Toyota NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Race 11 of 33 – 300 miles, 200 laps
Saturday, May 28, 2016
TOYOTA NXS DRIVER FINISHING POSITIONS at Charlotte Motor Speedway
1st, DENNY HAMLIN
12th, DANIEL SUAREZ
18th, DREW HERRING
21st, DAKODA ARMSTRONG
23rd, JJ YELEY
30th, CARL LONG
31st, ERIK JONES
34th, JEFF GREEN
40th, MATT DiBENEDETTO
TOYOTA DRIVER NXS POINT STANDINGS following Charlotte Motor Speedway (race 11 of 33)*
1st, DANIEL SUAREZ 376 points
7th, ERIK JONES 320 points
16th, DAKODA ARMSTRONG 208 points
19th, JJ YELEY 179 points
*unofficial point standings
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Denny Hamlin won Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
· Hamlin led the field five times for a race-high 76 laps (of 206) en route to his first NXS victory of 2016. The victory came in Hamlin’s first NXS start of the season.
· The victory was the seventh-consecutive NASCAR national series points win for Toyota dating back to Tundra driver William Byron’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series triumph at Kansas Speedway on May 6.
· Camry driver Daniel Suarez (12th) led the field once for two laps, while Erik Jones (31st) led twice for 14 circuits and Jeff Green (34th) led one lap.
· Suarez took over the points lead and is now 14 points ahead of second-place Elliott Sadler.
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 18 Hisense USA Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
Were you fortunate to get the late caution?
“It was a second opportunity obviously. I was hoping for that caution there at the end and we got it and we were able to get four tires on this Hisense Camry and took off. A little closer than what I thought – I mean, we were just really tight those last couple laps, but what a great day. It’s the Hisense 300 here at Charlotte – couldn’t be prouder of that whole group being here with (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) and me and we’ve been in victory lane with them a bunch, but got to thank all my partners – Coca-Cola on the Coca-Cola 600 weekend. Memorial Day – got to thank all the troops for everything they do, those who have served and those that are serving. Coca-Cola, Toyota, the Jordan brand, the Greenbrier Resort. Just it takes so much effort to get these things and I love coming into these things and now I know why Kyle (Busch) wins all the time. This things easy.”
Was it your call or your crew chief’s call to pit at the end of the race for tires?
“It was a collaborative call. He (Chris Gayle, crew chief) leaned towards staying out, but I thought that I could get around those guys in just two laps even though we were way faster on that last run. I thought tires were the thing. I knew if I could start on the outside that I wanted new tires and it just worked out on pit road where I came out on the outside. It all worked out and it was very exciting in that last corner, a little more exciting than what I expected.”
Did you enjoy racing today?
“It was a blast. I always haven’t been a fan of running in this series, but it’s always a lot of fun when you win them. I’ve had a lot of success over the last couple years of running the XFINITY Series and hopefully we learned something that can get us a little bit better tomorrow.”
How strong was the car during the race?
“I thought that realistically we really had the best car all day and just didn’t get very good restarts. That’s really the only time that we would get passed is on restarts. The 42 (Kyle Larson) had a good long run car I think the second run of the day and got around us, but then we started getting back to them towards the end. I really had a great car and then had that penalty and had to go to the back. I drove as hard as I could that last run and got back up to third, but we needed a caution to get caught up and we got it and it worked out to where I was willing to do whatever the opposite of the guys in front of me, that’s the tough spot is it puts the leaders – we have a Goodyear tire now that wears out and it gives crew chiefs an option to come in here and take tires and make a charge at the end. That’s why you saw some of the great racing we saw and it was obviously a great break for us.”
Was the final caution the turning point in the race for you?
“It was, but our car was just fast and that helps a lot when you have a car that has speed. Just caught in the moment, I forgot to tell them to make an adjustment when we did come down pit road on that last stop, but I knew that I would have much rather started eighth on the outside than fifth on the inside with four tires. It gives you the opportunity to run the wide lane through one and two and make up a lot of ground, which we did. I gave the 42 (Kyle Larson) a push down the back straightaway, which cleared him of whoever he was beside and then I shot the middle of him and that other car and got to second pretty quick. That’s kind of the turning point I thought of it, but I knew we had a fast car, I was just disappointed that I lost some track position on some restarts throughout the day. Have to get a little bit better at those, but overall, the car drove like I expected it and like it did in practice and we gave ourselves a shot to win.”
What does it mean to win the Hisense race in the Hisense Camry and is there pressure in this car knowing Kyle Busch’s success already this season in the XFINITY Series?
“I think as far as the sponsor thing, it’s huge. This is their title weekend, they’re a great partner of myself and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) over the last few years – I had a lot of success with them last year in the XFINITY Series. They’ve really stepped up their activation with their sponsorship and really have done a great job of supporting Joe Gibbs Racing and really the results are showing on the race track. I thank them for that and obviously they do a lot for the sport as a whole by sponsoring the weekend so it’s great to win the title sponsor race obviously, but to do it in that type of fashion is always a little extra feather in the cap. As far as driving the 18 car, it’s always more pressure. A lot of it is my inexperience in the XFINITY Series even though I’ve been in Cup a long time, these cars drive a lot different. I kind of leaned on Chris (Gayle, crew chief) to not let me get too far off base with adjustments in the car during practice. I have a little bit different style than what Kyle (Busch) does, but obviously he’s got a great baseline setup that showed up this weekend and we didn’t adjust a whole lot, but we had to adjust a little for me and it was good enough. Definitely one of the better mile-and-a-half cars I’ve driven in a long time for this group.”
Was there confusion on where you restarted after your pit road penalty?
“You’re supposed to restart at the tail end unless guys wave over or unless guy’s layover – my job was to get to the tail end of all the cars that were lead lap and one lap down and then leave a buffer. I left about an eight to 10 car buffer from whoever was in front of me to allow the wave around cars to come around the race track and then get in front of me. The problem was that all the wave around cars that were multiple, multiple laps down or they had damage – they weren’t wanting to get up there on the restart. At that point, I waited all the way to turn four to catch up to the pack. I gave everyone an opportunity to get up there as far as they could, but if they don’t want to go up there and race, I’m trying to win the race so I’m going to try to go up there as far as I can. I was laying back and actually got a really bad restart because off of turn four I was trying to wave everybody past me, but if they’re not going to go, they’re not going to go. I think the 11 had a penalty on that restart as well and he was right beside me. We did the best we could, but obviously things played out. It really didn’t matter because we still came off pit road – we got all the way up to third and we would have got there anyway and then the strategy played out, the new tires were going to win anyway and it just all worked out for us.”
Do you have any more races with Hisense this year?
“The only race I know I have is Darlington is the only one, so I want to – I’m batting 1.000 right now, so I want to run as few as possible so I can keep that. I think it’s a Sport Clips race too that week, but I’ve got a great relationship with all the Hisense folks and we’ve done really well with them, so I’d like to get back in victory lane again soon for sure.”
CHRIS GAYLE, crew chief, No. 18 Hisense USA Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How difficult was the call at the end of the race for tires and how strong was the race car?
“It definitely was and I think we had a good car for the first half of the race. Maybe we needed to adjust on it a little bit, we did and then we lost a little track position early and I think that hurt us, but I think even once we had the pit road penalty, that was the big game changer and we still probably had the best car if you watched lap times and that last run we just happened to be restarting 16th or whatever and then it just took a while to get back there. Like Denny (Hamlin) said, without that caution, we were stuck and we were going to finish third. Thankfully he got the caution and you obviously heard us discuss what to do and it’s a tough situation, the leaders are sitting ducks, but we decided to come get tires. I left it on Denny to decide, but it’s not fair to him – either way, it could work out or it could not work out. If a few more cars had stayed out, we might have been in trouble and might not have been able to get up there. It worked out great, restarted on the outside in sixth and that was the key, four tires and that restart position, he was able to take advantage of it and did a great job.”
Did you learn anything from this morning’s Cup Series practices that applied to your setup?
“Not really. Our setup is done. At 7:45 to 8:15 this morning, we’re in line, so pretty much we can’t do anything more than air pressure past that point, so before they ever got on the race track in a Cup car. Now, that doesn’t meant that I don’t talk to the crew chiefs over there – that I didn’t talk to Wheels (Mike Wheeler) about some adjustments they made just thinking about whether this would help me in the race or not – but you have to be a little careful because the cars are different. We’re not even on the same tires between the two series here, so you kind of have to be a little – use what you can, but be cautious about it. And then obviously, I think one of the things that shows what JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) is doing really well is we’re communicating between both shops – XFINITY, Cup. If you look at the crew chief path over here, a lot of us were ex-race engineers, so we’re all very well connected and know each other, so there’s this freedom to talk between the two buildings and the two series and transfer information and make everybody better.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 12th
DREW HERRING, No. 24 JGL Young Guns, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 18th
DAKODA ARMSTRONG, No. 28 Winfield Be Greater Toyota Camry, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 21st
JJ YELEY, No. 44 Zachry Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 23rd
CARL LONG, No. 13 Chris Kyle Foundation Toyota Camry, MBM Motorsports
Finishing Position: 30th
ERIK JONES, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 31st
JEFF GREEN, No. 14 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 34th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 10 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
