- Camry driver Carl Edwards finished fifth as the top Toyota driver at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race that was won by the Joey Logano on Sunday.
- In addition to Edwards’ fifth-place result, Camry driver Kyle Busch finished 11th at Talladega, as both he and Edwards advance to the ‘Eliminator 8’ round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoff.
- Camry drivers Matt Kenseth (26th) and Hamlin (37th) are ranked 10th and 12th in the NSCS point standings following Talladega and did not advance into the ‘Eliminator 8’ and are no longer eligible to win the NSCS championship.
- Camry drivers Clint Bowyer (eighth) and Michael Waltrip (13th) also tallied top-20 results in Alabama.
- Busch led the most laps among Toyota drivers with 11 laps paced over one race segment. Hamlin led the field twice for five laps, Waltrip led the field twice for three circuits, Kenseth paced three laps over one segment, Bowyer led the field once for two laps and David Ragan (30th) led one lap.
- After six of 10 Chase races, two Camry drivers have advanced to the third round of the Chase where all eight drivers’ points will be reset to 4000 each as the series heads to the short track of Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Subway Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How do you feel about your performance today?
“Just really glad to be through this round. My guys just did an amazing job with the car, with the strategy and really excited to go to Martinsville. It’s fun to still be in it and we’ll just go race hard and have some more fun.”
What happened with the last two accidents?
“I didn’t see the causes of the cautions, but, man, that’s tough. It’s tough for everybody. It’s frustrating to see guys that raced so hard and so well just barely miss the cut because of wrecks on the last lap, so, man, this is just a tough place to finish a round like that.”
How do you feel about Denny Hamlin missing the cut?
“Did Denny (Hamlin) get wrecked at the end? Denny is such a great competitor. He is really – he has helped me so much and that’s frustrating. He deserves to be in it, but, man, it’s just so tough, so tough. I’m just very fortunate we made it through.”
Are you proud of your team?
“Just an unbelievable effort by our guys. We had to finish I think seventh to make it in and we finished fifth, so, man, that was really stressful. About three quarters of the way through the race when everybody was racing really hard for the front, it was pretty crazy up there. Really proud of my guys – they had awesome pit stops. Darian (Grubb, crew chief) did a great job on the box and just a good day for our Subway Camry.”
Did you think you would finish this round in second?
“I did not. I did not know what to expect. This place is just really unpredictable as you saw there at the end. I mean, to see Denny (Hamlin) get knocked out of the thing that stinks for him. Those guys have run so well. It’s just a total crapshoot here and it’s insanity.”
Did you see how the accidents started on the final restarts?
“Yeah, I don’t know. I didn’t get to see them. I just kind of saw them in my mirror, so I don’t really know exactly what happened, but it is a shame to settle such an important race that way, but that’s Talladega. That’s how it can go.”
What are your thoughts on Denny Hamlin saying Kevin Harvick caused the wreck intentionally?
“Denny (Hamlin) is pretty astute, but he’s also probably pretty frustrated. I haven’t seen it, so I’ll look at it and see, but it’s just so many things going on and so much at stake. It is a tough way to finish a race.”
Is this the most stressful round?
“This is round is – this is the round that keeps everybody up at night, so really excited to go to Martinsville. I really feel like we can go there and win. That would be a blast, so it will be fun the next few weeks.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 11th
How were you able to make it through all the chaos late in the race?
“That’s what we pretty much planned all day today was to just race and whatever happened, happened. It was crazy the way it always happens here, but I guess that’s what does always happen here. However, it was or is, it’s good if we’re in and we’re moving in. That’s what this team needs and what we need – I guess the farthest I’ve ever gone before.”
Are you surprised to be able to make it into the next round of the Chase?
“This is the first time I finished at Talladega without a scratch on the car and I finished worse than third because I’ve only finished twice – I won and I finished third and now I can say that I have not finished in the top-10 without a mark on it. I don’t know if that’s a success or a failure, but either way it was a success for today.”
How do you feel advancing and making it this far in the Chase?
“I don’t feel anything right now, I’m pretty numb. I didn’t ask any questions the whole day, I just figured there with that second-to-last restart, ‘It doesn’t look very good because I see an awful lot of yellow spoilers in front of me, right? Yeah, you’re out.’ It just sort of played our way I guess there at the end.”
How do you feel about Denny Hamlin not advancing in the Chase?
“It’s disappointing, it’s a Gibbs car and a Toyota car that we’d like to see moving on and it’s just disappointing. We know how good Denny (Hamlin) is at Homestead and hopefully I can utilize him a little bit and try to get some good feedback from him to go through Homestead with a fast car and me being good at the race track. We have to get there first, but I’ve always said that if we could get through this round then the sky’s the limit for us.”
Were you surprised by the call by NASCAR not to allow the green flag and extend the final caution?
“It did surprise me how they (NASCAR) called it, but past that – it’s their ball, it’s their field, it’s their bat, it’s their everything. Play along. They spun out, which I think put us in right there anyways and even if it would have been done, we would have been in. You have to maintain reasonable speed. I felt like either way, if the race would have gone green and we would have finished two laps, which I know never happens here, that we would have had a good shot to pass a few guys and get ourselves father up also. There was a bunch of different scenarios there that could have and maybe would have played out a little bit differently if circumstances a little bit differently.”
Does it feel good to make it past Talladega in the Chase?
“I don’t know, I’m pretty numb right now, I’m still trying to figure it out. I guess if we’re eighth we’re eighth and we’ll move on, we’ll see the light of another day. We can be happy about that. This whole M&M’s team, everyone at Toyota, we all deserve it – Joe Gibbs Racing, they deserve it. I wish Denny (Hamlin) didn’t have the day that he had, that’s unfortunate for those guys. It kind of sucks that we won’t see four cars at Homestead, but hopefully we can at least see two.”
Do you consider today to be a good day?
“I don’t know that something good happened today, I just don’t think anything bad happened today. I’m not surprised, I’m just numb. Good luck didn’t strike so I’m not jubilated that I’d won or finished first, second, third or whatever, but I finished 11th and this is the first time I think I’ve brought home a car in one piece here at Talladega that hasn’t been a third-place finish or better from getting wrecked.”
MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 98 Maxwell House Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 13th
How was the race today?
“Our plan today was to get in the pack and stay in the middle of the pack – do the best we could to lead and do the best we could to get to the front so we could celebrate Maxwell House and Toyota sponsoring me in the race. We got up towards the front a few times and finished 13th. I’m proud of my guys and really thankful for the opportunity to race again.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 DeWALT Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
What happened at the end of the race?
“Well, at the end, the 4 (Kevin Harvick) knew he was blew up and we had the first attempt, but I guess they said it wasn’t an attempt, although they threw the green, so it seems like we attempted the start and there was a wreck. So then they tried it again and the 4 knew he was blew up, so he said he was going to stay in his lane, so the 6 (Trevor Bayne) then went up and outside and he clipped him and caused a wreck because he knew he’d make the Chase that way, so it’s – I got wrecked out two weeks in a row from people doing what they had to do to make the Chase, but call it what you want. But I just feel like they lost total control of this whole thing. It’s not what racing is all about. The 22 (Joey Logano) last week wrecks us for the win to get in, to keep us out and get him in and then today we’ve got a chance, he’s lined up behind, he’s dragging the brakes, he’s trying not to go. He’s doing everything he can to make it worse for you, so he’s standing there in victory lane and he’s happy, but the racing is just – it’s just kind of out of control.”
Are you disappointed you didn’t qualify for the ‘Eliminator 8’?
“It’s disappointing, but, like I said, it was a little bit of a circus there at the end. At Talladega, you don’t have a lot of control. Our car just wasn’t very fast today. To be honest with you, we just couldn’t do the things with it that I’m used to being able to do with these cars. We were just kind of stuck where we were – usually go backwards, could never really go forward, so we didn’t have a car today that could be a threat any way. I shouldn’t have got us in this position at Charlotte and Kansas. We should have been able to get away and do a better job there and wouldn’t have been in that spot here.”
What happened when Joey Logano came to pit road?
“We were just pitting under green and he came from like the third groove and didn’t say he was pitting, waving, doing anything. He just pulled in front and then he just brake checked me real bad and we almost both wrecked getting onto pit road under green. I’m not sure what he was doing. I’ve never seen an experienced driver pit from the third groove before. It was a little hairy.”
Do you think Kevin Harvick wrecked Trevor Bayne on purpose to keep from falling back?
“Yeah, they basically said they were going to do that, so I kind of knew it was coming, but it doesn’t really make it any easier. He pulled out of the way the first time because he knew he was blowing up and this time he said he was going to hold his lane, so we went up to go around him and then he clipped the 6 (Trevor Bayne). He knew if he put him in a slow spin the race was over and he’d make it, so, like I said, it feels we lost control here the last two weeks. I don’t think that’s what racing is about. The spot they put us in, it’s hard to blame people, but that’s not what racing’s all about.”
Are you upset by the finish?
“It was a pretty tough ending – the 4 (Kevin Harvick) knew he was blowing up and told everybody he was going to stay in his lane. Well, he did that until somebody got outside of him and he caused the wreck to finish the race, so we got tore up two weeks in a row trying to make it. We weren’t going to make it anyway. We weren’t fast enough to run up front today, but it’s disappointing. Wasn’t really racing to be honest with you – it was just a bunch of games going on and you can hardly blame a guy for doing it. He was either going to make it if he does that and wreck some people going slow or he’s not going to make it if it goes green for two laps, but I don’t know. It just feels like we kind of lost control in this situation. Hopefully, we can get back to racing next week and everybody going fast and trying to win.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 Aaron’s Online Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 30th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 37th
What happened on the final restart?
“4 (Kevin Harvick) could only run about 30 miles per hour so I think he saw people coming and he knew he was going to be 30th, last car on the lead lap so caused the wreck. That’s not here nor there. We had a self-inflicted day, took us four times to get our roof fixed. It’s unfortunate, I feel like I’ve done all I could possibly do to advance in a three race season. I feel like we could have won next week. I really can’t spin any positive on it right now.”
What happened with the roof hatch?
“I don’t know what broke or whatever. It just peeled up. I guess what’s frustrating is they didn’t tell us we had to, but we came in and fixed it, we didn’t get it fixed, we tried to come in again and get it fixed, didn’t fix it and went a bunch of laps down. It’s tough, we’ll just move on to next year.”
JJ YELEY, No. 26 Adirondack Tree Surgeons Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 38th
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 40th
