NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: AdvoCare 500

Topics:  AdvoCare 500

Joey Logano
Martin Truex, Jr.
September 1, 2013

HAMPTON, GEORGIA

KRISTI KING: We welcome our third‑place finisher Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No.56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota. Martin, talk a little bit about that race out there and how you're feeling tonight.
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: It was an interesting race. It was a hell of a battle for us. Our car wasn't very good most of the night. We had a couple runs where we got fifth up there, around fifth or so, and then we just really struggled with it. Couldn't get it turning, burned the right rear off and kept battling through that and then we had to go to the rear with about 100 to go and really thought we were in big trouble there but we were able to fight up through there and figured out what our car needed towards the end. We were probably one or two adjustments away from having something for Joey and Kyle, but all in all it was a good night for us. It was pretty tough there for a while, just hanging on to the car with my wrist and all that. It hurt pretty bad there for a while, and just glad we were able to put together a decent night.
Almost had Kyle there on that last restart, almost had him cleared, he got in my right rear getting into 3, he got me loose and once he got into me I was too tight anyhow, and probably wouldn't have been able to hold him off even if I could have cleared him. Third is a good night for what we had most of the night, and proud of my guys for their efforts.
KRISTI KING: Joining Martin is Joey Logano, our second‑place finisher in the AdvoCare 500, driver of the No.22 Shell‑Pennzoil Ford. Joey, talk a little bit about your night, obviously leading the most laps tonight and coming home second.
JOEY LOGANO: No, I mean, my guys did a great job. They gave me an awesome Shell‑Pennzoil Ford today. The only thing I would change about it is it being better the first six laps of a run. After that, this thing was a rocket ship. We overcame a loose wheel early in the race and cycled ourselves back to the lead after all of that. And then we restarted third with I think 30 to go or so. Kyle spun his tires‑‑ you can't pass him, you're trying to get everything going. The 56 over here, Martin Truex, had a big run, and he stuck it three wide, which I don't blame him. It was a great move. When that happens you're kind of shuffled out and I got put all the way back to sixth, and then another caution. I just needed 30 laps of green flag to get all the way up there. When there's a restart after another restart and you don't have a car that's very good on the first five, six laps of a run it didn't give me the greatest opportunity there. But we were catching them the last few laps, just needed five, six more laps to get them, maybe less.

Q. Joey, do you consider yourself a favorite to win the Chase?
JOEY LOGANO: If we get in. I feel like with three straight top 5s right now we have a really good shot at it. I think you can't count us out right now. This team is super strong and it looks like we're hitting our stride at the right time right here. As long as we get in, first, and then we'll see what happens. All the guys we were racing tonight, 56, Newman, 78, they all had a good night, too, so obviously your points aren't as good as you wanted them to be. But in general it is a big deal for us to help us get into the Chase next week in Richmond.
But yeah, I do feel like right now we do have a shot at it, but one step at a time right now.

Q. This is kind of a follow‑up question, and I say this half seriously: Joey, at the end of last season there were people who considered your Sprint Cup Series career washed up at the old age of 23, but you obviously are in your best position to make your first Chase, and although I'm sure you would like to see Brad in it maybe the only representative for Penske if it works out that way. How do you take in this season? What has it been like? I know it got off to a rough start, but how does it look going to this last 11 races?
JOEY LOGANO: Well, it's obviously really tough for Brad tonight. I don't know exactly what happened to his motor, but those are things you can't afford to happen when you're in positions that both our cars are in. We'll have to go back and look at that.
But the season in general, after going through a point penalty and going through some tough luck in the beginning of the season, I'm pleased with where we're at. But I want to be more. I want to win more races. I want to be up towards the front a little bit more often. Obviously the last three weeks we've been there, but like I said, I'm happy with the way we've been running the last few weeks, yeah.

Q. Martin, at one point during the race I think you were radioing the cast kind of burned through. Are you going to be doing anything different with that for Richmond?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Yeah, I don't know, it's kind of broke right here.

Q. Your wrist or the cast?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Well, both. First the wrist but now the cast just inside my hand here got all soft. You can see it moves real soft like there's nothing there and it's kind of broke right here between my thumb. We'll see what we can do with it. It feels good now. It hurts like hell when you're in there just steering the car. I mean, when you're steering back and forth here and you're out of control and you're holding on and you're sawing on the wheel and all the tires, it felt like every time I moved it somebody was hitting it with a hammer. I don't know what I can do to change that, probably just going to have to deal with it. This is probably one of the hardest tracks to drive on as far as how much you turn the wheel, how many times you're catching the car. You never know what the heck it's going to do. It's like a surprise party every time you drive down in the corner here. This is a tough place, and I don't think Richmond will be quite as hard on it. So we'll just see. But yeah, I think maybe it's just gotten wet from sweat or something and softened up, so we'll have to look into that.

Q. You're right now I think in the second wild card position, five points ahead of Ryan Newman. Does it matter going into Richmond?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Five points? It doesn't make any difference. No, we were hoping Kasey would stay up in that top 10, you know? He'll be good at Richmond. It is what it is. We had a good night tonight when we needed it. Last week absolutely killed us, but there's been other races this year that we fell out of that killed us, too. It is what it is, we'll have to go race hard and proud that we're able to come here and have a good night when the pressure was on and we made it happen. I thought once we got sent to the back there with 100 to go I thought we were done, and I said you might as well hand over a wild card, but we were able to fight through it, so that's what we'll have to do next week, too.

Q. Martin, last year you kind of gave one away here or had one taken away from you here. This year you rebounded from a bad situation to a good one. Does that give you a little more confidence or feel a little bit better going into Richmond than last year when you were rolling out of here?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: I don't know. Richmond is a totally different animal than Atlanta. We did do a test there and felt like we were better than in the test than when we were there in the spring, but you never know. That place is very, very difficult, a lot like here, you practice in the day, you race at night, the track changes a lot. You never really know what you have until the race starts. Heck, there's times you can dial it in and there's times that you just can't. Tonight I wish I had the car I had last year and the circumstances I had tonight to be honest with you. That's what I really needed. Our car was super last year. Tonight our car wasn't that good. We caught the breaks and had good restarts and was in the right place at the right time and was able to make some moves. Last year we just were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we had a dominant car and we finished fourth. I know how Joey is feeling. His car was phenomenal, and I know that feeling, it's frustrating. But it's all you can do is do your best, and you've got to be proud of what you did and go home and try to do better next week.
KRISTI KING: If both of you could comment on the tire, the Zone Tread tire.
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: He obviously liked them.
JOEY LOGANO: I liked them more tonight than I did last night (laughing). I don't know what happened with last night's tire. I don't think it had anything to do with the dual compound deal. I didn't have an issue with it. It ran pretty good for me. Every time we had a pit stop Todd came on the radio and said tires look good. A lot of guys were pushing them hard. I don't know if there was any tire failures tonight or not, but it seemed like it was a pretty solid tire. It hung in strong and I thought it put on a good race for the most part.
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: I liked last year's tire better (laughing).
JOEY LOGANO: So we're 50/50 about it apparently.
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: He liked them, I didn't. Next question.

Q. Is there anything that you all agree about tonight?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: We both are mad because we didn't win.
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, we both agree that sucks.
KRISTI KING: Guys, congratulations on your second and third place finish, and good luck next weekend in Richmond.