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Fontana II: Toyota teams qualifying quotes

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 6th How was your qualifying run? "Crazy pick-up. I think the guys figured something out when we were over there driving those Nationwide cars. They ...

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 6th

How was your qualifying run? "Crazy pick-up. I think the guys figured something out when we were over there driving those Nationwide cars. They figured something out with these Gibbs cars. We were pitiful in practice. It was really, really, really bad. I first saw that Denny (Hamlin) picked up a lot and I picked up a lot. I'm sure Kyle is going to pick up a lot, too, with what we've been doing. That's cool to see it. After practice I was pretty discouraged about the way we ran and not excited about my qualifying effort that I was going to have. Pretty excited about what we had. That was good. Hopefully, we can use some of that and work towards tomorrow with it."

"I feel like I drove it in the corner a little easy into (turn) one. But, I came off the corner decent. By the time I got to the center of the corner -- looking at the lap tracker on TV -- I was two-and-a-half tenths off by the time I got back to the center. I was about two-tentsh off by the time I went into (turn) three down the back straight away. So, I was able to make up a little bit there. Just a little bit tight in the center, which I think most everybody is. Trying to get these things to turn and get off the corner decent. I was happy with the pick-up we had and like (David) Reutimann said, we have to do a little bit of work in race trim."

Did Denny (Hamlin) have anything to tell you after he qualified? "I just asked him what was so different. He went that much faster. 'Well, what did you do? Was the car different?' Pick his brain for a minute. He was the guinea pig out of all of us. It worked good. That's one of the good parts that helps having other cars out there -- having teammates -- it helps like that."

Was your conversation with Denny (Hamlin) beneficial? "Oh yeah. It helped. Either way we were going to pick up. But, I think kind of knowing what you're going to have a little bit more seems to help."

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JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 NEMCO Motorsports Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 13th

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MAX PAPIS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing
Starting Position: 15th

Are you excited about your qualifying results? "Let me tell you, today the GEICO Toyota was fantastic. It was a rollercoaster of emotions while I was sitting in the car thinking am I going to the show, go out there drive so hard thanks to Bootie (Barker, crew chief) and all my guys on the team. Did you see what we did? It is fantastic. I'm so proud. We are making good progress and I'm proud of what we are doing. I'm so happy."

***

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 19th

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SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 21st

How was your qualifying run? "It was alright. I didn't really drive very well in turn one. It's difficult in qualifying, everyone will say, to go from a Nationwide to a Cup car. Some weekends we hit pretty good but this weekend I didn't get a good lap at all. Our car was good in race practice and even with such a bad lap we're still 21st right now, so it was reasonable. It'll certainly get us solidly in the show."

Does having to qualify into each race wear on you? "Of course I am -- it sucks. We shouldn't be in this position, but certain things happened this year that got us behind rig ht away and it's been really hard for us to catch back up. Right now, for the last two months we've been really good as a team and we just keep getting better. For the last half of the season we've improved a lot. We'll look forward to getting it back in there (top- 35) before next year."

***

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Little Debbie Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Starting Position: 27th

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BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 32nd

How was the handling of your car during qualifying? "We were too tight. We were way too tight. We really missed it in practice when we were dealing with a fuel pressure issue again. This is something that's plagued us several times this year. We lost a lot of practice because of it and ultimately it results in not having the time we needed -- that we really needed with the car. We were just really tight in qualifying and I just couldn't get to the bottom."

***

DAVE BLANEY, No. 66 Prism Motorsports Toyota Camry, Prism Motorsports
Starting Position: 33rd

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 34th

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 RGM Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Starting Position: 38th

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DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 42nd

NOTE: Reutimann initially qualified second.  However, NASCAR disallowed the qualifying time and he will start from
the 42nd position.  He was penalized for exceeding the gas level limit in the rear shocks.

How did your car feel during qualifying? "It really didn't feel that good. I thought we were going to be in trouble there. We got in (turn) one a little deep and it kind of made it through there okay and (turns) three and four actually felt okay. I had a good Aaron's Dream Machine. We weren't all that good in practice and Rodney Childers (crew chief) and all the guys at Michael Waltrip Racing did a great job. They beat on this thing a little bit and got it a whole lot better. I was expecting for them to tell me I had screwed up, because I thought I had. Maybe if I hadn't smoked off into (turn) one that would been a little better yet. It was still a pretty good lap."

How was your qualifying lap? "It really got off into (turn) one pretty deep there and it didn't feel all that good. I thought we messed up there and got back into the gas. (Turns) three and four felt pretty good. Whenever you go across the start finish line and its silent is never a really good sign because that means your lap isn't all that good. The guys don't get that keyed up, but Rodney Childers (crew chief) was like, 'Man, that was good, we're second.' I was really surprised that it was as good as it was. If I hadn't over drove (turn) one, we probably would have been a little bit better. I have a tendency to do that from time to time. The guys did a good job, we weren't even close to that in practice. It was all their work that got us to where we needed to be."

"It was a bit of a surprise.  We weren't that good in practice and didn't really have a good Aaron's Dream Machine as we
thought we should have.  The guys made some pretty big changes on the car.  I heard Greg (Biffle) talking about he got into
(turn) one a little conservative.  I was on the opposite end of that spectrum.  I drove it in there like an idiot and we were able to
get through there okay, but I think it cost us some time.  All in all it was a good lap and it felt really, really good.  We just have
to do a little bit of work on it for race trim.  That's going to be an important side, I think."

How will it be racing in cooler temperatures? "I'm not running the Nationwide car this weekend. For that matter, this place had a tendency to be kind of slick anyway. Even when we started some races during the day and ended up going on in the night. The place was just kind of slick. I think more importantly, from the driver's standpoint, it's going to be a lot nicer inside the car. Last year, it was brutal hot the whole time. It was hard to get any fresh air. It felt like you were sitting behind a blow dryer all day. So, that aspect of it will be a lot nicer."

***

MICHAEL McDOWELL, No. 36 WAVE Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Tommy Baldwin Racing
Starting Position: 43rd

MIKE WALLACE, No. 64 Gunselman Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ

-credit: toyota motorsports

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