Category: XFINITY Series

WATKINS GLEN, New York (August 14, 2011) – – Making a NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) debut at a road course is not exactly the norm, but that is the challenge rookie driver Casey Roderick, Randy Hill Racing (RHR) and Go Green Racing (GGR) faced at Watkins Glen International for the Zippo 200.

The 19 year-old Lawrenceville, Georgia native had recently competed in the previous three ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards events with Randy Hill Racing and Spraker Racing Enterprises before entering Watkins Glen.

Roderick and his No. 39 Abilene Christian University Ford Mustang team faced a battle during practice. While fighting a free racecar, Roderick had no testing experience in a Nationwide Series car and was forced to learn on the spot in the weekend’s only two hour practice session. Roderick turned twenty laps and posted his fastest lap, good enough for 22nd overall on his last lap in practice.

Qualifying in group five, Roderick picked up from his practice time by nearly three tenths of a second, and continued to show great improvement with limited track time. Roderick qualified 24th, the best qualifying effort for the No. 39 team in the past five races.

As the race began, Roderick quickly made timely moves and picked up two positions on lap one and found comfortable track position in 22nd to gain experience in the early stages. With lap times constantly improving, Roderick was looking for a way to crack the top 20 as he moved up to 21st in the No. 39 Abilene Christian University Ford. Before the team’s first green flag stop on lap 19, the Georgia native reported that his No. 39 Ford Mustang was snug in most corners but began to free up as the run went along.

Roderick learned a valuable lesson coming into his pit box, as he slid through his sign, but chalked it up to experience. Quickly after the round of pit stops, the race’s first caution flew at lap 25, which left Roderick one lap down.

A long green flag run through the middle portion of the Zippo 200 gave Roderick the opportunity to gain spots back lost on pit road. By lap 60, Roderick had moved back to his starting position of 24th and found himself racing for the Lucky Dog position to get back on the lead lap. However, the cautions did not fall the ACU Racing team’s way, even with Roderick posting his fastest lap of the day on lap 74.

Just shy of the white flag, Roderick’s learned another rookie lesson after spinning in the inner loop with two laps to go, running 23rd forcing just the second yellow flag of the day. Recovering from the spin and surviving a green-white-checkered finish, Roderick finished his Nationwide Series debut 25th.

“I was just glad to make a lot of progress throughout the race and the weekend,” Roderick said. “After never running a Nationwide car at any time, I felt like we really made progress and we were the most competitive near the end of the race. At this point, that’s what I look for, is to keep getting better and better every time we get on the track. It was real fun to have Abilene Christian University on the car this weekend, and it’s neat to see a different type of organization be involved in NASCAR and I feel very fortunate to be a part of it with Randy Hill Racing.”

Team owner Randy Hill was more than pleased with the overall weekend with Roderick and Go Green Racing at Watkins Glen International.

“I’m so pleased to be with Casey and be a big part of his growing career,” Hill said. “We came here to get more experience under our belt as a team, Casey as a driver and myself in an ownership type role. Watkins Glen is a great venue and everyone at Abilene Christian University have been a pleasure to work with to promote mobile learning and we enjoyed working with them every step of the way this weekend. I couldn’t be more proud of Casey and especially the Go Green Racing team for their effort this weekend.”

Randy Hill Racing will take a brief break from competition and begin preparing for a stretch of races this fall with Roderick at the helm. The team’s official plans will be announced in the coming weeks.

For more on Randy Hill Racing, please visit http://www.randyhillracing.com/ randyhillracing.com.

Join the team on Facebook by clicking http://www.facebook.com/pages/Randy-Hill-Racing/241735289170614 here (Randy Hill Racing).

Tweet with us through Twitter at @RandyHillRacing.

Said set to defend his 2010 victory at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the No. 30 Great Clips Chevrolet Impala

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 12, 2011) – Turner Motorsports is pleased to announce the addition of road course specialist, Boris Said, to the driver’s seat of the No. 30 Impala for the upcoming NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Said, the event’s defending winner, will join Turner Motorsports teammate Jason Leffler in sporting the colors of the longest-running primary sponsor in the Nationwide Series, Great Clips Inc.

In four starts at the Montreal-based track, the Carlsbad, Calf.-native boasts two top-five finishes. After an exciting battle for the lead in the closing laps of the 2010 event, Said captured the victory to mark his first series win. In 22 Nationwide Series starts over nine years, he has brought home one win, six top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

“I am excited to go back to Montreal and defend my win with Turner Motorsports. They are a great organization that has proven they can win. They have some of the best equipment on the track and with Hendrick power under the hood I know we are going to have a fast Great Clips Chevy,” Said commented.

Said is another solid addition to Turner Motorsports’ stacked driver line-up. In 22 starts this season, the powerhouse Nationwide Series team has racked up three wins, 19 top-five and 45 top-10 finishes between its four teams. Team owner, Steve Turner, couldn’t be more proud of his team and is excited about welcoming Said to the seat of the No. 30 Chevrolet.

“Boris Said is an accomplished road course racer and proven winner. I couldn’t be happier about having the chance to put him in one of our cars,” said Turner. “Our organization has had a successful year thus far and we look forward to furthering that success with Boris.”

About Turner Motorsports: Turner Motorsports, LLC, established in 1999, is in the midst of its sophomore season of NASCAR competition. Owned by Texas-native, Steve Turner, the organization has expanded in 2011 from a two-truck operation in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) to become the largest stand-alone multi-series team in NASCAR’s top-tier touring series. Turner Motorsports operates out of an 110,000 square-foot state-of-the art facility in Mooresville, N.C., and will house three entries in the Camping World Truck Series and four entries in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The team boasts an all-star driver line-up that includes Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Jason Leffler, Reed Sorenson, Justin Allgaier, Ricky Carmichael, James Buescher and Brad Sweet. The Chevrolet-backed team has created alliances with General Motors’ powerhouse teams Hendrick Motorsports, which will provide engine support for both its NNS and NCWTS programs, Kevin Harvick Inc. for body and aero support, and Earnhardt Technology Group for drive train and suspension technology assistance. Turner Motorsports’ marketing partners include Dollar General, Great Clips, Monster Energy, BRANDT, Rexall, Exide, AccuDoc Solutions, Wolfpack Rentals, Fraternal Order of Eagles and ABF Freight. For more information on Turner Motorsports, visit www.turnermotorsportsllc.com.

About Great Clips: Great Clips, Inc. was established in 1982 in Minneapolis. Today, Great Clips has nearly 3,000 salons throughout the United States and Canada, making it the world’s largest salon brand. Great Clips salons employ nearly 30,000 stylists who receive ongoing training to learn advanced skills and the latest trends. Make Great Clips your choice for value-priced, high-quality haircare for men, women and children. No appointments needed, and salons are open nights and weekends. For more information about Great Clips, Inc. or to find a location near you, visit www.greatclips.com.

The Finish: Joey Logano used a great late-race call from Crew Chief Adam Stevens to drive the No. 20 GameStop Toyota from fifth to third on a green-white checkered finish in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event, the Zippo 200, at Watkins Glen International. With the third-place finish, Logano continued his impressive recent string of road course finishes in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.

The Race Recap: Following a recent string of good runs in road course events, Logano qualified his No. 20 GameStop Toyota eighth for Saturday afternoon’s event at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen road course. Logano and Stevens came up with a pre-race pit strategy and were able to stick with it most of the afternoon. Logano rode around the first part of the event in eighth before coming in for his first stop on lap 22, where the team made adjustments for a tight condition. Logano continued to pick up spot after spot as the race went on, getting up to fifth by lap 40. Just after lap 40, Logano started to complain that the No. 20 GameStop Toyota was running hot. With one eye on the water gauge, Logano continued to run near the front, getting up to fourth by lap 76 following another round of pit stops. However, a late-race caution set up a decision for the No. 20 team. Stevens elected to bring Logano in for four fresh tires and to top the GameStop Toyota off the fuel. Quick pit work by the No. 20 team got Logano out in fifth for the final green-white-checkered run. Over those final two laps, Logano was able to pick up two spots to finish third, including getting by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch on the final turn coming to the checkers.

Joey’s Quotes: “We had a great run today with the GameStop Toyota. What a great finish considering where we started the day. It was a great call from Adam to come in and get those tires and it worked out just like we had planned. We were going to be close on fuel, so we decided to come in, get some fuel and get tires. That way, if there were a few green-white-checkers at the end of the race, we would be ready for it. It ended up we only lost one spot in the pits because a lot of other guys came in as well and we were actually the first car off pit road. So when they threw the green, we were just all out trying to get the spots we could. Everyone got into turn one kind of crazy and that helped too. We got into fourth and were able to get by Kyle for third there coming to the line. I just wish we could have had more laps at the end. I was kind of hoping we would have a couple of green-white-checker finishes, because we had those fresh tires. But I’ll take third-place, especially on a road course.

“The car was good all day, but wasn’t as good in the beginning as it needed to be and that is probably my fault. I don’t think I put as much emphasis on getting the car turning in practice as I should have. So we spent the first part of the race trying to get it turning better and Adam and the guys made all the right adjustments. By the end of the race, we had a good car. I’m just happy to get out of here with a car in one piece and a top-five finish. We stayed on the track all day and it was a good race.

“I need to thank Max Papis for helping me out today. He’s been serving as a coach on the road course races for me and I’ve been really improving. He was on the radio in the bus stop today and was giving me a lot of pointers. Plus, he brings a lot of energy to the radio. It’s hard to listen to the guy and not get pumped up when you are out there. He came over after the race and said I drove my butt off. When a guy like that tells you that you are driving your but off, you know you did something. I’m definitely getting better at these road course events. I’ve still got a ways to go, but I feel like I’m getting there. I kind of started as a blank slate with Max and I think he’s got me to a place I need to be. If I can just keep honing my road racing skills, I think I’ll be able to win one of these events one day.”

What’s Next: The No. 20 GameStop Toyota and Logano will be back in action in just two weeks at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Dodge Motorsports PR

Watkins Glen International

Zippo 200

NASCAR Nationwide Series Post-Race Quotes

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Race Winner CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH THE RACE AND WHAT IT FELT LIKE TO BE IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES CAR AGAIN? “This was a lot of fun to come out here and fill in for (Brad) Keselowski and have Todd Gordon here running the show. To have a championship-caliber car available and to jump into it, it’s an opportunity. I’m glad that today turned out the way that it did and to reach its full potential and that’s to sit on the pole, lead some laps and be in position to win and bring the victory on home. Penske Racing puts a lot of effort into their Cup cars and now I know why they continue this Nationwide program. It provides a great stage for a guy like Todd Gordon and those crew guys to develop and work their way up to the Cup Series. I’m just really proud of the team and the effort put forth today to bring it home to victory lane and to run up front with my little brother and Carl Edwards. Those two guys are the winningest guys in Nationwide, along with Mark Martin. To race with those guys, I can see why they are tough to beat. For us to come out on top with our one shot at it, we needed to take all the advantage that we could with it and I did. It was a great day.”

WAS YOUR PLAN AT THE END OF THE RACE TO RUN KYLE HARD TO RUN HIM OUT OF FUEL? “We were running hard together. It wasn’t to force him to run out fuel, I wanted to race him as fair and square as I could. They had a problem in the pits and we knew that they were short. I had the confidence in Todd (Gordon) that we were good on fuel, so we were going to apply pressure and it wasn’t that we were hanging on and waiting. It seemed like I could catch him in traffic and I could get to his back bumper, but I couldn’t do anything (pass him). That was still with 10 laps to go. With five to go. I was really going to pour it on, but those guys didn’t have enough fuel.”

DOES THIS WIN MAKE YOU TEMPTED TO RACE ON SATURDAY MORE OFTEN? “What it did to me after being gone for four years was that it shows the level of commitment that the guys that run both series have to give. With time away from the Cup car, the focus of balancing two setups and running all the laps, yesterday I was in the car from noon to six o’clock. It makes for a longer day and eats up your time where I felt that I was off just a little bit on the Cup side. Tonight will be an opportunity to go back over those notes and be as focused as we can on Sunday.”

IT CAME DOWN TO A GREEN-WHITE CHECKERED FLAG; TAKE US THROUGH THE RESTART? “I knew that it was going to be a good finish. On the restart at the end, all heck could have broken loose. I actually drove it in a little too deep; that right-front tire was cold. I just have to thank this crew for allowing me to step in, they were starting to call me “Buschlowski” because I was wearing Brad’s fire suit. Todd Gordon (crew chief) did an excellent job. This was a fast Dodge Challenger. I’m proud to drive it. Thanks to Ruby Tuesday, Discount Tire and Shell and Pennzoil for allowing me to come over here and have fun. It’s really neat to come over here and sit on the pole and win.”

TODD GORDON (crew chief, No. 22 Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) “A great win for the Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge Challenger. Kurt ran a great race. It got a little hairy with fuel mileage those last few laps. I thought that we were good for at least one green-white-checkered flag. The car was fast. We didn’t have to make too many changes. Once we saw the No. 18 car pit for fuel, I thought that we were in good shape.”

WHEN DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU WERE GOING TO BE PAIRED UP WITH KURT? “It was Wednesday morning when I got the call that Kurt was going to be in the car because Brad was really holding on to see how he would feel. Obviously it’s a pleasure to get somebody of this caliber.

“The race car was decent. I felt like we were better on the back-half of the run and the race played out how we looked at it. We pitted on lap 24 and waited to see where that went from there.

“We could go (lap) 24 to 54 and a caution there in the middle put us to (lap) 55 and that gave us a lap on the rest of them. I can’t say that I wasn’t a little stressed on fuel mileage. With the contours here and the down hills we needed to make sure that the fuel cell picked up. We knew that we had enough to make it, we just wanted to make sure that we picked it all up.”

YOU’VE WORKED WITH A FEW DRIVERS THIS YEAR. WHAT CHALLENGES HAS THAT PRESENTED FOR YOU? “Probably the biggest challenge that I had with the driver allotment that we’ve had this year was getting to work with Jacques Villeneuve because he’s not part of our Penske group. There’s a lot of communication. I’d say that’s one of the things that we do very well. The crew chiefs and engineers within Penske, no matter what series we’re in, we’re all kind of together. We know what’s going on. We have race notes from each other. We look through them every weekend and see where we are. I had looked and seen what Steve’s (Addington) setup was for Kurt’s Cup car. We were pretty close. I kind of had a direction with rear springs because there was something different there. From Sam Hornish Jr. to Parker Kligerman to Kurt, they’re there. They’re in the shop. I’ve seen them. I’ve talked to them. My road engineer at the beginning of the year is now one of his road engineers on the Cup program. I went to him (Jonathon Hasler) and asked what’s he like, what he wants? And we got some ideas to start with. It’s been very fluent and it speaks to the level of what we have at Penske Racing.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) “This is great. This deal with Kurt didn’t come together until Tuesday. We left our driver debrief and talked about the Cup weekend at Pocono, I walked up to Kurt and said, ‘Hey Kurt, I think it would be cool if you drove my car this weekend. I just don’t think that I can pull it off.’ He was like a kid in a candy store. His face lit up and I knew that he wanted to drive this car. I knew how bad he wanted to win and I’m glad to see his hard work and passion for the team pay off with a victory.”

HOW BIG OF A WIN IS THIS FOR YOUR TEAM GUYS? “It’s great for them. We’ve had four championship drivers in that car over a four week span with Sam Hornish Jr., Jacques Villeneuve, Kurt, and myself. It’s going to be really cool to watch Jacques next week in Montreal.”

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Joey Logano (third) and Kyle Busch (fourth) earned top-five results for Toyota in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Watkins Glen International.

Busch led three times for a race-high 48 laps (of 48) at the 2.45-mile upstate New York road course.

Camry drivers Joe Nemechek (11th), Brian Scott (14th), Steve Wallace (16th), Michael Annett (19th), Kenny Wallace (32nd) and Jason Bowles (36th) were also in the field.

Five Camry drivers are currently in the top-15 in the unofficial NNS point standings following 23 of 34 races in the 2011 season — K. Wallace (seventh), S. Wallace (eighth), Scott (ninth), Annett (10th) and Nemechek (14th).

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 3rd How did your car handle during today’s race? “It was pretty good. We just took off too tight there at the beginning of the race and were too slow. It was my fault. I didn’t think about it enough in practice that you need to worry more about turning and more than I did. I gave us up a little bit of speed there to start it off with. Adam Stevens (crew chief) and all the other guys made really good changes on the GameStop Toyota and got it better. Really good call there at the end of the race to get us more tires and we did everything we could to get up two spots and wish it could’ve been better than that, but overall it’s not bad.”

How much does running the Nationwide Series and Grand-Am races on Saturday help you for the Cup race Sunday? “I forgot about the Grand-Am race. I’ve got to run that now. I’ve got to change modes now. It was a lot of fun. We did a good job today and it definitely helps out for tomorrow. I feel like I learned some things that can definitely help in my Cup car tomorrow. I’m excited about that tomorrow.”

What happened on the final laps of today’s race? “It was a pretty good run for us today. I’ve had a lot of fun. Didn’t take off in the beginning of the race the way we needed to. Probably my fault. I wasn’t worried enough in practice about my car turning and I probably should’ve worried a little bit more about it. I was able to — I feel like in the beginning of the race we just gave up too much speed there. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the guys just made really good calls and we were able to get our GameStop Toyota faster. Just needed cautions and needed some track position. At the end, it was our opportunity and we came and took four tires, gutsy call by Adam and it was definitely worth it to get those four tires there at the end. So, I restarted fifth and maybe gave up one spot by doing that and were able to gain one spot. It was good. Wish we had a few more laps, because I feel like with four new tires it definitely came in better. It is what it is. We had a good day. I learned a lot for tomorrow so I think that’s going to help a lot and now I’m trying to get myself prepared for the Grand-Am car.”

How has Max Papis helped you with road course racing? “Max (Papis) is the man. Max is awesome. He’s helped me out a ton both on and off the race track. Obviously his road course expertise has really shown a lot through these last few road course races. Sonoma, he helped out a lot and I feel like we have a good car for tomorrow too. I think the big thing that he taught me is just knowing what to look for in a race car and knowing what you need in a road course car. I kind of started as a blank slate, ‘What do I need to do here?’ Obviously, he was sitting down in the Bus Stop here today and he would always come over the radio, and if you know Max he’s full of enthusiasm. He’s definitely got a ton of energy. If that guy can’t pump you up to make you go faster there’s no one out there that can do it. I had a lot of fun on the radio with him today. He’s definitely a big help and like I said, off the race track just the way to handle people and the way to treat certain situations. He’s helped me out a lot with that. He’s got a lot of experience and it’s good to have someone like that on your side.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 4th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 NEMCO Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position: 11th What happened to your strategy of saving fuel early? “Our mileage was a little off there at the beginning and really didn’t know what we were going to get for mileage, so really had to conserve, short shift. When it was time to go, we went. The sun loosened our car up a little bit. It was just a good day for our whole NEMCO Motorsports crew. AMFM Energy.com and DAB helped us out. We were able to be here. Got a car in one piece ready to go to Montreal next week.”

BRIAN SCOTT, No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 14th How was your race? “That was the longest Glen race I’ve ever been a part of. I know it went green a long time. It just felt like a long race. We had a couple mechanical issues. We overheated. We fought some brake stuff. Overall, it was just a long day. The guys fought hard. I was in position for the ‘Lucky Dog’ for a while and just the nature of having a few cautions it’s hard to get back on the lead lap. Just about the type of year we’re having. We seem to finish 14th or 15th every week and we can say for a number of different reasons and this weekend it was overheating water temperature.”

STEVE WALLACE, No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 16th How was your day? “Our 5-Hour Toyota wasn’t too bad today. We were pretty good there at the start and then on our second pit stop the guys accidentally pulled all the tape off the front of the nose, so we were running a little hot. The car got really tight there on the middle run. We were kind of racing with our hands tied, because this is our Montreal car, so we wouldn’t take a chance at all of tearing this thing up. We managed to come home 16th-place. Couple guys in front of me had some bad points days. In all it was a good deal. I’d just like to thank 5-Hour Energy, Aspen Dental and all those guys for all their support and we’ll go to Montreal and hopefully have another good run.”

MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 62 Pilot/Flying J Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 19th Were you saving today’s Camry for Montreal? “We have another car, but it’s going to take a lot of work for these guys to turn around and go to Montreal. We met our goal. We wanted to stay on track, bring this car back without tearing any fenders and I think we brought it back without a scratch on it. We want to run better. I’m still learning on these road courses and completing laps and finishing races is what we need to do. We did everything we set out to do and hopefully take everything we learned from here and go to Montreal and try to get back to that top-10 finish we had at Road America.”

What can you apply from this race to Montreal? “There’s just so many techniques with road course racing and knowing that I’m not the greatest driver, I’m not going to go out there and try to set the world’s fastest lap time. Each lap I’m trying something different. If it works you keep trying to repeat that in each corner and then you move onto the next section trying to make yourself better there. That’s really what I concentrated on and towards the end we got better throughout the day. There’s only certain corners from here that will go into Montreal, but I learned a lot at Road American and I think we’ll take more from that race and put it into our package for Montreal.”

KENNY WALLACE, No. 09 New York Toyota Dealers Toyota Camry, RAB Racing with Brack Maggard Finishing Position: 32nd

JASON BOWLES, No. 64 Aspen Dental Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 36th

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (August 13, 2011) – When the checkered flag finally flew over the 11-turn road course of Watkins Glen International on Saturday afternoon, Alex Kennedy and the No. 23 Primalyn Enterprises/Dream Factory Chevrolet overcame a lack of cautions and kept their nose clean to finish 23rd in the race.

During the two-hour practice session on Friday, Kennedy logged the 26th fastest time. He backed that up in qualifying on Saturday morning when he took the initial green flag 25th on the final grid.

Once the race started, Kennedy maintained his starting position before moving up two positions to 23rd place in the first four laps. On lap five, Kennedy overshot the bus stop turn and had to come to a complete stop before he could get back to racing through the carousel turn.

That cost him eight positions dropping the No. 23 down to 31st place. A scheduled stop on lap 13 brought Kennedy down pit road for fuel, four tires and tape off the grill because the car was running hot. Returning to action on lap 15, the No. 23 Chevrolet was now 35th on the scoring chart.

Green flag stops for the leaders started on the 16th circuit, showing others were taking a similar pit strategy in the early going.

By lap 25, Kennedy radioed into crew chief Walter Giles the running temperature was high. This forced another trip down pit road to remove more tape, but also a chance to add more fuel. Right after he got back on track, the yellow flag flew for a car stopped on the course.

Giles took this opportunity to once again hit pit road to top off the tank. This lined up Kennedy in the 32nd position, as one of 10 cars a lap down to the leaders, for the lap-28 restart.

From there, it was a battle forward as Kennedy was running 27th by the halfway point of the scheduled 82-lap race. By lap 50, he was up to 26th and had to pit under green for fuel and four tires under green two circuits later.

By this time, there were only 22 cars on the lead lap leaving little room for improvement in the running order. What got real interesting for Kennedy and the No. 23 Primalyn Enterprises/Dream Factory team was the fact they were running their fastest laps of the race from laps 60 to 68 as they ticked towards the checkered flag.

By lap 76, Kennedy was now up to 23rd place before being forced to pit road for fuel under green. This took place while the race leader hit pit road, as well, needing fuel to go the distance.

The driver from Aztec, N.M. was running the same lap times as the top-10 cars when the caution came out on lap 81 forcing a Green/White/Checkers finish. And, when the checkered flag finally waved to end the race on lap 85, Kennedy and team finished 23rd in the No. 23 Chevrolet.

Next weekend, Kennedy returns to the No. 23 Chevrolet for R3 Motorsports at Montreal.

Alex Kennedy Quotes: “This car was running just incredible about three-quarters of the way through as we were keeping up with some of the leaders, even though we were down a lap.

“I hate that we ended up having to pit for fuel there in the middle like we did, but you need to have that to race and make it to the end. I can’t believe there were only two cautions in the entire race. I mean, I’ve seen what’s happened here and in other road course races and was hoping we could’ve taken advantage of some more cautions to improve our running position.

“We had a good car and should have had a much better finish than what we showed here today at The Glen. That gives me a lot of encouragement when we race Montreal this coming weekend.”

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Dodge Motorsports PR

Watkins Glen International

Zippo 200

NASCAR Nationwide Series Post-Race Quotes

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Race Winner IT CAME DOWN TO A GREEN-WHITE CHECKERED FLAG; TAKE US THROUGH THE RESTART? “I knew that it was going to be a good finish. On the restart at the end, all heck could have broken loose. I actually drove it in a little too deep; that right-front tire was cold. I just have to thank this crew for allowing me to step in, they were starting to call me “Buschlowski” because I was wearing Brad’s fire suit. Todd Gordon (crew chief) did an excellent job. This was a fast Dodge Challenger. I’m proud to drive it. Thanks to Ruby Tuesday, Discount Tire and Shell and Pennzoil for allowing me to come over here and have fun. It’s really neat to come over here and sit on the pole and win.”

TODD GORDON (crew chief, No. 22 Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) “A great win for the Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge Challenger. Kurt ran a great race. It got a little hairy with fuel mileage those last few laps. I thought that we were good for at least one green-white-checkered flag. The car was fast. We didn’t have to make too many changes. Once we saw the No. 18 car pit for fuel, I thought that we were in good shape.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) “This is great. This deal with Kurt didn’t come together until Tuesday. We left our driver debrief and talked about the Cup weekend at Pocono, I walked up to Kurt and said, ‘Hey Kurt, I think it would be cool if you drove my car this weekend. I just don’t think that I can pull it off.’ He was like a kid in a candy store. His face lit up and I knew that he wanted to drive this car. I knew how bad he wanted to win and I’m glad to see his hard work and passion for the team pay off with a victory.”

HOW BIG OF A WIN IS THIS FOR YOUR TEAM GUYS? “It’s great for them. We’ve had four championship drivers in that car over a four week span with Sam Hornish Jr., Jacques Villeneuve, Kurt, and myself. It’s going to be really cool to watch Jacques next week in Montreal.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES

Zippo 200 at the Glen August 13, 2011

Watkins Glen International

Ford Finishing Results: 5th – Carl Edwards 9th – Trevor Bayne 15th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 25th – Casey Roderick 27th – Tomy Drissi 31st – Timmy Hill 38th – J.R. Fitzpatrick

CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang – “I messed up the last restart. I messed it up, but Kurt did a really good job. He didn’t spin the tires and I wish I could have done a better job for my guys. It was kind of a frustrating day overall. I wish we could have run better. I think we had a much faster car than we finished, but I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. We’ve got a good Ortho Fusion. I just appreciate all the fans coming out and supporting us. This is a fun race track.”

YOU CHASED THE BUSCH BROTHERS ALL DAY AND THEN IT CAME DOWN TO THE LAST RESTART. “I just didn’t do a very good job on the last restart, but our car was fast. Our Fastenal Mustang was good. I think if that last caution hadn’t come out I really had something for Kurt. I know everybody always says that, but I really feel like it was gonna be a good race. He was driving the heck out of his car. Those guys got a little ahead of themselves early. They were driving like crazy racing each other, so I was hoping they’d take care of themselves and we’d cruise on, but they did what they had to do. We ended up fifth, but we should have been a lot better. This is a fun race track. I wish it was a little longer race.”

YOU HAD SOME WORDS WITH JOEY LOGANO AFTER THE RACE. WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT? “Well, it’s both him and Kyle. You can only pass in a couple spots on this race track and I pulled down on the back straightaway to go past both of them and they both just ran me in the grass. That’s OK. I know how they want to race now. We’ve got a big race coming up in a day or two and we’ll be fine.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 6 RickyVsTrevor.com Ford Mustang – “I felt like we had the speed to be in the top 10. We had a really fast car in parts of the race when I could run, but we just made too many mistakes. I’ve got to balance driving hard and being conservative, and when I am conservative I still need to be up on the wheel and not relaxed. I think that’s where I’m getting in trouble. I’ll drive conservative, get relaxed and when something happens I’m behind on the steering or anything that I’m doing, so I’ve got to find a good balance. I’ve got to get some more road course testing in, maybe over the winter to try and get better since we’ve got three of them on the schedule.”

YOU DIDN’T LOSE MANY POINTS TODAY SO IN THE BIG PICTURE IT WASN’T AN AWFUL DAY, RIGHT? “It really wasn’t a big hit at all. We got kind of lucky because the 32 didn’t run as well as they probably wanted and I know the 2 was faster than a 10th place car, but they made some mistakes and sped on pit road, so it paid off for us. We got a couple of spots there on the front straightaway coming to the checkers, so we managed it and didn’t put ourselves in too big of a hole. I think we only lost five points, so, all in all, it was an OK day. We’ve just got to be a little bit better next time.”

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 16 RickyVsTrevor.com Ford Mustang – “On some road course you finish top 10 and you ran 20th all day but everybody else crashes at the end, but this time we actually ran top 10 all day long. We ran right there behind the Cup guys all day. I know we could have finished eighth there, but the lapped cars at the end raced real hard and got us back behind a little bit, so I couldn’t get to the 88 to pass and we finished ninth. But it was a good day for us. I learned a ton out here at Watkins Glen. Our Mustangs are really good, but I learned more today than I probably ever have at a road course because we were competitive enough to run behind the good guys. There are times you want to follow them but they’re so much faster that you can’t even keep up to learn. Today, I got behind Jimmie Johnson for a while and learned a ton from him, and just really had a solid day all the way through.”