“I was trying hard. I tried to get a run from the 4 there. I backed up to him and got a push, and I had a good run, but once you get to a certain point on these guys it gets close enough and it pushes their car ahead. I tried staying out of the 88’s way and I got almost underneath him and then the 24 pulled me back, which kept me from getting underneath him and that was the end of that. It’s fun. I told my spotter at the end of the race we’ve been working hard over the off-season getting better at this stuff. That’s as close as we’ve been to winning a speedway race with this format and this big pack drafting, so we’re doing the right things. We’re getting closer. I’m getting more positive about the 500 as we keep going, so that’s good.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO START UP FRONT FOR THE 500? “It’s nice. It’s nice to get a good pit stall. I guess we’re gonna start fifth for the 500, so it’s a good starting spot. We’ll get a good box. The 500 you go back and forth a few times, but it’s safer up there and we’re just gonna have to work hard and race hard to stay up there.” WHAT WAS THE RACING LIKE TONIGHT? “Calmer than the Shootout the other night, which is to be expected. We want to race these cars in the 500, so we want to somewhat take care of them, but we were having some fun out there at the same time. We learned a lot. The racing wasn’t as crazy as it was the other night, but it was still some good racing.”