Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Talladega Superspeedway
Race 9 of 33 – 300.58 miles, 113 laps
May 6, 2017
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Aric Almirola*
2nd, Elliott Sadler*
3rd, Joey Logano*
4th, Ben Kennedy*
5th, ERIK JONES
6th, MATT TIFFT
9th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
10th, JEFF GREEN
11th, JJ YELEY
23rd, DAKODA ARMSTRONG
28th, MARK THOMPSON
34th, SCOTT LAGASSE JR.
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Elliott Sadler* 330 points*
7th, MATT TIFFT 216 points
11th, DAKODA ARMSTRONG 174 points
14th, JJ YELEY 140 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Camry driver Erik Jones (fifth) was the top finishing in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway.
· Fellow Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver Matt Tifft scored his season-best finish in today’s 300-mile race with a sixth-place finish at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
· The third JGR teammate of Daniel Suarez (ninth) also earned a top-10 finish in Saturday’s race.
TOYOTA QUOTES
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s American Classic Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How were the final laps of the race?
“Well we got up front there with maybe five (laps) to go or something like that. I cleared everybody and tried to play the zig zag game for a little bit and held them off for a few laps. Just let the 39 (Ryan Sieg) get to the bottom of me and I got shuffled to the back. Luckily, we got back up to fifth and got a good finish for the Reser’s Camry, but main thing today is we just got our cars a lot better. The JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) cars haven’t been great on superspeedways here the last year and a half and today I really felt like we had a car that could race and make a lot of good moves, big moves, and get clear, get to the front and lead laps. So that’s a big step for us and it was a good day overall.”
How much emphasis did you put on trying things in today’s race to go into tomorrow’s race?
“A lot. I guess that’s really the main focus in the XFINITY Series now. Especially coming here, you know where I don’t have a lot of experience on superspeedways in general. Especially with this type of racing. This is a lot different than the tandem racing we’ve had in the past. Just kind of trying to figure it all out. That’s really the first time I’ve gotten to get out front and really try, to you know, command the pack. And unfortunately just couldn’t do it long enough. But I learned a lot. I feel like we’ve got our cars a lot better on this side of things at superspeedways to where we can race and be competitive and learn and I feel like we’re definitely – I’m in a better position for tomorrow knowing some things that you can and can’t get away with.”
MATT TIFFT, No. 19 Wastebits Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
How was the car after suffering damage early in the race and surviving for a top-10 finish?
“That’s the big thing here, surviving. This stage racing deal sure makes for a lot of intensity and wrecks at that to. We just got caught up in the first stage crash, hurt the nose of the Camry and got to a point where if we didn’t have a good pusher out back it was going to be hard to move around and get a lane going.”
How intense was the last lap?
“Luckily on the last lap, I just kind of found a hole on the top, got a momentum to be able to run on the top and get inside the top-10. Wish we could have been up there a little bit longer. On the last restart before that, the guy in front of us blew a motor, so it’s tough to get put into those spots and loose the draft because of that. At least were able to fight back and finish inside the top-10.”
How does the momentum of your season-best finish carry over to Charlotte?
“It’s good, you never know what you’re going to get here at Talladega (Superspeedway). Anytime you can come out of here with a car that finishes, let along inside the top-10 is a good day. For some reason we seem to be able to do that here, which I really don’t get but I’ll take it.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 18 Peak Antifreeze & Coolant Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
How was the race today?
“Another superspeedway race — the car was fine – just people were racing crazy pretty early in the race and we got damage and it was hard to overcome that. It was a solid top-10 and in a race like this, I feel like we had a good car and overall we were able to overcome all the issues from the first segment.”
Were you able to learn anything for tomorrow’s draft in the Cup race?
“A little bit, it’s always similar, but there’s always something you can learn for the next race.”
