Catchfence

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 2nd

How do you feel about your qualifying run?

“We just put together a solid lap. It wasn’t a great lap, but it was a good lap. These guys do great job on this M & M’s
Camry. Got to thank Steve (Addington, crew chief) and all the guys that worked so hard over the off-season. These are our struggle points right here — Phoenix, Loudon (NH), and Martinsville. We felt like we gained a little bit — not a lot — but a little bit here today that shows something that maybe we’ve gained for tomorrow.”

Are you happy with your car?

“We’re pleased with it. The M & M’s Camry was decent today. It wasn’t great, but it was decent. Steve (Addington, crew chief) and the guys made adjustments to it for qualifying. I think we have a pretty decent race car, too. I’m looking forward to it. It’s hard to beat that 5 car (Mark Martin), especially with that old man behind the wheel. A special day for those guys.

Hopefully we’ll go into tomorrow and have a good, solid effort. We’ve been working on these flat tracks. We’ve struggled — these have been our Achilles heel. Hopefully, Phoenix, Loudon and Martinsville – we’ve made some gains this weekend.”

How much of the success here depends on horsepower and how much is handling?

“There’s a lot of both. You have to have good horsepower — actually good torque in your engine — because to get up off these corners you’re in such a low RPM you have to have a motor that will pull you through those RPMs. And then get up into the high RPMs and have that horsepower that carries you down the straightaway. There’s a whole aspect of things. You got to be able to have a car that turns good in the center, and you have to have good brakes here so you can get in as deep as you want and still be able to get the car slowed down for the center of the corners. It’s a game for sure and there’s a lot of aspects to it. It’s not as easy as it looks.”

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 5th

What was it like during your qualifying run?

“It was good. That was definitely the best the car has been. I have to commend Ryan (Pemberton, crew chief) and the whole crew. They did a good job today getting the car better throughout practice, but made some great decisions after practice that really helped the car.”

How good is your car for tomorrow’s race?

“So far, it’s pretty good. I’m really proud of the Red Bull guys. They did a good job during practice. We had an okay car to start with, but really made it better to practice. Ryan (Pemberton, crew chief) made some good decisions after practice to really help the car — fix the turn in the center, we were really fighting it in practice. Really helped it for qualifying.

Hopefully, we can apply that to the race set-up — which we were already very happy with — and we’ll have a good day.”

Does this track suit your qualifying style?

“I don’t know. I’ve always enjoyed coming here and in the past have always done well here. The past couple years at Red Bull we haven’t had a great short track program and that’s really hurt our efforts here. We’ve really picked that program up this year. Everybody at Red Bull has done a good job to make these cars suitable for short tracks.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 8th

How’s your car here at Phoenix?

“It’s just tight, but it’s okay for the most part. It’s just tight and we couldn’t be as fast as we needed to be in qualifying
because it’s low in the center. It’s just tight.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office/March for Babies Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 12th

How was your car during your qualifying lap?

“It was about what we expected. We just haven’t been very good in qualifying this year and we’re trying to improve on it.

We’re trying to get a package that’s a little bit better. We’re not terrible right now. This puts us somewhere in the top-15.”

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 18th

Are you happy to be have qualified into tomorrow’s race?

“We qualified in a pretty good spot to start the race tomorrow, so we’re happy about that, but we’re also really glad that we get to race tomorrow night. Our race pace was really good in practice this morning, so as long as we stay out of trouble we should ave a decent finish. I’m really happy for all of my crew guys. They’ve worked hard and they deserve this.”

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 22nd

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Starting Position: 23rd

How was your qualifying run?

“Obviously I would have liked it to be better than that, but it’s not too bad. We’re getting better every single week. We struggled here last time, so to come back here and run like we’re running this time, I’m pretty happy.”

How do you approach tomorrow’s race?

“We worked really hard on our race stuff. I think we’re in good shape. We’ve worked hard on it and we’ll have to see what happens. I think we’re well prepared and we’ll see if our race set-up is good enough. We were like 20th in practice in race set-up and a lot of guys were in qualifying trim so I think we might be better in the race than we were in qualifying.”

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Clorox/Kingsford Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Starting Position: 29th

Were you surprised by that qualifying lap?

“It just shows you how little I know. I thought it was like a 27.90 and when (Frank Kerr, crew chief) said 19, I had to
ask him a second time and thankfully he’s my crew chief. I really messed the second lap up. I have to thank my guys
that we have a car in the Cup for the spring time here. We’re excited to come here. Every day is a surprise and that
qualifying is definitely a surprise.”

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

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 32nd

DAVE BLANEY, No. 66 Toyota Camry, Prism Motorsports
Starting Position: 34th

SCOTT RIGGS, No. 36 Toyota Camry, Tommy Baldwin Racing
Starting Position: 37th

JEREMY MAYFIELD, No. 41 All Sport Toyota Camry, Jeremy Mayfield Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ

TODD BODINE, No. 64 Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ

 

- Toyota Motorsports, Press Release