Dodge teams Daytona 500 race quotes

Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 32nd

Pit stop for Brad Keselowski, Penske Racing Dodge

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

WHAT TOOK MORE DAMAGE IN THE ACCIDENT, YOUR CAR OR YOUR PHONE? “The Charger, by far. It’s really disappointing. We fought really hard all race long to be towards the front so you’d be in front of those wrecks, but had to come in and pit under that last yellow and got towards the back. And when something happens and you’re back there, you can’t get out of it. You know, that’s Daytona and that’s how this racing is. It’s been a long few weeks in Daytona and we’ll move on to Phoenix. I think we’ve got really good cars throughout the season. We had a good run tonight and I’m proud of everyone at Penske Racing for that. We’ll take the Miller Lite Dodge on to Phoenix. I want to send a shout-out to all the fans still watching. I know it’s late at night and we had rain delays and fire delays, but you guys are still here and I just want to say thank you.”

YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT HAPPENED? “We did a good job all race long being in front of everything in case something happened and we had to come back in and pit. We had something wrong with the car and that got us behind. Then, the wreck and I was right in the middle of it. It’s Daytona. It’s how it goes.”

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THE FIRE? “Well, I knew it was big. I knew we were going to have to stop. It’s a big event. How does that happen is the next question that you ask. What a weird night.”

HOW WAS THE TRACK AFTER THAT? “It definitely had a bump in it, but nothing that we couldn’t drive through so we’re okay.”

WE SAW YOU TWEETING DURING THE DELAY. HOW MANY FOLLOWERS DID YOU REALLY GET? “A lot, but you know I'll take the win first.”

HOW BIZARRE WAS THIS RACE? “It’s been a bizarre week. You’ve seen that with the winners in the last few races, but that’s Daytona. You never know what to expect. That’s why it’s such a marquee race for us.”

***

Paul Wolfe (crew chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T)

DID YOUR DAY TAKE A TURN WHEN YOU HAD TO PIT WITH JUST 22 LAPS TO GO? “Yeah, I mean obviously, that kind of snowballed from there. Brad did a good job all night. We ran strong and kind of found our way to the front of the field to have a shot at it at the end like we wanted to. I guess we had a loose wheel on that last pit stop and the vibration got so bad he had to pit. We lost what track position we had and found ourselves getting caught up in the mess. Just one of those deals that was a mistake on our part and we had to pay the consequences for it. Definitely frustrating. We made a good run all night and just couldn’t finish it out.”

WERE YOU PLEASED WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR CHARGER TONIGHT? “Yeah, because I felt like we raced hard all day. We didn’t ride around. We decided we wanted to run up front. We needed to be up front and be one of those guys to have a shot at the end. Brad did a great job keeping the car clean all night and we just kind of let him down on the pit stop and got ourselves behind.”

***

AJ Allmendinger (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 34th

WHAT HAPPENED ON PIT ROAD? “A tire fell off a pit crew next to us that was struggling tonight and I ran into it. Our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger ran well and it was fast, but we have a 34th-place finish to show for it. It sucks because the guys did a good job. It was a just a frustrating night for us, but we’ll bounce back strong at Phoenix.”

***

Robby Gordon (No. 7 MAPEI/Menards/SPEED Energy Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 41st

WHAT HAPPENED? "Unfortunately a piston or something broke in the motor. The car just started smoking when Kevin (Harvick) was pushing me. The car started vibrating really bad and broke a motor."

HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT FOR YOUR DAYTONA 500 TO END SO EARLY? "It's really frustrating especially watching what's happening in the race. I knew that if we were around at the end of the race that we'd have a good shot at a win. That was our goal. I was just riding around with Harvick and just blew up."