13th, KASEY KAHNE 20th, BRIAN VICKERS 22nd, KEVIN CONWAY 23rd, DAVID REUTIMANN 24th, BOBBY LABONTE 29th, MIKE SKINNER 32nd, CASEY MEARS 33rd, MICHAEL MCDOWELL 34th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 36th, DENNY HAMLIN 37th, JOEY LOGANO 38th, KYLE BUSCH 43rd, JOE NEMECHEK
KASEY KAHNE, No. 4 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Starting Position: 13th How is your race car? “It’s not too bad. The Red Bull guys did a really nice job. I ran up the wall yesterday. I was pushing Brian (Vickers) and we got up pretty high and I was pushing and lost my front and just touched it and rubbed the right side pretty good. So, they worked pretty hard to fix it. It looks really good and the car is fast. We ran about the same time as Brian so I think we should be looking good for tomorrow night.”
How different is the Daytona racing surface in July from February? “It used to be a lot different. The new surface — to me it felt pretty similar yesterday. I just worked with Brian (Vickers) a little bit. Trying to get our splitter right and engine running how it’s supposed to. I felt pretty decent. I think we’ll be all right, if we can work together and stick together throughout the whole race. See how well our Red Bull cars can go. But, I actually got into the wall a little (in practice). The guys had to work on the right side. They made it real nice again. It will be fine.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Starting Position: 20th How was your qualifying lap? “It was okay. It’s Daytona qualifying. I love this race track. This is one of the best tracks that we come to. The fans know that. It’s going to be an exciting race tomorrow. For qualifying there is not a lot I can do as a driver. It kind of is what it is. I hold it wide open.”
What did you work on in Thursday’s practice session? “Mainly worked on drafting with my teammate Kasey (Kahne). We spent some time working together and worked really well together. We worked great together in Talladega until we both got taken out of the race. We were doing really well. I look forward to working with him tomorrow hopefully for the entire race, all the way to the checkered flag.”
KEVIN CONWAY, No. 97 Extenze Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Starting Position: 22nd
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 23rd Are you happy with your car’s handling? “I think it’s okay. It was really hard to tell with the limited amount of practice, but it seemed to run good. I guess we’ll just have to see in the race. It’s really hard to tell in a place like this. All of the cars handle well and it’s just difficult to figure it out.”
Do you have issues with the track being slick, or has that changed with the new asphalt? “We shouldn’t have an issue with that at all. It seems to be a completely different animal now that they’ve repaved it. I don’t think we’ll fight the same things that we used to.”
Are you planning to work with Martin Truex Jr. in the race? “That’s the only car that I worked with and that’s our plan — to work together depending on if we can get hooked up or not. I’m sure at some point we will, but depending on where we start we’ll have to try to find each other at some point during the race.”
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Kingsford Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Starting Position: 24th How will starting at the rear of the field change your strategy? “I don’t know. It’s just kind of one of those things. It’s important where you start, but obviously it’s not as important where you start here as some other places we go to. We just have to wait and see what happens. It’s kind of like today — it’s like leading up to it it’s pretty calm, when it all starts it’s all exciting. So, you never know what will take place. We’ll see what happens. But we hate that we have to start so far back. But, we do and we’ll go from there.”
Did your car feel the same as in February at Daytona? “It is about the same. It was a pretty good run. We had an incident with our engine before practice started yesterday. So, the spare is not quite up to where the race engine was going to be — a couple of horsepower off. But, for qualifying that’s what it’s all about is that. Once the race starts I think it will be fine. We’ll be able to draft. I drafted with Terry (Labonte) and Casey Mears a lot yesterday, so we’ll see what happens. Kind of a long race. It’s like all of the calm and then when the storm starts and you never know what’s going to take place. Our plan is to do the same thing we talked about yesterday, but I’ve said that before and then you don’t see that person for the whole evening or the whole day, until the end of the race maybe. So, you never know, but we’ll give it our best shot tomorrow night.”
MIKE SKINNER, No. 60 Big Red Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Starting Position: 29th
CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Starting Position: 32nd
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 66 HP Racing LLC Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Starting Position: 33rd
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 34th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 36th Are you happy with your car in race trim? “We are seriously off the pace when it comes to qualifying. Just seemed to be good and it seems like our RPM ban is better for us in the draft than it is in qualifying?
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 37th How did your car handle during yesterday’s practice? “The car wasn’t bad in the draft. I thought we had good speed in it and it drove good and drove solid. For warmer weather we could still push pretty well I thought. We’ll see what happens. Everything else was fine. We knew we weren’t going to qualify that good so it kind of is what it is.”
Do you plan to work with Kyle Busch in the race? “Yeah, for the most part. If we can find each other we’re definitely going to work with each other and try to work our way up towards the front together. I think we’re right near each other, so hopefully we’ll hook up and we’ll go.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 38th How is your car in race trim? “Race trim is pretty good. We drafted a lot with Joey (Logano) yesterday and feel pretty good about what we were able to do and accomplish. Just hope better things for the race.”
How much has the grip at Daytona changed in July with the new asphalt? “I don’t think there is going to be a shortage of grip out there. There seems to be plenty of it. Everybody will have good handling cars, good driving cars and it’s all about speed.”
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 NEMCO Motorsports Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Starting Position: 43rd
