Saturday
Raybestos Rookie Justin Allgaier FIFTH in Scotts Turf Builder 300
Press ReleaseWhere the Raybestos Rookies finished at Bristol:
Justin Allgaier, 5th
Scott Lagassee Jr., 13th
John Wes Townley, 16th
Michael Annett, 20th
Brendan Gaughan, 21st
Marc Davis, 27th
Michael McDowell, 31st
UNOFFICIAL Raybestos Rookie standings:
Justin Allgaier, 45
Brendan Gaughan, 44
Michael McDowell, 37
Scott Lagasse Jr., 36
Michael Annett, 30
John Wes Townley, 29
Ken Butler III, 14
Marc Davis, 6
RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOR THE
SCOTTS TURF BUILDER 300
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES RACE AT
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY, MARCH 21, 2009,
JUSTIN ALLGAIER IN THE No. 12 VERIZON WIRELESS DODGE WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN TODAY’S RACE AT BRISTOL.
NOTES:
Allgaier claimed Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the first time this season.
UNOFFICIALLY Allgaier leads the Raybestos Rookie standings by one point (45-44) over Brendan Gaughan.
· Gaughan led today’s race once for six laps. Gaughan has led at least one lap in the last two consecutive races.
DID YOU KNOW? At least one Raybestos® Rookie has now scored top-10 finishes in three of the first four races this season.
Other top-five finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the Scott’s Turf Builder 300:
1989: Kenny Wallace, fifth
1991: David Green, second
2004: Kyle Busch, third
2005: Reed Sorenson, third
Other top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the Scott’s Turf Builder 300:
1989: Kenny Wallace, fifth
1990: Joe Nemechek, ninth
1991: David Green, second
1991: Tracy Leslie, eighth
1993: Hermie Sadler, sixth
1995: Curtis Markham, ninth
1997: Steve Park, eighth
1998: Wayne Grubb, seventh
1999: Tony Roper, 10th
2002: Scott Riggs, ninth
2002: Shane Hmiel, 10th
2004: Kyle Busch, third
2005: Reed Sorenson, third
2005: Carl Edwards, seventh
2005: Denny Hamlin, ninth
2006: John Andretti, ninth
Michael Annett led today’s race once for one lap. Annett led a NASCAR Nationwide Series race for the first time in five career starts.
“It is a great day. All the guys on the Verizon Wireless Dodge did an awesome job and got me out of the pits when we needed to. I felt like we had a really good race car. We just got caught in traffic there for a while and really couldn’t get out of it and once we got out of it the car was really good. We were able to get to the front.”
DID YOU SURPRISE YOURSELF TODAY?
“I surprised myself a little bit for never coming here before and running this place. Chad Walter [crew chief] and all the crew did an awesome job preparing this car and like I said the pit stops were great all day so it made my job really easy.”
YOU DIDN’T HAVE A SCRATCH ON THE CAR UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE RACE. WHAT HAPPENED?
“We were actually outside of Kenseth going down the front straightaway and he just turned right. You know, I mean, I think he was trying to not run into some cars in front. You know, it happens unfortunately but to come out of here with a fifth, to run all day long and to be where we’re at all day, it means a lot to all these guys. Chad Walter and the crew did a great job on the Verizon Wireless Dodge. It’s just an honor to be out here.”
“Well I learned that there are guys that are going to tougher to get around at the end of the race than others. But he raced me clean. Unfortunately this deal happened. I mean, that was just probably a miscommunication on his part or something, I don’t know. But to come out of here to race as hard as we did all day, to really not have any scratches on the car was pretty awesome.”
ARE YOU FRUSTRATED TO NOT HAVE LED THE RACE?
“No. I mean, there’s a lot of guys that have the fastest car on the racetrack and don’t ever lead a race. We felt like we did what we had to do to get to the end of the race. We worked hard on it. We’ve got to come back here later on in the year and I feel like we’ve got a lot to build on. I’m excited. I’m ready to go. Ready to come back here that’s for sure.”
THIS IS THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE RACE WHERE YOU’VE RAN WELL. THAT MUST GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE.
“It does. I think that not only does it give me confidence but all the guys on the crew. We’ve come off some really good races and it’s nice to be able to run good.”
ALLGAIER PRESS CONFERENCE
“It was great today. Everybody at the Verizon Wireless team, Chad Walter and all the guys, they did an awesome job setting the car up. It was really easy for me because we kept getting track position under pit stops. The pit crew did a great job and we just had a lot of fun. This is probably the most fun racetrack I’ve ever been on and able to go out there and just race with these guys. It was a great day for us. I’ve been trying to get to be the Raybestos Rookie of the Race for the last couple here now and been a couple spots short so to get that and to get our first top-five here at Bristol really means a lot.”
IS THIS LIKE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’VE DONE?
“No it’s not. I actually felt a little bit betrayed because everybody that I talked to before I came here they were like ‘Oh, you run good at Salem, Indiana Winchester, Indiana you’ll be fine there. It’s just like those.’ Well I got here and I walked across the racetrack and I realized right away that it wasn’t anything like anything I’ve ever been on. But I think that’s what gives Bristol its characteristic and it’s prestige I guess if you will. It’s such a neat place and it’s so fun to drive that I think if you look at these two guys I’ll guarantee you they had a blast all day today. I know I did. I think you have to watch the wrecks and be patient. That was something that if you’re not patient, you’re not watching the wrecks it’s going to be a long day. But if you’re able to do that this is the most fun you’ll ever have in a racecar.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA THAT AN ANGRY KYLE BUSCH BEHIND YOU TRYING TO GET INTO THE TOP-FIVE?
“I didn’t know he was angry but I knew at the point he was leading the race and he had to pull back down pit road, I knew that he would be coming in a hurry. For me it was trying to conserve. I knew we weren’t going to go any faster than what we were going. We were going as fast as we could. Kenseth was on the bottom, tried to move up to the top and actually tried to get around him. Thought we were going to be able to get him but just tried to put ourselves in position where he wasn’t going to be able to get us and ultimately that’s what happened.”
CAN YOU LEARN A LOT FROM WATCHING CUP DRIVERS OUT THERE?
“Yeah, definitely. I mean, yesterday I actually got to run behind Kyle. We were in practice there and we pulled out. I made my first laps and the car was really good and I knew that the setup was pretty close but you really don’t know if you’re hitting the line exactly right or if you’re doing things exactly right. So I get in behind Kyle and he was someone that I could just follow right around and we actually picked up probably a half a second, three-quarters of a second just by following him. We were already on top of the leader board when that happened and when he come out then we just started chipping the times away. I think that there’s definitely things that you can learn from Cup guys. Number one I think is patience. They’ve been here, they’ve probably wrecked here or at least watched people wreck here so they come out here and they use their head. I think when you follow them and you see what they’re doing, it makes it a lot easier for yourself to kind of lift and maybe not take some chances that you normally would.”
“We got to lead a little bit then the same bad luck we’ve had all season came back with five laps to go. If we didn’t have bad luck we wouldn’t have anything right now. We just cut down a right front. I don’t know if it was from dodging one of those wrecks earlier. It might have flat spotted a tire and then eventually wore down. We flat spotted ‘em before I hit the wall, you know, once I realized it was down so early. We’re not sure. We’ll have to get the tire over to Goodyear and see if they find a cut and that flat spot. Once again we’re showing that we can run up front and we can race with these guys and that makes
“One, you’re never going to get me to say anything bad about Goodyear. We just got a bad tire. Goodyear, what do they make a thousand tires for a weekend? You just hope you don’t get one that had a bad batch and apparently we had a bad batch or something and it just made for a long day for us. The only thing that really bums me out in the end is we kept our 62 South Point Chevy clean. We blew a tire but we stayed clean, didn’t hit nothing, made it through all the wrecks just clicking off laps, clicking off laps, trying to be smart. And little Keselowski, like his owner is having an awful year. He’s mad at the world and he screws up twice and just takes me with him.
I’m sorry you’re having a bad year but leave people alone. Just like your boss, you’re having a bad year. I’m sorry. Leave people alone. Don’t take it out on innocent bystanders. I’m just some poor rookie around here and he’s taking me out. I just can’t believe that but did a bunch of damage to our Chevy and that bums me out for the fab shop ‘cause they work hard. We didn’t clip it. We didn’t do any big damage just a little bit of body. We’ll go back, put this thing back together, and we’ll see you guys in Texas. At least this rookie has got a history at Texas.”
Raybestos® brand brake and chassis parts are produced by affiliated companies in Affinia’s Global Brake and Chassis Group, the leading manufacturer of braking systems and chassis parts in the transportation industry. The brake line includes everything from brake drums to rotors, pads, shoes and hydraulic parts, while the chassis line features tie rods, ball points, idler arms and sway bar links. Raybestos brand braking and chassis systems are also the only systems used by NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing in competition. For more information about Raybestos brakes, visit Raybestos.com. For more information on Raybestos Chassis visit RaybestosChassis.com.
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*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.
- Camp & Associates Press Release, Inc. Press Release
Article Tags: Nationwide Series, Press Release
