Loudon: Denny Hamlin post race interview

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 32 Hass Avocados from Mexico Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Finished: 2nd

How strong was your car today?

"We had a good run.  We had a good car all day.  It's just track position.  We had one bad pit stop that put us back four or five
spots after we already gained them all under green.  Track position was big.  You just couldn't pass out there.  With the low
gears that we run in these cars it makes it very, very tough to get a run on a guy coming out of the corners.  You could hold a guy
up if you wanted to and just run the line that he was running.  You could argue the 18 (Kyle Busch) was the best at the end, but
if I was in his line he wasn't going to get around me.  Same thing with the 20 (Tony Stewart).  I could run him down but every
time I got to him he'd pull down lower to where I was at and he'd pull back away.  It was just a track position race."

Did you feel like you had a chance to win coming down the stretch?

"We could get to Tony (Stewart) right there we just couldn't get position on him.  It seemed like his car was tighter, ours was
getting tighter but he was able to hang on.  It's just enough laps for him."

What does it mean to finish second after such an emotional week for the Braun family?

"It means a lot. In order to finish in between those two (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) teams like that -- I know what they have over there. I know what they have over here at Braun Racing -- it's amazing. It's a great finish for everyone. I've just got to thank everyone who let us run these cars black in memory of Todd Braun's mom, Momma B I guess you could say -- Great Clips, LifeLock, Haas Avocados from Mexico, Toyota and everyone's support. It definitely means a lot. Congratulations to Tony (Stewart). I could get to him but it's just not enough."

Did you feel like the Toyota's were the best handling cars on the track today?

"I think the Toyota's today were handling better than the Chevrolet's were in the corners. Nothing to do with the power really down the straight away."

How difficult is it to take four tires and not gamble coming down the stretch of a race?

"I qualified bad. I qualified 17th so it was hard to pass. My car was turning better than everybody's in front of me but as soon as they pulled down in my line, I'd lose the front end and it looked like I didn't know what I was doing. It's product of it. The biggest thing is the gearing of these cars that really makes it tough. It used to not be that bad. I don't blame it all on aero by any means. I think the cars are tight in general. The setups are. The gear keeps the tires on the car longer so everyone kind of runs the same speed."

Was it frustrating to not be able to get upfront?

"That was the first time I was upfront all day.  Kyle's (Busch) probably a little bit more frustrated because he had a really good
car early it looked like.  We were happy to get the track position that we did.  We were mired back fifth, sixth, seventh all day.
Gaining on guys, gaining on them, catching them and then falling back.  We knew what we were in for."

-credit: toyota motorsports