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From ERaceFans.com
Dale Earnhardt Jr - started 10th; finished 1st
Quoted: "That call was awesome. We came down pit road and the yellow came out and we were saying two tires, two tires and we just smoked them guys that were on old tires. The car just drove right around into the corner. I've got to thank Richie Gilmore and everybody at DEI and back at the shop. The body was awesome. I beat the front bumper all to hell today and it's still there. That's five wins this year, I just can't believe it."
Kevin Harvick - started 15th; finished 2nd
Quoted: "We worked hard all day. We got up there and we were in the lead and I knew they were going to be coming. With Robby behind me, there wasn't anybody in the field who was going to pass us except the No. 8. They just seem to go when they want to. But my hats off to them. They've got it figured out. I've got to thank this GM Goodwrench Chevrolet team and all our other sponsors. It's really nice to have a good finish and get back on track."
Dale Jarrett - started 3rd; finished 3rd
Quoted: "Everybody did a great job, but then it gets down to the time that you want to get as many positions and everybody wants to try to win. Junior, he's got a fast car and he does a great job of driving it. I'm not sure he gets enough credit for that because he's a hell of a young driver. Congratulations to him. These guys did a great job with this UPS Ford and I'm awful proud of them. That's more like what we're accustomed to."
Brendan Gaughan - started 26th; finished 4th
Quoted: “It was awesome. The Kodak guys have been working hard, and the Penske guys as a group has built their first ever superspeedway specific team. The guys in the back of the No. 77 Jasper shop have been building superspeedway Dodges for the team, and it’s the first time the Penske group has ever done something like that. It’s paid off with a fourth-place finish. We went to the front a couple of times and went to the back a couple of times. We had a good race car. The Kodak Dodge was good, but it never stayed up there. I’m not smart enough to try to team up with Junior to try to stay up there. I was just trying to fight for myself. In the end, we just rolled the dice. Shane and Doug Bawel, the owner of Jasper, both came on the radio and said ‘we’re not going to make it.’ I came on and said, ‘I don’t care.’ We’re not racing for the championship. We’re 30th in points or whatever. We have nothing to lose but to try to go for it and put it in fourth gear and try to conserve fuel under caution. It worked. We ended up fourth and led a couple of laps. I tried to block Kevin, but I missed and then just held on and tried to get back in the draft before they all passed me.”
Kurt Busch - started 8th; finished 5th
Quoted: "the big project was to work on our engine program and build a better car and we did that this time. We qualified in the top 10 for a first time ever at a plate track, for me anyway, and just the way our car handled most of the day - it was up front. I got shuffled twice, but we were able to make that up with pit strategy. I was real proud of the guys. The way the restart went down at the end it was very hairy. We just didn't quite get in the right lane. I was hoping the 77 and the 5 would go, but I think they vapor locked."
Tony Stewart - started 30th; finished 6th
Noted: Tony has now finished in the top 10 in 12 of his 24 career restrictor plate races.
Casey Mears - started 34th; finished 7th
Quoted: “I really enjoy racing here. Once you have restrictor-place racing figured out, it is a lot of fun. I made a mistake on pit road, but everyone kept their heads up and we were able to come home in the top 10. Jimmy made great calls in the pits that kept us up front. We’ve had some tough luck over the past four or five races, so hopefully this will get us back on track heading into Kansas and the last seven races of the season.”
Joe Nemechek - started 1st; finished 8th
Quoted: "This was a pretty stressful day and my mind is tired right now. The pack was there for the entire race and there wasn't much breathing room. You just had to stay in there, be patient and fight your way through. I'm sure the fans liked it because from my view it was pretty exciting."
Robby Gordon - started 36th; finished 9th
Quoted: "The Cingular Wireless Chevrolet was pretty good. I don't know what happened there at the end. We got spread apart too much and I had to check up when the No. 21 moved up into my line and Tony got by both of us. It cost about five or six positions. I was a little disappointed but it was a good run for us. We finished 9th. We tried to get with Kevin and team up with him, but Dale Jr. was just too strong for us."
Ward Burton - started 28th; finished 10th
Quoted: “We were pretty sure we were going to have a pretty good car come race day. We may not have had the qualifying run we would have liked, but the NetZero/Shark Tale car was pretty good out there in race trim. It’s always nice to get a Top-10 finish, especially when you have been working as hard as this team has and not getting the results to show for it. We’ve run pretty good in every restrictor plate race this season, but have had problems before the finish, so it’s great to be able to put it all together today. This is more where we belong and it feels good to get here.”
Scott Riggs - started 4th; finished 11th
Quoted: "This wasn't a bad finish for the Zerex/Valvoline team. We had a top-10 car all weekend but just couldn't stay up front today and bring that finish home. I messed up in the pits once and that cost us some track position. We kept battling all day driving to the front and then getting shuffled to the back. In the end there were just some strong cars that teamed up and plowed to the front in those final laps. That's how it is at Talladega-- if you're lucky enough to be in that pack you'll move to the front, if not you can be hung out to dry."
Ricky Rudd - started 2nd; finished 12th
Quoted: "We just got bounced and got run over at the end of the race. He ran over the top of us. I think it was the 31 car. He ran over me and ran over everybody. Our strategy was good all day, but we just couldn't seem to get going. We started off and were a little bit too tight. They worked on it and got it freed up a little bit and then at the end it was pretty good. I just couldn't keep up with Junior. I had a plan. I knew where I needed to be. I needed to be on his bumper. I tried following him and I could run with him about a lap and then he got checked out, and then I got caught by the other pack that ran me down."
Jeff Burton - started 13th; finished 13th
Quoted: “I can’t believe we had a broken valve at the end of the race. The AOL Chevy was really strong all race, we didn’t have to make one adjustment on it. We had something for the leaders until we had that problem. It was a lot of fun lining up with Harvick and Gordon and going to the front. RCR has a really strong restrictor plate program and I think we showed it today.”
Matt Kenseth - started 7th; finished 14th
Quoted: "I was back in there three-wide and getting hit and hitting people. Everybody was bouncing off of everybody. It's kind of stupid, really. I know it's fun to watch, but it's kind of a bad situation you're sitting in. That's a difficult situation we're put in going 185 miles an hour and being pinballs like that, but, overall, we survived and kept the car in one piece. It's the best speedway car we've ever had. I thought we were in a good position to finish in the top five before that yellow came out under that green-flag pit stop. It's cool Dale, Jr. won. He's gonna be 30 this week. He's getting pretty old so he better take those wins while he can."
Mark Martin - started 17th; finished 15th
Quoted: "I don't think that was a great race. It might have been a great show, but we could have been doing that on a figure-eight or a demo derby there... We got out of this one without trouble and maybe we can go and do some real racing for a while."
Ryan Newman - started 19th; finished 16th
Quoted: “The driver got a little greedy trying to do a gas and go, and that cost us a bunch of track position. It’s just stupid racing here at Talladega. That’s pretty much it. We tried to play it smart. There wasn’t really a big crash, but there were a lot of potential big crashes. The car was all right, but you’ve got all of ‘em running the same speed, so it was kinda hard to pass. It was an OK points day. We needed to win, but we’ll take what we got. We finished and that’s the good thing. I’m ready for any place besides here.”
Jamie McMurray - started 24th; finished 17th
Quoted: “We just fought a really tight condition on the Texaco/Havoline Dodge. Every time I would work my way through the field, the car would get tight. It definitely was a typical Talladega race. For the most part, everyone drove a clean race. At least we finished this restrictor-plate race. We haven’t had much luck on these tracks.”
Mike Wallace - started 41st; finished 18th
Noted: Mike led 4 laps on Sunday. Those were Mike's first career laps led at Talladega.
Jeff Gordon - started 5th; finished 19th
Quoted: "That's why you love and you hate this place because it can give you a great day like it did Junior, or you can be back here and the next thing you know you can be in a wreck with five to go in the back of the pack. It was unfortunate for us. We had a great car. We just had to take what we could get there. We knew we were in trouble when all those guys came to pit under green, I waved at the No. 22 and he just had no idea that all these cars were going to pit. If I would have put on the brakes, he would have run right in the back of me. So that messed the rest of our day up.
Ken Schrader - started 37th; finished 20th
Quoted: "The team did another great job today, getting us in and out of pit road, making the proper adjustments; just a real solid effort. Maybe we could have had a better finish, but the way restrictor plate racing is, it could have been a lot worse. We're thankful to get out of Talladega in one piece with a top 20.”
Terry Labonte - started 38th; finished 21st
Noted: Terry hasn't had a top 20 finish at Talladega since April 2003.
Elliott Sadler - started 6th; finished 22nd
Quoted: "We had a long day with batteries and overheating and stuff like that, but to finish 22nd is probably a blessing. I really didn't want to do on my roof, but they'll probably have some cool highlights now. I want to tell my mom and dad and everybody at home that I am OK. It wasn't half as bad as last year, but I really would like to finish a fall race here on all four tires, so we'll try it again next year."
Hermie Sadler - started 11th; finished 23rd
Noted: 11th was Hermie's 2nd best career start and best since Martinsville in October 2002.
Kerry Earnhardt - started 22nd; finished 24th
Noted: This was Kerry's best career Cup finish.
Michael Waltrip - started 14th; finished 25th
Quoted: “Talladega once again proved the NAPA team continues to field strong cars. The engine was stout, the body on the car couldn’t have been any better and the team was on it in the pits. With fast cars eventually comes top-five finishes.”
Rusty Wallace - started 33rd; finished 26th
Quoted: “We had a super strong car here today. We got hooked up with the 29 car and found a real sweet spot in the middle and upper grooves. At one point, I really thought that we had a car capable of winning the thing, but we got shuffled back. If we could have been in the right place there at the end, I think we really had something for them. But the 16 car got into the wall on the last lap and I got into all the debris and cut a tire down. That just ended out chances to come out of here with a really strong finish. It's a shame because we had a top-five care here today and couldn't put those numbers up there on the board.”
Kasey Kahne - started 23rd; finished 27th
Quoted: “Michael blew a tire, and I blew a left rear and spun. He blew a right front. There had to be something on the racetrack. I really don’t know why I blew a tire, if I got into someone or if there was something on the track. Somehow it just went around in one and two. On pit road, Tommy said I had clear one lane, so I went out one lane. He came out, too, and we both got beat up. That’s how I went a lap down, the fender got bent in on the tire. We had to pit later.”
Greg Biffle - started 12th; finished 28th
Quoted: “Today was a pretty rough day from start to finish for the National Guard team. It just seemed like today if something could go wrong, it did. We had some driver errors and some team errors but we’ll just have to learn what we can from today and then put this race behind us. This is a strong team and we’ll be ready for next weekend’s race in Kansas.”
Kyle Petty - started 35th; finished 29th
Quoted: “We did well for what we had today. We came back from a mistake earlier and got all we could at the end. That last lap wreck was big. I saw it and made a quick move. It turned out to be the right move and we finished the race. It was a good day for what we had.”
Ricky Craven - started 20th; finished 30th
Noted: This was the 6th different car Ricky has drive at Talladega (#41, #25, #58, #50, #32, #11.)
Scott Wimmer - started 29th; finished 31st
Noted: This was Scott's worst career Talladega finish (in 3 starts.)
Kenny Wallace - started 43rd; finished 32nd
Noted: The was the second time in 304 career races that Kenny had started 43rd.
Larry Gunselman - started 42nd; finished 33rd
Noted: 33rd is Larry's best career Cup finish.
Sterling Marlin - started 32nd; finished 34th
Quoted: “There was a car out there trying to decide if it was going to pit or not. It cut up and ran us into the wall and the 18 got into me. We were just riding around saving fuel. I think we had the only car that could make it on fuel, so we were headed for a good finish. It was just a dumb move on his part. That’s about all you can say.”
Bobby Labonte - started 27th; finished 35th
Quoted: "I was on the outside, and I don't know if the 40 got pushed up or what. We were going to pit in a lap, and so were some other guys, and it gets a little crazy with 20 laps to go. It's one of those things, but we'll regroup and come back next week at Kansas."
Brian Vickers - started 21st; finished 36th
Noted: This was the sixth time Brian has failed to be running at the finish this year.
Jimmie Johnson - started 16th; finished 37th
Quoted: "You do what you can do. We had some contact on pit road and I'm not sure if that hurt the air duct and wouldn't let the air inside to cool the radiator. Anyway, the car got hot and we cooked an engine. We'll just take it from there. You can only be so upset because we work our butts off. We do everything we can."
Jeremy Mayfield - started 9th; finished 38th
Quoted: “I’m not sure what happened to the 43. Somebody must have turned him because he turned right in front of us. We were just sticking to our game plan, that was to either be up front or stay in the back to the end. That’s what we were doing. What do you do? You can’t really predict what’s going to happen here. We fixed our Dodge and got back out and gained all the points we could."
Jeff Green - started 18th; finished 39th
Quoted: “I'm all right. It was a hard hit. I just got hit in the rear. I hate this type of racing. I think the winner is the only one happy today. It's not really racing. We tore up a good Cheerios Dodge, but I'm all right.”
Jimmy Spencer - started 40th; finished 40th
Noted: 40th was Jimmy's worst career start at Talladega (in 30 starts.)
Chad Blount - started 31st; finished 41st
Noted: This was Chad's 2nd career start.
Carl Edwards - started 25th; finished 42nd
Quoted: "Something broke and it was just spraying oil. It wasn't making a lot of power, but, man, that was fun while it lasted. It would have been a lot of fun to finish that race because I was having a blast and learning a lot. We were just really, really loose, but these cars run great. It's really neat to get in that good of a piece of equipment for your first superspeedway race."
Bobby Hamilton Jr - started 39th; finished 43rd
Noted: This was the first time Bobby Jr finished 43rd in 24 career starts.
Dale Earnhardt Jr - started 10th; finished 1st
Quoted: "That call was awesome. We came down pit road and the yellow came out and we were saying two tires, two tires and we just smoked them guys that were on old tires. The car just drove right around into the corner. I've got to thank Richie Gilmore and everybody at DEI and back at the shop. The body was awesome. I beat the front bumper all to hell today and it's still there. That's five wins this year, I just can't believe it."
Kevin Harvick - started 15th; finished 2nd
Quoted: "We worked hard all day. We got up there and we were in the lead and I knew they were going to be coming. With Robby behind me, there wasn't anybody in the field who was going to pass us except the No. 8. They just seem to go when they want to. But my hats off to them. They've got it figured out. I've got to thank this GM Goodwrench Chevrolet team and all our other sponsors. It's really nice to have a good finish and get back on track."
Dale Jarrett - started 3rd; finished 3rd
Quoted: "Everybody did a great job, but then it gets down to the time that you want to get as many positions and everybody wants to try to win. Junior, he's got a fast car and he does a great job of driving it. I'm not sure he gets enough credit for that because he's a hell of a young driver. Congratulations to him. These guys did a great job with this UPS Ford and I'm awful proud of them. That's more like what we're accustomed to."
Brendan Gaughan - started 26th; finished 4th
Quoted: “It was awesome. The Kodak guys have been working hard, and the Penske guys as a group has built their first ever superspeedway specific team. The guys in the back of the No. 77 Jasper shop have been building superspeedway Dodges for the team, and it’s the first time the Penske group has ever done something like that. It’s paid off with a fourth-place finish. We went to the front a couple of times and went to the back a couple of times. We had a good race car. The Kodak Dodge was good, but it never stayed up there. I’m not smart enough to try to team up with Junior to try to stay up there. I was just trying to fight for myself. In the end, we just rolled the dice. Shane and Doug Bawel, the owner of Jasper, both came on the radio and said ‘we’re not going to make it.’ I came on and said, ‘I don’t care.’ We’re not racing for the championship. We’re 30th in points or whatever. We have nothing to lose but to try to go for it and put it in fourth gear and try to conserve fuel under caution. It worked. We ended up fourth and led a couple of laps. I tried to block Kevin, but I missed and then just held on and tried to get back in the draft before they all passed me.”
Kurt Busch - started 8th; finished 5th
Quoted: "the big project was to work on our engine program and build a better car and we did that this time. We qualified in the top 10 for a first time ever at a plate track, for me anyway, and just the way our car handled most of the day - it was up front. I got shuffled twice, but we were able to make that up with pit strategy. I was real proud of the guys. The way the restart went down at the end it was very hairy. We just didn't quite get in the right lane. I was hoping the 77 and the 5 would go, but I think they vapor locked."
Tony Stewart - started 30th; finished 6th
Noted: Tony has now finished in the top 10 in 12 of his 24 career restrictor plate races.
Casey Mears - started 34th; finished 7th
Quoted: “I really enjoy racing here. Once you have restrictor-place racing figured out, it is a lot of fun. I made a mistake on pit road, but everyone kept their heads up and we were able to come home in the top 10. Jimmy made great calls in the pits that kept us up front. We’ve had some tough luck over the past four or five races, so hopefully this will get us back on track heading into Kansas and the last seven races of the season.”
Joe Nemechek - started 1st; finished 8th
Quoted: "This was a pretty stressful day and my mind is tired right now. The pack was there for the entire race and there wasn't much breathing room. You just had to stay in there, be patient and fight your way through. I'm sure the fans liked it because from my view it was pretty exciting."
Robby Gordon - started 36th; finished 9th
Quoted: "The Cingular Wireless Chevrolet was pretty good. I don't know what happened there at the end. We got spread apart too much and I had to check up when the No. 21 moved up into my line and Tony got by both of us. It cost about five or six positions. I was a little disappointed but it was a good run for us. We finished 9th. We tried to get with Kevin and team up with him, but Dale Jr. was just too strong for us."
Ward Burton - started 28th; finished 10th
Quoted: “We were pretty sure we were going to have a pretty good car come race day. We may not have had the qualifying run we would have liked, but the NetZero/Shark Tale car was pretty good out there in race trim. It’s always nice to get a Top-10 finish, especially when you have been working as hard as this team has and not getting the results to show for it. We’ve run pretty good in every restrictor plate race this season, but have had problems before the finish, so it’s great to be able to put it all together today. This is more where we belong and it feels good to get here.”
Scott Riggs - started 4th; finished 11th
Quoted: "This wasn't a bad finish for the Zerex/Valvoline team. We had a top-10 car all weekend but just couldn't stay up front today and bring that finish home. I messed up in the pits once and that cost us some track position. We kept battling all day driving to the front and then getting shuffled to the back. In the end there were just some strong cars that teamed up and plowed to the front in those final laps. That's how it is at Talladega-- if you're lucky enough to be in that pack you'll move to the front, if not you can be hung out to dry."
Ricky Rudd - started 2nd; finished 12th
Quoted: "We just got bounced and got run over at the end of the race. He ran over the top of us. I think it was the 31 car. He ran over me and ran over everybody. Our strategy was good all day, but we just couldn't seem to get going. We started off and were a little bit too tight. They worked on it and got it freed up a little bit and then at the end it was pretty good. I just couldn't keep up with Junior. I had a plan. I knew where I needed to be. I needed to be on his bumper. I tried following him and I could run with him about a lap and then he got checked out, and then I got caught by the other pack that ran me down."
Jeff Burton - started 13th; finished 13th
Quoted: “I can’t believe we had a broken valve at the end of the race. The AOL Chevy was really strong all race, we didn’t have to make one adjustment on it. We had something for the leaders until we had that problem. It was a lot of fun lining up with Harvick and Gordon and going to the front. RCR has a really strong restrictor plate program and I think we showed it today.”
Matt Kenseth - started 7th; finished 14th
Quoted: "I was back in there three-wide and getting hit and hitting people. Everybody was bouncing off of everybody. It's kind of stupid, really. I know it's fun to watch, but it's kind of a bad situation you're sitting in. That's a difficult situation we're put in going 185 miles an hour and being pinballs like that, but, overall, we survived and kept the car in one piece. It's the best speedway car we've ever had. I thought we were in a good position to finish in the top five before that yellow came out under that green-flag pit stop. It's cool Dale, Jr. won. He's gonna be 30 this week. He's getting pretty old so he better take those wins while he can."
Mark Martin - started 17th; finished 15th
Quoted: "I don't think that was a great race. It might have been a great show, but we could have been doing that on a figure-eight or a demo derby there... We got out of this one without trouble and maybe we can go and do some real racing for a while."
Ryan Newman - started 19th; finished 16th
Quoted: “The driver got a little greedy trying to do a gas and go, and that cost us a bunch of track position. It’s just stupid racing here at Talladega. That’s pretty much it. We tried to play it smart. There wasn’t really a big crash, but there were a lot of potential big crashes. The car was all right, but you’ve got all of ‘em running the same speed, so it was kinda hard to pass. It was an OK points day. We needed to win, but we’ll take what we got. We finished and that’s the good thing. I’m ready for any place besides here.”
Jamie McMurray - started 24th; finished 17th
Quoted: “We just fought a really tight condition on the Texaco/Havoline Dodge. Every time I would work my way through the field, the car would get tight. It definitely was a typical Talladega race. For the most part, everyone drove a clean race. At least we finished this restrictor-plate race. We haven’t had much luck on these tracks.”
Mike Wallace - started 41st; finished 18th
Noted: Mike led 4 laps on Sunday. Those were Mike's first career laps led at Talladega.
Jeff Gordon - started 5th; finished 19th
Quoted: "That's why you love and you hate this place because it can give you a great day like it did Junior, or you can be back here and the next thing you know you can be in a wreck with five to go in the back of the pack. It was unfortunate for us. We had a great car. We just had to take what we could get there. We knew we were in trouble when all those guys came to pit under green, I waved at the No. 22 and he just had no idea that all these cars were going to pit. If I would have put on the brakes, he would have run right in the back of me. So that messed the rest of our day up.
Ken Schrader - started 37th; finished 20th
Quoted: "The team did another great job today, getting us in and out of pit road, making the proper adjustments; just a real solid effort. Maybe we could have had a better finish, but the way restrictor plate racing is, it could have been a lot worse. We're thankful to get out of Talladega in one piece with a top 20.”
Terry Labonte - started 38th; finished 21st
Noted: Terry hasn't had a top 20 finish at Talladega since April 2003.
Elliott Sadler - started 6th; finished 22nd
Quoted: "We had a long day with batteries and overheating and stuff like that, but to finish 22nd is probably a blessing. I really didn't want to do on my roof, but they'll probably have some cool highlights now. I want to tell my mom and dad and everybody at home that I am OK. It wasn't half as bad as last year, but I really would like to finish a fall race here on all four tires, so we'll try it again next year."
Hermie Sadler - started 11th; finished 23rd
Noted: 11th was Hermie's 2nd best career start and best since Martinsville in October 2002.
Kerry Earnhardt - started 22nd; finished 24th
Noted: This was Kerry's best career Cup finish.
Michael Waltrip - started 14th; finished 25th
Quoted: “Talladega once again proved the NAPA team continues to field strong cars. The engine was stout, the body on the car couldn’t have been any better and the team was on it in the pits. With fast cars eventually comes top-five finishes.”
Rusty Wallace - started 33rd; finished 26th
Quoted: “We had a super strong car here today. We got hooked up with the 29 car and found a real sweet spot in the middle and upper grooves. At one point, I really thought that we had a car capable of winning the thing, but we got shuffled back. If we could have been in the right place there at the end, I think we really had something for them. But the 16 car got into the wall on the last lap and I got into all the debris and cut a tire down. That just ended out chances to come out of here with a really strong finish. It's a shame because we had a top-five care here today and couldn't put those numbers up there on the board.”
Kasey Kahne - started 23rd; finished 27th
Quoted: “Michael blew a tire, and I blew a left rear and spun. He blew a right front. There had to be something on the racetrack. I really don’t know why I blew a tire, if I got into someone or if there was something on the track. Somehow it just went around in one and two. On pit road, Tommy said I had clear one lane, so I went out one lane. He came out, too, and we both got beat up. That’s how I went a lap down, the fender got bent in on the tire. We had to pit later.”
Greg Biffle - started 12th; finished 28th
Quoted: “Today was a pretty rough day from start to finish for the National Guard team. It just seemed like today if something could go wrong, it did. We had some driver errors and some team errors but we’ll just have to learn what we can from today and then put this race behind us. This is a strong team and we’ll be ready for next weekend’s race in Kansas.”
Kyle Petty - started 35th; finished 29th
Quoted: “We did well for what we had today. We came back from a mistake earlier and got all we could at the end. That last lap wreck was big. I saw it and made a quick move. It turned out to be the right move and we finished the race. It was a good day for what we had.”
Ricky Craven - started 20th; finished 30th
Noted: This was the 6th different car Ricky has drive at Talladega (#41, #25, #58, #50, #32, #11.)
Scott Wimmer - started 29th; finished 31st
Noted: This was Scott's worst career Talladega finish (in 3 starts.)
Kenny Wallace - started 43rd; finished 32nd
Noted: The was the second time in 304 career races that Kenny had started 43rd.
Larry Gunselman - started 42nd; finished 33rd
Noted: 33rd is Larry's best career Cup finish.
Sterling Marlin - started 32nd; finished 34th
Quoted: “There was a car out there trying to decide if it was going to pit or not. It cut up and ran us into the wall and the 18 got into me. We were just riding around saving fuel. I think we had the only car that could make it on fuel, so we were headed for a good finish. It was just a dumb move on his part. That’s about all you can say.”
Bobby Labonte - started 27th; finished 35th
Quoted: "I was on the outside, and I don't know if the 40 got pushed up or what. We were going to pit in a lap, and so were some other guys, and it gets a little crazy with 20 laps to go. It's one of those things, but we'll regroup and come back next week at Kansas."
Brian Vickers - started 21st; finished 36th
Noted: This was the sixth time Brian has failed to be running at the finish this year.
Jimmie Johnson - started 16th; finished 37th
Quoted: "You do what you can do. We had some contact on pit road and I'm not sure if that hurt the air duct and wouldn't let the air inside to cool the radiator. Anyway, the car got hot and we cooked an engine. We'll just take it from there. You can only be so upset because we work our butts off. We do everything we can."
Jeremy Mayfield - started 9th; finished 38th
Quoted: “I’m not sure what happened to the 43. Somebody must have turned him because he turned right in front of us. We were just sticking to our game plan, that was to either be up front or stay in the back to the end. That’s what we were doing. What do you do? You can’t really predict what’s going to happen here. We fixed our Dodge and got back out and gained all the points we could."
Jeff Green - started 18th; finished 39th
Quoted: “I'm all right. It was a hard hit. I just got hit in the rear. I hate this type of racing. I think the winner is the only one happy today. It's not really racing. We tore up a good Cheerios Dodge, but I'm all right.”
Jimmy Spencer - started 40th; finished 40th
Noted: 40th was Jimmy's worst career start at Talladega (in 30 starts.)
Chad Blount - started 31st; finished 41st
Noted: This was Chad's 2nd career start.
Carl Edwards - started 25th; finished 42nd
Quoted: "Something broke and it was just spraying oil. It wasn't making a lot of power, but, man, that was fun while it lasted. It would have been a lot of fun to finish that race because I was having a blast and learning a lot. We were just really, really loose, but these cars run great. It's really neat to get in that good of a piece of equipment for your first superspeedway race."
Bobby Hamilton Jr - started 39th; finished 43rd
Noted: This was the first time Bobby Jr finished 43rd in 24 career starts.
