Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) driver Alex Tagliani led four Toyota Tundras in the top-10 finishers at the lone road-course event in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series schedule.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series
Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
Race 18 of 33 – 157.4 miles / 64 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Brett Moffitt*
2nd, ALEX TAGLIANI
3th, Ben Rhodes*
4th, Sheldon Creed*
5th, AUSTIN HILL #
9th, TYLER ANKRUM #
10th, RAPHAEL LESSARD
18th, TODD GILLILAND
20th, JASON WHITE
21st, HARRISON BURTON
*non-Toyota driver
#Toyota Playoff driver
• Austin Hill was the second-highest finishing Playoff driver, as he earned his first career road-course top-five finish and fifth top-five result of the season
• Fellow Toyota Playoff driver Tyler Ankrum earned top-10 finishes in both stages and scored a top-10 result (ninth) in his first career Truck Series road-course event
• Canadian-born driver Raphael Lessard earned his second top-10 finish in only his fifth career start
TOYOTA QUOTES
ALEX TAGLIANI, No. 51 CanTORQUE/Spectra Premium/Rona Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 2nd
Really only one spot mattered to him today, but you came up one spot short. Talk about the runner-up finish.
“First of all, it was amazing to run for KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports). Thanks to everybody there, especially Kyle (Busch) for accepting for me to be in this truck. Thanks to Spectra Premium, CanTORQUE, Rona. We were just missing loading the front during the race in the fast corner, so I had to overslow the truck down too much in the corner and that’s what made the difference. But nevertheless, it was a pleasure to race for them and good point day for the 51 team.”
What do you think about the competition in the Truck Series and their road course abilities?
“It’s good. The trucks are good. This year, we came with a different tire and maybe we needed to make some changes. You can see that the competition is high. It’s not a very technical road course, but at the same time it makes for good racing. It’s tough, and if your just a little bit off, you can’t make it up.”
AUSTIN HILL, No. 16 Don Valley North Toyota Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
Finishing Position: 5th
How do you describe your day?
“We had to go for the stage points there at the end of stage two. I don’t know if we could have run with the 24 (Brett Moffitt), but I knew we had a top-three truck. We went for the stage points in stage one and stage two. We had to come back from the back, and to drive back up to the front, so to be able to get to fifth-place and to come home with a top-five with our Don Valley North Toyota Tundra was really good. We just fought a little bit center-turn, couldn’t get it to rotate enough for me to be able to put the throttle down straight. I’d spin the tires because I had a lot of wheel into it. All-in-all everybody at HRE (Hattori Racing Enterprises) are working their tails off. I’m excited to get to Las Vegas. I felt like we were really good there earlier in the spring and we had some issues, so hopefully we don’t have any issues this time and we can come out with another top-five there.”
TYLER ANKRUM, No. 17 May’s Hawaii Toyota Tundra, DGR-Crosley
Finishing Position: 9th
How was your first road-course experience in a Truck?
“Pretty good first road-course start in the Truck Series. Not bad. We ran out front all day, but not at the end of the day. Not the finish we wanted. I made some mistakes. But we are going to head to Las Vegas and we are going to win that one, and we are going to win more after that. Want to thank everyone at DGR-Crosley, Toyota, May’s Hawaii for all the work they did.”
RAPHAEL LESSARD, No. 54 FRL Express Toyota Tundra, DGR-Crosley
Finishing Position: 10th
Solid finish today. Talk about your race?
“The race went pretty well. I gained a lot of experience. It’s a good day for me. Learning. We qualified ninth; I wasn’t expecting to qualify ninth, but I was very happy with a ninth-place in qualifying. In the race, I was just trying to learn. I was running in the top-10 at the beginning. I spun out. I learned what it is to get the air taken off of your truck. I was inside someone going into turn four and I spun out. I’m happy it happened at the beginning, because I learned from it. I was better at the end because of it. I think it’s going to help me in the future. Overall, it was a good day.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 18 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 21st
Talk about the rough finish, after running in fourth with just a couple laps to go.
“We had a pretty good run going, running fourth there at the end. Not sure exactly what happened, we just blew a motor somehow. I think a belt got knocked off somehow. Proud of our guys. They stuck with me all weekend. I’m not a road-course ace or anything, but I learned a hell of a lot and we had a good race. That’s all you can ask for. Proud of everyone at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports); they brought me a good truck. We had a good day going and it got cut short.”
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