Hamlin quotes about pit stop mis-communication
How hard were you driving during the closing laps?
"That's all I had. That's as hard as I can drive and just came up about five car lengths too short. Trust me, if I could have got to him (Kasey Kahne), I would have made it real interesting. I just didn't have enough there at the end and it's all we could do. We made our bed by taking those four tires. Darian (Grubb, crew chief) wanted to take two (tires) — I told him I just needed tires and that was it. He took it that I needed four tires. It was just a little miscommunication that turned into a second-place finish. You never know what could have happened on that last restart if we were taking two (tires). The 5 (Kahne) still may have been better, you never know. We obviously had a great car there at the end and made it interesting at least for the fans."
How did the final pit stop impact your car?
"It made our car faster than it already was today, but you can't overcome over a straightaway that we were back — I think probably six seconds at one time. We just didn't have enough laps was the bottom line. We just came up short. It's days like these that you can just build on. We're going to be back here in just a few months when it really counts and that's when you want to win — so we know we have something to race him with."
Did you think you could win the race after the four tire pit stop?
"You try to be as optimistic as possible, but you know in your head that was a death sentence basically for us. I honestly didn't think that we would get back to where we did — Kasey (Kahne) stretched out so far on that lead when we were about 10th. I was thinking, top-five and then I was thinking I could get to the top-three and then we made some good ground up there at the end. Needed four or five more laps — just needed to get within striking distance because I was going to rough him up."
Were you frustrated following the miscommunication about tires?
"They gave me a fast car — there's days when you're not as good and you finish second and you're overjoyed. Today, you finish second and you're disappointed because you've got a dominant car. They gave me a new package this time around. We dominated all the practices and it showed in the race what we had. It's part of it. I would have loved to get win 200 for #11. That part of it is frustrating that we can't break through and get that. We're getting close." Toyota Racing