Eric Darnell in the No. 99 Woolrich Ford was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race at Daytona, SCORING a fifth place finish.

In his first career Craftsman Truck Series start, Darnell scored his first top-five finish. He was the only first-year driver to finish inside the top-10. Darnell becomes the fourth Raybestos Rookie to score a top-five finish at Daytona. The others; Kurt Busch, second 2000, Kenny Martin, fifth 2000, Ricky Hendrick, second, 2001

DARNELL: "The crew did an awesome job tonight. This Woolrich Ford F-150 was awesome tonight. We had a good truck from the start. The thing started running pretty warm and we were just kind of laying back trying to get it cooled down and it started spitting water. We came in and lost a lap there in the pits but we made it back up there at the end and what a race. What an awesome run by this whole team here. This is a great way to start off the season and hopefully it's a sign of things to come. Our biggest thing was to try to learn and go out there and try to learn and get laps and it ended up being so much more than that. The truck was good when we were down here testing and it kept up here tonight. We're real happy with the results. The team was capable of running well, the truck was capable of it, and it was going to be up to me to go out there and do it. We had some great calls today by the spotter Chris Becker and John Quinn the crew chief. We stuck it out to the end."

WHAT HAD TO HAPPEN FOR YOU TO HAVE A SHOT TO WIN THE RACE? "I knew not to screw it up on that last restart there. I came down trying to get a little bit of a run and I spun the tires and lost the pack there and then yellow came out and that was all we could do. Mark helped me out, pushed me to the front, and I'm real thankful for that. The fact we could get up there and run was awesome."

DID YOU GET A COLLEGE EDUCATION IN DRAFTING TONIGHT? "Big-time. I got schooled by a lot of these guys out here tonight but the truck was good enough to where I did get some help from some of them guys and it paid off in the end."

WAS THERE A LOT OF BUMPING AND SHOVING? "A little bit, yes. Some of them guys were getting pretty wild down the backstretch there and I was just trying to hold my line and keep at it. We were three-wide a couple of times but I came out here with a good finish."

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO COME OUT OF THE BOX WITH A GOOD RUN? "That just builds our confidence big-time for this team. Like I said, I knew this team was capable of doing it. It was going to be up to me to go out there and have a good run. This is just huge for us. To know that we can come out there and run competitively is going to be a big boost for the rest of the season."

WHICH IS MORE STRESSFUL: DRAFTING AT DAYTONA OR THE GONG SHOW? "Going through the Gong Show was tough but like I said, they took me to school out here today with the draft and everything. We held up our end pretty good and got a top-five out of it."

ROBERT RICHARDSON, No. 1 WINYOURMORTGAGE.COM DODGE:
"The truck ran excellent tonight in the draft. That's what we needed it to do. I'm glad my crew chief made the right decisions doing what we did. It didn't draft real well in practice but it really sucked up and drafted really well tonight."

DID YOU HAVE ANY DRAFTING HELP? "Right there at the beginning of the race, Terry Cook and I hooked up and we just took off. We got up around the top-10 area and kind of hung out there for a while and then got hung out to dry one time. Being a Raybestos Rookie, that's what happens: all the veterans team up against you. Fortunately, we found some fellow Raybestos Rookies that wanted to hook up with me and we worked our way back up to the front. We came away with a top-20 finish and for a rookie, first time here at Daytona in the Craftsman Truck Series, I'll take it."

KERRY EARNHARDT, No. 13 THORSPORT CHEVROLET:
"The good part about it is that we finished. We don't have a scratch on the truck. I fought a tight issue all night long in traffic and wasn't able to race anybody. We'd get in traffic and just lose the nose real bad. It would shove all the way to the wall. I tried everything I could think of to pin the nose down and get the truck to handle and be able to pass somebody. I was passing the 98 truck and was one the inside of her and I about wrecked her just because I couldn't turn. I hung on, rode in line, and finished where we were."

SEAN MURPHY, No. 07 GARDEN FRESH GOURMET SALSA & CHIPS CHEVROLET:
"We had a decent finish. This year we were pretty good. We just had a couple wrong calls there toward the end but hey, it's really nobody's fault. We had a fast truck. It was too tight to start the race and we got it neutral in the middle and we decided to go that extra little bit. It was a bit too much, got it a little too loose. There were some silly people out there racing and didn't want to work with you because you're a Raybestos Rookie and got the stripe. The wreck at the green-white-checkered hurt us because we finished under caution."

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 75 SPEARS MANUFACTURING CHEVROLET:
WHAT HAPPENED? I really don't want to comment on it because I don't want to say anything that I'm not supposed to. The 59 said he blew up but he was sitting in the middle of the racetrack. Most people get off the racetrack. I'm not sure; I don't want to speculate anything. He said he blew up and he was there when I peeked out behind the truck in front of me. I'm not sure. We were just riding around. I rode around all night trying to make all the laps. It's my Raybestos Rookie year and I want to take the checkered flag every race. It didn't seem to work out that way. I drafted with the 10 real well. I had just sucked up on the 88 and I was going to work with him and we were going to go back to the front. We got down into 3 there and the 59 was 80 miles an hour slower than anybody else and he was in the middle of the racetrack."

JOEY MILLER, No. 12 CURB RECORDS TOYOTA:
"There was a wreck in front of us. One guy jumped tires, just drove over the one guy. You can't see much when you are right behind everybody. We had started to go up through the pack again. We were going to stay behind everybody and just got caught up in it. It's just unfortunate. Hopefully we'll get them next week."

WHAT HAPPENED EARLY IN THE RACE WHEN YOU SPUN? "The 99 truck just got way too close to me and just took the air off the back. They said in all the meetings 'Don't get too close' and it happened to me, I guess."

HOW MUCH DID YOU LEARN TONIGHT? "I learned a lot. It was awesome running with these guys lap after lap learning about drafting. It was the most fun that I've ever had."

KRAIG KINSER, No. 47 CENTRIX AUTO FINANCE CHEVROLET:
"I blew a tire in the accident. I don't know if Sprague got on the apron; I saw him dart down there and I don't know if someone got into the back of him in the middle of the turn or not. I got down to the apron and slid up. I about got through it and got clipped a little bit and got pushed into the wall pretty good. It hit a lot harder than what even I felt. It doesn't take much to bend the fender in."

BOSTON REID, No. 25 WOODARD & SHARP RACING DODGE:
IT LOOKED LIKE YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANYWHERE TO GO. "That's all. We're 40 laps into the race and we just don't need to be doing that. We were trying to be patient. I was running in the back of the pack for half of the race trying to avoid something like that. When two guys are spinning in front of you at 180-something you don't have any choice of where to go. That's what happens."

WHY DID YOU MAKE AN UNSCHEDULED PIT STOP? "I don't know if we have a cut tire or not, but it definitely felt like it. I'm going to go back and talk to the guys. It's a sad deal because Woodard & Sharp Racing, first race debut, the guys worked so hard and to end up like this, that's not even fair because that truck was so much better than this."