Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
New Hampshire Motor Speedway – July 20, 2018
TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, Kurt Busch*
2nd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
3rd, KYLE BUSCH
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
5th, Ryan Blaney*
7th, ERIK JONES
9th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
37th, BLAKE JONES
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Starting Position: 2nd
What did you miss out there that cost you?
“I just missed Turn 1 just slightly there in that last run on the first lap, but overall lit was a solid day. We had a decent practice – a short practice, you know, because we waited a little bit for the VHT to kind of get run in and we went out there and ran and were probably a little bit off further on balance more than we needed to be at the end of practice. So made some changes for qualifying and the guys did a good job of getting it right and we were close, so couple thousandths, a few inches here or there in a different spot on the race track and might have been able to make it up, but a solid effort for us and we can go get them on Sunday from second.”
Why is qualifying important here?
“Yeah, it was good. A good day for us to, you know, have a good qualifying effort. Obviously, everybody knows qualifying here at New Hampshire is important. Pit stall, but also just track position – starting the race up front makes your day a little easier, sets you up for hopefully a good run in that first stage and, yeah, it was a good day, so guy’s did a good job. We were off a little bit at the end of practice and made some changes for qualifying and, yeah, went well, so excited about that. Wish we could have found just a little bit more, but most importantly we were in a good spot for Sunday.”
KYLE BUSCH, No 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
Did you leave just a bit out there?
“Yeah, we left some out there. Just wasn’t able to quite capitalize on a good, strong run first round and second round. Maybe we just used too much tire and didn’t have enough for the third run, but I don’t know.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
Did you back it up into Turns 3 and 4?
“Yeah, I mean typically on the second lap I’ve been – in 14 years, I usually blow through the front tires through (Turns) 3 and 4 trying to get a little more, so was trying to be patient with it. I got back to the gas pretty good, but I just had a bad angle for the exit. Overall, kind of should have got it done on the first lap, but just got a little too edgy into (Turn) 1 and chattered the rears, but overall decent day so far. We’ll work on it tomorrow and get this good for 301 laps.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 7th
How was this qualifying effort?
“Yeah, it was alright – seventh is okay. You know, it’s a decent place to start from and qualifying is pretty important here. It’s somewhat tough to pass, so it’s going to get us a good pit stall and gets the DEWALT Camry in a good spot to race from.”
DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 9th
How was your qualifying run?
“It was good. I felt like the 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry had a little bit more speed than ninth – maybe a top-five. The second round, I felt like it was pretty good and then we just gambled a little bit making an adjustment and actually I felt like we jumped the fence a little bit, but even with that the car was faster than ninth, but happy with it – with the improvement from practice – and I feel like we can race from there.”
