- Matt Kenseth (sixth) was the top-finishing Camry driver in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway that endured a nearly two-and-a-half hour rain delay. Jimmie Johnson was tonight’s race winner.
- Erik Jones made his career-first NSCS start in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Camry and ran in the top-10 and top-15 through much of the race, but damage from an accident forced the team to the garage and ultimately a 40th-place result.
- Four Camry drivers are currently in the top-20 in the unofficial NSCS point standings – Matt Kenseth (seventh), Denny Hamlin (15th), Clint Bowyer (16th) and Carl Edwards (18th).
Finishing Position: 6th
Are you pleased with the finish after spinning early in the race?
“It was up and down – before the rain I thought we were pretty decent. After the rain we just weren’t as good. We tried to get caught up with the track and I spun out on that one restart. Obviously, that put us behind. It was a battle all night. Should be happy finishing sixth – that’s probably as high as we ran all night.”How were you able to come back from the spin?
“We had some good fortune. Our Dollar General Camry tonight was fairly dependent, other times we were kind of off and of course me spinning out didn’t help and got us behind, but we were able to get some good restarts there at the end and get some track position and get a decent finish from it.”CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 20th
How frustrating was the race tonight?
“It was very frustrating, but we won’t quit and we’ll just keep digging. Just had bad luck there and had a loose wheel. Those guys never mess up. We’ll just keep working and we’ll be alright.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 21st
How was the race tonight?
“Not what I wanted at my home track. Just disappointing. I know these guys worked hard to give us a good 5-hour ENERGY Toyota for this weekend.”
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 25th
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 SpongeBob SquarePants/Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 33rd
JJ YELEY, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 37th
ERIK JONES, No. 18 M&M’s Red Nose Day Camry Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 40th
What are you going to take away from tonight?
“I learned a lot about racing up front and racing with these guys. It’s definitely nice to be as fast as we were and we had a great M&M’s Camry, but I just got loose off (turn) four and lost it. All my fault, guess I have to go back and figure it out. You know, we had a good night before that. Something to take from it. I’m ready to do another one — I hope I get another shot.”
What happened in the accident?
“I just lost it and it’s too bad, I had such a good night going. We had a fast M&M’s Camry and it’s just a matter of trying to get a little better on my end and figuring out where the limit is. Unfortunately, we found it there and we’ll try to get a little better and see if we can get another shot in this thing.”
How strong was the car in the race?
“We had good speed. It definitely makes me confident that we can go run with these guys. I’m excited for hopefully my next opportunity, whenever that is. It was a good night overall – a lot that I learned and a lot that I can take from it.”
What did you learn in the race?
“I learned a lot about racing in traffic and racing with these guys and how the air works. Unfortunately, I wish I could have finished it out, but I felt like we definitely had a top-10 car. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t get the result. Not a bad night overall, I learned a lot and we’ll get a little better and try again.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 41st
What happened on the track with the second incident?
“The second one, I think we blew a left rear tire or something. The first one we were middle with the 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and he came up and ran me into the 9 (Sam Hornish Jr.) and we cut a tire. There was no caution there and then we cut a left rear, blew it off of turn four and spun out, hit the wall at the start finish line. I keep spinning out, I keep hitting the wall and I can’t figure out why everyone is still coming at 200 and I look and the green light is still on. They didn’t throw a caution until seven seconds after I wrecked. Luckily nobody hit us. They’ll continue to monitor the situation, I’m guessing is what they’ll say.”
What happened in the accident that took you out of contention?
“We got in an incident with the 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and the 9 (Sam Hornish Jr.) – we were in the middle of them and the 88 came up and squeezed me into the 9. We cut a tire and then came in and changed those, but we didn’t change lefts. I told Dave (Rogers, crew chief) that I thought the right sides were the only ones hurt. He didn’t see the left side damage and we had a tire run and blew a left rear. Then we wrecked, but we wrecked off of turn four and the caution wasn’t thrown until I nearly stopped in turn one. Just unbelievably disappointed with how long it took for that caution to come out because I was sitting dead in the middle of the race track and everyone is coming full bore because their spotters are telling them that the track is green. We’ve got to be a little more up on the switch on that one.”
JEB BURTON, No. 26 Estes Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 42nd
