Dodge teams race quotes
 
KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) -- Finished 7th, moved up
to 5th in points, 279 behind leader
 
"We had a good comeback, but we just had to battle all day. We never could
hit on it. We were tight and loose, tight and loose and then tight and loose
and never hit on it. Then we had that flat right rear and lost a lot of
ground. We had one run that was awesome. We were the fastest car on the
track, but then that was it. I think the tires changed a lot throughout the
day. The tires were different and we never figured them out. I thought we
could run 10th (after starting 14th on final restart). I didn't think we
could run seventh, but that was a good deal."
 
***
 
SCOTT RIGGS (No. 10 Valvoline/Stanley Tools Dodge Charger) -- Finished 8th,
moved up four spots to 21st in standings, 277 out of 10th
 
"We had to overcome a pretty bad handling racecar in the beginning. I got
into Casey Mears in the beginning. I really apologize to him. We got into him
just being too loose and took him out of the race on the first lap and I hate
that. The guys did a good job staying confident, believing in me and me
believing in them. We got the car pretty good and came through there and got
a decent finish. I car was tight in one and three and loose across the
tunnel. We had to chase it a little bit. We probably could have held onto a
seventh-place finish if that last caution hadn't come out. That would have
been one spot better. Maybe we could have gotten those other two guys. We
were running the 25 and 17 down pretty hard there at the end. We picked up
four spots in the standings and we're 21st now. We'll just keep plugging away
and see how much higher we can climb."
 
***
 
RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger) -- Finished 11th, 18th in
standings, 232 out of 10th
 
"We didn't come in for tires on that last caution, so we really didn't know
if we could maintain our position on that final run. We were seventh on the
final restart and ended up 11th so that wasn't too bad considering all the
cars that did stop for tires. We ran in the top 10 most of the day, and I
really think the Alltel Dodge was a top-10 car today. That's a decent finish
and we moved up a spot in the standings. We need to start finishing in the
top five if we're going to make up the points to qualify for The Chase again.
Hopefully we can gain some ground next week at Michigan."
 
***
 
BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge Charger) -- Finished 12th,
23rd in standings
 
"We were OK today. We kept getting a little better as the day went on. We had
a flat there one time and had to put under green. We caught that caution with
a few laps to go and got some tires on it. The tire going down hurt us
because we didn't get a caution until it was too late. We got going good
there at the end, but we just ran out of lap. We passed a couple of cars at
the end. I didn't think we'd be able to, but we did. We finished 12th and
that was a solid day."
 
***
 
CASEY MEARS (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger) -- First out, dropped to
15th in standings, 161 out of 10th
 
"I didn't know if someone was directly behind me or not, but I knew the 10
was on the inside of me, and I think he may have got loose and hit my left
rear. I was just in cruise mode. A lot of times on the first laps around here
you get two wide until you get things sorted. I was just cruising. It's real
bad. I don't know if we'll be able to get back out or not. I'd need to see a
replay to know exactly what happened. The last I saw the 10 car was on the
inside of me and he must have got loose. I feel like we had a pretty good
car, but obviously we didn't get a chance to see what it would do. We made
some changes that I felt were going to be in the right direction. I don't
even know what to say. I'm so disappointed. We didn't even make a lap. Things
happen, and I've been in those scenarios on the first lap where I took out a
bunch of guys. It's hard to get too mad, but we're sitting here in the
garage. Any time something like that happens you can say too aggressive too
early, but he may have gone in there way easier than he's gone in there all
weekend and just gotten too loose. It's very disappointing because we didn't
get a chance to even turn a lap."
 
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