MATT CRAFTON
, NO. 88 MENARDS/MCGUIRE-NICHOLAS SILVERADO, FINISHED 2ND:
IN THE CLOSING LAPS, DID YOU THINK YOU COULD CATCH HIM (KYLE BUSCH)?
"I thought I could catch him or at least get fairly close to him
but I was saving fuel for so long throughout that run, I had been told we
were going to be really, really close. So, I mean, with 30 to go, I
started part throttling it like Ron (Hornaday) was saying. At the flag
stand, we were rolling out right there and run three-quarter throttle
down the straightaway and you roll in the corner and run half throttle
through the corner and just kind of stabilize in there with Kyle (Busch).
Then with like 12 to go, they said see what you can do and chase him
down. We made up ground on him without a doubt, I just wish we had a
little more fuel and just ran hard the whole run."
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAD BASICALLY HAD NOTHING TO LOSE AT THIS POINT
TRYING TO CHASE DOWN RON FOR THIS CHAMPIONSHIP?
"Yes, the
championship is one thing. Definitely it would be great to win the
championship. I know we have a lot of points deficit to make up there.
All we are looking for right now is wins. That is all we want to do it go
out there and would have loved to have won the last three. We came up a
little short tonight. I love going to Phoenix. It is probably one of my
favorite race tracks we go to. I am from the West Coast. Raced a lot
there. We'll have a really good truck there. Hopefully we will
knock us down a win there."
DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAD THE BEST TRUCK OUT THERE?
"I honestly
felt like I had the best truck tonight. In clean air, tire for tire,
think if that was my truck in front there at the end, I think I could
have driven away from Kyle. Really, truthfully, I know I would have
driven away from Kyle. I feel that deep down inside that I had the best
truck tonight. On the first run it showed how good our truck was. From
the time we rolled that thing off the trailer, first lap on the race
track, that truck has just been awesome. Credit to the guys not giving
up. That truck finished second at Las Vegas to our teammate (Johnny
Sauter). They went back to the shop and cut it up and saw some stuff
where the No. 13 was better than ours bodywise so we cut our truck up. We
finished second at Vegas and brought it here and they improved on it and
made it that much better."
THE LAST FIVE RACES KYLE HAS ENTERED HE HAS WON...
"I am just
going to get a key to his motorhome and lock him in it and duct tape the
whole thing...I mean something. That is exactly what I told him, I
was going to have to lock him up in his motorhome, that is all there is
to it. Just take him out of the equation."
IS IT MORE FRUSTRATING TO FINISH SECOND TO A CUP GUY?
"No. It is
just very frustrating to finish second to anybody. Finished second here
in June and I said it then, we had probably one of the best trucks here
that night and led laps and there at the end of that deal, we came down
pit road and we had to put fuel and tires on. With the pit road rule the
trucks had to do. We had to put tires on and we had to put fuel in.
"The Toyotas just had to come in and just take tires and not get
fuel and we came out seventh because we had to do both of them. We drove
back through everybody and ended up finishing second there. We were
running the leader down just like we were tonight, same deal. Came up a
little bit short then. We are there. Everything just has to line up and
you have to have a good night."
DO YOU GUYS FEEL LIKE YOU ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE WITH THE CHEVROLETS AND
THE FUEL MILEAGE?
"He (Ron Hornaday, Jr.) said it best. We pick
our manufacturer and I am not complaining because we have plenty of
horsepower and I don't think we would be better. They have always
had good fuel mileage and you can't shame them for that. That is
just one of those deals."
TALK ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS WITH TWO TO GO AND TRYING TO ERASE THAT POINT
DEFICIT
"I mean, honestly, I haven't even looked at the
points. All I wanted was to be where Kyle Busch was. And if we broke
even at the points at that point..........I mean I wanted to
win tonight. That was the main thing we came here for and the next two
after this is to win races. Then the points will shake out after that
and see what it is from there.
"But we just dug ourselves in a hole. We hit a piece of debris on
the back straightaway on that first yellow and the guy wrecked on the
back straight. The pace car actually ran right over the bumper and I was
following the pace car and it kicked the bumper up and I ran the bumper
over and it cut my left rear down on that very first yellow and I knew I
hit it hard so we came in on that first yellow and thankfully we did when
we did because we had actually had chords hanging out of it where we ran
that bumper over. "
-credit: gm racing
