Toyota NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Phoenix International Raceway
Race 32 of 33 – 200 miles, 200 laps
Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015
TOYOTA NXS DRIVER FINISHING POSITIONS at Phoenix International Raceway
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Brad Keselowski*
3rd, ERIK JONES
4th, DANIEL SUAREZ
5th, Ty Dillon*
6th, Regan Smith*
7th, Chase Elliott*
8th, Darrell Wallace Jr.*
9th, Elliott Sadler*
10th, Kasey Kahne*
17th, JJ YELEY
20th, BLAKE KOCH
21st, DAVID STARR
26th, ERIC MCCLURE
33rd, ROSS KENSETH
35th, MIKE BLISS
36th, TJ BELL
38th, RUBEN PARDO
40th, JEFF GREEN
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER NXS POINT STANDINGS following Phoenix International Raceway*
6th, DANIEL SUAREZ 1,040 points
12th, JJ YELEY 780 points
16th, DAVID STARR 694 points
17th, BLAKE KOCH 620 points
19th, CALE CONLEY 561 points
20th, ERIC MCCLURE 550 points
*unofficial point standings
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Kyle Busch was victorious was the top-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Phoenix International Raceway.
· He started from the pole position and led 190 laps (of 200) to win his eighth NXS race at Phoenix.
· Busch’s victory is also his 12th NASCAR win since returning in May from injuries sustained in the season-opener at Daytona in February. This year, he has four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins, six NXS and two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
· His Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Erik Jones (third) and Daniel Suarez (fourth), also tallied a top-five finishes at the one-mile track.
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How were you able to dominate this race and come home with the win?
“We did today. This Monster Energy Camry was really good. It was really good here last time too, I just somehow messed up and gave it away. I’m proud of the effort by Chris Gayle (crew chief) and the guys – they do a fabulous job for me. I’m real proud of the Joe Gibbs Racing Camry we drove today. Toyota did an awesome job with JGR engines and this Monster Energy – thanks to the fans, XFINITY, I just appreciate it all. You can’t take any of these wins for granted. We had fun and enjoy what we’re doing right now. It will help us a little bit for tomorrow, I learned a few things so I’m looking forward to using that.”
What did you learn today that will help you in the Cup race?
“Nothing really I can share, sadly. I think the biggest thing is the opportunity to learn about the race track and the tire and everything. Just feeling out how this car compared to the other car knowing what this thing is and trying to feel it out a little bit. I feel like I got some ideas that can help us for tomorrow.”
How were you able to be so strong on the restarts?
“I was able to get the gas down so much better than maybe my competitors today. I felt like I could hammer the throttle and the car would stick. That’s probably the biggest thing – feeling like you can win. You have to turn the center, too. You definitely can’t be too tight on exit that you can hit the gas like that and screw up the center – it’s easy to do.”
What are your feelings for Sunday’s race?
“Pretty good, we our M&M’s Camry a little bit better there in Happy Hour. It was good. I’d like it to be better than it was, but we’ll see how it stacks up in the race. I learned some things here today that will help me and I’m looking forward to it.”
How does it feel to win?
“It was a really dominant day. This Monster Energy Camry – as long as we didn’t screw it up – it was really, really fast and I felt like we had the potential to win today’s race. Obviously we were successful to be able to do that. I can’t say enough about Chris Gayle (crew chief). We just continue to try to rack up the wins again. We thank the fans for being here. I missed the spring race here, so I wanted to make sure we kept the record alive at Phoenix.”
What does it feel like to win 12 wins so far since returning from your injuries earlier this year?
“We’ve set out each year and I run the races that I run and try to win every single one of them. Certainly you can never accomplish all of those races, but you try to get as many as you can. Phoenix being one of those places that we seem to be so good at, we try to focus on those dominance at those race tracks or having good race cars so we can score wins at those tracks. I wouldn’t say from my injuries and coming back to win 12 shouldn’t be – I wish there were more wins and I was not injured at the beginning of the year, but we got what we got right now. Looking forward to the final week at Homestead next week and working with (Chris) Gayle (crew chief) again and go out in style.”
How do you balance what you need tomorrow to advance knowing your teammate Carl Edwards might need to win?
“You don’t change anything. You race as hard as you would with any other competitor, I feel like. Right now it’s the situation where you want to try to eliminate as many guys as you can that you feel like you’ll be in contention with for the championship and Carl Edwards is really good at Homestead – he’s probably one of the best at Homestead. If I had to look at five drivers, he’s definitely in my top-five list of guys at Homestead that are good there. We just work as hard as we can and try to do what we need to do to push ourselves through and if Carl can push himself through, more power to him.”
What has been the key to Erik Jones’ success in the NCWTS driver’s champions race so far this season?
“I think you’d have to ask him. To me, it’s the confidence he has in his equipment. Everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports does a really good job in working hard to put the best possible piece out there each and every week. Obviously Toyota is a huge supporter of ours and Erik (Jones) is a great driver. We knew that we had a great opportunity to go for a championship this year. It has worked out so far and we have one more week to see that come to fruition and celebrate our first driver owner championship together and being one team up on stage in Miami. I look forward to that next week probably more so than Erik might. The pressure is off of me, it’s on Erik. It’s fun to see our, mine and Samantha (Busch, wife), organization run like that and compete for championships and ultimately score our first next week is pretty special.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How was the race today?
“It was okay, we just got so tight after 15 or 20 laps every run. I don’t know why, it did it in practice and it did it here too. Definitely not that happy with third, I don’t think any of us are. We all wanted to win, but solid day overall for us. We got the GameStop Camry up front and in contention at least so we’ll keep working on it and hopefully one more to get there at Homestead.”
Could you see Kyle Busch from where you were running today?
“I could. I think we just weren’t good enough. It was weird, we spaced out there on the start. The 54 (Kyle Busch) kind of jumped out and the 22 (Brad Keselowski) would fall back and we would fall back and then we would go 15 laps and we would all stay in the same spot. I don’t know if it’s tire or what. I think that’s a lot of it. We just couldn’t do a whole lot with him. The GameStop Camry was good and we got it better throughout the day. Just not good enough to run up there with him.”
What did you learn today that you can use tomorrow?
“Just these tires are going to be really a handful tomorrow. They were Friday night and they were today as well. Just really nasty the way they go through a run and cycle. They start out really, really free and then get really tight. You have to start really free to be good at the end of a run, which I thought we were wrecking loose there at the start and we still got really, really tight. We were struggling with the same thing in the Cup car as well so we’ll just see how things progress and see how it goes tomorrow.”
What is the struggle with the tire?
“I think their idea was here with this tire that the groove was going to widen out with it being softer, but the thing is it’s Phoenix and the groove is going to be on the bottom no matter what if you’re stuff is good. I don’t think the groove is really widening out, I just think it’s laying down a bunch of rubber and the tires are picking up a ton of rubber. It gets real gummy and just kind of makes it go through a run and get tight at the end.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How do you feel about the result from today’s race?
“It definitely was a pretty solid day for our ARRIS Toyota Camry. I felt like all these guys have been working super hard. I made a mistake in the first practice, I hit the wall. They fixed the car and leave this place – Phoenix International Raceway, one of my favorite places with a top-five I think is something pretty good. We always want more and we work for more, but we have to keep working. Thanks everyone at Toyota, Juniper, XFINITY to pull a great series together and everyone in Mexico who has been helping me. I feel like it was a pretty solid weekend between this and the trucks last night.”
How has running the Trucks helped you develop as a driver in NASCAR?
“It helps me and I have double the fun. It’s always good to be racing in fast cars and trucks and there’s an opportunity I have with Kyle Busch Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. I’m very lucky to be in this position right now to do our best and try to win some races. We have a couple more left next week.”
Have you determined that a NASCAR career is what you want for your future?
“For sure, I love racing in NASCAR. This competition is so tough. I like that and I like to be challenged. NASCAR is a huge challenge for me. I was 16 or 17 years old and the NASCAR opportunity came for me. I wasn’t very sure because for me it was kind of different, but once I raced on the oval, I got to understand how difficult and competitive it is and I love that. I enjoy racing in NASCAR. I like road course racing as well, but NASCAR is my priority and it’s what I like to do.”
Do you want to race in the Cup Series soon?
“I really feel like we have to take this thing by it’s tail. I feel like those conversations will come. We have had a little bit of those conversations, but I feel like we need to see where this goes here in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and even in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. We have to win races, we have to win and learn from everything more and after that I’m sure the opportunity will come. The example is Erik Jones. He’s a driver that is a rookie and he’s very talented driver and very young driver as well. Joe Gibbs Racing has given him the opportunity to try out and I feel if I’m in the right place and with the right people to make that step at the right time, but for now we need to focus on what we’re doing right now.”
JJ YELEY, No. 28 Toyota Camry, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 17th
BLAKE KOCH, No. 8 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 20th
DAVID STARR, No. 44 Zachry Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 21st
ERIC MCCLURE, No. 24 Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 26th
ROSS KENSETH, No. 80 Toyota Camry
Finishing Position: 35th
MIKE BLISS, No. 14 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 35th
TJ BELL, No. 26 Toyota Camry, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 36th
RUBEN PARDO, No. 13 Grafoid/Braille Battery Toyota Camry
Finishing Position: 38th
JEFF GREEN, No. 19 Premier Barter Exchange Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
