BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No.77 Kodak Easy Share Dodge) – Finished career-best sixth, top Raybestos Rookie of the Year finisher.

“Anybody that wants to say that racecar drivers aren’t athletes needs to come see me. I played four years of college basketball, and thank you John Thompson. These guys did a great job on pit road. The driver had to apologize to them because he actually got a little bit tired today. I burned myself up a little bit, but it’s part of the sport. Each week we’re getting career-best finishes. That’s the third in a row. We finished sixth, top Raybestos Rookie and there’s no place better to do it than the west coast.

“Me and Mr. Penske are going to Rochester, N.Y., on Tuesday, so that’s good timing. We’ll go up to Kodak headquarters and have a big party. We’re bringing them back to the front. I wish we could have got a top five, I’m a greedy dude, but I’ve got to thank my boys. They never gave up on me, and I drive hard for ‘em, but I got a little tired today.

“It’s hot in there. It’s a tough sport. Nobody can make fun of anybody first to 43rd today. These are professional athletes, and they prove it each week out there.

“We’re getting that good Dodge engineering. We’ve had 18 trips to the wind tunnel. I’ve got two great teammates, Rusty and Ryan. Nice job by Ryan Newman today. I had a good battle going with him today. It was fun to race my teammate for a change. Our guys are pumped up and our confidence is growing.”