Talladega II: Toyota teams race quotes, notes

Camry driver Joey Logano earned a third-place finish in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at the 2.66- mile Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Toyota drivers Michael Waltrip (seventh), Brian Vickers (13th), Kyle Busch (15th) and Robert Richardson, Jr. (18th) also scored top-20 finishes at the Alabama superspeedway.

Other Toyota drivers in the field included David Reutimann (26th), Scott Speed (27th), Max Papis (29th), Robby Gordon (32nd), Marcos Ambrose (34th), Denny Hamlin (38th), Dave Blaney (41st) and Joe Nemechek (43rd).

Hamlin is 11th in the unofficial NSCS Chase point standings and Vickers sits 12th following Talladega.

***

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd

How was your race? "It was a good run -- battled hard all day. These races are interesting. You ride around in the first part and you just really make sure you don't wreck, that's the main thing. Just trying to find friends and maybe make decisions you wouldn't make at the end of the race just to make some friends and try to have someone good at the end pushing you. That was my game plan most of the time and hopefully that all lined up good."

What was the final restart like for you? "It was exciting for me at least, but you have to expect that in a green-white-checker at Talladega. It was a good run for us. One more lap, I don't know what would have happened. It was fun to be up there racing for the win with those guys so it was a good run for the Home Depot Toyota."

Did you see a lot of bump drafting in today's race? "I didn't see many people do it until the end of the race and then everybody just got aggressive. It wasn't the type of getting two cars hooked up and going through the whole lap like that. It was just beating and banging through the corner, but not just hooked up to each other. I didn't think it happened at all. I know I wasn't doing it – I did see one or two cars try it, but didn't see them succeed in doing it. It seemed like a lot of people were doing it down the straight-away, which we expected and I was doing it to. When we would get to the corner, we would let people go."

***

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 7th

***

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Finishing Position: 13th

How did NASCAR's new rule of no bump-drafting change today's race? "It wasn't a big deal, but did it prevent ‘the big one?' Obviously not -- it was a lot calmer out there. It made the middle part of the race a little more boring. It was probably the most yawning that I've done during a superspeedway race. Maybe that's what they want, I'm not sure. I don't think it's really NASCAR's fault. NASCAR had so many guys up in the truck this week and I don't know who they were and I don't think it was a lot of them. I just think it was some of the guys up in there really, really complaining about it. They got a rule passed of no bumping in the corners, which is fine and no big deal. What it prevented was two guys or three guys being able to drop to the bottom and go to the front. Without that, it really got single file there and there was really not a lot you could do in the middle of the race."

Did the new rule by NASCAR bring about the chaos in the closing laps? "I think that can definitely happen. I guess for me to comment on the new rule about no bumping in the corners, which has kind of always been there, they (NASCAR) just kind of emphasized it more today. I guess I have to understand what the purpose of it was. If the intent was to prevent a crash, obviously it's not going to do that. We crash as much in the straight-away here as we do in the corner. I'm not really sure what the intent was. I don't think it accomplished anything that had anything to do with a big crash or a ‘big one.' We crashed just as much today on the straight-away as we've ever done and the new rule was in place. I don't know what the intent was."

***

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 15th

ROBERT RICHARDSON, JR., No. 36 WAVE Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Tommy Baldwin Racing
Finishing Position: 18th

***

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 26th

What happened in the wreck at the end of the race? "I have no idea. They started wrecking and we were in it so I don't know what led up to it. There are just a lot of torn up race cars. You get in a situation like when we had that red flag and then have a green-white-checkered and guys running out of fuel and stuff. It gets pretty wild there towards the end and you don't know what to expect. I don't know what happened up front, but it must have been pretty big. If it wasn't big when it started, it sure did end up that way. Just a bad day."

***

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Finishing Position: 27th

***

MAX PAPIS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing
Finishing Position: 29th

How was your race today? "It was a very exciting day for us. Maybe one of the best that we have run so far. (Robert) Bootie (Barker, crew chief) put me out front with good strategy and we were running in the top-15 and we belong there. Unfortunately, with the green-white- checker, we ran out of gas and that was a little strange. That doesn't take away anything from the great race we had and we are showing to the NASCAR world that we belong here. That is a great feeling for me."

***

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 Jim Beam Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Finishing Position: 32nd

***

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Kingsford/Clorox/Bush's Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Finishing Position: 34th

What happened in the accident with Ryan Newman? "They checked up in front of me and I got hit from behind. I don't know what started it all – don't know what caused it. I'm just thankful Ryan's (Newman) okay."

***

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 38th

What was the issue that took you out of the race? "We take one step forward then two back, it seems like. But we had a great car, that's for sure. Our FedEx Camry was strong as anyone, if not stronger, but just couldn't keep it together. It's a different issue than what we had at Charlotte. This one looks to be the bottom end, where it was the top end at Charlotte. No telling what really let go. It looked like a connector rod, because we got a lot of oil all over the place. Hopefully it will make our engine department stronger and our team stronger and when we setup ourselves for a championship next year, we won't have mechanical issues and then we'll be able to fight them at the end."

Where is the middle ground between the new NASCAR rule and racing? "Let us race. They gave us a car to race, now let the drivers handle it. That's the way I see it. The one thing I noticed today that was different was that were hitting each other harder on the straight-aways. You'll see when the big one happens today, it will be because someone hits someone too hard on the straight-away. It's because we can't push each other. They say you can hit each other and that's what you have to do on the straight-away, but you can't push all the way around the race track. Pushing each other in the corners and all the way around, that is the safest driving you can possibly do because that's eight tires. The thing is, you'll see when the big one happens, it will be someone just hitting someone down the straight-aways because they were put in a box that said that was how they had to race."

What needs to be done at the next Talladega race? "If you want to make a rule then say that we can't all line up. That's the only rule that we should have is we can't line up and we have to race. You can't do it. As a driver, these guys are looking out for themselves and their teams, they want to be around at the end. We're not necessarily thinking about what the fans want to see at that point, it's just a tough spot because we want to put on a good show, we really do and I'm more in favor of us going all out, but if you want us to go all out then you need to make this a 50-lap race."

***

DAVE BLANEY, No. 66 Prism Motorsports Toyota Camry, Prism Motorsports
Finishing Position: 41st

***JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 NEMCO Motorsports Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Finishing Position: 43rd

-credit: toyota motorsports