TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes Gatorade Duel 150s Race #2 — February 17, 2011
MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 15 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 3rd How much fun did you have running in today’s Duel race? “It was real fun to race up near the front mixing it up with Clint (Bowyer) and Kyle (Busch). I’ve got to explain to Clint that I’m a little old. I couldn’t quite see whether I was clear of him or not yet. So, I got in him a little bit, but he seemed to keep going in a good direction and it worked out for all of us up in the front. I drug the brake a little bit for a lap or two. I could’ve got up beside Clint and those boys, but I didn’t know what to do. I thought maybe on the last lap that I would make that run and then they just squirted away a little bit too much.”
How excited are you to be racing in your 25th Daytona 500 on Sunday? “A quarter of a century of running this race — I don’t take that lightly. I never took for granted running one of them let alone 25 of them. It’s quite an honor to not only be in it, but it looks like we can be a part of the show. The car was really fast and it handled great. The end went really well. I feel good about our car — I really do. And we’ve got more power coming — that’s a great feeling too.”
What do you think about the racing on the new surface? “I raced here when you ran 207 (mph) and you had to run in a line and you couldn’t get near anyone. Then I raced here when you ran 180 (mph) and you’re on top of each other. Now, we have a variation of the two. We’re in line, but we’re all over one another and it’s crazy. From the drivers seat I don’t know if it’s ever been any wilder. It’s just different, but we sure do make it entertaining with the run to the checkered. I’ll tell you that.”
What do you expect for Sunday’s Daytona 500? “We know what it’s going to look like now. Everybody has been hung up on this I don’t know, I don’t know stuff. And, we know now what it’s going to look like. It’s going to look like cars pairing up and fighting toward the front. Just like the move Kyle (Busch) made at the end to give me the spots so he could push — that was smart. You need partners and you need teammates. I have three teammates so maybe that means we’ll be two pair.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 4th What were you able to take away from today’s Duel? “You try to find partners and work with people. When it comes down to crunch time, sometimes your cars don’t work together anymore. (Jamie) McMurray and I — we had a great, strong run there the whole beginning part of the race for about 15 laps or so. Then we just couldn’t get it there at the end. Denny (Hamlin) and I — we had a hard time hooking up today unfortunately. When we’re in practice it’s fine, it’s easy, it’s simple. There when you have everybody mixing it up and getting around each other, the side draft just screws the air up so bad that it’s hard to get locked up again. I don’t know what I learned. You just have to get in the right position and it’s a lot of technique and getting things to where you’re not looking so far ahead in your windshield, you’re more looking in your mirror. When you can back up to that guy and get locked up and take the time to do that and then go you’re a lot better off than thinking, ‘I’m locked up — let’s go.’ Then you fall apart. It just doesn’t happen.”
How difficult it is to remain patient in this type of racing? “Very difficult. The biggest patience though is when you’re trying to get locked up with somebody. You’re watching out your windshield and you’re watching those guys just drive away or people blow by you and you’re like, ‘Man, I want to go, I want to go, I want to go.’ You have to take the time and be patient to get locked up with that guy behind you and then go forward. It happened to me and Jamie McMurray a couple times. Then Denny (Hamlin) and I had a hard time getting hooked up there at the end of the race. Fortunately, there Michael (Waltrip) and I, we got hooked up and just stayed glued to each other and knew that was going to be our only shot to finish up front. Great team effort by all the guys on this Joe Gibbs Racing M&M’s Toyota. Just good to come back here, have a strong run today and get a good fourth-place finish. We’ll start the Daytona 500 and see what chaos can happen on Sunday.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) How can you apply what you learned today to the Daytona 500? “It’s everything in a nutshell. It’s so hard to determine what all you learn or what all you see. There’s so many different things going on that it just makes it crazy. Overall, I felt really good about our day and our performance. Our car was really good and we worked a lot with a lot of good cars too. There at the end of the race when things got more mixed up, discombobulated or whatever you want to say, it seemed to screw up people getting locked up together. We couldn’t get together as easy as you could in the beginning part of the race when there was less cars around you. The turbulence was definitely a big deal, but felt really good. Overall, a good day today to get back to kind of how I would like to see Speedweeks go rather than what happened in the Budweiser Shootout. We’ll see what happens on Sunday.”
Was there a combination of styles of racing today? “I got behind there at one point and I was like, ‘We are going to have a hard time catching back up.’ Then Denny (Hamlin) and I, we kept chipping away and chipping away and finally got back towards it a little bit. Then we got separated again with whoever we passed and we kind of swapped partners there and then the caution came out. It’s just weird, it’s wild. Your spotters are probably doing way more work than you are so it’s going to be a real big spotter’s game on Sunday. Those guys are going to be tired.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 8th How are you dealing with your results of Speedweeks? “I have to have a sense of humor I’ve learned this weekend. What’s so crazy is the fact that we were spun out and three laps later we go from dead last to second or something like that. This has been an amazing ride and hopefully our weekend is steadily improving. We finally did finish. No black flags or anything like that and we ended up eighth. Starting in the back — it was just amazing to see how this thing works. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens from this day forward.”
What do you feel you need to work on for the Daytona 500? “I feel like we need to work on cooling. We have to get that a little bit better. This kind of racing that we’re going to have — it’s just going to be interesting to see if this is the type of racing we will have throughout the 500. With more cars out there, the pack is going to run a faster speed. That two-car draft is just so dominant right now that it’s kind of taken over Speedweeks.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 9th How important was it for you to pair up with a partner in today’s race? “That’s the only thing that matters is having a partner. A dance partner — we’ve been talking about all week. If you don’t have somebody you’re really just done. You can’t run. We had a good thing working with the 11 (Denny Hamlin) for the first part of the race and then we got separated and he got with the 18 (Kyle Busch) and I was left out by myself until that caution. Then after the caution I was able to get up through there on a restart and kind of back myself up in front of David (Reutimann). I kind of found David, got in front of him and just backed up to him. Just backed into him and then he started shoving and we stayed together the rest of the day. It’s just your friends are where you find them, I guess.”
How important will it be to have another partner in the Daytona 500 with your team owner Michael Waltrip? “It will be better to race because we’ll have four cars. We were an odd number there, which is difficult because at some point one of the guys is going to get left out, trying to find another partner. That’s where the hard part is. When Denny (Hamlin) and I got separated the first time he went and found Kyle (Busch) and Joey (Logano) was out of the race so they had two team cars. They got together and I was like, ‘Okay, Michael (Waltrip) and David (Reutimann) are working together,’ And, I’m like, ‘I’m screwed. Who is going to work with me?’ I was able to snake my way up through there on one of those restarts. Then I got in front of David and then he did an awesome job the rest of the way sticking on me. We made a couple runs to the front to the lead, we just didn’t have it timed right. We just got here a little bit too early and at the end they came back and caught us again.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing (continued) Were there any differences with the changes that NASCAR made? “You can’t push the guys long, but it’s not a whole lot different. I still think we’ll see some changes coming — that’s just my opinion. Maybe, maybe not. I’ll tell you one thing, when you get all 43 of them out there it’s going to be nuts because it was nuts with 15 or something racing there at the end. The guy behind you is pushing and he don’t know when he should lift, when he shouldn’t lift. The problem is if he lifts then he gets off you everybody blows by you. He doesn’t want to lift and that puts you in a bad position because you are getting pushed and you’ve got to find a hole to get through once you get there. It’s crazy.”
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 11th Did you notice any changes to the car with the new rule changes? “Other than they get hotter quicker. They feel more sluggish coming up to speed on the start. You are still running pretty quick and it’s hard to tell the difference from 205 (mph) to 189 (mph) — it’s just hard to tell the difference. The motors just get hotter quicker because of the grill opening being so small now.”
How happy were you to know that Michael Waltrip made it into the Daytona 500? “We were thrilled with that before the race even started. It was a big relief for everyone in the organization to be able to get Michael (Waltrip) in and to know he’s going to be in the 500 on Sunday. That is a big deal for everyone involved. Thankfully, we didn’t have to try to put that into effect during the race.”
DERRIKE COPE, No. 64 Sta-Bil Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 14th
TODD BODINE, No. 60 Tire Kingdom/Valvoline Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 21st What happened to take you out of the race? “Steven (Wallace) hooked me. It’s just the nature of the beast of this stupid racing. This is totally ridiculous. This isn’t racing. Take the front bumpers out of it so nobody can hit each other and you’ll have good racing. I feel sorry for the fans. One pack catches the next, you pass them and you have to switch — you go back. It looks pretty cool, but it’s ridiculous. This ain’t racing.”
STEVE WALLACE, No. 77 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 22nd
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 23rd What happened to take you out of the race? “It was really no ones fault there. I just had a run on Kyle (Busch) there and really nowhere to go. The cars underneath just broke up and they were trying to reattach, but they had no speed. I just checked up a little bit. It wasn’t Michael’s (Waltrip) fault, we just got shoved around. It’s just a product of the racing we’re having right now. Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield. Today I was the bug so that’s not good. Wrong place, wrong time.”
CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Gatorade Duel 2 Finish: 24th
