· Kyle Busch (third) was the first Toyota driver to the finish line in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Chicagoland Speedway.
· Busch crossed the finish line behind race-winner Kevin Harvick and runner-up Kyle Larson.
· Busch led the field six times for a race-high 141 laps (of 200).
· Camry driver Elliott Sadler (sixth) also earned a top-10 finish at the 1.5-mile track.
· Toyota driver Daniel Suarez (15th), who was making his second-career NNS start, earned his best finish in the series.
· Sadler is fourth in the unofficial NNS point standings — 51 points behind leader Chase Elliott. Camry driver James Buescher (10th) is also in the top-10 in the standings.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What happened at the end of the race?
“Our pit call — but it is what it is. Sucks to not be in victory lane where we should be. You know what, this Monster Energy Camry was fast today and deserved to win — but can’t get through traffic.”
How was your race car?
“I had a really fast car and I know that we needed to come down to get tires, but obviously four (tires) was the wrong call and put us back behind. And fought my butt off there for the last run of the race and could only get to third because anytime the second-place car got in front of me, all I did was knock the wall down — aero issues.”
ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 11 One Main Financial Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 29 Arris Toyota Camry
Finishing Position: 15th
Is there anything you would have done differently during the race?
“Maybe with new tires, like some of the cars, we could be able to be more aggressive on the restarts. With old tires and some of the cars on new, it was kind of difficult. As soon as we would get 10 laps on the tires, we were kind of equal to everyone. Maybe we missed three or four spots over there, but it’s okay. We learned a lot, it’s a learning experience.”
Did you feel more comfortable in the race car here than your first start at Richmond in May?
“Yeah, definitely. At Richmond, it was a really good experience, but definitely I came to Chicago with more confidence and knew the car a little bit better. I knew the tires — it’s different and little steps. This was a mile-and-a-half and was better and we’ll keep working and have a lot to learn.”
Does this give you confidence heading into next season driving full-time in the NNS?
“This is the beginning of our races. We have still have a lot to learn, but we qualified 18th and finished 15th, gained three spots. We need to keep working, we need to keep learning. We have an ARCA race next weekend in Kentucky, so we need to keep working on this mile-and-a-half and everything to try to get as ready as possible for next year.”
What’s your goal this season?
“This year we need to keep learning about the car, about the tracks, about the aero — about everything to try to be more prepared for next year, 2015.”
How are you keeping track of all your racing this season?
“For me, I could be racing every single weekend. I’m fine, I’m good. I’m really happy that I have all the support from Arris, from TelMex, from all these people that help me and support me from years ago. If they can support me with all this seat time to prepare me for next year — for me that’s amazing.”
JAMES BUESCHER, No. 99 Rheem Toyota Camry, RAB Racing
Finishing Position: 18th
ROSS CHASTAIN, No. 80 Toyota Camry, Shige Hattori Enterprises
Finishing Position: 19th
MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Tweaker Energy Shot Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 20th
ERIC McCLURE, No. 14 Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 26th
WILL KIMMEL, No. 44 Ingersoll Rand Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 28th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 20 SportClips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
What happened to take you out of the race?
“It started blowing up. I think we went to seven cylinders or something like that about 80 laps ago. Every time we got to the front — we had a pit road problem and then pit road penalty — and that took our chances away. But, we weren’t going to finish anyway –we were smoking for 80 laps. I’m proud of this whole SportClips Toyota team — I want to thank them for giving me a ride in the Nationwide Series. It was fun while it lasted. I actually thought we had a pretty good car there. We were running pretty good the last time and we were making it back through the field multiple times and obviously there was oil leaking out of the tank here and eventually I knew it was going to run out.”
Did you learn anything in this race to help you in the first Chase race on Sunday?
“You learn some line things, some different characteristics, some changes we made on pit road to help the car. I’ll go back and debrief with the guys about that. But for me, I didn’t do it necessarily for Chase reasons, it was more the opportunity came up for the seat to be open, but I will take something from today and apply it to tomorrow.”
BLAKE KOCH, No. 10 SupportMilitary.org Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
