Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Talladega Superspeedway
Race 31 of 36 – 500.08 miles, 188 laps
October 14, 2018
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Aric Almirola*
2nd, Clint Bowyer*
3rd, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.*
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
5th, Joey Logano*
8th, ERIK JONES
16th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
23rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR
26th, KYLE BUSCH
37th, JEFFREY EARNHARDT
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Aric Almirola* 3087 points
4th, KYLE BUSCH 3111 points
8th, MARTIN TRUEX JR 3083 points
13th, DENNY HAMLIN 2136 points
16th, ERIK JONES 2108 points
20th, DANIEL SUÁREZ 614 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Camry driver Denny Hamlin was the top-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) Playoffs race at Talladega Superspeedway after placing fourth – his second-consecutive top-five finish.
· Toyota driver Erik Jones would finish eighth in the race and score his second-straight top-10 finish.
· Toyota playoffs drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch finished 23rd and 26th, respectively at Dover.
· Heading into next week’s elimination race at Kansas Speedway, both Busch and Truex remain in the top-eight in points.
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How did you stack up over the course of the day today?
“I thought we were the next best in line today. The Ford cars seemed to have a little more speed than us. We stayed disciplined and in line there. We chose the right line when the lines came. Got a great top-five finish today. We were almost the best in class there.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 23rd
Were you ever able to figure out what the issue was that you had?
“No. It didn’t really matter what we did to the car. It didn’t go away. We tried a lot of stuff. It was tough to drive. It couldn’t even go straight. I could run hard for two or three laps. As soon as the tires got some air pressure, I was just hanging on. The longer the runs were, the worse it got. There was no chance of me just getting up there and racing. I wanted to. Luckily, we were able to get some tires there in the end. I could go for about three laps. I felt good going to the green-white checkered. They wrecked in front of us and we barely made it through. As soon as we got through there, I was able to salvage something.”
Do you have confidence going to Kansas?
“Yeah. I think that’s a good place for us even if we had to win. I am not saying we’re going to go there and win. But anytime we can go to any of those tracks, I feel like we have a shot. It’s racing. A lot can happen as we saw today. We’ll give it everything we got and bring a great car to Kansas. We’ll try to get the checkered flag.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
What happened in the final restart there?
“I don’t know what happened. There was a wreck in front of us and we piled in, and got collected in it. I didn’t really see what happened there.”
Did you have a strategy today?
“We tried everything today and struggled to get up front.”
