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Michael McDowell top Raybestos Rookie in Chevy Rock & Roll 400

Sunday September 7, 2008

 

Where the Raybestos Rookies finished at Richmond:
McDowell 20th
Smith 23rd
Carpentier 25th
Hornish Jr. 38th

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOR THE CHEVY ROCK & ROLL 400 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2008, PAGE 1.

MICHAEL MCDOWELL IN THE No. 00 CHAMPION MORTGAGE TOYOTA WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN TODAY’S RACE AT RICHMOND.

NOTES:

· McDowell scored a 20th-place finish, his best in 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. This is his first Sprint Cup start since Watkins Glen (race No. 22).

· McDowell grabbed Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the fifth time this season.

MCDOWELL: “I’ve got to thank these 00 Champion Mortgage guys. They gave me a great car today. It was a hot one. The AC didn’t work and feet were on fire so it’s pretty tough.” WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE? “Well I think it proves the fact that we belong here, this 00 group and got us back in the top-35 today so I think that’s a pretty good deal. We ran top-15 and gave up some spots there at the end. The 77 was a couple of laps down and he ran us pretty hard, which we’re racing for the top-35 so I get it. Couldn’t afford to really get into him, move him, ‘cause that’d have just given him the right to move us back and we knew we had enough points to get in. So that’s a pretty tough day but the pit stops were awesome. That’s really what we needed.” COMMENT ON YOUR RUN TODAY. “That was a great run for us. That’s one of our best runs. We ran in the top-15 all day. Just got to thank all the people at Michael Waltrip Racing. This is a brand new car for us and they’ve really done a good job. David Reutimann has been running great and today we had a good run and the guys had great pit stops. The Champion Mortgage Toyota was really good. I just want to thank Michael Waltrip and Rob Kauffman and Cal Wells for giving me the opportunity to get back in and Mike Skinner for helping us get our program a little bit better.” IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TO GET IN THERE AND HAVE A GOOD RUN AFTER SITTING OUT FOR A FEW RACES? “It’s not bad to come back to your first race and get a top-20, your best finish and Raybestos Rookie of the Race so it’s a good return for us. Hopefully we’ll have more of those.” HOW WAS YOUR CAR? “This new series of cars for us is a lot lighter. The CG is a lot lower and all the engineers at Michael Waltrip worked really hard on it. It’s just a better package and we had better pit stops and I had a little bit more confidence as well.” IS THIS THE BEST RACE THAT YOU’VE DRIVEN ALL YEAR? “Oh yeah, by far. Got to have a good piece under you to do anything and once you get that then you get confidence.”

PATRICK CARPENTIER, No. 10 VALVOLINE DODGE: “Yeah, not too bad. We ran all day, pretty happy. Spun out there, that’s too bad and lost the Raybestos Rookie of the Race there I guess. The car was good. We were running pretty strong. Starting at the back is always tough and we managed to get our lap back. We were in pretty good shape, fighting with some of these guys and just a mistake there, spun it out at the end there and bent the front spoiler and was a little tighter at the end of the run. It was good. It’s getting a lot better. We’re fighting with these guys out there now.” IT SEEMED LIKE YOU GOT THE CAR BETTER AND BETTER DURING THE RACE. “We did. We kept working on it and Mike [Shiplett, crew chief] did a good job.

REGAN SMITH, No. 01 DEI/THE PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP CHEVROLET: IT APPEARED THAT YOU LOST TRACK POSITION RIGHT OFF THE BAT AND YOU WERE TRYING TO GET IT BACK ALL RACE LONG. “We didn’t lose track position right off the bat. We had a pretty good car. Dan [Stillman] did a pretty good job with the car. I don’t know, we moved up early on, kept moving up but kept having to pit and it pretty much messed us up. That’s all there was to it. We kept losing track position. Our car went away at the end but there with about 100 to go we had a really good racecar. We were sitting pretty and you know, five spots every time you pit, you can’t lose ‘em like that because by the time you make ‘em up you’re tires are gone and you’re just fighting a losing battle all day long so no matter how good your car is you can’t ever gain on ‘em. I guess we’ve got to do some practice and see what we can do to get it better.” ARE YOU ENCOURAGED BY THE WAY THAT YOU RAN AND HOW GOOD THE CAR WAS? “Aw yeah, I mean, we’ve known our short track program is good. We’ve known we had good racecars on the short tracks. I’m encouraged but I’m not surprised either. I know how our short track program is. I’m just frustrated right now. I feel like we should have got a better finish than what we did today and it got away from us there.”

®Raybestos® brand brakes are produced by the Affinia Under Vehicle Group, the leading manufacturer of braking systems and components for the automotive industry. The line includes everything from brake drums to rotors, pads, shoes and hydraulic parts. Affinia Under Vehicle Group is at the forefront of research and development in brake technology and operates manufacturing and distribution facilities throughout North America.

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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