Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Race 2 of 36 – 500 miles, 325 laps
February 24, 2019
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS**
1st, Brad Keselowski*
2nd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
3rd, Kurt Busch*
4th, Kevin Harvick*
5th, Clint Bowyer*
6th, KYLE BUSCH
7th, ERIK JONES
11th, DENNY HAMLIN
26th, MATT DIBENEDETTO
30th, PARKER KLIGERMAN
*non-Toyota driver
**pending final post-race inspection
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, DENNY HAMLIN 87 points
2nd, Kevin Harvick* 79 points
3rd, KYLE BUSCH 78 points
4th, Kyle Larson* 77 points
5th, Joey Logano* 75 points
7th, ERIK JONES 68 points
12th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 57 points
26th, MATT DIBENEDETTO 32 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. finished second and was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) event at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch (sixth) and his No. 18 Camry finished in the top 10 in his 500th MENCS start after starting the race at the back of the field due to a crash in final practice on Saturday.
Camry driver Erik Jones (seventh) also finished in the top 10 in the second race of the 2019 season.
TOYOTA QUOTES
MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 2nd
Are you frustrated you couldn’t get to the lead at the end?
“Yeah, I’m a lot frustrated, you know – lapped cars. They just have no respect for the leaders running for the win. It’s completely uncalled for, ridiculous. It’s a shame. We lined up on that last restart behind all those guys that are a lap down and I know they were racing for the lucky dog, which is all good, but once they got strung out, the 17 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) had a straightaway on all of me and he just wouldn’t let me by. He just kept hugging the bottom, hugging the bottom, hugging the bottom and knew that’s where I needed to run. I kept telling – my spotter kept telling his we need the bottom. These cars punch such a big hole and it’s so bad in dirty air, it completely killed us for 25, 30 laps to the point my front tires were gone once I finally got by him. Hell, I still ran down the 2 (Brad Keselowski) in two laps from half a straightaway. We clearly had the best car and were in position to win. Guys a lap down have to have a little more respect than that.”
Second-place finish, but you’re very frustrated. Why?
“Just lapped car. It was a shame we got put in that position on that last restart, but that’s the way the caution fell. Really proud of the team. Great rebound after last weekend. Bass Pro Shops, Tracker ATVs and Boats, thank all you guys. Everybody at Toyota. Everybody back at the shop in JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), they built a great race car here. Man, I could taste that one. I really wanted that first Atlanta win. The 17 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) rode there in front of us forever and every running the bottom. I kept telling him I needed the bottom and these cars are just so bad in dirty air that he was holding me up really bad. Once I got around him, I got to the 2 (Brad Keselowski) in two laps, so just needed one more. Unfortunately, we had a great car and like I said, the guys did a great job. Just a little upset. We had the best car. We probably should have won that one.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Snickers Creamy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 6th
What was it like in the race today with the new package?
“Traffic is really bad aero-wise. You get behind somebody and they take your air away and you’re junk. You’re going to go some of these tighter places that have less of a groove. Here you had a white line all the way to the wall and it was still hard to pass. You can make runs on people and have somebody mess up on a corner exit and get a good run. If you got a good run, you could by him on the straightaway or something like that.”
How did you feel about coming up to the front today after starting from the back?
“We had a hell of a day. We had a hell of a weekend. On the Cup side, we just had no fun this weekend, so it was really unfortunate for us. Guys worked hard and persevered and we battled through and took probably a 16th, 14th-place finish in our Camry and ended up sixth with it, so not too bad I guess.”
What happened when you had that cut tire?
“I got in the fence just a little bit in the center of (turns) 1 and 2. Just touched it and then kind of smelled some smoke and never saw any and thought we’d be okay. Overall, it just must have rubbed it and cut it down. Fortunately, we got a caution there. Caught us a break and was able to get tires on the thing and pull it back out and go back after them. What a hell of a weekend for all of our guys on this Creamy Snickers Camry, it was just evil tight all day long. We just couldn’t get the tight out of it. We were battling and running the wall all day long and that’s where I needed to be in order to make up any time. Doing that, you run close to the fence and you run into opportunities to get yourself in trouble. Overall, salvaged a decent day I guess. We can move on out of here with some positives.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
It seemed like for Atlanta, this race was a bit slower with worse aero push.
“It’s not really a lot different honestly than what I thought old Atlanta was a lot like. I don’t think there was any more passing, I don’t think there was any less passing. I think it was kind of the same. It’s just different. Just a different way of going about it. Our DeWalt Camry was pretty good, but just a different race for sure than it has been.”
