Q&A: Mears, Newman, Bowyer.

Tuesday, 21st February 2006

They may have come up a little short in NASCAR’s biggest race, but Daytona 500 runner-up Casey Mears, third place finisher Ryan Newman and top rookie Clint Bowyer still had plenty to smile (and talk) about after the race.

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Just Matt Borland, everybody at Penske Racing, Roger Penske did an excellent job in the off season. Put a great ALLTEL Dodge underneath me. Just being in the right place at the right time. I was pretty confident, as I think everybody else was, there was going to be another yellow before the chequered flag fell. That was with two to go. It was just a matter of being at the right place at the right time, like I said.

We had a good run. I told the guys over the radio afterwards, if I had that run, didn't take it, you know, I would have had a hard time sleeping tonight, probably for the next 10, 15 years maybe. You never know.

I'm glad I took it. Whether we finished second or third, that's beside the point. We had a great effort. It was a pretty typical Daytona 500 in my eyes, at least for racing, you know, the whole bump drafting deal, all that stuff, blown out of proportion.

Q.
Casey, the other day we talked about a little extra incentive you had if you won the race. You only fell a spot or two short of doing it. Just talk a little about being that close to getting some extra duty in May?

CASEY MEARS:
Yeah, I mean, it definitely crossed my mind when that last caution came out. Obviously, we would have liked to have won. It would have forced Chip and Felix to put me in the Indy 500, which would have been a lot of fun.

The best thing about it is we got to shave Felix's head. I was enjoying that. I was getting ready to call dad and tell him to go get the clippers and a long drop cord so we could shave his head in Victory Lane. At the end of the day, it was a good finish for us. I'd love to go to the Indy 500 sometime, always been a dream and goal of mine. Right now we're at the Daytona 500, we had an excellent day and couldn't be happier unless we won or got second (smiling).

Q.
Clint, not a lot of emotion in your voice. Are you happy where you finished or just kind of bummed you didn't win?

CLINT BOWYER:
No, I'm happy (smiling). Yeah, just we were riding there. I just didn't want to see that 'green white chequered' at the end. I really thought that Junior was wanting to move. We had a pretty good car right there at the end. I was going to go with him, whichever way. I think Elliott was the same way. I knew as soon as the caution came out, we was in trouble.

Q.
Can y'all just comment a little bit on what kind of a race this was? Everybody was worried about whether it was going to get crazy out there. It did at times, but overall what kind of a race was it?

CASEY MEARS:
I felt for the most part it was fairly clean. I mean, obviously there were some wrecks and some accidents. I mean, we've had wrecks and accidents at these races for the last 10 years. I know I've only been here for three.