Toyota Post-Qualifying Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Phoenix International Raceway
March 17, 2017
TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, Joey Logano*
8th, ERIK JONES
9th, KYLE BUSCH
12th, MATT KENSETH
16th, MARTIN TRUEX JR
19th, DENNY HAMLIN
27th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
31st, COREY LaJOIE
36th, GRAY GAULDING
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
ERIK JONES, No. 77 5-hour Energy Extra Strength Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Starting Position: 8th
How did your qualifying run go today?
“We came a long ways from the first round. I really didn’t think we had a great car here in the first round. I wasn’t too sure after practice, but the 5-hour Energy Camry ended up being really close to what I needed in the last round. Looking back on it, knowing what the pole was, I think there was a few things that we probably could’ve done to be a little better, that would’ve gave us a good shot at it. Good qualifying effort nonetheless. Good to make it to the third round again here and in a getting starting spot.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Skittles Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 9th
What kind of car do you have and what kind of changes did you have to make to qualify top 10?
“Everything’s great. I’m back at the race track and I’m in my race car. So that’s why everything is great. You have the opportunity to have something else happen during the week and it didn’t. So it’s good to be back at the track and here in Phoenix. West Coast swing. Loving the time out here. Our Skittles Camry was just a little off today. Not bad. I feel like there’s some moments there that we can work on and get a little bit better and get it to where we need it for race trim obviously. Qualifying trim we were the top JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) car I guess. I think (Erik) Jones beat us out. We still kind of call them the Toyota guys so he beat us out there a little bit there. He’s in eighth. But overall a good run, a strong run for us here today. Glad to make it to the final round. It wasn’t looking pretty for us there for a minute. All in all just looking forward to being able to get a good run, get a good solid run here. We haven’t had one yet this year. We need one. And just get our rhythm going.”
Is the car driving any differently than you’re used to with the new package?
“A little bit, yeah. It’s driving a little bit differently. We try to work on some of the tendencies that our car didn’t do well here the last time. And we fared well. (Matt) Kenseth was fast. And unfortunately I crashed out late, but we finished second. We just wanted to get ourselves a little bit better than that. We knew that the Hendrick cars were definitely better than us here last time so we’re trying to chase those animals. Hopefully we can get there. We’ll know here a little bit more tomorrow.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Tide Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 12th
Talk about your qualifying effort.
“We’re happy we got to the last round. It seemed like we were pretty good on used tires today. We just kind of missed a little bit that last round. We were decent. We were just off a little bit from the best cars. Wanted to be a little better than 12th. Thought we may be fifth or sixth after the first couple of rounds. We just kind of got off a little bit.”
DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 27th
What sort of challenges is this team going to face starting 27th on Sunday?
“I feel like definitely we won’t have a good pit selection, but overall we have to work better for tomorrow. I hope we can find some better speed for the long run. I knew that my qualifying run with this car wasn’t great, but I was expecting a little bit more than 27th. Anyway, that’s part of it. We’ll get better for tomorrow.”
