Dodge Motorsports Notes &
Quotes - TUMS QuikPak 500
Race Final
Juan Pablo Montoya (No.
42 Big Red Slim Pack Dodge
Charger) Finished 14th
“We were really good on
short runs. On long runs, we
struggled. The longer that
we ran, the slower we got.
That’s what really hurt us.
The car was fast at times;
other times it wasn’t so
fast. Not a bad day for our
Big Red Slim Pack Dodge.”
A.J. Allmendinger (No. 10
Tow Truck in a Box Dodge
Charger) Finished 15th
“It was a good start to
the first five races that
I’m going to be in the 10
car for Gillett Evernham. I
think that we learned a lot
throughout the race.
Martinsville is a place that
I haven’t had much luck at,
it’s almost kind of new to
me. We had a good racecar.
Our pit stops were great.
With where we were pitted,
we just couldn’t get track
position; we got blocked in
a lot. It was good day
overall for our Tow Truck in
a Box Dodge.”
Chad McCumbee (No. 45
Marathon American Sprit
Motor Oil Dodge Charger)
Finished 25th
“We really went through
everything today. We were
tight in the middle and I
had decent drive off most of
the race. I think that we
had a little bit of a rear
brake issue. The longer that
we ran, the looser that we
got. Later in the runs, we
got really good in the
center (of the corners), but
lost our forward drive. It
was my first time at
Martinsville. I learned a
lot. We’re getting our
notebook bigger and bigger
so next time we come here,
we’ll be really good.”
Kasey Kahne (No. 9
Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Finished 33rd
“After we had the
electrical problem, I just
tried to race and get better
as a driver. We tried to
make some adjustments to our
Budweiser Dodge to make it
better. As well as the
Hendrick cars are running
here, it’s tough enough to
drive with those guys
without having any
mechanical problems. They
were awfully good.”
DID JIMMIE JOHNSON SEW UP
THE CHAMPIONSHIP BY WINNING
TODAY? “It’ going to be
tough to catch him (Jimmie).
That team just doesn’t make
mistakes and they’ve proven
that throughout the Chase.
I’m not sure who will catch
that team as good as they
are running right now.”
Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 77
Mobil 1 Dodge Charger)
Finished 34th
“It was a tough day. We
probably should have about
been two laps down at the
end of it. Three cars popped
a tire right in the same
corner which was pretty
unbelievable. Then it wore
through the sway bar arm and
we obviously had to come in
and fix that. I feel that we
had a better car than what
we had here last time but
still not where we need to
be. The guys on the Mobil 1
Dodge worked real hard to
get me back out there in as
little time as possible and
that probably picked us up
three or four positions by
how quickly they got that
fixed and got us back out
there. Obviously those
aren’t the kind of ups that
you want to look for but
you’ve got to find a
positive in a negative day.”
Reed Sorenson (No. 41
Target Dodge Charger)
Finished 35th
“We were OK. We stayed
about the same the entire
day; not any better or worse
until the front brakes went
out. It’s disappointing
because we had a top-15 car,
but end up finishing 40th
(finished 35th). We had a
good run until the brakes
went out.”
Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller
Lite Dodge Charger) Finished
36th
“Two out of the last
three races, we’ve had part
failures and the one race we
didn’t, we finished in the
top-five…that’s pretty much
a statement for our season.
Today, it was the right rear
brake system. I don’t know
exactly what happened, but
something in the bleeder was
off when we pitted. I felt
the brakes get really spongy
and when we pitted, fluid
was spewing everywhere.
NASCAR wouldn’t allow us to
cap off the line and sent us
to the garage to repair it
before we could go back onto
the track. So we looked at
the rest of the race as a
test session trying big
changes. Like a lot of guys,
we had right-front tires
problems. I popped two
right-front tires and had to
pit under green twice. That
just drove the dagger
through the heart as far as
today’s race goes. The way
the fronts (tires) were
popping, I was ready to park
it after the second time. We
were probably running too
much camber as usual.”
Robby Gordon (No. 7
Menards Dodge Charger)
Finished 40th
“We’ve broken (rear)
gears here the last three
times that we’ve raced here.
I don’t know what’s going
on. It’s disappointing. We
had a decent racecar. We’ll
take this car to Phoenix
(International Raceway) and
run it again. We’ve got some
work to do on it. We were
running decent. We were
running inside the top 20
and that was our goal.
You’ve got to be there at
the end. You just have to
stay on the lead lap. What
was it, 13 or 14 cars on the
lead lap at the end? We were
on the lead lap, doing what
we need to do until the gear
problem.”
Elliot Sadler (No. 19
Best Buy Dodge Charger)
Finished 41st
“There’s no explanation
for that (clipped from
behind by No. 8. on lap
196), anybody that would
misjudge it that bad. That’s
probably the hardest hit
I’ve ever had in racing.
Thanks to our new safer
barriers and the safety we
have on our car. We had a
top-10 car easy, easy. It
was one of the best cars
I’ve had here at
Martinsville. It’s just a
shame we couldn’t run the
whole race. I don’t know
what he was thinking. We all
know that he is a weapon
every week and we try to
stay away from him, but that
time I just didn’t give him
enough room.”