Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Pocono Raceway
Race 14 of 36 – 400 miles, 160 laps
June 2, 2019
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Brad Keselowski*
3rd, ERIK JONES
4th, Chase Elliott*
5th, Clint Bowyer*
6th, DENNY HAMLIN
17th, MATT DiBENEDETTO
35th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
*non-Toyota driver
Camry driver Kyle Busch earned his 55th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win at Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon.
Busch led 79 laps (of 160) on the way to his fourth victory of the 2019 season.
Camry teammate Erik Jones tied a season-best finish of third while Denny Hamlin (sixth) also finished in the top 10 for a ninth time this season.
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Hazelnut Spread Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
Describe this run here today at Pocono.
“I mean it was a great race for us. We had a really, really fast car. I mean this M&M’s Hazelnut Spread Camry was flawless. Overall, a huge thanks to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. Everybody has done a phenomenal job building us some fast Toyota Camrys. Thanks to TRD (Toyota Racing Development, U.S.A.) and Interstate Batteries and Stanley, Rheem, Monster Energy, of course, and all of the fans. I appreciate your support here in Pocono. It’s cool – this place was a real struggle for me early on, but here the last two years it’s been pretty good for me, so pretty pumped about that.”
What changed with Pocono and you the last couple years?
“I started hitting on a couple things that made me a little bit better here with Dave Rogers (crew chief) and then when I got Adam (Stevens, crew chief), it just kind of clicked for us. We’ve been really good here ever since. Certainly thanks to Adam Stevens and all my guys, everybody on the A and B team here and everybody that does such a good job working on my stuff. It’s fun to be able to come down pit road and know you’re going to pick up spots and then to also have good race cars on the race track.”
How important was the outside line and why did it work so well for you?
“I didn’t think anybody else was really doing it and then I figured I might as well give it a shot and I got (Clint) Bowyer there on that restart and I’m like oh man, here we go, we’re just going to ride here, this is what I needed. I came off of Turn 2 really good with a head of steam and I kind of shallowed entry a little bit and Bowyer wanted to go low early in order to block and I just put it to the outside and just drove it off in there to get alongside of him. I felt like once I got alongside of him, then him and I could race it out on exit. That was what got us to lead. That’s what got us the track position. That’s what got us out front to be able to control the rest of the race.”
How did you pass and put together a near flawless race?
“I passed one guy on the outside of Turn 3 and that was the only guy I needed to pass, I guess. It was hard otherwise. We kind of got stuck in traffic back there a little bit earlier in the race. We were about fifth or sixth and couldn’t really do anything, but overall my guys on pit road were awesome. We got some spots there, track position. Adam Stevens (crew chief) and some of our race calls getting us further up towards the front, so it’s cool to get a win here. It’s cool to get a win at Pocono again. Rowdy Nation is up there supporting us. Having some M&M’s Hazelnut Spread Camrys that are fast like this makes my job a hell of a lot easier.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What’s going right for you and this No. 20 team right now?
“I wish we could’ve had a good run last week, but we’ve just got fast cars. I mean it shows each week. One of us it seems like is winning and I wish it was us. We need to keep doing this. We need to keep running well and having days where there’s nothing crazy happening, nothing outstanding, we’re just going up and doing what we’re doing. If we keep running in these spots, the wins will come. The DeWalt Camry was fast all weekend really. From the time we unloaded, to qualifying and the race. Chris (Gayle, crew chief) did a good job strategy-wise keeping us where we needed to be – clean air and up front. It worked out with a good finish. I wish it was more, but it’s good to get back on track after last week.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
How would you evaluate your run today?
“It was a good run. We didn’t hit the wall. That’s a first in about a month. Didn’t blow a tire. That’s about the first in a month. The positives are we got a decent finish out of it there. We had a pretty good car in clean air. I thought the 18 (Kyle Busch) definitely was substantially better. The 4 (Kevin Harvick) was pretty good as well, but I thought we could hold our own there. We were running third and got four tires there at the end. We really – track position was just such a huge deal. I didn’t see many cars out there passing today and we were one of them that couldn’t. You got stuck behind guys and it didn’t matter how old their tires were in front of you, you just got stuck behind them and we were one of those guys. Then we had an inside lane restart on the end that cost us a spot or two. Overall, a decent day. We’re at least back on the train of a good run and not tearing our car up so we’ll build from there and go to Michigan next week.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 34th
What happened to take you out of the race?
“I don’t know. We just lost an engine there – dropped a cylinder down the backstretch and figured I might as well pit. I thought maybe it was a possibility we were out of gas, but it started smoking out of the pipes and shut off. Tough day. TRD (Toyota Racing Development, U.S.A.) does a great job of building engines and obviously they’re fast. Probably a fluke deal. I’m not sure, but we’ll go back to look at it. Frustrating day.”
