NASCAR Cup

Bristol II: Ford team race quotes

MATT KENSETH -- No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion (Finished 39th) "I saw the wreck and slowed down as much as I could, but I just couldn't get it stopped. I was kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we put ourselves there. We didn't perform ...

Edited: Aug 27, 2007, 3:46 AM

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MATT KENSETH -- No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion (Finished 39th)

"I saw the wreck and slowed down as much as I could, but I just couldn't get it stopped. I was kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we put ourselves there. We didn't perform good enough to run up front tonight. We've got to get to work on it and hopefully we can get it better." HOW WAS THE TRACK? "The race track is great. I just wish NASCAR would give us more options to make these cars turn a little bit better. It's pretty uneventful for a Bristol race because the cars are so easy to drive. Everybody is just out there pushing in the middle and whoever's car turns best in the middle is the guy up front, so we've just got to try to get ours like that and see if we can get up there."

SO IT'S NOT THE SAME OLD BRISTOL? "There are some things that are similar, but it was different than what it was. The track is great. It was an awesome race last night. These cars are just so easy to drive and so tight. You can't do your little tricks and, in my opinion, the driver can't really showcase their talent if they want a really loose car or something because you can't get them like that. That's the frustrating part. Obviously, Carl's car is turning better than ours because he's leading and we were running in the back, but whoever's car turns the best runs up front. It's real hard to pass and when you're kind of stuck back there it gets kind of frustrating."

***

CARL EDWARDS -- No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion -- VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW

"Man, this is the biggest win of my career. I can't thank Bob Osborne enough and all my guys. My pit crew was awesome and I want to thank my fans for sticking behind us. It means a lot. Office Depot for sure. Dwight Laxton, Howard Hall, Mike Mittler -- all those who helped me coming up. To win here at Bristol, I think, is everybody's dream. I'm gonna be in Columbia tomorrow for Sam Russell, my good buddy who is injured. We're gonna have a bicycle ride. I don't know if this is gonna sink in. This is the night race at Bristol -- 500 laps and we won it."

YOU'RE LOCKED IN THE CHASE? "Unbelievable. I am living the dream thanks to Jack Roush, Roush Fenway, Office Depot. Anybody out there who has a dream just follow it. I don't know what to think. It was emotional to win this race. Like I said, I've watched this a lot. I think every short track racer out there dreams about this. My little brother is racing tonight and I know he's watching. Mom, dad, Kenny, I love you guys and to win this race is cool. We're back."

"My Office Depot Fusion was really good tonight. It sure made it a lot of fun. Man, those restarts were just wearing out my nerves there. That took about three or four years off of my life, I think. I'm just very excited to win this race to say the very least. I'm very, very grateful to even be here, so to win this race. I don't know if it's sunk in yet. I get to go home tomorrow and spend a little time at home and it's very exciting."

HOW DID YOU OVERCOME KAHNE'S ADVANTAGE? "Bob Osborne just kept making adjustments. He's a really smart guy and I'm very lucky to have Bob in my corner."

HOW WAS THIS CAR COMPARED TO YOUR BUSCH CAR? "This one was a lot better than my Busch car. I don't know what happened. PK and the guys have been doing a great job. We ended up having a decent night but our Scotts Fusion was nowhere near as good as this Office Depot Fusion, so we'll have to take some of the notes and go back if we can apply them, but I'm glad that no matter what happens this year, we won the night race at Bristol."

***

ROBBY GORDON -- No. 7 Camping World Ford Fusion (Finished 20th)

"Harvick didn't need to do that. I cleared him clean. We lost an ignition box coming off two when we were running 12th. The thing just died so I had to flick the switch and that allowed him to get next to me. We ran side-by-side for a lap and I cleared him again and he wrecked me for no reason. But a 20th-place finish is good for us at Bristol, but we were gonna finish about 12th -- right about where we thought we were in practice."

WHAT ABOUT THE RACING HERE? "I think it was pretty good. It was pretty competitive. There was a lot of room to race and I thought it was good."

***

GREG BIFFLE -- No. 16 Dish Network Ford Fusion (Finished 10th)

"We qualified thirty-something, but I'm pretty excited about that. It could have been better and it could have been worse, but I'm pretty happy overall."

WHAT ABOUT THE TRACK? "It's OK. It's pretty good racing, but it's not old Bristol."

A GOOD FINISH. "Yeah, it was a top 10 finish for the Dish Network Ford Fusion. We had a lot to work with. We qualified way in the back and had to work our way to the front. We never really had good track position all night. We had to fight for all of it. The lapped cars were the toughest because they were pretty fast too, but the groove around the race track made it difficult to pass. I wish we could have got up front. I think we could have run with the leaders, but we just needed track position."

***

BILL ELLIOTT -- No. 21 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion (Finished 25th) -- "I'm used up. I told them on the radio that I wouldn't do this for just anybody (laughing)."

HOW WAS THE TRACK? "The track is great. I'm telling you, I was totally impressed. That was the best we've raced to be able to race somebody and keep off of them. My hat's off to these guys. They did a great job."

-credit: ford racing

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