Toyota NSCS Talladega Post-Race Notes & Quotes

[media-credit name=”talladegasuperspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”163″][/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes Talladega Superspeedway — May 6, 2012

Camry driver Kyle Busch (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Toyota driver Clint Bowyer (sixth) also posted a top-10 finish at the 2.66-mile Alabama superspeedway. Camry drivers led 31 laps (of 194) with Michael Waltrip (21 laps), Denny Hamlin (eight laps), Busch (one lap) and

Travis Kvapil (one lap) each taking a turn at the front of the field.

Other Toyota drivers in the field included Kvapil (16th), Waltrip (19th), Bobby Labonte (21st), Hamlin (23rd), Joey Logano (26th), Martin Truex Jr. (28th), Landon Cassill (34th), Bill Elliott (37th), David Stremme (39th) and Joe Nemechek (41st).

Following Talladega, five Camry drivers are in the top-15 in the unofficial NSCS driver point standings — Hamlin (fourth), Truex (sixth), Busch (ninth), Bowyer (10th) and Logano (15th).

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  2nd What happened on the final lap of the race? “I don’t know. We had a great M&M’s car all day.  Just a phenomenal job by this JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) bunch, they gave me a good piece and we were running up front there.  I didn’t think we got connected soon enough and they got away from us and then we did get connected to the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and I, drove by them and then it was just a race between him and I and somehow getting into turn three and just got disconnected from him.  Once that happened, the race was over, it was all his.  I’m not sure he did anything, if he did, he’s pretty smart, but I think our stuff just came unplugged.”

Were the engine temperatures what you expected today? “Pretty much what we expected from my vantage point anyways.  We left pit road, before the race even started — at 230 (degrees).  Rolling under caution you could get it to 225, but racing out there — it was hard to keep it under 240 just running in a line.  Especially on the outside with a lot of guys being real tight up there — that’s the only way to make that lane go. You get your temperatures up a little bit.  Ours were okay there, we just had to really, really work hard at making sure they didn’t go over 240.”

What did you think of the type of racing we saw today? “It’s what everybody wanted — we wanted to go back to the pack-style drafting and I think we saw that today.  You saw two lanes, three lanes wide much of the race.  It’s hard to make the outside lane go if you’re not able to push a whole lot just because you need to push to get the momentum of that lane going because it’s the longer way around.  Cooling issues — we knew it was going to be the name of the game.  Work as hard as you can as a driver to make it cool because there’s nothing else that’s going to make the thing cool.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Aaron’s/Alabama National Championship Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  7th How warm was your car on the final lap? “She (No. 15 Camry) was blowing water before I even got to the line, but that was my only shot.  Kasey (Kahne) made a couple good moves to juke and jive up there.  Never led a lap for the Alabama gang — really wanted to.  All in all it was a good points day for us.  It is fun — it’s unbelievable how the storm brews all day long until the last few laps there.  You just go like hell and hope for the best.”

How difficult was it to control your engine temperature with the small grill opening? “I wish we could find a different way to do it, but unfortunately right now we have to answer to the fans and that’s all we can do.  Hopefully, before we come back here we can fix it a different way and keep it to where we can race all day long.”

TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Finishing Position:  16th

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 Aaron’s Color Your Way Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  19th How was your race? “We took off and the guy in front of me didn’t go, I let off and I got clobbered, it’s just chain reaction.  I tell you I had a ball. I’m going to be better on Fox because those guys speak in code out there — it’s just crazy and we’re out in the middle of them and seeing how they drive and the moves they make.  I’m just really happy I got to experience it, was hoping for a better finish but I enjoyed myself.”

BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Bush’s Brown Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position:  21st

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  23rd What were you feeling in the car when the tire blew? “After we wrecked, it was a lot of tire debris — there was nothing to keep the tires from slapping the back of my neck when we were inside the car.  Really, it was unfortunate.  Our car was super-fast.  We came back from a lap down and had a shot to win, but it just didn’t work out.”

What happened in the accident between you and AJ Allmendinger? “I need to look at it before I can give you an educated answer, but from inside I was pretty sure that I had middle position – – it’s how I made up a lot of spots towards the end.  I hooked him (AJ Allmendinger) in the left rear, which means I was on the inside and I think what he saw was that I was going to the inside and he hooked a hard left to try to block, but I was there.  I turned him and a couple other guys.  Ruined a bunch of guys days, but that’s part of it.  We’re trying to go forward with a couple laps to go just like everybody else.  If it’s not me sticking it three-wide middle then someone is with a few laps to go.  You have to give guys room.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  26th

ROBERT RICHARDSON JR., No. 23 North TX Pipe Toyota Camry, R3 Motorsports Finishing Position:  27th

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  28th What happened on the race track? “Not real sure.  We were kind of out there taking our time trying to get to the end, taking care of our temps.  Our NAPA Toyota was really fast and just waiting until the end to use it. Unfortunately we didn’t make it there.  Not sure what happened up ahead.  I about made it through there and I was kind of spinning down the track a little bit.  I think the 24 (Jeff Gordon) came along and hit us and that’s what really killed the car. Before that we were going to be okay.  It’s just one of those deals, I’m not sure what happened up ahead — a lot of smoke and just guys stopping in front of me and tried to turn to get below and kind of got into the side of the 20 (Joey Logano), got sideways and then I got hit.”

LANDON CASSILL, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Finishing Position:  34th What happened in the accident? “I think there were some cars running out of fuel.  It’s just a matter of time before they gather up a bunch of other cars.  It’s just what happens — it’s the nature of the beast.  You can benefit a lot from stuff like that and it can hurt you.  Our car was pretty good.  We seemed to run in the top-15 all day.  We would have got a good finish out of it.  It was going to get pretty wild there at the end.”

BILL ELLIOTT, No. 97 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position:  37th

DAVID STREMME, No. 30 Inception Motorsports Toyota Camry, Inception Motorsports Finishing Position:  39th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position:  41st