RAPHAËL LESSARD DRIVES TO CAREER-BEST TO LEAD TOYOTA IN DAYTONA
Canadian Lessard scores first career top-five finish
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (Aug. 17, 2020) – Raphaël Lessard (third) led Toyota in the Sunoco 159 at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course on Sunday afternoon. Series points leader Austin Hill (fifth), Scott Lagasse Jr. (ninth) and Stewart Friesen (10th) also drove Tundras to top-10 finishes in the Irish Hills.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series
Daytona International Speedway Road Course
Race 12 of 23 – 44 Laps, 158.8 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Sheldon Creed*
2nd, Brett Moffitt*
3rd, RAPHAEL LESSARD
4th, Matt Crafton*
5th, AUSTIN HILL
9th, SCOTT LAGASSE, JR.
10th, STEWART FRIESEN
12th, CHRISTIAN ECKES
22nd, ALEX TAGLIANI
30th, DEREK KRAUS
34th, SPENCER DAVIS
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
RAPHAEL LESSARD, No. 4 Mobil1 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 3rd
Can you describe your race today?
“It was an awesome day for us. My Mobil1 Toyota Tundra was awesome. Can’t thank everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports enough. That’s what we’ve been working on all year, finishes like this. It hasn’t been easy for a rookie with all that’s going on, but I made a mistake when I was leading – pushed a little too hard. We never gave up and we fought back. It’s a little hotter here than Quebec, I can tell you that.”
What was the race like today overall?
“It was awesome. First of all, I want to thank my team, Kyle Busch Motorsports and my crew chief, Mike Hillman, Jr. We sat down before the race and studied some in-car from yesterday’s Xfinity race and I think it helped a ton. I learned a lot watching videos of on-boards from yestrday. The race was awesome. It was kind of a weird situation because no one has been here before in NASCAR and I felt like that’s what it’s been like for me every race so far this year. Being a rookie with no practice, every time I get into turn one, the first lap is a first for me. I think it was an advantage going into this race for me because I’m used to it and I can’t thank TRD for allowing us to go to the TRD simulator and practice on the road course. All of that made a big difference for me.”
How difficult was it to be racing for the lead and racing on a new circuit for the series?
“It was pretty difficult. I felt like in the lead, you had to push pretty hard to keep up with the guy behind you. One time I went a little bit harder than the lap before and with the heat on the tire and the brakes, I felt like it got a lot slicker there at the end and it kind of surprised me because I thought I was going to be able to make the corner. I stopped really quick, came back and made a couple other mistakes, but we regrouped. We never gave up and just kept pushing hard at the end. Had a good strategy and that’s what it’s all about, just never giving up and keeping on working. I don’t think we could have had a shot at it at the end. The 2 (Sheldon Creed) truck was really fast. I think maybe, but I was trying to be a little bit conservative and trying to bring my Mobil1 Toyota Tundra home.”
How were you able to combat the heat during the race?
“It was really hot. During the caution I asked for a bunch of water. I was just throwing water at myself, but TRD has a gym and I can’t thank everyone, my coach, Caitlyn, we all work really hard during the week in the gym to be good in those situations. Just trying to be ready physically and mentally and that’s what I was. At the end, I think it was the hottest I’ve been in a race car. We pushed through it.”
How much momentum do you have with this team after some strong runs lately?
“I feel like we’re a little bit on a roll now. We had a pretty good week last week in Michigan. I felt like Michigan we had a winning truck there, but we had two flat tires. Came back and now I feel like we had a winning truck again and we finished third. It’s just about working hard. I’ve been wanting those results since the beginning of the season and we just keep on working. I think it’s coming. We’re going to push hard. At Dover, I think with the new rules, we’re going to start pretty close to the front so that’s going to help us and especially that I’ve been there before. Last year was my second truck race there with Kyle Busch Motorsports. I think we’re ready. I love Dover, it’s awesome and track position is super important. It’s going to be good for sure.”
Do you feel you’re close to getting a victory?
“We’re a team capable of winning for sure, I feel like I’m doing everything I can. I’m studying video, I’m asking questions – Kyle Busch is helping a lot. It’s just a matter of time. We’re pushing hard for it. At this point of the season, we’re not going for stage points, we’re going for the win. That’s what we’ve been doing the last few races and we’ve had our best finishes. We’re just going to keep on working and heading the right direction.”
What did you think of the performance by your teammate, Alex Tagliani?
“First of all, I want to apologize to him (Alex Tagliani) for the restart. It was pretty crazy. I don’t know if I spun him out, but I hit him pretty good in turn one because I got hit from behind on the one restart. I’ve been talking to him a lot and he was a good help the last few days. It was fun to speak a little bit of French because I moved to North Carolina and my family can’t come visit me at all this year so it’s been English, English, English. It’s good, it’s helping me. I think he did a good job. I was expecting to see him up front for sure because he is a super good road course racer and he’s got way more experience than me. I don’t know exactly where he finished, but good job to him.”
AUSTIN HILL, No. 16 TRD Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
Finishing Position: 5th
How was your race overall today?
“It was a really tough race today. We were fighting the heat and the elements of this race track. Very easy to lock rear brakes up and have some wheel chatter getting into entry of the corners. Whoever could get their braking down straight before they ever entered the corner, that was the guy that was the one to beat. It took me the first full stage to kind of figure out how I wanted to position my truck on entry in each corner. That way I could keep the rears up under me and have a good turn into the corner. It seemed like I kept getting better and better at doing that. We stayed out there at the end of stage two to get some stage points. We thought we were going to have a shot at the stage win. I don’t know if the 2 (Sheldon Creed) had an issues or if he just thought it was the end of the stage. We were able to run him down and race him for that stage win. I know the 2 ended up winning on the same strategy that we were on but we just got into some prediciments that kind of pushed us back on restarts. Restarting on the outside lane getting into one was tough, just to stay there. You would wash out a bit just because of the grip wasn’t as good getting into (turn) one. I think we restarted on the outside lane a lot today. That kind of hurt us and we would fall back. Passing was actually really tough even though this track is a big race track. It was very, very tough to pass in the infield. You really have to set your truck up off of turn six to outbrake them down into the backstretch bus stop. That’s really where our best corner was all day – was getting through that bus sto. We could get through there on entry to center way faster than anyone else and still be able to carry the momentum up off of that corner, but we just had some moments where track position hurt us. We felt like we had a Tundra that could win today. We just kept getting put in predictiments where we couldn’t just quite get up front and race those guys.”
How did you prepare for this race?
“I was able to go and do some simulation with Toyota and TRD, so that was really nice to be able to do that. I learned a lot for the start of the race, so I wasn’t completely blind. When I wasn’t doing that, I was doing a lot of iRacing stuff. I was seeing how my braking could be done. I don’t really come from road racing background, but I’ve always felt like I get around road courses fairly decent. I haven’t got that win on the road courses yet, and that’s probably one biggest things that I want to accomplish, someday soon, is to be able to get that road course win, because I feel like I can do good enough around the road courses with my braking and everything else that I’ve learned over the years to have a shot at winning a road course. The preparation is just a lof of watching videos from IMSA races, and then it helped us watching the Xfinity Series race yesterday. That was a big help, just seeing how they would attack the corners. It just helped us when the race started. Also, we had a really cool retro Tundra today. Maybe next time, we can come race here again and get the W.”
STEWART FRIESEN, No. 52 Halmar ‘Racing To Beat Hunger’ Toyota Tundra, Halmar Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: 10th
How were you able to make it back to the top-10 after some challenges early in the race?
“It was a lot of fun. I love it. It was a lot of fun. We had an alternator fail right from the get go. Trip (Bruce, crew chief) made a great call to come in and get it changed before too many guys were down a lap. We got our lap back, and then just tried to race the race track. Be cautious, but be aggressive. It was probably one of the most rewarding top-10’s of my life. I’m shocked, but proud of the whole Halmar Toyota team. I’m really happy to get out of there with a top-10.”
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