TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
400 miles, 160 laps
July 23, 2016
TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, CARL EDWARDS
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
8th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
18th, MATT KENSETH
28th, DAVID RAGAN
30th, MATT DiBENEDETTO
36th, RYAN ELLIS
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Skittles Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 1st
What was the key to your pole-winning run?
“I don’t know if there’s necessarily a key. I just think that everything kind of worked together. There’s a lot of different variables that are happening as you go from run to run and round to round and changing what you do as a driver a little bit, but also changing the car a little bit and making adjustments to keep up with the race track. It’s a true testament to all of our teamwork at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) with the guys that came here and tested for us and got us a good base line.”
How important is starting up front at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
“I feel like it’s really important, but I’ve run well here from not qualifying very well too. If you’ve got a good race car, you can make the most of your opportunities no matter where you start, but it always makes it that much easier by starting up front.”
What does it mean to win the pole for the Brickyard 400?
“It means a lot. It’s definitely pretty special to be running the way that we’re running and to have the success that we’ve had here the last couple of years at Indy and I’d love nothing more than to try to win here again.”
Why have you been good at Indy of late?
“The last couple of years has been pretty good. Definitely been figuring a couple things out I’d guess I’d say and making the most of all the opportunities presented to me. I’ve had some really good cars and I remember the days when I didn’t have such good cars here, but we’ve been doing a good job of working hard and making sure we keep our heads down and keep doing what we need to be doing and focusing on our own thing and I think that’s just the Joe Gibbs Racing tradition of what we do and our guys came here and tested a couple weeks ago and was able to give us a good base line, so kudos to our teammates.”
How confident are you at this track?
“Winning gives you the confidence that you need in order to make sure that you feel like you know what you’re doing here and by being able to win it definitely solidified that and gives you a bit more confidence being able to go in to the following year like right now and being able to run for the pole and qualifying there. We certainly hope that it translates into a good race car. I feel like we have a good race car and it’s going to be a long 400 miles and a hot 400 miles here tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Stanley Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 2nd
Did you think you had a chance to get the pole?
“I was happy with my lap and I just – I was surprised Kyle (Busch) got me. That was a good lap for him – I mean, that was a good lap that he ran because I felt like my lap was pretty good – but, yeah, it’s frustrating right now to be second because it’s so close and the pole position is obviously huge here. But by tomorrow, the race gets started and I think I’ll be pretty happy with that starting spot, so just good job by all my guys.”
Do you think Toyotas are better than the competition at Indy right now and overall?
“I can tell you this, I’ve been in this sport for a while now and the reason that Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas are running well is because Coach (Joe Gibbs, team owner) has an amazing group of people put together. I feel like the – I don’t feel like we have a brand-based advantage because of some rules or something like that. We just have a really great team of people. TRD (Toyota Rain Development) is building great engines. We work really well together as teammates. Just today it’s a good example, I was out there trying to beat my teammate, Kyle (Busch), and both of us ended up running well and for me that’s – he motivates me, my other teammates motivate me and so, yeah, we’re running really well. But, man, it’s all cylinders are firing. It’s not one thing I guess is what I’m saying.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
How was your qualifying effort?
“It was pretty good. We got a little bit better each run as far as position is concerned, so I feel like we’re pretty close. I thought in race trim our Camry was really exceptionally good especially over the long run, so pretty optimistic about tomorrow.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Starting Position: 8th
How was your qualifying effort?
“Eighth, so not terrible, but not what we hoped for obviously. This is a prestigious race an everybody wants to get that front row starting spot or a shot at the pole, so we were off yesterday a little bit – off especially in our qualifying runs – and made a bunch of changes last night and still really fought the same issues. Just not sure where we’re missing it, but the guys are smart and they’ll figure it out and we’ll be good to go for tomorrow.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 18th
How was your qualifying effort?
“We’ve been really far off the whole time we’ve been here, so my thoughts – my thoughts are we’re really slow. I hope we make it better for tomorrow, but we just – we’ve been off yesterday and today I was hoping it’d be a little bit better. We changed a lot of stuff and really didn’t see much of a difference on speed. It drives a little better, but it’s still pretty slow. Hopefully we can get it for tomorrow somehow.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 23 Brandeis Machinery Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 28th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 ScienceLogic Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 30th
RYAN ELLIS, No. 93 ScienceLogic Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 36th
