3rd, MATT KENSETH
4th, DAVID RAGAN
6th, DENNY HAMLIN
10th, CLINT BOWYER
15th, CARL EDWARDS
30th, BRETT MOFFITT
34th, JEB BURTON
41st, JJ YELEY
42nd, MATT DIBENEDETTO
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dewalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How important is it to run well at this track in Toyota’s backyard?
“I really like this track and with Toyota being out here and stuff, it’s fun to come here and race – you want to do well and you want to do well every week. We have a really good Dewalt Dollar General Camry. I just missed lap two and I started to miss lap three too. I kind of got most of it, but I didn’t get all of it so I feel bad that we got beat by that much. I think that was driver error more so than car. Overall, it’s a good spot to start.”
Does the car feel better than it did last weekend?
“Thankfully this is a lot different than Phoenix so I’m hoping for a much better result. It was a struggle for all of us at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) at Phoenix last week for sure. We had good speed today and you could see that in qualifying. Our qualifying has been much better this year so hopefully tomorrow we can all work hard through practice and get a good race setup for Sunday.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
How does it feel to know the No. 18 Camry has won the last two races here?
“Yeah, everyone’s reminded me often that the 18 car has won both races in the previous two years, but that generally gives you some confidence coming into the weekend. I spoke to Kyle (Busch, full-time driver of the No. 18 Camry) this morning and, you know, he gave me a few things to think about. Not necessarily for qualifying today, but for happy hour tomorrow throughout the race on Sunday. I feel like I’ve got a lot of good guys surrounding me that if I ask them the right questions, they’ll give me some good advice and ultimately it helps when you have a fast car and I think that our Interstate Batteries Toyota has some speed. The handling hasn’t been perfect today, but it’s encouraging any time that you can make some small adjustments, the car does react and even though you’re still fighting some problems, you still have some speed, so looks like all four Gibbs cars have some speed today. We’ll work on – tomorrow, I think tomorrow’s practices will be very, very important to get a good balance for Sunday, but, yeah, all in all I feel good about the weekend and can’t wait to get going on Sunday.”
Do you feel more comfortable with the team?
“It’s great to get to the race track and know everyone’s name and get a feel for their process through a weekend and how they communicate and how all four teams work together for the common good, so that certainly does make things a little easier. I’ve been a little disappointed with just our overall results on Sundays. We’ve had moments of brilliance through the weekends, but we really haven’t been able to put an entire weekend together, so it’s encouraging to get back to the race track and again have some speed. This weekend is very, very important to get a good run and obviously just set the tone for the next few races. As far as being on a smaller team and being hungry to get to a more competitive program, I think in the Sprint Cup Series sometimes your careers go in different directions and I think that every driver – maybe exception of one of two over the years – have all had ups and downs and been more successful with multiple teams, so in my situation leaving Roush (Fenway Racing) going to Front Row Motorsports, I knew that I had a great opportunity to help a smaller team and meet some new people and still work on some of my skills. The resources and all the tools that the larger teams have, it’s really remarkable that a smaller organization can even keep up with the larger teams. Kudos to NASCAR for keeping the rules as tight as they have over the years that will allow a Harry Scott Motorsports or Front Row Motorsports or a Phoenix Racing over the years to win a race or to qualifying in the top-10 or get a top-10 finish. But I think over the last few years I’ve worked hard to try to make David Ragan a better driver, but when you get to a team like Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing) or a Hendrick (Motorsports) or Stewart-Haas (Racing), you’re surrounded by greatness. You definitely have to elevate and not make any mistakes and there’s some really, really good drivers, really good crew chiefs and the engineers that are out there and then they make you a better driver. Just in the last few weeks, the tools that have been at my fingertips and some of the information just to help me drive and be a smarter driver, it’s been unbelievable and so it’s something that’s definitely given me a shot in the arm to keep digging and keep working hard being a young guy.”
Do you talk to Kyle much for input?
“I’ve done a good bit. I speak to Kyle once or twice a week – some by text, some by phone – and he can certainly give you some good tips, but the team has a lot of good information on trends from the beginning of a run to the end of a run, qualifying, how the track changes throughout a weekend, but there’s also a lot of other moving targets. You’ve got a new tire this year, you’ve got a new engine package, a new downforce package and so there are a lot of different things, but yeah you can – just like Kevin (Harvick) was saying, every race you run you make some mental notes. Sometimes drivers can remember better than others. I try to write some stuff down so I don’t forget, but you look back at those notes and everybody sees and feels and hears different things. Yeah, Kyle can definitely help out some and so can Matt (Kenseth) and Carl (Edwards), Denny (Hamlin) – they’re great guys – but spotters can help, crew chiefs can help and so I definitely lean on everyone to try to see what they’ve had in their experience here that makes them good.”
What differences have you noticed from the Fords to the Toyotas?
“I really can’t give you a good description because my only Ford race this season was the Daytona 500 so it was with last year’s rules package and it’s at a speedway race where a lot of things that we have to work on at a Phoenix or Vegas or certainly here you don’t have to worry about at Daytona. I don’t really know. Until later this season depending on how everything shakes out, I don’t have a good, accurate description on the differences. All I know is what I’ve known since Atlanta and that’s being in a Toyota Camry.”
Do you get the impression that Toyota is still adjusting to the new rules package?
“I’ve heard a little talk about the nose and a little talk about the engine package so yeah, I still think there are some growing pains and understanding what their limits are and how aggressive they can be and how to get the most out of their Toyota Camry parts and pieces. I think that’s the case with any manufacturer. As you go to some different race tracks these first five or six races, it’s really a perfect schedule to have a speedway, a couple downforce tracks, a short track and then we go to Martinsville. There’s going to be a different group of issues when you get to Martinsville with the low speed corners and accelerating out of those tight corners with a lot of torque that you need with the engine package. Time will tell how each manufacturer develops, but I think the Toyota guys feel pretty confident with where they’re at and where they’re going.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 6th
How was the car in the final qualifying round?
“We missed it for the final round a little bit. Sixth isn’t bad, but I definitely expected a lot more. I just missed my mark in turn one and two – I was seeing red for half the lap. This track is a very line sensitive track and you have to hit your marks perfectly to get a pole around here and I just missed it.”
Is the car good for Sunday’s race?
“It’s too early to tell, we only ran one lap in race trim. We’ll know some more tomorrow. It seemed like our car generally had decent speed on this type of race track where we needed some speed. We’ll see and we’ll know tomorrow.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 BlueDEF Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 10th
How was your qualifying effort?
“It was 10th. It was fine. It’s a good step in the right direction for us as bad as it’s been here lately. Good breathe of fresh air and it’s a good race track for me. We’re going to go regroup here and adjust on our Camry for race trim.”
Is this a track you like?
“I enjoy this place. Its fun to move around and find grip places. We’ll take that and have a good day tomorrow.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Subway Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 15th
How was your qualifying effort?
“I thought we’d be starting 43rd after I hit the fence, so this is a small victory for us. We’ve got more of the field behind us than in front of us. My Subway guys are amazing. To get in the car stone cold and just go out there and be able to be 16th quick the first round and put it up in the top half of the field – it’s like Darian (Grubb, crew chief) said, this will give us a good starting spot and hopefully we can get Subway up front. A testament to my guys – they worked really hard today.”
How does it feel to qualify well in a backup Camry?
“I feel pretty good. Tenth – before I started qualifying, I said 10th would have been a victory. My guys did an amazing job. They worked tirelessly on that car and they didn’t have quite enough time to get everything done they wanted to get done, but it’s just awesome to be that far up in the field with a backup car. It shows how good these JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) guys are.”
BRETT MOFFITT, No. 55 Janssen Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 30th
Did the car sustain much damage during qualifying?
“First and foremost, we’re all thinking about Brian (Vickers) and hope he’s doing okay. As far as this Janssen Camry, the team is looking at the damage now so we’ll see. Just struggling here – we need to find some speed. Hopefully, we’ll be able to fix the car and go to work on race trim tomorrow.”
JEB BURTON, No. 26 Maxim.com Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 34th
JJ YELEY, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 41st
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 83 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 42nd
