Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Report
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Pocono Raceway – June 1, 2019
TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, William Byron*
2nd, KYLE BUSCH
3rd, Clint Bowyer*
4th, ERIK JONES
5th, Brad Keselowski*
6th, DENNY HAMLIN
20th, MARTIN TRUEX JR
22nd, MATT DIBENEDETTO
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Hazelnut Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 2nd
Did you have something going on in practice yesterday that was broken or something?
“No. I think we missed our gaps from first practice to second practice a little bit so we were on the splitter. We got that situation resolved and it felt pretty good.”
Do you think you’ll get over the frustration of not being able to figure out this package so quickly?
“I think that we as a team, the 18 team, we’re fast every week. You look at last week and we were fast in practice. We know how to make speed. We know how to make fast race cars. We were fast again this week in five-lap averages, 10-lap averages. Same as last week and same as a majority of the weeks. The problem is when you’re not out front leading laps and you’re back in traffic, it’s hard to pass. It’s a struggle. It’s harder now than it’s been in a long, long time to be able to pass guys and get yourself up to the front and pass the leader for the lead in these green flag situations. Although there’s an argument to be made that Martin (Truex Jr.) can do it, so why can’t the rest of us do it. I guess I’m just not as good as Martin Truex Jr.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 4th
Do you think strategy calls like two tires, no tires, etc. will help with track position at all?
“I think so. You look at the last couple of years and some of the times we’ve got really good finishes here have been some strategy calls – pitting before the stage ends, taking two tires at the stage breaks or staying out even at the stage breaks. I think there’s going to be a lot of that. The last couple of years it was a mixed bag of who was doing that and who wasn’t doing it, but I think this year you’re going to get a majority of cars who are probably going to play that game and everybody is going to be on that plan. Fortunately for us, we’re starting really well in the top five there in fourth. I think we did a good job there and we just need to keep it. You can’t give that track position up all day now. It’s just going to be tough to get it back.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 6th
How are you looking at the race tomorrow now that you’ve qualified?
“It’s kind of what we expected. We didn’t make a run yesterday, but we’ll be hopefully somewhere in the top 12, 13 there and race from there. Just really want a smooth race from our standpoint. We’ve had blown tires and all kinds of crazy stuff happen. We’ve had blown tires three or four weeks in a row so we’ve got to just – if we have a smooth race, we know we’re going to have a good race so we just hope to have a smooth one here and get back on the train we were on.”
