Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Budweiser Duel 150s Race #1– February 20, 2014
Duel 1 Finishing Position: 1st
How strong was the car tonight?
“I had a really strong Dollar General Toyota Camry and Kevin (Harvick) is one of the best — Kevin, Tony (Stewart), there’s a few of those guys that you want to see behind you because you trust them to do the right things, but you also don’t because they’re so smart and I saw him laying back getting a run and he made the perfect move. I was just fortunate to get to his right rear early enough to get a big enough run to get me back to the finish line. We have great partners. 2013 was awesome and this is a great way to start off 2014.”
Does this make the earlier part of the week a little better?
“It makes up a little bit for the rest of the week. The rest of the week I haven’t been very coordinated. I felt bad walking in the garage everyday honestly. Glad to get the win here tonight. These guys really deserve it — they worked hard on this thing.”
How was the racing tonight??
“The whole race was tough. We kind of got hung back there. I made a couple moves there in the beginning that just didn’t work out and got us straight to the back. After that, we were fortunate enough that the bottom lane kind of got rolling. A few guys from the back got going and I was able to get in the front of them and get up toward the lead. Then we were able to hold it there. Kevin (Harvick) did a great job — he slowed up and had the perfect run that he needed. I saw it coming and I couldn’t block it. It was too fast and fortunately I was able to get down to his right rear and get a little air back off of him and get a run to the finish line. It was exciting.”
Will the top line or the bottom line be better on Sunday?
“It depends how many cars are in it, how they’re working the air from the side. It feels like to me — in the beginning of the race I kind of got caught there in the middle, which was kind of the plan and that didn’t work at all. Then I was able to kind of see some things and had some good cars and some really good strategy and pit stop by Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and gave me a shot.”
Is your car strong enough to win the Daytona 500?
“I wasn’t an hour-and-a-half ago, I have to be honest with you. I didn’t have a good practice, I wasn’t happy with our speed — Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and this whole group worked really hard on this car to get it to drive better and to try to get some speed out of it. It was a lot better, but I still think we need to get a little better. The car was really good if it’s in the right position obviously and we were able to hang on. A lot of strong cars out there so there’s a lot of guys that didn’t run so good on speedways last year that were really, really strong today. I think it’s going to be a good race coming up next and a great race on Sunday.”
COLE WHITT, No. 26 Speed Stick Gear Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Duel 1 Finishing Position: 12th
What happened on the final two laps of your Duel?
“A little more excitement than I wanted. I was kind of excited when I seen the group behind us lose us and we kind of had the back of that pack there and we were in a comfortable spot. It just means a lot to this team with what we’ve overcome to get down here and then the things that happened yesterday in practice. It’s pretty cool. I’m just proud of my guys. Obviously you can see they’re very excited and so am I. We’re in the Daytona 500. The biggest race of the year. We did it so that’s amazing. Thanks to Toyota and everything that they’ve done for us and giving us the support to get better and to pass those cars at the end it was close.”
What does it mean to qualify for your first Daytona 500?
“We’re in the Daytona 500, the biggest race of the year and it’s pretty cool to say it. It’s something that is just amazing. I’ve got to give it all to my guys for everything that we overcame yesterday. A teammate helped throughout the race and just tried to have it race hard there. We got in a little bit of a panic at the end when that second group caught us and we had to overcome that, but I’ve got to thank Speed Stick for coming onboard and letting us gear up for this weekend. It was awesome. I can’t believe it — it’s like a win for us.”
What were the last few laps like inside the race car?
“I was a little frustrated when I kind of fell out there and I just tried to stay calm and know that 100 yards at this track can mean a lot let alone three more laps. Falling out and knowing what we had to pass and just picking the right lane and trying to be smart right there at the end.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Duel 1 Finishing Position: 16th
Was it difficult racing a car that you didn’t get to practice?
“It definitely would have been nice to have some practice. The car was okay. We seemed to really struggle. Some guys could make moves by themselves or with a couple cars and we couldn’t really seem to be able to do that. I don’t know why — we need to get to the bottom of that before Sunday. All in all I think the Aaron’s Dream Machine drove good. It’s always difficult racing in a car that you haven’t been able to practice or tune on. We were a little too tight, but not too bad. Then with everything going on with the points and all that stuff being locked in, it’s probably a little cautious just not wanting to get in a wreck. I think we learned a lot going into Sunday.”
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 30 LendingTree Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Duel 1 Finishing Position: 18th
What happened to your race car on the final lap?
“I don’t know. We were in ninth there coming to the white flag, pretty good run for a backup car with no practice. I actually had my wheel off-set wrong, so I was fighting with a wheel in the wrong position. I felt like the 26 (Cole Whitt) and I helped each other when we could and this LendingTree Toyota Camry was doing great and felt like we were going to have a solid finish there and then (Greg) Biffle started hitting me in the bumper pretty hard and I looked down and realized that my gauges were flashing and suddenly just started to lose power lose power lose power until it just cut off. So, I pulled down because I didn’t want to get wrecked obviously because we can make it in on points so I tried to see if I could make something happen on the bottom and we missed it by two or three spots there. That’s the name of the game, but hopefully we get in by points. We are 33rd in points so we should have a little hope here.”
How challenging has this Speed Weeks been for you?
“It’s definitely been. I just really want to make it in for LendingTree who came onboard here. They’re an excellent company. I’m very proud to have that company be a part of this organization at Swan Racing and to know that we can bring in that caliber of a company to sponsor our race cars. I think it’s a great thing for us and hopefully through the points we’ll be in this 500 and we’ll make the best of it, go out there and get an even better finish. We had a fast car and that’s what we can focus on and barring the engine problem we would’ve finished in the top-10 and been in the 500 easily.”
How gut-wrenching was it for you after running in the top-10 so late in the race?
“I didn’t use good language or good judgment on my radio on that last lap. We all work so hard barring the fact that we flipped over in practice yesterday and have a backup car here that these guys thrashed all night into all day today to get ready. And, to have LendingTree come onboard and have all of the positive things that we have happening and to have that be in the top-10 solidly and ready to take this thing to the 500 and start our season on the right foot and we have an engine problem. Triad Motors is our motor company and they do a great job. We’re the only Cup team with them this year so we’re kind of in it together and I’m sure we’ll be able to rectify this problem and hopefully use our points, as I said before, to get in the 500 and make sure that we do the best for LendingTree so they can come onboard for more this year.”
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Duel 1 Finishing Position: 15th
How does it feel to qualify for the Daytona 500?
“It feels good. This is a dream come true and it means the world to these guys. We knew single car speed was going to be a struggle for us and I just have to thank BK Racing and the folks at Dr. Pepper for giving me this shot. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for me to come down here for the Daytona 500. It’s something I’ve watched as a little kid so to get to be a part of it, I’m pretty dang excited.”
Were you nervous preparing for tonight’s Duel race?
“I was throwing up, didn’t sleep — it’s so big just to me and all the naysayers out there that say I shouldn’t be in Cup yet and I know it’s a superspeedway, but still I feel like that kind of proves that we as a race team can perform and we’ll go get them on Sunday.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Duel 1 Finishing Position: 21st
DAVE ROGERS, crew chief, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you have a strong car for Sunday’s race?
“I think we’ve got a really good car. Kyle (Busch) was happy with it in practice. I think we showed good speed. We made some single car runs in practice and we seem to be pretty fast with good speed there. We did some one-on-one stuff with our teammate Matt (Kenseth) and Kyle was pretty comfortable with the way things side drafted and that’s going to be really important on Sunday. A lot of positives to take from the week so far. Really discouraged because we wanted to get up there and race and see what it did in the pack, but we just made a mistake there and there’s no excuse for it. We’re professionals at the highest level of racing and we don’t get paid to make mistakes. We take it very seriously, but I’m extremely confident in all my guys and we’re all professionals and we’re all human. All humans make mistakes. I see drivers wreck race cars every week, I see crew chiefs blow pit calls every week and I see crew chiefs miss setups and pit crew members have bad stops so we’re all human and we’re doing the best we can. We just made a bad mistake today and it’s really embarrassing. We’ll move on and we’ll be better for it.”
What was the error that was made?
“We made an error on jack stands.”
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 300 Rise of an Empire Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Duel 1 Finishing Position: 23rd
