Toyota NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Phoenix International Raceway
Race 4 of 33 – 200 miles, 200 laps
Saturday, March 12, 2016
TOYOTA NXS DRIVER FINISHING POSITIONS at Phoenix International Raceway
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, ERIK JONES
3rd, DANIEL SUAREZ
18th, DAKODA ARMSTRONG
20th, JJ YELEY
22nd, DAVID STARR
26th, TJ BELL
40th, JEFF GREEN
TOYOTA DRIVER NXS POINT STANDINGS following Phoenix International Raceway (race 4 of 33)*
1st, DANIEL SUAREZ 144 points
6th, ERIK JONES 126 points
13th, DAKODA ARMSTRONG 89 points
18th, JJ YELEY 63 points
19th, DAVID STARR 62 points
*unofficial point standings
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Kyle Busch was victorious in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Phoenix International Raceway, earning his third consecutive series victory.
· Busch led the field three times for a race-high 175 laps (of 200) at the one-mile Arizona en route to his ninth career NXS win at Phoenix.
· The win marked the 112th victory for Toyota in series competition, and Busch extended his series record with 79 career NXS wins and 16,259 total career laps led.
· In addition to Busch’s triumph, Camry drivers Erik Jones (second) and Daniel Suarez (third) swept the top-three spots in Saturday’s race.
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
What is it about Phoenix that you’ve been so successful in the XFINITY Series?
“I don’t know. It’s just a knack for this place I guess. You know, we’ve been off a little bit on the Cup side for years but here we seem to be a lot better. Last year we improved a lot. But, the XFINITY program it’s always been. I’m not sure why. I can’t say enough about Chris Gayle (crew chief) and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. Obviously, did a great job for me giving me the car that I needed and prepared everything for today’s race. We didn’t sit on the pole but our teammates did. They were obviously really fast and they made me run hard all day long. I mean, there was nothing left in this car. It’s all used up. Instead of having to go back to the shop and freshen her a little bit they’re going to have to rebuild it. NOS Energy Drink, appreciate their support, and JGR engines, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), XFINITY. It’s fun to come here and participate. I learn a lot and I do that for a reason in order to try and make myself better on Sundays and hopefully it helps.”
What did you take away from the race today that can help you tomorrow?
“Yeah, the tire – this tire is a lot different than what last year’s tire was so there’s a lot of different characteristics and things that are happening throughout a run. To toss this car around and to run it as hard as I had to run it all day I really felt the tire fall off that you got so that’s going to be interesting for tomorrow especially with less downforce and more horsepower on the Cup cars. It’s going to be a fun day. It’s going to be a lot of slipping and sliding and trying to figure out what groove your car will work in. Trying to find some speed if those guys in front of you hold you up. We were able to do some of that today. Lap cars were quite interesting at moments but we were able to make it all work. Again, I can’t say enough about NOS Energy Drink and Chris Gayle and all of these guys so thanks to them.”
Can you talk about being able to win today at Phoenix?
“Yeah, it certainly never does get old but I know there was a lot of good things that had come of this weekend and just having the opportunity to work with Chris Gayle (crew chief) and of course to get a chance to be out there on the race track with this tire than what we’ve run here the past couple of times, which is the same tire that we’re going to run tomorrow on the Cup side. Lots of things to learn and a good day obviously being able to have a good race car and run upfront. We may not have qualified on the pole, but we did have a good race car. Real proud of the effort by Chris and everybody on this NOS Energy Drink team. The guys did a great job. Our Toyota was fast. Not much to complain about really besides my teammates probably ran me too hard and gave me a fit there upfront. It may not have seemed like it or looked like it but I had to run as hard as I could all day long so there was no break in that car. It was just full out loud all of the time.”
Is it fair to say that the decisive moment of the race was the last pit stop and you gained time over Erik Jones?
“Yeah, I think that was a moment in the race that you can either gain a lot or lose a lot in a very short period of time. We had a really good short run car I guess because I could kind of get out for a little ways and then in that long, long run that we had there – what was that 80 laps or so? And, a couple moves that I had to make in order to get past some of the lap cars that were running side-by-side I just burnt my front tires up and I couldn’t ever get them back underneath me and (Erik) Jones had been pressuring me for 10 laps there and finally he was close. He was probably about another lap or two from going by me and we needed to pit. I just wore my stuff out too much. Fortunately it was time to hit pit road anyways and when I did I waved real late just to make sure that he knew I was coming and wouldn’t run me over and it was soon enough where he made his way to pit road as well behind me. And, with the way that everything happened on pit road I’m not sure how his stop was compared to ours or anything like that but obviously we got a bit of a gap after the stop and I just ran as hard as I could to make sure that I maintain that gap and didn’t let him close on me in case he had another good 20 lap run car or whatever and gain on me. So, all in all it was a fun race I thought. It was pretty interesting and I enjoyed NASCAR letting us go long like that because it gives an opportunity to see some of that action that plays back and forth a little bit. Having green flag stops, that’s something that I don’t think that these guys get a whole lot of and it’s nice to see that Erik Jones was as successful as he was at it.”
What is it like when you don’t win these races that everyone just expects you to win?
“Some people say I’m a failure for even joining in this field so I get plenty of criticism, it doesn’t matter how it comes. Whether I’m winning or losing or whether I’m participating. So, for me I don’t really pay attention to any of it. I do what I need to do to help support my team, the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing, my crew chief Chris Gayle and we work as hard as we can to be successful and whether we are or aren’t if we got beat by Erik Jones then I’d go up to him and shake his hand and tell him way to go. Obviously he did a really good job and it’s no different than what Chris said, there was times when I was coming up through the ranks when I was an XFINITY Series driver that I was beating Mark Martin or I was beating Kevin Harvick or I was beating those Cup Series guys and I would get a lot of accolades for that and we’re going to see some of that stuff I’m sure this year. I’m sure I’m going to get beat and whether it’s by Erik Jones or Ty Dillon a couple of years ago at the Brickyard or Daniel Suarez it’s certainly going to be a big day for those guys.”
Do you sense any vibe at Joe Gibbs Racing with such success in qualifying in both series and now your win today?
“Yeah, the XFINITY shop is different than the Cup shop but as far as the XFINITY shop I think it shows a lot of comradery between the guys – crew chiefs in general – and the team guys as well. I think that everyone is on a high right now and they feel good about what they’re doing, the cars they’re building and the preparation and the things that they’re doing. So, as long as all of that continues and we don’t falter we’ll continue to shine and look good. I think it’s just high marks for everybody right now at the XFINITY shop and hopefully the Cup race goes the same way. We’ll see and if not then hopefully we all have a good day and maybe one of us can have a win.”
CHRIS GAYLE, crew chief, No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Can you talk about Kyle’s performance this weekend?
“Yeah, we didn’t qualify quite where we wanted. Obviously we wanted to be on the pole but I thought this weekend for us was a shot where I don’t think we were the best car in practice. I think the 20 (Erik Jones) was probably a little bit better and the 19 (Daniel Suarez). We kind of got behind on tires. We had a flat and didn’t spend a long time on one set of tires and then didn’t kind of show the speed we needed to in practice. We made some adjustments late last night and this morning and I think it showed today. We had a good race car all day and I think Kyle (Busch) may not say it but I think it adds to come credibility to all of us to know that he can walk away and he may not have the best car on Friday evening in practice but he’ll have something good to race with and I think that was a good display for the team.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What did you need a little more of to get past Kyle Busch to win today?
“That second to last run there with 15 or 20 to go – whatever it was – I thought we were just as good as them if not better and started to work underneath him (Kyle Busch) and then with the pit stop we lost some ground coming off pit road and after that I was too tight and he started to run away. It wasn’t until about seven or eight to go that we were matching his lap time and really was able to start working back toward him. So, just lost too much ground there but overall a good day for the Reser’s Camry and did a nice job of keeping on the adjustments and the track changed a lot and to keep up with it the best we could and at least give ourselves a shot this week.”
Can you talk about your race today?
“Yeah, a good day overall. Working from the start really we had a second place car for the most of the day and then towards the end there before the last stop I thought we were a little bit better than the 18 (Kyle Busch) and started to work him over and that’s we came to pit road and just lost too much ground overall leaving pit road and trying to stay with him and after that we were too tight really to try and run him back down. But, overall a good day for the Reser’s Camry. A strong showing I guess and a nice mistake free day for the first time here. We had a shot at it, just got to get a little bit better overall.”
Did you feel like with about 20 laps left that you were able to beat Kyle Busch?
“Yeah, at that point for sure. I felt like we were a little bit better than him (Kyle Busch) at that point and it was going to take a few laps and a few tries to work him over. He’s not going to just lay over and let me go but definitely at that point I thought we could have got him had we not had to pit, but after the stop it was just really no change. But, before that yeah I thought we definitely had a shot.”
Did Kyle Busch gain about a second or more on the last pit stop?
“Yeah, somewhere right around there. I knew we were in a little bit of trouble when he (Kyle Busch) rolled by right when we were trying to leave the box and knew how much time that was going to equal to getting back up to speed. By the time we got back up to speed he was four or five second ahead so just too much to run back down in that amount of time.”
Is it frustrating to you that you’ve been so close to beating Kyle Busch?
“Yeah, I mean had we been racing without a pit stop coming we definitely would’ve been more aggressive about it. Yeah, I mean I’m not afraid to rough a guy up and I don’t think he’d (Kyle Busch) would be afraid to do the same to me. Yeah, he’s been fast but overall he helps our program in total. I don’t think we would be as dominant as we are at this point in time without him running all of these races. But yeah, I think definitely we’ll race hard and we’ll race aggressive when that time comes, but just nice to be up there running with him. There’s not many times that you see that so it’s nice to be the guy that can go up there and challenge him for a minute.”
Are all of the Joe Gibbs Racing guys running the same setup?
“We’re fairly similar. Every car has got a little bit something different that the crew chief throws in but we’re fairly close. We were different than the 18 (Kyle Busch) and the 19 (Daniel Suarez) in some ways and the 19 and 18 were obviously different. There’s a few things that were different but overall generally we’re in the same box. There’s no one of us that’s completely different than the other.”
Is Kyle Busch the toughest competitor you’ve ever run against?
“Yeah, I’d say so. I think definitely looking back over my few years in Late Models and Trucks and everything else he’s (Kyle Busch) is probably the strongest guy that I’ve ever had to compete against – the hardest guy that I’ve ever had to beat. I got lucky earlier on and I got to beat him in a Late Model and now I guess I’m getting my payback for all of this time that I’m going to have to wait to try and beat him at this level. He’s definitely tough and he’s obviously super fast right now not only in the XFINITY Series but in the Cup Series every week as well. So, just a really tough guy to race.”
Is it difficult not to think all you are doing is racing your teammates in these races with the recent success?
“Yeah, I think definitely we saw in practice our three cars were probably the three best cars and I knew we were going to have to race the 18 (Kyle Busch) and the 19 (Daniel Suarez) all day. I thought yesterday we were a little bit better than them but obviously once the race started the 18 was a little bit better than both of us. So, I think for the last two weeks we’ve been pretty fortunate to be in that position to be racing just our teammates and hopefully we can keep it going. The other teams are going to catch up. That’s how this sport goes. But right now we’re definitely racing our teammates.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 19 Juniper Networks Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
Did you need a little bit more in the middle of the race?
“Yeah, in the second part of the race I don’t know, maybe I got stuck a little bit in traffic and I was trying to be over-aggressive to make my way back to the front. I don’t think that much was the best boost. After that the car was a little bit too tight – tighter than before. I just need to keep working and minimize my mistakes and try again next week.”
DAKODA ARMSTRONG, No. 28 Toyota Camry, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 18th
JJ YELEY, No. 14 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 20th
DAVID STARR, No. 44 Zachry Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 22nd
TJ BELL, No 24 Apex Contracting and Restoration Toyota Camry, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
JEFF GREEN, No. 10 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
