Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Dover International Speedway
Race 11 of 33 – 200 miles, 200 laps
June 3, 2017
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Kyle Larson*
2nd, Ryan Blaney*
3rd, DANIEL SUÁREZ
4th, Cole Custer*
5th, Ryan Reed*
9th, MATT TIFFT
15th, JJ YELEY
22nd, DAKODA ARMSTRONG
30th, DYLAN LUPTON
35th, ERIK JONES
37th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Elliott Sadler* 374 points*
8th, MATT TIFFT 255 points
12th, DAKODA ARMSTRONG 209 points
13th, JJ YELEY 178 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
- Camry driver Daniel Suárez finished third with the top-Toyota entry in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.
- Suárez led the field one time for 19 laps (of 200) to tally his third top-five result in eight NXS starts in 2017.
- Fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Tifft (ninth) also finished in the top-10 at the one-mile track as both Camry drivers recovered from tire issues.
TOYOTA QUOTES
DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 18 Subway Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How did you recover from the tire issue?
“Well, it was a long race for sure, but overall very proud of my entire team – everyone on the 18 Subway Toyota Camry did a fantastic job all day. Sometimes when you have an issue like that and you are two laps down, it’s very easy to give up and these guys they don’t really know that means, so very proud of this team. I feel like we had a top-three car and we finished right there, so we just have to keep working to try to find a little more speed in these race cars and we’re going to win some races.”
MATT TIFFT, No. 19 Tunity Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
How was your race?
“It was a solid day for us. We had to play a strategy card before the start of the third stage just because Daniel (Suárez) and I both had the right fronts go consecutive laps, so it was great to fight back from two laps down to get to that point, but I think those guys just had a little bit fresher tires there at the end which helped them a little bit, but we just got a little bit too tight on the longer run. Overall, it was a good day for our Tunity Camry. We need these days each and every weekend and hopefully we can just build from this and try to do the same thing every week, but it’s good to have a day where we’re running up front and competing up front and, yeah, things kind of played out to where we had to fight back, but it could have been a whole lot worse, so glad to have a good solid day.”
Do you know what cause the tire issue?
“It’s hard to know. Tough thing about Dover is that this track rubbers up in cycles so much and that first stage it was – under caution, we’d pick up so much rubber here that you deal with a fresh track a lot and, you know, our air pressures and stuff are set up for race runs and I don’t know. Sometimes here – it just started to unravel and cord the tires, so sometimes here it can just be like a green race track and rip up a tire, so that stuff just kind of happens.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s American Classics Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 34th
What ended your race?
“It started vibrating really bad and I had oil pressure and everything was fine and then coming off of four, it just blew up completely. It looked like an oil pump. I guess it just locked up. It’s the first motor failure I’ve ever had with JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) or anybody. It’s unfortunate. We didn’t have the best car today, but I think the Reser’s Camry could of got up and ran in the top-three with a few more adjustments. It’s unfortunate, but can’t do anything about it.”
What ended your race?
“It started vibrating really bad and I had oil pressure and everything was fine and then coming off of four, it just blew up completely. It looked like an oil pump. I guess it just locked up. It’s the first motor failure I’ve ever had with JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) or anybody. It’s unfortunate. We didn’t have the best car today, but I think the Reser’s Camry could of got up and ran in the top-three with a few more adjustments. It’s unfortunate, but can’t do anything about it.”
