Category: NASCAR Cup Series

Denny Hamlin (second) was the highest finishing Camry driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Hew Hampshire Motor Speedway.  

David Reutimann (seventh) and Kyle Busch (ninth) also recorded top-10 results for Toyota at the one-mile oval in Loudon, N.H.  

Other Camry drivers in the field included Martin Truex Jr. (20th), Robby Gordon (26th), Reed Sorenson (27th), Marcos Ambrose (30th), Joey Logano (35th), Scott Speed (36th), Casey Mears (38th), Joe Nemechek (40th), Mike Bliss (41st) and Landon Cassill (42nd).  

Hamlin maintains the unofficial points lead with a 35 point advantage over second-place and race-winner Clint Bowyer after race one of 10 in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff.  Fellow Camry driver and JGR teammate, Busch is fourth (-62 points).

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Small Business Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  2nd How was your car after the spin? “Yeah, our car was good.  We just fought restarts all day.  It took us half the race or three quarters of the race, actually, to get up front to the two, three or four and then as soon as we got there, we got spun.  So it was so frustrating on my part to have to battle back from 22nd there with 80 (laps) to go.  And just Mike (Ford, crew chief) worked on the car and got it super fast there at the end.  I was just trying to make those guys run as hard as I could, but it wasn’t enough.” Were you surprised with the amount of gambling going on in this race? “I was very surprised, really, to see how aggressive guys were on restarts.  It is such a balance, because you’ve got guys like Jamie (McMurray) that are like, ‘win, win, win, win,’ and we’re like, ‘you know, I just don’t want to get hit on restarts.’  I’m just trying to not get run over and whatnot.  So it’s a balance out there.  And this is one of the toughest tracks to have restarts.  So I was really worried about this track in particular, getting out of here unscathed, and we didn’t, but we just battled back right there.   So overall it was pretty surprising to me to see really how aggressive it was. Are you disappointed you didn’t win or satisfied that you leave with the points lead? “The 33 (Clint Bowyer) had a really good car today, the 1 (Jamie McMurray), the 14 (Tony Stewart).  Those three cars I felt like were the best cars all day.  We never really got to show where our car was at.  As soon as we got to the top three is when we got spun.  We clawed and scratched our way to the front all day to get in position with 80 to go to go for a win.  Luckily, it’s a double-edged sword, it made us come in, we had to get fuel and get tires and it gave us the fuel for the end.  Typically, our Toyota gets really good gas mileage, so I knew we were going to be fine on fuel right there at the end.  Top-six was where I wanted to leave this day, and so first mission accomplished.” Could you have won today’s race? “I needed one more lap.  We gained a ton right there.  It’s tough to say, once he (Tony Stewart) ran out of fuel — the way they were running, I’m not sure how much they were conserving if any, but our cars with a really fast the last run, and obviously the fastest car on the track, but yeah, it was — I guess Carl (Edwards) just got loose.  He hit us and we saved it, and I moved way up the track, because, you know, just in case somebody else was up under there, and then he just hit us a ton again.” How does this finish affect your confidence for the remainder of the Chase? “It’s good.  It gives me somewhat of a buffer at Dover.  We all know how Dover is for me.  We’ve just got to minimize a bad day again at Dover next week.  That’s our goal.  You’ve got to set a number, a number that you’re satisfied with, and try to reach that goal at Dover next week.  So the good news is we finished I think third or fourth there in the spring which is a heck of a lot better than 22nd and two laps down last year in the Chase race.  Just if we can get past Dover, we’ve got a lot of really good tracks for us.” How do you think you’ll perform at Dover after finishing second at New Hampshire? “The number in which I hope to run just moved up like five spots.  So that’s just what we have to do.  And it’s not that we just run bad at Dover every time, it’s just every time I went there, I either wrecked or broke something or ran terrible.  So with the exception of the spring, that’s about the only good run I’ve had there, so, yeah, we do shift our expectations based off of this week.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  7th Are you satisfied with a seventh-place finish? “That was ugly, but I’ll take it.  To struggle the way we did today and still come out of here with a seventh-place finish is pretty amazing.  Our TUMS Toyota was loose in and off all day and really couldn’t get a handle on it.  Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and Dax (Gerringer, race engineer) really did a great job working on our fuel and pit strategy.  We took a pretty big gamble by staying out toward the end and not pitting, but with the way the cautions worked out it was pretty good — we saved fuel and picked up a top-10.  I can’t thank our team enough for the job they did today and TUMS for their support.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  9th How was your race? “Where do I begin, I don’t know.  I guess I’ll start with yesterday.  I thought I was driving the car right and apparently I didn’t set the car up right.  We were about two-tenths off yesterday and I thought it was just a factor of those guys getting more speed out of their cars.  In essence it was off.  We just didn’t get it setup right.  It was mainly my fault.  You know the guys fought hard and Dave (Rogers, crew chief) made some good calls.  Any time that we got speed off the corner and then we missed it in the center of the corner — any time we got speed through the middle, we couldn’t get down the straightaways.  We were battling back and forth with tight and loose.  We just got what we could out of it today.  Fortunately our bad day right now is ninth versus some other guys.” What happened when you spun and were hit from behind? “Both wrecks, there was a time when someone spun out in front of me but Jimmie Johnson never saw it and drove over the back of me and spun me out the second time.  It’s just a product of not being able to see I reckon.  Unfortunately we had to battle back and fight back through there.  We were the best to recover of our spin but that was it.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  20th

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 SpeedFactory.TV Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Finishing Position:  26th

REED SORENSON, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  27th

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Kingsford/Bush’s Baked Beans Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position:  31st

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  35th

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  36th

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position:  38th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position:  40th

MIKE BLISS, No. 55 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Finishing Position:  41st

LANDON CASSILL, No. 64 Little Joe’s Autos Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports Finishing Position:  42nd

Sunday, September 19, 2010

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Dodge Motorsports PR

Sylvania 300

Post-Race Quotes

Tweets by TeamDodge

www.media.chrysler.com

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Finished 13th

“I feel like we had a rough day with our Miller Lite Dodge Charger; maybe I was overdriving it. I got into Turn 1 a couple of times over my head, trying to get what seemed to be a sixth to a 10th-place car up into the top five. I almost clipped (Jeff) Burton once, just trying to drive in there and ended up getting (Joey) Logano. I apologize for that. I was just over driving. I wasn’t quite in the zone. I wasn’t quite feeling it today. We survived. We needed to have a good day today and not just survive.”

ANY IDEA WHY YOU WEREN’T IN “THE ZONE” TODAY? IS IT THE PRESSURE OF THE CHASE? “It’s just trying to carry a car on your back that’s only good for eighth-place. I should have settled for eighth. I wanted more. I wanted a good finish today and when you do that, when you stretch yourself thin, you get in trouble. That’s what happened today.”

STEVE ADDINGTON (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) “I didn’t think what we were going to be that bad when we started the day with the Miller Lite Dodge. We have to work on our stuff. We have to work on our front ends to get them to turn better. We have to free the back of the car up. Kurt just got loose a couple of times and spun. That cost us. That’s not Kurt Busch-style.”

IS TODAY ONE OF THOSE DAYS THAT YOU WILL LOOK BACK ON AND BE HAPPY WITH A 13TH AFTER WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE? “I think so. When you spin out once and about spin out again and come back and get a top-13 out of it, that was amazing. You have to point to the driver for that. He drove his butt off those last 50 laps.”

SAM HORNISH JR (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) Finished 10th “We’ve gone through a lot of different things trying to figure out why we haven’t been able to run as well as we did last year. We didn’t have a great run today, but we did what we need to do. I passed about six cars on a restart to get back in position for the lucky dog. It took about 30 laps before we finally got the caution. The Mobil 1 Dodge was pretty good today. It just wasn’t as good as we needed it to be at the end. We were way too tight the last couple of runs. I think if it had played out without those last two restarts, we would have had a top-five car. Every time you bunch everybody back up and are on older tires, it’s hard to get going again. Since we started using the spoiler, we’ve had problems in the middle of the race and had to battle just to get the track position back. We need to work together and not let that happen, get us down and have to battle back.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 AAA Dodge Charger) Finished 18th “We had a lot of speed for qualifying, but not a lot of speed in race trim, not the speed that we needed. We were probably a 15th place car and then lost some spots there at the end. We had a good qualifying effort. It’s disappointing we didn’t capitalize on it. We qualified well and raced OK the first half of the race. It just didn’t’ work out for us toward the end of the race.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion (Finished 10th) – ON HIS 10th PLACE FINISH  “The car ran well. Everyone was about the same speed. I just got loose under Denny (Hamlin). The first time I chattered the rear tires all day and I took him out. He probably had the car to beat. I am proud of my team and the Aflac Ford Fusion was really good, it was just unfortunate that we had that situation out there.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion (Finished 14th)  – ON HIS 14TH PLACE FINISH  “Our Crown Royal Ford was just tight in the middle and needed help turning in the front today.  The guys made adjustments all race long but we just didn’t run very well. We got caught up in that wreck, had a lot of damage to the car, and it was just a really long day for us.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion (Finished 8th)  – ON HIS 8TH PLACE FINISH  “It was something we weren’t pushing. We just ran out two laps earlier than we expected and that put us behind. The car was good all day, it just was so hard because we were back there in traffic and it is so hard to fight back. At the end we were pretty good. We were stuck behind Carl and racing him clean.  We were trying to help him out as much as possible on points. If I could have gotten around him clean I would have done it. The last two or three laps I was just trying to not force the issue. It felt like if we could have gotten around him then we might have been able to run up to seventh or eighth with what happened out there.  We had a real good car. It was just something that happened. The car was fast though and it was a solid weekend all around. We definitely have things to work on, but it was a lot better than we have been.”

MIKE SHIPLETT, Crew Chief, No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion – FUEL MILEAGE WAS AN ISSUE FOR YOU AND FOR GUYS AT THE END OF THIS RACE  “Yeah, fuel mileage is usually something that happens at this track, we just have to figure out what happened to us on that second pit stop there when we ran out of gas. We will just go back and try to figure out what happened.” 

ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT IT CAME INTO PLAY AT THE END WITH THE CHASE GUYS? “No, they are just trying to win races and get the most points they can, so I am not surprised by that at all.”

 
DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 22nd) – “We just lost all of our track position when we stayed out on old tires but I felt like that was the right move early on in the race to try and stay up in the top 10 or top 15. It turned out to be a long run and we just really fought an ill-handling car that entire run. After that, we worked on trying to get our UPS Ford to turn better. We made it a little better, but we were already too far behind. If a couple of different things could have taken place during the race, we could have finished up in the top 15, but we just weren’t good enough when it counted.”

CHEVY FAST FACTS

SYLVANIA 300

NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

September 19, 2010

 

CHEVY FAST FACTS

SYLVANIA 300

NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

September 19, 2010

 

A total of 15 Team Chevy drivers will start the Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, race 27 of the 2010 season. Chevy drivers starting in the top 10:

• Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, will start 2^nd in the 43- car field for the 300-lap/317.4-mile race
• Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet starts 3^rd
• Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet will roll off 4^th
• Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet, will start 5th 

 

TEAM CHEVY ON THE TRACK-NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY:

• Team Chevy drivers have won 14 of 31 previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS)
• Chevrolet drivers have won 13 poles at NHMS
• Team Chevy drivers have scored 68 top-five finishes and 124 top-10 finishes at NHMS

• A Chevrolet has led 4,401 laps (48.1% of possible 9,146) at NHMS
• Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, holds the record for the most wins at NHMS – four (4)
• Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Facebook Chevrolet,  has three (3) NHMS wins
• Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/Johns Manville Chevrolet, has won three (3) races at NHMS
• Ryan Newman, No. 39 US Army Chevrolet, has two (2) NHMS wins
• Tony Stewart, No 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet, has won at NHMS twice (2)
• Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, has one (1) win at NHMS
• Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet, has won once (1) at NHMS
• Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.Com Chevrolet, has one (1) NHMS win

 

TEAM CHEVY IN 2010 NSCS COMPETITION:

• Race wins – 13 as of race 26 of 36
• Poles – 11 as of race 26 of 36
• Laps led – 3,809 (49.6% of possible 7,676)
• Top-five finishes – 68 (52.3% of possible)
• Top-10 finishes – 130 (50% of possible)
• Team Chevy has six (6) drivers seeded in the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup
  • Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/Johns Manville Chevrolet – 2^nd seed
  • Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet – 3^rd seed
  • Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice  Chevrolet – 6^th seed
  • Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Facebook Chevrolet – 8^th seed
  • Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet – 10^th seed
  • Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet – 12^th seed

 

·        Chevrolet has won a record 33 NSCS Manufacturers’ Cups and Team Chevy drivers have collected the coveted NSCS driver’s championship 26 times and won 661 races

 

·        In claiming the 2009 NSCS championship, Johnson became the first driver in the history of the NSCS to win four consecutive titles, ’06, ’07, ’08 and ‘09

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., the Chevrolet portfolio includes: iconic performance cars, such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long lasting pickups and SUVs, such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, such as Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security, and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response, and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

• Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, will start 2^nd in the 43- car field for the 300-lap/317.4-mile race
• Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet starts 3^rd
• Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet will roll off 4^th
• Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet, will start 5th 

 

TEAM CHEVY ON THE TRACK-NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY:

• Team Chevy drivers have won 14 of 31 previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS)
• Chevrolet drivers have won 13 poles at NHMS
• Team Chevy drivers have scored 68 top-five finishes and 124 top-10 finishes at NHMS

• A Chevrolet has led 4,401 laps (48.1% of possible 9,146) at NHMS
• Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, holds the record for the most wins at NHMS – four (4)
• Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Facebook Chevrolet,  has three (3) NHMS wins
• Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/Johns Manville Chevrolet, has won three (3) races at NHMS
• Ryan Newman, No. 39 US Army Chevrolet, has two (2) NHMS wins
• Tony Stewart, No 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet, has won at NHMS twice (2)
• Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, has one (1) win at NHMS
• Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet, has won once (1) at NHMS
• Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.Com Chevrolet, has one (1) NHMS win

 

TEAM CHEVY IN 2010 NSCS COMPETITION:

• Race wins – 13 as of race 26 of 36
• Poles – 11 as of race 26 of 36
• Laps led – 3,809 (49.6% of possible 7,676)
• Top-five finishes – 68 (52.3% of possible)
• Top-10 finishes – 130 (50% of possible)
• Team Chevy has six (6) drivers seeded in the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup
  • Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/Johns Manville Chevrolet – 2^nd seed
  • Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet – 3^rd seed
  • Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice  Chevrolet – 6^th seed
  • Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Facebook Chevrolet – 8^th seed
  • Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet – 10^th seed
  • Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet – 12^th seed

 

·        Chevrolet has won a record 33 NSCS Manufacturers’ Cups and Team Chevy drivers have collected the coveted NSCS driver’s championship 26 times and won 661 races

 

·        In claiming the 2009 NSCS championship, Johnson became the first driver in the history of the NSCS to win four consecutive titles, ’06, ’07, ’08 and ‘09

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., the Chevrolet portfolio includes: iconic performance cars, such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long lasting pickups and SUVs, such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, such as Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security, and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response, and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Friday, Sept. 17, 2010
Denny Darnell
Scott Sebastian
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Dodge Motorsports PR
Sylvania 300

Post-Qualifying Quotes

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 AAA Dodge Charger) Pole Winner “That run was pretty awesome. We’ve worked all year, this whole team, but haven’t gotten the results until today. This is certainly one of the sparks that we need to get this team energized and run up front. We just need that spark; hopefully, this is that spark. We’ve had a really good race car in qualifying trim since practice started today. We weren’t very happy with it in race trim, but it was really good in qualifying trim. We felt we had a shot at the pole. I feel really good about that lap, it should at least be in the top three. I’m really happy for everyone on this 12 team. We’re really proud for the effort by our AAA Dodge Charger team. We were fast in qualifying trim today. I know it was down to hitting the perfect lap, hit the marks right and put it up there. It was a good lap.

“There are just a lot of things going on this year. From changing sponsors and teams and cars to next year having Miller Lite on board; even this weekend having AAA on board, everything is going crazy, up and down. This is just a great spark for our team for what has been a tumultuous period. I’m really happy for my team. I’m proud for them than any stat that I may get out of it – track record or first pole. They’ve really dug hard for me all year through adversity; it’s great to see them smile. It’s great to see the look on their face. It feels really good.”

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS POLE THAT MAKES YOU FEEL “LEGITIMATE”? “Hell, we don’t have a top 10! We have work to do. It’s been a great year on the Nationwide side, leading the points. It’s been really frustrating this year (in Sprint Cup). I don’t feel bad about sharing that. You shouldn’t be happy being 26th in points and not having a top 10 when you’re with an elite team like Penske. This is a breath of fresh air that legitimizes our team as being able to get up front; being able to have a sponsored ride with Miller Lite next year. There are not a lot of teams out there that can say that. From that standpoint, it really legitimizes us and the ability to run up front when things get right. We’re all committed to that. I sit down and talk to Roger Penske probably once or twice a week, talking about how we’re going to make things better. This is a really good piece for doing that.”

DID THE SUN COMING OUT HAVE ANY EFFECT ON YOUR QUALIFYING LAP? “It’s really hard to tell. The sun was going in and out at the end quite a bit. It’s back cloudy now. The lapped time fluctuation was really hard to predict. If the cars that ran after me would have had faster first laps, I would have said that it was a factor, but they didn’t have faster first laps because that heat in the track should have heated their tires up faster first and slower second. But we didn’t see that. Just from that I would think that it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

HOW HAVE YOU STAYED POSITIVE THROUGH ALL OF THIS? “That’s been a luxury, having a guy like Roger and his staff to tell you we’re going to keep working on it and keep digging. To have the Nationwide program be successful and be surrounding by great people on and around the race track, that keep you going.

“It makes you feel good about yourself. I feel good about that. I feel really good about the people I’m surrounded with. We’re all in this together. It’s been tough. You still try to keep a focus on it and remember how lucky you are to do this. There are only 43 drivers any given weekend and I’m one of them. I’m one of those guys and even through the rough weeks, you sit down and think about that and think about how fortunate you are when there’s thousands of short-tracks racers across the country that have talent and aren’t here and are jealous. I was one of those guys. I was one of those guys who didn’t have a ride and wanted to be here. So now that I’m here, there’s a level of pride of just being here even when things are rough that helps carry you through that period.”

DOES HAVING THE MILLER LITE SPONSORSHIP NEXT YEAR HEIGHTEN THAT EXPECTATION? “Absolutely. You should have high expectations when you’re with a well-funded ride. The 12 car is a well-funded ride as it is right now. You should have high expectations no matter what. Driving for Miller, there’s a brand to live up to. There’s a brand of excellence and performance that’s been established well before I was even born. I want to continue that. I want to put this car in victory lane. It’s won races every year that I can remember. Kurt’s carried on that tradition, making the Chase and winning races. There’s definitely a torch to carry on there and I look forward in having the opportunity to do it.”

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE “VALLEYS” OF THE SEASON THUS FAR? “I guess to have the good you have to have the bad. It’s not that I want to focus on the bad, but the two Michigan weekends were really painful. To not run well at home on the Cup side, that’s rough. After the first one I went home and talked to my whole team and told them and apologized that I was a jerk that whole weekend. I was just upset that we ran as bad as we did. Those were definitely the low points for me. In the summer race, winning the Nationwide race (at Michigan) kind of helped out. Those were probably the low points for me. Obviously, there were the Daytona races – those were races that I felt we were one of the cars to beat and got wrecked out. Those were a struggle, but you could understand and accept them, just not being fast. Pulling in after practice and seeing your name on the wrong side of the sheet is every driver’s worst nightmare, at least mine. To have peaks and valleys – it makes me appreciate it more to have those valleys. In a way, I’m very thankful to be with a car owner who is patient and understands where we are at with the program and has been with me and as supportive as he has. It’s the valleys together that make you stronger as a team and together as a relationship. They make you appreciate the good moments. I appreciate today’s success more than I appreciated any success that I’ve had on the Cup side. Whether that’s running in the top 10 or even winning Talladega, because I’ve been through some lows this year. In a way, you appreciate it more.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT PLAYING THE SPOILER ROLE IN THE CHASE? “I would love to be the spoiler of the Chase. I would live for that moment, to be able to capitalize on it; the increased attention to the sport with this being the Chase. To be that guy that can run up front and be there; I’m not going to sit here and say that I will be. We have a lot of work to do. This is a great start. Qualifying never means anything unless you’re on the pole and we are. It feels good.”

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON? “I’m not the type of person that puts numbers on things like, ‘We have to average a 6.3 finish.’ I just want to run up front and be competitive. I want to be one of those guys that you look at and say that he’s a threat to win today. That’s all I want.”

WILL IT DISAPPOINT YOU IF YOU DON’T BACK UP THE POLE ON SUNDAY? “It would disappoint me if we had a great year and we didn’t back up this moment. Absolutely, but you have to keep things in perspective and worry about the things that you can control and try not to get frustrated about things that are outside your control. I will be disappointed on Sunday if we’re just not fast. Other than that, it’s just part of racing. I just want to be fast.”

WHERE DO YOU AND YOUR CAR FALL INTO HELPING KURT WITH SETUPS? “Every once in a while, we’ll revert back to what they had if we’re a ways off. There haven’t been very many weekends where it’s been the opposite and they’ve been able to do that with us. That’s a little bit of a cool deal to be able to do that for qualifying, but in race trim they’re a little bit faster. They have a little bit different car spec than we have; the 2 car does, so I’m not sure how much of would even matter.”

HAVE YOU SAT DOWN AND FIGURED OUR WHERE YOU GUYS ARE LOSING SPEED FROM QUALFIYING? It’s different every weekend. Qualifying has been our strong suit this season, specifically on the short-tracks. Richmond we just got beat by the Gibbs cars that were just faster through the center of the corner. We fought that and the Gibbs cars have a really good short-track package. I think that’s the weakest part that I see. It’s different at every track. I feel good about the power that our cars have. I feel pretty good about the effort that’s put into them, we’re just a little bit off and inconsistent. It’s so fine. That’s that thing about this car, when you’re off it’s just one fine screw and when you find it three weeks later you say, ‘Oh, if we would have turned this screw three weeks ago….that’s what’s so hard about this level and makes it about a people sport and so perfect – finding those things and anticipating them.”

JAY GUY (Crew Chief, No. 12 AAA Dodge Charger) “We’ve been working really hard on our short-track program at Penske Racing. We learned something from our teammates that went out before us in qualifying and make some slight changes. It’s good to get up front, put this Penske Dodge up front. A lot of hard work goes into this, so it’s really good for the guys, all the people back at the shop and the folks at AAA and Dodge. We hope Mr. (Roger) Penske is watching over in Japan right now, he’s getting ready for the IndyCar race.”

KURT BUSCH (No. Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Qualified 12th CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP? “It was an exciting lap with our Miller Lite Dodge. We changed a couple things right before qualifying, knowing that we were going out second and weren’t quite sure what the track was going to give us. Overall, I was pleased because we picked up a little bit of time from where we were in practice earlier today. A track like New Hampshire, with it being overcast, it’s crisp and cool and it’s tough to get that grip.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS TRACK POSITION HERE AT LOUDON? “It’s important, but it’s not do-or-die. It’s nice to be up front and if you do have a slightly ill-handling car in the race, you can hang onto that track position. If you have to start in the back and work your way up through the field, it makes for a really long day.

SAM HORNISH JR (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) Qualified 15th “We were a little too free in practice, so we tightened the car up for qualifying. I don’t know if it was this set of tires or how the track changed, but the car was very tight through the middle of the corner. We fixed the issue off the corner, but had to wait on it too long to get back to the throttle, just too tight in the middle. It’s not quite what I wanted out of it, but the Mobil 1 Dodge was good in race trim in practice. The important thing was just being smart, keeping the car all together and getting the opportunity to race well on Sunday. This is one of my favorite tracks. Even though it’s a flat track, there’s a lot of room to race. Qualifying wasn’t what we wanted. Hopefully, the race will be a little bit better.”

Loudon, N.H. (September 17,2010) – Four Team Chevy drivers scored top-five starting positions at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first race of the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet and the 12th seed in the Chase field, will start on the outside of the front row. Tony Stewart, the sixth seed in the Chase, qualified his No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet in the third starting position.

Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing teammates Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet, and Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet, qualified fourth and fifth respectively to give Team Chevy four of the top-five starters in the Sylvania 300 43-car field.

Other Team Chevy driver seeded in the Chase qualified as follows: Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet (10th seed) – 13th; Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Facebook Chevrolet (eighth seed) – 17th; Jimmie Johnson, No. 24 Lowe’s/John Manville Chevrolet (second seed) – 25th; and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet (third seed) – 27th.

Brad Keselowski (Dodge) was the pole winner for the 300-laps/317.4-mile race scheduled to start Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Live broadcast coverage will be provided by ESPN TV, PRN Radio and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128.

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER QUALIFIED 2nd:

ON HIS LAP: “The sun looks like it might come out here in a little bit. Maybe we will hold onto it. But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that was a good effort. That’s what it takes to be at this level. We weren’t very good in practice and we made a couple of really good adjustments there and gut us where we needed to be. That’s what this team needs to get better at and that’s exactly what we just did.”

YOU WERE 20TH IN PRACTICE, SO YOU MADE A BIG JUMP AHEAD: “Yeah, that’s a pretty big jump. I think our fastest lap in practice was an .84 and we just ran a .53 so that’s big on a short track.”

TALK ABOUT HOW BIG TRACK POSITION WILL BE HERE: “It’s always big on any race track, but these short tracks, it’s hard to pass here, so that’ll put us somewhere up front.”

A NEW TRACK RECORD, WAS THAT A WHITE-KNUCKLE RIDE FOR YOU?: “The guys really made an awesome adjustment there between practice. We were off a little bit and just down on grip; tightened up a little bit and made an air pressure adjustment and it really made good. But actually I see some blue sky and hopefully some sun coming up pretty quick, so hopefully that’ll bust out and we’ll hold onto it.

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 3rd:

YOU SEEMED PRETTY OPTIMISTIC AFTER PRACTICE, WHAT HAPPENED THERE IN QUALIFYING? “I just missed it a little bit (laughs). I tried a little too hard, I think. We’ve got a really good race car. I’m pretty proud of the guys. It drives awesome. We’ve got a great engine from Hendrick this week like I’ve been getting all year. This Old Spice Chevy with Office Depot on it is pretty fast. It may not have gotten the pole here but we’re going to be something to deal with, I think, on Sunday.”

ARE THE TRACK CONDITIONS STAYING ABOUT THE SAME? “I think so. It looks like it’s probably going to stay pretty consistent through the session. I think guys’ times are going to be pretty honest times.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALDS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 4th: ON HIS LAP:”We really struggled here at the first race and obviously Jean (Montoya) ran well. So we came back with a similar set-up to what they had. I was really sick the first race. I don’t really know what we would have had because I was sick all weekend. But that was good. I’m pretty happy with that. It’s better than we practiced and that’s all I think you can ask for is to just try to better your car from practice. I didn’t really think we had a shot at the pole.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHANCES IN THE LAST 10 RACES?

We’ve done a really good job. I feel like we were really inconsistent at the beginning of the year and we’ve taken our 25th place runs or 20th place runs and made those 15th’s now. So the last two weeks have been really tough. We haven’t raced very well but we’ve finished okay. So, that’s good.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 ENERGIZER CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT: “We had a very difficult practice. I think we unloaded too far off. We unloaded very close to what we normally run here and it was for some reason really bad so we did a lot of changes but we couldn’t really get close when we did two runs in race trim. Then went to qualifying trim and did one run, it was ok, it was really really loose. Went to do another run and it started raining. So, it was just one of those days when everything went wrong. When you don’t build momentum to qualify, it is very hard especially when you go out to qualify and you have no idea what the car is going to do.”

HOW TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE IS THIS TRACK? “It is one of those deals that is going to be hard because I think the weekend is going to get hotter so it is a little bit of a guessing game. I don’t think it is as much as it is when we practice in the daytime and race at night. So it will be ok.”

POST QUALIFYING TRANSCRIPT:

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD:

TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT; YOU GET A GOOD PIT SELECTION AND HOW WILL THAT COME INTO PLAY ON SUNDAY?

BOWYER: “The importance of qualifying is so big. It’s very hard to pass here. I’m just very proud of the guys. That was a team effort. We were off in practice there and made a couple of adjustments and the car really came to life and got us a good lap. That’s the stuff you’ve got to do to compete with the elite crowd that we’re in in this Chase. You’ve got to be able to pick it up when you’re down and it was a good step in the right direction, there.”

STEWART:

“I was happy with it. We didn’t really make any changes after practice. It felt pretty balanced. We ended on top of the board there and not necessarily sitting on our hands thinking that what we had was good enough, but I just didn’t really know what to ask him for to go faster than what we ran. I felt like my balance was good, it was just a matter of what the track was going to do. I think there was a little driver error (laughs); I tried too hard but I didn’t lose too much time and had a good run.”

THERE ARE ONLY FOUR CHASE DRIVERS IN THE TOP 10 (STARTING LINE-UP). DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE A LEG-UP ON EVERYBODY? IN TERMS OF THIS RACE TRACK, WHAT’S THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOW THESE CARS WILL RACE VERSUS HOW THEY QUALIFY?

BOWYER: “We’ve got a leg up on them for Friday (laughs). After that, they’ll run you down and it will be a race. The same old guys there always is. That’s why they’re in the Chase. But I tell you, it keeps getting closer and closer. I think the level of competition just keeps getting tighter and tighter with each and every race. I think that’s why you’re starting to see guys that don’t normally sit on poles, sit on poles and everything else. This is a track where it’s time to go. A lot of people are making big strides at their set-ups and their chassis and it’s showing.

STEWART:

“I agree. It’s never an indication of how the race is necessarily; it never has been so I don’t know why anybody would think that now. You’ve been to enough races. You know this isn’t the way it is.”

DO YOU FEEL WITH THAT SEPARATION IN THE FIELD THAT IT COULD CREATE SOME HAVOC FOR THEM TRYING TO MAKE THEIR WAY UP? THE TOP TWO SEEDS ARE LOOKING LIKE THEY WILL HAVE TO START PRETTY DEEP IN THIS FIELDS

STEWART: “We’re not reinventing the wheel, guys. It’s the same thing we do every week here. This is no different than everything that everybody has done to get in the Chase. So, you’re seeing the same thing that we’ve always seen here. There are always guys that race a lot better than they qualify and just miss it in qualifying. Its two laps to hit or miss, but you’ve got 300 laps to make it right for the race. Don’t over think this. It’s not that complicated.”

BOWYER: “To answer your question, you hope so but probably not. (laughter)”

STEWART: “Right; exactly. It’s always easy to start up front. It’s easier the first 26 races if you start up front. That theory hasn’t changed for 60-plus years in NASCAR. It’s always better to start up front in any form of racing.”

HOW DOES COOL, DRY WEATHER AFFECT YOUR DECISION-MAKING DURING A RACE?

STEWART: “It’s much easier than cool, wet conditions (laughter). It makes me a lot happier. I don’t like it when my shoes get wet.

BOWYER: “You tend to get hot when it’s hot outside and it’s not much fun. But they gave the track a lot of grip. That was a track record I think so it just shows you how much you pick up the race track. Once you get into racing conditions, all that goes by the wayside. You’ve got to be able to handle on lap 25 and not necessarily on the first lap. So it’s going to change, big time, throughout the weekend.”

YOU’RE NOT TRYING TO REINVENT THE WHEEL. IS THERE ANY TEMPTATION IF YOU’RE NOT RUNNING AS WELL AS YOU’D LIKE TO MAKE BIGGER CHANGES OR TAKE BIGGER SWINGS?

STEWART: “I think if you’re not in the Chase, then yeah, you have the flexibility to do that. I don’t think there’s a huge sense in pride in being 13th in points. I might be wrong but I think guy, at this point in the season, that aren’t in the Chase, are already looking toward next year. Obviously there is a reason those guy didn’t make the Chase. So those guys are trying to find a chunk and trying to experiment and figure out things in these last 10 weeks that they can do to help their program for next year and hopefully give them an opportunity to be in the Chase. I don’t think at this point anybody that’s in the top 12 is going to do anything really radical outside the box than what they’ve been doing that got them here.”

TONY YOU ARE ONE OF THE FEW GUYS IN THE CHASE WHO DIDN’T BRING A NEW CAR THIS WEEKEND, IS THIS THE SAME CAR YOU FINISHED SECOND WITH JUST A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, OR HAS IT EVOLVED SOME? “I’m sure it probably has. I didn’t know about that until somebody else asked that question. Again, to me, it is whatever car is in the garage when I get here, that is the one I am driving so that is the one I am going to concentrate on. I’m not going to worry about something that is sitting at the shop or something that we are bringing here for the first time. You know, there are pros and cons to bringing new cars out. The pro to it is obviously if it is a new car, it’s something that you think is better. The negative to it is that you haven’t ran it so you don’t know if it’s not a guarantee that just because it seems better or you think it is better that it is going to be better when it gets on the race track. Some cars historically, I mean they all come out of the same jig and they are welded all the same, but sometimes you get cars that you just like better than others. That is the negative to bringing a new car to a race in the Chase like this. It doesn’t affect me either way. If Darian (Grubb, crew chief) said hey, we are going to bring a new car, I trust his judgment that there is a reason we are doing it. The car that we brought only has one race on it so it is relatively new, it just has one race. We at least know what the history of this car is over that one night and how it reacted to change.”

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., the Chevrolet portfolio includes: iconic performance cars, such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long lasting pickups and SUVs, such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, such as Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security, and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response, and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)

DO YOU HAVE TO ADJUST HOW YOU RACE TO WHAT THE COMPETITON IS DOING DURING THE CHASE? “You can’t focus too closely on one guy per week. I think that you have to look at a group of guys over a few weeks time. I look at the Chase as being broken into three, six, nine (races) and then you have the final Homestead race. If you’re in position at Homestead, that’s when everything is crazy. The first three races, I just kind of group them together and hopefully we finish in front of half of the Chase field and find ourselves in good position. But if a guy goes out and wins these first three (races), you have to change your game plan because you have to keep up or you’re going to get left behind.”

YOUR ONE OF NINE CHASE DRIVERS USING A NEW CHASSIS THIS WEEKEND; ARE YOU A LITTLE BIT NERVOUS? “It’s just giving the confidence to engineers and the groups building the cars. You hope that the quality control is there and that if it’s something new, it must mean that it’s better. The way that three months can go by and you find new speed in the car, the game changes that fast and you have to bring the best piece that you can. Even though it’s not proven yet, you hope that quality control gives you the confidence that you have the best piece out there. And when you feel it out on the race track and it feels different, then you just have to make adjustments to it and hopefully, you’ll have the speed to be there at the end of the day.”

IS IT SIMPLE SET-UP STUFF? “We were able to calm the car down with one big rear-end change. That’s not something that we normally do, but it asked for it, we gave it to it and it picked up speed today.”

CAN YOU LOSE THE CHAMPIONSHIP IN NEW HAMPSHIRE? “Absolutely. I won (the championship) in ’04 by winning this race. I lost it in ’05 by being taken out on the third lap. I was dumped by a non-Chase guy and I finished 40th. That whole Chase, we were digging out of a hole and when you dig out of a hole, you stretch yourself thin, gamble on a pit stop when you’re not supposed to. We got impatient. It’s easy to get impatient when you’re behind.”

WHEN YOU LEAVE LOUDON IN A HOLE, HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO TELL YOURSELF THAT YOU CAN STILL WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “It’s tough. You get shot in the leg and now you’re dragging a limp leg the whole time. You’re hoping that the other guys end up getting shot in the leg and they come back to you and they’re easier to catch. You have to sit there and go, ‘We have to race the same way, but we need help now.’ In the end, if you have a top performing car that can run in the top-three every week, you can overcome that type of battle. If you don’t…if you’re a team that’s been running sixth-to-12th all year, it’s tough to make up that kind of ground.”

DID YOU THINK THAT YOU WERE OUT OF IT IN 2005? “That first week was rough. I think that we went to Dover and were running third with 10 laps to go and blew out a right-front tire, so we were behind again. It just seemed like we were behind the whole time. When you have that feeling, it’s hard not to think of it.

“When I had cars that were fast, when I won the race, I had a car that was good on long, green-flag runs. That was key for us. The race that I won on fuel mileage, we had enough fuel to make it to the end and it’s just that the rain came in and we happened to be in the lead. We had short pitted to do that. So you have to be smart in the pits, but ultimately, I think cars that win the races here are the best cars on the long green-flag runs because this track doesn’t chew up tires like some other tracks.”

7th, David Reutimann 9th, Kyle Busch 16th, Martin Truex Jr. 18th, Casey Mears 22nd, Denny Hamlin 23rd, Marcos Ambrose 28th, Scott Speed 29th, Robby Gordon 31st, Joey Logano 34th, Landon Cassill 35th, Joe Nemechek 36th, Mike Bliss 37th, Reed Sorenson DNQ, Johnny Sauter

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 7th How will your car be in Sunday’s race? “I hope it’ll run real good. We got to do a little bit of race stuff early on today and we weren’t really where we needed to be with that. Hopefully, tomorrow, we have couple hours of practice, we can get the TUMS Toyota a little bit happier and the driver a little bit happier and have a good race here and maybe repeat what we did in Chicago.” How important is starting up front at New Hampshire? “Everywhere we go, it’s really, really important. It seems like the smaller the race track, the more confined the area is, the more important it is to start up front. It would be great to stay up in the front and get a good starting position and good pit selection to pay off on Sunday.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 9th How is your car after practice and qualifying? “It wasn’t bad. You’re really slow getting up to speed trying to save the tires to make sure they stay under you and you don’t over heat them too fast. Overall the M&M’s Camry has been good today. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) has done a good job. We unloaded smooth in qualifying trim and did some little changes trying to make it a little bit better, trying to get some speed out it. You know, we are happy with that, its better than where we were in the spring starting wise and better than some of the other guys we’re racing with. I feel good about it, it should be a good pit selection hopefully and stay in the top 10 and go race on Sunday.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 16th How was your qualifying lap? “It was a big improvement from practice. We completely changed the setup to what one of our teammate’s had. It was a big help. It’s hard to go out there and haven’t driven it before. It was so much different. I could’ve done a better job driving it, had I ran it in practice. But, big improvement for us so I’m looking forward to working on it tomorrow.”

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Starting Position: 18th What do you think of the performance of your race car? “I’ve been having a lot of fun with all the GEICO Toyota guys here. It’s been a slow progress here. We’ve been working with the MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) guys as much as we possibly can to get all the information we can to get a good base. Bootie (Barker, crew chief) has been doing a great job. I’ve really enjoyed it. We’ve been fast, we’ve had competitive race cars. I think we have to sort out some little things around the program and I honestly think we’re going to be really good. I’m very happy to be here and looking forward to next year that if we get a full season we’ll be really good.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Small Business Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 22nd What issues were you facing in qualifying? “We were just searching for grip. We had much less than we did in practice and that hurt us on that lap but this FedEx Small Business Toyota was good in practice so we feel okay. It took a while for the tires to come in with these cooler temps. We’d like to start closer to the front and have a better pit selection but we think we have a car that can pass and with two more practices tomorrow to fine tune we know we’ll be fine.”

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Kingsford/Bush’s Baked Beans Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Starting Position: 23rd How was your qualifying lap? “We missed it a little bit there. We were really good in practice. We lost a couple tenths there, it’s disappointing for us. The field is so close and very small things make a difference. We were just a little too free there that run compared to practice with our qualifying run, too bad.”

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Starting Position: 28th

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 SpeedFactory.TV Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Starting Position: 29th

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 31st

LANDON CASSILL, No. 64 Little Joe’s Autos Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports Starting Position: 34th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Starting Position: 35th

MIKE BLISS, No. 55 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Starting Position: 36th

REED SORENSON, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Starting Position: 37th What happened during qualifying? “We were going for it. I hate it for these Red Bull guys, but they do a great job. I think we’re going to fix this one. Just barely hit the tires. I didn’t think we were going to hit it but we did. Get this one fixed and work hard tomorrow. We have 300 laps to get up towards the front. We’ve had two really strong finishes the last two races, so trying to build that momentum a little bit. This will slow us down a little bit, but we were going for it. It was just a mistake.”

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 66 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Starting Position: DNQ