TOYOTA Race Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway
200 Laps, 500 Miles
Sunday, February 26, 2017
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Did you have any indication you had a tire issue?
“No. I wished I would’ve. If I would’ve, I would’ve tried to wave off as many guys behind me as I could, but it happened just as soon as we started picking up load into turn three. Just spun around and you know it actually felt like I hung onto it for a long ways and then finally it went. I don’t know if it was a left rear that went down or the right that went down but man, tore up three JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) cars in one hit and also Jr. (Dale Earnhardt Jr.). So I feel bad, horrible, for those guys, but man, nothing that we did wrong. You know obviously Goodyear tires just aren’t very good at holding air. It’s very frustrating when we have that down here every single year we’ve been here. Last year we had it as well too. It wrecked us in practice and tore up a car – a few cars actually were in that as well. This M&M’s Camry though, we were just biding our time, playing it out, trying to see what the strategies were gonna to do at the segments. Thankfully we have I guess a segment point you know out of this day. That’s a positive. But man, you’re trying to win the Daytona 500 here you know. It’s just so disappointing.”
Can you walk us through what happened?
“Just getting into turn three as soon as we started picking up load it just started to come out from underneath me and started spinning. I could feel the rear tire kind of start to flap in there and I knew one of them was down. I couldn’t tell left or right. I want to say it was a left because of how long it took it to spin. But man we tore up three really good JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) cars there. We also tore up the 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), so I feel horrible about that but man it’s nothing I can do. Nothing that I did wrong. These Goodyear tires aren’t very good at holding air, so it’s very frustrating when you’re trying to win a Daytona 500 and you gotta rely on other people and they don’t do a good job.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What was the racing like today?
“I flat spotted the tire coming onto pit road the first time, just didn’t compensate enough for some of the adjustments we made and I got under it a little too hot. Then it was just a weird day because of the segments and how everybody would pit off cycle, but we had our self in a good position to maybe have a shot at that second segment and finally get back on the lead lap. Those lapped cars picked some interesting places to get lapped instead of staying in line, we kind of had to snake through there. Went into turn three, made sure I was clear and it looked like Kyle (Busch) spun out in front of Erik (Jones) and I didn’t have anywhere to go.”
What happened from your standpoint?
“I didn’t see anything that happened in front of me. I know Kyle (Busch) spun out. Albeit a flat, or, I really don’t know. We caught those lapped cars. I thought we had ourselves in good position with our DeWalt Camry to get up there for segment two and hopefully be in a good position for the end of the race. Those lapped cars did some weird things – that 13 (Ty Dillon) and 95 (Michael McDowell) or whoever it was – they just split all over. So we had to kind of snake through there and into the corner at a weird angle. I looked back to make sure I was clear and when I looked back up they were already crashed in front of me and I already had Erik (Jones) parked on my hood. Just happened pretty quick. I just didn’t have anywhere to go. Never saw it happen and didn’t have anywhere to go.”
ERIK JONES, No. 77 5-hour Energy Extra Strength Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Was there anything that led up to Kyle Busch’s spin that you saw from the driver’s seat?
“No, not really. We were just kind of riding around and trying to bide our time there. I think we were going to cycle out in a good spot and unfortunately I don’t know if Kyle (Busch) cut a tire or what but when we were cycling through those three cars there he just got loose into (turn) three and lost it and I got in the side of him. Couldn’t do much about it. The 5-hour Energy Camry was good. We spent most of the day kind of working our way up through and biding our time and we were finally in the position we wanted to be there to be cycled out with some JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) teammates and our Furniture Row teammate. Nothing we could do. Go onto Atlanta and try to get a better result.”
What happened to take you out of the race?
“It’s hard to say without talking to Kyle (Busch). I don’t know if he cut a tire or had an issue but obviously got turned around there in three and I just got in the side of him, nowhere for me to really go unfortunately as well as Matt (Kenseth) and we just all kind of got caught up. I thought we were in a good position, it was finally where we wanted to be with the 5-hour Energy Camry. Just kind of some bad luck unfortunately so we’ll just have to go onto Atlanta and hope for a better result.”
Did it seem pretty organized out on the track up until that point?
“Yeah, it was. Everybody was really minding their P’s and Q’s I thought up to that point throughout the whole field. We were in a good line there with Kyle (Busch) and Matt (Kenseth) and unfortunately we got jumbled up through some of those cars there trying to pass the three of them. I don’t think that had anything to do with Kyle turning around, but got us out of line and Kyle lost it, broke, whatever and we just got in the side of him and that ended our day.”
How much did you learn in your first Daytona 500?
“Well, I learned a lot. It’s just nice kind of settling in with everybody and settling in with my spotter Rick Carelli and working more with Chris (Gayle) and just kind of getting settled into the role with these cars. I was trying to figure it all out and like I said I thought we were in a good spot to cycle out towards the front. I was just getting to the point where I thought we were going to get to start racing and that happened. So, unfortunate but I learned a lot.”
