TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – July 26, 2013
4th, DENNY HAMLIN 31st, DAVID REUTIMANN
13th, MATT KENSETH 34th, BOBBY LABONTE
17th, CLINT BOWYER 37th, DAVID STREMME
19th, KYLE BUSCH 38th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
22nd, TRAVIS KVAPIL 40th, JOE NEMECHECK
26th, MARK MARTIN DNQ, MIKE BLISS
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
Did you have the fast time until turn three?
“It felt like I had a mile until I got to turn three. I just steered up the race track driving in too hard. I told Darian (Grubb, crew chief) next time tell me I’m that much to the good I’ll drive a little bit more conservatively for the last few corners. That’s all I had to do was to get to the last two (corners) and I would have had it. But, still proud of our effort. Perfect track conditions. We had a little cloud there — so that helped us. Really had everything go right for us — the driver just messed up.”
How important is it to start up front at Indianapolis?
“The track position part is so difficult. You fight it all race long — you fight to try to get good track position. The further your car is up front the faster it is going to go — it doesn’t matter who’s driving it or what the setup is. This will be a good step. We had the pole last year and led the first little bit and had a car capable of running top-five and that’s where we stayed. So, hopefully, that’s no different this year.
How is the car in race trim?
“We were a little bit off in race trim. But, obviously, like I said, with a good starting spot it’s going to seem like they fixed everything overnight. We’ll work on it. I felt like Darian (Grubb, crew chief) really made some good adjustments here for qualifying and nailed it. I think we got some ideas on how we can be better for tomorrow.”
Do you feel the lateral G’s at Indianapolis?
“The track is so flat you get kind of lifted out of your seat as you’re going right. It’s not like a banked tracked where you get a lot of compression. Your actually getting lifted out of your seat here on this track. It’s a different feel between here and Pocono. Very unique feel. It’s hard to get used to.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 13th
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 RKMotorsCharlotte.com Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 17th
How was your qualifying run?
“Hope we’d be a little bit better. I didn’t come to the green very good. I missed it out in (turns) one and two a little bit.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 19th
TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 22nd
MARK MARTIN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 26th
How was the race track?
“The track’s good. We just haven’t done a great job on the car. The car drove really good there. We just been fighting a balance issue here in qualifying trim and it cost us some speed. The guys are doing a great job. We’ve just been a step behind.”
MARK MARTIN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing (continued)
How is your car in race trim?
“Needs to be better. It needs to be better. We’ll see what we can do with it. The car’s driving pretty good. We just don’t have the speed that we need. At least we’re not fighting and evil race car. We certainly could us a little but more grip than what we got. Some of the cars are really getting around here.”
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 31st
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Scott Products Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Starting Position: 34th
DAVID STREMME, No. 30 Lean 1 Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Starting Position: 37th
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 38th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 40th
MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Plinker Tactical Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ
