FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Power Stroke Diesel 200, Post-Race P1July 27, 2007 O’Reilly Raceway Park
TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 6 K & N Filters Ford F-150 – (finished 3rd, started 4th) – “All in all, it wasn’t a bad night. I’m just a little disappointed. We really thought in practice we had a truck to win. We were about an adjustment off from being there. My guys did a great pit stop and got us out and first off pit road; which got us some bonus points there. In the long run we were just too loose, spinning the tires off the corner and it ultimately hurt me in traffic. I needed all of the race track to get through lapped traffic and it’s just hard to pass lapped guys when you don’t have the whole track to do that. That’s how they ran me back down. We were a little too free in the long run, but all and all, not a bad night for our K & N Ford.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN TONIGHT. “It was pretty good. We had a really good short run truck and unfortunately there at the end we had a pretty long run. I was kind of hoping on short track racing in the truck series the last 50 to 70 laps we’d get some cautions going and hoping that would happen. My truck was good for about 20 to 30 laps and then we’d burn up the rear tires and get too loose. We needed some cautions to cool them back down and make another go at it. In the long runs, we had a hard time getting through traffic, and spinning the tires and Johnny (Benson) and Ron (Hornaday Jr.) were able to get around me.”
ON YOUR PIT STOP, DID YOU TAKE FOUR TIRES? “Yea, it was a pretty phenomenal job by my pit crew. They’ve been working hard and coming in fifth and off pit road in first. A couple of guys stayed out and I’ve got to give them a lot of credit. I don’t think I would have been able to get out front or any bonus points without a great pit stop like that. We’ll need all the points we can get in the long haul here. They did a great job, we made a couple of little adjustments on the truck, too and we were still able to pick-up a couple of spots. They did an awesome job.” WHAT HAPPENED WHEN HORNADAY PASSED YOU? “My truck was getting too loose, my rear tires were spinning up off the corner and I couldn’t lay the gas down hard enough and had to baby it around the corner and Ron was still able to get a good drive. I was losing time.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIRD? “It’s ok. Anytime you get a top-five at a short track. You want to come out of these places in one piece. The night (Mike) Skinner had, he was back there a little bit and we were racing around and (Todd) Bodine and these guys for points as well. But Skinner is the main guy we’re chasing down. It’s nice to see him falter, finally, for once a little bit and we were able to make a decent chunk on him. We’re happy with third. We feel like we’ve got to win races to win this championship. We had a second place at Kentucky a couple of weeks ago and a third here. Our team is really performing well and bringing fast trucks to the track. We know that to win the championship, we’ve got to win races.”
RICK CRAWFORD – No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 – (finished 4th, started 5th) – “It was about time for us to get this Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 out there and make some bold moves tonight. We never really had good track position; we got up to second at one time. The Roush-Yates engines finished third and fourth tonight; a good job by them. I just wish we were in victory lane with all of the International employees and the Ford Power Stroke Diesel plant right here in Indianapolis, but I think we put on a heck of a show for the fans tonight. We had great calls in the pit by crew chief Kevin Starland. We had a good set-up on the truck. We probably had a 10th to 15th place truck tonight, we made some changes in the pits and every time we came out we moved forward and that’s how you win a race.”
FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Power Stroke Diesel 200, Post-Race P1July 27, 2007 O’Reilly Raceway Park
ERIK DARNELL – No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 – (finished 7th, started 14th) – “I wish we had a chance to qualify. I think we would have started a little better than 14th. We started off further back than we wanted but were able to pick-up a couple of spots. The track position is really important here and it’s so hard to pass. We didn’t pit on lap 93 like a couple of the other guys did. We knew that if we came in any time after that, we’d be way behind as far as track position. We stayed out a little bit and rode around on older tires, just like the leaders. Overall, tonight was good for us. The past couple of races we’ve had some bad luck with blown motors and cut tires. We had good pit stops; my guys did great. I can’t stay enough about the crew, track position here is big and they helped me gain a spot. Hopefully, we’ll be able to build on our success here tonight.”
PETER SHEPHERD – No. 50 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 – (finished 21st, started 23rd) – “We had a little bit of a rough day. The rain kind of hurt us today. We were fourth fastest in practice yesterday. Track position is very important here. It’s nearly impossible to pass, unless you’ve got better tires. We struggled with the tires. When the tires got older, the Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 got real tight under free roll and under throttle. We kept making adjustments all night and couldn’t get it just right. We tried real hard to get our truck right and were just missing the mark. At the end with 30 laps to go, we got hit and taken about by the 16 (Kenny Hendricks). That wasn’t a very good thing to do, but that’s what happens. We came in and got some new tires and on new tires we were really good when everyone else was on older tires. We were trying to get everything we could back out of it. We fell back pretty far after that and fought to get back towards the front. I’m disappointed for all the guys. Everybody was working really hard. We did the best we could.”
STACY COMPTON – No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford F-150 – (finished 22nd, started 11th) – “It was a frustrating night. Our short track program isn’t where it needs to be and that’s frustrating. We’ve had a lot of good runs here in the past and couldn’t get the truck to run right tonight. The crew worked real hard this weekend, but we couldn’t get the truck to turn. I’m pretty disappointed. We were racing pretty rough racers out there that were making some big mistakes and others that aren’t sure how to race but it’s all part of racing. What comes around goes around. We’ll work on our short track program and see if we can make it better.”
JON WOOD – No. 21 Marsh/Bush’s Baked Beans Ford F-150 – (finished 28th, started 21st) – “This wasn’t a night that I want to remember. This team has a lot of momentum and we brought a new truck, one that we haven’t run that much, if at all. We weren’t sure if it should be part of our racing fleet and after tonight, we were able to get an answer. I don’t think we’ll race that truck any time soon. It wasn’t a great night, but it is better to be in race than to stay home and watch the race.”
