Post race quotes/notes - GFS Marketplace 400.

"We had another incident and, in this case, it was after the race was over. It was in the garage. Jimmy [Spencer] apparently ran into, with witnesses, I did not witness it, he ran into the back of Kurt's car and that was after some contact and some exchange with Jimmy apparently being the aggressor as they went from the race track to the garage.

"Kurt says that his car ran out of gas, it stopped running. He didn't have much gas left, so Jimmy then ran into him and came up and punched him through the window. There were words exchanged. I don't know what was said. We'll get that all straight. We're gonna let the authorities handle it." - Jack Roush

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 Rubbermaid Taurus (Finished 18th) NOTE: Led 43 laps including laps 157-197 before being passed by Ryan Newman and then running out of fuel in turn four on lap 199. Was involved in an alleged incident in the garage area after the race with arch-nemesis Jimmy SpencerWHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE RACE?
"Ask Jimmy Spencer."

DID JIMMY SPENCER HIT YOU?
"Ask Jimmy Spencer."

JIMMY FENNIG, Crew Chief - No. 97 Rubbermaid Taurus - Kurt Busch finished 18th
"What I understand is we ran out of gas on the race track and we ran out of gas here again. The car came to a stop and Spencer ran into him in the garage area. I don't know what happened after that. I wasn't around to see it."

IS KURT INJURED?
"No, Kurt's alright."

WAS THERE ANY INKLING THERE MIGHT BE A PROBLEM AFTER THE RACE?
"No. We didn't even know there was a problem during the race."

THEY DIDN'T GET INTO IT ON THE TRACK?
"No, they rubbed one time down the straightaway, but, I mean, everybody rubs racing. It wasn't even enough to bend a fender or even take the Goodyear off the tire."

SO YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SPENCER COULD HAVE BEEN UPSET ABOUT?
"I don't know, maybe because we ran out of gas. He ran in the back of him. I don't know. That's racing."

WAS THE CREW INVOLVED?
"No. Our crew is pretty good. I've had meetings with our crew about not going in and getting in any fights. We don't fight in Winston Cup racing, so my guys have strict orders never to worry about fighting. These guys are good. They don't worry about it."

ARE YOU SURPRISED THIS HAPPENED GIVEN THEIR PAST AND SPENCER'S NATURE?
"Spencer used to drive for me years ago. I really don't have a comment about Jimmy Spencer."

WHAT WAS SAID IN THE NASCAR TRAILER?
"They're still in there talking."

JACK ROUSH, Car Owner - No. 97 Rubbermaid Taurus
"We had another incident and, in this case, it was after the race was over. It was in the garage. Jimmy apparently ran into, with witnesses, I did not witness it, he ran into the back of Kurt's car and that was after some contact and some exchange with Jimmy apparently being the aggressor as they went from the race track to the garage.

"Kurt says that his car ran out of gas, it stopped running. He didn't have much gas left, so Jimmy then ran into him and came up and punched him through the window. There were words exchanged. I don't know what was said. We'll get that all straight. We're gonna let the authorities handle it. The local sheriff's office is taking statements from the drivers since it was not on the racetrack and it wasn't during the event. Of course, it's primarily in Mike Helton's hands to decide what he needs to do with Jimmy after these repeated assaults that he's had, either on the race track or the rest of it. That's all I've got to say for now."

WHAT WAS DISCUSSED IN THE NASCAR TRAILER?
"Jimmy has had a history of being overtly aggressive and NASCAR has taken a position on what he should and should not do about that. I haven't been part of meetings when they discussed that with Jimmy, but I know that there is some kind of a deal that they had made with him to let him continue to race unimpeded and he has broken whatever his commitment was."

ARE YOU SURPRISED THIS HAPPENED BASED ON WHAT HAPPENED PREVIOUSLY WITH KURT?
"I wouldn't care to comment on that. Jimmy is what he is and Jimmy does what he does. He's full grown."

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 TIDE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX - 40th:NOTE: Craven brought out the fourth caution flag of the day on lap 73, running over debris and hitting the wall in Turn 2. Casey Mears then sheared the right side of Craven's car off as Craven bounced off the wall.
"We cut down a right rear tire. We were riding around out there with a lot of debris on the track for about six or eight laps, and I guess we finally ran over some of it. As soon as it went green, I knew I should have pitted, but you have to ride it out to the end. I'm fine, just discouraged. We were running so well. We dug ourselves a hole, but we had gotten back up into the top 15 and then we ran over some of that debris on the backstretch. You know, one out of 20 times that kind of thing gets you, and it got us. But we'll just keep battling on. We've had a tough few weeks. We haven't qualified well all year and we dug ourselves a hole on Friday. But we were strong today, we were charging toward the front. We were starting to pick up spots and we had finally worked our way in the top 15 before the tire went down."
BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 37th: NOTE: The polesitter, Labonte was running 11th when the engine blew. It is the second engine failure in four races for Labonte
"We turned the guts out of it, I guess. It started giving me a warning about Lap 2 and it vibrated a lot after that. We got running pretty good. We came back and got caught up on the chassis, we were behind on that. It just blew up on us going into Turn 1. We missed on the chassis for a while there. We got it better and got going again. Then it let go. It's one of those deals. You get pretty frustrated when you're bad, when your chassis isn't good. You blame yourself for not getting it as good as you should have. When you do get it better and you get up there and this happens...at least we're getting better. We had five good races in a row, now we've had five bad ones, so we hope it'll go back to five more good ones."
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: 2nd:NOTE: Led 46 laps and narrowly missed out on a third straight win for team boss Richard Childress, moves into fourth place in points
"We were good to go on fuel. The car was just a little loose on the beginning of that run and Ryan [Newman] was on rails. He got away from us. The car came around to us there at the end. It was still a good day for the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, to come home second and to beat all the guys we need to beat in the points is what we need to do every week. This team is pretty hot. It's a lot of fun. I told somebody a couple days ago that I think we're probably a little bit better than we were in 2001. I'm just excited to carry on throughout the year and for everybody at RCR."
TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: 3rd:NOTE: Failed to lead a lap
"We changed everything but the driver and the steering wheel, and I'm not so sure that's not on the list of things to do here. We can't seem to get the thing right at the end of the race. We're good at the beginning, and luckily we did a good job with the fuel mileage today. The engine shop did a great job of helping us get the fuel mileage we needed. It didn't feel like I did a very good job today."

DID YOU LIKE SEEING THOSE CARS PEEL OFF FOR PIT ROAD LATE IN THE RACE?
"Nah, I wanted to run 20th today. Obviously, we wanted to see them drop off, but the thing is, we want to do it by passing cars, I don't want to do it by fuel mileage. This fuel mileage racing sucks."

ROBBY GORDON, NO. 31 CINGULAR CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 6th:NOTE: Lost a drag race to the finishing line with RCR teammate Steve Park. Was worst placed on all three RCR cars in 6th, scored tenth top ten finish of the season, double any previous single-season mark
"It was a good run for us all in all. I raced Steve [Park] pretty hard, that was kind of fun. It is what it is. We just continue to get better and better as a team, the cars are getting better and we're scoring more points, so that's a good thing."

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE PIT STRATEGY TODAY?
"Yeah, I was pretty happy with it. I was trying to get a little ballsy there, but it was a good run for us."
STEVE PARK, NO, 30 AOL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 5thNOTE: Scored his best finish of the season. YOU'VE GOT TO BE PLEASED WITH THIS FINISH.
"I really am, and it was a great run for the America Online Chevrolet, Mike Beam and all the guys. We're brand-new and me and Mike are just gelling together. It was a great effort on their part, we got good gas mileage and Mike made a good call in the pits. I was conserving there at the end and Robby [Gordon] was catching me, so we had get to racing there when I didn't know if we had enough fuel to go the last lap. It was great. That's what having great teammates like Robby and Kevin Harvick is all about. I'm just happy to be here with a good top-five finish for a team that's new, it's been struggling. It's not only good for myself, it's good for Richard Childress Racing, which had all three of its cars in the top six. I'm glad it's over with, man. A top five, that's pretty cool."
JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX - 10thNOTE: Best finish since Dover in June. He was also the top Pontiac finisher
"I think we took about a 20th-place car today and got a top-10 finish out of it. Man, when this race started we were struggling, but my crew chief James Ince kept on working and working and working and we made it better. I think we changed the entire attitude of the car today. It was a struggle all day long but you know the only thing that matters is where you are when the flag waves and we got ourselves a top-10. I'm pretty happy. I love Michigan, I mean we want to win here so bad, and maybe some day that will happen, but for now 10th isn't so bad."
TERRY LABONTE, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/got milk? CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 13th:NOTE: 13th in overall points equals best position of the year so far. Hasn't been this high in points after two-thirds of the season since 1999.
"We never got the car freed up all day long. It was just tight, tight, tight. We never could get it loosened up."
TONY RAINES, NO. 74 GFS MARKETPLACE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 24th:NOTE: Picked up last minute sponsorship deal with race sponsors and scored 14th consecutive race finish.
"It was fair. The car was good on the short run, it would just get really, really tight at the end of the tire run and we just could not get that out of it."
TODD BODINE - No. 54 National Guard Taurus (Finished 43rd)NOTE: Was involved in frightening lap 62 accident with Kenny Wallace in which Bodine's car became airborne, caught fire and rode the guardrail coming off turn two.
"I'm alright. My knee is a little sore and my ankle is a little sore, but, other than that, I'm good. I was just one of those racing deals. I turned down and got under Kenny [Wallace] and was pulling in front of him, but I got Kurt pinched down a little bit and the air came off his spoiler and he got into me. That's one of those racing deals. If Kenny wasn't outside of me and I would have had some room to save it, we would have been alright, but Kenny was right out there and when I moved up the track he got in the quarter panel and turned me right up into the wall and it was on from there.

"It's a crying shame. We've struggled all weekend. This is the car we crashed testing at Indy. It was really fast there, but we crashed and fixed it. We came back here and struggled all weekend with it, but we made some changes this morning and the car was a lot better. Gary (Cogswell) made some adjustments and the car was really good right there. We were just working our way through. Me and Kurt were coming up through there together and I was basically just following him. In that one instance he was down low and I got under Kenny and it was just one of those racing deals."

IT WAS A SPECTACULAR LOOKING WRECK. WHAT WAS IT LIKE INSIDE THE CAR?
"That's not the closest I've come to turning over, but I knew I was close to turning over when I looked out the windshield and the wall was going sideways. That was not fun. And then the fire, I didn't know if it was my car or what was going on. I didn't know Kenny was underneath me like that. It was a pretty hard hit when Kenny turned me up in the wall. I hit the wall at probably 180 miles an hour, but, fortunately, I've got a Lajoie seat and a HANS device and everything did its job. The only thing is I've got a sore knee and a sore ankle. That's racing.

"I'm not gonna blame Kurt. I was mad at him at first, but after seeing the replay I know it wasn't his fault. It was just one of those racing deals. Air came off his spoiler and he got into me. It's just one of those deals. It's a shame for our National Guard crew."

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 Grainger Taurus (Finished 4th)NOTE: Ran nose to tail with Tony Stewart for the final 10-15 laps, eventually finishing less than half a second behind him to record his first top five finish since winning the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, six races ago.
"We feel like we've been struggling with our cars. This is the car we ran at Indy and couldn't get the handle at all. We bring it here and it runs great. I tell you, the Grainger guys are working really hard. I've got to give them 110 percent. They're working harder than any team in this garage area for us to run better and it's paying off. Everybody's got their head down digging and nobody is giving up. It just goes to show you today.

"It was a real easy car to drive today, but we just couldn't quite get it. I didn't want to get it too free and I was a little bit tight all day. I thought I could catch the 48 and the 29 there, but you've got to be excited with that."

HOW MUCH DID YOU HAVE TO CONSERVE FUEL?
"I didn't have to conserve any. They said we were good to go, so we must have been getting good mileage. I was trying to catch the 20. The 20 was a little better than me. I didn't want to wrestle with him long, I just let him go. I needed a good top five finish and we weren't gonna hold him off for eight to ten more laps."

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DEWALT Power Tools Taurus (Finished 9th)NOTE: Did not lead a lap and rarely figured among the top 20 until fuel strategy came in to play. Extended his points lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr to 329 pointsANOTHER TOP 10 FINISH.
"Yeah, it's good getting that finish but we just ran so bad today. We had a 15th or 20th place car and got lucky and finished ninth with it. I'm really disappointed the last couple of weeks. We haven't run as good, but my DEWALT guys did a good job of keeping me in there. We were slow and steady today, which isn't really what we're after, but we just missed it. We thought we were really good in happy hour and all day I just couldn't get the front end to work like it needed to and because of that we had to crutch it with the back end. We just couldn't get either end gripped into the race track and just struggled with it all day."

ANOTHER GOOD POINTS DAY. YOU JUST HAVE TO KEEP DOING THIS WEEK AFTER WEEK.
"Every week that gets by and you gain points, you feel better about it. I'm not pleased with the way we ran. Some other people had trouble, so we had a good day in the points, obviously, and I feel good about where we're at. That's one more race down, but we have to get back to a winning level. We've slipped a little bit in the last couple of weeks and I'm not sure why. We need to get back on track and get that thing up front and winning some races."

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus (Finished 23rd)NOTE: Led five laps and was running second to Kurt Busch when he made his final fuel stop on lap 189
"We couldn't have made it if we had pitted before, so it was just one of those catch-22 situations. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. I'm encouraged that we ran a lot better. The car was a lot better today. Driving-wise it's got a little more work to do and we'll keep working at it."

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus (Finished 12th)NOTE: Fought back from a lap down to record his best finish since Chicagoland, five races ago
"For being a lap down, that's not too bad. Our radios went sour at the beginning of the race and I didn't know it was three-wide. I don't know if I came up into Ricky or if he came down, but I definitely didn't know he was there. I'm sorry that happened. But to come out 12th after being a lap down we're gonna take that. We struggled a lot. We didn't have the grip we needed, but we'll take that."

IS THIS SOMETHING TO BUILD ON?
"I hope so. I told the guys if we can get top 15 finishes the rest of the year we'll get in the top 15 in points, so that's what we want to do."

RICKY RUDD - No. 21 Motorcraft Taurus (Finished 29th)NOTE: In complete practice/qualifying/race results finished 32nd/27th/27th/27th/29th, Had brief collision with Elliott Sadler on lap 51 and fell off the lead lap
"We actually had a really good car today. We had a fifth to tenth place car. I'm not sure how far we got up to, but we were coming through there pretty good. We wouldn't have won the race, but we were coming through there and Sadler didn't see me. Some of it was my fault because I made it three wide down in one and two. I came up on the 97 and the 38, they were holding me up, I ran them down and caught them. They were holding me up for about four laps so the 38 went to the bottom and the 97 went to the top. I went through the middle and was passing both of them and Sadler didn't see me. Somebody said his spotter's mike was stuck and he couldn't tell him. We came off three wide, but Elliott didn't see me and just drove right in the side of me and shoved me up the race track. That flattened our tires and we had to come in. That's how we got out of sync on the pit stops, but then it was just patching up and trying to keep going. We couldn't do much after that because the front end was tore up."

JEFF BURTON - No. 99 CITGO Taurus (Finished 11th)
"At times we were real fast and at other times we were real slow. We just can't get the front of our car to work very good, so the only thing we can do is just make it really, really loose to start and make it to where it's decent at the end. There at the end we loosened it up even more. Matt got really loose off of two and I was behind him, so I had to lift and five or six got by us. Then I had to go and get back by all those guys. We didn't have a great car, but we finished 11th and did a good job on fuel mileage. We just have to get the front of our cars working a little better and once we do that, then we won't have to be so loose to start and everything will get easier."

IT LOOKED LIKE BRISTOL AT TIMES OUT THERE TODAY.
"It was pretty wild."