Toyota NSCS Darlington Post-Race Notes & Quotes

[media-credit name=”darlingtonraceway.com” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes Darlington Raceway – May 12, 2012

Camry driver Denny Hamlin (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway.

Toyota drivers Kyle Busch (fourth), Martin Truex Jr. (fifth) and Joey Logano (10th) also posted a top-10 finishes at the historic 1.366-mile raceway.

Camry drivers led 126 laps (of 368) with Hamlin (56 laps), Busch (44 laps), Truex (25 laps) and Landon Cassill (one lap) each taking a turn at the front of the field.

Other Toyota drivers in the field included Clint Bowyer (11th), Mark Martin (20th), Cassill (26th), Bobby Labonte (29th), Travis Kvapil (32nd), David Reutimann (36th), JJ Yeley (37th), David Stremme (39th), Joe Nemechek (40th) and Mike Skinner (41st).

Following Darlington, five Camry drivers are in the top-15 in the unofficial NSCS driver point standings — Hamlin (fourth), Truex (sixth), Busch (ninth), Bowyer (11th) and Logano (15th).

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  2nd How was your car in the race? “It was a good day for our Sport Clips Toyota.  We just didn’t have quite the winning car today.  Darian (Grubb, crew chief) did a great all right there keeping us out and give us some track position.  My pit crew kept gaining me spots on pit road and that really helped.  We wanted to win the Southern 500, but second isn’t too bad.”

How is the racing surface changing at Darlington? “When we showed up and had practice, I thought that it really was a huge, huge change from last year.  But once we got in the race, track position once again was king.  It’s 10 percent better heading back to the direction — the old Darlington that everyone loved.  It’s going to take another five years for track position not to matter as much and tire wear to be more of a factor, unless Goodyear builds a tire that wears out a little bit more.  It was harder to make the crew chief’s decision to take two, four or none this time around.  We stayed out and actually held track position pretty well.  That tells you right there that the surface still isn’t wearing the tires as much as it should.”

Do you think anyone was strong enough to beat Jimmie Johnson? “It’s tough to say.  You know, I thought the 56 (Martin Truex Jr.) probably could give him a good run.  You know, when our car was best, we could probably hang with him.  Obviously, it looked like his car was very strong, was one of the best.   In my opinion, the 56 probably was right there with him.  But he chose to come in and pit and lost his track position.  It looks like he still made it back up, so that tells you he had a pretty fast car there.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Wrigley Doublemint Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  4th Does the race at Darlington get pretty dicey? “It does in the late laps.  Our Doublemint Camry was really good tonight.  It was a lot of fun to keep it up front like that all night.  I didn’t get a Darlington stripe until past halfway so it was really good for us.  Just really looking forward to going to the All-Star race next week and hopefully getting an All-Star win there and taking home a million bucks.”

What are late-race restarts like at Darlington? “They’re terrible now.  The track doesn’t have any grip — we have big rear springs and we have no tire grip.  All you do is spin the tires and I tried to give (Tony) Stewart a little bit of room because he was low on fuel pressure so I wouldn’t run over him in case his car shut out.  I gave him too much room and kind of hurt myself a little bit.  Probably gave the 11 (Denny Hamlin) a spot.  Glad I didn’t give another one away to the 56 (Martin Truex Jr.), but we were able to come home fourth.  I thought if the race would have went green without the last caution there that we probably would have ended up second — I think I could have got Stewart.  Great night for us all in all and good night for JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) bringing home second and fourth.”

What do you think about Hendrick Motorsports achieving their 200th win? “It’s definitely special.  Congratulations to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports — Rick (Hendrick) especially and Linda (Hendrick) and everybody who has worked so hard and been there so long through the thick and thin.  Especially through some of the tragedies that have been over there.  This one is a special one for them and I’m sure they’ll celebrate.  I was a part of a few, but at least I was a part of a few.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  5th

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 10th How was tonight’s race? “This was the longest race ever.  We started 21st and we worked our way up front consistently.  Pretty awesome — I was surprised.  We’re doing a good job.  We worked our way all the way up to fourth and thought, ‘Man we’re doing good,’ but, man, I suck on restarts.  I can’t get going on restarts and that’s where I lose so many spots.  My car wasn’t handling good and it took like five, six laps at least for it to come in and I kept getting passed.  I got anxious and overdrove into (turn) three, stepped it out sideways and clobbered the fence.  Luckily, we got a caution, fixed it and then started fighting our way up again and we got to 10th, so that’s exciting.  I’m glad we got a top-10 out of it, but frustrated because I feel like I had a top- five car.  I had about a 20th-place car on restarts and a top-five car after seven laps, so kind of frustrating.”

How has your season been to date? “We’re still working.  We’ve still got work to do.  We took off good in the beginning of the year and we’ve lost a lot of speed lately and then I’m glad I got some speed back in our race car here. It’s exciting to have a fast car again — that helped a lot.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  11th How was your race tonight? “This isn’t one of my best tracks, so to get out of here — I had a top-10 there and they got together down there in (turn) one and two and I checked up and the 9 (Marcos Ambrose) just had enough momentum.  He was far enough behind me that he didn’t have to check up and sailed right around me, but lucky to get out of here I guess.  She ain’t tore up too bad.”

MARK MARTIN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  20th

LANDON CASSILL, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Finishing Position:  26th

BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Scott Products Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position:  29th

TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Finishing Position:  32nd

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Finishing Position:  36th

JJ YELEY, No. 49 JPO Absorbents Toyota Camry 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:  40th

MIKE SKINNER, No. 52 CrusaderStaffing.com Toyota Camry, MacDonald Motorsports Finishing Position:  41st