· Kyle Busch (second), Denny Hamlin (third) and Matt Kenseth (fourth) were the highest-finishing Toyota drivers in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
· The Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) drivers finished behind race-winner Jeff Gordon.
· This was Busch’s third runner-up result in the last four races (Kentucky, Loudon and Indy).
· The last time three JGR Camrys finished together in the top-five was September 2010 (Richmond) with Hamlin (first), Busch (second) and Joey Logano (fourth).
· Hamlin led 18 laps (of 160) at the 2.5-mile race track.
· Michael Waltrip Racing drivers Clint Bowyer (16th) and Brian Vickers (19th) also finished in the top-20.
· Kenseth is currently third in the unofficial NSCS point standings, 56 points behind leader Jeff Gordon. Camry drivers Busch (sixth), Bowyer (10th) and Hamlin (11th) are also in the top-12 in the point standings.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Snickers Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What were you saying over the radio about running out of fuel?
“I said he’s running out, meaning the 24 (Jeff Gordon) and thought we were going to have a chance. There was no catching him, definitely not. Those guys were really, really fast. I guess the restart situation, the 5 (Kasey Kahne) car screwed up there so he wasn’t able to stay up, but great day for this Snickers Camry. I can’t say enough about everybody at Joe Gibbs with all the hard work and everything they’ve done this year. They’re helping give our program a boost and moving forward a little bit. I think this was a really big day for JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and for Toyota. I’m proud of the effort they bring all three home in the top-five. Still know that we have more work to do, but still an opportunity there to gain speed and we obviously got beat by speed today. I still think we have to go to work some, but the last few races have been good for us and we appreciate the support from M&M’s, Snickers, Monster Energy and Toyota, of course. We’ll keep going.”
Did anyone have anything for Jeff Gordon at the end of the race?
“I don’t think anybody had anything for the 24 (Jeff Gordon). It seemed like anybody that he got behind he was able to pass those guys. At this place aero situations are so difficult that he could handle through it and pass guys in the long run. His car was really good today and that proved just being able to get out there so far and then he was just riding. I was trying to save my stuff so the guys behind me didn’t catch me. It was a great day for Joe Gibbs Racing here finishing two, three, four — real proud of that and having the Snickers Camry come home second means a lot to our guys and looking forward to the next few weeks.”
Are you satisfied with a second-place finish at Indy?
“Yeah, today’s performance was good. We want to win and I think this is my second second-place finish here. It’s frustrating in that respect, but it’s rewarding because we’ve been a little behind this year and it seemed like we had some good speed this weekend.”
Is it difficult to pass at Indy?
“Yeah, it is but there was no catching the 24 (Jeff Gordon). I mean, the 24 was in a league of his own. He was able to make passes and the guys that could make passes like that have the best cars here. There was no doubt that he should have been the winner.”
Was the race a wild event?
“If I could have got out front by 10 seconds and then gone on to the end, we would have been fine. No one would have caught us and if they would have caught us wouldn’t have passed us but that’s just how things roll sometimes. You have to play these things out to the end and today we were just second-best.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
Did everything come together during the race?
“That’s what matters. We were awful for two days. The things I require out of car just doesn’t work until the track gets hot and slick. We knew as soon as the pace started up our car was going to come in — that was a good run for us.”
What was your plan with the strategy?
“Well, the thing is — we passed all the cars because our strategy got blown out when we didn’t get our car full. If it all worked out, we were going to have a 15 second lead with enough fuel to make it. We were sitting really, really pretty to win this race — just didn’t get it full on that second to last stop. So, we had to make an extra stop and that put us back and we just battled our way back up to the top-three. We had a fast car. That’s all you can say, we had a car that was capable of winning.”
Was that the best your car was all weekend?
“By far. We were seconds off for the first two days. Until the track gets hot and slick our car just doesn’t come in. Obviously, it got hot enough for us today.”
Did you imagine your day would finish this well?
“I knew early in the race we had a car that was really fast. Then Darian (Grubb, crew chief) pulled that strategy and then we were going to have a 15 second lead with enough fuel to make it. Dang it. Just didn’t get it full that one stop. We had to get it full. We just didn’t get it full. Had to make that extra stop. That just shows how fast our car was that we were able to battle back with our FedEx team. Proud of the run we had. Obviously, the passing is extremely difficult here. Whoever gets out front can really, really go. We passed all the cars that we needed to pass today.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How was the race?
“It was a good day for JGR. All our Toyotas were pretty quick today. We were all top-10 cars. Kept guys out and got good finishes. Wish it was a one-two-three. Another good day for us.”
Is Joe Gibbs Racing gaining on the competition?
“Well, I feel like we’ve been gaining on it. I thought at Kentucky we were all pretty good. Loudon (N.H.) we were all really good — I thought we were all top-five cars — Brad (Keselowski) had us. Here we were more like third to eighth-place cars. When we had track position we were pretty quick.”
How did you see the final restart?
“It was interesting because I was — I was kind of picking on Jeff’s (Gordon) restarts all day because he just couldn’t get going on the outside. He was getting on the outside of the front row. I was behind and was like, ‘Man, this is going to be bad.’ He got into (turn) one and kind of carried the 5 (Kasey Kahne) and the 5 must have got loose. And, then Denny (Hamlin) gave me a break. I got out in front of him and we were both able to pass Kasey (Kahne). Then Denny (Hamlin) got us three-wide. Once it singled out we were able to get away a little bit.”
How much did your Camry change during the race after the sun came out?
“The biggest thing that changed was just traffic, how many cars were lined up in front of you and where they were running — those types of things. They didn’t change drastically. I don’t think we worked on our Dollar General Camry much, but it would just depend on traffic. Some days things go your way and some days they don’t and today we just drew the outside lane every restart, and for me I could get rolling down the front straight but the guys in front of me could make it to the corner pretty good and I made it to the corner and I couldn’t get my car in the hole. Denny (Hamlin) gave me a good break there at the end and I was able to get in front and get a decent finish. I would restart on the outside and lose seven, eight spots and it would take the whole run to get most of it back. I had to do that every restart and it was tough to get track position.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 RK Motors Charlotte Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 16th
How was your race?
“Our RK Motors Toyota was much better than our 16th-place finish. We had a little trouble in the pits and we got back in some traffic. We had to pit under that last caution because we got some debris on the grill from another car when we were leaving pit road. It was a frustrating day but Brian Pattie and the guys gave me a good car just wish we finished better than we did.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
How was your race?
“That’s so disappointing. We had a good car all day especially on long runs but just needed some track position. We were in good shape running eighth with less than 20 laps to go. I went into turn one on the restart and it just took off. Everyone on the Aaron’s Dream Machine Camry deserved so much better today.”
COLE WHITT, No. 26 Speed Stick Gear Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 40th
RYAN TRUEX, No. 83 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 41st
Have you noticed that whenever Busch gets beat and that has happened some recently, that in the post-race interview, he never congratulates the winner? He still isn’t man enough to take it without whining.