- Toyota driver Erik Jones (third) recorded the top-finish by a Camry and his career-best finish in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at California’s Auto Club Speedway, an event won by Kevin Harvick.
- Jones led four laps (of 150) after starting from the pole position on the two-mile track.
- The finish was the second-consecutive top-five result for Jones after a fifth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend.
- Camry driver Daniel Suarez (13th) tallied his fourth-consecutive top-15 result in his rookie campaign in the NXS.
- In addition to Jones’ and Suarez’s results, Camry driver David Starr (15th) also finished in the top-15.
Starr led two laps in the event and Camry driver Denny Hamlin (18th) paced the field twice for 33 circuits.
ERIK JONES, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How was your race?
“We had a good car. The 88 (Kevin Harvick) has just been so fast and the 22 (Brad Keselowski), but nothing to take away from our day. Running third, that’s great. Improved from last week and got better and just keep moving forward and getting our Camrys better. We’re really close. We’re right on the verge. I wish we could get that last little piece to get that speed that the guys that are winning races have. Looking forward to the next two weeks and getting back after and trying again.”
Was your Camry strong on the long runs?
“For the most part. I wish we were a little bit better. Just fought tight all day. Just couldn’t seem to get it to do exactly what I wanted. Fired off really fast and was able to grab the lead on a restart which was good. Our Camrys are getting better and we’re working hard. We’re trying catch up with the 88 and the 22 and where all those guys are. It definitely feels good to beat the 22, but just got to find a little bit more speed out of these GameStop Camrys. We’re close and definitely a good day. We’ll work on this and get better.”
Did the race play out as expected?
“I think we all expected a pretty long green flag run like that and all the way to the end actually. Just a little bit too tight. We were great. We had a good car. Just not quit where the 88 was, but they’ve been fast all year, but we’ve been getting closer, getting better. Definitely an improvement for sure on every end – we’re getting a little bit more speed out of these things. Just happy to work forward on this. We’ve improved every week and that’s always a great feeling as a driver.”
What does it say that XFINITY regular drivers finished ahead of some Sprint Cup regulars today?
“It says a lot, I had no idea – I figured Denny (Hamlin) and Brad (Keselowski) would be up there. Just shows that all these XFINITY guys are here for real. We all get to do it every week – obviously more than these Cup guys do and to be able to run with them I think shows the strength of some of our programs and the strength of some of the drivers in this field. Definitely cool to be racing against some of the best guys in this sport and that level of competition is something I think drives all of us to be better and better every week and just keep improving. Everybody does and it’s fun to try to keep up and see what’s next.”
What specific moves were you able to make to move up in the field?
“We started on the pole and then Kevin (Harvick) got around us. The restarts are crazy and we got stuck on the bottom on every restart. Lost more than a couple spots every time. Just seemed to have our car really come in 10 to 15 laps into a run and it seemed like it would really come to life and we were able to work the middle of (turns) one and two really well and maintain in three and four and made a lot of moves on the top of one and two getting around people where they would either still be on the bottom and we were able to just kind of roll the top. Made a lot of adjustments all day trying to get the thing a little bit better and just got tight as the run went on and just couldn’t quite get that out of it. Just seemed like every run we would go back to the same tight, which we’ll have to figure out something to get that to go away. Obviously the 88 (Kevin Harvick) and Brendan (Gaughan) were better than us in that aspect. We’ll go back and keep working on it. We had a fast GameStop Camry, but it’s hard to run third. We want to win and we’re trying to get there.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 13th
How was your race?
“Long day. I really think that we had a pretty good Camry, but to be honest I’m not sure if I’m missing something or – I have to work more myself because I felt like we had a pretty good car yesterday in practice. We had a pretty good car in qualifying, but for some reason I’m missing something in the race. I don’t have the same balance. I don’t know why, but the rotation in the middle on exit of the corner wasn’t the same as qualifying or yesterday. We have to keep working, keep learning about all this and move forward.”
Why do you think the balance was different during the race?
“I don’t know. I’m a rookie. I have a lot to learn and that’s pretty much it. I’m pretty sure that there’s something in there I’m missing and I have to learn it fast.”
How does it feel to record four consecutive top-15 finishes?
“Yeah, it’s good. It’s not bad. It’s good that we have been learning. I wish I could say it was a top-10. We just have to try to put ourselves in a better position.”
DAVID STARR, No. 44 Zachary Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 15th
How was your race?
“Our Zachary Toyota Camry was pretty awesome today. It didn’t start off very well and we didn’t qualifying very well, but, man, it’s like the Camry on the street I drive – it didn’t let us down. We were able to make some adjustments and it came alive and started driving really good. I give a lot of credit to Greg Conner, my crew chief, and just all the guys on our Zachary team. We never stop fighting and we’re a big, small team and top-15s are important to us. We just need to keep knocking off top-15s and work on our cars and make them a little bit better. I feel like when we finish in the top-15, that’s momentum for us and that’s progress for us. Next race we go to, we’re going to have a new Toyota Camry and I’m excited about that. We’ll just keep digging. Glad we came home 15th – that was good for us – and the Camry was awesome today.”
CALE CONLEY, No. 14 IAVA Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 16th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 18th
What challenges did you face with the car during the race?
“We just didn’t keep up with the adjustments. Our Monster Energy Camry was really good to start obviously. The track went loose or our car went loose after that and didn’t get it back until the very last run and then I sped on pit road and that put us a lap down. We were kind of racing for nothing at that point. I thought we were blowing up because the car was smoking so bad. I assumed we were blowing up so I didn’t care about speeding. I sped on pit road and turns out that we got the grill cleaned off and the car came back. I just made a mental error there, but it’s a shame that the track got away from us there in the middle stages of the race because I thought we were definitely going to have a car that could win, but not today.”
BLAKE KOCH, No. 8 AQUAhydrate Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 19th
JJ YELEY, No. 28 Texas 28 Spirits Stage Toyota Camry, JGL Racing
Finishing Position: 22nd
MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 26th
ERIC MCCLURE, No. 24 Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, JBL Racing
Finishing Position: 34th
JEFF GREEN, No. 10 Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Finishing Position: 40th
