Each week, we’ll go through media reports, interviews, PR and all of 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 car owners themselves. This week, here’s a peek at what they all were thinking following the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.:
“Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) won that race – that’s all I got to say. He took a driver that can’t drive Loudon and put a setup in it that we could run along reasonable. This is a very frustrating racetrack. I can’t believe we won that race. It couldn’t be easy. We had to have three caution restarts and all kinds of chances for me to mess up. And I did, but just, I guess, not enough to lose.” – Mark Martin
“It was a solid run. We didn’t really have a race-winning car until probably 50 [laps] to go after we came out there on the green-flag pit stop. I got killed every single restart on the bottom lane. I’d get stuck three-wide in the first corner and then I’d have to battle my way back. To come out second when I should have been about fifth with those restarts, I was pretty proud of that.” – Denny Hamlin
“[Mark] Martin just screwed me – he just stopped the car on the apex, right on the bottom and I had nowhere to go. I could have pushed him out of the way, but I respect him a lot. He probably did a trick that we weren’t expecting, but it’s OK, he deserved to win. It’s racing and I’m cool with it.” – Juan Pablo Montoya, finished third
“That was a fight, man. I wish we could’ve done that last year. Unfortunately, we are here in this predicament. The guys had flawless pit stops and Steve (Addington, crew chief) had a good pit strategy all day. Congratulations to the old man (Mark Martin). He looks like a kid again.” – Kyle Busch, finished fifth
“It was a fight. We had a good car. What hurt us the most was the accident on pit road and that put us on the right sequence. We just didn’t make good adjustments at the end; lost the handle on the Miller Lite Dodge. If there had been no debris cautions, we would have finished second. Our car was no good on restarts.” – Kurt Busch, finished sixth
“We made wholesale changes from [Saturday] night that really helped our Stanley Dodge. This race was very gratifying for everyone on this team. It was a good run for us. We learned some things today that really helped our car. Hopefully, we can build on that for the final nine races.” – Elliott Sadler, finished eighth
“I guess it was OK. I really thought I could run up front with those guys. All I needed to do was get track position and I could have been there. I knew once I got up there I could run with them, but I could just never get there.” – Greg Biffle, finished ninth
“We hung in there tough all race, and it was a long day. Todd (Berrier, crew chief) made a great call about mid-race to stay out and gain track position; track position is so important at Loudon. We were able to keep the Jack Daniel’s Chevy in the front pack from there and come away with a top 15. I’m proud of the entire team for all their hard work. Clint Pittman was injured on a pit stop (hit on the first stop by the No. 11) so I hope he is going to be OK.” – Casey Mears, finished 13th
Editor’s Note: No definitive word yet on Pittman’s injury, but doctors at the track suspected at least a fractured foot after being checked out at the infield care center at NHMS. He was scheduled to see an orthopedist Monday.
“That was unfortunate for our UPS team. We were out there just racing our own race, and it was just one of those things where the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) was leaving, and if I would have slowed down, he would have hit me in my door. In that kind of position, they need to be looking ahead to see what is coming in. We had a good car today and don’t have anything to show for it.” – David Ragan, finished 33rd after getting spun on pit road
“My car is tore up and he (David Reutimann) ain’t got enough talent to run in the top five, I guess. He run down into the side of me and spun me out late in the race. I mean we’re all running real hard, but you’ve got to know how much racecar you’ve got and you’ve got to know how much talent you’ve got before you go down in the corner. He never knows. It’s disappointing. I felt like we had a top-three car.” – Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished 35th
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