Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Sonoma Raceway
June 24, 2017
TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, Kyle Larson*
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR
4th, KYLE BUSCH
11th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
14th, DENNY HAMLIN
30th, ERIK JONES
32nd, ALON DAY
38th, MATT KENSETH
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Furniture Row / Denver Mattress Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How did your qualifying run go today?
“It definitely hurt the tires to make an extra lap in the first round. I just didn’t get it all the first time — tried to save a little bit of tire. But if you don’t push it 100 percent here you lose a lot of time. I just under-drove it. Luckily we were able to make it through the first round. Overall it’s been good here for our Furniture Row Racing team and I am looking forward to tomorrow. We can win from the third qualifying spot.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
Third-place starting position, how is the car?
“I thought we would be a little faster with our M&M’S Caramel Toyota. I messed up in turn seven a little bit and then was too loose in turn eight but we are fourth. It’s a good starting spot and we have a fast car for tomorrow. There are some really good cars we’re going to have to beat but think we will be part of that mix as well.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 14th
What was that last lap like? Did anything happen or was it all you had?
“Little bit about what we had. It just for some reason it’s hard for it to come in cold turkey and do it for one lap. Actually, I aborted the first run that we had. Felt like we were a little bit off. You know we probably should’ve ran a 5.50 there, but I didn’t get through the esses quite as good as I should’ve. But overall the FedEx Ground Camry has been fast, all day yesterday in race trim and so definitely looking forward to tomorrow. With the stages and everything that goes into play, the field’s going to be flip flopped all day long and we just hope to be on the right end of it at the right time.
How much have you thought about last year’s finish here with Tony Stewart?
“I don’t really think about it until you see highlights of it or come back to the race track and see it and you wonder what you could do differently. But really I was fortunate to be in that position. Tony (Stewart) made the mistake first to let me get there and then I made the mistake on the last corner. It was fun. It was a great battle, definitely one of the greatest finishes here for sure. We would’ve liked to be on the right side of it, but we’ll get ours eventually.”
