Denny Hamlin (second) was the highest finishing Toyota driver in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Hamlin finished runner-up to race-winner Johnny Sauter in an event that was shortened to 119 laps (from 134) due to rain.
In his most recent start in the Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) No. 18 Tundra, Hamlin picked up the victory at Martinsville Speedway (Oct. 29).
Timothy Peters (eighth) also registered a top-10 finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Other Tundra drivers in the field included David Starr (11th), Dusty Davis (15th), Todd Bodine (16th), Brendan Gaughan (20th), Max Papis (21st), German Quiroga (26th), Miguel Paludo (32nd) and Johnny Chapman (36th).
The race at Homestead-Miami Speedway marked the 200th race in the NCWTS for the Tundra.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 18 Dollar General/DIRECTV Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 2nd Are you happy with your second-place finish? “Yeah, it was good. We didn’t practice that well with the Dollar General Toyota, and we just weren’t all that great during the course of the race. But we did get better as we went, and obviously the last run I was just trying to be patient. I knew I had a truck that could get around Johnny (Sauter), but I just wanted to be patient and wait until later stages of the race, and also to ensure that we kept the third-place guy behind us and tried to use the draft. Strategy didn’t work out. It probably cost us a win today, but they told me one lap before the rain came that it looks like rain is coming, so if I got anything, I’d better go. That was my last-ditch effort on the corner to try to get around him. He slid up and got into us and we got in the wall, and it was one of those things. We were not in a position to really race him that hard anyway.”
How slippery was the race track in turns 3 and 4 when you tried to make the move on Johnny Sauter? “I didn’t think it was too bad, it seemed, relative to what we had before. But he (Johnny Sauter) slipped up quite a bit, so he was the first one to evidently get to any moisture that was there. I had already committed to run really wide open on the outside — whatever happens, happens. For us, I didn’t think it was that much different. You know, he would probably be a better guess for that. But it was coming down. You could definitely see as soon as we let off the caution it was pouring pretty bad.”
How difficult was the track at the start of the race and what does it mean for the Cup cars if there is more rain? “It wasn’t too bad. It was relatively similar to what we had in practice because we kept practicing on green surfaces — not much changed. Every time we’d run our practice session, rain would come, so every new practice session was on a green race track. So, I think the Cup cars kind of having a clean slate tomorrow should be relatively fine. I thought the track was very consistent from day to night.”
Would you consider doing any additional Truck Series races next year? “Maybe a few. It definitely wouldn’t be on a triple weekend or anything like that. But I always try to do just one a year. But yeah, I mean, driving these trucks that KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) has just been really good. Those guys put together some awesome race trucks, and I sit in it and I look around and it’s as good as what my Cup car looks like on the inside. They put together some really nice trucks, and obviously they’ve given me, the two times I’ve been in it, two chances to win. Yeah, maybe three or four or something like that, but as long as the schedule all works out. Ain’t going to be on a weekend like this.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Service Central, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 8th
DAVID STARR, No. 81 Zachry Tundra, SS Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 11th
DUSTY DAVIS, No. 15 Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports Finishing Position: 15th
TODD BODINE, No. 5, International Trucks/Monaco RV Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports Finishing Position: 16th
BRENDAN GAUGHAN, No. 62 Tire Kingdom/Service Central Tundra, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 20th
MAX PAPIS, No. 9 GEICO Tundra, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 21st
GERMAN QUIROGA, No. 51 TELCEL Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 26th
MIGUEL PALUDO, No. 7 Duroline Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 32nd
JOHNNY CHAPMAN, No. 07 ASI Limited Tundra, SS Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 36th
