Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Richmond Raceway – September 21, 2018
TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, Kevin Harvick*
2nd, DENNY HAMLIN
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
4th, Ryan Blaney*
5th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
9th, ERIK JONES
12th, KYLE BUSCH
35th, JEFFREY EARNHARDT
37th, ALON DAY
40th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 2nd
Did you feel you were close to being able to beat the pole time set by Kevin Harvick?
“Not really, I thought we were a little bit farther off than that. Just takes our car so long to come in, but still happy with that qualifying effort considering how much of a long run car it is. Proud of this whole FedEx Camry team. We’ll keep working on it throughout the race because this track changes a lot from really the first stage all the way to the end. Decent practice session and good test session here a few months ago. Hopefully we can do the job that needs to be done here Saturday night.”
How comfortable are you at Richmond?
“As comfortable as I can be. I feel like if there’s any race track that I have an advantage at, it’s this one. With data sharing and everything nowadays, a lot of your advantages are now non-existent. But I still feel like on the long run I can save tires and do the things I need to do to be successful here and hopefully it all comes together.”
Did you determine why Joe Gibbs Racing struggled at Las Vegas last weekend?
“A little bit of everything. We certainly expected to be better and the whole organization felt that we should be better, but we saw signs in the race and even in practice that we weren’t very good. That kind of just bled into the race and we all just struggled. Certainly, there were some lessons to be learned there from the organization standpoint and we’re moved on from it and we’re better off now than what we were then.”
What is your mindset being 16th in the points following Las Vegas?
“I certainly wish we would have just finished where we were running at the time – I think we were 11th or something like that. I just went into turns three and four just like I always had and the track was just not cleaned from the wreck that happened earlier. Then the grass caught the front end and that was it. I wish I wasn’t in that position and wish we could come here and have a mediocre race and continue to move on, but I don’t mind this either. I don’t mind knowing that I need to run top-five of every stage and top-five in the race to just get ourselves somewhere near that cut line and then when we get to Charlotte, handle business then.”
What has been the issue with getting a win this season for your team?
“We’ve struggled most of the second half of the year just getting the balance where it needs to be on race day. We’ve had decent practices and then we get in the race and just not very good. Today I thought that we were probably 20th or something fastest and then we went out later than everyone else to try to get the track rubbered in so you’re not going to get a fast time. I was pretty optimistic about how my car drove and that’s really what it’s all about at a race track like this is how does it drive, don’t worry about the times and it did a lot of the things it needed to do. Every week, I’m optimistic that this is the week that it’s going to turn around and things are going to be normal again. Hopefully that’s the case, but definitely coming here I know what I’m looking for and so far I’ve had that.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Qualifying Position: 3rd
How was your car in qualifying?
“I was actually too tight and we were just kind of concerned with what we usually have here in qualifying. We got the pole here last time so obviously we had a pretty good feel for what we needed. We were too tight there, but all in all a good day and our Auto Owners Toyota was really fast in race trim and on long runs and that’s what it takes here so we’ll see if we can go lead some laps, have some fun and be around at the end of this thing.”
DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 19 Comcast Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 5th
How does it feel to be so fast this weekend?
“The guys have been doing a very good job. There has been a lot going on and it can be hard to focus sometimes. We know that we know how to do it, we just need the right pieces together. This is definitely the best car I’ve had in race trim at this track so hopefully we can take advantage of it tomorrow.”
Is this a race track that you feel comfortable racing around?
“We raced well here in the last time and I always felt like I’ve been fast here and this is definitely the best car I’ve had here. We unloaded from the truck and the car was pretty quick. I’m excited by that and the guys – we needed something like this. Last weekend we had a good car, but we didn’t have speed so hopefully we can have a whole, complete weekend tomorrow.”
What would it mean to win the race tomorrow night?
“It would mean a lot – we know we can do it. Not making the Playoffs, it wasn’t good for us. We had way higher expectations than the job that we have done, but we’ve had a lot of different issues throughout the year and sometimes things just don’t work out and hopefully we can turn things around here shortly.”
