Sunday, July 31, 2011
Dodge Motorsports PR
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Brickyard 400 Post-Race Quotes NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Finished Ninth “It was kind of an up-and-down day for the Miller Lite Dodge. At the three-quarter part of the race I thought that we were going to win the Brickyard. It just didn’t quite work out, but we made our car faster throughout the day and I was proud of that. It’s a hot day and my team battled all day long.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE GAMBLE NOT TO PIT? “We knew that we had to do a one-stop at the end. I thought Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) made the right move. We need to gamble a bit to get that second win, but we also have to be conscious of earning points. I was really surprised that so many cars were able to stay out there as long as they did. It kind of caught me off guard and we just weren’t able to run that long and not pit. We were fast at the end and it was fun.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT A POINT’S DAY IT WAS FOR YOUR TEAM? “It was for sure. Mark (Martin) had a good day, but it looks like we beat some guys who we’ve been battling in points. This place is so tough and to come out of here with a top 10 is really cool. It’s a battle. We want wins, but we also need to get inside that top 20 to have a shot at the wild card. It was a solid day for us for sure.”
PAUL WOLFE (crew chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) “It was up and down for us today. We started off the race really tight and fell back a bit. We lost our track position and we were just trying to work on our car all day. Once we got stuck in the back, we just couldn’t go anywhere. We got aggressive on the one call not to pit to get our track position. We got the track position back while working on our car and felt that our Miller Lite Dodge was going to contend for a win. Some guys in front of us just got really aggressive. We talked about coming in and topping off on the last caution; we’re going to have to gamble because we need to win another race. We got a solid point’s day out of it and we needed that after how we ran at Loudon. We’ll just keep moving forward. We’re making progress. As a team, I think we’re getting smarter each week. We just need to continue to get better.”
KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 21st “The car was tight most of the race; when we put on right-side tires only, that’s when our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge came to life. We lost track position when the 51 crashed and we had to go through the grass. We had to come down pit roads three times. The temp was pegged. That put us the last car on the lead lap, but it had us close to our fuel window. Hitting the grass did extensive damage underneath the car and it got tighter and tighter. We were fortunate that we had the fuel to make it to the end, but with the damage, we just couldn’t maintain track position. Our car was good in practice, we qualified well and we were making changes that helped the handling. We didn’t need to get caught up in that mishap.”
ROBBY GORDON (No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 43rd “Just a bummer. The motor felt like it misfired a little bit in qualifying and it looks like we may have lost an engine early. I’m not sure what to say. I’m really bummed out. I love racing at Indy. I’m disappointed. This is really going to hurt us in the top 35 in the owner point standings.”
