Toyota Racing – Post-Practice Media Availability
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

INDIANAPOLIS (August 14, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Christopher Bell made available to media after practice for the Indianapolis race today:

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How was it going backwards at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

“It’s a fun track. It’s got some good passing zones, so it’s good so far.”

What do you think of the NASCAR/INDYCAR doubleheader?

“I like it. I definitely think it gives the fans the opportunity to see two different types of series in one weekend, so I do like it.”

Is it something you would like to see continue?

“Sure, I don’t see why not.”

This is the sixth of seven road courses. Any road course fatigue?

“You just get more reps doing it. I think everybody just keeps getting better with all the road courses that we have especially back-to-back. You just get more reps, so as you can see the field is just tighter together.”

Is it better to have them together?

“It’s neither here nor there for me. I’m sure that one is better than the other, but from a driver’s standpoint you feel you get into reps, and you understand what you need, and you are not thinking about the next road course two months from now, so it certainly allows you to focus on it.”

You got off track earlier today, was there anything that surprised you about the course?

“Not really. It all kind of laid out exactly how I thought. I was just pushing the braking zones further until I found my limit. Well, I found it.”

How much pressure are you putting on yourself to get some bonus points before the end of the season?

“We are just every week – trying to win the week in whatever stage we are in, so every week we are pushing as hard as we can. We can’t put any more emphasis than we already have now.”

Are you relieved to get back to known racetracks after this one?

“We’ve got all of these interesting road courses throughout the season. They’ve all been great in their own way, but still the bulk of the season and the championship is going through the same tracks we’ve had in the past.”

If someone told you starting the season that you wouldn’t have a win yet, would you have believed them?

“Not really. It’s not for a lack of being competitive. Of the guys that won a lot of races last year, we are by far the most competitive and we are in the top-five more than anyone else. We just haven’t had anything break our way yet. Some of it was our fault, some of it wasn’t our fault. It just hasn’t happened, but we are a competitive team that can win each and every week.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Mix Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Do you like having road courses back-to-back?

“I’ve had blistering issues over the years, but thankfully last week I was fine with that and didn’t have any issues. It helps coming into this week not having that, but I was concerned about it at the start of the year.”

Are you a fan of the NASCAR/INDYCAR doubleheader?

“We will find out more a little bit later and see what it looks like tomorrow. To me, it doesn’t make any difference, it’s just disappointing that we are on the road course instead of the oval in my opinion. I think the history is all built around the oval and the road course was built for Formula1 to come here and take part of the history and now we are all racing on it because it’s here and the oval stinks.”

Does that make your oval wins that much more special?

“Probably to the guys that have won here, they would say yes, and to the guys that haven’t won here – they would say no.”

How did the road course feel?

“It was fine, just slick a little bit, trying to find the grip to it all and make speed. We didn’t really do a very good job of that.”

Did knowing that you would be on a track with INDYCAR rubber effect how you prepared?

“No, not really. We were not really sure how it was going to impact the cars because we never have done it before, and the Xfinity guys talked about how they started a little bit tight and then as the rubber wore off it got looser. All we did is go looser the whole time.”

As you close in on the Playoffs, what is the most important goal in your mind?

“Winning, no different than any other part of the year. You want to win. You want to pick up those bonus points and get yourself a little bit better situated for the Playoff run. I feel like we are a little bit behind on that. We are not terrible. We are way ahead of where we were last year, but it would certainly be nice to have one or two more wins and call it two or three more stage point, I think we would be good with that.”

Are you glad all of the new tracks are behind you at this point?

“Yes and no. It’s fine. New tracks are new tracks. It’s no big deal. In a perfect world, I’d say throw out Talladega and the ROVAL in the Playoffs so we wouldn’t have to go through those, but that’s not going to happen so those are definitely two wild cards for us for sure.”

Do they need to make any changes to the curbs they put in?
“I felt like they were really aggressively placed before we got here, and since they moved them, I feel like they have put them in a good spot. Besides turn 10, the curb is still out to the racetrack. They could probably move that one back about two feet, but it’s fine.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance/MTJF Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What are your first impressions of this road course?
“I’m liking it. Coming to Indianapolis has always been special. It’s been a struggle for us over the year. I’ve not been very lucky, so I’m not opposed to have the road course here. The Auto-Owners Toyota Camry was really fast. We ended up first, and I’m really happy with the car. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and see what it brings.”

What are your feelings watching these two sports come together?

“It feels great so far. We will have to see how it turns out, but I’ve never been to an INDYCAR race myself, so I’m looking forward to watching some this afternoon. Find a new spot in the infield, maybe ride around and check out a few different turns, but it’s definitely fun to be doing this for the first time.”

Physically, have you felt any different this season with so many road courses?

“Not really anything that sticks out. I’ve always felt pretty much comfortable on road courses, not really having any issues with being sore afterwards or feeling things that I wouldn’t on an oval. I would say no.”

How has it been this season having all of these road courses?

“It’s been fun. We’ve enjoyed them a lot. We’ve been really competitive in all of them but lacking that win though. I really thought coming into this year all of the road courses would be good to us and I feel like they have from a points standpoint for sure, but just haven’t quite been able to get that win. We need to find a little bit of speed and I feel like we have it today. We were right there with the best cars. I don’t know. We’ve never raced here, so we don’t know what’s it going to do in 20 or 30 lap run, so a little bit of a question on that, but I’m feeling good on our speed so far. Hopefully we can go have a good day tomorrow.”

Watkins Glen was a quick and clean race, should we expect the same for this weekend?

“I think Watkins Glen is so fast that you get separated because of the aero situation and just trying to find grip. It’s not one of those places where it’s easy to make mistakes. You have plenty of run off room if you get into the corner too hard. There’s not really a whole lot of grass to get into except for the bus stop if you really screw up. It’s hard to say. I think here you’ve got guys slipping off, getting in the grass, getting stopped, spun out, whatever. A lot of switchback turns, slower stuff, where I think there will be more contact – especially on restarts.”

You did the special diecast this weekend for this scheme. I would imagine those went pretty quickly.

“It was pretty amazing. I think it was a new record – seven minutes, they were gone. I think within the first five minutes, there was 600 people on the site trying to buy them. Unbelievable support we get for the foundation. We couldn’t do what we do without all of the support from the fans.”

Are you excited going into the Playoffs?

“I’m feeling good about things. Nothing I don’t think to be crazy worried about. I don’t get too stressed out any more about these things. I’m ready to roll.”

What do you want the team to focus on to be one of those four cars in Phoenix?

“To be consistent each week and bring home a few wins along the way. That’s what we’ve done this year and that’s what it takes to make the final four. Number one rule is always don’t beat yourself. If we do what we are capable of, I think we can get there no problem. No mistakes. We are going to try to get some stage points in every race, and hopefully get a few wins to make the rounds a little easier.”

What is there to be said about back-to-back road courses? That’s never happened before.

“I’ve been excited about it in the off-season. Coming into the year, I was excited about new tracks, especially new road courses. I really enjoy new road courses, learning them is a lot of fun. I don’t think any of the road course that we’ve been on this year have disappointed. They’ve put on great races, and they are a lot of fun to race on. It’s been tricky to learn – just a short period of time. It’s all really simulator time. It’s all just more homework, because 50 minutes practice to learn 14 turns isn’t the easiest thing in the world, and by the way, if you screw up, your team is yelling at you. It’s just a lot of preparation, but a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been good for us. We are really successful on the road courses. Just haven’t won at any of them yet. We’ve been really close. I feel like we are right there each and every week. Hopefully tomorrow’s our day.”

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 STANLEY Security Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Did you get Larson’s call and purposely avoid it?

“In my opinion, if Larson really wanted to talk to me, he would have called me to talk to me. I received a text message at midnight that said ‘sorry, hate I spun you.’ I’ve sent out apology texts and calls in my day, and if I really want to talk to you about it, I called the person and handled it that way, if I couldn’t talk to them in person.”

Do you have any urge to want to talk to him?

“No, I was really moved on at that point. The on-track incident – I wasn’t happy about it – but it was fine, and then whenever he went on cried to the media about me not texting him back from the text message I got at midnight, I called him to discuss that part of it and he didn’t answer my call and he called me back and I had some obligations, and I didn’t pick up either. On-track incident, whatever. Him crying to the media that I didn’t reply to his sorry text message, like, come on.”

Do you race him any differently going forward?
“We always race each other extremely hard. I don’t know if it’s really going to change anything.”

Do you feel like you guys are rivals or colleagues? How do you describe you and (Kyle) Larson’s relationship?

“He’s just another guy, another competitor out there.”

Did this cross a line with how you guys have been in the past?

“Did this cross a line? The on-track incident – no. It did not cross a line. Him going to the media complaining that I didn’t respond – yes, I would say that crossed a line.”

Have you gone back and reviewed that tape of the incident? Does your view on it change?

“I went back and looked at in on SMT, which is real data, and I was a car length and a half above the normal bottom line. That was compared to my normal bottom line and his normal bottom line, so that’s what I’ve got to say.”

So, you feel like it’s more on him than on you?

“Yes, he hit me and spun me out. I left him a lane and a half to not do that.”

Have you ever had an incident like this where you haven’t been able to communicate with one another?

“I mean, no, it’s not really new. The only thing I really have to go off of is my past experiences. We’ve all got into on-track incidents, but never have I ever sent a text message at midnight and complained that the guy didn’t message me back. Like first off, I will always try to make an effort to talk to them face to face, or if I can’t talk to them face to face, call them and more than likely leave a voicemail. If I really want to talk about it and I feel like it needs to be discussed, i will tell them to call me back, or whatever. I didn’t really think that needed to be discussed or talked about. He did send me a text message, albeit at midnight, and I was moved on from the on-track incident and then him running his mouth is a little uncalled for, but it is what it is.”

So, you were asleep when the text message came through?

“I was asleep. I didn’t even see it till the next day. It’s very frustrating to hear that (Kyle) Larson has called me and I’m not answering the phone when that’s so far from the truth. If he really wants to talk about it, I’ll be glad to talk about it, but it is what it is.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this upset.

“The on-track incident is a quarter of the story, 10 percent of the story.”

Could this be a rivalry that we are watching over the next 10-15 years?

“He’s really talented. He’s going to be around for a while, and I hope that I’m around for a while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. I’ve got really good cars. He’s got really good cars at Hendrick. I think, hopefully, it’s going to be around for a while.”

Is this built-up tension over the last couple years?

“No. We’ve raced against each other for close to 10 years, so no, it’s not built-up tension.”

What’s the majority of this story?

“It’s all him going to the media and telling half of the story and complaining that I’m not replying to him and I’m not answering his phone calls, when, yeah, I didn’t respond to a text message I got from him at midnight, but he made zero effort to call me and talk about it.”

He pretty much said that he felt like any professional would respond.

“Well, I’ve apologized to a lot of professionals and very, very rarely – if ever – have I ever gotten a text message back – if I send a text message, and my text messages aren’t going to come at midnight either.”

How’s your car?
“I think our Stanley Camry is competitive. I think we will be a factor on Sunday. After the last couple of weeks, I kind of expected to be the favorite coming in and after practice, I don’t necessarily think that we are the favorite, but I do think that we will be competitive.”

Is it the handling?

“Yeah, definitely handling, just trying to get the balance right. The corners are all flat, so it’s a matter of getting the car to turn but still have drive off. We just haven’t quite hit it yet.”

Anything about the course surprise you?

“Actually, the switchback/chicane surprised me. It was probably a little bit easier.”

Which one is that?

“(Turns) five, six, I think. In our simulation, it was a lot more grip limited, and you had to be off throttle, and today we were running right through it.”

Do you like doing back-to-back road course races?

“It definitely helps us get into a rhythm and probably makes everyone a little bit more competitive because you are not getting up to speed, you are already up to speed and it’s just about fine-tuning stuff. It’s been fun. The road courses have been good to me, so I like them.”

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