Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Charlotte Motor Speedway – All-Star Race
105 miles, 70 laps
May 20, 2017
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Kyle Larson*
3rd, Jimmie Johnson*
4th, Kurt Busch*
5th, Jamie McMurray*
10th, DENNY HAMLIN
12th, MARTIN TRUEX JR
15th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
20th, MATT KENSETH
*non-Toyota driver
· Toyota driver Kyle Busch won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Saturday’s NASCAR All-Star race. It was also his first All-Star race victory.
· Kyle Busch and fellow Toyota driver Denny Hamlin advanced to the final stage of the All-Star race to finish first and tenth, respectively.
· Daniel Suárez finished 15th in the All-Star race after earning his way into the race with a final stage win in the Monster Energy Open.
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
Why is this win so special?
“It’s the All-Star race for one and for two, we’ve never won at Charlotte in a Cup car so we finally achieved that goal tonight and won the All-Star race and won a million bucks, so there’s reason to celebrate and to celebrate big. I can’t say enough about this team, everybody on this M&M’s Camry, this M&M’s Caramel Camry this week. First race, first win for those guys. Being a whole new product and being on the shelves here in May, it’s a whole new launch and a whole new program and it’s here to stay, so everybody pick up your caramel. Can’t say enough about Adam Stevens (crew chief). You have Adam Stevens and these guys in the pit box and you can rely on them all day long. I had to do that tonight. You know we weren’t quite the fastest car, but we made the right changes when it mattered most. We made the right moves when it mattered most and we got the most out of our night tonight and got here to victory lane. Feel so relieved, alluded, proud and excited all in the same time.”
How far does the million dollar purse go for your charity?
“It certainly goes a long ways. You know the things that we do and the charitable things that we do are certainly a part of the Kyle Busch Foundation. My wife, she’s a huge advocate. We both are. For IVF and for our son – this is our son’s birthday week this week. He was a – he turned two on May 18 so obviously this one’s for them and just an awesome day for us. Awesome weekend. We celebrate his birthday tomorrow because it’s the day off so it’s going to be a heck of a party for a two year old. Not sure he’ll remember it, but we all will. It’s going to be a lot of fun and all in all just super excited, super pumped for all these M&M’s guys. Everybody from Mars, Skittles, Pedigree, Snickers, NOS Energy Drink, Toyota Camry. This thing was fast enough tonight.”
Last night up the middle lane, this time a bold move on the bottom of the race track. Take us through that move.
“I don’t know. Just a huge night for us and this whole team. Everybody on this M&M’s Caramel Camry team, they do such a phenomenal job each and every week. We rely on each other. We hang on each other’s back all the time. It’s finally great to be able to get to victory lane. I can’t say enough about Monster Energy, of course the fans, more importantly M&M’s, my guys, everybody at Toyota, NOS Energy Drink, Skittles, Snickers, Pedigree, everybody that makes this program go round. So this is awesome to finally win in Charlotte. Get rid of that goose egg. I hope we can do it again and get it on the 600, but man this is a first step to many hopefully here.”
Were you excited with how you lined up on that last restart?
“Yeah, I was excited and I wasn’t excited, you know all at the same time. I thought Jimmie (Johnson) was in the catbird seat. I got just a good enough launch and a good restart there to get some traction going on the 2 (Brad Keselowski) car and when I got to start-finish I had to pull out and move to the bottom in order to get below them and that all worked. He left me enough room at the second kink and we just checked out from there. It wasn’t the fastest car that won tonight, but it was certainly the best crew, pit crew, Adam Stevens – crew chief, everybody that works on this car to give me a good piece each and every week.”
Finally was the word you used after the helmet came off. How does it feel to get your first Cup win here?
“One of the words out, yes, was finally. There might have been another f word in there, but certainly it’s just a true testament to how hard we all work. I mean everybody in this sport does, but man I’ve just been trying for here for so long and the right circumstances came our way tonight.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 DeWalt Benefitting Wounded Warriors Project Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 20th
How disappointing is it to be out of the All-Star race?
“It’s pretty disappointing. I thought like tonight, even though we only ran 20 laps, our performance was better. As we made a couple of passes I thought we were keeping pretty good speed, beating everybody except for the leader right there. It was encouraging. I felt like we were going to run better but it’s just kind of the way the year’s going. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Just got to ride it out until it turns.”
What happened during that pit stop after Stage 1?
“I got a hole in my oil cooler somehow. When I came to pit road, something must have hit the oil cooler or something happened there and it just got a hole in it and started smoking.”
