JON WOOD - No. 21 The
Barnhill Group Ford F-150 -
(finished 10th, qualified
16th) - "We could have had a
faster truck if we could
have fixed it from bottoming
out and scraping the track.
That was the biggest issue
we were having tonight."
RICK CRAWFORD - No. 14
Power Stroke Diesel by
International Ford F-150 -
(finished 11th, qualified
19th) - "We're on a
mile-and-a-half on one of
NASCAR's fastest race
tracks. Later in my career,
I feel like I'm going drag
racing because I feel like
we need to straighten up.
But I turned more to the
right tonight than I did to
the left. Our package wasn't
necessarily the package that
we were looking for here in
Atlanta, but the Power
Stroke Diesel by
International Ford F-Series
pickup was a smooth driving
pickup. It needed some
correcting after it got a
new set of tires. We were
trying our best to be best
in class and just ended up
one spot back." YOUR TRUCK
WAS LOOSE ALL NIGHT? "We
were trying our best to
adjust on it all night with
a track bar adjustment, a
wedge adjustment, an air
pressure adjustment. We were
helping ourselves, we were
extending our run from four
laps, to 10 laps to maybe 15
laps but we never could put
the full run together. That
lengthy run there in the
middle where we all had
green flag pit stops hurt a
little bit because we lasted
as far as we could with an
ill handling truck. Kevin
Starland [crew chief] and
the whole Circle Bar Racing
team we didn't give up. We
started 19th and finished
11th. It could have been a
lot worse, like I say and if
I can't emphasize enough,
we're built Ford tough."
ERIK DARNELL - No. 99
Northern Tool + Equipment
Ford F-150 - (finished 12th,
qualified 14th) - "It was a
frustrating night. Our
Northern Tool + Equipment
Ford was actually pretty
good. I'm proud of Matt
Puccia [crew chief] and all
the guys for working on this
truck. We were pretty good
in practice today. We didn't
get the qualifying position
I thought we'd get. Once we
started the race, I knew we
had a pretty good truck. We
moved forward right away. We
made the right adjustments
on our pit stops to get the
truck where it needed to be
and I think we were running
fifth there for a while and
had a really good truck. We
had a green flag pit stop
and I was trying to get all
I can and got caught
speeding entering pit road.
I feel real bad for the guys
because they did an awesome
job on pit road tonight. All
our pit stops were really
good. I think it cost us a
top-five finish in the end."
BRENDAN GAUGHAN - No. 10
International MAXX Force
Diesel Ford F-150 -
(finished 15th, qualified
24th) - "We had a whole lot
better Ford than this. We
made a few mistakes on pit
road and I made mistakes on
the race track. We all make
mistakes. It's what happens.
I had a lot better MAXX
Force Ford that what we
showed tonight. Bryan Berry
[crew chief] will make this
thing better. Good thing,
this is just like
California, we're bringing
this F-150 back in one piece
and we'll make it better. We
had a little issue where I
almost tore the wall down
and had a little mishap with
tires, but I got lucky. I
felt something was wrong and
saved it. Then we got a
caution. In the end, Bryan
Berry, what I love, is that
he never quits. He told me
to come in and we took the
chance. We took the penalty
to pit early and then ended
up 15th and gained five
spots from making an
adjustment on that last
stop. Bryan doesn't quit on
me and I don't quit on him.
We'll bring our MAXX Force
Ford back to Martinsville
for the test this week. For
a change, I'm actually
looking forward to
Martinsville. I've been
struggling on the big
tracks, let's go where I
normally don't like and see
what I can do there."
Friday, March 7, 2008
Atlanta Motor Speedway
TRAVIS KVAPIL - No. 09
Zaxby's Ford F-150 -
(finished 18th, qualified
22nd) -"We just missed
something. This is a
different truck than what we
raced in California. It's
just really loose all the
time and no matter what we
threw at it in practice and
whatever we through at in
the race, it didn't matter.
It was spinning out and
wanting to wreck. Luckily we
held on to it all day. If
you compare it to the 99
[Erik Darnell] and the 6
[Colin Braun], this truck
should never turn compared
to the set-ups. I don't know
if it is aerodynamics or
what but we missed something
and we won't let that happen
again. We'll take new stuff,
better stuff all season long
and we'll win with the
Zaxby's Ford F-150." DID THE
RACE TONIGHT HELP YOU FOR
SUNDAY? "Just laps. I was
moving around and found some
different lines that worked
when my tires were doing
different things. Having
additional laps always
helps."
COLIN BRAUN - No. 6
Con-way Freight Ford F-150 -
(finished 28th, qualified
9th) - "We had a solid truck
there on the restart. I
thought we had a flat tire
and we didn't. Those guys
had a heck of truck they
built out there. I thought
we had a solid top five
truck and it's a shame we
couldn't bring it home for
everybody. The worked real
hard on it and it certainly
was really good." YOU DID A
GREAT JOB SAVING IT ON THE
SPIN. "Yeah, we kind of got
stuck in that position where
we were trying to get down
to the bottom and it was one
of those deals where I knew
I couldn't stop in front of
everybody. At the same time,
I knew I could go all the
way down. We were just an
incident bystander there and
ended up spinning. It was
too bad, but I guess we'll
move on and learn from
that."