Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Kentucky Speedway
Race 17 of 33 – 350 miles, 200 laps
July 13, 2018
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, CHRISTOPHER BELL
2nd, Daniel Hemric*
3rd, KYLE BUSCH
4th, Justin Allgaier*
5th, Cole Custer*
26th, BRANDON HIGHTOWER
28th, JOSH BILICKI
31st, CHAD FINCHUM
36th, BRANDON JONES
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Elliott Sadler* 608 points
2nd, Daniel Hemric* 608 points
3rd, Cole Custer* 605 points
4th, CHRISTOPHER BELL 591 points
5th, Justin Allgaier* 569 points
7th, BRANDON JONES 500 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Camry driver Christopher Bell was victorious in Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race at Kentucky Speedway.
· Bell led the field for the final 17 laps (of 200) en route to his second NXS victory of the season after starting from the rear of the field. The Toyota driver qualified 12th, but spun during the final round of qualifying and his team was forced to change tires, which dictated the move to the rear of the field.
· Toyota’s Kyle Busch finished third on the 1.5-mile track after leading the field three times for a race-high 111 laps.
· Busch also won the race’s first stage.
· Brandon Jones (36th) raced in the top-10 overall early in the event before an accident ended his race.
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How would you describe this win?
“Man, it was extremely difficult. Starting in the back there, I knew my car was going to handle a little bit different than what it would at the front and all throughout practice I knew that we were – my car that was capable of racing for the win, but when we started in the back, man, it just drives so different back there and the guys kept getting good pit stops and we’d gain a spot here, gain a spot there, get a good restart and next thing you know we’re up there racing at the front and it’s driving totally different and keep telling myself, ‘We’ve got a shot at this thing,’ and just really proud of this team, everyone at Rheem, Ruud, GameStop, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), all the people at Xfinity that help put this series on. It’s just a ton of fun to be here and I’m thankful that I get to stand in victory lane one more time.”
How did you keep it together after the spots lost on pit road?
“It’s just something you don’t even think about really. You just go out there and your job is to drive the race car as fast as you can and my guys have been doing a great job all night long, you know? We were picking up spots and I made a mistake last week in Chicago – I sped on pit road – and my guys didn’t beat me up about, so I was going to say nothing to them about theirs.”
What did it feel like to go from the back to the front to victory lane?
“That was pretty cool, man. To be able to come from the back here at Kentucky and just really shows how good of car we have. This Rheem Camry was extremely good on the long run. Even on the short run too, I could fire off and have really good restarts, so I’m just thankful that everyone stayed behind me and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing believes in me, so it’s a dream come true to be racing in the Xfinity Series, let alone standing in victory lane one more time.
How did you make your moves during the last restart?
“Yeah, the 21 (Daniel Hemric) was really good whenever I was following Kyle (Busch) there about midway through the race. I was just really riding trying to get away from the pack. The 21 wasn’t falling back. He was pushing it right there with us, so I knew he was really strong and, you know, once I got to clean air there in front, just a matter of hitting my marks and, you know, Daniel was obviously really good too, so I think at that point it was a matter of who got out front first.”
How do you feel about your championship chances?
“Well, I knew coming in here driving for Joe Gibbs Racing that we’d be championship contenders, but I’ve just got to minimize my mistakes and start winning more, so now we’ve got two of them and we need to get a couple more.”
Are you starting to look towards the championship hunt?
“What he (Jason Ratcliff, crew chief) said. Pretty much in January we went and tested at Atlanta and for me that was an excellent test because Atlanta’s surface is a lot like Homestead and the good thing for me is I feel like two of my best races this year have come at Atlanta and Chicago and they’re both Homestead-style race tracks and that seems to be more my forte than tonight and I still won tonight, so that’s pretty cool too, but I just love the low grip, slip-and-slide race tracks, so I’ve been thinking about Homestead since I left Homestead last year.”
JASON RATCLIFF, crew chief, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What do you take from a day when you had to race thought the pack?
“I think for us, you know were always building on communication. You know, a perfect example is in qualifying and I think Christopher (Bell) was being hard on himself. I just over adjusted the car honestly, but the good thing about it was we both – we wanted to sit on the pole. We weren’t going out there and trying to run second, so that’s good. We’ve got to keep doing that, but, you know, I think our communication continues to get better. I over adjusted the car in the last stage of qualifying and got it too free, but, no, I mean the car was fast. We didn’t have to – we didn’t do anything different starting in the back than we did starting in the front. He did a nice job of working his way into the top-20 really quick and then we took a big swing at it on the first pit stop to try to get, you know, the car under him – the rear end underneath him – and from that point, we had good track position, so it was just a matter of tweaking on it to the end.”
Is it too soon to start thinking about Homestead-Miami Speedway?
“No, I mean, we were thinking about Homestead in February or December. I mean, that’s where you’re going to win it, but you have to get there. One step at a time. We went into the season with high expectations, but realistic goals and I think we’re meeting them. Yes, we’d like to have four or five wins under our belt – everybody would – but we’re as Christopher (Bell) said earlier we’re out there every week competing and that’s what we need to do. If we’re fortunate enough to get to Homestead then we just need to be competitive and execute and I think we’re learning a lot of lessons right now as a race team. It’s going to beneficial in Homestead.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What happened with the one tire issue?
“I don’t know if we were just too loose or what, but every time it would step out and get loose it would tip over on the right rear, so that chicken or the egg. I don’t know which is which. I don’t know if it’s soft right rear or if it was just loose, but, you know, we kind of started to lose the handle there that run and we just weren’t able to recover. We obviously had to come to pit road and we got way back in traffic and had to come back through and finished third, but, you know, that’s not what were here for. We want to win these races when I’m in them. I only get seven chances, so got to thank NOS Energy Drink and all the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing, Wish we were better than that tonight. Glad Christopher (Bell) got a win. Those guys needed that and keep their chances better for their championship here this year.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/NRG Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 36th
What ended your race?
“Gosh, one of our really good mile-and-a-half cars here. This has got to be a kill or be killed situation on these restarts. You really have to be so tight to the guy that’s in your inside when you have an outside restart like that. You can’t really, you know – it’s very tough to pass whenever you get single file like we were, so I was taking advantage as much as I could. Unfortunately, that’s the risk you do take whenever you do that, but we had to do it to see what happens and that was the outcome, so unfortunately we have a tore up race car, but at the end of the day we really had a lot of momentum going here, so we’ll take it to New Hampshire and we’ll be good there I think.”
What resulted in the contact?
“Yeah, fortunately this year, we really haven’t tore up too many race cars. We’ve been really consistent on finishing these races, but I think that’s kind of what you have to do to really learn and build on your team here. It’s just a try and kill or be killed situation on the restarts, especially when you’re on the outside you really have to stay tight to that guy on the inside of you or else you’re going to lose so much time and get up in the car where there’s no rubber on the race track. Unfortunately, it ends like that sometimes if you’re not careful about it. I have to probably go back and watch it and everything to really deem who’s fault it was, but I know I was tight on him there, which probably took some air off of his car, so it’s kind of the price you pay for doing that move I guess, but at the end of the day that’s kind of what you have to do when you’re on the outside like that.”
