Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Talladega Superspeedway
Race 10 of 36 – 500.08 miles, 188 laps
April 28, 2019
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Chase Elliott*
2nd, Alex Bowman*
3rd, Ryan Preece*
4th, Daniel Hemric*
5th, Joey Lgoano*
9th, KYLE BUSCH
19th, ERIK JONES
20th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
22nd, JEFFREY EARNHARDT
27th, PARKER KLIGERMAN
31st, MATT DIBENEDETTO
36th, DENNY HAMLIN
*non-Toyota driver
· Camry driver Kyle Busch was the highest finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Talladega Superspeedway keeping his top-10 streak alive this season taking the checkered flag in the 10th position.
· Camry drivers led a total of 20 laps (of 188) in today’s race – Busch (four laps), Martin Truex Jr. (11 laps), Erik Jones (four laps) and Matt DiBenedetto (one lap).
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 10th
What happened on the final restart that shuffled you from second back to the 10th position?
“We restarted outside front row and I thought the 1 (Kurt Busch) behind me would want to race for the win and not just fall in line behind Fords and in front of Chevrolets and he would go with us a little bit there. Team order prevailed I guess. That kind of sucked. We weren’t able to have the run. As soon as he bailed off from behind me and then two others behind me got double-wide and then it just sucked me six rows back. I had to try to recover after that and all I could get was whatever I got.”
Was there more blocking than expected in the race?
“When you got older on tires and cars started to ill-handle a little bit, it was interesting. We got more downforce and yet the cars are driving worse, I don’t know how that’s possible. It was just interesting how you could be all over the place and not just be stuck. Guys were moving a little bit, you could make some moves a little bit. There was a section of race where the bottom lane didn’t move anywhere and the top lane didn’t move anywhere – we were stuck where we were at for like eight laps. That was about all I really saw.”
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing
Finishing Position: 31st
What happened in the accident and how was the racing prior to the wreck?
“I’m about tired of superspeedway racing for the year. Daytona – good car, good run, crashed. Here – I was actually fighting really tight there at the end. Just was struggling to maintain, but once we got up to second cars kept getting underneath me off the corner. But I don’t know what happened. I saw (Chris) Buescher got turned and we absolutely clobbered him. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do – just speedway racing. I’m sure I’d love it if it was going the opposite direction, but it seems like we crash in every one of these things.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 36th
What happened in the accident early in the race where you sustained damage?
“We had to start in the back, got up to the top-five there. Then Bubba (Darrell Wallace Jr.) and Ryan (Blaney) were kind of bouncing off of each other. Bubba got sideways in front of me and I ran into him. That caused a little damage then we blew a tire – Jimmie (Johnson) blew a tire, no caution. Clint (Bowyer) blew a caution, wrecked, no caution. Then we blew a tire and no caution. We didn’t really get an opportunity to fix it all the way we needed to and ended up ending our day.”
How much does it bother you to be out of a superspeedway race early after recent success at Daytona?
“We’ve been pretty fortunate to miss a lot of wrecks on the superspeedway races for the last four or five years, but today was just the day that bad luck dropped on us. It’s just one of those things where I felt like I did everything I was supposed to do, but sometimes in NASCAR racing when somebody else makes a mistake you get caught up in it. That was the case today.”
What was the racing like with the new package?
“I guess maybe I could have been a little more aware of the guys I was racing around. The runs are big. It’s very hard to defend the lead once you do get up there. You have to be on your toes more so than ever with this package simply because the runs are so big. We’ve got some information, we’ll move on and go to Daytona.”
