- Kyle Busch (fourth) and Carl Edwards (fifth) were the top-finishing Toyota drivers in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Texas Motor Speedway that was won by Jimmie Johnson.
- Both drivers raced among the leaders all day during the 334-lap race at the 1.5-mile race track. Busch led one lap and Edwards ran as high as second during the event.
- Erik Jones competed in his first of two races substituting for Matt Kenseth and raced within the top-10 for much of the Texas race before finishing 12th. It was his second career NSCS start after subbing for Busch at Kansas in April.
- Busch is currently ranked second in the unofficial NSCS point standings and sits two points behind leader Jeff Gordon. Edwards is fifth in the standings (13 points behind Gordon) with one race remaining in the ‘Eliminator 8’ round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Series championship prior to the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Were you pleased to see Jimmie Johnson to win the race to help your team’s Chase situation?
“For our situation, we wanted to see a guy that was not in the Chase win or a guy that we were racing right around us like the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and win the race. This M&M’s Crispy Camry was really, really fast today – just not fast enough. That 2 (Brad Keselowski) car, I don’t know what he had all day, but then the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) seemed to find something there at the end and Superman got the job done today. We fought hard, we did what we needed to do, we finished in the top-five and we got ourselves in a pretty good spot hopefully going to Phoenix.”
How much confidence do you have heading to Phoenix second in the points?
“Being in this position it’s obviously good, but I’ve been in a really good position before and had stuff happen and been knocked out. We don’t need to have any of that, we just need to go out in Phoenix and have a good, solid day. That place hasn’t been the best for our company over the last few years, but I’m looking forward to getting out there and hoping that we’ve got a really good piece in order to carry M&M’s and myself and everybody on this JGR team to Chase contention going to Homestead.”
How was the race today?
“It was, we were kind of off in the middle and late middle stages of the race and we kind of just drifted to about 10th and I really wasn’t too optimistic about what we had going on, but I was still confident in Adam Stevens (crew chief) and the guys to give me some really good adjustments and low and behold they did. They kept working on this thing for me and we had a really, really fast M&M’s Camry on the long run – we were a tenth or a half-tenth better than most of those guys. We just lost so much ground on the short run today. Wish we had a little bit better piece for the short run, but all in all I can’t be more than happy coming home with a top-five finish and seeing the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) win today, that was good for our situation. I feel for Brad (Keselowski), but you know that’s why it’s racing.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 SportClips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How was your race?
“We fought hard today. My guys did a great job with limited practice. Our Sport Clips Camry was good. About two-thirds, middle part of the race I thought we had something and then the track kind of went away from us, the balance did a little bit and raced it back. Fifth was as good as we could get at the end. Another restart would have meant a lot – we could have been top-three, but that’s a decent day.”
What do you need to do at Phoenix to advance to the final?
“Phoenix is a good track for me. It wasn’t that good for us in the spring, but everyone feels like they have something for this one. We’ll just go there and race as hard as we can.”
Did you experience any tire issues in this race?
“We didn’t have any trouble with the Goodyear’s. I don’t know what everybody else’s trouble was, but with limited practice you never know what everybody was trying and what limits they were pushing. We didn’t have any trouble. I saw a couple of those guys have trouble and I have to admit, I did worry about the tires that I probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t seen what happened.”
Was this fifth-place finish the result you needed?
“We needed a win, but this is definitely an okay day with everything that happened. My guys never cheered so hard for Jimmie (Johnson), we needed that for the points going to Homestead. Our Sport Clips Camry – it was fast. It was really fast in the middle of the race. We were up to second and I thought we had something then it fell off at the end. My guys chased it. They had limited practice with the weather. I can’t thank Sport Clips haircuts enough. They’re really cool people and were here. This was a fun race to drive.”
Was there anything else you could have pulled out at the finish of the race?
“I don’t know. My guys worked really hard and I thought Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and the guys did a great job on top of the box keeping up with the race strategy. Middle of the race, two-thirds of the race I thought we might have something for Brad (Keselowski), but we faded at the end. I have to thank everyone at Sport Clips – we had a ton of them here today. I can’t believe it’s still outside of the top-four but we’re going to Phoenix and I feel really confident and Darian says he has a great plan and we’ll go have some fun.”
How do you turn up the heat heading to Phoenix to advance to the finale?
“It’s so competitive right now. I did have a blast today racing. Goodyear tire and this worn out track with racing grooves, it was a lot of fun. When I pulled in here, I thought we’d be in the top-four, so that just tells you how competitive it is. We just have to keep digging. We have great Toyotas and just have to go use them at Phoenix.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 12th
How do you feel about today’s race?
“I wish we could have been a little stronger there at the end. We had that right-front go down and it tore the nose up pretty good so kind of took us out of a shot at a top-10. To still come home 12th is a good day for us. We worked hard all day to really keep the thing balanced and good and strong. Just when we cut that right-front, it tore the nose up enough to make a difference and kind of take us out of it.”
Do you know what happened to the tire?
“Goodyear said they actually weren’t sure what it was, it just came apart. They had the same issue early in the day. I don’t know, it just came apart on us.”
What have you learned about racing the Cup car from Kansas to this race today?
“Just that you really have to be on top of your game and if you have any mistake like we did with the right-front, it really takes you out of any shot you have to run well. Just staying in it and staying out front, that’s the biggest thing you need to do. I thought we did a decent job of staying in the top-10 all day up to that point. Other than that, it was a good day for us. The DeWalt Camry was fast most of the day and we made decent adjustments to stay up with the track. The track changed a lot from start to finish so that was another thing we were trying to keep up with.”
How did the communication evolve between yourself and crew chief Jason Ratcliff?
“I think over the day we learned more and more about each other and lack of the practice session, we didn’t have a lot of time to work with each other in race mode or race trim. Over the day, just getting a feel for Jason’s (Ratcliff, crew chief) communication and what I was trying to relay to him to get the response I wanted on adjustments and it definitely evolved throughout the day and learned more and more. For Phoenix for sure, I think we’ll be on more of the same page and we’ll better be able to figure that out.”
What did Joe Gibbs and Jason Ratcliff say to you after the race?
“They were just happy with the day. They were bummed like me that we didn’t get a top-10 like we were hoping or like we thought we would. Until the right-front issue, I definitely thought we could have had a top-10. It’s a solid day for us overall and to finish one of these races is big. For Phoenix, we’ll definitely go into that one with the mentality of going for another top-10 and run all the laps.”
How do you feel after running all three races this weekend?
“I’m ready to take a day off, I don’t think I’ve ever run more than two races – the Truck and XFINITY race – in more than one weekend. At this point, I’m feeling fine, but I can definitely feel it coming on. I’ll be worn out tonight. It was a fun weekend and I’ll do it again for sure next weekend. I’m looking forward to it, but it’s definitely busy and definitely hard on you. I’ll take a nice day off tomorrow.”
Do you feel you could win the Cup race at Phoenix?
“I’d like to think so. My fortune has been very good at Phoenix, it’s a track I really like and actually JGR was there testing a month or two ago. I feel pretty good about it and feel going there we have a good package. I feel confident in my ability and think that’s definitely a place where we can go up and run top-10. You never know, if the weekend is going well we could probably be up front and challenge for it.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Maxwell House Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 23rd
JEB BURTON, No. 23 Dr. Pepper/Estes Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
JJ YELEY, No. 26 Overture Promotions Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 33rd
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 35th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 38th
