Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Phoenix Raceway
Race 32 of 33 – 200 miles, 200 laps
November 11, 2017
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, William Byron*#
2nd, Ryan Blaney*#
3rd, ERIK JONES
4th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
5th, Daniel Hemric*#
11th, MATT TIFFT
20th, JJ YELEY
22nd, COREY LaJOIE
36th, CARL LONG
*non-Toyota driver
#contender in NXS Playoffs
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, William Byron* 4,000 points*
5th, MATT TIFFT 2,191 points
14th, JJ YELEY 571 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Camry driver Erik Jones was top-finishing Toyota driver with a third-place result in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
· Jones started from the pole and led 36 laps (of 200) on the one-mile, tri-oval speedway in Arizona.
· In addition to Jones’ finish, his fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell finished fourth, while their teammate Matt Tifft finished 11th.
TOYOTA QUOTES
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Hisense Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
Did you lose the handle on the car during the race?
“I don’t know that we ever really had the handle on the Hisense Camry. Starting out front, I wanted to get some clean air and lead some laps, but I had a feeling that the 22 (Ryan Blaney) was going to be coming at some point, he was really the dominant car all day. We were okay, just didn’t have the speed we were looking for all weekend.”
What happened in the closing laps of the race with the late-race caution?
“It mixed it up and I wasn’t sure what everybody was going to do. We were planning to take four tires. I made a mistake and overshot the box and unfortunately we lost some track position and ended up coming out in third. The Hisense Camry, it was okay all day. I thought we were a second-place car, the 22 (Ryan Blaney) was the best car, but we ended up really not too much different than if we hadn’t slid through the pit box. We’ll keep working on it. I think the package from here has been getting better each time in the XFINITY Series. JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) just needs a little bit more.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 18 Safelite Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How was the car all day?
“We had a really good Safelite Camry. Just for some reason, I wasn’t good enough to run up there with the leaders. We had a really good restart there at the end and a really good short run speed there to finish out the race. I have to get better at just raw speed here in these XFINITY cars and hopefully we’ll be able to contend for wins.”
MATT TIFFT, No. 19 Surface Sunscreen / Fanatics Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 11th
After a strong Playoff performance, how disappointing not to transfer to Homestead?
“It sucks – that’s the best way to put it. We had such a strong Playoff run. We struggled in practice on long runs and our one lap speed was good all weekend, but we never got a hold of it. I thought that last run was a little bit better, that was the first time all weekend that I thought something was decent. It’s too bad. Certainly gave it everything I had and that’s all you can do.”
Did you struggle with speed throughout practice?
“I think that’s the biggest thing. with speed, we unloaded in qualifying trim and we’ve been better almost every week, but our long run speed was just never there and I never found a balance that I liked with it. It really just never worked for us and we never hit on anything until that last pit stop and you can’t fix your day with 12 laps to go coming from the middle of the field.”
Do you feel you are able to finish the season strong?
“We did and the season is not over, we still have one more week to win a race. That’s what we’ll stay focused on and it’s unfortunate. We would like to be competing for a championship and hopefully I’ll be in this spot next year and advance.”
