FOUR TOYOTAS CLAIM TOP-10 RESULTS AT ATLANTA
Camry TRDs Claim Top Finishes of 2023 Season To Date
HAMPTON, Ga. (March 19, 2023) – Four Toyota Camry TRDs claimed top-10 finishes in Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Christopher Bell (third), Tyler Reddick (fifth), Denny Hamlin (sixth) and Ty Gibbs (ninth) all ran together in the draft pack on the high-speed Atlanta track in the closing laps, but were unable to make the pass in the closing laps to get around race-winner Joey Logano.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Race 5 of 36 – 400 miles, 260 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Joey Logano*
2nd, Brad Keselowski*
3rd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
4th, Corey LaJoie*
5th, TYLER REDDICK
6th, DENNY HAMLIN
9th, TY GIBBS
19th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
27th, BUBBA WALLACE
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What could you have done as a pack of Toyotas in the final laps of the race?
“I don’t know. Got a good finish out of it and I’m happy with that. I don’t know, I had the position the 22 (Joey Logano) had and I decided to bail on it and go to the top. To come so close is disappointing, but very happy with a third-place result. We’ll go onto the next one.”
How difficult is it to put this behind you and move onto Circuit of the Americas next week?
“That will be pretty easy. I don’t really enjoy this style of racing, but I really enjoy CoTA. Ready to go.”
Can you take us through your race today overall?
“It was a pretty smooth day really. We started in the back and we were able to get up front and get some stage points at the end of stage one so that was pretty cool. Stage two, the green flag cycle didn’t really work our way. Ultimately, we were able to keep the DeWalt Camry clean all day and put ourselves in position at the end of the race so that’s all you can ask for.”
What is your secret to the top-five finishes at this track in recent races?
“Getting lucky. Speedway racing is a lot about luck and fortunately it worked out for us at Daytona and now here.”
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Xfinity 10 G Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Was there anything you could have done differently at the end of the race to get the win?
“Oh yeah, for sure. We’ll try to just go back and look at it. Our Xfinity Toyota Camry TRD was as fast as the Xfinity 10 G network. We had Toyotas lined up there and I didn’t know if that was our move there with all three together or Christopher (Bell) was going to do it on his own. We’ll talk about it for sure. I don’t know, maybe if we all would have went it would have worked out for one of us. I’m not really sure. It didn’t really work for one of us so it’s definitely something for us to think about so that one of us can win the race there. It’s a bummer that we let someone else get it done.”
Brad Keselowski said you deserved a better finish than fifth today, did it feel like a chess match during the final laps of the race?
“There was definitely some hard work going on. Joey (Logano) was doing Joey things. He was making the bottom work really good. For me, I appreciate his (Brad Keselowski) comments there, he’s done a lot for me in my career in the past. I was also at the same time trying to create an opportunity where all three – myself, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin could all break away and take advantage of momentum. It didn’t quite work out timing wise as it needed to for that. All in all, it was an okay day.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Shingrix Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
What was your takeaway from today’s race?
“The last pit road incident where cars are coming in and I’m coming out, that’s just part of it. The traffic jam that you get there. But speedways in general like this one, it’s just kind of two-by-two and you can’t really pull out to a third lane. I just restarted I think fourth on the outside row and that’s where I ended up. You have to stay in line and just watch the cars in front of you to see if you can make a hole. Overall, happy for Shingrix coming on again this week and hopefully we can keep getting more of these Toyotas up front.”
Do you think more could have been done with the group of Toyotas running together in the final laps?
“Not really. It’s just so circumstantial that you want to be able to stay as close as you can to each other to give each other runs. I thought there was one opportunity there where we all were clear and we could have all pulled down in front of the 22 (Joey Logano) and we didn’t. That probably was the key moment for us, but overall it is what it is and it’s probably the most Toyotas we’ve had in the top-10 all year. Just have to continue to get better. We just need more speed, more handling, more everything to get a little better.”
TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
How do you feel about your race and your performance today?
“I feel like from where we started to where we finished, we made really good progression. The team, my 54 group never gave up on me and we had great stops all day. We had a very fast Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD, just ran out of laps there. Probably could have worked our way up a little bit and been more aggressive, but it just comes with experience, but we’re plate racing and that’s just part of it and just learning and we’ll move on and go to the next race.”
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