PAUL MENARD- No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion (Finished 10th) – “We had a bad set of tires somewhere in the mid part of the race and dropped back to 15th or 20th or something like that. We put some tires on and did some minimal adjustments and came right back. That bad set got us behind the eight ball. I am proud of the guys. We have had bad pit stops the last couple of weeks and they really picked it up tonight. I had a fast car all weekend long. I am disappointed with 10th place, which is a good thing I guess.”
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Finished 17th) – “That was awesome man. We had a terrible pit stall though because we were right with the guys we were racing with and I couldn’t get it in and out and got boxed in a few times. We had to pass so many cars, like 10 or 15 a run until pit stops. Finally Reutimann helped me out and stayed over to the left in his box and that really helped us. That was incredible. These things are so much fun. I wish I could do it every weekend. It was a blast to drive and to be that fast for a first run is incredible. Donnie Wingo, everybody at Wood Brothers Racing and Roush Fenway and Ford I want to thank for giving me this opportunity. I don’t really know what to say. That was as good or better than we expected so I am really pumped about it.”
MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd) – “That was disappointing that I didn’t finish it off there. We have lost a lot of close one’s here at Texas. My Crown Royal Black guys did a great job. Doug Yates and those guys built me an awesome engine. We had a perfect restart. I really wanted the bottom and he gave me the bottom. Everything went right that whole last lap. I got on the gas and cleared him down there and I thought everything was good and as soon as I got in front of him my car just took off. I had to get back out of the gas. I am disappointed we finished second but happy we performed that well.
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Finished 5th) – YOU HAD THE TOP CAR ALL DAY UNTIL TRANMISSION PROBLEMS, HOW DIFFICULT A PILL IS THAT TO SWALLOW. “It is really tough. We know we have had this problem and have neglected to fix it. We have had numerous opportunities. We had bad drive train vibration problems and today it bit us. It shook the guts out of the transmission today and they still don’t know what it is. They think they know what it is, but I am not sure if they really know.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 8th) – YOU HAD TO OVERCOME A LOOSE LUG NUT EARLY IN THE RACE. “First off, that goes to show you just how good of a car we had today. We were running in the top 10 and that loose lug nut just killed us. We had to come back in and tighten that up and then we were in the back of the field in the high 30s. After that, we just really had to race hard the rest of the night. Towards the end, we were in the wrong lane when one of the guys missed a couple of gears, so I was glad that we got that last caution. It was a good job by Drew [Blickensderfer] and our UPS team, we just need to get better on pit road.”
AFTER HAVING TO FIGHT BACK, HOW DOES IT FEEL WALKING AWAY WITH A TOP 10? “It’s some good momentum going into these last two races and it’s good to be disappointed with an eighth-place finish. I remember just a couple of months ago when we would have loved to have had a top 10. It’s good to have a fast car and we’ll go now to Phoenix and Homestead and try to do it again.”
