TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Richmond International Raceway
Race 26 of 36 – 300 miles, 400 laps
Saturday, September 10, 2016
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS — at Richmond International Raceway
1st, DENNY HAMLIN
2nd, Kyle Larson*
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
4th, Brad Keselowski*
5th, Kevin Harvick*
9th, KYLE BUSCH
25th, DYLAN LUPTON
32nd, CARL EDWARDS
34th, DAVID RAGAN
37th, MATT DiBENEDETTO
38th, MATT KENSETH
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER IN NSCS POINT STANDINGS — following Richmond International Raceway**
1st, KYLE BUSCH 2,012 points##
3rd, DENNY HAMLIN 2,009 points##
5th, CARL EDWARDS 2,006 points##
6th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 2,006 points##
7th, MATT KENSETH 2,006 points##
31st, DAVID RAGAN 354 points
35th, MATT DiBENEDETTO 262 points
##competing in the 2016 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Denny Hamlin was victorious in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Richmond International Raceway.
· The Chesterfield, Virginia native started from the pole in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Camry and led 189 laps (of 407) en route to his third victory of the 2016 season.
· The win marks Hamlin’s eighth consecutive top-10 finish, a career-best streak for the 35-year-old Camry driver.
· Hamlin’s win marks the 13th victory for Toyota drivers in the Sprint Cup Series this season.
· Defending NSCS champion Kyle Busch is the top seed heading into the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.
· In total, five Camry drivers – Busch (first), Hamlin (third), Carl Edwards (fifth), Truex (sixth) and Matt Kenseth (seventh) – qualified for the Chase, which begins with the ‘Challenger Round’ at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 18.
· Five Camrys ties the most entrants that Toyota has qualified for the Chase. Toyota previously qualified five drivers in 2015.
· Martin Truex Jr. led a race-high 193 laps and finished third in Saturday’s race, while fellow Toyota driver Kyle Busch also earned a ninth-place result.
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How was your race?
“It was great. I’ll tell you our cars were really running well. Wheels (Mike Wheeler, crew chief) and the whole group just gave me a great car. Really got it tuned in there the last half of the race. Just good restarts – finally everything just kind of worked well for us all day. I didn’t think staying out was the right thing to do, but great call there and actually I got this from one of our Toyota guests on his birthday day today. He gave me this. He said it helps him get through tough times, so kept that in the car and thank Eli for that. Proud of this whole FedEx Ground Camry team. Everything has been great. Thank everyone from the Greenbrier, the Jordan brand, Coca‑Cola – everyone who’s been just so good to us throughout my career and hopefully we’ll go on another Chase run.”
What is it like to win at your home track?
“That’s what’s so special about it, so you get to do it at home and there’s just – I see all the extra Denny Hamlin shirts and hats and everything and fires me up every time I get here. I’ve also got to thank Sport Clips for their support this year as well. Got all that covered and, man, this is a great car. Hopefully we can use it in the Chase.”
What kind of momentum do you have going into the Chase?
“I said that I thought we were like an eight and a half on momentum. I don’t believe in 10, so nine, nine and a half would be optimum. I said if we won this race we’d go to a nine. Hard for me not to say it’s nine and a half at this point. It’s a great team effort here. We’ve got everything going for us. A total team effort – just everyone at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) building these fast, fast cars. Can’t thank everyone enough.”
Do you think we’ll continue to see a ‘Wild West’ mentality in the Chase?
“Yeah, I think wrecks is a part of NASCAR – it’s always been part of it for sure – but, yeah, you’re getting down to the last race of the regular season. Some guys have a care factor that’s really low right now. I think it’s just part of that, but I think that the Chase – I think things get a little bit tamer in the Chase because people are aware of the Chase cars. Whether they say so or not, they definitely race a little bit more careful around those guys – especially when you’re not racing for a win. I don’t foresee it going much further, but I think as guys get eliminated it could definitely ramp back up again.”
Is Toyota the manufacturer to beat in the Chase?
“I think that any one of these guys can get going. You don’t know what they’ve got at the shop waiting to come to the race track. I think it’s really hard to predict what happens from this point on. I mean, is it a continuation of the regular season or has somebody been laying in the weeds? I think obviously (Kyle) Larson has really stepped up his game over the last month or so, so I don’t know. I mean, obviously the 4 (Kevin Harvick) car’s got great speed week in, week out, so he’s definitely going to be a challenge no doubt about it. The 42 (Larson)? You just don’t know. The 24 (Chase Elliott) went on a run for about a month as well, so, like I say, until you get to Chicago, look at practice, look at how the first race goes, that’s to me the barometer of where we’re really at.”
MIKE WHEELER, crew chief, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Have you been holding anything back for the Chase?
“I don’t think you hold back much right now. Obviously you continue to develop to be better, but honestly the last month or so we’ve been making sure we try to maximize everything we have. I will admit after we got the win I was in R&D mode for a bit – like I got this crazy idea, let’s try it. A couple of them worked, three or four of them were failures, but honestly once we got down in points, I was a little embarrassed. Really made sure to get everybody together and run into the Chase strong. Pretty happy. We had like eight-straight top-10s. Best Denny (Hamlin) has ever had with consistency. With that, our pit crew is knocking it out of the park right now. We’re doing good on Fridays and Saturdays. I think our qualifying average is about as good as anybody. Finally got a pole – happy about that. But I can’t say I’m holding back. I’m making sure that we get into the first round by running good, making sure we maximize what we can and obviously try to perform at the highest level and win some races.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., No. 78 Tanger Outlets Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What are you chances to win the Chase?
“They’re as good as anybody’s right now. I don’t think anybody’s got a leg up on us, that’s for sure. We’ve got fast cars. We’ve got smart people calling the race and setting the cars up and the cars have been fast all year long – we’ve shown that – so we’ve got to do our job of being consistent and we’ve don’t that the last couple weeks. Hopefully we can keep it up.”
Do you expect to see more aggression in this year’s Chase?
“No, not really. The intensity? The hard racing? Yeah, but the intentional wrecking – I think we’ve only really seen that once – the rest of it I think has been mostly accidents or guys just racing hard. I expect hard racing and there’s a lot on the line and guys are going to put it all out there, put it on the edge and hope they don’t cross it. Everybody out here is really good at what they do and everybody in the Chase is really good and if you keep your head screwed on straight you can race real hard with these guys all day long and hopefully that’s the way everybody does it.”
Is a do or die mentality good for the sport?
“I don’t know. I hope they (fans) like it. I think for competitors, it’s – the amount of intensity is just insane, so I would imagine for the fans at home, especially the hard core fans pulling for their guy, their team – it’s got to be really fun for them, especially when their teams move on or make the cut. It’s an exciting time for all of us. The opportunity to win a championship is what we’ve all – guys like me have dreamed about for sure. I haven’t won one yet. I feel like we’ve got a great opportunity in front of us and a lot of pressure to make sure we get it done and just to be the best job we can do.”
Why is this your best shot to win a championship?
“By far this is my best shot. Last year we had a shot. I didn’t feel like it was a great one just based on where we were at speed-wise at that point in the season, so this year we’ve been so fast all year long if we can just keep that up we’re going to have a great shot at it.”
Where did Denny Hamlin have the edge tonight?
“I think it all started with him getting out of the pits in front of us and it translated into all those cautions coming out of those short runs. It seemed like I would feel like I just got even with him or typically all night I was off a little bit from a few of those guys – for five or six laps on restarts – and then I’d maintain and then I would start to reel them in and I could pass them within 10 laps. Just never got that opportunity. The caution would come out every time before it happened and then at the end – I don’t know at the end. I think I used my tires up having to get back by the 18 (Kyle Busch) and the 42 (Kyle Larson) that had passed me on restarts. All in all, it was an awesome night for us. We had a great race car. We had a new sponsor on board with Tanger Outlets. It was good to have them a good run. We did everything pretty good tonight – it just didn’t work out, but really proud of that effort. We’ve struggled here at Richmond the last few times and to do what we did tonight was just incredible. The car was lights out on long runs and nobody could touch us, so that was a lot of fun. Just wish it went green the rest of the race, but it didn’t.”
What kind of momentum do you have for the Chase?
“We’ve got a lot of momentum. We’ve got a lot of confidence. We’ve just got a great team. We’ve got everything going the way we need it to right now. Tonight we overcame a few mistakes – one by me speeding on pit road and we had a pit gun issue on one of our pit stops and lost a bunch of spots. We overcame all that, we kept our head in the game and worked hard and in the end had a shot at it again, so that was good. But I can’t say enough about our whole team, everybody in Denver, everybody at TRD (Toyota Racing Development), everybody at Toyota and everybody at (Joe) Gibbs (Racing). The alliance we have is working great. All the drivers working together. I know there’s five of us – we can’t all five make the race at Homestead, but we’re going to try to get at least four of them there, so we’ll see what we can do.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s 75th Anniversary Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
Did you think you could catch the leaders?
“I thought so, yeah. We did pass a few cars there early in the run, but that was sort of when we felt like we were good on the front side of the run all night, but we would just taper off after four laps. That was our front side. It needed to be about 45. But we just couldn’t – we just didn’t hit it. I thought we were really good in practice. I thought we had a good shot at it and I don’t know what happened, but tonight just wasn’t our night. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have a better M&M’s Camry, but we move on and we go to next week to Chicago. We tested there a few weeks back for all of our team guys here, so hopefully we’ve got a good package.”
How do you feel entering the first round of the Chase?
“I like it. You know, been running really solidly at New Hampshire the last few years. We did last year in this race coming up – we did have a tire failure and we blew a tire – but Chicago has been good for us, decent place to run top-10 for sure and then Dover of course is a really good place for us. I like it. You know, it seems like it’s a good round for us to be able to score some wins. As long as you get one, that moves you on through. Doesn’t matter how many you get after that, but we’ll see how it goes. Just a matter of trying to manage your losses essentially and make sure you can come out of races with good finishes.”
Will this intensity carry over into the Chase?
“Apparently there was plenty of intensity tonight. I thought there was way too many yellows. It was kind of crazy the way the race played out and guys having to save tires there towards the end when we used up most of our allotments there early on, but it was interesting too because you had guys that were up front, guys who would go to the back and flip‑flop on tire strategy. I thought it was an interesting race for sure from our perspective – maybe too interesting on our front – but we made the most of it tonight and just didn’t get in the right lane there on that restart. The 34 (Chris Buescher) rolled over and we weren’t able to restart 12. That’s where (Kyle) Larson restarted and you see where he finished. That could have been us, but it wasn’t, and we move on.”
Do you feel like you’re in a better position this year?
“I kind of feel about the same actually. I feel like we kind of are right even with where we were last year – kind of doing the same things – but there are other guys that are better than us, so we’re just going to have to figure out how to out race them and out finish them when we need to. A couple of our teammates – the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) especially – he’s just been stellar fast each and every week. He’s had some bad luck go his way and hasn’t been able to finish all the races where he should have. You can see that in the Chase as well too happen to you and take you out of a round. That’s how you got to be careful and try to again minimize your bad days and make it forward.”
DYLAN LUPTON, No. 83 EJ Wade Construction/Union Bank & Trust Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 25th
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS SURFboard Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
What role will your teammates play in your Chase this year?
“Yeah, there’s two sides to it. I feel like I have the best teammates in the world and the other side is I’m going to have to beat them. These guys, they’re unbelievable. My teammates are good, the engines are good, the cars are good, my crew chief and I are working together great. I mean, I’m just having fun. I’m excited about this. I feel like if we can make it to the final four at Homestead we’re going to be really good.”
Are you glad to have this race behind you and move into the Chase?
“Tonight is behind me. We need to go and win this championship. This is the best shot I’ve ever had. We’ve got great race cars. I can’t thank TRD (Toyota Racing Development) enough and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). We’re ready to go to Chicago. We were already talking about it in the hauler. It’s going to be pretty cool. We’ve got really fast cars, you saw it tonight. It’s really cool for Denny (Hamlin) to get the win and stay out there on the tires and do that but we’re ready to go.”
Was tonight’s race aggressive?
“Yeah, everybody was driving really hard. It’s fun. I don’t know what happened with Ryan (Newman) and Tony (Stewart). I’m hoping that wasn’t intentional because that was very frustrating. But, yeah, everybody was really trying hard and it’s really a good time. This race is so much fun though with these tires and this downforce package. Just sliding the car all over. My car never handled right and that’s fun when you’ve just got work the whole time.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 23 sweetFrog Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 34th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 93 EJ Wade Construction/Union Bank & Trust Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 37th
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 38th
What happened that ended your race?
“I don’t think anybody’s perspective will be any different than mine. It looks like Brad (Keselowski) missed a shift or something and then he just had his angle all wrong and drove into the corner three car lengths too far because he didn’t want to lose his spot and he cleaned me out and knocked the fender down on a tire and we ended up blowing a tire and wrecking.”
How chaotic is this race with the tire situation?
“It’s got chaotic but doesn’t really have anything to do with the wreck. That’s all on Brad (Keselowski) and I’m sure he’ll send a tweet out or go on a TV show and explain how it wasn’t his fault but he knows better than that. He knew his angle was bad and he just drove way off in the corner because he made a mistake and he was trying to make up for it and had no respect for anybody on the outside lane. So, unfortunately, we’ve got a wrecked car because of it. But, we were starting to make our way back toward the front. It’s tough not having enough tires but I thought Jason Ratcliff (crew chief) was doing a good job managing. We had a good car all night, just got behind on that pit road penalty and thought we were in for a top three or four.”
What are you most excited about heading into the Chase
“I guess the most thing to be excited about is the speed of our cars and how good my teammates are running. We know we have the equipment to go out there and win races and race for a championship, so that’s probably the part I feel the best about. It’s just the rest of the stuff we just have some little things here or there we probably need to clean up and do better and execute better and get the finishes, so you’ve got to – no matter how good you run – we ran great tonight, but we finished 38th, so I mean we’ve got to be able to have it all and get the finishes.”
What do you need moving forward?
“Our cars have been pretty fast – all the JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) equipment has ran well this year. All my teammates have ran great, Martin (Truex Jr.) has ran great, so we’ve got the hardware we need. We’ve just got to do it a little better than everybody else. We’ve just got to execute a little better. We’ve just got to do everything just a little bit better and get the finishes. We’ve been real spotty on our finishes. We’ve had a lot of DNFs – a lot of crashes, a lot of things happen – and we just can’t have anything else happen here the next 10.”
What are you plans for Chicagoland?
“I enjoy Chicago. I love going up to the Midwest close to where I grew up in Wisconsin, so I like going up there. I like the race track. I love the race fans up there, so I’m looking forward to going there. I’ve always looked forward to that one. I’ve been close a bunch of times. Finally won one there with Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief). Looking forward to going back there and hopefully kick the Chase off on a good solid now.”
