Toyota NSCS Charlotte Showdown Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes

[media-credit name=”charlottemotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Sprint Showdown Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes Charlotte Motor Speedway – May 18, 2012

2nd, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 13th, JOEY LOGANO 6th, LANDON CASSILL 17th, MIKE BLISS 9th, TRAVIS KVAPIL 18th, JJ YELEY 8th, BOBBY LABONTE 20th, JOE NEMECHEK 10th, DAVID STREMME

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position:  2nd How was your qualifying lap? “It was good.  This is just tough because you’re in race trim and this is an impound (race).  Here at Charlotte, we practiced today and it was really hot and the sun was out.  This is a difficult place regardless when the sun’s out, but when you have to do qualifying runs and with the impound situation it makes it hard.  The guys did a good job.  We can win from there.”

What is your strategy for the Showdown? “Lead the last lap.”

LANDON CASSILL, No. 83 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing Starting Position:  6th

TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing Starting Position:  9th

BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Kingsford Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Starting Position:  8th How was qualifying? “I thought it was pretty uneventful. I thought it was pretty decent. Didn’t pick up like I thought we would — I was hoping we would.”

What’s the plan for the Showdown? “We start eighth. I don’t know what we are going to do yet. We can’t afford to tear anything up. We got spun out at Loudon (NH) testing the other day, so we can’t do that.”

DAVID STREMME, No. 30 Inception Motorsports Toyota Camry, Inception Motorsports Starting Position:  10th

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position:  13th How was your qualifying lap? “I’m surprised how slow it was — thought we would have been a little better than that.  It was a little free into (turn) one and I think I lost a lot of speed right there.  Besides that, I don’t know — we just have to go back and look at it and think about it.  I don’t know what happened.”

How do you approach the Showdown? “For the race we’re in — we have to go at it hard because we only have 40 laps.  There will be a little bit of strategy for sure, but you have to go at it hard and pass as many cars as quick as you can.  We’ll do that and see where that puts us.”

Where do you rank as the fan favorite for the All-Star race? “I feel like I’m up there and I saw a thing today that said I was in the top-five.  I feel like (Dale Earnhardt) Junior is probably leading that gig, but I feel like I’m second — maybe a distant second, but I think I’m second.  I’ve got some great fans out there that help support me.  I’ve won it before and I wouldn’t mind doing that again — it would be cool.”

MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Toyota Camry, Humphrey Smith Racing Starting Position:  17th

JJ YELEY, No. 49 JPO Absorbents Toyota Camry, America Israel Racing Starting Position:  18th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Starting Position:  20th