Charlotte II: Toyota teams race notes, quotes

Kyle Busch earned a fourth-place finish in tonight's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Charlotte's Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Camry drivers Tony Stewart (11th), Denny Hamlin (16th) and Brian Vickers (17th) also finished in the top-20 Saturday.

Other Camry drivers in the field included Michael Waltrip (24th), Dave Blaney (27th), David Reutimann (32nd), Ken Schrader (38th), Mike Skinner (39th) and AJ Allmendinger (43rd).

Six Camry drivers took turns at the front of the field today for a total of 123 laps. Camry drivers who led laps included Vickers (64 laps), Stewart (42 laps), Busch (14 laps), Waltrip (one lap), Reutimann (one lap) and Allmendinger (one lap).

In the NSCS 'Chase for the Sprint Cup,' Stewart remains seventh in the unofficial point standings. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Busch (ninth) and Hamlin (12th) are also in the top-12.

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KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th

Does it feel good to get a top-five finish tonight? "Yeah, but we still had bad luck tonight. I made a mistake and sped on pit road there on the second to last stop and you can't have that at the end of the race. It was unfortunate there -- it was my fault this time. We can't ever get one straight without it being a problem. We battled back to a great fourth-place finish. The car was real fast at the end. Made the most of our Susan G. Komen/M&M's car tonight."

Is this finish a boost to your confidence for the rest of the 'Chase?' "It's good to know that we finally ran well again on a mile-and-a-half. We've got a few more of those coming up here. We've got to get through Martinsville and keep going from there."

What were those final laps like trying to gain positions? "For what we went through there at the end of the race with speeding on pit road -- from there on out it was just a free for all. Going to the top side three-wide trying to get by guys, getting loose a couple times. It was a hard-fought fourth -- it was the best the car was there at the end of the race, the last couple runs. We were fortunate enough to bring this car home up front with a good fourth-place finish. I'm proud of all the efforts there with all these guys and we'll go on into next week."

Could you have caught the leaders with a few more laps? "We needed one more pit stop -- with the distance we had tonight, we just screwed up at the wrong time."

Are you happy with a top-five finish? "I feel it was pretty respectable considering what happened there at the end of the race. Speeding on pit road -- when you get through one of these races without a mistake and tonight it was mine. We had a shot for the win tonight -- we could contend with those guys up front and race with them. Our car was fast there at the end of the race. It was pretty sporty and I have to thank everyone at Toyota and all the guys on the crew -- they stuck with me. We got a fourth tonight."

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DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 16th

How do you feel following tonight's race? "I feel fine, really. No effects from last week at all. Would have liked a better finish tonight, but we took what we could get. It was a tough race for this FedEx team. We got a little out of sequence early and we spent most of the night getting those positions back. Then, at the end I got into the 07 (Clint Bowyer) a little and ended up tearing up my car a little. This FedEx team did a great job getting it patched up, but it was to late really. We had a good car and it would have been nice to race up front with those guys more, but we ended up spending a lot of time fighting to get back on the lead lap or fighting to stay on it."

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BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Finishing Position: 18th

How disappointed are you after such a strong run early in the race? "I can't believe it. We just can not catch a break at this track. I don't know what it is. We always have a dominant car here -- usually the dominant car and we have never been able to capitalize on it for a win. It's very frustrating. Today, we blew a right front tire with about 100 laps to go and NASCAR didn't put out a caution. We ended up going down two laps. The last thing I wanted to do was turn across traffic where I could have caused a big wreck. Everyone on this team works their butts off and we have been close to a win so many times this year. Our time will come -- hopefully, sooner than later. "

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MIKE SKINNER, No. 84 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Finishing Position: 39th

What happened that put you behind the wall early in the race? "The guys told me that it looked like the 55 (Michael Waltrip) went down in the grass, got loose and come up and hit us. I guess (Ken) Schrader thought it was a green-white-checkered, I don't know."

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AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 00 Champion Mortgage Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 43rd

What happened that took you out of the race and are you all right? "I'm fine -- I'm just sorry for everybody at Michael Waltrip Racing and Champion Mortgage and Toyota. That's not what they pay me to do. I thought the middle was open -- Regan (Smith) kind of got wide and Chad (McCumbee) was a little slow on the bottom and I thought the middle was open. I thought Regan (Smith) came down a little bit, but more than anything I was probably just not being patient enough that early in the race. The guys made a good adjustment on the pit stop and wanted to get up there in the front and kind of get out of the danger zone of getting lapped if we went green for a while. I just feel like an idiot honestly -- I didn't want to do that for these guys and I probably wasn't patient enough and I feel bad. It was all me."

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GREG ZIPADELLI, Crew Chief, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How strong was the race car tonight? "It was an up and down night. We finished 11th and I think we had a much better race car than that. We got loose there early in the race -- about a third of the way in. We got it pretty good, but we got caught speeding on pit road and god a lap down under green. We had to battle back and those last 30 laps everybody is up on the wheel. It's pretty hard to make any ground up there at the very end. Everybody did a good job, but it's a shame because I think we had a car capable of winning here in the spring and one again here today, but we didn't close the deal. We'll go the Martinsville and see what we can do."

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TONY STEWART, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 11th

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 NAPA Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 24th

DAVE BLANEY, No. 22 Caterpillar Toyota Camry, Bill Davis Racing
Finishing Position: 27th

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 44 UPS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd

KEN SCHRADER, No. 96 DLP HDTV Toyota Camry, Hall of Fame Racing
Finishing Position: 38th

-credit: toyota motorsports