Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 8 of 36 – 266.5 miles, 500 laps
April 7, 2019
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Kurt Busch*
3rd, Joey Logano*
4th, Ryan Blaney*
5th, DENNY HAMLIN
12th, MATT DIBENEDETTO
17th, MARTIN TRUEX JR
24th, ERIK JONES
35th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
Camry driver Kyle Busch collected his third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) victory in Sunday afternoon’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
After being involved in an on-track incident on Lap 1, Busch drove to the front of the field during the final stage and led 71 laps (of 500) before going on to capture his eighth MENCS win at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin (fifth) also finished in the top 10 with his No. 11 Toyota Camry.
Toyota drivers swept both races at Bristol this weekend with Christopher Bell the winner of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event and Busch the winner on Sunday.
It’s the third time this season that Toyota drivers have swept a race weekend and the second-consecutive Toyota race weekend sweep following wins at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend.
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Snickers Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
What was your confidence level when you decided to stay out with 20 to go?
“I don’t know. We’re crazy. We just do what we do, try to win. It’s pretty awesome to be able to snooker those guys, get our win today here at Bristol. Love this place. It was fun to battle out the brother there at the end. I know we didn’t quite get side‑by‑side racing it out. I saw him working the top. I’m like, I better go. I got up there, was able to make some ground. Man, just awesome to be here in front of this crowd, here at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Skittles Camry wasn’t the best today, but we made the most of not having the best and got everything we needed here at the end.”
What does it mean to have won here eight times?
“It ain’t 12, that’s for sure. So I got more to go. We’re getting there and it’s fun. It’s the most (among) active driver(s), I guess. I think I heard that. But, you know, there’s a lot more years left hopefully.”
How much did it feel like you had to overcome today at Bristol?
“I felt like we had to overcome a lot especially there just on the
short runs. We just didn’t have the burst-off speed that we needed for the first 30-40 laps. It kind of seemed after that we could maintain with a bunch of those guys and then we could kind of run those guys back down just a little bit. It was hit or miss a little for us today and this weekend. We thought we had a pretty good car in second practice yesterday and going into the race. We just didn’t quite have the speed. We just didn’t show exactly what we needed there.”
Were you worried that you stayed out on that last caution when a lot of the field made pit stops?
“Yes and no. I’ve seen that game played both sides. I’ve seen it work more times than not. When the guys stay out you have a better opportunity to be able to go for the win. It kind of fell into our hands there being able to lead the restart, being able to get Kurt (Busch) to not spin his tires and get up second – it’s a good run for us Busch brothers to come home 1-2.”
How special is this victory?
“I mean it’s good. I love winning at Bristol. You love winning everywhere. It’s nice to continue to bounty up some of those bonus points for the playoffs.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Talk about your fifth-place finish today at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“We struggled today. We just didn’t really have the car that we needed to go out there and compete. It was just a little bit off. We kind of hung around that 10th to 13th place all day and then we just got it closer there at the end and that’s when we kind of made a charge towards the front – that and some good strategy. I screwed up our strategy on pit lane. We’ll get it cleaned up. Just got to work through all the kinks and clean stuff up. We didn’t have a race-winning car. Top-five finish with a car that probably shouldn’t have been there is a good day.”
