I drove like a wild woman last night to get there. ;-)
*************
Jr spun out KK.......he said he thought he was clear (has a new spotter) and he immediately sent an apology to Kasey's team.
Posted on 09/09/2004 12:18:30 AM PDT by WestCoastGal
Quotebook: Chase for the Nextel Cup drivers
By Lee Montgomery, NASCAR.COM
September 12, 2004
01:51 AM EDT (05:51 GMT)
RICHMOND, Va. -- RICHMOND, Va. -- Comments from those drivers that made the Chase for the Nextel Cup:
1. Jeff Gordon
"We just tested in New Hampshire. We're excited about these last 10 races. It's that kind of effort that we had tonight that we're going to put out every weekend for the next 10 weeks. If that doesn't get it done, then the other guys can have it. But we're not going to give up this thing without a fight."
2. Jimmie Johnson
"I think we've got a great chance. We've got a lot of really good tracks coming up. With this new format, Lady Luck has got to be on your side to do it. One DNF, and you're out of luck."
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"We've got a one-day test at Dover Tuesday. We're going to Martinsville for one day to try to improve a little bit there. Kansas and Homestead are the two tracks that are make-it-or-break-it for my championship opportunity. We're going two days at each of those tracks.
"If I'm one of the guys (not in the top 10), it boils down to how much of an a-hole or how much of a friend that guy is. If I want to do him a favor and give him a spot, and I like him, then I'm gonna do it. But if he's a jerk, I'm going to make him work for it.
"You're not going to tell Kenny Schrader to chill out and get behind the top 10. You've got to race everybody."
4. Tony Stewart
"We're struggling right now. We're letting a bunch of guys catch up that probably wouldn't get caught up by the end of the year.
"Here's the morale of the story: the next 10 races is the same 10 races that we had last year. You go to the track, you race and you get points for it. When it's over with, they'll tell us exactly where we finished in the points standings."
5. Matt Kenseth
"It's been kind of weird year. Everybody hasn't really worried about the points every week, so that's been sort of different. Everybody stayed kind of bunched up all year anyway. I'm happy we're down to 10 weeks to go. It's been a long summer, and I'm glad that we're into the playoff deal and glad that we're only 30 points behind or whatever it is. I wish we were closer than that, but glad it's closed back up. Hopefully, we can not make mistakes, have a good start and have a chance at the championship."
6. Elliott Sadler
"This has, by far, been the most fun week I've ever had. I've been racing some type of racing for 22 years, and this is the first race ever I've actually got to race and have fun and not worry about points.
"I can't wait to get the playoff system started. MY pit crew is as good as anybody on pit road, my crew chief is the winningest one on the garage - he won a championship two years ago. We're looking at like we're the favorites going into this thing."
7. Kurt Busch
"We're in, and we've got a great car to go to New Hampshire with. Tonight, we had a very fast racecar, just miscommunication in the pit. It's good to have that fumble now, it's good to have that strikeout looking now. We were just standing there with our pants because I thought (crew chief Jimmy) Fennig we'd be 18 laps shy. That was if we stayed out. If we would've come in, we could've had enough fuel to make it.
"We'll have the same car we won with at Loudon (in July) at Loudon. We tested at Dover in the spring, we're going to test Kansas, we'll be at Charlotte, we'll be at Martinsville, we'll be at Miami - any place that's fast, we've got to polish up on. Talladega will take care of itself, and we'll go to Martinsville and test. We've got our things on our plate. Now, it's a matter of executing the proper way."
8. Mark Martin
"At least the pressure's off. We kind of had the competition talking about us yesterday after Happy Hour. That's the kind of performance we expected. The race got going, and it was like, 'Oh, it's not all that great.' And there wasn't anything wrong with the car. I don't know why it didn't run it like it ran in Happy Hour and in the test, but we raced our guts out. We got a top-five with that car, that's fantastic. Pat Tryson is the man.
"I just don't recall having to fight as hard as Pat and I have had to fight, just to get in to something. We just didn't want to be excluded. Now, we're in."
9. Jeremy Mayfield
"I couldn't see us getting in without winning the thing. That was our only option, unless (Jeff Gordon) didn't show up and Jimmie (Johnson) didn't start his car up. We were in trouble. We had to win tonight, and if we didn't we wouldn't be here. We might have if we finished second or third or something. That was our goal. We weren't going to accept anything else."
10. Ryan Newman
"The 15 points doesn't matter. I guess what matters is that we made it. We won the battle, but we haven't won the war. We'll get our guns polished up for the last 10 races and do what we have to do as a team to stay focused and take the right racecars to the right race tracks and make the right calls. The driver will try not to make any mistakes and make sure we don't have any DNFs, engines failures and mechanical problems and go from there."
I drove like a wild woman last night to get there. ;-)
*************
Jr spun out KK.......he said he thought he was clear (has a new spotter) and he immediately sent an apology to Kasey's team.
The BudStud's radio chatter, some of which I missed last night........
Best Radio Chatter:
During a yellow-flag period on lap 171
Dale Jr.: “The car's pretty good, but it feels nervous. The thing is, it can't be any looser and it can't be any tighter…heh heh… so you guys got your work cut out for ya.”
After being involved in the tumultuous multi-car crash on 180:
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief) (As Junior slid through the infield grass): “Go! Just grab a gear and go. You'll be OK…”
Dale Jr.: “I got hit a lotta times… I don't know what may be damaged.”
Tony Jr: (after seeing the replay) “Man, ya done real good… for what you went through - ya did real good.”
Dale Jr: “The wheel in my hands feels pretty good. I'm not sure - it aint real bad. I dunno what happened, it just felt like the hand of God came over and hit me real hard.”
After a few more laps under the yellow flag:
Dale Jr.: “How bad does it look?”
Tony Jr: “Bad enough that we can still win.”
Dale Jr.: “That'll be cool to win with it all beat up like this.”
After being involved in a second crash several laps later:
Dale Jr: “I killed the 99 (Carl Edwards) car… so we may have knocked the radiator out of it. I couldn't stop in time.”
Tony Jr: “Tell me the water temperature and check your pressure gauge.”
Dale Jr: “It smells hot… It's 240 (degrees) now.”
Tony Jr: “Pit now and we'll check it out.”
As Dale Jr. passed seven cars in the next 15 laps:
Dale Jr.: “With that shock broken, it's carrying the left front tire offa (turn) two like a sprint car. It's pretty cool!”
Tony Jr: “You're doin' good driver. Keep the hammer down. The leaders should start pitting soon and we'll be lookin' good.”
After the race, while waiting for what seemed like an eternity for a live television interview:
Dale Jr. (yelling while Mark Martin is being interviewed): “Hey! Mark! Wrap it up! C'mon! Speed it up! I'm getting bumped more on this TV show than I was on the track tonight.”
Today's Stats
Started: 14th
Finished: 2nd
Led: Three times for 42 laps
Money: $153,543
Points: 3rd (10 points behind leader / will compete in final 10 races for the Nextel Cup Championship)
Best Pit Stop: Stop #11 of 12/Lap 207/ four tires and fuel / 11.82 seconds
Here's one for the number people, car 19 finished in 1st, numbers 9-11
RUMSFELD VISITS:@ Joe Nemechek's team, sponsored by the U.S. Army, hosted Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld for Saturday night's race, and Rumsfeld received warm welcomes everywhere he went before the event.
"My first stock car race was at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1948," Rumsfeld said after receiving a standing ovation at the drivers' meeting. "I don't know if there's one of you alive that was there."
Rumsfeld posed for dozens of pictures on pit road before the race, and said the nation is safer than it was three years ago on Sept. 11.
But, he said, "We're not safe in the sense that terrorists can always attack at any time at any place using any technique and it's not possible to defend at every place at every moment of the day or night against every conceivable threat. But it is possible to go after the terrorists, and that's what we've been doing," he said. "The pressure is one them."
Nemechek, who had a huge throng of media and military personnel near his car when he arrived before the race, said it was a big day for him.
"He's the one that's responsible for the safety of not only the United States, but also the world," Nemechek said. "It's an honor for me to meet him. It's just as cool as meeting the president."
Please stop posting on this thread. You are not wanted nor is your knowledge or analysis. Go start your own or find someone else you can irritate. You have done enough already the last few weeks.
That little trip cost me 50 points. I'll bet Jr will sweat every time KK is behind him...
Rummy is OUR Military's Crew Chief twice. Dick Cheney was a former Crew Chief for our military. Those Kerry folks want to ridicule Cheney for not serving in the military. By law, the Secretary of Defense MUST be a civilian. Do they understand that?
Did I just see that Toad Bovine finished 4th in the truck race???
Go do a history lesson somewhere else, Bobby.
I have asked you to leave and you seem to either be blind, or oblivious as to why.
This is your last warning.
Sorry I had to leave early. Just want you to know what a nice job you did.
FYI
The 10 Cup challengers will be on Regis & Kelly this morning at 9am PDT.
We are on our way slowly but surely. spent the night in Blythe California. Truck and trailer are loaded to the max!!
Hope to be online tomorrow for qualifying from the road (if I knew what time it was on) Someone help me out please, send info!!
10-4
09|17|04 3 p.m. ET Sylvania 300 Bud Pole qualifying
:-]
Sylvania 300 Bud Pole qualifying will be aired on XM and TNT (shocking that TNT isn't shuffling it off to the fine folks at Speed).
Caution as SWimmer got bounced (not by Crash, but by Green)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.