Post race quotes - Richmond.

DALE EARHNARDT JR #8 Budweiser Chevrolet (1st): "I was real loose on new tires. But it turned and didn't get tight. We really like this place. We've won five or six races here. This is a good car. This is a good set-up. We like the track and the new pavement. We could run up top. It was great. It's fun to win, it really is. It was a great race. They did a great job paving the track. We decided under the caution with 50 laps to go, we thought about pitting with Tony. I knew a lot of guys were going to pit. My car was really loose with new tires. A lot of time at these races you get cautions at the end. It thought staying up front was a good choice. It was about as good as it was going to get. We kept putting a little bit of time on Jimmie (Johnson). He kept getting smaller and that's what you want to see - less and less of your competition." My car was handling great. I was turning real good.

"I really like the line you run here to be competition. It really suits my style. We didn't have the best car but over a long run we had a car that was real stout. I was just trying to conserve my car. My brakes were giving me some problems. I was real worried about my brake rotators flying off the car into the fence. I took it easy on the brakes and saved the car for the end of the race."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, #48 Lowe's Chevrolet (2nd)- on his spin; "As you are crashing you are doing damage control. l knew I didn't hurt anything suspension wise. I knew we were going to be OK. I just needed green flag running. We were really loose for the first 20 to 30 laps. The longer it went the better the car was. Fortunately we ended going through a full green flag pit stop and I was able to make my way back to 8th, cycle through the pits and make my way to 4th. I really felt like I had something for Junior. At the end we were about three tenths better than that group of cars in front of me. Once we went under caution and went back out and Junior just took off. He flat off was on it and drove away from us. I was trying to hang with him and I was making mistakes and Bobby (Labonte) was catching me. At that point I had to defend the position I was in."

BOBBY LABONTE, #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet (3rd). "We sure didn't start out good tonight. We were just way too tight at the start of the race and got a lap down there early. But the guys just kept working on the car and we kept getting better and better as the race went on. We got our lap back and kept moving toward the front. We had great pit stops tonight so it was a pretty good night for us. I just want to thank everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. We got some track position toward the end and were not just quite good enough to pass the No. 48 and the 8 (Earnhardt Jr.) there at the end. But we were a lot better then we were the first run and were still good enough to finish third. We just had a good night after that first pit stop. It was just a matter of getting some good pit stops."

TONY STEWART, #20 Home Depot Chevrolet (4th) On that last run we got a little loose there and I got into Jeff (Gordon) and I'm sure Darrell (Waltrip) and those guys up there (in the booth) are lobbying for me to get suspended for life from NASCAR. But that's the only incident we had all night. We had a pretty clean night. There were a lot of guys with body rubs and stuff tonight. If contact gets you a suspension for a race or two, we'll only have about 18 cars next week. That would be pretty interesting. I had a top three night until I ran into the No. 24 car and I know he's (Jeff Gordon) mad at me. I just got down into Turn 3 and got loose. We made a change and that's probably what made it loose - not to mention all that oil dry down there. But I'm pretty happy. Zippy has been sick for two days. You can barely understand him on the radio. I had a migrane (headache) right before Happy Hour and I told him (Zippy) that's why we get the money we paid. There are no substitutions. There is nobody who can do his job. There is nobody who can do my job for him. We both got up on the wheel today. He was a trooper up on the stand and kept working on the car. I'm just really happy"

JEFF GORDON, #24 Dupont Chevrolet (6th) On the incident with Tony Stewart; "We're seeing it every weekend and you think a guy getting abuse by the media and the drivers would start thinking a little bit more. He had a much faster car, fresher tires, got inside of me and the position was his and he just drove straight into me and put me in the wall and about put himself in the wall. It's unfortunate, it cost us a top five. It was a good effort. We came from way back to finish 6th, so I'm pretty happy with that. We were never right. We were always a little bit off. To finish 6th I'm happy that we led a lap."

MATT KENSETH - #17 Dewalt Ford (5th) - "We had a pretty good car. I was real loose on restarts and couldn't get going and that hurt me a lot. I qualified bad and that one time when we stayed out and everybody else pitted, we were on the back end of that deal. If we would have been the leader, it would have worked out OK, but we got ourselves a little behind doing that and just could never quite get to the front. We had a good car. It wasn't as good as the top couple of guys, but, other than that, we were pretty good."

MARK MARTIN - #6 Viagra Ford (7th) - "We were really awesome early and then we got off in the middle of the race and got an adjustment behind. But at the end we got it back to where it was hooked up. It was blazing at the end there and it was too bad the race ended when it did because I was passing cars left and right and was coming on strong. I'm so proud of this team. It feels so good to drive a race car that'll run. We had great power tonight and we had it all.

RYAN NEWMAN #12 ALLTEL Dodge (9th) "We had a good car in parts of the race. We just got out of sequence there with track position, and I stepped on my own foot when I stuck it in the fence up there in one and two. I got in a little too deep. It definitely hurt it. It changed our car after that, but the ALLTEL Dodge was still pretty good. We'll go on to Charlotte now." (On last 10-lap battle with Michael Waltrip) "We congratulated each other for not crashing because we had a heck of a race there those last few laps. We're working on the short track program. It's a turnaround for our team, and it's definitely important for our team momentum and points."

RICKY RUDD - #21 Rent-A-Center Ford (11th) - "We had a good run, but right there at the end we got our worst set of tires of the night. We had been pushing and all of a sudden the car got loose. Right when we needed a good run we ended up falling back. It got running about the last 10 laps, but it was too late then. A couple of more laps and I would have had the 15 and the 12, but I just ran out of time."

ELLIOTT SADLER - #38 M&M's Ford (12th) - "The longer we ran the more the grooves opened up, so it was the same old Richmond. It's hard to beat this race track. I think we all love racing here because you can race side by side and it's so much fun." YOU GOT A LAP DOWN AND BATTLED BACK? "This is an A-plus for this race team here at Richmond. My record shows I've always struggled here in the past. We went to the rear of the field, but came right back through. My guys never gave up. They kept battling in the pits and had great, great pit stops. We came back and ran in the top 10 for a little bit. We gave it up on long runs, but 12th is a good, good points day for us. We're still in the top 10 and that's what we want to do."

DALE JARRETT - #88 UPS Ford (13th) - "This was a big gain from where we were. We ran reasonable all night. The car was a little bit free and just never could get it to where I could be aggressive like I wanted to. They beat me on fresh tires and then I could level out OK, but they did a great job of adjusting and we got a reasonable finish. Those guys were really fast at the end and my car was loose at the very end and I couldn't go. The last set of tires I had didn't grip very well, but, all in all, it was a pretty decent night."

JEFF BURTON - #99 Roundup Ford (14th) - "I spun the thing out going for the lead. I was under him (Jeremy Mayfield) and I hadn't been loose all night and boy that thing came around. When it came around, it came around fast. I just stood in the gas and luckily I didn't hit anything, but that hurt us. That lost us our track position that we had gained through our pit strategy. I was going for the lead and I spun out and lost that track position, but the car got away from us some anyway. As the race went on we lost the race track a little bit. Our setup was good for long runs early and then late it was kind of slow. It wasn't terrible, but it turned into a 10th-place car. It was a good effort for us. We ran up front and charged from the back several times. We had good pit stops. We got a lap down, but it was a catch-22 situation. We were pitting late enough where we waited for fuel, but we got a lap down waiting for fuel. But if the thing would have gone green the whole way, we could have gone the whole race, so it was a catch-22 right there. I'm proud of the effort."

STERLING MARLIN #40 Coors Light Dodge (15th) "We battled a loose car all night. We kept making changes and got the car up to the top 15. We'll take that and get ready for a good run at Charlotte."

RUSTY WALLACE #2 Miller Lite Dodge (16th) "We were too loose getting into the corner. We could not charge into the corner because it was too loose. We just never got the total package. We'll go back and talk about it. It looks like we needed some more rebound in the front shocks to flatten it out, softer springs, bigger swaybar. We just missed it. We might have to blow a test at the end of the year and come back and get it right. The new track was so much different from anything I'd ever run here. It threw me for a loop. This is a good car. I just underestimated how tight the new surface was. We'll go back and work on the car and get it better."

JOHNNY SAUTER, #30 AOL Chevrolet (19th): "It should have been a lot better. We had a set of tyres there in the middle of the race; the longest green flag run that were just terrible. I don't know what the heck was wrong with them but it really hurt us. I felt like we could have had a top-10. The car was really good."

JEREMY MAYFIELD #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge (22nd) "We missed it a little bit today. We got up front for some laps and we thought our Dodge was better than it ended up. We just got tight and the chassis went away on us. It seemed like we had a good day overall and we just kept fighting our way back up there. Being consistent and getting good finishes is so important. It seems like we're bouncing around a little bit. We're good one week and not the next week. We'll get it done. We're just not quite there yet, especially on the short tracks."

KASEY KAHNE #9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge (28th) "It was a long night to run like that the whole time. Everything was a little different. It was weird what went on. Then we had some brake issues. I don't know what happened with the brakes. On the other car they were great. They swapped everything to this car and it seemed like something was never right. I couldn't figure it out. We got going pretty decent and I hit the wall. I was just loose and slid up and hit it off two. That's what finished our day off right there."

JIMMY FENNIG, Crew Chief - #97 Sharpie/Irwin Ford (Kurt Busch finished 31st) - "We lost the alternator belt and that turns the water pump, so the water pump wasn't turning and the power steering wasn't turning. We had to come in and replace the belt. We don't know what caused the belt to break, but I believe Doug Yates and the guys will find the problem and fix it. I hate bragging, but we probably had the best car here."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, #77 Jasper/Kodak Dodge (34th): "The Penske Jasper boys, they work hard. Even after the problems that we had, they still ripped off a 13.3 pit stop. We have a great over the wall crew. Terry Labonte got into us. It's so hard to be mad at Terry. His spotter went up and said that he locked up a brake and slid into me and he was sorry. Labonte is one of those guys who, you know what, he's good. We've raced side-by-side for weeks. If it was me, they'd be yelling and screaming but it's Terry and I go 'I can't be mad at him, darn it.' We didn't lose any (in the rookie of the year points) to Kasey Kahne and that means that we keep everything tight. I lost a little bit it looks like here to Vickers. We caught a lap by staying out at the end and that's just good hard racing. I wish we would have done better this first week with the Jasper colors." When we hit the wall we broke a shock. We kept trying not to lose any more laps and the last time I came up to speed to pull into pit road to do one more adjustment, I told Shane [Wilson, crew chief] that something is broke. They popped the hood, saw a broken shock, so they pulled it behind pit wall and put a quick shock on it. They took their time, put the toe back together right, tightened up the center link, stuff that could have been overlooked and caused another crash. Instead they were smart and took their time and we ended up not doing too bad."

SCOTT RIGGS, #10 Valvoline Chevrolet (35th) "Something let go in the motor. I can't say enough about the guys at Hendrick giving us awesome horsepower every week. Every once in awhile you are going to have something happen like that. We were real loose in the beginning and we were working our way back up and got back on the lead lap. We were making gains and kept adjusting on the car and had a car that we could really race with tonight. I hate we had something go wrong and take us out. I think we are just starting to show our potential with this team. I can't say enough about Hendrick and all the help that they give us."

JEFF GREEN #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge (37th) "His car (Kasey Kahne's) was tight, and mine was tight. I got up on the outside of him in turn four, and he ran me into the fence. I don't guess he knew I was there. Down the back straightaway I lifted him up a little bit to tell him I was there, and I didn't like it. He spun me out down here. He was probably frustrated, but he didn't need to take it out on me. I didn't wreck him. He wrecked me, so I hit him hard enough to get his attention but not wreck him. He wrecked me, so we're going to have to have a talk."

JAMIE McMURRAY #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge (38th) "I was going to let him (Joe Nemechek) go and he just got turned around. He's not that kind of guy. It was just a tough deal, but we had a good car. We had a good car last night. We just haven't had any good luck this week. It knocked the rear clip out so far, I don't think we can get back out. I don't know if he (Nemechek) got loose underneath me. I knew he was there. My spotter said he was there, and I could see him. He was a little bit quicker than I was, and I was going to let him go. We just got turned around.
BRIAN VICKERS, #25 GMAC Chevrolet (8th) "The guys did a good job all day. We had a good car. We fought tight center off all day and we were kind of afraid to over adjust there. I feel like we didn't quite adjust enough throughout the race but we met our goal. We wanted to come in here and get a good solid top-10 finish and get our first top-10 and that's what we did. Starting up front definitely did help. It was a good race tonight. The track really surprised me. It really turned into a three-groove racetrack, which made for some great racing. I was very, very impressed. They did a great job paving it. I don't know what they did but I've never seen a new track turn into a three-groove racetrack like that. That was pretty neat."