Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 27 of 36 – 400.5 miles, 267 laps
September 16, 2018
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Brad Keselowski*
2nd, Kyle Larson*
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
4th, Joey Logano
5th, Ryan Blaney*
7th, KYLE BUSCH
8th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
17th, JJ YELEY
25th, JEFFREY EARNHARDT
32nd, DENNY HAMLIN
33rd, TIMMY HILL
40th, ERIK JONES
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, MARTIN TRUEX JR 2087 points
2nd, KYLE BUSCH 2085 points
15th, ERIK JONES 2009 points
16th, DENNY HAMLIN 2008 points
19th, DANIEL SUÁREZ 530 points
**unofficial point standings
· Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. was the highest-finishing Toyota in the opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
· Truex Jr. would lead a race-high 96 laps (of 272) and won the first stage of the event at Las Vegas. Truex’ third-place finish was his 16th top-five of the season.
· Toyota teammate and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch finished seventh in Sunday’s Playoffs race in Las Vegas – netting his 22nd top-10 of 2018.
· Toyota Playoffs drivers Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones both exited the race early due to incidents and finished 32nd and 40th, respectively.
TOYOTA QUOTES
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
Did the short runs and restarts at the end of the race hurt your chances for a victory?
“It took the race from us, no question. With 15 laps or so we could take the lead and drive away. We were actually a little too good on the long run, I wish maybe we could have gone the other direction a little bit and still been able to get the lead. If we were the leader, we could do okay, I could maintain, but when I was second or third or fourth, it just made me tight enough that I had to wait for the thing to come to me or wait for other guys to start getting off the bottom in front of me. All in all it was a great day for everybody on the Bass Pro/5-hour ENERGY Camry and all the guys did a phenomenal job this weekend. Thanks to all the guys back in Denver at the shop, it’s pretty cool to see the effort going into these last 10 – we’re going to get after them. We had a winning car, just didn’t work out for us today. Really proud of the effort.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
How were you able to come back from the spin and a handling issue with the race car?
“It was certainly a lot better than we should have been. Certainly, we thought we were going to run a lot better too even when we were up front – if we had the chance to be up front, our car just wasn’t very good and we would lose spots. Everybody was just faster than us. We just kind of missed it a little bit this weekend, all weekend long. Unfortunately, I feel like our stuff wasn’t that good, but the 20 (Erik Jones) had speed and we were better than him to start the race so I have no clue. Our M&M’s Camry guys did a great job fighting through that and getting me some good repairs and stuff like that on pit road. That’s what this time of year is all about is minimizing the bad days and being able to recover and come back. You don’t want to have the bad days, but when you do you have to turn them around and make chicken noodle soup out of something else. It’s all good I guess, but hopefully Richmond looks a lot better.”
Did you feel the spin through the grass caused a lot of damage to the race car?
“It didn’t feel like it tore up the car that bad. I haven’t necessarily looked at it, but you would think it would cause a little bit of damage, but the guys got to work on it and tried to put it together the best they could. We just had kind of a sloppy day and this whole weekend we just didn’t unload very good. The 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) ran strong so at least there is something positive of it or some notebook, but ours wasn’t.”
How aggressive was the racing today?
“There was a lot of racing going on there at the end and the restarts here were very, very hectic with three-wide and everything kind of happening off of two and guys banging into one another. You get really tight off of two if you’re not careful so that’s where you saw a lot of carnage happen. With 20 (laps) to go, you’re probably going to see a lot more top runners finish farther up front.”
Did you experience any tire issues today?
“We didn’t have any today, but we certainly had some this weekend. We had I think two sets or maybe one set happen in practice that they blistered.”
Does the inability to find handling today concern you for the rest of the Playoffs?
“We’ve been struggling for four or five weeks in a row man, just something not right. I don’t know what it is. Bad aura or something right now and we need to switch that around or change that around – fix that up, clean that up, whatever. It’s not the time of year to be having that stuff. At least the finishes that we’re getting out of our days here are decent, they’re not great and they’re not where we want to be for sure, but all things considered today, seventh is good.”
What are your thoughts on so many Playoff drivers having issues today?
“If you would have taken the finish from 20 (laps) to go, it would have been a heck of a lot different finish than it is now – there was a lot of racing and a lot of chaos happening the last few restarts. Good for us, a couple of those cars having trouble and getting pushed to the back and things happening the way they were obviously helped us and got us farther up front. If it wasn’t for those, we probably would have been 16th or so. We’ll take what we can get and hope for better days ahead.”
DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
How was your race today?
“It was tough. We didn’t have the speed today. We had a 15 to 20th place car. We have to keep working hard for the rest of the season and hopefully keep improving for our next half-mile track.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
What happened that ended your race early?
“Trying to get more than the car was capable of. We should have just finished 15th or 10th or wherever we were at the time, but trying to get more and the car won’t handle it. No grip and just a bad day overall.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWALT Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 40th
What happened in the accident to end your day early?
“It’s just unfortunate – we didn’t have the best-handling DeWalt Camry today and thought we were going to end up okay. We were going to finish top-10 no matter what. It’s unfortunate we had that happen, nothing Kevin (Harvick) could do and nothing I could do unfortunately. Not the situation we needed to be in, we didn’t have any bonus points and we’ve got some work to do now. I don’t think we have to win, but we definitely need to run really well here at Richmond and the Roval so we’ll keep at it, but it’s just unfortunate that had to happen.”
Was there just no time to react when Kevin Harvick got into the wall?
“I saw him (Harvick) blow the tire, but I was committed to the top and running up there. When you get in the corner, unfortunately it’s hard to get slowed up and get to the bottom when you’re carrying that much speed. It’s unfortunate and not what you want, but we’ll keep after it.”
Is it more intense thinking about what you have to do going forward?
“We have to run well at Richmond and the Roval now. I thought it was going to be a pretty relaxed day. We thought we’d be finishing in the top-10 today. It’s unfortunate we’re even behind. We don’t want to be in this spot and nothing we can do to prevent it now. We have to move forward.”
Was the track super slick?
“It wasn’t terrible. It was hard to get the car to handle the way you want it to. It wasn’t too bad. We seemed to be getting the car better to where we wanted it. We have a little bit of work left to do.”
