Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
ISM Raceway
Race 4 of 36 – 312 miles, 312 laps
March 10, 2019
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS**
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
3rd, Ryan Blaney*
4th, Aric Almirola*
5th, DENNY HAMLIN
28th, MATT DIBENEDETTO
29th, ERIK JONES
*non-Toyota driver
Camry driver Kyle Busch claimed his first victory of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) in Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway in Phoenix.
The win marks the 199th for Busch across the three national NASCAR series – 52 MENCS, 94 NXS and 53 NGOTS. It’s also the 48th MENCS victory for Busch behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry.
This is Busch’s 12th MENCS and NXS weekend sweep of his career in a Toyota.
Busch led 177 laps (of 312) in today’s race after starting from the fourth position at the on-mile desert oval.
The victory is the third MENCS win for Busch at ISM Raceway. Busch also won the 2018 fall event at the speedway.
Fellow Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota drivers Martin Truex Jr. (second) and Denny Hamlin (fifth) also earned top-10 finishes in the race.
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Skittles Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
Did you have to work on your car at all today? It was pretty stout as far as running up front.
“It was. It was really good. This Skittles Camry was awesome today. The guys did a great job – Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the boys. All through practice we worked on this thing each and every time and never gave up on it. Just kept trying to fine tune it and make it better and better each and every time. We knew the 12 (Ryan Blaney) was really really fast. He was probably the best car here this weekend. I don’t know if he just got too tight in that long run. That’s what it looked like all of us were doing. Just seemed like I could get through there a little bit better. I tried to search around and find something that could help me to get me going a little bit better and get around to his outside and get the lead. Just an awesome day for us here at ISM Raceway. To come out here and celebrate with another win – back to back races here. I’d love to be able to come back and do it again next time.”
How do you conserve fuel and outrun Ryan Blaney at the same time?
“You don’t. You just give it everything you’ve got and push hard and do everything right to get the lead first. You worry about fuel afterwards. When they said the 12 (Ryan Blaney) was backing off, I started backing off and trying to save a little bit of fuel. You’re not going to save, but maybe a shot glass in 12 laps. Overall though, we had plenty. We did a burn out and everything was good. Great day for us here to be in victory lane.”
How do you feel about your team and where you guys are at now that we’re three four races in?
“Best in the business. I’ve got the best guys on pit road. I’ve got the best guys in the garage and the best crew chief out there. I think all those combinations go together with a pretty good driver and we can go out there and get the job done. Now we just got to keep doing that. The Skittles Camry was awesome. Certainly want to give thanks to the fans and everybody’s support here at ISM Raceway and coming out here and enjoying some NASCAR action on this beautiful Sunday. Certainly want to give thanks to Black Clover, DVX Eyewear, Adidas, Cessna, Monster Energy, Stanley, Rheem, all of our partners that help us get here.”
I guess it all kind of goes together with what makes a winning race driver.
“Well, yes and no. Certainly, there’s better ways, but I don’t know how to figure that out. I’m 33 years old, still trying to get that going. I got a three‑year‑old I’m working on. He’s worse than me. Got a ways to go. He’s got plenty of years to get going better. But overall, man, it’s so cool to be here this week. Let’s celebrate this week. The Skittles Camry was awesome today. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the boys tuned me up for an awesome race car today. I hate to dwell on last week, what could have been, but, man, I certainly wish we could have gotten to Victory Lane last week with our M&M Chocolate Bar Camry.”
We expect you to win every week. That is a lofty goal for us to expect for you to do and you to pull off. How does that feel every time you go on the racetrack you’re expected to wins?
“You’re not the only ones. Rowdy Nation out there, they are the ones expecting me to win each and every week. We have a strong fan following and everybody that shoots for us and that pulls for us. It’s a good time right now to be a part of Rowdy Nation. There’s a lot of wins happening, which is really awesome. We just got to continue on and know what we go into each week, do our jobs, work as hard as we possibly can, do the right things. Sometimes when we don’t do the right things, you still got to try to rebound from those. If you have a speeding penalty, seems like these days it’s way, way harder to come back from. Kind of saw that last week. You definitely would have saw that here this week if there was an issue that we had. Overall, I can’t say enough about everybody on my car. I want to give thanks to Toyota and Rheem, Stanley, Monster Energy, Cessna, Adidas, Black Clover and of course the fans. There’s a ton of Rowdy Nation fans out here. A lot of yellow, a little bit of black, a little bit of red. Awesome to have everything rocking and rolling right here in Victory Lane with us.”
I heard your crew chief and spotter telling you how close you are on fuel. How do you balance watching the fuel but pushing hard enough to get Ryan Blaney and pass him?
“ I knew going back before we went green with however many to go that we were going to be right on the verge. You got to go race hard first, then you have to worry about fuel afterwards. Once I got there, once I got to Blaney, I was able to kind of save a little bit. Tried to take care of my tires again for the rest of the traffic we had to get through, make sure I had enough fuel to make it to the end. Man, God, this makes last week feel so much stupider. I wish we could have swept last week, too. That would have been pretty awesome to start out this year with two weekend sweeps, three being in my hometown of Vegas. We’ll take what we got here today at IMS Raceway. Cool to win yesterday in the iK9 Service Dog 200 in their race, more cool to win today in the Skittles Camry, get ourselves back to Victory Lane.”
We’ve been debating about this 200 number that you’re going to get here really soon. You’re 33 years old, got a lot of wins ahead of you. Do you ever focus on what that Cup goal for you should be? Do you have a number out there?
“Might as well set your goals high, go out there and achieve. Let’s set it at a hundred and see if we can’t get there. That would certainly put us up there with the top guys, being one of the best of the best. But overall that’s a long ways to go. You got to win a lot of races, a lot of years, to be able to tally up that many. I’m not quite as good as Jeff Gordon any more with being able to win 10 races a year or 13 races a year. I don’t know if those details will happen that much any more. Last year we gave it a shot with eight. See if we can’t keep firing them off like we are right now and living the dream, baby.”
I want to see all those trophies at one time.
“You come to Mooresville, North Carolina, I’ll take you through, show you all the trophies and stuff like that. It’s pretty cool to have that many. There’s a few of them a little bit redundant. I filled up a whole Bristol case, you know how we’ll we’ve done at Bristol. It’s full, bleeding over into the second race right next to it. It’s a good problem to have.”
You have been a man on a mission with 199 wins across the three different series. How do you want to perceive what you are embarking on in this accomplishment?
“It’s not for me to worry about. It’s for everybody else to discuss and talk about and argue over and debate. But for myself and the career that I’ve had, I’ve been fortunate to be with a lot of great people, a lot of great sponsors, those that stick around me like Joe Gibbs, M&M Skittles, Snickers, Interstate Batteries that has always been behind me is what it’s all about for me. To work with my guys, take them to Victory Lane is what it’s all about.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
Talk about your race today and finishing second.
“A great day for us here at Phoenix which is not one of our greatest tracks. Looking forward to going to one of our favorite tracks next weekend in California and seeing if we can go back to back.”
Were you able to save enough gas at the end to chase down the leader?
“We did save quite a bit there. The car was really fast there at the end. Just a good day overall for our Bass Pro Camry. Everybody at JGR and TRD and everybody back at the shop are really doing a good job. Our boys in the pits did a good job today as well, so thanks to Cole (Pearn, crew chief). James (Small, engineer) and all the guys, we’re starting to click. We’re a little bit off on Fridays and that’s getting us behind, but I feel like each weekend as the weekend goes, we’re getting a little strong and a little stronger. Two second places is pretty decent. We’ll just keep chipping away at it. Had a fun day today and congrats to Kyle (Busch) and those guys.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Talk about your run today. Kurt Busch let you by there at the end too because he was a bit slower, was that a good move?
“We were faster than all of those guys. We just passed him on the outside. Our Camry was fast. We just got set back by some track position stuff – a little bit in the pits again. Just had a couple of bad restarts. We started 13th and drove up to fifth. Super fast Camry. We should have been right there where my teammates were. We just didn’t keep the track position quite as good as they did.”
What would you say the nature of this race was for you?
“Frustrating. Trying to get track position when you have a fast car. You just can’t drive through the field. You have to be patient and wait on everyone to kind of mess up or you’ve got try to run a different line, but when you do it’s just too much distance. Just the frustration of having a faster car and you can’t pass.”
