WALLACE LEADS TOYOTA IN WILD INDY FINISH
Bubba Wallace drives back to top-15 after late-race penalty
INDIANAPOLIS (August 15, 2021) – Bubba Wallace (13th) led Toyota with a top-15 finish in a wild finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday evening. Denny Hamlin was leading with two laps to go when he got spun out of first place. Despite the finish, Hamlin has clinched his spot in the Playoffs on points, joining Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Christopher Bell
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course
Race 24 of 36 – 82 laps, 200 miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, AJ Allmendinger*
2nd, Ryan Blaney*
3rd, Kyle Larson*
4th, Chase Elliott*
5th, Matt DiBenedetto*
13th, BUBBA WALLACE
15th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
20th, KYLE BUSCH
23rd, DENNY HAMLIN
27th, TIMMY HILL
36th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 23rd
Are you accepting his (Chase Briscoe) explanation?
“I agree it’s not on purpose, but my team told me that he had a penalty right away and to me, it’s obvious. If you cut the racetrack and end up in the lead, you’re going to have a penalty. Lack of awareness. Race me for a lap. He went right in the back of me. We can’t race that way. I don’t think he did it malicious. I’ve raced with him for a year now. He’s not that kind of person, just bad judgement.”
How would you describe the racing going into turn one? Everybody going for it.
“Yeah, no doubt. I got hit by the 16 (AJ Allmendinger) going into the corner. He shoved me out. Then I shoved him to the right and then the 14 (Chase Briscoe) cut the track and took the lead for a second there. I thought we were probably in good shape there, but this just turns everything upside down.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 STANLEY Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 36th
What did you see in front of you?
“Just a bunch of carnage, that’s for sure. Whenever you are packed up like that racing, you are just kind of following the guy in front of you. I didn’t really see much, just a bunch of crashing.”
Had you felt that curb have issues prior to this?
“For me, no. My STANLEY Camry would be fine over there. You could see where the curb was kind of coming up a little bit throughout the course of the race and then obviously, they kept working on it. I was just kind of running my own line following the guys through there. I don’t know what happened. We all just piled up there.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit ToyotaNewsroom.com