PAUL MENARD - No. 98 NIBCO/Menards Ford Fusion
Finished 14th
“It was kind of a crazy day. Our NIBCO/Menards Ford Fusion wasn’t very good for the first half of the race, but then the car started to come to us. We made a very minimal amount of changes there in the second half and just tried to drive a smart race. The guys did a great job on pit road again this week, which was crucial because it’s just so hard to pass here. I’m proud of this team. They never gave up and we’re satisfied with that finish. It could always be a lot worse than that at Martinsville.”
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SLUGGER LABBE, Crew Chief - No. 98 NIBCO/Menards Ford Fusion
"We got caught up in that one wreck and had to pit. I think we ended up pitting 19 times today and to come back and finish in the top 15 shows the character of this team. Not many people expected us to be where we're at and we don't quit. We work and we work smart. We decided to get two tires there at the end for some track position and it paid off. That's just the way it is - it's Martinsville. All of the fenders and the whole body is beat in, but that's what you expect at a short track."
THIS HAS BEEN A BREAKTHROUGH YEAR SO FAR. AT WHAT POINT DO YOU START THINKING THIS COULD BE YOUR YEAR? "I hope so. I think some of the drivers aren't really happy that we're up here running this good. Obviously looking at the body, we got beat to death today. Right there towards the end, Paul made it three-wide for a lap-and-a-half and he stood up for himself. That's what I've been telling him. I've told him, 'You deserve to be here. They'll give you the respect, but you've got to go out there and get it. If you keep moving out of the way, they'll keep doing it to you.' So he stood up for himself and we had a good finish. The points will keep coming and as long as we keep running in the top 15, we'll be fine."
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KASEY KAHNE - No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion
Finished 19th
“It was just a tough day for the Budweiser Ford team. We didn’t run as well as we’d liked, but picked up a few spots there at the end.”
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ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 19 Stanley Ford Fusion
Finished 24th
“The car was really tight in the center for most of the race. We couldn’t quite get that adjusted like we needed to. Overall though. The No. 19 Stanley Ford Fusion was good.. There was definitely some short track racing going on out there today. We ran into a couple incidents on track and got spun around a couple of times ,but my guys worked super hard to keep things going. The finish wasn’t what we were hoping for in order to get our season turned around, but this Richard Petty Motorsports team will keep fighting and be ready to go again in Phoenix. ”
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AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 43 Charter Ford Fusion
Finished 38th
"When you're at Martinsville the double-file restarts aren't the most fun thing to have, especially when you're starting mid-pack all day, because you're bound to get wrecked. It was really nobody's fault because everybody is fighting for the same space, but I got hit in the back and shoved into all the cars. That just tore the nose off of it. All of the oil lines were pinched and when we tried to go back out there we blew up."
Credit - Ford Racing & Richard Petty Motorsports PR
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