BUSCH SCORES SECOND-STRAIGHT TOP-FIVE FINISH
Kurt Busch leads Toyota with a third-place finish
ATLANTA (March 20, 2022) – Kurt Busch (third) led Toyota in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Race 5 of 36 – 500.5 miles, 325 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, William Bryon*
2nd, Ross Chastain*
3rd, KURT BUSCH
4th, Daniel Suarez*
5th, Corey LaJoie*
8th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
13th, BUBBA WALLACE
23rd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
29th, DENNY HAMLIN
33rd, KYLE BUSCH
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
KURT BUSCH, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How different was today for you?
“We were on a different planet today with the draft and the way the cars raced. Wow. I was catching air off of turn two. I had to lift to not hit the rev chip. I just had a little too much damage to not be on offense, and then we were just trying to ride around and pick our poison so to speak with the Monster Energy Toyota. We weren’t on offense, so if you are not on offense, you kind of have to ride and wait for the holes to open up and I got a top-five again. A lot of sarcasm here. We know we need to get better with the handling and some of our race craft, but another top-five – we will take it.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 23rd
NASCAR has decided to move you to the end of the lead lap after the last lap move. Can you explain it from your seat?
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen a replay or anything, but I saw a hole there and tried to take it and we came together. I know he was coming down, whether or not – it kind of is what it is. Our DeWalt Camry was extremely fast today. We’ve been pretty fast all year, just haven’t got the results to show for it. Just have to keep digging.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 29th
Can you sum up what racing was like out there?
“We had a really fast FedEx Camry. I was just trying to help Kyle (Larson) there and I just needed to let him go off turn four. The track gets light there, the car starts to lift up and that’s where I needed to back off of him and I just didn’t and spun him out. It is a shame. Our car was really fast. We definitely slowed after the first part of the damage – we were involved in that first wreck. Overall, just frustrating, but we are running well, we are just finishing horrible. I’m just making some bad decisions. It’s easy in retrospect to say I should have done this, and I should have done that, but in the moment, you are trying to battle for some stage points there and we’ve got good grip, and I’m pushing him, and everything is going well and then all of a sudden the car lifts up and he’s gone. Just split-second decision making.”
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