TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Richmond International Raceway – September 11, 2015
2nd, MATT KENSETH
4th, KYLE BUSCH
5th, DAVID RAGAN
7th, CARL EDWARDS
25th, DENNY HAMLIN
26th, CLINT BOWYER
33rd, MATT DiBENEDETTO
41st, JEB BURTON
43rd, JJ YELEY
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 2nd
Did you think you had a pole-winning car today?
“Yeah, I knew it right when the first lap was over as soon as I got through (turns) 1 and 2 but it’s hard to be disappointed with second but I’m really disappointed with second. They gave me an awesome Dollar General Camry especially on stickers. The second round we had a little bit to work on and in the third round a little work on too but I didn’t get 1 and 2 right. I got a little too aggressive getting back to the gas and that messed up my center and my exit and I knew I left all the time there and we weren’t really setup to run a fast second lap. That was kind of it. I feel bad I kind of messed that up but hopefully we’ll have a fast car tomorrow night and we can keep it up front.”
How was your Camry in race trim during practice earlier today?
“The track was strange today. We didn’t really work on qualifying very much and we were off on speed but our balance felt okay. I felt like we’ve had pretty decent speed most of the day in race trim. We certainly are trying to work on the drivability to make sure it’s doing the things that we know it needs to do all night to be competitive on hopefully short runs and long runs. I felt like we were okay today, but you don’t really practice in race conditions here and you’re never really sure until you get up with everybody and get in the race.”
How was the car in practice?
“It was good, we had a lot of speed in our Dollar General Camry, especially on stickers. The second round we were off a little bit and tried to adjust on it. We still would have been pretty close to the pole and I just kind of lost my mark down there in one and two and tried to get a little too aggressive. There was a lot of tire fall off even for qualifying and just tried a little too hard down there and lost the exit and that’s where the time was. I feel like we had a car that would have been real close to the pole and probably on the pole if I would have done my job perfectly and I just didn’t quite do that. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get it, but it’s encouraging to qualify that good and show that kind of speed. Hopefully, we’ll have it for 400 laps.”
Can any team other than Joe Gibbs Racing or Penske Racing win tomorrow night?
“I hope not (laughter). Qualifying here is one thing and racing is totally different. Even through practice today, it’s a hot, sunny day and assuming hopefully we race tomorrow night then track conditions will be a lot different than they were today. I always feel like you never really know what you’re going to have when you get in the race here. For me, it’s always a surprise, Sometimes a good one and sometimes a bad one, but I never went to bed here on Friday night sure of what I had for Saturday really until you get racing. You never know what’s going to happen here.”
What has caused the racing at Richmond to change over the years?
“A lot of other things have changed here, it’s been kind of a finicky place for some reason. I can go way back in time, but when they used to seal it and it was the weirdest thing, they would seal the track with like driveway sealer and the groove would start on the bottom and you would wear the sealer off and just keep moving up until you were about in the fifth groove and then they kind of quit doing that and then it moved to the bottom for a while. Then when Goodyear brought that other tire it moved right up against the wall so I think a lot of it depends what tire they bring to be honest with you.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
How was the car in qualifying?
“The car was pretty good – just not being here in the spring kind of hurt our ability to know how to adjust for the rounds so we messed up just a little bit there. Overall, real pleased with everything on our M&M’s Crispy/American Heritage Chocolate Camry. We’ll race them from fourth – we can see it from there.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 5th
How was the car today and are you happy with the starting position?
“We really worked on race trim a lot today. We showed up here with one goal in mind and that’s to win the race and put ourselves in position. We weren’t that great in qualifying trim so I didn’t know what to expect, but obviously we have a good car and we made some good adjustments on that qualifying run. That’s a great qualifying spot and anytime you can start in the top-10 or top-five, that’s a great spot.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 7th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 25th
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour Energy Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 26th
Were you disappointed with the car in qualifying?
“We were much better in practice. We tried to make adjustments to correct the entry after our first lap but it just wasn’t enough. We will have to make up some ground tomorrow night but we were good in race trim so we will be ok.”
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 James Madison University Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 33rd
JEB BURTON, No. 23 Estes Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 41st
JJ YELEY, No. 26 Maxim Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 43rd
