NO. 6 MICHAEL SHANK RACING FORD RILEY (FINISHED SEVENTH, QUALIFIED THIRD)
AJ ALLMENDINGER – NO. 6 MICHAEL SHANK RACING FORD RILEY
ANY INDICATION THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?
“Yes, about two or three laps before, I could feel it going sour and just losing RPMs, and Kenny [Wilden, spotter] kept saying there was steam and smoke coming out of the back. It was one of those things where you pray that it’s going to last another hour and 20 minutes, because I could still run in the 44s and 45s even with it down on power. I thought for as big of a gap that we’ve got on third we might be able to hold it, but usually when they start smoking it’s not a good thing. Just disappointed for everybody at Michael Shank and Ford. We’re getting closer. We’re going to win one of these things, I’ll tell you that. Once again great car, great motor, just bad luck.”
HOW DID YOU FEEL IT HANDLED BEFORE THAT?
“The car, we needed to get it better. It wasn’t as good as last year. The No. 01 and the No. 9, it seemed when they turned the wick up they could go, but I ran about as fast as them on the stands. It would have been a good race. It would have been close. I think they might have had a little on us, but I would have tried to hold them off.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS YEAR’S PERFORMANCE COMPARED TO THAT IN THE PAST?
“I felt like this was the best 24 that I’ve ever run. I had a triple stint starting around 3 a.m. and then was ready to run a lot of laps with a triple again to get it to the finish. This was no ones fault. Everyone worked really hard and we wanted to get back up on the podium for Mike Shank. It’s disappointing, but we’ll be back, no question.”
BRIAN FRISSELLE – NO. 6 MICHAEL SHANK RACING FORD RILEY
“This race was really tough. We had our adversity with one of our key members [Michael Valiante] getting sick so that made things really tough. We were all dealing with fatigue and dehydration. The team gave us a fast car but something out of our control took us out. It’s unfortunate, but we will come out of here with points and I expect to be strong at Homestead and all year long.”
MARK PATTERSON - NO. 6 MICHAEL SHANK RACING FORD RILEY
“Last year we had a very abbreviated run. It is easy to make the misinterpretation that you are going to win just because you are leading it 15-20 percent into the race. This time, we were where we were so late in the race that we were practically jumping on the back of the pick up truck to head to the podium. So this is a much bigger disappointment. That was a great outcome in 2006 but I was too inexperienced to understand really what we’d accomplished. This year we were in a very good car once again, and we pushed our drivers very hard. This field had a lot of very capable driver line-ups, and when the sun came up, we were in a great position. So it’s a very disappointing way to end.”
MICHAEL VALIANTE - NO. 6 MICHAEL SHANK RACING FORD RILEY
“I think this was one of the most treacherous 24s I’ve ever run because of the conditions. We just tried to stay out of trouble. Just like last year, we had a chance to win this year, but it just didn’t fall into place. It’s the 24 hours and that’s just what can happen. I’m looking forward to getting the championship going at Homestead.”
Credit: Ford Racing
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