Toyota Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Chicagoland Speedway
Race 27 of 36 – 400.5 miles, 267 laps
September 17, 2017
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
2nd, Chase Elliott*
3rd, Kevin Harvick*
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
5th, Kyle Larson*
9th, MATT KENSETH
12th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
15th, KYLE BUSCH
33rd, ERIK JONES
36th, COREY LAJOIE
37th, BRETT MOFFITT
38th, GRAY GAULDING
*Non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 2,102 points#
2nd, Kyle Larson* 2,075 points#
3rd, Kevin Harvick* 2,067 points#
4th, Brad Keselowski* 2,061 points#
5th, KYLE BUSCH 2,061 points#
7th, DENNY HAMLIN 2,058 points#
9th, MATT KENSETH 2,039 points#
19th, ERIK JONES 658 points
20th, DANIEL SUÁREZ 595 points
34th, COREY LaJOIE 180 points
35th, GRAY GAULDING 115 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
#competing in 2017 Playoffs
· Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. finished earned his fifth win of the season in Sunday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Chicagoland Speedway – the first race of the 10-race Playoff for the championship.
· Truex led the field twice for 77 laps (of 267), while Camry driver Denny Hamlin (sixth) led the field once for a lap.
· Kyle Busch started the race from the pole, won the first stage of the race and led a race-high 85 laps, but two pit road penalties forced him to the back of the field and caught him a lap down. He would ultimately finish in the 15th position.
· In addition to Truex and Hamlin, Camry Playoff driver Matt Kenseth (ninth) also earned a top-10 finish in the race.
· Truex maintains the MENCS points lead of 27 points over second-place Kyle Larson. Busch (fifth), Hamlin (sixth) and Kenseth (ninth) are all in the top-10 as the series heads into the second Playoff race next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
TOYOTA QUOTES
\MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How were you able to rebound and win at Chicagoland?
“Yeah, this is awesome man! I’m so excited. This is what it’s all about. This team is unbelievable. Thanks to all of the fans for coming out – we love coming to Chicago. I’m proud of everybody. The speeding penalty, I thought oh no after last year we had to come from the back. The car was amazing and we had to keep digging and fighting and just did what we always do.”
Are you relieved to win the first Playoff race?
“It feels great, the best feeling in the world. Not just the playoffs, but winning races and doing it the way we’re doing it right now. I’m just blessed to be here and I have the best team in the whole world and I love those guys. I’m glad I’m driving for them and glad we’re having success.”
Are you making a statement by winning this first Playoff race?
“I don’t care much about statements, I just I’m just having fun. I’m proud of our pit crew for doing what they did and everyone on this team. It’s important to come here and not let the pressure get to you and I think we did a good job of that. Every time you go to victory lane, it’s special. There’s just so many people to thank. I’m kind of speechless, but Barney (Visser, team owner), and everyone at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) in Costa Mesa building great engines and TRD Salisbury – Bass Pro, Tracker Boats – just everyone, thank you so much. It’s a dream come true and we’re having the time of our lives.”
What does it mean to win in September?
“I can’t even tell you how much it means to me. I’m a much better driver because of (Sherry Pollex), and what she taught me. We’ve learned a lot about life together. We continue to face every challenge head on and not skimp and we live every day just like we want to and we have fun. I’m proud of her and very proud to have the teal and gold in the race car and thankful for the other 28 guys who have done it. I’m thankful for all that and everybody.”
This is a statement you’re making for charity?
“She reminds me every time we have a bad day, it’s not so bad.”
How were you able to rebound to a victory after the day didn’t go your way initially?
“I wouldn’t say it wasn’t going our way, we just screwed up and I just made a mistake and left pit road .06 of a mile per hour too fast and got busted. Then just had to play catch-up, but our car was off a little bit that first half of the race as well and once we got back in traffic we really had to work on it. Cole (Pearn, crew chief) made some great adjustments and we just kept working on it all day long. Those last three runs it was dialed in man. Of course we got up front too. Just proud of everybody and thankful to all the fans that came out for this deal and all of our sponsors that make this possible. This is awesome to kick off the Playoffs this way – you come out here and everybody wants to talk about pressure. We knew what we could do, we just had to keep all that pressure behind and keep our heads on straight and do what we always do and at the end of the day, we were able to do that. Just proud of everyone and thankful for a good day.”
How hard was it to come back up to the front?
“It wasn’t that hard with the car we had, that’s what makes the difference, I’m able to just get in there and focus and drive the thing. There’s only so much you can do so you have to stay focused on the task at hand, keep your head down and keep digging and try not to make mistakes. It worked out for us today.”
What type of statement does this make to the rest of the Playoff field?
“I don’t know, I don’t really worry too much about that, I’m just enjoying this and enjoy victory lane with my team. I’m not sure if I like the slime just yet. It’s pretty awful, but we’re not here to make a statement, we’re here to have a good time and enjoy ourselves and do what we know we’re capable of. Today was a success and we will go out there next week and try to do it again.”
SHERRY POLLEX, girlfriend, No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
How does this feel to win with your steering wheel in the car?
“This is the second time, last time we got $100,000 for that wheel. We’ll see if we can get that again. To be able to create awareness for our foundation for Ovarian and Pediatric Cancer is amazing. We’re so honored that all of the other drivers decided to be a part of this. It’s been a really cool month for us and we’re going to continue to fight for women who are like me and fighting. You can go to Auctions.NASCAR.com to bid on the wheel, too.”
How are you feeling?
“Yeah, I had treatment a couple weeks ago and I feel really good. I have a couple more rounds and we’ll see how this goes and keep fighting for all the other women out there.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
How was the race car today?
“It was about a fourth-place car – the 18 (Kyle Busch) was very strong at the beginning. We just hung around the top-five or sixth at worst and third at best. Finished about right where we should have.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dewalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
JASON RATCLIFF, Crew Chief, No. 20 Dewalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How was your race?
“Honestly, I’m really disappointed. I thought that we would be way more competitive. At the start of the race, you know having our qualifiers (tires) on, I thought we were making grounds. We kind of settled in and I thought OK, we’ll just keep working on it and making progress. It just didn’t seem like we could make any gains for some reason. We could change the car, but we kept getting stuck somewhere between seventh and ninth. It was good to get out of here with a top-10 and we’ll go to Loudon.”
How did you feel about going to New Hampshire next week?
“Based on history, we’ve been pretty good there. But we can’t take anything for granted. We have to cross the T’s and dot the I’s and go to New Hampshire and put our best foot forward. For the first round, that’s going to be our best track, so we have to take advantage of it.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Skittles Sweet Heat Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
What are you feeling after today’s race?
“We had such a fast Skittles Sweet Heat Camry. It’s just disappointing that we had trouble on pit road like that. We just never had the opportunity with how the cautions fell to get back on the lead lap. We’ll get back to the shop and talk about it, and really all we can do is move on and put it behind us.”
ADAM STEVENS, Crew Chief, No. 18 Skittles Sweet Heat Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How was the race and overcoming the pit road penalty?
“Just poor execution all around. Made a lot of mistakes on pit road and when you make back to back mistakes, it’s tough to recover from it. A track like this, everybody knows you’re going to get longer green flag runs. You’re not going to have a lot of cautions to get those laps back. We had a fast car, best car I’ve been a part of here and just not much to show for it.”
What do you say to Kyle Busch after a race like this?
“We were just talking about what we can control, me and him (Kyle Busch), and that was the car and how it changed through the day and adjustments we made and how we can be better next time. That’s all we were discussing.”
Are you going to keep this pit crew or make another change?
“I’m just one man, I don’t have the ultimate say. It was a company decision to make the change that we made. I wouldn’t expect that to change. Like I said, it was a company-wide decision. I’m confident we made the right one, it was just a bad day.”
Why did Kyle Busch initially come in?
“No, the right rear tire was loose and then in the midst of pitting and putting four tires on it, the jack man was in the box. Not the jack man, I’m sorry – the gas man, but he didn’t have a can in his hand and that’s too many men over the wall. Didn’t aid the pit stop, but it’s a rule plain as day, we all know the rule and we broke the rule.”
Was today Playoff jitters?
“I hope so, but I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to debrief with them yet. I know practice went really well this weekend, and this week leading up to it. I expect it to go well next week. At the end of the day, we all have a job to do and we didn’t do it today.”
What happened when NASCAR took a set of your tires?
“They do that a lot if you’re leading laps and running up front. They do that a couple times a weekend. It’s pretty normal. They haven’t taken them from us every week, but the take them from somebody every week.”
Do you think you can make it to the next round?
“That’s what the Playoffs are all about. It’s all about surviving and advancing. We had a car that was capable of competing for the win and we took ourselves out of that. We still have to salvage the best possible finish you can and move on to the next round and we did score a playoff point and we get to take that with us. I’ve had bad days, but I’ve certainly had worse days.”
