Fuente: © ppc Racing
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NASCAR: PPC RACING: Kansas - Post-race Quotes

TERRY COOK-10-Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l F-150 (Finished 1st)

/noticias.info/ "Wow, what a day. We rolled off the trailer fast and we've been doing that the past four or five weeks, so we just haven't been able to have any luck during a race. Several times this year we've had trucks that could win, just something happens. We qualified fifth and drove up to second, and no sooner do I get to second and I feel a right-front tire going down. We cut a right-front tire down. We have bead blowers. We run a hose that blows cool air on the sidewall of the tire to keep the tires cool, and unfortunately they're wrapped with wire inside and I think a piece of wire got in the tire and cut it down. We pitted under green and lost a lap and then got it back through the Lucky Dog and restarted 32nd and drove all the way up to, I think at that point, 10th or 11th. Then the cycling of pit stops, I had a great pit crew and had great pit stops and cycling and a great strategy by Dennis Connor there at the end. I think a lot of teams thought they needed to take tires later and we saw early on in the race that tires weren't that big of an issue. Our truck was so good, we packed it with fuel to go to the end and just set sail. Once we got the lead and got clean air on the clean, it was just unstoppable."


GIVEN YOU HAD THREE TOP-10 FINISHES HERE, DID YOU FEEL YOU HAD TO GET A TOP-THREE FINISH OR WIN THIS WEEKEND?


"Honestly, yeah, just because our program has gotten so strong over the last, what we feel, four or five weeks, maybe even six weeks. The summer stretch has always been my strong point, and we're in race seven of a nine-race stretch across the summer here. We've always run good at the mile-and-a-halfs, and our program has excelled another fold and my crew chief Dennis Connor told me for the first time in a long time that not only is he ready to win again. In other words, he's built a team up to that level because he just joined us during the off-season. But, for the first time all year long, he felt that our team was finally ready to win, and the very first weekend he said that, we put it in Victory Lane. The guy's got three Craftsman Truck Series championships under his belt. I can't tell you how many wins and poles, and he's just a plethora of knowledge. He guided this team to victory today."


"A little, but happening on whatever lap it happened -18, 19 or 20 - it was very early in a race of 167-lap race. I knew if we kept our head straight and kept cool we could overcome this. I thought we were two laps down. The crew chief told me we were only one down, which was fortunate for us. The truck was so good that I think we could have drove past the leader and got one of those back and then got the Lucky Dog to get the second one back. Fortunately at that point, we were only one lap down and we elected to take right-side tires only when we popped the right-front tire. That's misfortune, but, man, I just can't tell you how good that truck was. I've got a great spotter, a new spotter this year with Tony Hirschman. He guided me through the field, back in the 30s. The thing here about Kansas, a hot day like this and the track gets so slick, so you're really sliding around out there. You really have to use your head and you've got a lot of rookie drivers out there. I'm the rookie driver coach, so I know what I'm dealing with each and every week, and I know who I can race hard and who I can't, and fortunately today everybody drove a safe, clean race."

YOU LAST VISITED VICTORY LANE 94 RACES AGO.

"Man, this is huge. The competition level has gotten so tough in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and we've been so good on the mile-and-a-half tracks, and to finally put it all together is huge. ppc/Power Stroke Diesel Engines has built some great trucks, and we've skated on the verge and we just can't seem to get over the hump and today we did."

TALK ABOUT THE 151 CAUTION.

"I was trying to get my knees to stop knocking. It's been so long. That's the beauty of the Craftsman Truck Series. They are such great competitors around here and everybody will race you clean. We saw what momentum did for Johnny Benson and we're hoping to get some here today."


WITH THE STREAK OF NOT WINNING GROWING NEAR 100 RACES, DID YOU EVER DOUBT YOURSELF?


"When you're heading into the grave for that long, you start doubting yourself and you start reaching. I knew that during the off-season with the hiring of Dennis Connor (crew chief) that we were building a championship-caliber team. Todd Bodine and his team have had a great season to date, but I guess the 10 truck is just starting to build a little momentum."

TALK ABOUT THE DECISION TO GET TIRES BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE.

"That was all Dennis Connor and I saw on that last run, the guys that had sticker tires and the guys in front of me that were on old tires, I was having a hard time getting around them, so I felt at that point that Dennis had made the right call, and he certainly did."
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