Brendan Gaughan, 16th
John Wes Townley, 18th
Michael Annett, 22nd
Justin Allgaier, 25th
Michael McDowell, 29th
Terry Cook, 41st
RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOR THE
O’REILLY CHALLENGE NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES RACE
AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2009,
“We were free on starts. The top seemed to tighten it up a little bit but I got over the bumps and it just stepped out from underneath me. I tried saving it and did everything I could possibly do and ended up not being able to save it and unfortunately we took out some other guys and ruined their day. I really hate it for the Verizon Wireless guys. We had a decent car. We were coming back through. We got the lucky dog, felt like we were in good shape and unfortunately our day is short. We got really good up on the top groove.”
WHAT HAPPENENED?
“Just a frustrating day. We felt like the Verizon Wireless Dodge was pretty good. Got a little bit loose after I got over the bumps and did everything I could to save it and chased it three or four different times back and forth and finally just couldn’t hold onto it anymore and come down in front of the rest of the field and that’s what happens. I hate it for those guys. We ruined their day and made their day short and hurt our chances for fifth in points so not the day we wanted for sure. I’m all right and we’ll come back the next two races and hopefully we’ll have the good luck that we needed today and we can get fifth back and still win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year championship.”
HOW DID YOU GET MIXED UP IN THAT?
“Just bad timing: wrong place, wrong time. It’s unfortunate. We worked hard on our car today and just have to think Brian and Bob Keselowski for giving me an opportunity to drive their car. Unfortunately today was not our day. The 12 got loose there and started coming down the hill. I tried to go to the top and he rolled back and got into him.”
BRENDAN GAUGHAN IN THE No. 62 LOAN STAR TITLE LOANS CHEVROLET WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN TODAY’S RACE AT TEXAS.
NOTES:
Gaughan posted a 16th-place finish and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the second consecutive race and for the eighth time this season.
John Wes Townley posted an 18th-place finish, his best effort in the last six races.
“With only three or four guys in the race that are running for Raybestos Rookie that only gains me a one or two points. It’s not enough. We had a good enough race car to be top-10 and really make a dent in the rookie points. That kid in the 1, I know he’s going to be a Raybestos Rookie next year but somebody is going to have to sit him down. I’ve heard a lot of people have tried to talk to him and teach him respect but he doesn’t have much. I was driving the car, my own fault, but I got right-sided pretty hard and it looked like we broke a track bar mount or something.
Just had to fudge it around and came home at least with what we did. We saved some points. We’ll get out of here and get to Phoenix and get that W I talked about.”
IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE.
“Oh it could have been a way worse day but it could have been way better. At the worst we were running sixth, seventh place. We should have been about a seventh-place race car. That gives us 13 or 14 Raybestos Rookie points and that cuts that lead right in half again. It wasn’t what we talked about where I get those wins to win this thing but at least it would have been a good championship points day and good Raybestos Rookie points day. Now it’s just mediocre.”
“That was pretty good. We had that little penalty to start off with, kind of hurt us and we were three laps down at the end of the race. We got a top-20 finish and we’re excited about it. We’re not happy about what happened but we can’t dwell on it. We want to go on to the next week at Phoenix. We’ll get that Zaxby’s Ford out there and see what we can do.”
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE PENALTY?
“I think there was a track bar adjustment or a minor adjustment that was unapproved by NASCAR. Unfortunately that resulted in how we did and we got those laps down because we got held up on pit road.”
YOU REBOUNDED AND CAME AWAY WITH SOLID FINISH.
“We got lucky there on one of those first cautions. We got two of our laps back. Everybody else pitted and the caution came out like two laps afterward and we got some of our laps back so that helped us out a lot.”
WHAT HAPPENED?
“Just battling for the lucky dog and we got a good run up on top around the 66 and he got loose down here and slid up in front of us. We had a really good run and we was to his quarter panel and he got loose again and I nailed the brake and he as going so slow at that point we got into the back of him that he just clipped us as we were trying to get around. We started off a little tight and that got us a lap down and put us in the situation to battle back.
There was one run where we were really good and then on a restart we were trying to get everything we could and I smacked the wall off two and put us about two pit stops behind. That was my fault. They’ve pretty much got a whole new race car when something like that happens and they battled back and got it to where it was good right when that happened. We were going to get around the 66 and hopefully get a caution and be back on the lead lap and kind of what we’ve been doing these last few races, be there at the end. We were counting on it. The track was greasy all day. There was one run there where I said it was the loosest car I’ve had all year. I imagine the 66 was fighting the same thing. It was just unfortunate the way we came together.”
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
Affinia Group Inc. is a global leader in the on and off-highway replacement products and service industry. In North America the Affinia family of brands includes WIX® Filters, Raybestos®, AIMCO® and BrakePro® brake products, and McQuay-Norris® and Raybestos™ Chassis parts. South American and European brands include Nakata®, Filtron®, Urba® and Quinton Hazell®. For more information, visit affiniagroup.com.
* 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, Inc. Press Release