Dodge Kansas race notes

JASON LEFFLER (No. 01 Cingular Dodge Intrepid R/T) "It was a great weekend for us up to the finish. That was really disappointing. Our strategy just didn't work out at the end. We took two tires and gas. A lot of people just took gas.

JASON LEFFLER (No. 01 Cingular Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"It was a great weekend for us up to the finish. That was really disappointing. Our strategy just didn't work out at the end. We took two tires and gas. A lot of people just took gas. That's the way it goes. I got loose, trying to gather it up and then somebody tagged me. The track changed a little bit today, but we just couldn't get going on that last restart. It's a real shame. We had a good car all weekend long."

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We had a good race car. We just never could get any track position. Every time we'd get where we could have it, we'd have a bad stop. We lost four or five spots and the slow traffic was horrendous. I've asked NASCAR, Rusty has asked NASCAR, probably every driver who runs up front has asked to please let the fast cars start on the inside. You've got a high speed track. Tires are real slick the first four or five laps. It's ridiculous to make us start on the outside. I guess it sells more tickets. I could see the first half of the race letting the slow cars on the inside. Second half of the race, if you haven't made a lap up, you don't need to be up there. Guys are blocking terrible. It's a mess. I love the track. It's going to take a couple of races to get the outside groove. It's just like Atlanta. It was just a one-groove deal when it first started. On the long run, we could run quicker than the leaders. We had one good stop and came up to fourth and we got rooted down in one and two. We came back and had a bad stop. Track position was the key. We got another top five with (car number) 115. It won at Michigan in August, finished second at Indy and third at Michigan in June. It finished fifth today, and we're taking it to Charlotte next week."

DAVE BLANEY (No. 93 Amoco Ultimate Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"The more time we run here, the better the second groove will get. It got better and better all day today. Another race or two and it'll be fine. We had some good pit stops today. That put us closer to the front. We couldn't make up ground today, but we could hold on. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time on those last two starts and it cost me four or five spots. I was loose at the start on two runs. I had to be careful, and then it would come into me. I was trying too hard on the outside lane, and I had a guy right under my left rear and it got me too loose to hang on. I just lost it. You've got to be careful going two wide here. Once you dive in there you're committed, and it's hard to get out of there once you're committed. You learn on a new track what you can and can't get away with. We had a car that could have run fifth at the end if I had done the right things on the restarts. I just got blocked in both times and didn't make the move quick enough to get out from behind the guy who slowed up."