Homestead Post-race Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Ford Drive one. Ford Fusion)
Finished 10th
"I'm just proud of everybody on the 44 team to get two top-10s and three top-15s in three races. That's good. I wish we could've had this all year. It was a lot of fun. I thank Ford for allowing this to happen, and everybody that sponsored this 44 car to keep us going, and I'm looking forward to next year."

YOU SEEMED TO GET STRONGER AS THE RACE WORE ON. "Yeah. We just worked on it. It seemed like we got a bad set of tires one time. We didn't change anything, and then put another set of tires on and one adjustment and we were fast again. Other than that, we just kept picking them off. I wish our car had been just a little stronger late, like 10 laps to go on our tires, it really started to fade there. But. I'm proud of everybody."

WHEN YOU END A SEASON ON A HIGH NOTE LIKE THIS, DO YOU KIND OF WISH THERE WAS ANOTHER RACE NEXT WEEK, TOO, OR ARE YOU READY FOR A BREAK? "I'd rather run every week, but this team needs a break. We need to get everything in order and be stronger next year."

BIG ADVANTAGE TO GET IN A FORD THREE TIMES THIS YEAR BEFORE STARTING 2010? "Big time."

***

RICHARD PETTY (Car Owner, No. 44 Ford Drive one. Ford Fusion)

CAN YOU COMMENT ON AJ ALLMENDINGER'S THREE RACES IN A FORD? "It's been good. Hopefully, this is just what's in the future for us with Ford because he stepped up about six, eight positions by just getting into a Ford. So, hopefully, in the future, we'll be able to make it even better."

HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO GET THOSE THREE RACES IN BEFORE STARTING 2010? "We don't go in completely blind, just partly blind. At least we've got a little bit of experience with it. It helps the driver and the crew and they'll be able to translate it better to the rest of the crew."

***

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Finished 17th
"It was a hard-fought night for our Budweiser Dodge team. We fought a loose condition all night and every time that we tried to tighten it up, we made the front-end tighter and just couldn't find the balance in the car that we needed. We thought our car may change to the good when the race went from day to night, but it just didn't happen. I'm proud of all my guys. We made the Chase, finished 10th in points and were able to win two races. We got our first road course win (Sonoma) and ran strong throughout the season. Kenny (Francis, crew chief) and the guys did a great job all season. I just want to thank everyone at Budweiser and Dodge and all sponsors for their support.

***

REED SORENSON (No. 43 Siemens Dodge Charger)
Finished 40th
"Wow, I'm not sure what happened. We were coming to pit road and all that you can see is the guy in front of you, so I was pretty close to the 98. I saw him check up and I got on the brakes hard. Elliott (Sadler) was behind me and it looks like he got hit from behind, then he hit me from behind and I was a pinball in the middle. Elliott told me that the 96 was trying to come into the garage. It's a shame that something that stupid had to wreck this many cars."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Best Buy Dodge Charger)
Finished 41st
"That was crazy. We were coming to pit road and the 43 looked like he stopped right in front of me. It looks like the 96 was trying to get into the garage when everyone was pitting. I'm not sure what they were doing or why they were doing that right in front of everybody. That's tough luck for our race team. That's kind of how our season has gone. I hate to end the season like this. It's just a tough deal. A lot of people from Best Buy and Stanley are here today and getting wrecked on pit road is just weird."


Credit: Ford Racing
Credit: Dodge Motorsports

Homestead Race Results

1 Denny Hamlin
2 Jeff Burton
3 Kevin Harvick
4 Kurt Busch
5 Jimmie Johnson
6 Jeff Gordon
7 Carl Edwards
8 Kyle Busch
9 Martin Truex Jr.
10 AJ Allmendinger
11 Clint Bowyer
12 Mark Martin
13 Matt Kenseth
14 Greg Biffle
15 David Reutimann
16 Bill Elliott
17 Kasey Kahne
18 Jamie McMurray
19 Casey Mears
20 Brian Vickers
21 Sam Hornish Jr.
22 Tony Stewart
23 Ryan Newman
24 Joey Logano
25 Brad Keselowski
26 Paul Menard
27 Scott Speed
28 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
29 David Gilliland
30 Michael Waltrip
31 Bobby Labonte
32 Regan Smith
33 John Andretti
34 David Ragan
35 Marcos Ambrose
36 Erik Darnell
37 Travis Kvapil
38 Juan Pablo Montoya
39 Robby Gordon
40 Reed Sorenson
41 Elliott Sadler
42 Terry Labonte
43 Michael McDowell

Homestead Post-qualifying Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Ford. Drive one. Ford Fusion)
Qualified 13th
"I'm happy with it. Obviously the draw is gonna hurt us, so if we can stay somewhere right around the top 15, I think that'll be good. I'm just happy at Richard Petty Motorsports. We're making progress with this Ford and I'm real excited about this weekend and especially the next year. I think overall the little things that we've learned in the two races, and the stuff we'll learn here will be great for next year so we're pumped up about it and pumped up to be with Ford. We'll be ready to go."

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO DRIVE THIS CAR IN THE VINTAGE PETTY COLORS? "The tradition of it and just being able to drive for the King means so much to me. We've given it two good runs and hopefully we can end with one more great run here and have this paint job mean something to us at the end. It's an awesome car."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Best Buy Dodge Charger)
Qualified 21st
"I'm just proud of my guys because when we unloaded our Best Buy Dodge we were just a little bit off. We made a lot of good changes in our practice this morning. It was one of the most productive practices that we've had in a while and one of our best qualifying efforts that we've had in a few months. My guys gave me a good car and we want to work on it some more tomorrow to make it right for Sunday. We want to end the season on the best possible note so that we can to make the winter time go by as good as possible."

***

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Qualified 25th
"Our Budweiser Dodge felt pretty good, but the car got tight in (Turns) 1 and 2 and then when I got into (Turn) 4, the front end tightened up and kicked out the back end when I tried to get back in the gas."

***

REED SORENSON (No. 43 Siemens Dodge Charger)
Qualified 42nd
"We just got real loose between Turns 1 and 2 trying to pick up some time on the second lap (the right rear of the 43 brushed the wall). I was doing everything I could to put down a good lap so we could get a good starting spot on Sunday. I want to go out strong as a thank you to all the guys on the 43 team, but I guess I was just trying a little too hard."


Credit: Ford Racing & Dodge Motorsports

Homestead Qualifying Results

Ford 400 Starting Lineup
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Scott Speed
3. Marcos Ambrose
4. Mark Martin
5. Tony Stewart
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Ryan Newman
8. Greg Biffle
9. Bill Elliott
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Jamie McMurray
12. Kurt Busch
13. AJ Allmendinger
14. Casey Mears
15. Regan Smith
16. David Gilliland
17. Michael McDowell
18. Bobby Labonte
19. Martin Truex, Jr.
20. Jeff Gordon
21. Elliott Sadler
22. David Reutimann
23. Juan Pablo Montoya
24. Carl Edwards
25. Kasey Kahne
26. Jeff Burton
27. Brad Keselowski
28. Travis Kvapil
29. Sam Hornish, Jr.
30. Kyle Busch
31. Erik Darnell
32. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
33. Brian Vickers
34. Matt Kenseth
35. Joey Logano
36. Paul Menard
37. Matt Crafton*
38. Denny Hamlin
39. Michael Waltrip
40. John Andretti
41. David Ragan
42. Reed Sorenson
43. Terry Labonte
DNQ Joe Nemechek
DNQ Dave Blaney
DNQ Mike Skinner
DNQ Max Papis
DNQ David Stremme

*Matt Crafton is practicing and qualifying the #7 car for Robby Gordon while Robby attempts to win a championship at the Baja 1000. Robby is expected to be in the car Sunday, but will have to start at the rear of the field for a driver change.

Homestead Preview

Richard Petty Motorsports posted its third consecutive top-15 finish in a Ford Fusion as AJ Allmendinger notched a 13th-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). Elliott Sadler finished ninth at Talladega in the Petty team's Ford debut and Allmendinger finished 10th at Texas Motor Speedway. Allmendinger hopes to extend the streak this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Phoenix race marked Allmendinger's eighth top-15 of the 2009 season.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: "We started the season off with a five race deal and turned it into a full season based on performance. That's no small feat in today's NASCAR and especially the Sprint Cup Series. The entire Richard Petty Motorsports team has worked hard to keep this car on the track and I can't thank them enough for their efforts. We have some great people here that take a lot of pride in what they do and it shows on the racetrack. Now that we've made the switch to Ford we are just trying to race as hard as we can and gain information to take into 2010, but I think this team has come a long way this season and I look forward to getting even better in 2010."

* Richard Petty Motorsports has run three races in Ford Fusions in 2009. Elliott Sadler finished ninth at Talladega and Allmendinger finished 10th at Texas and 13th at Phoenix.

* Allmendinger ran the final five races of 2008 in the No. 10 Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports (GEM) with Mike Shiplett as the crew chief.

* In his only career Sprint Cup Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Allmendinger started 43rd and finished 11th in the No. 10 Dodge for GEM.

* Sunday's race marks Allmendinger's 80th start in the Sprint Cup Series and second at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

* Allmendinger's 10th-place finish at Texas was the third-best career finish for Crew Chief Mike Shiplett. The second-year crew chief, who worked with Patrick Carpentier last season, finished seventh at Dover in September with Allmendinger and ninth at Daytona with driver Reed Sorenson in February.

Credit: Richard Petty Motorsports

Photo Credit: Lynne K

Phoenix II Post-race Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Ford Drive one. Ford Fusion)
Finished 13th
"We had a decent day in the No. 44 Ford. We were good early on and started working our way up through the field. We got just a little bit of damage on the right front just around half way and it caused our car to tighten up a lot making it hard to turn. I was really hoping for a top-10, but we came up just a little short today. So far we've been pretty good in our Fords and we're gathering information that we can hopefully use going into next year."

ON BEING THE TOP-FINISHING FORD IN HIS SECOND RACE WITH THE MANUFACTURER.
"I'm just proud of the guys. I thought we could've been a little bit better, but we got just a little too tight there the last two runs, and that hurt us a little bit. And it felt like I was using the right-front brake a little too hard at the end there. I was trying to catch Kyle, but, all in all, we're racing with the best guys out there right now, and that's what we should be doing every weekend. I wish we could've gotten a little bit better, but I'm still happy about it."

IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE RACE, YOU WERE ONE OF THE FEW DRIVERS WHO COULD MOVE FORWARD. WHAT COULD YOU DO THAT OTHERS COULDN'T?
"It was tough to pass. It was so aero-sensitive out there. That's why we fight so hard on the re-starts is because you didn't want to let anybody by. You felt like if they got in front of you it was going to be 10 times harder to pass 'em. We were getting the car to turn just a little bit. We just kind of fought a little bit back and forth just a little loose and tight. We're getting closer, so it's good."

ANY CLOSE CALLS WITH ANY OF THE WRECKS? WERE YOU AROUND ANY OF THEM?
"Not the wrecks. I scuffed the wall once -- Me and Kasey were side by side on the re-start and he got loose and I gave him room, and then I got loose and just scuffed it. I thought that hurt the fender a little bit; that's what made us a little bit tight there. But, other than that, I was out of the mess for once."

SO, DOES THIS TEAM CARRY GOOD FEELINGS INTO HOMESTEAD NEXT WEEKEND?
"Yeah. A 10th and a 13th (in his two starts in a Ford), like I said, I think this is where this race team needs to begin at, we need to begin in the top-15 every week and then start building from there. You know, all of us would like to go out there and win, but can't expect that yet. We've got to go out and just keep chipping away at it. We made good points, and we've got a chance to be 23rd next week. And I think for a team that wasn't supposed to run all year, that's not too bad."

***

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Finished 15th
"Overall, a pretty good day for our Budweiser Dodge. Track position was so important today and we just couldn't get the car balanced like we needed to stay up front with the leaders as the race wore on. We were running inside the top 10 for nearly 150 laps and then we just fought a front-end issue that we couldn't fix. At one point in the race, I felt like I could feel every crack in the race track and with such long green flag runs today, if your car wasn't perfect, you just didn't have time under yellow flag stops to make any adjustments that you needed."

***

REED SORENSON (No. 43 PVA Dodge Charger)
Finished 26th
"Our Paralyzed Veterans of America Dodge just struggled with handling for most of the day. We couldn't get the car to turn. I don't know if we broke something or what, but our steering wouldn't react the way it should have. It was a tough day."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Insignia Dodge Charger)
Finished 28th
"We struggled with handling early and couldn't do much of anything about it because the race stayed green for so long. Once we finally got a caution to work on the Insignia Dodge, we got caught up in the wreck on the restart. That pretty much put us in a tough spot the rest of the day. I'm proud of my guys for working so hard in the pits to get us back out there without losing a lot of ground, but it was just a tough day."

Phoenix II Race Results

Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Finishing Order
1 Jimmie Johnson
2 Jeff Burton
3 Denny Hamlin
4 Mark Martin
5 Martin Truex Jr.
6 Kurt Busch
7 Clint Bowyer
8 Juan Pablo Montoya
9 Jeff Gordon
10 David Reutimann
11 Marcos Ambrose
12 Kyle Busch
13 AJ Allmendinger
14 Greg Biffle
15 Kasey Kahne
16 Carl Edwards
17 Sam Hornish Jr.
18 Matt Kenseth
19 Jamie McMurray
20 Ryan Newman
21 Joey Logano
22 Robby Gordon
23 David Ragan
24 Kevin Harvick
25 Tony Stewart
26 Reed Sorenson
27 Casey Mears
28 Elliott Sadler
29 Paul Menard
30 David Gilliland
31 Erik Darnell
32 Max Papis
33 Scott Speed
34 John Andretti
35 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
36 Michael Waltrip
37 Brad Keselowski
38 Brian Vickers
39 Bobby Labonte
40 Joe Nemechek
41 Michael McDowell
42 Dave Blaney
43 Tony Raines

Phoenix II Post-qualifying Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER -- No. 44 Ford Drive one. Ford Fusion
Qualified 16th

IS IT A LITTLE EASIER THE SECOND WEEK IN A FORD THAN THE FIRST? YOU PICKED UP THREE-TENTHS FROM PRACTICE. ARE YOU LEARNING SOME THINGS AS TIME GOES ON? "I think each week in these three weeks it's going to be something new -- these are three different race tracks. We've got to keep learning. It's a process. It's so hard. All of us, we just wish we could sit on the race track and it would be great, but we know the potential is there, and that's what's important. We had a great run last week, and that was a great start. Coming into this week, same thing -- we didn't start off very good, and we kept getting it better, and hopefully that will put us inside the top 20 somewhere, and from there on we can just keep building and getting better."

Credit: Ford Racing

Phoenix II Qualifying Results

Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Starting Lineup
1 Martin Truex Jr.
2 Kurt Busch
3 Jimmie Johnson
4 Kasey Kahne
5 Denny Hamlin
6 Greg Biffle
7 Kyle Busch
8 Tony Stewart
9 Casey Mears
10 Mark Martin
11 Michael Waltrip
12 Sam Hornish Jr.
13 Clint Bowyer
14 Jeff Gordon
15 David Reutimann
16 AJ Allmendinger
17 Juan Pablo Montoya
18 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
19 Brian Vickers
20 Bobby Labonte
21 Marcos Ambrose
22 Robby Gordon
23 Max Papis
24 Ryan Newman
25 Carl Edwards
26 Brad Keselowski
27 Joey Logano
28 Matt Kenseth
29 David Gilliland
30 Jamie McMurray
31 Kevin Harvick
32 Dave Blaney
33 David Ragan
34 Joe Nemechek
35 Elliott Sadler
36 Jeff Burton
37 Scott Speed
38 Michael McDowell
39 Erik Darnell
40 Reed Sorenson
41 Paul Menard
42 John Andretti
43 Tony Raines
DNQ Regan Smith
DNQ Kevin Conway
DNQ Brandon Ash

Phoenix II Preview

Richard Petty Motorsports posted its second consecutive top-10 finish in a Ford Fusion on Sunday as AJ Allmendinger notched a 10th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway a week after Elliott Sadler finished ninth at Talladega in the Petty team's Ford debut. Allmendinger hopes to extend the streak this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway and at the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Texas race marked Allmendinger's fifth top-10 of the 2009 season and seventh of his brief NASCAR career.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: "That was a great way to start our deal in a Ford Fusion. If we keep this up it should give us a ton of confidence going into the 2010 season. Elliott was awesome at Talladega and then we backed that up at Texas. Phoenix and Homestead can be really good for us too. We still have a ton to learn but its good to get these final races to start working on our stuff for next season. With all that has gone on this year, it's a testament to my team and everyone here at the Petty team that these guys continue to produce good cars for us to drive. We are racing hard and you saw that on Sunday."

* Due to the 50 point penalty NASCAR issued to the No. 1 car, AJ Allmendinger and Elliott Sadler both advanced one spot in the driver point standings. Sadler is now 24th and Allmendinger 25th.

* Richard Petty Motorsports has run two races in Ford Fusions in 2009. Elliott Sadler finished ninth at Talladega and Allmendinger finished 10th at Texas last weekend.

* All five of Allmendinger's Champ Car victories came in a Ford-Cosworth powered car. He won at Portland, Cleveland, Toronto, Denver and Road America in 2006.

* Sunday's race marks Allmendinger's 79th start in the Sprint Cup Series and third at PIR.

* Collectively in 2009, RPM drivers have posted two wins, nine top-fives, 24 top-10s and have led 302 laps through the first 34 points races.

* Join over 8,100 Richard Petty Motorsports fans on Facebook and view the latest news, videos and pictures.

* Crew Chief Mike Shiplett started the season with Reed Sorenson in the No. 43 before moving to the No. 44 with Allmendinger starting at Michigan-2.

* In 1969, Richard Petty made 48 out of 50 starts in a Ford. He recorded nine wins, 29 top-fives, 36 top-10s and led 2,291 laps. Petty raced a Plymouth the first two races of the season recording a win at Macon and a second-place finish at Montgomery.

* Richard Petty's last race driving a Ford entry was Dec. 2, 1969 at Texas World Speedway (College Station, Texas). Petty drove the entry to a 21st-place finish.

* Last Sunday's 10th-place finish at Texas was the third-best career finish for Crew Chief Mike Shiplett. The second-year crew chief, who worked with Patrick Carpentier last season, finished seventh at Dover in September with Allmendinger and ninth at Daytona with driver Reed Sorenson in February.

* To follow Richard Petty Motorsports drivers during the race weekend and receive up-to-the minute in-race notes, please follow @RPMotorsports on Twitter.

Credit: Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Photo Credit: Lynne K

WIX Filters signs onto the #43 for 2010

WIX Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has signed on with Richard Petty Motorsports in 2010 as an associate sponsor of the #43 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In addition, WIX is offering their customers the unique opportunity to join the WIX team to cheer the #43 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Banking 500 in October 2010 and the ability to treat their best customers or salespeople to a once in a lifetime race weekend.

The associate sponsorship with Richard Petty Motorsports provides WIX secondary brand placement on the #43 car, and driver and pit crew suits, pit box and car hauler for the entire 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. It also puts WIX as the primary sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup paint scheme for the October 2010 NASCAR Banking 500 at Charlotte.

“It’s great to have WIX on board for the 2010 season as an associate sponsor of the #43 car for the entire NASCAR Sprint Cup season,” said Richard Petty, owner of Richard Petty Motorsports and long time partner of WIX Filters. “We’ve been racing with WIX Filters since the 1960s and our relationship is continuing to grow almost 50 years later.”

WIX also is working closely with Richard Petty Motorsports to provide customers with a chance to get their stores nationwide exposure through the It’s Good to Be the King promotion. In addition to having their store logo displayed on the #43 WIX/Petty Motorsports Sprint Cup car, five regional winners (four USA, one Canada) will receive a week-long local marketing campaign complete with a WIX mobile marketing event at their stores. The stores’ owners and their key customers or sales people also will attend the 2010 NASCAR Banking 500 to watch the #43 WIX/Petty Motorsports Sprint Cup car from the King’s personal turn-one condo.

“WIX will always look for creative ways to bring added benefits to our customers, through new products, engineering leadership and promotions,” said Jeff Blocher, brand manager for WIX Filters. “The It’s Good to Be the King promotion provides our customers with an opportunity to get broad brand exposure at a NASCAR event and more importantly, an opportunity to bring it back to their local markets, plus complete with race-day treatment that’s fit for a king.”

Since 1939, Wix® Filters has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit http://www.wixfilters.com/.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit http://www.affiniagroup.com/.

Contact: Jeff Blocher John Mader
WIX Filters Wray Ward
704-869-3383 704-926-1316 jmader@wrayward.com


Credit - Camp and Associates

AJ Allmendinger Ford Interview

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 44 Ford. Drive one. Ford Fusion is coming off a 10th-place finish last weekend at Texas in his Ford debut with Richard Petty Motorsports. Allmendinger, who will be driving the final two races in a Ford as well, spoke about joining the manufacturer full-time in 2010.

A LOT OF PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW THAT THIS ISN'T YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCE DRIVING WITH FORD RACING.
"I guess it's a small world in racing and everything always seems to come full circle. It was great because in Champ Car in 2004, I actually started in 2003, but the Champ Car Series just went to one engine manufacturer and it was a Ford Cosworth, so we have good memories of racing Fords. Now if we could just get these Cup engines turbo-charged we'd be sweet. It would be great, but there are a lot of fond memories and, obviously, in 2006 we got on that roll and won five out of nine and kind of left on a hot streak. So it's exciting for me to be able to come back and experience being a part of the Ford family again, and I think people don't really notice it because we were just one engine manufacturer there and it wasn't that main competition level, but the Ford Cosworth people were fantastic and I look forward to the same here."

WHAT'S THE BIGGEST GOAL FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM IN THE NO. 44 FORD THESE LAST TWO RACES?
"We want to learn. It's not as easy as just pulling the sticker off the car from a Dodge and putting it on as a Ford and just putting a new motor in the car. You've got to change the front of the car and change the rear of the car a little bit to match what the Ford template is, and I think that's really just want we've got to learn. The team built a brand-new car for Texas and we've got a car ready for Phoenix as well, but there is a learning curve. In a perfect world, you just want to go throw it on the race track and go, 'There's that Ford power. Everything feels great. The car is handling great. We're gonna go win.' But it's not that easy because the competition is so tough, so I think in these last couple of races we want to learn a lot. Obviously, we want to run well, but we just want to build a notebook going into next year and that's really what it's all about. We've got a great opportunity to learn and be ready for Daytona and really start the season when this 43 team next year will have had time to work together. We'll have had about 10 races and that will be important, but, no matter what, I'd still like to go out there and average in the top 15 these last three races and hopefully get a couple of top-10s and have something to be excited about in the off season."

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR LEARNING CURVE HAS GONE ON THE CUP SIDE?
"I've experienced a lot of change in Cup in three years. I've gone from a couple of different teams and three different manufacturers now, so I'm getting the full gauntlet of what it's like to be in Cup, but this year I have to take it as good and bad. Heck, I was only scheduled to run five or eight races this year and we've run the full season. We had to be out of the top 35 in points at the start of the season and now we're solidly in. We're 26th, but, at the same time, I know we could have been better. There's just a lot of little stuff like getting caught up in wrecks and little things that have happened that have cost us maybe being in the top 20 in points. I really feel like that's where we should be for a full season and where we could have been, but, at the same time, we had to switch teams during the year when the 43 and the 44 teams switched. I got to work with Mike Shiplett and the guys last year when I came over to the team, but we were split apart at the beginning of this year and now we're back together, so it's just a lot of stuff that we've learned. All in all, I can't complain. I've run the full season and, like I said, I look at these last few races that whether we move up in points or move back in points, if we can just have strong races and learn a lot going into next year, I can look at these three races as successful and that's really what I'm all about."


Credit: Ford Racing

Texas II Post-Race Quotes

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Ford Drive One Ford Fusion)
Finished 10th
"I feel tired. That's longer than you think out there, but I'm proud of everybody on the 44 team. Obviously, the end result of a top 10 is good, but we were top 12 to top 15 all day and got a little lucky on fuel mileage. We stopped and a couple of guys ran out, so I'm just proud of everybody. We kept working hard on this car all weekend and it really showed. We started off and weren't very good on Friday and just kept picking away at it. It still wasn't perfect. We've still got to work on it, but for our first race I was just really proud of everybody."

STRATEGY AND ALL WORKED OUT FOR YOU. "When you're running decent it's easy to stay calm and just kind of keep picking away at it. That's what makes the top teams so good. They're not always perfect, but they can always just keep picking at it and that's what we did. It's something to build on."

DID YOUR RACE TURN WHEN YOU WERE ABLE TO AVOID THE 48, WHICH CROSSED RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR NOSE? "That was nuts. I'm glad I missed it."

NOTE: Richard Petty Motorsports is now 2-for-2 with Ford Racing as far as Top 10 finishes. Elliott Sadler finished 9th last week at Talladega to go with Allmendinger's 10th-place run today.

***

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Stanley Tools Dodge Charger)
Finished 22nd
"We struggled today trying to find the handling on this track. (Crew Chief) Wally Rogers made a great call taking the wave around and a quick yellow got us one of our laps back."

***

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Finished 33rd
"Overall, today was a tough day. The Budweiser team fought all day, but we ended up running out of fuel at the end. The guys did a good job of making adjustments. We just couldn't tighten it up enough to get out front and then we had an engine issue at the end."

***

REED SORENSON (No. 43 Valvoline Dodge Charger)
Finished 36th
"I think we cut down the right front. It turned right into the wall. I was just along for the ride. It's been a tough day."


Credit: Richard Petty Motorsports PR & Ford Racing

Texas II Results

Dickies 500 Finishing Order
1. Kurt Busch
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Mark Martin
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Tony Stewart
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Greg Biffle
9. Jeff Burton
10. AJ Allmendinger
11. Kyle Busch
12. Ryan Newman
13. Jeff Gordon
14. Martin Truex, Jr.
15. Marcos Ambrose
16. David Reutimann
17. David Ragan
18. Scott Speed
19. Joey Logano
20. Jamie McMurray
21. Casey Mears
22. Elliott Sadler
23. Michael Waltrip
24. John Andretti
25. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
26. Brian Vickers
27. Robby Gordon
28. David Gilliland
29. Paul Menard
30. Erik Darnell
31. Bobby Labonte
32. Regan Smith
33. Kasey Kahne
34. Bill Elliott
35. Brad Keselowski
36. Reed Sorenson
37. Juan Pablo Montoya
38. Jimmie Johnson
39. Carl Edwards
40. Sam Hornish, Jr.
41. Michael McDowell
42. Joe Nemechek
43. Mike Skinner

Texas II Qualifying Quotes

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Starting 2nd
“It was a really good lap. We made some gains from practice in our Budweiser Dodge. Everything was perfect there. I felt like I was really quick in (Turns) 1 and 2, and might have given up just a touch in Turns 3 and 4. It was still a great lap. It should be a top-five, hopefully a pole. It was quick in practice. We just needed a touch more and Kenny Francis (crew chief) and the team gave it to me. The engine is running awesome. It just felt really good. I was on the track. I could feel the race track around the whole corner and down the straightaways. It was really about all I had.”

ARE YOU RUNNING THE DODGE R6 ENGINE THIS WEEKEND? “Yes. We’re running the R6. They had the latest version at Charlotte and that’s when I started to run well again. We ran the R5 for a little bit. We ran the R6 back in Charlotte; it was awesome in Charlotte and good again today. I’m looking forward to this weekend. We’ve made some really nice gains in our engine shop here the last few months.”

TODAY WAS THE SECOND-FASTEST QUALIFYING SPEED THAT WE’VE HAD THIS YEAR IN CUP. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THOSE SPEEDS AND HOW MUCH WILL THE SPEEDS FALL OFF IN RACE TRIM? “They’ll fall off a lot. The weather looks good for Sunday and we’re going to be racing when it’s warm out, so the speeds will fall off a lot. You won’t see anything near what we just ran in qualifying trim.

“For qualifying, I enjoy going as fast as we can go. We qualified pretty good in Charlotte for the night race and good again today. We weren’t first, but we’re definitely up there. Hopefully we can figure out our car tomorrow and have a great chance shot at winning on Sunday.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Ford Drive One Ford Fusion)
Starting 17th
“I got a little loose coming to the green which killed our momentum. Unfortunately that hurt our qualifying time pretty bad. We have a good car and the Ford Drive One retro scheme looks amazing. We’ll work on it more tomorrow and we should be good once the race starts.”

REED SORENSON (No. 43 Valvoline Dodge Charger)
Starting 18th
“I think the draw is going to hurt us pretty bad because the sun is going down and the track will be faster. We picked up time from practice and that’s all you can ask for. Hopefully, the draw doesn’t hurt as bad as we think it’s going too. The track is gaining a lot of grip and the sun is going down fast. Hopefully, that won’t hurt us too bad. We made some improvements from our last qualifying run. We spent the first 40 minutes in race trim this morning and felt like it was pretty good so we’re excited about tomorrow.”

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Stanley Dodge Charger)
Starting 33rd
“I think going out early is going to hurt us. I would like to have it back and run it again. I got too aggressive in the middle of Turns 1 and 2 and got to pushing off 2. I probably lost a lot of my speed there. We’ll see where that puts us. We’ve got 500 miles on Sunday. The car is pretty comfortable to drive. I think we can adjust on it and make it better as the weekend goes.”

Texas II Qualifying Results

Dickies 500 Starting Lineup
1. Jeff Gordon
2. Kasey Kahne
3. Kurt Busch
4. Tony Stewart
5. Kyle Busch
6. Carl Edwards
7. Mark Martin
8. Greg Biffle
9. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Sam Hornish, Jr.
12. Jimmie Johnson
13. David Reutimann
14. Joey Logano
15. Brian Vickers
16. AJ Allmendinger
17. David Ragan
18. Reed Sorenson
19. Marcos Ambrose
20. Juan Pablo Montoya
21. David Gilliland
22. Jamie McMurray
23. Mike Skinner
24. Kevin Harvick
25. Denny Hamlin
26. Ryan Newman
27. Martin Truex, Jr.
28. Bobby Labonte
29. Robby Gordon
30. Matt Kenseth
31. Scott Speed
32. Regan Smith
33. Elliott Sadler
34. Joe Nemecheck
35. Brad Keseloski
36. Casey Mears
37. Michael McDowell
38. Erik Darnell
39. Paul Menard
40. Michael Waltrip
41. John Andretti
42. Jeff Burton
43. Bill Elliott
DNQ Tony Raines
DNQ Dave Blaney
DNQ Max Papis
DNQ Mike Bliss

Texas II Preview

AJ Allmendinger makes his Ford Racing debut this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The Richard Petty Motorsports driver will race the remaining three races of the 2009 season in a Ford Fusion. Race fans will recognize the familiar “Petty Blue” and red paint scheme on No. 44 for the rest of the season. Last week at Talladega, Elliott Sadler drove a Ford to a ninth-place finish. Allmendinger will be the only Petty driver in a Ford in any of the remaining 2009 races.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: “This is exciting stuff. It’s like a new beginning for Richard Petty Motorsports. Whenever you do something new you are a little bit excited and a little bit nervous because you haven't done it before. Elliott drove a Ford for us at Talladega last week and everyone was really positive about the experience. It’s our turn this week tire testing a Ford in Daytona and we’ll drive one at Phoenix and Homestead as well.

“For us these next three weeks are just learning about what a Ford likes and dislikes as far as chassis setup and engine tuning. Nothing beats experience in this sport and the only way you get experience is by just doing it. So we are starting our learning curve this week and hopefully we will be a little bit further ahead for next season by doing this. We’re running the “King’s” old paint scheme with the Ford logo for the rest of the season. That might be the best paint scheme in racing. So it’s familiar paint but a new car this weekend. Like I said, Elliott ran great in a Ford in Talladega, now it’s our turn.”

Notes:
*Ford’s win at Talladega was its 595th victory in Sprint Cup racing. Ford owns 14 manufacturer titles.

*Sunday’s race marks Allmendinger’s 78th start in the Sprint Cup series and fourth at Texas. He owns four top-10 finishes in 2009. He finished third in the Daytona 500 , seventh at Infineon and Dover and ninth at Martinsville.

*FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: Follow Allmendinger and other Petty drivers at @rpmotorsports on Twitter. Also follow Ford Racing @fordracing

*In 1969, Richard Petty made 48 out of 50 starts in a Ford. He recorded nine wins, 29 top-fives, 36 top-10s and led 2,291 laps. Petty raced a Plymouth the first two races of the season recording a win at Macon and a second-place finish at Montgomery.

*Richard Petty’s last race driving a Ford entry was Dec. 2, 1969 at Texas World Speedway (College Station, Texas). Petty drove the entry to a 21st-place finish.


Credit: Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Talladega II Post-race Quotes

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
Finished 2nd
"The team did a good job with our Budweiser Dodge. We had a good handling car, but lost the draft a couple of times. We needed to be in the middle of the draft. (Brian) Vickers was pushing me really hard there before the caution. I was just in the right place at the right time.

"It unfolded well for us at the end. If we got back in the pack, we'd lose the draft. We needed to have cars around us and tried to keep cars behind us mainly. If we were able to do that, we could race pretty decent. The car handled good which I think everybody's car handled good here. We just kind of shot up through there, had great track position on that restart and ran second. It was good for our Budweiser team."

WHY DO YOU THINK IT GOT REALLY CRAZY THERE AT THE END? "When all these cars are bunched up, just one little move by one car and the other guy moves the other way to block or just to go in another gap and that closes, the others wreck. That's just this type of racing and I think everybody understands that. It's happened at Daytona plenty of times. It's happened here. Or you just get up on the wall and kind of go until about 10 cars decide that it's enough of that and we want to build up a line and come back. I wait for somebody to do it because I'm not the guy that's going to jump out or I'll be the guy running 43 after that."

WHAT ABOUT THE BUMP DRAFTING IN THE CORNERS? "They (NASCAR) put a stop to it in the corners and that was it. You couldn't get all that speed built up that some of the guys were doing in practice. It seemed to work out just fine like that. I felt fine with it really. Down the straightaways you could still get behind a car and push really hard and build that speed up, that MPH and get off in the corners. I don't think there's anything wrong with pushing in the corners, but I think they (NASCAR) went there because the speeds went up so much. Myself and (Denny) Hamlin hooked up on Friday and went about six-tenths faster than the people drafting, or five-tenths. They just didn't want to see that. You could still do it on the straightaway which was fine I think."

***

KENNY FRANCIS (Crew Chief, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
"The Budweiser Dodge was pretty good all day. It was an up and down day, but that's always the case here. The guys did a great job all day and unlike most Talladega races, fuel mileage played a factor there at the end."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Stanley Tools Dodge Charger)
Finished 9th
“Man, it feels great (top-10 finish). I’m really proud of the car - it was fast and we were able to lead a couple laps, run up front and learn a lot of things that should help us for Daytona next year. I have to thank Max Jones and everybody at Yates Racing for giving me an opportunity to do this. We had a lot of fun today working with some of our future teammates. I’m proud of Jamie (McMurray), he’s a good friend of mine. Kasey (Kahne) also got a second place finish, so all around it was a good day for the Stanley car.”

***

REED SORENSON (No. 43 Liberty Medical Dodge Charger)
Finished 16th
"We just stayed patient throughout the day, then there at the end we lost the draft. When you do that, you lose about two seconds a lap. The yellow never came out so we couldn't get back up there and race. I don't care who you are, if you don't have someone pushing you--you can't go. I'm just glad we missed all that mess at the end."

***

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Hunt Brothers Pizza Dodge Charger)
Finished 33rd
"That was a tough day for us. We got down two laps and could never get back on the lead lap. I thought we were going to get the free pass, but the race went green. It was a strange race, but for us, it was about getting a break when we needed one and it never came. We were pretty fortunate to miss the two wrecks at the end."


Credit: Dodge Motorsports

Talladega II Results

1-Jamie McMurray
2-Kasey Kahne
3-Joey Logano
4-Greg Biffle
5-Jeff Burton
6-Jimmie Johnson
7-Michael Waltrip
8-Brad Keselowski
9-Elliott Sadler
10-Bobby Labonte
11-Dale Earnhardt Jr.
12-Clint Bowyer
13-Brian Vickers
14-Carl Edwards
15-Kyle Busch
16-Reed Sorenson
17-David Ragan
18-Robert Richardson Jr.
19-Juan Montoya
20-Jeff Gordon
21-Kevin Harvick
22-David Stremme
23-John Andretti
24-Matt Kenseth
25-Casey Mears
26-David Reutimann
27-Scott Speed
28-Mark Martin
29-Max Papis
30-Kurt Busch
31-Martin Truex Jr.
32-Robby Gordon
33-AJ Allmendinger
34-Marcos Ambrose
35-Tony Stewart
36-Ryan Newman
37-Erik Darnell
38-Denny Hamlin
39-Regan Smith
40-Sam Hornish Jr.
41-Dave Blaney
42-Paul Menard
43-Joe Nemechek