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Martinsville II: Toyota teams qualifying quotes

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 1st Do you feel like it paid off to work on qualifying in today's practice session? "Hopefully it's a good thing. We haven't had our car in race trim yet. I feel ...

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 1st

Do you feel like it paid off to work on qualifying in today's practice session? "Hopefully it's a good thing. We haven't had our car in race trim yet. I feel like we have a good baseline setup for here, obviously so we decided today that we were just going to focus on qualifying knowing that the corner pit stall is very, very critical here at Martinsville. I love it when a plan comes together."

How nerve-wracking was it to watch the final cars take their qualifying laps? "I beat a hole through every cabinet and door in the front of the hauler. The 24 (Jeff Gordon) had a good shot at us and the 16 (Greg Biffle) had a great shot at us getting into turn three on their last lap. I wasn't wishing bad luck, but I was just like, 'Slip, slip, slip, slip.' It came true for us. I'm proud of this whole FedEx team. We've had to work extra hard today because we have worked just on qualifying. Kudos to them for working hard today and obviously tomorrow as well."

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MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Dollar General Country Million Sweepstakes Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Starting Position: 2nd

How has your short track program evolved? "We've had a great short track program all year and we've been looking forward to coming here to Martinsville. It's been a good day for us. Started off pretty loose - had a little spin there early in practice, but we got lucky and didn't hit anything. Switched over to qualifying trim and really it was a good lap - I didn't think it was going to be as good as the front row, but we'll take it."

Do you feel like you run a separate race from the Chase contenders? "I'm excited to be on the front row and I'm going to try to stay there as long as I can. There haven't been as many opportunities as I would like to be at the front of the field so I'm going to try to take advantage of it. At the end of the day I have to be mindful of who I'm racing around. I appreciate the sport and if you've made the Chase you deserve to fight it out for the championship without a guy doing the wrong thing by you. I'm mindful of who I'm around at the same time I'm racing my own race."

***

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

How was your qualifying lap? "We were okay. Just a little tight on throttle. The guys did a good job. Both of our mock runs we were really, really good and that was the first time it had been tight on exit all day. Little confused as to why it did that. All in all, hopefully it will hold up to be a decent lap."

***

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 14th

How did your car handle during your qualifying laps? "We gave a little bit up on our first timed lap - we should have been better, but I didn't have enough rear traction off of turn four and I just kind of had a big drift all the way to the start-finish line. I think I lost a couple hundredths. The second lap I was just conservative and put together a good, solid lap. Hopefully it will hold up solid for us."

***

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 16th

How did you feel about your car in qualifying? "It wasn't what we were looking for, but it was better than practice. We were fighting a lot of things. This is a tough little place to get around. It's small and flat and it looks simple, but it's really hard to get the car balanced good in all three parts of the corner - entry, center and exit. We've been complete opposites in all three corners today so we've been kind of battling it. First lap was okay, but it was a little on the free side and the second lap the right-rear couldn't hang in there anymore and just chattered out from under me. Of course you lose three or four tenths in every corner when it does that so the second lap – you usually pick up on the second lap if you get things right, but the right-rear tire just couldn't hold on that long. Little disappointed, but at the same time it was faster than we ran in practice and a lot of guys slowed down. Look at the positives and work hard on it tomorrow."

***

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing
Starting Position: 20th

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 22nd

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 26th

LANDON CASSILL, No. 64 Little Joe's Auto Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports
Starting Position: 30th

KASEY KAHNE, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 33rd

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 37th

KEVIN CONWAY, No. 7 Extenze Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Starting Position: 41st

ROBBY GORDON, No. 07 Extenze Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ

TERRY COOK, No. 55 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 66 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ

-source: toyota motorsports

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