Ford Kentucky Truck -
Post-race quotes
JON WOOD – No. 21 The
Barnhill Group Ford F-150 –
(finished 11th, qualified
32nd) – EARLY IN THE RACE
YOUR CREW WAS FIXING THE
GRILL. WHAT HAPPENED THERE?
“Race cars are made to be
wrecked. When you’re in a
position where you have
every race car in the field
in front of you, who ever it
is that does wreck, you’ve
got to drive around. So, the
odds of being in a wreck are
the highest riding around in
the back like I did all
night. I don’t know what our
situation was, but it wasn’t
from lack of effort, I know
that. It’s a shame to finish
10th and be the best
finishing Ford in a Ford
sponsored race.” YOUR TRUCK
WAS LOOSE DURING QUALIFYING,
WERE YOU ABLE TO GET IT
WHERE YOU WANTED IT? “We
battled so many issues
yesterday in practice, that
there wasn’t a lot of
preparation done for
qualifying today. We
concentrated more on the
race. It wasn’t that I
didn’t have a fast truck, I
was just always at the wrong
place at the wrong time. I
had to use my tires up every
time I got new tires. It
seemed like every time we
came in and pit for tires,
something would happened and
I would have to race really,
really hard to make up
positions. It was
essentially useless to put
on tires.”
RICK CRAWFORD – No. 14
Circle Bar Truck
Corral/Power Stroke Diesel
by International Ford F-150
– (finished 14th, qualified
31st) – DID YOU MAKE THE
RIGHT CHANGES TO GET THE
TRUCK WHERE YOU NEEDED? “We
did. It was almost the Built
Ford Tough 225 test session
for the Ford Power Stroke
Diesel Ford Series F-150. I
told Cowboy [Kevin Starland,
crew chief] before the race,
‘I’m a thinkin’ driver here
and I know the mechanics of
a race truck. If I ask for
something this off the wall,
please do it and believe in
me.’ It took more than a
pound of air pressure here
or a round there. We were
making as Chris Economaki
used to say ‘wholesale
changes.’ There at the end,
the last 30 laps, it was
running good. But what made
us do there, we were able to
put ourselves in position to
miss a mishap. We almost
said, ‘Yahoo’ for finishing
14th after where we started.
We moved up a position in
the points. I’m just proud
of my team. That truck
really was running strong at
the two-day test we had at
Darlington. But Darlington
and Kentucky are not
necessarily alike. We just
couldn’t catch it. The truck
was too far gone when we got
here and it was just hard to
keep up.” YOUR TRUCK LOOKS
PRETTY CLEAN CONSIDERING THE
WRECKS HERE TONIGHT. HOW DID
YOU AVOID GETTING CAUGHT? “I
didn’t hit anybody. I had a
plan when I came when I came
here. The last couple of
years have been sort of
rough on me here at
Kentucky. I had a plan when
I came here and it was to
finish the race no matter
how we ran. Dick Trickle
always used to tell me, ‘You
must first finish before you
finish first.’ Starting
31st, I wanted the best
finish we could and the
maximum points we could get
tonight. And we got it.
That’s a successful night
for our team, I just wish we
would have been top five.”
BRENDAN GAUGHAN – No. 10
International MAXX Force
Diesel Ford F-150 –
(finished 28th, qualified
30th) – “I have no clue on
what happened. Somebody
didn’t like the fact that we
had a great restart. I
passed, I think like nine
trucks on the outside. Bryan
Berry and the guys gave us a
Ford in the end that could
probably get up there and
contend for the win, we just
had to get there. Some
[drivers] in the back got
us. That’s all right because
we had a great Ford truck
tonight. I was up against
the wall on the outside and
had nowhere to go.”
COLIN BRAUN – No. 6
Con-way Freight Ford F-150 -
(finished 16th, qualified
3rd) – “We started out good
there and we were just
trying to stay out of
trouble. My guys did a great
job tonight. We just got
back in traffic and it’s
hard to race in dirty air.
This race track seems real
hard to pass on. We really
couldn’t pass anybody on the
bottom, so we had to go to
the topside. Everybody
wanted to run on the
topside. So, it was
difficult. It was definitely
a two-lane race track. It
would have been nice if it
would have been three
grooves and I thought we
could have passed a lot more
people. It’s just tough when
you’ve only got two grooves
to work with and everybody
wants the second groove. We
tried to pass down low and
we didn’t have enough power
to pass on straightaways. We
just kind of got pinned back
there. Unfortunately, I
don’t know what happened
there or who started what
but we got caught up in that
deal there and that was
that.” HOW DID THE RED FLAG
AND CAUTIONS CHANGE YOUR
RACE STRATEGY? “I think the
pit strategy Mike Beam did
works really well and it was
just a tough break for us.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THIS
RACE? “I learned that it’s
important to stay up near
the front and not get back
in traffic. All the wrecks
usually start in the back. I
don’t know who start that,
but with 25 laps to go,
wrecking on the backstraight
is not too fun.”
ERIK DARNELL –No. 99
Northern Tool + Equipment
Ford F-150 – (finished 29th,
qualified 25th) – WITHIN THE
FIRST 60 LAPS, YOU HAD THREE
PIT STOPS COMPLETE. DID THAT
STRATEGY WORK THE WAY THE
TEAM PLANNED? “It worked out
exactly the way we wanted it
to. We qualified in the back
and knew we’d have to make
up some ground in the pits.
We had that yellow around 11
or 12 and we came in and got
tires and fuel. Then when
the caution came out on 20,
everybody came in and we
came in for fuel only and
that gained us a quite a few
spots and put us right up in
front and right where we
needed to be. Our Northern
Tool + Equipment Ford F-150
was pretty good in the race,
just like I thought it would
be. Obviously, we didn’t
qualify where we needed to,
but it didn’t really matter
come race time. Our strategy
was working out the way we
needed it to. We got up
front and we were able to
stay there. I don’t know
what happened at the end.”
WHAT DID YOU SEE IN THE
WRECK WITH THE 59, 51 and 8?
“It seemed like we were four
wide getting into the corner
and I was on the top. The
next thing I see, they’re
kind of piling up underneath
me and the 8 truck [Chad
McCumbee] is going around
and just didn’t know where
to go. I haven’t seen a
replay.”