Catchfence

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished Second
“It was a great run. The old boy Jeff Gordon had it in him today. We ran him strong, we ran him hard. I’m real proud of our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge today, our team, our teamwork. We were in a back-up car, so we didn’t know what to expect, but we ran it as hard as we could. I shifted every lap. I overworked it, but it made it through the 500 miles. This Dodge was great for us today.

“It’s great to run this good with the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. Congratulations to Jeff Gordon. He ran strong. He ran well. We gave it everything we could with our Dodge. It’s all about teamwork when you have to work from a back-up car. I thought we were better after about lap 15 on a run, but we just couldn’t close it there at the end.

“We’re excited with this finish. We put up a good fight with our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. We gave it all we had. I’m proud to finish second. My guys worked hard to get that. To bring this Shell/Pennzoil Dodge home in second is a good feeling. Even though it’s a backup, it was a strong car today. We were working it hard today. I’m thankful to have good equipment and thank Roger Penske and the Dodge team. We were good enough to win today.”

KURT BUSCH IN MEDIA CENTER

TALK ABOUT THE RACE AND THOSE LAST FEW LAPS. “It was a great, hard-fought battle for us in the 22 car today. Just a nice, steady run. We were able to have smooth pit stops, not the greatest, but smooth. We had a great-handling car at certain points of the race, a little tight here, a little loose there. Just a great genuine day for our team to run in the top five all day.

“It’s pleasing to see that result. I’m exhausted. It was a great, hard-fought battle with Jeff Gordon at the end. It started about 130 laps in, about 70 to go, where we were able to take the lead, stretch it out. Then there was a caution. The 24 beat us out of the pits. It was a great battle.

“I thought we could gain on him after 15 laps into the run. We were able to do that most of the day. We were able to do that again at the end, but we just couldn’t close the gap far enough. The old ‘Golden Boy’ had it in him today. He ran strong. It was a very genuine battle that we had.

“Neither one of us slipped those final few laps. It was just one of those, I’ve giving it all I got and I can’t close the gap. Interesting day with shifting. Shifting quite a bit today, keeping track of the temperatures, the revs on the engine, fuel mileage as well, and a lot of balance inside the car.”

“TALK ABOUT THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF WHAT JEFF GORDON DID TODAY, TIES HIM FOR ALL-TIME WINS WITH (DARRELL) WALTRIP AND (B0BBY) ALLISON. “It’s impressive to see what he’s done over his career, not just in this decade, not in the 2000s, back all the way to the 90s. He’s a true legend in our sport, a four-time champion.

“When I came in as a rookie, I set the bar to try to compete with him, to race against him the best I could. We’ve had our good and tough battles on the track. Today, I wanted more. I wanted to get up there and race with him hard, show him that he’s going to have to work harder to get these wins in the latter part of his career. But he’s Jeff Gordon, he’s that good. The team is solid.

“It’s amazing to see that accomplishment, that he’s done that here in the current age. It seems like all the guys that have got those 200, 105, and 84 wins, those all came in the mid portion of how our NASCAR series developed, not the early portions of the ‘50s and ‘60s, but ‘70s, ‘80s and 90s.”

AFTER LAST WEEK WHEN YOU HAD TO PIT LATE, YOU STILL SAID AFTER THE RACE IT WAS GOOD TO HAVE A CAR THAT RAN UP FRONT MOST OF THE DAY. WHEN YOU PUT THAT RACE AND THIS RACE TOGETHER, IS IT FAIR TO SAY YOU THINK YOU’VE TURNED THE CORNER? “They’re a great two weeks. I feel like we’ve got what we need to continue to move forward. It’s not all there. We still need to have A-pluses in all areas of our team, whether it’s the motor department, aerodynamics, pit crew, crew chief-driver communications. To run for the win the last two weeks in a row and have two poles, it’s pretty solid.”

CARL EDWARDS CAME IN WITH A 40-POINT LEAD. GIVEN HIS DNF TODAY, HOW IS IT GOING TO HELP THE REST OF THE TEAM FALL INTO PLACE? “How did he have problems? Engine issues? That’s one concern all of us had in the back of our minds today with the extra shifting. You could leave it in third gear longer. It was a concern all day long.

“When the points leader has problems, everybody’s just chomping at the bit, licking their lips, going, wow, look at this, I’m right back in this. When you’re having good runs like we are, my little brother, just plugging away, that helps you feel more solid when you get to the month of August after you get through the Brickyard, making that summer run to the Chase.

“Right now, it’s all about consistency. I’d like to break through and get a win just to help us feel more confident in our Chase position. When the point’s leader has trouble, everybody benefits from that.”

STEVE ADDINGTON (Crew Chief, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T)
“I think we had a car that could have won the race today. I messed up on the call on that last pit stop. I didn’t want the 24 team to hear me tell the spotter that we wanted Kurt on pit road this lap, but the 4 car shot underneath and it jumbled everything up. We ended up making the stop the same lap as the 24. If we had stopped a lap earlier than the 24 and got out in front of him, we would have won the race. I want everybody to know how far this team came from Friday to today. We led laps and run up front all day long, no farther back than fourth. I’m proud of them.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 23rd
“I think we had a top-five car there at the end when it mattered. We had a broken shock, got it fixed and then it broke again. It’s just unfortunate. We were a really, really strong car and didn’t capitalize on it today. We did what we could, but there are some things you just can’t overcome.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release