TRAVIS KVAPIL– No. 6 K&N Filters Ford F-150 – (finished 1st, qualified 1st) TALK ABOUT THE RACE AND ESPECIALLY THOSE LAST FEW LAPS WITH JOHNNY. “Man, what an awesome finish. Our weekend in general, this is the truck we won a couple of races with earlier in the year. So, we knew it was fast at this type of race track. This was my first time here in this configuration. We were good in practice, just kept working on it. Everybody on the team just did a wonderful job staying with it. Qualified on the pole. In the race we were off a little bit. We were just a little too tight in the first half of the race. I was trying to run the bottom of the race track in one and two. My truck was just not set-up good enough to get through the bumps through one and two like I needed. So, I had to search around a little bit and it took me a little while to figure out how to carry speed through in turns one and two. I found just running the outside lane, going around the bumps, worked for me. I think it took me a little while and some of the guys to get the groove kind of worked in up there. It was slippery the first couple times I went up there then it seemed like it was coming in. We were a little tight in the first two pit stops and we just kept working on it. Mike Beam and the K&N Ford team did just the right adjustments again. We went out there on the last restart behind the 21 and 23 and didn’t really think I was going to have much for them, but I had seen in the previous runs that my truck was good in the long run. I was getting through one and two really good and we all were getting through three and four at the same speed around the bottom. I knew I had to try something different, so I started testing the waters on the outside of three and four and quickly realized that I was going to be able to make up some ground out there. I just drove it in out there and had clean air outside these guys. It stuck good for me; running on the outside you’ve got a lot of momentum and I was able to complete the passes.”
YOU GAINED A LOT OF POINTS ON MIKE [SKINNER] AND RON [HORNADAY] TONIGHT. WITH SIX RACES TO GO, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN CATCH THEM? “I tell you what, coming into tonight, I didn’t think we had much of a shot. You never give up hope and you never know what can happen in six or seven races. We gained 80-some points in one night. And one or two more night like that, we’re right in the mix. So, we didn’t do a very good job last week in Loudon. We gave up 80 points to those guys. We just ran poorly out there. We’ve got some tracks I feel like we’re going to keep running this truck right here at Texas, Atlanta and Homestead. This is the third win this truck has this year. It just seems to run really good. We’re going to continue to run up front and try to win races. If they have a bad day here and there, I think we’ll be right there in the hunt by the time we get to Homestead.”
WATCHING JON AND JOHNNY DUKING IT OUT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE RACE TRACK, ARE YOU THINKING AT THAT POINT THAT YOU’VE GOT THIS? “Well, I knew I was better than them through one and two after a few laps. It seems like they would both try to hold the bottom of the race track really tight and I could really just keep my momentum up on the outside and really roll through and carry a lot of speed. I knew I was going to get through one and two and was better than them. I just took me a little while to figure out how I was going to get through three and four better than them. Through one and two I was avoiding the bottom from about lap 20 on. I figured my truck and the set-up that we had in it, it was too rigid, too bumpy. I didn’t have grip on the bottom, so I just started trying to run that outside lane and we could run the outside lane in one and two fast and right on the bottom of three and four fast. But when I started catching those guys in three and four, I’d start losing the air on the front of my truck and I’d start to get tight and thought well [heck], if I can run on the outside of one and two, I’ll try three and four and see what happens. I was amazed at how much grip the track had in the second lane and I was able to get out there and make the passes. What an amazing finish. Those last handful of laps or whatever it was, I was running wide open on the outside of turns one and two and but 23 and those guys could run wide open on the bottom and it just made for some great racing. I had to hold them off through three and four and the 21 with Jon there, he got loose once under me and I heard him pedal the gas and doing everything he could and not wreck but still try and go for the victory. So those guys did an amazing job and put a great race on for everybody.”
THERE SEEMED TO BE A LOT OF TIRE PROBLEMS TONIGHT. WHERE YOU CAUTIOUS ABOUT TIRES? “This is the same tire we raced a Charlotte. We feel it’s a very hard, durable tire, fairly conservative. You’ve just got to pay attention and be careful with your set ups. You can’t be too aggressive with your camber settings and things like that. You’re air pressure, you gotta watch and you must first finish to finish first. That’s kind of been our theory all year here. We really paid attention to our tire wear and our heat on the tires in practice and we felt comfortable with that. We were too aggressive early in practice with it and we had to back off on our settings a little bit to get longevity in our tires. It takes speed away when you do that, but in the long run we were still out there making laps. Goodyear did a great job; it was a great tire with plenty of grip and you have to pay attention to your settings and not abuse that tire.”
JON WOOD – No. 21 Smith’s/Air Force Ford F-150 – (finished 3rd, qualified 14th) – IT LOOKS LIKE YOU COULD HAVE WON. TELL US ABOUT YOUR RACE TONIGHT. “Everybody is so disappointed right now, my guys and everybody. But, I think that’s a very respectable night. We battled a lot of adversity. We had a little issue on pit road on the first pit stop. To come back from 24th to leading in 40 laps or whatever, is pretty impressive. So, I think it was a very good night. It was an awesome night to have Air Force colors on the truck and being this close to Nellis, it’s just an unbelievable feeling. I think it was an awesome night.”
YOU HAD THE FASTEST TRUCK TONIGHT. DID THOSE GUYS SPEED UP THE LAST 15-20 LAPS OR DID YOU SLOW DOWN? “We all went faster. We all ran the fastest that we had gone at the end of the race, but they went a little faster. Travis, I think his truck was a little bit freer on long runs. My truck was without question; the best truck here if I got a long green flag run. And that was very pronounced in that long green flag run when I took the lead from Benson. I just never could get those types of runs there at the very end. As soon as my truck would take off, the caution would come out. This track has been very good to me, the new surface has. I ran my first Cup race here and I’ve had nothing but good luck. That’s pretty cool to say at Vegas to have good luck here.”
YOU’RE GOING BACK TO CUP NEXT WEEK? “Yup, I’m going to run the second car in Kansas. It was a race for Little Debbie that was scheduled for early in the year with the 21 battling in and out of the top-25; it wasn’t a good idea to take a chance on knocking the primary car out of a starting spot. So, it’s going to work out next week. Schrader is definitely going to be in the race and I’m either going to be in it or I’m gonna knock the back glass out of it, so to speak. It’s all or nothing, there’s no being conservative in qualifying.”
YOU’VE HAD A ROUGH SUMMER, WITH THE HEADACHES AND THEN THE TRUCK ACCIDENT. “The truck accident was freaky.” WHEN YOU LOST THE AIRBAGS OR SOMETHING? “Yeah, that was unreal. When it rains it pours. But everything seems to be turning around. Our finishes are getting better and better every week and nothing ever stops. Bad luck turns to good. Good luck eventually turns to bad. The Air Force is very proud with the things are going this year and they’re very pleased. That’s what I’m worried about.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED WHEN TRAVIS CAME FLYING BY ON THE OUTSIDE AT FOUR? “I had a little trouble off of four on that particular lap, so I didn’t even have to look up to see what was happening. I knew he was coming. Clean air being out in front was key to having a fast truck. I think there were three or four trucks for the most part that were battling for the lead, lap after lap. And three of those four finished in the top-three. It was pretty consistent night.”
WHAT DID THAT RESTART WITH 12 TO GO WHEN HORNADAY’S TRUCK BASICALLY IN PIECES, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING AT THAT POINT? YOU NEEDED A LONG GREEN FLAG RUN AND THIS WAS BASICALLY GOING TO BE A 10-LAP DASH TO THE FINISH? “I was very surprised to get under Travis in the middle of one and two on that last restart. Shocked. I thought that it was going to be a deal where I had to hold on for a top-five. And I’m sure Johnny’s [Benson] is a little mad at me right now. But we went down the backstretch and I was watching my mirror, I knew I wasn’t clear of Travis. I’m watching my mirror to see Johnny and I see his truck coming and he was pulling down. And the whole time, I’m not looking where I’m going. I’m just watching my mirror, inching down toward the bottom and I look before I get into turn three and I’m below the yellow line. And I’m like, ‘uh-oh’ and that’s when the little skirmish back there and almost wrecked. I do have to take credit for that one, but we didn’t so, I guess it’s okay.”
JON WOOD – No. 21 Smith’s/Air Force Ford F-150 – (finished 3rd, qualified 14th) – “It’s frustrating to lead that much and finish third. But, I think that’s a pretty nice night. We definitely had a dominant truck. When you can pull up to Travis Kvapil with eight laps to go for the lead, I think that’s pretty impressive. These guys are pretty sharp and I think my guys did an awesome job.” YOU MUST BE PRETTY EXCITED WITH THIS TEAM AND WORKING WITH JOHN MONSAM. IT SEEMS THAT YOU WHEN YOU QUALIFY IN THE BACK; YOU WORK ON THE TRUCK AND WITH YOUR AGGRESSIVE DRIVING AND THEIR HARD WORK YOU GET TO THE FRONT. “I think you are giving me more credit than I think I deserve. We definitely had a good truck and we do, week in and week out. My results show that, but our qualifying doesn’t. But qualifying doesn’t really pay anything, but the race does. I’m really proud of everybody and I’m proud of Monsam. I’m looking forward to the Cup race next weekend.”
ERIK DARNELL – No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 – (finished 5th, qualified 5th) – “We had a pretty good night. It started off as a bad night. We qualified well, but our Northern Tool + Equipment Ford wasn’t real good when the race started. We were fighting being real free, but I made a bunch of pit stops and came down pit road when nobody else did to tighten the truck up. We made a big adjustment on the final stop and we hit on something and I was able to get the truck working well on the outside lane and we were able to get our second top-five finish in a row.”
RICK CRAWFORD – No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 – (finished 9th, qualified 25th) – “That’s not too bad for that Ford F-150. We made some bold moves out there tonight in our Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International F-Series pick-up. We started 25th and finished ninth. It was a great night for Ford and Roush Yates engines. I think there were three or four in the top-10 and I’m proud to be one of them. We’ve had a good year this year. We really haven’t had any problems. We’re going home to sweet home Alabama and see if we can take it there. WAS TRACK POSITION REALLY THAT IMPORTANT? “Yes, track position was very important. If you noticed when we were running single file there towards the end, I didn’t need that last caution because we were running in the top-five. As long as they were nose-to-tail behind me, I was okay. When you get nose-to-tail, you sort of tighten up behind somebody and I did the same thing. They were surrounding me out there and I just had to bring it home.”
DAVID STARR – No. 10 MAXXForce International Diesel Ford F-150 – (finished 14th, qualified 26th) – “We finished 14th, but our MAXXForce International Diesel Ford F-150 was good at times. It seemed like I could race up to the sixth or seventh position, but seemed like when we got spread out or just by myself, I couldn’t get in the corners like I need. I would get loose and spin out and crash by myself. We worked on it, we pitted on it real late because I couldn’t get it in the corner. I think we made it up to about seventh, but then once we got spread out, we got going and lost seven or eight spots. Then Dennis [Connor, crew chief] called me in and we put some air pressure on the right front and tried to put a spring rubber on the right front. We didn’t get the spring rubber in, but we rebounded back to 14th and it was pretty good. We just had a hard time getting into the corners tonight. It was not a bad job by Circle Bar Racing, but we just need that little bit and we’ll be up there. This series is just so competitive. If you’re off a little bit, you’re off a whole lot. It was right there in front of us and we couldn’t take advantage of it. But we are going to continue to work like we always have been. We’ll see if we can’t get our MAXXForce International Diesel Ford F-150 back near the front. I’m little disappointed but we’ll just keep digging and hold our chins up.”
T.J. BELL – No. 50 Heathcliff’s Cat Litter Ford F-150 – (finished 31st, qualified 10th) – “We started racing three wide there. This place is big, just not that big. We came around and put myself in a tough racing position and we didn’t come out like we wanted. It’s just a shame for these guys on the Heathcliff team; they made the stuff on the F-150 truck so good tonight. It’s too bad we had to finish this way. We’ve just got to keep our heads up and move on to the next week. We’ll go to Talladega and get ‘em there. The team did an awesome job this weekend and it showed by qualifying in the top-10. I still have a lot of confidence in the team and in me. We just need stuff to go our way. We can qualify well. We’ve got the trucks, I’ve definitely got the team, and we’ve got the organization and we got the manufacturer. Now, I just need to my job a little bit better.
