Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Talladega Superspeedway – April 28, 2018
TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, Kevin Harvick*
2nd, Kurt Busch*
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
5th, Chase Elliott*
6th, ERIK JONES
14th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
19th, KYLE BUSCH
31st, DJ KENNINGTON
37th, GRAY GAULDING
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/ 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How did your car feel in qualifying?
“It feels okay, I think for us the big deal is that the last couple restrictor plate races we’ve qualified really poorly. Came here with a little more effort on trying to have a faster race car and hopefully qualify good, stay up front and stay out of the wrecks. So far, so good. The guys did a really nice job. Those two guys on the front row (Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch) absolutely smoked us, but third is pretty good so we’ll take that. It’s a big jump from the last couple times here.”
How much do you plan to stick with your Toyota teammates that are starting near you?
“Any time you can get around guys you’re comfortable with, it’s good to have that experience and that’s most of it is just trusting them in the draft and knowing that they’re not going to put you in a really vulnerable position. We’ll try to take care of each other and keep the Toyotas up front, hopefully out of trouble and race for the win at the end.”
Were you able to tell any difference with the new restrictor plate?
“Not really, by yourself it’s hard to really tell a lot. It’s not that much slower – four or five tenths by yourself, which you can barely feel that. The big test will be tomorrow when we get out there drafting in the pack and see what these drive like. I’ve been hearing a lot of guys not really happy with the way their cars are driving and I thought ours was just okay, but we made some improvements. Hopefully that will play into our favor.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
How do you feel about the qualifying effort?
“Really good qualifying effort, especially the second time around. We picked up a couple tenths and that’s pretty good. We’re pretty happy with that and we’ll be in the top-four so that’s a good run for us and we’ll see what the draft brings tomorrow.”
What makes you one of the strongest plate racers?
“I’ve just avoided a lot of wrecks, that’s it. So much of it is survival and we’ve just been pretty fortunate to miss some of the wrecks that we have. Pretty happy with this car and hopefully we have the same success that we’ve always had.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 XYO Network Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 6th
How did the car handle during your qualifying lap?
“It was good, the car seemed like I had really good speed and looks like we ended up sixth. So that’s good for us, I mean we thought we had pretty good speed in practice and it’s definitely a little bit better than we thought we were gonna qualify. Hopefully the XLY Camry drives just as good for the race tomorrow and fortunately got a good spot to start up front.”
What will be your approach to tomorrow’s race in Talladega?
“Well I think staying up front, I think that’s really the only way to go about these races. You just try to stay up front and stay ahead of some of the trouble. So hopefully we can do that this time and stay out of the mess; make it to the end of the race, at least have a shot to go after a win.”
