NASCAR Cup

Dover: Toyota teams race quotes, notes

Rookie Joey Logano (15th) was the highest finishing Camry driver in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Delaware's Dover International Speedway. Camry driver David Reutimann started on the pole, led twice for 25 laps, and finished ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:50 PM

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Rookie Joey Logano (15th) was the highest finishing Camry driver in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Delaware's Dover International Speedway.

Camry driver David Reutimann started on the pole, led twice for 25 laps, and finished 18th.

Other Toyota drivers in the field included Marcos Ambrose (20th), Kyle Busch (23rd), Brian Vickers (25th), Robby Gordon (33rd), Michael Waltrip (35th), Denny Hamlin (36th), Scott Speed (37th), Joe Nemechek (38th), Dave Blaney (39th) and Mike Skinner (41st).

Five Camry drivers are in the top-20 in the unofficial NSCS driver points -- Busch (sixth), Hamlin (seventh), Reutimann (13th), Vickers (17th) and Ambrose (20th).

***

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 15th

How was your race today? "It was a hard worked 15th-place I can tell you that much right now. We weren't stellar by any means. We weren't that great, but we kept working on it and from where we started to where we ended was what we needed. That's a tough racetrack. It took me longer than I wanted it to to get the hang of it and I think I kind of killed myself in practice before I even started. I'll write down the stuff I learned and come back next time and start all over. This is a hard racetrack because everyone is racing you every lap, I mean racing the heck out of each other. It's crazy. Fifteenth is okay. I should have finished probably 13th, 14th but oh well. You take what you can. I gave up a couple of spots at the end picking the wrong lane as usual."

Were you happy you caught a break when the caution came out during green flag stops? "Oh yeah, we got lucky like crazy when that happened. We were down a lap anyway you look at it and we got it back between cautions and pit stops. I was lucky. That's all you can do about that, so that was cool. And like I said it's a hard race. There's no give and take really out there. It was all take, take for the whole race. In one way that was really fun because it kept it exciting the whole time and the other way it was frustrating at some times. Either way I had a good time."

Did you learn a lot about this track during the weekend? "Yeah, you can move around a lot around this joint which is cool. The corners are so long so you're on the gas, off the gas, on the gas. It's like what section do you need better, do you need the middle, do you need a little bit at the end and it's hard to adjust because it's so out there. There's not another track like it. It's just so different. There's nothing else like it."

***

GREG ZIPADELLI, crew chief, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Are you pleased with Joey Logano's run today? "It's a huge improvement from where we were yesterday and where we started today. Joey (Logano) did a good job. He fought all day and kind of learned where he needed to be and what he needed to do. That allowed us to make better decisions on the car. Obviously, we weren't great, but we were pretty good. The more we work together the better off we seem to get. He did a good job learning today and the group did an okay job getting the car better for him."

***

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 18th

How did your car handle during the race today? "It started out really, really good and as we went we were pretty decent. We had to work on it just a little bit. We kind of got caught a lap down when they had a debris caution and we were still in pretty good shape. The car just kind of gave up. It started getting really, really loose on entry and nothing we could do to fix it. I'm really, really disappointed. The guys did a good job. We battled hard and 18th doesn't really even seem to be enough. Something strange going on with the car and we've got to look at it because it went way bad way quick and we could never get it back."

***

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Racesavers.com Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Finishing Position: 20th

***

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 23rd

STEVE ADDINGTON, crew chief, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How was today's race from your point of view? "It was a long day. We started out just tight, and then loose -- and it was just a balance we weren't expecting. We put a set of tires on there and they killed us. I don't know what the deal was. We made a little bit of air pressure adjustment and it just didn't go with what we had. We backed up and went a lap down until we got the 'lucky dog' caution. We put our pressures back right and got another set of tires on there and it was pretty good. I think on that last long green flag run Kyle (Busch) was quick as anybody other than the 48 car (Jimmie Johnson). We were in contention. I don't know what happened then -- we broke the splitter loose and I don't know why."

Do you have any idea how the splitter broke? "Something slammed the splitter -- whether Kyle (Busch) got into somebody with the right front and broke the splitter, and broke the braces out of the splitter. He thought it was a flat tire because the splitter was flapping up and down and was giving him a vibration. He came on pit road because he thought he had a flat, but it was the splitter. It was just one of those days."

***

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Finishing Position: 25th

ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 RGM Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports
Finishing Position: 33rd

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 35th

***

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 36th

What happened to take you out of the race? "I tell you what, that was a pretty hard hit. I didn't have any warning at all. Our car was actually pretty free that run. I pushed a little bit harder than what we had all day, but if anything we were going to be hard up on the right rear not the right front. I think it was a freak deal. The tire just blew out and ended our FedEx Office day. We made progress -- my pit crew did an awesome job getting me up there, but just some more bad luck for the 11 team."

Was it a result of tire wear on the track? "I just blew a right front. We weren't tight or anything like that. We looked at the tire and there was no wear on it on the inside so either something punctured it or it's a freak blowout deal with the tire. It wasn't with our setup or anything like that. I had no burning. It just flat out blew out and ended our day."

***

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team
Finishing Position: 37th

What happened to take you out of the race? "Something in the engine stopped. We came off a lot of momentum from Charlotte so it sucks to have this happen."

***

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Finishing Position: 38th

DAVE BLANEY, No. 66 Prism Motorsports Toyota Camry, Prism Motorsports
Finishing Position: 39th

MIKE SKINNER, No. 36 Toyota Camry, Tommy Baldwin Racing
Finishing Position: 41st

-credit: toyota motorsports

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