Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Kansas Speedway
Race 32 of 36 – 400 miles, 267 laps
October 21, 2018
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Chase Elliott*
2nd, KYLE BUSCH
3rd, Kyle Larson*
4th, ERIK JONES
5th, MARTIN TRUEX JR
14th, DENNY HAMLIN
24th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
31st, JJ YELEY
37th, JEFFREY EARNHARDT
40th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, KYLE BUSCH 4,055 points
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR 4,038 points
12th, DENNY HAMLIN 2,159 points
14th, ERIK JONES 2,148 points
20th, DANIEL SUÁREZ 627 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Camry driver Kyle Busch (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Kansas Speedway.
· Erik Jones (fourth) and Martin Truex Jr. (fifth) also scored top-five finishes.
· Busch and Truex both advanced to the MENCS Round of 8 with their top-five finishes and after the points have reset for the third round, Busch currently leads the standings while Truex is in third place.
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What more did you need out of the race car to win today?
“We got too tight there on that long run. I knew it was going to get tight, it was just a matter of whether or not I could get there and get by him (Chase Elliott) first. Running the top like that, it just inherently creates tight in the race car. The sooner you get up there, the longer you’re up there and it just gets that much tighter. Chase did a good job of having that big of a gap that he didn’t have to go up there so early and he had a little bit better tire there when I got to him and he was able to move down a little bit and keep rolling with the speed. I just couldn’t do it that way. We come home second today. That’s just kind of all there is it to it. I didn’t think we were going to have to a second place car. When we here at the test, the 9 (Chase Elliott) was actually right on line with us – maybe even a tick better at times during the test when we were here, so they’ve had a fast car here for a while.”
How do you feel about the final round of the Playoffs with Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix?
“I like it. I think it’s going to be good. I really look forward to that round. I feel like it’s our best round. We run well at all three of those places and we won at Texas in the spring, we won Martinsville last fall and Phoenix has been getting better for us too. We just need to continue to execute and do a good job and make sure that we mind our Ps and Qs. There’s certainly some areas that we need to clean up right now and continue to get better because when you get to Homestead – you’ve got to get there first – but when you get there, you better be picture perfect, so hopefully we can get it all sorted out.”
After a strong run like this, how does that make you feel where you’re at with this team heading into the next round?
“I feel better about it for sure. We needed to get back on track and 1.5-miles especially – places like this where you’re going to run high all day. We had to get back on track, so it was a good day for us.”
Were you thinking you could get to Chase Elliott and take the lead?
“I did once that big group of lapped cars kind of messed him up and then they kind of let me go and I thought I had a good enough roll there going on the top side that I could get there hopefully before I got too tight or before he jumped up in front of me. He ran a really good line and was able to just kind of keep pace – the pace that he needed to run to keep the car underneath. When I was running high and running up against the wall, it just built too tight too early in the run and it was going to be a struggle to get by him, that’s for sure. Overall, just proud of the effort. We haven’t quite run like this here in the last little bit, so it’s nice to be able to come out here with a strong run, especially with kind of what we think we have going on for Texas and Homestead with it being a 1.5-mile. Pretty good run for us. Obviously, Halloween’s coming up everybody, so make sure you pick up your M&M’s product at your local stores and get your ready for some Halloween – some trick or treat.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Craftsman Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Talk about your top-five finish today.
“It was good. We had a really fast car. Our Craftsman Camry was I think a car that could have contended for the win. We just struggled on pit road. We lost a lot of spots and it just took a long time to get them back. That long green run helped us at the win and we were able to pick them up and get back towards the front, but not enough time. Good car. Just got to keep working and keep getting closer.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78 Bass Pro Shops / 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Talk about overcoming the challenges that you had here today.
“It was definitely a tough day – a blue collared day for sure. We worked hard. The guys never gave up on the car, they just kept working on it for me and I just kept trying to get all I could out of it. Pit crew really saved our butts today man, they were unbelievable. That’s definitely something you need going down the stretch here for a championship and we’ll regroup and go to Martinsville next week and try to go get a win.”
You were able collect enough points to get through to the next round, but it sounded like an adventure today.
“It was a battle for sure. At times it was pretty bad and not much fun. That’s part of this deal. This stuff is hard man. It shows how difficult it is you know to win both races here last year and run second in the spring and then come back trying to be better and struggling all day, but we still managed to get fifth, which is a really good day for us. We struggled a little bit yesterday in practice and we though we knew what to do to fix the problems. Clearly we didn’t because we had the same ones today, but proud of the effort of all the guys. All our guys back in Denver, I got to thank them for continuing to build great race cars and keep their heads in the game. Also, our pit crew. They definitely kept us in it today. They’re probably the reason we transferred on. They were unbelievable. They kept getting us track position and those last couple runs of the race we got our car way better and was able to hang on to it.”
How does this group pick themselves up after an off weekend?
“We just know we got to be better and we all know it. I know it. (Jeff) Jazzy (Curtis, engineer) and Cole (Pearn, crew chief) know it. We all know and we’ll do whatever it takes. It was a tough weekend, but we’ve had a really – the playoffs haven’t been good to us this year. We’ve really battled a lot of adversity. A lot of things working against us. The last two weeks are no exception. To get wrecked at Dover and then not even be able to race at Talladega was tough. With that said, to be able to be moving on still with all those troubles – I feel like we’re fortunate and we need to fix those things and make our own luck and figure out how to run better. I thought we could’ve won the first three playoff races and then the last three we haven’t been as good as we need to be and hopefully the next three we’ll step it back up.”
