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Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Kansas Speedway
Race 30 of 33 – 300 miles, 200 laps
October 20, 2018
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITION
1st, John Hunter Nemechek*
2nd, Daniel Hemric*
3rd, Elliott Sadler
4th, Shane Lee*
5th, Tyler Reddick*
16th, CHAD FINCHUM
20th, JOSH BILICKI
21st, RYAN PREECE
27th, BOBBY EARNHARDT
31st, TIMMY HILL
36th, BRANDON JONES
37th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Daniel Hemric* 3067 points
2nd, Elliott Sadler* 3058 points
3rd, Tyler Reddick* 3055 points
4th, CHRISTOPHER BELL 3045 points
5th, Matt Tifft* 3044 points
12th, BRANDON JONES 2089 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Toyota drivers Chad Finchum and Josh Bilicki finished in the top 20 during Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway.
· After starting second in the race, championship contender Christopher Bell was involved in an incident on Lap 1, taking Bell out of the race as the Toyota driver finished 37th.
· Bell is fourth in the driver point standings with two races remaining in the Round of 8.
TOYOTA QUOTES
BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Game Plan for Life Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 36th
What happened to take you out of the race?
“I don’t know. I guess it was karma because I was like there’s no way that you qualify so well and that big thing happens up front and then we go to side draft a little bit on the 21 (Daniel Hemric) and maybe we ran through something on that big wreck, maybe we didn’t. I don’t know, but I did try to pack pretty aggressively on the 21 and as soon as I did, the car took a pretty aggressive hard right, so maybe we picked up something, but we were going through it. We were trying to maintain track position there. I thought this was going to be a great race for us. I had a really solid car yesterday in practice and qualified well today, so hate it, but we’re going to continue to go and I know Texas is a good one on our mind as well.”
After you side drafted Daniel Hemric, you just went in the wall. What happened there?
“There was a ton of debris back there from that first big wreck. I don’t know if we ran through something or what, but the car acted fine on that restart, which is hard for me to believe that it had a flat tire. I’ve never had one like that wreck kind of going straight as we were, but I did pack a pretty aggressive side draft, so maybe me going really quick was the effect of that. All in all hate it, but we tried our best there and tried to do what we had to do.”
What happened to your Game Plan for Life Camry?
“That wasn’t the game plan for sure. I don’t know what happened honestly. I tried to side draft the 21 (Daniel Hemric) pretty hard as soon as we got on the backstretch there. We were pretty much going straight at that point and I pulled back down and then back up and it was like the car went really hard right and got really loose all of the sudden. Maybe we ran over something when the big wreck happened there on the first couple laps. I tried to follow him as much as I could so I would have thought that if he ran over something that I would have too.”
What could you see in front of you with the first accident?
“I could kind of see it boiling up a little bit. I could tell that the 22 (Austin Cindric) was pushing pretty hard there to get going and almost like he got kind of wiggly loose and it led to the next. Very weird. You qualify up front and you think that nothing will happen, but it just goes to show in this sport that anything can happen wherever you qualify. Texas is a good one on our radar, I know we ran really well there in the spring earlier and led that first stage so hopefully we can go back and try to get the win there.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 37th
How did everything play out for you in that incident?
“I didn’t really see much of anything. Just kind of driving around there. Just heartbroken. This is one of my favorite race tracks we go to and especially after the run I had last year, this is the race that I was looking forward to whenever we started the year back in February. Our Rheem Camry was fast throughout practice and we qualified second, so felt like we were going to be able to contend for the win, but I think this is – actually this is not the first time I’ve been out on the first lap. We’ll try and make up for it at Texas and we still got a lot of race tracks that I can win races at, so hopefully we’ll move on from here.”
How valuable are your bonus points that you accumulated in the last round?
“That’s the beauty of this format. NASCAR’s done such a great job at giving us something to race for during the regular season. We’ve done our job winning six races this year, so we’ve accumulated some bonus points, so hopefully that can carry us through this bad stretch here and maybe we can find ourselves in victory lane later on in this round. If not, hopefully the bonus points will get us there.”
What did you see or feel out there during that incident?
“I didn’t really get to see anything, I just felt a lot. I don’t know. Normally whenever you’re up front, you’re in the safest spot you can be, but just didn’t get a very good launch and the side by side with the 7 (Justin Allgaier) car and it just didn’t work out.”
What did you see in front of you in the accident?
“I didn’t really get to see much, but just bummed that our Rheem Camry isn’t out there competing. I felt like we had a car that could compete for the win and this was a race that I was looking forward to from the time I left here last year. Unfortunately, I’m not going to get to race today.”
What happened in the accident?
“I don’t really know exactly what happened, I was just along for the ride. It’s just racing. We’ve done our job winning six races this year and accumulated some bonus points. We’ll just have to rely on them. I’m just bummed I’m not racing because this is one of my favorite race tracks that we go to so that’s the most disappointing part.”
How important are your bonus points when an incident like this happens?
“That’s the beauty of this format. NASCAR has done a really great job of giving us something to race for during the regular season. With the six wins we’ve accumulated a fair share of bonus points that can hopefully get us through this and I still expect to be able to go win a couple of the last three races. Hopefully we can win, but if we can’t then we’ve done our homework on accumulating those points and we’ll point our way through.”
How strange was the wreck on the first lap?
“It was odd. We weren’t really up to speed yet and I was just kind of rolling around there. Obviously being on the inside makes you much for susceptible to getting lose. Just kind of driving around. I heard his motor lift, but I didn’t realize he was coming up the race track into me.”
Do you feel like you’ve gifted someone else a win today with the wreck early in the race?
“We definitely made it pretty easy on the 21 (Daniel Hemric) car today, that’s for sure. That’s alright, he’s been pretty close to winning a couple times. We’re only 13 laps in so anything can happen. Overall, I’m just disappointed that I’m not out there racing. Kansas is one of my favorite race tracks we go to. Especially after last year, this is the race I was looking forward to whenever we started in Daytona. I wish we came here twice a year, that way we would have had a mulligan, but it’s okay, I get to come back next year.”
