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[/media-credit]Friday, May 18, 2012
RAM PR
Charlotte Motor Speedway
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
N.C. Education Lottery 200
Post-Race Quotes
Brad Keselowski (No. 19 Cooper Standard RAM) Finished 2nd “We had a great Cooper Standard RAM. I’m really proud of everybody at BKR. This was the truck to beat tonight and they worked their butts off to make it happen. It all came down to the restarts and who was willing to work together and the last restarts, nobody worked with me. They did everything they could to wreck me. I was real frustrated about that but that’s racing and we’ll move on.”
RON HORNADAY CAME OVER TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH YOU. CAN YOU TELL US WHAT THAT WAS ALL ABOUT? “I just told him I take care of him all the time in these races, I respect him and he shows me none at all. So, I’m just going to have to stop respecting him. That’s just the way it’s going to have to be. I hate to do that because he’s a series regular and I’ve respected him now since the beginning of my truck career. Now, I’m fortunate to be where I’m at and he doesn’t show it back, so I feel like I don’t have to either. I just wanted to make sure that he knew that next time we’re racing each other.”
WHAT WAS YOUR TAKE ON THE CLOSING LAPS OF THAT RACE? “Well, we’re all just racing really hard. We had a great Cooper Standard RAM. We came up short of the win but definitely had a great truck. I’m proud of everybody on my team for that.”
WHAT WAS GOING ON THOSE RESTARTS? “Naw, I mean, my problem was the 9 truck (Hornaday) ran me over on the restart from behind. It’s not hard to do as the fourth-place guy or whoever from behind. You know where the restart line is at and you have the ability to just run over the guy in front of you and he chose to do it. He hurt himself in the process, so I just don’t understand it.”
MEDIA CENTER INTERVIEW
“Our truck was phenomenally good; just trying to be smart with it. Got caught in that section of green flag stops where the yellow came out and lost a lap, got back around on that and got to where we could race again. It was just a fight for track position in a very short race. I was proud of my team for working really hard to get it back. Got back to the lead there until that last yellow came out with what, 10 to go, something like that. Then it was just a matter of racing the restarts and who ran ‘em smart and who didn’t.”
WHAT DID YOU FEEL LIKE RON DID ON THE LAST RESTART? DID HE GET IN THE BACK OF YOU AND GET YOU OUT OF SHAPE? “Well I didn’t think he did anything on the last restart. It was the one before that. You know I came over the radio and asked him ‘Hey man, I’ll play it cool. Just be nice and smooth here and we’ll both have great day.’ Instead, he decided to be a jackass and run me over (smiles). I don’t define that as playing it cool. And it cost him what would have been an easy second-place and obviously cost me the win. So, we both lost out on the deal and you know I was just frustrated by that. So, that’s the way it goes.”
WHAT WAS HIS EXPLANATION TO YOU ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED? “Ignorance. That was about it. It didn’t happen in his eyes.”
Parker Kligerman (No. 29 Draw-Tite/Mopar RAM) Finished 11th “We had a fast truck; we were just as fast as our teammate (Brad Keselowski) again. We started off safe, making sure we didn’t put ourselves in a bad position. And our Draw-Tite RAM just took off, tore through the field and made it all the way up to second behind Brad before the first pit stop. I had a good pit stop, came out behind Brad in second and was looking good. Then the next caution came out and we ended up back in the field and battling in the pack. We were bad to the bone by ourselves or when the field was spread out, but when we got in the pack, it was a different story. We had a top-three truck, maybe a winning truck. The 19 (Keselowski) finished second, we were right them with him. This Draw-Tite RAM was really fast; I just need to do a better job getting it up there.”
