Friday, November 9, 2012
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Lucas Oil 150
Phoenix International Raceway
Post-Race Quotes
RAM PR
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Ryan Blaney (No. 29 Draw-Tite RAM) Finished 5th “We definitely had a good Draw-Tite RAM. We qualified second and we were running up there all night. We had a little bit different pit strategy and put us back and we had some nose damage and that really slowed us down. At least we know we had a very fast truck and looking forward to going to Homestead and seeing what we can do there.”
DID THE LAST RESTART HELP YOU? “We were really bad there. We were just lucky to get around that 39 (Ryan Sieg) and then we were just parking it. There was a wreck in front of us and I couldn’t get stopped in time. We kind of hit the 74 (Mike Harmon) a little bit but yeah, the caution definitely helped us a little bit because we weren’t going to get to the 39. I started on the outside and that was key down there in one and two. It’s really hard to stay on the inside of people down there. It was really slick on the bottom. I’m proud of these guys. We had a really fast RAM and I hate we tore it up a little bit. There’s nothing we could do. You get back in there in that carnage and it’s hard to stay out of it. I’m proud of these guys. They gave me a fast truck and I’m looking forward to Homestead.”
DID YOU EXPECT SUCH A WILD RACE TONIGHT HERE? “The K&N race here last year was the exact same thing with everyone wrecking each other. It’s just so one lane and it’s so slippery outside the one lane guys can’t really get in the corner fast without getting loose and hitting the other guy. I think it’s going to be like this for a little bit until the track gets worked in and it opens a lane or two. Hopefully that happens soon.”
THERE WERE A LOT OF CAUTIONS AND A RED FLAG DELAY TONIGHT. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO RACE UNDER THOSE CONDITIONS? “It’s really hard. It’s hard having restart after restart and resetting and resetting and starting on the bottom and starting on the top. It’s so different. It’s a struggle getting into a rhythm. You can’t get in a rhythm that way. I knew with that hole in the nose we were going to be really bad on that last restart. We were just lucky to be on the outside and able to get a spot. It’s definitely not a good thing having six restarts in a row.”
HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO PASS AND WORK YOUR WAY THROUGH TRAFFIC? “It was really hard. You know with these trucks they are so aero sensitive even at a small place like this you can’t really run behind a guy and try to get under him, especially at a one-lane racetrack like Phoenix right now. It’s hard to get runs on guys and it’s hard run side-by-side with people. That’s just a product of what you see: wrecks happen. Guys either get loose and get up into you or then get impatient when they can’t go by you and they give you the bumper. We got some damage there in a little incident. I think someone spun in front of us and I couldn’t get stopped in time. We had a very fast truck and I was proud about that. We’ll go to Homestead and see what we’ve got there.”
HOW DO YOU PROCESS WHAT HAPPENED TONIGHT AND TAKE THE GOOD FROM THE BAD? “You’ve definitely got to stay out of trouble. That’s the big thing here. I saw a lot of impatience out there. I think we had all those wrecks before we were even halfway through the race. It just all goes back to patience and a little bit of give and take.”
Doug Randolph (Crew Chief, No. 29 Draw-Tite RAM) “It’s disappointing. You know we felt like we had a truck better than that. Definitely a race of woulda, coulda and shoulda. I definitely felt like track position was huge and when you pitted and when you got stuck at the back at tried to dodge all the wrecks ended up playing a big role in the race. And we didn’t quite get it just right and had an incident or two. But Ryan did a great job battling back each time and to get a top five in the eventful race we had I don’t guess we can complain too much. A lot of people are walking out of here more upset than we are.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW WILD THIS RACE WAS TONIGHT? “It’s just a typical new pavement. The racetrack is really slippery; it’s hard to pass, if you’re going to pass somebody you’re going to do it on restarts. Cautions breed cautions. The first run you could see how once everybody got strung that you can go long green here. Everybody quickly realizes that the only chance they’re going to get to pass is when there are cautions so that just makes ‘em that much more aggressive when you get one.”
Jeff Stankiewicz (Crew Chief, No. 19 MMI/Steak and Grape RAM) Finished 12th “When the race started we were actually really fast. We qualified 13th and moved all the way up into eighth-place David came on the radio and said our RAM was very good, very neutral and had zero complaints. All we did was come in and put a set of tires on and he went out he could hardly touch the steering wheel. I don’t know if we got a bad set of tires there and then the way the cautions fell we were able to come back in and put left-sides on it at one point but maybe we had a bad set of right-sides on it as well. We were just way too loose. It’s really frustrating because we really didn’t turn a wrench on the truck all night and it went from being really good to really loose. I just feel really bad for Mayhew. He’s done a really good job for us all year. I wish I had an opportunity to run him some more with him because he’s a really talented race car driver.”
