KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s 75 Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Duel 2 Finishing Position: 1st
Are you happy to give your team a good starting spot and pit location for the Daytona 500?
“Yeah, we did. I guess it was quiet and calm there for a long time and the last lap just went kind of crazy. Great car. These guys at Joe Gibbs Racing do a phenomenal job this winter building some new pieces for us to come down here with and have some fun. Looking forward to starting the Daytona 500 in the fourth spot but I think I will actually get the outside front row now that (Matt) Kenseth got caught up in that mess and tore up his car. Can’t say enough about M&M’s. They’re celebrating their 75th anniversary with us this year so we’re excited about that. All of the fans in every single M&M’s race the 75th lap if you want to share your favorite memories, photos, videos, whatever on any social media platform you can do that with us with the hashtag MMS775 and there’s going to be some cool prizes for everybody with that. So, I’m pretty excited about that opportunity for all the race fans to take home some cool swag. Maybe it’s some Toyota stuff, maybe it’s some M&Ms stuff and could be some Monster Energy – who knows. Got to thank Sprint for putting this race on and thank all of the fans for being here tonight. A lot of fun to win these things. It doesn’t really mean a whole lot but it still means something for all of the guys and everyone back at the shop. And thank TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and the engine department – thank you guys.”
What was the difference coming down to the last two or three laps?
“They were all trying to make some maneuvers and make some things happen I guess and nothing kind of every worked or transpired into getting anywhere closer to us. There that last lap getting off into turn 1 the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) had a run on the 1 (Jamie McMurray) it looked like from my mirror anyways and then the 1 may have pinched the 48 and got him turned around. All in all I can’t say enough about this whole M&M’s team, everyone on this M&M’s Camry is pretty awesome. It’s really neat to come out here and be a part of the M&M’s 75th anniversary celebration and doing a special program for the fans so if anybody ever wants to send a video or a photo of different M&M’s memories on lap 75 of every M&M’s sponsored race that we run they can do that on any social media platform using the hashtag MMS75 and there’s some cool swag in all of that stuff. So you never know, it could be some M&M’s stuff, Toyota stuff, Interstate Batteries, NOS, who knows. It could be all of it. Pretty fun for the fans but all in all I want to thank all of those partners that we mentioned but also TRD for giving us some good power down here.”
How much of the pass around Matt Kenseth was planned?
“We were just trying to help each other. He was just trying to cool his temperatures back down and he actually waved me by so that gave me the lead and then I just pulled back up in front of him and took the debris on his grill off of it and allowed his temps to come back down and him to finish the race. From there we were able to hold the lead, come down pit road, smooth pit entry and everything there was good. Pit stop was good and full of enough Sunoco fuel to make it to the end there and just try to battle it out with the rest of the guys and hold enough gap where they couldn’t get enough of a run on me and make something happen. Learned some things out front for sure about how to lead but I still feel like I need some more work being the guy back there trying to get in the lead. Crazier things have happened I’m sure at the Daytona 500.
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Duel 2 Finishing Position: 4th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 93 Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Duel 2 Finishing Position: 9th
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Duel 2 Finishing Position: 14th
Do you know much about your backup car?
“I don’t, but I mean I’m sure it’s going to be okay. Our guys build really good race cars and it’s a shame – its two cars on the last lap in two races in turn one, so a little bit frustrating. Just going to have another decent run there, everything was looking good, the car was – I was really happy with it tonight. Just unfortunate. I was kind of committed to the middle toward the high side and I see the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) completely sideways in front of me and I was like, ‘He’s going to hit the car on the inside and come back up the track,’ and I couldn’t get turned down below him, so just one of them deals. It’s frustrating, but it’s restrictor plate racing, so we’ll work hard on getting our backup car ready and getting it ready for Sunday and hopefully be able to get up through the field and get somewhere towards the front in a safe spot. Just can’t catch any luck so far these Speedweeks.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing (continued)
What happened out there?
“Just the wrong place at the wrong time. Pretty much exactly like what happened Saturday night to us – just riding along there, you know? Take the white in pretty decent spot and just they started wrecking in front of me, so there’s not much you can do, but disappointed obviously. I thought our car was really good tonight. That was really the first that we had really done some serious racing and drafting and I was really pretty happy with it, so worked our way up through there and was sitting in a pretty decent spot towards the end – was looking like we had a shot at getting another couple spots there and just mayhem. Unfortunate to be in the wrong place, wrong time again and on the last lap, but hopefully we have a little bit better luck on Sunday.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Duel 2 Finishing Position: 16th
Can you take any positives from this?
“No. No, not really. We got paper on the grille, which everybody has been getting all week and unfortunately I got it hot, so I had to get me back to second and you wouldn’t think first and second would be much different, but it ended up really being the difference between wrecked and not wrecked, so I let Jimmie (Johnson) get under me. I didn’t want to throw too big of a block and Kyle (Busch) had to go with him. That got me shuffled back a little bit and at that point it probably would have been hindsight to call it a day, but tried to learn what we could today for Sunday and it ended up biting us.”
Should you have raced in the back?
“Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) was saying once we got shuffled he was telling me to bail out down the frontstretch and I was actually trying to find a hole to get out of there. I saw the wreck happen a while before it started and tried to start slowing down and just car got ran over from behind and got pushed under the wreck, so that’s beyond disappointed. You’ve got to practice at some point. You’ve got to go out there and try to get your runs and try to figure out how you can make a pass, so it all started with debris on the grille. I thought we had control of the race and we got back to second and it just didn’t work out.”
Do you regret staying in the pack once you lost first?
“Yeah, I mean that’s kind of what I just said I guess. Once we got behind second and got back to fourth, fifth, probably should have just bailed. I was just – still it seemed pretty safe at that time. It was pretty much single file, so I was trying to make some moves and get back up there, but you do have to practice at some point. You’ve got to make sure you have what you need in the car for Sunday. Obviously, we’ve got to start over now and there’s no better time to do that than this race even though it’s so late at night, so you do need to learn things for yourself, you need to learn things for your setup, you’ve got to try to work through that stuff, but, yeah, hindsight’s 20/20. Of course, we should have bailed out with two to go.”
ROBERT RICHARDSON JR., No. 26 Stalk It Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Duel 2 Finishing Position: 18th
How does it feel to race into the Daytona 500?
“Man, that’s better than winning the lottery right there. Not the way we really wanted to go about doing it, but we were hanging back there just trying to hang on to the draft. All in all, making it into the 500 is a milestone for my career definitely.”
How did you find out you would be racing this weekend?
“I was actually out mowing my hay pastures a couple weeks ago and got the phone call that we were putting this deal together so very, very blessed to be here. Thanks to everyone at Stalk It for sponsoring us this weekend. Just very blessed to be here.”
How did the car feel in practice and what do you need to work on before Sunday’s race?
“The car definitely handled a lot better than it did in practice the other day when we got out in the draft. We were a little bit free in the session the other day and we tightened it up quite a bit here for the race, maybe a little too tight. We’ll work on it some more here later in the week and get it a little more dialed in and hopefully be able to race with the pack when it comes time for the 500.”
How special is tonight for you?
“This is every kid’s dream, every racer dreams of this moment. I came from racing Legends cars and Super Late Models and there’s so many guys out there that have opportunities to make it in this race and this is definitely a dream come true for me. I’ve raced a couple 500s before with other teams, but this one is really special.”
MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 83 Maxwell House Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Duel 2 Finishing Position: 20th
