Willie Allen Top Raybestos Rookie in Mountain Dew 250

Where the Raybestos Rookies finished at Talladega:

Allen 6th
Clanton 19th
Sauter 21st
White 35th

Willie Allen No. 13 Thorsport Chevrolet Notes:

• Allen finished sixth in today's race, his best finish of the 2007 season and his first top-10. Allen took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the third time this season.
• Allen's finish equals his best effort in 23 Craftsman Truck Series starts. He also placed sixth at Martinsville on October 22, 2005.
• This is the best finish by a Raybestos Rookie in two Craftsman Truck Series races at Talladega.

Allen: "Man, I can't say enough about how hard these guys have worked and Duke and Ronda Thorson giving us what we needed. We've had so many mechanical problems. I feel like I talk to you every week about that but they got that fixed this week. Our engines were so stout. Man, what a race. It was so much fun. We stayed out there and lasted the whole race and learned. The guys have been working so hard to try to win the Raybestos Rookie of the year deal and move up in points and overcome and try to get ready for next year. I just can't say enough. I want to thank Nashville Music City, Pork and Chevy."

You had a close call with matt crafton late in the race on the frontstretch. "I didn't know what happened. I think the 1 got into him and ran him down into me. I thought I was going to go head on into the wall for a split second but it gathered itself up, thank God. I want to thank God first for a safe race. It was a blast out there. I had so much fun."

You have run well this season but not finished well. "We did an interview earlier this weekend and I was asked about the high points and low points. We've had so many high points you can't see it on paper but we've ran good. We've qualified in the top-10 most every week and just didn't have anything to show for it but we do now."

How important is it to a small team like this to have a good finish? "It's big. We've got a full group of guys that want to work really hard. We're in Ohio and we've got a full crew working hard. They've got as much heart as any team out here."

Jason White, No. 7 Gunbroker.com Dodge: "I tell ya, we were just riding along there and had a pretty good run going, just trying to stay out of trouble. It looked like Bliss just blew a right front and just went right into us. I had nowhere to go. I'm glad to see gunbroker.com on the truck this weekend and we'll go get 'em at Martinsville. The truck was good. We were just riding, biding our time, don't get into traffic, don't get the wreck, and darned if he didn't blow right in front of us. I had nowhere to go. It's terrible, man. All the luck that we have is bad luck. We wouldn't run this truck until Daytona anyway but it's basically junk. Every time we've got a good truck and we can run good something happens. It's just crazy but that's just racing, I guess. We just have to keep going."