TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Darlington Raceway – April 11, 2014
1st, Kevin Harvick
8th, KYLE BUSCH
10th, DENNY HAMLIN
14th, BRIAN VICKERS
16th, CLINT BOWYER
25th, MATT KENSETH
34th, ALEX BOWMAN
38th, PARKER KLIGERMAN
39th, RYAN TRUEX
42nd, COLE WHITT
43rd, JOE NEMECHEK
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 8th
How was the qualifying run?
“That wasn’t quite what we wanted for our M&M’s Toyota Camry. It’s better than where we were last week so we’ll take it. We have a good race plan so looking forward to tomorrow night.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 10th
How do you expect the car to race tomorrow night?
“We’re looking forward to tomorrow night. This is a pretty good track for us and has been in the past. I thought our car was pretty good today in practice. We didn’t quite qualify where I hoped we would, but we still made it past all three rounds and at least got ourselves a chance at it. All the Toyotas really look like they’re struggling for a little bit of speed right now. We’re towards the front of those guys and that’s really all we can ask for.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 14th
How close were you to transferring to the top-12 qualifying round?
“I think we were one adjustment away, but I’m really proud of everyone on this team — the Aaron’s Own It Toyota Camry was good. We made huge improvements over first practice with the drivability of the car and I’m really happy. Now we will carry that back over to race trim and we’ll be good tomorrow. We just got a little too tight off of (turn) four coming to the final lap. We’re learning. Everyone is learning this new system and I love the format, it’s a lot of fun. I’ve missed Darlington. It’s been a few years since I’ve been here and this is a hard track to be gone for a while and find that rhythm again, but I feel like I’ve got it now and ready to race.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 16th
How was the qualifying run?
“Our 5-hour ENERGY Toyota was a little too tight during qualifying. However, we have a really good car in race trim. We have been really fast the last three weeks and I think we will be good again tomorrow night.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot/Husky Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 25th
How has the car been in practice and qualifying?
“It’s been a little bit of a struggle all day really. I thought they made some good adjustments and we ran the same lap times both times and felt like I got everything both times. Still looking for it a little bit. It’s odd that we got the pole at California a few weeks ago and now we haven’t made it through the first round the last two weeks. We’re still trying to find that balance and that speed.”
How difficult will it be to come from the back tomorrow night?
“This is probably one of the hardest tracks to do it really. The track widened out a lot last year, but I think it’s going to be harder this year than it’s been in years past. Not a track you want to start in the back for sure, but not a lot we can do about that right now. We just have to look over all our stuff and hopefully we can get a good race balance and we can work our way up there.”
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 34th
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 30 Swan Energy Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Starting Position: 38th
RYAN TRUEX, No. 83 Borla Exhaust Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 39th
COLE WHITT, No. 26 Swan Energy Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Starting Position: 42nd
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 66 Land Castle Title Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 43rd
