TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 3 of 36 – 400.5 miles, 267 laps
March 6, 2016
TOYOTA NSCS DRIVER FINISHING POSITIONS at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
1st, Brad Keselowski*
2nd, Joey Logano*
3rd, Jimmie Johnson*
4th, KYLE BUSCH
5th, Austin Dillon*
11th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
18th, CARL EDWARDS
19th, DENNY HAMLIN
31st, MATT DiBENEDETTO
32nd, DAVID RAGAN
37th, MATT KENSETH
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER IN NSCS POINT STANDINGS — following Las Vegas Motor Speedway**
1st, KYLE BUSCH 116 points
2nd, Jimmie Johnson* 110 points
3rd, Kevin Harvick* 109 points
4th, Joey Logano* 104 points
5th, Kurt Busch* 102 points
7th, CARL EDWARDS 96 points
8th, DENNY HAMLIN 93 points
9th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 90 points
22nd, MATT KENSETH 56 points
33rd, DAVID RAGAN 31 points
35th, MATT DiBENEDETTO 23 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Kyle Busch (fourth) was the top-finishing Toyota in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
· Busch led the race in front of his hometown for 38 laps (of 267).
· Denny Hamlin (19th) also led 10 laps and Matt Kenseth (37th) paced the field for nine laps.
· Busch continues to lead the unofficial NSCS point standings after three races.
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s 75 Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
What stands out to you most about your final race run at Las Vegas?
“Huge vibration, I don’t know. I had a vibration when they put the rights on and then it just kept getting worse and worse and there at the end I didn’t know if the tire was coming apart or what the deal was. I was trying to give it everything I had and it just would not turn. It got so tight, that was the tightest we were all day. Ran my track bar up two inches and it didn’t do anything. Definitely something wrong, but can’t say enough about this whole M&M’s Camry team, they did a great job and prepared a good car. We struggled really, really bad all weekend, we were horrible. That’s not at all where we should have finished considering how it started. It was a good day. It wasn’t a win, but we were doing a good job doing what we need to do to keep top-fiving it and the wins will come.”
How do you feel about your mile-and-a-half program?
“We have some work to do. There’s definitely guys that are better than us. I think as a company, we’re not bad. I think we’re fourth to eighth – out of all of us, that’s kind of where we run and we need to get a little better to where we’re the guys that can be up front and lead laps. Yeah, we led laps today, but Matt (Kenseth) being a leader got passed and me being a leader got passed under green flag, so we’re just not good enough.”
How were you able to jump from sixth to first on the restart?
“It was just momentum. I got rolling on the restart better than those in the front of me. Jimmie (Johnson) gave me enough room, he could have pinched it off, but he let me go. I got a run down the back stretch and then just dove it off into turn three and when you do that, you have a chance of getting into those other guys, or them getting into you or pinching you really tight and spinning out, but I thought I had enough momentum that we squeaked through there before we got to the load part of the corner in turn three and it all worked out.”
How would you grade your race day?
“If I were to grade our weekend, for progress it’s an A-plus, but for being as bad as we were and ending up right there it would probably be a B or B-minus.”
How did today’s wind and weather affect your race?
“This weather was horrible for the race fans. I feel bad for all of them and having to deal with all the wind. The wind in the desert you get sand in your face and eyes and everything else. But for us being behind the wheel, it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t feel much of it. There were some opportunities where the wind was going different direction and you could really hustle your race car and others where it was blowing another direction where you’d have to check up and be a little easy and tentative through.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 11th
How was your race?
“We just didn’t have it today. We had some good runs, but at the end of the race the handling of our Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota wasn’t what we needed to bring home a strong top-10 finish. We could have used another caution close to the end. The car wasn’t right and it was sure disappointing to see those other cars get by me. An 11th place finish is nothing to brag about or nothing to get depressed about. It just wasn’t our day. We’ll move on to Phoenix and hopefully be more competitive.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 18th
How was your race?
“Our day was okay. I still don’t know exactly what happened. They said Kurt (Busch) drove in four-wide and lost it and lost it? I don’t know what happened. I got hit and it would have been alright I think if I would have stayed out instead of come in and I thought the car was more damaged so I came and had to start in the back. Overall I thought we recovered really well. My guys, for as big of a debacle that was, my ARRIS Camry ran pretty well after it. Just for ARRIS and J5 Tactical and all the guys that were here, I wish we would have got a better finish.”
How did the weather affect today’s racing?
“Wind was a really big factor. It was actually a little bit of a struggle for me at points, but it was a struggle for everybody and that’s okay.”
What do you think about the new downforce package after two races on mile-and-a-half race tracks?
“It sure didn’t seem like a different rules package here. We were screaming fast. You’re really locked down. I’d catch a guy and he’d be eight or 10 lengths back and that was about it. I don’t know if everybody had that problem. NASCAR is working on it and it’s better than it was because of the changes they’ve made. Hopefully they keep working on it.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 Cosmo Motors Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 31st
DAVID RAGAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 37th
What happened on the race track to bring you to the garage?
“I have no idea, honestly. I went into turn one and I wasn’t really hardly turning yet and just spun out before I had any idea what happened. I don’t know, after that I was just trying to save our DeWalt Toyota and got ran into from behind.”
What was the wind like during the race?
“It got bad after that last restart, the winds got real gusty and it was a little harder to manage.”
