TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes Michigan International Speedway – June 17, 2012
Camry driver Clint Bowyer (seventh) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Michigan International Speedway.
Martin Truex Jr. (12th), Bobby Labonte (16th) and Landon Cassill (18th) also earned top-20 finishes at the two-mile oval.
Other Toyota drivers in the field included Travis Kvapil (26th), Mark Martin (29th), Kyle Busch (32nd), Denny Hamlin (34th), Joey Logano (35th), JJ Yeley (37th), Mike Bliss (39th) and Joe Nemechek (40th).
Four Camry drivers are now in the top-15 in the unofficial NSCS driver point standings — Hamlin (fifth), Truex (seventh), Bowyer (ninth) and Busch (12th).
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 7th How was your Camry in the race? “We had a better car than where we finished — I think. We just got a little bit behind on that next-to-last run. It was just really hard to pass. There, midway through the race, I thought I was pretty good. Just came up short — we’ll have to go after them next week.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 12th How was your Camry in the race? “Our NAPA Toyota was really good all day long. We just kept pitting at the wrong time. It was one of those deals where we would pit and the caution would come out — that got us way in the back. From dead last, we got back to like 13th or something and then had a bad restart where I got my fender knocked in and so I got tight. Just one of those days where we couldn’t catch a break, but the car was super fast. Fortunately, we were able to come back — we passed a ton of cars today. It’s hard to pass here. That says a lot about the car. Just one of them days where we just couldn’t catch a break.”
How did the new left side tires perform on your car? “It was pretty good really. The start of the race — the car was really, really loose, but a lot of the guys were. Once we got going and got some rubber on the track, the car was really good all day. Just couldn’t catch a break — fought track position real bad.”
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Charter Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position: 16th
LANDON CASSILL, No. 83 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing Finishing Position: 18th
TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing Finishing Position: 26th
MARK MARTIN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 29th How was your Camry in the race? “This was a heck of a Camry and a heck of an Aaron’s race team. All these guys are so smart and so talented. I had a fast, fast race car and I just salute all the guys on the team. They are all great and I am so proud of them.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Snickers Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 32nd
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 34th Are you okay after your race car caught fire? “Yeah, definitely. There’s a lot of good safety stuff, and I’ve got to thank all of the crew guys that hauled ass over there and got me out. It was just a tough day. We just didn’t have the track position. Got caught twice with those cautions when we pitted. Just a tough day for our FedEx Office car. I thought we had a car that could run top-three or four at times, but just didn’t have a great day and on fire is not a good way to end it.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) What is it like inside a race car that is on fire? “I’ve never actually been in that position before. I’d seen it with other guys, but I’ve never known what it’s actually like but it gets hot. I thought for a second there I was okay. It was just in the back and then something exploded in the front and it caught on fire. Thankfully we got everything that we have safety-wise. I messed up the 16’s (Greg Biffle) pit box. Just one of those days. I’ll be glad to get out of Michigan.”
What happened that caused the accident? “We’re all scrambling on restarts — everyone is doing everything they can to get position. Unfortunately, with the tire change we had, it forces everyone to be aggressive like they were on restarts. We were four-wide and I was on the bottom line, but the 39 (Ryan Newman) tried to stick it right there in the very, very low line and there just wasn’t any grip down there. There’s not any rubber down there so there was no way his car was going to stick. I knew I was in trouble being on top of him. When he slid up into us, it just spun us around. Evidently it knocked something off with either the oil or the fuel — it caught on fire and that was okay, but when I was stopped I don’t know why, but it completely engulfed the whole car. Part of it was frustrating, but you’re going to have days like this. Unfortunately, NASCAR and Goodyear were put in a tough spot yesterday and had to change tires. I thought our FedEx Camry was great until they changed the tire and then we just struggled.”
Did other team members help get you out of the race car? “One good thing at least is that Ryan’s (Newman) guys came and got me out and a couple of the 18 (Kyle Busch) guys. NASCAR is a family and anytime anyone is trouble, everyone is going to go try to help. It’s good that those guys were around and willing to take a chance.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 35th Are you okay and what happened? “I’m fine. It was just restarts — there was a slower car in front of us and the 17 (Matt Kenseth) was right in front of me. The slower lapped car — we all waved around and we were all trying to turn down underneath him and tried to turn down underneath him and just got loose. I thought I had it saved and over-corrected and went in the wall. A little frustrating, but we had a top-10 car today, I think we have a top-10 coming to us here. Maybe even a top-five. We’re still on a roll and we’ve still got a really good race team — really good cars here so we’re not going to let this take us down. We’ll go back out there next week and win that one.”
What was the racing like today? “The restarts are pretty hairy. Then it kind of spreads out after about 15 or 20 laps — you can start forming runs and start to pass guys. Every time you got an opportunity to pass someone, you have to take it because it’s hard to pass. That’s what makes it a little risky out there.”
What were you experiencing with the tires? “I had one right-front (tire) issue during the last run. I was good, good, good and then it blistered and then it started to chunk apart. We got lucky that we didn’t blow a right-front there. Just going to have to come back and tire test and then come back with something better.”
JJ YELEY, No. 49 JPO Absorbents Toyota Camry, America Israel Racing Finishing Position: 37th
MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Humphrey Smith Racing LLC Toyota Camry, Humphrey Smith Racing Finishing Position: 39th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position: 40th
