HAMLIN ADDS ANOTHER TOP-10 FINISH AT DOVER
Denny Hamlin scores 10th top-10 finish in first 13 events in the 2021 season
DOVER, Del. (May 16, 2021) – Denny Hamlin (seventh) was the top-finishing Toyota Camry in the Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Dover International Speedway
Race 13 of 36 – 400 miles, 400 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Alex Bowman*
2nd, Kyle Larson*
3rd, Chase Elliott*
4th, William Bryon*
5th, Joey Logano*
7th, DENNY HAMLIN
11th, BUBBA WALLACE
19th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
21st, CHRISTOPHER BELL
27th, KYLE BUSCH
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
How was your race overall?
“We probably had a fifth to sixth place FedEx Camry. (Kevin) Harvick and I kind of battled to see who was going to be next behind the Hendrick cars. We just thought we would try to get a tire advantage there and we came out ninth and we were really slow on the short run. Our car wasn’t very fast for 20-30 laps. We kind of just held in ninth and another caution came. I thought maybe we should pit to double our tire advantage, but then we would have restarted 15th and again, we weren’t fast on new tires. I just don’t know how it would have turned out any better or worse than seventh, where we ended up.”
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 11th
Solid finish for you and your team today, Bubba. How was it from the driver’s seat?
“I thought our balance was good enough to keep us right there at the edge of the lead lap. Cautions definitely felt our way to keep us in the game. That gave us a mental reset, but as the runs went on, we noticed that our speed was top-10 lap times. It’s just so hard to pass and make ground when everybody’s fighting for half-a-tenth to a tenth. It was a good call by Wheels (Mike Wheeler, crew chief) and the team to keep us out late, and I was able to hang on. I had to fight some guys off to salvage that finish but that is what it takes. You have to stay mentally tough all day long. Everybody’s going to test you. It was a good day for our McDonald’s Toyota team.”
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