DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FEDEX EXPRESS CHEVROLET: “The guys wrecked under caution and that killed us. It’s pretty unfortunate. It was looking like I had a shot at the win because Kyle’s car didn’t come in very good but I sputtered right there at the green-white-checkered. I couldn’t really do anything. I’d have to let us coast through the corners and gas it back up on the straightaway. I’d have to clutch as I entered the corner just to try to save gas. It’s pretty unfortunate but still, a sixth-place run, we were able to get the line and I’m pretty happy about that.” DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE LOW ON FUEL? “Yeah, we knew we were close. We felt like we were fine until they wrecked on the backstretch under caution. It’s pretty unfortunate. DID YOU HAVE ENOUGH FUEL FOR THE GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED? “We had enough for a green-white-checkered, but we didn’t have enough to run six laps under caution after the Waltrip thing. I don’t know what we on over there. I’m sure they don’t wreck on purpose. It’s jut part of it.” IS IT POSSIBLE TO RACE AND CONSERVE FUEL AT THE SAME TIME? “Kind of, but you know, when we were under green flag conditions I wasn’t trying to save fuel. There was nothing really that you can do here to try and save fuel other than just get out of the gas sooner. We just did everything we could under caution and try to save fuel. We were just asking a lot there to go that far on a fuel stop but still it was a decent run.” YOU RAN WELL ALL DAY. “We had a really great race car. At times we were the best car. Sometimes we were just a top-five car. Either way, Mike [Ford, crew chief] and the guys have done a great job with the short track program. I’m looking forward to all these upcoming flat tracks.” HOW DID THE STRATEGY CHANGE FROM THE FIRST ACCIDENT ON LAP 298 TO THAT SECOND ONE THAT DELAYED THE RESTART? “There was nothing we could do. We were out there. We made our bed and we had to lay in it. We had to do what we had to do. It was just one of those things where we just throwing clipboards instead [smiles] when we saw that extra caution because really there was no need in it.” DID YOU FEEL IF THERE HAD BEEN JUST ONE CAUTION IT MIGHT HAVE GIVEN YOU A CHANCE? “We would have been fine if we hadn’t run that extra couple of laps under caution. We didn’t need that.” WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT KYLE WAS ABLE TO HAVE ENOUGH TO PULL AWAY? “So many different teams do different things with their fuel cells. I’m not really surprised. Tony ran out when nobody else did last week so we kind of expected it.” THIS WAS A HOT, HARD PHYSICAL RACE BUT YOU HAD A GOOD FINISH AND A GOOD POINTS DAY. “Yeah, it really was. I’m disappointed because we could have used those extra five points and those few positions.”

HAMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE

“We had a really good car. It’s just one of those things where we didn’t need all those caution laps and a lot of them were really unnecessary there at the end. There was nothing that we could do. The guys, they don’t wreck on purpose under caution. It’s just part of the game. We were still able to make it back to the line. We didn’t get there in the time that we thought we were.” COMMENT ON THE POINT RACE. YOU ARE ALL PRETTY CLOSE TO THAT TOP-10. “I don’t even know where I’m at. I think it’s tough because everyone who’s doing that in and out thing every week, they’re running the same position every single week. So it’s just whoever is going to eliminate bad luck is going to get in there. We’re trading spots every single week. I think in year’s past there’s kind of been a gap of the top-10 guys then there is everybody else, 11th-15th. There’s going to be a lot of good guys that are not going to make it.” DURING THE LAST CAUTION PERIOD, WHEN DID YOUR CAR STUTTER? WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THAT? IF YOU HAVE TWO MORE LAPS DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE CAUGHT KYLE? “I wasn’t concerned about holding anyone off. I felt like I had a car that could win, especially on the short run. Kyle’s car was super-tight. He wasn’t as fast in that green-white-checkered. But I was so afraid to spin my tires and get them warmed up because of fuel that I just couldn’t do it. I had to save fuel so I spun the tires real bad on the start and Kyle got up there five car lengths and we closed it down to two on the white flag lap and it stuttered right there into 1. I was done after that.” HOW DO YOU RECOVER EMOTIONALLY FROM A DAY LIKE TODAY? “The best way to rebound is to go to a track that we kicked some butt at. We plan on doing the same thing this week.” DOES THAT PUT MORE PRESSURE ON YOU AT POCONO? “Not really. If you would have told me at the beginning of the day ‘Will you take sixth?’ and not knowing what you’ve got, I’d taken it in a second. It’s fine with me.” IS THE INTENSITY UP NOW THAT GUYS ARE TRYING TO GET IN THE CHASE? DO YOU EXPECT TO RUN AWAY AND HIDE AGAIN AT POCONO? “I don’t know. They are changing the tire on us again.”

GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 NATIONAL GUARD/SUBWAY FORD: “Are you taking the same car again?”

HAMLIN: “We haven’t run it since [laughs].

CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 OFFICE DEPOT FORD: “Are you going to roll the left-rear fender all up like that?”

HAMLIN: “Have the broke shock and the bent truck arm in it. So much evolves in a short amount of time with these setups and everything else that rarely do you go back with the exact same thing that you had. If I can come away with a top-five there, I’ll be happy. I’m not going to go there and expect to win. You cannot come into the Cup series and say ‘I’m going to kick everyone’s butt here.’ It’s just not going to happen.”

MIKE FORD, CREW CHIEF, No. 11 FEDEX EXPRESS CHEVROLET: “Any time you can put yourself into position to win a race at this level is a good day. It could have gone either way for us, depending on how the cautions fell. Some late race cautions kind of cost us on fuel a little bit. We knew it was going to be close and there was some caution laps there that really shouldn’t be explained [laughs]. I don’t know exactly what happened but that cost us a shot at winning the race. We put ourselves in position and we’re really happy with it.” THE RACE WAS SCHEDULED FOR 300 LAPS AND YOU CALCULATE FUEL MILEAGE FOR 300 LAPS BUT THE FINAL DISTANCE TODAY WAS 308. “That’s the rules and you know that going in and you have to call the race around that. We knew that going in, the way the cautions fell, it fell with that many laps to go and that’s when we got fuel. If all things are right, they fall right and if you have a situation where guys can’t run without wrecking under caution then strange things are going to happen. We’re happy with it, though. I think it’s fair. It’s the rules and everyone knows the rules going in. That’s what you’re dealt and you’ve got to gamble sometimes and that’s how it ended up.” IS IT EASIER TO TAKE KNOWING THAT’S A CIRCUMSTANCE OUT OF YOUR CONTROL? “Yeah, I mean, you can’t control it. You can control your fate to an extent but that’s it. You can’t worry about anything else that happens, just what you have to do. Whatever the cards are dealt that’s what it is and you just move on with it.”

J.J. YELEY, No. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET: “We fought tight, tight, tight all day and it finally came to us a little bit there toward the end. Steve [Addington, crew chief] made a good call to stay out during one of those late cautions and I wasn’t sure how we’d make out on old tires when all the cars behind us pitted. But we held our own and almost pulled off another top-10. Maybe the team is starting to find the consistency we’re looking for.”