BUSCH: Nashville: Raybestos Rookie post race quotes

Raybestos® Rookie contender post-qualifying quotes for the Pepsi 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, April 14, 2002.

Scott Riggs took Raybestos® Rookie of the race honors in fine style by winning the Pepsi 300. He won his first career race in the Busch Series in just his seventh career start. Rigss is the second consecutive Raybestos® Rookie to win the spring race at Nashville. Greg Biffle won the spring race at Nashville last April, also scoring his first career win.

SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 10 NESTLE NESQUIK FORD:

"I've got to give it to all the guys. They are the ones who did it. Great calls in the pits by Harold (Holly, crew chief) and all the guys did a great job. They never gave up. We had a little stumble there on the first pit stop. Nobody gave up on us and I darn sure didn't give up on them. I've got to thank a lot of people today. It's my cousin's birthday today and little NASCAR Sam gave me a good luck charm, a thumbs up picture. When we got down that first pit stop I just looked over at him and that's what I kept thinking: keep digging. Everybody did an awesome job and I can't thank everybody enough."

WHO MADE THE CALL FOR TWO TIRES ON THE LAST STOP?

"Having track position meant everything right there so Harold knew that we had to get out front even if we had to just get gas. Like I said, I've got to thank all the guys. They made the call and I never second guessed it. I knew that was the right way to go and knew that we could hold them off and get us a good lead. I was just praying that we didn't have a caution right there at the last."

ARE YOU SURPRISED TO WIN SO QUICKLY IN YOUR CAREER?

"Not when you are sitting in the number 10 Nesquik Ford Taurus."

KERRY EARNHARDT, NO. 12 JANIKING CHEVROLET, FINISHED EIGHTH. THIS WAS EARNHARDT'S BEST CAREER BUSCH SERIES FINISH AND HIS FIRST CAREER TOP-10.

"The car was awesome. On the initial green flag we were a little loose but the tires came in and the car came to us. The guys did great setting the car up and getting it dialed in. We kept running and running and picking them off lap by lap, just having a good time out there. It was a lot of fun. That's what it's all about."

TURN TWO WAS A PROBLEM SPOT ON THIS TRACK LAST YEAR. DID YOU HAVE ANY AREAS ON THE TRACK TODAY THAT GAVE YOU A PROBLEM?

"We didn't have any problems. We were pretty fast all the way through the race. I got a bad set of tires there at the end because that all we did was change tires. The car picked up a bad push and we had to ride it out. I was lucky enough the have enough to hang on to eighth place. I've got to thank the guys on the crew for that. This is awesome. They'd catch us in the corners but we'd pull 'em on the straightaways and that helped us a lot too. I've got to thank DEI for all their engineering support. This JaniKing sponsorship is awesome. I've always wanted a hot rod with flames on it and I got it. I think that made me all pumped up and made us run faster."

DID YOU HAVE TO CHASE THE TRACK ANY DURING THE RACE?

"We were on top of it pretty much all day. The car stayed with us until that last set of tires. We got that last set of tires and the car just didn't want to turn in the corners and we just had to ride it out from there. All in all, it turned out to be a good day."

JOHNNY SAUTER, NO. 2 ACDELCO CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12TH.

"It started good. We moved up. We had a bad qualifying run; it wasn't what we wanted. All in all, a pretty good day for us. We ran in the top-10 for most of the day. We just got tight at the end and couldn't do anything about it."

DID THE TRACK CHANGE DURING THE RACE?

"As soon as the sun went away, about two laps after our last pit stop, it clouded up. I knew we were in trouble because it was going to get tight. It's exactly what it did. We got real tight and the race was over."

SHANE HMIEL, NO. 47 THOMAS PACCONI CLASSICS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH.

"We had a pretty good car at the start. We just got a little tight and the driver got to complaining that he needed tires. We came in and got tires and we got lapped in the pits with that caution. Ashton Lewis just flat out crashed Hank Parker Jr. and we got stuck in the pits. We know what we can do better next time and other than that everything is good."

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