TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Pocono Raceway – August 4, 2013
Kyle Busch (eighth) was the first Toyota driver to the finish line in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway to earn his 13th top-10 result of the season.
Camry drivers Clint Bowyer (14th), Martin Truex Jr. (15th), Mark Martin (18th) and Bobby Labonte (19th) also finished in the top-20 at the 2.5-mile triangular track.
Other Toyota drivers in the field at the 400-mile event included Matt Kenseth (22nd), Travis Kvapil (26th), David Stremme (30th), David Reutimann (31st), Joe Nemechek (37th), Alex Kennedy (42nd) and Denny Hamlin (43rd).
Truex led the field once for seven circuits (of 160) and Matt Kenseth also led one lap.
In the unofficial Sprint Cup Series point standings, Bowyer continues to sit in second-place — 77 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. Busch (sixth), Kenseth (seventh) are also in the top-10 in the point standings following Pocono.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
How was your race?
“We were just a little bit off today. It seemed like we could get going good on restarts and it would drive well for a few laps, then we couldn’t keep up as well on the long run. That’s about all we had with our M&M’s Peanut Butter Camry. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and the guys worked hard today and we were able to get a top-10 out of day that we were just a little behind.”
DAVE ROGERS, crew chief, No. 18 M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota Camry
How was the 18 team’s race today?
“It was a long day for the 18 M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota Camry. The guys worked really hard. We tried some new stuff. We tried something in qualifying practice that worked really good for a lap. We figured we were in a position point-wise to take some gambles and try to make something happen and try to find some speed. It worked for a few laps, but it didn’t work over the long runs. We just gave up too much downforce over long runs and hurt the long run speed, so now we know.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Toyota Let’s Go Places Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 14th
How was your race?
“I’m never happy with a top-15, but we are just missing it a little bit. We were better than the 14 (Tony Stewart), but just the debris cautions.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
How was your race?
“It was a hard fought 15th-place finish. I was driving as hard as I could and we just couldn’t go anywhere. When we started, we were terrible, but Chad (Johnston, crew chief) made good calls on the adjustments. The pit crew did a great job. Our last run was by far, our best run all day. What’s amazing is how our car handled up front and in clean air. It was unreal. We’ll take that finish and head to my favorite road course, Watkins Glen.”
MARK MARTIN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 18th
How was your run today?
“I had a pretty decent race car and had some brake issues. We made big gains from last week and from Friday. I’m real proud of everybody here to come up with what they did. The car was pretty good. It was capable — if things would’ve went right — it was capable of doing better than that. I think we’re headed in a nice, positive direction and hopefully we can keep that going.”
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Scott Products Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 22nd
TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
DAVID STREMME, No. 30 Widow Wax Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Finishing Position: 30th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 31st
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Finishing Position: 37th
ALEX KENNEDY, No. 19 Plinker Tactical/Hampton Inn Lehighton Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 42nd
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 43rd
What did you feel from your car before you hit the wall?
“Well, our car was a handful. I tried to fight through it until that competition caution, but I was getting run over from behind and just holding up traffic. I just let off in the corner and it just breaks loose. It’s what we’ve been fighting really the last seven weeks or so — just cannot get into the corner in our cars. A handful — I mean a handful. I know how to drive this race track and we have just not hit on what it takes here these last couple months to get our speed where it needed to be and we were struggling again today.”
Why did we see so much action so early in the race?
“Track position means everything in races now. It’s all about who can just get in clean air. It’s not about tires. It’s not about any of that anymore. It’s just about who can get out front. That’s why everyone is fighting for a position on restarts and that’s probably why you saw the wreck in the beginning.”
What do you need to do to get luck back on your side?
“Well, we’ve just got to work on our setups. I think me and Darian (Grubb, crew chief) just got to get our setups where it’s drivable again. Lately it’s just not been good. It’s been a handful. We’ve been qualifying okay, but as soon as we get in traffic and the race starts we go dead backwards and loose. So, we’ve been fighting that a lot. Just very frustrating season. A lot of it is us — we’re working some different things. We’re kind of outside of our normal box of setups and so we’re trying to get better for next year, but obviously we need some track time to do that.”
