Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Daytona International Speedway
Race 15 of 33 – 250 miles, 100 laps
July 1, 2017
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, William Byron*
2nd, Elliott Sadler*
3rd, DAKODA ARMSTRONG
4th, JEB BURTON
5th, David Starr*
10th, BJ MCLEOD
12th, JJ YELEY
13th, SCOTT LAGASSE JR
17th, MATT TIFFT
19th, JEFF GREEN
24th, ERIK JONES
29th, MARK THOMPSON
39th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Elliott Sadler* 552 points*
8th, MATT TIFFT 335 points
10th, DAKODA ARMSTRONG 318 points
15th, JJ YELEY 250 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Camry driver Dakoda Armstrong claimed a career-best third-place finish with the top-finishing Toyota in Sunday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Daytona International Speedway.
· Jeb Burton (fourth) and BJ McLeod (10th) also captured top-10 finishes in a Toyota Camry.
TOYOTA QUOTES
DAKODA ARMSTRONG, No. 28 WinField United Toyota Camry, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How were you able to secure a career-best finish today?
“We had a little damage from that first issue when I got hit and the 16 (Ryan Reed) came back up. It was a good day for us surviving, got some stage points. Really good day and two good weeks in a row from us and good momentum in the points for our team. I felt like we ran a good race too, which was good.”
How did the weather play a factor in today’s race and was it hard to stay motivated?
“The race was pretty weird. I think with all the rain it seemed like everyone was kind of calm for the most part. There really wasn’t a big wreck until the very end. I think everyone was willing to ride more – the first few races of the season there were wrecks right from the get-go. I think the rain played a part in that it was kind of like restarting the race from the very beginning every time so I think everyone was willing to ride and then it got a little wild there. I feel like everyone – that’s the best I’ve seen the field do as far as just being aggressive and moving and not tearing up stuff. It was kind of weird the way it played out, but for me we were ready to get it over with. We knew this one could hurt us or help us and I think we were on the good side of it.”
What do these finishes mean for you being a smaller team?
“For confidence, it’s great for our guys. They work just as hard as anybody and being a small team, it’s tough for us to even just get ready for next week at Kentucky and then leading into all those other ones. It’s good for us and gets us hyped up for all my guys and all the hours that they work. That’s two top-fives for us when Willian (Byron) has won, but you normally want to beat your competitors, but as long as we keep getting top-fives when he wins then that’s alright. I’d say it’s kind of weird the way the two races have played out where you’ve seen a lot of new faces up front. We just happen to be on the good side of that. Chase-wise, we feel like we can make it and we’ve completed every race so far, we haven’t had any DNFs, we’re the only car that’s done that. That’s what we have to do, we just don’t have the raw speed to go out there and be fast every week so we have to take advantage of those that we are good at.”
JEB BURTON, No. 24 Estes Express Lines Toyota, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Walk us through those last few laps for you.
“Yea, it was tough. We got up there in the top 10 in the first stage and then we had a bad vibration and we had oil everywhere and I thought our day was going to be short. We just fought all day and finally got back up there with 20 to go. We fell a little back and I made some good moves and got back up there and missed the wrecks. Then at the end I thought I had a shot and Erik (Jones) ran out of gas and it killed my momentum. That was a little frustrating ‘cause I wanted to get State Water Heaters and Estes and Global Pump in victory lane, but it was a good day and hopefully we can do it again sometime.”
How do you sum up this race?
“We had a good car. It just – we were leaking oil and I had a bad vibration, but it never got any worse. There at the end I was going to push Erik (Jones). I thought I had a shot to win the thing and he ran out of fuel, so that was a little disappointing, but it was a good run. State Water Heaters, Global Pump, Estes – got a top five. It’s been a tough – it’s been a tough career of mine, but we’re going to keep at it and keep working and hopefully be in victory lane soon.”
MATT TIFFT, No. 19 Comcast NBC Universal Salute to Service Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 17th
How was the race today and what happened at the end of the race?
“The biggest thing was that it was really circumstantial depending on what line you were in. If the 22 (Joey Logano) was up top then that lane would roll. But if one car didn’t make that work – the first stage I thought was decent because we came from the back to the top-10. Past that point it was just circumstantial and it never seemed like we could find the right lane and get the right momentum or energy to go with us. I think we were on the top there three wide and just got caught up in that deal and then we have a half a lap to make it back from mowing the lawn and you can’t do anything. Thanks to Comcast and NBC for being on the car, it’s cool to have them on here for Independence Day weekend. I wish we had more control over it here, but its just the way it is. We figured out Talladega sometimes and still trying to figure it out here.”
DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 39th
What did you see from your point of view?
“I haven’t seen the replay at all. I don’t even know exactly what happened. You know, I was just on the inside line just cruising, honestly. I was just – didn’t know where to go. It was just one point of the race where you just try to be patient and something happened in front of me – it was like a chain deal to where everyone – it’s tough to stop. Actually, I pushed a little bit my teammate, the 20 (Erik Jones), but it wasn’t bad and then whoever was behind me pushed me really hard and turned me around. A little disappointed. You know this team worked very hard. Actually, like I said yesterday, maybe one of the best cars I’ve had here in a long time in speedway racing. That’s part of it. We’ll move to the next one in a couple hours.”
