Race Weekend Central

Running Their Mouth: 2009 Dickies 500 at Texas

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 Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway:

“Unbelievable! I’m proud of our team and everybody pulling together hard. Racing my little brother head to head for the win is bittersweet. I was rooting for him, but at the same time, we wanted to put our Miller Lite Dodge in victory lane. It was cat and mouse on those restarts. Then it came down to the crew chief, Pat [Tryson] putting in the right calls and getting us the fuel mileage to bring it home.” – Kurt Busch

“Mike (Ford, crew chief) said we were half a lap to the good, even if I ran hard like I did the previous run. I got in the wall and just made a mistake. We struggled on pit road and really got ourselves back in the pack. Usually these fuel-mileage races don’t go our way. Obviously, we gained some spots today on the fuel-mileage thing. Felt like we had a really, really good car.” – Denny Hamlin, finished second

“We were 10 laps short, so we did everything we could. These guys did a really good job on this DeWalt team this weekend. We were pretty slow when we got here. We qualified 30th and had an uphill battle all day, and I think we would have finished about third or fourth on performance. The way everything shook out, we still ran third, so, overall, I’m happy with that.” – Matt Kenseth

“We had to have some gas. It worked out good. Alan Gustafson (crew chief) and everybody on the No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s team were on it [Sunday]. We were junk [Saturday] in practice and they threw some new stuff at it today. Wasn’t very good the first half and then magically midway the car became a top-five car. That’s what it was the last three runs.” – Mark Martin, finished fourth

“The Shell-Pennzoil Chevy was a good car all day. I think we were running seventh or eighth there and just decided to go for it at the end (on fuel). Came up about a lap short there, but a great call by Gil (Martin, crew chief) to just give it a whirl and see what happened in the end.” – Kevin Harvick, finished fifth

“I feel tired. That’s longer than you think out there, but I’m proud of everybody on the [No.] 44 team. Obviously, the end results of a top 10 is good, but we were top 12 to top 15 all day and got a little lucky on fuel mileage. It still wasn’t perfect. We’ve still got to work on it, but for our first race I was just really proud of everybody.” – AJ Allmendinger, finished 10th

“Just really disappointing. I thought we were two laps short, so I was trying to save two laps and just didn’t save enough fuel. The guys were screaming on the radio. I guess I didn’t realize how close we were on fuel, so I feel pretty bad. We had a strong day. We ran in the top 10 all day and we had a chance to win. I ran out [of fuel].” – Marcos Ambrose, finished 15th

“We were alright. I made a big mistake in the beginning and we had to go to the tail end of the longest line. There was one run where we were way off, but we fixed it and there at the end we were as fast as the leaders. It’s great for all of us. It’s kind of cool to be a part of, honestly, because not many people get that great opportunity to do something and to really learn it and see the results.” – Scott Speed, Raybestos Rookie of the Race, finished 18th

“I thought that we did a good job on our Penske Dodge. We had some bad circumstances today, getting caught up in a wreck that took our right-front out. I think we had a top-15 car, but just got caught up in the wrong spot at the wrong time. That’s racing. Congratulations to Kurt [Busch] and the Miller Lite guys. That’s a great win for those guys and I’m happy for my new teammate. They definitely had a great car all night.” – Brad Keselowski, finished 35th in his debut with Penske Racing

“It was just really close racing. I think Carl [Edwards] was really close to me and drove right beside me and the car got loose and I lost it. With these cars, that is just going to happen. This week we didn’t have the car we wanted, but we were getting better and better and the day went on. It kinda sucks, but things like this happen.” – Juan Pablo Montoya, finished 37th

“I just wish he (Sam Hornish Jr.) would have waited a little longer and didn’t take me out in the process. But it’s just one of those things. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guys did a great job to get this car back out on track to pick up some more spots. We didn’t want this by any means, but we’re still in a great position and we’ll go to Phoenix and race.” – Jimmie Johnson, finished 38th

“Juan [Pablo Montoya] just got loose underneath me and got the left rear of my car. That just happens at these places, I guess. I didn’t expect it, especially from Juan. He’s got great car control. His car must have been really loose and it just snapped on him. It looked like he needed another couple inches and it wasn’t there, but that’s racing.” – Carl Edwards, finished 39th

“The big thing for us today was trying to make it to the end, try to be real patient. I got hit by the [No.] 00 (David Reutimann) and was trying to catch it and then got into Jimmie [Johnson]. I feel bad for him because I didn’t want to take him out. I was doing everything that I could just to try and keep the car moving forward. Obviously, you don’t ever want to detract from the championship when you’re really not even involved in it.” – Sam Hornish Jr., finished 40th

About the author

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Share via