Denny Hamlin (fifth) was
the top finishing Toyota in
Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series (NSCS) race at
Phoenix International
Raceway. It was his 12th top
-five Cup result of the 2008
season. Camry driver Kyle
Busch (eighth) also earned a
top-10 finish at Phoenix. It
was his 21st top -10 in 35
Cup races this year. Marcos
Ambrose (18th) and Dave
Blaney (20th) round out the
top-20 Camry finishers at
the one-mile oval. Other
Toyota drivers in the field
included Tony Stewart
(22nd), Michael Waltrip
(24th), David Reutimann
(25th), Ken Schrader (27th),
Scott Speed (40th) and Brian
Vickers (42nd). With one
race remaining this season,
Toyota 'Chase' racers sit
ninth (Hamlin), 11th (Busch)
and 12th (Stewart) in the
point standings.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11
FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe
Gibbs Racing Finish: 5th
What are your thoughts about
tonight's race? "It was a
good run, for sure. We just
struggled to find what we
needed in this FedEx Ground
Toyota. It was just a little
bit off all day. If we could
get out of pit road ahead of
those guys, we probably
could stay in front of them.
Right there we were about a
fifth-place car all night.
It was a good points day for
us and we got ourselves back
in the top-10 -- that's what
it's all about."
Are you glad you climbed
a few spots in the 'Chase'
standings? "It's important,
it's a big deal. I missed it
last year and watched it on
TV. That part of it sucks,
that's for sure. You want to
get on stage and you want to
thank your crew and thank
your sponsors and everything
-- they deserve it and have
their driver up there on
their driver up on that
stage each and every year. I
want to get up on stage and
thank all these people that
supported me -- all the
FedEx employees. I wasn't
able to give that to them
last year so hopefully we'll
do it this year."
What can we look forward
to at Homestead? "A lot of
people having a sigh of
relief that the season is
over, for sure. It's
definitely been a long year
for us. The traveling gets
tough. We're just looking
forward to hopefully
solidifying our spot in the
top-10."
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18
Pedigree Toyota Camry, Joe
Gibbs Racing Finish: 8th How
was your race? "We battled
tight-loose all day and
never really got it right.
We've got a lot of work to
do."
MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47
Little Debbie Toyota Camry,
Michael Waltrip Racing
Finish: 18th How was your
race today? "I feel proud of
the guys. It's a decent day
for us. We're getting closer
to the top-35. We'll go to
Homestead with a lot of
confidence."
How was the handling of
your race car? "We had it
for a while, then we lost
it. We got it back, then we
lost it. It was a great day
for us. Every race I'm
getting better and better
with these guys and just
really looking forward to
next year."
How do you find driving
the Cup car? "The cars are
just hard to drive and they
are hard to handle, and they
are hard to feel comfortable
in."
DAVE BLANEY, No. 22 Bad
Boy Mowers Toyota Camry,
Bill Davis Racing Finish:
20th How was your race car
today? "We've run better
tonight than we've run on
the flat tracks in a long
time. It wasn't bad, we just
couldn't quite get good
enough. Any of the changes
we made didn't really help
us. We kind of had what we
had -- we didn't really help
it all day. We hung in
there. If we had just been
able to stay on the lead lap
we would have been in good
shape. We had one run where
we just got down and the
yellow came out."
Did you have any problems
with your race car? "It was
the same thing all weekend.
It was really different from
one end of the race track to
the other. In turns three
and four I felt fine, I had
good speed through there. In
turns one and two I was
really, really tight when I
laid into the brake pedal.
We didn't really fix it all
weekend."
TONY STEWART, No. 20 Home
Depot Toyota Camry, Joe
Gibbs Racing Finish: 22nd
What happened at the end of
the race? "Whatever could go
wrong there at the end, did.
We went from running in the
top-10 to getting wrecked --
twice."
MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55
NAPA Toyota Camry, Michael
Waltrip Racing Finish: 24th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 44
UPS Toyota Camry, Michael
Waltrip Racing Finish: 25th
KEN SCHRADER, No. 96 DLP
HDTV Toyota Camry, Hall of
Fame Racing Finish: 27th
SCOTT SPEED, No. 84 Red
Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull
Racing Team Finish: 40th
What happened on the race
track when the No. 38 of
David Gilliland ended up on
top of you? "There was a lot
of smoke. My spotter said
there's no one out there and
I throttled down in the gas.
We saw a spin and we all
started stopping and that's
where it ended. I tried to
slow down, closed my eyes,
screamed a little bit and it
was all over. Honestly, I
didn't see much. I got out
as quick as possible because
David (Gilliland) was still
trying to get going and he
was burning rubber all over
me. Luckily, I don't think
anyone got hurt."
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red
Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull
Racing Team Finish: 42nd
What happened to make your
Camry hit the wall entering
turn three? "Something was
getting loose -- I haven't
the slightest idea what it
was -- if it was a tire or a
mechanical piece on the car.
Luckily, it happened on the
backstretch and I had time
to lead into the impact and
absorb some of it because it
was a really good, hard hit.
It's amazing how hard you
can hit at short tracks
sometimes. We had good car.
We were coming back from
unfortunately a bad
qualifying effort and I'm
really proud of the Red Bull
guys. I think we would have
had at least a good points
day. I don't know if we
could have gone for the win
or not, but it's too late
now."