NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

**NOTE –Denny Hamlin’s pole today marks the 50th Sprint Cup Series pole for Joe Gibbs Racing and 22nd for Toyota

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 1st
Did you know your lap was good enough for the pole?
“It wasn’t perfect, but I knew it was a good lap. My heart was racing going down the backstretch because I knew I hit turn one pretty good. I had to check up a little in three and four to keep it on the bottom. I’m not a qualifier and any of my fans know that. I’m usually in the 20s when I win races. Our car has been good all day long. I’ve been very, very happy with it. I’m typically a really bad qualifier, but I definitely think we have a heck of a race car this weekend.”

How has your season been in recent weeks?
“I feel like the last 10 races have definitely been up and down for our team. We went on such a hot streak there and got spoiled a little bit, I guess you could say. Deemed probably the regular season irrelevant from that point on because we knew we were going to get in the Chase. We’re going to spend these next two weeks treating these as if they are Chase racing. We found ourselves going for wins so much and going all out trying to get more wins that it probably hurt us in the long run. These next two weeks we’re going to points race just as if it’s Loudon, New Hampshire.”

Are you trying to create momentum in the next two races?
“We won more when we were more worried about just getting into the Chase and solidifying our place in the Chase. We were winning more then. We were calling races as if they were normal, regular season races. Seems like as soon as you kind of get spoiled by all the wins and try to get more wins and you kind of throw caution to the wind and kind of throw a bonsai setup in there. Maybe parts that aren’t as reliable as others -- you get your hand bitten. These next two weeks we’re bringing everything that we’ve got to the race track, the best stuff that we have and see how we’re going to stack up against the competition these next two weeks.”

Are you taking a different approach to the Chase?
“Our Chase starts this weekend. We’re bringing the best stuff that we have starting right now. We’re not waiting till the Chase, we’re bringing what we have to see where we’re going to stack up, competition-wise, these next two weeks. Obviously, we brought our best stuff here. We never qualify on the pole, we never qualify in the top-10 so this is a great step and a good sign for our team.”

How was your car in race trim?
“I’m going to be cautiously optimistic, but this is the best and fastest car that I’ve ever had in race trim. It was very, very, very good.”

Is momentum for the Chase more important than getting to victory lane right now?
“I think when you try to plan starting momentum in New Hampshire, it’s tough to do that. It’s just like having all these preseason NFL games and not taking it seriously. Then in week one you’re not performing because you didn’t go all out in preseason. For us, we’re taking it and we’re bringing the best that we have. I’m trying to do everything I can just to pretend that the Chase starts here to see what we have and hopefully we start our momentum now to where our momentum is hitting it’s stride once the Chase starts. We’re not just trying to start it at that particular point. For me, I think it’s important for us to really have our game face on these next two weeks so when we get to Loudon, New Hampshire, we’re not just hoping and praying that everything we’ve done comes out and it works that first week. We’re working on it and doing it now.”

Do you think your approach to the Chase is the same as other teams?
“I think everyone does it differently.  I think probably the guys eighth to -- where ever they are fighting for a Chase spot, definitely go their best stuff here at the race track.  So, there’s four or five or six guys there.  The rest of them, you just kind of look at the cars that they’re bringing, where they’ve run them, whether they’re new cars, old cars -- and you kind of calculate whether they’re bringing their best stuff to the race track or not.  Everyone is going to go as hard as they can.  But, I think a lot of people do plan on bringing their best stuff.  Usually, Indy is the turning point -- where everyone brings out their new stuff and their new technology and everything.  So, when everyone did that -- we kind of fell behind.  They kind of leapfrogged over us, and now we are bringing out what we feel is our best stuff.  It’s obviously stacking up against the guys pretty good.  Not to say that we don’t still have work to do.  We still got to work really, really hard.  The off-week was good for us because it kind of gave us a chance to kind of reset, reshift our thinking and what areas we are going to work on.  I definitely like -- the off-week worked out perfectly for our race team to kind of get back on track.”
  
Are you challenging your team this weekend?
“I mean, whenever we had those mechanical failures -- it’s so frustrating for myself.  The 11 team has kind of been characterized as the team that has all this potential, but we never can finish 10 weeks in a row.  We always have something that goes wrong with our cars, and things like that.  It’s challenging everyone in the shop to step up and our team on the road to step up.  This weekend, everyone has.  They’ve come with a whole new approach and really almost feel like I’m driving for a different race team than I have been for the whole year, when I came to the track this weekend.”
  
Why do you feel like it’s like being around a new team?
“I think in the off-week everyone had time to breathe.  We just got so caught up in the last Michigan race.  We looked at the schedule and said, ‘Wow, we can win at Bristol, there’s another Pocono, there’s another Michigan.’  All these race tracks we started naming, it was like we could win every single one of these races.  We could have 10 wins when the Chase starts.  And, then when something goes bad -- you have a good run and it looks like you’re going to win or run really well in the top-five, and you have a mechanical failure, it just beats the guys down so bad.  It really is discouraging.  Even though coming off a mechanical failure at Bristol -- I think it’s just that week that gave everyone a chance to reset and it gave everyone a chance to take a break and realize we have two weeks, our Chase starts nows.  It’s two weeks to get momentum going.  It seems like as soon I’ll show up to the race track, everything has gone smooth.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Pedigree Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How do you feel about your qualifying lap?
“I felt pretty good about it. I liked the way I got through turns one and two. The Pedigree Camry was decent in practice. We felt like we had a good handling race car and just trying to get the speed out of it as much as we could there. We got a really good run through one and two and down the backstretch. I drove it into three a little bit too far and kind of missed the bottom. I couldn’t get the car all the way to the bottom of the track and just slid through turn four. Kind of killed some of my speed. Felt like if it was a perfect lap it would have been right there with Denny (Hamlin). We’ll take a third. It’s a good qualifying effort for us and we knew Denny’s car has been a little better than ours. It’s really good to have him up there and starting on the pole. Hopefully we can have a good run here tomorrow night for Joe Gibbs Racing and get ourselves locked in the Chase and ready for Richmond.”

Is your outlook for tomorrow only to win the race or to build momentum?
“I feel like in our case, we need to build on our momentum still. We had a good run at Bristol obviously and had the off week with the Cup Series. Not back this week getting ready to hit Atlanta and Richmond before we get the Chase started. We’re just trying to build on our momentum. We’d like to win and say that nothing else matters except to win, but we certainly can’t take a 20th-place finish and be happy with that. That’s not what we need to do. We need to run strong, run up front, contend and be a good race car all day in both of these next races so we can just keep going and set ourselves as some championship favors heading into Loudon and Dover.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 6th
Are you pleased with qualifying?
“Yeah.  Pretty happy with it.  Good pick-up from practice.  We had a long day -- I’ll tell you.  Two hours and 45 minutes of practice wasn’t quite enough time for us today.  The guys did a great job.  Made a lot of changes.  Really struggled off the trailer with our NAPA Toyota and just continued to work on it all day long, and that was a really good lap for us.  At the end of the second practice there I felt good about our race run.  We did a long run right at the start of it, and then did two qualifying runs.  I felt good about that.  This will be a good starting spot for us.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Outdoors Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 13th
How is your race car handling?
“It was good.  It was a lot better than in practice.  Probably just didn’t get enough out of it.  It surprised me a bit.  It did a lot of positive stuff and I don’t think I was ready for it.  Overall, it was good.  It’s a good car -- I just think I left a little bit out there.”

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 20th
How was your qualifying lap?
“My lap was pretty clean and the car was reasonable. It is going to matter tomorrow. That will put us somewhere reasonable for a starting spot tomorrow. Hopefully the decisions we make tonight will make the car good tomorrow. I don’t think we were as quick as we were in the spring, but we’ll see tomorrow. How the car runs in race pace is what matters. We just need to make good decisions tonight and run as good as we did here earlier this year.”

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

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Little Debbie Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Starting Position: 32nd

REED SORENSON, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 33rd

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 34th

MIKE BLISS, No. 55 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports
Starting Position: 39th

KEVIN CONWAY, No. 7 Extenze Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Starting Position: 42nd

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing
Starting Position: 43rd

JASON LEFFLER, No. 32 Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Starting Position: DNQ

SCOTT RIGGS, No. 66 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ

TODD BODINE, No. 64 Little Joe’s Autos Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ