TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
New Hampshire Motor Speedway – September 21, 2012
2nd, KYLE BUSCH 32nd, DENNY HAMLIN 4th, BRIAN VICKERS 33rd, TRAVIS KVAPIL 9th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 36th, JOE NEMECHEK 12th, CLINT BOWYER 43rd, DAVID STREMME 17th, BOBBY LABONTE DNQ, JASON LEFFLER 18th, JOEY LOGANO DNQ, JEFF GREEN 28th, LANDON CASSILL
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 2nd How was your qualifying run? “That was a pretty good lap from where we were earlier in the day with the M&M’s Camry. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and the guys did a really good job — making some good changes to it to make it pick up speed. I felt like the car had decent balance — just needed more grip to make speed. They did a good job of that. That’s about what our teammates ran in practice and everybody’s been kind of picking up a tenth, or a little bit more than that. From where we were — a good improvement. Happy with that. See where it stacks up.”
How did you improve from practice to qualifying? “Qualifying effort was good. Practice didn’t quite go the way we wanted it to. We sort of struggled early and didn’t quite get the draw we had hoped for, and had to go out a little bit early today. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and the guys made some really nice changes from practice to qualifying to get the car a lot better — and it reacted well and was really fast. I was actually shocked by the time it ran, but pleased with it at the same time and would have hoped it held up. But, Jeff (Gordon) had a really good draw at the end and beat us by a little bit. Still it’s good for track position to be able to start up front like that here at Loudon. We’ll see what happens and carries over through tomorrow’s practices into Sunday with the M&M’s Camry.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Freightliner/Jet Edge Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 4th How was your qualifying run? “It actually felt better in race trim than qualifying trim. Just really proud at all the guys at MWR and Toyota. When we unloaded we were really happy with the car. We tweaked it to try to make it better, and tried some things that made it better and we tried some things that didn’t. They made some really good changes for qualifying and I was really happy with the car.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 9th How was your qualifying effort? “Pretty good. I let one get away from us there. I think we had a shot at the pole. I just slipped on the second lap, got loose and got the right front above the seam down in (turns) one and two and it’s like once you do that you’re done. Real close – – we had I think the best first lap out of anyone and the second one was just a little too loose.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 12th How was your qualifying run? “I tried to make the most of our lap and came up just a bit short. It wasn’t what I wanted, but we’ll make do with what we have. The 5-hour ENERGY Toyota was a bit loose and on top of the racetrack, but I know we’re good in race trim. We’ll be fine. We’ll be good for Sunday and that’s what matters.”
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Bush’s Beans Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Starting Position: 17th How was your qualifying effort? “It was okay. I don’t know. I just wish we could be a little bit quicker. If I tried to push it any harder it might have been worse, but, man, I don’t know. I wish I could do it over again, but just such a fine line on your grip. You make all the changes you make to make it right and I think we were fairly close to it and in race trim I thought we were pretty decent, so hopefully on average I hope we have a decent race car. That’s what we’re looking for, a good, solid day on Sunday.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 18th How was your qualifying effort? “Not good. It was too loose. Didn’t qualify very well. Too lose on exit and we were fighting the complete opposite all day, so kind of swapped ends on us and fought something else on our qualifying changes there. Not a great qualifying spot, but we’ll fight through it.”
LANDON CASSILL, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Starting Position: 28th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 32nd What happened during your qualifying lap? “I knew something was wrong. It looked like we just — we ended up having race pressures and we didn’t put our qualifying pressures in, so that was a tough one. I knew something was really, really wrong because we were just — the car was bobbing down real bad — but simple mistake. We’ll rebound from it. We’re quick enough. We’ll get them, but that’s frustrating. Holy cow — I knew something had to be wrong. If there was nothing wrong than I would really be shaking my head. At least we identified what the problem was.”
TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing Starting Position: 33rd
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Starting Position: 36th
DAVID STREMME, No. 30 Toyota Camry, Inception Motorsports Starting Position: 43rd
JASON LEFFLER, No. 49 Robinson-Blakeny Racing Toyota Camry, Robinson-Blakeny Racing Starting Position: DNQ
JEFF GREEN, No. 19 Plinker Tactical Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports Starting Position: DNQ
