FOUR JOE GIBBS RACING TOYOTAS IN THE TOP-10 AT MARTINSVILLE
Hemric leads the Toyota charge with a third-place finish
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 11, 2021) – All four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supras scored top-10 finishes in the Cook Out 250 at Martinsville Speeedway on Sunday afternoon.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Martinsville Speedway
Race 7 of 33 – 250 miles, 131.5 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Josh Berry*
2nd, Noah Gragson*
3rd, DANIEL HEMRIC
4th, TY GIBBS
5th, BRANDON JONES
7th, HARRISON BURTON
17th, BRANDON GDOVIC
20th, STEFAN PARSONS
22nd, DAVID STARR
28th, MATT JASKOL
30th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DANIEL HEMRIC, No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What are your thoughts about your third-place finish?
“It’s kind of bittersweet to be honest with you. This Poppy Bank Toyota Supra was so fast and it was cool to get that second stage win. Dave Rogers (crew chief) and the guys are bringing incredible cars to the race track. We got back there after stage two and trying to take advantage of the full day and somebody checked up in the middle of one and two – knocked the hood up and I couldn’t see once I got within a half-a-car of somebody. It took me probably too long to get used to that and we finally started making progress and got up there with better cars. Kind of caught me off guard as to how much better our speed was compared to other cars at the end. Had to use my stuff up to get there. Once we got to third, we were better than the 8 (Josh Berry) and the 9 (Noah Gragson), just had to use our stuff up to get there.”
TY GIBBS, No. 54 AutosByNelson.com Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How was your race overall?
“We were just a little tight. I messed up there at one point, it was my fault. Then I hit the 9 (Noah Gragson), we were dorking around there for a little bit. After I hit him and got kind of loose, it killed my momentum and kind of made me a little tighter. My fault. But overall, decent day, led laps. I feel like if I hadn’t hit him and knocked the nose in, we probably could have maybe got a third or a second or maybe even a first. Can’t complain. Had a good day and learned a lot today. It was a good time and Martinsville is fun. It tested my patience out.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Toyota Racing Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Can you describe how the race played out for you?
“We were all just talking about what it would have taken to win the race. It was difficult, especially when you would lose a little bit of track position. Our car definitely changed a bunch going from night to day. A little bit on the freer side, more of what I expected and the track seemed greasy. There at the end, we got that long green flag run and it seemed like the track was taking a decent amount of rubber and it seemed like that was causing some of that feel that we were getting. All in all, really good effort and I think we learned a bunch. We’ve got one more race here this year so let’s take this and try to make that one better and close the deal out.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
You looked great in the night portion, but it looked like you struggled a bit today. How would you rate your race overall?
“We were really good on Friday night in our DEX Imaging Supra. I thought we were going to win the race, and it just got away from everybody. We just didn’t have that same lap time today. We really struggled with tight late in the race, just plowing through the right front tire and having to park the car in the center of the corner. Tough day. You have high expectations any time you go back somewhere you’ve won in the past. For it to not work out is a tough one, but at the end of the day, it’s a part of the game and we will have to rebound and be better.”
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