TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Pocono Raceway – August 3, 2014
- Clint Bowyer (fourth) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Pocono Raceway.
- Denny Hamlin also earned a top-10 result for Toyota with a ninth-place finish at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track.
- Camry driver Matt Kenseth is currently third in the unofficial NSCS point standings, 89 points behind leader Jeff Gordon. Camry drivers Bowyer (ninth) and Kyle Busch (10th) are also in the top-10 in the point standings following Pocono.
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 RK Motors Charlotte Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How did your car handle during today’s race?
“We had a good car all weekend long and we unloaded good. We had a crazy loose set of tires that we qualified on as you saw. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. Obviously there’s some things that we need to work on — some areas that we need to work on to get a top-five on a track like this with these long straightaways and everything. So, it’s a good day for our RK Motors Toyota. I’m proud of (Brian) Pattie (crew chief). All these guys that work so hard. It’s the work during the week, day in and day out that makes the difference when you come to these weekends and it’s good to see getting a good finish.”
What was your strategy for the last restart?
“I was just trying to figure out what my car was going to do. That was the biggest thing. It gets down to the end like that — several cycles on tires like that and you don’t know what the heck it’s going to do. Is it going to turn when you get down there? It is going to be loose? Is it going to be tight? And, it’s always a little bit of something different. But, that time I was just wicked tight. Mine went straight and everybody else went left. Kind of got lucky they got bottled up behind us. It’s cool to see (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. running the way he is. What a change in that dude. It’s cool to see.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
What happened when you got loose and the big wreck happened behind you?
“I was in the middle lane and I got stuck three-wide. Just the guys getting runs and guys that can accelerate much faster than what we can and so that put me three-wide in the middle. The 15 (Clint Bowyer) was right on my door and it sucked me around and I was just hanging on at that point and I think it was mayhem from everyone checking up from behind. Like I said, I just got sucked around.”
Why do you think it was such aggressive racing on the track today?
“Well, it’s a product of the race track more than anything. The race track and the car and the aero package. We’re all just fighting for positions on restarts because we can’t pass after you get three laps on your tires. These cars put such a big wake in the air you just can’t overcome it. Nobody can overcome it unless you got big old motors.”
How did things go today with Mike Wheeler as the crew chief?
“You know, he (Mike Wheeler) did a really good job. He called the race nice. Good communication and we were on the same strategy as far as what I was thinking and what he was thinking, so that was good. So, really pretty seamless for the most part. These race tracks are very, very tough on a crew chief because they’re the ones that have to make the strategy calls to get you the track position upfront and he got me upfront. We just didn’t have the machine to get us to hold it up there.”
RYAN TRUEX, No. 83 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 20th
COLE WHITT, No. 26 Toyota of Scranton Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 21st
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 31st
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 37th
What happened to cause the big accident?
“I don’t know. The 11 car (Denny Hamlin) just got loose in front of us and was spinning. I tried to go low to miss him and then got loose and I don’t know if someone got me in the back or not, but as soon as I tried to avoid the 11 we spun and then got in a crash. One thing led to another. It’s tough because everyone on this Aaron’s Dream Machine team just did an awesome job today. We had a really good car. Just really fast and handled great through the corner. I thought we had a shot at a great finish.”
What is it about the racing here that makes it similar to superspeedway racing?
“It’s just tough to pass on the long run and I think your best chance to make positions up is on a restart and because it’s double file restarts and you get two, three, four-wide going into (turn) one and out of (turn) one and then it singles out. It starts to smooth out a little bit after that. The first turn is always a mess.”
Did it look like somebody got into Denny Hamlin that caused for him to spin?
“I don’t know. I was the car behind him (Denny Hamlin) and he was a car length ahead of me so I definitely didn’t get into him. I think he was in the middle of three-wide and just got loose coming out of turn one and then it just was kind of a chain reaction after that.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 38th
What did you see from your driver’s seat?
“Not a lot really. I just was following (Denny) Hamlin on that restart and he kind of went to the middle so I stayed at the bottom and got behind Brian (Vickers) and my spotter told me I was clear high so I just went up to go up off the corner and when I got up there I saw the 11 car (Denny Hamlin) sideways and the 55 (Brian Vickers) went to miss him and we just got all collected.”
How was the racing today at Pocono?
“From where I was it was pretty much the same as what we had in the spring really. I thought there was a lot of different strategies, a lot more green flag racing today I think with the possible rain. So, a lot of various strategies and it was going to be interesting to see how that all worked out.”
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 66 Land Castle Title Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 40th
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 42nd
What happened to your race car?
“Something in between the frame rails just doesn’t want to operate correctly right now and so it’s unfortunate because I thought we had a good car this weekend. The car in practice was strong and it felt good and we were biding our time here early. We pitted early to get off sequence a little bit to see if we couldn’t do something different than the leaders and it just obviously bit us here. This whole M&M’s Camry team deserves better days and I guess today is not one of them.”
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 93 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 43rd
