- Clint Bowyer (third) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Richmond International Raceway behind race-winner Brad Keselowski.
- Bowyer missed making this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup by only seven points.
- Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth will all compete in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup in Camrys for Joe Gibbs Racing seeded eighth, ninth and 14th, respectively as the ‘Challenger’ round begins next Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.
- Brian Vickers (13th) and Busch (14th) also earned top-15 finishes in tonight’s 400-lap race at the three-quarter mile Virginia oval.
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What’s going through your mind just missing the Chase after running so well tonight?
“If you make the Chase you want to compete for a championship and truth be told, we’re not there right now. A lot of work to do. We’ve got to continue to build on momentum like we had here tonight. You know, it’s definitely frustrating not making that Chase, but like I said, when you do make the Chase, you want it to be for a championship, not just ride around in it. We still haven’t won a race, and this 5‑Hour Energy Toyota team, everybody on this 15 team deserves a win by the end of the year, and I’ll see to it they get it.”
What do you think about your crew chief saying there would be some changes after this weekend to see improvement?
“Well, they say they are. We’ll just have to see. Everybody is working hard, everybody at TRD (Toyota Racing Development), everybody at MWR. The 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 24 (Jeff Gordon) have pretty much been the class of the field all season long. That was our best effort. That’s all I had, that’s all we had as a race team. We put it all out there, and still, we were just third best. Got some work to do, but a lot of racing left.”
How was your race?
“It was a good night. The 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 24 (Jeff Gordon) have been the class of the field all season long. That’s all I had, that’s all we had as a race team. Everybody gave it their all this week. That’s all you can ask for and we were third best. That’s kind of been everybody’s problem this year is the 2 and the 24. They seem to have the ball rolling for sure, but it’s not over. Obviously, 10 races left — a lot of racing left. We need a win. If we keep running like we did tonight we’ll get it.”
Were you paying attention to where Greg Biffle was running during the race?
“I didn’t even know until I asked there at the end. All you’ve got to do is ride around back there. That’s all we had to do last week and the damn thing broke. It’s just the way our luck has been this year. It would’ve been nice to come here in the same situation he (Greg Biffle) was in and ride around back there and not have to do anything but unfortunately just that’s the way our luck has been this year. It’s every time we get a step ahead something drags us a couple steps back. Like I said earlier, when you make that Chase you want to be able to compete for a championship and I’m an optimist but I’m a realist and right now realistically we don’t have a shot at winning that championship against the competition we’re running against. We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of racing left to build on and win some races and piss them guys off running for a championship.”
Does this make you optimistic for the last 10 races of the season?
“Yeah, but I mean this is the way our season has been all year is we’ll have a strong run like this and then something stupid will happen like the damn transmission breaking in half and it forces you back in a hole and you spend the next month digging yourself out of that hole. We just never could race like we did tonight all season long. We never could just let it all hang out and go for it because of that situation. We would get a step ahead and have a good run and the very next week we’d get our wings clipped out from underneath us. That’s racing. I’ve been doing it a long time since I was four years old and had bad seasons like this where you just can’t do anything right. Sometimes you have good seasons where you just can’t do anything wrong, and it looks to me like the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 24 (Jeff Gordon) has got going on.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 13th
How was your race?
“Our whole team did a good job. It’s a little disappointing to not make the Chase, but I was really proud of the effort. We’ve had some really bad luck this year. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, we made our own mistakes and every team is going to make mistakes throughout the year — we just had too much go wrong out of our control to make up for our turn in the barrel. This team has done a good job for our first year together. We’re going to go out and try to win a championship next year, and there’s still 10 races left this year where we can win some races and get some top-fives and top-10s. I like to think about how fast we were in the race and at times the fastest on the race track and how we might have been in our primary car. Everyone at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) has done a really great job giving us some really great cars the last month or two stepping up our downforce and car potential and it’s showing in our performance. Unfortunately we didn’t get to show it tonight when we had a tire go down in practice and had to go to a backup and it just wasn’t as up to date as our primary. I’m proud of these guys.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 14th
Is there frustration in recent performance heading into the Chase?
“It’s tough, but we all have to get better as a company and where that comes from we don’t know. If we could have figured that out a while ago, trust me we’d be running better. The guys are working hard — I can’t say enough about my guys , all the 20 (Matt Kenseth) team, the 11 (Denny Hamlin) team — they’re all putting in the hours and doing everything they can it’s just we’re not reaping the benefits of that yet. There’s still 10 more weeks to go and maybe we will.”
How was the race tonight?
“We struggled a bit tonight, but we struggled as a company as well. We all didn’t fare very well and Richmond is normally a place that we like coming to that we run well at and tonight just wasn’t it. We definitely missed. I haven’t felt like we’ve been as strong as we need to be this year. Matt (Kenseth) has definitely done a great job of salvaging good finishes and good runs and stuff. Tonight’s over and now we move on to the Chase and we look forward to that. I felt like we had a good test at Chicago, we ran well earlier this year at Loudon so those two first ones coming up we’ll see how it goes.”
How was the racing overall tonight?
“I thought the race tonight was pretty good. There was options and you could move around. I couldn’t move around, I was stuck to the bottom. I tried to move around a few times and just couldn’t find anything that would work for me any better than where I was at. Made it a little bit frustrating for myself and our team, but we fought through it hard and battled and come home with a top-15 — not what we wanted. As a company it seemed like we struggled a little bit so look forward to next week at Chicago.”
Do you need to be more aggressive to win races in the Chase?
“It’s important to win, but I don’t think you need to be ultra aggressive to get those wins. If you finish second every week, it’s going to get you to Homestead, but you have to win Homestead. Last year we started out with a second and a second — those are two great finishes to have again this year if we could have them and try to move on and get into the second round.”
What is the strategy for the first round of the Chase?
“I think you have guys that you are capable of out-running — I feel like we are capable of out-running a few guys and that first round you’re going to knock out those guys and you just don’t want to be one of those four guys by having a bad night. By being able to get through the first couple races with solid finishes I think we’ll be fine as a team.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 21st
What are the strengths of the team for the Chase?
“Our strength is on pit road, our strength is in our mechanics and our drivers and team members. I think all the pieces of the puzzle are together as far as personnel is concerned. It’s uncharacteristic to see Kyle (Busch), myself and Matt (Kenseth) running average like we are. It just means we have to get faster. That is the piece of the puzzle that we’re missing is we need a little faster cars.”
How does the performance tonight impact momentum for the Chase?
“It’s hard to put tonight behind us because I live in the moment and I wear my performance on my sleeve. Very disappointed in tonight. Our short track package is off quite a bit obviously. Just disappointed with our overall effort. Not effort, but just what we were able to put out on the race track tonight. It feels good that the points are reset and we all start over again. In my opinion we need to be consistent these first six races, especially the first three to be consistent and don’t have a bad race. You can run mediocre and make the cut, but we have to get faster in those last four races and last two segments if we get that far. That will be the most important thing for us.”
COLE WHITT, No. 26 Standard Plumbing Supply Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 30th
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 38th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 66 Friedman Law Firm Toyota Camry, NEMCO Racing
Finishing Position: 40th
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 41st
How was the race tonight?
“It was terrible — I drove it in the fence about lap 100 and then we had to go to the garage and fix it. It was a really bad night.”
Is the team ready to contend for the championship?
“I hope so — I feel like my team has been doing a really great job all year. We’ve been not quite as fast as we wanted to be. I think they’ve executed really well this year. Tonight I wrecked it myself and have been caught up in three or four wrecks that were way in front of me and just got caught up in them. I don’t feel like we’ve had necessarily the greatest luck, but we need to be a little quicker at the same time. I think the team is more than capable of running all the way through there. I wish we had some wins piled up and I wish we ended tonight on a high note, but the next 10 weeks are the important ones. I think we’re ready to go racing as hard as we can and see where it ends up.”
How does the aggression change in the Chase races as they progress?
“It changes as you go and you obviously would love to have a win and whoever wins Chicago assuming they are in the Chase has a couple week vacation because they automatically advance so it would be great to be in that spot. We haven’t won a race in the first 26 so we have a little work to do to get going better. For us I think we just have to have mistake-free races and I can’t make dumb mistakes like I did tonight. We just have to be perfect as a group right now to be able to be able to get really good results.”
RYAN TRUEX, No. 83 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 42nd
JJ YELEY, No. 93 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 43rd
