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Texas: Dave Rogers NASCAR Sprint Cup Race Quotes - Kyle Busch's Crew Chief
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 11th
DAVE ROGERS, crew chief, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How would you describe today?
"We’re disappointed. This 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry deserved to be in victory lane. I thought we had one of the best cars throughout the entire race, but it just didn’t work out that way. We were a little short on fuel. We had Kyle (Busch) back down and we thought we’d save enough fuel – we missed the numbers somewhere or we didn’t get it full or we didn’t pick up all we could pick up. I can’t explain why we ran out. We’ll take it back to the shop and have a look at it." Did you and Kyle Busch find the right direction today? "Yeah, definitely. Mike Ford (Denny Hamlin’s crew chief) and Greg Zipadelli (Joey Logano’s crew chief) helped us out a lot. They gave us a lot of pointers. We unloaded with the same set-up the 11 (Denny Hamlin) car did and worked on it from there. I think we learned a lot today. Right now it’s hard to think coherently because of the disappointment we felt, but we’re pleased."
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DAVE ROGERS, crew chief, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued)
How concerned were you with fuel at the end of the race?
"Looking at our numbers there and the lap time that he’d (Kyle Busch) fallen off from what we had previously run – I thought for sure that we were going to make it until off turn four in the final lap. I don’t know if we didn’t get the car full or the fuel cell just didn’t pick up what we thought it could, but we had several green flag runs this race so we were pretty confident we knew what we had for fuel mileage. I’m not sure what happened. We’ll take it back and we’ll look at it, learn from it. We’ll try to focus on how well we ran and not where we finished today."
What kind of conversations did you have with Kyle (Busch) during the last few laps?
"We were committed to staying out. Like I said before, we’re out of the Chase and we’re not points racing – we didn’t really have anything to lose. If we would have pitted, the 2 car (Kurt Busch) certainly would have beat us. Our only shot at winning it was to stay out. So, we gambled. Sometimes when you gamble you lose. We lost today, but we had a really fast car. I’m really proud of this M&M’s Toyota race team and pleased with our effort on the track."
What was Kyle Busch like in the closing laps?
"He’s (Kyle Busch) frustrated. He didn’t say nothing. He said we were out of fuel and after the race, he took his helmet off and went to his motor home and calmed down. I think he handled it well -- it’s tough. You lead all these laps and he could have gone for the clean sweep this weekend, win all three in a row. He deserved to win all three in a row and to get beat -- it’s tough."
Did you feel a lot of pressure on your first weekend as Kyle Busch’s crew chief?
"Welcome to the club, hah. You know, it’s part of the game. It’s what you sign up for. Someone’s got to do that job and I raised my hand and said I wanted to do it -- and here I am."
When did you start to save fuel?
"He (Kyle Busch) started saving fuel at the very beginning of the (last) run. We were looking at lap times and this was definitely our slowest run of the race. Everyone was saving fuel. When he backed up to the front bumper of the 2 (Kurt Busch) car, that’s all he could do. If he slowed down enough to let the 2 car go by then he might as well have pitted. Kyle (Busch) did everything he could do -- just come up short."
Did Kyle Busch want to take a chance and stay out or did he want to pit for fuel?
"We didn’t really talk about it. I told him (Kyle Busch) my plan was to stay out and he trusted me and it didn’t work. You’re going to have days like this. It’s discouraging for Kyle (Busch), it’s hard for myself. We have a lot of our VIPs from our sponsors here as well. There’s a lot on the line and today would have been a miracle if we could have won it. It just didn’t happen."
PaddockTalk Perspective
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