Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500
Talladega Superspeedway
Post-Race Quotes
Dodge PR
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Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Finished Seventh CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE END OF THE RACE? “We were four-wide for about two and a half straight laps and it’s just a matter of time before your wreck. And it happens but that’s just Talladega. I ran the bottom lane knowing that it (a crash) was going to happen and that I could at least escape (it) and I did. It’s not really how I wanted to escape it. I wanted to win the race, but the way that it cycled out with the pit stops and everyone being really close on fuel, staying out was certainly the right move because we didn’t get a second green-white checker. I’m pretty confidant that a lot guys would have ran out and that wouldn’t have been the right move. We made all the right calls today. I tried to run up front but didn’t have any success at it. Everyone on the team did a good job executing with a smart race and we got a good finish.”
YOU’RE THE POINTS LEADER LEAVING TALLADEGA: “That’s pretty big. I just feel lucky to survive Talladega.”
THIS IS SUCH AN UNPREDICTABLE RACE. TO LEAVE HERE STILL WITH THE POINTS LEADS IS HUGE: “There’s still a lot of racing left. At least we’re not fighting from a hole.”
CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH THAT LAST CORNER AND MAKING IT PAST THE BIG WRECK? “Just a bunch of guys running four-wide. You know it’s a matter of time before they wreck. We all did.”
HOW WILD OF A RACE WAS IT? “I’m not sure how you can put one above the other here.”
Paul Wolfe (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE END OF THE RACE? “It’s pretty much in Brad’s hands at the end of the race. We just didn’t want to run him out of gas and put tires on it when the car needed them.”
DID YOU THINK THAT TALLADEGA WAS GOING TO BE A FUEL MILEAGE RACE? “Nothing is supposed to be a fuel mileage race but it always is for some reason (laughs). It was kind of that way the last race. At the end of the day you knew that something big was going to happen and you just hoped that the Miller Lite Dodge wasn’t involved. We survived guys running four deep, pushing and shoving trying to get through a mishap.”
WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU SEE ALL THAT SMOKE AND CARS TURNING AROUND EVERYWHERE? “I knew that we were on the bottom line and that helps from getting collected. He got run into, got sideways, but found a way to dirt track it through the last corner. It was nice to see him come through the cloud of smoke and make it to the finish line.”
NOW THAT THE RACE IS OVER, IS IT A RELIEF? Absolutely. A lot of this race is out of our control and now we can go back to racing where we have a bigger influence on the performance. Looking forward in heading to Charlotte and do the things that we’ve been doing to get to this point in the Chase.”
Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 22 SKF Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 24th CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE? “We had really good position at the end of the race heading to the checkered flag. It looked like some guys got together and all heck broke loose. We took the full brunt of three cars coming up through the race track. I was really happy with the SKF Dodge Charger all day. It was just unfortunate that we didn’t make it to the end because our finish doesn’t represent how strong our car was today. We just didn’t make it through that last mishap.”
