Denny Hamlin (third) was the highest finishing Camry driver in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Kansas Speedway.
Camry drivers Kyle Busch (12th) and Kasey Kahne (14th) earned top-15 finishes at Kansas Speedway.
Camry drivers Brian Vickers (16th) and Martin Truex Jr. (20th) earned top-20 finishes at Kansas Speedway.
Three Toyota drivers — Hamlin, Busch and Casey Mears — combined to lead the field six times for a total of 46 laps (of 267). Hamlin led 34 laps, Busch was at the front of the field for 11 laps, and Mears led one lap .
Other Camry drivers in the field included David Reutiman (22nd), Joey Logano (23rd), Bobby Labonte (28th), Mears (37th), Mike Skinner (40th), Michael McDowell (41st) and Joe Nemechek (43rd).
Busch remains fifth in the unofficial NSCS point standings following Kansas, and is now 60 points behind leader Carl Edwards.
Hamlin is now in 11th-place in the unofficial NSCS point standings after Kansas, and he is now one point out of 10th- place in the standings.
Other Toyota drivers in the top-25 in the unofficial NSCS point standings after 13 of 36 races are Kahne (18th), Truex Jr. (22nd) and Logano (25th).
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 3rd How was your race today? “It was a good run for our FedEx team. We had a good car at the beginning, the middle and just at the end I think something gave out in the front end and it just went real bad tight. Luckily, we came in to make an adjustment and coming in and getting fuel obviously worked out for our advantage.”
Are you happy with a third-place finish today? “I’m proud of our whole FedEx Freight team. We did a great job today. We had a really good car there at the beginning and there towards the middle part I’m thinking something gave out on the front end and we just went real bad tight. So, we decided to come in, work on it, get fuel to put us right there on the pit window and obviously it worked out great for us. So, can’t say enough for this whole team. We’re battling back. The pit crew is really stepping up these last few weeks and getting ourselves back in position.”
Is your team headed in the right direction going into the summer races? “Yeah, definitely. The slicker the race track usually the better we are. Once we get into the summer and get through these hot race tracks, especially Pocono next week, we should be in good shape.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 12th How was your race today? “We were just chasing the balance a little bit. Anytime we were a little bit snug or anytime we were a little bit loose it’d seem like we really couldn’t quite run with the leaders there. There was a few times where we felt like we were decent and kind of would make up ground a little bit and we would get close to somebody and try to pass and then the car would react like we burnt the tires off of it. They just got too hot and we started falling back from people. It was a solid day. Qualified up front and ran decent much of the race. We probably had a seventh or eighth-place car today and just kind of got off fuel mileage there at the end.”
KASEY KAHNE, No. 4 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position: 14th
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position: 16th
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 20th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 22nd How was your race car today? “Our TUMS Toyota was a handful today. We struggled with a loose car as we headed into the corner before it got tight, and ended snappy loose off. We worked on it all day and got all we could out of it. It was a long, hot day, but I’m proud of my team for sticking with it and giving me everything they have. We’ll get it figured out before we come back here in the fall. Now we’re going to go back to the shop and get ready for Pocono.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 23rd How hot was your race car today? “It was really, really hot. My feet were burning up. That wasn’t our biggest problem. Our first run we were alright. Then we could just never get a handle on it. The track changed a lot and we never got it back.”
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Clorox-Kleenex Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position: 28th
CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 37th
MIKE SKINNER, No. 60 Big Red Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 40th
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 66 Victory Junction Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Finishing Position: 41st
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 NEMCO Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position: 43rd
