THREE SUPRA TOP FIVES AT DAYTONA
Harrison Burton Kicks Off Xfinity Series Season with Runner-Up Result
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 15, 2020) – Three Toyota Supras finished in the top five in the 120-lap season-opening NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race at Daytona International Speedway.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Daytona International Speedway
Race 1 of 33 – 300 miles, 120 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Noah Gragson*
2nd, HARRISON BURTON
3rd, TIMMY HILL
4th, Chase Briscoe*
5th, BRANDON JONES
14th, VINNIE MILLER
20th, CHAD FINCHUM
21st, JOSH BILICKI
31st, MATT MILLS
32nd, RILEY HERBST
35th, AUSTIN HILL
*non-Toyota driver
• Harrison Burton kicked off his full-time NXS season with a runner-up finish at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.
• Burton was pushed to the finish by fellow Supra driver Timmy Hill who finished the race in the third position – his career-best NXS result.
• Brandon Jones also claimed a top five for Toyota with a fifth-place result.
TOYOTA QUOTES
HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
Let’s hear about today.
“We had a good day. We fought back from a lot of adversity. We got damage. My team did a good job repairing it. We kind of still couldn’t poke through the hole like we needed too, but the 66 (Timmy Hill) got lined up behind me. Noah (Gragson) got out front about a car and a half and I thought ‘He might be in trouble here’, but then the caution came out. Just really proud of our guys. We had a tough day. I think that there were a couple times in the race that we were down and out, and our guys clawed it out. I was proud of that effort.”
If not for the caution, did you have enough of a run?
“Yeah, I thought so. I was just happy to be in that position to have a run and have a shot at it. There were a couple times that we about got wrecked and we missed it by an inch. My buddy John Andretti had my back out there. That was cool. It sucks that I couldn’t win for him and his family. We were close, but not quite all the way.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Great day. Second consecutive top five to start the year.
“Yeah, I think we had the car to win this race this afternoon. It was really about positioning yourself – it always is when it comes to a track like this. We had a great company day. Harrison (Burton) was up inside the top five with us, as well. He did a really good job as well. I wish I could have finished out that little bit at the end there to see what it would have ended up like. I thought that outside lane – making that move to go up there – was the right call.”
RILEY HERBST, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
Were you cleared there and just didn’t have enough space or what happened there?
“No. Coming to stage end, I went up to – I think it was the 9 (Noah Gragson) on the outside – get up the final side draft and came back down and somebody was there. It sucks. Move on to go back home to Vegas next week and we’ll go from there.”
Were you sticking to the strategy? We you pretty good in position there?
“Yeah, I thought we were running good. Got shuffled back a few times – pit strategy, things of that nature. Made our way back up to, I don’t know, probably the top six or seven and then time to go get stage points and went to go side draft and when I came back down there, I don’t know who was there, but baely got us. It’s a bummer. Sorrry for everybody out there.”
AUSTIN HILL, No. 61 AISIN Group Toyota Supra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
Finishing Position: 35th
What happened in that crash?
“It always seems like any time at a superspeedway that we try to play it safe and try to make it to the end, something like this happens. I kind of knew better. I should have been aggressive. That’s what we do in the Truck Series and it normally pays dividines to us and we get good finishes out of it. That’s just something that we kind of put ourselves in a bad position – or I put us in a bad position – kind of being back there. The 1 (Michael Annett) got loose and started spinning. I was checking up. I knew he was going to come back up the track and then the 08 (Joe Graf, Jr.) just out of nowhere comes in. I don’t know where he thought he was going, but I guess he didn’t know where the brake pedal was. He was all mad at me when he got out, and was telling me to use my head. I don’t know what he was talking about because he had plenty of time. He could have lifted out of the gas, used the brakes. There was no reason we should have been double file right there. We should have gotten single-filed out and been able to both make it through the crash. Yeah, it’s tough to swallow. Having such a good run last night in the truck race, and I was hoping for a decent finish. I wasn’t expecting to go out there and light the world on fire and win or anything, but I was hoping for a nice, solid finish for all of our sponsors: AISIN, United Rentals, just everybody that lets me do what I love to do. Our Supra was pretty good. A little tight all day, but we will move forward and go to the next one.”
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