TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Race 18 of 36 – 318.46 miles, 301 laps
Sunday, July 17, 2016
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS — at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
1st, MATT KENSETH
2nd, Tony Stewart
3rd, Joey Logano
4th, Kevin Harvick
5th, Greg Biffle
8th, KYLE BUSCH
9th, DENNY HAMLIN
16th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
20th, CARL EDWARDS
30th, DAVID RAGAN
31st, MATT DiBENEDETTO
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER IN NSCS POINT STANDINGS — following New Hampshire Motor Speedway**
1st, Kevin Harvick 636 points*
4th, CARL EDWARDS 587 points
6th, KYLE BUSCH 556 points
7th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 540 points
8th, MATT KENSETH 521 points
10th, DENNY HAMLIN 505 points
30th, DAVID RAGAN 274 points
36th, MATT DiBENEDETTO 189 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
TOYOTA NOTES
· Camry driver Matt Kenseth earned his second win of the 2016 season in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
· Kenseth started in the 18th position and led 38 laps (of 301) en route to the ninth NSCS victory of the season for Toyota.
· Camry driver Kyle Busch (eighth) also earned a top-10 finish after leading a race-high 133 laps while fellow Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. also led 123 laps, but a broken shifter forced him to a 16th place finish.
· Denny Hamlin (ninth) also brought his Camry to the checkered flag with a top-10 finish.
TOYOTA QUOTES
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How does it feel to be back in victory lane?
“You’re always pleased to be in victory lane. The farther down the road you get, the better they feel for sure. Thanks to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing – I’ve said it a million times, but I’m blessed with this opportunity to be over here with the guys I get to work with and my great sponsors – Dollar General and of course, can’t do it without Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Interstate Batteries, WileyX, Gatorade. Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and the team over there made great, great adjustments today. I didn’t do a very good job qualifying and after round one today it was pretty much money, we just had to get there. It was a fun day.”
How were you able to recover from getting blocked in on pit road?
“That was my bad, I slid a little deep into the stall and I knew Clint (Bowyer) was coming in there late. Luckily, we had a good car to make up for it.”
With three wins at NHMS, are you becoming the ‘king’ of this race track?
“I don’t know about that, it’s a testament to these guys standing behind me. This has never been one of my good tracks, but Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) has a great setup here and I have great teammates. Certainly, when I first got here, Kyle (Busch) and Denny (Hamlin) taught me a lot about this place that I applied every lap today. Just fortunate guy to be driving this thing, when they drive this good it definitely makes my job a lot easier.”
What was the biggest challenge today?
“Probably the toughest part to be patient was when I was around second behind Martin (Truex Jr.), I could see that he was burning rear tires and I really wanted to go past him, but I needed to be a little bit patient. It was hard to be back there for 20 laps or so until he slipped enough to where I could get by him. Other than that, just tried to take what it would give us and go from there.”
How challenging were the multiple restarts at the end of the race?
“Every restart you’re just hoping not to mess up and spin the tires too bad. Thankfully, we had good ones and we had great power and we had good traction and we were able to get going pretty good in a straight line and then after a couple laps we were able to roll the middle and get away. These guys did a great job, I had an easy job today – these guys got it done for me.”
JASON RATCLIFF, crew chief, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How were you able to capitalize today and get to victory lane?
“We knew we had a long way to come, we didn’t qualify where we hoped we would and at the start of the race he (Matt Kenseth) just couldn’t make any ground up and I don’t know if it was just the race track being cleaned off from the rain. Once we got the first set of tires on it, we felt like from practice yesterday that four tires would be an advantage and we knew that most of the day we would try to keep four on it. Even though a lot of guys took two, on the first stop we felt like we needed four even with where we were at. And the car just came to life after that. We didn’t have to make a lot of adjustments the rest of the day, just kept moving forward and cautions came our way, picture perfect day. I love this place.”
How important is this win at a track that the series will visit again for the second round of the Chase?
“This has been two out of the last three years, this has been the track we come to and we advance to the next round because we win here. This has been a good place for us and we have to keep working on it, everyone else is going to keep working on it. It’s not like we’ll come here and run the same setup, but it’s a track that between the team and Matt, we’re pretty fond of and we seem to have a handle on it regardless of what car they bring or regardless of the track conditions. We have a few months to think about it, but we’ll be better next time.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
How was the car and what happened in the closing laps of the race?
“Our Interstate Batteries Camry was fast today we just didn’t need all of those cautions at the end. The car was strong on a long run. We still seemed to battle the balance and just kept going loose and tight at different points on the track. Given how much we led we are a little disappointed with eighth but we’ll take it and look to Indy next weekend.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 16th
How disappointed are you with today’s result after leading so much of this race?
“A lot of positives we can take out of today, though. I think looking forward to the Chase and what we’re trying to do with this team, this is a big relief to come here and be able to run well. We knew this was one of our tough tracks and if we could come here and get through here good in September then we’ll be setup to start pretty good in the Chase. All in all, couldn’t be more proud of everybody at Furniture Row Racing and everybody on this Toyota. We weren’t that good yesterday as we talked about this morning, but the guys went to work last night and we had some good ideas, we talked about it and some things stuck out to Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and the guys and things that they thought we needed to work on just based on what I felt yesterday. All in all, total team effort and the pit crew was great today, the best they’ve been all year by far. We’re doing everything right, but we’re taking some on the chin here, but this isn’t when it counts so we’ll just keep our heads up and keep working. Our race cars are fast and everyone is doing a great job. Sooner or later we’ll get everything straight.”
How difficult were the final restarts being stuck in gear?
“It’s not tough, it’s just that you’re a sitting duck and there’s nothing you can do to get going. Unfortunately, we got passed by a lot of cars and we pitted for tires on that last stop because we were starting all the way in the back on that restart there and we wanted to get some momentum going and make sure we didn’t destroy the race car getting in a wreck. We passed 10 cars in the last 10 laps so we had a good race car, just nothing to show for it today.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 20th
DAVID RAGAN, No. 23 No. 23 Flaming Leprechaun Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 30th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 Cosmo Motors Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 31st
