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[/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes Darlington Raceway – May 11, 2012
5th, KYLE BUSCH 32th, DAVID STREMME 6th MARTIN TRUEX JR. 33th, TRAVIS KVAPIL 8th, DENNY HAMLIN 35th, MIKE SKINNER 18th, MARK MARTIN 40th, JOE NEMECHEK 20th, LANDON CASSILL 41st, JJ YELEY 21st, JOEY LOGANO DNQ, MIKE BLISS 22nd, BOBBY LABONTE DNQ, DAVID REUTIMANN 26th, CLINT BOWYER
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Wrigley Doublemint Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 5th How was your lap? “Qualifying lap was good. For as good as it felt though, I wish it was about a tenth-and-a-half (of a second) faster. We hadn’t run a good, secure lap here today and that was probably the best we had, so pumped about that.”
Can you reflect on your 2008 Darlington victory? “Yeah, it was a little rough in ’08, you know. Man, those things could withstand a hit. We weren’t building a whole lot of down force into them and just kind of going off the gold surface and all that stuff. You could mash on it as many times as you wanted to and it seems like every time I moved the rear-end backwards, it kept going faster. It was a fun night — we won on Mother’s Day weekend there and had a great weekend.”
How is your Camry this weekend at Darlington? “So far so good here. I don’t know if our qualifying speed will hold up or not — I wish it was about a tenth-and-a-half faster given how it felt. All in all, good Doublemint Camry and we’re ready for tomorrow.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 6th How was your car in qualifying? “Stellar — I told Chad (Johnston, crew chief) and the guys coming here, I said, ‘I’ve never qualified good. I always race well here, but really want to have a shot at starting at least in the top-10.’ I’ve always had to come from the back here. That was a great run for us. We were fast in practice and just proud of Chad and all the guys for that effort. This NAPA Toyota was good. We were just a little bit too loose again to really get after it and that was the difference between the pole and second.”
How important is track position at Darlington? “It’s a lot easier if you can start up there. We’ve come from the back every time we’ve ran here the past four or five years to the front. I led a whole lot more laps if I started up front, so I’m excited about it.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 8th How was your qualifying effort? “It was decent. It’s not what was hoping for, but nonetheless a decent lap. For whatever reason, I don’t have the front-line speed on our car that we’ve had before.”
How do you think tomorrow’s race will play out? “Track position will be the biggest factor, but tires — they will matter, but not as much as track position.”
MARK MARTIN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 18th How was your qualifying lap? “Car felt good, but we have not been very good today. It has really been our biggest challenge of the year. We’ll have to see how we can fair with it.”
Do you enjoy racing at Darlington? “Oh yeah, it’s been good to me. I love racing here. We have really fought a bear today.”
LANDON CASSILL, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Starting Position: 20th
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 21st How was your qualifying lap? “Just loose — we were loose all the way through. We have a lot of speed in to turn one and then loose all the way through turns three and four trying to hustle it. We couldn’t carry the speed we needed to.”
What’s your game plan for Saturday night’s race? “Patience here — this track requires patience. You want to pass cars, but being there at the end and having the right track position, that’s what it’s all about.”
Do you like going to race tracks with a lot of history like Darlington? “I think it’s cool to go to places like that. I think it’s cool there’s a bunch of history here and it’s fun to see what’s happened here in the past. It makes you want to win here a little bit more.”
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Scott Products Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Starting Position: 22nd
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 26th
DAVID STREMME, No. 30 Inception Motorsports Toyota Camry, Inception Motorsports Starting Position: 32nd
TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 73 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Starting Position: 33rd
MIKE SKINNER, No. 52 CrusaderStaffing.com Toyota Camry, TEAM Starting Position: 35th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Starting Position: 40th
JJ YELEY, No. 49 JPO Absorbents Toyota Camry Starting Position: 41st
MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Humphrey Smith Racing, LLC Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports Starting Position: 35th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Starting Position: DNQ
