Toyota NSCS Pocono Qualifying Notes & Quotes

TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Pocono Raceway – August 2, 2013

2nd, KYLE BUSCH                                                   28th, MARK MARTIN
9th, DENNY HAMLIN                                                 31st, DAVID STREMME
16th, CLINT BOWYER                                                33rd, BOBBY LABONTE
23rd, TRAVIS KVAPIL                                               35th, DAVID REUTIMANN
24th, MATT KENSETH                                                39th, JOE NEMECHECK
26th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.                                            42nd, ALEX KENNEDY

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position:  2nd
Are you happy with your race car?
“I thought that the Peanut Butter M&M’s Camry was really, really fast today.  First practice went well for us and one run we got a little bit off base but then we backed it right back up with the third run and we were pretty good.  So, we were excited going into qualifying.  When we laid that lap down early I was a little hesitant that it was going to stack up the way it did, but fortunately it was a really fast lap especially for going that early in qualifying.  I wish we would’ve went later.  I think we would’ve had a better race track with 10 degrees cooler at least.  But, it was about all I could get.  Probably if I had to do it over again I could probably get more.  I wish it was the pole certainly.  That’s what you’d like to have.  You come here and you get so close you’re only four thousandths off, it would be nice to have that award going into tomorrow and Sunday especially being able to start first and being able to get the number one pit selection.  We’ll take it.  It was a good effort and hopefully keep our car that good and if not better so we can beat the other guy that beat us here today.”

When did you know you had a good lap going?
“Coming to the green off turn three.  I was like, ‘Wow.’  It felt really good through there so I was like, I better abuse and charge every one of these corners and get the most I can because guys later on will probably go pretty fast.”

Have you been looking forward to this race since you didn’t get the finish you wanted at the June race?
“Yeah.  We had a decent car here in the spring.  I figure we were about fourth to seventh and we finished sixth.  Probably could’ve finished second or third based off some late restarts, but I just messed up a couple of times so that hurt us.  Last week at Indy we were really fast, we just never got track position.  When we took our last set of tires there with 20 to go, we closed the gap on the leaders by like two and a half or three seconds, so that was pretty good.  Just never got the track that we needed to get up there and to race up there at all.  Pocono has always eluded us, but each and every time here just getting a little bit better, a little bit better.  Picking at it and I feel like tomorrow should be a good shot to get some more laps in and of course get better for Sunday.”

Did you notice any difference in your engine power compared to when you were here in June?
“I really didn’t notice much today.  I never really notice much when we’re by ourselves.  I always pick at it more when we’re in traffic when we’re racing each other.  How the drivability is when you’re racing around other cars and trying to pass them coming off the corner and going down the straightaways.  Here today it’s tough to assess that.  But, from what I understand I think we’re back to what we got here at Pocono and Michigan is going to be the same as what it is this weekend.  So, it’s not going to be much more.  As far as where they’ve been and where they’ve come from, obviously the start of the year was really, really good.  We started out strong.  Had a couple of issues and had to kind of come back off some of the power to get some of the durability back.  And they’ve worked really hard at being able to make sure that they have the durability to go with the power and I feel like they’ve done a good job at being able to resource that.  We’ll see if we can’t continue to have some more horsepower gains here through the next couple of weeks and maybe have some more yet with another update for the Chase.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position:  9th
How was your qualifying lap?
“It was okay.  Didn’t have the overall speed that I was looking for.  We didn’t really concentrate a whole lot on trying to get the most out of our qualifying package because we worked so much in race trim.  I think that we’ll definitely race pretty good and hopefully it will be a step in the right direction for how we’ve been racing lately.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Toyota Let’s Go Places Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position:  16th
How much does cloud cover help in qualifying and what do you think of the speed Kyle Busch found during qualifying?
“That is crazy fast.  Everybody that was hoping for a good lap when they saw that 50.60 or whatever, everybody is now worried again.  A 49.80 is crazy fast.  That big cloud helps a little bit.  It’s unbelievable how weather changes these qualifying efforts.  So far our Toyota, it’s been okay.  She’s not very happy quite yet, but Brian Pattie (crew chief) and everybody have worked really hard to get a good setup underneath.  Qualifying is one thing, obviously starting up front at a race track like this is a big deal.  We were decent and made a lot of changes.”

Are you disappointed with your qualifying effort?
“We’ve just been struggling here — at Indy last weekend and you knew coming here we were going to have to do something different.  We’re searching a little bit here.  We’ll be fine.  We’ve just got to focus on race trim tomorrow in practice and see what happens.  The track picked up a bunch and actually the sun came back out now and hopefully it will stay out and won’t dig us in a hole here.  If it keeps getting cooler and cooler we’re going to just keep getting worse.”

Do you think the horsepower that TRD has added back in will help this weekend?
“This is motorsports baby.  You need all of the motor you can get.  We obviously took a little bit away, but we were still running strong.  We’ve got to get our cars better to where we can let these engines shine.  You can’t blame nothing on the engines right now.”

TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position:  23rd

MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position:  24th

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position:  26th
Where were you able to improve for qualifying?
“We weren’t very good anywhere, so I’d say we improved pretty much everywhere on the race track.  That was definitely a big pick up for us, about a second (from practice).  We spent so much time in race trim because we were bad here last time, just got behind in qualifying trim and really only got one good run in, and it wasn’t very good.  The guys made a lot of changes on the NAPA Toyota there for qualifying and it was way, way better.  Probably left a little out there not knowing how good it was going to be and not sure what shape the track was in and all that.  All in all, it was a great pick up.  It is what it is and we get to work hard tomorrow on it.”

Where do you need to improve for Sunday’s race?
“Just overall speed hasn’t been there.  Even last week when we got the balance somewhat close, the speed was way off. Kind of seeing the same thing here today.  In race trim, thought the car was close and normally when we think its close it’s near the front of the speed charts or close to the fast guys.  Just the last two weeks we haven’t been there on speed.  Got a little searching to do for sure.  We’re going to work hard on it, these guys never give up and we’ll just keep digging.”

What will you work on in tomorrow’s practice?
“For practice it’s all about long runs here.  It’s going to go green flag a lot and get spread out and just need to make sure we have good long run speed.”

Why is everyone so intense with qualifying at Pocono?
“It’s just so important here.  The field gets strung out and you typically don’t see a lot of cautions.  It’s hard to pass.  Just one of those races where if you can start up front normally you can stay there if you’ve got a good enough race car.  We started pretty far back last time and made our way up close to the top-10 and then ran out of gas and it put us back and we never could recover.  Track position is huge but I think that you can make it up if you don’t start that great but if you have one mistake throughout the race and lose it somewhere mid-race it’s hard to get it back.”

MARK MARTIN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position:   28th
What are you searching for on the race track?
“Really stability, when you sit back and look at it, the real problem that we have is trying to drive the car too fast and so it’s inconsistent and not secure and not comfortable.  We need to make the car better and then the speed will come and you can keep the car on the edge, but right now we’re trying to push the car over the edge.  Rodney Childers (crew chief) and all the guys on the Aaron’s Dream Machine have done a great job.  That was a lot better right there than our mock qualifying run.  All we can do is do our best.  They did a great job today improving the cars from the last time out to this time and we’ll keep working for Sunday.”

How was your qualifying lap?
“It was really good.  It’s cooled off a lot since we made our mock run.  Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and everybody on the Aaron’s Dream Machine have done a great job.  We improved the car dramatically from the mock run to that run. There was a little more speed in the car than I probably got because it was so much better I didn’t really expect it.  If we had another crack at it I think we could make an adjustment and get some more, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be.  That was a small victory to improve the car that much.  I’m really proud of the guys, but we’re missing a big piece of it and we’re working hard at it to get it.  I think our competition has taken a big leap in the last six weeks and we’ve taken steps forwards and it’s been a surprise to us that our steps forward look like steps backwards because of the competition closing in on this Gen-6 car faster than us.”

DAVID STREMME, No. 30 Widow Wax Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Starting Position:  31st

BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Scott Products Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Starting Position:  33rd

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position:  35th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position:  39th

ALEX KENNEDY, No. 19 Plinker Tactical/Hampton Inn Lehighton Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position:  42nd