Each week, we’ll go through media reports, interviews, PR and all our own stuff to find the best quotes from the Sprint Cup race, capturing the story of how the weekend unfolded. It’s the most original commentary you’ll ever find: the truth, coming straight out of the mouths of the drivers, crew members and the car owners themselves. This week, here’s a sneak peek at what a select few were thinking following the Sharpie 500 presented by Pennzoil Platinum at Bristol Motor Speedway:
“That’s one of those deals where I couldn’t get by him and I couldn’t get by him and I just had to ask myself, ‘Would he do that to me?’ And he has before, so that’s the way it goes. It’s just racing. I have a lot of respect for the guy and he was real fast, but we can’t give up points when they’re right there for us to take. I’m just really proud of my guys. That was exciting. They keep talking about rivalries, we might have one now.” – Carl Edwards, race winner
“It was all going fine there till the end – just a tough break for us and this M&M’s Toyota team. Steve Addington [crew chief] and the guys built us a fabulous racecar. Just unfortunate the way things came down at the end. He’ll [Carl Edwards] always come back and say he’s sorry. It’s just his normal fashion – that’s fine. I’ve grown to know that now.” – Kyle Busch, finished second
“We had a good car but we didn’t have a car that could run with the [No.] 18 (Kyle Busch) or [No.] 99 (Edwards) it seemed like. On the long runs, we were as good as the [No.] 99 (Edwards), but the [No.] 18 (Busch) seemed to be the class of the field. It was a solid day, and we did what we had to. It was a good day for us. This is what we needed.” – Denny Hamlin, finished third
“It was a really great night for our Pennzoil Platinum Chevrolet. The car was really loose at the beginning and then we got it dialed in as the race went on. It was a great run. Just would like to thank all my guys. It’s a big night for the big picture.” – Kevin Harvick, finished fourth
“Great top-five, definitely a great rebound from the last couple weeks. Real proud of the DuPont Chevrolet team. They fought hard. We just couldn’t get the car freed up enough there at the end and brought it home fifth, so we will take that.” – Jeff Gordon, finished fifth
“It was a good run for the Alltel Dodge. We got up to second place at one point in the race, got a little bit loose and fell back and held our own. We ran in sixth position for about 350 laps which is not a bad thing. It’s hard to get around the lapped cars on the restarts and make gains on the guys running in front of you because the cars are so similar here.” – Ryan Newman, finished sixth
“That was a great night for the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet. We got caught up in someone else’s mess and all the guys did an awesome job fixing the car so we could keep racing. It was a total team effort tonight. Our pit stops were awesome and the car was great. We came out of Bristol with a top 10 and we’re back inside the top 12. It was a really, really good night.” – Clint Bowyer, finished seventh
“We had a good car. It is frustrating, we ran in the top 10. We started 23rd, worked our way up there methodically. It was a really good car. The car took off really good on sticker tires and that was it, it wouldn’t go. Once we ran like 30 laps on our tires, I couldn’t go anywhere. We have to go to work on that; we have to figure out how to make our car last a little bit longer. It is what it is.” – Aric Almirola, finished 13th
“A typical performance out there tonight for us. We got one really strong run out of the chassis, but then fought a tight condition the final 200 laps of the race. We have to be able to adjust on these things to get the front end to turn better. Until we can do that, about a top-15 car is all we’ve got.” – Kurt Busch, finished 15th
“I like my spotter; he is a good guy, but man that’s ridiculous. We just took a bunch of cars out for no reason. I was just running along, heard ‘clear, clear, clear’ and went up and there was someone still there. I am pretty upset about it. There were a lot of people that got involved in that which shouldn’t have been involved at all because it shouldn’t have happened.” – Casey Mears after a lap 216 accident
“Michael Waltrip is the worst driver in NASCAR… period. I cannot believe NAPA signed back on.” – Bowyer after contact with Casey Mears on lap 216
