the whole pit cycle deal worked out and that yellow came out. I don’t know why the 40 truck stopped four feet from the pit lane, but that’s what happened. We got caught a lap down, then we got our lap back and got back on the lead lap. We were running fine coming off of turn four and I don’t know if the 10 truck got caught in the back of the No. 2 truck and spun around. Everybody checked up in front of me. I glanced off the back of somebody and ended up getting piled up in that wreck. It tore the radiator out of it, so we had to come back down pit lane and came in the garage to put a radiator in it and just went back out trying to finish the last five laps to beat the 16 truck.” WHY DIDN’T YOU RETURN TO THE TRACK AFTER THE RED FLAG? “There was 40-something laps left and we were 40-something laps down at the time, so there was no point to keep going. I really couldn’t make up anything and I didn’t want to get in anybody else’s way. These guys did a great job getting it back together. It’s just frustrating. It was going to be a good result for the No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 team, but I guess that’s racing.” CAN YOU TAKE WHAT YOU LEARNED TONIGHT AND USE IT TOMORROW IN THE NATIONWIDE RACE? “Absolutely. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. We should have a really good Fusion and we should be in good shape for tomorrow.”
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