BUSCH, JONES SCORE TOP-FIVE FINISHES AT BRISTOL
Bell earns second top-10 finish in the last three races
BRISTOL, Tennessee (May 31, 2020) – Kyle Busch (fourth) was the highest-finishing Camry in the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 9 of 36 – 266.5 miles, 500 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Brad Keselowski*
2nd, Clint Bowyer*
3rd, Jimmie Johnson*
4th, KYLE BUSCH
5th, ERIK JONES
9th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
17th, DENNY HAMLIN
18th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
19th, TIMMY HILL
20th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Stanley Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Solid race today at Bristol, but you had to battle back late due to an incident not of your own making. How was your race today overall?
“It was solid. We had a pretty good Stanley Camry. At times, I thought we were better than others. We got a good finish out of it, which was nice. I got caught up in a wreck with the 4 (Kevin Harvick) car. He blew a right front, and we got some damage on the left front at the end. It slowed us down for sure. We just never really got the track position all day, never got where we needed to. We were fast enough during some of the runs that I felt like we could have maintained if we had been up in the top three, we just never got up there. Good day, good finish. Top-five is always rewarding, but you always want more.”
With the track being so green, how long did it take to settle in and find some grip and a rhythm?
“It took a long time. We’ve never started at Bristol with a track green, and that slick. It really felt like it took all of that first 60 laps to get the bottom cleaned up and rubbered in. It took a good 250-300 to really get the top rolling, comfortably, and not even really to its full potential. I don’t think the top ever got to where it was truly the best it could be. It took a long time. It was really odd starting like that. We really had to make a lot of changes to try to keep up with the track.”
How different was this race without practice or qualifying?
“I think it was more of an effect today than what it had been at the mile-and-a-halves. Short tracks, you really seem to tune on your car a lot more through practice. Splitter heights are harder to gauge and hit correctly when you come to these places with just your sim. That was all a little farther off than what we had at the mile-and-a-halves. It took us a little longer to get it. Bristol, we are usually pretty good by time the race starts, and we really didn’t have that today. It definitely affected us more today than the other tracks.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 95 JBL Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
Talk about your day. You were solidly in the top-10 for most of the second half of the race and overcame a late pit road penalty.
“We struggled a little bit early, but we continued to make progress on the JBL Camry. I felt like for a time there we had a contending car, which was good.”
Christopher, second top-10 in the last three races, what does it mean to you to be getting these finishes?
“We battled back and have begun to see some results, which is good. It’s nice to be getting some results after the start of the season we had. We are continuing to build and get better, which is the goal.”
What do you believe you and your team needs to do to keep the momentum going?
“Just keep learning. I’m a rookie and I’m learning more every race. Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) is new with this Cup Series package, and as we continue to go back to the tracks we are continuing to grow and learn as a team.”
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