Charlotte: Ford teams race quotes

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 IRWIN/Sharpie Taurus (Finished 43rd)

"It just snapped around on me real quick. I don't know if there was fluid on the track or not. There was a bunch on the windshield and it just came around. Obviously, I was in no hurry. It's 600 miles, but it just snapped around on me."

IF YOU GET BACK OUT TO RUN FOR POINTS IT'S GOING TO BE FRUSTRATING. "Yeah, that's one thing that we need to work on with this point system is when you're back 36th or worse in the finishing order, there's no reason to go and take a damaged car back out there and be four seconds off the pace. It's gonna be tough to get back out and be competitive and we're gonna finish in the forties somewhere."

DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAD A GOOD CAR? "We had a car that was gonna be competitive, but I don't know what happened."

THIS WILL HURT AS FAR AS POINTS GO. "Yeah, it'll hurt but we've got plenty of time."

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DeWalt Taurus (Finished 37th)

"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The 8 car just ran over the 15 in the straightaway, but it's so hard to pass. I had Michael passed two or three times. I had him passed in three and four, but I couldn't quite finish the pass. He'd go back by me in one and two, which there's nothing wrong with that because that's his job. I just couldn't get by him. Dale, Jr. got by me while I was trying to pass Michael. He tried going outside of Michael a little bit and then he just turned under him and just hit him in the straightaway."

WHAT WERE THE TRACK CONDITIONS LIKE? "I think the conditions are OK, it's just what we did to it. It's impossible to pass. I mean, unless a miracle happens the fastest car won't win the race. Wherever you are, that's where you'd run. I've seen the fast car out there run 20th when he was in the 20th spot and if they do their pit strategy right, they could run up front. It's just really tough to get anything done, especially in four and five-lap runs."

RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Air Force/Motorcraft Genuine Parts Taurus (Finished 35th)

"It's just a dadgum good race car. It seems the days we get a good car, we can't seem to get a finish. We either get in a wreck or something happens. It's just a darn good race car. Track position was everything. We were just sort of working the race backwards getting set up for the end of the race. We were sitting right where we wanted to be until the motor went south."

WHAT ARE THE TRACK CONDITIONS LIKE? THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF CAUTIONS. "The track conditions are real good. The track's got a tremendous amount of grip. Like I said, our car handled perfect. We didn't hardly make an adjustment to it all night. We were just waiting our time to get track position."

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 National Guard/Subway Taurus (Finished 6th)

A LONG RACE. "Yeah, it was but that's what the fans want to see is a race for five-and-a-half hours. There were durability issues, but we ran on the conservative side with our engine package. It's a long race and we were just off on the setup all night. I don't know where, but we were off a little bit somewhere. The Hendrick cars just clobbered us bad. We've got to figure it out."

WHAT ABOUT TRACK CONDITIONS - PARTICULARLY ONE AND TWO? "No, it didn't seem like it as much. What happened to me is I would get loose. At times it wouldn't turn, plus I was too loose in the middle so it was just one of them deals."

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Finished 8th)

"We had a number of different things. We had a wheel come loose and that got us behind. And then as I was pulling up on the restart Tony was warming up his tires and got into me there, so it was just a struggle but we made the most of it." DESCRIBE THE DEAL WITH THE 99. "The 99 ran into the back of me going down the backstretch and I'm not taking anymore of his bull. If he wants to mess with me, we can calm him down. I guarantee you that."

WILL YOU BE TALKING TO HIM? "I've got nothing to say to him."

WAS THAT THE LONGEST COKE 600 YOU'VE BEEN IN? "That didn't involve rain, by far, yeah. It was just crazy with everything that was going on. The guys are trying hard and running fast. It's a perfect example. I know their intentions were good here, but anytime that you make our cars go faster somewhere the racing is not gonna be as good. You're on the edge too much and things like that are gonna happen."

HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT? "We overcame a lot tonight. We had a good race car, but we had a wheel come loose during the green so we had to come in and get that. That got us behind and then as I was pulling back up on a restart, Tony was warming up his tires and came down just as I got there and that messed up the front end of the car. The guys did a really good job in trying to repair it, but we made the most of it."

CARL DID APOLOGIZE AND SAID HE WAS TRYING TO BUMP DRAFT. "There's not much reason to. I was going as fast as I could possibly go and he just about turned me into the wall and I'm not gonna put up with that."

CARL EDWARDS - No. 99 RoundUp Taurus (Finished 3rd)

"My crew did a great job. I have to thank RoundUp and Ford, Scotts, Miracle Gro - everybody who made this possible. Second of all, I have to say I apologize to Dale Jarrett. The move down the back straightaway, I was just trying to bump draft - push him a little bit - and, man, it did not work. I messed up there today. They're awesome guys and I know he's mad. All I can say is it wasn't intentional."

WHAT ABOUT ON THE RESTART AT THE END? "Yeah, on one of those restarts we punched a hole in the nose. It was really good before that. I think we could have fought for the win if I didn't make that mistake right there. It was just one of those things. I hadn't seen the leaders bunch up all day up front, so I just took a gamble. I thought, 'I'm gonna get everything I can.' I shouldn't have done that. I should have held back. I think we could have had a victory, but that's OK. That's a lesson learned."

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 Pedigree/M&M's Taurus (Finished 13th)

"It was a long, long battle royal. I felt like I was at Martinsville with all the cautions. It's just hard to pass here. It's a one-groove race track and you've got to nudge people around and that's where all the cautions come from. We had a great race car and we had just gotten up there and took the lead some - running in the top five - and when we pitted the caution came out. It was just not our night. We had an up-and-down night. We had to come back on pit road a few times to fix the fender we knocked in on pit road and then we got our fender knocked in during the wreck in turn one. We just had an up-and-down night. So to come out of here with a 12th-place finish is a great, great finish for everybody here at Robert Yates Racing."

YOU SPUN AND NOBODY HIT YOU EARLY. "You've got to make the most of it. We've got to consider ourselves lucky to come away 12th with all the stuff we went through. We spun out and then missing the wreck in turn one was unbelievable. My spotter did a great job. The Pedigree Ford Taurus is in one piece. We can take it to Dover next week and we should be good there again. We gained up on the points. We didn't really lose to anybody, so, all in all, it was a great night." WHAT ABOUT THE TRACK ITSELF? "It's hard to pass. They need to come back and do the bottom groove in one and two and make it a lot more fair for us drivers. Right now, we've got ourselves painted in a corner so much that you've got to use up the person beside you so bad to pass. I mean, it's just not fair to us. They did a great job with three and four, they just need to re-think one and two."

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