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Regan Smith top Raybestos Rookie in AMP Energy 500

Sunday October 5, 2008

 

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOR THE AMP ENERGY 500 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY, OCTOBER 5, 2008, PAGE 1.

REGAN SMITH, No. 01 DEI/THE PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP CHEVROLET:

NOTES:

· Smith scored an 18th-place finish and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the NINTH time this season.

· Smith was the top rookie in both races this season at Talladega. He scored a 21st-place in the Aaron’s 499 (race No. 9).

SMITH: COMMENT ON THE FINAL LAP. “I wanted to back the corner up going into three there. I knew I could get a run on him. I had Paul [Menard] back there. Paul was giving me some awesome pushes. We came off of four and I was right where I wanted to be on the racetrack. Shot to the outside, he went up to block, went to the inside and he forced me down to the inside. They always tell us in the driver’s meeting if you get forced to the inside then you can go for it, especially on the last lap. We’ll see what they make as a ruling. I really feel like The Principal Financial Group Chevy won this race. I’m proud of all my guys, proud of DEI proud of everybody at ECR Engines. They’ve stuck with me all year and it’s not been the best of years. Nonetheless we’ll be disappointed with second and feel like we won but we’ll also be happy with it, too.” SO YOU FEEL THAT YOU WERE FORCED DOWN BELOW THE YELLOW LINE? “I saw the replay when I was pulling in here [to pit road] and I felt like we won that race. I could have caused a big pileup and you don’t want to do that either. We’ll see what they say. I wanted to win really badly. I knew if I made my move too early that the whole field would get an opportunity to make a run on us and didn’t really want to do that. The move worked out just how I wanted it to so I don’t know what else I could have done different. Made good moves and all that stuff and my teammates did an awesome job helping me. Paul and Aric [Almirola] both pushed me for quite a while there. Aric got shuffled out on the restart but Paul did a great job pushing me. We’ll see what they say about it. I’m really happy because we haven’t had a good year and this is an incredible finish for us but I’m disappointed too because I really feel like we won that race.” WERE YOU SURPRISED TO LEAR THAT TONY STEWART WON THE RACE? “A little bit, yeah. I was pumping my fists like we won it because I thought we did. I still do think that we did. We’ll see what happens here.” YOU WERE PUSHED DOWN BELOW THE LINE. “I had a nose inside and my only alternative was to wreck ‘em so next time that’s what I’ll do [laughs]. And that’s not a knock against Tony. I like Tony a lot. He’s a great guy but I wanted to win pretty damn bad there.” WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE RULE? “The rule is, that number one on the last lap, anything goes. They always tell us that in the driver’s meeting. They always say ‘Well on the last lap it’s NASCAR’s discretion. I guess that was NASCAR’s discretion but I felt like I got forced down there. We needed a good run. We needed a good run for the company. It’s been a long week for us and just proud of everything everybody on the marketing side, Max [Siegel] John Story, all those guys are doing. Everybody on the competition side, whether it be the engines, whether it be the cars, everybody at the DEI race shop. They’re all doing an awesome job. Bobby Hutchens is a great addition. Dan Stillman [crew chief] and these guys gave me a great race car today. We’ll take what they give us here.” COULD NASCAR BE SHOWING FAVORITISM TO ONE O F THEIR BIG STARS? “NASCAR’s going to do what they think is right, man. If they felt like I didn’t get forced down there then that’s how they’ll call the finish and if they felt like I did get forced down there then they’ll change the call. They’ve got to do what they’ve got to do. They’re going to look at the tape and they do a good job with it and see what happens. It was going to cause a heck of mess if I didn’t give a little room there. I don’t know. It might not say it in the rule or in the history books but the 01 car won today.” DID YOU MAKE THE MOVE TO WHERE YOU WANTED TO ON THE FINAL LAP? “I made the move right when I wanted to. I mean, I felt like it had to be coming off turn four. I didn’t feel like I could make it any sooner. I knew I had a teammate back there. I knew Paul was going to go with me, he told me that. He’s a great guy. He’s been a friend of mine all year. I didn’t want to make the move any sooner than what I did and that was the exact move I wanted to make. I knew he was going to come up to block and I knew he was going to shoot back to the bottom. I don’t know [smiles]. I can’t change what the box up there says. We’ll fight it and see what they say.” HOW BIG IS IT TO RUN SO WELL TODAY FOR YOU AND THIS TEAM? “I think it’s huge for all of us. It shows the effort the whole organization is putting forward. We’ve been going through a lot of adversity and everybody here keeps working hard. They keep giving us great race cars. My team has not won the way we wanted to this year. That’s the first time I think we can honestly say we’ve run anywhere close to where we’ve wanted to this year and that’s good. Hopefully it’s a sign on things to come. The one thing that all of us have to remember each day when we walk through the door is that front door says Dale Earnhardt Inc. and that name is big as the name NASCAR itself.”

MAX SIEGEL, PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL OPERATIONS, DALE EARNHARDT INC.: THIS WAS A GOOD DAY FOR DEI. “This whole organization has been working hard all year long. The engine shop, they’re building great cars, the guys put forth a lot of effort. This is fantastic for our company. It’s really exciting to see the younger guys on the team working together competing with these pros out here. We’ve really got some talented guys and we’ve just got to stay focused and push forward and I think we’re going to be great as an organization. You know what, that whole team has been working hard all year long. We’ve been doing everything we can to support ‘em. They’ve been digging and this is just a big morale boost for them and I know it’ll be a big confidence boost for Regan, just a fantastic job today.”

The following are comments from Smith after he learned that he was moved to 18th-place in the final rundown.

SMITH: IT WAS CALLED A JUDGEMENT CALL BY NASCAR. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE OUTCOME OF THIS RACE? “My judgment and NASCAR’s are totally different. We just watched the tape and we can argue about it for five years. They’re not going to change their decision. That’s how NASCAR works. I totally disagree with ‘em 110 percent. They showed the tape to us. We all sat there and watched it together. In the driver’s meeting they tell us each week if you’re forced below the yellow line you can go there. I clearly moved to the outside, moved back to the inside. Tony made a move to the high side and made a move to the bottom side. My nose was in there. The only option I had was to wreck him. The only other option I had was to wreck him. They told me ‘Oh you could have got out of the gas.’ That doesn’t take away from the fact that I’m proud of DEI. I’m proud of what all the guys have done at ECR, our shop in particular. All my guys have stuck by me all year long, The Principal Financial Group and Chevrolet. That’s how it goes.” WHAT ABOUT GETTING MOVED BACK TO THE TAIL END OF THE LEAD LAP? “Finish second or 18th it really don’t matter at this point to me. It’s how it goes [smiles].” HOW HEARTBREAKING IS THIS? “You just went from winning a race to finishing 18th. You tell me [smiles]. I’m not trying to be a smart ass about this but I think it’s a bad call. I think as the week goes on everybody that’s asked will probably say that it’s a bad call. You take what they dish out and go to the next race.” HOW WAS THIS EXPLAINED TO YOU? “They’re saying that I could have checked-up or I wasn’t forced down there and I don’t know how else to say it. The only alternative I had was to wreck Tony. This ain’t about him. Congratulations to those guys for winning the race. He ran a great race and did an awesome job but I don’t think this is right.” THEY ARE TELLING YOU THAT WITH THE FINISH LINE COMING UP AND YOU’RE RACING FOR THE WIN THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE CHECKED-UP? “Yeah, basically, and they’re telling us the exact opposite thing that they tell us in the driver’s meeting each time that we come to the restrictor plate places. I nearly asked that question this morning in the meeting [smiles]. I’m not enough of a veteran to ask questions in the meeting. That’s how it goes.” SHOULD THE RULE BE CLARIFIED? DO YOU THINK THE DRIVERS ARE ALL CLEAR ON THAT RULE? “You’re going to have to ask the other drivers that. I know I’m clear on what they’ve told us as long as I’ve been driving at these places. I know I’m clear. Maybe the rest of the drivers see it differently than I do, I don’t know. I don’t know what else I would have done in that situation.” SO YOU WERE CLEARLY RIGHT? “I’m not saying I’m right [smiles]. I feel like I’m right in my head. Maybe I’m wrong. They’re telling me I’m wrong so must be that I’m wrong.” WITH THE YEAR THAT YOU’VE BEEN HAVING, HOW BADLY DID YOU NEED THIS PERSONALLY? “I think the ruling still doesn’t take away from the run that we had. You know, personally, for me, definitely needed it. It’s been a rough year. It’s been an up and down year, more downs that ups, definitely. I know you guys [media] have followed it and there’s a lot of stuff going on within the organization, just even this past week. You know, a lot of scrutiny we’ve been given is pretty unjust I feel like and we’ve all been working hard to have kept all four cars in the top-30 in points and all four cars have had some very good runs. The one cool thing is there’s 400 people working at Dale Earnhardt Inc. Each day they walk through the door, they see a name on that door and the name is Dale Earnhardt and that name is as big as the name NASCAR itself, and that’s not a knock to NASCAR by any means. But that name is as big as NASCAR itself and they’re proud to walk in there, they’re proud to work there. We’ll work out butts of to get another one somehow this year.” ONE OF THE DRIVERS TOLD US THAT THE KEY IS THAT ON THE LAST LAP IF YOU CAN SEE THE FLAGSTAND, ONCE YOU CAN SEE THAT… “They’ve told us that before, too. How many times have we seen ‘em come across the stripe down there, even the truck series race yesterday, with guys down below there making up positions? I think when you really go to it, they went down below the stripe yesterday and made up positions and I don’t know why yesterday is different than today. You guys [media] will have to be the ones to figure that out. I guess that is your job this week [laughs].” YOU WANTED THIS FOR YOURSELF AND DEI. “For DEI is about the only one that I wanted it for [smiles]. It’s probably the part that hurts worst.”

®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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