TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Sonoma Raceway
Race 16 of 36 – 218.9 miles, 110 laps
Sunday, June 26, 2016
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS — at SONOMA RACEWAY
1st, Tony Stewart
2nd, DENNY HAMLIN
3rd, Joey Logano
4th, Carl Edwards
5th, Martin Truex Jr.
7th, KYLE BUSCH
20th, MATT KENSETH
31st, MATT DiBENEDETTO
32nd, DAVID RAGAN
34th, COLE WHITT
35th, DYLAN LUPTON
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER IN NSCS POINT STANDINGS — following Sonoma Raceway**
1st, Kevin Harvick 562 points*
3rd, CARL EDWARDS 510 points
8th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 469 points
9th, KYLE BUSCH 452 points
10th, MATT KENSETH 430 points
11th, DENNY HAMLIN 421 points
29th, DAVID RAGAN 217 points
34th, MATT DiBENEDETTO 168 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Denny Hamlin (second) was the top-finishing Toyota in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway to claim his career-best finish at the 11-turn road course.
· Hamlin led a race-high 33 (of 110) laps and battled race-winner Tony Stewart on the final lap for the victory, but crossed the line behind Stewart who will retire at the end of this season.
· Edwards started from the pole position and led 24 laps to capture his 11th top-10 of the season.
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
Were you expecting Tony Stewart to make the final pass by you to win the race?
“I don’t know, I thought I had just missed the corner more than – I should have not leave the bottom open. I thought if I leave the bottom open maybe he will think he can get there in a different kind of way. I just overshot the corner a little bit. Still a pretty good day. This is definitely a step in the right direction on the road course, but man utterly disappointed.”
What was the last lap like from your vantage point?
“Tony (Stewart) was doing a good job maintaining his tires, a good job of running consistent laps there. Really he gave me an opportunity to get close. On the second to last lap he wheel hopped into (turn) seven, allowed us to get close and I just did a poor job of getting through 11. I was expecting to really drive in deep and I really thought that was going to happen and he did, but I also left the bottom open and that was a bad mistake on my part. Still a great race. I was proud of the FedEx Cares Toyota team for giving me a car that could win. We’ll take this and go with it.”
What was the battle like with Martin Truex Jr. to get to the position to compete for the win?
“It was, it really was. Heck of a battle with all my Toyota teammates. Just lost the handle there at the end a little bit. It cost us the win, but who knows. It was a great day. Better than what we expected going into it.”
What happened on the last lap of the race?
“I was looking rearview more than looking out front. I still got in there with a wheel hop, I was just a little bit in the middle and needed to get a good run. Once he (Tony Stewart) had the inside position, we weren’t going to drag race it out. I knew he was going to put me into the wall. He was doing what he had to do and we did what we had to do in turn. All is fair in love and war.”
What was your plan to try to beat Tony Stewart for the race win?
“I didn’t even think I’d have an opportunity, honestly. He made one mistake in turn seven and allowed us to get closer to him. Overall we had a great FedEx Cares Camry. I don’t know how to replay that last lap differently. He made mistakes that allowed me to get there and get position. I made a mistake at the end to get the lead and get position and I made a mistake to give up the lead on the last corner. Just one of those deals. You’d like to be on the winning end of this, but unfortunately we were not on that end.”
What would you do differently to win the race?
“Just run slower through turn 11 would be about the only thing I could do differently. Just run slower through there and force him to go on the high side. I just had a feeling he was going to drive in there and turn us around anyway, so I was trying to do all I could.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 STANLEY Tools Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
What happened to cause the damage to the right side of the car and how was the race?
“I appreciate Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. giving me the space there – Joey (Logano) got loose, I got under him and Dale was three-wide. We had a really fast Stanley Toyota, this was the most fun I’ve had in a long time, really good car. It was fun to race. Congrats to Tony (Stewart), I know he drove his heart out there. It’s pretty neat to see him in victory lane. We just had some fun today, it was a good time.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How was the race?
“It was a lot of fun racing out there today – we had an excellent race car, this Furniture Row Toyota was awesome. Feel like we had the best car, we just couldn’t get track position. Every time we would get past the guys that we were racing on the race track, caution would come out and guys would beat us out of the pits. Little frustrated with that, thought we had the car to win and then that last set of tires we just got in position and we just got too loose. I’m not sure what happened, but all in all a solid weekend for us – we qualified third and finished top-five. We just burned it up at the end trying to get Smoke (Tony Stewart) and I gave up a couple spots, but I had to try to go for it. The rear tires were gone at the end. It was a good race and congrats to Tony, it’s good to see and it’s been a long time coming for him.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s 75th Anniversary Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
How was the car in the closing laps of the race?
“I don’t know what happened at the end of the race, but thought we had a shot to end up in the top-four at least. For some reason there at the end it blew the rear tires off there at the end on the last run when I was trying to race those guys for the top-four. I couldn’t even gain on them, I was just trying to hang with them. We just burned the rear tires off on that last run just trying too hard and went backwards.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 20th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 31st
DAVID RAGAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
COLE WHITT, No. 98 RTIC Toyota Camry
Finishing Position: 34th
DYLAN LUPTON, No. 93 Elk Grove Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 35th
