Richmond: Hamlin post qualifying interview

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd

How was your qualifying run?

"It was a good pick-up for us -- I think we picked up a half-second -- a little bit more than other guys. We qualify pretty good here. I think we have a couple poles. It's been pretty good to us for the most part. We were hoping to get somewhere in the top-10. We didn't think we had a car for the pole -- as close as it came it looks like we got everything we could out of it for qualifying."

Will you be as dominant this year as you were last year?

"With Brian (Vickers) and Jeff (Gordon) on the front row -- it should take at least a half a lap to get around them. That just doesn't happen that often. As competitive as our sport is -- you just don't have cars that are that dominant through the course of a race like that. It was just an extreme circumstance where we happened to get lucky and hit the set-up that day. Dominant days like that aren't that often -- once every five years or so."

Did you ever figure out what caused the tire issue last year?

"I guess just something on the race track."

-credit: toyota motorsport