NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Sharpie 500

Topics:  Sharpie 500

Kyle Busch
Denny Hamlin
August 23, 2008

BRISTOL, TENNESSEE

KERRY THARP: Kyle, your thought's about tonight's race out here at Bristol.
KYLE BUSCH: It was all going fine there till the end. Just a tough break for us and this M&M's Toyota team. Steve Addington and the guys built us a fabulous race car. We could get through traffic way better than anybody, and it was really a cool car to have and be able to work with. Just unfortunate the way things came down at the end, and we'll take it and we'll go on here these next couple of weeks and try to get ourselves a win and in the Chase and throughout the Chase.
KERRY THARP: Thank you. Denny, you had a strong showing out there tonight. Your car was very strong down the stretch. Your thoughts?
DENNY HAMLIN: We had a good car but we didn't have a car that could run with the 18 or 99 it seemed like. On the long runs, we were as good as the 99, but the 18 seemed to be the class of the field. It was a solid day, and we did what we had to. I didn't have to really race guys too hard and guys really didn't race me too hard. It was a good day for us. This is what we needed.

Q. Carl said that after the race your -- indiscernible -- "Well, what happened was I kind of ran into him." Does it cut any ice at all that he at least admitted how he won?
KYLE BUSCH: No, because he does that and he'll always come back and say he's sorry. He did it at Milwaukee and he's done it a few other times. It's just his normal fashion. That's fine. I've grown to know that now.
You know, to pass a guy, to hit him getting into the corners and chatters is very tired, is what he did. But I tried to get him back, but I thought better of it and tried to pull down and pass him back. But I didn't have a good enough car to stick, and Denny got to his outside and he got by me, and then I had to battle with him towards the end. We were as clean as could be, of course, but just one other dude we had a problem with.

Q. Carl suggested that is a rivalry now. Would you agree with that or would you just keep racing the field?
KYLE BUSCH: How many do I need.

Q. Do you anticipate any kind of a penalty from NASCAR for running into Carl after the race?
KYLE BUSCH: Couldn't tell you. It's NASCAR's decision and their discretion. He spun me out. So I just, you know, got into him a little bit and let him know that I didn't appreciate the way he passed me and he retaliated and ended up spinning me out. So, couldn't tell you.

Q. We've heard for a year and a half about how some fans think this place has lost its luster and its tamed and its boring; does tonight put that all to rest in?
DENNY HAMLIN: This is a great racetrack. It's always been a good track. It doesn't matter what the circuit is, you're going to have finishes like this on a common basis. So I mean, it just worked out to where it was exciting, and it was pretty boring from our standpoint because the 18 was walking away from it till the very end.

Q. Just for clarification, when you said, "How many do I need," do you mean how rivals do you need, Carl is just one of many; is that what you meant?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah.

Q. Carl said when he was making the decision whether to nudge you when he was going to pass you, if he thought you would do the same thing to him; how would you apply to that?
KYLE BUSCH: Hmmm. Well, being as though I'm not in that position, then I would say that I wouldn't have touched him.
But you don't try to hit somebody, and you know, even so, driving in the back of him getting into the corner. But I had been getting into the corner light all day, and I don't know, maybe I over-braked and drove myself right back into his nose; who knows.

Q. You've had such an up-and-down summer, how much does a night like this make you think you can sew up that Chase spot going forward?
DENNY HAMLIN: Gives us definitely a boost of confidence for sure. We needed it at this point. But I mean, a lot of the guys right behind me finished in the Top-10 also. Looked like the 99 had problems and that was the only other guy really that we were racing. We gained a little bit on a couple guys in front of us.
But this is what we needed. All we can ask for is a Top 3 finish and if we do that, it's going to work itself out in three races but we can't help how good or bad they run.

Q. After kind of airing your frustrations publically last week, how has this week been, and you know, was it even important to finish well because of last week?
DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, definitely, last week was the low of lows I guess could you say for our race team.
You know, there's not one specific place I was sitting there pointing fingers. I just thought as a race team, we just weren't getting the job done. The driver is a big part of that race team, so I felt like there was a lot of things I could have done different throughout the summer.
But for the most part mechanical failures has ailed us. If we can put a halt to that, you know, I ain't saying we are going to go out there and win races as often as Kyle is, but we are going to at least be a Top-5, Top-10 car every week. If you can do that, then you're going to put yourself in position to be a championship contender, because you know, there's going to be weeks when guys have bad weeks. We've just got to get there right now.
KERRY THARP: Guys, thanks for putting on an outstanding show for us tonight. We appreciate it.