Raybestos Rookie Scott Speed FIFTH in Aaron's 499

Sunday April 26, 2009

 

Where the Raybestos Rookies finished at Talladega:
Speed 5th
Logano 9th
Papis 18th

UNOFFICIAL Raybestos Rookie standings:
Logano 98
Speed 90
Papis 28
Bean 1

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOR THE AARON’S 499 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY, APRIL 26, 2009, PAGE 1.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 THE HOME DEPOT TOYOTA: “Just going down to the end of the race and I thought the 6, if we had hooked up to each other and we were going to go. Kept backing up and backing up but we never hooked up. I don’t know why. He hit me once and we tried to go and we couldn’t stay together and keep going so we ended up losing spots because of it so that was kind of that.” HOW MUCH DID THE DRAFTING PRACTICE THAT YOU AND DENNY DID YESTERDAY HELP TODAY? “I used a lot of it, a ton of it. Just disappointed that you ran good and you were up there and then you lose a bunch of spots at the end of the race.” YOU MUST HAVE FELT HELPLESS WHEN YOU SAW THE 99 AND 09 COMING AT YOU ON THE OUTSIDE. “You can’t stop ‘em. They’ve got so much more speed you can’t ever block ‘em in time so you’re just screwed, pretty much. It’s horrible. There’s nothing you can do. You’re out there and you’re doing everything you think is right and it just gets all jumbled up there at the end. I guess I should have stayed in line stayed where I was but oh well.” YOU DODGED TWO PRETTY BIG MULTIPLE CAR ACCIDENTS. “Yeah, we didn’t hit anything all day so that was good. I don’t know. I guess that’s good.”

SCOTT SPEED IN THE No. 82 RED BULL TOYOTA WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE AT TALLADEGA.

NOTES:

Speed scored a fifth-place finish today at Talladega, his best finish in 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts.

Logano grabbed a ninth-place finish, his best effort in 12 Sprint Cup Series starts and his first top-10.

Max Papis was credited with an 18th-place finish, his best in five Sprint Cup Series starts and first ever lead lap finish.

DID YOU KNOW? All three Raybestos Rookies scored their best career Sprint Cup Series finish in today’s race at Talladega: Speed, Logano and Max Papis. Logano claimed a ninth-place finish while Papis was credited with 18th-place. All three drivers finished on the lead lap.

MORE NOTES:

Speed grabbed Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the third time this season.

UNOFFICIALLY Joey Logano leads Scott Speed by eight points (98-90) in the Raybestos Rookie standings.

THE DROUGHT IS OVER! Speed became the first Raybestos Rookie to score a top-five finish since David Ragan placed third in the 2007 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, a span of 54 races.

The Aaron’s 499 is the first race where TWO or more Raybestos Rookies led a lap this season: Joey Logano (twice for four laps) and Scott Speed (once for one lap).

A Raybestos® Rookie has led a lap in the each of the past FOUR consecutive spring races at Talladega. The others:
2006: J.J. Yeley, once for one lap
2006: Denny Hamlin, once for one lap
2007: David Ragan, once for two laps
2008: Regan Smith, once for one lap

Speed became the first Raybestos Rookie to score a top-five finish in the spring race at Talladega since Kurt Busch placed third in 2001. Other Raybestos Rookies to score top-five finishes in the Aaron’s 499 (since 1975):
1979: Joe Millikan, fifth
1987: Davey Allison, FIRST
1999: Tony Stewart, fifth
2001: Kurt Busch, third

MORE NOTES:

Top-five finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the Aaron’s 499 (since 1975):
1979: Joe Millikan, fifth
1987: Davey Allison, FIRST
1999: Tony Stewart, fifth
2001: Kurt Busch, third

DID YOU KNOW? Speed and Logano became the first pair of Raybestos Rookie to finish in the top-10 in the spring race at Talladega since 1980. Other top-10 finishes by Raybestos Rookies in the Aaron’s 499 (since 1975):
1977: Sam Sommers, 10th
1979: Joe Millikan, fifth
1979: Terry Labonte, ninth
1980: Lake Speed, seventh
1980: Jody Ridley, 10th
1981: Tim Richmond, sixth
1982: Mark Martin, 10th
1984: Phil Parsons, seventh
1987: Davey Allison, FIRST
1994: Steve Grissom, 10th
1996: Johnny Benson, 10th
1999: Tony Stewart, fifth
2001: Kurt Busch, third
2002: Jimmie Johnson, seventh

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 RED BULL TOYOTA: WHAT DID YOU THINK WHEN YOU WERE COMING TO THE START FINISH LINE AND YOU SAW A CAR UPSIDE DOWN? “Well not be selfish but I had to miss ‘em and then after I thought ‘Man, I hope he’s okay.’ It was a spectacular finish for sure. I’m sure that the fans enjoyed it.” YOU OVERCAME A ONE-LAP PENALTY IN THE BEGINNING OF THE RACE. “Honestly the race worked out really lucky for us the whole time. We put ourself out of the crash there and I think the one friend I have out there, Kyle [Busch], was a lap down and being right behind me with five to go. I mean, that’s what pushed us up to the front. I think it’s just a race that worked out for us.” MARCOS AMBROSE SAID THANKS FOR A BIG PUSH THERE THAT HELPED HIM OUT. “We were all trying to just stick together on the bottom, man [laughs].” HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU FINISH FIFTH? “I was in the right place at the right time I guess, I mean like everyone who was up there [smiles]. It was kind of crazy. It was very difficult to get any kind of help from anyone. It’s just when someone would get behind me they’d pick another lane so at the end it so happened that Kyle was behind me a lap down and he just basically took us to the front [smiles]. I always had a train behind us. That was really lucky for us and fortunate and it turned out that we just had a good result. It was a good points day for us as well.” HOW BIG IS A TOP-FIVE FINISH FOR YOU AND THE TEAM? “It’s a big points day for us. We’ve had really unlucky races up to this point. Daytona was just a total disaster but I think now I’m about square because I think we got lucky in a couple places here this weekend. It’s crazy how these things work out.” AND YOU CAME FROM A LAP DOWN. “Well a lot of people come from a lap down here that do well. Most peop le end up on the lead lap because there are so many cautions and lucky dogs. Nonetheless it was a great points day for us.” COULD THE RACE HAVE PLAYED OUT ANY BETTER FOR YOU AT THE END FOR YOU TO GAIN A FEW MORE POSITION? “I don’t know. We went back and forth. If you did this race a bunch more times over I don’t think we’d end up there just because it’s so hard to get anyone to push you, especially me. Like I said, it was really lucky that Kyle was there at the end and was able to push me [laughs] because without anyone behind you, you know, supporting your row, you don’t go anywhere.” THERE WERE TWO BIG WRECKS BUT YOUR CAR LOOKS IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE. “We got a flat left front. I don’t know why. I’m pretty sure it happened on the cool down lap though. It’s good [smiles].” HOW DID YOU STAY OUT OF TROUBLE? “Right place at the right time. Daytona, wrong place wrong time. I can’t tell ya I did anything different, man [laughs]. YOU’VE ACCOMPLISHED A LOT IN YOUR RACING CAREER. WHERE DOES TODAY STACK UP? “It’s definitely great to make steps forward as this whole adventure has been into the stock car scene. Every time you make a step forward you make progress, you get better. It’s a huge accomplishment for me and I feel very fortunate to have that opportunity. I mean, I can’t say enough about Red Bull giving me this opportunity. I went from being a Formula One driver to them saying what do you want to do next. And to get them behind me to get up through these learning stages, that’s a commitment for sure, especially financially. Red Bull has been great for me. I was to stay with them forever. It was certainly crazy, especially the finish. I mean, I didn’t know what car it was so I had to ask them when I came in who it was and make sure they’re all right. I mean, it’s Talladega racing I guess. As it turned out it was a really lucky day for us. It was a good finish for us. We finished fifth and I think we gained a lot of points for the championship to keep us in the top-35. It was all good.” YOU CAME FROM A LAP DOWN AT THE START OF THE RACE TO FINISH FIFTH. THAT’S BIG. “Yeah, you don’t like to start the race already one lap down but at a track like this, this is one of the tracks that’s most forgiving in that circumstance. As it turned out it didn’t really mess us up. It actually kept us out of a big crash. Things just went out day today.” WHAT DID YOU SEE AT THE END OF THE RACE? “I saw a car flipping through the air, I mean high. That’s nasty. They said that Carl got out of the car and was walking. You never want to see that, ever.” < o:p>

MIKE HILLMAN SR., CREW CHIEF, No. 13 GEICO TOYOTA: “He did a great job. He got some experience and that’s hard to do when we were wounded like we were. He almost made it through the first wreck but we ran 188 laps and finished in the top 20 and we’ll go on to Darlington.” HOW MUCH CAN A RAYBESTOS ROOKIE LIKE MAX PAPIS LEARN WITH A DAMAGED CAR HERE? “I think he learned a lot because he found out that he needed to keep somebody behind him so when people were getting runs at him how to block and I think he earned some respect because the last half of the race people would push him where in the first half they’d just leave him out all the time. You can always learn out there and he did a good job today.”

SPEED PRESS CONFERENCE

“I’ve kind of got a headache I want to say. I’ve been hitting around so much [smiles]. It’s a crazy race. I mean, everyone is beating each other so much. For 90 percent of the race I was happy just staying in the back of the pack just because they were so aggressive. As it turned out, I mean, it’s very difficult to get, I found throughout the whole race, even when I was trying to go to the front anyone to help push. So I think it was really lucky that Kyle was there at the end to push me to the front. Otherwise I’m sure we’d have been struggling like everyone else but as it happened, the way it worked out, I had a good pusher behind me that was able to bring us to the front at the end when it counted. I mean it was really lucky, honestly.” YOU’VE DONE A LOT OF CRAZY THINGS. DOES THIS TOP YOUR LIST NOW? “I don’t know about that. I mean, as fast as Formula One is I mean the racing isn’t the same as NASCAR. There’s not the big wrecks even though the speed is so high. For me it almost even feels safer because we’re going so fast in such close quarters especially at a track like this. To me this is definitely on edge. I mean, this is the most intense thing that I’ve experienced in my racing career for sure.” YOU RAN TOWARD THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK FOR MUCH OF THE RACE. WERE YOU JUST BIDING YOUR TIME? “Did you see how many crashes they had [smiles]? Honestly I was just trying to stay as far back as I could without losing the pack. It just seemed like one point in the race right after we got our lap back we drove our way back up and were running second with a caution to go and we ended up staying out to get five points for leading a lap. So I thought our car could go to the front. I thought it was good but I didn’t want to be in the middle, sort of the eye of the storm. I was just doing my best to stay as far back as possible without losing it.”

JIMMY ELLEDGE, CREW CHIEF, No. 82 RED BULL TOYOTA: YOUR THOUGHTS AFTER THE RACE. “Wow! I’m just really proud of everybody on our team. Our restrictor plate stuff has been really good this year. The TRD power has been good and our program itself has been really good ‘cause we wrecked every car we had in Daytona and to be able to come back here and put together a top-10 qualifying effort together and top-five race is fabulous. And even with Scott doing it, that’s nothing against Scott, but for really your first time here at Talladega in a Cup car I think that’s excellent.” HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU FINISH FIFTH? “Something happened to the brakes from qualifying. Normally we push the brakes back but for whatever reason we couldn’t get the brakes to push back up. So on the pace lap, normally we wire the pads back with some really soft wire and we thought maybe the rear pads, it wasn’t breaking that wire so we cut it not knowing it was going to be a one lap penalty. Since it was a lap penalty we came back in an cracked both bleeders and pumped it right quick but then the brakes were fine so it was kind of like in between that everything fixed itself but we serving our penalty and trying to make the most of the penalty we were going to get by coming in and fixing the problem and fortunately all that worked. And then we were able to get the lucky dog ‘cause we were by ourself on the racetrack and the only car a lap down and didn’t get caught up in the first big crash. Then the next run we got up to the front, run a little bit, run second there for a little while and then elected to get the back and just try to stay out of the way for most of the day. And I felt like that’s probably the wrong thing to do for experience-wise. You don’t really get any experience but it’s the safest thing to do. That was Scott’s idea, not mine. My philosophy is race. If you wreck, you wreck [laughs]. That was his philosophy of doing it and I mean that’s fine. It worked out. We got in the right place the right time towards the end and got in the right line and committed to the right things and you know Kyle Busch was a big help. He got to us and he was a lap down and figured it was best to help us and pushed us all the way up into the top-10 and you know the stuff happened right there at the very last and we had some big momentum and some big runs. Been nice to have run one more lap ‘cause that would have been fun [smiles].” HOW BIG IS IT FOR THIS TEAM TO SCORE A TOP-FIVE FINISH HERE TODAY? “Oh it’s huge. It’s no secret we’ve struggled with this car since we started with Scott. You always hope that it’s going to be the miracle situation but we didn’t get started off on the right foot. We had stuff happen and we haven’t performed well and we haven’t been able to get the cars right for Scott. We felt like we’ve been gaining momentum. I don’t think this my no means is saying that we’re fixed and everything is good but it’s momentum and it’s confidence that surely doesn’t hurt. It’s nice because I’ve wore out guys out here lately just trying to make sure that we had every detail done. I’ve never been in a situation coming to a restrictor plate track outside the top-35. These places scare me as it is just from the standpoint that you’re at the mercy of your equipment and if you don’t have it, you don’t have it. We wrecked everything at Talladega and we were really depending a lot on the depth of our program to reproduce those cars and reproduce ‘em as good or better than what we had with no testing and they delivered for sure on that. To come here and qualify in the top-10 I’m totally dependent on the depth of our program has and that was all them guys and I just tried to make sure that the detail end of it was done on our end. It’s huge to make the ground up that we made on the top-35. I think we’re like 18 points out of 35th now going into Richmond. We feel like our short track stuff is good. Just keep chipping away at it and like I said it’s just confidence. I know Scott is going to be great. It’s just going to take some time.” HOW DOES THIS GOOD RUN TODAY HELP YOU DOWN THE ROAD AT RICHMOND AND DARLINGTON? “Being outside the top-35 is not easy. We have everything that you could ever as for as a crew chief to work with. Equipment, resources, finances, people, we don’t have any limitations. It’s our own limitations. When you run bad every week you get to thinking that you can’t run good but when you go run good and you start believing hey, I can do that or we can do that, that’s for sure. It gives everybody a lot of confidence and that’s a lot. You can have great race cars and you can have not any confidence as a group and you’re not going to run good. You’ve seen what Jeff Gordon can do when he wants to and that team can do when they want to and the guys win championships and it’s all about confidence and momentum. Hopefully we can keep this and build on and keep going with it and capitalize on it while we have it and just keep digging. Hopefully this is that shove we needed.”

Raybestos® brand brake and chassis parts are produced by affiliated companies in Affinia’s Global Brake and Chassis Group, the leading manufacturer of braking systems and chassis parts in the transportation industry. The brake line includes everything from brake drums to rotors, pads, shoes and hydraulic parts, while the chassis line features tie rods, ball points, idler arms and sway bar links. Raybestos brand braking and chassis systems are also the only systems used by NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing in competition. For more information about Raybestos brakes, visit Raybestos.com. For more information on Raybestos Chassis visit RaybestosChassis.com

Affinia Group Inc. is a global leader in the on and off-highway replacement products and service industry. In North America the Affinia family of brands includes WIX® Filters, Raybestos®, AIMCO® and BrakePro® brake products, and McQuay-Norris® and Raybestos™ Chassis parts. South American and European brands include Nakata®, Filtron®, Urba® and Quinton Hazell®. For more information, visit affiniagroup.com.

• Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.

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

 

©2000 - 2008 Kim DeHaven and Frontstetch.com. Thanks for visiting the Frontstretch!