TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Michigan International Speedway
Race 24 of 36 – 400 miles, 200 laps
Sunday, August 28, 2016
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS — at Michigan International Speedway
1st, Kyle Larson*
2nd, Chase Elliott*
3rd, Brad Keselowski*
4th, Ryan Blaney*
5th, Kevin Harvick*
7th, CARL EDWARDS
9th, DENNY HAMLIN
13th, MATT KENSETH
19th, KYLE BUSCH
20th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
29th, DAVID RAGAN
32nd, MATT DIBENEDETTO
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER IN NSCS POINT STANDINGS — following Michigan International Speedway**
1st, Kevin Harvick 799 points*
3rd, CARL EDWARDS 724 points
6th, KYLE BUSCH 696 points
7th, DENNY HAMLIN 691 points
8th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 652 points
10th, MATT KENSETH 633 points
31st, DAVID RAGAN 327 points
35th, MATT DiBENEDETTO 243 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Carl Edwards (seventh) was the top-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Michigan International Speedway.
· Denny Hamlin (ninth) also earned a top-10 finish for Toyota at the two-mile speedway as all the teams ran a new low downforce package for the race.
TOYOTA QUOTES
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
How was the race today?
“We really struggled badly most of the day. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) did a great job there at the end. Just a little disappointed, I thought we would have been a lot better than that. We’ll just have to regroup, figure it out and talk to our teammates. We’ll figure it out.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
What did the team struggle with in the race?
“We just struggled with speed – really a lot of little things. The car was tight then it was loose, but really just lacked the speed that the leaders had for the most part. Struggled on restarts a little bit too on the bottom lane. Overall, we had about a fifth place car and we ended up in the top-10 so not too bad.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 13th
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
ADAM STEVENS, crew chief, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How much did the team struggle following the spin early in the race?
“The finishing order makes it look that way, but we actually had a pretty fast car. We ran some really fast laps, but we just got in a bad spot there on the restart and got sucked around and wore off part of our splitter, but even after that we were one of the probably five or six quickest cars on the race track and just whenever we got in the lucky dog spot we ran there for I can’t tell you how many laps and just didn’t get a caution. The leaders started lapping cars again and we just couldn’t catch that caution to get back on the lead lap and really show what we had.”
What are your thoughts on this downforce package following the race?
“Michigan is a tough place and it’s always going to be track position. They could take the spoilers completely off these things and it’s always going to be about track position. I don’t know, I don’t know that this is the best place to really, truly evaluate it so I think it’s a wait and see for next year.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 20th
DAVID RAGAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 29th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 Vector Security Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
