· Erik Jones (second) was the top-finishing Toyota driver in the season-opening NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway.
· Tundra drivers Matt Crafton (eighth), Daniel Suarez (ninth) and Johnny Sauter (10th) also finished in the top-10 overall in Daytona.
· Crafton’s eighth-place result marks the back-to-back NCWTS champion’s fifth-straight top-10 result dating back to the 2014 season.
· The ninth-place result for Suarez was his first top-10 result in four starts in the NCWTS and NASCAR Xfinity Series.
ERIK JONES, No. 4 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 2nd
How was your run?
“I wish we could have won the race – that’s first off. Second is a great start to the season and we did what we wanted to. We came in here and didn’t get wrecked and put ourselves in a position not to be making up all year. Had a fast Tundra. I tried to lay back through (turns) three and four thinking maybe if the – the 29 (Austin Theriault) I think was in second – if he made a move on the 19 (Tyler Reddick), hopefully it would break them up and I could pull off both of them and try to pass them all. It worked up to second, but just couldn’t quite get to the lead. Just thankful to be running full time thanks to Toyota. It’s going to be a fun year.”
Is it difficult to be patient at Daytona?
“It’s tough. I didn’t really think we had anybody in front – I didn’t know if the 20 (Scott Lagasse Jr.) could go and make it happen on the top. He just had too much nose damage, but awesome Tundra. It was fast. I just wish we could have had – man, I wish we could have won. Second’s always no fun, but it’s good to start the season off strong. It will be nice to go into Atlanta with such a strong start and not having to makeup all year. Just thankful for Toyota for this opportunity to run full time. It’s going to be a fun year. Really looking forward – like I said – to Atlanta, getting back to the track and seeing what our mile-and-half program is all about.”
What did you learn tonight?
“Patience. Patience. Its 100 laps here. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s a long way. I learned more about the draft – second superspeedway race, so still just trying to figure everything out on that front. Excited to go back tomorrow and run the Xfinity race for GameStop. Just looking forward to getting the rest of this weekend going and getting the rest of the year going.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 DampRid/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
How was the race tonight?
“Definitely wasn’t what we wanted. Usually the outside line you can make it work and you can kind of stay stable – you can’t usually clear the first three guys, but you can stay fifth on back and you can ride right there on the outside. If you shuffle the outside and you have three or four good trucks – I beat the rear bumper off the 92 (David Gilliland) and could not go anywhere. I was trying and trying and that was terrible. I hate it because we usually put on such a good show here, but whoever rode on the yellow line and had the lead was going to win the race.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 51 ARRIS Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 9th
How was the race tonight?
“It was good – we learned a lot again. In the first half of the race everyone was crazy and I was taking care of the truck, kind of in the second part of the field. In the end, we were in pretty decent shape in seventh and then in the last lap I felt like I had a pretty good run. I tried to do something and I went to the back. Nobody followed me. It was good. To be honest, this Tundra was a winning truck and we were just in the wrong position. We ended up in a decent position in the top-10.”
Was it difficult to pass tonight?
“It was way, way more difficult in the ARCA stuff, but without help it’s impossible. Definitely, that’s maybe the biggest thing is if nobody follows you, you won’t go anywhere.”
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 98 Smokey Mountain-Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 10th
What happened in the accident?
“I have no idea, I thought I was in good shape and at that point was just happy to ride and knew that the guys in front of me were all running single file and a bunch of them had to pit. That’s why I was kind of laying back and then I ended up driving right into a wreck. That’s a good night though for everything that we fought with the hood flying open and everything else. Whatever, never give up.”
How strong was your Tundra?
“This is the best truck I’ve had down here in a long time. I hate that we got damage because I thought we could have done some damage. It’s just Daytona and you never know what to do or where to be and that’s part of it.”
MATT TIFFT, No. 25 Federated Auto Parts Toyota Tundra, Venturini Motorsports
Finishing Position: 19th
CAMERON HAYLEY, No. 13 Cabinets by Hayley Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing:
Finishing Position: 23rd
What happened to cause the accident?
“I wish I knew. All I could see in the front of me was – I was following the 05 of John Wes Townley and all I saw was smoke. Just white smoke and I tried to go to the outside and just couldn’t get there and next thing you know my hood is crunched and I was sideways.”
What did you learn tonight?
“A lot less than I wanted to learn. I learned a ton though just about staying in the draft. My spotter, Eddie D’Hondt, helped me a lot with that. I mean, I didn’t know what to say. Our Cabinets by Hayley Toyota Tundra was amazing and I think we had a really good shot to win it, but just didn’t work out.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 24th
What happened to cause the accident?
“I have no idea – next thing I know I was looking underneath someone else’s truck. We unloaded our Tundra yesterday and it was really good and then today just seemed to come all to pieces. We had (truck number) 140 – we started in the back and kind of took it easy for a little while and it just goes to show you that anything can happen here regardless of where you’re at. Testament goes to the guys here for getting our No. 17 Red Horse Racing Tundra backup as good as our primary and getting it on the line. We showed it today. It is what it is – it would be worse if we were riding in the back and it happened running 30th, but at least we were running top-10 so I can brag about that.”
Why did you hang back in the opening laps of the race?
“Being the first laps on the race track, even though we copied our primary, we wanted to get our travels just right. We wanted to ride until the first caution just to make sure our splitter wasn’t on the ground and just make sure everything was in working order.”
CHRIS FONTAINE, No. 84 Chris Fontaine Inc. Toyota Tundra, Glenden Enterprises
Finishing Position: 25th
BEN KENNEDY, No. 11 Local Motors Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 28th
What did you see during the big accident?
“I guess the first incident going into Turn One the guy had me – just lost his left rear tire. I knew it before I even got into him and I hit him and I was okay until whoever was behind me hit me, spun me sideways and we got hit pretty hard on the left front. Went back out there and through the corners we had something rubbing on the tire. We came in and we thought we fixed it and went back out and blew a tire on the back straightaway and it was either wreck it into the pack or wreck it into the wall and we had pretty much wreck it into the wall at that point. Stinks for these guys, it stinks for Local Motors and that’s not the best way to start the season, but we’ll get them from here.”
BEN KENNEDY, No. 11 Local Motors Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing (continued)
How was your race before the accident?
“The Tundra was really good. We were running alright. I think we were getting the outside line going a little bit. It took a little time, but once we got out there we were running pretty good.”
JUSTIN BOSTON, No. 54 BitPay Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 29th
What happened in your incident?
“Well, I can definitely sit here and tell you how much this sucks and how much it’s out of your control, but this is what we work our entire lives to come to a stage like this race. It’s really unfortunate for everybody on the 54. They worked their asses off in the off-season to get us a good piece to come here. The BitPay Toyota Tundra was fast and we didn’t qualify the way we wanted to, so we thought it’d be a good idea to sit in the back with the 88 (Matt Crafton) and our teammate Daniel (Suarez) and just bide our time and missed the first wreck because we knew there was going to be some variance of speed with some guys that qualified up there. It’s unfortunate that we got tagged there. I’m not really sure what happened yet. I haven’t seen the replay, but it’s just really unfortunate and I was for sure that I was going to miss that wreck and we were playing it safe and out of nowhere I think the 1 (Donnie Neuenberger) came and tagged me and just killed our day, you know? We spent three or four times trying to get the toe fixed on our race car and it’s just really a shame and I could barely get around the race track and I was trying to get back to my guys in a timely fashion so we could try and repair our truck and something finally broke on me coming around and I was trying to get to the garage actually and we never made it there. It’s really unfortunate. It sucks. I’m looking forward to next week in Atlanta. We’ll go kick their asses there.”
What did you learn from tonight?
“Not much. There’s so much of an element you can’t control here. We just knew there was going to be a wreck pretty early just from seeing where the trucks were and how everyone qualified. Just sucks. You think you can control your own destiny somewhat by sticking in the back and you can’t.”
JUSTIN MARKS, No. 35 American Born Moonshine Toyota Tundra, Win-Tron Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
