TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Texas Motor Speedway – November 1, 2013
5th, KYLE BUSCH 25th, ELLIOTT SADLER
6th, MATT KENSETH 26th, CLINT BOWYER
11th, DENNY HAMLIN 38th, TRAVIS KVAPIL
15th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 39th, DAVID REUTIMANN
22nd, BOBBY LABONTE 41st, JOE NEMECHEK
23rd, PARKER KLIGERMAN
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Snickers Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 5th
How was the qualifying lap?
“I thought it was really good. I felt like I got through (turns) one and two amazing. Didn’t want to over-shoot turns three and four, so gave up a little bit down there, b ut felt like I got back to it good and made a good effort to run the fast time there. In practice, we knew we had a shot for the pole and we were hoping that was enough. Just missed by a little bit. All in all, happy with it, but you always want to be the first guy. I think we can see the front from where we are right there.”
Did you get everything out of the qualifying lap?
“I thought (turns) one and two was spectacular — it was really good. I felt like I got through three and four well too — I didn’t want to overdrive it because that has been the tricky end today with all the sun shining on it. Felt like I had a good effort there. The Snickers/M&M’s Camry was awesome today — the guys did a really good job for me. Just look forward to the front, starting up there like that and being able to race them hard.”
Are you comfortable in all three vehicles for this weekend?
“This place is a very, very fast place. None of them are very easy, but I feel like our cars have been pretty good on both sides — the truck is pretty good. It’s not as good as I wanted it, but we’ll see how it all shakes out.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot ‘Let’s Do This’ Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 6th
How was the qualifying lap?
“It was actually pretty good. We picked up a fair amount from practice — still fighting some of the same problems, but not nearly as bad. I really felt like we had a pretty clean lap. Hopefully, we will end up in the top-10.”
Did you spend more time on race runs than qualifying during practice?
“Honestly, we did exactly the same as we do every weekend. We ran two runs in race trim — sometimes we run three. We only ran two today and then moved into qualifying trim. Really didn’t do anything different at all. I think a lot of guys went into qualifying trim right away just because a lot of us tested here. This is a different car than we tested and we felt like we needed to get a little bit of a balance to work on for tomorrow.”
Do you pay attention to where Jimmie Johnson is on the race track or where he starts the race?
“Not until the race is over. It’s just a starting spot, but I do feel like that was — my car drove pretty good. I felt like I got most of it so I was hoping I was up in the top-10. You can only control what we do and you can only drive your own car so you can’t really control what anybody else does. I feel like that was okay. Obviously, it wasn’t the best because the car before us beat us and some others cars beat us, but I feel like we made some progress on it. I’m fairly satisfied with that. We’re going to work on race trim tomorrow and get it driving good for Sunday when it really counts.”
Is Texas an abrasive race track?
“This is one of the few tracks left before they came up with the new formula or whatever they use to repave tracks. This is one of the last ones left that has the surface before they came up with that new formula that never wears out like Charlotte and Homestead and Richmond and some of these tracks. It is one of the last like that which is pretty abrasive.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 14th
How was your qualifying run?
“It wasn’t too bad. We were obviously better in practice position-wise, but made some adjustments and ran the Nationwide car a little bit. It was a little bit of a transition there going back and forth. I don’t think I gave everything that the car could have had, but still we were a couple tenths off. I was about a tenth of that. I think our car was really good in race trim, but in qualifying trim didn’t spend a whole lot of time focusing on. Still, decent effort at least and that will give us a shot.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued)
How does it feel to be back in a Nationwide car?
“It’s good, so far it’s been good. Hopefully we have a good race for those guys. They’ve been contenders all year and definitely want to try to give them their first win — that would be a great weekend.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 15th
How was your qualifying lap?
“Definitely not what we were looking for. We were here to get a pole. We were obviously quickest in practice. We were quickest in practice in the Spring, too and didn’t get the pole. I don’t know. There’s something about when the track is green we’re really fast and we lose it throughout practice. We’ll be good tomorrow — we race good here. We’ll be alright.”
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Clorox Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Starting Position: 22nd
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 30 Swan Energy Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Starting Position: 23rd
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Sour Apple Extra Strength 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 26th
ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 25th
How was your race car after practice and qualifying?
“It was great after practice and everybody did a great job on this team. We had a really fast car at practice and drove really good. Just a little bit too tight in qualifying. Maybe I should have got the guys to free it up a little more. Just a little bit too tight, definitely left some speed on the table being a little too tight. Not the qualifying effort that we wanted. We were really fast in practice, really thought we had a shot at a top-five or top-10 starting spot, but we’ll start a little deeper than that and get them on Sunday.”
How beneficial will the extra track time be by running both the Nationwide and Cup Series races?
“I don’t know, I’ll let you know after the race. It should help going back and forth. We’ll see how it plays out.”
TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 38th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 39th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 41st
