Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Darlington Raceway
Race 24 of 33 – 147 laps, 200 miles
September 1, 2018
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Brad Keselowski*
2nd, Cole Custer*
3rd, Tyler Reddick*
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
5th, Elliott Sadler*
12th, BRANDON JONES
26th, BAYLEY CURREY
28th, JOSH BILICKI
34th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
35th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Justin Allgaier 888 points
2nd, Elliot Sadler* 872 points
3rd, Cole Custer* 871 points
4th, CHRISTOPHER BELL 852 points
5th, Daniel Hemric* 844 points
7th, BRANDON JONES 687 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Camry driver Denny Hamlin (fourth) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway.
· Brandon Jones (12th) also scored a top-15 finish in his Toyota Camry after starting from the back of the field and going one lap down on Lap 1.
· After starting in the second position and running in the top 10 throughout the first stage, Camry driver Christopher Bell was involved in an on-track incident which ended his day early as he finished 34th.
· With his 12th-place performance, Jones locked himself into the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs and is seventh in the standings.
· Bell will contend for the title alongside Jones as he is fourth in the NXS point standings with two regular-season races left before the playoffs.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 18 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
You were coming through the field, but you made contact with the wall and that seemed to slow you down in the closing laps.
“Yeah, it hooked to the backend first, but then slammed the right front with it. Living on the edge up there, but you’re going to have that sometimes. Just fought a loose condition that we couldn’t quite get rid of all day. Just kind of kept me from being aggressive on the restarts. I couldn’t get aggressive at all, just too loose. We were gonna make a charge there. We really made up a lot of ground, but then flirting with that wall, we finally hit it.”
Were you thinking you could get to Brad Keselowski for the win?
“Yeah, we were catching those guys so fast. Like I said, to do that you’ve got to put yourself at risk and we put ourselves at risk and got bit.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Hope for the Warriors Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 12th
How did your race go?
“We overcame a lot of obstacles this whole weekend really with our penalties that we had yesterday night. We had to overcome a couple things on pit road there. We had to come from the back a couple times, so I think to drive up through the field especially at Darlington, a place where it’s really tough to pass, says a lot about how good our race car was. Had a couple of times to be up in the top 10. This place just gets so greasy especially when it’s 95 degrees like it was today – really hot. This place was really slick. It was just kind of who saved their tires the best if you managed it, but all in all a great day for everyone.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 34th
What happened with you and Daniel Hemric?
“I just got loose off (Turn) 4. It’s just pretty narrow over there, so I didn’t quite get it corrected in time before we got on the straightaway.”
The team wanted you to try and stay out, but you felt the left-front going down?
“After we hit there it was smoking really bad, so we came back in and changed the left-front. Then I had a little bit of smoke and it kind of went away, but I think there I got to the bottom of the straightaway and I had to turn right to get back up the track and I think that cut, I believe it was the left-front again. Just bummed for my team because they did a great job preparing that Rheem Camry. I felt like we were in a great spot to compete for a win there and unfortunately it just didn’t work out.”
Walk us through what happened.
“I just got a little bit loose off (Turn) 4 and whenever I got loose off 4, I didn’t have enough time to correct it before we got on the straightaway and just tagged his (Daniel Hemric) right-rear corner there. Unfortunately cut my left-front and had to come back and pit and it just ended our day.”
