NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
GATORADE DUEL RACE # 1 – NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/PEAK CHEVROLET, involved in a multi-car accident on lap nine (9):
WHAT HAPPENED? “It looked like somebody turned (David) Gilliland. This plate racing deal is pretty tough right now. It’s kind of a hybrid of pack drafting and it’s not working out real well.”
WHAT HAPPENED OUT ON THE RACE TRACK? “Somebody turned (David) Gilliland; I saw him get sideways underneath me. I was three lanes up and I tried to clear him and didn’t quite make it. It’s just a product of these rule changes. It’s a mess out there.”
WHAT DID YOU SEE OUT THERE? “Just a product of this hybrid tandem-pack racing. All the rule changes are just making a big mess of what was a pretty good race. I’m hoping to survive on Sunday (Daytona 500.”
DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE ANYTHING DIFFERENT IN THE 500? “If I say my mind right now; NASCAR is trying to dictate physics. Physics says two cars are going to push and they’re trying to make rule changes to keep us from doing it, so it is kind of a hybrid of pack racing and tandem racing. It is causing a pretty unsafe situation.”
PRETTY FRUSTRATING FOR YOU RIGHT NOW? “Yes, for sure. We tore up two really good race cars not of our doing, and they’re going to tear up a hell of a lot more. They are probably going to blow up a few the way things are right now. I’m concerned we’re not going to finish. It is going to make for us, I think, riding around in the back, and trying to be there at the end. Wait for everybody else to wreck.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET, involved in a multi-car accident on lap nine (9): NOT THE WAY YOU WANTED THIS RACE TO END. WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? “We were talking about it earlier. You always get those early wrecks. People are trying to make the race; trying to make crazy moves when they don’t really count when everybody is just really riding. Yes, we’re running three-wide, but you are making moves to see which lane moves and stuff. For everybody on our Target Chevy, it really sucks. We had an awesome race car and it’s pretty bad.”
IS IT JUST PAR FOR THE COURSE WHAT WE ARE SEEING OUT THERE? “It is what it is, you know. I don’t want to get involved in whose fault it is. It is part of restrictor plate racing.”
WHAT HAPPENED GOING DOWN INTO TURN ONE? “I think the No. 98 wrecked (David) Gilliland and I was next to him. We were right in the middle. When they started spinning I just tried to hold it wide open hoping I could clear them and wide open I went into the fence.”
I KNOW IT WAS EARLY BUT HOW WAS THE RACING THE FIRST 10 OR 11 LAPS YOU HAD? “It was ok. You know it is a shame. Everybody on this Target team and Chevy everybody involved in this program has worked so hard. We had an awesome race car. To lose it like that kind of sucks.”
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Paul said it best. NASCAR is trying to fix a problem by creating a different one. “Let’s take downforce away, so when they do push in a corner they wreck.”