Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS)
Chicagoland Speedway
Race 12 of 23 – 225 miles, 150 laps
June 28, 2019
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Brett Moffitt*
2nd, BRANDON JONES
3rd, Stewart Friesen*
4th, HARRISON BURTON
5th, AUSTIN HILL
6th, TODD GILLILAND
9th, ANTHONY ALFREDO
10th, DYLAN LUPTON
13th, TYLER ANKRUM
14th, NATALIE DECKER
30th, BJ McLEOD
*non-Toyota driver
- Brandon Jones tied his career-best finish of second, his second top-five finish in three truck starts this season.
- Harrison Burton (fourth) finished in the top-five for the third time in the last four races.
- Starting the night from his first career pole position, Austin Hill (fifth) earned his third top-five finish of the season.
TOYOTA QUOTES
BRANDON JONES, No. 51 Chigo/Menards Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 2nd
What was the difference tonight and what else did you need to win the race?
“It seemed like laps. It’s heartbreaking to hear those lap times come across the radio — that I was a half-tenth or a tenth faster, just too big of a gap there. I don’t know if we could have done something else with pit strategies or not, but that’s why we had good pit position there. We did learn a lot and that’s the most fun I’ve had in a truck race in a long time. Can’t thank everyone at Chigo for helping make this opportunity for me and everyone at KBM, Toyota, TRD and all those guys. It’s a blast. We have two more with these guys and we’ll try to make something happen.”
What made the difference from qualifying 19th to getting up front in the race?
“They’re so sensitive when you’re running wide open like that, little things can drag you back in qualifying. I knew if we could get in the draft a little bit, it would suck us up some. That was really big tonight.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 18 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 4th
Solid finish for you tonight Harrison. You are on a strong run of good finishes.
“We are working really hard. All of the guys at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) have been working their butts off, week in and week out. They are giving us really fast trucks. They are really fun to drive. I am just lucky to be in this position. We are fighting to get into the Playoffs. It is a lot of fun for a team to try and come back and get in the Playoffs. If we get in, they better watch out.”
Are you feeling the pressure to get in the playoffs?
Yes and no. It has always been on since the start of the season. Fourth-place is a good finish, but not what we needed. We need to win. It will make it a whole lot easier to know if we are in the playoffs or not.”
AUSTIN HILL, No. 16 SiriusXM Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
Finishing Position: 5th
How was the race for you tonight?
“We’re definitely disappointed with fifth place. We thought we had the speed to possibly get a win tonight. It just wasn’t there. We really thought the track was going to free up throughout the night and our truck just kept tightening up and tightening up. We could never just get on the other side of it. That last pit-stop under green, we put a dent in it, but we still needed some more to be able to run with the top-three. All in all, it was a great effort. We only fell back to sixth one time and for a majority of the time we were in the top-five. Can’t thank HRE enough and Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) – they put a lot of work into these trucks. We want to win. Top-five is okay, but still frustrated with where I finished.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 6th
Talk about your night.
“We were really struggling at the beginning. We made it a lot better on the pit stop. Definitely, have to give it to my guys on that one. We started really bad. I think we were on the splitter too much. We would lose so much on fire-off on restarts. I would get a little bit of it back, but when you lose two seconds on the restart it’s so hard to get it all back. Just got to be a little better about telling the team, little learning things. But way better than I expected to finish when the green flag waved on this one.”
ANTHONY ALFREDO, No. 15 STEELSMITH Toyota Tundra, DGR Crosley
Finishing Position: 9th
How was the race tonight?
“Honestly, we had a great Toyota Tundra tonight. We were definitely capable of running in the top-five. At the end, we were actually the fastest truck for the last 15 laps, which is frustrating hearing that on the radio when you’re running ninth and it’s going green flag. I think we would have had a great shot at it if we had the track position. It was just very, very hard to pass tonight and we got held up on a couple restarts. Just kept getting jumped three-wide and stuff, it was a little tricky on those. We weren’t in the right lanes. That was what set us back and I think track position. We pulled some strategy and got back in the top-10, but I think we could have ran better. We had better than a ninth-place truck tonight, but nonetheless, great job by my team. Really proud of everybody on this team and fortunate to bring another top-10 home for my partners.”
DYLAN LUPTON, No. 5 DGR Crosley Toyota Tundra, DGR Crosley
Finishing Position: 10th
First truck races in a few years. Talk about your top-10 finish.
“I am just excited to be here and be in competitive equipment. It’s a blast. The DGR guys worked really hard to give me a great truck for tonight. I have to button-up a few things on my end, especially on pit road. That is where we lost a few spots at the very end, but I am very happy how the whole weekend went. It is going to lead us into Kentucky really well. We have a few things to build off of, and I think by the end of this year we can be contending for wins.”
Toyota Racing PR
