It was a hot day, it was an exciting day, and a day of history for the
whole Menard family. The air was in the mid nineties and add
several more degrees for being in the sun and the heat of the
track.
Strategy, driving, good engineering, a great team and the whole family
pulling for you helps win races and a bit of luck does not hurt
either. All came together today for Paul Menard and his team.
Winner Paul Menard -
"I've been coming here sine I was a
little a kid. My dad (Sponsor John Menard) has been coming here for 35
years. This is for Dad.
I can't believe we won Indy. My
spotter (Slugger) kept telling me where Jeff Gordon was and how hard he
was coming. It's quite an honor to beat Jeff Gordon here at Indy. This is
the greatest race track in the world."
Paul Menard Wins the
Brickyard 400
Paul
Menard Wins the Brickyard 400 and the family Jinx is Broken!!!!
MENARD
SURPRISES FIELD WITH EMOTIONAL BRICKYARD VICTORY
INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, July 31,
2011 - Paul Menard earned his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory
Sunday, July 31 in the Brickyard 400 presented by Big Machine
Records.com, surprising the field with a strategic fuel gamble and
delivering long-sought glory to his family at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway.
Menard
held off the late charge of four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon to
win by .725 of a second in the No. 27 Nibco/Menards Chevrolet. Menard
averaged 140.762 mph. It was the ninth consecutive Brickyard 400
victory for Chevrolet, dating back to 2003.
Menard's
father, John Menard, entered cars in the Indianapolis 500 in 1982 and
1984 and from 1990-2003, never winning "The Greatest Spectacle in
Racing."
"I've
been coming here since I was a little kid," Paul Menard said. "My dad
has been coming here for 35 years. This is for my dad. A lot of
emotions right now.
"I can't believe we won Indy.
This is the greatest racetrack in the world."
Regan
Smith finished third in the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, while 2010
winner Jamie McMurray was fourth in the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker
Boats Chevrolet. Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five in the No. 17
Crown Royal Ford.
Menard
made his final pit stop on Lap 123 with a large group of cars that
gambled on stretching fuel to the finish. Gordon pitted for the last
time from the lead on Lap 134.
Two-time
Brickyard 400 winner Tony Stewart took over the lead on Lap 135, on a
different fuel strategy from Menard and Gordon. Stewart dove into the
pits for fuel on Lap 145, handing the lead to Menard.
McMurray
passed Menard for the lead at the start-finish line on Lap 152, but
Menard regained the lead in Turn 2 on Lap 157. Menard's crew chief,
Slugger Labbe, told him the car had enough fuel for Menard to step on
the gas over the closing laps.
"Slugger
kept telling me where Jeff was," Menard said. "When he got to two,
three seconds behind us, he said, 'Take off.' The car was really good.
Clean air is so important. We had it right there."
But
Gordon, with no fuel worries and fresher right-side tires, still closed
his No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet to within .688 of a second
within Menard with one lap to go. But a lapped car between Menard and
Gordon helped Menard expand that gap over the final lap.
"I
knew there were some guys that were going to try to stretch it on fuel,
and all I could do is run as hard as I could to put pressure on them
and hope that I got there in time," Gordon said. "We got there just a
little bit short.
"But
Paul did a great job saving fuel because when I got there, even Regan
and other guys, they were still pretty much checking up when I got
there. It was easy to get by them. But Paul had saved enough to where
he could go back to a full pace. By that time, my car was just too
tight behind him."
Pole
sitter David Ragan finished 23rd in the No. 6 UPS/Hall Of Fame/Ned
Jarrett Ford. He led only one lap. Kasey Kahne dominated the race
early, leading the first 47 of the first 51 laps from the second
starting spot. He ended up 18th in the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota.
Indiana
native Stewart finished sixth in the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot
Chevrolet, while fellow Hoosier Ryan Newman was 12th in the Haas
Automation Chevrolet.
The
Crown Royal "Your Hero's Name Here" 400 at the Brickyard is scheduled
for Sunday, July 29, 2012. It will be the fourth race of the inaugural
Super Weekend at the Brickyard, which also will feature a NASCAR
Nationwide Series race Saturday, July 28 and two GRAND-AM races Friday,
July 27.
PAUL MENARD SLUGGER LABBE RICHARD CHILDRESS JOHN MENARD
KERRY THARP: Well go ahead and start. We have our team owner Richard
Childress and crew chief Slugger Labbe. Winner of today's 18th annual
Brickyard 400 is Paul Menard. Slugger, just talk about the ebb and flow
of this race. A lot of strategy towards the end. Heck of a Brickyard
today that we witnessed. Talk about getting that 27 car to Victory Lane
here.
SLUGGER LABBE: It was a neat day for sure. We pitted on lap 35, pit
road penalty. Tire changer didn't get the tire back, fell down,
penalized us. From this point on we really stretched our fuel. Went 34
laps then to stretch our fuel. Caution came out later. We were
fortunate enough to stay out and understand what our car was going to
do. Saturday we made a 22‑lap run in practice. Knew where we were
going to be at with fuel mileage. We knew with 35 it was a gamble we
were willing to take. We had a good meeting on Monday, myself,
Richie Gilmore and all the guys, and said, Look, guys, if we're going
to make the Chase, we're going to have to get risky. Seems to be a
trend in the Cup Series, that people take gambles on pit road. It was
our turn to get aggressive. I told Paul he had to support me. He
supported me a hundred percent today. Three times he had an occasion
where he could have said no, I don't want to do that, but he did.
Fortunately it worked out. We left pit road running third. Got
penalized, running 38th. That was a big emotion. Just to work our way
through it and not lose our cool and to come up with a big plan and win
the race is very fortunate.
KERRY THARP: Team owner, Richard Childress. Certainly a big win for
your racing team and organization. Paul has moved up to 14th in points.
With the win and the new wildcard berth, if we set the Chase field
tonight, he would be in the Chase.
RICHARD CHILDRESS: I'm just so proud of that whole Menard team. I
caught a lot of flack back early last year when we decided to go with
four teams. I've been watching Paul ever since he won the Nationwide
race. He doesn't tear equipment up. He's consistent. He's really good.
Got a cool head on him in all situations. I knew if the right situation
come along, we'd win. To get Slugger to come over, John Menard support
us, get Slugger, a couple of the engineers, that was a big jump going
in on a fourth team.
Couldn't be prouder of everyone at RCR or ECR Engines. Ran great today.
Got fuel mileage. Got chewed out last week for not getting fuel
mileage. Got the fuel mileage today, proud of 'em. Couldn't be prouder
for the Menard family. John has been here for many, many years. I think
we even had a car here one year at Indy. I think Robby drove it, if I'm
not mistaken. For him to win, to win here at Indy, to win with his son,
I couldn't be prouder.
KERRY THARP: I might ask John Menard, I think these folks would like to
hear from you, as well. Certainly you've done a lot for the sport. Your
thoughts about the victory today.
JOHN MENARD: Well, I wonder where that kid of mine is. Probably still
doing interviews. He took the money and ran, I think (laughter). This
is just great. I mean, it was Paul's day. But in a way, our whole
family has been at the Speedway for so long. We all tried very hard.
Paul came down here as a very little guy. I remember smuggling him into
the garage because he was too young to be in there. He would be sitting
on the workbench back there behaving himself. He had to be quiet or the
yellow shirts would throw him out. He was there, always interested
(laughter). He wanted to be a racecar driver. You know, I'm just a
proud father right now. I just have kind of elapsed back to him, of
thinking of him as my little boy, but he's a full grown man, one I'm
very, very proud of. I can't say how proud I am to be associated with
Richard, with Slugger, with the whole Childress organization. I'll tell
you what, guys, you did this. It's wonderful. I just thank you very,
very much. I think this is a good win for the Speedway, for the town of
Indianapolis. By God, I hope we're back here next year sitting right
here again.
KERRY THARP: While we're waiting for Paul, we'll take some questions.
Q. Richard, in the '80s and '90s, the guy sitting right next to you was
trying to get an American‑made engine to win the Indianapolis 500. How
much did you follow what he tried to do?
RICHARD CHILDRESS: Well, I mean, he has put up a great, great effort to
win here at Indy. I think, John, didn't we have a car together one year
with Robby?
JOHN MENARD: Run a little short of fuel, though (laughter).
RICHARD CHILDRESS: I've known John for many years, his family, the
passion he has for the sport. To win today was just unbelievable for
the Menard family. To have Paul pull it off, like you said, he was one
of the young kids around watching, had a dream, and today his dream
came true.
Q. John, all those years you invested into the Buick V6, won some
poles, whatever happened, how satisfying is it to finally claim a win
here?
JOHN MENARD: It's really satisfying to have one that doesn't blow up
(laughter). We have to thank everybody at the engine shop for that. We
worried about that here. It's really satisfying to see Chevrolet,
General Motors in the winner's circle. You know the success we didn't
have with those. But, by God, we were fast..
KERRY THARP: Let's hear from our race winner, Paul Menard. His first
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win, at none other than at the Brickyard 400.
Paul, talk about the significance, your emotion of winning one of the
biggest events in our sport.
PAUL MENARD: Man, I've been coming here for a long, long time, but not
nearly as long as my dad. To be the first one after all those years of
trying to win him a race at Indy, very special. 1989, I think was my
first year here. Spent 14, 15 years in a row just hanging out in the
infield being a fan. 2007, I got to race here. It was definitely the
highlight of my career up until that point. Here we are in Victory
Lane. It's unbelievable.
KERRY THARP: Open it up for questions again.
Q. A couple weeks ago you said if there was anyplace you could win,
first‑time win aside, this was the place. Talk about your childhood
here, what your dad accomplished, Tony's championship, making the move
with Slugger, why that was the right decision going to Childress.
PAUL MENARD: A lot of great drivers have driven for my dad, Johnny
Rutherford, Herm Johnson was the guy that got everybody started in
racing, back in the '70s. A lot of great drivers. He's had a lot of
great friends through the years from Indy. One of them was Richard.
Robby and Richard, you know, came up and met. I was in a meeting, we
were at a little pizza shop or something in Eau Claire. They wanted to
put an IndyCar program together. Kept in touch ever since. The time was
right in 2011 to pull the trigger and get it done. You can't thank
Richard enough for kind of going out on a limb with me and allowing me
to bring Slugger with. Slugger is a great friend, works as hard as
anybody in this garage. He's won a Daytona 500 and now he's won at the
Brickyard 400.
Q. Paul, growing up here, being around from the time you were a kid,
why did you chose to drive stockcars rather than IndyCars?
PAUL MENARD: That's pretty easy. Grew up in Wisconsin. There's no
feeder series for IndyCars. You can't race IndyCars being in Wisconsin.
There's a lot of short tracks, a lot of legends, late models. Go‑kart
thing. 15, 16, started racing legend's cars. Hooked up with Bryan
Reffner. Actually brought out Richard's truck team. He was selling his
truck team. Brian came in to buy that. Let me drive his car. We won a
heat race, finished fourth.. Got a late model, started racing
that. At one point we were racing three or four nights a week. That's
Wisconsin short track racing.
Q. Paul, you get a lot of flack because of your sponsorship.. Slugger
said earlier, That's not fair, he's not a kid with a silver spoon in
his mouth, he wants to be good at this. Does this make that more
gratifying to you?
PAUL MENARD: I mean, we're winners in Sprint Cup. That's the big deal.
To do it at Indy, even bigger deal. Can't change people's opinions.
They're going to say what they want to say. That's fine with me. We'll
celebrate this. We'll enjoy it. We're going to work hard for Pocono,
try to make the Chase. Whatever they say, they say. Can't control it. I
know what I'm capable of. I have total belief in Richard, Slugger and
everybody. I think we can win a couple more.
Q. I was fascinated to listen over the final 10 laps. Slugger seemed to
be the only one talking. You were totally silent. Crossing the finish
line, everybody erupts in celebration. You're like, That's the
checkered, right?
PAUL MENARD: I didn't see it. I was looking at my fuel pressure
(laughter).
Q. We know you're quiet by nature. What does it take to excite you?
PAUL MENARD: That's probably about as much emotion as you'll see out of
me. I've always been kind of a low‑key guy. Doesn't make it any less
special. It's very special for me. It's just something that we work
hard for, something that Richard expects us to win. He's won a lot of
races. Just really gratifying that we could pull it through.
Q. Has anyone seen any kind of emotion from you?
PAUL MENARD: My dad has.
JOHN MENARD: I've got him mad a few times.
RICHARD CHILDRESS: He'll get fired up on the radio occasionally.
PAUL MENARD: I think I yelled at you today, didn't I (laughter)?
RICHARD CHILDRESS: Probably did.
Q. How soon after the race did you find your dad? Do you remember the
first thing you said to him? How much fuel did you have left?
PAUL MENARD: I'm not sure about the fuel. I saw my dad as soon as we
pulled into Victory Lane. He came up to the window, said something
like, 35 years of trying here, here we go, this one's for you.
Definitely for him. He's been trying to put a lot of time and energy
into winning at Indy. It's just a big deal.
Q. Paul, how confident were you those last 10 or 20 laps that you were
going to make it to the end and be able to hold everybody off? Also,
you mentioned earlier at the end of the race that you were here for the
inaugural Brickyard 400. What were you doing at that time?
PAUL MENARD: Sitting up in a suite at turn four for the inaugural one.
Saw Rick Mast win the pole. I think I was here the whole weekend. The
Skoal car won the pole. I think Harry Gant was second.
RICHARD CHILDRESS: I think we were second. I think we hit the wall
coming off the corner trying to lead the first lap with Earnhardt.
Q. How confident were you in the last 10 or 15 laps that you had enough
to make it to the end and that you were going to hold him off?
PAUL MENARD: As soon as the jack dropped, we took out of pit road,
Slugger said, Save me fuel, long gears. So under caution, had another
lap, I think we were going green, caught up, killed the motor, coasting
as much as possible. The restart, you got to go. Passed a couple of
cars. Once I kind of got cycled out, just started trying to maintain
some kind of lap time being easy on the throttle, easy off, earlier
than normal, easy on. Once it got really strung off, I mean, I was
lifting at the 250 mark when normally you drive to the 1, just trying
not to use any brake, but trying to use the tires to keep your roll
speed fast. Probably about a 15‑lap, maybe 20‑lap run or span where I
wasn't even wide open. Just get it up to like 8500 rpm. If I would see
Mark catch me a little bit in my mirror, I would give it more. If I saw
him back off, drop it back. Watching in the mirror, trying to maintain
some kind of lap time and gap with the cars behind me. Obviously we
kept track ‑‑ Slugger kept telling me where Jeff was, the 24. When he
got to two, three seconds behind us, he said, Take off. The car was
really good. Clean air is so important. We had it right there. The car
is awesome in clean air. We got behind early. Wasn't as good. But
played strategy to a T.
Q. Paul, you really took a big step toward making the Chase today with
that victory. Talk a little bit about that.
PAUL MENARD: Yeah, I think we're 14th now with the wildcard.
Yeah, I mean, it's great. We got five or six races left. We got a lot
of work to do. We have Richmond and New Hampshire ‑‑ Richmond
before the Chase starts. Those are two of our worst tracks honestly. We
have a lot of work to do. We'll rely on our teammates a lot. They
typically run well at the short tracks. Got to get that program figured
out. We have a couple intermediate tracks, have a couple of those,
looking forward to that. We have Atlanta for a million bucks.
KERRY THARP: You're eligible for the Sprint Summer Showdown and also
the 2012 NASCAR Sprint All‑Star Race.
PAUL MENARD: That's right. Forgot about that.
Q. Also the fact that today was a perfect example of guys who were
prepared to make bold moves. Slugger might want to answer also.. How
much can we expect to see some other guys between now and Richmond
making win‑or‑go‑home type of gambles to try to get in as a wildcard?
PAUL MENARD: You're going to see it. Anytime fuel mileage comes into
play, you'll see guys run out, probably guys going to win the race. The
Sprint Cup Series is just so competitive, so hard to pass, everybody
runs so close together, you got to gamble. Very rarely do you see a car
just check out and win the race. A lot of strategy, a lot of clean air.
You're going to see it happen the next few races.
SLUGGER LABBE: For us, I mean, I think we still got to be pushing.
We're 14th in points with a win. That doesn't guarantee you a thing.
There's a lot of things that could happen. Ryan Newman is currently in
the top 10. Could fall out, take a spot away from us. We have to keep
pushing, be aggressive, make it that way, not rely on this victory
today.
Q. Slugger, you've been really high on this team all year. I know you
wouldn't trade your first win being the Brickyard. Are you surprised it
took this long?
SLUGGER LABBE: Well, we had big shoes to fill. When we started the
Monday after Homestead, we didn't have a truck, trailers, racecars,
nothing. To be a first‑year team and win a race is just short of
amazing to me. We had great people at RCR. Nobody bellyached. They
opened their arms, receptive people. Don't tell Richard, but this is
our 15th new car this year.
RICHARD CHILDRESS: I see it in the financials.
SLUGGER LABBE: They didn't give us hand‑me‑downs.. Richard let us hire
the people we needed. Got a great pit crew. He let us do our job. We
run the race teams like we own them, manage our money, try to make sure
we don't waste money. But we take what we need to be successful, and
today was living proof of that.
Q. Richard, what do you make of first‑time winners in the races this
year?
RICHARD CHILDRESS: I think it just shows how competitive this sport is.
This car is so equal, you got to have the right people, the right
driver. Everything has to come together to win in today's sport. You're
not going to see anybody just take off and run away with it. Today you
saw Jimmie Johnson sitting there running second for quite a while, then
gets back in traffic, it's hard to go. Like Slugger says, Paul can tell
you, track position is everything.
Q. Paul, in this room about 45 minutes ago Regan and Jeff got asked
more about you than they got asked about their own performances. They
were thrilled to talk about you. They both said you're a highly
respected driver among drivers. I know it's an awesome day for you, but
what does it mean that other drivers are genuinely happy for you today?
PAUL MENARD: I hope Regan would say that. I'm in his wedding
(laughter). But for Jeff to say that, we've had run‑ins on the track,
everybody has. But for a guy of his caliber to say that, it means a
lot. He came to Victory Lane, Regan came to Victory Lane. I didn't
realize that Regan finished third. Really happy for him, too. I watched
Jeff win the inaugural Brickyard 400. To have him come down in Victory
Lane after finishing second to us, very special. I've always gotten
along great with Jeff, and Regan obviously.
Q. John, after more than three decades in racing, what did it mean to
you to finally get Paul in a position with an organization where the
money you had invested, and you invested in so many different
disciplines throughout motorsports, but to see that money put to
optimum use to give Paul the kind of opportunity he deserved to have?
JOHN MENARD: Well, first of all, a lot of investment we made in
motorsports over the year has been good for our business. I think it's
really a good form of advertising. I believe it's a good form of
promotion. I think that motorsports promotions are underrated a lot by
some of the people in advertising. If you look at what you can
buy a sponsorship for of a race team versus some golf or some of the
ball‑and‑stick‑type sports, motorsports is a pretty good buy. From a
business standpoint, I'd say that investing in motorsports is a fairly
wise investment. From investing in motorsports teams, there are some
that give you a better return, let's say, for your investment than
others. Richard's team gives a very, very good return because he takes
the money and he puts it back into the cars, the people, the research,
the engines, the things that you need to win.
If there's anybody in motorsports that knows how to do it, it's
Richard. I'm proud to be associated with him. I'm proud that Paul can
do what he does. By God, guys, you've done a great job. Money
well‑spent.
Q. Richard, you were in Victory Lane three times. Talk about being a
three‑time winner, how important it is for you to win this race.
RICHARD CHILDRESS: David told me earlier it's eight years from 2005 to
2003 [sic], and eight more years till today. It doesn't seem like we've
been coming here 18 years. I remember coming in here the first time I
think in '93 to do our test with Dale. The first time the cars ran down
that front straightaway, thought, Man, would it be cool to win at Indy.
To be here again 18 years later and win, to win with Paul, Slugger,
this whole group, to win for RCR, I couldn't be happier. Kind of got to
pinch myself. I hope it ain't eight years more before we win it. I'll
be an old man by then.
Q. Paul, when you were having the battle
with Kenseth for the lead, when he got around you, that looked pretty
close to not only winning the race but maybe losing the racecar. How
close a call was that?
PAUL MENARD:
Yeah, I didn't hear him. My spotters say that Matt was inside me.
Stevie is my primary spotter. He was on the backside of the pagoda. We
had Jeff on the front side. I don't know if he didn't talk loud enough
or what, but I had no idea that Matt was there. I felt it kind of get loose. Looked at my
side mirror, saw his nose was in there. Matt and I are great friends.
Luckily he let me go.. He could have laid in there a bit more. I had to
check up and he passed us. But,
yeah, it was close. I heard the tires squealing. I had flashbacks from
Montoya last year with kind of the same situation.
Q. Paul, the
fact there weren't too many cautions today, do you think that helped
you?
PAUL MENARD:
You know, I mean, again, our mileage has been really good. We run
better on long runs. It seems like historically we've had great
long‑run racecars. You know, today we just had a great racecar overall.
But it comes down to track position. Restarts, so many things can
happen. If you have a great racecar, you can get a fender tore up, we
had a little bit of damage on pit road, nothing major. A lot of things
like that happen with all those restarts. I enjoy races that have long runs. You can
analyze the car, relay information and work on the racecars.
Q. Richard,
you've done the four‑team deal now. How gratifying is it to see these
guys make it to Victory Lane?
RICHARD
CHILDRESS: For a first‑year team to come out like this, it's very
gratifying. They work hard. I mean, Slugger is as hard a working guy as
you'll see around the shop, the racetrack. The first time with the
four‑car team, I don't think we were as prepared coming in. I said
we'll be more prepared, we know the mistakes we made, and we're sure
not making them now. And Jeff,
don't call it luck, whatever you want to call it, it and because of a
fourth team, I can't figure it out. We're working very, very hard.
PAUL MENARD:
He was probably the best RCR car most of the day today.
RICHARD
CHILDRESS: Then the ignition went out. I keep telling him, it will turn
as fast one way as it does in the other in this sport. I've been on
many ends of the stick I haven't been on.
Q. You said
back in 1994 you were sitting up watching Jeff win. What were your
thoughts when 17 years later you're told over the radio that, Here
comes Jeff Gordon after you?
PAUL MENARD:
Is he a three‑ or four‑time winner? Q. Four.
PAUL MENARD:
He's trying for five and nobody's done that before. Yeah, he was fast
all day long. Front straightaway is obviously really long. You can look
at the pylon, see where everybody is at. You saw him up front a lot of
the day. He had a solid racecar. But, again, it comes
down to clean air. Him catching us would have been one thing, but him
passing us would have been another thing because we had a really strong
racecar. Again, to beat Jeff
Gordon at Indy, big deal.
Q. Richard,
if I asked you this morning which of your four race teams was going to
win this race, what would you have said?
RICHARD
CHILDRESS: You know, I thought all of our cars was really good. I told
Paul before the race, I went over and I leaned in the car, I said, This
will be your day, good luck. I think one of the things, the reason I
knew his car was really good, all of them were good, Jeff was really
good, but they did a 20‑lap run, and he ended up at a 51.65 and kept
hitting the 65, 65. When you could do that, and he was really strong in
traffic, when I went and talked to him, he said, A little loose, but we
can really pass. That's what you really want here. Although it's really
hard, the car looked good Saturday.
Q. Paul, a
lot is made of guys from Indiana ‑ Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Ryan
Newman ‑ wanting to win the Brickyard. None of them put the time you
did in the garage at this place. Do you think it means more to you
because your family invested so much at winning in this place?
PAUL MENARD:
Right on par with them. I'm not an Indiana native son, but Wisconsin is
not far away and I spent a helluva lot of time here as a kid. I
probably been here more days than probably all three of them combined,
honestly. Special place for us.
KERRY THARP:
Congratulations to the No. 27 car, Richard Childress, Slugger Labbe,
Paul and John Menard.
ROBBY GORDON (No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge, 43rd): "The motor just blew."
DAVID
REUTIMANN (No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, 36th): "We were moving
forward after a bad start, trying to get track position. We cut a right
front tire going into (Turn) 3. I can't think of a worse place to do
it. We hit the wall hard with the right front."
SCOTT SPEED (No. 37
Max Q Motorsports Ford, 39th): "We had a vibration on the right side.
It was something we had from the start of the race. We don't know what
it was."
RYAN NEWMAN (No. 39 Haas Automation
Chevrolet, 12th): "When you get back in traffic, it's tough. We never
could get to the front and get clean air. We rallied to finish 12th and
that will help us in the points, but I wish we could have had a better
day with our Haas Automation Chevrolet."
MARK MARTIN
(No. 5 Quaker State/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, eighth): "Lance McGrew did a
great job today, and this whole Quaker State team did awesome. I wish
we could have stepped on it there at the end, but we ran out in Turn 3
so we had to save everything that we saved. I guess we just needed a
little bit more.. I had a good car today. We kept it in one piece, and
we brought home a decent finish. It was a real smart race by Lance and
the whole team. I'm really happy for Paul Menard; really, really,
really happy. That's awesome."
BOBBY LABONTE
(No. 47 Huggies Toyota, 17th):"It was all right. We just lost a lot of
time on pit road today. It was probably one of our worse days to lose
some track position. You know, it was just a little bad luck on our
part. We pitted there and had a full tank of gas and ran until the end.
We stayed out, and that helped us out."
CARL EDWARDS
(No. 99 Ortho Home Defense Max Ford, 14th): "Our day was not good. But
it ended up finishing well. Our Ortho Fusion was pretty slow. I wasn't
doing the best job I could, and then I tore the left front splitter off
in the grass. That ended up being the thing that saved us because we
came in over and over fixing it. We pulled back out, and I said,
'What's out best chance here?' Bob (crew chief Osborne) said, 'Save
fuel.' We ended up 14th. We were running about 25th when I tore up the
splitter. It ended up better than I thought it was going to. But
definitely we have to work on this track before we come back. It's a
tough one for us." (On Paul Menard's first win): "I've worked with Paul
as a teammate. He's a great race car driver. He's a better person. I
really like Paul a lot. I couldn't be happier for him. If we couldn't
win the race, I can't think of a better person."
DALE
EARNHARDT JR. (No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, 16th): "We
did OK. We had a pretty good car. Track position was everything, like I
thought it would be. You couldn't pass. You could run as fast as the
guys in front of you, and that was it. It was just like a road course
because you couldn't pass. You don't want to be hanging around out
there on the racetrack when everyone else is inside the fuel window, so
I can kind of understand how it turned out. Even if I had new tires or
better tires, I couldn't pass people. When I got off pit road that last
time, I knew I was going to finish behind whoever was in front of me as
long as he had enough gas. I caught the 4 car by a lucky break, and I
caught a car that ran out of fuel and got a spot. Some guys were fast
enough to get up there, and some of us didn't. We played it out, and
that's the result we got. I don't know what to be angry about if I was
going to be angry about."
JEFF BURTON
(No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 35th): "We worked pretty hard out there
today. At the end, we wanted to take a gamble, but we were just a
little off on fuel mileage to be able to do that. You look at the top
three or four, and they were in a position to gamble. That's the
position they were in, and it worked. We wanted to do it but we knew we
couldn't make it."
KYLE BUSCH
(No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 10th): "We fought track position the whole
day and we once we did get it, we were up front running in the top 10
for much of the day. We made contact on the pit stop when Tony
(Stewart) was coming in and I was coming out. It was our fault. We
should have waited for him to come in. After that, we got into traffic
and knocked the nose in. We salvaged along from there. All in all, it
was an ugly way to salvage a top ten finish. It's so hard to run around
here and gain track position. If you can pass people, sure, it won't be
that big of a deal but you can get stuck behind a guy and not be able
to make a move on him. That's frustrating but it's the same for
everybody. A lot of guys are better at it than others. I'd say I'm not
the very good at making track position here but we did the best with
what we had."
TREVOR BAYNE
(No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 30th): "It's
not the most fun I've ever had. But this is a cool place, and I was
glad to run my first (Brickyard) 400 here. We were just so tight all
day long. It seemed like we'd get a run going, and someone would knock
the grass up in our radiator and we'd have to pit. It started at like
Lap 5, our day did.. You know, it's just hard to recover from that. But
I appreciated that the Wood Brothers let me drive the car. We had a
good time, but hopefully we'll be better next year here."
TONY STEWART
(No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, sixth): "That's a long day at
the office. That's the hard way to do it, man. We had to fight from the
back a couple of times to get up there. I don't even know how we
finished sixth. It was a lot of hard work from (crew chief) Darian
Grubb and the guys on the Mobil 1/Office Depot team. We almost finished
fifth; it was a good day for us." (About penalty for hitting pit speed
limit cone): "Kevin (Harvick) lifted earlier than I did coming off Turn
4. Versus running into him, I went to the outside of him. The problem
was when I got to the cone, I was in the wrong spot. It was one of
those things; I was trying to get everything I could get. It was either
hit the cone or run over the guy in front of me and I chose to hit the
cone, so we got the penalty for it. I'm proud of our guys for getting
us what we got today." (About contact with Kyle Busch on pit road):
"It's a long pit road, but it's a narrow pit road. I feel bad for Kyle
and those guys because they had a good day going at that time." (About
last pit stop for fuel): "We were three laps short. We did the right
thing when we did, and it paid off for us. There was no way to make up
three laps. We inherited the lead anyway because we stayed out, and
everybody in front of us came in. We knew it was a borrowed lead, but
it sure was nice to lead here again at Indy. I'm really happy for Paul
Menard. He's been around this place a long time, since he was a kid. It
couldn't have happened to a better guy. That's a pretty deserving win.
I'm happy for him getting his first win that way."
GREG BIFFLE
(No. 16 Red Cross Ford, seventh): "It was a pretty good day. It was
just track position. We battled track position all day. It's never fun
fighting from the back. You try and battle your way back up there. You
do two tires (pit stop), and everybody else does two tires. We never
did stay out. You've got to get tires and fuel in it. We did all we
could do."
MATT KENSETH
(No. 17 Crown Royal Ford, fifth): "The 24 and I were pretty equal, and
I had a little mishap down there with Burton on pit road, and that cost
me a spot on the 24. I felt like that was going be the mistake that I
made, not knowing the 31 was pitting, for the win. But it didn't turn
out that way. I'm happy for him (Paul Menard). You're always happy to
see a first-time winner, and to be able to win this race is big. But I
wish we could have raced everyone on speed today. We ran really good.
We were probably the second-best car most of the day. I think the 24
had the field covered. So I'm happy for Paul Menard, but it is kind of
a shame for Jeff. I thought we had the fastest two cars, and I was
hoping we would be able to duke it out on performance to the end. But
that is just the way racing is these days. It is a huge win for him,
and I am happy for Paul although I was irritated with him during the
race for running me off the track on that restart although I wish no
race came down to fuel mileage. But he has been running awfully good
this year and deserves to get a win."
JAMIE
McMURRAY (No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, fourth): "They
said we were a couple of laps short on fuel so all of us were saving at
the end, and I wanted to be out front because I thought it would be
hard to pass when we all decided to go. I felt pretty comfortable with
the 27 car because it has a ECR engine and is probably tuned similar to
ours, and I just wanted to get ahead of him. Then I tried to go in one
corner, and my car pushed so bad he got back by me. So from that point
on I was just conserving."
JOEY LOGANO
(No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, 25th): "Ah ... another strategy race. We
weren't very good at the beginning of the race and struggled a lot. But
we did a good job making the car better. So by the end of the race I
thought we had a top-10 car, and it felt good. But the way everything
strategized out, we had to make an extra stop at the end and a lot of
guys made it on fuel, so we finished 25th. I think we should have
finished 10th if it had ended like it was supposed to. But it seems
that more and more races are ending like this, with guys who haven't
led a lap all day end up winning the race. It is very frustrating. It
isn't like I think we were going to win the race, but we were better
than a 25th-place car."
