TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Texas Motor Speedway – November 2, 2013
Camry driver Denny Hamlin (second) was the highest finishing Toyota in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Texas Motor Speedway.
How did the car handle in the race?
“Our car just didn’t have that front line speed that those other guys did. Proud of this whole Dollar General team. This is a great run for them and a great run for me. If I had a little more experience with these cars, I would probably be able to tune it a little bit better and give those guys a run. Still for just one shot — not a bad run.”Were you in position to win the race at the final restart?
“I thought once we got clear there with 15 to go, I thought it was ours, but our car just doesn’t have a whole lot of front line speed in it. It wasn’t built for front line speed. There’s a lot of different ways to set these cars up. We knew we were going to have our hands full on that shoot out. Still, we did a decent job. The 22 (Brad Keselowski) got a run on us and kind of packed air on us into turn one and got us loose, and that was it. I tried to make another run at him, but just came up a little short. Proud of this whole Dollar General team — I appreciate the opportunity to come in here and race and be competitive and obviously we’re going to give Drew (Herring), our development driver a great shot here these next two.”
Did you learn anything about the tires for tomorrow’s race?
“Typically as this track rubbers up, the wear gets better and you’ll never ever hear me complain about a tire that wears out. They can wear out in 20 laps that would be fine with me.”
How is your back feeling after today’s race?
“I’m feeling a lot better, for sure. Definitely it’s good to get repetitions and really I’m as loose after as I was before. Really, like I’ve told you all for the past month or so, definitely heading in the right direction, feeling a lot better — getting a better feel for the race car. That’s obviously translating into better performance.”
Do the shadows on the track impact the racing?
“I notice it when my windshield is really dirty — that is the most difficult part. In these cars, you do a lot of side drafting with so there’s opportunities to really kind of use that side draft and you want to run every inch of the track you can, but a lot of times, especially off of (turn) four here once you have a dirty windshield — literally the last five laps I’m pushing as hard as I can, but I couldn’t quite see where the outside wall was. It definitely is a challenge. We run into each other a lot anyways.”
What is your relationship like with Drew Herring?
“With Drew (Herring), originally I was hoping for Drew to get to run all three of these races. He’s done such a really great job for us at Joe Gibbs Racing that he deserves this shot — he deserves this opportunity. He’s a guy that sponsors would love. I think he’s going to be one of the future our organization and my relationship with him was when I got brought a long with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005 or ’06, we had a lot of success early on, they asked me who’s next and Drew was the next guy I could think of. We raced Late Models together and he’s just done an outstanding job. I’ve done some tests with him before – – he’s run the same speed I do, so he’s good. He’ll show that these next two weeks and I’m obviously going to be looking on and anything he needs, he knows how to get a hold of me.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 18 Game Stop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How was the race and did you learn anything for tomorrow’s race?
“It worked out good for us, just didn’t have a great pit stop at the end and neither did the 22 (Brad Keselowski) ironically enough, but he got out in front of us and got on the outside there and was able to clear traffic. I just couldn’t figure out how to get it done. I kind of failed the guys on that restart, but I don’t think I really learned much for tomorrow. Learned maybe a little about the track and the tire, but that’s about it.”
ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 11 OneMain Financial Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
How was the race?
“It was okay. The guys made good adjustments. We worked our way up through the field and just got a little bit too tight on long runs. Restart line, depending on what line you’re in whether you get a good start, that hurt us a little bit there at the end but we were able to battle back for a seventh-place finish. Definitely an improvement from where we were here in the spring and we’ll build on that and move on.”
Finishing Position: 13th
How was the race?
“We had a solid race going, nothing really eventful in any way. Good restarts, good pit stops, good strategy — everything was going in our direction to get a solid top-10, maybe even a sixth or seventh there and we came to that last restart and of course it’s just been a running theme where that last restart we pick up all the rubber because we get a rash of cautions and then it goes flat to the floor and we’re kind of a sitting duck a little bit. We have to just figure out a few things for the mile- and-a-halves there at the end of the race and see if we can retain our positions better. Overall, good day for our ToyotaDreamBuild.com Camry. We wanted to beat that 32 (Kyle Larson) because we’re racing pretty hard in points, but we had a solid top-10 day, just the 6 (Trevor Bayne) moved us on the last couple laps and I lost a couple positions.”ALEX BOWMAN, No. 99 Microsoft Windows Toyota Camry, RAB Racing
Finishing Position: 18thCOLE WHITT, No. 44 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 20th
MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 23rd
KYLE BUSCH, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
JEFF GREEN, No. 14 Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 27th
JOEY GASE, No. 52 Toyota Camry, SR2 Motorsports
Finishing Position: 30th
Starting Position: 33rd
Finishing Position: 35th
Finishing Position: 36thMICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 10 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
