NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 24, 2013
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 32 OF THE DAYTONA 500:
WHAT HAPPENED: “Somebody backed-up to my grill. It was just a little touch. I saw them when they were all getting together, and I said ‘Oh, they are wrecking’. And as soon as I said they were wrecking the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) went left into me. I managed to brake, and just touched him a little bit with nose. Then somebody else wrecked a lot harder behind him, and came on my side and killed the car on the side. So, we are fixing it. We’re going to run out there and try to score some decent points. You could see it coming. They were all checking up. And I thought ‘Somebody isn’t going to check-up and screw-up’. And, then, they did.”
UP UNTIL THAT POINT, HOW WAS THE CAR AND THE RACING? “It was good. For me, we were just counting laps. We felt we had really good speed, we worked with Tony (Stewart) earlier. Then I decided I was just going to get in line and ride here. We didn’t need to do anything. We were riding where we wanted to be. We said top-10, top-15, as long as we ride there, we’ll be fine. That was plan. Now we are adding pieces to the car again.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 32 OF THE DAYTONA 500:
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I let off a little bit to miss the wreck. It looked like the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) hooked the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) and that kind of just started a chain reaction. I don’t know who was behind me, but just one of those deals.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 32 OF THE DAYTONA 500:
NOT THE WAY YOU WANTED TO START OUT YOUR SEASON TELL US WHAT HAPPENED?
“The hell with the season, I wanted to win the Daytona 500. We had a car that we could pass with today. We were passing cars by our self so. Happy with our car, was just waiting for it to all get sorted out again. I don’t know what started it, but we just got caught up in another wreck.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 32 OF DAYTONA 500:
YOU GOT BUMPED FROM BEHIND. IS THIS THE NATURE OF PLATE RACING?
“We were just running the line. The front three cars, for whatever reason, slowed down pretty quickly. So I was just on the brakes and trying not to hit Jeff (Gordon). The other cars behind me didn’t slow down in time. When I hit the grass is when it did the most damage to the car. But we had a fast car. This Farmers Insurance Chevy SS the last week has been fast. I wanted to race. I didn’t want to sit single file up by the wall like everybody was doing. I didn’t want that at all.”
CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED?
“The cars in front of us slowed up so I was just slowing up right on Jeff (Gordon’s) bumper there. I got hit from behind. Kyle (Busch) was probably getting pushed and it all happened so quick. But we had a fast Farmers Insurance Chevy SS and just got hit. I shot to the infield and when I hit the grass it blew the front end up pretty good. So that’s when we got injured the most, car-wise.
“The guys in front of me were all checking up. I was trying not to run over Jeff (Gordon) and I could feel a lot of momentum right there, so I was trying hard not to run over Jeff. Kyle (Busch) was probably feeling the same momentum from behind and hit me, which shot me to the infield. There were a lot of cars close together.”
TO BE OUT THIS EARLY, WHAT ARE YOUR EMOTIONS?
“Oh, it’s crazy. I can’t believe it. I mean, I wanted to race. I didn’t want to run single-file by the wall. That’s what we were doing and you still got caught in something. I really don’t know how it happened like that. I understand how that happens but it’s restrictor-plate racing and anything can happen here.”
IS THAT JUST RACING?
“There’s just a lot of momentum. I could feel a ton of momentum between like all of us right there except the three cars in front of me were stopped for some reason. So I was trying not to run over Jeff (Gordon), which I didn’t. The guys behind me obviously couldn’t stop because they hit me. But there was a ton of momentum for whatever reason.”
DID YOU EXPECT THAT SINGLE-FILE RACING?
“I expected it. I didn’t want it. I’d rather be racing all day than staying up by the wall.”
HOW IS THE NEW CAR? DO YOU THINK THE NEW CAR HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT’S GOING ON OUT THERE?
“Oh, the new car is great. There is nothing wrong with the new car. It’s a 500-mile race, so everybody wants to take it easy and wait ‘til later on and I’m not going to get to be there later on. I want to be part of that. It’s going to be pretty exciting there in an hour or so.”
DO YOU THINK WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY WAS A FREAK THING AT THE END OF THE RACE?
“Yeah, that was a freak deal at the end of the race yesterday. It’s crazy. It’s scary. I’m glad that everybody is okay to this point. There were some injuries and things, but it was just a scary situation. You look up in the stands and it’s packed with people and excited fans that want to see a show. There’s going to be a great show here today, but yeah, that was definitely a freak accident yesterday.”
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