- Camry driver Denny Hamlin (second) was the top-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina, an event won by Austin Dillon.
- In addition to Hamlin’s runner-up result, Daniel Suarez (sixth) also piloted his Toyota to a top-10 result on the 1.5-mile circuit.
- With his sixth-place finish, Suarez is eligible for the first round of the NXS ‘Dash 4 Cash,’ a four-race series within the NXS with a $1 million prize on the line. The first round of the ‘Dash 4 Cash’ begins next week at Delaware’s Dover Speedway where there is a $100,000 bonus on the line to the top-finisher of the eligible drivers.
- Five Camry drivers are currently in the top-20 in the unofficial NSCS point standings – Daniel Suarez (ninth), David Starr (12th), JJ Yeley (14th), Blake Koch (18th) and Cale Conley (19th).
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What would have it taken for you to win today?
“Horsepower, downforce – just those are the two elements, the speed and that’s what it looks like we weren’t – the XFINITY side, the RCR (Richard Childress Racing) cars have the advantage over everyone and just Austin (Dillon) did a great job coming back there. Congrats to those guys. Thankful for the opportunity I had in this Monster Energy Camry and Chris (Gayle, crew chief) and these guys are building this race team and doing a great job. I’m happy with a second-place finish considering what I thought we had for a car all day. I thought we were probably a fifth to sixth-place car at best, but we just – we were able to get a good restart and try to hold those guys off, but he just had a little bit too much speed for me.”
How did Austin Dillon have so much speed?
“Those guys have got some fast cars. You do your best to try to hold them off, but similar to when I ran in this 54 car at Vegas, Austin (Dillon) was just two, three tenths faster than the field and those RCR cars are strong and you just as an organization you’ve got to get a little bit better. So you learn and see where you need to get better, so I was proud of the pit stop that got us out with a shot there at the end and then the restart was a good restart and we were in front of them, but we needed to hold him to the bottom line and the 97 (Peyton Sellers) moved. He gave us the bottom instead of the top and it just allowed the 33 (Dillon) to get around us. It’s just part of it. It probably would have been a matter of time before that 33 was going to get around us anyway, but enjoyed at least racing for the lead for a little while.”
Are you confident entering tomorrow’s race?
“Yeah, I’ve had some good runs out here this week so far and, obviously, this is an exceptional finish for what I felt like we had a for a car. The Monster Energy guys just keep getting out car a little bit better and we just – we were going to be the second-best car all day. We didn’t have anything for that 33 (Dillon). There’s nothing that he could have adjusted that would have got us there, so still proud of this second-place finish.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
How was the race?
“Definitely a good day, our first time ever being at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We had a hard time in qualifying – maybe one of my worst qualifying runs of the year at 19th. I believe it was the first time we didn’t make it for the third round. Anyway, I’ve very happy with everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing on this ARRIS Toyota. All these guys, they don’t know how to give up and that’s something that is really good and I’m learning to be just like that as well. Thanks to that and all the hard work on pit road and those good adjustments, we ended up in a strong P6.”
What does it mean to be part of the XFINITY Series ‘Dash 4 Cash?’
“It’s good and I didn’t know that until they told me to follow the 6 (Darrell Wallace Jr.) and the 7 (Regan Smith). That’s cool and something new actually. I saw the ‘Dash 4 Cash,’ and I don’t know exactly how it works or anything, but I’m really proud to be part of this and something new for me.”
What does it mean to continue earning solid finishes?
“That’s the goal – the goal is to finish races and finish races in the top-10. This is what we’re trying to do. I believe that we’ve been running stronger in the top-10 and this is what I like and this is my goal for now. We definitely still have a ways to go and we have to keep working and keep learning about this to try to be better for the next time.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
How was the race overall and what happened that put you behind late in the race?
“It was alright – we just tried to short pit and beat everybody on pit strategy and the caution came out. It just wasn’t our day overall. We just had a lot of things go like that during the day and just so hard to race during the day. It’s too bad that we have to race in the day like that – you just get singled out on the bottom and you can’t pass. It’s a bummer. We had a faster GameStop Camry than that, just couldn’t get ourselves in position to have a shot at it really. When the caution came out and put us a lap down and never really got to work back up with not really being able to pass. We did all we could and we’ll go on to next week.”
JJ YELEY, No. 28 Texas 28 Spirits Stage Toyota Camry, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 21st
DAVID STARR, No. 44 Zachry Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 22nd
BLAKE KOCH, No. 8 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 23rd
KYLE FOWLER, No. 26 Power All Toyota Camry
Finishing Position: 27th
ERIC MCCLURE, No. 24 Hefty Easy Grip Cups Toyota Camry, JBL Racing
Finishing Position: 30th
CALE CONLEY, No. 14 IAVA Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 34th
TIMMY HILL, No. 40 Braille Battery Toyota Camry
Finishing Position: 39th
JEFF GREEN, No. 19 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
