Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Martinsville Speedway
Race 20 of 23 – 105.2 miles, 250 laps
October 27, 2018
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITION
1st, Johnny Sauter*
2nd, BRETT MOFFITT
3rd, Myatt Snider*
4th, Ben Rhodes*
5th, KYLE BENJAMIN
7th, NOAH GRAGSON
8th, HARRISON BURTON
9th, CHRISTIAN ECKES
12th, TODD GILLILAND
15th, JEB BURTON
18th, TYLER ANKRUM
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Johnny Sauter*# 3102 points
2nd, NOAH GRAGSON# 3073 points
3rd, BRETT MOFFITT# 3064 points
4th, Grant Enfinger*# 3051 points
5th, Justin Haley*# 3049 points
6th, Matt Crafton*# 3041 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· Tundra driver Brett Moffitt was the top Toyota-finisher in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Martinsville Speedway after placing second.
· Fellow Tundra drivers Kyle Benjamin (fifth), Noah Gragson (seventh), Harrison Burton (eighth) and Christian Eckes (ninth) also scored top-10 finishes at the half-mile speedway.
· Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers – Todd Gilliland (first), Burton (second), Gragson (third) — swept the top-three qualifying positions to start the race after both practice sessions were rained out yesterday.
TOYOTA QUOTES
BRETT MOFFITT, No. 16 AW NC/Aisin Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
How would you evaluate your race today?
“From where we started the day, I thought we were really good. We didn’t unload the best, we didn’t qualify the best, but we got better by the end. It’s a bummer that we didn’t get a bunch of stage points like we needed to, but we got a second-place finish. The guys work hard at HRE and I have to thank Toyota and TRD for always going to bat for us. And Mark Cronquist (JGR engine builder) and these Joe Gibbs engines. We’ve had badass tools all year long and I’m just thankful that they let us use them. Also thank Aisin and AW NC for making this happen.”
How did the race play out for you today based on your starting position?
“Obviously this morning we didn’t qualify like we wanted to or expected to and we started 17th so we had to be patiently aggressive. That was our game plan before the race and thankfully it worked out. We stayed out of trouble and Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) did a great job adjusting on the truck and telling the guys what to do on pit road to make the truck faster because we weren’t where we needed to be when we started the race. It’s Martinsville so I guess survival is great, but losing another one to Johnny (Sauter) is not.”
How will you look at this season with the success you’ve had so far?
“It’s great for my career. I’m a competitor so I’m not looking backwards, I’m looking forwards and unless we win the championship I will consider this an incomplete season for myself and for our race team. We’re looking forward and hopefully good things come from it.”
Would you consider yourself a dark horse to make it to Homestead?
“We’ve been arguably the second-best truck all year. I wouldn’t say we’re a dark horse at all, we just missed it this morning. At the mile-and-a-halves, it’s kind of a horsepower game and we know we’re not going to qualify up front. That’s the different engine packages. We race well and we have to execute our race day races like we need to and I feel like today we did that. The past three races I didn’t feel we executed to 100 percent like we were in the preseason so we just need to keep doing that.”
Were you hoping for a caution in the closing laps and do you feel the championship may come down to veterans of the series?
“No, I think there’s been a lot of teams stepping it up this year towards the end of the year. Justin’s (Hayley) one of them, they got off to a rocky start and then they started performing and running well. I think the 98 (Grant Enfinger) has been doing the same thing. I think a win would be huge. I think as far as the caution goes, I was very mixed emotion about it. When I was third, I was hoping for a caution and when I got to second, I was kind of hoping it would just go green. Restarting on the outside, you never know what’s going to happen. I think the win was big for Johnny and it would have been huge for us and we need to go to Texas with our A-game.”
KYLE BENJAMIN, No. 17 Toyota Tundra, DGR-Crosley Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How did you feel about the race and your finish today?
“I feel pretty good about it. Trying to maximize opportunities and I feel like we did that today. Did the most I could do right there, especially on old tires. I think it hurt us firing off there on restarts. I didn’t have any right-front grip and those 150 laps were a long ways here. I really think we had a second-place truck and I can’t say enough about the guys to bring a truck that fast again with no practice and again to have a shot at it.”
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 7th
How was your race today?
“Overall it was a good day for our Safelite Toyota Tundra. We had one goal and that was to gain as many points as possible or obviously win. Pit stops, we got a little behind there and it was almost impossible to pass. Just thankful to be out here racing and I’m happy with the result. With the first two stages, gaining nine points in each is what we needed to do coming here. Moving on to Texas, got one goal and that’s to collect as many points as possible and go to Homestead and race for a championship.”
Did you intend to work with Johnny Sauter on the restarts?
“Just respect to him (Johnny Sauter) and try to benefit myself as well. Just trying to think big picture. I went to the outside of him and raced him hard and pinned him down and jeopardized my chance of getting wrecked or I could have let him go on the top and let him get back in front of me and I felt like that was the safest bet for what our goal for this weekend was. It wasn’t planned before the race, it just was the fact of the matter in the moment. Overall, just a good day for our Safelite Autoglass Toyota Tundra team and Kyle Busch Motorsports. Just thankful to be out here chasing a championship.”
Did you feel tire wear was not an issue today and is that a problem?
“You saw Myatt (Snider), he took two tires and was able to stay out front. He wasn’t worth talking about in the first two stages in my opinion and he ended up running third. Hats off to them, but just kind of a weird weekend here with no practice. I didn’t know if that was going to be a good thing or a bad thing. Everybody was in the same boat. Overall a good day for Kyle Busch Motorsports, we qualified one-two-three and obviously we would like to run up there at the end, but we did what our goal was. I wish that tires were worn more. I don’t like how this Ilmore motor is exiting the corner where you can flat foot it. It’s like a restart at Daytona where you can flat foot it and it doesn’t really go anywhere until about halfway down the straightaway. They need to figure out how to get more wheel spin into it. Either put more horsepower or I don’t know if a harder tire is the key because that’s going to be even less tire wear. Something to get less grip so you can spin the tires off the corner because that’s the only way you’re going to get passing back.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 51 Morton Buildings Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 8th
How was the race today?
“We had a really good qualifying effort to start. The boys had us dialed in really good and we thought we were going to be good in the race. We fired off really tight in the race and I think some of our teammates had the same problem so we were really struggling to get speed through the center of the corner and get the drive off. These trucks, it’s really important to roll the center fast and get good drive up off. I don’t know, that was a bit of a struggle, but I feel like we managed really well and made good adjustments. It was just about track position and it’s so hard to pass here. We’re not far off, but not quite where we needed to be. We can move on, learn and go to Texas.”
CHRISTIAN ECKES, No. 46 Craftsman Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 9th
How do you feel about your top-10 finish today?
“Our goal today was to be a little bit better to be honest with you. I’ve had a lot of momentum with other series and we ran really well at Gateway as well. It’s a solid result, but I felt like we should have been a little better today. We’ll move on to Phoenix now and really looking forward to that.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 4 JBL/SiriusXM Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 12th
How was your truck in the race?
“We had a good start to the day with the morning and getting the pole. 40 laps in the race we were super tight and just really couldn’t do anything all day. That’s kind of where we fell or we lost spots. Not where we wanted to be obviously, but still some positives to take away. Just kind of frustrating to know how fast our truck was by itself in qualifying and we’ll just have to work on it for next time.”
