TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Darlington Raceway
Race 25 of 36 – 501.3 miles, 367 laps
Sunday, September 4, 2016
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS — at Darlington Raceway
1st, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
2nd, Kevin Harvick*
3rd, Kyle Larson*
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
5th, Joey Logano*
6th, MATT KENSETH
11th, KYLE BUSCH
19th, CARL EDWARDS
21st, DAVID RAGAN
26th, MATT DiBENEDETTO
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER IN NSCS POINT STANDINGS — following Darlington Raceway**
1st, Kevin Harvick 840 points*
4th, CARL EDWARDS 746 points
5th, DENNY HAMLIN 729 points
7th, KYLE BUSCH 727 points
8th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 696 points
9th, MATT KENSETH 669 points
31st, DAVID RAGAN 347 points
35th, MATT DiBENEDETTO 258 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. was victorious in the Southern 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway on Sunday night.
· Truex led the field twice for 28 laps (of 367) – including the final 16 circuits – en route to his second NSCS victory of 2016.
· With two NSCS wins in 2016, it marks the first season in which Truex has had multiple wins at the Cup level.
· Camry driver Denny Hamlin (fourth) also finished in the top-five overall on the 1.366-mile track and led the field twice for 13 laps.
· Camry driver Matt Kenseth (sixth) led the field once for 10 circuits, while Toyota’s Kyle Busch (11th) led one lap.
TOYOTA QUOTES
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How big is this win?
“This is just – this is unbelievable. So many people to thank obviously. I’ve always loved this race track. I’ve led a lot of laps here in my career. I feel like just something always happened and just so proud to get to victory lane with this group. The pit crew was flawless tonight. They won us the race. They took a lot of heat from last week with what happened. I’m glad he’s (Ryan Newman) not riding home with me – he’d be waiting a while. But just a big weekend for us to – we’ve had a terrible string of back luck. We’ve had super-fast race cars. Auto-Owners Insurance, this is their second race with us and one more with us this year and really excited for them. They went a little retro. I’ve got my zoot suit. This is something here that’s really special to us – I ran this wheel today and it’s real special to take that thing to victory lane. We do a lot with our foundation for ovarian and pediatric cancer. It’s awareness month for both of those diseases, so big day for us there, but just can’t say enough about this team and Barney Visser (team owner) and Toyota and TRD (Toyota Racing Development) – the engines have been unbelievable this year – and Bass Pro Shops and Furniture Row, Denver Mattress and everybody that’s made this possible. Cole Pearn (crew chief) and these guys are just amazing. I knew when the bad luck would stop coming we’d start racking them off and tonight we weren’t the best car for once and we actually won, so that was really cool and just couldn’t be more excited to win at Darlington, the Southern 500. I’ve been wanting to win this thing a long time and got to thank Sprint, the fans were great – tons of fans here today – and really excited. Glad they stuck around for a good finish and I don’t know – I could go on and on for hours I guess.”
What does it mean to finally win at Darlington Raceway?
“Well, it just was frustrating to lead laps here throughout my career and even in years when we didn’t run that well at teams I was on, we seemed to run well here and felt like we let a few slip away. It was worth the wait for sure, so we’ll do some celebrating tonight and just can’t thank everybody enough again – everybody at (Joe) Gibbs (Racing), all those guys, great teammates – just so many people I need to thank. The pit crew – man, I can’t say it enough, what a job they did tonight. I appreciate them.”
What does this mean for momentum going into the Chase?
“Yeah, it’s huge with the Chase coming to get that confidence up, get another win in the pocket and that’s huge for us. It really is, so a lot of people have been giving us a lot of heat about not finishing races and a lot of things happening. A lot of them have been out of our control and pit crews done a great job, but they did stumble last week and this is a heck of a way to make it up.”
Is your confidence back after this win?
“We never lost confidence I don’t think. We’ve been one of the fastest, if not the fastest car, all summer long and everywhere we’ve been and we’ve had a lot of rotten luck, but it was worth having all that luck if that’s what it takes to get a Southern 500 trophy.”
What made the difference in the second half of the race?
“You know, we weren’t handling that bad all night. We just kept getting on both sides of it – we’d get too tight one run, too loose one run. Our car would change too much throughout a run and we just kept tweaking small things here or there and I think it was about 80 or 90 to go he (Cole Pearn, crew chief) made one adjustment and the thing just lit up and took off and from there it was just awesome to drive, so the 42 (Kyle Larson) was really strong tonight. I don’t know that we’d have been able to pass him, but our guys beat him out of the pits and that was the race right there.”
How did you pull away from Kevin Harvick?
“Just the car. We just made adjustments and once you get our front there it’s hard to beat, so the guys just did a great job. They did all the right things tonight. They listened to me all night long about what we needed and just made the right adjustments. Just proud of them like I said. It’s an honor to drive this car every weekend. They bring such great race cars to the race track and we’ve got to thank Barney Visser, our owner, for putting what he does into this program and Auto-Owners Insurance for coming on. This is there second race with us this year and one more at Martinsville, so really proud to get them in victory lane. Hopefully, they’re pumped up about it and do some more races next year and Toyota and TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and everybody that makes this thing happen – it’s just an amazing partnership, amazing teammates over at (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) that we share information with and it’s just been one of those years that I feel like we can have eight or 10 wins and hopefully we’ll be able to get them all in the Chase.”
What does it mean to win two of the biggest and toughest NASCAR races this year?
“I guess it means this team is pretty damn good.”
COLE PEARN, crew chief, No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Is it a big deal to win the Southern 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same season?
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, we’ve still got 11 races left and we’ve got Richmond next week and then into Chicago. It’s a lot of work and a long way to go. We’ve prepped all this year to try and make it to Homestead again and win the championship, so that’s definitely the goal. But to win two crown jewel races like this in one season is something you’ll never forget for sure regardless of what’s happened. You’ve got to take the highs when they’re here and then get back to work and be ready to give it hard the rest of the season.”
JOE GARONE, general manager, No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
How does it feel to win tonight?
“It’s great. It’s been a rough season, but it’s hard to have speed and Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and the guys, they’ve been bringing speed in the cars just every weekend. We’ve had a flurry of either mistakes that we’ve made or being in the wrong place at the wrong time and for it to all come together finally, especially where we’re at going into the Chase here shortly, it’s just perfect timing.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How was your race?
“Proud of the top-five run that we got going on, but definitely been a great a track for us. Just want more wins obviously, but we needed long runs really for that to try to materialize. Our car was very good when the track was rubbered up and really slick. Just didn’t go on restarts. Didn’t go on the short run and that was probably our Achilles’ heel tonight.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Tide PODS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s 75th Anniversary Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 11th
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
DAVID RAGAN, No. 23 I’m a Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 21st
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 Orange Crush Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
