Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Race 29 of 33 – 300 miles, 200 laps
October 7, 2017
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Alex Bowman*
2nd, Sam Hornish*
3rd, Ryan Blaney*
4th, Austin Dillon*
5th, Brennan Poole*#
8th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
9th, MATT TIFFT#
17th, COREY LAJOIE
19th, J.J. YELEY
30th, ERIK JONES
34th, CHAD FINCHUM
*non-Toyota driver
#contender in NXS Playoffs
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, William Byron* 3,026 points*#
8th, MATT TIFFT 3,004 points#
15th, JJ YELEY 518 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
#contender in NXS Playoffs
· Camry driver Daniel Suarez (eighth) was the top-Toyota finisher in Saturday evening’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
· Suarez started from the pole after qualifying was rained out earlier today and led 111 laps (of 200) en route to a top-10 finish at the North Carolina track.
· Fellow Camry driver Matt Tifft (ninth) earned his 10th top-10 finish of the season and transferred to the next round of the NXS Playoffs on his quest for this year’s championship.
· Tifft earned consistent top-10 finishes through the first three races of the Playoffs – Kentucky (ninth), Dover (sixth) and tonight’s ninth-place result.
· Toyota’s Erik Jones (30th) earned the event’s first stage victory.
TOYOTA QUOTES
DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 18 Juniper Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
What happened in the race to take away your chances at victory?
“I was in position to win the race and we didn’t so we have to go back to the shop and analyze exactly how things went wrong and fix that moving forward.”
MATT TIFFT, No. 19 MotoRad Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
What does it mean to make it to the ‘Round of 8’ for the Playoffs?
“It’s definitely good to be there and we’ve had a good first round. We fought back from a lot of stuff, especially at Dover and today. We’ve been fighting back from a lot of difficult situations – we were able to put our MotoRad Camry back in the top-10 today and we had so much stuff going on today. Really excited about our chances in the second round and we’re riding the right wave right now and I feel like we’re getting things clicking between the team and I right now so it’s a good time for us right now and it was a good fight today for sure.”
Do you feel you need to have perfect races to make it to Homestead?
“You can’t have any mistakes if you’re going to make it to Homestead. Dover, we ran over something on the track and you can’t fix those things. It’s hard to say, obviously every week we’re going to try to go with no mistakes and try to be patient and be cool about it. We have our work cut out for us for sure.”
How focused are you now that you’ve made it to the ‘Round of 8?’
“It’s a great feeling to be in the next round. We have a lot of work to do the next three races for sure. Obviously it’s a bit of a strange schedule with time off and then time off again. We’ve had a great first round and we’ve come back from a lot of adversity. We’ve just got to keep rolling. Our 19 crew is doing really good right now so I’m happy with what we’ve been able to overcome lately.”
Will you have a chance to enjoy making it to the next round?
“I’ve got about a day to do it and then it’s off to getting prepared for everything else this year. Our sole focus right now is getting to Homestead and we’re one step closer today to doing that.”
