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RICKY CRAVEN --32-- Tide Taurus -- "Obviously it's nice to be home, particularly under these circumstances having won a month ago and the opportunity to have the holiday with the family, which, ironically, was only 10 miles away. As difficult as it was for everyone to do that, it wasn't really that difficult for me because I was gonna be here anyway." HOW DID WINNING CHANGE THINGS FOR YOU? "I try hard for it not to change anything personally, but professionally it has because I've joined that exclusive group that makes up Winston Cup winners and that's a group you'd rather be with than without. You think about the effort that goes into that. Everytime somebody wins their first race, you see the same expression and excitement. I've thought about Martinsville a lot and I didn't wake up that morning knowing I was gonna win. In fact, I went home to Charlotte that night because it rained on Sunday. I just wanted to spend the night with the kids and my wife insisted that they were in school the next morning. That's the Craven household. It's just an average American family with the responsibilities you've got. So, normally, I would take my kids to school but I couldn't do it because I had to be in Martinsville by 11 a.m. I rode to Martinsville thinking about everything except racing. I was all by myself and just rode up, and I think that's probably the difference between this year and four or five years ago when every minute, hour, and day I was thinking about racing. I had this urgency surrounding me as it related to success or winning or accomplishment. It's so clear and obvious that you can't win without a strong program and I've hooked up with a fabulous group of people led by Cal Wells, who are very intent on succeeded, who work hard and who have a passion for what they do. As a result, I believe I'm racing for the best team in Winston Cup -- certainly the best sponsor. But to answer the second part of your question, it wouldn't be a stretch for any of you to think about where my mind was in the last few years. I've said several times that I'm floating along Moosehead in the middle of the summer while they're racing Darlington or while they're racing on the west coast or wherever, and I was as far away from a television or radio as I could get. At that point, I thought a lot about how much longer I would race -- not because of anything relating to health, which I think is the most common perception people have, but opportunity. When you reflect on it you say, 'Well, you know those two or three years that I didn't race a lot provided me with a great opportunity to become healthy.' I felt like I was healthy when I got back in the car in '98, but just to not bounce off the wall and not get injured again, and, most of all, gain perspective on where I was and appreciate the things I have. When I got the opportunity this year, I honestly felt like this was gonna be the greatest Winston Cup ride that I had had and it is. Last week was a great illustration. We had a car that could have dominated the race had we not had the mechanical problem. Thirty-five races ago this thing was brand new and it's just amazing at how we've corrected some of our weaknesses and built on our strengths. Here at the end of the 2001 season, our first season together, this team is a contender every week, I feel. It's not perfect and we still have a lot of work to do, but this is the best I've felt about my racing in 20 years." WILL YOU HAVE A HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE TODAY? "I think I'll have a homecourt advantage up until introduction. Then when I strap into the Tide Ford I'm gonna have to take on 42 of the best racers in the world. I'll try to retain that psychological advantage from introduction, but it really is very dependent on how well the Tide Ford runs. There was a tremendous premium on practice this morning. It was 45 minutes and that process of practice usually begins with this routine of troubleshooting that absorbs 30 minutes of that. So you're left with 15 minutes and how well you practice today is gonna reflect how well you run." 


RICKY CRAVEN CONTINUED -- DO YOU THINK THE GUYS HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT WHY WE'RE HERE TODAY? "That's absolutely what we should be thinking about. I also think you give consideration to the sun coming up at 6:45 or whatever it was this morning. I stayed here last night and they had the blowers going at 4:00, which didn't make a lot of sense, but I woke up to the roar of the blowers going early in the morning and I just couldn't believe I saw fans in the grandstands. When I came out of my motorhome with a cup of coffee they were already in the grandstands. That's why we're here. If we could we obviously would erase September 11th and prevent it from ever happening, but it did happen and from NASCAR's perspective this was the only alternative. Really, when you think about it, it was very fair. In some people's minds it wasn't realistic, but it was very fair because the fans had bought the tickets and the speedway had spent a lot of money preparing for the race that day. We owe it to the fans to put this show on and if there was any question as to the legitimacy of having the event the day following Thanksgiving, it'll be solved or answered when we fire up. The place will be full. I really believe that and you can see they're here already, so that's why we're doing it. There's no question that the United States represents the most freedom of any country in the world. We have a lot of privilege and we have to fight to keep that. There are just a lot of things that are in jeopardy by what happened on September 11th, so that's the cause. We don't want to give up any of that and that's why this is such a wonderful place to live because we have the freedom to do anything we like, including flying our own aircraft and wearing whatever clothes we want and attending whatever school or restaurant or whatever. That's part of what we're fighting for, but I absolutely admire and commend anyone in action in the military -- the Air Force, the Marines. My grandfather was a World War II veteran. My grandmother and grandfather are the two people I miss the most in my life right now, but I think back about wishing I had spent more time talking to him about World War II and appreciating what he and thousands of others did for us." WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SEE THINGS LIKE A 32 BANNER HANGING IN THE GRANDSTAND? "That's an endorsement. That's awesome. That means there are a few less Dupont shirts and a few more Tide hats and t-shirts. Essentially, that's what we do. We try to put on a great product that the fans get excited about and enjoy, which we had a few years ago. In 1995 I was Winston Cup rookie of the year and there were a lot of hats and t-shirts then and a lot of Budweiser hats and t-shirts in '97. The hats and t-shirts have diminished across the country, except here in New England and that's what I'm most proud of. I'm extremely proud of being a New England boy and anyone from New England understands what that represents. They're a model of strength or toughness. This is a tough environment to live in for three, four or five months a year and I really appreciate New England people. I appreciate people around the world, but New England people are special to me and coming home and seeing the Tide hats and t-shirts is a big boost. When we get back here in July of next year, I truly believe there will be more orange hats and shirts." ON THANKSGIVING HERE. "I'm guessing that Bob and Gary Bahre served Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Nobody told me that. That wasn't a statement or a question, but I do want to recognize that they're a fine, fine family. Everytime I come here I enjoy the time I spend with Bob and Gary. That's another example of New England and the hospitality. Whether it's a lobster dinner or a turkey dinner, they really deserve a lot of credit. They certainly have made the best of this situation themselves and I think they deserve some credit."

RICKY CRAVEN --32-- Tide Taurus (Finished 38th) -- "We fought tires all day and ultimately lost a right-front. We flirted with that all day and it finally just let go. The right-front was a challenge all day. You know the saying, 'expect it when you least expect it,' it blew out there right when we least expected it." IS IT A CASE WHERE THERE WASN'T ENOUGH PRACTICE TIME TO SEE THAT PROBLEM DEVELOP THIS MORNING? "That's part of it, but it's such a good team. I'm so proud of the way they've performed all year. Their ability and it's just a case where we missed it today, although the car was fast. I feel like we could have been a top-five car because I could run with the 24 and the 18, but I tell you something, as unusual as it is, it was just like flicking a switch and the right-front would just go. There at the end I told Mike (Beam) about five laps before, I said, 'Mike, the right-front is just gone,' and then it came apart. It always has to come apart going into the corner." WHAT ABOUT THE LAST YEAR FOR YOU. "Cal (Wells) gets upset when I tell the world he gave me a chance, but that's the truth. He gave me a chance for redemption and to get back here and race among the leaders. When we had dinner last December I said, 'You let me drive the Tide Ford and we'll win a race.' I didn't have to lobby or negotiate. He believed in me from day one and it's been a good year. We left a lot on the table, but we won't next year."

MATT KENSETH --17-- DEWALT Power Tools Taurus (Finished 4th) -- "That's good. Ever since Talladega we've run really well. I feel like we've had top-five cars even though we haven't finished there every week, so it's a good way to end the year. We've had a little bit of momentum and it seems like we've been turning the corner and running a little bit better the last month and a half, so that's a good feeling." WHAT ABOUT YOUR TIRES TODAY, ANY TROUBLE? "They were okay. I think everybody had trouble. When I had the car too loose one run I killed the right-rear, other than that it just started blistering them evenly so it was okay." DID YOU SEE ANYTHING AS FAR AS ROBBY AND JEFF WENT FROM YOUR VIEW? "No, I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything but smoke."

MARK MARTIN --6-- Pfizer Taurus (Finished 9th) -- "We had a pretty good race car. We over-adjusted it a little bit in practice to kind of used the hard tire mentality. If I would have stuck with my old-timing mentality that hasn't worked all year, we would have been even better off. We were a really strong car, we just got one set of tires that came apart. All the rest of them, we were pretty good on the long runs. It would have been fine to wait that deal out, but we had to pit because we just tore 'em all to pieces." DID YOU HAVE RIGHT-FRONT TIRE PROBLEMS ALL DAY? "Just barely, it wasn't anything that slowed us down. We had a little trouble, but nothing that slowed us down. It seemed everytime somebody blew a tire and wrecked we were still running really good, but if we would have stayed out I'm afraid we would have been the one in the wall. But we had a reasonable car. It could have been faster. I know what we could have done to make the car a little better, but we did the best we could."

ELLIOTT SADLER --21-- Motorcraft Taurus (Finished 19th) -- "We just got a vibration. I guess maybe the tires weren't hard enough. We had to pit (before the yellow for Craven's accident). We did have a choice. I didn't want to take a chance of blowing a tire. I didn't want to take a chance on blowing a tire and lose that top-20 in driver points. It's just frustrating. I had a really good car in the beginning and the middle of the race, but the more we adjusted on it the worse it got. I've just got to work on my communication with Pat (Tryson). It seems like the more we work on stuff the worse it gets. We'll just have to work on that for next year."

BRETT BODINE --11-- Ralphs Supermarkets/RedCell Batteries Taurus (Finished 8th) -- "That's a real good way to end the season. That was a total team effort. The race car was great, the pit stops were really good and the strategy was good. We're real happy with that and, hopefully, this will get our sponsors that are hedging right now and put them in a position to get behind this race team. We just need a little support and we're gonna do just fine. Hopefully, this will do it for them." ANY TIRE TROUBLE? "We had a few blisters, but nothing serious. I'm used to blistered tires. In modified racing that's what you do, you blister tires all the time. Hopefully our right-front tire carrier, Matt Groeshl is okay. He got hit by John Andretti on a pit stop, so we're gonna get him to the hospital and see if we can patch him up."

ROBERT PRESSLEY --77-- Jasper Engines Taurus (Finished 7th) -- "We were in the top five all day because we pitted short. We could have been a hero if it would have played in our hands, but we ended up seventh. We were about a fifth to seventh place car. We just got off on one set of tires and that got us behind, but we're happy. This is a good way to end our deal with this team. We started in Loudon four and a half years ago and had a good run with this Jasper team. Now we'll go on and see what we can do from here." DO YOU HAVE ANYTING LINED UP FOR NEXT YEAR? "I'm hoping Andy Petree can get something. If he gets something, we'll be in that 33 car and come back strong next year." WAS THAT FIRST PIT STOP THE KEY FOR YOU? "We were moving up through the pack pretty good, but we didn't want any cautions. If it would have gone green all the way, I think we would have had a car that could have won or been in the top two or three."

JEFF BURTON --99-- Citgo SUPERGARD Taurus (Finished 17th) -- "What a day. I really thought we had a chance for a top 10. We practiced well in the morning and once the race got started we were pretty loose, so we started working on the car. We wanted to tighten it up, but at the same time watch that we didn't blister the tires. Once we got a handle on the tire issue, we started to tighten the car up. We chose to pull a spring rubber out on our fifth stop and, unfortunately, it made the car really push. From there we were forced to pit under green to fix it and a few laps later the caution came out and put us a lap down. We tried hard to race back to the line to get our lap back, but Robby Gordon got in front of us. After that we did all we could to maintain track position. It was a tough day but we finished 10th in points and that's awesome for us considering how much bad luck we had early in our season. Our guys never gave up. We'll build upon everything that has happened to us and head into 2002 stronger than ever."

DALE JARRETT --88-- UPS Taurus (Finished 10th) -- "We were okay early in the race even though it was still too tight. It got worse as the day went on and we never could free it up like we needed too. We adjusted on it and got it to where it was too loose getting out of the corner. We lost track position and never really got a chance to make it up. It was a good day for us to get a top 10 from where we were in the running order, and on the tail end of the lead lap."
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