Ford Bristol Truck Series
Quotes
JOHN WES TOWNLEY – No. 09
Zaxby’s Ford F-150 (Finished
35th) – “I was behind the 07
as we came out of the corner
and he started to spin. I
dove down for the bottom,
but, unfortunately, it was
just too sharp of a turn and
it started to go around on
me. I was disappointed
because I was so sure I had
it saved, but it was just
too sharp of a corner and I
couldn’t avoid it. I’ve got
to thank Zaxby’s and Ford
and Roush Fenway for giving
me such a good truck. We had
a pretty fast truck. We
struggled a little bit in
practice, but we got it
right for qualifying.” WHAT
WAS IT LIKE TO GET OUT THERE
AND RACE ON THIS TRACK WITH
THOSE GUYS? “I tell you
what, it’s like a dream come
true. My first race was at
Mansfield and I was as
aggressive as I could be,
but, at the same time, I
wanted to lay low a little
bit and get my approval. I’m
starting to feel a lot more
comfortable and getting a
little more racy out there.
It’s just a disappointing
night, but we’ll come back
and hopefully do better the
next time.”
ERIK DARNELL – No. 99
Northern Tool + Equipment
Ford F-150 (Finished 15th) –
“It was frustrating. We put
ourselves behind the
eight-ball in qualifying and
started 23rd or whatever it
was and we were making
progress early on in the
outside lane but two trucks
got together ahead of me and
one of them got loose and
shot up in the left-front
and cut the tire down five
laps into the race. We were
just behind from there. The
Northern Tool + Equipment
Ford was decent during the
race. I’ve got to give
credit to Matt and all the
guys for keeping after it
all day. We struggled in
practice. We were not very
good at all and those guys
threw everything they knew
at the truck and got it
better. It was actually
pretty decent in the race
and was definitely a top-10
contender at the end, I know
that. From where we started
the day, that’s a big
improvement.” WHAT HAPPENED
AT THE END WHEN YOU SPUN? “I
was frustrated just trying
to get back to the front. We
finally got back on the lead
lap with 50 to go, but at
that point you don’t have
much time to do anything, so
I was just driving as hard
as I could. I drove it down
in there, we were a little
bit loose, and it got away
from me. It’s frustrating,
but at least we didn’t lose
as many points as we could
have.”
RICK CRAWFORD – No. 14
PowerStroke Diesel by Int’l
Ford F-150 (Finished 5th) –
“I wasn’t happy with where
we started, but I was really
happy with where we
finished. People need to
drive one of these Ford
F-150’s, especially the
F-Series pickup with the
Ford PowerStroke Diesel in
it by International. We’re
built Ford tough. We started
24th tonight here at
Bristol, I thought we could
do it, I had a plan and it
worked out for us. We passed
them when we came to them.
We were in a defensive mode
there at the end. We had the
four foreign makes ahead of
us and we were the only
American made vehicle in the
top five, so it feels good.
Our team needed this to
build some momentum for
Gateway and Loudon, which
are good tracks for us. To
come out of this particular
place with a top five feels
pretty good.” WHAT WAS THE
PLAN? “Go to the front. I
felt good before the race. I
felt good about my chances
and I felt good about my
truck. Jody Ridley told me
one time a long, long time
ago and I listened to his
experience. He told me that
when you catch a vehicle, be
it a car or a truck, have a
plan to pass him when you
get to him. Don’t waste your
time and I listened to that
and I applied it tonight.”
BRENDAN GAUGHAN – No. 10
Int’l MAXXFORCE Diesel Ford
F-150 (Finished 13th) – “We
have a lot better
career-best finishes here
and this Circle Bar team, we
expect better. We had a good
Ford, but were just too
tight all night. The early
run, we made up a lot of
spots off the start and were
the first one to go to the
outside and just railed by
people. It was a lot of fun
and then progressively as
rubber got laid down and the
track cooled off, we got
tighter and tighter. We had
one set of Goodyears left as
stickers, but as far as
spring rate and stagger,
they were horrible. We
couldn’t use them, so we
knew we had to stick with
what we had. The Circle Bar
guys did everything possible
to try to get us a Ford that
could run up there. We got
into the top 10 a couple of
times and went back and
forth. In the end it was
just a war – two by two –
for all those spots and we
came home 13th. The truck is
basically in one piece.
We’ll take this Ford to St.
Louis. This is one of my
favorite ones in the Circle
Bar shop, so we’ll take it
there and try to go get a
victory there again.”
COLIN BRAUN – No. 6
Con-way Freight Ford F-150
(Finished 34th) – “We were
falling back a little bit
and were fighting just being
a little bit free. That
lapped truck certainly
didn’t help us out any, he
was racing us really hard,
and it’s unfortunate but I
guess that’s what you get
sometimes. I don’t know what
happened. We came off of
four and I got free, but
somehow we banged together
there a little bit and we
got the worst end of it.
These guys did a great job
fixing this truck. It was
pretty torn up, but we ended
up getting four spots there
by fixing it, so it was
definitely the right thing
to do and I’m really proud
of these guys for doing that
and sticking with it.” YOUR
F-150 LOOKS LIKE A MODIFIED
RIGHT NOW WITH THE FRONT
FENDERS AND HOOD MISSING.
“It didn’t drive that great,
but we just needed to
maintain minimum speed and
run enough laps to get some
of the trucks that didn’t
finish. It’s just
disappointing because these
guys work so hard on this
truck and to have to bring
it back torn up when you get
in a wreck with a lapped
truck is not all that good.”