Race Weekend Central

Quotes: Auto Club 400

“Yeah, that was pretty wild. We had a good car and came real close to winning there but then everybody started taking tires and tires were really big at the end because the place is really slick and worn out. We were lucky there at the end and came in and got some fresh tires and that sort of fixed our mistakes and helped us to get a good finish. We had a good car and had some wheel issues, but was real happy about how we finished and made it up. We had a good enough car to run there, and were happy to get the finish.” Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished second

“We worked it last week. [Hamlin] probably shouldn’t have done what he did last week, so that’s what he gets. And besides that, I think our Auto Club Ford was very strong all day. I was very happy with the car we had. We were super fast, led a lot of laps. Nothing to hang our head down about, that’s for sure. We were very proud of that. Doug Yates, thank you so much for the motor. That thing ran the last seven, eight laps with no water in it, just pushing water over 300-degrees. So it’s really amazing for those guys. So thank you guys, everyone in the engine shop to get a solid run out here today. I look forward to get back to the race track and try it again. Joey Logano, finished third

“Yeah, we had to have tires. Man, that was just an unbelievable race. It is so cool to come here to California and have a standard old school NASCAR race where tires make a difference. It was really a great show. I hope the fans enjoyed it. That is about as good as it gets. Congrats to Kyle (Busch), he hung on. I knew the third-place guy was going to win. I could just feel the tension up there between Joey and Denny. I had a feeling the third-place guy would win. Kyle and I had a heck of a battle for third and he got me and he won the race. He did a good job.” Carl Edwards, finished fourth

“We worked on it and in the end I could have followed Kyle and just wanted to apologize to him for putting it three and four wide on the restart because I am hungry and going for the win and it’s not normally a move you would make if you are pushing a brother. I could have pushed him out to the lead earlier and maybe he could have held off the 22 and the 11 but I messed him up on the restart and I told him, I am going for the win with this Furniture Row Chevrolet SS and I am not going for anything less.” Kurt Busch, finished fifth

“It was an up and down day and with about 100 to go or 75 to go we got a set of tires that we couldn’t drive the car on and we were too loose and over adjusted and came back and were pretty good at the end. I don’t know about when the caution came out. I saw them wrecking and I came out of the gas. The 78 passed us and Carl and I am not sure how they are going to do that. Overall a top-five finish for us is a great day.” Greg Biffle, finished sixth

“It was up and down, just got to do the best job there, we sort of missed it a little bit. That last restart, the 17 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), he ran into the back of me and knocked me sideways and lost about eight spots and then couldn’t quite get back there. I thought we had good strategy, good stops — a great job at fixing all our problems, we were just off all day.” Matt Kenseth, finished seventh

“Well, Joey (Logano) spun the tires on the restart. Everybody had trouble with that so, but it’s not my fault that he spun the tires. For a guy that has been complaining about how everybody else is driving here and then (for) him to do that it’s a double standard. He makes the choice. He makes the decision to run us down there and when you run a driver down there then you take responsibility for what happens after that. He is a tough guy on pit road as soon as one of his crew guys gets in the middle of it. Until then he’s a scared little kid. Then he wants to sit there and throw a water bottle at me. He is going to learn a lesson. He can run his mouth on Twitter and stuff all he wants tonight. I’ve got plenty of people that are going to watch for that. It’s time he learns a lesson. He’s run his mouth long enough. He has sat there and done this double standard and he’s nothing but a little rich kid that has never had to work in his life. He’s going to learn with us working guys that had to work our way up how it works.” Tony Stewart, finished 22nd

“We just had a tough Friday and Saturday and we regrouped for Sunday and put a new set-up on the car and stayed optimistic. The car started off a little bit loose but once we dialed that in, it was decent. At the end of the race I really thought it was pretty good. So I felt better at the end of the race than I did in qualifying. So we made big improvements. We all want better than 26th and that’s what we had today and it will be better next time.” Danica Patrick, finished 26th

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