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[/media-credit]Saturday, March 14, 2012
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Samsung 500
Texas Motor Speedway
Post-Race Quotes
Dodge PR
A.J. Allmendinger (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 15th CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE TONIGHT? “Frustrating. We had a fast Shell/Pennzoil Dodge and just didn’t make it happen tonight. We started off horrible. We can’t start races that bad. The car was just way too tight, something that we hadn’t fought all weekend. I think we need to work on making small changes before the race, but that’s something that Todd (Gordon) and I will learn together. The first three changes that we made during the race were good. I thought that we were making good progress and after that, we just lost the race track. We fought tight and tried to free it up. Then we went massive loose and tight, the last three runs were just not good. On top of it, there were only two cautions all night. You just don’t have the chance to make the adjustments to the car that you need. We know that we need to be better than that.”
HOW MUCH DID THE TERRIBLE WIND GUSTS AFFECT THE HANDLING OF YOUR CAR? “It did a bunch, but (it) affected everyone else as well. You could really feel the car move between (Turns) 3 and 4; you’d get a big push. But guys that were fast adjusted to it, so we can’t use it as an excuse.
“For us, we all know that we need to be better. The team has to be better. I have to be better. We were running ninth at the 200-lap mark and we just didn’t run the last 120, 130 laps like we needed to. The car had big mood swings all night. When you’re car isn’t perfect in these tough conditions, it makes it difficult on everyone.”
Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 36th YOU LOOK TO HAVE A TOP-FIVE CAR TONIGHT. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE FUEL SYSTEM PROBLEMS? “Not exactly sure what happened with the Miller Lite Dodge. I could speculate, but we need to get it back to the shop and check everything over. This has been a very frustrating weekend, to say the least. I had two good racecars – cars that could have contended for wins in both races – and we have nothing to show for it. I’ve always said that you have to have raw speed before anything else in this sport. So it is encouraging that we are consistently fast no matter where we go. We just need to clean some things up so that the potential of this team can shine. Right now, we aren’t doing that.”
