Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS)
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 3 of 23 – 201 miles, 134 laps
March 1, 2019
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Brett Moffitt*
3rd, Matt Crafton*
4th, Stewart Friesen*
5th, HARRISON BURTON
7th, TODD GILLILAND
9th, RYAN REED
13th, NATALIE DECKER
14th, KORBIN FORRISTER
18th, ANTHONY ALFREDO
20th, BRENNAN POOLE
30th, AUSTIN HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**
1st, Grant Enfinger* 117 points
2nd, HARRISON BURTON 111 points
3rd, AUSTIN HILL 108 points
4th, Stewart Friesen* 103 points
5th, Brett Moffitt* 102 points
9th, TODD GILLILAND 96 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
Toyota won its third-consecutive NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) race to open the 2019 season on Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when Kyle Busch captured the victory at his hometown track.
The Las Vegas native earned his second-straight NGOTS win after winning last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway and led 110 (of 134) laps and won both stages Friday night.
The win was Busch’s 53rd career Truck Series win.
Toyota had three other drivers finish inside the top-10 including Harrison Burton (fifth), Todd Gilliland (seventh) and Ryan Reed (ninth).
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Cessna Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 1st
How was your truck tonight?
“It was just tight, we fought it in practice a little bit and we worked on it an awful lot to make it better. Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) and these guys did an amazing job on this Cessna Tundra, it was really, really fast. Just kept working on it all night long, every pit stop we would come in and we would work on it. Certainly want to thank Toyota and TRD, Rowdy Manufacturing, KBM and everyone at the shop, they do an amazing job and build really fast Tundras. Thank Monster Energy, Incredible Bank, Black Clover, DVX Sunglasses, of course the fans – it’s cool to win here in your hometown being from Las Vegas. Starting off the triple weekend, hopefully we can keep it going.”
What do you have for the rest of the weekend to complete the triple?
“I think the hardest one is going to be the second one. We obviously had a really fast truck tonight and Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) made it easier for me, but we worked really hard on this thing to get there. We didn’t start great in practice, but overall proud to be in victory lane, proud to have little man (Brexton Busch) with me and we’ll celebrate here again hopefully tomorrow.”
How big was the win here tonight?
“Certainly, it was a lot of hard work. Everybody back at Kyle Busch Motorsports, everybody at Rowdy Manufacturing built me a super fast Cessna Tundra so its awesome to be able to have such fast trucks and the great opportunity to be able to drive them. Thank all these guys. We fought the handling on it all night long and they just kept working on it every pit stop, we kept making changes and trying to make adjustments to make it better. There (Brett) Moffitt at the end got close and ran me down. Thought he was going to be able to get by me, but I was just so tight. I couldn’t go, I couldn’t fire and kind of got going a little bit better there towards the end and was able to drive away some. That helped us with a little bit of a gap.”
Was there a lot of strong competition tonight?
“It was, (Stewart) Friesen ran a really good race and obviously the air was very important out there tonight. Anytime you got in traffic and had guys that were kind of manipulating the air for you, it made it difficult and it made things difficult. Awesome truck tonight, certainly want to thank Incredible Bank and Black Clover, DVX Sunglasses, Monster Energy and all of our partners that help me out and get us here.”
How much sweeter is it to win in your hometown?
“It’s awesome, it’s what we set out to do every single time we get behind the wheel of something. I think tomorrow is going to be a heck of a lot tougher. The Xfinity race is tough these days because I haven’t been in them as much so I don’t really know what I’m looking for when I’m driving those things. We certainly worked on that car a lot today and made it better, but I don’t think it’s yet where I want it to be so we’ll see what happens. Overall, great night and hopefully the hometown crowd, all the folks from Las Vegas here enjoyed the show and maybe it was a little bit reminiscent of the Legend car days over there at the Bullring, but it’s all good for us here in victory lane.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 5th
How was your race tonight?
“It was all right. We had a great Tundra. It was a little bit too tight. I was worried about killing our last pit stop so we didn’t make a huge swing on it at the end. I don’t think it would have mattered, it got so stretched out anyway. Really proud of my guys. We fought hard. Had a good Tundra. I am learning, so if I am a little bit more aggressive in the beginning of the race, maybe we come out with a better finish. We also have a truck that’s in one piece and have stage points, which is important. That’s good and we’ll build on that and go to the next one.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 7th
How was your race tonight?
“Overall, it was not one of our worst nights or best nights. We got points in both stages. I ended up seventh, so it’s just about being smart in these races. That’s what we did tonight. Our truck was good. It could have been a little bit better. I punched a little bit of a hole in the front headlight in the start of the race. That didn’t help us at all. It kept getting worse and worse. It was soft and the air was pushing it in. Definitely my bad there, I think we could have ran better without that. Not one of our worse weekends for sure. I had a lot more fun here in Las Vegas than Atlanta.”
RYAN REED, No. 17 Dexcom Toyota Tundra, DGR-Crosley
Finishing Position: 9th
How was your race tonight?
“Overall, I had so much fun being back in the race truck. We had a fast Toyota Tundra all night. We lost some track position early. Just kind of battled to get that back all night but felt like we had a top-five Tundra but I had a lot to learn about how manipulate the air. It’s a lot different than what you have in the Xfinity deal. I think everyone at DGR-Crosley is really talented. They have all the right pieces. They will keep getting better. I hope we can do more together because there are opportunities to have some really good runs and contend for wins if we can have more time to gel. If we get the opportunity to do more, it would be so awesome. Thankful for Dexcom. We wouldn’t be here without their support. But their technology allows me to get into the race car and do what I do each and every week. And to be able to monitor my blood sugar during the race. Just a really fun weekend and good to be back in the race track.”
Do you have anything lined up for the future?
“Nothing concrete. But we have opportunities and irons in the fire. That’s the name of the game. There are real things we have working. Hopefully they can come together and maybe some more stuff this year, and maybe a full-time gig in 2020. Right now, I do as much as I can this year and work back towards something full-time in another series. Nothing would make me happier than being back in a DGR-Crosley Tundra. Wherever the tide takes me.”
