HAMLIN, TRUEX JR. DRIVE TO TOP-THREE FINISHES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Hamlin scores his eighth top-two finish of the season
LOUDON, New Hampshire (August 2, 2020) – Denny Hamlin (second) and Martin Truex Jr. (third) led Toyota at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Race 20 of 36 – 318.5 miles, 301 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Brad Keselowski*
2nd, DENNY HAMLIN
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
4th, Joey Logano*
5th, Kevin Harvick*
24th, ERIK JONES
26th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
28th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
33rd, TIMMY HILL
38th, KYLE BUSCH
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
Were you battling your car just a little too much to get to Brad Keselowski in the closing laps?
“We just kind of were second there to the 2 (Brad Keselowski). We could really do well on restarts and we were going back-and-forth. Wow, that was some really, really good short track racing there. Hopefully the fans liked what they saw there with me and the 2 for most of the day. Some great side-by-side racing. We treated each other fair and it’s good that we got one-two out of it.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
Is this finish a little better than you might have expected in the middle of this race?
“We ran second in the first stage and had a tire get away on pit road, had to come from the back. That definitely made things a lot more challenging. Had a decent Sport Clips Toyota, just wasn’t quite driving like we needed it to and then it kind of burned the tires off after 25 or 30 laps. We could hang with them and we would fall consistently off the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 11 (Denny Hamlin). Third-best car and we finished third so all in all, a good day. Just have to find a little bit more. Just missed the balance a little bit today. Love coming up here to Loudon and this was a fun day.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Pedigree Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 38th
Did you have any indication the right-front tire was going down or did it just blow out?
“Just going down the backstretch there and about halfway down the backstretch I felt it go flat and tried to get slowed down enough without taking everybody else running over me behind me down the straightaway. I don’t know, I think there’s a replay of another Pedigree car here a few years ago that blew a right-front tire for absolutely no reason too. Seems to be our luck with the Pedigree car here at New Hampshire. Sorry to all of our fans and all the Pedigree folks. It’s still 2020.”
What happened that took you out of the race?
“I blew a right-front tire for some reason. I have no idea why. Way too early in the going for anything to be wrong or even to build enough brake temp or brake heat. I don’t know. Just hate it for our Pedigree team and the fight that we’ve been having this year seems to be continuing. Last time I was here in a Pedigree car, we blew a right-front tire for no reason as well too. Just seems to be our luck with the Pedigree scheme for some reason here at New Hampshire. It’s still 2020, but sooner or later we have to turn this stuff around.”
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