Race Weekend Central

Running Their Mouth: 2009 TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville

Each week, we’ll go through media reports, interviews, PR and all of our own stuff to find the best quotes from the Sprint Cup race, capturing the story of how the weekend unfolded. It’s the most original commentary you’ll ever find: the truth, coming straight out of the mouths of the drivers, crew members and car owners themselves. This week, here’s a sneak peek at what they all were thinking following the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway:

“It’s a good bounce back. I just gotta thank all my fans for sticking with me on Twitter and everything, giving me some hope that the last two weeks were in the past. I knew all those guys were going to be aggressive to try to get a win. We just had the best car there at the end. The [No.] 48 (Jimmie Johnson) didn’t do anything that he shouldn’t have and made sure he protected his points lead. He gave us a little bit of respect as well.” – Denny Hamlin

“Man, being on that outside lane on those restarts was not a fun place to be, but we had a good car. I think Denny [Hamlin] had the best car on that last run and maybe the run before that, so those guys really know what they’re doing here at this track. They did a great job. Great day for us overall. Wish we could have had one more position higher, but it is what it is.” – Jimmie Johnson, finished second

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“It’s just every time we’ve been around racing against him (Jeff Gordon), he runs the hell out of me. He moved me out of the way before and he was starting to do the same here today. You know, I was running the outside of him and every time he was just getting wider and wider. We’re good; I talked to him afterwards.” – Juan Pablo Montoya, finished third

“It was definitely a great battle with everybody. It was a hard-fought day and the M&M’s Camry was decent. The guys had awesome pit stops all day. We want to win every week, but I’ve been trying to get there and trying to get a little bit better. It seems like the past couple weeks, we’ve done some improving. I’m encouraged, but we’ve got a lot more to go.” – Kyle Busch, finished fourth

“He’s (Juan Pablo Montoya) an aggressive driver. We’ve seen it from him before. I thought I did something to make him mad, because I didn’t understand why he was just driving into me for no reason. But hey, that is Martinsville. That’s kind of the way he drives. I hope it’s not something that transfers over, because I don’t know really what I did if I did do something.” – Jeff Gordon, finished fifth

“It was a really good day. We made really good pit calls and had good pit strategy. Our car was better than average, so we just had a solid day.” – Jamie McMurray, finished sixth

“We kept our nose clean the entire day and ran up there with those guys who are running for the championship. We’re just going to go out there and race and not worry about points. We want to continue to run strong in the last four races and hopefully get our first win of the season. We’re going to fight hard and carry the Soldiers’ motto of never quitting and battling to the finish.” – Ryan Newman, finished seventh

“We had a good car and overcame a bad starting position early on. It’s no secret it’s not gone well for us lately in the Chase and 11th at a tough place like Martinsville is a good start to getting back on track. We could’ve run better and finished better, but we’ll take it. A good effort by the whole Red Bull team all weekend.” – Brian Vickers, finished 11th

“I’m glad that’s over. It was a long day and this is a tough track. Overall, the No. 20 Farm Bureau Insurance Toyota wasn’t bad. It was really good on the long runs, which is tough because you don’t get many of those at this track. I’m proud of my team – we had a few rough pit stops that could have done us in, but they never gave up and we kept bouncing back.” – Joey Logano, Raybestos Rookie of the Race, finished 12th

“It was another solid day for the Jack Daniel’s team, but we again didn’t get the finish we deserved. Just right at the end the No. 5 (Martin) got into me on one of those last few laps. I don’t know if he just got in too hot or what, but he got into the back of us. But you really can’t control stuff like that. I’m just proud of the car and how we ran here today.” – Casey Mears, finished 18th

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