TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Phoenix International Raceway – Nov. 13, 2015
4th, CARL EDWARDS
7th, ERIK JONES
10th, KYLE BUSCH
13th, DENNY HAMLIN
27th, CLINT BOWYER
29th, DAVID RAGAN
30th, MATT DiBENEDETTO
33rd, JJ YELEY
37th, JEB BURTON
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 STANLEY Tools Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
How was your Camry in qualifying?
“Our STANLEY Camry was pretty good. We had a fast car and I’m excited to go race now. We have a good starting spot, which was our first mission. Obviously we want to be better than fourth, but we’re close enough to the front that we have a good pit stall selection, all our guys have been working hard and I think it paid off today.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 7th
How was the car in qualifying?
“It was good. We were really good in the second round (of qualifying) and then we made another adjustment kind of like we did for the second round when we went out for the third round and it just wasn’t quite enough, we were a little too tight. Good day really for us in the Dollar General Camry. Compared to practice where our mock run was and then the gains we made between then and now was definitely good. Nice to have another top-10 starting spot for Sunday and it’s definitely a good place to work from.”
What has it been like bouncing between the three series here at Phoenix?
“I think definitely being at a track that you like helps out a lot. As you go between them you really have to remember kind of what’s different between the cars you’re going into. I know the first run of qualifying in the Cup car I was definitely searching a little bit to try to get my feel back from the XFINITY car and get back into the groove of driving a Cup car. It takes a minute for sure. I don’t think it’s something that instantly happens, but I think we’ve done a nice job taking everything one step at a time and focusing on the task at hand.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 10th
What do you need to do on Sunday to advance in the Chase?
“We need to be better than 10th, I’m not so sure 10th is going to get it done for us. The M&M’s Crispy Camry we unloaded really good, a lot better than we had here in the past. I feel like as a company we unloaded better. Big thanks to Matt Kenseth and the 20 team for coming out here and giving us a good test. We’ll work on it all day tomorrow. We definitely have to be smart about it and make some really good changes to the car and get it to where I need it in order to run probably seventh or better. I think that will probably get it done. If the 4 (Kevin Harvick) wins, that puts us in a must race situation with the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) or 19 (Carl Edwards) depending on how that kind of goes in order to be the guy that transfers through. We’d love to win it, first and foremost. This M&M’s Crispy Camry team deserves that and we’ll work as hard as we need to tomorrow to try to do that on Sunday.”
Is there any additional challenge this weekend after not racing here in the Spring?
“A little bit, just fine tuning everything and getting back into the rhythm of the Cup car and everything like that. The XFINITY car over there definitely helped me get all that going.”
What is your outlook at this point?
“As the point sit, I think already at the drop of the green flag we’re the last guy in. It’s definitely going to have to be better than 10th and we’ll see how we race and how everybody else races. According to qualifying and speeds from practice and everything right now, need to be smart about what we do tomorrow and get a good race car going.”
Will you pay attention to where the other Chase drivers are running tomorrow in practice?
“Right now for us our best scenario is to run hard and run strong and do what we know how to do and come out of here with a better than seventh place finish. I think that will get it done. We’ll see how that goes. I think we should be able to run that well and we’re just going to race the race and race our own race right now until it gets down to about the last 100 laps and then we’ll start seeing what if we need to do to try to make up spots. Literally, I give it everything I’ve got every lap anyways. I don’t know that I’ll be able to make it up if we’re running 12th to get to that seventh mark. I don’t know if I can make that up.”
Have you looked at the different points scenarios?
“No, you pretty much know in your head what’s kind of going to happen. If the 4 (Kevin Harvick) wins, then we’re racing the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and the 19 (Carl Edwards) and if the 78 is ahead of us and we’re fourth then we’re the final transfer guy then we’re going to be racing the 19. That’s basically what you have to look at right there.”
Do you want to know that information during the race on Sunday?
“No, not until later in the game. Really, what am I going to do different? I don’t know if I’m going to drive from 12th or 15th if that’s where we’re running, I don’t know if I can drive from there to seventh. I give it everything I’ve got anyway.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 13th
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 27th
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 29th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 VooDoo Barbeque Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 30th
JJ YELEY, No. 26 Maxim Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 33rd
JEB BURTON, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 37th
