Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Watkins Glen International – August 4, 2018
TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, DENNY HAMLIN
2nd, KYLE BUSCH
3rd, Chase Elliott*
4th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
5th, Kyle Larson*
9th, ERIK JONES
23rd, DANIEL SUÁREZ
29th, PARKER KLIGERMAN
36th, SPENCER GALLAGHER
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 1st
Take us through your lap, Denny.
“Yeah, it was a great run for our team. We kept getting better every run and really I think it helped us that we qualified the same day we practiced. It gave us an opportunity to get in rhythm. On these road courses, we’ve been really fast. We just have not qualified well and that’s really put us at a disadvantage early. Now that we’re upfront, we can play our strategy like the way it’s supposed to be played and hopefully have a great day tomorrow.”
Do you need stay in the top-five all day to get a win tomorrow?
“Yeah, you do. It’s so important because you can’t hold to your strategy to get track position. It changes the outcome of your car and your race. Now, being able to start upfront, you make your own pace and strategy and not have to make it up from the back.”
Did you guys set out to beat the 18 and Kyle Busch with him being the fastest this weekend?
“On my part, yeah. The road courses – we’ve always had really good speed in the race, but we don’t qualify well. I can’t think of many times we’ve been in the top-10 and a lot of it is because we qualify on a different day than what we practice. I think today, being able to use those repetitions and still be hot from practice and things fresh in your mind – I just got a little faster each round, so that helped.”
Were you surprised you beat Kyle Busch in qualifying?
“Yeah, he’s usually pretty good at the this stuff. I knew once the 9 (Chase Elliott) and 18 (Kyle Busch) had went and I went behind them that he (crew chief Mike Wheeler) said we were P1, I thought that we had a good shot at it. It’s amazing to me how well Kyle hits his marks and does not make mistakes, especially on a one lap qualifying, get it done moment – very few mistakes ever get made where I feel like I make quite a few more mistakes and take repetitions to really maximize the speed of my car. He does it right away.”
This is obviously a step in the right direction. Do you feel that you’re at all close to making the ‘Big Three’ a ‘Big Four’?
“Way too premature for that. We’ve got to really get the train back on the tracks, so to speak – start running in the top-five more consistently like we were doing early in the year. This has been a tough two months and it’s been crappy, but you just work harder and it’s made me really work hard on what I need to work on and so it’s going to be a process. It’s definitely not going to happen overnight, but hopefully in the next month, we get things figured out so we can at least be contenders when it gets down to these cutoff races.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Flavor Vote Winner Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 2nd
Were you surprised Denny Hamlin beat your lap?
“I was surprised. I messed up just a little bit in Turn 1 and gave it away by a 10th and that’s what he beat us by. It would have been close other than that. Our M&M’s Flavor Vote Winner with the Mint Flavor is really good. Not only the chocolate and flavor, but our car. Good race trim speed. Good qualifying speed. Just wish I put the whole thing together and not missed Turn 1 and we would have been on the pole. Congratulations to Denny. That was a good, solid lap. And a fast one at that. We’ll go in the race now and see what we can do.”
What’s the confidence in your race car?
“The No. 9 (Chase Elliott) posted really fast times at the end of practice. He put on his tires later than some of us did but he was really fast with them. We’re looking at the No. 9 as well, and when he posted that qualifying speed, we thought okay, they’re quick, too. The No. 11 was able to beat us out there but I still think when you get out in race trim, you have to be able to figure out how to run a whole race here and take care of your equipment. Make sure you’re good until the end and have speed still left over at the end. Whether that’s in your car or in yourself to be able to go out race the rest of these guys.”
Did you analyze how close you were to Denny Hamlin’s pole-winning lap?
“Yeah, I analyzed it. I looked at it and that’s enough of that. Just in the one spot, I missed it. In Turn 1, I got in there a little hot. I didn’t slow down enough and missed my cornering speed in the middle. Overall, great lap. Denny laid down a great lap. Every corner was great, obviously to beat all of us. I think we got a really good race car. Our M&M’s Flavor Vote Winner is really good. The chocolate and the car. We have to keep working at it. It’s pretty cool to see two Toyota’s on the front row from Joe Gibbs Racing.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Qualifying Position: 4th
Your crew chief said other than a little bit in turn one, it was a really good lap.
“Yeah, it was. Good recovery there for us. Man, we just barely snuck out there to get out that second time in the first round, which was critical. Basically if you look at it, it was a gain from 16th to fourth and just being able to get out there – really happy with that. First round I was really loose and you know I just couldn’t drive it hard enough to put down the lap time that I wanted, but we got better from there. That last run was really good – a nice put together lap. I was just a little too loose getting into turn one and I lost some time there, but it sucked and then I felt pretty good about it. Good starting spot for tomorrow and see if we can go back to back.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 buyatoyota.com Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 9th
Toyotas have been fast all weekend with you having one of the faster cars. What are expectations for tomorrow?
“I think they’re good. We were probably a top five, six car in practice on race runs. We probably had a little bit better car than that in qualifying, but I just missed it a little bit in the last round. Our buyatoyota.com Camry is good. We just need to keep working on it a little bit and get a little bit more speed in a few spots and we’ll be just fine.”
