Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS)
Iowa Speedway
Race 10 of 23 – 175 miles, 100 laps
June 16, 2019
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Ross Chastain*
2nd, Brett Moffitt*
3rd, Ben Rhodes*
4th, HARRISON BURTON
5th, Grant Enfinger*
9th, CHANDLER SMITH
10th, RAPHAEL LESSARD
11th, TODD GILLILAND
12th, BRENNAN POOLE
13th, AUSTIN HILL
16th, RILEY HERBST
18th, NATALIE DECKER
*non-Toyota driver
- Harrison Burton (fourth) was the highest finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s rain-delayed NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) race at Iowa Speedway.
- It is Burton’s fourth top-five result this season.
- Sixteen-year-old Chandler Smith made his NGOTS debut at Iowa and started from the pole position after qualifying was canceled due to weather. He led the first 51 laps and finished ninth after experiencing radio communication issues early in the race.
- Raphael Lessard (10th) also earned a top-10 finish at Iowa in his third series start.
TOYOTA QUOTES
HARRISON BURTON, No. 18 Morton Buildings Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 4th
Were you expecting more out of your race?
“We had a tough race because we had really high expectations for Iowa. We had a chance to win last year and ran fourth this year, which isn’t bad. Had a good points day overall, just really had to battle there. Really struggled firing off and couldn’t get spots on restarts, but over the long runs we could maintain and get better and better. Pretty fun. I love this race track. It’s a lot of fun to pull slide jobs on people and things like that – it’s like a dirt track sometimes. I’m proud of the way we fought and had good pit stops and made it work.”
Did you learn anything in this race you can carry over to the Xfinity race you’ll run tonight?
“I think no matter where you are, it’s all about clean air like at a mile-and-a-half because there are so many options for lanes. The top and bottom were just as good for me in one and two, either way in the truck. We’ll see how it is in the Xfinity car and figure it out.”
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 51 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 9th
What happened with your radio early in the race?
“It goes from dominating stage 1 to coming down pit road and having a radio failure. We had to do some radio stuff on pit road and then we had to go from the rear back to the front. I sped down pit road and we came out second, so it was just an up and down day. Overall it was a good learning day. I think we’ll take it and go to Gateway.”
Was your Tundra good enough to win?
“We just over-adjusted a little bit at the end. The rear end was completely swinging outwards from entry all the way to exit. I just couldn’t really maintain a good confident speed and keep the momentum up enough like I was the first segment.”
AUSTIN HILL, No. 16 ARCO National Construction Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
Finishing Position: 13th
What happened between you and Johnny Sauter?
“I guess he’s mad about the Texas ordeal. He held me really tight down in Texas and I don’t know what he expects. The guy on the inside is always going to get loose when you hold somebody that tight. I got loose up under him and got into him in Texas and we never really talked about it. I don’t have his number or anything. When I saw him at the track he kind of snubbed me, well today, or yesterday rather. So I said, ‘Okay, if that’s how he wants to race, let’s race that way.’ I was racing everyone as clean as I could all day long and I guess he was mad that he couldn’t get by me. Drove down into turn one and he tried to wreck me then. I don’t like racing like that. If they’re going to try to wreck you like that, I’m going to retaliate. I don’t care if it was more than what he gave me, it’s racing. You want to get into me, I’ll show you that I won’t put up with it.”
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