TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Atlanta Motor Speedway – September 1, 2013
Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in Sunday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Atlanta Motor Speedway — his fourth (Atlanta, California, Texas and Watkins Glen) NSCS victory of 2013.
The victory was the 250th for Toyota across NASCAR’s three national touring series — 60 NSCS wins, 84 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) victories and 106 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) triumphs.
Busch’s victory was his 100th in a Toyota across NASCAR’s three national touring series — 24 NSCS, 49 NNS and 27 NCWTS.
Busch started ninth and worked his way to the front of the field to lead the final 36 laps (of 325) en route to victory lane at the 1.54-mile, tri-oval track.
By virtue of his victory, Busch is now ‘locked’ into the Chase for the Sprint Cup and is the third Camry driver to secure a Chase berth — joining Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth. The 10-race ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ championship playoff will begin at Chicagoland Speedway, Sept. 15.
Bowyer led the field twice for 48 laps before finishing 39th due to an engine issue.
In addition to Busch’s finish, Camry drivers Martin Truex Jr. (third) and Brian Vickers (10th) also finished in the top-10.
Other Toyotas in the field included AJ Allmendinger (12th), Travis Kvapil (27th), David Stremme (29th), David Reuitmann (32nd), Denny Hamlin (38th) and Joe Nemechek (40th).
In the unofficial Sprint Cup Series point standings, Bowyer continues to hold onto second-place — and sits 28 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. Busch (fifth) and Kenseth (sixth) are also in the top-10 in the point standings following Bristol. Truex currently ranks 13th in points and is in position to secure the second -of-two ‘Wild Card’ berths for the Chase — and is five points ahead of Ryan Newman in the ‘Wild Card’ standings.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How does it feel to win a race leading into the Chase?
“A heck of a lot different than 365 days ago, I’ll tell you that much. Man, I can’t say enough about this team and their work tonight. Their work tonight definitely helped me out a lot. I wasn’t happy with the race car at all in the beginning of the race, but Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and the guys made some really good calls and got us some great adjustments there tonight to get us back up. This M&M’s Camry wasn’t good to start, but it was good at the end and it was good to get up front. Track position — my boys, my boys on pit road. What can I say? They’re just — that’s the same group since 2008. They’re amazing. I love those guys. I would do anything for them and this M&M’s Camry was awesome today. Can’t say enough about M&M’s, Interstate Batteries, Snickers, Toyota, of course, Sprint — without their support being here, we appreciate Sprint — and the fans. Whether you were on TV or whether they were here tonight, that’s pretty awesome. One other friend of mine from the Nationwide Series this is his last weekend this weekend, Bill Whelan, with the NASCAR officials and 75-years-old. Been around for a long time. We love you Bill and we’re going to miss you, man.”
Did you call your car a ‘joke’ early in the race?
“It was at first. That’s why we race 500 miles, I guess. Man, I don’t know where it came from, but these guys — Dave Rogers (crew chief) — the guys never gave up. They made some really good calls and I commend them. It was all their race today. I appreciate them hanging in there with me, although I was pretty graphic sometimes, but that’s what this sport is all about. I’m passionate about winning, man. I just want to be the best and to be the best sometimes you’ve got to beat the best and that’s what these 42 others competitors out here are — they’re the best in the world. This M&M’s Camry though came to life there at the end thanks to these guys right here behind me.”
What does it mean to capture your 100th win in a Toyota and Toyota’s 250th NASCAR victory?
“We’ve had a lot of success together. We’ve also had a couple hard moments, but it’s been great. I’ve got a great relationship with all the Toyota folks — from Bob Carter (senior vice president of automotive operations) to Ed Laukes (vice president of marketing communications and motorsports) to others — and it’s been fun. It’s certainly rewarding when you’re able to see those kinds of statistics that pop out — and I tell you it’s a lot of trips to victory lane. It’s certainly remarkable we have been able to do it together.”
JD GIBBS, co-owner, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How does it feel to be a part of a milestone victory for Toyota?
“We just talked about that in victory lane. The Toyota guys were there and it’s just a great relationship. They’ve done so much for our race team. I think we’ve done a lot for them and just to be there at the start and — 100 (Toyota wins by Kyle Busch) — that’s impressive, really.”
DAVE ROGERS, crew chief, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How do you help Kyle Busch improve when he’s frustrated?
“Even when Kyle gets frustrated, he’s still telling you what the car is doing. He got frustrated and gave me a lot of nothing there for a minute and then two laps later he came over and said, ‘Okay, I didn’t tell you much because I don’t know. I got this going on. I got that going on. I can’t sort it out. I can’t give you good direction, man, just try something.’ So, even when he gets frustrated, he’s still trying to give you good feedback. You know, there’s times you want to say, ‘Hey, calm down,’ but you just look at the stopwatch. At no point — really I didn’t think he got that frustrated tonight, but even when he did if you looked at the stopwatch, he never slowed down. He kept running the same lap times, told me that he was still focused behind the wheel. He was just aggravated the car wasn’t doing what he wanted it to.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What does the third-place finish mean?
“It was a good battle, that’s for sure. We really needed to win this thing to be honest with you. I really wanted to win it. As bad as my wrist was hurting, and as bad as the car was for a lot of the race, I was pretty excited there at the end and felt like I was giving it more than I maybe could have or had before. Just came up a little bit short. Had a great restart there on Kyle (Busch) and almost had him cleared. We were just too tight all night long. Like you said, going to the rear with 100 (laps) to go was a pretty large kick in the pants and just had to fight hard to get back to the front. I was surprised we made it there. I really didn’t think we could. The car wasn’t very good at that point. Chad (Johnston, crew chief) made a few adjustments to it and we just kept our head down and kept digging and had some good restarts and was able to make it up there — just didn’t have quite enough at the end to get by Kyle (Busch). Even if we could have cleared him, I’m not sure I could have held him off. The car got really tight at the end again. A good night. It could always be better. It could always be worse too. Proud that we were able to fight through it tonight. I was in pretty large amounts of pain there tonight, so glad it’s over with.
How was your injured wrist?
“It hurts like hell. My cast is pretty much like goo — I don’t know. It’s like just — see how soft it got. It got to the point where it didn’t feel like it was doing anything. My wrist was moving around a lot more than I wanted it to. It hurts. It got a real sharp pain in it — it’s broke. It hurts.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 10th
Was that a difficult top-10?
“Yeah, it was hard earned by everyone. These guys did a good job. We were experimenting in practice with some setups and, man, we were so close to getting it figured out and I think if we would have we would have crushed them tonight. But, we couldn’t quite get it to work in time and we ended up kind of throwing the kitchen sink at it last night and because of that the guys did a great job. We had a few things to adjust on the car, but we got a lot better and we finally got us where we were getting track position and then we got caught in the middle down there and spun, got loose, but the guys got it fixed and we go back out there and still got a top-10.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot Husky Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 12th
How was your race?
“It was more than a battle. It was a really frustrating — a trying night for sure. Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) did a good job of putting up with me and keeping his head, and figure out how to get us back in the game. So, without a lot of cautions — I had something kind of break or go wrong with the car earlier — we never could figure out what it was. It was just about impossible to drive. An unscheduled pit stop got us a lap down. Took all day to get it back. Overall, I guess we ought to be happy with 12th.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 47 Scott Products Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Finishing Position: 14th
TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 27th
DAVID STREMME, No. 30 Swan Energy/Berry’s Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Finishing Position: 29th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 SportClips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 38th
What happened to force you out of the race?
“The motor finished us off, but we — I don’t know what we’ve got to do, but we can’t seem to finish a race. Our night was ruined because of a penalty putting us two laps down and putting us in a box there that we couldn’t overcome — three laps down at one point, so we got back to one and we got wrecked by the 27 (Paul Menard), blew the tire, blew the fender off and blew another engine. I don’t know. It’s frustrating. I wish I had an answer for the penalty because I just don’t understand why I got penalized twice under green for fixing my car with my nose outside the box — why that should have been a two-lap penalty, I don’t understand. To me, I thought that the official was confused. He looked confused and all the other officials were laughing as they’re holding me there because they know that he’s not supposed to be. That part was frustrating. Besides that, we weren’t going to finish anyway because we had motor issues, so that part of it is experimental. We’re trying some different things. We know that. That’s part of being the ‘Guinea pig’ for the rest of the year is that you’re going to have these mechanical failures because you’re trying to get better. We have nothing to gain from this point on other than save face, but at this point we’d just like to finish a race. It’s just — I hate it for my sponsors because we’re just getting kicked in the nuts every weekend by something and I just can’t catch a break.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 RKMotorsCharlotte.com Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 39th
What happened to your engine?
“Well, it certainly sucks. You know, it’s part of it. I mean everybody has engine issues. We’re pushing hard for the Chase to try to win a championship — certainly on the engine category, with our chassis, everything. Real proud of (Brian) Pattie (crew chief) and all the gang. We was off a little bit. I think we were probably a sixth or fifth-place car yesterday. I told them all to make some adjustments and go for a win. And as soon as the track got going into the night there we gained some grip and our car really took off. It was ours to lose and unfortunately we found a way to lose. I’m going to have a beer.”
Are you disappointed after the engine issue?
“Yeah, that was a super big bummer right there. Man, our RK Toyota was so fast. Why did it have to happen this weekend? That’s the biggest thing. It’s part of motorsports. Everybody at TRD — it’s been a rough weekend — they do such a great job. There’s a reason we’re up front — it’s because they’re building big horsepower pushing for the Chase and trying to learn as much as we can for the Chase. We learned a lot with this car — it was off a little bit in practice and real proud of (Brian) Pattie (crew chief) for making some adjustments there and getting me where I need to be. This — it’s a shame.”
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
