Ford Sonoma Finishing Order
3rd Carl Edwards
5th Marcos Ambrose
12th David Gilliland
13th AJ Allmendinger
14th Matt Kenseth
23rd Greg Biffle
27th Chris Cook
29th David Ragan
32nd Terry Labonte
33rd Brian Simo
35th Andy Lally
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Scotts Ortho Ford Fusion (Finished 3rd) “I am really proud of my team for the way we battled today. It was just a crazy race and for us to be able to work our way up to where we finished just says a ton about my Aflac crew and Bob and everyone. To be able to escape out of here with a top three is a good day with us, especially considering everything that went on out there.”
MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion (Finished 5th) “I am so proud of my Stanley car and my Stanley team to get a top five out of what could have been a very tough day for me. Todd and the guys worked hard all day and got us into a good position there at the end. We weren’t able to get the million dollars for the Children’s Miracle Network kids, but thanks to Stanley they will get $100,000. I want to thank Stanley for putting me in the car and believing in me and I am looking forward to what we can do the rest of the way and when we get to the Glen.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion (Finished 13th) “That was crazy just like always. The car was pretty good and I think from about mid-race on we kind of got loose. The track, there was so much crap on the race track and we kept adjusting. Everybody was running into each other out there. I got into a couple guys and got them angry and then I had one guy dump me. I just tried to keep fighting. We are getting there. If we can get some luck on our side we might actually be up front where we deserve to finish. It could have been a lot worse and 13th isn’t great, but it could have been a lot worse with 20 to go. Now we can go have more fun at Daytona.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 29th) IS THIS ONE YOU’RE JUST HAPPY TO GET OUT OF THE WAY? “We struggled from the get-go. Goodyear brought a new tire here and we couldn’t get our UPS Ford to hook up from the first lap of the race. This was a brand-new car and we need to go back and revisit the things that we did differently than our teammates. We never gave up and I thought we were going to be okay during the mid-part of the race. We had that drive through penalty that hurt us a little bit, and this track is always one that we have to work hard at. We just have to look forward to the next couple of tracks that are pretty good for us.”
DAVID GILLILAND, No. 34 Taco Bell Ford (Finished 12th) “I am really proud of our team today. Peter (Sospenzo) and the guys gave me a really great Taco Bell Ford Fusion this weekend. We had an issue with second gear toward the end of the race there, so we lost a few spots, but I had a lot of fun running up front all day. I asked the guys on the radio during the race if there was an award for passing the most cars ’cause, man, it sure seemed like I was passing cars all day. Great day for our team and now we get to go back to Daytona.”
CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE
DID YOU HAVE ANY CHANCE TO CATCH THE 22? “In the end on the restart they were telling me his lap times and he was kind of easing around there. Every once in awhile he would blister off a fast lap. His car was extremely good and he did a good job managing it. I think he had just a very fast car.”
IF YOU WERE BATTLING FOR THE POINTS IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES, WOULD YOU HAVE GONE TO WISCONSIN? “I think we would of but as it stands we were racing for the owners’ championship over there. There is also the fact that I committed to running all the races. That was the most important thing. Fastenal was okay with me staying here and they made it clear that they were a part of Roush Fenway racing and not just the 60 team. That was very cool. We are still fighting for the owners’ championship over there and I will race every race that I can.”
IS IT UNUSUAL TO SEE A TEAM AND ORGANIZATION TURN THINGS AROUND AS FAST AS THE 22 HAS? “I don’t know if it is unusual but they have definitely turned things around. Our team, one year ago, after this race really turned things around and got on a role. Now all I worry about is how long it will last and if we can keep it going. I am sure they are thinking the same thing and hoping they can keep this going through the whole season. It is amazing how the performance in this sport peaks and can fall quickly as well.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK STAYING YESTERDAY HELPED AND HOW TOUGH WAS IT TO WATCH THAT RACE ON TV? “It was very tough to watch the race from Road America but I think staying was the right decision. It paid off today. It worked out. It was a good call. We could have finished poorly here and ended up on the fence over there like Tony did or something. Anything can happen. It turned out to be the right call and it paid off, so it was a good move.”
THERE SEEMED TO BE A TON OF ACTION ON TURN 11. WAS IT CRAZIER THAN NORMAL? “It looks like there is an opportunity with all that pavement out there to move turn 11 about 200 yards this way (laughs). They can call it the donut hole or something out there. You can go out there and spin around and do donuts when you get run off the race track. There is an awful lot of pavement there to put that corner at the end of it. You know what I mean?”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT RETRIBUTION IF SOMEONE GETS YOU EARLY IN A RACE? “I don’t know that I have ever gone out and tried to get somebody back. Have you Jeff? I think NASCAR with the “Have at It” mentality will be in the end better and safer for all of us. I know that if I go down in the corner and hit a guy that NASCAR will kind of let things be settled on the race track. So in a way, I think people respect each other a little more on the race track.”
WHEN SOMETHING GOES ON WITH TWO GUYS LIKE WITH TONY AND VICKERS TODAY, HOW DOES THAT AFFECT HOW YOU RACE THEM? “My spotter does a good job of letting me know who is mad at each other. Jason will say for me to watch guys because they are about to wreck each other. In general, you never really know what happened or if it started a lap before or what. It is hard to tell in real time who is mad at who and what is about to happen.”
