- Kyle Busch (second) was the top Toyota to the finish line in Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Bristol Motor Speedway, crossing the finish line behind race-winner Ryan Blaney.
- Busch led twice for a race-high 161 laps (of 300) to earn his 16th top-five finish in 17 starts this season.
- Camry drivers Erik Jones (eighth) and James Buescher (ninth) also earned top-10 finishes for Toyota at the half-mile Tennessee bullring.
- Eighteen-year-old Jones has recorded two top-10 finishes in two career NNS starts, including a seventh-place result at Chicagoland Speedway in July.
- The ninth-place result marks a career-best finish for Buescher in a Camry.
- Sadler is currently fourth in the unofficial NNS point standings and 42 points behind leader Chase Elliott. Camry driver James Buescher (10th) is also in the top-10 in the point standings.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What did you see happen during the final restart?
“The leader is at the biggest disadvantage on restarts. I know when I want to go but everybody else is pushing me. My rear tires aren’t on the ground and you can’t go anywhere.”
How was your race?
“I had a really good car. The Monster Energy Camry was good. Really fast especially front side of runs being able to make time on people and Adam Stevens (crew chief) and the boys did a really good job. We lost track position there early with guys coming early and then just taking fuel only on the competition caution and kind of leap-frogging us a little bit there. But, made our way back up a little bit and then couldn’t get by (Kyle) Larson on a single lane race track — it’s pathetic. But, once I did get a position on him kind of sort of you’ve just got to try to move the guy out of the way so I kind of forced him high and got clear of him and then that was sort of going to be the race until that last restart when my rear tires weren’t on the race track and couldn’t accelerate forward.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s Main Street Bistro Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
How was the race tonight?
“It was a long night. We really fought hard and had to kind of battle back from a lap down there early. Our Reser’s Camry just wasn’t where it needed to be early on and we kind of got a little better later, but just wasn’t quite where we needed it. Strong night for us — eighth. Top-10 run so that’s good. Just wish we could have gone up and contended — we all want to win races. We’ll keep going back and get better and come back at Phoenix and try to get one.”
How much fun is racing in NNS at Bristol?
“It’s a blast — I enjoyed it. Coming back and racing up through the field was fun. It was definitely a challenge for sure. I learned a lot and I think we learned a lot as a team. Hopefully we can use it all and move forward and be better next time.”
JAMES BUESCHER, No. 99 Rheem Toyota Camry, RAB Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
Are you pleased with the performance in the race?
“This is our best finish of the year — ninth-place finish. This shows some improvement — Matt (Lucas, crew chief) and I are starting to get our cars to drive the way I need them to. We still seem to be lacking — we gained speed the last couple weeks, even though it’s been on road courses, we’ve gained some speed at the race track. Still just need some more, but our Rheem Toyota was solid tonight. We went back and forth on adjustments — we’d make an adjustment then take it back out and try something else and take it back out and try something else. Ended up half of an adjustment away from where we started the race. I think actually just a tire pressure adjustment away from where we started the race. I think we guessed it pretty good at the start and we fought hard all night. We had to overcome some strategy — we were towards the back when that first caution came out. If we would have come and got tires and done fuel only on the competition caution then we could have got some track position early, but we had to earn it the hard way at the end and those restarts worked out to our advantage. Thought I was going to lose a couple spots and the caution came out there at the end. It was definitely a top-groove, one-lane race track and impossible to pass, but we were able to climb up from around 20th to ninth. Solid night and we’ll move on to Atlanta and see if we can’t improve on it.”
MIKE BLISS, No. 10 M&W Logistics Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 17th
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 25 Zaxby’s/The Identical Movie Toyota Camry, Athenian Motorsports
Finishing Position: 18th
ERIC MCCLURE, No. 14 Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 20th
HERMIE SADLER, No. 19 VA Lottery Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 24th
ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 11 SportClips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 29th
DAVID STARR, No. 44 NCCER/Build Your Future Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 31st
JEFF GREEN, No. 91 SupportMilitary.org Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
