Tony Stewart (ninth) was
the top-finishing Toyota in
Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series (NSCS) season finale
race at Homestead-Miami
Speedway. Camry drivers
Denny Hamlin (13th), Scott
Speed (16th), Kyle Busch
(19th) and David Reutimann
(20th) also earned top-20
finishes in tonight's race.
Other Camry drivers in
tonight's race included Dave
Blaney (22nd), Brian Vickers
(32nd), Michael Waltrip
(38th) and Marcos Ambrose
(42nd). Camry drivers
finished the 2008 NSCS
season with three drivers in
the top-10 in the unofficial
point standings -- Hamlin
(eighth), Stewart (ninth)
and Busch (10th). Other
Toyota drivers in the
unofficial NSCS driver point
standings include Vickers
(19th), Reutimann (22nd),
Waltrip (29th) and Blaney
(30th). Reutimann earned his
career-first NSCS pole at
Homestead. It was the fifth
pole of 2008 for Toyota and
seventh since joining the
series in 2007.
TONY STEWART, No. 20 Home
Depot Toyota Camry, Joe
Gibbs Racing Finish: 9th How
much did you want to win
this race tonight? "We did
everything we could do. The
good thing is that we
finished competitive tonight
and we didn't win the race
so we didn't accomplish what
we wanted to accomplish, but
they knew we were here and
we showed why we've been
champions and won 33 races
with this team."
How hard is it for you
that your time with Joe
Gibbs Racing is over with
this race? "It's hard. These
guys are my family. When
you've been with a group of
guys for 10 years and the
sponsor for 10 years like
this -- that's a long time.
I know people that haven't
been married that long. It's
just one of them rough
nights. We had a shot to win
and it didn't work out for
us."
How does it feel to come
so close to winning this
race? "It was awesome to be
leading there with 20 laps
to go and driving away from
the field -- you can't ask
for more than that. I just
appreciate everything that
Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew
chief) and these guys have
done and it's hard. We all
wanted to win this last
race, but so did 42 other
guys that wanted to win this
last one of the year. I'm
really proud of these guys.
The biggest thing to me is
that we went out and we were
competitive tonight.
Everybody knew we were here
and they knew we were one of
the fastest cars all day. We
did what we needed to do."
Are you thinking about
2009? "Not yet -- I want to
congratulate Jimmie Johnson
and spend time with these
guys right now. Tomorrow is
tomorrow and we will worry
about that tomorrow."
What do you think about
Jimmie Johnson winning three
consecutive championships?
"Pretty impressive. They've
done something that is not
likely that anybody else
will every do this again for
another 20 or 30 years."
Are you emotional at this
point? "Of course I am --
I'm leaving a group of guys
that I have been used to
working with 38 weeks a year
for 10 years. It's always
hard to do that. I guess if
we didn't all like each
other it would make it a lot
easier to be where we're all
at tonight. When you like
the group of guys you're
working with and you always
have -- it makes nights like
tonight even harder."
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11
FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe
Gibbs Racing Finish: 13th
How hard is it to finish
13th after having such a
strong car in tonight's
race? "It's just frustrating
that we can't get better
fuel mileage. It was a deal
where we have good cars, but
we give away too many races.
Tony (Stewart), I felt like,
had that one won. We just
can't get the fuel mileage
out of these motors we need
to."
How frustrating is it to
have this race come down to
fuel mileage? "That's not
what the fans want to see.
The fans want to see the
fastest cars win and good
battles. They don't want to
see a guy run around 50
miles per hour to win a
race. It's frustrating, but
they did what they had to do
to win the race. We would've
done that if we had the
opportunity to, but we
didn't."
How important is it for
you to finish the season in
the top-10 in points? "That
is obviously important.
There are a lot of people
that are cheering us on,
especially at FedEx. We
needed to be on that stage.
We missed out on it last
year. We felt like we need
to get back there, at least.
We came on strong these last
five or six races, and
that's encouraging heading
into next year."
What do you think the
team needs to do in the
off-season to improve for
2009? "We have work to do,
for sure. The standard was
set by the 48 (Jimmie
Johnson) - they have the
strongest cars out here
right now. We definitely
have some work to do. We
have to catch up in the
off-season. With the cut
down of testing, I think
it's going to be whoever
works hardest."
SCOTT SPEED, No. 83 Red
Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull
Racing Team Finish: 16th How
strong was your car tonight?
"We had a really good car
all night. The first half of
the race we were a little
loose getting into the
corners, but as the sun went
down and it got cooler out,
the car tightened up a bit.
This was a good race for us.
We finished every lap,
stayed out of trouble, and
came home with a good
finish. I felt like I had a
really good feel for the car
and learned a lot so it was
a nice to end the season on
a high note."
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's
Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs
Racing Finish: 19th How
close were you on fuel at
the end of the race? "I
tried to save as much fuel
as I could there over the
last run, but we came up a
couple laps short. We pretty
much blew up the engine
trying to get it restarted,
but fortunately we were able
to finish the race. We
really didn't have much to
lose so I thought it was
worth a shot. We had a good
year, so I just want to
thank M&M's and Toyota for
their support this year."
STEVE ADDINGTON, Crew
Chief, No. 18 M&M's Toyota
Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What
are your thoughts on your
team's season? "We had a
great season -- I can't
complain about it. I have to
thank everybody at
M&M's/Mars family that came
on and gave us all the
support we needed. This is
an awesome feeling really."
What did you learn this
season to take into 2009?
"Not to show your hand too
early in the season and let
these guys go to work and
get better than you. That's
one thing that I learned as
to how to approach this
stuff. We know we've got a
good package so let's try
some different things and
not show our hand. We've got
a good enough race team to
be in the 'Chase."
What are your thoughts on
Chad Knaus winning three
consecutive championships?
"That's awesome and my hat's
off to him. He's the best at
that. Being there before and
even though we changed into
this car full season -- he
played his cards right on
trying stuff and when the
'Chase' came around they
were awesome. He's an
awesome guy."
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 84 Red
Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull
Racing Team Finish: 32nd How
was your race tonight? "I
don't really know what
happened with the speeding
penalty. Our tachometer
numbers were way off
compared to everyone else.
About 30 laps later we were
squeezed between the 88
(Dale Earnhardt Jr) and 2
(Kurt Busch) on pit road
which messed up the toe.
After both incidents we
still had a good car --
really good -- but were
never able to get out of
traffic and ended the race a
lap down. I'm disappointed
because I wanted to end this
year with a win. The guys
have worked so hard. I am
happy though that we
accomplished what we set out
to do, and that was to get
this 84 car into the top 35
in owner points. That will
be a huge weight off the
team's shoulders going into
Daytona next year. Scott
(Speed) did a great job in
the 83 today, too. I'm happy
to see him running so well."
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 44
UPS Toyota Camry, Michael
Waltrip Racing Finish: 20th
DAVE BLANEY, No. 22 Bad
Boy Mowers Toyota Camry,
Bill Davis Racing Finish:
22nd
MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55
NAPA Toyota Camry, Michael
Waltrip Racing Finish: 38th
MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47
Little Debbie Toyota Camry,
Michael Waltrip Racing
Finish: 42nd