NASCAR Cup

Bristol: Toyota teams qualifying quotes

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Starting Position: 6th How did you feel about your qualifying lap? "My lap just wasn't very good - we were just too tight. We couldn't back up what we ran in ...

Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:47 PM

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DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 6th

How did you feel about your qualifying lap? "My lap just wasn't very good - we were just too tight. We couldn't back up what we ran in practice so we just ended up not getting the lap we needed to in order to be in the position where we needed to be. It's just a big disappointment. We just need to move on and work on our race set-up now."

How much does it help to start near the front at Bristol? "It definitely helps, but when you don't always have opportunities to sit on poles like this and we feel like we just gave one away. That's aggravating to me and to the whole team. We'll put that behind us and move on. For now I'm just aggravated because we should have been at least contending for the pole if not gotten the pole and we didn't. I guess anytime you can be disappointed with a top-10 starting position is not a bad day. It just doesn't feel like it right now."

How is the race set-up on your car? "I think we've got a little work to do with our race set-up and Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and the guys are getting a game plan for tomorrow. We weren't terrible, but just felt like we needed to do some stuff to make it better. We didn't get that many race runs in, just a couple to kind of give us a general idea."

***

DAVE BLANEY, No. 66 Hyde Park Storage Suites Toyota Camry, Prism Motorsports
Starting Position: 8th

How strong is your race car? "This car is really good. It's the same car we run every weekend that I've been in it. If it hasn't run good it's because of me. It was really good all day today and that was a fairly conservative lap. It was fun to drive."

Do you enjoy racing at Bristol? "I really love the way it's been re-done. The races now are just spectacular because you can run way up at the top, the bottom, the middle and the layout was always really cool, but they made the track perfect when they re-did it. I really love it."

***

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 11th

How quickly have you learned Bristol Motor Speedway? "We made the right decisions after practice I think for sure. You obviously pay attention to the guys that run good - Jeff's (Gordon) the man here. He has his own style here that works and we knew he would be fast. It's great that we were able to get the car towards the front - it's going to help for sure in the race. Hopefully we can tune on it and make it good for happy hour.'

Do you like racing at Bristol? "This place has always been good to us. It was good to us in the truck. It's definitely one of the cooler places to come to and luckily our weekend is starting out well. I think it's going to end up keeping us toward the front of the field and that is going to be super-important for the race."

How is your race set-up in your car? "We'll see. It's going to be difficult to keep the rear-end underneath the race car all day, but we'll try."

***

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Little Debbie Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Starting Position: 13th

Are you happy with your qualifying run? "Yeah, it's pretty good. We made little changes before qualifying and didn't really know what it had. We just wanted a strong starting spot here so we didn't put ourselves a lap down early on. It could've been faster if practice had of been smoother but for my first time here I'll take it."

Do you like your experience so far at Bristol? "It's a great track. I love it. I love all of the tracks that we go to but this is particularly cool. It's just got a great atmosphere. It's like a coliseum. If you ever played football I guess it would be what it would look like, playing with a huge crowd right in front of you."

***

TODD BODINE, No. 64 Fred's Hometown Discount Store Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports
Starting Position: 16th

Are you happy to qualify for the race? "Oh yeah, we struggled a little in practice and me and Doug put our heads together and we came up with some changes. It definitely made the car more drivable which allowed me to hustle it a little bit in qualifying and got about another tenth out of it so that's what we needed."

What will you work on in practice tomorrow to get the car ready for Sunday's race? "You've got to make it drive good on old tires. That's the thing. It's got to get in the corner good without getting loose, be able to get in the throttle, turn good -- it's just got to drive good on the old tires."

***

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Snickers Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 19th

How did your car handle on your qualifying lap? "The Snickers Toyota was just too tight. The guys worked on freeing the car up during practice, but it still just plowed through the corners. We did about four race runs in practice and the car was really good in race trim. We'll tool on the race setup some more tomorrow and get ready for Sunday."

***

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 21st

Were you pleased with your qualifying lap in your backup car? "Certainly disappointed in the day. My guys work so hard that I just have to put all that behind me when I get in the car and mat it and just drive my butt off. It was just a little tight and if it hadn't of been quite so tight we could have had a really good lap. I'm really proud of my team because in practice the reason why I wrecked is because I was loose and then they were able to send me out there in a car that was under me and tight. I'm real proud of (Robert) Bootie' (Barker, crew chief) and I just love seeing the smiles on the NAPA guys after we had a little bit of a moral victory."

How much do you enjoy racing at Bristol? "It's incredible. You start on about Monday or Tuesday of the week of Bristol thinking about the intensity and your level of focus and enthusiasm for the weekend. When you first get on the track you have to take a breath to say, Okay, calm down, this ain't that big of a deal,' but it really is."

***

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 23rd

Are you happy with your qualifying run? "Yeah, I wish I picked up a little bit more than that. I've got room to improve that's for sure. We looked at some things and I'm going to take that for now. We'll work on the car tomorrow in race trim and hopefully get up there tomorrow. I think that's respectable for where we're at. Is there more speed in it? Yeah, I think so. We'll keep working on it."

Is this a place where laps in the Nationwide car help you in the Cup car? "No, not at all. There's not many places left where the Nationwide car helps me at all. It's fun over there because they drive so much better but that's just a big confidence booster for me over there."

***

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 24th

How did you feel about your qualifying lap? "We practiced well this morning, but we continue to struggle to get it right qualifying. We improved all morning in practice then didn't back it up on our qualifying run. The FedEx team always races well here. On race day we'll have plenty of time to get to the front of the field. Tomorrow we'll work on race set-up and on Sunday we'll race and run well."

***

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Starting Position: 27th

Are you happy with your qualifying run? "It was okay. We had some problems in qualifying practice that hurt us. The car got really tight off of turn four on me on the first lap and then the second lap I got really loose going into (turn) two. I feel like we could've been better but so far its okay. I just don't know if the track is just slow -- with that lap it didn't feel that good but it was okay."

***

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 28th

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Starting Position: 35th

SCOTT RIGGS, No. 36 Nexxus Toyota Camry, Tommy Baldwin Racing
Starting Position: DNQ

JEREMY MAYFIELD, No. 41 All Sport Toyota Camry, Jeremy Mayfield Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ

-credit: toyota motorsports

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